(TFT) Wizards at War

[srydzews@ix.netcom.com]

I would tend to agree that standard TFT demographics (one trained, capable wizard per 300 population) would argue against the idea of wizards attached to every squad, summoning bears and throwing lightning bolts.  If you have a world with 'professional' armies of relatively small size compared to the total population, then maybe it could be so.  But with anything approaching a feudal mass levy army I doubt there would be more than 1 wizard per 100 soldiers.  

On the other hand, the statement that war is too important for wizards to ignore is certainly true.  Wizards are just too important not to have them enter the fray.  Either the wizards are in charge, making them directly interested in the outcome of such conflicts, or they are work for/are funded by the people in power, who will make sure that the wizards do their part.

And after all there is a job on the job table called Mercenary Wizard.

So the question then becomes what the heck do they do for the army?  What spells are important?  Four categories come to mind.  

1) Gate operations: create gate, control gate.  The uses are unlimited.  Supply, comminications, you name it.  Gates affect warfare as much as they do everything else, namely A LOT.

2) "Commando" operations - I think we're all pretty familiar with this.  Typical combat spells are a premium here.  I imagine that a headquarters guard would also be in order to help protect the army's leadership against the enemy's wizard commandos.  A "flying squad" (perhaps literally) to respond to critical developments on the battlefield might also be in order.  Nothing stops a heavy cavalry charge like a few 7-hex walls thrown directly in front of it.  Word of Command is an obvious battle-winner if you can swing it, but there aren't many wizards who can cast it.  In any case, the key problem is making sure that the flying squad is where it's actually needed.  Which brings us to:

3) Intelligence operations -Except for the Gate magics, I think this is where wizards really would make the most difference in a war.  Consider:

"Sigint": Trance (which alone makes wizards worth their weight in gold); Far Vision/Flight; Mage Sight/Spellsniffer; and the all-important Long-Distance Telepathy for staying in touch with other army groups.

"Humint": Detect Enemies, Telepathy, Geas, and Posession for captured/defecting enemy soldiers, Persuasiveness for your own leaders

4) Enchantment operations - of course all the commanders will want their magic swords and reverse missiles armor, but a few hundred +3 swords don't win a war.  A +2 Charm for the army commander might, though.  So other than a few mega-items for the warlord supremos, what else is there?  Well there's the inevitable Explosive Gems for the shock troops...although I think Dazzle gems are a better buy' because of the huge area they affect.  It's probably more cost-effective to give a few dozen enemy troops -3 to hit rather than to blow up one or two guys.  Create Elemental is another good one, although not strictly an enchantment.  Unlike all the other summons, this one lasts for a day or more, not a few rounds.

Drain Strength will fund all of this stuff.  After all, you have a whole army's ST to call on.

Also, not to harp on this topic, but Far Vision & Long-Distance Teleport, combined with a prisoner and a petard, brings new meaning to the term "fire and forget".  
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