Chapter 3
“Interesting...”
The Baron mumbled to himself as he watched the battle from a nearby hill, eyepatched lifted and mundane eye closed. His coalition of mercenaries was about to battle one of the few remaining rebels in Holenstadt province. If they won this engagement, then the rebels would soon completely lose control of Holenstadt.
It seemed like the rebels were hoping to knock the coalition of mercenaries out of their province and to hopefully regain some of their lost momentum, seeing as they chose to sally out before their town was put under siege, apparently hoping that a field battle would work out better than a siege. Though it was very possible that they simply didn’t have the supplies to last very long in a siege, and as they had superior numbers, so they had at least some chance of victory out in the field.
The three mercenary companies were standing in a long line, distinguished mostly by the different colors of their companies. Black and white for the Schneebedekt Berg Mercenary Company, red and gray for Die Bande des Wolfs Mercenary Company, and Blue and Orange for the Klarwasser Mercenary Company. The Baron’s men were set up between the two other companies. The Schneebedekt Berg company was in a pike square, with very few swordsmen in the mix. Die Bandes des Wolfs had mostly greatswordsmen mixed in with pikes. The Baron’s forces seemed to be the odd ones out, having primarily men armed with kaltzbalger and heater shield.
Ludwin had the men set up with the swordsmen at the front in a shield wall, the spearmen standing in parade rest behind them, ready to form up within the shieldwall proper to provide support with their spears when the time came. They were far back enough to stay out of the swordsmen's way, but close enough to hide within the shieldwall when arrows were raining down.
Ludwin’s archers were standing in front of the swordsmen, ready to fire volleys at approaching troops, and the musketeers were standing within the swordsmen’s line, waiting for the signal to form ranks and pepper the approaching troops.
Additionally, there was a cannon hidden behind the swordsmen loaded with grapeshot, ready to wheel forwards and do the same. He couldn’t be sure, but the Baron thought that Ludwin was purposely hiding the muskets and cannon from the approaching enemy. It was very possible the rebels had a poor information network, and thus they weren’t aware of the firearms Ludwin was fielding. They would be far less likely to bunch up if they knew a canister of grapeshot was waiting for them.
Each unit had a man near the back for the formation with a large flagpole strapped to their back, the flag itself a caricature of whatever main weapon a unit was using. He was there to help formations stay together and to spread orders to the whole unit.
At the frontline, standing high above his fellow soldier, the Baron could see the flowing mane of Udo, wielding a longsword with no helmet or shield, holding the blade with his offhand. The shields the men were using were big enough to protect him should the need arise, and his armor looked sturdy enough to deflect an arrow or two, but it still seemed foolhardy to go into battle without a helmet. Him and the men were in a looser formation, joking with each other nervously before the battle started.
Soon, the enemy began to move, and the men stopped mulling about and snapped into their positions. First the enemy archers stepped forward and began to lose their volleys. Their uniforms were nonexistent. The dress of the men was a mess of many different colors and shirt styles. Some looked to be the landsknecht clothes the Baron had seen the most amongst his allies, and others simple peasant clothes. However, the vast majority wore some variation of a Żupan under a kontusz, very much a non-germanic clothing style, unlike what the Baron had seen so far.
It looked as though they were mostly subpar archers, as most of their arrows fell either too short or too far. The arrows that hit were from men who knew what they were doing and picked a specific target, which indicated that this was a very incohesive group. The Baron’s archers, on the other hand, seemed to be far more accurate and cohesive. Their arrows rained down on the opposing archers, downing numerous men with each volley.
After the first volley, the opposing sword and spearmen began to approach. They were using a chevron formation, the men forming a ‘V’ shape and charging forward. The formation was generally used by cavalry to punch through formations, though using it with infantry achieved roughly the same effect. However, its weakness was that it was very compact, meaning missile fire would be more effective should it be able to pierce through their armor.
The enemy wouldn’t be using it if they knew about the muskets and cannon, meaning their intelligence network was definitely poor. The allied arrow fire was doing very little against the charging forces, their shields and armor were holding up well so they took few casualties, at most a few men got injured, but none grievously enough to retreat back.
Ludwin shouted something at the top of his lungs and the archer and musket standard bearer began to shout as well. After a few seconds the archers began to move back behind the shieldwall and the muskets replaced them, forming into a line two men deep.
As soon as they formed up fully the first row leveled their guns and fired in unison. Many of the bullets were deflected or missed, but just as many hit home, punching through the weak armor and shields in the formation, a few cheers erupting from the men as enemies began to drop.
The first row kneeled as they reloaded to allow the second row to fire over them. The second volley felled more men, though it seemed to injure more than it killed as the Baron could see many of the men who fell over writhing around on the battlefield or attempting to crawl back to their lines.
I hope they don’t bleed out before we get to them, these people don't seem to be professional warriors. It would be rude to treat them poorly.
After about 20 seconds the first row had fully reloaded, standing back up and firing in unison, dropping more charging enemies, who were about a quarter of the way across the field now. Soon after the other line finished reloading and fired. As soon as they were done Ludwin shouted and the standard bearer followed suit, the muskets soon after retreating back into the shieldwall. A few musketmen moved over to the cannon, assisting the crew in pushing it forwards until the barrel stuck out in front of the shieldwall.
If we have flintlock muskets, why are we still using these tactics? Shield Walls and Pike Squares? Aren't faster firing guns the reason we transitioned over to line infantry?
An artilleryman picked up his linstock, touching the lit end to the back of the cannon shortly after another man gave him a thumbs up. There was a bright flash and then a thunderous boom. Grapeshot smashed through the charging men, even the ones who’s shield and armor deflected the musketballs earlier, peppering them and littering the battlefield with even more dead men. Having accomplished their goal, the crew pulled the cannon back and affixed bayonets to their muskets, which looked like it was just a spike they plugged into the bore hole, going to join the spearmen. A good number of musketmen simply stayed back and reloaded, however, standing near the ends of the formation.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The charging enemy did not stop, though they were obviously charging slower than before, seemingly shaken by the firearms they didn’t know were on the field. When they make it to Ludwin’s men it should still be a hard fought battle. The cannons and muskets thinned them out well, the forces have gone from around 1.8 to 1 to 1.5 to 1. If the enemy has roughly equal skill to Ludwin's men then the fight would be anything but easy.
I can’t help but feel like more gunmen could have broken their lines outright. Just being under gun fire is terrifying, much more so than raining arrows.
Ludwin shouted an order and the spearmen flagbearer did the same. Soon after the spearmen stood up and joined the shieldwall, lifting their spears to above their heads and presenting them forwards, creating the appearance of a two rows of swordsmen in the front.
As the rebels were just 50 yards away from the line they began to yell, picking up the speed to cross the distance even faster.
Finally, the two sides collided, the chevron flattening out as the formations slammed into each other, failing to quickly punch through the formation and scatter Ludwin's men. The scrape of metal on metal as the whirlwind of combat began was intensely loud, the Baron could hear it from his spot on the hill about 200 yards away. The fighting was brutal, in the beginning stages it was about as organized as war could get, but soon it devolved into a wild melee, at least for the opposing force who seemed to not understand how to fight in a formation properly.
Ludwin's men were far too disciplined to break formation like their enemy had. The soldier’s of the Klarwasser Mercenary Company stuck together, protecting each other with sword, shield, spear, and bayonet. Though, one man stood out amongst the crowd, literally in this case as he was at least a head taller than the rest of the men. Udo was a force to be reckoned with. He moved through the battlefield with a savage grace, downing men left and right, weaving around shields and striking with unreal power, destroying wooden shields with ease, cleaving helmets in two like they were made of paper mache, and thrusting right through the low quality chainmail many of the rebels wore under her clothing.
As the melee was progressing, a few groups of musketmen flanked around to the side, firing off shots at will into the enemy’s unprotected flank. Any rebels that even thought about breaking off to deal with the muskets were either swiftly cut down, or shot dead on the spot.
Despite their slight numerical advantage, the rebels were not faring well. The rigorously drilled veterans of the Klarwasser Mercenary Company were chewing through them at a respectable rate. Looking at the other mercenary companies, the story was roughly the same, though without the help of the grapeshot their men were having a rough time with the larger numbers that reached their lines, but they still seemed to be winning.
The outcome of this battle was all but decided, it was only a matter of time before the enemy were routed. If their information networks were better, if they knew about the muskets and the cannon, they could have been able to think up a better strategy. Having seen all he needed to see, the Baron spurred his horse forward and rode to Ludwin, ordering him to treat as many wounded as he could before heading to occupy the town.
“But sir, do you think that’s wise? What if the other companies get there before us?”
“They won't. The grapeshot really did a number on the opposing forces, and look at that! They broke while we were talking.”
Ludwin turned around to see the rebels either surrendering where they stood or running away as quickly as they could. A smile grew on Ludwin’s face as it set in that he had just won his first ever field battle. The Baron stole a glance at their allies before speaking.
“Take some men to help the other mercenary companies, their enemies should be close to breaking by now with their center crushed, so go help them along so we can take some of our allies’ glory. I will take the remainder of the men to crush any remaining resistance and occupy the town. Also I am taking Udo with me, understood?”
Ludwin gave a crisp salute.
“Yes sir!”
Ludwin took fifty swordsmen and fifty spearmen and charged towards the battlelines of one of the other companies, Der Schneebedeckt Berg Company. Seeing a new force charging towards them, the rebels decided it was best to run for their lives, and the other mercenary company cheered and started to pursue the retreating men, cutting them down in droves.
Seeing this, Ludwin wheeled around to make an attempt at relieving the other mercenary company, Die Bande des Wolfs. They seemed to be faring much worse, the fighting looked brutal, and both sides seemed to still be organized and in formation. Their greatswordsmen were doing good work, but it seemed that the rebels had deployed the best soldiers they had available to them, possibly deciding that the greatswordsmen would be trouble if they weren’t pinned down or taken off the battlefield. It could have worked if the Baron’s men didn’t rip through their foes.
The combatants were so focused on their own fighting that they didn’t notice the charging forces about to smash into their backs, and there was nothing their subcommander could do to get enough men to turn around and meet this new threat. It was a complete encirclement.
Ludwin’s men crashed into their lines, the screeching of metal and roaring of men was deafening, the rebels taken completely by surprise. What looked to be a hard fought victory for the rebels was quickly turning into a crushing defeat. Ludwin’s forces managed to completely surround them, encircling them in a ring of steel that was slowly closing in. Soon many of the, lost all spirit and tried to surrender. Ludwin told his men to stand down, but his fellow commander seemed less interested in saving lives, but after Ludwin pushed through their ranks and yelled at him, he told his men to stand down and accept surrender.
Their leader rode over to Ludwin and bowed his head in thanks. His voice was moderately deep, and his accent suggested he came from a commoner background.
“Thank you for saving my men! We’re a little tired from our march all the way from Orcland, we haven't even gotten around to putting on our summer uniforms! We’ve had some heavy losses recently, a skirmish around one of the smaller towns up north turned into a full scale battle and we had somewhere between…20-30% losses. Give or take. We only came here because the Empress asked, usually we prefer not to engage with fellow humans too much. My boys are really used to fighting Orcs, they use different techniques and strategies.”
The man glanced at his dead men and shook his head.
“So unfortunately for us we’re gonna have to pass up the opportunity to loot Baktenburg. We’re gonna return home to Waffenstadt for now and lick our wounds. My name’s Georg Habersonne of Die Bande des Wolfs, based out of Rauchburg. Who’re you?”
Ludwin touched his hand to his chestplate as he bowed slightly in his saddle.
“I am Ludwin Albrecht of the Klarwasser Mercenary Company, Lieutenant to the baron von Bickenstadt. Don’t feel too bad about missing out on the occupation, the Baron went ahead of me to occupy it before you guys could. If you could kindly cooperate with me in tending to the wounded, all of the wounded, which includes our enemies as well as allies, then the Klarwasser Mercenary Company will owe you guys a favor.”
Georg looked almost surprised before chewing his thumbnail in thought.
“Well...I’ve had worse deals hoisted upon me, having a baron in my debt sure is tempting...sure! We’ll lend you a hand. Send any wounded you guys can’t deal with immediately to my camp, after we’re done we’ll send ‘em down to your camp, with an escort of course. I’m gonna to take my men back to camp so we can change into our summer gear, I forgot how hot it gets down south. Been dealing with orcs for the better part of two years now, they've had some large scale conflict recently. Ended in a stalemate though.”
The two shook hands to solidify the deal and Ludwin began to leave, but as he rode off Georg thought of something and called him back over.
“Say, if the Baron ever wants to do business with the Orcs, talk to me first. I’m well known and well liked in Orcland, and they've almost always got something goin’ on, so I'm sure he’ll find work. I’ll introduce him to some of the Skippers if he wants.”
Ludwin bowed his head in appreciation.
“Thank you Georg, we'll keep that in mind. Be well, my new found friend. May the gods watch over us, and may Frau Abhilfe watch over our men.”
Georg smiled brightly and thumped his chest.
“May your steel contain Ulfric’s taint, brother! And may your battles be ever fruitful!”
They both made the hand symbols of their patron gods, Alaric for Georg and Albrecht for Ludwin, and the two parted ways.