The Fall And Rise Of Reggio Perino

Reggio Perino now had an army to go with his appointment to Marshal of the rebellion. He meant to use it.

He ordered Lord Pelayo’s 140 men to accompany him north to Tihr, as Reggio always felt safest when there were large numbers of expendable bullet fodder in front of him. When they arrived at Tihr, though, things got interesting.

Lord Augusto, loyal to Queen Imelda, had been staying in Tihr when the city declared itself for Juan Batista, and he and his men had been forcibly ejected by the inhabitants. Unsure of what to do, he had been foraging in the countryside around the city when Reggio and Lord Pelayo arrived on the scene. Without waiting for his lawful marshal’s command, Pelayo gave a ‘tally-ho!’ and rushed into battle. This was perfectly acceptable to Reggio, as it meant that Pelayo would bear the brunt of any fighting. However, his own troops were as green behind the ears as a cabbage. With ears. They could use the experience, or at least the sight of some blood being spilled. With a grin, Reggio ordered his men into the fight as well.

It was a dawn that promised to be bloody. Outriders and scouts had reported that the enemy numbered only 84 men against the 173 that the rebels fielded – a comfortable advantage. Although the gunsmoke obscured the battlefield, Reggio could see the enemy advancing in close formation.

Lord Augusto’s men were showing more discipline than Reggio had expected, but it was entirely the wrong approach to take when Reggio carried a hand cannon. He took careful aim at the centre of the tercio, and fired.

With the formation gutted, a general charge was ordered, with a tercio of Lord Pelayo’s pikemen moving forward and tearing the enemy formation to pieces.

Lord Pelayo was agitating to let his cavalry go, so Reggio graciously gave his permission and his lordship led the charge against the remaining loyalist arquebusiers who lined a ridge overlooking the carnage. They were easily cut down, and with that the battle was done.

Every last loyalist had been killed, save Lord Augusto, who had scrambled off the field with his skin intact, if not his honour. 11 rebels had been killed, and 25 wounded – a small price to pay for the utter annihilation of one of Queen Imelda’s companies. Nearby, Lord Francis engaged a Laurian merchant caravan, adding its spoils to the rebellion’s warchests. The caravan master led a heroic charge against Francis’ troops, but he and his men were cut down mercilessly.

With Francis and Pelayo in tow, Reggio moved south. He was intercepted by 110 men under the command of Lord Cortez.

He was quickly convinced to join Juan Batista’s cause, possibly because he shared Lord Theobald’s philosophy on headgear, and added significantly more strength to the rebellion. It was soon put to use, as another loyalist noble, Lord Luois – lacking in spelling ability as well as good sense, it would seem – gave battle in the hills east of Curin Castle.

Unlike the unlucky Augusto, Luois did not form his men up in close formation, perhaps fearing the effect cannon shots would have on them. This did not save his men, however. The rebels were disciplined and determined (expect for the levied footmen, too thick to stand shoulder to shoulder with the pikemen), and they carved up the loyalists.

Casualties for the rebels were moderate, but one thing made it entirely worthwhile.

Reggio always did like having an extra prisoner-ace up his stylishly ripped sleeves.

Butcher’s Bill: 32 men dead, 31 men captured.

Meet Reggio Perino, famous Laurian mercenary.

Reggio Perino, mercenary extraordinaire

Veteran of a hundred battles, expender of a thousand bullets, nemesis of all Queen Imelda’s enemies. Starting with nothing more than the shirt on his back, his father’s perfectly-balanced sword, and breath stinking of smoked fish, he decided to make his fortune. When he left his home in Lauria across the sea, his father had handed him the sword (which had been his father’s, and his father’s before him), and spoke words of sage advice:

“Be true and honourable, Reggio, for if a man cannot sleep at night then he is nothing. Fight for the side of good, for honour is its own reward. And always remember where you came from, when you raise this sword. Think of me.”

Reggio remembered these words the day he sold his father’s sword to a craftsman in Nibelheim, smiling as he clipped his new masterwork sabre to his belt and slid a heavy purse of Calradian denars across to the smith. War had been good to Reggio Perino, and he had made sure it was good by putting his native cunning first and foremost. The first time he’d used his father’s sword on a fellow human being, it was to kill a merchant to safeguard the Lord of Tihr’s reputation. He had blooded his mercenary recruits putting down peasant revolts while collecting taxes. He had sat back and grinned as his men stormed castle walls for 40 denars a day, without Reggio having to lift a finger. Queen Imelda of Lauria had praised him and his men, and had even deigned to offer Reggio lands of his own.

The bustling centre of Fearichen, the village that always sleeps.

The village of Fearichen was poor, but a steady source of new recruits for Reggio’s Banditti after that time that Reggio had driven had some bandits out of the village and secured their devotion (despite taking their every worldly possession as payment for this service). The poor bastards couldn’t wait to die for Reggio’s dubious cause, although dying wasn’t often on the agenda. No matter who came up against his Banditti, they were shot down.

Sea raiders…

I know you can fire three rounds a minute. But can ye stand?

Disciples of the Lion Throne…

Where is your god now?

Even the heavily-armoured Ellisian legions fell before the guns of his Banditti.

Close formation proves ineffective against firearms. A valuable discovery!

In every battle, he was victorious.

That's right, boys, cheer.

His reputation was immense, but Reggio knew not to bite off more than he could chew. He made sure to stay close to the larger Laurian armies, and was not averse to running away when it was prudent. But then things went south.

The mission sounded simple enough – scout the area around Grunwalder Castle, on the border of the territory of those fundamentalist nutjobs, the Lion Throne. Reggio knew that he had to get close in order to scout, and he definitely couldn’t count on the support of the main Laurian army, who were buggering about some miles to the north-west, around Etrosq Castle (which Reggio’s men had been instrumental in taking and defending against massively superior Lion Throne armies, much thanks he’d got).

Things did not go according to plan.

Oh dear.

Two Lion Throne brigades had surrounded his men, and they were faster than his foot-bound mercenaries. He had no choice but to fight it out.

Men of Fearichen, stop your dreaming! Can't you see their spearpoints gleaming?

His men had faced worse odds before, though admittedly with the safety of castle ramparts to hide behind. Reggio Perino unshouldered the Ormeli hand cannon he had taken from those janissary bastards to the south, and opened fire.

Boom! Groundshot.

His pistoleers and arquebusiers followed suit, as did his four lieutenants. The volley was shattering, but the Lion Throne kept coming, their cavalry and skirmishers acting as a screen for the heavy infantry formation behind.

They're coming out of the goddamn fog!

When the two forces clashed, Reggio kept his men wheeling backwards from the phalanx of Brigadiers and Propugnators, while his men fired pistols on the move and cut down the cavalry who attempted to break up the formation.

The chaos of battle.

Reggio kept firing, taking out clumps of men with the hand cannon at fairly close range, but his men were being chipped away and the Lion Throne’s reinforcements kept coming. As he was overwhelmed in hand-to-hand combat, the last thing Reggio Perino saw was his lieutenant Marnid swinging away with his halberd, going down fighting.

Cutting four men down with one swing. Not bad for a merchant.

But it was not enough.

God dammit.

Butcher’s Bill: 22 men dead, 31 men captured.