Battle Reports

**Andres** · 06-19-2008, 20:26

My Kingdom for a goblet of wine! Arta - 1089.

"Rebel scum", Savvas thought, "Shouldn't be much of a problem."

A few moments later, his stomach, unhappy about those 25 goblets of wine the previous night, started to protest. Savvas crawled from his horse, fell on his knees, got up and stumbled towards a tree.

After having emptied his stomach, making disgusting sounds during the process, he slowly walked back.

His lord, Aleksios, stared at him, seemingly a bit worried.

"Don't worry, my lord" Savvas, looking as pale as a corpse, said. He continued, with a voice sounding like an unsharp razor blade: "We'll..." Savvas coughed, "We'll take this settlement..." Savvas coughed again. "We'll..." He spit out a few remnants of his last meal. "Ehm, whatever..."

Some of the soldiers started to laugh. Somehow, a commander suffering from a huge hangover, seemed amusing to them. The burst of laughter woke up Savvas who apparently had fallen asleep on his horse. He shook a few times with his head, slapped himself in the face and poured some water over his head.

"Ok men, let's hope those rebel scum have better wine then the crap we have been drinking for the last few months. Follow my lead men! For the glory of the Empire and for more and better wine!"

The soldiers sheered.

Savvas divided the forces in two groups. One group would attack the main gate at the south, while a smaller force, commanded by Savvas, would go for the east gate.

The enemy was surprised by this tactic and only one unit of spearmen guarded the east gate.

Seeing that only a part of the army was attacking the south gate, the rebels tried to sally and take the group of Aleksios by surprise.

An heroic charge of Aleksios forced the rebels back into the settlement. The rest of the army followed and the Byzantines were inside!

At the same moment, the battering ram on the east gate got through the gate.

All rebel troops focused on Aleksios and the main force of the army, leaving their flank open to Savvas and a unit of spearmen.

Savvas charged into them and killed Petros, the rebel captain.

Without their captain, the rebels soon surrendered.

"Like I said, not much of a problem."

One of the soldiers came out of a building.

"Savvas! We found wine!"

"Hurray!" Savvas cheerd, "No better solution for a hangover then a few goblets of wine!"

Savvas celebrated the victory with his men. The prospect of several subsequent nights drenched in alcohol made them euphoric.

**_Tristan_** · 06-22-2008, 18:14

The liberation of Zagreb
Croatia, January 10th 1090

"O Lord, deliver us from the fury of the bodyguards"-- Croatian Axeman, 1090

The horse plodded on through the fields. A brisk wind made clouds scuttle across the sky, their shadows running on the ground. The weak sun of January was not enough to warm M ethodios.

Blowing on his hands to warm them, the reins hanging loose on the charger’s collar, Methodios thought about the last months.

He and his men had been escorting the merchant train of Milos Kovacs, the Croatian trader from the mountains in Northern Epirus towards his home city. All the way, they drew the curious stares of the countryfolk… Riders in heavy armour escorting two paltry wagons… What they could not know was that the wagons contained a hoard of riches such as they would never contemplate in their lives.

Though bandits were a widespread nuisance in these parts, the presence of the kataphraktoi kept them at bay… This left to the guards and to the riders the drudgery of the convoy work : tending to the beasts, foraging for food. The convoy made slow progress. The wagons were almost overloaded, exerting an heavy stain on the axles that often broke, needing to unload the wagons to perform the necessary reparations, then loading them back again, a back-breaking work…

In the evenings, Methodios insisted on drilling his men, however tiring their day had been. Though their skills honed day by day, Methodios was not deaf to their grumblings.

Now they were only a few leagues from Zagreb. The plan they had devised with Kovacs’ help would soon be put into action. And not too late… Outriders had spotted a Hungarian army north of Zagreb.

“They might be our allies but that would not stop them from snatching that town from under our noses”, Methodios reflected, watching in the distance the dust cloud formed by the stamping feet of the advancing Hungarians.

Already the wagons had sped away towards Zagreb following the first part of the plan. Kovacs was to pretend to have been waylaid by a company of highwaymen, telling him that the men had succeeded in laying their hands on part of his cargo and that they were hard on his tail, intent on taking the rest. Kovacs was to promise Gulya that any recovered gold would be his, with a bonus for protecting him.

**Ferret** · 06-22-2008, 22:44

The battle for Smyrna was a simple affair. Hypatios allowed the rebels to venture some way from the walls, under arrow fire from the Trebizond archers, before ordering forward the spearmen. At the same time the heavy knights of the two nobles' guards charged in on the sides causing a mass rout. It did not take long for the knights to capture or kill any remaining enemy.

**_Tristan_** · 06-24-2008, 09:21

Wrong thread

**Ituralde** · 06-25-2008, 12:54

Capture of Sinop 1093:

Day before the battle:

Christos Nikopoulos felt uneasy. As son of the wife of the nephew of the brother of Pavlos Chrysovergos this connection had been enough for his parents to get him this position in the army and on the other hand enough for the older man to take an interest in him. Joining the personal retinue of an Imperial general who had campaigned across Anatolia several times had been an honour and from what he had learned so far it was infinitely better than having to serve as a foot soldier. But he felt singled out by his great-uncle. He surely had more experienced men in his retinue but he had somehow taken a liking to the young man and decided to make him is personal teaching object. So while most of the other members of the retinue were following their tasks, Christos found himself in the command tent right beside Pavlos Chrysovergos. On the table in front of him lay a sprawled mess of maps and various Scout reports. Pavlos attention was fixed on a single piece of parchment he was holding in his hands.

"Bloody Sultanate of bloody Paphlagonia! What do those fools think they're doing. I told you those Turk riders would mean nothing but bloody trouble. If they even remotely consider this possibility we could find our camp surrounded not only by those sallying idiots but also bloody Horse Archers! I don't need to remind you what they will do to us on open ground!? Our heavy Kataphraktio will tire out before we even reach them while they can pick off our infantry at their leisure!"

Another messenger enters the tent as this moment, a bit hesitant he salutes in front of the general.

"Strategos! The Council of Sinop has refused our offer. They won't let us enter the city and.. and they're complaining that we stopped all food coming..."

He is interrupted by Pavlos.

"Well what do they bloody think! This is a siege for heaven's sake! Bloody Sultanate of bloody Paphlagonia! I'll show them! A shame we can't attack today, but first thing in the morning we'll enter that city! Let those Horse Archers come then!"

"But we could attack, couldn't we? You made me do the rounds and the men are ready, the first ram is finished and there's plenty of light left."

Pavlos turns to Christos, who already regretted his decision to speak.

"Ah, can't do that lad, I'm afraid. See, I didn't shave this morning and already Alexander the Great told his men that it's important to shave before a battle. So your enemy can't grab you by your beard you see! Well you will see tomorrow either way!"

Wondering why Pavlos couldn't just shave right now, Christos decides to keep silent this time.

Day of the battle:

Christos was sitting his horse a little bit uneasy. So this was battle then. The spears were deployed in front of them, one regiment manning the ram, while their archers stood in loose formation to their left. Flame arrows were being lit, to lower the enemies moral, so his great-uncle had said. Slowly the ram was moving towards the single gate. Apparently there was nothing to do but wait now. Seeming to have guessed his thoughts Pavlos speaks up.

"This is where we pray my boy! Pray that those arrows don't light up our ram. Otherwise this will have been the shortest assault in history."

Sure enough the first volley of flame arrows from the defenders was going down on the ram, some of them extinquished on impact or bounced uselessly off the layer of wet leather. Others struck true though and burned brightly on top of the ram, he did not even want to think about those that missed the ram but hit the soldiers, some of them bursting to flame and running around like a living torch before dying. With the second volley sweat was trickling down Christos spine. So this was battle then.

Hours seem to have passed or had it only been minutes. Sweat was running down his face in waves now and Christos tried to put the recent events in order in his head. The ram had not burst in flame and battered down the gates. Once open Pavlos had called a charge from the cavalry. The defenders had positioned their Trebizond Archers right behind the gate without any protection from their spears. The charge had been short and bloody and the enemy archers soon fled. While their own Spearmen were still entering the city the defending Spear Militia had decided to charge, at least part of them. It had been a bloody mess as Spear Militia fought against Byzantine Spear, before Pavlos had taken his men around the side of the troops, attacking some more Archers that had formed up behind their spears before turning on the now surrounded infantry. Their general had been with them and had already fallen. The last remaining Spear Militia had occupied the city square and the Byzantine Archers had opened. Drawn by this the Spear Militia had charged and was now entangled with their own Spear in the street in front of them. With a numb feeling Christos watched the slaughter taking place in front of him, when suddenly his great-uncles voice could be heard.

"Come with me! Follow me! We'll get them from behind!"

With that he whirled his horse around to leave the immediate scene of battle. After the harsh sounds of battle the empty streets of Sinop were a little too quiet and Christos heard nothing beside his own breath and the clapping of horseshoes on cobbles. After an eternity they reached the town square from another side and could see the Spear Militia in front of them. Shouting out their furious rage the Kataphraktoi charged into the back of their enemy!

The following events were a blur to Christos. Pavlos screaming rage beside him. Pavlos' horse faltering, going down throwing his rider in a large bow towards his enemies. Pavlos slamming into the Spear Militia. Pavlos getting to his feet while men with spears were closing in on him. Pavlos drawing his sword, realizing too late that the fall had broken it in half. Another man, himself actually, storming forward with his horse to save his great-uncle.

Day after the battle:

"You did well my son! See a good general always needs someone at their back. Someone they can trust and rely on, someone that will help him break the enemy, even when his own sword has broken first. I will make you my Sword Bearer Christos Nikopoulos, you have done well!"

Christos smiled proudly, he hardly felt uneasy anymore.