D&D General How the heck do you fight a medieval war in winter?

[Zardnaar]

It's worth nothing that many northern European wars take place in late summer and then proceed well into autumn (and beyond).

Henry V's first expedition into France started August 12 (late summer), then captured Harfleur September 22 (past the equinox into autumn), then fought Agincourt on October 25.

His second expedition sailed earlier - July 30. On August 18, he laid siege to Caen, capturing it on September 20.
The next year, you get the Siege of Rouen from 29 July 1418 to 19 January 1419.

(As a sidenote - the first Crusade is far more about besieging castles than pitched battles).

One does not fight in Russia in the winter. Except when you do. (The famous Battle on the Ice of 5 April 1242, when the forces fought on the frozen surface of Lake Peipus - technically "spring", except there's a frozen lake!) Charles XII of Sweden chose January 1 to invade Russia in 1708!

North more prepared for it and used to dressing for cold.

Also not medieval.

Frozen over is easier than mud. I've seen video of mud "eating" a T-72.
Also they dig up WW2 vehicles functionally intact.


We sometimes go up into the mountains in winters. Well used to not something now.

But they close the great walks where it's wet and cold. Tourists kinda clueless.

You can dress up vs the cold. Have worked on farm in mud middle of winter.

Not getting wets the secret even if it's bucketing down bear 0 or buckets down then hits 0.

 

[Zardnaar]

Young and stupid.




-10 that day iirc up there. Wind chill was worse. Dry though.

 

[Hussar]

Given the short range of the spells, an archer-based army would stay back and focus on killing all the pack animals. Much easier targets at range and can kill an army even more efficiently from an ammunition stand point. A hundred arrows can starve or immobilize an army of a thousand.

An army that has their supply train within 500 feet of the battle lines deserves to lose.

 

[Tonguez]

Fighting depends on Weather, not season.

If there's enough rain, most armies went to camp, even if there was no snow, after all, because slogging through mud could cost you horses, wagons, and supplies. High winds could foil all but the heaviest siege weapons, too, rendering archers and other ranged attackers functionally useless.

In adverse weather, you hunker down and wait for it to pass. If the adverse weather is expected to last for weeks or months, you turn your armies around and go home 'til it's over.

In D&D, though? One druid of 15th level or higher solves -all- your logistical problems with a quickness. Sure, your soldiers may need to trod snow to pack it down for the wagons, but the 5 mile radius of Control Weather means there are no blizzards, no rainstorms, and no high winds when it's time to fight.

They can't fix Mud, at that level, though. So if it's a particularly wet region with thick mud you're SoL.

Of course once your Druid is calling Storm of Vengeance from a mile away the whole concept of armies becomes moot

 

[Lanefan]

40ft cube for a 5th level spell slot.

Not terribly useful on the scale of armies marching long distances. Certainly not as useful as 8 hours in a 5 mile radius.

Mud-to-Stone is very useful, though, if you've got a narrow but very muddy (or will soon be churned to mud) stream to cross: cast it twice and now you've got an 80 foot long x 40 foot wide permanent ford across said stream.

 

[Horwath]

40ft cube for a 5th level spell slot.

Not terribly useful on the scale of armies marching long distances. Certainly not as useful as 8 hours in a 5 mile radius.

not that useful sure, but it can be utilized, especially in very difficult terrain.

it's what mud you can see within 120ft that must fit inside 40ft cube
that is 64k cu ft

if you stand in the middle of the mud, that is 240ft worth of length of stone road.
make it 25ft wide for army formation, that is just over 10ft depth of stone or you can make a 240x240 square with 1ft deep stone, that is enough to make a siege platform and as 10th level, you can cast it twice in 2 rounds making you able to close distance to city walls for siege.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Of course once your Druid is calling Storm of Vengeance from a mile away the whole concept of armies becomes moot

People might remember this scene from Lady Despina’s Virtue where Nwm wipes out 20% of an army of 5k troops.

C

Post in thread 'Tales of Wyre'

Jul 25, 2003

ONE DRUID

Originally posted by Sepulchrave II on 06-24-2002

Any chance of this wonderful story being made available in a single downloadable format??

Eventually.

I will try and answer other questions that I've been ignoring ASAP.



**


Brey gazed skywards and observed the quickening clouds. They were moving at an unnatural speed and, seemingly, converging from all directions simultaneously. A huge thunderhead was forming directly above the camp.

The Druid, he thought, cursing. Apparently, the rumours that the Nature-Priest had no stomach for the fight were...

• Cheiromancer

• 

 

[Steampunkette]

not that useful sure, but it can be utilized, especially in very difficult terrain.

it's what mud you can see within 120ft that must fit inside 40ft cube
that is 64k cu ft

if you stand in the middle of the mud, that is 240ft worth of length of stone road.
make it 25ft wide for army formation, that is just over 10ft depth of stone or you can make a 240x240 square with 1ft deep stone, that is enough to make a siege platform and as 10th level, you can cast it twice in 2 rounds making you able to close distance to city walls for siege.

240ft length of road does not fit in a 40ft cube... It's not like you can dissect the cube, one 40ft square layer of 1ft of height to lay down at a time.

Or are you suggesting spending 6 spell slots of 5th level or higher on it? 'Cause there is no upcast option, bizarrely...

 

[Horwath]

240ft length of road does not fit in a 40ft cube... It's not like you can dissect the cube, one 40ft square layer of 1ft of height to lay down at a time.

Yes, exactly that.
wording can be read two ways, it says amount of mud that can fit inside 40ft cube, it does not say maximum dimension in any direction cannot be longer than 40ft.

 

[Steampunkette]

Yes, exactly that.
wording can be read two ways, it says amount of mud that can fit inside 40ft cube, it does not say maximum dimension in any direction cannot be longer than 40ft.

So if I make a solid 40ft cube of cave ceiling turn into mud it falls and deals 4d8 damage to any creature under it.

OR I could turn it into a 240ft long, 40ft wide, line of mud falling from the ceiling that deals 4d8 damage to any creature under it? 'Cause the spell only gives a damage value, it doesn't include rules for how to spread out that damage over an artificially inflated area.

Also it doesn't HAVE to be a line. Could make a roughly round shape out of 40ft squares, I guess... or a V shape to have it travel 120ft down two separate tunnels. Or 60ft down 4 tunnels. 80ft down 3...

Man. That sounds WAY more useful!