Battle Report: May 13th

Minaria is at war again this week. There were a few scheduling conflicts this session, so Jared was unable to play. So we started a new game for this session. Yours Truly is the desert kingdom of Shucassam. Werepuppy plays as maritime power of Rombune. With special guest of fine literary taste, lastredoubt, playing as the premier Minarian thalassocracy of Mivior. All three kingdoms are some kind of naval power bordering on the Sea of Drowning Men. Which should make for an interesting scenario.

There were some early battles in the Sea of Drowning Men where the forces of Rombune and Mivior clashed. Although little is said of those battles(and I forgot to take screenshots), the results were mixed. Mivior ended up taking the heavier losses, however. 

Diplomacy however, did not favor Rombune. Their ambassador was burnt at the stake the first time they attempted recruit from the barbarian tribes. Although no alliances were formed at the early stages of the campaigning season, things were just getting started. 

To the south, Shucassam ends up going after the relatively vulnerable Rombuni city of Parros. Unfortunately, the siege is frustrated by the desert kingdom's lack of naval power. The sealanes being held open by a Rombuni fleet led by Schardenzar the wizard.

Along the coast to the north, having recently allied Muetar, Mivior violates the territory of the kingdom of Hothior.

Again to the south, the redeployment of the Rombuni fleets leaves Parros open to siege with the help of the Zefnar flotilla. Which takes losses in subsequent weeks from nearby storms. 

Unfortunately, Rombune was recently able to procure the services of several mercenary fleets who attacked...

...and reduced Shucassam's naval might to nothing. This breaks the siege of Parros. 

Back in Hothior, the declaration of siege on Port Lork drives the Hothiorians into the arms of the Rombuni alliance.  

At little to the east, Mivior is on the defensive at their ancestral capital of Boliske. Rombune sieges it with their main fleet lead by Schardenzar and, the recently victorious mercenary fleets. 

In the end, Shucassam and Rombune should be worried. Currently, Mivior controls the largest alliance in Minaria. Muetar, Immer and Zorn all take their marching orders from glistening Colist. Rombune is second in allied power, with both Pon and Hothior at their command. Shucassam is third in power with their single ally. The mad king of Elfland. No actual plunder has been acquired yet however, whose victory it will yet be is still up in the air. 

Notes

A new game this week. Although, we'll probably end up finishing the game from last week, next week. This has been a pretty interesting start.

Perhaps the main thing I noticed with this game, was the particular rules with sieging ports in the second edition of the game. In the second edition of divine right it is impossible to siege a port without having a fleet to extend a zone of siege around it's sea squares. This means that ports are impervious to alliances without fleets, Athens style. It also means, that if you have naval hegemony your ports are never more than a turn or two away from relief, if they aren't already safe.

This means my attempted siege of Parros was a rather foolhardy move given Shucassam's relative naval weakness. Rombune is so isolated that it will take some time redeploy those forces elsewhere. I was banking on getting Hothior's fleet but, all of my attempts to ally them failed. They ended up joining Rombune's alliance when Mivior attacked anyway. It would have been wiser to focus on a strategy with less dependencies.

I can't say for certain when we'll pick up this particular game again but, it certainly was interesting. There are a few things I need to work on with my strategy as you can see. One thing is for sure though, it's not over yet.