Military Theory of Joran War

*Part of Armies of Juhnvechteya*

The Theory of War in Stribrna Joraje, and Central Juhnvechteya, has many facets. Battles, and skirmishes abound, but the most important aspect of war is the siege.

### Military Geography

Broadly, war in central Juhnvechteya is dominated by the military geography of the surrounding region. For instance, in Karred where castles abound, campaign is dominated by the siege and its conduct, while in Zarny open battle reigns supreme.

### Castles and siegecraft

With an average density of one castle every 4 square kilometers, war in Joraje is a series of long, protracted sieges, and pitched battles are costly, risky, and largely irrelevant until the final stages of a campaign.

This model has been criticized, though, as pitched battles have occurred in Joraje throughout  history. It is thought by some that pitched battles are slowly becoming more common in the region.

Whatever the case, siege warfare dominates Joran conflict, and dictate campaign and grand strategy. The number of castles forces any commander to account for the quantity of siege engines and supplies that must be brought on campaign, and forces him to consider any possible sortie by both defending soldiers or those garrisons of castles he bypassed. As such, it is necessary to undergo the long process of conquering every castle in and near his path, lest his supplies be raided. This process may take years, and provides ample time for allies of the defenders to come to their aid, striking the attackers’ vulnerable rear as they attempt to take the besieged fortress

As such, engineers and commanders often build large siege camps, which may appear as small castles themselves, with walls, gates, towers, ditches, yet made of wood and earth rather than wood and stone. These camps, and smaller sites and lookouts, are usually perched around the subject castle, as well as for kilometers further, in order to watch for an approaching relief force. The supplies to create these camps often make up much of a supply train, which itself must be guarded against ambush. The conduct of war in Stribrna Joraje is a long and very expensive process.

Even still, siege warfare is seeing new developments come to the fore, specifically developments in the field of artillery, as well as attempts by engineers to counter them.

### Importance of Infantry and Position of Cavalry

Oftentimes, when an army is marching, supply trains are being escorted between friendly positions, or a siege is relieved, open battle will be joined. When an army is intercepted, both sides will scramble for the most favorable terrain, daring the enemy to approach. This may not occur for many days, or even weeks (such as at Helberk Hills, 510 JC, where two armies refused to surrender their favorable positions and attack the enemy for 4 weeks).

Over the last century, the idea of the invincible mounted knight has been shattered in a series of battles. Relevant battles, such as at Karel Brod (462 JC) saw heavy cavalry routed by infantry, though it can be pointed out that in many of those battles the infantry were entrenched and/or situated on rough terrain unsuitable for cavalry. Infantry had been victorious against cavalry in similar situations before, such as at Fararswald (381 JC), though in open ground infantry is still excessively vulnerable to cavalry, such as at Second Swertenhall (589 JC), where the renowned bowmen of Zarny were run down and massacred.

Nevertheless, the myth of the knight was shattered in Joraje, which in itself has been important to the tactics of the region.

The ongoing development of plate armor throughout Juhnvechteya, for both man and horse, however, and the creation of the lance rest, has enabled the mounted knight to remain a formidable warrior. Without cavalry, an army is unlikely to achieve victory in the field; crossbowmen and infantry may route an enemy, but a retreat can only be effectively cut off or followed up by the more-mobile cavalry. Knights also remain the most heavily armored and equipped fighters in an army; despite no longer being the invincible force of prior centuries, they still strike great fear into opposing infantry.

### Development of Artillery

While in previous centuries single-arm gravity-powered stone-throwers remained the dominant form of artillery, a new competitor is rising, in the form of gunpowder artillery.

Though easier to transport than trebuchets, which have to be dismantled to travel, bombards are not any more powerful and much slower to load than their torsion-driven counterparts; indeed, traditional and gunpowder artillery are commonly seen side-by-side in siege-works.

Nevertheless, the numbers of cannon present in siege trains is increasing, as are their size. Commanders and engineers recognize the thunderous booms of the guns damage morale of the defenders greatly, and they are far more capable of striking targets hidden behind defenses than traditional engines.

However, it is theorized that within the next few decades, the position of bombards in the siege train will change, from merely another engine to the primary weapon of the war-engineer. This thought comes from the realization that there are several new developments in gunnery and metallurgy currently being experimented with, which have the potential to change warfare forever. Some commanders, such as Albrecht an Taepe, have already begun to adopt these developments en masse, and have begun to forgo the use of torsion engines entirely.

The first of these developments is the gradual lengthening of the gun’s barrel. Compared to bombards of the 580s, modern bombards are approximately 25% longer, which has seen their performance in battle increase sharply. Lengthening the barrel increases the velocity of the shot, as more pressure can be exerted for longer within the barrel, and it also increases the accuracy of the gun, enabling the weapon to more consistently strike one target. It also simplified reloading, as the gun no longer requires a mud seal to be placed around the ball to retain more energy during firing.

New metallurgical processes are also seeing guns, and iron in general, become cheaper. The introduction of limestone in the forging process has resulted in the cheapening of iron. New gunsmithing techniques also simplify the process of creating bombards, further cheapening the weapon. These developments have lowered the cost of a bombards by an estimated 37% since the 580s.

Finally, experiments are being conducted into the use of corned, rather than fine, black powder. The Gunmakers Guild of Juhnvechteya has been conducting research into corned powder for some time, with promising results. Burning corned powder results in approximately 60% more energy enacted on a ball than fine powder would, however, use of corned powder in the traditional gunner’s mixture will result in a catastrophic detonation of the gun. Nevertheless, several visionaries claim use of corned powder is the future.

These developments in the field of artillery could see the hundreds of castles of Joraje rendered obsolete in a matter of decades, causing a return to pitched battles. However, only time will tell whether these predictions will bear fruit.