The Battle of Dijon - 1146 AD

Count Guillemot de Lyon and his vassal, Viscount Richart Marcel, advanced immediately to take the city of Dijon by storm. The garrison, knowing they could not hope to hold the city alone, and with their Lord far away and unable to provide aid, decided to attempt to flee north to the presumed safety of King Philip's army. Unfortunately, Count de Lyon had anticipated just such a move and had positioned his own force to the north of the city to block the route to the still neutral King. Viscount Marcel's force was tied down to the west of the city with the preparations for the siege and by the slow-moving ballista. However, this hardly mattered as the garrison of Dijon were vastly outnumbered. When they saw Count de Lyon's army closing on them, they bravely formed up into battle lines.

Yet, bravery was no protection against arrows and bolts, which the 1st Gascon Army had in plenty. The initial volleys inflicted terrible casualties on the militiamen. In desperation, their Captain ordered a charge into the enemy lines. It was a brave move, but the men were poorly trained and vastly outnumbered. A counter charge by several regiments of Count de Lyon's spearmen routed the entire army. Half of the garrison was killed outright on the field, and many more were caught while fleeing. The survivors that eventually trickled in to King Philip's camp only amounted to a single regiment of Spear Militia. Count de Lyon's losses were negligible. Only 8 men fell on the field, and they were easily replaced by readily available reserves.

Dijon is now the property of Count Guillemot de Lyon.

New Save: http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/...est-1146-2.zip
Battle Replay: http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/Dijon.zip

Notes: Custom Battles did not allow me to use mercenary spearmen or crossbowmen, both of which were in the Gascon army. I substituted armored sergeants for the merc spearmen and peasant crossbowmen for the merc crossbowmen. The first choice was easy, since they have almost identical stats. The second choice was a bit tricky, since peasant crossbowmen do not have long range missiles. However, the only other option was using a unit that was vastly superior to merc crossbowmen (i.e. Pavise Crossbowmen or Aventuriers). Since the garrison army didn't have any ranged units anyway, I saw no harm in going for the less powerful substitutes.

The new saved game is the same as the previous one, except that two of the regiments of Spear Militia have been deleted from King Philip's army. In addition, Guillemot de Lyon and his army have occupied Dijon. It is now considered his property and he may use it however he wishes.