Aisrin equipped his 159 soldiers with the miscellaneous weapons that Aren and his twenty raiders nabbed from the enemy. He was now teaching them formations he'd learned during history.
"This is called a Phalanx formation. Thus requires each of you to have a shield and a spear. Since we have only a hundred and thirteen shield and a little over a hundred and twenty spears, thus formation will only consist of you lucky one thirteen.
You will be in a four line formation, but opposite from the usual.... Good job. That was a vague description, but you got it right. Now take your shields and raise them up to just where your face is, but not too high you can't see... alright, now lock them in with the shields of those next to you... a little closer... a little tighter... yeah, like that.
Now, put your spears above the interlocked sections of the shields and point the outwards, skewer the formation to allow for the spear behind to harmlessly go past those in front... okay, now the shields on the far left and far right of the formation need to unlink and relink along the sides... Hell yeah, that looks good.
This formation is known to be able to Brea the formations of enemies with a larger force. Now, the rows in the back, unlink your shields and relink them above you and those in front.... Okay, link them extra tight, no holes, or at least attempt it as close as you can...
Now you're well protected from arrows. With this you can easily approach the enemy with out taking major loses. Now, it's still possible to get hit from below, which is why I've dubbed this next formational move, 'The Tortoise Phalanx Formation'. Just crouch... but hold the same Formation. Now you'll move slower, but attack areas are limited on you. Whereas you still have some ability to attack, it's not the greatest.
The Tortoise Phalanx Formation should only be used if the enemy rains arrows down upon you, otherwise stick to the regular Phalanx Formation.
I get that holding this Formation is tiring on you, but I assure you, you'll regret not practicing this later. You'll need to hold this, while Aren and his twenty raiders pop off shots at the enemy from the sides, on the two hills surrounding the valley into the village.
There's a point in that valley where your Formation will fit snuggly, but the enemy will have to thin down to approach. This is called a Narrow Pass. Now, they could decide to traverse the hills 8nstead, but my assumption is, the commander will most likely not want to waste extra energy.
So we use that to our advantage. Now, you may need wondering, 'That still leaves twenty five soldiers left over.' Not to worry, they'll be what's called a calvary. I'll get to that with them. Today you'll focus on training to move perfectly in sync and formation. Get to it. And good luck." Aisrin instructed his Army perfectly on the ancient Greek Warfare from earth.
Aisrin learned the current eras fighting techniques and formations, and found they had striking similarities to Persian warfare. A simple straight forward fighting formation that incorporated interlocked front shield and spears to attack headlong enemies. But they also had the break up and surround style used by Arthurian warfare in the middle centuries on earth.
The Phalanx was a perfect counter. If the enemy could not Pentwater through the Phalanx, they'd dwindle their numbers wasting time trying. With this strategy, it was simple to overcome sheer numbers.
Aisrin moved on to teach the remaining 25 about some swordplay.
"You heard me call you the Calvary, but you are actually going to be light infantry. Once the enemy begins to surround the Phalanx of the heavy infantry, you'll rush in and begin to attack the surrounding forces. This presents a two front attack that the enemy has no experience dealing with.
You've learned basic swordplay, but I'll be taking you up a notch to beginner swordplay. You know to Parry, slice, and thrust. Now you'll learn vertical, downward, and upward slashing techniques. I'll also attempt to teach you disarming techniques. Disarming discourages.
It's easy and simple. Let's begin." Aisrin borrowed a sword from the inventory and began slowly instructing his men. Once they had it down, he had them spar with eachother using wooden practice swords and then left to go place traps to slow the enemy, giving his military the time they needed to prepare.
Out in the plains past the Narrow Pass that Aisrin intended the battle to take place, he began his construction of pitfalls. He placed them all over, and hid them with grass he grew using his magic.
He made sure to double the traps that led towards the hills, to discourage the enemy commander further from trying to take them. With the pitfalls finished and placed in decent spacing, he returned back to continue his instructions.
*The Next Day Barons Army*
Grole rode on his horse, his face was pale and his eyes sunk with bags. He'd been more alert during the last two nights after the first raid. The second wasn't terribly surprising, and the third was expected. But they never caught any of the Grassland Wolves.
When they struck, they struck swiftly and left swiftly, taking much of their supplies and quite a few men. There weren't any after, but the alertness of the men was high. Now, they were tired and sluggish. Of the 500 he had started with, he now had only 467. Almost 40 men had been claimed before the battle even began.
"Keep moving, the sooner we win, the sooner we rest." Grole encouraged his men. They replied with weak exclaims full of anticipation for rest. As they marched, a sudden series of cries echoed across the plains as men fell in a few different spots within the formation.
"Halt!" Grole called out as he rushed to the front. He reached the closest point and found himself on the edge of a pitfall with rocky spires at the bottom. eight men laid upon those spires, impaled and mortally wounded. Grole looked away, disturbed.
"Grab their equipment and get it to those without. We must proceed with caution. Go more around to avoid the obvious path forward." Grole ordered. He rode to each pit, three in total, 13 men's lives taken. As soon as the men began moving again, more men cried out as they fell.
It seemed that progressing further would become a treacherous obstacle as Grole had no choice but to slow the advance.
*Three Days later, Narrow Pass*
Aisrin stood before his troops, the enemy was now fastly approaching. His military was as well prepared as they could be. His pitfall traps bought an extra three days, and also dropped the enemies numbers quite drastically. From the reports he had gotten, the number went from 500 a week ago, to around 437.
For a conflict that had yet to begin, nearly 70 men had died before reaching this point. Not to mention, they were tired and moving like sloths. With the strategies implemented, Aisrin had successfully weakened the opponent.
Though the battle would not be easy, the chances of a flawless victory had definately increased. Within an hour, the enemy troops came into view. One man on a horse rode before them, leasing them in, in two columns.
The enemy commander motioned for his men to halt, and he ride forth towards Aisrin, who walked to meet him halfway.
"I am Captain Grole, commander of his Sire, Baron Seroth's, third battalion. I demand that you immediately surrender and become my prisoner to end this before it begins." Grole formally announced.
"I am Lord Aisrin, Commander in Chief of this Military. I will not surrender as long as I have breath in my lungs. Sir, I shall not yield to thee." Aisrin replied.
'That sounded dumber than it did in my head.'
"Very well then." Grole turned his horse and rode back.
"Usually it's a foot soldiers job to do such a bold thing as make a formal decree or announcement... maybe it works different in this world?" Aisrin pondered aloud. He returned to his position. Grole motioned for Archers to ready and Aisrin ordered the Phalanx Formation.
There was a brief moment of silence before the thunderous twangs and the echoing screams of hundreds of arrows being released. What followed was the continuous thundering of arrows bouncing harmlessly off of the shields.
"FORWARD!" Aisrin commanded, and he and his men began marching forward, unrelenting as the enemy continued their assault. Grole, noticing the odd formation and the ineffectiveness of the arrows ordered his entire to move forward. Two more columns broke from the original two to make a cramped formation of four.
As soon as the two armies were withing shouting distance, the enemy pushed their spears forward.
"FULL PHALANX!" Aisrin commanded, and spears protruded from the slots in the seemingly impenetrable shell of shields and all sides. Aisrin noted the sudden fear in the closest enemies eyes. Aisrin smiled and then jumped up and over his men.
Within the next few seconds, the enemy began to attack the Phalanx.
"PUSH FORWARD!" Aisrin continued. The men did as told and continued. The enemy, being unsure of how to properly defend, ended up breaking apart in confusion. Many let out screams as the spearmen did their jobs.
As soon as the enemy began to break in confusion the spears in the Phalanx began to dart in and out like the tongue of a snake. Striking fast and hard, screams and yells echoed out as a man was struck each time a spear darted.
It took a few minutes for the enemy to begin recovering and drew swords to bash hack and thrust at the shell. At that moment, Aisrin released the illusion on his light infantry as they charged forward, the enemy caught entirely off guard by the sudden affront.
At this point a that could be heard was the clashing of blades and the screams and death wails of men and women.
"AREN!" Aisrin yelled out. From the hills, ten Archers each began releasing arrows into the enemies flanks. Grole, witnessing the sudden ambush, could feel only awe and fear at the strategically planned assault. Never before had he ever experienced such a terrifyingly beautiful formation.
"PHALANX BREAK!" Aisrin dished out another command and suddenly the shell broke and expanded. The shields pushed the enemies back, and within moments a wall three shields high and five long now blocked the enemy from moving forward. The straggling enemies behind the wall were swiftly dealt with by the light infantry.
Spears were pushed through the small opening outwards and were now individually controlled. For each shield, there was one person holding it firmly, while another operated the spear and trusted it out at the enemy as hard as they could.
The battle lasted a grand total of twenty minutes before the enemy retreated. But, Ausrin had other plans. He had already blocked them in with a rock wall that had sharp wooden pikes sprouting from it.
As Aisrins military moved forward, the enemy found itself literally trapped between two deadly walls. They were also being repeatedly assaulted by arrows.
This was Aisrins final trap, a classic enclosing spiked wall trap, improvised. Grole saw no way out of the predicament, but one.
"We Surrender! Men, drop your weapons! We've been defeated!" Grole threw his weapon down, and his men followed.
"HOLD!" Aisrin commanded. Aren motioned for his men to cease and the wall of shields dismantled, allowing Aisrin to see the bloodied mess of his former assailants.
"I accept your surrender." Aisrin smiled. It was not a polite smile, but a proud smile. Grole felt no shame in his surrender, instead a strange pride. If he were to be defeated in battle, he'd except no less than the genius he had fought today.