Fifty years of war with the
Dawn Empire have shown our people the magic is not might. Our proud
Ascended Arrow formations crash upon steel lines only to perish under artificer fire and endless gunpowder smoke. We adapted to not confront openly.
Burgeonend dissented to the cowardly tactics we had to employ, like admitting we couldn't match their ability. But our wisdom must outweigh our pride.
A steel cube of rolling thunder made up of dwarves should
never be met head-on. Who but a fool would run at the front of a charging giant rhino? What idiot would see a gelatinous cube and rush to meet its slow charge? Not a demi-god soldier for sure. Yet we have lost a half dozen so-called pinnacles of wisdom to this issue. So we must change. I
Zanjo Three Blade shall guide you on how wisdom dictates the battlefield when one fits the dwarven wall of steel.
Defending the Dunes
One must first have a country in order to engage in war. Defense against the Dwarves is difficult until their foundations are rocked. The dunes allow for this. In this, following the first section of the two total sections, I will go over how to defend against the siege masters of
Potestatem.
Essentials, Optimal Situations.
Steel is heavy. Dwarven legs are short. They have to travel to some of the harshest environments on the planet in order to reach any of the
Hazfeni cities. Attacking slow large siege units before they reach the place they siege is the best possible option. Most dwarven rolling cities were stopped by the simple attack on their supply line, directing them into more hostile environments or large-scale evocation spells creating mass difficult terrain. Taking the soldiers defending a city and leaving is illogical to most.
The cities have walls, glyphs, and it is known by the defends. Dwarves know this. They have ladders, towers, ballista on wheels, canons, and trebuchets. They are prepared for the wall, for the arrow slit archer. Preparing for something means you anticipate a certain tactic. Thus, basic strategy dictates one should not let those preparation be useful.
Guerrilla tactics have been argued against all the way up to the
Synod of Wisdom of wisdom. They are the basis, the establishment, for what we should be doing. I implore any
Burgeonend defending their city, any faithful member of
Ficium who upholds sacrifice as their truest belief. Step from your walls lay down your pride and comfort. The desert is our land, it will not betray your understanding of it. Let your knowledge of dune shades, of sinking holes, of the hidden ravines, to route and harass dwarves.
Feeling a coward is nothing compared to the limited field of view a horrified dwarf has on the simmering dunes during a swift attack. While they are prepared to be attacked from even behind, a rotating assault makes aiming a canon, or turning and moving around hot and heavy steel a sweat-drenched nightmare.
In summary, attack the dwarves on
your dunes. Your walls will burst if they reach them. Do not charge them head-on. Ten minutes attacks throughout the day will yield better results at dusk than a head-on three-hour slaughter will. Lastly, always, always, get a messenger out to the other cities, reinforcements have saved hundreds of battels.
Realism, they reach the walls and have their own wisdom.
Dwarves fear the dunes and will do their best to go on solid ground. They will not lay down when you attack them in a new way. Sometimes by your tenth surprise attack, you will find the dwarves barely dented. In reality our population is less than half the
Dawn Empire's. Any
Ficium faithful will find he has less soldiers and supplies than the dwarves. I still cannot stress enough, attack them before they reach your city. One less canon, ten fewer dwarves, is worth the intense constant movement of the tactic suggested.
Here we will go over what to do when the dwarven siege masters reach your city and begin the siege. Second, we will go over some tactics employed by dwarves to counter those who use guerrilla warfare. You may be holding this as your city rumbles under quaking chemical releases, dwarven battle chants rumble the stone, and vibrate the sand. Know this wise one, it is not too late, though they are immovable, your city will not betray you, and the
Burgeonend are here for you.
Two things to note, dwarves hate the desert sun, and they are still slow to move.
Do Not throw spells and arrows at their steel armored rams, wagons filled with armored dwarves. Yes, they will crash through the gate if left unattended, but again, they rely on their preparations. Dwarves will have their own complex machinery, but you have magic. In their pride, they have stepped away from spellcraft. You have embraced a basic reality of the world, magic is
power.
Fire and heat-based spells will cook anyone inside a machine. Magic missile bombardments pierce the hardest of their armor. An apprentice could displace the ground beneath a wheel with a simple
Earth Tremor. Gather your spell casters. The siege will belong. Prepare spells to cook the armor, to alter the battlefield, and aim not for the invincible dwarf, but for the ground under his feat, and the heat making the sweat on his brow.
Transmutation and evocation will be your best friends in the coming battle soldier. Without their machinery, they are much less suited to breaking any walls. A dwarf in armor alone is extremely immobile and can be pelted safely from behind cover.
Ending the siege
If you have rallied the soldiers and held against the siege, the dawn will welcome you warmly. Utilize lulls in the attacks to scout the siege camp. It will be surprisingly like a city already, walls and trenches will have sprung up. Depending on the size of the army whole dunes may have been cleared to make the camp level. You must look for a few key things to end the siege. Leaving your city is a must.
Supply Depots
The dwarves are prepared for long attacks. Look for the following clues as to where the supply depot is. Mining and digging equipment or large minecarts filled with sand and stone. Hiding their supplies is a known tactic, they may if possible dig a whole chamber in a matter of days beneath the camp and keep their supplies cool, fresh, and protected beneath the ground. Other types of depots are possible and easier to spot. Large tents, above-ground stone structures, heavily defended centers with walls or guards around them, circles of siege equipment, all protect precious supplies. Utilize long-range spells, equipment, and even local wildlife before risking a stealth attack on the depot. If all else fails send in your best soldiers to light up their supplies. Anyone who can cast
control water will be your key to the attack. Dumping and ruining water supplies ends sieges in less than a week. that will not be all you have to do though, more supplies are usually on the horizon and the dwarf is hardy enough to eat a little less for a few days.
Supply Lines
Depots are bunkers and dwarves are sometimes as stubborn a defender as
Cherloa the Drought herself. Whether or not you think you can risk attacking the depot at the range or as a plan b, in person, the supply line should be your next target. Dwarves have large hardy cargo wagons and if you're really unlucky, entire trains to deliver heaps of water, food, ammo, materials, and fresh dwarves. The depot should go first if you can sense there is usually a day to a week between resupplies from the
Dawn Empire. Destroying a resupply caravan can slow if not end a siege completely. The endless ammo thrown at the walls will slow to a whimper, and dented armor will stay dented.
Locate where the dwarves let larger vehicles enter and leave the camp, which is likely facing away from the city. Here they will take in the wagons. Use your survival skills to track and paths they took from the desert to your city, use your knowledge of the local area to conjecture where a large wagon might go to reach you from the dawn empire. Here you have the advantage. The dwarves don't know the dunes though so be on the lookout for a stupid wagon route as well. Similar to siege weaponry a simple quick attack that destroys wheels, displaces the ground is a perfect first step. If you are in a position to overwhelm the wagon, take what you can without slowing down, and destroy the rest. Many wagons have been left to be repaired later by the cunning dwarves.
Final hope
Sometimes you're in a small town or simply caught off guard, fights are lost, that is reality.
Hazfeni are the empire, not the city, leaving the ruins to cross the dunes is a better option than being taken as hostages to work dwarven forges. Burn the food supplies you can't carry and run. If you can't run, be troublesome, but don't die, your life may have centuries yet to help a future second attack on the city, with you on the inside.
The Dawn Mountains
Like a great shark maw against the sky, the
Dawn Mountain Range - Fotgral Kegbrand has swallowed many opposing forces. The terrain is solid, the gales howl, and the cliffs consume. Here I will teach you about the mountain, the skyscraper, and the dwarven stronghold, each of which tests the might of any
Hazfeni,
Burgeonend or not.
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