The Campaign Builder's Guild

Okay, my current campaign has taken a little misstep, and now there's an army of 10,000 Hobgoblins advancing on the kingdom my PCs live in.  This was sort of the plan all along, but I expected the PCs to disobey the king's orders and go try to slow it down (after sending him some sort of magical message) when they found out how close the army was to the kingdom.  Instead, like good little citizens, they followed his orders to the letter and returned the capital and gave the king the bad news.

The news is this: in less than 9 days (I've decided on 7, but the PCs don't know that) the army will arrive at the kingdom's border.  It is approximately 10,000 warriors strong, and is composed mainly of well-trained Hobgoblin soldiers, with a few Goblin/Bugbear scouting parties, Ogre bruisers, and a couple of Trolls.  The kingdom has about 2500 trained soldiers that are spread across the land, the king has informed the PCs that he can get his troops to the capital city in 5 days and to the border in 7 days.

The kingdoms army is so small because it is bordered by two peaceful kingdoms (one of Dwarves to the north and one of Elves to the south) both of which rarely speak with the king, each thinking themselves above the human.  In any event, they can be reached by magical means, but there's no guarantee they'll send many (if any) troops, likely preferring to barricade themselves in and prepare their own defenses.

So, my question is this: how can a party of level 5 characters, with an army of 2500 lower-level soldiers, stop an army of 10,000 Hobgoblins with less than a week to prepare (it would take them time to return to the border).

Here are what I would consider their assets:

*One level 5 Human Knight (PC) One tough son of a gun.
*One level 5 Human Cleric (NPC party member) Good healer, great against undead.
*One level 5 Elven Rogue (PC) Fantastic stealth and alertness skills.
*One level 5 Human Bard (PC) Good diplomacy, a couple of illusion spells.
*One level 6 Human Cleric (NPC, Grand Priest)
*20+ level 1 Clerics (Lesser priests)
*One level 6 Fighter (NPC, General)
*2400+ level 1 warriors (Army Grunts)
*Less than 100 level 2 warriors (Officers)
*Various level-appropriate magic items (Mainly Potions and Wands)
*4 mid-level magical items to be given to the PCs by an Outside Force (Who will of course not be helping fight)

I think that's pretty much it, though if someone sees something obvious they should have and don't, I may have merely forgotten it.

I'm sure the players will have a couple of ideas, but I really need something for the General, Grand Priest, or King to suggest, just in case the players can't think of anything.

Thanks.

- DX

Question #1: What sort of land is the kingdom they are defending be on?
Question #2: ~ What is the CR of the average hobgoblin in the army?
Question #3: Highest CR in t he army?
With those answered, I will have a strategy in no time.
Gah. Just realized only  real spellcasters are NPC's. Half of plans are gone.

Does the kingdom have physical defenses that can be used (walls, moats, so on)?  Will the army need to be met in the field or will they have to lay siege?

Quote from: DarkxarthHere are what I would consider their assets:

If only we had a wheelbarrow and a Holocaust Cloak!


sorry, it was obligatory. I'll post something relevant once I get back.

Quote from: Sir VorpalQuestion #1: What sort of land is the kingdom they are defending be on?
Question #2: ~ What is the CR of the average hobgoblin in the army?
Question #3: Highest CR in t he army?
With those answered, I will have a strategy in no time.
Gah. Just realized only  real spellcasters are NPC's. Half of plans are gone.

1. The kingdom is mainly plains, with some low hills to the north and some forests to the south.  However the Hobgoblins are coming from the west, and those aren't likely to affect them.
2. Most of the Hobgoblins are level 1 Warriors, with a few level 2 Warriors as veterans and officers.  There are also some Ogres (CR 2) and two Trolls (CR 5).
3. The highest CR would be the opposing general, I'm not sure what level he is yet, but he's not planning on being directly involved in the fight anyway, so no need to consider him.  That being said, it looks like the toughest guys are the two Trolls.

4. The group only has a Cleric, and there are no decent Wizards/Sorcerers to speak of in the kingdom.  Maybe a few level 1 mages could be rounded up in the capital, but probably no one with sufficient firepower to deal with it.

EDIT: "If only we had a wheelbarrow!"  Nice.

The capital city is very well defended, but making a stand there would mean abandoning miles of land and numerous villages, not to mention the border town.

The border town has wooden pallisades, and a small town guard (20+ level 1 warriors) but nothing like enough defense to do anything other than provide a speed bump in the Hobgoblins road to the capital.

I take it by well trained you mean Lvl3 warriors or lvl1 fighters? Ogres and Bugbears right out of the MM are not that mcuh of a threat on their own, but Trolls can be a problem for armies of John P. Smith.

First:[blockquote=SRD]Fireball
Evocation [Fire]
Level:    Sor/Wiz 3
Components:    V, S, M
Casting Time:    1 standard action
Range:    Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Area:    20-ft.-radius spread
Duration:    Instantaneous
Saving Throw:    Reflex half
Spell Resistance:    Yes[/blockquote]
Because of the way CON boosts HP in 3.x, two balls will not take a troll down (in AD&D they could, but that was then.)

Second: Make sure the General's (Lvl6 NPC Fighter) AC is at least 20 points higher than any goblin regulars full attack bonus. (Don't use the dodge feat.) He's the army's Juggernaut, bitch, and can be used to tie up the army in very tight areas like tunnels and bridges. Coupled with the PC Knight and Team PC should be able to have a wall of muscle and metal at all times.

Army equipment: Light X-bows en mass, tower shields (doors and tables) and studded leather armor.
Army tactic: First few rows has shields and falcions, takes total cover option 'till the shield breaks then attacks. Everybody else has X-bows, falls prone, and shoots 'till their out of ammo. When row one falls, row two stands up, grabs a shield and hangs in their.
PCs chase down big targets like enemy heroes and big stuff.

Is there a dungeon of any sort in the vicinity or could there be? Because how cool would it be to rig it to collapse beneath the advancing enemy's initial charge?

It's a little cliche, I know. Still, a mission to rig the mines/catacombs/caverns to collapse would both provide something to do for seven days and a convenient and visually impressive solution to the first wave. Plus some hella difficult terrain after that.

Other terrain features could also work in a similar manner (artificial landslides, bursting a dam) or could be exploited in other ways (300-esque narrow pass so their numbers don't matter thing... I got not much else).

Or consider a problematic alliance between yourselves and a second group of "bad" guys, if such is available. "I summoned Cthulhu to fight off the goblins! Innit great?"

In general, it'll be good if you fight dirty on this one. You're not going to be able to stand toe to toe with these guys.

Massive evacuation of lands, with army guarding rear. Send out cavalry to harry the attackers, and leave decoys and traps to slow them down. Seriously, with no big mages the best option is to flee into a more defensible position (like helm's deep) or to the lands of a stronger ally.

If the PCs want something useful to do, they could make a mad-dash through the enemy lines to try and take out supply lines.

Holy Carp Unorthodox Game Plan #1: Pestilence

Contagion looks attractive - since it could spread through an army and make them less than effective fighters.  Blinding sickness is especially attractive, with a high DC (16), Strength damage (good against warriors) and possibility of blindness.  It has a few big problems, though - it has a 1d3 day incubation time, so the PCs would have to get to the army quickly and delay them as much as possible to give it maximum effect.  The big one, though, is that the spell has a range of "touch," meaning that some kind of perilous ruse would be in order to infect the army.

With blinding sickness, that turns out to be the easy part.  It's spread by tainted water - so all the PCs have to do is find the water sources that the enemy army will have to use.

If you manage to get the disease spreading, the effects are quite nice - a hobgoblin has a +4 Fort save, so any given warrior has a 55% chance of failing a save.  Each day with a failed save is 1d4 Strength damage, and the hobgoblin has a 41% chance to be blinded every time he gets damage from the disease.  That's a 23% chance every day that any infected hobgoblin will be permanently blinded; if the PCs can get to the proper water sources, the army could be crippled within a week.  Even if the hobgoblins have their own low-level clerics to cure diseases, there's no way they could cast enough to stop the epidemic.

Of course, some might object to the "immorality" of spreading disease, but desperate times call for desperate measures - and besides, blinding sickness can't kill, and a battle certainly can.

I agre ew/ Raelfin. My plan would be: Split the army up. take the more powerful ones to flank the attackers and constantly pick them off w/ skirmishes, while defenders and refugees flee into elven/dwarven/other ally's territory. After refugees are safe, have the skirmishers regroup and meet up in the ally's land while new plan be formed.

Refugees? What a waste. Seriously: a commoner with a X-bow is as dangerous as a warrior with a longsword. Simple arithmetic.

Hmm. I'd say have any and all mages start cranking out as many wands of magic missile as possible, then distribute to anyone who can use them. cheap, accurate coverfire, with no risk of injury to allies.

I agree with the above, in that disease is a very good idea.

Thirdly, you've got enough men to (maybe) pull off a night chaos attack, which would work except that everyone in their army has darkvision. Still, they might be able to simulate a much bigger army, and lure theirs on a wild goose chase through the brush after it.

So far, it seems like the best plan is:

1. Evacuate the border town and nearby villages and hamlets to the kingdom.
2. Make a stand at the border town (with a small group of soldiers) and set off numerous traps and ruses to whittle down the first waves.
3. Contagion the town well and move around the army to try and deal with supply lines to force them to use the well water.
4. Try to slow down the army on its way to the capital while the defenders prepare for the attack.
5. Hope the Dwarves and Elves will send some aid, maybe even soldiers, or at the very least be prepared to take refugees.
6. Pray to Pelor.

Thanks guys, if anyone has any more ideas or wants to help critique this plan, feel free to keep posting.

- DX

Invent the machinegun.

EDIT: On a more serious note... surely you want the PCs to be the ones to swing this battle... so even if the kingdom's forces would get mauled, have there be one weak point in the Hobgoblins' army, that will cause everything to fall apart. Then send the PCs to take this out. Your players get to feel heroic, and the tide of battle is turned.

If the hobgoblin army is played smartly (which hobgoblins are typically very strategically sound) the kingdom would not survive, IMO.

Any traps, spies, etc. should have to deal with many scouts that precede the 10,000 strong army.  Roughly a few hundred scouts should be out on patrol to screen the advance at all times.

If the kingdom retreats to the capital, the hobgoblin army should be able to simply starve out the city, since the kingdom has had little time to prepare.  With only one or two weeks to prepare, the food stores will be mediocre at best.  It could also just go around the capital and kill/destroy all that remains outside of the capital.

Thirdly, aside from the obvious problem of having 10,000 hobgoblins attacking, they also have the ogres and two very problematic trolls.  If the PCs somehow can get 1 troll/ogre at a time, they can wittle them down possibly (though without the fire spells of a mage, it'll be tough and they'll have to get creative).  However, if the trolls/ogres attack the kingdom's soldiers, or the PCs en masse, it'll be a rout unless there are serious situational considerations.

There are only a few ways the kingdom can survive in my mind:

First, and the least fun, is a deus ex machina.  Basically this is your dwarves/elves, intervention of the "higher power" providing the magic items, flood, famine, disease, etc.

The second way the kingdom can survive is to retreat cmopletely to the capital and man the walls.  Send refugees elsewhere in the kingdom (east?) and hope the hobgoblin army lays siege and something presses them to force the assault (low food reserves?).  The odds are against them here (especially with no mages), but this is the best chance they have for surviving without DM help.

If I were the DM, I'd give the players an out.  Hmmm, lessee.  If the players can somehow do X, then the hobgoblin army will rout or withdraw at the least.  X could be killing their leader, destroying a sacred shrine that they carry with them, etc.