Now its Personal

[Leo Fenrir]

Four imposing looking men stepped out of the helicopter in the Eliria courtyard and made a show of walking with an exaggerated deliberateness towards the keep. One of these men was Leo Dine, Duke of this whole damned mess of a place. Despite it being the seat of ducal power, it was his first time actually visiting the city since his coronation. He much preferred his manor in Echo, if only because he could be closed to his sheep.

As the group made their way through the keep people who saw them coming dove for cover. Normally Elwynness were not a people to be intimidated by men dressed in cheesy looking suits, but the expression on the Duke's face, and the mere fact at seening the duke in Eliria, was cause enough to take cover.

They dared! The citadel had been one thing, but for one of his own counts to be moving troops into his homeland. It was devastating. Now it was personal.

The door to the Elira war room came into sight as they rounded a corner. A thought suddenly struck him. He walked right u to the door and gave it a sharp kick. The wood gave a pitiful crack and flew inwards. Man I haven't done that in years! Leo though with a satisfied grin.

Which melted away almost immediately as he noticed what awaited him in the room. Poised with her legs planted, hip locked, one hand on her hip, and the other making windshield wiper motions was Isabelle. A series of flashbacks to their time on the Minerva send a cold shiver down his back.

But he pushed that aside. The duchy was in danger and it was time to snuff out the impudent flame of the rebel forces.

Summery : Leo kicks down a door, Isabelle continues being angsty, nothing much else...

[Andreas the Wise]

Leo, you realise if you continue to post backstory but not do anything, you'll get a medal for backstory; but totally lose the war.

[Leo Fenrir]

Ah well. I have this sneaking feeling it may work out this time though.

[Allot]

Isabelle, while maintaining her outer appearance of angst, found comfort in the fact that she alone (and Albert, and the Khan) knew the location of her father's war/missile bunker/control room, with its excellent stock of liquor. One poor lieutenant had to be sent home, poor chap, after he discovered Isabelle with three bottles of Glenfiddich and singing "Danny Boy".

Now unpleasantly sober, Isabelle sat down hard in a chair and closed her eyes. She'd had time to ponder Eiserdion's motives, and none of them made any sense. She remember seeing footage of the Prince's speeches during the Revolution, and he didn't seem the type to invade his own duchy. Isabelle found it easier if she just pictured him as another Khan, with a turban and a mustache. She waved her hand vaguely in Leo's direction and Lt. Col Wrangle stepped forward and began talking at a speed far too rapid for Isabelle to keep up with.

The war room table, ordinarily lacquered maple, had been covered with green cloth cut out to the shape of the Shirithian land mass. Little green and red pegs adorned the cloth, with little numbered flags attached to them.

"Brookshire appears to have calmed down," said Wrangle, pointing at a small cluster of reds, "so I propose that we take all our forces from Vijayanagara and cut Eiserdion off before he gets to Leonardo." Wrangle pulled a larger cluster of greens towards him.
"If needed, we can also take about a quarter of our troops from Shirekeep, they're about equidistant." He looked around expectantly. Everyone was staring at him except for Isabelle, who still had her eyes closed.
"My lady?" he asked, nervously.
Isabelle sighed, but it was not the sigh of exasperation. It was deeper, more sad. "Do whatever you feel is necessary, Lieutenant. We must not allow Leonardo Centre to fall," she said.
It was a good thing that Wrangle was in charge of the Iserdiaregimente after that. Saying "do whatever you feel is necessary" to someone with less self control and Hyperborea would have been ash within ten seconds. Lt. Col Wrangle saluted like a knife, and then ran out of the war room. Several aides followed him.

Isabelle could feel Leo's eyes on her. Without moving, she said: "The Lieutenant is a good man. He knows what he is doing. And he's...normal. For an Elwynnese, at any rate. I don't think I can do this. I don't know anything about war, and-" It occured to Isabelle that she was "gushing", as some would have put it. "Anyway," she said, "that's all for now. I hope we get there before Scott does..."

----
Summary:

6 Infantry Divisions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, SGC) en route to Avaldsnes
1 Helicopter Air Assault Brigade (Fred) en route to Avaldsnes
2 Reinforced Armour Brigades (Yale, Zoolander) en route to Avaldsnes

[Leo Fenrir]

Is she hungover!? It didn't seem too important though. She was just a teenager. Leo drew his gaze from Isabelle, catching a glance at the book she was reading, and then returned his focus too the - wait a second. How to Seduce a Duke!? Why in the world was she reading that! She made no indication that she noticed his reaction, and put the book out of mind for the time being.

A large concentration of the pins were currently stuck in Shirekeep. The protection of the Kaiser had been - no, still was - the top priority. His forces were divided between Shirekeep and Leonardo Center. Though he was quite confident about his position at the center, Isabelle was right. He couldn't just wait for the fight to come to them.

He motioned to Near, one of the men who had arrived with him and began moving some of the pins. Every once and a while Near would shake his head and reorganize the layout mumbling something about supply trains. The planning was mostly uneventful though a couple point of interest came up.

The first was that Ground Zero had fallen to the rebel troops, the second that the Ouroboros was out of commission and last was that the Count Cho'Gall had yet to resurface. Leo had a moment of shock when he realized that he had never sent anyone to retrieve the count from that abandoned military base. He immediately sent the third man dressed in black to arrange for a helicopter airlift.

"The loss of the Ouroboros though unfortunate leaves us on par with their forces. Now that they have Ground Zero though we cant let Leonardo fall. If it does, we loose our ability to predict missile launches. Though that is our main goal our priority will be scouring the land of these vile rebels. The count will have a pivotal role in this though. If we can't get hold of him this may very well fall to shambles."

"Our job for now is quite simple. Pin the bugger down. We move our forces from Leonardo to meet him head on in Avaldens." Near nodded an left in the same direction as Lut. Col Wrangle. Leo then turned to the last remaining man in black, Tyen, and sent him away. He then turned to Isabelle and took a seat in the chair next to her.

"So... Are you going to explain that to me or am I going to have to ask?"

----

Summery:
1 Helicopter Air Assault Regiment (Leonardo) en rout for Abandoned Military Outpost in Agnesia and then to Vijianagara
5 Multi-Role Fighter, 4 Infantry Divisions, and 2 Artillery Batteries (Leonardo) en rout for Avaldens
5 Multi-Role Fighter Squadrons (Shirekeep) en rout for Leonardo
The Duke prepares for an awkward conversation.

[Allot]

"No," said Isabelle after a while.
"I gave you two options," said Leo, "No was not one of them."
Isabelle rubbed her eyes and looked, for the first time, at Leo. "Oh. Well then," she said. Just then the doors burst open and Lt. Col. Wrangle ran in, followed by a short skinny man with a bright blue badge that said "Inspector" on it pinned to his lapel. Before Lt. Wrangle could say anything, the man was already speaking.
"Good evening, your grace," he said, addressing Leo. "A. E. Pessimal, Inspector for Character Development. We've been getting some unusual development levels around here lately." Pessimal leaned forward. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" he said quietly.
Thwack.

A. E. Pessimal toppled slowly forward as Lt. Wrangle lowered the butt of his pistol. He nodded at Isabelle, who nodded back, and then hit a button on the wall. A view of a snowy landscape came into view.

"Lieutenant Prufrock, report!" said Wrangle.
A voice came from the side of the camera.
"Yessir, J. Alfred Prufrock here sir, Leonardo's just coming into sight, as you can see sir! It looks like we've got there before..."
The voice stopped abruptly.
"Before what, Lieutenant?"
"Sorry, sir, I was just saying I hope we got here in time for..."
The voice trailed off again.
"Why the hell do you keep stopping, man?"
"Yessir, sorry sir, I was just thinking I might give the Hyperboreans a chance for dramatic effect, you know sir?"
"What in buggery are you talking about?"
"You know, I say, well it looks like it's all clear, and then an explosion cuts me off? Looks good for the cameras, sir, I'll tell you that."
"What cameras?"
"Well, this one, for one thing."

Leo, Isabelle, and Wrangle all stared hard at Leonardo Centre on the screen. It quite failed to blow up.
"Well?" said Isabelle.
"Err..." said Wrangle.
"Yes?"
"I think the Hyperboreans missed their cue..."

---
Summary:
- I am tired
- Everything from my previous post has moved closer to Leonardo, and is getting ready to defend it

[Scott of Hyperborea]

As far as I can tell, there's a bunch of forces around Leonardo, and a few others heading to Avaldsnes itself. If this is wrong, please correct me.

For three days, the joint Hyperborean/Cimmerian forces remained in Avaldsnes, preparing for the battle ahead and removing supplies from the ships. On the fourth day, Tori Ristelion of the naval forces ceremonially handed a bottle of thistlewine to Aese Yyorion of the Paladins, and they began to march through the wild roads of Wintergleam.

Aese had requisitioned the Silence, one of Hyperborea's four airships, as a mobile command platform. She kept it only a few meters off the ground to avoid the attention of enemy fighters, but it was still enough to get a feel for the army's layout. Grape marcha held the vanguard, followed in succession by the other Paladin Rays surrounding a few snowmobiles and batteries of artillery.

In the Silence, along with Aese q'Lily, sat: Moti Anesrion, one of the tacticians selected by the Latter Oracle. Jorvik Sturmandssen, battle chief of the Avaldsnes Vikings. Kurgan Myelos, leader of a small band of Bjorngard Paladins who had shown up to help. Tierni and Tierne, brother and sister who both held titles in Tala that would have translated, with some loss of subtlety, as "bureaucrat". Nahi Orionyan, one of the few experts on Elwynnese culture and society who had not yet gone insane. Three or four shifting Paladin leaders who would sit in for a few hours and then return to their own marchal, only to be replaced with their colleagues. And two small arctic foxes which must have been the pets of someone on board but for which no owner could be found, and which had been given the name Sori and Pari.

"To think," said Tierni, looking out the window at the hills of Wintergleam. "Once, this was all Hyperborean land. In the lost days of Nixuth Mekir and Ragum Volak, we controlled all Elwynn, from the Cimmerian Isles to the walls of Shirekeep. And now, we go crusading to retake it!"

"Careful, now," said Aese, and she raised an eyebrow. "We're facing enough hostility from the local people without claiming we're actually trying to take over territory."

"Hostility from the locals this, hostility from the locals that," said Tierni. "We weren't the ones who used a space-based death ray on Shirerithian land. If ISI hadn't had to use its doomsday device, we wouldn't have had to be here."

"But if Yardistan hadn't launched a rebellion, ISI never would have had to attack them," said Nahi, who shared the typical Talisrelin flaw of never being able to take his own side in an argument.

"And if Kasi Elution hadn't lit the Sun Beacon, we would be having this conversation in the dark!" said Aese. It was a well-known Hyperborean saying, and it ended the chain of hypotheticals. "We're here, and all we can hope to do is not cause these poor people any more trouble before we destroy that facility and get out."

"Poor people...?" started Nahi, but he was interrupted by a lotter-level soldier who came into the room, bowed, and started giving a report. "Enemies spotted, about an hour's march from here. Flying an Elwynnese flag. Very probably Allot's boys. Looks like a few tanks, a few soldiers, and a helicopter."

Aese sighed, and for a moment the assembled Hyperborean tacticians were treated to a view of their general looking like she would rather be anywhere but there. "All right. Send them the standard message. If they don't respond, prepare to engage."

Summary: No backstory of interest; I'm all out of creativity for the year and it's only November.

Allot, I'm assuming I am encountering the 9 units you sent to Avaldsnes 14th Nov, supported by the 9 units Leo sent. If that's not the case, please tell me. If it is, please give me permission to start a battle.

[Allot]

"My Lady?"
"Yes?"
"It's the Hyperboreans."
"BALLS."

START THE BATTLE

[Leo Fenrir]

(Pause. Isabelle are your troops ahead of the ones I sent heading from Leonardo to Avaldens? otherwise you will be running into these guys [5 Multi-Role Fighter, 4 Infantry Divisions, and 2 Artillery Batteries] soon. I'm slightly confused as to where everyone is...)

[Allot]

EVERYONE STOP

LEO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:

1. WHERE THE HELL IS LEONARDO? IS IT IN ALVADNES OR NOT?
2. IF YOU KNEW SCOTT WAS GOING TO LEONARDO, WHY DID YOU TAKE TROOPS OUT OF THERE?
3. TURN THE FUCK AROUND.


EVERYONE CONGREGATE IN LEONARDO FOR A PARTY.

[Leo Fenrir]

RIGHT THERE

2. To cut him off. I don't want collateral damage.
3. LEONARDO IS A FRIGGEN SCIENCE FACILITY IT WILL DIE IF IT IS USED AS A BATTLE GROUND
4. I like caps.
5. Where the hell are your guys?

[Allot]

AT Leonardo, where SCOTT IS. Did you expect me to wait on top of a hill and ask him to come battle me away from your science equipment? QUARREL doesn't take collateral damage into account. Attack him from behind then. We're facing off.

[Leo Fenrir]

So did the two armies simply Passe through eachother!?

[Allot]

WHAT THE FUCK (EXCUSE MY LANGAUGE).
HOW ABOUT THIS:

- I am at Leonardo
- Scott is on the other side of Leonardo
- Leo get's eaten by a sheep for being a fail (or runs into scott, with me backing him up)

OK? make it happen.

[Harvey Steffke]

Actually QUARREL does take collateral damage into account, if the players wish it. It's not in the brief manual, but from the more complete draft, the following is written:

However, fighting inside a city also costs civilian lives. In general, each damage point incurred by either side during fighting within a city also costs 100 civilian lives. Armies within a city may choose to fight in such a way as to minimize civilian casualties. When an army is fighting in this way, each damage point costs only 5 civilian lives – but the army fights at -10% strength, because they fear to use their full power.

There's no rule that references delicate equipment like a science center being damaged in a fight, but we can probably ad hoc it somehow. Like, if your side takes 10 points of damage total, the equipment is significantly damaged, and if you take 20, it's completely nonfunctional until it receives major repairs from an outside source. This is only if you fight around the Leonardo center itself. You can try to lure Scott away from the area, or get him to agree to attempt to minimize damage as per the minimize civilian casualty thing, but since Scott's main goal is to destroy the center and not you I do not think he'd be likely to agree.

[Allot]

"No, don't go in there!" yelled Leo. Lt. Wrangle looked at him strangely.
"Your grace?" he asked.
"There's millions of erbs of scientific equipment in there!"
"Err..."
They both turned to Isabelle, who shrugged.
"This is war, is it not? Just fight the buggers, or whatever it is you do," she said.
"But, err... the equipment -" said Wrangle nervously. He almost fell over the table backwards as he backed away from the fire in Isabelle's eyes.
"FUCK the equipment," she said, and for a moment Leo remembered her father's voice when he was possessed by Lest. "Just roll the dice already."

[Leo Fenrir]

No the whole point of moving towards Avaldens was to prevent this Isabelle. I'm still trying to figure out movment. Because unless Scott decided to not take the straight line rout, which I think would have needed to be specified, my force and his should have met much further north.

Soooo.... How does movement work?

[Allot]

I KNEW this was going to happen. I distinctly remember asking a QUARREL member about this very early in the procedures. I can't find the post, but the answer was along the lines of "We'll never have to worry about it."

I'm going to stop trying to fix this and let someone who understands what the hell's going on try.

[Andreas the Wise]

The answer is obvious. If you think you're moving through someone, you need to tell them and attack them on route. You can't wait five days.

[Allot]

As a famous philosopher once said: "Creme de merde avec shit sauce and a tossed salad."
or translated: "We're buggered now, aren't we?"

[Harvey Steffke]

Hard to say. Scott was approaching from the west of the science center while you guys were marching northeast-ish from Shirekeep. I'm not sure how you expected to intercept him before he got there.

[Andreas the Wise]

It's hardly a problem with QUARREL. Any existing recwar system handles movement this way (though in the future, it may be different). The only difference currently between QUARREL and Anunia is that QUARREL tells you the max pixel movement of each unit per day; Anunia just has a general guide.

[Leo Fenrir]

Hard to say. Scott was approaching from the west of the science center while you guys were marching northeast-ish from Shirekeep. I'm not sure how you expected to intercept him before he got there.

Because my army left FROM Leonardo... Its a straight line...

[Allot]

MEH

[Harvey Steffke]

Leo, after much digging around, I have found that you are quite correct. You had the following forces at the center:

5 Multi-Role Fighter Squadrons
4 Infantry Divisions
2 Artillery Batteries
1 Helicopter Air Assault Regiment

The confusion isn't so much your fault as the fact that this war is going so slowly that we forgot. >_>

You should be able to intercept Scott with these forces before he reaches the center and start a battle.

[Scott of Hyperborea]

I actually thought I am still only about halfway between Avaldsnes and Leonardo, meeting the troops Allot said he was sending to Avaldsnes, plus the troops Leo said he was sending to Avaldsnes. There are some troops at Leonardo, but they're not going to be participating in this battle.

When I run the battle tonight, I intend to have the land portion of my orbat fighting against:

Allot: 6 infantry, 1 helicopter, 2 rnfrcd armor.
Leo: 4 infantry, 2 artillery, 5 fighter.

Several other units are at Leonardo, out of range of the fighting. If I win this battle, I'll have to start another one there.

[Leo Fenrir]

As always, a voice of reason. Let do this thing!

[Allot]

Gi' on wi' it, ye bastards! Ach, crivens!

[Scott of Hyperborea]

Okaaay.

So, the first time I tried to enter it, there was a malfunction. I sent my four fighters against Allot's five, and it ran the air battle but not the associated ground battle. The second time, I left my fighters out, and got the following resolution:

Scott loses 2 infantry
Allot loses 1 infantry
Allot loses 1 copter
Allot loses 1 artillery

Not a resounding victory for either of us. I say we pause for the night and launch the same battle tomorrow.

[Cho'Gall]

Summary;
All forces en route to Avaldsnes from Vijinagara

IM COMING FOR YOU BOY!