HFQ Official Snippet #7

HOw big is the navy currently and how big was it after it supplied the men to send to the republic? Do the sailor turned soldiers still get pensions and death benefits? the matter concerning wages will be a big issues. the church was furious being forced to pay the navy wages and benefits, but having to pay for the army as well could be too much

WAnt to bet teh inquisition blames thirsk for any troublke in the gulf and not doing anything, even as people are being sent in to the army to man the border, and his supplies are prioritised for the army.

If they can blocade the langhorn canal in the gulf, then they could seriuosly mess with front li9ne logistics. All the dohlar, harchong and possibly desnair supplies for the northern front was sent via the canal

Do we believe Evyrtyn can be held in the short term? If it cant, then the retreating force will be in very dire straights, they need supplies and rest. They are unaware of the loss of the other forward bases, so they are likely to encounter other well armed charis units.
I wonder if the dohlaran will destroy their canals to ensure that charis cant sent their ships via them. if they destroy their own canals, they would be limiting their ability to advance in the future. do we know if any river iron clads were in the region, now they are advancing the use of one would do alot of damage.

The church will have an issue, keep their own men with their fleet to supervise, or send them to watch the army. It might give thirsk some room to get his family out of church hands.

Hello RunsForCelery!

WOW!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE SNIPPET!

WOW!

NTM "Fascinating," as Mr. Spock would say.

Yes indeed, Isaac_Newton; it's a great way to start the week!

From the text, they already knew about Claw Island before what happened to the AoS.

Wyverns were sent with most of the details we had in LaMA, and Dohlar already knows the history or litany of Harless's failures, while so far as we know the only Desnari leaders who know Ahlverez recommended retreat [Hankey and Yairdyn] weren't able to send a similar message to some Desnar station like the Desnari base outside Thesmar or Somyr, which in both cases may have been captured, burned or raided and or cut off before it could be sent on to Desnar.

We don't know if the reference to Ahlverez commanding "half the field army" included Rychtyr's force after Thesmar, or included the almost 20,000 reinforcements he received at Fort Tairys, so "half the field army" might be as much as 120-140,000 men, and doesn't include the local defensive militias, which in Siddarmark's case were 50% larger than the regular active army.

I could try to do a very short fast walk victory lap around the gym for predicting the ease which DE predictably would compel Rychtyr to retreat etc, but that was so obvious there are no extra brownie or bonus points.

Regarding the navy sortieing after Sharpfield, if the navy has already been reduced in size to build up the army, perhaps by half then Sharpfield may not be outnumbered 2-1 but nearly even, odds too close to expect the RDN to survive.

Given the army Lt. who got away, Sharpfield had yet to begin hostile operations, presumably improving his base or waiting until all his squadrons or ships could get into position.

Still its quite a one-two punch for the Go4.

Thanks again for the wonderful snippet!

L

isaac_newton wrote:Ahhhh - what a nice way to start the week.

So, the Dohlarens found out both bits of bad news at once

Hi SYED,

Thirsk was up to 77-78 war galleons in 894 [AMF] IIRC, but taking half or ~40 ship crews s would be less than 24-30,000 troops, only enough if it the army commanders are more interested in breaking the navy or cutting its budget than using them most effectively.

Rychtyr and Ahlverez combined can't defend a 900 mile border, so I expect multiple alliance penetrations, especially if the alliance reserve army gets involved, but that's another thread.

L

SYED wrote:HOw big is the navy currently and how big was it after it supplied the men to send to the republic? Do the sailor turned soldiers still get pensions and death benefits? the matter concerning wages will be a big issues. the church was furious being forced to pay the navy wages and benefits, but having to pay for the army as well could be too much

WAnt to bet teh inquisition blames thirsk for any troublke in the gulf and not doing anything, even as people are being sent in to the army to man the border, and his supplies are prioritised for the army.

If they can blocade the langhorn canal in the gulf, then they could seriuosly mess with front li9ne logistics. All the dohlar, harchong and possibly desnair supplies for the northern front was sent via the canal

Do we believe Evyrtyn can be held in the short term? If it cant, then the retreating force will be in very dire straights, they need supplies and rest. They are unaware of the loss of the other forward bases, so they are likely to encounter other well armed charis units.
I wonder if the dohlaran will destroy their canals to ensure that charis cant sent their ships via them. if they destroy their own canals, they would be limiting their ability to advance in the future. do we know if any river iron clads were in the region, now they are advancing the use of one would do alot of damage.

The church will have an issue, keep their own men with their fleet to supervise, or send them to watch the army. It might give thirsk some room to get his family out of church hands.

lyonheart wrote:
We don't know if the reference to Ahlverez commanding "half the field army" included Rychtyr's force after Thesmar, or included the almost 20,000 reinforcements he received at Fort Tairys, so "half the field army" might be as much as 120-140,000 men, and doesn't include the local defensive militias, which in Siddarmark's case were 50% larger than the regular active army.

Yes, but the republic is a democracy, with a power coming from the people. Dolhar is not, so it's not sure if they decided to create militia or not. This kind of system usually try to avoid giving weapons to the people if they can avoid it.

And they were probably already struggling to equip their field army with modern weapons. Militias, if there was any, were probably a very low priority (after all, they serve primarily as a defensive measure, and the jihad is on the offensive, right?). They probably do not have rifles, and it's even less likely that they have artillery. In those conditions, the only thing they could be used for is to make the charisians spend more powder...

OK Thirsk’s most capable armored ships have crank powered screws and are armed with a spar torpedo. Should such a torpedo be detonated under the keel even a King Harold VII will have it's back broken, let alone a Rottweiler's. A night attack using them would be devastating if they can catch the Charisian navy with it's pants down.

RFC used such attacks in 1634 The Baltic War he co-authored with Eric Flint.

Poker

It is a remarkable event but I wonder if this "army lieutenant" was aided by a skilled sailor.

EdThomas wrote:

bunyipbelle wrote:Thank you RFC for the snippet.
"less than a dozen men - the most senior an army lieutenant-had escaped the debacle by commandeering a sixteen-foot sailing dinghy , somehow evading the Charisian pickets, and crossing the six hundred and seventy miles of stormy salt water between claw island and the Harchongese province of Kyznetzov"
This part of the snippet reminds me of Lieutenant William Bligh's voyage after the Mutiny on the Bounty. Bligh and eighteen loyal crewmen in a 23 foot (7 m) launch travelled 3,618 nautical miles to Timor which was the nearest Eurropean settlement. It took them 47 days.

Comparing the Lt's escape in a sailing dinghy to CPT Bligh's accomplishment is a bit of apples and oranges. Sailing dinghies are basically light, shallow hulls designed to sail on the surface with lateral resistance coming from a centerboard or retractable keel, rather than the hull itself. Lifeboats have a deeper, narrower, heavier hull which is inherently more stable. Dinghies sit on the water while lifeboats sit in the water. Think of a 1x6 board with the 6" side resting on the water as the sailing dinghy. Think of a lifeboat as a 2x4 sitting in the water with the 4" side projecting down into the water. Without getting into a complicated discussion about form stability let me say, in this humble sailor's opinion, the Lt's voyage is an incredible effort and, should he survive the Inquisition, Safeholdian seamen will raise a glass to his accomplishment for centuries to come.

Direwolf18 wrote:My heart BLEEDS for Thrisk and Dohlar.

No... wait... nope. I got nothing, as far as I'm concerned the bastard and his friends are getting their just desserts. I know we are supposed to find him a sympathetic character and all that, but the thought of the King Haraalds sailing over the horizon and sinking his navy, and burning the city of Gorath to the ground just makes me smile. Awwww the Inquisition is pissed at him? Well his masters sent far better men then him to their tender clutches already.

I just hope we can see a chapter of the Dohlarans realizing all their sins are coming back to haunt them. That the inconvenient little kingdom they set out to murder all those years ago, and the Republic whose back they tried and failed to stick a knife into (and HOW) has the boot firmly on the other foot.

Am I sensing a lack of sympathy for Thirsk in your post?

pokermind wrote:OK Thirsk’s most capable armored ships have crank powered screws and are armed with a spar torpedo.

Wait, what? When did this happen?

Last I heard, Thirsk's crank galleys were supposed to be armed with shell firing cannon. When did spar torpedoes ever enter the picture?

evilauthor wrote:

pokermind wrote:OK Thirsk’s most capable armored ships have crank powered screws and are armed with a spar torpedo.

Wait, what? When did this happen?

Last I heard, Thirsk's crank galleys were supposed to be armed with shell firing cannon. When did spar torpedoes ever enter the picture?

Is my stroked addled memory striking again, I thought spar torpedoes were mentioned in connection with the screw galleys along with the shell firing cannon.

Poker

I am starting to fear a certain vicar may have given some unpleasant orders to take care of those Dohlaran who have displeased him or of his hostages if Dohlar end up surrendering.

In any case Thirsk is in a bad position right now.