@san What does our troop count look like?
[X] Take the middle ground
-[X]1st day fast pace march, 2nd and 3rd middle ground (with scouts)
-[X] Insist that any group that forms while marching must consist of a minimum of 2 footmen, 1 priest and 1 apprentice.
[X] Tactics
-[X] Talk with the captain if he thinks the below idea is a good one.
-[X]Summon a few (temporary water elements as ranged support and for intimidation factor.
-[X] Everyone advances together in a very obviously defensive formation. You will then try to initiate diplomacy to get the ogres to leave (at extreme range initially, then move closer if things look positive). Things like... "Yes you could kill us but we will take down most of you with us if we fight", "There is plague in the area, do you really want to be in a area with plague?".
--[X] If talking works out then we will warn them about rising undead activity and plague in the area. Staying in a area with such a virulent plague/ undead population would be bad even for ogres, especially as more troops are going to be coming to assist.
--[X] If possible we would like to hire them (if we can afford it). A form of payment could be to try and teach them how to summon food.
--[X] We would be happy to let them leave but we cannot speak for other groups of troops in the area.
-[X] If the attempt to talk fails
--[X] then we take a defensive position while keeping some footmen in reserve in case we need to handle flankers.
--[X] Have the water elements flow through their lines in an attempt to engage their mages and generally disrupt any tactics they may have.
--[X] the priests focus on healing and disrupting any ogre magi buffs.
--[X] the apprentices should be split into 2 groups and are to focus on killing 2 ogres at a time from right to left and left to right respectively. However both groups are to first focus fire on the Ogre Lord, and magi (in that order).
--[X] Jenna should drop a blizzard on the ogre lord (and hopefully the magi) in an effort to disrupt any commands/ spells that they attempt and joining the apprentices when that finishes.
--[X] the captain is to keep his snipes for if any footman looks like he is being overwhelmed and at his own discretion.
The below was my original plan (incomplete)... until I decided that betting on diplomacy and a show of force would be more efficient
[] Take the middle ground
-[]1st day fast pace march, 2nd and 3rd middle ground (with scouts)
-[] Insist that any group that forms while marching must consist of a minimum of 2 footmen, 1 priest and 1 apprentice.
[] Tactics
-[] Talk with the captain if he thinks the below idea is a good one.
-[] Send 2 water elements to scout around the left and right of the group, They are to see if there are more ogres that will enter combat hidden in the forest areas.
-[] Send the Captain + 2/3 footmen and some priests/apprentices in such a way that they look like a fairly (but larger) regular road patrol. They should approach and then loudly get into a mostly defensive formation to attract attention. The captain is then try to initiate diplomacy to get the ogres to leave. Things like... "Yes you could kill us but we will take down most of you with us if we fight", "There is plague in the area, our main focus is making sure sick people do not spread, not fighting".
--[] If talking works out then we will warn them about rising undead activity and plague in the area. Staying in a area with such a virulent plague/ undead population would be bad even for ogres, especially as more troops are going to be coming to assist.
--[] If possible we would like to hire them (if we can afford it). A form of payment could be to try and teach them how to summon food.
--[] Having a green signal flare or something similar to show the situation has been resolved would be nice
-[] If the attempt to talk fails then use a red flare (or something) to show the remaining troops that combat needs to be started. The remaining troops have split up and gone around the edges of the clearing. On combat initiation they wait for the main group to be almost upon the