I could write a story about that

st.patrik · #1 June 16th, 2007, 01:01 PM

I tend to put my wounded soldiers together in one squad and put them up front. In one of my current MP games, where I am playing Jomon, One of these squads is comprised of:

An O-Ban (elite heavily armoured samurai) with a limp
A cursed flagellant, blind, mute, with a limp
A Sohei (sacred elite samurai) with a never-healing wound (stigmata?) and a limp
A Herse (captured from Midgard) who is horror-marked, weakened, and yes, has a limp
Finally 2 Samurai Archers, both with (you guessed it) limps

This elite band is commanded by Keitaro the Daimyo, who is mute.

It's a novel waiting to be written

I can just imagine the O-Ban being resentful that he's there, that he can't be with his O-Ban buddies in the main squad; the flagellant must be a real piece of work - probably thinks each of his afflictions are signs of being favoured by the god - he hobbles into battle waving his flail even though he can't even see where the enemy is. The Sohei would have to have a stigmata-like wound - filled with zeal for his god. The Herse would be moody, having defected to our side but then demoted from being a commander to a regular soldier. The two archers would be old friends, maybe brothers, who mainly keep to themselves. Keitaro has to issue orders by writing them on pieces of paper, but it doesn't much matter anyways, because the order is always the same: stand at the very front of the battle and limp towards the enemy, hoping you don't get hit by an arrow.

BigDisAwesome · #2 June 16th, 2007, 01:29 PM

That is great. I laughed pretty hard.

I always find myself dropping the units I don't want up front to get eaten up, too. Sometimes I feel kinda bad for them.
Like the poor militia and flagellants I'm about to throw into someones PD in a game I'm in now.

Salamander8 · #3 June 16th, 2007, 02:19 PM

Now that was funny!

Meglobob · #4 June 16th, 2007, 02:28 PM

Thats great st.patrik, made me laugh hard, perhaps one day I will get to meet this great band of warriors...the limp squad...

Nick_K · #5 June 16th, 2007, 03:24 PM

Isn't limp not a problem for archers? They don't need to move much in battle, so I'm not convinced you need to throw them into melee

Gandalf Parker · #6 June 16th, 2007, 05:07 PM

Ive always said that I would love to see an AAR published. What I have in mind would be the left pages being a story, and the right-side pages being the steps taken in the game. Take it to CafePress.com and get it published for online sale. It wouldnt cost you anything to get it up for small profit.

Some AARs read really well. Full of excitement, and giggles, and interesting character developments. If it was two-sided with the actual game steps listed then it could also be a kindod tutorial to help spur interest in the game. With screenshots (and permission from Illwinter/Shrapnel of course) you could make a full book out of it.
Id buy one

DigitalSin · #7 June 17th, 2007, 09:05 AM

I'd love to see it made into a book, and the characters and your ideas about them made me laugh a bit. I'd probably buy it, depending on what money i had, and the tutorial idea would be a plus for such a long time noob as me

st.patrik · #8 June 18th, 2007, 03:05 AM

Gandalf - that's an intriguing idea. Two accounts, one from the perspective of inside the game, the other outside. It does seem like there's a lot of stories lurking in the details, if you pay attention.

I have been feeling like trying my hand at writing another AAR, since it's been awhile since that Kailasa one. Maybe I'll try something new.

re. nick_k, I didn't really look at the afflictions before placing the units in the subgroup - just used the 'w' key to select many at a time. That's what makes this group kinda funny: they were together by chance rather than design. Of course you're right that archers, especially longbows, aren't really hampered much by having a limp.

Theonlystd · #9 June 18th, 2007, 03:43 AM

Haha thats Awesome

After the games been going for a bit i always have groups of Elite Experienced troops or the Arrow Catchers Ie the wounded.

Btw the Herses demons from his past could literally come back to bite him in the but

Gandalf Parker · #10 June 18th, 2007, 11:56 AM

Ive tried to avoid ticking off the pure strategists that feel they represent the expert MPers. But Ive often loved putting an RPG story to the "bugs" and features in the game.

I used to love explaining the incorrect battle results as being that my officers were too chicken to tell their god what REALLY happened.

Or what happens when my pretender gives instructions on how he feels the battle should go (scripting) and then coming up with my mages story on why things went abit different.