Combat for 922The mountains loom ominously in the distance, barely visible through the rising heat of the sands. They will soon know our fury, once we've taken the lands surrounding their stoney steeps and force them from our ancient birthright.
Other than mean looks, nothing interesting happens.
No battles occur in the mountains.With the great open flatlands available in the plains, our men develop a new sport that takes advantage of the plentiful flat area. It involves marching a ram (kicking a ball) into the enemy's castle (the other teams net) to lay claim to their lands (gain a point). To reflect the true nature of the war we've been fighting, scoring points is rare and well-celebrated and men regularly pretend to be wounded in combat. We've named the new sport "Foot-Ball" because our men are uncreative and can't come up with a unique name.
Other than a couple head-butts, no actual combat happens.
No battles occur in the plains.Arstotzkan cowards have withdrawn their forces from the desert. Much like us, they seem unwilling to commit forces to a battle unless victory is guaranteed - or at least a fair chance. Our homelands are safe for the year.
No battles occur in the desert.Almost as if the war had been waiting for an excuse to intensify, the jungle is painted red with blood this year.
Our skirmishers are stymied as they attempt to lull guards into zen-like states and gain knowledge of where their caltrops are placed. We fail to gain entry into the guards mind though, and it seems to trigger some sort of high-pitch alarm that alerts the camp, allowing them to mobilize quickly. Ambushes turn into full-fledged melees which we then lose with our smaller skirmishing force. The battles are still costly to the enemy, but we don't come out ahead. Our men are decked out with padded armor and small bucklers - even our calvary. Without the advantage of surprise or adequate protection, their longbowmen slaughter our men easily. Officers aren't immune either; their scalemail is decent at turning a blow from an axe or a sword, but an ash arrow cast from a four foot long bow punches right through it. The jungle provides some cover and favor our compound bows over their longbows, but we simply don't have any way of successfully ambushing them.
Arstotzkan ambushes don't go much better. The hot jungle reminds our men of home, but with their Tower of Frost keeping the territory temperate we don't have that advantage any more. Thankfully, it's easy to see their men coming during ambushes. Their fog has grown too dense to blow away, but by its very nature informs us of an attack. Furthermore, the clanking of their armor tips us off if they try to bring heavy troops in to fight. Our arrows can't penetrate except at point-blank, but with mass volleys coming down on their heads it's not hard for a few to find their way into gaps and eyeslits. Their heavy calvary is a problem, though. Their charges are devastating when they hit, smashing into our lightly-armored (or not-at-all armored) men with their crystal lances. It was a difficult call, but the theatre commander elects not to use Tubikh Rrahim just yet, instead saving it as a surprise for the full combat. Arstotzka has trouble doing much damage with the thick mud and dense foliage hampering their heavy shire horses, but they come out slightly ahead, even managing to capture one of our apprentices in the middle of the night and dragging him away screaming. As they disappear into the jungle, through the dark and the rain, a single, massive, powerful bolt of lightning comes down with a glow that turns the world to day for a brief second. Our senior wizards posthumously name the brave, noble apprentice an honorary Master Wizard for his sacrifice. You will not be forgotten,
Brave Maealij Albarq.
Moskurg gains a Martyr.The battles during the day begin to grow uglier. Rain is non-stop, and lightning touches down every few seconds striking trees and steel-clad soldiers alike. Likewise, fireballs stream through the foliage indiscriminately. Fires claw at tree trunks only to be put out within seconds by the downpour. Where the fireballs do hit our men scream and die horrible, agonizing deaths. Arstotzkan soldiers do not scream when lightning strikes, instantaneously cooked inside their welded-shut armor coffins. Their fellow soldiers get incredibly upset by this, screaming in their filthy gutter language about 'realism' and 'faraday cages', as though their feeble science could protect them from the wrath of Allah.
Arstotzkans start off with a sudden, powerful charge from their heavy calvary. They can't maintain formation in the dense undergrowth, but there's enough of them it doesn't matter. Gleaming lances of magic crystal are clutched in the hands of each horseman, and just before they slam into our men they all vanish into a puff of smoke. It's a shock to the horsemen as their weapons disappear from their grasp, leaving them unarmed in the midst of our spearmen. It's not even close - only one in ten make it back to their lines. A cheer goes up from our men as the Arstotzkans are forced to withdraw what's left of their decimated calvary. That battle went in our favor, but now they know about our anti-magic capabilities. The casters will likely be targeted in future combats by their Anti-Mage elite troops.
With Arstotzkan heavy calvary taken care of, arrows begin to pelt both sides, making up the majority of the combat done by non-magical troops. Their arrows skewer our unarmored troops, and our arrows tend to clatter harmlessly off their rusted steel plate. Our mages cast Lucky Strike non-stop as it's the only way we can be sure an arrow will bring down an enemy soldier. We're barely able to keep the combat even this way, though once the foot soldiers meet it's no contest. Their armored axemen hack through padded armor easily, but it takes two or three men to bring down a single Arstotzkan. Their commanders are met with the same fate as their horsemen - the gleaming crystal axes, once the mark of their leadership, are returned to non-existence once in range of our battle lines. They become easy prey, and without leadership their men eventually turn and flee back north. We take many prisoners and ship them south to work in our concentration camps. Sadly, Tubikh Rrahim is immobile and can't be used on our offensive, so we have difficulty pressing our luck. Our Moskurg troops, while more plentiful, are inferior to Arstotzkan armored troopers. Their fireballs blast through our men easily, and giant walls of fire section off entire areas of combat. Though they're weakened from the disastrous assault they'd just launched the Arstotzkans are fairly even with our men. Without lightning we can safely use in danger-close situations, all seems lost...until our calvary successfully flanks the enemy. Lightly armored and armed with shitty lances, they turn the battle just
barely in our favor, and though we're forced to eventually pull back Arstotzka loses more men than we do.
Myark and al-Mutriqa meet once again on the battlefield.
Through circumstance - or perhaps the divine will of Allah - they do not fight face to face. As soon as they approach one another commands or surges or troops separate them both, and they can do no more than spit curses. Perhaps this is for the best. If al-Mutriqa killed him here, he would be without purpose and we'd lose his skill in combat.
We don't gain ground, but we did very well. Both sides lost a lot of men - both nations have almost their entire army centered in this territory. Another battle like that and we push them out of the jungle.
Our theatre commander complains of the stark difference in equipment quality between our troops and Arstotzka's. Their armor is still a problem and we rely heavily on our numbers and Lucky strike to even make a scratch. Our own men have next to no protection from arrows - though Cyclone Shield is handy for protecting a mage between volleys, it can't protect anyone else. Our own commanders are vulnerable, and the casters of Tubikh Rrahim are especially so. If Tubikh Rrahim were more mobile we'd also gain the element of surprise back during skirmishes - the lead horsemen could charge through their caltrops and we could get into their camps without fussing about with mind-reading. He also expresses frustration that the Hammer can't be used in danger-close situations, and that the Spear is next to useless - save for
Brave Maealij Albarq, may Allah rest his soul. Finally, if you could conjure up some magic to keep their fire from burning our men to death, that would be wonderful - he understands if you have more important things to do than keep poor Moskurgs from dying in droves, though.
Neither side gains ground in the jungle.Both sides seem evenly matched in the western sea. Arstotzkan ships are large, sturdy, and slow. Our ships are fast, light, and fragile. Our wind magic helps us move quickly here, scurrying around and flanking the enemy when we can. Sadly, our teletalk wands are short-range and can't be used here effectively, and since storms cause the sea to roil regardless of where we make it rain we are forced to fight without. The enemy is too slow to catch us, though they do spout fireballs out of the fog they cloud their ships with. Without a definite advantage for either side, neither gains victory. Battles tend to be both sides standing a distance away, pelting one another with arrows and fireballs before retreating back to port. Once again, neither side gains ground here.
The theatre commander claims better coordination would help turn the tide here. Longer-range teletalk wands, for example, would allow split-second decisions to be disseminated throughout the entire fleet to coordinate ramming attacks and sudden flanks. Alternatively, an offensive weapon that we could use on the seas would give us something to match their fireballs and let us gain a decisive edge on those dirty Arstotzkans.
Neither side makes coastal gains in the Western Sea.It is 923, the Design Phase.Northern Taiga: 4/4 Arstotzka
Central Mountains: 4/4 Arstotzka
Western Jungle: 1/4 Arstotzka, 3/4 Moskurg
Eastern Plains: 4/4 Moskurg
Southern Desert: 4/4 Moskurg
Northern Sea: Arstotzkan
Western Sea: Disputed
Eastern Sea: Moskurger
Southern Sea: Moskurger
Mundane Equipment
Sabre: Officer weapon. A single-edged blade that favours cavalry combat over infantry combat. Requires training to wield, one-handed. Expensive.
Spear: General infantry weapon. Essentially a dagger on a long stick. Very cheap, requires minimal training to use. Can be used double-handed, or single handed with a light shield. Cheap.
Buckler: General infantry equipment. A small iron shield, held in one hand. Only protects a small area, but can be wielded alongside a shield. Moderate cost, requires training to wield properly.
Padded Armour: General infantry armour. Very cheap, just layers of cloth, but doesn't protect against much. Well ventilated in hot conditions, though. Cheap.
Scale Mail: Officer armour. Scales of steel on a leather backing. Expensive, but lighter than chain mail. Expensive.
Recurve Bow: General infantry weapon. A light bow composed of laminated wood and horn, curved backwards to provide more force. Inexpensive enough to equip many troops with, with very reasonable medium range and power. Can be wielded by horse archers.
Arabian Horse: A light riding horse, from short-lived Iberian settlers in the past. Very fast and maneuverable, but not too strong. Expensive.
Horse Breeding Program: Mass amounts of horses available. Tend to do poorly in the desert, and aren't quite as high quality as the Arabian Horses. Cheap.
Lances: Essentially a heavily upgraded spear. Has a tendency to splinter after the first use. Cheap.
Sailing Ship: Wind-propelled wooden ship. Fast, requires minimal crew, cannot carry many passengers, but does carry at least one wizard - so long as they don't make puns. Very Expensive.
Magical Equipment
Wand of Heroism: Makes a squad fight beyond human levels. A National Effort.
Teletalk: Short-ranged psychic communication between mystics. Enough beacons can be produced to outfit an army. Expensive.
Detect Ambush: Reveals non-magical ambushes prepared by enemy troops or physical traps.
Lucky Strike: Magical guidance makes a squad shoot or strike true far more often than usual. Expensive.
Detect Thoughts: Read the mind of an enemy commander to determine their tactics ahead of time. Expensive.
Zen Inception: By putting enemy soldiers in a zen-like state, we can use their minds as a relay system to read minds further away. The spell is easy to disrupt, but simple to use.
Gust of Wind: Evokes physical force to create a heavy gust of wind, sufficient to disperse fog and most minor concealment, as well as disperse irritating swarms. Expensive.
Cyclone Shield: Protects the beneficent from most arrows and some blows with a sheath of wind. Expensive.
Storm Strike: Summons heavy rain and winds over the course of a day. Expensive.
Clear Weather: Negates inclement weather within the given area. Nests within Storm Strike for protection.
Hammer of Allah: Induce lightning from summoned storms. Strikes indiscriminately, so can't be used in "danger close" situations.
Spear of Allah: Call down an individual bolt of lightning to target enemy commanders. Difficult to control, has a tendency to hit the caster as often as not. Our mages refuse to use it.
Tubikh Rrahim: Area-of-affect spell centered around the caster. Prevents all magic from being cast within a short range. Cheap.
Dispell Enchantments: Dispells enchantments on items, including standard crystal weapons. Expensive.
Author
Topic: Wands Race - [Moskurg] {COMPLETED} (Read 187715 times)