OP here, bumpan own thread. Surely at least one of /tg/'s armchair generals knows how to forest fight?

Burn the forest.

>>5224827
I kinda need the Haltans, man.

>>5224832
No, Khalid*, YOU need the Haltans, and only because you've got that thing going on with Caltia.

*I mean, if you ARE Khalid.

>Not wanting to repeat Teutoberg Forest, can I ask you lot for tips on how to use highly ordered troops in forest combat?
You don't. It's simple-you never,ever send heavy infantry into a terrain that completely negates it's qualities, just like you don't send light infantry against shock cavalry in open field. roman infantry relied on holding the line, and stabbing anyone who came close with their short swords. you can't hold a line for shit in a forest so your fighting style and equipment is negated, your flanks are defenseless, and you can't maintain any sort of coherent battle-line in the sort of dense woodland that europe was prior to de-forestation of medieval times. either force the enemy to fight on the plains, or...well, the only reasonable way i can think of is to burn the forest,or the parts of it you want to go into,so you don't have to go into the forest-they'll have to get out of it to stop you. problem-forests don't burn all that well unless they're very dry. so i suggest waiting for a dry summer, and then mounting the "offensvie".anything else, and you'll hear the cries of "Quinctilius Varus, give me back my Legions!"

Bring an army better suited to the terrain.

Outriders and scouts.
Dozens of them.
Also concentrate your baggage train and guard it well.
Keep as tight a formation and as short a line as possible.
Carry non-absorbent shields.
All of this is immediately suggested by Wikipedia and common sense.

>>5224837
..okay, which one are you?

Form testudo.

>>5224899
It's me, Omar. You know, the one who's been suggesting the diplomatic route?

>>5224909
You can't solve everything with a rock concert. Besides, you've got enough demon lolis following you around.

>>5224909
Diplomacy is for pussies. And you don't want to be a pussy now, do you Omar?

5K heavy infantry attacking a group of people who LIVE in a forest?

Man, you are boned. Smoke them out.

DEFORESTATION!!

>>5224925

Didn`t you got shot in the face by some gipsys?

>>5224923
>>5224925
Not when your definition of 'diplomacy' means 'rocking out hard'.

Look, lemme tell you about what happened when the party got sent down to Malfeas. See, our Twilight decided that the 'you can summon 3rd Circles only during Calibration' rule a bit off, so he decided to try make a ritual that allowed him to summon them anywhere, anytime. Several sessions, one dead branch of House Menmon, and an annoyed Eye and Seven Despairs later, we end up with a bunch of stuff. He finally rolled Occult + Lore + Intelligence + Craft to put everything together...

Not a single success. The table went silent.

And with a short, sucking sound, we were sucked into Malfeas.

>>5224967
And this story leads onto demonic lolis... A great deal of win seems to be oncoming.

>>5224967
Now, we tried to hold our own for a bit, having been dumped into the Fortress of Octavian, but being Essence 3-4, we quickly got ourselves cheesed. Octavian didn't want to kill us outright though, but we got imprisoned. To find out what he wanted to do with us, we got our only Lunar, our Twilight's Lunar Mate to Humble Mouse Shape her way out of the prison and scout out the area.

She found out that what Octavian was planning involved calling in a favour from Alvuela. For those of you unfamiliar with the lass, she's kinda like The Loli Blacksmith Of Hell. See, he was planning to make his move against some other Second Circle demon (We didn't know who it was then), and he thought that having us forged into weapons would be the ultimate in ironic lulz.

Hmmm, maybe now is a good time to look for some mercenaries. Light infantry or skirmish types to serve as a vanguard for your infantry when you maneuver thru the woods.

>>5225002
Now, it seemed we had some time before Alveua arrived to turn us into pointy objects, so most of us decided to use that time to recharge motes. Now, Octavian might have been a brute, but he wasn't stupid. Not only did he have us in some bullshit magical prison that inflicted one level of bashing damage for every mote we spent on Larceny, Stealth and Occult Charms, he'd posted a bunch of guards around us- problem was they were blood apes, and while they weren't susceptible to our Scroll-Of-Sol-Invictus thumping Zenith, they were definitely susceptible to music.

And as an Eclipse Caste rockstar, I was in the perfect position to start them headbanging a bit after a few Performance rolls. Nothing spectacular, but I didn't spend any motes on Excellencies, lest they somehow alert Magilla Gorilla to what we were doing.

Soon, having convinced the guards that just maybe, we were worth fighting for, Alveua arrived.

Burning down the goddamn forest sounds like the best idea in your case. If you want to preserve some ares of the forest just cut the trees down around thos eplaces and dig a ditch around it to stop fire spreading there.

Depending on how enemy army is like you might change your tactic a bit. If the enemy army is spread in small groups all around the forest you might try sending lot's, and I mean lot's of scouts to cover all the forest, while your main forces march behind scout lines divided into small but significant battlegroups. Upon encountering enemy party you should send one or two of your own battlegroups to take it down and then move to the next target. All this everywhere around the forest. If your army have shit communication though this tactics can as well bring your downfall.

OR you might just move all of your army into the forest with scouts all around your main force and pick off one enemy battlegroup after another, before they can join forces. And if they join they'll be too weak to be serous opposition.

Or divide your army into two and repeat previous method with two battlegroups, and join your forces before the final battle with weakened enemy.

If the enemy army is one big battlegroup you can divide your army and attack it from all sides with your battlegroups. Again, good scouts and communications between battlegropus is required. And lot's of luck so the enemy won't attack your isolated battlegroups one at a time. Good timing on attack is also essential.

If you don't know how did the enemy deplyed his forces in the forest just burn the goddamned thing.

>>5225027
Mercs are a good idea. If you DO need to press through the woods, do it slowly, with loads of archers behind a wall of slowly advancing shields. It's going to be hard as fuck to defend against solid attacks, though. Just hope your disrupted line will hold and pepper them with arrows when they strike - your troops are better armoured, and they won't be, so in a bowmen standoff you'll come out on top.

Also GET TO THE LOLIS ALREADY

Best option would just be to re-equip and re-train your troops.

Break them down so that they are working in smaller, more independent units with copius missile support. Break them down into units 10-30 strong with good leaders. These units should be very well protected (large shields, good armour) and be tried and tested troops that will not panic under fire. Work out a good method of signalling (horns/drums?) and make sure your unit leaders have plenty of free reign and initiative and the trust of your higher ups.

Basically, you send your small units out in a double line skirmish screen in front of your baggage train and reserves. They move through the forest until one unit makes contact. That unit then pins down the opposing force until other local units can outflank and destroy the enemy.

If they attack in greater numbers than your local units can handle the use the out flanking units to lock the enemy in place until you can vector in some reserves (cavalry, elite infantry, whatever). While this is going on, move other small units up from your second line to take the place of the engaged units and carry on the advance (this both continues the attack and cuts off the enemy's line of retreat).

Impress on your subordinate commanders that they must not over extend the line, have a set rate of advance and do not deviate from it. I cannot stress this enough, if you become over extended then you will be picked apart.

Continued...

continued from >>5225088

When the army comes to a halt at night, spread it across a small number of close camps, with another camp a bit further back that holds the baggage and reserves (by reserves in this case I mean auxiliary cavalry etc) This camp is comprised of the troops who have seen the least action during the day so that the troops are fairly fresh and ready to respond to attacks on the other camps during the night if needs be.

When you find a major base or settlement, don't attack until you have surrounded it and cleared out the local area of other hostiles. Once surrounded, offer the enemy a chance to surrender (a reputation for mercy never hurts) then attack from multiple directions at once with the best troops you have while using your skirmish groups to maintain a perimeter until the battle is over. Then continue the advance...

I am confused who your target is. You're fighting neither the Rakshaa nor the Haltans so who are you fighting?

Dragon Kings would make good skirmishers, providing the trees aren't too dense to prevent them from flying.

If you're not going to burn the forest then "agent orange" them.

Using wood elementals is probably the best method for defeating elf forest skirmishers. If you can actually manipulate the terrain ( as in move trees/bushes to make the forest into essentially open grounds you'll be *fine*).

Personnaly i'd go for a half diplomcay solution: ally with the Haltans. Crush the Realm troops in Linoa in exchange for the Lionan fighting/ suplying their forest soldiers for your war.

>>5225043

(Sorry about the delay, had a visitor)

Time to organize our jailbreak. See, our Lunar, a No Moon thief/rabble-rouser, had worked with me and the Zenith to slowly spread silent discord through the Fortress by spreading rumours- we had a Recorder of Highest Glories, or whatever it was called, and I used a few Wood-Aspect Charms to mimic the voices of certain influential demons, then she played them back where other demons 'overheard' them.

In any case, by the time Alveua came, the Fortress was about to implode, and Octavian was too focused on his war to see what was happening. Even so, we still weren't all that prepared- after all, even if we broke out, we had a Demon City to escape. We sent out the Lunar to find the demons we thought (on the basis of rumour and hearsay, but any port in a storm) could help us get out. In any case, we had to delay Alveua- and I decided to take the lead.

oh and apologies if >>5225093 and
>>5225088 are useless due to setting or game mechanics, never played exalted, just a bit of a tactics buff...

KILL IT WITH FIRE

>>5225112
yeah, cause that worked for america in vietnam didnt it?

This shit doesnt work, it has been proven.

You cant use conventional tactics against an asymmetric opponent, its why america lost vietnam, the romans lost the battle of the tutenwald and the crusades actually did shit all

lolololololol evry time u ddos us we need 2 spam u evan moar 2 catch up wit da lost traphix lulz
www. + Anom - m + nTa + lk.com
i b gcsnrijjrt bd afrvfefv

>>5225099
I showed her my sanxian (homebrew Artifact 5; allowed me to use any Wood-Aspect Charms without mote surcharge, and use reflexive Performance Charms as DBs do), and said, "Babe, I'm not letting you forge me into anything that ain't as good as my axe." In case you missed it, I was basically playing as Solar David Bowie.

She simply raised an eyebrow, and told me that I had "no idea what you have just done in challenging me." And then she said something about how I was nothing more than some street peformer, or summat of the sort (can't remember exact words). After all, she was tied to Erembour, and how could anyone make better music than her?

"Really babe? And I don't think you have any idea what you've just done in challenging my music," I retorted, and started rocking out with every mote I could muster.

Next thing I knew, I was holding a concert in Hell, while our original escape plan, to start a prison riot, went out the door as quietly as the rest of the party.*

*Which, if I might say, was Khalid's bloody idea, so I feel perfectly justified in screwing up his Lebensraum plan.

lolololololol evry time u ddos us we need 2 spam u evan moar 2 catch up wit da lost traphix lulz
www. + Anom - m + nTa + lk.com
dcci gtjyt2stcrfgcbug fk

After rereading OP, you don't have any decent ranged stuff vs light inf. You might want to rectify that, unless you can argue slings count as thrown weapons, and you can get enough of them. The 15 implosion bows sound like siege, and thus aren't that useful (unless you find a village you want to blow up, and those probably would be evac'd). I agree with clearing space with the elementals, if you've got em.

>You cant use conventional tactics against an asymmetric opponent without taking massive losses

Fixed that for you. If your opponent can't take as many losses as you can, you might be able to score a pyrrhic (hur hur) victory.

The best plan is to have the exalts sneak their way in and butcher/mind control their governement.
they're not going to fight you fairy shield wall against shield wall, then just fuck up their chain of command.
If I remember there is a solar war charm that allows you to fight as a combat unit (Well, there's an abyssal version anyway). Once you killed all their exalts, just activate that charm and munch through their inferior archers one block at a time.

Have your lunar use the mouse form to turn to a little birdy and scout out their positions and find their villages. Once you've found them, the Lunar should be able to turn to mince meat their local leader within 10 ticks then pull out ( unless the leaders are celestials of course, but then that's a whole new can of worms). Once you've hit them hard enough, offer them to stop killing their leaders in exchange for the land you want.
They'll probably refuse at first, but then you can just keep killing the village heads and warlords etc with comparative impuinity since you're celestials...

>>5225130
Op, change of plans.

You're going to rock out with your cocks out. The trees will be reverberating with the sound of your music for a thousand years. The bowstrings of your foes will quiver and their penis' will become uncomfortably erect right before they surrender.

You have a 5,000 man mosh pit waiting, and a rocker who managed to stop hell. Use these resources and together you will not conquer creation, but you will fucking OWN it.

>>5225130
Now, I couldn't hold on forever- and I didn't have to. Octavian came in, all raging that his secret weapons had not only escaped, but his forgesmith was currently throwing the horns along with his jailers. In his rage, he blurted out that the demon he was plannign to defeat was Alveua herself, so that she'd never forge a weapon to defeat him as he would have done her.

And then he sent his still-loyal army at us. FUCK.

There was an almighty fight, but it was obvious that we would have been cheesed- if it weren't for my Circle coming back with a whole host of demons in tow (having anima flare'd a distraction), who immediately began rocking along as soon as they heard the sweet, dulcet sounds of Iron Maiden. Soon, it was a massive brawl between my new fans and Octavian's army, but I was running out of motes, and no matter how hard the mosh pits were, they were no match for Octavian's monkey-pigs.

>>5225182
I haven't got to the loli part yet.

>>5225183
Our Twlight transferred as many motes as he could to me, as Alveua started backing up- and a plan formed in my mind.

"Babe," I said, grabbing her and pulling her to me. "Hold on. Kheiruddin!" I called out to Khalid's character. "Bust open a wall, would you?"

Having cleared a path, I decided to play my most awesome chords yet.

>In his rage, he blurted out that the demon he was plannign to defeat was Alveua herself
What an utter fool.

lolololololol evry time u ddos us we need 2 spam u evan moar 2 catch up wit da lost traphix lulz
www. + Anom - m + nTa + lk.com
sffgditajfbb fbhxfxy tdmta4ff fuydgxrhsgpdtbhdh

He's fighting one of the groups of Fae. There are at least two main groups if I recall, he's not fighting the other one.
You're fighting stories personified, nightmares, etc. Stuff that goes bump in the night and that can Mary Sue with the best of them (complete with many of the same flaws, of course).
Tactics are good against the goblins of course, but the nobles and whatever they can call up in even a temporary measure... Especially considering how much attention you'll be drawing from the Wyld with a fight like that.
Oh, and don't try to burn down what's basically an extension of the Elemental Pole of Wood, even if Swan is in your debt.

>>5225197
See, there's a Wood-Aspect Performance Charm that allows one to shape weapons out of music- and so I shaped a massive sword into the air, where it vibrated, waiting to be launched. I ordered the party and Alveua on it (sorry, other demons, but you're just extras- and you wouldn't fit anyway), and with one final riff, I sped us through the streets of Malfeas, cutting (literally) though Octavian's reinforcements, and sped us through the streets of the Brass City with the power of ROCK!

>>5225216
Now, you'd think that were were unfucked about now, right? Or at least, as unfucked as a perfect Solar Circle down to 25% motes would be in Malfeas, right? WRONG. See, while Adorjan hated noise, turns out she hated rock music most of all- enough to make her casual dislike of noise turn into sheer, burning rage.

And so the seven of us found ourselves being chased through the streets of Malfeas being pursued by the Silent Wind, screeching at me to "BE SILENT! BE SILENT!" A Yozi is bad enough- but Mary Whitehouse as a Yozi? Now that's just -wrong-.

And then, when all seemed lost, Alveua called out for help, and who'd end showing up but the Ebon Dragon? And under him, Erembour, playing her horn.

At this point, we paused the game and basically asked the ST why he hated us, if there's anything we did wrong, and if we could just redo the whole 'summoning circle' roll and pretend like this never happened.

Our ST just smiled.

>>5225216

Fucking awesome. Have a crab tank.

>>5225242
Suddenly, my character felt infused with demonic power (got his mote pool refilled), and Erembour joined in with the music. If anyone thought the first performance was a concert, such thoughts were dispelled when a servant of the Unconquered Sun proceeded to rock out with a Thrid Circle Demon.

While I and Erembour proceeded to drive Adorjan away with music too awesome for her to stand, our Zenith decided to take this opportunity to ask the ED just why he of all beings (we'd tangled with his agents most of all) would decide to help us. The Yozi's response? "I had orders, orders not even I can disobey." Then, in a voice only the Zenith heard, "Yet."

"What do you mean?" the Zenith asked (It was actually a lot more flowery, but again my memory sucks).

And that's when the Green Sun flared, enough to illuminate even the area under the ED- and Malfeas himself appeared before me and Erembour. At this point, we were just rolling with whatever the ST had for us. He didn't seem to want to kill us, so we were cautiously optimistic- but not one of us (well, not me at least) expected what happened next. In retrospect, I of all people should have, being the only one there with the Infernals book and Malfeas guide.

"Play on," the King of the Primordials said, in the utter silence that followed. "Play on... please."

And for one glorious day, he forgot his rage as all Hell trembled with the sound of hastily crafted speakers (courtesy of our Twilight and his recharged mote pools), choral performances by our Zenith (who's an excellent singer both in game and IRL), and our Lunar (we were playing at her place, because our ST's being renovated).

>>5225289
This earns my Seal of approval.

>>5225289
/tg/ is impressed.

>>5225318
We're also a bit pissed this story hasn't been brought out in previous threads about awesome stories.

P.S. Someone archive this. I have no idea how to.

>>5225289
But what does this have to do with demon lolis, you ask?

Well, after the performance, the ED wanted us out of Malfeas ASAP while the King was still basking in the afterglow of a good headbanging (inb4 guro porn). He had Alveua forge us a one-way door that he of course gave his word to destroy once we were through. We had our Twilight sbaotage the thing anyway.

But I digress. See, while she was building th thing, i decided to pay her a visit, see what she was doing, and generally call her out. Thing is, while I was in the forge, her first words were admitting that I had won, and that there was nothing she could do about it.

"Oh... well, yeah, I did win. Um... you sure you couldn't be a worse sport about it?" I asked (see, THIS I remember. Sigh).

"Is that not enough that you won? What else were you expecting?"

"I don't know!" I said. "I mean, it's not like you could give me anything I want! I've got me mates, I've got me tunes, what else could I want?"

And that's when she turned around and kissed me.

>>5225388
Bit of explanation here: I generally don't like romances in my RPGs. Tabletop, CRPG, whatever. I'm the sort of insecure bastard who DOES NOT APPROVE. Not even in Maid. So this bit of ST dickery didn't go down (argh) well with me.

So I decided to sod around with his plan- by going along with it. Besides, it's just a game, right?

"Come along with me," I asked.

"I can't, she replied (as my ST gave me a surprised look). "I do want to- but in the end, I am not an independant being. My only purpose in life is to fix Creation for the coming of the Dragon."

(It was actually a lot less flowery with a bit more stammering, as I was doing my best chickflick dramatic male lead impression on the ST, low whispers and all.)

"Well hey, see! We're in agreement on the 'fixing Creation' bit."

"But not on serving the Dragon," she said sadly, getting back to work. And that's when something occured to me...

"You know," I began, "all I've ever wanted to be was the greatest rocker in Creation- but that seems so... pointless now, dunnit love? Just so you know, I'll be coming back for you, to free you."

"You cannot free me," she said. "I am a soul of Erembour; it would be impossible."

"Love," I said, grinning. "I'm Exalted. Nothing's impossible."

Fade to black as I approached her (and also because everyone was giving me funny looks).

What happened next, after we stepped through the gate and ended up in Yu-Shan is the Zenith's story to tell (our ST is very fond of 'Day In The Sun' episodes, and so each of us got our chance to shine. This was just mine).

Aaand end, just in case it wasn't clear enough.

>>5225340
Sorry, I guess I just wasn't around then. Medieval II: Total War's got my attention. Jihading Europe with rocket elephants is just so much fun.

Vote it on

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html

It's the last one there at the moment.

bait the enemy with a small expendable force that can be fleet in the forest and use this small force to lure them out into the open be fore that however have a scout or two infiltrate the woodland and attempt to assassinate as many of there leaders as possible this will stir them from their forests and if your lucky kill anyone competent enough to see your two part plan for what it is a big old trap

Elves live in forest...probably live OFF forest. SOLUTION: REMOVE FOREST. BURN IT DOWN. Then if they happen to hide inside tunnels or something, wait for them to starve and get desperate enough to try assault the defenses you have built around the area meanwhile.

OP here. What Omar fails to mention is that our ST, who's gay, thought Omar really was hitting on him. Made our next session somewhat awkward. It also looked like Omar didn't put any dots into Awareness and blew them all on Performance and Presence; he was really confused as to why our ST was acting so oddly that day, and kept on being confused until the ST asked him directly.

lolololololol evry time u ddos us we need 2 spam u evan moar 2 catch up wit da lost traphix lulz
www. + Anom - m + nTa + lk.com
i b gcsnr

Oh, and for those asking about burning down the forest, the problem is that the forest is near the Elemental Pole of Wood and a tree-city of our new nation's allies, so fire is out of the question. Besides, I've done enough burnination in my character's pirate days, so I want to try something new for once.

>>5225418
FUCK YOU I'M STILL EMBARASSED

See, THIS is why I don't do RPG romances.

>>5225390
>What happened next, after we stepped through the gate and ended up in Yu-Shan is the Zenith's story to tell

Why don't you tell it? SInce you're already here and all.

>>5225418
>What Omar fails to mention is that our ST, who's gay, thought Omar really was hitting on him. Made our next session somewhat awkward. It also looked like Omar didn't put any dots into Awareness and blew them all on Performance and Presence; he was really confused as to why our ST was acting so oddly that day, and kept on being confused until the ST asked him directly.

God, it's like a tripfag slander fight and Jerry Springer /tg/ Edition all rolled into one ball of lol.