Chapter 297: Chapter 266 – The Match Begins

“To be honest, I personally feel the dwarves are onto something with that combat league of theirs. That tournament makes a great training ground for teamwork and small unit tactics. It’s why we regularly send in multiple teams every year, usually our most promising young tacticians and talents we expect to go far in the near future.

 

Even the combat itself makes for good practice, even if we would need to undo the habit of aiming for the torso and the head later on. All in all, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks, and my guess is that this “league” might well spread much further in the future, as more people realized its merits.” - Irisviel Edelstein, Captain of the Free Lances Mercenary Company, circa 681 FP.

“It is about to begin, folks, what could be the decisive match of the year! The 3rd Cuirassiers had adjusted their lineup to match the point value called by the Lances, and arranged themselves into a bull’s horn formation, likely intending to take the Lances’ charge head on and envelop them from the side!” yelled the dwarven announcer, his voice amplified to be audible throughout the arena without ever being too loud. “The Lances had thrown the gauntletas they picked a medium point value, a good bit above the Cuirassiers’ favored minimal point limit, and had brought out their heavy hitters which could not take part last time. Will it be enough to even the odds against our defending champions?”

 

The points mentioned was how the match was regulated, with the “home” team of the match allowed to set the point limit the match would be held under, within a certain limit. It was then up to their tacticians to decide on how to “spend” those points on their soldiers and equipment and set up their battle tactics.

 

As the announcer had mentioned, the 3rd Cuirassiers’ favored tactic was to choose a point limit that was as low as it could go. That point limit basically only allowed light infantry with minimal gear, which was exactly their specialty, and as the defending champion they had yet to lose a home game for the past three years.

 

That was not to say that it was the entirety of their tactics. They would not be defending champions and in the running to repeat the feat if they were just a one-trick pony. As evidenced by their deployed heavy shieldsmen and halberdiers, they were also prepared for circumstances beyond their preferred one.

 

On the other hand, people well versed with military history would have instantly recognized the formation assumed by the Free Lances team. It was the strike formation the company was famed for, typically deployed only by their sturdiest frontliners and elite combatants. The point allocations seemed to agree with that assessment, as the ten-man formation alone cost more than two-thirds of the match’s point limit, with the other ten skirmishers taking up the rest.

 

When the match began, the Free Lances charged straight at the middle of the Cuirassiers formation, as if they were intent on testing each other’s mettle. Their skirmishes split off to the sides, as they tried to circle around and flank the dwarves, only for the dwarven flanks to turn and meet them.

 

Wooden javelins and wooden throwing axes crossed each other in the air as the skirmishers and the light infantry harassed each other from range. As they saw their flanks engaged, the dwarven center marched forward, to prevent the Lances’ center from flanking their flanks in turn. The shieldbearers in front planted their shields in the ground as they braced themselves, while the halberdiers behind readied to strike.

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With a loud, raucous crash, the charging shieldbearers of the Free Lances struck the bracing Cuirassiers. Each of their larger shields struck the shields of two dwarves at the same time. The two dwarves at the outer sides of their shield wall held, but the two further in the formation buckled and was forced to take a step back from the heavy impact. The one in the middle was thrown a few steps behind as both of the Lances’ shieldbearers who struck his shield had angled theirs to focus the force of the impact on him.

 

Then the Lances’ formation parted to the sides as their shieldbearers bodily and forcefully pushed the remaining dwarven shieldwall aside, and the six combatants hidden behind them stepped out and struck, even as the dwarven halberdiers tried to hold them off.

 

The dwarven flanks noticed how their center faltered, and tried to pull back to come to their aid, but their opponents refused to give them the chance, as they suddenly struck and kept the dwarves occupied. The skirmishers were quite naturally outmatched by the dwarves, but their intent was clearly to buy time, something they most definitely were capable of.

 

Not a moment later, the first “victim” of the match fell, the same dwarf shieldbearer who was pushed out of formation. As the six mercenary combatants rushed past him from either side, they struck as well, and quickly broke both his breastplate and helmet.

 

The clay armor were quite thick and solid - they came in several varieties, which cost differing amounts of points, and said dwarf wore one of the thicker varieties - and were designed that it would have taken at least a few strikes from a normal contestant to shatter one. Six combatants working together definitely made short work of it, though.

 

As their shieldbearers kept their dwarven counterpart pushed and on the backfoot, the six combatants from the Free Lances descended on the dwarven halberdiers. They charged right in, intent on fighting the battle up close and personal, where the length of the halberds used by the dwarves made it harder for them to maneuver.

 

On the stands and the seating areas, the crowd went wild, as nearly half the crowd yelled out their support for the Lances and cheered at the top of their voices. Others cheered for the Cuirassiers and yelled out encouragement to the combatants. In more than a few places ales were splashed on faces to be followed by fists being exchanged.

 

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