[HJ]

Originally posted by Taqwus:
The next turn, my main army (led by my Son of Niefel, fairly small but composed mostly of giants and with a number of Skratti and Godes et al) attacked -- not the besiegers, but the bridge. The Machakan force on that bridge, before the attack hit, joined the besiegers.

I would say that this is another example of the AI constantly pacing back and forth with his armies, and not a deliberate move. If you wanted to fight that army, you should have just waited and attacked the next turn - they would have walked back from the besieged province. It's a very predictable behavioral pattern for some reason.