[font="arial]Warm greetings to you my fellow beards,

I hope this letter finds you full of many different kinds of ale. It is my happy privilege to inform you of my great victory against an incursion of Empire troops. While it was not bloodless on the end of the Dwarves it was however quite costly for the Empire and they will not soon be back.

Led by the Arch Lector on his war alter, the Empire army consisted of 2 units of knights of the inner circle, 3 units of greatswords with detachments (3 halberdiers units, crossbowman, handgunners, and free company), a battle wizard, a warrior priest, a Pegasus captain, 2 great cannons, and one mortar.

In the end the lads that I chose to hold the valley with me were as follows (so as to keep the record in the great book of the hold):

Runelord with anvil of doom and runic talisman (MroBalance, RoSpellbreaking)
Master engineer (attached to the cannon)
25 Warriors with banner, musician, and shield
25 Longbeards with banner, musician, and shield
23 Hammerers with banner, musician, and shield
10 Quarrellers with shield
10 Thunderers with shield
10 Thunderers with shield
Cannon with RoForging (MEngineer attached)
Bolt Thrower with an engineer and RoSeeking, RoPenetrating
Grudge Thrower with an engineer and RoAccuracy, RoPenetrating
Organ Gun

We parked our shooters on a hill in the bottom right corner of the valley and had the melee line up just to the left of the hill. The Empire had just lined up in front of the hill and pulled their warmachines on top of the hill with one cannon trailing far behind in the opposite corner of the valley to our hill when the battle started. We started the engagement by taking the first shots. Mostly ineffective for the first as they were largely still out of range. The grudge thrower took a couple greatswords out and the cannon removed a few as well. The Runelord hit the wrong part of the anvil and the spell was dissipated into the ground. The Empire realized they had been seen and began to march against us. The cannons shot at us only hitting a couple of our longbeards. It seemed they tried their mortar but it miss-fired causing a great plum of smoke but no damage anywhere. The Runelord informs me they tried some magic to encourage their greatswords to become unbreakable but he was able to dispel their attempts.

Once they had moved further afield we opened fire again with similar results and slightly greater numbers as the previous time. This time the anvil succeeded and took a few halberdiers out. No movement yet from my warriors on the ground. The Empire continued their march toward us with both their knights bearing down on the longbeards to the far left. Their Arch Lector tried some sort of magical missile spell but was thwarted by my Runelord who also, once again, dispelled all attempts to bolster the Empire units. This time however the mortar was more effective and ended up hitting and killing 5 of my Hammerers. The cannons missed or miss-fired with no ill effects to themselves.

At this point the enemy was close enough for our Thunderers and Quarrellers to cause some damage and they took more than a few of the greatswords out. The cannon destroyed the Arch Lectors war alter causing him to join the group of greatswords with the wizard. The Runelord once again mis-struck the anvil with no impact to anything. The bolt thrower struck true and skewered the Pegasus captain leaving his mount to whimper for the remainder of the battle. The rest of the warmachines eliminated a number of other troops but each one remained focused on reaching our lines and was not turned back. While we reloaded the knights finally reached my longbeards who took a couple casualties but held to the charge. They managed to keep themselves positioned just right to avoid being flanked by the second unit of knights and so faced them toe-to-toe. The warriors next to them were not in a position to flank the knights and so remained ready for the greatswords coming their way. The cannons and mortars were ineffective once more and the Runelord kept all magics cast dispelled.

Finally my melee troops had been reached and were close enough to engage (except my longbeards who were already fighting the knights). My hammerers rushed to meet the center group of greatswords. This group was still in good shape and had both detachments of halberdiers who counter charged and flanked my hammerers on both sides. Because of the hammerers charging and the detachments flanking, the left most group of greatswords could not be reached, nor were the detachments in range of my warriors (just outside) so the warriors ended up just moving forward. The right most group of greatswords (with wizard and Lector) was focused on reaching my thunderers on the hill and ignored my melee troops entirely. My shooters each ended up much more effective this time and thinned out the greatswords (Lector group) to just two ranks and their halberdier detachment to just two troops. The anvil, cannons and grudge throwers took out a few more of the left most unit of greatswords but failed to cause them to rout. Finally engaged in combat, my hammerers held the greatswords in place and managed to eliminate a couple as well as one halberdier from each side while taking two casualties. The longbeards fought well and held off the knights with no kills but no casualties. The Empires troops rallied for another move and charged their troops into my thunderers and quarrellers. In expectation of this charge my shooters had hastily reloaded and shot into the remaining ranks of the greatswords and halberdiers. The last two halberdiers fell and the greatswords were thinned down to just five greatswords, the wizard, and the Arch Lector himself. The remaining troops were either already in combat or were not able to charged and so simply moved closer. My Runelord once again proved his worth and dispelled all magic attempted. The enemy shooters on the hill took their shots and cause a couple casualties in my warrior group but the cannons and mortar were completely ineffective, missing or misfiring. The unit of hammerers fought just as I hoped and held their own taking two more casualties and causing two more to their attackers. My thunderers also fared well better. Despite the charge of the greatswords unit my thunderers held taking only one casualty and causing one.

With the detachment of halberdiers blocking my warriors from the left most greatswords they charged into the halberdiers flank. My second unit of thunderers shot in the only remaining greatswords unit causing several more deaths. The grudge thrower misfired with the organ gun taking a few of the last unit of greatswords down and the cannon picking off a rifleman on the distant hill. The anvil was once again struck incorrectly and the ground absorbed the energies. During combat my longbeards once again proved why they are revered and held the knights at bay with no change to either group. The warriors killed four of the eight halberdiers causing them to flee in panic and chased them right into the last unengaged group of greatswords. The greatswords in the center struck first against my hammerers causing three casualties while my hammerers only caused two. Even as close as the killing was, they had the numbers and still had one flank which caused the unthinkable. My hammerers were not close enough to the longbeards to gain heart and panicked and fled the field. Even as they tried to get away they were caught and slaughtered to the last Dwarf. My hammerers unit was gone. My thunderers fared much better. During their combat they took one more casualty but ended up getting rid of the wizard and two of the last greatswords. Now it was down to three greatswordsmen and the Lector. The free company detachment of the left most greatswords charged my warriors flanks. The greatswords in the center changed direction to get ready for a charge into my warriors flank along with their halberdiers. One cannon and mortar misfired and the other cannon missed my war machines. The warriors held to the free company charge and even managed to kill a few of both the swords and the free company. The Arch Lector and his swords don’t manage to kill any thunderers but in the counter attack are wiped out completely. The knights kill one more longbeard while taking no casualties themselves. Both units hold to fight again.

Finally my lads managed to reload their weapons and the cannon takes a shot at the great cannon on the other hill and destroys it. The grudge thrower eliminates some of the swordsmen who are positioning to charge my warriors. My organ gun levels it’s barrels at the same swordsmen and takes out a few more. The final straw is when my two units of thunderers who kill the remaining swordsmen and halberdiers. After that all units in the Empire army break and run. The battle is over, the valley is held.

Over all we only lost a few lads in four units with one unit of hammerers being wiped out. The battle was a major victory for us and I learned a lesson or two. One of the major ones being that a runic standard on the Hammerers could have meant the difference between holding and running. Along with that is placing my longbeards in the center of my infantry line to provide their presence as a bolster against panic.

Thank you for your advice my fellow beards and know that I now toast each of you in turn!

Sincere regards,

Gen. Dageki[/font]