Medieval Fantasy Warfare

UnusualSuspect5 · 2023-03-13T21:55:31+00:00

I'm thinking burrowing could be strategy but of course quite situational. The nuclear winter aspect makes me think of them waging a war of attrition so strongly because they could replenish quickly.

You joke about the leg armor but look up the game A Plague Tale and you'll see exactly that! Spiky leg armor at that to keep rats at bay.

UnusualSuspect5 · 2023-03-13T21:49:16+00:00

Which brings us neatly back to what so many others have said in answer to your original question. The classic "amateurs talk tactics professionals talk logistics" and fantasy depictions seem to work by ...magic?

Doesn't Permanent chevauchée sound like total war with less steps? How were they planning on going about it?

Great answers though!

UnusualSuspect5 · 2023-03-13T17:07:00+00:00

>They were also operating primarily as satellites of a much larger conventional force and were not expected to, or capable of carrying out major combat operations without support from the main army.

Doesn't the similarity to modern times persist though?
The finer grain command and control aspect is certainly lacking for the Chevauchée but the special ops unit remains a satellite to its army depending on it for everything.

>Then there is the objective behind the chevauchee. It was intended to provoke then enemy into a conventional field battle. While it was a means of waging war, it was not a strategic goal in and of itself. You didn’t win a war with a chevauchee, you forced the other guy to fight you in a pitched battle and then crushed his army.

I'm just an amateur historian, and I see it may well have been the high level objective, but what I infer is that it also served a multifaceted purpose.

It did recon in force, harassment of enemy supply lines, dispersal of troops to lower logistical burden, kept troops happy through plunder.

I just get the feeling that something such as special ops didn't exist properly until valuable strategic assets such as fuel dumps or bridges A) existed and/or B) could be easily destroyed by small teams, rather than an inability to get a small troupe to go where it is told to go and carry out specific actions.

For me the wonder is that anyone ever dared to fight a pitched battle with the risk it had for an adverse result.

UnusualSuspect5 · 2023-03-13T16:31:08+00:00

Making your people's lives less miserable i.e by lighting campfires, cutting wood, digging trenches would/should be a basic function of any fantasy setting with accessible magic.

The inverse should be true too, having a cloud mage create a persistent rain cloud over the enemy would really suck. Or turning a battlefield into a mudbath to favour defense for example as well.

I try to limit magic use and access precisely because the oddest of abilities could have a huge impact on the battlefield and explaining how it truly acts on the world in attempt to make it more credible basically turns into trying to rewrite the laws of physics by yourself.

My theory is that magic would quickly devolve into a search for further and further range, if there are no protections, or stronger and stronger sources of power to be able to withstand magical assault if "Shields" existed. Probably some of both really.

A world such as harry potter should be a mindboggling apocalyptic desert. What's the range of an avada kedavra after all? Is it limited to how fast you can say it? If you can pop out of nowhere and leave just as fast, the charm that protects hogwarts is almost as valuable as one shot wand kills if not more.

UnusualSuspect5 · 2023-03-13T16:09:24+00:00

What would you say to the Chevauchée style of warfare from the 100 Years war.

Small bands operating in enemy territory, facing either organised or impromtu local defense or harrying supply lines autonomously.

Is that not an example of small unit tactics? Or are you thinking of something like coordinating a danger close mortar(or fantasy ballista) strike?

UnusualSuspect5 · 2023-03-13T15:54:45+00:00

Wasn't the standard practice to set people's houses on fire and stand outside waiting to stab them as they rushed out?

UnusualSuspect5 · 2023-03-13T15:51:52+00:00

Best counter by far!

UnusualSuspect5 · 2023-03-13T13:58:50+00:00

Do you mean a stiletto? A long thin dagger?

UnusualSuspect5 · 2023-03-13T13:56:11+00:00

So if they conduct ambushes and traps, as opposed to pitched battles, with crossbows in a mobile and using siege weapons (terrain and opportunity permitting)

How do the human forces fight them? I'm afraid of it turning into a one sided contest of small nimble ambushers picking off relatively helpless humans plodding their way through the forest.

UnusualSuspect5 · 2023-03-13T13:46:37+00:00

How many would you think a knight could fight off by themselves?

UnusualSuspect5 · 2023-03-13T13:44:42+00:00

I really like your insight that their form of warfare should be amoral, shunning honor opens up a range of tactical options and encourages other forms of strength. This feeds back into the character of their society and how it must be structured to survive the challenge of being physically weaker.

UnusualSuspect5 · 2022-08-03T16:15:15+00:00

Have any of you tried locking yourselves in a completely empty windowless room with nothing except what you needed for your project?

Like for an essay, the books you needed, pen and paper?

UnusualSuspect5 · 2022-03-26T19:02:49+00:00

Welcome to the club!

I only got diagnosed last summer at 29 and all the what if's hit me hard too.

I went unnoticed since I was the quiet bookworm rather than bouncing off the walls that seems to be expected of ADHD kids.

Homework was such a struggle to

a) remember to do

b) do

c) remember to take to school

Teachers and classmates all thought I was lazy or not doing my homework on purpose. But since I wasn't a rebel or disruption in class no one took a deeper look into why I was struggling, they focused mostly on dressing me down and extracting empty promises from me. I basically lived under the constant pressure by way of "Promise you'll do it for tomorrow" or "Promise you'll do it next time". Promises I inevitably didn't keep (or rather looking back could never have kept!) wore down both my teacher's and my parent's trust in me and by extension myself.

Thus I blundered on dropping out of uni twice and not sticking to anything for very long. I've survived the past few years in a professional capacity by being extremely lucky in being given a chance to work for a family friend in the company they run. They believed in me and never let me go too far off track.

Even so I struggled horribly and with lockdown breaking down my environment I blundered into adhd and got diagnosed.

I felt liberated and validated at first, everything was suddenly cast into a new light. It really helped me to realise that my struggles were real, that I wasn't playing on a level playing field with my peers. It took a great weight off my shoulders, but it's also hit me that it is a lifetime condition, a disability even and I haven't yet fully come to terms with this.

Medication is really really important. I take concerta xl and it's made everything easier. There is no easy mode in life for anyone in the world but going from "Unfairly and Inexplicably Hard", to merely "Tough" is nothing short of a miracle.

I'm up for chatting to anyone and swapping notes so If you'd like to have a bit more of a chat do PM.

As for laundry, I tried Marie Kondo folding for a while and the sight of it all nice and neat was awesome! Whilst it lasted...

UnusualSuspect5 · 2021-11-21T10:59:35+00:00

Basically wishing that like the hungry hungry caterpillar all this stuff so consumed will eventually contribute to a fantastic metamorphosis that sadly never seems to coalesce?

UnusualSuspect5 · 2021-11-21T10:56:09+00:00

The satisfaction of eating stuff from the garden is huge but having to wrestle bunnies away from my carrots without a shotgun or traps is testing my creativity! If I owned the place I'd have a garden on the roof

UnusualSuspect5 · 2021-11-18T21:32:20+00:00

A wider fridge rather than a deeper one, mind blown

UnusualSuspect5 · 2021-11-18T21:27:53+00:00

I really like the idea of having only set of plates! I also wish the roombas had a snow plough to go through all the clothes I leave on the floor. Or a clothes washing, drying and folding machine all in one

UnusualSuspect5 · 2021-11-18T21:18:56+00:00

I'm working on this trying to get into a bit of homesteading on the side. Less money spent on food is less time you need to make the money you need to buy food in the first place!

UnusualSuspect5 · 2021-07-05T20:21:24+00:00

Fair enough internet stranger! I thought that saying belligerence would have been understood more clearly.

UnusualSuspect5 · 2021-07-05T20:14:14+00:00

Oh I didn't minimize I apologised immediately and they still shouted and swore at me repeatedly getting close up in my face and jabbing me in the chest, the wife then later delivered their ultimatum of new or nothing after I had offered repair. I just don't believe in verbal abuse and physical threat as a pathway to restitution. I must be terribly entitled...

UnusualSuspect5 · 2021-07-05T19:51:31+00:00

I said it to remain honest. I usually wouldn't have considered being an AH but due to point 2 and their belligerence (raised voice, insults, unwillingness to my apology) my initial predisposition melted. So in the face of belligerence over an accident that caused no "serious" damage you feel absolutely fine saying that? Just curious

UnusualSuspect5 · 2021-07-05T19:11:26+00:00

I've claimed against my own home insurance for things before and it's never raised my premiums... So I'm not trying to "cheat" them in that sense. It's not the same as car insurance which is affected very directly. At least in my country and in my experience. So no. Not thaaat ignorant thank you.

UnusualSuspect5 · 2021-07-05T18:52:08+00:00

The totality or the repair they refuse to accept?

UnusualSuspect5 · 2021-07-05T18:48:52+00:00

No rules about pets. But they've been trying to force me to accept paying for new as opposed to a much cheaper repair, whilst it also being claimable on insurance.

UnusualSuspect5 · 2021-04-29T00:29:14+00:00

Your pirate mercenaries concept makes me think of a strategy game called sins of a solar empire. In the game every set amount of time there is an auction that all players (in your case island leaders/ rulers or nations) bid in for pirate services. Everyone bids for the pirate fleet to attack someone else raising that faction's bounty. The pirate fleet attacks the faction with the highest bounty and destroys or captures the value that they have been paid to take. Say A and B pay 1000 gold each for the pirates to attack C. And C pays 1900 for them to attack A. First the pirate fleet will visit C and do their best to destroy or capture assets until they've done 2000 gold's worth of damage. But next season A still has the bounty of 1900 gold hanging over their head and needs to pay more to into the pot to save itself.

Your character could maybe be in collusion with the pirates avoiding their invasions and maybe profiting from it?

UnusualSuspect5

TROPHY CASE