Chapter Six

"Are the players ready?"
"I'm ready. Hey reaper, ready for me to wipe the board with you?"
"Keep laughing, it makes your inevitable fate all the more enjoyable for me."
"Let the battle begin."

Central hill, forested around the outer two scale miles of the map, spring, looked like it might be Decidua judging by the variety of trees visible from her position; in other words ideal conditions for battle.
As she began grouping her troops by type and starting position she turned her thoughts to her opponent. He was arrogant, clearly. His overconfidence would certainly mean he'd be underestimating her, expecting the obvious. He was a bully, which meant he'd want to win by anihilation rather than by rout or siege; so her supplies would be safe. Lastly, his mental defenses were externally originating. So he probably played most of his matches as part of a team, he clearly gave little thought to his own defenses.
She formed her strategy from there.

She split her suppllies for accesability, taking half of them forward under the cover of the trees on her left flank. His men advanced to the top of the hill and cut down what few trees were there to construct a makeshift fort at the top of the hill. His troops were primarily spearmen, suplementary cavalry and swordsmen set up along the hill itself behind the frontline spearmen. He'd only brought one company of archers. She couldn't have asked for a better setup. With her archer/spearmen army and suplementary cavalry would be perfect. He had a commander in the fort, a personal avatar; he might pose a threat, a T6 mage was never a minor force in battle. She'd have to be careful with the fort.

His supplies were defended only by one of his units of swordsmen; the cavalry she'd sent around to capture it masacred them. She then proceded to split his supplies in half and brought the newly divided supplies around to her right flank. He didn't even seem to notice having lost the unit, or the supplies. It was a siege now, the countdown made it clear he had three in-game days to aquire new supplies. It would be an hour long match at the longest now. Some of the students in the audience were talking about it, one of the teachers was looking very interested; She realised she might be able to get more out of this than the joy of publicly humiliating him.

She ordered her cavalry into an orbiting patrol just inside the treeline, Divided into two groups she'd be able to quickly react to any attempt to break out and subsequently to reinforce her men if the battle was dragging on. Her spearmen she set in a full perimeter within the clearing, by keeping them close to the forest's edge she could conceal her numbers and prevent him from knowing where her troops were strongest. The archers she moved into range of his spearmen at the base of the hill, and then proceded to unleash a slow rain of arrows on his men. She even dragged some pitch and rags out of her supplies and started to randomly use fire arrows on his increasingly demoralized men. His cavalry began forming on the right flank to sally out. She moved a reserve unit of spearmen to prepare for the charge. As she did she positioned her three units of swordsmen to minimize reaction time in case of an infantry attack.

It was the most annoyingly realistic element of the Historical Forces variation of TacSim, in the versions featuring modern amies one could rescind an order and give troops orders from anywhere on the map. On this one, with medieval armies and technologies, all orders were conveyed by messengers, orders could be intercepted and once given it was almost impossible to offer further commands to your men. Micromanagement was nearly impossible. Her adversary could only watch in dismay as the archers he'd been charging fled behind a line of pikes that was bolstered twofold from what they had been when the charge began. The only cavalry who survived are those the game AI caused to surrender. His team quality equipment was looted and her spearmen found themselves noticeably better armored. The surviving warhorses would be invaluable for future armies. And he could do nothing about it.

He assembled his swordsmen next. Half of his companies headed for her left flank. Their shields would defend themselves against archers, and their greater agility would allow them to slip past her spears, so she moved the two closest companies of swordsmen to counter attack. One arrived in time to form the center of that battle line, the other soon enough after to prevent a near rout. But as his swordsmen were locked in the clearing, held back by her shield wall, her cavalry swept the flank and again his assault was turned aside. Her surviving swordsmen found the equipment of their fallen foes quite to their liking.

He was aware of his condition now. The timer showed the first day ending and a warning sounded anouncing that two days remained to resupply. With only his spearmen and a single company of archers left at his command defense would be the only viable option tacticly, it would take a miracle to win by this point. But he was stubborn, and enraged by the loss of men he'd spent years training and equiping. He ordered two-thirds of his spearmen to attack her center(near side). She selected a semi-circle of archers and ordered full barrage against the plodding spearmen. Then selected the rest and ordered a barrage against the men remaining on the hill. With his line broken at her center as his men charged, she sent her full cavalry against the remaining defenders(Easing the barrage to preserve her men of course). Then she gathered her reserves to close on the fort and its meager handful of defenders.

His armies were broken. Years of effort had just been lost in a single battle. And even his commander, mage though he was, fell under the relentless barrage. The situation was made all the more shameful as the final report showed him as having managed not even a thousand kills. Petra had won by a landslide, but she was just annoyed at the lack of challenge.

As her opponent stomped off cursing her and caling foul, one of the teachers walked up to her.
"Miss Laerdsfeld, My name is Degol. In addition to teaching command magic and advanced comabt enhancemt, I'm the coordinator for the school TacSim league. I was wondering if you might like an oppurtunity to head up a team."
"I don't have enough friends to put together a team."
"Well, if you get togther any you have I know a few students who would like to join a team but don't have any friends either. You'd get credit for it as a class, and it's the perfect way to spend a couple hours after classes."
"I don't think that would be entirely fair sir."
"TacSim's not about fair, it's about winning. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Id say you like winning."
"I play against generals and nobles; students like him aren't even a challenge."
"Higgole is a pushover. He's just a distraction most of the time. Most teams have someone like that, to do the suicide missions and make it look like they took the bait. Believe me, you'll enjoy it."
"Mr. Degol, I accept your offer."
"I'll have your team and some practice time set up by next week. Good luck with classes your highness."