A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1378 - 1378: Secrets of the Past - Part 8

"Indeed, a leading play," Volguard said, nodding his approval. "And what would your intention be in chasing away the spearmen?"

"Uhmmmm," Nila narrowed her eyes in thought, before giving up, and looking to Oliver for assistance.

Oliver shrugged at her. "There's no use for you thinking about this in terms of the battlefield anyway. You're a hunter at the end of the day. I have no idea what sort of hunt this board would look like… But hunting is what you're good at.

"Right," Nila said, nodding earnestly, as if she'd just been given the most sage bit of wisdom. "If I chase the spearmen away, it means I can hunt them down."

"…Theoretically, it is hard to translate that into some sort of concrete idea," Volguard admitted, when both Nila and Oliver pressed him for an answer with their silences. "However. The aggression of an attack, and a flawed defence, especially against a weaker opponent, will yield a continuous display of small minor mistakes.

And those minor mistakes will confound into a total positional weakness that you can likely use a tactic to solve. So – I will attempt to chase away these pieces."

He did as Nila said, putting her ideas into action. Oliver suddenly found himself sitting bolt upright and attentive. It was immediately a different style of play to what he'd grown used to with Volguard. The Professor would never risk overextending for the satisfaction of a mere threat, but he dared to do so now.

Oliver's spearmen were well within range of Volguard's bows now, and he was forced to make the decision as to where he might retreat. Or if he would retreat at all. There was a stubbornness in his personality that made him mislike taking a backward step, even on the Battle board.

He searched for a way out of it, wondering if he could counterattack with his cavalry instead, and punish Volguard for exposing his cavalry so early. His fingers hovered over the cavalry piece, and he ran through a simulation in his head, on the pressure of Nila and Volguard's stares. But he sighed, and relented. The attack was strong enough that he had to take it seriously.

He retreated his spearmen a few tiles.

"So, our chase begins, Lady Felder. How might we continue it, and take advantage of our fleeing prey?" Volguard prodded.

"Hm… fleeing spearmen…" Nila said, stumped. "I'm not really sure..."

"I would perhaps enforce the same advice that Ser Patrick gave you. Think of the Board in terms of a hunt, since that is what you are familiar with," Volguard said.

"Well… if I was greedy enough to be hunting this many animals at once, I wouldn't be able to just chase them from the front, or they'd all scattered. I'd have to surround them," Nila said. "You know, it's quite strange how slowly you can often go on a hunt.

All you need to do is walk, and have your net of hunters kept tight, and the prey will often run itself ragged, just trying to guess where you are. We should be covering the same distance, but the prey always seems to get tired first."

"Is that a threat?" Oliver said.

"It might be," Nila grinned back.

"Then, what would you have me do, to complete this net of yours, Lady Felder?" Volguard asked.

"Uhm… you need something along the sides. I think these bowmen here are already up far enough," Nila said. "I don't know what more you can add though…"

"If I might make a suggestion, in the form of shifting our cavalry a degree further forward on the left flank?" Volguard said. "Does that suit your intentions?"

"Oh! Yeah! Actually, that's really good. You always have to leave prey somewhere to flee to, if you want to tire it out. You don't want a complete encirclement," Nila said.

Volguard and Nila were having their fun putting their mutual plan into action, but it fell to Oliver to deal with its consequences. He grimaced his annoyance. He hated being put on the back foot in Battle. He felt like it was the most boring part of the game, having to defend himself. He wanted to execute grand attacks, and craft strategies that lead to mighty tactics.

Being forced to dance away from enemy spear points didn't do all that much for him.

He could see the net closing around him, and he didn't like the thought of shifting away from it any further. Animals fled, ruled by instincts, but humans were a craftier sort than that. Though he knew it would be embarrassing to lose to Nila – even if she was supported by all of Volguard's wisdom – Oliver chose to execute a risky strategy. He simply stood his ground.

He left the cavalry units as they were, and shifted his own bowmen a tile further to the front. It was a gentle commitment towards a possible counterattack.

"Hoh…" Volguard said, inclining his head. "It would seem that our opponent is not quite as simple as the prey that you often chase, Lady Felder."

"Some animals do think to stand their ground," Nila said. "A bear might, until it's frightened enough that it starts running. I suppose that we just need to prod him a bit, and he'll be made to run away as well."

"And what would you do towards that end?" Volguard asked.

"Can we not push our bowmen forward to harass him a little bit?" Nila asked.

"He has his own bowmen waiting now to fire upon us as soon as we come in range," Volguard said. "This foe is evenly matched with us from the off. We can't simply chase him away based on making him understand our superior strength."

"Gah… This is complicated," Nila said. "If you'd just run, Oliver, this would have been so much simpler."

Oliver smiled at that. "Welcome to strategy Nila – it's miserable. You'll be pulling out that hair of yours before long. Your scalp will end up looking like Judas."

"…Like Judas?" Nila said in dismay, her frown so heavy with disgust that it seemed as if she might strike at him.

"Perhaps it's not possible for you to fall that far," Oliver admitted. "But maybe you'll come close."

"That might be the worst thing you've ever said to me," Nila said, sniffing.