2nd Battle of Temple Hill
22/07/25 As my unemployment continued, I decided to finally crack open my copy of Fantastic Battles by Nic Wright and play out the next installment of the Adventures of Malichor the Malignant.
I had to cobble together a spreadsheet of my own to calculate unit points cost as I use Open Office and Excell does not work for me.
Rules: Fantastic Battles
Scale: 15mm
Table Size: 1200mm x 900mm
Ground Scale: 1 BW = 40mm
Game Size: 700 points per side
Background
Western part of the Olde Worlde
In the 944th Year of King Deldrach of Ruvaen, in the summer following the Battle of Corolis Vale and the death of Zulgore of the Mighty Arm, Warleader of Shagol, in the month of the Goshawk, Count Phormion of Karporthia, Lord of the South March, received word that Malichor the Malignant and the Black Orcs and Bugbears of the Harrowed Waste were marching again.
Gathering his levy, and calling up the Halfling Militia of Longbottel, and a bandon of Veigr's Folk, Dwarves of Nerakghan, Count Phormion marched south to Temple Hill to meet the threat from the Harrowed Waste for a second time.
The Opposing Forces
Count Phormion's Force:
Count Phormion, Warden of the South March, commands the Karporthian contingent. This consists of his Household Knights and the Levy Billmen and Levy Archers. He had hoped to have a contingent of Amelean Paladins at his disposal, but these were deployed elsewhere. Sir Gemmalon of Longbottel leads the Longbottel contingent of Halfling Militia and Halfling Skirmishers; while Lord Thorik of Red Rock leads a bandon of Veigr's Folk, doughty Dwarves from Nerakghan. Elbegard the Elegant, a Fellow of the Royal College of Wizards, has been dispatched from Mantineia to Karporthia with a Regiment of Foot Knights, and Murch the Summoner, a local Wizard, is assisting Count Phormion.
Count Phormion's force numbers 250 Cavalry, 2500 Infantry, and 250 Light Infantry.
Malichor's Army:
It has been nearly three years since Malichor the Malignant first attempted to invade the Kingdom of Mantineia. After that defeat at the 1st Battle of Temple Hill, the Mage-Lord has carefully rebuilt his forces. This time, at the head of his Black Knights, and assisted by Oscar the Odiferous, his Bugbear disciple, Malichor is confident of success. He has engaged Gnark the Bugbear Chief and four companies of hardy Bugbears, and Snotbag the Black Orc Warlord with four companies of Black Orc warriors and two Black Orc Skirmisher companies. And last, but by no means least, Arlok Two Blades, an Orcian Adventurer from far northern Mt Durfang, has joined Malichor's forces with two companies of Ogre Mercenaries.
Malichor the Malignant's army numbers 250 Cavalry, 2120 Infantry and 250 Light Troops,
I recreated the Temple Hill battlefield from photos used in the 1st Battle of Temple Hill battle report.
As before, the South Road skirts a gully on the north side of the field before running south over the western slopes of Temple Hill, by-passing the ruins of the temple before crossing a western spur of the hill.
The border watch tower stands just south of a wood and in the south-western corner (out of shot) stands the ruins of an old posada.
Initial deployments, Count Phormion's forces at the top of the photo, and Malichor's forces at the base of the photo. Both the gully, in the north, and the ruined posada, in the south-west, can be seen.
Malichor's battle line:
Left to Right: Snotbag's contingent - four companies of Black Orcs with two companies of Black Orc skirmishers out in front. To the right of them is Oscar the Odiferous, the Bugbear Mage, and then Malichor the Malignant with two companies of Black Knights. Just behind the Black Knights is Gnark the Bugbear Chief with two companies of Bugbears, and to their right is another two companies of Bugbears. At the end of the line, by the ruined posada, is Arlok Two Blades and two companies of Ogres.
Across the field, Count Phormion's forces are arriving:
Left to Right: Emerging from the wood, two companies of Halfling Skirmishers and to their right, Sir Gemmalon of Longbottel leads two companies of Longbottel Halfling Militia in march column. Just in front of the gully is Murch the Summoner, a local Wizard, and to the right of him is Lord Thorik of Red Rock and a bandon of two companies of Veigr's Folk, doughty Dwarves from Nerakghan. Phormion's Levy Archers are deployed astride the South Road while behind them, Elbegard the Elegant, a Fellow of the Royal College of Wizards of Mantineia leads a Regiment of Foot Knights (two companies). To their right, Count Phormion and two companies of his Household Knights lead two companies of Levy Billmen.
Fate was not kind to Count Phormion's deployment. The Halfling Skirmishers, full of ginger, pressed on well ahead of Sir Gemmalon's Militia. Both Count Phormion and his Household Knights and Levy Billmen where delayed deploying from the South Road, while Elbegard the Elegant's Foot Knights and Phormion's Levy Archers lagged far to rear, even as the Wizard, himself, reached the battlefield on time.
Malichor's force, in contrast, had a company of Snotbag's Black Orcs suddenly desert, while the Bugbear contingent was weakened by a noxious virus. Displaying the empathy and solicitude for which he is reknown, Malichor curtly ordered his troops to advance, telling Gnark not to be a big sofie, and swearing to Magic Missile some Black Orcs to encourage the enthusiasm of the others.
On Phormion's left flank, the Count was busy trying to unscramble his deployment. Pushing the Household Knights and Levy Bill forward in column, he managed to give himself some space within which to meet the Black Orc companies scaling the south side of Temple Hill. Both the Levy Archers and Elbegard the Elegant's Foot Knights were marching south along the South Road, while Lord Thorik's bandon of Dwarves moved to link up with the Halfling Militia.
Oscar the Odiferous moved up to support the Black Orcs with his Curses while Malichor's Black Knights moved off the western spur of Temple Hill.
Over on the left flank, in spite of their queasiness, the Bugbear companies were rapidly pulling ahead of Arlok Two Blades' Ogres.
The lead Bugbear regiment was now in range of the Halfling Skirmishers, who duely loosed a deadly volley of arrows. Murch the Summoner also cast Magic Missle on the Bugbears, but was ineffectual.
Pushing across the western side and the crest of Temple Hill, the Black Orc skirmishers began to get the range on Phormion's Household Knights.
On Malichor's left flank, the Ogre mercenaries advanced ponderously, falling behind the faster Bugbears.
Even as Sir Gemmalon rushed his Halfling militia forward, the first Bugbear band charged the Halfling Skirmishers. The Skirmishers evaded to their rear, but the Bugbears were faster, catching them as they dodged back.
Meanwhile, Malichor and the Black Knights charged home against Thorik's Dwarves.
On Malichor's right flank, Phormion's Household Knights deploy into line while the Levy Billmen move around their flank. The Black Orc skirmishers, too far away to hear Snotbag's orders, move forward impetuously towards the Levy Bowmen (I realised later that I had got this wrong - the Black Orc skirmishers were still within command range of Malichor and so shouldn't have advanced as they did). The Black Orcs and the Levy Bowmen exchanged volleys of arrows, with the Black Orcs inflicting more damage.
On the left, after a short, sharp, fight, the fast-charging Bugbears scattered the Halfling skirmishers. Injured themselves, and weakened by the noxious virus, they were, in turn, scattered by a Magic Missile volley from Murch the Summoner.
In the center, the doughty Dwarves and the hard-charging Black Knights remained locked in battle.
Gnark lead his remaining companies of Bugbears in a ferocious charge against Sir Gemmalon's Halfling Militia, catching them still in their march column. Even though the Halflings were able to set spears against the charging Bugbears, they suffered grievously in the hand-to-hand fighting.
With fierce fighting breaking out all along the battle line, Arlok's Ogres where still plodding forward.
In the center, the Black Knights and the doughty Dwarves continued their struggle.
On the right flank, the Black Orc Skirmishers impetuously charged the Levy Bowmen, scattering them in flight even as Phormion's Household Knights charged home against the Black Orc Infantry.
The victorious Black Orc Skirmishers shoot volleys of arrows and darts into the advancing Foot Knights, causing some casualties. Out of command (again, I got this wrong as Malichor was next to the Skirmisher unit), the Black Orc Skirmishers then charge the Foot Knights. On Phormion's left, the Levy Billmen redeploy from march column into line.
Oscar the Odiferous successfully Curses the Dwarves, reducing their fighting ability, while Murch the Summoner misses the Bugbears with a Magic Missile. Malichor's Magic Missiles against the Dwarves hit home and the doughty Dwarves scatter. Lord Thorik is killed in the rout. The Bugbears are dangerous in the charge, but don't have the stamina for a long, drawnout fight. With a supreme effort, the Halfling Militia fight back, dispersing the last companies of the Bugbears. Gnark is wounded as his Bugbears flee.
On the right flank, Snotbag joins the two companies of Black Orcs resisting Phormion's Household Knights. After a short struggle, the Knights disperse the Black Orcs, though Snotbag manages to escape. The Foot Knights make short work of the charging Black Orc Skirmishers.
At this point, Malichor's dreams of easy victory were dashed and his surviving companies withdrew into the Harrowed Waste.
Afterword:
Poor old Malichor. Both he and Oscar the Odiferous laid some heavy smackdown on a number of Phormion's units with a combination of Curse and Magic Missile. His Ogres, though, were too slow and never got into the fight. Once again, the Bugbears proved effective, but brittle - the Noxious virus contracted as a Mishap just taking the edge off them. The Black Orcs performed very well, even though they were down a company from the beginning. If I had checked the Command rules, I wouldn't have had the Black Orc skirmishers acting as they did, though they took out the Levy Archers to my surprise.
Phormion's Wizard's were rather ineffectual. Murch the Summoner managed to get some magic away but Elbegard the Elegant as too far back, trying to get his Foot Knights into the action.
In the aftermath, Phormion lost three units on the field, but was able to rally the Levy Bowmen later. The Halfling Skirmishers and the Dwarf Militia suffered 243 casualties all up out of 3000 troops (about 8%), though Lord Thorik of Red Rock was amongst them.
Malichor lost five units on the field, with the Black Orc skirmishers and two companies of Bugbears wiped out. Total losses were 1230 dead out of 2620 troops (about 47% - so a bit of a drubbing), though both Snotbag and Gnark survived.
Figures Used
Phormion's Forces:
Phormion and his standard, the Household Knights, Levy Billmen, Levy Archers, and the Foot Knights are from Eureka Miniatures Men of Grandeur range.
Sir Gemmalon, the Halfling Militia and the Halfling Skirmishers are from Splintered Light.
Lord Thorik and the Dwarf Levy are from Battle Valor Games Dwarian range, which seems to be out of production at the moment.
I think Elbegard the Elegant and Murch the Summoner are also from Battle Valor Games
Malichor's Forces
Malichor and his standard and the Black Knights are from Ral Partha Europe.
The Ogres are actually 28mm Trolls - also from Ral Partha Europe.
The Black Orcs are from Alternative Armies (now apparently only available in resin).
Gnark, Oscar the Odiferous, and the Bugbears are from Check Point Miniatures.
Arlok Two Blades is an Orcian character from Battle Valor Games and, apparently, out of production at the moment.