The Wrath of Mallenar!

[Utrecht]

I would think that the best use for the PCs would be to attack the logistics of Mallenars army. The amount of fodder, food, supplies that his army will need would be unfathomable.

These supply chains should be as thick as flies leading back to ther home base and should be fairly lightly defended. A week or two of attacking these could REALLY slow down an assult upon a citidel.

Further, it is questionable how much additional impact a group of PCs will have when facing the types of forces arrayed against them. Additionally, how does one fit the PCs into the Command and Control of the rather scattered Vallorean forces? Simply best as the commander to say - sick the supply trains!!

 

[Kalanyr]

I'd think they are dead meat. Trolls rule!

Under good command:
Those buggers would march on night and day ignoring any fatigue as they regenerate. I'd have them move swiftly at night trashing the small villages and have them burn everything and destroy. Humans make good food.
And before it's light again take off again, lead by some troll Druids and some elite rangers, maybe even some corrupt verdant lords or windriders deep into the forests or the underground.

Those Trolls make mincemeat out of those puny humans. Fear the trolls and their huge greatsword and huge greataxes!

Let the humans fear the black trolls of the blue and icy North! Let our frost and cold burst swords and axes get the best of them MUHAHAHAHHAHAHA

You don't regenerate damage from fatigue, starvation or thirst, I believe.

 

[Dragonblade]

A force of winter wights is grave indeed but they can be defeated. My mage, Zairyn, Vallorean knight and member of the elite order of the Shadow Ravens, has bested them with his magic.

Still the battle will be tough. No doubt Mallenar seeks to sweep through the Vallorean lines and crush them utterly. He is counting on the fact that his mighty host will demoralize them. That his surprise counter-attack will catch the Valloreans off-guard.

And he would be right, except Vallorean courage is unmatched and their will indomitable!!

Zairyn is currently serving Lord Haldeinathor, crown prince of Vallorea and leader of the "Guardians of Empire." He will suggest to his lord that a number of volunteers be chosen to lead a special assault team to assassinate Lord Gethenon!! He himself will volunteer to lead the group.

Likely they will fail and die in the attempt but perhaps such an attack will slow down Lord Gethenon forces as he now will be moving carefully, watching for assassins and ambushes. Hopefully, this will buy the Valloreans needed rallying time and perhaps allow them to be reinforced from the homeland.

And if they succeed in their assassination... so much the better! Either way Vallorea is aided in her time of need and a martyr's death for the glory and defense of Vallorea may fill the legions with a terrible wrath! And help bring the hammer of righteous Vallorea smashing down on the evil Galleran scum!!!

 

[sword-dancer]

Hello SHARK

What should the valnorreans do?

In the targetet Areas
assuming only the forces under Mallenars direct command.

Lets try to find a week hole in the blocking magic.
Ask for Help by the leves, often elven had forgotten more about magic than humans know.

Holy or hallow the cities.
concentrate the troops and citicens on easily to defend places, cities and fortresses(if possible which I doubt).

If necessaray and made sense order a few fortresses on mallenars route to hold as long as they could.
"We buy time with blood, use it well."

Use mobile troops to harass mallennars forces in guerilla tactics, the urrgan would fit that easily, and don`t expect to see to much of them again.
"We buy Time ..."
Mine Mallennars routes, traps of all kind, from spikes to delaying fireballls.
use druids for natural delaying tactics, If they march through a forest burn it, if they march trhrough a mountain valley flood it.
If they went through a river, storm tide.
If possible and made sense let the rivers on their way goes over with high water and I mean high water, look a the great high water catastroph in eastern Germany this year or use a few Epic storms over the army.
At least it should foce them to use magical ressources for defense.

In the mountain fortress thread flying ships and and a floating island is mentioned, use it to ship troops, and reship civilians.

Let the valnorrean High command and the empereor rallye immediately every troop to race to Gallennar, teleport, gate the as near as they could to the threatened Area or Gethennon, barring they get eaten piecemeal.
If necessary nail Gathennar down with an death assault force, he would be surprised to be attacked by outnumbered forces who really didn`t stand a chance but they could delay them a bit.
And maybe wreak hravoc.
Or let a part of the reinforcements block Gathennar during the main force race to the beleagueered area.
Try to shadow the armmies with mobile forces, which could limit the options they have, i doubt it is possible and worth but it could be, sometimes be not defeated tactically is a strategic victory, sometimes.

Dragonblade

For your suicide squad, soldiers who live could fight another day.
And I doubt strongly that mallennar hasn`t routinely defenses in place to defend him agains an assassination from forces more skilled with such techniques than the valnorreans, maybe a few 900 years old vampires.
Every assassination attempt at mallennar is, most likely, a waste of time ressources and lives.

The same goes for Gethennon, and the trick with the stolen evidence?
Sorry IMPOV, most likely they would see it as "None of us is so stupid to do such a thing, this is a trick from the enemy."
What would Mallenar hve to win from the assassintion?
Nothing IMPOV, he would loose a valuable ally or tool.

 

[Khorod]

Careful use of illusionary armies to divert large numbers of the enemy. Good to help deal with enemy outriders, make it seem as though a military force has camped in a particular location or fortress, etc. Definitely more worthwhile than playing with anything short of Epic True Ritual Evocations. Of course, using one of those to topple a mountain...

Just how big a sacrifice would it take to get the Vallorean gods to intervene a little more directly? I mean, healing spells and heroe's feast are all well and good, but the gods might be concerned about the ANNIHILATION of their people, so maybe a hefty sacrifice would bring the avatars on down at the 11th hour.

And if the gods are distant/non-local, just work out a major sacrifice to open a gate to the Upper Planes and bring an army of celestials on down.

At the very least, that's the kind of panicked, desperate reaction almost every command-level npc should be in.

 

[Speaker]

Well, I just don't know SHARK. Being a rabid follower of your strategy threads, I think that the Valloreans still have the advantage here-it's still the bad guys who need our support .

Yet, it's nice to be advising the winning side this time.

Here we have the classic Hammer and Anvil response, hoping to catch the indomitable Vallorean force tightly in between. Since the Valloreans are not known to surrender or even waver overmuch in the face of hopeless odds, this strikes me as a good choice on the enemy commanders part -- the typical restriction against pinning in a foe goes out the window here.

But the enemy's forces ARE split, and the Valloreans need to use the narrow margin of advantage this division offers before the foe can link up together. I'll let some other strategist figure out how to take advantage of this.

As for myself, I recommend doing the unexpected. It's classy, looks good in the history books (if it works), and sometimes even knocks the enemy off step.

What do the forces of evil (tm) expect us to do here? Well, they may think that we'll dig in heavily in fortified camps under our super-duper standards, refusing to budge an inch, right? They're expecting us to be steadfast, solid and ready for a pounding.

So what we do, naturally, is withdraw.

Completely withdraw. We don't want a whisper of our presence ANYWHERE. Deny the enemy any fortifications through judicious spell use, and disappear. We meanwhile keep an eye on the enemy fronts through light infantry and mobile scouts (mounted on hippogriphs, etc?) enchanted with invisibility (just as a buffer--hopefully we have scouts who know how to remain hidden!). They aren't as organized as we are--an advance met with NO resistance means an easy advance, one that turns into an idyllic advance in which the vanguard becomes separated from the rear and slower units fall behind. This leaves a hampered foe ripe for plucking.

We call up reinforcements, and prepare our OWN hammer and anvil, on our OWN prepared ground. If the enemy stays still, fine. We attack what they just left unguarded in their haste to crush us. Just think of what these forces have left waiting, and the juicy opportunities their absence from regular posting has created! If they come after us, well, that's what a trap is for.

So, think the Valloreans can swallow their pride this once? It just might work...

 

[sword-dancer]

Zairyn is currently serving Lord Haldeinathor, crown prince of Vallorea and leader of the "Guardians of Empire." He will suggest to his lord that a number of volunteers be chosen to lead a special assault team to assassinate Lord Gethenon!! He himself will volunteer to lead the group.

Likely they will fail and die in the attempt but perhaps such an attack will slow down Lord Gethenon forces as he now will be moving carefully, watching for assassins and ambushes.

As posted above i don`t think it`s worth a try.

But how is this?
Don`t try something sneaky. Do it in battle.
At least three Waves should be used.

First one should attack him on the field, her main goal is to wear his defenses down, if it works Mallenar will retreat to a rear position or such, good if they get him down better.
Then send Weave two flying teleporting, their main goal is to use up his backup or reserve defenses, if Mallenar retreats second send in the tue termination team to his new Position.
If Mallenars abandons host and battle together better, it would be a massive blow to the morale if their leader had the yellow stripe on his back.

 

[Dragonblade]

Excellent ideas, sword-dancer. Of course, you are right. An assault on Mallenar is foolish. But Lord Gethenon will likely be easier to defeat thus my "daring" plan!

I have played in SHARK's game and you don't want to let the bad guys have time to prepare defenses.

You need to hit them hard and fast when they aren't ready for it.

So, SHARK, when you read this, Zairyn will propose an alternative strategy instead of an assassination attempt. Perhaps if the Valloreans mass their forces and strike hard at the army of Lord Gethenon, it may be possible to defeat him and then prepare for Mallenar's army.

Or the Valloreans try to sit tight and fortify. Although, I don't recommend that. In a war of attrition, the forces of darkness have the upper hand. Besides, I think that is what Mallenar expects the Valloreans to do. Better to do what he doesn't expect and also better to not be caught between two armies at once. They need to delay one of them or strike fast at one so they can deal with one and then prepare for the other.

The forces of Vallorea need to strike hard and claim a victory and then fortify against the forces of the other army.

(Of course, thats just Zairyn's humble opinion. He will defer to wisdom of more experienced commanders such as Chris's character. )

 

[Volaran]

Would assassinating Gethenon really work though. Despite usually getting the perspective of the Vallorean empire, the forces of darkness on Shark's world seem very stalwart themselves. If there is anything these armies are lacking, it certainly isn't qualified military leaders.

Just as attacking the Vallorean prince would only serve to make the crusade a holy action in his name and memory, surely Gethenon's people would be able to step up to the challenge and fight in their leader's name.

Demoralizing actions aren't the route I'd take. If a raid on a leader is suggested, why not come up with some near-undetetable one way mind-link spell so the Valloreans can react to every enemy strategy before it is ready. In addition, this would certainly cast Gethenon in a bad light, perhaps even making Mallenar suspect his subordinate of betrayal.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Beastmen. . . . Humans. . . Minotaurs. . . . Trolls, armoured in black full plate. . . . 25,000 fortified skeleton warriors armed in black and jade plate armour, each wearing an orb of ruby fire that glows and shimmers. . . . 10,000 vampires that ride swift demonic horses, and carry swords of hellfire, with a screaming wind of madness going before them!

It sounds like it's time for the Shadow Ravens to go to work sowing dissention in the enemy camp. Fortunately, there are several ways to go about this.

First, send all of the vampires a note saying that they're not welcome in Vallenorian land and, being uninvited, they'll have to go away

OK, since that won't work (although it should keep them out of your cities), use their presence to destroy the morale of the living units. Have Shadowraven infiltrators kill a few men, minotaurs, trolls, etc. through some method that drains their blood. Then leave them to be found by their companions. If you can, use magic so that they will register as having been killed by undead. (Maybe some kind of Undead Summoning spell would work for this). That way, the living units which can't be too comfortable with the vampire units to begin with will fear that they're being used as fodder for the vampires. Enough of this could start mutinies and infighting.

Furthermore, there are considerable numbers of different races in Gallanar's army. That should offer more opportunities for the Shadow Ravens to sow dissent. It will probably work even better because, being evil, they probably are actually plotting against each other.

That's all delaying tactics though. In the end you'll still most likely be facing very powerful foes who outnumber you 5 to 1. If the Southern army is added to that, they'll outnumber you 8 to 1.

On the other hand, the Southern army only outnumbers the available central Vallenorian army 3 to 2. If you add in the Southern army, the numbers are about equal. Gethanen's army also has several notable weaknesses. Their only flying forces are 24 necromancers on demonic wyverns. And their only cavalry is mounted on triceratops. While Triceratops cavalry is very powerful, it is also quite slow--in fact the plate armored triceratops running flat-out move at a hustle for an unarmored man. (Their move is 30; adjusting for plate, 20--not fast, especially for cavalry). Their only fast troops are the tyrannosaurs which probably aren't too smart and the wyvern-mounted necromancers who are exceedingly few in number.

Gethanen's army has also been hiding underground for a long time and may be unfamiliar with terrain types and the warfare strategies of the much more open surface world.

This means that the Vallenorian army could use its griffons and other arial units to harass Gethanen's army at relatively low risk.

Gethanen's army is also open to hit and run manuevers. If the tyrannosaurs could be lured after a raiding party, they would quickly find themselves unsupported by their allies (all of whom they would quickly outdistance). Being both stupid and unfamiliar with the terrain of the surface world, it might well be possible to lure them into a narrow defile or some other area in which it would be possible to trap and slaughter them.

Gethanan's apparent lack of speed could also be exploited by the use of slow damage area effect spells. An acid fog or cloudkill would wreak havoc on the low and lumbering triceratops cavalry.

After hit and run harrassment and ambushes which kill the tyrannosaurs, it might be possible for the two Vallenorian armies to catch Gethanen's main army between the two of them and annihilate it. That would leave them only having to deal with Mallenar--a daunting task but much more doable with Gethanen out of the way and reinforcements arriving from the empire.