Military Strategy Case Scenario

[Vextor]

You are a captain in a rural fiefdom who has been entrusted by your countess (Countess Caroline) to protect a small fortress that lies between the countess' chateau and a hostile neighbor, Duke Katzenberg.

Caroline's land consists mainly of rolling hills, suitable for raising livestock. The river Elbe separates her domain from Katzenberg's and your fort is located right beside it. The river is quite slow-moving, and is not hard to navigate over. Katzenberg's land is generally mountainous, and his castle is lcoated midway up a mountain--the path to his castle is extremely treacherous.

Caroline is not very wealthy, and can only afford to have 1400 men at arms (200 cavalry, 300 archers). In contrast, Katzenberg has 10000 men under his direct command, and has hired a mercenary militia numbering 3000, led by a heroic warrior called Anselm. The battle is inevitable, and can not be negated through negotiation.

How would you defend your country?

1) Caroline leaves it up to you to take as many soldiers you need from her pool of 1400 soldiers. She would need some herself to protect her chateau, too.

2) You can choose two lieutenants to serve you from among the following--
Leddwyn the Mad--A berserker warrior who causes fear in enemies and inspires troops.
Claudius of Roxbury--A cunning man known for his knowledge of the lands and has studied military strategy.
Saphine--A skilled negotiator who is not shy to bribe her way through difficulties.
Azalin--A powerful wizard who knows many things and can use very powerful spells, but has a very difficult personality.
Gregorio--A lieutenant who is skilled at commanding troops and defending a position.

Which two would you choose, and why?

3) What will you attempt to do first? (before battle)


4) How will you plan your battle?


5) How confident are you with your strategy? What are possible ways for your plan to fail?

*Well, written replies will be rewarded.

[Aurelien]

1. I would take the 200 cavalry, 300 archers and 600 soldiers. The rest of them (300 soldiers) should be more than enough to protect Caroline's chateau because the battle would occur around the fortress that I defend. If I managed to protect the fortress (which I plan to do), there would be no enemy attacking the chateau and hence, minimal protection for Caroline would be enough.

2. I would choose Leddwyn the Mad and Saphine.

The reason for choosing Leddwyn the Mad is because we have numerical disadvantage compared to the enemies. To overcome this problem, we would need to fear the enemies and also, at the same time, inspire our own soldiers.

The reason for choosing Saphine is because of the use of the mercenaries on the opponent's side. As we know, mercenaries aren't the most loyal kind of soldiers. With proper negotiation process (and a little bit of bribery if needed), we could turn the enemies into allies.

3. As mentioned, the chateau seems to be a perfect place to raise livestock. With that in mind, it sounds plausible to assume that we have wells (and use them) for the water supply instead of using the water directly from the river. With that in mind, I would use 100 of the 200 cavalry to spread oil all over the river (mainly on our side of the river if they have guards/watchmen on their side). Of course it would be done in a way so that no one would notice that the river had been mixed with oil.

The next part is to make sure that we have build enough catapults that would have enough range to throw items across the river (if the river isn't really ridiculously *that* wide), and equip them with more cans/buckets of oil. And last but not least, of course provide enough arrows that are ready to be lit with fire.

4. The plan is simple. But I have to explain some of the things first. They have 10,000 soldiers plus 3,000 mercenaries. All of the mercenaries would definitely be brought to attack, while it wouldn't be all of the 10,000 soldiers be brought into the battlefield because soem of them would be needed to protect their castle. Instead, they might only bring 7,000 of them. That gives us the total of 10,000 on the opponent's side while having 1,100 on our own side.

Keep in mind that 3,000 out of the 10,000 on their side are mercenaries. I would definitely send out Saphine, along with her excellent negotiation skill, to turn the mercenaries to work for us instead. That would change the situation into 7,000 soldiers versus 4,100. Sounds much better than 10,000 against 1,100 that we had earlier.

Then we shall use Leddwyn the Mad's mad skill of unleashing fear to the opponent while inspiring our own troops. Despite still having 7,000 to 4,100 numerical advantage, in reality it could be the other way around instead. With high morale, it's very plausible to say that one of our soldier could kill two of theirs. With that alone, we have more than enough to win the battle already.

But of course we don't want to waste lives if we could avoid it. Hence, the use of fire attack combined with the mercenary help. On the Katzenberg's attack, the mercenary could be put either in front of the unit, or at the back.

If they were put in the front, then they'd be safe on our side of the land, then we could go all out attack on the fire strategy to only destroy Katzenberg's soldiers and not the mercenaries by burning those who have been on water but not reaching the land yet. For those who have reached the land, they'd be dealed with the mercenaries, while for those who were in the middle of the river, they'd be surrounded by fire (use the catapults to throw more oil and arrows to lit the fire). After all that, we would definitely inflict large damage on their units, probably enough to allow us to attack them instead if needed to be.

If the mercenaries were put in the back, then they'd wait to cross the river, making the Katzenberg's soldiers to be pinched from both sides (3,000 mercenaries on one side, while 1,100 soldiers plus some fire from our side of the river on the other side). With only having one leader in Katzenberg, it wouldn't be an easy task of commanding the unit to fight against two different types of attack. Not to mention that they'd be in low moral. Victory would really be in our hands in no time.

5. I'm around 90% confident with my strategy to work. There are actually two big ways of my plan to fail. The first one is the limited fund. This could be a problem if Saphine failed to bribe the mercenaries. But to me, this wouldn't happen because I'm sure Saphine, being an expert in this situation, wouldn't only rely on bribery. She would definitely have some of other dirty tricks (probably give the merc some land after the battle or something?). The second problem that I noticed is if they decided on attacking full force with 10,000 soldiers instead of leaving some behind to protect the castle. 10,000 against 4,100 would still be hard to overcome even with the help of Ledwynn and Saphine. This probably could be solved if Saphine managed to bribe some of Katzenberg's soldiers as well (and not only the mercenaries).
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~City-States of Jowston and Tinto Republic~
06.06.2004 - 20.01.2008

[Sualtam Lugh]

Recruits
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Saphine - Those mercinaries would be good help.
Gregorio - The point of this is to defend. Any help with that is well needed.
200 Calvary, 300 Archers, and 400 Soldiers.

3) What will you attempt to do first? (before battle)
With Gregorio's help, we would construct towers in which archers could scout visually from. There would also be an arching ambush along side of the river.

An attempt to try and get the mercinaries now would be helpful. If they concede, they would wait to switch sides. If not, they would be bribed even greater in time of need.

Since the enemy's land is mountainous, I will assume that they have no calvary. Those 200 calvary units are now one of the most precious things we can have on our side.

All the cow manure, fresh, would be gathered, along with oil.

4) How will you plan your battle?
When they come, the numbers will drop for the opposing side due to the ambushes, but it will be made sure no mercinary is killed. Saphine will beg the mercinaries to fight, and if refused she will point out none have been killed yet, and it was for the purpose that they aren't the enemy. She would eventually pursuade the great Anselm. The numbers would be around 3800 to 10000. However, there wouldn't nessecarily be 10000 more at that battle, due to country defense needed elsewhere. So.....Maybe 8000 more men? That works.

Livestock means manure. Manure absorbs quite well, for crap. The manure would be lit, and catapulted towards the enemy. If it does land in the river, no big deal, the bacteria was burned away, but if it hits the enemy, a napalmesque material would act in a matter of splash damage, spreading out to more then one person.

If they kill all the archers, and get to the soldiers, then the numbers owuld be around....2900 - 7000. That's kind of low. Gregorio would have set up a few more ambushes resulting in large enemy fatalities (Holes, fire traps) making the numbers a bit more fair. 2900 - 6000. If they came up the river, they would get a face full of spear. Gregorio, in the slow moving river, had set up spears in the side of the wall. If the enemy wasted time moving the spears they would be ambushed by some remaining archers, or soldiers with spears, on the banks of the river.

2900 - 5000.
Calvary, on rolling plains, act as 2 men to one. so that's 3100 men compared to 5000.

The rest would be an all out battle. The only strategy would be: surround the general with a group of 200 mercenaries led by Anselm, and kill him. Saphine would take a few more soldiers, maybe 300 - 400 or so, and just fight as hard as you can. Don't get cornered, or over powered.

The attack would then be a success.

5) How confident are you with your strategy? What are possible ways for your plan to fail?

There are many possible ways to fail this strategy. It depends on who is commanding the other units. If no one comes up the river, then they would have more men, resulting in a loss at the end. Also, the mercinaries coming to our side is a question mark. If it was in the case of Gilbert, and he just come over, good. But if he was a noble mercenary (Like Viktor to Annabelle) and was loyal towards Katzenburg....then I would have a problem. I'm about 80% confident it would work.

[Angelus Silverberg]

They would need to keep some of their soldiers at the castle to protect themselves. And some to garrison, so maybe about 6000. The oil in the river was a great idea, and i was thinking about turning the Mercenaries to our side also.
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Living and dying, laughing and crying.

[Alkazar]

1) Recruits
200 Cavalry
200 Archers
700 Infantry

This would give a more ranged defense to the chateau, just in case the plan plan failed; 100 archers would defeat a lot more troops in defense of the chateau than that extra 100 infantry, theoretically.

2) Lieutenants
Sapphine
Azalin

My plan is to make the enemy come to me and fight on my terms, so these work best for what I would need.

Sapphine would be best for dealing with the mercs and trying to persuade them to change sides; doing so would greatly change the odds. She would also be useful for dealing with Azalin should he start becoming difficult.

Azalin is a source of wisdom, support, and, most of all, magic. The plan itself will use his magic, even if he is difficult personality wise. He may very well be the main weakness in the entire plan if he refuses to cooperate.

3) Pre-Battle Plan

The first thing that must be done in attempting to convince the mercenaries to change sides; should this succeed, it will not change the initial appearance of the battle. That is, they will ride with Katzenberg's troops into battle, flying the flags of an ally. They would be instructed to turn during the battle when a signal is given.

Secondly, the fort itself would be essentially emptied. In essence, there would be approximately 300 troops stationed in the fortress to give the appearance of a garrison; this 300 troops would consist of the entire group of archers and an additional 100 footmen for a bit of padding. Instructions would be left with Azalin and Sapphine (both in the fort) to blockade the entrances into the fort with the footmen.

The remaining troops would be further down the river in both directions, in the countess' lands. They would be away from the river, out of sight of any scouts on the far side, but within sight of the fortress to watch for a signal.

4) The Battle Plan

The assumption that approximately 3000 troops were left behind to defend the enemy's castle was made in this battle plan, and provides another possible way of failure.

The whole idea of the plan is to make it look like only a small force exists to protect the fortress. The archers, for the most part, were left behind to provide ranged defense of the fortress as the enemy attacked. When the enemy reached our side of the river, Azalin would begin to use spells against the advancing army. The signal for the mercearies would be the third such spell, to be used when the vanguard of the enemy reached the gates of the fortress.

With the sudden turning of the mercenaries, parts of the army would be in disarray. With the force at the actual fort being his 5500 (estimation based on the three spells, the archer damage and the initial casualties from the mass mercenary attack) vs. 3000 (asumed casualties taken by the mercenaries to be approximately 300) at the time, the tide of the battle is much different. Morale would be shaken amongst the attacking troops; some may decide to break off at this point, as most armies consist of peasentry drawn from the land, and run, especially with a well known hero leading the mercenaries. This would leave approximately 5000 attacking troops (estimation based on a 10% morale failure).

The second signal, that for the troops waiting just along the river, would be the fifth spell. These new troops, consisting of 200 cavalry and 600 footmen, would not advance at the same speed; the cavalry would go ahead, charging at full speed. Upon the cavalry's arrival, a charge (similar to the one of the Rohirrim from RotK) would be in order to further shake enemy morale. The initial impact of 200 cavalry troops, combined with the spells, arrows, mercenaries and further morale failure would leave the battle at approximately 4500 vs. 3000.

Finally, the footmen reserves would arrive, boosting the defenders to 3600. Additional troops would shake morale again, as 600 is 20% of the force they're fighting. At this point, I'd expect we'd be fighting at approximately 4000 vs. 3500. Additional spells and archery would lower than further, and, as enemy morale is down, our own morale would be up itself. It would be expected that the battle would be evened out relatively quickly, between morale, archery, spells, and mercenaries in addition to the new troops and their charge.

At that point, any commander with half a brain attacking would withdraw; having lost approximately 4000 troops between casualties and broken morale, and a dwindling morale, no attacking commander would fight at a 1:1 ratio of troops. However, should the fool continue fighting, the troops would exit the fort and join the battle.

5) Confidence/Failurs

I admit, parts of this has holes in it, but I'm about 80% confident in what I've planned. The major holes:

1. Failure to turn the mercenaries - this would unhinge the entire plan.
2. Azalin being difficult - once again, this would unhinge the plan, but when your own life is risked, you'd usually be willing to co-operate, so I don't see him as too much trouble.
3. The troops moving along the river being detected.
4. Less troops were left for homeland defense.
5. Morale does not break when the mercs turn, which would leave a high morale for the other breaking points.

[Daniel Blackhand]

First off this battle had a much better odds of winning. Plus defending can be to your advantage especially if you already have a better understanding of the surrounding area.

So with that in mind I would take 200 cavalry, 300, archers, and 600 soldiers, leaving the last 300 to guard the chateau.

Second I would take as my leiutenants Leddwyn the Mad and Claudius of Roxbury. I would take Leddwyn because of the fact that in the face of overwhelming odds it is a good thing to have someone who can inspire the troops to look past all of that and still beleive that victory is possible. Claudius is a good choice because you want someone who is so intimate with the land that he would no all of the best places to fight and what the advantages and disadvanteges for each place is.

First I would get barrels full of fresh water and some wine with a various bit of other food stores together on some kind of wagon and poison all of it. Than I would ask for volunteers who would be willing to go on a suicise run, 25 cavalry, 20 archers, and 50 infantry. After the volunteers are gathered using a Suikoden II tactic I would dose them heavily with the antidote to the poison. Once they had enough in their systems I would send them out as if they were trying to get the supplies to safety putting up a convincing fight. When enough of the enemy was chasing them they would throw down their weapons and surrender, testing any of the food to assure the enemy that it was not poisoned hence the antidote in their ststems.

The actual battle plan would be alot less confusing. After waiting a suitable emount of time to let the poison take effect my soldiers under the cover of darkness would creep close to the enemy camp carrying flasks of oil with which they would throw on the enemy tents supplies and even some soldiers. Next my archers would lay over them with a volley of fire arrows to set everything ablaze, and than start picking soldiers apart. After the volleys of arrows my remaining cavalry would ride through the camp wreaking havoc, by killing men trampling soldiers and taking out any horses they could always on the lookout for anyone in command and killing them at all costs. My foot soldiers would than join in doing the same. With the poison running through them and with such a surprise attack even being so outnumbered my men should prevail. And assuming the menn that were captured weren't killed they would then break free grabbing the closest weapons at hand and joining their fellow soldiers.

If everything was done exactly as planned and the enemy fell for my trap I beleive victory is enevitable. The only true failing I see is if the ruse with the food didn't go through as planned in which case my night attack would really be a moot point.
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[Ferid Egan]

I would take 1300 with me leaving 100 infantrymen to guard the chateau and the Countess Caroline. This would leave me with exactly ten to one odds in favor of the enemy.

My two lieutenants would be Azalin and Claudius of Roxbury. Azalin due to the vast array of powerful spells, and Claudius because he is a strategist.

My 800 remaining infantry and my 300 archers would dress in thick leather armor under full length black suits to prevent making noise. Under darkness they would than make their way downstream and have their best swimmers swim to the other side. Once there they would take the ropes they had tied to them and help the others cross the river making sure to keep armor and bows safely waterproof.

When the men were across the river Azalin would lay down a layer of fog with no more than 15-20 foot visibility. He would than send over a couple of chain lightning spells to bounce off of the enemy armor and other metal items. Once the chain lightning was done my cavalry would commence a fake attack making as much noise as possible. When the defending enemies rushed off to thwart the attack my infantry and archers would come in from behind as quiet as death and kill as many men as possible. In such confusion my men should be able to even the odds to a much better number in our favor. During the mayhem my cavalry would than circle around and begin to commence the real attack. They would trample with horse cut down with sword and a small number of specially trained men and horse working in pairs of two would ride thru the camp with a length of chain hanging at waist level taking down anything in their paths.

As with any battle this has a good chance to work but we all know that in battle plans can and do change.
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Blade be true this day.

[Ikano]

1)Soldiers move out!
I would probably take 200 cavalry, 200 archers and 600 soldiers
The 100 archers can kill off any small number of enemy troops from a distance if any enemy troops do manage to sneak by and the 300 soldiers should be more than enough to defend the chateau.

2)Lieutenants I'd probably pick
Leddwyn the Mad and Gregorio

Our main objective is to defend the fort from a hostile nation and Gregorio should do well in that end.

Laddwyn could discourage the enemies troops from fighting, if his reputation is as big as it seems and in times of battle, encouragement and inspiration are the biggest motivators for troops however outnumbered and however disadvantaged you are.

3)Before Battle
Discuss with Gregorio and Laddwyn their positions and make certain they know where each others troops are at all times and what each other plans to be doing. We would need to establish a signal (or a messenger-preferably a signal) for Laddwyn to give to Gregorio(has something to do with the main strategy of the battle [see below])

We would also quickly but thoroughly go over the layout of the area we will be fighting on and talk about any objects in the way that could hinder our cause or that we could use to our advantage (aka something left on the field?)
Also, with any remaining time we could put ourselves in our enemies shoes for a brief moment and consider possible ways they would be thinking about breaking through our forces and then think of a way to counter them -at the same time also be aware of these on the battlefield.
Afterwards have the lieutenants spend some time with their troops to discuss the strategy and share their thoughts on what the enemy might do. Most importantly -'expect the unexpected'

4) Battle Plans
All the troops will be on this side of the river.
Gregorio will mainly stay in the back as backup and a last defense. Laddwyn's troops will stay up front and take the blunt of the blows but they will also be defensive all the while. There is no need to advance in a defensive battle as this.

Every once in a while when Laddwyn's troops tire out Gregorio's troops will move out front and Laddwyn's will fall back to take a break and at the same moment the archers shall heavy up on their attacks when the switch is taking place-this will have to be done very carefully or else the enemy troops could push us back if the timing is not done well.
After Laddwyn's troops are rested up they will rush out front and Gregorio's troops upon seeing so will fall back again.

The archer troops main job is to help keep back enemy troops whenever the switch takes place and at other times kill off enemy soldiers who seem to be breaking through our lines. They can also kill off enemy troops that seem to be straggling across the river.

5) Possible failures
This strategy could fail many ways
It focuses alot on defending and keeping the soldiers spirits and motivation to fight up. Unfortunatly if the enemies troops are truly overpowering then this strategy would fail.
Also the signal/messenger could be deciphered/found out and could be blocked by the enemy in which the switch wouldn't take place and the soldiers out front will tire out, fall, and hence the plan would fail again.

I'm pretty confident that at least Caroline's chateau should be safe. Depending on how strong the soldiers really are-it'll be a tough battle indeed.
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[Falcon Critical]

1) First off, the Archers are the crucial part of my plan, I will leave all the 200 cavalry and 100 footsoldiers back with the Countess.

2) Azalin-- I am counting on this man to do the majority of the damage to the enemy troops, and therefore also take:
Saphine-- I cannot guarantee the Merc's safety in my plan, so I'll use this sweet talker to control Azalin and make sure he does his job.

3) My pre-battle plans are crucial but relatively easy to accomplish. I need to get Azalin and Saphine across the river with about 50 archers. They would go and hide in the mountains. Each of the archers carries 4 or 5 quivers of arrows with them.

Also I would set up explosives in ALL the boats on their side of the river. Military and civilan alike. I would have 3-4 boats docked on my side ready to take my archers onto the river.

I would also invest in / create a ton of flaming arrows, and set up the aforementioned ships for these with barrels of arrows and a string of fire for easy lighting. The remainder of my army ( 800 soldiers ) would be standing guard on my side of the river.

4) The best form of defense is attack. However I wish to risk as few lives as possible, so I am utilising the environment to the fullest. I assume about 3000 soldiers remain as base defense.

STEP ONE
"Katzenberg's land is generally mountainous, and his castle is lcoated midway up a mountain--the path to his castle is extremely treacherous." This is the foundation of my plan. Everyone else has assumed we must intercept them at the river, but if this path is dangerous, then that plays into Azalia's hands.

Azalia and co watch the enemy army file out of their castle. As about 7000 of the 10000 pass my party, Azalia will cast 'Earthquake' and send boulders crashing down from the slopes! This will acheive three things, firstly it splits their troops in two, second it causes the enemy to panic, and thirdly it will cause serious damage.

Worst case scenario: About 2000 troops are crushed, but the boulders don't go far and this only slows the enemy.

Best case scenario: The boulders cause havoc on the treacherous path, squishing the 2000 on first impact, then rolling down and killing the majority of the soldiers further down the mountain ( 5000 odd ). If the enemy has cavalry this gets even more effective, as the horses will be spooked by the sudden avalanche and either bolt or spill their riders.

The archers are spread out along both sides of the path, and as the dust clears they begin to rain arrows down apon the confused enemy. As the archers have a ton of ammo ( 4-5 quivers a piece ) and the land is treacherous and therefore slow and hard to move around on, the enemy will realise the best course of action is to push on past the mayhem and get out of range of the archers. As there are still 3000 soldiers behind the avalanche, if these are the mercs then ... well you don't need that good a negotiator to recruit them. If not, their slow progress past the initial point of attack will warrant heavy casualties from my archers.

STEP TWO
Okay, so now the Worst case scenario for me is that they now have about 7000 soldiers remaining. Best case scenario they'll be down to 2-3000 men.

As they see the river, my archers on my ships will fire at the rigged boats on their side of the river, setting every means they had of crossing on fire.

My boats then come downstream to where the enemy is and rain arrows upon them from the middle of the river. As this is 250 flaming arrows a volley and the enemy has little to no capability of return fire, this will also create heavy casualties without endangering my men much.

Now if the enemy is cunning and has an alternate way of crossing the river, I can rain arrows upon them as they cross, and if they make it to my side then I will order the 800 soldiers to defend and withdraw, open the gates to the countess' chateau and unleash my cavalry. At worst this will be an even battle.

However I don't believe they will be able to cross the river at all. As they are taking heavy casualties from the boats in the river, they will most probably retreat. If they do so, they still need to get past my 50 archers on the path to their castle.

5) I like my strategy as it has reasonably little chance of failure and tries to avoid direct conflict altogether.

There are shortcomings to this plan as there always are

1) if Azalia does nothing then I am pretty screwed. That is why I send Saphine to sweet talk him.

2) if the worst case scenarios play out as above, they will still have about 4-5000 troops by the time they get to my side of the river. I'll have no chance.

3) if they also have a multitude of archers, they will be able to suppress my fire at the avalanche and if they have flaming arrows then my boats will catch fire and be destroyed.

4) Lastly but most importantly, if I cannot afford the arrows or get spotted on the mountainside before the troops come past, the entire plan is screwed.

5) Oh and with either success or failure, I will need the money to re-imburse the fishermen and civilians for the boats of theirs that I destroy to stop the enemy crossing the river.

OVERALL BEST CASE SCENARIO:
Complete destruction of their forces, without a single life lost. With my strategy, it could happen.

OVERALL WORST CASE SCENARIO:
Complete destruction of my forces, only about 2-3000 enemies lost.
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[Edge Riou]

1) I would take the 300 archers and the 200 calvary soldiers along with 400 additional troops.

2) The two generals which I would take are Leddwyn the Mad along with Gregorio.

The reason I chose these two is because Leddwyn the Mad is a very powwerful man who gives fear to all of his enemies. This way those troops which you must defeat would cower and be off guard while your troops would be confident because of Leddwyn talent to join tropps together.

The reason I chose Gregorio is because since your main purpose would be to defend your area and Gregorio is a great man who is a well defender.

3) Before the battle I would talk to my troops and tell them that though outnumbered we will win. This way our moral will skyrocket. I would then set my troops up as: front row: 200 Calvary middle row: 200 of the extra troops back row: 300 archers. Then the 200 of the left over extras would line up on each side (100 on the left 100 on the right) of the opposing army.

4) I would begin the battle with a defensive position. This way once the opposing army charges the archers would first launch a volley of arrows and the opponents that raise their sheilds to block the arrows will be open to a frontal attack. This would be when my calvary would charge the battlefield and slay the opponents because they would be focused on the launched. Then the 200 extras which were lined up behind the calvary would also charge as the archers would follow farther forward and stay a short ways behind the extras. As the calvary and extras are fighting and directing the focus of the enemy to the front the right and left extras would charge to block off all but the back exits. Now that only one opening the was left the enemy would retreat backwards and this is when the archers would fire more arrows. This would hopefully kill more enemies while the rest of the soldiers would again surround the enemy, but this time on both sides. With the enemy totally surrounded the archers would retreat back in case of the enemy breaking through were they would shoot more arrows. Now the remaining soldiers would enclose
and hopefully demolish the remaining enemies.

5) I am very confident that my strategy is sound.

Possible ways of defeat are if the opposition is if the enemy did not focus on the first volley of arrows and were ready to thward of the calvary. Then if instead of retreating back through the only possible exit when the rest would be blocked off and rushed forward my soldiers would panic and the archers would fire the arrows catching my soldiers also. With their army charging with only my archers they would break through and most likely win.
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[Solitude]

Recruits: 300 archers, 200 cavalry, 900 infantry
Total: 1400

Lieutenants: Leddwyn and Claudius


Before the battle I would hold a great feast for my men in order to raise their morale. However I would not lie to them and tell that we are at a great number disadvantage. The men have a right to know what they are getting into.

As for my defense I would place 300 foot soldier at the chateau itself and 100 archers in the hills between the chateau and my fort. This should provide an adequate defense for the Countess if any of Katzenberg's men do manage to break through my front lines. I would station all 200 of my cavalry at the base of the mountain just along the riverbed accompanied with 100 foot soldiers. The mountain path is treacherous and the horses would not be able to make it up. They will also be able to charge the enemy when they come out of the mountain trail leaving them nowhere to run but right back up into difficult terrain. I would station the rest of my 200 archers a little ways past the halfway point between the entrance of the mountain trail and Katzenberg's fortress. They will be split in half on either side of the trail hidden waiting to ambush Katzenberg's men. I would have the rest of my 300 foot soldier's head up the mountain trail to meet Katzenberg's troops head on. Smaller groups can move over hard terrain rather than big huge ones. When Katzenberg's men pass my archers and start fighting my troops coming up the mountain, my archers will come out of hiding and attack from behind trapping Katzenberg's troops.

Of the lieutenants available to me my first choice would be Leddwyn the Mad. He greatly increases troops morale and strikes fear in the hearts of his enemies. This would give us a slight boost and put one advantage on my side. Now this mixed with the confusion already caused by the ambush and attack from both sides can be a very powerful combo.

My second lieutenant would be Claudius of Roxbury. His knowledge of terrain would be a great help in helping hide my archers for the ambush and helping my other troops navigate the mountain path. Claudius has also studied military strategy, which is just another added bonus to his greatness. Clauduis' skills combine with Leddwyn's emotion affecting abilities is a very deadly and powerful combination.

I have great confidence in my plan and do think that it has a high success rate. The confusion mixed with the hard terrain and the emotion factor Leddwyn will create in the front ambush attack will possibly devastate Kanzenberg's troops. If they do however manage to break through they still got my cavalry to deal with that will charge them the minute they show their faces. And of course after fighting through an ambush Kanzenberg's troops will be wounded and tired with nowhere to run except back up into rough terrain. If by some miracle they manage to break through my cavalry there are still archers waiting to pick off the survivors in the hills and the troops and the chateau to provide back up.

There are some possible ways this plan can fail however. One would be in Kanzenberg's troops discovered my ambush and obliterated them. Then they could set an ambush of their own and take out my first line of defense with barely any damage done to them. Then they could just overpower my cavalry while sustaining a good deal of damage themselves but still having enough manpower to overrun me.

[Filipe]

I would take only 900 of the fourteen hundred soldiers leaving the countess enough that if all else fails she could make a last stand against whatever is left of the opposing army. At the very least dieing a heroic death defending their lands to the last man. Anyways back to the strategy and what I would do in this situation.

For starters I would take Claudius of Roxbury and Gregorio for my lieutenants as they seem like the best bet for the troops to do the most they can with what they have to deal with. From there we would prepare to use whatever we can to quicken the flow of the river to make the crossing as difficult as possible before they arrive. Delaying them as much as possible and make them easy targets while they are crossing the river.

All the while I will have some of the foot soldiers get some basic training with a bow and some trained to hold a large sheild to block the archers from the enemy arrows. While the wall snipers train some with a sword and shield to be used as a last resort to take down as many as possible to the last man.

My strategy for the battle would then to be to have my footsoldiers surround the castle as best they can and begin to pick off the enemy with their bows while they are marching towards the fort up until a point. There will be snipers on the walls of the fort as well with their own bows showering the delayed in the river enemy with arrows from all around. When the enemy whats left of it makes it within a certain distance to the fort they would break up into two groups depending on their location around the fort. With the troops facing the army taking up long shields and short swords and charging into the front ranks of the army while the second group attack them from behind making them not only easy attacking targets but in good position for snipers to pick off. From there we would try to make the retreat if at all possible or kill them all.

The problems of the strategy is the fact that my troops numbers are too small to make a large dent if things were to go badly. So there is very little chance for an actual battle victory however sufficient enough to make a last stand for either the countess and her men to make an escape or plan an alternate theory to deal with whatever is left of the other army so they are victorious or make a heroic last stand worthy of legend much like the alamo. This is a strategy not for victory but for a heroic last stand against impossible odds.
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[Masaya]

Lol I'm a little crazy, however giving the conditions and non I added, I'm pretty possitive my plan is full proof. I wish I could acutally try it out ;)

1. First I would take 200 Calvery and 300 archers. Along with 800 man at arms, leaving 100 to protect Carolines land. Because pretty much everything rests on this battle, why have more protecting her when it still wouldn't be enough if they take this fort.

2. Ok I'd take Saphine and Azalin. For my two lieutenants. And for the most part I'd be riding alot apoun them.

3. Pre battle plan.
-Before battle I'd be taking a defensive position waiting for the enemy to come us ofcoarse. I'd station all 300 archers inside the fort. And no more. Keeping the base looking like fairly easy target, but must be tooken care of anyways. I'd start marching the rest of the troops of 200 calvery, and 700 man at arms headed by me personally, (yes stratagist isn't supposed to put himself in danger I supposed but oh well, that might help moral if I'm personally there.) up and accross the river and onto enemy territory. Also with the cover of mountains it shoudln't be too big of a deal keeping them there. (Right now this might seem like a simple sucidal flank however keep reading. :-P)

-Next I would send Saphine to Anselm and begin negogations to switch sides. And I figure Anselm is a very "heroic" warrior, a battle fought and won agaisnt suchs odds might be extra insentive for him to join us. However Asl ong as Saphine gets him to defect, which is a very big part of survival for the fort.

-Then we got the biggest part of my plan, Azalin the wizard. In which I'll station him a little farther north of the river, hidden. Along with 100 men at arms to hopefully keep him feeling safe and happy from his difficult personality. I'd have him position far enough to view the battle, but at a safe distance.

2.Battle plan
Ok acutally my battle plan is fairly simple. Also a major part into this plan is constant contact with all 3 positions of troops. I figure Katzenberg feels VERY confident since he probally knows he's a richer, and has more man power. So he's probally just going to march as a mass, sending the mercenarys first, since their the most expendable. Then his 10,000main unit. Or How many he decides to bring with him to exterminate us. Also I figure him personaly, will stay in the back.

Well First All 3 units wait for his army to charge.
Hopefully first the mercenarys cross the river, then most of the rest of his army, about 9/10ths of it, just as a estimate. As soon as about 9/10ths of his forces cross, The archers single the Mercenary force to Hopefully defect and start help defending the fort. Very important that Saphine does her job.
And at that moment of chaos, where 3000 of his troops switch sides. Azalin the wizard sees that as a cue to use his powerful magic to either Cast a Heavy water spell, weather rain or somthing to Viciously Flooding the once calm rivers. And keeping it it a fast and dangerous/ impossiple current to cross.

If everything goes acording so far, which wouldn't be too difficult if everyone did their job. 1/10th of the army along with Katzenberg will be sitting on his side of the river trapped for my pre set troops of 200 Calvery and 700 man at arms along with myself , would then charge from the mountains head on towards Katzenberg and his men. And if possible, Azalin and his 100 troops could charge since I pre-set them on that side of the river also. If he has to keep a current spell coungering to keep the river going strong, then so be it.
And then I'd pretty much leave it to us to destroy Katzenberg and his 1000 men, giving the rest of his army no will to fight and to break and scatter amongest. Or since they can't excape even a possibe mass surrender.

5. I'm fairly Confident in my strategy. Things that might go wrong well..
--Saphine or Azalin fail their jobs. The whole plan would fall in and collapse.
--Also if the fight between my unit and Katzenberg's, takes a turn for the worst, and well our unit is tooken out instead of his. However, the chaos from the river should give us a adavtage.
-- Katzenberg doesn't send himself into battle were verymuch screwed too. But why wouldn't he. I guess I'd have to learn alot more about the guy and how he fights.
-- If Katzenberg is in the front of the battle line you might say is a flaw in our plans too however, pre ordered incase he does, I'd have it all reversed. where 9/10ths of the army would be stuck on his side, and Azalin would just cast his spell earlyer. And then the last battle will go easyer, since we have all the defected mercs. on our side.
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[Solitude]

So err... is SARSadmin going to tell us who had the best stragtegy?

[Ikano]