Murderous Setting

[Vellos]

Since Murderous is such a rarely used setting, do you really think anyone would treat it as a accident? Oh yes I accidentally told my men to assault everyone in sight, dashed sorry about that.

Absolutely. First, if you capture/seriously wound the noble, the battle report might never get sent to the realm. Second, you can write it off as one noble's choice, rather than a whole realm's.

[Tom]

Well, yes, but sometimes it's useful to make it look like an accident.

Are we playing the same game? One of medieval warfare where more often than not the battlefield location and time was agreed to beforehand between the nobles fighting?

These people didn't use guerilla tactics and sneak attacks. It counted as an ambush if you marched your army into the enemy territory without sending a letter ahead saying you're coming.

Yes, I am exaggerating, but I refuse to bring too modern concepts into the game.

[Geronus]

Are we playing the same game? One of medieval warfare where more often than not the battlefield location and time was agreed to beforehand between the nobles fighting?

These people didn't use guerilla tactics and sneak attacks. It counted as an ambush if you marched your army into the enemy territory without sending a letter ahead saying you're coming.

Yes, I am exaggerating, but I refuse to bring too modern concepts into the game.

On the other hand, what's more medieval than ambushing and killing another realm's ambassador on the road in order to allow your ruler to plausibly deny having received the unpleasant news he was bringing? Or attacking a family enemy's carriage and murdering him, passing it off as the work of brigands? Robert the Bruce murdered his rival in a Church for heaven's sake. Medieval politics was for keeps. I think Vellos was going for the roadside ambush meme more than the 'accidental set-piece battle' one.

[Anaris]

On the other hand, what's more medieval than ambushing and killing another realm's ambassador on the road in order to allow your ruler to plausibly deny having received the unpleasant news he was bringing? Or attacking a family enemy's carriage and murdering him, passing it off as the work of brigands? Robert the Bruce murdered his rival in a Church for heaven's sake. Medieval politics was for keeps. I think Vellos was going for the roadside ambush meme more than the 'accidental set-piece battle' one.

Except that Vellos specifically said that he wanted to make it look like an accident.

I'm pretty sure that was what Tom was objecting to.

[Vellos]

On the other hand, what's more medieval than ambushing and killing another realm's ambassador on the road in order to allow your ruler to plausibly deny having received the unpleasant news he was bringing? Or attacking a family enemy's carriage and murdering him, passing it off as the work of brigands? Robert the Bruce murdered his rival in a Church for heaven's sake. Medieval politics was for keeps. I think Vellos was going for the roadside ambush meme more than the 'accidental set-piece battle' one.

This is exactly what I was suggesting.

[Geronus]

Except that Vellos specifically said that he wanted to make it look like an accident.

I'm pretty sure that was what Tom was objecting to.

You can 'accidentally' ambush the wrong party. Mistaken identity and all that. Lots of brigands in these parts don't you know? Mistook your armed men for the common robbers we'd been lying in wait for. Whoops.

[JPierreD]

You can 'accidentally' ambush the wrong party. Mistaken identity and all that. Lots of brigands in these parts don't you know? Mistook your armed men for the common robbers we'd been lying in wait for. Whoops.

The banners from that noble surely look like those carried by common robbers, huh?

[Dante Silverfire]

The banners from that noble surely look like those carried by common robbers, huh?

Absolutely. Its amazing how often viking banners are simply those of common robbers and looters....

Seriously though, this is a great excuse. Just say they took down the banners and were sneaking around in your region. Make up anything you want. I mean, what are they gonna say? You're lying? So what? they weren't there, you were.

[Chenier]

That is kind of the point, isn't it? You want to fight? Declare war.

A declaration of war can only follow a game of Chicken! played in due form.

Declaring war is so passé, everyone wants the other guy to make the declaration. Being declared war on is being hip.

Murderous is a great setting for jacking up family enemies when they are just kicking around in an allied territory minding their own business.

Sure, everyone will hate you, but it really puts the exclaimation mark on the "I refuse to let this grudge die."

I remember when me and my Imperial Raiders of Ete were in Hetland on murderous settings. "Go ahead, dare to declare war on us you puny bugs!" was pretty much what we were going on about. Fun times.

We got away with it because our army was vastly superior to theirs (hence why they didn't declare) and because they had ambushed some troops before we begun our own hostilities (hence why we didn't get in trouble, though the fact that I was a royal and that I publicly personally assumed responsibility for my whole army helped too).

Man, bullying Hetland was fun. They so deserved it, too.

[egamma]

I remember when me and my Imperial Raiders of Ete were in Hetland on murderous settings. "Go ahead, dare to declare war on us you puny bugs!" was pretty much what we were going on about. Fun times.

We got away with it because our army was vastly superior to theirs (hence why they didn't declare) and because they had ambushed some troops before we begun our own hostilities (hence why we didn't get in trouble, though the fact that I was a royal and that I publicly personally assumed responsibility for my whole army helped too).

Man, bullying Hetland was fun. They so deserved it, too.

See, we need more of this.

[Chenier]

See, we need more of this.

I got away with a lot of things in my days. I'll admit that a lot of it is due to context that is extremely hard to replicate.

In this case, Hetland had just engaged themselves in a war which they weren't doing so good in, and all of their allies were also stuck in wars. My own realm had clearly defined enemies and friends, Hetland was an enemy. Our peace treaty with Hetland had just expired, but we had made sure (I had, actually, when I was ruler I believe) that their peace treaty expired months before any of the other realms.

The last thing Hetland needed was war, and our own realm (Enweil) had recuperated from the last gang-bang and was ready for some revenge. I also commanded a small but elite and active group of very loyal nobles that represented a serious militaro-political force in Enweil, not to mention that even the calmer ones recognized that I was the only one really spicing things up for everyone.

Much like Allison in Dwilight, really.