Ansom is losing oversight and intell...

[SteveMB]

Not on Ansom's side. Jillian asked Wilma to groom, feed and dust the wings of her peep and Ansom had food prepared for Jillian. This doesn't mean things don't pop up (Bogroll also cooks), but there's no evidence for it.

The fact that "child" was an utterly unfamiliar concept to Wanda would seem to imply that all people and creatures, not just Stanley's, appear full-grown -- her interests and her willingness to let on how much she knows may be narrow, but I find it hard to believe that she could be that ignorant (or feign ignorance) of something that basic.

Food might possibly be a different matter, though.

[darkgolem]

If you don't use your intelligence assets up, depending upon the stakes of using them (I.e. Is the chance/likelihood/certainly of using this intelligence asset worth the risk I will make a mistake based upon missing/bad intellingence?), you get no benefit from them.

Furthermore, the beginnings of a military campaign are the best time to use them. The point of intelligence is to know how to best conserve, move and concentrate your assets upon the point of greatest vulnerability with your enemy (I.e. the battle at the end). The opportunity to use your intelligence most productively to this end is to use it at the beginnings and middle of a conflict, not the end.

This is because the beginning of the conflict is where generally your enemy is most spread out, most able to maneuver, and there is the greatest chance of taking advantage of this to either conserve your forces or place them at the point where your enemy is most vulnerable.

Looking at it from GK point of view. If Parson learned about and used the spy-o-vision link up at the end of the battle when the seige was actually in place, it would matter less, since the enemy would be concentrated and set up. The same applies to Prince Ansom and allies... the time to use intellingence gathering assets (and risk losing them) is the beginning of a conflict. The result of Ansom's failure to use these assets up in a timely fashion (and the lack of good intelligence assets) is unfolding for him right now.

As for Vinnie's bats, I wonder if they are tokens, like in Magic. Vinnie either generates them, of has X tokens he can use. It's possible he gives up some ability or power to create them (sacrifice 1 hit point to generate a bat token, with move blah and ability X), or similar. This would explain Ansom apologizing using them (gee Vinnie, sorry I just made you use a hit point, but I thought it was nescessary). Or they could just be troops for Vinnie, generated at his city, or whatever.

[Tower]

Even if Vinny had to sacrificed health to create more, Ansom could just stick him in the middle of the column, get him on maximum production and handle all the surveilance duties to improve intelligence to a higher level since they rely on scouts.
They could even leave in a well secured place away from the column in commucation range and give him a similar hat to Jillian, since that how she scouted and got captured

I think Vinny has telepathy or communication with the bats, and gains/summons them from moving through terrain where bats would live rather than creating them or getting them from a capital.

If so, this would mean they were finite but could be replaced by Vinny 'calling' more as he moves, as opposed to Vinny just waiting to get more. So if Vinny goes through bat friendly terrain like forests or caves he can 'call' a certain amount, but if he goes through deserts or plains he 'calls' less

This method would explain why Vinny moves around with Ansom instead of just hanging around in one place focusing on bat scouting. It would also explain Ansom apologising and Vinny shrugging it off as worth it, since he could get more but not infinite amounts. It would also tie the batcam/telepathy and replacing the bats

[Silverlocke980]

I think Ansom is basically just... "assuming" that he can use the bats for recon, even if they get killed. Remember, assuming happens to be Ansom's worst problem; the man is so overconfident and dismissive of Stanley's abilities that he pretty much assumes he's going to win. This, and his anger over losing his siege, led him to the poor tactical decision to attack the well-guarded dwagon hex.

Likewise, it means he thinks he can expend the bats. He figures he's okay, no matter what happens. Stanley's an idiot, right?

And that is exactly why Ansom might lose this war in the next panel. :)

[Dolohov]

I think Ansom is basically just... "assuming" that he can use the bats for recon, even if they get killed. Remember, assuming happens to be Ansom's worst problem; the man is so overconfident and dismissive of Stanley's abilities that he pretty much assumes he's going to win. This, and his anger over losing his siege, led him to the poor tactical decision to attack the well-guarded dwagon hex.

It's unfair to call this a poor tactical decision. It was logical for him to believe that the very-wounded dwagons were nearby, based on how far they flew. So, he searched in a widening arc and found a fort formation protecting... something. He determines that he has the means to punch through that fort in a spot that he can reach, with enough remaining force to kill the 20-odd dwagons which would otherwise heal and destroy the rest of his siege. With no siege and 20 healthy dwagons, he's booped.

So he takes the gamble that they're there: if he's right and he wins, he saves the campaign. If he's wrong and he loses, then he risks being captured or croaked and he basically loses the campaign. If he does nothing, he pretty much loses anyway, but preserves his personal safety.

No, he made broadly the right decision based on his intel. Had his intel included, "Stanley now has a military genius commander" he probably would have tried something different. What he really got wrong was keeping Jillian in reserve. He should have thrown everything, including her, at it, even if it meant potentially sacrificing Webinar and Dora by leaving them in the open.

(Edit) Something occurs to me -- leaving Jillian out may prove to accidentally save the campaign. She's tough and smart, and (with the archons) represents a serious aerial threat to Stanley. If Parson contents himself with destroying the remaining siege and capturing Ansom and Vinny (no way they'll be croaked) she could direct an underground and aerial battle that could give Parson a run for his money. This is especially true if Wanda lied or exaggerated about controlling Jillian.

[SteveMB]

(Edit) Something occurs to me -- leaving Jillian out may prove to accidentally save the campaign. She's tough and smart, and (with the archons) represents a serious aerial threat to Stanley. If Parson contents himself with destroying the remaining siege and capturing Ansom and Vinny (no way they'll be croaked) she could direct an underground and aerial battle that could give Parson a run for his money. This is especially true if Wanda lied or exaggerated about controlling Jillian.

Spoiler

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Another possibility is that Jillian distinguishes between Stanley and Wanda, regarding only the former as really "the enemy". This distinction could be bolstered if Jillian believes that her escape was the result of Wanda acting on her own initiative against Stanley's wishes. It wouldn't even require any memory-altering magic -- a mundane "setup" to give that impression would be fairly easy to arrange (and, done with the proper dramatic flair, it would be a highly emotional experience that could fit right in with a campaign of psychological manipulation).

Such an arrangement would fit Stanley's agenda (once Wanda had convinced him that the whole "catch and release" program was one of the smartest ideas he'd thought of). It would also fit at least two of Wanda's possible personal agendas (cultivating a "she was really working for our side, Prince" escape hatch in case Gobwin Knob falls; cultivating a personal relationship with Jillian, to whatever extent she's become emotionally bonded herself).

If so, whatever degree of "subtle control" Wanda has over Jillian wouldn't inhibit her from striking at Stanley if she sees an opportunity to do so. Wanda might, however, be able to manipulate her into not being in the right place to have that opportunity (her insistence on getting back to the column ASAP might be an example of that, given that Wanda had no reason to expect any fighting there in the near future).