Battle of Fenfield

The Battle of Fenfield was an engagement fought during the Red Plains War of the early 6th Century. It resulted in a disastrous defeat for the Kingdom of Talor and the death of one of the war's major proponents, Theoren Blydnas.

## Background

The Red Plains War was going well for Talor. The Talorian army, led by Cyng Aethelhere Strongmace, had encircled and captured the town of Safacourgh. The war was over as far as the Talorians cared; their target was captured and the Astarcian Confederation seemed not to care.

But in September of 523 the situation changed. Dalfore, sensing a shift in power in the region, sent a detachment of the Fallen Company to assist Astarcia in its wars. 1500 men led by Pierre Chizau crossed the Talorian border in late September, capturing Upmoor and marching towards the large town of Fenwich.

Cyng Aethelhere made a mistake in underestimating the strength of the Fallen Company column; he sent just nine hundred men to intercept it, led by one of his direct vassals Theoren Blydnas. The columns met near the small hamlet of Fenfield in November.

## The Battle

Blydnas' men, barring the way between Chizau's force and Fenfield, took up skirmish and battle positions. He had with him one hundred Fyrdmen, professional warriors, as well as eight hundred levies. The latter were split fairly evenly between melee and missile troops. Blydnas' force consisted of the Fyrdmen in the centre, with his lighter melee levies on the wings. Archers were in the back of the formation, and skirmishers in a line in front.

The Fallen Company column was much more homogeneous. All of Chizau's men were melee troops; he had four hundred chevaliens - shock troops of the highest calibre - and over a thousand footmen, who were still professional fighters, if not as well-armed and armoured as his chevaliens. Chizau arranged his men in a wedge to oppose Blydnas' line, but only as a defensive measure.

Chizau's force outnumbered Blydnas' nearly two-to-one, and vastly outmatched the Talorians in experience and equipment. As such, Chizau requested a parley and, when that was ignored, demanded that the Talorian force lay down their arms and surrender. They were met, however, with a wild charge.

Theoren Blydnas, while a Talorian nobleman and nominal military commander, had no knowledge of battle strategy. He was an impatient man when in control, and a weak-willed yes man in front of his superiors. Due to the long reign of his lords in House Eorlfric as Cyngs, Blydnas had grown headstrong and foolhardy. He bridled at the thought of Pierre Chizau, legally a commoner, trying to threaten him with a force of peasants in uniform.

So Blydnas charged. His men were met initially by the heavy swinging maces and morningstars of the chevaliens, who gave way in the crush of close melee to allow the Fallen Company footmen, armed with dirks, short swords and axes, to do their work. The Talorian skirmishers could do nothing for fear of friendly fire, though Blydnas, who was standing by the archers with his three sons Flendred, Theodred and Maohrdred, commanded his archers to fire anyway.

The Talorian melee troops, outnumbered and outmatched, disintegrated entirely after several minutes of combat. Leaving over a hundred dead, they broke and ran, taking refuge in Fenfield before most of them deserted entirely. The commander of the Ricfriding Fyrdmen, Keornas Ricfriding, was disinherited for his cowardice.

Blydnas had urged his archers too close to the melee. When his men broke and ran, the enemy footmen came out of the carnage and chaos. They were upon the Talorian archers before Blydnas could do anything. In the chaos Theoren was killed along with his eldest son Flendred. Theodred and Maohrdred did the intelligent thing and surrendered along with the rest of the archers once their father had fallen.

## Aftermath

The decisive victory left Cyng Aethelhere in shock, which quickly gave way to blind rage. Marching south to crush the 'impudent Lacrivian monkey' who had killed his loyal follower, Aethelhere found that the Fallen Company danced around his heavy, cumbersome force. This set the tone for the rest of the war.

While not a battle that would go down in the annals of Fallen Company history, the acquisition of Theodred and Maohrdred Blydnas was a major event - the pair later formed the backbone of the Guerr-en-Exile.