The battle of the Gates of Egeria was the first major battle in the Third Republican Civil War. The battle was fought in the fields just outside of Egeria and is known due to the amount of maneuvering through the gates the forces of Vernica did to break through Solden's legions to lift the siege. The battle did not lead to many casualties on either side, but is accredited for saving Vernica's legions in Egeria from being starved out.
The Conflict
Prelude
Vernica hired the use of specialized mercenaries from the Adal Caliphate to transport their legions through the Raging Sea to the stippled coast and take control of the city of Egeria from Solden. The ships didn't have enough space to transport large amounts of supplies and Consul Altalune planned on the mercenary ships returning to Luclana and then sailing back to bolster their supplies. Consul Naevius reacted quickly to this though and immediately blockaded and sieged the city. Altalune' s legions in Albion were still some time from boarding ships to help break the siege and the supplies for the Vernican legions would not last long enough. Viira Nereus decided decisive action was needed and followed Legate Firrim's plan to break out of the city.
Legate Firrim planned to take his legions through the north gate and begin skirmishes with the Solden legions while the other legions marched out of the Western and Southern gates after enough attention had been attracted to his forces. His legion would then fall back within the city after the other legions marched out and engaged their forces. When the legions that engaged his forces were distracted he would march his legions out again and hopefully encircle Solden's legions. Viira was worried they would catch on to their plan and waited a few more days to see if anyone could offer a better plan, but when none came forth Viira decided they had waited enough and planned on going through with the plan the next day.
Throughout the entire siege Vernican light skirmishes ran out to harass the enemies and prevent the enemy legions from taking the outer walls. On this morning Viira had all skirmishers fall back into the city. Legatus Res Publica Pharus of Solden's legions was puzzled at this turn of events and was deciding what to do with this development. He marched a vanguard legion to the walls to see if he could capitalize on this possible blunder, but not expose himself to a ruse. It was at this time that Viira ordered all skirmishers out of every gate as well as some hastati to bolster the numbers and began causing havoc.
Pharus was startled at this turn of events and began mobilizing his own skirmishers and cavalry to counter this attack. It was then that Firrim marched a single legion of the fourteen that were brought to Egeria and did his best to cause as much trouble and problems along the lines as possible. Firrim was from the province of Albion and trusted Lunsine mages far more than his Vernican born counterparts and utilized their ability to create a cacophony of battle sounds and explosions to make the attack seem far larger than it was. Pharus immediately dispatched six of his sixteen legions to deal with the breakout attempt.
Viira watched from the walls as the enemy legions marched to meet Firrim's legions and gave the signal to march out. Her remaining thirteen legions marched out of the Eastern and Southern gates of the city and began engaging the enemy lines attempting to break a hole.
Firrim realizing his plan had worked retreated his legion back into the city and waited to see where his legion would be needed most. Pharus, however, quickly spotted the real attack and reacted to the entirety of the Vernican forces trying to escape the city. Pharus quickly reinforced his lines after learning the northern attack only had a single legion attacking. Viira received reports from her scouts that Pharus was redirecting his legions and brought all his legion to bear on their forces. Viira retreated the legions to a chokepoint where she left four legions to hold off the forces while the rest of the legions reentered the city.
During this time Firrim had marched his forces out of the Western gate to flank Pharus' response. Pharus saw this, but distracted him from the other retreating legions into the city. He turned four of his legions to meet the Firrim's legion as their numbers weren't doing much at the hilly chokepoint just outside the city and planned on destroying the legion as quickly as possible. Viira had gotten her nine legions back into the city when her legionnaires informed her of Firrim beginning to get surrounded. She also saw that Pharus was beginning to get a few of his legions around the hills creating the chokepoint and were about to surround Viira's legions that were still outside the city. Viira immediately remarched her legions out of the western and southern gates engaging the four legions attacking Firrim's legion. Solden's legions were not expecting more legions to come from the city and reports began flooding back to Pharus that Vernica's legions had received reinforcements and now outnumbered them.
Pharus saw the attack coming from the city and thought all of Viira's legions were still at the chokepoint. He then realized that the city was probably undefended and could be retaken. He turned the forces he planned on flanking Vernicans' legions and instead marched them into the city to attempt to hold it. Viira spotted this attempt and renewed her attacks. Pharus continued to retreat his legions into the city thinking he was now outnumbered while Viira broke off the attack and began marching into the province of Plania.
Vernica's legions managed to escape the stranglehold Solden's legion and navy placed them in the city of Egeria and Solden managed to retake the city of Egeria.
Vernica managed to escape starvation and stay in the field by forcing the people of Plania to give them supplies as well as foraging the land.
Historical Significance
This battle is pointed to as an excellent maneuver of legions and the strength of engaging and disengaging where necessary. The battle is taught to students when teaching about maneuvering to get strength where needed and to retreat from disadvantageous engagements.
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