Battle Report 2, 1891This year, once again thanks to the blessings of Thoth and Seshat, our engineers have made great progress, making the wonderful
Asennu-class Shunefu which is a Barque that is a marvel of modern Nafuni engineering with 26 cannons, able to do a good broadside and is able to protect itself if attacked from the stern. And in terms of the transport version, can carry much more then our old river boats. Unfortunate that like our cannons, it is very expensive due to the havoc caused on our trade by the barbarians to the north The other thing our engineers have made is the
1891 Nafuni Soldier Uniform Standardization, which has given our units a standard setup in clothing and equipment, it also helps let soldiers know who's skilled and who isn't by the helms, although that was easy to tell by who had a Thoth mk.1 before now.
Our enemy meanwhile, has copied us to an extent, and made the
Shonkhor Light Cannon, it is, well, a light cannon that is highly mobile, but small compared to our own. A few have been seen in the swamp and mountains though, but not many given how hard it is to get anything remotely heavy out there. Otherwise the other thing of note we have encountered is the
Sea Wolf a water wolf with Shonkhor cannons on it. Its still fast, although not as fast as the water wolf, and it honestly is annoying like a fly, but we can figure out which one is a water and which one is a sea out at sea, so the men manning our cannons know which ones are actually threats.
Battle Report, Naval combat: Most of the year at sea has been surprisingly calm, we started to replace our river boats with the larger ships and for a while, water and sea wolf's never came close to our ships, staying far in the distance. We expect they thought the ships weren't actually Nafuni at first, but when one of their ships came close we blasted it out of the water, that is, until one got away. Shortly after a small fleet of water and sea wolves came and fought one of our ships, we hit a few in the first broadside and they thought they could use the back of the ship as a blind spot, only to get shot at again. Eventually they even tried boarding the ship before finally turning tail, to which the damaged ship gave chase, but they still managed to get away. The damage done was moderate, but not too bad. Later on, a large fleet of their ships engaged one of ours and, despite sinking at least half of them, managed to sink one of our ships. One of the survivors of the vessel said how there was just too many of them, however we expect that next year, when our Aennu's are not as expensive, we will rule the waves. For now,
due to the rarity of our own ships, naval power is tied.Battle report, Island Mountains. Attackers, Nafuna, Karikhita: In the mountains, now that we have our supplies reaching our brave defenders, and now with gamberson protecting them, they are actually able to do something and fight back the Karikhitans for longer then a month. We do see the new light cannon made by the invaders, and have noticed that while moving, the cannonball occasionally falls out due to the bumpy ground. They prove to be a bit of an issue, but there arent too many of them up here and our armour protects against arrows that our enemy is equipped with. Our new uniforms help in other ways too, as our paper cartridges allow both more ammo to be carried and more guns loaded faster. Its not easy however, as whenever we encounter their cannons, we have to be very careful and take out the crew before they can fire the thing and cause an avalanche. Due to our ability to resist arrows and due to their lack of ability to resist our guns, along with actually being supplied this time,
we are able to advance. [Nafuna 2/4, Karikhita 2/4]Battle Report, Villages. Attackers, Nafuna: Back in the villages, we attempt to push out the Karikhitan's once and for all out of these lands. However, their new cannon makes things difficult. Attached to horses, it tends to fire at our cannons before being carted away, only to be taken somewhere else to fire at us again, making it difficult to hit them, and due to them being light they aren't slow. This combined with the fact that the trade disrupted last year caused needed supplies for the Narmer to be scarce and made it very expensive, proves to be devastating against us, although, with our new armour, and our guns, we are able to do major damage against the enemy, unfortunately, they tend to have the artillery advantage and aim for our cannons first before going on to harm our troops. While we lose many lives, so too does the enemy, but its not enough for us to be able to kick them out of the village land.
We do not gain ground [Nafuna 3/4, Karikhita 1/4]Battle report, Swamp. Attackers, Karikhita: Our enemy does what we tried to do to them in the village lands, push us out. Unlucky for them, they no longer are the ones to have armour, and, fortunately for us, our guns now work 1.1 times out of 10 instead of just 1 out of 10 thanks to proper protection for the powder before being used trying to fire. Still, we aren't able to use them enough for them to actually be really worth it, but the boots help out a lot here for movement, or at least, for not killing our soldiers feet. Battles are now mostly even, even if the enemy occasionally gets their cannon to bare, as its usually dirty and mud coated preventing it from firing. In fact, we even found a few buried in mud after a battle, presumably, the Karikhitan's where trying to get it out before the fight started. It should be noted, due to our shields and the armour we have the enemy doesn't, we are a bit better then them at melee combat. Over all, we are actually able to hold the line against the invaders and prevent them from giving ground, however, at a high cost.
We hold our ground [Nafuna 1/4, Karikhita 3/4]Outside World and Internal Affairs: Recently, a diplomat from Great Brittan has evaluated our land and made a list of the locations of resources in our lands. We also where able to, through clever bureaucracy and a
bribe gift of our crafts, gotten the locations of resources of the lands in Karikhita. The list has been added to our land report in the main parchment in the noble engineering building. In outside world news, Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii. The Great Blizzard of 1891 begins in England. The London-Paris telephone connection opens. Work on trans-Siberian railway begins. And Edison patents "transmission of signals electrically", which would become the radio. In other news, as it turns out, every modern nation has a flag. And, well, we don't want to be called primitives do we? Unlike those barbarian Karikhitan's...Still, we need a flag by the end of the year, after all, if we don't those French might stick one of theirs in our land and claim it all for themselves. If we get something that looks good, we might just be able to get a few 'deals' with Brittan and get you a little something extra to help you and your great work. Speaking of great work, the Pharoah herself along with the British diplomat and the Vizier watched the Asennu-class Shunefu during its first trials, all three of them where impressed.
Khopesh, A classic short sword design we have not forgotten even after all these years, the major difference between it and the original is the use of steel instead of iron or bronze and it is much sharper then what we had before. Costs 1 Ore-Cheep
Composite Bow, A favorite of both our own troops and our enemy, it is a simple bow that is able to pack much more of a punch then a self bow, it comes with a quiver. Costs 1 Wood -Cheap
Shield, A simple shield using wood and covered with leather that is able to protect the user against blows by ground troops or protect against arrows. Costs 1 Wood -Cheap
Armored Chariot, Unlike our foe, we do not ride atop horses in battle, instead, we use chariots. These particular chariots are armored and quite sturdy so they wont have an unlikely chance of being set on fire. It is only used by skilled archers, as we have limited numbers of them due to the required skill needed to make them. Costs 2 Wood, 1 Ore -Complex, Expensive
Toth Mk.1 Matchlock Rifle, A simple mussel loaded rifle with a matchlock system where a wick is used to ignite the gunpowder in the pan. The match needs to remain lit making it prone to go out in windy situations, making it unusable by our chariots, and in rain or mist its more or less a fancy club or spear. The glow of the match burning also can give away the gunners position in the dark. Its been thoroughly studied and designs for our smiths have been made, along with a bayonet for melee combat and calvery. Costs 1 Wood 1 Ore -Complex, Expensive
Pharaoh Narmer 6-pound Cannon, A bronze cannon that is basically an up sized version of the gun we where given. It is able to fire a lead ball or a set of metal parts in a scatter shot. It is relatively light for a cannon and is quite reliable. It is transported using a chariot, and ammo and powder for the cannon is usually carried in another chariot, however, both chariots are larger then normal, and said difference can be noticed by the enemy. Thanks to our designs, skilled smiths can make it without too much trouble. Costs 3 ore and 2 wood -Complex, Expensive.
Asennu-class Shunefu A light Barque with 26 cannons with 2 of them astern to fight off anything behind it. It is first ship we made and quite a big one as well. The fact we pulled it off is clear sign of both our genius and the gods favor. It is relatively fast, and its cargo veriant is able to take much much more cargo then our old river boats. Costs 3 ore 2 wood -Complex Expensive
1891 Nafuni Soldier Uniform Standardization, A standardization of our soldiers equipment and outfit. It protects them quite a bit and it also allows those equipped with Thoth mk 1's to have more ammo then they would have otherwise. The boots help in the mountains and swamps, and the helm protects against arrows. -Cheep
Mongol Sabre, A old sword design that has served us well even after all these years, It can be used on horseback just as well as it can be used on foot. Costs 1 Ore -Cheap
Composite Bow, A favorite of both our own troops and our enemy, it is a simple bow that is able to pack much more of a punch then a self bow, it comes a quiver. Costs 1 Wood -Cheap
Halberds, A two-sided blade mounted on a pole that is 2 meters tall, it can be used by particularly strong individuals on horseback but the average person can only use it on foot, it would be very good against our enemy's chariots, if only they actually used them for melee, still, good for melee and charges, although it is time consuming to make. 2 Ore -Complex, Expensive
Matchlock Rifle, A simple mussel loaded rifle with a matchlock system where a wick is used to ignite the gunpowder in the pan. Its very difficult to make ourselves, and the match needs to remain lit making it prone to go out in windy situations, sadly making it unusable by our horse riders, and in rain or mist its more or less a fancy club. The glow of the match burning also can give away the gunners position in the dark. Costs 1 Wood, 1 Ore -Very Complex Very Expensive
Water Wolf, The Water Wolf is a sloop with a single deck and the room for 30 other troops, and sadly no horses. The ship can be equipped with either archers who attempt to sink ships with arrows set on fire, or boarders, who attempt to capture ships. It is quite fast with its two sails and has oars in the need to sail into the wind, or if the wind dies down. The ship design is simple, and the ship writes can make it without any issues. Costs 2 wood, 1 ore. -Cheap
Bear Armour, Sadly, not made out of bear leather, Bear armour is simple but effective cloth and leather armour able to stop arrows from killing at medium and long range, however, it doesn't stop musket shots at anything short of extreme range, at which point, you have to be lucky, which considering how accurate a musket is at that range, means you probably aren't. The arms aren't armored for flexibility, and it doesn't include a helm, so shots to the head or arms will be more effective then the chest. -Cheep
Shonkhor Light Cannon, A light cannon that is surprisingly mobile. Troops have seen that the shoot occasionally comes out of the barrel when in uneven and bumpy ground. Otherwise, we know the Karikhitans have quite a few of them, annoyingly, and they are able to do hit and run attacks on us. It can be used in the swamp and in the mountains, although, there are few, and not all of them survive in those conditions.
Sea Wolf, A water wolf with cannons. It has a few, about 4 or 6 and most noticeably, it has two guns at the bow, pointing in the same direction as the bow. Its not as common as the water wolf, and it isn't too hard to notice the cannons on it, so its not too dangerous by itself. Too bad it is in plenty of numbers...
It is now the Design phase, keep up the good work engineers!