Sharkblockade had a good defense set up, but an incomplete one. The moat was dug out, 3 sides of which had an alligator infested river in it. Three bridges gave access to the fortress, with loaded cage traps on both sides. A 1 tile wall was established, with designations for expansion in place.
Goblin snatchers flipped most of the cages on the north bridge, followed shortly by the decloaking of an ambush of crossbow goblins. The Shearer who discovered the ambush dodged the first barrage of bolts, but one of the second volley caught him in the face. Oh well, I thought, no great loss.
The goblins took up position on the bridge, a tile north of the remaining cage traps, and started filling my pasture with bolts. Many baby turkeys were slain. Great, I thought, I have a literal meatshield. I'll let them waste their bolts, then send the military to mop up.
The military took position just beneath the surface of the earth. One of the goblins eschewed his bolts in favor of bashing turkeys to death with his crossbow. Hilarious, I thought.
That's when the goblin entered the line of sight of one of the swordsdwarves. The swordsdwarf broke cover, completely failed to hit the goblin, and had his skull bashed in almost immediately. The goblin had dodged onto the ramp down, causing the rest of the military to abandon their post and chase him around. The militia commander, with his adamantine battleaxe, caught a bolt with his spine almost immediately. The captain of the other squad dodged one bolt only to be perforated by half a dozen more, and is lying bleeding in the dirt. Though leaderless, the other dwarves charged the bridge, inducing the other goblins to dodge into cage traps. One of the goblins in that action died on his feat- the other fell into the alligator filled river.
Goblins- 2 dead, 7 captured (including 3 thieves), one goblin trying desperately to swim away from the alligators and one thief made it off the map unscathed.
Dwarves- 2 dead, militia commander crippled, 4 others with serious wounds (3 if you don't consider a mangled hand serious), in 2 cases what turned out to be mortal wounds.
AUTMNAL AUTOSAVE!