Reunification: a Marcomanni AAR (updated chapter 25)

[Alwyn]

Great chapter! I look forward to seeing how and when Rome strikes back. I like your use of the images of the eggshell and the wounded animal, nicely done!

[hooahguy14]

Chapter Twenty-five

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

They say that hubris is the downfall of everyone. And for a man named Meginhard, it was.


After a string of victories over the seemingly weak Romans, a dangerous way of thinking arose.


"These Romans are no threat! We have been met with only victory! Every time we have encountered these Romans we have soundly beaten them!"


People seem to forget that every time we have fought the Romans so far, we were on an equal or higher footing. We had yet to fight them when we were at a disadvantage.


And so we embarked on a dangerous road. I sent out an order among our generals to keep scouts on patrol and ensure that one did not enter battle unless one was sure of victory, but my words fell on deaf ears. A number of our generals split from the main force and went deep into the Roman-held countryside in Iberia, looking for a fight.


One of these generals was Meginhard, a senior member of another family. A seasoned general from the campaign in Britannia, he and his experienced group of soldiers, which he named the Bear-Sons went alone through the northern part of Iberia. Wrecking a couple of small Roman forces, their arrogance took hold of them. With great fanfare, I received a message from him, proclaiming that he was marching on the Roman town of Aracillum, which at the time seemed undefended an an easy target.


But it was a trap. Waiting within the city were over three thousand Roman soldiers, waiting for Meginhard to get close enough to attack. Normally, a single army of ours would have no problem taking on a force of three thousand Romans, especially since most of them were levies drawn from the city. But a Roman army had been following Meginhard. The Roman Legio VII Herculia, led by a man named Faustus Silius Vetus, shadowed Meginhard for over a week, skillfully avoiding detection by our scouts. And then at the worst possible time, he struck.





Meginhard was surrounded. He knew it too, as he rode around, shouting words of desperate encouragement to the men who knew they were doomed.





The artillery got to work, desperately trying to inflict as many casualties as possible before the Romans got too close.





But the Romans were not just coming from the front. From our rear a large group of heavy Roman cavalry began to flank us.





Following them were hundreds of heavy Roman infantry, determined to surround and slaughter us.





Our cavalry rushed out to intercept some of the Roman auxiliary cavalry on the left flank, and fought an embittered battle with them.





In the center, Meginhard and his bodyguard charged to meet the heavy Roman cavalry that was trying to hit his army from behind. He knew he was charging to his death, but he rallied his men valiantly and charged anyways, killing many Romans, among them one of the generals who was a senior aide-de-camp to Faustus Silius Vetus.





On the outskirts of our formation, our men clashed with Roman cavalry who were harassing us in any way they could.





Eventually the main body of Romans under General Vetus got close to our main formation. Meginhard ordered a counter-charge in an effort to break up the momentum of the charging Romans.





But Roman infantry were coming from our rear flank as well. Meginhard sent the only forces remaining who were not currently in combat, a mere three hundred men to face a force of over three times their size who were barreling towards them. They bravely stood and fought to the last man, eventually being overrun. Meginhard turned the artillery towards the rear in an attempt to assist our beleaguered warriors, but it was of no use.





The Romans forced a gap in the line, and pushed their cavalry through it to our soft targets like our archers and artillery. They stood no chance against the Roman cavalry.





Having been slaughtered by Roman cavalry, the few survivors from our archers fled the field.





Seeing their brethren fleeing the battle was disheartening to our infantry who were still fighting, but they did not lose heart themselves. They fought tooth and nail to take down as many Romans as they could before they fell themselves, an act worthy of the bards to sing of for generations to come.


Meginhard, who had lost most of his men already, sent out the order to recall the cavalry, who were still on the far side of the battlefield, tenaciously fighting the Roman cavalry on the flanks. He ordered them to charge into the rear flanks of the Romans in an effort to relieve some of the pressure.





For a short while it seemed to work, but then Meginhard was killed, felled by a Roman spear through his chest. Determined to fight to the death, many of those who remained pledged to die to the last man, taking as many Romans with them as they could.
And die they did, the sheer number of Romans overwhelming them.





With no leader and their comrades dying by the hundreds around them, who could blame the soldier who decided to flee and attempt to survive?





And so the battle was lost, our dead strewn across the field like seeds flung by farmers planting their fields.





Of the almost three thousand warriors who set out with Meginhard over three months ago, fewer than two hundred managed to flee to safety. It was certainly a crushing loss, losing an experienced army along with a very experienced general.








News of the defeat spread like fire across our lands. I sent out an order immediately to all of my generals: nobody was to venture into Roman lands unsupported again to suffer the same fate that the Bear-Sons did.


But while this was a defeat, and a bad one at that, we would be able to easily recover from it. Already the Bear-Sons were resurrected back in the homeland under a new commander, and they would get their revenge on the Romans some day.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Author's note: I will be gone for the next month, so expect a new update in July!

[Alwyn]

The opening sets up the chapter beautifully ... over-confidence leading to bitter defeat (+rep). I like the way that you tell the story of this battle, the order to avoid a repetition and the raising of a new army of Bear-Sons to avenge the old. I look forward to the return of your AAR in July.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

So, Nevelung has left us and Meginhard fatally underestimated the Romans - although at least Leudagar seems to be doing everything he can to prevent that happening again. Leudagar seems surprisingly optimistic for a man who has just suffered such a defeat, in fact!

I'm enjoying your writing, as always. How will I manage to wait till July?

[hooahguy14]

Leudagar seems surprisingly optimistic for a man who has just suffered such a defeat, in fact!

I'm enjoying your writing, as always. How will I manage to wait till July?

Well things are going to be quickly changing on the Roman front, so stay tuned! I should have a new chapter out by the end of next week, assuming no problems come up.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

I'm looking forward to it, especially with the promise of rapid change.

(Since it's got beyond "the end of next week", I assume there were problems. I hope they were only the nice kind of problem (like being distracted by playing other games you're enjoying).)

[hooahguy14]

Yeah, my personal life is very full right now so Im not finding any time at all for my AAR unfortunately.