The Ambush on Redwater River

> *"*Perhaps I'm not skilled in commanding troops, but my expertise is to set bunkers and drive tankers,"
> - **Roland Wimbledon**
>
>

**The Ambush on Redwater River** was the second direct conflict between **Roland Wimbledon's** First Army and **Timothy Wimbledon's**army. As the name suggests, the battle consisted of the First Army ambushing Timothy's army at the fork of the Redwater River while they were attempting to travel down the river and raid the Western Region.

## Overview

Timothy's army was led by Sir Vincent and consisted of roughly 1000 men. Like most of Timothy's armies post The Battle of Eagle City, most of his soldiers were actually criminals, rats and refugees who were coerced into joining the army and were lightly armoured and equiped as a result. However, since they were traveling down the river using 10 inland river ships, these soldiers were all also capable sailors. Although they were equipped with Berserker Pills to use in battle, they never received the chance to use them.

It is unknown exactly how many men of the First Army participated in this battle but it can be assumed that it was at least 300. The Army was well fortified within a defensive line of bunkers and blockhouses that were built alongside the fork of the river by Lotus and were hidden under vines and grass grown by Leaf. Due to logistical and time reasons, they were only able to field 16 12-pound field artilleries. There was also a reserve force led by Iron Axe who remained at the rear with Roland.

## Chronology

### Prelude

Sometime after The Battle of Clearwater and Timothy's subsequent subjugation of the Southern Region, he sent another military expedition into the Western Region under the command of Knight Vincent. After losing communications with Knight Lehman and the 1500 strong militia army under his command (who unbeknownst to Timothy was defeated in The Second Defensive Battle of Border Town) Timothy decided to send another army into the Western Region, this time ordering them to travel via the Redwater River.

Roland was informed of this platoon's movement ahead of time by his spymaster, Theo. With this information, Roland decided to ambush the fleet at the fork of Redwater River instead of waiting for them to make it far into the Western Region. There he set up 16 cannons and fortifications with the help of the witches, Lotus and Leaf to build and disguise the fortifications respectively. Although half a day late, Timothy's fleet arrived at the ambush location four days later.

### Battle

With the fortifications built by Lotus hidden under vegetation grown by Leaf, the fleet sailed right into Roland's trap. At the signal, the hidden cannons opened fire, the closest ones firing grapeshot while the others fired solid shells. In the first volley, half of sailors of the first ship were killed and many more were severely injured. Soon, the second ship was also bombarded, suffering similar casualties.

After several rounds of bombardment, the remaining ships attempted to dock at the river banks to mount a counter-attack. However, they were soon met by fierce gunfire from the row of bunkers strategically placed to protect the cannons. Within a few moments, the enemy capitulated and began to route, prompting Roland to order Iron Axe to clean up the battlefield with his reserve force.

### Aftermath

The two surviving captured knights, Elvin and Sznak were both interrogated and then later executed by Iron Axe. On the other hand, Roland ordered for the release of the surviving militia in order to indirectly threaten Timothy and temporarily dissuade him from attempting to annex the Western Region. These militiamen were also all given a 'letter of warning' which contained a direct threat from Roland to pass onto Timothy.

The one-sided victory for the First Army also displayed the power of gunpowder weapons to the Sleeping Spell witches who were present during the battle. Timothy also learnt about the existence of Roland's gunpowder weapons and ordered the creation of imitation weapons.

## References

1. Chapters 276
2. Chapters 278-282