Dlords City of Chocolates Melts Under Withering TUF Siege

TUF won a key early siege early Monday morning, server time, with Karl Aegis razing the Dlords city of Chocolates in what is being described as a completely uncontested siege. The siege’s storm force is all that remains of the city, which once stood on a large hill. The building to the east of the city has now been vacated, suggesting that the siege may have been waged entirely by Karl and unsupported by other TUF forces.

With the Dlords capitulating this siege, the hallowed dwarven alliance has now fallen behind TUF-Tuna in the War Score Card rankings, after declaring war preemptively in response to a leaked TUF AC transcript showing plans to attack Dlords in the future.

The combination of the city of Chocolates being incredibly isolated from the Dlords’ cluster, as well as the poor city placement likely led to the alliance’s decision to capitulate the siege.

Red box indicates site of the siege — green cluster represents Dlords’ stronghold in Elgea.

For TUF, the siege operation was an opportunity to take the early lead in a war that otherwise caught them off guard.

In response, Dlords will need to engage TUF in the few remaining areas in Elgea where it can. TUF still has a large number very isolated cities in Elgea, and with the alliance slowly building a cluster in the southern reaches of the Broken Lands, these cities will be largely indefensible if the Dlords can manage to land siege camps on them quickly.

Map of Elgea. Dlords in green, TUF in red.

Conversely, Dlords only has two cities in all of the Broken Lands.

[UPDATED] TUF’s Karl Aegis Captures One, Initiates New Siege on Dlords in Elgea; TUF Claims Dwarves Hired Mercs For Defense

The TUF/Dlords war is now in full force, with TUF initiating a new siege in Elgea after capturing the city of Unicorns yesterday. The Herald is reporting Karl Aegis’ active siege in their siege section:

Gori [Dlord]	Chocolates	[-23|553] in Kal Tirikan	Karl Aegis [TUF]	Sun 27 Mar 05:02

Gori’s city of Chocolates is in a poor position in that it is bordered by an old abandoned lodge to the city’s east, which affords Karl’s siege force with ample coverage from cavalry strikes. Currently, there is no blockading force on the city, however, there are plenty of terrain options for blockades around the city, including forests and large hills.

Prior to this siege, Karl also managed to capture the city of Unicorns from Dlords’ at 22:30 server time yesterday. TUF officials claim that “there was little Dlord resistance, but Dlords paid the mercenary group Soldiers for Hire [SforH] to attack the siege.”

[Updated March 27, 2016 20:57 ST]

TUF has provided proof that they absorbed at least one hit from SforH on their siege of Unicorns. Hammond is a member of the merc alliance:

Subject: FW: Victorious defense by Karl Aegis’s forces at [-17|545] in Kal Tirikan under attack by Hammond’s forces from Mariselle
Received: 26 Mar 2016 18:36
Original Message:
Two opposing forces clash against each other.

Swordsmen, and especially cavalry, find attacking into very mountainous terrain difficult – although ranged units can excel.

Narrow passes and gulleys hinder any mounted units’ ability to defend adequately. Nimble spear units have no such worries here, and defending bowmen are able to use their height advantage to maximum effect.

Attackers:	Unit:	Quantity:	Casualties:	Survivors:
Commander: Delphina Princess of Range	Longbowman	1	Damaged for 100, 0 health remains.
Troops:	Knights	56	56	0
Troops:	Charioteers	233	233	0

No proof has been provided suggesting that SforH was indeed hired, but this hit implicates the alliance in the war. Lance the Great, leader of SforH, claimed in comments that, “Soldiers for Hire did not sanction a hit against the Siege. They were not paid. SforH has not been hired at this point from either side.”

 

EXCLUSIVE – Beleg on Leaked TUF AC Transcript: “We took their words seriously”

A revealing policy discussion in TUF AC appears to have been the impetus for Dlords’ pre-emptive war declaration, with Dlords alliance leader Belegar Ironhammer highlighting the BL warrior alliance’s plans to engage the Elgean dwarves as casus belli for their move.

The TUF AC transcript was sent to the Times by Beleg himself, who received it from an unrevealed source. The opening of the dialogue includes an effort to track down diplo attacks attributed to Ironhammer himself. The Times cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the transcript:

[20 Feb 07:26]<Mexican dwarf> I just got diplo’d

[20 Feb 07:27]<Mexican dwarf> 45mins ago

[20 Feb 07:28]<Mexican dwarf> By T2 sabs

[20 Feb 07:29]<viperone> where/

[20 Feb 07:29]<viperone> i was sdiplo

[20 Feb 07:29]<viperone> diplod twice by belegar in perrigor

[20 Feb 07:29]<Mexican dwarf> This was in elgea. Mellia

[20 Feb 07:30]<viperone> dlords seems to have an issue

[20 Feb 07:30]<viperone> i know mine were from belegar…i tracked em back

[20 Feb 07:30]<Mexican dwarf> I’m on mobile atm so I can’t trace them

[20 Feb 07:31]<viperone> ahhh…..well….sabs were used on me on the first diplo

[20 Feb 07:31]<viperone> scouts on the second

[20 Feb 07:31]<viperone> both from the multi accounter belegar…

[20 Feb 07:31]<Mexican dwarf> No scouts incoming

[20 Feb 07:32]<Mexican dwarf> Currently at.-289|2 in Meilla

[20 Feb 07:32]<Mexican dwarf> Moving 3 arrows

[20 Feb 07:33]<viperone> which way they headed

[20 Feb 07:33]<Mexican dwarf> SE

[20 Feb 07:34]<viperone> belegar has a city in tor carrock

[20 Feb 07:34]<Mexican dwarf> Hmm

[20 Feb 07:35]<Mexican dwarf> Give me a min and I’ll see if I can trace them

[20 Feb 07:35]<viperone>#/World/Map/-202/-130

[20 Feb 07:35]<viperone> a cluster of dlords there actually…

[20 Feb 07:37]<Mexican dwarf> Near the SS mines

[20 Feb 07:38]<viperone> yeah…..i guess if thats their mine location…they have one….all his accounts or sat accounts

[20 Feb 08:00]<Mexican dwarf> They are dwarf T2’s

[20 Feb 08:01]<Mexican dwarf> Just to find what dicklord did it

[20 Feb 08:01]<viperone> has to [be] a dlord account…i though elfs or aga broke a siege they had going on aj or someone

From here, the conversation switches to a strategic discussion of discussing future war plans with TUF, with alliance members corroborating a previous piece in the Times revealing TUF’s long-term plans to eventually engage SIN:

[20 Feb 08:01]<Mexican dwarf> So are we taking out dlord or SIN first?

[20 Feb 08:01]<viperone> belegar sits many accounts in dlords

[20 Feb 08:02]<viperone> currently sin

[20 Feb 08:02]<Mexican dwarf> Dlord after?

[20 Feb 08:02]<viperone> dlords will have to wait their turn…since we know they are diploing us

[20 Feb 08:03]<Mexican dwarf> I want one of their mines

[20 Feb 08:03]<viperone> our friends in elgea will owe us….so they should be able to punish dlords

[20 Feb 08:03]<Mexican dwarf> I could rope in another large player in mellia that owes me stuff and I’m sure if I said SS mine to him he’ll help

[20 Feb 08:04]<viperone> lol…….well….lets take em one at a time

[20 Feb 08:04]<Mexican dwarf> Aww

[20 Feb 08:04]<viperone> rofl

In response to this dialogue, Ironhammer justified Dlords’ war declaration of TUF, citing both the plans to overtake Dlords’ silversteel mines as well as general plans to engage them in the future: “We took their words seriously. Add this information with their attacks on our sieges in BL made a TUF war seem all the more likely. Thus, we resolved to fight TUF at a battlefield of our choosing before they could attack our people.”

The Times reached out to TUF for a response to the leaked AC document. The official statement, which was purportedly written by ajqtrz2 (who is now heading TUF’s PR efforts), reads as follows:

“While the statements in the chat do seem to imply a plan of sorts to do damage to Dlords standings in Elgea, it is just as obvious that they were of the ‘some day I wish and maybe someday I will’ variety. Thus, Dlords has no real quarrel with us. That the communication was in AC is only proof that it was a joke as our senior members never discuss actual plans in AC, for the very reason that leaks do often occur.  Belegar should have understood this as we quite certain he knows such policies are normal in a well run alliance.

He knows his attacks are completely unjustified.”

Fairies Shatter First Dlord Siege; Dwarves Retreat After Hit

According to eyewitness accounts from Times reporters, Fairy levied a big hit on Dlords’ opening siege in their regional dispute to prompt a recall of the siege. The victory for Fairy represents a major statement that, in spite of the cute pixies and pictures of fairy castles with rainbows on their profile, they are ready to challenge Dlords on the battlefield for what they feel is their own land.

By all accounts, Fairy made quick and easy defeat of the Dlords siege. The siege initially set up at 7:00 pm on October 28th, and by yesterday had managed to reduce the city’s population and take out its wall. Early yesterday morning, the Times observed what appeared to be either a raid or a sally forth coming from the city that may have stunned the siege. A sally forth is a relatively rare, raid-like tactic used against sieges that, if successful, stuns the siege for 4 hours, ceasing its volleys against the city. It is possible that Fairy stunned the Dlords siege long enough for a siege-breaking army to hit, rendering the siege impotent.

By late last night server time, Dlords was observed sending messengers to the siege and recalling forces. Mellificient’s city of Veran was reduced to about 5,800 population in the battle.

Ex-Stomper and Fairy veteran Bimoda contacted the Times and provided a narrative that she wrote about the battle, which apparently has already become part of Fairy legend. In the account, she notes that the Dlords siege purportedly had “over 250,000″ troops defending it, and that “merely a 10th of their forces remained” after what appears to have been one or several major attacks from Fairy forces. These numbers were confirmed by the Times in the combat reports included in Bimoda’s narrative, however, the size or type of the Fairy attacking force is unknown. Based on the account, it appears that Erebus had the big hit.

The current regional war between Dlords and Fairy was one initiated by the Dwarven Lords based on grievances over Fairy’s purported aggressive moves to settle within what Dlords considers its territory. Since their inception, the dwarf-only alliance has been famous for establishing and enforcing the localities and mines that it occupies, having even maintained a land claim at one time. This first battle in what could be a protracted war has demonstrated that Fairy won’t easily roll over and concede the issue to Dlords.

Dwarven Lords Strike Fairy City in Opening Siege of Land Dispute War in Elgea

The first siege in the recently declared war between Dlords and Fairy posted today, suggesting that the war between the two veteran alliances may have taken a serious turn. A notification for Belegar Ironhammer’s siege against Fairy’s Mellificient posted earlier in GC:

[18:57]<System> ** News Flash: Mellificient’s [Fairy] large city of Veran is now under siege by Belegar Ironhammer’s [Dlord] huge city of Karak Hirn

And was followed by the official record in the Herald’s siege section:

Mellificient [Fairy]

Veran

[306|-598] in Turalia

Belegar Ironhammer [Dlord]

Wed 28 Oct 18:57

The current siege was placed in a small forest south of the city instead of one of two small mountains that skirt half of the city. Small mountains afford commanding defensive capabilities for certain units, however, infantry fare well in forests, and with infantry being the choice units for dwarves, Belegar’s siege square choice suggests an infantry-heavy storm force. There is currently no accompanying blockade on the city.

Dwarven Lords Declare War on the Illyria Fairy Nation

In this map of Elgea, the Dlords are depicted in green, while Fairy is depicted in blue

Just as the Newlands Wars appears to be winding down, a new war has erupted among two of the older alliances in Illyriad. Today at 2:28 server time, the Dwarven Lords [Dlord] declared war on the Illyriad Fairy Nation [Fairy]. The war declaration was later posted in the Herald’s diplomacy section:

 

Illyria Fairy Nation [Fairy] and Dwarven Lords [Dlord] enter War

Tue 27 Oct 2015

Little is known about what precipitated the war declaration between Dlords and Fairy, however, this is not the first time that there has been tension between those involved in the two alliances, as Dlords once did battle with Fairy’s sister alliance, the Fairy Roads Authority [Roads] during the Consone war.

Dlords was founded in April of 2010 — the first year of Illyriad’s history — while Fairy was founded in December of 2012. Both alliances have a presence in the Broken Lands, but are predominantly based in Elgea. Fighting is likely to coalesce around the region of Arran and Turalia, where both alliances have a well-supported cluster of cities.

 

The Times only maintains War Score Cards for wars that involve multiple sieges. Until or unless sieges are utilized in this war, our editorial team will not keep track of any other battle stats. Players and alliances are encouraged to send tips to the Times via our forum account, since the more meta-gaming information is made available to the player base, the more engaged everyone is in the game.