[FATW AAR] Chronicles of the Reunited Kingdom

[Elennsar]

The same house rules that Cemendur (the player) applied to his campaign shall apply to this. Reloading will be permited if a battle turns disasterous, but only if it would be reasonable to avoid the actions that caused the disaster to begin with.

Screenshots may or may not be included (I'll try and include them when significant events occur, though putting them in may take longer)

Ceremdur, King of the Reunited Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor, stared across the river Anduin, as those armies of eastern Gondor that had not turned to his brother gathered near the ruins of Osgiliath.

How had it come to this? First the invasion of the Corsairs, sweeping away the Kingdom's southern holdings with devastating speed.

Then the near sundering of the alliance with Rohan, which had long been one of Gondor's greatest allies, but which had in recent years grown cold. Not...hostile precisely, but instead of the mutual respect and friendship that had strenghened both lands for centuries, now only an uneasy tenseness marked the relationship between the Reunited Kingdom and the Riddermark, each side suspecting something wrong with the other, but never quite enough to break the ties that still bound them.

So far.

Now, dark forces moved within the east, and in an unexpected rebellion, the king's own brother, Amandil, had challenged Ceremdur's claim to the throne, claiming that the kingdom had grown weak, and needed to be strengthened anew...by any means necessary.

Whispers spoke of how more than mortal ambition was behind his brothers rebellion, speaking of a Man called Herumor who had become his brother's closest advisor, poisoning his mind and turning him to the Shadow.

Ceremdur shook his head in dismay. How could this be? How?

Haladan, leader of Ceremdur's bodyguard rode up just then, and gave a formal salute.

"Sire, the army is ready to march. I would suggest we deal that we march first upon the army of Alcarin, who threatens to cross the Anduin and lay siege to Minas Tirith itself if we do not strike first. Once his army has been scattered or destroyed, we can breathe easier, and mayhap even liberate Emyn Armen before winter."

Ceremdur nodded. "An excellent plan. We shall move at once."


Meanwhile, to the north...


Captain Faramir, of the house of Hurin, and a small force of assembled spearmen and bowmen; concentrated in north Anorien, preparing to retake the province of Calenhad to keep open the route to Rohan, and to deny the rebels an opportunity to stab Minas Tirith in the back.

[Aradan]

A very nice start, keep going!

[Elennsar]

Ceremdur surveyed the battlefield. After a heroic fight, and assisted by the surprising presence and legendary accuracy of a company of Ithilien wood elves as well as much hard fighting...the army of the Reunited Kingdom had triumphed, shattering the army of the traitor Alcarin and killiing the man himself

His dying words had been: "You can kill me, false king, but the Shadow will never die!"

Ceremdur suppressed a shudder at the thought.

After refitting and letting those wounded who could return to the ranks, hopefully Emyn Armen could be taken, prying a few fingers loose from the hold the rebels held on Ithilien.

Valar willing, they would not be able to strike into Anorien while he did so, but to be safe, he ordered Barahir, the rightful Prince of Ithilien, and two companies of Ithilien Rangers, to hold one of the crossings of the Anduin...just to be safe.

[knight of virtue and valor]

cool, good story, +rep

[Elennsar]

Ceremdur thanked the sweat coated messenger, who bowed low before the king, then went to take care of his horse before returning from where he had come but a few days ago.

The messenger had brought news of how a scouting party from Calenhad had been, after a fierce skirmish, driven back within the gates of the town, and now it was besieged by Captain Faramir.

It was hardly either unexpected or vital news, but it was encouraging, for it meant that the soldiers under Mallor, who had been one of the first to openly turn traitor against the Reunited Kingdom, would be dealt with swiftly.




Surveying the battlefield, Ceremdur shook his head in disbelief. The rebels...who called their kingdom "Adunabar", or "Westland" in Sindarin...an ironic name, he thought...had been devastated and swept from the field by his forces. The legendary "iron rain" of Gondor's archers, assisted by the elvish bowmen of Finrod, had torn great gaps in their ranks, and then the well disciplined infantry of Gondor had finished the work.

Little was left for the horsemen with Ceremdur and his personal guard to do, for which he was thankful.

Calling Finrod and Haladan to him, Ceremdur began a plan...a plan that would, if the men could do what was asked, shatter the enemy's hold on Ithilien, not simply loosen it slowly as he had first intended.

First, there would be a feint towards Minas Ithil, distracting his brother and pinning his forces down. Then, Emyn Armen would be swiftly retaken, and after leaving a suitable garrison, including Barahir and his rangers, they would march on Minas Ithil with every man who could be spared, even if it meant leaving Minas Tirith periously undermanned.

What would happen from there would depend on the response of the rebels...and of the Haradrim, who would surely take advantage of any opportunity they founded. The coasts had been stripped of most of their trained soldiers so that they could be concentrated in Ithilien, leaving them vulnerable in case the Corsairs decided to do more than raid and pillage.

[Elennsar]

Ceremdur could hardly beleive it.

After his feint at Minas Ithil, his march to Emyn Armen had gone well, and he ordered his soldiers to prepare to assault.

A group of soldiers from Adunabar had move to challenge Ceremdur's army in the field, and at the same time the defenders (surprisingly few) had sallied forth.

A lesser general, facing a possible pincher attacker, would have worried.

Ceremdur had not, calmly placing his forces in place to deal with the main threat, while his small band of horsemen, including his personal guard, prepaerd to deal with the sally of his brother's oldest son, Ornendil.

The relieving force was shattered by the same tactic as had been used before, confirming the wisdom of the ancient tactics used for so many centuries.

A line of well disciplined infantry, backed up by a smaller but superbly trained line of archers using longbows, with units of similarly trained spearmen on the flanks.

An enemy making a frontal assault would find his forces much diminished by the rain of arrows even before he reached the unwavering line of shields and swords that awaited him.

As one enemy army was defeated, Ceremdur turned with his horsemen to charge the other.

Though perhaps greater in numbers, Ornendil's command was no greater in strength and valor, and after a desperate fight, Ornendil fell of a mortal wound, and all save one of his company perished beneath the swords and spears of the loyal horsemen of the king.

It hardly seemed believable. Not only had this happened, but the losses were minimal.




A few days later, obviously having been hurried on a forced march, a second enemy army attempted to battle the victorious soldiers of the Reunited Kingdom. After a fierce battle,, the Gondorian soldiers triumphed, though with heavier losses than before.

The next day, they marched into Emyn Armen.


Ceremdur shook his head as if to clear it. He hardly could have expected this when the rebellion began...to leave the enemy's grip on Ithilien with two trembling fingers, where before it had been an iron fist, ready to choke the life off out the Reunited Kingdom and smash what opposition stood after the fall of Minas Tirith into the dust.

But with the return of orcs to Mordor...even the death of Amandil and the liberation of Minas Ithil was hardly likely to mean more than the very begining of the end. Should the Haradrim strike hard and fast, it may well force him to put his plans to liberate Minas Ithil on hold, buying time for Amandil to rally the treacherous men and monsterous orcs under his command, and possibly take advantage of how Minas Tirith and Anorien had precious few defenders.

Valar willing, this would not be so. But he had to be prepared. If only Rohan would spare...could spare, Ceremdur forcibly corrected himself, trying to believe that the alliance still stood strong, instead of wavering on the edge of a knife, some of its soldiers, to come to the aid of Minas Tirith as they had in the battle of the Pelennor Fields, he would be far more confident.

But even if the Oath of Eorl still bound the two kingdoms in bonds of steel, the reports of dangers from the Dunlendings made Ceremdur think that even if King Aldor wanted to send aid to the Reunited Kingdom, there would be precious little he could do without weakening his own kingdom more than it would help Ceremdur's.

With these thoughts, he went to catch what sleep he could, and prepare hopefully to find that at least some of his worries were merely imaginatory.


Okay, people, I need to say something. A couple of things.

1) I'm writting this primarily because people seem to think its interesting. I find it interesting up to a point, but left to my own devices, my lack of confidence in my skill and motivation to test it will run out. So the question is...are you interested?

2) I'd really like to find a way to mesh this with a telling of Rohan (as some of you may know, it was originally desired to write an AAR for them, but that sputtered and died). Now, I know that its impossible to play both at the same time, and given the way the campaign works its unlikely that my progress as the Rohirrim (in the Rohan campaign) and the AI's (in the RK campaign) will have anything to do with each other. However, I'd like to try it. After all, other than the recapturing of lands that are Dunedainic, the only reason for RK forces to go into the area Rohan has influence over is to play loyal ally, and similarly Rohirric forces only have the motivation to play loyal ally in Gondorian areas. So if anyone thinks this is worth doing, I'll try and mesh them together storywise, even though gameplay will probably involve a fair bit of "not so close".

3) I'd like to see comments. Questions. Suggestions. Just saying "Wow. Man. This is great!" is good for the ego, but it doesn't translate into "Okay, I'll try and ____." more. I think my writting style is drier than Ceremdur's, which may or may not be a bad thing (bad as in "less fun to read"), but I can't help that.

Okay, that really about sums it up. Please respond...this is, as said, written for your pleasure, more than mine. But I'm all for doing something that people find interesting and fun.

[Elennsar]

Rohan, home of the horselords. Ally of the Reunited Kingdom..but will the alliance hold?

In autumn of the year 239, the Dunlendings invaded the Riddermark in great numbers. It seems that this was not merely a raid...but a full invasion.
As if the danger could not be greater, the old alliance with the Reunited Kingdom hung as if by a thread, despite the best efforts of both Aldor and Ceremdur, a strange coldness seeming to mark even the best efforts at diplomacy. Whispers of dangers stirring in the East were heard, but nothing clear.
Baldor, son of Aldor, gathered his soldiers at Helm's Deep, sending messengers to train and prepare the warriors of Rohan for war. Though Adlor was still king, he left much of the affairs of the kingdom in the hands of his son, knowing that he would soon take the throne, and that he was still young and vigorous enough to take the field without difficulty or danger.
Baldor accepted this, but worried, for his father had reigned over half a century wisely and well, and he was not looking forward to seeing himself as king. Perhaps, though not a boy anymore, the thought of losing his father still troubled him.
The plans that had been made to send aid to the Reunited Kigndom, struggling under the onslaught from the Corsairs and the Haradrim, would have to be put on hold. Dunland, and Rohan's western borders, would have to be safe, or any soldiers riding east to Gondor would return to see their own lands taken...and worse.





"Warriors of the Riddermark! I speak to you not as your lord, but as a fellow warrior!" Baldor began. "I speak to you as one who will fight alongside you, as all the men who have come before me have fought alongside their brothers in arms, since the days of Eorl himself! When the men of Dunlend approach us, fear not their numbers, for though we may number but half their force, we are the Eorlingas! We will drive them before us! Our lances shall skewer them like wild boars, and our horses shall trampble them beneath their hooves! Our axes and swords shall cut them down, until not a single invader shall stand on our soil!

Men of the Mark, are you with me?"

There was a great cheer, and Baldor, after making sure his men were just where he wanted them, smiled. The Dunlendings were not to be taken lightly as fighters...but nor were the men of the Mark.



The battle begain with launched arrows, and ended just as Baldor had said...with the Dunlendings trampled or skewered or cut down by the horses and warriors of the Mark.



Not long afterward, a messenger arrived, one of his father's personal guards, though Baldor could not recall his name at present. He was covered in sweat and mud and had the bearing of a man bearing the grimmest news.

"What is it? What has happened?"

The man bowed, or as much of a bow as could be made on horseback, and presented Baldor with a scroll.

Reading it, the heir to the throne of Rohan momentarily turned pale.

Not only was the Reunited Kingdom fighting a bitter civil war...

Orcs had returned to Mordor.

Dunlendings or no Dunlendings, every man not urgently necessary to defend Rohan and not already with his army would have to go to the aid of the Reunited Kingdom in the spring. If there was more than orcs behind this, it would explain much...none of it good.

The Oath of Eorl had to hold. No matter the costs.

Baldor only hoped that his father would agree. He was still King, even if he had given his son control of the better part of the kingdom.

Grim days lay ahead. What would happen now was in the hands of the brave and the stalwart who would stand against the tides of Darkness, and not be turned away.

[knight of virtue and valor]

hmmm.......well I could start an aar as Rohan and you could merge you story with mine, you aren't perfect, but hey you never learn of you never try ,pm me if you want to partner with me, love writing and do it for fun. I think it is a interesting Idea to put rohan alongside wit gondor. PS its not dry, but it would be better for a few things, I am making something my self and although a few people were helpful most just said they hated it or they loved it and never told me why.again please PM me.

[Amroth]

Liking it so far!

[Elennsar]

Amroth: Thanks.
Knight of Virtue and Valor: What would you suggest I do better/differently?

I'm putting this (both parts) on hold for a while until I sort out how to handle this (Playing, not just writting).

Glad to see people are reading.

Update: Alright, played my campaign as Rohan for a while longer and decided that its not worth trying to coordinate the two (at least, not without help). So at least as far as I'm concerned, this AAR is returning to covering just the RK. Anyone interested in writting an addition (AAR or just story) with what Rohan is up to is welcome. Any Rohan AAR by me will have to wait.

For purposes of this...regardless of actual events (AI being...obnoxious), Rohan is not able to spare any significant help. So its the RK vs. Adunabar, Dunland (if and when that comes up), Harad, and Rhun.

So, in a while...not sure when...I'll get back to writting. A few hours to a few days.

Thanks for reading, all.

Note: I intend to use the begining of this for my new AAR (and new game)...after all, intending to apply a similar strategy if possible.

Wanted to get a fresh start gameplaywise, so the AAR will begin again...with pictures this time, however.