Combat for 927Our Dogwood Mages spend nearly every waking hour cluttering the soon-to-be field of battle. Saplings sprout in dense clusters, and all manner of brambles, thorns, and vines spot the ground between the trees that make up what's left of the jungle. It should prevent Moskurg from using their formation bonus to full effect, but only to a limited degree. The war has been hard on the delicate ecosystem; trees are splintered by lightning strikes, charred by fireballs, and cut to stumps for fortifications. The cold has killed off most of the natural undergrowth, but our Dogwoods make up what they can. It's not nearly as much as had been devastated, but the ground isn't uniformly bare any more.
Nothing much has changed during skirmishes; their men still shiver in the cold when we charge into their camps and snipe their men, and our men still scramble when Moskurg horse archers ride through spewing arrows.
As always, our assault makes heavy use of fireballs. We make our way through the semi-bare land, only for their spears to start raining from the heavens again. Plate armor can't stop an arrow from God, so one of our commanders ends up pinned to the ground by the shaft of wood. They aren't terribly frequent, thankfully, but unlike last year they don't taper off and stop. They keep coming, sniping our mages and our commanders with that same damn accuracy. By the time we get to their lines we can see them; ballistas, made of wood and animal sinews. They hurriedly wheel the contraptions out of range as we draw closer, stopping to spit stone shot into our troops. It's clear now what we're fighting; artillery. Our men are disheartened by the raining death that not even their fantastic armor will stop, but they charge on like the brave soldiers they are. We have only a few mages and apprentices left, but when they're in range they cast their fire with fabulous effect. Our archers begin their volleys as well, but we're shocked to find Moskurg soldiers don't wither before our arrow fire like before. Many die, but more than a couple manage to shrug off the heavy ashwood shafts. When our melee troops reach their lines the reason becomes clear; their painted, flexible armor no longer shields just their commanders and mages but their entire force as well. Both we and the enemy attempt to get our calvary into play, but they're used to limited effect and neither side has the advantage. For the ground forces, their halberds are just as effective as their new armor, managing to punch through the weaker sections of our plate armor. They work in tandem; one soldiers will grab an Arstotzkan fighter with his hook and the other will carefully line up the killing blow. Our armor is superior to theirs in terms of protection and our troops are more highly trained, but we've had to march through artillery fire to meet them. The fighting is relatively even, but we might have pulled ahead had their cursed wizards and their ivory staffs snuffed out the magic of our mages. Giant glowing fields extend outwards from their lines and envelop what's left of our wizards, once more causing magic to fizzle on their fingertips. Our mage-hunters do their best to kill the casters, but their anti-magic bomb arrows fail to detonate once inside the glowing field and thud harmlessly into their tall wooden shields. With equal troops, limited commanders, and no effective mages, our forces are forced to pull back to our fortifications.
Moskurg doesn't advance on our emplacements - not right away, at least. Their artillery sends deadly accurate javelins and stone shot into our troops all day long. They snipe us to death at great range, and when we're forced to sally forth and destroy the siege weaponry the same battle occurs. Our mages can't cast, our anti-mages can't kill, and our men are slaughtered. With great reluctance, our Theatre Commander pulls back and cedes the ground to Moskurg.
Our Theatre Commander demands fireballs that can match Moskurg in range. They're holding us at a distance and pelting us with sticks and stones! Our fireballs are far more effective than a Moskurg rock; if we had the same range we would clearly win every time. It would also solve the issue of their anti-magic preventing our mages from casting. Whether you must design new artillery or upgrade an existing spell, we need something to match the Moskurgs in range. As for the plant growth, he points out that it needs more power - being able to sprout a line of trees for cover would be invaluable, and giant walking trees that could wade through helpless Moskurg soldiers would be a dream come true. But - and he stresses this - we need artillery first.
Moskurg gains a section of jungle. Their artillery is equally devastating on the high seas. We can't catch them or match them for range, so they slowly chip our ships to death. We pull back, ceding a section of coastline to the enemy.
Our Theatre Commander tenders his resignation at the insistence of many members of the design team and will be replaced by a more competent Commander next year.
Moskurg gains a section of coastline in the Western Sea.Revision Credit!!! Foreigners land on our shores. They are dark skinned and clad in simple garments of rough cotton and furs, and their accent is thick and difficult to understand. They approach our king and beg for assistance. It seems they are from across the ocean from a small country in a hot desert land and their home is under attack by invaders. They are a poor people, and in their desperate search for mercenaries to help them hold their land they come to Forenia. They cannot afford to pay for mercenary services, but if we help them them offer the wisdom of their mystic, an old man by the name of Barbushe. Because Moskurg and Arstotzka are unwilling to cooperate, they will go with whichever nation can offer more troops, weapons, and other equipment to help them beat back the invaders.
Whatever troops we send will be unable to fight for our nation next year, and may not return if the fight goes poorly. Yet their offer is enticing, as their mystic seems knowledgeable and may offer more insight into magic.
What should we bid?
It is 928, the Design Phase.Northern Taiga: 4/4 Arstotzka
Central Mountains: 4/4 Arstotzka
Western Jungle: 3/4 Arstotzka, 1/4 Moskurg
Eastern Plains: 4/4 Moskurg
Southern Desert: 4/4 Moskurg
Northern Sea: Arstotzkan
Western Sea: Disputed
Eastern Sea: Moskurger
Southern Sea: Moskurger
Broadsword: An iron age classic. A double-edged blade designed for speed, flexibility and force. Requires training to wield, can be used one or two handed. Removable pommel for throwing.Cheap.
War Axe: Can be used as a tool in a pinch, this is a single-handed weapon that does well against heavily armoured foes. Can be used with minimal training. Cheap.
Wooden Shield: General infantry equipment. Couples well with an axe, cheap, easy to replace. Works best in heavy melee. Can be used with minimal training. Cheap.
Hide Armour: General infantry armour. Cheap, thanks to the plentiful sheep in the taiga. Turns aside weak blows. Cheap. Obsolete.
Gambeson: A leather armoring doublet designed to go with plate armor. Helps protect against arrows.
Chain Mail: Officer armour. Expensive, due to the steel required. Very effective against most weapons. Expensive. Obsolete.
Plate Mail: General infantry and officer armour. So well designed it costs surprisingly little to make. Normal cost.
Longbow: General infantry weapon. Difficult to find wood and requires a lot of training, but long ranged and powerful. Cheap.
Shire Horse: A heavy riding horse. Survives and rides well in cold weather. Powerful charge. Normal Cost.
Longship: Oar-rowed wooden ship. Slow, but sturdy, and can carry large numbers of landing troops. Very Expensive.
Steam Engine: A highly inefficient, dangerous, expensive, and enormously heavy steam engine. Uses a steam turbine to generate power. Currently Experimental. Very Expensive.
Arzotskan Academy for Adequate Apprenticeship: Basic magic training for apprentices. Allows them to be more useful on the offensive. Very prestigious. Very Expensive.
Wand of Fireballs: Hurls fireballs at a distance, able to destroy whole squads at a time. A National Effort. Obsolete.
Tower of Forever Frost: An astoundingly expensive tower that has to be assembled in place and requires the skill of a master wizard to operate, as well as countless other skilled wizards. Creates a very powerful cold evocation and then channels it directly into the air, consistently lowering temperatures within a radius of about fifty miles. Can induce snow in the jungle during the winter, freezing rain in the summer. A National Effort.
Anti-Magic Charm: A magically enchanted quartz crystal. Hums loudly in the presence of magic, and prevents magic from being conjured inside the very limited range. Expensive.
Anti-Magic Bomb Arrows: Arrows that explode on contact with magic into red-hot, razor-sharp crystal shards.
Magic Lance: Conjures a set of lances for a cavalry squad. Thick enough not to break on use, and lasts long enough to be useful in combat. Expensive.
Magic Axe: Conjures a set of long axes for officers. Weapon is anchored to a small gem in the handle, allowing it to exist longer than 24 hours. Expensive.
Dogwood Wand: Wand that allows the user to accelerate the growth of a single plant to a limited degree. Wands are cheap to make, but don't last very long. Cheap.
Anti-Mages: Mage hunters equipped with longbows, anti-magic charms, anti-magic arrows, and the best armor we can give them. Excel at sniping enemy mages.
Obscuring Mist: Cloaks a squad in a fog cloud, hiding their numbers and equipment, and making them harder to hit at range.
Variant (Channeled Fog): A denser form of Obscuring mist, continuously generated.
Summon Swarm: Conjures a swarm of stinging wasps to harass foes. Expensive.
Variant (Fire Wasps): Conjures stinging wasps that can start small fires. Expensive.
Webs: Conjures a sticky web, immobilizing an entire squad and preventing them from moving. Very Expensive.
Fireball: Hurls fireballs at a distance, able to destroy whole squads at a time. Damaging side effects harm morale. Very Expensive. Obsolete.
Minor Fireball: Smaller version of fireball. Doesn't cause collateral damage, but doesn't explode on impact. Expensive. Obsolete.
Streamlined Fireball: Hurls small balls of fire that explode on impact. Devastating against massed troops. Cheap.
Firewall: Creates static walls of fire. Long casting time, concentration sustain. Very Expensive.
Crystal Caltrops: Jagged crystals designed to lay in the grass and catch enemy troops unaware. Good for defense. Normal Cost.
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Topic: Wands Race - [Arstotzka] {COMPLETED} (Read 386971 times)