File: Stracus Report, October 1545.png (2.15 MB, 2362x2081)

2.15 MB PNG

You turn to the man on your left, your trusted second in command and former guard captain who joined you in your self-imposed retirement, Hugues Regnard. The middle-aged Montcherian soldier seems to be handling the sun rather well for someone from a temperate region such as his.

"What is it, Hughes?" you ask.

"Far be it from me to question your decisions, meu seynor, but are you very much certain that this Mariotto di Golla can be trusted? Whatever his dealings with Don Carles, I am doubtful he and his fellows hold much care for the idea of being ruled by a human. After that man spoke of alternative candidates and other mercenary armies, I have begun to wonder whether or not they intend to make cannon fodder out of our forces."

You stop to consider his words as you trot along the road atop your horse. It is true that your former liege, Prince Carles, had told you that you held the advantage of being an outsider "untainted" by local ties, you are nonetheless a human, a foreign stranger not of the same race as the kite-eared Straccians, however similar they may be. Although this man had been seemingly chosen by Carles to act as your liaison to Garino, it could very well be his goal to use you as a bludgeon against Niccolo, before installing one of his own Garinoans, perhaps even himself, on the Despotic Throne. Of course, perhaps you are worrying too much - you were never quite the most skilled in matters of politicking and intrigue. Being born the only elligible heir to a small yet wealthy family in a land unbothered by the courtly disputes of the mainland, you were quite well insulated from such matters...and as a consequence, not very experienced in them.

Straccia, on the other hand, was another matter entirely. Where the noblemen of Mirevale were bound ultimately still by the rule of the crown and the societal imperatives of the noble class, no such thing existed in this land of merchants and city-states. Although some remnants of noble blood remained, such as Duke Giovanni of Silenia and his daughter,Lady Joanne, whom you had met some odd months ago, most of the states in this land, the Despotate amongst them, were ruled by coalitions of urban aristocrats, their power founded not in blood and heritage but silver and gold. Indeed, that a nation such as Senucco whose most common form of inheritance would be the hostile takeover could exist is a matter most indicative of the ignominious state of the politics of this land.

And now, you have been thrust into the depths of this cloak and dagger conflict. Still...what, if anything, is there to do in regards to your advisor? Is he to be trusted - or shall you plant your eyes on the back of your head every time he walks behind you?

CHOOSE YOUR OPTION
>Work to gain his trust, if only for so long as you need his support
>Trust the judgement of Don Carles for now, and assume him to be truthful
>Maintain some degree of doubt over his words, but nothing more
>Assume him to be hiding something. Study his every act and keep him at a certain distance from your plans.
>Write-in

Thread I - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6153604/

Thread I (Conclusion) - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6189036/

Thread II - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6231466/

Thread III -
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6275844/

Thread IV - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2026/6326513/

Thread V - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2026/6388307/

Field Handbook - https://rentry.org/TercioQuest

Welcome to yet another installation for Fog of War! My apologies for the extended length between threads. Although I intend to update as often as possible, I may not have the time for it in the middle of the week - but we'll see how things turn out.

>>6463120
>Work to gain his trust, if only for so long as you need his support
Thank God this ain’t dead.

>>6463120
>Work to gain his trust, if only for so long as you need his support

>>6463120
>Work to gain his trust, if only for so long as you need his support

Good to see this back!

>>6463120
>Work to gain his trust, if only for so long as you need his support
Hughes is right to be skeptical I think, though honestly our Senucco contact is being plenty open about the nature of our relationship instead of trying to gaslight us into thinking we're a chosen one, so I doubt he has anything more than opportunistic deceptions in mind. I doubt other mercenaries are any more appealing than we are, perhaps even less so depending on their social pedigree, so our best bet is to make ourselves look like the best choice early. Which entails not pissing him off. That way we can delay the inevitable attempt at our replacement.

>>6463120
>Maintain some degree of doubt over his words, but nothing more
I do not trust these people even a little bit, but right now our plans are aligned and, with our massive artillery, we should be in a strong position to win the peace

>>6463120
>Work to gain his trust, if only for so long as you need his support

Aw yeah this is back. Now, onto politicking!

>>6463120
>Trust the judgement of Don Carles for now, and assume him to be truthful
Even if he is lying through his teeth we have a common interest: the defeat of the despot. If he isn't he is doubtless going to be one of the big power moves in our new regime, and fostering pushing him away now would backfire; I think waiting until we see the rest of the mercenaries and comparing ourselves to them should come first.

It's good to see that people still want to follow this quest. Sadly, I'll have to postpone the update to tomorrow because quite frankly, I am just not in the atmosphere to do it today and it would end up pretty bad.

In the meanwhile, please feel free to continue voting.

>>6463120
>>Maintain some degree of doubt over his words, but nothing more

>>6463732
Thanks for the heads up and I know I'm not alone when I say I was very happy to see this quest up

>>6463146
>>6463189
>>6463247
>>6463315
>>6463510
Working to gain his trust wins! Writing....

Although he had told you directly of the presence of other candidates, it is prudent indeed to consider whether Mariotto may have less than positive plans for you. You are a man isolated, deep in a foreign land, with but a few hundred soldiers whom you can truly trust. Your money reserves, however plentiful for the moment, shall certainly run out eventually. To wait for your weakest moment and replace you with someone more useful to the city of Garino would be a mere matter of time, if you even managed to overthrow the Despot by yourself in the first place. Knowing all that, however - what can you do?

In the end, you need Garino's support. They are the key to your ascension to the lordship of Senucco, and the maintenance of your seat upon it. And though for the moment he has departed off to his fellows in the city, to tell them of your departure and hopefully to fan the flames of their crafted revolt, you have little option but to gain Mariotto's trust (or at least, his interest) for he - through his position as liaison - shall be your link to the city of Garino. You are not all too certain how exactly you might bring this about, but in time, an opportunity is certain to reveal itself.

Your travel through the backlands of Nera continues for several days more after this, even crossing a stone bridge that fortunately did not buckle under the heavy weight of your artillery train. When you finally arrive within sight of Vivanna, it becomes clear to you with what accuracy it had been described as a border town. Colorful clusters of travel tents are set up outside the city walls, banners high showing the symbols of dozens of mercenary groups. Your own regiment, easily detected, is quickly approached by a city clerk that assigns you a spot to set up your own encampment. It would seem that, out of a desire to maintain order in the city, the varying mercenary companies that would often find their way to the city were to be kept at some distance from one another - though those with coin could still find proper lodgings inside the walls...

After being lead to your designated location, you split off from your army, going into the city as the troops began to set up their camp. After so many of days marching in the sweltering heat, proper lodgings and a bath would be greatly appreciated indeed.

File: Campaign Map - Road to Garino.png (6.85 MB, 7475x3363)

6.85 MB PNG

It is the 4th of October, and you are currently standing in front of a great map. To your good surprise, it would seem that on his path to Garino, Mariotto had left you a gift of sorts - a list of all the castles and fortresses on your path to the city, and a map to accompany it. You had little doubt that there were more, scaterred on the countryside here and there, but these, for the moment, would be the ones that concerned you.

"How might we proceed, Hugues?" you say, turning to your Sargento Mayor.

"Well.." he begins, clearing his throat.

"There is little doubt that we shall have to follow among the road. We have been fortunate for now, but a single day of heavy rain would be more than plenty to turn less-kept roads to a pile of mud that would see our cannons and wagons sink into the earth. The river, of course, is right out - perhaps if we had access to proper warships, something could be done, but without them, we would have little way of dealing with any naval fortifications alongside it. In the main route, the papers say that most of the fortifications are older works from before the age of artillery, with slight modifications. Those, I am certain our firepower could make quick work of. The issue comes with La Grande Rocca."

"A foreboding name for sure." you add.

"It is, from these reports, a modern fortress, built at the orders of Niccolo himself. It is his center of power in the region, and built in the style of the Trace Colibrenne. Though I have not seen firepower of such quantity brought to bear myself, If what I know about these manners of forts is correct, it will not fall easily."

"We do not have much in the way of time - might it be possible to ignore it? To go past, as we did with some of the cities in Tilano?" you question

"It is...not as easy, sire. This is no mere castle or town - this is a true fortress. Though we are not reliant on a supply line, it would leave us open to strikes from the garrison. And even if we were to succeed and reach Garino - then the region itself would remain still at the mercy of these men. They could coordinate with other castles in the region - perhaps even form an field army of their own, and bite us at the heels when we least expect it. It is a risky maneuver. Though I am not certain we have much choice..."

"What else can be done, then?"

"I would have to see this fortress in person to give an answer, sire. There is little else that could be said at the moment."

"Very well..." You say rubbing the bridge of your nose in frustration. "What other business have we in this town before departure?"

"There are some decisions to be made - our supplier, Cambino Veni, has made it clear he will supply us no further beyond this point. We must choose how many weeks of supplies we shall carry at a time. Furthermore...though I doubt we shall find any companies not bound by a Condotta here, perhaps there may be Independent Mercenaries who have come to this city in wait of a coming war. There are also labourers, of course, who though perhaps not capable of fighting, could be used for construction efforts in a siege."

"We can simply order our soldiers to do it, as we had in Montechia." you reply, raising your hand.

"It is not so simple, sire. We have less soldiers, for one - and the ones we have, shall certainly not like it if they were made to do the work of a commoner after having been made knights and musketeers."

Questions, questions, and more questions. Once again you are faced with decisions that shall impact not only your own life, but that of your army, of the fate of an entire war. Weirdly, however...it feels good.

CHOOSE YOUR OPTION - SUPPLY
>5 Weeks; The opportunity to fill out your supplies entirely is not an easily found one. This will considerably slow you down.
>4 Weeks; You'll not risk your army running on an empty stomach, but you won't let yourself slow to a crawl either. This will somewhat slow your speed.
>3 Weeks; It is an even and reasonable amount, neither too full nor too empty. This will not affect your marching speed.
>2 Weeks; It is better to be swift than to be safe, but you still wish some assuarance. Due to your large artillery train, this will not affect your marching speed.
>1 Week; This is a land of plenty, and your army will feed from it with ease. Due to your large artillery train, this will not affect your marching speed.

CHOOSE YOUR OPTION - VIVANNA
>Attempt to recruit Independent Mercenaries
>Hire manual labourers for construction work
>Do nothing, you're fine
>Write-in

>>6464248
>3 Weeks; It is an even and reasonable amount, neither too full nor too empty. This will not affect your marching speed.
2 weeks and below would only be useful if we split the artillery from the army. Which we probably can do, but with the forts there won't be much point.

>Hire manual labourers for construction work
More mercenaries won't help against forts and bridge crossings.

>>6464248
>3 Weeks; It is an even and reasonable amount, neither too full nor too empty. This will not affect your marching speed.
Time is not on our side. There could be an argument for having spare supplies to send a detachment further ahead on a very long range strike, not slowed by our artillery, but that's a risky and situational maneuver.

>Hire manual labourers for construction work
As lovely as having even more mercenaries would be to create the perfect unit for a big decisive battle, I doubt having more at this point when our main opponents are stone and earth rather than flesh and metal will be of significant use to us when most of our casualties will be to our gold reserves.
Plus, we have a fancy smarty pants engineer. The more he has to work with in complicated siegeworks or fortifications, the better, I think.

>>6464248
>4 Weeks; You'll not risk your army running on an empty stomach, but you won't let yourself slow to a crawl either. This will somewhat slow your speed.

>Hire manual labourers for construction work

>>6464272
+1

>>6464248
>3 Weeks; It is an even and reasonable amount, neither too full nor too empty. This will not affect your marching speed.
>Hire manual labourers for construction work

>>6464248
Is it possible to attack the river forts from the land to free the river for navigation?

>>6464399
While it would be possible to do so, I don't exactly understand the logic behind it. Aside from the fact that you would need to go through the minor rural roads to get there, which was talked about in the updates, you would be going through the land to get to a fort...to free up a river you aren't using? If I've misunderstood your idea, please explain.

>>6464455
The idea is that we could use the river if we removed the forts on it

>>6464248
>3 Weeks; It is an even and reasonable amount, neither too full nor too empty. This will not affect your marching speed.
>Hire manual labourers for construction work

>>6464463
Okay, but, anon, how exactly would you use the river if you were travelling by land? Is your plan to go all the way to the castle, then back to Vivanna? Or is your hope that you'll find a fleet capable of carrying your ships there?

Please help me understand.

>>6464466
capable of carrying your army*

>>6464466
In my dreams, we take just enough supplies to reach La Grande Rocca, take Forte Fiume and establish a riverborne supply line to Vivanna. The army marches on land, but the supplies go via the river and don't slow us down.

>>6464470
Well, that's your prerogative, but in regards to sailing, you would know that you'd have to acquire the ships capable of doing such in Vivanna, and that loading and unloading anything in considerable quantities, especially troops and cannons, requires capable docks.

If you believe that's still worth it, you can use a write-in to go look for ships in your Vivanna action.

>>6464475
I have a feeling that you don't want us to use the river

>>6464481
Alessandro, as a character, would have the knowledge of the material limitations of your current situation. What you choose to do with that knowledge is entirely up to you.

Alright, I'll still leave the vote open for a little while longer but regardless of what you do, I'll be asking for you to
>ROLL 1D100, AVERAGE OF FIRST THREE
For success in your endeavors

Rolled 82 (1d100)

>>6464577

>>6464578
>>3 Weeks; It is an even and reasonable amount, neither too full nor too empty. This will not affect your marching speed.
>Hire manual labor

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>6464248
>2 Weeks; It is better to be swift than to be safe, but you still wish some assuarance. Due to your large artillery train, this will not affect your marching speed.

>Do nothing, you're fine
Mercenaries are paid to be soldiers and sometimes soldiers do some hard work. Time to beat some classic legionary belief into them!

>>6464577
Good to see you back! Finally caught up right as the last thread ended. (Apologize for tripcode, usually don’t take it off since it’s a pain in the ass to add back on)

Rolled 85 (1d100)

>>6464577

I guess the ongoing rapee of the economy has lent a healthy amount of Neran itinerant workers to the cause.

>>6464248
>3 Weeks; It is an even and reasonable amount, neither too full nor too empty. This will not affect your marching speed.
>Hire manual labourers for construction work4

Since our artillery slows us down, might as well take as many supplies as we can before it slows us down. And laborers, that way we can have our troops rest and not exhaust themselves before a fight.

>>6464252
>>6464256
>>6464272
>>6464348
>>6464465
>>6464465
>>6464767
I'm just gonna go and close the vote for manual labourers and three weeks.

File: Stracus Report, October 6(...).png (2.08 MB, 2362x2081)

2.08 MB PNG

Although acquiring some more mercenaries for your cause (and especially so those who may not be sworn to some independent company far more capable of defiance and self-interest) may sound wonderful, it is a fact that your greatest enemy in this war seems to be not flesh and steel but stone and brick, and if your cannons are not enough to bring down these fortifications, then sieging and sapping shall be your only choice. Knowing this, you called Vincenzo Sfolari, your newly hired master engineer, and told him to gather himself however many strong labourers he found necessary to aid him and his assistants in his endeavours. The man thanked you for your genereosity, and went on, while you continued to oversee the acquisition of your supplies - with a little extra, for whatever number he came back with.

To your surprise, the number is...a lot. You had expected a hundred or two hundred men at best - certainly, in a land such as this, there could not have been so many urban poor desperate for work. From what you gathered, however, it would seem that the Fortelli War had left Nera in direr straits than you had thought - not only had they incurred much debt with the expenditures of the war itself, and the acquisition of the Famiglia before that (to a much disappointing result you had caused), the addition of Don Carles's remittance as well as the reduction of tariffs for Segoman merchants had lead to a rather steep loss in revenue for the state - a loss which they had no choice but to compensate for with a rather steep raise in taxes for the common man. As a result, a lot of urban tradesmen, and especially those outside the city of Montellegaria, where all wealth of Nera was ultimately funneled, had gone out of business. And so...Vincenzo was able to hire a whopping six hundred labourers for a measly 300 Imperii per month - or around half a coin's worth for each man.

It is the 6th of October when your regiment leaves the city, now accompanied by hundreds of weary labourers, and the ever trailing shadow of the sutler, those merchants ever so happy to provide services and goods to your soldiers. With this last stop surpassed, you are but a few more days of travel away from finally, at long last entering the territory of Senucco. To your good surprise, as you cross yet another bridge on the Vietta, you find yourself trodding not upon a bed of dirt, but a true road, with gravel and stone, and drainage ditches. Indeed, this road is a finer road than any you had seen on all of Nera save for perhaps that of the streets of Montellegaria itself. You are not sure why exactly such a road would exist solely in this stretch of border, or which nation had built it, but you shall certainly be thankful that they have.

Following this, your travel becomes easier by an considerable amount. Your wagons roll along the road with much greater ease, and when rain begins to fall, it comes not as a worst case scenario, but as a splendour-given refreshment from the heat. As you begin to prepare the first assortment of assignments for when you finally enter "hostile" territory, you can only hope that such fine road will be upon your feet for the entirety of this war.

RULES

Welcome once again to the 'Strategical' Theater of the conflict. From this moment onward, we will once again return to seeing the events of this conflict in a format of weeks. As the Captain of the Lance of Stracus, It shall be your duty to steer your army as you move towards your ultimate goal of overthrowing the Despot of Senucco, Niccolo di Lorena. Although there is no 'timer' for this conflict, your vital wealth resources are both finite and hard to acquire.

Events
During each week, a number of events may occur. These range from positive to negative and anywhere inbetween. Your foraging parties may be attacked, or your scouts may find an enemy force marching on its way to attack you. Keep in mind, however, that not every event will have an immediately obviously outcome..

Units
They are your army; your soldiers. Your units are the smallest formation you can effectively use at an independent level during this time and age. Outside of battles, they shall be responsible for accomplishing tasks. You should keep it well in mind, however, that these are independent men, with goals and wills that could very well conflict with yours...do not expect them to be follow you mindlessly.

Supplies
It has been said that an army marches on its stomach, and this is no less true here. Your supplies are what determines whether your army shall be fed, and starvation can be a far more fearsome foe than bullets or spears. Keep in mind these terms...

Local Availability represents the physical wealth of the region. It can range from Very Poor, Poor and Average to Rich and Very Rich. This value determines the ease with which your soldiers may forage and sack supplies from the countryside, and is heavily dependant on both your location and season of the year.

Supply represents any 'consistent' stream of supplies being received by your army. There are various levels of supply. Insufficient means your supply is wholly unable to support your army; it shall only barely slow the decrease of your storage. Lacking means they are far more decent, yet still not enough; they will somewhat slowdown your supply consumption, taking two weeks to burn through a single week's worth of supplies. Sufficient means you have enough to feed your entire army and will suffer no supply loss whatsoever. Finally, Plentiful means you are receive all you require and then some; actively increasing your supply storage every month.

Status represents how well your army is doing at the moment; a well-supplied army is not only happier, but more capable as well. It is in your best interest to maintain this value as high as possible.

Stored represents how many weeks of supply you hold in your baggage train; It is what ensures you will continue to eat even if your foraging parties fail. Lose it, or let your supplies run dry, and your army will begin to starve. It should be kept in mind, however, that losing your stored supplies does not spell instant death; as long as your troops are capable of foraging from the land, you may continue to remain afloat.

Finances
The general who does not pay his soldiers will not remain a general for much longer. In this age of warfare, no soldiers holds loyalty greater than to that of cold, hard cash. It is what motivates them, and it is what keeps you in charge.
Warchest represents the wealth you have stored. It can increase or decrease as a result of events or purchases, but its main usage is to pay the wages of your soldiers at the start of each month.
Upkeep represents the total sum of the wages demanded by your army; this includes not only your recruited soldiers, but your mercenary companies and specialists as well. Failing to pay them in time will have grave consequences...
Months Until Bankruptcy reprents how many months worth of wages your warchest is capable of paying.


WILL YOU ASSIGN UNITS TO SCOUTING? CHOOSE YOUR OPTION.
>Yes. (If so, which?)
>No.

DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER TASKS YOU WISH TO ASSIGN COMPANIES TO? (Examples may include Vanguard, Rear Guard or Guard to Specific Components Such as Warchest or Supply Train)
>Yes. (If so, which task, and which companies?)
>No.

Finally, there is one last matter which you must consider - and it is the matter of your first strike. In this coming week you shall sure cross the border to Senucco, where, if the information you have been given is correct, the first castle in your path to Garino stands - Forte Biezzo. It is not a great fortress, according to Mariotto's info, but a simple border castle, built quite a while ago. Nevertheless, it is a hostile fortification, manned by troops loyal to the Despot, and thus, enemies of your cause. You must choose a way to deal with them!

The first of such options would be the standard - to prepare your guns, and fire until they either surrender, or until they are softened enough for your shocktroops to lead an assault without worry - though losses are always inevitable. The second is to put to test the full power of your artillery detachment, and obliterate the fortress until nothing but dust and rubble remains, though some might call such an action Unnecessary and Unsplendoran. Thirdly, you could perhaps simply threaten them with your guns with the hope of a peaceful surrender - though your campfires shall surely announce your presence by your first night in their territory, the enemy knows not of the cannons you hold, something you'd rather keep hidden for a while longer. Finally, you could simply avoid the castle entirely - after all, a fortress as small as this is very doubtfully capable of launching a raid that could threaten an army as large as yours.

Whatever your choice, it shall be the first shot fired in this war for the throne of Senucco.

CHOOSE YOUR OPTION
>Carry out a normal attack against them
>Obliterate the castle entirely, leave none alive
>Attempt to frighten them into laying down their arms
>Ignore the fortress and move on
>Write-In

>>6464970
>Attempt to frighten them into laying down their arms

>>6464968
>WILL YOU ASSIGN UNITS TO SCOUTING? CHOOSE YOUR OPTION.
>Yes. (If so, which?)
May as well put the Banda Grisa and the Stradioti Mabriana out there. Get their feet wet while the going is still easy and get a feel for the terrain, also a matter of testing our opposition to see how good they are without their boss. If their good officers or troops are present and all.

>DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER TASKS YOU WISH TO ASSIGN COMPANIES TO? (Examples may include Vanguard, Rear Guard or Guard to Specific Components Such as Warchest or Supply Train)
>Yes. (If so, which task, and which companies?)
Vanguard: Keusiger Kompanie
Rearguard: Condottieri Avonesi
Warchest: Lance of Stracus
I doubt we'll need a dedicated watch over our supplies so early.

>>6464970
>Attempt to frighten them into laying down their arms
No need to be Mongols about setting an example.
But if they stall we absolutely should just flatten it.

>>6464970
>>WILL YOU ASSIGN UNITS TO SCOUTING?
>>Yes
Both troops of Skirmishers of the Stradioti

>>DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER TASKS YOU WISH TO ASSIGN COMPANIES TO?
>>Yes
Rear guard should be composed of Pikemen and the full wing of Knights. That's also where our money should be.

Logic there is that our artillery is out most valuable asset and we should be protecting it with the units best suited to static defense (pikemen) as well as having our best all-around combat troops there to protect it.

Van should be composed of the Stradioti cavalry acting to screen the column. I guess the Keusigers should be the next closest to the front

>Attempt to frighten them into laying down their arms
I think we might be able to accomplish this withiut revealing the full extent of our cannon arsenal too. Maybe we get laborers to cut some trees and construct blinds to hide some of our larger guns while we're outside the fort? And, if now its too few and they aren't frightened, we can also shoot at them and then ask them again if they'd like to surrender

>>6465018
Supporting this

>>6464970
Scouting
>Skirmishers from the Sradioti
I can't remember if regular cavalry is any good at scouting but I doubt we need to be putting that many scouts in the field until we're past the forts.

>>6465018
Supporting this anon for our column organisation.

>Attempt to frighten them into laying down their arms

>>6464970
>Attempt to frighten them into laying down their arms

>>6465018
Support

>>6465018
+1

I also think we should have multiple teams foraging and hunting..

We should also have a wing of our knight secure any gold or valuables during the conquest so they don't go missing in any mercenary pockets

>Attempt to frighten them into laying down their arms
I'd offer extremely reasonable terms of the surrender

>>6465018
>>6465029
>>6465056
>>6465255
>>6465425
I'll lock this down as the winner, but post is tomorrow because it's a big one.

File: Mama mia itsa a problemisimo.jpg (167 KB, 720x855)

167 KB JPG

While QM is writing the update, I want to discuss with my fellow anons something that has been worrying me: the river forts

There are two, Forte Fiume and Castello Atto. We don't have to encounter them as we go along the main road. But, that also means that if we forget about them, they'll just be there unconquered when we reach La Roca. My fear is that they'll send out raiding parties to harry our supply line. And I don't see a super easy way to solve the problem because they're off the main road, so dragging the guns there would be a bitch and a half.

So, what do we do? Do they even pose a threat? My only idea so far is that we should probably send a cavalry detachment to Fiume at some point to see what the fort and garrison actually look like

>>6465518
They will also suffer the problem of having no direct roads to us, so we do have an advantage there, and it would also depend on if they have cavalry. I doubt it considering they're river forts, but only QM knows.

>>6465518
>So, what do we do? Do they even pose a threat? My only idea so far is that we should probably send a cavalry detachment to Fiume at some point to see what the fort and garrison actually look like
I doubt they're an actual threat for a couple of reasons. One is that we aren't using that river- depending on what way it flows, it's not actually more useful than the road we already have for our purposes (our traffic needs aren't too much) and also because long range communication is still a matter of rider and horse, or in the very odd case one of homing pigeon (not nearly as common as sometimes portrayed), so the most likely scenario so long as we're fast enough is that these outposts won't even know there's an invasion occurring until we're already besieging La Grande Rocca.

I imagine that their garrisons are not very imposing beyond what makes holding a castle necessary, a few hundred men at best, meant to hold until a response force from the Big Rock is assembled. Given that their distance from the main road and that the river is still an asset to *somebody* (receiving forces sent down it, for example) their orders in this situation would be to hold steady and not risk losing their positions.

>>6465563
>>6465589
I wasn't clear. My worry is that the garrisons of those forts, not the forts themselves, could pose a threat to our supply lines. And that, if they do, it would be difficult for us to attack those garrisons.

My worst case scenario would be us beseiging La Roca and having our supplies lines harassed by men stationed at Fiume and Atto, forcing us to take valuable men away from the siege in order to guard supply convoys

>>6465594
That also isn't much of a concern. Their garrisons are probably not larger than our individual regiments (unless the Despot is fond of spending unreasonable amounts of money on soldier wages for obsolete castles) so if they do choose to do that then we send the Banda Grisa or our Cavalry forces (who won't be doing anything in a siege anyways) to crush them.
They could be irritating but we're not without ways to effectively deal with them if they do choose to sally out.

I have the written part of the update ready, but I am struggling with finding a fitting image for the castle. My apologies.

>>6465915
Jean-Claude Golvin has some images of castles. Even if it doesn't help, there are pretty: https://jeanclaudegolvin.com/en/gallery/

>>6465921
Hmhmmh, well it's some nice art, but I can't say any of it fits for this in specific.

Ah, whatever, I don't wanna keep things held up. I'll just post without an image this time...

File: Crossing the Line.png (448 KB, 1277x1162)

448 KB PNG

It does not take you much time to know that you ought to keep your most valuable of assets protected by your own, loyal men. Whatever the loss to their reputation would be, you are not certain these mercenaries could resist the urge to take your warchest for themselves should they be left alone with it, even less so those capable of fleeing by way of horse. And so it is with little difficulty that you assign your own pikemen and knights of the Lance to guard your rear, where your warchest is to remain. The rest of the cavalry you send forthwards, the skirmishers off to scout while the cavalry remain at the front. You shall enter these hostile lands ready and prepared for whichever threat may exist!

It is the 8th of October when you enter Senucco at last. There is little to mark this change of territory, save for some small sign by the roadside, but the symbolism of such acts cannot be underestimated. You are now in the land of the enemy, a land which you must take, where every castle and city and town holds a foe to be defeated. Yet in the same time, it is a land which you plan to rule, a land whom you shall, at least in name, fight to "free" from a tyrannic and unjust ruler. Certainly, then, your every action shall be weighed against his - every village pillaged a crime against those you intend to call subject. Every slight a matter to be remembered even in success. Although these people may be used to these changes of power - these civil wars that by some splendour-sent grace have not destroyed this country in the centuries it has existed - you, human that you are, shall be judged beyond all others, held to a standard much finer, and given sentence much easier.

Whatever you do from now onwards will be remembered. You must take care to ensure that they are the right things...

As your army is crossing the border, you spot in the distance the form of the castle; and you certainly expect they have been able to do the same. Certainly by now, they have already sent off a courier on his horse, galloping at full speed towards La Rocca to inform them of your army. Though you might have liked to reach them in secret, it would simply be impossible to do so unless your men were able to march through the midst of night with neither lamp nor candle. Yet though your general presence is known, all that which is specific is not - not your musketeers, nor your guns. You hold the advantage still, and you intend to keep as much of it as you are able. With a few orders, you make your plan known - the artillery detachment is to move to the front, and prepare to unload within viewing distance of the enemy's walls!

It is...early in the afternoon, whichever hour you know not, when you finally arrive where you wish. In the distance, now ever-so-closer, is that first of castles which stands in your path, Forte Biezzo. It stands proudly, defiantly, yet all the same lackingly in comparison to what you have seen from a modern fortress. Your reports had been correct; it is an old castle indeed, from the age of trebuchets and battering rams. All that it holds from modern times is but some humble earthworks, much like that one town you had once met in the outskirts of Nera, in Tilano.

You stand at the forefront of your army, seven thousand strong, your cannons at the front. It must be a terrible sight for those men, up in those towers, gazing down at the challengers below them. They must know, certainly, that there is no blow which they could deliver us, no resistance which might be meaningful. What logical course of action, then, is there, but surrender? They, who do not fight for faith and country, but for a transient figure, have no reason to perish foolishly so. And as such, when the last of your Kartouwes and Culverins are lined up against their walls, you do not fire. You wait; that they might see. And then, you send off a messenger, one amongst the brave, with a loud and boisterous voice, to ride up to their walls, and tell of them your goal.

You see the man approach the castle walls, unharmed, and then yell out in the distance, almost unrecognizably to you yet certainly loud enough for them. He waits for a while, the silence thick, before riding back. The enemy, it would appear, have yet to answer. Certainly, they must have heard it. With nothing else to do, you wait for a while.

And wait.

And wait...

It is when you finally notice that the angle of the sun's shadow has perceptibly changed that you decide you have had enough of waiting. These men must be either mute, brave beyond words, or simply unknowledgeable about the power of your cannons. If that is the case...then they must be made to learn.

CHOOSE YOUR OPTION
>Wait a while longer - they must give an answer, eventually
>Fire off a warning blank shot, enough to show them our power without exposing our full numbers
>Allow one of your guns to fire at them once and ask them again (If so, specify which type)
>You have given them enough time, fire a full barrage!
>Write-In

I had originally hoped this would be a bit longer, but I'll have to draw something to make up for the lack of an image, so think of this as the first half of the fortress scenario.

>>6465926
Can we actually see anyone in the castle? They may have just abandoned it.

>Send a light company of greatsword from the Banda Grisa backed up by a company of crossbow from the Keusigers to scale the walls.

If they get attacked, retreat and we'll fire a full barrage, but I have the sneaking suspicion that nobody's home. Why wouldn't they respond to us otherwise?

Alright we tried diplomacy.
>>6465926
>>You have given them enough time, fire a full barrage!
They may fear the Despot too much to not make a token effort or roll the dice on a bluff. We don't need this place intact, we need it out of our way. We can set a good precedent here- to not toy with the man with cannons. They might learn early our strength, but, perhaps in some cases we want them to know.

>>6465926
>You have given them enough time, fire a full barrage!
Provided that we stop again and invite them to surrender after the next barrage. Or find out the fort is abandoned, lol

>>6465926
>>Wait a while longer - they must give an answer, eventually

>>6465937
+1

>>6465926
>Allow one of your guns to fire at them once and ask them again (If so, specify which type)
One of the mortars, to show that the walls mean nothing.

>>6465937
Supporting this, I don't want us to get Zhuge Liang'd

>>6465926
+1 >>6465937

Alright so I'm going to put a damper on this idea to "scale the walls" by asking, firstly;
With what, exactly? Do we have ladders we keep stuffed up our asses? Grappling hooks we can even hurl up the sides of the wall?
This is without getting into the fact that it is patently absurd to risk even a single one of our men ending up finding this place defended when we have thousands of gold invested into things that make walls like these worthless. If the assumption about the castle being empty is wrong, our men will think we're intellectually disabled for basically sending them to commit suicide. They don't have a final fantasy reflect spell cast on this place to make our cannonballs bounce back and destroy our artillery. We have no reason whatsoever to even risk a five percent chance that the epic prank gone wrong is that we fell for the actual oldest trick in the book where the other guy pretends he's not home.

>>6465967
>>6465969
Barrage

>>6465937
>>6466024
>>6466057
>>6466069
Send Light Swordsmen and Crossbowmen up the Walls

I'm going to keep it up a while longer before I lock in.

>>6466192
Alright, locked in.

>>6466072
Well my logic goes:
They're light troops, and it shouldn't be too hard to find handholds to climb up on, especially if this is an older fort. And while it is a risk betting that they don't have anyone inside, they didn't respond to our threats, no jeering, no telling us to fuck off, which means one of 2 things:
>They've got something planned
>Nobody's home

If they do have something planned I doubt they're bluffing that it is abandoned, they can see the size of our army and unless they're so loyal they're willing to all die for the despot there's nothing they can do. Which means that something else is afoot. The despot is smart, and my suspicion is that he's ordered these obsolete forts to be abandoned and concentrated his forces at La Grande Rocca. He knows the artillery guilds have it out for him, and anything that can't stand up to what they bring is obsolete, and not worth manning. Why else wouldn't they respond? What could they possibly be hiding that could threaten us?

File: Forte Biezzo.png (8 KB, 1600x1200)

8 KB PNG

As you are about to give the order to launch a barrage of gunfire against this fortress, you stop, your hand frozen halfway across the movement of rising. Something about this entire situation gives you great unease. It is true that one might remain out of sight when upon a besieged castle, if only to avoid giving away your position to the foe. Yet with ramparts of dirt such as these, which in exchange for some security against cannons make them all too easily climbed, could they truly move their defenders fast enough to prevent an assault? Furthermore, what do they win by ignoring your declaration entirely? If their goal had been to buy some manner of time for themselves, they would have been much better off by attempting to drag negotiations of a surrender out slowly. To ignore you would only incense your anger, of course! And if they were so ignorant as to not know the power of the artillery you hold and truly believed themselves safe, would they not have spoken in a defiant manner, at least?

No, there is almost certainly something odd underway, and you have no intention of falling to their trap. If they will not defend their castle - then you have just the men who could take advantage of that.

"Call the Banda Grisa! Call the Keusigers! Give to them these following orders..."

After what you assume is a dozen minutes of repositioning, your troops are in place - a light company of greatswords, from Lucon's Company, and a standard one Keusig Crossbows. Though one might normally hesitate to attack a fortress on their lonesome, these men, trusted by a veteran such as Lucon, are sure to be made of stronger will. With another sign from your hand, a horn is blown, and the companies begin to march towards the dirt-covered wall as you stand from the distance atop your horse, watching, looking for the smallest of signs that might drive you to call a retreat.

Yet as they approach the wall...there is nothing. The rampart grows closer, and yet all the same, there is nary a sound. When the swordsmen finally make it to the rampart, you almost expect a line of musketeers to pop up from the wall and drown them in fire. Yet nothing happens. The men sprint up the rampart, and closing the distance between the dirt and the wall, they climb through the parapet! Within moments, the walls of Forte Biezzo have fallen, with not a single drop of blood or grain of powder spilled.

Now all that was left was to open the gates, and let yourself in.

==== CAPITÁN CRISTOBAL =====
You are Cristobal de Bellona, Captain of the 1st Light Company of Greatswordsmen of the Banda Grisa. You have fought your way through four wars, killed over two dozen men, and slain a giant. You have done this without losing a single limb, eye, finger, or teeth.

And your day has been a steaming pile of shit.

When you had been ordered by the old graybeard to reposition for an assault, you had assumed that it would be as part of an all out attack. When you were told that you would be sent in alone, with but a single company of some poltroon arbalest-toting Keusigers, you had assumed that it would be a matter of waiting for those colossal guns you had seen on the march to tear down the walls to pieces, then walking over the rubble. Of course, given you were currently alive to complain about the matter - and with your bill of health still clean - it had seemed as though the Esplendor himself had coalesced upon this hill to make this idiotic madman's dash into a total and utter success.

Your men, shitbrained lot they were, had taken this miracle as some sort of sign that the noble bastard in charge had known of the abandonment of these here walls. You of course, knew that if the Viscount had any lick of knowledge, he might have told you lot of the matter before sending you over the walls. You had been sent out as a probing strike, that he might check for the truth with the expendable lives of a mercenary rather than wasting a single piece of cannonshot to bring down the gates. Of course, you knew this to be the lot of your trade. There was little loyalty held between a mercenary and his employers - coin for your death, and nothing more. A man who'd piss and moan about his first brush with death had no business wielding the double-soldier's blade.

What you could not accept, however, was the utter fucking lack of loot!

When you had been once again sent ahead of your lot to take the abandoned fortress citadel, you had hoped it to mean a chance at taking some war spoils for you and your men. But you had found nothing! Not a single room left that had not been picked clean. Whoever had ordered the abandonment of this castle had done so with plenty of time to spare. Not even the storeroom was spared - but a small pile of crates and bags had been left, and those they had burnt to a crisp.

But you weren't one to return empty-handed so easily, and you still had some time before they began to question your stay. You had been in the field long enough to know most men would hesitate to burn down their belongings simply because they could not take it with them, and so...

"CAPTAIN! IT'S HERE!"

You had sent your men searching.

You pushed your way through the crowd, forming around the small hole on the ground that one of your men had found. A single loose stone brick, hidden in some corner behind an empty crate, in a wall that lead to nowhere. Yet on the other side...a walled in room! Inside where you could see more than a dozen sacks and a few barrels of what you hoped to splendour was more of that kite-ear wine. It would seem that your day had gotten a whole lot better after all...

>ROLL 1D100, WORST OF THREE

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>6466369
Looks like the enemy knows these old castles are dreadfully obsolete too.

Well I'm willing to take the L on being wrong here.
Though it makes me wonder on whether this was desertion or a planned concentration of force, which would mean two very different things.

Rolled 38 (1d100)

>>6466369

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>6466369

>>6466368
We either continue to have the element of surprise or have no element of surprise.

We should act as if we still have the element of surprise

>>6466380
I think we should take the cautious approach and assume it is a concentration of force. Which means that other anon was right that they're probably waiting for us with a few thousand men at La Grande Rocca

>>6466418
It's pretty concerning considering we'vd only just crossed over. I'm seeing three possibilities, one, that this place was either deserted or abandoned, either one a good sign for us (either meaning costs cut or fading loyalty due to internal instability) because we've yet to be detected.
The second possibility is that the Despot predicted a coup attempt and pulled all his forces inwards early so that they wouldn't be defeated in detail and would reinforce strong points. Not so good, but we still have come in largely unannounced.
The third possibility is that the Despot knew we were coming, earlier than the actual uprising would be prepared to act, and that he's busy conducting a preemptive assault against our allies before they've been able to get ready. This would be a catastrophe in the making, though at least one mitigated by our early action.
Personally I'm hoping for the mundane explanation rather than the Despot having thoroughly infiltrated Nera due to its long period of shifting allegiances and instability.

File: Stracus Report, October 9(...).png (2.08 MB, 2362x2081)

2.08 MB PNG

==== ALESSANDRO GALLIOTA =====

You are Alessandro Galliota, the newest pretender to the throne of Senucco. You would like to say that you have just won the first battle of your war without a single shot fired or a soldier lost, but it would be a stretch to call the capture of an abandoned castle to be a victory. What you do know is that Forte Biezzo has been wiped clean. Whether it had been abandoned quite a while ago and your contact's information was out of date, or whether they had known of your army's advance before you even crossed the border you are not sure, but you do know that they have done too good a job to have done in that short period of time between your crossing of the border and your arrival at their position. There is nary a single document nor weapon nor left-behind sack of grain. All that's left is empty cots and empty halls.

It is a bad sign. You know, from the success which you had seen during the Fortelli War, that information may win or lose a war almost entirely by itself. Yet without any informants of your own on their territory, what could you possibly do? Nevertheless, you have taken the first castle, and you suppose that is good enough.

The following day after the conquest of the castle, your army departs once more, leaving the fortress as empty as you had found it once more. You continue to march along the main road, a light drizzle showering you without much other threat. The only problem you run into is a rather bad case of what appears to be food poisoning from soldiers across several of your companies. Without being able to know the source of the problem, you have no choice but to discard all the week's rations and hope that it will be enough.

- RESERVE DECREASED

The subject of supplies had also borne another question, one which you would have to decide yourself. You are now truly on the territory of Senucco. You have seen plenty of villages by the roadside, and you are sure that far, far, far more are around. To acquire supplies from them would be among the easiest of subjects. Your mercenary cavalry could, with hardly any difficulty, take as much or as little as you wanted. You very much doubt that you shall be the first in one of these civil wars to have done so, but nevertheless, those who suffer from this choice shall most likely not be the greatest of your supporters. But what else is there to do?

CHOOSE YOUR OPTION - FORAGE
>Assign some of your forces to foraging efforts (If so, which)
>Attempt to acquire the supplies peacefully (Expense may vary)
>You've got enough for the moment, wait more before doing anything
>Write-In

The march continues, and eventually you realize that soon enough, you shall be arriving in the second of your "targets" along the road - Forte Buono, and after it, La Grande Rocca is next. Though normally you might have approached it as you would, the state you had found the last castle in leaves you to wonder whether it is worth it. It is almost certain that the men of Biezzo would have retreated to where they might find allies - that is to say, further inland. And if they have passed through this road, then they must have warned their fellows as well. It would not be that great an assumption to presume this fortress to be just as empty as the last one.

Though at the same time, such a manner of thought could be exactly what they hoped you to think.

If the worst has come to happen and the Despot has learned of your little plot, then you have not even a single day to waste! Garino itself could, at this moment, be under the siege of the man, or perhaps an army could be gathering to attack you when you list expect. Though you think yourself a capable enough commander, this Niccolo has defeated entire coalitions on his lonesome, and almost certainly has greater forces than what your own personal funding could afford. All the same, even a few odd companies of raiders at your back could prove troublesome.

Ultimately, of course, the choice is up to you...

CHOOSE YOUR OPTION
>Treat it the same way you had treated Biezzo
>Waste no time and bombard the thing from the start
>Ignore it and move onwards
>Write-In

>>6466811
>Attempt to acquire the supplies peacefully (Expense may vary)
But more than supplies we need information.

>>6466813
>Write-in: Send our cavalry ahead to ask around in the surrounding villages. These are the peasants that supply the fort with food so they should know if it was abandoned and when, and hopefully where the garrison went. If by the time the main force reaches the fort we get no info, keep marching.

>>6466816
Supporting this.

>>6466813
>Ignore it, but send one of the Stradioti cavalry to check it out
Basically march the army past but the cavalry pops in and out to confirm that there's nobody there

>>6466816
Supporting this.
Considering this half of the country is going to be the closest we get to a base of support it'll be good to seem agreeable early. It's hard to follow Machiavellian theory when you're still trying to win the throne you're seeking. It's just before the harvest (if I'm remembering right) so they'll certainly not be in any need, but we'll also know quick if any troops seized supplies to drain the countryside ahead of us or not.
All else being said I think we would all prefer not to eat any more poisoned white castle specials.

>>6466813
>Attempt to acquire the supplies peacefully (Expense may vary)

>Treat it the same way you had treated Biezzo

>Write-In
Send cavalry to observe the forts at nighttime. Send some scouts to La Rocca and to Fiume as well, camp there a night or two, and report back whether there are lights within the castle. And, obviously, anything else could can report

I think looking for lights would be a good way to tell if the fort is occupied. And hopefully using a small force would avoid any changes in habit that might result from approaching a castle with a large force.

>>6466816
+1

>>6466813
>>Assign some of your forces to foraging efforts (If so, which)
Best mercs for the job?

>Ignore it and move onwards
Send a wing of Calvary at night when we camp (as we pass)to check for any lights.

>>6466856
+1

>>6466816
>>6466925
>>6467002
I'll lock this on, update tomorrow.

>>6467115
Ah, I almost forgot, also
>ROLL 1D100 FOR FORAGING EFFORTS, AVERAGE OF THREE

Rolled 6 (1d100)

>>6467468
Rolling then.

Rolled 67 (1d100)

>>6467468

Rolled 32 (1d100)

>>6467468

>>6467469
>>6467472
>>6467480
>6, 67, 32
Well, that's an average of thirty-five.

That's not good, hoss.

File: Tower Above the Village -(...).png (731 KB, 655x521)

731 KB PNG

Although you are loathe to spend more of your already limited coin reserves on something that you might have gained for free, your victory here shall be pointless if you are overthrown by a popular revolt a month after taking the throne. This is even more important here, in the Senucco Valley, where Garino stands. It is these lands, you presume, that shall be your starting source of support if you should become the Despot. To acquire the ire so soon would be most unwise. To that end, however much it may pain you, you have no choice but to acquire supplies peacefully. And so, you relay your order to Provençal, stipulating that he is to use whatever funds are necessary to buy supplies from the locals. You cannot tell whether he finds this to be better or worse than the usual methods.

There is one thing that becomes possible as a result of this choice, however, and this one could go so far as to make up for the coin you'll waste. As your scouting detachment prepares to go out for the day and search the area around Forte Buono, you convey to them the task of peacefully acquiring information about the castle from the locals - specifically, about whether they know it to be abandoned or not. You have little doubt they are disappointed greatly by the lack of pillaging they most likely expected, but nonetheless, they accept your orders and set off.

It is the 10th of October when you arrive within the outskirts of Forte Buono. Your situation is...less ideal than you had hoped. Although the sheer wealth of this region meant that Provençal was able to find a village willing and capable of selling to your force, it would seem that mercantile greed is no lesser here than in the rest of Straccia. Citing a general fear of reprisal from the Despot, the time since the last harvest (and the month that will be until the next one) - as well as your usage of a foreign currency - two week's worth of supplies ended up costing you a total of 810 Imperii, over a hundred more than what your old supplier would ask for an entire month! Nevertheless, you paid...

+ RESERVE INCREASED
+ RESERVE INCREASED

Your second plan did not turn out much better. Although one of your Stradioti Cavalry did luckily know the language, or at least a dialect close enough to be able to converse, it would seem that mercenaries are not the most skilled in matters of dialogue. While you were told that they seemingly did not know anything and that supplies were shipped in from another place, you get the feeling that they simply wished to send them away with whichever answer would keep them away from all such business of war. As for their own report, your scouts said they found no real sign of any presence in the fortress - much like the last one, it seemed almost abandoned.

>>6467561
Although you would have liked some confirmation, you suppose that this will have to be enough. As you reach the fortress at last, you continue on your path, leaving it behind as you make your way towards La Grande Rocca, where your first true confrontation is sure to occur at last. Still...something about this entire thing feels wrong. You had hoped you would perhaps find some proof as to the enemy's plan, but fortunate had not smiled upon you in this regard. So what is it? Are you falling for a trap? Is there something you have overlooked? Or are you simply paranoid about something that could be as simply explained as disregard and weakness on the part of the foe? It would seem that guesswork is your only choice, but, while a correct guess could allow you to avoid disaster, a wrong one could just as easily cause it. Are you truly able to put together what is happening from such little information?

CHOOSE YOUR OPTION
>I believe I can (No options, just guess)
>I will not risk my safety on a guess, just keep an eye open.

>>6467563
I think it could be one of three things
> Tactical reconsolidation for us
> Reconsolidation for the coming uprising in the South
>Ambush, least likely of the three in my opinion my in still worried

I don't know yall

>>6467563
>>I believe I can (No options, just guess)
Tactical consolidation of troops in the region, putting us at risk of ambush and eventually encirclement when we push too deep.

Our best course of action is garrisoning one if not both of these defensive strongholds. This grants us many boons including supply line security and the ability to rotate troops from the front.

Maybe the locals would even be more willing to help if we started granting land and titles.

>>6467563
>I believe I can (The enemy is massing his forces locally in this region, so as to attain the mass necessary to be able to defend a position so as to slow us down while the rest of his army coalesces into one whole to be brought to bear against us.)

>>6467574
>This grants us many boons including supply line security and the ability to rotate troops from the front.
We don't HAVE a supply line. We didn't pick the guy willing to send it.

>>6467563
It's one of 2 things
>The Despot correctly recognising the forts are obsolete and moving all available forces to La Grande Rocca
Either he has an army there or more fortifications than we're expecting. Not great, but we're well prepared for it.
Or 2:
>The Despot knows we specifically are coming and has a secret army waiting to hit us from behind when we get to La Grande Rocca.
Very unlikely, the only place an army could have been is that one river fort, and it assumes that the Despot knows specific details about our march timetable. Which he could, but accurate enough to get an army together and lay a trap given how quickly we set off? I doubt it. If we're really paranoid we can send some cavalry behind us to check for anyone following, but I think that the most likely option is the correct one, we're going to have a tougher fight at La Grande Rocca than we currently expect.

>>6467563
>>I believe I can (No options, just guess)
He's already prepared for a fight, in fact, he's been ready for a while, even though we assumed we were going to be the ones making the early first move.
This option might sound the most grim, but it is increasingly the most likely. I have doubts the Despot knew specifically we were coming for his ass. Not even our patrons knew who we were that well, and Don Carles had a direct line to them. I think the reality is far simpler. Not that the Despot knew we were coming, but that this rebellion was.

Because he planned it.

The Despot knows just as well as anybody does how changes of power work in his country. We read it in a book, he lived it, was born in it. He's of common birth, which is more offensive in a way to high society than a foreign noble would be. He must have known from the start that he was working on borrowed time, and when he's proven adept at handling outside threats, the only threat remaining was the classic one from within the country that defined his place of power.

Think about it, who is the biggest threat to him? Nera? He made a deal with the Fortelli and after they were dealt with the country has been hobbled and in little place to be a threat to the Despotate. It's possible the Despot pulled just about everything from the border forts years ago save for groundsmen to keep up appearances. The Bach aligned states to the east? He thrashed them, and they're aligned in the direction of the lands of his base of power. Silenia? The King is in no state to fight a war and the country afterwards would not be after his passing either. Everybody seems to have bigger problems than the Despot which is why they haven't tried to stomp him again.

Which means that now is the best time for him to lure out the rats so he can exterminate them. He's as strong as he'll ever be, and there's no better time to enact a purge of the people who would be most likely to topple him from his ascendant throne. I have little doubt that he expected this and might have even fanned the flames himself on purpose to make the rebels believe they're more numerous than they assume, if he's truly a schemer.

There is a certain light in the darkness though, in that Don Carles sent us to do this, which I believe means he thinks we are capable of exploiting what he must see as either the opportunity it seems on its face, or a great miscalculation in whatever plans the Despot has. We did, after all, come out of basically nowhere on a relative timescale, got loads of money and pulled up roots to fling ourselves at Senucco as hard as we possibly could. I have little doubt that part of Don Carles's gamble is the Despot looking at us, our immense force for our relative insignificance, and scratching his head wondering what the hell is going on.

>>6467643
I think you're right anon.
In addition, as others have noted, it's pretty clear the Despot knew we were coming

>>6467572
>>6467583
>>6467643
>>6467656
These are all good theories, but please do vote for the one you'd rather see going through. Whatever option you choose will be what Alessandro presumes to be true and will act upon.

Update tomorrow, so you have time to vote.

>>6467563
Voting for >>6467583
Because it's not as dangerous to get wrong

>>6467944
Trying to scry the despots intentions is always going to be difficult, but for the moment there's really only 2 possible options, isn't there?
1. Grande Rocca is even tougher than we think, more men, more fortifications, an army camped beneath, etc.
or
2. There's a secret army shadowing us, or waiting in ambush along the road.

In either case, we're already committed to marching on it, so we need to continue unless anons want to turn around and pick a different route, which we could theoretically do given we started out so early.

The only action I think we should take is:
>Slow our march for a week, and send cavalry behind us to check for anyone following.

>>6467966
I agree with this anon as far as strategy goes.

And since QM was an single we endorse, I am voting for Alessandro to believe this one:
>Grande Rocca is even tougher than we think, more men, more fortifications, an army camped beneath, etc.

>>6467944
To support an actual prediction of plan of action and not general disposition, I'd go with:
>>6467966
Though to be more specific, only the second part of number 2. Where there's an army in the field waiting to force us to give battle in unideal terrain or circumstances.

I'd say they aren't necessarily waiting for us to engage the fort, since the fort is something we have to deal with whether we like it or not, and if the opportunity presents itself earlier, it's much more tactically sound to take the risk of battle early, and if they're beaten, be able to retreat to the fort, rather than unsuccessfully attack a siege camp and fail to break it. Which, given our incredible potential power in static, prepared battle, would probably not be the option taken by an enemy commander who has scoped out our forces.

I doubt Grande Rocca has to be particularly tough or expansive. It's a modern fortress, it can eat cannon fire for potentially weeks. It doesn't need to do anything else, especially when the Despot has barely any access to cannons (wall guns aka big ass muskets might be on it but nothing that would be equivalent to cannons unless bro is going real old style and mounting ballistae two hundred years out of date) so the defenders would have no choice but to tank it. Besides, overinvestment into fortresses in a planned defense is a fool's game. If we came from any other direction, it would be a wasted effort, and as said before, I doubt the Despot knew specifically we, with what we have, were coming specifically now, rather than knowing that adventuring mercenaries will almost certainly have to come from the porous border with Nera, whose defenses are out of date.

So instead his problem solving would be one of flexible reaction. I would dare to say we aren't even dealing with the Despot himself rather than one of his trusted commanders, maybe even a specialist in delay and distraction as he might have found himself needing in prior wars where he had to fight down multiple opponents. A relatively mobile force, up and ready to aid in delay and opportunistic strike rather than even being able to win against us in a stand-up fight. If such a force caught us unprepared or we gave battle unwisely, they could do damage far in excess of what they'd be capable of in a head to head. The equivalent, basically, of what we managed to do to the Fortelli at the Bridge of No Fucks.

How we deal with this I imagine is a decision to come, but I would advocate for sending the Greybeard out with our knights to try and catch them. Splitting our army is risky, but we'll have no chance of catching a mobile army and forcing it to fight if we're trailing an artillery train.

>>6468015
To elaborate on what I expect the threat to be, I would not expect to face a large, blocky field force when the Grande Rocca is a personal investment and recent construction by the Despot himself, and meant to hold out or otherwise menace the western territories for a long time. The fortress is the sticky staying power, and the more men are there, the less time its defenses can hold out against the universal weapon of hunger, let alone wages.

The same goes with the smaller castles. I wouldn't expect them to have garrisons of more than a few hundred men at best. Our own experience against the forces of small cities saw their garrisons at a big less than a thousand, but I imagine that's not comparable to these border and road forts. If Senucco's leadership stripped every castle of their garrison, we'll say that's two light companies or a light company and a troop of cavalry/skirmishers each (an overestimate but it's better to account for the worst case) for twelve light companies at the strongest. This would be an equivalent in the field to our own Banda Grisa, and that wouldn't be counting what would undoubtedly be a more solid core of an army that resides in Grande Rocca, perhaps a thousand or so men, perhaps two thousand at the very most. So at the highest estimate, that would be, if fully assembled, the equivalent of an enemy Banda Grisa and Keusiger Kompanie, on their feet, staying quick, and looking for a chance to catch us off guard.

How we would deal with such a thing is actually rather ironic. Light troops without artillery are able to do rather little against fortifications. If we thought ourself under threat, we have the people to construct a rather sturdy fortified camp, and they'd be sort of screwed if we did that outside of Grande Rocca while knocking holes in it. So the best time for them to fight us would be before Grande Rocca, and in case they lose, they still preserve plenty of men to effectively defend the fortress.

TL;DR They have to hit us before we get to the Bigass Rock.

>>6467944

>>6467574

>>6468023
There's no point in garrisoning the castles. We don't have a supply line. We're carrying everything as we go. Leaving garrisons is just going to get them isolated and destroyed if the despot even has 1 light cannon.

Just to add, the only reason I think there may be an army behind us is the river fort, which could act as a landing pad for an army to hit us from behind.

Actually, now that I think about it the strategy becomes almost obvious:

We hit Le Grande Rocca, having breezed past the ungarrisoned forts, and when we do so they signal an army waiting at the other river fort to sail upriver and swiftly march on us from behind. The despot isn't prescient, he very likely doesn't know we are coming with all the artillery in tow, but he understands that anyone who attacks the fortresses will have artillery enough to level them. There was stores left behind in the first fort, which means that the troops expected to return, which is highly unusual if they're abandoning them completely for being obsolete, but not if they expect to march through again later.

Which means that we can continue our march to the big rock, we just have to post a unit of cavalry a couple days behind us when we get there to watch for an army hitting us from behind. Our cavalry won't have much use except for foraging during a siege anyway.

>>6467966
>>6467990
>>6468015
Alright, it would seem as though the choice "Slow down the march for the week and send the cavalry behind us" wins. I am writing the update.

You have come to realize, in your career as a leader of men (however short and new it may be) that very rarely do you hold all the necessary facts to act within your hands. Even when under the guidance of a master of information and spycraft such as Don Carles, you were often forced to dangerous positions with nothing to act upon but the barest scraps of knowledge about the enemy. What can a man do, in such a place, but to rely on his good sense? What can one such as you, lacking in the experience and guile of an old veteran, do but to act upon your instincts? It is a curious feeling, one most frightening and inspiring in equal measure, to balance the lives of thousands of men, of entire countries, on the edge of your mind knife's wedge, mired in uncertainy, wading through a fog of war.

It is, you believe, a feeling you shall see many more times in your life.

Regardless of such emotions, a decision was to be made, and you were quite certain in yours. Though you knew not the true extent of the Despot's knowledge, you knew him to have, if not you, then expected a foe going down this very same road, capable of shattering his older and more obsolete defenses with ease. And so, what may he do, then, to be rid of such a threat, to use his assets in a way that is most beneficent? Why of course, he must concentrate them! Having somehow learned - or at least expected your invasion beforehand - the Despot must have abandoned his outlying defences such that he may focus them upon La Grande Rocca, the one fortress truly holding the region within his sway, made with a modern design capable of withstanding artillery fire to a great extent.

Yet...

That cannot be the extent of his planning - not someone such as him, this Niccolo, this man who has defeated entire coalitions by himself. Every moment that your forces stand within his realm is a moment his image of power slips, a moment more in which others may believe him to be weak enough to overthrow, a moment that rival states might find to be a convenient time to take revenge upon him for his transgressions on Straccia's whole. What fool would he be, then, to simply wait as you raised a siege upon his fortress, unharmed and with great ease of supply, and hoped that you might give up before other matters overtook him. No, you decide: Something else must be at work. And it is then that it dawns upon you what tool he could use to deliver this furtive blow - the river.

File: Stracus Report, October 1(...).png (2.1 MB, 2362x2081)

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What great power does the Vietta hold, flowing eastwards towards the sea, splitting this valley's land in two. With the fortresses of Fiume and Atto, who might might contest his reign upon the riversides? Certainly not Garino, so reliant they are on outsiders to fight their wars. With what great ease the Despot, his army both professional and ever standing, might be capable of ferrying them down the waters, landing in Fiume Castle, and marching towards your unsuspecting back? Lacking as he is in the support of the Artillery Guilds, you doubt he would need worry about carrying cannons out into the minor roads of the rural backsides the same way you have.

No, you are decided. He must plan to strike you from the rear! And you shall not let him succeed.

With this knowledge in mind, you immediately send out orders to change your regiment's movement. You tell them to slow down - allow the soldiers more time to rest each day and set up camp early. To arrive in La Grande Rocca unprepared would be most foolish, after all. At the same time, you change the focus of your scouting force; rather than forwards, you send them back, back towards the direction you had come from, towards Forte Fiume! If the enemy is on your tail, this is how you will find them.

It is the 13th of October, the end of your first week in the field and the beginning of the second. Much to your chagrin (though perhaps for the best) you did not, as you perhaps expected, find an army skulking in the shadows, waiting to strike you when you least expected it. Though your Stradioti have spent the last several days looking, they had found no sign of such presence. The worst, of course, is knowing not whether this might be due to a total error in your assumption, and thus the lack of presence of any army to begin with, or because they have simply not been found yet. Though in theory you have "cleared" your suspicion, it does not grant enough respite to leave you calm and confident in your sleep.

Nevertheless, despite your slower march, you have arrived at the outskirts of where that terrible fortification is said to stand - La Grande Rocca. Whether or not there truly is an army intent on attacking you from behind, if the scouts were unable to find them yesterday, and the day before that, then they must be at least one day of distance from you. Knowing that, you sent your Stradioti onwards once more, to scout out the fortress.

"So, doth the fortress stand where we were told?" you ask, talking to one captain

"Aye, Milorde. It is there. It is a big one too..."

"I'll judge the state of the fortress myself. Is it safe to approach?"

"We had seen no soldier outside their forfifications last we went there, sire, but they sit upon a hill."

File: La Grande Rocca.png (525 KB, 10000x8165)

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Satisfied, you mount your horse, plate armor gleaming in the sun, and ride onwards from your army, protected by the scouts and your own retinue. As you move forwards, the sight of the fortress begins to finally appear, first blurrily in the distance, then closer, more visible, before a forest unhappily blocks your sight. Carrying onwards, you ride further, towards the end of the treeline, before the captain, signals for you to stop.

"The fortress overlooks the road past the thicket. I would go take a more distant route instead, milord."

Not wishing to find yourself the target of a musket, you oblige, and your retinue goes off the road and into the grass. You cross the treeline, and at last, you see it - La Grande Rocca.

Though you had already seen a fortress in the style of the Trace Colibrienne, in Montechia and in Montellegaria, this is far beyond such a simple label. Though you cannot see it in its entirety, you can see enough - the long earthworks, the sloped stonework walls. Though holding a low profile and angled rise, it stands tall enough to make climbing it as you had in Biezzo a matter utterly unthinkable. You are not all certain whether the vast barrage of guns you hold will be enough to breach the defenses of this goliath.

"Hugues? What is your judgement?" you ask, hoping perhaps for good news

"It's a mighty work, sire. It would be a difficult feat to both siege and assault it. The former would require to deal with the forests surrounding the fortress, and certainly take a good deal of time...while the latter would see our men climb up a hill under gunfire before even reaching the outer earthworks. It is a work of quality. And if the men on those abandoned castles have made their way here, then they must be flush with defenders to use."

You let out a sigh.

"To go beyond then, and circumvent it - would it be possible?"

"As I had told you, sire, it is a very risky matter indeed. If they hold musketeers in these walls, they could very well unleash fire on our men as we passed, and the threat of a strike in our rear would remain ever present. However, if your lordship still suspects the Despot to have be behind us, it would prevent them from seeing us attacked from both sides. The choice, as always, is yours, sire...

You get the feeling as though this choice may be of great importance to your near future...

CHOOSE YOUR OPTION
>It is too risky, we will settle down for a siege
>We must not be surrounded, we shall circumvent the fortress
>Write-in

I'm inclined to settle down for a siege. We brought our artillery along for a reason, and there's plenty of forest around for our workers to build siege works, and defences to our rear if we really want to be safe from a hypothetical army in our rear. The main problem of moving past, which I am otherwise inclined to take, is the vulnerability of our artillery-

Actually waitaminute Tercio, how long would it take for our workmen to cut an alternate path through the forest?

>>6468367
>how long would it take for our workmen to cut an alternate path through the forest?
I'm going to say a few days, you did hire quite a lot of laborers. Assuming nothing else happens, of course. Alternatively, you could also attempt to go around it through a minor road but if it rains while you do so, you might face some problems. It would be down to a roll in that regard.

>>6468364
>It is too risky, we will settle down for a siege

anons have confused me, I don't know why we suspect the enemy to be behind us.

Anyway, can't leave a fort of this grandeur in our rear if there are sufficient forces inside it. Best take it, or at least test the arms of the men inside before deciding to bypass.

>>6468407
To be honest I less expect them to be behind us than just generally in the field, but it is true that they have the capacity to get behind us pretty fast (since they can go downriver) and it would be the best way to cut us off from any out of state resupply and use time against us. I'd think that would be more a worst case scenario than most likely.

It is, after all, equally likely that the Despot's reputation has its own effect of psyching people out. He could have just made it look like he's up to something when the defense is the cheapest sort there is, a smokescreen. It very well might be as simple as holding us up for weeks at a fortress- but if it isn't, then there'll be hell to pay, and if we have no shortage of resources anyways we may as well use them. Speaking of such, there's so much forest here, if we wanted to get really cute, we could set our engineer to work making new toys if we're going to stick around. A fortified position made of dugouts and wood is little to speak of when cannons are about, but well, that's something the Despot has precious little of.

Ultimately the decision to be made here I think is if we're more comfortable taking the fight here, where we could prepare ground specifically for one, or somewhere unexpected. If we move past, then we don't necessarily know what ground we'll be made to fight in. One thing we know for sure here is that if there are any enemies closing in, they're at least a day's march away, which gives us time to prepare a position to receive battle.

Though if we're going to take a battle here we may as well besiege the fortress. Even if it's probably a waste of valuable time, it'd be more to draw out the enemy than to take the place.

I'm a bit mixed on which to do at the moment, I think it'd overall be better to move past, but I'd also rather not get smashed or shot at moving past. I do have an idea for that. We have the workers, we have the wood, if we want to delay here we can set up mobile fortifications to cover our passage at the point where we'd be under the most attack. We could also suppress the place with guns, but at some point, the guns will have to move, so that's not a perfect solution. I won't vote yet until a few more have shared their thoughts I think.

>>6468375
Oh in that case then definitely. Much quicker than sieging the place and we have enough men that any sallies are easily dealt with.

It'll also provide us material to build any fortifications if anything happens, and we can also set up roadblocks and dig up parts of the road on the way here because we're not coming back, and presuming there is an army behind us (which is unlikely, but no point risking it) they'll get delayed. If there is an army we at least have several days, and if there isn't we just lose a little time that would have been spent in a siege anyway.

My vote then is:
>Instruct the workmen to cut a path through the forest, and construct light fortifications in case of battle
>Meanwhile the rest of our army is to dig up the road and lay obstacles to hinder any passage

>>6468407
Theoretically, there's a risk of an army sailing down river to the river fort and marching an army behind us, but it presumes a lot of foresight and accurate intelligence on the despot's part. Much more likely that there's a bigger garrison here instead, but better safe than sorry.

Actually waitaminute.

>We had seen no soldier outside their forfifications last we went there, sire, but they sit upon a hill.
Did our scouts actually see anyone in this fort either? Surely it's not a potemkin village too. Surely this is not abandoned like the rest. Surely. The despot wouldn't build this massive fort as a bluff. Right?

Tercio, before we do anything else can we get Joan up and ask her if she sees anyone on the walls? If she can see soldiers then it's obviously manned, but if not...

>>6468364
>It is too risky, we will settle down for a siege

And send the skirmishers (or, if they are not available then one unit of cavalry) to check the road behind us. That way, if there is an army behind us, we can break the seige and meet then in battle.

>>6468459
I am personally opposed to having Joan look. I wouldn't want to risk putting our future despotess in danger

>>6468461
Joan has good eyesight which has saved our bacon more than once in the past, she'd be well out of range of any hypothetical muskets and we can send her through the forest to remain hidden. Anyway, I want to confirm whether this is inhabited or not, because it would mean that the despot is not expecting anyone at all to come through here and we will take him by complete surprise.

>>6468364
>It is too risky, we will settle down for a siege

>>6468407
>>6468461
>>6468561
Settlin' down for the siege is the winner! Writing.

File: The Siege of La Grande Ro(...).png (551 KB, 10000x8165)

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Though the thought of simply cutting your way through the forest so as to avoid the enemy's fire and moving past them, but even so, it is a plan with much risk. To risk an attack from your rear every day you set down your camp is far too great a danger. Though you had hoped to avoid it, for the moment, you've little choice but to settle down for a siege. Though of course, you'll keep your scouting detachment on the lookout for the army which you still suspect may be lurking in the countryside behind you. As for the rest of your army, the order is clear - set up camp in the clearing to the south of the road, far enough to be well beyond the range of any arquebus or musket; Thankfully, you won't have to worry about the possibility of guns...

It is the 14th of October - having set down your tents as you have everyday, you stand at the forefront of your army, gazing at the Rocca as it stands upon that hill, mocking you in safety. You stand ready to carry out a siege, and whether by starvation or by assault, to cast down this unruly obstacle in your path. You know not whence next you shall set off, what time it might take, or what lives you might lose, but whatever the cost, you shall pay it, and you shall pay it well, for if you are to take Senucco, then La Grande Rocca must fall!

Yet before it can fall, you must rise - or more specifically, your siege camp must. Though you had already participated in a siege, once, in Montechia, this time all matters will fall to you to handle, right from the start. There is much to do - better you start as quickly as possible...

File: Stracus Report, October 1(...).png (1.93 MB, 2362x2081)

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RULES

You have now entered a Siege. In the age of gunpowder, advances in fortifications have led to the turning of sieges into lengthy, slow, and painful matters. It shall be your role, as the Captain of The Lance of Stracus, to lead your regiment through these months, ensuring they remain fed, paid, and protected from the elements. There is no timer; the siege shall continue indefinitely until a breakthrough is made, or changes occur such that the siege is called off. Aside from features already covered in the strategical theater, there are a few new matters which you must handle...

Fieldworks represent the various constructions that you may find it necessary to create in the lenght of a siege - palisades, trenches, tunnels, and anything else that could aid you in your goal of taking the objective. All Fieldworks have a labour requirement as well as a building time - and should misfortune (or the torch of an enemy) strike, they can all be lost, so make your choices carefully. Particularly complex fieldworks might require further costs beyond this...

Work Crews represent your labour forces - that is to say, groups of men dedicated not to fighting, but to building fieldworks. Although work crews cannot fight, infantry units may be temporarily conscripted as labourers, though this will displease them, and mercenaries will reject the concept entirely. Work Crews can only be assigned to one project at a time - but they can be pulled off from an project if something more important were to come up.

BEGIN FIELDWORK?
>Organize Encampment (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 0 Weeks, Req: None)
>Camp Buildings (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: Organized Encampment)
>Defensive Trenches (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)
>Logging Outpost (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)
>Write-In (Suggestions will be priced accordingly)

SHALL YOU ASSIGN UNITS TO A TASK?
>Yes (Specify which units, and which tasks)
>No

>>6468817
>Organize Encampment (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 0 Weeks, Req: None)
>Logging Outpost (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)

>Organise the Kartouwe into firing a volley at the fortress
Let us test the strength of their walls.

>>6468817
Oh boy, hopefully we don't get stuck too long.
>Organize Encampment (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 0 Weeks, Req: None)
>Defensive Trenches (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)
We need to indulge our paranoia quickly, as far as trenches go. It's the very minimum to do to not find ourselves totally positionally screwed.
>Write-In (Suggestions will be priced accordingly)
I want to know two things. One, if defensive trenches include positions for cannon (our sakers won't be doing much to the walls of this place so they may as well find use this way) and also, what we might have to do to facilitate sapping. It's not an ideal solution with how long it would take, but we ought to know all the cards we have in our hands.

>>6468817
>Logging Outpost (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)
>Organize Encampment (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 0 Weeks, Req: None)

Proper sewage system (I assume that is included in the organizing of the Organize Encampment, at least the layout of such) and a camp to get more logs is most important for now.

>>6468817
>Organize Encampment (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 0 Weeks, Req: None)
>Defensive Trenches (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)
>Logging Outpost (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)

>>6468817
>>6468828
I would like to add, as well as generally testing matters with >>6468820 and the big guns-
>SHALL YOU ASSIGN UNITS TO A TASK?
>Yes (Specify which units, and which tasks)
I want to send the Banda Grisa poking about the general approaches and local terrain of the fort, maybe small foot parties will be able to find something given enough time. There might be some vulnerability or blind spot or just better terrain to bring the guns to shoot from with enough poking around, and it wouldn't be a bad thing either to find out if any enemy here is constrained to their walls or not. A night raid of that village adjacent to the fortress might be beneficial for example.

>>6468817
>Write-in
The small village to the east of the fort provides cover, and it's near the forest. We should send scouts through the forest to the village to estimate the defenders' strength and the fort's conditions, as well as try and question any locals we catch.

>>6468817
>Organize Encampment (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 0 Weeks, Req: None)
>Defensive Trenches (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)

>Organise the Kartouwe into firing a volley at the fortress

I am sympathetic to the anons who want to build a logging camp, but I think defensive works take priority. We can build the lumber camp next week.

Also, QM, can you confirm how the labour cost system works? Is it each work crew giving us one point to spend in labour cost?

What a laugh it would be if we spend a month building siegeworks only to discover this fortress is also empty

>>6469120
It would be, though we're also not really getting in without more effort even if it is empty.
And if it is, hey, free fortress. All we need to do is test it.

>>6469128
I think we should at least offer them the terms of surrender. At least if they reply we will know they're actually there.

>>6469130
That's a pretty good idea. I vote to send a rider to demand surrender

>>6469130
I agree. Though they're not particularly obligated to respond.
For what it's worth I do think this place has people in it, even if it might only be enough to defend it which wouldn't take much. It's just too expensive of a purpose built construction and too dominant a position of defense and a supply base to just give up, especially for how little investment is needed to keep it from being taken.

>>6469116
>Also, QM, can you confirm how the labour cost system works? Is it each work crew giving us one point to spend in labour cost?
Yes. I should have probably added "crew" after the 1.

I will give people a little time to change if they didn't know this, while I work on the rest of the update, but overall I shall be locking it soon.

>>6469130
+1

It would seem we're back for the moment, but since I assumed we'd be down for a while I didn't really prepare a post today. It'll have to come by tomorrow.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>6468820
>>6468871
Encampment + Logging

>>6468828
>>6469116
Encampment + Trenches

Since the tie seems to have continued for quite a while, I'll flip a coin.
1. Logging
2. Trenches

>>6469526
Encampment + Trenches wins, and also giving them some terms of surrender since that's a fairly reasonable option.

+1

File: Stracus Report, October 2(...).png (1.95 MB, 2362x2081)

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As you begin to consider what order of construction would best serve you, it dawns upon you that you have yet to offer them surrender! Though you doubt that they shall accept it, well-defended as they are, it would be unbecoming of you to not so much as give them the offer to keep their lives as gentlemanly warfare might dictate. Calling for a volunteer rider once more, you watch him from your camp he rides off northwards, towards the fort, that he might climb that hillside and yell the offer at the men in the fort. Yet at the very moment his steed stepped upon the road, a flash blinked from upon the hill, and with a crack, a bullet hit the ground near him, throwing dirt into the air as the horse reared backwards and the man desperately pulled himself out of their range.

It would appear their answer was no. You'll make sure to give that man a month's wage for his service.

It is the 21st of October soon enough, and another week has passed. With your offer of surrender "rejected", you immediately got to work on organizing the camp into something more suitable to long-term inhabitance, keeping your wagons in the middle where they might be safe, and splitting your tent areas into their companies of origin - that you might help in preventing hostilities between your mercenaries of different origins. The spring continues, the warmth creeping in further with each passing day. Your maid, Joan, seems to have improved somewhat from her state during the march, but still spends most of her days about in bed, fanning herself. Of course, you dare not not bother the woman about her duties, sorry state that she is.

When the reorganization of the camp is done, you move on to other matters - specifically, digging out defensive trenches. Howeverb basic they might be, they will give you a defensive line of some sort, should you come under some sort of attack or sally. It is also the first step you would need to take towards beginning sapping efforts, if you should choose to do that. With this done, you could finally begin positioning your artillery to begin an artillery barrage...and perhaps to find more local suppliers willing to sell you - though if that should become impossible, foraging would always remain an option.

As you began to consider your options for the week, however, you were interrupted by one of your guards.

"Sire!" he said, bowing in respect

"There is a small party who has come to our camp from the east, through the florest thicket. The man in charge wishes to speak with you. He has identified himself as Mariotto di Golla"

You stand up, now fully paying attention.

"Mariotto? I shall go out to meet him myself."

As you leave your tent and head towards the edge of the camp, guards in tow, you wonder why your liaison has returned - having went to Garino to tell them of your success, does his presence mean the revolt has succesfully begun? You had not heard anything of the city on your way here, after all. As you reach the small crowd gathering near the eastern path, however, what meets you is not the stern, covert operative you had seen but a disheveled, dirtied man who appeared as though he had not slept in a while.

"Mariotto?" you say, approaching him somewhat confused. The man turns to you and begins to hurry, shuffling along hurriedly.

"Alessandro. There is no time to waste. You must abandon this siege immediately!" he demanded, clenching his hand. You recoil a little, surprised by his words.

"Lift the siege?" you ask, befuddled. "For what reason might I do such a thing? What has happened?"

"The revolt plot was discovered - that is what has happened! Niccolo has set out from his capital, and Garino has been put under siege."

>NO CHOICE FOR NOW
>UPDATE CONTINUES AS USUAL

>>6469581
Damn. Very bad news indeed, but at least it means we're not going to be attacked from the rear. We need to figure out how long Garino can withstand a siege and how quickly we can wrap this one or hurry onwards. I think cutting through the forest should be our main priority now.

Hey, we were right, the Despot had discovered the revolt. For the record, I think we made the right and cautious choice stopping to beseige La Rocca

Ruh Roh.
>>6469593
I agree. I would advise against panic, because after all, how long did it take Don Carles to reduce Montellagria? We would need more information to gauge our response, and if Garino has even slightly modern defenses, we have time. We may have even forced the Despot to accelerate his plans, since the worst case scenario for him is allowing the seperated rebel forces to converge. We should also consider that Mariotto was *allowed* to escape. In that case, the worst case scenario isn't for Garino to fall, but for us to get baited into trying to sally out hastily and getting trapped, potentially by both forces behind us, if they are indeed there, and by forces broken off from the siege, since a prepared siege has defenses against a sally anyways.
So rather than emulating General Hooker, a man known for getting his ass kicked so hard by an army smaller than his own outflanking his shit, and after that he had a mental breakdown, we should instead strongly consider gaining more intelligence concerning the strategic situation and not giving up our sole strongpoint, and our best chance to deny the Despot his Rock.

I really hate wasting even a single day since who knows when this site will finally kick it for real, but today I am just too sick to update and anything I put out would be baaaaaaaaaad.

So uhh...in lieu of that, I guess i'll ask...how has the thread been so far? Even if it's rather early...

>>6469809
I kinda felt a pressure to keep the players on a predefined path and cut off unforeseen ideas. I didn't like this feeling.

>>6469811
I strongly disagree with this because we basically spent the latter half of the last thread planning out the options we have and the moves we're making right now. Any predefined path is one we explicitly chose. I don't think I'd have expected much flexibility when the plan taken was to smash straight through the most fortified route we could take.

>>6469811
Well, I'm sorry if it seems that way, but marine warfare is something that is extremely underdeveloped during this time period, and you had neither warships nor marine soldiers. Your cannons are three-ton monstrosities that require infrastructure to unload, and the distance it would take to land a supply barge on the river, then march it all the way throughout the shitty backland roads so it could get to you would be more time consuming than shipping it by land through the well-maintained road in the first place. I didn't do this to "lock you in", I did this because that was one of the challenges you chose when you picked the path that was most well fortified instead of the ones that weren't.


If you had voted to acquire a warship back in Portblanc, you would have been able to go the other way around of the Vietta and punch through any river fortress on the way, but that was not an option you picked.

>>6469822
I meant mainly the insistence that the river is unusable

>>6469824
I think I mentioned that I never intended to move the cannons by river; all I wanted is to move food and not be chained to a supply train or foraging

File: Spoiler Image (7.23 MB, 4029x3221)

7.23 MB PNG

>>6469827
Well, like I said, that just wasn't very practical for the situation you were in.

On the other hand, if you had chosen any of the other plans, you would have actually been able to use riverborne supply lines with far less issue. They were visible in the map, and I made sure to mention that they were significantly less defended than the first route.

So my apologies if it seems like you were railroaded, but that was not what I was trying to do on my end.

>>6469809
I'm liking it so far. I suppose it feels like less has happened than usual, but I view that as a necessary consequence of us choosing options that lock us into a very conventional and non-mobile army formation. We kind of have to go down this road and beseige forts along the way because that's what our army is designed for.

Now that we are in the siege phase, maybe some more encounters with our staff and camp would be nice. You're really good at character writiny

>>6469829
i haven't been voting much, just reading, but i don't think you've railroaded the player base. you've been clear about why using the river is impractical because of past decisions we've made. i'm enjoying this new arc, thanks

>>6469829
+1 to >>6470327

Alright, update, I've gotten mostly entirely better. I haven't had time to do the update today, but, I do promise we will be back to regular scheduling by tomorrow.

Apologies for the break, having the flu sucks.

>>6470549
Glad that you're better, though it is a bit funny to almost die of illness right after a siege is set up. Usually it takes a bit longer for that.

File: Garino at Siege.png (1.96 MB, 3072x2131)

1.96 MB PNG

It is the 22nd of October, and your situation has gotten considerably more complicated. After his rather unexpected arrival, as well as some proper food, and a night of good rest, Mariotto was able to finally and properly explain all that had transpired after he had left for his city - and certainly, the situation he described was as grim as one might expect.

Initially, matters had transpired smoothly - riding on far head as your army was still preparing for departure, Mariotto and his party crossed the border and covertly made their way towards the city of Garino without fault, passing off as mere travellers. They passed through the valley and the fortresses, including La Grande Rocca, and finally arrived to their goal without any issues. In his own words, the revolt that they had planned was but a few days away from taking place; holding the right to handle their own "security" inside their walls, it would be as simple a matter as giving the order to their own private guard. Yet through either carelessness or betrayal, someone had leaked their plans to the Despot - for they soon found themselves faced with the sight of an army thousands strong crossing the river.

In the panic that ensued, the Garinoans were just quick enough to lock down their gates before Niccolo took them by surprise, and Mariotto himself was able to escape with his men on horseback through the woodlands near the city before they were able to entirely surround them, carrying the city's immediate demand for relief. And so, he had ridden day and night, tirelessly, to reach you and your army here where they stood.

Needless to say, this is about the last thing you might have hoped. Though you knew that the Despot would most likely take action once news of your army arrived and the Garinoans announced their revolt, you had hoped to have a little more time to deal with the Rocca before being faced with such an issue. Although it is clear that they hope for you to ride out and play the role of saviour, striking at the sieging Despot, to abandon this siege of yours would be no less costly than it was a week ago. Indeed, knowing how many must have been drawn from the other fortresses, they might even feel emboldened to strike you as you flee, should you abandon this siege you have begun. All the same, if Garino should fall, your base of support in Senucco would be all but gone. Though you could perhaps retake it afterwards - if Niccolo's treatment of Antinia is anything to go about, there might not be much of a city left to save afterwards in the first place.

"How fortified is this city of yours, Garinoan?" you ask the Straccian.

"We are not some manner of fortress town like Ausoria." he says, with some manner of distaste. "Garino is a city of commerce and production - the true seat of power of the Senucco Valley, the largest and most populous of our nation. If thou wishes to know how long we may hold out, human, know that our city guard are more than capable of holding our walls without an abomination of stone such as this Rocca. For how long, however...I am not certain. The Despot's Horde is a large and stubborn one, well suited to their service."

"And of artillery - might the Despot make usage of that? I know him to have stolen several pieces from the Guild of Silenia for his War with Antinia."

The man seems to think for a while, before answering. "I cannot answer that. Whether he has brought those pieces with him or left them in his city, we do not know."

Yet more mysteries for you to solve - how fortunate. Whatever the amount of guesswork required, however, there remains one clear thing upon which you must decide, and that is whether to continue your siege and hope that Garino is able to hold out longer than the Rocca can, or to break siege and march north to meet the Despot in battle! You cannot say you are looking forward to either...

CHOOSE YOUR OPTION
>Lift the Siege, Begin the March to Garino!
>Keep the Siege, Let Them Hold
>Divide your army, And do Both
>Write-in

>>6470991
>Keep the Siege, Let Them Hold

>>6471016
+1

>>6470991
>Write-in
>>RECONNOITER GARINO
In practice, this is a vote to keep the seige in place. However, we make a grand gesture to Mariotto and send our best and fastest light horsemen (skirmishers if available, otherwise the cavalry) to ride out to Garino with him and report on the situation to determine the feasibility of a relief effort

>>6470991
>Lift the Siege, but leave a blocking force
Leave 2-3 companies of shot to block the road behind us with wood-and-earth fortifications, leave the artillery and the civilian laborers with them (we won't need them that much if we meet the Despot's army in the field)

>>6470991
>Keep the Siege, Let Them Hold
>Write-in
>>6471053
Firstly do this. Our cavalry isn't doing much here anyways, and now that we have fortifications set up, we're not at much risk of an unexpected flank attack or sally pincer, and we desperately need more information. I think that a light force is our only option for division, anything that would expect a field fight, we would have to send the sakers with- and for one the Guildsmen won't let their guns out of sight of their guards (heavy infantrymen) and for two we'd probably be screwed if we had a force too slow to avoid being outmaneuvered by infantry.
Secondly, we should ask our honorable gentlemen of the Silenian Artillery Guild what the Despot is believed to have stolen exactly, and their estimate as to how long such guns would take to reduce the walls of a "city of commerce and production." Knocking down just one section of wall wouldn't really be enough, I doubt that anything but blowing down basically a whole side of the city would be satisfactory for the Despot to begin an attack considering what a ruin could be brought on an army trying to storm but a few breaches.

>>6470991
>Make as if to march on Garino, but lay a trap in the woods when they sally forth to strike us from our rear
If we put our muskets in position and cut off their route back to the fortress, we can destroy a large part of their garrison, and decide whether to continue the siege or march to Garino from there.

Getting recon on Garino won't do us much if we're still stuck in the siege. Either we continue it or we don't, either way recon won't change our decision. I suspect, given the swiftness of the Despot's arrival that he doesn't have cannon, but that's a question for the guild representatives.

>>6470991
This >>6471053 then >>6471056 if relief is plausible, if not keep the siege going.

>>6471016
>>6471017
Keep the Siege

>>6471053
>>6471078
Keep the Siege but Reconnoiter

>>6471056
>>6471101
Lift Siege, Leave Blocking Force

>>6471092
False Retreat to Trick Them

Hmm, it's a tie, I'll leave it up for a little while longer to see if anyone breaks it.

>>6471056
I think this plan will get our army destroyed anon. It will mean that we'll face the despot without the guns or accurate long-range fire AND I don't think our muskets and guns alone can repel a sally from the fortress. I worry this plan would result in us losing in the field against the Despot and retreating only to find our artillery has been captured

>>6471325
I'll switch to >>6471053 if we can't do both in sequence in one vote.

>>6471330
It is an arguably unnecessary division of our forces, but my unspoken assumption was that the blocking force would only be temporary, until the danger of being struck in the rear and having our baggage train pillaged was past. It is my fault, I didn't read closely and see anon was set on entrenching on a longer term basis to pin the forces in the fort.

>>6471333
> if we can't do both in sequence in one vote.
I was counting your vote as part of that, already. I consider "reconnoiter" to be an addition rather than a full on vote by itself since you can do something different alongside it.

>>6471334
I'll still switch. Having thought about it, I don't want to weaken our army before battle through division. If >>6471056 shows up and alters his vote to have a more temporary blocking force to protect our baggage train, then I'll switch back to supporting it combined with the recon.

>>6471325
I'll switch from >>6471092 to
>Keep the Siege

>>6471333
>>6471357
Alright. Keep the Siege + Reconnoiter is the winner.

>>6471373
Ah, you know what, I waited a bit too much. I'll finish it in the morning, but as a reward, I'll post another update in the same day too...

File: Stracus Report, October 2(...).png (1.95 MB, 2362x2081)

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You consider setting out at first - perhaps leaving some regiments behind to block the road, before marching northwards, that you may defeat the Despot and perhaps end this war before you are even forced to take the capital itself. Yet the thought quickly proves itself untenable to you. To expose your rear to a sally out? To charge off into the unknown to meet a foe with an army all but certain to be numerically superior, against a general capable of defeating the armies of countries at his lonesome? Against what could very well be a trap meant to ensnare you? Too risky - too risky to wager everything on. No...you cannot go. Not yet at least - not while La Rocca, overfilled with soldiers from the entire region, stands as a dagger poised to stab you in the back should you look away for even a second. You will keep the siege.

At the same time, however, you cannot quite just leave Garino out to rot - even if it were not for the fact that their fall would leave you surrounded by foes both left and right, without their support, your very participation in the war becomes utterly pointless. It would not be inaccurate to say that Your entire claim of power rests upon Garino and their support. They are your casus belli - your backers for the throne, even if they might think to consider others for it for the moment. And so, you cannot merely leave them to fall. Indeed, you are quite certain that If the Garinoans come to believe you will not be willing or able to save them, then they may very well surrender to the Despot to save their own lives and leave you out to rot. You must avoid that scenario. And thus, some action must be taken...

"I shall relieve Garino, of course." you say, finding words that might assure him. "Though to walk into the Despot's trap would be foolish indeed. I shall have my horsemen sent forward to scout the Despot's legion - and in the meantime, I will work to silence this fortress, that it may not be a threat to my army."

Mariotto does not answer as you tell him your judgement, his mouth tightening. It is clear, for sure, that he had expected you to simply abandon your siege, but at the same time, he knows you to be the only one that might be able to save them from a choice between a horrible massacre and their utter surrender to Niccolo.

"Be sure that you do, Human. I shall be departing soon. The remaining mercenaries - the other ones we had hired. If they have not reneged on their plan, they should, at this very moment, be congregating [check here]. I must ensure that they do not abandon their contracts due to this...setback. But do remember this, human - be it through victory or defeat, Garino does not forget."

And with these words, leaves you alone to once more plan the next week of your siege...

BEGIN FIELDWORK?
>Camp Buildings (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: Organized Encampment)
>Logging Outpost (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)
>Camp Palisade (Labour Cost: 2, Building Time: 2 Week, Req: Organized Encampment,Logging Outpost)
>Advanced Camp Buildings (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 2 Week, Req: Organized Encampment, Camp Buildings, Logging Outpost)
>Advanced Defensive Trenches (Labour Cost: 2, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: Defensive Trenches)
>Preparation for Offensive Trenches (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: Defensive Trenches)
>Write-In (Suggestions will be priced accordingly)

WILL YOU ATTEMPT TO ACQUIRE SUPPLIES PEACEFULLY AGAIN?
>Yes, I will buy them locally
>No, I will forage (If so, specify units to assign)

Another update hopefully coming today to make up for my lateness

>>6471613
>Logging Outpost (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)
>Preparation for Offensive Trenches (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: Defensive Trenches)
We need to push the schedule forward. Now that we know we aren't being shadowed by a secret army, we can dispense with camp defenses. Also I think we can pretty confidently assume that the fort doesn't have any artillery because anything the Despot had would be earmarked for the siege of Garino. I therefore propose we start bombarding immediately without preparing covered artillery positions.

>>6471613
>Logging Outpost (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)
>Preparation for Offensive Trenches (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: Defensive Trenches)
I concur with >>6471617 in that time is not on our side, even more than it already wasn't, and it's high time we started trying to knock down what we can in short order. Plus a lot would need more wood anyways.
>WILL YOU ATTEMPT TO ACQUIRE SUPPLIES PEACEFULLY AGAIN?
>Yes, I will buy them locally
Like it or not this side of the country seems to be what we'll hold for the long term so best to build rapport, especially if more doesn't go to plan. Who knows, maybe other mercenaries aren't nearly as lenient, and it won't be long before the price of food collapses through the floor with the harvest anyways.

>>6471613
Forgot the supplies vote
>Yes, I will buy them locally

>>6471613
>Logging Outpost (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)
>Preparation for Offensive Trenches (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: Defensive Trenches)

WILL YOU ATTEMPT TO ACQUIRE SUPPLIES PEACEFULLY AGAIN?
>Yes, I will buy them locally

I agree with the logic of going on the offensive in this seige as much as possible. I don't support firing from unfortified positions, however, that seems a bit reckless. I don't think the Despot did necessarily pull artillery from La Grande Rocca because of the difficulty of transporting the same

>>6471613
>Logging Outpost (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: None)
>Yes, I will buy them locally

>>6471693
>Preparation for Offensive Trenches (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: Defensive Trenches)
Forgot we can choose 2

>>6471617
Support.

>>6471613
>Yes, I will buy them locally

File: %22 Cannon of the Renaiss(...).png (432 KB, 512x357)

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==== ARTILLERY MASTER VETTORIO =====

You are Vettorio de Carmentel, a proud man of Straccia and an Artillery Master of the Royal Silenian Artillery Guild - a respectable post, even if not as sought ought and well-paid as that of a Seamaster, those fortunate bunch trusted with the right to hold not one but several, a dozen, a hundred guns depending on whichever ship they are made master of. Although one could, in theory, be promoted to this manner of post, to learn the specifics of seabound gunnery so late in one life is no small task; so it is of little surprise that such roles are left to the sons of the most powerful men of the guild. You, of course, have no interest in such a thing - for whichever great payment they may receive, these Seamasters will never know the art that is the demolition of a castle - the utter destruction of a great work of stone.

Such as the one you are about to witness this very moment.

You currently stand at a small distance from the camp that your contracting army has decided to make camp. This young lord in question, this Viscount, as most know him, is a fellow whom you have seen to be of reasonable enough intelligence, having even gone so far as to give you a rather interesting idea for research in cannonshot which you are quite interested in testing out should the opportunity ever arrive. For the moment, however, you'll be quite satisfied by the simple barrage that you and your fellow artillery masters of the campaign are about to do. You are but one amongst a dozen of such masters this time, a concentration of power you have never quite seen before in person. Not only that, but your own gun, a rather decently-sized Culverin, stand as but one of the smallest around, ahead only of the five whom lead pitiful little saker fieldcannons not even capable of partaking in siege matters against any but the most decrepit and thin of stone walls.

You, another man of the Culverin, three masters of the Kartouwe, and one of the mortar, stand scattered across the opening, in the positions each has deemed "optimal" for firing. All wrong, of course, save for yours. You watch your apprentices (your servants, really) load your mighty weapon, preparing it for the barrage that shall soon begin - the initial firing, meant to drown the enemy in fear of the firepower that awaits them. It has been quite a challenge to find a proper firing solution - standing on a hill such as this, the calculations become far more complicated than one might be when firing from higher or even equal ground.

Suddenly, you hear a horn - a signal, signifying the approaching time to begin. You cannot help but smile.

"Presto! Finish it already!" you begin, barking orders at your crew of gunners who obey you with great efficiency. Aligned, loaded, and ready, you stand aside the gun, linstock in hand, waiting for the final command.

The horn sounds out once more.

With a flick of your hand, the world shatters! Like the fiery sun itself, a great flash and an earth-shaking roar, then another, then once more! A cavalcade of sounds echoing through the land, so much stronger than anything you had ever heard, ringing in your ear with the power of thunder and lightning, your very teeth still vibrating from the strength. Acrid and sulforous smoke invades your nostrils almost nostalgically, the smell long marked upon your lungs. Your eyes water as they desperately try to see through the white and black smoke, hands waving in front of you as you move out of the haze.

Having at last left the cloud, you look upwards, ready to see the work of your mighty barrage.

Three shots - two upon the slopes of the outer earthworks, and one upon the inner keep, where a new dent sits upon their walls - exactly where you had been aiming, of course. Two more lie splattered across the hillface, thrown about patches of dirt and grass where they made their mark. The last, you know not where it has went, for no sign that it exists seems visible to you - an overshot, most likely. The final score even. It is acceptable - for one with poor placement, of course. You expect they shall continue to attempt to fix their gunnery in the following times, and perhaps then they shall finally hit something.

You, however - you shall destroy more.

"Reload! Roll it back to position and then aim at the following angles..."

>NO CHOICE FOR NOW
>UPDATE CONTINUES AS USUAL

As promised, an extra update to make up for my lateness.

>>6471802
>>6471804
Small typo**, it's Vettorio de Camento, not Carmentel.

>>6471617
>>6471661
>>6471663
>>6471681
>>6471693
>>6471789
Alright, it seems to be that Logging and Offensive Trenches is the Winner, as well as foraging peacefully. I'm going to also go ahead and ask...
>ROLL 1D100 FOR FORAGING EFFORTS, AVERAGE OF THREE

Rolled 21 (1d100)

>>6472127
Oh boy time to get ripped off by droopies again.
You know, being an artillery master is probably winning at life, no societal obligations besides firing a huge gun at things, the customer is liable, you're probably not at much risk of being abused when captured as to not piss off the guilds, if you aren't stuck with the funny cannon with forging flaws that make it explode instantly it's probably a good deal.
Unless you find yourself in Senucco.

Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>6472127

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>6472127

>>6472132
>>6472142
>>6472144
>21, 51, 75
Better than last time, but still not quite good.

Also, congratulations to anon for inventing the first fantasy slur of the quest.

File: The Siege of La Grande Ro(...).png (581 KB, 10000x8165)

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==== ALESSANDRO GALLIOTA =====

You are Alessandro Galliota, and your current situation is not a good one. Although the bombardments have finally begun, they are far, far from yet having done enough damage to La Rocca to allow for an assault that would not end in a total massacre. That is hardly something to be surprised about - but a single week into the siege, it would be far too optimistic a prediction to expect decent headway to be made in such regards, especially against a modern fortress built with the strict purpose of withstanding cannonfire. Of course, it is true that this style of design, the Trace Colibrenne, is rather and relatively untested, gaining recognition throughout Mauva as a new modern type during the Colibrian Wars and having had few true tests of their mettle - the Siege of Montechia being one of them. You suppose, then, that this shall be the next, lest you choose to break off the siege in the end anyways.

It will take time to break this fortress, and time is what you do not have. Already, you have sent your scouts - your Stradioti skirmishers - to move northwards, circumventing the Rocca's range and continuing up the road, towards Garino, that they may seek out the Despot's army and bring to you information of their strength. You know not when they will return...but you do however know that you cannot simply wait around until your artillery whittles down this fortress grain by grain. You must be more proactive...and so, you give out the order - to begin the preparations to dig out trenches towards the castle, that you may begin the arduous process of sapping their defenses. As for the rest of your labourers, you bid them to build a logging outpost and secure you the lumber necessary for the more complex of fieldworks.

It is soon the 25th of October as progress continues at a steady pace. Your labourers have already begun to dig into the florest, felling down the trees and stacking the logs for your own ready use. Although they are urban labourers, rather than rural lumbermen, their number renders them far more than capable of doing such a duty with little challenge.

Your second project, however, has run into a not so small problem.

Your trenches have finally reached the edge of the road, and beyond cutting through the heart of the country, this road also signifies the edge of the range of the enemy's musketeers. Already, you have had reports of the odd shot landing a small distance and scaring some of the workers. Soon enough, they shall enter their own range, and thanks to their elevated position, even a trench runs still into the risk of being caught by fire. To this problem, your Master Engineer, Vincenzo Sfolari, has given you two solutions. The first is to simply tell the labourers to dig a little deeper - after all, there surely cannot be so many marksmen within their ranks, and soon enough you shall be close enough that you will once again leave their field of view. The second and more delicate plan is to go underground - to dig a tunnel until you have reached the base of the hill. Of course, this would take far more time than a simple trench, and you've heard of the horrible collapses that such trench tunnels often suffer. Still...your labourers shall certainly feel safer at first.

CHOOSE YOUR OPTION
>Keep the trenches, risk is inevitable (Casualties to skirmish fire may occur, civilian labourers forced to work in such projects will have their morale significantly decrease)
>Dig the tunnels, into the earth (Future projects will take longer, small chance of collapse)
>Just stop the digging efforts, they are not worth it
>Write-In

>>6472192
>Write-In
INSTRUCT THE SAPPERS TO WORK AT NIGHT
Even the musketeers aren't that accurate during daytime, I bet no one gets shot at night.

>>6472192
+1 >>6472229
>Create some mantlets and skirmish back to cover the workers.

>>6472229
Support.

>>6472229
+1

>>6472192
>Keep the trenches, risk is inevitable (Casualties to skirmish fire may occur, civilian labourers forced to work in such projects will have their morale significantly decrease)
As tempting as a tunnel is, Alessandro has had poor luck with their integrity.
Though, to buoy the spirit of the laborers, I think extra steps such as >>6472229 and >>6472243 should be taken. Night won't be a perfect shield, as the workers still need, well, light to actually work in, and I don't think big bore wall guns will care much about wooden shields, but they both serve to better conceal them than nothing at all.
Though if night work and/or concealing wooden screens are impractical, I have another idea.
We have a bird with eagle eyes, and much bigger guns than muskets. If we get the best shot of the artillerists (probably Vettorio, to be frank) and either use a culverin (if we care to take it off of wall reduction duty) or one (or more) of the otherwise less useful sakers, there's potential we either frighten any marksmen off of harassing our diggers, or if we get lucky, we blow a few of them to smithereens and make the rest think twice about trying their own luck.

>>6472192
>Write-In
Employ movable wooden partitions to provide concealment to workers and have the sakers provide suppressive fire

>>6472229
>>6472243
>>6472247
>>6472287
>>6472297
>>6472304
Alright, having them work at night wins! I'll also throw in the field fortifications since a few people voted for it and it doesn't hurt the other vote.

File: Trench Digging in the 159(...).png (4.3 MB, 2590x1830)

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As you begin to consider the two options, both of them hardly to your taste (especially given your...recent experiences with tunnel building) you manage to consider a third option, one far more simple and yet at the same time perhaps just as complicated. Turning to the Master Engineer, you begin to ask a question. "Vincenzo - might you not be able to build some manner of wheeled mantlet to protect the workers as they dig? That is to say, a wooden barricade that may shield them from marksmen up in the fortress walls."

The man, hearing your question, seems to go into thought, pondering what you assume is his capability of complying with such a task. After a while, however, he answers.

"I could manage it, of course. It should be of little difficulty to accomplish - though, from what I have read of firelock weaponry, are not the wallguns used by such fort garrisons far too strong to be stopped merely by wood?"

"You speak truthfully" you say, now faced with another issue - what use, after all, is a shield that accomplishes nothing but showering those behind it in wooden splinters as they are shot? Having seen a mere musket be enough to shatter the armor of a Himmerian soldier, you know a wooden barrier to be less than nothing for a force as mighty as a wallgun - if that is what they are using. It is then that another idea comes to you: to work at night!

"It is a simple matter to fix. Have the labourers work through the night - the barricade will help to shield their lanterns as they work...our issues would be solved thus."

"If thou believes such a plan to be of good thinking, then I shall obey it."

Though there is plenty of grumbling about the nocturnal working hours, it is far preferable to the risk of being shot, and so, the labourers begin their first shift through the night, lamps lighting them as pickaxes break and tear the carefully constructed road to make way for your trenches. You do not stay up for the whole of the night, of course, but when you wake up in your tent and hear your morning report, you are very satisfied after being told that no casualties have occurred! Indeed, there had not so much as been a single stray shot. Whether this shall change in due time, or you have well and truly solved the dangers of sapping, remains to be seen.

It is the 27th of October when, after a rather peaceful morning (the not-so-distant and rather annoyingly loud sound of cannonfire excluded) you were called by your quartermaster, Provençal. After you had tasked him with further securing supplies through peaceful means, he began to sought out local vendors, perhaps a patrician of wealth friendly to Garino's cause. To your misfortune, however, the landowners around La Rocca were no less bothersome than the ones further west down the road, either asking for downright extortionate pricing or refusing to sell at all! The urge to have your cavalrymen sent out to take all they owned by force greatly filled you, but you knew better than to give in to temptation. In the end, a single man gave you a somewhat reasonable offer; in exchange for 900 Imperii a month, he would supply you Sufficiently enough to maintain your reserves each week - including not only food, of course, but also fodder for the horses and matters such as lamp oil, which Provençal stated had become quite necessary due to your new "idea"

Certainly, it is not a price you are fond of, but you may not have much of a choice - come two days time, you shall be down to but a single week's worth of supply, at which time you might have no choice but to send your men out to forage - lest your mercenaries take initiative into their own hands. Of course, maybe you had been wrong to bother with such generosity and kindness towards the locals to begin with...

CHOOSE YOUR OPTION
>Accept his deal, acquire supplies
>Refuse his deal, solve it another way
>Send your men out to nearby farms to force them into selling their supplies at a "reasonable" price
>Write-In

>>6472491
>Accept his deal, acquire supplies
Once the fortress falls we should be in a better position to negotiate.

>>6472491
>Accept his deal, acquire supplies

>>6472491
>Send your men out to nearby farms to force them into selling their supplies at a "reasonable" price
There's a point where the carrot needs some stick, the good deal isn't paying their price, it's that we're paying at all. These scammers are basically asking for the price of all our heavy guns combined when their harvest is around the corner, or maybe even already in progress, they're hardly needy starving peasantry and they better remember when we're in power that we're not a human chump who plays Straccian shell games. You'd better bet Morshu's Premium Lamp Oil is being paid with credit, because our mercenaries sure aren't.

>>6472491
>Accept his deal, acquire supplies
Ehh, not actually *that* much more than we were paying in Nera. Around a 30% price bump for being in hostile territory isn't ridiculous and it is well worth the rural gentry not resenting us

>>6472491
>Accept his deal, acquire supplies

No update today because it rained while I was out and it threw off my entire routine off and now I lost my writing hours to other stuff.

>>6472499
>>6472502
>>6472522
Accepting his deal to acquire supply, wins. Might take a while, but it'll come out today.

File: Stracus Report, Octover 2(...).png (1.99 MB, 2362x2081)

1.99 MB PNG

Although it would have been far, far simpler and cheaper to deal with this matter through cold steel, and the continuous greed of these merchants annoyed you ever so greatly, you forced yourself to remember the reason why you had hesitated to partake in such acts in the first place - the future which you sought to build on this land, which would, unfortunately, require the support even of disgusting creatures such as these. And so, in yet another move that you can only hope shan't lead to your ultimate demise and bankruptcy at the hands of your wartime expenditures, you agree to the man's deal. The supplier, one Manuel Bacaro, is very much delighted at your acceptance, and assures you that you shall receive all you have paid for. You can only hope that he is telling the truth - for his own sake, that is.

It is the 29th of October soon enough, and as yet another week in the field passes, the end of the month stands ever close. Your scouts, of course, have yet to return, though if nothing unfortunate has happened to them, tehy should be returning soon. Your siege, of course, continues - your artillery continues to fire upon the castle with little yet continued effect, slowly whittling down the mountain of stone. You are beginning to wonder whether this siege will be able to get anywhere close to completion before the city of Garino falls. After all, what value will this fortress have, should your only claim to the throne be thrown into the hands of the Despot? How much longer do you still have until the patricians, ever self interested, agree to a peace with Niccolo to keep their own lives?

Nevertheless, for the moment, there is progress, however small. The days, of course, continue to grow ever hotter as the final month of spring is about to start. Joan, your maid, seems to have grown a little more accustomed to the heat after having made some alterations to her clothing to allow for more air. It seems to have put the woman in a better mood, and as for you, you cannot complain about seeing more of her - sometimes, you can almost swear she is doing it on purpose, but your duties in the field have left you far too busy to worry about handling these matters of the heart anytime soon.

And in matters of business, the next week shall be a rather important one! Your trenches, having finally broken through the paved road, stand ready to begin snaking their way towards the fortress. If your "solution" continues to work, then you should be able to make your way to the base of the hill in little time. If nothing else goes wrong, of course...

BEGIN FIELDWORK?
>Camp Buildings (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: Organized Encampment)
>Camp Palisade (Labour Cost: 2, Building Time: 2 Weeks, Req: Organized Encampment,Logging Outpost)
>Advanced Camp Buildings (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 2 Weeks, Req: Organized Encampment, Camp Buildings, Logging Outpost)
>Advanced Defensive Trenches (Labour Cost: 2, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: Defensive Trenches)
>Offensive Trenches, First Stage (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 2 Weeks, Req: Defensive Trenches, Preparation for Offensive Trenches)
>Write-In (Suggestions will be priced accordingly)

SHALL YOU ASSIGN UNITS TO A TASK?
>Yes (Specify which units, and which tasks)
>No

>>6473182
>BEGIN FIELDWORK
>Offensive Trenches, First Stage (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 2 Weeks, Req: Defensive Trenches, Preparation for Offensive Trenches)
>Camp Buildings (Labour Cost: 1, Building Time: 1 Week, Req: Organized Encampment)
Much as further defenses just in case would be a nice side use of labor they'll require too many hands, it seems, compared to keeping the offensive mindset going.
>Write-In
While we're here and assuredly going to have potential uneven scheduling in worker group tasks, we may as well ask our engineer the practicality of preparing our mobile fortification wagons while we're sitting here with a logging camp. Not for assaulting the fortress with necessarily, but to have ready for anything later, considering that ideally they'd be wagon transportable, if not the wagonberg themselves...

>SHALL YOU ASSIGN UNITS TO A TASK?
Less a task I suppose and more a drill, or an exercise. We ought to consider the grim necessity of having to take a part of this place by storm, or perhaps partially so with the earthworks in particular, since the fortress itself would need holes in it or under it. Covering some distance with trenches would be good, but it might behoove us to, since we have defensive trenches anyways, have our guys practice a coordinated charge at night from them.
The Banda Grisa would probably be the best suited due to their inherent speed, since ideally speaking anybody risking this would want to spent the least time possible getting fired upon. The Keusigers might have the mass, but not necessarily the discipline that a man who's faced down giants and had his men chopped apart by gunfire before would.