Subj:	 [ffml] [MW] Departing for Doma
Date:	00-06-09 15:46:41 EDT
From:	skyhall@hotmail.com (Sky Hall)
Reply-to:	ffml@egroups.com
To:	ffml@egroups.com

  The ship set sail. Tim stood near the bow of the ship and inhaled the 
cool, sea air. He then sighed relief.
  For the past few weeks, Tim had not had a chanced to rest since returning 
from Norland.  This was because the General Staff had set him to work 
training the Doman army. Because of this, Tim had been up from sun up to 
sun down, overseeing the training and development of the men. Tim had 
earned this as punishment for disobeying orders, and as a means of
improving the morale of the troops since Tim was now a Lord of All That 
Kicks Ass.
  Tim’s men had been given two days to rest when Tim pressed them into 
service, helping to train. Tim knew he should have given the men longer to 
rest, but knew they could get all the rest they needed when they sailed 
for Doma.
  Being on duty meant soldiers were either patroling, garrisoned, or engaged 
in some other manner. Patrolling was the most common and the most exerting. 
If one company was out patrolling for seven days, they were given two days 
rest when they returned, sometimes more if necessary. This was because 
soldiers expended a lot of energy and encountered injury that did not 
normally make itself known to the officers in charge.
  Poor diet, foot soreness, and sickness were the factors working against 
soldiers. Officers understood this and to combat these enemies, would put 
their soldiers on regimes of work and rest. The work would break down the 
body, while the rest would build the man back up. In particular, stores of 
fat and energy in the body.
  If pushed to physical exertion, such as fleeing from the moogle host after 
the fall of Doma, a soldier had to rely heavily upon these stores of energy 
in his body. This energy gave the soldier the ability to run, to fight, and to 
stay awake when on guard. Without this energy, the
soldier could not fight disease, would become exhausted faster, and loose 
concentration. Tim saw several of his soldiers who had started out robust and 
healthy, slowly whither away and die in the route of the Doman army.
  The person responsible for overlooking the well being of his soldiers was 
the corporal and the sergeant. Those three men had to overlook their twenty or 
so charges and make sure they survived. And do that, they needed special 
treatment themselves. Better food, wine instead of ale or water, and better 
sleep was given to the officers, since during any crisis they would be
the ones needing their experience and intelligence to help them combat the 
enemy, often through day and night. Tim knew one officer who stayed awake for 
three days and when he went to sleep, passed away.
  The training had been simple, but informative. Tim had gone about using 
his own officers to help him train between three and four hundred soldiers a 
day. Tim’s officer, usually a corporal or a sergeant, would assume command of 
regular unit, that unit’s officer becoming an observer. Tim’s officer would then 
drill the soldiers as his own, and run them through training courses and 
strategy lanes. Sometimes Tim’s soldiers would act as the enemy in these 
excersizes.
  Tim had quickly found a use for the Norlandese Rangers. Though not regular 
soldiers, and certainly not trained in the same manner, the Norlandese could be 
assumed to lack discipline. However, discipline was in their culture and 
heritage. When idle, the men were always smiling and joing with each other. But 
when the situation turned serious, all smiles were lost, no sound was heard, 
and their eyes studied everything, as their bodies readied to act. What the 
Norlandese excelled in was hand-to-hand combat. So Tim set them up to train
the soldiers in their particular areas.
  Though strong and burly warriors, the Norlandese oftened favored quickness 
to brute force. Their tactics showed this. A squad of Norlanders would split 
into two teams when encountering an enemy. The teams would get on either side 
of an enemy. One team would loose a volley of arrows on the enemy. The enemy 
would react and turn their attention to the attackers, and at that point, the 
second team would release a volley. This would catch the enemy off guard, and 
either leave them in disarray, or having to divide their forces. Then the
first team would charge and attack the enemy. After fighting a few moments, 
the second team would then engage, again catching the enemy off guard.
  In this way, the Norlanders could defeat a force twice, maybe even three 
times, their own size and emerge with few to no casualties. It was these finer 
details of tactics and actual weapon handling that Tim had taught to the Domans 
soldiers.
  Tim relaxed to the gentle rocking of the boat as it steamed eastward 
towards Doma. He looked at the ten ships in his small convoy. Tim had five 
hundred men and five magitek armors in these ships, with fifty dragons and 
their riders waiting back at South Figaro. In a weeks time, when they reach 
Doman shores, the dragons would take flight and join the landing.
  Tim breathed again and closed his eyes.
  Upon landing, Tim would have to decide what to do. He could either stay at 
the landing zone and set up a defensive position for the rest of the Doman 
army which would begin ferrying to the Doman coast, or he could send his men 
out, allowing them to go guerrilla in their actions, creating havoc everywhere. 
Or he could keep his forces together and begin clearing everything in his path 
as he moved east, then south, then west, slowly clearing a swath of land as he 
made his way to Doma.
  Tim was afraid of staying static. He could hide his forces and remain 
unnoticed, but if discovered, and without knowing he had been discovered, the 
Doman army could have the entire moogle army waiting for them on the shores. If 
Tim divided his men up and let them out in squads, they could do a lot of 
damage, draw attention to the area, and strike whenever they desired. But Tim 
would not know how his men would be faring and bringing them back together 
could be a problem.
  An organized assualt, where his forces would remain together, would have 
the advantage of being able to overcome any obstacle they encountered. 
However, if the moogles were able to organize a large enough force fast 
enough, they could have Tim on the run, and the landing Domans troops unsure 
of what was going on.
  Ricca, the Norlandese Captain, had told Tim about the advantage the dragon 
riders had. They could be used both for scouting, terrorizing enemy positions, 
and even duping the enemy into going in the direction opposite of your own 
forces. The dragons freedom of movement and awesome power allowed them total 
reign of the landscape, striking any small group they came across, while 
spying upon larger groups.
  Tim’s men were eager to fight, as was he. But he wanted to make sure he 
kept his men in check. Releasing them to rain havoc on the moogles might do 
more collateral damage then was good. Also, it might bring retribution down 
upon the innocent civilians. Tim also wanted to spread the word that the Doman 
army had arrived to help the people. So keeping a low profile was eliminated 
as an option.
  So Tim decided upon his plan of attack. Upon landing, he scout the area 
and prepare his forces. He would then release the dragons to raise havoc where 
they could and to spread the word to the civilian population, as well as 
alerting the moogles to a new threat.
  Using secrecy, Tim would occupy a few towns and possibly use these to help 
ambush moogle forces. Tim knew that the best way to use his forces would be to 
create a meat grinder situation. He would position himself in such a way that 
the enemy would send troops against him every few days or so. As each enemy 
unit arrived, it would be destroyed, Tim’s men allowed time to rest, and 
prepare for the next enemy unit to arrive. As long as the enemy kept sending in 
their army piecemeal, Tim would hold an advantage. Tim was unsure of the
magitek armors the moogles had, but hoped that they would be few and far 
between, so that his own magiteks could eliminate them.
  Tim opened his eyes, drinking in the sight of the smooth, empty sea. It 
was very relaxing, and Tim realized how tired he was. He turned and walked to 
his cabin. There, Tim was able to enjoy his first moment of relaxation in 
months.


--Sky


Subj:	 [ffml] [MW] Doma: Reconquest
Date:	00-06-14 04:22:48 EDT
From:	skyhall@hotmail.com (Sky Hall)
Reply-to:	ffml@egroups.com
To:	ffml@egroups.com

  Upon the shore of Clam’s Cove, Tim stood, looking out into the murky 
darkness of the sea.
The stars shown out, along with a few lights on the sea, and a few lights 
from the shore.
  From the sea, launches rowed themselves to shore, despositing men and 
supplies. Tim saw
the flash of a silver insignia in the pale torch light. He approached the 
man.
  “Major?” inquired Tim.
  “Captian Tim?” responded the man.
  The two shook blindly in the dark.
  “How goes it, Captain?”
  “Well sir, as predicted,” answered Tim. “The moogles are stationed here 
and there in small
pockets to monitor the population. They have patrols and their strong 
points, but as
expected, their numbers are light. In this week since our landing, we’ve 
managed to capture
three towns, and no one has been alerted. We’re able to destroy all incoming 
patrols without
hinderance.”
  “Excellent,” said the major. “How are your forces deployed?”
  “In a large circle,” said Tim. He then went on to describe his layout.
  A squad of men had between five and ten men. There were two squads per 
company, and
four companies per brigade. Four brigade made up Tim’s battalion. Added to 
this basic
number where auxillary troops. Military police, specialist units, food, 
supply, medical, and
other units, all required to keep a military force in fighting order. And 
including Ricca’s one
hundred and fifty Norlandese soldiers, Tim’s command swelled to over five 
hundred men.
  Tim had a brigade of heavy infantry, light infantry, cavalry, and 
spearmen, as well as a few
companies of archers, both mounted and on foot. Tim had used the dragon 
riders to do a
primarily scout of the area, coupled with the light cavalry and infantry. 
From this initial
reconnassiance, he then sent out his spearmen and heavy infantry in pincer 
movements,
combing pockets of the forest and farmland surrounding the beachhead 
established. When
they encountered the towns, the spearmen formed at one end, with the heavy 
infantry at the
other. Cavalry then swept the town, while light infantry surrounded the 
sides. Heavy infantry
then came through, going house to house. The armor and good fighting skills 
of the heavy
infantry helped them in the close, house-to-house fighting.
  Now Tim was holding a defensive. His heavy infantry and spearmen were 
stationed in the
towns. His light infantry and cavalry were holding perimeter’s around each 
town, and
archers were at ambush and choke points.
  “Mighty fine job, Lord of All That Kicks Ass,” said the Major.
  Tim opened his mouth and stopped, a bit shocked the epiteth. “Thank you, 
sir.”
  “Should we proceed with the rest of the invasion?” asked the Major.
  “Yes sir,” answered Tim. “I have subdued the local resistance, and once 
your men have
taken position, I will move foward to clear the land to the east. In three 
weeks time, if all
goes according to plan, I should have all of northeastern Doma clear of 
moogle forces.”
  “Very well, Captain Tim. My men shall replace yours shortly after dawn. 
And after we
reconnoiter our forces, I will give you permission to proceed.”
  “Thank you, sir.”
  “No thanks are necessary. You did the job that was expected of you. You 
are truly
exceptional.”
  Tim was glad of the dark night, as he was unsure of how to take the 
comment and did not
want to study the major’s face to try to get an idea. Tim had found that his 
new “status” was
a bit unsettling at times. His men would sometimes speak to him with “lord” 
and other noble
references. He had begun to accept this treatment from the Norlanders, but 
his own men
were doing the same.
  “Any reports on enemy magiteks?” asked the major after a moment of 
silence.
  “My scouts have sighted them in the larger towns, but they seem to be 
falling into disrepair.
I guess the moogles cannot maintain their equipment.”
  The major chuckled. “Aye we can do a little better then that, though I’m 
still finding it hard
to bring myself to use the infernal contraptions.”
  “Aye, sir. I just hope my idea of using ropes and cables will work against 
the armors.”
  “Aye, I hope so.” The major looked about him. “Well, carry on, Captain. 
Keep up the good
work.”
  “Thank you sir,” said Tim, saluting.
  After the Major responded, Tim turned and walked to where Jayel, Evan, and 
Ricca were
waiting. The three men, making Tim’s council awaited their commander’s 
orders. Jayel was
in charge of intelligence gathering, using the light infantry and cavalry to 
scout and patrol.
Evan was in charge of defense, commanding the heavy infantry and spearmen. 
Ricca
doubled in intelligence and supply, his dragon riders as ariel scouts that 
also spotted food
stores for Tim’s soldiers to capture.
  While Tim was responsible for setting up his forces and fighting the 
moogles, he had to
supply his men, and stockpile supplies for the incoming troops. Whatever 
stockpiles he could
gather would greatly aid the incoming troops from South Figaro, as fewer 
soldiers would be
required to go out and scavenge for food.
  “Alright boys, let’s get ready for our campaign,” said Tim. He emphasized 
the word “our.”
All in the council knew the special significance of Tim’s command. He was 
not only going
to fight the enemy, but carry a legacy with him. Tim was going out to fight 
not as a soldier
of Doma, but as a Lord of All That Kicks Ass. The title of respect earned in 
Norland carried
with it the esteem that was bestowed on Bacca, High Lord of All That Kicks 
Ass.
  “My men are ready,” said Ricca. Tim knew that the Norland Ranger was eager 
to spill
moogle blood, as where his men. He found it difficult to keep them in check 
as they so
desired action.
  Tim was not sure whether to use the Norlanders as his lead forces, cuting 
a swath through
the land and being followed by the rest of the army, or to keep them in 
reserve, and to use
when he wanted to attack the enemy’s flank or as a reserve unit in tight 
situations. The
former seemed like the better idea, as the Norlanders were very robust and 
had great
stamina. Tim was certain that Ricca could keep his command together and not 
get surprised
by any moogle forces.
  “I know they are,” said Tim to Ricca. “They will soon see action. In two 
days, then we
move out.”
  Jayel and Evan gave their assent.
  “So ready yourselves, men. We go out to claim victory and honor for Doma.”
  The men saluted.


--Sky
(is it me, or could one make a video game out of this? Interesting if we 
could make a hack of
Warcraft using humans and moogles as the units)