Tactical exercise 2

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Tactical exercise 2

Postby Kyrian » Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:24 pm

Definitions
Unit Size
Small=under 20 personnel
Medium=20-39 personnel
Large=over 40 personnel

Unit type
Light=light to no armor
Medium=less than 50% armored
Heavy=more than 50% armored

Unit experience level
Low=has very few veterans
Medium=has mix of veterans and new fighters
High=composed almost entirely of experienced veterans

Unit type
Skirmisher=Use mobility to move to the flanks or rear of a line
Line=shields with support weapons, most effective in static engagements

I. This is based somewhat on some battles that took place at Spring War. The fighters were divided into two sides by units. The objective was to eliminate the enemy.

II. Red forces.
--a. Large unit of heavy line fighters with medium experience (60)
--b. Medium unit of heavy line fighters with medium experience (30)
--c. Small unit of heavy skirmishers with high experience (10)

III. Blue forces.
--a. Large unit of heavy line fighters with medium experience (40)
--b. Medium unit of medium skirmishers with medium experience (20)
--c. Large unit of medium skirmishers with high experience spread out. (40)


IV. Organization (from blue force perspective)


Red a. Red b. Red. c.

Blue a. Blue b. Blue c.

V. Battle development
00:00 Battle begins. Forces begin moving toward each other.
00:30 Red a. begins shifting to the left (from blue perspective) attempting to secure flank. Blue a. shifts to the left to prevent anyone from slipping past the line. A gap forms between Red a. and Red b. Red a. and Blue a. engage. Red c. shifts right. Red b. is spreading out to cover any gaps and to support Red c. The battle now looks like this:

Red a.---------------Red b.-------Red c.
Blue a.--------Blue b.--------B-l-u-e---c.

The "-" indicate any gaps or that a unit is dispersed.

You are in command of blue forces. What will you have them do?
Last edited by Kyrian on Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Borric » Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:54 pm

1. I would have Blue(c) disengage about 15-20 fighters to engage Red(c). Blue (c) is composed of medium skirmishers who are going to fight heavy skirmish. I would have them spread out slightly (not an entire line) and quickly pin/surround Red(c).

2. I would then send the remaining Blue(c) squad to hit the right side/rear (from Blue standpoint) of Red(b). Red(b) is composed of heavy line fighters so they might try to break through my Blue(b) of medium skirmishers. I woud however, instruct Blue(b) to maintain a loose line formation when fighting Red(b). Ideally, I would want them to contain Red(b), but not die to their polearms (I'm assuming the heavy line fighters would have polearms normally outfitted to heavy line fighters.)
With this staggered positioning as well as Blue(c)'s flank attack, we should be able to neutralize Red(b) before they either turn around or force a break through Blue(b)'s lines.

3. Ideally by this point there should still be some fighting going on on the left side (Red/Blue (a)) Since it is 60 v. 40, I would hope that the battle would last just long enough to allow the remenants of Blue(b) and 1/2 Blue(c), (ideally 30 people) to rush in and tip the scales against Red(a).

4. Mop up. Take care of Red(c) if they survived the attack.
Last edited by Borric on Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Kenneth » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:58 pm

Agreed. The elegent simplicity of Borric's plan makes it easy to implement. If there is one thing I would even possibly modify, at the expense of complexity, I'd have Blue b compact to their left diagonally and slightly backwards while compacting Blue C slightly to the right. What this will do will open up a small gap between Blue B and Blue C.

Having Blue B diagonal will prevent Red B from pushing through and taking blue a. What it also does is sets a trap to pin Red B against. I'm guessing it will only take 15 of Blue C to tie up red B, leaving 25 Blue C to pin/screen/kill Red C's 10. If Red C wants to play the skirmish game, that's fine, because most of Blue C will roll down Red B. If Red C stands and delivers, it should be overwhelmed by the more numerous Blue C. From there on, it is just roll down the line. Alternatively, the gap can serve as a trap to lure Red B in, and then crushing Red B's flank in between Blue B and Blue C. I'm willing to sacrifice Blue B if it means the destruction of most of Red B and C.

The goal of Blue A would be to stay alive. After a few minutes worth of engagement, I would have Blue A gradually drift diagonal left, thus turning the backs of Red A to the incoming Blue B/C combination.
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Postby Osric » Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:16 pm

So much for getting the first reply in. Anyway, I'm mostly in agreeance with Borric. I'd have Blue C rally and divide them up in half to smoke Red C and have the remainder of Blue C reinforce Blue B by coming in hard from the flank. Blue A I would order to play defensive and focus on staying alive until the other two units had been neutralized. If Blue B and Blue C come through victorious in their engagements I would combine and divide them to attack the flanks of Red A.
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Postby Kyrian » Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:44 pm

Good stuff, so far, everyone. Let's take the battle from this point:

Borric wrote:1. I would have Blue(c) disengage about 15-20 fighters to engage Red(c). Blue (c) is composed of medium skirmishers who are going to fight heavy skirmish. I would have them spread out slightly (not an entire line) and quickly pin/surround Red(c).


and continue to develop it...

00:45 Red forces see that Blue (c) is attempting to pin Red (c) and that there is a gap forming between Blue (a) and Blue (b). Red (b) shifts to the right and forms a line to reinforce Red (c)'s flank. Red (a) detaches a group of about 20 to try and exploit the gap. Red (a) and Blue (a) are basically locked in place. The forces now look like this:


Red (a)----------------R----e----d---(b)------Red (c)
-----------Red (a-)----------------Blue (c-)-------------
Blue (a)----------------Blue (b)---------B--l--u--e--(c)

(minus sign within parentheses indicates a detachment. plus sign indicates reinforcement)

Note: Sorry for all the weird notation. I've been kinda developing it as things come up. At some point I'll compile all of the notation to make it clearer. If you have any suggestions, please post them. I'm starting to think that I might have to revamp the whole notation system to make it a lot clearer especially in describing positional relationships, i.e., where one unit is in reference to the others.---Kyrian

Some things to keep in mind:
1) If you decide to continue and press on Red (b) and Red (c), then Red (a-) may be able to trap Blue (a) so that even though you'll take out 40% of red's forces, they will still have their 50-60% remaining.
2) If you decide to commit Blue (b) to shifting left preventing Red (a-) from exploiting the gap, Red (b) may attempt to swing down and contain Blue (c) and Blue (c-).

Blue force commander, what is your next move?
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Postby Borric » Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:23 pm

I would continue with my battle plan as before, but with some alterations.

1. Agreeing with Kenny, Blue(A)'s orders would be to STAY ALIVE. The whole idea there is to gimp and go. I would however, start to break off a few fighters (perhaps 5-7), preferably the quickest hitters on Blue(A) to filter slightly into the gap between Blue(A) and Blue (B) for two reasons.
First: To give Red(a-) a moment of pause before blowing the gap.
Second: To continue to stall the overall movment of (a-)
This could then cause Red (a-) to turn in and all of Red(A) to
swarm Blue (a), but again, THE critical task of the main body of
Blue(a) is to stay alive.

2. I would continue the plan as before (in regards to Blue(c-) and Blue (b), but this time I would slightly, and toward the left most end of Blue (b), stall the line. (It would cause Blue (B) to look like a backslash [/] albiet not as steep. This way, the left most elements of Blue (b), maybe the last 5 fighters, can keep an eye of Red(a-). It would then be up to the the experienced skirmishers of Blue(a-) to blow the gap between Red(b) and Red(c) and take them out while they are staggered.

In this scenario, the degree of difficulty has gone up dramatically. It would depend on who was in those small detachments that would decide this battle. For example. For Blue(c-) I keep seeing Angel blowing the gap with a few others in two. Then in counterpoint. I imagine Dark Guard in Red(c) position. It would be hard, even with twice their numbers, to encircle them. Red(c) would just break out.


Kyrian: For these hypotheticals, are we to assume that these fighters are armed in different ways? For example, I am picturing this field without bows and arrows, and with spears and glaives.
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Postby Kyrian » Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:52 pm

Borric,

I'd say that the units would have support weapons commensurate with the role they're best at, i.e., the heavy line unit would have spears, glaives, and archers supporting while the medium skirmish unit would probably have a couple of archers and some red weapons. Light skirmishers might have one archer and quite a few shield and weapon fighters with minimal support weapons.

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Postby Osric » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:12 pm

I'd have Blue C rally and hold a defensive postion until the red units had united while Blue B shot the gap and came around both Red units and hammered hard at the flank and rear. Send 10 Blue C from the rear rank to reinforce Red A. After the Red B/C unit has been taken, (figuring a 50% loss for Blue) have the remaining flank out the Red A unit. Comments?
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Postby arky » Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:17 am

Have Blue(c-) push were Red(b) and Red((c) meet.
Blue(c) continues to wrap Red(c & red b)
Blue(b) pushs the left corner of Red(b) with a few going to harass Red(a)s back
This should make the spread out Red(b) cave on itself

Red(a-) will see this and decide to flank Blue(a) instead

As Red(a & a-) is wraping up Blue(a) the remnants of Blue(b & c) crash into the backs of the remnants of Red(a and a-)
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