>bump since I was vague as hell as to when I'd be starting today, and a very small amount of proper content in the initial post.

Hmmm. What do we know of the plains people? Honestly, nearly 2000 slaves will be entirely too much for us to cleave through even if we joined battle. We have to find some way to nullify them and, hopefully, save them too.

>>12886312

>Good to see you back Pax. How was the party?

"How were they heading the slaves towards us? Are they ours or their own slaves? Is Lealith back yet?"

>>12886392
generally they dont wear much in the way of personal protection and fight from horseback. A very family based society, fiercely loyal to their own, and brutal towards any "outsiders"

>>12886312
Looks like it's the more brash son attacking us since the commander is with cavalry. I wonder if they'll be using their air units in this fight...

I think we should speak to Janos about this. See if he knew about the fact they were using slaves and how they might be forcing them to fight.

>>12886422
>Excellent party

"They have handlers in the herd of them, heavy armor and whips. No, I didn't see any of ours within the horde. At least half look to be warriors, the rest... well there weren't any elders or children below the age of reason amongst them." The sun has just broken over the sky, you were hoping the attack wouldn't come until midday or later, as Laelith would be back by then. As it stands she most likely wont be.

>>12886465
Nevermind. Just re-checked archives and both of the remaining children lead cavalry. Likely the Creed son then.

>>12886501
I'm assuming they're holding the families of these guys random to fight for them... I don't see how we're going to convince them to fight back if that is the case...

>>12886501
Were there signs they were being herded or do they look to be fighting willfully?

>>12886501

Scouting parties to be sent out immediately.

No elderly or children means they're being held hostage. Keeping perhaps ~1000 elderly and children is no mean feat and can't be kept in their own camp.

>>12886441

Does this mean they're on horseback or on foot? I assume they're armed?

rolled 10 = 10

I'd start working on a riveting speech right about not.....just saying, that or perhaps figuring out a way to disable the handlers so that the people are free to choose who they wish to fight for.

rolled 26 = 26

>>12886601
now*
Also, have we tested the range of our abilities yet again Pax, I think we need to take stock of our attributes..... it's good to know your enemy, better to know yourself.

>>12886601
>10

...

I agree with this plan on the basis that we can use that roll.

>>12886544
Somwhere in between from the reports. They were walking forward mostly at their own will, the warriors normally trying to protect a group of green boys and women. Whenever one would try to break and run the handlers would use their whips to re-direct the fleeing slave.

One of the men an the wall lets out a shout as you listen to the scouts report. "Three riders under a flag of truce approaching, Commander. One bears a banner, the other looks to be the Lordlings second. Its a house Stant banner." You climb the wall to have a look. The Lordling wears a sky blue surecoat, most likely over splintmail. He wears a longsword at his side, and the helm under his arm is in the shape of a Valkeries head. Upon seeing you climb the wall in your platemail, commanders helm under your arm he makes a beckoning motion with his arm. Behind him you see roughly 50 score of slaves, the halberdiers and men at arms your scouts mentioned as well as the remnants of the Longbowmen, all of them in neat ranks behind the slaves, with 7 foot wooden beams spaced evenly through them, clearly upside down to what they should be supporting.

>>12886680
>>12886601

>A very family based society, fiercely loyal to their own, and brutal towards any "outsiders"

That with the lack of dependents in the group means they're being held hostage. Their choice was made for them. We have to unmake that choice.

Wish we had the hunters so we could pick off the handlers. Maybe Kyria's rangers can do it.

Before the battle gets underway I think we should raise a white flag and go out to parlay with the enemy commander. See who exactly we are fighting.

>gah, heres the guys banner.

Justinians skills:
Command ++++
Polearms ++++
Shortspear ++++
Mid Blades +++-
Longsword ++++
Light Armor ++++
Heavy Armor ++++
Uursan Riding +++
Earth Elementalism ++-

Traits
Warrior -5 to combat rolls
Leads From the Front: current unit will not break

Earth Elementalism
Fissures: +-
Stone Spike: combat capable. largest possible 8' L, 2' C
Rend Earth: combat capable. largest possible 12'L, 3' W, 4' D
Quake: semi-combat capable. richter 1 over a 10yd circle

Terrakenisis:

StoneSense:

>>12886687
A little unclear on what's going on with those wooden poles. They're under a truce flag so we go out to meet them I suppose.

>>12886687
Should we send the Rapid Riders to try to find out where their dependents are? Though they may be held hostage too far away to be able to mount a rescue.

I think we should go out and parley; at the least, it will give us time.

>>12886687

>50 score slaves

I assume then, that this is an advance party?

>7 beams

Supporting? Don't really get this.

Well, let's ride out to say hi. Bring Jayne and Gaius.

>>12886763

Not Jayne. Just incase something happens to us. Bring Wulf.

Order archers and cavalry to standby incase they try anything. Prep our remaining siege.

>>12886763
Just Gaius. Jayne needs to be readying her cavalry, and this should be a meeting between Uurlanth noble and Imperial military.

well, go out to meet him then

astride spite in full armor with 2 of jaynes wing, one of them carrying the maniples standard that is

>>12886754
I'm thinking we should ask Janos or Kaitlyn for info first. I doubt they recently captured all these guys as slaves and they might have an idea on how they're focing the slaves to do what they want. Unless we find out talking to the second son if we're crafty in what we say...

>>12886759
>>12886752
they are there to hold something up. you cant see that something due to their inverted position. The slaves are presumably what will be hitting your wall, so yes they are the vanguard as far as you know.

Who will carry your maniple standard and who will ride out as your second then?

rolled 60 = 60

>>12886738
I don't get the beam comment either ><

Bring Jayne and Gaius, as well as the other son.

>>12886779
Jayne isn't a commander, dude. If something happens to us it would fall to Sansa, but she's gone. So it would fall to Gaius, but he's coming with us. So it would fall to Cornelius. Jayne is a noble rented on contract, not a legionary force.

>>12886801
Would it be a dishonor for Gaius to hold the standard? If so, bring Wulf instead of him to hold it. We bring Jayne, as she's our only adviser left. And let's bring Janos too.

>>12886801
Wulf to hold our standard, Gaius to be our second.
We need to promote a dedicated auilifer after this campaign.

cornlius carries the standard and giaus comes as our second

>>12886801
Ah great. Looks like he wants to do something to demoralize us with whatever is on those poles I bet.

I say bring Gaius or Uruist as our second and then have... I have no clue to hold the standard. Maybe we should just pick a good soldier to do that from now on.

>>12886801

Before we ride out, use that colouring-knife we have to quickly mark Raynha's symbol and pray for her aid and guidance to help free the captives. Since I expect battle to commence once parley is finished.

>>12886818
Whoa whoa whoa. No need to bring Janos. He's the prisoner. At most, let's have him sit ontop of our walls to watch from a distance and I guess as insurance to tell this guy if something happens to us, something happens to his brother.

We really need to find out after this how much his brothers care for him.

>>12886818
Why would we bring our prisoner with us? What possible advice would or could he provide to us during the negotiations?

Jaynos stays in his cell.

>>12886794
I agree, we should speak to Janos before the parlay. Preferably in the presence of Katylin. Tell them you brought them together to say goodbye, as his brother's force is here and battle is upon us.

>>12886831

oh fuck

i think they have blackbird and his raiders on those poles

>>12886825
>>12886803
Cornelius is with the ambush force, along with Aurelius and the Espiritus Raiders

>>12886802

Lets not. If we have to ride back for him, we can stall for more time.

He should, however, be informed of whats happening.

>>12886843
She said that we were going to be tested and she expects us to fail this test.
I don't know if asking for help is going to be of much use.

>>12886854
If so then Blackbird was clearly not skilled enough to cut it in the army, was he? This is war, he knew the risks. It's tragic but we can't worry over that right now.

>>12886843
Do we really want to make a symbol to her though? It feels like we're pledging ourselves to her if we do. If they do have Blackleaf and our raiders, I am going to be so annoyed people agreed to send out raiders...

No. We do not pledge ourselves to a god or whatever. We can do this, and we can do it by ourselves. We don't go running to a divine power every time things look down. Gods are bros, not masters.

No prayers, no worship, equal status only. Final destination.

>>12886854


.........................

Dammiittttttt

I was afraid last session sounded too much like a death-flag!!!!!!!!

>ambush failed...

well, if they do have blackbird, then we can only hope we can save him and his raiders during battle if the're not dead already

wulfe carries standard, gaius rides as second

rolled 63 = 63

>>12886855
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck, forgot about this, maybe cuz I wasn't here for that part.....

Anywho, Gaius and Jayne, I say bring Janos because we could use him as a bargaining chip, offer him to free the slaves, and we free his brother, easy done deal. Surely those slaves are worth his brother's life?

>>12886919
There's no way he would do that. The slaves are he winning ticket.

>>12886919
Don't bring out Janos. If we want him to be seen, have him placed at the walls under guard but don't bring him out to the parley.

>>12886875

I don't intend for it to be pleging. Sometimes, having a symbol there makes the prayer even more powerful.

>>12886919

We can always agree but not having him there allows us to stall for more time for prep work and other stuff.

>>12886945
But why are we praying? For help? No, this is a test. We man up and do this ourselves.

>>12886919
The enemy commander would already be aware that we have Janos prisoner, and bringing him with us confers no advantage.
Janos was considered a failure by his father, and I doubt that his brother would wish to risk failure and death for someone that is a liability.

>>12886896
>>12886854

Either him, or Laelith.

Or both.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-

all we have to do is rally the slaves to fight the uurlanthians and then cush the creed brother in single combat

he only has halberdier levies and whats left of his long bowmen and men at arms in addition to his bodyguard

we can do this

>>12886687
Bloody hell. I just realized he has 1000 slaves there to fight. And they don't seem like slaves that will be cut down easily... We need to find a way to get them to stop fighting for this guy or we're so screwed.

rolled 22 = 22

Fine, Janos out on the wall, make sure he is visible. We still have to try. The only way we are going to get those slaves is if Pax actually uses the 10 that I rolled when I first suggested riveting speech, lest he actually made the difficulty five......damn you Pax...... but other than that, we have to try the safer and more logical routes first. We will stand our ground no matter what, for the empire, so that means we will not Surrender or Balk against such a large force.

>>12886961
That, and if Janos is there they could just jump us and take him.

Sersiously, DON'T bring him.

>>12886967
"All" we have to do is rally the slaves? Yeah, that's sure going to be easy. We just have to convince them that their family who is being held hostage is not worth it.

>>12886995

no, we have to convince them that we can SAVE their family, if they just join us in driving out these uurlanthian oppresors

>>12886960

And if we fail we have 2-3 times our strength bearing down on us and there will be alot of innocent blood on our hands.

This will destroy our moral if we are not routed.

>>12887021
If they join us, there's no reason why their families would remain safe. We don't know where they are and the second they see our armies approaching, they will start to be cut down if they haven't already been cut down by the time we arrive.

>>12887021
Yeah, and what incentive do they have to trust us? None. That's a bad plan, like spitting into a hurricane. We'd have to roll a natural 1.

>>12887034

Speaking of which, did the scouts get sent out again?

Did they see any internment camps?

>>12887023
Shit happens. Tests can be failed. That doesn't mean you cheat or try to bribe the teacher.

>>12887047
Didn't get the chance. As we were getting the reports, they arrived if I read the post correctly.

>>12887037

we've rolled ones before

we can do it again

>>12887034

what other alternative is there? if we try to cut throught them, we're fucked. what else can we do?

"Gauis, Wulf, armor and arm up. I want to ride out with me to meet this man, Wulf you have the Standard." you announce to the crowd growing around you. A few minutes later the three of you meet the Lordlings small group in between the two pits you were digging for traps in front of your fort. At least they will slow down the assault.

"At last you arrive." The lordling greets you, noting your standard. "I see you are decorated, by your Emperor no less. I had expected at least as much from a foe such as yourself. But where are my manners? Morwayne Stant, third son of Lord Janos Stant and tactical adviser to my father on this campaign." he introduces himself "Though my poor brother has already told you as much no doubt. I have a letter for him from my father that I would like for you to deliver to him should I fail to free him today, would you be so kind Commander..." Morwayne trails off, his left hand holding out the sealed letter, his right proffered for a shake

>>12887082

Take the letter. I don't trust this snake. Don't shake that hand.

Okay, okay.

Let's think about this for a second.
...
...
...

Okay.

Look, they've got hostages in the form of the slaves. Possibly they might have Blackbird's group, maybe even Laelith or God forbid, Sansa.

We've got hostages in the form of Janos and the other captives (though they likely value the others significantly less).

...

We are at a severe disadvantage. Unless this is the 'physical' son and we can trick him into single combat the decide the fates of the people.

>>12887102

appendum:

Greet him but politely refuse to shake his hand. Perhaps once hostilities are over.

>>12887082

take the letter, but not before checking there's nothing in his hands or his sleeves

and dont shake his hand

>>12887082
Oh dear...

Ok give letter to Janos and ask where they would hold the slaves families hostage.

>>12887034
Here's how I see it:

We need to capture the son in command of this army, take a captured enemy rider and send a message to Lord Stant that if he doesn't let the plains people's families go, then he's sons' lives are forfeit.

rolled 31 = 31

Bah, shake the man's hand, no need not to be a gentleman. Reply with humility and take the offered hand and shake. We should ask about the terms that the slaves are under his service.

>>12887082
"I'll gladly take your letter. However, based on what I've heard about you, I presume it was your idea to send the assassins. Suffice to say, I do not shake hands with those who employ such tactics. I crush them for employing such tactics."

Be polite about it, though. Just say that we would be glad to shake his hand once the war is over, but here on the field of battle after we had assassins sent for us... well, I'm sure you understand.

>>12887140
Go with this and add >>12887128 .

>>12887140
Oh right. Introduce ourselves as well.

>>12887138

And make parley impossible for the Empire?

Violating the parley is an act with grave and far-reaching consequences for our nation.

"I am addressing the ones who are here against their will. Your overseers are COWARDS, forcing you forward with a barbed whip and pointed sword. They are leading you to your deaths because they know they cannot defeat our might. If you continue on the path they lay before you I regret it with all my heart but I will be forced to cut you down. But you may redeem yourselves.
I will defend my home from allowing your overseers from making any slaves of the citizens I am sworn to protect. You may join me in stopping your overseers HERE. join me and redeem yourselves. redeem yourselves and you shall earn your freedom and honor back. JOIN ME AND SAVE YOURSELVES
TURN ON YOUR OVERSEER
TURN ON YOUR OPPRESSORS
STRIKE BACK
STRIKE NOW!"
I want to shout, somwhere they can hear this before the battle begins. I hope someone reads this

>Quake: semi-combat capable. richter 1 over a 10yd circle
That's not semi-combat, that's a damn joke. Richter 1 earthquakes occur in the thousands every day along fault lines, and no one can even feel them. It is literally not strong enough to make a glass of water ripple.

>>12887128
Actually I think we should read the letter ourselves. For all we know, the letter is from CREED! son that has plans on how to help him escape.

>>12887140
No need to be so impolite. We are the elite here, after all. No need for insults or petty taunts.

>>12887156
I meant for us to do that AFTER the inevitable battle.

>>12887165
I agree, we surely need to read the letter first.

>>12887166
To someone that uses assassins and slavery to bolster his forces in combat? I damn well think we shouldn't be polite and humble to a guy like that. At least that's how I feel we should RP the character since our empire dislikes slavery a lot. People got pissed at us for having volunteers against Khalless.

>>12887138

that seems like a good plan should we survive this

are you guys brainstorming on ways to deal with the slaves?

as i see it the only way we survive the day is if we get the slaves to fight back

maybe snipe overseers with crossbows? halt the slave advance with earthspikes, or a big ass chasm and then get our magnificent speech on?

>>12887164
Yeah. That's way too week compared to the one that the elementalist trainees felt when Justinian learned it.

>>12887161

and we have found our magnificent speech

>>12887184
Those guys were assholes. We can be a gentleman, even on the field of battle.

Then we fuck his shit up and taunt him into personal combat before laying the smack down. Combat and parlay are different, after all.

>>12887193
>>12887164
I'd say go at least a 4 on the scale.

>>12887161
I'd add a save your families in there as well.

rolled 37 = 37

>>12887215
That was in last thread, now if only Pax let's use my 10....... well it is good either way, if we DO end up fighting this group, we HAVE to go with a wedge formation, it's the only way. Get to CREED and kick his ass, then order the enemy to halt.

>overcome dempre
Captcha, overcome we shall, hopefully this roll will comply as well.

>>12887222

that may be, but im more worried about him having some shit up his sleeve that could potentially fuck OUR shit up like a wrist-mounted poison dagger or something of the like

>>12887161
This is.... something to be saved for later. Also, we'd need a megaphone to effectively pull it off.

Parley now.

>>12887140
Didn't we just send off Blackbird to use unspecified but presumably nefarious methods to ensure our victory? A bit hypocritical, that. Although if he points that out, we can smile and say, "Yes, indeed. Thus I expect you to try to crush me as well, and we can be assured of a tenacious fight." or something to that effect.

>>12887238
I'd like to hold him up by his neck after his defeat just to show him how much we despise his methods.

"Justinian Trentz." you reply, taking the letter and ignoring the hand "Perhaps after hostilities are ended, you answer to the assassins, or you are in my captivity we will be able to form a more courteous relationship. Until that time however, I must decline your hand." Looking past the man you see that the slaves are trying to edge away from your walls, the slave-drivers whipping frequently to keep the plainspeople in their position. Not that that is unexpected however, these folk generally only war amongst themselves, and their mobile Gohrahts have no walls; as such a siege is something entirely alien and terrifying to them. Behind the slaves you see some form of boards affixed to the poles, that would explain the size of the space between columns in the enemy formation you noticed from the wall.

Morwayne places a hand on his warhorn "So then, Commander Trentz, I doubt you will tell me what manner of device you are sending north, but did you truly believe myself or my father would be fooled by such an obvious trap? Though I must admit you nearly convinced Gaerick to fly out to assault your caravan the moment he heard of it. The assassins were my fathers idea, in all honesty. I doubted they would do anything other than annoy you and advised against them, in all honesty. Aside from that curiosity, I feel I must offer you the chance to yield before I crush your little fort."

>>12887164
>that's going for a guaranteed success. you can get to 3 or 4 with varying sizes without overly much effort being put into it. but I will admit I probably didnt do enough research before slapping that one down.

>>12887260
I see a difference between raiding supply lines and using assassins myself but that's just me. Maybe you put the two together. And using slaves for battle is definitely a no-no for Justinian is what I'd imagine.

Right now we should just take the letter, refuse the handshake and find out what he wants.

>>12887282

well at least now we know the status of the ambush

i think that now would be a good time to bust out>>12887161
and then proceed to either kill or capture morwayne

>>12887282
FFFFFF- Either he's bluffing about the trap or we just lost valuable forces. I'm assuming he isn't bluffing but don't let him know.

"If the forces I sent north are merely a trap, than it's nothing worth worrying about before this battle. And while I appreciate the offer to yield, you should know I cannot accept it. I offer the same thing to you and if you accept, the use of these people as slaves will not be held against you."

>>12887282
Can we get a specific description of what we see of the poles?

Also, reading the previous thread I felt that send the caravan with Sansa wasn't all that good an idea, but no use crying over spilled milk.

>>12887282

"Then I thank you. Your Lord Errist will be having an interesting time.

Really? And here I was thinking of offering you the chance of releasing these people so as to spare you the stigma of being a war criminal."

>>12887282
Laugh and smile. "An obvious trap? You wound me. The best bluffs aren't. I must decline your generous offer, and feel that I must offer you the chance to yield in turn, before I decimate your army and drive you from the field."

>>12887336
>FFFFFF- Either he's bluffing about the trap or we just lost valuable forces.

Likely they decided to leave the column alone. But yeah, that plan left us seriously even more undermanned.

>>12887282
Give a half smile and say nothing about the caravan. Then ask him why he thinks we feel the need to yield, and what makes him so confident?

>>12887361
Yet people were wanting to send EVEN MORE people with it, including our bear cavalry. That would have worked out wonderfully.

rolled 76 = 76

Ah the support beams are assault ladders then Pax?

We will not take the offer to yield. We should actually come off a bit hotty and ask him to yield. We wouldn't want to deny him the chance would we? Also, let's go ahead start mentally preparing for the oncoming slaughter, we are going to have to actually have to cut through most likely. That or as we are shouting. Shout out to the slaves that we intend to cut straight down the middle, and we will try our best to minimize the casualties to just get straight to the enemy general in order to bring him to justice.

>>12887391
That's stupid. Either we do cut down the middle, in which case he knows exactly what we are going to do... or we don't, and the slaves know we just lied to them.

"Oh? And were the slaves your idea or your father's?"

>>12887391
Do remember, if our trap to the north didn't work, we will have to worry about their air cavalry this battle. Cutting ahead into their lines will result in us getting hit by them then... Unless we find a way to get the slaves to assist us, we're going to have to cut our way through them all or hope their air cavalry comes in and we can cripple them with a repeater crossbow salvo.

>>12887361

My suggestion, it was.

Plans do fail. At least Sansa is safe.

Strategically speaking, Stone Fort should have a much easier time now and with the strong point being reinforced, the chance that this area will be targeted by the king will drop.

I'm just worried about Laelith. Her group was much smaller.

rolled 1 = 1

>>12887406
It's not stupid, it's our only chance if our riveting speech fails, actually, that would have to be our plan if our riveting speech succeeds anyways. Except the slaves won't be swarming/reluctantly backing away from our wedge formation/or being forced into trying to stop our formation. Pax, can we get a countdown till black week. It would be interesting if we could use the eclipse start + a richter 2 or so earthquake during our speech.

rolled 82 = 82

Okay, seriously, the dice love me tonight......

>>12887504
I'm actually less worried about her.

She's got Collin.Who we should totally give runesword to once this is over.

>>12887337
A series of poles that run the length of the columns, attached to boards, with a lip at both ends, one raised the other depressed alternately. the boards are about the width of a man, each column has its own set of poles.

"You know that I cannot yield, nor can you, though the offer stands. I thank you for your honesty regarding the assassins, however your use of slaves as fodder will preclude me from not having you tried as a war criminal. And you wound me, Ser Morwayne, that is no trap you spotted moving north, simply supplies for StoneFort that I thought best to have defended from your fathers tender mercies." you reply.

Morwayne nods, reading between the lines of your response precisely as you had expected. "Then I do believe this meeting is over. Speaking of war crimes you are no doubt aware that there is to be no firing upon the parties in question until both have returned to their respective camps. I will be a generous jailer to you, Commander." At that he turns to leave the meeting ground, you and yours do the same.

>how do you want to deploy your forces?

>>12887534
Damnit, a 1 wasted on nothing. We are mocked by /tg/ tonight.

>>12887542
They're a fickle lover, Gloquenteentleman.

>>12887552

Can we get their formations and numbers first?

rolled 72 = 72

>>12887552
Wait, so a portable wall then? That is very......CREED like......

I think our best chance would be to panic the slaves and get them to retreat into the enemy formation. The best way to do that would be some crazy-ass earth elementalism. Remember how shocked people were when us or Laelith used it before? We should totally glove up and shoot a bunch of spikes up in front of them and make an earthquake. Also spike those wooden things and splinter them. Whatever they are, they aren't good.

>>12887578
No, CREED-like if if he manages to sneek some guys in to flank us. This is-

>strategic Anarron

Well I would call that exactly, captcha.

>>12887572
Yeah I figure we'd have their formations at least if they're approaching us. Or do we have to deploy blind?

It sounds to me like these are actually a ramp that the slaves are going to deploy onto our fortifications. The sections interlock, so it can be very broad and the "real" troops can march up it.

Let's spike all those seconds. If we split them in half they will be useless.

here ya go, and the troops you have on hand as well.


196th Legionary
Gaius Rex
165/200
(5 with Blackbird)
average


98th Warlords
Uurist Titius
140/150
(10 with blackbird)
average
50th Dwarven Scouts
Finian Gaurush
95/100
(5 with Blackbird)
average

65th Dwarven Rangers
Kyria Esfelda
-arm useable, but nowhere near full capacity
65/75
(10 guarding Laelith)
average

House Garlian Uursan Cavalry
Lady Jayne Garlian
60/75
average
-Impetus Marauders (Elf)
Aeristus Beztia
Chainmail, twin combat axes
150/200
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

>>12887641

Pax, whats the red holes and the stuff on the left?

In this world you developed, are elves much better archers than humans?

>>12887641
Look Up. I See You Shiny Bastards!

Where any more of our repeaters completed, we have 1 at the camp and 3 uncomplerwely last.
Prepare our modified catapult with the chainshot as well

>>12887641
Why does our morale suck so much when we win all our battles?

Does our fort have any emplaced heavy weapons at all?


Anyway. As we see no heavy weapons on the part of our enemies, motion to actually use our fort instead of deploying into the field like fools; have people on the walls with ranged weapons. Preferably, target the slaves' handlers if they come in first.

Have the catapult launch rocks into the halberdiers. The rapid fire ballistae launch into the knights since they have long range. The rapid fire crossbowmen keep their eyes trained on the skies. The best shots from the rangers try to kill the handlers while we use our best COMMANDER VOICE to shout an inspiring speech to the slaves, and demonstrate the ruin they will be facing if they attack us with our elementalism.

Cornwal mercs man the gate with their shield/spear wall, and have Gaius in reserve to counter them if they try storming the walls. Warlords and cavalry held in reserve to deploy rapidly should we need it.

>>12887641
>1600 enemy troops

...

>>12887672
dark brown circles are the pits you had dug, to be punji pitted/covered had you more time. The black lines denote your front gate, brown lines your walls of course (yes, guys will be able to fit on them)

Elves are more dexterous, and generally better archers, but the enemy has yet to bust out his Elven Archers, the longbowmen are human.

I just realized the boards are likely to also function as makeshift bridges to overcome our traps.

>>12887712
Actually I think we should defend outside the walls. That way they can't climb the walls and we can have our scouts/rangers sit on them with the range advantage. Have Gaius sit in front of the entrance with the Cornwall mercs on one flank and the warlords on the other. Rangers and scouts on the walls with orders to try to snipe the handlers they can. Cavalry... I want to say send them out other entrances on the fort to flank but I'm still wondering if their air cavalry is around or not.

>>12887743
Dude, that nullifies most of the advantage of our walls. WHY would we willingly give up our defensive advantage against a numerically superior force? No.

rolled 53 = 53

Yeh, it really is looking like we are going to have to use overwhelming force to get through. Either that, or try to weather them out. I doubt it will work though. Are fort could just as easily be burned to the ground as just be pushed over with enough manpower.

I say, Bear Calvary in front. Tell Jayne we are sorry, but we are going to expect the heaviest losses we have yet to take this far. Warlords behind us flanking the rangers in the center, so that means splitting the warlords or perhaps the legionary force into two and flanking the rangers so they could repel if needed the enemy airborne. Then the Cornwall and Warlords or Legion, whichever we don't use last. Maybe we can get the velociprey mercs to mingle with the bear calvary?

>>12887728

Orders!

The slaves are not likely to advance very swiftly.

RapidRiders to the front, be stationary and snipe those herders. Fall back once they're too close. With any luck, the slaves will break and run away.

Our Legionaraires are to defend the gap between the holes unless we see the enemy attempting to cross the pits.

Archers on the walls, ballista and catapult to fire as fast as they can beyond the slave wave.

Catapult to fire our specially developed chain ammo.

Pax, clarification. Using our power, I expect we should be able to collapse one of the walls of the pits forming a ramp?

>>12887768
>>12887743
Build fortifications
adviceJustinian.jpg
Never use them

>>12887761
By not defending the outside, we're letting them climb the walls and once they're inside the fort, we'll get surrounded and drowned by their men. We can always fall back but for now we should hold the walls as long as we can is the way I see it since that'll give us a range advantage.

Why are we so concerned about the fort getting damaged? That was the entire point! It's to soak up damage we would otherwise take on our troops!

>>12887795
You say that like climbing walls under fire is easy, or it is somehow more advantageous to get surrounded outside of your fortifications than to have the advantage of height stabbing down into someone assaulting upwards. What the fuck?

>>12887743
>>12887768
Guys, do not give up the wall until we have to. If we want to bring it to pitched battle at any point, we can open the gates and sally forth with an awesome bear cavalry charge... but don't do that until we have to.

We are massively outnumbered, but that doesn't matter as long as they can't get up our walls! If we leave the walls, then we just get crushed.

Our fort was built quite recently, so it won't even burn particularly well- green wood and all that. Unless they actually storm the fort, we'll be fine.

>>12887799
The walls give us a height advantage and angle that actually lets us snipe the handlers. There's no way in hell they're in the front of the slave horde. The sooner the walls fall, the less chance we have of taking our the handlers unless we wade into those hordes. Hence why I think we should try to hold the outside to give our rangers and scouts time to snipe handlers.

>>12887791

The walls give us the height advantage to fire over the slaves. How is that not using them?

Pax, have you watched HBO's Rome?

I want Gaius' Legionaries to perform like that.

However, they should only use shield bash and hold back on slaughtering the slaves that move into close combat.

We can hold the chockpoint without suffering excessive losses. Eventually, that smart bro will fall them back to advance proper infantry.

All this while our elves should continue sniping the herders and let the slaves get a chance to breakaway.

>>12887795
Why is it smarter to have our men getting butchered outside the fort than defending from behind shit on top of it? There is a reason castles were starved out: sieges were murderous on the people who assaulted. You don't deploy your garrison to fight in the open when you have a perfectly good fortification to hide behind!

>>12887815
Well then that begs the question - are we going to just kill the slaves or try to get them on our side? If we're killing the slaves, I agree with you. If we're going to try to save them, we have to keep them away from the walls so our ranged units can hit the handlers. The second they start coming up the walls, they're going to do it rather quick unless we do fight them.

>>12887795
Look. When one says "hold the walls", it does not mean "stand in front of the walls so that no enemy can defile them". It means "stand on top of the walls and shoot people who try to climb up them".

Do not fucking put anyone outside. Maybe we could try something crazy with a velociprey raid against their rear, dispatched out the back of the fort and circling around... but our velocipreys have morale too shitty to pull that off, and I don't see any other significant reason to leave the fort.

>>12887821
And it will give us just as much (or more!) of a height advantage if we have all our men on top of it rather than send out sacrificial mooks to die in front of it.

rolled 70 = 70

>>12887791
I have to say, I lol'd heartily. I for one am one for quick decisive victories......That is why I suggest going straight for the commander. Then again, look at it this way. If we don't, we WILL most likely fail the test that the goddess said we would. If we give our speech from our fort, we look like cowards as well. We must be out in force to display that we are not cowards and will fight the oppressors. If not, the speech is probably moot. Now I agree, that the fort is there for a reason, but against such overwhelming odds, it really doesn't help that much at all. Once it is breached, it is breached. We are not "THIS IS SPARTAAAAAaaaaa" 300 level forces here.....however diluted that comic/movie was to the real battle of thermopalye (sp)

>>12887840
... Look how much space a 150 man unit is. There's no way multiple units are sitting on those walls and fitting.

>>12887785
We should get as many of our best archers to take down the overseers as quickly as possible.

The whole reason of sending out our heavy infantry is due to our terrain advantage. They cannot bring all their 1000s to bear on that small chock point at one time.

All the while we can shoot all our arrows into them.

>>12887831
Our ranged units can hit the handlers regardless. They have to move with the slaves, and we have height advantage that will let us aim wherever the hell in the formation we want. If the handlers are "in the back" and we're only shooting the back, how long are the slaves going to keep charging?

>>12887856
Look how much space a ONE THOUSAND man unit is! Is it ten times the size of that man at arms unit?Not to scale, motherfucker.

>>12887837
Again, I was on the viewpoint we're going to minimize slave deaths. If not, then yeah hold only the walls. If we're going to focus on the handlers, we need to keep them away from the walls to let our rangers and scouts shoot in peace.

>>12887861
We put our heavy infantry BEHIND THE GATE. So the enemy gets chewed up while breaking it down and then forced into a tiny, tiny place. When you hold a gate you don't stand OUTSIDE OF IT god damn.

>>12887861
If we send out our heavy infantry to try and hold the gap, they will be slaughtered by withering arrow fire followed by a cavalry charge directly up their middle while the slaves climb around them through the pits. It could work in another situation, but not this one.

>>12887876
True. I suppose we should get a confirmation from Pax first on how much we can fit on the walls. My mistake for assuming in the first place.

>>12887864
The handlers will be sitting at the back of the slave horde. Not the front. If we don't have the height advantage, our archers cannot shoot through the slaves to hit the handlers.

>>12887880
Look, we can only do so much for the slaves. We'll try to save as many of them as we can, but what are we going to do if they fight? Throw up our hands and beg them to stop?

No, we don't throw the battle. This is a war, and I'm sorry we can't save the slaves but shit happens in war.

rolled 73 = 73

>>12887828
Okay, so we should defend the walls from on them and above them. I like his idea however though.

Actually, we should sally forth and field ourselves on Bear Calvary and have the legionary forces and the warlords behind us and in formation. We will march out next to the pit, give speech, possibly give a richter 2 earthquake while doing so giving the slaves the advantage because it will throw off the handlers. then since we already have our men out, if the speech works. we can do the charge. if not, we promptly return to our fort.

>>12887876

Not all soldiers in our mainple are ranged.

In any case, we can hold the chockpoint. If we fall back, they can lengthened the battlefield and we'll be badly stretched. Once that happens a good push by his normal force will cut through our forces.

Pax - are the handlers in the rear of the slaves or amongst them? How many units can we have on the walls?

That should settle up the things for me at least in deciding how to do this.

So, where will Justinian be in this line then?

And you guys seem to want:
196th Legion: front and center
98th Warlords: one flank
Cornwal Mercs: the other flank
Scouts and Rangers: man the walls
RapiRiders: go for the handlers/flank strafe
Garlian Cav: ?

>>12887908
Don't go with it yet. There are things I didn't think of when I suggested it.

>>12887898
Look how small this battlefield is. LOOK AT IT. We can't maneuver around them with our bears. This is a siege. We hold the line. There is nothing else we can do. We don't charge out into his jaws. We don't hang our dicks out braveheart style and taunt him. We stand on the walls and launch flaming arrows to ignite the grasses under him, catapult rocks into his best units, and try to snipe the handlers. All the while we bust up his wooden plot devices with elementalism.

>>12886501

>The handlers are in the herd

We should be able to reach them.

>>12887898

Theres a better idea.

If our powers allow us to just collapse a wall of the pit, we have a ramp.

Our cavalry can rush into the pit, rush up the inpromptu ramp and charge into unprepared infantry and perhaps even directly assault the commander.

>>12887921
We're risking torching the fort if we go for fire arrows. Maybe if we had cleared the grass in front of the fort leading to it but I assume there is no prevailing wind or anything like that. It'd just as likely hit us as it spread.

>>12887907
mostly to the rear, with a handful near the front to ensure "order"

>>12887908
Pax. We're not taking the field here. We're sitting behind the walls and killing as many of his dudes as we can before the fighting goes hand to hand. He only has 100 archers and we have catapults, ballistae, and crossbowmen on the walls.

Do. Not. Deploy. Outside.

No, it's not an interesting tactical battle. No, it's not a dynamic assault. It's a boring grinding affair where we watch the numbers tick down. Because that's how war actually is and we want his numbers to tick down a lot faster than ours.

>>12887935
Where is the Eagle cav?

rolled 2 = 2

Pax, we would only charge if we can get the slaves to turn. If not then we are going right back inside the fort. However, we should have the warlords, legion, Jayne's unit and Garlian Cavalry out with us Rapid Riders, and Cornwall mercs with us when we march out to give speech, just have them all be ready and briefed to get the fuck back inside the damn fort if our plan doesn't work.

We should earth spike and impale the handlers. It's accurate, unlike the crossbows which can be effected by winds or whatever.

>>12887949
No point doing that. Either we deploy outside and stay outside for awhile or we don't and stay inside. Moving back in after that is just a waste of stamina of the men. Screw it, I think we should sit back then. Let them approach the walls and keep the men sniping at the handlers. When they reach the gate, I think we should sally out then and we use that hole we create to try to take out the handlers. If this guy is going to approach the battle how I think he will, I imagine his main forces will sit back while the slaves do all the initial work on the walls.

>>12887908
He cannot attack us until we return to our side.
make the speech now while you are still within view and earshot

>>12887949
How are we going to have the time to do that? The gate is small, and we have a lot of men. They will be on us and fighting well before everyone gets back inside. It's just not viable to march out at all.

>>12887908
Look, do this.

>>12887963
Sallying out would probably be foolish period. We would have to open the gate, and that's a big no-no when you are relying on the gate to keep everything safe. Maybe after the slaves break and the gate is free of people trying to bust in. Maybe. We will need to see how the battle looks at that time.

>>12887976
YESSSSSSSSSSSS.

Yes. Do this!

A thought has just occurred to me:

Morwayne has a warhorn and might use it to summon winged cavalry to strike, though I suppose we SHOULD see them coming.

In any case, I'd go for the plan that involves giving an authoritative speech to convince the slaves to lay down their arms/fight for us; kill the overseers, assure the plainsmen that we can help them get their families back (We need to be a bit subtle about how, be cause I assume that this son is gonna try to flee as soon as he gets that the battle isn't going his way, we might want to sent the RapidRiders to catch him.); and make a beeline for Morwayne to end the battle as quickly as possible.

>>12887994
Well the way I see it, we cannot afford a true siege. Even before they started using slaves, they had about 700 more troops than us. Now they have about 1700 more troops than us. Unless we have an amazing kill to death ratio, we will not win a game of attrition. We have to give them a decisive blow at one point during this battle and sitting back and defending will only lead to a loss.

>>12887976
Fucking second.

High five, fortress anon. Keepin' our dudes safe and protected.

Heres my battleplan.

Riders fire until they're too close then retreat.

Legion advances to close the gap at the 'bridge'.

We will be at the wall to observe the battle.

Jayne and Maruders held as strategic reserves.

Pax, can we or can we not collapse pit walls?

rolled 29 = 29

Okay so plan so far looks like some of us want to hole up only and not go outside at all.
The pros - safer, uses all of our advantages
The cons - we will lose eventually, lose the test, and the slaves will die, a lot of them at least
Lowest Risk, Lowest Pay Off

Charging out:
The pros - shock factor, might possibly get to the enemy commander to defeat him in personal combat, most decisive victory. allows for plot involvement (slave speech among other things I think Pax has in store)
The cons - we would take horrendous losses, highly probable we would lose, the formations and enemy are scary outnumbering us
Highest Risk, Highest Pay Off

Going out with a chargeable force give speech and decide from there:
The pros: Allows for plot involvement, we discourage the slaves from assaulting us as well as give a show of strength and faith to them. Less forces fielded, but that is okay considering anymore might actually slow us down. Same pros as both plans depending on the situation.
The cons: Same as cons as previous plans depending on what we do except we still allow for plot involvement.
Medium Risk, with varying Pay Off

>>12888010
Except the generally accepted rule for assaulting forts is a 5:1 ratio of attackers to defenders.

>>12888010
>We have to give them a decisive blow at one point during this battle and sitting back and defending will only lead to a loss.
False! Sitting back and defending, if they don't try to storm the fort, will lead to more of our troops showing up hopefully later today. If we want to take the field against them, that will be the time to do it, NOT NOW.

>>12888020
>Going out with a chargeable force give speech and decide from there:
What? No. This is what you suggested and people said was stupid. It's a bad plan. Half measures are worse than either one.

It should really be:
>Stay in the fort and don't put anyone outside, wait for them to wear themselves away on our walls.

>>12888050

However we have the terrain advantage. We can hold the 'bridge' easily.

The walls should be the final fallback.

Could I point out that none of the plans involving having our units outside the walls of the fort, have addressed the fact that our enemy has 100 longbowmen who can volley-fire with impunity at our troops, and can probably call upon aerial cavalry for devastating charges into our flanks?

>>12888040
Sansa and her troops will not arrive until a few more days. Only Laelith and her bodyguards.

>>12888028
Oh you're likely right in that we'll hold the fort. I just meant we're going to take losses that are way too heavy fighting that way, especially as our men get tired fighting these slaves.

>>12888014
Y u do dis? Do you just want to keep our walls safe and pristine? Do you want to never use the fort, even for exactly what it was supposed to be used for? Are you just inept?

I vote against this deployment.

rolled 34 = 34

Sooooo, we are going to be the easy to tramp over commander and just let the slaves get massacred and fail the test then. Because so far, the people suggesting staying inside are not even mentioning the fact that it's a test. Also, assembling men ready to go out and charge isn't a half plan. They would be sitting in the fort not doing anything anyways so the "loss of stamina" is not much in the long run. The fact of the matter is, we are a lone figure right now with a standard and horses. We HAVE to make a show of force if we want the slaves. Otherwise, like a previous participant said, we need to roll a nat 1, which is very damn unlikely.

>>12888068
>I just meant we're going to take losses that are way too heavy fighting that way
And so you rather take even heavier losses fighting on the battlefield, and tire ourselves out even more with melee combat than sitting on the walls waiting?

I don't understand, maybe I'm missing your tactical genius point here but it seems completely inferior in every way.

don't forget the impetus marauders

>>12888014
yes, you could collapse the pit walls. hell with a bit of work you could punji-pit them yourself.

>>12888087
I changed my opinion to sit inside and sally out when the moment is right. Honestly, it all depends on the situation but I think we need to sally out at some point to swing the battle in our favour. I just don't think we should sit inside the fort until they leave.

>>12888084
Yes, it's a test. That she said we probably couldn't win. And honestly? Tough luck bitch, I'm sorry I couldn't save your slaves but I have an overall goal and it's not to go around being the epic liberator. It's to win this war with as few losses as possible.

You're losing sight of our objective. It's not to pander to the gods, it's to win the war.

>>12888098
Well no, I imagine eventually we will need to sally. But deploying outside initially is suicidal, as is rushing out early on in the battle.

We sally only when the turning point arrives and victory is possible.

Justinian is still outside.He can make the speech NOW.
Mini-creed can't touch us yet

>>12888093
The Impetus are off with Sansa.

>>12888084
Yes, this is a test, but it is also a test we are meant to fail.

>>12888093
I did forget them, you're right. But their place would be inside the fort, not on the walls.

The reason that the legionaries are ideal for the walls is that they have giant fucking shields in addition to being good in melee, and the enemy has archers. So they can protect our archers when the enemy isn't storming the walls, and fight off the charges when they are.

>>12888084
Charging out into the slaves would not be any more successful in avoiding a massacre. We can shoot the handlers either way.

>>12888072

The fort being the fallback plan.

I just don't see the point of digging the pits and not making full use of then as choke points.

If they are in danger, a steady retreat can be done to fall back and assume siege positions on the walls.

>>12888067

Our ranged infantry are still on the walls based on the plan I drew up. They'll be able to volley fire the valks as they come in.

And just in case, the cornwall mercs and the 98 warlords should get the net + hook fences we cooked up to protect their flanks.

They're also equiped with shields and that should protect them from the missiles for abit, hopefully until we get all the handlers.

>>12888110
Then we are in agreement. Maybe I didn't make it clear but I'm against the deploy outside now simply from the practical point of view. I'm hoping out enemy sends the slaves unsupported to protect his own troops from archer fire and to minimize casualties of his real army. When the slaves approach and some of the handlers are dead, that's likely the best time to do that speech of ours and hopefully sally out if the slaves react. We should ask Wulf if he can amplify our voice using elementalism...

rolled 81 = 81

>>12888099
I'm thinking of winning the war by hitting two birds with one stone. We could have our men out of the fort and back in quickly because we have organized troops. I only suggest we charge IF and ONLY IF we get the slaves to turn. However, that will only happen, if we allow for plot involvement. That requires us to have a show of force to them showing that if they do turn, right then and there, we could liberate them. 1000 slaves suddenly turned on their attackers and surrounding them, with a group of bear cavalry and even more legion forces bearing down on you from having a buffer/wall of 1000 slaves and an extreme numerical superiority is extremely devastating and you can't hope to win if that happens.

>>12888130
The pits aren't done. And they ARE a choke point, they will choke the slaves before they reach the walls, slowing the advance even more. They are hugely advantageous. We don't have to deploy outside and go HURRDURR to take advantage of them, because they naturally inhibit attacking our fortifications.

>>12888138
Good idea, I think that's probably a good use of Air Elementalism. We should amplify and speech at them after most of the handlers are dead. And do some dramatic Earth Elementalism at the same time.

>>12888130
You can't assume that the slaves will automatically break and run or turn on Uurlanth as soon as all of the handlers are killed.
Their families are still hostages, and so they will still be motivated to fight us.

>>12888146
>if we allow for plot involvement
And here is your mistake. Stop being so dreamy eyed and optimistic. Pax has and will fuck us over if we do something stupid. And relying on the plot to save you is stupid.

rolled 22 = 22

Pax, can you confirm how long it would take to get he Bear Calv, Legion, Warlords, Garlan Cav, and the Rapid riders outside the forth and back in at a steady quick pace? Keeping in mind here that three of the units are mounted.

>>12888096

THANK YOU.

Guys, this is the main reason I want to deploy at the pits.

Green lines are those we can collapse.

If the battle has reached its turning point, collapsing the pit walls at the upper green point will let us sally forth into unprotected flanks.

If it comes to a bad situation, we can even collapse the bridge and fall back or fight them as they try to climb out.

>>12888120
Those are the Esperitus Raiders.

The Maurauders are the elves with axes.

>>12888179
But we can do all that from on the walls too. You are being retarded.

Hell, if we need to we can collapse our own walls near the end of the battle to allow our cavalry to stream out from the sides. But we don't deploy in the open because that will put us in a meatgrinder along with the enemy.

>>12888162

Based on info by Pax, we have seen younger children and women they're trying to protect in the folds.

They also seem to occasionally try to break and run but get whipped back into place.

>>12886687

Basing it off this info that they might try to break and run.

>>12888179
This plan is nowhere near good enough to justify abandoning the walls.

rolled 20 = 20

>>12888179
And I are thinking of using our force multipliers in a way to let us win. There will be no winning if we sit in siege. I don't see how you people think we can win in a siege. There are literally no advantages to it besides us being able to inflict more casualties over time and receiving less. This is only good if we have a way of breaking the siege. Which we do not, not at least for many a few days.

>>12888146
Where has plot saved us in the past, as opposed to simply lucky rolls?
I contend that our once-per-session reroll is our only plot armor, and that trusting the /tg/ dice-roller for salvation is foolish.

>>12888179
Look, man. I understand that the pits are fun, but restrain yourself. There will be other battles, where we've had time to prepare the field but not enough time to build ourselves a giant fucking fort to use.

Do not let any of our forces meet any of the enemy's forces on even ground unless we have to. Your plan has a deadly, nasty meat grinder right in the middle which will lose us a hell of a lot of troops that we cannot afford to lose, even if everything goes off perfectly.

PLEASE use >>12887976 or some variation thereof.

>>12888209
No, god, you can't even read. There are no women and children, and no elders. They are all either warriors or males of the age of majority.

im voting for staying inside our fort

if we rally the slaves, then hooray, we sally forth and crush the foe

if we fail at doing so, then we need to be in the best defensive position possible, ie the fort

>>12888204

I think you'll find trying to uproot logs planted into the earth will be much harder than just the side of a pit.

The walls are our final fallback. Theres no point to just abandon the pits we prepared when we can limit the troops we face at the bridge.

If things really go belly up, its not too late to retreat to the walls.

>>12888218
>There are literally no advantages to it besides us being able to inflict more casualties over time and receiving less.
Even if this were true, that is a huge fucking advantage that we should be leaping for at every possible opportunity. A huge part of what we do is essentially a variation on chasing that advantage.

rolled 40 = 40

>warriors normally trying to protect a group of green boys and women.
>group of green boys and women
>boys and women
>boys
>women

>>12888228
There were barely ready for combat boys and women.
>They were walking forward mostly at their own will, the warriors normally trying to protect a group of green boys and women. Whenever one would try to break and run the handlers would use their whips to re-direct the fleeing slave.

>>12888218
You do know that as the DEFENDER we win if we DEFEND, right? We don't have to annihilate them. We just have to keep them from getting through. You really need to get your priorities straight.

>>12888218
>no advantages to it besides us being able to inflict more casualties over time and receiving less
Isn't this, like, the entire point of our tactics? This is what we plan battles around and you are saying it's not an advantage? Wut?

PAX! We have now spent an hour arguing over this! Can you just choose whichever plan you/our officers think is the least utterly fucktarded, and move on with the quest?

>>12888218
So instead of using a tactic that has endured the test of time and actual warfare, you want to ride out straight into a wall of warriors, on the miniscule chance that they will turn on their captors even while their families are still held hostage on the flimsy promise that we will be able to rescue them before the executions start?

rolled 48 = 48

>>12888252
This is the problem, you don't realize that the enemy can easily out last us. We don't have provisions for that long I am sure, because A, we didn't prepare for a siege, and B, they have air cavalry as well as longbowmen which can fire INTO the fort which will minimize the advantage of the fort. Pax has also not answered us when it comes to the time consumption for marching out with our men to give the slaves encouragement, if he says that it will take too long to actually do so, then yes, regretfully we will have to try and do the siege, which, by the way, we are relying on plot devices to even win that more so if you haven't noticed.......

If we do make the speech, I suggest adding a part at the end:

After all the rhethoric about fighting for their freedom and all that...

"I suggest that you make way between us and your captors. It would be mutually beneficial if you did."

>>12888280
Second. I like planning tactics as much as the next guy, but this is ridiculous. Can you do like StonerDM and just intervene and say "Look, plan X is retarded and play Y is clearly better, you guys should try to focus on plan Y."

I mean, we have years of tactics training and several advisers right?

I vote:
-make speech now before we return to the fort. let the think about it.
-return to fort and defend INSIDE walls

rolled 81 = 81

>>12888286
>>12888272
>besides
This implies that it IS an advantage, but it is the only one, and will not win us the siege.

>>12888303
I think the speech would be better in the middle of combat. When they're terrified of siege warfare, our firepower and their handlers have started to die. If we do it now, enemy commander just takes steps to ensure it doesn't work before battle.

>>12888287
And you somehow think that an army of 1700 people is going to outlast us in the middle of nowhere... why? This, despite the fact that any supply caravans would have to cross trap-infested terrain and endure ambushes by our raiders?

I don't like you. You are not a smart person.

>>12888287
>longbowmen which can fire INTO the fort which will minimize the advantage of the fort
Are... are you seriously arguing that because the enemy has ranged weapons, our fort is worth so little that we shouldn't fully exploit it?

Well shit, there go thousands of years of tactical knowledge. And my assessment of you as misguided rather than a blatant troll.

>>12888303

seconding

>>12888312
Of course, I'm hoping Wulf can amplify our voice and I will be very sad when I'm wrong.

>>12888288
and don't forget to bring up their families. and that the easiest way to see them again is to not fight us

rolled 42 = 42

>>12888312
>>12888286
You also are not realize I'm not saying MARCH DIRECTLY INTO THE ENEMY LINE, I'm saying just outside the fort, where the slaves can at least see that we are prepared to help them with our forces.

>>12888209
>the REALLY young kids (sub 16, as that is "of age" in this setting) and those too old to fight are hostages, along with any sickly or pregnant captives. (Every person potentially capable of bearing arms is out here).

You quickly muster your forces to the walls once you return to your fort. Taking your place on the wall you hear Morwayne take three short blows on his war-horn. The men next to the poles lift up on them and brace them into the gound, as soon as the boards above them are stable the ranks close in, effectively placing a roof over their heads. While it will be difficult for your archers to strike at the professional solders ranks, the Longbowmen will not be able to fire until they leave the safety of their protection... this perplexes you. Within moments one of the scouts walks up to you briskly and offers you a telescope "Approaching from the south-east. I count 40 Valkeries." the scout reports, and you are quickly able to verify. From the look of it 15 of the great birds have large rocks clutched in their talons. So that's how he intends to defeat your wall, at their current speed they will be in firing range of the large repeaters (a second was finished in the night, both are mounted at your tower right now) soon, and your bowmen shortly thereafter. The rest of Morwaynes force is waiting for this opening salvo to move ahead.

>>12888332
Guess where the MIDDLE OF THE ENEMY LINE will be once the battle starts? That's right, pressing right into our troops and killing them.

>>12888337

see if wulfe can fuck with the valkyries

rolled 56 = 56

>>12888320
>>12888321
They will out last us in the middle of nowhere because we don't have the provisions for a siege, and they can attain those. The trap infested areas aren't doing their job as you can see, and they have been marking them anyways. The ranged factor I was talking about was due to the fact that this is a fantasy world. Air cavalry are deadly in many ways and can be used with a lot of different capabilities. Dropping large boulders, rocks, pitch or all that into a fort from above are among a few.

I have an idea. at the end of our speech tell the slaves that the moment to strike is when they are close to our walls. that way they clog up the other enemy forces' advance

>>12888337

Collapse the sides of the pits facing into the bridge.

Narrow the walkway, reduce the men they can bring in at a time.

>>12888337
EXCELLENT. Time to introduce the valks to our repeater crossbows. Save ranged attacks to hit them when they are in range for best effect.

>>12888337
Launch huge rocks from our catapult into that arrow shield. It will easily shatter it. Also, I restate that we should drive earth-spikes into the parts of the shield touching the ground, and maybe open fissures under other ones. That will cause the entire thing to twist and buckle, splintering and becoming useless. Worse than useless, it will become an impediment and possibly crush some people when it falls down.

rolled 70 = 70

>>12888337
Oh would you look at that.....very large boulders being carried by valks..........

>>12888337
Repeater crews and all ranged units to prepare for anti-air operation.
All others to take cover and prepare for aerial bombardment.

We have signal flare rings; can they be fired directly into the valkyrie formation, to blind them?

>>12888355
Whatever, we aren't doing your plan. Enough.

>>12888337

Forgot to add, dismount the rapidriders.

Have them join the archers on the walls.

We need every bow up there.

>>12888337
Are the hostages being held on the battlefield? Any idea where if so?

>>12888381
I like this thought. We have several signal rings right? Fire them at the valks, blinds and/or lights them on fire. Maybe freaks them out and makes them break formation or drop the rocks too.

rolled 92 = 92

>>12888382
Was typing before he posted. Also, we aren't going to hit the Valks guys.......they don't have to be in range to drop rocks on us. Just letting you know that now. He is CREED-like, remember. We are going to have to "weather" it out.

rolled 61 = 61

>>12888337
>From the look of it 15 of the great birds have large rocks clutched in their talons. So that's how he intends to defeat your wall

I suggest we bring up some reinforced stone spike reinforcements for the walls before they drop the rocks. Should spook the slaves as well.

Rolling for elementalism.

>>12888368
Do this. We need to get that shield protecting the good troops down so we can rain arrows on them.

Have our guys target the birds with rocks first.

>>12888377
Those valkyries doing bombing runs would have occurred regardless of whether we were in the fort or outside.
At least here they have to fly into range of our heavy repeaters and archers; if we were outside, then they could launch the rocks from beyond our engagement envelope.

mangonel fires into arrow shield formation

wulfe uses wind elementalism on valks

earth spikes into the arrow shield as well

rolled 47 = 47

>>12888399
disregard that, I was being a negative nancy, didn't read all before pouting T.T

>>12888337
Oh, and I suggest we hold fire until after get a bit closer to ensure hits.

>>12888337
Give the alert to the troops immediately. Have our archers and heavy repeaters preferentially target the birds with rocks. Have all forces with polearms, javelins, etc. prepare to use them on any flyers trying to strafe.

We should be able to utterly maul these guys.

Also: If it looks like they're successfully dropping rocks on the wall and opening a breach, try to use earth elementalism to blast apart the rocks before impact. It might stop them from successfully making a hole, at least.

is a speech still possible? I'd like to try to stop the massacre plz.

>>12888424
Didn't our cook show signs of earth elementalism? Get him up here and tell him to lessen the force of those rocks as much as possible!

>>12888435
Wait until they're closer. They won't hear it from that range.

>>12888440
We just trained him a couple nights ago. He can't do that yet.

we could try usine terrakinesis on the rocks to redirect their fall onto the enemy

>>12888448
Probably not. But what can it hurt to try?

>>12888449
We don't have terrakinesis.

Ok general gist use siege weapons new found range to destroy the arrow shield and have all archers on AA duty with priority being given to the rock birds.

>>12888500
You're forgetting seeing if we can use a signal flare ring to detonate a flare in the middle of an enemy air formation and blind them all.

"Wulf, give me a squall into those knights as soon as their close enough, Rangers, repeaters prepare to deal with the Valkerie Knights as well. The rest of you are to target the slave handlers, make your best efforts not to harm the slaves, the Empire has always been generous in its dealings with the Kharynchek people and I will not break that tradition if it can be helped." you bellow, raising your right hand towards the onrushing knights and launching a bright red flare, spooking a few of the birds and nearly causing a few collisions. You captains quickly catch on and follow suit, the end result is having herded the knights into several small clumps, rock-laden fliers near the outsides of the flocks. Next you sweep your arm out over the wall, channeling the earth, you manage to create a series of fissures across the front ranks of the Men at arms, destroying the front end of the arrow shield. At the same time your rangers and scouts not preparing for the Knights arrival salvo into the slaves, felling several of the armored handlers, although more than a few of the slaves are struck by bolts as well. The people closest to the corpses of the handlers try to flee, but they are near the front of the group, and the human press forces them onward. The first chained stones crashes into the halberdiers, causing a second chorus of dismayed cries to erupt from the enemy soldiers. By your estimation your men should be able to loose one more full volley before the Valkeries are within repeater range.

>gonna need another elementalism roll

rolled 29 = 29

>>12888512

rolled 10 = 10

>>12888512
Rollin

>>12888500
do this while we cast Rend Earth on the rocks when they are in range if possible. they are throwing giant balls of earth at us, we should be able to do something

>>12888512
Keep hitting the handlers. The only chance we have of really winning is if we can break those slaves in some manner early.

>>12888512
I'm glad to see that my suggestion of the flare ring idea proved useful.

Maybe we can also use it against ground targets, to blind enemy commanders and officers, or to help create a breach in an enemy formation.

>>12888512
>Only 11 casualties

Damn, circular scything ammo really should have a greater effect.

Shout to those trying to flee to run alongside the pit to get away. That we won't fire on those running away.

>>12888563

This is a good idea but we should fire it into the slaves.

I suspect them to be a superstitious lots. If we spook them enough, they will stampede backwards.

>>12888579
Probably also a good idea. Couple that with creating the defensive spikes in front of our walls to deflect the boulders and they should be super scared.

Catapult, ho! Hit more of the halbrieders!

>>12888579
sounds good but we should say something, either make the speech or say scary like:
"If you value your lives, RUN!"

>>12888512
Earthquake, then speech.

>>12888512
Hey, could we use our elementalism to make the rocks that those birds are carrying explode/sprout large spikes before they drop them? Because that would be awesome.

>>12888617
could the earthquake mess up our fort?

>>12888662
Doubtful. But it would be neat to try and make them spike upwards into the bird, impaling it.

You can hear the rapid thumping of the Heavy Repeaters behind you as the Valkeries begin their final descent, as a storm of bolts the size of your arm begin to spray into the great eagles. Two groups on the outside are decimated before they are able to level off on their approach towards your wall. The only group that seems to be untouchable by the volley, now joined by your rangers repeaters as well, is the central group, which, while having lost one of its boulder-bearing Knights continues to drive towards your gate.

As you begin to plan for enemy forces streaming through your gate you hear a pair of blasts on Morwaynes war-horn. The professional soldiers move to advance, their progress horribly slow carrying their great shields, especially those carried by the Men at Arms. You respond by tearing another series of gaps in the earth beneath the heavy infantry, timing your strike to hit in time with the next shot from your modified mangonel and the next salvo aimed at the slave handlers. You can now clearly hear the shouts of the handlers as they attempt to hurl their charges forward through the raining arrows, boulders and slain knights and mounts. The nomads continue to move, but they are now actively avoiding the handlers, after seeing groups near them decimated by bolt-fire.

You brace yourself properly in the shield-wall, knowing that the Knights will hit soon.

>combat, commmand, elementalism and whatever else you want to try all need rolls.

rolled 20 = 20

>>12888664
Very focused earthquake, would bother their lines and not us.

rolled 1 = 1

>>12888686

Command

rolled 1 = 1

>>12888686

rolling

>>12888707

Oh fuck, YES.

Try to make the rocks the birds are carrying sprout spikes up into them! Failing that, bring up a line of spikes in front of where the boulders are going to hit so that it helps mitigate the impact by using stone against stone.

Am I missing something or what? I'm reading through the thread at the moment, and I don't remember anything about a test.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

GIVE STIRRING WIND-AMPLIFIED SPEECH WITH COMMAND ROLL

WE ARE THE LIBERATOR

>>12888710
>>12888707


Better declare your roll mate. :D

>MFFW

>>12888674
the birds holding their own destruction? how amusing... if we can we should try it

>>12888710

combat roll

>>12888707
>>12888710
UNLIMITED POWER!

rolled 21 = 21

>>12888687
looks like they're being hit, and the ground itself rises up to swallowed them from below! Hitting the shield bearing menat arms and upwards, men carrying shields tumble over and halberds formation shudder at their feet must move fast to keep stable.
The the long bowmen? why they're luck if the shifting ground doesnt snap at their bows, cause them to fall over, and snap, goes their quivers full of arrows.

>>12888719
Last thread. Earth goddess.

yes, command is also speach roll

rolled 31 = 31

>>12888686

Shout to the slaves: "Kill your herders and run! You don't belong here!"

Rollin'

The puny mortal armies shall shatter before our dice!

>>12888707
>>12888710
>>12888687
The dice gods have SPOKEN!

Launch the next magonel round into the men at arms. If we can break them early this will be awesome.

Also, use flares again!

>>12888687
>>12888707
>>12888710
>>12888738
>>12888750
The very world itself favors us! Fate is our ally and we its champion! None shall match our might!

>>12888750


On second though, we really should be shouting at them to fight back and kill their oppressors to free their families.

>>12888686
Throw everything at the birds. There aren't going to be a lot of other chances to shoot them this easily. All repeaters and archers fire on them, all elementalism devoted to making their rocks stab them, everyone on the wall throw javelins and axes, use flares, everything.

If they get out of this with more than a third of their initial numbers, I will be very disappointed. This charge should END them as a viable combat asset.

rolled 14 = 14

CreedSon: "Treeeeeeentzzzz!"

Who hacked the dice system? I don't think I have ever seen it roll so well. We better use this to our advantage because it will never be this good again.

>>12888814
I support this. Show him the foolishness of attacking into massed arrow fire with flyers.

>>12888821
Just so you know, if this were any other quest we would be FUCKED.

>>12888687
>>12888707
>>12888710
...

>>12888819

Justinian: "I have you now, my pretty."

If this doesn't impress the gods, nothing will.

... I'm glad I went to shower now and didn't mess up dice rolls. I have no words for this moment other than bracing for epic.

>>12888827
Indeed. I will be so annoyed if these knights get away with the punishment they are about to get for being so close to our crossbows.

>>12888896
With a 1 for combat we should jump off the walls onto one of those eagles, sever the jugular of the rider with our teeth, then commence a strafing run on the others to bring them crashing down to their certain dooms.

Chances of two successive 1's plus a 20 or lower with only three rolls: 1 in 50,000.

>>12888933
And then that night we have a threesome with Laelith, Kyria and Jayne.

Seriously, with these rolls we it might actually happen.

>>12888969
That would be a foursome, unless you plan to just have Justinian watch.

>>12889003
Oh, right.

Although either way it'd probably be awesome.

rolled 3 = 3

>>12889012
>>12889003
I'd say just watch, then give hot dickings out once they realize we are perfectly willing to share.

>>12889028
>3

...

You heard him Pax. Justinian's got plans for tonight!

rolled 44 = 44

>>12889028
I'm going to do a test roll just to see if I should not roll at all tonight based on how you guys are kicking ass.

>>12889064
Definitely not rolling tonight unless an emergency comes up.

>>12888969
But what about Sansa? We can't leave her out...

As the Valkeries descend towards your line you thrust your spear forward, skewering one of the mounts chests as it attempts to slash through the legionary battalion. You would have been thrown back by the impact, were it not for the man behind you, with his brace however you are able to slam the mortally wounded beast into your wall, shattering its bones even as the rider is pierced over and over by crossbow bolts. Your next thrust rends the wing from another Valkerie, and your third, and final of the charge tears the leg clean off of one of the riders, the bird flying off as the man spills from his saddle, falling to the ground and landing neck first. You look to your right to see that the mercenaries are not doing nearly as well, and the Repeaters are attempting to cover the slack. Feeling a surge of power you thrust a trio of massive stone spikes up in front of your gate, even as you add blades to the clutched edges of the boulders still born by the beasts flying towards your gate. You smile in satisfaction as you see two sets of talons fly free with the boulders, the screaming, dying mounts crashing into their escorts, bringing the whole group down into your now devastated gates in a massive ball of feathers, flesh and bone. When the small flock finally stops sliding and rolling through the gap in your wall there is nary a sound nor motion from the lot of them.

As your regular crossbows fire into the slave-handlers again you hear one long bellow on the warhorn, followed by two short blasts. The professional soldiers begin to move forward, you attempt to catch them all in a quake, however the Men at Arms leave the area your quake is covering, streaking ahead of the suddenly immobilized halberdiers and longbowmen, all the latter two units can do is cower from their own arrow-shields as the large wooden constructs splinter and shatter above them.

>cont'd

Poor Pax I probably still try to wrap his head around the the first three rolls let alone the rest.

Looking down into the slaves, you feel your chance to turn them has finally arrived "Why waste your lives for such cowards!" you bellow to the slaves "They threaten your family where the Empire would protect! Strike down your handlers! flee the field or flee to my fortress! I shall free your captive relatives, and failing that I will avenge them alongside you! The Uurlanthians use you as tools, see you as less than beasts, STRIKE THEM DOWN FOR THEIR IGNORANCE!!!!" you announce, the slave horde immediately grinds to a halt, slaves falling on their handlers, handlers drawing blades and cutting down slaves, groups of slave breaking into fighting amongst themselves, torn over who to trust. One strong thrust and I can take the field, you think to yourself, looking at the corpses of the knights littering the bloodied ground, nearly 40 all told, you would estimate.

>Slaves not advancing, stuck on the ground, and infighting on how to react to your response. Halberds and Longbows immobilized by earthquake, will regain mobility next round.
>command, combat, elementalism, whatever you wanna do roll for, as normal.

>>12889076
She's away unfortunately.

We'll just have to make it up to her when she gets back.

>another, flincing

Guys, excitement is fine, but the dice gods are as fickle as the sea, and provoking them like this could lead to our downfall. This is awesome, but the past has shown what can happen following good rolls. Remember Lordquest, killed a dragon, found papers for a dutchy I think, and then fell off a cliff because dice hate too much joy.

>>12889083
This is the moment. We can turn the battle now. Sally out! Jayne needs to cut us a path. Range units start peppering the men-at-arms. Someone else roll.

rolled 11 = 11

>>12889083

rolling

tell the slaves to make a break for the fortress gate

rolled 85 = 85

>>12889083

Don't really see how combat will work since everything around us is dead.

Are the doors gone?

Rolling for command again. Fire everything into the professional soldiers. Let the slaves handle themselves.

rolled 96 = 96

rolling for combat

>>12889098
You just had to jinx it eh? Heh.

>>12889116
not gone, but everything a few inches past the hinges is a bloody shattered mess. And your kinda bumrushing I'm gonna guess so the chances of you getting to grips with something are pretty good.

>>12889077
>>12889083
I am totally listening to "I'll Make a Man out of You" while reading this.

>>12889101

The professional force is still too strong. Let them close and let us keeping firing or let the slaves rebel and assault them.

In any case, roll fudge?

rolled 60 = 60

Let's call to the slaves once more, offering them shelter within our walls. Catapult slam the men-at-arms again and have the repeater ballista/archers start in on them too. That shield is likely far too damaged to stop the arrows now, and the ballista bolts will just punch right through.

Have our spear mercs get ready to cover the entrance, but give them orders to let fleeing slaves through.

>>12889110
We really should just get them out of the way. Run off to the sides so that we can tear into the actual troops.

>>12889129
Yes, apparently I did. Wow.
>>12889124
>>12889116

>>12889124
I am not rolling again tonight...

>>12889138
On the contrary, I think we should charge even more now. Some of the slaves are still on their side and if we sit back, those that support us may die or re-join the enemy when we sit back. We kind of have to push forward to win over more of the slaves.

rolled 49 = 49

>>12889138
Use the fudge.

rolled 55 = 55

Roll fuding for our obviously DOOMED combat.

rolled 20 = 20

Call out to the gods, tell them to look upon our works ye mighty, and despair.

Except the goddess of beauty and life. Tell her to look upon us and get wet, because we're going to make her ours.

>>12889110

i guess my roll is for elementalism?

open up a chasm seperating the slaves from the rest of the enemy army

>>12889164

Actually, you're calling to the slaves.

Shouldn't it be counted as command?

>>12889164
No don't do that. Then we can't get to the enemy. I think we should decimate the men-at-arms more with elementalism. We need to make sure we can get to them so we can capture the enemy commander. If we can get Creed son, we have really hurt our enemy.

>>12889160
I would have loled if this was a natural 1. We would have gotten goddess pussy TONIGHT.

Still, I'll support it. Courting a goddess? I can get behind that. Sounds like something Justinian would do at this point.

>>12889083
Direct all fire, including elementalism and siege weapons, into the men at arms. We need to buy the slaves time to slaughter their handlers, and now isn't the time to sally forth- not yet. If we can break or sufficiently weaken the men at arms' charge, then the enemy's mobility and core of elites will be shattered- we'll be able to take care of the rest far more easily.

>>12889176

you already rolled for command though

>>12889188

seconding

>>12889190

Since you rolled before me, yours takes precendence and someone else can roll for elementalism.

>>12889185
The goddess of beauty, fertility, and love no less. Aim high, they always say...

>>12889188
Our enemy isn't stupid though. If we shatter the men-at-arms, I imagine he might start pulling out. And I maintain that if we sit back and don't at least start moving troops out, the slaves supporting us might stop supporting us or just be killed altogether without support. We don't know how many of the slaves support us after all. I wonder, if we do well enough, will the earth goddess give us a boon of some kind?

rolled 63 = 63

>>12889201
I'll do elementalism if no one else has I guess.

>>12889164

I agree with this plan.

>>12889160

>Except the goddess of beauty and life. Tell her to look upon us and get wet, because we're going to make her ours.

Pic related.

But seriously we'd be out of our league even with Justinian's incredible lady-killing skills.

Let's begin moving out. The turning point is here. The enemy forces are going to break soon, and we want to wipe them out before they get a chance to retreat.

rolled 35 = 35

We've not yet rolled for Elements, so lets hit the shields HARD

Rise my spikes, open up mother earth, soldiers will fall to your waiting mouth or be skewed like a roast pig!

>>12889164

No we shouldn't.

If we can get their bloodlust up, they'll charge them and we can then flank their troops with our own forces.

>>12889221
Maybe. But there's no harm in trying, right?

rolled 62 = 62

Well, we could use our bear and Gar cavalry units to wreck the men at arms, giving the rest of our ground troops to muster and march out. What say you all? Garlan and Jayne cavalry charge?

>>12889234
Oh there is. Assuming these gods are like the gods the Romans and Greeks believed in, angry gods are not something we want after us.

>>12889232
Let's not use the slaves for combat, and save as many as we can. With the 11 I imagine they will turn to us, so let's protect them and awesome up the challenge.

>>12889209
If he starts pulling out, then we start using elementalism to slow his retreat while we sally forth with our cavalry units. Cavalry against halberdiers who are fleeing rather than maintaining ranks? We'll be able to slaughter them with virtually no losses. It's impossible to run quickly while carrying a halberd.

And if he runs, the slaves won't side with him. They were being forced into this, remember.

The only things that could harm us significantly in an enemy-retreat situation are an infantry rally, coordinated archer fire, or enough men at arms being left to make a fight of it with our pursuit units. Enough elementalism and morale-shattering actions should stop the first two, and that means that killing as many men at arms as possible is our best bet for optimizing the situation in which the enemy retreats.

>>12889235

About a 100 strong cavalry against 400 strong trained infantry with equipment that will fuck our shit up?

>>12889238
Oh come on, are you really telling me she's going to get angry at us for hitting on her? Really? I imagine she would just be flattered, but even if she is disgusted she still likes us a lot from the last time we spoke with her. No harm. I say do it.

>>12889232
if we're thinking of having them charge shouldn't we have our forces prepare to redeploy to join them?

The cavalry and the 98th are practically ready to join in, though moving the 196th and the Marauders would be trickier.

>>12889235
Do NOT cavalry charge until after enemy's halberds have been broken. And remember, the longer we delay a sally the more we can pound them with our catapults and such. Wait for the right moment.

>>12889238
Where is your sense of adventure? We should totally go for it. I just say maybe we should wait until we are off the battlefield to put the moves on her, as she hates war.

>>12889249
Oh no, I don't think she'll be mad for trying to flirt with her. I just mean if we screw it up somehow, then we're going to be in a world of pain. And she may even have ways of screwing up our relationships with women in our maniple.

>>12889255

we sally out once the halberds are in flight and no sooner

in the meantime, mass fire onto the men at arms

and go get spite, we'll ride with jayne once the enemy breaks

>>12889262
Let's wait until we're back to getting ones, I say.

And even if she turns you down, saying how cute it is that the mortal even tried, Justinian could always ask for a favor from her.

>>12889263
Well then we just don't screw it up. It's not like we're an asshole. That's like saying "Well what if we screw up our relationship with Laelith! She could burn us to death in our sleep!" Well, yeah. It's just not likely.

You fire off a signal flare at Jaynes wing and motion towards the Slaves. "BREAK THEIR SPIRITS!!!" you bellow before loosing a shrill whistle. Within seconds you see Spite running alongside Jaynes wing, timing yourself carefully; you leap from the wall, landing on the massive Uursans back, he growls slightly, but keeps going. Jaynes wing barrels through the slaves, cutting down any man who stands with the outnumbered handlers "TO MY WALLS!!" you shout to the slaves, skewering a slave-handlers head on your spear, not noticing that Spite is indiscriminately slaughtering everything around you. A veritable wall of projectiles lances from your walls, the tip of it shattering the Men at Arms, who immediately begin to flee from your line of assault. Behind them the Halberdiers are fighting over scraps of their devastated wall to hide from the barrage under, while the bowmen are spreading out and backtracking as best they can, being sure to stay outside your ranged weapons range. Behind you you can hear shouting, and you realize that you neglected to order one unit or the other as to which will be guarding your ravaged gate, and the mercenaries already trying to loot the valuables from the dead knights.

>one more round should do it. roll for what you use.

>>12889272
You can't predict 1's, and that was a 20 on the "hit on her" roll. That's as awesome as we're going to get.

>>12889276
Fair enough but I'm just trying to say we should be careful. Angering Laelith is a little different than angering a goddess.

>>12889268
The halbreds won't have the chance to reach us anytime soon so we can at least start sallying out at the minimum. Plus we can always mess them up in various ways or just flank them if we push now. The lcoser they get to the 'bridge', the less chance we have of getting around them and then we have to fight them or our cavalry is stuck going through the pits if that is even possible without a ramp.

rolled 27 = 27

>>12889283
Lets get some command up in here.

>>12889254
Oh wait, I forgot about the Cornwall mercenaries.

Which would be best against heavily armored guys with shields and maces: warhammers or spearmen?

I'm thinking of sending Uurist to check them.

rolled 93 = 93

>>12889246
The cavalry charge would be to encourage the slaves to join us, and it still isn't expected.

Suddenly, bears and horsemen cavalry charging down towa-----Wait, are the slaves, OH SHI--

>>12889283
Focus range fire on the halbreds. Once those break, we win this battle. If we can, get the raptors to chase down the men-at-arms and whittle them down more. Capturing the son is the most important of course.

>>12889283

Pax, which unit is Creed's son with?

I want him. I want him kneeling infront of all the slaves when we haul him back.

Run down the men at arms with the cavalry, they are the most deadly. Earth spikes all up in the Halberdier ranks.

And c'mon Pax, I rolled a 20 for hitting on a goddess. Could you pretty please use it after the battle? Puhleeeeeease?

rolled 49 = 49

>>12889283

earth spike the halberdiers and then shout for all of our troops to sally forth, and make sure they let the slaves back into the fortresss whilst they do so, also

rolling for elementalism

now where is that arrogant little fucker?

>>12889310
His bodyguard, wich would be behind the archers. he is very much a lead from the rear guy. If he were within engagement range he would have been marked from the get-go.

rolled 99 = 99

Locate the son and capture him. Fissures and earth spikes all through his unit as we ride them down and try to capture him. Order the velocipreys to hurry and catch up with us to disrupt his horses.

Elementalism roll.

rolled 51 = 51

>>12889283

Signal RapidRiders to go and hunt him down. I don't expect his HQ company to be that big.

They're to skirt the enemy infantry and chase and bring back CreedSon.

Rolling

>>12889324
We should get the raptors after the son then. I imagine he's going to make a run for it soon. Perhaps bear cav should go after men-at-arms for now until the halberds break. Then we go chase Creed son.

rolled 70 = 70

Let's see, that's pikes that really fuck up cavalry, not halberds, right? Lead the cavalry into the halberds while ranged keeps hitting the men-at-arms?

>>12889326
man, i am happy that >>12889317 beat you.

rolled 29 = 29

I say we just go around the infantry and get to his unit. Go south errrr......east from the left to right perspective I think, opposite the direction of the men at arms, and make sure our men are mustered properly. I want Morwayne captured.

>>12889283
Ranged weapons continue focusing on the men at arms. Kill as many of them as possible.

Infantry, pour out of the gate after our charge- you always, ALWAYS follow up a cavalry charge, or your wedge ends up in a sea of enemies. Get our infantry out here, double-quick.

Cavalry charge, since we decided to do it like fools, has to keep its momentum up. If we can catch the men at arms (unlikely, since they're cavalry, yes?) then chase them down. Otherwise, break the halberdiers' lines with another earthquake so they can't effectively form a pike wall, and drive right into them.

If those mercenaries stop us from effectively deploying because they were busy looting, we should fucking execute some of them later.

>>12889339
All polearms are pretty vicious to cavalry.

>>12889294
Have the mercenaries protect the gate. Tell them to quit looting or we're cutting their pay.

The 98th backs up Jayne.

The RapidRiders go out by stay to the sides in reserve, still not sure how to use them. By the way, we've killed all of the valkyrie knights, right?

>>12889354
One unit of knights was taken out. They still in theory have around 30 more if our caravan trap failed. I suppose they could come and hit us now if we're unlucky but will the enemy risk using both units in this battle is the question we have to ask and if we want to risk it or not.

>>12889354
We'll need to use the Rapid Riders to run down (some of) the retreating men at arms. They're the only units we have fast enough to do it.

rolled 87 = 87

COMBAT

Chainshot for one last strike to destabilize the halberds for our Charge!

>>12889333

Didn't mention what for. Combat.

>>12889354
Note: Let's wait a while to send the RapidRiders after the the enemy command unit. Their forces are still too strong.

We need to cut through them first, then we can send out super-fast cavalry, backed up by Jayne's unit to capture him.

rolled 84 = 84

bring the infantry outside.
have the rapidriders start moving to capture minicreed
ranged weapons focus on halberds

>>12889378

RapidRiders are the fastest land cavalry.

They can skirt the infantry and chase him down.

>>12889363
I was talking about the ones they've fielded NOW.

So given your answer, basically yes.

This is most excellent, we've killed their best units and it was only the first round of the battle.

>>12889389
I suppose, but there are longbowmen and I'd also like to know what his bodyguard is made of.

>>12889390
Indeed, unless something goes horribly awry, we've bloodied their noses badly this battle. If we can take the son too... It will be glorious. We either have to take the son or ravage whatever forces they have at his battle for it to be a real victory for us.

>>12889396
Yeah, we have to be careful about the longbows. Remember what happened against Janos. They did a number on us. So we have to hit them hard and fast or avoid direct fire. If an earthquake did disrupt the halberds, charging through them might of been okay but too risky really since they would of messed us up regardless of their formation or just pitched combat I believe.

>>12889397
Bloodied their nose? We just wiped out half of their best and most powerful troops, and slaughtered 1/3 of their remaining heavy infantry.

I would say this is nothing short of a cataclysmic rout for them.

>>12889396

I expect perhaps a small unit of heavy cavalry.

If so we should be able to rain arrows on them.

I move that our infantry secure our current battlefield while our cav begin hunting the enemy commander.

As you slash down the last of the Handlers, the slaves around you disintegrate, save for 250 or so warriors t who remain looking to you, and a handful of wounded Kharyncheck who were not carried away by relatives. You signal for the rest of your maniple to sally forth, as the sound of a quickly receding war-horn no doubt signals your foes retreat. You chase and slaughter until well after midday. The Noble managed to evade you, but it is of no matter, you will have him soon enough.

Upon returning to your fort you see the warriors who stayed in the area gathering outside your fort, waiting for you. The Kharynchek who were left wounded or alone are gathering within the walls. Finian is standing near tow sisters, one clutching her eyes and goping on about something you cant make out from this distance, the other trying to console her, though she is sobbing herself. Finian is trying to help both of them, it would seem, but upon seeing you he signals for you to meet him. Nearer to you the largest of the warriors is quietly talking with Gaius about something, the conversation becoming animated.

>captures: 30 Men at Arms
>50 Halberdiers
>20 Longbowmen

>Loot: 15 sets of plate armor, 30 sets of surecoats over mail, a big-ass pile of weapons

>>12889408
Yeah I know, but I guess I want to do a lot more damage before I consider this brutalizing them. I'm greedy like that when I get the advantage I guess.

>>12889416
As much as I want to get their commander, we have to make sure the longbows are occupied first. They'd rip our cavalry apart if they got a good volley off the raptors, while the bear cav would do a bit better I imagine. Janos was prepared to hurt our bear cavalry with their archer fire so I expect Creed son to be in the same position.

>>12889429

I guess we talk to him.

Do have a good idea of enemy casualties after the slaughter? Minus those we captured.

>>12889429
Nice haul. Let's see what the sisters want, I can sort of assume I know what the warrior wants.

rolled 33 = 33

>>12889429

go see to the warriors then the sisters

and make a note to build more prisoner holding pens

>>12889429
How many of the enemy escaped us?

I say hit up Finian first before seeing what's going on with Gaius. If the girls are wounded, we should get them healed ASAP.

>>12889429
And of course they turn and run the moment they don't have slaves to hide behind.

rolled 65 = 65

>>12889429
How many slaves did we rescue?

>>12889429
So about how many slaves in total survived?

>>12889429
Dangit, well there goes the idea of holding Morwayne hostage. He really is the smart one. Too bad. I suppose he'll be planning for our special units and abilities next battle.

Head to Finian first, and then Gauis.

>>12889408
Damn right it is. The question is, how can we make sure that few to none of these 440 remaining loyal troops on the field escape? Last time we ended a battle with victory, Pax had tons of enemy infantry escape even though it should have been a trivial matter to run them down, as I recall. Based upon that, shattering morale and forcing a surrender would probably be a more effective method of mopping up large numbers of troops.


My big problem with the current situation: House Garlan is probably going to lose another handful of bear cavalry. They're our elite unit, and it would be really nice to be able to husband their forces more carefully- not only for our own use, but also because Jayne's house is dependent upon having a healthy military unit, and it's almost certain that training every additional soldier is a process of years for her. We've already inducted all her trainees for this campaign; we could literally shatter her house by having those bears serve as our spearhead in enough battles, even victorious ones.

I say go to the girls first them the men.

>>12889429
Did the gods test happen yet, and if so, did we pass it?

>>12889460
Or rather, motion that you'll be with him shortly, then join Gaius.

>>12889429
get our doctors helping the wounded slaves. go help Finian first

>>12889469

This. I change my vote. Gaius first, it looks heated.

>>12889467

the test was to see if we could manage to win without having to slaughter a shit-ton of slaves

i think we more or less passed

>>12889474
Oh fine. Just let Finian know we'll be there momentarily.

>>12889474
agree

>>12889477
We still gotta rescue their families. Part of her domain is defending those that cannot defend themselves.