n7axw wrote:I did a bit of research on this and concluded that Lyonheart is probably right. Armies have building bridges since antiquity in our timeline. There is no reason to believe that is not also true for Safehold. Ahlverez probably has engineers with ability to do that, maybe pontoon bridges rather than rafts lashed together.
Wouldn't it be a hoot if Ahlverez got his bridge built and Delthak shows up to crash the party during the crossing?
Don
A couple of thoughts on Ahlverez and crossing the Seridahn.
If Ahlverez tries to use an existing bridge, all Hanth has to do is maintain a battery using canister to keep the bridge cleared. If the battery can’t be maintained, the bridge can always be destroyed.
If Ahlverez tries to build a pontoon bridge and/or ferries, then the question is can he get enough forces across the river to establish control of the west side bridge head before Hanth’s forces counter attack and destroy his bridge, and/or ferries.
Keep in mind EOC doctrine for scout/snipers. This is the description when Alverez army broke contact with EOC forces:
Eastshare had had no option but to send his own mounted troops to deal with the Desnairian cavalry— which, fortunately, had found itself under heavy attack before it got around to wrecking the canal— rather than dispatching them in pursuit of Ahlverez. By the time the mounted Charisians could swing back south, Ahlverez was halfway to Thesmar.
Can you really believe that neither Eastshare or High Mount wouldn’t have assigned scout/snipers to keep track of Ahlverez, until they could “swing back south”? If Dohlar has found out about the Army of Shiloh’s defeat, can you imagine that the EOC has been unable pass that information to Hanth, or that Hanth will not use scout/snipers to locate Ahlverez’s approaching forces?
DGV’s thoughts on Alverez is summarized as:
but whether Ahlverez could avoid Hanth and reach Evrytyn was quite another matter.
Earl Thirsk’s thoughts on Alverez is summarized as:
“The heretics’ve driven General Rychtyr almost all the way back to Evyrtyn,” he continued. “I don’t know what his losses were at Cheryk and Trevyr, but it doesn’t sound good. And Ahlverez is probably going to lose a lot of whatever he managed to pull out of the Kyplyngyr. I don’t see how anyone could’ve gotten a message to him yet to warn him Rychtyr’s lost Cheryk, much less Trevyr, so he’s probably marching straight towards Hanth right this minute. And we’ve lost touch with everything east of Syrk on the Saint Alyk, as well.” He shook his head and puffed out his cheeks. “Frankly, I’ll be astonished if we get as much as a third of Ahlverez’s troops back, and I wouldn’t count on any of his artillery making it out.”
Ahlverez's best chance of crossing the Seridahn is at Evrytyn. Any other crossing is a gamble.
James