Re: Battle reports thread - King of the Romans PBM
The Siege of Metz
"Is that it?" thought Prinz Henry. He'd expected a great citadel. What lay before him was scarcely more than a walled compound. Architecturally, it was overshadowed by a fine monastery on a hill nearby.
Henry shook his head in disappointment, then turned to Sigismund's report. Sigismund had been welcomed into the Royal family unexpectedly. Henry was only 24, Sigismund 27. Yet, Emperor Heinrich had embraced the promising commander as an adopted member of his family. In part, this was because Heinrich had only two sons - Henry and Leopold - rather few to ensure succession in a time of plague and war. Both sons were told to treat Sigismund as a brother. But Henry in particular was instructed to pay special attention to the newcomer. Heinrich had confided that Sigismund, not Leopold, was to succeed to the throne if both Heinrich and Henry should die.
Henry skimmed the report and then looked sideways at its author. What had his father seen in the man that had made him so favoured? Sigismund was looking at the wooden castle in front of them, watching the enemy's movements closely. But there was no hesitation, no apprehension evident in the man's face. Sigismund looked every inch the conquering hero. Henry glanced back at the report; if only he could be so confident!
Sigismund had estimated the Burgundian strength at 60 knights, two regiments of town militia and one of archers. Henry's forces comprised 70 knights, 60 mounted sergeants, two regiments of spear militia and two of archers. He did not have much of an edge - an extra regiment of archers and some mounted sergeants, whose usefulness in the narrow confines of a castle was questionable. If only Henry could persuade his proud knights and their sergeants to dismount, but no - the minor nobles and their lackeys were too proud. "What do you think we are, English?!" a particularly obnoxious one had challenged the Prince.
Still, Sigismund was confident and Sigismund was no fool. They had to learn from Dietrich's victory at Hamburg. Horsemen could be useful in a siege. But they needed to pick their moment. Simply trying to ride into the castle through the gates would only result in two dead heirs to the throne. What was to be done?
"Father ordered two rams to be provided for us." Sigismund observed.
"Father"?! Henry still found it hard to get used to Sigismund calling Heinrich that. He wondered how Leopold felt about it. Did Leopold know he had been passed over? Damn it, focus, thought Henry. Sort out this mess first, let the succession take care of itself.
"Yes, two rams." said Henry, not getting the significance of Sigismund's observation.
Sigismund smiled lightly. "Give me one; I'll go round the back."
Henry stared at him. Sigismund's smile was infectious and Henry laughed. Christ almighty, Sigismund was right! Henry had been thinking of trying to barrel through the front, using one ram as a spare in case the first caught fire. But that was a strategy as subtle as going at the Burgundians with a blunt fruit knife.
"Take it, brother. And may God go with you." said Henry, trying to inject a note of solemnity. The chivalrous Sigismund nodded dutifully and shook Henry's hand firmly, as if in reassurance.
"I will meet you in the castle square." said Sigismund.
Watching the confident warrior leave, somehow Henry's had little doubt that Sigismund would keep his promise.
Henry could see Sigismund's column march around Metz, heading for the rear, north gate. At first, the defenders ignored the flanking movement. Then Henry could make out the Burgundian archers heading from the castle square to the north. Right, if the archers are going for Sigismund, it is time to bust open the south gate, thought Henry. Let's do it now, before they have a chance to double back and shoot us to hell. Hastily, he ordered his half of the army to advance. But Henry did notice that the Burgundian archers failed to stop at the north gate, instead rushing out of the safety of the walls in their eagerness to fire on Sigismund's column.
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What do they think they are doing?
"Mistake." thought Henry, happily.
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Could Sigismund pull off a cavalry charge? Is the Pope Catholic?
Henry's battering ram reached the south gate, but Sigismund had no need of his ram - he pursued the fleeing Burgundian archers through the north gate.
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Sigismund is the first German into Metz.
With almost perfect synchronisation, Henry's battering ram broke through the front gate as Sigismund's knights rode in from the back.
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The Burgundian knights patiently wait for Henry's battering ram to breach the gate.
The Burgundians sent one regiment of town milita to the north gate to meet Sigismund, while the other regiment and their knights poured out of the breached south gate to stop Henry.
Sigismund had no intention of getting his riders bogged down fighting infantry from the front. So instead of facing the town militia approaching from the castle square, he led his knights on a wild ride south, skirting the castle walls, hotly pursued by the Burgundian foot. At the same time, Sigismund's regiments of spears and archers were racing into the castle, targeting for the rear of Burgundians chasing their commander.
To the south, Henry faced a stiffer challenge. As the Burgundians tried to sally out of the breached gate, Henry ordered his spearmen to form a schiltrom and brought up his own escort in support. But his plans did not work out as he hoped. The militia were too ill trained to quickly form a schiltrom and his own knights did not have sufficient run-up to mount an effective counter-charge. Instead, the southgate became a seething mass of men, hacking and cutting at each other. Henry was near the front, as the Germans pushed their way through the gate. But this was not good - this was not clever strategy, this was just butcher's work.
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A desperate struggle errupts at the south gate
Henry cut and thrust, but then heard a loud hurrah! Sigisimund had worked his way through Metz and was launching a charge into the rear of the Burgundians blocking the south gate!
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He's behind you!
The defenders of the south gate broke, helplessly caught between the butchery of Henry's frontal assault and the elan of Sigismund's rear charge. Soon all that remained of the defenders was the regiment of town militia that had pursued Sigisimund from the north gate. Again, Sigisimund refused to face them frontally. Instead, he pulled his men out north and calmly waited until the Burgundians were locked in combat with the Henry's column pushing in from the south gate. Then he launched a charge into their flank. The Burgundians capitulated almost instanteously.
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Sigismund waits for the last regiment of Burgundians to get locked in combat before striking at their long flank.
After the battle, Henry magnaminously spared the citizens of Metz from any abuse. Only a miserly 52 florins were gathered for the Imperial treasury from the occupation. Henry wanted to keep the respect of the chivalrous Sigismund. And anyway, the little castle really was rather insignificant - blackening the good name of the Empire to sack or exterminate it would only bring a few hundred florins.
But in truth, Henry cared little for Metz. What mattered was that he had weathered his first battle and emerged with some credit. He had taken a castle guarded by 366 men for the loss of only 55 Germans - 33 of them, unfortunate spearmen who had failed to form schiltrom in time to fend off the Burgundian knights. With some schadenfreude, Henry later learned that a small French army had been spotted south of Metz. The Germans had not only defeated the Burgundians - they had beaten the French in the race to the castle.
That night, Henry feasted well, drinking to the health of Dietrich, who had taught him the utility of cavalry in a castle assault, and to Sigismund, who had reminded him he had two rams.
Re: Battle reports thread - King of the Romans PBM
The Assault on Bern
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Otto von Kassel gazed at Bern from a hill near the castle. The wind whipped against him cutting through his cloak. Winter had descended on the Alps and still the rebels held out, with a limitless supply, it seemed, of food and patience. The Kaiser, not having the latter, had ordered an assault. Nearly 700 men lay waiting for them in that castle, two companies of knights, two units of crossbowmen, and four units of sergeant spearmen, their numbers barely reduced by the long siege. Otto commanded almost 900 men, and he had been ordered to take that hulking stone castle with less than an advantage of 200 men. Suppressing a shiver, Otto did not know if from the cold or the thought of what lay ahead, he turned and faced his Lieutenants. He spoke to Count der Stolze, who had led two companies of spearmen, plus his own household knights, from Metz.
"Sigismund, I am afraid that there is no rear gate for you to assault this time. Your Swabian militia spearmen will man the two siege towers placed to the right of the only gate. I'm also assigning you my unit of mailed knights to command. You are to follow behind the towers with the cavalry."
Sigismund nodded his assent. Otto continued, "My own sergeant spearmen will man the one siege tower to the left of the the gate and the ram itself. They have the best armor of the footmen, and I hope that protects the men on the ram as they will not have the towers to shelter them. I will follow behind with my escort and the mounted sergeants."
The commanders of the spearman and knights voiced their understanding while Otto faced the leader of the archers, "Jan, your men will be flanked out on either side of the castle, two units on their right, and one on their left. You'll have the ladders. I want your most reliable man to command that lone company."
"Ja General," replied the archer.
Having taken care of the disposition of the men, Otto spoke of the plan of attack, "I doubt those bastards in there will kindly open up the gate like they did in Hamburg, and as I just said, they only have one. However, that means that can't sally out to get our archers without impaling themselves on our spearman.
"I'm flanking the archers to draw some of their men away from the gate. The towers will go in first. The ram will follow after a short time, and then the cavalry."
Sigismund looked puzzled and interrupted, "Otto, without archers covering the advance of the towers, they'll be vulnerable. . .Ah, but you're smirking, what do you have in mind?"
Otto chuckled, "We have spent too much time in this camp dicing for me to get anything past you Sir! The towers are merely a distraction. We don't have a large enough advantage in men to slug it out on the battlements. The towers will serve to cover the troops until they get to the walls. The focus is on the ram, the towers will draw fire away from it and make sure as many of the schwein as possible stay on the walls and not move to the gate. A few moments before the gate is shattered, our spearmen will leave the towers and rush it. I hope to overwhelm the men there before reinforcements arrive down from the walls.
"Once we have breached the gate and entered the castle, I hope to catch their men coming off the walls, they'll be out of breath and disorganized, easy to break. I hope their commander, seeing this, will decide that those archers are just a distraction. He'll redeploy his men to the more imminent threat. Jan, that is when the archers will scale the walls! Once they're up there the archers on their right flank will be in a perfect position to fire down into the courtyard. The unit on the left will have to advance into the Castle a bit.
"Once those pieces are in place, there's not much left to do but converge on the courtyard. Cavalry, flank them if you can, and don't, don't get ahead of the spearmen! Infantry, stay together. Archers put as many arrows into that courtyard as you can!
"We don't have the advantage in numbers here for a proper siege assault, we have to rely on deception and timing. See to your men, emphasize this, and remind them of the pillage that awaits them!"
The host was drawn up as ordered. Otto, with Sigismund riding beside him, rode down the line surveying the troops. Stopping in between the Bavarians and Swabians, Otto motioned for the Count to speak.
"Men of Bavaria, follow von Kassel to the death. I know the bravery that lies in your hearts; do not allow fear to set in. I know the Swiss better than most; I have traveled around Bern many years ago and I know the valour which these mountaineers show. But they are only mountaineers, not city dwellers. Their skills are of little use against valiant Bavarians.
And to my fellow Swabians and Burgundians; follow me lads, follow me, and there will be honour and glory for us all in equal measure.
For Gott, the Kaiser, and the Reich!" (OOC: Contributed by Ignoramus)
Otto grinned at Sigismund, "Finer words were never spoken my lord!"
Raising himself up on his stirrups, Otto bellowed to the army, "You heard the Count! Together there is no force on this earth that can stop the Reich! We will storm this castle! We will sow confusion and fear among them! They will run before us, and they will die! For the Kaiser! For the Reich!"
"For the Kaiser! For the Reich!", echoed the host in a thunderous cheer.
Turning his horse to the castle, Otto drew his sword and pointed it toward the gate, "Attack!"
Spearmen heaved against the siege towers and they began to move ponderously forward. The assault on Bern had begun.
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Arrows and bolts began flying towards the siege towers. Men, Otto's men, began to fall. A few fire arrows found the ram, and Otto cringed inside. The ram was the key, if it burned, he would be unable to bring his cavalry into play and the battle would be lost.
"Go for the towers," he muttered trying to will it so.
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As if in answer to Otto the siege tower to his left blossomed into flames, its men abandoned it, holding their shields aloft for some small protection as they began to march to the gate. Otto swore, diversion or not he hated to see a tower burn. The ram continued on its way, but with the left tower gone it was coming under heavy attack. Time to offer another target. "Cavalry forward!", yelled Otto.
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"Sch**ße!", Otto screamed. Missiles were falling among the cavalry now, a knight to his left was thrown from his horse as a crossbow bolt tore into his shoulder. The army was taking heavy losses. But over the din of battle, Otto could hear the reverberation of wood striking on metal. The ram was at the gate! Otto could hear a horn blow to his right, Sigismund was ordering the men of the last intact tower to the gate.
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The gate was breached! Otto bellowed, "All spearmen into the gateway!"
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As the human wave of troops poured through all organization was lost, but the gambit had worked, only one enemy unit of spearmen opposed them. Otto could see, however, troops rushing along the battlements to the gate towers, they would be emerging from the stairways very soon. The momentary advantage in numbers and momentum would be lost if decisive action was not taken, "Cavalry, charge!"
Knights, nobles and mounted sergeants rushed to join the chaotic melee at the gateway. It was far from ideal use of cavalry but they were needed to punch a hole through the spearmen.
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Reeling from the onslaught, the surviving rebel spearman, and a few crossbowmen caught fleeing the walls, began to run to the safety of the castle courtyard. Otto spurred his horse after them, they must be run down before they could reach the square! The Imperial army surged forward, glad to be rid of arrow fire and finally killing the enemy.
Almost too late Otto realized that half of the rebel knights were charging forward to cover the retreat of their footmen. "Cavalry halt! Spearmen forward!", Otto cried, praying that the spearmen, already down to half strength would be able to hold.
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A repeat of the battle at the gate ensued with spearmen and cavalry from both sides engaged. As Otto fought for his life, he heard the sound of arrows striking metal and flesh. Looking up to his left, he saw that two units of his archers had indeed scaled the battlements and were now firing down into the castle yard! Wheeling to his right, he saw the other archer company making its way through the castle from the west.
The rebels were momentarily stunned by this development, and Otto took the opportunity to charge their captain. The man took Otto's first sword blow on his shield and struck back quickly, the slash glanced off Otto's shield and caught him on the side of his helm. The world went white.
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A Bavarian spearman skewered the captain before he could deal the killing blow. Otto regained his senses and saw the rebels were falling back, disheartened by the loss of their leader. "Hold! Let the archers earn their keep!", he yelled as he tasted blood in his own mouth.
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The remaining rebel knights, arrow bit and desperate, charged out. They were followed by crossbowmen, drawing their swords. They were both repulsed by bloodied Imperial spearmen. Seeing that he had broken the back of his enemy Otto called for an advance by his horsemen, "Finish them!"
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As he was gutting one of the few crossbowmen left in the square, Otto looked up and saw the last company of rebel spearman engaged with his archers on the wall! Gathering his remaining men he charged to releive them, but he was too late. An archer company had been slaughtered and they were running for their lives.
The rebel spearmen, now free of their bloody work, looked down and saw the host in front them. They saw that their comrades were slain and that they were surrounded. Making their way down the stairs of the nearest tower they threw away their spears, freshly covered with the blood of German archers, and raised their hands in surrender. The battle was over. They would be spared.
Otto paused, the castle was his, the day was his, but at a terrible cost. His grand plan had devolved into a bloody mess. A cold rage filled him. Those schwein had killed his archers, adding to his losses, even knowing they were defeated. And now they wanted mercy, fresh from that deed!
"Kill them all!", Otto commanded as he spurred his horse toward the rebels. Screaming in fury, in pain, and in triumph the Imperial army followed him. The battle was over very shortly after that.
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Bern was sacked with 1566 florins going to the Imperial coffers. 541 civilians lost their lives.
Re: Battle reports thread - King of the Romans PBM
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The Steward of Bavaria surveyed the army before him. It was a strong force, capable of breaking a large army on an open field. “Such a shame they’re behind walls,” Mandorf growled. He looked with displeasure at the Franconian force.
They had erected three great rams with which to bring down the walls of Stettin. The construction had been done properly and they would do the job admirably. Such a shame that there were only two regiments of foot to man them. Half the damned army was cavalry and two of the four regiments of unmounted men were simple peasant archers. The rest were fine quality cavalry. Magnificent specimens of German soldiers… who would die quickly in a pitched street battle against massed spears.
Mandorf shrugged, if this was the army that Dietrich supplied him with, the Duke of Franconia would have little cause to complain when they needed fewer stables to house them. “At least I won’t be responsible for butchering good Bavarian sons.” Mandorf looked down at the rough map sketched in the dirt before him. He called over his second in command.
“Take two rams and the knights to the east wall. Break through there and destroy whatever opposes you.” The Steward of Bavaria pointed with a stick at a mark indicating the front gate. “I will attack with the remaining ram…” he moved the stick slightly left, “…here.”
A look of confusion crossed the Second’s face. “You have something to say?” asked Mandorf, with little enthusiasm.
“Sir, a flanking maneuver is most wise, but why does the direct assault go against a wall rather than the gate? It will be far more costly to repair such a breach than to simply replace the doors.”
Mandorf snorted. “Yes, but it will not be Bavarian money that will be spent fixing the damage, will it? Besides,” he gestured at the view before him, “this place is a hovel. There is nothing worth possessing here anyway.”
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He looked over at the Franconian force. “Well, let’s get this butchery done with. I long to return to Bavaria. These northern lands have the worst wine I have ever encountered. I do not know how Dietrich tolerates such places.”
Mandorf swung up into his saddle. “Time to smother these rebels in Franconian horseflesh.”
Re: Battle reports thread - King of the Romans PBM
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