Although Baron had dug up a little bit of info prior, these three individuals largely remained a mystery to him. If he was to fight against Frederick the Great, Eugene of Savoy, and Friedrich Wilhelm, then he would have to know a lot more about them. To fight against an enemy as sharp as these would not be the smartest move, no matter the circumstances. Alas, with how small his information network was at the moment, there was no way to learn more about their opponents.

When the time came for their match to officially commence, the two sides did not meet but instead headed for the simulation as was customary. Both sides found out that the setting they would be fighting in would be the part of the War of the Third Coalition in the year 1805 between France and her allies against the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire, Russian Empire, and the United Kingdom. Specifically, this battle was the Battle of Albeck between the French and the Austrians. Thus would begin a brief period in which the French would dominate most of Europe.

Baron’s team would be on the side of the Austrians with an army of 21,000 men. On the other hand, Frederick the Great’s French army only consisted of 5,000 men. Despite the glaring difference in army size, the French managed to take home the victory in real life. So there was no guarantee that Baron and his team had the advantage in this situation. The preparation time for this simulation was only one week and blueprints were allowed to be used.

The time constraint was going to be a real problem. It limited both sides to only simple blueprints, nothing fancy like armored vehicles or anything like that. In essence, it was a handicap for both sides. However, Baron thought that this was for the better. No matter how advanced his set of blueprints were, he didn’t dare assume his arsenal was superior to his enemy. After all, the Germans were quite an efficient bunch.

During this week, tensions were high in the Austrian army under Baron, Roxi, and Jaxon. They were trapped between the French army to their front and a river that they were not able to easily cross to their back. This was how the French won despite facing an army 4 times as large as their own. Not a moment was wasted as Baron began developing a plan to get them out of this mess. As for Roxi and Jaxon, they spent the week either training the army or making blueprints to rearm the army. The muskets and cannons were repurposed into other blueprints along with gathering resources such as wood from the nearby trees.

Stressful did not even begin to describe what Baron was going through. Frederick the Great and his team had many more hidden advantages that Baron hoped would not be utilized. For one, Frederick could request a nearby French army to join in on the fight while Baron had no such luxury. Not to mention, the reinforcements would be able to come from directly across the river that Baron’s army was stationed at. Which meant that would lead to a battle on two fronts.

Another thing they had going for them was the initial trap that Napoleon had set up for the Austrian army. Breaking out would not be so easy. On only their second match, they would very likely suffer a defeat if they made one error or miscalculation. Heck, they could do everything right and still come out with a loss. That’s just how bad of a situation they were currently in.

At the start of the battle, Baron had some information as to what Frederick the Great and his team had in terms of blueprints thanks to a few well-placed spies. He didn’t doubt that the opposite was true as well. During the first engagement between the two armies, a very unusual tactic surprised Baron. It seemed that Frederick the Great and Friedrich Wilhelm were leading cavalry charges.

To Baron’s knowledge, these two individuals were very adept at such tactics. Some say that Frederick even fights like a demon on the battlefield, causing a very demonic aura that negatively affects his army and strengthens his own. This might be a problem. However, that would need to be dealt with later as the bulk of the opposing forces were about to meet in battle.

Baron decided to choose an unconventional tactic for this first fight. After repurposing the vast majority of the weapons under his army, he ended up with slightly fewer weapons than he had men. One of the blueprints that he had used was the reliable wooden M4a1 that Roxi had shown him way back when, a few centuries ago supposedly. So he kept the extra forces on standby somewhere else just in case he needed them for another purpose.

Frederick’s French army did have a few weapons that were more advanced than the muskets and cannons they were provided with. However, those were few and far in between. Just this revelation was not enough for Baron to let down his guard. If the enemy had won their first match, then surely they had some measure of skill. Creating facades were not out of the question.

The weapons that they had built were mighty useful at the beginning, but in the grand scheme of things, they were not numerous enough to deter the French Cavalry from storming in at full force. Baron was sort of conflicted about this development. He already had Roxi stationed somewhere safe in between the trees with a sniper in her hands. By sending her a signal, she would start scoping out who was most likely to be an enemy strategist. She was ordered not to shoot until she was 100% sure of who she needed to kill. The death of one of the enemy strategists was worth more than the death of 1,000 regular soldiers.

On the other hand, the reason they must have been letting the strategists go on the frontlines meant that they must have some degree of confidence that they would be able to hold their own. The first day ended with minimal losses on either side. Roxi wasn’t able to determine either of her targets, but she would try again tomorrow.

During the middle of the night, multiple shots were fired into the camp that they had made. The first thing that Baron had done was to order the extinguishing of the campfires. Then, he assessed the situation and found that this wasn’t an invasion in the middle of the night. Rather, it was one of the things that Baron had feared. Frederick had gotten his French reinforcements directly across the bank that Baron’s Austrian troops were backed up against. With the lights out, there was even less accuracy in the shots that the enemy was making. Aside from the initial panic of his troops, Baron managed to calm everything down. However, the army at the opposite side of the banks was going to be a bit of a problem.

After the shootings into the camp stopped, Baron ordered all of his troops to sleep as best as they could. The following day would likely see more action than the day prior. Before the first light bathed the landscape in rays of sunshine, Baron was busy working on a plan to deal with the army that was nipping at their heels behind the safety of the river. Before the fighting of the second day started, he sent Jaxon and about 500 handpicked soldiers to duck into the small group of trees clustered around the river.

Their task was to cross the river upstream without being seen as best as they could and observe the army across the river from the shadows. Whatever they did next was up to Jaxon’s discretion. He could sneak in and take out their commanding officers. Or steal weapons while they were asleep. Or anything else that he felt was necessary. With Jaxon behind enemy lines, Baron would only have to deal with that army for another day or two at most.

Just as predicted, the second day fielded more intense fights than the previous day. With the terrible sleep that some soldiers had suffered just a few hours ago, they were not fighting to the best of their ability. Shots were not as accurate, their movements were noticeably sluggish, and reaction times were abhorrent. This was all before the enemy cavalry even came into the picture. To put it mildly, they did some serious damage to Baron’s army.

A few hours after midday, Baron felt that he was being pushed too far and that his soldiers would not be able to hold if things kept going as they were. Regrettably, he gave the order for Roxi to let loose on the cavalry. Though she was the only sniper they had, she was one hell of a shot. After a few shots and dead cavalrymen later, the enemy could tell that there was someone actively targeting them. So they were forced to withdraw.

Roxi and Baron knew what that meant. At least for the time being, they had revealed one of their trump cards without a dead strategist to show for it. A sacrifice that neither of them was particularly happy about. Roxi was given plenty of bullets, but with the way she had to constantly shift positions to not be found out, her effectiveness dropped. As the day’s fighting began to end, Baron was not looking forward to tonights’ activities.

As a precaution, Baron moved the camp while daylight was still out and made sure that they did everything they needed to do before the sunset for the day. He hoped that since there were no fires to give away his camp’s new location, the other army would not have much luck shooting at them. This proved to be the case, but not for long as it seemed a few spies lit up a few tents on fire during the night. Thus giving the enemy a location to shoot at. No matter how fast they got the fires put out, their position was compromised.

The night ended with another round of Baron’s army suffering from exhaustion. Being shot at in the middle of the night did not manage to cause many casualties, but the psychological effect it created was undeniably efficient. This could not go on, Baron only hoped that Jaxon was able to deal with them sooner rather than later. Fighting on the third day seemed to have been postponed as neither army sent out any men. The weather was dark and cloudy with a very high chance of rain.

Fighting in sub-optimal conditions like that would weaken both armies significantly. Baron was glad for this reprieve as his men deserved some much-needed sleep. A few hours after sunrise, it started to rain heavily. Enough that Baron recalled Roxi back to camp so she didn’t have an accident out there by herself. By his estimates, he had around 16,000 men left, while the enemy in front of him still had a healthy 4,000 out of their original 5,000. Then there was the enemy army behind the banks. They could range anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000.

Then, just as the rain was about to let up, Jaxon returned with his small army of 500 to deliver the good news. They had managed to sneak in during the rain, and with their speed, they were able to raid most of the armory while most everyone was either eating their meals or sleeping. This was some great news for Baron. Now, they had more weapons to arm their soldiers, and make other blueprints. Not only that, but it also seemed the army behind them were now pretty helpless. A fantastic opportunity to deal with them while the army in front of them did not feel like mobilizing.

So that’s what they did. The entire force under Baron, Roxi, and Jaxon moved across the river. Since the rain obscured vision, they faced no resistance while crossing the river. Once they did, they immediately launched a raid on the enemy camp. Thankfully, neither Frederick nor his two partners were in this camp, else they would have faced fiercer resistance. It was late into the day when the rain finally let up and sunshine once again covered the battlefield.

However, once the trio looked back toward where they were before they moved to take this enemy camp, it was an army that far exceeded 4,000. Just going by a quick estimate, it was easily 10,000 men. Then, their worst nightmare unfolded behind them. Another army of at least 15,000 was marching towards them now. Their banner had the symbol that Baron would never forget, it was the banner of Napoleon Bonaparte.

So now, they not only had to fight against Frederick the Great, Eugene of Savoy, and Frederick Wilhelm, but they also had to fight the NPC version of Napoleon as well. Without any assistance. The battle was tough before, but that was when they outnumbered the enemy. Now, it was they who were outnumbered. Things were looking bleak. So they turned to the only option that they could. One of the requirements for them to win this simulation was to either beat back the multiple armies, or escape from the encirclement. It looks like they could only go for the latter now that the odds were extremely in their enemies’ favor.