The Ghost Ship Message Board: You must die! I alone am best... (Galen Thal)

Hagalz, Galen Thal was the nerve center of the Warlock Order's desperate defensive plan to force a bloody stalemate upon the continent with the Godslayer's militant jugernaught.

The city was an industrial fortress for the Order. Archos could always encircle Hagalz, and attempt to force a long and ruthless siege - starving the city from the inside out. But was this a gamble that the lordly dragon king would desire? Anything that could buy Galen Thal time for reinforcements from the Warlock homeland was desireble for the merciless General Baron Doriztenz. The death knight mused that the lives of the Order's subjects, even the foundation of Galen Thal's mightiest cities were only chess pieces. If their slow, bleeding sacrifice could benefit the regime's ultimate agendas, then so be it. This war, as the Baron saw it, would not end for many years. Still, Crispin Boriztenz could not help but laugh at his own cynical hypocricy. He was the biggest gambler of them all, in this campaign.

The first project. 14 orcish units were positioned away from the Hagalz line, to meet Archos' heavy troops head on. Guarding these from his lite companies were Doriztenz' answer for Godslayer guerrilla tactics - 4 companies of Drow rangers and piecemeal militia raised in the North and sent via railroad to the battleground of the Southern half of the continent. The ranger/paramilitary units flank both sides of the orcs and cover their rear (2 to the Eastern flank, 1 to the Western flank, and 1 to the rear) Between the orcs and the rear guard is a single company of Dragon Legion "hardwares" - heavily armed and armored dwarven shocktroops. Mobility is still not the goal of Doriztenz in this operation - but mayhem is. The Warlock Order troops even set about looting and burning their own Galen Thal villages, and a wholesale wave of genocide begins. As mostly the sick and dying, the women, and the severely young remain in these small villages, they are pathetically easy targets for the soldiers. Civilians are dragged from their houses and bayonetted, females are raped by the monstrous soldiers burning their way through the countryside, small children are spitted upon pikes and left to rot at crossroads. The tactic is simple for Doriztenz - these villages are already as good as Godslayer property, for now. The rise in bandits and rebel factions in Galen Thal is now being met with terrorism of the Order's own brand. A message for those communities which have not yet been criss-crossed by Archos' agents - "Traitors get their's."

It is also sent as a challenge to the Godslayer ranks. Come face the Warlock Order forces, or the innocent will continue to die. The longer Archos waits, the more death warrents he signs for the civilians of the Warlocks' chosen battleground.

((OOC Notes - okay, this is all happening in quite a small area on the Galen Thal map made by Rita. The city of Hagalz is the conencentration of the defensive line. Check out the strip of land directly West of the city and beneath the mountains to the North, thats where the atrocities are taking place and where the Order's troops are located. Note also that Doriztenz has only sent out the majority of his orcs, with a small collaboration of other soldiers. This was done for a reason. Orcs have little problem committing genocide - especially upon other races.))

The second stage. The bulk of the Dragon Legion's elite Drow ranger companies have been sent to infiltrate the Southern parts of the countryside. Murderous partisan warfare would surely follow. Archos' lite companies are now directly under attack. Only the wheels of time itself will tell who triumphs.

The Drow methodically arise from the Earth amidst burning farm country and woodlands at night, seeing the skies beset with dragonfire and enflamed aeroplanes. The rebel partisans are now hit by the elite force of the state-sponsered terrorists, assassins, and guerrillas that the Warlock Order's military elite, the notorious Dragon Legion, sends for them. This quiet but destructive blitz will surely begin to devour Archos' newfound allies in the crossfire between the Drow and the Godslayer lite units.

The dragons hold the cards in the open terrain - due partially to the lack of air support that the Order clumsily allowed to befall their troops in the Hagalz perimeters. But for a force of 14 dragons to attack the actual twin systems of trenches surrounding the city itself - the result would not be in their favor. The entire artillery force of the Order defenses is situated en masse about the city.

((Note: The next piece of this operation is based upon this post made by Thunder...))

*The commander takes his engineers and protectorate troops and builds fortified positions for Archos's men. Starting at the hill in view of the front lines of the WOs troops. then they move counter clockwise making each grouping of soldiers a fortified defensive ground that would take many more men to over run. These defensive positions effectively doubling numbers of Archos's troops. These fortifications take time yet to him and Archos time is on their side. They have time in abundence as they wont attack for a while.*

The Baron gives a simple command, and the enemy officer's seeming of false security was shattered. The dwarven and human artillery from the Hagalz line saturate the new Godslayer fortifications with a rain of death - and nothing but death. The mounds of earth exploding into huge aftershowers of smouldering mud, visible for miles around, the deafening thunder of the shelling, and the cloud of desolate black fumes which begin to rise over the Godslayer fortifications are massive and deadening, chilling to the very soul. Well-timed artillery attacks continue, timed with a sudden rush of Dragon Legion stormtroopers, who are rushed to the battle lines from behind the Warlock trenches in horse-drawn carts, guarded by units of Hobgoblin infantry. The Hobgoblins are deadly opponents by themselves, stomping into action as riflemen with bullets and bayonets ready and genadiers slamming down their brutal authority against the Godslayer troops who dared to challenge Doriztenz' trenches. Next come the Dragon Legion stormtroopers, who rush through the slivers of serenity slicing through the ocean of chaos all alround them, blitzing the fortifications as they are shelled into a bleak and smouldering ruin of nihilism by the dwarven "big guns" which are positioned at a safe zone behind the Order trenches which merely mocks the common infantryman in the battlefield. The Hobgoblin rifles and grenadiers' objective is merely to kill. They are used for their superb organization and frenzied lust for bloodshed. And they do, with out a doubt, attack while the cards are in their favor. The shelling of their enemy ensures chaos, fear, panic, and the inevitable thinning of numbers. The Hobgoblins face no such threat - and they are all fresh.

The Stormtroopers have a higher agenda - securing territory and allowing the flood of Hobgoblins behind them to occupy it.

At any rate, for all the recent mishaps of the Order - this would be a success. These "fortifications" had begun construction as if the Order were already dead - a grave misevaluation of Doriztenz command of the situation. They had no artillery support, and they were gravely outnumbered and completely ambushed. There was only one way out of this situation for Thunder's men - and that was the backdoor of retreat.

Doriztenz would smile if his face was not already afixed into a gruesome mask of death's post-mortem grin.

"We will see who bends beneath the pressure, and who breaks, Archos Godslayer..."

((Okay. I'm eagerly awaiting responses -s- I think that the Order is the underdog in all the situations, except for the Dragon Legion Drow rangers versus the peasant guerrillas [that should be a landslide] and the surprise offensive of the stormtroopers and Hobgoblin infantry/dwarven artillery versus Thunder's fortifications, for the reason that the assault came with out the forts even remotely having time to be finished, therefor, the soldiers their are occupied with construction and are a prime target for a Warlock Order battle line that has, so far, not even been attacked, referring of course to the Hagalz trenches. As this has been the only "front line" for the Warlock Order until today, when the orcs were unleashed, and this post came prior to the fact, we really have to consider that the front lines are indeed the trenches, since I designed Doriztenz defenses exactly for this type of situation... At any rate, I'll be waiting...))