siege of Alba Iulia

[Sllhouette]

i attacked an extremely fortified city of the byzantines, with no expectation of winning. they had HUGE numbers of heavy infantry and cavalry, my army was lacking the numbers. this was meant to be the first of several breaches to weaken them, if i was repelled it was ok, i would just attack again with mercenaries and reinforcements. alba iulia is a city in modern romania, but in my time period (1520s) it would be important to the hungarians and transylvanians.



^ when i started, i was surprised by enemy reinforcements coming down from the mountain behind me. my cannons went to work on the city, but i had to rush my men into position at the foot of the mountain. the enemy atop were crossbows, hired hungarian black band arquebusiers, monster bombard, and bombard, with some escorting heavy horse and heavy swords. it was PERFECT for them. they immediately started shooting down on me and i couldnt shoot back. their monster bombard would land giant blasts right on top of my archers, killing a wide circle of impact. eventually, i was able to get my cavalry up the mountain to silence the guns. you can see i smeared them across the mountain. but i paid my price in losses.



^some heavy fighting at the base of the mountain. proud to say most of the bodies are roman. this isn't even inside the city yet, which had a fully elite tier army rested and ready for my tired men



^the gatehouse, with its pile of corpses. when they had troops on the wall, i decided to bring them down. many of those corpses fell to their deaths when the walls collapsed.



^the left and right breaches. so much blood and steel just to get inside a city. but again...proud to say most of those bodies are roman with their scale armor. each scot soldier is worth 10 of that old dying empire



^the street of death. i chose this side of the city for its straight road down to the city square. it would allow for best use of cannons in the streets, but they were so stubborn that i used up all my shot breaching the wall and destroying the towers. this gave them the advantage, where i would be forced to grind down their heavy infantry, which i did not have the numbers for. my gunners could shoot all they wanted, but there was too many and it would become a mess where they had no line of sight.

so my plan was this: i let the fighting go on, slowly letting them win, but i sent my knights and gunners around the edges of the city, meet in the middle and get behind this street, and cut off reinforcements. it worked perfectly. my knights blocked off the end from the enemy cav, and the gunners got onto the battle street from behind, and let loose at point blank, piercing their armored backs and sending many of them into fear and confusion. too many enemies were trapped on that street, with no support. whenever chunks of them would break off and try to run for the middle, my horses and even my gunners would cut them down for fleeing. you can see how much death happened here, all the way down the street almost to the square. the last picture shows the mountain of corpses where my knights held off the street from aid.



^the last survivors of the city garrison. not many bodies in the square, because there weren't many left to resist. i didn't even give them the dignity of a final battle. i sent in my gunners to practice on them. all of them were executed by firing squad. if you guys ever get to the 1500's, these hungarian black band arquebusiers are elite gun units. they shot faster, reloaded way faster, and had way more range than my regular mercenaries or my scottish calivermen. both my enemy and i employed them, well worth it.



^and there is my victory. remember, i never meant to win, this was meant to be the first of a series of attacks. but i saw an opportunity with the street tactics, and i took it. this city means im getting closer to conquering Constantinople, all the way from my humble beginnings in Edinburgh

[Jurand of Cracow]

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Sllhouette again."