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[Stirk]

With the big picture plan plotted out, the Generals and their troops march off to war. The Grand Army makes its first stand united stand against the Invaders - as sparse as their troops are.

Battlefield 1

Appearing more as a swarm than an army, the Invader's main force stretches from horizon to horizon. Their movements are well coordinated, responding to your military's probes presumably messaged by the constant buzzing drone of the creature's wings. Unity battles for the sky first, even as the goblins and cannons continue moving toward the battlefield. Their enemy was the the Invaders as pictured before, flying on something resembling a fat fly with six wings. Unlike the land bound invaders these creatures are capable of true flight, and while not greatly powerful they have impressive mobility and something like initiative as they occasionally fly into combat without a rider in what is likely a scout role.

Upon their appearance in the sky Allion & Hura where swarmed by these creatures in loose formation. Their weapons had little hope of scoring a fatal hit against the mighty pair, and within moments the first swarm tumbled to the ground - their corpses too dissolved to even make workable undead. Seeing their comrades swatted like flies, the remaining Winged Hussars remain over the safety of their main force. For the remainder of the fight they stayed in a safe long-distance scouting role, unable to approach the heavier unit. Attempts to get close to either the main army or those flying above it where repelled by the enemy Anti-Aircraft artillery. Resembling a cannon made of curled spider's legs, they fire shot into the sky like a punt gun using the same mechanism as their muskets. While they lack sufficient firepower to down Unity alone, their volume is enough to act as a deterrent and keep the two who are one out of their range. For the remainder of the battle they look for opportunities to strike any unit that strays from the loving protection of the Anti Aircraft weaponry.

On the ground, the Light Infantry and Field Artillery are able to advance into position without worrying about the enemy air units scouting them out. Here they faced the enemy screening and skirmishing forces. Enemy Light Infantry resembles the standard Line Infantry, with shorter legs and a longer weapon. Enemy Dragoons mount a centipede that is around a man tall, with shorter 'carbine' and pistol weapons alongside one that seems to fire shot rather than ball. In the forests the Dragoons are unable to take advantage of their greater mobility while the goblin's rifles prove to have far greater range and accuracy than their opponents strange weapons. Still even the skirmishing force outnumbered the numerous goblins by an uncomfortable amount, and they where forced to retreat to their fallback point before their opponents closed the gap and finished them off with superior rate of fire. When the trees gave way to the open fields the Field Artillery tended to take over, defended by the remaining goblins and emboldened by their leader's speech. While the guns and mortars where not able to gain significant casualties against the loose formation of the raiders, it did a splendid job of preventing them from advancing over their field of fire.

The enemy Dragoons also showed their worth in the open field. Retreating a cannon quickly is difficult even for the experienced men of Tensali, and during this time they are vulnerable to attacks by mobile opponents. During one such retreat a unit of Dragoons charged with sabers resembling blades of grass. The Goblins moved in position to protect the artillery, getting only one shot off before they where in melee range. The entire Unit was nearly routed when Grimtusk sent in the undead unit he had been cultivating with the help of allied logistics units. Not expecting an unkillable enemy to appear to their flank, the Dragoons where soon scattered and routed. Afterword the unfearing undead units where used to break similar charge attempts against the artillery, stopping them with their bulk if nothing else. Such powerful magic was exhausting for a single caster, it shows both Grimtusk Bonegrinder's prowess as a necromancer and his willpower that he was still capable of acting as a competent general after unleashing it.

When the gunsmoke settled the Invaders had made some progress, but likely gained little in the way of resources. Certainly there wasn't enough fodder in the small villages they managed to capture to feed such a massive military force. The surrounding country has been successfully evacuated to the neighboring nations.

Grimtusk Bonegrinder has lost 1/2 Unit of Light Infantry and has gained 1 Unit of Undead Light Infantry (Which will return to being dead if he does not spend the required effort to keep it alive)

Battlefield 2

Reports written by the survivors of High Rus where not exaggerated. Locust men fell from the sky like rain drops. You can not see the sky through the enemy numbers. Fortunately this method of attack was expected, and with time to prepare structures where created to prevent the Invaders from flanking the fortresses by simply falling on top of it. Admiral Everett and his Wyvern Riders where capable of intercepting falling enemy units with little resistance - it seems like they are unable to fire effectively in a coordinated manner and glide at the same time. Such a vulnerability may prove useful in the future.

With a defensive position, the cowboys of 人外 had no trouble picking off those that landed near their walls before they where able to enter effective formations to assault said positions. With the supplies brought in by Terve they where able to expend ammunition without fear of running low. Significant casualties where dealt to the enemy in the opening vollies of the allies. Most seemed to be Line Infantry, with the occasional Fly Rider or massive beetle falling among the footmen. Cannons where harder to pick out of the crowd, you do not see any in the innitial contact.

With their feet on the ground the Invaders begin organizing, well out of range of the fortresses (though not the wyverns who continue to harass the enemy with fire before retreating). Forming columns, the line infantry begins marching toward the defensive positions while the Light Infantry takes to the city. Fly Riders begin screening the Wyverns, preventing them from effectively engaging the enemy infantry near the fortress as they continue their raids. It is here that the cannons appear - structures that appear to be honeycombs or wasps nests in the outline of a mortar or gun respectively. Even these seem to use no explosives - their "mortar" instead release hives that spread "shrapnel" of bees that launch out in all direction while the cannons fire ball with the same mysterious force as the muskets. Naturally these take position out of the line of fire of your Line Infantry, attempting to soft up your own position before the enemy line infantry moves in. Air raids that make it past the fly swarms manage to damage some gun crews - but in the end most are destroyed by counter barrage from Ted's drakes. They managed a few focused barrages before succumbing to dragon fire, crumbling a targeted portion of the castle and city wall.. Seeing this opportunity the Infantry being marching to seize it. Vast lines of insects march as one toward the breech.

Between the accurate fire of the cowboys and drakes, enemy corpses pile up on the city streets. This does little to deter them. Before long they approach the breech, where their greater rate of fire gives them an advantage. Grenades are thrown from the barricade as Invaders climb over each other to enter the broken mortarwork while those behind continue to take potshots at the infantry within. Perhaps reverting to some earlier training, the infantrymen within fix bayonets and charge the breech shouting things such as "BANZAI TED!". This proves to be more effective than expected, as the enemy Line Infantry does not seem to be equipped for hand-to-hand combat. Once in melee range the Invaders are easily dispatched. This leaves the defenders in a happy position where they have the advantage over the enemy at long and short range, loosing out only in an awkward middle position.

Terve's engineers plug the gap in the castle wall, but are unable to get supplies to the city wall that remains surrounded by enemies. The enemy take this opportunity to pour out of the city, starting with the skirmishing units that had decided to raid instead of assaulting the fortress with their comrades. The Line Infantry soon followed in a fighting retreat. The entire formation retreated from the city state moving north toward High Rus. Attempts by the Wyvern raiders to take advantage of this retreat where repelled by the enemy Fly Riders, who once again found themselves the target of the raider's fire instead.

When the gunsmoke settled the castle and fortress where successfully held, however the city was successfully looted. No living creature that was outside the defenses had been found, not even a mouse. More typical loot such as foodstuff and gold was stolen from civilians, though artwork and the like was left behind unless it was made of valuable material. Their goals are as mysterious as ever, and perhaps more troubling than before...

No significant casualties where received this battle.

War Council

You return from your campaign largely successful to be greeted by the welcome sight of fresh troops. A portion of your armies has arrived - a significant portion at that. You're now a real army, not a desperate group trying their best to turn back the tide with pebbles.

Every General (except Great Unity Allion & Hura) receives:
-2 Light Infantry OR 2 Line Infantry OR 1 Grenadier
-1 Unit of non-Heavy Winged Hussar Cavalry
-1 Unit of Artillery

of that General's choice.

Great Unity Allion & Hura instead receive a supply of precious food and water from their homeland, allowing them to be Well Supplied for the next battle.

Your first council takes place not in the cold but under a tent donated by a famous circus - while perhaps not the most noble lodging it does allow you to hold a more standard War Council without your papers becoming damp to snow. Already you can feel this fight turn around. It is now time to discuss today's events.

Event 2: Due to the unusual tactics employed by the Invasion, your central governments are debating stripping their powerful Ships of the Line of their cannons and men and instead deploying them on land. Proponents suggest that these ships are unnecessary as the Invaders only invade from the sky, have no traditional shipping lanes or supply lines, and have thus far only shown interest in population centers while we desperately need more guns on the ground. Opponents suggest that weakening our warships will leave us completely unguarded if they do have any sort of naval forces - and given the unpredictable nature of the enemy we need to be prepared for that eventuality. The Terve Merchant Empire instead suggests that these ships should be converted into River Raiders that would be able to fight both land and sea targets - under their control of course.

Effect: Non-Unity nations will receive either a unit of Ship-of-the-Line, 2 Units of Siege Artillery, or The Terve Merchant Empire will receive 3 River Raiders.

Event 3: Unity is no doubt a powerful force, but that power comes at a price. The resources spent to sustain them mean they can deploy little else besides Unity. However they are no longer working alone, with the resource of the Grand Army more Nawra can be deployed. If a significant amount of resources is invested, we may even be able to see another Nawra Heavy Winged Hussar in the skies above the battlefield.

Effect: Resources may be devoted away from the other nations to Nawra. If this is done, the other nations will receive less cavalry. Nawra will be reinforced with cavalry units next war council. If more resources are invested, a Heavy Winged Hussar will reinforce the Nawra in 3 War Council phases.

Event 4: Now that we have pushed back the enemy, we have corpses and weapons left behind from the fighting. Research may be done into how they work at your discretion. Researchers are limited, you will likely only be able to research one subject.

Effect: Information on the requested object.

[Jerick]

Everett had a stack of reports and proposals next to him. Going through the reports it was clear the first battles had gone better than he'd hoped. But the enemy had quickly learned to screen his raider forces. His fliers might need to take a more recon-focused role going forward. He flicked through the reports to the proposals that needed to be discussed. There was one in particular that caught his eye. For the first time his fellow generals saw his expression change. He scowled at the document as if it said some kind of deep personal insult. "They want to repurpose Ships of the Line as river raiders? They want to send Ships of the Line up rivers? Dead gods save us from ignorant, dryfoot, bureaucrats," he snarled aloud at the page as he took his quill and aggressively crossed out the Terve section on his copy of the proposal.

"No amount of modifications could change the hull of a ship of the line into something suitable for river combat. Even entirely unladen the draught of those ships is way too deep. They're too long to maneuver easily. Too heavy to row and you can't tack on a river when the wind's against you, you won't have the space. Speaking of wind; in-land wind is very different from ocean wind. There are all kinds of obstacles breaking up and getting in the way of in-land wind. It is way weaker and far less consistent. You can't just take an ocean-going vessel built with the assumption of deep waters and strong consistent winds and send it up rivers! The number of rivers they'd be able to get any real distance upstream on can be counted on one hand. Terve should know better!"

His rant over he switched back almost instantly to his more neutral expression. His rage just vanished. "Much as I would like significantly more river raiders I would like them to work. So that option is not viable. My opinion for the other two options is that they should remain ships of the line for the time being. Constructing new ships is difficult and time-consuming and I have seen no evidence of them using anything other than conventional movement after arrival. If that holds we will likely have to fight them on the waves at some point. Stripping and abandoning our ships is difficult to reverse. But the decision not to strip them is easy to reverse. We know too little now, I say we keep the ships and strip them later if we need the guns. In times of peace, those ships serve as cargo and fishing vessels since they are too expensive to leave idle. I see no reason they can't continue serving as ocean going cargo vessels for the time being,"

Calmly he pulled out another proposal, this one was about dedicating more resources to the Unity. He glanced over at Hura, finally in a tent that could fit them. "I am broadly in favour of this one. Ground based cavalry fit poorly into my force's combat doctrines. If forgoing them means more Nawra forces than for me there is no contest. Hura has proven themselves a decisive advantage,"

"Finally I understand we have recovered the remains of our enemies. There is one question I care about and one question only. How fast do they reproduce? They are gathering a lot of materials and every speck of vegetation and meat they can get their appendages on. At the last council, I voiced concern about this threat being one that could potentially snowball quickly. I still have that fear,"

Edit: Forgot my unit choice; I'll go with 2 line infantry

[Supernerd]

Should there be a description for Ship of the Line? I don't see that unit type on the first post.

[Maximum Spin]

"I don't think anyone meant that the literal hulls of the ships of the line would be refit as river raiders. The proposal seems to be more about what happens to the equipment on the ships after they're stripped. If we choose to strip the ships, either we deploy the equipment on land or on riverboats, probably gunboats with a low, barge-like profile.

I find that a reasonable choice, but I tend to agree that, in this situation of extreme information asymmetry, we should be conservative with the resources we have available.

I am currently comfortable with the numbers of cavalry available. I have no strong opinions on research."

I'll take a Grenadier unit, Cuirassiers, and anti-air Artillery. Voting "Ships of the Line" for event 2. Voting "devote resources, but not a lot of resources" for event 3. Why isn't there an event 1?

[Fluffe9911]

Veikka reads the reports with a wide grin on his face "Oh that was absolutely splendid! I haven't had combat this intense in years! Seeing those oversized insects get blown to bits and the cavalry... oh good heavens it was glorious!" Veikka sighs "Ah I'm getting ahead of myself that went exactly as anticipated now let me go over these proposals lets see here... ah reinforcements just as expected very good some line infantry will be a proper boon!"

Veikka looks over the first proposal "Hmm... strange this one is labeled as the second proposal wonder what happened to the first... anyway converting those rusting ship cannons into some proper heavy artillery would do wonders for our progress just imagine the raw unbridled firepower! We could block out the sun in explosive hellfire it would be GLORIOUS!" Veikka looks over at Everett before looking back down at the proposal and coughing "Atlas errr ships are not my forte so I shall trust the Admiral's judgment on this one." Viekka gives a wink over toward Everett

Veikka looks over the second proposal "I can personally vouch that Unity was a massive boon during our conflict I am reluctant to admit but things may not have gone... quiet as well without their support in dealing with the airborne bugs I support this proposal wholeheartedly."

Veikka looks over the third proposal and scoffs "I personally don't see the point wasting time trying to figure out anything about these oversized insects other than how to kill them dead and as past demonstrations have shown we already excel at that!" Veikka gives a small chuckle "Regardless I do agree with the Admiral figuring out how they replenish their numbers and how fast they do it does sound a bit important... after all it would be a disappointing war if the enemy runs out of men before I run out of cannonballs."

I'll take two line infantry, dragoons, and more field artillery, Im voting the same as the Admiral for event 2, Voting to devote a lot of resources for event 3, Voting to study how the bugs replenish their numbers and how fast they do it for event 4.

[VermilionSkies]

No opinion on Event 2, Small Investment for Event 3, for Event 4 reproduction is important but we should research how their firearms and cannons work when another research prompt appears.

"We know not of ships and sea, such is best left to those who do. Whilst calling another Unity to the field would be a great boon, it will consume a large portion of our supplies while only arriving upon the fifth War Council, as compared to the Joined arriving next War Council. Finally, while we agree with the topic of choice, their guns will likely use the same principles no matter how large you scale them up, so understanding their strengths and weaknesses early will affect our odds in the coming battles."

Additionally, what exactly are our resources? Are we capable of seeing them anywhere?
What does Well Supplied do for us?

[Stirk]

Should there be a description for Ship of the Line? I don't see that unit type on the first post.

I guess there could be!

Navy:

Ship of the Line: Warships brimming with guns, the largest being bigger than anything deployed on land thanks to the mobility offered by the ship itself. While the largest can have over a hundred guns and a thousand men, most where smaller with the typical ship having around 74 guns on broadsides due to the expense and lack of mobility of the larger ships, with rating systems being based on how many guns each ship equips. As the name suggested they fought in a line, pointing their broadsides toward the enemy as one. Smaller ships where generally considered unfit to compete against larger ones as larger ships had both better defense and offense, as such frigates tended to have separate tactical purposes. Often ships of the line will be equipped with a flying rider for messaging other ships and scouting enemies, and anti aircraft weapons to defend themselves from airborne threats.

"I don't think anyone meant that the literal hulls of the ships of the line would be refit as river raiders. The proposal seems to be more about what happens to the equipment on the ships after they're stripped. If we choose to strip the ships, either we deploy the equipment on land or on riverboats, probably gunboats with a low, barge-like profile.

I find that a reasonable choice, but I tend to agree that, in this situation of extreme information asymmetry, we should be conservative with the resources we have available.

I am currently comfortable with the numbers of cavalry available. I have no strong opinions on research."

I'll take a Grenadier unit. Voting "Ships of the Line" for event 2. Voting "devote resources, but not a lot of resources" for event 3. Why isn't there an event 1?

The reinforcements are event 1! You are meant to pick one of each type - you get a cavalry and artillery unit in addition to your grenadiers.

No opinion on Event 2, Small Investment for Event 3, for Event 4 reproduction is important but we should research how their firearms and cannons work when another research prompt appears.

"We know not of ships and sea, such is best left to those who do. Whilst calling another Unity to the field would be a great boon, it will consume a large portion of our supplies while only arriving upon the fifth War Council, as compared to the Joined arriving next War Council. Finally, while we agree with the topic of choice, their guns will likely use the same principles no matter how large you scale them up, so understanding their strengths and weaknesses early will affect our odds in the coming battles."

Additionally, what exactly are our resources? Are we capable of seeing them anywhere?
What does Well Supplied do for us?

Resources are a general term for the overall logistics of your army and include funding, food, ammunition, manpower, transportation, materiel, etc. To keep the game simple they are simplified, essentially it is a measure of how many units you will get. I’m this case it represents the other nations having less cavalry in return for you getting more.

Well Supplied will improve your performance in battle. Similar modifiers will be available to other troops through events.

[Supernerd]

Grimtusk Bonegrinder reviews the reports and considers the situation.

First of all, reinforcements! While it is not unheard of for Grobbleshire Goblins to be able to take on elite infantry roles, most of them are categorized as a Light Infantry and for good reason. Staying still on the battlefield is a good way for a Goblin to get killed.

Goblins are also able to ride smaller mounts than the humans that make up the bulk of the alliance, which gives their Dragoons some mount options that wouldn't be suitable for a human. In this case: Wolves. They are not quite as fast as a horse, but they are more maneuverable in terrain such as a forest, and their nature of group hunting and loyalty to their pack makes them easy to train with few goblin casualties; and they can even join in combat after being dismounted!

And of course, Grimtusk has connections with the goblin arcane acadmies and was able to recruit a unit of Wizards. These tricky spellcasters are capable of all sorts of magic, and will make it exponentially harder for the invaders to predict the Grand Army's tactics.

The next order of business was the matter concerning the warships. Without a map, there's no way to be sure but Gobbleshire wouldn't have warships if they didn't think they needed them. Even if the enemy doesn't have naval units, this level of firepower would also come in handy for defending coastal cities, which tend to be of high logistical value in any war.

Concering the unity. Are their cavalry better than that of Grobbleshire? Grimtusk decides that an argument can perhaps be made that: Yes. They are. Hm. Grimtusk Bonegrinder decides to approve this one.

And finally came the subject of research. While the reproduction habits of the enemy is perhaps of some interest, knowing this does not change the objective of what actually needs to be done about them. Much more sensible to research how to kill the bugs instead, anything such as the location of their vital organs, structural weak points in their chitin, or substances that can poison them. Things like that are what we really need to know!

Event 1: Grimtusk Bonegrinder receives 2 Units of Light Infantry, 1 Unit of Dragoons and 1 Unit of Wizards.
Event 2: Grimtusk Bonegrinder will take the Ship of the Line.
Event 3: Grimtusk votes in favor of additional support for the Unity
Event 4: Grimtusk votes to Research how to better kill the Invaders

[Maximum Spin]

The reinforcements are event 1! You are meant to pick one of each type - you get a cavalry and artillery unit in addition to your grenadiers.

I see.

You should have labelled it, then!

[Stirk]

The reinforcements are event 1! You are meant to pick one of each type - you get a cavalry and artillery unit in addition to your grenadiers.

I see.

You should have labelled it, then!

Labels are for squares, and squares are for repelling cavalry!

[Jerick]

Minor misunderstanding with my unit choices so I'm fixing them up;
2 Light infantry.
Winged Hussars
Anti Air artiliery

[Supernerd]

Are we waiting on anyone else?

[Stirk]

Event Resolution

Event 2:

By unanimous agreement of those with navy capacity, Ships of the Line will remain Ships of the Line until further notice. They will remain standby in safe ports near the battlefront until their generals call them to the front line. Should the enemy ever take to the seas, they'll face the wrath of their massive broadsides. Should the enemy never take to the seas, the seamen can at least declare boldly that they must have scared them off. Those under the Admiral begin acting as oversized shipping and fishing vessels and have begun the hunt for large sea monsters to feed the ever-growing Grand Army.

Event 3:

Most Generals where in favor of diverting resources toward Unity's cavalry, with some disagreement on the exact number of resources to allocate. This event will continue on to the next War Council, where you will get a choice between minor and major funding for the bonded, and consequentially the summoning of a new Unity or a larger number of less expensive bonded.

Event 4:

With two votes, the War Council orders the researchers to search out the Invader's means of reproduction. Every Nation supporting the war effort has their own method of obtaining data, but fortunately the battlefield is littered with enough corpses that research material is easily obtained. Autopsies suggest that the Invaders lack the ability to reproduce on the individual level. They simply lack any organs that could possibly be used for sexual or asexual reproduction. Interestingly this applies to all Invader "species", including the mounts that we have assumed where normal animals - it is possible that they all come from the same source. For what that source is, every researcher has come up with their own theory. The most popular is the "Queen" theory. This theory states that all Invaders are laid by Queens similar to a bee or ant, with the Queen likely having some control over what she lays. In this case finding and defeating the Queen or Queens would severely hamper the enemy's ability to replace fallen units. Another theory states that the Queen theory takes too much stake on appearances, and is is likely they have nothing to do with mundane insects. Proponents of this theory suggest that they are crafted by unknown scientific or magical technology in a factory like setting, noting the possibility that their weapons are crafted in the same way as the soldiers holding them due to their lifelike nature.

Whatever the truth is the path forward involves denying the enemy territory and prevent them from setting up whatever infrastructure they need. If you could take to the sky and defeat the source beyond the clouds, it is very likely you could end the threat of the Invaders for good. As for their reproduction speed, wear and tear on their wings and jaw suggest that the normal footsoldier is in the realm of months old, but this could mean nothing if they shed their outer layer every few months. Or if they have life cycle stages before their fully grown form. The general consensus from both theories is that an Invader can go from birth to the battlefield in less than a year, but the data is weak until you capture something capable of breeding.

Deployment Phase 2

Now with legions of their own, the Grand Army marches off to war. True war, not simply skirmishing with whoever managed to show up on time. Victory is far from certain as the enemies only grow more numerous, their clouds expanding to assault more and more territory somehow targeting the political power of each nation with what can only be deliberate intelligence. Still with the resources provided you can now do something about them. Victory is just over the gloomy horizon!

Battlefield One: Thanks to the Grand Army's efforts, the massive horde originating from High Rus was slowed for long enough to evacuate the peasants and all their usable materials from much of the surrounding countryside. However they continue to expand their territory around ground zero of the invasion, relying more on Line Infantry now that their raiders are no longer bringing home the bacon. A token force may be allocated to continue attempting to slow their onslaught, a more dedicated force may dig in and stop their advancement, and a truly powerful force may be able to push back and retake territory from the Invaders. Keep in mind that they will still outnumber you by a notable amount even if you where to send the entire assembled Grand Army after them - do not go in expecting an easy victory. Expected battlefield is a large range including frozen forests, wide fields filled with plants that love the cold, villages, and occasionally snowy hills. Most of the enemy remains Line Infantry, with confirmed Anti Air Artillery. Other artillery support is likely. Raiding units that survived the previous fight are sticking around but likely to fight closer to the main force.

Battlefield Two: Following the successful defense of the Sultanate of Drezzen the surviving Invaders have been moving north toward the main army in High Rus, taking with them their loot. It would likely be beneficial the war effort to prevent them from meeting with the main unit, though we do not have a solid grasp of what exactly the purpose of all the loot as of yet. Much of the remaining force is Light Infantry who avoided the heavy fighting during the last battle, with surviving Line Infantry and Fly Riders making up most of the remainder. If they manage to approach High Rus reinforcements are expected, do be careful not to get flanked by Invaders coming from the North to meet their raiders. Expected battlefield is open snowy fields with some greenery, broken by the occasional temperate forest. As before the rivers are ready for raiding.

Battlefield Three: Once again invaders are expected to drop from the sky, this time on the Kingdom of Tensali to High Rus's East. As this is Veikka Puomi's home territory, he is expected to know the land better than the foreign soil he has been fighting over. As before defenses are being prepared, focusing on increasing the defenses of the King's mighty castle. It is likely that the Invaders will once again attempt to ransack the city should they fail to conqueror it, and hopefully their numbers will be small enough that this is the case. Enemy unit types are unknown. Battlefield is expected to be the King's Castle, urban combat, and whatever spills out into the surrounding countryside.


Forces of the Grand Army

Spoiler:  Veikka Puomi (click to show/hide)

 Name: Veikka Puomi
Nation Bonus: Almost always on the defensive every soldier in the relatively small Kingdom of Tensali is drilled on the importance of maintaining both mobility and overwhelming firepower when it comes to fighting the enemy. This drilling lets most soldiers maintain some level of cohesion and offensive capabilities even while on the retreat to often devastating effects for the attacking enemy. (Retreats faster and better on the defensive)
General Bonus: Veikka Puomi has trained heavily in the importance of artillery warfare on the battlefield and has successfully used this knowledge to help defend Tensali from enemy incursions multiple times in his carrier. (Good with Field Artillery)
Units: 2 Field Artillery, 2 Line Infantry, 1 Dragoons, 1 Ship of the Line
Mount: A giant snow minx the traditional animal of the Kingdom of Tensali
Backstory: Veikka is a gruff old human man with a well-trimmed blond mustache and shaven down beard once a lesser noble now decorated in a vibrant military uniform of the traditional Tensali coloring covered in merits from his years of service to his King. Situated near the High Rus the Kingdom of Tensali is the last remaining fragment of the once glorious Empire of Tensal that over its history has seen its sovereignty under threat and its land slowly whittled away by its jingoistic neighbors still holding a grudge over the actions of a long-dead empire. It is the hope of king Broris III of the Bauluna dynasty that by participating in this coalition relationships can finally normalize and perhaps Tensali can get back some of its long-lost lands that High Rus took from them many years ago.

Spoiler: Hura (click to show/hide)

Name: Great Unity Allion & Hura
Nation Bonus: Due to their unique natures, Nawra cavalry are much sturdier and more effective than Grand Army standard. However, should their mounts fall, so will the soldiers within them.
General Bonus: Hura and Allion have a bond that can only be formed by years of working together in the field. Additionally, being the same creature helps somewhat. There will never be delay between thought and action, and their effectiveness is unmatched by any other cavalier
Units: 1 Heavy Winged Hussar (Well Supplied)
Mount: A colossal levitating serpent-like creature by the name of Allion, at home beneath the sands and in the sky alike. His beige-scaled bulk blots out the sky beneath it as he slithers across the horizon, his back inflating with the gaseous substances that both keep him afloat and allow him to emit puffs of potent enzymes that dissolve anything solid they touch.
Backstory: The Nawra are a race of symbiotic oozes that bond with creatures via weaving their body throughout their nervous systems, taking control of anything without it's own sentience and communing with anything that can have feelings. As they dry out quickly outside of a host or a body of water, you will often see them within the forms of various creatures from both the deserts in which they live and from other nations. Hura is the Nawra bonded within the Glintscale Serpent Allion, the Great Unity of the Nawra Tribes.

Spoiler: Admiral Everett (click to show/hide)

Name: Admiral Everett
Nation Bonus: The Terve Merchant Empire is incredible at the complex task of logistics. They are an island nation that has spread its influence to ports all around the world. Their impressive fleets of ships are best served carrying great amounts of cargo to ports and up rivers. Their reach and expertise mean they are typically very skilled in acquiring goods and getting them where they need to be.
General Bonus: Coastal and river raiding. Admiral Everett is well known and reviled for his deep strikes against soft and civilian targets and his ruthless and effective raids. His ships serve as a base for his Wyvern core to launch off and attack from as they sail up and down rivers.
Units: 2 Winged Hussars, 2 Light Infantry, 1 Anti Air Artillery, 1 Ship of the Line
Mount: Wyvern. They are about 50% larger than a horse not including wingspan. They have elongated forelimbs that have a fleshy membrane that acts as a wing. They have long necks and nasty fangs that drip with dangerous venom. However, their skin is thin and their bones are light since they need to be light to be able to fly. These fish-eating creatures infest many isolated islands, often in vicious, territorial swarms.
Backstory: Everett is a tall, skinny man, missing his left arm. His skin is battered and weathered from long days in harsh sea weather. He is cold, uncompromising, and brutal. He has fought in several campaigns when other nations have refused to allow Terve merchants to trade. He achieved great success in convincing them to reconsider but earned himself considerable infamy in the process. The Terve Merchant Empire is happy to use his infamy to threaten uncooperative nations.

Spoiler: Grimtusk Bonegrinder (click to show/hide)

Name: Grimtusk Bonegrinder
Nation Bonus: The Goblins of Gobbleshire are not very physically imposing, but they are lightweight, nimble and very annoying. A unit of Goblins typically consists of more individuals than usual, due to their smaller stature and fecundity.
General Bonus: Grimtusk is capable of filling the fallen with necrotic energy that will let them continue fighting even if they suffer fatal wounds. One per Deployment phase, he may raise a fallen Unit (on either side) to become his undead minions. Putting them out of the fight for good will often require them to be either armless, or headless. Undead Units may be maintained across deployment phases with the use of either this ability or a Wizard action.
Units: 3 1/2 Light Infantry, 1 Dragoon, 1 Wizard, 1 Light Infantry (Undead), 1 Ship of the Line
Mount: A bone giant, comprised of millions of bones. This undead monstrosity heeds any order without question and obeys only one voice. It looks kind of like a dinosaur.
Backstory: Goblins have been a menace to civilized society for millennia, and their reputation of ill temperament and violence is not undeserved. Feral tribes of goblins can be found all over the place even to this day, though following the advent of gunpowder the goblins have ceased to be a serious threat to the established nations.

Grobbleshire is a nation of goblins that had been established centuries ago, and is a place where you can find relatively more civilized goblinkind. It is here that the goblin necromancer Grimtusk Bonegrinder emerged from, who commands respect due to their sheer arcane power. Grimtusk has witnessed that times are changing, and seeks to redefine the goblin's place in the world while it is still possible to do so.

Spoiler: Western Prince Ted Yamamoto (click to show/hide)

Name: Western Prince Ted Yamamoto
Nation Bonus: The cowboy armies of 人外 ("the land of the men left behind") are famous for their sniper-like sharpshooting in all weather conditions. Ranged units receive buffed accuracy.
General Bonus: The Golden Dragon Emperor's words are backed with nuclear dragons. The Golden Family have been breeding dragons for centuries, and, whenever the Emperor is in the theatre of battle, his finest war-trained drakes follow, providing the equivalent of an artillery unit in fiery bombardment.
Units:2 Line infantry, 1 Grenadier, 1 Cuirassiers, 1 Anti Air Artillery, 1 Ship of the Line
Mount: The Dragon Nexus Ōtokage is definitely not a robot and you should report anyone who tells you it is to the secret police.
Backstory: The Golden Dragon Emperor Eiji "Ted" Yamamoto won his first war for his country, against the hated weeb furry menace, at the age of 13 and has been tremendously bored ever since. Needless to say, when he heard about creepy alien bugs falling from the sky, he immediately wanted to get in on that. Where is this "west" that his strange technology comes from? Most of his subjects assume it is some kind of hell dimension populated by demons with which the Emperor has made a blood pact.

[Supernerd]

Grimtusk Bonegrinder considers the situation.

"I have a plan for Battlefield 2, and my own forces will be sufficient to perform it. I'll have my Wizard brigade use their magic to conjure forth a northbound snowstorm, which will slow down their retreat, mask our presence, and reduce the effectiveness of their fly riders. Naturally my own soldiers will have been equipped with winter gear in advance. From there, my light infantry will catch up to them before they get too far and use their superior mobility to gun them down from outside of their effective range. My dragoon unit will scout ahead to warn us about when the enemy's northern forces get too close for comfort."

"If all goes to plan, my soldiers will grab the loot and run back home with it, as we goblins do. If things take a turn for the worse, I'll send my undead unit on a suicide attack and retreat with whatever swag I can."

Grimtusk then listens to see what the other generals have to say.

[Jerick]

As always in war, there were places crying out for soldiers and too few to comfortably deploy to guarantee victory. "I would prefer if you deployed North to High Rus Grimtusk. The frontline promises to be a meat grinder. We could use a necromancer there. I could handle the fleeing remnants it's the kind of fight me and my troops are good at. As for Tensali I'll differ to Vekkia's judgment on that. His guns could be very useful on the front but could also be decisive in defending his homeland,"