Session 9 - Battle Planning to Defend Tall Trees
The Defense of Tall Trees
# Battle Of Tall Trees Notes
We need to develop a battle plan so our allies know how they are going to act/react and better win this battle.
## Our Goal
1. Stop and Turn Back the forces
1. Last as long as possible
2. Determine what the dark globe is coming to Tall Trees.
1. Capture leaders and get information about who/what/where/why
3. If things go wrong, pull everything back and be prepared to defend Tall Trees.
**Our primary thing to remember**: is we are meant to deal with a similar sized enemy platoon. We are not meant to kill the dragon. We are not meant to kill the giant. We are not meant to take out everything on our own...
**But** we are going to be big-damn heroes and lead this platoon to victory and help the larger battle be successful by showing we have skills and leadership abilities.
Fire is discouraged.
We are not meant to handle every possible big-bad-event that could occur with our little platoon.
* Tall Trees is preparing to hold out - reinforcements are *coming* but they may not be here to help us win the battle, but could be there to help us defend/support Tall Trees
## Our Units
We have a platoon which consists of:
* 16 Fighters
* 16 Archers
* 2 Wizards
* 2 Clerics
* 1 Druid
* 1 Blink Dog
Our Party is meant to work with and lead the platoons and groups of units.
Examples:
Arranis - for Example, would lead a group of archers to help them spot targets and take shots.
Garrick - can lead a strike team to handle messy areas, and lend aid to help with pushes.
#### Other Friendly Units Around the Larger Battlefield
There are four other platoons around the larger battlefield being led by other groups.
The other platoons are hoping to spring a surprise on the incoming army. We are the anvil - they are the pincher/hammer?
Two platoons on the East of us and Two platoons on the West of Us.
## Their Units
* Dragon
* Giant
* Big Shadowy Thing
* Hobgoblins
* Orks
* Ettins
There are "Enemy Flyers" but we don't need to worry about them as there is a separate group made to deal with them. Gryphon Riders and High Level groups taking care of the dragon, and whatever comes from the sky will be handled by a different platoon/group.
**IF** the dragon or other big bads decide to come to our area, we have emergency flares to call support to help deal with it.
## What We Need to Cover
* How do we communicate?
* Flags?
* Messengers? - Blink Dog. Animal Familiars. Runners.
* Horns and Drums?
* How do we quickly move units around?
* What are our priority targets?
* Giant?
* Dragon?
* Big Shadowy Evil Thing?
## What can we do to Prepare?
* Traps
* Trenches
* Illusions
*
### Things we know about Rath Modar and His Goals
* He has insiders operating in multiple locations, like Waterdeep and maybe even Tall Trees
* He wants the Eye of Goram.
* He uses other conflicts and events as pawns to help him accomplish what he needs.
* He will likely appear in the middle of the fight to grab his goal.
* He could grab someone/something behind our lines.
# The Actual Plan
### Preparations
* Dig Trenches an put in pits/traps in the ground ahead of time to help funnel/slow the enemy forces so we can handle them in a specific area.
* Do Magical/Scout Detection to catch enemy scouts and disrupt their preparations.
* Break/Limit Siege Weapons or supply lines.
* Build The Kill Box (Trenches, Rough Terrain, Mud, and flammable material) so that we can make the area tough for the enemy to get into and push through.
* Use wooden beams and supports to create a "Massive Pit" that allows soldiers over it, and when enough soldiers and Siege Equipment are above it, we activate the "Support Beams" to create the pit.
* Use alchemist Flasks that shatter under the collapse and set the whole thing on fire.
* Setup Smoke blocks in our combat area an the far end to prevent the enemy from seeing our activities.
* Setup the Two Side Platoons to prepare to attack if the force tries to go around us. Similar Trench and Prep setup for the other two platoons.
* Send out a small squad of scouts to bait the army into rushing forward to stop them from getting back to Tall Trees.
We have a platoon which consists of:
* 16 Fighters
* 16 Archers
* 2 Wizards
* 2 Clerics
* 1 Druid
* 1 Blink Dog
**ASKS**
* Ballista * 2
* Alchemist Fire for the Kill Box Trap/Pit.
* 2x Scrolls of Haste/Potions of Haste for the guards "chasing" Saltare
* Healing Potions for Everyone...
* Smoke Traps/Starters
* Digging Pits, and Spikes in the pits.
* 4x High Fence of Stakes / Palisades to prevent them from going around.
* Potion of Teleport for Garrick to use when appropriate during combat (take out mages)
* Scroll of Darkness
* Scroll of Silence
* 2 x arrows that on impact cause thunderwave at their area.
### Battle Activities
* Lure the enemies in with a scout patrol/platoon getting the enemies to chase us into the combat area.
* Encourage a larger melee and combat to occur in our area, hoping the enemy forces will start rushing in to help.
* Activate Smoke on the far side to help block enemy arrows and line of sight on the enemy platoon. Cause Confusion
* Druid Weather - fog and ?wind?
* Light the Kill Box on "Fire" by igniting the trenches and rough terrain to catch the initial guard and slow down the main force.
* Make it flammable. Put Thorny Vines and other rough terrain on the sides to prevent trying to go around.
* Activate Wizards, Archers, and Ballista/Catapults to bombard the kill zone. Destroy as much of the enemy force as possible in the first activation.
* ...
* Profit?
### OH-SHIT - Contingency Plans
* Dragon
* Giant
* Hail of Arrows
* Magical Barrage
* Big Black Shadowy Thing
You are given 6 "flare" arrows, basically dancing light spells that trigger approximately 80' in the air and call one of the more powerful wizards to take action in your area... effectively a "call for fire" effect
6 Flare Arrows Below (Use only in Emergency or Sparingly)
1 green arrow- area "dispel magic" below where the area goes off (for when you just can't shake the blues)
1-Purple- ice storm
1 yellow - sunburst below where the arrow goes off (use with caution... there's a forest nearby after all!)
2 blue - chain lightning
1 red - in case of emergency - A High Level Wizard Joins Us (Blackstaff's Protege) Don't waste his time.
### Individual Activities
# Rick's Battle Notes
10/10/2025
So just to prep you for the coming battle, don't think of yourselves as going into war. You aren't generals and won't be expected to command the army. Think of yourselves as platoon leaders. How you want assign duties & responsibilities is up to you. Things will resolve in squad-like tactics. If you choose to separate "squads" into fighters, archers, etc. or mix them into the squads, that's up to you. How you plan it out will determine your group's bonuses, ability to resist effect spells, etc. Keep in mind, you effectively have only 24 hours to plan... but there will be wizards who can cast move earth, locals who help set up the baricades, etc. to let you focus on setting up your plans. When the battle starts, you aren't entirely on your own, but 1. you have limited support so you have to have some system to access it, and 2. the less you call on it, the more kudos you get. That said, there will be powerful creatures on the battlefield that CAN wipe out an entire squad or even platoon, even by accident, so you need to be able to react. The more likely scenario is that if you're platoon is effective, an opposing commander takes a little more notice. If you guys don't feel comfortable with battle plans and tactics, we can resort to dice rolls and I can feed you ideas accordingly, but would prefer to see your creative juices flowing!
10/22/2025
Keep in mind, you're basically a platoon. It's not like moving companies, much less battalions or divisions around. While you may not want to have all your clerics in a group (for example), it wouldn't necessarily be difficult for the platoon cleric to hold them back and direct them where needed (a relatively short distance) instead of keeping them on the "front lines". Jeff's comments are also accurate, however. You may not all your archers in a single "unit," allowing them to focus, but you can get around this by simply giving them fields of fire, maybe having a reserve unit that focus on problem areas/large targets. Soldiers assigned to you will be fairly low level or - in the case of wizards/clerics - not have much battle experience, so don't think of yourselves as out-classed. Keep in mind, a platoon leader is a lieutenant. You guys are going to have another level (as soon as finish with the new equipment you got and character-specific background), so you are not out of your element to be "leading" a small group. Arannis learned a few things from his mom. Torj studied a lot about battles. Orrin has a weird sense of calm at the thought of being in the midst of a war and setting plans. Garrick feels an orcish lust to crack some skulls. And Saltarre dreams of the songs he can write about this... songs in which he's not just singing about heros, but in which he IS a hero!
You don't know exactly the composition of the opposing forces just yet. I will get you some more details as the elves sound out some scouting parties. So far you know there your friends the bugbears and humans in approximately 3 battalions, some types of giants, some mounted fighters on some kind of drakes, a group of black robbed figures on the fringes of a moving mist, and what appears to be a ship..... moving on land.
10/24/2025
Put it in context. Imagine a modern day platoon. They have their standard semi-auto weapons, a couple grenades, maybe a couple crew served weapons and a couple anti-tank weapons and a couple guys with combat medic training. If a tank or maybe two (a giant or two) head their direction, they can probably take them out with their AT4's (mages... focused archers...). But what does a platoon do when a tank platoon is directed toward them? You need to have a contingency for this, but IF you happen to pull a Chewbacca and single-handedly launch yourself onto a giant and plant a sword into its skull.... well, stuff of legends, but not expected.
10/28/2025
You guys are gonna have make some trade-offs on items, since some can be useful to more than one person.... they weren't tailor-made! But when you get to a city you may be able to make some trades, sell off extra, etc.
Anyhoo, as far as deception... you have limited time so you'd need to both have a plan and convince the leaders. Remember... it's not just your platoon. Keep in mind what their likely target it... and what sort of decption you THINK would have meaning for what you THINK their objective is. If you deception is simply tactical, focus on platoon tactics. If it applies to impacting how their army might respond, make it make sense.
11/3/2025
You don't have to "know all"... just think of what your character might know from their experience and throw ideas around. I can feed you what your character comes up with.
You do conclude you can't be sure of the oncoming army's exact target or intention... they were definitely on the march before yoru return. Your best guess is they were making for Tall Trees. You figure there may be different interests at play, but certainly Rath Modar has spies about and whether it is specific knowledge about what your party in the Fey Wild or from Waterdeep, you figure he knows you're on the move and you've uncovered at least something of value to him. But also keep in mind Modar's MO...
11/4/2025
At least a couple of your characters can recollect Modar's tactics in the past, if you assume he's involved, which don't necessarily take away from the immediate issue of the large force marching toward Tall Trees. But you CAN have contingencies. I'll just say, don't focus on contingencies, but you're welcome to throw in some ideas.
That being said, Intel is coming in. The main forces look to be mainly orcs & hobgoblins with a few bugbears & ettins seen in the mix, a couple of hill giants and a black dragon in the skies with some other smaller flyers. The leaders are still most concerned about the moving shadow, as they have not been to get much insight about what is inside. Some power magical evil emanates, but that's all they can say. They obviously will try to take out the big hitters but can't be sure some won't slip through.... and if you have any ideas to run up the chain, feel free!
I hope you guys aren't reading too much into this. When a Division Commander says, "The opposing Russian Division has two artillery regiments, one anti-aircraft missile regiment, a jet division, a missile division, a helicopter squadron, an engineer and combat battalion, a communications battalion, an automobile battalion, a reconnaissance battalion, an electronic warfare battalion, material support battalion. repair and restoration battalion, health battalion, chemical defense company and several different auxiliary companies and platoons," he doesn't then turn to you and say, "2nd Platoon, good luck. We're all counting on you," and walk out of the room. They're hoping to meet the enemy force with equal or greater force... or at least better tactics and cunning to win the day.
11/4/2025
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to hold the line - ideally - at a minimum against what should be a comparable platoon-ish (more blood-thirsty? sure. bigger weight class? could be. but who has the nifty heriocy-stuff??). If you want to be decent leaders, you propose ideas to help your platoon for contingencies (something nasty turns its attention toward you and you need backup) and get recognition for your battle prowess. Otherwise, they will just feed you their concept of a plan. However, if you choose to be heroes, you can strategize ways to maybe flip the script. You don't have to have THE full plan. Just think of what your characters might have a general concept about, general knowledge of, etc. and apply your best E=M (sharks+batteries) and I will get you the rest of the way there if there's some solid footing.
11/8/2025
HANDOUT:
Your team is put in charge of a "platoon" of soldiers:
16 fighters, 16 archers, 2 wizards, 2 clerics, 1 druid, 1 blink dog (your old friend decides to join you again)
You are given 6 "flare" arrows, basically dancing light spells that trigger approximately 80' in the air and call one of the more powerful wizards to take action in your area... effectively a "call for fire" effect
1 green arrow- area "dispel magic" below where the area goes off (for when you just can't shake the blues)
1-Purple- ice storm
1 yellow - sunburst below where the arrow goes off (use with caution... there's a forest nearby after all!)
2 blue - chain lightning
1 red - in case of emergency - A High Level Wizard Joins Us (Blackstaff's Protege) Don't waste his time.
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