Battle reports thread - King of the Romans PBM

[_Tristan_]

A bridge too far

Near Antwerp, 1366

Urged by the chancellor, Hughes had ridden hard to meet up with Count von Bohmen to help in the defense of Antwerp from the advancing French forces. On their way, Hughes and his men had overtaken the French, arriving first at the bridge.

En route, Hughes had dispatched some of his men around the countryside to gather all able-bodied men willing to help in the defence of the city. One day, a mercenary captain came to offer his service : a Flemish by the name of Jan van Rijn, he was a minor noble that had been dispossessed in favour of a French noble and now loaned his services to whoever could pay for them. His company was made up of two three units of flemish pikemen, two units of crossbowmen and a piece of artillery.

Proof of the old saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, Hughes and Jan immediately found a common ground...

Jan had had enough of fighting for mere gold... What he truly wanted was fighting for a cause... Hughes offered him that opportunity...

Finally, they reached the bridge south of Antwerp, where Count von Bohmen, Hero of Flanders had been requested to make a last stand. From the letter he got from the Chancellor, Hughes had gathered that Ludwig von Bohmen was a fine general, only that he was much more at ease behind the walls of a city. But, here, if the French reached Antwerp the city would be lost so they had to be stopped at the bridge.

That was the mission given to Hughes.

Having reached von Bohmen’s camp on the northern shore of the river, Hughes left Guillaume see to the installation of the mercenaries and rode alone to the tent of the Count. He reached it just as the Count, forewarned, came out.

“Count von Bohmen, I salute you... I am Hughes de Cervole, former Templar and now Elector of Swabia...”

“Sir de Cervole, I bid you welcome in Flanders. I gather you are here to help me defend Antwerp from the French hordes...”

Getting down from his horse, Hughes acquiesced.

“Exactly, my Lord, the Chancellor has seen fit to provide me with enough florins to hire what I hope to be enough mercenaries to repel the scum. From what I gathered riding in, your men are essentially handgunners and crossbowmen with a few spears thrown in...

“That’s right...” answered Ludwig “Plus some halberd militia that can be called on short notice from Antwerp as reinforcements...”

Clearly taking this all in, Hughes went on.

“We passed the French on our way here... They have a powerful force of veteran warriors... Artillery that is antiquated but can still kill, knights on horses and on foot... While we’ll have to rely on militia and mercenaries... Still, we cannot afford to let them pass..”. A wolfish grin passed on Hughes’ face... “They will only go this far and no further...”

A little taken aback by the transformation in his counterpart, Von Bohmen could only nod his approval.

“May God help us...” he prayed.

“God will be on our side... The French are but a filthy lot of devil worshippers and sabbath-goers...”

“Would you care to examine the bridge and its approaches ?” asked Ludwig, clearly ill at ease with the single-mindedness of Hughes.

“Yes, lead the way...”

******

Out of a common agreement, Hughes found himself in command of the Reich’s forces...

The French had gathered their forces on the other side of the bridge during the night and the grey winter dawn had revealed their ominous presence...

Hughes knew in his bones that today many men would die... Preferably they would be French but some of his men would die too and that rankled...

Hughes’ plan was simple : the ribault would be placed at the entrance to the bridge allowing it to fire one or two salvos at the advancing and compact mass of Frenchmen. Behind it van Rijn’s Flemish pikemen in a roughly U-shape would bear the brunt of the impact with support from the pike militias. The firearms and crossbows a little further away from the bridge and slightly on the side to get a line of fire on the bridge.

The slope to the river was almost level, if the men had to fire through the lines, some of his own men would die with bolts in their backs...

Reinforcement had been called in all haste from Antwerp and some spearmen and halberd militias were on their way.

Hughes placed himself on the left flank to bring support and stop any flanking maneuver from the French, should the pikes not stop them. Von Bohmen was given the right flank.

Now, it would be a matter of who got the biggest family jewels...

******

The French opens hostilities by firing their trebuchets and catapults... Flaming boulders rise in the sky, all missing their marks, some too short bringing the river to boiling point, others landing in the snow, melting it on landing...

The French footmen take the cue and begin charging across the bridge.

The ribaults’ servants are ready and start loading up their weapon, firing one devastating salvo into the advancing mass of men.

Hughes immediately sees that a second volley will not be possible and orders his men to withdraw, leaving the artillery in place. That will slow the French charge, for sure.

And indeed, with almost all of the way blocked by the artillery pieces, the footmen are forced to navigate around them, thus breaking their impetus.

The fighting begins at the line while the French artillery is going on lobbing flaming rocks at the German line, scoring a few kills among the mercenary crossbowmen on the right flank, but mostly overshooting the mark.

Some Scots Guards manage to force the line on the right flank and lead a charge on the arquebusiers. Seeing this, von Bohmen cuts their path and engages them.

With the left flank seemingly secure and the possibility that the right might be turned, Hughes leaves his position and rides to support von Bohmen. The Scots Guard are quickly brought down and leave the riders to take up position on the right flank a little behind the main line..

The fight rages in the at the entrance to the bridge. Bolts rain down on the French and German alike. The acrid smell of gunpowder permeates the air making it almost unbreathable, while the noise from the explosions of the stones hurled by the French artillery shakes the men to their bones.

Seeing that his men could not break our line of pikes, the French commander leads his cavalry across the bridge at a fast pace. However, both the artillery deployed at the entrance of the bridge and the French footmen milling around, trying to find an opening in the German line, hinder his advance.

At about the same time, the reinforcements from Antwerp arrive to join the battle. The timing is perfect as once again the right flank seems about to break. The militia spearmen bring support to the line while the halberdiers remained a bit further off, acting as reserve.

Seeing the German line weakening the French captain orders some of his lancers and gendarmes to use the gap forming in that flank and use it to charge Hughes’ men from behind. For the French captain, it is almost a last chance attempt as already half his force are lying dead or dying...

Hughes charges the French cavalry with von Bohmen and support from the halberdiers.
They deal blow for blow until the French are forced to retreat.

Already some of the French soldiers are routing, following the river shore to safety...

Isolated on the shore, von Bohmen and his men are targeted by the French artillery. When almost all the shots fired by those weapons landed wide off the mark, this time, the fiery projectile lands right in the middle of von Bohmen’s unit taking three of his men with him, missing him by inches.

Witnessing this, Hughes adresses von Bohmen, howling above the din of the battle, the cries and explosion, to make himself heard.

“Ludwig !! Get your arse over that bridge and silence those $@µ§ing stone-throwers !!”

While Hughes launches himself at the mass of French fighting against the pikemen, von Bohmen spurs his horse onward through that same milling mass of flesh and steel.

Most of his men are cut down but still he manages to reach the bridge and rides at the fastest pace his horse can manage with the two last of his men.

Howling like madmen, the knights bear down on the artillery crews, who, unprepared to be attacked, lose heart and begin running for shelter. Von Bohmen pursues the men cutting them down as they run.

At almost the same time, Hughes engages the French captain and from sheer fury deals such blows with his sword that the man is forced to retreat until he can retreat no more. His horse is impaled on the Flemish pikes, bringing him down and crushing him.

This spells the doom of the French. As t he news of their leader’s death spreads among them, they begin to run for shelter.

Hughes turns to his men.

“Let none of them escape alive !! Any of them left alive you’ll have to face another day !!”

He then spurs his horse towards the bridge intent on catchin as many of the men fleeing for the shelter of the monastery on the French side of the bridge.

A few manage to escape but the last are caught between Hughes and von Bohmen charges, trampling them in the snow.

Letting his horse catch his breath, Hughes leads him towards von Bohmen.

“Congratulations, Ludwig... You did a fine job of silencing that damn artillery... I beg your pardon for the profanity... The heat of battle, you know...” Hughs said with a smile.

Von Bohmen, a bit wild-eyed, returned the smile.

“No offence taken... It ws high time we did something about those %@£µing stones !”

“What’s the name of this dreadful place ?” asked Hughes.

“The nearest village is Nijmegen... over there” said Ludwig pointing with his gauntleted hand.

“ The French tried to go a bridge too far... It seems...”


The battle in numbers :

The battle in pictures :