Here are some immediate reactions to the new alliances at
Pennsic.
First of all, it's a creative, bold idea, and I think it
will revitalize the war. Things had gotten into a rut.
Personally, I think it's great that we get to ally with the
Midrealm, plan with them, fight with them and drink with them. For two long,
fighters in the East have been told to dislike the Midrealm and beat
Midrealmers at Pennsic. This will bind the kingdoms better.
I do not fear losing friendships with Atlantia and
Aethelmearc, which were once part of the East. Those relationships are solid.
In terms of fighting and war points -- assuming those are in
the plan -- it's all going to come down to additional allies. Ealdormere and
Ansteorra will be among the keys. They tend to bring good, solid armies. In the
past, Calontir has allied with Ansteorra by treaty. How about if Bloodguard is
fighting behind the Calon Shield Wall? Norhshield will also carry some
importance, and it will be interesting to see where the other kingdoms go.
In fencing, I feel even more strong that Ansteorra can
change the tide. I hope they do fencing as they have been -- two mass battles
and a champions' battle.
Ok, now to think some more.
What do you think?
As I think I posted elsewhere, one really interesting dynamic is archery, something of particular interest to me (as Ealdormere's Deputy Earl Marshal of Archery, or Archer General). The East and Middle are far and away the two strongest archery kingdoms, both in strength of numbers (for the populace shoots) and skill (for the Champions' Shoot.) AEthelmearc is probably number three on that list--they have a good pack of outstanding archers at the the top, but are lacking a little in strength of numbers. Atlantia? A little bit of an unknown, but not a traditional archery powerhouse (as compared to their rapier and armoured strengths, that is). Ealdormere is probably ahead of them in that sense. Northshield and Calontir also have good archery corps, but that's where the distance starts to tell in that not everyone comes to Pennsic.
ReplyDeleteI can almost guarantee that archery won't be a huge factor in the negotiations for allies with the remaining kingdoms, but unless AEthelmearc/Atlantia can get the majority of the remaining kingdoms (Northshield, Calontir, and Ealdormere, in particular, although there are a couple of good archers from Caid that seem to come regularly) they can pretty much concede those archery war points.
From a logistical standpoint, this also will hugely influence the way Archer Champions is run. It's always been East plus allies vs. Middle plus allies. Usually the East and Middle get 20 champions, with the allies supplying either ten or twenty. Right now, this Pennsic has two sides (East/Mid and AEthelmearc/Atlantia). It's not clear just who would be an "ally" in this situation. I suspect they will drop the reference to separate "allied" champions and decide to form two teams of archers from each side, probably either 30 or 40 strong.
The fencing champions are set up the same way as the archery champions.
ReplyDeleteMy proposal would be 10 for each of the Big Two, then 10 from the remaining allies. It will give those allies a better role.
Or maybe 15 and 10, though that might be a time issue.