[Warfork Fantasy Battles] The Battle for Arduthrond Glade

The Battle for Maugthrond Pass (as published in a leaflet in Warhammer Fantasy Battles 4th edition box set) is a well known battle from Grom the Paunch's invasion of the High Elf Realm of Ulthuan, a key battle of his march towards the great city of Tor Yvresse.

Less known (up to being lost in obscurity, reasons for that shall soon be undisclosed) is the sister battle for Arduthrond Glade nearby, that happened at the same time as the battle for Maugthrond Pass, with a different sub force of Grom's invading army, but with the same goal: to find an open route towards Tor Yvresse.

This scenario is basically a shameless copy of Nigel Stillman's 4th edition classic, ported back to 3rd edition force lists and with renamed characters and place.

The Battle for Maugthrond Pass is seen as a representation of one of the many small skirmishes fought during Grom's march towards the great city of Tor Yvresse. It took place in a stretch of forested wilderness, where the goblin invasion force attacked and burned many of the scattered settlements in their path.

A lot of these villages were heroically defended by their inhabitants and the local elven militias, but most could not withstand the overwhelming goblin horde and by no means at all were able to stop or even slow down Grom's march towards Tor Yvresse.

The historic encounter at the pass of Maugthrond was the first real chance of halting the goblin invasion force, and many stories are told about the battle there led by Eltharion, the well-known, heroic personality of elven history. Not so many stories, if at all, are told these days about the Battle for Arduthrond Glade, neither will any scroll be found in Ulthuan's archives with a written account of these events, although the battle that took place there had a very similar strategic importance. At the same day Eltharion fought at Maugthrond, Tharhindrel fought the greenskins at Arduthrond.

One of the many isolated elf villages encountered by the goblin horde was Arduthrond. This settlement was located at the intersection of the only two roads that allowed passage of the area, which consisted of densely wooded hills which could not be travelled (at least not by an invading army) except by using the two well maintained roads cutting though it. The village stood at the point where the two roads met roughly at the center of the wooded region, and was therefore a commercial and logistical hub. Many sea elf merchants only came up to Arduthrond, where they sold their goods, before returning coastwards. This saved them from having to travel farther inland, shortening their trips. From Arduthrond farther inland, high elf merchants took over the distribution.

Being in control of the village would allow the greenskins to use the full logistical potential of the roads freely, providing them with two additional possible attack routes towards Tor Yvresse. The elves would not know which road would be used, if any, forcing them to guard both exits from the woods with at least one batallion each, assigning two batallions that could be used elsewhere, forcing the elf high command to spread their forces thinly over a vast area. And of course there were supplies in Arduthrond the greenskins could well use, or burn just out of fun.

Like many elf villages in the region, Arduthrond Glade was protected by four watch towers, one located on each side of the village, each guarding one of the roads entering/leaving the village. Beside each tower was a warning beacon which could be lit if that tower's guards spotted danger approaching, calling the rest of the village guard to battle.

Each watch tower was garrisoned by five archers, locals of Arduthrond's village guard, choosen because of their proficiency and marksmanship. They could truely be called elite archers. In the centre of the village, camped in the village square, where two companies of spear armed elves. The first, Elril's Guard, was also part of Arduthond's village guard, consisting of kith, the humble elven folk serving the wealthy merchants of the village, that mustered together in times of need - such as a goblin invasion. The second company, Thronduin's Guard, consisted of warrior kindreds, formed from several family groups from villages beyond the wooded area, who knew they would be the next targets of Grom's force, if the defence in the wood was breached - so they assembled an ally contingent and sent it to help defend Arduthrond. Additionally, the village guard also proudly owned a decommissoned sea elf marine bolt thrower, which they aquired at a bargain from one of the sea elf merchants who had frequent dealings in Arduthrond. It had been deployed with its local crew in the western watchtower, the most likely direction from which goblins were expected.

The defenders of Arduthrond knew about the approaching goblins, but did not know whether the horde would come towards their village or pass their densly wooded region. Arduthrond was located in a remote area, off the beaten track, and many believed that the horde would follow a more direct route along the main highway to Tor Yvresse. The lookouts were vigilant, but hoped that they might only have to fend off goblin foragers operating on the flanks of the marching invading force, not a major force.

As for the goblins, their warlord Grom had decided not to follow the obvious direct route to Tor Yvresse. He wanted to surprise and outflank any elven forces on the main highway so he led the main force of his inading greenskins through the wilderness passes, searching for a suitable passage, sending wolf riders to make a feint along the main route, thus confusing the elven high command as to his intentions.

While the goblin host was advancing on Tor Yvresse, Eltharion was sailing down the coast trying to reach the city before Grom's horde. As the fleet progressed he made regular flights inland, riding Stormwing, his war griffon. Of course he was not the only one, there were also other eagle and pegasus riders and even one other griffon rider - Tharhindrel on Breezeflap. But somehow in history as written down, everyone other than Eltharion has been omitted… History as written down also attributes Eltharion of following the Goblin horde along the main highway, loosing it and finding it again - only to realize it wasn't the main force, but the distracting contingent of wolf riders. Of course that was accomplished by multiple high elf fliers. But somehow history as written down only attributes Eltharion. It was indeed him who gave the order to fly over the wilderness regions on either side of the great highway to locate the new axis of the attack, although in the timespan the distraction force was discovered, Eltharion could never have managed alone to cover such a wide area.

That evening, Grom gave the order to send two smaller detachments to probe two locations that might have been suitable to allow passage for the main Goblin host. One probe, at Maugthrond Pass, would be let by himself, the other, at Arduthrond Glade, by one of his lieutenants, Scak the Beanstalk of Foggy Valleys.

Scak was a longtime fanboy of Grom, serving under him for a long time already, and imitated him as best as he could. He dreamed of being as great of a warlord one day as Grom was, but his lanky figure had always led to him not been taken seriously by many other goblins to ever allow him to reach such a position. Even for his position as lieutenant he had to fight more usurpers than the other lieutenants in Grom's entourage. Amongst other things, he often found himself accused of being a crossbreed between elf and goblin, because he was so tall and lanky. Only about three quarter of those cases he was able to convince everyone of the contrary, by smashing the insulter to the ground… There was even a debate, if he should be allowed to lead any goblin contingent in the invasion with his heritage and everything.

Scak was accompanied by his assistant and bearer of his personal standard, Zrok. And he was riding a chariot of course, drawn by exactly three wolves, no more, no less. Three was the number of wolves it needed to have, and the number of the counting the wolves drawing the chariot shall be three. Four wolves should not be counted on the chariot, neither should only two be counted, excepting that thou then proceed to the third. Five wolves is right out. Once three wolves, being the third number, be reached when counting the wolves drawing the chariot, it would be good to go. Because Grom also had three wolves drawing his chariot, you know, so it must be the right number of wolves. And Skac was carrying a big axe. Some say, this was just a cheap knock-off of Grom's axe. Others say, it was a magïckal axe, though not as powerful as Grom's. Still others say it indeed was Grom's axe, which Scak… ahem… borrowed… for the day. Which would mean that at Maugthrond, Grom wasn't actually carrying the mighty axe everyone expected him to bring to a battle, and that its effect there was more placebo-ish. And that Eltharion's success wasn't as great of an achievment as it is often presented as, as he just fought a goblin with a lump of metal, not Grom with his famous magïckal axe. And it would explain Grom flying into a rage that night and having some sincere words with Scak. Whatever really transpired, Scak was carrying an axe - so much is clear. Except for some outlier tales which portray him carrying a polearm. But these can safely be disregarded as being a confusion with his name. Probably.

Grom's detachment moved stealthily through the passes - long, winding, densely overgrown dry valleys between the forested hills. The detachment followed the ancient tracks along the bottom of the valleys leading towards Maughthrond. Scak was following the nortern road through the wooded area, advancing on Arduthrond Glade, using the darkness to advance as far towards the village without being spotted as possible.

In the early evening of that day, the villagers of Arduthrond saw a stampede of all sorts of woodland animals through their streets (ok, honestly there actually are only two in Arduthrond) from out of the dense woods at the western skirts of the village. At first it was unclear what caused this behavior, although foraging goblins ranked high in the list of suspicions. But would a handful of goblins cause such an exodus…? The archers in the towers were uneasy and watchful. Something was in the air…

At dawn, the goblin detachments had taken up position at the fringes of the woods facing Maugthrond and Arduthrond, their deployment concealed by the morning mist. The sentries at Arduthrond did not detect any of the goblins. They were wary, though, due to the animals fleeing the woods earlier. And this morning, there wasn't any birdsong…

The lookouts in the watch tower knew the drill in case they spotted enemies or they were attacked. One of them would have to run out and light the warning beacon. This would warn the rest of the defenders and bring them to the danger spot. Meanwhile the lookouts would defend the tower as best they could. As mentioned previously, there were four such towers, guarding the north, south, east and west roads to/from the Arduthrond. When the warning beacon was lit, the village guard would see it from the village square and prepare for battle while their families would be gathered together and led away from danger. As a precaution, the village guard had already positioned their prized sea elf marine bolt thrower in the western tower just in case a foraging column of goblins should come from this direction, to greet them with the right skewering ability.

In the woods, hidden by the mist, Scak had advanced his detachment together with Yellow Toe Nail, the orc shaman apprentice to Black Tooth, Grom's loyal shaman, who had accompanied the army during its conquests. As Grom had a personal orc shaman, Scak of course also needed to have one in his entourage. The units were hidden among the trees and crags to avoid being spotted from the air by the occasional flying creatures that had been seen passing overhead during the march inland. Scak rightly identified these as griffin and pegasus riders, who were scouting to find the goblin forces.

It was easy to see where the goblins had been because of the smoke of burning villages and farmsteads in their wake, but less easy to count their numbers or follow them through expanses of rugged terrain. Grom had sent out many flanking columns of wolf riders to spread destruction over a broad front, making it difficult for the elves to tell which was the exact position of the main column of the horde and therefore identify where the main thrust would take place.

This tactic also had allowed Scak to remain undetected so far. He had organised his detachment into three units of archers and two of spearmen. The smaller bands of archers would go ahead followed by the rest of the horde. The tactic he came up with was to try and whittle down the number of defenders before the spear armed units clashed with the elves in hand-to-hand combat. Scak knew his troops were unlikely to put up much fight against elves unless they had overwhelming numbers on their side. If all of the before sounds familiar, that is because it is exactly the tactic and order of battle Grom used at Maugthrond pass. Scak was such a fanboy, that he also copied his idol's tactics - irrespecive of whether or not these tactics fit his current situation as well as the situation Grom used them in.

The orc shaman Black Tooth was determined to find the great standing stone in the village of Maughtrond and steal its magïck. Every elf village that they had encountered so far had one of these standing stones. Black Tooth had ordered each of them pulled to the ground once he had tapped into their magïckal power to enhance his own power. The night before the battle, Black Tooth went off into the forest, being accompagnied by his apprenctice Yellow Toe Nail only, searching for a special kind of stone that would serve a plan he had hatched. At daybreak he was still deep in the forest carving an amulet from a lump of blue-black crystal and muttering a strange spell; all of his actions meticulously being copied by his apprentice.

Scak knew there was no point delaying the attack waiting for the orc shaman apprentice to emerge; one never knew how long his sessions with his master would take, at times they were not seen for days. It was important to gain the element of surprise, especially as he knew Grom's attacḱ would start at the same time, so he gave the order to attack. He hoped that Yellow Toe Nail would soon swoop out of the sky riding his ferocious war wyvern Fleabite Worm.

As the sun rose over the horizon, silhouetting the coast of Ulthuan, Eltharion took off again from the deck of his flagship upon the griffon Stormwing, together with the unnamed other elves on flying creatures, which, as mentioned before, never found themselves recorded in history. Among them Tharhindrel on his griffon Breezeflap. The fliers headed inland for the wilderness east of Tor Yvresse, spreading accross the area hoping to relocate the horde and find out how much closer to the city it had advanced. This would be difficult. The landscape below was swathed in mist. As the sun rose higher during the day, the mist began to clear. Eltharion was flying high over the wilderness when, far below, the unmistakable shape of a wyvern flapped out of the trees and swooped low over the forest towards the west. Eltharion immediately followed the wyvern, knowing that it must be ridden by a great orc war leader or shaman and would certainly lead him to the main goblin horde.

About the same time, Tharhindel, further to the north, also saw a wyvern emerge from the woods; this being Fleabite Worm carrying Yellow Toe Nail, who only a couple minutes before had parted with Black Tooth once they had finished crafting their twin amulets. While Black Tooth flew to Grom to support him at Maughtrond, Yellow Toe Nail flew to Scak to bolster the attack on Arduthond Glade, and to tap into the magïck of the standing stone there, as Black Tooth had instructed him to.

Tharhindel was a distant cousin to Eltharion, both were born only a couple weeks apart, and had spent a great part of their youth togethers. When they grew up both joined the military of Ulthuan at the same time, advancing through the ranks. All the time, they were good friends, getting along well and supporting each other. Then they met Eleiri - only daughter of a minor noble, and a beauty to behold, even for elven standards. Both instantly fell in love with her, as did many other young elves. After courting her for some time, Eltharion and Tharhindel both seemed to be making an impression on her, all other contenders seemed to have fallen behind. Then Eltharion was sent on a mission to repel a localized dark elf invasion. When he came back victoriously, Eleiri and Tharhindel were espoused. Eltharion was not amused. He accused Tharhindel of treason, of using his absence in his favour. In reality he simply had not noticed that he was falling behind, and Eleiri choosing Tharhindel was a forgone conclusion even before his departure. But Eltharion would have none of it. As his family was more influential than that of his distant cousin or that of Eleiri, he pulled strings to discriminate against them. Tharhindel would never get another promotion in his life, Eleiri was socially left behind, suddenly not being invited to any relevant events any more. This also included making sure, that Tharhindel's role in Arduthrond that day, or the battle for Arduthrond at all, was not recorded in elven history, and Tharhindel's achievments remained unknown in the elven hierarchy. Tharhindel's next promotion was long overdue anyway, but somehow had not materialized… and also would not after this day.

Meanwhile, the great war drums and raucous horns of Scak's horde sounded, and the goblins were advancing out of the mist towards Arduthrond Glade. The elf lookouts were taken completely by surprise by the mass of greenskins advancing on them - these were not the few foragers they had expected! Thanks to the mist, the goblins had stolen the initiative and made the first move. As goblin arrows began hitting the structure of the watch tower, the elves knew that they must light the warning beacon at all costs or the village would be overwhelmed, and doom would be spelled for the villages beyond the wood and perhaps even Tor Yvresse.

What happens on that day at Arduthrond Glade will be decided by you and your opponent. One player takes command of the high elf village guard and Tharhindel, while the other takes command of Scak and his goblin detachment. The elf player must try and save Arduthrond and its defenders from destruction and hold up the goblins for as long as possible. If Scak and his detachment encounter fierce resistance, Scak will fall back and report this rout as too heavily defended. Arduthrond will not be burned to the ground, and Grom will have one option less of how to unfold his advance on Tor Yvresse. Ideally the goblin player must defeat the defending high elves and clear the way for the horde to advance via one or both roads leading through the densly wooded area into the open plains and onward to Tor Yvresse. And even more ideally, Scak will report success to Grom, otherwise the topic of the axe could go into a direction not favourable to Scak… if the alleged borrowing indeed ever happened, of course.