Book 2 - Page 76

[Ditto]

Decrypting your entire army is a VERY good plan, logistically speaking. No upkeep, all the same abilities. (This has been untested on casters, though.) The drawback is the fanatic loyalty to Wanda, which Stanley and Parson are not entirely comfortable with. And yes, since you have a croakamancer on your side, you might not want to kill&decrypt units who could fight, get killed, and then be decrypted for a whole new lifespan... but the whole having-no-upkeep thing might make that worth it. Heck, if you save the upkeep of 1 unit for 3 turns, wouldn't that be a good investment to take that savings and pop another unit?

The majority of GK's armies are decrypted at this point. It's a large contributing factor to why they can expand so rapidly without worrying significantly about expanding faster than their resources allow for with a wide city base - very little resource demand, comparatively.

I wouldn't read too much in the Ossomer turning. It's a big deal, but I would not assume that any mook can jump ship once Wanda looks away or wanders to a different hex. Ossomer was a high level, royal, warlord, heir. Who had plenty of good reasons to turn. As has been stated, Ansom was soundly defeated and convinced of the rightness of his loss, titanic mandate, holy tools, etc. Ossomer didn't have that conviction behind him, so he was not as fanatic.

[the_tick_rules]

Slate's side still hold a substantial military advantage right? As long as the ruler doesn't croak they can win right?

[Saladman]

That's my strong impression the_tick_rules, yes. GW's mounted dwagons and riders are all on the ground at great expense, the archons have been decimated by Cubbins, GW's core leadership is in the magic kingdom arguing with casters, and Jetstone has a high level warlord back on their side to lead their casters. The counter argument would be Ossomer's concern to get Slately to the ground, but that could be Erfworld doctrine of never, ever ever risk the ruler rather than unbiased tactical assessment. Momentum's on their side at least.

In fact, I'm reminded to back up to Brother Rool's and others' expectations for one or both of Ossomer and Slately to die: at this point I expect the opposite. I expect both of those two to live, stacked together and with flyers and casters as they are. Tramennis however is incapacitated, so he's dead at end of turn if he can't be healed, or sooner if Decrypted Duke Antium stops waiting for orders and clears the garrison like he wanted. I figure Slately lives, finally inspired/driven to be the King he always should have been by Tramennis's example.