The Battle of Chamoria is thought to be the turning point in the war when the Coalition of Hadasht took control of the war. The battle took place outside the town of Chamoria, one of the largest of the towns built by the deserter legionnaires when they first arrived. The Republic's casualties weren't too severe during the battle, but it allowed the Coalition to bring more tribes to their side and gain the numerical superiority.
The Conflict
Prelude
Nereus sent his legions south with the plan of the professional legions of the Republic smashing through the center while their Hadasht tribal allies would clean up their flanks. Nereus wanted to shock the coalition’s allies into submitting to Republic rule. The coalition realizing it didn’t have superior numbers never entered into a pitched battle with the legions of the Republic and simply harassed the legion and targeted their supply lines. Nereus continued to press further along the island until realizing soon his legions would be completely surrounded by the coalition’s forces and Nereus decided it would be time to pull back. He marched his legions back to Tureno’s armies and began to prepare to slowly destroy the tribes of the coalition.
Nereus began marching on the villages and towns of these tribes and managed to raze five of them to the ground. The coalition now formally led by Gyron of Hadasht as the coalition leader tried to continue his guerrilla tactics, but the Republic had no qualms of razing villages and imprisoning or even killing the denizens of those town. The tribes allied with Gyron began to lose hope and worried that a similar fate would befall them. Gyron decided that a set piece battle would be the only way to get the confidence of his allies back on their side, they had to win an all-out fight or slowly be chipped away until there is nothing left. Gyron’s scouts alerted them that the legion was marching on the town of Chamoria so he gathered his armies and marched out to meet them on the battlefield
Gyron utilized his people’s knowledge of the land to get to Chamoria much quicker than Nereus’ forces and looking far smaller than the actual numbers of their ranks to the scouts of the Republic by spreading out and keeping hidden. They setup a few hastily erected defences to supplement their defences, but the legions of the Republic bore down on them very quickly. The legions marched upon the town and noticed the defenders had been bolstered and setup not insignificant protections around the city. Nereus took a look at the city and realized that this was a chance to strike a major blow to the forces of the coalition, but didn't want to risk losing too many men in this attack as that could jeopardize the whole expedition. He settled in and began to siege the town in order to not underestimate his enemy.
Gyron noticed the armies began to dig in and got a little worried, he was expecting a quick storming of the town by the legions and hadn’t brought enough supplies for a prolonged siege. He began to look for options as the days passed and he continued harassing legion forces here and there trying to provoke conflict. Nereus had given strict orders to not fully engage and merely repel any attacks on their position and to continue digging in. Gyron began requesting reinforcements to flank the legions, but the nearest significantly sized force was still a week out from arriving.
Gyron knew he needed to act quickly and set out a plan of action. He decided he was going to engage the legions in an all out fight. There was a small contingent of forces Gyron could call on nearby. Gyron planned to have them make a significant amount of noise making
Peresov Nereus believe a far larger force would be attacking their rear. Once the force arrived and made their presence known the legionnaires turned to meet the threat. It was at that time that Gyron attacked the line of troops that lined up to meet the coming attack. Gyron was able to flank those legionnaires and route a portion of their army.
Peresov Nereus still not sure if a larger force was coming to flank them, as they already underestimated the force that would be garrisoning the town, and thought it prudent to fall back. Gyron used this victory in the defense of the town to convince more of the tribes to join the coalition. With these new tribes and the warriors they brought Gyron's coalition finally outnumbered
Nereus's legions and began making impressive strides in finally retaking ground lost to the legions.
The tribes that joined the conflict were enough to tip the scales in the Coalitions favor and were able to push the legions all the way back to Tarconesis and eventually of the island of Hadasht entirely.
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