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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