This is TOTAL war! A Suebi AAR.

[Sociopsychoactive]

The plans for the beginning of my workshop are laid without delay, though the town itself is still recovering it worries me not in the slightest. My troops are all relieved after a brief rest and we are about to set off on campaign far to the north to Alabu, the last territory needed before we can call all the land of Suebia ours again when disaster strikes my army!

I instantly regret bringing cheap whoars with me on campaign, but the effect on the men's moral seemed to be worth the risk, that was until a sickness began spreading through the troops like wildfire. My barely-rested army, which had taken heavy losses and had only just started getting foodstuffs delivered from the capitol was crippled, doomed to spend the next couple of years bleeding off men and poisoning any we came into contact with. In a desperate act to continue my plans I order Karl and his army, barely half the strength of my own, to travel north with all speed and lay siege to Alabu on their own. With luck, skill and cunning they will be able to take the city on their own while I moulder in Ascaucalis counting our dead.

As soon as Karl and his forces left the Fiendish Boii turned up at the gates of Lupferdum again! This time they had concentrated their forces into one army, but with only the militia standing guard it would be a close run battle to say the least...

The enemy brought up ladders just as before, and just as before they were greeted with a hail of flaming javelins.

This time however the onslaught was not enough to burn the ladders down. Thought the first assault was driven back, the enemy were no less determined when they launched a second, and the Javelins that had held them back before were in short supply.

This time they reached the gates in numbers, and it was only a matter of time before they fell. Into this breach wave after wave of Boii freemen poured, fighting against troops ready and set for them, but overwhelming them with sheer numbers and brute force.

Though the fighting was long and hard, and the enemy suffered great wounds and horrific casualties before the day was out their numbers began to tell as one after another the exhausted and depleted men of Lupferdum fled the battle. Soon enough only the garrison commander remained, but seeing his army defeated he too fled the field.

The enemy had taken our capitol the moment Karl's back was turned, but the fault was mine, not his. I had underestimated the Boii, thinking the bloody nose we gave them before would make them wary of attacking so soon after their defeat I did not realise they would spring upon us the moment our guard was down.

I immediately made plans for my Ill and dying troops to begin marching back toward the capitol, where we would throw ourselves against the walls in hope of taking it back before the enemy could recover too much.
Before I had even set off I again sent messengers after Karl to tell him the sad news but entreat him to press on against Alabu. Again I received no word back for months. Trusting in his loyalty I feared the worst, perhaps the Cherusci had seen his rapid march and laid an Ambuscade against them...

I received an account of the battle some moths later from one of the men who had formed Karl's personal guard. He told me that Karl, ever mindful of my orders had driven his men north with threats and whippings, pushing them beyond the limits of endurance that lesser men have. It was then, when the men were exhausted and unprepared that the Cherusci struck.

Karl himself was quick to form a battle line as best he could, but the enemy had caught his men so utterly unprepared that they found themselves surrounded before they had even finished gathering their wits.

With two units of spear holding back the Cherusci Cavalry, the rest of the army followed Karl's lead to take on the smaller of the forces arrayed against them. The force contained Hartwin, the enemy commander, and he and Karl faced off in personal combat.

Karl proved the stronger tactician, if not the stronger warrior as his Club levee slammed into the back of Hartwins personal guard, surrounding them and driving them to flee in mere moments.

With the Enemies Cavalry driven off and killed the last few remaining spearmen turned back to rejoin the bulk of the army, only to find themselves hotly pursued by the enemies spears, and pelted with javelins from the side. They hoped to rejoin the line and smash into the flank of the Cherusci forces, but their exertions against the enemy cavalry left them the slower, and soon they were forced to turn back and fight or be caught from the rear.

For a few moments the line held, and victory seemed to be within his grasp, but Karl foolishly let overconfidence consume him, stepping forward to the front line when another of his guards fell. For a few glorious moments his men felt their spirits lifted as they saw the man they feared more than death itself skewer the enemy, but in the end it was a foolish risk. He was surrounded and spitted himself soon after.

With Karl dead the men's hearts died with him, and it was only moments before the whole battle line crumbled and fell.

Though he was badly outnumbered and caught in ambush, Karl fought bravely to his last breath. The only solace to be taken in his defeat is that nearly a third of his army managed to make it free of the ambush and to safety.

Though they were fleeing for their lives the men took the time to honour him properly with a funeral befitting a hero.

His troops hid on the edge of the forest while the Cherusci pressed on toward Rhougion. Fortune was with us, and they did not reach the city gates before the end of the year, giving us time to plan our defence. Karl's forces, dispirited and depleted though they were, needed a new commander and rather than promote a fresh young warrior Baldovin, trusted statesman of the elder tribes and brother to Clodochar stepped forward into the role. Though he lacked any real combat experience he had a tactical mind and my complete faith.

The elders of the tribe approached me then, bringing news of Karl's defeat and a holy mission from Wodanaz himself. Lupferdum, ever our strongest city, could not stay in enemy hands, it must be retaken and soon.

I set out with my diseased and dispirited army on a slow march to the capitol, keeping to the main roads and taking no chances. The Boii forces would be back to near full strength and my men were still suffering greatly.

Meanwhile Baldovin avoided the Cherusci forces long enough to march to Rhougion ahead of them. Though he did not make it into the city proper, he was close enough to assist them if they attacks, and they him if he were caught on the road. While there he sent a frantic stream of messengers back and forth desperately trying to bolster his severely depleted forces into a force able to withstand the enemy, making use of our newly completed pastures.

After the tragic losses of the previous campaign season, we could do little more than wait and hope that our preparations would be enough...
Predictably enough the Cherusci, seeing how depleted Baldovin's men were, attacked in hopes of finishing what they had started, but with reinforcements on the way Baldovin was determined to give them a hard fight of it, whatever the outcome. The enemy army, having suffered its own losses at Karl's hands, was now commanded by a fresh new general, Rainer.