Armor's Game

by OTCPony

Structures of war

Two days later, a dozen ponies met in Canterlot Castle’s southwest tower. Chairing the newly-formed Royal Commission on the Defence of Equestria was Prince Shining Armor, now promoted the first of Equestria’s new Generals and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.

That also, he reflected, meant that he was no longer Captain-General of the Royal Guard. He would no longer lead his old regiment in Trooping the Colour, and what would soon be the most prestigious command in the new Royal Army was no longer his. His responsibilities (and indeed, salary) were now far greater, but he still could not help but feel that he had lost something.

“Well, mares, gentlestallions,” he began. “We all know why we’re here, as in fact does most of Equestria. Let’s begin.”

Eleven other ponies sat around the table. Silver Star and her brother Bronze, both now Colonels sat next to him. They were almost identical but for their cutie marks and colts: Bronze’s cutie mark was a dark brown star, and while his sister’s coat was grey, his was brazen.

Across the table was Colonel Morning Star, until two days ago a Lieutenant Colonel of the Guards. Grey-maned and brown-bodied, his cutie mark was French horn and white rose. The Royal Guard quietly maintained a program to send volunteers to gain experience in wars overseas, and he and Shining Armor had served five tours together.

Next to Morning Star was Major General Neigh. The ruddy-faced Moscoltite was heavily-muscled and seemed to strain against his brilliant red uniform. A thirty-year veteran of the Guard, Shining Armor knew him to be ferociously brave from overseas tours. However, the politics of promotion in a force as small as the Royal Guard were ferocious, and he had been a poor player in them and had never risen beyond the rank of Captain. If anyone deserved elevation to the highest ranks, it was him.

Lieutenant General Dagger von Steel, a Prancenburger with a deep grasp of military history sat across from Neigh. Colonel Beryl de Topaz, a mare in the green of the Crystal Guard sat next him. Another Crystal Pony, Lieutenant General Ration Bag sat at the end of the table. On the Crystal Guard’s staff, the stallion had a genius for logistics and administration.

Warding Ember, now a full General sat across from Bag. He had swapped the green of the Crystal Guard for his old red Guards uniform, the crossbelts bearing the star of Princess Platinum and the green collar bearing the leaves of Clover the Clever, in memory of the two mares whom the Royal Guard had first protected.

Two civilians were present as well. Penny Bag was a quiet mare representing the Treasury, while Professor Pensword of the University of Canterlot had been asked to join them as one of Equestria’s few military history experts.

Shining Armor read from his notes. “The purpose of this commission,” he said formally. “Will be to discuss and decide upon the structure, organisation and conditions of the Equestrian Army, in addition to developing strategic plans for operations against the Changelings in Southern Equestria, subject to approval by Parliament.” He turned a page. “Colonel Star, I gather you want to make some opening remarks?”

Morning Star, sat up. “Yes, Your Highness, I’d like to ask why we’re not to discuss any aspects of battalion organisation in this commission. Our notes stress regiment and above only.”

“My belief is that our current battalion structure is more than suited to our needs,” said Shining Armor.

“Perhaps, sir, but we haven’t had to take a battalion to the field yet. At the moment we organise our battalions in three ranks. That might be fine for reviews or Trooping the Colour, but tactically I think there’s an argument for reducing that to two.”

“I wouldn’t like to see two ranks trying to resist a spear point charge,” said Warding Ember gruffly. “With three ranks the line has solidity for the melee.”

“Maybe so, sir, but with a two-deep line it might not even come to a melee. Currently, the third rank’s spear points barely reach beyond the pony in front. If we get rid of the third rank and extend the two-deep line, we can increase the battalion’s firepower by thirty percent.”

“There’d be a historical precedent for that, Your Highness,” said Professor Pensword. “Infantry armies across Equus have been adopting shallower and shallower formations since Mareice of Neighsau and Sombra in the Discordian War.”

“What about facing cavalry?” demanded Ember. “A two-rank square isn’t going to be able to resist a determined charge.”

“We can modify the drill manual to bring the half-companies up behind each other when forming square from line,” said Star. “Forming from line or column, it’ll give us a four-deep formation.”

“While it’s definitely something to consider for future operations,” said Shining Armor. “We do have to remember the current context. Our enemy is the Changelings. Lieutenant Telescope’s report from our watchtower down south suggests that they don’t have many ranged weapons, so we don’t need the large volumes of fire from a two-rank line. And if it comes to the melee, the Changelings are trained for that, so we need a solid formation that can resist them.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay then, our next order of business should be regimental organisation. The three-battalion structure of the Royal Guard Regiment had served us well for parades, but we can’t be certain that that will translate well on the battlefield. Lieutenant General Bag, you wanted to say something on that?”

“Yes, Your Highness.” The curly-maned Crystal Pony flicked through his papers. “While each battalion has its own Light Company for skirmish duty, I think the effectiveness of each regiment could be increased if a fourth battalion trained entirely for skirmishing was introduced into their order of battle. In battle, we can march the line battalions in a one-up two-back formation while the light battalion marches ahead and harries the enemy.”

Shining Armor frowned. Good grasp of tactics for a logistician...

“Couldn’t that be seen as giving each regiment its own elite unit?” asked Beryl de Topaz. “I can’t imagine that would be good for morale among the line battalions.”

“And if we go for territorial associations for regiments as the Prince suggests,” said Dagger von Steel. “It could lead to recruits over-applying to the light battalion at the expense of the line battalions.”

“Could we group the light infantry battalions together in their own regiments, then tag each battalion to a line regiment on the battlefield?” asked Silver Star. “Purely for tactical purposes?”

“A novel concept, Colonel,” said Warding Ember. “But what would we call such a unit? And who would lead a unit bigger than a regiment but smaller than a division?”

“We called them brigades in the Discordian War,” said Ration Bag.

Topaz and Silver and Bronze Star stared in disbelief at Bag. “You...” began Topaz, her face slowly becoming clouded with anger.

“Good idea, Lieutenant General!” blurted Shining Armor quickly. “Definitely something to consider!”

Warding Ember realised what was happening and quickly changed the subject. “Indeed! Very interesting! But if we adopt these brigades, then what do we do with the regiments? It makes them seem fairly useless as a tactical unit.”

“If I learnt anything from being a battalion commander,” said Morning Star. “It’s that it involves a lot of admin work. If he’s got to be thinking about battle formations, casualties and logistics, then I don’t want him to be burdened by half the paperwork I had to deal with. Could we refer things like pay and training to the regimental staff?”

“You mean make the regiment a purely administrative unit?” asked Warding Ember, his eyes narrowing.

“The recruits would still see themselves as being part of the regiment, and their battle honours and decorations would be the regiment’s,” said Star. “And if we arrange it as the Prince suggests, with each regiment recruiting from, training in, and being garrisoned in its own area, then the ponies there would come to see that regiment as their own as well. If they see that it’s their colts and fillies signing up and parading through their streets, then we might do something to get the Army accepted. Spirits know, we’re going to need it.”

“And if we give them leave to decide on things like cap badges and uniform facings,” said Bronze Star. “Then it would increase each soldier’s sense of the specialness of her regiment.”

“On that,” said Pensword. “I’ve been looking up some of the armies of the Discordian War. All the statelets’ armies wore different colours. Horsetria’s uniforms were white; Prancenburg’s were dark blue; the Crystal Empire’s were green, as you know; Braytain’s were red; Canterlot’s were blue. You could have each regional army uniformed in those colours to add a sense of history and boost morale.”

“Or remind them of the war,” said Bronze Star darkly, staring at Ration Bag.

“With regard to skirmishers,” said Shining Armor loudly, desperate to forestall an argument. “We will have to put together a new light infantry manual for battalion-scale operations, as well as train a cadre of officers and NCOs in their use before we can start even recruiting light battalions.”

“I’m sure I can see to that, Your Highness,” said Neigh. He had commanded the Light Company of the Guards’ 2nd Battalion for fifteen years.

“Please do. Lieutenant General Bag, what was your point about advancing the line battalions?”

“Well, Your Highness, I’ve been looking at some of Professor Pensword’s works on regimental deployments in Mareope. The Prench and Manish in particular keep one of their battalions forward in line, the second battalion further back in column ready to deploy forward, and the third battalions grouped together in the rear as a tactical reserve.”

“That strikes me as a waste of ponypower,” said Neigh. “If we arranged our brigades with one battalion deployed in line, with the other two battalions in column on the flanks, they could bring local numerical superiority to bear as well as being prepared for any developments. If infantry attack, the flank battalions can form line. If cavalry attack, they can form square and protect the centre line while they reform. In the attack, the centre line could provide fire support while one or both columns push forward against the enemy.”

“Attack in column?” asked Warding Ember sceptically. “That’s not going to handle well against artillery. A roundshot going through a column will kill a pony in every file it goes through. Against a line it will only take out three.”

“Then it’s a good thing we’ll have fire superiority over the Changelings, sir. The reports say that their heaviest artillery piece is an eight-pounder ballista! You made the point about depth of lines earlier, sir. Attacking in column gives us the depth and mass to engage the Changelings in the melee, assuming they don’t break first.”

“What you’re suggesting would require a huge amount of coordination between the artillery batteries and brigade commanders,” said Shining Armor. “Our communications have neither the speed nor efficiency to allow that.”

“Then make a battery organic to each division,” said Neigh. “Each brigade would have four heavy guns supporting it in addition to the battalion guns. And if we attached an artillery brigade to, say, every two divisions, we could put an overwhelming superiority of fire down across their entire axis of advance.”

“That’s a lot of guns,” said Morning Star.

“Major General,” said Pensword. “No army I’ve ever heard of, whether Equestrian, Mareopean or Haysian, has ever had that high a ratio of artillery to infantry.”

“Well perhaps it’s time to start, Professor.”

Penny Bag of the Treasury looked quite ill. “I think the Chancellor would take exception to having to announce the budget estimates for that in the Commons. The proposed one hundred and ninety guns are already pushing it.”

“And then there’s the logistics element,” said Ration Bag. “If we try to transport that many guns and ammunition, not to mention spare parts and tools, where do we put the food? The medicines? If we tried to build our army like that, we’d have such a huge tail that I don’t think we’d have enough ponies left for the teeth!”

“Neigh,” said Shining Armor, quietly. “Your suggestion is interesting, perhaps even revolutionary, but you’re thinking in terms of a major Mareopean war. I don’t want that, no one wants that. Our goal is to defeat the Changelings, not radically alter warfare. A time may come when we need an army like that, but not today.”

“Yes, sir,” said Neigh, sullenly.

“All right then. With that out of the way, perhaps we can start thinking about cavalry organisation...”

Comments

[Charles Rocketboy]

Mmmm, worldbuilding and tactical info... (Something's up with Ration Bag there...)