>>6134382As sunlight begins to take an faint orange tint, your army has returned to marching shape. From amidst the dirt road in the hillside, you stare down at the force beneath you, assembled back together by your sargeants and colonels. Staring at the banners, you see the colors of the skirmishers that had fled between them, and utter a silent thanks that they had been brought to hell before passing the martial limits that would have demanded their execution. Though some generals would punish them still, you decide to forego such judgements this time around.
What you see is...not pleasant.
You have, over the course of this battle, lost over a thousand and five hundred of your infantrymen; many hundreds more if you were to count your horsemen as well. And worst of all, you had lost your culverins, these valuable pieces of technology that dwarfed all other of your companies in cost individually.
Your liege will be most displeased by this. You had meant to bring him reinforcements, fresh reinforcements with complete companies, wielding high morale and shining banners. What you have is an army that has lost a third of its numbers and it's most valuable possession, with but three measly siege guns and the pitiful ammunition left by the enemy in the field to use it. Though you remain alive, there is no doubt that this victory is far from ideal
Yet at the same time, not all is bad.
Though you have lost much, indeed, the enemy has lost more. Even now you see the ragged remnants of their force strewn across the field as the wretched collect them, their blue colors dotting the blood and powder soaked grasslands at far greater quantity than yours. The foe, too, had to raise this army, and now it remains scattered to the four winds.
