Battle reports thread - King of the Romans PBM

[Dutch_guy]

‘Damn them, damn them all’ Günther exclaimed ‘this ‘ll set us back another year’ he continued, scaring the scribe writing down his every word. He had been travelling back to Thorn after the competent scouts of the Reich had detected yet another weak Polish force headed for the castle of Thorn. It seems they even have the manpower to sacrifce their soldiers on suicide missions, whilst the wise thing would of course have been to actually combine those forces. And preserve them...

The inevitable assault on Breslau would have to wait just that bit longer, and Günther never was the man known for his ever lasting patience...

‘We’ll do this the easy way’, Günther thought aloud, ‘our spearmen will engage and our horses will flank’. This will be over in no time. He ended, knowing he was wasting precious time on matters easily done by someone lower in rank.

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As soon as the Poles were seen, Günther sent in the Peasant archers. The battle may not be as large as his ego demanded it to be, yet he still liked to minimise friendly casualties.

The archers were to be guarded by the heavy shields of the friendly spearmen, and would continue to fire into the enemy ranks until the very last moment before impact between the two main lines. Which, Ironially, consited of one Polish battalion.

Two contignents of spearmen where ordered to flank the Polish right and left, and position themselves for the inevitable charge once the lines were engaged, and once the fight would begin in earnest.

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As the spearmen slowly advanced, and the archers continued their shower of arrows on the enemy lines, Günther ordered his personal guard to circumvent the enemy left. Adding yet another hammer used to strike the soon to be engaged Poles.

Once the troops were positioned, the spearmen in front of the enemy were ordered to engage. Walking at first, but steadily increasing their tempo they engaged the enemy; spears raised up high, and shields low. The first men were beginning to fall, on both sides...

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A horn was sounded, and the archers directed their fire over the first line of combatants. Targetting the enemy general. The flankers were now given the order to engage, and were soon followed by the general himself.

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The fighting didn’t last long, and the enemy tried to flee once they noted the fact that they were being attacked from all sides. Few, however, made it through the steadfast Germans.

Their general wasn’t one of the lucky ones; he was cut down by Günthers bodyguard, whilst trying to out run them. Foolish Poles.

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The battle didn’t last long, and the Poles were almost destroyed to the man. The survivors were stripped of their weapons and valuables – but spared. They were to be ransomed, if the Poles wanted their cowardly comrades back that is...

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Another battle won, surely many more would follow.

[flyd]

Hamburg, 1174

It was a very cold morning. A fresh snow had fallen over night, and there was still a heavy cloud cover. It was dark, and it was cold. Normally, the streets of Hamburg would be largely deserted, but this morning quite the opposite was the case. It seems that everyone was in the streets, running in a generally northernly direction, although no one seemed to know why. Upon arriving at the north gate, it became clear why everyone wanted to see it, for it was a very peculiar sight: the gate was wide open! Furthermore, the entire garrison of the city had just marched out. Somebody yelled, "They're abandoning us, the city has been abandoned to the English!" which prompted loud cheers from one part of the assembled mob, and lamentations from the other part. With no governor and no garrison present, order quickly began to degenerate, until someone else yelled, "the English are gone!"

Everyone paused for a moment, and then rushed to the gate. Those who could not gain access to the gate began scaling the wall, entering the towers, and climbing the nearby houses to gain a view. The English camp, which had been there for 8 years, was still just outside of the city, as were the siege works. However, the English army, the entire English army, was most certainly no longer present. Order again began to degenerate as a large-scale argument erupted over what had happened. No one had any real answers, and no one was quite brave enough to ride out. Shortly after, a group of peasants, about 100 in number, approached the city from the north, carrying most of their possessions. As they entered the city, they were quickly surrounded by the mob, and bombarded with questions. Through it all, they managed to relate that they were from a nearby village, and that they were told to take refuge in the city as there was about to be a battle.


North of Hamburg, 1174

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"Put the cavalry on the left. All of it."

Fredericus looked down at the old, worn-out copy of the book he was holding. On Military Tactics, by Tiberius Coruncanius.

He continued to speak quietly, to himself. "Right. We shall use the massed cavalry and the incoming reinforcements to create a 'local superiority' on the left flank, and attack their 'weak point', which are those peasants on the left, and that will create a.. a.. 'chain rout'." He looked unsure. He had never commanded an entire army in battle before, and was now tasked with defeating an enemy army which had a much larger number of infantry, and exactly the same number of cavalry as his.

He tried to reassure himself. "This has been done before. Our sergeants are superior to their militia, they will hold the line for a long time. The cavalry will have plenty of time to strike, the peasants will rout. The line will know what to do, we even practiced the maneuvers at..."

"The English advance!"

Well, it was too late now. There was but time for a short prayer before the lines collided.

The lines did collide, and the cavalry advanced on the left. As planned beforehand, they stopped, they turned around, and they charged.

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English peasants engaging the Germans, blissfully unaware of their impending doom!

The first peasants routed. The cavalry withdrew to perform another charge while the reinforcing spear militia advanced to envelop the right of the English line.

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The Germans prepare to envelop the enemy's right.

As this was executed, the English commander attacked in the center with the remainder of his cavalry. Fredericus moved in personally to prevent the line from being broken.

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Fredericus defends in the center (image left), while the Germans continue to gain superiority on the left (image right).

This action caused the death of the English commander, and a subsequent rout, from left to right, of the entire English line.

Well, it worked, but the casualties were heavy. The spearmen took many casualties while the lines were engaged with each other, and the cavalry and others did as well while they flanked. Those old Roman reports must be exaggerated. Either that, or their enemies were far more incompetent than they'd have you believe.

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Outside of Hamburg, 1174

A representative from the city, whose name escapes me at the moment, came to the army camp to meet with Fredericus, who inquired about the status of the city.

"There was some disorder," he answered, "but everything is fine now. The people are happy that you are back. They are preparing a large feast in your honor."

"That's wonderful, but I must move on to Frankfurt with no delay, it is being sieged by the Poles."

"But the city has been under siege for eight years. You won't even stop by for a moment?"

"I can't," Fredericus insisted, "there are matters to take care of. Speaking of matters to be taken care of, I need you to take care of the prisoners captured here, about 300 in number. They're just militiamen and peasants. I doubt they wanted to be dragged here and forced to fight their Saxon brothers. Ensure their safe return to England."

The representative nodded and exited. One of the knights complained that they would not stop by Hamburg even for a short time. He was particularly concerned that they would not get to meet any of the women who would be... grateful for the rescue. Fredericus responded:

"The city has been under siege for eight years, while I was a short distance away in Magdeburg. I think they'd much rather want to hang me than to have a feast in my honor. We'd best be moving on, we have other cities to rescue."

[GeneralHankerchief]

Southwest of Florence, 1176

As the rain poured down on what was to be the day's battlefield, Conrad Salier sat alone in his tent. He had already briefed the men about his battle strategy for the day; this was his time to mutter his usual series of prayers. Today, however, there would be a few extra - this was the first time that he had actually led men into battle.

I am but a tool of the Lord, he thought to himself. Today, that tool happens to be a weapon.

His faith had been somewhat shattered in 1160, the year in which he officially joined the Imperial Diet. A meeting with his benefactor, Maximillian Mandorf, had left him shocked and questioning much. However, he had learned to put that all behind him (at least, publicly) and focus on the task at hand. Besides, God was most likely testing him, much like he did to Job.

As he sat in his tent praying, he could hear the patter of the rain get louder, as well as the shifting of his men in armour. It was time to kill the Milanese, in the name of God and the Reich.

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The composition of the two small armies he faced were the oddest that he had ever seen or heard about. The first army immediately in his vicinity was commanded by one Count Augustino, and accordingly had a large heavy cavalry escort with him. Backing him up was only one regiment of infantry, and they were peasants at that. However, there were three well-trained regiments of catapults as well, which would wreak tremendous havoc, even in the rain, if allowed to keep up a sustained barrage.

Despite the presence of the catapults, the second, reinforcement army worried Conrad more. They only numbered 361 men, but for each man a horse was present. He faced six regiments of pure cavalry.

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"Men," cried Conrad, finally ready for battle along with his soldiers, "Be thankful for the weather today! The Lord has provided us with a great opportunity for victory! He makes life difficult for those catapults to fire properly, and He also allows us to rid ourselves of any blood that may dirty our uniforms!"

A few of the more vulgar men chuckled at the last comment. Apparently, it was possible to mix Christianity with the more unpleasant tastes.

"Forwarrrrrrrrd... MARCH!!!"

The soldiers started to walk, as planned. The Milanese facing them did the same, although the catapults stopped as soon they were in firing range. As the remainder of the armies continued marching towards each other, the catapults fired a salvo into Imperial ranks, to little effect. However, that was the signal to end the charade that Conrad was putting on.

"All cavalry CHARGE!"

On cue, the numerous Imperial horsemen accelerated to a run. While less in number than the Milanese reinforcements that were making their way to the battle, they were still significant, and plus, they were heavy. The peasants broke instantly, and Count Augustino's escort was in serious trouble. Things were going well enough to send two regiments towards the catapults.

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Shortly after, Count Augustino fell, a victim of momentum.

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That was it was for the first army. However, as he mopped up the fleeing remnants, Conrad looked at the ridge to the southwest. The second army was closing in.

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This would be close. Conrad fiercely ordered his men to form up, to meet the threat, to face the cavalry. His men did so, and just in time.

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The Milanese cavalry descend the ridge.

The impact was horrendous, for both sides. The Milanese charge stopped dead and a significant fraction of their men dropped. However, it was done so at a terrible cost to the Imperial infantry, who lost more than half of their number. A few of the weaker units broke outright after stopping the initial charge.

At that point though, the relatively-healthy Imperial cavalry swarmed in. After a short period of time, the tide turned, and whoever was commanding the cavalry ordered them to get out.

Conrad and his men pursued, catching some of them.

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Most likely they'll go back to their ships to the west of here, he mulled. Perhaps if we get lucky this rain will turn into a storm and sink them.

Satisfied at the results of his first battle as a commander, Conrad made his way back to his tent, drafting a letter informing Chancellor Leopold of what transpired.

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OOC: Much of the casualties resulted in the infantry's defense of the cavalry charge. You wouldn't believe how fast the numbers went down. Other than that the losses were pretty light.

[Ituralde]

Battle near Zagreb, 1176:

Leopold didn't like being here. Chasing some Croatian Rebels while a large Hungarian army led by Banos Gergely was burning his lands near Vienna. He could strike at the Austrian capital at his will or even recapture Budapest. All the while the Venetians had just bypassed Zagreb and were heading for Venice.

Still this was a battle that had to be fought. The rebels had blocked an important Danube crossing, blocking passage and denying Leopold a safe route to Zagreb, and more importantly denying reinforcements from Zagreb to reach him. Reinforcements he desperately needed after the hight casualties sustained in the assault on Budapest. He needed the roads safe for his defensive strategem to work. Constantly travelling between Zagreb and Budapest wherever the next threat would be apparent.

One could almost feel sorry for the Rebels. Only a small number of Croat Axemen ready to fight for their lives in the face of a superior Imperial army outnumbering them vastly. It was an easy task and one Leopold took care to carry out right.
He advanced his crossbows within firing range, backed up by the host of his armiey. Not daring to attack the superior foe the Croats took the beating of the Imperial bolts. They took it well enough, but after their numbers had been halfed a last bolt struck down their Captain that had been holding them together until know.

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Taking this as a signal the Croatians started to flee. Smiling to himself Leopold ordered his Crossbowmen to hold their file. Drawing his sword he spurred his head forward giving his Knights the signal for the attack. The rest of the Rebels were mowed down by Imperial Cavalry.

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Finally the roads were secure again and Leopold could turn his attention to more important matters.

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