The Battle of Greenspring Hollow

26^th of Rain’s Hand, 4E 202

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Please note screenshots are contained within the blue links, since images are not allowed

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After several weeks voyage on a small fleet of damp, crowded, and stinking ships, the Imperial Legion’s XIII Cohort finally arrived in Solitude; 560 men, a mixed bag of veterans of The Great War, and new recruits. Most were eager for combat to help preserve the integrity of the empire, but a few were unsure on the issue of fighting fellow brothers of the empire. For the time being however, these thoughts would not have to worry the men as the cohort would train, refine skills, and keep in shape in the training grounds of Castle Dour.

Finally, after 46 days of being garrisoned within the city, the legatus was summoned. Lucius, like so many others in his position, was a veteran of the Great War and a competent tactician. Clad in his armour he stood six feet tall, but looked taller thanks to the metal plume on top his helmet. He was a domineering figure with a scared face, yet even he was was outmatched by his even more assertive superior who he now had to meet. Legate Rikke, second in command of the Imperial Legion forces based in Skyrim, was waiting for him; hovering over a table clad in the map of the province and showing the frontline. For a while they discussed the politics of the day: the need for a moot to elect the new High King to stabilise the country, and the arrival of the Dragonborn and possible solution to the dragon problem. They then moved onto the strategic situation facing both the legion and the rebels. Finally Rikke gave Lucius his orders. Lucius was to leave half his men in the castle to continue their training and due to the lack of any legion strategic reserve (all current forces being deployed in the field patrolling or in small camps). Lucius was to take three centuries (including his own first century that was at double strength) and proceed to the area known as Greenspring Hollow. Scouts had reported a build-up of stormcloaks in the area and his mission was now to seek and destroy them.

On the 23rd of Rain’s Hand, 4E 202, Lucius, at the head of 320 men marched through the city heading south for the main gates. Crowds packed the streets to watch this force march off. No cheering was heard, it was a sombre occasion as people were still divided on the uprising not to mention the looming threat of dragons. The column kept at a steady pace and Dragon’s Bridge was reached by evening. After passing through the village, camp was established on the south bank of the Karth River. Night passed quietly.

The camp was broken up the next morning. While the men were busy taking down tents and the wooden stakes that protected the perimeter, Lucius ordered Centurion Spurius to take the lead and scout the way ahead. Spurius’ century included the archers and assorted light troops of the cohort. His unit provided both the long distance striking power of the cohort and also the reconnaissance element. Second in the line of march was the medium troopers under the command of Centurion Lydia; clad in heavy armour, unlike any of her men, she wore the helmet of cavalry officer – a remnant of her days in the legion’s Cyrodiil cavalry. Taking up the rear was Lucius’ own first-century, containing medium and heavy troopers along with battlemages.

Spurius’ troops had reached Rorikstead ahead of the main body and organised the basic elements of the camp that the force would stay in overnight. By evening the entire force had assembled, together once more. The small quiet farming town was glad for such an influx of visitors and that evening the Frostfruit Inn saw the most patrons it had in a long time. Lucius was easy on his men, the town was well away from the frontlines and he knew that this could be the last time many would have a chance to enjoy themselves.

A late start was made on the 25th; the force marched east out of the town onto the plains of Whiterun. After several hours the column turned north heading for the Hjaal River and Greenspring Hollow. Progress was not as good as Lucius would have liked, evening had arrived and his force was nowhere near the river. The rough ground and lack of roads making the progress of his troops slow. He ordered Lydia’s and his own century to make camp, and ordered Spurius to proceed with haste to the river to secure a crossing for the main force to follow in the morning.

At 03:00, 26^th of Rain’s Hand, 4E 202, the Battle of Greenspring Hollow commenced. The Hjaalmarch mountains loom over the river, more of a stream at the battle site and easily fordable. Mist had descended across much of the countryside however http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot4.jpg. The rebels had posted men on either side of the river, however only few in number.

Spurius ordered his leading units forward to clear the south side of the river, and planned to launch an assault to cross the river thereafter. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot5.jpg. A hail of arrows descended upon them from the north side of the river, and one on one combat began on the south side. There was initial success, the rebel picket on the south side scattered and Spurius ordered additional men into the skirmish. After an hour of fighting, the south side of the river had been cleared but his men had been unable to push across the river. In the dark http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/1.jpg for around 10 rebels. Spurius decided to wait for first light before carrying on the battle.

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During the interval more rebels had been mustered to the river. From a captured prisoner – before his execution – it was later learned the rebels believed there to be only a small force marching against them, thus did not bring their main force to defend the river crossing. Just after 7am Spurius launched his assault. Volley after volley of arrows were fired into the legion troops, who made little headway in crossing the river. By 0800 this assault had ended in bloody failure with the loss of thirty troopers. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot9.jpg, his century for all intent purposes destroyed.

The fight on the river could be heard at the main encampment. The men readied themselves and started to proceed north at once. Lydia ordered sections of her force to rush forward and reinforce Spurius. These troops arrived just in time to help fend off a stormcloak counterattack that had endeavoured to regain the southern bank of the river. Spurius now attempted one last attack with the remnants of his century and the reinforcements from Lydia’s. He led the attack himself. Numerous men fell as soon as they reached the river bank or as they crossed, as rebel arrows struck them down. Some managed to make it across the river to engage the rebel skirmish line, but there were too few soldiers, and too many arrows. Spurius’ body was later found piled with many of his comrades, impaled numerous times, and slumped along the bank of the river. It would appear he had led the charge and was one of the first to fall. His foolhardiness in handling the situation had led to the loss of a complete century and elements of another for no-appreciable gain. In all http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot11.jpg with only a few rebels falling to our blades.

After 10am the combined force of Lucius and Lydia arrived on the south bank. Lucius immediately pushed forward sections of Lydia’s medium troopers supported by his battlemages. Bolts of fire tore into the rebel skirmish line, covering the advance of the men as they pushed across the river. Fighting raged along the river as over the course of the next hour wave after wave of imperial soldiers pushed forth. A foothold was established and with it Lucius ordered his own heavy troopers onto the field of battle. Lydia charged across the river, almost alone, and was in the midst of the fighting and vital to securing the beachhead. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot12.jpg, troopers had secured the heights on the left flank and http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot13.jpg who had attempted to regroup. The price in securing the crossing had been high. 120 men killed, while around 50 rebels had been slaughtered. Most of Lydia’s century had been wiped out. The rebels were clearly more skilled fighters than Lucius had been led to believe.

Lucius’s heavy troops now took up the advance towards the rebel camp, keeping his remaining medium troopers back out of the fighting. At 1pm http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot14.jpg. Now facing heavy troopers, who were not busy attempting to cross a river, the rebel attack was cut down with ease and quickly. However as these Nords struck the line, a group broke through and charged towards Lucius. Surrounded, he swung his daedric sword with such vengeance that the first rebel charging towards him died instantly and before he closed in on the legate. As others swarmed around him, he parried their blows with the famed shield Spellbreaker. Imperial arrows flew towards the legatus killing some additional Nords rushing towards him but Lucius dispatched the rest himself. A single imperial had fallen in this fighting, proof it may be that the river crossing was the decisive factor in the heavy losses received earlier in the day.

The men now surged forward towards the clearing, the stormcloak camp, and engaged the final holdouts. By mid-afternoon the battle was over, the final assault being http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot15.jpg A few prisoners were taken, but all were put to the sword soon after. In the final stages of the battle over sixty rebels were killed for the loss of a handful of men. With the mission complete, Lucius ordered his men to bury the bodies of their comrades, before setting out to march along the river to head north. The battle was over. 234 imperial soldiers had been lost in this single engagement alone: two centuries had been wiped out and the first reduced in strength. In one battle Lucius’ cohort had been decimated. Rebel losses amounted to 130. His mission had been a success, the rebel camp had been destroyed but as Lucius marched away he did not feel like the victor.

The Battle of Silverdrift

29^th of Rain’s Hand, 4E 202

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Please note screenshots are contained within the blue links, since images are not allowed

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After a few hours of rest, late on the 26^th of Rain’s Hand, Lucius ordered his remaining men to assemble. They formed up in a column four men wide, a much shorter column than the one that had left Solitude several days earlier, and proceeded to march west along the river. When he had been given his orders, demanding the destruction of the rebel force amassing at Greenhollow, he had also been briefed of reports indicating a rebel camp in the tundra somewhere near Morthal. Lucius’ intention was now to patrol along the river and head towards the northern coast searching for this camp before returning to Solitude and the rest of his cohort in garrison there.

After only an hour marching west a courier caught up with the column, having tracked down the line of march from the battle site. The man barely an advlt, already enrolled for life in the legion, was out of breath when he handed the sealed roll of paper to Lucius. New orders from Solitude; General Tullius, the commander of the Skyrim legion, had dispatched the man personally. The orders detailed how the general had dispatched a courier to Whiterun, prior to sending this man to find Lucius, with fresh intelligence about the intentions of Jarl Stormcloak, leader of the rebellion. The general believed an attack on Whiterun was imminent. He therefore ordered Lucius to advance east with all haste with what force he deemed necessary to block the northern route through the mountains from Windhelm to the Whiterun plains.

Lucius wrote a short reply stating he was proceeding as ordered and sent the courier on his way. Assembling a regular century of heavy troopers from the remnants of his command, he dispatched the remaining men – battlemages, a few medium, and some heavy troopers – under the command of his second-in-command, Lydia back towards Solitude. With the war moving from roaming rebels and small encampments, to outright war between the Jarls, it would seem the war was about to escalate and he therefore decided that his cohort would benefit from being concentrated as much as possible.

With the sun fading fast, Lucius and Lydia shook hands and departed ways with their respectful columns. The rationale behind Lucius’ decision was one of tactics, and strategy. He wanted his XIII Cohort, now significantly weakened by the Greenhollow battle, to be concentrated as much for the future. Sensing that his mission to block the road from an invasion force would be a near enough suicide mission without the strength of the entire cohort behind him, he felt that he should also minimise casualties and with that in mind his lighter equipped troops and mages should avoid this fight.

Lucius and his men marched east, passing through the battlefield now inhabited by wolves picking apart the fallen rebels who had not been buried. In the foothills there are no roads. The column marched on until well after darkness had covered the land before halting for the night. The men exhausted from the day, were too weary to establish a camp. A small clearing was found and the men went to sleep under the stars, covered only by blankets. A few sentries were posted with strict instructions not to light torches, as in this extremely vulnerable position the entire century could be lost and Lucius did not want unwanted attention.

The march resumed early the next morning, by evening the century had reached the road they had to block, although it would be a further days march before they reached the mountain pass that provided the best possible defensive position. A further courier arrived, again having had to track down the men. This man brought a report from Whiterun. The Jarl there had dispatched one of the Thanes of Whiterun, apparently the famed dragon hunter the ‘Dragonborn’, to assess the situation in Winterhold and speak with Ulfic himself. The next day was again one of long hours marching. The mountains had been reached, and the troops had crossed the border into Winterhold. The temperature had dropped, and snow had started to fall. By evening Lucius’ men had arrived at the mountain pass, just beyond the ruins of Silverdrift.

On his map the area looked like the perfect place to form a roadblock. On arriving Lucius was suitably impressed. Between two steep impassable mountains of rock ran a ridge, high enough to hide a force on its western side. In the middle of the ridge was a further large grouping of rock, splitting the ridgeline in two therefore he could base fewer men on the ridge to block the road while the rest of his men camped behind it. The road ran over the ridge and up to a second ridge and into the mountains. This second ridge was sandwiched between two outcrops of rock leaving a space only as wide as the road. Therefore it presented a bottleneck; any rebel force would only be able to come through a few at a time and would be open to the arrow fire of the entire legion line.

In the waning light of day the imperial courier from Whiterun arrived once more. He brought news of the Thanes speedy return from Winterhold and that the two Jarls were now at war. He further informed Lucius by word, rather than with a written document, that legion troops had now been stationed in the city and his entire cohort was moving to reinforce his position although it would take them several days to arrive. The courier then scurried back off in the direction of Whiterun. Night had already arrived; Lucius had the men assemble a secure camp behind the cover of the ridge and placed sentries at the bottleneck. If it was full blown war between the Jarl’s then an awful lot of rebels were to be expected to be marching down this road. Lucius surmised that any force moving this way would not be the main force, the various routes to the south where the ground was flatter and there was more suitable roads, seemed like the logical invasion route, but he was determined to hold them for as long as possible.

The night passed quietly. In the early hours of the day, light breaking over the horizon bring forth the 29^th of Rain’s Hand, the sentries came running into the camp to report a large force of rebels marching down the road. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot17.jpg, the rest of the men to rest but be prepared to engage in battle. The stormcloak column was soon at the ridge, and came marching on over completely oblivious to the force in front of them. They had no light troops screening their advance and obviously expected no resistance, perhaps they thought the Thane of Whiterun would not have returned so quickly or the Legion anticipate such a turn of events?

The legionnaires drew their bows as one, and unleashed a volley of arrows as one. The front ranks of the rebel column dropped almost in unison. The closeness of the terrain ensured heavy casualties, as another volley of arrows struck into the rebel force as they attempted to surge forward. Two dozen rebels had fallen. The rebel vanguard continued to push forward, squishing through the bottleneck and clambering over the bodies of the fallen. Arrows continued to take their toll but enough rebels had now made it through the gap to spread out and charge towards the imperial line. The legionnaires drew their blades and http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot20.jpg. Swords, hammers, and axes were swung at one another as the two sides crashed into a melee of violence.

Superior discipline and armour however triumphed. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot22.jpg. The legionnaires move forward as one at a steady pace slicing at the men in front, then moving forward again. Soon they were upon the ridge and the bottleneck, a sea of carnage was left in their wake. Around 150 rebels had been killed in the initial attack for very few losses. In only two hours http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot23.jpg. However the Imperial troops now had momentum and overconfidence on their side. They launched an attack beyond the hill to carry their attack forth. Stormcloak troops invested the area around the Nightingale Inn that inhabited a small plateau beyond the ridge and before the highway moved off into the mountains. The fighting would continue to rage in this area for hours to come. In the meantime, having lost control of the situation Legate Lucius ordered a further thirty men to man the ridge near his camp, leaving himself and twenty men in reserve.

Close to another fifty rebels were slaughtered near the Inn. However the momentum of the Imperial attack was slowed down as more legionnaires became casualties. It was now 1PM and the rebel force had all but been destroyed. As the final rebels were being finished off, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot25.jpg. Arrows were let loose at the dragon but it responded byhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot26.jpg. More arrows were launched, several implanting themselves into the wings of the beast and it came crashing down on the road half way up the mountain. A group of Imperials charged forth to strike it down; losing a number of their men in the process but in the end killed the beast. They are the only men to have killed a dragon except for the Thane of Whiterun.

While devastating to the charging Imperial troopers, the dragon attack also brought about a dramatic tactical shift in the course of the battle. The once linked wall of soldiers had now had its integrity broken. Numerous men had been killed in the fighting and dragon attack but now the remnants were separated from one another. After 1pm more rebel troops started to arrive on the battlefield.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot27.jpg. It was a one sided fight, but it took thirty minutes of fighting and half their strength for the rebels to defeat these few soldiers. Elsewhere the final elements of the first line of imperials was destroyed, but in doing the rebel death count rose to 250 men.

In the mid-afternoon further rebel troops arrived. By now Lucius was fully aware that is men were considerably outnumbered and that everyone who had gone over that bottleneck-ridge were not coming back. His men knew it too and they were eager for a fight. Lucius was unable to keep them in check, all command and control had broken down, only by keeping his reserve out of sight and uninformed was he able to direct influence over them. The rebels had also realised this. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot28.jpg. A small force of archers was placed in front of them on the ridgeline to engage and draw the imperials into battle.

The soldiers had by this point, having lost so many comrades in the battle a few days earlier and now today a large section of their own century, had lost all discipline. Worked into frenzy they charged up hill. The rebel archers opened fire, but panicked by the sight of charging heavily armoured and armed soldiers, there salvo was ineffective. The Imperials descended upon them like wolves to the slaughter, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot30.jpg and the soldiers surged into the waiting rebel force. Outnumbered 3-1 the legionaries thrust themselves into the mass of rebel troops. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot29.jpg.

Lucius watched on as yet another contingent charge in, almost to certain death. His orders were to block the road and stop the rebels from advancing on Whiterun, he could not do that if his men insisted on being drawn into a fight on the terms of the rebels. Lucius realised, as he watched his frontline disappear over the ridge, that he could no longer hold this position with just the twenty men remaining nor did he think it wise to send every last men into the fight developing near the Inn. He was to delay the rebels, until he could defeat them with his entire cohort, sacrificing his men now would not help anything. He thus ordered his reserve to withdraw. Lucius had decided on holding the fork in the road, several miles to the west however between here on the ridge and Whiterun he knew of no place twenty-one men could make a successful stand against an invasion force. He prayed silently to Talos that luck would be on his side, and that his small force could take advantage of any local tactical situation to buy further time for the cohort to arrive.

Unaware of the withdrawal of the reserve, the legionnaires near the Inn battled on determined to kill every last rebel in the area. Further rebel reinforcements arrived attempting to bolster the failing line. The battle raged all around the Inn, the ground littered with fallen rebels and imperial soldiers. The rebels, who had advanced in no logical order, had now rushed forward a larger contingent or archers. As the last of the sword armed rebels had died, the archers opened fire. A number of legionnaires fell but then commenced to return fire. During the dusk of this long day of combat the final blows were launched upon each other. The rebel archers were dispatched but they had inflicted heavy losses on the attacking legion troops. The last men standing on the battlefield were legionnaires, amidst 150 other rebel bodies. These men had stationed themselves on a small section of high ground that dominated the road. Darkness had descended upon the battlefield. Lucius’ men had held up the rebels for the near enough loss of his complete century. A 24-hour delay, at minimum had been imposed on this northern rebel column.

The stranded and isolated legionaries spent a quiet night with a view over a battlefield littered with corpses. They were alert, exhausted but alert, ready for the continuation of battle in the morning. They had talked about making a break for the camp, unaware it was no longer there, at first light. The handful of troops never had the chance to make the decision. Before the sun had even come up on the 30^th of Rain’s Hand, rebel soldiers had crept forward. Having learnt from the mistakes of the previous days fighting, the archer contingent was pushed forward to engage the soldiers. A handful of archers released a volley taking down the leading troopers; another volley followed killing the remaining soldiers as they charged forth. 07:00 the battle was over.

The rebels, aware that a century or more of soldiers had been facing them, advanced cautiously down the highway expecting to be ambushed. Little progress was made. The next day, the 1^st of Second Seed, the rebel column reached the fork in the road around 3pm. Having advanced on a more cautious footing the rebels had discovered Lucius’ position without being discovered. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot33.jpg. Finally aware of the force deployed against him, Lucius attempted in vain to keep the road blocked and defeat the rebel’s most dangerous weapon, the archers, before they could be reinforced. Lucius and his men sallied forth. The rebel archers outnumbered the legionnaires 2-1. In a matter of moments the charging http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/Enigma_MCMXC/skyrim/ScreenShot34.jpg. The road was open, but the rebels had been delayed by 48 hours.

On 2^nd of Second Seed the rebel army, which had taken the southern route to Whiterun, launched their assault on the city. Deprived of the men marching along the northern route, and those that had been based at Greenhollow, the attack was a disaster and easily defeated mostly by the Jarl of Whiterun’s men supported by only a small contingent of imperial soldiers.

That is a good story. However on the second battle I felt that Tullius would of sent more than a century of legionary troops at area where hundreds if not thousands of stormcloaks would pass through. Other than that pretty good. This just inspired me of hosting a roleplay of an imperial unit in the civil war.

... AWESOME!

Been quite a while since i was last active on the forums, due to personal reasons. Thanks for the comments

I might boot up Skyrim and do a third battle at some point

Allright.