12-03-2014, 04:31 PM
A Treatise on the tactics of the Quilboar.
Signed in blood by Kor'kron Overseer Greddirik
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They have many names. Many of them are colloquial - Pigman, Boar-man, Razormane, Bristleback - but the one that I have deemed to use is accepted across the Horde rather than just locally - Quilboar. It is telling, at least to myself, that their names are shallow. That we have assigned them such primitive names - devoid of any meaning other than purely visual - is acceptable perhaps to a farmer, who has greater worries, but not ourselves who intend to defend our lands against them, and therefore it is our burden to have overlooked such things. I need not remind ourselves that our subjugation of the Ogre came about after an improved understanding - and shackling - of their minds. And I need remind us that arrogance was their greatest weakness. We are exhibiting such arrogance by ignoring a foe that has, time and time again, proved they can stand against us.
I've warbled on enough. To the meat.
Overview of the Quilboar as a threat to the Horde's security.
Unassuming as they are, the Quilboar are potentially the greatest threat facing the core Horde lands. They consistently inhabit, as far as scattered reports from our riders speak, the entirety of the valleys of Southern Durotar and a select (densely) entrenched few within Mulgore. They similarly live in such conditions in The Barrens, far more equally spread. These places are more permanent - I will get to why - where presumably their culture and society is more easily practiced. As these camps are either burned, demolished or dismantled before we have reached them, we cannot tell anyway. There are more temporary camps throughout all of the above regions, which are certainly not practicing any culture or society that I can identify with. On a grand scale, this provides two problems, which both threaten us - they are extremely defensible and have a constant access to our own supply lines and outposts. Now I explain why.
The Quilboar's ability to strike at the Horde.
This is no laughing matter. Too many of us have laughed at the concept of the Quilboar's violence. Whether through this laughter or through our own expansion, we've turned them into a force capable of striking and leaving with more mobility than we can muster. I will write explicitly from accounts of own own scouts and survivors of their attacks.
The Quilboar do not let us pick fights. The most common of raids follows a pattern that can be exploited, in that they seem to attack in only two scenarios - valleys, their prime terrain, or isolated flatlands. In a valley, their preparations involve scouting not from the tops but closer to the center of the cliffs, where they straddle jutting rocks and paths both natural and shaman-carved throughout the cliffs. This could either be due to rumored poor eyesight among their people, or - more worryingly - a keen understanding of how we'd normally spot our foes' silhouettes atop hills and high points. On top of this, they blend in with both the ochre rock of Durotar and the paler shades elsewhere. We're not sure whether they manage this by discoloring themselves with pigments. At least once, a wind rider has spotted a geomancer among these parties. On the flatlands, they seem to travel - the rider has said in a manner in mimicry of landfall-era Orcish march - to a certain point near their target, regardless of what it is, and then lie down and observe it from various middling points of ground, similarly to how they approach cliffs. The only time this has been observed, it's gone on for some ten minutes. We can assume that the fact that we haven't recorded this indicates their continuous success. In either case, they seem to bring extremely light supplies, their largest equipment being bags to fill with scavenged goods - some would be easier classified as naked rather than equipped soldiers. A popular but unproven theory from many supply wagons is that they will attack tired foes - this involves assaulting camps at either dusk or early morning and assaulting supply wagons at the height of their day's trek, which they seem to be able to discern accurately.
The Quilboar also do not let us fight on equal terms. In either situation - valley or plain - the freneticism has been called horrifying by survivors. They creep to their prey - as derogatory and demeaning a term may be towards our brethren, that is what they all but become - as far as until they're spotted or being sneaky no longer is practical, at which point mere anarchy is loosed. A vague pattern can be found here from the testimonies of those that lived. If there are geomancers, they make themselves known by wielding many types of undocumented shamanic methods - of two powerful examples, one involved the curling of a thorned vine around a wagon-driver, ripping him into three pieces; the other some kind of barbed projectile large enough to shred leather, judging by the silent evidence of our peoples' corpses. This seems to initiate their combat, since afterwards they begin to scream, and wail, and yelp - all of which I have experienced, and does not end until all of their foes or themselves are dead. There is an immediate volley following the weaving of magick, which has no identifiable pattern - it ranges from their own bows, made of gnarled wood or woven from some kind of pliable material that dies upon our handling of it; pilfered weapons of the Horde, including rifles and crossbows; cannons of varying size, generally no larger than an individual of their own race; rarely, javelins and slings which pelt objects from rocks to barbed things of their own design. Finally, their warriors descend upon our decidedly weakened own.
The ensuing fray is of particular interest. The Quilboar shun explicit formation tactics as Orcs do, but they will bunch together dishonorably - single combat is not alien to them, but they will fall upon foes with a difference as many as five of theirs to one of ours, seemingly to ensure a kill at any cost. This preoccupation with slaughter rather than honorable combat is echoed constantly. Tactics seen at least once - some more than once - include fleeing back a step after kicking a foe to the ground, so as to give the nearby ranger a mortal shot at his fallen body; spitting concoctions stored in their own mouths into the eyes of the enemy, blinding them through unknown means; deliberately distracting a foe so that another may drop on them from above or impale from the sides or back; and the use of primitive explosives throughout the densest groups of our warriors, immediately impaling those knocked to the ground. Quilboar have some degree of understanding - and dissemination - of Orcish methods of doing battle. Many keep to our warriors' right sides and, by way of grouping, force them to continually reorient themselves - an undeniable show that they know how we train. Their equipment is a mix of metal - hand-forged or scavenged - in the forms of axes and spears as well as wood, somehow magically carved. In some ways, the Quilboar's refusal to lose a battle far outstrips our own in how abominable it truly is.
A Quilboar also refuses to flee. Except for the rarest of occurrences, once a Quilboar has chosen its combat it will die there. One Quilboar has stood against more than thirty warriors, ran at them, and was immediately cut down. Our society is far more bogged down by simulacrums of combat than theirs, which is emphasised by such behavior. Many Orcs who speak of preparedness for death in battle balk, especially since the lifting of the blood haze. Quilboar vastly do not.
The most rare of scattered reports indicate that after a victory, they will leave and scavenge all they can that will fit among themselves. It can be assumed they celebrate in their own camps, far from the site of battle, where they cannot be heard.
I will consider what I've written here and continue shortly.
Signed in blood by Kor'kron Overseer Greddirik
They have many names. Many of them are colloquial - Pigman, Boar-man, Razormane, Bristleback - but the one that I have deemed to use is accepted across the Horde rather than just locally - Quilboar. It is telling, at least to myself, that their names are shallow. That we have assigned them such primitive names - devoid of any meaning other than purely visual - is acceptable perhaps to a farmer, who has greater worries, but not ourselves who intend to defend our lands against them, and therefore it is our burden to have overlooked such things. I need not remind ourselves that our subjugation of the Ogre came about after an improved understanding - and shackling - of their minds. And I need remind us that arrogance was their greatest weakness. We are exhibiting such arrogance by ignoring a foe that has, time and time again, proved they can stand against us.
I've warbled on enough. To the meat.
Overview of the Quilboar as a threat to the Horde's security.
Unassuming as they are, the Quilboar are potentially the greatest threat facing the core Horde lands. They consistently inhabit, as far as scattered reports from our riders speak, the entirety of the valleys of Southern Durotar and a select (densely) entrenched few within Mulgore. They similarly live in such conditions in The Barrens, far more equally spread. These places are more permanent - I will get to why - where presumably their culture and society is more easily practiced. As these camps are either burned, demolished or dismantled before we have reached them, we cannot tell anyway. There are more temporary camps throughout all of the above regions, which are certainly not practicing any culture or society that I can identify with. On a grand scale, this provides two problems, which both threaten us - they are extremely defensible and have a constant access to our own supply lines and outposts. Now I explain why.
The Quilboar's ability to strike at the Horde.
This is no laughing matter. Too many of us have laughed at the concept of the Quilboar's violence. Whether through this laughter or through our own expansion, we've turned them into a force capable of striking and leaving with more mobility than we can muster. I will write explicitly from accounts of own own scouts and survivors of their attacks.
The Quilboar do not let us pick fights. The most common of raids follows a pattern that can be exploited, in that they seem to attack in only two scenarios - valleys, their prime terrain, or isolated flatlands. In a valley, their preparations involve scouting not from the tops but closer to the center of the cliffs, where they straddle jutting rocks and paths both natural and shaman-carved throughout the cliffs. This could either be due to rumored poor eyesight among their people, or - more worryingly - a keen understanding of how we'd normally spot our foes' silhouettes atop hills and high points. On top of this, they blend in with both the ochre rock of Durotar and the paler shades elsewhere. We're not sure whether they manage this by discoloring themselves with pigments. At least once, a wind rider has spotted a geomancer among these parties. On the flatlands, they seem to travel - the rider has said in a manner in mimicry of landfall-era Orcish march - to a certain point near their target, regardless of what it is, and then lie down and observe it from various middling points of ground, similarly to how they approach cliffs. The only time this has been observed, it's gone on for some ten minutes. We can assume that the fact that we haven't recorded this indicates their continuous success. In either case, they seem to bring extremely light supplies, their largest equipment being bags to fill with scavenged goods - some would be easier classified as naked rather than equipped soldiers. A popular but unproven theory from many supply wagons is that they will attack tired foes - this involves assaulting camps at either dusk or early morning and assaulting supply wagons at the height of their day's trek, which they seem to be able to discern accurately.
The Quilboar also do not let us fight on equal terms. In either situation - valley or plain - the freneticism has been called horrifying by survivors. They creep to their prey - as derogatory and demeaning a term may be towards our brethren, that is what they all but become - as far as until they're spotted or being sneaky no longer is practical, at which point mere anarchy is loosed. A vague pattern can be found here from the testimonies of those that lived. If there are geomancers, they make themselves known by wielding many types of undocumented shamanic methods - of two powerful examples, one involved the curling of a thorned vine around a wagon-driver, ripping him into three pieces; the other some kind of barbed projectile large enough to shred leather, judging by the silent evidence of our peoples' corpses. This seems to initiate their combat, since afterwards they begin to scream, and wail, and yelp - all of which I have experienced, and does not end until all of their foes or themselves are dead. There is an immediate volley following the weaving of magick, which has no identifiable pattern - it ranges from their own bows, made of gnarled wood or woven from some kind of pliable material that dies upon our handling of it; pilfered weapons of the Horde, including rifles and crossbows; cannons of varying size, generally no larger than an individual of their own race; rarely, javelins and slings which pelt objects from rocks to barbed things of their own design. Finally, their warriors descend upon our decidedly weakened own.
The ensuing fray is of particular interest. The Quilboar shun explicit formation tactics as Orcs do, but they will bunch together dishonorably - single combat is not alien to them, but they will fall upon foes with a difference as many as five of theirs to one of ours, seemingly to ensure a kill at any cost. This preoccupation with slaughter rather than honorable combat is echoed constantly. Tactics seen at least once - some more than once - include fleeing back a step after kicking a foe to the ground, so as to give the nearby ranger a mortal shot at his fallen body; spitting concoctions stored in their own mouths into the eyes of the enemy, blinding them through unknown means; deliberately distracting a foe so that another may drop on them from above or impale from the sides or back; and the use of primitive explosives throughout the densest groups of our warriors, immediately impaling those knocked to the ground. Quilboar have some degree of understanding - and dissemination - of Orcish methods of doing battle. Many keep to our warriors' right sides and, by way of grouping, force them to continually reorient themselves - an undeniable show that they know how we train. Their equipment is a mix of metal - hand-forged or scavenged - in the forms of axes and spears as well as wood, somehow magically carved. In some ways, the Quilboar's refusal to lose a battle far outstrips our own in how abominable it truly is.
A Quilboar also refuses to flee. Except for the rarest of occurrences, once a Quilboar has chosen its combat it will die there. One Quilboar has stood against more than thirty warriors, ran at them, and was immediately cut down. Our society is far more bogged down by simulacrums of combat than theirs, which is emphasised by such behavior. Many Orcs who speak of preparedness for death in battle balk, especially since the lifting of the blood haze. Quilboar vastly do not.
The most rare of scattered reports indicate that after a victory, they will leave and scavenge all they can that will fit among themselves. It can be assumed they celebrate in their own camps, far from the site of battle, where they cannot be heard.
I will consider what I've written here and continue shortly.