The battle began as most battles did in the Stone Mountains. The Orcs entered the battlefield with a mighty "WAAAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!" so loud as to deafen the ears of most of the Holy Prussian Empire soldiers. Tactics were not the strong suit of the brutish Orcs, although once in a while a particularly insightful Orc leader might surprise the Empire Generals. Not on this day, however. The Orc leader Horzog was getting overconfident. A series of defeats of the Prussians left him convinced that he was invincible. The Orc mobs advanced on a line which stretched from one end of the battlefield to the other. Two Orc catapults lobbed huge stones high up into the air, and they looked to be landing amongst the deployed units of the Silesian defence force. Holy Prussian Empire artillery replied with a flourish, further adding to the din.

  The Flying Eagles made preparations for their impending commitment. Basically, there were two possibilities: The optimistic plan was to be ready to exploit an Empire defeat of the attacking Orcs. If the Orcs began to turn tail and run, the Flying Eagles would be called upon to swoop forward and cut down the fleeing mobs of demoralised greenskins. The pessimistic plan, some would say the realistic plan, was that once the Silesian defence forces had reached the limit of endurance they would require a rearguard action to cover their withdrawl. In all likelihood that would mean the abandonment of the trading settlements to the advancing Orc tribes, and significant losses to the troops acting as the rearguard. That task could also fall to the Flying Eagles. Their job was to prepare for either eventuality.

  Schwarzkopf, Hartmann and Nicholas Meyer had created a deployment strategy the night before the battle, and the troops were just now moving into their final battle positions. Erich Hartmann was going to have to sit this battle out, since even though his broken leg from the last battle was healing satisfactorily, he still hadn't had his plaster cast removed. Hartmann was stationed back up on top of the Hawks Nest with General von Beisbrook and his staff. Nicholas Meyer found himself deployed down with the Thuringian swordsmen. He too was holding a sword, but was finding it difficult to remember anything about how to use one. It had been several years since basic training and kitchen deployment had never required him to use a sword since that time. Maybe he could simply use it like a kitchen knife, and try to butcher the Orcs.

  Schwarzkopf had decided to deploy his horse artillery on the right flank, along with his rocket launching specialists. The ground was firmer on that side of the valley and it would be easier for them to move the heavier equipment if required. On the left he committed the brilliant Wolf Knights and the Brunswick Outriders. But neither Schwarzkopf nor Nicholas Meyer expected the outcome of the battle to be determined by fighting on the flanks. As always, the Orcs would commit their best warriors to attack the centre of the Empire line. That was where success or failure would be determined. Therefore, the centre was defended by the infantry, as follows:

  Hanoverian halberds----------------------Thuringian swordsmen--------------------Stalsburg handgunners

  Strength: 100 men-------------------------Strength: 100 men--------------------------Strength: 100 men

  Leadership: 6--------------------------------Leadership: 6-------------------------------Leadership: 6

  Fighting skill: 3------------------------------Fighting skill: 4------------------------------Shooting skill: 3

  Defence: 3-----------------------------------Defence: 3-----------------------------------Defence: 3

  Speed: 4-------------------------------------Speed: 4--------------------------------------Speed: 4

  Wounds: 1 per soldier--------------------Wounds: 1 per soldier--------------------Wounds: 1 per soldier

  Armour save: light armour, 6+----------save: light armour and shield, 5+------Armour save: none

  Weapons: halberds, +1 to power------Weapons: swords-------------------------Weapons: rifles

  Experience points: 9,641----------------Experience points: 12,961--------------Experience points: 13,443

  The key to their battle strategy was that Schwarzkopf, Eagleclaw Wolverine, and Nicholas Meyer would all be deployed in the front line of the Thuringian swordsmen. The very centre of the battle line. They were as ready as they would ever be.

  Predictably, the battle did not seem to be going well. The fog of war was thick on this day, with smoke, screams, cheers, and even a thunderstorm obscuring the events, but as the day wore on, more and more injured and withdrawing Prussian troops could be seen passing backwards through the lines of the Flying Eagles towards the relative safety of their baggage trains.

  One thing that Nicholas Meyer was watching for was any sign of the rumoured battle giant. Nicholas had never seen a giant and couldn't even imagine just what sort of data sheet he could right up for such a creature. One aspect of his first deployment, ever, in a field of battle, was that he hoped to be more able to accurately write up performance assessment sheets for each Orc unit deployed. The other aspect was that as the moment of battle deployment neared, his level of nervousness was reaching an all time fever peak! It didn't help that many of the retreating troops were dragging stretchers carrying soldiers with serious injuries, including missing limbs and worse.

  A horse bearing Lieutenant Hartmann appeared out of the mist. Despite having his leg in a cast, he had insisted on being the bearer of the deployment order for his beloved Flying Eagles battalion. "Go! Go! Go! Go!" he shouted as he waved his right arms vigorously and galloped to the front of the battalion. "Kaiser Willhelm requires us to form a rearguard to protect the repositioning troops! Now! Advance to contact the enemy!"

  'This is it', thought Nicholas Meyer.

  All around him the soldiers raised their weapons and called out a cheer, forming up close to their magnificent blue and yellow battle standard, carried by the units leader, Chief Warrant officer Merrick. The swordsmen's musician drummer pounded out a marching beat, and forward they all went into the battle. Retreating soldiers veered left and right of their formed unit, streaming between the riflemen and the formed ranks of the sworsdmen, or between the halberdsmen and the swordsmen. Suddenly it wasn't human soldiers appearing out of the murk, but Orcs!

  At first they attacked one or two at a time, and the seasoned Thuringians dealt with them severely, cutting down the battle axe armed Orcs before they could do much damage. But that changed when the main Orc battle column arrived. There were hundreds of them! Giant, brutish green skinned monsters! Nicholas wondered what the hell he was doing in the middle of all of this!

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  For Maximilian Schwarzkopf, this was the true purpose of his life. Those were the Orcs that had killed his wife and child. Those were the Orcs that had destroyed his home village in the Grey Mountains. Those were the Orcs that threatened all of the Holy Prussian Empire. As he struck down Orc warrior after Orc warrior, he felt the same deep satisfaction he did in every battle, yet, he asked himself, 'Is it enough?' The answer was always no. There were so many of the monsters. He turned to look at the weasel man. The three gold mark champion. The 'saviour' of the Flying Eagles. Would he do anything to change the inevitable outcome of this battle? An overwhelmingly large number of Orc warriors turned to face the Thuringian swordsmen. One more look at the 'wizard'. Then he focused his complete attention towards his opponent. "It's now or never," muttered the Captain.

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  From above, the battle looked hopeless. A sea of green flowed towards the narrowest section of the Pripet valley. An ocean of monstrous warriors certain to overwhelm everything in its path, with a tsunami of battlefield momentum. The human lines simply looked too thin. An oddly dressed man next to the battle standard raised his magic staff towards the heavens, calling out archaic words of power and struck the ground with its metal end. Sparks of static electricity showered the 100 man unit of swordsmen and a transformation took place. Even though they had been warned to expect such magicks, they were surprised, to a man. Every soldier had sprouted the hair of a wolverine across the whole of their bodies! The tough skin of the wolverine accompanied the change and so did some of the sheer tenacity of the wolverine.

  The charging impact of the arriving Orcs impacted the front line of the swordsmen. The usual devastating impact of such a charge was remarkably blunted by the change in skins. But the mage of Animalia was not finished. A second spell was called out and a larger fountain of eldritch fire flowed from the top of his staff. Suddenly the strength and power of the swordsmen had more than doubled! Blow after blow struck home on the Orcs tribesmen. Monolithic warriors who could usually withstand several cuts before succumbing were felled with single blows by average swordsmen. even Nicholas Meyer felled an Orc, much to his amazement. But none were affected so much as Captain Schwarzkopf himself.

  Schwarzkopf was a skilled and practised fighter, with a long line of battlefield accomplishments to his credit. But this day was different. Schwarzkopf strode confidently into the crowd of Orcs, striking quickly and with deadly effect. The normally insanely brave Orcs hesitated. Some took a step backwards from Captain Schwarzkopf. That never happened before.

  A battle horn sounded. A blasting cascade of echoing notes silenced the battle sounds for a moment. Another peal of sound, more akin to the volume of a thunderclap than for that of an instrument. A huge Orc appeared on top of the cliff at the edge of the valley. He sounded the horn again. A giant emerged from the forest. At least eight metres tall he ponderously advanced towards the Empire lines. Nicholas Meyer was witnessing his first giant! Numbers ran through his mind, larger ability numbers than he had ever thought possibly for a single individual. This was a giant! He did notice one odd thing though. On the top of the left shoulder of the giant sat a small green skinned figure clad in colourful and elaborate clothing, ritualistic in nature. It was an odd combination of the largest and smallest soldiers that Nicholas could ever imagine seeing. Was the small being controlling the giant being? Quite possibly.

  Boom! The first of the horse cannons rang out, a huge smoke ring emanating from the barrel of one of the guns. Boom! Boom! Two more shots rang out. A giant was exactly the best sort of target for a Stalsburg cannon! A large target! Many things had surprised Nicholas on this day, the first day he had ever personally witnessed a real combat. But one thing he never expected was to be able to see the trajectory of the cannon balls through the air. But there they were, flying towards the towering giant. Yet strangely, shot after shot missed. So close sometimes that it seemed impossible. The giant wasn't fast, and he could not dodge the projectiles, but if he was not taken care of by the cannon balls, he would soon reach the lines of infantry. Thick fur and strong armed swordsmen seemed unlikely to fare well against such a colossal opponent. Would the giant be the one to break the thin blue line?

  Suddenly a small bearlike creature emerged from the front lines of the swordsmen, dashing fearlessly and directly toward the giant, grabbing him by the foot. Shaking his foot did nothing to discourage what the soldiers now recognised as a huge wolverine, tearing at the bootstraps of the giant. He wavered this way and that, attempting to throw the beast, but was unsuccessful. Worse than that the top heavy giant lost his balance and found his centre of gravity had shifted too far to recover. A fall was inevitable, and fall he did, projecting his shoulder riding controller far into the bushes. Confusion overtook the face of the giant as he struggled to his knees.

  Horse cannon shots rang out, accompanied by rocket trails. This time they didn't miss. The giant never did get up, and the battle was almost decided in that moment. Cries of dismay erupted amongst the ranks of the Orc warriors.

  A unit of Orc war boar cavalry entered the battlefield accompanied by a huge wooden chariot festooned with Orc symbols of power and leadership. The chariot was drawn by the two largest of all war boars, each fully as tall as a man, and weighing in at hundreds of kilos each. Horzog stepped from the chariot, bearing his giant battle axe. He strode towards the Thuringian swordsmen.

  Captain Schwarzkopf stepped forward to meet him. Both knew the stakes of this personal combat. The winner would claim the battlefield. As the two respective leaders walked towards each other Mage Wolverine had one last spell to cast. This one was directed solely towards the Prussian Captain and was cast in such a subtle way that most missed the visible signs of a magical incantation. Nicholas Meyer knew what had happened. This was the fourth, and last spell, in action.

  The two combatants raised their weapons, and an Orc chieftain sliced his axe through the air to mark the beginning of the combat. Sparks flew as metal struck metal. The aged Captain was incredibly quick and agile, dodging and weaving through the sweeps of Horzog's battle axe. One connection would likely have been the death of him, so powerful was the Orc king. Schwarzkopf's broadsword struck blow after blow, with incredible rapidity. Wounds began to mount on the Orc leader. The Captain swung at least twice for every attempt from Horzog. Nicholas Meyer imagined the Orc king's data sheet. With each successful wound removing a point from his sheet, how many wounds could Horzog stand to lose?

  Horzog took one last desperate swing at the Captain. With the agility of a twenty five year old soldier he dodged the blow. Horzog collapsed to his knees, exhausted. He gazed uncomprehendingly towards the man who had defeated him. How was this possible? Schwarzkopf raised his weapon high into the air and finished him off with a single swipe of his broadsword, removing the Orc leader's head at the neck. A fountain of green blood erupted from the stump as the body collapsed completely onto the battlefield grass. Schwarzkopf hoisted the head into the air. The men cheered as one.

  Captain Schwarzkopf had finally won a battle.

  Captain Maximilian Schwarzkopf - At the peak of battle effectiveness -All Buffs

  Leadership ability: 9 (permanent with the battle victory)

  Fighting skill: 5

  Attacks: 3 + 2 for Ferocity spell cast by Wolverine

  Quickness: 4 +2 for Speed of a Cheetah, always strikes first

  Power : 4 + 2 for Strength of an Ox spell cast by Wolverine

  Speed: 4

  Wounds: 4

  Armour save: Full plate armour, +4 reduced to +2 for Wolverine Hide spell cast be Wolverine

  Weapons: 2 handed broadsword, Always strikes last CANCELLED by Speed of Cheetah spell, pistol

  Special Abilities: Stubbornness for Schwarzkopf and any unit he joins. Able to command battalion strength units.

  Experience points: 1,305,058

  Mount: none