Battle reports thread - King of the Romans PBM

[Ituralde]

Battle of the Danube Crossing

Duke Leopold sat on his horse staring glumly ahead. The river Danube flowed through the valley in front of him, where a massive stone bridge spanned a narrow gap. Gottfied von Holstein had set up his army just opposite the bridge where it occupied a formidable defensive position. Steep hills rise to both sides of the road giving plenty of high ground to the defenders and promising vicious uphill fighting for any attacker.

Today the attacker was Leopold and at the thought of this he felt his anger rising. He had adressed the Chancellor with his request for a field battle against the Venetians. Instead he now had to adress an aspiring guildmaster with a rag-tag retinue of Archers and Crossbowmen. Leopold would have preferred to deal with the Venetian struggle first, before turning to von Holstein.

The man had long been a rival of Leopolds tax policies in the City Council. When war had broken out, not only with Milan, but also with Venice and now even Poland, trade, the life blood of the city of Vienna, had trickled to a near halt. The guildmaster was rightfully upset at the lowered trade revenues, but when he had mustered a small army and occupied the strategic river crossing close to Vienna he had gone a step too far.
The man had never possesed enough backbone to oppose Leopold in this way, but the recent sieges of Vienna had shown Leopolds vulnerability and further damaged the trade. He had hoped that with the Venetian thread banned from Austrian lands, Holstein would see reason again and turn down his weapons.

His orders from the Chancellor were clear though. He had read through them so often that he could repeat them from memory. He was not happy with this situation and hopefully soon the reforms proposed by Prince Henry would be passed in the Diet and ducal affairs would be settled by the Duke in question and not by Imperial orders. At least Sigismund had agreed with his request and given him enough florins to muster mercenary forces to deal with this threat adequately.

Those were problems for another time though, currently he had an army composed of Missile Infantry and some peasants in front of him. The only real thread were von Holstein and his bodyguard of Feudal Knights. Leopold couldn't imagine where he had taken the money from to lay his hands on these kinds of superb fighters.

Lazily Leopold raised a hand to signal the advance. There really wasn't anything to do for him than cross the bridge as fast as possible.
The Mercenary Spearmen would be the first across the bridge, no need to waste precious Austrian soldiers in this fight. Slowly the column of Austrian soldiers set in motion while the Rebel defenders were already preparing their bows, ready to deliver the first volley.

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Leopolds plan relied solely on the initiative of his fighters. They had to cross the bridge as fast as possible and attack any Archer in sight. Luckily the narrow gore did not provide too much maneuverability for Holsteins Feudal Knights. His men had to keep momentum and push forward, if they were halted for just a second the Rebel arrows would take their bloody toll. Seeing that the Mercenary Spearmen were already hesitating halfway across the bridge as they anticipated the hail of bolts and arrows that would soon come in their direction Lepold bellowed a cry of frustration and anger and spurred his horse onward. If those Mercenaries were scared of Missile attacks he had to show them that their leader was not!

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Bolts and arrows rained down on Lepold and his retinue as his horses had gallopped to the fore, taking the punch from the Rebel projectiles he urged the Speamen forward: "Charge! Charge you coward dogs! Take the bank!"
Immediatelly the Spearmen rushed forward. Seemingly intimidated by this display of valour von Holstein panicked and ordered a hasty retreat. He was not willing to face the Austrian charge head on, but instead ordered a retreat to the ridge just west of the road.

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Leopold urged his men onward now that the bank was clear and the enemy was on the run it was important that they don't loose momemtum. He ordered the Mercenary Spearmen up the ridge to follow von Holstein, while he took the Town Militia with him in a wide berth to eventually attack the Rebels flank. His Miltia Spearmen were ordered to support the Mercenaries where necessary.

Once the Mercenaries had crested the ridge, von Holstein ordered his army around and let his Missile units attempt a desperate charge, led by him and his Feudal Knights. His end came quickly at the hands of a Mercenary Spearmen.

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Leopold had also brought his men in position and now charged the flank of the remaining mass of Peasant Archers, Peasants and Crossbowmen. With their leader killed in the initial assault and pressure from several sides, the enemy soon succumbed and tried to flee the field.

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All except a unit of Hussars were throwing down their weapons and asked for quarter. With half his army occupied with securing the prisoners the Hussites had enough time to set up position further west on the river bank and opened fire on the Mercenary Spearmen following them, who had just driven back a futile attack of von Holsteins followers.

With the prisoners secured Leopold urged his horsemen onwards to destroy the last pocket of Hussite resistance. With Austrians swarming over their position the Hussites were quickly dealt with.

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Meanwhile von Holsteins followers had mustered up the courage for another attack this time on the Town and Spear Militia left behind to deal with the prisoners.

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Their charge was quickly broken however and finally the last of the Rebel scum fled the field.

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Gottfied von Holstein had already met his deserved fate and Duke Leopold gave the orders to have the other captured ringleaders executed to serve as an example against future rebellion!

Although Leopold had disagreed with the Chancellors plans, he felt delighted to have beaten von Holstein so thoroughly in this battle. The City Council and the merchants would consider it twice before they raised their arms against his rule again.
His delight lasted only a short while though as he remembered the Venetian forces to the South. If the Chancellor gave him the orders he would be ready to strike at them in the field. If not, he would have to wait at them once again, hovering like a coward behind Vienna's mighty walls and have to kill every last one of them once they attack.
This once again brought an evil smile on his face.