“Due to the nature of the geography of the northern continent, battles usually broke out between multiple smaller states rather than large ones, which by default led to military coalitions and alliances. Often, the forces of said coalitions and alliances fall under the issue of having too many commanders at the helm and fell into infighting before the battle even takes place.” - Scipius Cornelius Barca, Famed general and strategist of the Democratic Republic of Caroma, circa 62 FP.

“So to summarize, the forces we face here are mostly from Gestis and Lovia-Hosberg, with only token forces from Kolitschei and Wanarua, correct?” asked Andrea Utghwes, the young Duchess of Dvergarder, as she collated the information the northern forces provided to her. Miriam, the young noblewoman they had rescued from the enemy camp, had also joined them in the command tent, as it turned out she was in command of the reinforcements sent from Jonkver. “And the main forces of those two Duchies are hitting Algenverr as we speak?”

“Nestor had things in hand at the wall, but that was the situation when I left,” replied Griselda with a nod. The “Wall” was an euphemism for a long stretch of forts connected to each other by walls built on the west side of Algenverr. With the long history of bad blood between the Duchy and its nearest neighbors, they did not even have to pretend it was for any other purpose than to guard against them. “As far as we could tell it was mostly a diversionary assault. They did not really put their backs into it.”

“They did the same in Dvergarder. Bostvan must’ve bought the Barony next door over to let them pass through their lands,” said the young Duchess with a nod. Reinhardt had not heard of those news, but from how calmly she said it, he guessed that it must have been a non-serious issue. “Dad crushed them the moment they stepped foot into our lands, but they sure retreated fast. Likely planned to be a diversion as well, we guessed.”

“Diversions to the north and south meant they had seriously aimed for us in Jonkver then,” said Miriam as she perused the map, which now had extra tokens placed on it to represent the battles that took place in Dvergarder and Algenverr. “If you total the amount they sent between here and at Kuzi, it’s a good eighty thousand, more than enough to break through our defenses, I would say.”

“The forces from Bostvan we faced at Fort Kuzi didn’t seem as dogged as these ones here, from what I can tell. There were plenty of them, sure, but they didn’t seem too… motivated to go into battle,” added the officer who commanded the detachment from Fort Kuzi. “More like they were just… doing their obligations.”

“They weren’t the best Duke Emil has to offer, yeah,” said Andrea with a nod. “I’ve seen his elites before. They were nowhere in sight, neither at Fort Kuzi nor at Dvergarder. The vast majority of what we dealt with were peasant conscripts with a backbone of some trained soldiers, and little more than that.”

“Makes sense if you think about it,” chimed Damien in from the side. He had a bit of difficulty getting a good look at the map from his wheelchair, and was nowhere near as accomplished a warrior and general as his older brother, but he was no beginner either. “Bostvan is to the south-west, the furthest away from our three territories. If they do manage to conquer Jonkver and open our flanks for further assaults, they would be the worst positioned to benefit from it. The other four on the other hand had far more to gain as they’re much closer to us. Wouldn’t surprise me if Duke Emil only sent a large but weak force to show his participation without actually committing his elites.”

“Notwithstanding old animosities between our lands,” added Griselda as an afterthought. “Gestis, Wanarua, and Kolitschei pretty much hated our collective guts, and Lovia-Hosberg usually just tagged along with those three. Bostvan’s got less of a history of animosity between us by comparison.”

“Did you find out who’s in charge of the enemy forces here?” asked Andrea to the other commanders. “I know we caught the siblings from Gestis, but those two are more warriors and less generals. At least, unless their old hag is mad, she wouldn’t have put them in charge of a military force, much less an army this size.”

“It used to be Gertrude von Lovia in charge, at least, that was when they first came,” said Damien with a guilty look on his face. “Things actually went pretty well when we fought against her, but four days into the battle, she caught an arrow in the face. Then things went to shit.”

“So whoever took over was smarter than that old bat, huh?” asked Andrea with a raised eyebrow. She was familiar with the name Damien mentioned, a younger sister to the current Duke of Lovia-Hosberg, with knightly motivations but no great prowess in either combat or strategies.

“You can say that again,” replied Griselda to the question. “Maurizio took over for his dead aunt, and he’s got a mean streak going. He’s kept us on the backfoot for the past couple of weeks and pushed us hard while he maintained the bombardment nonstop, and we were running out of options already. At least, until you came and burned his toys. Nice work, that.”

Maurizio von Lovia-Hosberg was the second son of the current Duke, and one Andrea was familiar with, as he had made a name for himself as a competent military commander, if often disparaged by others for his often “unknightly” conduct in battle. As a military woman though, she knew all too well that victory spoke louder than anything else, and facing someone who was willing to pull all the stops for it was far worse than dealing with an old bat who was firmly entrenched in the ideas of chivalry.

“So we got one of the best generals in the Central faction breathing down our necks, though his army’s pretty weakened by now,” said the young Duchess as she thought on the matter. “Any suggestions on how to best cut off the head of this snake, anyone?”