Mission: Fight off the enemy and still have enough berserkers to cut off Balor's head.

Difficulties:

Unit economy
Unit usage.

Main threats: Fetches. Lot's of enemies.

Hints:
Unit economy is everything. Make every man count.
Stay away from Alric's standard in the early part.
When faced with the fetches in the later stages charge them, but in rabble, not in large groups.
Do not follow Alric up from the round bowl. Go up a bit away from him.
You need at least 3 berserkers alive to kill Balor. Archers are useless.

Film: By the book. 15 casualties (Ouch)

Download.
Binhqx
Zip-format

Film: No casualties using the preemptive strike outline below.

Download.
Binhqx
Zip-format

The Tale	The Map	The explanation
We waded ashore from the blood-colored river. Alric was supposed to be be here somewhere with the legion, but where? "I don't care for wadin, Captn!" "Nobody does, lets follow the land!"		Move your units along the tongue of land. You will come under attack from lone fetches. You know the drill, get them with the archers, if possible from a high elevation.
"Fetch! Shoot it!" "Not another one" - "There's Alric!"		Continue along the short and go north across the stream. You will meet Alric and some more forces.
"Get back! here he comes!" Good thing we did that, because Balor blasted the standard, and ran away. Then came his troops ,but they were no match for the legion, but we lost one dwarf to a grenade falling short.		Pull everything south away from the enemy and the standard. You cannot move Alric. Balor will arrive and blast the standard. Then the enemy will attack in waves of thrall of myrmidons followed by lone fetches.
We were licking our wounds when Alric ran away towards Balor. Balor told him that the rest of the legion was destroyed, and dropped the heads of friends of mine on the ground. Alric blasted some Myrmidons and came running back, followed by more undead, including fetches which killed 2 of our dwarves. I mourn the brave sons of Myrgard.		Alric will run away to challenge Balor a second time. Don't follow, the enemy will come to you. This wave is trickier with a better mix of thrall and fetch. I used dwarfs against thrall. Then the fetch will zap the dwarfs.
We barely could catch our breaths before Alric had us running again. We came to what might be the source of the blood-colored water. A dish-shaped arena of sorts. Alric was unstoppable and rushed into the middle, again exchanging angry words with Balor. We fighters spread out behind him, while the archers started picking of enemy on the ledges. Then fetches walked down, blasting poor Alric. We rushed them and took heavy casualties from them.		When this wave is destroyed, Alric will once again run away to the northwest towards a "bowl", surrounded by fetch and myrmidons. Alric will rush into the centre and again challenge Balor. The fetches will advance down the sides of the "bowl" and blast Alric. Get ready to shoot and charge the fetches. Get your berserkers in rabble formation behind Alrid. The fetches must not kill Alric, even if he is quite sturdy. Charge the fetches spread out so that their blast damage as few berserkers as possible.
Then came myrmidons. No rest for the weary. Alric rushed up the side of the arena and we followed a bit away. At the top we meet Balor who apparently had run out of troops, for now at least. He blasted Alric again and again, intent on the kill. Then Alric held something aloft and Balor bathed in blue light and was still. "Kill him!" Alric shouted, and we needed little prodding. Balor was tough to kill, but finally we chopped his head off. Perhaps we can rest now.	Kill him! A gratifying sight.	The next wave comes immediately. Myrmidons. If you survived this far and got at least three berserkers, run up the wall of the "bowl", but not close to Alric, because Balor will blast him. Try to get close to Balor from the side. When Alric tells you to, attack Balor with the berserkers.

The preemptive strike.

The tale	The map	The explaination
As Alric followed and challenged Balor, half our units ran off to cut of any reinforcements to Balor.		After defeating the first wave where Alric planted the standard, run half your force north toward the dish. you will need to keep an eye on the main battle to.
The found a large force of fetches and some myrmidons. Using a cautious tactic they managed to kill a lot of these units. When we rejoined them, the enemy was no match for us.		Have the archers pick of fetches from the north going counter-clockwise. When it is safe climb the northern face with the archers and berserkers and continue. Do not get close to Balor. You should be able to kill almost half the fetches before Alric comes. When Balor leaves charge the fetches on the south side with your second half of the berserkers, they will be to intent on Alric to notice. Meanwhile the berserkers of the preemptive strike can kill the myrmidons and the archers pick of fetches. I was surprised how easy it was.