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Post by cerdigon on Aug 19, 2017 22:05:26 GMT
The Third Ironskull War
Belligerents: The Empire of Sacrye VS Firetooth Clan & Ikegami Clan
The Third Ironskull War had its roots as a direct consequence of the Second Ironskull War. Ancestral Orcish lands had been occupied for decades, the population killed, enslaved, or converted to the harsh religion of the Sacryan Giants. Until now, the Firetooth had never had the political muscle or consensus to launch a full fledged campaign to retake their lands. The Ironskull had become refugees amongst the people they had once sought to conquer. Yet the obsession to push the Sacryan's from Orcish soil had never left the collective unconscious of 'Orcland'.
After years of careful preparation, the Firetooth and their tribal allies launched a massive assault into Jaxathrali province. The target? The city on the banks of the Johor, the ancient ancestral seat of the Ironskull, Gusko's Rest. The declaration of war was swiftly followed by a second declaration, this time from the Ikegami Clan's. Not since the time of Naozumi had the samurai gone to war.
The Sacryan Empire was under assault from two fronts but it was a war that Emperor Aonag had been preparing for throughout his reign. His forces were stretched thin, but he was not without hope. He need only last out the enemy until the cold gust of winter could take hold and the Giants could take the offensive...
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Western Front:
On the Western front, the Firetooth Horde was seemingly endless. Tens of thousands of infantry, thousands of cavalry, hundreds of cannon of both large and small caliber. It was a seemingly unstoppable force, but one that was forced to move incredibly slow. It's supply and baggage train stretching for miles. In a pitched battle, the Sacryan Giants would've been destroyed by sheer force of numbers. Instead, General Trugsog had decided to fight a war of maneuver.
The Ironskull War would not begin with a climatic battle outside Gusko's Rest. Instead it came in the form of dozens of small skirmishes. A favorite Sacryan tactic had been to use their riflemen from a distance to engage the Orc's, drawing a fierce response from bands of Firetooth outriders and cavalry to attempt to ride down the fast moving Giants. The Sacryan's would then feign retreat, the riflemen leading the oncoming Orc's into fields of overlapping fire and slaughtering them. In one notable evident, outside the village of Darkhan, later known as the Darkhan Massacare, a company of three hundred irregular horsemen were annhilated in the space of two bloody hours.
A second tactic was for the Sacryan's to wait for the main body of Firetooth infantry and cavalry to pass before ambushing the oncoming supply train and their escorts. Hundreds of Orc's would die this way in the first week of fighting and many supplies burned or looted. Yet to the Firetooth, these were regarded as mere setbacks.
Elsewhere, Sacryan assaults were less successful. On the riverbanks in particular, its gunboat squadrons were beaten back after attempting to launch attacks on the Firetooth attempting to gain access to the opposite bank of the Johor. The bridgeheads were well defended by Firetooth cannons and several gunboats were sunk or put out of action. Soon, the gunboats were reduced to skulking at night to avoid the heavy caliber Firetooth cannons that oftentimes out ranged their own weapons.
Despite all their efforts, the Sacryan's could not stop the full weight of the enemy and they would be at the doorstep of Gusko's Rest very soon.
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Eastern Front:
Historians would always speculate on why the Ikegami had chosen that moment to declare war. Daimyo Ikegami Sayoko would justify her decision as a ' pre - emptive measure against future Sacryan aggression '. More skeptical historians would later claim that the invasion was an opportunistic endeavor, designed to take advantage of the Western theater as Sacrye fought to hold onto its agricultural heartland.
Regardless, the declaration of war had caught the Ikegami Generals off guard. Despite the political intention and motivation to declare war, the Ikegami had not sent orders to prepare supplies, they had not prepared forward bases, and more importantly, the Ikegami were forced to spend crucial weeks simply gathering their own forces for the offensive. Some would claim that the Ikegami had rushed into war, others that the Ikegami leadership, more accustomed to defending its own borders than going on the offensive could not imagine the sheer complexity such an operation would involve. Regardless, the decision not to prepare in advance would have repercussions.
By the time the Ikegami Host had gathered, weeks had passed, and the damage had been done. With its massive highway system, the Sacrye had managed to rush reinforcements to the expected point of attack. Having not secured military access from the Wolfwyrd, the Ikegami would be forced to attack the heavily defended border town of Ulanbataar.
Rather than the hit and run tactics that the Sacrye were employing in the West, the Sacryan Army would stand and fight. Thousands of troops behind entrenched blockhouses and from the slits of murder holes would await the Ikegami attack....
SUMMARY:
-- The Firetooth advance continues, though they meet bloody resistance. The Firetooth Army will arrive at Gusko's Rest next campaign mark.
-- The Ikegami have reached the border and are confronted by an entrenched Sacryan force.
-- Casualties and Supply Expenditures will be noted in PM's to all players.
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Post by cerdigon on Aug 22, 2017 21:35:18 GMT
Moderation Mark
The conventional Battle for Southern Jaxtathrali had ended. The southern bank of the Johor was now firmly in Firetooth hands. It did not mean the end of the killing though. The conflict had shifted from conventional fighting with bloody skirmishes to a raging insurgency behind the Firetooth lines that was increasingly verging on that of ethnic cleansing as commanders took their orders to the extremes. In the town of Darkham, troops belonging to the Jaggedfist Tribe systematically went house to house, burning and looting. Disturbing reports would emerge days later of hundreds of men, women, and children shot and hastily burned. The hatred was not one sided. Firetooth supply convoys were routinely ambushed on the long winding road to the army encampment. Captured Orc soldiers were sacrificed in bloody rituals that both incensed the Orc and spread fear through the ranks. On the frontlines, the Firetooth reached the banks of the Johor to find the bridges across burned and destroyed. The first attempt to cross (lead by the Ironskull Clan) was repulsed between the gunboats and riflemen on the far bank. Yet the Firetooth had far more heavy guns than the Sacrye could muster. The batteries came up and soon the sheer firepower had knocked three gunboats out of action and forced yet another withdrawal by the Sacryan navy. A second attempt by the Firetooth was more successful. Troops waded through the Johor's lowest points under incessant rifle fire from the opposite bank. Many an Orc body would find its way down the river, but the turning point came in yet another barrage from Firetooth guns. With artillery cover, the Firetooth were able to establish a beachhead that was rapidly reinforced by the hour with more and more troops. The Sacrye with their lack of artillery pieces did not have an answer for the massive barrage. Within four days, military engineers had established makeshift bridges to begin bringing the supplies and heavy equipment that the Firetooth would need to conduct their siege. Gusko's Rest would not be an easy target. The personal banner of the Emperor flew over the city and it was garrisoned by thousands of Sacryan soldiers that had been preparing for this moment. Food and supplies had been stockpiled, earthworks had been built, and buildings collapsed to create bloody choke-points. The Firetooth would also need a strategy on how they would cut off Gusko's Rest from its supply lines. The Imperial Highway to the North meant that as long as it was active, Emperor Aonag could keep his troops fed and supplied with shot and powder. The one distant hope that the Emperor had for relief was the arrival of the Esharan Imperial Army. Yet as he looked towards the horizon, the Esharan banners remained absent. SUMMARY-- Firetooth seize Southern Jaxtathrali and successfully cross the Johor River. -- Sacrye loses 25% of total food output from Jaxtathrali province. -- A bloody insurgency continues to hamper the Firetooth rear. -- Siege of Gusko's Rest has begun. -- Casualties and Supply Expenditures will be noted in PM's to all players. |
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Post by cerdigon on Sept 10, 2017 16:28:29 GMT
Moderaton Mark
Western FrontThe Ironskull War was now at a tipping point in the West. If the First Esharan Army could defeat the Firetooth & her tribal allies, then Gusko’s Rest could be saved. The political weight of that victory might just be enough to force a peace in the West. Nevertheless, both the Firetooth and the Esharan contingents were exhausted. The Firetooth for their part had just fought a major engagement that had seen thousands died and then had to deal with the indignity of withdrawing from a city that they had fought hard for. The Esharan First Army had marched hundreds of miles in a few short weeks, the soles of boots had fallen off, wagons were abandoned, and men had fallen out with fatigue or fever. The first clash between the Esharan and Firetooth forces would come not in a climactic battle but probing forces that both forces had dispatched ahead of their armies. A massive dust cloud was kicked up at the vanguard of both armies as cavalry and Orc wargs clashed in bloody skirmishes. Firetooth ‘galloping guns’ of horse drawn artillery rode forward and pounded Esharan positions while Esharan hussars on their sleek steeds rode down Firetooth irregular snipers that had been deployed along the road. The Firetooth were able to claim victory on the field, they simpler massively outnumbered the Esharan cavalry contingents. Yet even Accai Boarsplitter was not bold enough to challenge the full might of the Esharan host and fell back. They had bought the Firetooth an extra two days, two days in which to dig in on the hard soil of the Suvaneh Plains. Eastern Front In the East, the Esharan and Sacryan’s had squandered their chance to defeat the Ikegami invasion. As a result, the Ikegami were able to claim the town of Ulanbataar in a dramatic flanking maneuver that had carried it through Union territory. The Sacryan’s had fallen back, barely escaping as the Ikegami closed in. They managed to capture the town with its blockhouses without a shot. The Sacryan’s for their part chose to trade space for time. They had marched deeper into the province to set up a new defensive line. The Ikegami now faced a new phase of the war, the first samurai to fall would not come in battle but in ambush. Sacryan militia brutally ambushed Ikegami patrols, using the range of their massive guns to perform hit and run tactics that the Ikegami had little to respond with. Sayoko now faced a choice of whether to pursue the Sacryan army and capture the rest of the province or winter at Ulanbataar and finish the campaign with the new spring thaw. Regardless, with winter rapidly closing in, the giants would be in their element.
NOTES:-- SEASON CHANGE: Winter is coming; expect additional attrition from cold weather and illness. -- See PM's for notes on casualties from skirmishes. -- See Battle of Suvaneh Plains.
-- Contested: Averthial produces 1/2 income.
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Post by zurajai on Sept 13, 2017 17:47:18 GMT
Moderation Mark Northern Front:On the onset of Winter in the northernmost reaches of the continent known to the Esharans as Ergoria, a great flotilla of dragon-prowed warships sailed up the Veinir River with black intentions for the people of "True-Eshara". The host aboard the vessels was no doubt of Jotun stock, armed as such in their anachronistic plate, baring broad shields and brandishing cruel blades. Famed raiders for the last five centuries at least, these were the exact monsters who struck fear in the hearts of men of the ocean waves long ago; now, it seemed, they were here to do it again. Though it had been a century since then, the Jotun traveled up the river with relative ease; it seemed their raids on the Gurd a century past were well documented and veterans of those fights still lived within the isles due to the long lives of the giant race. Despite a number of juicy targets along the river, unguarded villages and shrines of Gurdish-goblin make, the prowling predators of the sea-giants payed them no heed; they had bigger prey in mind. Luck would have it that these very same villages, untouched by the ravagers come to claim plunder aplenty, were quick to bring word to the capital. A highly developed and complex series of highways allowed for the swift travel of hard-pressed riders carrying warnings to the city of New Crimsimara. By the grace of Eshar, it seemed, New Crimsimara had been given a chance! Roused to purpose was the the grey elf Legatus Brunhilda Sikyas, a famed commander of the old Thurismod Knights of her time serving alongside the regular forces of the army. Conscripted forces, tasked with the defense of the homeland against potential Imperial invaders, were suddenly faced with the difficult task of warding off a determined raiding force from the East. With muskets in hand and the words of Eshar on their lips, the motley assortment of dwarves, goblins, elves and men would defend their city to the last man if they had to; at least, that's what they said.
SUMMARY:-- A large Jotun raiding fleet has sailed up the Veinir River to attack New Crimsimara. -- A force of regulars originally tasked with defending the Union's heartland has been dispatched to hold the city at all costs. -- Legatus Brunhilda Sikyas, ex-Audvakr of the Thurismod Knights, rallies the defenders. -- See the thread Battle for New Crimsimara and PMs for further details. |
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Post by cerdigon on Oct 1, 2017 16:40:16 GMT
Moderation Mark
While two massive armies clashed on the Plains of Suvaneh, the Siege of Gusko's Rest ended with a whimper rather than a bang. Nearly twenty thousand Orc's launched an immediate attack on the city after the main Sacryan force had broken out. With the leadership of Emperor Aonag or his warriors to hold the city, it became a matter of mathematics. Mathematics that the Sacryan's could not hope to equal. There was no longer the spirit, the ammunition, or the manpower to fight district by district. The first greenskin wave was repulsed from hastily repaired battlements, massive muskets gouging holes into ranks and turning Orc's into bloody red paste. Yet over half the garrison was armed with melee weapons and the famed Ice Stalkers of legendary myth only had their smaller pistols, many of which had run out of shot. The second attack by the Orc's was far better organized and the Sacryan's gave ground. For the first time during the Siege, troops began to surrender as the Orc's surged forward. Yet again they hit a stalemate as the defenders fell back through the streets, the fighting coming down to bloody hand to hand fighting. Alone an average Orc militiamen was no match for a Giant in melee combat. Yet the Orc's were not alone and by the second day their advantage was complete as thousands of new troops after marching through hard snow and frozen ice were thrown into the fight, there numerical advantage coming to nearly five to one. With the benefit of siege artillery and mortar support from the river, the Orc's were able to extend their advantage. Entire areas were hammered with artillery shells, flattening homes and defenses that had been hastily arranged by Sacryan sappers and breaking up the tight formations that the Sacryan's had been using to hold their ground. While General Trugsog was leading a final defense in the bombed out remnants of the Imperial Barracks, the slaughter had already begun behind the lines. The invading Orc's were in no mood to be kind to the civilian population, going house to house where giants, orc, and human alike hunkered down in whatever shelter they could find. The history books would not mention the bravery of General Trugsog and the famed Imperial Guard of Emperor Aonag who held to the last man. It would not mention the fanatical resistance put up by the legendary Ice Stalkers because the history of the capture of Gusko's Rest would be written by the Firetooth. By the end of the second day, the city was in Firetooth hands but at a heavy price. More worryingly for the Firetooth leadership, the Orc's had lost complete control of the rampaging militamen who tore throughout the city, killing, burning, and looting. It would be some time before they could be brought back under control to begin forming the defenses that the Firetooth would need to combat the approaching armies of Eshara and the Sacrye. ------------------------------------------- The Battle of Suvaneh Plains ended with with a thunderclap, burying hundreds of Orc's under a mountain of rubble and leaving thousands more wounded from rock and shrapnel. It had became clear to High Chief Artog Aedsword that his position had become increasingly untenable and thus in the pre dawn darkness, the unmistakable sound of an army on the move. Esharan scouts would confirm that High Chief Aedsword had begun his retreat, leaving many of his dead on the field and wounded that could not march. The Firetooth had chosen to take the fastest southern road that would get them back to Gusko's Rest. The Sacryan Army would arrive in the late morning to find a scene of utter devastation. The main Esharan Army while victorious was in no immediate position to move. The main road was blocked with tons of rubble and corpses. Military engineers would need to clear the road to allow the main army access. In addition, fatigue from the forced march and the Reclimir's uncertain health meant that the Firetooth were allowed to withdraw unmolested. The Sacryan's were left with a conundrum, pursue the Firetooth before they could reach Gusko's Rest without the support of the Union or return to the city fully resupplied, their allies en tow, but the Firetooth dug in. Heavy winter snow would cause further casualties for not only the Orc's but the Sacryan's Union allies. What would Emperor Aonag do? ------------------------------------------- After a long pause to re-equip and re-supply, Ikegami Sayoko renewed her march through the brutal winter storms across the steppes of Averthial. The Ikegami would be harassed by guerillas and Sacryan regulars the entire way. Without furs or proper winter equipment, many Ikegami would fall victim to frostbite or exposure rather than Sacryan bullets. Yet there was still a significant army present in the province. A decisive showdown was looming between the Daimyo and the Sacryan's. Though with the fall of Gusko's Rest and new armies converging on the city, it remained to be seen how strategically important the province remained.
SUMMARY:-- Gusko's Rest falls to a renewed Firetooth attack; the Firetooth army begins to loot and sack the city. -- Firetooth army begins its retreat from the Suvaneh Plains; leaving behind dead, wounded, and supplies in their haste. -- Ikegami renew their offensive in the east to drive the Sacryan's from Averthial. |
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Post by zurajai on Nov 17, 2017 8:41:25 GMT
Modmark With news of the battle for Gusko's Rest reaching the heartlands of both primary belligerents, it was beginning clear that the citizens of both nations were becoming weary of the endless carnage. In the frozen northern reaches, those marches above the orcish wastes, Sacryan peasants raised their doubts of the war's worth. Within the bustling streets of Thundercrown, protests started. On both sides of the border the people were flexing their muscle in displeasure; how many more sons would not return home? How many more fathers would leave their wives forever for that worthless plot of land? As lists of the dead trawled in, opposition was raised on both sides. The sheer extent of the opposition was small, at least for now, and relegated to the lower classes who were suffering the most at the hands of the warhawks in their governments. Despite this calm beginning, the threat of growing discontentment could not be denied. Both governments had promised sweeping victories that had not been achieved and the cost in lives was beginning to outweigh the benefits.
SUMMARY-- In response to the horrendously high casualties suffered at the Third Battle of Gusko's Rest, the Sacrye and ALL Orcland nations suffer -1 Public Order penalty for the duration of the war. -- The negative public order penalty will increase per year (Every 2 Turns) until the official cessation of combat. -- Members of the educated middle class of both nations raise questions of the value of the war and have begun to press their governments to find a reasonable compromise to end the war swiftly. |
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Post by cerdigon on Dec 26, 2017 23:24:07 GMT
Moderation Mark
The Year of 945 had been a quiet one for both sides. A chance by the Sacryan Army to cross the Johor and finish the battered Firetooth Coalition was lost with the sudden withdrawal of the Esharan Armies that had so dramatically helped turn the tide in Aonag's favor. If anything, the intervention of the Holy Union had given Emperor Aonag breathing space and time to rebuild his ragged army but would it be enough? The situation on the home front was growing desperate by the day, as refugees from the South used the lull in the fighting to flee North. The Emperor had spent the year retraining, re-arming, and re-equipping a new and battle hardened Sacryan army to confront the Firetooth. By the winter, tens of thousands of giants had dug into the frozen banks of the Johor waiting for the inevitable Firetooth assault. The Firetooth for their part had not spent the year sitting idly either. A crisis in leadership had nearly split the once mighty Firetooth lead coalition in two. It was only with backroom dealings and politics that the Firetooth had clung onto their majority on the Council and Artog had retained his seat as High Chief. The Firetooth Army for its part had been battered in two very costly major battles. One a bloody fighting withdrawal and the second had seen the Army slaughtered in the city it had stormed only a few weeks earlier. Yet for all of this, reinforcements had been rushed to the front, and morale among the fighting Orcs was steadily improved, it was the investment in supply and drill that had paid off. The Firetooth Army that had limped back onto the Southern banks of the Johor was not the same as the one that had been reborn. It was smaller but leaner, filled with combat veterans that had seen many skirmishes and major battles. The Winter of 945 would be the first sign of the coming war. Firetooth bands of cavalry, operating up and down the frozen banks of the Johor, raided up and down the Sacryan lines. They were met by Sacryan skirmishers and patrols. However, the decision by Aonag to fortify the major ford outside Gusko's Rest meant that his troops were spread out miles and miles. The more nimble and numerous Firetooth cavalry were able to slip behind the Sacryan lines to raid, scout, and generally prove a nuisance. They retreated back across the Johor as the ice began to thaw and winter turned to spring. Soon, scouts would report that the Firetooth army was on the move backed by their Stonefoot allies to the West. A massive fleet of transports backed by gunboats alongside thousands of Orc bannerman had begun to mass on the bank. Rather than using the fording points, it seemed that the Firetooth were intent on using their naval superiority to cross. Yet such a maneuver would be fraught with logistical challenges if it was attempted and as the Firetooth gathered strength, the Sacryan army would have its chance to react. -- PM's will be sent in 24 hours. You have 72 hours (until Friday) to respond or I will go forward with current order of battle and unit placement. |
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Post by cerdigon on Jan 3, 2018 2:17:11 GMT
Moderation Mark
Both sides had prepared in earnest for a year but when it finally came at last it caught many a soldier off guard. Firetooth troops were forced to march under strict discipline, with little information given to the men on where exactly they were going. Likewise, the Sacryan Army had been prepared for a bloody assault on the Northern Ford and had prepared as such. Yet was caught off balance when the Firetooth did not commit to a single organized assault but attacked everywhere. The Firetooth strategy became to stretch the Sacryan Army as far as it could go. A landing seventy miles up the river was organized, spearheaded by a flotilla of gunboats and mortarboats. Orc troops crossed in a motley collection of ramshackle boats that had been built or commandeered. They met little initial resistance upon landing aside from a few wide eyed farmers and scattered Sacryan patrols that fled under the weight of the Orc bombardment. It was not the only place the Firetooth Army was on the attack. The Northwestern Ford once known as Kharog's Ford after a former Ironskull Chieftain (and referred to as such by both natives and Sacryan newcomers alike) became the scene of a pitched battle. Sacryan troops which had been spread out along the entire stretch of the river had now begun to mass here after hurriedly being sent orders to prevent a crossing. Reinforcements from Gusko's Rest were less than a day's march away. In the pre dawn darkness, Firetooth Orc's with faces daubed in mud advanced from boats. They were armed with cutting knives and pistols for ugly short work. At first, they were successful in silencing the early round of pickets. But the elite of the Coalition Armies did not reckon fighting against the feared Sacryan Ice Stalkers. The roar of gunfire began in earnest and soon the Jaws of Org were fighting not just to maintain control of the narrow bridgehead they had created, but for their very lives. -- The Firetooth Army with supporting Stonefoot elements has successfully crossed 70 miles upstream. -- A second Firetooth Army with Stonefoot support has begun its attack on the Northwestern Ford (hereby known as Kharog's Ford). -- See Battle of Kharog's Ford. |
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