Battle Brothers: For Glory!

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

With the Spears of the Church eager to spill more House Grimmund blood, Big Mike could only distract them momentarily with a contract to fetch the Elderstone (again) from a skeleton infested manor. The company made good use of the rotation skill to destroy their tireless and fearless enemy, with Bes being the stand out combatant.

Finally they are offered a contract from House Ruhmolt to assist in a besieging Gerwold - a House Grimmund city, which Faltran practically jumps at to get revenge for Bloodfire. The Spears meet up with Sir Albrecht Kettilmund's forces just as a Grimmund relief force attacks in attempt to lift the siege. They do not break the lines and are killed to the last man.

Look at all the free loot!

Seeing this, the remaining defenders of the city led by Sir Magnus "the Black" attack and are surprised when all of the spears use ranged weapons while Sir Albrecht and his remaining troops take the brunt of the attack. Most of the Ruhmolt soldiers are killed, but with the spears still all fresh and his troops dropping in equal measure Sir Magnus eventually surrenders.

Victorious, Gaius raises the Ruhmolt banner over the town, before departing back down the mountain and out of enemy territory. Sir Albrecht remains and publicly executes Sir Magnus a few days after the Spears depart.

Battle Brothers: The Last Spear

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

Finally, Big Mike manages to secure a contract to defend a caravan to the Southern lands which the Spears are all eager to get back to. They are almost to the foot of the mountains when soldiers of House Grimmund stop them and demand they hand all the cargo over.

Gotta say the art for this game is pretty good too.

Unfamiliar with the politics in this land, Big Mike wasn't sure what to do so Bloodfire steps forward instead, declaring that they were paid to take the caravan and its goods back South, and that's what they were going to do.

The soldiers are unimpressed, and with sudden speed kill Bloodfire where he stands. The rest of the company and the other caravan hands go on the offensive, but it is a very tough battle despite the enemy being outnumbered 3 to 1 (their superior gear makes up for it).

Most of the caravan hands perish, and numerous Spears are injured but they survive the skirmish - killing the soldiers to the last man. After earning their coin, Big Mike treats all of them to a round at the tavern, but even this doesn't cheer up Faltran who is now the last original Spear of the Church.

Battle Brothers: Spear Wall

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

With the string of recent victories, morale is high as a banner for the Spears is created. The Nord Craizee is recruited as the company goes to hunt the rampant dire wolf packs roaming the forests.

The large white flags means their morale is breaking.

These critters are fast, but are easy prey as they keep lunging against the front line spearwall. The same tactic works well on zombies encountered at some random ruins, the only difference is - they get back up, making for a marathon battle but one still won by caution.

The company eventually arrives at Wiesendorf who not only have hauntings at the graveyard, but also a fort of bandits raiding their supply lines. With a quick scouting run it turns out the "hauntings" are also bandits, so the Spears set out to rout both locations.

These bandits are wise to the spear wall method, and counter with delays or ranged attacks forcing the Spears to charge. Ultimately this leads to the death of S***A who is piked while spear walling (pikes out range spears), and Moaning Knight (one of the original three) who takes an arrow to the knee... and another to the face.

Coppertopper the messenger and He-Alve the strange, scaled one are recruited as replacements, but Faltran and Bloodfire know they'll never be able to replace their fallen comrade.

Battle Brothers: Broken Spear

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

Big Mike had long lost track of the number of days he had been held captive, suffering untold tortures to the hands of the pirates that had kidnapped him. Their leader, Hoggart the Weasel, had sold off his companions one by one on the long sail away from the radiated lands and now only he was left.

He was sure that death would find him soon. Indeed, it would be a mercy - but it would not be this day, for suddenly battle erupted at the pirates beach camp as a mercenary band came hunting for his head. Unfortunately they attacked with no strategy, and were cut down at the same measure as they did the pirates.

It's like they were just running into those arrows.

While Hoggart managed to escape to his vessel and flee, the three remaining mercenaries freed Big Mike, and returned to the nearby fishing village of Kielseng with an air of failure as their target had escaped, meaning they were not going to get paid for their losses.

"That's it then - we're the last of the Spears of the Church," moaned the Moaning Knight. "I say we call it quits." His companions Faltran and Bloodfire nodded in agreement. 

Big Mike, hobbling behind shook his head as ideas of revenge crept into his head. "No, not yet. You saved me from that bastard. Let me help you take him down."

Bloodfire laughed at him. "You? Just look at you - you can barely walk, and the three of us will be hard pressed to get anywhere against the rest of Hoggart's gang."

"I've commanded armies before," Big Mike said with a commanding tone. "I might not be able to join you on the field, but with my battlefield experience I can guide you to victory. As for our lack of numbers..."

Big Mike tossed a heavy purse at their feet. "I managed to swipe some of their cache during their battle. We can recruit more men with that. What say you? Will we help each other get revenge on that weasel?"

After a brief discussion, Faltran shook Big Mike's hand. "You have a deal."

Dark Souls III: The Spears of the Church

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

The boss fight inside the church is one of the most devious in Dark Souls. While there is a respawning painting assassin NPC during the fight, the main boss is... another player. Yes. I hope you've been practicing your PvP skills because one of the many crazies who enjoy ruining the day for others will be summoned as "your boss fight", and given the people who sign up for this covenant would be the ones who PvP at every opportunity - lets just say are not novices.

Said opponent cannot use Estus heals which is great, but everything else in their arsenal seems to be ok. They also get an AoE spear summon and an automated magic spear spell hovering above them (at least I think its automated). The "Spears of the Church" Faltran and Bloodfire did their duty of blocking my progress. Rather than hoping one will just throw the fight (which probably isn't going to happen, given the game) I decided to tilt the battle to my favor as much as possible, summoning sunbro Andraste to assist and coating my axe with the bleed buff.

Pre-combat shot. The fighting is too intense later to take screenies.

Spear of the Church Anayaki still put up a good fight, but with my tricks and a late "suddenly switch opponent" tactic by Andraste and me, Anayaki was caught unprepared for an axe to the back. Being unsure of who to block against next ensured both of us hit which ended the boss fight in our victory. Thank you Andraste! Funny that someone named after a goddess/saint helped me get through this section! ;)