Fire, Charge! 10

Instructions

Chapter 10: Last defense (1/2) Strike and follow command, defending the homeland! Into the Tsardom, the Karoliner marched, soldiers stood side by side ready to fire and charge. The Tsardom, now combined with their second army and fifth Dragoon regiment created three redoubts and many small defensive positions around the capital. The Glacier tribes are stationed on ditches while Sky Vampiric Lancers guard the skies, Black Guards are stationed the closest to the capital, infantry surrounding the entire city, sixty thousand strong. Dragoon squadrons are kept between lines to provide quick reconnaissance, devastating charge or firepower if necessary while artillery batteries are ready to give devastating firepower from a distance. The Karoliner army has been disorganized by a snow storm not long after their last battle, while horse archer tribes harassed them from afar. Causing three hundred casualties and two guns damaged. Gausstavus doubts his decision to attack the Tsardom, but after consideration he realized he has come too far to back down, the die has been cast. Lord Nelson, thinking that Gausstavus will never win backs off from the conflict, while still taking control of the Glacier tribe's shores. While the Vampiric Commonwealth plans on sending a full scale offensive against the Glacier tribe from another front. The Eastern Dynasty, successfully capturing the entire archipelago and destroyed any local kingdom that stood in thier way. "The Empress should be proud." Said the Palace Guards as they erect a monument the shape of the Empress. Still two nights away from the battle, the Karoliner army sent out scout cavalry to observe the Tsarist capital. Upon arrival they say redoubts and other defensive positions, they know this will be a hard battle. But the army pressed on, still full of hope and nationalism. Gausstavus told his generals that the main plan is to attack directly at the capital and if they could, ignore the defenses entirely. Something they will soon realize can't be done, the Karoliner army, now no longer the fresh army they used to be marched forwards, thier living metal no longer operates at maximum capacity and the cold makes thier weapons less effective, also the fact that they didn't know they were outnumbered that much, since most of the Tsar's army is invisible to the Karoliner army. The battle started with the Karoliner firing their guns upon the nearest redoubt, the damage significantly reduced by poor weather. The Karoliner formed columns, with the flanks forming thin lines, shock cavalry stationed between and or behind infantry lines. Light artillery supported the infantry advance, while heavier ones are kept further back and or higher ground giving them more range. The Tsarist artillery fired back targeting thicker columns rather than thin lines, Glacier troops and Tsarist Jaeger and Strachzi companies moved forwards to harass the incoming army from a far distance, using loose order formation to make them hard to be defeated by regular Karoliner line battalions, however the sight of incoming Karoliner light cavalry made some of them form tight squares, which made them vulnerable against Karoliner volley fire. As the battle rages on, and as the Karoliner army gets closer Tsarist artillery becomes more and more intense, forcing the Karoliner columns in the center to make thinner formations, not as thin as the line but not as thick as the column. Two redoubts has been taken over by the Karoliner, capturing seven guns in total, they are quickly turned around and make them fire at the Tsarist troops, who has begun their advance to confront the now weakened Karoliner, holding their fire until they are in effective range. The Karoliner marched forwards and returned the fire, but even if they now they have less troops, being closer means that more of their lasers actually managed to damage or destroy the enemy. Even after the devastating first volley, it is not enough, and realizing the left flank is not worth protecting anymore, the Tsarist decided to reposition. Mistaking it for a retreat, the Karoliner heavy shock cavalry charged into the repositioning Tsarist, the charge was successful since they were cought off guard. But it soon turned into a chaotic melee. The Tsarist Sky Vampiric Lancers dived into the loud brawl, joined by the Karoliner's own Sky Lancers, the melee ended in the Karoliner cavalry retreating and getting chased by the Tsarist Dragoon, the foot soldiers are now more organized advance forwards, managing to destroy or damage a quarter of the Dragoons sent there. The center is pushed, a redoubt is reclaimed by the Tsardom, the Black Guards are coming. The center is pushed back even further as Dragoons rapidly arrived, the shock cavalry are sent to stop the Dragoons, but they fired and fall back quick enough and only resulted in the Karoliner shock cavalry tiring their horses. The battle continues, with Glacier troops ravaging the Karoliner's right flank.