Brainstorming a last stand

[roguerouge]

What scenes would you put in a last stand? What choices should the PCs be faced with?

Okay, so my players are in the final combat of Red Hand of Doom. The hobgoblin army's inside the gates, but the PCs have done well holding interior lines, taking out a dragon, killing a top sniper, and killing some giants.

The scene is that they've holed up in a huge temple. There's a couple of dozen soldiers in the temple with them, some wounded, a healing corps mostly out of spells, and some reserves from an aristocrat's personal crew. They have a unit of cavalry that they're keeping in reserve and a few PCs are with them. The leadership of the opposing army has come to crush them personally, and has brought a significant force with him: giants, ogres, hobgoblins, and dragonspawn.

Now, I want the players to keep their limited resources in reserve for the final battle with the leadership, but I want them to have to make choices as players. They have to be leaders directing others, mostly.

Any suggestions?

[cranewings]

Don't play the players hand for them. Just focus on what your NPCs are going to do. Don't tell the players how they have to react to the attack. Just let them do whatever it is that they are going to do.

If you give them choices during the battle, do you want those choices just to be BS fluff or do you want them to affect the outcome of the battle?

[Vicon]

I agree with cranewings, let them come up with ideas as to how to allocate their resources.
If you want to give them more options, consider these:

1) A secret tunnel is discovered beneath the temple that connects to a neighboring district the enemy already possesses, or an area they've already devastated. The party has the option of trying a daring ambush or diversionary attack from behind, or use some of the time before the battle going into the district the foe has already pacified and attempt to gather additional forces that are hiding out or cut off there, strengthening the defense.

2) The structural foundations beneath the temple are found to be very weak -- as a last ditch maneuver, the party can collapse the temple onto the invaders if they breach or overrun the temple... there might be divine or political fallout, however. (but that's often the case with weapons of last resort)

3) temples can often have relics stored in them, and supplies of various religious purpose. A temple may have need, or storage supply, of a significant amount of oil, and incense -- the incense can be used to create smokescreens, and the oil... well the oil is great for burning people. In fact, the smokescreen could be a great way of concealing the pouring of all the oil...
that and a couple of relic wands might help significantly.