Darkness Rising - Charlie's Mission #1

[BLANDCorporatio]

Burgundy grins directly at Anex, and winks lecherously. "And babe, you KNOW what they say about guys who wear big shoes, and it's absolutely true."

Zed-too: They have big feet.

[bob the 6th]

"Well, I think I can do it."
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can
"But why not just be all in one hex, with space between the lines? they are big enough I think..."

[MarbitChow]

Swanson glares at Thomas. "Because we don't want our guys siphoning XP from our shockamancer, obviously. We're assuming most of you are going to croak in the first wave, but please try to keep their units away from our caster long enough for him to finish them off."

[ETheBoyce]

"If your Shockamancer isn't useless then most of the enemy should croak before they can get close to us."

[Nnelg]

"Ich would like to ask that Sie dispatch ein single unit von Ihr own with Leadership to unser first ambush hex. It would give uns exactly zwei full und led stacks there."

[WhirdCheese]

Spoiler: show

Dang. It's a lot harder to read english and deutsch together than it is to read one at a time.

[bob the 6th]

Spoiler: show

And now uri is not the only person with a speech impediment. Luckily girl genius's jager monsters have trained me well in reading mangled Germanic English

"Well, I guess I can play to my strength... being a small wall for ground units. So off we go?"

[WhirdCheese]

I think that Thomas should stand behind Blackbeard.

[bob the 6th]

If their is a small enough line... sort of the problem, I think we are going to have to assume a wall of all melee units may or may not be wide enough. Tactics will be discussed when we see the map.

[Werebiscuit]

Burgundy grins directly at Anex, and winks lecherously. "And babe, you KNOW what they say about guys who wear big shoes, and it's absolutely true."

"What do they say ? That they're trying to compensate for something ? Might be that floppy pink sword you have . Looks worse than useless as a weapon. One touch of my ring and it'd explode" Anex grins back.

[Nnelg]

"Ich would like to ask that Sie dispatch ein single unit von Ihr own with Leadership to unser first ambush hex. It would give uns exactly zwei full und led stacks there."

OOC:
Actually, I forgot about the bodyguards they were going to give Napier. But either way, we need a second unit with Leadership (maybe even a third).

My thoughts on the battle:
Our tactics will depend entirely on the lay of the land. If there is a narrow (~6-8 squares at most) chokepoint, we can set up there. If there's cover we could potentially gain concealment behind, we can set up an ambush (possibly using a gobwin or better yet a clown scout as bait). If neither of these exist, we'll just have to hope the enemy is unled or form some sort of infantry square.

Whatever the case, though, we'll be in at least two stacks; and as such will need at least one additional unit with Leadership.


Now, to rephrase my earlier comment IC:

"Bitte; perhaps ich should say dass Sie would undoubtedlich wish Ihr Shockamancer dem besten Leadershipbonus possible zu haben.

Natürlich, dass would mean Sie should trust the task zu keine Leadershipunit save ein von Ihr own."

Spoiler: show

Dang. It's a lot harder to read english and deutsch together than it is to read one at a time.

Spoiler: show

And now uri is not the only person with a speech impediment. Luckily girl genius's jager monsters have trained me well in reading mangled Germanic English

Well, to be exact, I'm imagining Jaeger to be Prussian. Although that won't stop me from drawing on Austrian or Germanic sources for him as well.

I'm trying to stick to cognates, common pronouns, and words whose meanings can be inferred from context; but if at any time it becomes incomprehensible, just ask and I'll post a proper English translation.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Warum, warum, warum, immer wenn man ein deutscher Held spielt, fuhlt man das es notig ist einfache worter - und nur einfache worter - auf Deutsch zu wechseln fur die Englische?

No I'm not German, as an actual German would instantly detect from the text above. But that trope still annoys me.

[BLANDCorporatio]

"What do they say ? That they're trying to compensate for something ? Might be that floppy pink sword you have . Looks worse than useless as a weapon. One touch of my ring and it'd explode" Anex grins back.

Zed-too chuckles quietly. Since this is obviously a suicide mission and everyone is going to die, might as well.

[MarbitChow]

"If your Shockamancer isn't useless then most of the enemy should croak before they can get close to us."

Swanson scowls. "The path is twisted and full of vegetation, so while you'll probably hear them coming, you'll not likely see them until they're close. He'll probably only need a short time to finish them off, but seconds are going to count."

"What do they say ? That they're trying to compensate for something ? Might be that floppy pink sword you have . Looks worse than useless as a weapon. One touch of my ring and it'd explode" Anex grins back.

Swanson grins. "Sunshine, this little weapon has seen a whole lot of action, and I doubt you could handle it, but you're welcome to try." Now that you look at the weapons more closely, they appear to be solid metal clubs molded into balloon-like shapes and painted bright colors. The weapons are about four times as heavy as a comparable sword, and can only be wielded by heavy units.

"Bitte; perhaps ich should say dass Sie would undoubtedlich wish Ihr Shockamancer dem besten Leadershipbonus possible zu haben.
Natürlich, dass would mean Sie should trust the task zu keine Leadershipunit save ein von Ihr own."

Swanson raises an eyebrow. "We speak Language around her, sunshine. Your own side might cater to your little quirks, but if you try to shout out any instructions in anything but the pure, Titan-blessed Language that we were all popped with, we're going to ignore it the first time, then croak you if you try it again. Confusion on the battlefield gets you croaked, and we don't tolerate it here. Best start practicing.

"Other than Napier and some dolls, we're not wasting any more units on Stage 1 than we have to. We want them to think that the pass is guarded by a rag-tag bunch of misfits with just enough stopping power to hold off a couple of stacks, so that they'll pause for just a few turns to consolidate their forces, and try to roll over any opposition. We hit 'em hard enough to scare the crap outta 'em in Stage 2, and by the time they amass enough units to try to storm the pass again, we'll be long gone and the city should be taken.

"You'll be fighting the Giant Dwarves of the Iron Hills. The Iron Giant Dwarves are a nasty bunch, with not much of a sense of humor. They've been sending mostly freshly-popped units through, 2 or 3 stacks at a time, with one leadership and one bodyguard type unit in each stack. Their melee units are typically heavies, and their archers are well-armed and skilled. As I said, you guys are going to be speed-bumps for our shockamancer, who'll have his own stack of dolls to protect him. We've also prepared a bolt-hole for him in the hex itself - only he will know where it is, and it only fits one. The enemy hasn't been sending diggers, so he'll be safe for a turn. The rest of you are out of luck.

"On the off chance any of you live through this, maybe you'll level enough to be of a little use to us in Stage 2. Now get on those zeppelins, and may the Titans have mercy on you."

The Tenebris units are loaded into 2 zeppelins (each zeppelin carries 1 stack), and begin to make their way towards the Battlespace.

[BLANDCorporatio]

"Bitte; perhaps ich should say dass Sie would undoubtedlich wish Ihr Shockamancer dem besten Leadershipbonus possible zu haben. Natürlich, dass would mean Sie should trust the task zu keine Leadershipunit save ein von Ihr own."

Swanson raises an eyebrow. "We speak Language around her, sunshine. Your own side might cater to your little quirks, but if you try to shout out any instructions in anything but the pure, Titan-blessed Language that we were all popped with, we're going to ignore it the first time, then croak you if you try it again. Confusion on the battlefield gets you croaked, and we don't tolerate it here. Best start practicing.

Ich unterstutze diese sinnvolle Strategie mit ganzem Herzen.

The weapons are about four times as heavy as a comparable sword, and can only be wielded by heavy units.

Das ist sehr unpractisch.

Uhm, I mean, that is not very practical, regardless of how Heavy a unit is but whatever.

[Nnelg]

Warum, warum, warum, immer wenn man ein deutscher Held spielt, fuhlt man das es notig ist einfache worter - und nur einfache worter - auf Deutsch zu wechseln fur die Englische?

No I'm not German, as an actual German would instantly detect from the text above. But that trope still annoys me.

Well, my first draft was closer to proper "Deutsch mit Englisher Wörtern" than the other way around.

I haven't used an auto-translator for a single word of this, either. I've been using proper declension, treating English words as the gender of their closest Deutsch equivalent. I would have included words like "wölte" and "sollen" if I could have gotten away with it. I've even changed what I was saying once to avoid the letter 'Q'.

So, yeah. I feel that I've given the language the respect it deserves.

Ich unterstutze diese sinnvolle Strategie mit ganzem Herzen.

I'll be happy to use you as living scaffolding, then.

(At least use "ue" if you aren't going to use "ü", next time. )

The Tenebris units are loaded into 2 zeppelins (each zeppelin carries 1 stack), and begin to make their way towards the Battlespace.

I'll take it we're leaving a gobwin behind, then? (Unless Napier only has one Bodyguard...)

Swanson scowls. "The path is twisted and full of vegetation, so while you'll probably hear them coming, you'll not likely see them until they're close. He'll probably only need a short time to finish them off, but seconds are going to count."

So, does that mean we'll be able to spring a true ambush?

Also, Jaeger is unfamiliar with these "seconds". Are they similar to Phases, by chance?

[BLANDCorporatio]

I haven't used an auto-translater for a single word of this, either. I've been using proper declension, treading English words as the gender of their closest Deutsch equivalent. I would have included words like "wölte" and "sollen" if I could have gotten away with it. I've even changed what I was saying once to avoid the letter 'Q'.

So, yeah. I feel that I've given the language the respect it deserves.

What about the speakers though, eh? That's why the trope is so annoying. You really think a foreign speaker would struggle with, and replace, the simple words? (While magically being aware of the tricky ones?)

Ich unterstutze diese sinnvolle Strategie mit ganzem Herzen.

(At least use "ue" if you aren't going to use "ü", next time. )

Don't complain about spelling when such remarks are so easily flung back (see bolded words in the quote from you above).

EDIT:

And while (a) I'm not a german speaker so I may choose the wrong word to construct sentences with, and (b) this was obviously meant as a joke-

Ich unterstutze diese sinnvolle Strategie mit ganzem Herzen.

I'll be happy to use you as living scaffolding, then.

German usage backs my word choice.

[Nnelg]

What about the speakers though, eh? That's why the trope is so annoying. You really think a foreign speaker would struggle with, and replace, the simple words?

Not really, no. I'd expect them to get the gist of it then move on.

Don't complain about spelling when such remarks are so easily flung back (see bolded words in the quote from you above).

Not spelling, transliteration. Umlauts are important. (Although I'm glad you pointed those out, I'll go fix them now.)

[BLANDCorporatio]

What about the speakers though, eh? That's why the trope is so annoying. You really think a foreign speaker would struggle with, and replace, the simple words?

Not really, no. I'd expect them to get the gist of it then move on.

Precisely. They'd use the pronouns, conjunctions and so on of english. It's more specialized nouns and verbs that they'd replace with those of their mother tongue.

Not spelling, transliteration. Umlauts are important, if you don't want to (for instance) call a mouse gay.

When the opportunity for confusion between a gay and a wet mouse will arise, umlauts will be present, or not, to dispel the confusion.

[Nnelg]

German usage backs my word choice.

It wasn't a wrong word. But neither was it the one you were looking for.

Not spelling, transliteration. Umlauts are important, if you don't want to (for instance) call a mouse gay.

When the opportunity for confusion between a gay and a wet mouse will arise, umlauts will be present, or not, to dispel the confusion.

I'm sorry, I was misremembering something my high school German teacher said. I went back and checked (then edited out the erroneous statement) almost immediately, but apparently not fast enough.