Teller, do we have any idea how many mounted men headed north?

OK, I drew a quickie map.  Game Map group 1.  You may need to reload to get rid of the old battle map.

Does this make things clear?

Thanks. :)

So the enemy have a hundred foot (in two units) across the bridge to the west, seperated from the bulk of the Irish army. Could we lead a sortie against them with just our horse, leaving our foot to man the walls of Wilton for the moment?

Could you?  Sure.

As with the army Sir Garym sees, they have men with pikes as well as archers.  And they are digging in.

Make sure you know what your goals are before doing anything and figure out what the enemy is going to do in response.

Neither group is very far from the walls.

So 50 are digging in, but the other 50 are headed north, yes?

Ahh ... I hate time zones.

First I go to bed and wake up to the Irish more or less having conquered half of Britain. I then decide that Gracian will stay in Wilton and defend the city because the civilians can possible outrun the Irish soldiers but work has been hectic today and I have had no time to get online and write. And then when I finally manage to get home and come online then you guys are already on the walls!

*sigh*

Oh well. Gracian will try and calm the citizens then. Probably for the best ... damn I am going to miss all the fun! :)

EDIT: I like how you all try and destroy the bridge across the Nadar but may I remind you that there is a recently rebuild stonebridge at Dinton? :)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:04, Mon 06 Nov 2017.

I was going to send you off to Robert to warn him if you were amenable.  Gets you out of danger and allows you to AFK due to RL without being worried about catching a sword to the gut or something.

Oh I dont mind a little sword to the guts now and then :) I am trying to write up something that hopefully will make people stay in Wilton.

EDIT: Oh . .we are trying to get them to run? :D (sorry .. trying to read up on all this)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:11, Mon 06 Nov 2017.

Double post here.

Just trying to understand the plan here ok? We want the civilians to cross the bridge and then set it on fire?

Check the PM thread good sir!  Don't want to clutter OOC up with our babble.

GM, I know Sej sees 100 footmen, but are there archers in evidence,and any sign of Irish Horse? The handful of Knights could not make much of an impact on so large a force, yes?

No horses, just foot soldiers.

They are a mix of sword, pike, and archers.

The Irish with the siege equipment, what exactly is it?  We weren't close enough at first, but we should be able to ID it now, no?

In reply to Sir Perin (msg # 59):

Does it matter?  I would prefer not to waste a lot of time on the mechanics of a siege and fortifications as the PCs have no control over either the defensive works nor the attacking army that would determine the results.  Think something big that is capable of gaining entry into the city and go with that.  ;)

In reply to Teller of Tales (msg # 60):

We have actually discussed siege options in pm and I have a few ideas that should be well within our means - boiling up water, tar and oil, reinforcing the gates with carts and so on. I think we stand a pretty good chance of holding the city.

Couple questions:

How many Knights and foot does Robert command at Sarum, and how many can he muster quickly?

From what I can see Camelot is barely a stone throw away. Is the King currently at court at Camelot? Also, what type of standing force is there.

I am considering riding to Arthur. Unless there is protocol or common sense reason I am missing.

Portcullises, murder holes, boiling oil, etc. are all factored into the DV of the existing defenses.  To the extent that they don't exist there currently, you don't really have the ability to add them on the fly.  In order for boiling liquid to be effective you need to have a very large cauldron . . . the cauldron needs to be suspended over the gate on a pivot . . . and be designed so that it can be tipped . . . and you need to get the liquid up there . . . and be able to heat it to a boiling temperature . . . and there has to be a way for the liquid to go down where you want it to and not where you don't . . . none of which is in place.

This does not mean that you are not free to invest what resources you have in attempting to rig something up, just know that it will require a lot of time and resources and may not work.  The question is, what do you gain from staying longer than you have to?

Arthur is on campaign Garym, remember?  That's why this attack is so brilliant, most of the kingdom's forces are in the north.

We kill more of the enemy and delay the rest. Falling back on Sarum might give us some more resources but it will also allow the different parts of the Irish army to unite.

I just can't believe the walls of Wilton are useless against only a few hundred men - even with siege weaponry.

In reply to Sir Garym (msg # 62):

Earl Robert commands 75 knights and 165 men-at-arms.  They normally take a while (days) to muster, although this occurred right before the Earl's knights were to head to Sarum for the Summer Saxon Hunt.

I can't figure out how you could possibly garrison the castles and cities with the listed knights/soldiers unless they were always on duty, so outside of the knights/men-at-arms listed above, there are normally 5 knights and a dozen men-at-arms in each of the four forts, a dozen knights and 25 men-at-arms in Wilton, and 10 knights and 25 men-at-arms at Sarum.

Camelot does not yet exist.  Arthur is in the north with the army (including most of the troops from many of the Logres counties, duchies, and kingdoms).  London is currently the capital.

I'm not saying we can't bloody their nose, I'm just saying we shouldn't die to do it.

Here's the thing mate, you're right, you could totally hold off the Irish for a bit, if you were willing to die.  They're about to be around to the third gate (the one we're currently evacuating from) in a matter of hours.  At that point, you're not retreating.

And honestly when it comes to defense, we don't have the missile weapons or defenses to put up a good fight.  Walled cities were good at keeping the riff raff out, but they generally weren't designed to hold up against a true siege.  And even if they were, we've got less than half the usual soldiers that we need to effectively man the battlements.  Correct me if I'm wrong Teller?  It usually has 90-100 men?

As I said to Sir Perin Sir Dalan's reluctance to just abandon Wilton is partly narrative. He needs to feel we've achieved something even if we ultimately can't hold the city - give the enemy a bloody nose and/or substantially delay them at least.

Just abandoning the second city of Salisbury without a contest would be something he'd have a hard time forgiving himself for.

Which is why Perin offered him an olive branch.  He's suggesting that they go and do their best to waylay the Irish forces headed north.  I'll take 2:1 odds if we're on mounts and they're not.  Granted, we could easily run into more Irish on the way, but that's more information we'd be able to provide to Robert, which is a good thing.

In reply to Sir Perin (msg # 69):

Alright. Sir Dalan is very unhappy with abandoning Wilton, but at least this is doing something other than just retreating.

Time zones again - here I was all ready to defend the city :D

I will go along with the plan but I still think it would be wiser (and probably a bit more my character) to defend the city but so be it :)