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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 7889449" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/gnJ7WuF.jpg?1" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Chapter Five: the War of the LanceDragonlance is, at its heart, a wargame. Think about it: the huge amount of pre-generated PCs and DMPCs in the original adventures, the even larger number of mook hordes in encounters, the most iconic adventures involving massive battles, the backdrop of fighting against an evil empire, and the custom-made BattleSystem rules which came in various boxed sets for the AD&D versions. Chapter Five is all about giving you system-neutral advice and backdrops for how to set up the epic battles of the War of the Lance for your favorite wargame of choice.When this book was released in 2004, there were quite a few fantasy strategy games on the market. Wizards of the Coast was pushing its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_Miniatures_Game" target="_blank">D&D Miniatures line</a> heavily whose streamlined D20 System rules simulated small-scale warfare. Malhavoc Press published <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/678/Cry-Havoc" target="_blank">Cry Havoc</a> which had high production values for a 3rd party sourcebook. And this is not counting the many independent wargames existing outside of the D20 framework. Instead of committing to one system, Sovereign Press/Margaret Weis Productions opted to let DMs use their own rules of choice. And to help get a feel for proper conversion, War of the Lance provides outlines for terrain, troop numbers and divisions, and overall abilities of leaders and units in general 3rd Edition terms. There’s a sidebar with advice on how much your wargame system of choice should play an impact vs PCs being the stars of the show, and also to set specific goals beyond “kill everyone on the other side” to avoid monotony.War in the Age of DespairThis first section goes over a discussion of how warfare changed after the Cataclysm, and how it was affected during the War of the Lance. For much of the 300 years after the fall of Istar, there wasn’t really any empires with professional standing armies on Ansalon: you had places like Ergoth and Blöde calling themselves empires as a throwback to lost glory, but most city-states and nations relied upon drafted peasant conscripts and militias. The major exceptions were societies with established martial traditions such as the Knights of Solamnia or the Daewar clan of Thorbadin, or cultures which have a universal ‘warrior class’ due their small numbers and living in dangerous conditions such as the hill dwarves. Bandits were very common and were often drawn from deserters, mercenary companies, and regular people who decided for various reasons to take from others by force. The loss of divine magic and retreating of wizards from mainstream society meant that warfare looked closer to real-world medieval conflicts than typical high fantasy faire. The Dragon Empire was of course the major exception, and Emperor Ariakas read up extensively on pre-Cataclysm civilizations and their military forces to use as his blueprints for forging the Dragonarmies.We get a house rule for War Without Clerics, an alternative means of providing a party healer during times when divine spellcasters didn’t exist or were in short supply. Basically, every time a character suffers hit point damage from a single source it’s marked as its own Wound. A character can then roll a Craft (Alchemy), Heal, or Profession (Herbalism) to treat individual Wounds with a DC equal to 20 + the total number of damage dealt. Success means that all of the damage is converted to non-lethal damage and can thus naturally heal faster.This is not only underpowered given how fast damage can outscale skill check modifiers, it is also a book-keeping nightmare. But as a partial defense, this was made in 2004 at a time when the D20 System’s flaws weren’t being rigorously analyzed or common knowledge to the point they are today. Particularly in regards to the caster/noncaster disparity, which even Wizards of the Coast was in denial about. Combine this with the popularity of “low magic campaigns” and you ended up with rules like this.This section ends with Dragonarmy Politics After the War. The forces of evil did not instantaneously collapse, but shrunk in size and became loose alliances of individual Dragonarmies’ territories. The Red Dragonarmy has fallen to infighting in northeastern Ansalon; the Blue Dragonarmy consolidated most of the Taman Busuk and is currently fairing the best of the five; the Green Dragonarmy was overwhelmed in Khur and more or less exists on life support with its remnants joining the Blue Dragonarmy; the Black Dragonarmy’s last highlord has just been assassinated and none of the underlings have managed to claim the reigns yet; and the White Dragonarmy is more or less the same as it was pre-War of the Lance in Icewall save that they’ve been reduced to governing thanoi tribes.The Dragon Empire never truly died: its name and legacy was ended after the Blue Lady’s War, when the Blue Dragonarmy’s flying citadel was destroyed during a failed invasion of Palanthas. But the scattered remnants would be reborn 13 years later as the Knights of Takhisis, who during the dawn of the 5th Age would grow to prominence once again on Ansalon. As of the current Dragonlance timeline, the death of Takhisis turned the knights into a more secular organization of Nerakan nationalists.The Dragonarmies <img src="https://i.imgur.com/OfYhyNh.jpg?1" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Note: the above portrait is not official artwork from this book. This chapter is very light on illustrations so I needed to find something thematic to break up the walls of text. <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/stevepalenicastudios/art/Dragonlance-316381568" target="_blank">This is drawn by StevePalenicaStudios of Deviantart.</a>This section goes into detail on the greatest threat to the free peoples of Ansalon. The Dragon Empire is a military dictatorship with theocratic underpinnings: virtually all of its leadership is part of the war effort, and instead of the steel piece standard their currency system uses ingots of various metals whose value is determined by rarity and weight.* If I had to guess it’s because such material is more suitable to crafting into practical instruments of war. Each of the five Dragonarmies is a professional standing military unit divided into smaller Wings, and its leaders govern civil as well as military affairs. The five Dragonarmies are so named based on both geographic and aesthetic value: chromatic dragons tend to (comparatively) get along better with those of their own clan and are typically assigned to terrain with which they’re ideal: this is why the Green Dragonarmy was chosen to spearhead the Silvanesti Campaign, and why the Whites were relocated to Ansalon’s far south.*This is not in the book proper, but discussed as part of an unrelated <a href="https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/lets-read-dragonlance-adventures.856926/page-6#post-23017150" target="_blank">Let’s Read of 1st Edition Dragonlance Adventures.</a>Dragonarmy military structure is hierarchical and highly mobile. Although nobility still exists in some occupied provinces the ruling classes are often either overthrown if belligerent or incorporated as officers into military ranks for those houses which sided with the Empire. Takhisis and Ariakas do not tolerate resting on one’s laurels even if one’s heritage is supposedly “fit to rule,” and in theory a mere human commoner or ogre brute can become Highlord one day. This acts as a positive morale boost for soldiers to join and perform well, and it’s not uncommon for officers to jockey and sabotage each other’s efforts or outdo each other to climb the ranks. In practice, the Dragonarmies are quite racially stratified: draconians and goblins are often used as expendable troops, and humans disproportionately make up officer ranks over that of other races. The Black and White Dragonarmies are the major exceptions to this, the former having many ogres and the latter being composed heavily of minotaur and thanoi among all its ranks.We get stats for the most common troop types divided by race: most of them are either base monster stats for multi-Hit Die creatures such as ogres, save that they’re more likely to have “proper gear” such as chain shirts and battleaxes than primitive hide armor and clubs. Specialized military units may have 1 to 2 levels of Warrior, while heavy infantry/cavalry and races renown for organized tactics* may have 1 level in Fighter. Only proper Officers, 6th-level Fighters at the minimum, are likely to have masterwork gear and whose statblock can represent a variety of archetypes ranging from local governors and non-commissioned officers to commanders of smaller Wings.*such as minotaurs and hobgoblins.The Black Dragonarmy serves more as a domestic police force than a mobile military unit, covering the regions of central and eastern Ansalon. Its priorities are more geared to supporting the larger armies in newly-occupied territories as well as asset management. The Black Dragon Highlord Lucien remarkably turned the ogres into a disciplined fighting force, and it’s the only Dragonarmy which has more giant than draconian troops. Their forces are trained in wilderness survival, being drawn from tribes in rugged regions and have a high number of scouts due to this.The Blue Dragonarmy is the most skilled and organized of the five Dragonarmies thanks in no small part to its leadership under Kitiara Uth Matar. She was entrusted with the invasion of Solamnia for this very reason, and thanks to an alliance with Lord Soth is the only Dragonarmy making use of necromancy. Its Reaper Army is notably dangerous as battlefield casualties provide them with fresh troops to continue the assault. There is a distinct lack of goblinoid troops on the front lines in spite of an alliance with Throtl due in no small part to Kitiara loathing their race, and they’re kept in reserve units.The Green Dragonarmy may not be as poorly-funded as the White Dragonarmy, but its Highlord Salah-Khan may be in the most dire straits. He helped the Empire take over Khur and nearby regions as a tribal warlord, making him even more unpopular among the rival clan. After his forces suffered heavy losses during the Silvanesti campaign, he’s laboring under Emperor Ariakas’ steely gaze to make up for these losses along with the domestic insurgencies growing under his territory. The Green Dragonarmy is mostly a domestic military unit, making use of psychological warfare, spies, and ambush tactics to disrupt rebellions and make civilians more likely to cooperate with their oppressors in the belief of staving off worse punishments.The Red Dragonarmy is the most widespread and well-funded of its kind. It is notable for having the only Highlord, Verminaard, who is a cleric of Takhisis. As such its leadership is the most versed of the lot in magical affairs. Most of Verminaard’s troops have masterwork equipment,* and his red dragon’s terrorizing fires have been so fearsome that they caused more than a few enemies to surrender before the fight even began. His current duties are the occupation of Abanasinia, rooting out any signs of the return of the true gods along with their artifacts. Verminaard prefers to use draconians and goblins over humans despite being human himself; the draconians have been brainwashed into the military life, and he won over many goblins by promising them the chance to strike at their ancient foes in Qualinesti. The human troops coming to Sanction are disproportionately mercenaries and as such the Red Dragon Highlord doesn’t trust their motives as much.*Something which is not actually reflected in the Dragonlance Chronicles.I actually like this, for it more or less cements a previously-undiscussed aspect of the original Dragonlance adventures. Rank-and-file human troops don’t really show up as encounters in invaded countries until the last stages of the War of the Lance. The Abanasinian invasion was almost entirely draconians and goblinoids, and human Dragonarmy soldiers are typically encountered as Black and Green troops in Eastern Ansalon. This sourcebook more or less explains why Verminaard has almost no humans working under him during the time of Dragons of Autumn Twilight.The White Dragonarmy is the smallest and least-funded of the Dragonarmies. It used to be an auxiliary force to the others, although after the Silvanesti Campaign its Highlord petitioned Emperor Ariakas to relocate his forces to Icewall. Being an exiled elf, many humans in the Empire are prejudiced against Feal-Thas, so his forces are disproportionately filled with minotaurs and thanoi who are too distant from the elven realms to have really formulated any long-standing rivalries. All of his troops are equipped for cold weather, and polar bears serve as his cavalry.The Forces of WhitestoneAlthough resistance has existed for as long as the Dragon Empire got its dark beginnings in Neraka, organized opposition on the international level would not occur until representatives at the Whitestone Council came to an agreement in the Winter of 351 AC. When the Heroes of the Lance introduced the creation of the Dragonlances and secured victory at the High Clerist’s Tower, the armies of good became a force to be reckoned with. Over the next year they would march across Solamnia under Laurana, who despite her young age more than proved herself worthy of the title of the Golden General. After the deaths of Emperor Ariakas and the Dragon Highlords, the Whitestone forces would fight the Dragonarmy remnants in some places and sue for peace in others.The military structure of the Whitestone Council is more diverse than the Dragonarmies, owing to the composition of different national and ethnic units serving. Gunthar Uth Wistan functions as the Lord General making decisions for the allied armies as a whole, with Laurana directly under him. Below them both each army has its own sub-commanders.Solamnic Forces are the most experienced and well-trained among Whitestone’s armies. There are only sixty-three true Knights of Solamnia, with the vast majority comprised of volunteer soldiers, squires, and mercenaries. The Solamnics have the most effective cavalry, and when the metallic dragons would join the war a third of them comprised the majority of the Dragonlance-bearing aerial cavalry. Solamnic heavy infantry units and mounted archers are highly competent, being 3rd and 2nd level fighters respectively, and even the light infantry/cavalry who are 1st-level warriors all have masterwork equipment.Elven Forces include both Qualinesti and Silvanesti soldiers. They are more mobile than their counterparts, made up of light infantry, light cavalry, and archers with some elite units of griffon riders. The bonds with said griffons are so strong they chose to remain on them instead of dragons for the duration of the war, and their aerial advantage made them expert scouts and messengers between all the armies.Dwarven Forces are a bit unconventional. None of the three dwarven kingdoms sent representatives to the Whitestone Council, and Thorbadin in particular was busy enough tending to its own domestic affairs. Kayolin had a strong alliance with the Solamnic humans and many dwarves could be seen aiding their taller allies on the battlefield. Dwarven units are exclusively infantry and crossbowmen, and barring Klar and Aghar units they all have 1-3 levels in Fighter. The maddened Klar are fierce 1st-level barbarians, while the gully dwarves can hardly be called soldiers as 1st-level Warriors but are more than eager to fight for the looting and scavenging opportunities.This kind of goes against the gully dwarves’ penchant for cowardice, don’t you think?Other Forces includes volunteer units, militias, and mercenaries who can be from a variety of backgrounds. They are represented with human stat block entries for light and heavy infantry and cavalry units, and are not as competent as the dwarves or Solamnics. Only the heavy infantry and cavalry units have masterwork equipment.Kender Armies could be called an oxymoron, and rather represents the ephemeral groups of kender adventurers who all got together to aid the other races. They require higher numbers of commanders on account of the job being like herding cats, but they are useful as their legendary taunts can drive entire enemy forces to heights of reckless stupidity. Kender only have light infantry and archers and are notable for being equipped with sithaks, a combination scythe and longbow which has not been statted anywhere else in 3rd Edition Dragonlance sourcebooks to my knowledge.Rebel Organizations is our last entry, and a rather lacking one at that, for there are no write-ups for their army units. They are more or less covert civilian organizations, bandits, army remnants of conquered nations, and thieves’ guild members who all for their own reasons have an incentive to fight the Dragonarmies. The first notable organization includes the Silver Fox’s revolutionaries in Khur who are made up of tribal groups that were enemies of Salah-Khan before he joined the Dragon Empire. The other is the Hidden Light movement in the heartland of Taman Busuk: they are a highly covert secret society who operate out of safe houses made up of people who lost everything to the Dragonarmies.Major Conflicts of the War of the Lance <img src="https://i.imgur.com/b3AtGXp.jpg?1" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The following four major battles are significant events which helped turn the tide of war during the War of the Lance. Two of them feature as adventures in the Chronicles proper (Ice Reaches and High Clerist’s Tower) while the other two take place before the Chronicles of offscreen (Silvanesti and Vingaard Campaigns). The former two conflicts make note of actions performed by the Heroes of the Lance from the novels, which may not necessarily line up with how things may go down in your campaign. Each entry goes over the geo-political background, principal events, and the listing of primary military units and their troop numbers during the battle or series of battles, and what kinds of adventures a DM can run PCs through during these times.The Silvanesti Campaign (349 AC)Some folks are born made to be in the DragonarmyOoh, they're red, white and blueAnd when the pilgrims shout "Hail to the Dark Queen"Ooh, they point the staves at you, LordIt ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no Highlord's son, sonIt ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, noThere’s not really much new to add here that I didn’t go over in previous posts, but we learn here Feal-Thas betrayed his own people by passing on intelligence to the invading Dragonarmies which they used to breach Silvanost’s defenses.* All five of them participated, but it was Green Dragon Highlord Salah-Khan’s forces who retained all the glory...and the biggest losses. The former Red Dragon Highlord Phair Caron perished during the Campaign, the nightmares unleashed from Lorac’s Dragon Orb causing her own troops to kill her in a blind frenzy. During the ensuing inter-military purges, Verminaard was appointed to that position when less successful officers were executed for harboring the majority of blame (justified or not) for failing to capture Silvanesti.*and for which he was able to rise to the dubious honor of White Dragon Highlord.Battle of the Ice Reaches (351 AC)While heading south in search of a Dragon Orb, the Heroes of the Lance came upon a camp of Ice Folk who have been skirmishing with the invading White Dragonarmy in their lands. Tired of the hit and run tactics, White Dragon Highlord Feal-Thas decided to make an example by invading and surrounding the village with the intent of killing everyone. The Heroes of the Lance helped fight against the thanoi, minotaur, and white dragons while the civilians evacuated on giant wind-powered sleigh-boats. Half of the Ice Folk were killed, but the Heroes of the Lance ventured to Icewall Castle. During the battle Feal-Thas and his white dragon mount are killed, removing the Dragonarmy of an effective leader and forcing the soldiers to retreat from much of their holdings.Battle for the High Clerist’s Tower (351 AC)Solamnia is a rich land with fertile fields, and the city of Palanthas the major deepwater harbor in northern Ansalon. Still reeling from losses in the Silvanesti Campaign, Ariakas sought to exploit the deep divisions in Solamnic society to claim the territories and feed his empire. The Knights of Solamnia, once one of the greatest warrior societies of the continent, were more or less discredited and hated in large parts of the country. It was theorized that the meager militias would be unable to put up as much resistance against the Dragonarmies, which was quickly proven right when Kitiara and Verminaard’s forces subjugated much of northewestern Ansalon. Eventually they conquered the area to the south of Palanthas’ mountain range. The knighthood, having lost several major cities, were desperate to defend the path but found little aid from the city’s mayor who foolishly believed that the Dragonarmies would abide by a nonaggression pact.Gunthar Uth Wistan, who was in a meeting with the Heroes of the Lance and was informed of the Dragonlances, decided to send them to the Tower to help aid the beleaguered Knights. A test of wills broke out between Sturm Brightblade and Derek Crownguard, the two Knights among the Heroes, over leadership positions. Crownguard won out in rank, and quickly made a tactical blunder where his detachment and the man himself were killed. Bakaris, Kitiara’s second in command, returned Crownguard’s severed head to the Tower, and Laurana (the Qualinesti princess) responded by shooting the messenger and severed his arm in the process.Tasslehoff Burrfoot discovered a chamber for holding a Dragon Orb while exploring the Tower, which was put to use when the Blue Dragonarmy made a second assault upon the Tower. Sturm ordered the knights armed with Dragonlances to gather around strategic positions as the enchanted dragons flew into tight hallways. The knights stabbed at them through holes in the walls, killing off most of the enemy wyrms this way. The draconian soldiers were driven insane by the orb’s song and fell upon each other while also running in random directions.Kitiara ascended the Tower and confronted Sturm Brightblade at the top in solo combat, slaying him before retreating. Sturm’s sacrifice grew exponentially among the Knights and beyond, serving as a rallying point for the once-divided knighthood to put aside their differences and band together under the Whitestone Council.The Vingaard Campaign (352 AC)The Vingaard River is an important thoroughfare through much of Solamnia and beyond, running through the city of Kalaman and into the fertile Plains of Solamnia. Laurana, appointed as the head of the Whitestone Army, led an international coalition down the Vingaard River, seizing towns and villages from the Dragonarmies with the goal of beating them back out of Solamnia. Aided by the metallic dragon clans who discovered the fate of their eggs, the forces of good could now match Takhisis’ forces in the sky, dragon for dragon. The Blue and Red Dragonarmies gave a good fight, but their relative lack of experience against similarly-aerial forces along with the dangerous Dragonlances routed even their largest units. Laurana earned the name of the Golden General as her hair caught the light of dawn while she stood upon the recaptured Vingaard Keep.Other cool stuff happened during this time, like Gilthanas and the silver dragon D’Argent making a sneak attack on the green dragons while they were groundbound, or a contingent of silver dragons using their breath weapons to create an enormous ice dam for soldiers to cross over a raging river. The Vingaard Campaign was a major success, freeing most of northwest Ansalon from evil and uniting Solamnia. Sadly, Laurana was kidnapped by Bakaris and taken to Neraka, where the Heroes of the Lance mounted a rescue operation for her where they would bring an end to Emperor Ariakas once and for all.Adventuring: Each entry suggests various kinds of plots a Dungeon Master could run during these military campaigns. The Silvanesti Campaign suggests a desperate struggle to survive in a war-torn forest with a higher level of magic than usual* as well as safeguarding refugees fleeing their homeland. The Battle of the Ice Reaches is...underwhelming and really just “go play Dragons of Winter Night.” High Clerist’s Tower is the defining turning point in the War of the Lance, and suggests the idea of using an artifact to summon Knights from the past to help fight the Dragonarmy.** Finally, the Vingaard Campaign says that this is the first time that metallic dragons are seen “filling the skies” and is a good point in the timeline where PCs can have an excuse to be dragonriders long-term and make use of those aerial combat rules from the main setting sourcebook. Which when you think about it, is kind of one of the War of the Lance’s weaknesses. The concept of riding around on a mounted dragon and jousting in the sky doesn’t happen until near the end of the main timeline/adventure path/etc.*because elves.**Spoilers: this happens in the adventure module but with ghosts instead of time travel.Thoughts So Far: I like this chapter. There are some striking similarities between it and the <a href="https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/lets-read-dragonlance-legends-of-the-twins-sourcebook.855836/page-3#post-22978025" target="_blank">Legendary Wars chapter in Legends of the Twins,</a> but as this sourcebook preceded Legends here is where we really get the D20 outlines of troops and suggestions to use them as blueprints for converting to your wargame of choice. The stat blocks for all kinds of Dragonarmy mooks, and some potential Whitestone forces as followers for those with the Leadership feat, is a nice touch that can see use in most Dragonlance games. The overview of the major military conflicts is welcome, if a bit overly wordy on specific details.Join us next time as we get more NPCs than you can shake a Dragonlance at in Chapter Six: Personalities!</blockquote>

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