Battle of Bhirn Grove

The Battle of Bhirn Grove was a battle that happened during the Bhirn Campaign, it was fought by the Bhirnians who hoped to defeat the Nirvans again in organised conflict. While an insignificant battle in the grand scope, it showed the growing ability of Gaius Calenus.

## Background

After a successful year of Consul, Arruns Calenus secured the governorship of Agrippa in **437PR**, raising a legion to accompany the 3 he was already granted.

In **438PR**, Arruns and his son Gaius marched on Bhirn with 3 of their 4 legions. They met little to no resistance at the start, conquering all the way to the mountains. Once the Nirvans weathered for the winter is when the counter-attack from the Bhirnians began.

While Gaius was able to keep the Nirvans safe, even fighting back and scaring off the Bhirnians, they took more casualties than liked.

The next few years were slow, with the Bhirnians building fortifications to stop the advance and the Nirvans doing the same to protect their own movements.

Eventually in **441PR**, Arruns and Gaius were able to defeat and capture 3 of the 4 fortresses in quick succession, failing to capture Fort Urmnir that year due to losing the battle.

In **442PR** Fort Urmnir was successfully taken, helped with the leadership skills of Gaius. With time left in the campaigning season, Arruns divided his army in half. Half he commanded, dealing with the encirclement Vagh Bhirn, the other half was commanded by Gaius, who continued to campaign for further land.

Rotdan Gesrer gathered many of the remaining troops outside of the capital and met the Nirvans near Bhirn Grove, where they planned to stop the Nirvans taking anymore land.

## Formations

### Bhirn

The Bhirnian republic had a different tactical approach, their wings were full of troops, though only their right side was dangerous. The tactic was that they would collapse the Nirvan flank with their stronger side, while distracting the Nirvans on the other end with volleys of arrows if they tried to push ahead.

### Nirvan

The Nirvans had a relatively simple formation, having a long first line consisting of their hastati, and the triarii far at the back so they could be placed in battle if required.

## Battle

### Beginning of the Battle

The battle began in the morning, both sides feeling confident with their formations. Rather than the Nirvans advancing, it was the Bhirnians. Once more, a volley of javelins were thrown before the lines met, causing some good results for the Nirvans.

After the lines collided, both armies continued to fight slowly.

As their fighting style allowed, the Nirvans continued to swap their troops in and out, keeping a steady amount of fighting strength and whittling down the Bhirnians who were not as numerous this time.

### Crumbling Left

As was their tactic, the Bhirnians were able to keep pushing against the Nirvan left flank, using their focused forces to crack the enemy line. The hastati did their best to keep hold of the line but were taking heavy casualties, unaware that they were facing the bulk of the Bhirnian force.

Eventually as the line continued to crumble, Manos Ordius ran to the third line of his soldiers and pulled all the triarii he could, which they were happy to oblige.

When the reinforcements under Manos arrived they did exactly what was needed, stopping the enemy completely in their tracks.

### Gaius leads the Front

Gaius at the same time was searching for a weak part in the enemy line. While he originally was going to use the same tactic the Bhirnians did and push forward with his right flank, he knew that was what the enemy wanted.

Instead he gathered what of the second line he could, leaving the triarii that remained where they stood, and forced himself through the enemy. The fighting got so tough that Gaius was even ripping the enemy shields away with his bare hands, being wounded in the process. This ended in success, with the Nirvans pouring through the gaps in the enemy line and splitting the Bhirnian army in two.

### Retreat

With their army split, the Bhirnians began a full rout, with only the elite soldiers on their right flank remaining to fight. Distracted with his own fighting, Rotdan hadn’t seen that his army had left him, only seeing that he was slowly surrounded by the Nirvans.

While Gaius offered the Bhirnians the ability to surrender, Rotdan instead responded with a battle cry, something the troops that remain echoed. Before engaging with the enemy, the Nirvans threw another javelin volley to weaken the Bhirnians before they marched in and slaughtered them to the last man.

## Aftermath

Epaminondas called this one of Gaius’s finest victories, something he would use the reputation of when he entered politics.

For the Bhirnians, this was a heavy loss, losing a capable commander and many of their elite soldiers, leaving the only ones remaining in either Zela or Vagh Bhirn. Effectively ending the resistance in the region.