V&V Battle Reports Thread

[phonicsmonkey]

The Third Battle of Innsbruck, 1123

After their Venetian appetiser the Prinz and his men were eager to taste the main Milanese course. As they approached Innsbruck their scouts returned and advised that the Milanese had broken off the siege and were awaiting in a nearby forest, on the steep slope of a mountain.

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At the edge of the forest Leopold ordered his men into battle formation. Knowing that his enemy outnumbered him in terms of spear, he stretched his lines somewhat but retained the basic array that had served him so well in the recent battle.

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The outriders spotted some of the Italians lurking amid the pines.

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Before the enemy had a chance to react to his presence, the Prinz moved to seize the higher ground on the Milanese flank.

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At risk of their lines being turned there was, for the Milanese, nothing for it but to advance up the hillside to meet the Germans' lines.

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The Reich's archers began their deadly sport.

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Leopold ordered his cavalry and his own bodyguard onto the right flank.

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The Milanese commander, although only a Captain with the unfortunately feminine name of Maria, was evidently a keen student of the classics. In response to the Prinz' manouevre he declined his left flank, instead ordering his men to advance in eschelon after the Thebans at Leuctra.

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The right-most Milanese spear clashed with the hardy men of the Reich, opening the melee - but they were clearly uninspired by their captain's tactical awareness (or perhaps unsure of his manhood) and became quickly demoralised as they fought alone.

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On the left flank Captain Maria ordered a detachment of spear to screen the Prinz' cavalry.

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Never was a suicide mission so bravely conducted.

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As his plans fell apart, so did the good Captain's mail shirt and he fell under his horse, melting the Alpine snow with his final hot breath.

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Carnage ensued as the Prinz and his knights rounded the Milanese flank and drove their lances home.

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All that remained was the chase.

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Like the Venetians before them, the Milanese refused the Prinz' reasonable ransom demands and a terrible series of ice sculptures was left to grace the slopes.

[phonicsmonkey]

The Battle of Lombardy 1125

In the Spring of 1125 when the alpine meadows were thick with wildflowers Prinz Leopold and his army marched into Lombardy and there on the border met a large Italian force led by Catelano Rossi which was determined to halt his advance.

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The Prinz knew there would be a missile duel and drew his army up around the base of a large church which was raised up on a hill overlooking the battle field, the better for his crossbows and archers to concentrate a massed fire on the approaching Italians.

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In the trees on his right flank he hid a unit of Frankish Knights.

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The enemy soon came into view.

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As they approached the German lines and the hum of bows was beginning to be heard, the hidden Franks spurred their mounts into action. They ran across the face of the approaching Italian army, causing their crossbows to scurry back into the safety of the infantry line and depriving them of the valuable ability to fire on the Reich's troops.

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The Italians sent their light cavalry ahead of the main force and it was quickly driven back and routed by troops hidden in the trees.

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With an almighty cruch the two lines met. The Italians, their numbers already whittled down my the hail of bolts and arrows, began to waver at the first contact with the hard bitten Germans.

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The Prinz, wishing to press the issue to a swift resolution, hove into view on the Italian flank and charged home into the engaged enemy's rear.

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Soon many of the Italians were routing.

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A final charge from the Prinz' bodyguard settled the day in favour of the Reich.

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A hefty ransom was set for the many captured troops.

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But the cold hearted enemy refused to pay and the Prinz dispatched their souls to heaven.

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[The Celtic Viking]

Placeholder - Third Battle of Magdeburg 1125

[The Celtic Viking]

The Battle of Prague, 1129

The Battle of Prague is a story that begins a couple of years before it took place. The Poles, defended only by the Catholic church's threat of excommunication if attacked, had sneaked in a small army to scavenge and pillage Bohemia under a captain by the name of Miron. This had not gone unnoticed in Magdeburg. Lord Theodericus der Bartige, margrave of Brandenburg-Bohemia, had sent a messenger to his general Harold Merode, who was then travelling through Bohemia, to take the garrison of Prague and chase out the Poles. It was thus a surprise when he instead, in the closing of the season, showed up at the gates of Magdeburg. Apparently, the message never got to him - the messenger presumably dead, either by bandits or intercepted by Poles.

As a result, the Polish captain Miron was able to get reinforcements and lay siege to Prague.

This time margrave Theodericus der Bartige went with the wisdom of "if you want something done right, you will have to do it yourself", and so leaving a small garrison for Harold Merode to command in defence of Magdeburg, he set out with the majority of his army to take care of this threat. However, realizing that he could not get his infantry to Prague quick enough to avoid any risk of an assault, he took his cavalry regiments and moved out ahead of them and forced captain Miron to battle.

The battle itself was mostly memorable to the soldiers themselves. Theodericus immediately saw that he had the ability not only to get the high ground, but by doing so also come at the Poles from two opposing sides. With superior numbers, this battle was thus over before it began. Still, it took some good and brave fighting by his cavalry to win the day.

In the end, captain Miron was dead, his men either scattered or captured (and later executed) and Prague was saved.

[phonicsmonkey]

The Battle of Milan, 1134

In the summer of 1134, as his army laid siege to the city of Milan, Prinz Leopold received word that the Venetians, whose forces were trapped inside the city, were planning to relieve the siege with a large force which was but one days' march away.

It was clear that the small force of defenders readied themselves for battle. Clearly aware of the Prinz' martial prowess, the Venetians intended to throw everything at the army of Osterreich in a desperate attempt to break the deadlock.

The Prinz was well pleased with this outcome: the Pope had disbarred him from making an aggressive move and his father the Kaiser had not yet ruled on whether it was permissible to court excommunication by defying the Papal Bull, so in their eagerness to join in battle the Venetians were resolving a difficult decision for him.

It wasn't long before the Venetians were visible on the horizon. It was a sizable force, split into two parts, with a third expected when the garrison of the city joined the battle. Leopold could see that he was outnumbered at least three to one. He grinned at the thought of neutralising such a large part of the enemy forces in one fell swoop.

The army of the Reich drew itself up into formation and waited until the last possible minute before withdrawing up the nearby mountainside to a defensive position, the missiles placed high up on a vantage point and the Prinz and his cavalry detachments safe behind a wall of spear.

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After a few moments pause to assess the situation, the Venetian captain, clearly inexperienced in the tactics of assault on a defensive position, ordered his men to advance up the steep slope.

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The German crossbowmen and archers, given an huge advantage by their elevated position, began to wreak merry havoc on the advancing Italians, who paused short of the battle line and gave a vain attempt to return fire.

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Already Leopold had the feeling that this battle was all but won. The enemy archers were cut down and routed. As they fled, a detachment of Frankish Knights was sent behind the Italian lines to see them off. This attracted the attention of the Venetian cavalry, who attempted to charge the Knights. Too cunning to receive the full force of the Italian charge, the Franks withdrew behind the spear line and the enemy horses were impaled on the sharp points.

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Watching their comrades tricked and slain in this way seemed to enrage the Italian infantry, who dashed up the mountainside and made contact with the Austrian spear. They were tired, arrived in too few numbers and were quickly routed.

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Now, with the main Venetian army in disarray, the Prinz sought to capitalise on the confusion by engaging the exhausted enemy infantry with his own bodyguard unit.

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He left the safety of the spear line and with a thunderous crunch his charge was received in the front of the oncoming Venetians, who scattered like frightened rabbits in the face of his blade.

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All that was left was to mop up the two smaller forces including the Milanese garrison. A mighty victory was had by the army of Osterreich and the city was sacked.

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With Milan recaptured and the Venetians bruised and bloodied the Prinz considered his next move. He had intended to take the high Alpine road back to Osterreich via Innsbruck in order to assist with the defence of his realm against the Magyar. But this was not the quickest route...perhaps with the Venetians now largely defenseless he should instead march on Venice itself and in doing so capture that rich city and its treasures for the Reich?