Bump on the Head - discussion

Another thread, also set on the morning of/after the escape, references a downpour. The timing is vague, so we can use it or not use it, whatever works best. But it could be a possible excuse for the Portuguese to bugger off. Or if we ever want to nix the ranged weapons and get down to straight hand to hand combat. Or it could hold off to make the trek back twice as miserable.

Personally, I think the best thing the French could do is not clump together and make a better target but fix bayonets and charge out as a group in one direction, in other words, make a breakout. The Ports cant fire and load all that fast.

Id like a bout of bloody melee then escape. The rainstorm could , as you say, make a miserable return trip all the more deligh....no, wet.

Strategy-wise, I agree. They are just about to the the higher/clearer patch which Prayon had mentioned, which could be a decent vantage point from which to see the best path of egress from the swamp.

Plot-wise, however, I'm good with anything, whether they stay in the open area or try to force their way out.

Whatever you decide is fine with me. My reasoning was that charging in bad light in unknown territory when the enemy is spread out and might be behind you could get quite messy; I had reconed that the Portuguese wouldn't have attacked unless they had made sure that the easy escape had been cut off.

Therefore Prayon's ploy to tempt the Portuguese to shoot at him so that the French could see where those enemies in front of them were, then wait in a defense formation on the rising at least till the light is better. I had imagined it drier and with some bushes and trees for cover, but perhaps we have different pictures of the landscape in our heads.

Especially if it started to rain, rendering fire-arms useless and making navigating in the swamp even more difficult, I would opt for staying, and perhaps have a melee there, but as I said, anything is fine with me. Perhaps you could give me a few pointers, though. My char is supposed to be quite clever about it, but that doesn't mean that I am.

Marashar wrote:
My char is supposed to be quite clever about it, but that doesn't mean that I am.

We've all come up against this at some point, Mar. Muddling through seems to work...

*hugs*

That's why it's useful to avoid playing any officers except incompetent ones.

I think 'common sense' and 'fudging' work marvellously for those of us who can't do 'incompetent officer' with a straight face.

Oh, I rarely have a straight face.

Hmm. *looks in the mirror*

Well, mine's definitely more oval than straight...

*hides*

I rarely have any idea what I'm doing! And it's double tricky when, like you said, everyone's got a slightly different idea of what the environment is. It's been light out since the beginning of the thread (albeit, it was still pretty grey out in the first post), so that shouldn't be a problem. But I'd be good with a downpour/melee if folks want to do that. Plus, if ranged attacks are no longer possible, their position on more open ground would allow them to exercise their traditional tactics and formations which could work to their advantage. Maybe give Bastien a chance to catch up and/or let everyone get in position and such, and then have the rain come? Or are there other ideas folks like better?

('melee' makes me want to grab my dice. Fix bayonets and roll for damage, whoo! )

Oh lordy, we could roll it out if you want I had the same association. Then with your permission Bastien will perform a sneak attack (including bonuses for surprise and attack from behind) and get rid of at least one Portuguese, and then rejoin. Let the rain start whenever you want

*finds an umbrella*

Sounds good to me. Now I'm picturing Rogue/Paladin Bastien. Let us hope the Portuguese roll poorly on their spot checks.

(I wonder if it would be possible to do a thread in the Crown with dice...)

Definitely an idea! Well, we could, of course, simply write it out, or we can find one of those online dice thingies.

And Bastien is chaotic good! Unfortunately he would probably need all his feats for flashy things, so no sneaky extras.

No one would want to fight in a marsh. If we clumped up and waited during the upcoming rainstorm, no way would the Portuguese want to attack us in a melee. The advantage the French had was the fact they did have all muskets with bayonets, the Ports might have a couple but then others would have an old musketoon or a fowling piece or a blunderbuss etc.

Its one thing for four Ports to jump some lone Froggie caught away from his unit and knife the guy or beat him to a pulp but charge into a big melee. I doubt it.

Just my view.

Having once slogged in a knee high swamp (and this during warm weather), it is something I desperately wanted to get out of and obviously I wasn't even fighting.

Personally too, I would prefer to just write out the melee rather than dice for it. A bad dice roll could kill a char and I got exactly one char in this game,

Good points. And I was kidding about rolling it out in this thread. A thread in the Crown, maybe, where rolling a critical failure when trying to take a drink wouldn't matter so much.

Though, just because the Portuguese don't have uniform weaponry, doesn't mean they wouldn't have sufficient melee weapons, even if that means axes and farming implements. And there are precedents for small forces taking on better armed forces (and winning. The Cherusci wiped out 3 Roman legions + auxiliaries in a swamp in Germany back in 9AD). Also, it hasn't been explicitly stated how many French or Portuguese there are. They could be evenly matched or even outnumbered by the Portuguese.

It might not be the most economically sound idea (when it comes to cost in lives) for the Portuguese to attack, but neither is it a gamble they are certain to lose.

Were you thinking more of a melee fight as they were in the process of trying to escape from the swamp? Rather than grouped up?


(Also, just for clarification, they are still technically in the swamp, but on a bit of higher/firmer ground rising out of it. Though that can be changed if folks want.)