Battle of the Devil's Glade

Posts : 36 Join date : 2012-07-09

The Ambush

The Frohn Highway was notorious within the country for it's twisting layers of dark forests and the rumored mystical inhabitants that lived there. The so called ''Devil's Glade'' stretched for miles in all directions. It was rare for a Frohn to venture very far within these dark woods, but faced with annihilation the Frohn had mobilized their warriors and laid in wait for the massive army that marched so brazenly towards their homes and families. It wasn't until the arrows began to fall that the Sarmadal had any idea what was happening. The lead cavalry unit of the Sarmandal army was struck hard on two sides as the tribesman began pouring out of the woods and high brush, the attack spreading down the line as struggling troops fought to get into a combat formation as they were wedged in between the masses of troops. The Sarmadal would have to react quickly if they wanted to avoid annihilation!

Sarmadal:
2 Sundh Hunter Units
Weapon: Bow
Armor: Leather
Movement: On Foot
Training: Militia

Sundh Spearbearers
Weapon: Pike
Armor: Chainmail
Movement: On Foot
Training: Noble Warrior

Sarmandal Beserkers
Manpower: 10,000 Warriors
Weapons: Sword & Shield (7 Gold)
Armor: Leather (3 Gold)
Movement: On Foot (0 Gold)
Training: Berserkers (8 Gold) Only available to Barbarian Kingdoms
Total Cost: 18 Gold

Cursed Ashitaka
Manpower: 10,000 Warriors
Weapons: Bow & Sword (5 Gold)
Armor: Leather (3 Gold)
Movement: Horse (4 Gold)
Training: Noble Warrior (6 Gold)
Total Cost: 18 Gold

Sarmandal Knights
Manpower: 10,000 Warriors
Weapons: Sword & Shield (7 Gold)
Armor: Chainmail (6 Gold)
Movement: Armored Horse (7 Gold)
Training: Noble Warrior (6 Gold)
Total Cost: 26 Gold

60,000 troops

Frohn:
(Only what the Sarmadal can see thus far, there could be more reinforcements lurking in the woods)
20,000 Frohn Warriors (light infantry)
10,000 Frohn huntsman (archers)

Posting Order:
Sarmandal
Modmark

Posts : 16 Join date : 2012-07-09 Age : 34

"Damn the Frohn! Send the signals!" Warlord Shen Xingke yelled as he cut down a Frohn Warrior, no older the himself, though not as skilled as the gifted man Shen was with his blade. Cursing some more he urged his mount onward, his warriors, ever loyal, following him.

Tabitha, also present was aiming to acheive her second kill, thus allowing her to marry. At the front of the formation she was with the skilled Shen, and any Frohn within her immediate reach was engaged by Clare, Teresa, Shen, or any one of the other men or women within the Sarmandal Knights. They would protect her during the initial suprise of the ambush, but once the shock and surprise was over she'd be left to her own skill with the blade and her two gaurds Clare and Teresa.

Near the middle of the formation the 2 Sundh Hunter Mercenary units saw the arrows in the sky before the Sarmandal Knights ever felt them rain down among them, no way to quickly war their employers the Sundh Hunters did what any Merc did, stopping the ready their own bows and loosed volleys aimed towards their unseen enemy who had fired at their employers. The Sundh Spearbearers directly behind them were ordered to remain where they were in case of another attack to the rear of the formation. The last unit, the Cursed Ashitaka, used their mounts superior speed to accellerate towards the fighting, staying out of the melee combat, taking aim at enemy archers first and foremost, whom were visible and then as secondary targets melee combats straying from the fighting to come after them, or taking pot shots at the larger forces of the Frohn Light Infantry when they had no visible enemy archer to readily fire at. Their mobility and superior marksmenship made for a deadly combination.

Frohn Warriors who rose up from the high brush were either swiftly cut down, rode over, or left for the Sarmandal Beserkers to deal with as the Sarmandal Knights charged on towards the larger groups of Frohn Warriors, whom were heading towards their hell, with the enraged Sarmandal Beserkers at a dead sprint at their heels. The Beserkers, feirce warriors in their own right, would no longer be able to be controlled by the Warlord Shen, their bloodlust for the enemy already clouding their better judgement. Warlord Shen Xingke was fine with the famed Sarmandal Beserkers already lost to their bloodlust. He had been near the front so was spared from the rain of arrows, arrows that had rained further into his Sarmandal Knights formation wounding more of his men then had they landed near him. What he wouldn't give to be wounded...for it would mean more of his tribesmen would be alive...

Summery:
Warlord Shen Xingke is in command of the Sarmandal Horde
Kahn Tabitha Yuki is also present at the battle aiming to get a second kill so she can wed; Clare and Teresa are her gaurds during the duration of the battle (part of the Sarmandal Knights)
Sarmandal Knights and Sarmandal Beserkers actively engage the two Frohn Warrior units, breaking from their column formation to do so.
The Mercenaries from Sundh fire volleys towards the area where they saw the enemy arrows come from; The Spearbearers stay with the merc archers as protection in case of a second ambush lies in waiting.
The Cursed Ashitaka refrain from entering melee combat but move up to fire at enemy archers if seen as their primary goal while taking shots at the Frohn Light Infantry when they didn't have a shot. They stay roughly in between the Mercs and the Sarmandal named units, as sort of a mobile reactive force.

Posts : 36 Join date : 2012-07-09

The column was cramped, the Sarmandal having been in marching formation had not expected the massive Frohn assault. When it came, the Sarmandal were thrown into chaos, orders were misconstrued and panic was beginning to set in down a long the line. This time as more horn blasts came from the dark woods, a second force of Frohn soldiers came charging out, these one's more heavily armored then their brethren. They hit the Sarmandal column in the center jamming the entire force, sending a regiment of the Sundh archers fleeing into the brush. The Frohn showed little mercy, cutting them down from behind. But the Sarmandal clan leaders were adept at establishing order. Using the flat of their blades to whip men back into shape, or in some cases lopping off ears or other appendages of panicked troops, the Sarmandal line began to regain a semblance of cohesion as they broke from the narrow road and took their fight to the enemy.

The momentum of the original Frohn charge had been broken as the Sarmadal beserkers and knights stubbornly began fighting back, even as some were dragged from the saddle or impaled on Frohn spears. The screams of men and horses combined to create a never ending cacophony of noise, the road was strewn with writhing men and corpses as the Frohn archers attempted to pick off officers from the treetops. Counter volleys drove them back into the brush, but they were always there lurking. But the real danger came when the final Frohn unit emerged from the woods, flying the banner of the King. It was his personal guard, and a sign that the King himself was leading his people in war. Like a horde of locust they descended upon the Sarmandal's rear.

Sarmadal:
2 Sundh Hunter Units (1 has broken and fled)

Sundh Spearbearers

Sarmandal Beserkers (90%)

Cursed Ashitaka

Sarmandal Knights (70%)

Frohn:
20,000 Frohn Warriors (light infantry / 1 unit at 60%)
10,000 Frohn Heavy Infantry
10,000 Frohn King's Guard (heavy cavalry)
10,000 Frohn huntsman (archers) (95%)

Posts : 16 Join date : 2012-07-09 Age : 34

With the second horn blast echoing throughout the battlefield Xin knew that the ambush was well laid and the Sarmandal Horde was in danger. A defeat here, with their Khan present would do great damage to their Clan. The battle that consumed his attention and that of both the Sarmandal Knights and Beserkers was a meatgrinder, with no clear cut side but both forces mixed together.

The Cursed Ashitaka, when they heard those horns blasting a second time, knew that another force was soon to rush out. Seeing the slow moving Frohn Heavy Infantry they took quick percise aim at their enemies as they tried to divide and conquer the Sarmandal Horde. Being Noble Warriors the Cursed Ashitaka would not allow that to happen. Even though they were lightly armored Cavalry units they would use their speed and agility to their advantage, they had practiced such manuvers before. Half drew their swords hit the Frohn Heavy Infantry, not a straight up charge but sweeping by them, hacking them to peices bit by bit while the other half of the Cursed Ashitaka, the more skilled bowmen continued to pick off their enemy with percision not commonly seen on the battlefield from atop a moving horse.

With the Frohn's King leading his Gaurd in a charge to the Sarmandal Horde's rear the Mercenaries of the Sundh Spearbearers knew it was time to earn their pay. Unfortunately being in the rear they were unable to calm the fears of one of their brother units, a Sundh Hunter unit that fled upon seeing the Frohn Heavy Infantry come rolling out of the forest. They had fled before they even saw the Cursed Ashitaka, experienced veterns, engage them. Militia Archers had disgraced the Sundh, but the Spearbearers of Sundh would more then make up for their brothers cowardness. They too were noble warriors, sent to be 'mercenaries' for the Sarmandal to evaluate their military powers. They had seen first hand that although the Sarmandal units were well trained they lacked a good deal in strategy for falling into such an obvious trap, one the Sundh wouldn't fall for. The commander of the Sundh Spearbearers yelled to his brothers in the remaining Sundh Hunter unit, "Shoot them my Sundh brothers! We'll let none past us to harm you!!" Setting his pike with his men the Sundh Hunters knew his words were true, they were the Sundh Spearbearers and they never faltered.

Summary:
Shen, the Sarmandal Knights, and the Sarmandal Beserkers continue to fight the Frohn Warriors in a mass melee both forces mixed among the other.
The Cursed Ashitaka engage the Frohn's Heavy Infantry, though not directly choosing to use a mixture of attack half their unit harass with swords and the other half fire arrows at the slower moving Heavy Infantry compared to the Frohn Warriors (Light Infantry).
The Sundh Spearbearers protect the Sundh Hunters from the Cavalry Charge. The Sundh Hunters fire on the oncoming Frohn King's Gaurd

Posts : 36 Join date : 2012-07-09

The battle lasted for several more hours, swinging back in fourth in terms of momentum. The King's attack on the Sarmandal's rear hadn't been so much to destroy the force but to burn the Sarmandal's long supply train of wagon's and mules. Fires began to break out as the King's men tossed torch's onto the wood, while their brethren tangled with the Sundh spearmen. More than one member of the King's Guard was ripped down by their vicious pikes and impaled but the King himself proved to be elusive. When a large portion of the wagon's were burning, and the fire spreading, he retreated from the field.

At the front of the column, the entrance of the berserkers into the fight had all but destroyed one regiment of the Frohn hunters. But the cramped battlefield left little in the way of room for the cavalry to pursue or maneuver without trampling their own comrades. A third horn blast followed, like specters from a Sarmandal clan tale the Frohn gradually began retreating back into the forest. The Frohn archers showered the column with arrow fire to cover their retreat, even the mighty warlord Shen Xingke was wounded when an arrow became lodged within his shoulder, and another in his chest! Only his breastplate saved him from certain death as the Frohn gradually retreated.

The battle of the Devil's Glade had ended in a Sarmandal victory but at a heavy price. Much of the supply train had been burned or damaged, thousands were dead, wounded, or scattered, and the warlord himself was badly injured. The way to the Frohn capital lay open, but the Sarmandal faced a stark choice. Continue and march forward with the winter beginning to set in and lay siege to the city. Or fall back towards the border until the next campaigning season. Much depended on the decision, Warlord Shen though wounded could still continue. But the Warlord's wounds would no doubt recover better if he was on his own soil, away from the grime, muck, and disease of a marching army.

SUMMARY:
-Sarmandal army emerges victorious from the ambush; the Frohn have been driven off..for the moment.
-Warlord Shen is badly wounded but insists he is able to continue to lead and command.
-A large part of the armies supply train has been destroyed.

Sarmadal:
2 Sundh Hunter Units (1 UNIT DESTROYED)

Sundh Spearbearers

Sarmandal Beserkers (80%)

Cursed Ashitaka (90%)

Sarmandal Knights (60%)

Frohn:
20,000 Frohn Warriors (1 unit DESTROYED)
10,000 Frohn Heavy Infantry (80%)
10,000 Frohn King's Guard (heavy cavalry) (75%)
10,000 Frohn huntsman (archers) (90%)

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