Battle in "Black Colossu" Analysis and Discussion

[Aholibamah]

I've been thinking of running this battle and events surrounding it as a sort of one shot adventure to tempt my player group into trying this game out. They like battles and sieges.


The bare bones of the battle seem to be this:
1. The Khorajan Army meets with the nomad archers who swell their numbers.
2. They deploy on the plateau as per Conan's orders, though Thespides wants to deploy on the plain.
3. Thespides disobeys instructions and advances.
4. Natohk uses magic to conceal the advance of the rebel army and at the same time uses magic to destroy Thespides' cavalry attack.
5. The nomads under the Khorajan banner almost lose morale but are halted before they can retreat by Conan.
6. The Khorajans try to hold the plateau but are almost overwhelmed. Conan orders the mercenary horse under Amalric to flank the enemy through a secret path from the plateau.
7. The action taken by Amalric enables them to defeat the enemy horde though at great cost.
8. Assisted by a man-ape, Natohk kidnaps Yasmela and is confronted and slain by Conan in an ancient Stygian shrine.

I guess my main question is this for those who've read the story and considered the battle--what if Conan WEREN'T there?

 

[Axerules]

You might be interested to know that the fight between Conan and Prince Kutamun during the battle of Shamla Pass was longer in one of the drafts than in the published story. Patrice Louinet posted this answer after one of my questions in the Conan.com forum:

Black Colossus
Published version: 14,400 words
draft b (c being a partial): 16,200
draft a: 17,200

Here are a few items of interest buried in those drafts:

draft a: "When Eruk, the proud city of queen Tamuris, defied [Natohk's] hordes, he changed the course of a river by his magic, so that it undermined the walls, making a breach for his hawks to ride through." [In the first draft of "Queen of the Black Coast", Belit was originally called Tameris]

draft b: “Amalric, delving into the scenes of a turbulent life, recalled a desperate battle on the northern frontier, and wild figures rushing into the melee – tall, supple women, stark naked, their black hair streaming, their eyes blazing, swords dripping redly in their hands. He shook his head”

"Aphaka" replaced "Gath"
"Shushan" replaced "Nippr" except when Thugra mentions that this is where he sleeps, which was replaced not by Shushan, but by Akbatana.

And yes, here's the discarded scene between Conan and Kutamun, from draft b:

Yet remained one man who would not flee. In the swirling red chaos that seethed and writhed before Conan's rearing steed, a terrible figure suddenly
appeared like a red apparition. It was prince Kutamun, naked but for a breech-clout, his armor hacked away, his crested helmet battered, his broken sword
clotted and crusted red. Blood ran from a score of wounds, but the blaze in his dark eyes was undimmed, and with a terrible shout, he hurled his broken hilt full into Conan's face, and leaping, seized the reins of the screaming stallion. The Cimmerian reeled in his saddle, half stunned, and with an awful exhibition of strength, the dark-skinned giant forced the stallion upward and backward, until the frantic charger lost his footing and crashed into the muck of bloody sand and writhing bodies.
Conan sprang clear as the horse fell and with a roar Kutamun was on him. Locked in a death-grapple they swayed and strained for an instant, then went
down together. In that mad nightmare of battle, Conan never exactly knew how he killed his man. He only knew that a stone in the Stygian's hand crashed
again and again on his bascinet, filling his sight with flashing sparks of red, and somewhere, his groping hand closed on a dagger which he drove again and again into his foe's body, without apparent lessening of the prince's terrible vitality. The world was swimming to the Cimmerian's sight when with a convulsive shudder, the frame that strained against his [sic] stiffened and then went limp.

About your question: IMO without Conan to save the day, the battle would have been lost, of course !

 

[rabindranath72]

I once played out this battle using the War Machine rules in the Mentzer D&D Companion. Therein there are rules for leaders of exceptional ability, and the presence of Conan indeed influenced the outcome of the battle. Conan killing Nathok would also qualify as "action to remove enemy leader".

 

[Aholibamah]

I'm wondering if Count Thespides would have ended up spending the main force against Kutamon's magically hidden advance? It seems so--if Conan had not been there, the plateau might not have been held by the combination of Khorajan infantry, nomad cavalry and mercenaries, nor is it clear that Amalric would have been ordered to carry out his own secret advance of the mercenary cavalry.

It seems to me (does it not?) that these moves are what win the battle--Conan's main holding action on the plateau and the flanking move (on his instruction) by Amalric. The fight with Natohk at the end really rescues Yasmela, not the battle. (in the story)

How did the battle play out in War Machine, rabindranath?