The French War

[Furiey]

Here's a starter for 10 for a plan for the French war (sorry Marla). It's not intended to be a final complete version, but to get a starting point up.

This plan relies on us hitting the French hard and fast which we should have enough Knights to do and using agressive defence, We will get more information about exactly how may Knights we will need when we do the city investigations, in the meantime I have allowed 7 Knights to take Besancon. We must be agressive in our defence particularly around Styx. We should never be in the position where a city is directly attacked

Pics are shown in the following post as otherwise it may cause wrapping problems.

Blue - set up: Gather the forces as indicated in blue, starting moving troops asap. as soon as they get to the gather point on the cow, the Crudaders can build a fortress to help protect Styx - we do not want to disrupt production. The gathering will leave the citeis lightly defended, but we will have enough Knights free very quickly with more to be built that they will not be under serious threat.
Black the turn we declare: The forces we should have assembled and we are at the point where we are ready to declare war. The Crusaders need to have finished the Fortress on the cow.
Declare War then:
Step 1 - raze Rouen, moving the Knights from Augean Stables in 1 at a time so only those needed to raze the city are moved
Step 2 - raze Chartres, using the remaining Knights from Augean Stables
Step 3 - move troops in to Besancon
Step 4 - move troops towards Lyon leaving a 4/4 Hoplite to guard the fortress - this will prevent any troops stepping on Styx's tiles in the first turn.
Any unused Knights from Augen Stables can go to join the Lyons force. Use the Knights remaining moves to block resettling of Rouens as close to our borders as it was, we will probably not be able to prevent resettling altogether without also declaring on Rome and we don't want that quite yet.
Red - turn 1 after declaration:
Step 1: capture Besancon, fortify all Knights in the city to heal and quell resistors, set city to starve and make sure it will not riot, start Temple.
Step 2: you may have to use some of the MI to pick of any French heading for Styx. Move rest into Lyons.
Orange - turn 2 after declaration
move troops towards Lyons picking off French forces if necessary to prevent them from going for Styx.
Yellow - turn 3 after declaration
Attack and raze Lyons.

Marseille
Exactly when this attack takes place will depend on the available forces - will probably need about 5 knights. Gather these from the unused ones from Beancon (if any), any extras from Besancon after they have healed, Knights left from the razing of Rouens and Chartres after they have healed. Leave about 4 in Beancon. Will need to move in and then attack the following turn, the forest 3NE of Augen Stables will give them a defensive bonus and allow them to attack the next turn by moving first onto the mine S of the city. We want to raze Marseille before we raze Paris.

Paris
Exactly when this attack takes place will depend on the available forces. Will need a large force as it is the capitol and will be well defended. Attack from the tile SW of the city as attacking from the S will take an extra turn to get there. Once we raze Paris (we will already have razed Marseille) take Peace. We probably won't get anything as they will be broke and we can't accept cities and then raze them .

General
Any French that appear from the southern tundra cities should be mopped up with the MI or whatever left in Civantonia and Berlin for that purpose.
New Knights that are produced (and we want Knights and not more Hoplites or MI) should move towards the Styx front and join the Lyon/Paris forces with possible a couple helping with Marseille. May need to use some of these Knights if the French land any troops by Galley or Priapos,Olympus or Styx is threatened. How these troops are best used will have to be a judgement call for the DP.
Knights in the N also need to prevent resettling of Rouen/Marseille as close to our borders as they currently are. Even 1 tile further away would be useful. The small cities that are built would be easily razed when we move on to Rome.

Duration: 3 turns to raze Rouens, Chartres, Lyons and capture Besancon. May also raze Marseille in this time, but it may take another turn or 2. Paris is a further 4 turns away giving a minimum of 7 turns assuming troops do not have to heal - if they do it will probably take longer. Better to heal and go in with a large enough force than lose our troops in dribs and drabs while the defenders heal in the city. Going for Paris will extend the war, but getting rid of the Great Wall will also help. It won't help us to get a better Peace deal as they will have little to offer other than cities and we can't take them. We could take Peace after Marseille if we wished.

Investigations: Investigations of Rouens, chartres and Besancon prior to declaration would be helpful. There is little point in investigation Lyons, Marseille and Paris as the French will be able to reinforce these cities before we attack.

 

[Furiey]

Set up in the East and then the West:

 

[TimBentley]

We might as well send the trebuchet with the other slow units attacking Lyons.

 

[Furiey]

With Paris having the Great Wall, a Trebuchet will be no use against the cities, although it could help by wounding French troops as they pass. It's a waste where it is anyway so it might as well go along to be of some use...

 

[Rik Meleet]

Let the French alone !

I say.

Kill the French. All of them !

 

[Furiey]

Ah, but we shall probably get lots of SLAVES Rik!

 

[TimBentley]

With Paris having the Great Wall, a Trebuchet will be no use against the cities, although it could help by wounding French troops as they pass. It's a waste where it is anyway so it might as well go along to be of some use...

Lyons is size 8: no walls. Using it for defense would be fine too, though (won't really be super-effective by itself anywhere anyways).

 

[Furiey]

This is the first draft: all comments gratefully appreciated.

Our forces are approximately in position and we even have a few more than anticipated. The 3 French cities also have fewer defenders:
Besancon: 1 Reg Pike, 1 Reg Spear, size 9 on a hill
Chartres: 1 Reg Pike, 1 Reg Spear, size 7
Rouens: 1 Reg Pike, 2 Reg Spears, size 4

The Revised Plan Brief Summary:

Turn 0: Declare War. Hit Rouen and raze. Hit Chartres and raze. Capture Besancon. Move Troops to Lyons
Turn 1: Heal Northern troops, move to Lyons
Turn 2: Heal Northern troops & prepare for Marseille, move to Lyons
Turn 3: Raze Lyon
Turn ?: When enough Northern troops gathered/healed raze move to Marseille and raze the following turn.
Turn ?: When enough troops reinforce the remainder of the Lyons force move to Paris (will take a few turns) and raze.

Do we want Peace after Paris?

Besancon Capture Plan

With only 2 Defenders, Besancon does not need all 9 Knights in the Berlin area to capture it. 7 will be more than enough, leaving 2 to head to the Augean Stables in time to assist with the razing of Marseille.

In the following pic:
Black = immediately following War
Red = turn 1
After the attack, used Knights fortify in Besancon to quell resistors, unused Knights head for the Paris attack force. Once the Knights have healed, leave approx 4 in the city, the remainder can also head for Paris.

attachment removed

 

[Furiey]

North/West Attack Plan:

Phase 1

Black = turn 0
red = turn 1
orange = turn 2
yellow = turn 3

Attack Rouen with 1 Knight at a time from Augean Stables (don't move them all in at once) until the city is razed
Do the same with Chartres
block the tiles by Rouen from resettling with injured Knights
unused Knights go to joint the Lyons force
Do not get impatient and attack Lyons across the River. Pick off attacking French forces around Styx.

Phase 2

Red = more comments on turn 1
Orange = turn 2
Yellow = turn 3
Blue = when sufficient troups have been gathered/healed. This may be different for Marseille and Paris.

Newly built forces join the Paris effort, may keep a Knight back to pick of any landings from the sea, or just use the Knights on their way to Paris. Once Lyon is razed the French territory will drop back allowing reinforcements to reach the attack for more quickly.

 

[Cyc]

Excellent work, all. Nice maps, Furiey.

 

[admiral-bell]

bravo, excelent. we have war (finally)

 

[Furiey]

We're pretty much set up and ready to go. It can be all over in 3 turns.

The question how? echoes round the empty forum.

Turn 0 (Black): More troop movements to clear up a few French troops, block the Romans from Settling too close and moving more troops to the Paris attack Force.

Turn 1 (Red): Move forces into Paris, retreat from newly settled Roman city (assuming it is Settled),

Turn 2 (Orange): Move closer to Paris, move in to Marseille, mop up any stray French troops.

Turn 3: (Yellow): Raze Paris, raze Marseille (after Paris so it loses its Wall), make Peace!, use remaining troops to block tiles in open region to prevent resettling at least in the Lyons/Chartres region, even if we can't keep the whole area clear. You can pillage the open land if you wish but that will slow our troop movement and ability to blockage as well.

Pics of the campaign are in the following posts.

I believe it is better to take peace quickly at this stage and use our Golden age to build, research and prepare for Rome. Rome has connected their Saltpetre (right-clicking on the one S of Rome and the tiles between it and Rome show that is now roaded) so we will face Muskets. Our Knights will struggle but can be upgraded to Cavalry. MI can not, so please no more MI. Hoplites can be upgraded although they will cost a lot (equivalent to upgrading Spears) and as no invaders should get anywhere near our cities again Knights are preferrable. We definitely don't need Longbows. I haven't used the 1 Trebuchet we have as it hasn't been able to get anywhere in time! It will be more useful against Rome if we can't get Saltpetre from them for upgrade to Cavs.

 

[Furiey]

Turn 0 West setup (also shows key routes for main attacks in future turns)



Turn 0 East setup: This is mainly a holding action.

Besancon would be helped by rushing a Library then a Temple to quickly gain the Furs.
Please do not build Regular troops.
Best to starve the city to reduce the population.

Apart from the Knights going to the Xs (which will join the Marseille attack) use remaining troops to defend and destroy attackers as necessary.

Watch those Germans!

 

[Furiey]

Paris attack, turn 1 onwards:

Move all troops together, if necessay picking off attackers, but do not get distracted and get troops injured to delay the main event! Do not attack over the river. Knights could pillage as they go but it would inhibit our movement to block the tiles afterwards, better to fortify them.

Attack and raze Paris before trying to raze Marseille as Marseille will then lose its wall making it easier!



Marseiile attack.

This partially depends on what the Romans do with the Settler. The arrows are if they Settle on the spot on the next IBT (which Knights on the Xs should encourage), if they do not the DP will have to adapt the plan as necessary. This may even delay the attack on Marseille by a turn.

At the moment I have the stack advancing through the forest to offer some defensive bonus. Another alternative would be to approach from the roaded tile 2S of Marseille.

Do not actually attack Marseille until Paris has fallen as it will lose its wall. After the city is razed, position troops to prevent resettling.



Any additional troops not used for specific attacks can be used for general defensive purposes, mop up any intruders etc, just don't use something that will jeopardise the main attacks.

Comments?

 

[greekguy]

If this plan works perfectly and we can burn down Paris, Marseilles (sp), and anything else in 3 turns, then I'm all for peace with France next TC. I'll post a peace poll, for whatever it is worth.

 

[Furiey]

That's quick!

I've only just posted in your thread!

 

[greekguy]

That's quick!

I've only just posted in your thread!

HA! I didn't even see your post in my gov. thread. I just saw your war plan in this thread.

How ironic!