“A battle is a very different thing for its commanders as it is for the soldiers directly fighting on their behalf. Never forget this.” - Liang Shi-Zu, famed tactician from the Huan Confederation.
“Tell me what you see, nephew mine,” said old Duke Orsla Banitu of Kolitschei to his distant nephew Cazor, who was now also seated on a horse next to him. The burly young man would probably be the youngest out of the people amongst the group of commanders and leaders of the coalition army if Reinhardt and his family was not present as well. He was maybe a decade Alycea’s senior at most.
“They seem about even? Maybe our soldiers are slightly winning, I would say?” said Cazor with an uncertain voice after he peered over the battlefield with a spyglass. He mostly trained as a warrior instead of as an officer and wasn’t the most strategic-minded, but the old Duke seemed to have expected that and was not angered by his reply.
“Hm, care to enlighten this brat a bit, Captain Edelstein?” asked the old noble to Reinhardt. Rank-wise, Reinhardt was the lowest by far in the group, though he was present due to the merits his company had achieved so far, as well as his extremely convenient artifact. “He’s had a bit of a thick skull since he was young, so he’s never been the brightest.”
“Certainly, Your Grace,” replied Reinhardt with a polite bow. While at one time they were enemies, he had nothing personal against Duke Orsla Banitu. The man was cooperative and helpful as a captive and kept his words during the Kolitscheian campaign back then, which earned him a modicum of respect since he could act that way even as the loser of the war.
“While on the smaller scale of the here and now, our troops are arguably at an advantage, in actuality it is our foes who held the advantage in their hands,” Reinhardt explained as he turned to Cazor. “They have more troops than we do, with a larger reserve that we have to assume contains their best of the best. Like us, it is unlikely that they committed their best at the start of the battle.”
The forces sent out by the coalition army were composed of soldiers from the former Posuin states, with the main force being Algenverrian troops that held the center, while troops from Kolitschei and Lovia-Hosberg held the left and right flanks respectively. It was not the full strength of the three nation-states, as they each held their best elites in reserve still.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Other than that, the dwarven reinforcements – including the auxiliaries – were also held in reserve, as the enemy was less familiar with their capabilities, and thus they would likely prove to be the most effective out of the soldiers fielded by the coalition army. Similarly, the various mercenary troops employed by the coalition were held back in reserve as well.
At the moment, the center troops managed to push a small distance into the enemy center, but their flanks were slightly on the backfoot as the Imperial soldiers proved to be more than their match, though it was a close fight either way. As such, the formations adopted by both sides ended up forming a slight crescent shape.
“Their troops are more united since they are all part of the same faction, while ours are from three separate factions, some of which had been enemies with one another prior to this. It is to be expected that their cooperation and cohesiveness will be better than ours because of that,” added Reinhardt as he continued his explanation. “At this point, what matters is whether the commander of the Algenverr troops notice the situation or not before a gap is formed between his center troops and the flanks. If they notice it in time, they will be fine, but otherwise, we might need to come to their rescue.”
Almost as if the commander in the distance heard what Reinhardt just said, the Algenverr formation ceased their push and pulled back to match their allies, which stabilized the line of battle into a stalemate once more. Nestor and the dwarven commanders nodded with approval at the sight, having considered the situation in a similar way.
All of them were aware that the day’s “battle” was unlikely to be decisive in any way, more of a probe from one army to another, a showing of mettle that even their worst members possessed. It was an indirect statement to not take them lightly or to expect the fighting to go swimmingly in their favor, a statement made by both armies at the same time.
Both sides knew that it was when the reserves started moving that the battle had begun for real, and the first to make such a move would hand the advantage over to the other side since they would be exposing their capabilities first. As such, Reinhardt expected that the fighting would remain at the current intensity for a few days at least.
This time, neither side had defensive fortifications to give them an advantage. The battlefield was wide open, mostly plains with a few low hills that barely qualified as one, some sparsely higher than an adult man was tall, even. What fighting took place would most likely be a battle of maneuver and formations, one where the two sides competed in who could garner themselves the most advantage.
The Imperial army had more soldiers in total, but their cavalry contingent was smaller due to the grievous losses those troops had taken in the previous battle. In contrast, the coalition forces had more cavalry in hand but less troops, and unlike the more united Imperial army, their forces came from many different sources and were less united as a result.
Sure, some of them had trained to work together with others, but that was mostly limited to a few mercenary forces who were already working for one of the nation-states prior to the war. The Silver Falcons and the Janissaries were some examples who had been working with Algenverr for the past decade or so. Reinhardt’s own Free Lances had experience working together with the local forces, though in their case the last time they did that was a good five years ago.