Battle reports thread - King of the Romans PBM

[Kagemusha]

Battle on mountain pass near Durazzo 1222

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"Damned!We are stuck gentlemen!"

Jonas Von Mahren shouted to the men gathered in his command tent.

"The reports from scouts are clear. The Venetians have blocked the pass with a larger army then ours and marching around them is impossible,becouse Durazzo will block our route on the coast.The longer we will wait,more powerfull the Venetian host will get."

Austrian knight commander stood up and sayed.

"The reports are clear.There is more then half thousand Venetian Knights in that pass and atleast the same amount of infantry. Their army outclasses and outnumbers ours clearly.There is no sensible way for us to engage them,without high risk of annihilation."

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Jonas buried his head on his hands for a while and then continued.

"Well ofcourse there is high risk that we will be defeated, but if we stay put we will be definately defeated,since there is no other Imperial army near by we have to push through that pass. Gentlemen, be prepared we will attack when the time is right.Dismissed."

As the last Austrians walked out of his tent,Von Mahren took another look on the map for about the hundred time and thought.

"There is nothing there in the ground that will help us. The pass is mostly flat and there are no forest or any other things which could help us either,we have some missile troops that Venetians doesnt have,but in that bloody pass there isnt any point where we could lure the Venetians to an place that would benefit our infantry against their large host of knights."

After a moment Jonas got tired on looking at the map as if there was anything usefull there.Instead he decided to go for a walk inside the camp. As he came out from his tent the cold breeze made him shiver and he decided to stop by on a kitchen tent where few men were eating. The cook handed him a warm beer and Jonas stood there for a moment sipping from his warm drink. As he had finished the drink and was walking towards his tent,it started. Heavy snow flakes started dropping from the sky on increasing pace and eventually a full blown blizzard hit the camp. After a short period of time Jonas started laughing out loud and roared.

"Sound the assembly we will move out!Move it men!"

After the army had assembled Jonas mounted with the Austrian captains explained his plan.

"With the help of this blizzard we will move past the Venetian force without them knowing that we even passed. But if they will see us,there is only one way for us to save ourselves. Not a man can brake rank. In a colum we can fend of the Venetian cavalry,but if we brake formation the Venetians will run down our men like grass.Now move it,but silently.If we are lucky we will go unnoticed."

And so in the thick of the blizzard the Austrian household army started marching the right side of the pass.

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The column of troops was tightly packed.First the Pavise crossbowmen,second the armoured spearmen, after them the dismounted knights and last the two mounted units of knights and Von Mahrens personal escort.

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The blizzard howled around the men,so it was impossible to hear anything and as the colum was half way through the pass,Jonas was getting optimistic about their chances of getting through unnoticed. Then things started go wrong.

Luigi Di Pietro was just an ordinary levied spearmen from Venice and his reason for being so far from the Venetian camp was far from beeing on a chivalrous guarding duty.
For past week Luigi had tryed to convince a local daughter of an peasant that there was nothing bad with tender feelings between two adults,while he kept his mouth shut about his family in Durazzo.After long period of courting the girl had started to warm up for Luigi´s tricks and the two were currently in a haystack inside of a barn when suddenly the mother of the sayed peasant girl came running and screaming into the barn.

"Germans!There are thousends of Germans marching towards the farm!"

Shouted the peasant woman with mixture of Croatian,Italian and German.

"Are you out of your mind?"

Luigi stated as he pushed the girl inside the haystack as if the mother wouldnt have known that the girl was in the barn with a Italian soldier.

!Come see! Stupid Italian!"

Yelled the mother. Reluctantly Luigi rose up from the hey and walked out of the barn to see what the grazy woman had seen. But after a short glimpse he got more energy in his moves then never before in his life. A large German host was marching straight towards the farm and as the mother tryed to hang on his sleeve and daughter on his foot screaming about how the germans would rape and kill or vice versa them all,Luigi decided that if there was never a time for him to run,this was it.

Meanwhile Von Mahren had no idea that they were spotted. And the German army marched silently and carefully forward.
When the army was just about to cross a small hill.The drumming and trumpet sounds started from the Italian camp.Von Mahren cursed and lined the men into battle. He rode through the troops and shouted over and over again.

"Stay together.Crossbows aim for the horses,then retreat behind the spears.If we stay together we have a chance."

After a short while the drumming stopped and large grumbling sound started to come nearer and nearer and suddenly hundreds of Venetian knights came out charging from the blizzard.

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Jonas felt bad for the front line spearmen already. The crossbows shot a fast volley and run behind the spearmen.The next second the Venetian cavalry smashed on the center and right of the German force like thunder.

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The ranks of spearmen wawered but held. After the initial charge Jonas commanded the dismounted knights to attack the gaps of the line and committed his two units of mounted knights to the right rear that was getting stressed of the numbers of Italian Knights charging there.He stayed alone on the left flank of the line shouting constantly.

"Hold the line men!Hold the line,they cant brake us!"

The battle raged hard and the Venetians charged the German line over and over again.Men dying on both sides.Von Mahren stood stubbornly on his place on the left flank while now there was even some Venetians behind him routing some of his crossbows. Jonas just sat on his saddle fending of the occasional Italian knights that penetrated the line or tryed to flank the Germans and he roamed.

"Hold the line!Not a one step back men!"

Suddenly a relief came as the Venetian captain had charged also the German lines and a stab of a German spear ended his life.

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Now it was the time.Now or not ever.Jonas commanded a general charge and the Germans started pushing.Little by little the Italians turned and started running and after a while general rout begin. Von Mahren tryed to coordinate the pursue,but the troops were completely mixed and all he could do was to gather units there where a Italian knight unit decided to turn around.Even this was hard since there was only a handfull of mounted Germans alive and many times few men were pursuing a very much larger troops. Finally The last Italians were driven of the field and as the blizzard slowed down and ended the whole gruesomnes of the battlefield appeared infront of their eyes.

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The field was a sea of corpses of men and horses most dead some still alive and wounded.After the battle Von Mahren ransomed the Italian prisoners back for a amount of 1300 florins.Also he sent a message to Durazzo with them reading.

"We have destroyed the best you have.Your city will be next."

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Butchers bill:

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[FactionHeir]

Allied Battle for Constantinople, Spring 1224 AD

After Hans had defeated the small Hungarian rear guard, he wondered where the large army that had taken Constantinople a few years ago had set up camp. He still remembered the pledge he made to both himself and the empire's ally that he would personally secure the border of their capital and drive the Magyars back to whence they came. Several days passed, during which Hans restlessly walked up and down inside his tent, waiting for his scouts to report back on any large troop movement. And on the seventh day, he was in luck. It was not quite what he had expected, for it was not one of his scouts that had entered his tent but a Byzantine messenger. At first, Hans was apalled by the looks of that man, who was clad merely in rags and was bleeding from places more than one, but it was not upon him to judge the empire's ally's looks. Quite brashly, the man had requested some water, which Hans gestured forth, before he began to speak, in a cracking voice that Constantinople was once again under siege. These words had resonated for quite a while in the young noble's ears, for he felt that he might have come too late once again. As he steadied himself however, he quickly called for the camp to be broken and force marched his men eastwards.

That was several days ago now. Hans stared at the host in front of him that was busily building siege equipment and heaving heavy catapults into position to fire upon the walls of the great city. He almost wished that he had brought his host of infantry with him so he could surround and defeat them easily, but luck had not been with him, for the bulk of his army rested several days back in the west, unable to march further and not able to catch up in time for battle. As Hans looked about him, he brought to memory each and every one of the few mounted knight regiments that he had brought with him. They, too, were tired, but they had made their pledge and were ready to fight and die for him. It almost brought tears to his eyes when they collectively had raised their swords high and declared that they would follow him to free Constantinople. And now was the time...

Hans deployed his cavalry on a gentle slope at the rear of the Hungarian force, while his Byzantine allies would come from his left, hopefully in time to flank the bulk of the opposing force.

As the Byzantines were still far off, the Hungarians immediately turned and marched towards Hans' position. The number of banners flying over the host's heavily armed foot soldiers was quite concerning, and while the apparent lack of spearmen would make matters easier, the fact that every single one of the enemy's foot soldiers was a knight would make for a long and difficult battle.

To Hans' surprise, the Hungarian captain seemed to struggle keeping his forces in line and readying his artillery, for their siege engines kept turning to and fro, not knowing how to deploy. It almost made the young chancellor laugh out loud as after severak hours, the Hungarians still had not mustered the courage to engage his force nor fire a single arrow at his knights. It was good this way however, as it allowed his weary knights and horses the rest they so desired. Nevertheless, Hans did not allow a single man to dismount, for only if they used the momentum - and used it well - would this day be a victory for the empire.

As his Byzantine allies' banners finally started appearing on the horizon and some Hungarians worriedly turned left and right, not knowing where to go, Hans sounded the battlehorn and charged forth towards the Magyars.

The enemy was clearly take by surprise, yet under the shouting of their captain turned towards and started charging towards him. Perfect Hans cheered everything is going as planned as he ordered his knights to turn and ride back up the hill, some Hungarians still in pursuit while the others were either disoriented or moved towards forming a new line against the Byzantine advance.
It was then that Hans gestured for all his units to turn and charge back down the hill after their successful feint that broke the enemy formation.

The Mailed Knights broke deep into the enemy lines and charged down several dismounted knights only to quickly break away from the incoming pursuers, make a sharp turn and charge back into the Hungarian archer regiments.

Meanwhile, Hans was charging towards several foot knights that were planning to get into the rear of the mailed knights and his mounted feudal knights charged the flanks of his opponent.

As the mailed knights had done, Hans broke immediately after the charge from melee only to charge the lines of foot knights next to his former target. He could clearly start sensing the fear in his opponents even through their visors, as they started to waver and the back rows started to turn and run.

It was then that Hans noticed the enemy Frankish knights trying to get to his right flank, formed up in a wedge.

Immediately, he sounded the horn to have all his knights fall into the enemy knights' flank and destroy them.

The enemy knights broke quickly, yet some fighting to the death as they saw no escape from their dire situation. Fireballs started flying through the sky as both Hungarians and Byzantine catapults started firing at each other and the lines started to engage. A perfect opportunity to charge the Magyar's rear and have the Byzantines mop them up Hans figured and forced his men to disengage from the remaining frankish knights to charge the nearest foot knight lines.

Men flew into the air as lances and horses crashed into them, leaving a sea of corpses in their wake.

Yet again, as Hans' entourage impacted with the footknight regiment, he broke to charge their neighbors, wreaking utter havok to the enemy's formation, men, and morale as they tried to turn towards him with the Byzantines now in their rear.

Riding through the gap in the Hungarian lines, Hans and his entourage struck knights left and artillery crew right, seeding fear into the enemy's hearts as all but their captain's regiment started to turn and flee for the hills in panic.

His mounted knights in the meantime started to break the last resistance among the enemy artillery crews, who breavely stood their ground, fearing both their captain's fury and German steel.

Yet even they decided that German steel was the greater threat and started to run, nearly all of their compatriots being captured by either Hans' forces or the Byzantines. Only 19 made it into the hills, with Hans' knights too tired to pursue them. The day was won regardless and the two Roman empires once again cheered together as brothers, to their heroic victory over the barbaric Magyars as Constantinople was saved.

[Kagemusha]

Battle of Durazzo 1226

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The Austrian household army had briefly besieged the City of Durazzo. Before the siege Jonas had instructed the commanders of the army including Arnold of Austria who had joined the army.

"Gentlemen this isnt really a siege. There are lot more Venetian troops inside Durazzo then we have. As my son Erhart is not far from this army,our plan is to lure the Venetians out of the city and destroy them."

Arnold replied.

"Von Mahren.Isnt this bit risky? Why do we have to take a such an risk,when we dont have to take Durazzo at first place,since Duke Leopold´s intention was just to ravage the Venetian land and not to conquer it. Didnt we already give them a blow enough when you destroyed their army on that pass near this place?"

Jonas looked at the younger man and was impressed on his wits.

"Those are all valid points,but i think that if we leave Durazzo be,the Venetians will strike us at the back when we turn our attention in other directions. I take full responsibility on this tactics and i think the risk is worth taking.The men didnt run in front of Venetian knights,i doubt they will when facing militia either.

Arnold nodded,but muttered to himself.

"It may be so,but when i take charge of this army this kind of tactics will not be used."

After few hours,a Venetian messeger brought a word to Doge Benasuto of Venice who was at Durazzo.

"Sir,sorry to interrupt you,but there is a minor problem."

"What kind of problem?"

Doge asked and continued

"Speak up man! Have the troops caused trouble again in the city or what is this about?"

The messenger swallowed heavily and sayed.

"Well...Sir.We are besieged...Not technically speaking surrounded,but there is a middle sized German army in front of our front gate and they are cutting down trees to make siege engines."

Doge Benasuto took a carefull look at the man in front of him and sayed.

"You are aware of the consequences of drinking while in duty? Why would Germans besiege us,when they dont have an army as large as ours inside 100 kilometers or even more?"

The messenger answered.

"Yes,sir!Im not drunk infact havent touched a beer this day, but the fact remains the Germans are outside the city and it seems they want to battle."

Doge scratched his head and after a minute or so of thinking he sayed.

"Well then.Sound an assembly.I think we should go meet the grazy Germans and give them a lesson."

Meanwhile outside the walls Jonas was sitting on his horse and talking with Arnold when the sounds of drumming and warhorns started inside the city.Jonas sayed to Arnold.

"I think you can order the men to abandon the work on siege engines and line up the right flank,becouse i think that we will soon have company. We have a hell of a fight coming.I trust that you will lead the right with honour.I will do my best on the left."

Arnold rode off to the right and just as Jonas was about to give orders for assembling the left wing of the battle line, a loud sound of warhorn came from North East. Jonas sayed to his trusted Teuton that had followed him from the holy land.

"The boy is right on time."

The Teuton named Wolf replied with a smile on his face.

"Well he shure as hell doesnt come to his father."

Jonas laughed and slapped his trusted knight on the back.Then he commanded the battle line to assemble.Meanwhile the Italians opened the gates and swarms of soldiers raced out from them.

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Von Mahren and Arnold respectfully ordered all the crossbows to start loosing arrows on the Venetians while they were trying to get their units ready for attack,the arrows made heavy toll on the Italians.

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For a while it looked like the arows were causing panic among the soldiers,but after a short time,with a large roar. The Italian mass of infantry crashed the thin black and yellow line of Germans on foot and a heavy fight started.Some of the German crossbows couldnt get away from charging Venetians and they had to draw swords also.

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For a time the battle raged and with all their effort,the Knights of Jonas and Arnold were able to keep the flanks of the army together. Jonas constantly keeped his eye on the the nearing force of his son.The Knights were gallopping on full speed and the few crossbowmen behind were far away as Erhart raced towards the battle.
When Jonas saw that his son was almost ther he commanded his own body guards to move to meet the new comers.There was not much time to talk,becouse the battle was in critical phase as the German foot knights and spearmen massacred the Italian levies,while more and more attacked them.Jonas cryed to Erhart,as they met.

"Wellcome! Lets flank the bastards you take the left side and i will form on the right and keep contact to our own flank. Now Charge!"

Erhart had just the time to say.

"Greetings! Lovely gathering you have here!"

The next minute the mounted knight units crashed the Italian right flank with devastating effect.

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On the German right flank Arnold was desperately pushing back the Italian flankers who were trying to roll up his line.He ordered even the crossbows to melee to drive the flankers away. Striking with his sword,left and right he yelled.

"Hold the flank!Hold the flank or we are all dead!"

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On the left Erhard and Jonas had scattered the Italian right flank,but just as the Italian spearmen were running away,Erhart and his men met the Doge´s bodyguards.

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Jonas tryed to fight his way towards his sone yelling him to stop,but to no avail.Erhart was crushing the Venetians under the hooves of his horse and it seemed nothing could stop the young man. Just as he smashed through another rank of spearmen the Italian knights charged at his men. Jonas could see his son striking down many of them,but suddenly the crest of Erharts helmet disappeared in the crowd. The young Lion was down. Erhart could feel as the Italian spear from beneath him strucked on his lower back. He turned around and dropped the head of the spearman who struck him with single blow from his sword. He turned around and was only able to see the Italian lance coming towards his chest. The lance went straight through his stomach,but still Erhart gathered his remaining strength and smashed his sword on chest of the Knight that pierced him with his lance. Then it seemed as if the time was getting slower.
Erhart wondered why he didnt feel any pain. Then his vision blurred and the young knight dropped from the saddle.
On the right flank Arnold turned around when he he heard the agonizing roar of Jonas.

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Jonas had smashed his way through the crowd,but he was too late. He saw his eldest son, dead and bloodied in the muddy ground. At that moment something snapped in his head. He raised his eyes on the Doge and his men who had just slain his son and all that came from his mouth was a terrible roar.

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"Doge Benasuto!"

Jonas Von Mahren went berserk.He galloped straight in the midst of the Doges bodyguards killing everything that got on his way.No orders came from his mouth,he just kep roaring The Venetian Doge´s name over and over. As he was calling him to an duel.
The whole German army entered the same state of mind and now nothing could stop them.Just as minutes a go,the Venetians were pushing them almost to the ground now the Germans ripped through the Venetians,giving no quarter.
Jonas butchered his way through the Venetian Doge and duel was about to commense as the two got some room,but like many times in battle a German foot knight couldnt see the situation and striked down the Venetian Doge from behind.

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Soon the Germans on foot ran over the dead Doge and started chasing the fleeing Venetians to the city.
For a while Jonas just sat on his horse and watched the corpse of the Doge. No one dared to confront him and the troops followed the Venetians into the city killing and burning everything.
Soon Jonas was alone on the field with only corpses and wounded as his company. He dismounted from his horse. Walked to the dead body of his son and dragged him under a tree,where just sat byrying his face on his hands. After the battle he ordered the extermination of the city and killing of all the prisoners,basicly that order had already been fulfilled already. Also Arnold was knighted and he took over the command of the army.
Jonas gave orders to Wolf to go inform the Diet and gave Erhart´s sword with the Teuton. After that he ordered to move Erharts body to his own tent where he spent the night with his dead son,crying, just as much any father ever could.

Butchers Bill:

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