1873-12-14: Mathis - A Prelude
Mathis - A Prelude
Summary: Nobles, knights and officers of the Allied army come together to receive orders before moving out on the great march north, to Mathis. Teleko and Rikton await.
Date: 14 Decembre, 1873 IE
Related: Any Westwar logs.
NPCs: {$npc}
Players:
Thomas  Corwin  Dertan  Helena  Altair  Ramius  Myrana  Gauvain  Letholdus  Sonya  Jarret  Belladona  Zahara  Wulfred  Ludovic  Varian  

That the Allies were moving out was obvious at this point to anyone in Oracla. That veil had been partially lifted several weeks earlier; thousands of soldiers from the Sokar and Tarris duchies arriving in Oracla will do that. Clearly, the Allies were moving across the battle lines into the occupied Fallow Lands, but with what plan? Winter warfare was dangerous. Supplies had to be marshalled in great numbers long before a campaign started. Movement would slow to a crawl, and lines of communications were ten times as important than during the summer. There was no foraging. There were no second chances. Even escape is difficult in the winter.

But while the very fact that they were moving out was obvious, the objectives were less so. Those who knew had kept their mouths knit shut. Eventually, the day came that the plan was to be revealed. All of the forces, save the garrisoning soldiers stemming from the Crownlands, had gathered supplies and winter kit, drawn weapons, armour and ammunition and were nearly prepared to move out.

With the soldiers ready to go, the orders group was finally called. It was here that all would find out what their army's tasks were.


The "auditorium" of Oracla Fortress, as it is called, is a place which has often hosted entertainment for the officers and sometimes the troops of the garrison. Plays, feasts and other festivals have all taken their place here. Today, it is bare of divertissements. A large, hand drawn map has been draped over the stage, mostly in black and white but with some very striking marks in blue, green and red.

All of the nobles, knights and officers have been invited to attend this orders group. Some of the more professional forces have also brough their sergeant majors and senior soldiers in order to disseminate this information as widely as possible. It takes little time before the crowd settles in. It is large, composed of men and women who expect obedience from their subordinates and despite their natural inclinations have been sharpened by five years of war. The high commanders are seated at the front of the room, but no matter where one sits (for there are chairs placed throughout), the acoustics of the room mean all can hear what matters.

The room is somewhat chilly. No fires have been lit, and although body heat tends to cluster when crowded closely together, all can still see their breath. At the front, Brigadier Viscount Thomas Chandus stands with a pair of assistants, clad in a brown bear fur that he has worn to war since his adolescence. It has done him well. He surveys the room with watery blue eyes, assessing the crowd of commanders who may be sitting calmly today, but tomorrow will be spattered with the blood of friend and foe.

"Good afternoon my lords, my ladies, knights, officers and sergeants. As you know, I am Brigadier Viscount Thomas Chandus, Adjutant of the allied army here." When he's not commanding, it seems that he is always adjutant, the chief of operations, the planner behind the scenes. "Today, we will be discussing the pressing matter of our offensive into the occupied lands of House Mathis. Our end state, ladies and gentlemen, is nothing less than the clearing of our lands which have been taken from us for the last half decade and the shattering of our enemy." He pauses for a moment to let that settle in.


"To begin, I will orient you to this map."

FLMathis.jpg

"We are currently here, at Oracla. The dashed orange line is the rough current forward edge of battle… of course, it has fluctuated significantly as time has passed, and the enemy regularly conducts incursions onto our side. The blue arrow is our proposed course of movement. The green marks along the way are forts and supply depots which will assist in keeping our lines of supply and communication open. Finally, the red is the assessed enemy position." Thomas smiles thinly. "As you no doubt know after battling the Bloody Cardinal for so long, assessed is ordinarily a specious term when applied to his forces. But we have strong reason to believe that he is in the vicinity of Mathis. In any case."

He clears his throat.

"Situation - enemy. The enemy situation that they know is this - Teleko himself is currently within in vicinity of Mathis. As it is winter all scouting suggests that Rikton's forces have settled down to their winter quarters and garrisoned comfortably. They likely have a substantial field force, almost certainly under Bloody Cardinal Teleko himself, but our scouts are unable to find it. We all know that he is completely unpredictable and has a propensity for showing up where least expected… and this is being planned for as much as we can."

Still, our scouts currently suggest that their forces are probably around the 10,000 mark but it's an estimate rather than a guarantee. These are mostly composed of Rikton regulars, bolstered by some Holy City levies and almost certainly some Teleko elites around the Cardinal himself. As usual, Rikton's forces are centred around the disciplined armoured pike block, with a strong heavy cavalry force, archers and crossbows and smaller groups of men at arms or shock infantry. We've also noticed an increase in levies in their force this winter. Likely, they are using levies to bolster garrisons up and rest their regular troops until the spring."

Thomas reaches to take a drink from a cup of water before continuing.

"Friendly mission and the Lord Marshal's intent. The combined Fallow Lands army will conduct a single penetration of the enemy line WEST of Smithtown, while a follow on force commanded by the Knight Marshal, Duke Letholdus protects the lines of communications and the Keeper of the Seals, Alfred Gwynain commands the defence of Oracla with Crownlands forces. The main force will CAPTURE Mathis town itself from the enemy, CLEAR the enemy up to at least the Kent river and defeat any large enemy forces in between our line of departure and the river. The Lord Marshal's end state is allied armies re-occupying the Fallow Lands territory up to the Kent river, preparing for an enemy counter-attack and other follow on operations."

The Chandus Brigadier of the East lets this soak in for a moment. In the crowd, the assembled commanders are busy furiously writing - or at least their subalterns and scribes are. This is to be the biggest, most ambitious move in the Fallow Lands since the start of the war five years ago, and it is being done in the winter. There are a few murmurs, though they are kept to a minimum.

"Execution. Currently, Oracla and the Fallow Lands defence falls to forces of the Crownlands, whose rotation it has been from early Octobre to Mars. Obviously, these are significantly augmented by the Four Corners mercenary dragon of 2,000 which has kept us holding the Fallow Lands strongly. However, Sokar and Tarris forces, along with the Arkanin, Sokar and Tarris Royal Regiments and the Burnished Spurs have converged on Oracla, marshalled supplies and will be conducting the main moves.

Further, significant forces from Aequor, including the already established Argent Legion 13th Cohort, which rotated in recently to replace their comrades in the Fourth Cohort, and a portion of the Arrani Legion are in place to march with Galenthian forces. There is also a small Ryaltan marine forces, who will following and supporting with Duke Letholdus.

The mission will be conducted in three phases:

Phase 1, already complete, was the marshalling of forces in Oracla, the securing of assembly areas and forts up to the forward edge of battle," he points to the two green marks southeast of the orange dashed line, "to protect and stockpile supplies between Oracla and Mathis, and the setting of troops ahead of the line of departure.

Phase 2 will be the march into Mathis and the inevitable engagement with the enemy.

Phase 3 will be the capture of Mathis and the scattering of enemy forces."


Chandus spends several minutes discussing the order of march for their move from Oracla and other important administrative control measures before moving on to proposed friendly actions on contact.

"If our forces come upon the enemy unexpectedly, which given their illusory nature is likely, we will immediately deploy into a battle line.
The line will be composed of three elements.

In the centre, there will be majority of committed Sokar forces, House de Ufford and the Royal Regiment of the Burnished Spur, both the 13th Cohort Argent Legion and Arrani Legion forces. This is the preponderance of our army and a highly versatile mix of infantry, missile troops and cavalry. I will especially note the presence of musketeers from my vassal Lord Aspendon and the Spurs, which will give the centre a strong punch lacking elsewhere.

On the right will be an extremely strong cavalry division - Tarris cavalry, both heavy and lancers and Hytal horse archers. They are supported by extremely heavy troops - Reine Dragon Claws, Tarris axe infantry and a good dollop of archers.

The left will be Four of the Royal line regiments - the Royal Borders, the Queen's Own Crownland Guards, the Royal Wayston Regiment and the Royal Riverwatch Immortals, as well as the Order of the Griffon mounted as heavy horse. Alongside the royal troops are my own Chandus forces.

In reserve will be a mix of Crownlanders, a smidge of Arkanin forces released by Brigadier Sir Xavier and some Sokar. Also, of course, are is our artillery, a mix of field cannon, ballista and catapult. These will be protected by the reserve.

The rear areas behind our battle will be made up from the Crownland forces on rotation and the mercenary forces we've fortunately had bolstering our numbers from Four Corners. Oracla will be garrisoned by the remnants of the Crownlanders augmented by their militia to fill the billets. Our forces is heavily professional, which should greatly aid our cause.

Service and support - our healing will be coordinated under Lady Belladona Shephard. Supplies will be stockpiled in each of these three forts, indicated by green marks on the map. These three forts will also project soldiers to ensure that convoys from Oracla and Goldhollow to the front are kept safe and the lines of supply are open, as well as keeping our rear areas clear of enemy as much as practical."

Thomas lets the assembled commanders have another moment, stealing a drop of water to quench his thirst. He continues.

"Command and signals. I'll start with signals. Over these last five years, we have been most fortunate to establish clear and standardised bugle, drum, flag and smoke signalling to communicate rapidly with eachother, whether Galenthian, Aequorian or mercenary. We will use this system.

In overall command of the Army is the Lord Marshal of Galenthia, Duke Gauvain Tarris, with his second as our illustrious ally, Duke Ramius al'Arran of Aequor. Myself, Brigadier Chandus, is acting as adjutant of the force to coordinate these movements et cetera. Our rear lines of communications are under the command of the Knight Marshal of Galenthia, Duke Letholdus Romante. Finally, the garrison of Oracla is under the Keeper of Seals, Viscount Alfred Gwynain. All in all in good hands.

That is the case for the overall command. In battle, the command will shake out as follows.

Command of the RIGHT will be the Lord Marshal, Duke Gauvain.

Command of the LEFT will be Brigadier Chandus.

Command of the CENTRE will be Duke Ramius al'Arran… second to be determined by himself.

Command of the RESERVE currently falls to Brigadier Viscount Dertan Kaedon.

Now that we've this out of the way, are there any questions?


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