"As soon as I finish eating, and get a chance to feel the number of approaching feet, which should be in 5 minutes."

>>14176622
"Are you a wizard?"

"Soon enough. I just need to determine a thing or two before the briefing."

We need to talk to Wulf about the oncoming cloud. I'm assuming that's the enemy and I'm hoping the one above the town is his but we shall see how lucky we are.

>>14176607

It would seem they also have an air elementalist if there are twin clouds... or they have two, if that isn't Wulf's doing at all.

Can we get a layout of the field? Can't plan without knowing the battlefield :D

>>14176632
We will need Wulf on anti-elementalist duty, and to have air gusts disrupt the flight paths of incoming arrows. We're facing elves; their accuracy with a bow cannot be underestimated.

>>14176711
I'm more concerned on the fact this might stop us from using the valk's this battle. If the enemy is controlling the weather like this, sending them up into the air is going to get them butchered. We have to wipe this force out.

>>14176743
Not only that, but House Morlan's griffons are grounded, and Rufus is going to have a chance to get himself killed.

>>14176711

Would rain be a decent option if Wulf can manage it? At the very least it should disrupt accuracy of archers due to constantly striking the arrow/bolt. Our repeaters could give us an advantage in weight of fire...
On the other hand, Pax could screw us a bit by saying our crossbow strings get screwy when wet (but not glorious elf bow strings!)

And lealith's fire is magical and should be resistant to rain (yay/nay on that one Pax?)

Oh, if we're going to be back from the front and supporting with elementalism, perhaps we should have Lena with us, so that she can relay our orders via her magic voice-throwing?

Also, we should try to, if we have the time, a very basic hut or other protective structure of wood, to protect the elementalists and siege crews from arrows.

"Once I have finished eating, and have a better idea of the size of the force approaching us. So soon, gather the command staff for me, please." you reply, taking another gite from the chicken leg you had been eating.

Sansa huffs, playfully "Not even offering me a bite?"

"Well, if I did that I would have to fight hungry. Though if you still want me to feed you after the battle..." you trail off as you take a drink from your cup.

Half an hour later you still cant get more than the number 700 for the enemy force, as they are all so light on their feet. Inside the largest building in the town, the command staff is waiting. WEll, almost all of the command staff "Commander," Lena begins, already in her combat robes, arcane designs on her arms "Wulf is still preparing for the storm, though he says the other elementalist is already trying to wrest the whole of it from his grasp. I think the two are split down the middle for control of it at the moment. He also wanted me to tell you that he apologizes for his absence from this meeting... it took him the entire tiem from when Sansa told us of the meetings time until I left for it to get that much out."

Gaius grimaces "Whats the plan then, Commander."

>the two brown boxes are lean-tos for keeping timber dry

>>14176806

>are the lean-tos two giant ones or two areas of them?

What is the terrain like? tall grasses? short grasses?

>>14176806
Do we know from which direction the enemy will be attacking from?

I think the siege engines and the elementalists should be in the town, but off-center. Hide the cavalry in the lean-to's, ready to charge out on a signal. Other placements as enemy disposition is displayed on the map.

>>14176806
"We're aware the enemy has elementalists. Based on the refugees and this coming storm, they have at least air and earth elementalists so those individuals will be priority targets if possible. With Wulf competing with their elementalist for the storm, our ruse might be up but we should put up with the act for now to downplay the troops we have here. It'll likely be painful but it would be best to have a small portion of our force act like a militia defending the walls and then our forces can charge out once they're too close to retreat easily. As well, I'd like to have the cavalry in reserve to approach the enemy in a flank once they've committed to the fight although the rangers and some other infantry on wagons might need to join them depending on if the enemy has their air units in action this battle."

Thoughts?

>>14176882
I would recommend against leaving troops in those. I imagine the enemy will torch whatever they can easily and that might be a target they torch just to damage our industry. Also, I think it's time we gave Wulf those shockstones we have to help his abilities. Hopefully it gives him an edge against the enemy since they seem about equal.

>>14176859
>short grass, muddy from the snow melting, getting muddier from the rain that is falling. As it is muddy and soft the terrain is mostly flat, safe for wagon ruts, ect.
>yes, the rain will be fucking with ALL bowstrings, though elves are known to keep multiple good strings on their persons for wet battles.
>and the lean-tos are two huge ones, just in case a freshly chopped down tree needs to be stored/dried
>they are coming from the east

>>14176882

I'd imagine we'd be spotted if we tried to get the cav into the lean-tos.

it really depends on if we only sense the enemy force off map and when they decide to attack, though.

If they move at dusk, our cav may be best off using NV paste and doing a wide flank for a flank/rear charge.

Then again, I think we should expect at least 1000 elves to be attacking, not 700, just to be safe.

>>14176903
>>14176890
>>14176959
Alright, you have a point about being seen moving cavalry.
Though if it's raining, wouldn't it just fizzle out any fire arrows they launch into the lean-to's? And if they try to send a detachment to burn them, they'll simply get skewered by the cavalry, and force the enemy to fight two fronts.

rolled 4 = 4

Can we get a unit listing again Pax. I'm loading up my setup wishes, people can modify as they'd like.

>>14176890

Somehow i doubt the wagons will be much good as a flanking device due to the mud/rain and the noise they put out.

Otherwise, I like Max's plan and second it.

>>14177059
Assuming they don't have fire elementalists and assuming this storm will be heavy in rain. Something we might not want to risk until we get more intelligence on what they have in their unit.

-196th Legionary
Gaius Rex
200/200
Excellent

-454th Legionary
Cornelius Hoursch
200/200
Excellent

-98th Warlords
Uurist Titius
150/150
Excellent

-76th Deadeyes
Aurelius Caspius
100/100
Excellent

-50th Dwarven Scouts
Finian Gaurush
100/100
Excellent

-65th Dwarven Rangers
Kyria Esfelda
100/100
Excellent

-House Garlian Uursan Cavalry
Lady Jayne Garlian
50/50
Excellent

House Morzitus Heavy Cavalry
Balor morzitus
50/50
Excellent

-Blacktusk Raiders 50/50
Blackbird
assorted gear
Excellent

-The Sunstorm (elves)
Tyxia Nestad
200/200
Splintmail, spears, kite shields, javelins
Excellent

-Celtron Guard (Dwarves)
Denuk Tyshop
175/175
Surecoats over mail, longswords, tower shields
Excellent

Neftius Spearmen
Trysha Morose
150\150
leathers, spears, circleshields
excellent


Dentrus' Raiders (elfs)
Boros Klars
200\200
Leathers, combat axes, kite shields, javelins

Are valks and griffons grounded due to the stormfront or would it just be a risk for them to fly due to the weather?

>planning stage

the captcha is going skynet on us!

Pax, we have a few telescopes; are the enemy near enough that we can see them and try to find out their composition?

Also, do all of the footfalls feel the same? All are light? Or are certain formations heavier than others?

>>14177103
Ugh. Muddy field will mess up the cavalry... Looks like the flank won't be lightning quick. In that case, we send more infantry than expected with the cavalry to flank. Send the cavalry, rangers, Celtron Guard and raiders in a flank from the rear? Have them circle around to arrive from the rear after combat starts? Hopefully that stops the enemy from retreating as well.

We should assign guard details of 5-8 men with shields to our elementalists in an effort to prevent "sniper" style attacks on them.

... we could also grab a few of our best shots and have them scattered throughout our line during the battle with orders to take any shots they can get on enemy leadership or elementalists.

>>14177233
Perhaps we should use the Sunstorm or the Celtron Guard for the defense of Siege Crews and Elemental Teams? They're the two merc groups with the biggest shields, and we'll want all of our heavy infantry on the front line where they can pound into the enemy.

"Captain Corinth, will you be able to fight this battle?" you ask point blank, turning ideas over in your head.

"If we go up, we'll lose half our mounts in that shit once it hits, plus combat losses? I'm sorry sir, but we're grounded." the captain replies, scratching at his small beard.

"Our griffons can smell the coming battle on the wind, and want to fly, but even they would be far to easily injured in a storm as big as the one headed our way." the representative from house Morlan adds, chuckling.

You sigh "Finian, send some of your men out with observation lenses, tell me what the enemy has headed our way." you command the dwarf, who salutes and sets off to see it done. The next few minutes pass with the group debating. A good half of the captains and advisers are for maintaining the ruse, and striking from the wall, the others for meeting the elves in formation outside the town. Most of the debate hinges around losses, none of the numbers small.

It is almost amusing to watch the color drain from Rufus' face as reality finally sinks into the lads mind, though the truth to the estimates keeps you from enjoying it fully. "Two units of light spear, one of greatswords, and two of archers." Finian announces as he enters the building, drenched through.

rolled 18 = 18

Detailed as hell.....I'd like to think I be a tacticool genius?

>>14177283
I stand by the idea of keeping up the ruse. My main concern if we deploy outside the walls is the enemy might decide they're screwed and retreat back to the forest. In weather like this, we can't really chase them down easily since our cavalry and air units won't be able to easily catch them. Lure them in to a fight and then we go out to meet them and have a flank to hit them once we've engaged. If our shockstones can help Wulf's ability as well, we might have the storm mostly on our side and I imagine a few volleys from our ranged units will mess up their elementalists concentration.

>>14177283
>Two units of light spear, one of greatswords, and two of archers
They will like create a formation of greatswords in the front, light spear on their flanks, and the archers protected in the center.
Their archers will be problematic, but with the rain as heavy as it is, not as bad as normally.

What about our siege engines? Can they fire from within buildings so that they can be protected from rain?
Can we build overhead coverings for the repeaters and archers to keep their strings dry? Otherwise, I think we need to try to have them fire from within buildings.

rolled 61 = 61

>>14177304
This isn't specified, but the units in reserve should all be out of sight in buildings waiting and orderly. Complete silence. We need to look week so that we can have the advantage here. When I put in those positions I meant in the general area inside of buildings our near the palisade's cover area.

>>14177283
Light infantry and archers to move quick and hit civilian targets, greatswords to deal with any militia that tries to stand and fight. Plus elementalists.

I wonder if there are other units we might not have seen.

rolled 36 = 36

>>14177379
weak**

Also, if we REALLY want to keep up the ruse, we could just have every single unit we have hide inside buildings or what not completely out of site except for a few people like the raiders and the scouts so that it looks semi-rag tag band of defenders lure them into the town then we descend on them like a pack of vultures on an already dead/dieing carcass.

>>14177304
The raiders shouldn't be used in this battle period in my mind. That's just a waste of their lives since they're not meant for an upfront fight. Secondly, there's no reason we shouldn't put the legionnaries in front since they have shields and formations designed to weather archery fire. The main issue will be elementalism attacks and there's nothing we can do to avoid that really.

I think the idea with the wall might be doable though as long as we have the legionnaires in front so they can quickly form a line. Since the terrain is pretty open, I suppose your idea with the cavalry could be used though they'd have to start moving once the enemy is either engaged or almost engaged. Rest of the infantry can fan out once the wall is down to engulf the enemy lines as we march forward to meet them.

>>14177283

to Gaius and Cornelius :
"How badly do you estimate the mud will hamper your formations?"

>>14177398
The problem is if they just start torching buildings/the wall from a distance with the storm or destroy them with an earth elementalist. Why I'm not sure if we should jam all our men in buildings and let them march in.

>>14177379
>>14177333
Your plans sound good, but I wonder how hard of a fight the enemy is expecting. They know that there's an elementalist here; but do they know about the maniple?
Hmm....thinking about it, probably not. They probably think that the town got lucky to get an air elementalist, and we're still militia. Otherwise, they wouldn't attempt to attack us, when we outnumber them, have a dug in position, and there are easier targets about.

So I agree with the plan to lure the enemy into range.
Also weakening the wall so that it collapses, I think, can work with the fact that the heavy repeaters will then be given a clear line-of-sight to the enemy formation.

rolled 49 = 49

>>14177408
Ya, I liked the plan with the walls. If we could concentrate and do that so that he ENTIRE front palisade drops once they are within charging distance and all it would take is a nice earthquake on our part, that would look just.......freaking amazing. That and the shock factor would be outrageous.

>Laughing and marching heartily to go raid a town
>SUDDENLY
>The front palisade.....fell?
>FULLY EQUIPPED MANIPLE PLUS MERCENARIES OUT OF NOWHERE, OH Shi-!

So, put our light units outside the walls, and have them fall back soon after combat is met.

Then our heavies emerge and counter charge?

rolled 63 = 63

>>14177424
That's why I want Wulf tasked with a life elementalist to give him a boost in wresting control of the storm from their elementalist. Also, Laelith could easily douse the fires with the help of Wulf's storm.

rolled 82 = 82

>>14177449
Not outside of walls, well that could work too, though they would have to look like simple militia if that was the case.

>>14177449
I assumed our forces would wait inside the walls and the wall dropping would be the point where they charge out. Easiest way to lure them in if they think the militia is hiding behind the walls and using entrances as a choke point.

>>14177458
Well I meant also the fact they might have fire or earth elementalists. Wulf can't stop those. And the life elementalists plus the shock stones should give Wulf a small boost in his chances of winning.

Pax, can we get a confirmation if the shockstones have been given to Wulf to give him a power boost?
As a matter of fact, if all of our elementalists, or at least all those that can, have been equipped with their appropriate amplification items?

Ground all flyers.

Lena on anti-elementalist duty.

Wulf counters enemy air elementalist until Lena can find him and blast him.

User the palisades to avoid enemy archer fire as much as possible.

Have Laelith light our own bolts/arrows with magical fire.

I'm probably out for rest of the night. Good luck.

"Gaius, Cornelius, how badly will the mud affect your formations?" you ask the two men.

"We wont be set as stably as is proper, but I doubt the elves will have the weigt to shake our phalanx." Gaius answers.

"Charging will be damned hard to do in tight formation with the rain and mud though" Cornelius amends, worriedly.

>yes, Wulf has the shockstone gauntlets, and everyone else that could have an amplification item has one.

So I'm for the general outline of Gloquenteentleman's plan, but with the following modifications:
1. No Raiders; they're a raiding force, not one to be using in a stand-up fight.
2. Legionnaires in front; we'll need their shield wall.
3. Prepare siege engines to fire as soon as the palisade drops, so that means knocking out the walls of the houses that they're stationed in.
4. As soon as the enemy is engaged in melee, and forced to stop, the cavalry goes around and takes out the archers.

Also, this allows our archers to fire from inside of houses where possible; perhaps set up repeater nests that can output a constant stream of bolts as soldiers take turns.

Last thing: Rufus in medicae tent. Better him realizing his dormant powers that him catching a stray elf arrow.

>>14177540
We could use Lena as an arcane sniper, or we could use her as an arcane radio.

Pax, could you remind me of the limitations of Lena's voice-throwing?

Alternate plan:
place repeaters in buildings with LOS on the two gaps in the wall. Remove walls if needed, but cover any gaps if possible.

A mixture of our dwarven scouts and a merc company (say half of each unit) should forum up to look like a ragtag militia. either divided between the two gaps or on the wall section between if they can shoot over it.


When the enemy attacks, they FLEE from the gaps and fall back toward the town center to lure enemy in, avoiding the line of fire for our repeaters if possible.

When the enemy enters the gaps and our men are clear, repeaters fire in ambush.

Legionaries and remaining merc companies start out using buildings to hide their locations from the wall gaps. When the repeaters fire, they charge the enemy forces.

Cav forces should use a west exit if possible and move wide to flank the enemy archers or cut off their retreat, whichever their commander (likely Jayne) decides.

>>14177591
>as far as you know, for person to person the length of a moderate battlefield, general announcement, it about doubles the volume of her voice.

>>14177640
I like the general idea but my main concern is the fact if the enemy doesn't immediately charge in and just torches the buildings from a distance, it messes up this plan bad. Also, it will take time for our men to file out from the buildings and that will give the enemy time to reorganize while the other plan has the immediate shock value of the wall dropping and boom we're in your face all ready.

>>14177667
It sounds like we should keep Lena close then, as our megaphone and also as our arcane sniper.
Anybody have objections to this idea? Or should we keep her with the siege engine crews like last time?

>>14177680

It is already raining and we have a fire elementalist to quash any attempt at torching the buildings with arrows.

>>14177731
Again, I also mean destroy the buildings or what have you using earth elementalism. And at the same time, the enemy might wonder why the hell their elementalism isn't working out so well if they do sit back and then they might realize it's a trap. Not saying that I think your plan is trash but I'm still for the other plan overall.

My recommendations still haven't changed.

Okay, so we're going to go forward with the front line, so Lena will stay back with the siege crews and act as an arcane sniper. She, and the Deadeyes, will specifically target enemy officers and elementalists as high-priority targets.

The Sunstorm and the Celtron Guard will stay back and help shield the siege crews, elementalist teams, and our own ranged units.

>>14177906
I can live with that. Unless we know there's an earth elementalist here, there's no point with us sitting back to counter it. If there is one, then perhaps we can move back to focus on that but for now we're better off using it offensively and fighting I think.

>>14177906
Sounds good unless only 1 of the merc groups is needed.

>>14177921
Yes. If an earth elementalist reveals himself in this battle, then we should immediately fall back to a safe position, and concentrate solely on directing the battle at large and countering the enemy earth elementalist.

>>14177906
sounds good to me

After listening to your captains and advisers bicker back and forth for a while you announce the plan "We are going to take down the palisade ourselves." you begin, which brings the room to nearly complete, shocked, silence, the rain hammering the roof the only noise audible. "But only once the enemy force is committed, and shock will buy us enough time to close with them. Once they are in range I will take the wall down, Gaius, Cornelius and Uurist; your units will form our center. Captains Nestad and Tyshop, your units will defend the siege engines, which will be posted inside the city. Aurelius, your deadeyes, along with Kyrias rangers will provide ranged support. Our noble cavalry wings will leave through the westward exit to this town to flank the enemy battalions and cut off any hop of escape."

After a few moments the room returns to its normal flow "where will my men be?" the curvaceous captain of the Neftius spearmen asks.

"I would like to know the same for my scouts" Finian adds, Blackbird and Captain Klars, of the Raider mercenaries you recently hired on nod to add their own units to that group.

"Will I be in command of the cavalry charge then?" Jayne asks, seemingly in search more of confirmation than permission.

"What about me?" you hear Rufus quip from the back of the room, sounding more than a little frightened.

"Will you be posting me with the siege engines, or somewhere else?" Lena adds to the flurry of questions.

>>14177978
I'd say lets have the spearmen join the legionaries and warlords, hold the scout units as a reserve, yes to jayne, I'm torn between sending rufus to the medics or to the siege engines, definitely send lena to the siege engines to act as arcane sniper

>>14177978
The Neftius spearmen and raiders will act as support for the flanks of our center is what I think. Once we have the enemy pinned in combat, they can move out to engage. Blackbird we have on guard for any other sneaky plans the enemy might have and Finian acts as range support as well I guess since I can't see any other role for them. Jayne can lead the charge since she has yet to let us down and leave Lena with the siege engines since we're going to the frontish I believe.

Rufus can be back with the valks I guess or with the medical staff. There won't be dead people right away and he can't be too near combat. I'd say put him with the siege engines but I don't think it's safe enough...

>>14177978
Blackbird and the raiders shouldn't take direct part in the fighting. Let's have them circle around during the melee and set up ambushes for when the enemy retreats. I feel it's likely that they won't break like normal, or will have interesting surprises of their own. I'd like to have their rear be a killing field by the time the battle is over.

Let's have Lena snipe elementalists. High priority targets, and every one we take by shock today is one we don't have to worry about for the rest of this long, long unconventional warfare campaign.

>"where will my men be?" the curvaceous captain of the Neftius spearmen asks
"Somewhere I can get a good look at you from behind."

>>14177978
>"where will my men be?" the curvaceous captain of the Neftius spearmen asks.
Neftius Spearmen to protect the northern flank of the Legion charge. The Dentrus' Raiders the same to the southern flank.

Finian and Blackbird, see if they can sneak around to the lean-to's in the north, and begin harassing fire; they are to disengage and withdraw if the enemy detaches to give chase.

As for Jayne, she will be in overall command of the cavalry charge, since she has more experience with our maniple's methods and will be able to interpret our signals better.

Lena is to go with the Deadeyes, to act as arcane sniper. Only fire when she is absolutely sure of a shot. Change position every 2 shots.

As for Rufus, go to the medicae tents and assist the the medicus ordinarii in their triage work.

>>14178085
As much as I'd love to say this, in a crowded room, with most of our harem with us, a few minutes before the first battle of our campaign, is not the best place.

Wait for the third or fourth.

>>14178088
Oh, and Bellatrix with the largest shield she can use to stick with Lena and provide cover.

>>14177978
>Neftius spearmen
"You will remain behind the line as a reserve should the enemy have any clever tricks."
>Finian, Blackbird and Captain Klars
"You will act as a reserve as well." (perhaps to clear the lean-tos if the enemy force doesn't appear to be there?)
>Jayne
"You have command of the cavalry force. Remember that the enemy still has forces unaccounted for. Watch for any ambush force they may have waiting."
>Rufus
"You will remain with the [griffon unit] for the duration of the battle unless [unit captain] has any objections."
>Lena
"With me until I say otherwise."

I like the idea of assigning a life elementalist to Wulf so he can better control the storm

>>14178054
>>14178063
>>14178153
The reason I don't have anyone in reserve, is because of our stonesense.
We didn't detect any other formations inbound, and with the storm, they can't be flying. An earth elementalist also can't be masking them, because we would have detected the masking attempt. I think this is all of the force they sent out.

>>14178192
Eh. I don't know what else to say to Blackbird other than that or we don't want him fighting in this battle since it'd be a waste of his talents and it's to oearly to send him out to do his work.

>>14178192

Who says our stonesense is accurate or that they don't have units waiting outside of our stonesense range? (what IS the range of that now?)

>>14178208
We could have him trap the retreat path, but I don't think he'll have time.....
Wait, I have an idea.

We allow a portion of the enemy to survive and retreat, and have Blackbird's unit follow them using stealth, while the majority of our maniple gives chase but visibly falls behind and gives up the chase.
In this way, we can follow the enemy to their base and mount an attack before they're ready.

>>14178241
Good plan, and an appropriate use of Blackbird's unit.

>>14178241
You're assuming we end up in a good enough condition to fight them so soon in an area they're used to and well prepared to defend. Might be too risky, especially since they still have air units to challenge us. Likely air units that are superior. It might be worth following just so we know where they are but I honestly rather not have anyone escape. That way the opponent won't know the extent of our abilities.

>>14178241

Tempting, but i like the idea of leaving no survivors, taking no prisoners, and leaving all of the enemy bodies impaled upon stakes/stone spikes for the crows to feast upon them much more.

>>14178153
I'd still think it's prudent to have a unit or two to have in case the elf does have something up his sleeve

also posting the template in case anyone else wants to join in on the Advice Justinian goodness

>>14178261
I admit, it would give the enemy intel concerning our abilities; but isn't it worth it to get information concerning where their base is located, it's defenses, and their numbers and composition?

>>14178296
Oh, and a chance for Blackbird's unit to then kill a majority of the enemy air assets while they're still grounded.

"Yes jayne, command of the Cavalry wings is yours. Lena, you will be with the Deadeyes attempting to fell high priority targets. Rufus, you will wait with the medicae, and help with the unskilled labor they will need." you begin to respond, noting the young mans demeanor droop ever so slightly, and Lena perk up at your orders thus far. "Blackbird, you will hold in reserve. Captain Klars, you will keep to the southern flank, captain Morose the north. Finian you will hold under the drying lean-tos and provide ranged support from there." you answer the questions fired at you.

"Do you want my dwarves in the center, or a different unit?" Uursit adds, having been conversing with your legionary captains while you answered the first storm of questions.

"An where'l ye want me?" Collin adds, Laelith adding a similar question to the second chorus or queries.

>>14178309

I like the idea, but i'd have to say the enemy would be incompetent if even blackbird's force could pull that off in a forest against hundreds of elves.

>>14178309
Assuming he can sneak in to actually do that. They are elves so I imagine they know how to stop this kind of stuff. That and in theory if we capture someone, we can get intel from them through interrogation. I personally value the idea of not letting our enemy know what we can do more than the chance of taking out their air assets. If we do it right, the enemy will only know there's a real force here to fight him that wiped out a chunk of his men. If men get back to him, they will know we have elementalists and a mage, what kind of units we have and they'll see our enhanced crossbows.

>>14178343
let's have Collin guard Rufus. As useful as he would be on the battlefield, we do need to keep this kid alive

>>14178343
Uurist in the center formation, so that the larger companies of Corniuls and Gaius can provide support, as well as his more heavily armored dwarves providing a solid center.

Colin, to stick with Laelith, and the two of them to advance at the rear of the center formation.
If there are no enemy fire elementalists, Laelith's fire can help punch a hole in the enemy, so that the heavy infantry can shift into a wedge formation.
If there IS a fire elementalist, she can counter them, and prevent them from immolating our front line.

>>14178343
Wait, we're leaving Finian in the lean-to's...? That's... Going to go poorly. Maybe move him in after but don't start him there. He's going to be isolated and ripped apart if he starts there.

I say have Urist in the center and keep Collin with the warlords. Let's have them tear a hole in the middle. Laelith in the northern part of the battlefield in the event the enemy tries to take the lean-to's for their own cover. She can torch them then.

Also, I think we should talk to Rufus before we actually go into battle. The kid's getting all depressed but he's scared as hell and we should make him realize we can't put him on the battlefield or anywhere near it as long as he's still deathly afraid.

>>14178343

>Uurist
center

>Collin
with the warlords?

>Lealith

whichever legionary unit is on the north flank

>>14178347
>>14178369
You have a point.
Perhaps if the unit were all Old Clan orcs, it's chances would be better.
Though I WOULD like to force the enemy to relocate, make them think that their current base is not secure. The enemy would be easier to attack on the march, rather than within a fortified base, I think.

>>14178432
I was thinking that Finian opens fire only after the main enemy force is engaged with our forces to the front, when they can't break off to try to root him out.

>>14178434
Seconding this.

>>14178475
I think it's too risky. We know these guys are torching cities. What if they torch it immediately since it's wood they're denying the empire? Then his unit is going to get fried before we set off the trap.

"Uurist, you will be in the center, Collin you will join his unit. I suspect their blademasters will be at the center. Laelith, move with the Northern flank." you answer, your command staff all nod or salute and set off to ready their units. You make your way over to Rufus who is slowly plodding from the building, hood already raised against the rain. "You do know why I'm keeping you at the back, right?"

He shrugs, voice sounding defeated "Because I cant fight, and have no special powers you could make use of."

>>14178475

We can't risk Finian's force being detected there and essentially cut off from help AND giving away the ambush.

Collin guards Laelith, and Laelith will be on one of the flanks to both help counter elementalists and roll them up ASAP.

>>14178651
"and if you were to die I would gain a very powerful enemy in your father"

>>14178616
I should hope that he has enough presence of mind to fall back and regroup elsewhere without being told, if such a thing happens.

>>14178651
>Because I cant fight, and have no special powers you could make use of.
"You are half-right. You cannot fight, because you lack training; that can be easily rectified with time. But the other thing, is that you cannot yet control your fear. You lack confidence, true confidence and not bravado, in your abilities. That, is only something that you can overcome. Combat training can help, but ultimately it is a matter of personal character.
"Until you have those two things, you will not only be a danger to yourself, but to any unit you are attached to."

>>14178651
Shake our head. "No, it's because this is the first lesson everyone who would fight should learn. The real cost of war, things glossed over in epic tales and great parades. If it were just the reasons you gave I would situate you with the siege engines so you would have a better view of the tactics.

This is your first true lesson on war: the cost. My aide calls the after-battle reports "the bill", and it is rightly named. It is a high price to pay, never forget what you see there. Every time a general moves a piece on his grand board, this is what happens."

Also, re-assign Collin to Laelith. Our first ele vs. ele battle and she will probably be less able to handle the melee combat because of that.

>>14178651
"No! Because if you died, I would be in a hell of a lot of trouble. Even if you were a match for Collin at blades and Laelith with elementalism, I would still keep you in the rear.

"A lesson on command and life, Rufus: Sometimes, we all have to be in places we don't want to be, doing things we don't want to do. We do them anyway, because they are our duty. Your duty here is to stay alive, and to learn what it is to be part of an army on campaign. It is not to gain glory, nor to slay the Empire's enemies.

"You're going to be an important and very dangerous man one day, Rufus. Don't think that I believe you useless, and do NOT fail to learn from this just because you are in a position you would not have asked for."

>>14178651
"Powers are irrelevant in this situation. Look at the majority of the men in my maniple - they're all ordinary. And while your lack of ability to fight is a serious concern, the main reason is because you're still afraid of battle. You've been listening to my captains and retinue speak and you've started to see, war is not just all glory. There's nothing wrong with being afraid of battle, especially your first one but until you can overcome that fear so it doesn't cause hesitation, you will only be a danger to yourself and everyone else on the battlefield."

>>14178651

"A leader must learn what his choices will cost before he can fight and lead others. I failed to prepare Lena for her first taste of battle and the girl may well have nightmares of that night till her final days. I do not intend to make the same mistake with you."

>financing heresi
But I don't wanna D:

>>14178744
Agreed. Laelith with Colin, fire and steel

The Noble lad will should set himself in one of the buildings overlooking to the east, so when the palisade falls, he'll have a show. Shield the window somehow and ensure he stays away from the window, giving him a telescope to view the battle from.

He will learn from this.

I vote to have Justinian with the southern flank, between the heavy infantry Legionnaires and the Raiders.

>>14178785
I agree with this. We want to let him SEE the might of the new tactics first hand. When the wall falls that's about as good as it will get. I want to impress him.

>>14178789
I vote Justinian in reserve, using elementalism without interference and ready to jump in where it's hottest if needed.

>>14178878
Well I assumed he could see the battlefield a bit from where we assigned him but I suppose that could work. Just make sure he has some people with him in the event he needs to get away ASAP. Oh wait, might as well have the griffon riders with him to observe with him.

>>14178884
A bit behind the front line would work I imagine. Close enough to join but far enough to not have it affect his elementalism.

>>14178889
That's good. They are his father's men and can act as his bodyguard in addition to observving since they are grounded.

>>14178916
No they're not. They're from two completely separate Houses.

>>14178964
Meh, just observe then. Medicae tents are generally given good battlefield views anyway so the medics can see where the wounded men are.

"While that may be part of my reasoning, that is not all of it. First, if you die I will have gained an incredibly powerful enemy in your father. As to powers, a very small number of my soldiers have arcane talent, and, if you were capable of fighting skillfully, and your father not so likely to ask for my head should you die, I would have no qualms with using you in combat, were you not so frightened." you begin.

"But I'm not frightened." the boy insists, though you dont beleive it.

"No, you are, and there is no shame in that. To be honest, I'm still terrified before every battle. Partly because I may die, or my friends, or one of the ones I love, and that is a fear that NEVER leaves a soldier that is likely to survive a battle. The second thing that terrifies me, is what my aide refers to as 'the bill'. It is the first lesson that any man in command must learn, and it will be your first lesson." you inform the boy.

Rufus stands dumbfounded for a moment, the idea of you frightened baffling him, though your words seem to have some sort of effect on him. "But, how do you, can I at least watch some of the battle?" he eventually stutters out, and you realize that it is your calm demeanor after your admission of fear that is striking the boy hardest right now.

"The initial charge, you may watch. As to how I still fight, that bravado you just showed me is good. The fear is reality, but combat is not part of reality, though what happens there is. On the field I am not this same person, on the field I am a fearless avatar of the Empire, and act as such. When you have your fear controlled, an only once it is controlled will you be ready to truly face the horrors of battle." you answer, patting the lad on his shoulder. He simply nods his head and heads for a taller building.

Didn't we worry about putting the necromancer in the medical tent? Has that worry gone away?

It is a few hours before sunset by the time the enemy force arrives. They continue to calmly advance towards the town, seemingly unaware of what is waiting for them, save a single elementalist in the militia. Your men are all calmly waiting in the driving rain, the stormy gloom periodically sliced by bolts of lightning arcing through the sky. The calm however precariously perched, as a single action from you will unleash hell on this stormy field.

>how much closer do you want them to get?

>>14179093
Let's give them a little longer to get closer or until they stop. With the rain, we'll want them as close as possible to pull off our attack to do the most damage we can. Best chance we can snipe their elementalist too.

>>14179093
Let them close until all of our siege engines and Lena can alpha strike the elementalist formation.
They were nice enough to have them mass in one easy to hit formation, and I say we oblige them.

Show those elves what Degnarians can do with siege engines.

>>14179093
A leeetle closer. If they start suspecting we should drop the hammer immediately, though.

I want to get a solid charge in if possible, however.

>>14179127
I agree

You allow the footfalls to get closer still as the driving rain picks up strength. Lenas chanting voice becomes even more rapid as you collect your focus, in time with a shouting voice from beyond the wall. and feel the groups of feet splitting apart and heading for the entrances. as you exert your will upon the earth, another voice cries out in shock and dismay. By the time the dust from the collapsing walls settles the elite uurlanthi soldiers are shifting their lines. as you charge you notice a few things through the deep gray of the driving rain. The first thing is that a handful of rocks are pulling up from the moist,weak ground. The second thing you notice is that the rain around the elven bowmen isnt nearly as heavy as it is on the rest of the field, though it looks like there is a veritable wall of water around them as they string their bows. A trio of lightning bolts arc out from the sky towards the Warlords as they hurl themselves at the quickly spreading out blademasters, one bolt curves off of its course to explode into the second, and the third digs into the ground. Very soon the battle will be joined in its full fury.

>>14179271
Open fire. Our most accurate units on the elementalist unit/their archers while the rest focuses on their sword masters. Let's soften those up. Hopefully the lack of rain around their bowmen and thus elementalists doesn't mess up our shots too badly.

Rest of the infantry charge ahead to meet their lines.

Engines, Lena, Deadeyes! Take down the elementalists!

Infantry, charge!

Finian, pop out and give 'em hell.

Wulf, counter the archers!

As for us, let's see if we can counteract the earth elementalist.

>>14179271
Water elementalist team, attempt to punch through that water shield, or at least drench the enemy archer's bowstrings.

Earth elementalist team, counter the enemy earth elementalist. With all of us dogpiling on him, we should be able to effectively shut him down. Justinian stays back to help the elementalist effort.

Wulf seems to be working on keeping the air elementalist off our back.

Priority target for siege crews and Lena is the enemy elementalist formation.

>>14179323
I believe Wulf is too busy countering their air elementalist to worry about the archers.

Let's have our elementalists start countering theirs. We should have WAY more, swarm them with sheer overpowering numbers if nothing else.

Defensive duty for us as well. See if we can rip some spikes into those archers if we have time to spare.

>roll for elementalism

rolled 60 = 60

>>14179358
Counter-magic time.

rolled 60 = 60

Let's see how this goes...

rolled 13 = 13

>>14179358
Come on, /tg/ dice, don't fail me now!

"THE ELEMENTALISTS!!" you bellow back to Lena and the archers, before throwing your focus to negating the actions taken by your opposite, as you signal out the rest of your orders as you try to stop the large stones sailing through the air.

An elvish voice barks out "BREAK" in combat draconian shortly after the Warlords and Blademasters collide, battleaxes and claymores opening the insane chorus of steel on steel. A single boulder makes it through, downing several dwarfs, who are swiftly slain by their foes. To the north and south legionaires collide with elite elven spearmen. The northern flank is illuminated by a blast of magical fire just before the charge. For a brief moment the sheet of water protecting the archers and elementalists breaks, and a volley of arrows slices through the air before the rainwater re-distributes itself again. The gray missiles illuminated by arcing, colliding bolts of lighting and buffeted by opposing gales of wind, increasingly far from the ground.

>>14179532
Our elven spearmen mercs on top led by Captain SexyElf should bypass the enemy elven spearmen and head right for the archers. Cavalry hit the bottom archers, whereas the mercs on bottom wheel around and take the spearmen there on the flank.

rolled 98 = 98

>>14179532
Counter whatever the enemy earth elementalist does first, but if we have power left over rip some spikes and fissures through those damn blademasters. They are butchering our dwarves.

>>14179611
I was thinking that but our legionnaires took a decent pounding relative to those elves... I think the mercs should flank their spearmen and we let our cavalry hit the archers and elementalists whenever they appear on the map. I'll agree with you in the end but I hope they don't get ripped by the enemy elementalists.

Otherwise our archers keep up the fire on their rear lines to hopefully kill at least one elementalist. Their swordmasters look to be superior to our warlords sadly.

>>14179532
Dentrus and Neftius to close in on the flanks of the spearmen formations currently engaged.

I think we should wait one more turn before Finian opens fire on the elementalists.

Water Team needs to neutralize that Hydro-Shield (keep that tactic in mind for later use by our side).

Earth Team needs better work on that earth elementalist; we need to keep him from doing anything. Looks like he's got high-level terrakinesis.

Lena, ranged units, and artillery crews; no change in commands.

And damn, those elven archers are raping us.

rolled 75 = 75

Elementalist roll.

>>14179630
I also want the the cavalry to hit the archers, but I think they need one more turn to make sure that the blademasters and spearmen are good and stuck, before the charge.
Also I want another chance to take out those life elementalists: we don't know if they're the buffing and healing kind, or the heart-stopping kind that stayed there to protect the rear line.

>>14179640
I agree. Something about this doesn't seem right. Sure we have shock on our side but... this seems almost too easy. Let's hold Finian in reserve just in case.

rolled 10 = 10

Let's see if this makes a botch necessary.

>>14179669
I don't know about easy. Even with all we got on our side we're taking some pretty heavy losses relative to their side it seems.

>>14179683
Well yeah, we're getting butchered. But I was meaning I expected more troops, and I'm scared we're going to get some surprise buttsex.

rolled 86 = 86

Elementalism roll.

Again you put all your will into trying to trying to keep the enemy earth elemetalist from doing too much damage, though the sensation of other wills acting in concert with your own in all its novelty and newness throws your concentration ever so slightly. the end result being a small, sparse chain of stone spikes jutting up and through Gaius' legionary battalion, separating the front two ranks of his formation from the rest of the group. At the same moment the Neftius Spearmen smash into the unit opposite Gaius' flank. As the Dentrus' Raiders hammer into the southern flank of the battlefield, you hear Wulf let out a bestial howl. A fork of lightning bolts obliterates the aquatic shroud surrounding the elven bowmen, frying the warriors in fives and tens as your own archers bolts and arrows slice into them. The return volley is again evenly distributed amongst your units, and again, Lena manages to stop the bulk of the arrows sent at your own ranged units. The bloody battle between the blademasters and warlords rages on, attrition already beginning to tax both units.

rolled 100 = 100

Let's show these motherless dogs how a real elementalist rolls!

rolled 32 = 32

>>14179965
Botch time damnit.

Let's help Gaius's unit by forcing those spikes back down. We don't want his formation to be disrupted.

And for the love of god will someone shoot those elementalists!? Finian! Pepper them! Christ, we're getting eaten alive here.

>>14179965

SON OF A WHORE.

rolled 25 = 25

Oh god...

Botch time.

rolled 36 = 36

>>14179938
Okay, NOW Finian snipes the elementalist unit; hopefully the lean-to's and stacked logs will provide cover from return fire.

Also signal the cavalry charge into the southern archer formation.

Elementalism Roll.

You mean to tell me we have been focusing all ranged fire on their elementalists...

Yet have failed to down even one of them?

Epic fail, guys.

>>14179965
OH GAWD WHAT!!?!?

>>14179965
Who rolled that?! Who the fuck rolled that?! Who's the slimy little communist twinkle-toed cocksucker that just signed his own death-warrant?!

>>14180037
Admittedly, they have a Hydro-Shield surrounding their entire archer formation, that also effectively shields the elementalists.

After this battle, we need to have our own water elementalists work on something like this for our own archers.

BOTCH, BOTCH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BOTCH!

>>14180128
Go away, CP bot. We're in a bad enough mood.

I'm back. Catching up now.

Loving those rolls, guys. :p

"NOW!!!" You bellow, as you signal for both cavalry charges and Finians surprise volley. The thunder of hooves and paws offsets the crack of thunder as the forks of lightning return to crashing into each other. As the battle rages on before you a massive battlecry erupts from the eastern of the lean-tos as Finians dwarfs stand up and fire into the archers and elementalists. The water shield shifts, then drops completely, as a blinding white-hot lance of energy crashes through the small group of elementalists. Immediately the elven bowmen drop to the mud, and begin re-stringing their bows. However, you still have to stop more stones from flying towards your soldiers, and the storm continues to tear away at itself above.

rolled 62 = 62

>>14180225
Elementalism roll. Continue to counter the enemy earth elementalist.
Water team to attempt to dowse the enemy archers.

>>14180250
If we can lower that spike wedge in Gaius's formation in between countering earth attacks, that would be great. Especially now that the earth elementalist is either dead or standing right next to the fried corpses of his buddies.

Lena is going to have some 'splaining to do regarding why she kept trying to defend the men near her rather than do what we told her, multiple times, to do: take down the elementalists. If it's because she's being a bleeding heart again, as Pax suggested in the IRC, punishment is in order. She killed far more of our men by defending instead of killing enemy elementalists like ordered, not to mention disobeyed the only direct order she was given to do so!

The fighting continues, though as you focus on preventing a series of rends in the ground from opening directly in front of your Noble cavalry wings, you distinctly hear the order to retreat run down the elven line in draconian. Behind you, you hear a scream of frustration, and another flurry of bolts of arcane energy lance out towards the retreating elves. however, a series of brilliant green cracks of light intercept the first few as they pass over where the corpses of the fallen elementalists are, the others smashing into the archers instead of elementalitsts. The dueling bolts of lightning recenter almost exclusively over your cavalry as well. the battle was bloody, but victory seems to be nearly in your grasp.

rolled 76 = 76

>>14180420
Fuck their shit up! Don't let the elementalists get away, and even more than that don't let our cavalry get their shit fissured. We know how bad that can be.

rolled 13 = 13

>>14180420
>a series of brilliant green cracks of light intercept the first few
That sounds like anti-arcane arcana. Pretty effective one, too.

Elementalism roll.
Counter the enemy earth elementalist, and if we can, fill the fissures.
Water team to attempt to continue to dowse the enemy archers.

What are the actual strengths of our elementalist teams? Do we even have any combat water elementalists?

Send Lena a mental command: Remind her that her task is to kill those elementalists! Focus on your job, dammit.

And where is our cavalry?

rolled 86 = 86

>>14180420
Elemental roll. Finian needs to use he non-wet crossbows to pepper the hell out of retreating forces. Make sure our cavalry don't get raped by earth elementalism.

>>14180450
Not effective enough to keep bolts from getting through, though.

>>14180476
It was enough to prevent any more damage to their elementalists, which is the important thing. Their archers are replaceable, at least, more expendable than their elementalists.

>>14180488
4 rounds spent hurling bolts would have had much more of a chance to kill elementalists than one. Lack of elementalists dying led to this clusterfuck.

Mental command to Blackbird via Lena: Intercept retreating elves. Try to capture their elementalists, dead or alive.

Cavalry should wheel around the rends if there is time.

>>14180452
>Remind her that her task is to kill those elementalists! Focus on your job, dammit.
As I explained in the IRC, while her changing of priorities allowed the enemy elementalists to live longer than expected, it prevented a massive loss in Kyria's and Aurelius' units.
It's been argued that those would have been acceptable losses, but there's no way to know that now.
Elven archers that are being pounded by siege engines and arrow fire, and can't even see their targets, still can kill on average 15 soldiers per turn.

With Lena defending, we still lost an estimated 31 per turn.

>>14180509
>Mental command to Blackbird via Lena
Lena can't give mental commands.
WTF are you talking about?

>>14180524
Gods, you are the only one defending her. As it stands right now she fucked up. If she has a DAMN GOOD explanation when we get back, we could let it slide. But facts as they stand are not at all in her favor.

>>14180534
Yes, she disobeyed orders. I can't argue that.
What I CAN, and AM arguing, is that her use of personal initiative was the correct one in this specific battle, at the time that she exercised it.

rolled 36 = 36

>>14180524
>>14180534
Actually, I just came back from a couple of Jack Bauer power hours, and I'd have to agree with God's here. She made a decision on the ground and it was one that provided us with less losses. We can't go and get onto her for doing that after all the preaching about how the maniple is a family and we defend our family and then get angry or scold her for making an impromptu decision that saved lives.

As you signal for your men to begin moving to capture and kill the fleeing elves, you push your will out and manage to begin closing up the fissures left by the fleeing elementalist. Lena lets loose a great beam of arcane energy, this one scything through the larger unit of fleeing elves, and connecting with the enemy earth elementalist, obliterating him. As you look about the battlefield, you realize that victory is yours. Though the losses leave you rather unhappy.

rolled 7 = 7

>>14180614
Command Roll
Don't let the enemy escape! Priority on the archers.

Blackbird to attempt to trail any that do happen to survive and flee.

rolled 77 = 77

By the way, I forget, didn't it mention that the elven commander up here had cavalry as well. It was in the briefing with the praetorian. Anyone mind looking that up, I'm lazy :/

>>14180614
Our cavalry should ride as many of these fucks down as possible. Archers especially. And see if they can't get that last air elementalist too.

>>14180613
Did it save us more lives though? If she has used her powers in the first round of combat and had taken out one of their elementalists, that could have turned the entire tide of this battle. As it stands, we spent the entire thing trying to counter their elementalism and we didn't even successfully do that all the time. Eliminating even one of the pesky elementalists would have made our entire army more effective and let us do so much more. As it stands, we ended up in a pitched fight without the use of any of our gathered powers for a number of rounds.

I'm wondering if we should have just gone wild with our powers rather than trying to counter.

>>14180660
The enemy earth elementalist seemed to have a pretty high Terrakinesis level if he was flinging boulders around. I wouldn't like to see our losses if he was able to throw those things without us countering them.

>>14180531
I was under the impression that she's our "arcane radio" comm system now. How else do we get commands to our reserves?

I am of the opinion that the duration of this battle would have been halved if Lena glassed the enemy elementalists during the first two turns. It would have likely increased casualties among our archers, yes, but it would have lowered casualties among our legionary troops. Plus, all of our elementalists would have been free to suppress and kill the enemy, instead of busy countering them.

Still, I think we are going to have to accept this casualty rate as the best one we are going to get for a while. It's just not going to get any easier now that we are dealing with magic-slinging elves.

rolled 71 = 71

>>14180660
There is probably some validity to us going and using our elementalism offensively instead. I just don't want to know what our losses would have been in our cavalry department if we did.

However, with that being said, one thing is for sure. When fighting a force with many force multipliers, that thinks in every way that it has the advantage, it is better to strip said force of its multipliers even if it downs a few of our multipliers if we have more, and a larger force with an element of surprise. Anyone out there right now besides maybe us and the cult would think that their force multipliers are not assets that can be nullified with such ease. This makes it important that we also start implementing ways to counter them.

rolled 22 = 22

>>14180705
Not only did he fling boulders around, but he had an adept use of using fissures like us. If anything he was either just as good as us, or a little worse. He knew what he was doing, just didn't expect to be countered, swarmed, and then loaded with bolts from out of nowhere.

We really should start meditating more often.

>>14180705
Lena is more of a magic megaphone rather than a radio. She can't receive, she can only send. So for her to send out a message, we need to be able to tell her so she can pass it on.

Also, I counted, and only 2 turns passed before Lena fired.
Would there really have been that much of a difference in total losses given those two turns?

>>14180708
That's the thing though - we had more force multipliers but it didn't seem like it. We have around 10 elementalists we picked up from our maniple back in the day? Include us and we outnumbered them yet they were still getting elementalism off while we weren't getting any off other than Wulf and Laelith. Our surprise attack failed since they noticed it at the last second and now that some of them are likely going to escape, the enemy knows we have a crap ton of elementalists. We lose that surprise factor and they have an idea on what kind of troops we have. We don't even have the air advantage since I bet their valk knights will smash our valk mercs. All in all we're in a bad position. I expected this to be a pretty simple battle but we took a fair amount of damage.

>we took a fair amount of damage
From the talk in the command tent, it sounded like all of our captains expected high casualties in this fight, even with a numerical advantage, just by knowing that our enemy is mostly elven.

>>14180745
I agree with that assessment regarding the elementalists. It's almost like we didn't even have any other than ourselves, Wulf, and Laelith. The only thing they did all battle was disrupt a water shield once.

You signal for your men to run down and capture or kill as many elves as possible, before setting off to see what exactly happened with Lena. As you approach the Deadeyes, the arrow cover becomes increasingly thick. By the time you reach Lena the arrows are like a carpet, most of them with broken heads. the girl has one arrow through her leg, and another through her left arm, though her face shows no signs of pain, it simply looks drained. To the north two elves lay dead at Bellatrix' hands, your mages sister and guard is covered in cuts, and panting. as you approach she offers you two chunks of muddy sod, you accept them and find that they are cloaks, some form of arcana no doubt. "They came at us after the charge hit home. I think they had been sent ahead to kill the militias leadership." Bellatrix informs you.

"I had to stop an arrow from hitting me, they must have seen my sheilds flash, then... I'm sorry" Lena half mumbles after saluting, clearly expecting a reprimand.

If Wulf has any energy left, ask him to disperse the storm. Our valks can then take to the air and hunt down the fleeing elves.

Maybe next time we should open with an earthquake under the enemy elementalists, if they put them into one cluster again. That ought to suppress all of them for the turn.

>>14180779
Medical tent first, reports later. The battlefield is no place to either commend or upbraid someone, especially someone who is wounded.

Have others make note to watch for assassins.

>>14180810
Agreed. If we do decide to reprimand her, save it for after we've taken care of the wounded and not on the battlefield.

rolled 51 = 51

>>14180745
Where we did take a good bit of losses, sadly, you have to realize, that the elementalists we have, which number about 10ish if we only count the combat ready ones are only at the level that we were when we first used our spikes. They are only very basic, if anything, we should consider as a whole, /one/ force multiplier, not 10. People like Lena, Wulf, Laelith, and Justinian are the only actual force multipliers. It was obvious to me that Wulf ONLY just matched their air elementalist and that is with his buffs. Laelith had free reign this fight, Lena did her job though that is debatable to some, and Justinian was just about if not outmatched by their earth elementalist in terms of forces of will.

By the way, I suggest training with all of our earth elementalists, and the prospective heads of all the different elemental trees we have so far practice with the others to start getting countering down. We said that we /would/ counter their earth elementalist, but we have never trained to do so or even practiced over that sort of thing. We had one encounter with another earth elementalist and almost got our asses handed to us and we didn't try to counter any of his moves, granted we had horrid rolls that session so meh.

>>14180771
They didn't even do that. The first time was Wulf's lightning getting past the enemy air elementalist. The second was Lena's shot.

>>14180779
Have Bellatrix take Lena to the medicae tents first. We'll get a full report later.
Check on Wulf, he's likely unconcious.

>>14180824
(Exhausted last nite, late)

I think the reprimand is no longer in order.

She barely kept herself alive and still managed to attack with 2 arrows in her. If anything we should give her a hug and send her to the medicae tent quickly.

... I'm not mad at Lena anymore. I don't think this was "oh I got to save my family derp" and more like "I don't think the commander would like it if I let the elves turn me into a pin-cushion."

>aintere 1914
Captcha thinks Pax is throwing WWI-era machine-gunners after us.

>>14180845
>She barely kept herself alive and still managed to attack with 2 arrows in her
I also point out that given the concentration of arrows, they DID concentrate volley fire on her position.

rolled 17 = 17

>>14180779
After reading that.....yeah, I'm kind of just glad she didn't get killed.

>>14180855
>Captcha thinks Pax is throwing WWI-era machine-gunners after us.
If it's this one, I'm not afraid.

>>14180861

I'd say it's proabably about time we organise a bodyguard unit of shield bearers for Lena.

It's obvious that the enemy knows about her and plan to have her eliminated if at all cost.

>>14180845
We don't know when those arrows hit, what happened, anything. I'm reserving judgement until we have a full report..

Find Sansa, Laelith, Collin, and Uurist.

Sansa gets us the bill, and a hug/kiss.

Laelith tells us about the elementalists, how the fighting went up top for her, and a hug/kiss.

Collin tells us the relative skill of the elves, and anything else he found out by fighting them. How professional, auxilleries or main forces, loaned from other places, where they were trained, things like that. Information is power.

Uurist is asked much the same since he fought the blademasters.

Finally, check on Rufus at the medical tents and see what both he and the gryphon riders thought of the battle.

Any objections?

>>14180875
It makes sense though; the enemy has elementalists of their own, and probably started developing anti-elementalist tactics as soon as they learned that magic was returning.
Their use of a Hydro-Shield for their archers, and knowledge to concentrate fire on the mage, the one unit that could take out all of their own elementalists, just shows that they've put a lot of thought into this.
This only reinforces the need to prevent any enemy from escaping and reporting this battle.
Of course, that assumes they don't have a mystic.

>>14180888
Include checking on Wulf.

rolled 24 = 24

We took around 160 losses against an elite force of about 700. Only including our infantry and ranged support behind them, we had 1100 units.

1100 + element of surprise + force muliplier suppresssion = only 160 losses out of an actually even larger number of around 1350 units

It is a high casualty count because it is about 10% of our current forces, but it isn't as bad as some people are making out. It /was/ 700 elite elven units with force multipliers pretty much taken out of the mix besides their water elementalist.

>>14180875
Second on the bodyguard unit with big shields. As this war progresses, I think battles will turn into magic duels, with the troops there just to keep the magic users alive for a bit longer, mostly by taking hits for them.

>>14180888
Also, since we are there, personally escort Lena to the medical tent.

rolled 92 = 92

Aye, I definitely second the idea on checking up on Rufus and the gryphon rider representatives.

I need to head to bed though, night all.

>>14180951
>As this war progresses, I think battles will turn into magic duels, with the troops there just to keep the magic users alive for a bit longer
Well, not unless we can develop corrected runes before the other powers.
With it, we could use one-shot arcane shields, or create magic rods that act like lightning rods to absorb and ground incoming hostile arcane magic.
And that's not even including our runic steam-tank.

>>14180966

Night.

Pax is the storm abating? Can the riders take to the skies to see where to the elves are retreating to?

Tomorrow (or the next day, when we next have the time) we should lay out a tactical map of the battlefield and summon Rufus to our tent. We will then teach him, one-on-one, what happened and why. We need to start teaching him our tactics and such, and this will be a good start. We go through the battle play by play and outline what our strategies were and why we used them. What went right and what went wrong.

>>14180982
We need to train the valk riders on repeater use immediately.
They'll need the extra firepower if they end up flying against the enemy air reinforcements.

"Is... lovely... okay?" you hear a ragged voice ask from behind you, you turn in time to see Wulf collapse into the muddy ground, pressing arrows deep into the ground. Lena moves to help Wulf up, gasping, then wincing as she steps forward, and the pain explodes across her face.

Before the mage can fall to the ground Sansa catches her however "Dont worry Lena, your both going to the same place, and I'm making sure you get there before I figure the Bill." your aide soothes the mage. You look to Bellatrix, who still hasnt turned or moved to help her sister. The reason for that becomes clear when Aurelius lifts her up in his arms in what you think is the strangest way he could, until he reveals the wide gash along her back. Sighing you lift the unconscious Wulf from the ground and follow the medicae tents.

Inside is the normal post battle madness, though the air doesnt feel the same. As you set Wulf on a cot you take stock of it, gone is the normal calm, optimistic, professional sense of the room, instead the air reeks of desperation. the surgeons and barbers have looks of defeat etched into their faces, not the normal grim determination, one of them openly weeping as he removes a clearly unsavable limb from one of the early arrivals, the teardrops mixing with blood as the man quietly moans on the table. In the corner Rufus is sitting pale-faced and slack-jawed at the scene before him. His green eyes a few shades off from when you last spoke with him, his black hair strangely lit by the glow thrown off by them.

>>14180975
>And that's not even including our runic steam-tank.

>>14181003
....FUCK!
Quickly, but calmly and firmly, get Rufu THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!

>>14181003

Argh. Time to get him out of there. Hes gonna go all glowy green.

>>14180990

Instead of having them training them to operate the repeaters immediately by themselves, we should instead see how much speed and manuverability they lose if we give them a gunner so they can concentrate on flying.

>>14181003
FUUUUUUUU-
Get him out of there, now!

>>14181003
What the fuck, seriously? Have Sansa quickly and quietly get Rufus out of the tent and then restore order ourselves. These are men of the Legion! Do not weep for our brothers in arms, know that you are their strength in this time of peril!

How fudge. Get Rufus outta there. I think his necromantic "aura" or whatever is hurting the wounded.

>>14181003

Meanwhile in the IRC:

>ME: Pax? Why is the mood different in the med tent? Whats wrong?
>Pax: Well, you added a necromancer to the med tent...
>Me: FFFUUUUU

>>14181025
Was his the aura of a necromancer? I thought it was the, uh... I forget what its called but the same as the power of the crazy dude we picked up.

Just tell them to pull themselves together after the fight. Say that they were under attack by magic and should all calm themselves.

After Rufus is gone, check to see if the wounded were affected in any way, or only the medics were.

>>14181039
I still can't believe you guys thought this was a good idea.

I mean seriously, what the fuck?

>>14181112

The original idea was to give him an idea of the realities of war.

Turns out Pax clarified in the IRC that he only amplified the negative emotions in the place. So... its not like hes having limbs rot off.

My conclusion is that Rufus makes people (to quote Pax on IRC) "super sad", by amplifying any sadness there already is. And it's triggered by corpses or people dying.

Oh well. I need to go.

Next session, have Rufus present when we interrogate any captured prisoners. I bet him being there gives some sort of bonus.

>>14181228
Or makes the interrogator more likely to go Bauer.

"Sansa, if you would be so good as to escort Rufus from the tent, I think he has learned this lesson rather well. I will join him in the command tent shortly." you instruct the woman, her lip already trembling, which leaves her a step ahead of Lena, who is openly, though quietly, sobbing. "Citizens of Degnar!" you half shout once the boy is out of earshot "We were victorious this day, our enemies smashed against our brave brothers and sisters shields and spears. Why do you weep on the eve of victory. Be strong for your wounded brothers and sisters, let their sacrifices fill you with pride!" you continue to go on for another half an hour, buoying up the morale in the medicae tent to the point where the surgeons are cheering and shouting as each man walks or is helped from their working area. The air is electric as you walk from the tent and make for your command tent, not sure how you will break news of his potential to Rufus, and hoping it eased up after he left the tent.

>gah, I'm gonna crash now
>someone archive please
>I'll be back thrusday at 9pm server time
>if you have and cq/setting questions just email me at paxcomquest@yahoo.com

Thread has been archived.

We could always try to use him to help break morale on the battlefield. Neshai has a problem with the walking dead, not with emotional manipulation.

So Rufus' power manifests as an overwhelming aura of negative emotion? Must be a response to heavy stress.

>>14181234
Oh, one last thought before I split. We just made the men love us and want to spread stories among the troops back home. There we are, at the darkest hour, lifting spirits as if by magic! A bastion amidst the chaos, a shining example of bravery and courage in adversity!

Never mind that it was magic that got them down in the first place. They don't need to know that. But it probably gives us an aura of the "Epic Commander" a bit. You know those soldiers who reverentially recount stories about their commanders in war shows on the history channel? A whole fucking bunch of people are going to be doing that +1 about us now.

Situation: Not only salvaged but turned to our benefit.