*The gates trundle open, to reveal my army in formation as they begin marching out.* So that's half my Isen's in front, with the swordsuruks behind, then the pike Uruks behind them. *The army wheels around and begins hammering and stabbing the furnaces, removing the operators with the Isen's massive flails/hammers.* *The Wargs leap on and remove the remaining operators.* *At the same time the gate opens, my crossbowmen and siege weapons move forward and launch a continuous barrage on your archers and siege weapons.* I also moved 400 Crossbowmen down to ground level, so that they can bombard your frontline with the wall blocking return fire.
*The operators of the Fireblades quickly go down.* *You forces attacks on the furnaces themselves cause fuel to spill out. Rather than having numerous focused blasts of flame on the wall, there is now a raging inferno all along the base.*
*My forces fall back as necessary to stay out of range of your trebuchets.* *Dwarves return fire. Gunuzirak keep a constant hail on your crossbowmen while using the tanks as cover (this is assuming that they follow to stay in range). LTs and MAPs fire their light artillery at the crossbowmen (these guys are still in range, unless the crossbowmen are retreating again).* *The HATs fire incendiaries at your siege weapons, systematically targeting each individual weapon and igniting it, starting with the ballistae, then onagers. EPAs act likewise, starting with the trebuchets.* *Mortars rain slugs upon your Ologs.*
You do realize that that's not how walls work, right? They only help against low-trajectory weapons in this sort of situation. If you're firing over them and are able to hit my troops, then my troops are just as capable of firing over them to hit yours. Trajectories tend to go that way.
OOC: Aye, but my forces firing on your artillery are on top of the wall - my forces firing at your infantry are the ones behind it. Not that you couldn't fire over the wall, but you'd probably have to move up to do it, and you'd definitely be in range then.
*Crossbowmen split off from the group that was originally sent down and start a bucket chain to the top, as water's dumped on the siege weapons and to the bottom of the wall to put out the flames.* *Crossbowmen fall back and begin their climb back up the wall.* *The Ologs and pikemen split into 4 phalanx's, with the wargs forming their own wedge formation to the left of your main forces.*
To avoid argument with what I'm planning to do, do you agree that your troops would be focused almost entirely on the Ologs and siege weapons? I'm sending a very small force to flank, and I want us both to agree that they were't noticed before I begin to use them.
*Now aware of the fire before their outer walls, the Orcs of Moria start shifting rubble, though the dwarves and elves cannot tell what they are doing with it.* *The Ballistae focus their fire on the dwarven siege engines, aiming for the Oparators.* *The Stair-Shooters, grey Archers, and Heavy Archers target dwarven commanders.*
*The operators of the Fireblades quickly go down.* *You forces attacks on the furnaces themselves cause fuel to spill out. Rather than having numerous focused blasts of flame on the wall, there is now a raging inferno all along the base.*
*My forces fall back as necessary to stay out of range of your trebuchets.* *Dwarves return fire. Gunuzirak keep a constant hail on your crossbowmen while using the tanks as cover (this is assuming that they follow to stay in range). LTs and MAPs fire their light artillery at the crossbowmen (these guys are still in range, unless the crossbowmen are retreating again).* *The HATs fire incendiaries at your siege weapons, systematically targeting each individual weapon and igniting it, starting with the ballistae, then onagers. EPAs act likewise, starting with the trebuchets.* *Mortars rain slugs upon your Ologs.*
You do realize that that's not how walls work, right? They only help against low-trajectory weapons in this sort of situation. If you're firing over them and are able to hit my troops, then my troops are just as capable of firing over them to hit yours. Trajectories tend to go that way.
OOC: Aye, but my forces firing on your artillery are on top of the wall - my forces firing at your infantry are the ones behind it. Not that you couldn't fire over the wall, but you'd probably have to move up to do it, and you'd definitely be in range then.
*Crossbowmen split off from the group that was originally sent down and start a bucket chain to the top, as water's dumped on the siege weapons and to the bottom of the wall to put out the flames.* *Crossbowmen fall back and begin their climb back up the wall.* *The Ologs and pikemen split into 4 phalanx's, with the wargs forming their own wedge formation to the left of your main forces.*
To avoid argument with what I'm planning to do, do you agree that your troops would be focused almost entirely on the Ologs and siege weapons? I'm sending a very small force to flank, and I want us both to agree that they were't noticed before I begin to use them.
Well, first, all of my forces are within one big group. Second, I'm ignoring range here. Both of our forces in question (my archers, you crossbowmen behind the wall) should have roughly equal ranges. If your troops are capable of firing over the wall and hitting my troops, then my troops are capable of firing over the wall and hitting your troops.
*Your troops slowly put out the fire. Unfortunately for them, though, by this point a large section of wall has collapsed and been reduced to rubble.* *Archers continue firing at any troops in range, as do the HATs and mortars and some of the light artillery at their previous targets (EPAs and other light artillery redirect fire at Sham). A few of the HATs on the left flank fire on the wargs.* *LTs and some of the halberdiers relocate as necessary to cover the forward ranks of the army, while the rest of the halberdiers remain in the rear.*
Go ahead with them, but they'd most certainly be seen. We're in a rather narrow area, and all of your forces would have to be coming from a single point. It'd be difficult for some cavalry to sneak off to the side when the side is so close to the center.
*Now aware of the fire before their outer walls, the Orcs of Moria start shifting rubble, though the dwarves and elves cannot tell what they are doing with it.* *The Ballistae focus their fire on the dwarven siege engines, aiming for the Oparators.* *The Stair-Shooters, grey Archers, and Heavy Archers target dwarven commanders.*
*A number of LTs and MAPs open fire on your ballista crews.* *EPAs redirect their fire from Gotee's artillery to your ballistae, using incendiaries.* *Assuming that these troops are within the fortifications, their arrows fall short as my forces have fallen back out of arrow range (so only ballistae of various sorts can reach the wall from my army, and vice versa).*
They are being protected by the shields of the swordsmen so that they can take cover to nock an arrow, then step to the side, snipe down an enemy, and take cover again. They're worth 2 EWE (2.6 MWE), so they are more skilled than most orc archers.Currently they are covering the Fireblades, though that may change depending on where the battle is right now.
KitKat , can you give me a quick update on the battle and what our plan is currently?
*Now aware of the fire before their outer walls, the Orcs of Moria start shifting rubble, though the dwarves and elves cannot tell what they are doing with it.* *The Ballistae focus their fire on the dwarven siege engines, aiming for the Oparators.* *The Stair-Shooters, grey Archers, and Heavy Archers target dwarven commanders.*
*A number of LTs and MAPs open fire on your ballista crews.* *EPAs redirect their fire from Gotee's artillery to your ballistae, using incendiaries.* *Assuming that these troops are within the fortifications, their arrows fall short as my forces have fallen back out of arrow range (so only ballistae of various sorts can reach the wall from my army, and vice versa).*
*Several ballistae are destroyed; the rest keep firing.* *The archers are all on the cliffs above, and have been for some time.*
OOC: Could everyone let me know where your troops are relative to the map Shamrock made earlier? I believe my troops are positioned as follows (this is a rough estimate):
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC C OW C OW WWW SS IIIIIIIIIII C OW WWW SS IIIIIIIIIII M OW WWW SS IIIIIIIIIII M OW WWW SS IIIIIIIIIII M OW IIIIIIIIIII C OG IIIIIIIIIII C OG C OG CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
M = Moria Gate O = Orcs W = Wall G = Gate S = Siege Engines C = Cliffs W = Warders I = Mirkwood Infantry (out of range)
*A number of LTs and MAPs open fire on your ballista crews.* *EPAs redirect their fire from Gotee's artillery to your ballistae, using incendiaries.* *Assuming that these troops are within the fortifications, their arrows fall short as my forces have fallen back out of arrow range (so only ballistae of various sorts can reach the wall from my army, and vice versa).*
*Several ballistae are destroyed; the rest keep firing.* *The archers are all on the cliffs above, and have been for some time.*
*The other are soon finished off, once the EPAs finish reloading.* You only had seven or so ballistae, right? I think that's what you had on your list. Also, which cliffs are you talking about? The ones behind the wall, or the ones on the sides of the dale? MM pulled the archers on the sides back some time ago, so I'm not sure if they'd still be in range.
OOC: Aye, but my forces firing on your artillery are on top of the wall - my forces firing at your infantry are the ones behind it. Not that you couldn't fire over the wall, but you'd probably have to move up to do it, and you'd definitely be in range then.
*Crossbowmen split off from the group that was originally sent down and start a bucket chain to the top, as water's dumped on the siege weapons and to the bottom of the wall to put out the flames.* *Crossbowmen fall back and begin their climb back up the wall.* *The Ologs and pikemen split into 4 phalanx's, with the wargs forming their own wedge formation to the left of your main forces.*
To avoid argument with what I'm planning to do, do you agree that your troops would be focused almost entirely on the Ologs and siege weapons? I'm sending a very small force to flank, and I want us both to agree that they were't noticed before I begin to use them.
Well, first, all of my forces are within one big group. Second, I'm ignoring range here. Both of our forces in question (my archers, you crossbowmen behind the wall) should have roughly equal ranges. If your troops are capable of firing over the wall and hitting my troops, then my troops are capable of firing over the wall and hitting your troops.
*Your troops slowly put out the fire. Unfortunately for them, though, by this point a large section of wall has collapsed and been reduced to rubble.* *Archers continue firing at any troops in range, as do the HATs and mortars and some of the light artillery at their previous targets (EPAs and other light artillery redirect fire at Sham). A few of the HATs on the left flank fire on the wargs.* *LTs and some of the halberdiers relocate as necessary to cover the forward ranks of the army, while the rest of the halberdiers remain in the rear.*
Go ahead with them, but they'd most certainly be seen. We're in a rather narrow area, and all of your forces would have to be coming from a single point. It'd be difficult for some cavalry to sneak off to the side when the side is so close to the center.
Ah, yeah, that's fine - I was just talking about the siege weapons, that if they were aimed to hit the top of the wall, they'd have to be moved to go beyond.
As to the fire... I feel like that's a little far-stretched. With the insulation and pressure from the furnaces, it makes sense the wall would start to crack - but just having flames next to the wall wouldn't affect it very much, simply because it's easier to heat the air than the wall itself.
*My trebuchets begin launching large barrels of oil next to your siege weapons, to avoid your nets and whatnot.* *The remaining ballistae's focus fire on your HATs.* *My phalanx's advance and charge into your front line, allowing the crossbowmen to fire into a more chaotic scene without your shields in the way.* *The wargs also follow up, attacking the left side, charging through and not stopping to clean up other enemies.*
They're not cavalry. I'll bring them round in my next move.
OOC: Guys, I haven't been following this battle as well as I should be, so I need a map update. Here's where my troops are, roughly, based on Shamrock's earlier map:
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC C OW C OW M OW AAA SS IIIIIIIIIIII M OW AAA SS IIIIIIIIIIII M OW AAA SS IIIIIIIIIIII C OG C OG C OG CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
M = Moria Gate O = Orcs W = Wall G = Gate S = Siege Engines C = Cliffs A = Warders I = Elven infantry
Well, first, all of my forces are within one big group. Second, I'm ignoring range here. Both of our forces in question (my archers, you crossbowmen behind the wall) should have roughly equal ranges. If your troops are capable of firing over the wall and hitting my troops, then my troops are capable of firing over the wall and hitting your troops.
*Your troops slowly put out the fire. Unfortunately for them, though, by this point a large section of wall has collapsed and been reduced to rubble.* *Archers continue firing at any troops in range, as do the HATs and mortars and some of the light artillery at their previous targets (EPAs and other light artillery redirect fire at Sham). A few of the HATs on the left flank fire on the wargs.* *LTs and some of the halberdiers relocate as necessary to cover the forward ranks of the army, while the rest of the halberdiers remain in the rear.*
Go ahead with them, but they'd most certainly be seen. We're in a rather narrow area, and all of your forces would have to be coming from a single point. It'd be difficult for some cavalry to sneak off to the side when the side is so close to the center.
Ah, yeah, that's fine - I was just talking about the siege weapons, that if they were aimed to hit the top of the wall, they'd have to be moved to go beyond.
As to the fire... I feel like that's a little far-stretched. With the insulation and pressure from the furnaces, it makes sense the wall would start to crack - but just having flames next to the wall wouldn't affect it very much, simply because it's easier to heat the air than the wall itself.
*My trebuchets begin launching large barrels of oil next to your siege weapons, to avoid your nets and whatnot.* *The remaining ballistae's focus fire on your HATs.* *My phalanx's advance and charge into your front line, allowing the crossbowmen to fire into a more chaotic scene without your shields in the way.* *The wargs also follow up, attacking the left side, charging through and not stopping to clean up other enemies.*
They're not cavalry. I'll bring them round in my next move.
The Byzantines did it with charcoal in clay pots set at the base of the wall. As I said to MM over at Gundabad, naphtha burns hotter than charcoal, and more of the heat would transfer over in a situation like this than what the Byzantines (successfully) used. Thus, it only seems logical that a method more effective at transferring a given amount of heat into the object in question than another successful method will likewise have a greater effect than the less efficient confirmed method.
*The trebuchets' barrels fall short, missing my formations by about a hundred meters (maybe a bit more).* *My HATs return fire (as do my other ranged weapons, according to what they did before).* *Your phalanx meets a rather unforgiving obstacle. Their pikes run into my forward line of LTs, who fire from point-blank with weapons easily powerful enough to puncture any forward shields. In the gaps between the tanks stand halberdiers, though your forces would have to break formation to reach them.* *The wargs meet an even less forgiving obstacle. Their "charging through" requires penetrating two wooden walls with iron plating. Numerous repeating arbalests and polybolos mounted on the MAPs fire on the Wargs below them, with some of the extra crew using halberds to reach down.*
Ah, yeah, that's fine - I was just talking about the siege weapons, that if they were aimed to hit the top of the wall, they'd have to be moved to go beyond.
As to the fire... I feel like that's a little far-stretched. With the insulation and pressure from the furnaces, it makes sense the wall would start to crack - but just having flames next to the wall wouldn't affect it very much, simply because it's easier to heat the air than the wall itself.
*My trebuchets begin launching large barrels of oil next to your siege weapons, to avoid your nets and whatnot.* *The remaining ballistae's focus fire on your HATs.* *My phalanx's advance and charge into your front line, allowing the crossbowmen to fire into a more chaotic scene without your shields in the way.* *The wargs also follow up, attacking the left side, charging through and not stopping to clean up other enemies.*
They're not cavalry. I'll bring them round in my next move.
The Byzantines did it with charcoal in clay pots set at the base of the wall. As I said to MM over at Gundabad, naphtha burns hotter than charcoal, and more of the heat would transfer over in a situation like this than what the Byzantines (successfully) used. Thus, it only seems logical that a method more effective at transferring a given amount of heat into the object in question than another successful method will likewise have a greater effect than the less efficient confirmed method.
*The trebuchets' barrels fall short, missing my formations by about a hundred meters (maybe a bit more).* *My HATs return fire (as do my other ranged weapons, according to what they did before).* *Your phalanx meets a rather unforgiving obstacle. Their pikes run into my forward line of LTs, who fire from point-blank with weapons easily powerful enough to puncture any forward shields. In the gaps between the tanks stand halberdiers, though your forces would have to break formation to reach them.* *The wargs meet an even less forgiving obstacle. Their "charging through" requires penetrating two wooden walls with iron plating. Numerous repeating arbalests and polybolos mounted on the MAPs fire on the Wargs below them, with some of the extra crew using halberds to reach down.*
Same goes.
Okay, sure - I was never going to win this battle anyways. As to the trebuchets - just how far back are you?
*The barrels explode anyways, leaving un-ignited oil in a large patch in front of your forces.* Some of your HATs would have been destroyed, keep in mind. *The siege weapons fall back again, before fire can be returned.* *As soon as my troops see the artillery and barricades, they fall back, avoiding the majority of the losses.* Could you please give me a comprehensive view of your camp layout? I have troops on the walls that'd be able to see the whole thing, but you still haven't posted anything about it.
The Byzantines did it with charcoal in clay pots set at the base of the wall. As I said to MM over at Gundabad, naphtha burns hotter than charcoal, and more of the heat would transfer over in a situation like this than what the Byzantines (successfully) used. Thus, it only seems logical that a method more effective at transferring a given amount of heat into the object in question than another successful method will likewise have a greater effect than the less efficient confirmed method.
*The trebuchets' barrels fall short, missing my formations by about a hundred meters (maybe a bit more).* *My HATs return fire (as do my other ranged weapons, according to what they did before).* *Your phalanx meets a rather unforgiving obstacle. Their pikes run into my forward line of LTs, who fire from point-blank with weapons easily powerful enough to puncture any forward shields. In the gaps between the tanks stand halberdiers, though your forces would have to break formation to reach them.* *The wargs meet an even less forgiving obstacle. Their "charging through" requires penetrating two wooden walls with iron plating. Numerous repeating arbalests and polybolos mounted on the MAPs fire on the Wargs below them, with some of the extra crew using halberds to reach down.*
Same goes.
Okay, sure - I was never going to win this battle anyways. As to the trebuchets - just how far back are you?
*The barrels explode anyways, leaving un-ignited oil in a large patch in front of your forces.* Some of your HATs would have been destroyed, keep in mind. *The siege weapons fall back again, before fire can be returned.* *As soon as my troops see the artillery and barricades, they fall back, avoiding the majority of the losses.* Could you please give me a comprehensive view of your camp layout? I have troops on the walls that'd be able to see the whole thing, but you still haven't posted anything about it.
Glad we see eye-to-eye now. Just within scorpion range, so about 380-some meters. Trebuchets have a range of about 300 meters (as do most bows).
I know. I may not be stating losses as we go, but I've been keeping them in mind. Which siege weapons are you referring to? Trebuchets can't exactly be moved quickly.
I don't have a camp, just a formation. And I did state my formation at the beginning of the battle, but I'll go over it again. Front line consists of LTs (small, light tanks with a polybolos) and halberdiers (filling the gaps in between tanks, more or less lined up with the back sides of said tanks). Side flanks are covered by MAPs (large, rectangular tanks with six repeating arbalests and two polybolos on top) line up end-to-end, creating a mobile wall (though also restricting my formation's movement to forwards or backwards, very limited turning and no going sideways). Rear has the EPAs, and the HATs and Gunuzirak are in the middle. So your phalanx is engaging the LTs, though must somewhat break formation in order to really engage the halberdiers (to go between the tanks in order to reach them). The Wargs hit the side wall of MAPs, hence the five-foot double-walled barricade brimming with light artillery.
*A number of LTs pursue your main force to help drive them back. After your troops farthest from mine reach about seventy or so yards a way, a few lit incendiaries are fired where your trebuchets' shots landed. The LTs continue to drive your forces into the resulting inferno.* *After all ballistae are destroyed, my artillery fires on other targets, like trebuchets and onagers, in addition to the infantry.* *Gunuzirak continue their barrage on your nearby forces.*
*Several ballistae are destroyed; the rest keep firing.* *The archers are all on the cliffs above, and have been for some time.*
*The other are soon finished off, once the EPAs finish reloading.* You only had seven or so ballistae, right? I think that's what you had on your list. Also, which cliffs are you talking about? The ones behind the wall, or the ones on the sides of the dale? MM pulled the archers on the sides back some time ago, so I'm not sure if they'd still be in range.
*Archers keep firing.* Yes, that's correct. The cliffs above the wall. To my knowledge, there haven't been orcs on the cliffs to either side since the skirmish with 8Legos ended.