Warlords: Strategic Conquest

You yet again decline the use of your secret weapon. Instead you try to capitalize on your five ballistae's great range and damage output. You order your ballistae to fire at the enemy.

The ballista is an impressive machine, and you watch them wipe out hundreds of enemy infantry before Toleron reacts to being slaughtered. He commands every last one of his 90 thousand men, including his archers, to charge at your army in order to negate your range advantage. This is exactly what you want. Now you engage his army with yours.

Your men are noticeably better trained. Your infantry's footwork is quicker and their swordplay stronger than Toleron's. Your archers are far more accurate. Your mounted cavalry are also vastly superior to his infantry in close combat. Your troops annihilate his ranks while you suffer modest losses. Toleron himself tries to escape but is tracked down by a cavalry unit a few hours later. He is thrown in front of you with bound ankles and wrists.

"Why should I spare your pathetic life?" you ask a defiant Toleron.

"There is no need. Ever since I converted to Buddhism I have seen the way. The pain and suffering of existence are meaningless. In time, your people will agree with me. Killing me will only send me to nirva-"

"Enough! Your death will serve me much better than it will serve you, believe me. Off with his head!"

When you take over Toleron's castle you find his 15 ballistae in good condition and add them to your fleet. In addition, winning a battle against a huge enemy while suffering modest losses raises your kingdom's morale a good bit. Another spike in conscription occurs, this time increasing your troops to 500 thousand infantry, 200 thousand archers, and 300 thousand mounted cavalry. Furthermore, your increasing stable of skilled tradesmen have completed construction on several cloud ladders.

Cloud ladders, or siege towers, are slow-moving, wheeled, vertically extendable wooden structures. They allow infantry and archers to directly reach the top of castle walls and towers without being bombarded by arrows on the way. Damp cloth is draped over the outside to protect it against burning arrows. Unlike regular arrows, ballista bolts can penetrate the cloud ladder's wooden shell and eventually wreck the entire structure. Cloud ladders also cannot accommodate any cavalry, so your mounted troops would not be able to support your infantry and archers. Your war machines now total 20 ballistae and 10 cloud ladders.

One day, as you are preparing for another offensive campaign, you are visited by an emissary.

"I am here on a mission of peace from President Min. He has heard tales of your victories and is in awe of your military brilliance. Now that all other remaining warlords in China have allied themselves with the President, your joining us is overdue. He asks that you keep your troops within the boundaries of your newly acquired territories in north, south, and east China in exchange for him keeping all the other warlords from invading your territory. You are still free to attack anyone you want outside of China. What reply shall I bring back to President Min?"

"Ahahahaha!" You have not had such a good laugh in a long time. "Don't worry," you say, "I'll take care of that for you."

You grin as your men drag the diplomat away to be executed and his head put in a box and sent back to Min.

By now you hold three quarters of China. But the last opposition is the strongest. Min has convinced his allies to all resist you as one. Their most defensible position is Min's capital, where 1.5 million soldiers await you in battle.

You march your army to Min's last bastion. A giant castle stands in the distance. In front of it are thousands of tents nestled close together, where the one million infantry of Min's allies are camped. Perched on the castle walls are Min's 200 thousand infantry and 300 thousand archers. Ten ballistae sit atop his towers, pointed in your direction. Due to their elevation, Min's ballistae possess much greater range than yours. The battlefield terrain is a low plain with no trees, and a brisk wind blows from behind your back.

You realize that you still have your arrow bombs. If this occasion isn't worth using them for then they will never see combat. The terrain and weather provide perfect conditions for your arrow bombs to burn the tents and cause maximum damage. On your command, each archer in your front row fires an arrow bomb at the tents.

Min's allies see what you are doing and hastily prepare to attack. But before they can take even one step, loud explosions shake their camp. The blasts and piercing glass shrapnel directly kill many of Min's allies. The explosions also start fires in the grass.

Many soldiers are trapped between the castle walls and the fires fanned toward them by the wind. Min refuses to open his castle's gates as its occupation is already completely full. Some men die of smoke inhalation. Others' deaths are fiery and painful as the fire jumps from tent to tent. The survivors abandon Min and run for their lives. You have wiped out the entire camp without a single casualty.

After the fires burn out, you walk past the charred ruins and closer to Min's towering castle, careful to remain just out of the range of Min's ballistae. You still have 500 thousand infantry, 200 thousand archers, and 300 thousand cavalry, as well as 20 ballistae and 10 cloud ladders. Min still has 200 thousand infantry, 300 thousand archers and 10 ballistae guarding his fortress. How will you assault the castle? Thanks to your waiting until now to deploy your arrow bombs, you have three decent options.

You know that as your ballistae move close enough to fire on the castle, they would also likely be fired on during the assault as well and eventually all destroyed by Min's longer ranged ballistae.