The Battle For The Hounding Continues H 50

 The siege of the Northern Bogavainian castle originally built for The Hound over one hundred years ago, continues.

The troops for the second battle are indicated below:

BEERSTEIN Prince Sigel
UNITS                                           MEN                                  SURVIVORS (Including Recovered)

Musketeers (yellow)                        24                                     24
Musketeers (red)                              24                                     13

Musketeers (red)                              24                                     16
Pike            (red)                               24                                     14   (fled)

Pike            (white)                           24                                     20

Longbow                                          24                                     20

Mounted Plate Knights                      8                                       0

Lobsters                                            12                                       0

Light Cavalry (mercs)                       12                                      0

Great Sword mercs                           24                                      22

Cannon                                               1                                         4 crew & cannon

Cannon                                                1                                         4 crew  & cannon
Cannon                                                1                                         2 crew  & cannon

Priest (not present)

Supply wagons                                    3           but empty (other wagons and supply wagons in H49

Total deaths 91               Lost units: 3

BOGAVANIA  Bishop Rembert

Hero Agneto

Wizard Erhard (unconscious)
Crossbow                                        

UNITS       

Crossbows                                  19                                             12

Crossbows                                  24                                              21

Plate Knights                              14                                               0

Plate Knights                              24                                              24

Heavy Infantry                           24                                                0
Heavy Infantry                           14                                                0

Hillmen mercs                            24                                                0

Hillman mercs                            14                                               11

Cannon                                         1                                          cannon intact crew of 4 dead

   Total deaths:   93  Lost units: 5

With his superior battlefield intelligence Bishop Rembert second guessed my Beersteiners. Beerstein, due to the forced re-rolls, had to set up forces first and did not get the first move. Mat exploited this by avoiding most of my missile fire, at first. He assembled a force of heavy infantry, plate knights and Hillmen before his castle North gate and charged!

I moved a musketeer unit into firing position but the brunt of the attack was met by my plate cavalry and pikemen, later joined by my Great Swords that mopped up. Before that happened there was a time when the battle was in the balance.

  Meanwhile my Lobsters and light cavalry crossed the bridge over the Eastern river and advanced on the enemy force form behind. The light cavalry charged the already heavily depleted Hillmen from behind. The Bogavanian knights then charged the Light cavalry before themselves being charged by the Lobsters. When the dust cleared all the Beersteiner cavalry were dead but here were few Bogavanians left before the Great swords charged in and finished off the remnants. The Beersteiner pike crushed the remnant heavy infantry who surrendered. The pikemen then used the prisoners as a shield from the crossbow fire from the castle's North wall!

  These crossbows had caused some damage. What's more, the cannon in the North/Eastern tower had fired on and killed two of the crew on the Bogavanian cannon, which itself had caused some casualties among the crossbowmen.

    The Beersteiner longbows then were directed at the Bogavanian cannon crew and killed them all! The crossbows on the Eastern wall had killed a number of musket men but their own numbers were being depleted.

The other two Beersteiner cannons blasted away at the Western wall. No Bogavanian troops were placed on that wall as the Bogavanians felt safe behind their moat but, pieces of the wall were slowly chipped away.

  Inside the castle a full unit of plate knights and a Hillman unit waited on either side of the courtyard, awaiting the Beersteiners to charge through the gate as the drawbridge was deliberately left down. The Beersteiners did not take the bait. 

  But then there was a deafening crash as the Western wall collapsed! Some of the Hillmen were crushed but the remainder stayed true to their masters and did not try to flee or change sides.

  The battle was much bloodier than the previous day with both sides suffering similar casualties. The Beersteiners now had free movement around the entire area outside the castle. Will those in the castle survive. In their favor, their wizard will be recovered for the next battle. Also, the Bogavanians witnessed the Beersteiners execute their heavy infantry captives and are thus inclined not to surrender.

                                                   

   

  BELOW

The view from the West. Prince Sigel's carrot top is plainly visible in the middle ground. The battering ram was abandoned as the strategy was instead to weaken the Bogavanians with missile fire and to batter at the Western wall with artillery. Besides which there were limited places the ram could have been used.

                Beersteiner musket men, foreground, exchange fire with the Bogavanian crossbowmen at the Northern wall.

                                                Beersteiner musket men at the Western wall

       Foreground: Beersteiner forces North/West move to counter the Bogavanian attack.

     

The Cat God peers over the Bogavanian North wall as Beersteiner muskets and longbows ready to shoot at the crossbowmen on the battlements.

                                                 

      Bogavanian crossbowmen, over the Northern gate, shoot at the enemy. They wear stolen Beersteiner uniforms.

   One unit of Beersteiner matchlock men received so many casualties before the gate that they retreated off the field. (Next battle with these armies they must come from reserve)

                               Beersteiner pike men capture the remnants of a Bogavanian heavy infantry unit.

                            Bogavanian foot knights wipe out the Beersteiner light cavalry mercenaries.

                                  Their guards force them ahead of the main body of Beersteiner pike to use them as a shield from the enemy crossbowmen on the North wall.

                                             The Bogavanian commander, Rembert, rallies his men to defend the castle.             He wears a tunic with the sacred mushroom emblem of Bogavania. Despite his wearing of the Mitre cap, it is an affection as he is not officially a member of the clergy. However, he is a kindly man, and he does refuse to shed blood. For this reason he uses a club instead. However, such a weapon is known to shed the occasional crimson drops, on which occasion Rembert is said to cry even as he bashes a head in.