Battle of the Junak

The Battle of the Junak was the first conflict of the Lorenzen War that King Clemmensen was directly involved. While classed as a Nirvan victory, both sides took heavy losses, leading to only small skirmishes occuring for the rest of the year.

## Background

In **392PR**, Torkild Brandt gathered his army and began raiding Nirva, with other nobles from the Lorenzen Kingdom in **394PR**.

Originally not seen as a war, it was only in **395PR** that skirmishes between the two were breaking out everywhere.

When the Battle of the Yiburn River happened in **396PR**, the Nirvans under King Octan made major reforms to their military in order to deal with the Lorenzens.

Soon after the Lorenzens began dealing with internal conflict which eventually grew into a succession crisis. Siezing the opportunity, the Nirvans had time to implement their military reforms before sending an army under Gaius Marius to advance over the Yiburn River.

In **402PR**, Brandt fought Marius in the Battle of Lentia, leading to the first major Lorenzen defeat in the war.

With reinforcements under the command of Titus Julius, the Nirvans under Marius were able to get the city of Orolan to surrender in **404PR**.

In **405PR** the Lorenzen Kingdom finally dealt with the internal crisis, placing Clemmensen on the throne. His first act was to gather some nobles and soldiers and march on the Nirvans.

Hearing about the enemy movements, Gaius and Titus found a suitable battle location on a hill overlooking the Junak Stream.

## Prelude

Preparing for battle, Marius and Julius scouted out a suitable location for their battle. Taking the advantage of time, they found multiple locations before finding a hill near the side of the Junak Stream, ensuring that the enemy would have to cross to face them as Nirvan reinforcements were on their way, protecting Marius from the enemy passing them.

### Lorenzen Command

The command of the Lorenzens was complicated, with its feudalistic nature. King Ivan was the main commander, holding direct influence over troops from his city and towns, and gifted troops from other nobles. This brought him to a total of 5,000 soldiers. The rest were mixed between the other nobles, who all agreed to let the King be the overall commander, but all had their different styles and attitudes, directly commanding their own soldiers.

## Battle

Once both sides had assumed their formations, the battle begun. Livy and Hanne both agree that it was not Clemmensen who called for the charge but rather Blandt, frustrated at the Nirvans for taking his land.

Thus the advance of the Lorenzens was uneven, with their left side pushing ahead before their right side even noticed. By the time they had caught up, the initial javelin volley from the Nirvan Hastati in the front had already hit the line. Marius, seeing an opportunity with the curved enemy line, charged his soldiers forward, ensuring he had Equites on the flank in case they needed to fall back to join with Titus.

The unsuspecting Lorenzens suffered heavy casualties from Marius's charge, even losing Kasper Morch at the start of the melee. Once the full force of both the lines met, no tactics were used. Simply hoping to push forward and kill the enemy. Clemmensen originally had a numbers advantage but with the rushed attack, these numbers no longer meant anything.

The battle lasted an hour before the lines began to crack. Since the Nirvans could swap out soldiers to keep them fresh, they were able to fight all day, the opposite of the Lorenzens who were exhausted from the river crossing before. Seeing a gap, Titus lead a group of Triarii through the enemy line, cutting off Torkild from the rest of the army.

It didn't take long for Torkilds soldiers to rout. King Ivan didn't have enough time to stop the rout and soon it spread through his army and the battle was lost.

## Aftermath

The battle was tough and well-fought. Both sides lost a lot of soldiers, with many more Lorenzens dying later when Marius called for the Equites and Sagittarii to chase.

### Nirvan Reaction

The Nirvan reaction to the battle was welcoming. Marius and Julius were seen as heroes of the Kingdom, being some of the greatest commanders that the nation could provide.

The victory also further cemented their control over Orolan, becoming a forward base for the Nirvan military.

### Lorenzen Reaction

The Lorenzen reaction to the battle was seen as negative, with Torkild being classed as a coward and King Ivan stripping him of his titles and land. Though in that act, King Ivan was later assassinated in **406PR**, complicating efforts for the Lorenzens to go back and claim their land.