Battle of Dharmandi
| Battle of Dharmandi | ||
| Conflict: | Genocide of the Elfinshi | |
| [[Image:{{{Battleimage}}}|250px]] | ||
| Date: | 1488 (Elw Calendar) | |
| Place: | Dharmandi, Agnesia, Barony of Elwynn | |
| Outcome: | Baronial victory. Paladins and Babkhan mercenaries disengage and continue their march to Eliria | |
| Combatants | ||
 Barony of Elwynn
|
 Duchy of Hyperborea
| |
| Commanders | ||
/ Baron Ardashir of Elwynn
|
Kadmi Mithothion
| |
| Strength | ||
| 8,000 | 5,000 | |
| Casualties | ||
| 44 killed, 187 wounded |
237 killed, 1,249 wounded | |
| Notes | ||
| notes | ||
The Battle of Dharmandi was a skirmish between the Babkhan mercenaries hired and led by Baron Ardashir I of Elwynn and a force of mounted Paladins sent to reconnoitre after rumours of an invasion force landing in the proximity of what would become the city of Vijayanagara. Although disorganised, surprised and lacking in heavy weapons, the battle confirmed the superiority of regular infantry riflemen over armoured cavalry and warlocks of the Raikothlin Paladins.
Lacking local scouts, as none had yet been hired or caught, the Babkhan army that landed at Vijayanagara under Baron Ardashir's command formed up into four columns of approximately 2,000 men each, a column that formed the vanguard, a column that formed the rearguard and the remaining two columns marching in parallel providing flanking escorts to the army's baggage column comprised 40 oxen-drawn wagons, a dozen motor vehicles of various types and the Baron and his retinue of forty men-at-arms, who were the only component of the force on horseback.
Each column was led by a Sarhang (colonel of the Imperial Babkhan Army) and each was charged with conducting his own reconnaissance. The main priority was to gain provisions and to find the road to Eliria.
The Babkhan force was attempting to forge its way into the tangled mass of the Agnesian forest at the onset of winter. Faced with unfamiliar terrain the Sarhangs organised foraging parties to go ahead of their main columns to find their way to the Elfinshi road to Eliria and to commandeer such provisions as could be found from any manorial settlements or villas they encountered.
It was one of these foraging parties that blundered into a force of Paladins arrayed in white cloaks, so as to blend with the snowy landscape (the origin for the pejorative Babkhi description of Boreals as Ghosts), and primed to mount an ambush.
