Keymonus Posted March 1, 2021 (edited) King's Port, Terraversa, 15 February 621 "Disregarding losses, the city is ours to take!" That yellow flag was ugly, nothing more than an old piece of cloth put on a bent pole. And it could be the last thing Tristan would have ever seen... people definitely think strange things when they might be only a few seconds far from their own death. It was time to go. "Soldiers of Oleon, for King and Country... Charge!" The men launched a battle cry and turned the corner, leaving the protection of the stone wall. The enemies were waiting for them behind a barricade, just twenty meters forward... The sharp sound of shots immediately filled the air, and bullets started flying in every direction. The man right at his side fell with a yell, wounded or dying... but they had managed to close the gap, and the enemies had no more time to reload! Tristan raised his gun, aiming for the man in front of him, a veteran of Oldis' heavy cavalry... it would have been a fair game. The man did the same with his long wheellock pistol... they both knew that one of them would have dined in the Hades, together with many others. --------- Miguel Sanchez pushed with rage the ramrod in his musket as if he was stabbing an enemy. He had enough gunpowder for five shots, six at most, then he only had his knife. They couldn't resist for long, he knew, but he was ready to fight for his country until his last dying breath! Miguel had already fought for the independence of his nation... he was in Van Dhorne's militia during the civil war. Some called them fanatics, and some accused them of war crimes, but they did what they had to: they hit hard the Mardierians and their sympathizers, killing the enemies and leaving behind the fallen brothers. People of Terreversa had gained independence, and now Archduke Oldis was losing it, entering a power game too big for their young nation. But the people of Terraversa were not defeated yet and would have resisted, with or without the Archduke! "Stand up, coward! Take your musket, or I'll shoot you myself!" The man nodded, frightened, but remained where he was. The militias had recruited all the able men to fight against the invaders, sometimes even forcibly... if they weren't ready to die for freedom, they didn't deserve it! Some of the new recruits, however, completely lacked motivation... damned cowards! "Oleander dogs are arriving! They are the renegades of the Legion!" Miguel spat on the ground, disgusted. The Legion, traitors of their own country! The men ran to their battle positions, ready to open fire. Everyone hated those sellswords, who had sold themselves to a new master. The bluecoat officer started speaking in Mardierian, asking the defenders to drop their weapons... well, they would have dropped something! "Augusto, send them a cocktail!" ---------- "One last attempt, their last chance." Thought Captain Alvaro Ferrer. King's Port had almost fallen, only a few blocks of buildings stood between them and the palace of the tyrant: the impregnable Citadel only existed in Oldis' propaganda. Selfish and greedy as usual, Archduke Oldis was still sending his soldiers to die for him, even if the battle was clearly lost... probably he had to feed his self-esteem as a great general, resisting against superior forces -clearly from his own palace. Or more likely he was just gaining time to gather more gold, paintings, and Lotii porcelains in his coach before running away... maybe even something stolen from the Ferrer Manor, sacked by the militias during the civil war. "Drop your weapons! Oldis has already fled with your treasures! Do you want to die for a coward?" Yelled Alvaro in a megaphone. He used the Mardierian of Terraversa, his native language. "You fought well, but it is over!" Two men appeared on the upper floor of the building. One held an explosive bottle, the other, in civilian clothes, had a gun. They had wasted their opportunity. "Fire at will! Take the drunk down!" As usual, the one with the explosive bottle -the drunk- was the priority... even if sometimes those devices exploded before the Terraversans could throw them. The soldiers of the Mardierian Legion started a violent musket fire towards the windows, trying to take cover behind the low wall of a garden. On the nearby road, a company of soldiers launched an assault against a barricade. This was happening on his right, so they likely were General Rimbaud and his guys, the Astrapi Raiders, and the tirailleurs of the 5eme. Spoiler Another angle: ----------- On the other side of the road, Francisco Mendoza was waiting for the enemies behind a barricaded door. That build must have been a tavern, just a few months ago, but now it was their fort. He peeked across the planks blocking the windows. The enemies were advancing again, crossing what remained of the park of the Cordobas' Mansion. Those bluecoats were the traitors of the Mardierian Legion, mostly Terraversans exiled during the Glorious Revolution. But, apart from the official words, he knew that some of those men had their reasons... rumors said that some of the men who ended up on proscription lists were simply political rivals of Oldis or L'Olius, or were victims of personal revenge. However, Francisco Mendoza was a soldier, not a politician. Soldiers follow the orders, do not discuss political intrigues, and the orders he had received were quite simple: defend the Citadel, hold the line, if necessary die where you stand but do not retreat! For sure the Archduke had a plan to break the siege... soon he would have personally led the counterattack, but he needed time to reorganize the army. Or at least, this is what soldiers told each other, sharing a bottle of brandy in the pauses between the fights. The truth was that nobody really knew what was happening in the city... for what he knew, the things yelled by the damned traitors on the other side of the road could even be true. But Francisco Mendoza was a soldier, and he followed orders. He would have fought there with his comrades -soldiers from different units, militiamen, even some civilians- he would have held the position! Orders were shouted on the other side of the street, and muskets started firing again... soon the hellish concert of shots and yells seemed to arrive from every direction, oddly even from below... --------- The road to victory is always difficult and scattered with obstacles... nobody ever mentioned that it could also pass right through the sewers. Captain Antoine Dupont crawled through the breach, entering what seemed the cellar of a tavern. If he was right, the enemy stronghold was just a couple of meters above them... otherwise, they would have found a way, as usual. Antoine waved his torch twice: it was the right way, or at least he hoped so. With a few hits of pickaxe, the little breach became a real passage: it would have been their only way out, in case of troubles, so it was worth spending a little more time to widen it. He didn't have to explain that: his men knew perfectly what to do... it was their tenth mission together, and he trusted each of them as himself. However, it was their first time in a sewer...an unenviable task, the dandies of the infantry would have got lost in five minutes. But they were the Engineers of the 2eme, thought Antoine with pride, and they were the only ones who could complete the job! "Enemy patrol!" The yell reverberated in the tunnels, truncating Antoine's thoughts. He didn't expect to find enemies down in the sewers, but they were more than ready. Barely lighted by a dark lantern, the soldiers started shooting at the enemies... the torches of those idiots turned them into perfect targets! --------- Sergeant Guillermo Cortina was nervous. He had seen enough battles to know that they were losing... the Citadel could hold for a week at most, no matter how hard they fought. What he also knew was that someone was going to be left behind, to cover the retreat of the others... and, of course, the escape of the politicians: they were still continuing useless talk about the best defence strategies, even if the fights were now just a few blocks far from the Council Hall! Guillermo and his platoon were patrolling one of the many tunnels running below King’s Port... a labyrinth of catacombs, sewers, cellars and smugglers’ galleries. It was quite unlikely to find enemies down there, and at least they were safe from enemy cannons, but everybody knew that they could re-emerge in an area controlled by the enemies... not a great perspective! They crossed the umpteenth arch, stopping just a step before the slippery bank of a sewer canal. Guillermo raised its torch with a sigh of relief... then he noticed the figures forward in the tunnel. He had barely the time to realise his mistake, then he was hit by two musket shots. --------- Overall view: the whole build is 32x32 on three levels (in the evening I'll show you the third one). Back view: Front view: I completed this build in a very long time, and even more time passed before I could publish it (because I waited for the result of King's Port Battle, but also due to real-life stuff). I tried to depict different points of view, from my main character to a Mardierian expatriate personally hating Oldis, from a common Terraversan soldier to a fanatic of the militias. I hope you enjoy the build and the stories- I liked building and writing them! Edited November 26, 2023 by Keymonus Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bodi Posted March 1, 2021 Very nice build, and some great shots. I like the accompanying text too, the way you depicted the combat of these soldiers and how Oldis fled, with gold in his coach. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bregir Posted March 1, 2021 Excellent build, but what is really amazing here is the storytelling. (Apart from Oleon's imperial aspirations... ) You capture so many interesting motivations and perceptions of the war, and really manage to tell the story of how sensible people on both sides can be motivated to put a bullet through the head of the other man. Very well done, and excellent follow-up on the Kings Port battle! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mesabi Posted March 1, 2021 Absolutely excellent build Keymonus, in terms of story and design. I love all the little details, such as the scattered trans clear bits as broken glass, or the tilted portraits. The Harry Potter wands being used to reload muskets is a nice touch as well. It's fantastic to see such good fig selection too, especially with each figure being given a bit of perspective as well. Great job with the build, and an excellent conclusion to the King's Port Battle as well! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NOD Posted March 3, 2021 Wow, amazing! A full and detailed description of the events. In addition, the matching photos for each battle section. It's great how you built it all down to the smallest detail. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thomas Waagenaar Posted March 3, 2021 Woah, that looks amazing! I'm a really big fan of all the small stories in a "simple" yet elegant form and such tighly packed together! Love it! :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khorne Posted March 3, 2021 So awesome to finally see this with the full story! Like I said on Flickr, it's an impressive build and I love the way you show the fight in three different levels. It reminds me of different WW2 games and movies set in Stalingrad and the likes, with the fighting underground and between houses and stuff. Very nice build, full of details. I really like the catacombs you did. It gives the scene an extra eerie setting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fraunces Posted March 4, 2021 Truly wonderful storytelling and the build is amazing.. Really a lot of thought in the details.. Can imagine how much it took you to finish. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Keymonus Posted March 6, 2021 Thank you all guys! Both building and writing took me a huge amount of time, but I'm super proud of the final result! I tried to show different points of view of the same things, including Oldis' strategic retreat (or coward escape). On 3/1/2021 at 10:31 AM, Bodi said: Oldis fled, with gold in his coach. Just the 100% unbiased opinion of another Terraversan... On 3/1/2021 at 1:51 PM, Mesabi said: Harry Potter wands being used to reload muskets Thanks! In the past, my soldiers were more weirdly reloading muskets with 3L black bars, that are actually as large as the musket itself! On 3/3/2021 at 8:05 PM, Khorne said: So awesome to finally see this with the full story! Like I said on Flickr, it's an impressive build and I love the way you show the fight in three different levels. It reminds me of different WW2 games and movies set in Stalingrad and the likes, with the fighting underground and between houses and stuff. Very nice build, full of details. I really like the catacombs you did. It gives the scene an extra eerie setting. Thank you! The main inspiration was actually WW2 urban battles (and related videogames), such as Stalingrad and the Battle of Berlin. Now the Red Blue Flag flies over the Reichstag Archduke Palace! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
