The Battle of the Helmani tribe

The Battle of the Helmani tribe was an armed encounter between Tir and the Helmani tribe, supported and led by a large Deutschmeister army. The battle was the first clash between the two northern powers and began a period of tension and unease relations.

Background
The Helmani were a notorious tribe living in the south of the Northern mountain range. Their homeland was hilly and fertile nor rich. As a result the Helmani had embraced a warrior culture where they regularly raided neighbours to fund themselves. In the year Zero they expanded these activities and became more daring. A growing population and plenty of successes during the spring of year Zero emboldened them to attack bigger targets than nearby tribes. Different regions and even trade routes were attacked and plundered ruthlessly.

Tirian-Helmani conflict
Their most daring assault however came during the middle of summer, year Zero. A Tirian trade caravan passing through the area was attacked and men and women alike were murdered in cold blood. The Tirians are a people with a culture heavily built on the concept of family and when news of the attack reached them they were shocked by this brutal attack on those they called family. A expedition was immediately set up led by a man called Cadwallon. The Tirian army was better equipped and counted many more men and when it arrived in Helmani territory it quickly occupied the lowlands, winning a few skirmishes against retreating Helmani. Taking the hills and mountain roots would be harder for the Tirians but even then they made rapid progress. In the battle of Jula Hill the Tirians decisively defeated the Helmani who were waiting in ambush but were discovered just in time. After Jula Hill the Helmani sent an envoy to the Deutschmeister empire for help and retreated to their capital, an easily defendable mountain fortress. The fortress was quickly surrounded but an initial assault was beaten back, forcing Cadwallon to siege it instead.

The siege
During the siege the Helmani envoy reached the hall of the Deutschmeister, offering tribute in exchange for German military aid. Ariald I accepts this offer and sends an army under his favorite general: Friedrich von Bock. Within two weeks this army reaches the Helmani capital. The situation in the fortress had rapidly deteriorated since the rapid advance of the Tirians had surprised the Helmani completely and they had not prepared their home for a siege. Von Bock viewed it as unwise to attack however, seeing that the Tirians occupied the high ground in an easily defendable position. Cadwallon was not keen on attacking either since this would mean lifting the siege, keeping his rear exposed for a sally and leaving his defensible position. Instead he decided to negotiate with von Bock who gladly accepted this non-violent offer.

Negotiations
The negotiations were long and hard as neither side whished to budge. The Tirians claimed that since the Helmani had attacked their caravan and murdered their people they had a proper justification for the attack, it was their right to avenge their fallen family. The Germans on the other hand saw themselves as the defenders of the mountain people, who they viewed as cultural kin, and wished that the Tirians leave. The Tirians proposed that the Helmani pay 100 talents in compensations for the dead and that a non-aggression pact would be signed between both Tir and the Helmani as between Tir and the Deutschmeister empire. Von Bock immediately refused this as any concession of the Deutschmeister empire was invalid seeing that they had not been beaten and were no co-belligerent in this conflict. The Tirians then proposed the same offer but without the inclusion of the Deustchmeister and von Bock accepted this offer.

The Tirian retreat
The Helmani had no choice but to accept and they quickly paid the Tirians the agreed talents. Cadwallon then withdrew his army and the siege was lifted. He forbade his soldiers to plunder the countryside and kept the non-aggression pact. Unbeknownst to him however, the Helmani and Deutschmeister army had been following the Tirians using the Helmani knowledge of the terrain to travel during nighttime. Slowly they encroached on the unsuspecting army until after a week they had caught up with them. The Tirians were marching down from a hill, planning to build their camp on the foot of it. The Helmani and Germans used this hill as cover and when they reached the top of it they launched their ambush, beginning the battle.

Tirian army
The Tirians under Cadwallon brought a total of 14.400 troops, of which 1.600 were cavalry. All other troops were melee infantry, of which two units were Tirian elites. The army consisted mostly of levies and inexperienced troops as the expedition was organized quickly. The army was on the march which meant that the troops were not in formation properly and had to chaotically move into battle formation, tired and confused. The Tirian cavalry however was far superior to their Deutschmeister counterpart, an advantage Cadwallon wished to use to his advantage during the battle.

Deutschmeister/Helmani army
The Deutschmeister brought the main component of the army, consisting of 13.600 men, whereas the Helmani brought 1.600 warriors who were exhausted from both the siege and the consequent night marches. Von Bock's infantry was superior to that of the Cadwallon as it was better equipped and more experienced. They also brought 2.400 Felaxes peltasts and another 1.600 light cavalry, outclassed by the Tirian cavalry. The army was in an ambush position, surrounding the enemy army almost wholly and attacking its rear and flanks. On the right flank of the Tirians they even placed a bunch of hayballs which would be set alight during the battle and would be rolled down the hill to spread confusion in and tremble the enemy lines.

Springing the trap
The Tirians advanced not knowing what was happening, for many this was the end of a very long march and they had engaged in an end sprint which caught the Germans off-guard. The trap sprang a bit too late and the Tirian army managed to reform its lines to counter the attack. The fireballs placed by the ambushers did hit however and hundreds of Tirians lost their lives in the barrage of fire and confusion. Von Bock used this moment to cover much ground and when Cadwallon had dealt with the initial chaos he noticed the Germans were closer than he had anticipated. Cadwallon's frontal troops were quickly overwhelmed and he decided on a counter-attack to confuse the enemy. Von Bock however, was an experienced general and not easily surprised. He took the enemy attack and used this to break the Tirian left flank.

Flanking and Clean-up
Although the isolated unit on the Tirian left flank held against all odds it was of no use in the course of the battle. Felakes pelasts quickly seized an opportunity to flank around through a gap and they surrounded the center, emptying their javelins before joining the melee and attacking the Tirians in the rear. Cadwallon tried using his cavalry to flank the German troops on the right but they were caught by their more mobile German counterparts. Peltasts then joined the fray and the Tirian cavalry was decimated after an attempt to flee from the encirclement. Cadwallon had become desperate and this point and threw his reserve, including himself, consisting of his most elite men to force a breakthrough in the center. This failed however as around him his men broke and he got completely surrounded himself by von Bock's elite regiment. Cadwallon died in the ensuing melee and his army fled. Only the valiant fighters on the Tirian left flank held until they got charged in the rear by the German cavalry. Within an hour the Tirian army was completely destroyed.

Aftermath
The Helmani lost most of their fighters during the conflict but had regained the talents they had given the Tirians a week earlier. Even more reason why the Helmani got furious when von Bock demanded these 100 talents be given to the Deutschmeister as the tribe has promised him tribute. The Helmani promptly refused to pay such a high price as they had just lost most of their men in the conflict and regained the talents with their own blood. The German troops then attacked the Helmani who quickly retreated back to their capital. A short siege ensued and a week later the fortress had fallen, not to the Tirians but to the aiding German troops. The entire Helmani treasury was seized, 200 talents, and the fortress was raised to the ground. Ariald I was happy with the outcome since the war had almost doubled his treasury.

The Tirians licked their wounds and condemned the Deutschmeister for their betrayal but this failed to enlist any international support and nothing happened. The conflict deteriorated relations between Tir and the Deutschmeister empire so bad that the two powers had no diplomatic ties with each other henceforth. Ariald had given his claim as protector of the mountain people credit when he came to the Helmani people but the consequent genocide on their people was met with outrage amongst the mountain dwellers. Thus the only thing gained during the conflict was the 200 talents von Bock had seized during the sack of the Helmani. His second sack in one year.