The whole length of the hobgoblin army advanced as one, whooping and hollering the entire length of their battle line. The noise was deafening! Major Schwarzkopf observed charging units as far as he could see to the north and south of his position. General Paulus had warned him that the hobgoblin army was well co-ordinated and confident. The strategy, which all of the Ferocious 44th regiment officers had agreed upon, was for the flanks to be held by the Murdering Angels and the Fighting Tigers, while the Flying Eagles destroyed the hobgoblin centre. What had sounded like a brilliant strategy in the officers meeting now had to be implemented in the real world of the Kaunas battlefield.
The tactical considerations for each unit were left to the discretion of each individual battalion commander. The Holy Prussian battalions were certainly not going to entertain the idea of a general counter charge. One troop type that the Prussians had the advantage in, was black powder weapons. Grapeshot, rockets and bullets would take their toll on the hobgoblin troops before they could ever reach the Prussian lines. Every unit in the Flying Eagles had been told to hold their position until the first volleys were fired, and that is exactly what happened.
"Kablaaast!!!!!" At the far left of the Flying Eagles battle line, Breitbart's horse drawn cannons erupted with their opening salvo. Ten small lead balls per 'grapeshot' charge flew forward from each barrel. Grapeshot was quite deadly when the missiles struck their target, but it was difficult to control the shotgun-like blast, and grapeshot was notoriously inaccurate. Still, sixty lead shots should hit something. "Kabooom!!!!!!" Schwarzkopf swung his head around towards the south, his gaze catching sight of smoke trails erupting from the rifles of the Brunswick Handgunners. One hundred Stalsburg bullets poured into the advancing hobgoblin javelin throwers, who hesitated a moment while they absorbed the impact of the volley of lead. The javelin unit commander snarled and hollered to rally his troops, with the result that, as one, they ran several steps forward and launched their missiles towards the riflemen. Schwarzkopf watched in horror as the large steel tipped wooden javelins arched upwards, then down towards his troops, almost too terrified to observe the results of the attack. He never did see the missiles strike home, however, since at that moment the Mongolians launched their rockets towards the advancing crushers and Siberian brown bears. "Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!!" went the rockets leaving trails of sparks and smoke behind them as they flew. The fog of war was descending onto Schwarzkopf, as it became impossible to see what was going on to the left or right of his position. Paulus, Hartmann, and Meyer would have to keep an eye on those parts of the battlefield. Their view from Gallows Hill would be vastly superior, compared to his ground level observation point.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!" The rockets exploded with a fearsome effect, greatly blunting the momentum of the charging bear cavalry. The fireworks-like display did not appear to have killed or injured many hobgoblins, but the Siberian brown bears were clearly affected by the explosions. The charge, which had been so organised and intimidating was now losing its impetus. Schwarzkopf sensed an opportunity and raised his sword Nagalring, and called out the order: "Knights of the Wolf! Charge!!!!!!" Mage Oxheart cast his Fearless Charge spell. As one, the knights gathered up the reins of their warhorses and buried their heels into their sides. Lady Goldenrod Echinachea, resplendent in her elven finery and bearing her magnificent Goddess banner, occupied the central position of the charging heavy cavalry. She took the opportunity to cast her first spell, showering the knights with green sparks, as her mystical power flowed upwards and outwards towards the Siberian bear cavalry. As the waves of magical energy impacted and entwined the beasts, they found to their dismay, that green roots were growing out of the bear's feet into the soil beneath them, binding them to the ground. The panicking hobgoblin riders leapt off of their mounts and attempted to use their war axes to cut the roots and free the bear's legs.
All the while, the Wolf Knights were accelerating towards their target. Oxheart Mooseantlers was next up, chanting the incantation of transformation that was his proudest spell. One by one the warhorses grew and grew, sprouting massive sets of antlers and equally massive sets of muscles. Schwarzkopf was amazed at the transformation of his own mount, watching Gunther grow into a huge moose, right beneath him.
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The hobgoblin bear riders scrambled, as best they could, to free their mounts, then leapt onto the bears and turned to meet the charge of the moose cavalry. Definitely not accustomed to receiving a charge, they still represented a significant foe. All thirty bears and riders had survived the rocket barrage, although a few had sustained wounds. They still had their heavy war axes, which they now raised to defend themselves. Their own wizard now cast a spell, one that had served the bear cavalry well, in past battles: "Battle Speed" was an incantation ideal for the massively bulky hobgoblins and bears. Each of the beasts and axe wielding hobgoblins felt a rush of accelerating power sweep over them, just before the charging moose cavalry impacted their lines.
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Eagleclaw Wolverine watched the charge of the Wolf Knights and was impressed. This hobgoblin army was no picnic to deal with, but the array of power available to the newly renovated Flying Eagles was genuinely intimidating. The Analytical Engine had seemed like a money wasting bucket of bolts, but Mage Oxheart was a man of Wolverine's own kind, and the elven Lady was a genuine super talent. As the Wolf Knights galloped off to whatever fate that awaited them, Eagleclaw turned his attention to his own opponent. In his time, mage Wolverine had had several opportunities to match his wits against hobgoblin crushers, but never so many as this. There must be 90 of the bastards! Being that Schwarzkopf and his magical sword were fighting with the Knights, it would be all the Thuringians could do, to take on the crushers. Clearly, the tactics here required pouring every one of his spells into his companions, and hoping for the best. At least their morale was good. The Thuringian boys were still feeling invincible from their successes against Orcs. But these crushers were another level of fighter altogether. Some of his companions would not live through this day.
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Mage Wolverine watched, as the advance of the crushers transpired. Closer and closer they came, but unlike several of the other hobgoblin units, there were no artillery or riflemen to soften up their ranks. The only consolation was that the crushers did not appear to have magical assistance. Too bad for them. Wolverine Ironclaw vowed to make the difference in this battle.
Lieutenant Michael raised his arm and his sword, and called out to his troops, "Prepare to receive charge!" He then turned towards Eagleclaw and pointed towards him. That was his signal. Magic time!
In quick succession mage Wolverine ran through his magical buffing spells, adding attacks, power, and a layer of wolverine fur to the soldiers that surrounded him. His last act, before the charge impacted was to cast his weakening spell onto the crushers. Unfortunately, perhaps because it was his last casting, that spell didn't quite come off as planned. It might have been because of some natural resistance on the part of these particular hobgoblins, or possibly some unseen magical force was at work, but the crushers were not enfeebled by his spell. That could well be a problem. Wolverine looked around for some explanation as to why the weakening spell had failed but could not see anything obvious. At least mage Flamebringer's flaming weapons spell came off without a hitch. Blue-green flames sprouted from every sword as she ran down the ranks of swordsmen.
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Back up on the top of Gallows Hill, Nicholas Meyer and Erich Hartmann were nervously watching the developing battle below. The critically important actions of this engagement were taking part in the central parts of the battlefield. Clearly, the hobgoblin objectives were the Kaunas bridges which crossed the Blau river. These bridges represented the only significant crossings of the river in this region. Downstream to the shores of the Baltic Sea, the only crossings possible were during mid winter freeze ups. Southwards and upstream of Kaunas, unreliable fords were the only crossing option until the city of Koblenz, some 50 kilometres distant. Margaash would need to seize the three bridges in Kaunas, intact, if he wanted to continue his advance into northern Silesia. To capture the bridges, Margaash would have to destroy the Flying Eagles battalion, and had deployed his best attacking units to finish the job.
As Meyer scanned the battlefield he was able to not only take note of his own units, but also the performance numbers associated with the other battalions and the hobgoblin forces which opposed them. Several things came to mind: Firstly, the Charging Tigers and Murdering angels were largely stalemated with their opponents. Both the left and right flanks of the battle were engaged, but the lines were not moving. An attrition strategy was being employed.
The centre of the battlefield was a completely different story. Spectacular explosions of gunpowder and magical energy were obviously taking place, with smoke and dust rising to obscure the goings on. Nicholas's Analytical Engine powered vision penetrated the murk, allowing him to see casualties taken and spells cast. The numbers revealed positive progress, with both the Thuringians and Wolf Knights inflicting more damage than they were receiving. For Nicholas, this was cold comfort since he realised that any particular casualty could well be a friend of his. Still, the Flying Eagles did seem to be winning, at least at the battlefield centre.
Just then, an anomaly caught his attention. Wolves! Dozens of them. Breaking through on the far right. "General Paulus!"
Paulus was a few metres away, engaged in a discussion with the commander of the Murdering Angels battalion, but his ears pricked to attention immediately. he excused himself, and walked over to Nicholas Meyer. "Yes, Lieutenant! What can I do for you?"
"Sir," explained Nicholas. "The Brunswickers seem to be having a difficult time of it. The Dire wolves have gotten behind them and are threatening to turn their flank. Might there be some fast cavalry assistance available from the White Swans?"
"I will see what I can do, son," replied Paulus, and he quickly made his way over to the White Swans commander and made an order. Moments later, a messenger was dispatched down the hill, resulting in a commitment of light cavalry towards the right flank. The whole process was quite swift and efficient, and in due course, the wolf threat was neutralised. The White Swans were left with one less unit in reserve.
Nicholas Meyer continued to observe the changes on the battlefield, calling out significant results to Professor Babbage, who entered them into the Analytical Engine. The machine continued to churn out data sheets and print out battle predictions. General Paulus walked back towards Meyer, and looked over Babbage's shoulder at some of the data parchments. He turned towards Meyer and asked, "How is Maximilian doing?"
Nicholas aimed his spyglass at the Wolf Knights, and commented, "The combat is vicious. Casualties on both sides, but Schwarzkopf is still fighting, and the predictive numbers look good. The Lady's banner is still flying high. I am quite sure that those bear cavalry have never been tested like this before." Then he noticed several changes in strength numbers. "There! another one! And two more! And another!. Four bears were taken down, just since we started talking!"
"Wait a second, Sirs!" interrupted Erich Hartmann. "Lieutenant Meyer! I think that I see something. Back there, exiting the forest. It's coming into the battlefield, right in the centre. There! Right behind the bear cavalry. Can you see it?"
Nicholas Meyer raised his spyglass slightly and scanned towards the trees. At first it just looked like a grove of tall trees, but then he saw movement. The performance numbers popped into his view. They were off the charts. Big. Apparently, Margaash also had reserves, and he was just now committing them. "Oh, shit." commented Nicholas.
