Latest news for Luftberg

The duchy of Zaub is getting chewed over yet further, with the campaign moving into early june and the roughly half-way mark. The Elector von Luftberg has marched his army up the road from the field of Vogelhof (the scene of his recent triumph) and arrived at the capital Flussburg. Finding the gates shut, the garrison hostile, and polite inducements to surrender rebuffed, there was no option but to settle down and get digging.

The rival Aschenbach army had taken off southwards to recuperate, leaving most officers in the army to sit idle in their tents while their men dug parallel trenches around the walls and the artillery set up their batteries. The fortifications are not especially formidable, and some patience should soon see results. In the meantime, some more time has to be killed. Regiments are off drilling, and the Elector decided to hand out some awards to raise morale.

One regiment that distinguished itself at Vogelhof was Schrodinger's Cuirassiers (KR2), who routed a regiment of Aschenbach dragoons and charged into the Vogelwasser stream to destroy the enemy's foot guards regiment. Such a triumph deserves commemoration, and so approval has been given to alter the regiment's uniform and have blue coat facings - a fitting reminder to the troopers of their success in the water, thus inspiring them to emulate this bravery at a later date.

Sadly, such cheerful tidings were offset by bad news from the south. The General van der Dijk sent news the Aschenbach army had set up a fortified camp to the south of the main road, within easy striking distance of both the siege lines around the capital and the bridge over the Rhine. This was serious, and had the elector preparing orders to leave a healthy detachment to prosecute the siege while the bulk of the army moved south to counter this menace.

Things rapidly worsened with an unexpected arrival at the camp a few days later: General van der Dijk himself, uniform splattered with mud, and some awkward explanations of how his command had been wiped out. It seems that the two hussar regiments he had set out with had been depleted greatly by losses, desertion and raiding, only for the cavalry of the Aschenbach army to then appear under the devious Erich von Kleintrink and rout his sorry remainder. The general protested he had only just escaped with his life, which seemed to just buy him a reprieve. Told to take over the unglamorous digging works of the siege, the Elector ordered up the majority of the army for himself and marched southwards to conclude his campaign.