Fantasy Arms Race, Round Two

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I'm trying to get through a glut of coursework, but I've got an idea for how the Greater Cressian Remote Forces would work.

In terms of the invasion I would presume that the Auselen/Formian forces would organize themselves into two waves. There might be an argument against this based on the Formian Hive mentality, but trying to land all of your expeditionary forces in one go simply isn't a good idea if your expecting resistance.

Still 20,000 might make a good number for the initial invasion force. The foriegn Tamarch would be there to make up the core of the resistance, but I would imagine that the Cressians could eventually pull up somewhere in the nieghborhood of 50,000 men should they bring all the militias to the front. Recall that a sunstantial portion of their population is at least partially militarized. With another 10,000 men each from Stempa and various allies such as the Khannate and other forces from the empty quarter, let's say the counter-invasion force numbers 50,000 initially with the potential for many more reinforcements and replenishing units.

The desparity in numbers is probably a little misleading since even with the home field advantage the Ausel and Formians are going to be considerably better powered than their opponents.

 

[Tonguez]

Thre trouble I'm having is imagining just how a Formian army works and how the Auselen fit into its tactics. All I can imagine is a mass of Formians marching forward and destroying everything they meet, they don't change direction or formation unless it is to pursue a new victim and overcome them with overwhelming numbers. Individual Formians might die but the others in the legion don't stop or even look they go straight over the top and keeping marching relentlessly forward. Then behind them come the Workers who gather up the peices of the fallen formians and reconstitute them as Task Master Towers or war machines!

The Cressians start by using their tried and true hit and run tactics only to find that they don't work. Formians never break ranks and never get routed.

The Cressians launch their atlatl propelled spears and fell a few Formians - the legion keeps coming

A few Deltanes attack the Formian flank tearing into the Formian warriors arrayed they. A few Formians break off and surround the Deltane eventually killing her- the legion keeps coming

Stempa mecenaries form a Spear wall and three ranks of Formians are killed to no avail- the legion keeps coming

The Cressians use Briar web to try and half the Formian Advance
the Formian Legion use the corpses of their dead to build bridges and course ways to climb up and over the Cressian Defensive Line

The Formians are unstoppable and soon the Cressians turn and flee - the legion keeps coming!

What are the Auselen doing during all this time?
Also what has happened to the Hive? - if the Formian Legion is in Cressia (and thus outside the 50 mile Hivemind radius) does the Fortress move and follow them? Or do the Tasks Masters teleport back and forth between the Hive and the Cressian fronline?

Is this reliance on Teleport the weakness which will finally be exploited by the Cressians?

 

[Tonguez]

Oh yeah as to the Dragon I think we should limit it to CR 12 inorder for the Cressians to stand a chance - thats a Juvenile Gold, a Young Adult Red, an Adult Green, or Mature White

 

[The Goblin King]

A naval blockade would be best. It is much easier to sink the ships then to defeat the formorians once they land.

The Confederacy has experience with using air units. Perhaps the Griffons, Giant Eagles, and Rocs could help hold the line? Dropping rocks on the enemy while staying out of range might work. Alchemists fire won't work because of the energy resistance?

Salvation might come from another direction. I'm still working on the map. To the southeast I'm putting a desert. I had visions of Halflings riding Purple Worms fremen-style. To the north the steppes give way to dark forests inhabited by Gnolls. Beyond the eastern barrier mountains lies the Sea of Broken Glass. The Harpies which live on the 'islands' there are xenophobic but form an important link in the trade route which leads to the Mysterious East.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

What about a bronze? The aquatic nature of this conflict would make that a lot of trouble for the Cressians, but it would also make it impossible to explain its absence in the conflict here to fore.

I don't at all know what the tactics of the Ausel invasion force would be. They've basically got superlight troops, great ships, and better magic. I think there will probably be a variety of unit tactics and lots of sneakery. Will give it some thought and write more later.

In terms of Formian tactics I think I have a better idea. The idea of a Formian wave is frightening, but also strikes me as unlikely. The Soldiers are only ECL 3 afterall and they don't have much in the way of missile weapons. They might use a tactic like this when invading a place from the security of their base and hivemind radius. The overall tactic, doesn't make sense in terms of their limited numbers on this plane and the tactics they must use to coordinate with each other and to fight opponents like Slaadi.

You can't just ignore an individual Slaadi in the conviction that the tide as a whole will finish it off. For creatures like the Formians to fight the Slaadi they must be tactically clever and coordinated on a very fine level to pursue and destroy an Slaad they come into contact with before it can summon more of its fellows or implant too many of their own number.

Regardless I would imagine that they would be better served fighting as a highly coordinated web of small units. In this system I would guess that the Formians would basically follow the organization outlined in the Monster Manual. One Myrmach would command one twleve man groups of warriors and two eight man groups of workers. This insures that the groups of warriors have commanders and that two cure serious wound spells may be cast upon the battle groups each round. This would be a platoon.

Given the nature of the conflict I would presume that each platoon would also be accompanied by a taskmaster. This taskmaster would enable the platoon to enjoy the benefits of the hivemind to at least a limited extent, more importantly it allows the individual platoons to maintain communication with central command. Each platoon is accompanied by two individuals dominated by taskmasters at central and regional command. The infinite range on dominated telepathy enables these taskmasters to maintain communication between the platoon and the command groups. If a platoon looses its communicator then one of the myrmachs at command will teleport another dominated individual to the platoons last known location.

As a reflection of the number of individuals that a taskmaster may dominate, platoons are organized into groups of four and so on up the chain of command. Each command group consists of two to four myrmachs, a conscription team of four taskmasters, and two eight man groups of workers.

The basic strategic unit of the Formian invasion is the March. This consists of 64 platoons and at least 2000 formians counting the command groups, a minumum number of dominated individuals, and the maximum number of myrmachs plus an additional four at march command for use as an emergency strike team. Each march consists of four paths, each path of four courses, and each course of four platoons.

Let's say that there are four Marches of Formians in the invasion force with the remaining 2000 members of the Formian invasion force consisting of less organized forces of workers, conscripts, taskmasters, and myrmachs specializing in non-front line command roles such as scholars, engineers, educators, translators, strategists, craftsmen, and commandos.

Approximately half of this group would be taken up by a group of taskmasters and Myrmachs who specialize in dominating and commanding a unit of the best flying and swimming creatures that the Formians could find. They can't dominate anything of greater size than large, but concievably that could be something like 400 chimera flying and fighting in perfect formation.

I think that this formation actually makes the fight both more and less hard for the Cressians. The Formians are likely to fight in very close formation and somewhat conservatively given their desire to stay within and protect their limited command and control system. On the other hand their magical abilities make this a much more viable strategy for them than most other creatures, their heavy melee formation should make a perfect complement for the light missile heavy formations of the Ausel, the myrmachs' emphasis on divination spells grants their forces great intelligence, the taskmasters and workers make occupation really easy, and their limited command and control is still very good.

Still, the rough heavily fortified terrain of Cressia, the superior numbers and more varied forces of the defenders, and the tremendous will and tenacity of the defenders should make the invasion front an extremely interesting prospect.

 

[GladiusNP]

Okay - so the war is three fronts. Unless we are only interested in the naval actions, I think it's safe to assume that the Formians land in significant numbers - was 8000 the number that have entered the plane of Cressia? Or was that the number that are on the mainland? I’d vote for the second, with the Formians gating in more and more troops all the time, but that’s just me.

The Formians do seem fearsome, but I think the mindless drone horde is a little simplistic. These guys would perfectly coordinate everything, and more of a swarm over things – anyone seen ants on a caterpillar? I’m thinking of a mass of Formians tearing into a wall, or onto an ogre…

With regard to the ‘hero’ campaign on Ausel, I think that’s pretty cool. They’d be after the dragon-mages, and eventually shut the portal. Definitely War of the Lance. Anyway, the landing on the mainland…

Auselen mages and Cressian druids supported by Clerics of Sirene and Pisenes, clash from far-off, the Druids attempting, from skiffs, Stempan Galleys, and towers on the shore (wood-shaped trees?) engage in a fearsome magical battle. After two days of storms, winds, lightning, flames, and battle with summoned creatures, four Apparati of Kwalish crawl onto a beach in the north of Cressia, disgorging a load of Formians, who begin to immediately construct fortifications, as soldiers spread out to establish a perimeter, driving back the druids. Cressian forces, waiting for word of any landings from the shore-watch, begin to march, hoping to drive the Formians back into the sea.

Now unsupported by Druids from the coastline, the Greater Cressian ships withdraw. The Cressians begin their first battle with the Formians in force – though the hunts on Ausel have sent some information back.

What about using the Roc as a sort of mobile command centre? A Druid, the huntmaster of all of Cressia (what title would this be?), and a very elite group of Deltanes ride it from place to place, giving them a very good idea of how the campaign is going.

Anyway, any problems with the above?

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Anyway, any problems with the above?

Nope.

I think the numbers of the forces involved in the Cressian conflict are larger based on what we have said previosly. 8,000 seems like a good group of formians for the invasion force. I'd assume a roughly equal or slightly smaller number of Ausel. We are taking about a very large force, but it has to be to stand any chance against the numbers that Greater Cressia can throw at it.

If I were the Cressians I would have put a lot of my best druids on the water, every ship downed is a tremendous advantage and druids are great in naval combat.

I would suspect that the Ausel/Formian flotilla manages to unload everything pretty well, but gets utterly crushed after it does so. Loosing their dominators and formians to the land effort as well as its best Ausel magic support weakens their strength considerably and Greater Cressia has been preparing just such a turn.

After the invasion Greater Cressian control of the seas, save for Ausel's Coastal region is all but assured.

The Cressians then work to evacuate as much of their population as possible onto the Jungaan island and into the deep interior. Hoping to avoid giving the Formians any conscripts.

 

[Tonguez]

What about using the Roc as a sort of mobile command centre? A Druid, the huntmaster of all of Cressia (what title would this be?), and a very elite group of Deltanes ride it from place to place, giving them a very good idea of how the campaign is going.

Anyway, any problems with the above?

I think Huntmaster is itself a pretty good title for this Druid - so the Cressian Fieldmarshall is called the Hunt Master (cool)

The Roc idea is great but I'd replace the Delatanes with Bards (and some scorcerers/wizards) who use their buff abilities on the troops below and also act as a communications/command center sending and recieiving messages (whispering wind 1 mile/level)

I agree with Dr. Strangemonkey about the Cressians sending out druids to sink the Auselen ships AFTER the Formian landing - it cuts of their retreat and now gives Cressians dominance on the water - and access to Jonga.

Against the supremely organised Formians the Old Cressian Guerilla tactics aren't going to work quite as well as they did in the past but the Roc Command center does give them the ability to coordinate better.

The Formians are attacked on multiple fronts at once including summoned creatures and spells being 'dropped' on the center ranks (and thus attacking from the center). Initially this has only minor effect but it does slow the Formians down as they break off into smaller platoons. The Cressians buffed by the Bards (with some kind of amplifier) and the Scorcerers then target the Myrmarch of each Platoon before tearing into the warriors and workers

Its slow but it might stand a chance

 

[s/LaSH]

The important question is this: how much of the formian command structure is known to the Cresians?

Myrmachs have big bronze helmets. That's a given. Thus, they're pretty visible targets. There's just one problem - SR 25. You'd have to have 5th level casters to take one out at all, and even then they have a better chance of unloading their arsenal into the myrmach without it being scratched than to beat that SR. A 50/50 split is achieved at 15th level, the legendary heroes of this round.

The myrmachs are obvious targets. It won't take more than a day for everyone to figure out that they're the net that holds a formian army together. Doing something about it, however, is completely different. A myrmach is highly maneuverable, and is likely to show up behind the lines amongst the taskmasters (who have long-range domination attacks and are fairly spell resistant themselves) to relay orders. Drop a Call Lightning on his head, and he normally shrugs it off and 'ports away - possibly behind you. Where he either charms you, drops a Dictum or Order's Wrath on your formation (I don't see large numbers of Cresians being lawful; they're druidic, after all, so many of them are likely neutral something rather than lawful), or tears your head off with his gnashing mandibles (2d6+2 rivals even a Stempan khopesh, which I'm guessing approaches a greatsword). Then they 'port out again, before a concerted military response can catch them.

Thus, after a couple of days the Cresians discover that they need special tactics to take down the myrmachs. They 'port, they have fast healing, and they're nearly invulnerable to offensive magic. The solution? Bodyguards for the casters. The biggest, toughest troops hang around with the casters and use them as bait for myrmachs. Using a dimensional anchor is very difficult, largely because it's 4th level - only a few of the Ta'jinn Godsbloods will have access to it. The other solution is to keep the myrmach off balance with a constant barrage of attacks, breaking its concentration. Grappling it is probably stupid (it's the size of a horse), but myrmachs have no ranks in concentration. I checked. The only bonus they have is +4 from Constitution. Teleport without error is a 7th level spell. The base DC for the check is 17 + damage dealt. A couple of hits on a myrmach will keep it in place even if they're dealt by a level 1 commoner. Unfortunately, it has AC 28, so only high-level (buffed?) guards can do this reliably. They could well be all over it the moment it 'ports in, but their blows would just bounce off...

Anyway, through use of myrmach-baiting, the cresians put the fear of counterreprisal into the formian elite. Now, although they might sacrifice a few myrmachs every now and then to test the waters, the myrmachs stay back and operate away from enemy casters. In turn, the most elite Cresian battlefield units are held in reserve, guarding the heavy artillery. I think the formians may have come off best in this tactical exchange.


Mist in battle: This is a perfect counter for the formian reliance on teleporting elites. Cresians have long since learned to coordinate by shouted orders (they have skilled bards) and rely largely on their other senses for coordination. Formians can still 'port, but they don't know where to 'port if they can't see what's going on. Mist slows down the order of battle for them, and unless they're in the hivemind radius, they're completely thrown out by it - taskmaster domination of their troops only goes to the extent of understanding what's happening to them, rather than where or who is doing it.

The misty rennaisance is in full force...

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Oh heck yeah, this conflict is going to give a whole new literal meaning to fog of war. The formians have no special senses at all save where they can dominate something that does, where the Cressians have plenty.

BTW, that indirect fire with the arrows thing is going to come in real handy in this conflict. The Formians have no missile weapons save for what the Ausel give them.

I would also think that the Confederated forces are going to have use every advantage to slow down the Formian tight formations.

In terms of using magic on the myrmachs the real coup is to use spells like to rock to mud that will effect the environment around them.

That and if the Cressians can lure the myrmachs away from their men they can take advantage of that opportunity to take out the now heavily weakened platoon.

I still think guerrilla tactics combined with cleverly defended strongholds are the proper defense. A formal battle with the Formians and Ausel would simply be impossible unless you could set it up to exhaust all of their defenses with overwhelming mobile number.

And even then the dominators are a hideously powerful long range attack and the possiblity of a formation of myrmachs suddenly appearing among your command group while the whole of your ranks are trying to defend themselves from Ausel attacks are just too terrible to contemplate.