Disclaimer: I don't own A Song of Ice and Fire. The stupidity of the Ironborn and the arrogance of Tywin Lannister all belong to GRRM.
raw666: Part of what you said, I'm afraid, is because a certain author did not properly his homework before throwing the foundations of his story. But given everything which is bungled/ ignored/has no reason to happen, this is not unfortunately the only thing readers complain about.
X59: Indeed, a victorious army is always going to have a different point of view from the enemy they just defeated. When you add magic into the mix, temptation is very strong to put the blame on a thought-to-be-extinct weapon.
The cause of King Tommen has taken a disastrous blow it will not recover from. Not with Tywin wounded and Cersei in command. Tyrion in command may have been able to save part of the situation if he was in effective command. He isn't. The chapter below will detail how bad the Lannisters situation is after the battle.
Revan3363, Master of Dragons God: Thanks for the review.
TheAlagoano : Thanks! I have to admit there are a lot of details in ASOIAF to take care of, be it politics, tactics, customs, slavery and all sort of things...
Guest: true, although some have been on the battlefield so long by now the most experienced have become really killing machines. The type of fighters you do not want to cross steel with.
But thanks for the comment and the review.
Paul: Tywin's defeat is for sure going to shatter his reputation of invincibility (who was already dirtied down by the massacres he did in this war). Lyle Crakehall survived and is now by default the senior commander the Lannister remnant until they reach the capital as Tywin is currently indisposed. The two lords, I did only invent the surnames but not the Houses or everything else. It was to make the story more credible, with historians noticing the name of the notable lords and knights.
As for Stannis casualties, most of the Westerlands soldiers panicked but some resisted to the death in order to let the rest of the army escape (which is probably why there is still a Lannister army at all). But outside a few lords and knights, most of the losses were in the cavalry for the decisive charge or untrained troops which were rushed into the battle because the Stormlands commanders saw an opportunity to gain glory.
Matt Quinn: Stannis is not a general who leads from the front, but he knows when to make a good show to boost the morale of his own men. Killing Tywin bodyguards was not that hard really. A lot of them have died since the beginning of the war, and many were the best money could buy. Problem is, not everyone is interested by serving a Lannister (and dying for him) anymore...
Sauve qui peut
The Campaign of the Stormlands Part III
"Where is the army?" Queen-Regent Cersei Lannister, 300AC.
"So many men lost for nothing." Tyrion Lannister, 300AC.
Following their catastrophic defeat at Bronzegate, the Lannister army, or what remained of it, was hard-pressed and unable to reform. Lord Tywin was wounded, Lord Kenning and Lord Tarly were dead, and the duty of command fell to Ser Lyle Crakehall. The "Strongboar", as the Crakehall knight had been nicknamed, was utterly unprepared to assume the mantle of the army's commander. To be fair, it was likely that anyone, even Aegon the Conqueror, would have been overtaken by the task at hand. Except the left wing of the army under Ser Lyle's personal command, the Lannister army had ceased to exist as a coherent force at the Battle of Mud and Flame. Most of the Western-Reach camp, with all the equipment and the followers, had been only evacuated partially in haste and urgency, and nobody doubted the Baratheons soldiers were wealthier than they were a fortnight ago. Of the 15 000 men forming the essential of the equipped army, Ser Lyle had now a bit less than 3 200 men answering to his orders. There were of course many more Reachers and Westerners who had survived the battle, but most were dispersed and had lost all motivation to fight again. Some, like the men sworn to House Tarly of Horn Hill, agreed between themselves that the agreement between House Lannister their House was null and void. Dozens of Reachers knights and men-at-arms abandoned the fight to go home. The bannersmen of House Tarly's new mission was to bring back the Valyrian sword Heartsbane to Horn Hill. Some Westerners, feeling the wind was blowing on the wrong direction, deserted and tried to find a brighter future elsewhere.
The retreat through the Kingswood, as a result, was long and heartbreaking. The number of casualties rose day by day, as the healers and maesters were definitely in too short numbers to deal with all the wounded warriors. The little fact that Ser Rolland Storm and his raiding force were in hot pursuit also hurt: too often a man who walked too far away from the main camp was never seen again, like the darkness (or a Baratheon axe) had cut them down. A week after the disastrous battle, 300 men under Lord Martyn Ferren were surprised trying to reform their ranks by the troops of Ser Alyn Estermont near the Wendwater. Despite the parity in numbers of both opponents, the result was a one-sided fight, as the Western force dispersed itself at the view of the enemy. The Stormlanders had only to hunt the fleeing warriors, with only Lord Ferren trying to resist and be slain by an Estermont knight. This small skirmish was not an isolated case. Dispersed, out of touch with their high command, the small groups of Lannister soldiers were extremely tempting targets for the Baratheon army following them. If the retreating soldiers had been able to gather again, the Western infantrymen could have posed as a credible threat but it didn't happen. The rains were now worse than ever, and the drenched and defeated soldiers had lost all fighting spirit and hope. The prime example was symbolised by the Mountain's men: reviled, hated and feared among all the Westerosi kingdoms, the band of rapists and murderers who had killed and plundered so many towns and villages numbered now less than a dozen. At their head was the monster himself, Gregor Clegane, whose continued life was a curse and a miracle in itself. Wounded at the Wendwater, the colossal murderer had been badly burned at Bronzegate when Melisandre of Asshai unleashed her magical powers. The Mountain had somehow been left alive, but his face now presented a certain resemblance to his younger brother Sandor 'the Hound' Clegane. The burning wounds were also rumoured to cover a large part of his body, as the Mountain refused to take off his massive armour after the battle. With a smell of putrefaction following the group, many whispered the man in the armour was already dead . On the other hand, it was not like it mattered in the end. Hunted by Stormlords eager for revenge now that the sword was in the other's hand, the Mountain's men and their infamous leader were pursued and exterminated to the last man in the Kingswood. Gregor Clegane himself, agonising in sinister yells, was dismembered like an animal, with twenty Baratheon soldiers cutting him in a hundred pieces which were then burned to eradicate all supposed evilness. This action, while one of the most reported due to the infamy brought by the Mountain, was far from the only one. Hundreds of Western common soldiers perished in the dark woods, pursued by a relentless enemy. The sights of flames in the distance, after Bronzegate, were now an approved method to plunge the survivors of this disaster into despair and fear.
After the Lannister's army reached the intersection of the Rose Road and the Kingsroad, the Baratheon pursuit steadily diminished, Stannis's forces taking the opportunity to slow the rhythm of their operations and reform their forces. While it was greeted with a certain sense of relief by Ser Lyle Crakehall and his officers, it was also a painful reminder how deep the Lannister debacle had been. The main Lion's force, once gathered on the road, numbered around 3000 men. This number would grow until the arrival at King's Landing (small isolated forces had managed to regroup and survive ) ,but Lyle's force never numbered more than a quarter of the total force Tywin Lannister had left the capital with . Speaking of the Lord of Casterly Rock, Lord Tywin Lannister's health was becoming worse. The Lord Paramount of the Westerlands had regained consciousness, but the wound at his right leg had been infected, forcing the surgeons to remove the remnants of the leg completely. The Old Lion was more often than not in a delirious state due to the fever, giving orders to troops which had been lost more than a year ago, calling for his wife, asking for his sons. The Lord of Casterly Rock was in no condition to counter the loss of moral inside his own ranks .Seeing the Red Keep in these conditions was a welcome relief for the battered survivors of the Stormlands Campaign. Unfortunately, they had just traded the Stag for an even worse problem. The Second Battle of King's Landing was about to begin...