“In general, military campaigns take weeks, months, even years or decades to accomplish. Battles on the other hand, tend to be far briefer in duration. Barring sieges, most battles tend to resolve themselves within a week at the most, and that is only if both sides were cautious and spent their time probing the other side. Rare it is for a battle to not see resolution for long periods of time.” - Liang Shi-Zu, famed tactician from the Huan Confederacy.
“Well, now, ain’t this a sight for sore eyes,” said Reinhardt as he whistled appreciatively while looking over the deployed formations on both sides of the battlefield through his artifact. He was not alone either, as Barnaby, Wilhelmina, and leaders from several other mercenary companies were gathered around him, each looking attentively at the soil where Reinhardt made a crude replication of the formations using his limited magic skills.
For the day’s battle, the arrangements differed from the previous days. The dwarven elite infantry from Knallzog directly took the front and center of the formation, with Algenverr’s and Kolitschei’s best infantry shoring up the numbers in the center. The mercenaries and the Knallzog auxilliaries were split to the flanks with more soldiers from the dukedoms. Each flank also had the support of half of the light cavalry forces they had, while some remaining elite infantry and the dwarven cavalry were positioned in the back as their reserves.
Angus Harscape, Damien Carlos da Nunez, and Duke Orsla Banitu led the central force in person, while the flanks were under the command of the auxiliary commanders working together with another from each flank. On the right flank, where Kolitschei’s remaining troops were stationed, the second commander was Cazor, Duke Banitu’s distant nephew.
The left flank where Reinhardt’s Free Lances were stationed had plenty of mercenaries, and they practically unanimously chose him to represent them as the second leader there. Reinhardt’s artifact alone – which so far only he or Erycea could use effectively for long periods – made him the obvious choice, to the point that the auxiliary commander hinted that he would follow Reinhardt’s arrangements when push comes to shove.
Similarly, the cavalry that supported each flank were nominally commanded by officers from Kolitschei – on the right – and Algenverr respectively, but having seen what Reinhardt could do in the past, the Algenverr commander happily shared the command with Soledad, as the mercenaries also happened to contribute a notable portion of the left flank’s cavalry forces.
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As for the reserves, Nestor, Griselda, and Siobhan commanded those troops, which also gave Reinhardt some reassurance. Out of the nobles involved in this campaign, Nestor Ambroglio da Nunez and Angus Harscape were the ones he trusted the most when it came to commanding armies. The old dwarf was an experienced commander, while the young Duke of Algenverr was a prodigy as a general.
He felt reassured with them in charge of the center and the reserves, Nestor being in overall command of the army, that at least his company would not have to deal with the fallout of bad decisions made from the top that doomed everyone. At least, that should be the case unless the enemy they faced turned out to be a genius strategist that had been hiding their fangs all this while.
Arrayed before them on the other side of the plains was the imperial army, which had taken a wide formation formed out of a multitude of smaller formations set next to each other. Unlike the Coalition army which set their center further ahead, the Imperial army had their wings stretched further out and slightly curving forward, while their center had a more concave bent to it.
Behind the main formation, Reinhardt also saw the enemy reserves which formed a solid rectangle behind the center of their force, and the two blocks of cavalry waiting beside them. Clearly their enemy was wary of the dwarven cavalry and saved their own for times of need rather than risking them in an early clash where they might get bogged down.
At the moment, both armies were standing still, arrayed before each other under the light of the morning sun. There was palpable tension in the air, the sort that was common prior to a fight breaking out, albeit magnified many times over, thanks to the massive amounts of people present and prepared to kill each other on both armies.
Between the two armies, the open plains was mostly bare, with grass that grew only up to one’s ankles at most, and a few gentle, rolling hills that barely reached up to an adult human’s waist at the highest. A few lone trees dotted the landscape here and there, but for the most part, it was wide open terrain, where the cavalry – and the dwarven chariots – could show their worth best.
Other than the occasional horse whinny or the bleating of the dwarven rams, silence reigned over both armies as they watched their foes closely. It was as if time slowed down to a crawl, that hours had gone by while they stood and waited for the start of the battle instead of just mere minutes. Only after what felt like an eternity but was likely no more than half an hour or so, did things finally begin to move.
Horns and drums were sounded from the Imperial army’s side, while flags were waved around in the breeze, their whole armor moving forward while keeping in formation, a grand display of discipline and cohesion as it was far from easy to do so with over a hundred thousand people at the same time. Some of the enemy soldiers banged the shafts of their spears against their shields as they marched, causing a rhythmic beat to accompany their progress.
In response, Nestor commanded for the signal horns to sound an advance as well, and the Coalition army surged forward at a measured pace to match their foes. The dwarven infantry immediately started to bang the shafts of their weapons against their shields as well, drowning out the beat from the Imperial army with their louder one, as more of the Coalition army joined in the act.