After Action Rep on an Incident During the Siege of Holyton
Oct 17, 2016 12:37:10 GMT -6
jmccann, tkdco2, and 1 more like this
Post by welleran on Oct 17, 2016 12:37:10 GMT -6
After Action Report on an Incident During the Siege of Holyton
In lieu of our usual Friday night session of AD&D, we ran a session of Chainmail modified/enhanced by AD&D rules. Without delving into the specifics of the larger campaign, the gist is that party needs to get inside the city of Holyton to plunder a temple which, unfortunately for the party, is under siege at the moment. During our last session, the party tried to approach the city but was accosted by a mounted patrol, who took them before the besieging army's commanding general, Lord Juss. The party, not wishing to be hanged as enemies or spies, claimed to be free mercenaries come to join the siege. They managed to successfully do so and were assigned a lesser officer to orient them to their new army.
This past Friday night, we started with the escorting officer befriending the party and offering to walk a circuit of the city to show them the overall situation. Proceeding from the southernmost part of the city counterclockwise, the party crosses the River Har by pontoon bridge and approaches the encampment of Baron Brandoch, set opposite one of the city's gates. As they come closer, they see riders gallop into the camp as horns begin to call Brandoch's men to arms. The party rushes forward into the camp and quickly learns that a column of enemy soldiers is rapidly approaching from the east, over a thousand strong. Because of the course of the River Har, this section of the siege line is the hardest to reinforce in the event of attack (though Brandoch has already dispatched word of the attack and a request for reinforcements).
At this point, I allowed the players to take control of Brandoch's forces -- though they have no real status to do so, for play purposes they were told they could play it as they saw fit. Their orders were to maintain the siege and keep the city isolated as best they could. Reinforcements would be forthcoming, but would be delayed by the need to cross the pontoon bridge. The party's force (as I shall call them henceforth) set up first; the relief force set up second and would be commanded by me (I'd hoped for some other people to show and run them, but it didn't happen).
For this scenario, I ruled that the two army leaders (both level 9 fighters) would add 2 figures to any unit they were attached to and would give a +1 to morale checks. I also decided any fighter type of level 4-8 would add one figure to a unit it was attached to, but no morale bump (this included the cleric, Ftr/MU and monk PCs and the lesser officer escorting the party; but neither the illusionist nor the female MU). Each side also had a few banners that just added +1 to morale but could be removed in lieu of a casualty instead (doing so required an immediate morale check, though). Spells would be based on AD&D rules except fireball and lightning bolt which were covered by Chainmail. Everything else would be decided by me as DM as I saw fit.
MAP OF HOLYTON AREA:
The Layout was basically a road running from the east to west edges of the table (4' x 8' in size). To the east was a fair amount of terrain - low hills, woodlands, some walls and farms, etc. This opened to flat land before the walls of Holyton and the Fortress Gate (foreground). The wall was paralleled by a moat and road. Sitting just at maximum shortbow/light crossbow range was a partial circumvallation wall (in the scenario, the wall was from a previous siege and never totally demolished, so the new army had it easy -- a line of rubble was placed parallel to it across the road to interfere with cavalry). In addition, stake lines were emplaced to protect the main encampment and extend the partial circumvallation walls. Bowmen were prominently placed on the walls as a reminder that the city was garrisoned. I hinted at possible heavy crossbows that could fire into the party's forces, but they never materialized.
THE FIELD OF BATTLE:
The party's force consisted entirely of footmen (owing to a lack of painted cavalry figs on my part!). There was a single force of Armored Foot, a few Heavy Foot, and several Light Foot, including small units of shortbow and light crossbow. There were individual figures for Brandoch, the party's escorting officer, a few banners, and the four party members themselves (a Gnome thief/illusionist, a half-orc Monk, a human cleric, and a human fighter/thief).
Order of Battle
Levy Spear (Light Foot) - 10 figs
Levy Spear (Light Foot) - 10 figs
Levy Spear (Light Foot) - 8 figs
Clinan Mace (Hvy Foot) - 8 figs
Highlanders (Heavy Foot) - 8 figs
Swordsmen (Armored Foot) - 10 figs
Lt Crossbow (Light Foot) - 7 figs
Shortbow (Light Foot) - 8 figs
Lord Brandoch (Ftr9 ~ Superhero)
Deputy Cdr (Ftr5 ~ Hero)
2 Banners
The Party
Lieutenant Oddo
Reinforcements:
Mordav Foot (Armored Foot) - 8 figs
Thalas Mercenaries (Heavy Foot) - 8 figs (plus a captain)
PARTY FORCES:
The party deployed much of their force in the encampment, behind the stakes as they knew the enemy had cavalry. They deployed light forces to either wing in a slight U-shape.
PARTY'S DEPLOYMENT:
The Relief Force, on the other hand, came as a column up the road. Unknown to the party, their goal is not to seek to break the siege (they are not numerous enough) but to get reinforcements into the city. The city is low on soldiers and an extra thousand men would go far to beefing up its defenses and allowing it to hold long enough for a proper relief force to be mustered. Thus, they are not interested in a pitched battle, per se. The force is led by Baron Horrocks of Torquilstone, commanding over 1000 foot and a few hundred Medium Horse. They are similar in numbers to their foe, but have somewhat of a qualitative edge.
Relief Force Order of Battle
Torquilstone Medium Horse - 8 figures
Torquilstone Foot (Armored Foot) - 10 figures
Shortbow (Light Foot) - 8 figures
Shortbow (Light Foot) - 8 figures
Delton Axe (Heavy Foot) - 6 figures
Halberd (Light Foot) - 12 figures
Fennin Sword (Heavy Foot) - 8 figures
Harlond Axe (Heavy Foot) - 10 figures
Fellstone Axe (Heavy Foot) - 8 figures
Baron Horrocks of Torquilstone (Ftr9 ~ Superhero)
Lieutenant (Ftr5 ~ Hero)
Hildur of Torquilstone (Magic-user 6)
2 Banners
Baggage Train - 3 figures
Available as desired:
Holyton Garrison (Heavy Foot) - 10 figures
RELIEF COLUMN DEPLOYMENT:
Given their objective, the Relief Force marches to just outside of bow shot (and ballista range -- the party's force has one available) and begins to form a conventional line of battle to lull the party into a sense that this is meant to be a straight fight. The Relief Force's left side is their heavy Foot, which will be used to screen the main force as it tries to slip to the right around the party and their fortified position.
FORMING THE LINES:
And before the real fighting even started, the AD&D aspects of the fight began to pop up. The party's cleric rather brazenly decided to come out between the lines in order to "get in spell range." All well and good, except the actual forces did not move with him, so it presented an odd sight as some crazed holy man stepped between two great armies and began to point his wand (of fear) and otherwise attract the amused attention of both sides. He would realize in time that being alone between two fighting armies was a bad idea!
PERUDO THE HOLY MAN:
Their lines formed, at this point the only activity was when one unit of Heavy Foot on the Relief Force's far left climbed a nearby hill, accompanied by a lesser officer and their lone female magic-user. They had no intent to do anything other than draw attention, which they did when the party's fighter/magic-user slipped into bow range and began plinking at the sorceress with his longbow. She took this ill and, overcoming his 90% invisibility from a cloak of elvenkind, blasted him with magic missiles before accompanying her force back downhill and to its place on the extreme left. The fighter would continue to plague the lady sorcerer with relative impunity.
PREPARATION FOR BATTLE:
(note the fighter/MU top and the cleric in the center; Baron Horrocks is on the white horse)
The Relief Force now moved into arrow range and, despite the limited number of missile units, the party began to take a small but consistent toll on the advancing enemy. At this point, I began to oblique the Relief Force to the right, before coming into melee. The party saw this but was reluctant, I think, to give up their good defensive position. However, their Light Foot on their far left apparently got excited and charged my far right force, triggering the first melee. Although they did not survive long (but longer than they should have), they did disrupt my swing to the right, albeit unintentionally, or so I gathered.
MOVE TO CONTACT:
FIRST MELEE:
(at the bottom of the pic -- my main forces continued past that fight instead of joining it for a quick kill, as timing was important for my plan. At center, you can see my forces slipping to their right and dodging the main body of the enemy).
THE FIELD
At this point, the AD&D aspects of the game became more intrusive. The party in my campaign are lowish levels (6th more or less). They don't have a normal magic-user (he was killed previously) and are a bit light on magic items, having burned through so many in previous adventures. However, they do have a few items that they decided to try in this fight, most notably a wand of wonder and a wand of fear. I adjudicated every AD&Dism as it came up. For the wand of fear, I decided it would force a morale check on any unit that was mostly within its area of effect. The wand of wonder was more problematic, as its effects were so varied (I use my own, expanded list of possible effects). Other items I did case by case; for instance, one player gave "some soldier" a potion of heroism -- I decided that it gave that unit an extra figure equivalent while the potion was in effect. For any instance when a PC or single NPC was in play, I went with the usual AD&D rules. At one point, for example, the Medium Horse rode by the fighter-thief; I rolled ten d20 for attacks on him as they passed by, but thankfully he has excellent armor). The result was a hodgepodge, but one that turned out really effective and really fun in execution!
As the armies closed, the wand of fear proved to be largely ineffective (until one very noteworthy instance later). The first notable effect of the wand of wonder, however, was to enclose the half-orc monk wielder in an iron cage. Fortunately, despite his very low strength, he was able to break free on his own.
NICE ROLL!
The next effect of that wand, however, was a fireball into the Relief Force's lead unit of Medium Horse. This killed 1/4 of the best force on the field. At this point, I made the decision that Baron Horrocks, then attached to that force, really was irked at this affront. To repay the dastardly deed, he wheeled his Medium Horse and attacked the formation the half-orc was attached to. Thus, the beautifully conceived plan to reinforce the city vanished into feudal bloodletting and a death or glory fight for honor (these armies are highly feudalistic and chivalrous in my campaign, so it seemed reasonable).
CAVALRY ON THE LEFT FLANK OF THE PARTY'S FORCE
The cavalry, of course, proved devastating to everything they came against, and they soon began to roll up the Party's left flank, supported by units of their own Heavy and Armored foot. To pile on, my female MU had shifted units to one more forward but she had come under harassment from the party's cleric and his magic returning throwing hammer. Seeing a golden opportunity though, she let loose her one powerful spell - a lightning bolt through the PC cleric and into their unit of Armored Foot. The cleric took the bolt as per AD&D rules (and lived) but the soldiers took it as per Chainmail rules, which limited their casualties due to the much decreased range under the older rules - still, it was a hard blow to their single good unit.
But the party was not done yet. As before, the fighter/MU used his stealth to slip up behind the distracted sorceress and backstabbed her, killing her outright (he'd previously discovered that she was protected by spells including shield and protection from normal missiles).
THE DEATH OF HILDUR, SORCERESS OF TORQUILSTONE
Meanwhile, the party's Gnome illusionist-thief had become invisible and begun to harass and slow the movement of a baggage train that was slowly coming up behind the advancing Relief Force. Through a combination of magic items and spells, he'd sown confusion and chaos in their path, though he was unable to do anything materially to stop or destroy them. The party's forces were entirely too busy to do anything to aid him in his efforts.
ULTHAR THE GNOME THROWS A FOG CLOUD AT THE BAGGAGE TRAIN
Things were now looking bleak for the party, as my Medium Horse and Armored Foot were smashing everything in their path. But then, finally, they had a stroke of luck. A relief force had crossed the pontoon bridge and was enroute (consisting of a ten-figure force of Heavy Foot mercenaries and an eight-figure unit of Armored Foot). But they were still a ways away and it looked like they would be too late to turn the tide. And then I rolled a three; specifically, my Armored Foot was zapped by the wand of fear and, needing merely a four or better on 2d6, I failed to get it. My Armored Foot broke and retreated. They rallied quickly after, but there was just enough time for the party to throw their reinforcements into a makeshift line and turn the tide at the last second. It was a dramatic turn to the battle! With the extra force they were able to turn back my Armored Foot and Medium Horse. The latter was locked into melee and surrounded on three sides. True to their chivalrous nature, they would not break, but instead died to the last man (well, next to last man, as their lord survived the onslaught and fled the carnage, abandoning his Armored Foot and galloping to join the baggage train and its guard force as it slowly slipped towards the city.
THE TIDE TURNS
reverse angle
THE BAGGAGE TRAIN IS JOINED BY LORD HORROCKS
Around this time, the city garrison sortied a force of Heavy Foot. They did not engage nor were they otherwise involved as more than a demonstration of force and distraction. However, they did make the implied threat that they would rescue the baggage train, if necessary.
CITY GARRISON COMES FORTH
(note the dark figure adjacent to them. That's the half-orc PC. As a by-blow of the wand of wonder, he'd become invisible, so he decided to check on slipping into the city which was, after all, their primary desire. However, entering a crowded courtyard with a few hundred soldiers, and splitting the party, seemed ill-advised, so he was content to just peer inside.)
The last of the Relief Force was now destroyed in detail or fled back the way they'd come, as the baggage train and its guard force was allowed to slip unmolested into the city. The Relief Force had lost a thousand men and more; in the end, only a force of 160 men (8 figures of Heavy Foot) and the baggage train, accompanied by Horrocks himself, made it into the city intact. Although the defenders had lost nearly as many men, I ruled it a minor tactical victory but a major strategic victory for the party. The city's defenses were not significantly improved by the force that made it inside, and the loss of a thousand men would reduce forces available for later relief of the city. The party had performed well in their PC personas, thus ensuring recognition by the Lord Juss and Baron Brandoch (all save the Gnome, who had no witnesses to his many efforts! But, then again, life is not fair!). For their part, the party has come no closer to their desire to enter the city, and may find themselves involved in the siege as mercenaries and lesser captains, despite their better judgment.
It was the first time I'd run a game like this and it turned out great. It required a lot of on-the-fly calls to mesh AD&D and Chainmail, but it worked very smoothly and I will definitely do it again.
AFTERMATH
In lieu of our usual Friday night session of AD&D, we ran a session of Chainmail modified/enhanced by AD&D rules. Without delving into the specifics of the larger campaign, the gist is that party needs to get inside the city of Holyton to plunder a temple which, unfortunately for the party, is under siege at the moment. During our last session, the party tried to approach the city but was accosted by a mounted patrol, who took them before the besieging army's commanding general, Lord Juss. The party, not wishing to be hanged as enemies or spies, claimed to be free mercenaries come to join the siege. They managed to successfully do so and were assigned a lesser officer to orient them to their new army.
This past Friday night, we started with the escorting officer befriending the party and offering to walk a circuit of the city to show them the overall situation. Proceeding from the southernmost part of the city counterclockwise, the party crosses the River Har by pontoon bridge and approaches the encampment of Baron Brandoch, set opposite one of the city's gates. As they come closer, they see riders gallop into the camp as horns begin to call Brandoch's men to arms. The party rushes forward into the camp and quickly learns that a column of enemy soldiers is rapidly approaching from the east, over a thousand strong. Because of the course of the River Har, this section of the siege line is the hardest to reinforce in the event of attack (though Brandoch has already dispatched word of the attack and a request for reinforcements).
At this point, I allowed the players to take control of Brandoch's forces -- though they have no real status to do so, for play purposes they were told they could play it as they saw fit. Their orders were to maintain the siege and keep the city isolated as best they could. Reinforcements would be forthcoming, but would be delayed by the need to cross the pontoon bridge. The party's force (as I shall call them henceforth) set up first; the relief force set up second and would be commanded by me (I'd hoped for some other people to show and run them, but it didn't happen).
For this scenario, I ruled that the two army leaders (both level 9 fighters) would add 2 figures to any unit they were attached to and would give a +1 to morale checks. I also decided any fighter type of level 4-8 would add one figure to a unit it was attached to, but no morale bump (this included the cleric, Ftr/MU and monk PCs and the lesser officer escorting the party; but neither the illusionist nor the female MU). Each side also had a few banners that just added +1 to morale but could be removed in lieu of a casualty instead (doing so required an immediate morale check, though). Spells would be based on AD&D rules except fireball and lightning bolt which were covered by Chainmail. Everything else would be decided by me as DM as I saw fit.
MAP OF HOLYTON AREA:
The Layout was basically a road running from the east to west edges of the table (4' x 8' in size). To the east was a fair amount of terrain - low hills, woodlands, some walls and farms, etc. This opened to flat land before the walls of Holyton and the Fortress Gate (foreground). The wall was paralleled by a moat and road. Sitting just at maximum shortbow/light crossbow range was a partial circumvallation wall (in the scenario, the wall was from a previous siege and never totally demolished, so the new army had it easy -- a line of rubble was placed parallel to it across the road to interfere with cavalry). In addition, stake lines were emplaced to protect the main encampment and extend the partial circumvallation walls. Bowmen were prominently placed on the walls as a reminder that the city was garrisoned. I hinted at possible heavy crossbows that could fire into the party's forces, but they never materialized.
THE FIELD OF BATTLE:
The party's force consisted entirely of footmen (owing to a lack of painted cavalry figs on my part!). There was a single force of Armored Foot, a few Heavy Foot, and several Light Foot, including small units of shortbow and light crossbow. There were individual figures for Brandoch, the party's escorting officer, a few banners, and the four party members themselves (a Gnome thief/illusionist, a half-orc Monk, a human cleric, and a human fighter/thief).
Order of Battle
Levy Spear (Light Foot) - 10 figs
Levy Spear (Light Foot) - 10 figs
Levy Spear (Light Foot) - 8 figs
Clinan Mace (Hvy Foot) - 8 figs
Highlanders (Heavy Foot) - 8 figs
Swordsmen (Armored Foot) - 10 figs
Lt Crossbow (Light Foot) - 7 figs
Shortbow (Light Foot) - 8 figs
Lord Brandoch (Ftr9 ~ Superhero)
Deputy Cdr (Ftr5 ~ Hero)
2 Banners
The Party
Lieutenant Oddo
Reinforcements:
Mordav Foot (Armored Foot) - 8 figs
Thalas Mercenaries (Heavy Foot) - 8 figs (plus a captain)
PARTY FORCES:
The party deployed much of their force in the encampment, behind the stakes as they knew the enemy had cavalry. They deployed light forces to either wing in a slight U-shape.
PARTY'S DEPLOYMENT:
The Relief Force, on the other hand, came as a column up the road. Unknown to the party, their goal is not to seek to break the siege (they are not numerous enough) but to get reinforcements into the city. The city is low on soldiers and an extra thousand men would go far to beefing up its defenses and allowing it to hold long enough for a proper relief force to be mustered. Thus, they are not interested in a pitched battle, per se. The force is led by Baron Horrocks of Torquilstone, commanding over 1000 foot and a few hundred Medium Horse. They are similar in numbers to their foe, but have somewhat of a qualitative edge.
Relief Force Order of Battle
Torquilstone Medium Horse - 8 figures
Torquilstone Foot (Armored Foot) - 10 figures
Shortbow (Light Foot) - 8 figures
Shortbow (Light Foot) - 8 figures
Delton Axe (Heavy Foot) - 6 figures
Halberd (Light Foot) - 12 figures
Fennin Sword (Heavy Foot) - 8 figures
Harlond Axe (Heavy Foot) - 10 figures
Fellstone Axe (Heavy Foot) - 8 figures
Baron Horrocks of Torquilstone (Ftr9 ~ Superhero)
Lieutenant (Ftr5 ~ Hero)
Hildur of Torquilstone (Magic-user 6)
2 Banners
Baggage Train - 3 figures
Available as desired:
Holyton Garrison (Heavy Foot) - 10 figures
RELIEF COLUMN DEPLOYMENT:
Given their objective, the Relief Force marches to just outside of bow shot (and ballista range -- the party's force has one available) and begins to form a conventional line of battle to lull the party into a sense that this is meant to be a straight fight. The Relief Force's left side is their heavy Foot, which will be used to screen the main force as it tries to slip to the right around the party and their fortified position.
FORMING THE LINES:
And before the real fighting even started, the AD&D aspects of the fight began to pop up. The party's cleric rather brazenly decided to come out between the lines in order to "get in spell range." All well and good, except the actual forces did not move with him, so it presented an odd sight as some crazed holy man stepped between two great armies and began to point his wand (of fear) and otherwise attract the amused attention of both sides. He would realize in time that being alone between two fighting armies was a bad idea!
PERUDO THE HOLY MAN:
Their lines formed, at this point the only activity was when one unit of Heavy Foot on the Relief Force's far left climbed a nearby hill, accompanied by a lesser officer and their lone female magic-user. They had no intent to do anything other than draw attention, which they did when the party's fighter/magic-user slipped into bow range and began plinking at the sorceress with his longbow. She took this ill and, overcoming his 90% invisibility from a cloak of elvenkind, blasted him with magic missiles before accompanying her force back downhill and to its place on the extreme left. The fighter would continue to plague the lady sorcerer with relative impunity.
PREPARATION FOR BATTLE:
(note the fighter/MU top and the cleric in the center; Baron Horrocks is on the white horse)
The Relief Force now moved into arrow range and, despite the limited number of missile units, the party began to take a small but consistent toll on the advancing enemy. At this point, I began to oblique the Relief Force to the right, before coming into melee. The party saw this but was reluctant, I think, to give up their good defensive position. However, their Light Foot on their far left apparently got excited and charged my far right force, triggering the first melee. Although they did not survive long (but longer than they should have), they did disrupt my swing to the right, albeit unintentionally, or so I gathered.
MOVE TO CONTACT:
FIRST MELEE:
(at the bottom of the pic -- my main forces continued past that fight instead of joining it for a quick kill, as timing was important for my plan. At center, you can see my forces slipping to their right and dodging the main body of the enemy).
THE FIELD
At this point, the AD&D aspects of the game became more intrusive. The party in my campaign are lowish levels (6th more or less). They don't have a normal magic-user (he was killed previously) and are a bit light on magic items, having burned through so many in previous adventures. However, they do have a few items that they decided to try in this fight, most notably a wand of wonder and a wand of fear. I adjudicated every AD&Dism as it came up. For the wand of fear, I decided it would force a morale check on any unit that was mostly within its area of effect. The wand of wonder was more problematic, as its effects were so varied (I use my own, expanded list of possible effects). Other items I did case by case; for instance, one player gave "some soldier" a potion of heroism -- I decided that it gave that unit an extra figure equivalent while the potion was in effect. For any instance when a PC or single NPC was in play, I went with the usual AD&D rules. At one point, for example, the Medium Horse rode by the fighter-thief; I rolled ten d20 for attacks on him as they passed by, but thankfully he has excellent armor). The result was a hodgepodge, but one that turned out really effective and really fun in execution!
As the armies closed, the wand of fear proved to be largely ineffective (until one very noteworthy instance later). The first notable effect of the wand of wonder, however, was to enclose the half-orc monk wielder in an iron cage. Fortunately, despite his very low strength, he was able to break free on his own.
NICE ROLL!
The next effect of that wand, however, was a fireball into the Relief Force's lead unit of Medium Horse. This killed 1/4 of the best force on the field. At this point, I made the decision that Baron Horrocks, then attached to that force, really was irked at this affront. To repay the dastardly deed, he wheeled his Medium Horse and attacked the formation the half-orc was attached to. Thus, the beautifully conceived plan to reinforce the city vanished into feudal bloodletting and a death or glory fight for honor (these armies are highly feudalistic and chivalrous in my campaign, so it seemed reasonable).
CAVALRY ON THE LEFT FLANK OF THE PARTY'S FORCE
The cavalry, of course, proved devastating to everything they came against, and they soon began to roll up the Party's left flank, supported by units of their own Heavy and Armored foot. To pile on, my female MU had shifted units to one more forward but she had come under harassment from the party's cleric and his magic returning throwing hammer. Seeing a golden opportunity though, she let loose her one powerful spell - a lightning bolt through the PC cleric and into their unit of Armored Foot. The cleric took the bolt as per AD&D rules (and lived) but the soldiers took it as per Chainmail rules, which limited their casualties due to the much decreased range under the older rules - still, it was a hard blow to their single good unit.
But the party was not done yet. As before, the fighter/MU used his stealth to slip up behind the distracted sorceress and backstabbed her, killing her outright (he'd previously discovered that she was protected by spells including shield and protection from normal missiles).
THE DEATH OF HILDUR, SORCERESS OF TORQUILSTONE
Meanwhile, the party's Gnome illusionist-thief had become invisible and begun to harass and slow the movement of a baggage train that was slowly coming up behind the advancing Relief Force. Through a combination of magic items and spells, he'd sown confusion and chaos in their path, though he was unable to do anything materially to stop or destroy them. The party's forces were entirely too busy to do anything to aid him in his efforts.
ULTHAR THE GNOME THROWS A FOG CLOUD AT THE BAGGAGE TRAIN
Things were now looking bleak for the party, as my Medium Horse and Armored Foot were smashing everything in their path. But then, finally, they had a stroke of luck. A relief force had crossed the pontoon bridge and was enroute (consisting of a ten-figure force of Heavy Foot mercenaries and an eight-figure unit of Armored Foot). But they were still a ways away and it looked like they would be too late to turn the tide. And then I rolled a three; specifically, my Armored Foot was zapped by the wand of fear and, needing merely a four or better on 2d6, I failed to get it. My Armored Foot broke and retreated. They rallied quickly after, but there was just enough time for the party to throw their reinforcements into a makeshift line and turn the tide at the last second. It was a dramatic turn to the battle! With the extra force they were able to turn back my Armored Foot and Medium Horse. The latter was locked into melee and surrounded on three sides. True to their chivalrous nature, they would not break, but instead died to the last man (well, next to last man, as their lord survived the onslaught and fled the carnage, abandoning his Armored Foot and galloping to join the baggage train and its guard force as it slowly slipped towards the city.
THE TIDE TURNS
reverse angle
THE BAGGAGE TRAIN IS JOINED BY LORD HORROCKS
Around this time, the city garrison sortied a force of Heavy Foot. They did not engage nor were they otherwise involved as more than a demonstration of force and distraction. However, they did make the implied threat that they would rescue the baggage train, if necessary.
CITY GARRISON COMES FORTH
(note the dark figure adjacent to them. That's the half-orc PC. As a by-blow of the wand of wonder, he'd become invisible, so he decided to check on slipping into the city which was, after all, their primary desire. However, entering a crowded courtyard with a few hundred soldiers, and splitting the party, seemed ill-advised, so he was content to just peer inside.)
The last of the Relief Force was now destroyed in detail or fled back the way they'd come, as the baggage train and its guard force was allowed to slip unmolested into the city. The Relief Force had lost a thousand men and more; in the end, only a force of 160 men (8 figures of Heavy Foot) and the baggage train, accompanied by Horrocks himself, made it into the city intact. Although the defenders had lost nearly as many men, I ruled it a minor tactical victory but a major strategic victory for the party. The city's defenses were not significantly improved by the force that made it inside, and the loss of a thousand men would reduce forces available for later relief of the city. The party had performed well in their PC personas, thus ensuring recognition by the Lord Juss and Baron Brandoch (all save the Gnome, who had no witnesses to his many efforts! But, then again, life is not fair!). For their part, the party has come no closer to their desire to enter the city, and may find themselves involved in the siege as mercenaries and lesser captains, despite their better judgment.
It was the first time I'd run a game like this and it turned out great. It required a lot of on-the-fly calls to mesh AD&D and Chainmail, but it worked very smoothly and I will definitely do it again.
AFTERMATH