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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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SaltyWaffles said:
Who among our foes even does prolonged sieges? The skaven, I suppose, but they'd be doing it underground or inside mountains, where our ship would be of little use. But greenskins? Their idea of a siege is a hasty assault en masse, where they bring overwhelming numerical superiority and a broad willingness to charge into suicidal odds to bear against fortified positions. The most they ever did was use sappers en masse to conduct a same-day assault on a citadel. Beastmen? They lack the patience, equipment, or expertise for a deliberate siege. Norscans? Sure, but they'd be unlikely to cross the sea to conduct a deliberate siege against the Empire when their MO is coastal raiding. Chaos? If Chaos is laying siege to a city, the entire Empire is marching to relieve it, minimum.

Realistically, even an army of orcs would fail when making hasty assaults against fortified cities, because walls don't care about your willingness to charge to certain death, and ladders leave you horrendously vulnerable to getting stabbed in the head by a spear as you climb up or shot by arrows/bolts long before you reach the top. Crude catapults aren't nearly enough to knock down a well-built wall and lack the range to safely attack walls that have their own long-range defenses. Their best bet is sappers once again, because the digging speed of evil factions in this setting is beyond absurd and simple things like what happens to the dirt and rock you dig through can be ignored by them by pure magic, somehow.

A single flying ship coming in to help would be of great use in wrecking the siege engines the attackers would be trying to use, as well as attacking the besieger's war camp with stuff like fireballs, but in terms of delivering reinforcements, I have to say that short of bringing in a ship full of hero units, it won't make a significant difference. It's the ship's firepower that would be the key.
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I think the biggest thing that it could bring are supplies, even if it isn't a lot some extra supplies can go a long way. Also keep in mind that in a siege situation, a handful of people can do a lot. Remember that IRL only a handful of people in a castle could hold out for a long time against an entire army, so bringing in a few squads of fresh troops can do a lot in a siege scenario...even if the enemies in Warhammer are a lot more suicidal in their tactics.

In canon we know that the Spirit of Grungni bringing fresh cannons and powder from Nuln to a city besieged by Chaos was considered a big help. So the effect of bringing in some fresh troops and supplies can't be ignored.

But there is also how the ship will affect morale. I can remember in one Gotrek and Felix novel where the arrival of the Spirit of Grungni massively boosted the defender's morale and helped them push the Chaos forces back, even before it actually did anything.

Also you forgot necromancers and undead armies, those would also be willing to conduct a siege.
 
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Sinsystems said:
But there is also how the ship will affect morale. I can remember in one Gotrek and Felix novel where the arrival of the Spirit of Grungni massively boosted the defender's morale and helped them push the Chaos forces back, even before it actually did anything.

Also you forgot necromancers and undead armies, those would also be willing to conduct a siege.
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It must be incredible to hear a colossal fuckoff horn, and then see an enormous skyship descend from the heavens, and delivering an absolute waterfall of spellfire on what was previously The Enemy's safest position.

That does of course bring up the subject of Aerial Combat, and what it looks like when your *not* just bullying all the puny landbased losers with your superior range and firepower. Dragons at the top of the list, certainly, followed by those Fuckoff Huge Vampire Bats, and probably some kind of hostile batswarm/ vampire with flight
 
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The Vow of Poverty - Probably a little too Grey oriented, but just imagine the reports - "And on the third day of the siege, the Vow of Poverty was sighted approaching our position, and lo, the ship, which flew over the horizon, entered the fray and rained blasts of fire and confusion down upon the enemy."
 
I do like quite a few of the suggested names so far, but I must in the end champion the one I proposed long ago: the Protector.
 
SaltyWaffles said:
-SNIP-
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Sieges are everywhere? The Skaven besieged Middenhiem during the black death. Greenskins besieged and stormed Nuln during the Grom the Paunch Waagh. The Beastmen beseiged Hergig under Gorthor. The Norscans took out Kraka Drakk by siege after the Great War against Chaos. Altdorf was besieged by the Tomb kings numerous times, recently enough for a lady Magister to have fought them and still be alive during this quest. The undead and skaven have both the numbers and patience to do prolonged sieges and that is without getting into the other polities of the world. Kislev and Brettonia have gone to war against the Empire, Marienburg would more likely be on the defensive but they could strike out.

I get your point about prolonged sieges and they are most likely the exception rather than the rule in the Warhammer universe but to discount them runs counterintuitive to the "lived in" feel this quest gives on realism. Even Greenskins don't want to die enmasse and have if not the patience, the ability to besiege points.

Part of the appeal of fortifications is making it unpalatable for any small force to take the position. Besieging is an art that I have no doubt the various groups mentioned have no patience for, but being repulsed enough times makes them search for other ways of fighting. It is a self-correcting ecosystem of leadership as well for groups like Greenskins and Norscans, the ones not intelligent enough to prepare to take fortified positions die trying to take then, the other's learn what not to do by process of elimination.
 
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My ACTUAL vote is just for Prismatic Wanderer, it's a genuinely very nice name.

My joke vote for the sake of this current discussion is Grey Clouds for the frustration of "Commander, Grey Clouds spotted on the horizon" "so do you mean a storm or is it that damned Webber again."
 
CornyBones said:
That does of course bring up the subject of Aerial Combat, and what it looks like when your *not* just bullying all the puny landbased losers with your superior range and firepower. Dragons at the top of the list, certainly, followed by those Fuckoff Huge Vampire Bats, and probably some kind of hostile batswarm/ vampire with flight
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Harpies, Chimeras, Manticores, and Wyverns too. And of course anything that can shoot up high enough to hit you.
 
Yo if we're naming the boat right now I have suggestions:

1. Boaty McBoatface
2. Mathilde's Party Boat
3. Don't Panic (but written upside down)
4. Sinkable VI
5. Order (and then we go on an expedition into the Chaos Wastes)
6. The Empire Strikes Back (and we fly it over Marienburg)
7. Better Optimized Aerial Transport (B.O.A.T)
8. Death S.T.A.R (Superior Transport for Aerial Recon - and we make sure Asarnil and Deathfang are there for the naming ceremony)
 
I missed the immediate post vote discussion, but I am glad that the thread liked my first actual plan vote enough for it to come in (a very distant) fourth place.
 
Some more suggestions of varying seriousness:

Speak Softly
Don't Make Me Come Over There
The Unseen
Stormcrow (one of Gandalf's names)
The Avalanche
Start Slowly
The Diplomat
Diplomacy
Weber's Ark
The Shadow Ark
The Tipped Scale
The Midlife Crisis
Jack O'the Sky
Wisdom's Reward
Wisdom's Folly
The Choice Paralysis
 
Sinsystems said:
Remember that IRL only a handful of people in a castle could hold out for a long time against an entire army, so bringing in a few squads of fresh troops can do a lot in a siege scenario...even if the enemies in Warhammer are a lot more suicidal in their tactics.
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IRL doesn't really apply in Warhammer, considering the huge number of monsters that are strong enough to smash down most gates right away, can climb the walls or just fly over, not the mention the various magic users who could destroy the walls or gates with magic. It makes sense that Warhammer world defenders need to be much closer to parity against most attackers in order to hold the position.
 
Lokimotion said:
IRL doesn't really apply in Warhammer, considering the huge number of monsters that are strong enough to smash down most gates right away, can climb the walls or just fly over, not the mention the various magic users who could destroy the walls or gates with magic. It makes sense that Warhammer world defenders need to be much closer to parity against most attackers in order to hold the position.
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The old world is still dotted with castles and other fortifications so the calculus of war can't be that different.
 
Catpetter1981 said:
[ ] Plan Grand Compromise
- [ ] A piece of body armor made with We-silk, that is enchanted to allow Mathilde to (i) fly in the air, (ii) shoot crows from her mouth, (iii) enhance her calligraphy abilities so that she can write papers faster to generate CF, (iv) enhance her strength to the point that she can carry around a squadron of Dwarf Ironbreakers on her biceps, (v) sprout wheat so that she can keep those Dwarf Ironbreakers fed, and (vi) transmute any item she touches into gold (if she so desires) so that she always has ready spending money.
- [ ] Upon completion of the crafting, there shall be a grand inauguration ceremony at which the armor shall be named... "Armor of Ton Varnus".
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[ ] Plan Name Compromise
- [ ] Name our flying ship "Armored Ship of von Tarnus".
 
CornyBones said:
That does of course bring up the subject of Aerial Combat, and what it looks like when your *not* just bullying all the puny landbased losers with your superior range and firepower. Dragons at the top of the list, certainly, followed by those Fuckoff Huge Vampire Bats, and probably some kind of hostile batswarm/ vampire with flight
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Harpies tend to be deployed en masse by chaos flavoured factions.
CornyBones said:
It must be incredible to hear a colossal fuckoff horn, and then see an enormous skyship descend from the heavens, and delivering an absolute waterfall of spellfire on what was previously The Enemy's safest position.
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Arcane S2, EP9, timestamp 15:14
 
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