My group is on the verge of entering the Anarchy phase. I'm planning plenty of inter-county squabbling (so plenty of BoB use), knight and Saxon raids, alliances made and broken, intrigue at court and well, anarchy.

In my campaign Marlborough has long been a thorn in the side of Salisbury so I see that erupting into more open warfare. Also I have a small barony on the NE border with Silchester that I expect to side with whoever looks the dominant power. Silchester (being so large and relatively powerful) I'm unsure what to do with, other than perhaps playing up the rivalry with Sir Blains of Levocmagus.

Then of course, if my PKs are so inclined, there could be some land grabbing going on. But how, esteemed GM colleagues, did you handle it? Blood thirsty and open or subtle and duplicitous? And just how much had the campaign landscape changed once it was over?

Here are a couple of my old posts that brush upon the Start of Anarchy:

What the PCs did:
http://nocturnal-media.com/forum/index.php?topic=197.msg1444#msg1444

(I forget what the plot mentioned in the end was exactly ,but I think it was an argument that Salisbury would need a firm hand in these troubling times, a proven battle commander (i.e. one of the PKs with high Battle and Glory), so they should take the power away from the Countess and young Robert and invest them to the PK. Alas, they told of this plot to a wrong person, also a PK, who went to the Countess who made her move first by having the plotters arrested. And in exchange for them publicly swearing allegiance and support to her, she agreed to let them keep their heads. Although they 'went questing' afterwards to find their kidnapped wives, spirited away by their Saxon nemesis, and new characters were made in the name of party unity.)

What an NPC did:
http://nocturnal-media.com/forum/index.php?topic=202.msg1447#msg1447

In general, this would be prime time for a landgrab, in my humble opinion. Plenty of widows and heiresses around. See also the previous comment about proven battle commanders. If they are the movers and shakers in Salisbury, easy enough to leverage that into offices and marriages to heiresses, as the Countess tries to shore up support with so many of her husband's trusted men dead. Also, some of the (N)PKs might rebel, and then they'd be fair game for the loyalists, too... Or vice versa!

Thanks for posting those links. I like the NPCs you've got there. Also with Syagrius, he's a slight thorn in my PKs side at the moment but taking your lead, I'll move him more centre stage over the coming years.

Blood thirsty and open or subtle and duplicitous? And just how much had the campaign landscape changed once it was over?

Both. I totally rewrote the campaign landscape. My PKs were based in Jagent, and not long after the Anarchy era started the new earl was murdered by his uncle (the classical hunting accident). A Banneret was killed treacherously in his own hall with his oldest son. A the same time a squad of "hit knights" were sent after my PKs, who were enemies to the said uncle and his cronies, but after a rather unexpected turn of events the surviving PKs made a devil pact with the new Earl.

So they didn't follow the good Jagents knights into exile in Somerset. Instead, they were stuck serving a rather cruel and arbitrary lord, do his dubious biddings and hang out with his rather dishonorable (and in one case, hospitality breaking) hangers on. This created a lot of conflicts, when my PKs tried to keep their lord happy and not sully their own hands.

Then Idres invaded. A horrible war followed, and the rotten Earl of Jagent surrendered and swore him fealty. The PKs now became involved in Idres wars, and again had to navigate the story seas to get out of it with their virtue intact.

In 507 the rotten Earl called a Court, and reneged his oaths to Idres. My PKs were more or less taken hostage, and had to agree to this. Jagent now of course ended up in Nantelods service, to loose the battle of Nettley and their new overlord.

They started the Boy King era without land (taken by Idres and given to his knights), in service of a sick, bitter twisted Earl without his earldom.