The outcome of the
First Northern War created a feud between
the Orcs and Hobgoblins in the North that was to last for centuries. When Balag an Orc war-chief
managed to unite the Orc tribes in 511 therefore his army was still smaller than that of Agluk.
His troops, however, had forged better armour than was worn in the previous war, he had
trained wolfriders as cavalry and crucially he had made an alliance with the Angrax a great
red dragon.
The Dwarves of Ironhold knew nothing about the dragon and hearing
that Balag's army was on the march, King Daegon of Ironhold sent troops out to harry the
Orcs on the mountain paths to the north. The doors of Ironhold were built to withstand
assault by the great beasts of the North but crucially the Dwarves had left them open for the return of their
troops when Angrax, having already slaughtered the dwarven rearguard, swept out the surrounding
low cloud and crashed straight through them.
The Orc army followed close behind and a bitter battle followed in the halls of the Dwarves. The
Dwarves' axes, however, could do little to penetrate Angrax's armour and hall by hall, corridor by
corridor, the Dwarves were forced back. With great sorrow King Daegon ordered the evacuation of the
city by many secret ways but both he and his sons were killed fighting the dragon in the throne
room.
The Orcs now wanted to loot the dwarven halls but Angrax betrayed them declaring himself Lord
of Ironhold and all its treasure. He then drove all of the Orcs out of the city except those
that agreed to serve him. Balag was furious but that there was little he could do. The
original agreement was that the dragon would help them take both Ironhold and
Mountain Hall and in the absence of another plan he drove
on, hoping also to overtake and slaughter any dwarven refugees he found on the mountain paths.
He also hoped that Mountain Hall might be unprepared for
his assault or if King Brundar had indeed heard news of the battle he might shut his doors
entirely for fear of the dragon.
King Brundar had indeed received news by raven from Daegon before he died and he was wise in the ways of
dragons, the Dwarves having lived in the North for thousands of years. He therefore anticipated
the actions of both Angrax and Balag and sent troops north to cover the retreat of the refugees.
To Balag's disappointment many brave and fearless Ironhold warriors had survived the loss of their
city and were now fighting a desperate battle to slow Balag's advance south and allow
their women and children to reach Mountain Hall. Balag cursed the dragon as Angrax could have
easily slaughtered the refugees and cleared the way forward.
The arrival of troops from Mountain Hall further slowed his advance and it was two weeks
before he arrived on the battle plain before Mountain Hall. To his dismay the Cambrian Army
was deployed to the south making any advance on the dwarven gates perilous. Balag then gambled
on the hope that the Dwarves might be reluctant to issue from their gates for fear of the
dragon and he launched an assault on the Cambrians sending his wolfriders against the Cambrian
light cavalry to nullify their threat.
The battle went badly for the Orcs. Balag assumed that the Cambrian bowman would be of inferior
quality to the Elves of the
First Northern War but they were elite
Ranger units who managed to decimate the wolfriders before
they could reach the Cambrians. Further although the wolfriders were fierce opponents one on one
the Cambrian cavalry were more skilled and disciplined and beat them back. While this was happening
the Dwarves had marched forth from their gates. In desperation Balag sent his remaining wolfriders
against them with orders to jump over the front line of the infantry in the hope of causing chaos
in the Dwarven ranks. Although the tactic did indeed surprise the Dwarves they were too well armoured
for the wolves to have a major impact. The Dwarven infantry advance threatened to trap the Orcs between
two armies and Balag had to order a retreat which swiftly became a route.
Only a third of the Orcs escaped the battlefield and, although this number incuded Balag, it is said he was
later slain by his own bodyguards and the remnants of the Orc army then pledged their allegiance to Angrax.