We could have reinforced the two most likely landing spots (Larur and Gretchew) inflicting heavy casualties on Aurvandil when they disembarked. It's also possible that we could have prevented their advance Northwards by fortifying Chesland. Remember, transporting siege engines over seas is expensive, so it's unlikely that Aurvandil's army has many of them; even low level fortifications like those in Chesland could make a difference. A combination of those two tactics could also work. Deploy 6,000 CS in both Larur and Gretchew to inflict casualties upon the event of Aurvandil's landfall, then, in that contingency, have them retreat after low casualties and fall back to Chesland with a bunch of militia waiting to support them. Had things gone well, Terran could have mounted a competent defence. At the least it could have caused some attrition to Aurvandil and prevented their strike from being a fatal blow.
As for Asylon engaging Terran's army. That is simply not a good idea for them. They don't need to engage Terran's army in order to hurt Terran. They merely need to loot the Northern lands, causing economic damage and drawing Terran's armies Northwards to allow Aurvandil to land unopposed. As it is, both Asylon and Aurvandil will suffer minimal casualties while Terran will suffer tremendous economic damage and be placed in a horrible strategic position, what with her entire army shadowing Asylon's in a futile chase in the far North, in the winter no less. Basically Terran has been placed in disarray and her enemies are now able to pick her apart at their leisure. It was a very good move on their part and well orchestrated too, as Noblesse said they've pulled off every step of their plan without a hitch.
Again, it would matter little in the end. No, Aurvandil and Asylon are not strategic masterminds to realize that having 4 times the Nobles count and being on opposite ends of Terran will result in an easy victory. It simply is not a winnable or sustainable war for Terran. Or anyone. Regardless of it we had the greatest General on the face of the planet. You can't win a BM war when your enemy has over 100 nobles between two realms, one in your North and one in your South. BM wars just don't work like that.
Sure, like I said, we could have prepped and engaged Aurvandil and caused some causulties, but it would have only been an inconvenience to Aurvandil. They are far to strong, to numerous, and to well organized for it to ultimately make a difference.
Also, I never said it was
smart for Asylon to engage us, I said it was ultimately irrelevant to Terran's fate. The result would be the same: we would be unable to properly engage Aurvandil (even if we wanted to) whether they engaged us or not.
Having Asylon raid Terran, withdraw and deny battle forcing Terran to advance on them was the plan from the start, alongside provoking Terran to attack Aurvandil in our own regions so we could defeat their army (As we hoped they would when we camped in Twainwood for four days waiting for them) force them to slowly refit with heavy casualties and captured nobles just before the turning of winter to give Asylon the maximum possible chance of success in a campaign against Terran. Almost worryingly Terran did everything Mendicant wanted them to do every step of the way since the start of the attack on Barca up until this point.
It's always nice when everything goes as intended.
Just for the record, the offensive into Aurvandil had been in planning for over a month. It may have been what you had hoped we would do, sure. But we had already made the decision to do it before you invaded Barca.
