Battle of Ayrith

Duke Richard the Dragon (Mounted, right) leads the rebel charge against the Royalist armies.

### Location

Ayrith Fields, Duchy of the Autumnvale, Iadria

### Result

Decisive Coalition VictorySurrender of the Sixth and Twelfth Legions of the Crown

Invasion of Vremas

### Leaders

Duke Richard NavineLord Alton de Claevitall

Duke Adrian Halleron

Duke Justin Alataer

————

Duke Jaymes Cobalst

Lord Franz Hyldetan

### Losses

Coalition: 1,000 - 1,500Loyalists: 3,000 - 4,000

The **Battle of Ayrith** was the first large-scale engagement of the Navinian Rebellion, fought between the rebel Navinian Coalition and the royal armies of King Geoff III. It took place on 13 June 6A 723 in the Iadrian Duchy of the Autumnvale, on an open plain near the city of Ayrith. The combined eastern army of Duke Richard Navine, having expelled and purged most of the Royalist forces in the Eastern Duchies, was marching on the Duchy of Vremas prior to the battle. The rebel force’s advance was blocked by two Royal Legions and a levied ducal host led by Duke Jaymes Cobalst of Vremas.

## Background

The Navinian strategy following the Declaration of Aedrisos relied on the rapid expulsion of Loyalist forces from Eastern Iadria directly followed by a forceful westward push. Through this immediate offensive, the leaders of the Coalition sought to catch the Arvaits off-guard and destabilize the Duchy of Vremas, the primary Loyalist food source following the defection of the Autumnvale. The primary obstacles to the Coalition's plans were the presence of two Loyalist Royal Legions within the western Autumnvale, which were being actively reinforced by levied troops from Vremas while the rebel army assembled. Duke Richard made the bold decision to advance on the large Arvait host before his own army could fully unite, leaving the rebels outnumbered by over three thousand men. The sudden and quick advance of the Navinians through the Autumnvale took the Loyalists, now commanded by Duke Jayme Cobalst of Vremas, by surprise. Richard's host arrived at the Ayrith Fields, where Cobalst was assembling his troops, at dawn on June 13th.

## The Battle

Richard's arrival at Ayrith caught Duke Cobalst unprepared. The loyalist army was in the process of breaking camp when the rebel host crested the horizon, having avoided or captured Jayme's scouts while advancing in a display of remarkable efficiency. The loyalist command structure was in a state of disorder, as Duke Cobalst clashed with the commanders of the Sixth and Twelfth Royal Legions, which had joined with his levy only days before. Cobalst had argued for a quick offensive to sieze Wakefield and the pass into Navine, hoping to strike directly at Richard's seat of power. The Legionary commanders, meanwhile, had attempted to convince the Vremasian Duke to fall back to a more defensible position, cede Ayrith, and then launch an organized counter-strike once the loyalist forces could fully converge. As a result of this bickering, the King's forces remained immobile for two precious days, allowing Richard's rapid advance to prevent them from enacting either plan.

Upon sighting the rebel host, Duke Cobalst quickly took command of the situation. The loyalist forces had camped on the slopes of a small hill, allowing for a clear view over the plains to the east. Unbeknownst to the loyalists, however, Richard had divided his forces hours before reaching the field of battle. The majority of the rebel Duke's cavalry had been sent in an arc around the loyalist camp, ordered to wheel about and approach Cobalst's army from the rear while remaining out of sight. This cavalry contingent, under the command of Duke Justin Alataer of the Autumnvale and largely made up of his Green Knights, performed its duty admirably. Even as the two main hosts arrayed themselves for battle, they were on the approach, unsighted by Vremasian lookouts until the eleventh hour.

Duke Cobalst had arrayed his forces in a simple, yet powerful formation. The two Royal Legions were split into three major contingents, protecting the army's flanks and center in powerful blocks of bristling spears and loaded crossbows. The Vremasian ducal levy was interspersed between these main concentrations, leaving weaker points in the line but bolstered by the Legionary cavalry deployed behind their lines to strike at any rebel breakthroughs. Finally, Duke Cobalst himself held back with his personal cavalry host, situated atop the hill and prepared to charge down upon the rebel forces once they became locked in combat. Duke Richard, meanwhile, presented his forces in two simple lines; his veteran core of Navinian infantry made up the first line, presenting a solidly armored wall of spears and shields, while his allied forces took up the rear to be deployed as reserves. Shortly after his arrival on the field, Richard sent his first line forward, giving his troops almost no time to recover from their long march, but simultaneously preventing the loyalist army from forming up in good order.

The two armies finally engaged a short time before noon. Advancing under a hail of Legionary crossbow fire, countered by accurate volleys from rebel Ucorian longbowmen, the Navinian host crashed into the loyalist line. Pressing forward, Richard's veteran troops made good headway, Cobalst's forces ceding ground in good order. Several gaps began to appear in the Vremasian levy lines, which were ruthlessly exploited by the Navinians but plugged by Legionary light cavalry countercharges. As the fighting wore on, it appeared rather evenly balanced; neither line wavered, even as the Duke of Navine sent his second line into the fray. With the rebel army fully committed, Duke Cobalst prepared to lead his knights in a wheeling charge to catch it in the rear; even as the order was given, however, panicked lookouts reported the arrival of Duke Alataer's cavalry force.

The Navinian cavalry had taken Cobalst's forces entirely by surprise; the reports of their approach from the rear had been delivered to the loyal Duke mere minutes before their engagement. The Vremasian commander's own cavalry, disorganized and confused from their aborted charge, attempted to wheel about and meet the rebel reinforcements before they could crest the hill behind their positions. It was too late, however; Cobalst's horsemen were unable to rally for their countercharge in time, and were all but stationary when the contingent of Green Knights bore down upon them. The fighting atop the hill was brief -- the Vremasian cavalry, out of formation and with no momentum, was quickly shattered and dispersed. Having siezed the overlook, Alataer and his Valish knights quickly capitalized on their position, continuing their charge straight through the scattering enemy, down the hill, and into the rear of the loyalist infantry line. Simultaneously, Duke Richard ordered his smaller force of mounted bodyguards into the fray; with the Dragon-Duke at their head, the Navinian cavalry smashed into an exposed section of the loyalist frontline. Faced with assaults from armored horsemen in both front and rear, and with their own Duke fleeing the field with the remnants of his cavalry, the army of the Crown rapidly collapsed into a rout. Alataer and Navine's cavalry contingents merged into one marauding host as the rout turned to a slaughter, armored knights chasing down fleeing levies and Legionaries in a bloody scene. Many were taken prisoner, and few escaped; by the end of the fighting, the Sixth and Twelfth Royal Legions had all but ceased to exist. Duke Cobalst himself managed to escape to the west, recouping in Stios with the dregs of his once-glorious army. As daylight faded, the Battle of Ayrith had ended, cementing a great victory for the rebel Duke.