Battle of Caledon

The Battle of Caledon was the climatic battle of the Successors War and the final battle of the Herenkrieg.

Forces
The Berskin army at this time had evolved from a poorly-equipped, though well-disciplined, band of pikemen to perhaps the most advanced army in the region. In the thirty years since they had arrived in Westreach the Berskins had mastered the art of pike warfare,

Dispositions
Both sides dispositions largely conformed to the Clementian-style of deployment that had emerged in the recent decades as an alternative to the Arkyne-style. The Berskins were arrayed on the northern end of the field, cavalry on the wings and in-reserve and infantry in the center. The bulk of the Berskin cavalry were massed on the left flank, hidden in the wood, where they were arrayed into two parallel lines with the allied cavalry of Staffhalder Stormont, who had command of this wing. On the extreme right flank was a body of Kamuji horse-archers recruited in the winter by Harris I. The infantry, the elite of the Berskin army, held the center and right with six pike-squares, each 60x60 and arranged in a flexible fish-hook position. Harris's son and heir Theodor held command here. Harris himself commanded the reserve, composed of the six hundred heavy cavalry who formed his personal bodyguard.

On the opposite side of the field were the Imperials, who were arrayed slightly more unconventionally. Holding the left flank was Prince Mathias with 2,600 knights, in the center were two 'battles' of Imperial infantry and on the right were the Rhugens, whose five hundred cavalry held the end of the line. In reserve was Mathieu with 5,000 Imperial knights and lancers as well as the entire Imperial artillery train, comprised of a total of thirty-six guns.

Battle
The battle opened with the Imperials beginning a wide flanking march to the west in the hopes of seizing a series of low hills at an angle to the Berskin right flank. The Imperials marched in-column, with Prince Mathias at the head and the Rhugens in the rear. The difficulty of coordinating such a complex maneuver with such a large force became apparent soon after the march began when the Rhugens became detached from the rest of the column; seeing an opportunity, Harris I ordered his left flank, hidden in the wood under Staffhalder Wes Stormont, to attack. Although the Rhugen horse were broken by the charge, the disciplined foot were able to form schiltrons, bloodying the Berskin cavalry and holding out long enough for Mathieu II to charge into the fray with his knights. Caught in-disarray and in the flank the Berskin cavalry were at first driven back and then routed completely, with many being cut down in the pursuit.

Having eviscerated the Berskin left flank Mathieu II now chose to abandon the flanking march and commence a general assault against the Berskin line. Mathieu's vanguard, which had been harassed since the beginning of the march by Harris's Kamuji horse-archers, charged them, scattering the archers but losing all discipline and cohesion in the process. Simultaneously, the Imperial infantry met the now isolated Berskin infantry in the middle of the plains, where savage fighting, the most intense of the day, took place.

Unable to outflank the pike columns the Imperials were pushed back; before long the ground before the Berskin squares was covered with dying men and horses. As the battle continued Imperial cohesion began to break-down as all formation and discipline dissolved in the melee. With the attack stalling Mathieu II attempted to pull his troops back to allow his artillery, deployed on the hills, to break-up the dense blocks, but by this time discipline had degraded to the point where this was not possible.

The tide of battle now turned decisively in the Berskin's favor. Seeing his line holding King Harris I rallied his small mounted bodyguard, which numbered no more then six hundred heavy cavalry, and led them in a thundering charge against Mathias's dispersed knights, easily routing them before wheeling around and crashing into the western flank of the Imperial infantry, by now entirely committed to the struggle in the center. Simultaneously, the cavalry who had routed at the start of the battle, now reformed by Staffhalder Stormont, re-entered the battle, charging through the wood and onto the Imperial's exposed left flank. Mathieu and his bodyguard were able to escape the closing pincers, but the rest of his army was not so lucky. The Berskin pike blocks, which had been so far been immobile, now advanced forward over the bodies of the fallen, pushing back the trapped and increasingly tightly-packed Imperial infantry into the enclosing trap. Completely encircled with discipline having broken down completely, the Imperials were destroyed. Those that managed to slash their way out of the encirclement fled, and after two hours of slaughter most of the remaining Imperials surrendered. Some units continued to resist, however; five hundred Rhugen pikemen formed a schiltron among the piles of dead and wounded and continued to fight until, blasted apart by Berskin artillery and surrounded, they were ridden down by Berskin cavalry. By night the battle was over, though the Berskin pursued the fleeing Imperials into the next few days.

Aftermath
The battle was the largest and bloodiest of the entire Herenkrieg. Out of an original strength of 40,000 men, fewer then 12,000 Imperials escaped the battle, though many of these were slain over the following weeks by mobs of peasants eager for revenge after years of occupation and atrocity. In the battle itself some 16-18,000 Imperials and Rhugens were slain and 12,000 were captured. Among these losses were twelve lords and 3,000 men-at-arms, the flower of Kinnofold's nobility, as well as Emperor Mathieu's heir Mathias.

The battle was the decisive engagement of the Successors War-his manpower reserves spent and coffers drained, Mathieu was unable to raise a new field army and departed from the Hearth in late October with the bulk of the remaining garrisons, some 3,500 men. Several Imperial strongpoints held out until spring of SA 333 but these were minor engagements concluded rather quickly; a truce between the Remnant and all of the Allied parties was signed on May 7th, SA 333, formally ending the war.

The battle's political consequences were enormous. Returning home from a disastrous war to a weary, over-taxed populace, Mathieu found his rule undermined. Within a year a group of Kinnofoldian nobles had risen up in revolt, resulting in three years of bloody civil war which ended with Mathieu's death and the dissolution of the Imperial Remnant.

In Westreach, the battle completed the shift in primacy from the Empire to the Berskins. Returning to Harerok in the aftermath of the battle, Harris I was crowned Emperor of Westreach and viser of the Armantist Church by Grand Arch Tyrus, and while this title was entirely nominal it confirmed the Berskin's ascension as regional hegemon, a position which they would hold for over a century.