Battle of Jugurtha's Crown

The battle of Jugurtha's crown was a clash between Jugurtha's Emerald Company with Tabardan support on one side and the army of the loyalists supported by the island nation of Trinsulae on the other side. It resulted in a Jugurthan victory and saw him establish a tyranny.

Background
The ambitious merchant Jugurtha, owner of the Emerald Company seized power in his hometown, expelling the old ruling families from the town. These families fled further inland and raised an army in similar strength to Jugurtha's. To ensure the revolt would succeed the loyalists, as the expelled families now called themselves, called upon the island nation of Trinsulae to support them. Fearing that Trinsulae would send an army, Jugurtha sent a message to Polleander, one of the Igetos of Tabard and the most influential leader in the Republic, asking for support.

Trinsulae and Tabard had both signed the treaty of Utrond a few weeks prior and one side giving support sparked fear that the treaty would be short-lived. However, clause 1 of the treaty had established that both sides could fight each other if it did not concern the sphere of influences described in the treaty. Thus, both states decided to lend support to their preferred factions and conflict was inevitable.

The Trinsulaeans under a young commander called Malos arrived first in the region and this enabled them to march past the town without being attacked by the significantly outnumbered Emerald company, thus enabling the loyalists and Trinsulaeans to meet up more in land. The Tabardans under Amelides arrived two days later and met up with Jugurtha's forces within the town. A few days of campaigning ensued with neither side willing to give battle as of yet. On the 4th day however both sides decided to battle close to the coast, beginning the battle of Jugurtha's crown.

Jugurtha's side
The Emerald Company consisted of 3440 men, of which 240 were situated on 80 elephants. The rest of the men consisted of 3200 Kalian axemen with little battle experience but familiar with the territory. The Tabardan forces were led by a young inexerperienced commander called Amelides and consisted of 13,600 men, 1,600 of which were cavalry, 2,400 peltasts, a regiment of 1,600 Haaklanders and the remaining 8,000 men being spear wielding infantry. The cavalry consisted of lancers only which made the cavalry of the Tabardans superior too those of the Trinsulaeans. Skirmisher-wise the Tabardans were outnumbered and outranged but the peltasts were better in the melee. In terms of infantry both armies were similar in skill yet the Haaklanders were horribly outmatched by the Trinsulaean infantry, which was overall better armoured than their Tabardan counterpart but were less able in defending.

Loyalist side
The loyalists and Trinsulaeans were led by a young, inexperienced but popular strategos called Malos. Malos was famous for giving inspiring speeches back home but had little to no experience when it came to leading armies and this was his first command. The loyalists under his command mirrored the Jugurthan forces perfectly but Trinsulaeans had a differing army composition from Tabard. It consisted of 1,600 cavalry, 3,600 elite Tebean slingers and 8,000 spear wielding infantry. The cavalry consisted out of 800 lancers and 800 light cavalry, which was more agile but lacked true fighting power. This put the Trinsulaeans at a significant disadvantage cavalry wise but Malos sought to nullify this advantage with his elite slingers which were significantly better than the Tabardan peltasts.

Initial phase
Both commanders set up their armies in a similar way. The main infantry line would cover the center with the cavalry equally distributed amongst the flanks. The Trinsulaeans had their Kalian allies on the right and the Tabardans had them on the left. Another difference in set-up was that the Tabardans placed their peltasts on the flanks whereas the Trinsulaeans used the more conventional tactic of placing their slingers in front of their main infantry line. Amelides' plan was to win the flanks by using his superior cavalry with skirmisher support whereas Malos relied on his slingers to dominate the center of the battle for a decisive victory there, nullifying the advantage of the flanks as the center had already been broken. With these set-ups and plans the two armies marched to battle.

Kalian phase


The battle started with either side's Kalian forces attacking each other on the western side of the battlefield. The Loyalists (red) sought to outflank the advancing forces of Jugurtha (yellow) with their elephants whilst their main forces would expose their flanks to draw in the Jugurthan forces. The Jugurthans kept their infantry behind in reserve to use it at a later time, knowing how unpredictable elephants could be. The Loyalists elephants were just that and had tried to charge the Jugurthan infantry too early, which enabled them to throw spears at the charging elephants. This caused them to go berserk, completely missing the Kalian infantry and going straight into the main Tabardan infantry line, where they got slaughtered. Then the Jugurthan elephants were thrown into the fray. Although being met with spears as well, the Jugurthan elephants charged straight within the Loyalist infantry followed by the Jugurthan infantry. The loyalists broke rank and the berserk Jugurthan elephants continued towards the Trinsulaean line, where they got slaughtered too. Loyalist forces would later return to the battlefield but were too low in number to determine the outcome of the battle.

Battle of the Flanks


After the Kalian phase both armies advanced. On Tabardan side the Haaklanders went out of control and immediately charged upon the Trinsulaean line, Amelides decided to ignore them and the Haaklanders were lost. They did however soak up much slinger fire and throwing spears from the main line. The real action could be found on the flanks however, as the Tabardan lancers and peltasts advanced towards the enemy cavalry. All cavalry formed a wedge formation, on the left Malos led his lancers personally in the charge against the Tabardans but they were met with a rain of throwing spears originating from the supporting peltasts, Malos fell in this phase of the battle. On the right the Trinsulaean light cavalry managed to charge the peltasts but were countercharged by Amelides' personal lancer unit. The Trinsulaean army had lost both the flanks and their general and was in slight disarray for a short period of time.

Encirclement phase


The Tabardan cavalry continued their successful advance by going around the Trinsulaean main line and by charging some of the Telean slingers. The brave slingers held long enough to stall the Tabardan advance however, and a reserve unit of these deadly skirmishers dealt with the Tabardan lancers who fled the field. Amelides was hit in the head by one of these slinger shots and died instantly, demoralizing all those cavalrymen still present. At the same time the infantry of both sides had been hurling spears at each other and the peltasts had been hitting the Trinsulaean line on the flanks, decimating these units. The final charge began when Kalian troops charged on the left. Shortly followed by the main lines clashes in an all out melee.

Melee phase
The melee soon turned into a chaotic clash and two theaters developed. On the left the Kalian led charge combined with the peltasts on the side resulted in the Trinsulaeans slowly being enveloped. A counter attack was halted in the center which removed any chance of Trinsulaean victory and their line quickly broke. The right was still locked in a bitter stalemate but when the Trinsulaeans noted their brothers had fallen they turned around and routed. The remaining forces were quickly driven from the field and a total Tabardan victory was achieved, although Amelides had died he had won the first victory for the young Tabardan republic.

Outcome
Many Loyalist leaders died or scattered in the aftermath of the battle and Jugurtha gained supreme power in the region. The Trinsulaeans recognised their defeat and retreated, signing a peace deal with the new tyrant a few days later. Jugurtha was eternally grateful to the Tabard republic and offered his services for a discount price if they wish to hire the Emerald company. In the end Jugurtha had achieved all his goals and was now installed tyrant of his region, achieving his life-long goal of doing so

The victory was important for the position of Polleander within the Republic of Tabard. Although his promise of peace with Trinsulae turned out to be unkeepable he did win a great victory and since the actual victor in the form of Amelides had died on the battlefield Polleander could use his success to cement his own popularity.

In Trinsulae the defeat was a hit to the prestige of the young democracy but besides a loss of face there were no grave consequences. The notable exception being the death of Malos, a popular upstart with great oratory skills and a bright future. The death of Malos would be a great miss to the island nation but it would not be the end of the world,