The Peatholm
They lose the short fight and win the long one. Fen folk of black-water marshes and reed beds: undyed reed capes and woven jerkins over peat-brown wool, tools of bog-iron and bone, and a small disc of green copper as their mark. No plate and no horses; their big creatures are the marsh’s own animals.
How they play
Many cheap stacks that poison and patch themselves up. Regenerate on the Peat Cutters and the Shrineback, Poison on the Eelcatchers and the Bulltoad, First Strike on the Stilt Lancers to break a charge, and one fast flier, the Heron Rider. There is no Charge at all, and only the Fen Lamplighter hits hard at range.
Make the fight last. Every round the poison ticks on the enemy and the moss closes your own wounds, so hold a line of cutters and toads, let the enemy hit the stacks that heal or punish them, and use Sinking Ground on whatever is about to charge.
Weakness. Little burst damage: an enemy that kills a whole stack in one round skips Regenerate entirely, and the Lamplighters are the one ranged threat worth protecting.
In numbers. The quick battle’s draft gives each side 1000 gold for at most 5 stacks. Spent on the cheapest fighter alone, that is 125 Peat Cutters with 1375 hit points between them, in at least 3 stacks of at most 50.
Fighters
| Unit | Gold | Att | Def | HP | Dmg | Speed | Range | Muster | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peat Cutter | 8 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 1–2 | 4 | – | 50 | Regenerate |
| Reed Slinger | 11 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1–2 | 5 | 7 | 36 | Volley |
| Eelcatcher | 20 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 1–3 | 4 | – | 24 | Reach, Poison |
| Stilt Lancer | 34 | 7 | 5 | 14 | 3–5 | 5 | – | 14 | First Strike |
| Bulltoad | 50 | 5 | 9 | 34 | 2–5 | 3 | – | 9 | Taunt, Poison |
| Fen Lamplighter | 85 | 8 | 5 | 16 | 5–8 | 4 | 7 | 6 | Fear |
| Heron Rider | 120 | 10 | 5 | 24 | 7–11 | 7 | – | 4 | Flying, Pierce |
| Shrineback | 230 | 9 | 10 | 60 | 5–9 | 2 | – | 3 | Undying, Regenerate |
Hero
Sedge Mother: 60 HP, defence 8. Command starts at 3, grows by 2 each round after the first and never passes 6. Powers: Sinking Ground (2), Bitter Dew (3) and Moss Bed (2). Passive: Slow Water. Poison your Poison units put on an enemy stack lasts 1 more turn.
Start army
A Conquest match of the Peatholm begins with this army (a harder Warpath setting can start it thinner), 1074 gold of creatures with 919 hit points in all. An army holds at most 6 stacks, and losses carry from fight to fight until you hire more. A Duel seat, which plays the older map rules, starts with 45 Peat Cutters, 18 Reed Slingers, 8 Eelcatchers and 3 Bulltoads, 868 gold: the larger Conquest opening makes up for powers that pay out over several turns.
| Stack | Creatures | Gold | Hit points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peat Cutter | 45 | 360 | 495 |
| Reed Slinger | 24 | 264 | 144 |
| Eelcatcher | 10 | 200 | 110 |
| Bulltoad | 5 | 250 | 170 |
Town
A Conquest match starts with a purse of 300 gold, 5 wood, 5 ore. A new match’s town has 12 buildings, the same for both peoples at the same costs under each people’s own names, and at most one is built a day. Once built, a dwelling hires its fighters every week, with the stock full on the day it is built and refilled at the start of each week; the halls, the market and the shrine hire nobody and do what their line says (the town in full).
| Building | Costs | Hires | A week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cutters' Bank | 400 gold, 5 wood | Peat Cutter | 20 |
| Sling Hummock | 600 gold, 3 wood, 3 ore | Reed Slinger | 14 |
| Toad Wallow | 700 gold, 5 wood, 2 ore | Bulltoad | 4 |
| Stilt Walk | 900 gold, 3 wood, 5 ore | Stilt Lancer | 5 |
| Heronry | 1200 gold, 5 wood, 8 ore | Heron Rider | 2 |
| Lamp House | 1500 gold, 5 ore, 2 crystal | Fen Lamplighter | 3 |
| Reed Longhouse | 800 gold, 5 wood | +50% weekly stock at the two cheapest dwellings | – |
| Moot Mound | 1000 gold, 5 wood, 5 ore | +250 gold every day | – |
| Elder Moot | 2500 gold, 5 wood, 5 ore, 2 crystal | +500 gold every day, on top of the Council Hall | – |
| Shrineback Mound | 2500 gold, 10 ore, 5 crystal | Shrineback | 1 |
| Barter Jetty | 600 gold, 5 wood | Fixed trades: 5 wood for 1 crystal, 5 ore for 1 crystal, 500 gold for 5 wood, 500 gold for 5 ore | – |
| Reed Altar | 1000 gold, 5 ore, 1 crystal | Pick once: +1 Command at the start of every battle, or the commander's first power at half cost | – |
Some fighters are never sold in the town and come from dwellings on the map instead. A dwelling hires the Peatholm’s fighter of that place:
| Dwelling | Hires | A week |
|---|---|---|
| Levy Camp | Peat Cutter | 20 |
| Wolf Lodge | Eelcatcher | 10 |
| Fletchers' Hut | Reed Slinger | 14 |
| Shield Hall | Bulltoad | 4 |
| Bolt Works | Stilt Lancer | 5 |
| Lance Hall | Heron Rider | 2 |
| Star Hermitage | Fen Lamplighter | 3 |
| Drake Roost | Shrineback | 1 |
Play Pick the Peatholm on the people screen before a match.