@Questor finally decided to write this omake as i promised since i finally have some free time.
Hannibal at the Eastern Gates
When Hannibal first decided to join the army, it was with thoughts of glory, honor and prestige on his mind, as was the case with many young volunteers. Such notions were stripped away during the training each young man had to go through before joining the army proper. Each man was broken down and remade into a peerless warrior of The Empire, fighting not for personal glory, but to safeguard The Empire, not for personal prestige, but for their families whose lives would be at risk without their sacrifice, not for personal honor, but for the honor of The Empire.
Then, this accursed Winter War began, and the mindset of Imperial citizens changed after the first battle with The Abomination. now, no man volunteers with such foolish thoughts on their mind, from the very beginning of their training they were fighting for The Empire and it's citizens,and it showed in the shortened training time necessary before they could be deployed.
When Hannibal finished his training, he thought he would be standing shoulder to shoulder with the griffs that trained beside him, fighting on the frontlines against Sombras abominations, what had happened was as surprising to him as it was to everyone else, his sheer military brilliance on all aspects of warfare, from personal combat skill to military tactics and logistics, Hannibal would excel at it all, and as such saw a meteoric rise through the ranks of the imperial army.
Which lead him to his current situation, sitting at a table on the Eastern mountain pass alongside the local garrison commander, the commanders of the archers, artillery and diamond dogs, the Grandmaster of the Knights Panther, and despite the sheer talent in this room, despite having served the army for the shortest amount of time among these individuals, he had been given overall command of the Eastern flank by the General.
It came as a shock to him, having only expected command of the infantry, not the entire army, but even more surprising was the acceptance of his peers. Despite his youth, all of them had agreed with the decision, only asking him to take their advice seriously and not ignore it. now all of them were gathered on the eve before the enemy was expected to arrive, to plan the defence of the flank.
"my men have already begun digging pitfalls as the Emperor commanded, though i wouldn't expect something as dramatic as last time we fought these fiends, we don't have the same luxury of time now as we did then" spoke Trench, the commander the the Diamond Dogs.
"nevertheless, every advantage we can reasonably achieve will aid our chances of victory, and could very well be the difference between victory and bitter defeat, Frederick, how are the artillery looking?" Hannibal spoke with a tone that commanded respect and obedience, despite his relatively short time as commander.
Frederick was quick to reply. "we have checked, cleaned and prepared every piece of artillery on the walls including the local Garrison pieces, all are in perfect condition and ready to unleash hell on the fucker"
"excellent, and how are the archers Robin?"
"drilling every day and maintaining their bows and arrows, thankfully the walls are stocked to heaven and back with ammunition so neither the archers nor the artillery should run out of ammo bar an invasion force thrice the size of the Imperial population." Robin was far more casual than any of the other commanders, looking as though this was all a game to him, but he knew to act serious when the actual battle began.
"and what about the knights, Dawnquill?"
"as usual we shall serve as a shock reserve, supporting any flank that would require it"
"and the infantry has drilled to the point some are doing drills in their sleep, well then Gentlemen, i believe we have done all we can to prepare, lets have the men rest for the remainder of the day, and order the kitchen staff to prepare a hardy meal for them in the morrow, though only allow small amounts of alcohol, we need our men focused not drunk."
with nods all around the commanders left to spread the order and rest themselves.
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At midday, the scouts reported seeing the enemy force approaching, not that anyone needed such a thing, as the wall of snow was a pretty good indication that the enemy was at the gates.
Hannibal stood at the ready beside his infantry, despite the protest of the other commanders he had decided to fight alongside his old regiment who were jokingly being referred to as the Generals bodyguard, ridiculous not only because Hannibal wasn't a general, but also because if anything he would be Guarding them. it was nice to fall into an old routine of joking with his old friends.
Sombra had apparently picked up the basics of basic tactics and sent a probing force to see if there were any more traps waiting to be triggered before the fodder turned back, and for a moment Hannibal wondered if Sombra had somehow convinced even a rookie strategist to command his forces. Of course the Abomination then decided his quota of strategic thinking was done for today and once again decided on staggered waves.
First came the crystal golems, towering and lumbering giants, and the flaws were obvious even to the slower members of his army.
they were big and terrifying, however they were slow which combined with their size made them a wet dream for the artillery griffs, who demonstrated exactly why. As the pitfall buried the first wave, the artillery slammed into the remainder and tore them to shreds before they covered even half the distance.
Despite humiliating the enemy, Hannibal was proud to note that his army remained disciplined and alert, having been taken to task by himself for the past few weeks, none would dare step out of line to taunt an enemy that couldn't react to it.
This was what saved you from Sombras latest surprise, the lookout began shouting about an attack from the air, and the army moved before even looking at the approaching enemy,the archers moved to the center, each group surrounded by polearms to protect them, and then the Ballista and arrows tore the approaching enemy to shreds. Only a few managed to land on the walls and were killed by dozens of polearms only managing to kill a few men.
A screeching tore Hannibal from the Manticore he just killed. looking to the right he was greeted by a face full of claws. Shouting from the surprising and agonizing pain he buried his sword into the mouth of the roaring Manticore, through the roof of it's mount and piercing the skull, killing it.
Behind the manticore dozens of men from his regiment lied dead or injured, the Manticore had an equal amount of polearms buried in it's body. How it managed to cause more damage than the rest of it's brothers combined Hannibal could only contribute to it's size, the manticore was at least twice the size of the others, possibly being the alpha of whichever pack Sombra corrupted.
It was only then that Hannibal noticed the difference, reaching up he confirmed that the Manticore had indeed not only cut his face, but taken an eye in the process. Using the lull in the fighting he went to the medical rooms inside the walls and sent a flyer to notify the commanders and Dawnquill to meet him there, mentaly noting that if Sombra had an ounce of stategic thinking, no, an ounce of common sense he would have sent these two waves at the same time, using the blizzard to cover the approach of the Manticores from high in the sky instead of flying at the same height as the wall and having them attack the walls, distracting the defenders as the golems lumbered forward. If he had things might have gone very wrong for them indeed, and Hannibal mentally noted to have watchers flying above the walls and watching the skies in case sombra hadn't sent all his flyers and decided to do exactly that.
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Unsurprisingly, the commanders reported pretty much what Hannibal expected, minimal casualties, all ranged units were at the ready, and the diamond dogs were recycling the crystals from the golems into shrapnel explosive traps. So having what remained of his ruined eye removed, disinfected and bandaged, Hannibal returned to his regiment, despite heavy protest from his fellow commanders.
however, no amount of preparation could have prepared Hannibal and his forces for what came barreling down the pass, two massive hyrdas, which wouldn't have been any trouble normally, however their skin was pitch black and a black smoke trail was left behind them, making it obvious that Sombra had corrupted them with his foul sorcery. having seen the effect of Sombras magic with the Manticores Hannibal knew these hyrdras would be far more difficult than their normal cousins to kill.
Knowing that the artillery would have some difficulties killing a normal hydra, and knowing that these were certainly far stronger, Hannibal made his decision. "ARTILLERY, TAKE AIM ON THE CLOSEST HYDRA, I WANT AT LEAST ONE OF THEM DEAD BEFORE THEY REACH THE WALLS".
Dutifully obeying, the artillery fired almost as one, and just as Hannibal expected, while each bolt and shot had less of an effect as they should have, sheer firepower managed to down at least one, the other however was going to be a battle hard fought. It slammed into the gates, shaking the entire wall, and while it's body continued to pound the gates the heads attacked the defenders on the walls.
seeing just how little effect his polearm was having Hannibal had an idea, seeing the heads were having trouble looking straight up at the flying spearmen, he realized that these hydras had the same weakness as the last hydra he and his regiment faced, and killed with a rather unorthodox tactic.
"GET UP ON THE HYDRAS BACK!". while the other regiments looked at him as if he were mad, his bodyguard knowing what he meant dutifully followed him, flying past the heads to try and attack its vulnerable back, where it's heads couldn't reach, and in moments they carved their way through it's back to it's heart. How it survived such grievous injuries Hannibal attributed to sorcery, but when he reach in with his talons and ripped out itis still beating heart, it thankfully died, or he would have been forced to turn it into minced meat to kill it.
Returning to the walls with the heart still in his talons, he ordered the heads pushed off the walls, the bodies taken to the morgue and injured to the infirmary, though he had to shout his order again when mostof the men just stood there looking at him like he had grown multiple heads.
He gave the heart to a messenger telling him to take it to his quarters, and then returned to directing his men. The hydra had done a lot of damage to the defenders, so he had to rotate his injured and dead with what little reserves he had, just in time for the scouts to report an army of trolls were running towards the walls.
Sadly there was little he could do about the few artillery pieces the hydra had damaged, thankfully repairable but not in time for this battle. The artillery that were still operational opened fire on the trolls but apparently the crew were still shaken from the hydra as while most shots hit, they were still far fewer than in the previous waves.
As you prepare to lead the infantry in a sortie to try and save the gates form the trolls, you are surprised seeing roughly half the trolls using their weapons to scale the walls. Rotating the archers to the rear of the walls you order the spearmen to the front and send a message to Dawnquill, Hannibal didn't have the men to spare in a sortie and without it the trolls would certainly damage the gates severely or even break through, so instead of using the knights Panther to reinforce the line he were ordering them to kill the trolls attacking the gates.
The trolls armor and naturally tough hide, combined with magic made them a hard fight for his men, and while they did kill them to the last his forces took a beating. Thankfully Dawnquill returned with good news, having managed to save the gates at a minimal cost to his knights.
Another lull in the fighting gave your men a much needed rest to clear the dead and injured, and Frederick sent a messenger with fantastic news, the few damaged cannons were apparently knocked off their stands and after the hydra was killed he had the crews of those cannons work together to lift them back onto the stands, and secure them, so while not repaired they are now serviceable. He also tore into the artillery crews and promises that they will perform up to standard from now on.
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When the final force of twenty thousand Crystal pony slaves begin to march down the pass, the artillery crew are eager not to make a liar out of their commander, and reap a bloody toll on the enemy.
As they come into range of the archers they too seem eager to prove their worth, and also kill slaves by the thousands, though apparently the flamethrowers suffered a mass malfunction as only half of them fire into the enemy.
Not that it matters, as the few that make it to the walls are killed with minimal loss on your part, arrows and firebombs kill most of the few thousand that make it to the walls, and the few hundred that make it up the walls are met with a wall of metal tips burying themselves in their hides.
Having confirmed that the last of the enemy has been dealt with, Hannibal gathered the knights panther and a few hundred of the best flyers still fit for fighting, archers and spearmen alike, along with his bodyguard, and fly as fast as the wind can take them to the center, which is facing an army thrice the size of the one attacking the flanks, and no doubt Sombra will be there as well, Hannibals wings beating faster and his blood roaring at the thought of killing the abomination and finally avenging his father.
When his reinforcements make it to the wall, the battle is still ongoing though it seemed almost over, and he could see the western reinforcements had also beaten them to the center.
Ordering his archers to hang back at a safe distance and fire on the enemy flank, and Dawnquill to reinforce Hardbeak, Hannibal led his regiment and spearmen into the eastern flank of his enemy, the surprise attack allowing them to quickly kill what was left and gather their fellows on the center to follow them, acting like a wave, never stopping their advance down the wall, killing the few enemies that remain before moving on, and seeing the western forces having adopted a similar strategy, the two flanks slowly converging on the center, where most of the enemy forces were consentrated.
About halfway towards the center Hannibal saw
him, the abomination was charging at Hardbeak, and Dawnquill was to far away to assist him, though such thought proved unnecessary, as Hardbeak lit his sword on fire and stabbed it right between the abominations eyes.
While the retreating mist proves he isn't dead yet, Hannibal is filled with joy at seeing his most hated foe injured, sorrow that he couldn't be the one to injure him so, and hopefull, that with the enemy so weakened, this war would hopefully come to a close soon, and maybe, just maybe, he could have the honor of killing the abomination for good.
In a few more moments the last of the slaves were killed and the battle came to an end.
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i was planing on writing an omake for each update but then life kicked me in the balls, so instead i give you the battle of The Peregrine Line in the eastern pass.
hopefully it's ok.
