Von Hohenspitz, winning under Skreptsdorf, came within five days' march of the Flossian capital. Bishop Michheim sent a messenger to Rückelburg in order to mobilize the garrison under Elector Könstrelle. Rallying all the available troops west of the River Flosse, he managed to procure nine conscript battalions - a sad sight indeed. Furthermore, another six companies were saved by him after the defeat. These were from a variety of units, a rag-tag band and their battlefield experiences did not help the bishop at all. Neither did the fact that there were not any eligible commanders to aid him in planning the defense of Rückelburg.
The city garrison consisted of a Grenzer and a Pioneer battalion. They also had a provisional dragoon squadron and a militia unit. Luckily enough, the training bands of the artillery regiment had five large bore cannon that would prove useful. Elector Könstrelle decided to mount the militia on horses to have at least a little cavalry. About a hundred men were somehow able to ride a horse.
Michheim devised a plan. He intended to hold the Schlachthoff and Schwarzburg bridges for a while, then burn them down retreating. Would any of the two bridgeheads be attacked, in two or three hours' march the other could send aid, burning down their own. This wins them two or three more days, and in that time more reinforcements could flow in or, what's even more desirable, von Presser could overcome the other Böhnstadter army and at least enforce a stalemate with Hohenspitz.
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