No Spill Blood

[Dracos]

"Indeed.  There's no point in us sittting around with our hands behind our heads while others are on the field.  We're here to fight.  The majority of our forces are swordsman, under the command of Sir Warrick, Sir Harold, and Lord George.  We also have spearmen as well as I mentioned earlier, under Lord Farwell and axemen under Lord Roger.  Our archers, under Sir Erik, will obviously be joining your own in providing the ranged assault.  In other words, we'll all be out there."

Dracos

[Brian]

The Storm-riders all nod vigorously.  "We may not require a full commitment, but knowing your men stand ready gives us much aid against the foe," Kevin says.  "With any luck, this will be easy ... but depending on luck will get us nowhere."

[Dracos]

"My men already have experience working in squads as well, but I don't know the forces already here to really understand how we'd best combine for effect."

Dracos

[Brian]

"Of course," Lammermore says smoothly.  "We've about forty thousand footmen who aren't otherwise occupied, and a good five thousand swordsmen of our own.  How would you suggest dividing the units?"

[Rezantis]

As Drac thinks for a moment, Nathan decides to comment.

"If I may say . . . your forces, for their combat effectiveness, seemed to try to rely mostly on their ranks and formations.  I'm not certain, I haven't seen you in battle much, but is this correct?"

[Brian]

"That's right," Lammermore says, nodding.  "An ordered formation has a better defence against the chaotic rush of the Dreadmarch."

[Dracos]

"Then perhaps my men should wait in preparedness behind your defensive ranks.  Once the opening charge is complete, your men can shift ranks to allow our charge through to drive back the enemy."

Dracos

[Brian]

Lammermore's eye twitches, and he says, "Ah.  I see.  Well, a beggar cannot be a chooser, so what assistance you consent to offer is more than welcome."  Rising somewhat stiffly to his feet, he adds, "I ... must oversee my men."  Nodding even more stiffly to the room at large, he limps out."

Kevin looks less than pleased.  "Well," he says dryly.  "I think we can adjourn for this meeting -- Bjorn, Sir Donnovan, I'd like to speak with you and the lorekeepers in a moment."

[Bjorn]

Bjorn remains seated, nodding at Kevin to acknowledge his order.

[Rezantis]

"Not . . . gah.  Excuse me, Lord Kevin, but I think Lord Bloom misunderstood exactly where I was going with this train of thought.  There does need to be a seperation between our units, simply on the grounds that our men simply work differently - and we don't have time to train our men to work together in joint formations, so making squads comprised of keep-dwellers and stormriders would probably not work too well."

Rez shrugs.

"For what it's worth, the upshot is that we probably make much better skirmishers than your men, but we aren't so good at straight out cohesion - we rely on the fact that we hit harder.  I'm not much of a tactician, so I'll leave it to those who are to figure out how to use that.  I mean no offense like this, but I believe we probably make a better force for charging than your soldiers, in general, not half because we also have berserkers to bolster our lines.  We're perfectly capable of taking a charge and counterattacking, though.  Cohesion and lack of centralised command are, if anything, our biggest problems, so it's probably best to try and just give us fairly clear orders from the get-go and leave precise maneuverings to your troops.  What that means is, again, probably best decided by someone who's more of a tactician than me."

[Bjorn]

"For what it's worth, my Lord," Bjorn speaks up, "I would agree with Sir Shuker's assessment of the situation.  It's always problematic to try to integrate seperate forces, and we're unlikely to iron out all the technical issues on such short notice.  I'd suggest keeping the storm-riders as skirmisher reserves off on the flanks.  Once the Dreadmarch begins their final charge at our lines, the storm-riders can move in.  If the Dreadmarch stops to deal with them, then we can push up the centre.  If they continue their charge, then the storm-riders can shift from harassment to a full-out charge of their own."

[Brian]

"I'll trust to your judgement, then," Kevin decides after a moment, still eyeing Phil warily.

"Eh," Lord Rogers coughs quietly.  "If I might ... there's not much need for this 'integration' or the ... the ... 'techni'....  Well.  I've seen the upper kingdom's ways of making war.  Their formations are good, and there's one I don't know the name of ... the spearmen trade their spears for shields, and have spearmen at their backs, and archers behind them.  Why not manage it that way?

"The shieldmen could take the brunt of the charge, and before the Dreadmarch has a chance to wade through the spears and decimate the keep's forces, our skirmishers can sweep through the defensive line and be on the enemy.  What begins as a defense ends in an offense, and the keep's spearmen can force the Dreadmarch into pockets, which our skirmishers will easily slaughter?"

[Dracos]

Dracos smiles, liking this idea better.  "That sounds good to me."

Dracos

[Bjorn]

"It could work," Bjorn says thoughtfully.  "I would use the Storm-rider pikemen to back the shieldwall, though -- the pikes have longer range, and more experience coordinating with the rest of the storm-rider forces."  He ponders a little more.  "The storm-rider footmen can be intergrated into the shieldwall," he points out, "which eliminates any need for them moving through gaps in the formation.  When the time comes, they can simply drop their shields and attack, and reserve shield-men from the Keep forces can move up behind them to take their place.

"At that point, the Keep spearmen can push forward through the pike-men, up to the shieldwall and through, to back up the storm-rider forces.  We can wheel the rest of the foot around the edges of the shieldwall to flank around into the Dreadmarch."

[Brian]

Lord Rogers raises an eyebrow at this.  "That ... sounds like a fine plan, I think," he says.

Lord Kevin nods his agreement.  "Then that is the plan we shall use.  Unless there is anything else?" he asks, glancing across the room.