NationStates Jolt Archive

At last the preparations began. Provisions had been collected from the lords of Frozopia, and it would be these lords duties to feed the army as they progressed further west. It was time for the horns to be blown and the drums beaten. It was time to march to war.

The Grey General would lead them, and much to his relief King Richard did not know this. The Grey General had 30 years worth of experience in the battlefield, and he knew it better than anyone else, fighting in 100's of savage battles with the people of the east. He remembered the ferocity of the Mongol raiders, the last battle occuring 10 years ago, barely 40 miles east of Ragthoros. Fighting from the saddle, fearless and ruthless, as they sent charge after charge into the centre of the Frozopian wall. But the gods were kind that day and eventually they were driven away. Thankfully for the last time.

King Richard lacked experience. Although a born warrior, he was not yet a strategist. Keen for battle, he ignored important factors such as how the men would be fed and watered, and how they would be paid. Luckily The Grey General had taken care of this, only just delaying the King from riding madly into the west with his bodyguards (helped when he was struck by a savage stomach ache) and the troops were ready.

Across the country 40,000 men marched to the designated meeting point, an old fort built 30 years past. The Grey General knew it well: he had fought on its walls for the first time. The young Glavius had not been a general nor grey, but a outsider, his name and heritage instantly outcasting him from his men undearneath him. But they quickly learnt to respect his skill and courage, and his canny knack to know what the enemy planned.

"Sir. The horses are ready, it is time to proceed."

General Glavius glanced up, disturbed from his thoughts, seeing the young captain who so much reminded him of himself.

"Indeed young Brautigan. Prepare my horse."

The Captain gave a sharpe salute and walked from the room. Sighing the general called for his servant to gather the papers, looking at the scroll placed on his desk for the last time.

The Frozopian forces:

3000 Swordsmen
2000 Pikemen
1500 Heavy Cavalry
1200 Archers
20,000 Moutainmen, handpicked by the King and his deputees.
15,000 Miscellaneous (Engineers, supply carriers etc)

The supplies will consist mainly of wagons, drawn by oxen or horses.
Signed
Lucius Pullo

Glavius smiled at the name. Another of Roman heritage. A rare chance.

Derij Sharlon's war camp, outside the northern walls of Angerwraith

currently, in Angerwraith, capital of Angermanland, an army was mustering with the goal of holding and defending the new southern border. it numbered some twenty thousand men it's self, however the bulk of those were engineers, logisticians, artisans and labourers. part of the task would have been to transport a fair amount of stone from the eastern quarrys to the new border for the massive fortifications planned there.

the actual fighting men numbered some eight thousand. mostly halbardiers and lancers, with a fair number of javalin armed infantry and five hundered of the massivly armored Destre, great armored behemoths of the battlefield. amongst their equipment were twenty repeating balista and thirty of the larger, more ordinary sort, their crews being counted amongst the train rather than the fighting men.

one Derij Sharlon was in command. like most of the Angermanlandij army, he was Very well trained, however his entire experiance amounted to border skirmishes against raiders from the north west, north east and south east. many of his men did not even have that.

still, all the officers had studied the War Manuals, some to a greater or lesser extent than others, admitedly. those who were in charge of supplies and the like were, infact, caravan leaders or city planners or from other such positions in their day to day lives. orginizational skills were more important than the ability to fight or lead in such a role.

it would be a few days unitl they set out, however. for one thing, they waited on reports for Zachius. the last thing they wanted to do was take this many civilians, this much equipment, into still utterly hostile territory.

Angermanland/Frozopian border... ish

life was pretty much business as useual here. small patrols for anything from five to twenty men rode up and down the border fairly regularly, watching for raiders, messengers, traiders trying to avoid taxes, or the unlikely enemy armys which could come through here. not that many of them belived it likely.

the border forts were really just the typical Angermanlandij overnight encampments that never got taken down as their occupants didn't go anywhere most of the time. they were, however, fully garrisoned. though that only really ammounted to a couple of hundered infantry and the cavalry patrols, when they slept.

the house of shadows was quietly active here too. troops and low ranking officers, seemingly at random, reported to the spymasters.

infact, Pemli Mahsi's network spread a fair way accross the border. it did not penitrait the Frozopian palace, and, infact, barely touched on armys or major citys. but it was there, and functional.

unlike in the south, unfortunatly, here the house of shadows had no direct connection to the Angermanlandij military command, and as such would simply do what it thought might be helpful... weither it was or not.

Southern Releaf Army (will be being used to defend against this invasion)

3500 ouhhalbardade
2500 ouhlanseade
500 destre
1500 ouhjavalinade
20 light repeating balista (LRB)
30 standard balista
several thousand support staff (not all of whome will be comeing when they end up going east instead of south)

various garisons along the border

100 ouhhalbardade
100 ouhjavalinade
100 ouhlanseade
somewhere in the order of 50 assorted officers and support staff

The Frozopians had gathered surprisingly swiftly, the lords eager to please their new king doing their best to curry favour. By the time the King had arrived at the old fort, 15,000 Frozopians were waiting, camped in the nearby fields, only officers benefitting from the warmth of the 2 nearby forts. 3 days on and the full extent of the force had gathered, garrisoning several forts and villages along the mountains. A day later and the march had begun.

Striking northwest, they aimed for the chosen gap in the mountains. It was more north than Glavius would have liked, but it was a necessary path to take, if he didnt want his main army pinned in some narrow moutain pass. The march was not too hard: Glavius wanted his men to be at their best when the first days of battled occured. With supplies at the centre, the large combination of soldiers, horses and camp followers was an impressive site for all. It had been a long time since an army had been mustered in one space within the lands of Frozopia.

At last King Richard stood between the moutains of the north and south, the last stage before crossing the boarder. The war would either be the birth of the reign of a great warrior king, or the bloody end of a very short leadership. King Richard held no fears: His stomache ache was gone, the enemy lay in his path and the sun shone on his back. The Army marched west.

(A tag, because I can't stay, just now. But, needless to say, if the Ralish knew about this, they would be rather pleased, and probably recognise the Frozopians as legitimate rulers of non-Ralish Rus ;))

The enemy would not fight. They hid in their forts, their villages, occasionally sending out mounted patrols who fled the moment danger appeared. Eager to maintain momentum, Glavius had called off any attempt to chase such horsemen down and ignored any complaints of his officers, who were eager to storm every town they saw. Instead they continued west, their progress slowed frequently by wagons wheels cracking and horses backs breaking. But after days of marching through endless plains and forests (and constant whinging from the King), Glavius was beginning to rethink his plan.

Instead he redirected his force, aiming north. The forces of Angermanland were reluctant to put up battle, but now they would have no choice. Glavius had aimed for one decisive victorious battle to intimidate his foes into surrender, but they would not bite the bait. So it was time to, as people would say a 1000 years later, play hard ball.

Swinging north, the army continued its slow progress, but this time with greater purpose. To Angerwraith they marched. Ahead of the force, on the fastest horse he could find and flying a banner of peace, A Frozopian rode, his translator and guards behind him.See OOC thread

one of many things a large army needs is a steady stream of supplies. more than a few thousand men cannot live off the land without stopping and farming it. it is stripped bare before they have all eaten. this is one of the many weaknesses of an attacking army. this kind of thing was not just knowen amongst the house of shadows. it was drummed into anyone who was intended to command armys.

one does not need to think mearly of tactics, or even stratagy, but logistics as well.

so it was that, having let the Frozopian army pass, and trusting that the yePrinse and his troops would defeat them eventually, those marc lords and garrison commanders nearest the Frozopian supply line set about doing their part. there had been no way they could have held off the entire army in a stand up battle, after all, so why fight?

Viktor Devahlanj led some seven hundered assorted odds and sods from the various towns, garrisons, and pesant malitia that had sprung up in the area. sighting the Frozopian supply train, they lit tourches and set about their task. idealy they'd capture it. failing that, they'd burn it.

in theory, the same was happening to any supplys further along the road in either direction under other lords.

in other places along the border the Marc Lords were sending their workers to render the roads and rivers unusable for supply transports, where possible. obviously, not much could be done about the rivers, especially the larger ones, but they were inventive. chains, submurged rocks and the like. it wouldn't stop someone who was looking for such things, but it would slow them down markedly.

of course, just because they weren't the Only ones causeing problems, didn't mean the house of shadows was inactive. it was not uncomon for their assasins to sneak up to the Frozopian camp and cut sentry's throats when they could get away with it, or even those of random soldiers in their tents.

after all... if a man could not eat, and was afraid to sleep.. he would not be able to fight.

this too, was taught to all who would lead men in war.

Glavius smiled. Finally the enemy had found their balls, and sightings were becoming more frequent of guerilla movements. Unfortunately they had struck to early.

Only the first stream of supplies suffered. The most eager of the nobles to assist the marching armies were the most unlucky. Mobbed by silent ghosts, the small escorts sent by the nobility to protect them were swiftly killed, fighting hard to the last however and even successful in driving them off in certain cases, particulary when there were armed horsemen with the escort.

This was a problem for the Frozopians, but one that could be defeated. The escorts would thicken, untill the force within Angermanland was far larger. It would leave the armies left within Frozopia slightly more stretched, but within times the Frozopian nobles would work together and soon the escorts would turn into miniature armies, moving the supplies in convoys.

It was a completely different story however, if any peasant was mad enough to attack the supply wagons near the Frozopian line. The Frozopian cavalry rode in patrols of 30, riding up and down the line. Compact charges slammed into any foolish militia who came close, the impact crushing any spirit in the poor men.

During the night small skirmishes were fought, sentry against militia. In almost any outcome the disciplined Frozopian warrior won, but occasionally the Frozopian was surprised and taken by silent knives.......perhaps lucky for the Frozopian who would of suffered a far more painful fate at the hands of his officer if he was caught dozing.

All in all progress remained at its old slow speed, the Frozopians perhaps only slightly slowed as they cleared the occasional barriers in the roads. But it would not stop them.