Kevin's Watch

Well, If Foul marches across the North Plains to Revelstone, I fear no tactics will suffice to stop him therefore the army must lured into or south of Grimmerdhore. The marching Warward of 10000 must clear as much of Grimmerdhore of enemies as they can, urviles, kresh etc. The Landsdrop unit will again be split in two, One unit of 3000 meeting Foul's oncoming forces and withdrawing south toward the Soulsease, and the other being 2000 strong will join the Warward. The now stronger Warward will have 6000 cavalry who will be positioned within Grimmerdhore and 6000 digging in the northern hills of Andelain.
The 3000 men harrying Foul's army will slowly withdraw south between the hills and forest. To make it appear as a complete rout the unit can divide some going into Grimmerdhore and some cutting into the hills where they will simply rejoin the respective units there. The prepared Warward dug in can surprise the fleeter pursuing forces of Fouls army and no small force entering Grimmerdhore will escape.
The bulk of the Despiser's force will get word of and attack the entrenched Warward, who in turn will signal the cavarly to close the jaws and charge from the forest at Foul's rear/flank. It should work, I think.

ok, we've got our backup; the war council is now closed!


(the warring land - game 2 will be written shortly (before the end of the day))

Bump. Oops, its finished

LOL.

Ahhh, old times, the third topic i started (second as hierachy). Whatever went wrong in part 2?

I have thought a lot about this topic, during the years after reading the Illearth War.
I just do not see any way, not even theoretically (except one, below) for Hile Troy and the Warward to win against the army of Lord Foul.
The Warward was 20,000 in strength. Foul sent 400,000 against it in the Illearth War, about 1/3rd of his full force.

I can see how Hile Troy thought victory was achievable, because he so greatly underestimated the force Foul had to throw at him. He was guessing Foul had 50,000 to 100,000.
Hile Troy's reaction on Kevin's Watch was understandable, considering what his Landsight showed him.

If Hile Troy had taken the time to teach the techniques of creating firearms and high explosives to the Lords and the people of the Land, and if the Lords and the people of the Land had mass produced firearms and high explosives, and if Lord Foul had not followed suit, then perhaps the odds would have been changed.
If Hile Troy could have (somehow ...) instructed the Lords and the people of the Land in making modern aircraft, missiles, and tanks, and they had created these things, and Foul had not followed suit, then the odds would have changed further.
Obviously, if Hile Troy had taught them the secret of nuclear arms, that would have made a difference.

Assuming none of the above, I would have (in great bitterness) admitted defeat, and recommended the total evacuation of Revelstone and the Land, into the relative safety of the Westron Mountains.

Well, if white gold is rare, I imagine plutonium is really hard to get a hold of in the Land. Then again, it could be as common as limestone. Arming the whole warward with anything more complex than a crossbow might have been complicated. Some greek fire (or homemade napalm, whatever), however or any kind of chemical or biological weapon... Not that the wood and stone lore didn't help during the siege, but it's all about the number of people who can produce it.

Doing anything like that would've probably felt like cheating somehow. And by the nature of the story, no matter what Troy might have done to make himself feel competent, Foul would find a way to disillusion him.

I agree.
I think that Hile Troy could not win, no matter what he did or tried to do.
The reduction of Hile Troy to utter despair and ultimate suicide seemed to be fated, as it were.
I guess that if the Warward had guns, Foul would have had more.
Had they had missiles, Foul would have had bigger missiles.
Had they had aircraft, Foul would have had better aircraft.
I doubt the Lords would have touched guns, tanks, missiles, and aircraft. I think those concepts would have horrified them. Just my gut feeling.
Nor would the Lords have agreed to give up Revelstone and leave the Land to Foul, despite the odds.
Hile Troy, was really out of luck. Just out of luck. REALLY out of luck.

I agree, there's no way those weapons would have saved the warward.