"Best Literary Fictional Battle" Topic

To complement 14Bore's search for fictional battles in movies which can be wargamed: What are your favorite battles which only exist as words on paper? Can't be historical. Can't already have been made into a movie, and let's leave RPG/skirmish for another poll. Battles big enough to have units.
Starting the ball rolling with Two-gun Bob Howard" The relief of Shamar from "The Scarlet Citadel" the battles of Valkia and of the Valley of Lions from "The Hour of the Dragon"--and Shamla Pass from "Black Colossus."

And remember: "not man nor devil comes up Shamla Pass this day!"

And for something a little more obscure, try the cavalry action of Dankoi from the Russian Civil War in Jphn Harris' "Light Cavalry Action," which I highly recommend. The whole book keys on the difference between the "real" (in the book) action at Dankoi and the glorious full-scale battle a war correspondent makes it out to be. Me for the war correspondent's version, of course.

Prince of Foxes by Shelabarger has both field and siege battles in Renaissance Italy.

Not a battle persay but my group did game "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon". The game was great fun, unfortunately the Indians captured Miss Dandridge and they got the rifles too!

H. Rider Haggard's "The Return OF She", Chapter 22 (The Loosing of the Powers). The battle before Kaloon A fantasy battle that begs for an AI rendition.

The Lord of the Rings battles kind of rely on Eru Illuvatar to pick sides without actually picking sides. Sorry to say that.

George MacDonald Fraser took pains to make the Flashman books as accurate as possible, with Flashman appearing as a … ghost? 🤔
So, no for them.

First thing I could think of was Glenn Cook's Black Company series. Pretty realistic historically correct (🙄) Renaissance battles, until the series went off the rails.

Definitely "The Scarlet Citadel" (and any other of Robert E. Howard's big battles, but this story should be the torch bearer for the Conan vote).

As standard bearer for David Drake's Hammer's Slammers, I nominate "Under the Hammer". John Treadaway had published a scenario of that name some time ago in Miniatures Wargames.

For BattleTech Alpha Strike, the Battle on Kittery from "Warrior: En Garde" by Michael Stackpole. Green training battalion of the First Kittery Borderers ambushed by a skilled Liao company. Leave out the off-table duel between the two mighty hero types over the hill and out of sight (with completely unexplained plot magic going on), and the ambush itself makes a great scenario.

Hmm. Does anyone know the legal penalty for fictionalizing an actual battle? Not inserting your hero, you understand, but filing the serial numbers off the battle and acting as though you'd invented it? Jerry Pournelle does this for the Nikka Riots in a Falkenburg story, And E. R. Eddison swipes Cannae and Auldearn for "Mistress of Mistresses." "Grand Theft History" perhaps?

Eric Flint's 1632 series deals with a coal mining town in West Virginia being zapped into Franconia during the 30 Years War.
He handles how it happened with appropriate doses of handwavium.

Who hasn't wanted to attack pike blocks with Ma Deuce machine guns on an armored dump truck?
How are they supplied? Don't worry. Handwavium comes through once again.

Silly, but if someone else wants to do all the heavy lifting, I would play.

Again, dragging out the concept into multiple volumes does nothing but introduce more silliness. Fierce debates about Lutheran theology!

Game of Thrones follows the time honored idea of turning the map of Ireland upside down. ☘️
Plenty of battles. Drag out your HYW armies.

Hrolf Kraki's Saga.
Poul Anderson.

The Broken Sword
Poul Anderson

The Battle in Lord Kalvin of otherwhen by H. Beam. Piper are great.