YARR! Declares War on ABSA Over Biff Row

In a surprise move, The Pirate Republic [YARR!] has once again entered into war, this time engaging longtime Elgean alliance Absaroke [ABSA] over an escalating conflict involving controversial Illyriad veteran player Biff.

The war declaration came yesterday, and was a topic of debate in GC.

Sources who witnessed exchanges between YARR and ABSA members in GC indicated that the YARR war declaration was the result of ABSA launch concerted siege breaks on YARR leader Solanar’s siege on disgraced ex-ABSA account Biff, who turned much of the server against him after making off-color remarks regarding another player. Solanar’s mission was apparently to destroy Biff’s cities, which was interrupted by the ABSA incursion. The declaration was a reaction having Solanar’s siege broken.

ABSA immediately denounced the war declaration, citing it as an example of poor diplomacy and conflict resolution on YARR’s part.

Whether or not the YARR/ABSA conflict will develop into a full-scale war remains in question. ABSA is now a small alliance, and YARR is likely war weary from its ongoing wars throughout 2016.

TUF Defeats YARR, RE Easily; War With SIN Remains

The Unfettered remains the hottest military alliance in the game, with the alliance’s leader and warlord Agalloch continuing to rack up impressive victories in wars against Broken Lands aggressors. TUF’s most recent accomplishment: defeating both YARR and RE in their recent wars. Peace between TUF and RE was recently announced in GC:

[06:49]<System> ** News flash: War ends and peace declared between Roman Empire [RE] and The Unfettered [TUF]

While the terms of peace have yet to be disclosed, TUF was the clear winner in this war. TUF razed five RE cities and broke the sieges of two RE sieges. Roman Empire never managed to raze even one TUF city.

To be fair, RE was completely outmatched against TUF, which sits on the first page of alliance rankings, with 28 members and 3,825 squares of land claimed. Roman Empire has only three more alliance members, but only claims 1,679 in land.

The same can be said of TUF’s defeat of YARR, which only has 2,002 squares claimed in spite of having 41 members. However, considering that TUF had to fight YARR, RE and SIN simultaneously, the victories are indeed very impressive — especially against two alliances that claim to be military-focused in scope. In spite of YARR’s slight edge in points on the War Score Card, TUF managed to push them out of Pawanallpa and otherwise rebuffed YARR’s war declaration and mission.

Now, all that remains for a TUF victory is to vanquish The Hashashin, who by some accounts have stumbled into its war with TUF after a few SIN members attacked Josh without permission from leadership. SIN finds itself out of position against TUF, and from the early goings of the war, could struggle in dominating, since TUF appears to be every bit SIN’s match in terms of activity from its members.

The pressure is clearly on SIN, who currently find themselves losing to TUF on the War Score Card.

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.

TUF Sieges RE; Struggles With YARR Korlat2 Siege in Elgea

TUF is doubling down on sieges in its widening war with BL alliances, targeting a Roman Empire city just on the heels of a war declaration on RE and lost siege to SIN. News of the new siege flashed through GC earlier:

[11:31]<System> ** News Flash: Knight of Ancients’ [RE] large town of Vgrumkik is now under siege by kaven’s [TUF] burgeoning city of just stolen

The announcement was followed up with additional information in the siege section of the Herald:

Knight of Ancients [RE]

Vgrumkik

[448|-3299] in Jurgor

kaven [TUF]

Wed 06 Jul 11:31

The city of Vgrumkik is on the very southern edge of the BL map, far removed from the RE land claim in the west. Knight of Ancients’ city is virtually indefensible, and will likely fall without issue to TUF.

Meanwhile, TUF appears to be struggling in its bid to raze Korlat2’s YARR city in Elgea. Ex-SHARK and Unbow co-leader Spektor’s siege on Black Coral began on July 4th and is still bombarding, in spite of the siege being almost 4 days old. The Times witnessed three slow-moving forces enter the city, indicating that Black Coral has been reinforced, likely with spears. The Times also saw what appeared to be a cav clear coming from the south that hit the city.

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.

TUF Fires Back With Counter-Siege on Malus in The Orken Coast; YARR Trolls Demdigs

A shot of enemy forces pouring into the region, courtesy of YARR.

TUF appears to be mounting a major, new counter-siege on The Pirate Republic, seeking to answer the string of three lost sieges in recent weeks with an alliance-wide siege operation. The Herald is reporting details of the siege in its Siege section:

Malus [YARR!]

Elven women and children

[274|-2544] in The Orken Coast

Elfs Bane [TUF]

Tue 31 May 18:02

It is believed that this is actually the city of Naggor, and that Malus has re-named it “Elven women and children” in order to troll the player Demdigs, who purportedly has become irate in recent weeks over comments made by another player named Comrade General, who often quips “death to elves!” in GC and recently joked about killing “elven women and children” as well. Although elves are not real, Demdigs has attributed this comment to Comrade General’s support of real-life murder.

That aside, the siege itself is located on a large mountain, potentially offering a powerful defensive advantage to the siege. The blockade on the city is also taking advantage of mountainous terrain.

TUF will look to gain a decisive siege victory here and stem the tide of losses. A siege win would tie the War Score Card again.

YARR Takes Down 3 TUF Cities in Less Than 2 Weeks

The Pirate Republic [YARR!] appears to be on a roll in its ongoing war with BL military alliance TUF, racking up its third successful siege in less than two weeks. A YARR player provided the Times with proof of the successful operation, which ended in a capture:

From: System
Subject: FW: Zerkrachenburgh captured!
Received: 30 May 2016 18:16
Original Message:
Zerkrachenburgh, belonging to smash which was located at 788|-1761 has been captured by Curmudgeon.