Outside your tent you can hear Spite, Fluffy and Scaly all growl. Odd, the third watch started recently, most of the camp should be asleep. No doubt Jayne and Sansa would be furious with you for staying up to research the newest updates on the campaign; but something has been nagging at you about your foes approach, or lack thereof, and you would very much like to discern his plan before you next meet his forces on the field.

You hear another rustle outside your tent, and your beasts verbal emanations redouble, Aquilla reciprocating by snapping his head around to stare at one spot on the wall of your tent, tracking it around the circumference of the tent, and stopping again directly opposite the tent-flap.

>well?
>enemies updated position

>bumping since /tg/ is moving kinda fast tonight

>>12776465

Can we turn the earth on the outside of the tent into a sudden hole roughly man-height deep?

>>12776394
Get our weapon (spear or sword, whichever is closer) ready. Can we sneak our mail shirt on?

Head to the middle of the tent if we aren't in it already, and ask who's there. Make ready with the earth magic, this is a war zone and skulking around is a good way to be mistaken for an assassin. The men should know that if they have the amount of experience we think they do.

Damn, I hoped we'd be able to start off immediately after the battle.

We needed to get the RapidRiders out there independantly raiding.

Did we trap the fields according to the previously laid out plans? The one at the same elevation was particularly important.

Order the RapidRiders to move out along the ridge, keeping of sight until they are above the enemy camp. Have them bring along our eagle. Get them to do an enemy campfire count and to see if there is anything out of the ordinary they can see. Have them send our eagle back with the intel.

Then conduct a fire arrow raid and disperse before raiding patrols and supply convoys.

>>12776519

for the simple fact that be it assassin or ally, the look on their face will be quite priceless.

also, possibly half-fill it to capture whatever is outside.

>>12776519
Oh, have we developed our earth elementalism powers to the point where we can sense someone's feet on the earth?

>>12776544
>Did we trap the fields according to the previously laid out plans?
According to Pax, the enemy has been sending out scouts in force to find our traps and mark them.
Not only is this enemy commander canny, but he is patient as well.

I would say wait and let them enter the tent. If we deem the friend the all is good but if we deem the foe we impale them with an earth spike.

>>12776605

No friend would have our pets on such an edge.

It's an enemy. Send Aquila to Sansa with a big "ASSASINS HALP" on it. They'll be spooked by the bird and stop for abit.

It's time to armour up.

You grab your sword from the side of the table you are sitting at. You look longingly at your armor racks, just to the right of the spot Aquila is staring at. You take a moment to center yourself, before asking aloud "Who's there?".

Instead of an answer you hear the 'snikt' of a blade leaving a sheathe, and see your tent sliced open. A tall, pitch black Felixsian leaps through the gap, a pair of keris daggers drawn. The Felixsians black fur is offset by his dark gray leathers and bright green eyes. "I have been sent to end you." he growls, before leaping at you.

>roll for combat

rolled 45 = 45

>>12776642

"End? I've barely even started."

>>12776660

Also, scream. Loudly.

>>12776660

Dangerously close to cheesy one-liner.

Are we able to use our elemental powers in a fight?

>>12776642
Are Fluffy and Scaly tied up or in a cage?
We should yell for them.

And thus, we hopefully learn to alpha strike with disabling earth elementalism when dealing with possible assassins in the future.

: /

"But I've just begun." you retort, sidestepping your assailants blow and striking back. With the speed possible only for a Felixsian the assassin dances away from your first strike, crouching low and growling before leaping back at you again, you catch one blade on yours, the feline sentients arm recoiling at the force of the blow. You catch his left arm as he attempts to strike at you, and throw him across your tent. "IS THAT YOUR BEST!?" you taunt the assassin at the top of your lungs.

It is obvious that you are stronger, but he is as fast and agile as the best of his race, outstripping your speed easily. You see him tense for a split second and ready yourself for another attack.

>combat again, and if you want to use elementalism roll for that as well (and of course tell me what you want to do with it)

>>12776742
Well if he is leaping in the air couldn't we just impale him with an earth spike? If i remember correctly can't we make them like 8 feet tall and what not?

>>12776756
Unfortunately i don't know how the roll things work but perform a feint to draw his attention then use earth powers to trap one of his feet to the ground and move out of his striking distance.

rolled 29 = 29

>>12776781

type "dice+1d100" in the email field.

rolled 30 = 30

>>12776781
combat roll

rolled 91 = 91

>>12776756
Combat Roll.
Catch his attack on our sword and kick him while he's caught.

rolled 66 = 66

>>12776803

Oh crap, I didn't declare.

Let my roll be for elementalism. Open to ideas, otherwise, spear his legs: cut his mobility.

rolled 7 = 7

Testing dem dice

>>12776826
Have a pair of earth spikes come up and spear him in the back of the thighs.

Focusing as fast as you can you shoot out a pair of spikes at your atatcker as he bounds towards you. The first he dodges handilly, the second grows straight through his left outer thigh, the Felixsian yowls in pain, stumbling away from you and tearing his flesh. A spray of blood emits from the gaping wound. You stride forward, pressing your advantage. The assassin dodges your first blow, but your second lands true, severing the large felines right arm at the shoulder. He falls to the ground, moaning in pain. Felixsians... faster than any other race, and as agile as an elf; but shortsighted, and physically weak. You spit at the ground as you stride towards where the assassin landed. He does not look frightened, growling weakly as you approach, his remaining arm poised across his chest, hand at his empty left shoulder, blade pointing back to his right elbow.

>mercy?

rolled 31 = 31

>>12776995

Disarm him.

Call for aid while keeping him covered. He must be kept alive for interrogation and torture.

>>12776995
Use Earth elementalism to bind him to the ground while calling for guards and rousing the camp.
I'm almost tempted to run a deception op to let the enemy commander think his assassin succeeded, and then bait him into an attack.

rolled 72 = 72

Watch out for him throwing a poison danger at us.

>>12777035

Been thinking the same thing.

However I'm not sure how much good that will do. It might make the opposing lord overconfident but I doubt it'll be a big influence.

With a precise swing of your blade you knock the assassins blade away "ASSASSIN!" you announce loudly, you hear the tents near yours break into a commotion. For a moment you consider binding this felixsian in place with elementalism, but realize that your control isnt good enough yet. So you roughly plant your foot on the assassins chest, pinning him in place. He jars backwards, knocking a very familiar amulet up against his chin.

Blood still seeping from the wounds you opened up, the assassin laughs "You hope to gain information from me before I die then?" he asks, hacking a thick mucusy hairball onto your feat as he finishes his question, the vibrancy leaving his eyes slowly.

>>12777148
>knocking a very familiar amulet up against his chin
Are these the same ones carried by the rebels under Khalless' command?
Crap, has the Second Wife and her battle group tracked us here?
We'll need to double the guard patrols, especially around Laelith's tent.

>>12777176
similar, but not the same. Remember arcana used to be common, and this was no doubt a popular piece to give to an assassin/someone you dont want coughing up info

If he dies then he dies. Two things we need to find out out now are: Was he operating alone? If no then how many more are in the camp and who are they after?

>>12777192

Rip it off and throw it aside, now!

(BOMB)

You tilt your head to the side, and flick the amulet away from his neck. "No, I just need to know if you brought any accomplices with you." you reply, putting more weight on his chest.

"Three of us... your aide and pet noble should be dead by now." he replies laughing. You drag him out of your tent and leave him. Jaynes tent is to your left, Sansas to your right... the sounds of fighting coming from both.

>>12777301

Pax, I love you for CQ but I hate you. I hate you so much right now.

Cut our pets free. Tell them to help Sansa. We go to find Jayne.

>>12777326
But jayne is more verse with the pets so sending them to her would be more effective.

So bears to jayne and us to samsa

>>12777326
I'll second this.

>>12777376
this gets my second

Us to Sansa. Glad I didn't miss too much.

>>12777376
Agreeing with this one.

You cut loose Fluffy and Scaly "To Jayne" you order them. As the Aurachnospecs make for Jaynes tent you set off towards Sansas, glad that you had pants on under your robe, as it flutters behind you from the running.

You enter the tent and are greeted by the shrieking song of metal on metal, as a slightly less then decent Sansa and the assassin tasked with her life duel. Their motions are hard to track, but Sansa is beginning to sweat, her opponent looking much more controlled than her. Aside from being faster he has a few inches of height, and is using it to his advantage at every opportunity, striking from above, and at her head; as opposed to the stabs towards the chest you were presented with. The two lock blades for a brief moment, before backing away from each other and circling each other, preparing to strike again.

>roll for combat.

rolled 1 = 1

>>12777533
Combat!

rolled 6 = 6

>>12777533
The surprise attack should be enough.

>>12777547
Very nice good sir, although I'm sad we had two awesome rolls in a row when we only needed one.

>>12777547
>1
That assassin is gonna get gibbed.

>>12777547

Assassins, pieces of assassins everywhere.

With a roll like that we might have time to save both!

The second we kill that assassin we need to haul ass back toward jayne's tent.

You approach quietly, nodding to Sansa. When you are behind the assassin he makes his move, or tries too. What he did not expect was to step into a fissure two feet deep. He falls to his knees, and you hear his left shin snap. The Felixsian screams as you stab your blade through the back of his neck, cutting the cry short. "So they woke you up as well?" you as as nonchalantly as possible.

Sansa nods, then something clicks in her mind and she blushes furiously, moving her hands to cover her bare chest. "Thank you, but, ahh, would you mind letting me dress myself before we discuss this?" she replies sheepishly, glancing down quickly, no doubt to ensure the cloths covering her crotch were still secure.

rolled 20 = 20

>>12777655
"I'll be back in a moment"

let's go check on Jayne

>>12777655
To jaynes tent NAOOO!

>>12777655

"Back in a minute"

Run, run to Jayne!

>>12777675
Agreed. Flirting and such can wait until we're sure our officers are alright.

>1

the dice surely love us tonight men

>>12777716
b/c the dice know that if we die to an assassin no one will see us fail horribly. So it sits and bids its time until we are in an epic battle of thousands of troops. Then it unleashes its trump card and we die like a little girls for all to see.

"I'll be back in a moment Sansa, I have more of this trash to deal with" you reply, making your way to Jaynes tent as quickly as you can. When you get there you see a few superficial cuts on Jayne, and Fluffy is hanging back, one of its legs dangling by a ligament, Scaly growling viciously at the assassin, standing over his wounded brood-mate. The assassin is about as tall as you, and from the looks of it he has a shattered right forearm. Jayne does not look all that shocked by your appearance, nor tired in the least; she must have been meditating. The Felixsian growls and leaps at Jayne, slashing out with his left arm.

>roll for combat

rolled 87 = 87

>>12777768
Not a 1 unfortunately.

rolled 18 = 18

>>12777768
Combat Roll!
Let's keep this momentum up!

>>12777779
Fitting that when we outnumber our foe we do terrible...

rolled 39 = 39

>>12777768

go!

rolled 86 = 86

>>12777768

rollin' on emptyyyyy

rollin' willlllllllld

rollin' long

>>12777789

Conservation of Ninjitsu at work. D:

The assassin lands a glancing blow on Jaynes arm, as she turns away from his strike, attempting to smash the back of his skull with her mace. Unfortunately she misses, taking him full on in the back and sending him sprawling, but most certainly not killing him. You attempt to capitalize on your foes prone position, but as your blow is about to fall he rolls out of the way and burries his blade into your right shoulder, pushing into the blow as hard as he can. You fall to the ground, and feel the feline assassin still grasping the blade, vault over you, his ruined forearm brushing your face as the blade in your shoulder is twisted. He releases the blade as he finally removes his weight from you, landing near the blade he dropped from his ruined arm in his good hand, snarling at you and Jayne as you rise.

>combat again

>>12777907
Someone else roll combat this time.

rolled 12 = 12

>>12777907
hope this one goes better. Combat!

>>12777907

Rolling for elementalism. Killing blow.

rolled 6 = 6

>>12777929
there we go.

The assassin lunges again, but this time you are prepared. When the assassin is in mid-leap you thrust a spear of stone out from the ground, piercing the would-be killers chest, he slides almost fully down the length of the shaft, stopping about a foot from the base of the angled spike, before coughing blood in your general direction and expireng. You glance at Jayne, the only person you have seen tonight that is not sweating, as you wipe the blood and sweat from your own brow. Before you can say anything, Sansa bursts into the tent in her undergarments, arrow quivered and bow drawn. "Why do I suddenly feel over-dressed?" you ask to no one in particular as

Sansa eases back on her bow and drops the arrow, a smirk forming on her face. "Any idea where these assassins came from?" she asks, moving more fully into the tent.

Jayne shrugs her shoulders "I havent the first clue. However I would very much appreciate it if you were to remove this newest rock from my tent Justinian."

>>12778045

Check if the original assassin is still alive. If he is, get Jayne or some medics to stabilise him.

>>12778045
"Well we do have on we can try talking to but I don't have the highest hopes. It looks like our opponent was hoping to take out the heads of this maniple before assaulting us. Perhaps we should let him think he was successful if we can."

Make sure both of them are okay, those blades might have been poisoned. All of us to the surgeons and medics right now. Drag the living assassin with us.

>>12778095
Agree with this. If we need to go ahead with the 'fake death' op, then we can have our doctors fake the death reports.

Suggest this might be a good chance for Jayne to practice her elementalism.

>>12778113
Wouldn't that lower our men's morale as well? Unless we purposefully have the messages captured or something in a false attempt to "report" them to the high command.

You remove your robe and toss it to Sansa in one more or less fluid motion, the blade in your strong shoulder impeding the process slightly. "One may still be alive, we should ask him... on our way to the surgeons tent. All of us have been wounded, and I would like to ensure that none of us have been poisoned." Sansa wraps the robe around her mostly bare form, Jayne retrieves hers and does the same, eying Sansa while she does so. You can hear Fluffy struggling to keep pace with you, and Scaly chittering at his counterpart behind you as you leave the tent.

Once outside you see the assassin looking at the three of you from the ground. Realizing what became of his mission he draws a small dagger "For Uurlanth!" he cries weekly before driving the blade into his chest. Already week from blood loss, he only manages one bloody heave before expiring, well before you reach him.

After you wake the surgeon he checks over the three of you, confirming that there are no poisons in your bodies that he knows of, and bandages your wound.

After the doctor suggests immobilizing it for a for a week Jayne interjects "I may be able to heal it well enough to be used by morning, if you are comfortable with me trying, Justinian."

>>12778260
I suggest letting her try. Practice makes perfect.

rolled 26 = 26

>>12778213
I agree. Trying to fake our deaths to our enemy without lowering the morale of our men requires things we don't have, namely a mole in the Uurlanth ranks to feed them the false info.

>>12778260

do it

i sense a battle coming soon and we need to be at full efficiency

search their bodies for clues

well if it doesn't work we can either use the failure for future teasing/favors or wacky high jinks

>>12778300
I'm seconding this.

If Jayne does well, then we should get our head surgeon and chief medical officer started on training in life magic, otherwise they're going to feel obsolete and outdated when Life Elementalists are throwing around Cure spells, closing wounds and neutralizing poisons.

>>12778310
Depends how funerals/mourning is done in the empire. If it's done rather public, if we make it look like our base camp is in mourning, the enemy scouts would report that. As long as we're not seen by said scouts, it might work.

>>12778260

Do it.

If I read the enemy lord right, he'll be attacking tmr to capitalise on this attack.

Regarding the false death operation, the mercs might try to run if the paymaster is dead. Have our cavalry wings as well as one of our ground pounder mercs leave the camp and circle behind the enemy. Leave Gaius and Wulf incharge of the rest.

When battle is joined, we charge from the rear.

>>12778368
Unless they can do it without being seen, I suggest we don't send the mercs out. If we read the enemy commander wrong, he might just crush the mercs to be safe or try to contact them to hire them and that could lead to a lot of potential problems.

>>12778337
Not just everyone can do this shit, man. Besides, would you rather have some dude putting his hands all over you, or Jayne? Yeah, that's what I thought.

>>12778400

The thing is, we'll be following them. Jaynes unit should desert as well and we'll be disguised as lay soldiers.

If they want to pay us to backstab them, why not? Trollface.jpg

>>12778407

actually, if they have the will power and the free time, yeah anyone can learn elementalism

i'd still prefer jayne as our personal medic, mind you, but training our surgeons and medical staff in life elementalism could prove to raise the number of men saved from their wounds.

>>12778429
We don't know if they'll hire the mercs. From what the troops we captured earlier told us, they mentioned no mercs and I guess we should ask Pax if they do hire mercs. I think it's too risky simply because the enemy could just decide to crush the merc units leaving. He was described as being somewhat cunning and all so I wouldn't put it past him.

"Go right ahead then" you reply, hoping to whatever gods are paying attention at the moment that she doesnt cause any irreparable damage, considering how little finesse you had after two months of training. However, you are pleasantly surprised when she finishes a few hours later. The joint is still sore, but you can move it well enough to fight. As long as nothing with an excessive ammount of force strikes it you figure it will stay shut and be functional within a day or two.

The three of you make your way out into the early morning as the sun begins to rise over the front gate to you small wooden fort. The peacefulness of the scene is broken by a group of scouts rushing through the gate, short of breath. They spot you and immediately hustle over to you. "Enemy force approaching, three battalions plus a cavalry wing. They seem to have picked their way through the trap fields, they will reach us by midday. They had several large barrels in tow, full of pitch by the look of it." The scouts report, unfazed at the fact that you stand before them in naught but your pants, and your companions in only their robes.

>>12778497
Picked their way as in avoided them or just went through them taking the losses? Any word on what the three battalions were and what kind of cavalry?

I suggest we move out to meet them. Let's not let them get the chance to use the barrels. Perhaps we can even use them our self if we can capture them.

>>12778497

Guys I need to leave so best of luck with the rolls.

With this force we might want to consider the deception that those units left. Our cavalry wings + 1 ground merc unit riding piggy back. We should be able to be the hammer against the anvil of our heavy massed infantry.

>>12778497
>several large barrels in tow, full of pitch by the look of it
Shit. Sounds like they're going to use incendiary weapons to set fire to our fortifications as well as to smoke us out.

What're our water reserves like? And get everyone up and prepared.

>>12778526

then again this could be bait to lure us out of our camp into pitched battle with a numerically superior force waiting behind the ones with the barrels

i say we attack as long as we confirm that there are no other enemies waiting behind them to catch us in a trap

Can we get a map update?

Might be worth getting some fire arrows ready and try to set of their barrels before they can use it.

Perhaps we should put on the Earth Training Glove to quickly make earthen fortifications and pit traps around our base and in the likely fields of attack.
It should be easier to do with the glove, and since we're not using it directly in battle it should be safe.

>>12778575
Then our scouts are failing pretty hard if this is the case and I rather we move out to meet them than let them get into position to use what's in the barrels. It's likely a trap but I don't see any better options than meeting them and using some of our trump cards.

>>12778576
Laelith can do something for that, I suspect.

>>12778637
Oh, good idea. Have her ignite the pitch in the middle of the enemy.

>>12778559
About a weeks worth of drinking water left, and it takes a week round trip to get to the river to replenish, you had intended to send a party to do just that this morning. "What manner of troops?" you ask the scout, as he hands you his map, having marked down the enemies loacation.

"Two battalions of pikemen, I couldnt see the third. the cavalry looks to be the sister wing of the one you tore up last week Commander. And it looks as if they went around, not surprising considering that you managed to break two of their mercenary battalions with your traps." the scout replies

>>12778637
She needs fire already burning in order to use her powers, right?
What if we set up hidden fire pits, using our earth elementalism assisted with the earth glove, all around the field and around outside the base.
We find our best shot, and he'll set the pits on fire when the battle starts, giving Laelith a massive amount of flames to work with.

>>12778656
>the circles of course are your trap fields, lifted from the suggestions from the other day

>>12778656
I suggest we march out to meet them. No point letting them get into range to use the pitch. For all we know, they have a siege weapon of some kind to launch that pitch.

>>12778656
Are any of the heavy repeating crossbow emplacements completed?
What about siege engines?

I wish I had thought of this earlier, but we could have spent the week making wooden movable palisades to act as a kind of crude wood barbed wire around the base and in front of the repeating crossbows.

I don't think we should march out to meet them but have someone else go out in our stead. The enemy force is either meant as a probe to see our strength or a trap. Either way if someone else goes out to command our troops (with a pre battle plan and a heavy amount of advice) it might get the enemy general to think his plan has worked.

>>12778690
three big repeaters are about half finished, no crew trained to use them yet though. And no siege engines were requested.

>>12778680
But marching out will still put our units in range of any siege engines they might have, as well as tiring our troops out.
I think it would be better to fortify our position and trap the area, and force the enemy to engage us at our strong point.

>>12778714
I'm not worried about the siege engines hitting our troops. I'm worried about them using it to take out our fort. Where all our supplies are. And if our troops tire out from that kind of a march, the enemy will be a lot more tired since they've marched further.

>>12778708
If it's a trap, the enemy must have some kind of stealth arcana because I don't see how they can hide any troops in the open plains. That or flyers and we can just leave some ranged units back at the fort.

can we launch small (10 pounds or less) rocks through the air with any accuracy? If we can, then we could aim for the pitch and Laelith can light that up and hopefully fry a few.

>>12778740
Having her light it in the barrels would be better. The overpressure of all that pitch going up at once should make them explode, sending a scything wave of wooden spear fragments into everyone around them.

It will be glorious. The enemy morale will be shattered.

>>12778740
>no, you have focused on rending the earth and bending it to your will, instead of terrakinesis, or stonesense. You could always focus on something else if you wish of course, but you lack the skill to do as you suggest right now.

if they had siege engines then the scouts would have seen them

if we march out in force with our full strength they should pose no real threat

if this is a trap, however, then things could get dicey

still, meeting them in the field is the best option

>>12778752
Agreed here. Get some hunters to launch numerous fire arrows at the barrels and as long as some get close enough, Laelith can hopefully light em up.

>>12778737

That's true forget the map scale sometimes. Then this has to be a probe. Odds are they might fight for a bit then retreat if we come at them in force. Perhaps they will light the plains on fire to cover their escape? No matter the case that pitch has to be dealt with quickly. We also need to find out what that 3rd division of men is made up of.

>>12778737
Take into consideration that we only have a few hours.
I think it would be more tactically sound to let the enemy come to us, set up their siege engines, then have Laelith fireball them all into ash, than going out to meet them where there will be no advantage to either side.

>>12778766
I doubt we'll need to meet them with our full strength. Two units are pikemen - similar to our Legionary units I imagine and we should use range to deal with them. Cavalry can also be hit with range and our spear unit while their final unit... I'm assuming it'll be a ranged one. To light the pitch on fire with ranged fire attacks and so this battle isn't a joke where we sit back and pepper them to death.

>>12778790
Assuming the third unit doesn't have a small siege engine of some kind, we do not want that pitch to get near our fort. Our enemy isn't stupid - he likely has a plan in how to use it to light our fort on fire without getting right next to it. Thus why I don't want them getting close enough to use it.

>>12778763

if we start training in something else we wont lose our current abilities, right?

if we can start training other powers then i suggest training in terrakinesis and at a later point stone sense

>>12778774
>speaking of the scale, the forest you are guarding is OLLLLD, (think Fangorn Forest) thats why its a week round trip to the river and back, but only a day to your enemies camp

>>12778822
Pax, can you indicate where on the map we'd face our enemy if we marched out to meet them? Just want to get an idea on how much ground we'd have to work with since they're on a pretty enclosed area at the moment.

>>12778807
That plan is likely arrows dipped in pitch, a ballista with an incendiary bolt, or he's got a small catapult or trebuchet.

I still say that going out to meet them is a tactically unsound plan.

>>12778793
Uurlanth Pikemen are more medium infantry. Armed with pikes (not spears) except for the first two ranks who usually have battleaxes or greatswords. The wear Steel curiasses, helms, gauntlets and greaves that go from about crotch to above the knees.

you would meet them at the "X"

>>12778870
Can you give you reasons then? Just curious on what exactly you're concerned about.

In my view, sitting back at our fort lets them use the pitch and if we're unlucky and things get set on fire, we're either letting it burn down or using up our last reserves of water that we need to keep our troops going. Plus, it we meet them in the field and we have t fall back we at least have the fort to go back to. If we get pushed back at the fort, we're moving into the forest and that's not going to be the best place to be if they have pitch and they want to kill us that badly.

>>12778870

if they attack us at the fort they could still fire a couple of missiles into the camp before laelith could torch them and if that happens then our entire maniple would be trapped in a burning fort with two units of pikes at the gates trying to keep us in

attacking them is safer

>>12778882
Similar weakness to the phalanx I assume? If we can mess up the formation, the pike-wall won't be as effective?

>>12778912
correct. but remember their pikes are 12 feet, to your Legionaries 6.5 foot spears.

You know, why are we worried about fire? Laelith can do almost anything with fire. That includes snuffing it out.

>>12778918
Oh I'm well aware that the pikes have a greater range but the benefit will be that if we can get within the wall, they'll be a lot more useless than our spears. That or a nice fissure in the unit could help although using that on the cav would be better.

>>12778919
I suppose we should get confirmation before we assume this and to what degree she can control fire. If they get too large and too numerous, it might not be best to rely on that.

>>12778899
I am worried that the enemy will attempt to outflank us on the field. On the plains, we have no advantage compared to the enemy. He will be able to maneuver his forces as well as ours.

If we stay in a fortified position, we have a defensive advantage. Threats of fire are mitigated by Laelith being able to snuff them out, and setting the enemy's siege weaponry on fire if we appropriately trap the area with fire pits that Laelith can draw from.

>>12778957
Assuming there is no cloak arcana, the enemy force is only 4 units large. Unless our scouts are failing us hard, there's no other forces coming at us since it's pretty hard to hide out on the open plains. We'd have the cavalry advantage if we bring them and from what I remember, pikemen can't really move well if they're deployed into their wall so the threat of our cavalry might anchor their units if they see them on the field.

Your defensive position point I can't really argue against unless we have a better assessment of Laelith's skills. Can you clarify or can we ask her Pax? She's good but I'm assuming if there's tons of fires all over the camp, even she'd be overwhelmed.

>>12778989
We don't know enemy cavalry numbers or type, but they are likely to be experienced veterans, given the amount of time that the enemy has been in the field.
They're a wing of cavalry, but that doesn't give us real comparitive numbers or unit strength.

You make your way over to Laeliths tent to wake her. She is groggy, and by the time she invites you into her tent she already has a particularly thick robe wrapped around herself. "How can I help you Justinian?" she asks, looking more than confused by your half-dressed nature.

"I have a question that I was hoping you could answer." you reply.

"No, I dont know where the gnomes who stole your shirts went, and no, I think it should be Sansa or Jayne to help you find them." she replies, with what you could almost call mirth hiding at the edge of her voice.

"If someone were to begin launching burning pitch into the camp, would you be able to controll it?" you ask, more worried about the coming engagement than Laelith growing a sense of humor.

"If it didnt spread quickly, and there were only a gew sources. Pitch is a very difficult fuel to quash, almost like attempting to quash magical fire. Even one segment of our wall would be difficult to control. I could do it, but I do not know if I could do it over a sustained period of time, and the threat of the pitch being re-lit would remain a problem." she replies, suddenly looking more concerned. "I'm assuming that our foe has brought some to bear then?"

>>12779025
Good thing we have crossbows and spearmen then. Veterans or not, crossbows will pierce armoured men/horses and the spears will stop a direct charge. Not saying it's perfect but it's not like we're defenseless to them.

>>12779028
This also makes letting them approach the fort less of a good idea.
"Indeed. How far can you control fire from? If we landed fire arrows near them, could you potentially set them off?"

>>12779028

yeah, meeting them in the field is definitely the better option

I still think that by using the earth elementalism glove to make it easier, we could put up enough earthworks to protect most of the buidlings inside our compound, and create a second wall of sand and stone right behind the wooden one, so that burning won't be such a problem.

>>12779082
>and be passed out for the battle as well

"Indeed they have. How far away does the fire need to be for you to controll it?" you ask her, preparing to ready the men once you get your response.

"Twenty yards at most, and the control is imprecise then. Will you be needing my expertise today then?" she asks.

>>12779082
Perhaps. Hard to say since we're not sure how much effort it will take or how long to do something to that scale. It does raise a new issue though - the enemy will see the earth is raised in protection, so either they'll abandon the attack or they'll attack to burn down what they can and leave. Regardless, they'll report this info to their commander and suddenly the fort becomes a greater problem for him due to its hardiness. Either he'll sit back and call for more troops from home to siege/assault us or he'll ignore us and move more north to make us chase him out of the fort and split our forces. If we leave it as a wooden fort, I imagine he'll be more likely to keep throwing forces at us since a wooden fort is a lot easier to topple than an earthen one.

>>12779113
"Most definitely. Our foe wants to burn the fort down and we best make sure we show him why this was a foolish idea."

Hmmm. Laelith flaming a unit of pikemen to open up a hole and let us get in to the pitch? This has some potential to work...

what if Laelith were to set the pitch alight while it was still in the barrels?

so, what armor do you guys want, and what units are you going to bring?

>>12779165
>Kaboom, and not the Billy Mays product

"Thank you Laelith. And I'll be sure to consult you should gnomes ever make off with anything of mine."

>>12779207
Heavy armour. I suggest we bring our Legionary units, spears, hunters, scouts, bear and raptor cav.

General question Pax - I assume our scouts have been scouting the enemy during the week when they can. Have they got any reports on what they've seen the enemy have in their army?

>>12779260
Are we still going to have our cavalry break off and outflank the enemy?

>>12779260
Sounds like a solid loadout. The pikemen have shields so archers will be less effective.

Rangers instead of scouts. We can have them set up some minor fortifications and when they bring up the pitch to light them we can blow it up easier.

rolled 29 = 29

>>12779260
Seconding

>>12779299
I suggested the scouts over rangers simply because A) Want to save the surprise of repeater crossbows for when we face units that are more lightly armoured and B) The armour pen of the normal crossbows and better range will be more important for this battle. Especially if the enemy cavalry get too close.

And if we're marching out to them, I don't think we'll have much time to set up any fortifications.

>>12779282
pikemen, a few units of heavy infantry (at least one is a dwarven mercenary unit). lots of medium infantry, including the pikemen of course. A few large units of elven archers. And two distinct blocks of levied infantry, one with swords, the other halberds.

Do you plan to ride spite into battle as well?

>>12779286
Didn't see this. It all depends on what the third unit we're facing is. If it's not ranged, and I doubt we'll be that lucky, we'll have the raptors dance around and shoot people. If there are ranged units, we'll have to wait to see what their formation is before deciding. Bear cav should be used as a threat initially. Their existence will have at least one unit of pikemen put aside to deal with them I imagine. Otherwise bear cav waits for a chance to smash someone from a flank.

This all may change when we see the battlefield but that's what I have in mind at the moment.

>>12779359

what general would go into battle without his trusty steed? of course we ride spite

and are we always going to be outnumbered in our campaigns Pax?

I would like to be the guy with the numerical advantage every now and then

>>12779359
Hooboy. Elven archers eh? I'll assume that's the third unit. Makes me think we should maybe leave the raptors behind since the bear cav can at least weather archer fire a little better. I wanted to use them to dart in and flank but until we get the pikemen anchored in battle, the raptors will be sitting ducks for archer fire.

>>12779359
I think we should field most of our force. with numbers like these coming our way. Minimize losses and maximize prisoners by making them break early. We should just leave a skeleton force at camp.

>>12779388

bring the entire maniple then?

>>12779391
That's not what is attacking us at the moment. It's what the enemy has been seen to have in general. We know only 4 units are headed our way. Plus, the less forces we show in battle, the less the enemy will know about our troop composition. It's partly why I suggested we use obvious units like the Legionary units. I imagine many maniples have them so it's not tipping out hand a lot beyond telling him we have two of them.

>>12779404

at least bring all of our cav then

>>12779426
It's risking them to dangerous archer fire though. But if we have them all on the field, it would open up more possibilities for flanking... Alright fine. Let's just hold them back until units engage and hope their archers don't have artillery level range.

>>12779448
We'll need the raptors in order to disrupt the enemy cavalry and take them out, at least.

You tell Laelith to prepare for battle and armor up yourself. Once that is done you commandeer one of the scouts telescopes, and climb your tower. You are able to surmise the enemies formation, and estimate approximately where your force will meet them, if you leave fairly quickly. the camp is a bustle of activity below you, as all of your Captains mercenary and Imperial, are preparing their battalions for battle, should you select them to fight instead of staying on garrison duty.

>Light blue blocks are pikemen, light purple are mercs in scalemail with combat axes and combat picks. The triangle is the second wing of men at arms in the battalion Lord Stant has, and is identical in equipment to the one you fought in the last session. The big brown circles are the pitch barrels, the light blue boxes around them are the guys pushing the carts, and carrying small mangonels (the brown lines). The pentagon is a unit of human archers, they are carrying a House Stant banner, and near their front is a young man in sky-blue armor, with a longbow, two big quivers of arrows, and a shortsword on his belt.

>Dark green patches are thick brush, tan area is tall-ass grass

>>12779379
>no, but at this point in the war the Empire IS the outnumbered underdog

>>12779501
Good thing we went out to meet them. They did have siege units to hit us with pitch. There's also someone we definitely need to capture in this battle...

Alrighty. Two Legionary units in the middle and have the spears and scouts on the right flank with the raptors. We should use them to hunt the men at arms. Horse cav on the left flank and have the bear cav in the middle. Ideally, I'd like the legionary units to engage the pikemen and we charge right through the center mercs to rain misery on the archers and take out the pitch. Laelith should ride with us this battle.
Hunters can sit behind the legionary units to provide ranged support/fire arrow support.

Thoughts on this guys?

>>12779501
Let's get our hunters into the northern forest. Southern is too dangerous with the men-at-arms there. Laelith can go with them, and they will try to stealthily circle around to the back and launch some flaming arrows at the pitch and have her light it up.

>>12779501

well shit, they do have siege engines

reprimand our scouts when this is over

laelith rides with us on spite so when we get close enough she can torch the barrels

sansa with the hunters and collin with cornelius' battalion

>>12779557
I like the thought of charging through the mercs to hit the archers, but I think it would be better to do that after the pitch explodes. I don't think we want to be caught in that. Also after we spearhead through we need to have a column of our heavy mercs rush in behind us to secure our flank. Standard spearhead tactic. Let's introduce Uurlanth to the motherfucking Blitzkrieg.

>>12779591
Laelith needs to be within 20 yards of the pitch. So unless our hunters get lucky, we're going to have to get pretty close to make it blow. I won't argue with using the heavy mercs and I'd suggest we avoid sitting in the woods since flaming pitch would make us regret it a lot.

>>12779591

so the plan is we get close enoguh to the barrels so that laelith who is riding with us can asplode them , then we charge through the center merc unit , the mauraders following us into the breach ending with us hopefully capturing one of the lord's sons

lets do this

>>12779565
Actually, if we are going to spearhead then having Laelith with us on spite might be better than with the hunters. That way the hunters can launch the flaming arrows from long range and not have to get close. I change my vote to this.

so you want both legionaries, one to either side of Jaynes wing. on the flnks are Sansa and the hunters (north) Collin and the scouts (south). with the Impetus Marauders to follow you in/keep your exit hole open. And the RapidRiders on the south flank to fuck with the Men at Arms?

>>12779663
Sounds good.

>>12779663
Our final cavalry unit on the north would be good as well. The pikemen will have to face the legionaries or brace for the other cav unit and that'll make them easier to crack and hopefully roll that flank.

And if the hunters DO go on the north, keep them out of the forest or near the edge of it. I don't want them getting burnt up. I still think the center is better personally but majority rules.

>>12779663

plus the esperitus raiders and the cornwall mercs

cornwall mercs following the maurauders and raiders on the northern flank harrassing and what not

>>12779692
The hunters are best in the forest, it's their natural element. And the enemy isn't going to be deploying siege engines in the middle of a field battle and launching shit at the woods. Especially when they don't know that the hunters are there due to stealth.

>>12779692
>its brush, think a massive patch of burdock and other nasty bushes of doom. not good for much other than slowing you waaay the fuck down and hiding.
>progress post inbound

>>12779701
The mangonel's are basically catapults. It won't be too hard for them to deploy and use them in battle.

>>12779699
Cornwall mercs might be best in the south. Raptors mess up the cavalry (I hope. Part of me thinks our enemy has done something to the horses to stop them from freaking) and the Cornwall mercs with spears can help take them down while scouts can assist with crossbows.

>>12779725
I really need to fully read posts... I just assumed forest due to colour. Yeah, that's not so bad then although it still might burn nicely.

>>12779699
Like this:
Lavender is the enemy Mercs.
Red is Uursan with us and Laelith.
Green is Marauders.
Blue is our spearmen.

This keeps all flanks secured and should absolutely ravage them.

Whoa guys, the scouts and raiders can't take the men-at-arms alone. They will need infantry support unless you want our scouts to get decimated in close combat again.

>>12779733

yeah, about the cav, i was thinking and i liked the idea of starting our own personal cav unit, so can we try to perserve as many horses as possible?

have scouts try and only shoot riders and rapid riders do the same with their short bows

>>12779751

the gist of what i was suggesting, yes

can you implement this Pax or is it too late?

>>12779765
Spearmen down there then. The Marauders should be enough to hold the middle and keep us open.

>>12779751
A nice plan, if everything works out perfectly. You leave too much to chance, however, and to the /tg dice.

>>12779871

how would the dice fuck us over in that scenario?

You gather up all of your units save Kyrias rangers and Uurists Warlords and ride out to meet your foe. The scouts predictions were spot on, as were yours. Under the midday sun your force is within charging distance of the enemies force, Laelith riding behind you on Spite; the rest of your force arrayed to your flanks, Jayne next to you on StormCloud, looking resolute. Soldiers on both sides shouting at each other, or loosing warcries.

>last chance to alter your commands, and to do it without having to roll, otherwise roll for combat.

>>12779880
Because a bad roll would allow the enemy mercs to reform their line, and have their edges roll back in against us.

rolled 31 = 31

>>12779895

ROLLIN'

rolled 34 = 34

>>12779895
I have no problems.

>>12779928
Didn't want to roll until someone else had. Let's see if my luck has improved with a test roll...

>>12779895

oh and EXPRESSLY command the scouts,rapid riders, and cornwall mercs to not kill any horses

Let's do this.

>>12779961
No, let's just let them do what they can. I would rather have a few dead horses than a few dead men.

>>12779961
That I cannot agree with... We are here to win this battle as efficiently as we can. If horses survive, awesome, but lets not risk more casualties just to try to get horses. It is too early in the campaign for us to worry about such things.

okay , fine at least TRY to not kill them but if push comes to shove do what ya gotta do

It's always shoving in battle. That outnumbered underdog comment also means that we ought to keep our men as little injured as possible. Now I get it why the Nobles and other Commanders commented that we are rather incompetent for getting our ass handed by Khaless that way, extenuating circumstances aside (magi- err, elementalism!).

Also, avoid Mercs in scalemail for now. Keep pikemen suppressed with archers, hit the Men-at-Arms hard.

"CHARRRGE!!!!" you bellow as you put your heels into Spites upper ribs. For a moment it seems as if you are in command of both sides, as every soldier on the field breaks into a sprint, save your southern flank, which is patiently waiting for their target to get into range. As the enemy line rushes forwards you hear four loud crashing noises, no doubt the mangonels being dropped by their carriers. You notice that both units of pikemen have men with greatswords in their front ranks, the third and forth already dropping their pikes for the charge. But then you are amongst the center of the enemies line. Laelith ignites a group of mercenaries from behind you with a jet of fire, and you run your spear through an unlucky mans head, tearing it off as Spite continues. You tear through another mans neck with your spear before looking around again, two Uursan ahve been taken down by a mass of combat picks (think mountain climbing pick, but a bit bigger) piercing their barding in too many places. The riders make a valiant stand, but they die as well.

>roll for combat and any updated commands.

rolled 33 = 33

>>12780094
Combat roll

rolled 78 = 78

Men-at-arms should be hit now. Have the velociprey move in to disrupt them and the Cornwall mercs move in to get ready to charge. Scouts should pepper them now.

rolled 70 = 70

>>12780094
rolling for merc killing

>>12780112
Damnit. Guess they are doing what they want this round.

>>12780094
>This quest looks pretty awesome Pax. Nice pairing of good writing and an actually system. I'll still lurking and reading the archives but keep on cranking.

You drive onwards, Laelith spraying more fire, as you continue to thrust your spear into the heads of any foe within your reach, blood already beginning to run down the grip towards your gauntlet. Behind you you can hear the Tmpetus Marauders make contact with the unit you just drove through, you turn to look, and take in the whole field. As you had expected, the pikemens initial charge was devastating to your Legionary battalions, but without the weight of the charge behind them, you hope the losses will fall more in your direction. Although, thanks to your hunters initial volley the 196th already has the upper hand.

To the south you can see the RapidRiders bounding over the tall grass, landing nearly on top of the men at arms. The maneuver stops the cavalry dead in their tracks, but the ensuing fighting is devastating to both cavalry units, as the Crornwal Mercenaries rush through the grass to contact the horsemen almost immediately.

You are about to shout out to Finian to begin his salvo into the Men at Arms when a jarring force brings your attention back to your portion of the battle. You quickly dispatch the offending mercenary, when you look ahead. Longbows, most likely with bodkin tips, at least three ranks worth of archers ready to fire into Jaynes wing. The Noble has a horn at his lips, but you dont know whether he blows it or not, as a quartet of loud thumping noises announce that the mangonels have fired their first salvo.

>roll for combat, command, and a dodge.

rolled 53 = 53

>>12780229
Dodge

>>12780182
>thanks. I'm actually working out a bastard child (Fire Emblem and FFT for parents) of a tac rpg for this setting. Once me and my DH group get it past the alpha stages I'll probably share with /tg/.

>sapape Brethren. I dont know who they are captcha, but theyre probably gonna end up in this setting somehow now... a name like that is hard to pass up!

rolled 2 = 2

Combat roll.

Also, can we roll for Elementalism to either tip one of the mangonels or simply ruin it?

rolled 20 = 20

>>12780229
Raiders charge the rear of the pikes that the 196th are engaging

also, rolling for combat

Maurauders should begin to hit both units of pikemen while the horses in the north should flank the northern pikemen as well. We should run down those archers if we do not get wrecked by archer fire. Have the velociprey move out of close combat so the spearmen can get in and then the raptors can maybe harass the pikemen from the rear with arrows I guess. Someone else roll command if they do not mind this suggestion.

>>12780255
Woo, go me! Praise... Uh, what's-her-name-Sun-goddess-of-earth...

>>12780259

change my roll to command then

>>12780229
Raiders wheel and slam the pikemen from behind. That should shatter their devastating multi-rank attack capability by breaking the spear line. Have the Rapid Raiders break from combat (shouldn't be too hard with the horses panicked) and let the spearmen mop up the now-impotent men-at-arms.

As for us, charge those archers before they can fire, and make sure Laelith knows to ignite that pitch as soon as she possibly can.

>>12780255
give me another roll for elementalism then. The answer to questions regarding your elementalism powers is always gonna be either "roll for it" or occasionally "if you dont mind passing out"

rolled 84 = 84

Tempting fate, whisper to the goddess for aid, rolling for Elementalism

rolled 86 = 86

>>12780289

rollin' for elementalism then

>>12780309
Aww.

>>12780289
We actually have 3 rolls already. 2 is for combat, 20 is command, so I guess the 53 is elementalism?

I also don't think we should worry about the catapults. Once Laelith sends that pitch up they will ALL be down. I instead vote that we make the earth under the archers feet shift so it keeps them from firing on us.

Get our scouts up there and sending salvos into the pikemen.

>>12780322

WAIT

WE SHOULD CAPTURE THE MANGONELS

SO WE CANT BLOW THE PITCH OR THE MANGONELS WILL GO UP TOO

We need to keep those archers from firing.
We should continue our charge to stop the archers and to get Laelith in range to light the pitch.
Rapid Riders should disengage and attack the archers with us from the south.

>>12780322
The 53 is for dodge I believe. Hopefully some of those catapults survive the pitch going up for ourselves but taking the pitch out is more important. As well as capturing us a noble.

>>12780343
Actually, the crew of these catapults cannot be too highly trained for combat and there likely is not a lot of them. Perhaps we should just take out the crew and keep the pitch for ourselves to hit their camp...

>>12780392

leave the maurauders to clean the enemy mercs up, smash into the noble archer unit then crush the mangonel crew and mop whats left of the enemy

Screw capturing that crap, we'll just have to haul it all over and it will slow us down. We have engineers so can build our own when the time comes.

>>12780427
Capturing it saves us wood and it would get us the pitch. We do not have that as far as I know.

>>12780437
I would rather end the battle fast and avoid the losses than capture them, though. We can build more catapults, we can't build more men.

>>12780427

the engineers were taught by degrian who wont build us any killy engines, so no , our engineers DONT know how to make that crap

think of how useful six mangonels and a shit ton of pitch can be

>>12780455
He's fine with building killy engines, just not advanced killy engines with his supertech. He's fine with the ballistae and all, and he knows he's in the army. For that matter, we don't even know if he would be against killy advanced stuff. He was just against turning what he thought was going to be mining equipment into war machines to use against his own people.

Stop making unfounded assumptions.

>>12780446
I am trying to think what is worth more... Losing more men now for the pitch, which we could use to take their camp down or taking it our asap to save our men... Hard choice. Could Laelith torch the pitch on the catapults to take them out only?

So has the plan changed? Are we not detonating the barrels of pitch? Are we now planning to accept higher losses in order to attempt to acquire these weapons?

Guys, they probably have more pitch back at base. They are prepared to siege cities, after all. It's not like they would send everything with a small advance guard.

>>12780484
The point is we take it for ourselves so we can assault them and take out their camp and supplies. That would put a ton more pressure on this guy if we could do that, which is why I am having a hard time deciding on what to do... I will decide based on if Laelith can take out only the catapults.

>>12780477
No, we are blowing the pitch up. Fucking with our plan in the middle of battle like this is just going to get our asses killed. If you wanted to save the pitch and siege engines you should have said it before we started the battle with this as our centrepoint tactic.

>>12780455
>>12780473
Pax, could we get a confirmation on this? Is Degrian completely against building us engines of war, or do his morals only extend to the advanced automatons and steampunk technology being used for war?

>>12780495
If they are on the offensive then they won't have huge fortifications. Why would we need siege engines to assault a field base? They are not especially effective in those situations.

>>12780473

hold the motherfucking phone here, bub

hows about we check a couple threads ago

we discuss degrian making us a killy engine

Pax specifically states that he wouldn't do that and that he is against using his skills for ACTUALLY killing people

I submit to you, that YOU are the one making unfounded assuptions, not I

and besides, why waste time and resources when we could just get them now intstead of later?

and at this point in time, blowing the pitch wouldn't really effect the outcome of the battle

>>12780497
How could he be against building engines of war? He has already done it.

>>12780496
Yeah, you are right. Changing it now would be too risky. As beneficial as it could be, we will just find another way to deal with this guy.

>>12780512
Sure it would. Those catapults are going to get at least a couple more shots off into our ranks while we deal with the archers. Seeing huge explosions in the back will likely break the morale of the men on the line, too.

>>12780511
I wanted to use it more to hit their supplies but that is irrelevant now. I have changed my stance back to staying on the plan. I may regret it later but we are too far into our old plan to switch now. I will be content if we can capture his son.

>>12780511

if we can keep our shit together than we can join the counter-offensive that the empire is preparing

>>12780496

we didn't know that they had siege engines before the start of the battle, just that they had pitch

"LOOKOUT!!!" is all you can manage before the bodyguard opens fire. You and Laelith, along with most of the men in earshot hug up against your uursan and spread out... the men behind are not so luck however, and the toll is devastating. You hear spite roar in pain, and look to see a trio of arrows embedded in his left flank; had you not moved aside those arrows would have pierced his heart. The unit tears through the bodyguard like the claw of an angry dragon, not slowing for anything, nearly at Laeliths outside range. Spite is particularly fearsome, taking off limbs in threes and fours with his mighty claws, taking heads off and swallowing them, his bloodied teeth constantly working. You drive your spear through a trio of archers before they can fire into you again, and Spite lets out a might roar, reaming up on his hindquarters and swatting a pair of archers back. Laelith clings to your waist as you bellow out "ONWARDS, TO VICTORY!!!!" while halving the head of the bannerman with your meteorite spear.

On the heels of your warcry, a tremondously loud AoooouuuOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO is heard; the noble blew his horn. You look back at the battlefield in time to see the pots of pitch that had been loaded into the mangonels strike your men. Two of them burst open amongst the Impetus marauders, adding fire and shards of pottery to the copius ammounts of blood being created by the two units of dual-wielding warriors. The other two are gifted to your Legionary Battalions, one to each; putting gaping fiery wounds in the centers of their formations. You can hear Gaius shouting for the back ranks to re-organize to smother the flames, Cornelius is silent, absorbed in the fight.

>cont'd

>>12780512
He may be against it, but we have engineers who are military men that he trained. They won't be able to make steampunk crap, but a few catapults are well within their abilities.

And if he is against making things that kill men, why did he design our upsized ballistae that are for -- wait for it -- killing people?

>>12780543
>we didn't know that they had siege engines before the start of the battle
No, Pax said they had mangonels here >>12779501
We had time to alter the plan, since this was before our lines were drawn up.
It's just that everyone ignored them until they were mentioned a second time.

fine, fuck it do whatever

but mark me, when we go to degrian and ask him to build us shit like the mangonels and he says to fuck off, Ireserve every and all rights to say I told you so

The RapidRiders leap free of the melee they placed themselves in shortly after the pots land, and the Espiritus Raiders prepare to hurl their first set of javelins into the Pikemen.

You attempt to send some earthen spike into one of the Mangonels, but miss by mere feet, only managing to confuse the crew of the small catapult, delaying their next shot by a few seconds, and trapping the men.

>roll for combat and command, as usual

>>12780556
The fuck? Hasn't he been making stuff to kill people all this time?

rolled 77 = 77

>>12780558
Rolling for combat!

rolled 7 = 7

>>12780558
Get Finian and his scouts to hit the men-at-arms from the side with their crossbows if they cannot from their current locations. Raiders and horses should hit the pikemen units while we continue to cut through the archers. Laelith must take out the pitch. Rollin command.

Damn, that fire hurt our legionaires...

>>12780497
>Degrian wont make combat automecha, and he wont personally man any siege engines. You have yet to ask why.

>>12780573
Oh right. Capture the enemy commander and whoever we can.

>>12780575
>Degrian wont make combat automecha
Which means that he's fine with crewed weapon systems, but any kind of self-motivated weapon is off the table, then.
So that means that we should be able to have him construct us catapults and trebuchets.

>>12780593

which is still a waste of resources but whatever

>>12780608
Better to use up some more wood from the forest than to have to pay for more mercenaries and men.

>>12780573
I've got to say, there's no way real campaigns could be this heavy in losses yet still work. It's fun, but the war would be over in a couple months at the rate losses add up in CQ, and no army could stay in the field for half a year... never mind the 5+ year long campaigns historically recorded. Just laughably impractical.

Don't get me wrong, I love CQ. I just think maybe you might want to reconsider your equations for calculating losses, Pax.

in hindsight i didnt think that they would deploy the mangonels during the battle so i thought that they wouldnt even be a factor

it would probably take at least another couple of turns before we could reach them and they just seriously fucked our legionnares up

i concede

blow the pitch

Surge forward, we have to get Laelith in range of those catapults.

Let's get Laelith close then wheel around and personally knock the commander out.

AS you Effortlessly slaughter your way through the nobles bodyguard the warhorn is answered by a hideously loud Eagles Cry. You look up and correct yourself, Valkeries cry. A large wing of armored men are riding in on the great eagles, the sun glinting off of their armored and bladed talons, the riders wielding all manor of polearms. Close as you are to the knights Lord you are passed over, but the flying beasts slash through your mercenary cavalry, the Impetus Marauders, and your entire forces morale. They number at least 30, but you know there are more than that. The attack is nearly over as quickly as it began, the knights already above striking distance by the time they are over the 196th and 454th.

You charge past the mangonel crews as they are about to fire, and as you move past the great barrels of pitch Laelith lets out a mighty well, and it all goes up in a great fiery explosion, immolating the peasants pushing the carts, and instantly igniting, and destroying with the force of the blast, all but one of the mongonels, the surviving piece of artileries crew all thrown to the ground, burning, clutching wounds, or both.

As you wheel around you see just how greatly damaged your cavalry wings were, and the bloody mess that was left of so many of your men streaking all the way back to the front of your Legionary battalions battle lines. To your left you can see the young lord and his surviving guards get to their feet, the warhorn once again moving to the lordlings lips.

>roll for combat and command.

>>12780640
>these numbers arent kills, but men removed from combat. you get quite a few back depending on how well your surgeons can do.

rolled 33 = 33

>>12780700
That lord is going down. combat.

rolled 54 = 54

>>12780700

capture the noble on the ground and get the hunters shooting at the flying cav

maybe we should have brought the rangers after all

rolling for command

>>12780700
Holy crap, the men-at-arms are fighting the cornwall mercs to a standstill? I recommend we order our ranged units to prepare for incoming aerial units again...

rolled 82 = 82

>>12780700
Rolling for combat.

And mangonels aside, why do we always charge forward, instead of creating a shield wall with our legionaries and having our archers attrite the enemy to death, while having our cavalry prevent them from being outflanked?
Why are we always charging headfirst towards the enemy masses?

>>12780729
Because catapults with pitch = they will beat us in the game of attrition. We have never been in a battle where we can truly afford to play the attrition game.

>>12780640
To elaborate on this, a unit was hardly ever wiped out. Battles were decided by one side routing, almost never by one side dying. 50% losses was treated as one of the worst defeats in all military history at Cannae, for instance.

>>12780741
That's why I said >mangonels aside
It would be nice to have a stand-up Roman fight for once.

>>12780750
Fair enough. My brain conveniently forgot that part after I read your post. Yeah, we have had bad luck when it comes to battle and how we generally have to take things out quickly. I doubt we are going to join in the counter attack though with how brutal these aerial knights are and how they likely seem to have at least 50.

>>12780766
We probably should have gotten either more regular mercs, or that Pegasi unit.

That anon who said we were taking too many men with us was full of shit, considering our current casualty rate against a forward element of the enemy.

>>12780782
Seriously. My only hope is they sent knights to hit the fort as well and Kyria messes them up hardcore with the repeater crossbows. Even if we capture the noble, this battle was way too costly for what I imagine is only a third of their army.

Why the hell did a single swipe by the air units just drop three divisions to red morale? There weren't even very many dead? This is retarded, how are we supposed to plan a battle when we have no idea how any of this works? We graduated from the military academy right? Shouldn't we have known that the magonels would be deployed fast enough to rape us? Shouldn't we have known that SUDDENLY 30 EAGLES would be enough to rout half our force?

Not to mention if *we* had used those 30 eagles we would have lost 7 of them on the first pass, never to be replenished again. Maybe I'm just being butthurt, but the battles always seem to be: "And then despite your plans rocks fall and you're raped. Roll for anal circumference."

Take out the commander. This battle is fucked, the only way we can win is to cut off the head of the force.

>>12780802
Most likely, Justinian would have known that but we, as the gestalt hive-mind of the commander, ignored the mangonels.
We probably knew, from textbooks, that flying units have a demoralizing effect on ground troops, but we had no intel concerning the enemy's possession of aerial cav, so Justinian can't be faulted for that, either.

All in all, Pax is just letting us get hit with the consequences of our own inattention, and you're just butthurt.

You shout for Jaynes unit to wheel around, eyes locked on your target. As Spite slashes through his guards you leap forwards. You launch your spear into the chest of the fool who lifted the Cloudreach banner, and draw your sword in one motion. as you land you smash your shield into the Lords face, and cleave his longbow in twain. the Lord tries to rise and draw his own blade, but you kick your armored boot into his chest, knocking him back down "Yield" you order, putting all your weight on his chest so that you can kick his horn away. He lies back on the ground, hands above his head. You can hear your men cheering, even as the Impetus Marauders break from the battle, their mercenary counterpart refuses to make shcase, prefering to back out of the way of the cavalry units crossing in front of them.

Several of the Valkeries drop from the sky as they attempt to fly away, and thankfully they begin circling above the field as opposed to making another pass on your troops. The men at arms begin breaking away from your mercenaries on the south flank, and you can already see the edges of the remaining battalions edging away from the melee. You took heavy losses, but you figure that this battle is as good as won.

>any more commands, or just break up the remaining units?

>>12780824
Inattention? We can't be inattentive to things we don't know. With public systems it's cool because everything is there in black and white, and you know everything you should know. Here, well... it's just shooting in the dark. We pick what we think should work, and if we guess wrong or think X works this way but it actually works another way well... bend over.

>>12780826
Break up the units and capture people. Hopefully we can get some good intel this time.

>>12780824
To be fair, we did not ignore the mangonels. We bumrushed our way to them as soon as we could. We just could not stop them in time for their first volley and likely would not of been able to unless we used the velociprey or our own air cavalry.

Sigh... Dealing with two knight units is going to be painful.

>>12780802
>>12780824
as was stated, you knew your enemy had knights, and I told you that Uurlanthian knights always have AT LEAST horses to ride, and the richer ones (which a bunch of knights who have been ripping shit up for the lst few months would be) normally have more.

As to the morale, you just got hit by a pot of burning pitch, your fighting for your life, the commander is off in the middle of the enemy force, and oh, look, 30+ giant eagles just shredded through a few of your allied units. How would YOU feel about that happening, your only warning to that attack being a warhorn, which is a pretty damn common thing to hear during a battle?

>>12780824
We actually knew that the enemy had flying cavalry. It was expected they would be used at some point. We had no idea that they could come down and knock three units out of the fight without taking any damage. I'm sorta with butthurt anon, it's annoying to learn things that we should know already after the fact.

>>12780831
Yes, inattention. It was spelled out quite clearly that small mangonels were being deployed. No one asked if they could be deployed quickly enough to be used in this battle, or if their ranging could be done in time to fire upon our formations. Also, in regards to the surprise attack by a unit of enemy air cav; that's exactly the sort of thing that happens in war.

>>12780864
Yet that's the kind of information a commander who had been trained in this stuff should know by default. It was stated exactly what we were planning to do. If there was no way to make it work like we planned then I would have expected Pax to at least give us a heads up. You know, something along the lines of: "Hey guys, you know from your training that they can deploy and start launching faster than anything but flying units can get there."

That would have most likely seriously altered our tactics. The entire reason we caught them out in the open was to neutralize the fact that they had those siege engines.

>>12780854
What scout or intel report had enemy air cav assets listed?

>>12780850
How would they even know that was going on? A soldier packed in the middle of a formation and focused on battle wouldn't know about what was going on halfway across the battlefield.

>>12780882
We knew they had knights and that they were at least mounted. Plus the name of the lord I believe heavily hinted they had aerial cavalry and that they have been wrecking shit in the past months. It was not an obvious thing but well hinted. Hell, I expected it. I just did not think they would be that fast since our scouts did not report them and they cannot hide too well on an open plain.

>>12780893
Because that formation was the one that followed us into the charge, and that got hit by pitch, and then got hit by the valkyries.

>>12780882
We knew from way back in the capital that they had them, and that air cavalry could be at any place at any time covering vast stretches of territory in an instant. We should expect them in every battle due to that.

As you expected, the enemy breaks from the field. Aside form capturing the Lordling and 15 of his bodyguard, you take a good 40 Pikemen who were left behind, another 20 Men at arms, and another 20 mercenaries. You round up another 25 horses, plus 20 suits of armor form the men at arms, as well as the weapons and gear of the slain enemies.

Once you return to camp Sansa presents you with the butchers bill as promptly as possible

196th Legionary
Gaius Rex
170/200
average

454th Legionary
Cornelius Hoursch
150/200
Average

House Garlian Uursan Cavalry
Lady Jayne Garlian
60/75
average

Esperitus Raiders
Kurt Dorias
Horse, spear, chainmail, javelins
40/60
below Average

-Impetus Marauders (Elf)
Aeristus Beztia
Chainmail, twin combat axes
130/200
low

-Cornwal Mercenaries
Buckmoore Kystris
Chainmail, spear and shield
170/175
Average

Kyrtosh RapidRiders (elf)
Bastius Glenth
Velociprey, leathers, shortbows, longblades
30/50
below average

>any other questions about the aftermath of this battle?

>>12780901
Bloody hell that was not worth it... How much of the pikemen and men-at-arms escape? Same with the mercs they had hired?

>>12780894
>>12780898
Alright, so we should have expected them to show up at some point, then.
The enemy using aerial units shouldn't have been a surprise, and should have been planned for.
Again, an oversight on our part.

>>12780901

can our engineers crew the captured mangonel?

>>12780898
I seriously underestimated their speed. I knew they could cover a large amount of territory but with the way they just dove in and left... We pretty much have to dedicate a unit to anti-air now if we want any hope of taking them out. Either that or we only attack at night and hope they cannot see us or we somehow manage to find them on the ground and kill them. Like hell that last one would happen though.

>>12780910
>>12780905
Both pikemen are at half strength, the men at arms are down to 20, expect them to consolidate wings in that battalion, you found 4 Valkeries dead on the field, and another three that did not make it back to their camp; assume you took out 10, since you did not cover all the ground they could have. The mercenaries took extensive damage, no more than 80 of the original 200 made it back by your estimation, it is not likely that they will stay signed on.

Yes, you can use the Mangonel

>>12780908
I fully expected it. I didn't expect that it would suddenly destroy the morale of, literally, our entire army except for the hunters and scouts. Neither of which apparently shot any of them down. Where were we supposed to learn that little factoid from, exactly? And then they took off before losing any. When was the last time we ever failed to lose troops when they fought? Even the velocipreys get molested by the horsemen they are supposed to counter.

It just seems that with losses like these in battle nobody would ever leave a fortress. Let the enemy come, we'll shred them before they get halfway across the field!

>>12780947
Knowing what we do of the enemy commander, will he attempt to immediately save his son, or will he stay focused on the objective?

Would it be more prudent to lay a trap for him with his son as bait, or should we attempt to keep up our momentum and strike now?
He will undoubtedly be prepared as his aerial unit will inform him of what happened.

>>12780947
Yeah this battle was definitely our loss. If we had at least wiped out the pikemen, I would of felt a little better about the whole thing. It really hurts that the Maurauders are down a quarter strength so easily.

Pax, did we salvage pikes from the pikemen? Would it be possible to have pikes and spears in our legionaire units?

>>12780951
>>12780947
I take it back, my bad. Looks like the flyers took decent losses then. Still, how could anyone ever want to join a merc band with death tolls so high?

>>12780957
I think we should use him as bait. I suggest we send a message to the enemy commander, taken by one of the guys bodyguards I guess, telling him that anymore sneaky actions like the assassins will result in comparable treatment to his son. Assuming he does not do such things, his son will be safe in our fort. I think that will be a nice way to get him to beeline our fort and then we trap the hell out of the terrain.

>>12780934
you were not looking up until after they struck, at which point they were clearly visible above the battlefield. The horn was their signal to strike; provided you look they will be trackable on the battlefield from now on
>>12780951
no, black is totally shattered, your men were brought to the brink by the omgwtf factor, and bounced back immediately the next round. The velociprey got fucked up because,a s I said when you guys asked what the difference between noble house cav and merc cav was, I said professionalism and training. They went in sloppy, weren't as well trained for melee as they were for ranged fighting, and the heavy cavalry they charged still took heavier losses on the charge.

How did those "Medium" pikemen stand up so well to our "Heavy" Legionnaires?

>>12780979
Longer pikes. It is hard to fight when you cannot reach your opponent.

>>12780959
yea, you took their weapons, and with a week or so of training you will be able to integrate them into one or both of the legionary units.

>>12780957
you know this isnt the heir, but you also know that this guy loves his sons quite a bit, and will want him back damned bad. He may not rush in to save him, but you can be sure that an effort will be made.

>>12780975
>heavy noble cavalry versus light merc cavalry
Yeah, we overestimated the advantage that the velociprey mounts would have against horse cavalry.

>>12780981
But that's what shields and swords are for. I don't understand. Roman legions destroyed greek phalanxes for this very reason. Oh well, whatever. That battle was ridiculous anyway.

>>12780997
The Legionaire units were doing fine after the initial charge. The pitch being launched into them did not help their situations, however, and that messed up their formation a lot before they could recover.

Perhaps we should cut off a finger every day and send it to his father with a released prisoner. That should make him reckless.

Hmmm. After this campaign or maybe in it, we might want to consider making our own form of Terico infantry. Pikemen with guys trained to use repeater crossbows and swordsmen.

>alright. I'm fucking beat, and have work... later today now. So I'm gonna call it for tonight, I'll hang around to answer questions until we get archived, then I'll be back sunday at 9 according to the server time

And you do have 20 captured mercs, who, theoretically you could allow to hire into your mercenary unit if they want to.

>>12781019
Let us try to be civil for now and see what this guys personality is like before we decide to do such things. For all we know, the son could actually be a decent guy and is just doing his duty for his country. Being nice to him now might be beneficial in the long-term.

>>12780997
>But that's what shields and swords are for. I don't understand. Roman legions destroyed greek phalanxes for this very reason
Uh...no, they didn't. They beat the phalanx by using flanking attacks or causing the phalanx to fall into disorder, not by usage of their shields and swords.

>>12781027
Maybe, but it's doubtful. After a battle like that it's time to use everything we have to our advantage.

I have a question. Why were our horsemen so slow that battle? They never even engaged, and just sat there doing nothing for like two turns.

Thread archived.

>>12781037
Well I assume a practice like that would be looked down upon by our captains, although I could be wrong. Plus, one of this guys flaws is he is super highly focused on his goals. If we give him a reason to hate us, it might result in assassins for the rest of our life as long as he lives. Plus, I imagine he would be a lot more willing to pay ransom for his son in the future if we have not been torturing the hell out of him.

>>12781040
they have jaelins and bows, they were firing into the pikemen. My bad, I should have mentioned that, but as I said; tired. Its no excuse but thats what was happening and I should have mentioned it. Had I given more to the enemy breaking there would have been plenty of mentioning of schmucks getting ran down

>>12781045
Or he might be more willing to pay a ransom just to get him out of our hands. Also, he's already sending assassins after us.

I don't see why our capts would look down on it. Torture and crucifixion and stuff was used all the time in ancient Rome, right? They even had prisoners fight to the death for sport and entertainment. I can't imagine any society based on Rome would have a problem with it.

Ugh, I just realized we are still in for a world of hurt. We have not even come across their elven archers yet. With them having aerial cavalry, that will severely limit any flanking actions without range support.

>>12781045
>cool beans, I'm gonna walk over to my bed and collapse now, I'll see you guys sunday.

Yea, not damaging the goods does generally help out with ransoms.

>>12781060
That is why I suggest we send him the letter in >>12780968
It potentially stops him from playing dirty since there is a threat to his son and he knows where his son is. That would allow us to use our fort and I doubt he will try to burn it down while his son is inside it.

and like I have been making very clear since the start of this campaign; the Breakwater Lords have been wrecking shit since the beginning of this war, you now know why. And think of it this way, you hurt him more than he hurt you, his reinforcements are months away at his castle, or need to be begged from his Lord; while you can request that a portion of the garrison at Flumenos be sent to replenish your forces, and they will arrive in two weeks.

>>12781073
If we're going to hole up in our fort, we're going to need to prepare AA defenses, so that their valkyries don't drop incendiaries on top of us.
Also, there's the problem of water.
The base was fine as somewhere to stage raids from, but if we get into a siege, we don't have a ready water supply.
We would have to decisively end the battle before it could get to that point.

>>12781094
Definitely but with their aerial cavalry, it makes it a little hard to engage them in a pitched battle. Hopefully we can get some good intel from his son that will give us a better picture on what he can do.

Now I must ponder how to make Terico infantry work for us by Sunday.

>>12781088
We should ask for reinforcements now, so that they can arrive in time, rather than asking only after we really need them.

>>12781099
Tericos were only effective with specific training. I doubt we can develop, implement, and train an entirely new type of unit in the field.

>>12781088
How many troops are in Flumenos and let us wait until we get more information on what the enemy has. If we ask for reinforcements, we are going to look pretty bad compared to the other commanders defending the area. Especially since we are only facing a minor lord.

>>12781110
Pretty much what I have concluded. The best I can think for this campaign is temporarily splitting up the rangers into smaller groups that could accompany the Legionaire units that are armed with pikes and spears. A real unit would need some downtime to train though.

>>12781088
How would it look if we requested reinforcements? Is it expected? Would we be super awesome if we never did? Would we be accounted as a failure if we requested resupply?

>>12781118
Some kind of new combined arms deployment, where rangers with repeating crossbows and archers hug the rear lines of infantry, look like regular ground-pounders, and open up on enemy air cav when they swoop down for a strafing run?

>>12781121
My assumption is it would look bad on us, especially since we received word that the other two maniples have pretty much already won against the minor lords they are facing. Pax will have to confirm that though and that will have to wait until Sunday I imagine.

>>12781129
That and just generally using range in close combat. The pikes and spears can hold an enemy back and the rangers or archers can still shoot at the enemy if they are attached to the unit. At that range, our ranged units would be a lot more lethal.

>>12781121
It doesn't help that while the others seemed to have picked buffoons for enemy commanders, we ended up facing one that's cunning, insightful, unafraid to use underhanded tactics, and has air support.

>>12781130
With such high rates of loss I would think resupply would be a given, personally. Possibly that the other legions have resupplied once or twice already if they have been in battle this whole time.

>>12781143
They might not have been buffons but our opponent is definitely more cautious. From the sounds of it, the other maniples had guys a lot more willing to do pitched battles. Hopefully with us having the guys son, he will be more willing to attack our fort... Only way I can see us winning since I imagine we are about even in terms of forces, despite the fact we have beaten him twice in the field so far.

>>12781148
Maybe we just messed up that much or our allies have assumed they are almost done when they are not. I kind of hope they did not win so easily since these guys are supposed to be bad ass yet only we are having trouble.

You know, what I wonder is how the lord knew to send three assassins: One for us, one for Sansa, and one for Jayne?

>>12781208
This is a very good question.
Either he's had us under close aerial observation, or we've got a spy.

>>12781208
Right, I meant to mention that earlier but did not get that chance. Maybe from our first battle? Sansa was riding with us on our mount and Jayne was leading the bear cav and people did escape. Perhaps his son will know. We should also check our supplies for poison.

>>12781216
Unpossible, we've been specifically looking out for fliers. Spy is possible, however. So is the info from the few who got away the first time.

>>12781234
With the way things seem to go for us, do you really want to discount the possibility that our enemy has equipped a recon valkyrie with a telescope and stealth arcana?

Field siege engines, horse cavalry, aerial cavalry, better equipped, better trained, and more importantly, they have the superiority of numbers.
Our advantages are only elementalism and better team leaders. And also, bear cavalry.

Heck, can we take a look at the report of the other maniples' battle? Maybe we ought to learn something, considering the other maniples might not be using as much mercenaries as we do.