I'm pretty confident, though I don't put a particularly high value on one XP with the 45th. They will be professional anyways after this battle due to +2XP from battle, and one XP doesn't matter that much with elven infantry. Also, they are out of munitions, so they can't shoot.
Oh no, I was remembering that there was a setup phase for artillery, checked out the rules under Informational, found noting of the sort, went "oh right, must have misremembered" and assumed there was no such thing.
It's in the rules screen, though navigating that one isn't immediately obvious. Mechanics-> Traits:
Also
Yeah, I get that. We're also pretty early in the quest, where the rules were revised a number of times due to not really fitting. With respect to our QM, it's also though to write everything down in a succinct way before it solidified. The rules on half-movement where only introduced on this map IIRC, due to the mud slowing everybody down. Give it some time, and if you're in doubt about the rules, ask one of the more experienced players.
You have a point there, I will amend that order. The nymphs are less replacable due to being a minority race, plus the professional xp. Killing them will hurt more, plus the 177th isn't exactly in a position to do much.
Oh right, and that section is actually in the rules. Disregard the former, I am just stupid then.
This sounds reasonable to me, if we expect him to retreat this may be our last chance to hit the nymphs. We can still hit the 177th on their way out, should he pull back.
Fair enough, and thank you. On the QM's part, its of course completely understandable that it's challenging to keep track of and succinctly write down all the rules for a relatively mechanistically complicated quest, especially in a newbie friendly way.
I assume that you want the 10th Hum Artillery to shoot at the 177th Hum since there is no 77th Hum to shoot at.
That, and doctrinal differences. Nornish tactics emphasize strong discipline and resiliant units much more than Arne, leading to a defensively minded outset that anticipates countering the great charge. Only this great charge never came, due to us enjoying very comfortable artillery superiority. Some of this may be Wachenheim specifically being very defensive, but it has to be noted that our opponents operate on the idea of a great offensive of ours coming eventually rather than skirmishes and an artillery duel.
Prolonging the battle is good for us. We can inflict more casualties with artillery fire, plus train our artillery more for future battles.
Honestly, I have been given doctrine a great deal of thought recently. I think a longer term goal for us should be to completely overhaul Arnese doctrine, first for our army and later for the whole country. The issue is that for obvious reasons, neither Arnish or Nornish armies appear to take full advantage of Elvish units and their immortality. The optimal thing from a military perspective would be to treat our Elvish units as expendable, compared to units comprised of all the other races. Due to their unique ability to reincarnate, Elvish units should be thrown in the worst meat grinders, should be set to charge first and absorb artillery fire and should be used as expendable skirmisher to damage enemy elite units. Since elves come back to life after the battle, having most our losses be elves would make a massive difference on a campaign level, since we would replenish our troops much faster than our opponents.
While discussing our thoughts on doctrine is a fine idea, I would caution people that we haven't really seen "proper" Arnese doctrine against an equivalent army. Our battles, including the ongoing one, have hardly been fought under usual conditions or with conventional army compositions. There are likely plenty of dumb ideas, but we also need to understand what we are overhauling before suggesting a fundamental overhaul.
Elves are in the awkard position where they are really good at maintaining a high-skill floor, but have great issues getting there. This makes them a very valueable long-term resource, but in any individual battle they are unappealing. I agree with your conclusion here though, I think Elves are best used for high-risk skirmishes or pincer movements, due to their good operational ability. It might also be a good idea to anchor elves in the front of our infantry line, letting them absorb the initial shock and scout for ambushers. More of a defense in depth rather than unbreakable front strategy.
True, although that absolutely is something Durand should know due to being military trained in Arne. Thus I feel confident asking the QM would not be metagaming in any sense.
For the Revolution. For the Republic.
Durand probably has a reputation as restless and energetic; a person who cannot keep still.
What do rich/powerful hobgoblins build for themselves?
Never underestimate elves. They ruled much of the world for a reason after all, and they are still a very dangerous and formidable enemy.
"To defeat an enemy, you must know them. Not simply their battle tactics, but their history. Philosophy. Art."
Photomajig, thanks for writing it as a wyvern instead of a dragon. In my opinion, in any and all fantasy settings, just the mere word 'dragon' should cause fear and disquiet.
Durand's got racial pride. Nothing wrong with that, I say. It's if she starts speaking ill of other races that it'd become a problem. Though I wouldn't mind if Durand is written to have at least some level of prejudice. Still, she of course would have to set all that aside to prevent it from impeding her in her military career.
The Beriev A-50.
People who choose to become pilots. I also thought of Lyanna Stark, who was never happier than when she was on horseback (I do not like Rhaegar Targaryen by the way. I see him as just like his father, only he was much better at hiding what he was, from others and from himself)
A hedge knight?
She has pride and an ego, and does not wish to make herself look bad in front of her superior.
Durand may use the excellent eyesight of elves against them, to deceive them into seeing something that she wants them to.
Napoleon lost at least one battle in his campaign in Northern Italy. He still won in the end. He also won most of the battles in Russia in 1812, but by the end of that campaign...
I agree humans are great infantry, but I don't know they are actually better at maintaining high levels of experience despite casualties. The XP lost scales with the current level of experience to, since you generally have few veterans or professionals in reserve. Also, having a lot casualties doesn't equate to getting high levels of experience, if a unit faces multiple attacks a turn they still just get one xp a turn. I can see a situation where infantry faces 3-4 damaging attacks a turn (like the 148th did in this battle), resulting in a higher net xp loss for the humans due to getting only two effective xp from that turn.
Small correction, it's only 250 influence. It's quite expensive, but also a really great investment. With this, we could do a lot more manoeuvre, which enables far better wins. If we want to spend our influence, nothing trumps the tactical usefulness of more mobile artillery. Not protection for our units, siege artillery or veterans. If you want to invest in a decisive advantage, this is it.
The mistake comes from misreading enemy priorities regarding offense, plus a mistake about the placement of artillery. But yeah, with reserved cavalry we might have really mauled the Jägers now, which opens options up.
I disagree. For one, I would be very happy with a horse artillery unit where the 16th is currently, which would have controlled the battlefield up to the eastern stretch of road. Or put it 2 west of the hill, we could slaughter so much of the enemy army. The central point here isn't even about positioning itself, it's the ability to move artillery around as needed. If we were trying to actually push the enemy, we could use 2 cannons to fire on targets out of range instead of one.
Given that elves, in the lore as written, actually have a very good chance to come back from lethal injuries, I think it should be possible to convince them to do it. Like really, they can literally come back from death. I'd imagine elves don't really view death the same way the other races do.
Edit:
Sure, but we seem to be understrength compared to our current enemy. Wachenheim had far more infantry regiments than us, while Trotha enjoys a considerable artillery superiority, alongside a pretty experienced artillery corps. The force disparity does need to be addressed. Additionally, I would like the ability for the fifth army to carry out limited offensives during mud seasons, rather than being stuck against superior fire power.
That's accurate in real life, but not really reflected in in-game mechanics. The ability to shoot over forests and woods is pretty valuable, all things considered. Maybe we could say that hills with a high elevation are represented at hill tiles surrounded by other hills, since that actually reflects the dead zones for the relevant artillery.
Honestly, with the losses we have taken and will still take during this battle, especially if we have to engage Wahhenheim again to finish him off, I am not confident in our ability to beat Trotha with our current troops. At least not without good prep. We may have to come up with some clever plan on the campaign map in order to migitate his artillery superiority.
