Zundrbar in the War of Three Hammers

''"I have heard tales about the elder days- is there any truth to them?" ''

''"The stories of the once great kingdom of Zundrbar have been reduced to stories of drunk elders and bombastic youngsters." ''

-Ghlafferge Sootbeard to a Villager

Overview
The Battle of Zundrbar took place after a regiment of Dark Irons heading for Grim Batol was given the order to scout some hills to the west (The Zundrbarian Highlands). The Dark Iron force consisted of fifteen thousand soldiers, under the leadership of Captain Barim Redbeard, and immediately started hiking.

Meanwhile, in Zundrbar, the other colonies abroad had fallen, save for Zundrboek- which meant that Sven Sootbeard and the people were considering sending out more, as the mines of Zundrbar proved to be far less wealthy than they once were. The year was +1800, and the thriving settlement of Zundrbar had exceeded five thousand individuals as its population and was extremely advanced.

Belligerents
On one side, were the Dwarves of Zundrbar, who had the strength of five thousand armed individuals (legitimate military and civilian militia), and had the advantage of both firearms, grenades, and other works of engineering, and knowledge of the terrain.

On the other side, were the Dark Irons, who had a strength three times that of the Zundrbarian Dwarves with a force of fifteen thousand. The Dark Irons made up for the advantage of engineering by using advanced sorcery against the magic-deficient Zundrbarians.

Initial Assault on the Engineering District
Two days into the assault, the Dark Irons attacked the Engineering District, the westernmost part of the Industrial Sector. The attack on the Engineering District lasted a single day- as many engineers took up arms and attempted to hold off of the Dark Irons for as long as possible. However, the Dark Iron attackers first attacked the armory, and many of the engineers therefore were rendered without arms. The guildhouse of the Engineering Guild was located inside of Zundrbar, although they were in far smaller numbers than the amount of engineers located inside of the Engineering District.

The assault on the Engineering District was very surprising to the Zundrbarians of the nearby sectors, as no true enemy had entered Zundrbar in nearly a generation. The Dark Irons held the Engineering District for a few days as they gathered their forces together for a strike forwards on the Smithing District. The word entered the Smithing District via a few engineers, although the Smithing District instead prepared their weapons to prepare for a similar strategy.

Assault on the Smithing District
The Dark Irons used a similar strategy against the blacksmiths in the Smithing District and assaulted the armory that was located in the central area of the Smithing District. The blacksmiths however, the day before- had taken most if not all of the weapons and armor from the armory. The blacksmiths took up arms when the Dark Irons entered the Smithing District, and there were large amounts of street fighting among the houses of the Zundrbarian blacksmiths and in the forges as well.

The eventual outcome was, despite their best efforts- the blacksmiths were overwhelmed by the huge number of Dark Irons attacking. There were only one thousand blacksmiths in the Smithing District, and nearly fifteen thousand Dark Irons (including the casualties from the Engineering District) were simply too large for them to contain it. Eventually, the blacksmiths were either killed, taken prisoner, or tortured over the course of the 3 day assault on the Smithing District.

The Dark Irons spent another two days of rest inside of the Smithing District preparing for the assault on the Mining District.

Assault on the Mining District
The word of the assaults had reached the Mining District, and has also reached Zundrbar. The miners drew up their picks and hammers and stood to defend Zundrbar at all costs. Many took positions inside of the mines and set up ambush spots to assault the Dark Iron invaders. The Assault on the Mining District was the second longest battle of The Battle of Zundrbar because of the fact- the objective the miners had was to keep the Dark Irons bogged down and preoccupied for as long as possible, as preparations for war were made inside of the mainland of Zundrbar.

The miners were led by Thoradad Tunnelforger and Taldbar Graypick. The miners totalled one thousand two hundred, and mined inside of thirty different mines, each of which became a battleground over the next five days. As soon as the first Dark Irons stepped foot inside of the Mining District, crossbow bolts and blunderbuss bullets opened fire on them to lure them deeper inside of the mines.

The opposition that followed was tough, as the miners would often place themselves in a one by one order, each one inside of a small stone foxhole, ready to ambush the Dark Irons. Once a majority of the miners were dead- a system had been created which was a string that ran through the stone walls of the mine. The string led to many sticks of dynamite located at the central point of the mine, which were used to cave in the mine- killing the Dark Irons and any miners unfortunate to have been left inside.

This tunnel collapse strategy was extremely effective, although it was costly in terms of friendly fire. The Dark Irons lost three thousand soldiers in this tunnel attack strategy due to the fact they assaulted the mines in groups of one hundred. This meant that at the end of the Assault on the Mining District, the Dark Irons only had ten thousand mine remaining- and the Zundrbarians only had two thousand remaining.

Assault on Zundrbar
The battle of Zundrbar was by far the bloodiest battle of the war, and took place over nearly a month, as the war preparations the Zundrbarians had made meant the fortification of each and every house inside of Zundrbar, with small holes for firing, and each filled with around twenty to forty defenders each. Many defenders also choose to hold the high ground of Zundrbar, which were the ranged attackers, who included the few engineers located at the guildhouse of the Engineering Guild.

The assault on Zundrbar is divided into separate parts due to the fact it was the best-chronicled assault of the Battle of Zundrbar. To begin with, the first part is known as the Approach. The Approach involved the Dark Irons advancing from the Mining District to the town of Zundrbar itself. The area was well monitored by nearly two hundred and fifty ranged attackers, who peppered the approaching soldiers with bullets and bolts nearly as fast as they could be placed onto the battlefield. The Approach lasted for twelve hours, and ended after the Dark Irons fielded their full force forwards, and the ranged attackers retreated to the road.

The Battle for Hill Road is the second part, in which numerous mountaineers grouped up with the ranged attackers to defend Hill Road (in modern times- Hill Road is the road which leads from the village of Zundrbar to the sheep farm nearby). The Battle for Hiill Road involved the five hundred defenders attempting to hold the small passageway from the Dark Irons. The Battle for Hill Road lasted eighteen hours, and the remaining ranged attackers retreated up to the stables to regroup.

There is a part of the battle known as the Pauze, in which the Dark Irons camped inside of Zundrbar, and the watchers inside of the houses (whom which the Dark Irons were not aware existed) waited for the night to come.

Following the eight hour Pauze, the watchers began to take fire at the Dark Irons as they rested on the commons of Zundrbar, across from the Zundrstron. The third part was known as the Naacht Hendorlaag- or Night Ambush. The Night Ambush lasted until the early hours of dawn, when the firing ceased as the Dark Irons slowly advanced forwards. Knowing that Zundrbar was very dangerous and not having any sleep, the Dark Irons retreated down to the area of the Sheep Farm as they regrouped and started redrawing strategies. During this time, the ranged attackers prepared themselves, with new numbers from the ranks of the Voelkarmaag (People's Army). The ranged attackers assaulted the camp around the afternoon from the highlands, and the Dark Irons lost around three hundred soldiers during this attack, as the Dark Irons knew not to advance (as such was the goal of these attacks- to bait them into the fire of the Voelkarmaag (as such was the goal) however retreating would mean losing precious time to act. As the assaults went on throughout the afternoon, the ranged attackers regrouped inside of the houses of the Voelkarmaag this time instead of the stables, and started to make a plan.

The Dark Irons advanced forward in the fourth part of the battle, known as the Wraak om Dorgijsen ("Retaliation of the Dark Irons). The Dark Irons advanced forward in turtle like formations and were able to take down numerous houses, before the turtle formation was disrupted by the engineers- who used explosives to break apart parts of the formation. The turtle formation cost the lives of nearly two hundred of the Zundrbarians, meaning the casualties were starting to near five hundred- one fourth of the defenders.

After the turtle formation, the Dark Irons advanced forward during the day, knowing that the Voelksarmaag would be sleep deprived after such intense fighting against the Dark Irons. This part was known as the, "Wraak op deg Slaaploez (Revenge on the Sleepless), which caused the loss of three houses, adding fifty more Zundrbarians to the casualties. The remaining houses decided to lock their doors for a day and get some rest as the Dark Irons pillaged Zundrbar in a slow though progressive movement.

Finally, the second to last part of the assault took place. The Dark Irons had lost nearly six thousand soldiers as the Zundrbarians continued the strategy of hitting and running. Valgrinn Ironbeard and his son- Folgrin Ironbeard, led the legitimate military forces (the mountaineers) from the mountains where they were hiding (they along with Sven Sootbeard, the elder Runemaster, and the elder Loremaster were tasked with continuing the Hill Dwarven tradition). The attack of the mountaineers (who were numbered around three hundred) assaulted the four thousand Dark Irons, who were weary after only getting five hours of sleep as they had attempted to open the houses nearly all night. The mountaineers, knowing the terrain and being in possession and more advanced technology, were able to kill around a thousand Dark Irons holding the area near the stables after initially "shaking the hornet's nest." Valgrinn Ironbeard- commander of the mountaineers was struck down along with the other mountaineers. Folgrin Ironbeard, son of Valgrinn Ironbeard, was able to take Valgrinn's body and escape via glider to Menethil Harbor to bring news of the assault to Zundrboek in an attempt to rally more warriors. However- he learned of the fate of Zundrboek being cut off from a Hill Dwarf from Zundrboek by the name of Drothal Stonecrusher. He and Drothal went to bury Valgrinn in a smal patch in the northern Wetlands, away from the grubby hands of the Dark Iron tomb raiders.

Meanwhile in Zundrbar- the final part of the battle commenced as only two thousand Dark Irons remained. The Zundrbarians were running low on food, as were the Dark Irons. Their leader advanced (originally staying a forward command outpost) and entered the battlefield, and Sven came down from the mountains after seeing the fall of Valgrinn Ironbeard and dissappearance of Folgrin Ironbeard. The leader of the Dark Irons- Barim Redbeard, ordered the remaining soldiers of the Dark Iron army to stand down, as the two were to duel. In the end, Sven after taking heavy wounds, was able to impale Barim on his bayonet. The sight of the death of their leader did a major blow to the Dark Iron morale, and the Voelksarmaag stormed outwards and assaulted the remaining Dark Irons. Even with the morale boost, the Voelksarmaag led by Sven Sootbeard were still heavily outnumbered.

As they were going to lose- the elder runemaster and loremaster came together alongside the spirits of the dead Zundrbarians from the ages of history, and swarmed the Dark Irons, sending them running with their beards between their legs.

Aftermath
The remaining Dark Irons returned to find that the attack on Grim Batol was going on, and reported a loss. The geomancers of the Dark Iron army ordered an earthquake, and were planning on sending a large force- however, the loss at Grim Batol prevented such from happening.

The Zundrbarians were near crippled by the attacks, and even more so by the earthquake. Sven Sootbeard and numerous others fled the city, leaving only three hundred Zundrbarians left to rebuild Zundrbar or die. The crops had failed as a result of the sorcery the Dark Irons had used, which had corrupted large portions of the soil, the remaining mines collapsed leaving few riches and jobs- along with the forges, workshops, and foundries of the Smithing District and the Engineering District.

The Zundrbarians scrapped the Industrial Sector for spare parts, which they took down to Menethil to trade in exchange for food- which they did receive, and then returned up to Zundrbar. Folgrin Ironbeard returned a few days later to find Zundrbar leaderless and find a letter from Sven Sootbeard:

"Folgrin of the Clan Ironbeard, 

''I have left Zundrbar for Dun Morogh across the mountains so that my wife and I may create a safe heir to the throne of Zundrbar. We have left to preserve the culture of Zundrbar, and teach it to our kin. I do not know how long this will take, however I plan to send him to Ironforge when he is a man (forty years from now). Make him a good ruler for Zundrbar. Make him better than I. In the meantime, leading Zundrbar will fall to you. I apologize for leaving in such a dire time, and I am sorry for not being there when Valgrinn died. ''

With all due respect, 

Sven Sootbeard" 

Folgrin then assumed leadership of Zundrbar, however the village itself became more focused on working than on politics, and eventually around thirty years later, stabilized, although nothing near to what it had been during its Golden Age (+1500 to +1800).

Remembrance
The Hill Dwarves still have a great hatred of the Dark Iron for what happened during the Battle of Zundrbar. Of course, this is mainly towards the Dark Irons who support Dagran Thaurissian II's claim to the throne of Ironforge. Additionally, the Hill Dwarves look back on the days of the Golden Age sadly, and view the kings of Zundrbar now as simply, "waiting for the mountains to crumble around us instead of getting revenge."