There was the usual prancing around before the State Army troops encountered the rebels in numbers. The Count of Calvacasa avoided a major clash because much required reinforcements were trickling in from the way of the Schultze-Böhnstadt border towns.
Finally he found a large field near the royal highway south of Lago Placco and reconnoitred it in detail. The lay of the land was good for defense and strong counter-attacks.
What neither side had considered was the fact that Northern Loyalist militia had vanished from the scene. There was no more incentive to fight against the rebels now that they held all the strong points north of the mountain passes. Therefore the State Army was not as strong in itself as it could have been - with enough militia, it could outnumber the entire rebel force two to one, but this way they even had to send a pair of Schiavona militia battalions post-haste to the front just to be sure. The loyalists still overestimated their own strength, and so did in fact Pietro di Calvacasa. Gracco di Piedi's volunteer battalions were kept in reserve and were scheduled to arrive sometime in the middle of the day the battle was calculated to take place on.
All outlying pickets were ushered in the main camp and the two armies slowly approached each other.
The fields near the royal highway moving towards Lago Placco and the northern towns are wide grasslands with the occasional small grove signaling moors or dried up lake beds. The highway is straight as an arrow as it moves toward Civita Maria and the Böhnstadt border.
The rebel army was drawn up facing roughly south right on the road. There was a small unnamed village and fields of fresh crops to their right (west) flank and a small sandstone hill further west. The center was dominated by the road and surrounding plains, but there was a thicket moving east by southeast. A small slope proved a good place for the regimental guns right near the road.
The Count dismissed the importance of the hill overlooking the village and used it to hide his reserves instead. The Glambrian storming party was therefore left in the village to expel any cavalry advance on the extreme right. Next to them were placed the Böhnstadt Freikorps von Schütterstöck, a good quality and well motivated unit. Further ahead the Calvacasa militia had hidden between the crops in a loose formation.
The main infantry line was drawn up between the hill and the thicket. The foot dragoons were sent ahead to protect the artillery on the slope.
The woods itself were a tactical conundrum for the rebels. The Count expected a large amount of skirmishers to swarm it, so his units had to get there first and expel them. Therefore his best Varangian infantry and mounted Freikorps were tasked with occupying it.
The next problem was the expected large number of loyalist cavalry. Good battle cavalry was completely lacking from the rebel ranks, the best they had were the Freikorps and Calvacasa Outriders, the latter closer to light dragoons than anything else. These were massed on the left flank east of the woods to exploit the large open field. The Count expected the enemy cavalry to be drawn up there as well.
