“The Imperial War College in Trax is second to none. Not least of which because for the majority of its existence, the empire has been in a constant state of war between one neighbour or another. Traxian strategists have often been seen as a cut above the rest, and that’s because most of their knowledge is gained through grueling year-long campaigns. On the downside, they do constantly find themselves hindered by the empire’s constant politicking and bureaucracy.”


    - Tribune Arian Carius, Tribune of the Twelfth Legion, “Legacy of the Imperial War College”


    <hr><hr>


    With the weekend over, it was Astra once again and Sophie had to forcibly reorientate her mind away from her doubts and focus on the lessons ahead of her. Civil and scholastic studies proved a pointless chore as usual, with Lady Lucia and Livia being passive aggressive for the most of it. Though both seemed a little more bored with the affair as they got more used to Sophie and Aryana’s presence. Mathematics was equally soul crushing as always and the only ray of light was that the pair were able to spend lunch getting to know Aetemo, Taveia and Leon. The three turned out to be old childhood friends from the Lucurian - Beastfolk border towns. Their families acted as diplomats between the two sides and also as business people. When admissions to Arteria had come up, the three quickly secured their spots and passed with flying colors.


    After lunch came the harder parts of her day. History class had been a relatively dull affair, everyone being assigned a report to write a summary on a historical period where two sides were in conflict. Sophie was partnered up with Dominic, who thankfully seemed fairly kind and jovial. Together, they were given the first Traxian War of Conquest, in which they would write from the Traxian perspective whilst another duo; the elf Miraevie and another student called Alodie would write from the tripartite alliance of Abenstadt, Arteria, and Nautica’s point of view. The groups were to share information with each other but with how Miraevie glared at her, she suspected that they had their work cut out for them.


    Logistics and strategy were where things took a turn for the painful. Professor Ehrlich had also decided to pair students together, but in this case it was a two versus two head to head in demonstrating what misconceptions, ideas, or innovations each student might have in a mock battle. Sophie found herself joining forces with Dalgron Silverbrew, the dwarf giving her an equally amused look with both of them sharing a nod that communicated the same thought. The professor probably did this because he found this pairing hilarious. They at least managed some polite introductions between the two before they watched the scenario and first bout played out on the giant table in the front of the room.


    Taking only a section of forested terrain, the professor assigned one side as defenders and the others as attackers. On the defensive side, he set up four ‘objectives’ of varying importance; a supply warehouse in the west, a village in the north, a farmstead in the south, and a small fortress to the east. The defence would have to hold at least three of the objectives to consider themselves as having won a ‘victory’. Whereas the attackers had to only take two in order to force a stalemate. Each player was then allocated 1000 points, or just about ten standard infantry companies for 100 points each. However, there were other options as well; veteran infantry that took 125 points; archers for 125 points; heavy infantry for 150 points; calvary for a full 200; and elite infantry also for 200 points. The defenders however, also had an additional choice in choosing to spend 200 points on each objective to ensure that each of the defensive locations gained ‘fortification’ modifiers and an ingrained militia unit that was weaker than the regular infantry or to spend 50 points for just the militia units. All of which had their own little placards that detailed unit strength and their effectiveness in combat as well as morale.


    How it worked included the use of a copious amount of dice ranging from six sided dice to twenty sided ones to simulate the randomness of combat. A regular infantry formation would use five six-sided dice for attacking and defending. This meant that if an attacker scored a full roll of 30, the defender had a chance to roll their dice against it. For example, against the 30, if they only defended with 15 then that unit would suffer casualties based on another roll of half the attacking dice rounded down to represent battlefield occurrences. Over time, this loss would affect the number of dice remaining, with that infantry unit dropping to only four dice to use on their next turn because a quarter of the 100 strong unit had been destroyed.


    Other formations had their own amount of dice. For example the veterans were given two more offensive and defensive dice, whilst the archers got more offensive ones and heavy infantry only got more defensive dice and so forth. Should a unit engage in combat and suffer losses, however, they would then use the 20 sided die to determine how much morale damage a unit suffered from the fight would be subtracted from a base of 100. If someone was unlucky, a nearly full company could just retreat if their morale was fully shattered.


    The first game between students actually ran rather smoothly. It began with the defence spreading their forces out on all the points. The attackers meanwhile, pushed a vast majority of their forces against two points in particular and routed the defenders, ensuring their victory as the possibility of a counterattack faded when the defender’s beleaguered troops barely had enough morale to remain in the field. By the time the match ended, Sophie noticed that defending, even with the fortifications, would be a hard process to accomplish if fought on an even playing field. Especially when taking into account that the attackers could simply attack elsewhere along the line.


    The second group clearly noticed the same thing but couldn’t force a decisive engagement and ended up with a stalemate when the defenders suffered an egregious round of bad dice rolls. Group three fared slightly better with group three’s attacks penetrating deep through the defenders and securing both the village and farmstead in quick succession after securing the fort. Group four meanwhile, saw the defenders lose three points, but their effective reactions and manoeuvres meant that most of the attackers had been decimated despite the results.


    By the time Sophie and Dalgron had to step up, the two could feel an uneasy sense of pressure descend over the room as all eyes were turned to them and the other pair of students. The professor had reset the boards that divided the field from both sides. They were given time to choose their units and plan out their strategies, taking care to account for the different bonuses and negatives from the control points. The village gave all defenders an extra five morale; the warehouse allowed the defenders to use an extra defensive die once per turn; the farmstead would allow defenders to directly control militia; and finally the fort, which allowed for communication between the defenders and an extra offensive die. Meaning that without the fort, Sophie would have to guess what orders Dalgron would do without talking to him.


    Sophie frowned, all four points had meaningful benefits but only the village really mattered with the net morale bonus. It was a boon that had the potential to allow a soon to rout unit to remain on the field for an extra turn. Dalgron, it seemed, had also acknowledged this fact and shared a knowing look with Sophie before he stuck out his meaty hands.


    “Dalgron Silverbrew, heh.” He shot her a toothy grin.


    “Sophie.” She shook his hand.


    The two were placed on the defensive and quickly got to work calculating what they would need. To effectively all four points would be effectively impossible, any competent attacker would also know that. This meant that their gamble would be down to which two points the offence focused on, and that hope that any splinter forces could be held back by whatever garrisons were present.


    “So, what are you thinking?” Dalgron interrupted her thoughts.


    “Hmm? Oh, that we hold the village for one thing.”


    “Fair enough, so I suppose we’ll be wantin’ a fortification there?”


    A nod.


    The dwarf pivoted towards a teacher’s assistant and gestured at the map, the assistant marking down the location. Well that’s 200 points down.


    “And your position?” Dalgron asked.


    I hope I’m not making a mistake. “None,” She replied, “I’m going to keep my troops mobile.”


    “None?! Are you being serious? You do remember we’re on the defensive team, right?”


    “I know.”


    The dwarf harrumphed but did not retort, simply raising an eyebrow at her as his lips curled into a frown. “I presume this is because you’re already thinking about a plan?” He asked.


    “Something like that.” Sophie affirmed, “But I doubt it’s any good…”


    “Maybe that’s true, aye. But we’re a team now, so break open that noggin of yours and spill.” Dalgron grunted.


    “Er… pardon?”


    “Share the plan, maybe it’s good. Maybe it’s not. Maybe I have ideas too.”


    Sophie grimaced at his annoyed tone and nodded. “Right. I’m thinking we flip the script. Turn the defence into an ambush.” She gestured at the dense trees that surrounded the supply warehouse and village, “Here and here, it’d be pretty hard to cross and no real point for any of them to go through here for an attack. Perfect place to hide some skirmishers. From there we just hit them from behind as they launch attacks on the points.”


    Dalgron scratched his chin and turned to Sophie with an amused look on his face. “That might work. But how will you stop them from just seizing the other points? I mean, I assume we are garrisoning them. So how do we avoid a stalemate? Because I don’t know about you, but I’m looking to win.”


    “Ummm… I haven’t… quite thought of that yet.” Sophie sheepishly admitted, "I mean, we could try recapturing them with the ambush force.”


    “What? Are we allowed to?”


    “Sorry. I don’t really know yet.”


    “Aye that’s fair enough.” He snickered before turning his eyes back to the game board, his eyes narrowing like a hawk. “Hmm… but what if… oi, what about this?” He beckoned for Sophie’s attention.


    She followed his finger to a point between the village and the warehouse, a small body of water tucked between the thicket of trees. “A little exposed though.” Sophie mumbled.


    “Aye, but if they attack from the northwest, you’ll see them and get a chance to run. Beyond that, easy access to both points. If yer still not sold, then lookie here, clean path to the center too.”


    “Could work, would certainly allow the force to move quickly enough.”


    “We’d probably need some early warning groups though. Otherwise the reaction might be too slow if we lose sight of them.” The dwarf scowled, “I could… do defence in depth, you know, layered groups? So if those first lines collapse we’ll know which direction they’re coming from.”


    “Umm… in that case we could also have a response force?”


    “Ah! Fantastic idea, aye. That’d work. If we have the main ambush force as a late reaction, having a separate, I’m presuming smaller reaction force would buy us some time should the lines start collapsing.”


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    “Nice. But umm…”


    “Who gets what?”


    “Yeah.”


    “Well… let’s say since we both suggested ideas, we stick to what we know. So you handle the ambush and response force. I’ll handle the defence.”


    “Alright.”


    The two stared expectantly at each other before Sophie lowered her head. “Right… umm, so I’m thinking of using a core of four veterans and an archer company for six hundred points to form the ambush troop. Then a cavalry troop for the quick response, and two regular infantry companies to hold the farmstead and fort.”


    “Just a single company each point?”


    “It’s as you said, they’re more there for warning than anything.”


    “Hmm, it’s admittedly a little wasteful, but I get the concept.” He stroked his chin before shaking his head, “How about you consolidate the two strays both at the fort? I’ll use the militia to keep an eye on the farmstead.”


    “That… yeah, I guess that works. What about your units though?”


    “Seeing as we can’t take back the fortification on the village. I’ll settle for a defensive core of one heavy unit, one veteran, and one archer to total up to three hundred. Then, five regular infantry companies to fill out defensive positions. They’ll hold just long enough before retreating to the next line. That should buy your forces some time to attack them from behind” His meaty finger drew imaginary lines in front of the different points. “Choosing where to station them though might be a bigger problem with this limited manpower.”


    As he spoke Sophie had a far more grim idea pop up within her mind. Perhaps experience had tainted her, or perhaps her mind simply believed this was the most likely idea to succeed. She didn’t like the idea of getting filer companies to sacrifice themselves for her own force to function effectively, but if the dwarf wanted to put his ideas to the test, she saw no other realistic alternative. But this is just practice, it’s not like I’ll ever do something like this. Before Dalgron could confirm his allotment, she raised her hand to object.


    “Yeah?” He quipped.


    “What if… what if instead of the five infantry groups, you instead use ten militia units? Then you could instead spread them three per defensive line along the central eastern approaches. The last one you can put in front of the fort as a warning sign.”


    “Ten militia units?!” He let out an incredulous gasp, “Their combat potential is… well it’s shite.”


    “I know. Commanding them will be hard too. But I think keeping the other team paranoid on where units are and also holding them in place will be useful. So if you’re willing…”


    “Willing to what? Switch them to militia? Possibly. I need a better explanation than just holding them back.”


    “If they hold the enemy in place, I can deploy the cavalry earlier to cycle charge behind them, hopefully without getting pinned in place. Furthermore, if you’re willing to swap your veteran for an archer company and deploy that with the militia to cover them. It might be tempting enough for the other team to try and smash through the lines just to wipe your units.”


    “Pfft. Fine. Makes enough sense that it might just work. We’re also fast running out of planning and prep time so let’s speed it up. Never would’ve thought I’d be taking my cues from a tall stick.” He grumbled.


    Sophie flinched from the curt comment but did not retort, merely nodding along as she was thankful enough that the dwarf had agreed to her plans. How it’d work though, they were soon to find out.


    <hr><hr>


    The professor and his assistant took in all the information from both sides and wordlessly set up the battle map. Both sides took deep breaths as no troops started visible on the board, the tension building up as the game began. Sophie gave Dalgron a nod and the dwarf passed in their first set of orders to the professor, the enemy team doing the same. The first turn passed by uneventfully, no sides scouts having sighted the other yet. That was expected yet Sophie still felt the apprehension build up, knowing that the enemy team was smart enough to not just roll straight up against an objective. Worse, they still didn’t know which flank the attack was coming on.


    After passing their orders for all units to hold position. The next turn arrived and Sophie waited with bated breath as the opposing team’s orders were processed as well. At first she saw nothing happening, no units sighting the enemy or making any contact. But when the professor reached beneath the map board to pull out some models, Sophie could feel the tension rise once more. Dalgron’s militia was placed in front of the fort and two units of infantry were placed against them. Contact had been made.


    The professor and assistant pulled out some dice and began rolling. As the dice clattered onto a small tray, the two traded glances and then rolled for morale damage. The militia unit remained and both Dalgron and Sophie breathed a sigh of relief, they would know where the enemy was for another turn.


    “Fall back?” Sophie asked.


    “Fall back.” The dwarf acknowledged.


    Sophie wrote for the cavalry to begin a large-scale flank around the edge of the map as Dalgron tried his best to disengage the militia.


    Turn three came afterwards and they suffered a few setbacks. The militia was annihilated before they had a chance to retreat and another attack smashed into the main defensive line and a contact was made at the fort itself before either of them were ready. But with the enemy attack vectors located, Sophie could only grit her teeth in disappointment at the ambush force being made redundant.


    She wrote up an order to mobilize the ambush force to move alongside the other flank. Dalgron committed to his plan and ordered the militia to stand their ground, moving up his archer company to fire upon the sighted enemy. When the battle began on turn four, another militia unit was taken off the board. However, his archers and the remaining frontline managed to hold the line so far, inflicting some damage back against the assaulting companies. In the east, the fort’s troops gained sight lines on a total of five infantry companies pushing against them. To the north, two companies of heavies and two infantry companies began rushing towards the village. Well that’s one full force sighted and half of the other. Now we just need to know what the other attacker is bringing to bear.


    Her forces continued a flanking manoeuvre though she did push one unit of veterans directly towards the village to reinforce it. The cavalry was now halfway to the fort, and she was thankful that they hadn’t been spotted yet.


    Turn five was a heavy smattering of casualties on both sides. Dalgron managed to pull back his archer but both frontline militia units were destroyed. They did manage to heavily damage two infantry companies, though the opposing team seemed unfazed. In the north, the two sides skirmished but with the fortifications in place, Dalgron’s heavy troop managed to suffer light casualties while holding their ground and inflicting some of their own. In the east, the fort became completely surrounded and Sophie’s troops their barely held their own against the onslaught.


    Turn six came about as all fronts became heavily engaged. The enemy now also had the village surrounded and smashed into Dalgron’s one heavy troop, nearly breaking their morale but not quite. Sophie ‘s reinforcements thankfully arrived in the nick of time to hit the enemy from behind. The assistant rolling for them evidently had good luck this turn and her veteran almost routed an infantry company completely. Her next orders rerouted the entirety of the ambush force to smack into the enemies near the village and the calvary to engage those around the fort. Luck further helped them when defensive rolls meant Dalgron’s militia and Sophie’s fort garrison survived for yet another turn. Dalgron’s third line also engaged the remainder of the enemy''s remaining force and all models were now placed onto the field for the opposing force. More standard infantry, I guess that''s everyone accounted for.


    Unfortunately for the two of them however, turn seven had Professor Ehrlich determine that the second line militia was untrained enough to sustain the fight and also had them retreat with the archers to the third line, causing a gap in their lines. The fort also fell to the attackers though they did manage to take one of the opposing companies with them. Dalgron’s village troops continued to hold and as the opposing force tried to defend against Sophie’s first veteran company. However, those troops soon found themselves swarmed as the rest of the ambush force smashed into the melee.


    Without the ability to communicate between the two because of losing the fort, Sophie couldn’t let Dalgron know that she was going to hold her cavalry back and just hoped the dwarf would understand. Thankfully, their strategy didn’t require that much communication and Sophie just needed Dalgron to hold. Though his militia was certainly buckling under the pressure, they were now massed together with about five companies alongside the archer. The decisive battle for the village finished on turn eight, Sophie’s troops and a last ditch counter attack from Dalgron’s heavy troop sent the attackers routing, freeing up her troops to head to the center. His militia however, suffered a heavy blow when the previously retreated militia broke once more under the pressure, leaving the last of his troops struggling against the full brunt of the second opposing force.


    Sophie frowned when she assessed the current situation. Against the entirety of the second opposing force, Dalrgon’s remaining troops would fold, and against the remaining force, Sophie’s troops would be hard pressed to fight. She would have to improvise from here.


    Sophie wrote in her latest orders and handed them in for turn ten. With a pensive sigh, she watched as the professor and assistant processed their orders and began carrying out their respective plans. As expected, Dalgron pulled what militia he could back towards the village, the overly aggressive opposing team following in hot pursuit. The situation was looking poor for her team, they were down over half their troops and the opposing team was moving towards the village. Instead of supporting her ally however, she reasoned that Dalgron’s troops would break even if she intercepted the enemy reinforcements. Thus Sophie dictated for her cavalry and ambush force to descend upon the fort in a last ditch attempt to recapture the objective. The village force then suffered a heavy blow when the remaining militia units were destroyed, sealing their fate. Now there remained only an archer and his heavy infantry company arrayed against six opposing infantry companies and another four infantry currently advancing from the fort’s direction.


    When the last turn came about, however, the game was won in the defender’s favour. Though Dalgron’s beleaguered troops shattered completely, losing the village and wiping him off the board besides for a single troop guarding the farmstead. Sophie’s managed to crush the enemy within a turn in the fort and recaptured it, meaning that the defenders now held three victory points by the turns end.


    “Scenario ends!” Professor Ehrlich declared, “Defender’s victory.”


    A small smattering of applause echoed throughout the room and Dalgron gave her a thoughtful look. Sophie only able to return a tepid smile as she mulled over how he would’ve been furious if her gamble had failed.


    “Good game!” The professor continued and both teams moved to shake hands.


    Sophie’s last ditch move evidently gained her some enemies as one of the enemy players, a girl with dark hair like a Traxian’s and fiery red eyes glared at her silently as they shook hands. Yikes, looks like I pissed off another noble.


    “An interesting strategy, I must admit. I didn’t think any team would sacrifice their ally in order to recapture a point but then again, I suppose recapturing wasn’t against the rules. I think we can all agree however, that this was certainly an interesting round to watch. So I hope those of you in the audience take note that one must remain flexible on the battlefield and that sometimes, a small loss could result in a greater win and vice versa.” Professor Ehrlich faced the class, “For those who didn’t get to participate, I want you all to write a report on one match up and what you’ve learned, noticed, or felt like could’ve been improved. Write well because we’ll discuss those reports in class tomorrow. For those of you who participated, you are exempt today. But, be ready to be the ones writing for class on Tessus, and also participate in the discussions tomorrow, of course.”


    “Yes professor.” Came the collective reply.


    “Good. Now another round of applause for the two groups and you can return to your seats. Alright everyone, it’s been a long day so class is dismissed!”


    A cheer echoed throughout the classroom and everyone began packing up to leave. Sophie was in the middle of doing so when she found the dwarf judging her quietly, his expression a blank slate.


    “Sorry.” She whispered.


    At once his expression broke into somewhat of an amused frown before he scoffed and shrugged. “Oi, nah, no problems with you. Just wondering what makes you tick.” He stated bluntly.


    “Err…”


    “I mean, don’t take it the wrong way, but ye decided pretty quickly to change targets even though we previously agreed that you''d come help. We won though, so it worked out. Hurts a little being left to dangle by myself though.”


    “Sorry.” Sophie’s expression dropped a little more, “But if it matters, I did consider helping. Just didn’t think the help would’ve mattered so I adjusted accordingly. Sorry, though. For letting you get wiped.”


    “Pssh, tis fine, already said as much. It’s nice knowing someone’s got their head in the game I reckon. Y’know, aiming for victory and what not. Anyhow, cya on the morrow. ” He dipped his head and left.


    “Umm, thanks I think. Bye!” Sophie managed to half heartedly say, still unsure if she had been complimented or insulted. Not like I can do much about it at this point. Sophie sighed. Now I just gotta finish training and then homework. Great. A little more demoralised she finally pulled herself up off her seat and shuffled out the door. We won just now, so why does it feel so bleh? Wasn’t that the point? Gah! Class is over, better focus up or Instructor Ulfgeir’s gonna have me run laps if he catches me moping about like last week.