"The good fighters of old

first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity to defeat the enemy"

-Sun Tzu's "The Art of War"


Archos was well aware of the power of Artillery, he had learned of it early in his days of warfighting in the east, having come under the fire of M.A. cannon. And he was not fond of it. However, he liked using it well enough, his scholars had been eager for the challenge of this thing called "Science" and had quickly, with the full support of their soveriegn, begun probing its depths.

This was the result:

The crates and sheets which had covered the machines he had brought with him, were unveiled accross the multidivided camp. As one a single defening explosion ripped apart the world, as for the first time Archos's artillery began to rain death upon the concentrated ranks of the Hagalz line. When they fired their artillery first, they gave away all their positions, and the words "adjust fire" ran through archos's ranks with glee, as the flanks of artillery in the divided camps began to open up on the WO. They had yet to see his artillery, he had witheld it until now. But now there was no need to hold back. his skilled and highly trained teams of artillery men, trained from birth for their trade, had at last gotten to do their part. the dismay it would bring to the Hagalz line, who could not have expected this move, and oh the havoc it would wreak on the advancing WO troops*

((a quick note, given the multiplicity of races in Archos's ranks, there are different artillery sizes. The ones that dragon's fire and load, are by necessity larger. however lacking air power the WO couldn't really hope to take em out except through a lucky shot. the ones humans use are smaller, of moderate size. and of course the ones that elves use are lite but can be reloaded more rapidly, and lastly, dwarves use the more explosive sorts that are more compact. this variety means that some shots will hit, some will miss, but the result should be utter dismay among troops who couldn't have expected this.))

With artillery firing repeatedly, and from the superior vantage point of the hill which can give directions to those in surrounding camps with the ease of a raised flag or a beaten drum (the hill point means greater accuracy since they can easily see the line)) Archos launched on the next stage of his plan. He ordered the flight of dragons that had been loaned to him, to take up bombs and fly over the WO ranks, and bomb the line, particurally food and equipment. ((archos is targeting their troops secondary to their material, though he is by no means ignoring them, and given that artillery is at 1940's tech level, its not a major threat to bombing, it takes air power to combat air power at this particular period. and given the manueverability of dragons, their ability to carry only a few bombs with them is made up by the fact that they can fly low or high quite well to devestate wo positions))

Next, one word was transmitted via radio. "now". and in the far north of Galen Thal, the distraction fleet made landing. it held only around a thousand soldiers. but it was an unguarded point, and the soldiers were gleeful to be on land again and able to do battle.

(this is fastforwarding a bit in this next part, just telling what they will do, not what they are, to save yah some trouble)

The landing party would advance throughout the rear and disrupt not just supplies, but transportation. railroad tracks are heated and the rails wound around trees and bent into contorted shapes, the ties used to block roads and slow transportation thus. towers and all manner of structures destroyed, and northern villages, on hearing the atrocities wreaked upon their relatives, many would rise in rebellion themselves. isolated factories would be burned out and sacked, the equipment taken or given to gurillas.

Archos orders two more flights ((1 flight=12 dragons)) of his own troops to take up bombs and incindiary devices to commence destruction, and his wide ranging troops act as one body in their targetting. by nightfall, many WO artillery pieces would be a smoldering ruin, many crews would be deader than the morale of the unit*

((btw, the making of field fortifications, means the burning of forests and obstacles behind one. and assembling small stations to guard the rear. so if you have drow behind, that's what they'd see to the rear guard. sandbagged, wooden, or metal fortifications of temporary but sturdy nature, fox holes, and open terrain))

((this part is past tense since i presume the slaughter of civilians had begun after the rebellions))

*Archos considered the reports regarding slaughtered civilians. he knew he could not help them all. he knew also that he could not divert from this course of action. and so he did what he COULD safely do. Tell their own army. The WO had drafted many, but many of those would have relatives or friends amongst the dead. he ordered that village names be taken up and listed, and what was seen at each of the destruction put down on paper in both words and illustration, underneath the symbol of the WO. these were then placed with bombs on dragonback, and dropped overhead of the Hagalz line*

((now to meet the attack on my fortifications which if i read correctly came straight at me? if i read wrong do let me know and i will make a correction post))

*Archos smiled, it was rare that he did, and when he did it was usually for a reason somebody wouldnt like. his smile was a fearsome one, showing a predator's teeth. and that is what he was now. He had hoped the WO would so something like this. As they came barelling forward towards his front ranks, he let his short range artillery open up on them, a 3rd and 4th flight of dragons dropped grenadas (grenades) from various altitudes to vary the fire, and then began sweeping flightings over the WO charge, lacing them with death from above that bespoke superior firepower. Without their air support, they were doomed to be his prey. elves and humans popped up from fox holes to fire their ranged weapons, captured and borrowed guns, throw grenades, and generally poke holes in the attacker's bodies. Dwarves of great strength rolled stones from higher on the hill to force the enemy to dodge into definite lanes of fire. and as the wo advanced, traps were sprung. pits that contained various snakes, buried grenadas set to explode at a misplaced step (basic land mines) and various portions of ground laced with pitch were set afire to force the WO advance to slow or funnel into a meat grinder of heavy fire. As they advanced, the wisdom of dividing his camp would become apparent, small companies could detatch quietly from multiple locations and a double flanking maneuver instituted, from above dragons rained death, from teh front, stones and guns of various nationalities slowed advance, traps were sprung to further reduce both the morale and speed and numbers of the enemy. fire reduced mobility. (fire explodes amunition etc. remember if it is nearby for to long, a minute or less is really all it takes for it to heat, so they'll wind up getting killed by their own guns, some of them anyway) and allowed them to concentrate fire on specific locations of WO troops, and from the flanks Archos's melee troops could engage with impunity against a foe that was packed together like sardines, and melt away to secure battlefield fortifications in seconds, while lite short range artillery fire could decimate the attackers rear and center*

((I think that pretty much does it. an engagement like this would result in some casualties for me. but really, lacking air support, which as you mentioned is gone engaging tsana, they're meat for the grinder, and my position is quite good, all in all i'd give an attack like that nothing more than 20 minutes before it'd have to retreat or would begin to rout (depending on their discipline. and given the position of Archos's line, they'd have plenty of warning before an attack and it would be hard for the WO to send up more troops, since they would take fire from longer and medium range artillery as they came. well, you can't say i didnt warn yah, i made all sorts of hints as to new weapons in earlier postings, but nobody made any attempt to spy them out, so it would of course come as a complete surprise))

G this is fun.