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[tryrar]

We've been doing good with your battle suggestions gerv let's keep it up

I'm optimistic about getting them all. Far more than if you guys had actually let me jump on the nearest boat and chase them with 10 archers.   

Lol, well at that point we hadn't realized we'd actually wiped out half the attackers and had 3 ships(4 counting the felluca) available to chase them with.

[Maldevious]

Nicely mapped, Gerv. My only point of note would be that I did reduce the distance between the various large cities (retconned it, some might say), so I'd take those riding distances as a gentle day's ride (15 or so miles a day). Excellently done, though.

Your blood is up, and you immediately decide that this aggression will not stand. You check on your men, and find that four of your Halberdiers fell in the conflict, as well as two Archers. You instruct Finn to find enough competent levy Halberdiers to bring the number up to 35, and to prepare to depart downstream after them in a few short hours.

You yell out to gather supplies - lanterns and wool - for fire arrows, and instruct your head Ranger to find enough levy archers to fill out the three longboats and your felucca. You tell them to resupply their arrows, because you are going on the hunt.

Rushing off to the town, you find the scribe, and dictate a rousing letter to Sir Denton and Sir Percival, asking them to join their banners to yours, as the Count has failed to act to this mortal threat to the land. You send the letter with riders, and then tell the Council that their number one priority is to get in the harvest. You tell them to press the refugees into service, and to start getting as much food in as possible.

You return within the hour, and find that you have your 35 Halberdiers, along with around 30 Archers and Rangers milling around the boats. Your felucca has been pulled up, as well. You explain your plan to the gathered men: you will head downstream, aiming to catch them when they camp. When you see campfires, you will put the Halberds ashore with you on lead. The boats will anchor midstream, and then begin firing on the camp. When the boats are aflame, you will charge in and put them to death. The archers will stop firing at a specific battle cry from you.

The men seem to grow in stature as they hear your plan, standing straighter, nodding heads. They will not stand for this aggression. You push off a short while later, and begin slipping downstream. The longboats take a few minutes to get used to, but they are just boats with oars in the end.

***

You put ashore 45 minutes after dark, when you spotted a large series of campfires around a bend. You stand with the Halberdiers, watching flaming arrows streak through the night into the camp. You already see one of the boats aflame. You wait for a few minutes, to let the confusion sink in, and then march forward, giving a specific whoop to warn off the Archers.

The battle is brief and bloody. You caught them unawares, apparently, and a giant block of Halberdiers marching into a chaotic camp is a recipe for a slaughter. They were scrambling for cover from the arrows, and were in various states of inebriation and dishevelment. You personally slay three of the crude men, and the fight is over practically before it begins. All three remaining longboats are on fire. There are no captives, but from what you heard during the din of battle, their language is so different from yours it may not have mattered had you captured one of them.

With the bloody business done, you board boats and begin a slow journey back upriver. Progress is slow, but the men's spirits are high: you took no casualties in the butchery.

***

You arrive in the twilight of the morning to find a small host camped outside of Feroshire. Your pulse races, before you make out Sir Denton and Sir Percival's banner. They ride at the head of around 150 men: 50 light cavalry, the rest a mix of spearmen and bows. You greet them warmly, fighting off exhaustion and the call of your bed to confer with them. What will you plan? What is the next step?

[tryrar]

Well, with that out of the way, time for a council of War!

Ok, first order of business is to let our friends set up camp for their men and invite them to our manor for the council. There we'll plan on how best to harass these motherless bastards and persuade them to GTFO from our country.

My idea is that Sir Denton and Percival will have some of their men reinforce Ferroshire. As soon as the harvest starts coming in, we divert some of it and set up pre-planned stashes of food that we'll hide out in the wilderness, and have our Rangers act as guides and scouts. When we set off, we'll try to strike-and-fade on patrols, disrupt supplies, and set up ambushes. We'll try to come up with a plan for these that includes the less mobile troops our friends brought as well

[kaian-a-coel]

First, our forces go to sleep. Second, take Sirs Denton and Percival inside your manor and explain them in detail what happened and all you know (and havent already told them).
After that, devise a plan to march on the Count's city and either liberate it (if it's being besieged), or join forces. The next step is to essentially blockade the river, preventing the barbarians from going upstream, as well as launching raids on your own (as it was originally proposed), to disorganise them, steal/destroy their supplies, and gather information. Lots of information.
Hold the position until king's army arrives, then brief them on the situation and crush the invasion (we'll see then)

NOTE: depending on the count's status, we can go there now or wait for the spring. Raiding in winter may (or may not) be a good idea. We will have supplies, and they may not.

-The state of the Duke's siege will govern our boldness. The more trouble the barbarians have with it, the less troops they have available against us, and the more we can raid their camps. And reversely.


This is a rough roadmap, so detailing (or complete change) is expected

PS: does anyone though of checking carshire's state?

[tryrar]

First, our forces go to sleep. Second, take Sirs Denton and Percival inside your manor and explain them in detail what happened and all you know (and havent already told them).
After that, devise a plan to march on the Count's city and either liberate it (if it's being besieged), or join forces. The next step is to essentially blockade the river, preventing the barbarians from going upstream, as well as launching raids on your own (as it was originally proposed), to disorganise them, steal/destroy their supplies, and gather information. Lots of information.
Hold the position until king's army arrives, then brief them on the situation and crush the invasion (we'll see then)

NOTE: depending on the count's status, we can go there now or wait for the spring. Raiding in winter may (or may not) be a good idea. We will have supplies, and they may not.

-The state of the Duke's siege will govern our boldness. The more trouble the barbarians have with it, the less troops they have available against us, and the more we can raid their camps. And reversely.


This is a rough roadmap, so detailing (or complete change) is expected

PS: does anyone though of checking carshire's state?

+1 to this, and also to set up couriers between us and Carshire so they can alert us to any force encroaching on them

[Gervassen]

For this month, in general, making sure we hold against incursions and get a good grasp of what's out there. Then we can strike harder next month.

More Allies: Inquire of these knights if there are others nearby that they can call up through informal entreaties.

Protect Carshire: Carshire is our right flank, and if it falls, Feroshire is exposed to another angle of attack from the south, and perhaps even Denton's lands would be exposed and force him to retreat homeward. We must convince the town to cooperate with our leadership council. Possibly Sir Percival may reinforce them with the bulk of the foot troops, and a handful of light cavalry to act as scouts down the road toward the Duke's city, where the main enemy host is. If they observe an enemy army approaching, let them ride to Carshire to prepare the defenders for a siege, and then directly to us in order to sweep in from the north and raise the siege.

Scout Curbiston: Sir Denton and we shall try to probe toward the Count's lands--not for sake of love, nor even for duty, but securing that river bend is the best way to protect the upper Parlon. We open a northern flank on the enemy at the Duke's City, if we relieve it. As tryrar says, this is a matter of assymmetrical warfare.

Probe and Weaken: We ride toward it methodically over several days, careful screening and scouting, then staking out ambush areas when close to an enemy-held territory. Sending in scouts on fast horse dressed apparently as just a band of travellers. If they can scout all the way to the town, fine; otherwise let them draw a band of enemy outriders into our main force's ambushes, with Denton's light cavalry to run down their survivors, who will be on mounts tired from the earlier pursuit of our scouts. By this means, we peel away the light cavalry that screens castle. Note our troops are all light and mounted, so too heavy a pursuit--in the hundreds--should provoke a skirmishing retreat.

Reclaim land: For the purpose of feeding our refugees, whatever eastern lands we managed to probe into and secure, get some peasants carted in to harvest whatever fields might remain untouched.

 

[Gervassen]

First, our forces go to sleep. Second, take Sirs Denton and Percival inside your manor and explain them in detail what happened and all you know (and havent already told them).
After that, devise a plan to march on the Count's city and ... join forces.

I was with you till here. The Count will not be the first noble to accidentally drown in a barrel of wine. Duke of Clarence as well, if I recall my War of Roses trivia. Well, maybe only if Count Foles tries to take charge...

PS: does anyone though of checking carshire's state?

It's only a day's ride away, which is 15 miles now, so destruction would be a warm glow on the horizon, at least. 

Also, Remembrance: Let the honor of our first battle be shared publicly. Call everyone to the town market, thank the levies for fighting, read the names of the fallen levies, tell the crowd that we owe them our freedom and safety, read the names of the fallen retinue members, and remind everyone that we will support the families of fallen retinue with a stipend. Read the names of the grievously wounded and announce that we will give them a medal, which will ensure our patronage in whatever affairs they seek. Introduce the other lords, and give a more rousing speech about how we're gonna kick some arse, then lead everyone in blessing the King.


Not for the council, but clarification of things not done in yet from the previous turn:

Also, for the purposes of keeping the river safe, belay the river chain suggestion last month. We need all iron-working on creating sheaves upon sheaves of arrows. A thick hempen cable that can be winched up just under the waterline is almost as good, since it's hard to cut what you can't reach.

Where this river cable is, construct a potemkin fishing village of old planks from other weathered buildings in town. Each shack on the shoreline is to have two windows on the river, plus a platform in the rafters so that another three archers can throw open the false roof and also fire on the riverfront. The village has a plank fence extending along the riverbank for several dozen meters on either side, ostensibly as farm plots, but really to hide and shelter more archers outsider the houses. Don't forget the rickety dock and old skiffs as accessories. This is our new river intercept point, perhaps in the same place under the rolling hill, even!

[Gotdamnmiracle]

"We have burned their ships and captured the rest. Their route of escape has taken a vital blow I can assure you, thus they will be routed by land and can not pester via river. Would you like a look at one of the recently killed. These are a different breed of man. Not like ourselves. Short and strong, wearing unkempt beards, and fighting with axes, both throwing them and swinging them. Weapons like the bow and halberd cut them in twain, due to their lack of distance fighting. They speak absolute gibberish so capture is not worth the effort. No quarter, in my opinion."

[tryrar]

.....+1 to everything Gerv said, that was VERY well thought out. I'll add that now that we've captured 3 longboats we have the beginnings of a MUCH better navy than just the skiffs. Having a navy can help with retaking Curbiston/breaking the siege around Curbiston(also does a good job blocking further raids).

Quoting myself for how to set up the navy:

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!)

Adding to this is to create some banners with our crest for them to fly

[Gervassen]

If the enemy still has a navy, and it probably has a formidable one still... then fire rafts are potentially more effective than anything else, given our natural advantage of being upstream. These are extremely crude and easy to build: a raft of new greenwood with a pallet of drier wood atop, soaked in oil or lard. You can lash them together underwater to create a floating chain that glides downstreams in a blaze and wraps around its target.

One last thing: a few horse waystations for messengers relaying news back to Feroshire. A distance of 45 miles, frankly, can be done in one day--and still sleep in a warm bed.

[intelligentmoron]

Everything Gerv said, out of all of us he's been the most itchin' for a fight and now that we have one, well damn if he isn't good at it.

[tryrar]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure we're all agreed Gerv has the best plan out of the three that we came up with(mine included )

[Gotdamnmiracle]

Yep. I think we all have our strengths. That's why this game is so bad ass.

[Gervassen]

Yep. And I'd have blundered several times without others adding some things here and forcing me to reconsider assumptions there. Talvara and tryrar made it clear that immediate pursuit was not going to be effective yesterday. And of course, without Gotdamn pressing everyone to mount our forces, half this stuff doesn't work, either.

Nice change of pace in the story. We militarists will return Feroshire to the builders in one piece, though... maybe.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Queen Elizabeth went into battle in full plate armour when she was 8 months pregnant. Women dont suddenly become meek and weak when pregnant.

I can't argue with the latter point, but...how would you even get armor to fit a woman eight months pregnant? Was it specially made, and if so WHY?
Among other issues, of course.

Waging war in the autumn is a little inconvenient, but so is waging wage during planting in the spring. Even summer needs field maintenance, and some crops actually are planted as late as June. War has no particular ideal season.

True, but I would say autumn is the worst season.

I'd agree.
Depending on climate, either summer or winter is probably the best, with summer beating all but the mildest winters.

Let the men sleep and plan with the other knights. We've got under 200, we won't be able to hack at more than twigs and branches without more support, so that should be our first priority.
And yeah, what Gerv said.