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Dannan vs Tir Tautha

This 100 point battle features some of the new Damsel types in the Articles section giving the maidens a chance to show the Goddesses what they've got!

Learning the lessons from the battle, it is replayed, same armies with different Item & Magic choices.

The Tir Tautha Army

Unit 1 2 x Javelineer
1 x Archer
30 Points
Unit 2 2 x Javelineer
1 x Archer
30 Points
Unit 3,4 2 x Sidhe Ravers 16 Points
Unit 5 3 x Tir Rangers 30 Points
Total 106 Points
Heroines Gwellyn 12 Points
Ancient Heirloom A+1 5 Points
Sharp Tongued 2 Points
Items Dryads 5 Points
Unit 5 - Tautha Long Bow 5 Points
Unit 1 - Fae Glyphs 5 Points
Unit 2 - Fae Glyphs 5 Points
Totals 19 Heroine Points
20 Item Points

Gwellyn has decided to see if her force can stand toe to toe with the sun-haired maidens. Her Ancient Heirloom is to make her more vicious in a Duel and a Sharp Tongue will make the enemy Heroine think twice about refusing the Duel. The Ravers are to provide support for the Javelineer Units who have painted themselves with Fae glyphs to make them immune from pain. The Rangers are to provide flank support and deadly missile fire with their long bows.

The Dannan Army

Unit 1 3 x Hoplite 1st Class 45 Points
Unit 2 2 x Hoplite 2nd Class 24 Points
Unit 3 3 x Cult Slingers 24 Points
Unit 4 2 x Slingers 10 Points
Total 103 Points
Heroines Lucidia 10 Points 
Allaeki 10 Points
Items Lucidia - Divine Chant 5 Points
Unit 2 - Musician 5 Points
Unit 1 - Honed Weapons 10 Points
Total 20 Heroine Points
20 Item Points

The Priestess Lucidia has brought with her a powerful force of Hoplites. The 1st Class are to be truly destructive in Melee using superbly crafted spears, which she will boost further with Divine Chant calling upon Aryiki's favour. A Musician with the 2nd Class will ensure their quick advance towards the enemy. A large number of Slingers, most of then Cult Acolytes provide the fire support to offset Tir missiles. Allaeki's presence as the Duelling Heroine, and a threat to maidens in her own right will make the 1st Class even more formidable.

The Meadow of Glamour

A rocky pond dominates the north-west corner whist a large wood covers the south-east restricting possible flank moves and likely to force the battle to be in the centre. 


The meadow and the game released!

The first roll to determine attacker/defender is a tie (3,3). On the reroll the Tir get a 2 and the Dannan 1. Gwellyn chooses to be the defender and picks the east edge as the wood there will provide perfect cover for her Rangers. Lucidia tries to force the Tir away from the wood but fails on a roll of 2. The armies then deploy.


The Dannan deploy so their maidens can avoid
the wood where Dryads and Tir Rangers hide.

Turn 1

Lucidia cast her eyes to the blossoming trees and suppressed a shudder. Inside she knew there had to be the woodland nymphs, ready to catch one of her maidens and drag her into its grove where the maiden would never be seen or heard of again. But the trees would also hold the enemy and from the cover they could shoot at her lines of damsels with impunity unless her own sling armed girls could answer back. So nodding to Allaeki, her chosen Heroine, a true follower of the Goddess Aryiki, the signal to advance was given; Hoplites to the fore with their large hoplon raised, slingers behind ready to cast their rocks.

The enemy would come to her, Gwellyn saw. Just as they always did. And in the true manner of her people she would shower them with white shafted arrows and javelins before crying out to the orange Sun, the colour of war, to attack and defeat her foes utterly. Their hair she would weave into fine leggings to wear for the next battle. Pointing towards the line of glimmering bronze she says "There are your enemies!" and her maidens shout out and clash javelin against shield whilst the Archers raised their bows... 

The Acolyte Slingers open the missile fire, hurling their rocks between the shields of the Hoplite maidens in front. The column of Tir furthest from the wood is pushed back twice, the other one only once as Tir bows answer and break up the Hoplite line with recoils and push backs along it, but no casualties.

Turn 2

Sticking to the plan the Hoplites continue to move ahead as far as possible against the weight of the archery. Lucidia beings to chant for the divine aid of the Goddess Aryiki to bless the arms of her Acolytes so they may strike down the banshees of the golden hair. Beside the Priestess Allaeki is caught up in the fevered moment and calls out to her maidens to press ahead and paint the enemies skin red with their blood.

Gwellyn orders to line to widen just a little. Doing so thins her strength but otherwise the enemy could threaten her flank if they get close enough. Her aim is also to maximise the amount of firepower at her disposal for when the enemy does get into javelin range. At the other end of her line the Rangers stay in place, using the cover of the trees and the presence of the Dryads to discourage any close approach.

Stones and arrows hurtle by each other again, the increasing whistles making the maidens reflexively raise their shields.

The Ranger's fire is deadly, slaughtering one Stand of 2nd Class Hoplites as their arrows fly low and deadly, skimming over the top of the meadow grass to strike unprotected flesh and bone beneath the shield rim. The other Stand looses heart and flees leaving only separated Slingers to face the next barrage. Their fire only pushes back a Stand of Rangers once.

The Hoplite 1st Class again have their formation disrupted. The Acolyte Slingers manage to push the Tir back but can't cause enough hits against the fae glyph painted bodies. The marks of the spirits are doing their protective work.

Turn 3

Lucidia curses down Aryiki's wrath on the Tir. "Get them, kill them!" she screams urging the Hoplites on. Her stare at Allaeki chills the Heroine's blood. Turning towards the enemy she leads from the front, preferring to face the long arrows of the enemy than the Priestess and Goddess. Bravely, suicidally maybe, the Slingers remain facing the Rangers, offering themselves as targets so their sisters may escape the attention of the deadly rain for a few more moments.

Sensing blood the Rangers move closer to the edge of the wood, ready to move out when they have disposed of the unprotected girls and their weak slings. In the open Gwellyn shifts her line to match up with the slowly approaching Hoplites. All sides fire will be affected but Gwellyn knows that she will need all of her maidens to hold against the Hoplite charge.


The open ground was where the Hoplites 2nd Class
and Slingers had been, slaughtered by the Rangers.

As expected the Tir Rangers pick off the poor Slingers with ease, killing them all. The Slingers gave back some punishment, pushing two Stands back but not getting any second hits that would have killed a Stand.

Gwellyn's tactic worked. Each Stand of Acolyte Slingers had to shoot at a different target making it impossible for them to cause 3 hits to destroy a Stand. Some Archers are pushed back twice as Goddess guided stones crash hard into their bare limbs until the Tir line is staggered backwards.

The Tir return fire only causes minor push backs on either end of the Hoplite line.

Turn 4

Only the elite Hoplites and fanatical Acolytes remain; the two toughest Units under Lucidia's command. She keeps her eyes adverted from the bloodied bodies of the dead maidens, their red blood darkening the fiery orange of their hair. The Hoplite line closes.

And is met by Gwellyn pointing forward. With a cry the Tir maidens rush forward with javelins ready to be cast. The Rangers begin to emerge from the trees, leaving the disappointed abor faces of Dryads; no victims came into their wood for them to feast on. If the Tir win captives may be brought to them for their allegiance.

The weight of fire, javelins and arrows three feet long, is the thickest against the end of the Hoplite line. The row of Hoplites are cut down simply unable to defend from all angles at once.

The rest of the exchange recoils the Hoplites out of charge range. They will have to endure another turn of fire - if they can.

Turn 5

Allaeki presses on her with survivors, quickly dwindling in number. Lucidia rushes to catch up to the line, just so she can hide herself in their ranks from the missiles.

The Tir charge in, lead by the blood curdling cries of the Sidhe Ravers, their frightening masks red and orange, the colours of War and Anger. Smelling the scent of victory and the kill of the hunt the Rangers leap forward as well, not wanting to miss out on whetting their knives on fair skin.

The few damsels shooting turn a pair of Acolytes into pincushions, aiming at their nude bodies, laughing at the stupidity of them wearing helmets and nothing else! The Acolytes shooting drives back some Archers and Javelineers so they cannot assist in the melee.


Gwellyn wants to fight! The opposing maidens
crash, spear against javelin.

"Fight me!" Gwellyn shouts, brandishing Eth'Cun, the wide bladed sword that had been passed down for generations in her family.

"I will kill you!" Allaeki responds, leaping over her slain comrades holding her spear high above her head for the downward death stroke.

Allaeki isn't the strongest or toughest of Dannan maidens, but she is fully armoured in her corset, helm and shield. Gwellyn puts all her strength into a single blow hoping to break through the armour with her blade and kill her opponent instantly. But her blow, despite all her strength and all her glamour, golden hair billowing like a halo about her stern face, clangs off the redheads shield leaving a long scar. Off balance she is almost caught by Allaeki's spear, twisting hard enough and leaping away like a cat to avoid any harm. Glaring, answered in return, she readies to attack again.


In the midst of the melee, the Heroines Allaeki
and Gwellyn find each other and fight!

Around their personal duel the melee rages as Hoplites backed by Acolytes receive the crash of Javelineers and screaming Ravers. Lucidia again asks for the blessing of her Goddess to fill the hearts of her valiant warrior with the desire to win and divine prayers escape their lips.

The sunlight dancing off the blades of the twirling Ravers blind the Hoplites and they only manage two hits, and take three in return from the combined attacks of two Ravers and supported Javelineers. Yet despite all the thrusts and cuts and the heat of violence only one Raver follows up, now alone with spears aimed at her heart.

Turn 6

Allaeki knows her survivors are in trouble but there is nothing she can do but hope that their skill and training will miraculously see them through the trying day. She advances on the banshee again, aware of her tricks this time. The Acolytes slide away from the flanking Rangers, not wanting to end up like their mates, dead. Lucidia takes their place and draws her sword, her chanting louder and more fevered than ever before in her life.

The other Raver hurtles into the Hoplite line, a veritable blur of knives, red and gold. Behind the Sidhe the Javelineers spill around to attack the other Hoplites, Archers adding their support in the rear rank as they did when fighting the saurian Tentac.

Two Rangers, two arrows, and two Acolytes pitch forward shot in the back, their cries muffled by the helmets they so proudly wore. The last two, burning zeal do not run, but can hit nothing in response, shaking too strongly.

Gwellyn and Allaeki clash again, and the stalemate continues as neither can penetrate the tight defences of the other. Grudgingly their respect for each other grows, sunset against sun-noon.

The Ravers score four hits on the Hoplites, slipping through the shields to stab at the damsel behind. Yet doing so, and made with the power of their War Goddess they leave themselves open, and without armour, swords and spears send them both to the ground in bloody ruin. Lucidia shouts triumphantly, her own blade gored.

The other melee sees four Hoplites pushed back under the weight of nine in black and gold. The Fae glyphs turning aside the broad spear heads.

Turn 7

The battle continues but the outnumbered Dannan know that they are loosing. Only a pair of Tir have fallen to them whilst well over a dozen of their own are dead and others running away. But not defeated the Hoplites charge and with the intervention of the Goddess herself the Tir Javelineers are taken with panic and turn their backs (both Units rolled 1 on Glamour tests).

Gwellyn is isolated from her kin, her Rangers too far away. Yet she wont run from the Dannan. She will stay and fight, to give courage back to her maidens.


The Hoplite's Glamour makes the Tir flee, leaving
Gwellyn on her own. But it is too late for the Dannan.

Or was the flight of the Tir's feigned - a deadly trap? As now javelins come rushing against shield, so close that the tips shatter wood and dent bronze, forcing both Hoplite Stands back twice. Arrows from behind add to the confusion.

Blood runs as both Heroines strike each other. Still they are locked in a titanic struggle, neither wanting to give way. Sweat pours down into their eyes and coats them with sparkles in the sunlight, painful to look at. They are two avatars of their religion fighting for dominance.

Turn 8

Lucidia awakens to the reality of the battle, her face dismayed. All around her are the enemy, screaming for her blood, their golden hair becoming all she could see, mocking her. "Fear not, Priestess," a Hoplite says waking her, "We can still die with glamour in the Old Tales!". Reminded that her people stretch further back than the Goddess, the Priestess regains some courage, enough to join the ranks of the few and advance.

The Tir do not meet them. As their Heroine fights her duel their ardour to exchange blows with bronze is weakened, and when they can strike from a distance without repercussion? Javelins and arrows fly.

And so do the Hoplites fall leaving one Stand left, and the last Acolytes are killed in hand to hand.

For Allaeki her last act is to kill and as Gwellyn rushes at her she sees an opening and thrusts with her spear and blood gushes from a wound to the Tir's thigh. Yet Allaeki feels pain also as the momentum of the Tir's attack carries her forward, the shaft of the spear pushing deep into her leg and the knife she wields stabs.

Wounded, Allaeki drops her spear and stumbled back, all around her she sees the dead, all of them with orange hair like her own. She is still alive. The only one. A disgrace... from beneath her tunic she withdraws a knife ready to end her dishonour.

"Ay! Stop her!" Gwellyn shouts as she falls into the hands of her maidens, the Dannan's spearhead dripping out the other side of her thigh. Faintness begins to overwhelm, she struggles to stay awake, as her foe is taken and disarmed.

Then Gwellyn faints, knowing her respected enemy will live, and she can honour her valiance.


Allaeki, the sole Dannan survivor at the feet of the victor: Gwellyn.

The Result

A truly decisive victory for the Tir Tautha, their archery blew the Dannan away and in melee they were able to hold the few Hoplites that they engaged until they could be surrounded and finally picked off. The Tir's victory was assured when the Rangers were able to concentrate their shooting on a single Hoplite 2nd Class Stand and managed to score 4 hits out of 6 dice (needing 3+ to Hit thanks to their exceptional bows). The one loss Routed the Unit (it only had 2 Stands) and left the Slingers unprotected and then the flank of the entire Dannan army, which wasn't close enough at that time to get into melee and even the losses.

The lessons learnt from this battle are fairly simple. Missile fire is very dangerous if concentrated on one Stand, and can seriously slow an advance. Hoplites only have M3 so two push backs (6cm) eliminate most of its next move. There are ways for Aryidannan players to decrease the power of Tir archery (all Tir Stands have some missile capability) which will be discovered in the refight of this battle! The Goddess Aryiki is far too angry and embarrassed to let such a defeat go unpunished.

The Refight

Will Lucidia be able to come back from her heavy defeat in the battle above and inflict a loss on the Tir? In this rematch the armies and meadow are the same; only the Items &  Magic Points can be altered to equip the damsels with different items.


Gwellyn and her Dannan captive; she is waiting
to add more fiery hair to her strong grip.

The Dannan Changes

It was the long Tir arrows that slaughtered nude Slingers and heavily armoured Hoplites equally that gave the battle to the golden-haired banshees. Only a few brave maidens managed to get into melee before being overwhelmed and shot at from behind. To counter the deadly missile fire the Dannan Hoplites of the 2nd Class will march into battle with thick drapes hanging from their shields to protect them even further. And to make the Hoplites 1st Class even more impregnable they are all wearing burnished bronze corsets, the sun-shining metal matched to the individual's shape.

Unit 1- Bronze Corsets 10 Points
Unit 2 - Shield Drapes 5 Points
Lucidia - Divine Chant 5 Points

The Tir Changes

Victory being theirs mainly through the might and accuracy of their arrows, Gwellyn sees little to change in her Items. The Dannan will be tougher to kill by archery in this fight so she still wants to keep the Fae Glyphs on her fighting maidens to provide that extra bit of protection during melee and against the Slingers. It is the Dryads she lets loose; the Dannan won't come into the forest unless they are sure no Dyrads are about. With the points both the Ravers are made Blossoming Maidens, boosting their A to 3, all of which can be used in support.

Unit 1- Fae Glyphs 5 Points
Unit 2 - Fae Glyphs 5 Points
Unit 3 - Blossoming Maiden 2 Points
Unit 4 - Blossoming Maiden 2 Points
Unit 5 - Tautha Long Bow 5 Points

The Meadow of Glamour

The Meadow is exactly as it was in the first battle. The dispositions of the armies have changed. The Dannan army is deployed in front of the bond in a solid block fronted by Hopites and their bristling spears with the Slingers behind ready to cast stones. The Tir's deployment is much like the first successful battle; the Rangers in the woodland and the maidens in their traditional deep formation in the clear and near the woods.

Turn 1

Lucidia nods her head and Allaeki raises her spear. She points it forward, bright leaf head of sharp steel pointed towards the enemy. "For Dannan and Aryiki!" the Heroine shouts and the line of grim maidens begin their advance, waiting with dread for the missiles to come.


Aryiki Cult Acolyte Slingers let fly and their aim is guided by the Goddess.

"Here they come again, sisters, as before, and we shall defeat them as before!" Gwellyn shouts joyfully. She is not perturbed that all the enemie's shields are directly in front of her and many have armour as bright as her own hair or awnings hanging from their round shields, upon which are the paintings of reclined maidens. Soon the flame-haired maidens will be reclining, with long darts pierced through them.

Lucidia calls for her Goddesses Blessing and her call the Glamourous Divinity is heard. Whipping their leather thongs above their helmeted heads a two young Acolytes let fly and cast their stones into the trees and cries of pain are their reward. Each stone shatters bone and draws blood and screams (double six rolled for attack killing a Stand of Rangers!).

The other Slingers, sighing in awe, release their own and also have good success, pushing a Unit of Javelineers back twice.

The Tir counterfire is shaken but still with strenght. Both columns of Hoplites 1st Class are pushed back twice, never in fear of suffering grevious wounds with their bronze corsets protecting them. Still, the heavy fire means that they have barely moved forward. Still, it is better than being dead.

Turn 2

The Hoplites 2nd Class keep moving ahead at full pace to pressure the savage Javelineers in front of them - they have the shame of girls wearing nothing but some kind of stocking! The 1st Class also move ahead still aware that they will bear the brunt of the missile fire, as Allaeki had planned so the 2nd Class will reach the enmy line intact. In melee they are just as skilled as the 1st.

Gwellyn shows her tactical skills by moving her Javelineers diagonally across the front of the closing Hoplites so all her javelins will be cast against the lesser armoured foes. The Rangers swing out of the wood to fire into the flank of the nearest column.

The Rotating Iniative is with the Gwellyn this turn. With loud snaps breaking the still air metre long darts fly fast and hard but only push back the column once. The sudden loss of their sisters having shaken the Rangers.

The other arrows bounce harmlessly from the bronze corsets and thick shields, even Gwellyn's own. She curses and hopes the javelins of her maidens will bring some success. Those hopes too are faded as the round shields lock into an impeneterable wall and the javelins snap harmlessly against them.

Again aided by the Goddess the Acolyte's slings are true and push back one of the Javelineer Units twice. This time the other girls get their first victims with their stones, bringing down three maidens and sending the others scurrying back in fear.

Turn 3

"Forward, massacre them!" Lucidia screams as she sees victory and a deep blood heat infuses her soul, the presence of her Goddess. Shouting wildly the Hoplites strike the long shafts of their spears against the rim of their shields. The must either come to them or flee the meadow! To cover the flank the Acolytes direct their attention back to the Rangers, ready to finish the duel. Aryiki will be with them.

Gwellyn leads the charge into the Hoplites 2nd Class, again the speed of her Tir legs allowing her diminishing force to move across the front of the shield wall. Beside her a Sidhe Raver screams in the twisted language of the forest, the spirits within her. The Rangers seek safety in the cover of the wood.

The slings of the Acolytes are truly guided by the Goddess! A second double six attack drops two more Tir maidens to the ground, unconscious or dead, equally removed from the fighting. The rest drop their bows and run and are lost in the trees leaving their still sisters behind. Their own shooting only scored one hit on some Hoplites. In this battle the tables have turned on them.


The Ranger's are out classed by the young Acolytes and flee.

The shooting does not go all the Dannan's way. Caught by the speedy advance of the Javelineers, the other Slingers are speared down and run leaving the flank wide open.

The rout of the Slingers removes a support bonus for the Hopites 2nd Class who are hotly enaged with Javelineers and a crazed Raver. The Fae Glyphs painted on the Tir maiden's skin glow brightly and deflect half the spears thrust at them. In return nearly a dozen Tir, including Gwellyn stab and hurl themselves into the Hoplites and send long streams of red to stain the green grass. The Dannan damsel's eyes grow wide in fear as the Raver bursts between two shields and with her wide knives carves bloody wounds. When Gwellyn, dragging a captured maiden in a torn tunic enters the fray the morale of the Hoplites snap and they flee only to be cut down from behind.


Slingers and Hoplites 2nd Class fall to the Tir assault.

Turn 4

Lucidia cannot believe it. The impossible has happened! A Unit of Hoplites has been routed by the savages. "Allaeki, kill them all!" she screams as the Hoplites 1st Class swing around to hit the Javelineers and their Heroine in the flank, easily passing the Glamour test. Lucidia quickly moves away from the melee into the protection of her Acolytes, pleased at least with their service and the knowledge that they will sacrifice themselves for her.

Gwellyn sees the Danna Heroine and hold aloft her spear and the challenge is accepted. All around her maidens fight and die in melee, she can do nothing to help them whilst her own foe lives. The weakened Javelineer Unit shifts to be redy to strike the flank of the last Hoplites. The battle this turn could decide all.

Tir Archers slay two Acolytes with bow fire. Lucidia her attentions turned to the battle of spear against javelin denies her aid to the Acolytes and their casts ricochete off the green painted Tir shields.

"Gwellyn! I will have my victory this time!" Allaeki shouts as she casts her spear iniating the duel, putting one of her Glamour into the strike and scores three hits. Gwellyn does not try to dodge the spear and rushes in with her own shorter weapon. The spear strikes her directly and deeply and blood gushes from the wound and her mouth, yet her face is inches from Allaeki's and her spear has bitten deep into the Dannan's side. "I'll see you in the afterlife!" Gwellyn chokes before falling, impaled, having only caused one hit and using all her Glamour to bleed the Heroine.

And a great wail rises from the Tir's maidens as they see their beloved fall. Mad they become, mad with rage, hearts boiling for revenge. Savagely they attack the Hoplites, blindly with tears in their eyes. The Hoplites stoically maintain their superior composure and stab and thrust and golden manes fall at their feet. Six maidens are felled and the others retreat, still blinded by hate to see that the battle is all but lost.

A Reaver too falls, half a dozen wide wounds in her torso.

Turn 5

The battle is nearly over, only a handfull of Tir remain. The Hoplites reform their line and meet the last doomed charge.


The battle is won! Victory for the Dannan and Aryiki. 

The result is inevitable. The thinned ranks of Tir barely scratch a shield and are routed in detail by the professional damsels who keep their line solid.

The Result

Lucidia and the Dannan have their revenge, vanquishing the Tir band with barely a survivor to tell of the bloody battle. Yet the victory was not as convincing as Gwellyn's; many Dannan maidens also fell and again from the smaller Units even through Lucidia had thought them placed furthest from danger: it was the speed of the Tir and Gwellyn's awareness of the battle that saw the Tir have a good chance at grasping victory firmly to their bosom again.

The Duel was like the battle, short and vicious. Gwellyn used all her Glamour to inflict one wound on Allaeki but her normal attack wasn't strong enough to penetrate the Heroine's thick armour and she left herself exposed and paid for it dearly. However her death helped the Tir fight another turn as it made one Unit Fanatical with sorrow when it would have routed otherwise after loosing two Stands in Melee.

A deciding difference was the prowess of the Acolytes, aided by the Goddess and the poor shooting in response by the Rangers. Being behind the heavier armoured 1st Class the Acolytes were safe from fire whilst rolled high attacks to rout the Rangers without loss. In all the Tir shooting was much less effective because of the better defense rating of the Hoplites and there was little concentration of fire; Gwellyn also had to keep moving her damsels forward or some could have been pushed off the Meadow by slingshots.

Overall a much more entertaining game where the Dannan learnt from their experience much like the real maidens have done in the battle for Tautha.