A Dark Knight's Troops

[Casual User]

Good morning.

I've been considering a hypothetical campaign telling the story of a nobleman who is banished from Wesnoth for fratricide after a succesion feud and conquers a kingdom for himself in the northlands.

Basically, the campaign would try to use the old myth of the dark/roguish knight, surrounded by his cruel and brutish henchmen.

Now, I've thought of two possibilities for his infantry, and can't decide between the two, so I figured I'd see how people feel.

They are equally workable, campaign-wise, so I'm mostly asking which is the most thematic.

Thank you in advance.

Option 1

In option 1, the base unit is the 'henchman', a sort of semi-bandit hired by our hero, a fast and elusive but frail unit which deals good hand-to-hand damage (especially at night).

He can level into either the man-at-arms, slower but tougher (basically a standard swordsman), or the assassin which keeps the "light infantry" feel of the lvl1 unit and adds skirmisher.

As support units, there is the woodsman and the strongman.

The 'woodsman' is a fast but fairly expensive archer/scout which levels into the 'ranger'. Basically an expensive footpad with a better ranged attack, marksmanship and a bonus in rough terrain.

The 'strongman' is the "tank" unit, a slow and tough dimwit with a big axe who levels into the 'giant'.

Option 2

In option 2, the base unit is the 'crossbowman', a mixed fighter with marksmanship on his ranged attack.

He can level into either the 'soldier', a stronger version of the lvl1, or the 'ranger' which is a little weaker than the 'soldier' but is faster and stronger in rough terrain.

The 'henchman' of option 1 is still there, but now he's a support unit, and functions as a stronger but more expensive fencer (chaotic, of course), and has only the 'assassin' as possible lvl2. As a side note, I like the idea of having skirmisher at lvl1.

The second support unit is the 'strongman' which is the same as in option 1.

And since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are the would-be graphics.

[Turuk]

Based purely on personal feeling, I like option 2. I feel it outlines the growth of the lord's troops better, as with some training anyone can learn how to fire a crossbow, but with more advanced training they can advance to a soldier that can wield the crossbow as well as a sword.

However, what if the unit tree was

Militia-> Soldier or Crossbowmen

Mercenary ->Assassin

Strongman -> Giant

I'm not trying to mess up your idea, I just feel that militia speaks more to the general troops that the lord would have, and then they can specialize into lvl 2 Soldiers or Crossbowmen.

As to the Mercenary, I only changed the name because Henchman does not seem like someone smart enough to become an assassin, but Mercenary implies the experience at killing that would make someone turn to assassination.

[docrock]

imho it is much easier to learn how to use a bow than how to (properly) use a crossbow. therefore i would reserve the crossbow for more advanced units. maybe i am just influenced by the "Fencer" trilogy there, but i think a crossbow should be not "faster" than a bow in terms of more attacks but stronger (more damage). also, if we are talking "Dark Knight" and henchmen here, i'd imagine poison and backstab abilities (maybe not let stop them with lvl2 but lvl3). yet i dunno how long and xp-rich the campaign would be, so i can't say if that would make sense. just my two cents of cause.

[Turuk]

http://www.thebeckoning.com/medieval/cr ... l_v_c.html

Just an example. It takes years of training to properly master and accurately fire a bow as they existed centuries ago. Many times boys were chosen at a young age to be trained into archers.

By comparison, crossbows were relatively simple to train people on, as they used a trigger mechanism to fire, and the bolt was held back by a pushlever or ratchet mechanism (meaning that the individual firing did not have to use his own strength to pull the string, thus improving accuracy by decreasing muscle fatigue). Not to mention that crossbows can even be fitted with rudimentary sights, making the job of the firer even easier.

if we are talking "Dark Knight" and henchmen here, i'd imagine poison and backstab abilities

Beyond all that, the idea of them having those abilities would help to expand on the dark nature of their lord.

[Casual User]

Just a quick post, I've had some free time today so I worked on the crossbowman's graphics. I updated the graphics in my first post.

I am now equally satisfied with the artwork for both options (the crossbowman line used to look like crap).