Teutonic-Polish Battle, 1431

[GHGAustin]

This is the account of a battle for our 1431 Campaign in Austin, TX...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Morning of the Feast Day of the Chair of the Apostle Peter broke
clear and cold, even for a February on the Polish-Teutonic border. The
nobles, both Polish and Lithuanian, in the service of Kind King
Robertas gathered before the Royal Standard of Krakow and received
Communion in preparation for the coming battle against the ravaging
hordes under the Martin, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order.

The town militias had received the Holy Wafer earlier and took up a
position in the vineyards to the west (left) of the camp, while some
mercenary hand gunners deployed on the far right in an empty field.
The hosts of Lithuania were next to deploy, stretching across the
front of the camp. In the mean time, the Teutonic host had begun also
to array themselves opposite our Lithuanians. So-called Turcomen
(corrupted local horsemen fighting in the Muslim fashion!) numbered
only half the Lithuanians and distributed themselves to the center and
left of our lines. Germanic mounted crossbow and some Prussian subject
archers were deployed on our right.

King Robertas now observed the deployment of the Teutonic Brother
Knights and their misguided "Crusading" allies from the West. They
deployed on the center of the field, with the unruly "Crusaders" on
our right and two groups of White Knights in the center and left. Some
subject spearmen, impressed from among the native population, had
previously deployed in front of the fortified Teutonic camp.

Now Robertas had the information he needed: where would the enemy's
knights be deployed? The Flower of Polish Chivalry rode out of the
camp and proceeded to the right of the Polish line of battle. The sun,
shining low on the horizon from the King's right, glinted off the
lance tips and polished armor of the warriors. The colorful banners
snapped in the cold February winds blowing down off the Baltic. Steam
rose from the whole host, lending an other-worldly aspect to the
procession. Soon the Knights and Lords were deployed in two Banners,
each comprised half of Knights and Sergeants and half of lesser
men-at-arms with crossbows.

Now the King ordered the Great Banner of Krakow dipped to signal we
were ready for battle. The white, black and gold banner of the Master
of the Order dipped in response and the whole host of the Teutonic
army surged forward. Soon our Lithuanians and the Turcomen were
skirmishing with bow and javelin. The German Knights pressed steadily
forward all across the line and the German crossbow horsemen and
Prussian archers approached on our right. King Robertas ordered the
Lithuanians to push forward aggressively toward the enemy knights and
to skirmish outside of javelin range with the Turcomen. The Polish
Chivalry pushed ahead in a bid to catch the German crossbowmen and
drive the Prussians from the field.

Early on, the fortunes were mixed for the Lithuanians. The Turcomen
could not stand the long-ranged archery from our nimble horsemen and
so Grand Master Martin ordered them to withdraw; the Lithuanians
pressed them hard and eventually caught one the groups, inflicting
casualties and sending them fleeing to the rear. They ignored the
entreaties of the Treasurer of the Order to rally and dispersed to
their homes. Meanwhile, in the center the German "Crusader" Knights
turned their flank to the Lithuanians in scorn of their martial
abilities. The Lithuanians could not endure this insult to their
warrior prowess and so two Banners threw themselves on the German
Knights. But the lightness of the Lithuanians had little impact and
the knights turned to face the Eastern horsemen. At first, the
Lithuanians held their ground. But soon a group of White Knights came
to support the "Crusaders" and a frightful slaughter began. In a short
time the courage of the Lithuanians waned and they broke to seek the
safety of dispersion among their steppes.

However, the Lithuanians had bought time with their lives for the
Polish Knights to wheel around on the flank of the "Crusaders." While
some of the Polish Knights advanced slowly and failed to contact the
German crossbowmen and pin them, Grand Master Martin opted not to
intercept the other Banner of Poles with the crossbowmen, whom they
would have engaged frontally. Instead, Martin placed his confidence in
the steady demeanor of his German Knights and decided to accept the
attack in the flank. But the Poles struck at the full gallop and the
crash was like a hundred church bells peeled at random. Surely they
heard in all the towns and villages within 30 versts. The "Crusaders'"
German armor saved them from heavy casualties, but the whole formation
was thrown into confusion. The Poles extended on either side and in
the ensuing melee the Germans could see that God was on the side of
the Poles as the sun shown at their backs, which caused the
"Crusaders" to lose commitment to their cause and flee to the North.
Now there came a great slaughter as the Poles pursued and in their
righteous fury consistently outpaced the fleeing Germans.

This misfortune for the Teutonics discomfited the White Knights in the
center, who had pursued the fleeing Lithuanians. Now these knights,
seeing their allies in rout, too became disrupted in their ranks. The
Brother Knights soon came under a rain of arrows from additional
Banners of Lithuanians, to little effect. But then, emerging from
behind the Polish Knights appeared on the flank of the White Knights
the lowly group of handgunners from the right flank, who had trailed
along behind the Polish Knights for the entire battle. Seeing their
chance to prove their worth, they touched fire to their infernal
machines and belched forth great noise and flame that fragmented the
Brothers of the Order.

In the meantime, on the left flank, the Lithuanians and Turcomen had
played cat and mouse, until the Lithuanians had tired of the game and
turned their attentions to the Prussian spearmen. Seeing the
opportunity to crush the Lithuanians between the anvil of the Prussian
spearmen and the hammer of the Turcomen light horse, Martin ordered
the Turcomen to charge the Lithuanians, despite half the Turcomen
being disrupted from our archery. In the ensuing combat the Turcomen
sufferd heavily, both groups becoming fragmented from the Lithuanian
swordsmanship in melee.

The Lithuanians, whose brothers had suffered so heavily at the hands
of the White Knights, now delivered the final blow. They crashed into
the previously fragmented White Knights and broke their already
wavering morale. The rout of the Brother Knights and the coming
destruction of the two Turcomen groups finished the invaders. The
Feast Day of the Chair of the Peter the Apostle will live long in
Polish and Lithuanian memory. The victorious warriors returned to the
camp for evening Mass knowing that God had favored our cause.

May God protect our Glorious King Robertas Eugeniusz!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The battle was a lot of fun. I was pretty worried after Marty suckered
me into charging his knights in the flank. I had forgotten that
skirmishers did not knock the opponent down a level. But in the end it
worked out as it delayed the forward progress of his knights enough to
allow me to fall on the flank of those same knights with my knights.
Marty played a good game with the Turcomen up until the end, when he
got a little over aggressive in a bid to trap my Lithuanians. To that
point, with a 2:1 advantage in light horse, I had only killed one of
his units and lost two of mine.

I never did catch the mounted xbow. I think those are a good troop
type in the medieval games. Marty had bad luck with his shooting rolls
or they could have really hurt me.

I ran the Polish knights as mixed units with mounted xbow in the rear
ranks. I think it worked well, although I did not take best advantage
of it. Failing several rolls to not charge was part of the reason for
that, but also I wanted to be very aggressive with the knights.

Thanks, Marty, for a very enjoyable game!

Rob

[rbodleyscott]

Very nice report.

[DaiSho]

The town militias had received the Holy Wafer earlier and took up a
position in the vineyards to the west (left) of the camp, while some
mercenary hand gunners deployed on the far right in an empty field.

Very enjoyable report. I'm going to have to try to emulate it .

Incidentally, do we assume that the Mercenaries didn't receive the Holy wafer on the understanding that they received another form of holy wafer (gold coin?).

Ian

[GHGAustin]

Thanks, guys.

It's nice that the game terminology can be used in a descriptive manner to convey both the feel of the battle and what happened within the schema of the rules. What I try to do is use game terminology as much as possible for the events and actions, but use descriptive terminology for the actors. So instead of writing, "my average LH caused the enemy Cv to fail a cohesion test and become disrupted" I would write "our valiant Lithuanian light horse archers rained arrows down upon the Russian Boyar cavalry, disconcerting them and causing their formation to become disrupted."

It sure does take a lot longer to write, though!

Best,