note + I was given this task:
note +
note + I was to choose three places in Thera to place keeps, or castles, or
note + strongholds of my choosing.
Note +
note + I was then to explain why those places that I have chosen are the “best”
note + places in those areas for a keep.
Note +
note + I was then to choose forces from what exists today in Thera and explain both
note + sides of a battle for each of these three places.
Note +
Note + In this, and following scrolls, I will attempt to meet this task.
note +
note + First let me say, that I was taught that no battle occurs in a vacuum. There
note + is always a political, as well as geographical, context under which battles
note + take place. So the places I have chosen, and the forces I have chosen, I have
note + chosen because I believe they are feasible in our world today.
note +
note + Also know that I am working upon what I remember from looking at an official
note + “Map of the world” that I obtained from the Seantryn Empress’ library a few
note + short years ago for a paying client. The map was old, as it still shows New
note + Thalos and has no mention of the Imperial city to the north of Balator. It
note + also shows a forest by the name of “Haon Dor” where the Weald is. I am not
note + sure how long ago the Weald overtook the Haon Dor, but in all other respects,
note + I have found it geologically, if not politically, current.
note +
note + I will say where I have chosen, as well as the racial and political makeup of
note + the forces to meet at each place here in this scroll. I will go into detail
note + as to why I chose those spots, as well as the exact makeup of the forces, and
note + finally the Operations Orders for each force in following scrolls after I
note + have personally gone to and walked the terrain.
note +
note + The first place I have chosen is a Cloud giant outpost on a mountain top to
note + the east of Arial city. This outpost is an encroachment into the Arial
note + Emperor’s domain, leading the Emperor to attack the outpost of Cloud giants,
note + with his Arial Soldiers.
note +
note + The Second place I have chosen is south of the Sands of Sorrow and over the
note + mountains that form the southern border of that desert on a strand of plain
note + between the mountains to the north and the Aryth Ocean to the south. This is
note + an outpost of the Sultan of Hamsah Mu’Tazz. The Sultan’s soldiers in that
note + garrison will be attacked by a force of the Seantryn Empress’ army, as her
note + desire for expansion and full control over Aryth shipping lanes increases.
note +
note + The Third place I have chosen is at the entrance to the Underdark in the area
note + of mountains that is inhabited by Harpies just south of the Nexite’s rift.
note + It will be manned by a force consisting of the Matron Mother’s guards, as
note + well as some Duergar troops. It will be attacked in an attempt to drive them
note + back into the earth by a dual contingent of Darsylon troops as well as
note + Dwarven sappers.


AO 1 Mountain stronghold
note + Why did I pick a stronghold on top of a mountain. Well. It is one of the most
note + ancient and well known adages of warfare terrain choice is the High Ground.
note + Another adage of terrain choice is “limited, controllable accessability”.
note + Well...what is higher, or has more limited accessability than a Keep build on
note + the pinnacle of a mountain? Now, normally this is not feasible for the
note + reason of it’s extreme inaccessibility, making it near impossible to
note + transport food, supplies, building materials, and workers.
note +
note + For a flying race, however, these hindrances disappear, making a mountain top
note + the ideal place for a Keep.
note +
note + Construction and garrison specifics:
note +
note + For a Keep on a mountain top constructed by an avian race, in the territory
note + of another avian race, I think it would be tactically sound to cover over the
note + entire roof, as most of the danger would be able to just fly over walls. To
note + cover the roof, however creates a massive “blind spot” for enemies to
note + approach and burrow through the ceiling cover. To minimize these effects, it
note + would be best to put a fortified and roofed tower, each with an entrance to
note + the city that is locked from the inside, at each corner. For a ground
note + entrance, I would burrow down from the center of the city to a hidden point
note + on the mountain, some distance down. Again, the door to be locked from the
note + inside, and 2 sets of manned murder holes along the sides of the passage.
note +
note + That leaves us with a minimum of 4 turrets, 1 ground entrance, and 4 murder
note + holes to man. And because this is in a possibly hostile territory, watches
note + must be posted at all times. This tells us the minimum garrison of fighters.
note +
note +
note + To keep soldiers fresh, I was taught that half-day shifts were too long, and
note + will wear down the soldier, but quarter-day shifts left to much of the day
note + with nothing to do, and soldiers got lazy. So I was taught that the ideal
note + shift plan for a 24 hour watch is to divide the day into 3 shifts where one
note + shift they are on full alert on watch, the next shift they are on duty, but
note + only as the active reserve, and the third shift is free time.
note +
note + It takes 18 soldiers to fully man 2 person guards at each point. So for a
note + three shift day, 54 soldiers is the minimum needed to securely hold this
note + garrison.
note +
note + I was also taught that for any military unit moving out of friendly
note + territory, the support personnel must number at least half again as many as
note + the soldiers, making 81 support individuals the minimum needed. This includes
note + armors, cooks, husbandry men, wives, etc.
note +
note + Making a total combined contingent of 135 cloud giants. Cloud giants that I
note + have seen average about 12 feet in height, so a two story keep, with headroom
note + for a flying race and thickness of floors and ceilings, the keep would be 48
note + feet tall with the towers rising a further 24 feet to a height of 72 feet.
note + Given that it would be known that this outpost is in the Arial’s domain, they
note + would have to stock for a possible siege, so given to the mass consumed by a
note + fighting cloud giant in one day, inside storage space for a one month siege
note + would have to be approximately 40,500 cubic feet for food, and a space for a
note + hold of 9,000 gallons of water for drinking, and an additional 18,000 gallons
note + for waste and to fight any possible fires. Add in living quarters for 135
note + cloud giants, as well as communal areas, open space for fire breaks and
note + fighting room, and we get a total area of about 4,300,000 cubic feet. Divided
note + by a height of 48 feet to get a footprint of about 90,000 square feet...or a
note + square with walls 300 feet long.
note +
note + As for the attacking force, where I was taught warfare, we were taught it was
note + absolute folly to attack any fortified position, let alone a keep, with less
note + than a force that totaled three times the defending fighting force plus one
note + half of the civilian population that might offer resistance. In open
note + terrain, against a fortified keep, we were taught that this was the lowest
note + number you can have and reasonably expect victory. Giving the attacking Arial
note + guards a number of 162 + 41 for a total of 203 guards.



AO 2.Seaside Fort.

note + In this area, I had a choice of two spots. One for the best defense, the
note + other for utility and realism.
note +
note + The best defensive position would be backed up to the mountains to the north.
note + This offers many advantages. First, the north is protected not only by a
note + Mountain range, but by an extremely large desert...which friendly forces
note + control. This basically limits the direction that foes can come from to
note + south. There are two problems with placing a keep here. First, supply. To
note + bring it south over the desert and mountains is a logistical nightmare. To
note + bring it from the ocean would require a garrison at the sea to offload things
note + from the ships and caravan it to the keep.
note +
note + The other problem with putting it in the mountains, is why? Why would the
note + Sultan make a garrison so far away, and then put it in a place where it is in
note + no position to affect anything of import. Thus leading to the second choice,
note + a place right on the ocean. This would serve many important purposes for the
note + Sultan. Among them, it could serve as a base for the Sultan’s naval forces in
note + the area, and a way to control trade routes.
note +
note + Thus I have chosen the second choice, for politics in most societies,
note + Whitecloaks and Battleragers aside, is a stronger motivation for stronghold
note + placement than military expediency.
note +
note + I will not go into specifics of construction like I did for the Cloud giant
note + Keep, as a purely human waterfront fort is fairly standard and I will assume
note + you all understand the architectural requirements.
note +
note + As for the garrison, I will place 75 fighting men of various flavors, along
note + with the approximately 120 permanent support personnel, and also will allow
note + for another 20 transient marine soldiers. For a total of 215 persons of the
note + Sultan’s domain.
note +
note + For the attacking force, I will have 310 personnel, of which 220 are actually
note + part of the fighting force, the rest consisting of sailors and officers of
note + the vessels themselves.


AO 3. Underdark Encroachment.

note + This place is an extremely effective place to construct a defensive outpost.
note + Surrounded on three sides by slippery and dangerous slopes, and on a fourth
note + by the Underdark itself, it would be extremely difficult to attack.
note +
note + The exact placement I would place directly across from the entrance to the
note + Underdark, carved into the living rock to the east of the trail. This would
note + leave the only line of approach as from the north over the clouds through
note + aggressive indigenous Harpies, and down a confining valley.
note +
note + For the Garrison, I would place ten Drow and thirty Duergar, of various
note + specialties.
note +
note + For the attacking force, I would place twenty royal Darsylon elite guards, as
note + well as ten Dwarven sappers and forty Tower guards, who would be there
note + because of the proximity to the tower.
note +
note + Unfortunately, because many of the light are filthy cowards, I am sure that
note + the Darsylon guards or the Dwarven sappers would not stop the Tower from
note + sending at least two or three sisters with the Tower guards.


AO 1 OFFENSIVE FORCES OPORD

note + SITUATION:
note +
note + 1. Friendly Forces:
note + 10 Squads of Royal Emperor’s Guards
note + 18 personnel each
note + 10 Teams of Special action Emperor’s Assassins
note + 2 man teams
note + 1 team attached to each squad of Guards
note + 3 messengers
note +
note + 2. Enemy Forces:
note + 4 manned net-casting Balistas
note + one on each turret
note + 50-60 fighting personnel
note + 100-200 civilian personnel
note +
note + 3. Weather:
note + clear, Starry, Moonless. Cold.
note + Downward windshere to the north
note +
note + MISSION:
note +
note + The cloud giant encroachment into our Emperor’s territory imposes a threat on
note + the control we have on the mountain path that brings trade and contact with
note + the outside world to our Emperor’s city. Because of the windshere to the
note + North, that is the least expected line of approach. It also will cause the
note + Net-casting balista to be extremely inacurate in firing.
note +
note + Surprise is going to be our main weapon. We will climb the north face, and
note + gain entrance through the weakest point of entry available, the Towers.
note +
note + EXECUTION:
note +
note + 1. Commander’s intent:
note + By surprise and extreme prejudice, infiltrate the cloud giant
note + stronghold and exterminate this infestation of our territory.
note +
note + PHASES:
note +
note + 1. The Teams from squads 1 and 2 will enter the northeast tower by stealth,
note + and take quite control
note + as the teams from squads 3 and 4 will do the same in the northwest tower.
note +
note + 2. Squads 1,2,3, and 4 will quietly stage themselves in their respective
note + towers, waiting on the signal.
note +
note + 3. Squads 5, 6, 7, and 8 will then make a very loud attack on the south
note + towers, gaining entrance into the fortress and causing as much noise as
note + possible while holding ground at the inside of the two towers.
note +
note + 4. At this signal, squads 1,2,3, and 4 will enter the garrison from their
note + towers, catching the garrison’s fighting force in a pincer.
note +
note + 5. Squad 9 will remain above the garrison in reserve, able to deploy where
note + needed.
note +
note + 6. Squad 10 will lie in ambush outside the ground exit that advanced scouting
note + parties discovered, and intercept any fleeing forces.
note +
note +
note + The Service and Support, and Command and signal sections of a real OPORD I am
note + leaving out, as they contain little that has bearing on the tactics of the
note + fight.


/* I was about finished with the next opord (below) when Nerylana became co-commander, said I had done enough, and inducted me, so I stopped working on them*/


AO 1. DEFENSIVE OPORD


SITUATION:

1. Friendly Forces:
24 Archers to man murder holes
4 stations
2 archers on duty at each
2 archers on reserve at each
The rest on free time
6 Soldiers to man the gate
2 soldiers on duty
2 soldiers on reserve
2 soldiers on free time
24 Soldiers to man the Towers
4 towers
2 soldiers on duty at each, outside
2 soldiers on reserve at each, inside
the rest on free time
4 Net-casting balista
1 on each tower
2. Enemy Forces:
Unknown, but expected Arial force.

3. Weather:
clear, Starry, Moonless. Cold.
Downward windshere to the north

MISSION:

To hold this mountain until further notice.

EXECUTION:

1. Commander’s intent:
Through vigilange, to hold this mountain against any possible attack for a time not to exceed a 1 month seige.

PHASES:

1. Each Duty shift consists of 8 hours