Riding the Storm Out, Another Naval Affary ends poorly for Freedonia

       Louis the Ravenous sat on his throne leaning his head against his upthrust index finger which he was rubbing in small circles on his temple. He sighed deeply and asked, "So, what you are telling me is that the Northern Expedition has wandered off and gotten bogged down besieging some tiny port, the Gluttonians have failed to support our other troops in the efforts to free Viennee from the Ferndalian invaders and, on top of everything else, the wretched Ferndalians not only are patrolling just off our shore, they attack our ships as they are trying to return home.?" He raised an eyebrow and smiled dryly.

the situation at dawn, the ships were battered by last night's storm,

 all sustained some degree of damage; the smaller, handier and better crewed Ferndalian ships each got 1/2 d4 damage to each of their masts and 1/2 d6 to each hull section; the larger, less handy and indifferently crewed Freedonian ships suffered the same but did not halve the damage

Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't

 

Ferndalian Minister of War, Igor Mankowski, and his dream;

 a Duchy of his own, stretching across all of northern Gluttonia

       The Comte du Fromage smiled as he viewed the Small-Plater forces arrayed against him, "We shall show our Gluttonian allies how to conduct a proper assault. Nothing like their bungled efforts at the Blutiger Bach two weeks ago" he proclaimed with a satisfied tone, "Now let us have breakfast before we get on with today's work". The Freedonians had spent the past weeks maneuvering around the siegeworks of the Ferndalian invaders seeking to get a feel for the enemy's response time and the strength of the ring of earthworks that surrounded the city of Vienee. 

       At long last they had found a gap  in the line right near the village of Stalzdat, granted it was a position that needed little improvement; a continuous line of hills that covered the road that the Ferndalians were using as a supply route. A single redoubt covered the lone gap in the hill line, hosting a pair of cannon aimed right down the road. The Comte was aware that it was a strong position, but he had a three-to-one superiority in Horse and his Foot doubled the number opposing him and he felt confident of the outcome of this contest.

The Hazards of High Office

 

Mankowski contemplates the loss of his ear

       Igor Mankowski slumped backward into his chair as Peter the Famished stormed out of the King's Private Chambers bellowing for his lunch. The searing pain in his right ear meant two things; one good, one bad. Good, that the King had not shot him between the eyes (like the last Minister of War), the King rarely missed and would have reloaded if he had needed to! Bad, that his right ear would forever have to be hidden by his wig.