BIG HITS: Walkyr’s Siege Break on Death in Pawanallpa

Big Hits is a new article series by the Times that highlights decisive military victories in battles that count. The articles explore and contextualize the tactical, strategic and political implications of major offensive or defensive plays by Illyriad combatants to promote the military aspect of the game in both war and tournament settings. 

The Times wishes to thank both Walkyr and The Honey Badger for their cooperation and sharing of information to make this article possible.

On a small, parched hill in Pawanallpa, tens of thousands of greenskin spear units looked onward at CleopatraMurk’s smoldering city of Pampas in the distance, as bombardiers from a Deathmongers siege loaded a new volley for the catapults. While the commanders prepared to give the signal to fire, the dry ground beneath their feet cracked and shook and, turning to their rear, a wall of dust approached them with a rumble of thunder accompanying the advance. As the cloud came closer into focus, the orc siege army and its complement of reinforcing troops beheld a column of light cavalry approaching at incomprehensible speed and ferocity. Orc scouts counted them as 19,000 strong.

The elven swiftsteeds had left their city of Nature’s Bounty NESB in the Farshards, and rode almost uninterrupted, stopping only briefly for watering and feed, exhorted onward by the elven magic and deep spiritual love held between themselves and their elven masters. The greenskins quickly closed ranks and reformed the line to protect the catapults and their accompanying storm army, but as the sheer size and scope of the elven cavalry become more clear, the orc commanders could clearly see that this would be their final battle. Moments before the first line of cavalry shattered the greenskin ranks, the swiftsteeds became fully spiritualized, and townfolk watching the battle from a nearby hamlet reported that in their blurred gallop, all of the steeds’ hooves left the ground, levitating for what seemed like an eternal moment before crashing down into the orc ranks.

11,253 swiftsteeds died in this great battle, and the elven blood spilled that day along with their thoroughbreds managed to exterminate the Deathmongers’ siege on CleopatraMurk in its entirety. In total, 27,313 orc spears perished, along with siege equipment and commanders. Had the assault been on plains, the cavalry would have had even fewer casualties.

From: System
Subject: Failed defense by The Reaper’s forces at [919|-1576] in Pawanallpa under attack by Walkyr’s forces from Nature’s Bounty NESB
Received: 30 Jun 2015 06:45
Original Message:
Two opposing forces clash against each other.

Attacking up a small hill offers little advantage, or penalty, to the attacking force.

Defences with a height advantage, however small, are better than nothing.

Attackers:	Unit:	Quantity:	Casualties:	Survivors:
Commander: El 1Cav 2	Swiftsteed	1	Damaged for 59, 141 health remains.
Troops:	Swiftsteeds	19000	11253	7747

Defenders:	Unit:	Quantity:	Casualties:	Survivors:
Commander: Kobold	Kobold Cohort	1	Damaged for 100, 0 health remains.
Troops:	Kobold Cohorts	8597	8597	0
Commander: kobold	Kobold Cohort	1	Damaged for 100, 0 health remains.
Troops:	Kobold Cohorts	6831	6831	0
Commander: Splinter	Fist	1	Damaged for 100, 0 health remains.
Troops:	Fists	246	246	0
Troops:	Trebuchets	8	8	0
Troops:	Wolfriders	93	93	0
Commander: Hellboy	Kobold Cohort	1	Damaged for 100, 0 health remains.
Troops:	Kobold Cohorts	936	936	0
Commander: Kobold	Kobold Cohort	1	Damaged for 100, 0 health remains.
Troops:	Kobold Cohorts	9953	9953	0
Commander: Kobold II	Kobold Cohort	1	Damaged for 100, 0 health remains.
Troops:	Kobold Cohorts	649	649	0
Commander: Kobold II	Kobold Cohort	1	Damaged for 100, 0 health remains.
Troops:	Kobold Cohorts	718	718	0
Commander: Kobold II	Kobold Cohort	1	Damaged for 100, 0 health remains.
Troops:	Kobold Cohorts	674	674	0

This is a depiction of one of the most palpable cavalry strikes yet reported in the ongoing Stomps/Claimers war. Typically, most news coming from the front lines is either battle- or politically-focused. This story, however, has elements of both, which is what makes it such a compelling story.

The swiftsteed siege break on Death’s siege of CleopatraMurk, who was an early yet brief volunteer in Stomp, is one of Stomps’ most heroic moments on the battlefield thus far. And yet, the commander behind the siege break, Walkyr (the alt account of Ryklaw), has never been a part of Stomps’ effort, and in an exclusive conversation with the Times, revealed that his motives for breaking that siege were not based on the breaking of land claims, but rather a desire to save a friend from an untenable situation.

CleopatraMurk was an account who came to Stomps from EE. Her cities, which are located both in Pawanallpa where this battle took place, as well as in southern BL, were quickly targeted by the Claimers for their relatively close proximity to the land claiming alliances’ homelands as well as their virtual isolation. Particularly in the south, Stomps had no way to defend Cleo from oncoming SIN operations, which the Times did some reporting on early in the war. However, the situation with Cleo evolved rapidly after she abruptly left Stomps and SIN operations on her cities of Sauna and Tanning Salon aborted, part of a possible brokered deal between she and SIN that the Times is still not privy to.

At the same time, however, Death had moved forward with a siege on Cleo’s city of Pampas in Pawanallpa, which is located in the vicinity of Death’s own land claim. Any possible deal brokered with SIN obviously did not involve Death at the negotiating table.

The Death siege on Pampas came as a surprise, as there had been no war declaration between Death and Stomps prior to suggest an ensuing battle. Kratos’ siege touched down on June 28th at 8:51 am ST. Cleo left Stomps at 19:19 that same day. By the 30th, Walkyr had broken the siege with his own cavalry, never once having stepped into Stomps.

IGMs provided by Walkyr also detail his purported motivation for involving himself in CleopatraMurk’s defense after the battle. After The Honey Badger sought to provide Walkyr with 50 million in gold “in exchange for not interfering with Death sieges, or other affairs” as IGMs reveal, Walkyr responded with this IGM:

From: Walkyr
Subject: RE: RE: Hello.
Received: 10 Jul 2015 01:33
Original Message:

To continue the conversation, let me tell you something of why I got involved and to what extent. Cleopatra asked for my help because she was being attacked and did not know why. She had moved to an isolated place to collect anatomies and had attacked nobody.

I did not want to become involved. Only through chance conversation on GC did we discover the alliance land claim. I urged her to exodus from the area and she was going to do so as soon as another town that was in exodus landed. In the meantime a blockade was placed on her town that she could not break and she could not escape.

So a non-military player who had accidentally landed in a land claim was now trapped into a situation with the only conclusion to have a city destroyed. No chance was given for her to join the alliance or to exodus the town.

I only became involved to the extent allowing her to escape with her city. She had a narrow window of time without a blockade and if she did not take advantage of that, she would have got no more help from me. Also, I would only help to break blockades or sieges. I would never attack any town.

If people want conflict, I will allow them to fight all they want and never get involved. Only those who cannot defend themselves and have no desire to fight can have any chance of my assistance.

My preference is to avoid all conflict.

Rest assured if a military player moves into your area they cannot look to me for support. They will have to enjoy the game without me. If a non-military player moves into your area and refuses to move, neither can they get my support. They have made their choices.

I have given you a recipe to make sure that I never again interfere in your battles that does not cost you anything.

On a totally side note, I think you guys are a hoot! You add a lot of flavor to the game and your attitudes are awesome!

Thanks for contacting me.

Walkyr’s explanation seemed acceptable to The Honey Badger, who appeared in his response willing to let the conflict rest at this explanation. However, Walkyr’s purported ignorance of Cleo’s conscription with Stomps will seem peculiar at best to critics of his involvement in the battle to defend her. He characterizes the Death sieges on Cleo as being a result of having ” . . . accidentally landed in a land claim” and “was now trapped into a situation with the only conclusion to have a city destroyed. No chance was given for her to join the alliance or to exodus the town.” Death never indicated what the motive was for the siege on Cleo — was it part of the Stomp/Claimers war, and her inclusion in Stomps, or simply the alliance enforcing its claim policy? Or both?

Nowhere in Walkyr’s correspondence does he even mention Stomps. And yet, nowhere in The Honey Badger’s response to Walkyr does he seek to correct Walkyr’s assumptions of why Cleo was targeted by Death in the first place, either. The answers to these questions are still not entirely clear, adding to the intrigue of this curious battle.

It is clear that SIN’s operations on Cleo in the south were the result of her joining Stomps. However, strangely, that fact seems to be completely beside the point in the decision-making for both Death and Walkyr.

Whatever role the Stomps/Claimers war played in this battle, nothing can diminish its impact on the war as whole. For Death, Walkyr singlehandedly robbed them of what could have been a rousing win for the claimers and their enforcement of their claim. For those who are not involved in the war, the battle shows the impact that months of troop building can have on a war. It is a compelling use of fast elven cavalry, and a win that Walkyr owns entirely for himself.

Have any other “Big Hits” to share for the series? send the combat report and details to the Times and we’ll investigate!