Re: From A Viking Heritage: A Danish AAR (Updated July 11th and will return August 3rd)
ITS FINALLY HERE! after the 2 week delay, another installment of the AAR is here! im going to see whether or not i can get a second part in the next week for 2 reasons. one, i want to make up for the delay, and 2, i want to enter this into the AAR competition again
if anyone has any comments, suggestions, things they want improved, or things they want to see, PLEASE comment because thats the only way ill know
without further ado, here is chapter 14!
Chapter 14:
Impetuous
Summer, 1290
The King and his companions were anxious. They had boarded a gun holk to take them to the island of Visby, where Halstan, Knud's grandson, had began preparing for the assault on the southern border of the Teutonic territory. Tensions ran high as they feared Halstan would begin the assault without them, as his loyalty was quite low. Bergthor was also on everyone's mind as he was roaming the German countryside, monitored by only an old,
over-cautious general. The 2nd Bastard Prince's life would need to end quickly. The only thing that King Knud could do while en route to Visby was make sure that the Danish landing would not be interrupted by any neighbors, namely the Poles. Hardknud was instructed to forge an alliance between the Kalmar Union and the Kingdom of Poland, a task at which he was very adept at.
When the alliance was made, Knud sent the ambassador as a pseudo-spy, and directed him to scout out their landing zone, Palanga castle.
The castle walls were barely manned as the little amount of soldiers guarding them were spread out too thin. The king smiled as his assault on the Order would go smoothly.
Meanwhile, near Uelzen...
Berthgor the Usurper, or the 2nd Bastard Prince as those loyal to the Knud dynasty so graciously called him, felt endangered by the nobles current inclination to the ruling family. He feared attempts to take his life, and for that reason he brought a senior general by the name of Sten of Kollr to accompany and mentor him. Together, they made the decision to take the outpost town of Uelzen, as the council of nobles had wanted. They held numerical superiority over the 300-strong garrison, and started the attack right away.
"Watch and learn, little prince. Today, you will see a master at work," Sten said as he ordered the bombards to pummel the gates into submission. The gunpowder made quick work of the wooden barrier, and soon the town was exposed to the 600 Danes waiting in the farmlands.
Sten quickly moved the fresh sword staff militia into the town and set up a defensive perimeter, with the archers following suit and readying their bows for any counter-attack.
Bergthor paced back and forth impatiently as the militia took a defensive position. When the 2nd Bastard Prince saw that the infantry were inert as crossbowmen were pummeling bolts down at the militia, he turned in anger and raged at Sten of Kollr.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Bergthor roared. "Our men are dying out there! Why are they just standing there?"
"You are a young general, and you do not know the ways of war," The old general said condescendingly. "You see, if the Germans counter-attack..."
"There won't be a German counter-attack!" Bergthor yelled. "They'll hole up in their town center until all of my men are bristling with arrows and bolts!"
"Your men? Why, these Danes are..."
"Under my control," The Usurper said definitively. "I am relinquishing your powers as general and I expect you to follow my orders. Go to Hamburg Castle, train reinforcements, then meet me at Magdeburg in a few years."
Sten of Kollr was shocked, but he retired willingly. "Your impatience will destroy you," Sten called back prophetically. Bergthor ignored him and ordered his infantry to rush through the defensive sword staff militia. The German forward defenders scattered back to the top of the hill as the axe-wielding huscarls came into view.
The Danish soldiers finally reached the top of the, as did Bergthor's bodyguard. The soldiers of the Kalmar began to tear through the ditch defenses of the Imperial garrison. A sense of hopelessness filled the German hearts as one by one their best soldiers fell while the worst of the Danes died. The remaining town militia and crossbowmen retreated to a corner of the town center to make their final stand.
Needless to say, it didn't last very long.
The nobles of the Aarhus court were very pleased when the pesky outpost town was taken, and thus increased the size of the Union military.
Despite this victory, Bergthor was still anxious for more glory and victory. Only the complaint of the troops was enough to restrain Bergthor from going farther south.
Winter, 1291
Finally, the troops were ready to move on after pillaging some of the local villages, as well as doing some more...unsavory things with the milkmaids. Bergthor's troops encountered a Imperial artillery train. Bergthor advanced quickly to take the siege equipment without incident, but didn't realize that a strong German force was waiting just beyond the next rise, ready to reinforce.
The 2nd Bastard Prince knew the the artillery would wreak havoc on the troops and their morale. He needed the cavalry to lead a quick assault and take out the artillery. The scouts lead the charge, followed by the norse clerics and the feudal knights. As the horses galloped towards the undefended siege equipment, Bergthor spotted something strange over the next hill. He ignored it however, and wanted to get the artillery destroyed as soon as possible.
The cavalry charged into the frightened and undefended crewmen as their bodies were hewn across the artillery that they manned a few minutes
earlier. Amidst the panic and terror of the Germans, and the war cries of the Danes, the footsteps were muffled by the snow. The last crewmen was slain as a sudden realization came upon the clerics, scouts, and knights. They were not alone on that hill anymore.
The Imperial footmen began charging up the gentle slope to clash with the cavalry, while the Imperial cavalry circled around back to trap the clerics and knights. As confusion reigned on top of the Danish horses, the scouts became terrified and charged headlong back to the Danish ranks. Then every cleric and knight knew that they had one chance to escape, but it was too late. The German infantry had swarmed over isolated horsemen like water over rocks, and the cavalry eroded into the endless tide.
The ordeal at the far hill was over, and Bergthor's cavalry arm was almost completely annihilated, save for a few norse clerics. His outflanking options were now severely limited and he would have to rely on the strength of his infantry, as well as the power of his bombards. The remaining enemy artillery, however, had gotten the same idea and began to launch explosive shells at the Danish ranks.
The 2nd Bastard Prince sent the remaining clerics to deal with the pesky artillery as he ordered the troops to advance their position within the range of their own bombards. Bergthor planned to destroy the morale of the Germans with a few bombard attacks, and then follow it up with and attack by vikings and pikemen. However, The Imperial army had already established a strong defensive position on the hill where the Danish cavalry had died.
The Danes set up beneath the hill and bombard crewmen began loading cannonballs into the metal tubes. As the armies exchanged gunpowder fire, the norse and peasant archers advanced and set their arrows alight. They hoped to quickly set the armor of the knights and sergeants alight with their fiery rain.
Moments passed, but Bergthor saw his moment. It was just a flinch in a few of the crossbowmen, but the Usurper saw it. He roared out his order to charge and the Danish warriors eagerly replied. Their axes were whipping the air and their sword staffs pierced the snowy mist as they collided with the weakened German position. The embroilment lasted only a few minutes when Bergthor had outflanked the crossbows and artillery and rammed the enemy backs. Huscarls weaved their axes through the German armor, quickly cutting open the exposed flesh.
More Danish infantry kept slamming into the German lines. Wavering and weakened, the cries of fellow Germans resounded through all of the Imperial and Danish hearts, weakening the former and strengthening the latter. The vikings soon realized that they did not need form or precision to win this
fight, but a mere show of brutality would be enough to rout the Germans. Together, they let out a roar of blood lust and begun to swing their weapons wildly. The Germans were too scared to confront these insane warriors and began backing up towards the butchering machine that was the 2nd Bastard Prince. Winning was not possible for the Holy Roman Empire that day, so they ran.
The soldiers quickly mopped out the battlefield and counted the dead. Bergthor beamed with joy at his victory, for surely there would not be another force near Magdeburg of that magnitude.
A messenger was sent to the nearby city to try and ransom the soldier back for about 1700 florins. However, Bergthor received the corpse of a Danish soldier with arrows bristling. He had no choice but to kill every last German.
Bergthor had now gained a more fearsome reputation as an agressive general, and every Imperial commander was a little more afraid of confronting him without the superiority of numbers. The Usurper was now more confident and aggressive than ever, which led him to lay siege to the city of Magdeburg without waiting for Sten's Hamburg reinforcements.
Summer, 1292
News had reached the farthest corners of the Danish kingdom that Poland had allied with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Teutonic Order was losing friends fast, and the Danes were going to be the final blow.
Near Reval...
Niels Jarl had received the noble council request. They wanted the nearby city of Prenau taken quickly, but Niels only had limited forces. He left a few companies of men back in Arensburg, crossed the landbridge by boat, and took up positions around the city.
Winter, 1293
The summer months had gone by quickly in the frigid north, with the leaves having fallen off of almost all of the trees. It was night Niels Jarl looked upon the city and the weakened inhabitants. The nearby Teutonic reinforcements would not know who would assault the city when. It would not matter
anyway, Niels Jarl chuckled to himself, for the Danish numerical superiority was too great to lose this battle.
The young northern general was surprised to see the meager defenders trying to man the walls. There were over a million ways Niels could think of outflanking them, but that would waste time, and with time, moonlight.
It was an easy assault to plan, and most of the ladder landings went smoothly. While three of the ladder detachments set foot on the walls, the order militia became terrified. They had heard terrible stories to the south. The Danes were butchers, leaving no mercy for anyone. Their war cries were long and load, and shook the hearts of the bravest man. Their warped images of the viking invaders prevented them from actually holding their ground.
As the militia fled, the Danes at the gates below the fighting had punctured the last solid defense of the Teutons. Cavalry was immediately sent through to deal with the Order general and the remains of the wall defenders.
The clerics rushed towards the town center, seeking the enemy general. Their maces crushed the routing defenders as they turned the corner and unexpectedly ran into the Teutonic commander. The lances could not defend against the armor-crushing maces of the clerics, so swords were drawn and the fighting began.
The Teutonic knights were too occupied to notice that Niels Jarl had circled around the town center and had taken out the catapults. He the began charging down the straight rode, right into the backs of the bodyguards. The charge distracted the general enough so that a cleric could plant a mace in his head. He looked around, dazed, and then slowly fell off of his horse. The cleric was kind enough to bring the mace down on the horses neck, killing it too. The Teutonic commander lay on the brick of the town center, blood seeping from his half-torn face.
The battle was won, and the town of Prenau was theirs. The council of nobles awarded several florins to the treasury as a reward for advancing into enemy territory.
Meanwhile, outside Magdeburg...
The siege had progressed nicely, with Bergthor preferring to wait for siege equipment and reinforcements from Sten of Kollr. However, by this time the Germans had brought up an extra 600 men. The 2nd Bastard Prince thought he could quickly take the city square, then defend it until sundown, but he thought ti would be better to wait for Sten's reinforcements. Where is that old fool? Bergthor thought to himself. The scouts reported no one in sight
for miles around.
Waiting proved to be the biggest mistake that Bergthor had ever made, for the 600 gained reinforcements from the Prague Citadel, quickly becoming 800. The overpowered Germans set out to attack the relatively small Danish force, coupled with about 300 German reinforcements from Magdeburg. Although vastly outnumbered, Bergthor would not turn tail and run; he would stand and fight, and if necessary, die.
Originally Posted by Justice and Mercy
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