So I'm working on a custom setting, with a high amount of drow, orcs, goblins, a dr'orc (Half drow half orc my lore it's ok) and Gnolls who will be active in military engagements, and i'm looking for places to draw inspiration from on how to build the armies in accordance with their tactics.
What i already know:
Drow: Bats riders, poison, dual weilding, darkness:
Goblins: Bat riders, Fire, Explosions, big guns
Orcs: Medium-heavy armor, Big melee weapons (Such as axes), rage
Gnolls: Seem to be akin to eastern euro/western asian, use of spears, bows, large hyena mounts. Also notable usage of flails and scale mail.
The question is, how do these forces deploy, what would their standard strategies be? For example, historically a french cavalry charge would take place after a large amount of Mercenary crossbowmen have unloaded into the enemy for a few volleys, Romans were noted for use of their turtle-like shielf formations, allowing enemies to surround them and then breaking the shell and having the less-disciplined enemy be overwhelmed in the chaos.
I can see gnolls using ride-by attack tactics to corral and separate their enemies, then dismounting and fighting side by side with their horrifying mounts.
And i can see orcist warg riders attacking while their allies are still hurling javelins.
I could almost imagine goblins with highly mobile siege engines kiting entire enemy armies until they're forced to fight in close quarters
I'm not asking about direct rules, simply numerous examples of how these (And other) armies fight, In pf, dnd, and even warcraft
Well, a lot of this is going to depend on how much magic you use. Traditional warfare from medieval time periods tends to fall apart quickly if you throw a few Sorcerors into the mix, much less the high level magic people can eventually get their grubby little hands on. If there's a lot of casters, it's best to look more at relatively modern military tactics.
Also, a good book that at elast partially covers this kind of thing is 3.5's Complete Warrior. The awesomeness of that particular section alone makes the book well worth it, in my opinion.
Well, a lot of this is going to depend on how much magic you use. Traditional warfare from medieval time periods tends to fall apart quickly if you throw a few Sorcerors into the mix, much less the high level magic people can eventually get their grubby little hands on. If there's a lot of casters, it's best to look more at relatively modern military tactics.
Also, a good book that at elast partially covers this kind of thing is 3.5's Complete Warrior. The awesomeness of that particular section alone makes the book well worth it, in my opinion.
I'll definitely give that a look!
Yeah the hybrid race i have uses standard infantry that carry repeating crossbows and dual wield when melee comes into play..
But this adds to the question: how do you make an army with little to no magic able to handle sorcerers?
Well, a lot of this is going to depend on how much magic you use. Traditional warfare from medieval time periods tends to fall apart quickly if you throw a few Sorcerors into the mix, much less the high level magic people can eventually get their grubby little hands on. If there's a lot of casters, it's best to look more at relatively modern military tactics.
Also, a good book that at elast partially covers this kind of thing is 3.5's Complete Warrior. The awesomeness of that particular section alone makes the book well worth it, in my opinion.
I'll definitely give that a look!
Yeah the hybrid race i have uses standard infantry that carry repeating crossbows and dual wield when melee comes into play..
But this adds to the question: how do you make an army with little to no magic able to handle sorcerers?
I'll let Uncle take this one over. Take it away, Uncle!
However, if you're really set on not having magic.... About the only way I can think of is forcing a fight on your turf, ala Kobolds. Be prepared to ping them while they're casting, and pray they don't make the concentration checks. Spread out so you aren't annihilated by AoE spells as easily. Slave races to make them waste spells to deal with them. Things like that.
But this adds to the question: how do you make an army with little to no magic able to handle sorcerers?
So this is a big issue because you can't. A high level caster can destroy your army with little risk to themselves.
If you're creating a new world, and want to use this idea that high level casters get involved in the wars and affairs of countries then you basically need other high level casters to counter them. And probably high level specialist groups will be doing infiltration and sabotage. Actual armies are probably only used for actually occupying an area after its been destabilized and opposing high value targets have been destroyed/killed. Otherwise, an army composed of a few hundred or even a few thousand could be destroyed by a small contingent of low level casters with wands. Wands of fireball and wind wall will let you kill most enemy combatants in at most two castings assuming they're level 3 or less. Not to mention seeing their compatriots roasted alive in front of them and their ranged weapons failing to work we see most of them turn tail and run.
Traditional armies just don't honestly work except for occupying a hostile area. By the same token though, hostile areas can't be held solely by specialist forces. They're too few in number to effectively control all of the people.
You would need both, but the army would probably only entering after the battle was over and won and the special forces needed someone to control the civilian population.
Much like modern warfare in which you have a series of skirmishes with a minimal number of combatants you are unlikely to see a large number of ordered combatants take to the field like they did in medieval times. The creation of the gun set about a fundamental change to how battle fields looked, and magic would be even more pronounced.
Look at the how the United States fought Britain during the Revolutionary War. They hid behind trees when the red coats walked rank and file. The fired from cover, and then ran off. The Brits considered it damned cowardly. But it was extremely effective at combating a regimented enemy who use group formations and didn't have tactics for combating guerilla tactics. That was how a smaller, inferiorly armed force was able to defeat them.
But this adds to the question: how do you make an army with little to no magic able to handle sorcerers?Same way ill-equipped armies handled the appearance of machine guns and other battlefield-changing technology: poorly at first, then by adaptive tactics or coming up with their own. Skirmishers and snipers are very effective against armies which focus their power into small areas. For specifics, build up the history of how armed warfare has developed - as each new spell is capitalized by an army, another army will find a way to fight it.
wait... or I could just put more anti-mage snipers in armies... like 2-3 level 11 sniper rogues with a death attack would definitely handle a level 20 wizard if he can't spot them in time right?
as to geurilla warfare, I'm trying to create at least one army of "High tiered" units, for a real horrific enemy. and i don't really want them to have magic... or cavalry.. I want them to be heavily armored switch hitters in general, with specialists on either side of the switch.
of course these forces are the result of the other armies collapsing and merging.
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One of the 3.5 monster manuals had a secontion on leveled gnolls, much like what I imagine the mo.ster codex is like now, but I have not read the codex yet. I think it was MM 4, if I come across it I will come back but u think I loaned it it out to who knows who. WotC even had several minis for these gnolls, one was something like a 4th level ranger, another a warlock class from tve 3.5 boom complete arecane. And one or two other non standard knows also.