A day and night go by in a blink of an eye.
When the sun slowly rose from the horizon the next morning, in the Land of Death at the foot of the Troll's Claw Mountain south of the Wandering River, the armies of Baldur's Gate and Zhentil Keep finally came together in the open field.
Set up a battle array on the plain.
In order to better see the opponent's troop movements and ensure a good field of vision during the battle, both sides did not hesitate to light the remaining wheat straw in the large wheat fields.
Fortunately, the harvest season has just passed, and most of the crops, especially staple grains, have been stored in the farm's barns, so there has not been much damage.
As for the local farmers and ranchers, they basically all ran away a few days ago.
They may seek refuge in places such as Baldur's Gate, Belgost, or Friendly Arms, or they may gather together and hide in a fortress with a solid wooden fortress on a large farm, not daring to go near the extremely dangerous battlefield.<
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Even Barriskel Bridge, where businessmen, tourists, hawkers and other people have always gathered, has now become empty.
Only a 3,000-man orc army under Fuzor Chamberry was responsible for the garrison.
Their mission is simple, that is, guard the bridge and prevent the Baldur's Gate army that may bypass the rear to launch a surprise attack, until Zhentil Keep's army defeats its opponent on the frontal battlefield.
In addition, there are some goblin cavalry with low combat effectiveness but extremely high mobility, which are scattered near the river for reconnaissance.
Once traces of the enemy are discovered, these goblins will immediately turn around and report to the commander of the Orc Legion.
No matter where Sarevok wants to cross the river for a surprise attack, the Orc Legion will be able to know it immediately and take action to intercept it.
Moreover, Bariskell Bridge is very close to the Land of Death, and it only takes half an hour of forced march to reach the fighting area.
Even if the enemy does not arrange a sneak attack team, it can still be used as a reserve team to enter the frontal battlefield at any time.
It can be said that with the help of the strong discipline and organizational ability of the Benn Church, Fuzor Chamberry did not give his opponents even the slightest opportunity to take advantage of the battlefield layout.
In comparison, Sarevok is much simpler and more crude.
This guy only left 1,500 people to guard the camp and ensure the safety of the retreat. He had no intention of crossing the river at all. He also handed over the task of scouting the north bank of the Wan Ting River to the Shadow Druid who could control the falcon.<
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In this way, he can concentrate all the troops at hand to fight a close battle with Zhentil Keep in the Land of Death.
You must know that in terms of pure number of troops, the latter is far stronger than the former.
Therefore, Sarevok had no intention of dividing his troops from the beginning, let alone launched a surprise attack to win victory at the minimum cost.
What he wants is to fight a head-on, protracted tug-of-war, and then continue to let living lives die, whether they are the enemy or his own people.
The complex formation lasted for several hours.
When the time came to 8:30 in the morning, and the sun was already high in the sky, bringing light and heat to the entire world, Zhentil Castle took the lead in blowing the horn and launched a tentative attack.
In the blink of an eye, six orc infantry phalanxes slowly advanced under the leadership of lower-level officers.
However, it is said that there are six phalanxes, but in fact there are not many. Generally speaking, a phalanx will not exceed fifty people at most. If it is less, there may be only more than thirty people. Six means less than three hundred people, and there is not even a person responsible for blessing.
Priest of divine magic.
Although the equipment looks quite sophisticated, it is not truly elite.
Because of the large-scale damage and the control of magic, wars in Faerûn rarely see large phalanxes that are as complex and dense as those on Earth, often with hundreds or even thousands of people.
After all, in front of spellcasters, especially arcane spellcasters, simply stacking the depth and thickness of a square array cannot increase its defensive power.
On the contrary, you may be overwhelmed by the opponent's low-level Greasy Technique, Spider Web Technique, Fireball Technique, or Stinky Cloud Technique and collapse instantly.
As for resisting the cavalry attack...
Sorry, in this world full of supernatural powers, the cavalry really does not have such strong strength and noble status. It is just one of many arms.
Spells can restrain them even more than infantry.
There are many examples of infantry defeating cavalry, and there is nothing to make a fuss about.
Therefore, what is popular in Faerûn is a small square array with a dozen or even thirty people as the basic unit.
If the professional level in the team is high enough, the number of people will be reduced to ten or even six, which is the configuration of a standard adventure team.
Among them there will be healers such as priests and druids, as well as warriors as the core of defense and attack, mages and warlocks responsible for controlling and reversing the situation at critical moments, and occasionally a bard will be added to release music magic to inspire
Companion.
As for sewer professions like thieves, which are extremely stretched in frontal battles, they should just do reconnaissance and sneak into enemy camps to steal intelligence.
In short, the number of people in a square formation or even a small team on the battlefield is often inversely proportional to its true combat effectiveness.
Smaller numbers often mean more elite.
If there is a guy in a robe standing up, raising his hands in the air and starting to chant unfamiliar spells and perform complex spell-casting movements, then run as far as you can.
Anyone who is slower may be directly torn into pieces by the terrifying magical power.
Woo——
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Accompanied by the loud and penetrating horn sounds and the thundering war drums amplified by magic, the tentative armies sent by both sides soon encountered each other in the center of the battlefield and started a bloody fight.
The human soldiers at Baldur's Gate wore leather armor and mail, and used traditional spears, while the orc soldiers used their favorite double-edged axes, and wore a stronger combination of mail and half-breastplates.
.
Although human soldiers have a longer and farther attack range, they are knocked to the ground in pieces at the moment of contact.
Many wooden spears are often unable to pierce the orcs' armor with one blow and cause effective damage to them. Instead, they are broken off by a heavy double-edged axe, losing the metal spearhead that can pose the greatest threat.
As a result, in less than ten minutes, one or two hundred human soldiers were chopped to the ground by strong orcs who had undergone rigorous training.
The leather armor and mail armor on their bodies cannot block the attack of the heavy double-edged battle axe. Usually, after being hit once, the bones will break immediately, and blood will spurt out from the mouth and nose.
Rather than saying he was hacked to death, it would be better to say he was beaten to death.
Some helmets even dented immediately after being hit, and a large amount of viscous blood mixed with brain matter flowed out from inside.
Although some of the orcs died, most of the others were uninjured or only slightly injured.
To some extent, this also reflects the gap in logistics and equipment between the two sides.
Of course, there is no need to say more about Fort Zhentil. All armors and weapons are produced through modern assembly lines and undergo a series of processes including high-temperature forging, heat treatment, stamping, etc.
Its quality is simply not comparable to that of ordinary blacksmiths and apprentices who knock it out bit by bit with hammers.
The most important thing is that the quantity is large enough to equip soldiers of other races except goblins
This alone can crush the armies of most countries, city-states and regions in Faerûn.
After all, even Amn, the wealthiest country, could only equip its soldiers with a metal helmet, a half-breastplate, and some other bits and pieces.
The rest of the small towns can only be equipped with some leather armor, and some use wooden armor.
But now, Fuzor Chamberry has the ability to equip the orc soldiers who are consumables with double-layer armor and double-edged battle axes that require a lot of fine steel. The luxury of his equipment is evident.
In comparison, there is only one city, and there is not even any iron ore to mine. It mainly relies on Baldur's Gate imported from Naxikai, a major town in Amn in the south. Even if it spends all its savings and borrows heavily, it can only guarantee that every
A soldier has a piece of leather or mail armor.
Only the elite among the elite can be equipped with armor with strong protective power, such as half breastplate, scale armor and full body armor.
As for weapons, most of them are spears and spears, which are long pole weapons that use relatively little iron.
No way.
The lack of iron ore resources has always been Baldur's Gate's biggest weakness.
The previous border conflicts with Amn were all about obtaining stable and cheap iron ingots.
"The great Dark Lord is protecting us! All those who resist will die in the end! Even the soul after death cannot escape Bane's control!"
After killing all the enemies, an orc officer held up a bloody head that had just been chopped off from the neck, and at the same time let out a rude and bloodthirsty roar to his men and enemies.
There is no doubt that they are different from the ordinary orcs in the wild who are chaotic in nature and only know destruction and killing.
These orcs, who have been trained and brainwashed by Zhentil Castle since childhood, simply look down on the orc gods, even despise and spurn them, and are more willing to believe in the god of tyranny.
This is why King Asan IV of Cormyr even privately offered a very high price in order to obtain the command of a thousand orcs from Zhentil Castle.
The orc army did not disappoint. When fighting the nomadic tribes that rushed out of the endless wasteland, they suffered an astonishing battle loss of more than ten to one, and they were firmly nailed to the position before the entire army was annihilated.
Take half a step back.
To be continued...