Battle of Ashford

With the Stormlands already secured, Robert left his brother Stannis to hold Storm's End and marched west to Ashford, the seat of House Ashford in the Reach. He may have meant to shore up his western flank before the Tyrell host, the largest in the realm, could join the fight. Or he may have walked straight into a trap Randyll Tarly had set for him.

The vanguard decided it, not the main army. Tarly met Robert's forces and overran them before the rest of the Tyrell host arrived, and Robert had to abandon the field. Among the dead was Lord Cafferen, who had gone over to the rebels after losing at Summerhall: Tarly killed him and sent his head to King Aerys II. On the other side, Ser Quentin Tyrell, Lord Mace's cousin, fell.

Years later, Tyrion Lannister would say the battle had not been much of one, and that Robert's army came out of it largely intact. That did not change what stood in front of him: the main Tyrell force, far larger, blocking his path. Robert had no room to hold the Stormlands and forced his troops north, into the Riverlands, to find his allies.

The retreat left the ground open. The Reach army marched into the Stormlands and laid siege to Storm's End, which Stannis had been left to hold.