Warlords: Strategic Conquest
The battle begins with a strategic retreat by your infantry. This gives your archers more time to fire on the cavalry before hand to hand combat begins. You manage to take out half their cavalry before they are upon your troops. Lurdu's archers return fire against your archers but can't do as much damage due to being on lower ground.
Once close combat is enjoined, your footmen are dominated by the elevated and faster cavalry. Your infantry have no answer for the horsemen's extended reach and speed. Their horses even trample some of your troops.
But your early advantage proves too much for Lurdu. While both sides take catastrophic losses, your strategic retreat gave you just enough of an edge to outlast him. When he sees that all of his troops are dead, Lurdu jumps off his injured horse and runs away from the battlefield. He is soon caught by one of your faster soldiers. Ignoring his pleas for mercy, you quickly decapitate him before he can attempt another act of treachery against you.
You emerge from the battle victorious, but with only 3 thousand infantry and 1 thousand archers remaining.
The townsfolk are generally happy upon your return, as most of them liked you better than Crown Prince Lurdu. You take some time to restock your supplies and heal your wounded. After you do so, you march back to Mongolia.
The dawn had hardly begun when you gaze down at the first tribe. Fifteen gigantic yurts, or tents, flap in the cool breeze. There is no human activity save for a few early risers tending their goats. You waste no time charging into the yurts and raining chaos onto the unsuspecting camp. As predicted, the Mongolians still had no idea you were coming and did not conscript any soldiers. The first settlement surrenders quickly, followed by their neighbors. You slaughter their leaders, force their successors to pay monthly tributes, take a few young women as trophies, and commandeer what supplies your army can carry.
Upon your return to your capital, your citizens are delighted to hear your tales of victory. One ardent supporter invents the ballista, a gigantic crossbow that fires spear-sized arrows. These arrows deal much greater damage and have far greater range than arrows fired by handheld bows.
You are impatient to conquer again. You institute a draft to conscript more soldiers. However, after the last revolt you feel you must now leave enough men behind to guard your capital, so your marching army stays the same size for now.
You yearn to capture Governor Toleron's territory, but worry about how you can defeat the much larger enemy force.
One day, help comes from an unexpected source. It seems that a group of bandits had robbed a caravan traveling through your kingdom on its way to India and your police was able to arrest them and confiscate the loot. When your police could not locate any surviving owners, they gave you the wares as a gift.
It turns out they were carrying gunpowder, an extremely rare and powerful substance. When it is lit on fire, the fine particles explode violently, causing great destruction. The limited amount you have is converted into its most efficient form- arrow bombs. Shards of broken glass, straw, and gunpowder are held together with cement inside a hollowed out miniature watermelon with a wick leading out of it. The bomb is then tied around the base of an arrow. Your archers would light the wick on fire and then shoot the bomb at opposing troops, causing shrapnel explosions and igniting blazes. You do not load your ballista bolts with bombs as multiple bombs strapped onto one bolt would explode right next to each other and waste its considerable blast radii. In addition, the ballista's long reload time makes quick barrages impossible. Furthermore, salvos would be limited by the number of ballista you have at a time whereas with arrows you can fire as many bombs as you have archers.
Gunpowder is extremely rare, so chances are you will never get any more of it. On the other hand, since very few other people have ever even heard of gunpowder, its effects may very well seem supernatural to the average enemy soldier.
Brimming with confidence from your new secret weapons, you march south toward Governor Toleron's kingdom. But before you reach one of his cities, you encounter the army of Commander Wan.
Wan is a local warlord with ties to President Min and Governor Toleron. Min, Wan, and Toleron are currently enjoying an uneasy peace between them, as bloodshed has decreased in their region for the time being. He has not achieved much else of note. You are not impressed by this lackey, and prepare for battle.
Your spies had reported that his army consists solely of 20 thousand infantry, and you see that they are absolutely right once again as a dense cluster of 20 thousand infantry stand in formation to block your way. Wan looks out at your 3 thousand infantry, 1 thousand archers, and the one ballista that your carpenters have finished building.
A frontal assault is clearly not an option. The battlefield is a flat plain with the occasional small tree. Nothing else is notable about the terrain or weather.
Do you:
Once close combat is enjoined, your footmen are dominated by the elevated and faster cavalry. Your infantry have no answer for the horsemen's extended reach and speed. Their horses even trample some of your troops.
But your early advantage proves too much for Lurdu. While both sides take catastrophic losses, your strategic retreat gave you just enough of an edge to outlast him. When he sees that all of his troops are dead, Lurdu jumps off his injured horse and runs away from the battlefield. He is soon caught by one of your faster soldiers. Ignoring his pleas for mercy, you quickly decapitate him before he can attempt another act of treachery against you.
You emerge from the battle victorious, but with only 3 thousand infantry and 1 thousand archers remaining.
The townsfolk are generally happy upon your return, as most of them liked you better than Crown Prince Lurdu. You take some time to restock your supplies and heal your wounded. After you do so, you march back to Mongolia.
The dawn had hardly begun when you gaze down at the first tribe. Fifteen gigantic yurts, or tents, flap in the cool breeze. There is no human activity save for a few early risers tending their goats. You waste no time charging into the yurts and raining chaos onto the unsuspecting camp. As predicted, the Mongolians still had no idea you were coming and did not conscript any soldiers. The first settlement surrenders quickly, followed by their neighbors. You slaughter their leaders, force their successors to pay monthly tributes, take a few young women as trophies, and commandeer what supplies your army can carry.
Upon your return to your capital, your citizens are delighted to hear your tales of victory. One ardent supporter invents the ballista, a gigantic crossbow that fires spear-sized arrows. These arrows deal much greater damage and have far greater range than arrows fired by handheld bows.
You are impatient to conquer again. You institute a draft to conscript more soldiers. However, after the last revolt you feel you must now leave enough men behind to guard your capital, so your marching army stays the same size for now.
You yearn to capture Governor Toleron's territory, but worry about how you can defeat the much larger enemy force.
One day, help comes from an unexpected source. It seems that a group of bandits had robbed a caravan traveling through your kingdom on its way to India and your police was able to arrest them and confiscate the loot. When your police could not locate any surviving owners, they gave you the wares as a gift.
It turns out they were carrying gunpowder, an extremely rare and powerful substance. When it is lit on fire, the fine particles explode violently, causing great destruction. The limited amount you have is converted into its most efficient form- arrow bombs. Shards of broken glass, straw, and gunpowder are held together with cement inside a hollowed out miniature watermelon with a wick leading out of it. The bomb is then tied around the base of an arrow. Your archers would light the wick on fire and then shoot the bomb at opposing troops, causing shrapnel explosions and igniting blazes. You do not load your ballista bolts with bombs as multiple bombs strapped onto one bolt would explode right next to each other and waste its considerable blast radii. In addition, the ballista's long reload time makes quick barrages impossible. Furthermore, salvos would be limited by the number of ballista you have at a time whereas with arrows you can fire as many bombs as you have archers.
Gunpowder is extremely rare, so chances are you will never get any more of it. On the other hand, since very few other people have ever even heard of gunpowder, its effects may very well seem supernatural to the average enemy soldier.
Brimming with confidence from your new secret weapons, you march south toward Governor Toleron's kingdom. But before you reach one of his cities, you encounter the army of Commander Wan.
Wan is a local warlord with ties to President Min and Governor Toleron. Min, Wan, and Toleron are currently enjoying an uneasy peace between them, as bloodshed has decreased in their region for the time being. He has not achieved much else of note. You are not impressed by this lackey, and prepare for battle.
Your spies had reported that his army consists solely of 20 thousand infantry, and you see that they are absolutely right once again as a dense cluster of 20 thousand infantry stand in formation to block your way. Wan looks out at your 3 thousand infantry, 1 thousand archers, and the one ballista that your carpenters have finished building.
A frontal assault is clearly not an option. The battlefield is a flat plain with the occasional small tree. Nothing else is notable about the terrain or weather.
Do you: