Discuss Battle Plans

I had a thought. Since a majority of their team is starting in an army in Stafford, they'll be slow moving to multiple and diffuse threats. If a small group of us takes Ludlow by revolt on the first day, that'll draw their attention and allow an opportunity for those in the Eastern part of the county to start causing havoc by taking towns. They'll have to break apart the army if they want to defend towns as fast as we can take them.

Quote :

Blue Team- Maintain control over 5 towns for two days OR Capture the County Castle

Which victory condition do we go for? That's what we need to decide on first.


I think we'll have an easy time taking Ludlow/Coventry/Derby since they are furthest from the capitol where the red team must start. But I think Ludlow would be too obvious for a real distraction.


How about we pull a fast one on them? This is a plan for taking the capitol with an army.
Revolt in Ludlow on day 1, making it look like a distraction. Then we have a few people work on the obvious targets in the east; Coventry Derby, maybe Birmingham, on day 2/3. They ignore Ludlow, and send people to counter us in the east. But surprise surprise! The real distraction was the eastern towns, and we form an army in Shrewsbury and take the castle while their soldiers are countering our revolts.


EDITED TO ADD 4 hours later:
I've been thinking about it, and what it boils down to is this. We can win if we can get them out of the capitol, and we can win if we keep them in the capitol.
I'm thinking we should try to get them out..
Their win condition for the game is to kill all of us, so they naturally have to leave the capitol if they want to win. If I understand how armies work (which I don't, but let us pretend, shall we?) they cost a lot to run. They will run out of resources in time, forcing them to be the ones to act else their defenses will be removed. This is assuming they leave a standing army in Stafford for the duration of the game, which is what I would expect. Following me so far?

They have no choice but to split their forces to take us all out, as long as we don't do something stupid and go kamikaze on them. And that's when we strike hard at the meaty center and take out their army and the castle in one blow! Either we can wait them out, or draw them out. Either way, as soon as their defenses weaken we hit the capitol with an army of our own and with every fighter we have that's not out creating distractions.

Me knowing nothing of armies and battles.. thinks this sounds good

... which means, no clue. I'll just go follow the leader hehe

Does anyone think we could fool them ? Well this may or may not work but my brother is on the Red Team so we can tell him where we are going to hit and we do not and either hit their territory or just another destination.

I don't like the idea of feeding false information..to risky.

But yes, I think we can fool them.
The way to fool them is to do what is least expected. The simplest course of action for us would be to create a diversion in the west and take the towns to the east, and this is what I think they would be expecting us to try first. But what we do is create a diversion in the east and take the castle from the west. They see us doing one thing, think we're doing another, and we fool them all around. It's a bold move, so they might not be prepared for it.

Teh_Uberness wrote:

But yes, I think we can fool them.
The way to fool them is to do what is least expected. The simplest course of action for us would be to create a diversion in the west and take the towns to the east, and this is what I think they would be expecting us to try first. But what we do is create a diversion in the east and take the castle from the west. They see us doing one thing, think we're doing another, and we fool them all around. It's a bold move, so they might not be prepared for it.

Let's dissect this plan a little bit and let me add my 2 cents.

It's a solid plan. It requires us to assume a certain level of how they intend to act, which may or may not work. I think Teh is definitely on to something strong here. That said, if we use this plan we're going to have to get forces into the West side of county, and do so in a way that doesn't draw suspicion which is difficult with Lavabo able to track movement so well (I think traveling through our neighbors to the South might be optimal because I don't think they update Lavabo as often as we do).

So here's what we need to do as far as I see it:
1. Get our pieces into place without drawing too much attention
2. Revolt in Ludlow in such a way to make them think we're drawing them out
3. Revolt in the East County, preferably taking multiple towns to draw them out
4. Blitzkreig the capital while they're busy chasing rabbits

I think we can do it, I think the key will be to keep our strong military figure on the Eastern front (Arthur and Lynna) so as not to attract attention to ourselves on the Western front, that will definitely increase their belief that this is some sort of feint in the West.

My biggest concern is that we don't have enough troops to be able to pull off a multitown revolt. Feel free to contact me on MSN if folks want to talk more

EDIT--------

On a separate note, after talking with the admin I've been reminded that mines generate 5 gold a day per mine. We may want to start by taking all the mines and using the money to produce more cards and/or equip ourselves. The cards are very powerful and may give us a critical edge.

one good idea is to use our 2 wolf cards when we draw them out. we should place them strategically so that we block the routes getting them back to Stafford.

also, if I understand correctly we can use non participants in our armies, to raise our strength. is that right?

I will not be able to come to Stafford the 14th, but will be in county the 15th. Ifigeny is a 2 token lord, we could use her ability to travel 3 nodes to our advantage maybe. I could also travel 3 nodes if it would help. When jumping over towns, I believe you are hidden from any Lavabo updates. Excellent way to sneak I've heard.

Pr0pheT wrote:

one good idea is to use our 2 wolf cards when we draw them out. we should place them strategically so that we block the routes getting them back to Stafford.

That's awesome, I hadn't thought of that...but it gave me another idea.


The plans discussed so far have the one big variable that we cannot control; the assumption that they will send their soldiers where we want them to.

We can eliminate this variable by capitalizing on the rule that they must start in the capitol. If we use our cards and our strongest individuals to keep them in the capitol, we can be free to take mines and then towns. I agree with Blavnan, mines would give us a great advantage. And if we get the mines and buy more cards, it becomes even easier to keep them in the capitol.
Instead of depending on them breaking apart, we use the majority of our resources on keeping them together and immobile, while we take and hold the towns. Win!
We would start on the mines, taking them the first day. Except for those few who start on the nodes stopping them from going east and stay there. Then we take the towns in the east, still stopping them from leaving the capitol. We then travel through Worcester to Ludlow for our 5th town, hold it for 2 days, and win! Or we start people in the Ludlow mine and have them travel to Ludlow and take it and defend it right away.



And with going for the mines first, we would be undetectable, like Telcara pointed out.

I like your plans.

Uber, can we please lay out a rough plan for the location of day 1 according to our ideas? Let's not forget that if me, arthur and lynna are home, we have a 15 FC strength ready to battle in coventry.

What about neutral towns? Does the game say whether we face resistance when trying to take them?

Pr0pheT wrote:

What about neutral towns? Does the game say whether we face resistance when trying to take them?

Good question. I have not published anything about it in the rules. However, I will point out that other teams can defend neutral towns and nodes making it harder for you to take them, and easier for them, once they are ready to take it.

Bunny wrote:

What do us Mayors do? :S

Make sure our towns become blue and stay blue!
I don't think we can do much else...


~~~~~~~~~~~~`
And I regret that I'm traveling this weekend, so will most likely not be able to log on and help more with planning...
I'll be back by the time the games start though.

This is my final thoughts on the strategy of the first rounds of the game, along with my final proposals for our actions. Please use your intel to comment on my suggestions, as we will need to commit to a course of action soon.

My current view on the affairs of the game indicates that the Reds are overly concerned about Shrews. Our initial thoughts on the game did not ask for such a high concentration of agents in Shrews but as fate brought this, we have to use it to our advantage. If the reds are fool enough to leave Stafford, we will storm it.

The east is our weak part, and the east holds the majority of the mines. Half of our forces in the east are immobile, so we NEED to commit a large number of event cards to the east to have any chance of getting some of our goals. In fact the weakest point of our setup is Birmingham. We need to do something about that.

I believe that the success of our actions in the first rounds will have a more important effect on the outcome of the game than our actions later on. We need to err on the "high" side when we choose our battles.

So here are my suggestions:

1) The most important action is Dewaugh taking the mine. Please post so in the appropriate thread.

2) I was thinking that Dewaugh, after taking the mine, should go to Ludlow and aid Blevnan. But if the reds have only one agent there, why not boost Blevnan with a card and help him take the town. This way we have two advantages. a) Dewaugh can return to shrews and work with the forces there to move to stafford and b) if Blevnan manages to stop the red agent there, he is more free to move to any other destination we may need him.

3) Shrews people should take the town. However I suggest that Arthur and Lynna start building our army after that. The army should be up and running soon enough.

4) We need to take Birmingham and play the mercenary card there tomorrow. The mercenary card can only be played in a node we control. However, the mercenary card is a extra agent who gives us a temp boost. He may cost 2gp/day but it is now that we need to get him activated to get some extra power in the east. Birmingham control is a must for that. We need to play a card on Birmingham to help Uber and Richy.

5) Me and LB attempt to take Coventry. I am not so sure we should commit lots of forces on that. Apart from having the node in our control and be able to play cards on it, we should focus on other points. I should move out then to get the mine at the north to raise our income.

6) All agents get a staff. Agents who will work on their own or are in a dangerous environment should get an axe. Mayors should not get an axe for the time being as it will be like locking our strength. We have 4 axes, Dewaugh should get one of them today and we will give out the rest tomorrow, as the town revolts are not dependent on the axes.

Question: The puny fifth column is 2x1FC soldiers, the minor is 4x1FC soldiers. Uber and Blevnan please comment on whether you need them. If we can spare one, we will use it in Shrews.

Thistletumbler has moved from Ludlow to Shrewsbury.

I should be able to take Ludlow today if you'd like me to using a card. I could then move to Shrewsbury tomorrow.

The two red players from Birmingham are currently in the capitol (Deekay and Nickc97)


Unless they use a card here, we shouldn't need to use one. However, I cannot be certain of this until a full roster of the red team is published so I can check it against the visitor's list.

@Teh

Red has said that towns are assumed to have a few NPC guards before they are taken. So you can't solo take a town without a card.

Thistletumbler - Shrewsbury
Mooseboy13 - ?
Nickc97 - Stafford
Anonymoose - Shrewsbury (running for Mayor)
Girls8539 - Derby (Mayor)
Deekay - Stafford
Morg - Shrewsbury
Jorne - Shrewsbury ( has the army)
Ajtan - Shrewsbury
Rhenova - Lichfield

Only one i can't see atm is Rhenova who has left Birmingham


Edited Rhenova is back in Lichfield I can't find Moose he left Lichfield

Jorne has placed the army into marching orders and will be moving to Stafford after reset. Now, Lynna and I can totally sneak by him. I have been providing points for his army and it would make sense for me and Lynna to follow. I'm not sure if they know that Lynna and I are blue team members. Do we want to risk following the army? If they do figure out that we are blue team, they can kill us and incapacitate us in the capitol.

How does killing us work? I know we remain in the capitol, but what can our actions be? I know we cannot join the militia, but does that mean we cannot revolt? I'm unsure and would like clarification. Because it may be to our benefit that Lynna and I be killed in the capitol and then if recruitment is allowed, Lynna and I, can get forces and friends to help us take the castle while the rest of you start flipping other towns/mines as decoy.

I like that plan Arthur, Dewaugh and I can get over to Birmingham in a few days by going South and around.

Incapacitation means you can't move IG and your actions have no effect in the wargame until the time is up.

DAY 2 !!!!!!

It is day 2 and while only 60% of our goals where achieved for day 1, the reds did null. In fact the recent intel reports show a confusion in their ranks (or we are not seeing the obvious and we are about to be annihilated.

I will be out of the net for some hours as I have some planning to do for my wedding (so I cannot avoid it as you understand ). I will offer some suggestions and I would like people to weight the options and offer their assessment of my suggestions. Expect orders to be sent out at around 22:00-23:00 GMT.

Shrewsburry is safe for today. I am more concerned with the two "missing agents" who may have ventured to the mine and Ludlow. However this can turn to our advantage. We cannot directly attack the reds in towns unless we form an army, however on the free nodes, it is a fair game. If we manage to bring 1-2 of them down we will win the tactical advantage for the first rounds. My suggestion is to focus on that. The second point is to make sure that Birmingham is more protected.

I have given weapons to agents according to the following plans:

1) I will leave Coventry for the mine. In case the reds have played some wolf, I have a sword to be more strong. My ultimate goal is to claim the mine, go to Birmingham, claim the town, group with Lordrichy and set out for Lichfield

2) Lady_bunny should defend the independent power, just in case

3) Lordrichy and Teh should either give one more try to revolt, or defend the independent power.

4) People in shrews should defend the power. I am suggesting to give the 2 remaining axes to Telcara's Group.

5) Play a patrol card on the obtained mine, and Dewaugh should set himself to attack for the two "missing agents"

6) Play a levy card on ludlow. I believe that this is enough to defend the town. If Killed thinks it is safe with that he can leave for Birmingham, through Worcester. Otherwise he defends the power.

7) The third card should be either a levy in Shrewsburry of a band of wolves on the node between Stafford and Birmingham. If we play the later we need to somehow leak it in the forums, because fear is more powerful than real force.

Waiting for your comments.

Jorne has asked if Lynna and I will be following to Stafford. He knows I won't travel without her. He said if I wanted to provide points for his army to come with him. I told him that I believe so because a) I need to put things in my apartment and b) I can use the army points towards level 4 and c) I can use the money as well. He said perfect. Now the question is: Can the rest of the Shrewsbury group maintain the stronghold? (Teclara, Ifigency, and Vienna) while Lynna and I go to Stafford following the army.

I can't help but laugh that we are sneaking by this army.


Thinking ahead:
Now, I know we want to take Lichfield, and Coventry obviously. Once I provide points for Jorne's army, I could state that I need to go home for a few days and help the mayor with something (I'll figure this out more specifically later). This will allow us to have 3 people in Coventry to take the town.