Right. Background skinny is: I'm still a bit of a newbie, and this was my fifth attempt at a game with England in the GC. I spent some time reading a few threads on the forum for advice on how best to play England and then, armed with my store of borrowed knowledge, I set out to stamp my mark on European History. Here's how it went (I've left out diplomatic developments, research and so forth as it's not particularly relevant in this case, but left in the Reconquista, because the Moors nearly won...):
The War of Scottish 'Annexation', January 1492 - December 1494
January 1492
Deciding that the time has come to once and forever remove the Scots menace from our northern border, and having met in secret council with like-minded strategists, I manage to persuade his Majesty Henry VII that the best way of achieving our goal is to strike hard, strike fast. And so, we commence preparations for an invasion of Scotland. 8,000 infantry are commissioned to join Norfolk's army in the Marches and the Anglian army under Elsmere embarks onto the channel fleet off East Anglian coast.
[Overseas: 17,000 Moorish warriors assault Cadiz, but a 40,000 strong relieving force is on its way south from the Spanish capital to intercept them.]
February 1492
8,000 fresh recruits arrive to swell the ranks of Norfolk's army. The Scots are surely doomed...
Elsmere takes ship for Meath and the assault on Scotland. Norfolk bides his time, waiting until the Home Fleet is in place off the coast of the Marches.
March 1492
[Overseas: Spain becomes embroiled in a protracted siege and fails to take control of Granada. Instead, a small Moorish force of 5,000 foot invades Murcia and wrests control from our Catholic allies.]
April 1492
[Overseas: The Moorish force that took Murcia marches to assist in the siege of Cadiz. Now 22,000 heathens stand at the gates.]
July 1492
The 10th of July 1492, a day that the sons of the English nobility will forever remember as the start of the War of Scottish Annexation.
The invasion of Scotland commences. Norfolk (17,834 / 1,967) immediately Assaults the Grampians' capital at Aberdeen whilst Elsmere (4,715 / 1,943) lays siege to Inverness in the Highlands.
The oh-so predictable Scots march south, never thinking to guard their hairy rears.
[Overseas: Two small (7,000 each) Spanish armies force march southwards in a desperate attempt to turn the Moorish war.]
August 1492
The Grampians fall to Norfolk, although Elsmere's smaller force fails to take the Highlands. Elsmere regroups in the English-controlled Grampian whilsts Norfolk marches on Edinburgh.
Scotland offers a white peace, which we laughingly reject. Do these oatmeal-munchers take us for fools?
[Overseas: The Moors in Andalusia fight off the Spanish relief force but at heavy cost (some 17,000 heathens slain).]
September 1492
Edinburgh falls on September 16th after a two-week assault. Norfolk's men reached breaking point and we lost some 2,500 men and 500 horse. The army needs to regain its strength, but the Scots army has already turned back north...
Reorganisation is called for. Elsmere is ordered to send his remaining cavalry south whilt 3,000 of Norfolk's men are despatched to renew the attack on the Highlands.
October 1492
Norfolk is reinforced by a 2,000 strong Lancastrian infantry levy, and the Scots army continues its march through Strathclyde to attack Elsmere's much smaller force in the Grampians.
[Overseas: A new Spanish force, raised in Gibraltar, marches north, whilst the Moors, having abandoned the siege of Cadiz, seek to tighten their grip on Murcia.]
November 1492
Elsmere's 6,882 troops march on the highlands but are caught and attacked by 20,000/5,000 Scots under James IV. The Scots' morale, weakened by the long march north, shatters and 24,000 men retreat to the Highlands.
The Scots try to pre-empt their inevitable defeat by offering us the Grampians. Again, we laugh in their tartan faces.
December 1492
Norfolk arrives in Strathclyde and lays siege. With winter closing in, Norfolk decides to leave a force under Upton (4,881/1,112) to reduce Glasgow whilst he takes the remainder of the army (9,411/2,141) to reinforce Elsmere in the Grampians, hoping James IV will be foolish enoguh to turn straight back and attack them again.
[Overseas: The Spanish relief force reaches Andalusia. 2,000 men are left to guard the city whilst 5,000 march on...]
January 1493
Norfolk decides that rather than allow James IV to dig in and launch a Spring Campaign, he will take the initiative and strike while the iron is hot. On the 28th January, he attacks the Scots army.
February 1493
In a titanic 6 day confrontation, the Scots are finally routed. Their King once more tries to buy us off with the Grampians, but again he is denied. Norfolk immediately Assaults Inverness and the town falls to the victorious English on the 26th and then Elsmere immediately marches south to finish Glasgow.
March 1493
The cowardly James IV lays siege to Aberdeen but is attacked and once again routed by the valiant Norfolk, but Englsih losses are mounting.
Upton lifts the siege of Strathclyde and marches north to reinforce Norfolk. It is time to finish the Scots once and for all.
April 1493
Norfolk suffers his first defeat, the Highlands once again proving to be his downfall. His much-reduced army is sent back to the Grampians. A force of 5,000 foot and 2,000 cavalry is levied in the Marches to provide much-needed reinforcements.
May 1493
Norfolk arrives in the Grampians only to find another force of 8,500 freshly-recruited Scots, under MacGill, waiting for him. Once again he is beaten, and turns tail for Edinburgh.
June 1493
The Scots offer the Highlands and The Grampians in exchange for peace, but what use to us are two remote mountainous provinces full of rebellious clansmen? their offer is refused and so their army under MacGill Assaults Aberdeen, whilst Norfolk can only watch from Edinburgh.
July 1493
MacGill's assault is repulsed. A wary stalemate ensues.
[Overseas: 21,000 Spanish soldiers march on Granada and the Moorish capital falls. For some bizarre reason the 10,000 Moors in Murcia don't lift a finger to help...]
August 1493
A new Scots army is being raised in Glasgow, and MacGill once again assaults Aberdeen with 8,848 foot. On the 22nd the town falls and MacGill and James IV both turn south.
[Overseas: Granada capitulates and is annexed by Spain. The Reconquista is over.]
September 1493
In a bold move designed to prevent the swelling of the Scots' ranks even further, Norfolk marches with his 7,143/838 on Strathclyde, there to be met by Pembroke's 3,950/1,990 Army of the Marches. It is a severe miscalculation and one for which Norfolk risks losing his head.
McGill's southward-bound forces were not heading to beseige Edinburgh after all, and battle is joined outside Glasgow. The result balances on a knife edge until the Earl Douglas' 10,000 Glaswegian recruits suddenly flood forth in time to turn the tide of battle.
October 1493
Norfolk is sent packing back to the Marches to face his liege's displeasure. Ironically, Scotland offers the Highlands in exchange for peace, but considering the likelihood of rebellion and the poor support offered by this inhospitable wilderness, we decline.
November 1493
Drunk on victory, 8,000 Scots under James IV pursue their beaten foe into the Marches, but dredging up the last reserves of their courage, Norfolks's 8,500 survivors fight them off and send them packing back to Glasgow.
December 1493
James IV winters in Glasgow with his combined force of 23,500. Anoher 6,000 Scots infantry are levied in the Grampians. Norfolk's 8,701/2,351 must hold until the Spring against a potential combined force of 29,500. Eep.
January 1494
Tax income 153d. Almost all is spent on Marches levies (5,000/2,000). We also take the emergency step of a 200d bank loan, which results in a further levy of 5,000/1,000 Lancastrians and 3,000/2,000 Yorkshiremen, to reinforce Norfolk and prevent disaster.
Another 10,000 men swell James' ranks to 32,000 and he marches to Lothian. The 6,000 Grampians levies join him, and soon 38,500 Scotsmen beseige Edinburgh...
April 1494
The siege of Edinburgh town continues. Norfolk's recruits arrive and the relieving forces from the Shires march north.
May 1494
Norfolk now has 21,701/8,351 men at his command, but the ast majority are raw recruits and morale is weak. James IV is reinforced by a further 6,000 Grampian infantry. Norfolk plays the waiting game and prays for the siege to continue.
June 1494
There are now over 42,000 Scotsmen beseiging Edinburgh. How long should Norfolk wait? Should he trust to attrition to set in and weaken the Scots or risk an attack to relieve the garrison. Does he have enough men to carry the war and win the day?
July 1494
Attrition is indeed taking its toll, as over 4,000 Scots casualties will attest. Norfolk decides to wait until September to launch his counter-attack, drive the Scots back into the Highlands and let the harsh winter do the rest.
August 1494
Another 1,200 Scots lie dead of disease and malnourishment, yet still James IV reinforces his siege, bringing another 6,000 men into Lothian and swelling his army back to 43,500. Norfolk waits. Perhaps a Spring 1495 Campaign after all?
September 1494
Norfolk's hand is forced. Another 3,500 Scots dies of attrition, but Edinburgh falls. James IV splits his forces, marching some 9,000 men north. Norfolk, his pride stung by the Scottish re-capture of nearly all his previous gains, attacks...
October 1494
Disaster. Norfolk's 21,451/8,301 meet James IV's 32,899/5,594 on Lothian's fields. At first Norfolk carries the day, but superior numbers quickly tell, and the english are routed. Over 15,000 Englishmen die on that foreign field, barely 9,500 of the original 30,000 returning to the Marches.
November 1494
Once again, James pursues his vanquished foe into the Marches, only to be repulsed in bloody battle despite outnumbering Norfolk 2:1.
December 1494 onwards...
Scotland continues to raid ineffectually against the Marches, which Norfolk holds without problem. A siege of the Highlands is called off for no apparent reason... until the Scots army invades Ireland, taking Ulster and Connaught.
The next time the Scots ambassador meets with Henry VII, it is he who is making demands - reparitions plus half of Ireland... and the English are no longer laughing...
In conclusion:
Oops. Arse well and truly kicked there, but I learnt a lot. In short, don't attack the Scots in their home territory unless you're sure of a swift victory, and don't let the war drag on into more than one Scottish winter.
As an addendum, I'd like to point out that I re-played the game this morning, and this time waited until 1493 to attack, raising an additional 15,000 / 5,000 before I did so. This time, a series of lightning assaults and some fancy footwork to avoid the bulk of the Scottish troops resulted in a six-month campaign to subdue the whole of Scotland and a swift annexation by March 1494. Much better.
The War of Scottish 'Annexation', January 1492 - December 1494
January 1492
Deciding that the time has come to once and forever remove the Scots menace from our northern border, and having met in secret council with like-minded strategists, I manage to persuade his Majesty Henry VII that the best way of achieving our goal is to strike hard, strike fast. And so, we commence preparations for an invasion of Scotland. 8,000 infantry are commissioned to join Norfolk's army in the Marches and the Anglian army under Elsmere embarks onto the channel fleet off East Anglian coast.
[Overseas: 17,000 Moorish warriors assault Cadiz, but a 40,000 strong relieving force is on its way south from the Spanish capital to intercept them.]
February 1492
8,000 fresh recruits arrive to swell the ranks of Norfolk's army. The Scots are surely doomed...
Elsmere takes ship for Meath and the assault on Scotland. Norfolk bides his time, waiting until the Home Fleet is in place off the coast of the Marches.
March 1492
[Overseas: Spain becomes embroiled in a protracted siege and fails to take control of Granada. Instead, a small Moorish force of 5,000 foot invades Murcia and wrests control from our Catholic allies.]
April 1492
[Overseas: The Moorish force that took Murcia marches to assist in the siege of Cadiz. Now 22,000 heathens stand at the gates.]
July 1492
The 10th of July 1492, a day that the sons of the English nobility will forever remember as the start of the War of Scottish Annexation.
The invasion of Scotland commences. Norfolk (17,834 / 1,967) immediately Assaults the Grampians' capital at Aberdeen whilst Elsmere (4,715 / 1,943) lays siege to Inverness in the Highlands.
The oh-so predictable Scots march south, never thinking to guard their hairy rears.
[Overseas: Two small (7,000 each) Spanish armies force march southwards in a desperate attempt to turn the Moorish war.]
August 1492
The Grampians fall to Norfolk, although Elsmere's smaller force fails to take the Highlands. Elsmere regroups in the English-controlled Grampian whilsts Norfolk marches on Edinburgh.
Scotland offers a white peace, which we laughingly reject. Do these oatmeal-munchers take us for fools?
[Overseas: The Moors in Andalusia fight off the Spanish relief force but at heavy cost (some 17,000 heathens slain).]
September 1492
Edinburgh falls on September 16th after a two-week assault. Norfolk's men reached breaking point and we lost some 2,500 men and 500 horse. The army needs to regain its strength, but the Scots army has already turned back north...
Reorganisation is called for. Elsmere is ordered to send his remaining cavalry south whilt 3,000 of Norfolk's men are despatched to renew the attack on the Highlands.
October 1492
Norfolk is reinforced by a 2,000 strong Lancastrian infantry levy, and the Scots army continues its march through Strathclyde to attack Elsmere's much smaller force in the Grampians.
[Overseas: A new Spanish force, raised in Gibraltar, marches north, whilst the Moors, having abandoned the siege of Cadiz, seek to tighten their grip on Murcia.]
November 1492
Elsmere's 6,882 troops march on the highlands but are caught and attacked by 20,000/5,000 Scots under James IV. The Scots' morale, weakened by the long march north, shatters and 24,000 men retreat to the Highlands.
The Scots try to pre-empt their inevitable defeat by offering us the Grampians. Again, we laugh in their tartan faces.
December 1492
Norfolk arrives in Strathclyde and lays siege. With winter closing in, Norfolk decides to leave a force under Upton (4,881/1,112) to reduce Glasgow whilst he takes the remainder of the army (9,411/2,141) to reinforce Elsmere in the Grampians, hoping James IV will be foolish enoguh to turn straight back and attack them again.
[Overseas: The Spanish relief force reaches Andalusia. 2,000 men are left to guard the city whilst 5,000 march on...]
January 1493
Norfolk decides that rather than allow James IV to dig in and launch a Spring Campaign, he will take the initiative and strike while the iron is hot. On the 28th January, he attacks the Scots army.
February 1493
In a titanic 6 day confrontation, the Scots are finally routed. Their King once more tries to buy us off with the Grampians, but again he is denied. Norfolk immediately Assaults Inverness and the town falls to the victorious English on the 26th and then Elsmere immediately marches south to finish Glasgow.
March 1493
The cowardly James IV lays siege to Aberdeen but is attacked and once again routed by the valiant Norfolk, but Englsih losses are mounting.
Upton lifts the siege of Strathclyde and marches north to reinforce Norfolk. It is time to finish the Scots once and for all.
April 1493
Norfolk suffers his first defeat, the Highlands once again proving to be his downfall. His much-reduced army is sent back to the Grampians. A force of 5,000 foot and 2,000 cavalry is levied in the Marches to provide much-needed reinforcements.
May 1493
Norfolk arrives in the Grampians only to find another force of 8,500 freshly-recruited Scots, under MacGill, waiting for him. Once again he is beaten, and turns tail for Edinburgh.
June 1493
The Scots offer the Highlands and The Grampians in exchange for peace, but what use to us are two remote mountainous provinces full of rebellious clansmen? their offer is refused and so their army under MacGill Assaults Aberdeen, whilst Norfolk can only watch from Edinburgh.
July 1493
MacGill's assault is repulsed. A wary stalemate ensues.
[Overseas: 21,000 Spanish soldiers march on Granada and the Moorish capital falls. For some bizarre reason the 10,000 Moors in Murcia don't lift a finger to help...]
August 1493
A new Scots army is being raised in Glasgow, and MacGill once again assaults Aberdeen with 8,848 foot. On the 22nd the town falls and MacGill and James IV both turn south.
[Overseas: Granada capitulates and is annexed by Spain. The Reconquista is over.]
September 1493
In a bold move designed to prevent the swelling of the Scots' ranks even further, Norfolk marches with his 7,143/838 on Strathclyde, there to be met by Pembroke's 3,950/1,990 Army of the Marches. It is a severe miscalculation and one for which Norfolk risks losing his head.
McGill's southward-bound forces were not heading to beseige Edinburgh after all, and battle is joined outside Glasgow. The result balances on a knife edge until the Earl Douglas' 10,000 Glaswegian recruits suddenly flood forth in time to turn the tide of battle.
October 1493
Norfolk is sent packing back to the Marches to face his liege's displeasure. Ironically, Scotland offers the Highlands in exchange for peace, but considering the likelihood of rebellion and the poor support offered by this inhospitable wilderness, we decline.
November 1493
Drunk on victory, 8,000 Scots under James IV pursue their beaten foe into the Marches, but dredging up the last reserves of their courage, Norfolks's 8,500 survivors fight them off and send them packing back to Glasgow.
December 1493
James IV winters in Glasgow with his combined force of 23,500. Anoher 6,000 Scots infantry are levied in the Grampians. Norfolk's 8,701/2,351 must hold until the Spring against a potential combined force of 29,500. Eep.
January 1494
Tax income 153d. Almost all is spent on Marches levies (5,000/2,000). We also take the emergency step of a 200d bank loan, which results in a further levy of 5,000/1,000 Lancastrians and 3,000/2,000 Yorkshiremen, to reinforce Norfolk and prevent disaster.
Another 10,000 men swell James' ranks to 32,000 and he marches to Lothian. The 6,000 Grampians levies join him, and soon 38,500 Scotsmen beseige Edinburgh...
April 1494
The siege of Edinburgh town continues. Norfolk's recruits arrive and the relieving forces from the Shires march north.
May 1494
Norfolk now has 21,701/8,351 men at his command, but the ast majority are raw recruits and morale is weak. James IV is reinforced by a further 6,000 Grampian infantry. Norfolk plays the waiting game and prays for the siege to continue.
June 1494
There are now over 42,000 Scotsmen beseiging Edinburgh. How long should Norfolk wait? Should he trust to attrition to set in and weaken the Scots or risk an attack to relieve the garrison. Does he have enough men to carry the war and win the day?
July 1494
Attrition is indeed taking its toll, as over 4,000 Scots casualties will attest. Norfolk decides to wait until September to launch his counter-attack, drive the Scots back into the Highlands and let the harsh winter do the rest.
August 1494
Another 1,200 Scots lie dead of disease and malnourishment, yet still James IV reinforces his siege, bringing another 6,000 men into Lothian and swelling his army back to 43,500. Norfolk waits. Perhaps a Spring 1495 Campaign after all?
September 1494
Norfolk's hand is forced. Another 3,500 Scots dies of attrition, but Edinburgh falls. James IV splits his forces, marching some 9,000 men north. Norfolk, his pride stung by the Scottish re-capture of nearly all his previous gains, attacks...
October 1494
Disaster. Norfolk's 21,451/8,301 meet James IV's 32,899/5,594 on Lothian's fields. At first Norfolk carries the day, but superior numbers quickly tell, and the english are routed. Over 15,000 Englishmen die on that foreign field, barely 9,500 of the original 30,000 returning to the Marches.
November 1494
Once again, James pursues his vanquished foe into the Marches, only to be repulsed in bloody battle despite outnumbering Norfolk 2:1.
December 1494 onwards...
Scotland continues to raid ineffectually against the Marches, which Norfolk holds without problem. A siege of the Highlands is called off for no apparent reason... until the Scots army invades Ireland, taking Ulster and Connaught.
The next time the Scots ambassador meets with Henry VII, it is he who is making demands - reparitions plus half of Ireland... and the English are no longer laughing...
In conclusion:
Oops. Arse well and truly kicked there, but I learnt a lot. In short, don't attack the Scots in their home territory unless you're sure of a swift victory, and don't let the war drag on into more than one Scottish winter.
As an addendum, I'd like to point out that I re-played the game this morning, and this time waited until 1493 to attack, raising an additional 15,000 / 5,000 before I did so. This time, a series of lightning assaults and some fancy footwork to avoid the bulk of the Scottish troops resulted in a six-month campaign to subdue the whole of Scotland and a swift annexation by March 1494. Much better.
Patric
