08/15/55 -- Sir John Griffyn

Situation
Over 2000 Cheshire men responded to the call to arms. This was definitively more than expected, but it didn't turned out to be a curse for the unit. The upside is that the few men selected to sail first were the most experiences and well equipped that the Shire could produce. Although bows and strings were short earlier in the summer, the men who made the cut were well equipped, smartly dressed, armed appropriately with short swords and large daggers. Many are wearing armors dating back from the glory days of Crecy. There are grosses of arrows everywhere, but the steel-headed kind had to be procured from the King's store. This is ironic since the King's purveyors were responsible for doing their job too well in the first place: leaving nothing behind for the regional units. Most archers simply can't carry horses oversea, for the lack of shipping is even greater than the lack of suitable horses. The Cheshire commanders will be on horses, maybe a few scouts will be on light horses, but the unit will be on foot.

The really bad news is that only one eight of the unit will be able to sail to France with the Prince of Wales. The fleet is supposed to come back in a month, but by then it is likely that most men will have abandoned their billet and returned home. During the weeks of riots, Sir Griffyn steered the fine line between making the men busy and getting them angry. He disregarded a few requests to execute trouble makers, but the unit is overall still mainly loyal to the Prince of Wales. The unit leaving for France is rated as trained, and has suitable discipline.

This concludes Phase 1 of the game for the Cheshire Archers. See you on the private site for new situation updates and more mayhem.

08/01/55 - Prince of Wales

An evening in Plymouth with 10,000 of your closest
sober friends.

Personal Situation

The Prince of Wales is currently based in Plymouth, riding through town to quell the unrest unleashed by Plymouth's tavern running out of booze.

Situation
Things have had a turn for the worst in July as the beer shortage triggered brawls throughout the location. Stern discipline was distributed the following morning as ordered. Unfortunately, local loyalties got in the way and discipline was not exacted uniformly. On the following night, the Prince of Wales ordered the Welsh spearmen to break the brawls in town. Desperate attempts to find lodging out of town were unsuccessful, exceptional attempts to source beers from other shires also were futile. The civilians in Plymouth are asking for protection from the Sheriff, but the castle is already overfull with knights and nobles.

There is no headcount at the moment, but there are more knights, baronets, earls and Dukes in Plymouth than anyone could have anticipated. The expeditionary fleet is small, but ready. There are piles and piles of hurdles and gangways on the docks, but not enough ships to retrofit. The food supply is holding on, but barely and largely because the Prince of Wales is getting the archers to hunt during the day so it is easier to clean up the mess from the previous night.


The next update will be in September 1, at the planned departure time, for a final tally of the mobilization.

Mobilization outlook

1. Troops
1. Archers (3000) : On target.
2. Welsh Spearmen (1000) : Will be there as expected.
3. Knights and retinues (6000) : Overwhelming response.
2. Victuals
1. Food : short, due to larger numbers of knights accumulating in Plymouth.
2. Wine/beer : We're now entering the rioting phase.
3. Fodder : Plenty harvested and purchased.
3. Supply
1. Archery (bows, arrows, strings, heads) : Plenty.
2. Horses : shortage, not enough for archers.
4. Navy
1. Acquire shipping : Slow, but steady.
2. Staff ships : All arrived ships are ready, not enough ships.
3. Retrofit ships (gangways, hurdles.) : All arrived ships are ready, not enough ships.
5. Embarkation
1. Billet troops : OK for now.
2. Discipline : Not good, will get worst without drinks.
3. ETA : Sept 1, 1355 may be delayed by shipping.
6. Funds
1. Level : Plenty!
2. Creditors : The investors have contributed. 
3. King's funds : Arrived.
4. War tax : Funds are in.

Instructions
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:

1. An almost full size force could sail now if you decides to go this way. 
2. You may expect desertion to become a factor in the following few weeks as morale is about to plummet.
3. The sea is good at the moment.
4. Welsh spearmen have been acting as MP for you, but this makes them even less liked by the Englishmen in the force. 
5. The archers are the main source of brawlers.
6. Knights and men-at-arms are forming the bulk of the men on the ground, they are not above reproach here. Nobody likes to wait in an overcrowded place while sober.

07/01/55 - Prince of Wales

Edward of Woodstock, enjoying a shaved face
for the last time in a long long while.

Personal Situation
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

1. Troops
1. Archers (3000) : On target, momentum lost.
2. Welsh Spearmen (1000) : Will be there as expected.
3. Knights and retinues (6000) : Overwhelming response.
2. Victuals
1. Food : short, due to larger numbers of knights accumulating in Plymouth.
2. Wine/beer : Major problem here! We can't go to war sober...
3. Fodder : Plenty harvested and purchased.
3. Supply
1. Archery (bows, arrows, strings, heads) : Plenty.
2. Horses : shortage, not enough for archers.
4. Navy
1. Acquire shipping : Slow, but steady.
2. Staff ships : All arrived ships are ready, not enough ships.
3. Retrofit ships (gangways, hurdles.) : All arrived ships are ready, not enough ships.
5. Embarkation
1. Billet troops : OK for now.
2. Discipline : Not good, will get worst without drinks.
3. ETA : Sept 1, 1355 may be delayed by shipping.
6. Funds
1. Level : Plenty!
2. Creditors : The investors have contributed. 
3. King's funds : Arrived.
4. War tax : Incoming (ETA: Aug 1)

Instructions
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:

1. 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.
2. Drinks should be available in, of all places, Bordeaux.
3. You are bathing in money at this point. Finding stuff to buy is the real problem.

08/01/55 -- Gronou ap Griffith

Situation
The travel to Plymouth took place without complications. Much of the men traveled on their own and began to assemble around their leader in Plymouth. There is no official count at the moment, but there should be about a thousand men in the unit, including the stragglers. Of this number, some 100 are knighted and thus forms a core of experienced soldiers. Welsh knights are still considered to be footmen, they have better weapons and armors, are more experienced, but are not comparable to English knights in most cases. The overall skill level of the unit is, however, minimal at the moment. Arriving early was an excellent idea: the billet space in Plymouth is not sufficient for the entire expedition and the first served are getting much better accommodation. Gronou can't help but notice the small number of ships in the port: this doesn't bode well.

The waiting game has begun. Only 1 month before the planned embarkation.

Spearmen from Wales, lead by Gronou ap Griffith

State	Status	Supplies
Order of Battle Speamen : ~1000 men (10) Nobility : ~100 men (7) Location Plymouth, billet Activity Assembling, training Skill levels Maneuver : untrained Operations : untrained Melee : trained Discipline : suitable Funds : low	Secured early billet in town. Training maneuvers. Policing for the Prince of Wales. Hated by English soldiers. Breaking up/fueling Street brawls.	Using the Prince of Wales stores for victuals, wine and fodder. Weapons : low Armor : low

The above is the axiom table for this unit.

Instructions
Consider your axioms 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:

1. Low in weapons count as a strike when attempting to complete tasks requiring weapons : battles, skirmish, pillaging, etc. It modulate your skill level in determining the odds of success (by cutting the odds by close to 4)
2. Low in armor makes the troop lighter and faster, which is a good things for moving around. It is a strike against you in battles and skirmishes. 
3. Poorly equipped in both armor and weapons, and untrained, your unit is currently useless in battle.
4. "Operations" refers to non-combats task such as marches, camping, maintaining equipment. 
5. Low fund counts as a strike against any initiatives requiring funds to complete: you are not broke, but the options are more limited.
6. The effect of training maneuver will be determined at the end of the month. This is not a new action, but an action that you ordered in the past and for which I assumed that you have carried on since then. 
7. This entire turn covers the whole month of August. This is probably your last chance to influence the unit's status before it sails to Bordeaux.

07/01/55 -- Sir Griffyn

Gronou ap Griffith, leader of the Welsh
spearmen bound to Aquitaine. 

Situation
Breakthrough, Sir Griffyn appealed to the veterans of Crecy for the unit's colours. As a result, scores of old uniforms were donated to Sir Griffyn to be used in the coming chevauchee.  Strings can be sourced from the Northern reaches of England from the surplus of the last campaign into Scotland. However, this means that even though the spindles must be sold at King's wage, the transportation cost almost doubles the price. At any rate, it looks like there will be more than the target number of arrayed archers that will assemble in Plymouth on Aug 1. There should be enough string initially, but the stock may be low. As for steel arrows, it turned out that the shortage is caused by the aggressive sourcing of these by the King's puveyors in early June. There should be plenty of them from the Prince of Wales' pile in Plymouth (should). As for horses, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the archers are taking their own horses, which value will be assessed and guaranteed by the King before sailing off to France. The missing horses will have to be purchased somewhere else: there is just not enough available in Cheshire at this time.

Note. About half of the arrayed archers are small land-owner with some means to their disposal. These can provide their own horses, bows and whatever they fancy for armor (mail, padded armors mostly). The other half must be provided for.

Cheshire Archers

1. 20 Experienced trainers over 8 locations within Cheshire. (training is likely to bring troops to trained level rapidly). Lots of activity going on every day: new recruits, training tournaments, sparring.
2. Tradition of excellence: Prince of Wales signature unit.
3. Eager population base.
4. Funds : sufficient for requested levels.

Mobilization Outlook

1. Requested forces :  1000 archers (momentum, eager, likely)
2. Bows, string (shortage of strings, somewhat likely)
3. Steel headed arrows (acute shortage, unlikely)
4. Training arrows (plenty!, very likely)
5. Uniforms, textile and manufacture (recycling old uniforms, unlikely)
6. Blades (on course, somewhat likely)
7. Horses (shortage, very unlikely)
8. Departure within 4 weeks (likely)

Instructions
There is less than a turn before setting to Plymouth. Any instructions?

15/06/55 - Prince of Wales

Few artwork depicting navy ship from the 14th century
has survived. This is a painting of the battle
of Sluys, 1340. 

Personal Situation
The Prince of Wales is currently based at the tower of London, where war supplies are piling up. He is preparing to travel to Plymouth where he will reside in a local Castle and oversee the pre-embarkation maneuvers.

Situation
The Prince of Wales personally has devised a network of counter spies to monitor the troops in Plymouth. Normal practice is to forbid all outbound maritime traffic from all English ports until the army sails. Therefore there are some counter-intelligence agents on site already, but this plan is novel. It seems that it will be effective, mainly because it was implemented long before Plymouth is teeming with bored soldiers. Here is the report from various aides:

The response from the shires is extremely positive. We should meet or exceed our targets in archers, knights and their retinues of men-at-arms. The tower of London is filled to the brim with grosses of arrows and spindles of strings as well as bow sticks. We are, however, unable to source enough horses, either destriers, palfreys or sumpters, from the coastal areas. We are going to scour the hinterland, but the price to get them to Plymouth will be greater. This is the same story with all kinds of victuals. This isn't a problem because we are running a surplus for now. However, if we don't provision Plymouth and find enough billeting space, we are going to have a troop morale problem.     

 More worrisome is the poor reports from the King's agents recruiting merchant shipping into the navy. The prediction are that we may not be able to ferry everyone. We may have to allow some of the men to purchase their horses in France from the base in Bordeaux. Prioritizing horses from the Nobility is also an option, although a foot-borne body of archers would make us very slow.

Mobilization outlook

1. Troops
1. Archers (3000) : Enthusiastic response
2. Welsh Spearmen (1000) : No news yet.
3. Knights and retinues (6000) : Enthusiastic response
2. Victuals
1. Food : shortage
2. Wine/beer : shortage
3. Fodder : shortage
3. Supply
1. Archery (bows, arrows, strings, heads) : On target.
2. Horses : shortage
4. Navy
1. Acquire shipping : Dire reports from the Admirals
2. Staff ships : Slow, lack of ships to staff.
3. Retrofit ships (gangways, hurdles.) : Order sent, no news. 
5. Embarkation
1. Billet troops : Not enough billeting space found.
2. Discipline : Shortages and space: signs of troubles.
3. ETA : Sept 1, 1355
6. Funds
1. Level : Suitable
2. Creditors : The investors have contributed. 
3. King's funds : Will be on time (ETA: July 1)
4. War tax : Excellent forecast (ETA: Aug 1)

Instructions
There is a difficult decision to make: source what is missing from afar and pay a higher price in shipping or be more aggressive with what can be found in the coastal areas. Surplus of funds will attract even more men to the venture, but we have to be careful to ensure that we can feed them, keep them from mischiefs and get them into boats on time. Once the men arrive in Plymouth, we must pay 6 months of service in advance: this is mostly where the funds will go in the coming few weeks.

To address the shortage of ships, we may want to raid the French coast for shipping: after all, the ships have to be somewhere out in the channel. The downside to this is that some of the civilian ships would have to be used as raiders instead of being retrofitted for transportation. This is a gamble, but an option.

07/01/55 - Gronou ap Griffith

Situation
Your appeal to the controller of the Exchequer remains to this day without a response. It is possible that this is because of the nation-wide chaos created by the mobilization. If anything, most purveyors are known to skim the funds to their own profits: the purveyor that you dealt with was more aggressive and left you in a bad financial place. Speaking of finance, the prescribed King's price for blades and spears are too high and you find yourself in the strange situation where you simply cannot purchase enough weapons to meet your recruitment targets. However, even if you had more money, you cannot source enough chainmails, gloves and boots to meet targets. Finally, although the recruitment is going well, it is probable at this point that you will not be able to array the required number of men for the Prince of Wales.

Gronou is spending part of his time instructing mens to assemble to travel through England as a unit. The response is cold: most men believe that they are better off finding their own food and accomodation while travelling within the home nation.

Welsh Spearmen

1. Growing numbers, hard to predict at the moment. 
2. Strong unit cohesion.
3. Chauvinistic outlook on Englishmen.
4. Finance : Low.

Mobilization Outlook

1. Forces of 1000 (not enough people, likely)
2. Spears (insufficient funds, somewhat likely)
3. Armors [chainmail, leather] (shortage, funds, somewhat likely)
4. Anticipated training level at assembly : untrained
5. Assembly in Plymouth on August 1 (enthusiastic, somewhat likely)
6. Funds : low

Instruction
The last two weeks weren't pleasant, but not atypical. There are some decisions that can be of consequence to the mobilization. First, it is a shame that there are weapons available but they are out of reach because your funds are too low. As for armors, it hopefully can be made up in Plymouth from the Prince's stockpiles. As it goes now, you'll have an enthusiastic but maybe short-staffed unit. Let me know if you have specific instructions or whether everything is good to go. Next turn, July 15.

06/07/55 - Gronou ap Griffith

Situation
A purveyor from the King has disbursed to you the funds to array 1000 pikemen for an upcoming operation. Obviously, the purveyor has not disbursed the funds in full, but there is nothing that you can do to prove this assertion. You are to do the following: recruit 1000 men and provide them with enough funds to travel from the limit of the county to Plymouth. Once there, you will get enough funds to provide 6 months of wage up front. Men do not need to travel in column and are free to walk on their own or as a small group: you will know only in Plymouth whether you have met your targets at some point in August.

Welsh spearmen are treated as second-class soldiers because of their ethnicity and the fact that they are footmen. You could try to get them on horses, but your funds, even if the purveyor didn't scam you, are woefully insufficient for this. However, you usually play the role of auxiliary, which makes you special: you are a walking anti-cavalry wall often used to funnel the attacker somewhere, or block a flank.

Welsh Pikemen

1. Skeleton crew of about 50 experienced trainers. 
2. Strong Unit cohesion.
3. Chauvinistic outlook on Englishmen.

Mobilization Outlook

1. Forces of 1000 (likely)
2. Spears (somewhat likely)
3. Armors [chainmail, leather] (somewhat likely)
4. Anticipated training level at assembly : untrained
5. Assembly in Plymouth on August 1 (somewhat likely)
6. Funds : low

Instructions
Low funds means that it will be hard to meet recruitment target because there will be not enough money to pay the men to travel from North Wales to Plymouth. As usual, the Welsh are dealt a poor hand. About 1/3 to 1/2 of the men will choose to travel with you while the other will make their own way, unless otherwise instructed. The Journey will begin in mid-July, and should get you there by early August.

06/15/55 - Sir Griffyn

Situation Update
Two weeks have expanded since the mobilization has been called. The response from the counties is very positive and the other officers are reporting amazing progress toward the recruitment target. The purveyors are reporting acute problems with bow strings, steel arrows, green cloth for the uniforms and horses.  This is no very unusual, but this is not where we want to be. The trainers are working the newly arrayed men very hard: tournaments are taking place on weekends and all activities other than archery are banned.

We need to keep a tab on funds in the coming two weeks, with strings and steel being much more expensive than planned. We also will be slower on the way to Plymouth if we're short of horses.  We are going to assemble in two weeks to travel to the coast.

Cheshire Archers

1. 20 Experienced trainers over 8 locations within Cheshire. (training is likely to bring troops to trained level rapidly)
2. Tradition of excellence: Prince of Wales signature unit.
3. Eager population base.
4. Funds : sufficient for requested levels.

Mobilization Outlook

1. Requested forces :  1000 archers (momentum, eager, likely)
2. Bows, string (shortage of strings, somewhat likely)
3. Steel headed arrows (shortage, unlikely)
4. Training arrows (plenty!, very likely)
5. Uniforms, textile and manufacture (no green cloth, unlikely)
6. Blades (on course, somewhat likely)
7. Horses (shortage, very unlikely)
8. Departure within 4 weeks (likely)

Instructions

The uniform seems like a minor thing, but it is a matter of unit pride. Don't underestimate this, although this is not like you can start weaving yourself.  At any rate, anything missing can be purchased later on the way to Plymouth. You can try to be aggressive and pay more for stuff, or take your chance and try to buy what's missing (you may not be alone trying to do this). Things are not that bad, are there any special instructions?

06/01/55 - Sir Griffyn

Cheshire Archers

1. 20 Experiencedtrainers over 8 locations within Cheshire. (training is likely to bring troops to trained level rapidly)
2. Tradition of excellence: Prince of Wales signature unit.
3. Eager population base.
4. Funds : sufficient for requested levels.

Mobilization Outlook

1. Requested forces :  1000 archers (likely)
2. Bows, string (somewhat likely)
3. Steel headed arrows (unikely)
4. Training arrows (very likely)
5. Uniforms, textile and manufacture (somewhat likely)
6. Blades (somewhat likely)
7. Horses (very unlikely)
8. Departure within 4 weeks (likely)

Instructions

We are about  to set on another enterprise with the Prince of Wales. The men and women of Cheshire are eager to bring riches from France one more time. Sir Griffyn, knighted after his exploits at Crecy, is the de factor leader of the Cheshire archers. Your deputies will oversee the procurement of material and the distribution of funds to the arrayers and purveyors. Everything seems to be looking fine, except for the endemic shortage of suitable horses and textile so far inland. Shall we proceed or re there special instructions that we should consider before mobilization?

01/06/55 - Prince of Wales

The tower of London, today.

Status

Location London's Tower, Residence

Status Indebted, Resting.

Mandate

The King of England is mandating the Prince of Wales to assemble an expeditionary forces drawn form his estate and from arrayed spearmen from Wales. All knights and man-at-arm of the land are called to join the armed force to resume the war against the King of France. The Prince of Wales has all authority to lead the expedition, establish discipline and reward men of valors. He also has the authority to negotiate treaties considered pertinent to the campaign, including surrenders of his own forces. If the Prince of Wales finds himself in need of help, the King of England is committing to provide the promptest help possible.  The expedition is to assemble in Bordeaux to link with the Gascon nobles that have requested the King of England's support. 

Mobilizing England for War

Mobilizing is an extremely complex operation that has been done many times in recent memory. In order to trigger the process, the Prince of Wales only need to say so and the dozen of gears will engage according to a sound plan.

This is June 1 1355. The mobilization plan aims to assemble 10,000 men, roughly equally distributed between  knights, men-at-arms and archers on horseback. It also calls for over 1000 welsh spearmen on foot in support. It will take 2 months to assemble in Plymouth while a navy is commandeered and ships are staffed and retrofitted. The sea should be favourable in early September for the 12 days voyage to Bordeaux. 

The Prince of Wales should be aware that there are three significant issues that can complicate the plans. The most important is that in order to array archers and recruit nobles, we need a lot of coins. Our funds are currently low, but we are expecting to have cash from creditors within two weeks. If these funds are not released, this will cause a serious setback to our plans. The king should also release funds within the month. Finally, a steady income from special war taxes should become significant before we sail to France. The second concern is that it is always unlikely that we will be able to commandeer enough shipping to ferry all of the horses to France. We will monitor the progress of this operation closely. The third traditional concern is to maintain discipline at the embarkation port where the troops will be billeted. Let's hope that we can sail promptly before we run out of food, fodder, or coins to keep the troops from marauding our own towns and villages.

Longbowmen of olde, circa 1415

Mobilization outlook

1. Troops
1. Cheshire Archers (3000) : Likely
2. Welsh Spearmen (1000) : Likely
3. Knights and retinues (6000) : Likely
2. Victuals
1. Food : OK
2. Wine/beer : OK
3. Fodder : OK
3. Supply
1. Archery (bows, arrows, strings, heads) : OK
2. Horses : OK
4. Navy
1. Acquire shipping : unsure
2. Staff ships : OK
3. Retrofit ships (gangways, etc.) : OK
5. Embarkation
1. Billet troops : OK
2. Discipline : unsure
3. ETA : Sept 1, 1355
6. Funds
1. Level : Low
2. Creditors : Likely (ETA: June 15)
3. King's funds : Likely (ETA: July 1)
4. War tax : Likely (ETA: Aug 1)

Instructions

At this point, there is not a lot to do from a player's POV unless the Prince of Wales wants to take special action to address any of the three main concerns. If you do, simply state which concern that you want to focus on for the next two weeks, and possibly how (use the comment feature of this blog to do this).