Dreadbolt: The Grey Army
Ch II-1: African Adventures
(Soderino's PoV)
As we made camp on the rather dry (but still green) lands of Africa, I saw a small figure walking a short distance just past our tents, about the perimeter that sentries patrol. My bodyguard hurried after me as I went to talk with her.
_____Aa: Ah, the air here is quite fresh and open, isn't it?
Soderino: It's hot.
_____Aa: Well I think if you wait for nightfall, you will change your mind. But never mind that, be ready to move early tomorrow. There's an opportunity.
Soderino: We will be ready.
And she disappeared. Hmm, even though she says to report to her, I'm pretty sure she's acting on some information even the scouts haven't seen yet. But that's none of my concern.
Soderino: Make sure to set a careful guard, I wouldn't want any raiders to suddenly... raid us.
__Officer: We will keep a close watch!
And what do you know, early the next day, we were attacked! Yes, suddenly people emerged from the desert and attacked us on our grassy encampment.
Early on we spotted a small group moving to flank us and focused our crossbow shots in their direction. Afterwards, it seems that we killed an important general of Tunis. It's one of the things of missile weapons, people just die due to being unlucky, and you don't really know who you downed until afterwards.
Oh well.
The bulk of the enemy force tried to swarm us, but they were in disarray. Their lightly armored units were easy prey, and we shot them down without any fuss. We can, of course, defeat much heavier forces.
The spearmen have the be ready for melee combat, but the best case scenario is certainly shooting the enemy to death from long range. You can see here that they are already experimenting with dense mail reinforced with bits of metal plates (somewhat larger than scales).
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After securing Tunis, we quickly marched south based on another bit of Our Lady's information. And what do you know, we managed to draw out the al-Mahdiya garrison onto the field!
This force was better composed than the milita of Tunis, not surprising given they were occupying a Fortress.
We quickly formed up into a large hollow square when scouts confirmed that the enemy was approaching with great speed (they are quite used to the desert, after all). With spearmen at the front and flanks to defend the crossbowmen, the rear was taken up by our most mobile units in reserve - the cavalry.
The mixture of powerful ranged capabilities and steady infantry on prepared ground would prove to be quite powerful despite being very much dominated by foot. Even in an age increasingly gripped by heavy cavalry.
In doing so we gave up to the enemy a piece of high ground. However, unfortunately for the enemy, if they were to crest the hill in front of us, the advantage to their missile troops was a little blunted by the fact that their positions were just in range of our crossbows.
As it turns out, our large number of armored crossbowmen can be relied upon to inflict high casualties on relatively unprotected archers.
A charge of light infantry, first coming over the top into a wall of bolts then down into our spear line failed horribly. Seeing this, the enemy hesitated to directly attack, but their position on top of the hill was, as mentioned, fully in range of our crossbows.
They did send out a skirmishing cavalry unit to throw javelins at our spearmen, who were unfazed. On our side, the crossbows found an easy mark, wiping out the horsemen in just a couple of reloads.
Heavier cavalry met a similar end, being in full view and shot on their way into our spears. Admittedly, they had a more powerful charge than you would imagine on sandy ground, but in the end our men stood firm and the line held.
The enemy general himself took part in one of the charges and lost many men to both crossbows and spears before withdrawing.
The last parts of the enemy force was left huddling together on their hilltop taking the remaining crossbow bolts we had to shoot at them. We rotated the back units to the front after the first three units used up their ammunition.
Later on, we would find that the archers were shooting our infantry line, rather than the crossbowmen. This meant that we didn't take many casualties from them, either.
There was really no possible outcome. Thus weakened, it was only a question of death by crossbow bolt, spear, or the swords of our knights. It doesn't make sense how bodies can pile up like that on a sandy slope without rolling down or something but as long as they are enemy bodies and not our own, I won't complain.
Heavier militia tried a few last attacks but it didn't do anything of course. The piecemeal engagements made by the enemy meant that each small portion was focused on by every single crossbowmen, quite an intimidating prospect even if you have heavy armor and a large shield.
Unlike before, this time we had to rely on the strength of our missile troops a great deal more than before. Certainly we love crossbows and they prove able to do good work.
Our knights were aided by the Cavalry Militia in cleaning up the last quarter of the enemy when the remnants finally routed.
Spoiler for Details:
(Soderino's PoV ends)
It's worth noting that if you leave the rebel provinces adjacent to this as rebel provinces (as I do for a while) the Moors and Egyptians will not really be interested in attacking them, but if you do take them, you're probably now bordering the AI and they will now start attacking you, especially annoying (as we will see) when the Egyptians have nothing else to do but constantly send stacks streaming over in your direction.