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[Maldevious]

Nope. You had grand plans. You rolled a 1. Raiders pre-empted nearly all your plans.

[tryrar]

Goddamit. note to self: Institute a regular small navy as soon as we beat back these assholes. +1 to khan's suggestions then

One thing I'll add is if we can quickly round up some fire arrows, USE THEM

[kahn1234]

may i also suggest we empty the armoury and pressgang as many refugees we have left into a makeshift militia and get them to the other important areas outside the town to protect them?

the First port of call will be the Town. We stop them there, then we can call the other troops back and smash them.

Plus, if we win, we get 6 longboats.

[tryrar]

+1 to that as well. Don't forget to pass out any fire arrows we might have and have our archers' first volley at the boats be that

[kahn1234]

+1 to that as well. Don't forget to pass out any fire arrows we might have and have our archers' first volley at the boats be that

not enough time. we need to have accurate arrow fire to kill as many on the ships as possible. it will also disorganise them.

the key factor here is: They will not be expecting resistance. they think they have taken us by surprise.

[tryrar]

Edit: Wait a minute, if this is based on middle age England, and if these really are LONGBOATS then that means only one thing: Viking expys!

[kahn1234]

Edit: Wait a minute, if this is based on middle age England, and if these really are LONGBOATS then that means only one thing: Viking expys!

Or Scandinavian (or this worlds equivalent) mercenaries employed by the foreign power to cause destruction and disrupt the country.

[tryrar]

Edit: Wait a minute, if this is based on middle age England, and if these really are LONGBOATS then that means only one thing: Viking expys!

Or Scandinavian (or this worlds equivalent) mercenaries employed by the foreign power to cause destruction and disrupt the country.

Either way, Viking expys 

Edit for a good roleplay bit, yell "To arms! Archers form up and stop them from making it up the river!"

[Gervassen]

Whelp, the boats can't be allowed to get past us, but we don't want them to deploy too far from town either and lose a key advantage.

Let's get our archers down to riverside, behind buildings, in riverside woods, behind fences. Deployed in a dispersed fashion and not visible. Our advantage is that they are bundled up in packed ships, while our archers can spread out and be a difficult target from range. The halberdier levies we keep back for when the landfall point is determined, then they rush foward to knock the bastards back into the river.

The levy archers should have some lanterns or make small fires where they position themselves, small strips of wool torn from their clothes or capes and daubed in oil, and stick them to their arrowheads, if possible. They are to set fire to the longboats.

Our trained retinue of rangers, archers, and halberdiers are a flying squadron. When the trap is sprung, the archers can race to add their arrows to the volley, and we and our halberdiers can race to the landfall point to hold the disembarkers till the levy halberdiers join us.

We want them to feel confident enough to come close to the town, well into bowshot, fire their ships, hold their disembarkers till our levy led by Finn can rush up to throw them back into the river.

[kahn1234]

for roleplay:

"WATCHMEN! get to the mines, manor and other important places outside the town and keep watch for approaching enemies. alert us if they do.

ARCHERS! get to advantageous positions in which you can fire on the enemy! I want as many of them dead as possible before they try to land.

RANGERS! harass the enemy. keep moving. Kill as many as possible.

HALBERDS! Line the docks! DO NOT LET THEM THROUGH."

[tryrar]

Whelp, the boats can't be allowed to get past us, but we don't want them to deploy too far from town either and lose a key advantage.

Let's get our archers down to riverside, behind buildings, in riverside woods, behind fences. Deployed in a dispersed fashion and not visible. Our advantage is that they are bundled up in packed ships, while our archers can spread out and be a difficult target from range. The halberdier levies we keep back for when the landfall point is determined, then they rush foward to knock the bastards back into the river.

The levy archers should have some lanterns or make small fires where they position themselves, small strips of wool torn from their clothes or capes and daubed in oil, and stick them to their arrowheads, if possible. They are to set fire to the longboats.

Our trained retinue of rangers, archers, and halberdiers are a flying squadron. When the trap is sprung, the archers can race to add their arrows to the volley, and we and our halberdiers can race to the landfall point to hold the disembarkers till the levy halberdiers join us.

We want them to feel confident enough to come close to the town, well into bowshot, fire their ships, hold their disembarkers till our levy led by Finn can rush up to throw them back into the river.

Wow, this sounds pretty thought out gerv, and something that might work. +1!

[kaian-a-coel]

Crap.
Well... Everyone, to arms! (if everybody is already equiped, proceed to the battle plan, if not, have the soldiers distribute weapons and armour. Keep things disciplined).
Scatter small groups of soldiers amongst the levy, to direct them and assure they don't do anything stupid or lose morale (I'm torn because that will reduce the soldiers' efficiency, but if we let the peasants alone they could freak out and that's our defeat.).
Organize squads quickly, around 15 to 20 levies with 5 to 10 more experimented soldiers wielding the same weapon. We should have enough bowmen to assign a squad of them to support of every halberd platoon, plus some spare ones on the rooftops.

Close the freaking door and keep it that way. Most of the army should march to the docks and take cover. The archers are to fire as soon as the invaders put feet on the ground, but not before. Flaming arrows on the boats could be cool (if we have that available). Halberdiers stay in cover to avoid potential ennemy fire and will take formation when the ennemy will start to advance. Tactics for the door and walls (we'll need to have people watching all around to prevent surprise attacks).

Forget about the farms, manor, mines and such. Priority is to survive.

NINJA EDIT: TL;DR Pretty much what gerv said, except we should put some veterans overseeing the levy to avoid panic and bad decisions.

[Gervassen]

Wow, this sounds pretty thought out gerv, and something that might work. +1!

Thanks, just typed it up in a hurry. Feels good to have a battle approaching, but this is a hairy situation... 

I'm assuming that horses race faster than longboats sail upriver, so we have the better part of an hour at least before the fleet hoves into view. Ferrying some archers to the other side of the river might also be a good idea. All archers are instructed to fall back as far as necessary, if the landing point is near them. Only the halberdiers and we will handle the close combat.

[Maldevious]

You spring into action, ensuring that all of the recently called up levy is armed properly, which for the most part they are. You below out orders, interspersing a few seasoned men among the levies to put them in good form, but retaining a strong core of your experienced soldiers to strike a hammer blow.

Acting quickly, you order strips of wool and garments to be cut, and supplied to each Archer. They also are to be supplied with a small lantern, candle, or torch. You bellow out for the Archers to spread themselves along the banks, behind fences, up in the watch towers, on small hillocks, and wherever else they will be difficult to hit. They are to try to set the boats aflame and force them to decamp downstream from the town. Your men scurry about, with the trained soldiers ensuring that your levy goes quickly but doesn't panic.

You form up your Halberdiers, a total of 80 men, inside the town, and explain that they will drive the enemy back into the river. The men seem to take heart at your bold and decisive action, and a sense of confidence runs through them.

As the Archers rush about, you pull aside one of the Rangers that gave the warning, and ask him how many men each boat held. He notes that they were shallow drafted river-craft, and he can't imagine more than twenty men being on each of them.

You nod, steeling yourself, and yelling for someone to help you into your armor. The battle will be coming shortly.

***

A flaming arrow arcs out into the river, sailing down onto the first longboat that has come into view. It thuds into the side, blackening the wood around it as a stout, bearded man leans over and attempts to bat out the flames. At this signal, a huge volley of arrows erupts from the banks, ripping into the longboats. From your position atop a hill just short of the town, you see several leather-clad men keel over in the assault.

The flames fail to catch the boats aflame, but the attention of the raiders has been drawn. You see the longboats angle over towards the shore, and you hear a guttural war-cry rising from them. You glance behind you at the eighty-odd Halberdiers tucked out of sight behind the hill. You sit astride your destrier, sword in your hilt, ready to command the battle. Your archers start to skirmish backwards, remaining out of range as several score of crude throwing axes fly towards the shore.

Your plan seems to be working. What will be your next step?

[tryrar]

See if we can get them to disembark to go after our archers, and at that moment we strike and try to overwhelm them. If we can take their boats intact, we can launch some deep strike missions they won't see coming since they'd think we were them!