REVISION RESULTSOrcish Officer Corps (Tier 3)
Our present legion unit is suffering a bit from a lack of leadership that leads to it being inflexible on the attack and our rabble is, well, a rabble, so we're going to search the legionary ranks for capable Orcs and raise them to officer positions. The qualifiers will be ingenuity and tactical acumen, granting the heavy-infantry Deeping Guard or any other forces we field a substantially increased capability for flexible operations such as what we expect to see during dynamic attacks or defenses...especially those with a possibility of random divine intervention. With Orcs being plentiful, we should be able to find more than enough Orcs with such qualities for our purposes, letting us raise Orcs to all command positions within Orcish units. They will assume leadership roles even within the Rabble, though with many, many rabble orcs per officer since we don't have that many officers and only need to give the rabble general directions. Any other units we field composed of Orcs will likewise get Orcish officers as they need.
Orcish Officer Corps: Normal (roll:5) Tier 3 After passing the grueling battery of tests to join in the Deeping Guard, some were chosen for a further test. This was a challenge of intelligence, given a wooden triangle with 15 holes and 14 pegs. A peg is removed after jumping over it with another peg. The fewer the pegs left, the higher the score. A passing grade was leaving two pegs, if three or more were left the Orc was considered to be just plain dumb and passed over for an Officer role.
The Orcish Officers form the leaders of your army, leading blocks of units. They are generally capable warriors, being chosen from the Deeping Guard, but selected more for their intelligence than their combat skills or personal charisma. They provide a bonus to the adaptability and flexibility of units they are attached to. Due to a more uniform leadership structure, units they lead are also more resistant to loss of leadership than they would otherwise be. They are found in all Orcish units.
They tend to be more effective when put in command of light and mobile units, allowing them to use their initiative more.
Legion Auxiliaries (tier 1)
With most of our effort focused on recovering the Wall-Breaker, infiltrating our enemies, and reviving our core heavy infantry force, we didn't have time to get serious ranged firepower going. The rabble that still composes most of the orcs has some ranged weapons, of course, and we've got mages, but we still need some guys to go out and sling some stones and throw some spears and shoot some arrows and to scout for our main forces, so we're going to raise some of the more promising orcs who remain in the rabble, selecting them based on skill with ranged weapons and ability to move in the open field. We'll equip them with said ranged weapons and the gambeson in use in the Legions and a simple round helmet, and a simple warhammer (They're easier to use than swords, thematically appropriate, and cheaper. What? We're operating on a budget right now!) in case they get into a melee fight.
These auxiliaries will be a scouting force and will form a large portion of our army, responsible for everything from scouting to foraging and will also shoot things during battle. They definitely deserve some more armor and better weapons but, well, they can get in line. We'll get to them when we get to them. We aren't asking them to be the first up the siege ladders in a few days, now are we?
Legion Auxiliaries: Normal (roll 3) Tier 1 Those orcs who are skilled with a bow, sling, javelin, or just generally nimble or sneaky are recommended into the Auxiliaries. These are light infantry and skirmishers, well suited to harassing enemy units and scouting ahead of an army. Armed with a ranged weapon of choice, gambeson and round helmet, and a trusty warhammer, they form a dedicated skirmishing core they can also fight in melee if needed. At this point they don’t have much more training than your average rabble, but they take to their givin role well. Scouting wise they are passable, relying more on their numbers to screen the main force than any particular wilderness skill, but better than the chaotic rabble and slow heavy infantry.
In particular the Auxiliaries performed significantly better with Officers attached.
The Strategy/Battle Phase: So we finished the Revision Phase, what now? Now we have the
Strategy/Battle Phase . Later in the game, you will decide what fronts to focus on, where you are sending your champions and such. But for now, your options are more focused on the battle itself.
In this battle you will be attempting to regain your fortress at Ur-Garoth from the forces of the Duke of Arnhold. They have grown somewhat lapse in their care of the wards around your tomb, and thus you will have the element of surprise in your attack.
Infiltration: Due to your Infiltrators, you can take up to 3
Infiltration Actions. You have a total of 3
Infiltrator Points you can use to indicate how much effort you can spend on each action. You can use any stealth champion on any Action to lend their skills and abilities. You also spend any
Darkness Points on these. Actions should have a “title” and a one or two sentence long description of the action.
Example: “ 2 Points: Seize the Gatehouse: Infiltrators will use their disguises to gain entry into the gatehouse, kill those inside, and open it for approaching forces.”
Artifice of Darkness:
As an Artificer Dark Lord, you can spend
Darkness to create great, unearthly machines and devices. These are unstable constructs, and only reliable last as long as the battle generally. These constructs can have magical effects or construction, and can be made to do a wide variety of purposes. There may be additional restrictions which I will think of later, but for now you can’t target individuals (So no sniper rifle picking off heroes), and no broad general enhancement of your units ( so you can’t be making a device that emits waves that empower your orcs or what have you). This is your time to make cool, impractical machines that you wouldn’t dream of wasting a design on, like a giant tunneling machine or a flying autonomous dragon.
Keep in mind that you should keep some
Darkness in reserve to help counter any uses of
Light by the Three, or to adapt to the changing situation in the following phases. However, don’t hoard all your points! A good offensive is more cost effective than a good defense.
You start with 5
Darkness.
You can spend (and should) spend multiple
Darkness points on an action to increase its effectiveness and its scale. The more points you invest, makes it harder for heroes and the Three to take it out.
-1 Darkness: Effective vs 1 or multiple units.
-2-3 Darkness: Effective on a front.
-4-5 Darkness: Effective across whole battlefield.
Your Forces:5 Warbands of Rabble (each roughly 200~ Orcs)
6 Companies of Auxilia (roughly 80~ Orcs)
4 Cohorts of Deeping guard (50~ Orcs)
4 Squads of Acolytes (5-6 cultists)
(Size and number of units will grow as you gain more territory, this is just for a rough idea.)
Champions:Wall-Breaker
Dark Lord’s Avatar.
Minor Champions:The Shadow Walker (II)* (Stealth champion)
Siege Overview:There are two main avenues of attack. First, from inside the citadel deep in its heart. The Dark Lord and his forces must break through the great stone seal blocking him in. There is a defensible position that the forces can take to protect the fortress, but it is generally left unguarded. They will be alerted by the attempt to break down the wards.
The second avenue is from outside of the city. The outer wall is lightly defended, concentrated at the two gates to the south and the east. Most of your largest tunnels lead to outside the city, making that the easiest route for the majority of your forces.
In between the outer wall and the fortress itself is a settlement, with few notable defenses. There are a few tunnels here, but they are small narrow ones, limiting the number of troops you can funnel through here.
The fortress of Ur-Garoth has five towers, connected by a strong stone wall, and each tower connects to the central keep, which is squat and box-like. The Keep of course contains the main Armory where the Runed Arms and Armor are vaulted, and the household of the Duke.
Duke Arnhold is respected as a capable and honorable knight, but no measure to the heroes the Dark Lord once faced. His household is made up of dutiful knights and their retainers. Your forces will easily outnumber his. His only heir is his daughter Matilda, his wife having passed several years ago.
ENEMY FORCES:
The enemy numbers somewhere between 450 and 500 men and women under arms.
DARK DESIGNSSo make your plans. You do not have to be overly complicated to be successful. A simple, well thought out plan will work well. Things to keep in mind:
-Vote by PLANS! Feel free to discuss individual parts at will, but when it comes to voting,
vote by PLAN NAME versus voting for Infiltration actions, Darkness usage, and tactics individually.
-And so, when making you plan you want voted for, do include
Infiltration actions, Darkness Usage, and your operational plan! Please feel free to cooperate in making this, but when presenting for a vote present it all in one quotebox. Again, feel free to discuss things as you like, just applies when presenting a votable plan.
-Give orders by your operational fronts. In this battle you have the assault from the inner fortress and the attack from the outside, but you can also open up other fronts. No need to be splitting up your orders unit by unit. A perfectly workable order is “Assault and take control of the outer wall, then advance through the city to attack the walls of the Fortress.” You can add more details, like if you want the light infantry to focus on clearing the settlement while heavy infantry to focus on the walls, but you can expect them to act somewhat intelligently.
Champions you can give more detailed orders to, if you want them to seek out enemy heroes (none are present that you are aware of) or assault specific points. Just keep in mind that Minor Champions can die.
EXAMPLE PLAN
Infiltration Actions: 2 points to Securing Outerwall Gatehouse- Silent Hand agents will use disguises to infiltrate and take over the Outer Walls gatehouse.
1 point and Shadow-Walker to Eliminate Mages and Priests: Silent Hand agents will attempt to kill the priests and mages of the enemy.
Darkness Artifice: 4 pointsDeploy a giant spinner from the outer walls to slam into the Fortress, causing a giant hole. Once inside it will start shooting lightning.
1 point in reserve.
Operational Plan:
From Dark Lord's Prison: Deploy 3 Cohorts of Deeping Guard, 1 Horde of Rabble, and 2 Squads of Acolytes. Dark Lord’s Avatar will lead assault.
-Wait for assault on Outer Walls to finish, and for assault on the Fortress to begin. Then begin breaking down the Stone Ward blocking you in. Then proceed with the attack from inside the Fortress.
From Outside the Walls. Deploy rest of the army. Wall-Breaker will accompany assault, led by Captain Gugbit (Fronts not led by a capable champion can be lead by a “random” champion. If they survive and do well they can be promoted into an actual Minor Champion.)
-Focus on entry through the walls. Gatehouse should be open by Infiltrators. If successful, send light infantry through to rush through settlement and clear the way for the heavy infantry. Send Wall-Breaker to focus on opening a hole to the inside of the Fortress, and focus on overwhelming the defenders and capturing the fortress.
Unless your plan is wildly, incredibly successful (or disastrously poor), there will be a second phase where you can adjust your plans. This is a lot, I know, and rules can and probably will be adjusted. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions!
Author
Topic: Dark Designs: Turn Two-Battle Phase (Read 12208 times)