[UPDATED] TVM Withdraws Forces From King A Siege After Failed Storm Attempt in Hard-Fought Defensive Victory For SHARK

[UPDATED 10/20, 16:13 server time — update reflects TVM’s storm attempt on the city, as it was previously reported that TVM withdrew.]

The Newlands War’s second major siege has once again concluded as a defensive victory for SHARK. The Times observed fighting around King A’s city of New Troy today, and began noting the recall of DSD forces from the siege and blockades after a final hit on the siege from SHARK. The supporting forces for the siege were recalled after TVM’s mccannj attempted a storm attempt with 546 pikemen, according to a combat report sent to the Times by Shark leadership. While it is still unclear who in SHARK landed the final few hits between late yesterday and today that obviously crippled the siege force, the siege itself was rendered impotent, as the Times noted that volleys throughout the day were ineffective, reducing the population only nominally. By the time the storm force was used, there were only 6 catapults left, however, the siege force obviously did reduce the city to raze population.

The siege on King A was initiated early on October 17th, and from its onset, the siege has played host to near-constant action, with local SHARK forces pummeling the sieges and blockades. Early SHARK hits eradicated Lorcan’s siege, but the operation’s secondary siege headed by mccannj proved to be a formidable one, reducing the city to its raze level. Late last evening, SHARK appeared desperate to prestige build the city in spite of four or 5 strong blockades, and sent what looked to be upwards of 100 caravans at the city, all of which appeared to be captured by the TVM blockading forces, as noted by the Times.

However, similar to TVM’s failed siege on BayNights, SHARK once again appears to have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, defeating the siege’s weak storm force as it attempted to take the city down.

TVM managed to break two SHARK sieges in Newlands today, while SHARK notched a capture of an inactive TVM’s player’s town. This four siege was a pivotal one in that both sides tenaciously sent troops at it. SHARK comes away from this round of the war with a capture and a major siege break, while TVM managed two Newlands siege breaks. The Newlands War Score Card now stands at SHARK 8, TVM/RE/T-SC 3.

[UPDATED] SHARK Captures City in Newlands; TVM Siege Breaks 2, Puts King A On the Ropes

[UPDATED 10/19, 13:45 ST — This article has been updated to reflect that Sagleruk’s city was not razed by SHARK, but that the siege was broken. This was originally reported as a SHARK siege but has been updated in the article below and on the War Score Card.] 

The new dawn in Illyriad has brought with it major outcomes in the recent spate of siege operations taking place on the Newlands peninsula between SHARK and TVM, with top-ranked alliance racking up a successful siege, while TVM continues to scrap for a major win against King A.

Of the three sieges initiated by Shark, one has so far been a success, with .Mordred. capturing the town of R-06 from the purportedly inactive Rojak.

TVM, however, have had successes of their own in the field this weekend. The SHARK siege on Salgerluk’s city of Blah HA HA HA HA HA was reportedly broken by TVM. The siege against Fediglio’s city of 3 – Meat appears to have been broken by TVM forces as well, though the outcome of this battle is yet to be confirmed via an official combat report.

Perhaps even bigger news is the status of the current siege against SHARK’s King A, which has seen the fiercest fighting of all four battles in Newlands over the weekend. At one point, the Times observed that King A’s city of New Troy had been prestige built to double-digit population. The city now currently stands at a sub-2,000 population, and while Lorcan’s early siege was broken, mccannj’s secondary siege has picked up the slack and still appears to be firing:

King A [SHARK]

New Troy

[45|-2286] in Newlands

mccannj [TVM]

Sat 17 Oct 04:08

The raze population for the city is unknown, however, if TVM is successful, it would bring the score for this weekend’s round of sieges to one raze, one siege break for TVM and 1 capture, 1 raze for SHARK.

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.