Tweet
First screen shot of the Irish coast.....ships are heading to port for supplies before rounding the souther end of the isle....
-=Vel=-
-=Vel=-
Attached Files
-
Leinster is empty and we actually have a bigger navy than somebody! WhoooHooo! I dunno....whatcha think, Rav? We could offload 5k troops in Connaught to gain the defensive bonus of the marshlands?
-=Vel=-Attached FilesComment
-
-
Stopped in December 1st, 1421, with our "fleet" back in the port of Lancashire.....we can do this....the question is....should we?
We have 72d after the TC promotions, so again, it'd be a war with scant reinforcements....we'd have to make best possible use of the troops available.....but given that everything Irish but the capitol is unfortified, we'd have an easy enough time with capturing provinces, and the whole of the Irish army is in the capitol....if we landed Douglas first, in Connaught, he could no doubt fend off a slightly larger, leaderless force with a terrain advantage....the fleet could make for Lancashire, pick up another load of troops (5k), dropping them in Leinster, leave a covering force of 2k to prevent recruitment, send 2k to Munster for the same purpose, and reinforce Connaught....a third trip to land troops either in Connaught direct or in Ulster if the Irish are attacking Connaught, and we lock the whole of their kingdom down. Then it's a matter of one siege and extortion?
What goals should we set for such an invasion then? Should we aim to grow again at the expense of the Irish, or get the 100% war score and vassalize?
-=Vel=-
EDIT: And of course, if we do this thing, we'll NOT be calling our allies....don't want anybody gaining Irish territory but us!Comment
-
Other pertinent details of the last session:
Gunther's Band has been rolled into our "Yorkshire Regiment" and stands as the single largest force we have under arms. The shattered RSA and Army of the Highlands have retired to Northumberland, where they together, amount to ~50% of the Yorkshire Regiment's force.
Our solid performance against the English has earned us favor with France (relations increased from zero to +102, and a RM arranged with them saw a further increase to +117....so we can rely on France in any future engagement with England, it seems.
Other than that, and the aforementioned of TC's in our new holdings, not much has changed, and I'll stop playing now till we can come to some reckoning over what to do with the Irish situation....an attack would be risky, given our scant navy....on the other hand, an attack would be profitable for us....we'd lose troops, which would be a non-disbanding method for us to get under the max supportable size (and pretty much anything is better than disbanding!), we'd gain pillage income, potentially gain territory and/or a vassal (further income)....and whatever we could extort from the Irish and their landlocked allies.
As of the war's end, we have a total of 11,257 Infantry and 5652 Cavalry under arms....max supportable army size of 10k....
-=Vel=-Comment
-
Consolidated thoughts so far re: an Invasion of Eire:
Purpose
IF we do this, then the overriding reason behind it will be to gain pillage, war tax, and extortion income from the Irish in order to pay our loans which are due in two years' time.
Further, this war MUST BE concluded, and the bulk of our army back home before our truce expires with England.....we lack the naval presence to even HOPE to stand up to England's fleet (as our one, very brief naval encounter so resoundingly informed us), and we do not want the bulk of our forces on Ireland when the English attack.
A secondary purpose to the war will be to either gain territory at Irish expense OR to gain Ireland as a vassal for income that way (note - if we do this, then we had best be ready to spend some coin in a diplomatic push to boost relations with Ireland after the fact).
Assets:
5 Warships, ~11k Infantry, and ~5k Cavalry
With a landing capacity of 5k, our first landing is crucial, and we will need every advantage we can gain....thus, I propose we land with Douglas, and a force of 3k Infantry, 2k Cavalry in Connaught. This will give us a leader and a terrain advantage, which should serve to offset the Irish numerical advantage if they attack our force there when we land (and they undoubtedly will)
Once the Army of Douglas makes landfall, the fleet could retire to Lancashire to resupply, take on 5,000 Infantry. These forces could be dropped off in Leinster and split 3-ways....2k to remain in Leinster to cover and prevent recruitment (and to do battle with any troops currently under recruitment), with 2k dispatched to Munster for that purpose as well, and the additional 1k moving to reinforce the Army of Douglas in Connaught.
IF Douglas succeeds in driving back the Irish in Connaught, he could leave 1k (infantry) behind to cover the province (expecting an additional 1k reinforcements from Leinster, and advance on Ulster with the rest of his force....we could then transport the rest of our army to Ulster direct to assist with the siege, and upon completion, we'd have a 100% warscore against Ireland, and would be free to demand whatever terms we desired.
-=Vel=-Comment
-
Decisions, decisions, eh?
Ummm ...
Several points.
(1) Its a bit more risky without a starting province to retreat to now but if you have "spare" armed forces its probably still worth a shot (assuming your current WE has evaporated?)
(2) Do you always get the vassalisation option if you have a 100% warscore?
(3) If you do vassalize, does this count as a declared peace between alliances as far as the rest of the Irish alleys are concerned? Wouldn't want to be racking up WE for the next few years ...
Alternative (Very) rough Battleplan for your perusal -
With only 5 warships you'll have to land in 2 (or 3 if you're going to throw your whole force in) phases. Connaught is vital for the first landing as this is the only province with access to everything - land 5k there and send your ships home for reinforcements immediately.
Break your force into 3 and send 1000 men apiece to the other 2 unfortified provinces to
(a) loot.
(b) occupy and prevent levy of additional Irish reinforcements. If they do start building straight away it should give you a big advantage to inflict immediate losses with the new recruits morale being so low.
(c) serve as a fallback position if the 7k Irish army comes at your remaining 3k force in Connaught immediately.
Land the next wave at Connaught again if the Irish main army hasn't moved, but wait until you have the third wave landed as well before moving on the capital so that you can leave a covering force behind to hold the staging province against a routed Irish army. Lose Connaught and your siege army would be out of supply.
Howzat for starters?
Comment
-
Screenies to be posted shortly as "Plan Ravagon" gets put into action!
-=Vel=-Comment
-
With a name like that I can hear the bell tolling already.Originally posted by Velociryx
Screenies to be posted shortly as "Plan Ravagon" gets put into action!
Comment
-
General Ravagon....we have achieved a war score of 100% over Eire in the year of our Lord 1424, on June the 2nd....whilst I am posting screenies of the battles that occured to get us to that position, the land is at your disposal....what say you, insofar as terms of surrender for our inept Irish opponents?
Oh, and by the way....both loans, paid in full!
-=Vel=-Comment
-
The opening of the war begins pretty much as we expected, with Douglas landing in Connaught....in light of a total absense of an Irish response, Douglas orders a one thousand cavalry detachment to ride south, and claim the southern provinces for us, pillaging as they go....the second "wave" also lands in Connaught, but we are stymied by the lone Irish warship, which makes landing the third wave of our force in Connaught impossible, so we opt for a Leinster landing instead....with those forces in position (and the 1k cav detachment back in Douglas' fold), we march!Attached FilesComment
-
-
On March the 20th, battle is joined! Sadly, this is a fight we will not win, as the Irish stubbornly defend Ulster, driving Douglas back to Connaught is disgrace and disgust. Douglas begins this attack with 7901/2000 (9901 total) and retreats with 5929/1606 (total of 2366, 1972 infantry and 394 cavalry) (we lost 99 men to attrition in getting wave 2 to connaught...all infantry)Attached FilesComment
-
-
By June, the Army of Douglas has recovered, and makes a second attempt, again leaving the reserve force in Connaught to recieve Irish survivors, and this time, we meet with success! By January 1424, we have utterly destroyed the Army of Ireland (had to chase them to Leinster to finish them off), and are verging on total victory....Comment
-
screenie for the above....Attached FilesComment
-
-
Sadly, the walls are quite stubborn toward the end, and it is many months before we see closure on the siege....nonetheless, the outcome is inevitable....Attached FilesComment
-
-
Regardless of what we do insofar as peace is concerned, I would like to delay the peace offer till August 1st, raising war taxes then, so we can gain another healthy boost to our treasury, so we can appoint tax collectors if we opt to claim territory, etc, and to give us a boost in general....
-=Vel=-
EDIT: When the war with Eire began, we had 11,257/5652 men under the banner of Scotland.
At the war's close, we find ourselves with 8487/5112
Total losses in this war: 3310 (2770/540)
Total Irish losses: 7000
-V.Comment
Comment