And Now For Something Completely Different

[desert]

The Defense of the Imperial City: An AAR by Desert

The Demon hordes struck the Empire of Avalon suddenly. First they materialized around the Gap of Rohn and inside Kvatch and besieged the Imperial City. Meanwhile, in the far West, they took Waytown and massacred everyone and burned the valley of Laconia and the great city of Skyrim. They poured through the passes in the Great Mountains, which cover thousands of square miles, and crushed all legions in their way while the Emperor tried to coordinate his armies from the city and retake Kvatch.

They took Venturepoint and from there spread out and descended onto the vast coastline. One by one the great cities - Bruma, Cheydinhal, Skingrad, Bravil, Anvil, Leyawiin, Chorrol - all fell.

Soon, only the great capital itself, which had been besieged for a year, still held.

The walls of the Imperial City were great, and it's inner defences were even larger than the outer wall. It raised 5 legions from the population to defend itself, another 10 having either survived the demon onslaught or been trained extensively during the siege. Finally, all the demons were gathered at the gates. Millions of zombies and lesser demons were sacrificed to summon 6 Balrogs, because no other creature could smash down the high towers of the City. This severely depleted their ranks, but the demons still numbered in the 10s of thousands, and the zombies in the hundreds of thousands.




The City had 130,000 brave soldiers to defend it. The Legions and conscripts were assembled at the walls, and in the Inner City as reserves. The mighty Praetorians were assembled in the Citadel. The island of Karpos was garrisoned by 2 legions. The outer gates each had a legion and some thousands of conscripts. The inner gates, the Jejunal and Choril Gates, had more, but the Choril gate was truly unbreakable, with 2 full legions and 10,000 conscripts patrolling the walls. The Imperial City also received a token detachment of 300 elves and the Grandee Bg8reeoqw2es from the distant city of Lothlirell.

And so, the battle began...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So, the battle begins tomorrow...what do u gais think?

[Reverend Joe]

What game is that? It looks fun.

[desert]

The Battle Begins aka The First 12 Hours

The walls of Karpos were the first to be breached by a Balrog. Demons poured through the gap, and the 7th and 8th Legions were massacred. Only a few managed to maintain a fighting retreat and escape deeper into the island. Many of the demons had been killed or driven away in the assault, but they softened the way for the mighty Xivilai, 10 feet tall with superb body armor, who easily cut down and routed the few who were left. The demons made use of this tactic for much of the rest of the siege.





Next was the Antonine Gate, which was a bloody debacle. Most of the attackers were mere zombies, and once the defenders had disposed of the Balrog and driven away the Archdemons, they easily formed a shield wall and massacred the zombies so that they lost their cohesion, many simply wandering aimlessly near the walls. The humans took less than 1000 casualties.





Then came the great defeats at the Fluvian and Tarpeian Gates, which cost the Empire more than 15,000 men.










The demons spent the dusk slaughtering all the inhabitants of Karpos.

Elsewhere, a few tenacious soldiers mounted a spirited but short-lived defense.





More demons attacked the Antonine Gate. They were obliterated, although it was a close fight and some 3000 men were lost.




The gate was taken later in the night by a small cadre of demons, who surprised and slew the levy troops in the area.

In retaliation, the 4th Legion attacked with the support of heavy artillery. They left the cavalry and archers to guard the camp, which they would regret when later only a hundred bloodsoaked men returned to the camp.





The rest moved into the city, devouring civilians and surprising the recently raised 15th Legion, which was made up of the untrained poor. It had heard the screams and sounds of fighting and seen some of the fleeing survivors, but the demons attacked very suddenly with overwhelming numbers and from all corners. Many were zombified, and a large number of these fresh zombies were released to infiltrate the other corners of the city that the demons did not have time to systematically destroy.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'd just like to say that not all the losses represent dead - many of them are just scattered soldiers/demons, which you will see in more detail later on. Also, the game is Norm Koger's The Operational Art of War III.

The battle continues...tomorrow at 9 PM EST, on the History Channel.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

History Channel

[desert]

What's the matter guys, don't you like demons and massacres and glorious battles?

[desert]

The First Night

Around the Antonine Gate many small brawls and skirmishes were fought between small hordes of demons and surviving Imperial troops.














The Catastrophe at Choril Gate left the Inner City wide open.





After a great battle, the Jejunal Gate fell as well.





The demons were everywhere.




At dawn, the Empire's losses stood at 55,000 dead and over 20,000 scattered and lost men, fighting for their lives in the streets and houses.

[Lemur]

Does anybody else understand what's going on?

[seireikhaan]

Apparently not.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

desert, if I were you I'd send that reserve army of yours on a counterattack asap, and make sure to boost your morale before battle. I know it's risky to move your hero towards the front, but you really need to gather those scattered forces. That's what I'd do in your place anyway.

[rajpoot]

Whatever else it might be, it does seem to be a mod to some game, because I doubt any dev would give a Balrog an icon like a tank.

[desert]

The Height of the Battle

During the night, 2000 legionnaires had stumbled upon the camp of the 4th Legion, which was within sight of the ruin of the Antonine Gate...and the tens of thousands of corpses around it. With this infusion of men, morale went up and the legion's consular decided to make an organized foray deeper into the city. A contingent came upon 100 Xivilai, and with the help of cavalry managed to destroy many.





The Praetorians were ordered by their captains to move into the palace and fortify it while 3 conscript legions headed to the Choril Gate, and the remaining 3 legions (1 conscript and 2 regular) went to the Jejunal Gate. Only the conscript legion was close enough to get there fast enough to attack.

The Attack on Jejunal Gate: The green, untrained 15th did spectacularly against the demons - at first. Although a third of the legion was lost, thousands of imps and archdemons were slain. Then, the Xivilai appeared and stalled the assault just short of the walls. After the legion withdrew in a fighting retreat, 3000 men were counted missing.





The Attack on Choril Gate: Before the attack on the Gate itself, the 11th Legion secured the flank by driving away some Xivilai. 500 men died for 20 Xivilai.






The 12th and 14th Legions attacked soon after, supported by catapults still on the walls. It was a great victory - great numbers of demons were destroyed, but once again the ferocious Xivilai stopped the legions in their tracks.





The demons were stunned by the sudden resistance, but they quickly recovered. The humans lost the initiative.

The 14th Legion was beset by thousands of zombies.





The catapults were also attacked, but a few hundred brave men held back the demons long enough for the catapults to smash them to pieces. None of them survived.





The 11th fell back in disarray.





The 13th's position was untenable and it too fell back.





The 11th had retreated into the camp of the 12th, and there they spread panic and disorder. They were completely unprepared for the demon assault, and few escaped alive.





Demons surrounded the 4th, but were soundly defeated. The legion's consular was unfortunately killed in the last minutes of the battle.





Fighting was still going on as dusk fell.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

This is a custom scenario that I made myself.

[Jolt]

I think this is L4D at a strategic level. :P

[desert]

Woops! Forgot the map.

[Quietus]

Nice defense and counterattack against overwhelming odds so far, but the lack of legends (labelling) confused everyone.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Xivilai seem tough as hell.

[desert]

They sure are.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: