Timoleon
Recruit
The Battle atop Potbelly Hill
Potbelly Hill, if it can even really be called a hill, lies just to the north and west of the small hamlet of Beziers in the region of Languon. The top of the hill is no more than half a kilometer from the village and is mere 200 meters higher than the surrounding plains. The plains of Bezier themselves, however, are ringed by a few larger hills and thus provide the village and its hinterland with a natural barrier from the rest of this lawless region. You see, Languon has been, ever since the ascension of Maurice Fabius to Duke of the region, a land of ruled by force rather than by law. Though a kindhearted soul the Duke does not possess the military mind and courage of his father and so has been unable to subdue the marauding bands who ravage the Languon countryside. As a result these bands have become ever more confident that they can act with impunity and have, as a result, made life increasingly unbearable for the region's population. Such is the plight of Languon.
Yet, for quite some time Beziers has been untouched by this violence due to the difficulty of reaching it and the fact that it is not particularly wealthy or important. Therefore, Beziers seemed the perfect place for the poor Duke of Languon to station and have trained new recruits to his army. His hope being that, given the relative safety of of Beziers, his new recruits would have time to train and prepare for his planned campaign against the outlaws of his lands. He believed that, despite his earlier set back, if he could only have a large and well trained enough force then he could defeat the bandits and looters which plague his land and restore law and order to the region. As a result, he ordered one of his junior officers and native of the village, Francoise de Beziers, to take 20 new recruits to the village and turn them into 10 Halberdiers and 10 Musketeers. Being a Captain of the Duke's own Musketeer regiment and having had experience with polearms before that, Francoise was more than prepared to take on the job. With orders in hand, he and his company of green soldiers marched to Beziers.
Upon arriving at the village, Francoise and his men set up camp atop Potbelly Hill and began training exercises. Training was tough going at first, but little by little then men began to improve. After about three weeks time the men were looking much more like an organized unit than the rabble they had resembled just a few days earlier. Much to their chagrin, however, on the very same day that Francoise began to believe that he could truly turn these men into hardened fighters he heard grave news from one of the village shepherds. While tending to his on one of the hills that ringed the northern edge of the Beziers hinterland, this shepherd had observed the ambush of a large contingent of Ducal forces by an even larger force of bandits. The Duke's men, reported the shepherd, were slaughtered to the last man by the bandits who, after picking the corpses for loot, began to march directly toward Bezier! The shepherd reckoned that the bandits numbered about 60 and were well-equipped. Despite the fact that it had remained untouched for quite some time, it seemed as though Bezier's luck had now run out.
Francoise de Beziers was now faced with a difficult decision. He could either stay and defend the village or he could retreat so as not to forfeit his newly trained men. The decision was difficult but he had to act fast. He knew that it would be terrible for the Duke to lose even more men after the disaster which he had just suffered, yet he knew as well that retreating would mean nothing short of the pillage of his home town and the death of its inhabitants. Despite the danger, Francoise could not leave the villagers to their fate and so prepared his men for battle. It was clear that Francoise could not make it to the top of one of the larger hills ringing the village before the bandits themselves made it there and so it seemed best to him that he and his men should stay atop Potbelly Hill and hope to bring the enemy to attack them at this strong position. In order to cause the bandits to do this, Francoise planned to bring his musketeers down from the hill in order to engaged the bandits and then to fall back so as to lure the enemy to attack the hill. On the hill, of course would be the heavily armored Halberdiers who would then engaged the less well armored bandits in hand to hand combat. Such were the plans of Francoise de Beziers on a day in late spring in the middle of the afternoon.
As soon as he could see the bandits coming down from the northern hills, Francoise marched out with his musketeers to greet the enemy with a volley of hot lead.
None of the bandits had expected to face resistance near the town of Beziers and so were not prepared to see a group of 10 red berreted musketeers firing at them. Though caught off guard, the bandits were far from scared by the spectacle and were rather brought to a rage. They cursed the musketeers, fired some arrows and charged after Francoise and his men.
Though some of the initial volleys were successful, some of the missiles let loose by the bandits hit their mark as well and two of Francoise's men went down with shrieks of agony. It brought him much grief to have to leave these men behind, but he knew that his only chance for victory was to fall back to the top of Potbelly Hill and so he ordered his men to do so. The bandits took heart in what seemed to be a retreat and so pursued the musketeers with an increased vigor; each bandit wishing to be the first to catch the fleeing men. Yet, upon reaching the top of the hill, Francoise and his men turned around to face the bandits and the Halberdiers, who had until then concealed themselves, marched forward to do so as well.
Francoise ordered his men to form a tight line and to prepare to receive the enemy's charge. Unperturbed by what they deemed to be a mere handful of extra men the bandits continued in hot pursuit, however, by this time their ranks had been skimmed by about 15 or so men due to the marksmanship of Francoise's musketeers.
Shortly thereafter the enemy closed the gap and were upon the defenders. Potbelly hill sounded of the clanging of steel, the roar of muskets, the whir of arrows and the screams of the dying.
As the battle raged on, it became clear that the advantage of the bandits was not so great as they or anyone else had previously expected. The heavily armored Halberdiers were virtually immune to enemy arrows and could also withstand most enemy strikes that did not land on their neck, groin or underarms (i.e. the parts which were covered with very little armor). This along with the marksmanship and swordsmanship of the musketeers proved to be quite deadly and, despite suffering some casualties, Francoise's men were killing bandits at a rate of 7 or 8 to every 1 of their own killed.
It was evening when all was said and done. Three hours had passed and all 60 bandits were slain. Francoise had lost a total of 7 men which, though disheartening, he realized to be a very small number given the forces arrayed against them. As he looked around the battlefield the carnage was unbelievable.
For Francoise this victory marked his first as a commanding officer, but that was not all. This victory over some of the cruelest and most hardened bandits Languon had to offer marked the first real success of a Ducal force against outlaws since the ascension of Maurice three years ago. Both his men and the villagers of Beziers were overjoyed at the outcome of this battle and soon it would be known throughout the land that an officer of the Duke had laid low his enemies. Would the future mean more such successes for Francoise or was this merely and ephemeral victory? A bit of luck perhaps. He could only look out at the hills surrounding the plains of Beziers and wonder...
((I have seen that there are no AARs around here (either that or I am blind) and so I thought it might be fun to make a short one. If people like it, then maybe others will do more and we can have a bunch of fun AARs to read. If no one likes the idea, then I promise I won't bore you with anymore!
))
Potbelly Hill, if it can even really be called a hill, lies just to the north and west of the small hamlet of Beziers in the region of Languon. The top of the hill is no more than half a kilometer from the village and is mere 200 meters higher than the surrounding plains. The plains of Bezier themselves, however, are ringed by a few larger hills and thus provide the village and its hinterland with a natural barrier from the rest of this lawless region. You see, Languon has been, ever since the ascension of Maurice Fabius to Duke of the region, a land of ruled by force rather than by law. Though a kindhearted soul the Duke does not possess the military mind and courage of his father and so has been unable to subdue the marauding bands who ravage the Languon countryside. As a result these bands have become ever more confident that they can act with impunity and have, as a result, made life increasingly unbearable for the region's population. Such is the plight of Languon.
Yet, for quite some time Beziers has been untouched by this violence due to the difficulty of reaching it and the fact that it is not particularly wealthy or important. Therefore, Beziers seemed the perfect place for the poor Duke of Languon to station and have trained new recruits to his army. His hope being that, given the relative safety of of Beziers, his new recruits would have time to train and prepare for his planned campaign against the outlaws of his lands. He believed that, despite his earlier set back, if he could only have a large and well trained enough force then he could defeat the bandits and looters which plague his land and restore law and order to the region. As a result, he ordered one of his junior officers and native of the village, Francoise de Beziers, to take 20 new recruits to the village and turn them into 10 Halberdiers and 10 Musketeers. Being a Captain of the Duke's own Musketeer regiment and having had experience with polearms before that, Francoise was more than prepared to take on the job. With orders in hand, he and his company of green soldiers marched to Beziers.
Upon arriving at the village, Francoise and his men set up camp atop Potbelly Hill and began training exercises. Training was tough going at first, but little by little then men began to improve. After about three weeks time the men were looking much more like an organized unit than the rabble they had resembled just a few days earlier. Much to their chagrin, however, on the very same day that Francoise began to believe that he could truly turn these men into hardened fighters he heard grave news from one of the village shepherds. While tending to his on one of the hills that ringed the northern edge of the Beziers hinterland, this shepherd had observed the ambush of a large contingent of Ducal forces by an even larger force of bandits. The Duke's men, reported the shepherd, were slaughtered to the last man by the bandits who, after picking the corpses for loot, began to march directly toward Bezier! The shepherd reckoned that the bandits numbered about 60 and were well-equipped. Despite the fact that it had remained untouched for quite some time, it seemed as though Bezier's luck had now run out.
Francoise de Beziers was now faced with a difficult decision. He could either stay and defend the village or he could retreat so as not to forfeit his newly trained men. The decision was difficult but he had to act fast. He knew that it would be terrible for the Duke to lose even more men after the disaster which he had just suffered, yet he knew as well that retreating would mean nothing short of the pillage of his home town and the death of its inhabitants. Despite the danger, Francoise could not leave the villagers to their fate and so prepared his men for battle. It was clear that Francoise could not make it to the top of one of the larger hills ringing the village before the bandits themselves made it there and so it seemed best to him that he and his men should stay atop Potbelly Hill and hope to bring the enemy to attack them at this strong position. In order to cause the bandits to do this, Francoise planned to bring his musketeers down from the hill in order to engaged the bandits and then to fall back so as to lure the enemy to attack the hill. On the hill, of course would be the heavily armored Halberdiers who would then engaged the less well armored bandits in hand to hand combat. Such were the plans of Francoise de Beziers on a day in late spring in the middle of the afternoon.
As soon as he could see the bandits coming down from the northern hills, Francoise marched out with his musketeers to greet the enemy with a volley of hot lead.
None of the bandits had expected to face resistance near the town of Beziers and so were not prepared to see a group of 10 red berreted musketeers firing at them. Though caught off guard, the bandits were far from scared by the spectacle and were rather brought to a rage. They cursed the musketeers, fired some arrows and charged after Francoise and his men.
Though some of the initial volleys were successful, some of the missiles let loose by the bandits hit their mark as well and two of Francoise's men went down with shrieks of agony. It brought him much grief to have to leave these men behind, but he knew that his only chance for victory was to fall back to the top of Potbelly Hill and so he ordered his men to do so. The bandits took heart in what seemed to be a retreat and so pursued the musketeers with an increased vigor; each bandit wishing to be the first to catch the fleeing men. Yet, upon reaching the top of the hill, Francoise and his men turned around to face the bandits and the Halberdiers, who had until then concealed themselves, marched forward to do so as well.
Francoise ordered his men to form a tight line and to prepare to receive the enemy's charge. Unperturbed by what they deemed to be a mere handful of extra men the bandits continued in hot pursuit, however, by this time their ranks had been skimmed by about 15 or so men due to the marksmanship of Francoise's musketeers.
Shortly thereafter the enemy closed the gap and were upon the defenders. Potbelly hill sounded of the clanging of steel, the roar of muskets, the whir of arrows and the screams of the dying.
As the battle raged on, it became clear that the advantage of the bandits was not so great as they or anyone else had previously expected. The heavily armored Halberdiers were virtually immune to enemy arrows and could also withstand most enemy strikes that did not land on their neck, groin or underarms (i.e. the parts which were covered with very little armor). This along with the marksmanship and swordsmanship of the musketeers proved to be quite deadly and, despite suffering some casualties, Francoise's men were killing bandits at a rate of 7 or 8 to every 1 of their own killed.
It was evening when all was said and done. Three hours had passed and all 60 bandits were slain. Francoise had lost a total of 7 men which, though disheartening, he realized to be a very small number given the forces arrayed against them. As he looked around the battlefield the carnage was unbelievable.
For Francoise this victory marked his first as a commanding officer, but that was not all. This victory over some of the cruelest and most hardened bandits Languon had to offer marked the first real success of a Ducal force against outlaws since the ascension of Maurice three years ago. Both his men and the villagers of Beziers were overjoyed at the outcome of this battle and soon it would be known throughout the land that an officer of the Duke had laid low his enemies. Would the future mean more such successes for Francoise or was this merely and ephemeral victory? A bit of luck perhaps. He could only look out at the hills surrounding the plains of Beziers and wonder...
((I have seen that there are no AARs around here (either that or I am blind) and so I thought it might be fun to make a short one. If people like it, then maybe others will do more and we can have a bunch of fun AARs to read. If no one likes the idea, then I promise I won't bore you with anymore!
))
