Battlefield 1
As expected the Invader's forces are now working more closely together, the line moving steadily forward under the protection of their Anti Air while what remains of their skirmishing forces forge just ahead of their main body. Your land based skirmish forces find themselves facing the enemy skirmishing forces in short bursts, quickly entering forced retreat with the Dragoon's warning of the approaching line. As a result the casualties you manage to inflict on the enemy are minimal, and entirely situated in the enemy's vanguard. As before the skirmishers engage the enemy in the forests, falling back and allowing the singular unit of Field Artillery to engage the enemy in the open under the protection of Tensali's line infantry. Said line infantry proves capable of repelling shock attempts, to the point you face no Dragoon charges in this fight.
In the air the enemy Fly Riders are being held in reserve, apparently the enemy is unwilling to let them get slaughtered by Unity. This gives you free reign of the skies, at least up to the range of the enemy's anti air guns. Assaulting the enemy from the air thus proves difficult. Forcing movement of the enemy anti aircraft equipment is hampered by the low mobility of the units themselves, the anti aircraft weapons move about as quickly as a cannon. As a result they are more of a passive defense than an active one. Simply put you can conduct an air raid and retreat before the Anti Aircraft Artillery can limber up, so there is little opportunity for the enemy air guns to do anything other than follow a set part of the line even should another portion of the line be attacked. You are able to make gaps for Unity to exploit, but only briefly and at a cost of those who get just a little too close to the anti aircraft artillery.
With the extra supplies from home, Unity is however able to make some quick strikes on the enemy vanguard and retreat beyond the range of the enemy anti air weaponry before they are able to respond with the assistance of allied flying units. As they are in loose formation the casualties are comparatively lower than what could be if the line itself where hit, but at least managed to finish off the remaining Dragoons and deal a real number on the remaining Light Infantry.
In the end, the Grand Army forces where able to slow the Invaders while inflicting damage on their skirmishers. Their main army remains untouched and was able to advance as fast as its anti aircraft weaponry could move forward. Casualties: 1/2 Unit Terve Winged Hussars.
Battlefield 2
Grimtusk and his remaining forces attack the northbound Invaders under cover of a Wizard-made snowstorm. The approach goes smoothly as your preparations give you an obvious edge over the unprepared enemies, you catch up with their force before they even enter High Rus territory. Unfortunately their Fly Riders manage to spot you even in heavy snowfall and move to engage. They are unable to inflict many casualties over your skirmishing goblins, mainly firing their carbines and pistols from high altitude, but the occasional strike hits true and goblin blood stains the newly fallen snow. Your men desperately return fire scoring a hit only rarely. Between the distances involved, your men attempting to hit moving aerial objects, and the enemy attempting to hit goblins using cover there are few casualties on either side. Notably several tried their luck attacking Grimtusk himself, his bone giant providing a much easier to spot target than the hidden goblins. The attempts are unsuccessful - a few hits to the bone giant does nothing but crack a handful of the millions of bones.
The formerly freeing enemy turns to face the goblins, with the Fly Riders continuing their attack while likely acting as a scout force for the troops below. How they are able to communicate remains a mystery. The ground based invaders are much more able to score hits and vice versa. Though they remain slower than your men thanks to the storm, their eyes in the sky allow them to have better positioning. One of your units is caught up in an ambush in the forest and is forced into a firefight at medium range, taking many casualties at the enemy's optimal fighting distance. You are more able to fight at long range in the open fields but are then left vulnerable to the Fly Rider's attacks. Attempts at counter ambushes are foiled by the enemy scouts.
With neither side having much in the way of shock forces, the battle continues to be a slog made up of skrimishes. The goblins would move forward until the enemy is in range, fire a few vollies, then retreat before the enemy reached optimal firing position mostly ignoring the Fly Riders now that juicier targets present themselves. The Invaders would either lie in wait knowing the goblins are approaching or run forward until the goblins start retreating and attempt to hit them as they run from cover. The former achieved more casualties but was harder to pull off and was therefore less common than the latter. Thanks to their winter gear the Goblins would be able to escape the Invaders hounding them and the story would repeat. Corpses on both sides begin to pile up.
As the snowstorm approaches its end, the enemy decides to abandon its supplies and retreat north without them. The main force remained too far off to offer any assistance, the exact reasoning of this order is unclear. Without the snowstorm and loot slowing them down, they are able to effectively retreat. You are able to capture the loot at great cost.
The loot itself is stuffed into carts made of lightweight waxy material in a "honeycomb" shape. Each hexagon acted like a box in the grand Army's logistics scheme, holding something looted from Drezzen. Some held what you would expect, such as gold and jewels, while others contained organisms suspended in an odd oily liquid. Primarily Drezzen citizens caught outside the defenses, but also horses left outside, stray dogs and cats, and even the nuisance birds that lived around town. Most appear to be still alive and breathing when their honeycomb is breached. Food is expected loot, but it appears that the normal vittles have been converted into fodder for the Invaders. What was once labeled as salted pork, for instance, is covered in a thick fruit-bearing slime mold. What they where doing with all of this remains unclear...but it is certain that preventing them from falling into enemy hands is likely a good thing.
Casualties: 1 Light Infantry Unit
Battlefield 3
Guns and men line the castle's walls, with rudimentary defenses in place to prevent the enemy from taking the castle by simply falling on it as before. Right on schedule they begin falling once again. Rockets fire into the oncoming swarm, lighting up the sky much like Western fireworks. The AA isn't able to outright kill most Invaders with its Shrapnel, but it is able to prevent their wings from functioning sending them tumbling to the ground which is typically fatal. It seems that they Invader has learned its lesson from last time and drops less targets directly on top of the enemy defenses, instead landing them just outside the castle town giving them a chance to enter formation before being transformed into cheese by Ted's sharpshooters.
When the skies are clear there are fewer casualties than last round. You see the majority remain Line Infantry with a smaller amount of supporting Light Infantry. There are several on giant beetles armed with lances (the riders, though the beetle's horn likely counts as a lance itself). A newcomer is a giant pill bug, hiding infantry under its armor while moving at an infantry pace. These protect the wasp nest cannons and honeycomb mortars in larger amounts than last time. In the sky is a small contingency of Fly Riders.
The enemy moves into position and begins marching towards the castle. With Vekkia's intimate knowledge of his homeland the Grand Army's forces are able to enter ideal defensive positions both in town and the castle itself. Line infantry from the expert marksmen and defensive experts force the enemy into choke points where they can maximize fire on the numerically superior enemy, with cannons and dragons in strong positions to support them. Approaching line infantry are shot to bits before they can move into firing position.
The enemy Siege Artillery attempts to stay out of range of the enemy cannons and dragons, using their firepower to instead remove the choke points that where giving their men a headache by crumbling the buildings. The pillbugs acted like mobile walls, setting up around the siege artillery to prevent their guns from simply being shot down by counter artillery fire or swarmed by infantrymen. Said pillbugs could not survive a direct hit from a cannon, but their corpse remained as a defensive installation with Line Infantry firing around them even in death.
Unable to easily pierce the Line Infantry, the forces hang back and attempt to let the Siege Engine take the battlefield. Artillery from the Allie's side softens up the enemy while Ted's shock forces move into position. His Cuirassiers strike first, running down the enemy's flank thanks to advice from Vekkia about the layout of the city. The Infantry begin to fall back to the pillbug fort or retreat even beyond it as the enemy Lancers attempt to counter the cuirassiers. This proves too little too late as the Grenadier column charges forward in the opening, hitting the pillbug fort and taking one of the "walls" allowing them to slaughter the gun crews. With their hopes of defeating the castle vanishing with their artillery, the remaining forces flee. The Lancers remain to keep the Cuirassiers from taking advantage of this retreat, but opportunistic fire from other units (especially the Grenadiers shooting those attempting to escape the fort) managed to score more casualties.
A Grand Victory for the Grand Army! Minimal casualties reported.
War Council
Once again you meet in your oversized tent. More reinforcements have arrived, but we're taking casualties at a greater rate. Not perhaps a great of a rate as was expected, but there is no end to the Invader's advances. Hopefully they're manpower isn't completely inexhaustible.
Event 1
Reinforcements have arrived! You don't expect to receive this many men at once again until your war machines are fully in place.
Everyone except Unity: Pick 2 Light Infantry/2 Line Infantry/1 Grenadier AND 1 Unit Artillery
Event 2
As per the agreement, food, money, and material has been sent to the Nawra to prepare for specialized cavalry forces. It is now time to choose what resources to devote.
A) The Nawra will receive moderate supplies. Unity will choose 4 Non-Heavy Winged Hussar Cavalry to be deployed immediately.
B) The Nawra will receive significant supplies. Unity will receive a Unit of Heavy Winged Hussar in 2 War Councils.
Event 3
Grimtusk Exclusive!
Now that you have the loot, you get to decide what to do with it. It would seem the political arm of the Grand Army expects you to return the stolen goods to Drezzen, but as only your forces where present nobody would know if you where to decide on an alternative use. You could...
-Return the loot to Drezzen as expected, preventing possible political problems in the future.
-Distribute the loot among your men, giving them High Moral for at least four battles to come
-Send the loot back home to fund the war effort, giving you the choice of 2 additional Infantry or Artillery Units
-Hire a group of non-Goblin Mercenaries, giving you the choice of 1 non-Heavy Winged Hussar unit with a different Nation bonus
-Reveal the loot to the Council and let them decide what to do with it, making it a Council Vote instead of an Exclusive but sharing the blame if something goes wrong
-Other.
Event 4
Now that most of your standing army is in the field, many of the incoming troops will be fresh. This means they'll have equipment right out of the factory! This gives you a good opportunity to upgrade equipment to meet the needs of a modern war. With all the resources of the Grand Army behind you, the possibilities are endless!
-Choose one new piece of equipment for two different unit types (Ex Outfit Line Infantry with rifles and equip Field Artillery with advanced explosive shot)
OR
-Choose a new type of Unit to create.
Event 5
Knowledge is power, and we need as much power as we can get if we're going to win this war. The Researchers are ready to begin working on the next task! What will this War Council's research subject be?
Author
Topic: Generals of the Grand Army (Napoleonic Fantasy RPG) (Read 9419 times)