Erfworld 71, page 65

[Wender]

OK, so if no dwagons can round trip from their current location then no dwagon can round trip there from GK, so if Stanley sends Parson out to the new front line over the lake with a spare dwagon, that dwagon (and possibly Wanda!) are now part of the battle, and if GK doesn't have another spare... Ouch. That makes this a real all-or-nothing battle for GK.

Now...

I agree Vreejack, Ansom would significantly decrease his chances of losing anyone if he simply went in and surgically struck at the warlords, leaving the rest alive.

That's a good plan (storyline wise) actually because it allows Parson to get out while he's ahead, Ansom gets to survive, and Jillian removes the 'traitor' symbol on her head.

The status quo is more or less maintained.

Or, since everything is on a knife's edge and we're in the latter half of part 1, this arc could end in a wild battle for everything, with each side trying to hold its fracturing command while in a situation where a single tactical error could cost them the whole conflict. All of the personalities would be vividly engaged with each other in a fight that could go all the way down to a nail-biting, last-second, skin-of-the-teeth victory which would be a great way to end the siege. (Notice that I didn't say for whom the victory would be; I figure that it'll go for GK simply because of the fact of Parson, but it ain't necessarily so.)

To look at it in purely mechanical terms, how do you surgically get through 19 dwagons to strike at a few warlords who, more than likely, are taking direct orders from a tactical genius? (That's assuming that Stanley doesn't lose his boop and take over command, in which case it'll still be ugly, but Ansom should be able to pull it off.) The dwagons and their warlords should be able to muster a formidable defense, and Jillian might just lose the plot, again, and start whacking at any dwagon that gets too close to her or to Ansom (and, say, get captured again, distracting Ansom from his mission to kill the dwagon that captured her--or vice versa). Even if Jillian behaves, and unless the Archons have some powerful mojo they can lend Ansom (invisibility? teleportation within a hex?), even a surgical strike will be incredibly costly. It's broad daylight, nobody has any cover of any kind, and everyone can be attacked from all sides. It's nightmare scenario #1 for any sort of tactical strike force and unfortunately that's what both sides are.

[Midgititp]

Oh Wender I do not disagree at all. I said 'reduce' not 'eliminate'. What you say is very very likely to occur, since Parson wants to keep those warlords at all costs. And you can bet that Stanley will want to focus completely on Ansom.

But compared to trying to kill all of the dragons, a surgical strike sounds like a better chance.

Beyond that however, there's also the issue of move. If Ansom hits the dragons he'll have try to fend off against any survivors the next turn. And if he doesn't make a very clever move he'll end up without any ground support. Making him extremely vulnerable.

Anyways, like I said a while back, the best choice was and still is to retreat to the column. Ansom didn't like that plan because retreating would be admitting defeat to Stanley, which he doesn't want to do desperately. Perhaps if Jillian told Ansom that there was a new warlord, the 'perfect' warlord, then it would make the option to retreat more palatable...

[SteveMB]

Anyways, like I said a while back, the best choice was and still is to retreat to the column. Ansom didn't like that plan because retreating would be admitting defeat to Stanley, which he doesn't want to do desperately. Perhaps if Jillian told Ansom that there was a new warlord, the 'perfect' warlord, then it would make the option to retreat more palatable...

Hmmm.... that also makes sense of Wanda revealing this information to Jillian (assuming that the conversation did in fact continue to the point of explaining the results of the "monstrous, combination Findamancy/Lookamancy... thing"). A suggestion to drop everything else and personally protect Ansom if he's in danger only works if she sees Ansom as being in real danger. For obvious reasons, Stanley's feckless record to date tends to undercut any perceived threat from his forces. On the other hand, the knowledge that Stanley has The Perfect Warlord working for him would, for equally obvious reasons, amplify Jillian's perception of Ansom's jeopardy.

[Wender]

Anyways, like I said a while back, the best choice was and still is to retreat to the column. Ansom didn't like that plan because retreating would be admitting defeat to Stanley, which he doesn't want to do desperately. Perhaps if Jillian told Ansom that there was a new warlord, the 'perfect' warlord, then it would make the option to retreat more palatable...

Ansom doesn't like that plan because if the dwagons take out the remainder of his siege his boop is thoroughly booped. :) He has no good options, so it's hard for me to fault him for what he's trying to do. If he can take out the warlords and (reasonably) expect the dwagons to be recalled back to GK, or else if he can go in and do enough damage to get Stanley to focus the dwagons on him instead of on the siege (which could continue without him--Team Radish does not lack for warlords), he's done better than if he withdraws to protect a single hex.

If the Archons figure out that they can get Ansom over to Jillian's position via thinkagram and then withdraw to the column after their surgical strike that would be the very best case for Team Radish. The wrench in the works is of course Jillian.

The more I think about this, the less attached I am to any particular outcome. Our gracious hosts have set things up so that the smallest change in any number of variables could tilt the outcome in any direction, and some of those variables (Stanley, Jillian) can be hard to predict based on what's been revealed to us, and based on the tremendous pressure that all of them are now under.

Jillian's knowledge about the megaspell is interesting. On the one hand, it's a clear control mechanism: The knowledge would be extremely valuable to her side, but she can't disclose it without blowing her cover story to pieces, and the more stale it gets the more suspicious she'll look for bringing it up. That has to be killing her. But the Archons give her an out. If they independently disclose to Ansom that she's under a spell, the reason for her cover story and her failure to disclose this information will be abundantly clear, and she'll have an out. If Team Radish can put 2 and 2 together they might be able to figure that Stanley did something to improve his odds, even if they're not sure what, and that might give Team Radish the idea to try something similar. Or maybe they already have a certain amount of magical firepower courtesy of the Archons. (It would be really nice to know what they can do.) If Team Radish can effectively unravel or at least temporarily bypass Jillian's programming, or if there is someone available who can disable or dispel it, Parson will have his work cut out for him.

[Krelon]

right, we don't know the exact combat power and we cannot say how psychological warfare will affect the outcome. From the gamers point of view everything is correct but also a bit frustrating cause anything is possible.

However, the story is cool, the artwork is good, so let's lean back and enjoy until the moment we can discuss tactics again and shred each others theories to pieces.

[SteveMB]

The more I think about this, the less attached I am to any particular outcome. Our gracious hosts have set things up so that the smallest change in any number of variables could tilt the outcome in any direction, and some of those variables (Stanley, Jillian) can be hard to predict based on what's been revealed to us, and based on the tremendous pressure that all of them are now under.

It's the little things which make a difference sometimes....

[benthehater]

It's the little things which make a difference sometimes....

Ahhh, quoting page one panel one does uplift the soul, yes.

[Vreejack]

whilst we wait patiently for the next installment...

i just realized that the archons are in no hurry to tell Ansom about Jiillian's spell. They knew she was under a spell earlier when Webinar was present and reporting to Ansom, but they had said nothing to him and now consider the whole point of the spell and its effects "moot." But this information is undoubtedly valuable, so will they try to sell it?

Perhaps Charlie will extort money from Stanley for a promise not to mention it to Ansom. That would be the best way to handle it since Stanley already knows how valuable the information is, whilst Ansom would be pricing something blind and would resent the whole exchange.

[SteveMB]

i just realized that the archons are in no hurry to tell Ansom about Jiillian's spell. They knew she was under a spell earlier when Webinar was present and reporting to Ansom, but they had said nothing to him and now consider the whole point of the spell and its effects "moot." But this information is undoubtedly valuable, so will they try to sell it?

Perhaps Charlie will extort money from Stanley for a promise not to mention it to Ansom. That would be the best way to handle it since Stanley already knows how valuable the information is, whilst Ansom would be pricing something blind and would resent the whole exchange.

We don't know how much the Archons know and when they knew it. It's possible that detecting that she's under a spell requires them to actively "scan" for it, and they didn't really have a reason to do so until now (Jillian's irrational insistence that the wounded dwagons aren't out there probably being the capper). For that matter, it's not out of the question that Jaclyn made an inspired guess/bluff.

As for what they'll do with the information now that they have it (if it was a guess, I'd say Jaclyn regards it as pretty well confirmed), they have a somewhat more pressing matter to consider at the moment....

[SteveMB]

Some truth to all of this but if Ansom wants to "end" Stanley then he needs to take out those warlords now. That probably means getting himself, Vinny, Jillian, her beasts and the archons, along with the most-important pliers to dust those three warlords this turn.

The question of whether Parson knows about that property of the Arkenpliers has come up now and then. It just occurred to me that it's very likely that he doesn't -- and not just for the standard default reason (there's no onscreen evidence that he was informed of it).

Stanley specifically told him that Ansom is not attuned to the Arkentool he possesses (identified to him as the Arkenpliers during the original ambush planning session). Given that information, he has every reason to assume that Ansom can't do anything whatsoever with the Arkenpliers except use it as a paperweight or perhaps to crack walnuts.

[Vreejack]

The question of whether Parson knows about that property of the Arkenpliers has come up now and then. ... Given that information, he has every reason to assume that Ansom can't do anything whatsoever with the Arkenpliers except use it as a paperweight or perhaps to crack walnuts.

Yes of course. Had he known about the pliers he prolly would have thought twice about this scheme of his. You have to figure he factored in the probability that they might just happen to find the wounded dwagons and be able to bring a few flying units up against them. This might look like a good fight to Parson considering that they might take out or even capture Ansom or Jillian. That comment he made to Wanda about her "betting their lives" on that spell of hers is hogwash. This is all Parson's fault if Ansom can wipe out his force without even using the pliers, so I suspect that Parson thinks he is still okay.

[Allandaros]

I find the shock on Stanley's face, upon learning Jillian hates him, to be quite possibly THE best moment in Erfworld. Dunno why.

[Damionte]

As for Parson's plan, ansons side did not get the archons until the stat of this turn correct? They could not be figured into Parsons plan until the start of Ansons current turn.

[SteveMB]

As for Parson's plan, ansons side did not get the archons until the stat of this turn correct? They could not be figured into Parsons plan until the start of Ansons current turn.

No; the Archons showed up last turn, before Parson came up with even the earliest version of his plan.

[SauroGrenom]

Jillian loves Wanda... Hmm.

That's a surprise.

I wonder if she loves Ansom as well... maybe.

[BoneLord]

Stanley (whining): "Well I hate her too."

That just landed right smack dab in the middle of the "Best.Line.Ever." list.

And who else is wondering why Wanda is so certain that Jillian won't harm her above all else...?

[Tekraen]

Stanley (whining): "Well I hate her too."

That just landed right smack dab in the middle of the "Best.Line.Ever." list.

And who else is wondering why Wanda is so certain that Jillian won't harm her above all else...?

I'm not. Mind-altering spells tend to have 'don't harm the caster' as a basic failsafe. Coupled with the implied 'history' they both have, it's no surprise that Wanda's so confident.