Second Battle of The God's Lake

The Second Battle of The God's Lake was a major battle during the Lakelands Conflict in the second-phase of the conflict. It was the first engagement of the newly arrived detachment of House Boyce Guards under Prince Ronan. It saw the Houses of the Lakelands win their first major battle against the Brotherhood and the beginning of the new approach adopted by the Lakelanders to close in on the occupied areas.
== History ==
=== Prelude ===
With earlier defeats in the war at the hands of the Brotherhood, notably the First Battle of The God's Lake, King Warren I realised that the Lakelanders were beginning to lose and it was weaking their legitimacy as Noble Houses. Fearing a wider issue across the Kingdom, he deployed a detachment of his Household Guards under Prince Ronan Boyce to join the fighting against the Brotherhood and support the Lakelanders in the hopes it would bring them back into the fight. He also began to fund the efforts but was unable to provide as much as he had wished due to the complaints of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Ruban Ross.
With the arrival of fresh and battle-hardened Boyce guards, along with the capable leadership of Prince Ronan and his officers, Lord Anron began preparing for a new offensive to bring life back into the conflict and show to the Lakelands and the Kingdom that the war was far from lost. It was also a much needed morale boost for the fighting army who had suffered heavy casualties. The War Council, with Prince Ronan being a new leading member, selected The God's Lake as both a strategic and symbolic target for their offensive.
The Brotherhood had encampments on the south bank of The God's Lake which were being used to control a vast area and preventing any movements into the Brotherhood controlled region while the encampments were functional. It was also the location where the Lakelanders had suffered a great defeat, losing half their force there during the first battle, so retaking it would be a sense of redemption and change of course. 
In early 400 AF, soldiers from House Rocke, House Alder, House Blackford and House Ulbridger along with the 100 strong Boyce Guard assembled at Arrowpoint to copy the same manoeuvre used during the first Battle. However, they were supported this time by 500 mounted soldiers of House Rocke and 20 mounted Boycemen, led by Sir Ed and Sir Orwen Kell who advanced ahead of the main force to the north to go around The God's Lake.
=== The Battle ===
Prince Ronan, Lord Alder and the other Lords along with Sir Kayl led the main 4,080 strong force directly to the Southbank and began to advance on a small force of 500 Brotherhood Bandits who were in a large camp to the west, sending an alert to the main Brotherhood force. The Boyce Guards at the front held the line while the Lakelander infantry continued to try and outflank the Bandits who were attempting to flank the Boycemen, forming a frontline. The Boyce Guards were not breaking and continued to hold the line against the Brotherhood, fighting for one day and one night waiting for the cavalry to appear.
To the North, the Cavalry Force was massacring small encampments of Brotherhood Bandits while they travelled south along the bank of the lake to catch the main Brotherhood Force in the flank, an opposite move to what the Brotherhood did during the first battle. Within hours, the Cavalry arrived and began to hack at the Brotherhood flank, causing mass panic and as the Lakelander main force advanced across the battlefield and continued to destroy any encampments they found. Sir Kayl and Tarrel "The Dread's Dog" met each other during the end of the battle and Tarrel was killed by the young knight. 
The surviving brotherhood led by Dontar fled deeper into the woods to the south-east.
=== Aftermath ===
The Brotherhood lost over 4/5th of their entire force during the battle, after continuing to call in more reinforcements from surrounding encampments. They lost their second-in-command as well as a key strategic location and until 402 AF with the Battle of Irton Pike, they were entirely on the backfoot. 
For the Lakelanders, it was a much needed victory and despite being slightly outnumbered, the Lakelanders and the Boycemen were decisive in their victory over the Brotherhood and proved to the Kingdom that the fight was not yet over. 
After the battle, the war was largely a stalemate and Dontar, unable to do major battles and being closed in on all sides by the Lakelanders, resorted to a doctrine of guerrilla warfare by harassing the enemy in smaller groups and giving up ground through hiding, to then ambush the enemy from behind. This disrupted supply and the attacks from the rear caused the advances to stall. 
This then worsened overall confidence in the Lakelander cause as many perceived it as losing one, with many in the High Council viewing contributing to the fight to be a waste so the Lord Chancellor, Lord Ruban Ross, cut-down funding to the Lakelander Houses, despite King Warren and Lord Daltas' continued supports. Prince Ronan and his detachment remained in the Lakelands after the battle to continue the fight, being more aggressive with engaging the enemy head on and proving to be a good counter to the new fighting style adopted by the Brotherhood as they were a small group themselves.
Category:Battles
Category:Lakelands Conflict
Category:400 AF