Completed [LP] Enlist in the Royal Dragoons! Codex plays Sabres of Infinity

[baud]

I can't believe I missed a bunch of updates

I'll go with 2

 

[ERYFKRAD]

2

 

[Kipeci]

"Saint Octavia's bouncing tits."

I’ll vote 1. The boss may be stark raving mad, but he’s still the boss and I doubt our charisma will change his mind so might as well kiss his butt.

 

[Reinhardt]

1. It's final chapter and we are still lieutenant.

 

[zaper]

2 all the way

 

[tindrli]

1. It's final chapter and we are still lieutenant.

We miss brain so our only hope is luck in battle

 

[Lithium Flower]

1. It's final chapter and we are still lieutenant.

The sequel is out and there are plans for 3 more.

 

[Lithium Flower]

"I've my doubts, but I believe that if anyone could deliver us victory, it is you, sir."

Wulfram tilts his head at you, a faint smile on his lips.

"Then let us hope I prove worthy of your confidence, lad."

Cunaris does not respond: even he sees the lack of wisdom in pressing against Wulfram's optimistic prediction. "What is your plan for this victory then, sir?" he asks, deftly changing the subject.

The old general smiles as he pours himself another glass.

"Call a meeting, Cunaris: Brigade commanders, their staff, regimental commanders and their lieutenant colonels, if you would so please. I will outline our course of action tonight, so that we might begin the march northwards tomorrow."

Your colonel nods. "Anything else sir?"

"Yes. This young officer and his troop should be rewarded: set them at liberty for the remainder of the evening." Cunaris nods. Wulfram turns to you. "Do not think me ungrateful lad. I will have you made captain next time I speak with His Majesty, in a better regiment of your choosing. You have my word."

If Cunaris takes any umbrage at Wulfram's implication of the low character of your regiment, he does not show it. Even a man as powerful as he must tread carefully around the Duke of Wulfram. The old general sits back, glass in hand. "Enjoy your evening, lieutenant. Dismissed."

-

Your first priorities for the evening are a bath and a proper meal, in that order. By the time you have eaten and made yourself presentable, the darkness of night has fallen upon Noringia in full force. As you look up at the bright stars, a thought occurs to you that this may be the last night you will ever spend in town. After all, you are to depart for what is likely to be the greatest battle in Tierran history come the morning, and even triumphant armies do not win battles without losses.

You resolve that you must make what could be your last night in Noringia count for something. A number of possibilities come to mind: you have not spent the past six years without making acquaintances, after all. You decide to:

1) Seek out Colonel Hunter and Major Hartigan.
2) I spend the evening with my men.

Personal Information

As of the Summer of the 607th year of the Old Imperial Era

Alaric d'al Ortiga
Age: 19
Rank: Lieutenant
Wealth: 550
Income: 10

Soldiering: 74%

Charisma: 40%

Intellect: 0%

Reputation: 49%

Health: 65%

Idealism: 86% Cynicism: 13%

Ruthlessness: 31% Mercy: 69%

You have no decorations as of yet.

Unit Information

Sixth Troop, Third Squadron, Royal Dragoons
Senior NCO: Staff- Sergeant Hernandes

Discipline: 30%

Morale: 29%

Loyalty: 32%

 

[ERYFKRAD]

1. It's final chapter and we are still lieutenant.

The sequel is out and there are plans for 3 more.

Santa Maria.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

2

 

[Kipeci]

1

 

[Storyfag]

2

 

[Reinhardt]

2. I don't want to risk our promotion because of low stats of our men.

 

[baud]

2. I don't want to risk our promotion because of low stats of our men.

2 I just want to survive the next battle and increasing these stats could save our ass.

Regarding the game, is there a lot of content that can be missed in a playthrough?

 

[Grimgravy]

2

 

[tindrli]

2

 

[Lithium Flower]

Over the past six years, the constant influx of Tierran soldiers have led to a commensurate increase in dives, ginshops and other taverns for men of low breeding along the Noringia waterfront. It isn't difficult to find the one where your men are congregating.

However, you see your men leave as soon as you arrive. When you ask the man at the bar for an explanation, he simply shrugs.

"Men in mud-green with big red patch on front? They come, order strongest spirit I have," he says, as he polishes his glasses. You lean in, trying to make sense of the barman's thick Antari accent. "One of them, they say something about how they all going to die."

Unfortunately for you, it appears that your men found themselves in need of stronger solace than drink. "They head down street, find house of… uhm, how you say in Tierran…"

You shake your head and sigh. You know exactly what your men are looking for, and unfortunately, as a gentleman and an officer, your Dragoons go where you cannot follow, lest your reputation be ruined entirely.

-

The march north drags on for an eternity and a half. For those used to the rapid pace of cavalry operations, the kilometres-long, mostly orange-coated ribbon that is the Duke of Wulfram's army seems to travel at a crawl.

Thankfully, Cunaris has managed to place your regiment near the head of the whole army. Judging by the amount of mud and manure and other debris which the three or four thousand men in front of you leave, you cannot particularly feel much envy for the line infantry regiments which make up the rearguard.

Due to the turning of the road, you cannot ever see more than a small portion of the army ahead of or behind you, even from your saddle. All you know of the fifteen thousand men beyond your sight are the stench of an army on the move and the sound of thousands of male voices. As with any large number of men in movement, the men sing to keep their spirits up and their feet in step. For three days, the forests of Southern Antar ring with the words of "The March of the King's Chosen", "The Last Grenadier", "Bloody Straight Silver" and "The Maid as Sweet as Sorrow" as the men of the King's Army march on under the summer sun.

On the evening of the third day, when the songs have all been sung and you have begun to grow accustomed even to the overpowering smell of raw steel, powder and horseshit, the army makes camp at the opening of a great clearing, in the ruins of an old town and in the shadow of the two great towers of a crumbling stone castle. Even from perhaps ten kilometres away, you can see the vast billows of smoke which issue from the sentinel lights and cookfires of the enemy.

You bed down that night knowing that the next morning will see the greatest battle of your life.

-

Early the next morning, when the sun is no more than a wistful sigh of light on the horizon, you are called, along with every other troop and squadron commander in the regiment, to the Duke of Cunaris's headquarters for a briefing.

"Gentlemen, it seems the Saints have given us a fine day for sabre work," he says, resplendent in his bane-hardened plate, as you and your fellow officers settle in around the large map in the centre of the appropriated farmhouse. "Better yet now that we know that the Antari have not shown sufficient alacrity to seize the high ground."

It takes you a few moments of staring at the map to understand what Cunaris means, but you manage to puzzle it out: A ridge runs across the open expanse of the clearing, perhaps the height of a two storey house. Instead of taking it quickly, as would have been expected, the Antari had apparently ceded the advantageous terrain to your own army.

"Since we have the ridge," Cunaris continues, "the Duke of Wulfram has decided to position the main line of our infantry atop this high ground. Our artillery will be placed in two batteries. The first one here, in between Castermaine and Tourbridge's brigades." Cunaris points at a salient in the ridge which juts out northwards in a gentle curve. "The second, here: at the left flank of Havenport's brigade."

The Duke looks up at each of you. "You may have noticed that such a deployment would leave the second battery exposed from the left: that is where we shall come in. Wulfram expects that the Antari will attempt to charge those guns. However, we shall be covering them, from here." Cunaris taps at a point on the map, at a fanciful sketch of a ruined castle. "We shall take up hidden positions before the morning sheds too much light upon us. That will allow us to deploy in secret: the Antari will not know of our presence until we open fire upon them."

Cunaris is interrupted by a raised hand. "Have you a question, Captain Elson?"

Your squadron commander nods. "Does this mean we shall not be fighting mounted sir?"

The Duke nods in return. "My orders from Wulfram are to dismount and fight from cover." His tone leaves no room for dissention. Elson's disappointment is palpable, but Cunaris pays it no mind.

"I will require every one of you to be as alert as possible. We've no sign of the Antari Church Hussars. The peacocks haven't shown their faces quite yet."

A wave of murmurs washes over the room: Some of your fellow officers actually cheer. If the deadly Antari Church Hussars are missing from the field, the battle would likely be much easier.

One of the regiment's more senior officers, a Major, does not share this optimism. He leans forward and points to a spot on the map six or seven hundred paces in front of the extreme right flank of your line. "What about here sir? The foliage is green enough to hide their bane signature, and from what I saw of it last night, it is certainly tall enough to hide things a great deal bigger than a few thousand men on horses."

Cunaris shakes his head. "Wulfram is of the opinion that the underbrush and floor are too rough to be passable by cavalry. This means that the Hussars are most likely to try to strike from the opposite flank, our flank. The ground is more open there. Therefore, we must assume that shall be so, am I made clear? We must assume the Hussars will hit our flank, and be prepared for that eventuality."

The room replies with a chorus of "Yes, sir," yours among them.

-

With the issue settled, the Colonel continues along the course of his briefing.

"Major Keane, you will liaise with the Duke of Wulfram's staff. Lieutenant Colonel Marras, you will take your Sixth Squadron and set up fighting positions in the Eastern tower. I will take Third and Fourth Squadrons and do the same in the Western Tower. Am I made clear?"

You nod with the other officers. It would take a drooling idiot to misread his orders.

The Colonel nods. "Very good then, gentlemen." He pauses for a moment, as if thinking of something substantial to mark the occasion. "My fellow Dragoons, this town which we are standing in is called Blogia. The castle which we are to hold is the castle of Blogia. Remember that name well gentlemen, for although it may seem strange to us now, it will be the word on everyone's lips soon enough. To your tasks, and may the Saints watch over you. Dismissed."

-

The regiment rides to its assigned position in darkness. The only thing you can see of the towers which you are to defend are their black shadows jutting into the slowly brightening sky.

-

The ruined castle of Blogia is actually a rather impressive sight, once you approach close enough to behold it in spite of the early morning gloom. The two decaying towers, standing some sixty or so paces apart, thrust into the sky like great pillars, surrounded by the ruins of the curtain wall which once encircled both them and the town standing in its shadow. The ruined old stronghold does not have the low, businesslike profile of Fernandescourt's old fortress, nor the picturesque grandeur of Noringia's ruined town walls, but the decaying and overgrown castle has an air of romance around it, as if heroic deeds were meant to take place in its shadow.

By the time you and your Dragoons set up fighting positions within the musty ruin of the western tower's upper floors, the field before you is lit in bright yellows and oranges by the now rising sun. However, it is the sight beyond that field which interests you more: the great mass of Prince Khorobirit's army as it moves into position on the opposite end.

When you had first spied the vanguard of the Antari host less than a week before, you had thought that no sight wrought by mortals in the world could ever leave you so shaken again.

Being proven wrong does not do much to calm your nerves.

The difference between an army on the march and an army with ranks dressed and ordered for battle is the difference between bud and flower. What you had once beheld as a mass of fighting men on the march now unfolds in petaled splendour by the battalion: thousands of infantry, with their weapons and metalwork blazing orange in the morning sun, a wave of flesh and steel and brown peasant homespun. Behind them stands a sea of horses, furs and bright plumes of a hundred colours: the Antari light cavalry. The full, terrible spectacle of the army which the Lords of the League Congress have sent to throw your army into the sea envelops the entire horizon. From one end of the field to the other, all you can see is the glitter of steel and the vast billows of dust behind it.

-

Your men, it seems, are in even more awe.

"How the bloody hell are we supposed to fight that?" one of them shouts. More of your men nod, dumbstruck, as if they were doing battle with the Saints themselves.

Before you can respond, a confident, measured voice answers from behind you.

"They aren't gods, that army out there." Regardless of his own thoughts on the matter, it seems Captain Elson is still doing his best to boost the confidence of the men under his command. "You're all afraid; well, I can't help that. What I can tell you is this: to keep a tight grip on that fear, to sit on it, listen to it when it seems to be speaking sense, but do not let it rule you."

More men gather around to take some measure of confidence of comfort in your captain's words.

"Every man fears; for a hero is not a man without fear, but a man who fears and fights on regardless. So keep fighting dear fellows! Keep fighting and let the enemy give in to their fear first, because they will be thinking the exact same thing as you. The only thing keeping them going forward is the hope that we will break before they do. Well, that hope will turn to ashes in their throats, for they know not who we are!"

Elson has the entire squadron in rapt attention now: over two hundred ears, begging for his next words. He does not disappoint.

"And who are we?" he shouts.

The answer is thunderous, from every throat, yours included. "Dragoons! Dragoons! The King's Dragoons!"

-

Your regimental cheer is still ringing in your head when Elson comes up to you, his expression jubilant.

"There! Right there!" He points at a glimmer of silver shining in the dust behind the vast formation of Antari light cavalry. "Take a look at that!"

You snap your field telescope to your eye for a closer view: on closer inspection, the faint, dust-masked image shows itself as a suit of armour, alight with the characteristic blue glow of bane-hardened plate.

"The Hussars, Ortiga! The Hussars are here, and better yet, they are on our flank! We shall face the finest heavy cavalry in Antar today!"

1) I remind Elson that having to face several thousand elite heavy cavalry is no cause for rejoicing.
2) Elson is right, if we win against Hussars, our glorious deeds will stand forever!
3) I remain skeptical that the Hussars will attack our flank.

Personal Information

As of the Summer of the 607th year of the Old Imperial Era

Alaric d'al Ortiga
Age: 19
Rank: Lieutenant
Wealth: 550
Income: 10

Soldiering: 74%

Charisma: 40%

Intellect: 0%

Reputation: 49%

Health: 65%

Idealism: 86% Cynicism: 14%

Ruthlessness: 31% Mercy: 69%

You have no decorations as of yet.

Unit Information

Sixth Troop, Third Squadron, Royal Dragoons
Senior NCO: Staff- Sergeant Hernandes

Discipline: 30%

Morale: 29%

Loyalty: 32%

 

[Kipeci]

So much for boosting unit stats. Maybe VD rates.

Let’s go with 2, seems morale is a problem for everyone so that could use some last minute fluffing.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Wow, that was depressing. Normally you'd get a very heartwarming scene here, but looks like your troop is not...well.

2. I don't want to risk our promotion because of low stats of our men.

Trust me, it is not your promotion you should be worried about right now.

Regarding the game, is there a lot of content that can be missed in a playthrough?

Ah yes, most certainly. There are two entire optional chapters (reserve duty and combat duty) you can access that have its own adventures, perks, and rewards. However, the early promotion you chose has its own perks, such as the ability, although you mostly failed to capitalize on it.

There are many achievements to strive for, including 3 decorations for exceptional service (of which we got none), special routes unlocked by a combination of high stats and smart choices (for example, if you had very high intelligence and played your cards right with Elson you could've presented your own plan during the outpost skirmish.

Plus you get to export your save to the second book, with drastically different starts depending on how you end this one (if you survive), so there are even more variables. Purchase this gamebook and play for yourself (but not before we finish this incredible tale, of course).

So much for boosting unit stats. Maybe VD rates.

Let’s go with 2, seems morale is a problem for everyone so that could use some last minute fluffing.

This choice is how we feel, so its another idealism/cynicism thing - pretty sure won't affect. This final chapter has a lot of these moments, which make up for fine build up, but unfortunately it may slow things down quite a bit in the context of this forum LP.

 

[Kipeci]

Option one said to remind him so are you sure we wouldn’t be talking to him?

 

[Lithium Flower]

Option one said to remind him so are you sure we wouldn’t be talking to him?

You will be, but it still determines how you feel about the situation. Much like a prayer's primary effect is on the one who prays. Or something.

 

[baud]

It's a shame we couldn't join our men for a night of fine debauchery in the local brothel, but noblesse oblige...

Wow, that was depressing. Normally you'd get a very heartwarming scene here, but looks like your troop is not...well.

At least we got Elson to cheer them up.

Regarding the game, is there a lot of content that can be missed in a playthrough?

Ah yes, most certainly. There are two entire optional chapters (reserve duty and combat duty) you can access that have its own adventures, perks, and rewards. However, the early promotion you chose has its own perks, such as the ability, although you mostly failed to capitalize on it.

There are many achievements to strive for, including 3 decorations for exceptional service (of which we got none), special routes unlocked by a combination of high stats and smart choices (for example, if you had very high intelligence and played your cards right with Elson you could've presented your own plan during the outpost skirmish.

Plus you get to export your save to the second book, with drastically different starts depending on how you end this one (if you survive), so there are even more variables. Purchase this gamebook and play for yourself (but not before we finish this incredible tale, of course).

Cool, thank you! I was thinking what we've played here seemed a little short compared to the 200 000 words boasted on the store page.

 

[Grimgravy]

2

 

[tindrli]

2 it is

 

[baud]

Regarding the game, is there a lot of content that can be missed in a playthrough?

Ah yes, most certainly. There are two entire optional chapters (reserve duty and combat duty) you can access that have its own adventures, perks, and rewards. However, the early promotion you chose has its own perks, such as the ability, although you mostly failed to capitalize on it.

There are many achievements to strive for, including 3 decorations for exceptional service (of which we got none), special routes unlocked by a combination of high stats and smart choices (for example, if you had very high intelligence and played your cards right with Elson you could've presented your own plan during the outpost skirmish.

Plus you get to export your save to the second book, with drastically different starts depending on how you end this one (if you survive), so there are even more variables. Purchase this gamebook and play for yourself (but not before we finish this incredible tale, of course).

Cool, thank you! I was thinking what we've played here seemed a little short compared to the 200 000 words boasted on the store page.

I've checked the screenshots from the store page, two of them are from situation we've not seen