Rome at Ostagar

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SilverDragonRed
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Rome at Ostagar

Post by SilverDragonRed »

Just as the name implies, Roman legionnaires replace King Cailan's army at Ostagar. They number 5,000 strong (just like the army they replacing), are knowledgeable about the approaching Darkspawn (numbering 15,000), and have a week to prepare. Loghain's army has no replacement and is gone from this scenario.

Scenario 1: the legionnaires are veterans of the Gallic Campaign.
Scenario 2: the legionnaires who fought at Watling Street.

A bit of info on the battle itself:
The ruins of Ostagar sit atop a plateau that watches over the southern Kocari Wilds, and is generally a cold place year round. With warning of an upcoming Blight the King of Fereldan gathered an army to confront them. The plan was to lure the darkspawn in a prepared defensive line built at the mouth of the ravine leading to the plateau. Then Loghain would lead his force into the rear and encircle the horde.

The battle happened shortly after nightfall, and in the rain. When the darkspawn began their charge, a volley of fire arrows were launched followed by a counter-charge of Mibari war hounds. The Army of Fereldan charged out of their high ground defenses into the horde. A beacon was light signalling for Loghain to charge, but he quit the field. The Army of Fereldan was pushed back to their defensive works, and King Cailan was killed. Hardly anyone from Fereldan survived.

In their place how do the Romans fare?
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Lord Revan
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Re: Rome at Ostagar

Post by Lord Revan »

Will the Archdemon enter the battle if things go south or will he/she stay out of the fight and let the horde loose here?
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SilverDragonRed
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Re: Rome at Ostagar

Post by SilverDragonRed »

If I recall correctly, the Archdemon is still stuck underground so can't join the battle.
Ah yes, the "Alpha Legion". I thought we had dismissed such claims.
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Zwinmar
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Re: Rome at Ostagar

Post by Zwinmar »

Darkspawn get slaughtered en mass as they charge the Roman fortifications and face massed artillery consisting of scorpions and onagers. As depicted in game the Darkspawn did not have to face any kind of defensive arrangement while they are facing a highly disciplined force of seasoned veterans. Additionally, their tactics consist of "Charge!" they do not even use a Boar's Head when they do so, rather they charge singly each being for themselves.
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Zwinmar
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Re: Rome at Ostagar

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Darth Tanner
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Re: Rome at Ostagar

Post by Darth Tanner »

The Darkspawn from the cinematic have no tactics or formation, no support other than the ogres which would still go down quickly to Roman artillery... its a slaughter with the Roman force only suffering minor casualties from the battle itself... maybe more heavy casualties from the blight.

However from the gameplay the Darkspawn have magic and artillery capable of blowing chunks off of the walls and blasting formations of men apart... the Roman armies performance against the Darkspawn will primarily be determined by how closely we are sticking to the cinematic or the non shown capabilities of the Darkspawn...

There is also the issue that the Darkspawn tunnel up behind the army, originally to stop the beacon being lit but this could also be a sizeable attack force into the Roman rear.
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Civil War Man
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Re: Rome at Ostagar

Post by Civil War Man »

Zwinmar wrote:Darkspawn get slaughtered en mass as they charge the Roman fortifications and face massed artillery consisting of scorpions and onagers. As depicted in game the Darkspawn did not have to face any kind of defensive arrangement while they are facing a highly disciplined force of seasoned veterans. Additionally, their tactics consist of "Charge!" they do not even use a Boar's Head when they do so, rather they charge singly each being for themselves.
The bulk of the horde infantry charged, but they were also backed up by some of their own artillery (which seemed to focus on counter-battery fire, since it primarily targeted the Ferelden archers and ballistae on the bridge). Also, a sizable force of Darkspawn tunneled past the lines and came up into the Tower of Ishal behind the Ferelden vanguard. And unless we give the Romans meta-knowledge on how the Darkspawn would divide their forces, there is little reason for them to station more than a token force in the tower, if that (without Loghain's army, there isn't as much need to use the tower for the purpose of passing signals). And if, for whatever reason, the Romans decide to fortify the tower, any forces they commit to securing it reduce the available forces to stand against the bulk of the horde.

I do agree that the Roman legion would do better than the Fereldens did, since the Romans used are professional soldiers as opposed to primarily conscripts and militia, but I don't think it would be nearly as one-sided as you think. Best case scenario, they manage to hold the main line and fortify the tower in such a way as to create a bottleneck and defend against the Darkspawn there with minimal personnel. Worst case, they get flanked by Darkspawn swarming out of a largely undefended tower and are overrun.

EDIT: DT beat me to it on bringing up the other forces the Darkspawn brought to bear.
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Re: Rome at Ostagar

Post by streetad »

The Darkspawn also had some kind of artillery/trebuchets as they were bombarding the ruins themselves pretty heavily during the sequence where the player is attempting to light the beacon.

Still, for the most part it's a bunch of supernaturally strong/resilient guys with heavy armour and poisoned weapons charging in an undisciplined mob at prepared defences. Instead of the light cavalry or chariots the Romans are used to facing they have ogres. If the legionaries hold their discipline in the face of literal horrifying monsters they can win.
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