Hi Anwi,
This has potential, in that somebody might try to sabotage Delthak by sending saboteurs over the mountains from the Tranjyr Passage etc.
But the limits of the schooners for carrying that many extra men would eliminate any prize crews or commerce raiding for the duration of the transport time, the required diversion effectively removes them from Rock Point's primary concern.
If 50 men could be landed from the schooner, they could wreak havoc on a small coastal town, but venturing inland would soon find themselves "ten percented to death", as RAH put it in "Starship Troopers", covering their flanks.
So depending on whether you have a pair of men covering 300-400 yards or a mile on horseback, your penetration will soon be eaten up by your flank coverage; almost half your force in a mile or 6, and the best those guards might do is to warn you the rest have been swamped etc.
In OAR we learned the Charisian militia wasn't very good, by the standards of Siddarmark at least, albeit some were better as our ex-star baseball-man now soldier proved in HFaF etc.
I've previously pointed out having Chisholm professional officers reorganize and train the Chisholm militia might have been a high priority before the SoS, while reequipping with rifles would have been a priority for forward thinking Charisian nobles [NTM most Charisian nobles we've seen are forward looking], and the muzzle loading rifles were being subcontracted to other businesses in BSRA, so more local militia's might have rifles than we thought even if they're not quite as standard as the government issue.
Even with 'only' matchlocks, pistols, arbalests and bows, NTM superior knowledge of the terrain could permit the local reaction force to overwhelm the invaders at night or whittle their numbers down to where they would be inevitably destroyed.
The actual damage to Charis's war making power would be extremely limited at best; ie practically nothing at all, unless they somehow managed to operate on Howell Bay.
All of that would be immaterial to Clyntahn, if he thinks he can bleed Charis at home even slightly.
Even then I think the window for such possibilities to be very limited, a matter of month's at most, before coastal patrols etc eliminate the threat.
L
anwi wrote:*quote="Dilandu"*
(snip)
The problem is, that Charis is more than 9000 kilometers from the Deshnarina coastline, and there is plenty possibilites for invaders to be intercepted.*quote*
True, but the same goes for privateering. The question is how good are coastal defense arrangements. I assume that major harbours and cities are covered. But the countryside?
Highjohn wrote:No. Burn a village take some captives, yes. However, landing a small group of soldiers in unfamiliar land without an possibility of resupply is a suicide mission(fine by the Grand Inquisitor) with no chance of getting near anywhere important(not fine by the Grand Inquisitor). That said, a small number of people could be smuggled in this way, though OWL would see them, so while it could be tried it would fail.
The point is: having several groups of brigands on the loose could actually achieve more for the CoGA than costly attacks on the ICA or ICN
. They resupply from their victims. Actually finding small and rather mobile groups (kill the heretics!) in a sparsely populated area could be difficult, unless someone with access to OWL takes direct command. And then, you'd still need the troops - which are mostly occupied elsewhere. Regarding not getting near important things - of course they can't burn down Tellesberg; but as I understand Clyntahn, he'd see slaughtering heretics as a worthy goal in itself - sadly. The question is if this asymmetrical warfare is something he, Rayno, or Magwair might pick up on. My thoughts are Rayno might
if privateering shows good early results.
As to actual Rakurai-like attacks: A terror campaign might set the scene (and tie down resources) for someone who choses to blow herself up at an inconvenient spot in the Delthak works
. I'm kind of wondering that we haven't seen more of that. And delivering those people with privateering vessels might be easier than some of the other alternatives.
