(by Gibbons)
Pride joined the game and soon became a vocal member of our dear community. This is the story of their gutsy youngling blood lust, which sadly hit the reality of older and stronger clans. From the Fall of clan Pride was born the Burning Wheel Alliance, of which I am sure we will all hear more later.
Unusually this is a story of defeat, written at the request of the defeated! Clan Pride's comments are to the right, while our own objective assessment is below..
Unlike other dispatches, to see the full map, click on the thumbnail pictures embedded in the text below.
The story starts on turn 325 with the Pride chewing on
the carcass of Clan Moo in the West - never has their been a more badly named group of cannon fodder. While in
the East they are gently exploring. The Pride is basically well fed and enjoying the sun, the prairie on which
they live is theirs to rule. Admittedly there are lots of other clans about, but really they are being left alone.
Clan Nova Cat can be seen lurking in the NE, and Moo has been mentioned in the West. We also see the Deamon Knights
who play no more part in this drama. The main players are the Pride, Mogwais (purple in the East) and the Free
Wheelers, lion hunters extreme who are seen in the East and West as light green.
Nothing happens for a time upon the savanna. The Pride
continues to chew upon the Moo's mother in the West, and generally they stroll about looking for something to pounce
upon. Which brings us to five turns later. Sadly the map picture has lost some colours, but let us assure you that
the Pride is now fighting the Mogwais in the North East and the Free Wheelers in the South East. Mad fools! The
Mogwais were way older, fielding generation 14 Titans, the Wheelers were only several generations older (gen 7)
while the Pride themselves were fielding generation 3 as their state of the art.
So battle was joined, let us jump again for four turns. These
four turns see the Pride gain a sense of purpose, streaming all of their forces towards the battle front and the
two to one odds. But from the more detailed map you can sense the carnage being wrought upon them by their foes.
Every one of their front line units is receiving incoming fire. But the Pride is living up to its name and will
fight all the harder (tooth and claw and other lionesque imagery).
They desperately spawn more fighters, and start up a flanking maneuver.
They will skirt the lake and so form a classic pincer movement upon the joint Wheeler/Mogwais line. What they fail
to realise is that their flanking force will be vastly out numbered and in a pincer of its own....
From the Prides point of view things actually look
pretty good at this point. They have an equal number of Titans to the enemy, their breeders are in close support
which means they have no supply lines to speak of. So lets see this great plan come together.
Look closely and you can see this is the first turn where
the Pride does not advance. They have lost a few fighters and are trying to preserve a few others. I do admit that
their forces are inflicting a fine barrage upon the joint enemy, but I've looked, and I know that a fair amount
of these incoming missiles simply bounced off.
The Pride falls this turn. It was big news at the time,
how could such a young plucky clan fall?. They were so splendid to look at and had such a fine propaganda machine
- matching the early cries of the Cowputt Sloggs war. But it happened. Turn 338 saw their announcement on war cry
and their humbling defeat. Still Pride does come before a fall... (I've been wanting to type that since I started)
And so the rout begins. It took the pride about 10 turns to get all
of their forces to the lake. It takes then about 2 turns to run away! The Prides Lions do him proud now, they stay
on the line and take the battering that hammers into them from the joint FreeWheeler/Mogwais Titans.
It is now that the natures of the foe become clear. Mogwais, in true
Elder Clan style lets the youngster scamper away - who knows, this may have been the edge of Mogwais breeding fields,
so they could have simply been guarding their borders. But the Free Wheelers get a real scent of blood now. They
have just succeeded in breaking the verbal posturings of a similar clan - yes, a younger clan but not by much.
Look at the vapour trails (mixing war machines) that the Fallen Pride is showing.
Perhaps the rout and Fall of Pride is simply an outcome of the Titan designs that each clan fielded. The Fallen Pride has obviously got some very long legged Titans, while the Free Wheelers have combat maulers.
So we come to the end game. The last of the Fallen Prides front line
lies surrounded under withering fire. It courageously fights on, scoring minor damage against the Free Wheelers.
Mogwais withdraws from the arena to pursue their own goals. The Fallen Prides clan heart spreads to the four winds,
their strength spent and their clan almost without fighters. They create a fighter screen using their remaining
strength which is very sensible considering the Free Wheeler pursuit.
And so the end of this brief, educational and clan breaking
war. The Fallen Pride continues to run, as far from their foe as they can. The Free Wheelers are falling behind
with their slower battle Titans. All the same the Free Wheelers must be applauded, they met and smashed the attack
of a similar clan. If anything can be said to be won upon this eternal plain of battle, then surely the Free Wheelers
have won the Pride that the Fallen have lost.
Picture fades to burning wreckage, and the camera pans into the sky, following the dark, billowing smoke.