3 June 1430: "Captain that path to the left..."

IR13 moved quickly down the road, still thick woods on either side. Any question of how long the enemy would wait before opening up was dispelled with a loud crack. Xavier watched in horror as he saw a single shell speeding down the lane, heading straight for him. Before he could react the shell was past, and he could actually feel the displacement of air. There was a loud crash behind him followed by screams and raining debris. One of his troopers had been thrown to the ground and his horse on the ground struggling to get up, minus one leg. Luckily the trooper appeared unhurt. Further back tow infantrymen from A Company were down, the whole column stopped and cowering.

Maj Shay of A company and his other officers were shouting for them to get up and press on. They arose unsteadily shouldered arms and stumbled forward amidst the shouts and blows of their officers. Another shell crashed in the trees off just off the road.

Xavier called for the dismounted trooper to fall back and spurred his horse forward. He noticed the trees beginning to thin out on both sides of the road and a small trail heading off to the left. Another shell exploded amongst the trees twenty meters ahead, more debris and splinters rained around them. Soon enough the Freedonians would find the range and they’d be for it.

“Corporal Agarn, take that trail to the left and see how far up it goes. Hurry!” Agarn looked at him with wild eyes, no doubt distressed at the notion of scouting out alone. The trail was fairly narrow and he quickly dismounted grabbed his carbine and tied up his horse in the lee of a thick tree. With a quick glance back at his captain he sped off down the trail.

Another shell passed over head and exploded down the trail behind him. More screams and shouts. Xavier felt his vulnerability keenly mounted atop his horse. He dismounted and left his horse with Private Deets, pressing forward on foot and keeping to the side. At this point he was the lead man in the entire attack. Next came the angry buzzing of rifle fire. Skirmishers up ahead somewhere. Still about 300 yard to go until they reached the opening of the field.

A company was moving at the quick step. Behind them was stacked up the rest of the battalion. The troops realized that they could not back up as they would be stuck in a mass with shells crashing into them. Moving forward as quickly as possible was the only way out of this mess. It occurred to Xavier that the trail off to the left might be away out of this mess. He held up as A company trotted by, Major Shay stopping for a moment to confer.

“Captain, that path to the left…”

“Sir, I’ve sent a man to check it out, I am going after him, it may be a way to flank this deadly lane.”

“Go on Man, Quickly”, said the Major. “We must press forward!” He ran off to catch up to the head of the column, cursing at his mean to press on. Xavier ran off along the narrow path. It ran perpendicular to Atwater, then opened into a small field. He turned right and parallel the lane, following where the tall grass had been beaten down by Agarn’s route. He sped ahead eventually catching up to the trooper. Off to his right here could hear rising musketry.

“Sir, look here”, Agarn pointed ahead. Through the trees, perhaps 150 yards ahead they could see sunlight, an opening, running forward they made out his was quite a large grassy hill.

“Corporal , I’m going back to tell the commander. Push forward a little more to the left to ensure there are no snags and see if we can get a company through here. The undergrowth does not look to bad. Then come back here, and be careful!”

“Aye, Sir.” Xavier patted him on the shoulder and then sped back the way he came.

He had just made it to the clearing when a fusillade of shots opened up and he threw himself to the ground. A head of him, a line of Jaegers were rapidly reloading. “For God’s sake cease fire! I’m on your side!” He had run into the flankers. Furious he called over the Sergeant. “Damn you Sergeant, can you not tell the difference between friend and foe?”

“Sorry Sir”, the Jaeger Sergeant said sheepishly, “We did not know there were friendlies ahead of us.”

Well I have another man ahead of us, so be careful. Now listen. There may be a way through here to flank the enemy. Push forward until you find my man, Agarn and hold with him, Leave a few men over here at the head of this path and I will bring forward reinforcement, the have your men guide them into position. Understand?”

“Yes Sir!”

Xavier sped back down the path t Atwater trail. The sound of heavy fire told him that A company had reached the clearing. The rest of the battalion was still moving forward along the road. With a look of relief Deets handed him his reign. “Deets remain here to mark the entrance of this path.”

He headed back down the Atwater trail looking for the battalion commander. He found the Colonel about one hundred years back down the road. Colonel von Tripp sat impassively on his horse as his men passed by, looking impassively at the column, a single finger running across his thin moustache.

“Sir, Captain Xavier reporting”. He Saluted. Von Tripp merely looked over to him, annoyed  as if he had been disturbed in deep thought.

“Captain aren’t your dragoons supposed to be back at the intersection?”

“They are. Sir. I took a few men to scout the column forward along this trail. Sir I have found a potential was to flank the enemy. There’s a path off to the left just up there,” he pointed, “where my man is. It’s a narrow path but opens up and eventually we can make our way to te field ahead and perhaps attack the enemy on a broader front, or even flank them.”  

GM NOTE:

At this point the Red commander is emailed this vignette:

A Company coming off the trail and onto the field

Your battalion is pushing up Atwater Trail from Bethmour, quickly moving forward in a compact march column. Eventually  the road beds and ahead is a thousand yard straight section which leads to the open field. A single enemy cannon begins firing down e trail and A company begins taking casualties. The officers spur the men forward since they cannot back up without causing a deadly road jam. Order begins to break down as everyone frantically wants to press forward while shells scream down the road, some impacting amongst the troops, others hitting the trees raining deadly splinters around them.  As confusion increases the pace slows, but eventually A company gains the opening and begins to deploy amongst heavy firing.

You are about three hundred meters from the opening, contemplating how to push  forward quicker, when Captain Xavier of the Dragoons gallops up from the front of the column. You are annoyed to note that he is carrying a carbine in one hand it looks quite wild with excitement. Neither of these things, you find particularly becoming of an officers.

"Sir, Captain Xavier reporting”. He salutes. You looked over to him, trying to figure out why he is approaching form the front of the column where the dragoons should still be back at the intersection..

“Captain aren’t your dragoons supposed to be back at the intersection?”

“They are. Sir. I took a few men to scout the column forward along this trail. Sir I have found a potential was to flank the enemy. There’s a path off to the left just up there,” he pointed, “where my man is. It’s a narrow path but opens up and eventually we can make our way to the field ahead and perhaps attack the enemy on a broader front, or even flank them.” 

GM Adds: Again, you are about three hundred yards from the opening of the field. A Company is already in general action in the field and B Company is coming up behind them followed by the Grenadiers. There is a delay in getting the battalion up the trail and into the field where it can deploy. So your companies are being fed in piecemeal. What do you tell the Captain?

The red commander emails me back: I send a message to the Grenadier commander.  You are to follow Captain Xavier up the side trail and flank and attack the enemy. This mission is high priority so do not waste any time. C company will be assigned to you as well and you may do with them what you see fit as long as they are used to help in the attack.
I call the C Company Commander over (Major Griffin) "You are under the command of the Major Spelling until further notice. Follow him and obey any order he gives you until I say otherwise.

Turning around the Grenadiers is no easy feat, but thy are well trained, Von Tripp assists in the traffic direction it takes five minutes to have both Companies running off onto the path. Von Tripp personally leads D company and the rest of the column up into the fight at the field.  Already the Atwater trail is strewn with the dead and dying of IR13...

Captain takes his Grenadiers to press the enemy flank