Battle of Pradegar

The Battle of Pradegar was the second major battle in the Awl Campaign. After Redmask's Awl defeated Atri-Preda Bivatt's Eastern Army at the Battle of Bast Fulmar, they disappeared into the grasslands of the Awl'dan.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.448-450 The Letherii struggled to find any sign of their opponent, sure that if the Awl could be brought to battle outside a magically dead zone such as the one at Bast Fulmar, then Letherii magic would prevail. Bivatt also hoped to provoke Redmask into attacking her forces so her numeric superiority could be brought to bear.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.451-452
Redmask moved his troops ahead of the Letherii column so that the Awl army would not be detected,Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.474 while horse-archers drove back Letherii outriders and lone Awl on foot ambushed and slew Letherii scouts to capture their horses, weapons, and armour.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.449/453 Bivatt refused to launch a reconnaissance in force, sure that any such expedition would be isolated and destroyed.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.450
Bivatt's strategy finally seemed to pay off at Pradegar as a dust cloud on the southeastern horizon just after noon seemed to indicate that Redmask had lost his patience and decided to launch a direct attack.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.451 
==The Battlefield==
Pradegar was a vast, mostly level plain. To prepare for the Awl attack, Bivatt drew her supply wagons south of the track they were following and into a hollow square formation with her oxen and mules led into two kraals within. A thousand paces to the south was a slight ridge running east-west and to the north on the other side of the track was thick waist-high knifegrass. The Atri-Preda placed her Heavy infantry in a line south of the wagons and parallel to the ridge. From west to east were the Merchants' Battalion, the Artisan Battalion, and the Crimson Rampant Brigade. At either flank, extending out in twenty lines were an assortment of Medium infantry. Between the heavies and the southern wagons were the Letherii reserve elements, including skirmishers, the Drene Garrison soldiers, and medium infantry units.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.450/452
The Bluerose Lancers were divided into two wings and placed to the east and west of the wagon enclosure. Bivatt's command was placed just to the east of the wagons. Brohl Handar and his Tiste Edur stood to the north of the wagons facing the tall grass opposite the rest of the battle. Beyond the southern ridge was grassland and distant ravines capable of obscuring the approaching foe.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.472
==Opposing Forces==
===Awl===
The Awl forces at this battle were not described in detail. Total numbers were probably similar to those at Bast Fulmar.
Redmask
Probably around 14,000 warriorsReaper's Gale, Chapter 10, US HC p.266
*Medium cavalry - at least 600-700Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.475
**Masarch
*Dray and herder dogs 
*K'Chain Che'Malle - 2
**Gunth Mach
**Sag'Churok
*Toc Anaster
===Letherii Eastern Army===
The Letherii numbers were similar to those fielded at Bast Fulmar minus their Dresh ballistae and approximately 800 dead and wounded lost at that battle.
Letherii contingent
Atri-Preda Bivatt
Around 16,000 soldiersReaper's Gale, Chapter 12, US HC p.325-326
*Artisan Battalion - heavy infantry
*Bluerose Battalion - 2 wings
*Crimson Rampant Brigade - heavy infantry
*Drene Garrison - medium infantryReaper's Gale, Chapter 12, US HC p.328
*Merchants' Battalion - heavy infantry
*Assorted skirmishers and medium infantryReaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.452
*Mages
Tiste Edur contingent
Overseer Brohl Handar
*Den-Ratha K'risnan - 1
*Tiste Edur - less than 2,000 - mixture of light and medium infantry
==The Battle==
Despite the appearance that battle was imminent, the sun set without an Awl attack. The Letherii could tell they were being encircled even before then and their mages blackened whole swathes of grassland in frustration.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.472 To protect themselves, the Letherii placed pickets further from their lines amidst modestly constructed defensive berms and pits designed to break the legs of advancing cavalry.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.474/475 The Letherii mages placed magical wards at the outer edges of the army's position to alert them of any who crossed their lines in the dark.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.473 Bivatt briefly considered sending the Edur, who had superior night vision, into the dark looking for the Awl, but withdrew the notion at Brohl Handar's insistence that the Awl dogs would counter any element of surprise.
For his part, Redmask used the darkness to keep the Letherii confused, weary, and frayed. Bivatt was overwrought and pacing. But Toc Anaster noted the movements in the dark were doing as much to exhaust the Awl as their foes. He fully expected Redmask to conduct a retreat since he had no answer for the Letherii magic and was not pressing what little advantage they still had. But the young warrior, Masarch, formed a line of six to seven hundred infantry behind the southern ridge and readied to attack. He told Toc the main attack was to come from the northwest and they were to wait for Redmask's call. Toc thought the action destined for defeat. Redmask sounded his rodara horn and from the north came the crash of fighting mixed with the sounds of dogs. Masarch's cavalry charged to Toc's dismay. While initially successful against the pickets it was soon met by the fury of the Letherii sorcery, which boiled the riders into ash and sent them in a panicked retreat. Although not planning to join the battle, Toc raced his own horse into the fray to cover the retreat as the Letherii heavy infantry advanced. He fired a stone T'lan Imass arrow into the head of a mage as his horse leapt a trench and the mage's head exploded.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.474-477 
On the northern end of the battlefield, Brohl Handar's Edur faced the Awl dogs and Redmask's K'Chain Che'Malle guardians, Sag'Churok and Gunth Mach. The K'ell Hunter cut Handar's last remaining Den-Ratha K'risnan into pieces. Although both guardians cut a deadly path through their opponents, they were eventually driven back by overwhelming numbers.
==Aftermath==
Reviewing the battlefield the next day, Bivatt declared that the Letherii had won. She estimated that thousands of Awl died in the attack while the Letherii lost only a few hundred. Handar noted that eighty-two Edur had fallen. More disturbing were the reports of a single archer who had slain one of her mages with an arrow, which had also killed a second mage who had been sharing their power with the first. Whoever it was had not been an Awl.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.477-479 
Toc learned half of Masarch's riders had died in their ill-fated charge.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.477
By the time of the next major fight at the Battle of Q'uson Tapi, a third Letherii mage who had been linked to the others succumbed to his injuries. With one shot of his arrow, Toc had killed three of the Letherii's five mages.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 22, US HC p.668-669
==Notes and references==
Category:Battles