I'm don't know a nice way of putting it, but this comes off as babble. "If you lose your left and right flanks you've lost the battle" - that's the most basic of basic information about battles. And not relevant to my suggestion nor is, "Their centre forces ... not in a good position to be attacked", as I didn't say to do that. I'm unsure if there's confusion in just what I'm suggesting, or if I'm confused by how you're laying out the battle.
If your left and right flanks are under great pressure and being attacked, you shouldn't be doing nothing with the centre army. And somehow doing something with your centre army, shouldn't make it more likely that your flanks give way than not doing anything at all.
Again, not sure the relevance of this is to my suggestion.
OK, 3 fronts. They marched their left and right flanks forwards to attack our respective left and right flanks. Ergo, our centre army should still be in relative formation with our flanks, where as their centre should not be due to not marching across the field nor being in range of our ranged weaponary or skirmishers. Therefore, there should be an opportunity to advance the centre a marginal amount to apply pressure to the sides of their flanks thus relieving some of the pressure on ours, and the only way to counter this would be to engage with their centre army. However, that still requires marching across the field which should be considerably further than what our centre marched, given as I mentioned they were the ones who attacked our position.
Thus, if their centre doesn't move, our centre can continue pressuring their flanks. If it does move, it'll take a certain amount of time so Jun can decide whether to accept battle or fall back into the original position.
Shitty couple minutes in paint to try and illustrate, along with finding out about arrows in last one.
Edit - didn't know that interface popped up. I'll spoiler it.
I'm going to draw back a bit, and say you do have a point. If you want to try to craft it as a vote, you can. Though some of what you're talking about would just happen as part of drawing from the center. But feel free. I like initiative, even if I was a little annoyed at the babbling thing.
I'm going to draw back a bit, and say you do have a point. If you want to try to craft it as a vote, you can. Though some of what you're talking about would just happen as part of drawing from the center. But feel free. I like initiative, even if I was a little annoyed at the babbling thing.
Babbling isn't an awful thing (perhaps you have a worse definition of it than I?), I mentioned how it was because either I was being confused by what you were presenting or you were being confused by what I was presenting, thus it seemed like we were talking past one another. I'd use that phrase on family or friends, and them on myself.
I think you guys are missing a chance here by not reinforcing the right side. Sure we can hold it without support but if with reinforcements we should be able to push that side, which if successful, should be a massive step in winning the battle. Pretty much any ancient battle I know of was not won by the centre but by gaining the advantage on the flank(s) and this seems like a perfect opportunity to maximise our gains there.
And it would also give us the initiative since we force the prince to react to our movements instead of reacting to his/give him time to come up with another trick. No matter what he has planned he can't afford to lose his flanks which means he needs to reinforce it which in turn means he doesn't have the troops/opportunity to do something else with them. And while he may outnumber us in my experience those numbers often become pretty meaningless if the other side (we) gains the momentum which a successful push on either flank would likely accomplish.
I'm don't know a nice way of putting it, but this comes off as babble. "If you lose your left and right flanks you've lost the battle" - that's the most basic of basic information about battles. And not relevant to my suggestion nor is, "Their centre forces ... not in a good position to be attacked", as I didn't say to do that. I'm unsure if there's confusion in just what I'm suggesting, or if I'm confused by how you're laying out the battle.
If your left and right flanks are under great pressure and being attacked, you shouldn't be doing nothing with the centre army. And somehow doing something with your centre army, shouldn't make it more likely that your flanks give way than not doing anything at all.
Again, not sure the relevance of this is to my suggestion.
OK, 3 fronts. They marched their left and right flanks forwards to attack our respective left and right flanks. Ergo, our centre army should still be in relative formation with our flanks, where as their centre should not be due to not marching across the field nor being in range of our ranged weaponary or skirmishers. Therefore, there should be an opportunity to advance the centre a marginal amount to apply pressure to the sides of their flanks thus relieving some of the pressure on ours, and the only way to counter this would be to engage with their centre army. However, that still requires marching across the field which should be considerably further than what our centre marched, given as I mentioned they were the ones who attacked our position.
Thus, if their centre doesn't move, our centre can continue pressuring their flanks. If it does move, it'll take a certain amount of time so Jun can decide whether to accept battle or fall back into the original position.
Shitty couple minutes in paint to try and illustrate, along with finding out about arrows in last one.
Edit - didn't know that interface popped up. I'll spoiler it.
Isn't it a bit more complicated than that? The enemy is advancing on our right flank and being shot by cannons but the issue is that it is still advancing and the amount of people needed to operate a cannon makes it vulnerable to close combat.
In the other hand, it was our left flank that advanced on the enemy because Jinhai entrenched his right side by a lake. We sent the rassit to circle around and harass it but that is when Jinhai ised his cannons against them and the suicide bombers against our advancing left.
Now, I have no clue about battles, that much I admit. But shouldn't your diagram then show Jinhai's left advancing on our right like it is while our left advancing on our right? That would mean that, according to your reasoning, we could advance the center a bit to circle Jinhai's left while his center would have to advance a bigger distance to counter but, by the same reasoning, Jinhai could advance his center a bit to counter our left while we would need to advance a bigger distance to counter that. Neither side can advance their respective rights too much without leaving their cannons unguarded and those right sides have terrain in their favour, we having the hills and they having a lake defending one of their sides.
I presume that if your reasoning is right then the reason Jinhai is keepingthe center from advancing is tgat he is waiting to see what we do and because he thinks his cannons are better guarded than our own. So he would want to destroy our cannonswhich guard our right so that when our center advances he can use the light cavalry that he is keeping in reserve to strike it from the right without fear of reprisal from cannon fire.
Of course, if our left falls then he is free to circle us with his right and center but as I see it (and do remember I don't know shit about this so take it with a grain of salt) the placement of the cannons means that both armies want to take down the enemy's right flank fast so that they are not bombarded with cannonfire on their center once they advance but it is innevitable their left will be bombarded by it since that is the flankthat has to take them down. We are shooting their left but they advance anyways. Our left is trying to advance while Jinhai's cannons are busy trying to kill the rassit but our formation and morale is being disrupted by suicide bombers. He is basically using the berserkers to make up the lack of presicion from cannon fire. If he shot the cannons while the armies clashed then he risks hitting his troops but the berserkers can use the bombs while Jinhai's soldiers are close enough to take advantage of thebroken spear wall. Flanking them would relieve some of the pressure but I presume they are chucking somebombs as grenades before killing themselves so the disruption would lower its effectivenes.
#babbling #HidingIgnoranceWithLenght
Edit: Also, wouldn't reiforce our right mean reinforcing its defenses? Since otherwise we would be trying to attack while showering with cannonfire. We could shoot their back where our troops aren't I guess but that would be more about cutting their morale. Depending on how skilled their general, they might spin that as conquering the hill being their only chance to survive since the shoots would be cutting their retreat.
Our left is also anchored by a lake IIRC and while we sent the light cavalry forward on the left to harrass I don't think we've advanced our line there. The Rassit went round the outside of Jinhai's (smaller) lake so they were presumably hitting screening forces that Jinhai had kept on his right because he knows his lake isn't big enough.
Jinhai advances on that flank, exposing it even more to our light cavalry but the Rassit can't take advantage because that is where he's set up his cannon. The trap doesn't kill many Rassit but it does force them to back off. On the other hand, we now know that many of his cannon are committed to defending his right flank and rear and he had fewer to start with.
Jinhai himself is with the advance against our left flank. Rather than hitting us with his own troop however, he sends in the enslaved beserkers first, putting us under severe pressure.
I would guess that he intends to force our left flank away from our lake and have his cavalry - which hasn't engaged yet - exploit the gap. His centre not advancing would leave that cavalry room to manoeuvre. That would imply that the bulk of his cavalry is central. That would be why he's willing to risk a gap developing between his right flank and his centre. with our light cavalry committed to the outside his cavalry can cover it. He'd like us to try for it with infantry because it would let him bring his greater numbers to bear on the salient thus formed.
As long as we hold though, most of the killing is being done by our cannon. He can't reposition his own cannon while the Rassit are still out there. His supply lines are not secure while the Rassit are still out there and he doesn't know when our reinforcements are going to turn up. He has to win today and preferably this morning. His officers and nobles will know this too. If we give him an excuse he will commit his reserves before we do.
Now I'm tempted to reinforce the right from the center too: holding on to that prime gunnery position is important and the firmer we hold it the more the guns can affect the rest of the battlefield. I think I quite like the psychology of calmly showing them a thinned line in the center. Is it a trap or an opportunity not to be wasted? If their center moves forward while we still hold the heights then we shoot the shit out of it and they don't know where our Hanin are. On the other hand time is against them. The ideal scenario is that someone who isn't Jinhai orders the attack and it's ragged and uncertain as a result. The downside is that they might successfully smash through.
Our best chance of a quick win is if we can use magic to take out those guns and set the Sea Raiders wild. At that point our light cavalry can get between Jinhai and the bulk of his army and we can crush him against the lake.
Now I'm tempted to reinforce the right from the center too: holding on to that prime gunnery position is important and the firmer we hold it the more the guns can affect the rest of the battlefield. I think I quite like the psychology of calmly showing them a thinned line in the center. Is it a trap or an opportunity not to be wasted? If their center moves forward while we still hold the heights then we shoot the shit out of it and they don't know where our Hanin are. On the other hand time is against them. The ideal scenario is that someone who isn't Jinhai orders the attack and it's ragged and uncertain as a result. The downside is that they might successfully smash through.
I don't think that anybody in Csritan has the heavy cavalry necessary to really smash through a massed line of infantry like the we are fielding, especially not with reserve forces waiting to reinforce it. As long as the centre doesn't break completely, which it shouldn't when faced with the rather sup-bar cavalry that seems to fielded here, such a strategy just means that your troops are in danger of getting surrounded, if they even manage to push into the centre that is. There is a very good reason why cavalry is used in almost every case a a flanking force (the best and most famous example of that is probably Alexander the Great who pretty much won every battle thanks to his cavalry. ) and that is because it directly plays into its strengths (like manoeuvrability and speed).
Our best chance of a quick win is if we can use magic to take out those guns and set the Sea Raiders wild. At that point our light cavalry can get between Jinhai and the bulk of his army and we can crush him against the lake.
There are still basically no strategic incentives to go for a quick win here though beyond bragging rights. And as useful as bragging rights are going to be back in the capital, we should get lots of influence already just from a successful campaign without any additional styling on Jinhai.
Lets just play this battle conservatively so we at worst lose narrowly and can retreat in relative order, link up with our reinforcements and hope his generals stab him in the back in exchange for lesser punishment to make the clean up less messy..
I don't think that anybody in Csritan has the heavy cavalry necessary to really smash through a massed line of infantry like the we are fielding, especially not with reserve forces waiting to reinforce it. As long as the centre doesn't break completely, which it shouldn't when faced with the rather sup-bar cavalry that seems to fielded here, such a strategy just means that your troops are in danger of getting surrounded, if they even manage to push into the centre that is. There is a very good reason why cavalry is used in almost every case a a flanking force (the best and most famous example of that is probably Alexander the Great who pretty much won every battle thanks to his cavalry. ) and that is because it directly plays into its strengths (like manoeuvrability and speed).
I don't mean their cavalry smashing through our thinned center, I mean their center infantry. If they make a well organised attack they have a weight of numbers advantage that could let them roll right over the line before we can bring up the reserves. Even if nobody routs at that point we aren't going to be able to connect our line back up so they can get their cavalry in behind us and break us on the left.
If infantry can keep in formation all the way to contact then it becomes a shoving match and the deeper unit wins. A narrow column pushing through is in danger of getting enveloped but in this situation they can have that depth advantage across the whole width of the center if they fully commit. They'd wipe out the section in a couple of minutes.
If we bolster the right we're better off using Hanin (and maybe fake weakness in the center). The crossbows will gain benefit from the elevated shooting positions too.
There are still basically no strategic incentives to go for a quick win here though beyond bragging rights. And as useful as bragging rights are going to be back in the capital, we should get lots of influence already just from a successful campaign without any additional styling on Jinhai.
Lets just play this battle conservatively so we at worst lose narrowly and can retreat in relative order, link up with our reinforcements and hope his generals stab him in the back in exchange for lesser punishment to make the clean up less messy..
Yeah, your heavy cavalry is very, very limited, and has very little experience. You do have some, and so does Jinhai, but neither Kiralo nor Jinhai has a low enough martial to actually trust them all that much.
There are still basically no strategic incentives to go for a quick win here though beyond bragging rights. And as useful as bragging rights are going to be back in the capital, we should get lots of influence already just from a successful campaign without any additional styling on Jinhai.
Lets just play this battle conservatively so we at worst lose narrowly and can retreat in relative order, link up with our reinforcements and hope his generals stab him in the back in exchange for lesser punishment to make the clean up less messy..
Playing it conservatively means giving up the initiative and in my opinion it is far easier to fight an enemy that is forced to react to your actions than the other way around, especially in world of magic like this one. Its generally safer to not give an enemy like the prince time to think and plot.
If infantry can keep in formation all the way to contact then it becomes a shoving match and the deeper unit wins. A narrow column pushing through is in danger of getting enveloped but in this situation they can have that depth advantage across the whole width of the center if they fully commit. They'd wipe out the section in a couple of minutes.
That is simply stupid. We are talking about tens of thousands of men here - nothing will happen within minutes, especially not a slaughter on the scale your are imagining. You don't just push through such a massive number of troops, especially not with soldiers that are at best a few steps above militia.
[X][LeftHelp] Tell them to hold on. From what Kiralo can tell of the chaotic situation, Kueli is still out there, and the Rassit should help to weaken the enemy some. If they can just hold there, then that's good.
[X][RightHelp] Reinforce from the reserves.
The Sea-Raider didn't scream. He didn't say anything. He and the others just charged forward right at the spears. Some had spears, others swords, and a few were wielding giant spiked club in a single hand, slamming it down as fast as a man could stab.
Sergeant Iliae knew that none of the men he had could stand up to even a single blow of that. Even all of his spirits would merely save his arm. He'd be down and out of a fight from a single hit of that. It was terrifying to watch these crude, huge, oddly hairy and yet normal skinned barbarians rampaging. "Hold!" he yelled, his voice hoarse. The smoke and dust and the heat had sapped his ability to yell clearly, and that had been one of his best features. It was why he was put in charge of this group of spearmen, but they wouldn't last much longer.
The barbarian's thick plated armor, like shingles on some strange house, turned aside most spear blows, only barely scratched, and the terrified militia were not able to stab at the right places. They kept on expecting to go through it, like you could with the skirmishers they'd fought.
"Hold! Hold!" he kept on yelling drawing a sword and hacking at one man who tried to run. The others fell in line as the corpse fell, and he stepped forward, slamming his sword into the head of the barbarian raider, ripping at the paper that covered his face, but not enough, not fast enough. Up came the sword, and it cut across his side.
The pain was without end, and he stumbled back, and then roared, "Hold!"
His sword found the enemy belly just a moment before his head was removed from his body.
*******
All along the line, people struggled. And towards the most rightward part of the left part of the Imperial army, men ran. No amount of murder could keep them from running, and the rest of the army, viciously pressed and dying to hold the bleeding forces together, couldn't do more than just try to turn, awkwardly and desperately.
Hundreds of people died in the two minutes after that break, and yet the rest of the army held the line, even as they retreated.
There were hundreds of barbarians, and each of them seemed to take multiple crossbow bolts and the effort of strong men to take down, and then there were the cannons, roaring like the mouth of the dead world roaring forth, and the bottles of spirits that screamed or reached out, dragging men into the ground, into the fire.
Captains died, and the generals hung back, terrified and uncertain as the fight raged on.
******
Jun was frustrated, all but pacing in the middle of his formations. He was a general, and he was missing the glory! He was missing the fights, the strong charges, the mighty spirits. It was horrific, really! All of that fun, all of those jolly times, the chance to make a name for himself in the annals of history, and he was being held back while everyone else got a go.
The thin, relatively young man knew that he was boastful. He'd boast about it to anyone who asked. But he was a warrior, born and bred into it. His father had been involved, and he'd killed bandits in hand-to-hand combat before, had whetted his sword against all manner of evildoers and scoundrels. And traitors were the worst of the bunch.
So when he heard the order, he spurred his men to move as fast as they could. They marched in time, a cloud of dust filling the air as they marched forward, ready to hit the attacking enemy at the side.
It was because they marched that they were present when the right part of the existing formation began to fall apart. They were still marching closer, ready to fill in the gap and shove the enemy back, when as one the barbarian sea-raiders turned towards Jun's formation and howled.
And then the cannons began to fire.
"Forward! Forward! Hit their weak points! Their armor under their armpit is weak!" Jun yelled, and the word was passed around. Jun did not ride or walk at the head of the formation, but he did pace between the middle ranks, between the lines that the spears necessitated, shouting encouragement as the men died, and returned the fire.
Then the spirit bottles hit, and all was chaos.
*******
"Take that, you God-hating miscreants!" Niu yelled, pacing from one cannon to the other. "Your land should be barren, and your clothes should be filled with lice!"
He'd been shouting these absurd insults for a long while, moving back and forth while Jaw-Lung watched him with a bizarre sort of pride. The middle-aged man clearly wasn't up to the insults that Jaw-Lung was used to hearing at the Imperial Mage Academy, but by the Gods if he wasn't trying, and his orders for aiming were excellent.
If only the men were not so tired and hot. They needed water, and yet they'd run out of it, and Jaw-Lung could do only so much. "Damned if I am a Mage of this type, I shouldn't be here at all if that's what you needed," Jaw-Lung said to one of the men who came to him for water, and then he moved around to help to steady the fire from one of the cannons that was aiming a bit too high.
Push it down with spirits, and then make the ball explode into shrapnel, into sharp bits that tore into the flesh of the enemy, who pressed on against all sense and reason.
And yet they gained ground. It was vicious, brutal fighting, the sort of thing that Jaw-Lung could never have imagined. People threw themselves onto spears and then worked their way up and through, stabbing all the while with a dagger. People fled, only to turn at the last moment, and slash out with a rusty sword.
It was a chaotic melee, not the grand marching formation of spears he'd expected.
Sure, at points, it stood like that, both sides pressing each other, spears pointed outward like a wall of death, but just as often there was some gap in the formations, or a spirit, red and raging, slashed into a formation to open it all up for a moment so that some group could go in and try to tear it apart.
Without the spirits, this fight was impossible, Jaw-Lung thought, awed as he always was by magic. Without the spirits, both sides wouldn't have the will to keep on slaughtering like this. Even so, there was a breaking point, there was a point where even a spirit of courage and a spirit of strength combined couldn't keep a man's knees from collapsing under him, and the cannons kept up their grim toll on the middle and back ranks, forcing the enemy to have to fight hard without retreating, withour reinforcements to switch out with them.
And that, well, that was Niu's genius, but also Kiralo's, who had explicitly endorsed the tactic.
And among all of this, the Hannin marched, their spearmen stabbing enemies as fast as they could move, and each bold from the crossbows that made up the second half of the unit killing a man. One shot, one kill, no matter how well trained or strong the enemy was.
The ground became slick with blood, and the world fell away.
Spirits, spirits, and then more spirits. He spoke their names and knew their secrets, and each name he spoke he cast to the wind, to let it act, to let it destroy the enemy.
All of the numbers in the world, all of the mechanical love he'd had for the creation of interesting new items, and the way he'd seen the world, was suddenly inadequate in the face of the chaos around them.
The enemy made it almost two thirds of the way up the hill, until only their back ranks could be hit, at places, though even with all of that, a push would still leave half the cannons able to fire from other hills.
And then?
And then the tide began to turn. The enemy was retreating, leaving behind great heaps of dead on both side. Yet the enemy had taken more losses, by far.
Niu let out a breath. "Should I ask Kiralo for orders? Or should I act?"
He was asking Jaw-Lung? But of course he was. Jaw-Lung had talked about admiring Kiralo, and surely his advice would be to ask, and Niu wanted to because he was… not sure. He was very much not sure about what to do.
"Act how?"
"I could advance my forces. Or try to order the other generals too. They're falling back, if we go forward we could turn it into a rout… but what if they're feigning. And even if they're not, they could rally, and I'd be moving the troops farther away from the cannons, which means--"
He turned, and gave a relieved sigh as he saw a messenger running up.
Kiralo had… had what? Had somehow seen it coming, that the attack would fail, and had timed it that well? It almost made sense. It almost didn't.
"Sir, you have orders to…"
What to do?
[] Stay here. Bombard the enemy, hold the line, make sure they're running away with their tails between their legs. See to the wounded as best you can, and stand there, proud and unharmed, your own dead going off to decent burials, as the enemy has to *watch* this failure.
[] Attack. The enemy is disorganized. If you push on hard enough, they can really be hurt here and now. This is far from the end, but at least do some violence to them, but be wary of being led into a chase.
[] Write-in always available!
********
The Arrival of the Reinforcements: 1d100+11 (Jun's Martial with the bonus)+5 (Morale)+0 (Troops)=76
Holding Out 1, 2, 3: 1d100=71, 74, 4
Attack of the Raiders: 1d100+20 (Perfect Artificial Morale)+15 (Skill)+5 (Terror)=43, reroll=91
Reinforcements: 42
Cannons and Raiders: 1d100+40+11+10 (Cannons)=147
Against the Slaughter: 1d100+16+10 (successes before)=90
Right-side cannons, 1, 2: 1d100+21-3 (Close range)=117+1d100=150 AND 32
Bring on the Hanin!:1d100+10 (Skill)+10 (Good Morale)+8 (Martial)=99
Holding Steady 1, 2, 3: 22, 66, 91
Enemy Push: 91, 81, 14
A/N: So, here's an update. There's also going to be a vote for Jun in the next update, dealing with the hell that is the Sea-Raiders, though it should be noted that the bleeding has at least slowed on the left side. Or, I suppose, it's been spread around, which is about the same thing!
[x] Stay here. Bombard the enemy, hold the line, make sure they're running away with their tails between their legs. See to the wounded as best you can, and stand there, proud and unharmed, your own dead going off to decent burials, as the enemy has to *watch* this failure.
Preliminary vote. I'm wary of a trap though I wouldn't be opposed to a harassment write in, as long as it's not an all out attack.
[x] Stay here. Bombard the enemy, hold the line, make sure they're running away with their tails between their legs. See to the wounded as best you can, and stand there, proud and unharmed, your own dead going off to decent burials, as the enemy has to *watch* this failure.
We don't really need to rout them, given strategically anything other than an outstanding Jinhai win means he's taken too many casualties for the follow up armies and he's lost. So hold the ground and use the time they're retreating to reorganize in case they return, and if not see if it's possible to aid the other fronts.
Also a routing army is best pursued by cavalry, which this front doesn't really possess. If the Rassit were on this side there would be no question what to do though.
Yes! The left flank is being pressed hard but they seem to be holding for now and the right flank is safe for a while. Not a bad situation.
[X] Stay here. Bombard the enemy, hold the line, make sure they're running away with their tails between their legs. See to the wounded as best you can, and stand there, proud and unharmed, your own dead going off to decent burials, as the enemy has to *watch* this failure.
Rather than risk falling into a trap, the right flank should entrench themselves again. The Prince has to attack us if he wants to win, so all we really need to do is hold our position and drive any attacks back. So long as we keep the cannons safe, we can keep bombarding the Prince's troops. If he wants to launch another attack with his left to neutralize the cannons, he'll have to draw troops from elsewhere, which will weaken those attacks.
@The Laurent
1. How much of our stockpile of gunpowder and cannonballs has Niu used up till now? Does he fear that we might end up using our entire stockpile before the battle is over?
2. I doubt the cannons can hit the assault on our left flank all the way from our right, but could they do that if they were placed in our center? If so, how much trouble does Niu think it would be if we moved a few cannons from our right to the center?
Yes! The left flank is being pressed hard but they seem to be holding for now and the right flank is safe for a while. Not a bad situation.
[X] Stay here. Bombard the enemy, hold the line, make sure they're running away with their tails between their legs. See to the wounded as best you can, and stand there, proud and unharmed, your own dead going off to decent burials, as the enemy has to *watch* this failure.
Rather than risk falling into a trap, the right flank should entrench themselves again. The Prince has to attack us if he wants to win, so all we really need to do is hold our position and drive any attacks back. So long as we keep the cannons safe, we can keep bombarding the Prince's troops. If he wants to launch another attack with his left to neutralize the cannons, he'll have to draw troops from elsewhere, which will weaken those attacks.
@The Laurent
1. How much of our stockpile of gunpowder and cannonballs has Niu used up till now? Does he fear that we might end up using our entire stockpile before the battle is over?
2. I doubt the cannons can hit the assault on our left flank all the way from our right, but could they do that if they were placed in our center? If so, how much trouble does Niu think it would be if we moved a few cannons from our right to the center?
Hmm, it would take some time, and it should be noted that there aren't hills in the center, so the range and field of fire will be less. One of the things to remember, that it's hard to really show, is that... these are armies of over a hundred thousand fighting men. Their lines are actually pretty long. You'd be able to do some damage to the left, sure, but not as much as you might think.
And your stockpiles are looking pretty good so far. It depends on how heavily the cannons are used and how long the battle lasts. At the moment, though it doesn't seem like it should be a major concern.
[x] Stay here. Bombard the enemy, hold the line, make sure they're running away with their tails between their legs. See to the wounded as best you can, and stand there, proud and unharmed, your own dead going off to decent burials, as the enemy has to *watch* this failure.
Let the men catch a breath, get some water up here, keep firing - let the cannonballs do the pursuit and start eroding Jinhai's center.
2. I doubt the cannons can hit the assault on our left flank all the way from our right, but could they do that if they were placed in our center? If so, how much trouble does Niu think it would be if we moved a few cannons from our right to the center?
This isn't a really efficient option. A better move would be to just keep the cannons where they are on the hills given they should give them range advantages, which should be enough to aid the centre should it be attacked. Then with the added security of the coverage, send some more troops from the centre to help the left.
You'd also still have the reserves to commit should the need arise.
[X] Attack. The enemy is disorganized. If you push on hard enough, they can really be hurt here and now. This is far from the end, but at least do some violence to them, but be wary of being led into a chase.
[x] Stay here. Bombard the enemy, hold the line, make sure they're running away with their tails between their legs. See to the wounded as best you can, and stand there, proud and unharmed, your own dead going off to decent burials, as the enemy has to *watch* this failure.
Pro pushing:
-Niu seems like a cautious man, which, even if it also means he wont deal as much damage as a more hot blooded fellow would, should decrease the chance of him falling into any trap in a way that really hurts us.
-The chance that our enemy knows both Nius character and the fact that he is in charge of this flank is small, thus he will have to react to the push as it was led by someone with the proper attitude to make it really hurt.
-Combining the above two means that this maneuver could led to Jinhai spending ressources to prevent terrible casualties that probably wouldnt happen anyway while hoping he can catch a person in a trap who unfortunately for him is currently pretty paranoid.
-Any ressources Jinhai spends here wont be spent on the other fronts where we are weaker and in reverse anything he planned to spend here can be repurposed to be spent elsewhere where it could hurt us more.
-Dealing damage to the enemy is nice. Common wisdom would be to attack and only special circumstances make caution worth considering.
-This is a really strong position. A bunch of Hanin on a hill with cannon support will still be a bitch for him to deal with even if they end up with a bloody nose from this push.
-They just wasted troops pushing that strong position. Either they were surprised by how fortified is was, they had something planned that failed or this is a trap. Two of three cases say a push would be even more effective.
-We have Hanin here and they are really equals to our Rassit in badassness. His trap will cost him.
Pro staying:
-Our position on this flank is good. We can afford to miss out on an advantage.
-Our strategic position here is good. We can afford to miss out on an advantage.
-Our cannons here make the Center we just weakened safer.
-The enemy cavalry is still unaccounted for and we have reasons to believe them to have some magic stealth support.
-They just pushed a heavily fortified position without any advantages for them. The chance that they have some trap planned is high.
In summary: Either this push will deal decent damage or it will trigger one of Jinhais surprises on the flank that can most afford to facetank a surprise. We are taking a risk, but we are trading it with future risks. A write in telling him to focus on looking like a scary attack at the expense of actually being a scary attack might even be worth it, but I am probably just be disrespecting the worth of the very real casualties we can deal Jinhai now.
[X] Attack. The enemy is disorganized. If you push on hard enough, they can really be hurt here and now. This is far from the end, but at least do some violence to them, but be wary of being led into a chase.
[X] Attack. The enemy is disorganized. If you push on hard enough, they can really be hurt here and now. This is far from the end, but at least do some violence to them, but be wary of being led into a chase.
