Battles Turn cont. - SeriousConcentrate, Draignean, Darvi
SeriousConcentrateBefore the battle, Pasha set up multiple fire traps, then collared a few runners. "Tell the men to lure them to our current position. Feign a retreat."
[Fire Traps:4+1=5] Figuring they have enough supplies with them, Dolgorouki orders the creation of fire traps before the camp, intending to feign a retreat and spring the trap when the Mountain Men horde pursue. His men get to work quickly despite the enemy on the horizon, hiding the most obvious signs of the traps well - though Dolgorouki doubts the savage horde would care even if they saw them.
***
Pasha Dolgorouki Positioning: [4-2+1=3] Split Army!
Mountain Men Positioning: [2-2=1] Totally Scattered and Uncoordinated! (-3 to Battle Rolls, cannot use or counter tactics)
Handling the formations and positioning of four thousand men in thick forest is no easy task to an experienced commander, to say nothing for inexperienced ones. Despite Dolgorouki's best efforts, his army ends up as two separate groups, standing - in good formation, though - on two hills, with a break of a good five hundred meters between them. A good commander could exploit this, striking at one half of the army without the other being able to interfere.
The Mountain Man leader, if they even have one, is not a good commander. The savage horde charges out in an undisciplined mess, fragmenting and breaking off into a hundred different groups and units, all separated from eachother and easy prey to any organized formation.
[5] Seeing no imminent threat from the savages, Dolgorouki leads his forces back together and prepares for his next move. [Feign Retreat:5-1+1=5] He blows the signal horn for retreat and his men spring to action, knowing the plan and what they need to do. The disorganized Mountain Men, seeing nothing but their enemy on the run, take the bait and start their pursuit. Dolgorouki's men move just faster than them - and then his archers light the traps.
[Fire Trap Attack:1 lethal, 1 morale] (nice...) Flaming arrows arc across the air, but hitting anything in the forest is tricky, and many of their arrows end up slamming into trees instead. The few that do set the traps burning have little effect, as the fragmented Mountain Men assault has no unified front to strike at. Men fall into the flaming ditches and pits and die across the line, but the horde barely notices. Dolgorouki estimates a hundred casualties, at the most. The fires begin to spread through the forest at a rapid pace.
While the Mountain Men might not have been fazed by the traps, they are surprised when the 'fleeing' border lord army suddenly turns on its heels at the sound of the horn and begins to race down the hill towards their broken battleline!
First Clash! 1d4-1+1+1vs1d2-3-1 = [2]vs[0] Dolgorouki wins, for 2 extra attacks!
Arrows are let loose, spears and axes meet flesh and armor, shields are shattered and blood spilt. Dolgorouki's famous Skirmishers, skilled at both melee and with bow and arrow, lead the barbarians across the burning forest, exhausting them with arrows before cutting through in melee, with the support of simple peasants, armed with crude spears, pitchtorks and protected only by cloth and skin.
Dolgorouki First Attack: 7 lethal damage! 11 morale damage! Mountain Men go down all around the battlefield in dozens, vulnerable groups encircled from all sides and hacked into extinction. Just in the first ten minutes, almost seven hundred of them die.
Dolgorouki Second Attack: 7 lethal damage! 10 morale damage! It only gets worse from there, as they push deeper against the Mountain Men attack, using their superior numbers well to their advantage. The ground becomes strewn with the corpses of their barbarian opponents, their blood turning the soft soil an even deeper shade of red.
Dolgorouki Third Attack: 5 lethal damage! 15 morale damage! In the end, their lines have become incredibly sparse. It will not be long now.
But the Mountain Men are rightfully known for their ferocity and combat prowess. They have not stood still while being hacked into pieces. Hefting axes, spears and whatever crude weapons they have gotten their hands upon, the barbarian warriors resist every step of the way. Hundreds of good borderlands men are cut down along the course of the battle, on the same soil as their ancestors have for so many years.
Mountain Men Attack: 4 lethal damage! 9 morale damage! Overall, four hundred men are killed by their ferocious defense - a small price to pay, surely?
A Pause In CombatBattlelines move and shift, and the leaders of both sides get a moment of peace to survey the situation. [1] The Mountain Men leader - or whoever's got their signal horns - sounds the attack horn again, calling his remaining hundred men to continue fighting.
Pasha has a chance to call for another tactic, but it doesn't look like there will be any need for one. The Mountain Men are close to breaking, and will not be able to inflict any real damage on his forces
Battle StatsPasha Dolgorouki's Forces
2800 Ashfire Skirmishers (
1-2p lethal, 1-5p morale)
800 Peasant Levies (
1-2p lethal, 1-4p morale)
MORALE: 151/160
Mountain Men Forces
100 Mountain Men Warriors (
1-2p lethal, 1-5p morale)
MORALE: 44/80
***
DraigneanNo additional tactical movement, the anvil simply can't risk losing a full unit to disrupt the enemy line. The anvil will hold fast, just keep the line until the Hammer can strike these barbarians down.
For the West!
The Margrave orders his men to hold fast. If they break, the hammer will have nothing to break the barbarians against.
Draignean's Positioning: [2] Scattered Army! (-1 to Battle Roll, -2 Tactics penalty)
Maram Gouleious' Positioning: [4] Good Formation! (No bonuses or penalties)
It does not start of well. Organizing Draignean's manouever is no easy feat, and his 'retreating' forces fail to form into a working battleline, instead scattered over the snowy landscape, difficult to give orders to or in any way co-ordinate. The Mountain Men horde, in contrast, presents a solid, unified front. The Margrave is forced to put his trust into their bravery and their numbers.
First Clash! 1d2-1vs1d2 = [1]vs[1] Draw! Neither side gains extra attacks!
The two armies meet, ill-equipped and trained peasants holding the line against a sea of fearsome barbarians while the Margrave leads his cavalry into the Mountain Men flank.
Maram Gouleious Attack: 3 lethal damage! 6 morale damage!
There's no denying the strenght of the Mountain Men attack, hacking away at the peasant line. At the same time, the bravery of the defenders, simple peasants and commoners aremd with whatever was available, cannot be downplayed. The anvil holds, and the hammer creeps ever closer in the horizon.
Margrave Draignean's Attack: 4 lethal damage! 6 morale damage! The anvil's bite is harder than the Mountain Men expected. Four hundred of them are killed while trying to attack the line, much more than they themselves fell. Especially the Knights inflict severe casualties on their horde, striking at their flanks, only to disengage and attack again somewhere else.
A Pause In CombatThe Mountain Men commander, a great warrior called Gouileous, sees no reason to disengage despite their losses. Draignean sees, however - the hammer is here.
Second Clash! 1d6+2-1vs1d2-1 = [4]vs[1] Draignean wins, for three extra attacks!
The hammer appears on the hill overlooking the snowy landscape, unnoticed by the Mountain Men savages. Then, at the sound of the horn, they unleash a thundering warcry in unison and charge. The Mountain Men barely have time to turn to meet their new foe before it is upon them - and so is the 'anvil' force.
Margrave Draignean's First Attack: 17 lethal damage! 21 morale damage!
Maram Gouileous' Attack: 3 lethal damage! 3 morale damage!
In the span of a few minutes, the entire Mountain Men army is annihillated, a thousand and six hundred men simply run through by the finest knights of the borderlands and its brave peasantry, cut down before they can even register what is happening. Despite this, the fierce barbarian warriors cut down three hundred of Draignean's men as they meet their attack.
[5] They are in luck, however - the barbarian commander has been taken alive. Maram Gouileous, a towering warrior in armor and gear crafted by the master smiths of Varangamn, is brought naked and bleeding to the Margrave. He is set down on the blood-stained snow before his opponent, while the screams of his dying men ring throughout the land as the Margrave's men get to bloody work of finishing off the wounded.
The Margrave is free to do what he wishes with the barbarian commander.
Battle StatsMargrave Draignean's Forces
2500 Peasant Levies (
1-2p lethal, 1-4p morale)
2900 Mailed Knights (
1-6p lethal, 1-10p morale)
MORALE: 134/140
***
DarviLord Darvi gives the order to attack, and on the other side of the fields, his opponent does the same.
First Clash! 1d3+1vs1d4+1 = [3]vs[5] The Mountain Men win, for two extra attacks!
It doesn't start well for Darvi. He soon realizes the Mountain Men have the number advantage, and curses himself for not sending scouts beforehand. His men form a shoddy defensive line, but their opponents smash straight through it.
Darvi's Attack: 8 lethal damage! 8 morale damage! The barbarians meet the steel wall head-on - and their first wave breaks and falters, several hundred men dead in the first minutes of the battle. But then they break through, forcing their way past the pikes of the Northerners. They fall back to their shortswords, and the formation shatters.
Mountain Men First Attack: 5 lethal damage! 11 morale damage! Alone in a melee, the pikemen are no match to the barbarians. Their main weapon is the pike, and when it is bypassed, their clumsy swordfighting skills simply do not suffice.
Mountain Men Second Attack: 5 lethal damage! 5 morale damage!
Lord Darvi faces off against a venerable mountain of a man, a heavy-set barbarian with a crude halberd he's using with expert skill. As he watches, the man cuts down three men with one blow - before turning his attentions to their commander. Darvi deflects the first blow and sends the beast reeling with a well-placed kick, but before he can finish him off, another one appears, brandishing two blades red with blood. More and more arrive by the second, while Darvi's own troops become more and more sparse.
Mountain Men Third Attack: 5 lethal damage! 12 morale damage!
A Pause In CombatDriving off this group momentarily, Darvi pauses to examine the situation. His men are dying all over the battlefield while the Mountain Men still press on. A counter-attack, or some creative tactic is needed - unless he believes the situation dire enough that a retreat is necessary.
Battle StatsLord Darvi's Forces
1500 Northerner Pikemen (
1-4p lethal, 1-4p morale)
MORALE: 112/140
Mountain Men Forces
1000 Tribesmen (
1p lethal, 1-3p morale)
2200 Mountain Men Warriors (
1-2p lethal, 1-5p morale)
MORALE: 72/80
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In case you didn't notice, Draignean, units not at full strenght get their damage reduced by however many men are missing (100, ie 10%, gives a 10% reduction).
Yes, I am aware it is a wall of text. Just focus on your own bit, and it'll get easier. You did pretty well in this, except for, err, Darvi.
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Topic: RTD Testing Thread: 5 Positions open. Science doesn't die. (Read 60397 times)