The Battle of the Two Generals (CERDIGONIAN VICTORY)

The crump of leaves and branches underfoot grew as the Cerdigonian army advanced methodically towards their foe. Bows twanged as arrows were loosed, cutting the still air with a scream or a curse as the Seftian archers and their Orcish hirelings replied in kind. Hugging the treeline as they advanced, the Dwarven sellswords along with the Elvish archers formed a screen. Captain Stoneboot grunted, waiting for the inevitable volley from the Orcish muskets. Like many of his men, he was using the trees to cover their advance, already a particularly large oak tree had taken a bullet that was meant for his chest.

'' FORWARD YOU BASTARDS! '' He shouted towards his men. The Orc's had broken before relatively easily. A smile slid over his wolfish features, the enemy would do so again. Meanwhile, Duke Agricola was bringing up the rear of the advance guard, while the skirmishers pressed forward. Thousands of Sylph's were following in their wake.

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'' Vardic, you have your orders. '' Eurion Giantslayer snarled as the Sylph warriors took to the sky. Two thousand Sylph warriors followed along with him. The Seftian's hadn't been the only one's whom had seen the clearing. It was a perfect landing zone for the Sylph's to take and harass the enemy from behind while the main lines pushed forward for the inevitable contact. Vardic Whitestag, along with a complement of light infantry and archers had been ordered to seize it. They would fly up and over the treeline and then swoop down behind the enemy and into the clearing. Meanwhile, the Wild Hunt was moving in for the kill. Five hundred horse archers were continually harassing the Orc skirmish line on the right flank. On the left flank, the lancers were held in reserve, waiting to ride down any Seftian troops that attacked towards the landing Cerdigonian Sylphs in order to support them. The longbowman (while not yet in range) were preparing to support the army by targeting the center of the Seftian force for the inevitable charge. The Cerdigonian shock troops made up the center of the formation with roundshier and light infantry deployed on the left and right flanks.


NOTES:

-- Vardic Whitestag (Champion / Warrior / Melee) seizes the initiative and takes 1,000 light infantry and 1000  peasent archers, taking flight over the treetops. He will drop down onto the clearing and seize it, advancing behind the Seftian battle line in order to surprise them.

-- Duke Agricola organizes the vanguard into a skirmishing force, with the archers providing a screen for the advancing troops.

-- Horse archers attack the Orc skirmish line on the right flank, while 500 lancers on the left are held in reserve, waiting to either be committed to the attack on the Seftian battle line or to engage troops moving for the clearing.

-- The main Cerdigonian army (shocktroops at the center) and peasent roundshier / light infantry making up the flank, advances towards the Seftian battlelines, using the trees as cover from Orc gunfire. They are supported in their advance by longbowman and archers.

The Clearing

The Sylph peasants were panting, and even the professionals had broken a sweat after the flying sprint over the treetops and to the clearing.  For his own part, Vardic Whitestag had flown much harder than this in his life, but he didn't immediately order an attack for the sake of his troops.  After all, they had made it, and were now in position to flank the enemy Eurion was undoubtedly charging from his own side.  The elves would crumple like dried wheat stalks between the two attacks, Vardic Whitestag was certain.  But what he couldn't have anticipated was that the Giantslayer hadn't, in fact, ordered any sort of mass charge, but was rather advancing slowly and methodically through the forest.  The only attack he would see this day would be one on his own troops.

It began when thousands upon thousands of orcs emerged from the forest in a wide, uneven line, outstretching anything Whitestag could have mustered to counter it.  They stood some seventy meters from the Cerdigonian   He considered rushing their lines, but suspected the damage of up-close fire would be far more devastating than letting them have their volley from a greater distance.  This moment of hesitation, however, did not keep the Sylph Archers from moving forward to skirmish with the newcomers. 

Stop.  Face the enemy.  Light wood match.  Three-thousand Firetooth, muskets already loaded, formed their irregular ranks and began preparing their matchlocks.  The whizz and patter of arrows was an unwelcome harassment, wounding several orcs in the middle of their setup, but overall the smattering of enemy archers hardly affected the formation.  Apply wood match to slow-match.  Check lock.  Press stock to shoulder.  Aim.  Another few gargles and groans rose from the orcish ranks as the arrows kept coming.  But now they were ready.  The sylphs had had their fun.  Fire.

"FIRE!"  The order was only audible for a moment.  Immediately afterwards, it was drowned out by nearly three-thousand pops, which accumulated into what sounded more like a roar.  Gunsmoke erupted from the orcish lines in a succession of flashes, shrouding them in billows of grey-white.

On the Cerdigonian side, the sheer weight of fire was devastating.  Peasant archers were blown away as clouds of blood and flesh blasted out of the backs of sylphs, and the skirmish line was scattering in all directions before the musket volley was even finished.  Further back, the light infantry's bronze shields and armor did nothing to protect them from the hail of shot.  The front ranks were poked full of holes in a panoply of clanks, clacks, and splutters...followed by horrible cries of pain.  A few stray shots even reached the rear, ignobly wounding some of Vardic's handpicked warriors before they could taste the blood of their enemies up close.

And unlike in their last battle, the elves executed their advance past the muskets perfectly.  Vardic had hardly wiped the blood out of his eyes before he saw hordes of Sefti troops and banners emerging from the smoke ahead.  If he wasn't mistaken, there were goblins in the mix too...the warriors of his rival glory-hound Grugi Facebitter, no doubt.  He didn't need the strategic brilliance of Eurion to tell him defeat was certain, but if he was going to die, he would do it the Warrior Way.

"Loyal soldiers of Cerdigon!  The elven bastards of the Usurper Queen descend on us like vultures!  Those scum have the gall to think we'll go down like a wounded deer!  Let's show them they're fucking with the wrong animal!  CHAAAARGE!"

"KILL THE ELVES!" the battle-cry rose across the diminished Sylph ranks who, despite their hopeless situation, charged valiantly with their commander into the fray.

"KILL THE SYLPHS!" the far more numerous elves replied, before the two lines crashed into one another.

In the first moments, the well-organized Sylph downhill counter-charge and the light infantry's tenacity caught the Sefti off-guard.  In comparison, their own charge was rather uneven, and they suffered for it as the sylphs bashed and hacked their way into the elven ranks with shields and swords.  But Vardic's moment of glory was short-lived.  The shock troops of Sefti, lead by the mighty warriors of the champion Grugi Facebitter, easily encircled their outnumbered foes.  With many of the Sylph infantry wounded and exhausted, they soon lost their momentum.  From there, they were essentially slaughtered like pigs.  Only Whitestag's master soldiers were able to hold their own, but even they were losing far too many warriors far too quickly.  They and their commander would fight to the bitter end.

Stories and songs would tell of the last stand of Vardic Whitestag, who cut down over twenty elves and nine goblins before a claymore reached his head just a little too quickly, reducing its upper half to a spray of brain and bone.  These same verses would also struggle with the question of why the famous General Eurion Giantslayer sent the flanking force ahead without bothering to speed up his own conservative advance, condemning the great warrior to a suicide mission.  Some would cite callousness, others incompetence, but the most popular theories would deal with fatalistic signs and omens of Aed telling of punishment for King Cadoc's crimes, for which Whitestag became the sacrifice.

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The Forest

While the front section of Grugi and his shock-troops had made it to the clearing with near-perfect timing, the rest of Princess Merithea's main army was not so lucky.  The lancers of the Wild Hunt were loathe to let her forces simply fall back to the clearing without a fight.  The pikes did their best to hold the cavalry off, managing to stop their initial attacks and even tether some of the mercenaries in a lopsided melee, but overall the lancers were far better adapted to hitting and running than the pikes were to countering it.

With the forest forcing them into a loose and irregular formation, the lancers did not gamble on any full-on charges into the enemy ranks.  Rather, they contented themselves with hitting the enemy along their sides, eating away at the edges of roundshier formations with lances and swords.  The fast mounts and capable riders were able to repeat these maneuvers several times with little interference from the slower pike infantry, slowing the Princess' advance enough to leave her dangerously far behind Grugi's contingent.

Meanwhile, the Rear Guard was having its own struggles.  They had been winning against Agricola's screen by numerical superiority and the support of orcish muskets, but the arrival of longbows and cavalry archers complicated matters dramatically.  Muskets were powerful, but hardly a match for the accurate fire of professional longbowmen in the forest environment.  In accordance with Merithea's orders, the Rear Guard began falling back, but they simply could not shake off the horse archers on their flank.  This meant disruption in the skirmish line and more difficulty moving, which in turn meant the Cerdigonian archers were catching up too quickly.

Stuck between the disturbingly rapid and precise arrow fire from the Longbows and enfilading fire from the Horse Archers, the orcish skirmishers decided to hasten their retreat, making a run for the clearing to join their comrades in more favorable terrain.  The elvish archers and roundshiers, on the other hand, were more concerned about the fact that they could see Princess' Athinea's banner still in the forest.  They steered their maneuvers towards her formation, redoubling their efforts to slow the enemy along the way.  But their numbers were getting thinned out, making them less and less effective as a barrier.  Many captains were beginning to think they might have to choose between sacrificing themselves outright to cover their General's advance to the clearing, or continuing the established plan at the risk of letting the sylphs reach her too soon.

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RESULTS AND CASUALTIES

Kingdom of Cerdigon loses the clearing but succeeds in slowing down Athinea's main army!
Clearing
-- 599 Sylph Peasant Archers, unit SHATTERED (cannot participate in the rest of battle)
-- 1,000 Sylph Light Infantry, unit ANNIHILATED
-- 200 Warriors + Vardic Whitestag, retinue ANNIHILATED
Forest
-- 73 Lancers (Wild Hunt)
-- 14 Horse Archers (Wild Hunt)
-- 102 Elven Peasant Archers
-- 37 Sylph Peasant Archers
-- 8 Sylph Longbowmen

Kingdom of Sefti takes the clearing in a glorious volley and charge, but the situation in the forest is getting sticky!
Clearing
-- 215 Orc City Muskets
-- 586 City Shock Infantry
-- 28 Warriors (Retinue)
Forest
-- 38 City Pikes
-- 10 City Shock Infantry
-- 161 Elven Peasant Roundshiers
-- 125 Elven City Roundshiers
-- 201 Orc City Muskets, unit RETREATING to more concentrated friendly forces against orders
-- 317 Elven Peasant Archers
*All units attached to Princess Merithea (General) are SLOWED

The Great Forest

The battle in the forest was becoming pitched. Captain Stoneboot was bleeding, crimson trickling down his forehead. He didn't know if it was all his blood, his arm had grown so tired from swinging his hammer. It was caked with bits of skull and brain matter. He nimbly dodged out of the way of an elf with a gigantic claymore, the creatures movement swinging such a large weapon in the forest was awkward. It allowed the shorter dwarf to slip under the elf's guard and bring his hammer crashing against his ribcage. Bones shattered and popped, the elf gave a squeal, tumbling to his knees before Stoneboot gave his namesake literal meaning by crushing his head with four short stomps of his boot. The dwarven sellswords were applying heavy pressure on the flanks, along with Cerdigonian light infantry and roundshiers. Meanwhile, the shock troops were attempting to carve their way through the rapidly depleting ranks of the enemy. The arrival of the enemy elven shocktroops changed little. It was a bloody slog and the Cerdigonian's had the enemy trapped in a noose, the only way for the enemy to survive was either to bring in more troops from the clearing...or try to retreat. Either way would take time.

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Eurion watched the bloody melee in a detached manner as his forces attempted to break through to seize the Princess. The arrival of the enemy reinforcements was troubling but the enemy front could not hold for long against his continued attacks. The Cerdigonian's held the numerical advantage in the forest and without ranged support the enemy were sitting ducks as they came streaming in. It would take valuable time for the orc's to be committed to the attack and now Eurion ordered the coup d'grace.

'' ARCHERS! '' Longbowman and peasants alike nocked their bows. '' FIRE! '' Volley after volley hammered the Elven shocktroops as they came streaming in piecemeal. Their arrival it seemed had been delayed by the lancers that Eurion had deployed as a screen in the front. Once the battle was joined, the archers would turn their attention to launching volleys into their rear ranks so as to avoid friendly fire. Meanwhile, the horse archers had reformed since their earlier retreat and now came back with a vengeance to lead an attack on the Seftian rear. The horse archers would feign attacks, attempting to draw the shocktroops into a merry chase before turning and loosing volley after volley into the rear ranks of the enemy. It was under this shower of arrows that the Cerdigonian's attempted to collapse the last vestiges of resistance from the Seftian army.

NOTES:

-- The Cerdigonian army attempts to squeeze the Seftian's from four sides using their superior numbers. Roundshier and light infantry attack the left and right flanks while Cerdigonian shock troops attempt to fight their way through the Seftian center and to the Princess. Horse archers are launching attacks on the Seftian rear and attempting to keep the princess penned in.

-- Elven reinforcements that are coming from the clearing and into the fight are being targeted by longbowman, peasent archers, and the horse archers. Specifically, Grugi Facebiter's shocktroops and pikes that have now since lost their momentum from the earlier fight and have slowed. It is hoped that under this constant stream of pressure on multiple fronts that the Seftian army will collapse and bring the battle to an end.