Battle For the Elf Capital, Using "Bear Yourselves Valiantly" Rules at Cold Wars

On Saturday night, we reset the 20 ft. table we had used for our morning Napoleonic game, "Battle of Paris, 1814", (See report here) with fantasy figures for a big 12-player  "Battle for the Elven Capital" game using the mass combat fantasy rules, "Bear Yourselves Valiantly" and 10mm figures. Buck, Surdu, Dave Wood, and I all co-GMed the game so there was plenty of help for players new to the rules.

An overview of the table. The Caledonian Heights can be seen in the back left of the table.

      In this outing, the High Elves (and some of their Elven cousins from the Woods and Sea), replaced the French from the earlier Battle of Paris game; and a loose alliance of Dwarves, Antmen, Undead, and Goblins replaced the Prussians and Russians from 1814.  This time the attackers were bent on  ransacking the Elven city and capturing the wealth it contained.

HAWK David Schlegel  helps a young gamer and his Mom. Both mother and child grasped the rules pretty quick and seemed to have a lot of fun co-commanding their Elven force.

    Apparently, the Elves had become over-secure and careless in their ever-increasing wealth, and the new outer walls of their growing city were only partially complete.  The alliance formed against them saw a keen opportunity to separate the Elves from their riches.

A force of Dwarves, with the Dwarven cavalry anchoring the right of the Allies line, advances towards the Heights

       The Elves chose the Caledonian Heights  on the outskirts of their city to anchor their stand against the invaders.  The Alliance formed on the plains below to make their attack, with the Dwarves and Antmen on the right and right-center,and the Undead on the left-center, and the Goblins on the far left.  

The beginning of the battle for the wall that lasted almost the whole game.  With  no one avialable nearby to hold the wall as the Dwarves neared, the local Elven commander sends his warband of Giant Eagles and a unit of Pixies to hold the wall. In the photo a unit of Dwarves has gained the first foothold on the top.

     With commands distributed among the players, the game began.  The Dwarves and Antmen started their stoic march on the Heights, as did the Undead on their left.  The Goblins on the far left advanced towards some built up areas and canals they needed to cross to gain the Heights.

The Goblin horde advances on the left, as HAWK Noah Guilbault helps a young Goblin commander conduct a melee on a unit of Elves defending a built-up area

     As the battle waged on the Heights, fortunes see-sawed back and forth.  Meanwhile, the Goblins on the left ran into stiff resistance and restricted approach lanes which greatly hampered their advance. In the center the desperate Elves had only a warband of Giant Eagles to send to defend their partial wall as the Dwarves approached. The Eagles were joined by a unit of Pixies as a back and forth battle developed for control of the walls.

The battle rages on the heights. In the foreground a pair of monstrous Dust -Devils prepares to assault an Elven unit, as Antmen come under a hail of Elven Archer fire.

    Just as in the historic game in the morning, the attackers seemed to be in reach of gaining their objective of capturing the hill right as their losses began to tell and some of the attacking warbands began to rout off the slopes.

Another view of the battle 

  There was massive carnage on all sides.  Besides the loss of many rank and file warriors, commanders and airships were brought down as well.   First one of the Goblin over-all commanders fell to some Elf Knights,  then the Elven Commander on his mighty dragon was cut down. The majestic Elven Airboat was brought down by a unit of Giant Wasps.

The battle for the wall continues. The Dwarves have now gained a stronger presence on the wall, and the Eagles are beginning to be the worse for wear.  In the end, the Eagles were eliminated and the Dwarves held the wall,  but a small remnant of Pixies still held out in the right-hand tower

    In the end, the Elves managed to hold the Caledoinain Heights at a heavy cost, and they were declared the victors.   Everyone seemed to have a good time and picked up the rules very quickly.  As GMs, we had a great time running the event for a great group of gamers.

An Elven Wizard creates a magical wall of flame to hamper the advance of some approaching Dwarves.