CYOHA: What if Edward III Invaded Gascony in 1346 instead of Normandy?

It is February, 1346, and you are King Edward III of England. For the last nine years you have been at war with King Philippe VI in an attempt to regain the lands of your ancestors that have been gradually eroded since the death of Richard the Lionheart.

Diplomacy has not served you well: the Savoyards could not be peeled from Philippe and those German princes you could turn against him were less interested in campaigning than in the enormous sums of money they could extract from you in exchange for their limited service. You were very nearly bankrupted and almost faced a revolt in England.

War has proven more successful. A small force has helped keep the Montfortist dreams alive in Brittany, although lately the momentum has turned against them, while your good friend Henry, Duke of Lancaster, has had some astounding successes in Gascony. The Flemish, once you declared yourself the King of France, have proven valuable allies, albeit ones who cannot sustain a long campaign without aid.

You have been preparing for a major campaign against Philippe since 1345, the first one you will attend in person since 1343, when you landed with a small force in Brittany and obtained a truce from Philippe VI. There has been much debate over exactly where you should land, but by May it is apparent that Gascony is in real trouble. Jean, the Duke of Normandy, has besieged Aiguillon with between fifteen and twenty thousand men. If Aiguillon falls, then La Réole is next. And, if La Réole is taken, the whole of the territory between the River Dordogne and the River Garonne, and between the River Lot and the River Garonne, will be free for the French to retake. All the gains of the previous summer could be wiped out. You send 300 Welsh archers from South Wales as an emergency measure and decide to follow them yourself

Gascony must be held, but the previously devised plan of attacking on three fronts is still a good one. Without it, there is too much risk that Philippe VI might be able to concentrate his forces and overwhelm one of the armies. The Duke of Lancaster already has close to two thousand English and Welsh soldiers under his command, although many are in garrisons, and the allied Gascon lords can raise perhaps a thousand men-at-arms and four thousand foot to aid you. It’s possible to reinforce your allies in Brittany and Flanders, if you so choose.

Do you:

A) Send reinforcements to Brittany (William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton, and 1000 men total)
B) Send reinforcements to Flanders (Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, and 550 men total)
C) Send reinforcements to both (Northampton and Arundel, 1550 men total)
D) Do not reinforce either place and instead concentrate on breaking the French hold on Gascony and Aquitaine

(I’ll check back in a couple of hours and see which option is most popular)