HFQ Official Snippet #16

A nice snippet and a good mood builder.

Now why am I humming the theme from Jaws. . .

dwileye13 wrote:
He may be low on supplies but remember, he headed down the sandfish road with his Dohlarian supply train intact!

Yes, he has a supply train, but how much food and fodder can it have with it to feed a force of 35,000? Ahlverez' forces probably could move fast enough that they could life off the land if it were productive. I don't know if these lands would meet that requirement. And if he stands still, he will run out of supplies very quickly.

So, what are his options? 1. Take Fort Sandfish and hold it hostage; 2. Take the two gun batteries (anyone else note the detail on the zoom-map we all use, showing the marshes around Fort Sandfish?). And do what with them? 3. Try, somehow, to commandeer enough seaworthy vessels to take his forces by sea to Silk Town (another interesting map item hee - the sea passage near the marshes is relatively narrow); 4. Raise hell (rape, pillage, burn) until some force arrives to defeat him (if he and his troops are suicidal, they could even turn east to do this)(in addition, his troops likely would lose whatever discipline they have at this point); 5. Journey west with the goal of smashing through any containment forces and reach Dohlaran lines; 6. Journey west or northwest with the hope of evading CE forces and rejoining Dohlaran lines; 7. Surrender; 8. Leave his forces to fight and sneak away so that he personally could reach friendly lines.

How this shakes out will be interesting, but could prove dangerous for the civilians and fields of the South March lands, and for Hanth's right flank.

XofDallas wrote:

dwileye13 wrote:
He may be low on supplies but remember, he headed down the sandfish road with his Dohlarian supply train intact!

Yes, he has a supply train, but how much food and fodder can it have with it to feed a force of 35,000? Ahlverez' forces probably could move fast enough that they could life off the land if it were productive. I don't know if these lands would meet that requirement. And if he stands still, he will run out of supplies very quickly.

So, what are his options? 1. Take Fort Sandfish and hold it hostage; 2. Take the two gun batteries (anyone else note the detail on the zoom-map we all use, showing the marshes around Fort Sandfish?). And do what with them? 3. Try, somehow, to commandeer enough seaworthy vessels to take his forces by sea to Silk Town (another interesting map item hee - the sea passage near the marshes is relatively narrow); 4. Raise hell (rape, pillage, burn) until some force arrives to defeat him (if he and his troops are suicidal, they could even turn east to do this)(in addition, his troops likely would lose whatever discipline they have at this point); 5. Journey west with the goal of smashing through any containment forces and reach Dohlaran lines; 6. Journey west or northwest with the hope of evading CE forces and rejoining Dohlaran lines; 7. Surrender; 8. Leave his forces to fight and sneak away so that he personally could reach friendly lines.

How this shakes out will be interesting, but could prove dangerous for the civilians and fields of the South March lands, and for Hanth's right flank.

None of your options are really workable.

Just a comment. I don't see Ahlverez's Dohlarians going off half cocked. I think he will try to maintain military discipline.

Don

n7axw wrote:
None of your options are really workable.


Don

I agree, and that's the point. Question is, how much damage will Ahlverez and his forces do, and to whom, before his options dwindle from not really workable to nonexistent and he and his forces either die or surrender?

That's why we eagerly await more snippets, and eventual publication!

XofDallas wrote:

n7axw wrote:
None of your options are really workable.


Don

I agree, and that's the point. Question is, how much damage will Ahlverez and his forces do, and to whom, before his options dwindle from not really workable to nonexistent and he and his forces either die or surrender?

That's why we eagerly await more snippets, and eventual publication!

I always had the feeling that those South MarchLands had low levels of inhabitants - specially after the Sword of Schuhler - and that those left had fled to Thesmar [those on the Republican side anyway], so maybe not really anyone left to do damage to, unless they are Temple Loyalists anyway?

isaac_newton wrote:

I always had the feeling that those South MarchLands had low levels of inhabitants - specially after the Sword of Schuhler - and that those left had fled to Thesmar [those on the Republican side anyway], so maybe not really anyone left to do damage to

True. Plus Duke Eastshare striped the countryside to keep Harless from having anything he could commandeer. I wonder how far southwest that strippage occurred.

~Tonto

I suspect the charges aren't black powder.

I seem to recall (and Wikipedia confirms) that nitrocellulose can make a decent underwater explosive if prepared properly.

Does anyone know who holds Fort Sandfish? There is some text in MTaT about the Volcano and other angle-gun ships shelling Fort Darymahn but I don't recall any mention of Fort Sandfish.

Tonto Silerheels wrote:isaac_newton wrote:

I always had the feeling that those South MarchLands had low levels of inhabitants - specially after the Sword of Schuhler - and that those left had fled to Thesmar [those on the Republican side anyway], so maybe not really anyone left to do damage to

True. Plus Duke Eastshare striped the countryside to keep Harless from having anything he could commandeer. I wonder how far southwest that strippage occurred.

~Tonto

Eastshare came down from Glacierheart to Fort Tairys which sits on the north edge of the South March on the border with Shiloh. So he didn't get far enough south to ravage South March itself.

I just re-read this snippet. Some of the speculation suggested underwater swimmers to place explosives on the barges blocking the channel. If it was as dark as described in the snippet for the lookouts, imagine how dark it must have been for the swimmers....like the ace of spades! I wonder how they managed that.

Don

isaac_newton wrote:
I always had the feeling that those South MarchLands had low levels of inhabitants - specially after the Sword of Schuhler - and that those left had fled to Thesmar [those on the Republican side anyway], so maybe not really anyone left to do damage to, unless they are Temple Loyalists anyway?

While Alvahrez is low on supplies, He has his supply train and a sufficient amount of surplus horsemeat to keep his soldiers moving at an enthusiastic pace. I don't think he will be doing anything except trying to get around the Forest and head toward what were his Lines and the Dohlarian forces he left behind. His troops are mostly his reserves and the scattered seasoned soldiers. Everyone is motivated to move fast to get away from the Charis Army.

Make no mistake, He and his force are dangerous, they are behind ICA lines and desperate. We have no textev that Merlin is feeding his intelligence to Hanth (BTW: why hasn't Hanth been brought into the Inner Circle??)

RFC will give us a good surprise in some way on the Alvahrez situation I am sure. But he hopefully will live to give that apology to Thirsk