>>15791965
But I like hearing that our peasants are happy.

Sweet!

Now I we need to do is win and my morning will be complete.

>>15792001

All we*

Also, do we know where the Empire army will be coming from? Any Choke points along the way?

The Army is currently waiting in the county, ready for the word to come from Duke Hamish. As you stare at your wife holding the young Angelo 'Urs' Tarkin a young rider comes before you.

He's obviously a squire, from the south you can see the force commanded by Sir Harold (this may be altered) coming into your lands. "My Lord, Duke Hamish requires you to maneuver your forces towards the Pass.

You know of the Pass, a stretch of land that attaches the Kingdom of Pendra to the Inner Empire. When you ask for orders they come through loud and clear, try to avoid open conflict and instead focus on disrupting enemy supply lines, burning villages and looting the land.

You are to be a harassing force before the main body of the army shows up, after that situations will be considered.

As your men march off to war you see bouquets of flowers being given, your wife offers you a single red rose. You place the rose under your glove. You see Lobo's eyes watching you as you leave, the wolf seems saddened that it cannot accompany you but it has found a new mate and a new place in your household as well.

Current Movement:
Army moving to Grid J8.

>>15792016
Fauxlatinstan? Maybe I missed something when reading the archive of yesterday, but aren't they just preparing?

>>15792016

The Pass is a good one. And they are still marshaling their troops.

>>15792031

We weren't, the War starts in the Summer. Which is this season!

>>15791991

Understandable, but we can't always get what we want.

------

As your forces march across the Pass you look down into the valley below, a rich rolling country-side stretches before you.

Your eyes look for enemies or a caravan but you spot nothing, as you ride down into the valley Kestin comes to your side. Alerting you of a small village to your west, you could continue on your road, or follow your Duke's command to the letter and burn these peasants out of house and home.

What do?

>>15792062

We will go to the village and take ALL extra supplies. If the Empire comes here looking for food the Villagers will have none to spare.

But we will not burn the village, such base acts are below us.

rolled 18 = 18

Scout the village, if it's undefended we may as well attack, and take what we can.

The less of our own food and supplies we eat now the better, also we want to loot as much as we can, so we return from this war rich.

>>15792078
This

>>15792062
That's what I thought was going on. So we're going to push into the inner Empire then. Well think K9 is a good spot to set up, that way we can bug the caravans going in and out of the city while fleeing to the mountains to hide. But, I'm an administrator not a general.

>>15792078
>>15792083
>>15792088

Sending a few scouts up ahead they skirt around the village, as they report back, they come back with some fairly troubling information. Whilst they are recruits it was clear to the Wardens that the villagers were being trained to be part of the Legion.

They saw three groups of men trying their hand at archery as well as twenty of them being led in their drills, they didn't look ready just yet though they are armed. And armored.

The village itself they say is protected by a palisade wall, it's not completed though yet. However in case of an emergency they could already man 70% of the walls.

Still going through with the attack?

>>15792078
And we politely plunder out way to K9. If we take all they have they'll hate us more, but if the Empire does it and leaves them to starve...

>>15792151
Set-up siege equipment and hold them in.

>>15792154

Correct.

>>15792151

Prepare to assault the walls, but make sure they see what they are up against and offer them a chance to surrender.

rolled 2 = 2

>>15792151

They aren't expecting us, so we have the luxury of time, Get everyone into position as stealthily as possible then just lob volleys over the wall till they surrender, if they all take to cover, charge in the the infantry while they're hiding.

>>15792189
Catapults could help in that, and using our light cavalry to hunt down any messengers who try to get help.
>regulate aytusti

>>15792185
>>15792171
>>15792189

Guys. We Don't HAVE siege equipment. If you want to start building it, be my guest. But it'll take a few days for Zarkin to have a catapult capable of flinging rocks. We do have wood in the form of a small forest nearby.

So. Go for sieging the village or just attack them outright?

rolled 9 = 9

>>15792214

We don't need siege equipment.

Sure a couple of ladders will be needed to get over the pallisade, but in a small town of a couple hundred people, lobbing arrows over the walls should do enough damage to force them into surrender.

>>15792214
Right, I forgot that felling a tree, milling, and working it by had takes a long time. Should have had a wagon or two with premade parts.

Come to think of it, how is this palisade designed? Just a single layer of logs with the occasional tower?

>>15792234

Alright.

You slowly start to move your army into place, you manage to sneak fairly close but you see a few children stare and start shouting. A commanding voice is heard barking orders across the others.

As you watch the troops come towards you your own start to form ranks, a shieldwall forms with your horses sitting on the eastern flank of them.

As your shiedwall forms arrows are quickly stuck into the ground, crossbows have their strings pulled back on. Still as you watch you see the discipline already bred into these 'lower grade' troops. They are only wearing mail right now.

Across from your force now stands the enemy 'army'.

You count two full blocks of Legionnaires, 40 men each marching towards you. They are two ranks deep only, behind them you see shields being planted in the ground. Behind them the Empire crossbowmen are cranking their crossobws and loading them up. (bout 40 men)

Standing amongst the men is the Empire general. He has one of his second in commands bow the flag of the Empire towards yours.

A sign of Parley. (You also spot militia forming along the walls of the village)

A. Do you ignore it and just commence battle.
B. Parley with him (you know Empire Latin)

did'nt have a lot of time to make a drawn/scribed map of the local area, so here you go with a schematic map, OP

Just saying.

>The village itself they say is protected by a palisade wall, it's not completed though yet.

Well, I'm no Hannibal, but I'm going to suggest we try to rush through the big friggin hole in the wall.

A siege is a terrible idea. We need to move fast and hit hard.
Rush them at dawn with the sun at our backs, take all the food we can find, and burn the houses. No need to kill civilians, just take the food and force them to move somewhere else.

Displaced civilian populations put an increased strain on the Imperial government, create panic, spread rumors, and generally make things unpleasant for everyone but us.

We need to be thinking like mongols. Never stay in one place for more than a day, never stop marching, steal/pillage all the food we can, and burn lots of houses. But most of all, keep moving.

We're alone in enemy territory with a relatively small force.

B: parley.

ride 100 metres forward, keep out of bow-shoot range, lower the flag in turn, and allow him to approach with as many people as you have.

>>15792308
Have our best archer fire a single arrow at the feet of the Empire's General. Or parley, I haven't decided.

>>15792285
A layer of logs with some towers scattered inbetween.

Like this:
Not completely accurate to what's there right now btw.

Parley.

Let's catch them flat footed. Lower all weapons, start the parley. When they aren't expecting it kill their general and start the volley fire, aim for their crossbow men first.

>>15792308
Signal Parley

take the general hostage when he comes over, and commence battle.
We're the tip of the spear, we have nothing to gain from parley and there is no way we can just turn around and go home, which is what that general will want.

So either attack outright, or capture him. Anything else is just wasting borrowed time.

>>15792315
That settles it for me. A nice steady stream of projectiles will be nice.
>>15792325
A wall could also include towers and such, but if there is a gaping hole we should have done that.

>>15792308

B. Parley with him (you know Empire Latin)

>>15792326

This.

Seriously, let's parley his ass off.

>>15792340
So, their out numbered and can't retreat behind a wall. See what he wants.

>>15792377

Hopefully, it'll go like this.

Treacherous Dogs, I like it.

As you Signal your own flag the Empire General rides forth, taking Farran and Leoric with you the three of you march slowly, letting the man cross the distance more then you. As he stands before you it's clear that he's a 40-something year old.

Some gray hairs peek at his sides as he stares into your eyes, when his lips open to speak though you strike out with the flat part of your sword. The blow comes unexpected and he drops to the ground. You hear a cry from the Empire troops as they fire a few arrows, they land a few feet behind the Empire general.

A kick boot to the face and the man falls over, dragging him back quickly you take your stand amongst your men. The Empire seems hesitant to come forward, instead they protect the gap you can see from here. Meanwhile more militia crowd on the wall.

They don't seem to broken up about the loss of their commanding officer.

Also your archers aren't in range yet you will have to march them forward.

'Battle Lines'

>>15792451

Send the cavalry round to flank, but keep them out of range so that their columns can't leave the Xbow men without leaving them horribly vulnerable. If I remember correctly longbows had longer range than xbow men? Move so only the bows are in range, and begin to fire on them, aiming to whittle down the xbows.

Then just wait for a bit, keep firing keep everyone ready to react to the enemy.

>>15792451
shouldn't our longbows have more range than the crossbows?

hit the infantry with the longbows, when the infantry comes forward to engage, have the cavalry flank and charge their crossbowmen while our shieldwall advances to melee

>>15792451

In our loudest voice, turn towards the Empire troops, given they "don't seem to broken up about the loss of their commanding officer."

Shout, in clearest voice the following.

"Men! your leaders have brought your brothers into the lands of the kingdom of Penda three times this past year. Three times, your brothers have been whipped forward by dogs like this! *kick him again in the ribs*"

"you, men, Are those of these mountains. Once you and I were kin. Our villages are but a day's travel apart! I do not wish to see the blood of kin spill today. Do you wish to die for men who would use you like cattle? Lower your weapons, break ranks, and we need not shed blood today!

What say you?!"

and prepare to attack.

>>15792502
Due to the arguing about crossbows and longbows that I noticed in the last thread I did some reading. They're roughly equivalent in everything but rate of fire. So longbows are better a volleys, especially against horses.

When we do attack, I'm pretty sure everyone is thinking this.

>>15792502
>>15792503

You have your longbowmen march forward, keeping your crossbows behind for now. Farran's voice booms out, "Ready Bows!", as he speaks the bows are lowered, "Nock!", arrows are slotted in, "Draw!", the mighty longbows are drawn backwards, "Loose!", as he calls out a hail of arrows fly towards the enemy.

The Empire soldiers however counter, their infantry place their shields atop of each-other and you are forced to watch your arrows bounce off them. What does bring a sly smirk to your face is the fact that their 'boxes' are now marching forward.

Another volley is launched with similar effect, however there is now a definite gap between the infantry and the crossbowmen. Spear-heading the cavalry yourself you leave Farran in charge of the infantry as you ride away.

The villagers along the wall angle their crossbows at you, as well as the Empire troops. As one they unleash bolts upon your troops, you grunt as you feel one of them tear through your chainmail just beneath your breastplate. Luckily it's only a grazing wound, but there is little time to think as you power in between the shields of the crossbowmen.

Swords and axes slice out and you score an impressive hit on them, you however see that you've lost more then half of the lighter cavalry force. Some of them are still fighting on the ground, but you can see the Militia already rearming their crossbows.

Only ten of the Empire trained troops remain, but well over sixty crossbows angle your way. Across the field Farran is holding, he has ordered the archers to take shields and spears, forming a larger force then the two Columns.

Their backs are unprotected though.

>>15792613
Have the cavalry keep moving through and head to our west flank. It's a big circle

improved map with info now on it.
cant keep doing that level of detail for the entire bleedin' continent, though.

rolled 3 = 3

Huh, we engaged.

Alright, take the cavalry and hit the back of the infantry columns.

Charge with our infantry too, make sure we hit them with cavalry AFTER the infantry hit.

>>15792654

As you lead your Cavalry away from the killzone you see two knights fall as crossbow bolts tear through their armor.

Reaching your lines again you take inventory of the men you have left:
Leoric, Sir Harold.
8 Knights
15 Light Cavalry.

Meanwhile you catch one of their Columns finally being flanked, they are fairly quickly cut down to size. Seeing their men fall the Empire Crossbowmen that remain carry their shields and their companions shields and form a wall inside the gap.

As the Columns are slowly ground down to death you see that out of your entire force, only ten men overall died. A decent result for the Infantry.

So now you're faced with a town pointing crossbows at you, during the combat however a messenger was dispatched.

>>15792738

This will be our battle-field for now so no worries.

>>15792757
So what's the current numbers of the enemy?

>>15792776

They no longer posses their infantry columns.

However 10 Crossbowmen remain as well as 60 militia crossbowmen.

They are all hiding along the walls off the palisade.

crossbows shouldn't be that effective vs a shieldwall. Once the infantry moves into melee they'll have to either not shoot, or shoot their own forces along with ours.

Also, testudo formation
>infantry place their shields atop of each-other
is something worth teaching the men at some point.
I would suggest we have the men duplicate it now, but I doubt they can learn on-the-spot.

either way we have a ballista right? fire a few bolts into their shieldwall and then charge, ballista is perfect for that.
If we don't have one we can't really afford to do anything else beyond a full charge, we don't really have time to sit around and lay a proper siege

rolled 14 = 14

Retreat out of range. Fill one of the carts with any kindling and fuel (dry wood, hay, oil would be awesome if we have any). Keep this out of sight of the. At nightfall somewhere around 2am rush the wall with it and set it alight with fire arrows. Burn down this bitch.

As an addition make a blatant battering ram on the other side of the village, concentrate most of our forces on that (maybe only use the wardens for the fire, as they're adept at stealth). Attack with this 10 minutes or so before sending the cart, so most of their men are round the other side. Make sure the ram has cover from arrows on it btw.

lets take a moment to gather our breath, and becon that messenger forward.

sheath our sword in a way so they see we're not going to attack them.

lets hear him out before the next fighting...

>>15792788
So kinda like this currently?

>Attacking during the announcement of Parley

More Chaotic Stupid on /tg/ than I though. For shame, I thought you gentlemen had honour.

>>15792856
We captured the commander, so we could tell him go to them and order their surrender.

Slowly drawing your men back from the village you gather up your advisors, finally getting a good idea you have Zarkin fill one of the wagons with flammable materials, having Farran march many of his troops to the east part of the village. Almost immediately they see activity along the wall, your men spend some time before the night comes with building a battering ram.

When night does arrive it's thankfully almost black, just a sliver of the moon remains as they push the cart into place. Instead of relying on arrows one of the Wardens tosses a bit of cloth rubbed in oil into the wagon lighting it up.

Quickly redrawing you see that many of the militia are running off the walls in order to save it, you could potentially march your troops into the town during the distraction. Though they'll take some incoming missile fire.

As for utilizing Imperial tactics, you could, but your shields aren't designed for this, some arrows would still get through. As for using the Empire shields, you could, but they are heavy and clumsy to use.. need training.

>>15792845

Yes.

>>15792825

Messenger wasn't riding to meet us, he was going to alert one of the Legion commanders no doubt.

>>15792900
Charge in, spearheaded by cavalry.

>>15792900
so when we said we would use our cavalry in the beginning to chance down any messengers, did you forget?

>>15792900
we let a messenger escape. great.
I take it its too late to respond to that...

Let the fire burn, and flank into the town while they're distracted. better to take the town without crossbows on the walls.

Kill any man resisting. its time to be ruthless.

rolled 15 = 15

>>15792937

This.

Can we post a couple of marksmen by the fire-y section of wall, to pick off anyone coming near it with water? Or 20 or so, to fire volleys to the same effect.

>>15792927

No I didn't, but some people wanted to use their cavalry to charge the crossbowmen.

>>15792923

Taking the late Count Urs' men you spearhead the assault yourself into the enemy town. Once again you feel a few stray bolts pass you, behind you a few of the men groan. Clearly they were hit and you were once again lucky.

Riding into their midsts the infantry are quick to run up the walls, burying axes into chests and killing them, to your west you see a line of villagers handing buckets back and forth.

Two options:
A Have Farran bring up the rest of the Army.
B. Ride for the column and butcher them while their distracted with the off-chance the town might burn down.

>>15792970
uh,
both?

I guess send one man back to get Farran while we charge the bucket brigade.
I should ask, the bucket brigade are soldiers, right? Burning houses is a necessary evil, but we don't need to go around slaughtering civilians here.

>>15792989

They are mostly Militia, (so they are technically villagers).

>>15793010
they still "technically" shot at us. Good enough for me.
Charge them, bring in Farran, have the men loot whatever they can carry before the whole place burns down.

This might help us keep track of things better later. I divided our stuff and Urs because of the differences in equipment. I assume we're going to be with the knights mostly, so they get an asterisks.

rolled 2 = 2

>>15793022

This.

The men can loot whatever they want, however we need to 'requisition' in an official capacity the following:
Carts
Horses/Mules
Food (let the men eat what they want, but make sure to stock up)
Weapons, Ammo and Armour
Money

Obviously the men will want to loot some of this shit for themselves, but we need to stock up the supply caravans as well, so make sure we get our own supplies of this stuff.

>>15793056
I don't expect any fat loot, the Empires armour should have it's insignia removed/destroyed and given out to our MaA first. Distribute the crossbows to the Urs MaA.

now, do we create a defile, burn the crops, and make the villagers move away, and create a desolate buffer between our lands, and the empire.... Threaten to do so to the villagers next time, if the empire keeps attacking us, or not?

Calling Farran's troops towards your own you wait for a few minutes, holding the knights and light cavalry with you as you send Sir Harold forward already.

You can hear the sounds of slaughter coming from the village as they cut into the lines of villagers, bloodlust is being slaked it would seem. Meanwhile you order your men to loot the village, kicking down doors and opening stables your men loot this village for everything it's got.

As the sun starts to come up the village lies in ruins, the few villagers that survived the night, well male villagers, almost all females survived, are fleeing now. You smirk as the goods are laid out.

Enough chainmail to armor either your Wardens and part of your Men at Arms or just your Men at Arms.

You also acquired many of the Imperial short-blades called Gladius' along with their tower-shields. The great-shields used by the crossbowmen were also gathered, along with their weapons. Their armor however was deemed non-salvageable.

Furthermore, horses, food and drink were found in the village. No mules unfortunately.

Opting to retreat to a more defensive position you order your men to build defenses atop a hill leading out from the mountain. There is no true wall, simply a large 'kill'-pit jabbed full of tree-spikes.

Wardens guard the outer ring of the Kill-pit whilst wagons have formed a semi-circle, (ending at the mountain)

So what now,
More Village Raidan
Caravan Hittan
Ambushing the retaliatory force to your brazen attack of the village.

>>15793137
Armour our MaA, distribute the Gladiuses, towershields, and crossbows as needed. We should follow our orders, recover and move on to the next place, hunt caravans and burn villages.

>>15793123
>>15793137
looks like we've already pillaged the viallage pretty well.

Set it to the torch. burn it to the ground, leave its ashes as a warning.

the waggons should be formed into squares, not semi-circles, so that they can be defended from within, not flanked.

have those who are wounded tended to. the walking wounded should take carts with the captured weapons and shields, and return to Jalek to recuperate.
Take the crossbows and the likes too, to arm the militia at home, unless they're a better design.


the defences should not be built on a hilltop. we should fall back 5-6km into the roadway where it starts to become a pass into the mountains where its steeper, and form a defence there. in later times we can make a proper fort here to protect the entire region within from invaders. for now, it'll have to be earthworks, with pilings, we can send for stonemasons later on.

>>15793181
Additionally, anything we don't take we destroy so it can't be used against us.

>>15793137
Take care of our wound, we wouldn't want to get infected.

>>15793200
We're not here to defend the pass, we were ordered to be a pain in the ass and destroy the economy and morale of the Empire.

>>15793137
in this order
- Relocatin' to farther inside empire lands, suggest east and south
- caravan raidin'
- scoutin for juicy, undefended towns/villages that are away from the front lines, and not expecting attack


we move at night, stick to the forests, and cover our tracks. Let the imperial reinforcements show up and have nobody to fight, let them chase rumors and dick around until our allies show up with the big army.
we don't have enough soldiers to go around picking fights, in the future even towns like this should be avoided. If we want to follow our orders, we need to find undefended villages and caravans to plunder and burn.
Also suggest we destroy any bridges and irrigation systems we come across.

Tactical choices:

I'm assuming that X is the village we've razed.

if so, we have the choice of
A: moving forward and attacking the town surrounded by forest. Lots of places for an enemy force to ambush us, and risky.
B, we move back to the defences, protect the pass.

C... we could also start thinking about some rafts, and send them along the river, from Urs, and attack the other town which is likely not expecting an assault from that direction.

>>15793285
forgot my map did'nt I?

For the day you rest, the wounded are treated. Luckily no-one seems seriously injured, those that had fallen on the field are buried nearby.

You arm and armor your Men at Arms with the equipment gained from the battle.

The following day you set out again, you bypass the village entirely, trying your best to stay off the roads. As you look for a comfortable 'base' of operations you see one of your wardens coming towards you. He has that he spotted a Caravan coming up the road, it looked like a merchant caravan without many guards, he counted perhaps five mounted men including the Merchant.

What do?

>>15793244

Forests and a logistics train.. hmmm...

rolled 1 = 1

>>15793291
Remove all heraldry, appear as bandits, raid and loot it.

No point ruining our rep with merchants, but we may as well take some plunder.

Archers to watch the roadside, in case it's an ambush.

>>15793291
Ambushes anyone?

>>15793291
Set up ahead of them, open fire with bows and crossbows, then charge in. If the merchant survives, let him go, but take anything of value and destroy the rest. Did the crossbows go to the Urs MaAs?

>>15793335
Also might want to give the tower shields to Urs Yeomen.

>>15793244
>>15793291
Raid it. Hold it up.
unless its citizens of our kingdom, making its way to the kingdom, everything is now ours. including the caravans and carthorses.


Unwise to have our baggage train and wagons in the forest, that would be dangerous and slow us greatly.

however, destroying bridges etc would be a pretty good approach, so would suggest we consider starting to tailor the force toward a raiding group, rather than an attacking force, and look at what we can destroy.

>>15793366
Also we try not to kill the horses/whatever. Making an much of our force mounted as possible for travel purposes will help.

rolled 19 = 19

>>15793395

Capture carts and uniforms intact, and we've got our very own merchant decoy train.

>>15793335

Yes.

>>15793285

Yes that's the village we razed.

--------

Taking the heraldry from your men, shields are blackened out with soot from the fires you seem more like common bandits then a true army now.

You slowly wait until the enemy comes into view, indeed only a few riders guard the caravan, four wagons in all, ordering your men to fire with crossbows and longbows arrows plunge into their unprotected flesh and a minute later the caravan is yours.

A few of the horses are dead and another broke it's leg trying to escape, the beasts are skinned and their meat cut from them. The wagons are gathered up and checked for what they had.

As you roll back the tarp of the first wagon you see some food, some linen, basic trading goods.But the fourth wagon offers something incredibly good.

Imperial Cloth. It's the stuff worn by their higher in commands. No doubt a valuable tool for a raiding force.

Enough clothes to 'disguise' 30 men.

We have 6 horses that survived the assault.

>>15793442
Well, lets move on. The cloth might help us to sneak our way into a town to open the gates at nigh, but it's not pressing.

>>15793442
I'll just assume that the crossbows went to the Urs MaA and the tower shields went to the Urs Yeomen, so update of army picture.

>>15793481

Looks like a winner.

---

As your men finish raiding the Caravan you see something in the distance. A cloud of 'dust' seems to be forming, clearly because these roads aren't often used they aren't cobbled. Sending a few Wardens they quickly return with troubling news.

It's part of a Legion, only two-hundred-ish men. They seem to be well-armed and drilled.

Ambush them?

rolled 18 = 18

>>15793525

How long do we have to prepare?

>>15793525
Where exactly are we? In the wood, any cliff near by? I like the idea of ambushing them, but ~200 armed men might be a bit much depending on where we are, and what they're wearing. But we do have 180 crossbows and 70 longbows, so we should be able to do some damage from just the first volley.

>>15793525
Finally made it.

I think we should retreat for now. Bait the enemy into thinking that we will always retreat from a real Imperial force. When they get overconfident, then we'll ambush one of their forces.

>>15793558

I'd say a decent 15 mins.

>>15793559

We are near a forest, there's a road nearby. About 40 feet of 'open' area before you get from the road to the forest. There's no hill and the other side of the road doesn't have a forest.

rolled 2 = 2

Take all the Imperial cloth, take anything useful, food especially, but leave all the normal linen in there. Leave the wagons looking smashed, and stuff them with kindling, dry wood and a touch of oil. Re-tarp them.

Surrond the road with your men, archers making sure they're in range. Have the horsemen stand around the cart, looking like they're about to start looting, when it's obvioous the Imperials can see them, have them 'panic' and run. When the Imperials come to investigate the cart, fire arrow it and start a fire, this should kill any Imperials investigating, and confuse them. Then start volleys as standard.

We've got 250 shots, against a flat footed force that's disorientated the first volley alone should be pretty devastating.

This is all assuming we have time to prepare, if not, leave it.

I vote we ambush them.
We're gonna have to take them out sooner or later, might as well strike while we have the distinct advantage of ambush

>>15793587
Move the infantry into the woods to prepare to ambush them as they chase our calary down the road.

>>15793614
Specifically our cavalry's dust cloud, have the horses drag some stuff to make it seem like a larger force.

You quickly put everything in play, a barrel of oil is dropped into each of the linen filled wagons, scattered around they are easy to light up when the Imperials come and they do come.

Spotting the ruined caravan and the brigands raiding them they march forward quickly, as the cavalry rides away leaving a trail of dust some of the men check corpses whilst others check the wagons. In total twenty of their 250 men army light up.

The rest are quickly finding that arrows and bolts at this close a range are very detrimental to your health. The first volley takes a good chuck of eighty men out of the fight but they recover quickly.

Instead of forming a testudo they march forward, the back lines take large javelins from pouches on their sides before throwing them towards your troops. You see several of your men being struck by the fearsome weapons, some dead as the weapons hit, others simply having javelins sticking through arms.

What now, flee, leave the wounded?

Ps.

Troops armored in Plate, wielding Tower-shields and Gladius'

rolled 3 = 3

>>15793703

If we haven't ignited the incendiaries, do so now.

Romans only had a couple of javelins, before charging, so get the melee infantry out in front, forming a spear wall if possible to absorb the next wave.

Keep firing. 150 men left, we should take out another 60 in this volley, at this range their plate won't help much, we've got the numerical advantage now.

wearing their armour to march?

they're either well 'ard, or already exhausted.

keep going, we cant afford to flee and be broken. we are also learning rapidly that these forces' tactics are going to need some alternate thought.

another few volleys into them, then break their formation up, and cause a rout.

>>15793703
Don't know our numbers for sure though, so I'd say subtract two dozen.

so they had time to recover from ambush, form lines, march, and throw a volley of javelins . . . . before we could get a second volley of longbow fire off?
Should have had three volleys into them by the time they're in any sort of formation.
Just sayin' if they can move that fast we're kinda fucked.

Furthermore, plate confers a HUEG advantage in melee, if they close with us our men are going to be fucked up really, really bad.

I would suggest we fall back, volley, fall back, volley, etc etc etc
them being in full plate, they're going to wear out real quick trying to keep up with a mostly chain and leather armored enemy.

>>15793786
In the future volleys of arrows and bolts will only happen at the same time on the first volley, while the crossbows are reloaded the arrow fire is maintained. If we were already doing this the good, but if not then we're dumb.

>>15793781

Sounds about right.

>>15793786

You did manage to kill 80 of them just plain out and killed 20 more of them who were crawling on the wagons and around them.

Even so, they aren't looking at your Cavalry force now.

Anyway

----

Farran, leading your Infantry units calls them back, as more javelins come they strike only empty dirt, or already injured men quickly silencing their cries of pain.

Sending the more agile troops of the Wardens out they manage to come up to their backs. Farran meanwhile has managed to set up his 'defense' between a pair of large trees, arrows are still being fired into their ranks but the tower shields are holding for now.

>>15793760

Romans also marched in their armor. So do these guys.

>>15793786

These men are used to marching in full battle gear. As in, part of their training is spending 8 hours a day doing this. Just drilling in armor. Constantly.

>>15793839
roman lorica segmentata weighs about 6-8kg, plus 1kg of helmet. it has no leg protection, and very little arm/shoulder protection

plate armour (16th C) weighs 23-26kg, has heavy leg protection and full coverage of the arms.

roman lorica is closer in protective qualities to a modern ballistic flak jacket, just covering the body, compared to full plate, and its far less exhausting to move in.

>>15793899
They have the 16th century full plate if I recall.
>lxxxiii, ctedurni

>>15793935
exactly my point. that is 3 times the weight, covers the limbs making it far, far more exhausting to walk long distances in, yet alone to train in to such an extent.
its mostly designed for horseback riding. on foot, it really wears you out.

if they're doing 8 hours a gay training constantly in plate, and marching 20 miles a day in it...
we're fucked, because they're super-human.

simple as that.

in which case, we'd better start reassessing the tactics, fast.

I'm closing this thread for tonight.

Let's just assume that we managed to defeat the Imperial troops.

Taking some loses to our force.

Current Army State=

Current state of the Army:
Lord Tarkin (Armored in Plate)
Farran and Leoric. (Armored in Plate)
30 Yeomen (Armored in Plate., armed with Spears/Shields and Bows & arrows)
25 wardens (Armored in Chain, armed with axes, bows & arrows)
50 Men at Arms (Armored in Chain, armed with spears/axes & shields, as well as Crossbows.)

Count Urs' Troops, led by Knight Harold (armored in plate):
He has an army of 120 Inf and 40 Mounted men. (10 Knights, 30 'light cavalry)

Inf:
50 Men At Arms, (Armored in chainmail, armed with iron shields and spears, wielding crossbows)
50 Yeomen (Armored in Chainmail wielding Crossbows, armed with Tower-shields and Gladius')

Cav:
8 Knights, armored in Plate. Weapons, Swords, Iron Shields and Lances.
13 Light Cavalry, Armored in Chainmail, wielding axes and shields.

Will be back tomorrow night. Also guys, should I skip the war so we can go back to regular Knight Quest, in case you don't like this.

>>15794020
They're not super human, clearly they just have a +2 str and con bonus. They're orc/dwarf hybrids or dworcs.

Guise? Maybe we should, like, give axes to the infantry and spears to the cavalry?

>>15794028
not 100% sure the military stuff works quite as well as the last week's gameplay, to be honest.

>>15794071
agreed.

>>15794028
I'm fine with this, but one thing has me curious:
Is there a point? Because if this is the beginning of a long protracted war between two kingdoms, and we're supposed to be a vanguard raiding force, we're basically not going to be coming home for years.
Which is fine, as long as something happens, I guess.
I mean raiding and such is fun but if all we're gonna get is money we might as well be at home making money.
Given the standard equipement of the Empire, I don't see the kingdom of Pendra really having a chance against them. Late medieval armor with roman tactics vs a mostly chain and leather army?
I guess we better invent guns.

>>15794028
updated

>>15794091
>>15794091
agreed, in many ways commanding the army is'nt quite as interesting as thinking up the cunning ways to get the army out there in the field.

the roman legions, I'm rather suspecting are being pushed a bit too much there. as a historyanon. that gets to me, as they werent really that great; the roman legions were well drilled, but no more than a medieval force. their equipment was designed for fighting poorly armoured forces, they struggled against the northen gauls in germany, who did have maille and similar armour, and their biggest advantage was their support logistics, not their martial power. Simply transposing the legions to 16th C armour would'nt work for my brain, just as the roman legion were developed to suit the mobility their armour had - with 16th C kit, they'd be very immobile. (plus my pet hate, plate armour and sheild. the romans had the scutum because the armour was very light, and protected poorly. )

Is there a point, well as you stated. This could become a rather long protracted thing between two nations.

I'll put it to a vote.

Continue this for now.
Skip the War (rollan to see what exactly happens) and return to normally scheduled Knight's Quest.

>>15794192
would you consider having the warfare more abstracted, ie "spring campaign. Lead the soldiers going to K9, harrying the supply lines and sacking any villages" "summer campaign, lead soldiers to town in L10 with forces from King Penda, support him and sack the town".

rather than managing the battles in macro-detail?

That might suit the style of the game better, IMO.

>>15794192
If we were in charge of the war, then maybe it would be different, as we could look at it from a strategic level instead of a tactical one. As it is, I'd rather try to get the late Urs county to produce more food then it currently is. If the ground is acidic, never stated how it was poor, then berries would grown well there.

>>15794233

How about a compromise.

Part War.

What you said, leading troops into X.Y doing this and that.

And the stuff at home, perhaps our 'PC' (player character) being there now being Lady isandra or Alvin, depending on who you might find better suited for this task?

A.k.a. Steward of Our Wife.

>>15794233
I like this idea

We could give detailed, tactical battle command to Leoric and Farran, and just be responsible for strategic direction. So we influence where the battle happens, what our soldiers have going in, and what our enemies have, but ultimately its Leoric and Farran who do the actual fighting/leading from the front.
Would help speed things up and make us feel "more noble-ish" by having to be responsible for supply and logistics as well as top-level strategics.
We have very talented men for tactics and battle, after all.
Perhaps run this part of the quest as more of an intelligence officer. realistically, the intel we get from behind enemy lines is waaayyyy more important that how many gold coins and mules we can loot, especially to our king.

>>15794267
Yeah, I could live with that.

>>15794297
I like this as well - taking the intelligence and what's found out, and using that to build good plans.

having our lord on the ground but not in the front line chopping down peasants makes more sense.

perhaps we can "zoom in" to these battle situations occasionally, particularly when it does go wrong, for us to give commands of what we're going to do to get out of defeat, and otherwise, we stay looking at the bigger picture, directing where the forces go, trusting our commanders to place our troops in the right place....

and of course, in doing so, building our reputation as a commander of men, instead of just as a simple warrior.

>>15794297
>>15794267
I think we have it figured out now.

>>15794020
exactly my point. that is 3 times the weight, covers the limbs making it far, far more exhausting to walk long distances in, yet alone to train in to such an extent.
its mostly designed for horseback riding. on foot, it really wears you out.

>if they're doing 8 hours a <gay> training constantly in plate, and marching 20 miles a day in it...
>we're <fucked>, because they're super-human.

>>15794382
>>15794297
So, going for the Duke of Parma image?
Where our worth as a leader is not in leading a charge or our prowess in battle, but of standing atop a hill with a telescope to our eye, scanning the battlefield, and then with a decisive snap collapsing the telescope and giving out a string of commands?

>>15794438
oh no. I typed "8 hours a gay" instead of "8 hours a day", because my RSI is giving mr gyp and my fingers arent working too well.
clearly this makes such a difference to my statement.

If we're a raiding party, our primary concern should be just staying around long enough to do damage. After that ambush we should just run.

>>15794444
I ( >>15794382 ) certainly prefer that. Micro-managing it down to where I'm standing on the field feels like it drags the gameplay out.

I'd rather see it as "your forces clash with the legion, in the ambush planned. they respond quickly, and losses are heavy, X killed in the battle, but there are few injured. the legion is cut down to a man. they have little in the way of supplies on them, it appears they were marching at haste toward a destination, with only one baggage wagon. there must be a fort near here they were aiming for"

or something like that, as a battle, rather than "we line up in rows of X, and decide to flank left, not right" and all the little details.

Also that allows us letters from home... "the steward tells us that the people are happy, but that the crop failed..."

or the steward tells us everything is fine... till we return home and discover its in shambles, and he's been making up the letters, trying to solve problems and failing every time.

seems like battles take ages compared to non battle threads, mabey we could pick a tactic or two and roll for it to decide the battle?