Hey guys,
We got around to playing the fourth installment of our ongoing campaign in Brandenburg yesterday, and had quite a hoot of it. The story so far is that the danes have made it as far as Rathenow Castle, Valdemar IV leaving it to Benedikt von Ahlefeldt the Younger of Slesvig to take the castle while he himself moved on with the main army. Herr Niels Bugge was still recuperating from the wounds he had taken in the last battle (or was that the epic hangover after too much trappist-beer?...?), so Young Benedikt would lead the danes in this battle.
We decided to play scenario B: Defending the Indefensible. The mission of Rasmus' brandenburgers would be to sally fourth from Rathenow and inflict as much damage as they could on the danish siege-lines, killing gunners and guards and generally causing mayhem and destruction. The main objective would be the danish bombard:
The danes on the other hand just had to stop this from happening and throw the pesky brandenburgers back inside their walls again.
This is how it went...
The early morning mists around Rathenow was slowly dissolving, and the remaninging peasantry (the ones who hand't been burned out of their homes) went about their business:
All seemed quiet and peaceful, but as we all know, peace and quite can be deceptive and it would eem that the german lookouts had noticed a slacking in the routine of the danish besiegers:
Just as the night-pickets were making their way back towards the danish camp to get a bit of rest, a horn blared!:
The danes rushed to put on armour and ready their lines. To the left of the cannon a unit of bleary-eyed yeomen got in a line, formed by their sergeant:
On the right a unit of archers assembled behind the defensive stakes, stringing their warbows and trying to get the grits out of their eyes:
Inside Rathenow, the germans had assembled a small raiding force, led by the Graf himself:
They burst forth from the gates, rushing towards the bombard and the tired danes:
However, the danish archers had been quick on their feet and loosened a hail of arrows at the leading unit of mounted germans, sending three of the poor chaps tumbling from their saddles:
The remaning horsemen charged directly into the yeomen, hoping to throw them back onto the cannon...:
...which they failed, Graf Wilhelm retreating to a safe distance from the now very much awake unit of yeomen, only to be cut down by the archers!:
Meanwhile, the danish main host had heard the clarion calls from the siegelines and Benedikt von Ahlenfeldt the Younger led his MAA's onto the field of battle, accompanied by another unit of yeomen and a small group of danish foot knechts:
The second wave of germans came out of the gate, determined to make the danes pay for the loss of Graf Wilhelm, the foot MAA's leading the way, closely followed by a unit of foot serjeants:
Inside the castle, Luigi della Mirandola was trying to get his italian mercenaries to asscend the stairs to support the stricken german raid from above. He was having very little luck:
The danish main force hurrying towards the action, but would they make it in time?:
The german MAA's crashed into the danish yeomen, inflicting horrendous casualties, only loosing a single MAA in return. The danes were thrown back onto the bombard:
The MAA's were not late to sieze the oppotunity and launch another attack at the danes, taking the fight in amongst the crew of the bombard:
Things are looking up for the germans:
The MAA's managed to rout the poor yeomen from the bombard, leaving the crew defenceless. Only the intervention by the danish foot knechts saved a few of the crew members from the german blades:
While the danish and german MAA's fought over the bombard, the archers threw back the german foot serjeants with a well aimed volly:
Chaos ensued as the foot serjeants ran head into the german pike militia making its way through the castle gates:
Being the only survivor of the german MAA's the watch commander sold his life dearly, fighting a desperate rearguard against the danish foot knechts:
Meanwhile, it looked as if the Italians had paused to hold a union-meeting in the castle, clearly not wanting to take part in what now looked like a slaughter. First topic seemed to be the rather lucky escape of Luigi della Mirandola and whether or not he would share the pay recieved from the last battle or keep it all to himself:
Benedikt the Youngers knechts were now making their way down to the siegelines as well, only pausing to swat aside the remaining yeomen in a well-timed charge. Traitors to the crown must be put to the sword!
The danish positions now looked very solid, and there was little fight left in the germans:
The wall watch blew the retreat and the remaining pikemen withdrew back inside the gates:
And with that, the raid ended in what must be characterized as a draw, the germans succeeding in killing off a lot of danes and much of the all-important artillery crew, however at the loss of several prominent members of the garrison.
Another game of Lion Rampant had been played to everyones enjoyment!
Welcome, Guest. Please 
April 28, 2024, 12:20:15 PM
May 15, 2014, 07:42:28 PM