New Appointments (New Hundredman Ackley RP Attn: Krono)

[Sherper]

The scent of perfume and wild flowers drifted through the open office window, ridding the room of the musty smell that plagues it every morning. Newly appointed Hundredman Ackley, sighed and inhaled deeply through his nose. He didn’t get much sleep last night and the scent of flowers was a silver lining to his otherwise mundane day.  The office - his office, was a large spacious room that befit the station of a leader in command of over a hundred men. Plus, it was large for a reason. An absolutely enormous stack of paperwork sat on top of his lightly carved wooden desk, with another two stacks sitting ominously in another corner of the room. He sighed, as he put down the knife he had been twirling around in his hands. He knew he was procrastinating, yet he felt a great sense of dread at the thought of going through the remaining mountain of figures, reports and other miscellaneous items that accompany the duties of a Hundredman. He only wished someone could’ve warned him about this part of an officer’s life, when he had eagerly accepted his postings after the campaign in Ghealdan.

 

Eyeing the golden sunrays filling his office floor and the clean blue sky outside, Ackley sighed as he took up the ink and quill once more. A knock on the door gave him an excuse to delay working on the report in front of him for just a moment more. Apparently some of the men needed new marching boots, and the quartermaster had been reluctant to issue them with new ones.

 

“Enter,” he called, the Amadician accent rolling easily off his tongue. “Ah, O’Reilly,” he said when he saw he had come in. “What news?” First Bannerman O’Reilly strode briskly into the office, giving Ackley a crisp salute - one hand across his chest upon the golden sunburst imprinted on his polished mail, before helping himself to one of the seats.

 

“Hundredman Ackley, sir.” The man said formally, then proceeded to break the image by giving Ackley a broad grin.

 

“Nothing much sir, just wanted to see how you’re settling to the new office.” His grin broadened as he eyed the mountain of paper work laid out beside Ackley. “And see if there’s anything you need.” he said, tapping his nose knowingly with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Bannerman O’Reilly had been Ackley’s second in command for light knows how many years. Probably from the very beginning, he thought, recalling back the good old days. Ackley’s right hand man; always there to help him execute his orders, but more importantly O’Reilly was Ackley’s friend.

 

He chuckled quietly whilst leaning back in his seat. “Ohh I won’t mind a few drops of something, if you catch my drift.” His friend grinned at the remark.  
Drinking whilst on duty was officially prohibited and alcohol was not allowed inside the citadel unless under the express permission of an anointed Captain of the Light, but O’Reilly still had his ways of smuggling them past the guards.

 

Producing a small bottle from underneath his snowy white cloak, his first Bannerman poured him what smelled like molten liquor into two small goblets which he also produced. That was something else Ackley liked about O’Reilly, the man was not a stick up for rules or fanaticism like some of the nut jobs in the citadel. Raising his own goblet, the two clicked glasses and Ackley drank deeply from his cup. The wine left a warm after taste in his mouth, with just the right amount of sweetening honey to make him enjoy the spicy aroma after he swallowed his mouthful.   

 

“So…” he said after having his third sip of the cup. “How are the men holding up?”
O’Reilly swallowed his own mouthful then smacked his lips.
“As well as can be under current circumstances, I’m afraid.” He said, laying down the cup in between the stacks of paper.
“Most of the lads are improving their accuracy quite well – steady bulls eyes at almost a hundred paces. The problem is…” he scratched his head thoughtfully.
“Most of them are still using the bows they were given in Ghealdan.” Ackley nodded. It served as another reminder to him the difficulties that faced running his company.   

 

Traditionally, the ranged elements of most armies have by large been neglected and are usually the last to see any scrap of logistics come their way. Often farmers with nothing more than hunting bows, more than one commander has seen archers as mere fodder for the more important troop types of the battlefield. The Children of the Light has only recently seen the raw potential that bows and crossbows can do to help turn the tide of battlefield, yet there were still large discontempt amongst the high echelons of command for their proper employment.  Ackley shook his head sadly at the thought. And good crossbows take a lot of effort in getting - especially when he needed to get his hands on more than a hundred of them.

 

Sighing he raised his cup to his mouth once more, then promptly realised it was empty. Lowering it for the other man to fill, he rocked his chair on its back legs, thinking to himself.
“I’ll find a way,” he said. “Just don’t let the practise slacken.” Remembering at the last moment he also added, “And keep the sword drills up. We’ve got enough good steel to hand out at least.”

 

The door abruptly opened and Ackley nearly fell out of his chair as the Lord Captain strode in unannounced. Lord Captains don’t usually need permission to enter a room in the Citadel, especially when it is just the office of a mere Hundredman.
“C-c-Captain!” Ackley stuttered, waving underhand shooing gestures towards O’Reilly to hide the wine cups. “I hadn’t been expecting to see you!”

 

The captain gave Ackley and his bannerman a suspicious look, but said nothing about the unsightly bulge coming from O’Reilly’s side where he had hastily hidden the wine bottle.
“Hundredman Ackley,” the man said in a straight forward no-nonsense tone. “I want to talk to you about something.”

 

 

~Ackley Carnel
Hundredman in the Army of the Light.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Sherper

[WolfbrotherKronos]

Daeim Baaran sat in his office, finger rubbing the sword shaped beauty mark on his cheek.  The stack of papers were growing larger on his desk and it was difficult to keep up with.  The paperwork was tedious, and he'd rather spend time in actual battle.  He stood, unable to focus on the stack of papers in front of him and filled a glass with water.  Finishing the glass in one gulp, he turned as a soldier knocked on the door to his office.

 

Upon opening it, he saw the soldier who handed him an envelope.  Daeim thanked the soldier, dismissed him, and opened the letter.  Daeim had received orders to work on tactics with a new Hundredman.  Tired of paperwork, Daeim headed directly over to the man's barracks.

 

Daeim entered the office unannounced, and the Hundredman behind the desk, one Ackley Carnel, almost fell out of his chair as he gestured to the man sitting in the chair in front of his desk.  It looked to be Carnel's Bannerman.  Daeim gave them a look, and noticed the bulge of a bottle in the Bannerman's coat.  The pieces fell together, and Daeim knew they had been drinking wine.  Daeim decided to let them sweat it out for awhile before bringing it up.

 

"Hundredman Ackely, I want to talk to you about something." Daeim said with a no nonsense tone in his voice.  Daeim tended to be a little more relaxed, but felt that he should show them a true officer at this point.

 

"i've received orders to instruct you in military tactics and formations on a large scale.  We will begin now.  Please follow me," he said gesturing to the door.

 

He allowed Ackley to say goodbye to his bannerman before following Carnel outside of the office.  On the way out, he grabbed the Bannerman and warned him loud enough so Ackley could hear, "You might want to get rid of that bottle before another Lord Captain sees it.  The others might not forget they saw it."

 

The Bannerman muttered an affirmative and Lord Captain Daeim Baaran began to lead Hundreman Ackley Carnel to his own office.

[Sherper]

O’Reilly’s mouth moved but no sound came out of the man’s unsightly hole as Ackley saw out of the corner of his eyes, the lord Captain give his bannerman the talking down of his life. The man had evidently noticed him and O’Reilly drinking on duty, and he had told O’Reilly in no uncertain terms, to not do it again – lest some other Lord Captain found out about their little hobby. Ackley made a mental note to himself, never to touch alcohol again – at least not in his office, and not in plain sight like that again.

 

Daeim Baaran’s face appeared in the doorway to Ackley’s office, followed swiftly by the rest of his body as the man gestured for him to follow. He was led down familiar flights and corridors with polished marble walls and hanging tapestries from their ivory coloured surfaces. The fortress of the light nearly always shoon with a gleam that radiated holy piety for anyone to see, its surfaces free from dust or any other unsightly mark, lest it be known the Children ran a dirty fortress. It also required a pretty hefty maintenance staff, which Ackley guessed could occasionally be complimented by the odd misbehaving recruit - but it all adds up to create a sight like no other in the world. An order of holy warriors who all had completely different takes on what it means about ‘upholding the light’, and who’d not hesitate in stepping over everyone else to prove their interpretation was the right. Sometimes, Ackley swore he was the only sane one left.

 

They moved further and further up the fortress floors, up where Ackley had never gone before back in his time as a common soldier. These were the Lord Captain’s quarters, as made evident by the fine art works and even more finely embroidered hangings from the walls. Stopping at a large wood oak door, Daeim took out a key from his pockets and went inside once the lock had been opened. Daeim had always been a simple man, which was not a secret even amongst the common foot sloggers. His office was simply furnished, with a large yet sturdy looking writing desk pressed itself against the front of a large glass window, and small sitting chairs with only the most basic of padding to provide its user with comfort. The office was slighter larger than Ackley’s, though that was to be expected, but Ackley was sure the Lord Captain’s office could’ve even passed as his own had it not been situated on the top floor.  

 

 “Please take a seat.” Daeim gestured to one of the two armchairs close-by to the fireplace - one of the few other furnishings in his office. Ackley obliged briskly, not wishing to displease the Lord Captain again so soon.  Settling down to the cushy armchair, he stared as Daeim puzzled in front of a bookshelf with a collection of very large canvas scrolls stacked on top of one another. After a while, the man retrieved one of them then carried it over to be laid out on the coffee table beside the two arm chairs. On closer examination Ackley saw, the scroll was in fact a finely drawn and scaled map of a piece of terrain.  

 

“As you already know. A hundredman, requires you to lead others into battle.” The Lord Captain began, rolling the map out smooth on the coffee table. “As such, you are no longer considered a common soldier, and must begin to stop thinking like one.” he pressed a mug on the edge of the map to stop the canvas from retracting in on itself.

 

“I am going to give you a scenario, and I want you to tell me how you will handle it.”

 

Ackley nodded, as the man began to explain the situation.

 

 

~Ackley Carnel
Hundredman in the Army of the Light

Edited October 23, 2013 by Sherper

[WolfbrotherKronos]

Daeim pulled out a few models used to represent enemy and friendly troops.  Setting up several near the blight, and some near Arad Doman, Daeim began to speak.

 

"You have been charged with the defense of Arad Doman.  Word has reached you of shadow spawn coming out of the Blight to attack the city.  What do you do?"

 

Daeim let the hundredman consider some things before reminding him of a few things.  "Keep in mind what you plan to do with civilians.  Do you evacuate them, or leave them in the city? You also have many different types of troops - archers, infantry, and cavalry.  How are you going to utilize each groups strengths to minimize friendly casualties."

 

He pushed the friendly models towards the hundredman.  "Set them where you will - you're in charge here.  Let me know why you think that would work to your best advantage."

[Sherper]

Ackley studied the map laid out before him; his eyes taking in the detail of the terrain and the settlements - all drawn with scrolls that held names like Maseen, Katar and of course Bandar Eban. He realised he was standing over the map of Arad Doman, a key stronghold against the blight and the Seawall from the west coast. Like every Children of the light, Ackley knew the geographic importance of Arad Doman. It served as a buffer between the south and the rest of the Borderlands and if that buffer was to fall – it would open up a front no army in Westland could ever plug. Ackley gave a slight grimace. And he had just been given charge of its defence - it seems Daiem isn’t a man who likes to start his officers small.

 

He eyed the Lord Captain as the man began placing small figurines on top of the map. Some wore snowy white cloaks and were holding miniature weapons, whilst others were raven black - their faces like the depth of night. He placed two white archers near the city of Bandar Eban, both sporting tiny bows with their fletchings half drawn, then proceeded to place three men holding swords and spears, and then finally a single horse. All the men he had available to him.

 

Ackley prayed each figurine represented at least a whole legion, but as the Lord Captain began placing down his opposition near the mouth of the seawall, he realised this was far from the truth. Either the shadow spawn army numbered in the millions, or he had at his disposal the bare skeleton of a defence force. There were other white figures further south of the border which Ackley suspected represented reinforcing Legions from the Children. But like any rescuing cavalry, he knew they would not arrive in time to be of any good.

 

Nearly fifty black figures faced him, their backs against the blight. Fifty, facing his mere six. Daiem had said something about civilians too; no doubt they would need to be evacuated. Light, evacuation of the whole country wouldn’t seem inappropriate! But he knew that was not the key to solving his puzzle. Little was it known, well mostly because he had never publicised it openly, but Ackley Carnel had once been an apprentice scholar to the royal courts in Amador. As such, he perhaps knew a little more the arts of war than he usually lets on – or at least - its fundamental principles anyway. He remembered reading books on the subject, often by accident when he had intended to grab a volume about history or law, but one of those distant memories told him he had to do the unexpected. What no one expected.

 

Maybe Daiem had set up the task to be impossible from the very beginning – just to stump him on his first lesson. But a task was a task and Ackley had to achieve it no matter what the cost, even if he had to break every rule in the book to see it through.   

 

 “What you’re proposing is difficult,” he began, his words picking up momentum the more he ploughed on. “There are civilians, and we are outnumbered nearly ten to one.” He gestured to the bulge in the coast line which held the province capital, then traced a circle around the spot where he assumed most the evacuation would be taking place. “Civilian casualties are almost unavoidable, but leaving them to die would be far worse.”

 

His hand hovered over one of the infantry units before he picked it up. “This of course… the enemy commander also sees, and he knows it’s what we’ll do - as it is the most sensible thing to do.”  He put down the single infantryman at the edge of the border lining to Almond plains. “To head south with an escort, and leave a garrison to try and hold his armies long enough for the evacuation to take place. Once we reach the reinforcing Children with what little we were able to salvage, he’ll be able to settle in Arad Doman and do with it as he pleases.” Tipping the small footman over with the edge of his finger, he let the words sink in.  

 

“The shadow knows we are outnumbered, and that we will use all our forces to try and escort the civilians to safety.” A slight twinkle reached his eyes as he let on the catch, “but why should they expect us to attack instead?”  

His hand shifted to the remaining figures as he pushed them northward. “They would obviously want to take the most direct route to Almond plain,” he explained as he began moving the shadowy figures south across the river. “They know refugees can’t move fast, and that they’d be able to cause the most damage if they caught up to us early.” He shifted a few black figures to where his first footman lay, face fallen on the board.  

 

“Which is why they won’t suspect the civilians to be moving north, towards the blight instead.”  He gestured, as he pushed his remaining five figures down to encircle the River Dhagon from its northern bank. “And an army always marches on its stomach – even a Trolloc one. So they’ll need roads and bridges to ferry supplies over,” he pointed to two spots on the thin snakelike stream.

 

“By the time they realise something is wrong; that there aren’t actually any fleeing refugees on Almond plain, we’ll hit them with everything we’ve got on the flanks and knock out those bridges.” He grinned, “Leaving them stranded on Almond plains, with no supplies and reinforcing Children Legions to contend with.” He finally finished then settled back into his chair, awaiting the man's judgement. He thought it was a good plan, perhaps the only plan which could see a threat of this magnitude neutralised. It certainly sounded crazy enough.

 

He stared at the map and the figurines, quietly waiting and not daring to move. But the silence began to stretch, until it reached a point where he was beginning to doubt whether Daiem liked it after all. Maybe it had been a little too crazy, now he thought about it. And at the end of the day, what did he flaming know anyway? He was a Hundredman, not a bloody master tactician of a Lord Captain!  He sat very still, as Daiem eyed the board very intently.

 

 

~Ackley Carnel
Hundredman in the Army of the Light.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Sherper

[WolfbrotherKronos]

Daeim listened to Ackley's decisions and he had to say he was quite impressed.  Daeim had purposely put the new Hundredman in an impossible situation, not to make him fail, but to help him realize that sometimes you will make decisions that will inevitibly get some of your men killed.  It was an important lesson to learn early.

 

However, the plan was well thought out, even within a few moments.  It might even have a slight chance at success, however,   Daeim stood, glancing at the models placed on the board.  Daeim had a few things he wanted to bring up.  Little did Ackley know, that he had also kept some of the models aside, for the exact purpose of showing him that often there are resources right in front of you that you cannot see.

 

"It's a sound strategy.  You are in a very hopeless situation and you have a plan that may possibly work. A few things on your strategy," Daeim said pulling out a few more models and placing them above Arad Doman. "In order to get to Arad Doman, the shadowspawn will have to travel through Saldea.  The Saldeans will not have shadowspawn going through their lands unchecked.  So another question - would you continue with your strategy and wait for shadowspawn to break through, or would you ride to support Saldea?"

 

"Also," Daiem continued placing a few lesser equipped models on Arad Doman. "What about the Arad Doman militias and armies, will you utilize those.  I purposely kept these models to myself.  Why do you think I did that? What do you think I'm also trying to teach you here?"

[Sherper]

He flinched slightly when the man in front of him finally spoke – though not with the comment he had been expecting. “It is a sound strategy,” his Lord Captain said in a voice that befit a man who has given his words considerable thought. “You’re in a helpless situation and you have a plan that may possibly work.” Ackley listened with rapped intensity; holding on to the man’s every word. He had come up with a plan that could actually work? Light send that didn’t sound right at all! 

 

“A few things though,” the Captain went on, revealing a few pieces which he had previous kept under the table to be placed on the fields of Saldea. “In order to get to Arad Doman, the shadow spawns will have to travel through Saldea. The Saldeans will not have shadow spawn going through their lands unchecked.”

 

They certainly wouldn’t. Every borderlander would be up in arms if ever they see a Trolloc army appear their lands – to fight them to the death even if all they had were sticks and kitchen knives. But he had assumed all the Saldeans were dead or captured, by the previous lack of an armed presence. Which is why he had devised his hopelessly desperate – and seemingly mad plan in the first place - to try grasp victory from the jaws of defeat. But if the Saldeans were still alive…

 

He could send a fast pigeon, telling them help was on the way.  A perimeter defence somewhere along one of the mountain passes north of Bandar Eban would be able to hold against any number of Trollocs once set up and in place, and it could serve as a fall back point for the retreating Saldeans if it ever came to that. He said as much to the Lord Captain, as he traced a finger along some of the terrain markings, indicating where the strong points would be and approximately how long it would take to complete them. He might not ride to aid Saldea immediately; his single unit of lancers would do little good on their own when faced with a hundred fist of Trollocs, with only a half crippled Saldean army to aid them. His duty was with Arad Doman, and he could not allow that to fall to the hands of the Shadowspawn no matter what. If it meant he had to sacrifice Saldea to save it, then it was just something he had to do. They would buy him time – time he needed to set up and hold until more reinforcing Children arrived. 

 

“Also,” the man said after nodding to the strategy Ackley had put forth. “What about the Arad Doman militia and armies, will you utilise those?”

He had not thought about that specific point. Perhaps the situation Daiem had given him was not as hopeless as he had originally perceived afterall. With Arad Doman militia he could…

“Why do you think I did that? What do you think I’m trying to teach you here?” the words made him look up from the board, as the man abruptly broke his chain of thought. He realised he had been concentrating way to intently on tactics and strategy, and had completely forgotten the nature of the exercise and its original purpose. That it was a lesson.

 

“Why you would keep them from me?” he thought and wondered for a moment. “Well the nobles act in strange ways sometimes, them and their… Daes Dae’mar.” the word rolled awkwardly off his tongue after having been left unsaid for so long. It wasn’t precisely an unfamiliar concept to him, yet part of his reason for running away from the courts of Amador had been to get away from the great game’s hidden meaning and double crossings. He was told every court in the world played Daes Dae’mar after a fashion; apart from maybe some of the Borderland courts – maybe. Yet it seems the Great Game of houses didn’t strictly reside within the sphere of nobles and courters, for this was precisely the point Daiem was hinting at to him.

 

“Whatever their reason,” he began after giving pause to his previously statement. “I’m sure pointing out the direction of an approaching Trolloc army would set them straight quickly enough.
Nobles can be odd people sometimes,” he said, flicking a quick eye at the man sitting across from him. Daiem was not a man of noble blood, at least from what he could remember. Once you were sworn in under the light, you technically forsook all past allegiances and titles, and bore only your rank and place amongst the Children. But no man could fully forget what he was, and Ackley was a careful man not to bark up the wrong tree.  

 

“They require a bit of convincing to do anything sometimes, even if the facts were right under their noses.” He said as he began shifting his new pieces to stand beside the pristine white ones. “As to what I think you’re trying to teach me, well…” This was the hard part. Admitting you were wrong, and that you had very nearly thrown all your cards on a gamble that had very little chance of succeeding. It was even harder to admit that you were light headed and narrow minded. But that was exactly what Ackley had been – narrow minded.

 

“Sometimes there are things you don’t notice.” He said sighing and deliberately biting his words as they came out. “If you don’t have a clear head, and open view on things you don’t always see things you should. That it isn’t always about tactics and battles, but about find the right cards to play at the right time.” He perched his lips in a frown as he finished and waited for the other man’s response. Daiem stared at him, and gave him a judgemental look. The Lord Captain’s expression was unreadable and Ackley felt himself once again, contemplating whether or not he had said the right thing.  

 

 

~Ackley Carnel
Hundredman in the Army of the Light.

Edited October 25, 2013 by Sherper

[WolfbrotherKronos]

Daiem had kept the judgemental look going on too long, and the point was he was too friendly to keep it going on any longer.  His face finally broke out in a smile and he chuckled a bit.

 

"Exactly," Daiem said allowing the tension in his body to relax. "Sometimes we are so concerned with the external problem that we neglect to see our own internal assets.  I purposely put you in a hopeless situation and withheld information to show you that exact thing.  It is an important thing to know.  Even if you don't have time to plan a battle, finding out what you have can mean the difference between victory of defeat."

 

Daiem paused a bit to let that sink in before continuing, "Another good lesson to keep in mind is that any battle plan, no matter how strong, will likely fall apart as soon as the first arrow flies.  As a commander, you need to be will to flexible and willing to change according to the circumstances.  I believe that you already know this.  You wouldn't have gotten this far in the ranks without realizing this, but it never hurts to revisit that."

 

Daiem allowed the smile to disappear.  The next point he wanted to make always brought back memories of fallen comrades in arms and he was always saw the face of his predecessor when bringing it up.  "Another thing to remember is that in war, casualities are going to happen on both sides.  Expecting to come out of a battle with zero casualites is hopeful, but very unlikely.  The soldiers you have worked with for many years and care about might die on the field.  As a commander, you need to be prepared to deal with that and keep yourself from becoming emotionally compromised on the field of battle.  There will be time to mourn them later, but while the battle forges on, you need to remained focused on that so as little soldiers as possible join that fate."

 

Daiem stopped for a moment, and bowed his head, silently remembering those who had fallen before raising his head and allowing his smile to return. "On that note, make an effort to know you troops.  I can see that you and your Bannerman get along well."

 

Daiem knew it was his duty to bring up the issue he had seen in the Hundredman's office earlier, but wasn't sure how to. "In regards to the broken rule, I understand more than you think.  As a younger soldier, I also engaged in such practices, however, as a commander, you need to set the good example for your troops.  I'll overlook it this time, but understand next time, the consequences will be severe."

 

Daeim sighed, "With the unpleasantries aside, what I was saying before is that getting to know your troops is a great way to build trust.  They will trust that whatever orders you give them are given to best protect them as well as bringing about our cause.  Their morale will be higher, and they will fight better.  Do you understand?"

 

The Hundredman nodded his understanding and Daiem removed several of the shadowspawn models decreasing their ranks to one fist of a hundred trollocs.  "Let's try a more fair situation.  You are charged with gathering information on trolloc armies that are spotted near the blight."

 

Daiem pulled out another map of the Borderlands and placed the fist of trollocs north of Arafel and placed the Children's soldiers in between the the trollocs and the country.  "You spy a fist of trollocs near the blight.  They are heading east and do not notice you.  What do you do?"

[Sherper]

Releasing the breath he had not realised he was even holding, Ackley let out a sigh as the Lord Captain broke into an encouraging grin. It had turned out, Ackley’s observations had been correct after all and he wasn’t going to be turned down for a fool.

 

“Exactly,” Daiem had said, followed by a short deep throated chuckle. “Sometimes we are so concerned with the external problem that we neglect to see our own internal assets.”  The man was not done with Ackley however as he stared at his Hundredman for a brief instant before continuing. “Another good lesson to keep in mind is that any battle plan, no matter how strong will likely fall apart as soon as the first arrow flies.” That was true enough, which was why Ackley had doubts about his first plan. There were so many things that could have gone wrong, would have gone wrong, if even one asset failed to materialise at the exact instant he needed it. It was always well to have a backup plan in place to prevent that from happening; a role he knew reserve cavalry did splendidly due to their versatility and speed.  

 

“Another thing to remember is that in war, casualties are going to happen on both sides.” Ah yes, casualties. As well as it was that he got to know and understand his men, he had to learn the hard way about the harm of that specific style of command. You no longer saw your troops as assets like rocks on a stone board when you could remember your first squadman owned a farm, and had two kids back at home. It led to decisions that made no strategic sense, and is dictated more by the heat of the moment and raw emotions, rather than cool headed logic.

 

“-I can see that you and your Bannerman get along well.”  He heard Daiem follow, and noticed a sting creep into the other man’s stare. “In regards to the broken rule, I understand more than you think. As a younger soldier, I also engaged in such practises, however as a commander, you need to set a good example for your troops.” Another surprise, Ackley thought. The man sure was full of them. Daiem never looked to be the drinking type, so it was hard to imagine him doing just that – or being young for that matter. He nodded in assent, as the Lord Captain said he will ignore this particular instance – but asked him to stop the practise in the coming futures. Once the unpleasantries were over, the Captain seemed to relax and take on a lighter tone as he spoke, all the while removing the pieces from the board.

 

“Let’s try a more fair situation.” He said as he pulled up another, smaller map this time, showing an area much smaller than the last with Arafel labelled near the bottom left corner.  “You’re charged with gathering information on Trolloc armies that are spotted near the blight. They are heading east and do not notice you. What do you do?”

 

Again, Ackley stared intently at the figures on the map, though this time with a compressive attitude when assessing his situation. For the moment he could only see a single Fist of Trollocs on the map, yet it was almost certainly not the only one in the area, and Daiem had told him his mission was reconnaissance. The visible Trollocs were moving east, and Ackley placed a unit of his crossbows at a spot where he thought the Fist would be marching to.  

 

“There’s obviously more Trollocs than can be seen here,” he said, as he placed the company of crossbows close to the southern flank of the road. “It is likely hence, that this Fist is designed as a scouting party – to seek out the main bulk of our forces.” Instead of placing the main component of his force behind the hill, he pushed them further up the road, on its northern bank.

 

“The purpose of a scouting element is information,” he continued to explain as he slowly moved the unit of Trollocs towards his crossbows. “And accurate intelligence is often the deciding factor on whether or not you’ll get the jump on your opponents. But the same is true for misinformation, only with the exact reverse effects.” He had all his troops in place as his mind pictured how the engagement would commence.

 

“First, an ambush will be made against the Fist of Trollocs by elements from this Crossbow company,” he gestured towards his earlier placement. “It won’t be a decisive blow – and is not intended to be. As the Trollocs make a move to counter attack this small force, the Crossbows will run east as if intending to flee.” This is the part where multiple backup solutions could be made – and had been made, but he explained the most likely one.

 

“Since this is a scouting party, it will probably not chase after the unit too far before trying to make their way back to their main body of troops to report on the engagement. No doubt, pointing to the fact that our forces are likely further east down near Arafel. Which is why they won’t be expecting us to be waiting for them when we come at them from unexpected flanks.” Daiem nodded and produced a whole stack of black figures, all heading east along the main road.

 

“Skirmishers would be set along the length of their advance, and the armies of Darkness would find lightning fast infantry lines meet their columns which I’m sure will still be in marching formation.” He kept the few cavalry lines he had available as reserves, serving as his backup in case any of the Trollocs decide to appear from somewhere he had not anticipated.

 

“The Arafelian Militia could also help bolster the infantry lines, and prevent any Trollocs from escaping the encirclement.” He finished and stared at Daiem, who puzzled over Ackley’s strategy with another of his intent scrutinies.   

 

 

~Ackley Carnel
Hundredman in the Army of the Light.

Edited November 2, 2013 by Sherper

[WolfbrotherKronos]

Daeim nodded his assent at the plan.

 

"Very well thought out.  You're keeping things in reserves.  You chose to attack, using the element of surprise and assume that there are more shadow spawn than you see.  You are thinking ahead, and that is a sign of a good commander.  Always prepare for as many scenarios as possible, and always have some back up plans ready."

 

Daiem scratched his chin and looked reluctantly at the stack of paper work on his desk, a noticeable frown coming on his face.

 

"As I'm sure you've discovered, another duty of an officer is filling out loads of paper work - requisition forms, reports and the like.  I have quite a bit to do, so I'll consider our lesson done for today.  Report back here after lunch tomorrow and we'll go through a few more scenarios.  I'm sure you also have other duties to attend to."

 

Daiem shook the man's hand and gave him a salute, "You are dismissed, have a good rest of your day and may the Light shine on you."

 

Daiem watched as the Hundredman left.  He knew that Ackley Carnel had a good head on his shoulders and would do alright, and Daiem thought about taking him on his next run into the Borderlands for live practice.