Siege of Lundes

The Siege of Forges was a major battle during the Six Years' War, pitting an inferior Almeronian garrison against a reinforced Stahlheimian host. It occurred simultaneously with the Siege of Forges, the result of a two-pronged assault by Imperial forces under the command of Grand Marshal Frederic Richter. The siege of Lundes was initiated half a day after the siege of Forges, and upon the fall of the latter Almeronian morale was greatly stricken. The fall of Lundes and Forges opened a route for further Stahlheimian dominance in the war and paved the way for more victories.

### Background

Following a large loss of soldiers at the Battle of Mentanon, the Stahlheimian Emperor ordered Grand Marshal Frederic Richter to organize a secondary invasion force to reinforce the first. This led to an unprecedented lull in the war, recently defeated and scattered Almeronian forces under King Charles III attempting to regroup while the Empire prepared for the killing blow. Once Richter's forces arrived he overtook Marshal Erwin Mueller's command, immediately putting together a battle plan to march for the Almeronian capital. Three obstacles stood in the way of that goal: The sister castles of Forges and Lundes, and the sprawling city of Agenais. The Grand Marshal split his force of 50,000 men into two equal parts, one under his own command and one under the command of Marshal Mueller. They were to approach the castles and batter them incessantly until they had fallen, after which they would rejoin forces and sack Agenais before marching to the Almeronian capital.

So after several weeks of calm and deliberation, the reinforced Stahlheimian invasion force split in two and made for the castles. Mueller's force was delayed by poor weather and pockets of resistance, allowing the Grand Marshal to assault Forges first. Upon Marshal Mueller's arrival, he set immediately to building siege engines and bombarding the castle. He did not offer amnesty to the defenders, taking the sounds of artillery fire from Richter's force as a sign that peace had failed. Mueller spent 8 days building siege equipment to overtake the garrison, and on the ninth day striked with force.

The garrison of Lundes was not composed entirely of knights as that of Forges, but was rather a mix of veteran soldiers and elements of a penal company, the Forlorn. This made for an experienced force that also held little fear of failure, a good combination when it is 800 men standing against 25,000. The force was under the command of Lieutenant Michel Leyon, a decorated Almeronian soldier and officer.

### Course of the Assault

A strategy near identical to the one of the Grand Marshal at Forges was taken up by Mueller at Lundes, an artillery bombardment meant to break the spirit of the defenders accompanied by the construction of necessary siege engines. This had the unintended effect of preparing the defenders, however, as their glimpse of this assault upon Forges gave away this strategy. The defenders abandoned the outer walls during the course of the bombardment and instead constructed several barricades, eliminating means of attack for the Imperial host and creating more chokepoints to prevent the fall of the castle. After 8 days passed, Marshal Mueller was prepared to attack and began his assault.

The first wave of the attack proved far less successful than it had at Forges, the prepared defenders throwing rubble from the destroyed walls down upon the attackers and prolonging the front gate's lifespan with more stone and barricades behind it. It was nearly three hours before the walls had fallen and the defenders had to fall back deeper into their holdfast, the fighting growing fierce in the face of such desperate odds. The makeshift chokepoints proved their worth and mitigated much of the number advantage held by the assaulting force, though sheer force saw them destroying the barricades and pushing the forces back further.

After the third wave Lieutenant Leyon was slain by a Stahlheimian marksman, though his passing did not immediately break the will of his men. The defense continued for several more hours and seemed to be holding reasonably well until the fall of Forges. In the distance the flag of Almeron high atop the precipice of the sister castle was lowered and replaced with the Imperial eagle. The garrison fought with far elss vigor after this, and within the hour the few that remained had been slaughtered utterly. In all, a little more than 2,000 Stahlheimian soldiers were slain in the final assault. The Imperial flag was raised over Lundes, and the sister castles were both under Stahlheimian control.

### Aftermath

The fall of the two castles opened a direct route for the Stahlheimian invasion force to strike Agenais, and from there, the Almeronian capital. The losses were painful indeed, but the valiant stand by the defenders bought some time for King Charles to gather more men in a desperate last push to halt the invasion.