You are Robb Stark, KING IN THE NORTH! [Of course it has spoilers]

[Feanaro Curufinwe]

Surviving the RW certainly would've changed Robb, he certainly would've been less trusting and likely more brutal to his enemies.

I'm not sure a comparison to Robert is a good thing, things didn't' really work out well for anyone because of Robert.

So, he would be more like the original Starks, which were probably not as good or honourable as Ned.

[Mikail Mengsk]

Robb wasn't really skilled in diplomacy or politics. He would have needed strong and cunning allies on his side, but he was too much of an "Eddard" to be capable of ruling Westeros in such troubled times.

Maybe surviving the RW could have made him different, we can't know.

[Feanaro Curufinwe]

Robb wasn't really skilled in diplomacy or politics. He would have needed strong and cunning allies on his side, but he was too much of an "Eddard" to be capable of ruling Westeros in such troubled times.

Maybe surviving the RW could have made him different, we can't know.

He would certainly be more wary of weddings.

[Littlefinger87]

Killing men at their weddings won't do. It's hard enough to get them to the altar already. Oh Queen of Thorns. And as she is saying this, she's killing Joffrey at his wedding feast.

Question about Manderly and Bolton forces after Robb marches south. Manderly's force is over 10,000 and he has more knights/mounted units than anyone remaining in the north. How many men does Ramsay Bolton have at his command? He must have comparable numbers to stand a chance against Manderly's forces. They began their fight even before Winterfell was taken by Theon. I guess Ramsay could always retreat to the Dreadfort if threatened, and he did almost get shot by Rodrik Cassel.

Purpose of the question: Why would Robb not march with the full force of the north? Why do Roose Bolton and Wyman Manderly get to keep sizeable forces in the north while the rest of the north send 7-9/10 of their forces? Even if Manderly's forces just went down as far as Moat Cailen, there's no way the Greyjoys take the castle if there are over 5,000 Northmen in it. The Moat is the real strategic loss in the Greyjoy attack because it effectively cuts the north in two. Winterfell was a tactical loss in that Theon couldn't hold it and he didn't actually kill/capture Rickon and Bran.

[Feanaro Curufinwe]

Killing men at their weddings won't do. It's hard enough to get them to the altar already. Oh Queen of Thorns. And as she is saying this, she's killing Joffrey at his wedding feast.

Question about Manderly and Bolton forces after Robb marches south. Manderly's force is over 10,000 and he has more knights/mounted units than anyone remaining in the north. How many men does Ramsay Bolton have at his command? He must have comparable numbers to stand a chance against Manderly's forces. They began their fight even before Winterfell was taken by Theon. I guess Ramsay could always retreat to the Dreadfort if threatened, and he did almost get shot by Rodrik Cassel.

Purpose of the question: Why would Robb not march with the full force of the north? Why do Roose Bolton and Wyman Manderly get to keep sizeable forces in the north while the rest of the north send 7-9/10 of their forces? Even if Manderly's forces just went down as far as Moat Cailen, there's no way the Greyjoys take the castle if there are over 5,000 Northmen in it. The Moat is the real strategic loss in the Greyjoy attack because it effectively cuts the north in two. Winterfell was a tactical loss in that Theon couldn't hold it and he didn't actually kill/capture Rickon and Bran.

It was a hasty draft. He expected Joffrey to back down and release Ned but the whole thing got out of hand. He was marching down expecting he would intimidate Joffrey, not begin for a full scale war.

[ButtSwag]

And oh how so very wrong he was...

[Feanaro Curufinwe]

And oh how so very wrong he was...

Nobody expected Joffrey to be so stupid...

[Littlefinger87]

Then why did Robb not marshal his entire forces after Joffrey kills his father? An extra 10,000 northmen, most of them actual knights, in the riverlands would certainly be enough to defeat Tywin. Tywin only advantage in Harrenhal is he has more heavy horse. If a Manderly came down with heavy horse, Tywin would be outnumbered and facing a comparable force of heavy cavalry. Chalk it up as another omission by a young general.

[rickard_stark]

I know that Robb would never do some of these things and it is none of the given scenarios, but this is what I would do.

This is at the time when Catelyn held Tyrion captive in the vale I would privately meet with Ramsay and send him to the vale and let him flay Tyrion. Lysa would not interfere, because she wants him to die anyway. Then when the war starts Lysa will have no way to stay neutral and will have to side with me and Roose will have no way to ally with the Lannisters and will stay loyal to me.
Then I call my banners and march south with my army (including Manderly's men, never understood why they didn't march south with Robb). Ally with the Freys and then march towards Tywin's host, crush him between my host and the Arryns' and take him and the Mountain prisoner. Then srt up a Whispering Wood style trap for Jaime and take him prisoner too. Then send a Bolton style letter to Kevan and threaten to flay Tywin if Kevan does not surrender Casterlyrock and Lennisport, see how much he loves his brother. If he accepts I am defacto lord of the Westerlands. If he does not I besiege, make sure he gets no more food supplies and with Renly and Stannis attacking Kingslanding, he won't get any reinforcemants, so its basically only a matter of time. And once again once I conqured them I will pretty much rule the Westerlands. In the meantime I send Tywin and the Mountain to Dorne, to forge an alliance with the Martells.
At this point I control or have alliances with five great houses. Then I sit back and let Renly, Stannis and Joffrey take each other out. I will then ally with whosleft, but to my terms. If they don't agree I should have the strength to crush them and if everything works out I will not only be the King of the North, but the King on the Iron Throne.

[Archon Patriarch]

I know that Robb would never do some of these things and it is none of the given scenarios, but this is what I would do.

This is at the time when Catelyn held Tyrion captive in the vale I would privately meet with Ramsay and send him to the vale and let him flay Tyrion. Lysa would not interfere, because she wants him to die anyway. Then when the war starts Lysa will have no way to stay neutral and will have to side with me and Roose will have no way to ally with the Lannisters and will stay loyal to me.
Then I call my banners and march south with my army (including Manderly's men, never understood why they didn't march south with Robb). Ally with the Freys and then march towards Tywin's host, crush him between my host and the Arryns' and take him and the Mountain prisoner. Then srt up a Whispering Wood style trap for Jaime and take him prisoner too. Then send a Bolton style letter to Kevan and threaten to flay Tywin if Kevan does not surrender Casterlyrock and Lennisport, see how much he loves his brother. If he accepts I am defacto lord of the Westerlands. If he does not I besiege, make sure he gets no more food supplies and with Renly and Stannis attacking Kingslanding, he won't get any reinforcemants, so its basically only a matter of time. And once again once I conqured them I will pretty much rule the Westerlands. In the meantime I send Tywin and the Mountain to Dorne, to forge an alliance with the Martells.
At this point I control or have alliances with five great houses. Then I sit back and let Renly, Stannis and Joffrey take each other out. I will then ally with whosleft, but to my terms. If they don't agree I should have the strength to crush them and if everything works out I will not only be the King of the North, but the King on the Iron Throne.

Too much forethought and planning. Events would happen differently if you took tywin in your first battle... And a lot of the Northern Lords kept a large chunk of their men back. How is Robb to know? Just like he's unaware of Ramsayl.

Then why did Robb not marshal his entire forces after Joffrey kills his father? An extra 10,000 northmen, most of them actual knights, in the riverlands would certainly be enough to defeat Tywin. Tywin only advantage in Harrenhal is he has more heavy horse. If a Manderly came down with heavy horse, Tywin would be outnumbered and facing a comparable force of heavy cavalry. Chalk it up as another omission by a young general.

No time, no need. He's won two battles and got the enemy reeling :p The better question is why roose betrays and why he heads north.

I mean , Roose understandable but short sighted.

with all the Northern men and no ramsay betray as I've said before they'd easily retake the North without the main army...

[The Forgotten]

I always thought Robb took nearly all of the Norths forces South. It must have been deliberate stretching on G.R.R.M's part for the North to have so many men when it is so sparse and poor.

[Littlefinger87]

Archon Patriarch: After the battle of the camps there was both time and need for more men. Robb's combined forces outnumber the Lannistets but they only just. How long does it take to send a raven to White Harbir from Riverrun? If Ribb's plan is to march west the smart thing to do would be to call down 5000 men from White Harbor. Unless Robb doesn't know about the force? Wyman has jo need to send all of his men to fulfill his oath. 5000 more men especially White Harbor knights could make all the difference if Robb wanted to give battle to Tywin.

Robb's mistake wasn't that he wanted to go back north. He'd already made several mistakes before that. He should have kept the kingslayer with him. He should have stayed in the west to dictate what tywin should do.

Roose understood better than Robb that the war was lost as soon as Littlefinger arranged the Tyrell Lannister alliance. It was either betray or die eventually.

[KingRobbStark]

According to George Martin the North can field many more men - for a game he once stated near 45K, but it takes time to gather them as the north is a very large land. So it would make sense that Robb would order a second host to be formed at winterfell. This didnt happen for one simple reason. George Martin needed Robb to die for the graphical effect of the RW. Realistically, Robb should have called in a new army - the only reason not to was the whole, winter is comming, we need crops. But these were northmen, they should have prepared for winter, and if they lost their army robb had, the lannisters would own their arses, march north, rape and plunder their way through the north and then the northmen would have a great winter right?

And dont even get me started on the Greyjoy atacks.

[Sila19]

I would order second host not in Winterfell but in Moat Callin. First it is closer to riverlands and secondly the ironborn could'nt take it so easliy. Next most of you are planning the scenario with the knowlage of the books. Robb couldn't know about all of this facts. If I was Robb I will merry brann rickon and sansa to the vale lords (royce. belmore, redfort or hunter) maybe sansa to robert arryn but it isn.t very possible. It will make a pressure to the vale to take a stand in this war. Robb betrays the freys. If i will get in love I wont merry Jeyne so quickly but wait for the war ending or take her as my misstress maybe but never risk losing the most powerfull host in riverlands. Maybe I will try alleid with tyrell. Merry sansa to wilas/loras and join host and promise to suport tyrell crown. The south kingdom will be so deep in my ass and who bare the crown is not my problem. Tyrell would be better than stanis who want all the kingdom or lannisters. With the gold from the westerlands i would hire some ships and give them comand to manderlys or if the vale will join me to the sistermen a try to cut od kinglanding and dragonstone from the sea giving me some time and making truble for my enemy. If all of if it go wrong( no vale support or tyrll ally and lannisters tyrell ally)I will send some big envoy to Deanerys. In north honor i will bent my knee and support her coming back to westeros. THE WOLFS BENTS ONLY TO THE DRAGONS.

[PandaChef]

Actually the attack on Duskendale was a plot by Roose Bolton to wipe out some Northern troops before betraying the Starks. He gave the command and was just making things easier for himself.

Can someone please explain this part of the book to me?

Also what's this about Robb not telling Edmure something?

[Iron Aquilifer]

Roose sent Glover and Tallhart with a third of the northen foot to be destroyed by the Lannisters/Tyrells as part of his plan to rid the north of Stark loyal forces.

Robb didn't tell Edmure about the wish for Tywin to be allowed to return to the Westerlands.

[leadhead]

Roose did give the orders to send Glover and Tallhart to Duskendale but he recieved a raven from Edmure to take the city so it could be said he was following orders, though I'm sure he was more then happy to send Stark loyalist and keep his safe.

[Iron Aquilifer]

Edmure didnt instruct him to do it. He ordered Tallhart to join with Roose to take Harrenhal. Roose claimed that Robb had given the order to attack Duskendale, then at the Twins blamed Glover and Tallhart for it.

[leadhead]

Well I'll be buggered, I just reread AFFC last week and thought I should at least be able to remember a little, but after looking at it I was totally off base. Good thing Stannis has the right of it to keep the info correct.