998YK, Winter End

Deployment

Hammerhead Clan: 3000 points of troops are deployed at Threnal, and the main goal for 999YK will be to capture the White Fang's capital city to the south-west. This army alone outnumbers all of the White Fang Tribe's remaining forces. Apart from that, there are banners posted at Zolifar and Logoria, to hold onto the central and east parts of their empire; a banner posted at the city in the west bordering the White Fang, to shield the west against attack (and this should be able to move to reinforce the main attack against the White Fang, capturing territory as it goes), and a larger banner in the centre to attack or defend against the Storm Lords.

Sulatar: most of the Sulatar troops are posted in and around the capital, expecting another attack. One banner is placed across the river to threaten the Storm Lords' territory and hopefully draw off some of their attacking forces.

Storm Lords: 2800 points of troops are placed just south of Zolifar in the centre of the map, aiming to strike east to seize the Sulatar capital. A smaller army is placed along the river further south-east, to protect against any attempted counterattack against the capital or other border settlements, as well as a banner in the capital Stormreach itself. And a banner of 800 points is placed in the northmost city that they hold in the centre, to shield against any Hammerhead attack.

White Fang Tribe: 500 points are placed in the port in the south, to shield against any attack by the Storm Lords. The other forces are placed between Threnal and the capital; the plan has to be a scorched-earth policy of burning villages before the Hammerheads can take them, to try to reduce the duergar's supplies before they are able to lay siege.

Espionage

Hammerhead: 5 spies, 3 agents, 3 saboteurs

Storm Lords: 1 spy, 3 agents, 2 saboteurs

Sulatar: 1 agents, 1 saboteur

White Fang Clan: 1 agent

This continues to be mostly a duel between House Phiarlan, working for the Storm Lords, and House Thuranni working for the Hammerhead Clan; neither of the other two empires have enough money to spare to spend much except on defensive espionage.

Sadly I do not have the physical map to put all the tokens on for this winter. The espionage activity this year is concentrated in three areas, so let's have 3 mini-maps. On these maps:
Agent
Saboteur
Spy
(no assassins were placed)

The west: On a dry, windy night, agents of House Thuranni — currently employed by the Hammerhead Clan — evade the guards and set fire to several large buildings in the centre of the village of Grisdias. Soon the whole settlement is ablaze, and by morning few buildings remain standing. The nearby White Fang army camp is not affected, but they will no longer be able to draw on the local village for supplies.

The Storm Lords sent a saboteur to try to destroy Hammerhead supplies at Threnal — they may no longer be allies of the White Fang, but they do not want the Hammerhead Clan invasion to be to easy — but he was caught by Hammerhead agents there.

The south: The Hammerhead Clan hired several saboteurs and spies to try to destroy the Storm Lords' cities and ships. But agents of House Phiarlan, contracted by the Storm Lords, intercept the enemy agents there and have them seized by the city guard before they can do any harm.

(Storm Lords rolled a 3 for their agent in Stormreach, removing all Hammerhead operatives; the Hammerheads got to activate their other saboteur, but rolled a 1.)

The east: And another Hammerhead spy trying to assess the Storm Lords' defences nearer the border was also caught after House Phiarlan passed information to the Storm Lords. (Storm Lords rolled a 6 for their spy near Zolifar; they also learned the strength of Hammerhead banner 5.)

But a Sulatar saboteur manages to disrupt the Storm Lords supply train brining supplies to their staging area for the year's invasion. This will force their banners to delay for one month there while they sort out the mess. And a House Thuranni agent does manage to infiltrate the Storm Lords' camp and give a detailed report to the Hammerhead Clan on the army's composition.

Spring Equinox

Storm Lords: cast Raise Dead against Sulatar banner 4. The spell goes off, but only 100 points of undead are raised.

White Fang Tribe: also get Raise Dead (after rejecting Abundance). They get only 200 points though, which is also fairly useless.

Hammerhead Clan: Quake, for the second year running. It is a long way to cast it on the White Fang capital, but it would be really useful if it went off, so they try it — and roll a double six, getting it. That really messes up the White Fang's defence — they will have to face the duergar in open battle now.

Sulatar: reject Portents of Terror and get Quake. Damn, that's not very useful for a defensive situation. Their best move I think is to use it against Stormreach — the Storm Lords will need to play more defensively if their capital is vulnerable to attack. It is still a somewhat desperate move, as it will only be really effective if the Hammerhead army moves towards Stormreach.

Spring Equinox 999YK