Battle of the Maw (Medieval Fantasy)

[Conscripts]

@Conscripts

Okay... I'm going to raise two points for you to answer before the Gm says anything one way or another.

1: How effective do you truly believe war elephants are going to be in a mountain pass?

2: How do you expect to feed and look after the elephants as the campaign drags on? After all, this isn't just going to be a single battle, but a drawn out engagement that we are on the defensive of.

@Bright_Ops

If you are going to send a bunch of men in there, you'll need plenty of food. The elephants are big creatures, and can carry tons on his back. So there should be no reason they cannot carry provisions into the camp on its back. You can have a castle on it.

And its effectiveness, I believe that in a mountain pass, elephants can sometimes even more effective than horses. If you are in a steep pass, like the battle of Thermopylae, then I think we should not send mounted soldiers at all, since it is very narrow and not effective for cavalry uses. If in the slightly open field, with hills on both sides, you can also use the elephants to your advantage, to block the enemy's advances. It might not be able to commit a charge of its own, but it can stop enemy charges and be a defensive wall. It gives soldiers on top of it high flatform to shoot arrows from it. In the end, I believe that mountain passes aren't cavalries home, but you can still use it to your advantage.

EDIT: Also, if an elephant freaks out during the attack and runs away, there is a slight chance that it will rush towards the front, trampling the enemy. But still, it's all bound to the animal itself, as it does not distinguish allies or foes then.

But still, the choice is up to the GM. I will consider the numbers, since 50 is a bit too many to squeeze into a mountain pass. I might only go around 10-20 of them. But if it does not fit with the GM either, then I'll just switch to plain cavalry.

[babbysama]

@Conscripts I'll be happy to crush the foeman with you

And very good point. Do we know what the terrain of the pass will look like? Are we talking broad or narrow? What's the altitude look like? Do we have to deal with altitude sickness, some cold weather conditions (frosty nights, for instance) that would mean supplying the troops with warm gear? What will our supply lines look like?

[Bright_Ops]

@babbysama

This does rise a rather interesting point...

@TJByrum , what is the Maw terrain wise? What sort of battleground are we expecting to enter?

[Nariata]

My army would be almost completely infantry, with a 30-70 split between very experienced and very dangerous warriors and inexperienced and inept ones; though ones who will fight blindly to serve their goddess.

[Skwint]

I was thinking pikes for a nice spiky wall of death. Still deciding what else I would like to include.

[6slyboy6]

@Nariata I see you are also going to be copying Tyranny.

As a matter of fact, the whole RP seems to be a copy of Tyranny's setting. I would've liked to know if the original was absed on it, but I am afraid I cannot ask the man himself.

@Conscripts Would you be interested in the finest siege machinery mounted on your war elephants?

[Conscripts]

@Nariata I see you are also going to be copying Tyranny.

As a matter of fact, the whole RP seems to be a copy of Tyranny's setting. I would've liked to know if the original was absed on it, but I am afraid I cannot ask the man himself.

@Conscripts Would you be interested in the finest siege machinery mounted on your war elephants?

@6slyboy6

Uh oh, OP alert, OP alert class.

Lol, yeah the concept is very interesting, but that I'll need approval from the GM relating to the elephants first, and then to the 'siege elephants'. I also wonder if you can actually put a catapult or ballista on elephants like that in real life. It's only a Persian sized elephant after all

[6slyboy6]

<Snipped quote by 6slyboy6>

Uh oh, OP alert, OP alert class.

Lol, yeah the concept is very interesting, but that I'll need approval from the GM relating to the elephants first, and then to the 'siege elephants'. I also wonder if you can actually put a catapult or ballista on elephants like that in real life. It's only a Persian sized elephant after all

@Conscripts

Yeah, but we also have orcs riding wolves.

I think a little extra size couldn't possibly hurt. But you're right, the GM needs to approve first.

[Bright_Ops]

@6slyboy6

There is a slight difference between having orcs riding worgs as a kind of mounted unit and loading up a war elephant with a catapult... Or even sending a unit of war elephants at all.

[babbysama]

What's so radical about war elephants compared to orcs riding wolves?

[Skwint]

War elephants can get spooked and squish our own dudes.

[babbysama]

But I mean, they were actually used IRL whereas orcs riding wolves are entirely fantastical. Plus, if we're going along the LOTR orcs line, weren't they carnivores who liked to eat human flesh?

We just have to account for the war elephants and their behavior in drawing up the battle plan. I think they still have their merits.

[Bright_Ops]

They are also not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think of 'prolonged defense'.

Edit: @babbysama That they do. That's part of how I was planning on feeding my troops and their wolves. Turns out that if you don't mind eating the dead rations are easy to come by in war.

Also screws up the moral of the invaders a bit when you eat their friends.

[6slyboy6]

@Bright_Ops I was thinking along the lines of "If we have to flee and save my babies, I might as well put them on mobile platforms". But yea, it was just a wild idea. My actual machines could hardly fit on any elephant.

[Nariata]

@6slyboy6

Are you referring to the game of the same name? If so I have never played it, and I am also slightly sad to hear that it won't be 100% original content if I proceed with it. Though the character I have in mind is a character I have been trying to get working in an RP setting for quite a while now.

[6slyboy6]

@Nariata Oh well, the Tyranny game features a similar setting, where the protagonist is a commander of "The Empire" and they must eliminate a large group of remaining "Allied" troops stuck in a Canyon.

As for your group, the Empire has two main factions, the Blood something something, and the "We are the elite hurr durr" guys who quarrel between each other non stop. The blood guys are basically fanatical conscripts with no equipment, only faith in the emperor, and the elite guys are jsut that: super geared elite guys.

And yet again for the setting, the Emperor issued some kinda order which would bury the whole canyon in rocks in like a month or so if the player failed to kill the Allies (can't remmeber, played so long ago), so technically the enemy would be still guaranteed to lose. And we are kinda playing as them.

This might just be total speculation and coincidence, but the similiarities in both settings are eerely similar. Of course I don't mind, Tyranny is flipping awesome.

[Nariata]

@6slyboy6 Oh cool! That is somewhat close (very close) to what I had in mind for my army actually. I envisioned them having higher quality armor and weapons (at least higher quality in the area they will be coming from) but with only basic training and very little experience in combat. Though through their devotion, and their cultures ways, they will fight harder than any other rabble around.

That does sound similar to the premise of this RP but if you look at when The Rise of Domrius was first posted, it was way back in 2014 while the release date of Tyranny was 2016 :P

[6slyboy6]

@6slyboy6 Oh cool! That is somewhat close (very close) to what I had in mind for my army actually. I envisioned them having higher quality armor and weapons (at least higher quality in the area they will be coming from) but with only basic training and very little experience in combat. Though through their devotion, and their cultures ways, they will fight harder than any other rabble around.

That does sound similar to the premise of this RP but if you look at when The Rise of Domrius was first posted, it was way back in 2014 while the release date of Tyranny was 2016 :P

@Nariata

*gasp*

Maybe the developers of Tyranny were part of this RP! That must be it! There is no other answer

I dig your idea of giving motivated conscripts good gear, it will be interesting to see how that works out in battle.

[Nariata]

@6slyboy6

*puts tin foil hat on and embraces the conspiracy*

Awesome ideas tend to find multiple outlets :)

It probably won't in a head up battle, but with clever tactics and throughout preparation it may just work.

[6slyboy6]

@Nariata We shall see how the battles play it out. If they are anything like I imagine, your troops will have and advantage thanks to the small battleground. But not much space for tactics on such a small piece of Earth.

Which does bring up an interesting question. Being shoulder to shoulder with troops of other nations and races, how much would soldiers feel like they are safe with tehir comrades? Surely cultural differences have emerged just like in our world, where some nations or races inside the allied forces would hate each other's guts? Maybe add something like a relationship system so we could see who is more likely to co-operate efficently with which other nations? Maybe even at a random assigned by the GM? This is just an idea in my head, but I know that in our history, when people from more than one country are put into the same army, they might not feel too happy about serving with someone of a different culture. It could add an extra depth to this RP, that I am not sure how many players would appreciate, seeing how this was posted in the casual section.