It was unfortunate to spend 3500 of my 3851 kora on an ironworks in Gasha without first checking the political climate. I'd taken Gashajin's wars for granted and had not paid attention to the recent truce with Qara-Kethem and Sayazn. Ishtar was my only option when it came to raiding, and the night before I set out to raid Ishtari villages to the North a revolution erupted, and I found myself unable to raid anything.
Put off, I set my sights further to the East to Ishtar itself. I'd raid a village or two, enough to pay my debts and soldiers, and sell my spoils to the rebels. I didn't expect much resistance beyond a few small patrols, given Ishtar's wars with Sayazn, the Sayazn Provinces and Gathan, but on raiding the first village I was attacked by a vassal and patrol: 151 men against my 75. Using the hilly terrain to my advantage I positioned my musketmen and Qormat horsemen on a steep incline, readying myself for their charge. At first I was disappointed by the lack of hits my muskets were dealing when the enemy reached around 200-300 yards; I'd not downed a single one. Once they reached the foot of the hill however the bodies began to pile up. What normally would have been light skirmishing for the Ishtari was my singular defensive strategy. Their bowmen could not match my musketmen being out-armed and out-armored. Their spears clashed with my pikes, and since I had few to field, were eventually killed and wounded. But only two or three of theirs managed to reach my musket line. Their surviving men retreated and regrouped with the oncoming reinforcements who had decided to play it safe, holding their 51 back at a safe range. In order to break the stalemate and lure them back into killing range I rode out with my handful of Qormat horsemen to skirmish with them and hopefully draw their trained spearmen into a chase. My horsemen killed a few with their bows, and like I'd hoped their full force gave chase. I lost a few Qormat, but this was expected. A few Ishtari nobles died by lance while the rest were soon once again under musket fire, eventually sent into a rout.
It wasn't a battle I was too worried about before going into it. I figured that I could have taken on an Ishtari army of around 200 with my 75 because of the advantage afforded by my muskets. I lost 6 men with 10 others wounded, bringing me down to 59. And then I was attacked by an army of 215. It was a repeat of the first battle: muskets on a hill - pikes below. Yet now I decided to use my horsemen more actively. The hill I chose was also steeper. They charged, and my muskets thinned their lines, horsemen and pikes further breaking them apart. Despite the numbers disadvantage I fought this second battle with ruthless efficiency. Leading my horsemen I drew their archer fire and pulled away a good number of their spears only to return to the hill and hit the closing spears from behind. I made sure to knock out whatever nobles I saw to further profit from this excursion. After all it was easy enough to spot their red lampshades even in the thick of battle. Still I was surprised when I rushed toward someone clearly important who had just had his horse shot out from under him, and with a mace strike or two found myself having knocked out Mahala Almard, Emperor of All Ishtar.
It was never supposed to be more than a raid of financial necessity, but my quick jaunt to Ishtar landed me their Emperor. Not too bad.
Put off, I set my sights further to the East to Ishtar itself. I'd raid a village or two, enough to pay my debts and soldiers, and sell my spoils to the rebels. I didn't expect much resistance beyond a few small patrols, given Ishtar's wars with Sayazn, the Sayazn Provinces and Gathan, but on raiding the first village I was attacked by a vassal and patrol: 151 men against my 75. Using the hilly terrain to my advantage I positioned my musketmen and Qormat horsemen on a steep incline, readying myself for their charge. At first I was disappointed by the lack of hits my muskets were dealing when the enemy reached around 200-300 yards; I'd not downed a single one. Once they reached the foot of the hill however the bodies began to pile up. What normally would have been light skirmishing for the Ishtari was my singular defensive strategy. Their bowmen could not match my musketmen being out-armed and out-armored. Their spears clashed with my pikes, and since I had few to field, were eventually killed and wounded. But only two or three of theirs managed to reach my musket line. Their surviving men retreated and regrouped with the oncoming reinforcements who had decided to play it safe, holding their 51 back at a safe range. In order to break the stalemate and lure them back into killing range I rode out with my handful of Qormat horsemen to skirmish with them and hopefully draw their trained spearmen into a chase. My horsemen killed a few with their bows, and like I'd hoped their full force gave chase. I lost a few Qormat, but this was expected. A few Ishtari nobles died by lance while the rest were soon once again under musket fire, eventually sent into a rout.
It wasn't a battle I was too worried about before going into it. I figured that I could have taken on an Ishtari army of around 200 with my 75 because of the advantage afforded by my muskets. I lost 6 men with 10 others wounded, bringing me down to 59. And then I was attacked by an army of 215. It was a repeat of the first battle: muskets on a hill - pikes below. Yet now I decided to use my horsemen more actively. The hill I chose was also steeper. They charged, and my muskets thinned their lines, horsemen and pikes further breaking them apart. Despite the numbers disadvantage I fought this second battle with ruthless efficiency. Leading my horsemen I drew their archer fire and pulled away a good number of their spears only to return to the hill and hit the closing spears from behind. I made sure to knock out whatever nobles I saw to further profit from this excursion. After all it was easy enough to spot their red lampshades even in the thick of battle. Still I was surprised when I rushed toward someone clearly important who had just had his horse shot out from under him, and with a mace strike or two found myself having knocked out Mahala Almard, Emperor of All Ishtar.
It was never supposed to be more than a raid of financial necessity, but my quick jaunt to Ishtar landed me their Emperor. Not too bad.
