It is the chirping of the birds which first jolts you from your stupor, proudly sitting upon their trees, singing jollies to and fro of the merry morning lights. You, who had found no rest, no shut eyes throughout the night, take it simply as an ringing pain on your head. For though you had momentarily found yourself lacking in cognition, it was not rest which you had felt, but a lapse in concentration, a departure of your thinking to some state of sickly torpor.You had not slept for the entire night, and certainly, it hath given no benefit to your condition. But then again, how could you, with the challenges that you faced?You are Alessandro Galliota, the Viscount of Portblanc. That much you can be sure of, even in your sorry state...you, who had been brought here to this land of Nera, this distant land from your own, by your great liege Don Carles IV Brascarams. You had come here to wage war in the name of the Spisa family, allied to your country, against the forces of the Fortelli, friendly to your foe. You had launched a campaign throughout their borderlands, partaken in a siege, and most of all, you had faced a force far mightier than yours, many times greater in both number and capability, aided by scores of Himmmerian Giants, those most fearful of enemies of the human race. For a whole day, you had succesfully fought them of, and, shattering the bridge which they sought to take in an pivotal moment, you had sunk to the depths of the river hundreds of their men. You escaped death, too, by a hair's breadth, when the infamous Famiglia, those mighty knights of Nera, armed with beastly amazonian mounts, had been able to momentarily breach your formation. It was only by bidding your musketeers to fire upon them even as they fought your own men that you had survived, though at the cost of your entire retinue. All those things and much many others had happened yesterday, in this battle upon the Vessena. This battle, you are certain, has not ended yet, and it is this which brings you trouble. For today you must seek out victory and find a way to hold your foes at bay until the city of Montechia falls!For now, however, breakfast will have to do. Shaking yourself out of this stasis, you raise yourself from the piece of wood that you had used as a seat for the night. Because you had fled into the grove to make your camp, you did not have the amenities of your lordly tent. Of course, compared to those amongst the soldiery who did not have any tent at all, you were not in a poor state. You order one of your servants to gather up whatever is available for you. What you receive, after some time, is...some bread, and some of the cheap rum that was served to the soldiery. Though it be enough to fill you, you cannot help but feel some manner of bitterness in the knowledge that you stand but a few minutes of travel away from your supply wagons.
With your "morning meal" done you go out to meet your staff and survey the state of your army. Amidst the green-covered canopy, your tired officers , your captains, line up amidst the greenery, ready to give out their reports on the state of their companies. It does not escape your sight that some amongst these are new faces - men hastily promoted after the previous officers, well...died. And that is not to say of those lacking entirely, their units brought down to the last. Though a full report of your casualties would have been ideal, you've no time for such things - indeed, you don't so much as have the time to check which of those amongst the officers that you no longer see are wounded and which are perished. You'll have to leave such matters to the post-battle procedures...if there is one, that is. To your good fortune, Hugues Regnard, your Sergeant-Major informs you that almost a quarter of the men wounded in the previous day of battle were able to be saved to such an extent they could still fight today. Certainly, no greater proof is there of the blessings of the Brotherhood of the Santo Cor, who had loyally accompanied you through this campaign as field doctors.Despite this bit of good news, however, your situation is none the better - although you had destroyed many a company of the enemy, and indeed brought down the most fearsome of their advances through your slaying of the giants and the Cavalieri of the Famiglia, you had, ultimately, done little towards the full force of the enemy. Though you had slain hundreds of knights, a thousand more still remained. Though you had exterminated several companies in your destruction of hte bridge, several dozen more had remained out of battle the entire day. You were, by all means, surrounded, outnumbered, and thanks to your choice to remain in the forest, your men had spent the night underfed and ill-rested."Can the men fight, still, Hugues?" you ask your loyal advisor."Certainly, they may, sire, but I do not reckon they'll give such a spirited showing as they had yesterday." he reponds."Perhaps it may be wise to retreat, then? Avoid a slaughter." you say."I doubt it, sire. Their knights would catch up with us far too quickly, and in open ground, without defences, we would be run down with ease.""And their way to Montechia would be unbarred, would it not? Damnation." you exclaim. You've got no plan. You had spent the entire night attempting to think. The back of your eyes hurt with a great burning sharpness, and your head ached greatly. You've read enough of modern medicine to know that a lack of sleep disturbs the humours on one's body. "If I may, your lordship..." interrupts Hugues once again. "There is certain to be some manner of time until the bulk of the army arrives. We could perhaps move onto our camp and secure some provisions for our soldiers in the last minute, to raise their fighting spirits."
Well, certainly that is an idea that could work, but dare you risk the chance of being caught unprepared? And lest you forget, hundreds of the most dangerous horsemen of this continent stand not too far from your location, sitting upon the field, waiting. Shall they simply allow you to do as you please? You cannot say, for sure. "Regardless, Hugues, we must strive to think of an strategy for the day. We cannot remain here, in this forest, lest the enemy simply march past us westwards and onto the backs of our colleagues. If they've not sent us a courier, the city must not have fallen yet." "Very well, sire..."CHOOSE YOUR OPTION - SUPPLIES>Make a stop to gather some supplies before battle>Don't risk it, just go straight to battle formationsCHOOSE YOUR OPTION - ORDERS>Form a defensive line on the river bank, using the forest and the water as natural walls>Fortify the area around you camp while having some of your troops in the forest still>Catch them by surprise - charge out in an offensive to attack their forces while they least expect it!>Write-in
Thread I - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6153604/Thread I (Conclusion) - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6189036/Thread II - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6231466/Thread III -https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6275844/Field Handbook - https://rentry.org/TercioQuestWelcome to this not-quite-full thread of fog of war. I had hoped to simply make this a quick conclusion to the last one, but alas, I was rather busy. While this will not be a full thread, I have decided to extend the ending of the act for a little.
>>6326515>Make a stop to gather some supplies before battle>Form a defensive line on the river bank, using the forest and the water as natural wallsRemaining in the forest is dangerous as long as those fuckers have their fire arrows
>>6326530Supporting, we have to at least try to gather supplies.I have to say, it’s a very grim situation. We can only pray that Montechia has already fallen and Don Charles comes looking for us today…
>>6326515>Make a stop to gather some supplies before battle>Form a defensive line on the river bank, using the forest and the water as natural walls
>>6326515>Make a stop to gather some supplies before battle>Form a defensive line on the river bank, using the forest and the water as natural wallsObjective remains the same, hold until relieved.
>>6326515>Make a stop to gather some supplies before battleWe do have the approaches able to be covered by the musketeers, who have the range to ensure some safety. The swiftness of the horsemen will be of better use too.>Form a defensive line on the river bank, using the forest and the water as natural wallsIt is presuming that they haven't left anybody on the other side of the river, but for several obvious reasons I doubt they have any reason to have done that.I'd wonder if we could try to be cute and retrieve the cannon barrel from the forest now that the fire's burned out. I'm no metallurgist but a fire that burns down trees isn't necessarily enough to permanently deform metal if we're lucky enough on the position of it, especially if the gun is iron and not bronze. How we'd move even a small cannon without its wheels in any timely fashion is another question entirely, since our wagons are pretty valuable at the moment. Any advantage we can squeak out might be worth pursuing.
>>6326593>retrieving the scorched cannon barrelThat’s not a bad idea, surely there’s a chance it could be recoverable?
>>6326516What happened to our wagenburg?
>>6326515>>Make a stop to gather some supplies before battle>>Form a defensive line on the river bank, using the forest and the water as natural wallsHopefully we can implement the modified version of plan blue that i proposed in the last thread.And yes, the wagonburg, we're able to relocate it, right?As to retrieving the possibly salvageable canon, why not consult the artillery lads and make the attempt?Welcome back!
>>6326515>Make a stop to gather some supplies before battle>Form a defensive line on the river bank, using the forest and the water as natural wallsI also support the idea to see if the artillerypiece is salvagable
>>6326515>Make a stop to gather some supplies before battle>Form a defensive line on the river bank, using the forest and the water as natural walls+1 to retrieve the cannon
>>6326515>Make a stop to gather some supplies before battle>Form a defensive line on the river bank, using the forest and the water as natural wallsCan't just hide in the forest because there are still giant archers and they can just burn us out again.Support sending some scouts to go and check if the cannon is salvageable.QM did we have some forces sent south to the southern bridge? Do we assume they died from the knights since they didn't come back last night?
>>6327053>QM did we have some forces sent south to the southern bridge? Yes.
You cannot deny it would please you greatly to have some additional manner of sustenance yourself. Some pitiful portion of brown, hard bread and shallow poor rum is by no means what you are accustomed to even in the field. And given that an army of the size such as your enemy must spend some good manner of time lifting their night camp, you reckon you've some manner of time. You shall go forth with the idea. Yet to do so, you must take some precautions...Readying your musketeers as quickly as possible, you post the men on the edge of the forest, ready to fire, watching the Famiglia on the horizon. Even now their tents stand still, threatening you in the distance. Yet they make no movement, show no signs of preparation for battle, even as you send in your cavalrymen to secure the camp. After some minutes of scouring, it becomes clear they shall not stop you, and you allow the men to go in their entirety! You had thought to send them in groups, but to do so would have certainly led to theft and discord amidst the troops...though you do keep your horsemen at the ready, once they have had their fill. As for the rest of the army, they eat with gusto. Knowing their time to be short, the hungry men quickly shovel down whatever ready made foods they had. Salted meats, bread, hardtack, alcohols and spirits, anything they hold which can be eaten directly or quickly cooked. You yourself cannot help but partake in some of your own supply - wine, smoked venison, cheese and your good bread, the white kind made of fine flour, the ones that had been baked before the battle for the night but left abandoned. At one day of age, it is a bit stale, but compared to the one you were forced to gulp down a short time before, it is heavenly.Your short albeit mirthful early luncheon does soon end, however, and with your stomachs filled and the weariness of your sleepless night somewhat abated by the drink, your men look all the readier for battle - and of course, the enemy, standing in the horizon, continues to not move. Quickly, you begin to think of some manner of plan to deal with your situation - of how to defend from the onslaught of soldiers that shall reach you so this very day. Immediately, your mind springs to the riverbank, the very same you had formed upon yesterday. With the bridge destroyed, certainly, you've no risk of attacks from the eastern bank now. Without the threat of a charging horde, it is all the easier for you to form a proper defensive line as you had, unsuccesfully, planned the previous day. Of course, with an entire company of pikemen lost, and your other footsoldiers severely depleted, you've not the sufficient numbers to create a line from river to grove - and so, you quickly set upon making some makeshift defences.
There are, of course, the wagons which had served you faithfully the last day. Wheeling them out of the forest where they had remained for the night, you set them up in a line, not too far from the trenches you had dug which, although somewhat filled with mud, still remained as a natural obstacle. Yet that too is not enough - and so, you turn to more...creative tools. In the past day, Capitán Bonino had saved his company from certain death by making a stand upon the corpses of the Gigantes. It cannot be denied that, with their size and armor, they serve as rather decent barricades. Luckily, their bodies are fresh enough that the rotting stench of death has not quite entirely set in - though your men certainly do not smile as you order them to line up the corpses in a manner of wall besides your warwagons....With your "defenses" set up, you at last have the men take battle formations. The pikemen, of those that remained, form up on the gaps in the wall, closing the line between the forest and the river. Your musketeers, of course, take their place in the wagon, as they had in the previous day. Your arquebusiers are split up - some are sent to the forest, to watch your flank and rear, while the rest remain at reserve, to be deployed when you please. Your horsemen, too, remain at the wait, and so does your reserve. You had thought of simply putting them at the rear, in the gap between the forest and the river that remained undefended...but you do not reckon they would have done much, depleted as they were - better to keep them at the ready to render some aid when necessary. Your force, however weakened, was within a good position, a defensible position, one which would cost the enemy tenfold your number to dislodge! Yes, with this formation, you would hold! You held your sword in your hand, ready for the day's fight - all that was left was for the Fortelli to arrive! And so, you waited.And waited.And waited..And waited......It was midday when you had begun to question whether they would arrive at all. Certainly, you should have seen some maner of movement by now? The Vanguard, at the very least, to reunite with the Famiglia that had been left here to hold you down. Yet there was no such presence. no such force. The Cavalieri had, at the very least, taken leave of their camp and properly readied for battle, but they did not move. Just what was happening here...? Unless...but wait, no!"A small party! I see a small party!" you yell, before even Joan was able to spot it. The small group is quick to approach the Famiglia, bearing what is sure to be the orders for their attack. Certainly, the enemy regiment must be approaching you even now! Yet you are denied yet again - for some moments after the party approaches the knightly forces, they begin to move out! Southwards, abandoning the field of battle entirely. But why? There was no need to tire their horses in order to unite if the Fortelli intended to come towards you...
Which meant they did not.Damnation - had you misunderstood them entirely? Had they no plan to engage you at all? Was it their intent to simply circumvent you, keeping the horsemen of the Famiglia as a mere threat to watch their flank while they marched towards your unsuspecting allies in Montechia? Had you been taken for a fool all along?! That could not be, could it? They would not have spent so many men if they intended to merely avoid you. And to remove that which stopped you from striking at their rear? It could not be! Yet still, you cannot help but feel as though you are missing something...you must take action! It is a good thing you've still some light horsemen in your numbers.CHOOSE YOUR OPTION>Send a scouting party to the south, find out what is happening>Send a scouting party to the north, find out what is happening>Send a scouting party to the west, find out what is happening>Send out multiple scouting parties (Specify which units where)>Do not send out any parties - just wait instead.>Write-in
>>6327793>Send a scouting party to the south, find out what is happening
