GreivousKhan

Allaria Ch. 4: Rescue and Escape

I'll post where I want Rilla!

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You'd need a horse, which is the main turn off for me.

@MelonHead

I wouldn't say you need a horse. In fact, a Samurai largely being a horse archer, has less business being on foot with only a sword than a knight (who historically dismounted for sieges anyway.) yet they pull it off pretty well. (perhaps unreasonably well from a historic stand point, they don't even get the option of a shield after all for some absurd reason)

Nar Mat Kordh-Ishi - Orcish Mercenaries

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In a weird way I think that is what would make our characters interesting. We've all heard the stories of the legendary hero's rise to power and justice, but who's heard the story told from the point of view of the grunts?

I think that's what drew me to this.

@MelonHead

That is a nice perspective. In that case I like the claimant idea even more.

Ironically there is a series of books kind of like this, also staring a merc company of orcs.

What about something a bit simpler, at least to start with? King dies without issue, rival lords are warring for the crown and the Company is in the service of one of them? Then perhaps an heir can be discovered or other nations or factions (religious body, mages, elves, etc) can be brought in to complicate what was a good old fashion civil war?

@Flagg

That's pretty much the idea, I was more wondering about the why of our siege. Which I think would be the best place to discover said hier. Imo any way. Also, hi Flagg. ^^

Long time no see.

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That and Western noblemen would duel over matters of honor just as frequently as any samurai. And in all of history, I can think of no better way of starting a fight than throwing a glove at somebody in public.

@Takashi

You have insulted my family, you must die.

Hmm, I should really make a knight character. A proepr knight character at some point.

Nar Mat Kordh-Ishi - Orcish Mercenaries

Why not just make the claimant unrelated blood-wise, like a vizier, or influential count? It's always nice to have grey and grey.

@Peik

In that cause they'd need a good reason to want to rule, aside from power of course. I was thinking of something tragic for the claimant, such as witnessing their father being murdered/assassinated and mother raped. Thus paving a way for your basic heroes journey...

Of course there is the risk said person would end up being more interesting than our characters. :P

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Yeah, I was indeed distinguishing between battles on the open field and sieges, which I know were far more common and often less bloody, as everyone stood outside and waited for the people in the castle to starve and surrender.

In fact, I think I mentioned the very same fact in the Arena chat thread a few weeks back when someone mentioned medieval battles.

I suppose the reason why battles were uncommon was that it was incredibly rare for two sides to want to fight and destroy each other, because it would rely on a situation where for some reason both sides were confident of victory, which just didn't happen. The smaller side would just run away (manoeuvring) until more favourable conditions were met. Where-as guys in a castle didn't really have the option of running away from larger forces, so the people ensured of victory could set things in motion and engage combat.

I didn't know that about Anglo Saxon England, though as is common I'm only really aware in any detail of the battle of Stamford Bridge and the Battle of Hastings, which were both foreign invasions, so I doubt rules of etiquette would apply.

@MelonHead

Pretty much ya, normally a field battle is hardly necessary almost regardless of goal. To take a few examples, if one side wishes to kill as many enemies as possible, why bother with a battle if they could go around torching cities, villages, and fields while avoiding their enemy's main army? If they want to take a city, why not lure the enemy into a wild goose chase elsewhere while the main army completes the siege or assault of said city?

If a confederation of desert tribes wishes to defend its homeland, why fight a battle at the frontiers if the enemy can be more efficiently defeated by denying them access to water supplies? If a civilized agrarian kingdom wants to turn back a rival kingdom's invasion, why not let that enemy get bogged down in besieging the frontier castles and towns while the King's agents gather a force large enough to scare any thoughts of continuing the invasion away from the enemy's mind? If a country at war needs to keep an enemy fleet at bay, why send the whole damned Grand Fleet steaming off to potential disaster if a commando raid can do the job just as well-not the least by sinking the enemy's own ships to block their own harbor. :K

I remember reading about a siege in the 100 years war that proves "civil war" is not an oxymoron. An English general was besieging a French castle. He managed to dig some kind of trench around the castle that was about to cause it to collapse or something, so rather than utterly crushing his enemies he properly warned the French general what he was doing. The French general didn't believe him, so the English bloke invited him outside to show him. The French dude was like, "Hmm... looks like you're right. OK, we surrender." Then the two armies had a pleasant banquet together.

@Takashi

That's one of gallantry that shows reality is stranger than fiction; at the battle of Fontenoy, an advancing English battalion halted a few dozen paces away from their French adversaries. The commanders of the French and the English battalions then bowed and invited each other's battalions to fire first before the fighting began in earnest--hence the quote from Lord Charles Hay, to which the Frenchman replied "Messieurs les Anglais, tirez les premier."

Funny enough, most of these examples involve the English now that I think about it...

Nar Mat Kordh-Ishi - Orcish Mercenaries

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Or, in the process of being killed by rebels, the Company was sent to secure a stronghold and it was the only part of the King's plan that worked.

It will start with a successful siege, because then the Company has something the other factions want.

@HeySeuss

Perhaps the siege is to rescue one of the few legitimate rulers to the throne?

This is in reference to our first battle. Thus will give it an interesting added story progression possibility as well. Might even turn into a Golden Company situation with the person we rescue using the company as the core of his force to take what is rightfully his? He'd be desperate enough that he'd (or she) have no choice, but to use orc's.

As for faction idea's I'd have to sleep on it.

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Which is why medieval battles were incredibly rare and avoided at all costs, but they still happened.

@MelonHead

If by that you mean large scale field battles, then more or less that is true. Sieges tend to be much more common. Battles have the potential to be decisive--including to be decisive in the wrong way. It is essentially the act of compressing the glory or misery of a whole campaign into the space of a few hours or a couple of days at most, and if the plans fail, woe to the vanquished melon. :K

Competent commanders have always been aware of the nature of battle as a two-edged knife, so they would only engage in it when there was a compelling a reason to do so. Even after the Napoleonic shift in the focus of warfare towards battle-oriented strategies, modern commanders do not fight battles "just because." They still need to arrange their battles to fit their larger strategic goals and objectives.

Also due to the terrible risks of unrestrained warfare, battles were often ritualized events that ended long before the total annihilation of the losing side. Many historical cultures had the custom of not beginning the battle until the opposing sides had sent envoys or heralds to each other and attempted to negotiate a peaceful solution. Others demand a ceremonial declaration of the beginning of hostilities, such as by the device of a whistling arrow or a brief ritual cannonade. Anglo-Saxon England had the practice of "hazeling" a field of battle and setting the opposing hosts to meet by prior arrangement at a specific date and place.

Then of course there is the duel between champions to decide an outcome. Kind of like what Dynamo and I are doing. Makes for a good reason to have a fight between individuals at all.

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Which is why medieval battles were incredibly rare and avoided at all costs, but they still happened. Sucks to be the guy at the front I guess. Clifford Rogers believed a great deal of the French who died at Agincourt were actually pushed over by their own men and drowned in the mud, or even suffocated in their own armour (which is known to have happened in other battles, apparently.)

Poor French bastards.

@MelonHead

Well that battle did have the french running over their own crossbowmen due to said crossbowmen fleeing the battle and pissing off the French general. Thus that running over by knights was actually intentional.

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It's your character, so fair enough, from what I know of First Nation People's they tended to favour guerilla tactics where being physically robust in a pushing and shoving sort of way (which most medieval battles tended to come down to on the front line) was not a major concern, nor something they trained for.

@MelonHead

Common misconception.

If battle turned into shoving matches, the people in the first and second row would suffocate to death and cause all kinds of cohesive failure for the unit as a whole. Imagine 12 or more people pushing you from the back while being waged up against a dozen bodies in front of you. Total chaos.

Melees are actually something generals absolutely try to avoid. You'd have an insane amount of casualties and little tactical gain.

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I'm definitely up for a match. I've got 4 characters posted right now. Always thinking of which one to add next.

@Takashi

I'll send you a PM so you can decide when of your characters will be a good match for it.