Barbarians to the west, the scouts said. An army.
Well. They could charge recklessly into combat against an army they know nothing about.
Or they could use superior intelligence to secure a guaranteed victory.
"Forwards!" Fierban cried. They rode out of the trees onto the open plain. "Close formation, gallop! Make some dust!"
The troupe accelerated and drew closer together. Hooves scarred the earth. Dust rose. The wind blew it high into the sky. A scout drew alongside Fierban.
"Sir! The barbarians, they will see the dust and know we are coming!"
"Yes! Yes they will! But they will be wrong!"
They rode for a few hours, then Fierban signalled for them to halt.
"Dismount, everyone. Set up three tents, throw the garbage out, and bring forth the firewood! All of it!"
Confused, they obliged. The tents were set up, and the rests of food, broken arrows, and other junk that they had been carrying for some reason were strewn about the 'camp'. Kindling was brought forth, dry wood collected, trees cut down, and everything else flammable in the area was collected, with plenty of fresh, green, smoky things. A large firepit was dug, and a fire set up (but not lit). This to great confusion, as they were surely not planning on staying here for long enough to merit all this firewood. Then Fierban had them do a heavy marching drill all around the camp, churning up the earth.
Whilst this was happening, Fierban talked with five of the men, of which the three scouts. Once the preperations were complete, he told the rest to mount up, and he led them, at a slower pace, back along their earlier path.
"I think I get it, sir" remarked a trooper as they rode.
"We are riding, soldier" Fierban replied.
The trooper did not reply, but stared forwards and tried to meditate. That's what you got for riding up front, he thought. No Fierban emblem to focus on when meditating. The little flag was sown onto the back of every soldier's uniform for that purpose. It only worked for those behind someone, though.
When they reached the forest, they set up camp again. There were no fires. They watched as in the distance the dummy fire cast its red and orange glow onto it's own smoke.
"It is my opinion that this will never work, sir" remarked a soldier.
"I respect your opinion, soldier, but I do not agree. The barbarian has become dulled. If I, or any student of tactics for that matter, was in their position, I would be hiding in the woods, like the last lot. Of course, we would scout them out, but we would still not know what kind of strength they had, or where exactly they were positioned. No, the barbarian is too cocky for his own good. He will see the fires and will have seen the dust. He will sit content that we must travel through him. He might send out one or two scouts, but ours are better. They will counter-scout his scouts, and our trickery will not be revealed. He won't bother attacking, especially against cavalry. He will wait, and build up defences against us.
And when we (the real we) are in position to strike, we (the fake we) will prepare to attack. And he will be so ready for a blatant cavalry charge from the east that a sneaky night-time attack from the north will utterly destroy him.
Fierban moves north one tile (sneakily), then west two tiles (really fast and sneaky), then attacks the barbarians.
And some of you so-called generals couldn't even contemplate such a move.
Seriously you guys
Speed.
It's what war is about.
(if this isn't possible then just go one to the west and attack head on)
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Topic: Wars of the Celestial Lord - a game of intrigue, strategy and roleplay (Read 22131 times)