This document is to be used for OOC coordination of the war effort. Do not assume that any knowledge available on this page is ICly knowable.
The war itself will start as soon as Council is over on Tuesday night. The shape of the overall battle arena has been determined, but has not all taken shape in an IC sense. Read on.
Regardless, once it starts, it'll probably run 48 hours, depending on how quickly people can get coordinated.
| Bas/Nep | Hip/Urd |
|---|---|
Moloch (Prince)
|
Belial (Prince)
|
Persons listed in [square brackets] are not currently confirmed, but are suspected strongly as potential participants.
Persons listed in {{double curlies}} are ICly attempting to hold back until the last moment, and then "attack by surprise". Because of this, the knowledge of their involvement is wholly OOC; they haven't even committed explicitly, to Belial, in person. (Here's a log going over the issue somewhat). Beelzebub himself intends to attack Mammon's forces from the air (a possible strategic gambit), so that implies a certain pairing there already.
Also strictly OOC, Moloch initiated conversations with Geryon before all of this started, before Beelzebub got involved, to see how Geryon might play into the war, so there's always the possibility of yet more escalation. If Geryon doesn't respond before Sunday, though, it may be too late.
Semyaza's Involvement. Semyaza is coming in to play both
sides of the fence. He's not going to be committing any troops, but wants
to be able to affect both sides. The best way I can see for this to work
is to add Semyaza in as a member of both sides' High Command, paired
against himself. This adds 1 Gambit to each side, playable only by Semyaza,
using the High Command privilege of being able to target whatever battlefield
he likes. Knowing Semyaza, it's fairly likely that he'll end up employing
his Delusion but, because of the context of its use, the +tests against the
commanders of the battlefields he targets should use WAR+DEL rather than
the default attribute base of Fire, because these Delusions are being
deployed in a 'militarily effective' manner. The discussion that covers
this -- as well as a lot of the issues and concerns about it -- is well worth
reading before going any further. You can find it
here.
The Overall Battle Arena
The war is over!
Final victory point tally in the war:
| BELIAL: 2 | MOLOCH: 17 |
Pairings have been negotiated by High Command. A log is available.
| Bas/Nep | Hip/Urd | Battlefield Location | Gambits Played | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moloch/6 | Belial/6 | No Battlefield: High Command |
Moloch: 'Attack from All Sides' SGY Gambit -- successful -- +1 Advantage to
all fields.
Belial: 'Whip troops into a frenzy' LDR Gambit -- broke even -- +0 Adv/Disad |
|
| Semyaza/6 | Semyaza/6 | No Battlefield: High Command/Playing both sides |
SHUT UP!: Vs. Belial's side in the Highlands, Semyaza travels to Urdurgh
and uses his Delusional powers to tell the Highlands to shut the hell up (WAR+DEL)! The whispers stop... but Belial, having a feeling Semyaza might throw a wrench into the works, has already pushed the battle to happen earlier than it might (SGY defence). As things fall out, the whispers fall dead in the middle of the fight, with half of it already done -- the net result: +0 Advantage (+test came out Dead Even). Visions of Enchantment: Semyaza plagues Mammon's troops with tempting visions, appealing to the realm's sense of excess. They work, and end up scattering the resolve of some of Mammon's troops: +1 Advantage Beelzebub's side. |
|
|
Mammon/6 Azmaveth/2 and Thamuz/2 |
Beelzebub/6 Mulciber/4 |
Near Kerr'epytha |
Trickle-down: Moloch 'Attack from All sides': +1 Adv Mammon's side Numbers: 3000 vs 3000: +0. Visions of Enchantment: Semyaza plagues Mammon's troops with tempting visions, appealing to the realm's sense of excess. They work, and end up scattering the resolve of some of Mammon's troops: +1 Advantage Beelzebub's side. Death from above and within!: Beelzebub's forces attack Mammon's by surprise, from out of the sky, their ranks composed of flight-capable fallen; meanwhile, Mephistopheles' secret Iron Order operatives sabotage the troops from within. Beelzebub's gambit is successful, and wins his side a +1. Divided City: Mammon uses operatives within Kerrepytha's Urdurgh side to soften its defences, sabotaging the city's ability to defend itself. Beelzebub's operatives fail to counter the sabotage sufficiently; +1 Advantage to Mammon's side. Current Net: +0 Advantage to either side. A fair fight, ladies and gentledemons! |
This battlesite will be close to Kerrepytha, where Beelzebub catches
up with Mammon's forces and attacks.
10 victory points are risked on each side. Beelzebub: Personal. Mulciber: Military. Mammon, Thamuz, Azmaveth: Military. Military pairings: Mulciber is two ranks away from Mammon and two ranks away from Thamuz. Mammon and Beelzebub OOC agree to have Mulciber paired against Mammon. This leaves Thamuz and Azmaveth without military targets. Personal pairings: Beelzebub is alone, and thus surplus. Military/personal pairings: Beelzebub on one side, Thamuz and Azmaveth on the other. Mammon orders Azmaveth, whose Hounds of Hunger have been much affected by Semyaza's Delusions, to "fight unopposed". This leaves Thamuz fighting Beelzebub. End pairings:
This battle is complete |
|
Behemoth/4 Ysadar/2 Falsadun/2 Slagg/0 |
Samael/5 Rael/2 Voln/1 |
Heart of Urdurgh |
Trickle-down: Moloch 'Attack from All sides': +1 to Behemoth's side. Numbers: Behemoth has 3500 men; Samael has 3000: +1 to Behemoth's side Out of one, Many: Samael attempts a strategem whereby his elite necrotian fleshcrafters make their army appear to be much larger than it actually is; word of this reaches Behemoth's troops, who Behemoth attempts to rally. Not well enough; +1 advantage to Samael's side. Net: +1 Behemoth's Side |
One of Moloch's strategies involves using Transport to put a number
of troops into the non-Highlands part of Urdurgh. These will also be
bolstered by troops coming in from the south, out of Nasagriam.
8 victory points are risked on each side. Military: Rael vs. Slagg Personal: Voln vs. Falsadun, Ysadar (unopposed - 1 free victory point) Military vs. Personal: Samael vs. Behemoth End pairings:
This battle is complete. |
|
Baal/5 Fenris/2 Penemue/2 |
Vetis/5 Raum/2 Valefor/2 |
Attack in the Highlands |
Terrain: +1 Advantage Vetis: Maddening Highlands Trickle-down: Moloch's 'Attack from All Sides': +1 Advantage Baal Numbers: Baal has 2500 men; Vetis has 1500. +1 Advantage Baal SHUT UP!: Semyaza tells the Highlands to be silent! But Belial has pushed the timetable forward, and outrun the Delusion partially. +0 Advantage. Fancy Footwork: Baal arranges his troops such that it looks like he's going to attack the right flank -- a feint, since he's actually going hard on the left and following up with a flying squad from behind. Vetis' intelligence network doesn't get the information to him in time, and Baal's gambit succeeds: +1 advantage Baal. Net: +2 Advantage Baal. |
9 Victory points are risked on each side.
Baal and Penemue are military; Fenris is personal. Vetis and Raum are personal; Valefor is military.
This battle is now complete |
Format for participants is Name/VictoryPoints. It's really by chance that the total victory points per side are equal on all three battlefields, for the record. The victory points that exist in High Command are not at risk, since they are not entered onto battlefields.
The overall victory point possibility per side is 27, barring gambits of Significance. Barring gambits of significance, 14 victory points will be necessary to assure a victory; the greater the margin, the more palpable that victory.
Broken-down details based on 'news war' are below.
The Approximate Number of Troops Ranks Can Muster
Rank Number
Prince/Princess A Grand Legion (Three or four distinct armies
totalling about 10k combatants), or an Army (if the
Prince does not command a Realm, s/he can only
support several thousand)
(...)
Generally a commander can only devote about a third of those listed
above to an actual active war effort, as the rest of the troops are
'elsewhere' guarding borders and lands that are not attacked. If he
wishes to use more, he should do so knowing that he is leaving some
part of his lands undefended, and should RP accordingly if someone
chooses to take advantage of that.
(...)
Numbers should only be determined by the ranks of the top commanders
per war, aggregating only if there are multiple commanders of the same
level on that side.
Mammon will be committing a full 3000 troops (approx 1/3rd of 10000, as given above). Moloch is liable to be committing the same.
Belial has his 10000, of course, but will have to decide how to distribute them among the battle-sites; if he distributes all 10k among the two sites, that means the rest of his lands will be left undefended, which will have obvious consequences. As the rules indicate, the minimum 'safe' amount he can devote to the war is about 3300, but because it's his home turf, I can see him pullin in up to twice that, though he'll have to play that he's spread pretty thin elsewhere.
Moloch and Mammon intend to make this a two-front war, so we'll see probably two battlesites in total.
Once we get the battlefields determined, we should then devote numbers of troops to those places, and decide the advantage of numbers at each.
If the numbers on a particular battlefield are unbalanced, then the side with more troops should automatically receive a +1 Advantage of Numbers without having to 'spend' a Gambit. What numbers are devoted to what battlefields is the call of the highest commander on each side, since it's assumed they're largely his troops to distribute, but those numbers should not be split too unevenly: splitting 100 to 25/25/50 is fine, but splitting 100 to 5/5/90 is right out (unless the other guy is doing the same).
The Urdurgh Mines are in the Highlands. The Highlands have a particular attribute that makes them difficult for foreigners to navigate (this can be found by reading up on Urdurgh off of the geography page on hell's website). I propose that the Urdurgh Mines battlesite hold an intrinsic +1 Advantage: Maddening Highland Whispers, which is enjoyed by Belial's side in the conflict. It's my position that at least one battlefield should enjoy this advantage for Belial's guys, since the dispute was triggered by a find in mines located in the Urdurgh Highlands; how many other battlefields get this advantage is uncertain, since it's fairly likely that an effort will be made to move additional battles away from that territory.
Other advantages must be won through gambits (below).
Pre-Gambit Macro/Strategy Phase
* Pair up commanders, one to one, until there is a surplus on one
side. Knights do not count as commanders at this phase. The number
of pairings is the number of battlefields and gambits in the war
effort.
* The side with the surplus declares where each of the surplus
commanders go. The opposing side can oppose up to the number of
battlefields of commander placements -- which if fully utilized
means there are double the amount of commanders facing them, not
good odds! -- by 'looking threatening elsewhere', essentially
determining the placement of the opposing surplus commander
themselves, if the head commander can win a Strategy +test against
the opposing commander.
* The 'high commanders' of the war effort, if they want to attempt
gambits that affect their entire sid (see below), must not enter
battle on a specific battlefield. So, if a side has two Dukes on
it sharing High Command, neither Duke can actually set foot on a
battlefield.
* Once these assignments are made, dole out an equal amount of
knights to each battlefield, placing any odds as you see fit (if
you had 3 fields and 8 knights, that would break down as 3, 3, 2,
not 4, 2, 2), maintaining a roughly even distribution.
* Determine the approximate numbers of troops assigned to each
battlefield, as doled out from the numbers suggested in the above
section.
Gambit Phase
* Each side gets to attempt a number of gambits equal to the number
of battlefields in the war effort. However, each commander may
only attempt up to one gambit, successful or not, so choose
carefully who does what.
* The effects of gambits only apply to the battlefield to which the
commander is assigned, unless that commander is part of High
Command (see above), in which case his gambits can either affect a
particular battlefield or his entire side.
* Gambits can be based on Leadership or Strategy. They create either
a +1 Advantage or -1 Disadvantage for the scope affected by the
commander attempting the gambit, depending on success or failure.
If it's dead even, the gambit is spent, but there is no effect.
+ If Leadership is used for a gambit, it is an attempt to
inspire or enrage your troops in a way that boosts their
morale. The opposition (who will be high command on the other
side or a commander on the battlefield to be affected
depending on scope) can opt to resist either with Leadership
(reflecting their reputation and so forth) or Strategy
(reflecting their propaganda and disinformation and so
forth).
+ If Strategy is used as a gambit for advantage, it can be used
to bolster an aspect of your side with regards to supplies,
positioning, and so on, which would be resisted by the
appropriate scope-determined opponent's Strategy (reflecting
their ability to counter this action with small troop
deployments and secret operatives); it can be used to attempt
to demoralize the enemy within the correct scope (which would
be resisted by the appropriate opponent's Leadership); it can
be used to attack the preparations of the enemy with small
troop deployments, which is also resisted by the appropriate
Strategy.
+ Strategy can also be used as a gambit of Significance; there
may only be one gambit of Significance per side. High Command
can pick the battlefield it affects, but all other commanders
who attempt this kind of gambit only affect their
battlefield. If this gambit is successful (resisted by the
appropriate individual's Strategy), the specified battlefield
has become a Significant Goal for your side. If you score
victory points to win on that battlefield (say, a difference
in your favor of 3), then those points are increased by 50
percent, rounded up (taking that 3 to a 5). If the test does
not succeed by at least a minor disadvantage, then your side
has a -1 Disadvantage (Poor Planning) on the specified
battlefield. If you break even, as always, there is no
effect.
One battlefield can be designated as 'Urdurgh Mines' and receive the +1 advantage for Belial's side, as noted above. However, it's possible that Moloch will discard this as a stregic objective and instead undertake a plan to avoid passing through the Highlands in order to wage his attacks. The +1 advantage should only apply to battles which occur in the highland territories -- the eastern side of Urdurgh.
The battlefield that Mammon ends up at should be considered to be the "Kerrepytha" battlesite; Mammon has deliberately decided not to extend himself too far into Urdurgh in the war-effort, so this is a "roleplay" restriction on the partitioning up of battlefields.
Any others that come out are, in all likelihood, scattered all over the landscape and shouldn't get any particular predetermined advantages.
Generally if someone is doing a 'military' type of involvement, but wants to use a Craft, such as BAL to pick off key combatants, or DEL to mislead the opponent, that craft should be combined with the WAR attribute, rather than FIR, to reflect the use of it in a military/tactical context. Which this isn't stated outright in the guidelines, it seems to follow, given the nature of the undertaking.
Crafts would be used normally if someone was doing a 'personal' involvement.
Battlefield (Micro) Phase
* Each combatant on a given battlefield is affected by his side's
aggregate Advantage or Disadvantage for that battlefield. Any
+tests are adjusted in their level of advantage/disadvantage
accordingly; a minor advantage with a +1 would turn to
significant, and so on, or a slight disadvantage would become
'dead even'. A -1 sends the result in the opposite direction.
* First, combatants determine whether they are 'military'
combatants, commanding troops; or 'personal' combatants, venturing
out onto the field of battle.
* Next, each combatant pairs off with another from the opposite side
of the same 'military' or 'personal' type, generally along lines
of Rank unless a rank imbalance can't be helped, until there are
only unassigned 'military' on one side and 'personal' on the
other. Then those pair off for military-vs-personal conflicts
until there are no free ones on a side, and free ones on another.
The free ones can opt either to 'aid' another of the combatants on
their side, making it necessary to beat more than just the person
aided for the other side to achieve a win in that portion of the
conflict, or to continue and fight 'unopposed', which is boring,
but guarantees that they receive half their own rank, rounded
down, in victory points (useless for a knight, who rounds down to
zero; a baronet or baron scores 1 point; a count or duke scores 2;
a prince scores 3).
* Victory for a particular section of the battle (determined by the
pairings) should be determined with only a couple +tests at most,
preferrably one, unless the roleplay associated indicates
otherwise. Naturally if one person faces several others, a +test
must be done with each opponent in the appropriate area. Military
skills should be used for 'military' designates, and personal
combat skills should be used for 'personal' designates (so in a
military-v-personal situation you will see something like Tactics
vs Sword). Generally RP of a section of battle should involve some
setup RP where the characters express what actions they're
attempting, followed by a round of determining what skills are to
be +tested, +testing them, and the RPing the results.
* If you achieve a victory against your opponent in a given section
of battle, you achieve victory points equal to those of the ranks
of the person or persons you defeated; multipliers of Significance
are not applied yet.
If someone is beaten in their battle section, they must RP an
injury of reasonable severity for the next several weeks. If they
do not wish to be injured, then the side beating them earns an
extra victory point (for forcing the character into a situation of
cowardice). If the character's player opts for the character to
die heroically on the field of battle (thereby inspiring the
troops to fight harder), then the victory points achieved for
defeating that character are halved (rounded down).
* Points for personnel below a Knight are 0. A Knight is worth 1, a
Baronet 2, a Baron 3, a Count 4, a Duke 5, and a Prince, 6.
* After each side's victory points are tallied, the one with the
most has clearly won the battle. The difference between the two
totals is the number of victory points that the battle is
considered worth, for purposes of determining if the war is won.
After this difference is calculated, the difference is multiplied
by 150%, rounded up (turning 3 victory into 5) if this was a
battle of Significance for the winning side.
Naturally, we can't address this until the battles are fought.
Recovery Phase
* The side who scores the most victory points from its battles is
the winner, having scored a victory that is palpable enough that
the other side must acknowledge it.
* If there is a tie, the war was inconclusive. The two sides can
either agree that it is a draw and end the war, or press on to
arrange another round of war. If this option is chosen, it is best
to hold your next round of war on another day; by the time you've
gotten here, everyone is likely to be exhausted.