The Taking Of Maraclea

**Stildawn** · November 15, 2015, 08:33 PM

The Army of Tripoli arrived at Maraclea in good order, it encamped to the east of the city constructing a quick wooden palisade to the east of the camp.

Light horse patrols were organised to range around the city to the north and south, as well as lines of communication setup running north to the forces of Antioch, advising their ally of their arrival at Maraclea.

The majority of the men settled down to rest, while others constructed equipment and manned pickets.

Lord Santana in a command tent looked over his forces and their positions.

400 - Men At Arms, divided into two 200 strong patrol groups
1100 - Bowmen
1600 - Footmen
900 - Spearmen

**Stildawn** · November 15, 2015, 08:43 PM

Lord Santana stood in his stirrups watching his lone horsemen approach the city under a white flag.

After watching but not hearing a brief exchange between the city and his man, the man spurred back around waving the flag.

Santana along with his aides and a few translators cantered forward into the no mans land between the city and his encampment... He stopped just shy of arrow range and await the leader of the city who was now leaving the city coming out cautiously to meet.

When the muslims pulled up, looking into their eyes, Santana spoke confidently.

"I am Lord Santana, Count of Tripoli and leader of this army... I offer you and your citizens the chance of peace... There is no need for blood to be split this day..." He said pausing for the translator to catch up.

"My terms are simple, surrender the city immediately, and your ruler and his entourage may leave unhindered, carrying whatever they can carry with them... The Muslims of the city will be spared any looting, in fact the majority of my army will not enter the city, they may stay in their homes and I promise their lives will continue as before, their religion and customs respected... But if any citizen wishes to leave, they to may depart peacefully." He paused again after the delivering the terms.

"So what say you?" Santana finished.

**Dirty Chai** · November 16, 2015, 02:05 PM

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Maraclea was a small coastal town, with a sun-kissed curtain wall barely higher than twenty feet.
Two small minarets could be seen peering over them from the town's small mosque.
One tower stood thin and tall, looking out over the harbor. That harbor was probably all this town was worth, at the moment, though taking it into Christian hands would likely cut off coastal supply to the Emir in Homs. A simultaneous capture of Jableh would certainly provoke a response.

The Levantine horsemen who came out, local nobles and such, watched Santana speak.
On the north side of the city, out of view, a gate opened, and three horsemen darted eastwards, coming into view as they raced across a forest hill ridge north of the camp.
Then one of them responded in turn, "We will take our chances."

**Stildawn** · November 16, 2015, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by Bastard Feudalism

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Maraclea was a small coastal town, with a sun-kissed curtain wall barely higher than twenty feet.
Two small minarets could be seen peering over them from the town's small mosque.
One tower stood thin and tall, looking out over the harbor. That harbor was probably all this town was worth, at the moment, though taking it into Christian hands would likely cut off coastal supply to the Emir in Homs. A simultaneous capture of Jableh would certainly provoke a response.

The Levantine horsemen who came out, local nobles and such, watched Santana speak.
On the north side of the city, out of view, a gate opened, and three horsemen darted eastwards, coming into view as they raced across a forest hill ridge north of the camp.

The two hundred light horse on patrol in the north immediately saw the three horsemen, already ahead of them due to their position between the town and well everywhere else, the fanned out to present a line to the enemy which had no where else to ride to.

Light horse patrols were organised to range around the city to the north and south

Originally Posted by Bastard Feudalism

Then one of them responded in turn, "We will take our chances."

Santana glanced over to the three horsemen, barely visible to the north.

"They will be picked up by my patrols, unfortunately, you are quite alone. I say again, there needs to be no loss of life, you may all leave here peacefully."

**Dirty Chai** · November 16, 2015, 04:12 PM

"You made the choice to take lives when you came to these sacred lands."
The nobles turned around then, wheeling, and rode back into the town, closing and barring the wooden gates behind them.

Roll, 2
Two horsemen are cut down as they spread out and race through the forested thickets to the northeast of the town, but one manages to break free of the lines to the east, disappearing into a gorge.

**Stildawn** · November 16, 2015, 04:42 PM

OOC: Phoey lol, that was exactly why I set those patrols up haha

Santana made his way back to camp.

The men had already began constructing large crude ladders, more ramps than anything else due to the low size of the walls. The archers had already started constructing large crude wooden shields that could be stuck into the ground, moveable by two archers and giving cover for both.

Santana settled back into his tent, removing his armor from the heat, it was then that a aide informed him that a enemy horsemen got through his patrols. Cursing loudly he wrote two orders, one to go north to the Prince, and another south to his other army on the northern border of Tripoli... Better safe than sorry he thought.

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The archers had finished their mobile shields (600 total a few spares), Santana gave the order for the next part of the operation.

For Reference:

The archers stepped forward quickly just into arrow range of the towns walls, then let loose the first volley... Over a thousand arrows rained down onto the walls of Maraclea, at this range they were highly ineffective but their initial purpose was to keep the enemies heads down.

At the same time, the nine hundred spearman moved forward 450 of the mobile shields, placing them as close to the walls as they could in the time they had before retreating back out of range.

Another volley of inaccurate arrows sailed into the air, and the spearman once again delivered the remaining 150 shields and retreated.

Now there was a lull in the action, the archers stepped back out of range, and re stocked their arrows, each man taking three full quivers on his back.

After a short rest, they formed up once more... Sending a final inaccurate volley into the air, as the arrows sailed towards the target, the archers sprinted forward, taking up positions behind their shields.

Settling into their positions, at this range they could fire nearly horizontal trajectory with only limited use of ballistics. With their first arrows nooked, they began their bombardment... Their orders were to target enemy archers first, followed by any man they could see on the walls with their now accurate shots...

As the continuous archer barrage started, the spearman were organised into groups, to sprint out ferrying more arrows to the archers as their supplies depleted from near constant volleys.

Santana viewed this form a way back safe within the camp, he would continue this barrage until it lost its effectiveness, and the ramps his infantry were making were complete.

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Meanwhile in the south, the other army of Tripoli set forth north, this force of eight hundred Men at Arms backed up by seventeen hundred Knights was fully mobile, the cantered north well to the east, eventually slowing down into a large figure eight pattern to the east of Maraclea between the Count siege and the enemy's other locations in the east. The eight hundred Men At Arms fanned out even further in small mobile patrols, if a threat came from the east, they would know of it.

**Dirty Chai** · November 18, 2015, 01:37 PM

OOC: Those are called mantlets, interestingly enough, for your future reference

The coastal Levantine town held out against the volleys, occassionaly shooting out counter-volleys, though small in comparison they were.
Once the Tripolitaine archers were behind their mantlets though, the besieged townsmen and their garrison could offer little response other than to pepper the wooden shelters and the ground around them with arrows.

The ladders/ramps were made in due time, with the walls and their guardians remaining where they were.

**Stildawn** · November 18, 2015, 02:59 PM

OOC: Ahhh good to know good to know thanks lol.

As the arrow barrage continued, Santana ordered the next part of the attack. The four hundred Men At Arms would dismount and form up in columns, one behind each ramp. The ramps would be carried forward by the infantry, place on the walls at shallow angles (possible due to the low height of the walls). The Men At Arms, being heavy and better armed would storm up the ramps first, followed closely by the sixteen hundred footmen, in a hopefully swift and brutal assault.

The orders were giving, and still under the protection of archery volleys, the assault group march out towards the walls. A loud horn sounded and the footmen scurried as fast as they could with the ramps the last few feet, smashing them down onto the low walls...

A guttural roar erupted from the Men At Arms who as soon as the ramps touched the earth broke into a heavy charge, shields forward, swords ready, racing up onto the battlements. As the heavy infantry attacked, they were supported by the flooding in of the regularly infantry.

Meanwhile on command, the archers all around the field shifted their fire to the sides, keeping their arrows off the ramps, but firing into the areas to the sides of the ramps.

**Dirty Chai** · November 18, 2015, 04:08 PM

As the Christian warriors crested the height of the wall and its rough ridge, running up the ramp as they did, they could see that the walls were thinly manned, and littered with dying men with goose-feathers protruding from their guts. Little bands of warriors formed tight walls to meet the incoming assault, with a couple armored warriors in front of each, backed by townsmen and mailed swordsmen. But after the first clash and the second clash, the other bands began to fray and rout at the rears, with the townsmen abandoning their protectors to descend into the town and flee. The rout spread fast, and almost as soon as the third clash came, a vast majority of the Muslim men on the walls were running down stairs. Horns blasted defiantly for a time from the tower deeper in the town, but the armored warriors on the walls buckled and either ran or dropped their weapons, seeking surrender.

----

To the east, over the crest of a low hill, appeared horsemen and foot, flowing several flags of green, red, and black, accompanied by Quranic writings.
Soon after, a banner of the eastern eagle appeared, the Seljuk symbol.

But this tip of the army, without revealing its full extent, simply stared at the siege and assault of the town, and the mass of Crusaders between them and it..
And turned and left.

**Stildawn** · November 18, 2015, 06:04 PM

OOC: You might want to check a few posts back, there is a giant Knight/Men At Arms force covering the town to the East

**Dirty Chai** · November 18, 2015, 06:37 PM

OOC: Yes, maybe you've misunderstood. This enemy force from the east arrived, took note of it all, and left because of the size of your overall force.

**Stildawn** · November 18, 2015, 07:55 PM

OOC: So they ran into my cavalry screen and never saw Maraclea... Ok.

Santana was surveying the scene, he had orders out not to sack the town, but he understood that that was mostly likely to be unavoidable.

"Get me the casualty report" He said turning to an aide, he simply nodded and ran off, at that moment a rider pulled up and delivered a message, it was from his cavalry command in charge of the Knights to the east, the enemy had been spotted, numbers unknown, but have withdrawn.

Santana scribbled a response and handed it back to the rider, who set off at once. The message was orders for light horse to cautiously follow the retreating army, hopefully to determine there destination and numbers.

Another rider was sent north for Antioch.

OOC: Could I get a casualty report please.

**Dirty Chai** · November 18, 2015, 09:44 PM

Casualties:
33 men-at-arms
46 bowmen
19 footmen
8 spearmen

**Dirty Chai** · November 18, 2015, 11:59 PM

The scouts sent east after the Muslim relief force, report that the army could number anywhere between two and three thousand, but that that force was probably a vanguard of a larger force, one they think could be as much as twice that size. It strayed off southwestwards in the direction of the Krak.

**Gandalfus** · November 19, 2015, 02:00 AM

The messenger returned, bearing news of the Prince's acceptance. Already, the forces of the Prince moved out from Jableh and towards Margat, and would soon be seen traversing the Levantine coast in all the panoply of war. Knights in the vanguard, the infantry a sprawling mess behind them, converging upon the town of Maraclea that lay before them.