Army of Liberty: a Fantasy Revolutionary Warfare Quest

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

Getting the guns is the cherry on top, but this would have mostly been useful for giving the fresh 6th a bit more bite. We can be quite happy with the cake alone. We are well equipped when it comes to field artillery, with 5 foot artillery units probably being the upper limit for an artillery focused commander. Any more, and we consume significant numbers of supplies and munitions when using them, hindering operations and combat effectiveness. Our real victory here is to force the western army out of the campaign without bloodshed, which the compromise accomplishes.

In the short-term: If we get this via the surrender, we are quite prepared to go against Wachenheim, especially as he has little use for the dregs of the western army. Demoralized, bloodied, badly supplied and ill-displicined, they would be more of a menace than a gain. This does miss out on one opportunity to add to the republican arsenal, but it gives us more actions. These action make the 5th a better operational vanguard and allow us to replenish much-needed reserves. It also gives us an additional advantage - a reputation as a magnanimous victor, who honours reasonable terms of surrender.
This is immensely useful if we encounter new garrisons in the future, allowing us to get towards a carrot and stick principle to avoid being tied down in sieges. This reputation could be quite useful in maintaining momentum rather than loosing forces dragging things out, plus adds a chance of less painful occupations and diplomacy with the local population. There are gains from a bloodless surrender.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead.

Has anyone run the math on how far away Von Trotha is expected to be? I am a bit worried about that, especially since Nornish doctrine emphasizes fast forced marches in order to catch the enemy unawares.

Pinniped said:

X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead.

Has anyone run the math on how far away Von Trotha is expected to be? I am a bit worried about that, especially since Nornish doctrine emphasizes fast forced marches in order to catch the enemy unawares.

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We don't have any solid information, but somewhere around 7-8 days march away at the earliest.

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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I don't think we will be surprised anyways, a week is plenty of time to prepare, scout and find good defensive terrain. We might have to fight without the 6th, but we can defend quite well in the mud. And again, this is if he went straight towards us after giving up on the crossing at the earliest, rather than wasting time due to the weather and the failed crossing attempt. It's a matter of how well we prepare, not if we are ambushed by him.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

Having this fallback position in place was half the point of demanding the cannons in the first place.
And it's really easy to do- they're probably going to just spike the damn things, making them unfirable

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

Let them melt them down to make a new dragon if they want.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead.

Excellent.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

I think people are thinking too short term on this. Yeah, our army doesn't need the extra cannons, and we won't be able to form regiments for them in the next march turn, but I'd be shocked if 6th army was particularly flush with cannons.

Two Three artillery regiments worth of guns isn't a small thing to give up. Even if half a third of them are intended to be set up in fortifications instead of field work. We shouldn't just be thinking about ourselves here.

Our terms are already extremely generous, we're letting the Army of the West remnants withdraw in good order. If von Trotha doesn't scoop them up they're probably going to end up as extra garrison sitting at Engelsburg.

[X] Insist on the guns. They are in no position to negotiate. The guns are yours or they will pay for them in blood.

We absolutely can't let the Army of the Center get the guns, so destroying them is something I suppose, but I'd prefer stacking the deck in our favor to playing fair.

Edit:
Correction for the artillery regiments, there are the two that the Army of the West still has and the defensive guns that are a part of Daurstein's fortifications.

To comment a bit on the prose:

Photomajig said:

A siege is a curious game. For the defender, a swift surrender promises survival without significant hardship. Though there is generally a price to pay - supplies, munitions and funds to offer as tribute - a city that surrenders without fighting is safe from devastation. A city that falls to assault, though, can only expect a sack - a bestial episode of murder, looting and ruin, which a general in such conditions can only restrict, not prevent altogether.

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We have little need for more supplies, considering we have two armies worth of powder and food already. This means we can forgo tribute. Might even open up some deep operations behind the enemy lines later on, against the proper armies.

Photomajig said:

Yet if one resists, an assault could be repulsed, a siege withstood. A friendly army might come to the rescue and compel your besieger to withdraw. Von Trotha is almost certainly on his way and Daurstein knows it.

For the city's authorities, the matter is simple enough. Their duty is to their people (and their property). If there is little hope of rescue, surrender is the only rational course of action. But there are other actors, other duties. The dregs of the Army owe their loyalty to the King. To surrender without a fight would be shameful. It might kill an officer's career. For the Nornish military leadership, defiance must seem attractive - especially with von Trotha likely on the way.

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Yep, surrender must be justified. There is very little chance of them holding out until Trotha, and they know it. But we have also paid quite a bit of blood, so their resistance against us is still a bargaining chip.

Photomajig said:

On any other day, you'd expect them to at least try to hold out for a short while. But today is not any other day. It is the day after the Army of the West has suffered the most devastating loss in its history and been robbed of near its entire command staff. You are moving swiftly and capitalizing on their shock and fear.

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Hm, I misread their provincial status. It seems like they have a history worth mentioning, which indicates they fought in a number of wars. It might be more accurate to consider them border armies, which have fought Arné for quite some time. This triumph meant more than expected.

Photomajig said:

Daurstein is a sizeable town, squeezed in between the river and forest-brown hills which run like waves towards the east until they cross an invisible line and transition with abrupt sharpness into the black mountains of the great Markwald. The horizon in that direction is choked with rumbling storms, but they are headed away, unless the wind turns on you.

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Not just a border town, but also an important location to secure travel to the Markwald. Nothing but river and hills surrounding it. Also, a shiver-inducing description of the environment.

Photomajig said:

Thanks to your maps and some of your soldiers' local knowledge, you can read the history of the town in its architecture. It's centered on a low hill and descends down its slopes like a flowing skirt. The tightly-packed nested alleys at its highest point are what remains of Daurstein's old town, which supposedly had its houses get burnt down by a dragon in the 1100s. You suspect more mundane causes are to blame, but who knows? That's ancient history.

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An old Burg citing across a hill, as they often do.

Photomajig said:

The town's long since spilled past the Drachentor, in any case. Now its environs are guarded not by walls, but a series of low bastions that could catch anyone trying to march straight through in deadly enfilade. They're far from impenetrable, but without siege guns or sappers, your only option would be to scale the walls and clear them at close quarters. A nasty business, that, even in ideal conditions.

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A proper set of fortification. If the 5th really wants to resist our assault, they can inflict some casualties.

Photomajig said:

In the end, they deliberate on it for four hours. The Fifth spends this time grumbling and shivering in the rain. The guns are arranged for a massed barrage against the city's defending bastions in case they refuse the terms. It would be bloody, but you have no doubt that you would overcome the enemy if it came to that.

Their envoys are a weary-eyed elven officer in an uniform still faintly stained with mud and blood alongside a gloomy dwarven burgher with silver chains hung over his broad stony chest, some kind of mark of status.

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We did endear ourselves to the city, but they are the ones with the most to gain from a bloodless surrender. The western army was likely pushing against the surrender, leading to the long argument. I don't think they are bluffing on the point of the gun, they still have some discipline and reason to hold out. I don't have a strong desire for either siege or assault, the defensible position and opportunity to replenish our reserves after the battle will do us more than just 2 guns.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

[x] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.

It's a risk but an acceptable one

[X] Demand the guns are destroyed instead. A compromise solution may satisfy their notions of honor - they'll wreck the guns before they go, preventing either side from making use of them.