Siege of Fort Kovakirr

Siege of Fort Kovakirr Part of the War of the Beards Coalition forces pelt Fort Kovakirr's defenders with arrows, 1635 Date: 1635 Location: Fort Kovakirr/Vanir Result: Kaz'Ulrah Victory Followed by: Surrender of the Grand Kingdom of Urguan Belligerents Kingdom of Kaz'Ulrah and Allies: Kingdom of Kaz'Ulrah Clan Frostbeard Clan Blackaxe Clan Goldhand Clan Silvervein War Nation of Krugmar Kingdom of Norland Kingdom of Santegia Warhawke Chiefdom Grand Kingdom of Urguan and Allies: Grand Kingdom of Urguan Clan Irongrinder Clan Ireheart Clan Grandaxe Clan Irongut Clan Emberhorn Holy Orenian Empire Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska Commanders and leaders Kingdom of Kaz'Ulrah and Allies: High King Verthaik II Frostbeard Rex U'La Lur Javier, King of Norland Leo, King of Santegia Prince Erolas Ba’ikana Grand Kingdom of Urguan and Allies: Grand King Frerir Irongrinder Peter II, Holy Orenian Emperor Otto II of Haense Strength Kingdom of Kaz'Ulrah and Allies: 26,000 Infantry, 3,000 Cavalry Grand Kingdom of Urguan and Allies: 21,000 Infantry Casualties Kingdom of Kaz'Ulrah and Allies: ~3,000 dead Grand Kingdom of Urguan and Allies: ~12,000 dead, 5,000 captured

The Siege of Fort Kovakirr was a decisive victory in the War of the Beards and ultimately marked the end of the Grand Kingdom of Urguan. This battle was by no means any conventional siege, as an relatively peaceful and rare object, the elytra, was utilized by the Coalition to devastating effect. After the battle, the majority of the armies of the Grand Kingdom of Urguan and Holy Orenian Empire were in shambles, with large portions of them having been killed in this siege.

Prelude

Prior to the siege, the Battle of Jornheim Fields had taken place. This gave the advantage to the Kingdom of Kaz'Ulrah and their Coalition allies, as they marched on Fort Kovakirr, also known as Fort Vanir to the Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska. However, with the fort having been designed for the soul purpose of withstanding a siege, having been constructed right before the Great Northern War, Oren, Urguan, and Haense poured great portions of their army into the fort, trusting in its defenses to hold out and win them the day.

Battle

As the battle began, the Coalition opened with a group of Flays advancing on and capturing a the nearby mountain in the area, from which they could ensure that their camp would not be attacked by any soldiers of Urguan hoping to surprise them. Meanwhile, the main portion of the army held in its camp, defending the trebuchets from attack. A few soldiers ventured near the fort, and were met with arrow fire. However, these soldiers were skilled, and casualties were light. However, they returned fire on their attacks, hitting many and causing them to topple from the walls, dying upon hitting the ground below.

After the skirmishing and fire between siege weapons had ended with Urguan's weapons being destroyed, the battle moved into the next phase. The trebuchets began firing on the fort's Southwest corner, as well as on its gate. The gate was blown open relatively fast, however the tower would take much longer to fall, during this time, the flays deployed an invention called the elytra. Strapping them to their backs and putting carbarum armor on the rest of their army, they flew over the Fort, dropping alchemist's fires down on the troops trying to defend the battlements. After they had sufficiently scattered the defenders with alchemist's fires, they landed onto the fort below, and attacked small groups of defenders, jumping off when it seemed they were in a bad situation, and using fireworks to propel their flight upwards when they got too low. The rest of the Coalition army finally sallied out of their camp to watch this event, aiding the flays with a massive amount of arrow fire.

As the Southwest corner began to collapse, a handful of brave troops fought to ascend the battlements. Although the defenders tried to throw them back, many of them realized that they would eventually be overwhelmed. With their exit from the gate cut off, thousands of troops jumped off the walls into the moat below, before climbing out and fleeing to the nearby Vasililand. However, most stayed behind. As the handful of troops finally made it up the broken portion of the wall, here, they fought the last few defenders who would try to hold out, slaying them. The rest, however, looked out and saw that well over half of the Coalition forces hadn't even seen battle. Seeing this, the last few thousand still holding out threw down their arms, and surrendered.

Aftermath

Following this, the Grand Kingdom of Urguan released Haense and Oren from their treaty, so as to try and save them from conquest. The majority of the armies of Urguan and Oren had died in the battle, weakening the two nations severely. Haense, meanwhile, came out better, but without Urguan and Oren, knew they could not beat the Coalition. Thus, this battle marked the end of the war. No longer able to put up a fight, the Grand Kingdom of Urguan surrendered and annexed under Kaz'Ulrah. Meanwhile, the backlash from the disastrous war would cause Emperor Peter II to abdicate the throne of Oren, leaving it to his young son, John VI.