Winter: Pangean offensive and Ermor’s reaction
Overview of Pangea
The people of Pangea are barely civilized worshippers of the wild. Half beasts such as minotaurs and centaurs are powerful soldiers due to their sheer strength and wild energy. They possess powerful Nature magic, but also Earth, Blood and Death.
Late autumn and Early Winter (20-21): Pangean Offensive
Throughout autumn, intelligence had reported an increasing concentration of Pangean troops at the border. As a reaction Ermor launched a campaign of recruitment of Lion Tribe Archers. These light archers are highly appreciated by Ermorian strategists as Pangean and Bandari troops are lightly armored and vulnerable to missile fire; additionally they have an excellent stamina and can follow armies of undead in forced marches.
In Late Autumn, Pangean troops cross the border and walk towards the border fort of Werk Enum.
The Pangean invasion army is mainly constituted of a large battalion of Minotaurs, who receive a Haste enchantment at the beginning of the battle. This tactic would be perfectly appropriate against the classical Ermorian heavy infantry as so many Minotaurs charging even faster than normally can easily trample any opponents smaller than themselves. They effectively annihilate the provincial defense in one terrible charge getting straight to the centurion located at the rear, without getting any casualties, not even a scratch.
They immediately lay siege to the Simple Hillfort guarding the border. The fort was built spontaneously by the local governor, with his own resources. While it cost nothing to the State budget, the fortifications are weak and the Pangean army is successful in making a breach quickly.
The fort is conquered the next month, with large quantities of Pangean reinforcements confirmed. The fall of the hillfort of Werk Enum is not a disaster. Another fortress, built by Ermorian central engineers with the state budget and the highest defensive standards, protects the Ermorian heartland immediately West of Werk Enum.
Ermorian strategists analyze that the main Ermorian war asset, the undead cavalry, constitutes a good counter to the Minotaurs as they are too big to be trampled. The terrible Minotaur charge will be stopped by the sheer volume of the undead cavalry, who, although weaker on a 1-to-1 basis, can dominate melee by simply overwhelming the Minotaurs. The main army mobilized against Bandar Log is quickly sent to the new Pangean Front, as well as freshly reanimated undead cavalry.
Mid- and Late-Winter (21-22): Ermorian reaction
With the situation stabilized in the South, Ermor prepares a powerful counter-offensive, aiming at conquering Pangea. While Pangea conquers Werk Enum, Ermor purchases the services of a group of mercenary siege sappers commanded by a skilful siege engineer. They are intended not so much to take back Werk Enum, as the large number of undead soldiers will be enough the fort’s weak defenses. Their mission is to help in the conquest of the more challenging forts of the very Pangean heartland.
At this point the mass-reanimation of undead soldiers gives Ermor a significant quantitative superiority in open battlefields, and the Ermorian Headquarter is reasonably optimistic about the forthcoming war.
Graph of army sizes by mid-winter of the year 2 of the Ascension War: Ermor has the largest army, approximately twice as large as Pangea. The quality of Pangean units is recognized to be higher, though. Other contenders are way behind, although Pythium, with which no direct contact exists, seems to be expanding rapidly her military.
The clash finally takes place in late winter, with a decisive battle between the world’s two largest armies.