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No!

0 (0%)

I really don't care!

1 (10%)

Total Members Voted: 10

[FritzPL]

Actually, why don't we try a simple distraction/attack from two sides? Get Count's plebs to carry ladders and run at the walls faking an assault, while the rest of the forces take the gate. If he doesn't lend us people, do it ourselves.

[WhitiusOpus]

Actually, why don't we try a simple distraction/attack from two sides? Get Count's plebs to carry ladders and run at the walls faking an assault, while the rest of the forces take the gate. If he doesn't lend us people, do it ourselves.

Read my plan. It is pretty much what you just said, except on three sides, and more detailed. Also, he wants us to do the brunt work. He won't lend us men.

[PewdsRocks]

Yup, which is why I went night fighting. Our men are experienced in this style of fighting not in frontal assaults.

We have the numbers but we're lightly armored and are ranged fighters, storming a castle is going to cost us even if we win, taking it while 2/3 of it's defenders are sleeping won't.

[Parsely]

Yup, which is why I went night fighting. Our men are experienced in this style of fighting not in frontal assaults.

We have the numbers but we're lightly armored and are ranged fighters, storming a castle is going to cost us even if we win, taking it while 2/3 of it's defenders are sleeping won't.

Yes, storming is a good way to take a lot of casualties.

Why don't we just have one man mount the walls and open the gates? After all we're great at sneaking.

[PewdsRocks]

(( That was part of my plan Once we get inside we have a low number of sentries in our way. Take them down and open the gates to let in the main force if they decide to join in. Otherwise well we may as well all go over the walls first anyway. Anything goes wrong we have 30 or less enemies against 50 skilled marksmen who hold the high ground. ))

[Parsely]

Right. So one guy goes over the top, opens the gates, and everyone else storms in bolts flying? Sounds like a good plan. I assume we have swords too or can get some from somewhere.

[PewdsRocks]

Well I'd suggest more then 1. He'll run into problems if the sentries are in pairs. Better to send a team of say 1 officer and 5 crossbows. The gates rubbish but it's still big and heavy as well which means more then 1 person. Plus somebody to cover those opening the gates.

[Parsely]

Well I'd suggest more then 1. He'll run into problems if the sentries are in pairs. Better to send a team of say 1 officer and 5 crossbows.

Well the idea is that if there's one man he won't have to tangle with sentries. The larger the group the harder it is to sneak.

[PewdsRocks]

True but a gate is a bit big and opening it won't be quiet. Plus it probably has guards on it so you need several men at least to open it and cover those opening it. 6 men should be a small enough party to move quietly and remove the sentries as well as open the gate and guard the people opening it.

[WhitiusOpus]

Well I'd suggest more then 1. He'll run into problems if the sentries are in pairs. Better to send a team of say 1 officer and 5 crossbows.

Well the idea is that if there's one man he won't have to tangle with sentries. The larger the group the harder it is to sneak.

My vote is two pairs of crossbow men. If they run into trouble, four will stand a decent chance of still completing the objective or escaping. One or two is too few, I think, to completely depend on for the mission, while more than five is risking greater detection. They gain access from different points, and meet at the gatehouse. Also, I don't want to risk an officer for such a patrol, as we only have two of them.

[PewdsRocks]

Thats what officers are for, no use having them if you don't send them on missions and using 2 entry points doubles the risk of detection and is pointless as well because both pairs will be required to actually get the gate open.
4 is fine but send them in together as a squad. Safer for them and for the mission as a whole.

[WhitiusOpus]

Thats what officers are for, no use having them if you don't send them on missions and using 2 entry points doubles the risk of detection and is pointless as well because both pairs will be required to actually get the gate open.
4 is fine but send them in together as a squad. Safer for them and for the mission as a whole.

Actually, it halves the chance of detection, as the groups are smaller and less likely to be seen by sentries. And this way, if one group slips up and cues the alarm, the other still can complete the objective. Special Operatives and FBI agents use this tactic all the time, to remain concealed where a larger group would not.

 And officers are used to lead our men when we aren't present, but we also only have two of them. I think a group such as ours have trained enough to operate without the need for control by an officer. Also, if we fail this, we'd only lose four men, less than 10% of our troops. If we send an officer, that's 50% of our command group. The risks outweigh the gain.

[Parsely]

It doesn't matter how big or loud the gate is. All the guy needs to do is unbar it. Then it won't matter how many men we sent initially because everyone will be inside.

If we send in six guys or ten then they're still completely outnumbered. If they have to kill anyone then the mission is a failure anyways. It'd be a miracle if no one heard the crossbow go off, the man get hit, scream, or hit the ground. They'll get swarmed and that'll be the end of it. Our best chance is to play our strength, which is sneaking.

@GM: How big were the gates? This is what matters most. We need to send as many men as it'll take to unbar the gate, which is only going to be one or two.

[PewdsRocks]

Maybe, but we lose the entire element of surprise going for the gate at all which is why I didn't mention it this time when I suggested a night attack. It's more effective to just kill the sentries and climb the walls quietly to take out the defenders as they sleep then to open the gate to let our men in and wake up every soldier in the castle in the process forcing a fight. We then have to storm the fort against alerted men and fighting close quarters inside a building isn't what we're trained for.

Either way it's only going to be our men in the fighting so why open the gates at all? We have ladders we can get 50 men onto the wall in a couple of minutes with no need to go near the gates at all and it maintains the element of surprise for us to use.


Also, how does it half the chance? Our men go in different places and so have to sneak past a larger number of sentries, being 2 smaller groups doesn't make any difference if you have to get past twice as many people. Thats twice as many sets of eyes to spot one of those groups.

[WhitiusOpus]

(1) Maybe, but we lose the entire element of surprise going for the gate at all which is why I didn't mention it this time when I suggested a night attack. It's more effective to just kill the sentries and climb the walls quietly to take out the defenders as they sleep then to open the gate to let our men in and wake up every soldier in the castle in the process forcing a fight. We then have to storm the fort against alerted men and fighting close quarters inside a building isn't what we're trained for.

(2) Either way it's only going to be our men in the fighting so why open the gates at all? We have ladders we can get 50 men onto the wall in a couple of minutes with no need to go near the gates at all and it maintains the element of surprise for us to use.


(3) Also, how does it half the chance? Our men go in different places and so have to sneak past a larger number of sentries, being 2 smaller groups doesn't make any difference if you have to get past twice as many people. Thats twice as many sets of eyes to spot one of those groups.

1. The gate is our objective. It was said in the mission statement. Killing someone is not completely silent, even marksmen such as ours cannot instantly kill sentries simultaneously in the middle of the night. No matter what we do, we have to open those gates.

2. Opening the gates gets our men inside the castle faster than using ladders all around the fort. You yourself just said that it was an increased chance of detection with more men, so sending 50 with ladders is not going to raise the alarm? It takes more than a few minutes to run 100 yards, prop the ladder against the wall, then climb up it. All the while, the sentries are watching. Even if we send five men with each ladder, it would still take at least ten to fifteen minutes to get all of them on the walls, and then they're spread out.

3. Yes, smaller groups do make a difference. The human eye sees motion in darkness, so the less movement=less detection. As well, having two sets of men increases the chance of success as one getting caught wouldn't affect the other group.