He-Man Hurt in Desert: Impressive TUF Op Humiliates SIN

In a significant turn of events, TUF has answered the loss of one of their active’s cities in southern BL with a major siege victory against the game’s top defensive player. Amid a swarm of siege and blockade camps set down against SIN’s He-Man, it was Josh who was finally able to storm his city of Cracked Walnut and destroy it, the Times has learned.

The Times reported earlier on the landing of the siege on September 1st, which at first featured three siege camps by Agalloch that were later joined by the PublicRelations account, who set down an additional two more. The remaining squares were occupied by sieges and, while it appears that SIN managed to cripple several of the siege camps, the close proximity of TUF cities were likely able to keep blockades and direct attacks cycling throughout the operation.

The length of the siege suggests that He-Man broke enough blockades and prestige built at times, however, TUF was able to take advantage of He-Man’s city placement, which was flanked by 6 TUF cities.

The siege victory is a major win for TUF, who effectively answers SIN’s recent razing of kaven’s just stolen with an even more high-profile razing in Pawanallpa.

Adding insult to injury, it also appears that the raze has forced SIN to fall back from its desert position, according to a suggestion from TUF in GC following their victory yesterday:

[19:51]<PublicRelations> bye bye
[19:52]*PublicRelations waves at the retreating desert orc
[19:52]<ThorOdin> nice
[19:52]<PublicRelations> going up are we?

The war between TUF and SIN has effectively become an effort for Broken Lands warlord Agalloch to unseat The Hashashin as the assumed military leaders of the game — and his alliance has made a strong case for it. SIN has struggled in the early going of the war, already losing three cities to razes, while having another 4 of its sieges broken. While SIN has razed or captured 4 TUF cities since the onset of the war, a 4 and 4 record for the top military alliance pales in comparison to their previous wars, such as the recent NW2, where they managed to destroy 31 cities.

Agalloch, TUF Sieges He-Man in Pawa in Major PLains Op

In the wake of a high-profile loss in the southern BL, TUF has launched a major offensive on SIN war veteran He-Man in the deserts of Pawanallpa. The Herald is currently reporting the siege action, with Agalloch arriving first on the scene:

He-Man [SIN]	Cracked Walnut!	[769|-1657] in Pawanallpa	Agalloch [TUF]	Thu 01 Sep 12:58
He-Man [SIN]	Cracked Walnut!	[767|-1657] in Pawanallpa	Agalloch [TUF]	Thu 01 Sep 13:00
He-Man [SIN]	Cracked Walnut!	[768|-1657] in Pawanallpa	Agalloch [TUF]	Thu 01 Sep 13:00

Later on, Josh’s sieges landed as well:

He-Man [SIN]	Cracked Walnut!	[769|-1655] in Pawanallpa	PublicRelations [TUF]	Thu 01 Sep 18:51
He-Man [SIN]	Cracked Walnut!	[767|-1655] in Pawanallpa	HumanResources [TUF]	Thu 01 Sep 21:23

He-Man’s cities are placed on plains, but they are isolated from the rest of SIN’s hub in Fellandire. In order to speed up the siege, TUF is running a multi-camp operation to hopefully take He-Man down quickly.

In addition to the siege camps, TUF is also placing blockades around the city to ensure that res and supplies cannot be brought in.

 

TUF Smashes YARR Siege on Josh in Clarien

TUF has rebuffed another YARR siege against Josh in Clarien, with cavalry units launched by ex-Unbow players leading the charge from Tallimar, the Times has learned.

The siege on Josh’s HumanResources account began on July 31. It was originally posted in the Herald’s siege sheet:

HumanResources [TUF]

Harbour of Pirate Patches

[123|-1706] in Clarien

Turjake [YARR!]

Sun 31 Jul 02:00

At present, the city is still standing though the siege was either broken or recalled, corroborating anecdotal reports that the YARR siege was hit hard in the early going of the siege operation and crippled.

The Times cannot confirm that the siege was essentially broken by ex-Unbow members, as no battle reports were provided to our editorial staff. However, the Times has noted that several high-ranking Unbow members have joined TUF, including ex-Unbow and SHARK leaders Spektor and BayNights, along with moses and RudyJr. Aside from these accounts, however, no official merger appears to have taken place at this time.

For YARR, the siege is a setback in seeking to continue to put pressure on TUF, who has been resoundingly successful in their multiple wars in spite of being outnumbered.

Josh Sieges, Recalls on SIN’s He-Man

In other recent war news, TUF’s Josh recently attempted a siege on SIN’s He-Man in Pawanallpa that was later recalled. SIN officials shared details of the siege itself.

[01 Aug 19:21]<System> ** News Flash: The Siege of Josh Grinder belonging to He-Man [SIN] byPublicRelations [TUF] has begun

Currently, He-Man’s city is still standing, corroborating the claim that the siege was recalled not long after it landed.

Not So Fast, SIN! TUF Gets Huge Raze on Forward city in Shardlands

TUF has rebuffed an aggressive move by SIN to establish a military city in the Shardlands, completing one of the biggest siege operations in all of its currently active wars to date. It is also a rare example of how a successful siege can be as much a key defensive stand as it can be offensive.

A screen shot of the current battlefield reveals that the city is gone, with remnants of what are likely TUF forces leaving the scene.

YARR/TUF War Spills Into Newlands; SIN Sieges Josh & Fails As New War Ramps Up

YARR leader Ranalos led a multi-siege on Josh in Newlands, pitting the once-allied players against one another in a major dwarven smackdown. The Herald’s siege section is reporting the three new siege camps:

PublicRelations [TUF]	bb Assimilated Corpse	[134|-2217] in Newlands	Ranalos [YARR!]	Tue 28 Jun 07:32
PublicRelations [TUF]	bb Assimilated Corpse	[135|-2217] in Newlands	Ranalos [YARR!]	Tue 28 Jun 07:57
PublicRelations [TUF]	bb Assimilated Corpse	[133|-2217] in Newlands	Ranalos [YARR!]	Tue 28 Jun 08:03

The multi-siege operation is targeting a plains city, and is accompanied by several blockades as well.

Ranalos’ move is likely a response to the recent string of successful TUF siege operations that have ostensibly leveled out the YARR/TUF war. On Sunday, the Illyriad Telegraph reported that YARR’s Urlond Bloodaxe, losing the cities of cities of Haledur and Khedesh to both Agalloch and Josh, respectively, marking three successful sieges in the space of a week. YARR also managed during this time to raze Dark Dan I’s city of Castle Pills.

Just at the publishing of this article, YARR oficials provided proof of the raze on Josh’s city:

bb Assimilated Corpse razed!
Sent By:	System
Received By:	Ranalos [YARR!]
Date:	29 Jun 2016 08:04
bb Assimilated Corpse, belonging to PublicRelations which was located at 134|-2218 has been razed by Ranalos.

 

Josh has lost another town. He’s been exodusing into his Clarien hub, but we caught one here. I had concerns, because a Sin siege landed after we launched, and I didn’t want to hit that, but Josh cleared it before we got there.

 

SIN Rogue Ops Lead To New TUF-SIN Conflict

Josh’s city of Assimilated Corpse is not new to siege, and was recently part of a SIN siege led by rogue players, the Times has learnt. Several sieges have been sent at Josh accounts by SIN, which in turn prompted a war declaration by TUF.

The Times managed to grab these siege announcements from the Herald, which appear to show what has turned out to be siege failures:

PublicRelations [TUF]	bb Assimilated Corpse	[133|-2217] in Newlands	Deo Volente [SIN]	Mon 27 Jun 12:59
PublicRelations [TUF]	cc Nightmare Lemonade	[278|-1960] in Newlands	Elanderrich [SIN]	Mon 27 Jun 14:28
PublicRelations [TUF]	cc Nightmare Lemonade	[278|-1958] in Newlands	Elanderrich [SIN]	Mon 27 Jun 14:29

At the time of this writing, Josh’s city of cc Nightmare Lemonade is still standing, and Deo Volente’s siege of bb Assimilated Corpse also appeals to have been broken. The fact that Ranalos is now sieging the same city is suggesting to some that SIN may have asked YARR for assistance after losing these siege operations to TUF. The first siege in the mounting conflict, which was on 3 – Legion! Legion who? — appears to have been a success, however, and the siege that prompted TUF to declare on SIN.

Given that there has been a war declaration and at least three siege operations in the conflict, the Times feels that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that a War Score Card is warranted. At the outset, TUF and SIN appear tied, with two siege breaks for TUF (2 points) and one raze for SIN (2 points).

If the Times is missing information on other siege operations, please send to the Times editors.

SIN’s Goldy1 Defects To TUF; Unbow’s Spektor Joins Ranks

In a final note, the Times has been made aware of two notable roster moves, with SIN’s Goldy1 defecting to TUF, and former Unbow leader Spektor joining their ranks as well. Goldy1 has been a vocal troll in GC for SIN and involved in several of their operations in the past. Considered a veteran of SIN, his defection shows possible weakness in SIN ranks. Goldy is the second defector that TUF has picked up recently, the other being Josh, who betrayed YARR in the midst of the YARR/TUF war and switched sides.

Little is known about Spektor’s motivations for joining TUF, however, his addition to the ranks appears to be in line with the fresh SIN/TUF tensions.

Dark Dan Pays the Price For TUF Defection; Josh Uses Close Range To Hit YARR in Pawa

Dark Dan I has lost a city to YARR after defecting to TUF along with Josh, the Times has learned. YARR leader Solanar/Ranalos shared the raze report with Times editors:

Castle Pills razed!

Sent By:SystemReceived By:Ranalos [YARR!]Date:24 Jun 2016 06:47 Castle Pills, belonging to Dark Dan I which was located at 414|-2245 has been razed by Ranalos.

Battlefield reports from TUF officials revealed that this siege operation was a protracted difficult one, however, the raze brings the battle to a conclusion as a win in the YARR column. “Perhaps word of YARR! falling apart was exaggerated,” Ranalos noted in his report.

While the defections from YARR to TUF might suggest a shift in where the fighting in the YARR/TUF war is taking place, from Pawanallpa to the Pirate Isles, in the wake of this loss, TUF has wielded Josh’s account to engage a new siege in Pawanallpa. News of the operation flashed across GC earlier:

[09:54]<System> ** News Flash: Urlond Bloodaxe’s [YARR!] large city of Khedesh is now under siege byPublicRelations’ [TUF] city of hh Northwestern Barstead

. . . followed up by additional information in the Herald:

Urlond Bloodaxe [YARR!]

Khedesh

[845|-1816] in Pawanallpa

PublicRelations [TUF]

Fri 24 Jun 09:54

TUF will look to negate the YARR win with a raze of their own.

YARR! Unraveling as Infighting Plagues Leadership Core

A quick glance of the YARR/TUF score card, as well as public opinion polls on who is winning the conflict, would suggest that YARR remains firmly in the lead over TUF. However, recent developments point to a shift in morale, with TUF regaining its balance after a series of lost siege battles, and YARR leadership losing several key players.

The first in a string of personnel setbacks for YARR came with the controversy surrounding YARR’s Jaxi, who after reportedly receiving a hefty GC chat ban for making inappropriate remarks, abandoned after several YARR members complained about the matter. Jaxi was the alt of Earl Jax, founder of Hansa and a key player in expanding YARR after a series of mergers. His abandoned profile states, “As of June 5 2016 I decided to take my leave from Illyriad due to my behavior.”

Curmudgeon, who has also since left YARR, was particularly critical of Jaxi’s antics in GC. “I am glad you got banned from GC,” he reportedly said weeks ago in an alliance-wide IGM for the entire alliance to read. “If we weren’t in a war I would have quit the alliance when you came off with that nasty trash. I was certainly embarrassed to be part of an alliance whose joint leader would talk that way.”

UGLY: YARR, TUF Target Training Alliances

Combatants YARR and TUF traded hostilities against training alliances today as the YARR/TUF war took an ugly turn. TUF and YARR shared sparse details about the turn of events. The first piece of intel came from TUF’s viperone in a message entitled, “YARR attacks a training alliance.”

The message only contained the following battle report:

From: System

Subject: FW: Failed defense by squirrel’s forces at [777|-1671] in Pawanallpa under attack by PublicRelations’s forces from xx Bilingual Dwarf
Received: 09 Jun 2016 07:52
Original Message:
Two opposing forces clash against each other.

Cavalry comes into its own when able to strike hostile forces at will, and from unexpected directions – and nowhere is this more feasible than on open plains. Lightly armoured spear units, however, prefer terrain where there’s some cover available.

Fighting defensively on open plains, cavalry draws strength from the ability to form and reform their lines of engagement depending on the direction of battle, and it is here where cavalry excels.

Attackers:	Unit:	Quantity:	Casualties:	Survivors:
Troops:	Packsmen	720	171	549
Commander: Runeriders Bilingual 1	Runerider	1	Damaged for 23, 377 health remains.
Troops:	Runeriders	5095	1207	3888
Commander: Runerider	Runerider	1	Damaged for 23, 377 health remains.
Troops:	Runeriders	60	14	46

 

Defenders:	Unit:	Quantity:	Casualties:	Survivors:
Commander: Nutty Ned	Charioteer	1	Damaged for 150, 0 health remains.
Troops:	Charioteers	5000	5000	0

Commander Nutty Ned narrowly avoided a fatal blow, and lives to fight another day.

The Times noted that the player squirrel is part of Hellfire [Hell], a self-described training alliance: “We are a newly formed Training Alliance since 2014.”

In what appears to be a near-simultaneous move, TUF declared war on YARR’s training alliance The Rum Runners [RUM]:

[09 Jun 07:52]<System> ** News flash: The Unfettered [TUF] declares war on Rum Runners [RUM] Hostilities may begin immediately…

RUM is clearly a training alliance for YARR, and several players in YARR have used it as a sanctuary alliance to avoid the war. The alliance is composed of many small and/or seemingly weak accounts that would make for soft TUF targets.

It us unknown what relationship Hell has with TUF, but it is not know to be the alliance’s official training alliance.

because the battle and war declaration appear to have taken place within the same minute, it is not known which event came first, but considering the sequence of messages to the Times, TUF likely declared war in sympathy to Hell for its member being attacked by YARR forces.

No word yet from PublicRelations on the motive behind the attack.

Josh Takes Down Second Aga City, TUF Loses 2 Pawa Cities Within Days AS Third Siege Sets Up

“Yarr will not tire! Yarr will not stop! Cause we got a never-ending supply of Rum to keep us on top.” – Josh

Josh has razed a second TUF city in the ongoing YARR/TUF war, destroying TUF leader Agalloch’s city of The Number of the Beast. YARR officials shared details of the successful siege to the Times:

.The Number of the Beast razed!
Sent By:	System
Received By:	PublicRelations [YARR!]
Date:	28 May 2016 22:16
.The Number of the Beast, belonging to Agalloch which was located at 779|-1671 has been razed by PublicRelations.

JOSH V. AGA II: New YARR Siege Op on Agalloch Lights Up Illy

Josh

versus Aga

After their previous high-profile siege that led to the razing of the city of Megadeth, Josh and Agalloch are once again going head to head, as YARR is using the PublicRelations account as its lead for a new siege on the TUF leader. News of the new siege operation flashed through GC earlier:

09:00]<System> ** News Flash: Agalloch’s [TUF] large town of .The Number of the Beast is now under siege by PublicRelations’ [YARR!] sprawling city of dd Sitting Situation

. . . with the Herald’s Siege section posting further details:

Agalloch [TUF]

.The Number of the Beast

[780|-1671] in Pawanallpa

PublicRelations [YARR!]

Thu 26 May 09:00

YARR is taking advantage of a small hill in the largely plains-dominated desert for its siege camp, while three blockades are already in place to keep Agalloch from easily prestige building.

This is not the first time that The Number of the Beast has been a siege target in the YARR/TUF war: Curmudgeon and Muad’Dib both sieged the city on May 8th, which was subsequently “stopped at the gates” by Agalloch. Josh will look to finish the job in this second attempt on the city.

In comments to the Times on Tuesday, Josh noted that YARR had ” touched down a blockade on .The Number of the Beast in Pawanallpa, with a good amount of defensive troops that will be challenging remaining offensive TUF troops in the region until the blockade will be replaced by a siege force and many more troops in, which they most likely won’t be able to destroy.” A later report claimed that their “blockade has been taking light hits and a lot of cav, but also spear, bow elite divisions hitting it often.”

Josh also added that, “Elfs Bane has also just landed a town of his in Pawanallpa that we have now cleared of troops from regions further away. Things are looking good for Yarr!”