Sure, I'll add you in a moment. Just hope someone quickly ends with his head on a stake
Oh blast it, I just lost a post I worked several hours on. Oh well, here I go again. You won't get exact rolls for combat this time, because I remember the effects but not the rolls and I don't feel like redoing half the post.
Use the recent deaths of Imperial rioters as propanganda to increase recruitment of loyal followers-try to recruit local foresters, hunters and trappers.
Arrange a secure meeting with Born and Egard-convince them to begin organzing their people for mass riots.
Start training 50 of my best men in the art of assassination, spying and sabotage.
Arrange a mass prison break from the local dungeons to both increase our popularity, cause chaos and free useful indivuals to fight for us. This will not be a direct attack, but rely upon bribery, blackmail and subterfuge.
Your speeches are attracting more and more people. Almost too much for your liking, but it's not like the garrison can do much about it. You've started paying extra attention to the woodsmen that come to your speeches. You haven't found any of them to be really loyal followers though. However, you managed to get some information that might help. Apparently, deep in the Middwand there lives a man called Achel Misserbern. He used to be the master-hunter and fletcher of the vice-roy, until an affair with the vice-roy's daughter forced him to flee into the woods. He now lives so deep that only the bravest dare venture there to prove their worth and obtain one of his fabled recurve bows. Those who carry one of those bows can count on the utmost respect of the people of the Middwand.
You meet up with Born and Egard. Born is eager to listen to your plans, almost too eager. Egard on the other hand, has more reserves. He fears that too much unrest could disrupt his dealings (whatever that may be), yet he also feels that something has to be done about the local garrisons. He agrees to support you by providing distractions whenever convenient. Born, likewise, will provide you with access to some influential people within the garrison.
Training is going surprisingly well. Within less then a month your men have learned how to break most locks and evade the training guards. You just hope it'll be enough for "live testing" on noble houses.
The prison break was a success as well, although more noisy then you hoped. Egard decided the best way to create a distraction was by blowing up a river yacht and setting fire to the baracks near the south gate. Well, a distraction it created already and with the help of an insider, the guards of the dungeon were quickly disposed off (although your men could have been a little less cruel with them. They're still people...). You managed to free a bunch of petty thieves, amongst whom also some guys claiming to be couriers for Egard (which would explain his willingness to help you) a handful of murders and rapists who got away before you managed to figure out who was who and some 50 political prisoners who have agreed to join your cause.
ACTIONS: Take the most charismatic and intelligent five men out of the attack force and send them to Cessfenn with orders to catch a fishing boat to Axessvenn and then start organizing and recruiting for the local resistance.
Send an order for the local garrison at Meskhabn to surrender. If they surrender, none of the soldiers in the garrison will recieve persecution for resisting. If they don't surrender, attack again. If the attack succeeds, take the local garrison that survives as prisoners.
The hundred men stationed in the swamp should continue working on fortifying the camp.
Last message you got from your trusty men is that they managed to find a boat in Cessfenn. Praying is all you can do now.
The request for the garrison to surrender itself was met with laughing. You later realized that you gave them an advanced warning, but it didn't matter much. Your men attack under cover of night, breaking through the west gate. The garrison, taken aback by the ferocity of your charge flees out the east gate, in the direction of Cessfenn. You manage to capture only 53 men, with the rest dead or fleeing.
Your construction efforts are going well. A dike has been erected around your fort, with a palisade on top of it. It's not stone, but nobody is going to drag a cannon into the swamps anyway.
Turn the guns back to the Imperial Forces. As a reward for our honesty, and pointing at the worth of the Company during the fight, ask the General to consider the following plan:
I, along with some of my men, will slip into the besieged city, and try to convince influencial merchant that the fight is not worth it, and that it is in their interest to allow their city to fall quickly rather than endure a long siege that they are bound to loose. If I find sympathetic ears, I will give them a large sum of money (Coming from the general) to help them fund a small counter-insurrection. The counter-insurgees will use the surprise effect to attack the defenders, neutralize guns (Nailing them at nigh would be really effective) and open the gates, thereby removing the advantage from the walls.
This combined effect should allow my and the general's forces to breach into the City, thereby ending the insurgency there and allowing us to turn to Mörn or Denskfrand.
The generals are clearly taken aback by your suggestion and it takes them several hours to reach a conclusion. Although the vice-roy would kill them if he found out, they do give you a sizable sum and the explicit directions that you never met them and you did not get anything from them. Once you manage to take out the defenses, you are to give a sing by firing 2 blanks from a cannon in rapid succession.
Taking a dirt bath and covering yourselves in shallow cuts, you and 9 men look exactly like refugees fleeing the Denskbord. To make things more realistic, your men fire blanks as you "flee" towards the city. You're let in by a guard eager to hear about his family but you just make up a story to get rid of him.
Further investigation learns that a rich merchant colloquially called "the Buzzard" is suspected of being a loyalist. Speaking with him you learn that he does think it's best for the city to surrender but he and some others who think the same way are being watched. He is willing to support you if you can provide some men that aren't constantly under surveillance. As the conversation draws to a close, you're rudely disturbed by gunfire. Fearing an early attack, you rush outside, but see that the shots are coming from the harbor. Realizing you might be in danger, you quickly direct your men towards a storehouse, but as the last man is entering, a giant explosion shakes the city and he is hit by flying rubble, breaking his leg...
Action:
- Have ships at Mornplad turn guns and newly acquired artillery on Denskhahn. If not possible then:
- Ships will continue with their patrols.
- See if additional Cavalry or Artillery forces can be hired or purchased at Denskhahn Harbour.
- If loyalist forces near Ochsfrem decide to attack rebel forces to their south, Mercenary forces at Randsmed will join in the attack from their rear.
Your ships open fire on the city. After some volleys, the ships of the line nearby join in the shelling. The rebels scramble to defend the city from the attack, turning guns your way and sending out fireships (fishing ships that are on fire, meant to cause chaos and set other stuff on fire). The rebel defense manages to take down one of your frigates and heavily damage one of the ships of the line, which has to be towed away for repair, before your ships deal a lot of damage. However, the last volley from your frigates before they retreat hits a gunpowder storage, blowing the eastern harbor quarter sky-high, killing hundreds of rebel forces and flattening a sizable part of the harbor district.
Your recruiters report that no artillery can be bought in Denskhahn, as there are no cannon smiths their. The cannon smiths of Cessfenn may do commissions though. They did manage to hire an additional 60 men cavalry.
ACTION:Prepare both ships and send one to pirating. Send 400 infantry to ambush the imperial force heading our way and continue training, but now convert 200 trainees to cavalry training. Sent a letter to Iddenberth. Start production of armour and weapons.
You resupply the frigates and send one out along with the other raiding vessels. Against all odds they manage to surprise the ships towing the damaged ship of the line to a dock, scaring the escort away. You now have a heavily damaged ship of the line, which will take 4 turns to repair and resupply.
The forces you sent to intercept the imperial forces manage to force a stalemate. Although reinforcements will arrive soon, the rumors that the imperial forces have been held at the border prevent the moral of your forces from dropping further.
The mayor of Iddenberth answered your letter with a hearty laugh followed by what can only be translated as "go commit sodomy with an Aurochs". It's rumored that a part of the Iddenberth garrison has started moving eastward.
Training and production of equipment has been stepped up. Your cavalry training is being slowed down by the fact that most farmers can't even ride, but the infantry is improving their abilities, and with that, their morale. They now have medium morale.
Promote Garn to become my right hand man, then set him up training 100 of the farmers in the uses of guns and swords.
Personally interrogate the captured scouts, attempting to get information about empire troops in the area, along with the location of empire weapons and armor caches.
give Per Ochfield full command over the sappers troop.
Get 200 hunters to take the trick carts, and move to the rebels in ochsfrem under the guise of peasentry, have them contact the rebel forces and smuggle out the rebel leader and as many of his men as possible, and move them into the forest. Order the full unit(1000) of woodsmen to supervise this undergoing, stay hidden in the woods should an empire death squad attempt to attack the hunters. Send Per Ochfield and his sappers to leave traps in the wake, to kill or maim anyone attempting to follow us, have him lead the move towards Ochfrem, and scan the area for traps before, and signal the coming troops. Get them to attempt to skirmish and ambush any empire men they come across who show suspicion, and attempt to flee to the woods should the troops be found, have them dump the carts if they have to.
You would very much like to start training your people in the use of guns, but there is a lack of munition and as a result, training is going very slowly. Training with the sword is going faster though.
Unfortunately, some of the scouts did not survive the "transport" to your camp, but from those that did you learn that the garrison in Törmdrecht and Ochsbran are relatively small and as such they can conceivably be overpowered. Until recently, the Empire didn't pay too much attention to the woods and as such, the scouts have no knowledge of possible forces marching your direction.
After quite some talking, the rebels in the Ochsfrem finally agree to the evacuation, but the evacuation is going to take quite some time. The evacuation itself is surprisingly eventless, with only a few carts being attacked by deathsquads, which were relatively easily dispatched. Per however thinks it's too quiet, that the Empire is up to something...
Ludwig The Scarred (vagel7)
Duke (belongings officially confiscated, but not yet physically)
Military strength:
-130 men cavalry and 490 men infantry. Personal guard of 50 units cavalry and 500 units infantry, for a total of 180 men trained cavalry and 990 men trained infantry. 2300 men militia with average military training and light equipment. 200 men cavalry reserves with next-to-no training. 2.500 untrained reserves, consisting mainly of farmers. Enough weapons and armor to equip all trained units with medium armor and medium firearms and enough spares to equip the militia and reserves lightly. Moral is still medium, but dropping, loyalty of trained men is high, loyalty of reserves is low and loyalty of militia is medium.
-10 Patrol ships and 4 frigate fully manned and equipped. 1 Ship of the Line in repair (4 turns). 200 fishing boats that could be converted to lightly armed raiders or fireships. Moral and loyalty of military vessels is medium, moral of fishers is low.
-6 Castles, defended by 20 pieces of artillery each and 1 castle defended by 7 pieces of artillery, mainly of the heavy Basilisk variety. Cannons could be converted for field use but they'd slow the carrying army down considerably.
Corwin Cortobel (Kanve)
Guild Master of the Greater Vhistland Mercenary Guild
Military strength:
-7 guild halls (Denskhahn, Cessfenn, Ösbord, Randsmed, Middbord, Törmharb, Perrionne) with 350 men infantry and 60 men cavalry enlisted at each. Each mercenary is equipped with medium armor and a medium firearm.
-10 patrol ships and a frigate patrolling the waters around Perrione, 2 frigates patrolling the Mörnplad.
-10 guns loaded aboard one of your frigates patrolling the Mörnplad.
Jonas Whitslefurner (Sheb)
Captain of the Crimson Company, a mercenary outfit.
Military strength:
70 men enlisted cavalry and 470 men enlisted infantry with medium armor and advanced firearms. 30 pieces of advanced artillery. Moral and loyalty is high.
10 men in Denskbord, 1 has a broken leg. No equipment, moral and loyalty are high.
Khan Le'Griash (kilakan)
Leader of the people of the Garnwold Woods.
Military strength:
-A total of 2.400 men, divided amongst 200 hunters trained in tracking and combat, 1.000 woodsmen and loggers, 100 sappers (50 in official squad and 50 reserves) and 1.100 untrained reserves, mainly farmers. Men are divided amongst small villages and logging bands in the Garnwold. Equipped with light armor. The hunters carry crossbows (medium weapons), the woodsmen axes (light weapons), the reserves and sappers can convert farm implements to crude weapons. Moral is high, loyalty is average. Men know the Garnwold and surrounding woods well.
-10 light river transport ships that could be converted for combat or troop transport, loyalty is average, moral is high.
-50 carts that could conceal 4 men each.
Pyrus Redmoore (Dwarmin)
Minor priest serving in Perrione
Military strength:
-An unknown amount, but likely in the order of 4.500 men city scum from Rindbronn, with light armor and weapons. Loyalty is low, moral is medium. They know the slums of Rindbronn as the back of their hands.
-300 loyal men with medium armor and weapons. Moral and loyalty are high.
-50 assassins with light armor and weapons. Moral and loyalty are high.
-6 river fishing boats and a river patrol craft. Loyalty is low, moral is medium.
Oliver 'Iron' Morte (Little)
Pro-Dechsk Revolter, former blacksmith
-697 revolutionaries, equiped with light armor and medium weapons. Loyalty and moral is high, know the Denskmars well.
-An unknown number of sympathizers in Meskhahn and Axessven.
No map for today as not enough changed to warrant a whole new map. Also, I've already spent enough time on this today