Tuesday, May 02, 2017

Hastinge in Ireland - Part the Second: Baggage Train

Two months* passed, the weather and the belligerent Irish kept Lord Hastinge holed up in the largest local village he had made his base.  All the Irish under O'Reagan need do was keep piquets to watch the gates to know his business, and business was poor, for suppliers were slight and his men wanted for much.

With spring weather and an improvement in the seas and roadways there was a hope of getting a convoy of vital supplies through.  With an adequate escort there was a chance for Hastinge to break a de-facto seige of his force and return to a more active stance.

 
But O'Reagan would be aware of his every move.  Nevertheless horsemen were able to communicate with a supply train and additional forces made their way north to relieve Hastinge and his men.

Part of the wagon train advances
 The English were able to advance their wagons for many miles without incident, but as they closed on 'home', O'Reagan's men began to appear in numbers.  A retinue of knights advanced to clear the ground before the wagon train, whilst substantial infantry forces acted as their entourage.

The Knights dash off
 Of course the urge to engage and gain glory soon resulted in the knights leaving the convoy far behind.

Irish axemen would prove rash adversaries
 A band of axe armed warriors attempted to draw the knights into a scrub of woodland on the fringe of a farm, but instead were caught in the open and soon retired to the trees.  The knights followed and despite the difficulty of the ground, pursued the tribal rabble to the finish.

Other issues may arise
 A mixture of skirmishing kerns and tribesmen were by this point harassing the convoy and normal order was momentarily lost.  However the English axes and Bills were enough to hold the Irish at arms length.

Encircling
 The English knights began to flank the Irish, who had stationed their own men at arms squarely on the road.  A series of charges against these more heavily armed foes thinned the horsemen until they finally broke away.

Run away!
 However this had bought the main convoy time to outrun the warriors behind them and get close to the relative safety of Hastinge's hold.  Some of the wagons made it through the Irish lines, though others would fail at the final gasp.

So close...
A handful of wagons got through, but most of the infantry were able to fight past at the sacrifice of their supplies.  Hastinge would find himself reinforced, but in a parlous situation regarding his supplies.

______________________________

From a Glory standpoint it was another victory for the Irish.  And so for the next battle the initiative will be with O'Reagan.  The English were able to make their opponents run before them, but not able to achieve a great degree of harm.  At the end of part two of the campaign therefore the results now stand at:

Ireland: 6     England: 0


*Actually, two WHOLE years!
 
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