Way of the Tiger book 5: Warbringer!
Part 2I’ve marched the bulk of my force out to meet Honoric in open battle, hoping the Demagogue and Lackland can hold Irsmuncast against the Rift forces. Five days out and with us close to Honoric’s huge army, I decide it’s time for a bit of ninja skills (something very lacking in the first half of this writeup) and don the black to go scout Honoric’s camp which is huge, numbering forces from Doomover, Mortalavon, Aveng and Greyguilds. I easily infiltrate the camp using my poison needles to liberate a uniform and discover not only is there some disunity amongst Honoric’s alliance but that his army also contains Wyverns. I’m spotted but am able to escape, using my disguise rather than brute force to get out of the camp.
Next morning there is another council of war, this one regarding our battle tactics. My army numbers roughly 10k, whilst Honoric’s over 18k - his force is listed in terrifying detail and I can’t tell you how much my heart sunk to see this on the page:
Honestly, the detail here is lovely, especially the unit names (The Rain of Doom!) and seeing old enemies such as monks of the Scarlet Mantis in the ranks.
Again I am given counsel, with Gwyneth and Glaivas offering a defensive plan, refusing one flank: Dore and the Wheel of Fate favour an offensive one, and the general from Fiendil and Antocidas offering a slightly more balanced one. Decades of Warhammer playing had me feeling refusing one flank would be unwise when the enemy had so much cavalry, and Dore’s plan seemed crazy given we were outnumbered, so I settle for the centre ground using the terrain to our advantage, with the Shieldmaidens holding the bridge, troops from Fiendil holding the ford, the Elves holding the wood, the men of the spires in between, the mercenaries in reserve and the rangers as my bodyguard. I also warn everyone about the Wyverns, and the White Wizard of Avatar says he’ll sort that out and he also remains with me. This is then all depicted in a little map:
I especially like the fact that this map looks exactly like the sort of thing I would have drawn back in 1986.
There then follows the real meat of this gamebook: a massive battle.
(I suspect the individual player's enjoyment of this next bit would hinge on how they feel about battle descriptions. After I finished the book I read around it a little and found a few people saying they hated this bit: it was too impersonal, and they also seemed to find it a bit random. Personally I loved this bit - again, it seems fairly unique - and the decisions again bear thought, but it did mean referring back to the map a few times. Anyway….)
Before the battle starts however, Honoric issues a challenge: one on one combat, with me. I know Honoric, though evil, is honourable, so I accept and we meet by a ditch between the two armies. As ever he wields the spell-sword Sorcerak. I use acrobatics to gain an early advantage and this is then a standard, if tough, battle: I use kicks to wear him down and deflect Sorcerak with my arrow cutting skill before he is rescued by his own troops, cursing them for besmirching his honour. My healers restore most of my lost endurance and the battle is on.
As the battle is joined I realise my deployment is less than ideal: The Doomover levies are lined up against my best troops and simply hold their position, whilst we dare not advance. We are holding the centre, but The Rain of Doom is wreaking havoc on the right flank with their superior discipline before suddenly pulling back allowing the entirety of the Legion of The Sword of Doom to smash into our flank. The White Wizard battles the Wyverns, killing them and all but expiring himself, but the monks of the Scarlet Mantis infiltrate Wickerwood and flank the Spire troops there as they engage the cavalry from Horngroth and the Wings of Death: I am forced to send the Rangers to their aid. Elsewhere The Legion of the Angel of Death has crossed the ford to engage the Shieldmaidens, the men of Fiendel are faltering at the ford and we are beset on all sides. I elect to deploy the mercenaries to reinforce the ford - they will only do it for extra money, the dicks - and lead the reserves into a charge on the flank myself. We route the troops from Horngroth and rally momentarily, but success is short lived - I am challenged by The Old One, the supernatural evil from the front cover and must fight it in single combat. This is a wretched battle for me, not least because I am mainly skilled in kicks but elect to fight on horseback, meaning I can only punch or swing my sceptre whilst it wallops me over and over with a mace. Ultimately I am defeated and the battle is lost. DEATH.
I elect to restart at the point where I left for aid, as the Legion of Death troops from Mortalavon seemed especially dangerous in the battle and I was unable to counter them. I decide to try Greydawn, but to reach it I must pass close to the rift and am ambushed by a posse of Dark Elf sorcerers who summon lethal executioner spiders to attack me. This is by FAR the hardest bit in the book: I am killed five times here by the spiders as almost any choice leads to death (oh for immunity to poisons). Eventually I find a way to beat this encounter, which is basically throw all four of my remaining shuriken at the spiders and then roll 6 on 1d6, as all other paths kill me.
DEATH x 5. Eventually beating the spiders and reaching Greydawn, the Beastmen here seem eager to help and full of warlike promise, but my Shin-Ren skill tells me they are untrustworthy and will betray me, so I do a bunk and instead make for nearby Serakub. The government here is The Boule, a sort of council of all the various faiths and sects that make up the city. I must address the Boule and start by warning them of the Legion of the Sword of Doom, as there are many faiths here that oppose Vasch-Ro, the War God, including a strong temple of Dama. I don’t slag off Nemesis (who is represented here, as well as in my own city) and I sway several of the factions. Hivatala, Swordmistress of Serakub and leader of the Shieldmaidens of Dama, will herself command 2k shieldmaidens to my aid, five hundred cavalry, almost another 2k volunteers from Serakub of various faiths as well as 600 Swordsmen from the Army of Myriad Possibility (these names rule)
From here, things follow a similar tack as the previous playthrough: the rangers, Elves and paladins arrive: I let my cavalry smash the smaller Rift army, preventing it reinforcing Honoric, and I leave Lackland and Demagogue to hold the city whilst we march out. This time Honoric’s army is ‘only’ 16k and I select a different tactic: refusing the left flank with the Elves in the Wickerwood, Glaivas and his rangers concealed at the bridge, a force of men of Beatan, from Serakub, holding the Old Farm and the mercenaries in reserve, with the rest of our troops strung out with Fell Farm at the centre like so:
Once again we are beset: The Legion cross the stream and clash with the Shieldmaidens - they are thrown back but the levies are supporting them and they begin to fall back. The Scarlet Mantis enter the wood where they skirmish with the elves, and the Rain of Doom are peppering my troops at the farm. I order the mercenaries to support the left flank (again needing to bribe them to do anything) - Glaivas and his men return from the ford with heavy losses, with enemy troops beginning to cross, and I can either redirect troops from the farm there or lead the charge myself into the levies: this is a no-brainer as the farm cannot fall, and I know levies are crap so I do that, routing them, and again come into battle with the Old One. This time I triumph (on a meagre 2 endurance and 0 inner force)
By now the battle is going poorly again: the levies are off the field and the Legion and the troops from Horngroth forced back, but they are rallying whilst the men of Aveng and Mortalavon are flanking the troops of Serakub and the mercenaries at the farm. Again I have a number of choices and decide to lead my cavalry quickly to support Antocidas on the left as that seems the greatest risk, ignoring the rallying troops and leaving the Shieldmaidens to do their own thing. This is the right decision as we hammer into the weaker troops there - they withdraw, and by the time they have reformed the Shieldmaidens have arrived to reinforce the mercenaries and we mop up. Elsewhere the Legion are thrown back three times by the Warrior Women of Serakub and soon Honorics army is in full retreat!
I give pursuit: as a final ploy, the Legion deploy an 8-metre tall titan, a monster wielding a replica of Sorcerak. I luck out here, as I have the options of leading Dore and my best men into a charge or falling back: simply on the basis that I am on 2 endurance I choose to retreat and the elves arrive and finish it off quickly with no dice roll needed. I pursue Honoric to the manor house where he has NOT been reinforced by the small army from the Rift I previously destroyed. Honoric and the remains of the Legion fight to the last man: to my relief no combat for me, and eventually Honoric’s body is brought before me, his brutal features relaxed in death. Finally my old enemy is no more.
This is basically the end - my exhausted troops return to Irsmuncast, where the walls hold, and the Rift army just immediately retreats. I return to the city in triumph!
VICTORY.So another awesome book. Despite this giant writeup it felt quite short - I think this is probably because there are so many paragraphs taken up with the various branching possibilities in the battle. It was incredibly engaging although as I said above, I think the battle part could be a big drag if you’re not interested in such things, or able to really visualise what is going on. If I was to criticise I’d say this book is now very far from it’s ninja roots - I did a small bit of ninja-ing at the enemy camp but that’s it - and there was no epic battle such as the ones against Yaemon, Grand Master of the Shadows etc - in fact, I only fought three combats (the troll, Honoric, and The Old One) in the whole book and made just one fate roll. If you prefer a more dice-heavy book then this is not for you.
I loved it though. I’ve heard some bad things about the last book in the original series - Inferno - although there is now also a book 7, Redeemer, that apparently wraps up the series in a more satisfactory manner. In all honesty, the series could end here: everything is resolved, all the villains have been trounced, and things are wrapped up quite neatly - a longer closing segment would have finished the series very nicely indeed.
I’ve found it impossible to get an original print copy of Inferno unless I get it from the US, so this is the last of Bob Harvey’s work for me on the series which is a shame. I’ve ordered the new editions of both book 7 and book 8 and I’ll have a go when they arrive, First though I really will play Temple of Terror. If you read this far, I'm sure Kwon smiles upon you for doing so!
