OOC: Apologies to Ghazkull. Just got back, figure I might as well see if there's any way I can salvage part of this unsalvageable (from Preston's viewpoint) situation.
Battle at Bingham's Field (Because 'Battle at Preston Border' doesn't sound as cool.)
Preston: 1 Cavalry, 4 Infantry
Elbreth: 1 Cavalry, 10 Infantry
Tactics I: Realising the doomed situation, Prince Karl sacrifices one of his infantry batallions by having them rush to the nearby copse of forest, leading the body of his troops to the nearby tussock. [Req: 4+1-1, Roll: 4] The Elbrethian forces take the bait, sending their lone cavalry unit to control the hill (which it does automatically) whilst their main force goes after the easier kill, (2 vs 6) beating it to the woodland and denying it any advantage.
Hill Battle: 2+3+1 vs 1+2+3 - Draw, Default to Preston (1 Preston infantry, 1 Elbreth cavalry lost.)
Copse Battle: 5+10+1 vs 1+1 - Crushing Victory to Elbreth (1 Preston infantry lost.)
Tactics II: Prince Karl's forces are still likely doomed, but holding the small tussock brings them a meagre slice closer to parity with the overwhelming infantry force of Elbreth. Karl tries to arrange his forces to conserve his men, cycling fresh infantry to the front when the fight recommences but allowing room for his cavalry to charge in waves, fall back and regroup. [Req 4, Roll 6] Difficult as this is to pull off (especially given Karl's lack of tactical ability) he manages it, giving his men a chance if they can outlast the coming attack.
Hill Fight: 2+10 vs 6+3+2+1 - Draw (1 Preston infantry, 1 Elbreth infantry lost.)
The Prestoner troops are only able to pull off a fighting retreat in the end, losing as much as they take. They break and flee further into Preston lands, and as the Elbrethian troops are not under standing orders to pursue them to the death they allow them to flee and call the battle a victory.
Clear Victory to Elbreth!
Elbreth lost 1 Cavalry unit (Crown) and 1 Infantry unit (players may volunteer which unit to lose). Preston lost 2 Infantry units and broke into a retreat.
Tactical Analysis
I screwed this one up before it even started by committing a tactical blunder of unforgivable proportions. Knowing that Elbreth was sending a potentially Str 13 force to attack, I fail to see what possessed Prince Karl (i.e. me) to think that a Str 7 force could do anything to dissuade them. Instead of presenting a credible threat, Preston wiped out a major portion of its own strength by dividing its forces. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have trusted to the instability of Miring and sent the full strength of Preston to break Elbreth's forces (or scare them off) and risk a round attack by alternate forces to secure the victory.
But that assumes that I (as the Prestoner King) trust Suul not to send an invading army by ship to hit my castle as soon as I move my troops out of it. Which I don't. So considering that frame of politics, it makes a little more sense. Writing Suul out of the picture, after all, is a dangerous assumption to make.
Let's look at this unwinnable battle. Str 13 vs Str 7 on the open field, a +6 advantage. Nothing short of a 6-vs-1 roll would prevent Preston losing that battle, and even then the draw would mean they would have to repeat it four more times just to take out a meagre 5 enemy infantry for the loss of their 4 inf and cav. Not worth it.
Originally the battlefield was a flat plain, condemning Preston to this absolute doom, but KaguroDraven very kindly asked about any tactical advantages that could be gained, so because he rolled a 3 I invented two 'weak' advantages: a copse of woodland that would give +1 to any defenders but take away any bonus to cavalry; and a small tussock that would grant the +1 defensive hill bonus but only the cavalry could reach in time to secure it. These held the keys to Preston making a difference even in defeat.
The general chose to attack directly, giving Prince Karl a chance. Karl played a very dirty trick (almost an exploit of the rules, which makes me wonder if they need rewriting) - although splitting a single unit with the split forces tactic and then not engaging the rest of the force incurs a massive Tactics penalty, this does not apply if you send even one unit to engage the rest of the force. Karl sacrificed an infantry unit against unwinnable odds to try and split off the most dangerous unit to the longer campaign; the cavalry. He had even odds trying to pull off the split; +1 from the tactic, +1 from the enemy Tactics bonus (the enemy had Cavalry units, after all), -1 from his own unit Tactics bonus, and he got lucky.
This was still a painfully difficult match. The forest battle was lost before it began; even a 6-vs-1 could not have saved the infantry unit. The hill battle was tough because the enemy automatically reached the tussock first (keeping the friendly cavalry with the infantry denied them the chance to reach the hill in time), granting them the +1 hill bonus and denying the Prestoners the cavalry bonus from combat on favourable ground. Luck sided with them, just about, so they killed the most dangerous unit on the battlefield automatically (having no other units to sacrifice in its place) at the ultimate price of 2 infantry units.
This put the Prestoners in a better, but ultimately still poor position. +1 Hill bonus, Cavalry back up to Str 3, so total Str 6. This still vs Str 10 infantry. They pulled off another gamble (+2 tactic, -1 unit bonus) to try and conserve forces in a victory. Had they gotten luckier (though 'luckier' in this case would be a 6-vs-1) they would have been able to wipe out 2 Elbrethian infantry and retain all their units for the next round of combat (or pull off a tactical retreat for free), this time with even odds of a victory. Alas for Prince Karl, their luck did not hold and they were forced into defeat.
Should the Elbrethian army wish, they can just pursue the enemy and continue the battle before the Prestoners can rejoin their kin at the capital. (And you can just declare a standing order to pursue defeated opponents for future.) Either way...
It is now Autumn 314.
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Topic: You are King! (Spring 315a) (Read 185729 times)