Battle of Narville
| Battle of Narville | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Cagilan-Suvillian War | |||||||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||||||
| Attackers | Defenders | ||||||||||
| Cagilan Empire | Suville | ||||||||||
| Commanders | |||||||||||
| Lachlan MacDuff, Marshal of the Calis Lions Khaludh Telrunya, Count of Nardil, Marshal of the Eaglin Eagles Karrieal Helron, Countess of Alatol, Marshal of the Est Sularus oth Mithas |
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| Strength | |||||||||||
| 17689 CS | 9808 CS | ||||||||||
| Formations | |||||||||||
| None | None | ||||||||||
| Casualties | |||||||||||
| 940 | 431 | ||||||||||
The Battle of Narville was the first, and perhaps the only, major battle during the war between the Cagilan Empire and the Kingdom of Suville, otherwise known as the Cagilan-Suvillian War.
Prelude
On January 16th (2008) more than a thousand Cagilan troops attacked Suvillian militia in Dampinn under a banner of neutrality. Several hundred more Cagilan troops had arrived in Glassinn accompanied by hundreds of troops from Tara. Suville's Military Council had been aware of their approach, and Queen Callisto had pleaded for an explanation from Vengence, Prime Minister of the Cagilan Empire. She was assured that the troops had arrived for entirely peaceful reasons, but with the attack in Dampinn, the guise was up. Callisto had also pleaded with Caergoth, the Protectorate of Magnus and other friendly realms for military assistance, but all her requests were denied, each ally claiming to be too weak to provide any useful assistance. Instead, these realms offered the Cagilan troops and their allies safe passage through their lands to Suville.
Despite the aggression demonstrated by the Cagilan Empire in Dampinn, Tara insisted that they were in Suville for purely humanitarian reasons and proceeded with their Cagilan counterparts to Webgard, just outside Suville's walls. High Marshal Taran had ordered the Army of Suville to rally in Werdham, a position which allowed them to defend either Suville or Narville at a moment's notice; however, scout reports indicated that the Cagilan troops in Dampinn were now attacking Werdham. The Cagilan troops still carried a banner of neutrality, so Marshal Aeryn ordered the Army of Suville to retreat back to Suville in order to avoid further hostilities. Just as the Military Council had feared, the Cagilan troops demonstrated their aggression once again and killed the Suvillians left behind in Werdham. It was January 17th, the City of Suville was surrounded, and Prime Minister Vengence immediately declared war on the Kingdom of Suville. Finally, Tara could no longer deny that the hostilities demonstrated by the Cagilan Empire were intentional.
Marshal Aeryn ordered the entire Army of Suville to misdirect to Webgard, and whether it was out of fear of being defeated in battle, fear of losing face amongst the other realms, or they were genuinely deceived by their own allies, the Army of Tara began to withdraw their forces. As the Tara Times reports,
In a move that stunned the Taran People, the Prime Minister of the Cagilan Empire has declared war against Suville. Our Goodwill Tour has since been abruptly cut short as the participating CE contingent has instead begun besieging our former hosts. The Army of Tara is currently attempting to vacate the area of hostilities and avoid being drawn in the larger conflict.
Perhaps the Cagilan Empire knew Suville was misdirecting, but they also knew that they did not bring enough troops to take Suville without Tara's help, and so instead of attacking Suville, they sent their forces in Werdham to attack Narville. However, Suville's Military Council had predicted a hit on Narville week's ahead of time, and so High Marshal Taran had already ordered a massive drop of militia in Narville. At the last moment, High Marshal Taran ordered the Army of Suville to cancel their misdirect and instead attack Werdham, hoping that enough units would be able to respond to capture any Cagilan units left behind, just as they had done to Suville's troops a day earlier. At the same time, Marshal Aeryn led a small contingent of units to Webgard in a rare double-feign maneuver, hoping for similar results. The strategy worked, and both Taran and Aeryn emerged victorious. Suville's first military operation was a success, but the greatest victory was led neither by Aeryn nor Taran. The greatest victory was the Battle of Narville, where 665 Suvillian Militia stood against 1326 Cagilan Regulars and won. The leaders of Suville had put their trust and their fate into the hands of their people. The people rose to meet that challenge, and successfully defended their city from foreign invaders.
Battle
Below you can see the unit formations at the onset of battle. The Cagilan Infantry was focused in the front, with Archers and Mixed Infantry directly behind them and Cavalry in the rear. They were led by three marshals, and even Sir Nuno Freire de Andrade, Minister of Defense of Cagilan Empire and Baron of Sauvia was present at the battle. The Suvillian forces were concentrated in the center of their fortifications with a few troops on the walls. Only three Suvillian nobles were present (Amz, Gadrial, and Nimithiel), none of which took command of Suville's forces.
| 5 (14-C) 6 (28-C) 13 (13-C) 17 (30-C) 19 (18-C) 25 (124-I) 43 (108-I) |
1 (30-I) 2 (33-A) 7 (21-A) 8 (33-A) 9 (20-A) 10 (25-A) 11 (20-A) 20 (11-I) 23 (11-I) 26 (30-A) 28 (24-A) 29 (20-A) 31 (20-A) 32 (14-A) 33 (29-A) 34 (3-M) 35 (25-I) 36 (34-A) 37 (12-A) 42 (23-I) 44 (24-A) 49 (15-I) |
3 (24-I) 4 (33-I) 12 (17-I) 14 (25-I) 15 (7-M) 16 (29-I) 18 (20-I) 21 (17-I) 22 (29-I) 24 (35-I) 27 (22-I) 30 (40-I) 38 (20-I) 39 (30-I) 40 (13-I) 41 (11-I) 45 (28-I) 46 (20-I) 47 (30-I) 48 (19-I) 50 (26-I) 51 (19-I) |
58 (19-I) 70 (17-A) 74 (21-I) |
52 (14-A) 53 (24-M) 54 (24-A) 55 (20-I) 56 (23-I) 57 (36-A) 59 (45-I) 60 (29-I) 61 (27-S) 62 (20-I) 63 (34-I) 64 (17-I) 65 (30-I) 66 (15-A) 67 (50-A) 68 (25-I) 69 (15-I) 71 (15-A) 72 (30-I) 73 (27-I) 75 (39-I) 76 (49-I) |
- In Round 1, both Cagilan and Suvillian forces advanced to the fortification walls. Both Amz (Countess of Dorton) and Nimithien (Dame of Narville), two of Suville's only three nobles at the battle, are wounded by archer fire.
- In Round 2, the Cagilan forces bring 23 siege engines against Narville's fortifications. However, Miles Devlin (Knight of Rauxod) is wounded.
- In Round 3, Cagilan forces succeed in breaching Narville's walls; however, Suville's militia succeeds in destroying 11 Cagilan siege engines and captures Khaludh Telrunya, one of the Cagilan Marshals.
- In Round 4, more Cagilan troops breach the city walls and they succeed in wiping out Gadrial's unit, removing the last Suville noble from the battle. However, Suvillian militia succeed in destroying another 5 siege engines, leaving the Cagilan Empire with only 6. Suville also manages to wound Grim von Lucker (Knight of Tarasac), Ricardus Hughes (Knight of Skalk), M'oko de Succio (Knight of Esgalons), Gorka Bluthammer (Marquis of Trassing) and captures Link kildor (Count of Middale).
- In Round 5, heavy casualties were felt on both sides and Geoffrey Vilhardouin (Knight of Strahan) was wounded. Nevertheless, the Cagilan forces continued to maintain a strong presence inside Narville's walls, and only one siege engine was destroyed.
- Round 6 was the turning point in the battle. Half of the remaining Cagilan siege engines were destroyed, as well as half of the Cagilan units still inside the city walls, including Ra MArch (Knight of Skalk).
- Over the next three rounds, the remaining siege engines are destroyed and all of the Cagilan troops within Narville's walls are killed. In the last moments of Round 9, Tsubasa Kurosaki (Count of Hidale) was been captured.
- In Round 10, the Suvillian militia attack Cagilan forces outside the walls. Nimithien, unable to find shelter after being wounded in Round 1, suffers additional and more serious wounds, and many of the Suvillian militia are killed.
- Over the next two rounds, the remaining Suvillian militia outside the city walls are wiped out by the Cagilan forces. Seeing that the only Suvillian forces that remain are a handful of leaderless militia units, the Cagilan's decide to make one last push for the city.
- In Round 13, the Suville's few remaining militia gather together and fire their arrows down upon the Cagilan Empire's noble regulars. Almost all of remaining the Cagilan units are wiped out, and Dario Majer (Knight of Lamoni) is wounded.
- Over the next three rounds, the remaining Cagilan forces panick and retreat from the battlefield.
Aftermath
Currently, the Cagilan troops seems to be withdrawing from Suville's land, but diplomatic relations have not improved, and the threat of continued violence remains.
