Midst Toil And Tribulation – Snippet 17
“Only because he hasn’t heard back from the Raven Lords yet,” Sharleyan replied, and shrugged slightly. “He’s hedging his bets, and you’re right that he’d much rather have a guarantee of free passage from Shairncross and the Council. I think that’s one reason he’d just as soon not start moving towards The Fence until he does hear back from Shairncross, actually. God knows the Raven Lords are a prickly, stubborn bunch, even without the religious aspect of it all! The last thing he’d want would be to look as if he were massing troops on their border to cow them into meeting his demands. Even if the Council agreed to grant him passage, those stiff-necked clansmen would consider it their sacred duty — in more ways than one! — to delay him any way they could if they thought the Council had caved in to threats. And he doesn’t trust Lord Theralt as far as he can spit, either. But he’d be staging through Ahlysberg and its stores magazines no matter what, and I’m sure he’s at least keeping the possibility of taking them all the way from Ahlys Bay to the Republic by sea in the back of his head, if something untoward happens. After all, the thought of marching through Raven’s Land, in the winter, against guerrilla opposition would be enough to give anyone pause! But in the end, he’ll do it anyway, if it comes down to it.”
Cayleb couldn’t quite expunge the doubt from his expression, but Sharleyan only looked back at him with a small, crooked smile.
“There’s not a man alive whose loyalty and judgment I trust more than Ruhsyl Thairis’. It’s obvious he understands how important it is to get troops into Siddarmark as quickly as possible, and knows you and I will never leave his troops hanging at the end of an unsupported supply route. He won’t worry about whether or not we’ll approve or disapprove; he’ll only worry about whether or not it really is the fastest way to get his men where they have to be.”
Cayleb gazed at her for a moment longer, then nodded in acceptance and agreement.
“That still leaves what’s going to be going on in the western Republic before he can possibly get there, though,” he pointed out after a moment.
“All we can do is all we can do,” Merlin said, his tone more composed than he actually felt. “Paitryk Hywyt’s going to land over five thousand Marines in Siddar City next five-day, and Domynyk’s combing out every additional Marine he can find.” He grimaced. “Admittedly, there aren’t as many of them as there were before we transferred so many to the Army after the Corisande campaign, but if he drafts them from every galleon in Home Fleet and scours Helen Island down to the bedrock, he can probably turn up another six thousand or so. And he’s prepared to draft seamen, as well.”
It was Cayleb’s turn to grimace, and Merlin chuckled.
“All right, I’ll admit they’re going to be out of their natural element. But you may have noticed it’s a bit hard to find a coward amongst them even when you need one, and I’ll take our seamen over most people’s trained soldiers any day. Even if we can’t stop Rahnyld dead, I expect we’ll be able to slow him down. And with a little luck, his troops are going to react . . . poorly, shall we say, the first time they meet shrapnel shells.”
“And at least most of the Marines will have Mahndrayns,” Cayleb agreed, his grimace segueing into a thin smile, edged with sad memory, as he used the term. The decision to name the Charisian Empire’s new breech-loading rifles after Urvyn Mahndrayn, the brilliant, murdered naval officer who’d come up with the design, had made itself without anyone quite knowing how. It was as fitting as it was inevitable, though, and even though the new rifles weren’t available in the numbers anyone would really have preferred, they were going to come as a nasty surprise to the Group of Four and their allies.
At the moment, however, the Imperial Charisian Marines actually had more of them than the Army. Virtually all of the conversions had been made here in Charis, in the newly completed Urvyn Mahndrayn Armory Ehdwyrd Howsmyn had constructed at the Delthak Works, his massive foundry complex on the shore of Lake Ithmyn, where the tooling existed and security could be maintained. The Army troops who — hopefully — would soon be marching through Raven’s Land, would be equipped almost exclusively with the old-style muzzleloaders, whereas the Marines (the majority of whom were based either in Old Charis, Tarot, or Emerald) had been close enough to Howsmyn’s facility to be reequipped with Mahndrayns as they left the workshop floor. There were several thousand more of them already crated for shipment, as well, however and Howsmyn’s workers were laboring with fiercely focused energy to convert still more of them. More thousands were leaving the workshop floors as new-build weapons, although that was slower than conversion of existing stocks. Hopefully, by the time Eastshare’s column could reach Iron Cape, enough of the new rifles would have been completed to be shipped to him and exchanged for his muzzleloaders, which could then be returned to Charis and converted in turn.
Or, more probably, simply handed over to the Siddarmarkian Army, whose troopers wouldn’t give a damn that they were “old fashioned.” Any rifle was one hell of a lot better than no rifle, and that was what the vast majority of the Republic’s troops had at the moment. And the sudden appearance of forty or fifty thousand Siddarmarkian riflemen would come as a nasty and unwelcome surprise to Zhasphar Clyntahn.
“I really don’t like doing all our logistic reorganization on the fly this way,” Cayleb’s unhappy tone spoke for all of them. “There’s too much chance we’re going to drop a stitch somewhere, even with Kynt tied into the com net. Simply running into more bad weather could throw everything out of gear at exactly the wrong moment.”
“That’s been true of everything we’ve done so far, love,” Sharleyan pointed out.
“Not to this extent,” Cayleb replied with an off-center grin. “I realize I have a reputation for impetuosity, but I actually have tried to make sure I had — What was that expression of yours, Merlin? ‘All my pigs and chickens in a row,’ was it? — before I leapt headlong into yet another reckless adventure.”
“I used the phrase once, Cayleb,” Merlin said with a certain asperity. “One time. It just slipped out that single time, and I’ve never used it again.”
“You can’t fool me, Merlin. It’s not just ‘a phrase’ at all, is it? Not really. It’s a cliché — that’s what it is. One that no one on Safehold ever heard of until you resurrected it out of the ash heap of history, where any decent soul would’ve left it.”
“I’m not the one using it; you are!” Merlin shot back while Staynair and Sharleyan looked at each other in amusement.
“But only because you inserted that accursed string of words into my innocent and untrammeled brain. It’s like . . . like one of those childhood songs you can’t get out of your mind. Like that stupid jingle you taught me back in the carefree days of my bachelorhood, the one about bottles of beer on the wall. I’m doomed — doomed, I tell you! Within five-days, a month at the outside, that same fatal phrase will slip out of my mouth in a formal audience, and everyone will think I coined it. Every hanger-on, every flatterer and sycophant, will start using it when he thinks I’ll hear about it. Before you know it, it’ll creep into common usage throughout the entire Empire, and future historians will blame it on me, Merlin — not you, where the guilt truly belongs — when it’s wormed its way inextricably into the very sinews of our language.” The emperor shook his head sadly. “To think that I’ll be remembered for that rather than for my prowess in battle.”
“Given the penalties for regicide, I feel very fortunate to be here on the island instead of there in Tellesberg at this moment,” Merlin said meditatively, and Cayleb laughed. Then the emperor’s expression sobered once more.
“Even if it does sound incredibly silly, the concept’s still valid,” he said. “And I’d feel a lot better if our chickens really were neatly in line behind our pigs before we started on all this.”
“We all would, Cayleb,” Staynair said serenely. “On the other hand, Sharley does have a point. This isn’t going to be any more of a scramble than the Armageddon Reef campaign was, and you’re in a much stronger relative position than you were then. Not to mention having acquired quite a lot of well-trained subordinates since then, all of whom know exactly what you and Sharley are going to expect them to do. It’s not given to mortal men and women to simply command success with the wave of a hand or a magic wand, and it’s always possible we simply aren’t going to be able to get enough troops into Siddarmark quickly enough to stem the tide. But if we don’t, it won’t be because we didn’t try, and that’s what God expects of us.” The archbishop smiled slightly. “He’s done pretty well by us so far, and I don’t see any reason to expect Him to do any differently now.”
“Neither do I, Maikel,” Merlin said from Helen Island. “You do remember that other cliché, though, don’t you? The one about God helping those who help themselves?”
“Indeed I do.”
“Then in that case, I think Cayleb and Sharleyan and I would like you to do the heavy lifting with God while we see about doing as much of that more mundane helping as we can.”
“I think that’s an entirely equitable division of labor, Merlin,” Staynair said with another, broader smile. “In fact, I’ve already started.”
“All my pigs and chickens in a row” ?? – words fail –
I guess they don’t have ducks there.
I’m sure they used to have ducks. Then they were eaten by krakens.
I’ve got friends who would be sad about ducks. :(
Honestly Drak, if THIS was the “we’ll hear more about the Lords of the Raven Lands” “snerk” you “let slip” a couple of snippets ago, I will track you down where you live and show you how useful six appendages tipped with razor sharp claws, plus a mouth full of fangs can be! And I’ll change your name to “Sings Soprano” while I’m at it! Bleek!
But as any one who has herded chooks will tell you, getting ducks in a row is a hell of a lot easier….
I don’t remember anything about these Lords of the Raven Lands – are they basically the equivalent Scottish clansmen? That’s the only clansmen that I can think of with whom I can draw a parallel.
@7 – Elim
You beat me to it. The Scottish clansmen were what came to my mind as well.
@5 – Nimitz13
I’m sure we’ll see more of the Raven Lords. After all, the ICA has to negotiate passage through their lands.
At least “ducks in a row” has a valid basis in history. “Ducks” are the amphibious landing vehicles used in beach landings during WWII. You would get them all “in a row” so that you would hit the beach at the same time.
“Pigs and Chickens” however…. (shakes head disgustedly.)
Wow, thousands of ICMs with breech loading rifles in Siddar City in a few days. That will help the defense of the Sylmahn Gap!
Note the possibility of staging both waves of the ICA out of Ahylsberg. The Raven Lords sound like a fairly loose-knit group of clans who feel shooting at foreigners is their duty, treaty or no treaty. So even if their “Chief among chiefs” and head of this council – which with NO evidence to back it up
whatsoever I’m guessing is made up of the chiefs of each clan – agrees to free passage, it ain’t gonna be free. These clansmen will take potshots at the passing troops the entire way.
I see why Chisholm never bothered to conquer them – they seem as close as Safehold gets to barbarians even though they seem to believe in the CoGA. I wonder which unlucky soul got to be their Archbishop? Bleek!
They sure came up with inventive names for military stuff back then. “Tanks”, “ducks”.
getting ducks into a line isnt hard at all
they just seem to naturally line up
DW gave a population figure for the Ravens Land area on his site. Kind of sparse. Not sure they would be much of a hindrance to the 60,000 to 75,000 ICA troops heading their way.
A breech loading rolling block Sharps knock off. That is what it looks like on the cover art.
@11
Tanks are first world war (derived from a cover name for the project, devised by a certian Mr W.Churchill)(Water Carriers for Russia…).
The duck is from the Manufacturers model code for the vehicle – DUKW. (Blame GMC for that).
“Ducks in a row” dates from at least 1910 (C/o a little web research)…
Did we all miss Merlin’s shrapnel shell comment? We have timed artillery shells. Now, will they be fired from rifled canon? I suspect they will be rifled Muzzle-loaders at minimum. One sided arty duels, infantry firing from cover and mid-air expoding artillery shells. Sylmahn Gap has turned into a meat grinder with the ICA/ICM turning the crank. Soldiers walk in one side,…..you get the picture.
@15 Previously they were talking about morters, my guess is that the shrpnel shells will be fired by morters, and not rifled muzzle-loaders. Morters have the advantage of being much easier to tote around than cannon.
@1 Yeah, really wierd. Where did that come from?
@10 Chisholm probably didn’t conquer them because
(a) there is one convenient place to barrier
(b) the land isn’t all that worthwhile for anything (now if they discovered gold…)
(c) the tribes are too much of a hassle to completely conquer, and have too much territory to hide in
I doubt it is worth the pain and expense.
@15 Nope, didn’t miss it. I remember some discussions of shrapnel shells from the Sharpe series (which the EoC at least is at or past). Given how slow moving black powder artillery is, the idea seems to work. And you’re right, the combination of hidden infantry who don’t have to stand to reload and exploding artillery shells (with shrapnel, obviously) will make assaulting the gap a one-sided blood bath. Do you think the GoCA forces will adopt the French technique of attacking by column? It’s a real killer for those in front, but it does work as long as the column can advance faster than the other side can reload – which isn’t the case here.
I’m more curious if the Marines will be sent that far inland. I was thinking they would back up the forces in and around Siddar city, or to the south, and allow the Siddarmarkian forces to reinforce the gap. The EoC army is better suited to handle alpine and snow.
@15 Shrapnel shells is a great force multiplier especially against unprotected troops in the open and it certainly will break the momentum of any invasion and buy Charis more time to get significant numbers of troops and artillery into Siddarmark. I’m wondering how much more Clyntahn knows about Charis’ military innovations. Still can’t remember that dead traitor’s name (cousin of Mahndrayn), but did he know about breech loading rifles and did he pass that information along to Clyntahn? It’s clear that he was able to pass technical details of the fuses for exploding shells. Shrapnel shells are a logical extension of that concept so it won’t be long before the CoGA’s military gets those too after it’s used against them. Of course the Church’s industrial base isn’t as capable so they will be developing and producing them quite belatedly.
One rather nasty military hardware that I haven’t read even a hint about is the development and deployment of explosives on rockets. In AMF the Charisians used a signal rocket that exploded so they have the basic concept. If you really want an even greater morale buster, Charis should develop the equivalent of a Stalin’s Organ (Katyusha Rocket Launcher) and deploy it liberally. The shock and impact of hundreds if not thousands of exploding rounds going off within seconds would demoralize any opposing force. I would love to see how Clyntahn would be able to justify even to his own military the development and use of such an obviously contrived Shei-wei abomination.
@17 BobG, I think the initial 5k-10k marines would be stationed around Siddar City. I also recall that Tarot had quite a few marines stationed there as of AMF or shortly after. I also recall a not so small contingent of marines/ICA with Adm Rock Point while he dismantled the Desnari navy. Where pray tell are they going?
Methinks that Thesmar will get a contingent pretty soon. That is a location the CoGA needs to move Desnari forces north to Alykberg or east to take the Branath Canal. Losing the Branath Canal means losing a significant part of the southern provinces’ trade/aggricultural production.
I wouldn’t send the ICA into the mountains. Not enough densely pack AoG troopers to mow down up there. Better send in rifled armed gurds and lots of supplies. The supplies draw the enemies like flies to honey and the rifles to deal with those enemies. Standard militia can keep the peace, if they are adequately supplied.
@16 Doubting Thomas, mortars from cover are nasty surprises to densely packed formations to be sure. Rifled artillery firing exploding shells is another surprise to opposing smoothbore artillery batteries. IIRC, the testbed Mahdrayn used for the wirebound rifled shell firing canon in HFaF was the 12 pound field canon. Rock Point may have begun stockpiling some of those for the army as well as the larger bores for the navy, as they discussed.
@18, Clyntahn would justify it very simply: I’m the Grand Inquisitor, what I say is Truth, and oh by the way you really don’t want to be put to the Question over this, now do you?
@18 DKCWong: IMO there is good reasons for lack of rocket artillery (even more so the heavy resources sink katyushas):
They are still using Black Powder so both propellant and warhead require inordinate amounts for effectiveness;
Look at the Congreve rockets whiich also were limted by BP (IMO they were more flash-bang than true munition-warheads);
For ANY accuracy in flight at all the venturis MUST be fairly precisely machined and BP consistent;
Katyushas were terror weapons true, but the EoC/CoC is still trying to convince the non-involved they ARE NOT in league with Shan Wei (exploding shells, indirect fire (mortars), and rifling are semi-familiar/understandable concepts; warheaded rockets (especially if White Phospur/incindiery (which is really hard to extinguish)) are a much bigger leap);
75% or more of your BP use is for propellant and size restriction s really cut down on your warhead size;
And making rockets is very resource intensive.
/Rob
Ok, so any guesses where Hector (our and Irys’s favorite Lt.) will wind up in this mess? We’ve already heard about sending sailors to back up the marines, so (after he gets back from Tellesburg) where do people think he will be assigned? Raiding parties against the canals? Staying with the Admiral?
@22 BobG, I think Sharley would be calculating enough to have Sir Dunkyn’s bombardment-ship squadron accompany her, Irys and Daivyn to Corisande. Hektor will pout a bit about not going where the action is and I suppose Irys will comfort him a tad. I will predict that things will get interesting after the party hits Corisande. I think that our Corisandian trio will be getting into the thick of things on the mainland before this book is over. If they do, they will need a trusty naval force to shepherd them to the fighting. A force with some bombardment ships to level a port city or two.
I don’t think we will see Irys and Daikyn arriving in Corisande in this book. Irys will likely try to argue for different terms (more lenient) than Sherlayn and Cayleb will be willing to accept. If we do see them in Corisande it will be at the end of the book, so wee will not see the results.
The Raven Lords sound a bit like Afghanistan to me, which would not be a happy example for a large army marching through their lands.
Caveat: Afganistan has actually been conquered quite successfully by any number of people from the Achaemenids to the Mughals. Its recent rep for unconquerableness dates from a couple of British disasters in the nineteenth century and the Russian mess in the 90s. Taking an expedition into a hostile territory and environment without sufficient planning or logistics tends not to be a fantastic idea anywhere.
Enjoying both the snippets and the comments. Anyone know when an e-arc will be available?
James, if you mean an “Electronic Advanced Reader Copy”, there won’t be one. E-ARCs are a Baen thing and this book is from TOR.
Now if you mean an e-book, one should be available around the time the dead-tree version is published which is in September.
Rockets of Congreve style are effective against cities, and the British more or elss torched one European City that way, iirc, but are fairly worthless against anything smaller.
However, if I were the Gorath fire department, I would be taking notes now.
The city torched was Copenhagen in 1807 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Copenhagen_%281807%29 but while Congreve rockets were used and gained publicity, much of the destruction was wrought by shellfire in the form of mortar bombs. Apparently out of 14.000 missiles hitting inside the Danish fortifications, only 300 were rockets. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congreve_Rocket under Napoleonic wars)
@23 and @24 Irys and Daivyn may not get back to Corisande in this book. Abraim Zhevons laid out a couple of requirements to Earl Coris for the EoC to rescue Daivyn:
1) “First, Their Majesties will require you to ‘go public,’ as I believe Emperor Cayleb put it, about Clyntahn’s involvement in the effort to assassinate Prince Daivyn and hand over any evidence you might have implicating him in Prince Hektor’s assassination.†Coris had no evidence on Hektor’s assassination, but had the letters to Seablanket ordering Daivyn’s assassination.
2) “Cayleb and Sharleyan personally undertake to guarantee Irys’ and Daivyn’s safety. In fact, they propose to place both of them in the personal care of Archbishop Maikel… Whether or not Irys and Daivyn—especially Daivyn—will be allowed to leave Tellesberg is going to depend on a lot of different factors,†Zhevons continued. “According to the information I’ve received from Merlin, Their Majesties, Earl Pine Hollow, and Archbishop Maikel would all vastly prefer to see Daivyn returned to his father’s throne in accordance with the terms of the peace settlement signed in his name by his Regency Council.†His eyes met the earl’s. “If he can’t accept that in good conscience, no one will attempt to compel him to do so. However, under those circumstances he’ll remain Their Majesties’ ‘guest’ in Tellesberg INDEFINATELY. I’ve been told to assure you he’ll be treated with all the respect his birth and title command, and that his person will be sacrosanct, but I’m afraid that stipulation is NON-NEGOTIABLE.â€
Unless Daivyn refuses to take the throne under the conditions outlined, Cayleb and Sharley will send him and Irys back to Corisande as soon as they decide he’s ready. I presume several five-days of EoC indoctrination for both of them, along with the clear acceptance that the Inquisition murdered their father and older brother. (Which Coris will make as clear as he can, along with proof the Inquisition wanted to murder Daivyn – as if both Irys and Daivyn don’t realize that already!) Daivyn will get to spend some time with Merlin (if my guess that Merlin and Cayleb will go to Siddar City hasn’t happened yet) which should help cement Daivyn in the EoC camp.
@24 Irys can argue for more lenient terms all she wants, but as Zhevons said, they are NON-NEGOTIABLE. I don’t think she’ll make a fuss – after all, she owes the EoC her life – and more importantly, Daivyn’s life.
Daivyn will have to swear fealty – we have evidence in the case of Narmahn Jr. that rulers who haven’t achieved their majority can and are required to do it. As much as Irys wants to protect her brother’s birthright, it’s been reduced to ruler of a vassal state of the EoC. He’ll still be ruling all of Corisande – but in accordance with EoC policy. Also Zebediah is now a fellow vassal state, not a vassal state of Corisande.
Yes, they’ll be taken to Corisande, I hope by an entire fleet, not just Sir Dunkyn’s squadron. It’s unfortunate Sir Dunkyn isn’t in the inner-circle, which might be taken care of during the time in Tellesberg. I expect Daivyn’s return to be accompanied by Sharley as well, since the EoC will want to rubber-stamp his rule in person. (Plus Sharley is very well liked in Corisande.) If they’re on Sir Dunkyn’s ship, romance may continue to bloom, but once Daivyn and Irys get to Corisande, they are going to STAY there. No more adventures on the high seas, no accompanying a fleet to level a port or two.
The fleet that accompanies them to Corisande is destined for the Gulf of Dohlar and Gorath Bay. Thirsk has explosive shells, and the inner-circle knows it. Any fleet-on-fleet action we might see will be the ENTIRE fleet the EoC sends to the Gulf of Dohlar (probably in the next book) taking on Thirsk’s entire fleet. The EoC will have the range on him, so the butcher’s bill won’t be as bad as it might have been, but it’s going to be bad. Then Gorath will get what it has coming. Finding marines to accompany that fleet is going to be difficult, but they NEED them – so I expect they’ll get them from the garrison stationed at Corisande, since Daivyn’s return will settle things down quite a bit.
The EoC probably wants to burn the whole city of Gorath to the ground to make an example of what happens to those who turn POWs over to the Inquisition, although I expect they’ll allow the citizens to escape. I don’t think they’ll extend the same mercy to anyone in the royal residence though! Bleek!
@19. There would be absolutely no reason to station your best armed troops on and around Siddar City.These guys are the doorkickers who would be able to defeat and demoralize much larger opponents. I can just see the AoG troops with their new rifles. “Cool, dud! We can fire almost once a minute now!” Yeah, mean! Those Siddar heretics sure are going to be sorry!”
Then all of a sudden:
“Whoa! What the heck? How are THOSE dudes shooting every ten seconds?!! Shi-ooot! RUN!!!”
@31 JeffM, you don’t deploy a surprise like this in a penny packet. Those initial 5K troopers aren’t game changers. Wait for enough of the newest weapons to be equiped in enough troopers to make a serious impact. Just showing off the capability without sufficient numbers to be decisive is a waste.
@33, historically these sorts of things get deployed as early as possible. I can’t think of a single historical case of a new weapon actually being reserved in wartime to wait for full deployment. It happens in SF stories, but in real wars you come up with something, you deploy it. Peacetime you may try to keep a few things in reserve, but those hit the front fast when the shooting starts.
Because the other side WILL know that you’re reequiping, so there’s NO extra surprise in waiting. You land 10,000 new rifles in Sidimark where the Church has hundreds of eyes to see what you’re doing and watch the troops drill with their fancy new weapons and the surprise is doomed anyway.
In fact the clock on the church getting equivalent weapons is almost certainly ALREADY running, there are just too many traitors willing to tell the church things for something known to 5,000+ marines, and their shipmates, and their lovers, and their supply officers, and the cousin of the inventer to have stayed secret. It takes time for word to arrive in Zion and the church to gear up, but six months from now the surprise is almost certainly dead anyway, so you use it as soon as possible.
“And I’d feel a lot better if our chickens really were neatly in line behind our pigs before we started on all this.â€
So on second thought: Maybe this is code for-Chickens as the new guns firing shrapnal- and the pigs are Marines armed with the new breech loaders???
Nahh–words still fail.
@26, @27: On monday, JUne 4th, Tor announced the start of it’s own e-book shop – see http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/06/tor-books-announces-e-book-store-doctorow-scalzi-a-stross-talk-drm-free.
So, chances to get E-ARCs could be rising from “no way at all” to “maybe, we start thinking about it as soon as we stop with kicking an screaming” ;) – if not for MTaT, so, at least, for future e-books …
“Getting you ducks in a row” is an old, old phrase derived from market hunting during the 19th Century. Large guns that fired multiple bullets (essentially a small cannon loaded with tiny canister, or a very big shotgun) were used to kill large parts of a flock of ducks, which the shooter would then collect in his boat and take to market for sale. But such guns were only really effective if the ducks were tightly bunched – no more than a few feet between them. That means the boat with the big gun had to get really close to the flock of ducks, so the effort to ‘get your ducks in a row’ implies serious work and stealth.
@33 ‘weapon being held back’ . There was the case of the RAF not using ‘window’ (strips of foil) to interfere with German radar. IIRC this was held back to prevent the Germans copying it, turned out they had also thought of it. It was used on D Day to simulate a second invasion fleet heading to Calais.
@30
Re. Irys/Daivyn…Yeah, Daivyn is going to be reduced to a prince, but consider the situation: King and female advisor of a medium sized island surrounded by a war versus prince in an empire at war but doing OK so far and sister married directly into the ruling family.
Take door #2 Daivyn.
jgnfld, minor nit.
Daivyn’s father was “just a Prince” not a King. [Wink]
Even in our history, “Prince” could be the title of an independent ruler.
As for “which door” he’ll take, Tum, te, tum, te, tum . . . . [Very Big Grin]
Ruler vs. vassal then you nitpicker!
@37 TimC, Merlin has better intel on what AoG has deployed. He knows how much or little the breachloaders will surprise the AoG. Unless there is an important objective at serious risk of loss, they will wait to deploy unless those 5,000-11,000 can be decisive. I just don’t think they will be decisive in these smaller numbers.
If these small deployments are used and also are not decisive, they will serve to get the enemy acclaimated to fighting against these weapons. That and finding better tactics for dealing with the new capabilities. Best that these reactions are delayed if possible.
@39 Drak! Watch your collar… :^)
@41 I suspect that the south is a more critical and vulnerable point at this time, so I would send the Marines there. However, if the Protector has stripped the capital of troops to reinforce the south and the mountain passes, then leaving them there until the militia can be trained makes sense. Hard to say, they’re needed everywhere, but I would hold them together as a single cohesive force.
Has anyone thought about land mines and claymore mines?
@42 – BobG
I’m kind of surprised we haven’t seen land mines and flamethrowers in operation, since the technology dates back to at least the 14th century C.E. in China for both weapons (maybe earlier), and flamethrowers go back to the first century C.E. in the Western World.
The use of gunpowder above some mountain passes could block the advance of the AoG. The downside is that it would slow the offensive of the EoC and Siddarmark when they do finally go on the offensive.
@42 BobG, I am waiting for the referrence to Adm Rock Point’s marines being redeployed to cover the Siddermarkian southern approaches, like Thesmar and Alykberg. IIRC, Rock Point had a sizable contingent of marines and ICA with him to the Gulf of Jahras. If they do deploy those marines in Thesmar and Alykberg, that leaves the apoproaches to Siddar City through Cliff Peak and Sylmahn Gap/Rollings left to cover with ICA contingents.
@32 & @41 5000 men if used properly can be decisive, especially on the defensive in a tight mountain pass (think Thermopylae), you just need to pick a spot to use your 2 brigades of heavy infantry.
@39 Drac what jgnfld sounded more like advice than a prediction to me. Thanks for the snerc though.
@19 – I think the ICM will be sent wherever there is the most desperate need. Right now, that’s to keep the Sylmahn Gap closed. Let’s not forget, Siddarmark had 6500 flintlock rifles in the entire army, so the TLs fighting to break through the gap are likely armed with no better than matchlocks and pikes.
A few thousand ICM armed with Mahndrayns will at the very least keep the gap closed, and they might be able to start clearing the gap, especially when they get some mortars to support them. Yes, sending in the ICM will reveal the breech loading Mahndrayns in combat, although the increase in firing rate may be misunderstood as an increase in TROOPS, especially once the black powder smoke obscures the ICM. Which might cause just a WEE bit of panic if the TL militia suddenly thinks there’s 30,000+ new troops opposing them! Bleek!
32. PeterZ. Don’t be too obtuse. This isn’t a point for “surprises or not”. They are desperately hoping to hold on to the Republic for the remainder of the winter, it will be MONTHS before any substantial number of reinforcements arrive, they’ll damn well use whatever they have to hold onto what they’ve got–and use it was best they can.
There are other surprises they can “save” for best effect…
Just curious–when will we know whether the armory that built those 6500 hundred rifles survived? I would assume that a savvy investor would have assured it’s security. In that case, it should still be producing rifles, even as we speak. Or, at least, as RFC wrote.
I would expect Daivyn, Irys and Co to be arriving in Tellesburg shortly. After all, everyone knows that Seijins travel faster than regular transports. ;)
Matter of fact, I’d say that impending arrival is the only reason that Cayleb hasn’t already hared off for Siddar City….
(43) I’m all for Greek fire – they had wooden ships, too. I think the hull near the nozzle was metal covered.
Rockets: This is a bit Rube Goldberg, but: Make a few large rockets and fire them out of surplus obsolete cannon that they have so many of.
(47) I’d keep Cayleb out of Siddar City – just one pistol in a crowd and it’s all over. Of course, Charisians would probably start walking to Siddar City to take revenge (yes. I know there is an ocean involved) but it is not worth the cost.
@48. I am reasonably sure that Cayleb will consider Siddar City the only fashionable place to be, this Spring season. ;)
I am also reasonably sure that Temple Loyalists will be few and far between in SC, indeed, on the Immediately Endangered List—even without the hovering Angel of Death which is one Merlin Arthrawes.
@39
Every secular ruler on Safehold, from the emperors on down, used to be a vassal of the Church. I’m not sure ‘independence’ and ‘sovereignty’ would have made it into the Archangels’ version of the dictionary.