The Battle for Hartbach

The Battle for Hartbach was the first major battle that was fought during the Eastern Border Crisis in 1166. This battle involved major forces of the Deadfoot clan, Ironstone clan and the Rising Eagle clan clash against a force from the Holy Empire of Visimar. This conflict saw the crushing defeat of Visimarian forces which scattered the militia of Hartbach and allowed the clans to sack the town and saw the death of the lord of Hartbach during the battle, thus creating more chaos in the kingdom.

Background
For over a year now, the clan union have been invading and pushing their peoples through the borders of the eastern kingdom in a struggle to gain some ground for their people to settle. The clans forced Visimarian people out from the borders through extensive raiding and sacking of settlements and forts along the border, disrupting an already hectic place in the HEV. As the raids and pillaging got more and more closer to the town of Hartbach, a mediocre trading town without any walls, the lord of the city, Lord Edgar Castellano requested the Emperor for assistance against this clannish horde while also preparing and equipping his town and outlying settlement's militias. After two weeks, the emperor dispatched quick riders with several knights and retinue soldiers to bolster his already lacking force with the simple message of "Hold the line." As reports of clan activity came closer and closer to the town of Hartbach, Lord Edgar had no choice but to establish battle lines and meet their foe.

Pre-Battle
The battle was fought right outside of the town of Hartbach, which soon was fought inside of the town in the later stages of the battle. The fields that the battle was fought on proved to be too rough for any mounted units to be effective, thus creating a major disadvantage for the already poor quality defenders of Hartbach.

The Clans
The clans that marched into battle realized how easy this sacking could be for their forces and therefore split their forces in order to raid other towns near Hartbach. The Deadfoot clan brought only 2000 warriors onto the field with under a hundred noble riders riding behind the lines acting as flank guards. While the Ironstone and Rising Eagle clans were told by the chieftain of the Deadfoots to bring all their warriors onto the field, they managed to slip small forces into the fields for small-scale raiding. Because of this, they only brought under 400 warriors into battle with a very small portion of them being mounted on horses.

The Holy Empire of Visimar
The town of Hartbach were in disarray before the battle, there was a struggle to gather as much fighting men and women onto the frontlines as possible in order to fill out the small ratio of ranks the militia had in comparison to the thousands of warriors that the clans brought. At the end of the recruitment drive, Lord Edgar Castellano was only able to gather around 800 men and women, most of whom were bands of militia from the nearby towns and villages nearby Hartbach. With the dispatch of the emperors soldiers, most of whom were mounted knights with their accompanying men-at-arms who were from local estates, numbered around 100 which numbers the main force of Hartbach just under 1000.

Initial Skirmishes
As the clan army dotted over the hillsides, the battle begun with "horse boys" from the Rising Eagle clan charging and routing skirmishers from Hartbach in a decisive charge against their front. With many town militia skirmishers only being equipped with crossbows, bows and a knife, they quickly retreated back into the main battle line. Since the clans skirmishers were unopposed on the open field, they were quick to pelt the Visimarian battle lines with javelins and darts, wrecking havoc on the unsteady militia.

Main Battle
Once the horse boys retreated behind friendly lines, the town militia lost considerable amounts of men as a result from the unopposed skirmishing. The clans battle lines marched against Hartbach. Once the clansmen charged, the battle soon became a slaughter as the town militiamen were taken back by the ferocity of clannish warriors, being accustomed to brigands and rebels. It took only 10 minutes for the militia to retreat back into the town to gather their belongings and loved ones to retreat into the fields. The knights from the emperors party, exhausted from the two week long forced march, attempted to flank and destroy the clansmen along the flanks. These heavily armed knights however did not reach their target as they were caught by the lighter noble horses, who kept them in place in melee for the more heavily armed infantry to flank and destroy the knight formation. The destruction of the Visimarian knights marked the crushing defeat of the Hartbach garrison.

The Battle Within Hartbach
As the militia of Hartbach retreated from the outskirts of the city, Lord Edgar managed to rally them within the town for a final stand against the clan army. What ensued was told by many to be an absolute free-for-all as the mixture of battle rage, the lust for loot and the smoke and confusion from burning buildings made it impossible to distinguish enemy from friend. This all-out fighting went on until dusk when a small remnant of men-at-arms and dismounted knights fought wave after wave of clansmen at the lords keep. After all men were exhausted or killed, the clansmen broke through the keep in a small-scale siege which only lasted a couple of hours. Once through, the keep was scoured like the rest of the city. Lord Edgar was one of the last people to hold out within the keep with a few household guards and servants until he met his violent end with an axe splitting his skull open. After all resistance was squashed by the clansmen, the town was subsequently sacked and razed to prevent anyone from rebuilding the city.

The Route
As a considerable portion of the army was busy looting Hartbach, a bloodthirsty portion of mounted riders and fleet-footed skirmishers chased down the remainder of the defense after the army was fully destroyed. Most of the soldiers who were caught by the routers were with their families, as they were attempting to flee to Grenin Abbey through the extensive forests between Hartbach. Most families and men that were caught were either killed or captured for slavery.

In total, almost 3000 men, a majority of whom were city-folk from Hartbach were either captured or slaughtered by clansmen nobles and horse boys. Out of all the refugees and deserters that have fled Hartbach only a few hundred people made it to the Abbey and the nearby town of Antson, a garrison town with large walls.

The Aftermath
After the battle was over, the city of Hartbach was sacked and razed, with all of its citizens fled or killed by their clannish raiders. Over 4000 Visimarians lost their lives in the battle, the sacking and the subsequent route and retreat from the city. As many as 2000, most of whom were women and children, were captured by clannish routers and sold into slavery. This crushing defeat for the Visimarians had only left 800 dead clansmen on the field with a small minority of the casualties being lost on the initial field of battle. This defeat left a major scar on Visimarians in the eastern kingdom due to how many innocent lives were lost and how a major trading city was looted and burned to the ground. This created a hatred for Clans from the Union later down the line as Hartbach was being rebuilt after the war, with many of the laborer's being prisoners-of-war from the clans after their defeat.