[Corwin]

Hmm, indeed this has been a strange war so far. Neither Helheim not Ulm have not offered any resistance so far. Both just keep losing provinces without any fight. Ulm already hardly has any land left, but they have 390 troops stuffed in their castle, no doubt laminating the fate of their empire.


As for Helheim - I haven't seen a single heldrot yet, other than 2 riders that attacked me when Helheim have declared war on me. Where are all these sacred hordes Vanheim and Agartha have been speaking about?



Frankly we are genuinely puzzled by now.

I can think of only three possible explanations for this strange course of events.

1. Either Helheim spend last 5 turns carefully positioning dozens of small raiding squads with sacred heldrots and valkirias over most of the uncastled territory of my or Caelum's Empire, preparing massive operation "Market Garden", (and if it is true, the operation is about to begin any time now), hoping to take back all the land he has lost and much more in one turn, while paralyzing enemy's economy.

2. It is possible that whatever strategic plans Helheium may originally had for this war when they started it were thrown in disarray when Caelum has decided to enter this war. So Helheim had to spend a lot of time adjusting these plans, reshuffling troops and preparing his defenses against Caelum's advance. I've been watching steady movement of Caelum's Mammoths/Eagle Kings army for a while now. I can say that this army is tough like nails and is difficult even for the Helheim's troops to handle.


3. Or Helheim was awfully unprepared for the war when they have started it by attacking me 5 turns ago.

Naturally when I saw glamour raiders destroying my temples next to my capital, 9 or 10 provinces away from the Helheim's border(!), I assumed that there are many similar squads in the area between, preparing to attack my territory, or moving in position to do it. But if those 2 squads were indeed all forces that Helheim had available when they started this war, than I think it was big strategic blunder on their part.


Since I know for sure that Maltrease is a very strong player, I am inclined to believe in explanation number 1 or number 2, or some combination of those.


All of the above is just my guesswork of course.