Holding the Line [ATTN: RED AND DESERT]

OOC: Well, I am annoyed to have to be doing this, but since Desertback isn't on, and Red's stressing how he wants to have his battle, I have no choice as the GM, to intervene here and conduct the battle in place of DB. Expect no bias please, I don't have the patience or time to tip the scales in anyone's favor. XD


It hardly came as a surprise for anyone in New Solaris when the declaration of war by will of the Republic for Capua was sent directly to the seat of power on June 30th, 1571. As restricted as Solaris was, news of the upcoming events spread as a wildfire as all transpired. The enraged Elite General, Darko DeLuca, made quite clear his answer to the President of the Capuan State - he would defend his realm until the last man, woman, and child if need be.

It wasn't long until the call to arms rang throughout the Dictatorship. The massive armies of the Elite General mobilized then against two direct threats - the barbarians to the west, the Holy Empire; and the dwarves to the south, the Capuans. Thus, troops moved accordingly. The west was heavily defended in preparing for an impending attack by the anthropomorphic felines - obviously ready and willing to attack them at any moment. Hastily made fortifications along the coasts were prepared, while cities and towns along the western coast were heavily defended behind the walls that kept them within.

To the south, defenses were prepared as well. Porta Urbs was in the greatest peril by the hands of the Capuans, therefore it was focused on most significantly by the Solari military. Much like with the west, fortifications outside the city surrounding it were erected in haste and defended by siege defensive cannon and soldier alike. Porta Urbs was meanwhile closed up tightly with a massive defense force held within. In this battle, the sentiment was to merely outlast the coming flow of the Capuan military. It would be dwarf versus man and offender versus defender. The battle was about to begin. On that July 4th, the gong of war would be tolled, the land would bathe in blood.

The column of men was silent. The sun, according to their calculations, would rise in a few hours. It was pitch black, save the flickering light provided by the torchbearers or the glow of Luna above. Despite Leon's arrogance and certainty, he could smell the fear coming from his men. It was only natural; no sentient wanted to kill another. No matter how noble their ideology, how deep their convictions, no man wished to kill. But kill they had to; regrettably, the reasons why were not explainable to his men. But Leon was educated; Leon understood. The prosecution of this conflict was a necessary evil.

They always dressed so well before going off to war. The uniforms were colourful; a brilliant blue tinged with sterling white. Exactly what the Army needed--glamour. Pomp and circumstance. They did not march around in dapper uniforms with garish music for no good reason; nay, the Republic was far more practical than that, however strong their flair for theatrics and pageantry. When the trumpets cried and wardrums roared, all love of beautiful things was defenestrated. In these dark times, the uniform served a social engineering purpose. Good-looking soldiers, striking parades, moving patriotic music--all of these things united the populace, made enlistment more likely, and ultimately served to crush dissent passively.

On the battlefield, it served the dual purpose of carrying these morale bonuses to the conflict and allowing him, as their leader and, he hoped, protector, the pleasure and necessity of seeing them through the clouds of smoke that would doubtless result once the riflemen began their routine. The music carried over in a similar way; its social control elements could be adapted to a military context with minimal trouble. Easily distinguishable jingles would direct units to charge, to retreat, to hold fast. And before charging into the flames, standing up to a hail of gunfire, or dealing with the wrong end of a cavalry charge, drums did an awfully good job of leading the peons into the fray and encouraging them in their sordid pursuits--regardless of said underlings' eventual fate. It was a terrible business.

They would engage the Solarians at the city of Porta Urbs. The city was not walled; surely their cannons could demolish any fortifications that were present. They would be forced to attack from one end of the city; another cohort was to press in from the west. If the outskirts could be defeated, clearing out the rest of the city would hardly be worrisome. It would be slow and systematic, but a great victory if they could pull it off. Their timing, he hoped, would aid them in this--at dawn, they would show up, guns blazing, under artillery cover. If they could sufficiently smash Solari morale, the city might be significantly crippled in a single day. Time, however, was of no concern; they were prepared to fight for months, if not a year.

At this time they were marching through farmers' fields; the city was on the horizon, past some trees. As they entered the treeline, the artillery crews began to set up--as silently as possible, and with the lights as well-covered as possible. The main mass of the army stayed back, well behind and well out of sight. They would start their advance when the guns started firing. Already, they sighted fortifications.

<Dice Roll: Stealthiness of artillery set-up. No modifiers.>

The member 'Redcoat' has done the following action : Dice roll

'EC Dice' : 6

Beyond the fortifications of Porta Urbs, the civilians were gathered swiftly and quietly in order by the Solari soldiers. They had to be evacuated, and quickly should attack soon come. The Dictatorship could not allow the destruction of its own people. Leaving from the northern pass, the civilians gathered all belongings that they could possibly take with them and made for the Capital of Sperrare Impero. There, at least, they would find safe haven.

Meanwhile, the forces of New Solaris continued to patrol over their fortifications. That day, all had been quiet and quite uneventful, until however a yell came from one patrolling soldier who had spotted something. The Capuans were there, and hastily readying their artillery pieces. They were spotted through a break in the trees that covered the invaders. He could see the gleam of the cannon with torchlight and the high moon.

The order was silently given to prepare for a barrage, whilst simultaneously preparing their own artillery to fire back into the enemy. A counter-attack was needed, their cannon were already in place about their fortifications that has been hastily erected. Soldiers at the cannon hasted to load their shot and aim their cannon for the enemy. The musketeers and soldiers of the main military were driven back to avoid getting in the crossfire of the enemy cannon and also spread out on order to avoid huddled groups - companies remained close by for the ultimate advance to defend the city.

The order was finally given - a forward attack with cannon would surely bring down at least some of the enemy, and perhaps take down, or cripple some of their cannon.

<Dice Roll: Success of falling back to avoid damage by enemy cannon. No modifiers.>

<Dice Roll: Success of cannon forward attack on the enemy cannon and front line. No Modifiers.>

<Dice Roll: Quickness of evacuation on the part of the Solari citizens. +2 modifier due to knowing their own land and safest routes.>

The member 'BleachKing' has done the following action : Dice roll

'EC Dice' : 7, 14, 18

Instantly, it seemed, after their cannons began firing, the enemy's return fire hit them hard. Though no cannons were hit, men screamed as a cannonball tore through an entire row of Grenadiers on the army's flank. Luckily, Leon surmised, they could not yet aim at them--they had the cover of the ridge and the trees. But they could certainly harass, and this could not be tolerated.

A moment later, a flare went up. Its red-tinged light flickered, but it was bright enough for Leon, from his precipice, to pick out with his spyglass the locations of the enemy cannons. They were dug into pits, surrounded by fortifications of wood and earth. Formidable indeed--cannons were not nearly accurate enough to reliably fire on each other, and there was no way to charge these cannons. Any attack on them would have to be direct. Nasty. Underhanded. And, consequently, very, very satisfying.

Behind them were many soldiers in the process of getting organized; no doubt their morale would be dampened by the recent course of events. Perhaps they would not charge to meet his next move. But he would have to make sure of this. More specifically he would have to make sure of this using gratuitous amounts of gunpowder.

Leon turned to a messenger.

"Contact the Ninth Rangers!" Leon shouted over the artillery. "Get them to loop around the field and approach the cannons from both flanks--very stealthily. Their signal to go is the next grand volley by our artillery. They're to approach the enemy artillery and silence those guns. They can torch them if they have to."

He hailed his cavalry next. As the Rangers approached the front lines, the cavalry made sure to go out to the wings in preparation for later plans.

"Artillery!" he called. "Grape shot! Drown them in lead!"

As his men went about their duties, the musketeers approached the lip of the ridge. They were ready to charge. Ready to go across the field, enter the city, and begin the fight in earnest--led, of course, by the Grenadiers.

<First roll: Stealth of Grenadiers. +3 modifier (distractions).>
<Second roll: Grand artillery barrage on the streets. +2 modifier (focus fire, grapeshot); -1 modifier (enemy is further back than anticipated).>

The member 'Redcoat' has done the following action : Dice roll

'EC Dice' : 6, 7

The sky seemed it was on fire over Porta Urbs. The grape shot artillery did some damage to some of the soldiers but not enough to make them squirm. The order to attack head on was finally given from the Elite General. They where order to attack until the artillery guns in the fort cease fire.

Several parts of Porta Urbs where heavily damaged but not enough to hurt the army. The underground roads where still functioning. They where used to shelter the troops and aid the wounded. The grenadiers that crossed into the city did not surprise anyone that spotted them.

Private Colbert was watching his city started to burn. Rage was burning hotter than the sun itself. Many of his comrades felt the same way. Inside the underground he can see Division D-13 was ready to open a latch. This division was not a all maned unit but a attack dog unit. These attack dogs where trained only to one thing. Kill anyone that it runs too. 100 dogs ready to run towards the enemy, a entire army waiting to strike back.

The dogs where released all scattering to the border where their enemy is at. It will be soon until the soldiers of New Solaris will strike back.

<Dice Roll: The success of the attack dogs release and their attack. +2 (distractions).>

The member 'Desertback' has done the following action : Dice roll

'EC Dice' : 7

General Ribault took a quick loo kat the situation. His Rangers had made it to the artillery and were just beginning to come under attack by--he double-checked his spyglass to be sure--attack dogs. His Rangers, amazingly, seemed to be doing fairly well against them--evidently a few had some wits about them. As they began their operations, Ribault turned to another messenger. The artillery would keep firing; hopefully some more of the dogs and soldiers would be slaughtered this way. But it was time to press the attack, the moment he received the signal from his Rangers.

Ahead he could see torches and gunfire around the enemy guns. He only hoped they could be silenced; luckily, however, his men would be out of range of canister shot. He decided to move to the next phase.

"General advance! Form a line and present our full might to the enemy," he said, riding forward a bit and hoisting his sabre. "Be ready to fire!"

Instantly a dozen or more Republican standards were hoisted into the air, as men who'd spent the last half-hour sneaking through farmland and praying they'd be safe from artillery fire finally had an outlet for their rage. Their purpose here could finally be realized. As if on cue--as it was--and absolutely audible to the Solarians across the field, the men broke into song. 'Twas a beautiful sight, but just as empty as the uniform.

The moment that the men came over the top, they began their march down--careful to remain outside the range of canister shot, which would easily decimate them in ridiculous numbers. A few Rangers began to fire on the dogs, in an effort to keep them away from their comrades. The whole army might have joined in; unfortunately, until the cannons were silenced, this was too dangerous.
-----
The dogs. Oh, Mars. The dogs.

Geoffroy Fournier, a Ranger, had just stabbed one and shot another. One of his men had been mauled, and no doubt many more they hadn't taken account of just yet; but the volleys of fire from above had reduced their opponents' number, and he still stood. It was payback time. He withdrew a grenade, lit the fuse, and threw it into the waiting artillery bunker.
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<First Roll: Further street-sweeping with grapeshot. +2 modifier (focus fire, grapeshot).>
<Second Roll: Artillery clearout by Rangers. +4 modifier (use of grenades in a confined space).>
<Third Roll: Volley fire upon the dogs by Ranger units still back with the rest of the army. No modifiers.>

The member 'Redcoat' has done the following action : Dice roll

'EC Dice' : 7, 9, 9