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Thread: Total War's Greatest Battles!

  1. #21

    Default Re: Total War's Greatest Battles!

    Name of the battle: The Hamburg Incident

    Me/Them: Denmark/Teutonic Order (Stainless Steel)

    Commanders: NA/NA NA (two TO commanders)

    Forces: ~520 largely unsuited for siege defense, but at least they were mostly heavy infantry/2100+ (two full stack armies)

    Notable Tactic: "By Fire Be Purged" (hold the enemy at the gates (there were two gates into the inner courtyard rather than the usual one) and let the oil fry them all)

    War: "Why Is the Teutonic Order Attacking a Catholic Faction?" (note: their initial landing force was utterly smashed at Palanga, and this battle involved two of the four full stacks that made up the 'second landing')

    Outcome: Denmark's finest hour (I wrote an AAR-style post about it if you're interested). Barely 20 Danes were on their feet at the end of the battle, but the Teutons were utterly crushed. It was a battle worthy of song and legend, and the Old Gods were surely smiling in Valhalla.

    Aftermath: Exited battle, experienced CTD. Cue massive rage.

  2. #22

    Default Re: Total War's Greatest Battles!

    Name Of Battle: The Bloody Fields of Acre
    Game: Darthmod
    Myself: England, one of my Generals.
    Enemy: Egypt, captain-led army.

    My Forces: Full stack of:
    1 Bodyguard
    6 Retinue Longbowmen
    6 Armored Swordsmen
    2 Dismounted English Knights
    5 English Knights
    Totaling around 2000 men

    Enemy Forces:
    Full stack of heavy infantry w/ some cavalry
    5 Tabaridyya
    14 Saracen Militia
    1 Mamluks (general)
    Totaling around 2000 men.

    Situation: A flat fields battle.
    War: The Umpteenth Crusade, which turned into 'let's keep killing these guys.'

    Tactics: I held a line with all my infantry behind thinly-deployed longbows in skirmish mode. My cavalry were all on my left flank. The enemy charged straight at my infantry line, taking heavy casualties from arrow fire. I had to pull the bowmen back but they had managed to kill about 1/5 of the enemy forces before that. As soon as my heavy swordsmen were engaged, I circled my cavalry behind them and charged into their rear, breaking the militia units instantly. The Tabaridyya held for a bit longer, but were surrounded and killed by my swordsmen. The enemy general managed to rally a few depleted Saracen units, but was quickly surrounded and killed by my cavalry. The rest was just mopping up.

    Results:
    English Losses:
    Around 50 men lost, mostly swordsmen.
    Egyptian Losses:
    Entire full stack annihilated, with a half-unit of Saracen militia escaping and disbanding.

    Strategic Impact:
    Egypt still had massive full stacks, some with more cavalry, but the tactic used by the English generals achieved similar results every time, resulting in the degradation of Egyptian forces to peasant levies and halberd militia. Egypt became a vassal of the English crown within a decade in exchange for some of its lost territory and a substantial sum of gold, and assisted the English in fights with the Turks and Byzantines for many years hence.
    Alii inferre bellum, facientibus pacem.


  3. #23

    Default Re: Total War's Greatest Battles!

    Medieval II, Stainless Steel 6.4

    The Khwarezmian Invasion of Novgorod Republic.

    The Battle on the Kazakh Steppes : The Young King on the Hill

    The Republic of Novgorod (myself) vs The Khwarezmian Empire

    The newly crowned King, Dmitrii the Brave vs THe Khwarezmian Prince (forgot name)

    Novgorodian Army ~1600-1700
    The king and his bodyguard, 8 Peasant Archers, 2 Spear Militia, 2 Senior Rus Militia, 1 Cavalry Militia, 3 Alani mercenaries (1 unit of light cavalry and 2 units of druzhina horse archers). Non of the units are at full strength.
    Khwarezmian Army:- ~4000
    1st army ~2300
    13 spearmen (mix of militia and professionals), 3 Turkomans, 4 Khwarezmian Nobles
    2nd army ~1500
    The Prince and his bodyguard, 12 Turkomans, 4 professional spearmen, 3 Khwarezmian Nobles
    3rd army : a small battery of artillery units, consisting of 2 catapults and a trebuchet crew.


    Background :- With the fall of the Cuman empire, the depleted core of the Novgorodian army was sent back to procure new arms, armor and new recruits in Serdoba, Ryazan and the Volga-Bulgar. Leaving behind, the young king, in command of a decently sized but untrained collection of levied peasants, militiamen and a few mercenaries, marching along the steppes to garrison Jaiksk. After the last batch of professional soldiers have been dispatched, the scouts brought a disheartening piece of information. A large army under the command of the Persian prince have set up camp south of Jaiksk, inside Novgorodian territory. The intent of the Khwarezmians was clear, to lay siege to Jaiksk and wage war with Novgorod the Great. The king hastens his march, hoping to face the Persians from behind the safety of the castle walls. But his hope was short lived. The invading force intercepted the Novgorodians before they could reach the castle; battle was met in the steppes just south-west of Jaiksk.

    Deployment phase :- Heavily outnumbered and outclassed by the Khwarezmians, the young king wisely sought high ground, deploying his troops on top of a tall hill, with a steep and ragged slope in front. To the left is a nice, flat slope, steep enough for a devastating downhill charge and to the right is a narrow pathway that leads to the top of the hill, the area below this pathway is a virtually impassable, rocky terrain, effectively protecting the right flank of the nimble infantrymen. The spearmen formed a battle line at the crest of the hill, stretched as wide as possible with a depth, only four man deep; in front of the spearmen, 4 companies of peasant archers formed a skirmish line, the remaining archers were left in the back as reserves, to save their arrows for the horse archers of the Prince's royal army. The King and his light cavalry (cavalry militia and the alani) positioned themselves on the left, on top of the flat slope. The battle hardened Alani Horse archers are position at the end of the pathway on the right.

    The Battle (this battle happened a few months back and i could not remember every detail) :- The Prince sent his first army under the command of a small-time captain, hoping to crush the Novgorodian militia without the use of excessive force. As the battle commences, the Khwarezmians sent their turkomans up the steep slope. With the advantage of elevation on their side, the peasant archers annihilated the the horse archers without suffering casualties; as the last horse archer was shot down, the spearmen got their given sign and began the treacherous uphill march. The passage to the top of the hill was steep and the rocky terrain further slowed down their advance. Whatever precious time they had, was not wasted by the experienced peasant archers,who let loose volley after volley of arrows onto the enemy. In the meantime, since the Khwarezmians have abondoned the right flank, the druzhina were ordered to circle around the rear of the enemy position and attack the persian heavy cavalry, positioned on their right flank. who have already begin to take positions to charge the Novgorodian battle line. Riding hard and as fast as they could, they reach the Khwarezmian right flank just in time to distract the heavy cavalry. Their short bows could do little to inflict damage on the heavy cavalry, but their mission was to only lure them away; and it worked splendidly well. The nobleman took the bait and chased after the light horse archers. Meanwhile the Khwarezmian spearmen were getting battered and torn apart by the peasant archers, who managed to take down a huge portion in their advance. When they reach the top of the hill, the archers ran back behind the spearmen, and the two battlelines meet. With no heavy cavalry to protect their flanks and rear,the Novgorodian King and his light cavalry landed a powerful charge on their rear, with the miltia spearmen acting as an anvil; instantly routing most of the enemy. The Khwarezmian nobles, realizing their mistake, turned around and sprinted headlong to the pell-mell, hoping to save what's left of their infantry; and riding behind them was the druzhina, the prey have become the predator. Shooting arrow after arrow into the backs of the heavy cavalry, taking down one nobleman after the other. By the time, the Khwarezmian heavy cavalry reached the battle site, the infantry was all but dissolved. They formed a line at the foot of the hill, hoping to mount a charge but were somehow discouraged and they turned their back, intending to flee with the infantry. The Novogorodian king and his light cavalry, did not miss the opportunity and landed a devastating downhill charge into the exposed rear of the Khwarezmian Nobleman, taking out the captain which resulted in a mass rout of the whole company. Following this the infantrymen on top of the hill, gave chase to the routed enemy, but as they reached the foot of the hill, they saw a banner flying in the horizon; The Khwarezmian Royal Army has arrived. The spearmen hurried back to the top of the hill and formed a battle line, and all the companies of peasant archers were called to the front to form a skirmish line. The king and his cavalry took their positions to the left and the druzhina rode fast to the end of the path to the right. With the arrival of the prince and his army, the first army rallied and rejoined their allies. The horde of horse archers advance on the slope but were cut down by the massed volleys of the peasant archers. The small artillery battery tried to take advantage of the path on the right to lay down some flanking fire on the right flank, but they were no match for the druzhina. Meanwhile, the cavalry militia split from the left flank and repositioned to the right flank. With the annihilation of the horse archers the spearmen and heavy cavalry begin advancing on the hill. Half of the archers have run out of arrows and moved to the back of the line to serve as reserves, and the remaining archers could not do much damage to the heavy armour of the khwarezmian units on the right, but the militia units towards the left were slowed and cut down. The professional spearmen and the prince's bodyguard on the right mounted a halfhearted charge, their momentum eaten up by the steep incline. As the Prince's bodyguard reach the top of the hill, the Novgorodian king, reminiscent of Alexander the Great in the battle of Gaugamela, ordered a unit of spearmen right in the path of the Khwarezmian Prince, to retreat at the precise moment the charge hit home. The momentum of the enemy charge slowed down by the incline. Their glorious charge, all but failed, halted right at the top of the hill, with a spear unit directly in front, and two cavalry (the king's bodyguard and the cavalry militia) to the left and right. The Novgorodians, wasting no time, charged at the trapped prince. One of the spearman's thrust hit his mark and took down the Prince. With the death of their commander, the demoralised Khwarezmian army began to break, little by little, and the charge by the Alani mercenaries from the bottom of the hill only hastened the chain rout. The entire army turned tail and ran for their lives,only to be cut down by the Novgorodian light cavalry.
    Last edited by anonymous_(\)008; August 17, 2015 at 12:49 PM.

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