Erfworld 67, page 61

[Glyde]

*facepalm*

This is the sort of thing you tell your warlord, people. <3

Keep the good work rolling, I'm loving this.

[ryos]

I'm sorry that I don't have time to read the whole thread and thus may have already been ninja'd.

Ok. I'm missing something here. Before Ansom began his attack we all thought he had enough move as a flying unit to make it back to the column. I have to wonder, if he's worried about a counterattack now, what was his plan in the beginning? Does he believe he can survive an assault by 24-43 dwagons? Did he not plan that far in advance? Or was he always willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good?

It just doesn't add up. I still think Ansom and Vinny can just high-tail it out of there.

They could also, as has been suggested by others, attempt to punch through the strong hex and make it back to the column. If he's well and truly out of move and thinks he's going to face a horde of Dwagons anyway, he really has no reason not to give that a shot.

[AngryAngel]

Question: Why would Ansom run headlong into what he knows is a trap?

Answer: Lets look ahis tactical situation. He's nearly out of move (for his total force, not necessarily himself) with a massive enemy formation between him and his own lines (remember, he doesn't know about the dwagons over the lake). At this point Ansom basically has three options:

First: Run away. This might save his own skin, but would probably cost him a significant part of his force.

Second: Hunker down in place and hope he can survive long enough for a relief force to reach him.

Third: Do the last thing the enemy expects, and counter-attack.

Ansom seems to have chosen the third option. He went into the trap because that was the shortest route to his own lines. If hits the closest hex from the inside, while other units hit it from the outside, he might manage a breakout. More importantly though, Ansom has retaken the initiative from Parson (however briefly), forcing Parson to react to him instead of the other way around. Again, it might not save Ansom, but it might at least make a Gobwin Knob victory more costly than Parson or His Toolship would like.

[Stonedef]

Question: Why would Ansom run headlong into what he knows is a trap?

....

Third: Do the last thing the enemy expects, and counter-attack.

Ansom seems to have chosen the third option. He went into the trap because that was the shortest route to his own lines. If hits the closest hex from the inside, while other units hit it from the outside, he might manage a breakout. More importantly though, Ansom has retaken the initiative from Parson (however briefly), forcing Parson to react to him instead of the other way around. Again, it might not save Ansom, but it might at least make a Gobwin Knob victory more costly than Parson or His Toolship would like.

Add into this he probably thinks the wounded units _are_ there just veiled. If he doesn't knock them out before they heal at the begining of next turn he will have a much bigger problem on his hands. By attacking the wounded untis now (or thinking he is at least) he is actively reducing the force Stanley will be able to counter attack with.

[Leewei]

Croaking the warlords doesn't necessarily end the seige. Capturing the warlords and ransoming them back for peace and schmuckers, on the other hand...

On second thought, it also may be possible to recruit a disgruntled captured warlord.

[jazz1m]

Ok, so here's what I think is going on/will happen. I do think Ansom expects the wounded dwagons to be veiled in the center, but as he looks around realizes there isn't anything there, and will have to punch through the formation. He'll have to leave the gumps and forest elves behind, but that may be an acceptable loss after having taken out 4 or 5 dragons. Besides, looks like he's almost out of the forest anyway, and he still has plenty of troops/archers left to fend off any remaining dragons.

He still also has Jillian and the archons in reserve and 5 gwiffons (?) with enough move to reach the center hex.

Ansom isn't going to be croaked anytime soon or captured for that matter. He'll work his way out of this conundrum a little worse off, but Parson will also have lost more dwagons than he was counting on.

[sihnfahl]

Ok. I'm missing something here. Before Ansom began his attack we all thought he had enough move as a flying unit to make it back to the column.

Not everyone. Quite a few of us noted that he and Vinny were very low on move going to that hex...

I have to wonder, if he's worried about a counterattack now, what was his plan in the beginning?

Get into the hex, dust the uncroaked warlords, kill the injured dwagons and pull Jillian, the 5 Gwyphons and the 3 archons over him to protect him afterwards. Why else would he have them in reserve? To keep them at full hitsies to protect him from the counterattack.

Does he believe he can survive an assault by 24-43 dwagons?

Whether or not he believed he could survive a counterattack by the remaining dwagons he didn't croak is pretty irrelevant. If all he did was pull the column together to protect the remaining siege, he would have lost his siege anyways due to the sheer numbers and hit-and-run tactics. He had no tactical choice but to go after the injured dwagons and warlords to put a stop to that attack strength and tactic. He was going to use Jillian, her Gwyphons and the Archons to make any counterattack expensive for Stanley. Remember, without the warlords, the dwagons have to stay and fight until croaked or they win.

Did he not plan that far in advance? Or was he always willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good?

He was willing to run the risk of sacrificing himself for the greater good. He was going to make it -expensive- for Stanley. Without the siege, the Battle for Gobwin Knob is pretty much over before it started, giving Stanley time to rebuild, regroup and reconquer. Ansom presumably doesn't have enough tunnel-capable units to get past the defenses (he was going to use them as a diversion), and air assault on a place riddled with towers, defensive bonuses, archers and the most powerful air units imaginable...

It just doesn't add up. I still think Ansom and Vinny can just high-tail it out of there.

And go where? Back to the column? He'd be just as vulnerable there. Even more so, given how many archer and forest units he has with him who are presumably at a good hitsies level. He can't go far - definitely not 50+ hexes...

They could also, as has been suggested by others, attempt to punch through the strong hex and make it back to the column. If he's well and truly out of move and thinks he's going to face a horde of Dwagons anyway, he really has no reason not to give that a shot.

Other than he had to punch his entire force, save for Vinny's useless bats, to get as far as he did. Against twice the numbers? He'd be so low on hitsies that he'd just be asking for trouble. The dwagons will heal to full before him. They'll be at full health and move... and he'll be going 'HEALPLZ'.

Plus, he'll be facing twice the number of dwagons that he was expecting; remember, he believed he was going to take out 2 dozen heavily wounded dwagons going in. Now he's almost surrounded by 2 dozen dwagons at full health AND has 2 dozen more about to heal and bear down on him.

[DreadArchon]

The Gobwin Knob victory has just become trivial. Stanley would have to go far out of his way to boop up his own side's chances at this point.

[sarcasm]Yeah, Parson/Stanley are only outnumbered 24.8 to 1, rather than 25 to 1! They might as well start partying now! Why, the enemy faction is even about to lose its competent and astute leader! Huzzah![/sarcasm]

Also, on veiling: It's probably far from foolproof, or Stanley would have been unlikely to lose in the first place. (He could have just said "Attack, veil. Haha, I'm untouchable. Next turn: Attack, veil. Haha.")

[jazz1m]

The dwagons will heal to full before him. They'll be at full health and move... and he'll be going 'HEALPLZ'.

Doesn't he have lofty and altruistic elves with him that can heal?

[ldknemene]

Wow, great strip.

Is anyone else looking forward to seeing Pars kind of neeaon's next stupid meal toy will be? Or is going to gain any more equipment otherways?

So far he has:
Armor alla henchman
3-D glass of stats
Gauntlet of mathamancy

The glasses where usefull but silly looking, but the other pieces are making him into a more intimidating looking character. I think it would be kind of neat to have a scene at some point with the Jetstone surrender, and have them introduced to a very cool looking Parson, fully equiped, as the Chief Warlord that defeated them.

Also those stupid meal toys do seem to help justify Parson's upkeep costs. And who the heck is deciding what items Parson should get?

[jindra34]

Doesn't he have altruistic elves with him that can heal?

Nope just woodsies.

Also, on veiling: It's probably far from foolproof, or Stanley would have been unlikely to lose in the first place. (He could have just said "Attack, veil. Haha, I'm untouchable. Next turn: Attack, veil. Haha.")

All veiling does is make them harder to find. i suspect that there are rules for breaking said veils.

[SteveMB]

Also, on veiling: It's probably far from foolproof, or Stanley would have been unlikely to lose in the first place. (He could have just said "Attack, veil. Haha, I'm untouchable. Next turn: Attack, veil. Haha.")

Presumably, there are some major downsides to veiling (High cost? High risk of failure? Reduction of the veiled unit's abilities?), or it would be used routinely.

[sihnfahl]

Ansom seems to have chosen the third option. He went into the trap because that was the shortest route to his own lines. If hits the closest hex from the inside, while other units hit it from the outside, he might manage a breakout. More importantly though, Ansom has retaken the initiative from Parson (however briefly), forcing Parson to react to him instead of the other way around. Again, it might not save Ansom, but it might at least make a Gobwin Knob victory more costly than Parson or His Toolship would like.

No, he went into the hex because he can't believe Stanley was that capable. He thinks the dwagons and warlords are veiled. He rushed in to flush them out.

And charging through, even with Jillian and the archons as his only backup, would be absolutely nuts. Out of an original force of 47, Ansom croaks 9. That means his limited numbers are whittled down even further, he's at low hitsies, and he faces 38 dwagons with 3 warlords, all at full health.

And why would you think it forces Parson to react to him? Turn-based game. Ansom's alone, low move, no reinforcements to speak of. Parson can completely ignore Ansom if he wanted to and lay waste to the remaining siege. Or he could capture/croak Ansom. Whatever Parson does now, Ansom can't react to. And the dwagons are close enough to GK that Ansom wouldn't be able to counterattack.

[Mr. Dragon]

Presumably, there are some major downsides to veiling (High cost? High risk of failure? Reduction of the veiled unit's abilities?), or it would be used routinely.

First of all, it seems to take a Foolamancer. We have no proves the Alliance has one. Wanda says "He knows we have A Foolamancer" (of course, emphasis added), makes me think that they are pretty pretty rare. As, in general, are the 'mancers. It may seem that Stanley has many, but actually afaik we have 'met':

- Wanda
- Sizemore
- the 3 'mancers bound in the strategic-map setup

It may well be the case that Stanley has only those casters (so much places they can else be, eh... there is only GK left of Stanley's initial cities). And for some reason I don't think the Alliance has so many more (though it may well be the case that any number of the what we think are warlords of Ansom's war council are actually 'mancers, counselors ala Wanda).

[The_Gut]

Nice comic!

I can't wait till the "real" conflict starts - Parson versus Stanley. The war's just a throwaway event, I think. Parson will win it, and fairly easily. The real interesting part of the comic is going to be when he fully realizes just how much of a twit Stanley is, and what he has done to maintain power. (I.E, linking the wizards). If he doesn't turn against Stanley at that point - well he is a poor excuse for a human being. So far, he appears to be a fairly decent sort.

Or, more likely, it will be Parson versus Wanda and her flunky Stanley.

I'm not that interested in the war..... its pretty much a given that Parson will win. Or maybe sabotage his present side, and switch before its too late.

Really interesting comic.

[Etheric]

No, he went into the hex because he can't believe Stanley was that capable. He thinks the dwagons and warlords are veiled. He rushed in to flush them out.

If that were true we would have seen it from Ansom's mouth not Wandas. It is hard to disprove that one at this point, but I am convinced that is not why he did it. Parson is also pretty doubtful.

And charging through, even with Jillian and the archons as his only backup, would be absolutely nuts. Out of an original force of 47, Ansom croaks 9. That means his limited numbers are whittled down even further, he's at low hitsies, and he faces 38 dwagons with 3 warlords, all at full health.

And why would you think it forces Parson to react to him? Turn-based game. Ansom's alone, low move, no reinforcements to speak of. Parson can completely ignore Ansom if he wanted to and lay waste to the remaining siege. Or he could capture/croak Ansom. Whatever Parson does now, Ansom can't react to. And the dwagons are close enough to GK that Ansom wouldn't be able to counterattack.

Firstly if he thinks he is in trouble he is better off hitting the dwagons than staying still. Better to fight dwagons without a max stack bonus and without a warlord bonus then with.

If he has any move left then hitting the dwagons on the other side to make a gap in the line to get closer to reinfocements is one way. There are no FOREST capable units that can reach, but there must be other units that can reach. And for defense he only needs units not forest capable units. Turn the warlords to dust and surgical strikes are out. It might be enough. Jillian and the archerons are probably about a match for 4-6 dwagons so maybe they could get through the line too.

I still look at the dialogue though

V : This looks like a pretty shrewd trick, arright
A : Yes, Yes it does.
A : Yes it does!
A : Battle Formations!

Ansom worked something out there. My feeling is that he has thought of a way to pull the trick on reverse. Something involving magic, and maybe the veiling of troops.

My guess is we are going to get a nice exposition of how veiling works in the next comic, and very soon a demonstration of it in practice.

Hmm ok time to stop speculating, my gut feeling is we don't have enough info yet to see what Ansom is up to (assuming he is, and this is not going to be the end of part 1 very soon). Hmm waiting for the next one :D.

[grumbleboom]

Just thought of something...

Spoiler

Show

Parson could go out and grab the OTHER warlords. We don't know where they are, but they are probably weaker then Ansom and since they have basically no way of keeping tabs on the action, really wouldn't be expecting it.

[Divine Hammer]

For those reveling in Ansom's so-called arrogance or stupidity, it should be pointed out that the only reason Ansom's decisions have seemed so bad is that he's now matching wits from a strategist from a different reality. Since Ansom doesn't get to read this comic and then discuss it to death on the forum here, he can't really figure that into his plans.

In this comic, would appear to have better instincts for the situation than Vinnie. Vinnie is grasping for explanations for the enemy's sudden and unexpected tactical acumen, while Ansom is certain that the trap he has just runrunruuuun into is beyond Stanley. Not only is Ansom right, it turns out that the only way to keep Stanley from booping up the trap before it was set was to sic a naked croakamancer on him.

Ansom appears to know his enemy so well that there's little wonder about how Stanley has been beaten back to the fortress of Gobwin Knob. The burst of inspiration that led him to charge into the center hex (?!) may have been sheer brilliance if Stanley had been calling the shots.

I keep hearing about this fatal flaw of PRIDE!!!11! that Ansom is supposed to be carrying around, but I'm still waiting to see it. Recognizing that your enemy is an idiot when he really is does not suggest hubris. Neither does commanding and leading troops into battle. Ansom appears to have that Divine Right of Kings belief going, and his motivation for leading this fight may go beyond retribution for those wronged by Stanley's earlier campaign.

Is that it, though? Next to Stanley, Ansom is St. Bernardette. Hell, when Ansom talks about going after the dwagons, he doesn't even speak in first person. If he's so pumped up with pride, shouldn't he at least be talking about "my" upcoming victory and how "I" will crush Stanley and snatch the Arkenhammer from his filthy, unworthy, commoner's hands?

I dunno, maybe we'll see some of this supposed ego come through after whomping he's about to take. That is, if there's anything left to hold an ego.

[Divine Hammer]

Ansom worked something out there. My feeling is that he has thought of a way to pull the trick on reverse. Something involving magic, and maybe the veiling of troops.

I think he "realized" that Stanley must be hiding troops there, since the alternative was a trap beyond Stanley's capabilties to devise. The panel where he's there in an empty forest with the Arkenpliers, all dressed up with nowhere to go, confirms that for me. He worked out that his target was really there, veiled by magic.

I don't think Ansom's "plan" goes beyond the center hex. It was a burst of inspiration, a sudden realization of the enemy's strategy.

But it was dead, dead wrong.

[Toloran]

I'm thinking "veiled" units is similar to the starcraft zerg ability to burrow. When you burrow units, they cannot be seen or attacked (and they themselves cannot attack either). However, if you have a detector unit you can attack them and they cannot attack back.

If the same (or similar) is true here, then Ansom is doing what is best considering what he knows. The dragons would be sitting ducks in such an instance instead of a fierce battle like he was expecting. However, since they aren't there.... well..... He is kinda booped :)

[DavidByron]

reference page on types of magicians

You have to wonder why Parson never says something like, "Ok what 'mancers do we have? What 'mancers does he have? What can they all do?"

The answer appears to be that Stanley has five mancers and Ansom just one -- a hat magician. But who knows? perhaps he has other stagemancers.

The next question is "How easy is it to get other 'mancers?" of course the in story reason why Parson is still having these "I'm so dumb" moments is that he's only been there for 36 hours and everyone apart from Sizemore is a tool when it comes to giving out vital data. It's almost as if they were one dimensional characters in a board game instead of real people who could just converse about data even if chatting about stuff is not part of their normal duties.

Note: Wanda doesn't say that they can cast a veil spell. She says Ansom thinks they can. Why? Because he knows they have a foolamancer. But that's not really true. They don't have a foolamancer any more. They have the eyemancer trio. In the same way they may not be able to use their thinkamancer to send thinkagrams.

It occurs to me that we don't know whether the triniteyemancer could, in fact, veil the wounded dwagons. Presumably they do have some ability to veil units, since a previous use of that ability is the most straightforward way for Ansom to know that they have a Foolamancer and for Wanda to know that he knows*, but this may be beyond the limits of that power.

*That said, another possibility is that the Foolamancer was captured from one of the factions now coming after Stanley's hide.

I think that each side has perfect knowledge of the other side's 'mancer roster somehow. This sort of knowledge is assumed when Wanda casually says eg. "Ansom has no lookamancers" or "He knows we have a foolamancer". That sort of knowledge is common in this sort of board game.

Sure would be interesting to know what the other 15 types of 'mancer (beyond the nine alluded to) can do to effect wars. Some are pretty guessable. Some are not.

[sihnfahl]

If that were true we would have seen it from Ansom's mouth not Wandas. It is hard to disprove that one at this point, but I am convinced that is not why he did it. Parson is also pretty doubtful.

No, Parson isn't doubtful; he's disbelieving.

Parson believes that Ansom knows the hex is empty (remember, Parson doesn't know he can veil units in that frame). It would make no sense for someone, knowing a hex is empty, to walk into that hex knowing they would be surrounded by dwagons.

Firstly if he thinks he is in trouble he is better off hitting the dwagons than staying still. Better to fight dwagons without a max stack bonus and without a warlord bonus then with.

And lose more units, reduce his hitsies, make himself more vulnerable. Wonderful victory.

If he has any move left then hitting the dwagons on the other side to make a gap in the line to get closer to reinfocements is one way. There are no FOREST capable units that can reach, but there must be other units that can reach. And for defense he only needs units not forest capable units. Turn the warlords to dust and surgical strikes are out. It might be enough. Jillian and the archerons are probably about a match for 4-6 dwagons so maybe they could get through the line too.

If he gets out of the forest and to the road, only Archery units would be his defense. In the woods, all the forest-capable units are his defense. And getting through the six-stack would still weaken him. Even with Jillian and the Archons as backup, he'd still have 38 dwagons with 3 warlords to worry about next turn.

Ansom worked something out there. My feeling is that he has thought of a way to pull the trick on reverse. Something involving magic, and maybe the veiling of troops.

... what, now? Which units would he veil? And if he could use magic to protect himself or his units in some way, make a defense/offense more viable, why the heck wouldn't he have used it and prepared it going in?

[ShiningTed]

Ansom worked something out there. My feeling is that he has thought of a way to pull the trick on reverse. Something involving magic, and maybe the veiling of troops.

I think you're missing the two levels this story is being told on.

Look at that last picture of Ansom. By himself, in a forest clearing. Nothing around - no expected veiled dwagons, nothing.

I suspect that image came about like this:

Rob: Make Ansom look like a sitting duck.
Jamie: Gotcha.

Ansom thought he had a revelation about the dwagons being veiled: he said it looked like something shrewd, meaning the looks were deceiving. Then he charged in. He was wrong.

The question still remains, what are Jillian and the archons going to do before Ansom's turn ends?

[TheTurnipKing]

I think Ansom knows he and his can take whatever those Dwagons around the outside can dish out this turn, and he'll have air-cav ready to ride to the rescue on his next.

I also think that the next turn is going to be interesting. Stanley has made his intentions clear and with the Arkenpliers at stake, I don't think even Wanda will be able to keep him from meddling next turn, which is going to be painful if his actions are as predicatable for Ansom as it seems they are.

[SteveMB]

Firstly if he thinks he is in trouble he is better off hitting the dwagons than staying still. Better to fight dwagons without a max stack bonus and without a warlord bonus then with.

And lose more units, reduce his hitsies, make himself more vulnerable. Wonderful victory.

As far as Ansom knew, his alternatives were:

1. Go after the wounded dwagons and uncroaked warlords now, when the dwagons just need a little more damage to croak. Take enough force to survive attacks by the donut dwagons (which will have no warlords, and will therefore have to fight whichever enemy units they encounter -- screen the high-value defenders with the tough but expendable ones).

2. Sit back and wait for the wounded dwagons to heal, ready to destroy the rest of the siege units on Stanley's next turn.

He decided that option 1 was the lesser evil.

[Aliquid]

If that were true we would have seen it from Ansom's mouth not Wandas. It is hard to disprove that one at this point, but I am convinced that is not why he did it. Parson is also pretty doubtful.

The reason we see it from Wanda's mouth, not Ansom's is because the comic needed to show Parson learning this piece of information.

Wanda is completely correct. Ansom can't believe that the Tool is smarter than him, and he doesn't know about Parson. Therefore as far as Ansom is concerned it is impossible that he was outsmarted. It is impossible that this is a trap.

Therefore, there is only one explanation that Ansom can believe:
The wounded troops are in the center hex. They are wounded, and the Tool has veiled them in a desperate attempt to protect them from Ansom's troops. Now Ansom is rushing in to crush the wounded Warlords, he is thinking "Ha, your veil didn't fool me".

[darkgolem]

I note that, since Ansom believes that the bat before entered the hex and was not attacked, this confirms that if a warlord is with troops and defending, and is attacked by a unlead stack, they warlord can choose not to engage.

[ChowGuy]

Now i know this is taking a HUGE assumption (firststrike)

It's taking anenormous assumptio. It's taking for one thing the assumption that combat proceeds in turns, when in fact we've seen nothing to confirm that, or even indicate it. To the contrary, from just about every instance of combat we've it appears that once initiatied it proceeds in real-time, with both sides acting simultaneously. We've also seen, despite all the talk of "selective targeting" that manuvering within combat to is still required to get to a particular target. You don't just say "OK, all you other Dwagons stay put, while I walk up to that Warlord waaaay back there and croak him."

Here we see Jillian croak one of Stanleys undead, but the Twoll gets no combat turn before she and the Orlies croak him and the others. He apparently doesn't even see the first attack.

A bit later we see deploying the Orlies even as the Dwagons close for battle. She specifically tells them "buy me some time" to reach her chosen target. We see their fate shoulder while she's fighting, between the panels in which she's poised to strike and the Dwagon drops.

Webinar tells his group to "Hold fast. Take it like it's a drill" but then we see one of the Battle Bears throwing at the same time a Spidew is ripping into another, who proceeds to clobber it while croaking (notice the "x" eye).

.And of course in the column attack itself, we see arrows in the air at the red whose just decorpitated a Battle Bear while a second Red "krinches" another and two greens play wishbone with a thread. The more arrows and a spear at the Green who's getting his noms.

Under the circumstances, I don't think the term "first strike" even applies. The attacker may get initiative (and even that's disputable, given the bat kills) but beyond that it looks to be more a matter of speed and positioning.

If you look in the first frame of the comic you can see 6 woodsie bows and tarfu. If that's the case.... they MIGHT have lost one.

And in the last frame prior to the charge, you see at least five Gumps, and a lot more then six Elves. We see only vignettes of the ensuing fight, so we don't know how many Gumps/Elves the Dwagons took out in the course of it.


Not meaning to pick on Grumbly here, but really, the business about "combat turns" needed to be said ;)

[Fuzzy_Juan]

The reason we see it from Wanda's mouth, not Ansom's is because the comic needed to show Parson learning this piece of information.

Wanda is completely correct. Ansom can't believe that the Tool is smarter than him, and he doesn't know about Parson. Therefore as far as Ansom is concerned it is impossible that he was outsmarted. It is impossible that this is a trap.

Therefore, there is only one explanation that Ansom can believe:
The wounded troops are in the center hex. They are wounded, and the Tool has veiled them in a desperate attempt to protect them from Ansom's troops. Now Ansom is rushing in to crush the wounded Warlords, he is thinking "Ha, your veil didn't fool me".

That's pretty much what I thought. He knows he can be shrewd, but not tactically brilliant. Hiding his troops in the obvious place seems just like Stanley...besides...Ansom is no more booped if he attacks the center hex than is he just ends turn where he is. If he is right, he gets the battle he was hoping for with a chance to blunt the head of the Dwagon incursion...if he is wrong, it confirms that Stanley actually did outmanuver him in a way that is beyond Stanley's capability as he sees it and puts him in no worse a situation than he was already in.

When you are cut off from reinforcement and within strike range of the entire nemy force and cannot get out no matter what...one wooded hex is as good as the next.

If he had the move to break through the 5-6 dwagons and rejoin the column I think he would...but I don't think that they have enough move to make that run...

Parson seems to want to capture someone instead of croaking Ansom. I agree with Parson, croaking Ansom is not priority...while it would take out leadership, it would not end the siege...the primary goal is the destruction of the units in the column down to a level that assaulting GK is impossible. With an emphasis on the siege. Now...there is one thing that would be even better if they could capture Ansom as opposed to kill him.

Spoiler

Show

They could force him to disband the alliance...with most of the jetstone warlords away, the column would start to tear itself apart...and by capturing him they still get the Arkenpliers...if they can't force him...they can always just croak him and get a new uncroaked warlord to replace one that he kills.

[Tekraen]

Long time lurker, first time poster here. Not sure if it's spoiler material, so I'll try to edit and fix if it's such.

Given the events at Warchalking, would it be too big of a step to assume that if you croak the leadership at that particular battle, then the enemy forces retreat? A 'Headquarters Victory', if you will?

If so, it may explain why Ansom was willing to charge into that center hex, even if the units were veiled, as it would end the skirmish right there and the leaderless stacks would quite possibly return to base for further orders.

Secondly, we do know that stacks with leaders can decide not to initiate combat. If veiled, the bat wouldn't see the unit unless they attacked (and veiled leaderless stacks would, they're bound to by Erf rules). If there was a warlord, they could possibly let the scout pass. If other warlords had a 'detection radius' (a la Starcraft), they could possibly break the veil by charging into the hex. I think Ansom is fully convinced that leader stack has to be there, otherwise why would Stanley (not Parson, Stanley) guard that hex?

He's bought into the fallacy that X marks the spot, IMO.