- Joined
- Jun 29, 2012
- Messages
- 4,439
- Reaction score
- 34,444
- Points
- 663
- Age
- 33
Ludwig Fuchs's third army which was assigned to support the fifth army made their way to the castle of Watif Esballah, laying siege to the supply line of the Qadir armies in Osmanli. The castle was commanded by Ils-Sal'Asbaqqah. Ludwig was supported by his officers Tristan Lampero and Harald Fuchs, while leading the central column himself. The siege started in the early morning as soon as the cannons had been set up, pounding the walls with many cannonballs. The two flanks led by Tristan and Harald respectively moved forward to assault the walls when the grappling hooks and ladders were ready.
Tristan Lampero's wall was a hard one to defeat, largely because their tactician assigned to his retinue was not a competent one. Deryk Blackthorne had no traditional tactical training, nor had he studied at a Regalian academy. As such, Tristan relied on a simple direct frontal assault without any fancy planning. This proved to be a failure as the Qadir were able to deflect the assault and push them back, despite Tristan's decent performance. Harald meanwhile had more luck on the right wall. He was cursed with an equally incompetent tactician who, while having studied some tactical training, was mostly a naval commander, not a land tactician. Harald pressed on at the front line with his retinue with him, inspiring the troops in an excellent display of martial skill. Before long, the right wall was captured and the central column led by Ludwig pressed forward.
Ludwig was supported by Piero di Orazio, a post-retired tactician who had unfortunately spent most of his days in charity and idle pursuit, not keeping up his military knowledge. With the outdated tactics provided by Piero, Ludwig had to rely mostly on himself to make the tough decisions. Besides performing poorly militarily, Ludwig was too occupied fighting himself to do anything meaningful on the tactical field. His column was forced to retreat in the face of defeat. As Ludwig retreated, Harald decided against better judgement (or just his tactician's wrong judgement) to press forward and attempt to seize the central wall so he could open the gates to the rest of the Regalian troops. Harald was able to secure this goal, however during the fighting he was knocked off the wall by a Qadir and fell down onto some siege equipment. While breaking his fall and probably saving his life, the woodwork did also break both his legs and he was dragged off the battlefield as the gates were swung open and the army rushed in to fight the Qadir.
Tristan took his troops left to try and encircle while Ludwig commanded the right troops remaining from Harald's force to go right. He himself proceeded straight ahead towards the keep. Tristan was able to secure victory on the left, capturing the castle's mage towers and armories. In the fighting however, Leah Kade was cut on her arm, causing Tristan to care more for the wellbeing of his wife than actually fighting the battle. His soldiers pressed on however and secured victory. The right flank utterly failed without their commander. Kemion Alvaris and Philip Black both barely avoided a wound and left the field early while Maciel Castanara was shot with an arrow in the shoulder. Maciel eventually sounded the retreat of what was left of Harald's pitiful force, in the absence of its actual commander.
Ludwig was not able to secure victory on the central keep. Both being encircled from the right and having his troops exhausted, he was unable to press forward. He fought valiantly personally, as well as his cousin had on the wall before, but it did not matter. Ludwig's retainers fared poorly, Cain Rawood was cut on the arm before retreating. Cassius Monataigu crippled his foot when he landed incorrectly jumping down from a staircase, before long limping off the field. Kama'l Vilamorta barely avoided being wounded before urging Ludwig to retreat, his wind magic useless in the tight corridors and hallways of the Qadir castle. Eventually, Piero called for the retreat as the casualties sustained were becoming too heavy for the central assault to continue. In a last ditch attempt to pull the battle into victory, Tristan Lampero took his troops and charged into the keep, or at least what was left of the armies on both sides. The casualties were heavy and Tristan did not perform well on the battle. Jared Silverhand left the field when two arrows pierced his right arm. Rhoghash prematurely blew up explosives and was launched out of the keep on the other side, knocked unconscious by the rubble and having several bones broken. Finally however, Ils-Sal'Asbaqqah surrendered, cowering in his keep and the Qadir troops stepped down.
The course of this battle had been extremely messy and the court expressed its discontent at the performances all around, though still praised Lampero for effectively saving what would have otherwise been a terrible defeat. About two thousand Qadir troops were left captured as prisoners and the castle was seized. Half the Regalian force remained, only five thousand as the castle was littered with corpses body parts and blood drying in the sand. There was no effective way to deal with the prisoners so for the next couple of hours, Tristan Lampero took his great sword and selectively yet randomly started beheading Qadir prisoners left and right before he was finally halted by Ludwig who sent the remaining prisoners into a march across the desert that would surely kill them. The army, or what was left of it, did some basic repairs to the castle to make it defendable again in the upcoming moves. Now the choice was up to Ludwig, whether to stay in the castle and try to lure the enemy into a siege, to retreat to the fifth army's base and request reinforcements, or press on with a seriously weakened army.
Tristan Lampero's wall was a hard one to defeat, largely because their tactician assigned to his retinue was not a competent one. Deryk Blackthorne had no traditional tactical training, nor had he studied at a Regalian academy. As such, Tristan relied on a simple direct frontal assault without any fancy planning. This proved to be a failure as the Qadir were able to deflect the assault and push them back, despite Tristan's decent performance. Harald meanwhile had more luck on the right wall. He was cursed with an equally incompetent tactician who, while having studied some tactical training, was mostly a naval commander, not a land tactician. Harald pressed on at the front line with his retinue with him, inspiring the troops in an excellent display of martial skill. Before long, the right wall was captured and the central column led by Ludwig pressed forward.
Ludwig was supported by Piero di Orazio, a post-retired tactician who had unfortunately spent most of his days in charity and idle pursuit, not keeping up his military knowledge. With the outdated tactics provided by Piero, Ludwig had to rely mostly on himself to make the tough decisions. Besides performing poorly militarily, Ludwig was too occupied fighting himself to do anything meaningful on the tactical field. His column was forced to retreat in the face of defeat. As Ludwig retreated, Harald decided against better judgement (or just his tactician's wrong judgement) to press forward and attempt to seize the central wall so he could open the gates to the rest of the Regalian troops. Harald was able to secure this goal, however during the fighting he was knocked off the wall by a Qadir and fell down onto some siege equipment. While breaking his fall and probably saving his life, the woodwork did also break both his legs and he was dragged off the battlefield as the gates were swung open and the army rushed in to fight the Qadir.
Tristan took his troops left to try and encircle while Ludwig commanded the right troops remaining from Harald's force to go right. He himself proceeded straight ahead towards the keep. Tristan was able to secure victory on the left, capturing the castle's mage towers and armories. In the fighting however, Leah Kade was cut on her arm, causing Tristan to care more for the wellbeing of his wife than actually fighting the battle. His soldiers pressed on however and secured victory. The right flank utterly failed without their commander. Kemion Alvaris and Philip Black both barely avoided a wound and left the field early while Maciel Castanara was shot with an arrow in the shoulder. Maciel eventually sounded the retreat of what was left of Harald's pitiful force, in the absence of its actual commander.
Ludwig was not able to secure victory on the central keep. Both being encircled from the right and having his troops exhausted, he was unable to press forward. He fought valiantly personally, as well as his cousin had on the wall before, but it did not matter. Ludwig's retainers fared poorly, Cain Rawood was cut on the arm before retreating. Cassius Monataigu crippled his foot when he landed incorrectly jumping down from a staircase, before long limping off the field. Kama'l Vilamorta barely avoided being wounded before urging Ludwig to retreat, his wind magic useless in the tight corridors and hallways of the Qadir castle. Eventually, Piero called for the retreat as the casualties sustained were becoming too heavy for the central assault to continue. In a last ditch attempt to pull the battle into victory, Tristan Lampero took his troops and charged into the keep, or at least what was left of the armies on both sides. The casualties were heavy and Tristan did not perform well on the battle. Jared Silverhand left the field when two arrows pierced his right arm. Rhoghash prematurely blew up explosives and was launched out of the keep on the other side, knocked unconscious by the rubble and having several bones broken. Finally however, Ils-Sal'Asbaqqah surrendered, cowering in his keep and the Qadir troops stepped down.
The course of this battle had been extremely messy and the court expressed its discontent at the performances all around, though still praised Lampero for effectively saving what would have otherwise been a terrible defeat. About two thousand Qadir troops were left captured as prisoners and the castle was seized. Half the Regalian force remained, only five thousand as the castle was littered with corpses body parts and blood drying in the sand. There was no effective way to deal with the prisoners so for the next couple of hours, Tristan Lampero took his great sword and selectively yet randomly started beheading Qadir prisoners left and right before he was finally halted by Ludwig who sent the remaining prisoners into a march across the desert that would surely kill them. The army, or what was left of it, did some basic repairs to the castle to make it defendable again in the upcoming moves. Now the choice was up to Ludwig, whether to stay in the castle and try to lure the enemy into a siege, to retreat to the fifth army's base and request reinforcements, or press on with a seriously weakened army.
