anwi wrote:n7axw wrote:If Merlin and company have been feeding Hanth and DE info about Ahlverez--and that is a reasonable assunption given past precedent--his chances of escape diminish drasticly.
Exactly. And Merlin would feed that information to whoever commands at the theatre in time before anything untowards happens. And Ahlverez in the rear area of Hanth's force would be unfortunate. He might decide to attack instead of fleeing...
Moreover, there are two major roads in the area Ahlverez has to cross:
Ft. Tairy - Malyktyn - Cheryk - Somyr and
Thesmar - Cheryk - Ft. Sheldyn - Syrk.
Now, these are rather major population centers (for South March) and will not be completely evacuated by now. By corollary, the Allies will have garrisoned those places, especially if they know enemy troops are around. I can't figure a situation where at least these major transport routes are not regularly monitored and guarded. Ahlverez has 40k beaten soldiers marching - at best - on minor roads. He's low on provisions and draft animals. He'll move slowly. He can't really hide his troops.
Unless the Allies would let his force escape, he's in a bleak situation.
And I don't think intervention by Merlin is even necessary, the Charisian commanders tend to be competent...
I have come to more or less agree that this is the logical outcome. We will have to see how our noble author plays this one out.
Don