The Second Week
“The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.”
Another week, another round of new developments in the patron wargame — now with open violence as armies clash and towns are burned.
The Annals of War
The Caliph of Thar receives a cacophony of reports as he flits through the dreams of his subordinates: in the south, Kirkuk is silent, its lord dead or warded; partisans of Agrahvar attempted to bribe his officers in Jechtel; the armies his scouts reported enfolding his flanks have vanished; and in the north, mist rose off the water by Liyon, the earth shook, the walls fell, and his armies were routed by lizardmen swift from the water. But the Scourge of the South has himself claimed that relic he sought: a Ring of Wish, from the depths of the southern swamps, and with it he hopes to turn the tide — if he can keep it, for even as he prepares to decamp, another army of similar size settled in nearby.
In Agrahvar, things are calmer, proceeding at a careful and measured pace. Armies that had dispersed have concentrated once more, the officers of Jechtel refused the offered bribes, and Thar is torn to either side by other forces as the strength of Agrahvar readies itself at the center.
The Pirate King himself commands the army that now converges on the Caliph of Thar. He followed his own map to that same treasure, but was slower in reaching it, and now may well lose the prize. Further to the north, the dungeon delvers cleared the second of that pair of crypt-haunted isles, though their dashing merchant prince second-in-command lost his left hand to their traps. From they they have momentarily converged with the other northern expedition, so that his sea-witch sister in Ali-Aram can identify the treasures recovered by the dungeon delvers, and a factor from the delvers can be left there as a contact for the ambitious officer. It also provides a chance that the High Priestess might heal the missing hand . . . or that the Quiet Guild might discern their proper identities.
In Thrassia, things likewise proceed as planned. His lizardmen host has swum down under cover of night and jungle, emerging from the waters under sorcerous mist to unleash the elemental spirits of Liyon’s foundations. The Pasha in command, seeing his fort could not hold, gathered his men to destroy the intruders, but instead found them outmatched on the field and barely escaped himself.
As for the Temahn, their plans too proceed well apace. The Spears of Heaven had secured a cache of catapults, so these now were moved to sit beneath the walls of Kirkuk and begin their own battery, with a light guard to plunder the immediate surroundings and cast up a haze of smoke, while their main force hung somewhat back. Reconnaissance favored them, for while their own force is a vast host of cavalry guided by shamans’ desert falcons and scrying upon the glasslike river-waters, the defenders of Kirkuk are purely infantry, and poorly led at that. Seeing only a small threat and with no inkling that they were merely a vanguard, the Emir of Kirkuk strode forth to destroy the catapults, and instead found his force cut down by arrows falling like spring rain. He and his aide committed suicide rather than be taken alive by the savage Temahn, and the city fell.
In proper aristocratic fashion, the Kagan composed poetry as his men took their prisoners and slaughtered those who resisted.
Smoke and fire shroud force and wrath,
as catapults sling rocks at walls of glass,
silent horsemen stalk in lion’s stead,
the cornered calf now filled with dread.
sweating infantry charge with fated breath,
as ants to men,
pouring out of their hill to untimely death.
Mechanical Considerations
I realized this week that I had been mistakenly applying scouting and screening bonuses at full range; I will correct that in the future for scouting, since outriders still only extend so far from the main host, but after much thought I think a prior discussion with Brigadine (of Brigstein fame) has persuaded me that screening will still apply as a penalty to all scouting efforts (since some form of scout still has to penetrate the screen to observe the army in question).
In playing out those battles, I also realized that there appears to be no effect on a loose unit that had already withdrawn to the reserve and been disordered, that then rolls a Flee morale result (which normally would move it to the reserve and disorder it. The Waver result (not quite so bad as Flee) does specifically note what happens to units already in the reserve, so this seems a small oversight, and so I ruled that units already in the reserve and disordered would then treat Flee as a Rout. If others have thoughts on this reading, or on some element I may have missed in understanding that, I’m not yet confident in that ruling and would be interested in refining it.
But on the whole, I’m quite happy to see how things are proceeding. The Temahn, the Pirates, and Thrassia are predictably the most aggressive: they need to raid actively to make their monthly expenses, whereas the landed factions are net positive (unless their cities start burning . . .). I’ve provided a set of private communication channels over Discord for handling discussions between patrons, and they’re starting to see some considerable use as people make deals and enter negotiations; the Caliph of Thar in particular had not expected his borders to be quite so threatened, nor so quickly, but such is war — and all is yet in motion.
All warfare is based on deception.
Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.
Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.- Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Addendum: wargame reports from the Intro, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, and Week 7 are all available.