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[tryrar]

..........well fuck. This isn't some raiding force, this is a fucking entire invasion! Given that fact, that could easily describe a host of 50,000 or even more(much more likely to be more).

[Gotdamnmiracle]

The rider didn't have time for a count of the enemy troops, but he says they stretched around the entire settlement in a thick band of tents and banners. The Duke's capital is the largest city you've ever seen outside of the King's, for reference.

On second though, we will need the kings support. Couriers! Couriers everywhere!!

[kahn1234]

The rider didn't have time for a count of the enemy troops, but he says they stretched around the entire settlement in a thick band of tents and banners. The Duke's capital is the largest city you've ever seen outside of the King's, for reference.

So in short, bloody huge?

As in, a medium sized countries army?

[tryrar]

yeah, we aren't gonna do much in direct combat with a force THAT size other than get ourselves killed. Though, if we want to do SOMETHING other than hide behind the walls until the king gets here, we could send a small harrassing force to at least force them to keep one eye on their rear while they sit around sieging the Duke's castle, and/or see if we can scout out their supply lines and cut those if we can(or at least mark them for when the King gets here)

The rider didn't have time for a count of the enemy troops, but he says they stretched around the entire settlement in a thick band of tents and banners. The Duke's capital is the largest city you've ever seen outside of the King's, for reference.

On second though, we will need the kings support. Couriers! Couriers everywhere!!

On this, I actually agree. We send a message to EVERY neighboring lord as well as the King. They ALL need to be ready to march at a moment's notice

[kahn1234]

We need to warn every noble we know. Try to consolidate our entire forces into a single host and try to aid the Duke.

If we have enough troops, we could do enough damage to enable the Duke and his men to sally forth and at least route one flank of the enemies troops.

[tryrar]

Remember though that the count is our liege lord, so he'd be technically in charge, so We'd really have to wait for him to make the move(otherwise we'd piss him off even more than we already have!)

[kahn1234]

Remember though that the count is our liege lord, so he'd be technically in charge, so We'd really have to wait for him to make the move(otherwise we'd piss him off even more than we already have!)

I was just thinking. if it does come to a grand battle royale, what if we just happened to save the Counts life?

and yes, i though about that. the least we can do is try to lean on him to let us command our won troops, instead of having him throw us in as cannon fodder.

[Gotdamnmiracle]

yeah, we aren't gonna do much in direct combat with a force THAT size other than get ourselves killed. Though, if we want to do SOMETHING other than hide behind the walls until the king gets here, we could send a small harrassing force to at least force them to keep one eye on their rear while they sit around sieging the Duke's castle, and/or see if we can scout out their supply lines and cut those if we can(or at least mark them for when the King gets here)

The rider didn't have time for a count of the enemy troops, but he says they stretched around the entire settlement in a thick band of tents and banners. The Duke's capital is the largest city you've ever seen outside of the King's, for reference.

On second though, we will need the kings support. Couriers! Couriers everywhere!!

On this, I actually agree. We send a message to EVERY neighboring lord as well as the King. They ALL need to be ready to march at a moment's notice

Recon and cut supplies. I like this. At least we aren't sitting on our asses.

[tryrar]

Also, make it clear to the wall workers those walls go up come hell or high water. They don't stop building them unless the building sites are being fucking overrun!( we can work out a rotating schedule to allow them to work day and night to make it a bit easier, but essentially yeah)

[Talvara]

Remember though that the count is our liege lord, so he'd be technically in charge, so We'd really have to wait for him to make the move(otherwise we'd piss him off even more than we already have!)

The duke is the closest thing to a father we have. if the count refuses to march we'll just have to get proactive. about this. I think we'll have the support of the majority of the counts levies. we can use the fact that we can go without him to force the counts hand. If he refuses he'll lose alot of face.

if this is a proper siege They'll be trying to starve out the duke, and doing their best to keep him from calling for a relief force. Because of our heroic messenger who made it back to us alive we know he needs a relief force... the problem is the force needs to be big enough to show the invaders its a good idea to run the fuck away.

The count is the first responsible, but if hes unwilling... well... I already went over that.

[tryrar]

ummmm, Talv why the hell would he not be willing? Remember, his lands are the next in line to be sacked if the Duke falls, and he knows this, so you can bet he'll be wanting to drive them off ASAP.

So, What I got on our list of things to do is:

1):SEND MESSENGERS TO EVERY LORD IN THE SURROUNDING LANDS AND TO THE KING! We need to send a warning a mighty army has invaded our country! Include as much detail about the size of the invading force(not much admittedly) and the banners that they were flying.
2)WALLS. NOW.(Also tower). We institute a rotating schedule that has a good portion of people on wall building day and night.

3):While we want to keep disruption to normal life as small as possible, if people aren't building walls, they're drilling. Have the refugees that came start learning the halberd and bow, and sent them and a portion of the town watch top protect the mines. Try to send any refugee not able to fight further up the river out of harms way(though if not possible have them build temporary camps to the north to relieve the crowding)

4):Instruct our fishermen to start stockpiling bows, arrows, and short swords on their skiffs, as well as get a small force to man our felucca and create an impromptu navy(with the felucca as flagship). If trouble rumbles up the river, they are to drop whatever they're doing, dump their catches, clear the decks, form up on the felucca and prepare for battle. As part of this we can craft some simple hunting horns for them and anyone doing sentry duty to sound the alarm with; if they spot an enemy they are to sound three clear notes on it that is to be relayed by all in the vicinity.

4a)As well, we should get some squares of colored cloth and create some simple signal flags for the command ship to relay orders to the skiffs with. As part of this we temporarily appoint someone we trust to the position of Navy Commander(preferably someone who at least has an idea of which end of a ship is which!)

5)If we have the knowledge, construct a ballista/springald or 10, and use them to support our navy from shore/repel invaders from the walls/palisade(or both if we can make enough)

[Truean]

FIND OUT IF THE DUKE CAN BE SUPPLIED BY SHIP
Supplies in; wounded out. Possibly reinforcements, but unsure if we can supply those reasonably. 
Ask our merchant friend if the trade boat captains can be persuaded, though I am not sure if this is possible/practical.

Rally everybody with couriers .... the king, all dukes and counts, everybody we possibly can. Explain what is going on, be ready to fight off these guys to the best of our abilities.

Ready our forces and levies For lack of artillery, our focus should be on the archers again with everybody defending that. Sadly, we may be and probably are facing a superior foe. Defense, misdirection, ambush and subterfuge are our best bets, except of course having everybody meet up at the Duke's place, hope our combined strength is bigger. Wait for reinforcements and for our full forces to gather.

Killing off supply lines is a valid strategy, as is luring away their outriders to ambush. Where are dwarves to dig a supply tunnel when you need them (they probably don't exist, that's where.... [grumble grumble grumble ] ). Counterseige is also valid, though this would depend upon the relative supplies the duke enjoys as opposed to the supplies of his attackers.

Consider building a little bit of refugee housing if required, but priority is the walls. At worst, they are stretching the town a bit, but they're alive and safe for now. That may be the best we can give them and it's more than many have at the moment.

Congrats and happiness about and with the wife, etc etc.

Shift the economy into war production mode and ready for mobilization and defense if required.

[Talvara]

ummmm, Talv why the hell would he not be willing? Remember, his lands are the next in line to be sacked if the Duke falls, and he knows this, so you can bet he'll be wanting to drive them off ASAP.
...

I can think of a few reasons, but its not that important. If the count is proactive then great, everything I said can be ignored. if the count is a coward with some interest in seeing the Duke fall (whatever interest that maybe) then we'll just have to step up.

we can do our defence preparations just in case but as soon as it becomes clear what the count intents to do or not do. we'll need to react accordingly. if the duke falls so does our 'social security'.

reasons:

The count is a coward that would rather not risk himself to save the duke.
The count wouldn't mind a shot at becoming a duke. even if its a risk.
The count could have bribed some foreign power to assault the duke.

How likely these things are I don't know, but there certainly are reasons.
its irrelevant really what the most likely scenario is, I'm just hoping that my concerns are unwarranted and the count calls up his levies and does his duty.

...
Congrats and happiness about and with the wife, etc etc.

...

I look forward to telling Duke erran about his great niece or nephew while we great him in bloodstained armor. (although chances are the invaders will simply leave when a relief force presents itself)

[10ebbor10]

ummmm, Talv why the hell would he not be willing? Remember, his lands are the next in line to be sacked if the Duke falls, and he knows this, so you can bet he'll be wanting to drive them off ASAP.

A: This is an internal civil war, and the Count is the attacking force. (Rather unlikely, as the Count's forces aren't that strong without support from his lieges)
B: By delaying just long enough(gathering extra troops), he can wait for the Duke to fall then sweep in to safe the day.

Oh, and just a question, did we get the dredging equipment?

[Urist McDwarfFortress]

Oh, and just a question, did we get the dredging equipment?

Yes. But I don't think we've had a chance to put it to use yet.



TBH, if the Duke's city falls, I doubt anyone in our County stands a chance. Hastily throwing up a shoddy stone wall won't help anything.

Call up our entire army (not the peasants, yet, just the trained, full-time soldiers/guards), leave half of them to guard the town from raiders, take the rest with you in any ships you can get your hands on, load them up with as much supplies as you can spare and try to smuggle it into the Duke's city by way of the river. We need to lengthen the siege and give our kingdom time to react. Our entire county combined probably doesn't have enough people to even scratch the surface of that army. We'll need the King's support for a pitched battle.

We need to focus on asymmetrical warfare until then. We could try to find out where the enemy's supply line is and then launch raids on their food caravans. Steal their food and try to smuggle it into the city. They can raid the surrounding villages for a while, but eventually they'll have to make a choice between concentrating on the siege or spreading their forces thin to scavenge food and protect their supply line.

See if anyone we know will help us in this endeavor. The Count probably won't, and thats understandable, since he could very well be next in line to be attacked and will probably want to throw everything he's got into preparing his defenses. But the knights upstream of us might help. Even the abbey may provide some troops if they're faced with invasion.