SHARK Mounts BL Siege in War Against SIN; Targets Old Foe Lorcan

After a long stretch of offensive inactivity since the landmark Kul-Tar battle in the eastern deserts of Elgea, SHARK has initiated its first major siege of SIN in the Broken Lands region of Newlands/Oarnamly, targeting ex-TVM warrior Lorcan. News of the siege flashed through GC earlier:

[20:38]<System> ** News Flash: Lorcan’s [SIN] huge city of Kilkee is now under siege by Spektor’s [SHARK] huge city of ”Splinius Reticulatis

Further details were later posted in the siege section of the Herald:

Lorcan [SIN]

Kilkee

[-245|-2095] in Oarnamly

Spektor [SHARK]

Wed 30 Dec 20:38

This is not the first time that SHARK has sieged Lorcan: his city of Ennis was razed by Haroldus on October 13, 2015 in the Newlands war. SHARK also tried to siege Lorcan’s city of Kilkenny on October 22, 2015, but that effort was repulsed by TVM. It is possible that Lorcan was chosen as a target in part due to his high profile in the Newlands war.

At present there is no blockade on the city, and the single siege is set up on a small hill, which generally negates all terrain bonuses and penalties. The Times noted several trailing reinforcements for the siege coming from due north, however, the siege force was launched from the Newlands city of Splinius Reticulatis. It is possible that this siege’s reinforcements were launched many days ago from Elgea and are meeting up with a close-in siege force.

TVM Tries To Take Down SHARK in Newlands, as Lorcan Sieges King A

In the wake of a defeat in TVM’s homeland of Oarmanly, alliance veteran Lorcan is leading his second high-profile siege against SHARK in the Newlands, this time targeting the formidable King A. The Herald posted the details of the siege just after midnight:

King A [SHARK]

New Troy

[45|-2287] in Newlands

Lorcan [TVM]

Sat 17 Oct 00:20

King A’s city of New Troy is located on a riverbank, with two small forests to the west and southwest of the city. Lorcan appears to be taking advantage of the cover that forests give infantry, which combined with the racial superiority of dwarven infantry will allow him to maximize defenses for both sieges, the second of which by mccannj [TVM] landed later in the day. There are still no blockades on the city.

For his part, King A is said to wield substantial cavalry forces — particularly considering that he is a human, and the T2 cavalry knight brings to bear the biggest attack value of any military unit in the game. While cavalry still do fairly well in forests, suffering only a -10% penalty, they lose out on the immense bonus afforded to them on plains.

TVM will look to register a major victory against SHARK after a string of losses over the past two weeks that have put them far behind in the war. An early, hard-fought siege against BayNights in Newlands by both sides went as a victory for SHARK, who have been buoyed by that early defensive victory. The top-ranked alliance has since gone on to impressively siege and defend throughout the Broken Lands, in spite of being strategically outmatched in the southern continent.

While neither alliance is likely to set expectations for what the victory of this battle could mean for the war, it is clear that if SHARK can once again successfully defend one of their cities in the Newlands, they will send a clear message that they cannot be uprooted from the region, regardless of whether they settle in TVM’s land claim or not. For TVM, a resounding victory could prove to be a turning point in the war for them.

[UPDATED] Lorcan’s City of Ennis in TVM Homeland Razed By SHARK With Little Resistance

The hand of a dead TVM spearman juts out grotesquely from the smoldering rubble of Lorcan’s city of Ennis in Oarnamly. Photo courtesy of Jasper Slenderbalustrade

Shark has once again completed an audacious siege in TVM’s land claim, this time razing Lorcan’s city of Ennis in Oarnamly in a region packed with TVM cities. The Times first reported on the landing of the siege on October 12th as complement to their operation against TVM in the Newlands against Fediglio. This morning, Shark officials confirmed that the city has indeed been razed:

Sent By:	System
Received By:	Haroldus [SHARK]
Date:	13 Oct 2015 22:27
Ennis, belonging to Lorcan which was located at -193|-2085 has been razed by Haroldus.

This is yet another high-profile raze for Shark, who managed to siege on of TVM’s top military players is what is arguably the alliance’s true homeland; eastern Oarnamly was the region that TVM first settled in when they migrated from Elgea at the end of the Great War. The locality where Lorcan was razed is filled with TVM cities, however, a quick scan of the region indicates that many of the cities appear to be underdeveloped and not running full sovereignty. It remains to be seen what level of military assets remain for TVM, especially after the contentious failed siege of BayNights in Newlands two weeks ago.

The Times has reached out to Shark leaders for more information on the siege and will update this article accordingly.

 [UPDATED — 10/16/2015]

The Times reached out to Haroldus on the details of this particular siege, and confirmed early reports that the siege was largely uncontested by TVM. Haroldus noted, “. . . we did not expect to be coming home with our are forces largely intact, and the fact that we were able to do so is largely due to SHARK’s teamwork and the military pressure other players have been putting on them elsewhere in a coordinated way. I do think it is telling that a TVM leader withdraws a city from Newlands (Wiclow) and that they did not break a siege in the middle of their territory.  The reason why remains to be seen.  We marched 2000 squares from Elgea to fight on those two hills, so I can’t say that we were totally satisfied, despite it ending in a raze. As far as I know, there has been no attempt on the part of TVM leaders to contact SHARK, and therefore our operations are ongoing.”

SHARK Stretches TVM Defenses in BL With Concurrent Oarnamly Siege on Lorcan

SHARK is stepping up its game in the Broken Lands as part of its effort to defend its move into TVM’s land claim in the Newlands war by launching a second BL siege in as many days. For the war, it is the first time that we’ve seen SHARK mount two sieges at once.

The Herald reported the siege on TVM general Lorcan landing in Oarnamly early this morning:

Lorcan [TVM]

Ennis

[-193|-2084] in Oarnamly

Haroldus [SHARK]

Mon 12 Oct 05:01

Haroldus has two cities currently in the region, with his cities of Dark Elms and Flat Mountain both in the Newlands. The siege equipment for the op likely came from those local sources. SHARK has set up this siege as well as an accompanying blockade on two small hills. The use of small hills is helpful in defense of a siege, as they effectively neutralize the otherwise high attacking bonus that cavalry receive when attacking on plains.

Meanwhile, Ron Fay’s siege of TVM’s Fediglio appears to have taken shape, as now the siege also has a blockade keeping it from replenishing population and supplies.

SHARK Breaks Key Siege at BayNights’ City of Campagnolo in Newlands

DSD’s full-scale siege effort on SHARK co-leader BayNights’ city of Campagnolo has been broken. The Times witnessed the dissolution of the siege firsthand, which was officially recalled by 19:45 ST.

The siege, led by TVM general Lorcan, began in the late morning of the 28th and was accompanied by several blockades. The fighting around the city was intense all day on the 29th, with SHARK breaking blockades and reducing the siege force with local and regional hits. TVM sought to utilize their close proximity to the siege site as an advantage in keeping the siege army protected and the blockades in place. However, SHARK’s formidable regional forces proved to be far superior, in spite of the fact that TVM cities outnumber SHARK ones in Newlands considerably.

After TVM blockades were broken late yesterday, SHARK used opportunistic caravans and prestige to build the city back almost to its starting population.

TVM leaders appeared to have decided to abort the siege after a single hit to the siege camp, which arrived at high speed, indicating light cavalry. A tipster to the Times, who wished to remain anonymous, indicated that the hit was indeed a substantial army of light cavalry that came from Elgea. Absent of a battle report, however, this cannot be independently confirmed.

For SHARK, the defense of their co-leader’s insurgent city in the TVM land claim is a rousing victory, showing the top alliance in Illyriad’s ability to successfully break a high-profile siege in a far-flung region of the Broken Lands with few friendly military assets. For TVM, the loss is a pivotal one: had they been able to successfully raze BayNights in their “zone 1,” it would have proven to be a powerful affirmation of their sovereign rule of the southern portion of Newlands, and their ability to dictate the playing field in the Newlands War.

Of the 4 sieges launched in DSD’s first assault wave, only one was successful, Yodadoku’s siege of Worker in Aindara. SHARK is now credited with 3 siege breaks on the Newlands War Score Card — a number that could be added onto soon pending the outcome of the alliance’s siege of Mak in Elgea.

BayNights’ City of Campagnolo Weathers 2 Days of TVM Volleys; Still Intact

Defying the odds of a Newlands peninsula clearly stacked in favor of TVM forces, SHARK has managed to stretch their Broken Lands forces over the past 48 hours in a rigorous defense of their co-leader BayNights’ city of Campagnolo in an intense siege standoff. As of this morning, server time, SHARK appears to have neutralized blockades on the city and rebuilt the city with prestige, virtually restoring it to its starting population.

TVM general Lorcan initiated the siege on Campagnolo on Monday, September 28th at 10:49 am server time. Since that time, the city as well as the siege and blockade forces around it have come intense pressure. The Times editorial department followed the siege all day yesterday and counted upwards of 100 separate armies involved in the battle. The majority of action centered around the maintenance and destruction of blockades around the city, with TVM constantly sending a barrage of blockades on random squares and SHARK using a flurry of local and regional response forces to counter them.

By the evening yesterday, TVM had reduced Campagnolo to under 10,000 population. However, as of this morning, the city is glimmering in the morning sun of an Illyriad dawn, sporting new ramparts, support buildings, and a population over 17,000.

Currently, virtually every square around the city is occupied with SHARK defensive forces, with the exception of an open western square on the city’s beach head and the siege force on the southeast corner. Composition and status of the siege is currently unknown.

While only one battle in a war that is likely to endure, the siege of Campagnolo meaningful to both sides on a number of fronts: the fact that it is a city controlled by a co-leader of SHARK, being sieged by a co-leader of TVM, and residing squarely in TVM’s zone 1 land claim increases the stakes in this already spectacular siege that is bound to be remembered long after the war is over.

TVM Sets Up Heavily Blockaded Siege Against SHARK’s Baynights in Newlands

TVM has initiated its fourth siege in the past three days, and for the first time has targeted one of the SHARK cities located in TVM’s land claim, sparking the conflict that has led to the Newlands War. The siege posted earlier this morning in GC and in the Herald:

[10:49]<System> ** News Flash: BayNights’ [SHARK] large city of Campagnolo is now under siege by Lorcan’s [TVM] sprawling city of Cork

While not often heard from publicly, BayNights is a Cronus and co-leader of SHARK, and a major player for the alliance. On TVM’s side, Lorcan serves as one of the three Triumvirs for his alliance. The players involved and the placement of Campagnolo is bound to make this a high-profile battle in the Newlands War.

For DSD, this is the first siege that has included more than two camps, and TVM appears to be utilizing optimal siege terrain. The siege itself is situated in a small forest to the southeast of the city.  Small forests offer a 10% defensive bonus and a substantial 30% defensive bonus of infantry. Conversely, cavalry are hampered by the close quarters of small quarters, levying a -10% penalty. Given that Lorcan is a dwarf, whose race features superior infantry, as well as SHARK’s purported strength in infantry, could make breaking this siege difficult, or otherwise lead to sub-optimal use of cavalry in order to do so. One of the other four blockades is located in a small forest as well.

That being said, SHARK has already proven to be agile and adept in breaking sieges. The top-ranked alliance has already managed to break sieges on Ron Fay’s besieged city of AFTK and Fyzz’s besieged city of Solar Eclipse, both of which were located in remote locations. Given the SHARK has a toehold in Newlands, they are likely to be able to bring even more forces to bear on this current DSD siege operation.

EXCLUSIVE: Leaked Communications Reveal How Lorcan/Odo PvP Led to SHARK/TVM Escalation

IGMs, PCs and in-game private conversations leaked by TVM and SHARK between key players involved in the current standoff indicate that a Lorcan siege on Odoacer in their proposed pvp matchup was the touchstone for what could lead to full-scale war in the Newlands peninsula.

In a forum thread started by Halcyon on September 14th, the SHARK leader indicated that the current conflict between his alliance and TVM was the result of TVM aggression against Odoacer — a claim that TVM leadership has contested. “I would like to make it clear that the only reason for the current conflict in NewLands is that TVM has attacked SHRKr,” stated Halcyon in his first post. He went on to note that Lorcan’s motivation for engaging in a pvp duel with Odoacer was the result of Odo’s town placement within TVM’s land claim: “Their pretext is that SHRKr towns have been placed inside their land claim.”

In a later post, Halcyon expanded on the situation between Lorcan and Odoacer, stating: “The PVP agreement between Lorcan and Odoacer did not include relocation of towns and I have proof of THAT.”

To add context and evidence to this situation, both TVM and SHARK submitted to the Times the communications that took place prior to the pvp that reference the claims made in the forums.

TVM, Stomp Spar in Northmarch; Valdorum Under Siege

Trivium and Stomp are set to do battle for the first time in the Broken Lands, with TVM managing to set down a siege camp on Valdorum’s recently exodused city in Northmarch.

Word of the siege came at midnight server time when the Herald posted the siege details in their siege section:

Player Under Siege: Valdorum [Stomp] City Under Siege: Trivium can Suck It [-562|-1806] in Northmarch Under Siege By: Lorcan [TVM] Date: Mon 13 Jul 00:00

A secondary siege was established later by TVM’s Lord Moonpie at 05:38 ST. Currently, TVM is utilizing 5 squares to siege from in Northmarch. Valdorum chose a strong spot to settle on, as the city is surrounded by plains, which exposes siege and blockade armies to potentially withering siege-breaking cavalry attacks from Stomps. Look for Stomps to potentially use cavalry from Elgea to break this siege as well as from cities in the BL.

To try and mitigate the poor terrain for offense, TVM has two sieges and three blockades. Often times, alliances will use 6 to 8 squares for plains sieges to deny their opponents one simple target. However, it remains to be seen if two siege armies will get the job done for TVM, given Stomps’ potent military players.

The city “Trivium can Suck It” is Valdorum’s State of Grace, which made headlines last week when a reader tipped off the Times that this city had originally been the target of a SIN siege in Pawanallpa, but successfully exodused away. It appears that TVM put an operation in place in order to take advantage of the city’s vulnerability after the exodus. After cities exodus in Illyriad, they are subject to a 5-day “cooldown” period where military and diplomatic units cannot be used, nor can the city re-exodus.

In a comment to the Times about this siege, Stomp alliance leader Pico stated that “the majority of Sin´s razes have been against small pop towns, small stomp players, brought in to take on smaller alliances with land claims.”

Given the fact that Stomps is substantially outnumbered in the Broken Lands, the upstart alliance has effectively used exodus to avoid a number of sieges in the BL, the most high-profile of which was Ron Fay’s city of La Vila Strangiato, which exodused to Elgea from the Newlands to avoid TVM’s first siege attempt in the war, and has since reappeared in Pawanallpa to join the fight there and provide support to embattled Stomp cities.