The Arkentool War - Prologue: "Gathering Clouds"

[Nihila]

Suicide run time, as I've seen no objections.
Betia moves to Neufchatel on his Horse.
7 Archers to engage 1 of the Piker stacks in C10, then the other one, then the Battle Bear stack, and cycle until they all croak.

COMBAT!

Spoiler: show

Battle is joined in hex: C10
TIME OF POST (in minutes and seconds): 1453
Attacker:
Total Attack Value: 35
Level of Highest Commander: 0
Number of Units: 7
Stacking Bonus: 1.6
Average Defence: 2.0
Terrain Bonus of Hex: 0.0
Special Bonus: 1.0
Random Percentage: 55%
Total Damage: 31

Hits Inflicted on the Enemy: 15

3 Pikers croaked. Now, Archers take damage...

Defender

Spoiler: show

Total Attack Value: 25
Level of Highest Commander: 0
Number of Units: 8
Stacking Bonus: 1.7
Average Defence: 3.0
Terrain Bonus of Hex: 1.0
Special Bonus: 1.0
Ambush Bonus: 1.0
Random Percentage: 75%
Total Damage: 32

Hits Inflicted on the Enemy: 24

...and are devastated. Ah well, no time to think, time to attack again!

[Nihila]

2 Archers and 1 with 1 Hit attack the next stack of Pikers, with fatigue.

COMBAT!

Spoiler: show

Battle is joined in hex: C10
TIME OF POST (in minutes and seconds): 1852
Attacker:
Total Attack Value: 15
Level of Highest Commander: 0
Number of Units: 3
Stacking Bonus: 1.2
Average Defence: 2.0
Terrain Bonus of Hex: 0.0
Special Bonus: 0.8
Random Percentage: 90%
Total Damage: 12

Hits Inflicted on the Enemy: 6

Rather underwhelming. And the archery braces for the inevitably devastating counterattack...

Spoiler: show

Defender
Total Attack Value: 35
Level of Highest Commander: 0
Number of Units: 8
Stacking Bonus: 1.7
Average Defence: 3.0
Terrain Bonus of Hex: 1.0
Special Bonus: 1.0
Ambush Bonus: 1.0
Random Percentage: 85%
Total Damage: 51

Hits inflicted on the enemy: 38

(Note: I had the Archers go for the non-led stacks because they dealt more damage that way--the leader had a decent chance of wiping them all out, especially with the Battle Bear.)

[WaterMonkey314]

Hey everyone - I'm back in town, so I'll be collating results and whatnot soon!

[WaterMonkey314]

Updated Camerian Unit Report:
(assuming that the orders to move E8 units and Newcastle units to Neufchatel are valid)

Castlenau (K8)
7 x Piker, Lord Yenniw Hoop (1)
6 x Archer, Scout, Sir Tigger the Spring (4)
6 x Archer, Scout, Lady Rookang (2)
== Courtyard: Lily, lvl 6 (LSFT) - orders to go to Tower to lead AA if needed

Outpost (B11)
5 x Scout

Bailey (G2)
== Outer Walls: 3 x Archer, Joan of Arc (6)
== Courtyard: 6 x Scout, Horse

Neufchatel (G6)
8 x Piker
7 x Piker
5 x Archer
5 x Archers (L2)
6 x Archer, Ex (L2), Deus (4**)
Betia's Horse (1M) {Cdr. Betia (4)}
Cmdr. Pwnd (5)
6 x Scout
The 75th Royal Alkaline (14 x Dance-Fighting Piker, 1 x Dance-Fighting Horse, Cmdr. Ziegfeld Tiller (3), 3 x Scout)

Newcastle (C7)
empty!

L4:
D8-Horse (1M) {Cmdr. Leroy Jenkins (1)}

[WaterMonkey314]

Updated Enemy Unit Report:

E7:
Barbarian Archers!
=== 3 x Longbowman
=== 1 x Archery Warlord Adam the Red, lvl 2

More Barbarian Archers!
====3 x Longbowman
====1 x Archery Warlord Daniel the Red, lvl 2

Dwagons of Doom!
==== Pink Dwagon {Hobgobwin Knight, Hobgobwin Knight}
==== Pink Dwagon {Hobgobwin Knight, Hobgobwin Knight}
==== Red Dwagon {Knight Lady Sylvia Lazarus, lvl 7}

More Dwagons of Doom!
==== Yellow Dwagon {Archer, Archer}
==== Yellow Dwagon {Archer, Archer}
==== Purple Dwagon {Knight Sir Loves-a-laugh, lvl 4}

C10:
Infantry Column (following are each stacks):
5 x Piker
7 x Piker (1 at 4 hits)
6 x Piker, Battle Bear, Warlord Capt. Price, lvl 3

D11:
Support Dwagon
=== 1 x Pink Dwagon
Another Support Dwagon
=== 1 x Yellow Dwagon {Warlord Capt. Sale, lvl 2}

More Infantry Column:
8 x Piker
8 x Piker
2 x Battle Bear
8 x Archer

D12:
Even More Infantry Column:
8 x Piker
8 x Archer
8 x Archer

I6:
2 x Feral Horse! Move Knights in to tame them!

L3 (Oldcastle):
Item! (Gem - 2000 pop pt equivalent)
Item! (Gem - 2000 pop pt equivalent)
Item! (DEM MED)
Hidden Item! Have a unit spend an entire turn here to find it!
Abandoned Ballista x 3 - spend just 400 pts to repair!

K9:
ANOTHER Column!?:
8 x Stabber
7 x Stabber, Battle Bear
7 x Stabber, Battle Bear
7 x Stabber, Warlord Capt. Discount, lvl 3

[WaterMonkey314]

As Leroy Jenkins rides into L4, something rustles in the grass...

AMBUSH!

Damn Quail appeared!
Stats: 5 Hits, 10 Attack, 4 Defense, 5 Move, Commander, Shockamancy

Damn Quail used Spelling Bee!

A magical blackboard appeared! It declared "Spell 'potato'!"

What will Cmdr. Leroy Jenkins do?!
> FIGHT

Leroy Jenkins used Spell! He wrote "potato"!

Damn Quail: "Hahaha!!! That's wrong! You forgot the e at the end!"

Damn Quail added an 'e'!

Magical Blackboard attacked Damn Quail! It's super effective!!!

Damn Quail fainted!

Leroy Jenkins got 1 XP for winning! Leroy Jenkins is now level 1*!

Leroy waits for further orders.
===============================================================

Since you guys are busy garrisoning your cities, please specify where within the city your troops are (e.g. Courtyard, Tower, etc.) If you don't specify anything, I'll end up assuming Courtyard.

Are these puns good or are they epicly groan-worthy?

[BLANDCorporatio]

Are these puns good or are they epicly groan-worthy?

They are quite all right, but I don't see why we needed to off a (former) US Republican Vice-president. Baby-steps people, we'll take on the Elephants after we took care of the Dwagons.

Anyways, our turn is not done yet, so unless the Dwagons pull a sideways Parson and slide to other hexes whilst off-turn, we'll take care of the regular business.

So, I take it Leeroy has arrived at Oldcastle.

"Most excellent work, Sir Jenkins. If you deem the way safe, the King, Miranda and Lilly shall join you shortly."

My idea is to send the 3 mentioned to Oldcastle. If any other Knight wants out of the Siege of Neufchatel, now's the time to mention it. Alternatively, we could send a couple of the existing Pikers to shield the King and co. Won't be much that we can send all the way to Oldcastle in any case.

But I think those 3 units would suffice, as long as no enemies get funny ideas.

(EDIT: I just realized that for story purposes, we should have made it so that all groups sent to Oldcastle did so under cover of Veils. Oh well. Lilly can Fool, but she was our only Foolamancer anyway. Still, maybe the King/Miranda Stack should meet with Lilly someplace near Neufchatel, just so that the Veil option exists. Mostly for flavour, though.)

After that's done, Joan will move to Neufchatel. Garrisoning our cities properly will be the last thing we do before ending turn.

[tigerusthegreat]

Sir Tigger et all will man the tower, as it gives their archers the best chances, and the pikers can help hold off anything that tries to breach it. Massive tunnels = no real benefit to defending that zone.

[BLANDCorporatio]

So anyways, my next order would be for the King, Miranda, and Lilly, to meet at some hex to the NE of Neufchatel, then proceed towards Oldcastle.

They way will be the same as that followed by Jenkins, which I think should be safe if I understand the rules correctly.

One thing I'd like to know however before I give that order is "what do our opponents see"? Of course, the GM can't answer that, so the question I'm really interested in is: "what would a competent Warlord of Cameria assume that the enemy would be able to see of the King's move towards Oldcastle"?

[WaterMonkey314]

The enemy has no units in any of the hexes that the King would pass through; therefore, they will not observe his flight.

Furthermore, the enemy has the same Line of Sight you have - namely, they can only see what happens in hexes they occupy when off-turn. When on-turn, they will of course know the contents of scouted hexes... though they won't get a realtime feed (not that it matters without any Parsony turn-breaking manuevers).

[WaterMonkey314]

By the way - an issue just occurred to me.

You can move around within your own city off-turn, but only within your "zone". That is, you can't move from Outer Walls to Tunnels or to Garrison, but you CAN move around WITHIN the Garrison - Courtyard, Tower, and Dungeons.

I think I'll make an exception to the tradition of not restacking off-turn and let you restack off-turn within cities (within reason).

If you like, you can leave your warlords contingency plans about restacking and movement that will make the upcoming turn faster; otherwise, I'll probably post an action, wait X amount of time, and then proceed. (Any suggestions on how much time is reasonable?)

[BLANDCorporatio]

Ok then, so let's get the important thing done.

"Your Majesty, I suggest you take your horse and ride to H6. Miranda, you should do the same. Lilly, you shall also meet with the King and Miranda at H6. Then, your stack shall proceed to Oldcastle."

Joan descended from the tower, and grabbed the reins of her own horse. "Archers, to me! We go to Neufchatel!"

TF;DU:

{Horse {Miranda}, Horse {King}} -> H6, {Lilly} -> H6 => {Horse {Miranda}, Lilly, Horse {King}} -> Oldcastle.
{3x Archer, Horse {Joan}} -> Neufchatel.

Unit locations, what are they now? Including any feral horses we may have missed?

Anyways, once King et co. get to Oldcastle, we'll consider troop arrangements in our cities.

[WaterMonkey314]

Current Camerian Unit Report:

Spoiler: show

Castlenau (K8)
7 x Piker, Lord Yenniw Hoop (1)
6 x Archer, Scout, Sir Tigger the Spring (4)
6 x Archer, Scout, Lady Rookang (2)

Outpost (B11)
5 x Scout

Bailey (G2)
== Courtyard: 6 x Scout

Neufchatel (G6)
8 x Piker
7 x Piker
5 x Archer
5 x Archers (L2)
3 x Archer, Joan's Horse {Joan of Arc (6)}
6 x Archer, Ex (L2), Deus (4**)
Betia's Horse (1M) {Cdr. Betia (4)}
Cmdr. Pwnd (5)
6 x Scout
The 75th Royal Alkaline (14 x Dance-Fighting Piker, 1 x Dance-Fighting Horse, Cmdr. Ziegfeld Tiller (3), 3 x Scout)

Newcastle (C7)
empty!

Oldcastle (L3)
D8-Horse (0M) {Cmdr. Leroy Jenkins (1)}
Caster's Horse {Miranda}, Lily (LSFT, lvl 6), Royal Horse {King}
3 x Abandoned Ballista

There's two more horses at I6 that I don't think you've tamed.

As the King, Miranda, and Lily entered Oldcastle through the crumbling, ivy-covered gatehouse, they saw Leroy Jenkins waving excitedly at them from within the city limits. While exploring deep within the abandoned castle, he had found a pair of gleaming gems worth 2000 points each! He held one in each arm as he waved, making him look just a bit like someone at an airport waving orders to planes. He had also found a magical tube of ointment marked "DEM MED"; he gave it and the gems to Miranda when she arrived.

The four figures looked awfully lonely in the ruined city. The outer walls looked as if they had been more ornamental than functional in their heyday, and the intervening years had left them little more than a thin, sheer wall of tan rocks. Scattered among roofless buildings were numerous statues and carvings - some whole, some not. Over them loomed what was left of the garrison walls and the tower. On the better-preserved parts of the garrison, gargoyles leered over the courtyard. The tower itself had suffered the most - a gaping hole had been blasted out of the middle, leaving a crown teetering over the tower's base. Four abandoned ballistae were visible through gunports on the crown.

The King excused himself and walked briskly into the depths of the castle, giving a few final, terse orders. "I will see you next turn. Try and hold Neufchatel. If anything unexpected happens, let me know through Miranda. Good luck."

[Stryke]

Deus will tame the two additional horses and bring them with him to Neufchatel.

" i reckomend we restack the archers into two stacks lead by Ex and Betis in the tower and one stack of re-inforcers safely hidden in the garrision, the alkilines deploy to the courtyard as our rearguard, Pwnd you and i will take a stack of pikers each and man the walls. Joan we'll need your cheifs bonus so we cant risk losing you early in the fight i reckomend you stay in the garrison and anything left in the treasury should be used now to buy as many units as we can get, if we have enough for a ballista then get one we'll need it.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Reasonable suggestions, anyone else have anything to pitch in? Tomorrow, I'll consider what was said, and arrange the troops in Neufchatel as recommended.

Castlenau, your stack arrangement?

[WaterMonkey314]

If you could wrap up the turn soon, that'd be great.

I'm also working on the rules and whatnot for the true campaign - more to come about that!

[BLANDCorporatio]

Ok, since no other suggestions, I think we'll go with Stryke's layout for the troops. Can we pop anything now?

If not, then end turn (presumably Castlenau is allowed some emergency rearrangement in case they get attacked). If yes, then I'd rather spam-pop as many units as possible. Don't think Ballistas are the most cost-effective way to build firepower right now.

[WaterMonkey314]

No, no end-of-turn popping, even with the emergency bonanza.

Ferrr-durrrppppppppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ominous clouds gather on the horizon as Cameria ends turn...

[WaterMonkey314]

End-of-turn Unit Report:
Cameria:

Castlenau (K8)
= Tower:
7 x Piker, Lord Yenniw Hoop (1)
6 x Archer, Scout, Sir Tigger the Spring (4)
6 x Archer, Scout, Lady Rookang (2)

Outpost (B11)
= Courtyard:
5 x Scout

Bailey (G2)
= Courtyard: 6 x Scout

Neufchatel (G6)
= Outer Walls:
=== 8 x Piker, Deus (4**)
=== 7 x Piker, Cmdr. Pwnd (5)
= Tunnels: EMPTY!
= Airspace: EMPTY!
= Tower:
=== 2 x Archer, 5 x Archers (L2), Cdr. Betia (4)
=== 7 x Archer, Ex (L2)
=== 5 x Archer, Joan's Horse {Joan of Arc (6)}
= Courtyard:
=== The 75th Royal Alkaline (14 x Dance-Fighting Piker, 1 x Dance-Fighting Horse, Cmdr. Ziegfeld Tiller (3), 3 x Scout)

= Dungeon:
=== 6 x Scout
=== 2 x Horse, Betia's Horse

Newcastle (C7)
empty!

Oldcastle (L3)
= Courtyard:
D8-Horse (0M) {Cmdr. Leroy Jenkins (1)}
Caster's Horse {Miranda}, Lily (LSFT, lvl 6), Royal Horse

= Tower:
3 x Abandoned Ballista
King

Hostiles:

E7:
Barbarian Archers!
=== 3 x Longbowman
=== 1 x Archery Warlord Adam the Red, lvl 2

More Barbarian Archers!
====3 x Longbowman
====1 x Archery Warlord Daniel the Red, lvl 2

Dwagons of Doom!
==== Pink Dwagon {Hobgobwin Knight, Hobgobwin Knight}
==== Pink Dwagon {Hobgobwin Knight, Hobgobwin Knight}
==== Red Dwagon {Knight Lady Sylvia Lazarus, lvl 7}

More Dwagons of Doom!
==== Yellow Dwagon {Archer, Archer}
==== Yellow Dwagon {Archer, Archer}
==== Purple Dwagon {Knight Sir Loves-a-laugh, lvl 4}

C10:
Infantry Column (following are each stacks):
5 x Piker
7 x Piker (1 at 4 hits)
6 x Piker, Battle Bear, Warlord Capt. Price, lvl 3

D11:
Support Dwagon
=== 1 x Pink Dwagon
Another Support Dwagon
=== 1 x Yellow Dwagon {Warlord Capt. Sale, lvl 2}

More Infantry Column:
8 x Piker
8 x Piker
2 x Battle Bear
8 x Archer

D12:
Even More Infantry Column:
8 x Piker
8 x Archer
8 x Archer

K9:
ANOTHER Column!?:
8 x Stabber
7 x Stabber, Battle Bear
7 x Stabber, Battle Bear
7 x Stabber, Warlord Capt. Discount, lvl 3

[WaterMonkey314]

A stack of 8 Pikers attacks Outpost!
They enter the TUNNELS and take the zone, unopposed!

A Yellow Dwagon {Warlord Capt. Sale, lvl 2} enters Outpost's AIRSPACE! The AA fires!

FIGHT!