Re: Scenario - February 2014
Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2014 1:46 pm
Here's mine.
First of all, as a tactician, I really dislike this village. As one of the guys in the 13th Warrior said, "You couldn't keep a cow out of this place." No fence, no wall, no river... My first inclination is pure flight, and if we had a few horses, or if we didn't have so many children here, I would gather all the townsfolk and head out for the nearest steading with halfway decent defenses.
Since that option is impractical, we must improvise.
With four combatants, six buildings are too many to defend. I would gather all the vulnerable townspeople into the lower two buildings. Why the lower two? Because I don't want the orcs gaining the advantages of urban combat, buildings to hide behind, etc. Splitting my forces means that the entire orc party cannot focus on one building without being attacked from behind, and if the orcs split into two groups, that's less orcs that any one good-guy has to deal with at one given moment.
Fire is a concern. Thatched roofs in dry weather can easily make our defenses into a pyre. So we spend the half-hour we have taking buckets of water from the nearby well or spring (wasn't mentioned, but the village couldn't be here without one) and soaking the roofs of our two refuges, making them as fireproof as possible. On the other hand, we don't want the nearby buildings to become orc strongholds, so we go the opposite route: we FILL those buildings with broken furniture, firewood, and hay, and we keep a pair of torches or lamps handy.
The old man is given the hayfork. The Man's knife is given to any Eowyn-like woman or
The battle plan is as follows: while the orcs enter the village, the Man and the Dwarf charge out from their respective posts to hit them in a pincer attack, while the Elf tries to pick off the orc archer. This is a brief skirmish, hopefully taking out two or three orcs, followed by an IMMEDIATE fall-back to the doorways, using them as choke-points to keep from being surrounded. The Man will be supported by the Elf on the roof, while the Dwarf will be supported by the old man with the hayfork.
From there, it depends. If the orcs try to enter the other buildings for use as cover, we toss a torch or lamp on the roof, and burn it down. If the orcs knot up and try to force their way into one building, the other building's defenders emerge and hit them from behind. If the orcs split up and try to force their way in, we hold position. If the orcs try to circle around and come from a new angle, we emerge and try to pick them off while they do so.
I don't expect us all to survive this one. There's no good solution: even the Seven Samurai were down to three by the time they had taken out all the bandits. But with a little luck, we can keep the townspeople safe.
First of all, as a tactician, I really dislike this village. As one of the guys in the 13th Warrior said, "You couldn't keep a cow out of this place." No fence, no wall, no river... My first inclination is pure flight, and if we had a few horses, or if we didn't have so many children here, I would gather all the townsfolk and head out for the nearest steading with halfway decent defenses.
Since that option is impractical, we must improvise.
With four combatants, six buildings are too many to defend. I would gather all the vulnerable townspeople into the lower two buildings. Why the lower two? Because I don't want the orcs gaining the advantages of urban combat, buildings to hide behind, etc. Splitting my forces means that the entire orc party cannot focus on one building without being attacked from behind, and if the orcs split into two groups, that's less orcs that any one good-guy has to deal with at one given moment.
Fire is a concern. Thatched roofs in dry weather can easily make our defenses into a pyre. So we spend the half-hour we have taking buckets of water from the nearby well or spring (wasn't mentioned, but the village couldn't be here without one) and soaking the roofs of our two refuges, making them as fireproof as possible. On the other hand, we don't want the nearby buildings to become orc strongholds, so we go the opposite route: we FILL those buildings with broken furniture, firewood, and hay, and we keep a pair of torches or lamps handy.
The old man is given the hayfork. The Man's knife is given to any Eowyn-like woman or
The battle plan is as follows: while the orcs enter the village, the Man and the Dwarf charge out from their respective posts to hit them in a pincer attack, while the Elf tries to pick off the orc archer. This is a brief skirmish, hopefully taking out two or three orcs, followed by an IMMEDIATE fall-back to the doorways, using them as choke-points to keep from being surrounded. The Man will be supported by the Elf on the roof, while the Dwarf will be supported by the old man with the hayfork.
From there, it depends. If the orcs try to enter the other buildings for use as cover, we toss a torch or lamp on the roof, and burn it down. If the orcs knot up and try to force their way into one building, the other building's defenders emerge and hit them from behind. If the orcs split up and try to force their way in, we hold position. If the orcs try to circle around and come from a new angle, we emerge and try to pick them off while they do so.
I don't expect us all to survive this one. There's no good solution: even the Seven Samurai were down to three by the time they had taken out all the bandits. But with a little luck, we can keep the townspeople safe.