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Previously...



Anselme looks out over the battered crenelations, pondering the hard months of siege and suffering.



An archer upon the tower does the same, peering at the foe lining up for the day's assault.



The siege tower is complete at a moment of great danger. The defense is running low on supplies and troops.



"Prepare the men for the day's hostilities," Mathias commands, "I shall join them presently."



Jeanne is on the top of the keep, for now, but will soon make her way to the ramparts to cheer her troops to victory. She was promised reinforcements, but it has been months without word, and she worries no help will come.





First Overwatch



Fresh troops march into camp, more than ready for the action to come.

Sign ups are open!

Kingdom of Touraine (Defense) led by Jeanne de Montaumont: Scribonius
Court of Bryton (Attack) led by Mathias: Braggalot
Secret Faction 1: RedRover
Secret Faction 2: Brickwarrior

Turn 1



The defenders race to their positions.



Jeanne takes a stroll as her orders are carried out. Where could these lads be rushing toward?





Of course! They construct a barricade in front of the gate.



The defense is prepared, as much as it can. Jeanne and the bannerman watch carefully from the donjon. Two archers take position inside the gatehouse.



A citizen brings fire barrels to the walls so the archers may shoot flames upon the foe.



Mathias, in full view of the enemy, begins to dine on an irresponsible amount of food. Nearby, crossbowman begin their climb into the siege tower.



"Ah, Moravius, you've arrived." Mathias says.

"I've been here the whole siege, my lord," the wizard answers.

"Uh, right. Of course. But enough of that, tell me why you have sought me out."

"My lord, I only wish to remind you that if I am able to get inside or upon the walls of the foe's fortress I can tell you precisely where the artifakt you seek is located."

"Ah! This is fortuitous news! We can then use it to our advantage, this forbidden and esoteric knowledge..."

"Actually," the wizard interrupts. "The nature of this knowledge will be known to all as soon as I know it."

"How-" Mathias begins.

"It is not important," the wizard continues, "but I would like to be delivered into the fortress as soon as you can spare the troops."



Mathias thinks on the wizard's words as the siege tower is pushed toward the fortress.



A break is made for the ballista and enginers move pavise shields to protect it.



Once in range the ballista fires.



FIRST BLOOD awarded to the attackers!



Nearby, the cannon fires but the shot is easily absorbed by the strong walls.



The defending archers think they have an even chance against these crossbowmen.



Wrong! Two more are just inside!



However, a fire arrow quickly dispatches a Bryton.



His body falls in disgrace amongst his countrymen.



Revenge is taken swiftly, however.



Inside the castle a pot of oil is being prepared...





Overwatch

Kills:
Bryton: 2 (1 Benny in reserve)
Touraine: 1

Secret factions will appear next turn.

Turn 2



Some troops sprint toward the gate, the wizard is with them.



The cannon is much more successful this time, if a little off target...



The roof is obliterated. Shards and remnants somehow manage not to harm anyone.



Crossbowmen advance behind their pavises, though they are just out of range.



The ballista shoots true, but just fails to kill the archer. His helmet is pinned to the building behind him.



The siege tower rolls closer and the archers engage in close quarters shooting.



The defender is saved by excellent cover, and she downs a foe.



However, she is quickly slain by the last crossbow coming up to help.



The reinforcements muster in place.



The wizard summons a powerful wind...



The gatehouse defenders are tossed from the walls!



They are disrupted but unharmed.



Mathias sprints toward the castle, outpacing his guards. He will need to wait until next turn to make good on his plans.



The defenders, including Anselme, move with the siege tower.



Nearby archers score solid hits with fire arrows...



They start a size 1 fire on the siege tower.



The last archer can't hit anything, but his hair looks really good.



From a lonely corner of the battlefield arrives Tomoe, hero of the Shogunate, and a group of armored samurai.



"Not ideal," she remarks, glumly.



They dash for the castle and two of the samurai leap up the walls.

"I'm so glad our friend and brother Jin Sakai could teach us to silently mount walls and other climbable terrain in heavy armor without making a sound or otherwise alerting guards.



But wait, from the other corner, through the mist and trees, a force materializes. It's Wymer and some Fyrth foot troops!





Overwatch

Kills:
Bryton: 3 (1 Benny in reserve)
Touraine: 2

Send orders for Turn 3!

Turn 3



The oil crew didn't get to move last turn so they are suddenly inside the gatehouse.



The siege tower, still aflame, reaches the walls.



The ground troops begin their ascent, though a few stay below to guard the machine.



The crossbows take aim but can't overcome any armor.



The siege machine, too small for the tower and too tall for the wall, lowers the drawbridge.



And the first melee begins.



The duel of the shields is won by Touraine, but now he opens himself to attack from distance by the halberds.



The defender is slain.

The ballista scores a solid hit this time, and the crossbowman dies.



The crossbows advance behind their pavises, but the walls are devoid of targets.



Because of new developments they could not have foreseen, the axemen hold briefly by the gate to await new orders.



The rear troops advance (the column on the right made it even further but I forgot to take a photo)



Mathias had a brilliant plan up his sleeve, but there's nobody to fool with it...



He tosses away the golden plate from behind his back and pulls out his shield, which he had the entire time.



The wizard takes position with the forward assault troops.



The cannon strikes the gatehouse again.



The oil crew remain alive, however.



The cannon is pushed forward.



Jeanne looks down, troubled.



The remaining wall archers loose more fire arrows.



The blaze grows to size 4!



The wizard cannot let this stand.



Using his mystical and mysterious magics, he swoops up the entire fire and grabs a hold of it, the raging inferno suspended in midair.



The archers on the ground, no longer dazed or confused, score a lucky shot on the only target in conceivable range.



The samurai make their way up the wall.



"Friends!" Anselme cries from across the courtyard, "help us, please! Our foes are strong and numerous and we are in grave danger!"



While the samurai above ponder, Tomoe notices something peculiar about the battlefield surface. She rubs the dirt between her claw hands.



With urgency, she stuffs it into the saddlebags on her horse.



"YA!" she shouts, smacking its haunches.



Two Brytish troops remained on the ground, and they meet the horse in battle.



Unfortunately, the saddlebags were packed with explosives. Tomoe walks away from the battle exclusively to appear badass by not watching the fireworks.



The aftermath is obscene, and two of the tower's wheels have vaporized.



Thinking quickly, the crossbowman move on the roof to stabilize the structure, for now.



Tomoe starts up the wall.



The Fyrthings, familiar with the ways of the wood and of trees, easily climb above to the canopy.



With little effort they leap to the roof of the outbuilding.



Wymer, however, has a different plan.



He grabs hold of a sturdy, flexible limb and his warg slowly walks away...



... sending Wymer flying over the wall!



He will land next turn.






Overwatch

Send orders for Turn 4!

Kills:
Bryton: 5 (1 Benny in reserve)
Touraine: 4
Shogunate: 2

Turn 4



The cannon and ballista reposition, and several crossbowman take aim alongside them.



The combined fire tears the gatehouse to pieces.



The oil crew is similarly obliterated.



The axemen, now in the clear, take turns beating on the gate. They do three points of grinding damage.



The other infantry advance and start hacking at the stones.



Mathias, ever the kind and wisdomous fig, shouts up at Anselme, his voice dripping with mockery: "Boo hoo Help us, our enemies are so numerous and powerful mimimimimimi!"



Anselme, so savagely mocked and mortally offended, is taken away on a douche canoe.



"Wait, what?" he says, shocked and dismayed.



He's high above the battle now.



Infantry are ready to mount the siege tower once again.

'

With the sound of mystical magiks a series of bricks manifest to stabilize the tower.

Of course, this could only be done by the Brytish wizard....



Which means the fire orb is doomed to crash back to earth.



It barbecues these defenders so bad they become ash covered off-brand skeletons. They also die.



The last armored guard is slain by two vicious strikes.



They take up a strong position on the wall, ready for a fight from either direction.



The crossbowman both crit-fail and drop their bows.



"My lady! What are you doing!" the bannerman shouts hopelessly, but Jeanne cannot hear him because she is cursing in her helmet, the coarse language echoing in the steel.

"You starveling, you elf-skin, you dried neat's tongue, you bull's pizzle, you stock-fish! O for breath to utter what is like thee! you tailor's-yard, you sheath, you bowcase; you vile standing-tuck!"




Jeanne, Peer of Touraine, hurtles off the donjon to intercept Wymer.



They crash softly, delicately even (daintily, if you will), and begin to fight.



Though they are joined swiftly by Jeanne's guard. The levy swordsmen prepare to defend the gate. Wymer is wounded in the melee, and he loses 1 HP (1 remains).



Atop the walls, these archers turn their foe into a pincushion.



He falls over the battlements onto the tree, his blood flowing down the leaves in full view of his countrymen who, no doubt, are beginning to rethink their involvement.



Anselme discovers he can steer the douche canoe.



Not well, however.



He flips from the douche canoe.



He materializes on the other side of the battlefield, a la the 1979 smash hit video game Asteroids, disrupted but unharmed. The douche canoe vanishes as mysteriously as it arrived.



Tomoe flips and zips up to the top of the wall.



She flips. She zips. I dare say she even spins.



She pushes off the unarmed crossbowmen.



They splatter violently on the ground.



The samurai make their way toward the rear gatehouse.



One of them climbs the tower.



Special delivery!



The Fyrthings land on the ground, narrowly avoiding damage. They slay one guard.



Though one is swiftly butchered by a mace.



"Hey!" a Fyrthing complains when he is engaged by the samurai.



"Take that!"



"That'll teach you to attack me, the pride of--" he continues his soliloquy, describing his identify and upbringing in excruciating detail that would make even Miguel de Cervantes scoff, not to mention modern legends like George R.R. Martin or Mike Rayhawk.






Overwatch.

Send orders for Turn 5!

Kills:
Bryton: 10 (1 Benny in reserve)
Touraine: 6
Shogunate: 4
Fyrth: 2

Turn 5



The cannon and ballista fire on the gate (the ballista is out of ammunition).



With a thunderous report, the gate sphincters to mere sawdust.



Into the breach!



Offense and defense trade kills.



The second group fares the same, each side scores a kill.



The crossbowmen shoot through the open gate.



Two shots score kills on the back row of defenders.



The rest of the infantry make their way to the gate, just a few feet from the fighting. They beat the stone walls with their swords.



The other group tries to shake Tomoe from the siege tower.



Her feet comedically slip around the roof, but she is able to keep her footing.



She drops her sword, however, and it lands dramatically on the ground.



Troops advance up the tower.



The halberdiers engage the archers, quickly killing one. The other archer nimbly slips by the halberd. Thinking quickly, he breaks the shaft in half with a powerful chop and then he shoves the blade into the attacker, scoring a kill.



Mathias, who was climbing the tree at that exact second, dispatches the archer with haste.



The wizard helps his guards to the wall.



Anselme has an idea!



He reaches the scorched remains of his comrades, without giving a second thought to how he could reach them so easily, and performs ker-Triage!"



lol



Suddenly, three undead skeletons burst forth!



For his part, Anselme is not intimidated by such an outrageous failure, and he quickly dispatches one of the skeletons.



The battle continues.



Jeanne and Wymer duel with malevolence and skill.



Their blows ring with power against their shields and armor.



Wymer is able to slip past Jeanne's shield and wound her! (1HP remains)



Not deterred, Jeanne counters with a sure strike, dispatching Wymer.



As Wymer's body hits the dirt, the nearby maceman kills another Fyrthing.



"My lady!" cries the bannermen, "I see a group of soldiers heading this way!" He does not mention that he cannot tell who the troops are or who they may serve.



Tomoe takes aim...



Her skillful arrow destroys the ladder's connection and it tumbles to the.... ground?



These men are disrupted but unharmed. Their allies have no idea where they are.



A samurai makes a move for revenge.



He earns it.



These samurai rush back the other direction, where they were supposed to be the whole time.



They engage a halberdier, and the first samurai is cut down. The second kills the halberdier.



A Fyrthing puts an end to the maceman's killstreak.



Seeing the chaos all around, Jeanne knows what she must do.



She says nothing, but vanishes behind an ancient series of cobwebs...






Overwatch.

Send orders for Turn 6!

Kills:
Bryton: 17 (1 Benny in reserve)
Touraine: 12
Shogunate:
Fyrth: 3

Turn 6 (Final)



Jeanne disappears into the abyss



She returns with a sword of great power, an artifakt of mystery and magik.



She quickly throws herself into the fray.



The attacking forces can do little except die in the wake of her fury.



The wizard is the first to flee from Jeanne's artifakt-fueled rage.



Mathias sees Jeanne pursue the retreating forces and he uses this opportunity to make a sneak attack.



Mathias realizes, too late, that he is running into a trap.



With a swing of the artifakt, Mathias is thrown into the sky.



At that moment, reinforcements arrive with a shout of victory. The fortress is saved.

~~~~~

Days later, Jeanne returns to the great castle of her Lady, the artifakt safely stowed away in the baggage train behind her.



"I'm glad to see you safe," Queen Margaret says before Jeanne can reply.

"I bring you tidings of victory, my lady, though our foes were numerous and vicious, we held out long enough to be relieved by the troops you generously donated to our defense."

The two ladies talked long into the night of the siege and defense, while Mathias licked his wounds on the road back to his own lands...



Thanks for playing, everyone. I'm ready to start my next project so I had to wrap up this battle faster than I thought. More soap than turn, but didn't feel like it should go in the soap board.