Hex Crawl 23 #252: Fortress of the 6th Maniple

Twelve hexes northwest of Alakran.

 

After all these elite companies we finally see an outpost of the regular army of Wahattu. This is the sixth of eight maniples, a force limited by the influence of Urighem and intentionally cut too small to stand up to its mighty hosts, for each maniple numbers five phalanges of fifty men each. One phalanx is archers, three are spear, and the fifth has mastered both weapons. 

The manipular troops know they are less valued than the colorful companies which are maintained under the guise of fraternities and hunting clubs, outside the range of Urighem's inspectors who seldom stray too far eastwards. They are kept in their walls -- sloped earthworks topped by stone ramparts and towers -- by coercion and lack of other opportunities. If a patrol from this fort is encountered it will be (d6) 1-3: 10 spear and 10 archers on patrol, with 2 sergeants (level 2 fighter) and 1 lieutenant (level 3 fighter); 4-5 it will be twice that amount on an exercise, march or maneuver; 6 it will be a group of d6 deserters.

Hex Crawl 23 #250: The Screen of Hail and Dust

Two hexes southwest, nine northwest of Alakran.

  

Fully titled "The Skin-Flaying Screen of Hail and Dust," this elite company of the Wahatti military is made up of skirmishers who throw leaden sling bullets engraved with their names at distance, and hurl heavy armor-piercing javelins at shorter range. Their round shields spend much of the time strapped to their backs. Hide jerkins and helmets are their only other armor, the faster and farther to move without tiring. Each man carries three smoke pots to be lit and thrown in a retreat when concealment is desired. Completing their armament, a dagger with a rough quartz crystal for its pommel goes strapped to the buskins around each man's left calf.

Their fortress commands a view of the northern plain from a rounded hill. It houses half of the company, the others being quartered west of Mehershal's Caravanserai where the Road of Flowers is joined by the Eryptos road. Its tall walls have multiple angled slits from which the slingers are trained to shoot accurately, and each of the eight towers has a shot-arbalest that can pepper the ground below with a fast-flying shrapnel of sharpened stones. The men entertain themselves with footraces, rabbit hunts, and a kind of hide-and seek in the hills to the south, appearing in groups of 10-20 out of their total complement here of 80.