War
There are two ways to strike. Both cost Watches. Both send your chosen forces on the march. Both resolve at once, and publicly: war is never secret. Your attack is the summed attack of the force you commit. The defender resists with the summed defense of everything at home, times their walls. Both sides then roll the fortunes of war, a swing of up to ±10%. No battle is certain.
Raid: 2 Watches
- Win: steal 10% of their Grain and Coin on hand. Seize 2% of their Acres, arriving Fallow. They lose 8% of home forces. You lose 4% of the raiding party.
- Lose: you lose 10% of the party, they lose 3%. You steal nothing. The Fold saw you try.
- The survivors come home in 4 hours.
Siege: 3 Watches
- Defense counts at 1.5×. Walls matter when the attacker means to stay.
- Win: seize 10% of their Acres, or 15% if Riders are at least a quarter of your force. You also take 5% of their Grain and Coin. They lose 12% of home forces. You lose 8%.
- Lose: you lose 15%, they lose 5%. Failed sieges are expensive on purpose.
- The survivors come home in 12 hours.
Wards and Enginery
Each Ward Acre adds +0.5% defense. The cap is +50%, at 100 Acres. Each Enginery in the attacking force suppresses 5 Ward Acres for that battle. Enough engines flatten the walls entirely.
The protections
- The Truce of First Days: no raids, sieges, or hostile Whispers during the first fifth of the season. Build, plant, scheme. The knives come out on schedule, and everyone knows the schedule.
- Punching down: strike a Warden below a quarter of your Standing and you win no spoils. Casualties still apply. Farming the broken wastes Watches by design.
- The Last Hide: no Steading drops below 100 Acres and 200 Folk. Beaten Wardens are out of the fight, never out of the game. A season is long, and comebacks are the best stories.