Difference between revisions of "Thus Spake Zarataylor/SeventhLegionVsRealm"

Latest revision as of 04:10, 9 June 2010

izzylobo - 02/21/2004 17:45:57

> vampire_hunter_d Lookshy has about 18000, plus foreign legions.

Point of order (not quibbling on the other stuff) -

A basic Lookshy Field Force is 6250, plus reinforcements (usually a Dragon - 1250), and support personnel (usually a Dragon) - that's somewhere in the vicinity of 8-9000 troops, per field Force. (A field force was designed to be in the same general troop strength as a Realm Legion - it's just that the Seventh would probably send a Wing or Dragon to fight a Realm Legion).

Lookshy maintains 4 named Field Forces, plus the Home Guard (units of which are often dispatched to the field), Navy (which is actually quite large - they have lots of ships, it's just most of them are short-range stuff), and Skyguard (which is probably about a Field Force in size, when you count support personnel, skymarines (or whatever the skyship's troops are called), and actual skyship crew), and a handful of other units not officially in the Order of Battle (highly specialized units, Special Ops units not under the formal chain of command, etc.). This doesn't count the Grey or Black legions, since they are unlikely to be called up except in a dire emergency (so, in the average campaign, sometime in the next five years... :-)

So the Lookshy military is actually a lot larger than 18k - more like 60-80k or so (40-45k in the Field Forces and Home Guard, around 10-20k in the Navy, and the remainder in the Sky Guard, etc.)

Scott Taylor

izzylobo - 02/23/2004 11:52:07

>> izzylobo > it's just that the Seventh would probably send a Wing or Dragon to fight a Realm Legion

> Fifth > Um, wouldn't they be a tad bit outnumbered and overpowered there? I don't have the book so I can't check, but I don't think there artifacts/special troops/airfleet made up for that much.

Reflecting on it, a Wing would probably be outmatched, unless specially culled from superior and heavy units. A line Dragon might be able to pull it off. Two most likely can.

A "stock" Lookshy Dragon (which is probably non-existent - this is the "by the book" version, not an actual TOE) has the following (assuming a fully reinforced unit - thirteen talons and a support talon) -

4 talons mixed Infantry and Archers

2 talons Ashigaru (1/Wing) - Superior troops (Outcaste pg. 39)

1 talon Gunzosha (1/Dragon) - Superior troops

1 talon Artillerists one/ Dragon) - Elite Troops
(Note that a large portion of this unit will actually be guards and support personnel, rather than Terrestrials and heavy Artifact Weapons - figure this unit probably supports between 5 and fifteen artifact weapons, depending on exactly what they are).

The following are part of the standard Order of Battle, but are most likely to have been re-deployed elsewhere, in partial repair (fewer warstriders/dragon armors

2 Fangs Warstriders (two <nowikiThus_Spake_Zarataylor/Dragon</nowiki>, likely one/Wing) Elite or Superior
(Again, most of the unit is actually support troops - there's only five Warstriders in a Fang. Somewhere around 10-20 Dragon-Blooded, with around 5 sorcerers)

3 Fangs Dragon Armor (one <nowikiThus_Spake_Zarataylor/Wing</nowiki>, one assigned) Elite or Superior
(As with warstriders, most of this is normal troops, or Ashigaru, supporting 5 Dragon Armors, and 10-20 Terrestrials total).

Plus associated scouts, a scale or two of Rangers, etc.

So, assuming an abbreviated unit, that has had one Warstrider Fang, and one Dragon Armor Fang pulled from the field due to damage (not uncommon) - the remaining units are well-equipped, and in good order, comprised of experienced troops, and the missing Fangs have been replaced with conventional line units - perhaps this is a unit in the Second.

Wing One - 1st Wing, 2nd Dragon, Pasiap's Hammer
Talon One - Command (Dragon)
Talon Two - Ashigaru - 3 scales Ashigaru, 2 scales Gunzosha
Talon Three - Infantry (3 scales infantry 2 scales archers)
Talon Four - Infantry (3 scales infantry 2 scales archers)
Talon Five - Mixed - 1 scale Artillerists, 1 scale Rangers, 2 scales
Ashigaru, 1 scale mounted skirmishers (all mounted)
Attached - Dragon Armor Fang

Wing Two - 2nd Wing, 2nd Dragon, Pasiap's Thunder
Talon One - Command (Wing)
Talon Two - Gunzosha- 2 scales Ashigaru, 3 scales Gunzosha
Talon Three - Infantry (3 scales infantry 2 scales archers)
Talon Four - Infantry (3 scales infantry 2 scales archers)
Talon Five - Mixed - 1 scale Artillerists, 1 scale Rangers, 2 scales
Ashigaru, 1 scale mounted skirmishers (all mounted)
Attached - Dragon Armor Fang

Assigned as needed - Warstriders Fang.
Total unit strength, not counting support troops – 1,625

The Dragon Armor and Warstrider Fangs have two Scales of mixed heavy infantry and archers (3/2), a scale of Ashigaru, and a support/command Scale (commanding officers, medical, signal, a Sohei and his support, and some security (Gunzosha). The Artillery scales support a half-dozen field pieces each, on highly mobile gun carriages - two are on First Age spider-carriages, giving them superior mobility, and likely to be used to support Dragon-Armor raids.

Ashigaru and Gunzosha are all Superior opponents (except for a handful of Heroic Mortals). Most (15-20) of the Rangers are Heroic Mortals, Dragon-Blooded, God-Blooded, and the like - the remainder are Superior. The Scouts and Heavy Infantry are Elites for the most part (there will be occasional greenhorns who are merely Competent). Talon command will either be a Heroic Mortal or a Terrestrial – there will be a sprinkling of H-M or Superior scale leaders, and even fang leaders as well.

Heavy Infantry are wearing exceptional reinforced breastplates (+1/+1 soak, –1 mobility), or exceptional articulated plate ( –1 fatigue, -1 mobility) and carrying great axe, spear or lance, chopping sword, and a target shield (if appropriate – great axe guys will not be wearing shields!). Most will have at least one piece of Elementally Empowered equipment – often a shape-shifting weapon with water (javelin to spear to lance, for example). They might have a pair of javelins in a quiver on their back, particularly great-axe guys.

Archers have reinforced buff jacket or breastplate (exceptional, as above); usually have a buckler, and carry a short sword, short spear or javelin, and a Lookshy strongbow (Outcaste pg. 46) – normally shooting a mix of broadheads and target arrows, but they will have specialty arrows available, and tailor their mix to the engagement when possible. Most likely piece of empowered gear for archers is their armor, shifting from non-encumbering studded leather outfits to reinforced buff jackets. Ashigaru and Gunzosha will be wearing their respective armor (with reinforced buff jackets for when they aren’t in the field), and carrying a mixture of Essence-based weapons – fire lances, etc.

By comparison, the basic Realm Legion is comprised of the following –

10 Dragons (20 Wings of 2 Talons each) of Infantry (or other), supported by 5 Dragons worth of slingers and archers

6 of the Dragons are completely bog-standard Infantry units – 500 medium infantry, competent extras (with elites, and the occasional superior or heroic mortal mixing up as command, special units, etc.) – they’ve got about a half-dozen Terrestrials per Dragon.

4 of the Dragons are Heavy Infantry – competent mortals equipped largely as the Lookshy units are (although their gear is rarely exceptional or elementally empowered), with the same load out of Terrestrials, etc. These units are likely to have a heavier percentage of Elite mortals than the medium infantry are – maybe one fang in five, average.

In addition, they’re going to have some reinforcement units – they probably have a Warstrider Fang, and at least a scale or two of Artillery attached (this is where you’ll find most of the Essence-discharge weapons in a Realm unit – mostly Essence Cannons, but some other stuff), a couple of scales to a talon of Ranger-equivalents (perhaps not as good, perhaps better – highly variable. Mostly equipped with “mundane” artifacts, for Essence wielders – daiklaves and artifact armor, not Gunzosha or fire lances, for the most part – this applies for most of the Terrestrials), and at least a couple of scales of duelists (dragon-warrior equivalents – a unit of Terrestrials fighting as a unit, reinforced by elite heavy infantry, though likely not wearing Dragon Armor).

This is also where the commanding officer and his retinue are located – that’s likely a talon of command staff (including the commanding officer, his second in command, the Quartermaster, a spymaster, some personal scouts and runners, his personal surgeon and their staff, etc.), and another talon of heavy infantry (elite) operating as security detachment. On top of that, there are plenty of associated units – combat engineers, field medics, signal personnel (including runners, flag-wavers, drummers and horns, and probably a couple of Terrestrials with artifacts or spells).

The vast majority of the unit’s Terrestrials are actually in this not-really-part-of the Legion section – the commander, his duelists, the Ranger-analogues, etc. Probably around a hundred Dragon-Blooded total, maybe including a couple of Immaculate Monks.

The security and other forces in this unit and the Dragon are likely to be elites, and will be equipped in much the same way Lookshy forces are (including exceptional and elementally empowered gear) – these are the forces closest to the Terrestrials, and so they get the best gear (the same would apply for the personnel in the direct command of Terrestrials in the rest of the units – the five-ten guys who watch a talonlord’s back are likely to have better gear than the rest of the talon).

The archers and slingers are mostly either green, or pretty demoralized (half pay, treated like shit, regarded *even by the other soldiers* as expendable – hell, the baggage train slaves are treated better). Figure you might be able to scrape a Dragon or two of actually motivated forces out of these guys – the rest could either be treated as Competent units with a high “run away” factor (low Valor), or just treated as Weak opponents.

(The Realm’s mistreatment of archers, etc. is one of the things that points to a serious failing of military doctrine, resulting from spending most of the last few centuries putting down uprisings and quelling barbarian hordes, rather than fighting real wars against competent opponents – a general who is facing committed opponents knows he wants the best damn archers he can get his hands on).

Most of them are unarmored or have buff jackets, and they’re armed with a mix of slings and short bows or long bows (no composite bows – they get wrecked in water, and, well, that’s bad for a military force that is really based around maritime duty and transport), with the occasional javelin, short sword, hand axe or other light weapon for if they get over-run. They’ve got very little in terms of D-B command – maybe a handful, total.

The Realm Legion has a serious advantage in Dragon-Blooded, in the area of a hundred and fifty versus the Lookshy’s fifty-seventy (depending on exact makeup of units) (Note that both of these units are slightly heavy on the D-Bs – while the realm likely has around 6k D-Bs (counting both Dynasts and graduates of Pasiap’s Stair) in the military, they have to crew a pretty damn massive fleet, in addition to their thirty-two some-odd legions). The Lookshy D-Bs are almost universally better equipped, however, with some of them having significant advantages (the Dragon-Armors – the warstriders balance out). The Lookshy unit likely has almost as many or as many battlefield sorcerers, and probably has more mortal sorcerers. Overall troop quality for the Lookshy units is a lot better, and the prevalence of advanced equipment (even discounting the Gunzosha and Ashigaru) gives individual soldiers an advantage over their Realm counterparts, particularly on the strategic scale, where they are more mobile, and reach a battle less fatigued.

To take on a Legion, a single Wing (reinforced) would need to be on their toes, operating from somewhere secure they could sally forth from, and would need to be mostly Rangers and Dragon-Armor, with a stiff spine of Warstriders (maybe something like 1 Warstrider Fang, four Dragon Armor fangs, with each having one scale of rangers and two of Gunzosha as support personnel, and reinforcements of a talon of Rangers and Gunzosha). It would, in effect, need to be an actual Shogunate Era unit in layout, operating much the same way a Shogunate Wing would operate against a foe with superior numbers – assassinations, hitting the supply train, separating out enemy units and destroying them away from the main body, sabotage, etc. If they tried a stand-up fight, they would get crushed, barring insanely good luck on their side, or some sort of miracle – but, you know, Lookshy commanders aren’t known for gross stupidity.

For those who need, for their game, for Lookshy to be a paper tiger relying on faded legends and a dwindling stock of WMDs, a patsy state surviving only through the largess of an Empress who finds them more useful alive than dead, or any other variant you should desire, you are hereby ordered to go read the commandments of the Book of Outcastes, pg. 61 – “Too Damn Advanced”, reflect upon their wisdom, and apply their teachings as necessary.

Scott Taylor

Comments

Looking on this, Lookshy's population ought to be around a half a million or so, rather than 300,000. Not just in terms of supply needs (no doubt magitech supports that fairly well) - but rather only about a sixth of a given population is fit for combat, on average. For some loose definitions of 'fit'. -Xeriar

Lookshy's probably not average, though...note that five years of military service is mandatory for every citizen there. --Toram

Also, military service, even life career service, is made pretty attractive to helots, and is probably the best way for anyone in the described society to advance any career. Want to run a school? Serve in the Legion. Want to open that plowshares manufactory? Serve in the legion. Et cetera, ad nauseum. -Suzume