WINTER OF DISCONTENT

The year was 1084. I remember the heat of that summer, and even now the memory brings warmth to my old bones. William was king then, his retainers dragged from their comfortable southern estates to the new stronghold at Nottingham so that he could wage war against the Welsh, and I, a tanner's son, had been called to the levy. My head was full of dreams, and I remembered how my older cousin Wat had come home with a chest of copper coins and a fine Flemish cloak from his service with Prince Rufus against the Danes of York, that some still called by its old name, Jorvik. Wat was a fine archer, and his stories of the arrow duel against the Yorkish bowmen and the massacre of the Yorkishmen by the Prince's knights had fired my blood so that I, too would have been an archer. But my hands were too clumsy to hold a bow, and so it was that I was called into the levy and came to hold a spear in the King's army. And in my youth and my hunger for glory, I imagined the land I would buy with my plunder and the smile in the eyes of my wife (for I meant to marry with my wealth) as I clasped a bracelet around her arm, or a necklace over her throat.

Welcome to Winter of Discontent, the first in a series of several vignettes I mean to write covering the short campaigns of the game's various factions. As you've probably guessed, this vignette will cover the English in their attempts to meet the campaign goals of holding 15 Provinces, eliminating the Scottish and eliminating the French. The vignettes will be in as many sections as I feel like writing (probably one for each major event), and as I'm not much with pictures, I'll try to illustrate them with the occasional sketch in a style appropriate to the faction. Needless to say, for the English I'll be ripping off Bernard Cornwell, who despite being twice winner of the David Eddings award for writing the same story repeatedly in a non-fantasy setting (Arthur trilogy, Grail trilogy, and Last Kingdom sort-of-trilogy) manages to keep it fresh and interesting each time.

So, on to the show. All games played on Hard campaign/Hard battles settings, although I may move to Medium campaign/Very Hard battles or Very Hard/Very Hard if H/H feels wrong.

First Steps

There isn't really much variety to the first few steps as the English. Take York, knock out Caernarvon and snaffle Rennes if the French are slow off the mark. I think that it's possible to do this with just your starting troops plus maybe one turn's build if you're economical. First things first: three starting provinces: the town (Level 2 city) of London; the Castle (Level 3) at Nottingham; and the Castle (Level 3) at Caen. There's two armies in the field: one in Yorkshire, and one in Caen: both contain a mix of basic infantry and basic archers. Finally, you begin with three family members: King William the Conqueror in London, his son William Rufus (just "Prince Rufus" in game, which I find annoying as he should really be "Prince William". I also think his traits at game start make him insufficiently awful!) up North, and Robert loafing about in Normandy. King William's a pretty decent leader, and both his sons have one or two command stars, so that's one for each rebel settlement.

The attack on York goes well, with the Prince's soldiers slaughtering the ex-viking defenders to the last man. This being the loathsome Rufus, he exterminates the populace. I was disappointed to see that this didn't bump up his Dread rating. One thing I noticed was that archers are very good at firing over obstacles, with my two units of peasant archers doing pretty sterling work shooting up the rebels. The pre-battle speeches are amazing, by the way, and very immersive. However, York had no walls to hold off an immediate attack: Rennes and Caernarvon will take more work. I send the Caen contingent to besiege Rennes, and Robert marches along to join them. In the meantime, King William gathers up the militias from London and Nottingham, leaving behind a unit of peasants in the first case and militia in the second, and marches toward Caernarvon. He should reach it in one to two turns. Rennes can hold out for 4. I have no intention of assaulting it as I'm not planning any major action in France in the opening moves of the game.

Building a better Britain

With the marching done, it's time to start building up my forces. On H/H you begin with a generous 10,000 florins. These I put to good use by recruiting a second diplomat in London and a unit in each of my settlements except for York (no military buildings there yet). Next it's time to start customising these places. York gets a palisade wall, London a brothel (I use spies a lot in total war games), and Nottingham and Caen both start roadbuilding programmes, as I'll need that mobility to reinforce against the Scots and French when the fighting starts. On to the agents...

The ties that bind

Starting agents are a diplomat in France, a princess near London, and a merchant in Normandy. I'll want both the Scots and the French onside while I consolidate my grip on the Rebel settlements, so the Diplomat heads south and the princess heads north. The merchant gets loaded aboard one of my two boats, as I'll want to have merchants on all the trade resources in England until they are savvy enough to take on those German and Italian types without getting bought out.

Good news! The French are happy to have trade rights, swap maps, and ally. The diplo's next task will be to swing East and get to know the HRE a bit better.

Tune in later to see how the Welsh War went.