The Battle for Gobwin Bump: Book Two

[Nihila]

Three reasons:
1) It's off-road, so Gowems can't hit us there.
2) It's only 2 spaces away from our main force, allowing more troops to reach it.
3) It's one hex south of the maximum Golmon movement as of next turn.

[LTDave]

Map

Spoiler: show

Blue star is an item of Interest.

Contacts

Spoiler: show

Stack [b3] A
6 Garrison Twoll
2 Gowem
A84, D5.0, H144

Stack [b3] B
4 Garrison Twoll
3 Gowem
1 Commandew, Chief Warlord "Wobin", Level 1
A110, D4.8, H149

Stack [b3] C
6 Garrison Twoll
2 Gowem
A84,D5.0,H144

Stack [b3] D
3 Gowem
4 Garrison Twoll
A110, D5.0, H160

Move / Combat Phase has begun.

[BLANDCorporatio]

... oh-key, dude, what the fsck?

I distinctly recall seeing an item somewhere in the A mountain hexes a while ago. Which was not the Megaphone btw.

So I look back at the scouting map of one turn ago. Lo and behold, it's not there, the map changed (EDIT: it now shows the most recent one; not the best solution imo, since it kills historical records). Maybe I was hallucinating ...

but so was The Black Hand.

So again, wtf.

(EDIT: PS: since that item, which I'm sure existed, was on a mountain hex, it could only have been claimed by a flier stack. BUT, I thought that we had scouted a good way around it without locating fliers- that we did not destroy-, and we certainly scouted a lot now. See, this is why we need previous scout maps available, to see whether some flier route makes sense to have it whisked away undetected.)

[WaterMonkey314]

BLAND, the old scout map is in the 2nd spoiler in my post proposing the "great march" - I used that as the basis of the overlay.

[Sihoiba]

Once we know if that item is there or not, we can then work out plans.

I'm also thinking giving all orders to mists to move to the nearest free hex and if none are in reach move to the furthest square with a mist in and order them to the nearest free hex, that way we can expand the mist wall without having to explicitly organise orders for them each turn. Opinions?

[LTDave]

Sometimes the items appear and disappear.

If it didn't get picked up, maybe it was crushed in an avalanche?

[BLANDCorporatio]

Ah, avalanches. That makes sense.

Once we know if that item is there or not, we can then work out plans.

I'm also thinking giving all orders to mists to move to the nearest free hex and if none are in reach move to the furthest square with a mist in and order them to the nearest free hex, that way we can expand the mist wall without having to explicitly organise orders for them each turn. Opinions?

I dunno, this turn for instance I'm planning some kamikaze explorations with Mists- sending them in a few unscouted hexes. Like say those near our camp (I don't recall having Mists at A10 and C10, but maybe I forgot an order or something), and D10, and a bit further down the road where the Golmons went.

Another thing to do with Mists is to reinforce the wall at the road part- two Mists or more- to make it more annoying to pass through.

We should move Mists first, on the off chance that we find something, so as to decide whether we send Kettwey there.

The bulk of our forces should converge on C5. Unless you want us to press forward.

The E5 item is, probably, unclaimable. We could send Kettwey there, but there's a danger from the Golmon stack, for one. We may try and send a more serious expedition, with the understanding that it's dangerous and one of our warlords may croak. I mention this because I'd rather DO something each turn, rather than wait for a bazillion turns until we get confident enough to charge at that wall of Gowems.

PS: or, we could attack GB. Let's see if that makes sense.

[The Black Hand]

We've got some decent flying stacks, but I think we should bring forth some more cheap, expendable infantry-type units to help blunt the power of the Gowems - I'd suggest max stacks of Mists and Militants, possibly backed up by Rocketmen and other cheap melee/ranged units.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Hi again, I'll probably be online less in the next five days or so, so I'll need people to step up and discuss plans.

Our most obvious option is to fall-back to C5, out of Gowem range, while ordering all Twains at B10 (or maybe, some Mist rearrangement involving Twains, then sending them to the B10 base). Afterwards, Kettwey and nearby scout stacks might be ordered to some hex near the mountains to the NE, so that they could strike quickly in case we find anything there.

Next, we can try a risky maneuver. (Yes, do some Mist exploring first, then) send whatever we can from our main forces to the hex with the item. And Kettwey. Some mounting arrangements may be needed, but this time we need more care about leaving units behind.

(EDIT: wait a second. One of the Copperheads in Kettwey's stack, if not both, are not mounted! They could carry Mists! We could use this as a buffer region around the item of interest).

Next, we can try to take GB! The firepower of all the enemy stacks is huge, and so is their defense, still I'm wondering whether we could leave a serious dent in their composition. Worth doing some Mathmancy about.


In any case, Mist Exploration should proceed shortly. I think we still need to send Mists to A10, C9 (we only have a Twain there and it will move away), C10, probably E10 too. Then, reinforce the Mist wall to the East. Maybe move forward if we have enough cloud cover. Sihoiba, can you take care of that?

[Twoy]

I think the only way we are going to win is if we attack GB.

We can put our tough stacks right outside the city. Then next round, we kill whatever we can. If GB attacks them, they lose their defensive bonus. We can put some of out low def stacks at the item with the flying stack.

[Nihila]

Or, this round, to augment the effectiveness of Twoy's plan, we could send in a raiding party to hit the led stack and take out the Commandew. If my understanding of the combat rules are correct, we'd need a total damage of 30-ish, so with led Huwwicanes, we could pick off the Commandew easily, though the Huwwicanes would be stuck in GB.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Then how about I delegate some planning:

Twoy: putting the pressure on GB. Tell us how much we lose, and how much we can knock out. When thinking about what to sacrifice, prioritize Minotaurs. We can lose three of those and still have them back next turn via a Twain and Ewephant/Gun relay.

(Losing small infantry- also an option but, attack sum is given by top-8 units in a stack. So, a stack with top-8 units that are small will not do much damage).

Sihoiba: Mist rearrangements. We need to bring 1 Mist to A10, C10 and C9, reinforce the Mist wall to the East and maybe do some exploration further out, also with Mists. At your discretion, you may use the Twains to bring some Mists to your location, mount them on Copperheads, then ferry them to the location of the item of interest. Deploy them around in a protective pattern, and try to claim that item.

Everyone else: We have lots of small infantry. We can use it to force exploration a-la Mists (Kanites are more or less like Mists) in the areas around GB. That is just an example.

[WaterMonkey314]

So the Escotian contingent will continue on foot? (Dixon and the skirmisher were on the Copperheads)

Something we can think about is that I purposely left one unit slot free; we do have the option to make a new unit if that is needed.

[BLANDCorporatio]

No, not on foot. I think the Skirmisher and Fusiliers are on the Fly, and Dixon is on one Copperhead. The second Copperhead is unmounted as far as I know.

[Sihoiba]

I'll try and make some plans in the next 48 hours, hopefully sooner.

[Twoy]

It's been a fun game, but I think it is not possible to defeat Gobwin Bump. Gobwin Bump can replace units faster than we can kill them. There is one chance. If GB is not allowed to pop units while we are in their city, then we might have some small chance.

Ranged Attack--Kill Commandew Wobin and about 40% chance to kill 1 Garrison Twoll.

Spoiler: show

2x Huwwicane
Siege Tank
2x Mehian Crossbowman
Graf Zeppellin-4+

Ground Attack 1--
Kill 1 Garrison Twoll; 95% chance to kill 2 Garrison Twolls; 50% chance to kill 3 Garrison Twolls.
10% chance 1 Ewephant dies.

Spoiler: show

Ewephant
4 x Demonowith
Dwaconian
Minotaur
Bob the Guy-4
Non-attackers in stack for use in defense later if they are not able to pop more units.--
4 x Minotaurs
Nerb Ragers x 2
King Edward-3

LTDave,Can Gobwin Bump pop units on their round if we are in their city?

[BLANDCorporatio]

Just so everyone knows, I'll be offline for about 24 hours. I'll see you in that time with orders for the Mini RCC.

Speaking of which, we want to know that thing about popping.

Also, how about using Kanite Militants in a manner similar to Mists? How would that fly, The Black Hand?

And of course, the fliers. Do we go for the item?

[The Black Hand]

Also, how about using Kanite Militants in a manner similar to Mists? How would that fly, The Black Hand?

And of course, the fliers. Do we go for the item?

The Militants are meant to be cheap, expendable infantry. Yeah, go for it.

As for the item . . . we can try, but I'd want a Mist wall around the open hexes near it if possible.

[Crovius]

Axe Dwawves should also work. They're only 10 pop points each. Hammer Dwawves are only 11 pop points so a couple of them could help fight fliers.

[BLANDCorporatio]

We should wait to see whether GB can pop units while our own are in the city hex. If no, it may make sense to push forward, en-force. I hope all's ok LtDave.

If we decide to fallback, here's an idea. We've got one Dwaconian left, which with 3 move and 30 HP is a rather decent transport. Fill it with Kanite Militants, and it's still able to reach the item of interest hex. Once there, the Militants dismount and fan out in the unexplored hexes. Why, if something's there it's even possible to attack it with Kettwey's stack, if we feel so inclined.

Anyway, we can send off the Dwaconian and Militants, whether we attack GB or not. If we want more units in the item hex (like another warlord, or Axe Dwarves, which would indeed be a decent hex guard), then we surely need more heavy mounts diverted from an attack on GB.