Herald of Steel

Chapter 805 Battle of Sissilpond Ridge (Part-2)

Menes had managed to reach the top of the ridge first, aided by his unique unit formation, and was able to bear onto the Tibian scout commander with the full might of his twenty thousand 20,000 men, almost instantly crushing him.

But just before Flamino started to despair, aid from Perseus arrived at just the nick of time, in the form of two thousand, 2.000 forward cavalry units.

He had sent them galloping ahead to help Flamino in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

And then following this, a few while later, before Menes could destroy those 6,000 men, the bulk of Perseus’s phalangites crashed into the legionaries, devolving the battle into a slogging match.

The match staring 22,000 spear wielding Tibians vs 20,000 sharp bladed Zanzanians had begun.

And the initial charge of the phalangites as they made contact was quite damaging to the legionnaires, since the slope and the rapid with which the Tibians were able to make contact made it so that the legionnaires were unable to find the breathing room needed to throw their pillas and blurt that impact force.

Thus the deadly phalanx formation was allowed to hit them with the full might of their spears and huge shields, creating large casualties.

And once the enemy was pinned as Perseus hoped, a brutal melee began, as both sides vowed not to lose a single inch of ground.

The legionaries knew the further they retreated, the more the enemy would be able to use the ridge’s sloping curve to their advantage, as that higher elevation would give them greater angles of attack, making defending against such attacks ever more perilous.

“Don’t give them an inch. You have fought these men before. And you have beaten them before. Fight! Fight more each grain of ground.”

And knowing this, Menes rode up and down the lines, encouraging the men as such and ordering the officers to force their soldiers to stay and fight, to trade bodies for ground.

All this caused the battle to become very bloody.

The Tibian phalangites used the razor sharp tips of their spears to try and pierce through the bronze thoraxes, steel chainmail, and linen gambeson garbed by the legionnaires, with most of these being simply deflected away by the thick wooden shields, with some even getting stuck between the many layered wooden weapon.

As for those that did manage to get in, the triple layered armor did provide its wears quite significant protection, many times turning what would have been a deadly stab to a painful but ultimately harmless thrust or perhaps a small cut, or even just a tiny blood clot.

But of course no armor was invincible. .

Some spear attacks did manage to slip past, such as by hitting critical weak points on the armor, or even simply bulldozing through all the defenses using sheer force, such as when wielded by an especially strong man.

When that happened, it would manage to produce deadly puncture wounds which many times would make the man fall to the ground groaning with pain, incapacitating him.

Or worse killing him on the spot if the hit was vital enough, like piercing the heart or skewering the throat.

Though such instances were rare given a spear was more of a poking weapon than a deadly killing one.

And in response to this attack, Menes’s men used their large rectangular shields to skillfully swipe away or simply duck beneath the wall of bristling spears to get close enough so that those pointy sticks would lose their effectiveness.

Then they could use their sharp short swords, perfect for engaging the enemy at distances where they could almost hug each other, to deftly swing around and cleave through the mostly leather and linen armor they encountered like butter, the low grade armor a clear evidence of Perseus’s financial difficulties.

And it was perhaps only this weak armor that let the legionaries stay in the fight, enabling them to eke out a favorable casualty ratio.

Because when the Zanzan infantry tried to close the distance with the phalangites, as expected, it was easier said than done.

The very nature of this move made it quite dangerous and there always was the risk that in attempting to brush off the spear in front of him, the man would get a spear stab from the sides.

Or simply have his attack blocked by the phalangites’s own huge shield, and then be counterattacked with the enemy’s shield bash or even a spear stab.

The latter would be deadly as he might fall then and there, but even the former was very dangerous, as it would not only send him back but also possibly disorientate him, thus lowering his defenses and making him vulnerable to an attack from either side.

Something that happened quite often as the static nature of the battle meant that the phalangites were able to plant their feet firmly on the ground and calmly deal with various such infiltration attempts.

And with the legionaries having their movement restricted due to the terrain and order from their officers, they found their most prized advantage taken away.

Thus that natural undulation that occurred during a battle was forcefully stopped and the legionaries found themselves having to take the far heavier hits of the phalanx formations head on.

Hence as the battle raged, many casualties with both large and small wounds began to appear on Menes’s side, and the numbers were definitely higher on his side than the other.

Although the lines still held, micro cracks were indeed starting to form, and once a time would come when they would eventually snap.

Melodias was needed, though not right, but eventually.

But reinforcements were also needed in the back, as in a similar color to the infantry, the crossbowmen at the back were not doing much better either.

They had been made to face a withering hail of stone throws from their counterpart missile units, the much better trained and expert Peltasts.

And even in the short exchange, these men had undoubtedly proved to be the superior force.

They were much well trained and much more experienced than Alexander’s levies, and the lead balls they threw were scarily accurate and even more frightfully deadly.

Just a single good solid hit could shatter teeth, blind eyes, break bone, and even directly knock someone unconscious.

In the worst case, it could even directly cause death.

Facing these extremely powerful and fast expert units, Alexander’s levied crossbowmen found themselves utterly outclassed and were barely able to lift their heads out of their large pavises, taking one or two odd potshots here and there, from behind the cover.

And it was here these levies truly came to appreciate the fact that they didn’t need to shoot a crossbow like a traditional one.

Because if that had been the case, if they needed to get out of their cover, draw the string, take aim, and then shoot, well then things would have been a lot different indeed.

The casualties for such an exposed unit against such accurate arrow fire would have been astronomical and it was even very possible that Menes’s 2,500 crossbowmen might have already shattered and routed.

The inherent steady aim of the crossbow, the large pavises, and the fact the crossbowmen outnumbered the peltasts all helped to keep that fight in the balance, at least for now.

And lastly, in regards to the cavalry, well it was a stalemate here too.

First of all, given the rough ground they were in, many cavalrymen had actually gotten off their horses and decided to fight as light infantry, skirmishing in small units with their small shields and light spears.

Their opponents- usually similar units from Menes’s heavy cavalry who found their large lances bulky and unwieldy, and the terrain not suitable for huge, thundering charges.

Menes of course knew this of disadvantage but had chosen the terrain due to other greater advantages as discussed earlier.

So like the enemy, the Zanzan horsemen too left their steads behind and joined in the melee, exchanging spear and sword strikes with the lightly armored Tibians, or maybe more specifically Matbar (Marquiss) Kyuam’s cavalry.

And surprisingly it was the latter who came on top.

The sloping terrain allowed the nimble Tibians to dash around the field and get quick, cheeky stikes in, many of which managed to draw blood, dying their silver blades red, while the much heavier and bulkier Zanzanians were forced to bunch together and use their heavy armor to try and endure.

They at first tried to bring the fight to the opponent, but quickly found that trying to chase or catch these nimble opponents was an exercise in futility and something that only worked to tire them out, thus making them vulnerable to openings these Tibians could exploit.

And then there was the last type of unit- the cavalrymen that were still on horseback.

Although the ridge was still rough, there were of course some flat plains as well and in those limited spaces, the two sides most expert cavalrymen were found duking it out.

And it was perhaps only here that Menes’s men found some success, as their heavy armor helped destroy the much lighter units, while the scouts, now turned skirmishers were able to use their ‘instant bows’ to continuously harass the enemy like any other expert horse archers.

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