Battle of Eion Valley

Casualties| 43% casualties* 3000 men
* (4 000 wounded)

Battle of Eion Valley was fought in the beautiful and green Eion Valley in 6th of August 294. The Borian Army under the command of Akhon Perickard was defeated by the Royal Army led by King Jiri. The Battle was a pyrrhic victory for Jiri and marked the beginning of the end for Borian War as some of the Borian officers kept resisting the Royal Army for a whole month after the battle.

## History

### Prelude

After the victorious Siege of Charlington, King Jiri Baathúr decided to stay in the city and consolidate his forces. He had received intelligence reports that the Borian Army numbered almost 9 000 men strong. Jiri knew that he had little over 7 000 men, and he had this many only because of the help of Logan Artoriassen the leader of Dullahan. Logan was willing to aid Jiri, if Jiri could grant lands from the North of Edelmaa to Dullahan. Jiri, in a dire need of troops grudgingly complied and received 3000 peasant men from Logan. In Charlington King Jiri established the Order of the Baathúr Shadows, which was comprised of the veterans of the Midlands Guard.

Jiri's advisers; Heuteclere Nilsson and Sir Lothbrok Voorst advised Jiri to face the Borians at Eion Valley, because it was good hilly terrain that didn't allow the larger Borian force to envelope them. They also predicted, that the Borian Army would attack them instead of going around and taking Charlington.

The Borians were celebrating their upcoming battle with: wine, cheese and chocolate which they even gave to their lowliest of troops. Borians, under the leadership of King Akhon Perickard, concluded to face their destiny in the Eion Valley as they heavily relied upon their troop strength. They marched without knowing that David Lange, a man trusted with the command of 1000 men, was in fact a spy working for King Jiri.

### Royal Army Order of Battle

Overall commander: Jiri Baathúr and Hamina Beyard

* Baathúr Shadows, 300 men, commanded by Kyrielais

* Steel Order, 400 men, commanded by Heuteclere Nilsson
* Knights of Antikea, 700 men, commanded by Lothbrok Voorst
* Charlington Brigade, 500 men, commanded by Solomon Tyrus
* Warriors of Dullahan, ~2 000 men, commanded by Logan
* Samarran Guard, 1 000 men, commanded by Hirano Kanzaki
* Tadaheim Troops, 900 men, commanded by Mennor van Dire
* Army of David, 1 000 men, commanded by David Lange

### Borian Army Order of Battle

Overall commanders: Soliar Varjangaria and Akhon Perickard

* Hefaian Army, 3 300 men, commanded by Pichet Murand
* Perickardian Army, 4 000 men, commanded by Gotthard Lichtenawer

* Blackguard Penal Brigade, 500 men, commanded by Grisweld Mittelhoss
* KOMS, 200 knights, commanded by Hans Armitage

### Battle

The battle began early in the morning after both armies had rested and eaten well. The Royal Army positioned itself upon a great hill, Tranite hill, opposite of a smaller hill, the Knoll hill, on which the Borians had deployed their army. The Royal Army took the initiative with their archers, pestering the Borian to attack. The Borians however wielded a larger force of missile troops and effectively forced the Royal Army to attack them. The Royal Army charge began from the Royal Army left flank, when General Mennor van Dire charged the Borian right flank. The Borian right flank was headed by Gotthard Lichtenawer. The Borian right flank also possessed the feared warrior, Paul Royar, whilst Mennor had his champion Rexton Scale with him. The two giants clashed in a great duel, whilst Mennor's men managed to gain advantage over their Borian counterparts. The Borian right flank was completely crushed, when David Lange, a man the Borians thought they had hired as their mercenary captain, proved to be a loyalist for Jiri and attacked the Borian right flank from behind enveloping the Borian forces completely. Around the same time, Rexton Scale slew Paul in their duel, however Rexton was greatly injured from the fight.

With the looming left flank victory, Jiri Baathúr didn't want to threaten the left flank being attacked from the Borian centre and commanded his centre commanded by Hamina Beyard to advance into the Borian centre force commanded by Pichet Murand. The Borian centre was way tougher than the Borian right, this was mainly due to their high ground advantage as they were on the defensive, but also the tactical genius of Major Grisweld Mittelhoss who held his ground with his penal soldiers. A feat which was later recognized and praised by both sides of the conflict.

The Royal Army struggled to gain any ground against Major Mittelhoss's men and this led Jiri Baathúr to quickly pin the Borian left flank, stopping it from helping the Borian centre. The Borian left flank was commanded by the brilliant General Soliar Varjangaria, who was not giving in any ground either, however, Soliar lacked aggressive power and couldn't push back the Royal Army right flank commanded by General Heuteclere Nilsson.

The battle became a waiting game for the Royal Army, as they only had to hold back until General van Dire freed his army and attacked the Borian centre. The battle took a turn, when 200 KOMS knights under the command of Hans Armitage appeared and charged General van Dire's force. This was a devastating attack, and the KOMS knights managed to slay hundreds of van Dire's men. Eventually, van Dire defeated the Knights via withering the KOMS knights through attrition. This allowed van Dire to send his force to attack the Borian centre, which force the Borian to withdraw their forces on top of the Knoll hill. There, King Akhon Perickard formed a makeshift defensive position from the supply wagons the Borian Army had brought. Major Mittelhoss was made the momentary leader of the Borian forces inside the wagonfort. Mittelhoss didn't really see a victory in their situation and urged the King to surrender. Akhon instead ordered Mittelhoss to take most of the men and to retreat to the city of Silverion, where Mittelhoss would compose a new army with which they could keep the war going. Then, Akhon led some few hundred men in a delaying attack, which was utterly crushed by the vastly larger Royal Army force.

Soliar Varjangaria was grievously wounded during a duel against Diarmud Baathúr and had to also retreat with his forces. Soliar fled to the city of Keriff where he awaited for further reinforcements.

## Aftermath

The battle was a pyrrhic Royal Army victory. Both sides lost many men, but the Borians also lost nearly all of their capable commanders and leaders. The Borians then began to desperately fight back eventually resulting in the Officers' Battle, where some hawkist Borian officers desired to keep the war going, but Major Mittelhoss, together with Borian regent Konrad Perickard, wanted to end the lost battle and had to fight against their prior allies in the Battle of Silverion Palace, in which Major Mittelhoss fought against the traitor Gotthard Lichtenawer. The battle was won by Mittelhoss, who then surrendered his force to the Royal Army.