| Back to actions | Edit |
| Action Id: 360 | Crisis: | Participants: Cristoph, Aislin, Niamh(RIP), Sigurd, Jael, Demura, Tikva and Isidora | |
| Status: Resolved | Public: True | GM: None | |
|
|
|||
Action by Cristoph
Cristoph is going to continue actions against Shav raiding parties, leading his and any other assisting troops in person to try to wipe out as many small parties, scouting and foraging groups, as possible. Obviously he is not going to be able to make a huge impression in a force eighty thousand strong but he wants those troops to reach Arx as hungry, blind and disorganised as possible.
As such he is going to repeat the same thing he did before, form a mobile column of Laurent and (hopefully!) Lyonesse troops, heavy on cavalry and with an agile supply chain. They are not going to go berserk or try to engage the main bodies of the enemy army, they will shadow them and pick off smaller groups that detach to try to forage.
The plan is to be aggressive with this and entirely ruthless, ambushes, letting the enemy start to settle into forage/raid/loot then sweeping down and annihilate them with knights as they are disorganised, attacking and burning camps at night. No effort is going to be made to defend anything unless that is tactically helpful, the priority is maximum efficiency attritional skirmish warfare.
Also as a note he is not going to be trying to really fight himself or be a hero, he is going to be there, armoured and mounted on horseback, but concentrating on effectively commanding his troops and with at least a dozen Crimson Blades guards for if things go wrong or a charge of the reserve is required.
Cristoph is partially carrying out event 347 for public relations reasons and because huge hunts are awesome, but this will also be an exercise in denuding the local forests around Arx of game ahead of the siege and will be carried out on a massive scale. He will be spending an additional 20,000 silver on top of the event cost to hire a literal army of beaters along with sending all of his hired Crimson Blades out with crossbows and recruiting as many local peasants with bows as possible. The goal? To shoot as many edible animals as they can, both to help stock Arx (and the peasant hunters) larders and to deny said food to the enemy when they arrive.
Rather than withdrawing his cavalry forces within Arx, Cristoph is going to keep them active in the Grey Forest, behind Abandoned armies that move to invest the capital under siege. Communications with Arx will have to be by sea and suitable (too small to be on the main map) ports identified. A command and supply center will (Grayson willing) be established in a suitable baronial or comtal castle and Cristoph will spend up to 100,000 silver ensuring adequate stockpiles of provisions, weapons, but most importantly food and appropriate clothing to continue the fight over the winter.
Hopefully final addition: This crisis action is prominently for cavalry actions along with whatever mounted infantry has been procured, there will be efforts to coordinate with Calypso's attack on one of the Abandoned armies. Ideally, the combined cavalry forces will arrive behind the Abandoned army and participate in the battle, if, as seems likely, this is impossible due to the issues of communication and distance, then the cavalry will attempt to position to help cover any retreat or take advantage of any victory to inflict maximum enemy casualties.
The remaining Laurent infantry will be fighting under Alis' command.
Action by Jael
Jael is going to support the supply chain, riding with it between the troops and the city. While with the troops, she'll keep a finger on the pulse of their morale, doing her best to be visible among the men and women, talking with them, getting their feedback.
She's also going to join in on the raids, particularly ones where they can strike from a distance, focusing on mounted bowmanship to strike and flee without waiting for retaliation.
Action by Isidora
Okay. I don't know much about how to do this so: All Isidora will really be doing is doing her best to keep her head down and heal people where she can.
Action by Demura
Demura is going to lend some of her men to Cristoph in hopes that they will beneficially help him ravage the enemy's vital resources and reduce the number of viable opposing soldiers, providing a critical weakness that can be exploited through other means.
Action by Sigurd
Sigurd will be coming along with 250 Nightgold cavalry and a supporting column of mounted infantry for reinforcements. He will be the assistant commander in this mission, with Duke Cristoph having overall command of the troop's movements, including his own, while Sigurd provides his aid when the troops hit rough terrain (survival training comes into play) as well as being the main leader once the troops actually engage the enemy, leaving Cristoph able to direct larger troop movements while he leads the charges and provides leadership in the forefront. Together, they hope to seriously curtail and disrupt the enemy rituals, movements, and especially foraging parties, making it next to impossible for the Bringer army to sustain a siege.
Action by Aislin
Aislin will be taking a contingent of Ashford scouts into the forests to assist, at Maude's request. The Ashford guards are, of course, well familiar with both the Gray Forest in general and the area from Arx southwards in particular, so this is their home territory. While they lack their network of watch-platforms and pathways among the trees, most are skilled at both climbing and archery. They'll be supporting other troops, scouting from overhead where possible, and providing archery cover from above.
Aislin will also be bringing a number of Society scouts along. Field cartographers who can map out the movements of the enemy, and help assist Duke Cristoph and others with determining where best to cut the enemy's troop lines, to carve off chunks for easy dispatch. And, of course, Society members /do/ tend to be a little more aware of occult considerations, if it comes down to Bringer encounters. Aislin will be predominantly with the Society scouts, trying to coordinate.
Action by Niamh(RIP)
Niamh is coming along with Aislin and Ashford's forces. Mostly Niamh is there to smash skulls and cut off heads. She'll go where Aislin goes, mostly, and try to keep the Ashford safe. She's not a leader though, so Niamh mostly fills the roll of the Big Damn Hero and Murder Machine. She's bringing Gyrd, her war elk (retainer), an alarcite sword, and full rubicund armor to the event.
Action by Tikva
Tikva will be working with the other scouts that Aislin is bringing, as a seasoned and rangery agent of the forest! In the event of a combat with the Forces of Evil, she will hold nothing back (fully kitted out with bow and arrows) -- but as a scout, her primary skills will be in mapping the area, keeping an eye on troop numbers, and moving quickly and discreetly in conjunction with other scouts to keep track of troop movements for the advancing army.
Result
The Laurent forces, supported by House Nightgold and House Ashford, ravage the western 2nd Column of the Bringer forces and smash their supply lines. Most of their foraging parties are cut down in exchange for minimal losses, though two hundred horse that attempted to skirmish with the 3rd Column is entirely lost, and it is unclear why- just none returned from that particular skirmishing mission, which is adequate encouragement to concentrate their forces on the 2nd Column.
Guided by Tikva and Aislin with excellent knowledge of the Gray Forest, and the leadership of Sigurd, helps prove to provide excellent mobility in continually outracing the enemy and following Cristoph's well laid out strategy for bleeding the bringer forces. More than once, the 2nd Column attempts to seek battle and is led into ambushes, leaving several thousand dead over the course of the week and slowing their advance to a crawl, which in turn buys time for the main forces of the Compact under Calypso to return to the defense of Arx, after the destruction of the first bringer column.