Quote Originally Posted by Jasdoif View Post
The reason why Ansom didn't go on the hunt personally is pretty easy: He didn't have the move left to conduct a proper search himself, and leaving the forest units to the mercy of the B-dwagons with no real chance of gaining an advantage wasn't an acceptable option to him.

As for the bats...I think your 2a is the answer.
While I don't disagree with you on the facts, I interpret their significance differently. I think that Ansom's primary motivation for waiting was to be able to assist Jillian (if possible), not to avoid abandoning the forest units. As Vinny said, they are a much less tempting target without Ansom there.