Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

In fact, this is not a very bad idea, because the commander of the Romans is very cautious and does not give them any decent opportunities. It is the first time to go out of the camp and confront them directly.

Even if the opponent has a slight terrain advantage, the slope of the hillside here is very gentle, which is not exaggerated. It is just a little disadvantageous in vision. It is not a fatal flaw and can still be fought.

So, after a while of dawdling under the eyes of the Romans, the coalition forces composed of these Germans finally took action, forming rows of battle lines to launch an offensive against the Romans on the hillside.

The first thing that started was the shooting between the long-range troops. In this round, the Romans had an absolute advantage. The troops carefully selected by Orville from the Gaul province are not just good-looking goods. The basic skills of these hunters are quite good. After several months of training, most of them can basically pull more than 60 pounds of war bows, which are considered to be relatively qualified archers.

The long-range troops on the coalition side mainly come from the native Anglo-Saxons, and their troop levels are undoubtedly typical of unevenness.

Later generations of English longbowmen were very famous. Putting aside the issue of cultural propaganda, they did have something in them. At that time, England had a group of very high-quality archer reserve talents, and a little training and integration would make them excellent longbowmen, but this thing was not innate. Thanks to the ruling measures and long-term cultivation of successive English kings, it took a lot of effort to produce so many good seedlings.

The Anglo-Saxons should not be considered a magical nation that is naturally proficient in archery. If their archery talent is not cultivated, it is just so ordinary. England is now in such an ordinary era, and there is no highlight in the long-range troops.

Therefore, these English archers, spearmen and slingers with poor equipment and training did not have an advantage, but were instead suppressed by the finely trained Gaul archers.

Orville had not even deployed his most elite large shield crossbowmen, but he had already suppressed the enemy in the shooting phase, forcing the Germans to use their cavalry again to disperse the scattered soldiers in front of the enemy phalanx.

Orville also stopped when he saw the good, and quickly ordered the troops to retreat. The Germans wanted to take advantage of the situation to pursue and go around the flank of the Roman line to distract the enemy's attention, but at this time they found it difficult to move freely.

This is the battlefield carefully selected by Orville and a group of military staff. It seems to be the place where the Battle of Hastings took place in history. In addition to being a small slope, there is a significant advantage here - there are lush trees on both sides of the slope, and there is a swamp behind. It is difficult for cavalry on either side to rush up, and it is inevitable to be restrained.

The vision in the forest is very poor, and the situation inside cannot be seen clearly. The Germans already knew in advance that there were many Celtic light infantry among the enemies. These people have been active in mountain forests all year round. They are considered professionals on this battlefield. The cavalry did not dare to rush in rashly when they lacked vision and impact.

Therefore, after dispersing the enemy, these Germanic cavalry could only choose to wander in front of the enemy's front position, and the mobility and flexibility of the cavalry were difficult to play.

Orville specially pulled a few crossbows over, and seeing this situation, he directly ordered the soldiers to start shooting at the enemy.

Even if the thunder was loud and the rain was small, the number and shooting accuracy of the crossbows were not enough to hit the vigilant enemy hundreds of meters away, but the crossbow arrows deeply nailed into the ground still successfully deterred the surrounding Germanic cavalry, making them dare not get too close to the Roman line, but instead shrinking back at a distance.

It might be okay to let them charge and kill the enemy, but it would be a bit aggrieved to die inexplicably on such a thing, and it is human nature to fear death. In this case, the Germanic infantry coalition slowly approached the enemy, and then both sides began the last few rounds of firepower projection before the battle.

Bows, javelins, crossbows, slingshots... all kinds of weapons were fired as much as possible. The formations of both sides were very dense. At this time, accuracy was not important. If you threw far enough, you could basically hit the target with your eyes closed.

In this round of confrontation, Orville still had a slight advantage because his long-range troops did have stronger projectile capabilities.

Among the various types of infantry, there were many light infantry with long poles that were quite eye-catching. Orville was also carefully observing the status of his new slingshot soldiers, which seemed to be pretty good at the moment.

He gave these soldiers a slingshot pole, which worked in the same way as a normal fishing rod. They all threw objects out by throwing them, but the difference was that a fist-sized stone was tied to the slingshot pole.

This was also a convenient way. Using a slingshot pole could significantly reduce the difficulty of using a slingshot line. If a slingshot soldier was not fully trained, not only would the accuracy be difficult to guarantee, but even the range would be hard to describe. It would be good if it could reach 20 to 30 meters.

Using a slingshot can alleviate this problem to a certain extent and lower the threshold for getting started, but it is also difficult to grasp the specific position of the slingshot, and the accuracy is difficult to guarantee. But to be honest, there is no need for accuracy at all now. Basically, if you throw it out without deviation, you can hit someone.

Small stones may look insignificant, but as long as they hit an unarmored target, they can also be fatal. Stones can kill people just like crossbows, or at least make a person lose an arm and lose combat ability for a short period of time.

Orville's long-range troops were not fully formed in any sense, but they had the ability to fight. Their projectile ability could not be called a rain of arrows, but it was enough to deal with the Germans in front of them.

Although the Germans had suffered considerable damage before the battle, this did not shake their morale, because the core strength of the Germans was not damaged.

The cavalry temporarily lingered at a safe distance. Both the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons' heavy infantry were not afraid of this level of projectile firepower. Except for a few unlucky people who were hit in the vitals, there were not many casualties. The casualties were mainly those light infantry who made up the numbers.

To put it nicely, the role of these people on the battlefield was to fill the front line, and to put it bluntly, they were high-level cannon fodder. The victory or defeat of the war was still determined by the small number of elite forces.

After marching a hundred meters, the troops of both sides collided and began the most important and most tragic hand-to-hand combat.

The Romans did have higher military literacy and a generally higher level of weaponry and equipment, but they were at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, and no matter which group the Germans were, they were generally taller than the Romans. When the two sides were in a contest of strength, the Germans actually had the advantage, which to a large extent offset the enhancements of acquired training and equipment. The two sides were evenly matched at the beginning, or it could be said that the Romans were at a slight disadvantage.