KoW Great Hunt

From: James Frusetta <gerakkag_at_wam.umd.edu>
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 10:41:08 -0500 (EST)


David Dunham informs:
>It's my understanding from Greg that Sheng Seleris did not use the
>wonderfully effective tactics of the Mongol hordes. So mounted archers
>can still kick butt, but they won't rampage through Ralios like a hot
>knife through butter.

Well, nuts. Maybe in the Fourth Age... But this also puts paid to a MGF Mongol sport, the Great Hunt (which Temujin introduced -- it was part of his revolution of Mongol tactics, so the Pentians probably wouldn't have it if they don't have those tactics.). However, with a few modifications, the Kingdom of War could use it, and it fits their, um, "culture."

To quickly summarize, in the great hunt a large strip of land (80+ miles) was roped off, and the army lined up by unit. The "finish line" was a couple hundred miles off. When the khan said "go", the army pushed ahead, flushing out any/all game ahead of them. The wings gradually pushed ahead of the center, and should encircle the game by the finishing point.

Now, you weren't allowed you kill any animal during this process, but you weren't allowed to let any escape through your line, either. (Not an easy process with wolves, tigers or bears, no). Not until they were completely encircled and the Khan gave the word could you kill anything, but they you killed as much as you liked (lots of heroic attempts, too: taking on bears with a dagger, wolves with bare hands). At the end of the day, the old men and young boys begged the Khan to spare any surviving animals.

On a smaller scale, this is a great idea for the Kingdom of War: maybe just by surrounding a 50 square mile or so area with a skirmish line (keeping a reserve) and pressing forward to compress the game into a couple square miles. Humans, magical critters and the like are included as "game," making it just a tad more difficult since you can't hurt them during the drive (or keep them from magically flitting out with DI, teleport, flight, etc, but that's life in Glorantha). And there's none of this "spare surviving game" stuff, either. LDoaH says "Kill 'em all." Basically a big training exercise, teaching your units to work together, to use local reserves to stem breakouts, etc. etc.

Adventure possibilities? Why, the PCs are among the game...

James Frusetta


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