In the third instalment of our 10mm Orclish Civil War campaign, Harry and Ewan moved into the Big League of Oathmark with a 2500pt game of the fantasy rank-and-flank rules by Joseph A McCullough (author of Frostgrave and Stargrave amongst others).

After a terrific victory at the Wringit River, Harry's leader Skrengll had been crowned king on a green wave of popular orcy acclaim.  He decided to pursue his advantage with another border raid, this time to eliminate the nest of vampires notoriously found in the ruins of Last Breath Farm Community Church. Little did he know that the vampires were staunchly allied to Skrengll's arch-rivals the Dark Northern Fairey Folk.  A great mixed host of goblins, orcs and dark elves gathered to repel this heinous disturbance of the peace.

The DNFF assembled with the ruins of the church on their right, the ridge and farmland on the far left.  A wood-cutters hovel with pumpkin patch (on the site of the original farmstead) was located in their RHS deployment zone behind the church.

As usual the DNFF arrayed in quality rather than quantity with commanders and a champion, the vampire of the crypt appearing on the LHS backed up by a nearly complete spear unit of the infamous Laughing Skulls dark elf regiment.

In comparison Harry's king had assembled an awesome host of "wall to wall" orcs and goblins in full array of 20 man regiments including two regiments of wolf riders, two regiments of orc warriors, two regiments of orc soldiers, Zhlakto the level 4 mage (!!!!) and a goblin light catapult (put together from one of Ewan's ruined villages which he had accidentally mislaid/lost in battle).  Skrengll's orcs were not to be outdone on quality either, the warrior and soldier regiments containing many champions plus the breathtaking presence of the orc king himself, snapping out orders to left and right across the battlefield.

The scenario rolled was 'Oathmarks' with Ewan's DNFF again set to hold their ground and defend their sacred stones.  Ewan began by sending forward his dark unicorn on the RHS to meet Harry's wolf riders at the ruined church, while tentatively holding the centre of the table to protect the foremost oathmark.

The dark unicorn was keen to punish Skrengll's catapult which was already causing damage to the DNFF's big regiments, but it had no choice but to confront the wolf riders instead who were heading straight forwards too.  Without an easy opportunity to outflank, the monster had to hit them head on.  This caused many casualties on the small wolf rider regiment but eventually the unicorn gave in and collapsed and instead was overtaken by Ewan's Hounds of Gord wolf riders who pursued and destroyed their goblin kin who had already been weakened in combat. In the centre, the indispensable Kaptin Kambul edged back his vanguard under a rain of goblin arrows and the sorcerous "Rain of Knives" , all causing more casualties than expected.  Coming up in support, the elven Dark Stars regiment poured their deadly superior fire back at Harry's goblins.

Eventually, Harry committed to the centre, his trolls and royal guard pushing to overtake the oathmark there.  Arrow fire caused surprising casualties among the trolls, heroes of the Wringit, who eventually backed off from initial engagement.  King Skrengll drove at the opposing goblins and orcs, smashing into the Lee Ho Folks warrior regiment led by the infamous orc champion 'Chow Mein'.  Collosal casualties of 9-7 in favour Skrengll were followed by a flank charge into the king's regiment by more wolf riders.  Even the battered Lon Cheney Appreciation Society braved the fierce melee and flank charged into Skrengll too.  Skrengll held on despite being disordered by the first round of combat.

The incredible fortitude of Skrengll's stand is perhaps explained due to the magical arising of one of his own oathmarks due to a 'strange and catastrophic' event, providing a morale check bonus throughout. On the DNFF left flank, a vast wave of invaders crossed the field and crested the ridge line, however the Laughing Skulls and the vampire were able to quickly redeploy and together annihilate the first attack by a full wolf rider regiment before the horde could concentrate and overwhelm the defenders.  With Zhlatko the mage casting 'Battle Rage' multiple times, Skrengll's horde was becoming a more thorny prospect every turn however.

With his centre crumbling and his flank attacks broken, Harry chose to concede at the beginning of Turn 6.  Four hours of bitter struggle had yielded a decisive rebuff to Skrengll's ambitions and the DNFF took the opportunity to sweep away his occupying force in the northern villages while still extracting punitive tribute from the human city of Scranton.

A true 'Klash of Kommanders' made this battle viciously costly and drawn out as champions inflicted extra damage and commanders held the troops in place.