Mixed Unit Tactics Content . The Legions could learn from the unconventional tactics used by the Khajiit in the Five Year War against Valenwood . I was stationed at the Sphinxmoth Legion Fort on the border near Dune and witnessed many of the northern skirmishes firsthand . The war started with the so - called " Slaughter of Torval . " The Khajiit claim that the Bosmer invaded the city without provocation and killed over a thousand citizens before being driven off by reinforcements from a nearby jungle tribe . The Bosmer claim that the attack was in retaliation for Khajiti bandits who were attacking wood caravans headed for Valenwood . In the spring of 3E 396 the war moved closer to Fort Sphinxmoth . I was posted on lookout and saw parts of the conflict . I later spoke with both Khajiit and Bosmer who fought in the battle , and it will serve as an excellent example of how the Khajiit used a mixture of ground and tree units to win the war . The Khajiit began the fight in an unusual way by sending tree - cutting teams of Cathay - raht and the fearsome Senche - raht or " Battlecats " into the outskirts of Valenwood ' s forests . When word reached the Bosmer that trees were being felled ( allegedly a crime in the strange Bosmeri religion ) , a unit of archers were dispatched from larger conflicts in the south . The Bosmer were thus goaded into splitting their forces into smaller groups . The Bosmer archers took up positions in the remaining trees whose branches were now twenty or more feet apart , allowing some light into the forest floor . The Bosmer bent the remaining trees with their magics into small fortifications from which to fire their bows . When the tree - cutters arrived the next morning , a half dozen Khajiit fell to the Bosmer arrows in the first volley . After that the Khajiit took large wooden shields from the backs of the Senche - raht and made a crude shelter . The Khajiit , even the enormous Senche - raht , were able to hide between this shelter and one of the larger trees . When it became apparent that the Khajiit would not leave their shelter , some Bosmer choose to descend and engage the Khajiit sword - to - claw . When the Bosmer were nearly upon the shelter , one of the Khajiit began playing on a native instrument of plucked metal bars . This was a signal of some kind , and a small group of the man - like Ohmes and Ohmes - raht emerged from covered holes on the forest floor . Although outnumbered , they were attacking from behind by surprise and won the ground quickly . The Bosmer archers in the trees would have still won the battle were they not having troubles of their own . A group of Dagi and Dagi - raht , two of the less common forms of Khajiit who live in the trees of the Tenmar forest , jumped from one tree to another under a magical cover of silence . They took up positions in the higher branches that could not hold a Bosmer ' s weight . When the signal came , they used their claws and either torches or spells of fire ( accounts from the two survivors I spoke with vary on this point ) to distract the archers while the battle on the ground took place . A few of the archers were able to flee , but most were killed . Apparently the Dagi and Dagi - raht have more magical ability than is widely believed if they were able to keep themselves magically silenced for so long . One of the surviving Bosmer told me that he saw a few ordinary cats among the Dagi and even claimed that these ordinary cats are known as ' Alfiq ' and that they were the spellcasters , but Bosmer are almost as unreliable as the Khajiit when it comes to the truth , and I cannot believe that a housecat can cast spells . At the end of the day the Khajiit lost perhaps a half - dozen fighters out a force of no more than four dozen , while the Bosmer lost nearly an entire company of archers . The survivors were unable to report back before a second company of archers arrived and this strategy was repeated again , with similar results . Finally , a much larger force was sent and the Bosmer won that battle with the help of the native animals of Valenwood . That third skirmish and the Khajiiti response I will discuss in the second volume of this series .