385YE Autumn Equinox winds of war

The Sentinel Gate allows the heroes of the Empire to intervene at key moments, but their opportunities to do so most often arise due to the broader strategies set by the Imperial Military Council.

Overview

Over the last three months, Imperial forces are engaged in military campaigns against barbarian forces. Sometimes those engagements have been wide ranging and dramatic, other times they have been more sedate. Continuing the approach we took last year, we're presenting a summary of the campaign on this page. Where there's more dramatic action, or where there are opportunities, we've given a wind of war its own page. We're also continuing to provide information about the battle opportunities, listed in the theatres that they concern.

As always, how much or how little of this information you choose to know in character is up to you. Part of the purpose of Winds of War and the Winds of Fortune is to make players aware of things their characters should know, based on what their roleplaying says they have been doing, and to maintain the Empire as a living, breathing place where all kinds of events take place beyond the scope of Anvil.

It should go without saying that we ask everyone to abide by the rules about online roleplaying with regard to the military campaign. It's important that the key in-character activity of the Empire world takes place at events. The game is busier and better if everything that can happen in the field, does happen in the field. Military planning and political discussions should happen at events. For this reason we generally discourage too much downtime roleplaying between events and put strict limits on what can be done online particularly using our forums and Facebook groups.

All that said we now present a summary of the key military activity in the Empire - both with links to the expanded Wind of War pages and notes about other important things that have happened that didn't need a full battle campaign write-up.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow

• A walk in shadow
• A tale told

Battle Opportunities

Imperial prognosticators have identified three possible major conjunctions of the Sentinel Gate at the coming summit. The Military Council will muster on Friday night, and the generals will select two of them to be taken up by Imperial heroes. At the moment the full details of these battle opportunities are not clear; more information will be provided nearer to the event.

All battle opportunities are Combat Highly Likely environments.

Location	Opportunity	Opposition	Day	Learn More
Forest of Sanath	Capture Serra Grubfeast	Druj	Unclear at this time	link
Tromsa	Unclear at this time	Jotun and yegarra	Unclear at this time	link

The sides for the battles will be chosen by the generals in the Muster of the Imperial Military Council on Friday night. Each of the two battles must have at least 130 and at most 139 force weight sent on it.

Conjunctions

The Sentinel Gate also allows smaller groups of Imperial citizens to reach locations all over the Empire where their intervention might change the course of events. Many of these conjunctions involve combat, but there are also a variety of other opportunities presented by the magic of the Gate.

For most conjunctions, the Civil Service has identified the Imperial titles that are the most appropriate to take overall responsibility for ensuring that a response is organised. Whilst the individual has been named by the Civil Service, there is no legal requirement for them to coordinate a response or travel on the conjunction. They may delegate oversight to another individual of their choosing. As always, Imperial war scouts will be on hand at the Sentinel Gate to provide further information to any citizens wanting to learn more. They can provide updates on the barbarians' goals, guidance on how to engage the enemy troops or advice on how to avoid casualties and return back to Anvil in safety.

Sometimes it is necessary for us to make small adjustments to the timing or size of encounters at the time of this publication and when an encounter runs at an event. Details will be finalised on Friday afternoon of the event before time-in. Please check the details of any conjunction you are interested in as soon as possible to ensure that you have the full and up-to-date information; it might also be sensible to check again shortly before the planned time of the encounter. You can check the details of a conjunction by casting Detect Magic (Discover Conjunction) on the Sentinel Gate in the presence of a referee.

It's very important to pay attention to the Accessibility note for each conjunction, which covers the likelihood of combat. Further details about the accessibility of a conjunction are available both before and during the event. You can learn more about this on the accessibility page.

Friday

Details of the Friday conjunctions will be collected here closer to the summit.

Saturday

Details of the Saturday conjunctions will be collected here closer to the summit.

Military Considerations

Several territory pages now contain details of strategic obstacles presented or advantages provided by movement through or fighting in those lands. There are also several fortifications that follow different rules. Several armies or nations have special rules or opportunities related to the orders they can issue, which should be borne in mind when discussing military strategies during the Winter Solstice.

• Billeting: Any Imperial army can take the Billet order in Upwold or Mitwold. Link
• Dawn: Dawnish armies cannot take the Cautious Advance order or the Give Ground order. Link
• The Marches: Marcher armies cannot take the Give Ground order. Link
• The Marches: Marcher armies fighting in Upwold, Mitwold, or Mournwold each receive an additional 1000 strength. The Strong Reeds receive an additional 1000 strength when fighting in Bregasland. This lasts until the start of the Winter Solstice 385YE, or until they leave Bregasland in the case of the Strong Reeds. link.
• Varushka: Varushkan armies involved in the same campaign as an army from the Brass Coast or Wintermark generate 10% fewer victory points. If armies from both nations are present, the reduction is increased to 20%. Link.
• Varushka: Varushkan armies can take the Hospitality of the Boyars order whilst in Ossium. Link.
• Wintermark: Wintermark armies can take the Fight with Honour order. Link.
• Wintermark: Wintermark armies fighting against the Jotun will gain 10% more victory points but inflict 20% less casualties. Link
• Zenith: Any Highborn or Urizen army attacking into Zenith from Morrow gains a 20% bonus to any territory captured and suffers a 10% reduction in casualties inflicted. Link
• Morrow: Any Highborn or Urizen army that defends in Morrow against an army attacking from Zenith gains a 20% bonus to defend territory and suffers a 10% reduction in casualties inflicted. Link