Friday, July 3, 2020

Wild Horses.....but more appropriately; Winged Hussars!


       Tadeusz Podolski looked up from his desk at the dusty messenger that had just clattered into his courtyard and rushed into his house. The Governor of Frozonia had received far too many hurried messages of bad news in the last three months but his expression softened when he realized that it was his young nephew, Kazimierz. "Well, what brings my favorite nephew to my house in such a hurry on this fine day?" The young man made a concerted effort to compose himself as he straightened his uniform and drew an envelope from his jacket pocket. With deliberate formality he bowed and presented the envelope to his uncle.
        Tadeusz reached out and took the proffered packet from his nephew with a quizzical look. Turning it over he saw that it bore the seal of his brother, but not the seal of the Commander of the Fortress of Druhzba, but instead the seal of the family Poldolski. "So this personal message had to be sent with great haste?" he asked his nephew, "Has the plague claimed another of our House?" He saw his nephew's eyes widen slightly and a faint flicker of a grin dance across his face, "No sir!" he replied smartly. "I believe that you will be a happy recipient of this news, But my father forbade me from telling you, he desired to be the one that broke the news to you, Sir!"
         Tadeusz raised one eyebrow then looked back down at the packet as he slid his thumb under the wax seal and broke it open. He carefully open the letter and began to read it. His eyes narrowed and he stood up so suddenly that his chair flew across the room,  he looked up at Kazimierz with a smile of joy spreading across his face, "Is this true? he asked in an incredulous tone, This isn't some sort of cruel joke, is this really true?" The boy returned his smile, "Yes, Uncle, it is! As real as the sunrise!"
         Tadeusz threw back his head and laughed for joy, "After all these years, and all those broken promises, they have finally come to our aid!" He turned to the credenza next to his desk and picked up a bottle of vodka, "We drink!" He shouted, "We drink to a free Frozonia, the Freedonians have finally marched to our aid!" He pulled out the cork and took a long draught before passing the bottle to his nephew. "You will have the chance to earn your wings before the week is out lad, Free Frozonia!"

        The other half of Louis the Ravenous' foreign policy had fallen into place. Not only had Louis invaded Ferndalia via Boozonia, he had managed to convince the recently reconquered Frozonians to join him in his attack on the Ferndalian Northern Marches. He knew that the Frozonians chafed under harsh rule of the House of Whey and would need little prompting to rise up and try to re-establish their ancient freedoms. He counted on that desire to persuade the Frozonians to put an army into the field in Peter's rear and ease the task of his own invading army. Let us see how that turned out....

north is to the left in all these pictures

on the near edge, left to right; the Ferndalian troops, mounted arquebusiers, Cuirassiers, four battalions of militia, more cuirassiers, and then more  mounted arquebusiers

on the far edge the rather smaller Frozonian army; again left to right; two units of light horse, two units of Haiduks, two units of levies, and five units of light horse on the south


the opening moves; on the left the Ferndalians move out confidently
 as the foot in the center trudge forward 

on the right the Ferndalians found progress slowed by freshly plowed fields
 these caused the Frozonian light horse little trouble

the next turn saw aggressive action by the left hand mounted arquebusiers drive back the Frozonian light horse, in the center the Ferndalian heavy units moved forward slowly receiving fire from the Haiduks (to little effect), the Ferndalians felt confident of victory at this point


still too far to open fire, the Ferndalian infantry continued to march ahead

unable to navigate the turnip field the mounted arquebusiers opened fire
 on the light horse causing some casualties

the the third turn began, dust clouds from the north and then a sudden onslaught of steel;
the Winged Hussars had arrived scattering the over-extended Ferndalian cavalry

at the same time the Frozonian foot poured fire into the cuirassiers adding casualties


a charge by the Frozonian light horse punished the mounted arquebusiers that had been caught, supporting fire from the other Ferndalian units drove off the  offending skirmishers

the fourth turn saw the unrelenting flood-tide of Hussars
 shatter several more Ferndalian cavalry units
the foot in the center began to turn to face this seemingly unstoppable threat

in the center fire had become general 
with the cuirassiers lining up to attack the southernmost haiduks in the next turn

far away to the south, the light horse and the mounted arquebusiers spent the turn reorganizing
the large number of generals on the Frozonian side really began to impact the game, the Ferndalian simply didn't have enough command ability to keep up

opening move of the fifth turn, the Hussars broke a unit of militia, destroying it completely
the writing began to appear on the wall

to the far north the one remaining unit of mounted arquebusiers had charged (vainly) a unit of Hussars, only to be thrown back with three excess stamina hits, remarkably they passed their discipline test and remained, only to be charged again, they lost that fight as well gaining another two excess hits which (unbelievably) they saved as well; battered, bloodied, but still on the field they bravely faced the foe

in the center thing were going from bad to worse for the Ferndalian cause, the infantry were taking hits but generating few in return while the cuirassier paid heavily for breaking a unit of haiduks, to top it all off the generals all decided to fail their command tests


in the far south the mounted arquebusiers bravely moved 
up to try to take pressure of the faltering cuirassiers

the next turn saw the Hussars breaking another foot formation 
while the lone unit of arquebusiers again rebuffed the advances of the Hussars 
 and improbably survived another two excess stamina hits

the battered foot tried to react to the frightful advance of the Hussars without success, 
the generals once again failed to provide leadership
 as the Frozonian infantry fire eliminated the last of the cuirassiers

at this point the entire fighting strength of the Ferndalian army consisted 
of two (very frightened) militia foot units and two units of mounted arquebusiers

their morale shattered by the hopeless situation the Ferndalian horse left the field
 and the the now defenseless foot began to lower their weapons

by common accord the heroes of the battle were the northern mounted arquebusiers 
who had survived a total of eight excess stamina hit through the course of the battle 
they at least could leave the field of strife with their heads held high

           The Seventh Frozonian War of Emancipation had begun with a stunning success but Tadeusz Podolski found no joy in the day. His face stricken with grief he stood over the fallen form of his nephew, one of the few casualties suffered by the Hussars this day. Wiping a tear from his craggy features he lifted the boy and placed Kazimierz on his war-horse leaning the boy's lifeless form against the wings fixed to the saddle. "You earned them, poor child", he whispered before leading the horse away on foot into the fading light.



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