Morien
11-16-2015, 03:25 PM
The default GPC assumes that Salisbury stays independent throughout Anarchy, even if it aligns itself closely with Nanteleod. However, it is very much possible that the PKs decide that King Idres of Cornwall or Duke Ulfius of Silchester (Vale) is the better choice. In particular, if the things come to a head prior to 500, Nanteleod is very much a 'Sire-not-appearing-in-this-campaign', and it takes until mid-500s before he takes a hand in Southern Logres.
Allying with Duke Ulfius takes care of itself, as Ulfius himself joins Nanteleod. So you don't really have to do anything with GPC, it works fine as is.
Allying or even worse, submitting to become Cornwall's vassal, means that Salisbury ends up on the OPPOSITE side from Nanteleod. And now you do need to do some thinking how this plays out in the end.
In our campaign, Essex, after being denied tribute for several years and feeling mighty fine about its chances after absorbing Huntingdon and Hertford, issued an ultimatum to Salisbury in 500: cough up all the tribute in arrears, or we will invade and burn Salisbury to the ground. Needless to say, that finally got the PKs thinking about swearing allegiance to someone for protection, and they ended up choosing Cornwall. This will naturally have some consequences down the line. Also, I decided to make a bigger deal of the whole Gloucester vs. Clarence feud which is almost omitted in GPC.
So here are some quick notes that I jotted down to see how things would work out, focusing mainly on the differences to GPC. I am also using the GPC terminology about the counties, since I find that easier.
Year 500
- Essex invades Salisbury, and Salisbury swears allegiance to Cornwall.
- Cornwall: No invasion of Dorset, instead march to defend Salisbury.
- Ulfius: Worried about being sandwiched between a strong Cornwall and a strong Essex. He lets Essex march through Silchester and hope that they cripple Cornwall's army, while taking heavy enough losses that he can crush the retreating Saxons with surprise. That will end up in weak Cornwall and weak Essex, and lots of loot for Ulfius.
What actually happened:
- Cornwall and Essex fought to a draw, both armies bloodied but still standing. Cornwall retreats to defend the Bourne River while Essex raids between Bourne and Test.
- Ulfius reconsidered his neutrality: frustrated Saxons with little booty retreating through Silchester = raided Silchester. Not good. Furthermore, frustrated Essex in the need to find someone smaller than Cornwall to beat up = attack on Silchester. Seriously not good! So he made a deal with Cornwall and appeared behind the Saxons in the second battle between Essex and Cornwall, and Essex was smashed between the two armies.
- Ulfius got his reward by harrying the routing Saxons back to Essex and liberated Hertford and Huntingdon, too.
- Alas, there is a new bunch of Saxons, Angles, who just appeared.
Year 501
- As in GPC, Huntingdon and Hertford ask Salisbury's help against Angles.
- Idres is not willing to help unless he gets Huntingdon and Hertford to submit to him: why would he bleed his armies for Ulfius' allies? Furthermore, if H&H fall to angles, Ulfius will be feeling the threat again, and maybe then he would submit to Idres. In short, let them fall and let Ulfius bleed HIS armies for a change.
- Angles invade early in the spring and take H&H before an effective response is possible.
- Ulfius' own army isn't big enough to stop Angles without Salisbury's aid. Also, he is not getting any help from Sussex, either... perhaps because he wasn't helping Sussex too much against Kent last year, and 'stabbing Essex in the back'?
- Idres might invade Dorset this year. In our campaign, I decided on 502, since the PKs are busy with Morgan's Marriage this year.
- Gloucester swears allegiance to Nanteleod to get his help against Clarence. In our campaign, the PKs are nicely traveling through Clarence when there is a combined raid, and if they help Clarence, Clarence would ally with Cornwall sooner rather than later. (Alas, they were tone-deaf as to this diplomatic opportunity. This might have lead to Idres attacking Somerset first in 502, which could have brought Nanteleod down on Somerset's behalf earlier, too.)
Year 502
- Idres attacks Dorset finally with Salisbury's help. However, Salisbury doesn't bring that much more to the party, so unless the PKs roll extremely well, the siege will still fail. Idres returns to Cornwall to rebuild his army after that expensive setback.
- Saxons fighting against Angles. Ulfius will stay out of it, which further puts a strain between him and Sussex. Essex manages to reclaim Hertford, Huntingdon left to Angles.
Year 503
- London falls to Kent and Essex. Silchester-Sussex alliance is no more, as Sussex doesn't help here, either. Ulfius, definitely feeling the need for some new friends, turns to Nanteleod instead of those not-helpful Cornishmen.
- Clarence joins Cornwall, since they are getting surrounded by Escavalon Alliance, of which Gloucester is part.
- Idres, looking at his map and knowing how rich Somerset is in silver mines, decides to leave Dorset alone and starts planning Somerset's conquest. It would nicely join Salisbury and Clarence to Cornwall, too.
Year 504
- Idres takes Wells.
- Ulfius is getting squeezed by the Saxons, but he refuses to pay, trusting Nanteleod's help.
Year 505
- Wessex attacks Levcomagus (not Sarum, since Salisbury is protected by Cornwall).
- Nanteleod's army marches through Clarence over Duke of Clarence's objections; Gloucester knights use the opportunity to 'gather provisions' AKA plunder.
- Battle of Levcomagus: Cerdic defeated, and he retreats back to Wessex.
- There is another army of Angles massing at Royston (and Ulfius has been keeping his army in Silchester to counter it). Nanteleod marches via Silchester, gathers Ulfius' army along, and together they give Angles a bloody nose at the Battle of Royston.
- They are joined by Duke of Lindsey at Huntingdon, and then they march south to Hertford, raiding Essex. Essex is too weak to stand up to them (losses in 500), but their alliance with Kent (remember London 503?) means that Kent is coming to their aid, too. However, even together, Essex and Kent are defeated by the Cymric Coalition. (Since in our campaign Aethelswith died in 500, I am not killing Aescwine off here.)
- Nanteleod gives Huntingdon to Lindsey and Hertford to Ulfius to look after, for now.
- Nanteleod's army returns to Escavalon, marching through Clarence again. Gloucester knights use the opportunity to gather a few 'souvenirs'.
- Idres finishes conquering Somerset, and then prepares to fight Nanteleod, due to the complaints from his vassal, Clarence.
Year 506
- Battle of Clarence: Cornwall(+Salisbury+Clarence) vs. Escavalon(+allies+Ulfius). Nanteleod wins and forces Duke of Clarence to submit to him. However, he doesn't strip him of title and lands (since he is portraying himself as the Restorer of Law and Order, and Duke of Clarence's title and lands were confirmed by King Uther), which pisses off the Duke of Gloucester who hoped to add Clarence lands to his.
- Idres retreats through Somerset with his defeated army. The guerilla attacks increase in intensity: only the castles are safe for the Cornishmen.
- Duke of Lindsey takes London ahead of schedule (since both Essex and Kent are weakened in our campaign). This pisses off Ulfius, who thinks London should be returned to him! Duke Corneus doesn't agree, and this argument might explain why Corneus doesn't show up for the battle in 508. (This event works even in the 507, when Corneus focuses on taking London rather than helping Ulfius against the Saxon raids.)
Year 507
- Prince Mark entertains Saxons at Sarum and bribes them to attack Ulfius, while Nanteleod is busy with Cornwall. He hopes to win some breathing space for Cornwall by giving Nanteleod Silchester to defend.
- Nanteleod doesn't go through Salisbury to get at Somerset: instead, he comes straight from the north. Idres doesn't contest this since he knows better than to try and fight Nanteleod in Somerset with Somerset's guerilla knights killing his scouts and foragers. Nanteleod spends the rest of the year mopping up the castles, while Idres is rebuilding his defenses at Jagent.
- Saxons raid Silchester and Ulfius calls for help against the 'Saxon Problem'.
- Send PKs to bribe Angles to attack Huntingdon next year, hence keeping Lindsey busy? (Additional reason for Corneus being a no-show in 508. Also, it gives the PKs something to do this year.)
Year 508
- Nanteleod+Ulfius march against Wessex first, approaching from the north (via Levcomagus) rather than get bogged down in Salisbury's castles. Thus, the battle is fought at Winchester, rather than at Netley Marsh (south of Salisbury, near the mouth of Test river). Cornwall+Salisbury bring knights to help Wessex, of course.
- Battle of Winchester: After some fierce fighting, Nanteleod launches a charge towards Cerdic's banner. However, the Duke of Gloucester, whose knights were supposed to follow, disobey and attacks the Clarence Knights in the center of their own army instead. Thus, Escavalon knights are cut off by the Saxons, and Nanteleod dies. Duke of Clarence kills the Duke of Gloucester, and then turns to attack the rest of the Cymric army, switching back to Cornwall's side. The Cymric Coalition army routs.
- Salisbury might raid Silchester with the Saxons. Salisbury as a Cornwall vassal, is not raided.
Year 509
- Idres might try Dorset again and potentially succeed.
- Robert wants to get knighted, but there is absolutely no reason for Idres to let that happen. Robert might try to get the PKs to go against Prince Mark (married to Ellen and thus the man in charge in Salisbury until Robert is knighted), but if that doesn't happen...
Years 510 - 513
- Enjoy being on the receiving end of Arthur's scripted victories over the Rebel Kings (including Cornwall)! Evil GM? Who, me? :P
Allying with Duke Ulfius takes care of itself, as Ulfius himself joins Nanteleod. So you don't really have to do anything with GPC, it works fine as is.
Allying or even worse, submitting to become Cornwall's vassal, means that Salisbury ends up on the OPPOSITE side from Nanteleod. And now you do need to do some thinking how this plays out in the end.
In our campaign, Essex, after being denied tribute for several years and feeling mighty fine about its chances after absorbing Huntingdon and Hertford, issued an ultimatum to Salisbury in 500: cough up all the tribute in arrears, or we will invade and burn Salisbury to the ground. Needless to say, that finally got the PKs thinking about swearing allegiance to someone for protection, and they ended up choosing Cornwall. This will naturally have some consequences down the line. Also, I decided to make a bigger deal of the whole Gloucester vs. Clarence feud which is almost omitted in GPC.
So here are some quick notes that I jotted down to see how things would work out, focusing mainly on the differences to GPC. I am also using the GPC terminology about the counties, since I find that easier.
Year 500
- Essex invades Salisbury, and Salisbury swears allegiance to Cornwall.
- Cornwall: No invasion of Dorset, instead march to defend Salisbury.
- Ulfius: Worried about being sandwiched between a strong Cornwall and a strong Essex. He lets Essex march through Silchester and hope that they cripple Cornwall's army, while taking heavy enough losses that he can crush the retreating Saxons with surprise. That will end up in weak Cornwall and weak Essex, and lots of loot for Ulfius.
What actually happened:
- Cornwall and Essex fought to a draw, both armies bloodied but still standing. Cornwall retreats to defend the Bourne River while Essex raids between Bourne and Test.
- Ulfius reconsidered his neutrality: frustrated Saxons with little booty retreating through Silchester = raided Silchester. Not good. Furthermore, frustrated Essex in the need to find someone smaller than Cornwall to beat up = attack on Silchester. Seriously not good! So he made a deal with Cornwall and appeared behind the Saxons in the second battle between Essex and Cornwall, and Essex was smashed between the two armies.
- Ulfius got his reward by harrying the routing Saxons back to Essex and liberated Hertford and Huntingdon, too.
- Alas, there is a new bunch of Saxons, Angles, who just appeared.
Year 501
- As in GPC, Huntingdon and Hertford ask Salisbury's help against Angles.
- Idres is not willing to help unless he gets Huntingdon and Hertford to submit to him: why would he bleed his armies for Ulfius' allies? Furthermore, if H&H fall to angles, Ulfius will be feeling the threat again, and maybe then he would submit to Idres. In short, let them fall and let Ulfius bleed HIS armies for a change.
- Angles invade early in the spring and take H&H before an effective response is possible.
- Ulfius' own army isn't big enough to stop Angles without Salisbury's aid. Also, he is not getting any help from Sussex, either... perhaps because he wasn't helping Sussex too much against Kent last year, and 'stabbing Essex in the back'?
- Idres might invade Dorset this year. In our campaign, I decided on 502, since the PKs are busy with Morgan's Marriage this year.
- Gloucester swears allegiance to Nanteleod to get his help against Clarence. In our campaign, the PKs are nicely traveling through Clarence when there is a combined raid, and if they help Clarence, Clarence would ally with Cornwall sooner rather than later. (Alas, they were tone-deaf as to this diplomatic opportunity. This might have lead to Idres attacking Somerset first in 502, which could have brought Nanteleod down on Somerset's behalf earlier, too.)
Year 502
- Idres attacks Dorset finally with Salisbury's help. However, Salisbury doesn't bring that much more to the party, so unless the PKs roll extremely well, the siege will still fail. Idres returns to Cornwall to rebuild his army after that expensive setback.
- Saxons fighting against Angles. Ulfius will stay out of it, which further puts a strain between him and Sussex. Essex manages to reclaim Hertford, Huntingdon left to Angles.
Year 503
- London falls to Kent and Essex. Silchester-Sussex alliance is no more, as Sussex doesn't help here, either. Ulfius, definitely feeling the need for some new friends, turns to Nanteleod instead of those not-helpful Cornishmen.
- Clarence joins Cornwall, since they are getting surrounded by Escavalon Alliance, of which Gloucester is part.
- Idres, looking at his map and knowing how rich Somerset is in silver mines, decides to leave Dorset alone and starts planning Somerset's conquest. It would nicely join Salisbury and Clarence to Cornwall, too.
Year 504
- Idres takes Wells.
- Ulfius is getting squeezed by the Saxons, but he refuses to pay, trusting Nanteleod's help.
Year 505
- Wessex attacks Levcomagus (not Sarum, since Salisbury is protected by Cornwall).
- Nanteleod's army marches through Clarence over Duke of Clarence's objections; Gloucester knights use the opportunity to 'gather provisions' AKA plunder.
- Battle of Levcomagus: Cerdic defeated, and he retreats back to Wessex.
- There is another army of Angles massing at Royston (and Ulfius has been keeping his army in Silchester to counter it). Nanteleod marches via Silchester, gathers Ulfius' army along, and together they give Angles a bloody nose at the Battle of Royston.
- They are joined by Duke of Lindsey at Huntingdon, and then they march south to Hertford, raiding Essex. Essex is too weak to stand up to them (losses in 500), but their alliance with Kent (remember London 503?) means that Kent is coming to their aid, too. However, even together, Essex and Kent are defeated by the Cymric Coalition. (Since in our campaign Aethelswith died in 500, I am not killing Aescwine off here.)
- Nanteleod gives Huntingdon to Lindsey and Hertford to Ulfius to look after, for now.
- Nanteleod's army returns to Escavalon, marching through Clarence again. Gloucester knights use the opportunity to gather a few 'souvenirs'.
- Idres finishes conquering Somerset, and then prepares to fight Nanteleod, due to the complaints from his vassal, Clarence.
Year 506
- Battle of Clarence: Cornwall(+Salisbury+Clarence) vs. Escavalon(+allies+Ulfius). Nanteleod wins and forces Duke of Clarence to submit to him. However, he doesn't strip him of title and lands (since he is portraying himself as the Restorer of Law and Order, and Duke of Clarence's title and lands were confirmed by King Uther), which pisses off the Duke of Gloucester who hoped to add Clarence lands to his.
- Idres retreats through Somerset with his defeated army. The guerilla attacks increase in intensity: only the castles are safe for the Cornishmen.
- Duke of Lindsey takes London ahead of schedule (since both Essex and Kent are weakened in our campaign). This pisses off Ulfius, who thinks London should be returned to him! Duke Corneus doesn't agree, and this argument might explain why Corneus doesn't show up for the battle in 508. (This event works even in the 507, when Corneus focuses on taking London rather than helping Ulfius against the Saxon raids.)
Year 507
- Prince Mark entertains Saxons at Sarum and bribes them to attack Ulfius, while Nanteleod is busy with Cornwall. He hopes to win some breathing space for Cornwall by giving Nanteleod Silchester to defend.
- Nanteleod doesn't go through Salisbury to get at Somerset: instead, he comes straight from the north. Idres doesn't contest this since he knows better than to try and fight Nanteleod in Somerset with Somerset's guerilla knights killing his scouts and foragers. Nanteleod spends the rest of the year mopping up the castles, while Idres is rebuilding his defenses at Jagent.
- Saxons raid Silchester and Ulfius calls for help against the 'Saxon Problem'.
- Send PKs to bribe Angles to attack Huntingdon next year, hence keeping Lindsey busy? (Additional reason for Corneus being a no-show in 508. Also, it gives the PKs something to do this year.)
Year 508
- Nanteleod+Ulfius march against Wessex first, approaching from the north (via Levcomagus) rather than get bogged down in Salisbury's castles. Thus, the battle is fought at Winchester, rather than at Netley Marsh (south of Salisbury, near the mouth of Test river). Cornwall+Salisbury bring knights to help Wessex, of course.
- Battle of Winchester: After some fierce fighting, Nanteleod launches a charge towards Cerdic's banner. However, the Duke of Gloucester, whose knights were supposed to follow, disobey and attacks the Clarence Knights in the center of their own army instead. Thus, Escavalon knights are cut off by the Saxons, and Nanteleod dies. Duke of Clarence kills the Duke of Gloucester, and then turns to attack the rest of the Cymric army, switching back to Cornwall's side. The Cymric Coalition army routs.
- Salisbury might raid Silchester with the Saxons. Salisbury as a Cornwall vassal, is not raided.
Year 509
- Idres might try Dorset again and potentially succeed.
- Robert wants to get knighted, but there is absolutely no reason for Idres to let that happen. Robert might try to get the PKs to go against Prince Mark (married to Ellen and thus the man in charge in Salisbury until Robert is knighted), but if that doesn't happen...
Years 510 - 513
- Enjoy being on the receiving end of Arthur's scripted victories over the Rebel Kings (including Cornwall)! Evil GM? Who, me? :P