Siege of Lustina

The Conflict

Prelude

With the Battle of Ventoli ending in complete disaster for the Imperial Royalists and their forces slowly demising as the days go by from fighting and lack of supplies, Alexios Septimius Aurelius orders Patricio Tullius Augustanus to lay siege to the fort that was built after the battle and used it to a way point in their invasion of Royalist territory.

Deployment

Patircio was order to personally lead the siege due to his forces being the least affect by the war since they were stationed in the north and his resources were still intact.

Battlefield

Plains of Helen

Conditions

wet and muddy

The Engagement

The first assault beings as Patricio's forces advance towards the fort, but as slowed due to the muddy terrain. Some of their siege engines are stuck as well with no means of getting out. The alliance opens fire on them with archery and ballista fires as The Royalists try to stay in formation properly. But are unable to due to the terrain and are forced to fall back, after the attack, taking heavy casualties in the process. Instead of leading another assault, they launch artillery barrages to keep the defenders busy and damage to the fort to gain entry for several days. But are unable to completely destroy them due to lack of ammunition and have no way to replenish it. They wait for several more days until the weather improves to plan the next attack. As soon as it improves the Royalists prepare for there next assault and advance on the fort. But are attack with barrages of archery fire and the defenders meet them in open combat. Causing much of the Royalist forces to retreat as the they are over whelmed. Patricio Tullius Augustanus is one of the few remaining Royalists to stand their ground and fight to the death. With him being the last Royalist killed during the battle. The rest of the Royalist army scatters and deserts afterwards.

Outcome

Patricio is killed in battle and the Royalist forces are forced to flee.

Aftermath

The defeat ends the Imperial Royalists' hold on the empire and Alexios Septimius Aurelius is forced to flee with those who remain loyal to him to the Dark Continent in hope of raising mercenaries to fight of him and return to the empire and crush the Citizen’s Alliance once and for all. This leads to the rest of the war continuing on the Dark Continent.

Historical Significance

Alexios at the moment was starting to become desperate as the war raged on, with much of his forced either destroyed of deserting as resources were becoming scare as time went by. He soon heard that Altres was under alliance control now with the mob that took over the city up the gate right for them. Meaning that the south and it resources were lost to him. His only hope was to capture to fort of Lustina ( Iron Maiden) which was being used by the alliance as staging ground for their invasions of the Imperial Royalists territory for weeks now. He called upon Patricio Tullius Augustanus since he was one of the few people left that had a complete army to lay siege to the fort and capture it. He his orders were sent out and Patricio obey, he was to capture it by any mean necessary. As he progress down south he took as many Royalist forces as he could find and integrate them into his army. When he finally arrived weeks later he could see that his task would to be an easy one at that. Since the fort was built it had been rapidly expanded since than being able to house thousands of men and had larger fortifications than anticipated. What was worse was that the spring rains came early this year and the ground became muddy and made if difficult to move siege equipment and artillery. He started to make defensive lines of his own to better protect himself if any alliance reinforcements should happen to arrive. After a few days he was ready with several siege towers, ballistas, catapults and a battering ram. But the mud still did not dry by the time he began his first assult. Which caused many of the siege engines to be stock several times. The attack alone caused many casualties to his forces, due to massive archery fire that came from the fort, along with several ballistas on to of the walls. Along with several of his siege engines with it. But he did manage to destroy some of the walls of the fort, but no enough to break it. So he decided to just fire upon it and wait until the defenders surrendered. He also wanted to stall until the ground started to dry to lead his next assault. Though the firing eventually stopped since they ran out of ammunition and could no longer use the weapons since resources were running thin as well. Even his men were starting to think this was unclearly pointless. As each day went to did, the food that hey had littles of to begin with, along with proper clothing keep themselves warm on the cold night since the spring weather would no arrive for a few more weeks at most. As for the defenders, they may have taken some losses from the assault, but they had the supplies and materials they need to continue to fight. After a few days the round started to harden and was more traversable than before. Patricio would launch his next assault the next day. As he and his men began to reach the fort with every step they made, all the forces of hell were upon them. Arrows rained downed from the sky as they hit what ever what ever they could hits first, living or otherwise.Then the alliance forces began to come out of the fort to meet them head on. They hardy even saw the coming due the seemingly never ending barrage of arrows that rained down on them. With only their shields to protect them, but even those weakened broke leaving many dying full of arrows. As the alliance clashed with them their moral, was all but gone, for only the tired, sick and hungry remained. Attrition was the true victor in this battle and the Royalist had lost as many scattered, while those that remained stayed and fought. But it would only lead them to their deaths as they fell one by one with only Patricio and few others remaining. It is said that he was the last one to fall with taking down every opponent that inflicted a wound on him. He died standing with only his shield to keeping him up. As for his body it was it was given a warriors funeral and burned. The last of his army deserted and left Alexios with very few men that could take Patricio's place and his armies all but decimated. He would soon flee the capital and flee to the Dark continent in hopes of creating another army to take back the empire. A few days later the Citizen’s Alliance would take Vatia and the entire empire was under their control, but the war was far from over.

Legacy

With Patricio's death the Royalists lose one of their best officers and are crippled by it due to most of their leadership lost in various other battles.

In Literature

Though Patricio's alliance to the Alexios considered him a traitor of the people, he was considered on of it greatest warriors and several books were written about him, along with his final stand.

Included under Conflict

First Vatian Civil War

Conflict Type

Siege

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

3/21/1246 BCA 11:56 pm

Ending Date

4/6/1246 BCA 12:48

Conflict Result

Major Alliance Victory

Belligerents

Royalist Forces

• Imperial Royalists

Led by

• Patricio Tullius Augustanus

Alliance Forces

• Citizen’s Alliance

Led by

• Gaius Floronius Segestes

Strength

10,000 Legionaries

• 5 Siege towers

• 8 Catapults

• 6,000 Legionaries

• 5 Bastillas

Casualties

• 3,854 Legionaries

• 5 Siege towers

• 8 Catapults

2,356 Legionaries

Objectives

Capture the fort by any means necessary

Defend the fort at all costs and wipe out the royalist forces