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| Edward of Woodstock, enjoying a shaved face for the last time in a long long while. |
The Prince of Wales is currently based in Plymouth, overseeing the retrofitting of the navy and the billeting of the expeditionary force in and around the port town.
Situation
The whole kingdom is droning with activity. Between the Duke of Lancaster in Britanny, the King preparing for Calais and the Prince of Wales for Aquitaine, everyone in England has war on their mind. The nobility and knights are responding in numbers larger than anticipated: baronets are showing up with larger retinues, older knights are accepting indentures when they were not expected to. This is good new except for the fact that the procuring of victuals isn't following the recuitment. Worst, Plymouth has been drank dry and the purveyors can't find enough beer and wine to supply the expeditionary forces. The supply is barely a few days ahead, not a stockpile of a few weeks as we'd prefer. The harvests are good, however, and we have much more fodder than we need for our horses.
As for shipping, our aggressive efforts to impress ships and crew has picked up, but remains slow. We have large piles of gangway and hurdles for retrofitting ships to ferry horses, but most of it is waiting for ships to work with. However, we have a small fleet of ready ships waiting in the harbor and ready to go. There is not enough horses here for our archers, we may need to purchase horses on the continent to solve both the horse and the shipping problem.
A number of civilian tradesmen have answered the call, arrived in Plymouth. However, the shipping situation and the shortage of drinkable stuff (wine, beer), has convinced many to turn back to their residences. Should we pursue the policy of bringing civilians to France?
The next update will be in August 1, at the height of arrivals of soldiers into Plymouth.
Mobilization outlook
- Troops
- Archers (3000) : On target, momentum lost.
- Welsh Spearmen (1000) : Will be there as expected.
- Knights and retinues (6000) : Overwhelming response.
- Victuals
- Food : short, due to larger numbers of knights accumulating in Plymouth.
- Wine/beer : Major problem here! We can't go to war sober...
- Fodder : Plenty harvested and purchased.
- Supply
- Archery (bows, arrows, strings, heads) : Plenty.
- Horses : shortage, not enough for archers.
- Navy
- Acquire shipping : Slow, but steady.
- Staff ships : All arrived ships are ready, not enough ships.
- Retrofit ships (gangways, hurdles.) : All arrived ships are ready, not enough ships.
- Embarkation
- Billet troops : OK for now.
- Discipline : Not good, will get worst without drinks.
- ETA : Sept 1, 1355 may be delayed by shipping.
- Funds
- Level : Plenty!
- Creditors : The investors have contributed.
- King's funds : Arrived.
- War tax : Incoming (ETA: Aug 1)
Consider your situation and prepare a list of things to focus on, in the order of importance. Refer to the post on strategy to help formulate your instructions. Here are a few notes:
- The SOP is to sail only once. You may be tempted to ferry some right away, but there is not a lot of troops ready by now to go. It takes 15 days per legs, so a month turnaround time. Only a small force is ready to go, but fodder is ready to go. There could be maybe a 1000 knights and men-at-arms ready to go right away. A small fleet is vulnerable to pirates and French patrols.
- Drinks should be available in, of all places, Bordeaux.
- You are bathing in money at this point. Finding stuff to buy is the real problem.
From Mike:
ReplyDeleteFr: Black Prince
To: Loyal Subjects
Post these notices in spots were they will be seen by subjects in the area of our embarkation
Do not listen to ''excuses for anyone misconducting himself. Should any insist on doing so, he shall meet with the punishment he deserves, while the brave shall be honoured with the appropriate rewards of valour.''
Pg 122, Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, JM Dent & Sons, London, 1910
Continues- All our assembled army will be quartered and under curfew. At sundown they all must be at their assigned camp and those found away from camp will be considered deserters and jailed to be dealt punishment at sunup.
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Now that I have placed some policies into action ( see previous comments)
At my HQ: the higher nobility knights and men at arms
: Barons, etc that are commanding the various contingents unless they have not yet arrived.
Logistic order:
Send oxen & cart teams far away to search for beer and red or green cloth. Have a quarter master type personage accompany each 10 cart group so that someone with some experience will be able to negotiate and determine value for product.
Send agents into the local area of concentration to find suitable lodging for the nobility and campsites for the rest.
When we land in France we will have 1 quartermaster and 10 oxen/cart combinations for every 1000 men. These carts will carry initially food & lodging for the commanders but will carry booty and plunder.
Send bowmen with recent hunting experience into the surrounding region in search of game. We will stockpile what we can to consume before boarding the ships.
Knights and Men At Arms not with the Black Prince be assembled on high dry ground while their slaves and servants will immediately begin digging latrines, gathering wood for the camp fires and building quarters for their masters.
Action 1 - Special procurement detachment are sent around Cornwall, Devon and beyond to purchase Beer, wine and cloth at the King's wage.
ReplyDeleteOutcome 1 - Supplies in drinks meet targets.
This is a simple task done by an experienced machine (base:14), second shot at the same territory (-2), under an explicit order of the Prince of Wales (+1). tgt:13, roll: 14.
Failure because purveyors already have bough everything available.
The axiom "tough discipline" is added to the embarkation site, and will positively influence discipline.
ReplyDeleteNote on Action 1. This action should have succeeded, with a target of 13, the odds were at 84% success. This is unfortunate and indicate that the Prince of Wales lost the initiative for the month of July while trying to sort out the drink shortage crisis. Time flies, the first thing that you know is that it is now August and your TODO list is barely dented.
ReplyDeleteNote that Mike's fluke score in the players ranking is almost the same as his command score, thus indicating that the dice played a cruel trick on him this turn.
I'm processing other actions even though the initiative is lost. I'm simply adding a negative axiom to reflect this to all remaining actions.
ReplyDeleteAction 2 - Purveyors are recruiting lodging in the suburbs of Plymouth, beyond the normal range of what the expeditionary force should be billeted.
Outcome 2 - There is a surplus of lodging, which implies a dilution of the riff-raff in town.
Base:10, ran out of time (-2), original idea (+1), coastal estates are understaffed during war (+1), tgt:10, roll: 12.
Failed because the Prince ran out of time and tried too late in the month.
Action 3 - The PoW assembles carts and cart operators as a premade train to be used in France.
Outcome 3 - It is ready to go.
Base:10, lots of carts around (+1), ran out of time(-2), civilian wants part of the action(+1). tgt:10, roll:11.
Failure, because distracted by drink crisis.
The last action is SOP.
What is the state of affairs for my expeditionary force?
ReplyDeleteLet us sail for Flanders and supply ourselves off the countryside on our way south.