Tactics and Strategies of the Dark Conquest - Page 2 - OG Myth-Weavers

Notices


World of Farland

A world conquered by evil and ruled by the Lords of Sin; A unique campaign setting designed to be used with all editions of D&D.


Tactics and Strategies of the Dark Conquest

   
Ohhh, I like ryator's plan. That sounds like it would work well. And yes, I think that much of it needs to be in the form of a historical accounting.

And yes, we are still on the same schedule for releases.

Oh, and there has been a good thread in this forum on a similar issue I started a while ago. It was called "life in a Conquered kingdom" i think, but I can't seem to find it. Can someone help me out here?

Well, I found the thread on the "other" site. Don't know why I can't find it here. Anyway, there is a lot of good stuff in that thread. It doesn't necessarily deal with tactics of the dark conquest, but what may have happened after the conquest was successful.

Check it out.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ryator
Thanks for bringing this up, Val! This is a great subject to discuss, and can lead to some great opportunities for ongoing releases.

Do you think, perhaps, that we should break it into separate development threads, like so:
  1. Darkfolk conquest of Farland (Historical accounting)
  2. Darkfolk seige and warfare tactics (Nonfiction descriptions)
  3. Life under Darkfolk rule (Nonfiction descriptions)
  4. Plight of the conquered (Short Story)
  5. Means of subjugation (Rules, Laws, and Torture - nonfiction descriptions)

This'd be a huge release, but we could, of course, start working on it now.

Far - you still have the same plan for September (Stor-Gris) and October (Wawmar)?
If we were able to get all that ready for a big release taht would be awesome. If we do go down this path I would be willing to do the Darkfolk conquest of Farland historical accounting or the Plight of the conquered. That would be excellent.

Here is an account of Military Tactics used by the Romans so, we could apply these maybe with some changes to the nation of Farland when it got invaded.

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Tortoise
Information about tactics can be derived from accounts of battles, but the very military manuals known to have existed and to have been used extensively by commanders, have not survived. Perhaps the greatest loss is the book of Sextus Julius Frontinus. But parts of his work were incorporated in the records of the historian Vegetius.

The importance of the choice of ground is pointed out.
There is an advantage of height over the enemy and if you are pitting infantry against cavalry, the rougher the ground the better. The sun should be behind you to dazzle the enemy. If there is strong wind it should blow away from you, giving advantage to your missiles and blinding the enemy with dust.

In the battle line, each man should have three feet of space, while the distance between the ranks is given as six feet.
Thus 10'000 men can be placed in a rectangle about 1'500 yards by twelve yards, and it was advised not to extend the line beyond that.

The normal arrangement was to place the infantry in the centre and the cavalry on the wings. The function of the latter was to prevent the centre from being outflanked and once the battle turned and the enemy started to retreat the cavalry moved forward and cut them down. - Horsemen were always a secondary force in ancient warfare, the main fighting being done by the infantry.

It was recommended that if your cavalry was weak it was to be stiffened with lightly armed foot soldiers.

Vegetius also stresses the need for adequate reserves. These could prevent an enemy from trying to envelope one's own forces, or could fend off enemy cavalry attacking the rear of the infantry.
Alternatively, they could themselves move to the sides and perform an enveloping manoeuver against an opponent.

The position to be taken up by the commander was normally on the right wing.

The tortoise was a essentially defensive formation by which the legionaries would hold their shields overhead, except for the front rows, thereby creating a kind of shell-like armour shielding them against missiles from the front or above.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Wedge
The wedge was commonly used by attacking legionaries, - legionaries formed up in a triangle, the front 'tip' being one man and pointing toward the enemy, - this enabled small groups to be thrust well into the enemy and, when these formations expanded, the enemy troops were pushed into restricted positions, making hand-to-hand fighting difficult. This is where the short legionary gladius was useful, held low and used as a thrusting weapon, while the longer Celtic and Germanic swords became impossible to wield.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skirmishing Formation
The saw was opposite tactic to the wedge. This was a detached unit, immediately behind the font line, capable of fast sideways movement down the length of the line to block any holes which might appear to develop a thrust where there might be a sign of weakness. In the case of two Roman armies fighting each other in a civil war, one might say that the 'saw' inevitably was the response to a 'wedge' by the other side.

The skirmishing formation was a widely spaced line up of troops, as opposed to the tighter packed battle ranks so typical of legionary tactics. It allowed for greater mobility and would have found many uses in the tactical handbooks of Roman generals.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Repel Cavalry
The order to repel cavalry brought about a the following formation. The first rank would form a firm wall with their shields, only their pila protruding, forming a vicious line of glistening spearheads ahead of the wall of shields. A horse, however well trained, could hardly be brought to break through such a barrier. The second rank of the infantry would then use its spears to drive off any attackers whose horses came to a halt. This formation would no doubt prove very effective, particularly against ill-disciplined enemy cavalry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Orb
The orb is a defensive postition in the shape of a circle taken by a unit in desperate straits. It allows for a reasonably effective defence even if parts of an army have been divided in battle and would have required a very high level discipline by the individual soldiers.
Those are some formations that I got from http://www.roman-empire.net/army/tactics.html

There are a few other things on that page regarding the layout before the battle as well as Byzantine tactics.

Well I think you may be taking on more than you realize, Anki. Anyway, this project will be a collaborative effort, so no one person will be doing all of it.

Also,we need a head for this project. It looks like it will be either ryator or Valanduil. Volunteer?

Good info, lord.anki...I'll have to take a look at that site.

Sure, I could head it up if you like, though I may be a bit busy with Stor-gris and Wawmar for the next few. Val - that's up to you, bud. If you want to run with it, go right ahead; if not, I'd be happy to.

Yeah, I think this one may have Val's name all over it.

Yeah, good stuff lord anki. That's just the stuff we're looking for. Soon we'll have enough basic stuff and should start Farlandizing all our ideas. We'll have to tweak the tactics so that they're completely evil. Otherwise we'll just be describing tactics used the world over. Stuff like using orcs as fodder without care for loss of life and bringing back the armies of dead as undead to rise and fight again. I'm happy to head this up or let another do so, either way. I don't get online that much really though and have been sick recently, so as soon as I get better I'll be able to do more.

Well, I would like to be a part of this like I said. I don't know if I could head it. I wouldn't trust me. I don't like assigning deadlines because I usually don't meet them myself. Don't I Ric?




 

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Last Database Backup 2024-03-28 04:19:55pm local time
Myth-Weavers Status