Battlefield Tactics, Thursday

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Millenia ago, about one point five thousand Greeks took on an army of 300,000 at a place called Thermopylae," Kerrigan began. "It's one of the most famous battles of this planet's history, although you'll probably hear it trumphed up to be three hundred against 800,000, or whatever other figure people have pulled out of their asses that day."

She stood in front of a large pass, nearly unending cliff faces sticking far out into the sky on either side of her. "They'd started with a significantly bigger force, at about seven thousand, but it was obvious they were fucked either way. Holding the pass meant the rest of their army had time to retreat, and try more fruitful battles. In the end, they beat the guys back at Salamis, but not before pretty much everyone in the pass got killed."

She twisted a smile at the students gathered. "I get there's not three hundred of you, let alone one point five thousand," she said, "But sometimes you have to know how to keep the doors shut. This time, your enemies won't be armed with guns, just spears and swords and arrows, all that old shit. Safeties are on, but if you get 'mortally wounded', the Danger Shop is going to give you a red glow so you know you have to depart."

With that, she turned. "Find a good partner," she said, dryly, "You'll live longer."

Comments

Sign In

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Like it's one of you against a hundred of them.

Re: Sign In

[likes_scoundrels]

Leia Organa

Re: Sign In

[puppy_fair]

Zack Fair

Re: Sign In

[momslilassassin]

Ben Skywalker

Re: Sign In

[glacial_queen]

Karla

Listen to the Instructions

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Wonder wtf it is with Greeks.

Re: Listen to the Instructions

[likes_scoundrels]

Leia remembered this battle from her class last spring. She had a certain interesting in fighting overwhelming odds.

Re: Listen to the Instructions

[puppy_fair]

Zack probably would have spent more time wondering about the Greeks if he wasn't so busy wondering why anyone would name a place after salami, instead.

And now he was hungry.

Re: Listen to the Instructions

[momslilassassin]

Ben wasn't used to fighting in a situation that wasn't "odds overwhelmingly stacked against me," so he thought that even with a bow and arrow he'd do all right.

No one said he was correct, of course.

Re: Listen to the Instructions

[glacial_queen]

Karla was more interested in wondering if she could just use Craft to shield off the pass. If bullets couldn't get through, she doubted swords and spears could.

On the other hand, she didn't want the other army to just get bored and wander away...

Okay, what if she put up shields, had people with bows and arrows picking off members of the force up from up on the cliffs, and every so often dropped a bit of her shields so a handful or two of the soldiers could get in and be dealt with by her friends with swords?

Karla would be sketching messy diagrams for a bit.

Re: Listen to the Instructions

[eyesofahero.livejournal.com]

Oh, it was on.

Cloud had maybe a bit too much steam willing to blow at holding a pass at the moment. Also, those Greeks? Made of win.

He would never phrase it that way though.

Team Up and Defend The Pass

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

There's one narrow pass, there's an endless supply of moddable enemies with swords and arrows, and if you get hit bad, you're going to be glowing pretty red for the rest of the class.

Better make sure you and your partner are ready for it.

Re: Team Up and Defend The Pass

[likes_scoundrels]

Being tiny, Leia preferred ranged weapons to swords, so she choose a bow and arrow. She looked around for a good place that would provide cover yet give her a good shot at the bad guys as she waited for a partner.

Re: Team Up and Defend The Pass

[momslilassassin]

Ben grinned at her. "Want to watch my back?"

Yes, he thought this sort of thing was fun. Ben was weird.

Re: Team Up and Defend The Pass

[likes_scoundrels]

"I'd rather have a blaster, but I'll do my best," Leia promised, trying out a few shots with the bow to see what the range and general accuracy would be. She didn't want to skewer Ben by mistake.

Re: Team Up and Defend The Pass

[momslilassassin]

"Yeah, the sword has a different weight to it than a lightsaber," Ben said. "It always takes me a second to adjust." He watched her shooting with professional interest. "Have you used a bow before?"

Re: Team Up and Defend The Pass

[puppy_fair]

Okay, sure, this could very well have been used as an opportunity to acquaint himself with weapons that he wasn't familiar with, like a bow and arrow. But it had been so long since Zack had used a sword for anything more than training purposes, he really couldn't resist sticking with what he knew.

Zack was swinging his sword about, getting used to the much lighter weapon than the one he normally fought with, while he looked around for a partner. He didn't have a shield, though. What self-respecting SOLDIER bothered with one of those?

Re: Team Up and Defend The Pass

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

Proto grabbed a spear. He figured it was close enough to a bayonet that he could figure it out.

Maybe.

"Watch each others' backs?" he asked when he caught Zack's eye.

Re: Team Up and Defend The Pass

[puppy_fair]

"Sure!"

Yes, with Zack it really was as easy as that. No asking what sort of experience Proto had, no long, drawn-out inspection to make certain that he'd be a decent partner on the battlefield.

When you were in SOLDIER, you also took whatever you were given to work with, after all.

"This ought to be fun!"

And when you were Zack, sanity took a backseat to the excitement of battle.

Re: Team Up and Defend The Pass

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

"Fun," Proto repeated in amusement. "I suppose it could be..."

For a very specific definition of the term.

Talk to Kerrigan

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

If you can dig her up.

OOC

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Mmmm naps.

Also one of my few real memories from my elementary school days is obsessively watching and rewatching this kick-ass Discovery Channel documenary on the Battle of Salamis.

Re: OOC

[puppy_fair]

Silly question is probably silly, but are our pups armed with anything for this exercise? I can't find anything saying yay or nay.

Re: OOC

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

D'oh, this is why I should not write classes post-nap. :O Assume pups are armed with the same as the bad guys - swords, shields, bows and arrows.

Re: OOC

[puppy_fair]

Thank you muchly!