1. Will Milos be expected to keep an Omadon or two back in town to act as a reserve unit? 2. Is Milos also expected to stay in town to do paperwork and such? 3. So I'm the one deciding the patrol/scouting routes? 4. Do we know if the enemy kingdoms have mobilized yet, and if they did mobilize what would be the estimated time required to reach us? 5. Those bridges seem like key strategic points. Have they already been fortified/put under watch, or will I have to assign men to do that?
1. No. The Captain deals with that, and the militia. 2. Not necessarily, you CAN but it's not expected. Whatever you think accomplishes your goal is fine in Philolakes' eyes. 3. Yes, though it is a good idea to consult your junior officers. 4. Information is pretty unknown -- your unit is the ones gathering that information. You're expected to run into a vanguard/scouting force, which is why Philolakes has sent you and the other bandons out. 5. Anything outside of Tomis/Istrus can be considered, in a way, enemy territory. There are peasants/farmers/freeholders/etc along the land but military presence is confined to the towns besides your scouting patrols at this time. You can assign men to hold or watch them as you see fit.
@VoiD My brain is fried.... so I might not caught it but who is it we are at war with...
My bad!
The "coalition powers" of the British and Holy Roman empires, and the kingdoms of Hungary and Galicia. I didn't explicitly mention Hungary and Britain in the new IC post, but all four of them are part of the OOC premise.
The next IC is up, and the war has officially begun.
I'm aiming to give you all freedom (within the confines of the command structure) in how you approach the scouting missions. Depending on how @Not Fishing approaches this, you'll be sent out in your individual omadons. I'll be responding to each group individually in the coming posts.
Let me know if you guys have any questions/concerns/etc, thanks!
"We find that the Romans owed the conquest of the world to no other cause than continual military training, exact observance of discipline in their camps, and unwearied cultivation of the other arts of war." —Vegetius
The next few weeks pass by in a blur of steel, horseflesh and powder smoke. The standards for a cavalry regiment in the Imperial Tagmata are exceptionally high, and thus the drilling is relentless. Day in and day out you practice sabrework both ahorse and afoot according to the Equites Decreti, the Imperial manual of arms for cavalrymen. You spend hours practicing dozens of different sabre strokes, sparring with your fellow Dragoons, and imitating the correct forms for modern swordsmanship.
Sabrework is only one of the skills you are expected to be competent at, and you spend just as much time in the saddle drilling the rudimentary cavalry maneuvers expected of one in service to the Empire. The Equites Decreti is thorough, too; not only do you train in basic horsemanship, but in the actions of mounting and dismounting, as well as lessons in the proper care for your steed. Additionally, you are introduced to the standard carbine of the Dragoons, and subsequently trained in its use. Loading, presenting, firing, cleaning — all become second nature to you, both on foot and in the saddle.
The daily, relentless drilling is exhaustive work that swiftly becomes routine. You learn to recognize the clipped commands of your superior officers and NCO's, and gradually you familiarize yourself with the other members of your Bandon. It is an eclectic group, to be sure; but then, the Empire is a diverse nation, and its history is rife with peoples of all sorts.
It is sometime in the middle of the sixth week when the day's regimen is cancelled by Captain Philolakes. Rumors immediately abound, and it is not until the afternoon of the same day that you receive an explanation.
The Holy Roman Empire has declared war, and with them are nearly all the powers of Europe.
You are to deploy immediately.
== == One Week Later == ==
The port town of Tomis is rather underwhelming, being nearly identical to the dozens of other ports found scattered throughout Imperial territory. Just south of it, in fact, is the smaller port of Istrus, which is admittedly more fort than town but shares Tomis' typical red-tiled arches, vaults, and domes which characterize Byzantine architecture.
It takes little time at all for the Imperial frigate which has served as your moira's transport to navigate into the inlet that Tomis' harbor is situated in. It takes significantly more time to unload the hundred-and-twenty-five man detachment of Dragoons, their horses, and all their luggage. Your bandon is the last to depart the ship, and unlike Nikomedia you do not have to fight your way through crowds of people to make it to the small citadel sitting on a small rise next to the harbor.
Captain Philolakes has already requisitioned a large part of the citadel to serve as the Dragoon's main base in the town, and it is only an hour after your arrival there that orders for your bandon come down.
Tomis is a highly strategic town, unremarkable though it may seem. It serves as the largest settlement in the Empire's province of Scythia, the only area outside of Carpathia that is not bordered by the Danube river — north of which lies the enemy kingdom of Galicia. It is expected by the strategos of the Empire that a large enemy force will attempt to seize Tomis and use it as a forward outpost of sorts, in order to set up raids deeper into the Imperial heartlands of Thraecia.
Thus your small detachment of one moira was sent in order to prepare the ground for a larger expedition out of Constantinople. And Captain Philolakes plans to do just that, by sending you and nearly every other Dragoon under his command in broad scouting missions across the area.
Of singular import to the Captain are enemy troop movements, followed by a thorough mapping of any potential outpost locations and possible supply routes. His orders are very specific concerning these three items, and he has assigned your bandon a large swath of land which would take nearly two weeks to comb through if travelled as a full unit — evidently the Captain expects your bandon to be divided even further into its component parts of omadons.
You are to depart at dawn of the next day.
Tomis is the larger of the two towns, with Istrus being the southernmost one. Everywhere west of the river above Tomis is assigned to your bandon.
I'm a little busier than I anticipated today, so I will be posting the next IC tomorrow evening. It will conclude the training arc and we will move on to the first part of the "campaign". Sorry for the delay everyone.
@Not Fishing No, NCO's cannot order CO's to do much of anything. They can "suggest" things (not that what Andreyich posted isn't allowed or anything, it's all part of the RP).
Fading Memory
