NationStates Jolt Archive

Once, long ago The Spizani ruled the world. But the folly of Kings long dead squandered its wealth and endless civil wars drained its lifeblood into the sands and fields of Africa.
Once the empire stretched from Caern Niger clean across the land to the twin city of Caern Zanibar, fairest of the fortresses of the realm, but the city has been lost in the mists of time, burned by raiders from across the sea. Once the Realm stretched from Caern Punica in the north to the mighty fortress of Caern Solar, but now the territories inbetween are nothing but memories, fallen to infidels from across the Ocean.
The only bright light to come since the fall from those glorious times was the completion of the great causeway, and of the Fortress of Guard, the Caern Tirith, still the greatest fortress in the known world. On each of the scores of islands in the gulf between the capital and the mainland, forts have been established, creating a massive secure harbour.
The souther side guarded by a crazy assembly of razor sharp reefs and interlocking ballistae emplacements on the outermost islands. No foreign pilot is likely to survive without a closely guarded chart of the safe channels. The northern side is blocked by the greatest civil work in the entire empire. A massive causeway, a total of twenty miles in length, linking scores of small islands as it crossed to the mainland, bearing great wealth into and out of the city, but even that has slowly faded as the empire has faded, less trade occuring as the empires teritories slowly sank.
Now the great marble markets that cover huge sections of the great city are nearly empty, but still the empire is great.
Even though it has fallen upon hard times, a strong leader could reunite it, after all the Gods still spin the fate of mens lives, perhaps they wish the Spizani to be great again.
Perhaps.

As with so many nations, the first Spizani was to know of Incognitia was merchant vessels coming to their land.
The India Company was well beyond it's monopoly in the Mediterranean, however there was nothing to prevent it establishing itself here.
To that end a party of three Indiamen, fast heavily armed merchantmen, was exploring the coast west from the Straight of Africa. (OOC: Heading for Punica)
They were following the coast, and had stumbled on a fortress cum port. The were now observing it closely, wondering whether to risk entry.

The sand crumpled under the sandels which were fused to the feet of the wandering explorer who had come across this land, his stick forced down more sand causing a mini dune to collapse, he took another small swig from his canteen, the sun was beating down on the weary traveller as he saw a shadow on the horizon, discounting it for a mirage he continued, a second glance much later made him truly believe it were a Town, he didn't waste any energy and slowly crawled towards the blur, when he was only a short distance he cried out for assistance hoping for the Town not to be a dillusion.

Ostian war galleys often passed by the crumbeling empire of Spizania which was once a great power and trading neibour. Pirates attacked Ostian vessels on trade routes and it was getting balamed on Spizania because pirates were often of Spizanian decent, General Fabius was to take command in the Ostian port city of Leown Siciliy.

The Island was home to the fortress Mars. It was also a legionaire recruit training facility aswell, it was home to a nice portion of the Ostian naval marine troops in training also. The garrison stood in the numbers of anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers in training, also troops from Fabius's own legions joined him there after he left fortress pompeyy on his new mission.

A Ostian galley moved over the tossing waves towards Craen Punica. On board a diplomat from the Senete in Apollo was on a mission to Spizania to re-new trade agreements and discuss the problems on the sea.

Ostia had it's own pirates to deal with, they didn't need any more problems comming from the outside.

General Fabius stood overlooking the ocean, the night was quiet and peaceful. The sound of the ocean was heard off in the distance,

"Sulla, our goverment will not tolerate nations who cannot control their own problems that are being made Ostian problems"

The generals aid replyed,

"Agreed general, somthing must be done.."

Fabius sighed,

"Well....time will pass and the right measures will be made, the way of things will take it's course and it shall be decided on what action we take.."

OOC: To get noticed Terror just approach the fortress

IC:
The Ostian war galley approached the mgihty white walls of Craen Punica, the fortress port of the north. The galley was picked up by the high watchtower on a small rock outside teh harbour. The message was relayed to the commander of the Punic Fleet, minutes later the flagship of teh Fleet, the Pride of Sajuuk came out of the harbour, weapons ports open and ballistae batteries already rolled out, the greatest symbol of respect that could be offered to the ship of a foreign dignatary

OOC: To say they ruled the world is quite an egotistic boast, ya know.

OOC: Ive got a crumbling empire thing going on

Out of the north came riding a cohort of Valgardian knights sent by Prince Harold to Spizania on a diplomatic mission to this far away land in the east. As they rode they came across a rather large complex of stone buildings that the diplomat leading the mission ordered his men to spot at in order to gain permission to go further within Spizania. As they approached the gates the diplomat raised a white flag in order to signify they came in peace.

OOC: I am allowing you to decide how he is meet and what kind of complex the place my cohort come across is.

OOC: I take it your in spain? If you are you will probably be approaching a border post. Then i will you will probably be escorted to the Caern Gibraltica, the Fortress of the Rock. That OK with you?

OOC: I was wondering, this isn`t like taking place in a PT earth is it cause I would like to join if not. Im new at the PT so if I am allowed to join, please correct mistakes I probably will make.

The ship rolled over the waves towards the fortress, the flag ship was spotted approaching,

"Sir incomming vessel on our port side, shes comming in fast.."

The ships commander spotted the vessel and replyed to his second in command,

"She's showing respects, they are aware we have a diplomat on board"

The diplomat on board was named caligula, he was a high ranking member in ostian socity who was tasked with alot of diplomatic missions in the west. The ostian galley awaited instructions....

OOC: I take it your in spain? If you are you will probably be approaching a border post. Then i will you will probably be escorted to the Caern Gibraltica, the Fortress of the Rock. That OK with you?OOC: Sure, that is correct and I am more than willing to go along with it.

The decision was taken; nothing ventured nothing gained. One vessel would enter. Unless she returned within two days, the others would return home to seek aid.
She sailed gently in. A response must come soon...

OOC: Nerotika, this is a (modified) PT Earth. See the PT RP planning thread for more, or to claim a territory...here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=462780&page=123)

Horns were sounded on the outer guard posts as they spotted an unknown vessel approaching, the thing that it most resembled was a ship of the eastern raiders that plauged the Caern Indien and had finally overrun the Caern Zanzibar, so the defences were brught to readiness, hundreds of archers took posistions and lit burning arrows, while ballistae loaded burning oil pots instead of normal bolts.
"All batteries stand ready, wait for it wait for it wait for it, FIRE"
Hundreds of blazing tipped arrows and burning oil pots shot out towards the incomming vessel

The waiting vessels could only watch in horror, as their counterpart was engulfed in fire. A whole fleet, at maximum gun range, could attack such defences. One ship stood no chance.
The two vessels split. One fled north, to where Ostia was thought to lie. The other went east, directly home. If it was war these people wanted - that was what they would get. A fortress that destroyed a harmless trading vessel could not be suffered to stand.

OOC: My bad, sorry....i was tired when i made that post, i missed somthing..

OOC: I didnt shoot at the ostian ships

OOC: I thought something funny was going on...I understand now. My posts stand, in that case.

The Ostian Galley galley watched the allied ship burn,

"All hands! prepare for battle!! move move move!"

Archers lined the decks and started to fire their arrows, the pace drum sounded loudly,

"Prepare to advance to ramming speed!"

An officer on the lower deck repeated,

"Prepare ramming speed!"

The galley glided through the water and the archers continued to loose their arrows, the ship intended to ram the vessel right on her nose. Caligula watched in horror then retreated to lower deck where he took a sword intended for decoration off the wall, he gripped it tight,

"We will cripple that vessel no matter the cost!" shouted the captian

The Pride of Sajuuk slowed and tacced to the side avoiding the headlong charge of the galley. Marines ran onto the decks, readying arrows on thier bows, while others drew thier swords and shileds, crews loaded regular ballista bolts and as the ship appeared beside it, loosed a full volley of teh weapons through the weapons hatches of the enemy vessel. Crew ran onto the top deck, taking cover behind the fore and aft cassles, hurled burning oil pots onto the enemy deck, spreading boiling and burning oil over the wood planking. Meanwhile the crews who manned hte ballistae on the other side of the ship ran to thier quarters and started to strap on thier armour

The Ostian galley cut a turn and slammed right into the side of the enemy ship, boards were broken and tore up when the ram smashed into the side of the vessel. Ostian troops covered the deck and started to get ready to board the ship, they stood on the decks swinging their swords around yelling to put fear into the enemy....

The marines felt no fear, they were trained to well for that, infact, this was thier only purpose aboard ship. When the vessel slammed into the side of teh Pride, they wasted no time and simply jumped onto the bow of the galley, already swinging their swords to parry blows or slice an enemy saiilors head from his shoulders.
They were followed by the now armoured crewmen, behind the guard of the marines they began to hack holes into the wooden deck of the enemy ship with thier axes, once holes were opened they began chucking the flame "grenades" down into the vesseels lower decks, once one part of the enemy ship was aflame, they moved onto the next.

The Port Ballistae batteries that had not been disabled by the ram, about seventy percent were still usable, continued firing through the holes that had been opened in the first barrage, while the the crews that had been left without a weapon to fire, about 15 weapon crews in all, strapped on their light leather armour and began to hack a way into the gun decks of the enemy ship with the ubiqitous woodchopping axe, the ones at the back of the horde of fifty men readied thier swords and prepared to lock thier round brass and wooden shields

The Ostian marines faught hard against their enemy, the stentch of battle filled the air. The Ostians were armed with gladius's, large sheilds and basic legionaire armor, the well disiplined troops moved foward in an attempt to push the enemy back on to their own ship.

Captian Artimus stood to the rear of the vessel, he watched the battle rage on hearing explosion after explosion, his ship was taking serious damage,

"Well...this is it men, but we will show them one hell of a fight before we go...FOR OSTIA!" he yelled

The group of officers charged towards the fighting stabbing and slicing through their opponents, captian Artimus's blood boiled as he drove his sword into the chest of an enemy marine,

"MEN! FOWARD!!" he yelled yanking his sword out of the dead man..

The Ostian vessel had taken heavy damage and was starting to go under, men screamed out in pain as they died, blood covered the decks of the galley...

Bump...

The marines drew together, locking the polished bronze fronts of their shields, they put away thier shorter melee swords and drew thier backup weapon, a sword made of Iberian Steel, it was the Gladius Hispanialis, it was made for stabbing, so that is what they did, locking their shields, they slowly stepped backwards to their own ship, realising the galley was going in down, they kept stabbing the enemies infront of them as they backpeddled as one.

The Ostians pushed foward fighting fericely against their enemy, the switch in their weapons was taken note of. Captian Artimus lead his men foward attempting to break the defence of their enemy, the ostian marines delivered blows with their sheilds while striking the opposing forces lines.

The marines advanced over dead and dying men putting up more a fight then ever in an attempt to take the enemy vessel,

"Give em' hell! they are falling back! FOWARD!" Yelled Artimus....

The marines simply braced the ones in the front rank and kept slowly falling back, stabbing any that tried to intervene, as the enemy piled in behind the leading wave of enemy soldiers, the crew that were retreating behind the marines started throwing more of the oil grenades over the marines and into the mass of Ostians, the injuries would be horrific

As the explosions went off marines went flying off the deck hitting the water below while others were wounded gravely. Captian Artimus stabbed into the chest of another enemy and was blown to the side of the ship bouncing off the rigging he hit the deck, the ostian marines continued to charge forward hopping over their dead and dying comrades. Behind the mass of charging soldiers stood a dozen archers shooting arrows towards the enemy ship behind their defending soldiers.

Leaning off the sides of the galley other marines and crew threw the spears they could find at the enemy.

Captian Artimus opened his eyes,went to brace himself to sit up when his hand came into veiw, it mangled and bleeding. The captian's vision was shakey and he could not stand up, Captian Artimus was going down with his ship unless the battle was in their favor. Everyone showed his best effort in the counter, they all knew...themselves or the enemy..

This capture of the enemy ship had to happen or the crew would be forced to surrender, option two..sleep with the fishes.

The crews of the ballistae in the forward and aft castles brought their weapons to bear on the flank of the oncoming mass of Ostians and fired bolts into them, from this angle each one could spear more than a dozen men as it shot across the deck.
The marines stopped retreating and stood thier ground, still holding formation and stabbing anything infront of them. Grenades continued to fly over them and smash open in a cascade of burning oil as they struck Ostian Crew and Marines.
Longboats from the shore were approaching the Ostian Aft, marines getting ready to board in an action that would surround the slowly dwindling enemy crew

The fighting ostians finally decided to give up, their ship was going down and they had to get off it. Down below all the slaves were being un-chained and they took off to the upper decks.

Captian Artimus declared their final surrender, the marines and crew threw down their weapons. Artimus would not have surrenderd if the ostian ranks had not depleated like they had. They were going to loose anyways so the captian seen it better to spare the lives of his remaining men.

"We are done! congradulations on your victory...murdering pirates that you are! ALL OF YOU WILL DIE..your fate has been determined here today!" His voice boomed....

"You will know fear when my countrymen cross the sea with hundreds of ships with their deadly cargo! YES! armys of the thousands you will face! you have this victory but we have the last laugh! HA HA HAA!"


Artimus had to show his final act of defyance before they were taken into captivity.

Bump

"Congradulations on a good fight"
The Spizanians boarded the ship, took the enemies weapons and led the Ostians and there slaves aboard the Pride of Sajuuk, the ship turned for port as the Ostian Galley began its final slide to the bottom.

Artimus and his captured men were taken aboard the Spizanian ship, the marines nodded to their captian as they were lead by him,

"The day is yours commander, congradulations on your hard earned victory...there is no point in conducting ourselves like savage hostilles..you have won..we have lost"

Captian Artimus straightend up with pride handing his gladius to the commander of the 'Pride of Sajuuk', when the commander accepted Artimus watched his galley sink to the bottom of the sea.

"Commander may i inquire to what will become of me and my men?"

OOC: Im using descriptions of ancient carthage as a base for this, so dont say its impossible in our technology scale.

"You will be taken back to Caern Punica and put under house arrest, dont worry we are not in the habit of throwing our prisoners of war into stinking dungens"
A shadow fell across the ship as they passed a massive stone tower that stood on an offlying rocky outcrop, of the outcropping itself there was little remaining evidence, it has all been cut away to remove the danger to the ships using the channel. The white tower rose up, its walls slightly sloping inwards to help deflect the blows of bolts from ballistae, or Cannon for that manner, loopholdes were dotted on its wall and it was topped by a trio of ballistae with braziers ready to provide flaming ammunition for them.
Around the city thier were many such towers, each looked impressive but was only manned by a dozen or so men and had been built on rocky outcroppings that still formed the core of the tower. The ship then approached the city proper, and it made the towers look like primitive wooden watchtowers, it stood on a massive penisular, sea on three sides and only accesible across a ishtmus that was only two hundred feet wide at its narrowest.
Massive walls stood on the edges of the ishmtus, leaving only five feet between the base and the high tide mark, even then the base of the walls were occasionally hit by a larger than normal wave, landing when all was quiet was hard enough, landing under fire would be nearly impossible.
The walls too sloped back and were split into three distinct teirs equally spaced along the otherwise solid wall, which sloped back slightly, but would still be unclimbable under fire.
Each tier was packed with ballistae batteries and braziers, firing shelters for archers spaced along the areas of wall that were not filled by the ballistae. Each layer was accesed by a series of gateway-tunnels guarded by murderholes and atleast three gates apeice. Any enemy that somehow fought his way onto the tiers would face an even more murderous resistance before he could battle his way inside the city.
The ship was approaching one of the three massive harbours in the city, the first the prisoners on the deck saw was an apparent break in the wall, the break expanded to a fissure large enough to take any known ship, even the massive Pride.
The ship turned into the channel and and they saw into the port, however even this supposed weak point was covered by massive numbers of ballistae, archer shelters and even a few onagers, hundreds of braziers and ready to light arrows were stacking inside small hollows in the walls.
The Captain turned to the Ostian Captain
"Welcome to the great city of the north, it has never fallen before an enemy, and it will not for a great time yet"

Captian Artimus watched the massive fortress as they floated by, it's defences seemed impossible to breach but they were old and some parts of the walls looked as if they would crumble but some ostian fortresses were the same.

"Yes, it is truly amasing commander...i do not doubt your nation was once one of the more powerful in the world"

The ostian watched the defences pass by, looming towers, archers, bastilla's,

"Yes..the city of the north is like no other i have ever seen...it's design...as a captian who has sailed many places around our known world..i repeat..this is like no other, maybe it could never be taken.."

He thought in the back of his mind, if there was a war, ostians and allies alike would have quite the time trying to breach this strong point..as much as he wanted to deny the fact..reality set in.

"I thank you for providing us with full quarter..."

"The honour is ours"
The ship gently bumped up against the dockside and the prisoners were lead off of the boat onto the cut stone quay.
"Captain, your men will be taken to the Enlisted quarters for ships which are currently at sea, whether you wish to go to the Officers quaters or join your men is up to you"

Artimus nodded then repled,

"I would like to go to the officers quarters and maybe later re-join my men, i have two other officers here who have surrendered aswell.."

Artimus was suprized on how well they were being treated for putting up the fight they did, if ostia did go to war with Spizania he would ensure the nation received word they were alive and well.

Artimus was still a captian had had to conduct himself as one, captians had a relationship with their men but not to the point where they slept in the same area as them, ostian military laws were strict and officers were to carry themselves in a correct manor at all times.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
OOC: As agreed, this is a year after the events above. This might cause dodginess with other threads in the RP, but that's most likely to be my problem not yours, so I'll deal with it if it happens.

IC: Incognitia had not responded swiftly to the outrage of destroying a harmless trading vessel. But though the millstone of revenge ground slowly, it ground exceedingly fine.
An army of 30,000 men had been raised, gathered, trained together, and then embarked on transports. This army, commanded by General Kingston, a veteran of the Austian war, had landed in the Ostian territory of Egypt, and was prepared to march on Caern Punica with their Ostian allies.
A supporting fleet, under Admiral Straughan, was in place, comprising 30 ships of the line, as many frigates, a dozen bomb ketches, and some of the new "Dominance" ships, known to the sailors as Dracos.
These forces had as their object the conquest of the territory, and razing of the fortress. They would not be gainsaid by resistance from the Spizanians.

Cavalry horses had been transported, with great difficulty and at great expense, and a substantial mounted contingent of 5,000 made up part of the Incognitian army, both heavy and light cavalry.

Every banner in all the army, and across all the fleet, carried in addition to the normal insignia a simple message:
"For the Reuter".
It had taken time, but the lost WOULD be avenged.

OOC: Do you have any territories in southern Africa?

OOC: Yes, I have a fortress on the Cape of Good Hope, plus one on Mozambique

**Reserved for post**

OOC: I got afew things to do tonight, i will post tomorrow

Here it is.....

The island of Sicily had been Re-Inforced by one Ostian legion. They joined the other 25,000 troops on the island topping them off at a number of 35,000 fully operational ready troops. General Fabius had his aid Sulla back at his side and the army waited on the emperor's command to strike. The sea between Ostia and africa were crawling with Galleys prowling for enemy vessels.

General Titus in Egypt also prepared for war, his garrison had been brought up to 30,000 men plus the Terror troops that arrived under General Kingston. Titus wanted to strike before Fabius from the land forcing the enemy to send troops away from the fortress making it easier to attack from the sea.

Captian Artimus and his crew were still in captivity, they awaited the day when their commrades would come and bring them home.

OOC: Spizania :) we are comming for you ......

Kingston, in constant communication and close co-operation with Titus, was preparing his troops to march. They would be sticking close to the coast, to ease logistics and stay close to naval support.

Titus worked closely with Kingston aswell, Kingston was a very professional general and was a very distingushed man.

Titus's troops were told they would march before Fabius was granted permission to do so. Trumpeteers sounded off as the legions fell into formatin, standard bearers at the front, cavelry to the rear they were ready when ever Kingston was.

After the sinking of the Ostian Galley, a great deal of thought had been put into defending the city, and the kings and his advisors had finally finished the endless deliberation and planning.
They had decided to deploy a large additional force of warships from the South American Fleet along with a new force of some twenty thousand well trained and equiped infantry with two thousand Cavalry, these men had been in training for nearly nine months and were now the equals of any army the empire had fielded in fifty years. As the fleet of triremes, quinquiremes and a few smaller ships set sail from Caern Gambia these men knew that they were finally going to war.

OOC: they are maybe three weeks away by my reckoning

IC:
The Prince of the Caern Punica had been busy aswell, his forges had been turning out a massive number of spears, javelins, swords and suits of armour for a new force of militia that had been raised in the past several months, although they were not particularily well trained, having had to continue with thier work in the meantime, they knew the layout of the city well and they were detirmined to maintain the empires last fortress on the northern Coast, Caern Atlas and Caern Aegyptus may just be a faint memory in the history of our people, but the fortress of the north still flew the banner of the princes, and they would not go quietly into the night

And in a final suprise for the forces of the Ostians who had probably never fought them before, a force of fifty one elephants had been trained and prepared for combat, their armoured jackets and baskets were ready and their crew were trained, how effective they would be, was about to be discovered

"March!"
One simple word; to begin a great conflict, and a rearranging of the African continent.
The Incognitians were in high spirits; their numbers and equipment good, their allies strong, even the weather fine. The troops sang as they marched.

General Titus signaled the march from the back of his fine white horse,

"Inform the men we march with the Incognitian's immeaditly.."

General Titus drew his gladius raising it high in the air, the sun bounced off his blade as he looked over the ranks upon ranks of legionaires. Trumpets sounded off loudly, officers commanding their troops all yelled,

"MARCH!!""

The sound of thousands of feet pounded on the ground, the sounds of hooves incomming also echoed through out the air. The cavelry ranks cantered up to the rear of the ranks, there numbers ranged around 2,500 strong. Fearlessly the army marched towards their objective standards raised high along with their morale, Titus slowly rode followed by his officers alongside the coloums of troops.



On Sicily General Fabius stood on the walls of "Fugnaculum Impenetrabiilis" meaning "Fortress Impenetrable" staring out over the sea, the winds were high causing waves to crash against the cliffs,

"General, Titus's army will lead the attack...."

A messenger said loudly over the howling wind, Fabius replyed,

"Very well then..return to your dutys..."

The general did not mind the weather, he was used to wet,damp horrible conditions in Gaul..at least here he could step inside any time.

http://www.bamburghcastle.com/pictures/stag-rock.jpg

"Fugnaculum Impenetrabiilis"

ooc: i'll be getting in on the act soon. hehe. those dominace class ships arn't the most lethal on the seas anymore :D

Incognitia had been promised assistance by their Angerman ally. First, however, they were required to get their ally to the frontline.
Transports had been promised, so transports they would get. One hundred merchantmen of varying size; an escort of 20 ships of the line, many of which wold join the war effort in Africa.
More Incognitian troops would be on their way, but preparations for that were incomplete.
This fleet was now drawing into Angerwraith, to collect the Angerman troops.

Ostia prepared for war against Spizania, the recruitment drive was once again launched for the second time sence Aust. The most powerful generals of Ostia met and shared their outlooks on this new war, the legions of the empire had been gatherered and returned to full streneth.

New legions would be created and trained to fight in African terrian. The emperor had hired smiths all around the nation to prepare armor and weapons for his soldiers, language schools were also opened for officers so communication with the enemy would not be out of the question.

The Ostian navy had been well under construction aswell, ships were being prepared for cannon fittings and new ships were in the process of being built.

At Angerwrath the fleet was joined by 15 Angerman dominace class ships, 3 Hellfires, the very newest ships to come out of the dockyards, as well as 6 of the 8 Angerman frigates. these frigates had had the center 4 of the cannon on each side of their uper deck stripped out and replaced with 3 launchers, and only those that remained on the uper deck would fire shot. the lower gun deck had been converted to shoot "fire case", the same as the dominace class ships.

16, 000 men were made available for the land based portion of this action, brining with them 50 thunder cannons and 10 hawk lanuchers, as well as many enginers, some scouts, the Phirst Lightning Battle Group, and the elite Snow Tallions.

admiarl Aphallee, who had commanded one of the first Master class ships, and Jeneral-Kommander Mahkath lead the Angerman forces.

it took three days to load the waiting men and gear, as there was a lot to load and much of the non-liveing cargo contained volitile chemicals.

(OOC: who wants the Kadunese Mercs, any bidders?)

OOC: We're giving Spizania first refusal.

OOC: Il take them, just get them hear quick

Titus's eyes scanned over his troops as they fanned out across the desert. The formations were turning into what some would call perfect, the legion trumpeteers would sound off with tunes of victory and joy,

"The enemy will regret their actions towards Ostia...it just gives us an excuse to cross the sea and crush them.."

The officer riding beside Titus ginned,

"Spizania was once a great nation sir, but all great nations eventully face their downfall to those who wish to fill the spot.."

http://www.miniatures.de/img/reenactment/aalen-exerzieren12.jpg

http://www.caerleon.net/spectacular/photos/page5.html

Their progress was steady; not wishing to tire the troops excessively, or outpace their supplies.
A light cavalry screen was out, though the enemy were thought to be far away. The rest marched in column of route.

Ostian cavelry commanders ordered units to spread out on the left and right flanks of the coloums while the rest stayed to the rear, Terror had seen a screen foward so Ostia would cover the flanks.

http://www.caerleon.net/spectacular/photos/page11.html

OOC: ...how long till the troops meet? and what are we expecting ahead...defences, unit types...? all information will be strictly OOC as you all know...

OOC: Some border towns with stone walls and a couple of hundred men garrison, militia phalanx-spearmen and some lower grade heavy infantry, plus the usual mass of archers and a couple of ballistae at each town

A scout of the 1st Light Cavalry, the Little Blue One as they were known, came riding up to General Knox at the head of the main body.

"Yes Captain?"
"General, we have discovered several small towns. The closest is half a day's march ahead, the remainder come in quick succession after that (OOC: How far apart are they?). Each is likely to have no more than a few hundred men as garrison. No sign of major enemy formations."
"Very well Captain. Major Smith! Make sure the Ostians are informed. I will want to see sketch maps and the like when you get the chance, Captain.
For now...Major Jones! Tell the remaining Light to pass the towns, with the aim of intercepting any messengers."
"Sir."
Over a thousand horsemen would soon be scattered between these settlements and the depths of Spizania. While avoiding contact with any organised formations of troops, they would waylay any messengers and small parties.

General Titus was informed of the towns that lay ahead along with the suspected garrison,

"Inform the Incognitian commanders i have received word, ask general Knox what action we will take...tell him i am ready to act when he is"

The cavelry units on the left and right flanks moved father outwards so they were able to spot any enemy troops incomming or messengers taking dispatches back and fourth.

All the cavelry units dispatched to the flanks were on high alert...

"Tell him I was thinking of bypassing these settlements; leaving enough troops to leisurely crush them, but not allowing them to slow our progress.

Depending on the enemy forces discovered, a thousand men for each town may suffice."

OOC: Now really do need more info on the towns. A map would be ideal.

Titus received the message and sent the following back,

"Inform General Knox we will follow through with the plan"

OOC: A map would be nice, then we can know the exact amount of territory we cover in the march....i think any small fortress's or large garrisons must be wiped out before they cause a problem..

it had taken 3 weeks to reach their current position. the combined fleet had simply cut time by going around the south of Aust and then sailing pretty much as the crow flys. good winds and high navigational skill, something both nations represented were famous for, had resulted in the loss of only a single transport, onto which had been loaded extra amunition for the ships and seige weapons.

they had sailed through the night, and their destination came into view with the dawn. by the next morning, they would anchor and begin offloading the men.

ooc: any hope of fleet action somewhere along the way?

OOC: They are spread at roughly twenty five kilometre intervals, ontop of any escarpments or hillls, bassically raised ground, they have simple square stone walls, a couple of thousand population and a few wells. They also have a combination beacon/watch tower which means if one is attacked they will all know quickly as they can see if the fires are lit on the towns either side of them

OOC: Good, i await Terror's post then we will continue.....will our forces be met by an army or will ours run into them?

The towns might see a cloud of dust passing between them and send out a few riders to investigate, if they dont return will the all clear they will sound the alarm by sea. The town closest to the sea is on the seashore with a walled port. And they can change the colour of the flame from the towers

OOC: thats pretty cool,in Ostia they have signal flags....i can imagine the amount of dust that would be sturred up by an army like that...

OOC: Spizania, could you re-post the map of your territories from a while ago in the main thread? I really can't RP in this until I've got that info. Thanks.

ooc: o...k... no fleet action.
and.. need a battle feild map if possible.

IC: astonishingly, and in a small way disapointingly, the fleet arived without sighting any enemys until the fortress that was their destination. Admiral Aphallee sent dominace class ships up and down the coast to find a good landing site. when they had reported back he confured with Mahkath and Deehow, between them they chose one to the north.

The fleet was still matching the armies' progress along the coast, and, being made aware of the towns, were keeping an eye out for naval forces.

As the towns appeared quite weak, a regiment was detached for each (how many towns are there?); with some Ostian support, this should guarantee their fall, while keeping the main body moving.
By this point the light cavalry were between, and in many cases beyond, the settlements, and were looking for messengers and enemy forces. The hunt was on.

The cloud of dust was spotted by the towns allong the border, immediately yellow flames sprang up across the desert, alerting each town in turn that an unidentified force had been sighted.
A contingent of cavalry left the towns closest to the mysterious forces heading to investigate.
OOC: About 25 towns

As the army advanced the Ostian left and right flanks kept on the watch for any opposing forces, An ositan cavelry officer noticed a cloud of dust comming from a direction they did not,

"Incomming...." he said..

Another shouted,

"Incomming!!" the sound of swords being taken from their sheaths repeated....

The Prince of Caern Indien was made aware of the suspected enemy fleet and began preparing the city for seige, handing out weapons to the militia and too anyone with the slightest experience hunting in the hinterlands to the south, ammunition was stacked for the cities weaponry, hundreds of fishing traps were laid just outside the harbour, and every person and morsel of food in the hinterland was withdrawn behind the wall. Harvest had occured a couple of months before and now they had sufficient food stored for nearly eleven months at full rations.


The Scout Contingent crested a low hill and saw something that took thier breath away, in the distance they could see a vast army, thousands of men and horses. As they started to turn away they saw that a group of horsemen were galloping up the hill with drawn swords. They turned tail and fled back towards the town

the Angerman army was off loaded from their ships as quickly as 16,000 men and their supplys, some of which may blow up if mishandled, can be.

once everything was ashore they began to march south towards the fortress town they had seen on the way in.

Aphallee had turned his fleet as soon as everything was offloaded, returning to bombard the city it's self, while the Incognitian transports and their escorts had been sent home, or to join their own fleets, whichever they thought to be more nessisary.

soon an area jut outside of the range of any enemy seige weapons was reached by the marching army's scouts, where upon they began marking the lines and positions nessisary for building camps that could be defended and would not be in range of the fortress it's self.

they had marked the 'safe' line and were only part way through laying out the camp markers when the first of the army arived, but that wasn't really an issue. 14 battlegroups worth of fortified camps sprang up at great speed, with wooden walls, flag staff platforms, tents, all the assorted parifinalia of a battlegroup camping in a hostile land.

the camps were set out in a double row, the rear one longer, with each covering the gap between two others. behind both rows were the Lightning troops camp, the artillary parks and their crew's camp, and the command camp., resulting in a total of 16 fortified camps.

and here the men prepaired for battle.

OOC: My Trebuchets have a huge height advantage, so them and your seige cannon probably have similar range in this situation, this means we can both hit each other as projectiles bounce

OOC: Well, I don't have a map, but I really want to get this started so I'll post in the hope of getting one soon...

IC: Consul Aramil Holimion gazed out from the vast fleet at the endless watery horizon.

His presence in the great fleet was an oddity- not for hundreds of years had the consuls sailed with the Caladonnian military. Though they were technically the commanders of Caladonn's armed forces, the military leadership had been delegated to competent admirals.

However, now it was different for two reasons. For one, though Aramil was a Caladonnian politician, he had the distinction of also being a very good admiral. His decades with the Imperial Navy were instrumental in his election to the Republic's highest office. The other reaon was even more important- quite simply, it had been quite a long time since Caladonn whole-heartedly waged war against an enemy power. The vast battle lines had not been seen in many years, though fleet actions in piracy and colonisation were common. Now Caladonn was committing the bulk of her fleet, a fleet more powerful than any other on the planet.

And its power truly was awesome. Looking around him, Aramil could see hundreds of Ships of the Line arrayed around him in several parallel columns, with frigates farther out as scouts, and sloops farther still. There were only a little less than one thousand ships in this vast Caladonnian fleet, sent to crush the declining power of Spizania across the sea.

OOC2: So yeah, this is an intro post... my fleet will sight the Cape Verde islands soon, I'm expecting to run into your fleet Spizania. Also, any chance I could have that map soon?

ooc: i don't HAVE seige cannon. so i can set up out of range quite happily.
and trebuchet projectiles have a tendancy to plow into the ground, rather than bounceing, due to their trajectory.

hawks have rediculous range, because they're lunched upwards and basicly "fall" the whole way. gliders, you know. i'm reasonably sure they outrange a trebuchet.

well, you'd be able to fire at those ships that are comeing to get you. they have to get into balista range, really... but they're all small. and zippy.

OOC: My fleet wont come out to fight a force that size, and Il get you a map or atleast a description of my posistions on the Cape Verde Islands soon

EDIT:
Walled towns (with walled harbours) on following islands:-
Santao Antao
Sao Vincente
Sae Nicolau
Sal
Boa Vista
Santiago
Maio
Bravo

Capital of territory is Fogo:-
Double Walled, two Walled Harbours

Garrisons are about 300 men each for towns, two and a half thousand for Fogo. Massive completement of Trebuchets and Ballistae.
Walls on the walled towns have been reinforced with earth packed between the main wall and palisades (35 feet apart), to decrease effectiveness of cannon barages. Pallisades are set in bedrock and have been plained so they are smooth on the outside, new embrasures for artillery placed in this area, as with archer possistions.
All the adults and strong children in the town are trained militia, they started that after the Ostian Incident when they suddenly realised who vulnerable Cape Verde is

OOC: My fleet wont come out to fight a force that size, and Il get you a map or atleast a description of my posistions on the Cape Verde Islands soon
OOC: Ok, great, thanks.

You sure you don't want a naval battle? I haven't closed with you yet, so you can consolidate all your naval forces together if needed.

IC:

haveing no apparant ocean going enemies to face, Aphallee had decided that the best way to deal with a fortified city,was to remove the city from the fortifications. with that in mind he had set the fleet, small as it was, to sail right up into the harbour and begin a bombardment with the weapons his men had taken to calling, in a grand understatement, 'boom tubes'. they did far more than go boom, obviously. a single one of those hitting an enemy ship perfectly, with it's fused timed perfectly, could well rip it appart. of course, due to their nature, sucha shot basicly never happend, so it would take three or 4 to destroy an enemy ship, and often it was the flamables in the tube that actually did the damage, the explosives simply spreading it out and ramming the iorn tip deeper into the enemie's ship. or it would tangle in the rigging, detonate, and start fires. sometime's they'd even detonate short or not at all.


but none of this really mattered. he was going to sail into the harbour and commence bombardment of the city it's self with these dreadful tools of death.

OOC: The most i could risk for the Cape Verde Islands is three hundred of my main ship type, which are been turned out real quick in the Craen Lunar and Craen Solars naval yards. The main problem is training thier crews.

If you want a naval battle, it will have to be at close quarters, so maybe i could attack in the predawn gloom, or from inside a fog bank.

Angermanland, have they started running for the harbour entrances yet?

OOC: The most i could risk for the Cape Verde Islands is three hundred of my main ship type, which are been turned out real quick in the Craen Lunar and Craen Solars naval yards. The main problem is training thier crews.

If you want a naval battle, it will have to be at close quarters, so maybe i could attack in the predawn gloom, or from inside a fog bank.

Angermanland, have they started running for the harbour entrances yet?


ooc: i was going to give you the chance to intercept them befor that, if you wanted, but that's the idea.

The men in the lookouts could not miss the enemy ships bearing down on the three harbour entrances, the fortress weaponry responded quickly, hundreds of ballistae began firing both gunpowder and burning oil laden projectiles towards the lead enemy squadrons, trebuchets began firing waterproofed barrels of gunpowder with a concussion fuse and a simple timer delay backup, they were laid down in a covering pattern infront of the oncomming ships, they bobbed a few times before the fuse burnt down and exploded, hopefully while an enemy ship was in close proximity. If they were lucky enough to hit an enemy ship directly, the barrel would probably crash through the deck in the few seconds before the concussion triggered fuse detonated (it involves a glass vial and is complicated but i can explain it if you want).
Hundreds of archers notched burning arrows and let fly, sending hundreds of arrows into the air, blazing red as they dropped towards the enemy ships decks,

ooc: if burning arrows can reach me, boom tubes can reach you.

IC: "Holy----" the last words from one of the crew aboard a dominace class ship that Did take a direct hit. straight through the forward deck and into the gundeck, hitting the powder barrels and blowing out the forward deck it's self. the catamaran design of the ship was possibly the only thing that saved it from being holed and sinking.

in a mad scramble, the men brought the ship to a halt and turned it so it's rear was faceing the city, and began fireing everything the ship had. it wasn't going to be able to move and fire at the same time, except to run away, so it was basicly doomed, but by all the gods they knew of, they were most assuredly going to do their jobs.

the port and starborad launchers began fireing the boom tubes over the enemy walls. with the ship not moveing, the sailors helped man the guns, resulting in faster reload times.

the balista were cranked up and fired at things atop the wall, and the cannon were elevated and fired at the tops of the walls themselves.

now, each dominance class ship did not carry many of each weapon. two launchers, 6 balista, and 4 cannon, was all, and any takeing a direct hit to the bow or sturn like as not lost half their balista and cannon. but there were many of them, and the three hellfires each carryed thirty launchers and as many balista.

as boom tubes disapeared over the walls, or occasionaly hit them with minimul effect, the hellfires came into position.

the three larger ships turned corner on to the walls, bringing their sturn and one side or the other of the ship around to face the city. and then they began fireing. the first volly consisted of 45 boom tubes, and after that the launchers fired as they loaded. so far, none of the hellfires had been hit. Aphallee, on the main deck of one of them, rather hoped it would remain that way. he swore as another dominace took a hit, this one punching right through it's port hull.

not the cakewalk he had hoped for, but if it did the damage, it would be worth it.

The heavier weapons started to concentrate on the larger ships while the flaming arrows continued to burn the smaller ships decks to a cinder. Half the ballistae concentrated on the larger ships (others pinning the smaller ones down) and the Trebuchets began firing masonry at the largest stationary vessels.

ooc: any mention of the pure distructive havoc those weapons are going to inflict on your city? incidently, the moment you actually damage a hellfire, the whole fleet's going to pull back out of range.

umm, also, my ships are kind of designed to be as hard to burn as possible... any random accident with the ammo being capable of takeing them out and so on... i just don't see arrows doing a lot to them if the arrows hit the deck. the rigging, mabey, and the sails... but probilby not the deck.

OOC: 25 small towns?!? Fairly realistic I guess, just annoying. Ok, can we only RP two or three of these then, to keep things moving?
And though they're fighting Caladonn can I have a description of these '300 ships'. What are they like, how big, approximate crew, armament?

IC: "Shit!"
They had been seen - as expected - but there had been a signal. Now all of these settlements would be alerted.
What was more, the Ostians had seen cavalry incoming, and spread the word.
The Incognitian Heavy Cavalry, armed with pistols and swords, and equipped with helmets and breastplates, were about to earn their keep.
(OOC: If Ostia spotted them, they're most likely on the left flank, otherwise they'd have met my men first.)
"Squadron, forward!"
They began at an easy trot, heading towards the disturbance, pistols drawn.

OOC: Basically these guys use the pistols to disturb their opponents' formation and cause a few casualties before either wheeling off, or, more likely, crashing home with their swords.

The Ostian Cavelry on the left flank watched the enemy flee but decided not to give chase incase there were more formed enemy, it could have been a trap,

"Spizanians! left flank!" An officer shouted..it was repeated throughout the coloum..

General Titus was informed the left flank had made contact,

"General! Centurion Darius's coloum has spotted scouts..they did not persue.."

Titus stopped riding and looked as far as the eye could see on the left flank, he strained his eyes,

"Do not persue them..let them come to us, has anyone given chase?"

The officer replyed,

"The Incognitian's have moved in that direction sir..."

Titus then issued orders,

"Alright, i want a dozen men to assist them..Darius stays on the flank though"

The officer nodded then took off to inform his commander....

The Contingent of Cavalry rode like the wind, riding back the way they had come, desperate to escape the incognitians moving to catch them from behind, several of the men were adept horsemen and began to use the Parthian Tactics of shooting behind you while still galloping forwards, this would harass the enemy

OOC: The most i could risk for the Cape Verde Islands is three hundred of my main ship type, which are been turned out real quick in the Craen Lunar and Craen Solars naval yards. The main problem is training thier crews.

If you want a naval battle, it will have to be at close quarters, so maybe i could attack in the predawn gloom, or from inside a fog bank.

Angermanland, have they started running for the harbour entrances yet?
OOC: Yes, I'd also like to learn about these ships.

I'd certainly like a battle. There's not much chance of fog many miles out into the Atlantic, but you're free to try a night attack... just be warned that night attacks can't really be coordinated, and I have a very effective frigate screen.

OOC:-
46 Heavy Ballistae, 208 Crew including 60 Marines, hull is sloped back at 60 degrees and internal face lined with layers of fabrics to prevent massive splinters flying around, thats the big killer in wooden ship combat with solid cannonballs

The parting shots had very little effect, as the Heavy Cavalry were still proceeding at a trot, some distance behind.
With the enemy withdrawing, there was no point chasing light cavalry with heavy, so the horn was sounded to return to their original position. Meanwhile the army was marching closer to the towns ahead.

OOC:-
46 Heavy Ballistae, 208 Crew including 60 Marines, hull is sloped back at 60 degrees and internal face lined with layers of fabrics to prevent massive splinters flying around, thats the big killer in wooden ship combat with solid cannonballs
OOC: Ok, thanks. Bear in mind that while that will reduce splinters, it makes your ship significantly more prone to catching fire and transmitting it rapidly.

Also, do you really have that many marines? That's almost 1/3 of your crew. I only have 1/10 of the crew as marines.

ooc: i'll stick an ic responce in here in a moment edit: or i will once there's something for me to reply to.

my ships also carry aproximatly 1/3 marines. those that have any at all. which means the hellfires.

darn it, i want navel combat with the Spiz. *laughs*

OOC: 1/3 marines is VERY high. It means that you'll be hard pressed to maneuver the sails and fire and such.

OOC: 1/3 marines is VERY high. It means that you'll be hard pressed to maneuver the sails and fire and such.


ooc: not if you have the room for the gunners and sailors, calculate how many men that would need, THEN add marines. 'tis what i do. the only real limit is how big the ship is. each man needs at least so much space.

so, it's all sailors and gunners needed, PLUS half as many men again as marines.

otherwise, you're right, it would be stupid.

and this is planning thread fodder.

OOC: I'll try not to post any more OOC here, so this is the last one...

You make a good point Angermanland, I should probably have a bit higher marine amount- say, 1/5.

Also, Spizania... any chance of that map soon?

OOC:
Description, just look at a map of Cape Verde while you read this:-
Walled towns (with walled harbours) on following islands:-
Santao Antao
Sao Vincente
Sae Nicolau
Sal
Boa Vista
Santiago
Maio
Bravo

Capital of territory is Fogo:-
Double Walled, two Walled Harbours

Garrisons are about 300 men each for towns, two and a half thousand for Fogo. Massive completement of Trebuchets and Ballistae.
Walls on the walled towns have been reinforced with earth packed between the main wall and palisades (35 feet apart), to decrease effectiveness of cannon barages. Pallisades are set in bedrock and have been plained so they are smooth on the outside, new embrasures for artillery placed in this area, as with archer possistions.
All the adults and strong children in the town are trained militia, they started that after the Ostian Incident when they suddenly realised who vulnerable Cape Verde is

OOC: I await Terror then we will make a move..i don't wanna do it without him..

Reallydrunk']OOC: I await Terror then we will make a move..i don't wanna do it without him..


ooc: i'm just waiting on Spizania to do something IC... heh.

OOC: Waiting for me Ostia? I thought we said we'd just go for it....well, never mind.

IC: The decision had been made, as scouts reported ever more towns, that they had to fall, rather than be bypassed.
So the army drew itself up, in sight but out of range of the nearest, and a party rode up to the gates.
"We offer this town one chance, and one chance only, to surrender. Else it shall be razed to the ground, and the lives of all within are forfeit. What say you?"

The Answer was simple, three polybolos fired a hail of bolts into the Ignotian Party as thirty five militia archers notched burning arrows and fired them at the Incognitian horses

"They fire upon a party of parley? This lot burn. NO quarter."
The siege train was setting up; meanwhile the infantry manouevred to prepare an assault.

General Titus offered his support in the attack of the city, Sence the enemy had fired upon men bearing a white flag..they would all die!.

Ostian infantry and archers assembled in perperation to attack they city...

OOC: There was no parley, you just rode up to the city and began speaking in a foreign language

OOC: There was no parley, you just rode up to the city and began speaking in a foreign language

and ICly, they don't care about that. they rode up with the intent of parlaying and you shot at them. *shrugs* didn't need an ooc post, and you Still need to respond to my bombardment of your city, so i can pull the ships out and then have my army get on with their job...

First would come the bombardment; then the assault. The entire army siege train was being brought to bear on this one town; 40 heavy cannon, and 10 large howitzers.
The howitzers sat, happily out of range of any meagre defences the town had to offer, and began lobbing in balls to get the range while they heated some shot, to start fires inside.
The cannon, meanwhile, were dragged with a little more care closer to the walls, still out of bowshot.

Fires were beginning to light in a few of the coastal districts behind the walls, men and women quickly ran to combat them and several of the internal aqueducts were shut off and diverted to provide a ready source of water to the firefighters.
OOC:- Now respond to my concentration of fire posts
IC:
The towns walls quaked under the bombardment, the recently added earth and sand barricades between the old stone wall and an outer thin one soaked up large parts of the bombardment, although it was already beginning to suffer, sand slowly falling into the small gorge infront of the walls (Features like this would have been added to all the towns after it became likely that i would be facing people with cannon, i have had a year to prepare after all.

IC (In the Atlantic)

The Fleet of warships was approaching the Caern Gibraltica where it would reprovision, pick up more men and add more warships to its fleet.
(OOC: Dont feel like a description of the fortress at this time, lets just say its pretty formidable)

OOC: The howitzers fire over the walls. First couple of shots will be all over the place, but they'll soon focus in on the interesting bits.

IC: As the cannon drew closer, men staggered up carrying their protection, in the form of wicker baskets filled with soil. As each cannon reached it's firing position, baskets were stacked to form a sort of embrasure. With protection in place, the fire began, aimed at the gate. It would intensify, with 40 cannon in place.

Ostian archers formed up preparing to unleash hell on the city, the cannons were proving very effective when it came to reducing the walls to rubble. General Titus watched several hundred of his infantry form up preparing to move on command.

The Ostians had never seen cannons fired before, when the explosions went off some of them jumped but then grew use to the sound..they were amased at the amount of fire power they had...

The heavier weapons started to concentrate on the larger ships while the flaming arrows continued to burn the smaller ships decks to a cinder. Half the ballistae concentrated on the larger ships (others pinning the smaller ones down) and the Trebuchets began firing masonry at the largest stationary vessels.

ooc: i'm assumeing this is the one you're talking about?

IC: because their target was a city, and not another ship, the Hellfires could happly move around without loseing target sufficiantly to matter. as such, it took quite some time befor one of the projectiles actually hit and did damage. when it did, however, it took out 6 of the forward launchers, and the bits of decking around them. had the hellfire been a standard monohull, that would have been the end of it right there.

the enemy's flameing arrows did ignite powder in one of the launcher bays on one of the Dominance class, and the sails on another, but otherwise were rapidly put out. fire was something the Angerman crews knew how to deal with quickly.

haveing done what they intended to do, and now takeing some.. unplesant damage, Aphallee gave the order for the fleet to pull out again. it was time for the army to do their job.

and while the fleet had been provideing an distraction, the army had got orginized and were all set to go. the hawks were in the air and already on their way in, carrying various payloads. the engineers had constructed some covered rams and sub kompanys worth of them were heading for the gates and weaker looking parts of the walls...

Deehow did not belive in the seige as an effective tactic. Mahkath agreed. they were going to Break this fortress.

With the enemy fleet withdrawing and enemy soldiers approaching, the trebuchets turned in place and began hurling huge gunpowder barrels with impact and timer fuses into the enemy formation, attempting to hit the enemy seige equipment. Most of the Archers hastily moved to the areas of wall that it appeared the enemy would attempt to breach, ballistae were loaded and armed, and every man under arms in the city was called to his duty station, whether it be the walls, the palace, the mountain citadels or the watchtowers and defensive emplacements scattered throughout the bussling city. Most of the rest of the population either kept fighting the fires, or began gathering the more valuable of the lower distr:sniper: icts items and moving them up the hill for safekeeping.

In the desert:-

A few buildings began to collapse under the weight of the howitzer bombardment, as the civilians in the town took refuge in the temples or the central town hall's reinforced basement, constructed for just these circumstances.

the archers, exposed to the sky, soon found why the Hawk Troopers were likend to demons wherever they had been used. acid, sulpher, and explosive bombs fell liberaly on the defenders.

some of the rams exploded quite spectacularly when hit by the powder barrels. however, the bulk of the barrels hit the ground so hard that it destroyed their fuseing, resulting in nothing more than impact craters. a few of these exploded anyway, and one of them blasted a ram from underneath as a result, but most did little or nothing to the advanceing equipment.

those arrows that hit the rams were quickly put out, where possible, but still a few were lost this way too.

all told, 13 rams were destroyed, and that still left 27 headed for the walls.

ooc: i built a Lot of rams :D but no catipults or anything like that, so fairs fair , huh?

With the howitzers in action, the cannon began bombarding the walls in earnest.
Their focus was the gate.
The next step was the assault, and infantry were already mustering, ready to attack any breach; the pioneers were working on ladders in the meantime.

OOC: yeah it is

IC: The Archers rallied to their officers and began firing volleys into the sky to combat the hawks flying above them. The Repeating Ballistae joined the battle hurling hundreds of bolts into the advancing column of men pushing the oncomming rams. The Trebuchets continued to hammer away with the gunpowder barrels.

In the desert:-
The Volleys of cannon fire began firing on the gate, although protected by a kink in the channel cut through the thick earth barrier, the gate was soon to be exposed, cannon balls crashing through the earth and sand in the way, it was only a matter of time

The Ostian legionairres prepared for their order to march, they had assembled and were ready to attack. The archers fired many arrows over the walls in with a hope of thining out the defence forces that awaited their arrival.

OOC: yeah it is

IC: The Archers rallied to their officers and began firing volleys into the sky to combat the hawks flying above them. The Repeating Ballistae joined the battle hurling hundreds of bolts into the advancing column of men pushing the oncomming rams. The Trebuchets continued to hammer away with the


ooc: ok.. you're guys have no idea about hawks prior to this battle.. and they're dropping acid bombs, explosives, and sulpher gas bombs on your walls. care to explaine how you're produceing any retaliation against them other than sparodic, disorginized archery fire? not to mention that it's highly unlikely a hit balista or trebuchet is going to function. umm.. the rams are capped and plated, which means it's going to take explosisves to do them in, or an extreamly lucky fire arrow. you're not going to hit the guys in them from on top of a wall.

OOC: The archers are shooting arrows into the paths of the Hawks in a probably vain attempt to down them (scared men with nowhere to run often start following orders again, as they realise its the only way out), while the trebuchets are carrying on what they were doing, the repeating ballistae are aiming for the men that are behind the ram who can take over if one of the men holding the ram dies or is injured.

The ballistae are mostly in emplacements with roofs to prevent fire archery setting off some of the more volatile ammunition or to prevent losses of crew.
The trebuchets on the other hand may not function very well after a hit, although the way they are built means that they are quite hard to damage with the things you are describing other than explosives, and i got the impression you were aiming for the archers not the trebuchets

OOC: The archers are shooting arrows into the paths of the Hawks in a probably vain attempt to down them (scared men with nowhere to run often start following orders again, as they realise its the only way out), while the trebuchets are carrying on what they were doing, the repeating ballistae are aiming for the men that are behind the ram who can take over if one of the men holding the ram dies or is injured.

The ballistae are mostly in emplacements with roofs to prevent fire archery setting off some of the more volatile ammunition or to prevent losses of crew.
The trebuchets on the other hand may not function very well after a hit, although the way they are built means that they are quite hard to damage with the things you are describing other than explosives, and i got the impression you were aiming for the archers not the trebuchets


fair enough. i just ment that poisen gas and acid, even if not aimed at them, would screw them up horribly if it was near/on them. and i thought the balista were aimed at the hawks. it's all good.

heh, i never even thought of haveing Unprotected men following the rams...

in that case, an IC post:

a few careless releaf crew for the rams were hit by archery fire, but they were rock troops, and thus quickly got their sheilds up over their heads, meaning that only the more skilled and well positioned archers could actually hit them.

more rams had been lost, but now some were reaching the walls and gates themselves, and setting to breaking them down.

above, some of the hawks had been hit by lucky shots, but these foes knew nothing of the speed at which they traveld, or the balistics involved, so the bulk of the shots were wildly innacurate, or easly avoided. with one hundered hawks launched in vollys of 10, and haveing a perfect landing area in the form of the narrow plane, they kept up a constant bombardment in spite of losses.

OOC:
Description, just look at a map of Cape Verde while you read this:-
Walled towns (with walled harbours) on following islands:-
Santao Antao
Sao Vincente
Sae Nicolau
Sal
Boa Vista
Santiago
Maio
Bravo

Capital of territory is Fogo:-
Double Walled, two Walled Harbours

Garrisons are about 300 men each for towns, two and a half thousand for Fogo. Massive completement of Trebuchets and Ballistae.
Walls on the walled towns have been reinforced with earth packed between the main wall and palisades (35 feet apart), to decrease effectiveness of cannon barages. Pallisades are set in bedrock and have been plained so they are smooth on the outside, new embrasures for artillery placed in this area, as with archer possistions.
All the adults and strong children in the town are trained militia, they started that after the Ostian Incident when they suddenly realised who vulnerable Cape Verde is
OOC: Thanks.

IC: 600 marines landed on each of the eight islands, ready to march inland to lay siege to the towns. First, though, under the protection of the ships' cannon, they built fortresses on the beaches of the islands for the night.

At Fogo, 5,000 marines landed, and made similar preparations. Each of the islands was blockaded by two SOTL for response to any enemy, as well as multiple frigates and sloops to patrol the coastline to ensure no connection with the other islands was possible. the rest of the fleet anchored near the islands, with frigate and sloop scouts ahead to warn of any enemy fleet coming towards the Cape Verde Islands.

OOC: Theres not really much i can do
Angermanland, just assume my men continue attacking your with thier seige weapons, they are aiming in a way that allows Trebuchets to be brought to bear on all of the rams.

IC:
The Garrisons of the towns checked thier weapons and handed out whatever they could spare to other townspeople.

OOC: Okay, I wanted to give your soldiers a chance to sally out and attack the landing parties, but this is fine too.

IC: The marines on each of the islands have marched to the towns and surrounded them. Cannon are being landed from the reserve frigates, and the marines are digging trenches and defensive works around the towns. Meanwhile, the Ships of the Line are preparing to bombard each of the towns.

OOC: Theres not really much i can do
Angermanland, just assume my men continue attacking your with thier seige weapons, they are aiming in a way that allows Trebuchets to be brought to bear on all of the rams.



ooc: so.. basicly, we just sit there untill the walls fall or one or the other of us get re-inforcements, your you surrender? hummm... not what i was trying for. time to get creative.

IC: Mahkath was getting a little adgitated. "this is going to take too long. we need this done Fast."

"you are right. i shall have the enginers construct some protective wagons, like those the rams are carryied in. perhaps if we remove the rams, and the floors of them, armour the frount as well... hummm.... yes. that'll work. we'll sap their walls!" he grinned "we have some spair powder barrels.. i doubt the thunder cannons are going to use all of them. perhaps a couple of them under the wall, or at least deep near it's base?"

"why not. do it. a barrel to every second digging party, perhaps? see how much we've got."

"i'm on it"

and the preperations began.


meanwhile, loses on both sides were mounting. untill they got right up to the walls, the rams were vulnerable. some 10 or so had got there, or near enough to avoid the trebuchets, but the feild was littered with the remaines of those that hadn't.

and the hawks had kept up their attacks, sometimes dropping rounds on the trebuchets rather than the archers, and mixing their payloads.

As the bombardment continued steadily, assault troops gathered, in the form of Palliser's Foot, an entire tercio.
The halberdiers would lead, followed by the arquebusiers and pikemen.
Supplementarily, 20 ladders had been gathered, ready to assail a part of the wall some distance from the planned breach, to stretch the meagre defences simply too far to hold out.