[Glorantha] Lunar Colleges of Magic

[Donald R. Oddy]

In message <455B184D.3020606 at blueyonder.co.uk> Orlanth Umathi writes:
>Donald R. Oddy wrote:
>
>Mikko Rintasaari
>>> The Comet Seers are one of those writeups that left me very frustrated and
>>> asking "but what is it that these people actually do on the battlefield??"
>> 
>
>Donald R. Oddy
>I can understand that feeling.
>
>> I'm beginning to think describing the Lunar Field Colleges as military
>> units is a bit misleading. They don't appear to be units of magicans
>> who are organised to all do specific things like reconiasance, artillery 
>> support or whatever. What they are is a group of specialists who are
>> trained to work together, thus providing a more powerful effect than
>> they would individually. 
>
>Allow we to provide a different take. The history of real world warfare 
>teaches us that new technology applied to war does not necessarily 
>effect the overall strategic or even tactical situation in a 
>revolutionary way. Instead it introduces a new option that conforms to 
>the standard techniques of warfare.
>
>So, when deciding on what a unit brings to the table, it is best to try 
>and categorise it in terms of its strategic significance and its 
>tactical use.

>
>For instance aeroplanes introduced new possibilities into war, but 
>strategically their usage is based on their function. For instance, they 
>offer manoeuvrability beyond the enemy line, (utilised as reconnaissance 
>instead of cavalry; or raiding troops to disrupt supplies, communication 
>or disrupting infrastructure by bombing like cavalry or sea raiders).
>I could go on, or analyse tactics also, but aircraft are not the issue.
>
>So we have a new innovation on the battlefield, a Lunar Field College. 
>What does it offer? Well the book provides some answers, they assist the 
>  army in battle, they rarely confront the enemy, they are vulnerable to 
>a charge,  consequently they are protected by archers (who are also 
>vulnerable to a charge especially when assigned static roles), they use 
>all forms of magic for flexibility, they tend to stay in large 
>formations, they act together to perform large scale magic. 
>(Interestingly they are well articulated by a chain of command right 
>down to squad size, but this does not appear to be utilised [yet].)
>
>They are also bookish and good at organising things.
>
>So they play to their strengths, and mainly act as "assistance". What 
>does that mean? My suggestions:

Some interesting ideas here.

>1: They aid with logistics.
>The Lunar Army is organised, but I doubt that they have a 20th century 
>style staff to organise its needs, so magic would serve as an aid for 
>combat readiness. With invigoration, marching and morale magics, repair 
>and construction spells. Also, the college probably provides the 
>logistic staff available to the army.

I don't think this is a CoM activity. There are magicians of various
sorts with individual units, as well as the Anirestyu corps which is
in charge of logistics.

>2: They aid with defensive tactics
>Dealing with the battlefield's magical entities, (landscape spirits 
>etc.) providing defensive spells against missiles, maintaining 
>effectiveness through mass healing and logistic spells (see 1). 
>Maintaining a watch over the magical forces at play on the battlefield 
>and readying appropriate defences for themselves and the army. (If in 
>doubt reflection is always an option.) Oh, and they might provide a lot 
>of offensive and defensive magic for their supporting archers through 
>sheer pragmatism.
>
>3: They aid with offensive raiding strategies
>Acting in concert with the infantry, by dealing with, dominating or 
>destroying enemy landscape entities. Disrupting enemy worship of such 
>entities and identifying and deactivating enemy places or worship or 
>sites of power. Helping to identify routes and defending against ambush 
>and the counter offensive with defensive tactics (see 2).

These seem to counter the value of a concentrated magical unit,
spreading the resources about for a lot of minor advantages.
All Gloranthan armies do this at a unit level so what's the
advantage of a specialist regiment?

>4: They aid with persisting offensive strategies
>Aiding provincial overseers or commanders by using their logistical (see 
>1) and persuasive abilities and magics to maintain order and peace in 
>occupied territories.

I can't see it making sense to attach a Field School to a provincial
overseer on the long term basis required for this. Especially as
the bulk of the School is made up of university students called up
for a short term requirement.

>5: They aid in offensive turning strategies
>Providing movement and surveillance magics and identifying safe routes 
>to the enemy rear or flank. Identifying weakness in the enemy lines. 
>Once the manoeuvre is complete they will probably go back to providing 
>defensive support to these newly positioned troops.
>
>6: They reluctantly engage in offensive tactics
>Sure they don't want to expose themselves to the enemy by either 
>manoeuvring close or casting offensive magics that could backfire. But 
>try convincing the field commander that he shouldn't use their offensive 
>options. Its a big temptation, and in the real world many commanders 
>have misused their available units so why should Glorantha be any 
>different. So when commanded they no doubt act as artillery (or even 
>more risky, light infantry) bombarding the enemy with destructive or 
>disruptive magics. Due to the danger they probably seek magical 
>weaknesses first and when possible negotiate over their targets.
>Worse still, they may be asked to take the offensive against magical units!

I think this is the main purpose of a Field College, bringing 
overwhelming magical force against an enemy at a critical point
in a battle. Quite often this will occur on the heroplane. It's
not that a big a risk either because until Argrath develops
similar units there are few opponents who can counter them on the 
heroplane. Thinking about it, the first defeat on the heroplane of 
a Field College is probably the Dragonrise.

>7: They aid in defensive withdrawal
>With the aid of the infantry they disrupt transport routes, destroying 
>infrastructure and leaving behind magical opposition in the form of 
>entities or traps (and we think land-mines are bad).
>
>
>Another thing to note, the use of new innovation changes once effective 
>defences are taken against them. Aircraft can strafe and low level bomb 
>enemy lines, acting as light cavalry, but ground-to-air missiles are a 
>very effective defence against such expensive hardware so they are not 
>used in this way lightly.
>
>We know that the Orlanthi organise magical units of their own, which 
>makes offensive use of magicians even more risky, and evens up the 
>battlefield defensively. But, earlier on, I can imagine the Orlanthi 
>devising variously effective defences against many of the above 
>strategies and tactics, making warfare in Dragon Pass a very interesting 
>prospect indeed.

I don't think the Orlanthi have a counter to the Field Schools in
the early part of the Hero Wars. Except the Harrak approach -
batter their way through the enemy line and kill the magicians
before they get their magic working.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/