The Battle of Tudry

The Battle of Tudry took place about 400 years after the establishment of the 5 duchies, in the northern portion of the Duchy of Alshar. It was the fourth battle against the gurvani that Minalan commanded (after the Siege at Boval Vale, The Battle of the Lantern, and The Slaughter at Grimly Wood).

## The Battle of Tudry

### Date

Summer, Year 1 ES (Era of the Spellmonger)(approximately 5 weeks after the fall of Boval Vale)

## Participants

Minalan and Warmages, The Nirodi Free Mounted Archers, The Orphans Band, The Warbirds, The Hellriders
Shereul's gurvani

## Background

Eight to ten thousand goblins lingered outside of Tudry, cutting off the city.  Thirty thousand people of Tudry were bottled up.  Under the influence of Shereul's spell of despair (see Kitsal Hamlet), Duke Lenguin refused to send a force to relieve Tudry, opting instead to reserve and "train" the forces gathered at Vorone.

Minalan planned to engage the gurvani enough to evacuate Tudry and deny the goblins sacrifices that would power Shereul's arcane plans.  The main gurvani force of about 6,000 to 8,000 were encamped between Tudry town and Megelin.  About 1,000 were on the eastern side of the Anfal river and several hundred were scattered serving as interceptors, raiders and skirmishers.

Minalan had 4,000 troops from Green Hill under Baron Magonas and his own 3,000 under Rogo Redshaft, Kaddel the Hellrider, Sir Pendolan of Kayfier, Kavial and his Company, and Bold Asgus of the Orphans (see Mercenaries).  In theory, Tudry could supply a few thousand merchant-soldiers and a few hundred knights from the Baron of Megelin. The Spellmonger appropriated a Temple of Huin for his field headquarters; the temple sat upon a low hill with visibility to Tudry, Megelin, and the Great Western Road. Landfather Gorin and Herbmother Loradella, priestess of Falassa would help with casualties.

The gurvani kept both the Tudrymen and Megelin from independently committing their forces, since either one alone would be easily overwhelmed. Minalan planned to coordinate and use those forces, plus his own infantry and cavalry, to hit the horde from multiple directions and drive them from the field. The Spellmonger had to strongarm the Baron of Megelin through the intimidating offices of Azar, as well as the Tudrymen who were similarly browbeaten by Astyral. Minalan's own commanders needed convincing too, but with less coercion. Minalan did stoop to a little political bribery promising that *somebody* would be named Warden of Tudry after the town was evacuated and the battle won.

Marshal Minalan's conditions of victory were to facilitate the escape of 30,000 folk from Tudry, to deny the goblins the use of the town, and kill 10,000 goblins in the process.

## Battle

### First Engagement

At daybreak, the gates of Tudry Town opened allowing soldiers and peasant militia to defiantly march onto the field. The gurvani screening force sent for reinforcements, just as Minalan had hoped. The warband in the south moved to block the Tudry force before the humans could make it to the Great Western Road. Per the plan, elements of the Orphan's Band and the Warbirds rapidly advance from behind the temple hill and struck at the exposed flank of the southern band of goblins. The surprised gurvani warband had its momentum broken and attention split. They were the worse for it as they were methodically ravaged by the mercenaries.

The gurvani force from the north, the one interdicting communication between Tudry and Castle Megelin, began to move in support of the southern band. True to Minalan's plan, Azar and about 900 Megelin knights took the field along the northern road. Supported by Rogo Redshaft's horse archers, the heavy cavalry charged into the northern warband and made a big mess of blood and fur out of the unfortunate gurvani. Nearly two-thirds of the northern force was chewed away by the Megelini.

### Afternoon Engagement

The main (remaining) gurvani force had to retake the field to capture the escaping town folk from Tudry. The Megelini heavy cavalry recovered on top of a ridge serving as tempting bait to the much larger force. Few shamans had been killed earlier in the day, but scrying revealed at least nine more witchstones were moving with the horde. When the gurvani had committed their force, nearly 4,000 of Kaddel's Hellriders and Rogo's Nirodi archers advanced from behind the temple hill and took position against the goblin horde.

Minalan and Azar combined efforts to craft a pair of Tagarat's Orbs, one sphere of vacuum, one sphere of highly pressurized air. When exploded deep behind the enemy lines, the spheres provided gratifying effects of destructive suction and explosive over-pressure, causing substantial confusion in goblin rear.

Together with Rogo, Minalan and Azar moved to soften the front ranks of gurvani ahead of the Hellriders' charge. However, they were ambushed before they could set up. Minalan and his horse, Traveler, quickly engaged the several goblins attacking him. Azar gracefully annihilated 10 attackers in 5 seconds! Minalan was enwrapped by a bolo and was nearly done for, but Hamlan saved him by killing one of the goblins attacking and cutting away the hobbling bolo rope. The 100-150 ambushers were quickly taken down by the surrounding Nirodi archers. By the time they moved to the gurvani lines, the Hellriders, elements of Kavial's Company, and the Megelini knights had already charged and were preparing for a second charge.

The goblins weren't just waiting to take on more carnage. They stacked bodies and several logs intertwined with spears to slow the cavalry as the horse soldiers rode into their ranks. Just as the charge engaged the barrier and front rank of goblins, the shamans unleashed a vicious attack of magical lightning. The electricity was easily conducted by the iron and steel armor and arms of the heavy cavalry.

> The angry lance of energy forked out in a chaotic dance, leaping from warrior to warrior, carried by the conductivity of their armor.  Horses screamed and men froze in mid-swing.  Some limbs exploded instantly, some charred, iron-clad corpses tumbled to the ground, and some men just fell dead from the saddle.  Plenty of others were wounded by the bolt of energy, but still able to fight on. - Minalan narrative
>
>

 With the cavalry in turmoil, Minalan called on Astyral to bring in the infantry. The gurvani commander seized his advantage and sent a substantial part of his force to attack the refugees evacuating from Tudry. They would ravage the lightly armed civilians. Then, Sir Kavial independently committed the 1,500 reserve cavalry he commanded to charge into the attacking gurvani. That decision won the day. The rest of the battle was concluded, if not without a hitch or two, then at least in good time and with few additional casualties ... on the human side.

Minalan teamed up with Astyral to sow chaos into the gurvani ranks. Rogo and his Nirodi layed volleys of arrows into the hapless foe. The mopping up was gruesome. But that's what armies do.

## Aftermath

Well over 20,000 refugees had escaped. About 9,000 goblins, 1,300 men, and a thousand horses had been killed. Because of the shamans' lightning attacks, nearly a thousand nobles had been killed, among whom were the late Baron Merasan of Megelin and his son, as well as Sir Kavial and much of his guard.

Megelin was no longer a viable fief. The land was barren and bereft of peasants. Minalan placed the barony under the direct protection of the Duchy. The Temple of Huin was attached to Tudry and also was under the protection of the Duke. Tudry town also reverted back to the Duke, and its charter rendered null and void. Megelin and Tudry were now military outposts. He appointed Azar in command of Castle Megelin and Astyral as master of the Tudry outpost.

## References

1. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Warmage: Book Two Of The Spellmonger Series (p. 250). Kindle Edition.