Battle of Stomar Gate
The Battle of Stomar Gate was one of the opening confrontations between the forces of Turl am Nari that had invaded the Kingdom of Cobal in August of 215 AF and the residents and soldiers of the Town of Stomar. This was the first pitched battle of the The Second Cobal-Imesse War.
The Conflict
Prelude
After a smooth and efficient crossing of the Caldar River, Turl's force of 15,000 men and 9,000 horses was divided into two nearly indentical divisions. 1,500 Horse and 6,000 Foot were tasked with taking and sacking the Town of Stomar, the Ward seat.
Deployment
The Imessian force marching towards Stomar from the beachhead within an hour of landing. The 25 mile march was done with haste so that no loss of surprise should be feared by Turl. However, word of the invasion was spreading like wildfire across the Kingdom, and in less than 5 hours the first riders had reached the gates of Stomar. Over the course of the nxt 8 hours, two deep ditches were dug across the main road leading to the town walls, and three scaffold towers were erected on each side of the town's main gatehouse. The town walls were stone and hedge constructions comprised of a 6' stone foundation and an 18" tall and 12' wide blackthorn hedge immediately behind it. The gatehouse was a pair of stone round towers, 20' with a 15' wide and 10' high wooden gate reinforced with an iron lattice portculis.
The road leading to the gatehouse was a hard-packed gravel road some 15' wide with deep ditches on each side to carry away rain. Local residents cut two parallel ditches across the road to a depth of 5' and 20 yards apart. The ditch furthest from the gatehouse was filled with budles of dry wood and twigs, liberally soaked with tar and pitch. This same road was flanked on both sides by hedgerows of blackthorn and birch in an almost ornamental pattern, but actually planned to provide a dense and broken wall of living thicket that could shield archers and slingers for nearly 300 yards.
Conditions
The morning had been bright and sunny, but by late afteroon the sky had grown overcast with high clouds and a stiff west wind. The ground was firm and dry, seemingly perfect for horse and foot marching at a brisk pace.
The Engagement
Turl's main force made good time on the fine clear roads of the Ward of Stomar and was in sight of the gatehouse lane by late afternoon (6 PM). The Imessian column was led by nearly 60 mounted knights and another 100 armored foot. Spreading out to fill the entire lane between the hedgerows, these steel-clad soldiers marched slowly towards the gatehouse that was clearly not surprised to see them approaching.
The leader of the mounted knights was Lord Sandor am Toricki, the youngest son of the late Baron of Beldoah, Emory am Toricki who had been recently killed in the Battle of Nyallshold just two years earlier. Sandor marched his column of mounted knights four abreast down the narrow lane towards the gatehouse. As they column got closer, a rain of arrows, bolts and stones came pouring out of the hedgerows flanking the lane. Sandor instantly called his column into a charge and raced towards the gatehouse. The defenders then lit the further ditch cutting the road and a wall of blazing, sooty flames roared into the sky immediately in front of the charging knights. As the knights reined up their mounts in the face of these flames, a volley of spears came hurtling from the further ditch and adding to the mayhem caused by archers, slingers and spearmen on nearly every side of them.
With no where to turn, Sandor was forced to call a retreat and raced his own mount back down the lane in the direction he had just come. 22 of his horses and 35 of his knights were lost in this first egagement of the fight. After an hour-long conference nearly a mile from the town walls, Sandor again marched a force of his mountd knights and an additional 50 foot towards the gatehouse, looking for a means by which he could get his knights off the lane and into the adjoining fields and pastures on the far sides of the hedgerows. After moving down the lane about 300 yards, a wave of crossbow bolts washed over the column, instantly killing 16 heavily armored kngihts and another 11 horses. These deadly bolts were followed by a rush of dozens of pike-wielding Halflings straight out of the deep ditches to either side of the lane. After only a few moments of pike-to-sword fighting, 8 more horses and 11 more knights were down on thee ground, dead or seriously wounded. The Halflings immediately ran back to the ditches and disappeared from the atttacker's view. Sandor was forced to call for another rapid retreat.
While planning a third attack as the sun was just touching the horizon, a harried rider came rushing into the assembly area and gave the news that the boats they had used to cross the Caldar (and needed to use to return to Imesse) had been attacked and burn and all the defending soldiers at the beachhead but a few had been killed. This news broke what little confidence Sandor had left, and he commanded a full retreat to the beachhead to see for himself just how bad things were going.
Included under Conflict
Conflict Type
Battle
Battlefield Type
Land
Start Date
August 28, 215 AF
Ending Date
August 29, 215 AF
