Warlords: Strategic Conquest

The battle begins with your ballista unloading a few giant bolts. Your men are pretty accurate and wipe out several enemy soldiers. Meanwhile, each archer in your front row loads an arrow bomb and fires on your command.

The opening salvo of bombs shocks Wan's front lines. Shards of glass pierce their armors and no one within a hundred yards of the explosions survive. Wan's army has never seen nor heard of arrow bombs and are too dumbfounded to make sense of what just happened even after several more explosions wipe out hundreds more. The smell of burnt flesh further demoralizes his troops. Sections of Wan's infantry begin to scatter and run away.

By the time you run out of arrow bombs, half of Wan's 20 thousand soldiers are dead, while most of the rest are wounded or have already fled. Your ballista by now has done severe damage as well. Your infantry rush in to finish the bloodbath and Commander Wan surrenders.

"Please allow me to live," he begs.

You smirk. "What use would I have for a bungling commander? Fool!"

You take over Commander Wan's headquarters. You turn it into your new base of operations, while leaving his severed head on the flagpole as a reminder of your power.

Your victory is somewhat tempered by your loss of your secret weapon. Still, winning a large battle against incredible odds and recent notable successes have nicely increased your kingdom's morale. You now control a large portion of northern China. A great deal of men hear tales of your courage and leadership and volunteer to join your fighting force. In addition, skilled carpenters, mechanics, and artisans offer their services to help you build more war machines. Collecting the best and brightest from nearby towns and cities, your army swells to 40 thousand infantry, 10 thousand archers, and 5 ballistae.

When word of your victory against Wan reaches the kingdom of Governor Toleron, he readies his 90 thousand troops for defense. His army greets yours on a forest clearing a few miles outside his capital.

You sit in your tent awaiting information from your spies. You tap your toes impatiently and rub your elbows raw on your armrests. Suddenly, your lead spy bats the door flap open and gets down on one knee.

"Sir, Toleron has placed his archers in the dense forest facing us. That allows them to fire on our army positioned in the open without themselves being targets for our archers. We have also found out that Toleron has left 15 ballistae in his castle that he did not bring with him. He must have underestimated our resolve."

You step outside your tent and look out over the battlefield. You cannot see his archers, but you see his 70 thousand infantry lined up a hundred yards in front of the forest. Upon closer inspection, their faces are those of panicked idiots. While your soldiers are both intelligent and brave, Toleron's soldiers are shaking in their boots and look like they would flee at any omen of doom.

You confer with your colonels to decide on the best tactic. There is a brisk wind at your back and the air is dry. Due to no longer having arrow bombs, your only options are: