How much will winter condition effect wars and battleplans

[eyenon15]

The Northerners should be fine but if snow covers all the way to KL, how will that change these presumably upcoming battles, like Aegon and Ironborn and such. Will anybody care enough to sit out in the cold to seige the Freys?

We've already seen Stannis, whos known as a great commander really struggle and make rookie mistakes in the snow.

[RobOsevens]

I think winter south of the neck will be more like a normal winter (Im Canadian so normal to me may not be normal to you) but I dont think Snows will be burying armies in the south.

It will probably force armies to stick to main roads and easy travelling conditions and force conflicts to towns and castles and force assaults rather than sieges ie faster resolutions in conflict necessary

[Sithis]

If Old Nan's stories are accurate then being outside in The North will mean almost certain death. Plus any military presence in the North will have the Others to deal with.

[Jon Dovahkiin Snow]

I work outside. Snow and cold affects EVERYTHING. It's white death. I'd imagine it would affect battle significantly. It could be used to your advantage as well, though. Traps under snow, limited sight distance, hiding, etc.

Hopefully GRRM doesn't take the snow lightly while writing the Winds of WINTER. Something tells me he will not.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

Exceedingly.

Skip the horses, get the skis and pulks out. And switch to way smaller groups, you need to carry a lot of food, wood and clothes. You yourself. And it's rare.

Avoid sweating at all costs. Keep your stuff dry.

[Nyrhex]

The Northerners should be fine but if snow covers all the way to KL, how will that change these presumably upcoming battles, like Aegon and Ironborn and such. Will anybody care enough to sit out in the cold to seige the Freys?

We've already seen Stannis, whos known as a great commander really struggle in the snow.

The Northmen are the opposite of fine. The Clansmen are in this purely so they could die fighting in the upcoming battle for a chance to live in song, rather than die in the coming winter from cold and hunger. They don't have any real plans after the next couple of months. Having warm gear and snow-shoes compared to the guys who had to pack what they had at the end of a failed battle and what little supply they had, plus whatever they scounged off of the NW, is not to say that the Northmen are ready for the coming winter, and even less so to the coming War for the Dawn.

The North is about to be covered in ridiculous amounts of snow. The northern battlefields are going to be insane either in the area north of the Wall, or in the area of the North. The Wall itself seems to be slightly better, for some odd reason. Snow stacking up so high that travel would be next to impossible. Dragons? They have a difficult time as it is in rain. Visibility is going to be next to zero, the riders would risk dying of cold from travel of even short distances, and low altitudes.

The Riverlands are fucked. No food, or chance to get some, means the area is going to be depupulated. The logistics of moving an army through that area are about to increase by an order of magnitude at the least.

Unless coming in soon, Stannis' sellsword army and the NW's food from Braavos are going to have to wait for the ice to be solid enough to walk to Westeros, the storms are only going to get worse before everything freezes.

Dorne is going to be the least affected, but that means little by itself. They are likely going to get a massive influx of refugees, as are the Stormlands and the Reach. The fighting in the south leaves little to no chance (aside from a hidden ace) for the Ironborn to continue raiding the Reach. With the Redwyne fleet and Garlan's host coming, the Shield Islands are likely to return to the Tyrells, but going for the Iron Isles themselves would be expensive, difficult with the increasing storms, and pointless considering the value of the Isles compared with the Dornish/fAegon sheaningens in the Stormlands/eastern Reach area. The Dornish agriculture is also going to take a hit, considering they are not used to this cold.

Overall, Dany should by then show up with a horde of several tens of thousands of Dothraki, thier tens of thousands of family, thier tens of thousands of horses, and a horde of freedmen. In total, Dany had ~150-200k freedmen without counting the losses up until the end of Dance. By the time she reaches Westeros this number would rise and fall with more who die and more who join. They would find laughably too little to feed even a fraction of that, and that is food that they would need to fight for from those who originally stored it. Think a colder version of the Red Waste unless supported by a faction with food to spare. Not a very likely prospect, considering that even the regions untouched by war are not that high on supplies from what we see in the books.

[John Doe]

The Northerners should be fine

The Northeners, as always, will be hit hardest by winter.

[eyenon15]

The Northeners, as always, will be hit hardest by winter.

Do you mean Northerners as in people who were born and live in the North, or people that happen to be located in the North at a given time like Stannis

I think people that have spent most of their lives in the North are better equipped than someone who has spent their life further south.

Yes northerners won't be fine, I said that wrong. But winter conditions should have the least impact on people most accustomed to living in winter.

If natural born Northerners are fucked in the North, surely outsiders will be double fucked in the North.

[John Doe]

Do you mean Northerners as in people who were born and live in the North, or people that happen to be located in the North at a given time like Stannis

I think people that have spent most of their lives in the North are better equipped than someone who has spent their life further south.

Yes northerners won't be fine, I said that wrong. But winter conditions should have the least impact on people most accustomed to living in winter.

If natural born Northerners are fucked in the North, surely outsiders will be double fucked in the North.

If they go south, yes. However I doubt they'll manage to do that in great numbers since the Riverlands are incapable of feeding them and everything further south is hostile.

[eyenon15]

If they go south, yes. However I doubt they'll manage to do that in great numbers since the Riverlands are incapable of feeding them and everything further south is hostile.

We've already been told that someone is going much farther North of the Wall than we have ever been, so not everyone will be going South.

Idk, If it will be armies or just a few characters.

I suppose it's possible that no one will survive up there and they all die.

If anyone does survive I'll be shocked if southerners outlast northerners up there.

[Roose on the Loose]

I'm going to put the inability to grow food right at the top of the list of concerns. Unless it's a real short Winter, or food can be imported in bulk, the population of the North will be no more. On the other hand, any other kings would be nuts to invade before Spring.

[EastTymor]

Outside the tropics, spring marks the beginning of fighting season. Fall is the end.

[Northbound3.0]

Other than the obvious things like provisions, the effect the cold has on those in it and travel; I've always wondered about communication during a bad winter, especially this up and coming one and the potential battles in the region. How well do ravens fly in a blizzard? I suppose they have the ability, seeing how the NW took a bunch north of the Wall in Clash.

[wiredup]

With Highgarden and The Reach as the breadbasket of Westeros, I would suspect a lot of fighting will take place there. It reminds me of the positioning of Hungary and how their enormous food production always made them a target to be trampled by large moving armies looking to feed their wars.

What I'm curious about is the old feuds between The Vale and the North and how much the mountains effect the snows in The Vale.

Plus, with LF having some kind of ties with Lady Olenna, maybe LF is going to try and squeeze the Lannisterrs between The Vale and The Reach and then someone makes a push West to the Rock.