Battle reports thread - King of the Romans PBM

[FactionHeir]

Caen Southern Border Region, 1372 AD

[Ramses II CP]

Sallying against Stenkil, 1374

Absorbed in the affairs of his Chancellorship Fritz had hardly been in the field at all for years. Indeed, he'd barely noticed what was going on in his own city. Now, after countless years of waiting Prince Stenkil of the Danes had at long last mustered his courage to lead his exceptional army forth against Arhus. Fritz had frequently felt an urge to set sail for Stockholm and not be too concerned with the Prince, but his army was exceptionally powerful, and with Duke Dieter almost always trapped in Madgeburg by the ceaseless waves of Poles there would be little to prevent Stenkil from rampaging through the heart of the Reich if he wasn't forced to turn aside and deal with Fritz and Arhus first.

Just today Stenkil's men had arrived at the walls and begun constructing their siege equipment. Fritz and Robert watched them from the ramparts as they scurried about actively, and had a good laugh over their own plans. The garrison of Arhus had been mightily increased, including multiple companies of pikes and arquebusiers who should be able to deal quite a shock to that Danish heavy cavalry, and the men had been drilled heavily by Gunther on night fighting in recent weeks. Fritz would give the Danes two hours after sunset to settle down well in their blankets, and then he would lead his men in a full scale sally out of the walls.



Crossbow militia held the walls as Fritz began to organize the push out of the south gate. Before the first man could set foot outside, however, a series of incredible booms sounded across the field. Fritz looked about wildly for a moment, convinced Stenkil had snuck artillery into position, but the rest of the men were taking it calmly, as though they expected it. Turning to his swordbearer, Kurt, Fritz said, 'What in the name of God is that?'

'Cannon towers Lord Fritz,' Kurt's unceasing grin widened just a notch further, if such a thing were possible, 'Lovely sound, eh?'



With the gates open Fritz could see, over the heads of his men as they left the city, the devestation wrought on Prince Stenkil's weary soldiers as they struggled to assemble.

'Why did no one inform me of their presence here?' There was a note of genuine anger and frustration in Fritz's voice now, as he contemplated the past years, 'A bloody child could've held these walls with those things up there? Why, we could've sacked Stockholm and retaken Oslo already!'

Kurt's smile didn't slack at all, but he turned to Robert to answer the question and manage Fritz. Robert swallowed nervously, and replied, 'Well, m'lord, you see... You're the Chancellor. We all just, ahh, assumed you knew all about 'em. Right lads?'

Shaking his head Fritz glanced up at one of the towers as another explosive shot rumbled out of it, 'I must be getting old. I should have known about these. Surely I read reports concerning it a dozen times, and just didn't pay attention. Well, order the men down off the walls to join the sally. I want to come to grips with Prince Stenkil myself, not have him shot down from miles away!'

Coming out Fritz had his lines arranged exactly as expected, with two companies of pikes and arquebusiers on the right, one pair on the left, and another company of pikemen guarding the handgunners, who would press forward with their heavier armor and absorb the mass of the enemy's return fire. In the center was the bombard guarded by crossbowmen, and behind the pikemen on both sides were cavalry, Fritz's guards to the right and Teutons to the left. Even as his men were still organizing themselves Fritz saw the Danish siege tower collapse in on itself from cannon shot.



On the left the Handgunners pushed forward enough to try to get their weapons in range, which brought a quick response from the enemy archers and cavalry. The right side had their arquebusiers deployed correctly already, which allowed the pikemen to catch the charge of the Huscarls directly on their long weapons as the gunners retired through their ranks. Certainly there were some losses, but the momentum of the Danish charge was broken, and half the horse died on impact.



On the center left the arquebusiers had deployed too quickly, and their pike guards were not yet set. When the charge of the Huscarls struck it was extremely destructive. Half a company of gunners died before the pikes could drive off the enemy cavalry.



Further around the left side Danish War Clerics declined to charge into the pikes protecting the handgunners and tried to ride around them, where they were met by Teutonic Knights. A fierce struggle broke out, with the veteran War Clerics tearing into the more numerous Teutons.



In the center the second company of War Clerics tried to bring a charge to bear against Fritz's bombard, but half their numbers were cut down by the steady hands of the pikemen, and the rest quickly broke and fled.



On the right another company of Huscarls tried the pike line and was turned back with heavy losses. Though the remaining Danish cavalry would continue to attempt their charges, the mass of them was already broken, and the rest could not effectively come to grips with the gunners that troubled them. To the left Prince Stenkil at last committed his own cavalry, on the far side from Fritz's clear banner. Fritz immediately roared an order for his men to ride that way, but it was too late. The weakened company of handgunners fired a volley which tore Stenkil from his horse and destroyed the morale of his guardsmen.



The Teutons pursued aggressively, and Fritz arrived too late. With the cannons at the central gate still firing while the rest of his men filtered out it was too dangerous to attempt a pursuit in person, and the body of the Danish Prince was clearly visible in the snow anyway. Fritz pounded his thigh in frustration, and looked about for an enemy. There, in the center, a smallish company of Norse Swordsmen had come to grips with Fritz's arquebusiers. Immediately the charge was sounded! The Danes, seeing their hated foe coming, broke off and counter charged.



The melee was glorious and brutal, but brief. All the remaining Norse Swordsmen rushed into the fight and managed to cut down several of Fritz's guardsmen, but in the end they were slaughtered to a man.



The utter annihilation of their infantry caused the rest of the Danish army to lose heart, and they fled the field. With the cannons at last silenced Fritz rode out in pursuit, but few men were captured. Out there Fritz saw clear evidence of the wisdom of his earlier decision not to chase Stenkil's guardsmen, as very few of the Teutons returned from their pursuit. The bloody, cannon chewed field bore mute testimony to the incredible power of the tower mounted serpentines.



Ransom on the few prisoners would be declined. The battle was strangely unsatisfying. Viewing the field Fritz von Kastilien, who had seen and perpetrated many hideous acts of cold blooded butchery, shuddered at the thought of what warfare might become. This idea of killing men by the dozen whom you could barely see, it struck him as somehow barbaric, uncivilized.

Turning to his lancebearer, Bergin, Fritz called, 'Will the Prince's corpse hold together enough to hang him from the gates, or did the shot chew him apart? I don't want any of these former Danes getting the idea in their heads that just because I'm away the city won't be well in my grip. Maybe if we wrap the bits up in a fishing net?'

Sighing deeply at the sight of his men collecting the remains of Stenkil, Fritz thought, still, it was a victory, and a city of the Reich saved at small cost to her soldiers. The cannons might be uncivilized, but at least they're effective.

Signals were sent to the waiting mercenary ships, who sailed up to the walls and took on Fritz with the longbowmen of his retinue aboard the faster vessel, and his bombard and the finest company of arquebusiers aboard the slower craft. They sailed for Stockholm, to make an end at last of the independence of the Danish people.