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Chapter 1.
The Year of our Lord 1492
the 5th of march
The fields north of Newcastle



*******************************************************


General James Norfolk maneuvered his horse to the sideline of his massive 1200 bows archer unit, all perfectly lined up in 6 rows, each holding 200 men.
the light of the afternoon sun shinning on the field in front of him, with many thousands of men, had a strange effect. as if a spring festival was being held to honor the King once again.
except that this was not a festival, this was serious business.

his 1200 archers unit had a left center position in the planned formation for this battle of the Royal Northern Army, currently moving into position against the enemy Scottish army across the field, under the command of King James IV. Looking around him ,Norfolk could see the 4 components into which he divided his army. A 6.000 men infantry regiment, about 1.500 Knight Infantry, 1.200 Bowmen and an 8 counting battery of
Cannons. These things were supposed to fire large iron balls at enormous speeds , killing or severely wounding anything in its way,the battery was position behind the main force. He made sure all Units were under the guard of an experienced Captain or Colonel, so that close quarter tactical decisions wouldn’t be a problem, to effectively take place.
Norfolk smiled to himself. ''not a bad bunch to hang around at all, around 8000 men with reserves''

After having checked out his own side, he watched the other side of the open field.
an estimated 14.000 Scotsman army , purely infantry , not organized and disorderly as ever. the Scotsmen, as he saw, relied on their heavy numbers and complete lack of respect for the enemy's ability to effectively use tactics and arms strengths and weaknesses.
Very few officers in the Royal Army these days would not consider the possibility of a tactical thought or event during a battle , as these could turn the tide very quickly in an almost won fight. The Scots however rarely used tactics, and if they did it was so minor it wouldn’t matter much. He knew James IV, Norfolks had read some of his battle reports. The Scottish king was not a foolish leader, no doubt he studied the English way to wage war and recognized the pattern of unit practice and behavior in it. For instance, the English response to a cavalry charge is to first allow long distance weapons to do their work , and then send in pikemen , eliminating the threat successfully , of course adapted to the actual situation at hand.
Norfolk knew that the king would try to follow his way of thinking, and anticipated to it.
The king would send in the entire 14000 army all in 1 time, trusting on his superior numbers and our preparation to the battle to be incorrect. In the corner of his eyes Norfolk saw his Second in command, a young Captain named Percyval Collins carrying the English Standard with him torwards the side of the hill where Norfolk was positioning his archers.

‘’Sir , our forces are in position , so are the Scottish , they have sent a delegation milord’’
Norfolk’s face gave away his amazement. ‘’ a delegation ? lets hear what they have to say Collins’’ The Command staff and its guarding unit left the hill and rode across the fresh spring field, in the distance they could see a number of Scotsmen, carrying a white flag, on horses, waiting for them somewhere in the center of the large open field.
‘’General Norfolk’’ a deep , heavy voice with Scottish accent greeted the general. ‘’ Your forces are heavily outnumbered. Surrender yourself immediately to the Scottish Crown and the inhabitants of Newcastle will go unharmed’’
Norfolk realized that if the battle went wrong, this was his only chance to save countless lives. The Crown however would never tolerate the surrender of the entire Royal Northern army, not to mention the free passage to Newcastle and the lands southern of it. ‘’I’ll pass the honor, the Royal Northern Army will never surrender.’’ He and the Scottish officer looked each other in the eye for a second ‘’ so be it, today you will die Norfolk’’ and the Scottish delegation left again. After the Scots were gone, Norfolk smiled at his troubled Captain ‘’ not to worry Collins, I’ll rather die that have that bastard sack Newcastle , there wasn’t much to negotiate anyway’’The Staff turned and went back to its Command position to oversee and command its regiments into battle.

When Norfolk and his officers got at their position he assigned them their duties during the battle.Once they were done, the general and captain Collins returned to their position on the hill next to the archers, overlooking the mass sea of Royal Infantry in front of them , where they could see the first Scottish soldiers starting to advance into the field..
 
Looks like the Scots are going to find themselves at the recieving end of an English whipping.

Excelent start, I will be watching as well.
 
Chapter 2.
The year of our Lord 1492
The battlefield north of Newcastle


********************************************************


As the warm afternoon skies were filled with the dramatic sound of Scottish bagpipes and the ground being trembled by the force of many thousands of running men, the English ground lines prepared themselves for the struggle to come. The Commanding officers kept a careful eye on the Scottish horde charging towards them, efficiently adjusting their units to maximally perform in Norfolk’s plan.

The General played with his full gray beard, as he always did when he was excited.his assistant, Captain Collins seemed a little less at rest.
‘’sssir I don’t get it.. how the hell is a 6.000 men Infantry regiment going to effectively stop a ravaging horde of 14.000 angry Scotsmen ?’’ Norfolk got off his horse, grabbed a bottle of ale, slowly took a drink, and turned back to his second in command.
‘’what do you say Collins, those Scotsmen look like they will be about 300 yards away in a few seconds ? Observe !‘’ The general turned around and waved his hand as a sign to a Cavalry soldier carrying a red flag. The flag had shades on it, resembling a cannon. The soldier nodded and immediately turned his horse around, started waving with his flag and rode in the direction where Norfolk told the battery unit to deploy.
Just seconds after Norfolk gave the sign, the Bagpipe sounds over the field were disturbed with 8 heavy bursts coming from the back of the hill. A moment later came the impact. The first a few yards in front of the charging scots , the second just in front of them , while the other 6 bullets landed amongst the enemy causing massive death and chaos. 10 men where whipped off the world when one bullet hit in a line of running Scottish soldiers, who were trying to stay together in the chaos. Another bullet killed 4 soldiers on the impact , and wounding over 15 more after its first bounce. The other 4 hits caused similar casualties.

As if struck by lightning the Scottish army slowly came to a halt to see what precisely was going on and what was causing this massive slaughter amongst their lines.
Back on the hill the General had a cynic laugh. The first battery salvo had precisely the shock effect he hoped it would. The General turned to his staff. ‘‘Gentlemen, it seems the enemy is willing to give us a hand here, tell all long distance units to maintain positions and commence firing at will, and have the Infantry and Cavalry Regiments standing by, we have a battle to win !’’ Norfolk turned to Colonel Sir John Hastings, the Officer to which he ‘d given Command over the Knight Cavalry Regiment.
Hastings and Norfolk had known each other for years , they studied at the militairy academy of London together and had kept contact throughout their many years of service.
In Norfolk’s plan the Cavalry had a prominent job to carry out, and Hastings was the only officer on the island to who he’d trust it to be done.’’Ready for the show, are you John ?’’
Hastings Saluted the general, who honored the salute and both men laughed for a second, as the sound of the battery reopening fire behind them rocked the open sky again and 1200 arrows flew over their heads towards their deadly destination. The two senior officers took a look together as they saw the arrows and battery fire take effect.
The Scottish army was at a distance of less then 300 yards but slowly but steadily came to a halt in the next 10 minutes as several thousands of them fell to the projectiles time after time halting their advance.
Norfolk stopped watching and turned to the last horsemen carrying a Units Icon flag behind him.‘‘Soldier , tell the Infantry to start advancing, but make sure they do it slowly you hear me ?‘’ the soldier saluted and went to carry out his orders, then the General turned to his old friend. ‘’ the tactic is ancient but seems to be working.. The Scots are a mess both by moral, quantity and quality. They have loads of wounded amongst them , a shitload of casualties and we’re about to give them even more of those for invading our good old England, my dear Hastings.’’ The Colonel,visibly amused by how his old friend seemed to have figured it all out again, wanted to know how precisely the close combat regiments were to assault the large remaining force. The General took a last sip of his bottle of ale and looked again at the decimated Scottish force.’’ You’ll see the picture, stay here until Infantry makes first contact’’ Hastings grinned and nodded ‘’ will do, I’m off to my Unit, good luck General’’ Norfolk threw the empty bottle away and grinned back ‘’ by the way Colonel , I’ll be really disappointed in you if you can’t beat those damn Scots out there.’’ the Colonel proudly saluted him again and rode back to his unit.
Norfolk watched his old friend go , then turned his eyes back to the massive flood of Royal Infantry, slowly marching towards the enemy who, visibly prepared itself for the final part of the battle.
Norfolk sat back in the evening grass and gave the order for the long distance arms to halt firing. ‘’That’s all an old bugger like me can do’’ he thought.’’ Its all in your hands now Hastings, don’t let us down.’’

As the massive Infantry hordes closed in on each other, the Scotsmen, as he predicted, furiously opened the attack without thinking or regrouping. And the sounds of metal meeting metal filled the distant sky.
As the time went by and the infantry clash slowly reached its height, Hastings led his 1500 heavy Cavalry around the struggling armies to the soft vulnerable back of the Scottish force. the spectators could just see how he lined his riders up in two rows large enough to cover the backside, gave the command for a frontal charge and the large bar of horsemen quickly disappeared into the cloud of soldiers.
Norfolk who was to old to still engage in combat, saw how the Scottish horde slowly but steadily lost more and more men to the combined English lines.
The fight continued for over 2 hours until both sides came to a halt and a few minutes later a young lieutenant came to the general to report that the remaining Scottish soldiers request permission to surrender. As the forces still on the hill exploded in excitement Norfolk got on his horse and rode into the field below with the lieutenant.

As Norfolk entered the area where the battle had commenced he saw many hundreds of dead scots , the hundreds of arrows around them gave away that these men mainly fell to the rain of arrows, a few minutes later they entered the actual battle area where the grass that had been so fresh and green earlier that day was now trampled and stained with the blood of thousands of fallen soldiers. Here the casualties had been severe and at some points one could no longer walk between the bodies but over entire hills of them. Many shields and swords on the ground reflected the low sun, some of them were still located in their last bloody victim.
As he entered the area of the remaining forces the English troops moved aside to make way for the General and his escort. Norfolk halted to take a look around.
The Scotsmen were presently surrounded by about 3 and a half thousand soldiers English soldiers. And seemed to be on similar numbers. Most of their men were wounded and tired of the hours of fighting. Anyone taking a good look around realized that if the battle continued , the Scottish side was not going to last long. A Scottish noblemen carrying a white flag came forward , Norfolk threw his sword on the ground and walked over to him. It was the same officer who had told him to surrender. According to the look on the man’s face he was willing to accept the irony of his fate. ‘’ our army requests your permission to surrender general. Do with me as you may but please let my men live.’’ Norfolk looked at his bloodstain face , his clothing wripped apart and the tired impression the overall appearance this man gave.’’you’ll have to face the Crown about your fate, but your surrender is accepted.’’ The man looked the general in the eye for the second time that day. He showed a thankful grin , turned around to his side and with the same rough and hard boiled voice he shouted ‘’ THROW DOWN YE ARMS LADS , FOR US ITS OVER’’ slowly but steadily the Scottish threw their weapons on the ground, putt their arms up and started walking towards the English soldiers. All of them had a depressed tone in their face but seemed to accept their loss. Suddenly a rider came in gallop from the English lines, from a distance Norfolk could identify Hastings typical stubborn face. ‘’very well done Colonel , I expect some numbers on the casualties of both sides and the housing of our POW’s within a few hours.’’ Hastings smiled. ‘’ oh that won’t be a problem Sir’’


As the English forces bound their Scottish POW’s and their arms were gathered, priests and nuns started to pour into the battle zone to care for the wounded. Norfolk walked around for hours , helped some wounded troops out with getting on their way to medical attention , had a short talk with the enemy’s officer in charge if the enemy had any soon military operations planned. When Hastings returned, all of the POW’s had been lead to a quickly built camp and most of the wounded were off the field.’’ Sir I have the Numbers’’ suddenly the staff and many soldiers surrounding them were quiet. Hastings opened the paper and looked up, as if he was asking gods permission to read it up loud. ’’ Today , on the 5th of march in the year of our Lord 1492 , in the Province of Northumbria, at the fields north of Newcastle the Royal Northern Army under the Command of General Sir James Norfolk 6.000 men infantry , 1.200 bowmen , 1500 cavalry and 8 cannons strong battled against the Royal Scotch Army , under the Command of Robert McCory 14.000 men infantry strong , the English Achieved Victory after 3 hours of battle , during this battle 2400 englishmen fell , as did 10.900 soldiers of the Scottish army , the English side reported 5600 Survivers and holding. The Scottish side has 3.000 survivors and surrendered.’’ All men close enough to have heard the documents reading just stared in front of them in shock and amazement until a young Corporal approached the General , halted and saluted. Across the field one by one everyone stood and saluted.

The General felt a lump in his throat from this honor, and firmly saluted them back. When he finally released his hand many around him held the salute for a few moments as if they wanted to remember this moment for the rest of their lives.
The General cleared his throat.’’ Men, today did we not only defeat a force almost twice the side of us , we also saved the lives of each and every inhabitant of Newcastle and the towns and cities in Northumbria. No doubt the Crown will dispatch its southern regiments to here to relief us from our POW duties but also to reinforce us to take this fight back where it belongs, on the lands of our enemy! Today we did the Crown proud Gentlemen!’’ and with a little smile he saluted the explosion of excitement and joy around him again..
 
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Very nice battle description.

One thing though, could you break up the text some? It all blurs together!

King Gil-Galad, a fine name, btw. I know something of this one, a poem I memorized for some reason years ago!

Gil-Galad was an Elven King
Of him the harpers sadly sing
The last whos realm was fair and free
Between the mountains and the sea

His sword was long, his lance was keen
His shining helm afar was seen
The countless stars of heaven's field
Were mirrored in his silver shield

But long ago he rode away
And where he dwelleth none can say
For into darkness fell his star
In Mordor where the shadows are.
 
Thanks, much better! :)
 
You're playing as England, right? That'd be cool if you were actually playing as Scotland, but writing from the English POV and just getting overrun.... hmm, that's a pretty good concept :D.....

I like the start a lot. One thing, though... Vald, where's the customary announcement of Showcasehood that usually accompanies a showcasization (weeee new fun words :p)
 
You should have had some Scotsman moon the English, like in Braveheart :D
 
Chapter 3
The year of our Lord 1493
The mountains south of Edinburgh

*****************************************************

Hastings satt on his big black frisian horse while overlooking a series of smaller lakes just below the hill he was on.
Scotland was not quite the savage backland with crazy scotsman behind every tree waiting to ambush the english as soon as chance occured.
it was grassy , they had seen forrests, mountains, small rivers and little villages, but after that scotland had mainly been barren hills
from time to time covered in snow, troubling the advance of Norfolk's army.

after the battle at Newcastle Norfolk regrouped and rearmed his forces.
none of the archer or the battery units had sustained casualties but his 6000 infantrists regiment had lost well over half of its men with additional wounded.
When the news reached the king, he promptly assigned a small regiment of 2000 inexperienced soldiers previously stationed at lancashire and ordered Norfolk to advance into the south of scotland with 4000 men infantry
900 Knights, 1600 archers and ofcourse the highly succesfull battery.

they had few opposition in their 2 month march during the winter cold,
only a few skirmishes with local farmers, most of them drunk.

Hastings nervously played with his sword.
something which had grown custom to him during his stay in scotland
sometimes the frost made the blade stick, a very unpleasant condition when running into a couple of mad scotsmen.
''Lieutanent, go and tell our scouts we're running out of time, I want to get back at the camp in an hour''
the young lieutanent nodded and rode his horse at a tremandous speed off the hill in the direction of the lakes and the little forest north of them.

Hastings was worried. for a week now scouts reported the presence of a force more or less moving ahead of them shielding edinburgh of their advance.
none of the scouts had seen the complete force but numbers were estimated between 4000 infantry and some horsemen to 13000 infantry and an entire cavalry regiment. should it be the later the english army would have to face what was likely to be the Scottish Royal Army. A force not to be triffled with.
Hastings grinned, of all the officers the only one enthousiastic about a possible battle had been the general.
''The old man has a fighting spirit like none else'' he spoke to himself with a smile.
Hastings noticed 5 scouts and the lieutanent he had sent for them riding uphill towards him and decided to ride out to meet them.
meeting eachother halfway the open hill the scouts reported that they had seen what apparently indeed was the Royal Scottish Army just 5 miles north of here.
Hastings breath stopped for a second. ''5 miles.. my god '' he thought to himself ''gentlemen, to the camp! we must inform the general!''
 
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