Battle of Ashak

Battle of Ashak was a large and decisive battle fought in 294 between the expeditionary force of King Jiri and the forces of Avik Filhail. This battle decided that King Jiri was able to return to Edelmaa. In the battle, King Jiri's forces were outnumbered, but with the higher quality, experience and Jiri's strategic mind, the Royal Army came out victorious.

## Background

King Jiri had sent numerous scouts to recon the Mountain pass that led to the city of Ashak, Jiri's Army's main base. Prior to the battle, Jiri had been informed with bad news. His Kingdom had been under a surprise attack conducted by the Borians. Jiri was full of choler especially because he himself was now stuck in Olia. Jiri's scouts managed to spot the opposing army and relayed the information to King Jiri. Jiri, worrying about his demesne in Workhold, didn't want to hold out in a siege, so Jiri decided to engage Avik's army in a field battle.

Avik Filhail thought that he had caught King Jiri's forces unaware. Avik force marched his army through the Mountains pass, before Jiri could reinforce the Pass. Avik thought, that because Jiri would be surprised, Jiri would hide inside Ashak, and thus Avik could quickly march down and prepare for a siege. Jiri however, had deployed his forces in the middle of a thick forest and the sea. This made encircling impossible for the larger army of Avik.

In Mid-January, the Battle began with the ambush conducted by King Jiri.

## Battle

King Jiri ambushed the forces of Avik whilst Avik's men were marching the wide Olian roads. Avik, abashed that King Jiri had deployed his forces outside the city, quickly began trying to organize his troops. Avik's men however were very tired and their morale was low. King Jiri realized this very quickly seeing how slowly Avik's men maneuvered. Jiri ordered a frontal assault on Avik's men which completely took Avik's men off guard. The center force of Avik routed instantly forcing Avik to send in the precious reserves. Jiri was fully aware, that Avik had already deployed his reserves and Jiri sought to exploit this weakness. Jiri decided to continue the battle by withdrawing back to the original formation. The frontal assault had been successful, however, Avik still outnumbered Jiri's men and thus Jiri did not want to risk his men in a battle of attrition.

Avik was now in a bad spot. He either, could withdraw and admit defeat and lose half of his men or Avik could begin his attack which was almost impossible to pull off successfully in this location. Avik then decided to commit to the laziest, but the most reliable plan. He ordered a full assault trying to lure Jiri into a battle of attrition. When the full assault began, Jiri ordered his men in the front to form a loose formation which they did splendidly. Avik, greedily pushed forth and sent the men to attack the loose lines with all their might. After 1/3 of Avik's men had passed the loose line, Jiri ordered the loose formation to form a tight spearwall, which they once again formed with incredible discipline. The 1/3 that got through the loose formation were cut off and encircle now between Jiri's frontal troops and reserves. They were subsequently destroyed. Now Jiri had evened out the odds and was no longer outnumbered. Jiri was ready to commit is counter charge, as his men, though tired, were not nearly as exhausted as Avik's men. So Jiri held the high ground.

Jiri commanded his men, including reserves, to a full counter attack. This was decisive and the charge worked more as a shock charge, just like Jiri had hoped, this meant that Avik's men retreated before even fighting avoiding Jiri to suffer any further casualties. The battle was a mighty victory for Jiri, as he had lost only little over 200 men as opposed to Avik who lost at least 800 men.

Avik survived the battle and was suspended from command for three years until put back into command.