The Siege of Reme

July, 1214.

The Battle of Reme.

From the east came the mighty army of Christendom, led by the noble and courageous Lord-Archon and augmented by the Tartar allies. Christendom marshalled itself, and from across nearly every corner of the Christian world came crusaders eager to free Reme from the stranglehold of barbarian Mongols. Helvetian, Despotate, Kressian, Elyrian, Tyrian, Gewissian, Amihanan and Silesian troops drew up for battle, sixteen thousand soldiers in all manner of uniform, flying hundreds of banners and equipped with every weapon known to man. They had gathered at the capital of the Lord Archon and marched together through the forests and marshes of the central lands, coming upon a Mongol host that had drawn away from the siege to face them. For once however, it was the Mongols who were at a disadvantage. With their backs towards Reme, and being in swamp land, their mobility was reduced and their options few. Perhaps emboldened by the many victories of the past few years, the Great Khan decided that he would fight the Christian host, albeit being quite outmanned.

The battle itself was a bloodbath. As the Christians had done so many times before, they had drawn up their most vulnerable troops in the center, with the massive levy of 6000 being most arrayed by themselves with only pikemen to protect them in front. Unlike other times however, this host was great enough that it stood up against repeated Mongol attacks that tried to dislodge the force. An equally great amount of archers, 1100 in total, managed to keep the Mongol archers sufficiently harassed, that the exchange between the two armies saw no real victor for several hours. Meanwhile, on the flanks, Christian cavalry squared off against the forward elements of the Mongol army. Here, the Tartar volunteers did their best work together with their Christian comrades, as they managed to gain sufficient ground to seriously threaten the Mongol rear areas. In response, the Khan drew up his mightiest weapons, the lancers of his formation. Clad in layers of leather and metal, these great Mongol knights were the rarely used battering ram of the Khan.

Seeing that this force was drawing up, the Lord-Archon drew up his own heavy cavalry in the center, and skillfully managed to maneuver them through the mass of the levies with great horns, waving of banners and fanfare. As the Mongol lancers charged the Christian army, so did the Christian Knights charge them back. The result was a mighty clash in the middle of the battlefield, that man fighting man in the dirt and mud of the Remeian swamps. Here, it was not so much the speed of the steed, but indeed the fighting single of the individual that decided the fight. The Christian knights, finally given the stage that they had been seeking, fought valiantly. Bolstered by elements of light cavalry, tartars and foot-bound pikemen, this intense melee in the middle of the battlefield became the seed of a great victory, as the Christians held firm despite bravery and fierceness on the part of the Mongol lancers. Then, as the battle teetered between victory and loss, the defenders of Reme sallied out to join their brethren on the battlefield. Helvetian Guards, Reman Knights and the citizens of Reme stormed out, breaking the back of the Mongols.

The Mongols lost heart and a great call for retreat was made across their lines. Followed by the Christian cavalry in every part of the battlefield, the Mongols were decisively swept away from the approaches to Reme. The most holy of cities had been saved.