Your men assume a defensive formation, spears in the middle, and crossbows to either side and to the rear. The reach of your spears wards off the bandits from engaging closely and employing their short weapons with the practice they've no doubt gained attacking caravans. Your crossbows prevent the numerically superior bandit melee troops from flanking your spears, although their deeper formation is able to slowly push your's toward the edge of the clearing. With their better flanking fields of fire, your crossbowmen are able to hit 7 of the enemy, killing 3 and severely wounding another 2. 5 of the wounded are enemy bowmen, including 2 of the killed. One more bandit is killed by a spearman, and one more wounded, though slightly. One of your spearmen is killed by a hatchet blow, another takes an arrow in the chest and hits the ground, and 2 more take wounds, neither of which keep them from the fight.
Your reinforcements arrive shortly, and noticing them, the bandits break off back to the center of the clearing. You and your men wait for them to move again. You shout again that they must surrender, but knowing that the Duke's considers bandits traitors to the realm, and deals them the punishment for treason, hanging, none throw down their weapons. One man, and older fellow with long hair and a prominent hooked nose, says to them "Lads, the way I see it there's two things we can do. We can die here on our feet, or we can surrender and face the Duke's "Justice". For myself I think I'll see if our friend over there can give me something quicker than the Duke can, so i guess that means I'll die on my feet." Following this, he shoves the short wood axe he is carrying into his belt and seems to begin to pray, and two men move to stand by him. Another man says to him "Dellman, we can still get out of this noose! We're surrounded, true, but we're still fighting men, and still alive. Who's with me?"
The bandits, cornered and outnumbered, form up into a close formation and rush to get through the gap between the division furthest from you and your left flank division. These men are brave and strong, but crossbow bolts kill them all the same. Your flank moves to intercept them as well. The rush is a foolhardy one, and they must not have noticed that your other divisions had crossbows as well. One falls, then two more, though they do meet your flank, killing one spearman in their desperate fury and wounding two more, both crossbowmen. When your far division moves to attack them from behind, their destruction is complete, and though one man breaks through your line, he is brought down by a hail of bolts.
In all, 12 bandits are dead and 3 are too wounded to walk unaided, or unconscious. You have lost 3 men, while 5 more are wounded and cannot fight. You notice that Dellman and his compatriots have readied their weapons once more, and have moved to face out on all sides. They remain silent as their comrades fall. What will you do now?
Name: Cedric Stoneye
Age: 32, born Spring, Year 1213 (Currently Summer, Year 1245)
Possessions: Average Crossbow, Forester's hat, Average Clothes, Above Average Observer, Mail hauberk, 200 Crowns(currency)
Health: Good (Slight Leg Wound)
Skills: Good Crossbowman, Good Leader, Above Average Tactician, Fair Siege Engineer, Fair Conversationalist.
5 officers (1 leader, 2 crossbow vinteners, 2 spear vinteners)
45 Crossbowmen (crossbows, hauberks/coats of plate, maces, forester hats, boots)
Good Crossbowmen
Good Scouts
Above Average Ambushers
Poor Laborers
Pay:45 crowns per month
20 green spearmen (jerkins, spears, maces, boots)
Fair Spearmen
Fair Laborers
Pay: 100 shillings/10 crowns per month
Neither Tired nor Well-Rested
Supplies: Fair
Morale: Good
You brought down seven this time because I only considered the 7 at their flanks and rear as targets, as your men would not fire at the front flank men for fear of hitting their own. Their formation looked something like this, with capital X's representing targets:
XXXXX
XxxxxxX
xxxxxxx
Your overwhelming numbers of crossbowmen hit all seven without fail.
That's just an explanation of how the shooting mechanics work. They're fairly simple, and you might decry them as unrealistic, but for small fights this is probably how the shooting will work.
They could have chosen to rush you at any time, but they rolled stand ground mostly. This seemed to work out in your favor.
Sorry about the "Update tomorrow for sure" thing. I had one all written up, and then, wonder of wonders, my internet crashes. I just couldn't find the motivation to rewrite it afterward, so here it is finally.
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Topic: You Are a Mercenary Commander (Read 27197 times)