OOC Kingdom of Ashes IV - Who's yo' daddy?

[Xath]

If the bluestar gains any leeway on the wall, I think it's pretty obvious that he'll eliminate Tain's forces before he comes after us.

 

[The_Universe]

More Force Planning, or Why You Probably Need the Bluestar

We have what about 4,000 fighting men and with mercenaries we might be able to double this number.

That's about right. I don't have the exact numbers with me.

If we can persuade the noble council, the fair elves, Sylvanus, and Jansten's leaders to join us we could get more troops.

The Noble's council doesn't really have any troops to offer, because Nobles no longer maintain their own personal armies. Their contributions to the defenses of the kingdom come in the form of taxes and the like, rather than in providing Knights for the King's service, as might have been true in an earlier age.

Sylvanus is a large city, with around 28,000 residents. About 80% of those are adults, but even with that many people, you're only talking about a full Company (240-250) of Guardsman, with about 1200 more trained militia. You might be able to add another 2000 able-bodied males without families to support.

Any fair elves that you hope to bring to your cause that will be of any use, apart from the ones already there, would probably have to come from the Royal Army, or Mercenary forces upon which you already depend. At best, I think you can hope for some insubordination from within the King's ranks if they're forced to fight against you. You might get more, but that's all you can realistically expect.

Jansten's rebellion can't be all that numerous, since there just aren't that many living people in the North at all. But, let's be optimistic, and say we can get another 2000 troops from the north, and that some of them are mages.

That means that, in total, assuming you can hire 4000 mercenaries, you could bring your total forces up around 13-15000 men. That's a decent number of soldiers. However, even with those high and hopeful aims, it's still probably not enough to effectively oppose Tain, even if you're carefully choosing your battles.

Here's why: Even with the King's Army of the Watch and the Army of Prydein having been sent above the wall to fight the Bluestar (and probably to have been defeated) the king controls the Army of the West and the Army of the East, each totaling approximately 76860 trained and armed men. That's right around 153,720 armed and armored soldiers, up against your (at MOST) 15,000 soldiers. Furthermore, that does not include the King's Navy or Marines, of which you have no comparable force. Still more, it does not include any of the Draconid forces, which are extremely numerous. In addition to being more powerful on an soldier-by-soldier basis, the draconids are not small in number.

Oceanus alone saw an initial force of around 6000 troops of varying types. You know that a force of at least that size attacked Atur and Arutha's Forge, at least, and now another besets Caer Albion. That's AT LEAST another 24000 powerful troops that must be opposed. That brings the king's numbers to in excess of 175,000, while your unassisted forces remain at 15,000 - all of whom are outclassed and outpowered by the competition. And remember that that is only the forces that you KNOW of.

Additionally, the draconids are able to convert captured civilians into troops quickly and easily, which means their number grow (rather than fall) with every victory, no matter how costly. The ShadowPath means you cannot win by numbers without assistance.

If we can save Caer Albion that would be not only a sizeable force but an excellent defensive position.

Caer Albion does not have a large number of defenders (since the Army of Prydein was sent North) but those it does have are relatively powerful. It would be a boon, regardless.

From there we pick our battles. Oceanus, Thanesport, wherever we go we keep the momentum and stay on the offensive.

Good idea, although with each battle, even the ones you win, you're losing troops and they're gaining them.

The Bluestar's forces would be helpful, but i'm confident that we can fight and win this war without leaving our children a war to fight at the cost of our victory.

If you can make all of it happening without bringing down the ward, you won't have to fight the Bluestar, at all. But you'd still have to partner with him to win, I think.

Instead of going with the easy solution let's see what we have and what we can get.
let's start off with what we have. Kennon can we get a complete list of all our fighting capabilities; troops, mages, beasts, siege weapons, number of fighting able but not yet trained men. A list of everything we can bring to bear on Tain.

I took care of most of this above, but....

You have 3 beasts (Ohtar, Yoshi, and Thane).

You have about 300 mages, I think. I'll check when I get home.

You have 4 steeldrake cannons, and no other siege weaponry.

All of your fighting able men are either dead or hardened veterans. You'll need to wait a generation before you can get more, without getting men from other geographic areas.

Let's explore our other options instead of just going with the first thing offered to us. The Bluestar isn't going anywhere. Let's leave him as a back up.

I think that's a mischaracterization of what the Bluestar has, but so be it. I've tried to answer as accurately as possible. At the very least, it should make things clearer.

--Kennon

 

[The_Universe]

If the bluestar gains any leeway on the wall, I think it's pretty obvious that he'll eliminate Tain's forces before he comes after us.

Yeah - Tain's a threat, at least sort of. You're not.

 

[The_Universe]

Some clarification for a good idea

i know we can get more troops. we just need to be more pro-active about. we need to make it a high priority. we sent out a call to the elves, ok, let's go beg them for help, if we can't convince someone we beg. I will agree that times are dire but i will not agree that we need to or should ally ourselves with the Bluestar. At least not yet. I know he can help but let's get as much help elsewhere first and if that's not enough then maybe we consider freeing the Bluestar to help us.
we are very diplomatic (sans Archon), let's use it.

It's a very good idea to be more proactive on this stuff. But, bear in mind that you can't go talk to "the elves" any more than you can go talk to "the humans" or "the half-orcs." They are geographically disparate, and largely subsumed into the rest of the population of the falcon kingdom.

It's been over 4000 years since the great ring was first unified under one crown, so there's been a lot of time for populations to meld.

 

[The_Universe]

Dwarves, on the other hand, do generally keep to their own company, if only because their preferred terrain is largely inhospitable to the other human and demihuman races. They're really the only "good" sentient race that lives primarily underground, and so with the exception of councilors and traders, they have not been assimilated fully into the aggregate population.

So, you probably could talk to a significant portion of "the dwarves" if you knew where to look. Khaz Modan was and is a good example.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

Dwarves, on the other hand, do generally keep to their own company, if only because their preferred terrain is largely inhospitable to the other human and demihuman races. They're really the only "good" sentient race that lives primarily underground, and so with the exception of councilors and traders, they have not been assimilated fully into the aggregate population.

So, you probably could talk to a significant portion of "the dwarves" if you knew where to look. Khaz Modan was and is a good example.

We already have a treaty with Khaz Modan, though...

DM, what does that treaty consist of?

 

[The_Universe]

Troops, supplies, and steeldrakes (both for your rebellion and keeping it from Tain).

There's a mutual protection clause in the treaty that says if Khaz Modan is attacked, The Queen will pledge all available resources to help them.

Additionally, the dwarves recieve an extra seat on any Nobles' Council that arises from the rebellion, and Khaz Modan will become its own duchy, situated below whatever the Southern Hills (where the black orcs were) becomes.

If the war is one, the kingdom will also have to build the dwarves a private harbor so that they can trade more of their good across the kingdom.

Also, it's not explicit, but it is strongly hinted in the treaty that the Black Orcs won't be returning to their previous homes.

 

[The_Universe]

Mage count

You have about 300 mages, I think. I'll check when I get home.

I just checked.

You have 92 white mages of varying power levels, about 300 adepts (all level 1), about 100 red mages, and approximately 225 Blue mages.

That's 617 total, if I did the math right in my head, bringing your maximum total forces to about 15,617, which still leaves you outnumbered in excess of 10-1, and assumes that you can convince Jansten's rebellion to totally abandon their own cause in favor of your own.

The calculations above for the king's forces do not include any of the following:

The Royal Navy
The Royal Marines
The Talons
The Apectan Order (largely loyal to the throne, as it is a national church)
Any Draconid Forces not currently engaged
Any Draconid Forces engaged in places from which you are not recieving reliable intelligence.

Hopefully, these additional numbers will help your planning in whatever form it may take.

 

[The_Universe]

What? No comments or questions? I thought the JC would be interested, at least!

 

[Archon]

Our rebellion needs more rebels

If we can save Caer Albion we might be able to persuade the Talons, the Apectan church AND some of the kings generals (and thus their soldiers) to our side.
That would not only weaken the kings forces but bolster our own.
mik