Battle of Slovan Desperation

 BACKGROUND 

With the connection of the two continents, the southern Tetepontic and the northern Akros, at the Cretescast Isthmus and the subsequent invasion of the Angshire, the previously dominant Nawatli had begun to be forced out of their more southern borders with Angshire petty kingdoms reaching as far as the Unflooded Steppes. At the same time, large assaults by the more so subjugated Tallin and Hantzu had all but forced the Nawatli Duchies and Kingdoms north of the Unflooded Steppes, besides fortress cities such as Coacatlan and Tlaxpan. This movement north brought the Nawatli into conflict with the Slovans, who lived within the forests and rivers north of the Lamawell Tops, as well as on the large sub-continent to the east of Tetepontic connected by an isthmus. The conflicts between the Eparchies and Tsardoms of the Slovans and the Kingdoms and Duchies of the Nawatli rapidly turned against the Slovans, as the Nawatli were determined to ensure they would hold a significant part of the southern continent. Three battles around the Lamawell Tops, as well as significant sieges in antiquated cities such as Tesdia (now Texcal) and Huaesk (now Huaxacachi) had forced the previously strong Slovans to seek refuge on the sub-continent, with the isthmus being their last proper geographical defence against any attack. This cramped and less than plentiful living space caused much strife and conflict between the once-powerful Eparchs and Tsars, with most Nawatli happy to patiently wait to take the remaining land as the Slovans ripped themselves apart.

This patience was not shared by King Atsidi Bornbazine. One of the more powerful Nawatli rulers, he had previously been based in the city of Coacatlan before having to flee due to impeding siege preparations by the Hantzu. Now based within Texcal, with king considered the rapid invasion and subjugation as the only way to ensure that the Nawatli would be able to counter-attack the invading Angshire, Hantzu and Tallin in the near future. Gathering a host of 40,000 footmen, as well as 5,000 archers, 5,000 light cavalry and 200 of the famed Nawatli Hippogriff knights, King Bornbazine marched up the Slovan way, hoping to take the Slovan cities of Metvetrov and Terelolic in an instant and as such remove the last geographic defences that the Slovans had. However, as this host moved over Tutalante's River, they were ambushed by a 20,000 strong host led by Duke Istaqa Howi, a significant member amoung the Nawatli leaders who preferred to wait out the eventual Slovan demise. Having heard of the gathering of Bornbazine's host and wanting to knock out a rival to his own power, Duke Howi had set an ambush up at the river crossing not too far away from his base at Tlahna. (see image 1) The ensuing conflict lasted for 6 hours, and while King Bornbazine had come out on top in the end, the fight had cost him over 15,000 footmen, as well as 1/3 of his auxiliaries and half of his Hippogriff knights, a result which meant that Bornbazine's host had to delay invasion plans. With the Duke's armies in tatters, Bornbazine's host entered Tlahna with little conflict and stayed there for the better part of two months, as the host gradually rebuilt from soldiers in the surrounding areas.

This short conflict and movement by Bornbazine's host alerted the Tsar of Metvetrov, who also controlled the city of Terelolic. Having already considered his territory as the last line of defence and knowing he would get little help from any of the other Slovan Tsars or Eparchs due to their constant squabbling, Tsar Daro Vassiliev had already started preparations to defend the 170km long isthmus which protected the last vestiges of the Slovans. However, the news of how close a Nawatli invasion was forced the Tsar to abandon any plans which featured a defence along the entire front, as there would be no time to prepare adequate defences. The Tsar knew though that if the Nawatli host was able to penetrate anywhere along the front, it would likely mean the end for the Slovan resistance. As such, Tsar Vassiliev split his forces into three, with each of his cities being garrisoned by a force 5,000 strong and another force, 10,000 strong, being camped 50km from the front line, deep within the forest. At the same time, within the two months he had to prepare, boobytraps were laid all throughout the forest, hoping to slow down the Nawatli advance. The hope was to bait the Nawatli host deep into the forest and hit them from three sides, hopefully forcing them to retreat. As the final defensive preparations were made, Bornbazine's host had already set off from Tlahna and had reached the small town of Chern within the week. King Bornbazine set camp here and began to plan his next move.

''' THE BATTLE '''

ARMY COMPOSITIONS:

Bornbazine’s Host:

-         35,000 Nawatli footmen

-         4,000 Nawatli Archers

-         3,000 Nawatli Light Cavalry

-         100 Hippogriff Knights

-         '''Total: 42,200'''

Vassiliev’s Forces:

-         Metvetrov’s Garrison

o 3,000 Slovan Men-at-Arms

o 1,000 Slovan Archers

o 500 Slovan pikes

o 500 Slovan light calavry

-         Terelolic’s Garrison

o 3,000 Slovan Men-at-Arms

o 1,000 Slovan Archers

o 500 Slovan pikes

o 500 Slovan light calavry

-         Vassiliev’s Host

o 7,000 Slovan Men-at-Arms

o 1,000 Slovan Archers

o 1,000 Slovan Pikes

o 1,000 Slovan Mounted Knights

-         '''Total: 20,000'''

THE BATTLE:

Having camped and sufficiently scouted the forest preceding him for 4 days, King Bornbazine was certain that his battle plan would easily crush the final Slovan defences, allowing him complete control over the remaining Slovans and as such the ability to easily defeat his other enemies. The plan was devised on information that the forest between Metvetrov and Terelolic was completely deserted as Tsar Vassiliev had pulled his forces to protect his cities. This as such gave the impatient and arrogant Bornbazine the ability to completely circumvent the last defensive line of the Slovans and push into the sub-continent without a fight. Taking this plan by the reins, he ordered his army to begin the invasion on the 3undefinedday of the week, despite the complaints of some of his advisors who believed this may be some sort of trap.

However, unbeknownst to Bornbazine and his host, Tsar Vassiliev had stationed a multitude of scouts both on horse and within the dense forest canopy throughout the forest. These scouts would watch the invading host’s movements and give notice to the Tsar and the city garrison as to when they should strike.

At 08:00, Bornbazine’s host began to enter the forest and met with no resistance from any Slovan force for the first two hours. Having reached some of the forests most dense regions, Bornbazine and his closest advisors felt that any significant counter-attack by the Slovan defenders was nigh impossible by now and as such commanded their host to move far faster and to spread out far more thinly than they had been previously. This command came at the most opportune moment for Tsar Vassiliev’s, as the Nawatli host passed by the first of his scouts. The message of contact being made with the invaders soon permeated into the city garrisons and Vassiliev’s host and signalled to these forces that the time to attack was now. With the incredibly thin line which Bornbazine’s host had found itself with and with a large lack of cohesion due to the order to move fast, the larger host was in no way to effectively counter the attack against them. (see image 2)

At the time of the counter-attack by Vassiliev’s forces, Bornbazine’s vanguard constituted of the 100 hippogriff knights which survived the ambush at the Tutalante river, as well as 1,000 light cavalry. This vanguard was the only part of the Nawatli host which had retained cohesion in the wake of the order from Bornbazine, whereas the rest of the force was far more disarrayed, especially on the flanks. As such, when the Slovan forces from Metvetrov and Terelolic encountered the flanks of Bornbazine’s host at 11:15, they found it quite easy to defeat and rout much of the forces there, despite the far larger size of the enemy they faced. This subsequent destruction and rout of the Nawatli flanks slowly rippled through Nawatli force as the two Slovan forces quickly moved towards the vulnerable center of their enemy. Once news of this had reached Bornbazine’s vanguard, he commanded them to about face and join up with the rest of the army in proper cohesion, as to ward off the assault by a completely insignificant opponent. This action by Bornbazine show’s that he now believed that while a counter-attack was happening there would be no chance for a full frontal assault to happen, atleast not in time to reach his forces before they consolidated. This view ignored the reality of the situation, as the Slovan forces, who were adept at fighting amongst and on the trees were able to most quickly reach Bornbazine’s retreating vanguard than he thought possible.

Leading the frontal attack, Tsar Vassiliev, 1,000 mounted knights and 500 pikes crashed into the retreating Hippogriff knights and Nawatli light cavalry. This attack caused Bornbazine’s entire host to collapse, as the routing flanks of his host no longer had a stalwart vanguard to anchor against. The ensuing chaos saw the Nawatli force converge in on itself as it attempted to retreat from what it now believed a far larger and united Slovan force. Cases of infighting appear as units on the Nawatli side who converged from the flanks into the centre believed blood-covered warriors from the opposite flank were enemy soldiers. As general chaos ensued, Tsar Vassiliev regrouped his force of  mounted knights as well as an additional 500 light cavalry and charged into the centre of the Nawatli force, ensuring the destruction of Bornbazine’s host. At this point, units of Nawatli footmen and archers had been observed to be exiting the forest in a disorganized rout, and some witnesses report that King Bornbazine was among them on horseback, having survived near-death as a Slovan mounted knight nearly took his horse from under him.

The three Slovan forces converged and proceeded to cleanup the remaining forces from Bornbazine’s host, killing and capturing an approximate 25,000 men, whereas they had only lost 4,000 men themselves. Bornbazine himself retreated all the way back to Texcal with the remainder of his army, while Vassiliev celebrated in his capital of Metvetrov.

''' THE AFTERMATH '''

Despite having reached Texcal with much of his army either dead, captured or deserted, Bornbazine faced no opposition from his powerful vassals or lords. His story of being ambushed by a numerically superior united Slovan host was corroborated by returning footmen and cavalry who all legitimately believed the actual inferior force they faced could not have been numerically inferior and from one Tsar. As such, King Bornbazine faced no negative repercussions due to the completely failed invasion. And as such, was able to field significant armies against his Angshire and Hantzu enemies as they turned on eachother, reclaiming large swathes of land for the Nawatli and reconnecting Coacatlan to the main Nawatli regions. Despite this, 12 years later Bornbazine was killed in a coup when evidence came out explaining the true nature of the ambush in the Slovan forest.

On the other hand, Tsar Vassiliev was not done defending the Slovan homeland from the Nawatli invaders. Three more invasions occurred, though with less significant forces each time by Nawatli kings and Dukes who were more patient than Bornbazine. Vassiliev managed to turn back each of these invasions, though he died from an arrow to the shoulder at the end of the third invasion, as the wound became septic. While the Slovan Tsardoms and Eparchies remained disunited, the Nawatli did not attempt to invade the sub-continent for another century, rapidly turning their attention elsewhere.