Pro Patria (Valkyria Chronicles)
- Thread starter Emdeman
- Start date
- Location
- Southern Virginia
[X] Commit the reserves to take the town, it should fall quicker
-[X] Have Nivelle's scouts look around for a weak point in the enemy defenses (unguarded sewers, a poorly secured building that can enfilade the enemy positions, a route to the enemy headquarters, etc.) and have Vorbeck's battalion exploit it.
The Merovan army is small and antiquated enough that their best bet will be to bog down the offensive in urban fighting, not carrying out a counterattack that would expose it to the superior numbers and firepower of the Imperial forces. The purpose of a reserve is either for that contingency or to exploit an opportunity the enemy gives us; since the former is not a real concern at this time, we should then aggressively start looking for that opportunity.
-[X] Have Nivelle's scouts look around for a weak point in the enemy defenses (unguarded sewers, a poorly secured building that can enfilade the enemy positions, a route to the enemy headquarters, etc.) and have Vorbeck's battalion exploit it.
The Merovan army is small and antiquated enough that their best bet will be to bog down the offensive in urban fighting, not carrying out a counterattack that would expose it to the superior numbers and firepower of the Imperial forces. The purpose of a reserve is either for that contingency or to exploit an opportunity the enemy gives us; since the former is not a real concern at this time, we should then aggressively start looking for that opportunity.
[X] Cavalier
LurkingWreck
Smol Birb
- Location
- Norway
[X] Commit the reserves to take the town, it should fall quicker
-[X] Have Nivelle's scouts look around for a weak point in the enemy defenses (unguarded sewers, a poorly secured building that can enfilade the enemy positions, a route to the enemy headquarters, etc.) and have Vorbeck's battalion exploit it.
Come on! The faster we take the towns, the faster we can get back to our paranoia and brooding!
-[X] Have Nivelle's scouts look around for a weak point in the enemy defenses (unguarded sewers, a poorly secured building that can enfilade the enemy positions, a route to the enemy headquarters, etc.) and have Vorbeck's battalion exploit it.
Come on! The faster we take the towns, the faster we can get back to our paranoia and brooding!
- Location
- .
[X] Cavalier
SirLagginton
Shadow Cabal Caerbannog Bun-Bun
- Location
- Arrrghhh
[X] Cavalier
[X] Commit the reserves to take the town, it should fall quicker
-[X] Have Nivelle's scouts look around for a weak point in the enemy defenses (unguarded sewers, a poorly secured building that can enfilade the enemy positions, a route to the enemy headquarters, etc.) and have Vorbeck's battalion exploit it.
-[X] Have Nivelle's scouts look around for a weak point in the enemy defenses (unguarded sewers, a poorly secured building that can enfilade the enemy positions, a route to the enemy headquarters, etc.) and have Vorbeck's battalion exploit it.
1 D100 for More time given: 56
Our time or their time?
3 D100 for Casualties: 45+81+63= 189
Avoiding casualties or the enemy dealing casualties?
1 D100 for Surprise: 61
Our surprising them or the other way around?
Emdeman
The Atlantic Federation
- Location
- Australia
The extra time you gave to Szcerzin by not attacking both towns simultaneously. What did they do with the extra warning?
Enemy dealing casualties to you. You know what they say about statistics and death.
Some of the rolls are for events that haven't occurred yet (also since this is the first of two parts). The enemy isn't stupid and has plans of their own, operating from the knowledge available to them. At different times this information may be greater or less than your own.
No comment.
Here's a freebie; imagine yourself in the enemy's shoes and then extrapolate off the information and events in the last few updates. What are they doing or have done? What constraints are they operating under etc.
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Emdeman
The Atlantic Federation
- Location
- Australia
Vote is now closed.
Cavalier's vote is the winner.
Its a shame no one picked up on the clues. Oh well.
Cavalier's vote is the winner.
Its a shame no one picked up on the clues. Oh well.
2.5
Emdeman
The Atlantic Federation
- Location
- Australia
[X] Commit the reserves to take the town, it should fall quicker
-[X] Have Nivelle's scouts look around for a weak point in the enemy defenses (unguarded sewers, a poorly secured building that can enfilade the enemy positions, a route to the enemy headquarters, etc.) and have Vorbeck's battalion exploit it.
Now is the time to be bold. The enemy is in a dire position, ripe for being vanquished. You order the units held back to enter the town and reinforce the committed forces. Thereby opening a new front for the embattled defenders to shift scant resources to protect. You won't be accused of being timid and letting some of your formations fight unassisted, taking greater damage then they otherwise would.
Under the overcast skies the rest of your forces stream into the burg, its really more like a small city. The buildings are a little spaced out unlike in normal cities where everything seems cramped. The sounds of explosions and firefights ring across the urban landscape. The echoes of falling mortars and reverberations of tank guns can be heard repeatedly like a grim symphony.
More time given
Roll = 56 + 10 Radical Firebrands = 66 — Failure
15 Entrenched => 30 Heavily Entrenched
You follow behind with your guards into the township, places that have already been cleared. A good commanding officer never leads from the front, instead delegating responsibility to able subordinates. Receiving information and making well informed decisions. You walk past the outskirts of the town, mainly battle scarred buildings and the occasional fearful inhabitant peeking through windows. You see cadavers hanging from lampposts and trees. Supposed traitors and collaborators murdered for being insufficiently devoted to the revolution going by the signs around their necks.
Typical mob justice roused by desperate demagogues to inspire solidarity. You doubt any of those people received proper trials, instead being randomly lynched after being accused. Whole families died together which only compounds the barbarity. There's more than a few darcsen among them, which is a rather absurd notion and would be amusing if it weren't so morbid. You're not the type of person to take joy in horrible things, unless its happening to certain someones who have personally wronged you of course. You are human of course.
Renewed attack
Roll = 84 - 30 Heavily Entrenched + 10 Reinforcements + 10 Outnumbered = 74 — Clear Success
The assault goes well. Numerous enemy positions are overrun or abandoned as they become untenable. Nivelle performed his duties skilfully, finding weaknesses in the enemy's defences that the heavier units could take advantage of. Raeder's troops repel a counterattack that was attempting to outflank some heavy armour several streets over. You are unsure if the pillars of smoke in the distance are just coincidental results of the heavy fighting or if the usual suspect is involved.
Still, the fighting is ferocious. The enemy has done their utmost to make this as painful as possible. The regulars fall back in good order to the next set of defences among the buildings, fighting alongside volunteers who put up zealous resistance on preprepared barricades and fortified buildings. Street to street fighting rages across the the town as your forces clear neighbourhood after neighbourhood. In one luckless occasion, the locals spread some form of tree oil used in the factory machines over one of the streets. Igniting it when some armour rolled up the road, cremating an entire platoon of tanks. Mueller's going to be indignant about that for a long time to come.
However, its only a matter of time before their defenses start folding and numerous vehicles are knocked out. You can start isolating their HQ soon, leading to a su-
Detection
Roll = 9 - 5 Fog - 10 Trivial Rearguard = 0 — Dangerous Failure
You are directing operations from an abandoned townhouse when the unexpected occurs. Urgent runners from the rear bring word of attacks on your brigade from outside the town, far behind the current frontline. How could this happen? Those areas were cleared on your approach! Any Merovian troops there should have been dislodged or transformed into bullet riddled corpses! Damn you don't have anything potent there, just substandard rear echelon guards and whatever weapons the labourers can arm themselves with. Your supporting elements are vulnerable to a mauling.
Surprise
Roll = 61 + 5 Trivial Rearguard + 10 Ambush - 20 Winning Handily = 56 — Mixed Outcome
After a moment of rapid thought you come to a realisation. There wasn't a disagreement among the leaders of the Lublin garrison. The forces you faced were acting as a forlorn hope to slow you down. It was a deliberate plan to buy time for rest of the regulars to get some distance from the town. Where did they go afterwards? You naturally assumed they'd either come here or keep on running. Instead they must have melted away into the countryside between the two towns and waited for your forces to move on. And then launching raids on your rear. Blast.
The enemy always gets a vote Rudolf, familiar voice whispers in your mind.
Actually this reminds you a little of one of the historical battles one of your ancestors fought in. The third league war where the Preuthenian military continually surrendered ground to the joint Novan-Wiennese armies during the Baden campaign in order to gather enough strength before forcing a confrontation at the battle of Selhiem. Its an idle thought thats not really relevant since this isn't a conflict between peers.
Okay, you can salvage this. Its only a moderate setback. In a bleaker world, your forces could be encircled right now… if the noose resembled a string. Its like trapping a bear with walls of paper.
You divert the closest units - regardless of battalion - to get over there posthaste and drive them off. You have got to prevent as many supplies from being destroyed as possible.
The response weakens the concentration of your lines. The enemies reaction to this is audacious. Under the cover of the dim evening sun the Merovians stage a breakout with their remaining vehicles and professional troops along with some of the auxiliaries. Using most of their militia in one final attack to pin down the bulk of your forces they strike at the weakest point. Punching through and fleeing from the field. With the core of their forces gone the remaining militia soon surrender.
You are half tempted to have them shot for causing that much trouble but that would violate the conventions, all of them are wearing some kind of identification or uniform. You want to find those that participated in the lynchings and give them a taste from their chalice but you don't want to get down to their level. You only want to punish those who are certainly guilty, but that's impossible to determine by now. Plus it would still break the rules of war.
You are enticed to pursue immediately before you witness the chaos that is your supply train. It wasn't as terrible as it could have been but its still severe. Not an insignificant amount of supplies have been torched, munitions wreaked and menials have been indiscriminately slaughtered, regardless of whether or not they were resisting. There are scatterings of Volhyn and Darsen dead around the areas unlucky enough to be hit. Scoundrels probably killed some of their own countrymen you ironically think.
Its a blow but not a major one. There's still plenty of materiel and labourers left to continue operations, the vast majority in fact. The main issue is fixing the disorder and disarray. You were oversupplied to begin with and the raiders didn't have much time before they were driven off.
You'll need at least a day to reorganise the brigade and finish securing the town. Any immediate pursuit would be reckless in your opinion. Now is the time to take stock of the damage.
Casualties
Roll = 189 * 1.2 Entrenched Foe = 227
4765 - 227 = 4538 effectives
You wonder if you will ever have the courage to read the names of the fallen and not just quickly glance over the lists. Would things have gone better if you had done things differently?
Questioning the prisoners reveals the size of the forces arrayed against you and their commanders. About half a battalion escaped from Seczerin under the command of one Tomasz Daow. The man who made taking this town grueling and then got away to fight again. Approximately another company of troops attacked your rear area. They were led by a Stefan Antoniak, who is presumably the master mind of the Lublin deception. You promise there will be a reckoning with both of them.
The following day you hear some interesting news. The battle for the strategic Midlon fortress is heating up, now is a good a time as any to intervene. That was the main purpose why you took these two towns in the first place wasn't it? Its the next objective. However, that would mean letting this federation force get away. Sure you've already given them a day's head start but shouldn't following on their heels and keeping the pressure applied be prudent? Though they may find extra reinforcements along the way, but you have score to settle with these men. On the other hand you're somewhat inclined to wait more and allow the brigade extra recovery time. Delaying would mean more supplies and reinforcements could come. Not that you're hurting for either honestly.
[] Move to assist the assault on the fortress
[] Pursue the Merovian forces
[] Wait several more days to recover further.
OOC: In case anyone's missed it, always read the last paragraph carefully. They usually provide context to votes.
-[X] Have Nivelle's scouts look around for a weak point in the enemy defenses (unguarded sewers, a poorly secured building that can enfilade the enemy positions, a route to the enemy headquarters, etc.) and have Vorbeck's battalion exploit it.
Now is the time to be bold. The enemy is in a dire position, ripe for being vanquished. You order the units held back to enter the town and reinforce the committed forces. Thereby opening a new front for the embattled defenders to shift scant resources to protect. You won't be accused of being timid and letting some of your formations fight unassisted, taking greater damage then they otherwise would.
Under the overcast skies the rest of your forces stream into the burg, its really more like a small city. The buildings are a little spaced out unlike in normal cities where everything seems cramped. The sounds of explosions and firefights ring across the urban landscape. The echoes of falling mortars and reverberations of tank guns can be heard repeatedly like a grim symphony.
More time given
Roll = 56 + 10 Radical Firebrands = 66 — Failure
15 Entrenched => 30 Heavily Entrenched
You follow behind with your guards into the township, places that have already been cleared. A good commanding officer never leads from the front, instead delegating responsibility to able subordinates. Receiving information and making well informed decisions. You walk past the outskirts of the town, mainly battle scarred buildings and the occasional fearful inhabitant peeking through windows. You see cadavers hanging from lampposts and trees. Supposed traitors and collaborators murdered for being insufficiently devoted to the revolution going by the signs around their necks.
Typical mob justice roused by desperate demagogues to inspire solidarity. You doubt any of those people received proper trials, instead being randomly lynched after being accused. Whole families died together which only compounds the barbarity. There's more than a few darcsen among them, which is a rather absurd notion and would be amusing if it weren't so morbid. You're not the type of person to take joy in horrible things, unless its happening to certain someones who have personally wronged you of course. You are human of course.
Renewed attack
Roll = 84 - 30 Heavily Entrenched + 10 Reinforcements + 10 Outnumbered = 74 — Clear Success
The assault goes well. Numerous enemy positions are overrun or abandoned as they become untenable. Nivelle performed his duties skilfully, finding weaknesses in the enemy's defences that the heavier units could take advantage of. Raeder's troops repel a counterattack that was attempting to outflank some heavy armour several streets over. You are unsure if the pillars of smoke in the distance are just coincidental results of the heavy fighting or if the usual suspect is involved.
Still, the fighting is ferocious. The enemy has done their utmost to make this as painful as possible. The regulars fall back in good order to the next set of defences among the buildings, fighting alongside volunteers who put up zealous resistance on preprepared barricades and fortified buildings. Street to street fighting rages across the the town as your forces clear neighbourhood after neighbourhood. In one luckless occasion, the locals spread some form of tree oil used in the factory machines over one of the streets. Igniting it when some armour rolled up the road, cremating an entire platoon of tanks. Mueller's going to be indignant about that for a long time to come.
However, its only a matter of time before their defenses start folding and numerous vehicles are knocked out. You can start isolating their HQ soon, leading to a su-
Detection
Roll = 9 - 5 Fog - 10 Trivial Rearguard = 0 — Dangerous Failure
You are directing operations from an abandoned townhouse when the unexpected occurs. Urgent runners from the rear bring word of attacks on your brigade from outside the town, far behind the current frontline. How could this happen? Those areas were cleared on your approach! Any Merovian troops there should have been dislodged or transformed into bullet riddled corpses! Damn you don't have anything potent there, just substandard rear echelon guards and whatever weapons the labourers can arm themselves with. Your supporting elements are vulnerable to a mauling.
Surprise
Roll = 61 + 5 Trivial Rearguard + 10 Ambush - 20 Winning Handily = 56 — Mixed Outcome
After a moment of rapid thought you come to a realisation. There wasn't a disagreement among the leaders of the Lublin garrison. The forces you faced were acting as a forlorn hope to slow you down. It was a deliberate plan to buy time for rest of the regulars to get some distance from the town. Where did they go afterwards? You naturally assumed they'd either come here or keep on running. Instead they must have melted away into the countryside between the two towns and waited for your forces to move on. And then launching raids on your rear. Blast.
The enemy always gets a vote Rudolf, familiar voice whispers in your mind.
Actually this reminds you a little of one of the historical battles one of your ancestors fought in. The third league war where the Preuthenian military continually surrendered ground to the joint Novan-Wiennese armies during the Baden campaign in order to gather enough strength before forcing a confrontation at the battle of Selhiem. Its an idle thought thats not really relevant since this isn't a conflict between peers.
Okay, you can salvage this. Its only a moderate setback. In a bleaker world, your forces could be encircled right now… if the noose resembled a string. Its like trapping a bear with walls of paper.
You divert the closest units - regardless of battalion - to get over there posthaste and drive them off. You have got to prevent as many supplies from being destroyed as possible.
The response weakens the concentration of your lines. The enemies reaction to this is audacious. Under the cover of the dim evening sun the Merovians stage a breakout with their remaining vehicles and professional troops along with some of the auxiliaries. Using most of their militia in one final attack to pin down the bulk of your forces they strike at the weakest point. Punching through and fleeing from the field. With the core of their forces gone the remaining militia soon surrender.
You are half tempted to have them shot for causing that much trouble but that would violate the conventions, all of them are wearing some kind of identification or uniform. You want to find those that participated in the lynchings and give them a taste from their chalice but you don't want to get down to their level. You only want to punish those who are certainly guilty, but that's impossible to determine by now. Plus it would still break the rules of war.
You are enticed to pursue immediately before you witness the chaos that is your supply train. It wasn't as terrible as it could have been but its still severe. Not an insignificant amount of supplies have been torched, munitions wreaked and menials have been indiscriminately slaughtered, regardless of whether or not they were resisting. There are scatterings of Volhyn and Darsen dead around the areas unlucky enough to be hit. Scoundrels probably killed some of their own countrymen you ironically think.
Its a blow but not a major one. There's still plenty of materiel and labourers left to continue operations, the vast majority in fact. The main issue is fixing the disorder and disarray. You were oversupplied to begin with and the raiders didn't have much time before they were driven off.
You'll need at least a day to reorganise the brigade and finish securing the town. Any immediate pursuit would be reckless in your opinion. Now is the time to take stock of the damage.
Casualties
Roll = 189 * 1.2 Entrenched Foe = 227
4765 - 227 = 4538 effectives
You wonder if you will ever have the courage to read the names of the fallen and not just quickly glance over the lists. Would things have gone better if you had done things differently?
Questioning the prisoners reveals the size of the forces arrayed against you and their commanders. About half a battalion escaped from Seczerin under the command of one Tomasz Daow. The man who made taking this town grueling and then got away to fight again. Approximately another company of troops attacked your rear area. They were led by a Stefan Antoniak, who is presumably the master mind of the Lublin deception. You promise there will be a reckoning with both of them.
The following day you hear some interesting news. The battle for the strategic Midlon fortress is heating up, now is a good a time as any to intervene. That was the main purpose why you took these two towns in the first place wasn't it? Its the next objective. However, that would mean letting this federation force get away. Sure you've already given them a day's head start but shouldn't following on their heels and keeping the pressure applied be prudent? Though they may find extra reinforcements along the way, but you have score to settle with these men. On the other hand you're somewhat inclined to wait more and allow the brigade extra recovery time. Delaying would mean more supplies and reinforcements could come. Not that you're hurting for either honestly.
[] Move to assist the assault on the fortress
[] Pursue the Merovian forces
[] Wait several more days to recover further.
OOC: In case anyone's missed it, always read the last paragraph carefully. They usually provide context to votes.
- Location
- .
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- Location
- Southern Virginia
Troops who surrender are not protected by their status as POWs from criminal actions. They are entitled to a fair trial but if (for example) we could identify some of the militia as being responsible for the massacres they could be tried and executed for them as such actions violate both civil law and the laws of war. I would in fact submit that such trials would be useful as long as they are fair, public, and documented by neutral observers both for propaganda effect (blackening the Federation's name and making the Empire look good and for holding a fair trial in the first place) and to reassure the occupied population that the Empire will both protect civilians from reprisals and administer the occupied territory fairly. That is not, however, something Rudolph needs concern himself with directly; a suggestion passed up the chain of command to the appropriate military judicial authorities should suffice.
Though keep in mind those same laws of war probably allow for enemy soldiers captured out of uniform or civilians fighting without being organized into a militia with identifiable marks (with leniency if they take arms "spontaneously at the approach of the enemy") to be summarily executed. There was no international war crimes law against taking civilian hostages in response to partisan activity until 1948, either; the "Hostages Trial" at Nuremberg convicted some German officers of going too far with that based on German military law, but acquitted others. Suffice it to say the laws of war in the 1930s are a bit harsher than they are today.
Though keep in mind those same laws of war probably allow for enemy soldiers captured out of uniform or civilians fighting without being organized into a militia with identifiable marks (with leniency if they take arms "spontaneously at the approach of the enemy") to be summarily executed. There was no international war crimes law against taking civilian hostages in response to partisan activity until 1948, either; the "Hostages Trial" at Nuremberg convicted some German officers of going too far with that based on German military law, but acquitted others. Suffice it to say the laws of war in the 1930s are a bit harsher than they are today.
Emdeman
The Atlantic Federation
- Location
- Australia
So votes?
If there's not enough votes I'm thinking of crossposting on SB like Arankor and a few others. I originally didn't want to do that (just picked SV on a coinflip) as it could split the voterbase but if it attracts more players and discussion then I don't think I have much of a choice.
If there's not enough votes I'm thinking of crossposting on SB like Arankor and a few others. I originally didn't want to do that (just picked SV on a coinflip) as it could split the voterbase but if it attracts more players and discussion then I don't think I have much of a choice.
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notmi
Super Koala God Super Koala
Please don't. It's always a major pain for the people who aren't on both forums. I tend to just drop those quests, because the option that wins can be one that I've never even seen before because I'm not on SB. I guess if votes die off, you won't have much of a choice, but give it some more time to see if people were just busy today.
- Location
- Southern Virginia
[X] Move to assist the assault on the fortress
Seeing to the swifter fall of the fortress will hurt the Federation more than sweeping up a field force. The Empire is supposed to have an overwhelming numerical superiority in the campaign; the enemy is time, and fortresses are excellent for buying that time.
Seeing to the swifter fall of the fortress will hurt the Federation more than sweeping up a field force. The Empire is supposed to have an overwhelming numerical superiority in the campaign; the enemy is time, and fortresses are excellent for buying that time.
I was hoping to hear more discussion but it seems Assaulting the Fortress it is.
[X] Move to assist the assault on the fortress
[X] Move to assist the assault on the fortress
).