“Let’s go over everything we know about these goblins first,” Varre said, “you’ve said that they use huge tower shields and spears. I assume that’s not true for every single one of them.”

  “Some of it depends on the group, your majesty,” Liam replied, “more primitive ones are forced to primarily use wood and stone. Others, are able to use copper, or even bronze. And the most advanced can even use iron.”

  “What about the ones we’d be facing?” the king asked.

  “The ones from the last invasion were certainly using iron weapons,” Jan recalled.

  “We cannot be sure if the group attacking the elves is the same group as the ones who attacked the Kingdom of Wallenrod, your majesty,” Steward Marna noted, “Gomera Forest and Wallenrod are well over a thousand miles apart.”

  “That’s only because you have to circle around the Grey Mountains,” Elvira argued, gesturing with her finger, “few people ever dare to cross them, so no one knows what’s exactly on the other side. The whole region could be filled with a massive goblin empire. Or there could be hundreds of miles of wilderness in between two separate kingdoms. We simply can’t tell.”

  “Few people?” Varre raised an eyebrow, “so I take it that some did. There must be some legends about what’s out there.”

  “Your majesty, the Grey Mountains are massive,” Marna protested, “the terrain is rough and the soil is bad for farming in the foothills surrounding them. Only small, isolated communities exist on our side of the range. Mostly shepherds and woodcutters. The whole region is filled with dangerous beasts, and monsters. The mountains themselves are even worse. They’re rugged, filled with treacherous cliffs, and there are places where the snow remains all the way through the summer!”

  “I get that it’s difficult, but are you seriously telling me that no one ever got curious? Not even a little bit?” the king asked.

  “There are plenty of adventurers who operate in the area, your majesty,” Kerryn said, “these are good hunting grounds. Some even venture out into the mountains, seeking out monsters to slay, or rare plants and ingredients. People have made it across, but only a handful of high ranking adventurers ever tried. Perhaps once every few decades at most.

  “The way they put it, there just isn’t much to see there. More foothills, and more forests. There is no treasure to be had. No people to meet. Nothing worth staying for. Most don’t bother to take the risk.”

  “Are there goblins?” Varre insisted.

  “If there are, the explorers I heard of either never met them, or didn’t write it down,” the royal coach explained.

  “Perhaps I can help here, your majesty,” Liam interjected, “the Goblin Coast might be similar to these lands. It is teeming with those vile creatures, but as they do not build ships, they have little to fear from the sea. They do not patrol it. One could land on the coast, stay there for hours, and not even spot any goblins. Perhaps it’s the same thing out there. They’re just as uninterested in the foothills as we are.”

  “The forests could be teeming with goblins, but if the explorers never ventured too far, they’d never find them?” the king suggested.

  “Exactly,” Kerryn agreed, “there’s little reason for anyone to stay too close to the Grey Mountains itself.”

  “What about exploring from the other directions?” Varre asked.

  “From Wallenrod?” the coach scratched his chin, “there have been some expeditions, mostly to hunt down the goblins that attacked their borders, but of course they can’t go too far, or risk getting destroyed. We’d rather avoid sparking another war.”

  The king nodded. “Same for Gomera Forest?”

  “The same,” Kerryn confirmed, “that’s why we were so surprised when we found out that goblins attacked the elves. We’d never even considered that possibility.”

  Varre crossed his arms. “Then that’s not very helpful to us. We still don’t know if it’s the same group or not. But it’s best to prepare for the worst. Let’s keep working under the assumption the goblins do have iron weapons. And plenty of them.”

  “I could ask Sofia,” Elvira interjected, “but her people do understand metallurgy. If the war is going poorly, I expect their enemies must possess good equipment.”

  “Good. So iron tipped spears, big shields,” the king counted off, “what about archers? I wouldn’t want to come under fire from thousands of arrows at once.”

  “No bows,” Liam replied, “goblins are simply too small for them. Their bodies are too frail to properly pull back a drawstring. A simple gambeson could stop an arrow like that. However, they do throw javelins and fire with slings.”

  “Slings?” Varre repeated, “like the children’s toys?”

  “I haven’t heard of many kids playing with dangerous weapons like that,” the adventurer joked, “perhaps your majesty was simply more warlike in your youth than commoners like me. For most children, throwing rocks is enough.”

  The king remained unconvinced. “They’re that dangerous? How big are these pebbles?”

  “If it was only pebbles, then I’d agree with you, your majesty,” Liam said, “but I’m afraid they’re far larger. A skilled slinger could easily launch a rock the size of his fist straight at a soldier’s head. Goblins may have smaller fists, but they’re still dangerous when fired at high velocity. They place the projectile in a thin strip of leather, swing it around until it gains speed, and then launch. If the poor target was unenhanced and wasn’t wearing a helmet, then he could easily die from a single hit.”

  Varre finally understood that these weren’t the slingshots he was familiar with back on Earth. He imagined a bunch of kids firing paper balls at each other from rubber bands connected to a stick. Instead, he should have been thinking of throwing rocks. He wouldn’t want to get hit by one. Even if a goblin was smaller and weaker than a human, swinging the projectile around would allow it to gain a ton of force.

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  It was more similar to the hammer throws he’d seen during some sports competitions at his high school. These athletes, even at an amateur level, could launch a metal ball weighing ten pounds across over a hundred feet. That would hurt.

  “I take it it’s not very accurate, but it wouldn’t matter if thousands of slingers launched a barrage at an infantry formation,” the king noted, “they’d shred them.”

  “Precisely your majesty,” Liam agreed, “it takes more skills to use a sling properly than a bow, but it’s also easier to train with them. If you break an arrow, you have to make a new one. If you break your stone, you can just pick a fresh one off the ground.”

  “How good is it at piercing armor?” Varre asked.

  “The knights wearing plate will be fine,” the adventurer explained, “the stones won’t get through, and the cloth and leather underneath will absorb most of the impact. The horses will be in trouble though. They’ll be bruised and bloodied after the first volley. And if the rock hits their legs or knees, it could break them. Infantry will have to protect themselves with shields, but I can tell you right now, it’s scary to sit there, praying that your one line of defense will manage to catch everything. A missed rock or two hitting your arm or leg won’t kill you, but it will hurt like hell.”

  “I understand now,” the king nodded, “we will need our soldiers to have good, solid shields to defend them. What about magic? Could it help us here?”

  “Mages could deploy a protective field to repel incoming projectiles,” Elvira explained, “if we focus on slowing them down instead, it should be easier. We can thicken the air a bit. Rocks will be flying faster than arrows, but they’ll have a larger profile so they’ll lose much of their force. They’ll be a lot less scary then. Of course, it will take a lot of wizards to space them out in between ranks of soldiers.”

  “Sounds promising. Will we have enough time to train them, if we start now?” Varre inquired.

  “If we focus on nothing else, I suppose we could squeeze the lessons into a few months,” the Court Mage sighed, “maybe.”

  “Good. So either physical shields, or magical ones,” the king summarized, “what about shooting back?”

  “Slings have a longer range than bows,” Duke Jan protested.

  “They might, but not when fired by a human,” Liam argued, “a good longbow should outrange them. And slingers won’t have shields. It’s not a bad idea to thin their numbers. Or maybe even scare their ranged troops away.”

  “What about melee weapons?” Varre asked.

  “The soldiers fighting the rebellion had mostly used spears,” the duke explained, “cheap, and easy to use. Can be held in one hand. But we have the time to train and outfit our men with better tools this time.”

  Varre tapped his fingers on the table. “Goblins use large shields as well, right? Will that pose a problem to a spearman?”

  “It could,” Hakon agreed, “a simple spear won’t pierce through thick wood, your majesty. At least not in a single blow. The soldier would need to strike multiple times to distract the enemy and then stab from the side, seeking an opening.”

  “Goblins are small, your majesty,” Liam concurred, “their shields are often of a similar size to their bodies. They’re crafty and agile too. Even if you managed to break down their defenses, they could dodge a simple stab,” he mimicked, “it takes a certain level of skill to fight them accurately. Our weapons would be longer than theirs, so the creatures could be attacked from a safe distance, but if you’re not careful, the bastards can easily overwhelm you. Even in the thick of combat.”

  “Then spears would be decent for arming our levies,” Jan summarized, “still easy and cheap, give the peasants a fighting chance, help with their morale. Good enough. What about slashing? That’s harder to dodge.”

  “It is,” the adventurer agreed, “I used a longsword myself. Some of my companions used spears, but they’re a little more skilled than the average footman,” he smiled.

  “I think I’ve read it in one of the old chronicles,” Marna recalled, “people often praised axe men. And most knights were fond of their swords too.”

  “Halberds fit the bill,” the duke proposed, “but they’re too heavy to be used with a shield.”

  “Halberds?” Varre sat up, “can you elaborate?”

  “They’re the perfect mix,” Jan explained, “you can stab with them like a spear, keeping the enemy at range. You can slash, especially from above. They’re powerful too. They could shatter those goblin shields to splinters after a couple of blows. And best of all, due to their shape, you’re fine even if you overshoot. You end up on the other side of the shield and can pull back, hooking it out of the enemy’s hand.”

  “Interesting idea,” Liam hummed, “even an untrained laborer is much stronger than the average goblin. They could easily throw them to the ground with a good pull. Then finish them off with a single blow.”

  “The downside is that the halberds are heavy, expensive, and require training,” the duke said.

  “How much training?” the king asked.

  “It’s not something you can pick up off the ground, but we could drill our men in the proper usage in a few weeks at most,” Jan replied, “it’s just not a good weapon to give to peasants straight off the farm.”

  “Good, good,” Varre nodded to himself, “and the cost?”

  “That depends,” the duke shrugged, “we’d be buying them in massive quantities. They require a good, solid wooden shaft, much better than a regular spear, and a large iron head. That’s expensive, but not much more than a good sword.”

  “I’d have to ask around, your majesty,” Lester spoke up, “I have some connections with the blacksmithing guild in the city, so I’m sure I could prepare an answer quickly. But don’t worry, we can easily find the coin for a few thousand of them. It will just take time.”

  “We should have some in the guard’s armory for now,” Hakon added, “the men could use them for training.”

  “That is good,” Jan replied, “I can run some drills with simple spears too. But don’t forget the weight. If we arm them with halberds, they will need both hands. No way to hold a shield. But the weapon is so big that it’s hard to rush a halberdier too.”

  “So our soldiers would be vulnerable to projectile fire?” Varre theorized.

  “Exactly,” the duke agreed, “normally halberdiers are well trained, elite soldiers, so they are outfitted with good armor too. Chain mail on top of gambesons would help. But that costs money too.”

  “Or my magical shields,” Elvira interjected.

  “That sounds good. If we can’t have enough wizards, then shield bearing axe men would be a decent compromise,” the king said.

  Jan nodded. “They’d lose out on the range and would be at risk of a counter attack. But they could use the weapons to pry the enemy’s defenses away and follow up.”

  “What about cavalry?” Varre asked.

  “Heavy knights have been the bulk of our strategy for centuries,” the duke explained, “we could armor the horses, but their legs would still be vulnerable. But if we truly can get enough of those wizards…”

  “Then some might need to be taken away from the infantry to protect the knights,” the king finished his thoughts, “I see. But would they work against such massed formations of goblins?”

  “There have been successful charges back in the day, your majesty,” Marna spoke up, “the knights were very proud of their victories and eagerly wrote about each one. Just not against massive armies, of hundreds of thousands. Assuming the stories are true.”

  “It’s risky,” Jan said, “but we have alternatives. The warriors could dismount and fight on foot. Their heavy plate armor would be invaluable then. Or, we could use the threat of a charge to force the goblins to bunch up into a massive square. We could use horsemen to pick off smaller groups that attempt to ambush or surround us. The Knights give us a lot of tactical flexibility. Even if they’re vulnerable.”

  “Good work,” Varre said, “then I want all of you to continue working on strategies to counter the goblins. Elvira, talk to Sofia and find out everything you can about our current enemy. Jan, begin training the troops with halberds. And Lester, I want you to find me thousands of those weapons as soon as you can. Keep me updated.”

  The room filled with some of the premiere military experts in the kingdom voiced their approval, and the meeting adjourned. They had a plan. Now they just had to implement it in time.

  Hopefully the elves will update them with stories from the actual, ongoing war. Then the tactics can be adjusted further.