The Battle of Raynewood & Beyond
((Mid November 2007))
Surprisingly, it took a whole week before the two armies actually set out to join battle in the forest. This was mostly due to Trollbane wishing to wait for the night elven forces of Natures grasp to join the Vanguard in Astranaar. With all their force gathered, the Vanguard moved east along the road, and the Covenant moved west having heard of the alliances movements from their scouts.
Trollbane stopped his troops on the West side of the river separating western and eastern Ashenvale, near Raynewood Retreat. This was due to his own Ranger force returning to him, informing of the approaching Horde force coming along the road from the east. It wasn’t long before the Covenant arrived and took up positions also.
Unknowns to Arathorian rangers, Horde skirmishers had crossed the river to the south and were attempting to ready themselves for a surprise rear attack on the road and on the Vanguards flanks. Meanwhile Seiken was sizing up the Covenant force, which was larger than anticipated, which presented a problem. Deciding to use the bridge as a bottleneck and killing zone, he ordered immediate ranged skirmishing, letting loose volleys of arrows and spells to taunt the Horde troops into cross and being cut down. It didn’t work, Kozgugore ordered a return volley in kind. At the height of this furious mutual bombardment, the lone Blood Elf known as Lorath stepped up and ordered the outflanking force to attack, catching the Alliance rear by complete surprise.
Kozgugore ordered the Covenant's infantry charge over the bridge to complete the trap. Smashing into the melee troops of the Vanguard, who were obviously a little confused as to where to be looking, the Alliance slowly moved back. The rear attack force of the Horde was successfully routed by Trollbane’s Household Knights, but at the cost of the army being slowly pushed back. The order to fall back was given via horn signals. In order to ensure their safety, the Alliance troops dropped smoke screen flares to mask their escape (a valuable tactic practised in Loch Modan), breaking off the hand-to-hand combat with the covenant.
Kozgugore quickly rallied his troops when the smoke cleared and pursued the Alliance west towards Raynewood Retreat, smashing a small rear-guard left by Trollbane, which quickly scattered into the woods. The vast majority of the Alliance army had managed to reach Astranaar, however, relatively unharmed and in an orderly fashion. The Alliance commanders quickly decided to make a stand, but in a brilliant move, Trollbane shifted the army to a wooded area north east of Astranaar, just north of the stretch of road to the bridge and into the city. The order to keep quiet and hidden was given by word of mouth, instead of horns and they lay in wait.
The Covenant soon arrived, eager to finish what they started. But they found an unguarded bridge and simply looked beyond it toward what seemed to be an empty city. A sudden surge of confusion spread amongst the horde troops. Before they could react however, a ferocious roar of soldiers and horns echoed through the forest coming from the north, on the Covenant's exposed right flank. The Vanguard burst out of the woods in a full furious charge, smashing into the Covenant's flank.
A violent and frankly quite messy combat ensued as the two armies melded into one large mess of people fighting, though the Alliance had the advantage of a cavalry force made up of Aarian Northlight’s disciples moving around the field, mopping up enemy forces in their weaker spots. One particular clash was between the Arathorian Household Knights of Seiken Trollbane and the bodyguard of Overlord Kozgugore. The two Generals fought for several minutes but neither managed to defeat the other, until Kozgugore eventually withdrew behind a shield of other individuals fighting, having seen his own troops started to waver and route back east.
The Vanguard quickly took advantage, using its cavalry to mop up what enemy troops it could, and systematically chasing down their tired and fleeing enemy. The Sixty Thieves and Horde Watch quickly exited the scene, along with the Gurubashi. Most other Horde troops quickly fled to the Barrens along with the Red Blade orcs. It wasn’t long before the pursuing Alliance force led by Maelmoor and Seiken finished the task by dealing a serious blow to Splintertree Post, and its garrison.
Ashenvale had been ‘liberated’, in not so many words. And the members of Natures Grasp pledged their allegiance to the Vanguard. They were quickly accepted.
Come a week later, it was further decided to ‘keep the Horde reeling’ by attacking their forces taking refuge in Stonetalon. The elves specifically requested this for obvious reasons, however other commanders were more sceptical as to whether it was really required. In the end a token raiding force was dispatched using the Talondeep Path, built up of the Dwarves Rifle Squad, Maelmoor and a group of his knights, Arathorian rangers and troops led by Seiken, elves from Natures grasp and Aarian’s Disciples, while the rest of the army would return to the Eastern Kingdoms.
The force set out early on an evening, meeting no resistance on the Talondeep Path, and the Venture Co. didn’t even attempt to resist and simply fled the scene. Reaching the main road in the mountains, the Webwinder Path, the Alliance force promptly split into two parts, one led by Ranger Commander Arador Dawnweaver which would head north and seek out any Horde trade caravans or patrols, then meet the other group on the road north of Sun Rock Retreat, while the second group would raid the south.
The Horde had in fact spotted them, as they moved onto the main path with their scouts, and quickly reported back to Kozgugore in Sun Rock Retreat of what they were doing. Furthermore, he was discussing the situation and events of the battle in Ashenvale with Lorath, who had brought along his Horde Watch. Completely unaware of the presence of a larger Horde force, the detachment of troops from The Vanguard split, and set off on their tasks.
The second group ran into problems first, as Lorath led hit and run attacks on them in small ambushes, slowing down their progress. The primary and first group headed by Arador, on the other hand, found no resistance or signs of the enemy, the Red Blades had pulled all merchants and troops back into Sun Rock using its back door in the Charred Vale.
Meanwhile, Seiken and Maelmoor led the second group past the main entrance to Sun Rock, taking the high road above it, toward the Charred Vale. Having realized that the Horde obviously knew they were there, they wanted to meet up and regroup with the main raiding party quickly, to avoid getting cut apart separately.
Arador’s force soon entered the Charred Vale, pursuing the retreating and scattered Horde troops by following their tracks. Upon realizing the enemy had scaled the winding road into Sun Rock Retreat, Arador slowly advanced upward. Narrowly avoiding a large and well-dug in ambush by Red Blade orcs, Arador withdrew and headed toward the upper path that Maelmoor and Seiken were on, deciding that it would also be best to team up again also.
After some hours of guerilla fighting, in and around the upper paths, The Alliance raiding force decided it pointless to proceed, the enemy were far too well dug in, and that they had insufficient numbers or equipment to move them.
Maelmoor and Seiken ordered the withdrawal to Stonetalon Peak. The Covenant had snatched a small and meaningful victory, and Lorath was keen to point out the case for better organizing Horde forces in future, the point was taken.