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[Kashyyk]

Core Thread

Hail warlord! You have united the tribes, bringing orcs, trolls and goblins under your banner. They cry out for conquest and pillage, and you will give it to them. The puny manlings have built a fortress to hold back your kind, but you will easily crush it before their army arrives. Then you will be able to crush it in turn. Beware! If you take longer than seven days to seize this fortress, the malcontents within the tribes will be able to use it as proof that you are not the great chief you claim to be. Prove them wrong. Destroy this pile of rock and butcher the manlings within!

Spoiler: Forces (click to show/hide)

You have three different types of greenskin under your command. Goblins, Orcs and Trolls.

Goblins are the weakest of the three, with only Strength 1. However, they have keen night-vision, allowing them to maneuver and fight without a light source and they are also your only ranged units.

Orcs are your standard infantry with a Strength of 2. They need torches to do anything meaningful at night, and are not dextrous enough to handle a bow.

Trolls are your heavy-hitting shock troops, with a Strength of 3. However, they aren’t particularly smart, so will need Goblins or Orcs assigned with them if tasked to do anything more complicated than maneuvering or attacking.

Spoiler: Siege Equipment (click to show/hide)

In order to take the fortress, your forces need to get inside. This can be done by battering down a gate, breaching a wall or scaling it. To do this, you need equipment. Each piece of equipment has a cost in strengthhours and wood. This is similar to the concept of manhours, but altered to take into account the differing strength of the soldiers available.

Thus a Siege Tower will take one unit of Goblins 40 hours to build. Two units of goblins (or a unit of Orcs) can build it in 20 hours. A unit of Trolls assisted by a unit of Goblins would take 10 hours. Trolls must be accompanied by a non-troll unit in order to build engines or equipment.

Siege Engines: (Each of these can be moved by your forces to be used against the fortress)
Siege Tower - 16 wood, 40 strengthhours (allows two units to scale the Walls without suffering archery fire)
Ram - 4 wood, 16 strengthhours (allows destruction of a Gate)
Trebuchet - 12 wood, 36 strengthhours (can destroy the castle's Walls and Towers from a Staging Area)
Ladders - 2 wood, 8 strengthhours (allows one unit to scale the Walls, not impeded by moats)
Mantlets - 4 wood, 16 strengthhours (Protects one unit from archery fire)

Siege Equipment: (Must be built in place, and cannot be moved afterwards)
Fascine - 10 wood, 16 strengthhours (fills the moat before a wall section, allowing Siege Towers, Rams and Mantlets to reach the walls)
Stakes - 4 wood, 10 strengthhours (repels a unit of knights sallying at this Rampart)

A unit at the Central Camp may spend an hour to gather wood equal to its Strength. Trolls must be accompanied by another unit.

Spoiler: Map and Maneuvering (click to show/hide)

Your initial forces (and any gathered during play) begin at the Main Camp. It takes four hours to move to between the Main Camp and the West/East Staging areas. It takes six hours to move between the West, East and South Staging areas. To get to the South staging area from the Main Camp, you must first pass through one of the other staging areas. It takes two hours to travel from a Staging Area to an associated Rampart. It takes 45 minutes to move between Ramparts. It takes 15 minutes to reach the walls from a Rampart.

Whilst moving, a unit can transport items with it:
Up to its strength in Wood or
1 unit of Ladders or
1 unit of Mantlets or
1 Ram (2 strength required) or
1 Siege Tower (3 strength required) or
1 Trebuchet (3 strength required)

Spoiler: Gathering Forces (click to show/hide)

Naturally, more soldiers are needed to take the fortress. Any unit at the Central Camp can be sent out to collect one of the roving bands of greenskins in the valley. After six hours, they will return with a new, randomly selected unit.
1d12: 1-6 Goblins, 7-10 Orcs, 11-12 Trolls.

Spoiler: Blood Magic (click to show/hide)

A little known skill outside of the Greenskins, our units can spend an hour to perform a shaman ritual. Assuming they attack immediately after the ritual is complete, the unit will gain your choice of the following boons:
Stone skin – Cost one more point of damage to destroy
Blood lust – Deal one more point of damage to defenders
Goblin Frenzy – Deal triple damage but be destroyed without requiring damage (Only goblins may choose this)
Spider blessing – Scale the walls without needing ladders or siege towers

Spoiler: The Defenders (click to show/hide)

We know that the defenders have several types of units at their disposal. Knights, their strongest, can sally out of a gatehouse and assault a nearby rampart. As they are mounted, our forces will not be able to react in time, so preparations must be made. Further, they have archers, some of whom can strike our forces even at the Ramparts.

Finally, there is a detachment of “Rangers” assigned to this Fortress. Whilst negligible in terms of combat, they are known to lay traps and destroy siege engines, despite even the heaviest of patrols and guards.

Spoiler: Starting Forces (click to show/hide)

Start with 18 Goblins, 15 Orcs and 6 Trolls
Goblins: 1 Strength, have ranged weapons, night vision
Orcs: 2 Strength
Trolls: 3 Strength, Stupid

Spoiler: Decision Points (click to show/hide)

Decision Points are an event that will cause time to "pause". Default decision points are the completion of a set of orders, the declaration of an assault from a Rampart and six hours passing. Adding custom decision points to a plan is perfectly acceptable.

[Ghazkull]

Siegemaster Krugg surveyed the army...the horde that had assembled here. As was common of greenskins it was distinctly lacking in any form of cohesion or order. He didn't intend to change much of it, he left it to other Warlords to lead the actual assault, he was here to provide the necessary logistical and artillery support.

Laying claim to 5 of the Goblin Groups and 5 of the Trolls, he immediately ordered them to start collecting wood for siege engines

((not sure if i can do that but i am simply going to form a Logistical and Siege Corps out of the above to ensure some arty support and enough wood for engines for potential assaults))

[Talion]

Our first priority is recruiting more forces. With eight ramparts to cover, even a relatively small group of 2 goblins and 2 orcs per rampart would be 16 goblins and 16 orcs. I'm not sure if trolls contribute anything to recruitment as the results don't seem to be affected by the strength of the unit sent recruiting. Consequently it is better to recruit with goblins and gather with orcs and trolls.

Plan:You Must Gather The Horde Before Venturing Forth
18 Goblins + 9 Orcs: Gather Forces (27 units) [6 hours]
6 Orcs + 6 Trolls: Gather Wood (30 strength) [30w per hour]

[crazyabe]

Joining this side.

[piratejoe]

Joinin dis side an loiken talionz plan da best.

[Kashyyk]

The other team has asked some excellent questions, so that likely means I've missed things here as well. Feel free to ask questions!

Once they have decided on a plan I will go ahead with Talion 's proposal unless there's a change of heart.

Edit: I have added a section on Decision Points to the OP.

[Talion]

Is there a limit on the number of stakes we can lay?
I'd like to know how easy/possible it is for the enemy to clear Fascine.
How do Mantlets and Siege Towers work? For example for a force of 1 troll, 1 orc and 4 goblins with 1 siege tower and 4 mantlets, how much archery fire do we need to worry about during an attack?

[Kashyyk]

Is there a limit on the number of stakes we can lay?

There is no limit, however the defenders only have so many knights. If you can work out how many there are, you know what your maximum needed number is.

I'd like to know how easy/possible it is for the enemy to clear Fascine.

Once complete, it is not possible for the defenders to clear the fascine.

How do Mantlets and Siege Towers work? For example for a force of 1 troll, 1 orc and 4 goblins with 1 siege tower and 4 mantlets, how much archery fire do we need to worry about during an attack?

All archers on the walls get one attack against the attacking units as they advance to the walls. At this point, any units using mantlets will be invulnerable to archery fire at this stage.

When your forces reach the walls, they will start to climb. Any archers not engaged in melee will get one attack per round, and it takes a full round to scale the walls. If the scaling units are using a siege tower, they are invulnerable to archery fire at this stage. If there is not enough ladders/towers for all units to climb at once, the spillover will wait their turn at the bottom of the walls. They may also be targeted by archery fire, unless using mantlets.

Thus in your example, there are a few different ways it can go down.
If the troll pushes the Siege Tower alone, whilst the orcs and three units of goblins use mantlets, then the trolls and one unit of goblins will be vulnerable during the approach. Once they arrive, Two units will be ascending in the siege tower, whislt the remaining four are protected by mantlets.

Alternatively, you could have the Orcs and Trolls each using a mantlet (requiring one strength each) and working together to move the Siege Tower (requiring three strength total) whilst two units of goblins advance behind mantlets and two units are exposed.

Finally, when awaiting their turn to climb, Goblins may suppress defending archers using their own range weapons, at a ratio of two goblins per one archer. Suppressed archers can not perform ranged attacks. Archers in towers cannot be suppressed.

[TopHat]

Questions: - Do we need all of the wood in place before starting to build siege equipment, or can we start with less provided enough will have arrived by the end of the build time?
- Who holds the ramparts at the start? I assume the defenders, but they could have been built by us facing inwards.
- Are sallies by the defenders (excluding the rangers, I presume) limited only to the ramparts or is it likely/possible for them to reach the staging areas?

On strategy, I'll agree with Talion's proposal to gather forces and material first. As for what to build afterwards, I'm leaning towards at least a few trebuchets - the sooner they're built, the more damage bombardment can deal and the sooner we can create weakspots to be exploited. That and fascines seem the most important right now.

EDIT - Also, it looks like we can save time travelling between staging areas by going via ramparts (e.g. S.A. West -> Western Rampart (2hr) -> South-west rampart (45 min) -> S.A. South (2 hr, presumably, though technically rampart to staging area movement isn't mentioned) for a total of 4 hours 45 mins, less than the 6 hours of moving directly between the two). Would I be correct in assuming this is a bug?

[Talion]

EDIT - Also, it looks like we can save time travelling between staging areas by going via ramparts (e.g. S.A. West -> Western Rampart (2hr) -> South-west rampart (45 min) -> S.A. South (2 hr, presumably, though technically rampart to staging area movement isn't mentioned) for a total of 4 hours 45 mins, less than the 6 hours of moving directly between the two). Would I be correct in assuming this is a bug?

Traveling via ramparts is dangerous as it exposes the travelers to archery fire and sallies. If the knights are strength 3 and they have 10 of them to spare, they are threatening a 30 strength attack.

[Kashyyk]

Questions: - Do we need all of the wood in place before starting to build siege equipment, or can we start with less provided enough will have arrived by the end of the build time? To preserve my sanity, yes, you will need all the wood before construction can begin

- Who holds the ramparts at the start? I assume the defenders, but they could have been built by us facing inwards. The Ramparts are the final location the attackers have before reaching the walls.  Except for sallies and the rangers, the defenders will never leave the fortress.

- Are sallies by the defenders (excluding the rangers, I presume) limited only to the ramparts or is it likely/possible for them to reach the staging areas? Sallies are limited to the Ramparts. The rangers can strike anywhere but the Main Camp.

EDIT - Also, it looks like we can save time travelling between staging areas by going via ramparts (e.g. S.A. West -> Western Rampart (2hr) -> South-west rampart (45 min) -> S.A. South (2 hr, presumably, though technically rampart to staging area movement isn't mentioned) for a total of 4 hours 45 mins, less than the 6 hours of moving directly between the two). Would I be correct in assuming this is a bug? Talion has it right, you have to choose between safety or speed

[Talion]

Here is an alternate plan: Gather Horde and Prep Ground
18 Goblins + 9 Orcs: Gather Forces (27 units) [6 hours]
6 Orcs + 6 Trolls: Gather Wood (30 strength) [2 hours], Move to W.Staging Area (Carrying 30w) [4 hours]

Every 6 hours is a breakpoint. The ultimate destination for the orcs and trolls is the south staging area to produce trebuchets/stockpile wood. We will ultimately want the capability to bring trebuchets to all the staging areas and the south one is the most difficult to reach so we benefit the most from getting construction going there quickly. The east and west staging areas could potentially live with receiving regular trebuchet shipments from the central camp. The justification for waiting would be that a 36 strength force can produce 1 trebuchet every 1 hour (although a wood stockpile is required). The advantage of going earlier is getting a trebuchet up in the south ~3 hours earlier (Hour 14 vs Hour 17).

We want 80 wood (30 west, 20 east, 30 south) stockpiled for building fascine. We could use a force to essentially turn up at a rampart to build fascine in 1 hour and then retreat back to the relevant staging area to restock wood. This force still has a problem with knight sallying though so we want to actually build the fascine later after we have a better understanding of how many knights are likely to sally. My guess is we'll want to build stakes first with expendable scouting forces.

There is a question of how much of the first day we can afford to dedicate to troop recruitment expansion. We'd be looking at ~40 for the next 6 hours, ~70 for the 6 hours after and ~100 by the end of the first day if we go that route. Assuming we peel off orc and troll teams for trebuchets and wood gathering for each of the staging areas.

[TopHat]

For now wouldn't it be better to build the trebuchets at the main camp first and then transport them? It takes the same time but frees up carry space to take more wood for local construction. Alternatively, move the soldiers first and then gather wood on site. Also, if we do send off forces now, we'd probably be better off throwing three more units of orcs in from recruiting to make it up to the magic 36 strength. So maybe something like:

Spoiler: A (click to show/hide)

Gather Horde and Prep Ground 2
18 Goblins + 6 Orcs: Gather forces (24 units) [6 Hours]
9 Orcs + 6 Trolls: Gather Wood (36 strength) [2 Hours], Construct 2x Trebuchet [2 Hours, -24 wood], Move to staging area West (carrying 2x Trebuchet, 30 wood) [4 Hours]
Decision point after 6 Hours. (Leaving 18 wood at Central)

Spoiler: B (click to show/hide)

Or just:
Gather Horde and Move
18 Goblins + 6 orcs: Gather Forces (24 units) [6 Hours]
9 Orcs + 6 Trolls: Move to Staging Area West [4 Hours], Move to Staging Area South [6 Hours]
Decision Point after 6 Hours.

Finally, we may wish to consider leaving this first lot of forces at West or East and moving reinforcements straight through to South afterwards. Means we can start bombardment ~ 6 hours earlier, but on the other hand South won't be pressured for some time.

[Talion]

The issue is the rangers. They presumably can't cover all three camps at the same time, but if we're transporting trebuchets south they don't just risk being destroyed when they get there but also risk being destroyed at the camp they pass through.

The way recruitment works, every reduction in the number of recruiters has a compounding effect. Losing 3 recruiters loses 3 recruits in the first 6 hours, ~6 recruits in the second 6 hours and ~12 recruits in the third 6 hours. Trolls don't help with recruiting (as they would need another unit guiding them, but presumably they don't recruit 2 units) and keeping the Trolls productive means taking out an equal number of recruiters to act as guides so that impacts the figures a bit.

[TopHat]

The rangers cut both ways. On the one hand there's the risk of equipment being destroyed in transit but on the other hand there's the risk that they'll disrupt the construction or spot it and then be ready to destroy them as soon as they're finished. Of course it could also be argued that we shouldn't send forces to only one camp, which would support your first plan of just leaving everything in Central until we're done recruiting.

If we are moving forces out now, I would say there's an argument to increase the strength of that force at the expense of potential long-term gains from recruiting. For one, only having trolls and handlers (blocks of 5 strength) is very inefficient for constructing everything except siege towers and stakes, especially as most items of interest cost 16 or 36 strength-hours. I suggested 6 additional strength as it's the difference between building trebuchets in one hour or two, which I think could prove important in getting off as many shots as possible before the machines are sabotaged or we run out of time.