Nice of you to point that one out
Unknit CE and Tara. That's the obvious conclusion. Tearing your way through Tara without making efforts to cause internal dissent is you fighting a one dimensional war. Its not going anywhere.
I don't discount Coria and Talerium entirely. Coria's location, like we've always known it would, puts Coria into a position of strategic importance whether you're marching north or south. Talerium I do discount. That's not anti-CE bias, that's CE bias. Sure, their PM might as well be a monarch or dictator, but that doesn't translate to coordination or increased military funding. Its been a stagnant realm for years and, on that basis, as deserving of a bit of a thrashing as Carelia was. Ask Eston what sort of a challenge they provide, and then ask if CE is helping them provide even that much (or little). Throw Darka in the mix and Talerium would have no choice but to abandon CE. Not turn against them, but stay out of it.
That's one down.
If you can't get past the buffer armies to hit CE directly, that's understandable. No amount of slick moves or iron discipline can teleport an army from Icegate to Calis. But if those buffer armies are a problem, why fight the long game of tearing through their regions? They're still going to have a sizable enough military, especially properly motivated to defend themselves, so unless you're going to physically take the regions off their hands, better to force them out of it. Why, then, can this not be done by brute force with Talerium and diplomacy with Coria? Talerium, even with CE's help, could never hope to stop Darka and Eston together. Coria, with Tara's help, could continue to bottleneck the northern forces. Make it very much in Coria's interests to turn and they will. They're independent. Coria's best interests. Ask Dante. As for Talerium, check the continent stats. They are running at about 35 bushels each, with anything less than 100 indicating that they need to import. A month of raids, both with individual black market traders and with armies from Eston and Darka, and Talerium would be starved into neutrality.
Its easy to run a war when you're not actually running the war, I know. Politics and diplomacy gets involved, as do individual agreements that the individuals making them don't want to break. But from an objective enough point of view (I've little interest in who wins or loses, tbh) some sort of grand plan would probably be nice, serve as motivation for the ACE knights and lords and might actually bear a little fruit.
Can't do worse than this hodge-podge of conflicting plans of action and more often inaction.
Finn.
P.S. Dwilight is bigger, in a geographical sense. Still, its an entirely apt comparison. Caerwyn. Carelia. 'Nuff said?
