The 10,000 Orcs of Helm's Deep vs Persian Army from 300

[mailedbypostman1]

What it says on the tin, but the Orcs get to occupy Helm's Deep and the Persians assault. Which takes it?

Bonus: The Emperor's army from Hero also attacks after the Persians, catching them from behind. What happens next?

[Gordon Smith]

Originally Posted by mailedbypostman1

What it says on the tin, but the Orcs get to occupy Helm's Deep and the Persians assault. Which takes it?

Bonus: The Emperor's army from Hero also attacks after the Persians, catching them from behind. What happens next?

Who is being attacked by the Emperor's army? The orcs or the Persians?

[Gorthaur]

If Hornburg is properly supplied, I imagine the orcs will be able to outlast the Persian army. I doubt that the surrounding countryside can support million men for a very long time.

[Alexander the immortal]

i am not sure about the 300 gn but in real history the Persian army that attacked Thermopylae i seriously doubt that it was one million men.

[Gordon Smith]

Originally Posted by Gorthaur

If Hornburg is properly supplied, I imagine the orcs will be able to outlast the Persian army. I doubt that the surrounding countryside can support million men for a very long time.

Yup. In mountainous, comparatively barren countryside, they'll exhaust all available food supplies in nothing flat with even a small fraction of a million men. under arms.

[mailedbypostman1]

Originally Posted by Gordon Smith

Who is being attacked by the Emperor's army? The orcs or the Persians?

Emperor's wanna kill all and take their skulls.

[Deus]

Originally Posted by Gordon Smith

Yup. In mountainous, comparatively barren countryside, they'll exhaust all available food supplies in nothing flat with even a small fraction of a million men. under arms.

With wave after wave of men, under standard Rumbles bloodlust, is this even an issue?

Say, the Persians throw self-preservation to the wind and throw the entirety of their million-man army in the span of a night. I can quite easily see them forming steps and swarming the place, on dead bodies alone.

[Gordon Smith]

Originally Posted by Deus

With wave after wave of men, under standard Rumbles bloodlust, is this even an issue?

Say, the Persians throw self-preservation to the wind and throw the entirety of their million-man army in the span of a night. I can quite easily see them forming steps and swarming the place, on dead bodies alone.

I think the terrain would be far too constricted to allow the Persians to deploy the entirety of their million man army in a single attack on Helm's Deep. They'd probably be forced to attack in several echelons. And since the orcs have access to explosives, those first attacking waves will pay very, very dearly.

[Gorthaur]

How does the Bloodlust rule even work for armies in scenarios like this? I never assumed it takes morale and the possibility of one side being routed entirely out of the picture.

[aut0matic]

Originally Posted by Gorthaur

How does the Bloodlust rule even work for armies in scenarios like this? I never assumed it takes morale and the possibility of one side being routed entirely out of the picture.

i figured that as well... if we're bloodlusting them all regardless of how the fight swings, 1,000,000 eventually stomps 10,000. to me, it seems out of character and a bit unfair to take a cowardly army that fled in terror and backed themselves off of a cliff and turn them into bloodlusted killers...

[Deus]

Originally Posted by aut0matic

i figured that as well... if we're bloodlusting them all regardless of how the fight swings, 1,000,000 eventually stomps 10,000. to me, it seems out of character and a bit unfair to take a cowardly army that fled in terror and backed themselves off of a cliff and turn them into bloodlusted killers...

Well, we do that to characters here (most villains not pissing themselves to Batman, for example), so it would seem out of place if it weren't the case.

[Gordon Smith]

Originally Posted by Gorthaur

How does the Bloodlust rule even work for armies in scenarios like this? I never assumed it takes morale and the possibility of one side being routed entirely out of the picture.

Well, that's something we'd have to judge on a case by case basis. Blood-lust doesn't preclude a rational combatant from cutting and running and for it if there is no reasonable chance of victory and otherwise no hope of survival. With extremely well-motivated troops driven by fanaticism, controlled by a charismatic or supernatural leader, like that, morale and questions of personal survival may well be secondary considerations, but they can't be eliminated completely (for example, some orcs did break and run at Helm's Deep).

[Gorthaur]

Originally Posted by Deus

Well, we do that to characters here (most villains not pissing themselves to Batman, for example), so it would seem out of place if it weren't the case.

Yes, but with individual characters (or smaller groups) that only serves to ensure that the combatants fight to the best of their ability and to the end, so that we can judge the outcome based on their abilities and skills rather than their in-character will to fight.

With armies, turning every individual soldier into a Terminator with no fear and no regard for their own safety completely and fundamentally changes the nature of how battles are fought, as well.