What if Tywin sent mercenaries/free companies to the North

[Mrstrategy]

What if Tywin hired and sent free companies and sell sails to land in the North to raid and pillage the coast facing essos around the same time as the Iron born start raiding in the the  stony shore the sunset sea?

[James Steller]

25 minutes ago, Mrstrategy said:

What if Tywin hired and sent free companies and sell sails to land in the North to raid and pillage the coast facing essos around the same time as the Iron born start raiding in the the  stony shore the sunset sea?

What company would agree to take that commission? Brave the seas to go aimlessly attack a bunch of towns and settlements in the North for what? Animal skins? Timber? All while risking death by drowning at sea, death by exposure to the cold, death at the hands of a hardy population that’s been repelling raiders from Essos for literally thousands of years?

If I was a mercenary captain, I’d have told Tywin to his face to go find a fool to hire. And don’t tell me that Tywin has a monopoly on hiring sell swords; we’ve seen that Westeros, in the eyes of many in Essos, is basically the backwards hick living in a thatched barn next to a big mansion owned by a millionaire with a PHD. 

[Damsel in Distress]

7 hours ago, Mrstrategy said:

What if Tywin hired and sent free companies and sell sails to land in the North to raid and pillage the coast facing essos around the same time as the Iron born start raiding in the the  stony shore the sunset sea?

It might work.  Sending mercenaries to the north may force Robb to turn tail and protect his home. 

[Nathan Stark]

9 hours ago, Damsel in Distress said:

It might work.  Sending mercenaries to the north may force Robb to turn tail and protect his home. 

The Iron Born couldn't even manage to get Robb to go back north. I'm not sure why sellsword companies would do any better. And like @James Steller pointed out, Northerners are a tough bunch. I'm not sure sellswords could cow them as easily as they did the Riverlands.

[Mrstrategy]

7 hours ago, Nathan Stark said:

The Iron Born couldn't even manage to get Robb to go back north. I'm not sure why sellsword companies would do any better. And like @James Steller pointed out, Northerners are a tough bunch. I'm not sure sellswords could cow them as easily as they did the Riverlands.

No so much cow as disrupt and weaken the starks and their bannerman by raiding and pillaging ,causing the stark and bannermen to split their already divided forces between fighting  the iron born and pro Lannister and could possibly buterfly the sack of winterfell since it could force Ramsay and his troop to be busy chasing the free companies and sellswords specially if they split in small groups forcing the noethern lords to do the same as edmure tully and spread their forces all over to try to defend as much of their land as possible

[Nathan Stark]

19 minutes ago, Mrstrategy said:

No so much cow as disrupt and weaken the starks and their bannerman by raiding and pillaging ,causing the stark and bannermen to split their already divided forces between fighting  the iron born and pro Lannister and could possibly buterfly the sack of winterfell since it could force Ramsay and his troop to be busy chasing the free companies and sellswords specially if they split in small groups forcing the noethern lords to do the same as edmure tully and spread their forces all over to try to defend as much of their land as possible

The problem with that is that all of Robb's forces were already south of the Neck. There were hardly any fighting men left in the North, which is why the Iron Men where able to gain a foothold. Small good it would do Tywin to send his fickle sellswords up north. He would be the one splitting his forces in that scenario, not Robb. Since the Iron Born took Moat Cailyn, it isn't like Robb was able to just send some of his men back to defend the North anyway.

[Loose Bolt]

7 hours ago, Nathan Stark said:

The problem with that is that all of Robb's forces were already south of the Neck. There were hardly any fighting men left in the North, which is why the Iron Men where able to gain a foothold. Small good it would do Tywin to send his fickle sellswords up north. He would be the one splitting his forces in that scenario, not Robb. Since the Iron Born took Moat Cailyn, it isn't like Robb was able to just send some of his men back to defend the North anyway.

Actually clans in NW part of North, Dustins, Ryswells and Manderlys had kept most of their men in the North so there should have been still at least over 9000 potential warriors available. For instance Manderlys had build 48 warships. Assuming that each need crew of 200 men so just manning of those they would need 9600 men. 

[frenin]

15 hours ago, Mrstrategy said:

No so much cow as disrupt and weaken the starks and their bannerman by raiding and pillaging ,causing the stark and bannermen to split their already divided forces between fighting  the iron born and pro Lannister and could possibly buterfly the sack of winterfell since it could force Ramsay and his troop to be busy chasing the free companies and sellswords specially if they split in small groups forcing the noethern lords to do the same as edmure tully and spread their forces all over to try to defend as much of their land as possible

The North is massive and there massive amounts of nothing in between, the settlements that aren't in the western coast aren't really well peopled. The Barrows are but the Dustin know the terrain and are in full force, ditto with the Clans... And there's little chance for them to get White Harbour so why bother??

Raiding and pillaging works when either there's a lot to raid and pillage or either when you know were to raid a pillage. 

 

 

[Lion of the West]

9 hours ago, Loose Bolt said:

Assuming that each need crew of 200 men so just manning of those they would need 9600 men. 

Problem is that these guys would be rowers and not men-at-arms or knights. Thus I don't know how much value they would be in a land battle and how eager Manderly would be to put sailors to die on land with spears as opposed get them ready to undertake operations at sea.

[Universal Sword Donor]

17 hours ago, Lion of the West said:

Problem is that these guys would be rowers and not men-at-arms or knights. Thus I don't know how much value they would be in a land battle and how eager Manderly would be to put sailors to die on land with spears as opposed get them ready to undertake operations at sea.

Right but we see at least 4K soldiers — actual real soldiers — on page from Manderly, Bolton, Karstark, Cerwyns, and other major houses, and this isn’t counting the mountain clans or the Umbers due to quality or the unnamed numbers from the Dustins and Ryswells.

There was a civil war going on in the north at the same time essentially all Ryswell leadership remained north and Lady Dustin held back as much as she could. Manderlys 48 ships would more like have 1k-2k marines aboard.

9k fighting men left in the North is probably an underestimate but as we see the quality can dip considerably from the force that marched south 

[Lion of the West]

6 hours ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

Right but we see at least 4K soldiers — actual real soldiers — on page from Manderly, Bolton, Karstark, Cerwyns, and other major houses, and this isn’t counting the mountain clans or the Umbers due to quality or the unnamed numbers from the Dustins and Ryswells.

There was a civil war going on in the north at the same time essentially all Ryswell leadership remained north and Lady Dustin held back as much as she could. Manderlys 48 ships would more like have 1k-2k marines aboard.

9k fighting men left in the North is probably an underestimate but as we see the quality can dip considerably from the force that marched south 

Makes sense and I mostly agree with what is written here.