Concerning the Use of Magick in Combat in Pre-Modern Europa
(originally in French, Essai en thaumaturgie dans la guerre, by Contamine Fils. Translated by E.C. Müller, 2624 AUC.)
Introduction
Other writers have addressed various aspects of combat, particularly personal combat, with many useful tracts concerning the use of sword and shield, horse and lance, archery of every type, and so on. Few, however, have addressed what is popularly known as the battlemage in all his various manifestations. In this libellus I endeavor to survey briefly the full range of magical combat, with the hope that specialists will be able to add depth to where I have provided breadth.
Overview
All warfare is divided into three parts: offense, defense, and logistics. Within each of these there falls a two-fold division; namely, the strategic and the tactical.
Offensive warfare is comprised of the chevauchee, the attack, the counter-attack, and the siege.
Defensive warfare occurs either in the field or in a siege.
The logistics of warfare includes everything from supplying the army with food and drink to clearing roads to the work of agents and spies. The reader need take only a moment of reflection to realize there is at least occasional cause for fighting in any and all aspects of logistics.
For the purposes of this essay we leave aside warfare at sea or other bodies of water.[1 - this work also comes before the Great War, and so does not consider warfare below ground or in the Second World]
Defense
In general, there is preparation and repair of enchanted items, then there is actual defensive combat.
Strategic defense means fortifying points. On the battlefield, this means taking steps to guard the camp, including the setting of traps. While in modern times dwarven specialists handle this activity, through earlier centuries it was a human activity. Dwarves are more skilled, all agree, but the traditional structure of clan-and-canton, so well-suited for construction projects with their build camps, was a positive hindrance when it came to active battlefields.
Tactical defense is countering fireballs and other attacks. This includes countermining in a siege. Tactical defense means identifying the threat: its direction, nature, imminence. Then you have to have a skill or spell to counter it, and time enough, and accuracy enough, to be successful.
All this makes tactical defense extremely chancy. And expensive. Ideally you field enough magery in enough places to counter every possible attack, but that almost never happens. More practical is to ward the armor, and to kill the enemy’s mages.
Defense Siegecraft
Here is where dwarves shine, both in ancient and in modern times. Dwarf crafters are able to reinforce walls, place traps on every approach, and ward gates or other vulnerable points of defense. Not surprisingly, they are adept at countermining, though here they often take a more supervisory role, with ogres and sprites doing much of the heavy work (or, in certain times and places, kobold slaves did that).
Moreover, a long history has established practices, prices, and standards so that all know what to expect, on both sides. A siege therefore becomes a matter of outlasting the other side, waiting for a key opportunity to gain the upper hand.
With every innovation (e.g., gunpowder or Steam) this establishment was temporarily overthrown, giving the offensive side the advantage. But with time, countermeasures were developed and the old equilibrium, bloody and grim, was restored.
Offense
Not all battles are of the same type. There are set pieces, running fights, skirmishes, sieges, naval battles. Any of these will have multiple types of units, including cavalry, infantry both light and heavy, archers.
Battles have maneuvers, including recon, skirmish, charge, counterattack, flanking, pursuit. Each will have their own ideal mix of units, but battlefield realities usually knock these askew.
Offensive Siegecraft
Here again we find dwarves, ogres, and sprites at the forefront, with humans and elves used in other roles, including that of a general assault. As a city or castle wall is the chief point of defense, so the attacking army is chiefly concerned with undermining or otherwise destroying those walls. This has been the case ever since the very first documented instance of magic in a siege; namely, the siege of Constantinopolis in 1131 AUC.
The Battle Mage
A true battlemage is extremely expensive and is a huge risk to put onto a battlefield, for the loss of one is usually irreparable. Most battlemages will be out of position, cast unreliably, be blocked or outright killed. They are vulnerable to normal attacks, so to protect them requires a contingent of guards, adding to the expense. Any active battlemage instantly becomes a target.
Battlemages can operate at a distance, by line of sight, or in direct contact. It will depend on the individual. Direct contact is risky and best suited to assassination rather than open battle.
Line of sight offers a bit of protection, but it also invites direct countermeasures. Indirect fire is safer but is also less accurate.
There is also attack by proxy, which is the magical use of animals and plants. Fire snakes and their variants. Magic missiles.
In nearly all circumstances, tactical combat magic becomes less useful the more closely the two forces engage. A battlemage can be valuable in skirmish and in pursuit. They can do well in raids, or as part of a flanking maneuver.
Many medieval battles developed by accident, largely because of poor intel. Such battles develop piecemeal. Mages are so valuable you would never concentrate them all in the same place, except in highly unusual circumstances. You would scatter them all along the line of march or battle front. They would stay apart in camp as well.
It would be standard to send a mage or two with foragers, on recon, or other detached operations.
Combat
Staves and Wands
Even with a magic wand, some sort of action must precede. At minimum, magic wands work a gesture and a few words. Another mage might chant or sing, even dance. Whatever it is, it gets done for each salvo, which means an expenditure of energy and resources over and over during the course of battle.
Magic emanates from or is commanded by the wizard. That was the fundamental understanding of earlier ages. There was as yet no knowledge of phlogiston or aether. Some mages spoke of tapping into a power source, variously described, then channeling it into a target, but the language used was still mystical and idiosyncratic.
Most wizards learned from a master—an individual or in a school. These had methods. Since all this was the caster using his own phlogiston to interact through the aether with other phlogiston to affect the physical realm, really all methods worked, much as all regular combat disciplines work. There are more ways of doing it wrong than of doing it right—there’s a form of that aphorism in every discipline. Some do meditation of one sort or another. Some do physical acts. Some make use of staves or charms or gems. Some use drugs. Many use rituals and incantations. Of a hundred paths, only the hundred and first is correct—another aphorism.
But there are enchanted items. Anyone can use these, though certain mages can use them more effectively. Most times, the effects are too slight to be noticed (they can, however, be measured with the right instruments). Sometimes, though, the effects are strong. This is why the sword in the stone worked. It wasn’t just any stone. Exactly that sword could go only into that particular stone, placed there by a particular spell at a particular time, to be withdrawn by only one particular person.
But for combat we are looking for reliable replication of effect.
The schools could only turn out people who have mastered what the school teaches. This didn’t necessarily make them a good battlemage. The best source was the retired battlemage who took on disciples.
The good ones produced mages who can make attacks quickly and reliably. There was a trade-off, though. Faster and better drains the mage more quickly. Like a battery. Rituals were a way of supercharging. Enchanted items will slow the rate of loss. Push too far and hard, and the host system can collapse. The mage dies.
Madmen rarely can cast, but psychopaths can.
Mages win sieges but lose battles. That’s conventional wisdom. Wizardry is not reliable enough and is too expensive to make any but exceptional use in a set battle.
But what about mages forming their own army? Or a squad anyway. A dozen or a score of wizards could certainly take an island or a district in a city. As outlaws they could be fearsome. Such groups are short-lived. They tend to form around a capo and dissolve when he dies.
Orc magic is widely feared. It tends to be based around natural forces—storm, earthquake—so does damage en masse. Orcs can be careless of their own lives, so a hailstorm of rocks might fall even on their own troops.
Enchanted weapons are the most highly prized, for these are almost completely reliable. They can be distributed and employed in various ways, and most do not require much skill to wield.
Many enchantments are modest: an edge that doesn’t dull, armor that is proof against some particular magic, shields likewise.
Also valued are magic beasts. War dogs, war horses, centaurs, dragons, wargs, were-creatures. These can be commanded, and so used in battle.
The most effective way to disrupt a magical attack is to kill the mage. An arrow is ideal. Failing that, a sneak attack or assassination. Failing both, a plain charge by cavalry or even infantry can carry the mage off with the rest of the enemy. Least effective, usually, is a mage attack. That mage, during battle, is better used elsewhere than in trying to counter or kill an opposing mage.
continued in next entry
(originally in French, Essai en thaumaturgie dans la guerre, by Contamine Fils. Translated by E.C. Müller, 2624 AUC.)
Introduction
Other writers have addressed various aspects of combat, particularly personal combat, with many useful tracts concerning the use of sword and shield, horse and lance, archery of every type, and so on. Few, however, have addressed what is popularly known as the battlemage in all his various manifestations. In this libellus I endeavor to survey briefly the full range of magical combat, with the hope that specialists will be able to add depth to where I have provided breadth.
Overview
All warfare is divided into three parts: offense, defense, and logistics. Within each of these there falls a two-fold division; namely, the strategic and the tactical.
Offensive warfare is comprised of the chevauchee, the attack, the counter-attack, and the siege.
Defensive warfare occurs either in the field or in a siege.
The logistics of warfare includes everything from supplying the army with food and drink to clearing roads to the work of agents and spies. The reader need take only a moment of reflection to realize there is at least occasional cause for fighting in any and all aspects of logistics.
For the purposes of this essay we leave aside warfare at sea or other bodies of water.[1 - this work also comes before the Great War, and so does not consider warfare below ground or in the Second World]
Defense
In general, there is preparation and repair of enchanted items, then there is actual defensive combat.
Strategic defense means fortifying points. On the battlefield, this means taking steps to guard the camp, including the setting of traps. While in modern times dwarven specialists handle this activity, through earlier centuries it was a human activity. Dwarves are more skilled, all agree, but the traditional structure of clan-and-canton, so well-suited for construction projects with their build camps, was a positive hindrance when it came to active battlefields.
Tactical defense is countering fireballs and other attacks. This includes countermining in a siege. Tactical defense means identifying the threat: its direction, nature, imminence. Then you have to have a skill or spell to counter it, and time enough, and accuracy enough, to be successful.
All this makes tactical defense extremely chancy. And expensive. Ideally you field enough magery in enough places to counter every possible attack, but that almost never happens. More practical is to ward the armor, and to kill the enemy’s mages.
Defense Siegecraft
Here is where dwarves shine, both in ancient and in modern times. Dwarf crafters are able to reinforce walls, place traps on every approach, and ward gates or other vulnerable points of defense. Not surprisingly, they are adept at countermining, though here they often take a more supervisory role, with ogres and sprites doing much of the heavy work (or, in certain times and places, kobold slaves did that).
Moreover, a long history has established practices, prices, and standards so that all know what to expect, on both sides. A siege therefore becomes a matter of outlasting the other side, waiting for a key opportunity to gain the upper hand.
With every innovation (e.g., gunpowder or Steam) this establishment was temporarily overthrown, giving the offensive side the advantage. But with time, countermeasures were developed and the old equilibrium, bloody and grim, was restored.
Offense
Not all battles are of the same type. There are set pieces, running fights, skirmishes, sieges, naval battles. Any of these will have multiple types of units, including cavalry, infantry both light and heavy, archers.
Battles have maneuvers, including recon, skirmish, charge, counterattack, flanking, pursuit. Each will have their own ideal mix of units, but battlefield realities usually knock these askew.
Offensive Siegecraft
Here again we find dwarves, ogres, and sprites at the forefront, with humans and elves used in other roles, including that of a general assault. As a city or castle wall is the chief point of defense, so the attacking army is chiefly concerned with undermining or otherwise destroying those walls. This has been the case ever since the very first documented instance of magic in a siege; namely, the siege of Constantinopolis in 1131 AUC.
The Battle Mage
A true battlemage is extremely expensive and is a huge risk to put onto a battlefield, for the loss of one is usually irreparable. Most battlemages will be out of position, cast unreliably, be blocked or outright killed. They are vulnerable to normal attacks, so to protect them requires a contingent of guards, adding to the expense. Any active battlemage instantly becomes a target.
Battlemages can operate at a distance, by line of sight, or in direct contact. It will depend on the individual. Direct contact is risky and best suited to assassination rather than open battle.
Line of sight offers a bit of protection, but it also invites direct countermeasures. Indirect fire is safer but is also less accurate.
There is also attack by proxy, which is the magical use of animals and plants. Fire snakes and their variants. Magic missiles.
In nearly all circumstances, tactical combat magic becomes less useful the more closely the two forces engage. A battlemage can be valuable in skirmish and in pursuit. They can do well in raids, or as part of a flanking maneuver.
Many medieval battles developed by accident, largely because of poor intel. Such battles develop piecemeal. Mages are so valuable you would never concentrate them all in the same place, except in highly unusual circumstances. You would scatter them all along the line of march or battle front. They would stay apart in camp as well.
It would be standard to send a mage or two with foragers, on recon, or other detached operations.
Combat
Staves and Wands
Even with a magic wand, some sort of action must precede. At minimum, magic wands work a gesture and a few words. Another mage might chant or sing, even dance. Whatever it is, it gets done for each salvo, which means an expenditure of energy and resources over and over during the course of battle.
Magic emanates from or is commanded by the wizard. That was the fundamental understanding of earlier ages. There was as yet no knowledge of phlogiston or aether. Some mages spoke of tapping into a power source, variously described, then channeling it into a target, but the language used was still mystical and idiosyncratic.
Most wizards learned from a master—an individual or in a school. These had methods. Since all this was the caster using his own phlogiston to interact through the aether with other phlogiston to affect the physical realm, really all methods worked, much as all regular combat disciplines work. There are more ways of doing it wrong than of doing it right—there’s a form of that aphorism in every discipline. Some do meditation of one sort or another. Some do physical acts. Some make use of staves or charms or gems. Some use drugs. Many use rituals and incantations. Of a hundred paths, only the hundred and first is correct—another aphorism.
But there are enchanted items. Anyone can use these, though certain mages can use them more effectively. Most times, the effects are too slight to be noticed (they can, however, be measured with the right instruments). Sometimes, though, the effects are strong. This is why the sword in the stone worked. It wasn’t just any stone. Exactly that sword could go only into that particular stone, placed there by a particular spell at a particular time, to be withdrawn by only one particular person.
But for combat we are looking for reliable replication of effect.
The schools could only turn out people who have mastered what the school teaches. This didn’t necessarily make them a good battlemage. The best source was the retired battlemage who took on disciples.
The good ones produced mages who can make attacks quickly and reliably. There was a trade-off, though. Faster and better drains the mage more quickly. Like a battery. Rituals were a way of supercharging. Enchanted items will slow the rate of loss. Push too far and hard, and the host system can collapse. The mage dies.
Madmen rarely can cast, but psychopaths can.
Mages win sieges but lose battles. That’s conventional wisdom. Wizardry is not reliable enough and is too expensive to make any but exceptional use in a set battle.
But what about mages forming their own army? Or a squad anyway. A dozen or a score of wizards could certainly take an island or a district in a city. As outlaws they could be fearsome. Such groups are short-lived. They tend to form around a capo and dissolve when he dies.
Orc magic is widely feared. It tends to be based around natural forces—storm, earthquake—so does damage en masse. Orcs can be careless of their own lives, so a hailstorm of rocks might fall even on their own troops.
Enchanted weapons are the most highly prized, for these are almost completely reliable. They can be distributed and employed in various ways, and most do not require much skill to wield.
Many enchantments are modest: an edge that doesn’t dull, armor that is proof against some particular magic, shields likewise.
Also valued are magic beasts. War dogs, war horses, centaurs, dragons, wargs, were-creatures. These can be commanded, and so used in battle.
The most effective way to disrupt a magical attack is to kill the mage. An arrow is ideal. Failing that, a sneak attack or assassination. Failing both, a plain charge by cavalry or even infantry can carry the mage off with the rest of the enemy. Least effective, usually, is a mage attack. That mage, during battle, is better used elsewhere than in trying to counter or kill an opposing mage.
continued in next entry
