The Holy Celtic Empire
Capital: Paris
Ruler: Perfectionist
Government (Efficiency): Feudal Monarchy (4)
Economy: 7 (0)
Technology Level: Early Medieval Age
Education: 2
Army (Quality): 15 divisions, 6 SECRET divisions, 3 irregular divisions (4)
Navy (Quality): 6 squadrons (2)
Culture: 3
Confidence: 7
Projects: Revitalization (+2 economic centers) Done!
ECONOMY:
2 points into UU (6>16 Divisions)
4 points into army (15>35 Divisions)
1 point into army quality
DOMESTIC ORDERS:
1) Call for donations to the Triniade. Have the church ask the nobility to donate some of their wealth to the cause. If possible, offer remission of sins for donations.
2) Set up paramilitary organisations in our territory. Dead drops, weapons caches, hideouts, secret paths, codes, contacts, sleeper agents, the works. Set up the framework of resistance movements in case we are conquered.
3) Crack down on religious minorities. Expel all Kyrians and Ctha'rists from their homes and confiscate their property. Then force them into enemy occupied territory. Hopefully the stream of refugees will complicate enemy logistics.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS:
1) Dispatch messengers to all Trinitist areas, calling for men to join the Triniade. Not just to Ireland, Scandinavia and England, but also to the uncivilized regions to the east. Get the High Priests to offer remission of sins for those who join. Also promise plunder, pillaging and the chance to wreak havoc for a holy cause to the less civilized people.
2) Try to convince the Trinitist barbarians to the north of Bulgaria to attack Bulgaria.
ESPIONAGE ORDERS:
2 UU assigned to support of the assassination of the Byzantine Emperor
1 to Morocco
5 to infiltrate Byzantium
4 to infiltrate occupied Iberia
4 to infiltrate occupied Italia
1) Assassinate the Byzantine Emperor and his first heir, and set up a succession struggle. First, case the joint. Identify the players: the Emperor (henceforth referred to as E), his immediate successor (henceforth referred to as S ), the second in line to the throne (henceforth referred to as H), and a charismatic, popular, conspicuously loyal and preferably non-Greek general (henceforth referred to as G). Find out the habits of E and S, and find out where they can be killed easily. Get one of our men as E's personal priest; if this is not possible, bribe E's personal priest. Infiltrate H's household, and begin spreading rumours about H's ambition. It should be possible to recruit Ctha'rists to carry out the actual assassinations and make them think they are working for H; on the offchance that it is not, provide our men with Ctha'rist weapons and try to make it look like rogue Ctha'rists were responsible.
Once we are ready, kill E and S on the same day. If possible, make E's death look like an accident at first, though it must become apparent later that it is an assassination. Immediately after the deaths, spread rumours that H was behind it, that his overwhelming ambition for the throne brought this about. Once people are receptive, have one of our men in H's household come forward and say that he knows that H was behind it. At the same time, produce a forged will, making G the second in line to throne, which with the death of S makes G the Emperor. Have E's personal priest claim that E was aware of H's ambition before his death, and decided to cut him out of the succession. Have the priest claim that the will was dictated to him on the night before E's death. Send word to G to come to the capital to claim the throne, and encourage H to attack G.
The idea is that many of the nobles will be turned away from H because of his apparent involvement with the assassination, and towards G because of his proven loyalty to E. That loyalty will force G to press his claim, to prevent E's killer from reaching the throne. At the same time, some nobles will support H, believing the will to be a forgery, the assassination to be a set up, or simply not trusting G because he isn't Greek. Hopefully the split will be roughly 50-50, setting up at least a bitter power struggle, and hopefully an all-out civil war. Our men should do whatever they can to bring a civil war about, including trying to induce men to join whichever side is outnumbered. Moreover, because it will appear that Ctha'rists in H's employ carried out the actual killings, the Byzantine people will hopefully turn against the Ctha'rists. Again, our men should do whatever they can to foster the idea that working with people who reject the idea of a Trinity to attack people who believe in a Trinity was a very bad decision. Hopefully, there will be a split between pro and anti-Ctha'rist factions, which will further destabilize the situation. Finally, the chaos after the assassinations should prevent any in-depth inquiry from occurring, keeping our role hidden.
2) Set up a radical populist preacher in Morocco. Ctha'rist theology apparently teaches that all are one in Amon-Ra. This has obvious democratic, egalitarian and pacifistic overtones. And yet the Ctha'rist states are warmongering, totalitarian theocracies. There is a disconnect here, and we hope to exploit it. Set up a charismatic preacher in Morocco, to preach that the peasants are equal to the priests and nobles, and that they should not be exploited and should have the same say in government, and that Ctha'rists should not kill those who. This should be an extremely attractive message to the Ctha'rist underclass: peasants, slaves, servants etc. These people are being heavily exploited so the priests can have their war in Europe. The lower classes shouldn't care about Europe or Trinitism; they should scarcely know they exist. All they know is that they are being taxed and forced to go fight off on the edge of the world. Hopefully the message will sweep across the Ctha'rist world. It should at least sap their will to fight, and more probably result in a revolt against the priests, which should be more likely and have a better chance of succeeding due to the fact that the Ctha'rist armies are away. We should do whatever we can to try to bring such a revolt about, possibly by making it appear that the government attempted to have the preacher killed.
3) Organise resistance in occupied territories. Our enemies may be in too great strength for an full scale uprising to succeed, but that does not mean that resistance is impossible. Organise the people to disrupt enemy activities. Poison supplies, ambush patrols, gather intelligence, and kill officers whenever possible. In particular, recruit among the prostitutes that the enemy will drag into service. They should be receptive to our overtures, and obviously are in a good position to discover enemy plans or kill high ranking officers. Also, organise the people for a revolt when and if our armies approach. Coordinate the revolt with the arrival of liberating armies if possible.
[b[4) Gather as much intelligence as possible.[/b] Again, we expect to have a massive intelligence edge, which will help us immensely.
5) Disrupt the workings of the enemy armies. As always, do what we can to disrupt them, by making sure that supplies are lost, orders are bungled and generals die at critical moments.
6) Try to cause a revolt on Crete. The chaos that should follow the death of the Byzantine Emperor will give the inhabitants of Crete a good opportunity to gain their independence.
MILITARY POLICY:
1) Receive longbows and trainers from England. The English are providing us with the means to equip a large section of our army with longbows and to begin production of our own longbows. Begin large scale production of longbows and training of longbowmen.
2) Call for volunteers to defend Trinitism. This should net us 20 Irregular Divisions.
3) Fortify Avignon. Use everything we have learned about siege warfare in Svearland to make Avignon the best defended city in the world.
MILITARY ORDERS:
5 Divisions each from Ireland, Norway, Svearland and Denmark, 2 Divisions from Finland.
22 Divisions from allies.
35 Divisions from ourselves.
57 Divisions, 23 Irregular total.
Tactical overview:
The introduction of the longbow to our army leads us to introduce a new basic tactic for our army. The cavalry will be held in reserve at the rear. Heavy infantry, alternating with some longbowmen, will occupy the center. Most of our longbowmen will be on the flanks guarded by some of the infantry, in a position to enfilade the enemy. The archers will drive sharp stakes into the ground in front of them, to deter any cavalry charge. The longbowmen will fire in volleys as soon as the enemy comes into effective range, about 300 yards. The enemy should be devastated and disorganised by our archers, at which point the cavalry will charge them, doing extensive damage. Once the cavalry has done their damage, they are to withdraw and the cycle repeats. The enemy should be kept quite disorganised by this, so even if they reach our lines our infantry can mop them up. If the enemy try a cavalry charge against either of our flanks, they will have to contend with the lines of stakes, which will slow them down and allow them to be obliterated by close range arrow fire. Even if they manage to close with the archers, they will be disorganised and our infantry can polish them off. The other possible danger is that enemy heavy infantry will form a shield wall against our arrows. In this event, our archers are to fire arching shots, very high and coming down steeply, over the shield wall, breaking the formation.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE OUR INFANTRY TO BREAK FORMATION. They must not allow themselves to be lured into the open, where cavalry can hit them. Stay behind the stakes.
Do not underestimate the effectiveness of the longbow. A halfway decent archer can fire ten arrows a minute at a range of three hundred yards with enough force to penetrate any armour of this period, and a good archer can fire twenty arrows a minute. At close range, a longbow arrow can have enough force to go through a man and hit the man behind him. Large numbers of longbowmen can produce a rain of arrows that has a large psychological effect on the enemy, in addition to the devastating physical effect.
Wherever possible, pick the battlefield in a favourable location. Drawing up our lines on a hill so that the enemy has to charge up it is good, as is fighting in a defile, where the enemy has no choice but to advance straight into the teeth of our archers, or near a forest, which breaks up the enemy formations. Perhaps best of all is a muddy field, which will slow the enemy advance.
This obvious drawback of this tactic is that it requires the enemy to be on the offensive and ourselves to be on the defensive. For the campaigns of this turn, this should not be much of a problem. We expect that the enemy will be quite aggressive, in an attempt to rapidly destroy our power. To ensure that we are the defender, take provocative actions. Insult the enemy commanders, commit atrocities against enemy prisoners. If the enemy, particularly the Aegyptians, attempt to use their cavalry to raid us and inflict damage while avoiding our main force, go for their baggage. The loot and supplies that they will have to take along cannot move very fast. If we attack the baggage, they will have to give battle to defend it. If they do not, they will run out of supplies, and many of their men will probably leave to try and retrieve their plunder, as happened at Tours in OTL. Once they return, incensed, to defend their baggage, we can pick the field.
A major concern is enemy horse archers. We do not know how many, if any, will be deployed, but it seems likely that some will be at least. They are deadly on the plains of the east, but we hope that their effectiveness will be reduced in Europe for several reasons. First is the fact that the longbow far outranges any horsebow. Second is the terrain of Europe. It is much rougher and more heavily forested than the east, which reduces the horse archer's mobility and provides him with less grazing room.
We do not expect logistics to be a problem, as we are operating in areas where the populace overwhelmingly supports us and that were under the control of our allies until recently. Our operations are really defensive in nature.
Work with native rebels wherever possible. Our UU should be organising uprisings as our army moves towards territories. After we liberate any territories, we should try to pick up some volunteers from them. People who have been living under occupation and who have been organised into resistance movements anyway should be more than normally willing to enlist.
Operations:
Place our fleet, and the fleets of our allies, in the Bay of Biscay. There they will meet a portion of the English fleet. Their sole objective is to prevent the enemy fleets from operating in the Bay. The enemy fleets are made up of Mediterranean galleys, which are very effective in the placid Med, but are next to useless in the cold, rough seas of the Atlantic. In addition, the enemy captains will not know the waters, while our men will. We should be able to use this fact to our advantage, for example by maneuvering the enemy onto shoals or something like that. The greater knowledge of the Atlantic of our men, coupled with our advantage in ship construction, should allow us easily win most battles. In addition, we should evacuate any Iberian forces that happen to be surrounded on the northern coast.
Iberia. Assigned forces:
10 Divisions. We expect the Tunisians to set up fortifications in the Pyrenees to prevent us from coming to Iberia's aid. We intend to circumvent those fortifications. To do this, we will enlist the aid of the Basque. They are, of course, fierce fighters and don't like bowing to foreign domination. If Charlemagne couldn't dig them out, the Tunisians won't be able to either. We should send some men to make contact with them. From there, we have a couple of options. If possible, we would like the Basque to lead our army on paths that the Tunisians are unaware of and so have not defended. If this is not possible, we will use the Basque to launch guerrilla raids on Tunisians positions, culminating in an ambush of one of the defended passes, (OOC: Roncesvalles, possibly) in which Basque fighters will try to take the Tunisian position from behind while our army attacks from the front. Either way, we should hopefully be able to cross the Pyrenees with minimal casualties.
Once we are through the mountains, continue to use the Basque to ambush Tunisian units as often as possible. Meanwhile, our army shall move down the southwestern side of the mountains, hopefully taking Tunisian positions from the rear. They should make sure not to drink the water in the rivers, as the Iberians are apparently going to poison them. Move down towards Barcelona, where our men should link up with the main Iberian army. From there, coordinate with the Iberians.
There is a possibility that the Tunisians may decide not to fortify the Pyrenees, and instead push into France. In this event, our men should fortify and try to bleed them, while the Iberians hit them from behind. A major thrust would likely be aimed at Bordeaux, in which case their supply lines would pass through Basque territory. We would then use the Basque to raid the Tunisian supply lines and ambush isolated formations, hopefully severely disrupting their operations.
Italia. Assigned forces:
27 Divisions. Here, our course of action depends on the strength of the opposing army and its aims. If it is too strong for us to defeat, we should fortify and try to hold the line and the Mediterranean coast. Most probably, however, we believe that the main Aegyptian force will move into Italia, probably leaving fortifications in the north. As in Iberia, we should enlist the aid of the locals to bypass any fortifications wherever possible. The Italians should strongly hold Rome while a portion of their army moves north to engage the Aegyptians, where it should use guerrilla warfare to keep them busy for as long as possible. Hopefully the Aegyptians will be busy with the Italians when our army hits them from behind.
Again, there is a possibility that the Aegyptians will commit the majority of their forces to this sector, and will mount a major offensive towards Avignon. If the Aegyptian force is too strong to be effectively opposed, we should withdraw towards Avignon, where we have set up major defenses. The men should fight particularly well if they are defending their holiest city. On the other hand, if the Aegyptian force can be opposed, we should draw them in. Let them reach Avignon, where they should be stymied by the massive walls of the city. Meanwhile, our main army will move to surround the Aegyptian army, whereupon it can be easily destroyed. After the main Aegyptian force has been defeated, our men should advance into Italia.
Germany. Assigned forces:
23 Irregular Divisions, 20 Divisions. Prince Charles commanding. Assuming that the Byzantines mount a major attack in this sector, the Irregulars are to hold the Danube line. Build fortifications, break dykes and set up traps to slow the Byzantines down. In particular, if we can make the ground wet and muddy, the Byzantines should be extremely vulnerable to our longbowmen. We expect that a major Byzantine objective in this campaign will be Regensburg, for obvious reasons. We also expect that they will not move straight into the city, for fear of a Kilworth Hills, but will instead mount a two pronged assault to surround the city. In this event, we should keep a large force in reserve and identify the likely crossing points. Once they cross, the reserve and most of our forces should immediately move to destroy one of the Byzantine forces, whereupon the other one will either retreat or be destroyed.
Hopefully our men will be able to stop the Byzantines from crossing the Danube, or at the least inflict terrible casualties. Either way, once the Byzantine attack has reached a conclusion a counter attack should begin. The Regulars should move around the headwaters of the Danube and through the mountains in Switzerland, again with local and UU support. From there, they should move and attempt to retake Venice, while the Irregulars tie down the remaining Byzantine armies near the Danube.
There is a possibility that the Byzantines will not attack across the Danube. They may decide to move west into France instead, and fortify the Danube to keep us busy there while their main army wreaks havoc elsewhere. Due to the activities of our UU, we should be rapidly aware if they try something like this. In this event, transfer most of our troops to the west, leaving enough to hold the Danube. In the west, our men should use our superior intelligence to ambush the Byzantine army in one of the mountain passes. Hopefully their army will be smashed, whereupon we can advance upon Venice.
There is also the possibility that the Byzantines will not mount any major offensives into our territory, preferring to concentrate on Italia and the east while fortifying the Danube. In that case, our men should mount a counter-offensive, but not directly across the Danube. Some of the army should stay and skirmish with the defenders, while the main body moves east, into the territory controlled by Trinitist barbarians. The barbarians should support us, or at least allow our men to pass. From there, our men should move south, into Bulgaria, hopefully aided by Trinitist partisans, and then west, back into Byzantine occupied territory. This maneuver should allow us to take the fortifications from behind, negating their value and trapping a large section of the Byzantine military. Once we have secured the Danube, proceed south towards Venice.
I'm not very good at it.
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