[Phase 3] King of the ashes [Act 2]

Claypool was once a redoubtable Blackwood stronghold, but now it's a mass of collapsed and melted stone that none has seen fit to repair since it's destruction by Vhagar during the dance, the Brackens has since taken possession of it, but the palisade they once erected has now mostly rotted away as the surrounding fields has largely given way to summer pasture where once there were a sea of wheat before those fields and the villages of those who tilled them were scorched to ash, none has since moved in to reclaim the lands permanently. The Brackens have mostly contented themselves with patrols to prevent outlaws to settle on the small hill, providing natural defenses on three sides by cliffs too steep to scale in force, but now a large force are using it to stage raids into Blackwood lands. They retreated back here when pursued by the Blackwoods.

Battle lines:

Blackwood Forces (3 Trained Freeriders, 6 Trained Militia):
Commander: Roland Cordwayner
Attack: 4D
Damage per DoS: 4
CD: 9
AR: 3
Health: 90
Morale: 3D+1B

Bracken Forces (3 Trained Militia, 3 Trained Militia Archers):
Commander: Ser Harlan Clifton
Attack: 4D
Damage per DoS: 3
CD: 9
AR: 1
Health: 30
Morale: 3D+1B

Battlefield characteristics
-Defenders gains +2 Combat defense, +1b to attack tests and +1 damage/DoS because of higher ground and a good defensive position. The CD bonus is lost upon becoming disorganized.
-Defenders makes two attacks each round, one is melee and one is marksmanship. The terrain initially prevents the attackers to bring greater numbers to bear.
-Once Defenders have become disorganized, the attackers may now make two attacks per round unless they also have become disorganized.
-If the attackers becomes bloodied, their damage/DoS and AR are reduced by 1 (reflecting that 1/3 of the Blackwoods are of better quality than the Brackens, and that they presumably will be on the frontline).
-The course of battle is split in phases (relevant for frequency of warfare tests), there are 3 rounds in each phase.
-The battle ends when one side withdraws, surrenders or is annihilated.
-If the defenders becomes disorganized (or worse), an offer from Roland to take Ser Harlan and his men prisoner if they surrender will probably be accepted if it is clear that they have lost.

Army Conditions:
-An army becomes tested once it has taken damage equal to half it's health, this otherwise matters only for casualties.
-An army becomes bloodied once it has taken damage equal to it's health, this otherwise matters only for casualties.
-A bloodied army must test morale once per phase with a TN 6, +3 per full 10% of damage in excess of it's health taken.
-On a failure, it suffers a cumulative +3 TN to this morale test. On a critical failure, the army becomes disorganized.
-A disorganized attacking army suffers -3 CD.
-A disorganized army must test morale at the end of each phase with TN 0, +3 per full 20% of damage in excess of it's health taken.
-On a failure, it suffers a cumulative +3 TN to this morale test. On a critical failure, the army becomes routed.
-Unless pushed to fight on or successfully ordered to retreat, a routed army will flee or surrender.
-A routed army suffers an additional -2 CD
-A routed army may be pushed to fight on with a TN 9 Warfare (Command) Test.
-A pushed army makes a morale test against the same TN, on a success it will fight as many phases as the highest DoS on the command or morale test.
-Each attempt to push an army increases the TN of further warfare tests with +3.
-At any point during the battle, an army may be ordered to withdraw in good order (or surrender), this is a warfare (Command) test with a TN of 3 per step it's condition has worsened from unscathed, on a success it's condition improves by one step for the purpose of casualties (but the battle is automatically lost).
-On any single failure on a push/retreat attempt, the army will flee or surrender, on a critical failure it's condition will worsen by one step.

Leaders of men.
-At the beginning of each battle phase, the commanders of each army make the following tests:
-Warfare (Command) TN 9
-Warfare (Tactics) TN 9
-All special characters may assist on the tactics test prior to step 1.
-Any character not engaged in hero actions in the previous step may assist on the command tests.
-Success on both tests: +2 DoS
-A Critical failure counts as -3 DoS and inflicts -1D on these tests for the next step.

The commander with the most total DoS gains one boon per DoS he scored more than his opponent, the effects of boons of the same type does not stack (+1, +1b and +1D stacks with one another, but +1b and +1b does not become +2b), unless otherwise noted they only lasts to the end of the phase they were selected:
-Momentum I (1 point): Gain +1 on all warfare tests for the remainder of the event.
-Momentum II (2 points): Gain +1b on all warfare tests for the remainder of the event.
-Momentum III (4 points): Gain +1D on all warfare tests for the remainder of the event.
-Shield Wall I (1 point): Army gains +1 CD
-Shield Wall II (1 point): Army gains +1 AR
-Shield Wall III (3 points): Army gains +2 CD
-Shield Wall IV (3 points): Army gains +2 AR
-Shock and Awe I (1 point): Army gains +1 on all attack tests.
-Shock and Awe II (3 points): Army gains +1b on all attack tests.
-Shock and Awe III (5 points): Army gains +1 damage per DoS.

Glorious charge or careful advance?
-The Blackwoods may chose to advance on foot or to seek to break the enemy lines with a cavalry charge.
-If advancing on foot, the defenders makes three additional attacks in the first round.
-If charging on horse, the defenders makes two additional attacks in the first round.
-If charging on horse, the first attack is at -1D+3 and at 8 damage/DoS (including +2 from charge), however, defenders gains +3 damage/DoS on their first attack due to set for charge with spears.
-If charging in on horse, test chance TN 9, on a success, the attackers makes their charge attack twice, on a critical failure, the defenders make an additional set for charge attack twice and the attackers deals damage per DoS as per their regular, non-charge attacks.
-If charging in on horse, attackers suffer -2 CD, -2 AR starting with the second round because the horses are largely unprotected and presents bigger targets, these penalties does not stack with those from worsening conditions. In addition, attacking commander's warfare tests other than ordering to push/retreat starting with the 2nd phase are at +1 TN.

Leading the charge?
-Roland may place himself at the front of his men at the expense of a -1b training penalty to all tactics test starting with that in the 2nd phase.
-He may then make one combat round worth of actions per warfare round.
-The defenders individually have 10 health, their stats and modifiers are otherwise as noted for the full army, but the individuals never take penalties if the army condition worsens.
-Each man defeated inflicts 1 damage on the enemy army.
-His first round action should be a charge, which may be combined with a trample action if mounted.
-From the second round on, it is reasonable to do divided attacks against up to two enemies.
-Each round, Roland, and horse if applicable, is attacked once with 5D+3B, 4 damage/DoS and piercing equal to DoS (includes aim and bonuses from higher ground).
-If charging on horseback, the attacks in the first round gets +3 damage/DoS due to set for charge bonuses. Rules for injured or slain horse applies normally.

Consequences:
-Taking Claypool: +2 Glory, +5 VP. An additional +1 Glory for victory through leading the charge. May claim ransom for Ser Harlan if accepting his surrender.
-Failing to take Claypool: +5 Bracken Strength (morale and reinforcements at Battle Valley).
-Put the Brackens to the sword: +1 Blood, -3 Chivalry, +3 counts of war crimes, +2 disposition with House Blackwood, +3 additional disposition with Ulbert Blackwood. -2 Disposition with House Bracken, Willem Starling, Aubrey Ambrose, Robb Reyne and Roland Redwyne. The penalties are doubled if honorable terms where offered and then broken.d +5.

Consideration for qualities:
True Knight: If putting the Brackens to the sword, you gain no benefits from this quality until the start of the next chronicle.
Honor-Bound: Attempts to compel to not put the Brackens to the sword if they were offered honorable terms of surrender (assuming they complied).
Vainglorious: Attempts to compel leading the charge.