NationStates Jolt Archive

Ejército del Reconquista
King Alfonso VI
3,500 Knights
8,000 Men-at-Arms
3,000 Pikemen
3,000 Bowmen
1,000 Longbowmen
Total: 18,500
Includeing first forces from Sicily and contingent from England.

King Roger I
3,000 Knights
6,000 Men-at-Arms
2,000 Pikemen
4,000 Archers
Total: 15,000

TOTAL FORCES: 33,500 Men
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Medina Sidonia, Castile

It had taken a little over a week to ride from Burgos to Medina Sidonia but they were finally there. The medium sized city sat on the Granada border and on the Strait of Gibraltar. It was also only two days' ride from Algericas, the major Granadan port on the Strait of Gibraltar and their shortest route back to North Africa. This was a strategic move as much as anything. He would begin conquering from the south west to the north east createing a sort of surprise and way of completely cutting them off.

Alfonso was in his tent discussing possible tactics and formations for the upcomeing battle at Algericas. They knew it would be lightly defended but it would also have wals and a reinforced gate. They had been discussing seige engines and how many and of what type to build since they arrived in medina Sidonia but they had finally agreed to build three battering rams ten catapults and twenty ballista. They would help greatly in the upcomeing battle. For now the men rested and made last minute preparations before crossing the border, including mending armour and shoeing horses. It would be days yet before they marched but they were ready.

OOC: Scandinvans can you post about Roberts men getting ready and assisting and blah blah blah...Also we are gonna need a member to rp the Granadans who dont know about the attack yet...Once all thats done we can invade:D .

King Roger I upon hearing the army of Castile had begun the attack on Granada quickly order that the whole of the Sicilian army be moved southward at full speed to aide in the seige as soon as possible. The Sicilians marching at great speed had reached Granada after marching for a day. As soon as he arrived he ordered the sounding of the horns of Sicily. Then the banners of Sicily were raised and a messanger was sent in hast to King Alfonso VI bearing this message:"The time has come for Granada to full and the flow of Infidels into Spain shall finally end after many long centuries. When do you wish for the assualt to happen?"

A simple reply was sent. there was no need for explanation, Roger would understand...

Tommorrow night.

The Ballistas and catapults were allowed to batter away at the defences of Algericas for one full day. untill their attack the newt night...

OOC: sorry im tired its 11 here...well im off for the night but we will storm algericas tomm. if noone takes up rping granada we will rp them defending against our attacks...

King Roger realizing that the time had come for them to assail Granada raised his banner and thus signalling for the charger to begin. The first wave of 2,000 men-at-arms and 1,200 pike men charged at the walls of Granada bearing with them 4 battering rams and 50 seige ladders. Their task was to gain control of the northern walls and to break the northern gates of the city.

At the same moment the Spanish catapults and balista changed their trajectory to go over the walls and into the city. Then 3,000 Men-at-Arms with support from expert Longbowmen charged to the southern gates with five battering rams and seventy five seige ladders.

As the men charged the longbowmen shot up at the walls where Granadan men were beginning to appear.

OOC once again i need an EM rper to do the Granadan resistance or we will have to do it ourselves...

OOC: I'll wait until someone come in and rps as Granada then I will post my next response.

OOC: Will any EM Rper please RP Granada for us?! i dont want to have to make anyone RP them...

(If you provide me with the the army size of the city, I will. And as to whom controls the city, I believe the Sultanate of Morocco controls South Western Spain, so I assume it would be their city. And the Sultanate of Morocco could muster an army after the city was taken, a large one at that. So if you dont want a big war against Morocco, you dont want me to RP the resistance.)

OOC: The only area left on the prior map we used was granada and i forgot to edit the map to reflect that but we are takeing the Kingdom of Granada

OOC: I someone doesnt RP them me and scandinvans will be forced to do it our selves and that makes it no fun...

OOC: Never fear! Caladonn is here!

IC: Caliph Asif ibn Akbar looked down from the Citadel. The day before the infidel siege weapons had battered at his walls until his men were too afraid to walk upon them, but now the real assault began.

The ominous rolling of enemy siege ladders and rams from the Sicilians neared the north wall. The Muslim militia raised their bows and fired volley after volley of flaming arrows into the towers, desperate to bring them down. In the street below the Royal Guard were drawn up. Every so often a Castilian catapult stone would hit and the men would die, but grim-faced they closed up their formation again.

In the south the Castilian troops charged the walls. The rams and siege ladders were desperately fired upon by the militia once again, flaming missiles streaking across the sky. The remaining guard were ready behind the gate.

Then a new threat appeared. On the crest of a hill beyond the Castilians a group of 1,000 English yeomen drew back their bows and released a wave of shafts into the militia. The shortbows of the Muslims could not counteract the six-foot long bows of the English, and as the siege artillery continued to open craters in the wall, the militia turned and ran from the wall.

Down in the streets it was chaos. The guardsmen desperately tried to rally the fleeing militia and keep those on the north wall from fleeing, and the Caliph himself came down to restore order. Soon most of the militia were drawn up on the street again, but it was too late to stop the Castilians on the wall. The Caliph just hoped this didn't cause a general route from the north wall.

The Rams were battering away at the gate as man after man climbed over the walls on ladders. They had gained entrance to the Citadel and were rushing down to meet the Guardsmen and militia with almost all 3,000 Castillians over the wall.

A new force of 3,000 Men-at-Arms and 500 Knights marched towards the gate to wait for it to fall. As they came within 50 yards of the rams the gates collapsed in and showed the carnage going on inside. The Knights charged forward, lances lowered, and went straight into the Granadan Royal Guards. They trampled the men who stood after the first line was skewered and then they unsheathed their swords and began hackng away at the men below them.

1,000 of the Men-at-Arms that marched with the Knights moved into the battle as the other 2,000 that had marched with them climbved up the walls and secured them from any enemy.

Catapults and Ballista ceased fireing once the troops had gained entrance and 500 Shortbowmen marched towards the walls to take position on top and fire on the Granadans.

Alfonso knew the day would be won but he wondered at what cost. he decided to send two catapults and the 500 Sicilian Knights with him over to King Roger to assist him in breaking through. A force of 200 Longbowmen also went with them.

OOC: The Citadel is in the middle of the city. You can't possibly have gained entrance there.

IC: The area around the gate was in chaos. The militia had done well for a while, picking off attackers as they appeared on the wall. Eventually, though, there were simply too many.

The Royal Guardsmen at the gate were ready when the gate fell. A solid block of pikemen had their pikes pointed levelly as the enemy knights charged. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

The militia, however, fared far worse. Already skittish from the route before, as soon as the enemy hit the courtyard they fired a last volley and fled. Many threw down their weapons and surrendered.

On the Sicilian side, the troops were wavering. The militia kept up only a cursory fire as most of the guardsmen rushed to the other side of the city.

OOC: a misunderstanding, sorry. also i tought i decided we werent useing pikemen because they dont apear for 300 years...

IC: The Knights fought valiantly but as Alfonso saw many men falling he ordered another 500 to rush down and attack. the Men-at-Arms were faring well with the assistance from the Knights and Shortbowmen but they were still inferior to the Royal Guardsmen in armour. many men fell but the kept up the fight...

Many of the men-at-arms began to fight there way towards the northern in the hopes of letting their knights in. As well the pike men and the remaning men-at-arms started to attempt to drive the Moslem forces off the walls and away from the gate. Tge ram began to crack the gate open and the knights prepared to charge through it once it broke.

The newly arrived forces were put to use immeditely. The capults were ordered to barrage the inner fortications of the city. The 500 knights were put into formation so as to take part in the charge once the gate was broken down.

OOC: Well, Sicily is so I assumed I could also... Also people have been saying that the Reconquista should be harder, I'm slightly confused.

IC: The pikemen/spearmen at the gate continued against the knights. The Royal Guards from the north rushed into the fray, these fresh troops offering support to the wavering militia and slowly wittled down pikemen/spearmen.

The militia stayed on the walls and kept fighting, heartened by news of their comrades faring better in the south. However, as all the guardsmen were in the south, once the gate broke there was little to stop the enemy Sicilian and English knights...

OOC: The Reconquest acutally was made alot harder by the horders of Moors coming into Spain and if it had not been for them they proably would not have lasted to 1200. Also all my knights and soldiers are Siciliam.

IC: The ram at last broke through the gate after a long time of ramming it. Then 2,000 men-at-arms poured into the gate since knowing that it would be most likely the Moslems had dsipatached spearmen due to the fact of the mounted knights charging instead of infantry. The Sicilans soldiers on the walls and gate began to fight their way into the streets as to spread out the forces of the Infidel.

OOC: Im sort of confused. According to the maps we are using, Granada is in the southern portion of Muslim held Spain. Also, over half of Spain is owned by the Sultanate of Morocco, so by attacking Granada, you attack the quite powerful Sultanate, who would hurl tens of thousands of soldiers after the siege of the city. It was not till 1400 the Reconquest was complete, and that was after literal non-stop war for about 500 years. Granada would not even be near the lands of Castilla, the Moroccans owned over half of Iberia... seems to me we're underestimating the Muslim power here, as most of Spain was theirs. The Muslim Spain you're attacking looks like the ones of 1400, not 1100.

OOC: Alright, since we are switching maps and Granada is in South-Eastern Spain we are really attacking Saragossa.

OOC: Okay.

Scandinvans, I thought the knights Philanchez sent you were English, but upon rereading they're actually Sicillian... I thought all the Sicillians were with you already, but oh well.

IC: When the gate broke on the Sicillian front, it was to a pitiful sight. Most of the guardsmen had departed for the other side of the city, and the few that remained took down many knights with them, but eventually perished.

This was too much for the militia. Though they fired many volleys onto the knights below, they eventually ran out of arrows and fled along the walkways, hoping to gain access to the Citadel.

OOC: Thet are men-at-arms not knights. But, really I do not care.

IC: The men-at-arms began to fights their way into the main streets of the city easily driving the miltia back. Also a thousand knights were sent into the city and their orders were to begin the fights to the citadel.

Many of men-at-arms and pike men that had been on the walls were now dead, but many surivied and they poured down the walls and towers into the streets,

The Knights and men-at-arms at the gates of the city fighting the enemy began to fall back in a planned retreat. It was hoped the enemy would follow them out and then a volley of arrows from longbowmen would be shot straight at them while the remaining knights charged in on the right and left flanks...

bump

The militia were being pushed back to the north, and the Sicilians had almost reached the center of the city. However, before those on the south could realise what was going on, a cheer went up from the guardsmen as the Castillians retreated. The guard charged out of the gate, making for the fleeing Castillians and cutting them down as they ran. More of the militiamen ran back up on the walls.

Word came from the south that an impetuous young Caliph from Morocco was gathering a huge army from all the Moorish states to fight the Sicilians and Castillians.

The army of Sicily apporoached the citadel and a thunderous sounding of Sicilian and Norman horns echoed through the city. As well the Norman banners were raised over the caputured parts of the northern part of the city.

The knights, men-at-arms, and pike men apporached the citadel bearing many seige leaders tot he walls of the citadel not caring how many of them fell they would take the citadel would be won at all costs...

OOC: I thought we're only allowed Spearmen, not pikemen...

IC: The Citadel was badly defended. Only the militia who had already routed were holding the walls, and though they were doing relatively well for the present, no one knew how much longer they could last.

OOC: only the knights and men on the groiund are retreating and no you arent cutting them down...youll see why...

IC: As the enemy chased after the Knights the bowmen on the walls fired down on them. Then a thunderous roar and a cloud of dust rushed down on the right and left flanks of the purueing enemy. The Knights crashed into the men dropping their spears into a soldier and then unsheathing their swords and proceeding to decapitate or maim whoever they found...

OOC: Caladonn, I will give you untill tommorrow to finish this RP as I have given you way to much time to RP a resistance for one city when there are only about 1,000 defenders against in excess of 20,000 men...It will be godmod if it takes more than seven more posts on mine and scandinvans part...

The siege ladder were raised against the citadel and men-at-arms poured into the citadel. At last the battle would come to an end and Sargossa would be in Christain hands...

OOC: Dude, this is basically over. Don't sweat it. The enemy made many mistakes, and they're paying the price for it.

IC: The Citadel crumbled. The militia, even with defenses, could not fight against the concerted assault of the Sicillians. They were cut down or surrendered, and the Citadel was in Sicillian hands.

On the other side, it was even worse. The entire guard had charged out to be mercilessly cut down by the bowmen. The remainder surrendered, and the militia on the walls also threw down their arms after seeing they were surrounded. Saragossa was in Castillian hands.

The Moroccans were shocked. Even with their best defenses, the Christians had defeated a major Moorish city. The Moors resolved to wait for a few years, and then strike back at the enemy. For now, though, they posed no threat.

OOC: yay....

IC: Alfonso entered the citadel and stood in front of the old King of Saragossa. He said, "You chose to fight us instead of surrender. You killed many good christians and for this you will pay." With one clean movement Alfonso decapitated the man where he stood. He then turned to the Lords of the land that had gathered in the citadel before the seige. "Let it be known that any of you who oppose me and castille will suffer the same fate as this foolish man. Bow, and pay fealty to your new King." The Lords of the land got to their knees and swore their oaths of fealty to Alfonso. However he knew he would need a loyal servant to oversee the old Kingdom of Saragoss and make sure that the Moors didnt rise up against him. He turned to Robert and said "I will leave it to you to pick one of your trustedvassals to become the new King of Saragossa under Castillian rule. This will further the integration of our great nations."

Upon hearing of the dreadful fate that befell the King of Saragossa, many of the Moorish Lords further into Iberia quaked in fear. Three fiefdoms that bordered Saragossa even swore loyalty to Castille!

Alfonso demand sthat these new fiefdoms send 'hostages' to be taken to Burgos to ensure their loyalty.

The fiefdoms obeyed.

King Roger apporoached King Alfonso and said to him," So we meet at last. I mean not to interrupt, but I wish to speak you."