Campaign ideas for Dux

This Dux in the 15th century is slowly advancing, and now Jim has began using his mighty brain to adapt it to the Burgundian Succession wars, so my Low lands militia list will hide away somewhere and i will concentrate on the English, since i know more about them (BTW Jim, i'm not being sarcastic ;) ).

My notes. I always have a notebook in my bag (going to school, not a hand bag!) and i usually note ideas or read through them on the bus home.

Before talking a little about the army lists, some thoughts on campaigns. The main problem with campaigning in the wars of the roses, as highlighted by Jim on the lead adventure forum, was that the battles were decisive and most of the time there was a short period of fighting then it calmed down (well, not totally, but not full blown war). The Saxon/ Briton campaign was made for long periods of fighting, the complete opposite. Jim, has an easier job, as the Burgundian wars with France were longer, with many raids on both sides. (see his progress on his blog)

So, i must get the neurons working, which is no problem since i like these sorts of things!

First of all, i looked at the original Dux campaign, and noticed that, although we have some names of the kings of the old kingdoms, players had their own king, with a different name and the possibility to become king themselves. In brief, there is a level of 'narration' (I shied away from the word 'fantasy'), or 'artistic license' or whatever. There for, even though we know the names of many of the great magnates in the 15th century, we can create some new ones for the area of our campaign...

Hmm, now we're getting somewhere.

Next, we must look at possible scenarios. I will skip the long times of thought, getting and throwing away ideas and throw forward three ideas i had:

• Two rival nobles, fighting for power in their county. Both start as landed nobles with estates and a retinue, and, instead of fighting for land, they fight for offices, and ultimately both sides wish to put wither themselves or their 'good lord' in a position of power to influence the politics of the realm. More below...
• An exiled Lancastrian noble finds himself somewhere in Europe and starts as a mercenary. From there he takes some land and maybe dominates a town or city and becomes a lord to whatever nation he was fighting for. Or even returns to England...
• The above idea led to this one; an officer of the Calais Garrison wants his wages, and seeing as the crown is bankrupt, turns to raiding to pay his men. This pits a professional band against some Franc archers, and the English officer either looks to raise his standing in the Garrison, or even take a little part of France for himself.

All these ideas are in early stages of course, and any suggestions are welcome :D

The idea to replace land grabbing with office grabbing was an idea i had while coming home one day, and at first i discarded it as too problematic to be worth bothering, but the more i thought the better it seemed to this period. Reading up on this period, many disputes came from wanting power (and land because of inheritance disputes). Exactly how this will work i'm not sure, but something about one side claims an office, then has to defeat his rival to stop him contesting him. Players can also claim estates, and when they are powerful enough try and make a bid to become an adviser of the king/ MP or whatever.

Whether any of the Calais Garrison turned to banditry to pay for their wages i don't know, it just seemed a good idea to get the English to fight in France. An alternative is to go some years earlier when Normandy was in English hands and have either them or the French raiding (maybe the French as they reconquer their lands).

Of course, we could do the Condottieri bands in Italy too, but i'm a bit lost on that front. I'll leave that one to someone else!
Almost forgot, the idea inspired/given by Dalauppror, Swedes vs. Kalmar Union, with the Swedes battling against the Danes to keep their lands. A period I would like to learn more about.

Army lists shall be continued on another post.

Just to finish this post off, two new 'light' cavalry, one for Hanbury and one for Stafford. Not great pictures, but i'm sure i'll take them again massed in a huge charge!

Hanbury's prickler. I really like this figure, and glad the arms worked well. One is a pike man's arm while the other is from a crossbow.

Ah, the brigantine armoured rider, the one who i had to cut away the saddle to make his sit properly, and now looks better with some paint on him.