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Army of Liberty: a Fantasy Revolutionary Warfare Quest

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The Laurent said:
Is the "offering generous terms and then going to battle if they fail" actually different from Assault Daurstein? Because that option seems to assume there's definitely going to be a battle, so I'm not sure whether it is?
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I mean, a bit? Offering generous terms and waiting for a response will take longer and give them more time to prepare than just immediately launching an attack. Assault Daurstein does not bother with diplomacy, it goes all in on speed. They can of course signal surrender after your assault begins as well, but probably not before at least some blood has been shed.
 
Still, it feels like, there's no way that the enemy's morale increases if they're aware that they're fighting not for their lives, but for the convenience of their officers patriotism, when mercy is on the table... because fundamentally, Morale 0 is really, really fucking low. This should mean that plenty of the soldiers are ready to throw in the towel.
 
The Laurent said:
Still, it feels like, there's no way that the enemy's morale increases if they're aware that they're fighting not for their lives, but for the convenience of their officers patriotism, when mercy is on the table... because fundamentally, Morale 0 is really, really fucking low. This should mean that plenty of the soldiers are ready to throw in the towel.
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I'm reading the town garrison as separate from the Army of the West, although half an army coming back with their tails between their legs two days ago screaming about demon horsehobs probably didn't help the garrison's morale any.
 
Nerdorama said:
I'm reading the town garrison as separate from the Army of the West, although half an army coming back with their tails between their legs two days ago screaming about demon horsehobs probably didn't help the garrison's morale any.
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Yeah, my idea is that we offer generous terms to the officers and very generous terms to the men, and combine this with promises to Daurstein's civilian population of the sort that would read as generous in a time and place where the looting of cities captured only after intense fighting is in fact... a thing that happens.

I feel in those circumstances we're losing at most a day, and quite probably less, and at the very least it's going to disconcert the enemy and the town garrison and the locals if they're fighting not for the safety of their home, but for the ambition of their King, etc, etc.

Liberationists, who we have the favor of, favor armed "liberation" of countries, while Levelers are all for war but mostly in self-defense, so I don't think it'd be out of character based on what we know for Durand to split the difference and make it clear she is not engaging in war against the People of Norn (unless they're monks in our way, based on past examples.)
 
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Right. Onto our options. Most forms of defense are safe, but will make us loose out. Marching for Engelsburg is deeply dubious, especially as I expect Trotha to be there.
Photomajig said:
The Army of the Centre is nowhere to be found. That is, it has evidently not landed on Arnése soil. The enemy has not made it across the Raoille at all. According to fragmentary reports and guesswork, von Trotha's force found the river dangerously swelling and difficult from the heavy rain. The Nornish were compelled to wait for better conditions, but the rains kept up for days. The accounts vary on when von Trotha gave up the effort, and where he marched from there, but it's clear that he's still in Norn.
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Let us assume the garrison knows he's not in Arnése and proceed from there. Bluntly, we don't have the ability for a battle now. We would be going up against superior numbers on the offensive, with more nornish reinforcements.
Photomajig said:
7-9 days in these conditions, perhaps? If he started marching that way immediately after the Nornish declaration of war, he'd be in Daurstein on the 16th-18th. But it seems likely that he spent several days at the river crossing and may not be coming straight there anyway.
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Alright, we have week for resupply and wound licking. Ok. What is the benefit of taking Daurstein? Getting defensive terrain, a buffer and a logistical hub for further operations. Taking it early is only useful if we could follow it up, which I don't have confidence in. We need further support, the 6th needs to move with us to seize the offensive.

I say we siege it. We've already won once, but are unable to take the offensive further without a high blood toll. The low moral of the dregs should make a surrender quite possible while preserving our force for meaningful actions, rather than a mad rush. If the siege becomes unsustainable, we can abort it and defend Martelnac.

[] Go on the offensive.
-[] Besiege Daurstein.
Force preservation is necessary, and Durand can hardly win the war on her own.

@Photomajig Would this write-in be acceptable as an addition to our offensive?
- [] Write the assembly that the moment for offensive action against Norn is here, and fleeting fast. Ask for reinforcements to secure the Nornish border. Pressure them and ask the 6th to be used for the offensive. Invoke your triumph, if necessary.
 
I think is better we stay in our borders. The Fifth Army has suffer a lot of losses and needs time to recovers, besides we don't have orders to expand the frontlines and if does so can prove disastrous without backup there's also other armies inside our borders too and we need to stand ready to reinforce them if anything goes wrong.

Can you imagine we make half progress inside enemy borders only to be forced to turn back because one of the Arnee armies was defeated?

[] Remain on the defensive.
-[] Enter Martelnac. 1 day. You are better off settling into Martelnac. Von Trotha may decide to head here, after all, and it's not worth it for you to march anywhere further in this weather.
 
The Laurent said:
Yeah, my idea is that we offer generous terms to the officers and very generous terms to the men, and combine this with promises to Daurstein's civilian population of the sort that would read as generous in a time and place where the looting of cities captured only after intense fighting is in fact... a thing that happens.

I feel in those circumstances we're losing at most a day, and quite probably less, and at the very least it's going to disconcert the enemy and the town garrison and the locals if they're fighting not for the safety of their home, but for the ambition of their King, etc, etc.

Liberationists, who we have the favor of, favor armed "liberation" of countries, while Levelers are all for war but mostly in self-defense, so I don't think it'd be out of character based on what we know for Durand to split the difference and make it clear she is not engaging in war against the People of Norn (unless they're monks in our way, based on past examples.)
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I am a fan of generous terms. We have a chance to avoid blodshed alright from our recently acquired reputation, and our army is very much bloodied. I'm not sure if there is a point in assaulting Daurstein, the siege is easier.
 
Red Rationalist said:
I am a fan of generous terms. We have a chance to avoid blodshed alright from our recently acquired reputation, and our army is very much bloodied. I'm not sure if there is a point in assaulting Daurstein, the siege is easier.
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It's also considerably slower, in a situation where this might be a definite risk. Like, what do we even have that allows us to do well at a siege? Our supplies are not that generous. What we have is an enemy whose morale is absolute dogwater, and who if we offer generous terms so that it's clear they're only fighting for the pride of their commanding officers, is unlikely to improve much... exactly the sort of case where their Unit Morale will be down in the very dirt...
 
The Laurent said:
It's also considerably slower, in a situation where this might be a definite risk. Like, what do we even have that allows us to do well at a siege? Our supplies are not that generous.
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High morale, good supplies and a dreaded reputation against an enemy that is very demoralized. A lot of siege warfare is also about psychological grit rather than material endurance. We did capture Wachenheims entire provisions, I would call 184 supplies quite generous.
 
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Red Rationalist said:
@Photomajig Would this write-in be acceptable as an addition to our offensive?
- [] Write the assembly that the moment for offensive action against Norn is here, and fleeting fast. Ask for reinforcements to secure the Nornish border. Pressure them and ask the 6th to be used for the offensive. Invoke your triumph, if necessary.
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Yes, but keep in mind that it will take a while for your message to reach Loutharc, be considered by the Convention (which lacks an executive body that could make that decision immediately, do note), and the end result relayed back to you and the VI. That's not ideal for a fast campaign.
 
Photomajig said:
Yes, but keep in mind that it will take a whole for your message to reach Loutharc, be considered by the Convention (which lacks an executive body that could make that decision immediately, do note), and the end result relayed back to you and the VI. That's not ideal for a fast campaign.
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Do we have some kind of military high command we could appeal to?
 
Photomajig said:
No. :V Welcome to the chaotic mess that is post-revolutionary governance in Arné. Everything has to go through committees which then propose action that the Convention further discusses and hopefully eventually votes on.
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Figures. Well, it's our fault for expecting them to prioritize war over their debate about the future of our nation. Any decision of theirs is probably going to be to late. We could tell the 6th to link up with us at Daurstein too, right? We have a rider from them, who is probably fast enough.
 
Red Rationalist said:
Figures. Well, it's our fault for expecting them to prioritize war over their debate about the future of our nation. Any decision of theirs is probably going to be to late. We could tell the 6th to link up with us at Daurstein too, right? We have a rider from them, who is probably fast enough.
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You can certainly tell the VI. to do so. You have no guarantee that Guillory will do as asked, though. He is not subordinate to your authority, though custom would have him defer to you to a degree.
 
Personally, I'm not all that enthused about making a move onto Nornish territory. Even if we succeed, well, this might encourage stupidity from the Convention. And we need to reconstitute the 5th, continue restoring drill, oh, and deal with the issue of troops trying to frag their Colonel.
 
The very act of an army being in a town in this era is a disruptive one- having first the full army of the west and now the remains of it in town means daurstein is probably sick of/used to it. ideally by offering the generous terms we hit the sweet spot of "the only thing that's changed is the language the soldiers speak" and town life will just carry on as it was
 
Photomajig said:
You can certainly tell the VI. to do so. You have no guarantee that Guillory will do as asked, though. He is not subordinate to your authority, though custom would have him defer to you to a degree.
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Well, it is worth a shot. If the Republic lacks the means to decide, one must decide on it's by oneself, lest the initiative is lost.


[] Plan Creative Defense
-[] Go on the offensive
-[] Siege Daurstein
- [] Write the assembly that the moment for offensive action against Norn is here, and fleeting fast. Inform them of the state of the western army. Ask for reinforcements to secure the Nornish border and start proper defensive operations. Explain that the 5th is at the border of Norn around Martelnac, taking Daurstein as a defensive buffer with the goal of stopping any enemy from even stepping on Arnése soil. Stress your determination to abide by any decision and order the rightful government of the people will give you. You are merely obeying the spirit instead of the letter of your orders for a good defense by taking the rapidly changing local situation into account, not deciding how the war should be waged.
-[] Tell Guillory to join you at Daurstein. Stress that any future offensive must pass trough Daurstein, with Arnesé having the opportunity to secure a buffer. Say that you won't let the opportunity to pass and make the need to be together for Trotha's superior numbers to be overcome very clear.

This plan uses a somewhat creative interpretation of our orders, but it should play to our strengths and secure Daurstein. It contacts the assembly to inform them of our decision and situation, hopefully allowing for them to give us the troops and strike while the iron is hot. We can't build on our success without more troops. I'm also writing Guillory, in the hopes that he joins us and thus allows for a attack against Trotha, should the opportunity arrive. Finally I decided on a siege of Daurstein, hopefully playing to our strengths and taking the city without much sacrafice. Explaining the rationale behind this should convince them.
We
shouldn't let such a ripe opportunity pass. This will ruffle some feathers in the assembly, but hopefully not to an unreasonable degree.
 
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Go on the offensive, I say. The enemy is fleeing. Keep up the pressure and do not stop. Hit them, and keep hitting them until they finally accept what will happen to all who challenge the Revolution.
 
DocMatoi said:
The very act of an army being in a town in this era is a disruptive one- having first the full army of the west and now the remains of it in town means daurstein is probably sick of/used to it. ideally by offering the generous terms we hit the sweet spot of "the only thing that's changed is the language the soldiers speak" and town life will just carry on as it was
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There is probably some degree of patriotism for the troops, but the chances of having them surrender aren't bad. Sheer pragmatism would dictate that, and the most experienced formations coming from the 5th are al for throwing the towel.
MrRageQuit said:
Personally, I'm not all that enthused about making a move onto Nornish territory. Even if we succeed, well, this might encourage stupidity from the Convention. And we need to reconstitute the 5th, continue restoring drill, oh, and deal with the issue of troops trying to frag their Colonel.
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I wouldn't call an offensive against Norn stupidity. One doesn't win a 2 front war by staying eternally defensive, one neds to knock one party out. And I agree for the need to reconstitute, but this could also be done to some extent during the siege or if Daurstein surrenders.
 
CMY187 said:
Go on the offensive, I say. The enemy is fleeing. Keep up the pressure and do not stop. Hit them, and keep hitting them until they finally accept what will happen to all who challenge the Revolution.
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I admire the gusto, but be careful about overconfidence. We are outnumbered and need to be twice as careful and very, very clever in picking our fights. A bad battle and we won't have an army to battle with.
 
Keep in mind that sieges of the time period take a while. As in generally being measured in months rather than weeks.

I'd rather storm the place than risk getting delayed. Especially if Trotha didn't actually fall back on Engelsburg, but has instead joined forces with the Silver Army at Gelle.

Photomajig said:
No. :V Welcome to the chaotic mess that is post-revolutionary governance in Arné. Everything has to go through committees which then propose action that the Convention further discusses and hopefully eventually votes on.
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Maybe those Consular fellows are on to something...

*Hides his Consular membership card*
 
[X] Go on the offensive.
-[X] Assault Daurstein.

Be decisive and swift. Otherwise we risk losing the initiative and impact to morale from our devastating victory over the Army of the West.
 
Red Rationalist said:
wouldn't call an offensive against Norn stupidity. One doesn't win a 2 front war by staying eternally defensive, one neds to knock one party out. And I agree for the need to reconstitute, but this could also be done to some extent during the siege or if Daurstein surrenders.
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I mean more that it might encourage "extending the Revolution" by conquest, as the Liberationists are already hyped to do. I don't deny there are benefits in this campaign to doing this, though your plan's write-ins do keep it measured.
 
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