Italian Quest: A Mercenary Boot

You arrive at the Duke's palace in the early morning hours, with the fog still thick around the walls and the sun just barely above the horizon. The Duke is standing over a table of maps as you arrive, looking a little tired but mostly pleased. You look over the table and exchange pleasantries with the Duke, seeing as the Landsknecht captain has yet to arrive.

Maximilian swaggers in a few minutes later, looking bright and fresh-eyed. He greets both you and the Duke pleasantly and everyone takes a seat around the larger table in the room, away from the circular map table in the centre of the room.

The Duke starts the meeting by asking for the results of the scouting, mostly for Maximilian's benefit you imagine, and you quickly summarize the main points. The men you sent out spotted some heavy cavalry and mostly foot, but they also quickly determined that there was not enough horse to account for a second regiment of light cavalry. In terms of numbers, you expect that Cesare Borgia slightly outnumbers you, having between four or five thousand soldiers in San Marino.

You decide this is a good moment to lay out what you think the strengths and weaknesses of the current situation is. Firstly, you have the advantages of walls in Urbino, though the winter means that no digging can be done to provide additional earthworks, ditches or palisades. Should the siege be the best option, troops would have to be sent out to gather supplies from the countryside to deprive Cesare of the opportunity of using those supplies. Both the Duke and Maximilian nod along at this, an obvious conclusion given the current situation.

Continuing your assessment of the situation, you provide your opinion that a siege would be disadvantageous enough to Cesare to possibly force an assault, a situation which could damage the city or cause significant casualties, civilian and military alike. At this point, the Duke raises an eyebrow, but motions for you to continue.

"...Instead, I suggest a bold move. We have the advantage that Borgia is without light cavalry to hunt down our army, and we have a smaller, more agile force. We can use this to our advantage, by attacking lightly defended targets until our enemy is forced to respond, at which point our light cavalry can simply leave the field."

"An interesting plan, Iacopo. It's a bold move, as you say, but it bears significant risk. So far as we know, Borgia has yet to fully wrestle control of San Marino. I'm willing to let him drain his supplies over the winter, should he choose not to come here in the near future. After all, thus far he has no reason to believe Urbino has been retaken, and I don't intend to give him one before it is necessary." The Duke pauses for a moment, taking a sip of his wine.

"In the absence of his late father, Borgia's political influence is waning, and he is unlikely to be able to dig into the deep coffers of the papacy any time soon, or indeed replace the men he loses. Let him sap himself of his own strength for as long as possible, and only then strike." Guidobaldo's rebuke is perhaps not entirely unexpected, but is delivered gently, indicating that the plan is not without merit, but is too risky for the Duke's liking. Maximilian stays quiet, but looks somewhat disappointed by the lack of potential plunder.

"I would suggest that the walls my father built are more than formidable enough to withstand an assault, especially when our numbers are almost at parity. Likewise, should he arrive here and attempt to siege us in the winter, his troops will find the ground just as hostile as ours would but, unlike our troops, his will be without walls entirely."

"Instead, while I value your advice, I believe it is more prudent to winter here in Urbino, and so we shall. It is possible that, come spring, the situation will develop to favour a more aggressive strategy, but for now we remain behind our walls in Urbino."

The discussion continues, now focused on more mundane things, such as patrol schedules, guard placements, and maintaining discipline among the soldiery. Necessary things, if a little dull. That takes the better part of the morning and you eventually adjourn around noon.

As you leave the meeting, a familiar pair of voices drift towards you through the sunny streets.

"No, you don't understand, the lack of death clearly indicates that there will be death later on, and a great deal of it if the wait is anything to go by." It's the German captain arguing with the chaplain over that damned crow...

"Ah, but don't you see? Clearly God has taken it upon himself to avert any disaster portended by the crow and is showing us so through the bountiful forage of the past few days?" The chaplain is at it as well, it would seem.

"It really hasn't been that good forage..."

You shake your head as their voices trail off into the distance.

You head towards the weekly task of reviewing your supplies...



[X] Resupply (Gain 978 Coin)
-[X] Arms
-[X] Food (-30% cost)
-[X] Support
[X] Write-in

Force Estimation: (Urbino) 3900 vs 4000-5000 (Borgia)
The Duke thought your first idea was too aggressive, so you decided not to propose a decisive battle. The "after 1 fortnight" table does not include the 978 coins you receive in pay.