Between a Rock and a Hard Place (an Averni Story)

[CaesarAugustus]

I read your first entry, and though I don't have any literary criticism, I want to say that I found this very entertaining so far, you have set up a great story and I can't wait to hear your account of the battle!

[woad&fangs]

Prasutagos eyed up his newest recruits. They were another group of Thracian spearmen. They didn’t have armor and were equipped with only a shield, javelins, and a short spear, but they were still well suited to the lighter style of combat he had encountered in the Balkans. Even better, these new recruits seemed to be more able bodied than the majority of their Thracian kinfolk. Only one thing could make him happier about his new recruits.

“Where do you men hail from?” greeted Prasutagos in his usual Gaelic.
“Que?” responded several of the Thracians.

‘sigh’, O well, he would just have Ivomagos translate for him as usual. Ivomagos repeated his question in the local dialect of Thracian.
“They say that they’re from east of Sarmisaguza.”

“Thank you for translating once again, Ivo. I really should learn the common dialects of these parts shouldn’t I. Please go find a captain to assign them to.”

“Don’t worry too much about it Prasuta. If you ever did learn them then I’d be out of a job, so take your time. Besides, a great leader such as yourself probably has more important things on his mind like things such as whether you think babies taste better boiled or roasted.” The last part Ivo said loudly and clearly in Thracian so all nearby could hear. Ivo then lead the new recruits away to find a captain. Many of them were looking oddly at Prasutagos.

Prasutagos chuckled softly. He knew that Ivo’s habit of switching languages mid sentence was just his idea of humor. While whatever he had said was probably in bad taste it was only in jest. If this was the price he had to pay for the best translator east of the Alps than he could live with it.

Hmmm, the sun is starting to set in the west. It might be time to set up camp for the evening….

To be continued….
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Okay, I didn’t get much of a response in the mead hall so I’m going to put the start of my story into my first post here and do any more updates in this thread. I tried writing the battle with the Sweboz but I did a rather dry job of it so I’ll have to try revising it before I consider it fit to post. I was originally planning on only going through the battle and its aftermath but now I think I’m going to do a dual story between Cocolitanos and Prasutagos, ending in a conclusion to the war with the Sweboz. I’m hoping that when I do finally get some battles written they will provide some interesting contrasts in the style of battles these two are fighting. I know that the Prasu piece is kind of short but I’m also trying to write an English essay so I’ll lengthen it over the weekend.

Quick question. How do you spell that city I was trying to spell? Sarmiguza or whatever. It's the city directly south east of Ak-Ink.

Encouragement and Criticism are both very much welcomed.

If a mod could change the thread title to 'Between A Rock and A Hard Place(an Averni story) ' I would appreciate it.

[PersianFire]

"There is nothing wrong with your style woad&fangs. In fact, I am more for the story-based AAR's as they are better in explaining and depicting storylines rather than looking at pretty pictures all the time (though they do help greatly). Keep going."

[woad&fangs]

“Men, umm, today we have a chance to avenge the death of Aneirin and the brave Celts that followed him.” A small muttering of approval could be heard and ‘Litanos began to speak with a new found confidence, “The host that the enemy has assembled is large in number but small in spirit. The God’s have favored us with the gifts of keen minds, strong arms, and courageous hearts. The Sweboz are cowards. You have all seen before how they run at first contact with our spear points. You have all seen how their nobles cower inside their shells of iron. They adorn themselves in valuable metals as if they were on a throne instead of a battlefield.” He knew that the Sweboz had begun their advance and decided to rap his speech up, “The man who slays their King will be given his throne when this war is over. Now, prepare yourselves for a fight.”

With that he rode back behind his line. Not a great speech and it had a rather abrupt ending but his men had all fought in battle before and knew what was expected of them. The Sweboz were now 300 paces from his own line. The enemy army began to angle to towards the rock. Surely they wouldn’t try to break through there? But it seemed like that was their plan. They definitely weren’t as numerous as his scouts had reported but even with their move to the right their army still extended beyond his own left flank. From the second line of the enemy army a horn was sounded and they broke into a slow jog. A movement from the woods on Litanos’ far right caught his eye. The mercenary cavalry had mistaken the horn for his own! Damn, damn, damn, the two lines hadn’t even met yet. The far left of the enemy line broke off and engaged the mercenaries. At least he wasn’t as badly flanked on his left now.

The two lines were now only paces apart.
“Swordsmen, archers, ready your missiles,”
The lines would clash at any second.
“Fire!!”
Dozens of Sweboz fell and their advance stopped.
“Fire!!!”
More Sweboz fell with javelins protruding out of their chests but the lines had now engaged. The Sweboz and Averni lines shoved against each other but neither would break. The dull thwack of shields colliding and the metallic clanging of swords unsheathing echoed all around him.
“Swordsmen, Charge!”
With the additional force of the swordsmen, the Sweboz line began to bend but their nobles quickly joined the fray and the lines returned to a stalemate. Litanos scanned the entire line. The right was holding against overwhelming odds thanks to the great rock. The very center held by the levy hooplotes and their longer spears were proving decisive. As long as the Celtic spearmen on either side of them held, the hooplotes would win. The rest of the center was in a stalemate. Litanos looked to the left side of his line and swore loudly. The superior numbers of the Sweboz had allowed them to flank his Massilians and Germanic nobles.
“Cavalry, Charge!!” He bellowed over the din of the battle.

He thundered towards the left flank and lowered his spear at a skinny Sweboz soldier. The soldier turned to face the thundering charge, eyes wide in horror. He tried to raise his shield but was too slow to prevent Litanos’ spear from puncturing his neck. All around Litanos his bodyguard was likewise impaling the enemy spearmen. Surrounded by cavalry and infantry, the Sweboz were packed to densely to put up much of a fight. A few moments later and the far left flank contained only the bright green banners of the Averni. Litanos allowed himself a brief smile at the successful charge before he turned his eyes once more to the battle being waged to his right.

To be continued...
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I think my next update or two will be about Litanos until I finish the battle. Then I'll focus on Prasutagos for a while.

[Long lost Caesar]

nice story, hope litanoas wins against 'zee germans'
keep it up man

[woad&fangs]

The left flank was slowing folding inwards on the Sweboz. As each section of Sweboz found themselves surrounded they fled which in turn freed more Averni warriors to flank the next section of soldiers. As long as the center and right held then he would prove the victor. Litanos and his guards galloped down the line, shouting encouragements as they went. When he reached the far right he was presented with a startling scene. The Belgae had long since fled and now only the Gaesatae were holding off the Sweboz who were close to a dozen ranks deep. Yet not only were the Gaesatae holding, they were slowly advancing and pushing the Sweboz back. “Hmmm, that might not be such a good thing” thought Litanos. If they advance to far then the enemy can also flank us. Well, reasoning with drugged up men with long swords would be rather pointless so he’d have to find another way of fixing the right. Luckily, the nearby unit of Alpine short swordsmen had yet to engage the enemy line.

“You all, get over here and don’t retreat or advance no matter what.”

With the right now firmly protected Litanos turned his attention to the rest of the battlefield. With body guards in tow, He returned to the left where the Averni advance had ground to a halt. Litanos immediately spotted the cause of this obstruction. A handful of Sweboz nobles were still holding their ground despite being surrounded on three sides.

He lowered his spear point and ordered his horse forwards to strike the nobles from behind. Despite knocking down several of them they still held their ground. Litanos had to give them his respect. Contrary to his comments about their cowardice, the nobles were in fact exceedingly brave. He thrust his spear at the nearest noble but it merely glanced off of his armor. The noble thrust back with his own spear and Litanos blocked with his shield. Litanos raised his spear once again but before he could attack he felt himself being thrown backwards into the air and landing hard on his back with a very inelegant 'Oomph’.

Litanos quickly leapt to his feet to rejoin the fray. He was sore from the fall but he pushed the pain out of his mind with one thought. That son of a bitch had just stabbed his best horse. He drew his sword and advanced on the noble. The noble drew his own sword, having broken his spear while killing the horse. Litanos aimed a cutting blow at the noble’s hip and as the noble lowered his shield to defend, Litanos bashed him in the face with his shield. He crumpled to the ground and before he could regain his feet again he died from a sword through the heart.

The other nobles began to flee. Litanos then noticed how the noble he had slain was more ornately decorated then the others. He was probably a close relative of the king but he was too young to be the king himself. Whoever he was, he was obviously the commander of this section of the line. His death had begun a mass rout of the nearby Sweboz levies.

Litanos paused to catch his breath. The battle was all but over. Only a hundred or so Sweboz nobles were still fighting near the great rock. Litanos wondered where his mercenary cavalry had gone. He hadn’t seen them since the accidental charge and he now assumed they had run off when they realized their blunder. At least now he wouldn’t have to pay those greedy cowards. A great cheer arose from near the great rock. Even heavily outnumbered, it now appeared that he had come out victorious. A head which he assumed had previously belonged to the Sweboz king was now being paraded about on the top of a spear point by one of Gaesatae. All that remained now was to assign the post battle tasks such as chasing routers and recovering the wounded. Litanos slowly began strolling over to the mass of Averni gathered at the base of the great rock.

Under his breath he muttered “The little buggers will probably be wanting some sort of speech out of me.”

To be Continued….
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I guess it only took one long post to write the battle. The next scene will probably be a Prasutagos one but I still might change my mind.

If someone could give me a list of about 5 male and 5 female Celtic names it would be very much appreciated. I could maybe use a few Getai and Sweboz names too.

And as usual comments and criticism are greatly appreciated.

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[Ower]

Nice one I like it but you should post a map of the world ans ome pics would bee nice.