ThatGuyWithIdeas
Treize died for our sins
- Location
- Romania
Let's hope the Ottomans don't jump us while we're solving our dispute with Charles regarding some of his action in the New Lands...
A Reforged World (NO SV, You are King of Italy, in a Greatly Changed World)
- Thread starter Magoose
- Start date
- Original Alt. History
Hope the new sewer system significantly increased Isabella's health and thus the labor will be fine. Don't want anything going wrong in the birth. But dang, we gonna get a population boom and Romans are the healthiest in the world.
What kind of super baby is this gonna be from the nat 1000? Although it does make me wonder since a 900 in the LIghts thread lead to the twins.
Hope this means that Severin saved the Mamluks from conquest and as such bloodied the Ottomans enough to where they won't be marching on Vienna soon.
Called it.
A Mercenary's Bizarre Adventure
- Location
- Hawaii
I've been holding onto this for a bit per @Magoose, enjoy!
A Mercenary's Bizarre Adventure
Jon Charles Severin, proprietor and commander of the Order of Solutions, squinted in the bright sunlight of the Holy Land. He and his lads were a long way from home, but the Mamluks has offered a king's ransom to fight their war against the Ottomans. He had refused such a payment not too long ago; the offer to change sides and fight for the previous sultan against the newborn Kingdom of Italy would have tempted men who were in it for mere coin. This war, however, was basically getting paid to go on pilgrimage and kill Turks, which he had been doing in Hungary. As for Hungary, well... Severin would say this about the new sultan: he led a masterful ploy to bait in the Hungarians, who sought a decisive battle over the Ottomans. If only they had remembered that it had been he and his lads that had kept the Turk from rolling them over in the past. But word of Ottoman defeat at the hands of the Kingdom of Italy, just out of its cradle, had emboldened their enemies, including his newest employers. The Mamluks were once Turkic slave soldiers of a fallen sultanate, who had liberated themselves and seized power. In the present day, however, they were in dire straits, fighting Portuguese encroachment in the Indian Ocean, alongside an Ottoman invasion that had claimed Syria and as far south as the port city of Jaffa before stalling in favor of the wars in the Balkans and Italy. But with the Hungarians beaten and the Greeks crushed underfoot once more, the Ottomans had resumed their advance into the Levant.
Having booked passage to Pelusium, which the locals called Tell el-Farama, on Italian ships, he and his lads sampled the local beer and were accosted by the local cats, who were said to be descended of the cats used by the ancient Persians to conquer the city in the era of the Pharaohs. Free of the feline siege, they marched across the Sinai, thankfully not taking forty years, and joined the amassed Mamluk army at Gaza. Severin had been regaled of the sultanate's glory days, when they had smashed and routed a Mongol army, those boogeymen of yore, at the Battle of Ain Jalut, near the town of Nazareth. Another tale was of the Crusades and the razing of Ascalon, just up the coast. His employer also informed him that in this campaign the Ottomans had been beating Mamluk forces back not just by numbers or tactics, but with a small, elite troop of gunners who fired faster and at longer ranges than one could believe. By the description, Severin immediately recognized them as Graziani rifles, likely excellent specimens, though individually no match for his custom piece, Speak Thrice. Hefting his triple-shooter, he ran some mental estimates. A Graziani rifle was accurate and could consistently hit at two hundred paces, beyond which precision and accuracy rapidly fell off as targets became miniscule to the naked eye. Firing at densely packed formations, like his own Swiss pikemen, would allow effective fire to perhaps three to four hundred paces. Severin knew that if it came down to a push of pike, his men would carry the field. But how to protect them from massed rifle fire? Alternatively, how to deal with gunners which matched the range of his own, but outnumbered him? As well as outnumbered his cannon...
"Mario, get over here! I need your opinion on something!"
"Yes boss! What do you need?"
"You still remember the angles and powder loads young Luciano ordered for the battle against Borgia at Rome? Could you recreate those shots if the terrain is similar enough to that battlefield?"
"Ha! Do I remember? Even after ten years, it's hard to forget a kid holding you at gunpoint and shouting angle corrections! Three extra plates for elevation, and equal weights of powder to shot, range twelve hundred paces, time to target-"
"That's enough Mario. We still have the ten guns we retained from our Hungarian campaign?"
"Aye, boss, including that heavy cannon we looted from the French at Milan! Hans loves that thing, and he thinks it's the funniest thing when you call him to bring it over."
"I'll bet, that joker. Anyway, the ruins of Ascalon are not too far north, and the ruins themselves sit upon a rise. That should give us the elevation to match where the guns were at Rome. There's a small plain to the north and east, then a set of hills. Our little band could bait the Ottomans in, where our cannons can hammer them like at Rome, while we use our rifles to skirmish and bait their vanguard into the pikes. Then the Mamluks can descend on them from the hills like they boast about routing the Mongols at Ain Jalut."
"Uh, great boss, but whatever that is referring to went right over my head. No idea where that was and who the Mongols are."
"They're- forget it. I need to go talk to our employer and see about convincing him to my plan. Maybe play up the possibility of reliving the Mamluk glory days..."
Jon Charles Severin stood on the berm that was once the northern wall of the Crusader port of Ascalon. Scanning across the soon to be battlefield, he spots the line of stones his men had set up to denote the range that matched the instructions that Mario recalled from the Battle of Rome. Beyond the hills to the north, he could spot the dust cloud kicked up by the Turk army. A low, wide cloud that denoted columns of infantry, and a narrow, high cloud that denoted cavalry. Looks like they fell for the big campfire ruse.
"Mario, are the guns ready?"
"Aye, boss! Guns are pre-sighted, and powder loads pre-portioned! We also have water to quench the barrels if they get too hot again."
"Dieter, are the pikemen ready?"
"Yes chief, we're ready to "respond to their ambush" when they crest those hills."
"Johan Joseph, my son, take your riflemen out five hundred paces and hide them in the fields, take potshots at their formations when they reach extreme range. I'll be down to join you once the enemy reaches the range of our guns."
"Yes Vater! Men, let's move out!"
"Helena Franka, my daughter, what's the status of our supplies and healers?"
"Vati, we're still well stocked on foodstuffs, powder and ammunition. The high-proof alcohol for the wounded is still secured, and I've managed to dissuade some of the rowdier men from getting into the stores. They might have a black eye and bruises, but they can still fight."
"Good, make sure we have boiled water and beer available for the men. The damnable heat will take its toll on the pikemen, armored as they are."
"Yes Vati, I shall see it done. Will brother be fine?"
"Not to worry, schnecke, your brother has a good head on his shoulders, and he's a lucky one on top of that."
"Boss, I can make out glints of pike tips, they're cresting the hill!"
"Pikes, move out! Gunners, to your posts! Schnecke, you'll want to get back to the supply tent. Don't forget to cover your ears."
"Yes vati, take care!"
Jon Charles watches as the Ottoman vanguard crests the hill and advances into the plain. Aside from the screening cavalry, he can make out a few blocks of pikemen, but most critically, he can see an infantry formation without pikes, and shouldered weapons too short to be spears. This must be the vaunted Turk Janissary riflemen, recently refitted with Graziani rifles at ruinous cost. But given how crucial they had been to the crushing Turk victories against Hungary and the Greek rebels, as well as the multiple defeats handed to the Mamluks in this campaign, it seems like it was worth the investment. Thus, he should make them the priority target of his cannons to make the most of the, heh, impact.
It took another quarter hour, but the Janissary riflemen finally reached the range marker.
"Mario! Fire at will!"
"Yes boss!"
The cannons of the Order of Solutions belched flame and iron, and after a long several seconds, Severin could only watch the devastation unfold. Nine cannonballs and one large cannonball plowed into the Janissary formation, sending men and limbs flying with their force of impact. Further havoc was wreaked as the iron cannonballs bounced and plowed through several more men in the next formation.
"Good hits, keep them coming! I'm heading down to join the riflemen!"
Jon Charles ran down the slope of the berm with Speak Thrice in hand, catching up to the advancing pikemen, then running faster to reach his riflemen.
"Johan! How have things been up here?"
"Vater, it's been quiet, the bombardment has disorganized them and stalled their advance. Look, you can see a bunch of banners with that group of horsemen, must be the big cheeses of the army there."
"Looks like. Good eyes, son. They're getting everything sorted out, too bad we didn't have more ready ammunition prepped, your sister is probably shouting the gunners into hauling out the stores at the moment. The vanguard is approaching extreme range, we should take our shots now before they suspect us. The pikes are a few minutes behind me. Hopefully the Mamluks will take advantage of us weakening the Janissary Riflemen. Apparently, they've been carrying the Ottoman victories over this past year."
"Very well, vater. Men, fire at will!"
Matching actions to words, Johan stands from the grass and fires his rifle. Taking the first shot as a signal, the riflemen spread out over a hundred paces to the left and right added their shots to the battle. Janissaries fell as the formation was peppered by a hundred rifle shots. The party of horsemen with all the banners rode back and forth, attempting to rally them into a counterattack. Well, Jon Charles couldn't have that, the pikemen weren't close enough and the Mamluk flank attack hadn't materialized yet. Standing from the tall grass and shouldering Speak Thrice, he worked the action three times in quick succession. The first shot was wide, landing amidst the Janissaries, perhaps winging one at best. The third fell short, spooking a horse into throwing their rider. But the second shot was dead on, catching one of the horsemen in the head.
At this point, the Janissaries had reorganized sufficiently to return scattered fire. But the extreme range, combined with the loose formation of his own riflemen, meant they scored few hits and fewer kills. In a desperate attempt to salvage the situation, the light horse of the vanguard attempted to charge the spread out riflemen of the Order of Solutions. This would have been a problem, but between a hasty parting shot and the riflemen ducking under the dense hedge of pike points advancing steadily forward, the Turk horsemen veered off before they could cut down more than a couple of riflemen. Janissary rifle fire took a small toll on the implacably advancing Switzers, but failed to stop their attack.
The Ottoman pikes, arrayed behind their elite riflemen, stood their ground. But they began to waver as they came under fire from the mercenary cannons resuming their now slower barrage. Then, the Mamluks arrived. Their horns sounded from the eastern hills, as their cavalry lined the crests of the hills... and waited there. Rather than advance and charge to take advantage of Ottoman surprise, the Mamluks waited until all their horsemen reached the crests, then trotted across the plain. If they were hoping the show of force would unnerve their foes, they would be sorely disappointed. Even under cannon fire, the Ottoman commander organized his leading pike blocks to wheel to face the new threat, rightly assuming that the mercenary cannons could not adjust their aim closely enough to accurately walk their fire back into the realigned pikes.
By the time the Mamluks worked their cavalry into a charge, the Ottoman pikes had completed their redeployment and braced their pikes. Thus, the cavalry charge that had been counted on to break the Ottoman army either turned away or was skewered like kebabs on the Ottoman pikes. While the pikes fought off the Mamluk flanking attempt, the Janissary rifles attempted to shoot the Swiss pikes to pieces, and while they inflicted casualties, the Switzers would. Not. Stop. Continued skirmishing from the mercenary riflemen felled more Janissaries, leaving more than a third of their number on the ground. By this point, in an attempt to preserve his elite, war-winning troops, the Ottoman commander ordered their withdrawal before they were ground under the implacable Swiss advance. It was too late to save the first block of Janissary pikemen, however. Fixed by the Mamluk cavalry, the Switzers caught them in their unprotected flank, scattering the formation in the face of their pike charge.
Rather than risk further casualties in his failed attempt to enact a defeat in detail, the Ottoman commander ordered a general withdrawal from the field. The Order of Solutions, stretched across the battlefield and without cavalry, offer no more pursuit than a desultory parting volley. The Mamluk cavalry, savaged by their frontal charge into braced pikes, declined to pursue, allowing the Ottomans to escape unmolested.
"Hah, what a fight! We certainly earned our pay today, Vater!"
"Aye, we did. One could say we won that battle ourselves. Truly the Mamluks have fallen far from their glory days two and a half centuries ago, when their cavalry bested those Boogeymen of Europe, the Mongols with a similar flanking attack."
"The Mongols Vater? Those men from the eastern steppe who were born and died in the saddle, who humiliated the knights of Hungary and Poland time and again? The Mamluks beat them on horseback?"
"Aye, my boy. The Mamluk sultan couldn't shut up about their victory at Ain Jalut when we joined them at their camp at Gaza. They're descended of Turkic horsemen from the eastern steppe as well, but if their skill and blood has thinned this much over time, it's of little surprise the Ottoman Turks were on the verge of conquering them. We can't chase them, but we can loot the battlefield. We may be able to double or triple our stock of Graziani rifles if we can scavenge intact ones from the field."
"I'll get right to it, Vater! These rifles are amazing, but how you use them is almost more important than their quality alone."
"That's a good lad. Now, to see which big shot I bagged..." Despite searching the field, Severin is unable to find the man he shot in the head. "Huh, must've been a pretty important guy if even their dead body was carried from the field. Might as well go talk to my employer, make sure we get paid for saving their asses."
A Mercenary's Bizarre Adventure
Jon Charles Severin, proprietor and commander of the Order of Solutions, squinted in the bright sunlight of the Holy Land. He and his lads were a long way from home, but the Mamluks has offered a king's ransom to fight their war against the Ottomans. He had refused such a payment not too long ago; the offer to change sides and fight for the previous sultan against the newborn Kingdom of Italy would have tempted men who were in it for mere coin. This war, however, was basically getting paid to go on pilgrimage and kill Turks, which he had been doing in Hungary. As for Hungary, well... Severin would say this about the new sultan: he led a masterful ploy to bait in the Hungarians, who sought a decisive battle over the Ottomans. If only they had remembered that it had been he and his lads that had kept the Turk from rolling them over in the past. But word of Ottoman defeat at the hands of the Kingdom of Italy, just out of its cradle, had emboldened their enemies, including his newest employers. The Mamluks were once Turkic slave soldiers of a fallen sultanate, who had liberated themselves and seized power. In the present day, however, they were in dire straits, fighting Portuguese encroachment in the Indian Ocean, alongside an Ottoman invasion that had claimed Syria and as far south as the port city of Jaffa before stalling in favor of the wars in the Balkans and Italy. But with the Hungarians beaten and the Greeks crushed underfoot once more, the Ottomans had resumed their advance into the Levant.
Having booked passage to Pelusium, which the locals called Tell el-Farama, on Italian ships, he and his lads sampled the local beer and were accosted by the local cats, who were said to be descended of the cats used by the ancient Persians to conquer the city in the era of the Pharaohs. Free of the feline siege, they marched across the Sinai, thankfully not taking forty years, and joined the amassed Mamluk army at Gaza. Severin had been regaled of the sultanate's glory days, when they had smashed and routed a Mongol army, those boogeymen of yore, at the Battle of Ain Jalut, near the town of Nazareth. Another tale was of the Crusades and the razing of Ascalon, just up the coast. His employer also informed him that in this campaign the Ottomans had been beating Mamluk forces back not just by numbers or tactics, but with a small, elite troop of gunners who fired faster and at longer ranges than one could believe. By the description, Severin immediately recognized them as Graziani rifles, likely excellent specimens, though individually no match for his custom piece, Speak Thrice. Hefting his triple-shooter, he ran some mental estimates. A Graziani rifle was accurate and could consistently hit at two hundred paces, beyond which precision and accuracy rapidly fell off as targets became miniscule to the naked eye. Firing at densely packed formations, like his own Swiss pikemen, would allow effective fire to perhaps three to four hundred paces. Severin knew that if it came down to a push of pike, his men would carry the field. But how to protect them from massed rifle fire? Alternatively, how to deal with gunners which matched the range of his own, but outnumbered him? As well as outnumbered his cannon...
"Mario, get over here! I need your opinion on something!"
"Yes boss! What do you need?"
"You still remember the angles and powder loads young Luciano ordered for the battle against Borgia at Rome? Could you recreate those shots if the terrain is similar enough to that battlefield?"
"Ha! Do I remember? Even after ten years, it's hard to forget a kid holding you at gunpoint and shouting angle corrections! Three extra plates for elevation, and equal weights of powder to shot, range twelve hundred paces, time to target-"
"That's enough Mario. We still have the ten guns we retained from our Hungarian campaign?"
"Aye, boss, including that heavy cannon we looted from the French at Milan! Hans loves that thing, and he thinks it's the funniest thing when you call him to bring it over."
"I'll bet, that joker. Anyway, the ruins of Ascalon are not too far north, and the ruins themselves sit upon a rise. That should give us the elevation to match where the guns were at Rome. There's a small plain to the north and east, then a set of hills. Our little band could bait the Ottomans in, where our cannons can hammer them like at Rome, while we use our rifles to skirmish and bait their vanguard into the pikes. Then the Mamluks can descend on them from the hills like they boast about routing the Mongols at Ain Jalut."
"Uh, great boss, but whatever that is referring to went right over my head. No idea where that was and who the Mongols are."
"They're- forget it. I need to go talk to our employer and see about convincing him to my plan. Maybe play up the possibility of reliving the Mamluk glory days..."
Jon Charles Severin stood on the berm that was once the northern wall of the Crusader port of Ascalon. Scanning across the soon to be battlefield, he spots the line of stones his men had set up to denote the range that matched the instructions that Mario recalled from the Battle of Rome. Beyond the hills to the north, he could spot the dust cloud kicked up by the Turk army. A low, wide cloud that denoted columns of infantry, and a narrow, high cloud that denoted cavalry. Looks like they fell for the big campfire ruse.
"Mario, are the guns ready?"
"Aye, boss! Guns are pre-sighted, and powder loads pre-portioned! We also have water to quench the barrels if they get too hot again."
"Dieter, are the pikemen ready?"
"Yes chief, we're ready to "respond to their ambush" when they crest those hills."
"Johan Joseph, my son, take your riflemen out five hundred paces and hide them in the fields, take potshots at their formations when they reach extreme range. I'll be down to join you once the enemy reaches the range of our guns."
"Yes Vater! Men, let's move out!"
"Helena Franka, my daughter, what's the status of our supplies and healers?"
"Vati, we're still well stocked on foodstuffs, powder and ammunition. The high-proof alcohol for the wounded is still secured, and I've managed to dissuade some of the rowdier men from getting into the stores. They might have a black eye and bruises, but they can still fight."
"Good, make sure we have boiled water and beer available for the men. The damnable heat will take its toll on the pikemen, armored as they are."
"Yes Vati, I shall see it done. Will brother be fine?"
"Not to worry, schnecke, your brother has a good head on his shoulders, and he's a lucky one on top of that."
"Boss, I can make out glints of pike tips, they're cresting the hill!"
"Pikes, move out! Gunners, to your posts! Schnecke, you'll want to get back to the supply tent. Don't forget to cover your ears."
"Yes vati, take care!"
Jon Charles watches as the Ottoman vanguard crests the hill and advances into the plain. Aside from the screening cavalry, he can make out a few blocks of pikemen, but most critically, he can see an infantry formation without pikes, and shouldered weapons too short to be spears. This must be the vaunted Turk Janissary riflemen, recently refitted with Graziani rifles at ruinous cost. But given how crucial they had been to the crushing Turk victories against Hungary and the Greek rebels, as well as the multiple defeats handed to the Mamluks in this campaign, it seems like it was worth the investment. Thus, he should make them the priority target of his cannons to make the most of the, heh, impact.
It took another quarter hour, but the Janissary riflemen finally reached the range marker.
"Mario! Fire at will!"
"Yes boss!"
The cannons of the Order of Solutions belched flame and iron, and after a long several seconds, Severin could only watch the devastation unfold. Nine cannonballs and one large cannonball plowed into the Janissary formation, sending men and limbs flying with their force of impact. Further havoc was wreaked as the iron cannonballs bounced and plowed through several more men in the next formation.
"Good hits, keep them coming! I'm heading down to join the riflemen!"
Jon Charles ran down the slope of the berm with Speak Thrice in hand, catching up to the advancing pikemen, then running faster to reach his riflemen.
"Johan! How have things been up here?"
"Vater, it's been quiet, the bombardment has disorganized them and stalled their advance. Look, you can see a bunch of banners with that group of horsemen, must be the big cheeses of the army there."
"Looks like. Good eyes, son. They're getting everything sorted out, too bad we didn't have more ready ammunition prepped, your sister is probably shouting the gunners into hauling out the stores at the moment. The vanguard is approaching extreme range, we should take our shots now before they suspect us. The pikes are a few minutes behind me. Hopefully the Mamluks will take advantage of us weakening the Janissary Riflemen. Apparently, they've been carrying the Ottoman victories over this past year."
"Very well, vater. Men, fire at will!"
Matching actions to words, Johan stands from the grass and fires his rifle. Taking the first shot as a signal, the riflemen spread out over a hundred paces to the left and right added their shots to the battle. Janissaries fell as the formation was peppered by a hundred rifle shots. The party of horsemen with all the banners rode back and forth, attempting to rally them into a counterattack. Well, Jon Charles couldn't have that, the pikemen weren't close enough and the Mamluk flank attack hadn't materialized yet. Standing from the tall grass and shouldering Speak Thrice, he worked the action three times in quick succession. The first shot was wide, landing amidst the Janissaries, perhaps winging one at best. The third fell short, spooking a horse into throwing their rider. But the second shot was dead on, catching one of the horsemen in the head.
At this point, the Janissaries had reorganized sufficiently to return scattered fire. But the extreme range, combined with the loose formation of his own riflemen, meant they scored few hits and fewer kills. In a desperate attempt to salvage the situation, the light horse of the vanguard attempted to charge the spread out riflemen of the Order of Solutions. This would have been a problem, but between a hasty parting shot and the riflemen ducking under the dense hedge of pike points advancing steadily forward, the Turk horsemen veered off before they could cut down more than a couple of riflemen. Janissary rifle fire took a small toll on the implacably advancing Switzers, but failed to stop their attack.
The Ottoman pikes, arrayed behind their elite riflemen, stood their ground. But they began to waver as they came under fire from the mercenary cannons resuming their now slower barrage. Then, the Mamluks arrived. Their horns sounded from the eastern hills, as their cavalry lined the crests of the hills... and waited there. Rather than advance and charge to take advantage of Ottoman surprise, the Mamluks waited until all their horsemen reached the crests, then trotted across the plain. If they were hoping the show of force would unnerve their foes, they would be sorely disappointed. Even under cannon fire, the Ottoman commander organized his leading pike blocks to wheel to face the new threat, rightly assuming that the mercenary cannons could not adjust their aim closely enough to accurately walk their fire back into the realigned pikes.
By the time the Mamluks worked their cavalry into a charge, the Ottoman pikes had completed their redeployment and braced their pikes. Thus, the cavalry charge that had been counted on to break the Ottoman army either turned away or was skewered like kebabs on the Ottoman pikes. While the pikes fought off the Mamluk flanking attempt, the Janissary rifles attempted to shoot the Swiss pikes to pieces, and while they inflicted casualties, the Switzers would. Not. Stop. Continued skirmishing from the mercenary riflemen felled more Janissaries, leaving more than a third of their number on the ground. By this point, in an attempt to preserve his elite, war-winning troops, the Ottoman commander ordered their withdrawal before they were ground under the implacable Swiss advance. It was too late to save the first block of Janissary pikemen, however. Fixed by the Mamluk cavalry, the Switzers caught them in their unprotected flank, scattering the formation in the face of their pike charge.
Rather than risk further casualties in his failed attempt to enact a defeat in detail, the Ottoman commander ordered a general withdrawal from the field. The Order of Solutions, stretched across the battlefield and without cavalry, offer no more pursuit than a desultory parting volley. The Mamluk cavalry, savaged by their frontal charge into braced pikes, declined to pursue, allowing the Ottomans to escape unmolested.
"Hah, what a fight! We certainly earned our pay today, Vater!"
"Aye, we did. One could say we won that battle ourselves. Truly the Mamluks have fallen far from their glory days two and a half centuries ago, when their cavalry bested those Boogeymen of Europe, the Mongols with a similar flanking attack."
"The Mongols Vater? Those men from the eastern steppe who were born and died in the saddle, who humiliated the knights of Hungary and Poland time and again? The Mamluks beat them on horseback?"
"Aye, my boy. The Mamluk sultan couldn't shut up about their victory at Ain Jalut when we joined them at their camp at Gaza. They're descended of Turkic horsemen from the eastern steppe as well, but if their skill and blood has thinned this much over time, it's of little surprise the Ottoman Turks were on the verge of conquering them. We can't chase them, but we can loot the battlefield. We may be able to double or triple our stock of Graziani rifles if we can scavenge intact ones from the field."
"I'll get right to it, Vater! These rifles are amazing, but how you use them is almost more important than their quality alone."
"That's a good lad. Now, to see which big shot I bagged..." Despite searching the field, Severin is unable to find the man he shot in the head. "Huh, must've been a pretty important guy if even their dead body was carried from the field. Might as well go talk to my employer, make sure we get paid for saving their asses."
You can see where the Severin clan got its interest in military history, focusing on learning about the battles of antiquity in their travels. Pelusium (Cats FTW!), Ain Jalut (Mamluks beat Mongols). Also, bring your kids to work... years? JC's son is Johan Joseph, along for this bizarre adventure. If you go back to the update with the Battle of Rome, Luciano holds Mario at gunpoint and forces him to adjust the firing angle. Also, With Hungary's nat 1 to the Ottomans once the Order of Solutions left, it really does seem like they were the only thing holding the Hungarians together.
For Suleiman, the battle is a speedbump, a temporary check on his conquest of the Mamluks. The vast majority of his army remains intact and ready to fight, though his Janissary rifles took a beating. They used linear volley tactics, something almost a century ahead of OTL (Pioneered by Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years' War to fight tercios), while the Order of Solutions used open-order skirmish tactics, something two centuries ahead of OTL (frequently used in the French Revolutionary and Naopleonic Wars, and saw widespread use across all armies down to the platoon level in the late 19th century with improvements in weapons technology, the "open order revolution"). At this rate, historians might treat Luciano as the father of modern firearms, and JC Severin as the father of modern warfare. On a personal level, Suleiman's best friend and one of his best assets to negotiate with the Christian kingdoms just ate it.
Didn't want to off Suleiman, since it's before he became sultan OTL, but seeing as it's a 96 for murking someone important, I chose Pargali Ibrahim Pasha. He was a slave picked up from Venetian territory, became best friends and possibly lovers with Suleiman, and being a former Orthodox Christian and westerner, he was in OTL, crucial for normalizing relations with Christian kingdoms, pretending he was the power behind the throne and soothing their fears. With him gone, it may lead to Christian Europe being MORE at war with the Ottomans, and Suleiman having less time to enact reforms and stabilize and grow the empire in favor of rushing around putting out fires constantly.
For Suleiman, the battle is a speedbump, a temporary check on his conquest of the Mamluks. The vast majority of his army remains intact and ready to fight, though his Janissary rifles took a beating. They used linear volley tactics, something almost a century ahead of OTL (Pioneered by Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years' War to fight tercios), while the Order of Solutions used open-order skirmish tactics, something two centuries ahead of OTL (frequently used in the French Revolutionary and Naopleonic Wars, and saw widespread use across all armies down to the platoon level in the late 19th century with improvements in weapons technology, the "open order revolution"). At this rate, historians might treat Luciano as the father of modern firearms, and JC Severin as the father of modern warfare. On a personal level, Suleiman's best friend and one of his best assets to negotiate with the Christian kingdoms just ate it.
Didn't want to off Suleiman, since it's before he became sultan OTL, but seeing as it's a 96 for murking someone important, I chose Pargali Ibrahim Pasha. He was a slave picked up from Venetian territory, became best friends and possibly lovers with Suleiman, and being a former Orthodox Christian and westerner, he was in OTL, crucial for normalizing relations with Christian kingdoms, pretending he was the power behind the throne and soothing their fears. With him gone, it may lead to Christian Europe being MORE at war with the Ottomans, and Suleiman having less time to enact reforms and stabilize and grow the empire in favor of rushing around putting out fires constantly.
Battle of Ascalon, 1518
Severin command roll: D100 => 63
Ottoman command roll: D100 => 15
Ottoman perception roll: D100 => 7
Order of Solutions artillery roll: D100 => 94
Mamluk ambush roll: D100 => 25
Ottoman combat roll: D100 => 33
Order of Solutions combat roll: D100 => 64
Ottoman withdrawal roll: D100 => 60
Mamluk pursuit roll: D100 => 40
Order of Solutions lacks cavalry, no pursuit roll
Rolled a bunch of flat D100s because I don't know what JC Severin's stat bonus was. Still... Truly the glory days of the Mamluk Sultanate are over. You had ONE Job! Order of Solutions rolls were mid, but when everyone else is literally incompetent, that seems amazing. Mario may not be smart, but he vividly remembers the instructions Luciano gave, and were so spectacularly successful. JC Severin managed to capture that snapshot of brilliance and recreate it nearly a decade later halfway across the Mediterranean by engineering the circumstances of the battle.
Edit: Forgot to add, three tries from Speak Thrice
Severin Plinking rolls: D100 => 10, D100 => 96, D100 => 36
Edit 2: Casualties
Order of Solutions Casualties: D1000 => 137
Mamluk Casualties: D1000 => 224
Ottoman Casualties: D1000 => 476
Somebody important died, and casualties are light due to cannon of this period not optimized for field use and the failed Mamluk ambush.
Severin command roll: D100 => 63
Ottoman command roll: D100 => 15
Ottoman perception roll: D100 => 7
Order of Solutions artillery roll: D100 => 94
Mamluk ambush roll: D100 => 25
Ottoman combat roll: D100 => 33
Order of Solutions combat roll: D100 => 64
Ottoman withdrawal roll: D100 => 60
Mamluk pursuit roll: D100 => 40
Order of Solutions lacks cavalry, no pursuit roll
Rolled a bunch of flat D100s because I don't know what JC Severin's stat bonus was. Still... Truly the glory days of the Mamluk Sultanate are over. You had ONE Job! Order of Solutions rolls were mid, but when everyone else is literally incompetent, that seems amazing. Mario may not be smart, but he vividly remembers the instructions Luciano gave, and were so spectacularly successful. JC Severin managed to capture that snapshot of brilliance and recreate it nearly a decade later halfway across the Mediterranean by engineering the circumstances of the battle.
Edit: Forgot to add, three tries from Speak Thrice
Severin Plinking rolls: D100 => 10, D100 => 96, D100 => 36
Edit 2: Casualties
Order of Solutions Casualties: D1000 => 137
Mamluk Casualties: D1000 => 224
Ottoman Casualties: D1000 => 476
Somebody important died, and casualties are light due to cannon of this period not optimized for field use and the failed Mamluk ambush.
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Severin would leverage his familiarity with Luciano to acquire the last batch of Italian cannons we developed back in Rebirth. Should add a +200 to Ottoman casualties rolls.
Also, 90s crit in Rebirth/Reforged. Should get another roll.
If Charles is back in Spain, that implies that a bunch of other rabbit holes have opened. After all Spain was working to bring him back and not let him leave again.
Is he clandestine? Did he strike a deal? Or did he come with enough troops that's he's confident in not being forced to stay?
On the slavery issue, there is a possible practical argument and demonstration of the superiority of engineering over mass slavery. In this period, Spain used convicts as slave galley rowers, of which they had a great need in order to mantain an agile warfleet to face the southern pirates and Ottomans. (Granted, in this timeline Italy's naval supremacy reduces this need but the practice should still be a backbone of Spain's Mediterranean navy). On the other hand we have just invented a practical steam engine.
I would suggest we challenge Charles to a naval race or wargame, pitting one of their slave galleys against an identical ship that we modified to use steam propulsion, and demonstrate how we run circles around his slaves rowers.
The Reverse John Henry strategy I'd call it.
On the other hand, it might just raise the question of how effective it may be to simply have both. 😅
Slaves maintaining steam engines isn't exactly impossible…
Slaves maintaining steam engines isn't exactly impossible…
Heh, I bet we will end up making Italy an ecologist utopia, with nature preserved and developed everywhere in the country and end up the healthiest people in the world as a knock-off effect. Maybe even go down a unique technology tree like Steampunk contrasting the rest of the world with our genius-king here.
Magoose
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You'll see.
Fucking Magoose multiples following me everywhere I go.
Well here is the thing.
I decided to, at my own peril, read about some of the industrialists of the north and south who used slave labor during the civil war for industrial work.
Good god man.
The thing is that just as it is dangerous to give weapons to slaves that you treat inhumanly, it is dangerous to make them responsible for complex machinery that could literally blow up under you.
More ways to go wrong.
But well, it's not like such stupidity has happened historically before.
*Caugh*Romans butchering respected gladiator profession into a nightmare waiting to happen simply cause profession has a built-in rout to move up social ladder*Cough*
Magoose
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Well I will say one thing that some people might not agree with.
People are power.
Or in the case of Charles ambition, should I say people who can do labor is power, skilled and unskilled.
And it is a truely important thing to say because if you have more people, you can do more things.
And much much more.
People are power.
Or in the case of Charles ambition, should I say people who can do labor is power, skilled and unskilled.
And it is a truely important thing to say because if you have more people, you can do more things.
And much much more.
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The greatest limitation is, was, and always will be the motivation. Both on the part of the people with the resources to do it, and on the workers to get it done.
Which, incidentally is why slavery exists, as it allows one to ignore the worker motivation part of the equation. But at the cost of multiple drawbacks from the need to keep them in line, and dealing with a workforce more inclined to sabotage their own work.
Orion Ultor
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Dice really be simpin' after all them brunette girls, huh.
"Ahh..not korrect, Herr Magoose." Erich von Rheinhall laughs as he introduces a new vehicle to combat the Italian Rifle and Artillery batteries:
View: https://youtu.be/FDlh9G7k7Pw?si=u9DhLetVReK_sCRl
"Imbiciles! Das Panzer über Italien!" He fires his somehow working and fast + powerful Steampowered Tank along with Panzer Division IV.
I won't lie..it would help the "Balancing" act of the Quest to show that Luciano isn't the only steampower genius out there that doesn't work for Italy.
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Magoose
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Oh no. THere is... other things I can do.
And you don't want to find out what I will do in the name of keeping the balance.
Magoose
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Sat Dec 02 2023 04:41:15 GMT+0800 (Philippine Standard Time)
Rolling line 1 : 1d100 + 0 to total : 98, TOTAL: 98
Magoose
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...So, just how bad are things gonna get?
And the Church are gonna get crazy over this disaster isn't it...
Gustavus Coming?
Can Italy declare neutrality on the Reformation?
Not being neutral may end up having the country..broken up.
Magoose
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Well 30 years war might be far more… tense. If only because of one very important thing.
Martin Luther's… words have hit a chord. And lots of those people being the rich nobility that want church lands.
In France.
You can see where this is going.
...That....
Is gonna be real messy.
possibly friday the 13th take 2. Except the victims are the clergy and not the templar warrior monks...
...To be honest, with how we have curtailed the political Power of the Pope...
The Reformation might actually BECOME a Reformation now. After all, Luther's original goal was never to break away from the Catholic Faith, it was to reform it.
The Reformation might actually BECOME a Reformation now. After all, Luther's original goal was never to break away from the Catholic Faith, it was to reform it.
...Which is gonna make things FAR MORE MESSY.
Why?
There are quite a few royalty that would be interested in cutting themselves off from the church without consequences, so they could, for example steal church valuables in their territory. 😅