Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'lotii'.
Found 17 results
-
Palace of the Imperial Envoy, Oryant, April 624 Commander Lei Feng walked through the door of the Red Dragon's Hall. He was expecting that convocation after the defeat in the Battle of Seawatch. Four years before, the Emperor was promised an easy victory against the barbarians from Carno. After two long campaigns, the deployment of hundreds of soldiers, and considerable expenses for the Imperial Treasury, the victory was as far as on the first day of the war. And now, with the Imperial Envoy on the island, someone was going to pay. Lei bowed deeply before the Envoy and sat on the low bench prepared for him. Then, following the ceremonial, he deposed his sword on his right and drank a sip of liquor from the bowl prepared for him. Now, according to the traditions, he was considered a guest, and couldn't be touched... even if, in the past, this sacred rule had been violated multiple times by particularly unscrupulous noblemen. The commander took a deep breath. The man in front of him represented the eyes, the ears, and the voice of the Emperor in Oryant, and he was there to decide who was responsible for the disastrous course of the campaign... one wrong word, and Lei's head would have been exposed on a spike before the sunset. "Welcome, Commander Feng. It's a pleasure for me to finally visit the famous island of Jinzi, the topic of so many discussions in the Imperial Court." The Envoy didn't even try to sound convinced. "However, I would like to know why I cannot ride freely, from East to West, on an island that rightfully belongs to His Majesty the Emperor. An island that our commanders promised to conquer in a few months... four years ago." His tone remained calm and unexpressive, but Lei Feng didn't miss the fierce gaze in the Envoy's eyes. "So, Commander Feng, can you help me understand why this military expedition keeps frustrating the Emperor's will? How could our best commanders be utterly defeated by the Northern barbarians?" Lei expected the question... all the commanders did. After the retreat to Oryant they had agreed on a half-true version of the story, in which most of the blame was put on the poor cohesion of Lotii, Monomonto, and mercenaries, on the lack of modern artillery, and the distance from the supply lines. Before he could begin, however, the Envoy added, almost casually: "Oh, it's fair that you know that the High Command considers you responsible for the defeat of Seawatch. General Wang claims that you refused to retreat your unit, out of personal pride, and that your foolish move compromised his ruse. His version was confirmed by most of the commanders. If this is true, then you are either an incompetent or a traitor. Wang suggested I should order the captain of my guards to behead you immediately. I feel generous, so you have two minutes... you can try to convince me, or use this time to jump on your sword and die with honor." For Lei, this was a punch straight into the stomach. He was used to the duplicities and treasons of the Imperial Court, but this was far too much. He had been chosen as a scapegoat by his own commander, and by the men he had fought with, shoulder to shoulder... and after what he had truly done during the Battle of Seawatch! For a fraction of a second, Commander Lei Feng considered his possibilities. Most of his men were still loyal to him, probably, but he had no way to reach them. There were five armed guards in the room and dozens more between him and the closest gate. He was in a trap with no way out... after what he had done! To hell with the etiquette! "This is an outrage!" -without almost realizing it, Lei had stood up, and was almost yelling. "I remained behind with my unit, and we fought almost to the last man. This is what saved a part of the army from destruction, despite our great General! We delayed the barbarians as long as we could, and gave our men the time to escape!" The guards rushed towards him, sword in hand, but he didn't care. At a nod of the Envoy, the guards froze, still as statues. "So, Commander Feng, you are telling me that General Wang's plan had failed, and that he is a liar. That the whole high command is lying, apart from you. Please, what went wrong in Seawatch?" The tone of the Envoy had again changed. Weirdly, he seemed... pleased? What was happening? Lei recovered a little of demeanor, then continued: "As you certainly know, your Excellency, General Wang had planned a fake retreat. He wanted the barbarians to rush forward, with only some light infantry to harass them... they would have arrived at our real battle line tired and unprepared, without their heavy artillery, and they would've been destroyed. General Wang, however, completely ignored the real state of our troops. Our forces were entrenched in a long, fortified line across the jungle, and some units didn't even receive the retreat order! When the barbarians attacked, we were still disassembling the batteries, and the soldiers were still funneling on the bad jungle roads. I rallied my man to cover the retreat, and we gained as much time as we could. At this point, reforming a battle line was completely impossible, so our forces retreated eastward, as well as they could… Then, we tried to disengage across the Dead City, where... where..." "Where your unit was almost completely exterminated." Concluded the envoy. "By savage natives, demons in the shape of men, I was told. Commander Feng, you probably saved some of our troops during the Battle of Seawatch, but you also ignored your general's order, and this is treason. You saved a part of the army, but you caused the annihilation of your whole unit.” Lei held his breath... the next sentence could either mean life or death for him. "However, today I will hold the executioner's sword. You have one last chance to redeem. As we are talking, three Carnite men are trying to cross the Dead City, heading for Seawatch. A column of barbarians is trying to reach them, but they must fail. You don't need to know more, but these men carry vital information. Bring them alive to Oryant, or kill them if you can't. But if you fail, I only wish you to die with honor." Without another word, Commander Lei Feng was dismissed. He had been betrayed and sent to death by his own comrades, by his own commander, but he had survived again… probably headed to a suicide mission, but alive! Better than he had hoped a few minutes before! Then he remembered what he had seen in the Dead City, back in that damned jungle, and the screams he could still hear every night. Suddenly, the merciful blade of a sword didn’t seem such a bad option… ------------------------------------------------------- Far later than expected, here you can find the fourth (and last) character headed towards the Labyrinth, where their stories will finally cross. The hall is freely inspired by the Phoenix Throne of the Korean Emperors, which has a painting of the Korean mountains in the background. I hope you enjoyed this part! Overall view: Without minifigures: No minifigures, canopy removed:
-
A little bay East of Jiangkai, El Oleonda, April 624 The little sailboat was dangling slowly, cradled by the gentle waves. That day, the sea was as flat as a table, with a gentle wind barely moving the boat's flag... the red and white flag of the Kingdom of Carno. From a distance, the Caroline would have seemed perfectly still, as idle as a painted boat on a painted ocean. It would have been a terrible day for navigation, slow and boring. For what Albert and his men were doing, however, the weather was just perfect. Fifteen meters below the surface, Konrad and Hans were surely grateful for that calm weather: they had discovered at their expense that rough waves and violent currents could easily appear in that little bay, as soon as the wind started blowing from the wrong direction. The treacherous nature of that inlet, that made every dive dangerous, was probably the very reason of their succes. Many years before, when a terrible storm destroyed the first Lotii expedition on El Oleonda, a ship had likely sought refuge there, just to find its fate against the reef... and, for Poseidon's sake, the shipwreck seemed the one of a Lotii tresure ship! Albert was euphoric. Their expedition was not the first one, but had been by far the most successful. And, even more importantly, he had beaten Professor Hans Schneider, his old rival. That presumptuous man thought to be clever, looking for the Lotii gold among the old ruins of El Oleonda, but Albert had found it first, in the shallow waters of the Southern Coast. As soon as the Carnite High Command had learnt about the shipwrecks, almost four years before, they organized a few small expeditions along the Southern Coast. With the war raging on, however, most of them had turned into a disaster, or had only found the skeletons of small junks, scraped long time before by natives or survivors. Albert's discovery, was going to change everything, and exactly when the Lotii were staying away! The Lotii ship, however, was not the only interesting discovery Albert's expedition had made. The surfacing rocks that had doomed the Lotii ship, indeed, were not a reef, as the cartographers had thought, nor any other natural formation. Incredibly, they were instead the tops of large buildings, similar to the ones forming the Labyrinth... a whole city had sank into the Ocean, in a disaster of proportion that Albert couldn't even imagine. Roads, building, temples... everything was there, down below the surface, frozen in time. The ancient inhabitants were probably still there too, drowned in their own houses, thought Albert with a shiver. The fish had taken the place of the birds, the corals had replaced the luxurious vegetation of El Oleonda, creating an unreal scene... in spite of the terrible fate of the inhabitants, that place was wonderful. The cargo of the Lotii ship laid there, scattered among the ruins and inside the broken keel. Gold and silver ingots, porcelains and statuettes, weapons and utensils emerged from the sand at the minimum movement of the water, much more than three men cold carry with a little boat. It was time to send a messenger pidgeon to Seawatch, to communicate their success and direct a proper expedition to the shipwreck. Writing precise coordinates was out of question: pidgeons were rarely intercepted, but strapping such a precious information to a bird was far too dangerous. Albert didn't want to attract a horde of Lotii warriors to his shipwreck, especially in the moment of his maximum triumph... better to define a rendez-vous point halfway between there and Seawatch. What about the Emperor's Palace, one of the largest ruins in the Labyrinth? It was in a convenient location and, given the discovery of the sunken city, it seemed particularly fitting. Having decided the course of action, Albert brought his attention back to a little object that was puzzling him: a small cilinder, formed by a series of golden discs and completely covered by symbols that Albert couldn't understand... the sun, a large cat, a crocodile, dots and lines... Even if they were still encrusted by sand and salt, it was clear that the discs could rotate, forming a complex mechanism. Did it come from the Lotii ship or from the ruins? And in that case, how advanced had been the inhabitants of El Oleonda, capable of building that amazing trinket? Even more importantly, what was that object? A puzzle box? A clockwork mechanism of some sort? Or maybe... a cipher? -------------------------- Overall view:
-
Somewhere in the jungle, El Oleonda, May 624 Rain was falling on El Oleonda. The violent storms that had flooded the island's southwest had finally ended, and water had finally returned to the riverbeds, but cloudy skies and heavy showers were still taking the place of the endless summer of New Haven Seas. It was not like the cold rainfalls of Eranos woods, slowly soaking your clothes and freezing you to the bones: instead, the large, warm drops seemed to hit the ground violently, almost with anger. Everything in the defensive position was still, apart from the rain. No other movement could be seen, no other sound could be heard. The position seemed completely abandoned, but this could have easily been a trap: on El Oleonda, every little imprudence could be paid with the life of someone... yours, most likely. That day, however, there was no trap waiting for them. The trenches were filled with rainwater almost to the rim, and weeds had started to grow on the earthworks. One of the chasseurs moved closer and closer, while his companions prepared to cover him. At the end, with a silent prayer, the man stood up. Nothing happened. "All clear, General! There's no one here! This place seems abandoned!" Tristan advanced, followed by the rest of the unit. After the return from the rescue operation in Neuburg, Tristan's unit was taking part in the search operations into the jungle, between Seawatch and the Great Northern Bay. And, once again, they had stumbled across an abandoned Lotii position. Apart from occasional skirmishes with bands of Lotii stragglers, this was all they had found up to that moment: trenches, well-positioned batteries, warehouses... all completely deserted. The enemy had retreated after the Battle of Seawatch, but how far remained a mystery. Well, now they could move a little forward the line on the map, and mark a new site for the engineers recovering abandoned artillery pieces. Tristan didn't understand. From a position like that one, a company of soldiers could have repelled a regiment, allowing an ordered retreat of the rest of the army. They were distant enough from Seawatch, and the Coalition forces had not pursued the enemies that far. Still, the commanders had not managed to rally their soldiers. But why? Was everyone still in panic, after the defeat and the attacks from Du Pont's Tigers? Or was that place considered unsafe for some other reason? In any case, they wouldn't have found any answer in that place, this was clear. There was no point in remaining there, standing under the rain. Tristan ordered his men to set up the camp, but also to double the usual number of sentries, just to be safe. He would have also ordered not to light a fire, but with the tropical rain, unfortunately, this seemed completely superfluous... If the Lotii had abandoned that place in haste, it was better not to lower the guard. ----------------- Overall view: I don't know if or when the Lotii will be removed from El Oleonda in Era III, but I still want to "use" them for this storyline. As with the reconnaissance operations before the Battle of Seawatch, only isolated patrols or individuals will appear, and nothing about the real plans of the Lotii commanders will be defined.
-
South of Seawatch, El Oleonda, April 624 The cannon emerged slowly from the murky water, one centimeter after another. Despite the time spent in the water, the barrel seemed in a good state. With a few blows of a shovel, one of the engineers removed the remaining pieces of the wooden carriage, buried too deep in the mud. Soon, that cannon would have been cleaned, inspected, and most likely mounted on a new wooden support, in the military workshops of Fort Firmo. A cannon barrel was too valuable to let it rot in a bog: that Lotii weapon would have become instead part of Seawatch port batteries, or maybe of a field artillery unit. After their defeat in the Battle of Seawatch, the Lotii had quickly withdrawn toward the Eastern settlements, leaving traps and ambushes to delay the pursuit of the Coalition forces. The attacks of hostile native tribes and guerrilla operations of Jiangkai troops, together with bad roads, terrible weather, and mass desertion of mercenaries, however, had soon turned the orderly retreat into a complete rout, and countless cannons and heavy carriages were abandoned along the way: what had started as a brilliant disengagement had quickly turned a desperate march for survival. The Lotii had lost a quarter of their army, and an immediate new offensive seemed unlikely. Therefore, that represented an excellent moment to reorganize the coalition forces in Seawatch, repair the town fortifications, and, indeed, salvage as many as possible of the abandoned Lotii cannons... better to have them in safe hands, than to allow the enemies -or the armies of other allied empires- to recover them! With the help of workhorses and mules, the military engineers of Oleon towed the cannons out of bogs and rivers, or out of the mud of the jungle trails. In most cases, the carriages had been damaged, but only a few artillery pieces had been spiked or blown away... a few days of work, and most of them could have been put easily back in battery! Other units, scattered all over the jungle, were recovering cases of ammunition, gunpowder barrels, small arms, and other abandoned equipment, and occasionally also accepted the surrender of stragglers and small Lotii units left behind during the last months. Even though no organized resistance was usually encountered, some Lotii soldiers had resorted to banditry or had chosen to continue the war on their own. Therefore, all the salvage expeditions were accompanied by chasseurs and soldiers of Fort Arltrees militia, who knew the jungle as their own pockets. A small MOC set on El Oleonda, with the military engineers of Oleon recovering a Lotii cannon from a bog. Build inspired by @Ozzy_4321's MOC about salvaging/capturing abandoned Lotii cannons.
-
Somewhere Southwest Seawatch, El Oleonda, April 623 All the pieces were in position, the chessboard ready. The marching songs, the chants of the native allies, the last nervous jokes...everything was replaced by an unreal silence, as every unit reached its starting position. Finally, General Hercule François roared: "Unfurl the colours. Remind everyone who the greatest warriors on this battlefield are." And louder, so that everyone could hear him: "Men of Oleon!" He roared, his voice carrying back all the way to the artillery. "I know you can gut this cowardly enemy and wipe them from this isle! But now I want you to prove it to me! Pour le Roi!" The soldiers echoed, with a deafening yell: "Pour le Roi! Pour le Roi! Pour le Roi!" It was the time. "Monsieurs, send them all you've got!" Said General Tristan Rimbaud, a fierce grin on his face. In less than a minute, all the artillery pieces assigned to his unit were blazing. The soldiers cheered loudly as, seconds later, the jungle in front of them was shattered by a series of violent explosions. Tristan had specifically required mortars and howitzers, capable of firing on high-arching trajectories... and, even more importantly, capable of firing explosive shells. "Captain du Motier! Two more salvos, then fire forward!" At this point, Tristan was yelling at the top of his lungs and waving his saber, to overcome the clamor of the battle. "Soldiers, forward! At the double! It is time to destroy our enemies!" ----------------------- Tristan and his men marched forward, with the shells whistling above their heads, and a hell of explosions in front of them. A grenade fell short, dangerously too short, but none of the soldiers was hit. As planned, the assault group reached the Lotii trenches immediately after the last explosions. If du Motier knew his job, the next salvo would have fallen a few hundred meters behind the first line, just in front of them, to hit and paralyze the Lotii reinforcements. Otherwise, Tristan would have probably had little time to regret his choices. Tristan jumped in the trench, followed by his chasseurs. The walls had collapsed in several points, allowing an easier descent. The earthworks were scattered with the corpses of several Lotii soldiers, but everyone was more concerned about the ones -alive and armed- who were running towards them. The barrage had been brief but extremely violent and, now that it had moved forward, it was cutting that position out from orders and reinforcements. The bluecoats stormed the enemy positions before the Lotii could set up an organised defence. The grenadiers, who were following closely the first vanguard, started throwing their weapons across the ditch, where some enemy musketeers were trying to form a defensive line. Other soldiers, with the muskets on their shoulders, were carrying light wooden ladders, useful to quickly climb the trench walls. Tristan didn’t plan to conquer that specific position: instead, his assault column aimed to slice through the enemy lines, to attack the artillery batteries behind them and the closest command point. The Lotii soldiers were determined and well-armed, but still disorganised. Moreover, Tristan had gathered some of the most elite troops available… including the grenadiers, who were definitely not sparing their weapons. As the battle was still ongoing, the teams in charge of the light mortars placed their weapons and opened fire. The assault column could have easily been outnumbered, but only if the Lotii could recover from the initial shock, something rather difficult if everything around kept exploding! Soon the regular infantry, the feared “blue line” would have arrived in their support… or, if everything went by the plans, to collect the wounded and the prisoners. If everything went by the plans… the soldiers had no way to know how things were going in the other areas of the battlefield, if they were rushing to victory or if they were going to be encircled. But, for Hades’ sake, their charge would have been remembered! Overall view --------------- Note: as Fort Arltrees couldn’t seem further from the frontline, and the new Gardens of Poseidon are opened, the Second Battle of Seawatch has begun. As news from the frontline have not reached the settlements yet, we still don’t have any idea whether this is a glorious victory, a limited success, or the prelude to a defeat. Credit to the (impatient ) @Ross Fisher for the general’s speech! I’m sorry for the little technical inconvenience of the half-completed story, for the next time I swear I’ll avoid that!
-
Operation Hephaestus Hammer Commander: General Hercule François Forces involved: 6 battalions (2 line infantry, 1 light infantry, 1 artillery, 1 cavalry, 1 engineers). 540 EGS soldiers. Aims: engage and destroy the Lotii army south of Seawatch. Plan summary: 1) Advance Our forces continue their advance, with extensive scouting by cavalry and light infantry. Increased patrols from Seawatch, in the meantime, localise the Lotii forces and fix them in position. 2) Contact As the other armies of the coalition advance and engage the Lotii front, our forces engage the left flank of the enemy. Our forces advance in oblique order, attacking the enemy and closing the gap between our left flank and the right side of the coalition forces. 3) Press the assault Our forces advance along the whole front, pressing the enemy forces. We organise our attack in three waves: -after heavy, concentrated shelling of few selected locations, columns of elite soldiers (chasseurs and grenadiers, with a few light mortars) attempt to crack the enemy lines. If successful, they will march on, attacking supply deposits, command centres, second line mortar and rocket batteries, etc. (in modern military terms, we attempt a thunder run). -immediately after, our forces attack along the whole line. The chaos and the panic generated by the thunder runs, by the contemporary attack on two fronts (from Fort Arltrees and from Seawatch) and by the guerrilla operations on the supply lines (Operation Pandora) is expected to make the enemy line to collapse in several points, with the resisting units encircled or forced to an orderly retreat. -final blow: if necessary, we commit all our reserves against the enemy, turning the retreat into a route. 4) Exploit Our forces (cavalry and light infantry) chase the enemy to kill and capture the enemy forces. This, together with the forces from Jiangkai, should also force our enemy to abandon artillery, ammunitions and supplies, and to retreat in disorder to Luyang. ———————— Note: I’m just reposting our battle plan (with @CapOnBOBS’ great vignettes) as a separate thread, as required by the combat rules. I’ve just expanded a little bit the text, but the general plan is the very same we presented in the coordination thread. ———————— @CapOnBOBS @Ross Fisher @Capt Wolf @Ayrlego @LM71Blackbird @Bregir @Garmadon @Professor Thaum
-
Jiangkai, El Oleonda, March 623 If the enemy know not where he will be attacked, he must prepare in every quarter, and so be everywhere weak. Everyone knew that the plan was dangerous, but still the problem was turning down volunteers, not finding enough of them. The citizens of Jiangkai had seen their city invaded, sacked and destroyed, and they would have never allowed that again, at the cost of their lives. For sure, they would have never forgiven their former compatriots, responsible of both the forced evacuation of 620 and the raid of summer 622. They were the enemy, and now it was time for them to pay and to bleed! As the main forces of the Royal Armies marched from Fort Arltrees to crush the Lotii forces outside Seawatch, a young officer of the Jiangkai Tirailleurs was authorised to harass the enemy supply lines and delay enemy reinforcements in any possible way. The forces available were not large, but they would have been sufficient to make the life of the Lotii army much more difficult! Operation Pandora Commander: Captain Guillaume Tiger Dupont. Born in the Eranos province, he spent several years on merchant ships, mostly in the Southern Seas. He later joined the infanterie de marine, serving in the Second Terraversan War. He speaks fluently in Lotii and Monomonto, plus some words of the other Southern languages. He knows very well the Lotii culture, and often even quotes the texts of the Wu Cru. Respected by his men, he will soon be feared by the enemies! Forces involved: a company of light infantry (1 platoon of colonial chasseurs, 2 platoons of Jiangkai tirailleurs), plus native guides. 30 soldiers in EGS terms. Aims: harass enemy forces, block or delay supplies and reinforcements headed to Seawatch frontline, divert enemy troops to irrelevant areas. Plan summary: the company will leave Jiangkai and head north-northeast, across the roads from Oryant and Luyang to Seawatch. Once there, the soldiers will start guerrilla operations against Lotii supply lines. The soldiers will avoid direct engagement enemy troops, and will instead ambush supply convoys, small units, messengers, etc. Moreover, they will interfere as much as possible with the enemy movements by placing obstacles on the roads, damaging bridges, and creating false trails and signals. The unit will move continuously, waging attacks in distant locations and occasionally sparing a vulnerable target, to create confusion about the area of operations. Significant increase of Lotii patrols would keep our soldiers out of some areas, but also divert forces from the garrisons and/or Seawatch front. ————————————- OOC, a note for the GMs: this operation starts from Jiangkai (30 EGS soldiers involved) and is independent from the main attack, but it’s coordinated with the attacks in the Seawatch area. Please manage it as you think it’s better for the game dynamics. @CapOnBOBS @Ross Fisher @Capt Wolf @Ayrlego @LM71Blackbird @Bregir @Garmadon @Professor Thaum
-
Jungle Shootout, Seawatch Following a successful meeting with General Alonzo of the Weelond 2nd Battalion, Major Brickford along with the small detachment of Marines from the 45th Regiment of Foot began to make the short trek back to Corrie Headquarters. At a bend in the road flanked by a short fence and dense brush, Major Brickford got the feeling of being watched. It was well known the Lotii are masters of stealth and were not pleased by the formation of joint forces of the Seawatch Campaign. Jungle Shootout 3 by LM71Blackbird, on Flickr Not moments later shots began to ring out from within the jungle. It seemed to be an evenly matched fight. Jungle Shootout 1 by LM71Blackbird, on Flickr Quickly dismounting his horse and sending it running towards the Corrie encampment, Major Brickford formed a defensive position with what cover was available and ordered his men to return fire on the Lotii Skirmishers barely visible through the brush. Jungle Shootout 2 by LM71Blackbird, on Flickr When shots were heard in the distance at Corrie HQ followed by Major Brickford's horse with no rider, a detachment of the 18th Hussars 'The Lightfoot' quickly mounted up and rushed to aid the pinned down Major and his men. Jungle Shootout 5 by LM71Blackbird, on Flickr Adept at riding in through the jungle terrain with speed after many months of patrols, the gallant hussars of the 18th charged through a gap in the brush with swords drawn. In the end one Lotii lay dead in the grass and the remaining skirmishers ran at the sight of 'The Lightfoot' charging in. --------------------------------------- A small firefight between the Corrington Marines and the Lotii. A build to depict some action in the war and to include some of my new parts from AE. Namely the Chinese and British minifigs as well as kneeling legs and Brickarms Perfect Caliber Muskets. C&C are welcome and appreciated and thanks for looking!
-
The Labyrinth, El Oleonda, December 622 "Enemies ahead, take cover!" Shouted Tristan, as his men started to kneel behind the ruins or in the thick undergrowth. "Open fire, at will!". Bullets started flying in all the directions. The chasseurs aimed carefully before each shot, but also the Lotii were in a good position. After the Lotii had disengaged from the siege of Seawatch and had -likely- returned to their bases, nothing seemed really different from two years before: both armies were hidden somewhere in the jungle, as invisible as if they had been an ocean apart; only small patrols crawled in that green hell, hunting one another and looking for any sign of the enemy forces. Things, however had actually changed a lot since then: the recruits just dragged from the West had quickly been replaced by battle-hardened jaegers and chasseurs, the Lotii militiamen by the finest warriors of the four banners. Now all the fights had become fiercer, and any mistake was paid in soldiers’ lives! That day, Tristan was crossing the Labyrinth with a company of light infantry, when they surprised a group of Lotii soldiers coming from the opposite direction. The huge complex of ruins represented one of the few reference points between les Colines du Roi (the King’s hills) and Seawatch, and could either represent a safe shelter or a deadly trap: the Lotii knew that place too, and dozens of men could in any moment be -completely unseen- just a few buildings apart. The place must have been an important city, the largest among those discovered on El Oleonda. Now, however, only a few large palaces were still standing, covered by the vegetation, among a web of alleys, canals and low walls. One of the Lotii fell, wounded or dead, as his comrades continued shooting. The two groups were just a few metres far, but the ruins offered them a good protection, and most of the bullets just shattered some old bricks. The Lotii were fighting well, but they were outnumbered, and soon they started to disengage, disappearing again among the ruins. Everything finished in a matter of minutes, then the jungle was silent again, as if nothing at all had happened. Even though the soldiers of Oleon had won, their victory was almost pointless. The chasseurs owned the battlefield, but the enemy had disappeared, as always, and very next day it could have been their turn to die or to run for their lives. That evening, Tristan scribbled just a few words on his diary: “Lotii scouts engaged and repelled. Still no trace of the enemy army. All quiet on El Oleonda”. ——————— I put together this moc quite quickly, but I’m very satisfied by the result! I hope to show soon more of the Labyrinth, actually a ruined city somewhere on El Oleonda (since there are no official “King’s Hills”, it could basically be anywhere). In the campaign, it should be considered as a minor skirmish, part of the recognitions from the advanced positions often light infantry. C&C are welcome, as always! I hope you enjoyed the build and the story!
-
As Jiangkai grew and became a real city, a company of tirailleurs was recruited among the inhabitants to defend the settlement. The tirailleurs are units of light infantry -typical of the Oleon Royal Army- that fight with flexible tactics and open formations, taking advantage of the rough terrains. Differently from l’Armée de L’Orient, formed by soldiers of Lotii origin but fully integrated in the regular army, the Jiangkai tirailleurs are organised as an auxiliary light infantry unit. Quite unusually, the officers are drawn from La Royale (the Royal Navy), and usually have a past in the merchant fleet: this may be unorthodox, but they are probably the only officers who can fluently speak both Oleander and Lotii, at least until the first Jiangkai volunteers will graduate in Breshaun Royal Academy. While the tirailleurs were undoubtedly loyal to their new king and country, most of them were not enthusiastic about fighting against their former motherland, and they were considered a law enforcing unit more than a real fighting force. Things changed, however after the raid of May 622. The Lotii soldiers sacked Jiangkai even more brutally than they would have done with an enemy settlement, killing those who had remained behind and trying to set every building on fire: only the stubborn resistance and the sacrifice of the fort garrison spared most of the population from the massacre. As the tirailleurs organised the evacuation of the civilians from the city, they instead lived to fight another day. Now the citizens on Jiangkai know that they can’t expect no mercy from their former countrymen. The tirailleurs will fight for their honour and for revenge, on El Oleonda and beyond. The tirailleurs concept and design are heavily based on @Khorne’s early sketches of “Asian” troops, even before the Lotus Empire appeared in our world. With this build, a new platoon of soldiers is raised in Jiangkai. EDIT: As Jiangkai is still a town, only 10 (and not 30) men can be recruited in each turn
-
White banner soldiers on Jinzi (El Oleonda) From Jameis Farstrider’s Guide to Halos: White, the Wind Dragon Banner - When called upon, the White Wind Banner levies its troops from the Empire easternmost province, straddling the border with the Bouton and Peri protectorates. As such, it is not uncommon to find mercenaries from those nations amongst its ranks. From left to right: 1) Banersbi warrior: Native of the southern archipelago of Banersbi, these warriors often fight as mercenaries in Lotii (but also Gerlo and Monomonto) armies. Accustomed to fighting in the jungles of their motherland, they will probably be particularly useful in the skirmishes on El Oleonda. Banersbi warriors usually fight using firearms and exotic-looking blades, called kriss and mandau. 2) Nakay tribe head hunter: With a custom considered barbarian by foreigners, the warriors of some Banersbi tribes keep the preserved heads of killed enemies as amulets. Here a Nakay warrior shows with pride a shrunken head, the result of a complex and highly ritualised procedure. 3-4) Lotii musketeers: While cavalry dominates the armies of some banners, the soldiers of the easternmost Lotii provinces and of the vassal kingdoms fight almost exclusively on foot. Lotii musketeers fight in close formations, very similar to Madrician line infantry. White Banner soldiers can usually rely on efficient flintlock weapons, far superior to the matchlocks of other units. 5) Wei Lang, high officer of the White Banner: Lotii commanders usually wear elegant civilian clothes and traditional hats instead of a real uniform. Generals often carry decorated fans or other symbols of power, and sometimes a dao or a similar sword. 6) Lotii swordsman: A musket is a powerful weapon but, when the gunpowder finishes or gets wet, it becomes nothing more than a club. A sword, instead, remains deadly also under tropical rain. Charging the enemy with a sword and a shield can seem antiquated, but can still be surprisingly effective 7-8) Bouton warriors: Warriors from the vassal state of Bouton wear bright, colourful clothes and sometimes bell-shaped bronze elms. Known as fierce fighters, Bouton warriors fight with spears and short swords. Some of them are also equipped with firearms, usually antiquated but robust matchlock muskets.
-
Clan Amagai samurai and ashigaru on Jinzi Island (El Oleonda) From left to right: 1) Ashigaru musketeer: in traditional Monomonto armies, the ashigaru (literally “light feet”) are basically all the soldiers not belonging to the samurai class, ranging from peasants with clubs and spears to heavily armoured warriors. The introduction of gunpowder turned ashigaru into a formidable fighting force: anybody can learn how to shoot in a few days, and bullets have little respect for courage or nobility. Although not as disciplined as Madrician line infantry, or as the “new-doctrine” soldiers deployed by other clans, the Amagai clan musketeers can be deadly, especially when fighting in tight formations. 2) Naginata samurai: somehow similar the the knights dominating the Madrician kingdoms after the Empire, the samurai are skilled warriors following a code of rules, the way of the sword. They live with honour and die with honour, following their lord to victory or death: surrendering or retreating is not an option, and they consider killing their enemies more merciful than taking them as captives. Even if samurai are mainly known for their swords, their main weapon is usually a spear (yari) or a sort of halberd (naginata). 3) Samurai wearing the Amagai sashimono: Monomonto warriors are extremely heterogeneous in clothing and equipment, even if when they belong to the same clan. Weapons are often taken from defeated enemies, and an armour can change owner several times. To recognise foes and friends, warriors and commanders have therefore to rely on the sashimono, a little flag worn on warriors’ back. 4) Amagai Ieyasu: daimyo (feudal lord) of the Amagai clan. Warrior from tip to toe, hard and inflexible as the steel of his sword, he is seen by many as a living incarnation of the way. He led his men into countless battles, often against stronger warlords, and he always won, becoming a sort of legend. Times are changing fast, however, and famous warriors have already fallen on the island, killed without honour by Carnite grunts. The old warrior is now in front of a difficult choice: embracing some of the foreign innovations, or leading once again the charge of his samurai towards the guns of the enemies, possibly to a glorious death. 5) Amagai Nanako: while almost all the samurai are men, nothing forbids women to follow the way of the sword. Second daughter of Amagai Ieyasu, Nanako is a skilled warrior and a respected leader. 6) Samurai swordsman: a samurai showing his famous swords, katana (the “true” sword) and wakizashi (the long knife); as sharp as razor blades, thes weapons can literally cut an enemy in half. Samurai spend their all life training with swords, and only a very few Madricians could defeat one of them in a duel. 7-8) Tamaco tribe ashigaru: with war raging on Jinzi Island, several of the tribes of New Haven Seas got involved in the conflict, either siding with one of the nations or attacking anyone entering their lands. Several warriors of the Tamaco tribe joined the Monomonto armies as auxiliaries: for them, this is just a different way to continue their ancestral war against the Tyree’De and other rival tribes. The Tamaco warriors can be easily recognised from their red war paint and their helms carved from shark skulls… some of them, however, gladly replaced their traditional equipments with the far more effective Monomonto steel!
-
Previously: Jack hatches a plan With Jack's plan finalized, he and Kate passed the word to other prisoners. The Lotii guards had become complacent watching over their Halosian prisoners for so long, and the number used to guard them and their diligence in their duty had waned. When an opportunity finally presented itself, the prisoners overwhelmed their guards, secured the keys to release their incarcerated brethren, and acquired whatever makeshift weapons they could. Some were able to get their hands on swords and knives, but others had to settle for pick axes and hand axes from their work site, and even a meat cleaver from a Lotii cook. Once free of their shackles and armed, the prisoners made their way through the jungle toward the harbor. Jack and Kate had assembled a group of enough able-bodied seamen to commandeer at least five ships, and there were no guards to speak of around them. Jack had his eye on a man-o-war, and there were several brigantines or similar ships docked adjacent to it. And the ships didn’t appear to have been stripped of essential materiel. Could he be so lucky? --- I would have liked to have time to MOC the overpowering of the guards, but real life interceded. This build at least gave me a chance to experiment with some different foliage than my usual builds. And this serves as a sistership build, replacing the Wolf (and subsequent sisterships Wolf II and Fenris Ranger) with its newest sistership El Lobo. All C&C welcome.
-
Seawatch, El Oleonda, February 622 After days of heavy tropical rain, the sun was finally high in the sky. With the warm weather, the luxuriant vegetation, and the parrots singing, the day seemed perfect for a picnic outside the town, apart from a little detail... the Lotii army besieging Seawatch! The enemies were less than a mile far, but everything was weirdly calm. The attack, however, could begin at any moment... in an hour or in a week, the enemy troops could have been right there, trying to storm the outer defenses of Seawatch. The defenders of Seawatch were ready to face them, musket in hand. They would have held that advanced position as long as they could, then they would have retreated to the second defensive line: those positions outside the city were precarious, but still allowed to keep the enemy cannons far enough from the city. Carnite soldiers and civilian volunteers were fortifying a small abandoned farm outside Seawatch: placing a few wooden spikes in a choke point required minutes, but could stop the charge of a whole cavalry company. Reinforcing the small garrison with conscripted civilians, however, had some downsides: some were undisciplined but brave, while others had clearly never held a musket before. A small group of Oleonese "merchants", coming from Fort Arltrees, had reached Seawatch right before the siege and was coordinating the defenders in the outer positions. Curiously, their leader seemed strangely expert about urban fights and irregular warfare. When asked, he always mumbled something about having fought in Charlatan Bay and quickly changed the topic. This was likely false, but the Carnite officers didn't actually care, since his suggestions were helping to keep the Lotii out of Seawatch. At that very moment, the "leader of the merchants" was discussing with a Carnite officer where to bury some gunpowder barrels to create a fougasse, using those very barrels as an improvised tactical table. His real name was Emmanuel Perrault, and he was an officer of the Oleonese military intelligence... but, there in Seawatch, he was Luc Delacroix, an Oleonese merchant trapped with his partners by the Lotii siege. He had had worse aliases, but it was still strange thinking that he would have received a medal -or he would have been buried- with a false name. He rolled the map and walked to another position, yelling orders to the militiamen... there was no time for sentimentalisms, as Emmanuel Perrault or as Luc Delacroix, he still had a siege to win! Overall view I hope you like my build! As a side note, I'm using it to introduce a secondary character, Emmanuel Perrault... I don't know when I'll use him again, but I wanted to have someone (more sacrificable than my main characters) in the besieged Carnite city. PS: After taking the photos and dismantling the build I realized that one of the muskets was chewed by one of my cats... nice!
-
Since July of 620, Jack and Kate have been the prisoners of the Lotii on the island of El Oleonda, initially forced to work in a textile mill in Oryant. They briefly escaped in April of 621 and stole a small junk, but were quickly recaptured. Since then they have been put to hard labor in Luyang. But nearly 20 months of captivity have not dimmed Jack’s hopes. “I swear they gave us this view of the harbour to torture us,” lamented Jack. “I don’t think they’ve giv’n us that much thought, Luv,” replied Kate. Jack was strangely silent in response. Something had caught his eye. “What is it, luv?” queried Kate. “I can see the Nightwing!” “Our ship? Maybe they are trying to torture us!” exclaimed Kate. “Yes, our Nightwing. They’ve captured a fair number of Halosian ships. We know that from all our fellow prisoners.” The wheels were turning in Jack’s head. “And they don’t appear to have merged many of the Halosian ships with their own patrols. They must not like working with what they consider to be strange rigging. But I can see several brigs, and even a man-o-war down there, that they never sail out.” “What of it?” sighed Kate. “We have the men to sail them!” declared Jack. “If we can pass the word among the prisoners and effect an escape, instead of trying to sail away on a small junk, we could sail out of here with a war fleet under our command. We’d have more than a fighting chance to get out of here for good!” Kate perked up. “Just get me a blade and I’ll cut us a path through the guards to those ships.” The wheels in Jack's head continued to turn. “Hmmm, yes dear, I’m working on that…” To be continued. --- Making another attempt this MRCA to get Jack and Kate out of captivity, and using this as the required build to sistership the Nightwing. All C&C welcome.
-
[COR-FotL-Cat1A]] Viceroy's Horse Archers and Personal Guard
evancelt posted a topic in Brethren of the Brick Seas
Zhu Shizhen, the new Lotii Viceroy for the island of Jīnzi (El Oleonda), brought seasoned horse archers with him when he traveled to the New Haven Sea. The result of centuries old traditions in ranged cavalry, the archers are expert marksmen on horseback as well as swordsmen on the ground when the need arises. They decorate their large sable fur hats with golden flames to make their enemies think they have angered demons. While the Viceroy's personal guard use modern flintlock firearms not unlike those of Madrician line infantry, the archers take pride in being able to loose twice as many arrows per minute as the fastest of musketmen can fire their weapon. ------------- OOC: My entry for the Flower of the Lotus - Category 1A challenge. @Ayrlego and I put together a series of little Lotii vignettes last fall using Korean minifigs - was fun to rethink the Lotii using "purist" parts. -
Newly promoted Major Brickleton had arrived just days earlier at Fort Arltrees on the island of El Oleonda. With him were multiple companies of 26th Foot and 18th Hussars. After conferring with Colonel Wolf, Brickleton sets out with a company of 18th Hussars toward the Carno settlement of Seawatch. Reports suggest the town is under siege by Lotii forces and Brickleton has orders to confirm the veracity of those reports. While the territory between Fort Arltrees and Seawatch is wild and mostly unexplored, the 18th Hussars, known as "The Lightfoot", are expert horsemen and navigate the terrain with deftness. The group rides silently toward Seawatch, listening for telltale sounds of the enemy but thus far only hearing the occasional monkey in the underbrush. Brickleton wonders to himself what they will find as they approach Seawatch. ------------- OOC: A recon mission to see the status of Seawatch. A closer up detail shot of the continued experiments with brick-built saddles:
.thumb.jpg.e660cf72f2e60ec12f7362dac3534e35.jpg)
