Year of 04
“Another turn down.” Twilight said, tapping the stack of papers on end to straighten them. “And you’ve all been playing for about two hours now. Anypony getting tired? Need a break?”
“No, we should get going.” Raindrops said, tapping her hoof distractedly on the tabletop.
Twilight frowned. “You sure? I know you’re not supposed to stop, but since this is your first time, we could-”
“It’s fine, read the results.” Trixie interrupted, her eyes fixed on the board before her.
Lyra nodded intently. “We’re good to go. Tell us what happened this time.”
Twilight frowned and looked around the table, but nopony was meeting her eye. The tension in the air was thick enough to feel and hung over the table like an oppressive, living thing. The librarian bit her lip and considered her options, but ultimately she knew that there was nothing for it but to press forward and hope for the best.
“Very well, I’ll start in the north. The stalemate in Haupstadt continues with yet another two on two clash, although Trixie moves her army from Poronajsk to Kaunas this turn, so that might change. The griffons also moved their army into Ternej and their air force into Hippopotamia, probably to try and block Carrot Top’s piece. Unfortunately, Carrot Top once again went around her and slipped into the now unprotected Konja.
“The elks also moved out of the Western Badlands into Hjort, while the camel’s army took their place in the Badlands. Ditzy’s air force supported her attack into Pferdreich, but Cheerilee wisely chose to move into Ard instead, repulsing Lyra’s attack there. Still, that means the ponies are now in control of Pferdreich.”
Cheerilee shot Ditzy a glum look, but she wasn’t really surprised. A spike had been driven between her pieces and she was clearly paying for it.
“Cheerile also tried to take back Naqah,” Twilight continued, “but the buffalo stayed in place and blocked that move as well. There was another clash in Killa between the buffalo and tapirs, this time three on three. Raindrops moved her army into the South Dune Sea and her navy south to the Zebrican Sea.”
Oddly, it was Carrot Top who grumbled in disappointment at this news, frowning at the pieces as the unicorn moved them into their new positions. Everypony else at the table jerked to attention and started scanning the board with, if anything, more attention than before.
Twilight missed this exchange, flipping to the next page in her stack and frowning. “Lyra’s air force here moved up into Saddle Arabia for some reason. Her remaining armies travel into Caballeria and Semental, taking it from the ponies. Meanwhile Ditzy’s last moves are into Palomino and Latigo. And that wraps it up-”
“Alright, good.” Trixie said dismissively, pushing up from the table with a determined gleam in her eye. “Cheerilee, we need to talk. Come on.”
“CT, a quick word?” Ditzy asked, nodding towards the area by the stairs. The two of them trotted off, already whispering fiercely. Raindrops was engrossed in writing something in her notebook, paying little attention to what the others were doing at the moment.
Lyra slipped up next to Twilight as she was still blinking at how fast the others had vacated the table. “Can you clarify something for me? I was looking in the book and it said that navy units can ‘ferry’ other pieces to move them several spaces in a turn. Can air forces do the same thing?”
“Um, well not really.” Twilight said, pausing for just long enough to flip over the timer. “That’s a trait unique to the navy piece to balance how they can’t go inland. But the air forces are able to…”
…
“I call this council to take back the board to order!” Trixie said dramatically, speaking as loudly as she dared less prying ears pick up what they shouldn’t.
“Hardly seems like it needs that much flair.” Raindrops said mildly, arching an eyebrow. “There’s only the three of us.”
Trixie smiled and tapped the side of her ear thoughtfully. “Cheerilee’s in on it too. She’s distracting Carrot Top for us so she doesn’t get suspicious, but don’t worry. She’s keeping informed.”
“Is that the same earring?” Ditzy asked, leaning in closer for a better look. “From the Gala? It is, isn’t it? That’s so clever!”
Raindrops frowned and played back what she’d just heard. “Wait a minute, why is she distracting Carrot Top?”
“So that she doesn’t hear us planning to bring her down, of course.” Trixie said, picking up her map and fanning it out. “Now I was thinking…”
“Carrot Top isn’t the problem!” Raindrops interrupted. “I thought we were joining forces to counter Lyra!”
Trixie scrunched up her nose. “No, no, see, you have to admit that she’s been all but unstoppable. Her knowledge of this game’s inner workings is uncanny! She may not be ahead right now, but if we leave her alone I just know she’ll find some chink in our armor and strike! Ditzy, you’ll back me up on this!”
But Ditzy was already shaking her head. “I’m sorry, but I agree with Raindrops on this one. Lyra’s got twice the land Carrot does and she’s actively attacking the two of us.”
“Besides, what am I supposed to do about her?” Raindrops asked. “The entire continent is separating our forces. If you really want to work together, then I say we should focus on Lyra first.”
“Seconded!” Ditzy put in.
The blue pony pouted but knew when she was outvoted. “Fine, first Lyra, then Carrot Top. But what am I supposed to do about her?”
“What did you expect us to do about…” Raindrops put a hoof to the center of her head and paused for a few moments to reel her emotions in. “We’re just going around in circles. Do either of you have a plan or are we just wasting our time?”
Ditzy pushed her map forward so the others could see. “The way I see it, we just have to close in on her from all sides. There are some natural bottlenecks on the map here, here, and here. Her units are all mostly armies, so if we can just push back her pieces they’ll block themselves.”
Raindrops nodded thoughtfully. “That could actually work, although it looks like I’ll be doing most of the heavy lifting. I could take any of these countries on the coast here, cut down her numbers a little…”
Ditzy was already shaking her head. “It won’t work. If she loses territories she’ll lose pieces, and she’ll probably just drop these mostly useless ones in the middle here which aren’t doing much. We need those units to get in the way of her more mobile ones, so at this stage taking her land is actually a bad thing. First we clump her units together, then we cut them in half by attacking all at the same time.”
“So Ditzy and I need to spend a couple turns sweeping her off the Cavallia Peninsula.” Trixie said, making a scything motion across the small map. “Just hold her in place and keep her contained until we get there.”
“What about if Lyra goes north?” Raindrops asked, pointing out how spread apart the camels were. “It defeats the whole purpose is she takes advantage of all this chaos. She’ll just plain outnumber us at that point.”
“Cheerilee will hold.” Trixie stated, but without as much conviction as she could have. She eyed the board worriedly and tried to think through all the moves at their disposal.
“I could help her out; swing around the Sea and strike from above.” Ditzy offered. “But then I’ll be fighting through her troops. And she can’t get me out of Pferdreich with her remaining forces, so she’s already losing pieces this round. It might be easier if I just took these spots and held them myself, rather than let the buffalo take them.”
Trixie bit her lip and thought hard, but it didn’t take her very long to decide. “All right, support her if you can. But if it looks like Lyra might take control, do what you have to do.”
…
When Trixie had first approached her with the two-way earrings, Cheerilee had seized upon how useful they could be. Indeed, they had already proven their worth several times. It wasn’t really cheating, after all. And come to think of it, wasn’t spying a normal part of politics already?
But when Trixie had run up to her and said she needed to hold Carrot Top’s attention for a while, a tiny seed of worry had sprung up in her mind. If asked, she wouldn’t have been able to pinpoint any one thing which had started it. Mostly it was that even though she would be able to hear what went on at their meeting, it wasn’t the same as having a say in their meeting.
So when she’d decided on a whim to let Carrot Top wear the earring instead, it was with fewer doubts than she might have had. Hey, if nothing else, she just might wind up with a new ally, right when she needed one most.
And, as it turned out, her hunch had proven to be well founded after all.
“Ditzy just said she was going to take all your territories!” Carrot Top said in a hushed voice, struggling against the urge to press a hoof to her ear and give away their game. “And Trixie’s agreeing with her!”
Et tu, Trixie? The schoolteacher thought, smiling hard enough to crack her molars. If they really think I’m just going to roll over and let them walk all over me, they’ve got another thing coming.
“And now they’re back to my air force in Konja.” Carrot Top continued, leaning forward to express how serious she was taking the news. “I think they are right; that piece is caught cold with no way out. I’m not sure there’s anything we can do about this!”
“I tell you what we’re not going to do.” Cheerilee said softly, continuing to pretend they were just having a pleasant conversation. “Panic. There’s still plenty of moves left. And if I’m going to lose my territories, it won’t be to somepony stabbing me in the back. I believe I still owe you a favor from earlier?”
Carrot Top turned to her and thought back, quickly realizing what she meant. This time her smile was more genuine.
…
Lyra sat at the table, waiting for the other’s little meeting to come to an end. They’re talking about me. Of course they’re talking about me. Even the other two are taking about me. Do they really think I can’t see the glances they keep shooting my way? And if they’re all talking about me, there can only be one possible thing they’re talking about.
The three ponies she had her eye on all nodded together at one final point, gathered up their various maps and other papers, and split off into three different directions. As if on cue, Cheerilee and Carrot Top bumped hooves and separated as well. Lyra took as deep breath and mentally prepared herself.
Show time.
Trixie nodded in Cheerilee’s direction. Raindrops and Lyra locked eyes for a moment and it was the musician who looked away first. Ditzy went over to the popcorn bowl to see if there was anything left in it. Cheerilee tapped the side of her head as if realizing something and turned back to the table, where she’d left her notebook. Carrot Top hooked an arm around Twilight’s shoulder and whispered a question into her ear. Ditzy, Trixie, and Raindrops all noticed, but only one of them was close enough to overhear Twilight’s quiet reply. Cheerilee bent down to recover her notebook and slipped a folded piece of paper into the waiting hoof of the pony standing next to her with the same motion. Despite taking pains to keep the note-passing secret, they were seen. Ditzy tipped a wink in the direction of the two unicorns playing the game. One of them understood the message, while the other thought the wink was for her and got the wrong message. One of the earth ponies opened her notebook at the wrong moment and Raindrops managed to read the first thing written there. Trixie walked over to the now empty popcorn bowl and levitated it into the kitchen area to be cleaned in the sink. As she did, she slipped the piece of paper that had been hidden under the bowl up to her eyes, read it quickly, and then crumpled it into a ball and tossed it into the trash. She didn’t notice when one of the others fished the paper ball out of the trash, but Carrot Top did.
In as little as thirty seconds everypony had settled down with another partner and were talking and plotting again. Only thirty seconds, but more was accomplished in those seconds than in the entire round so far.
…
“It was a good match, but I think I’ve finally gotten the upperhoof on you.” Trixie said, grinning from ear to ear. Perhaps it was unsportsmanlike to gloat, but is just felt so good to finally be on the verge of victory!
Carrot Top nodded and offered up her hoof. “Indeed. Gotta say, though, I lasted a lot longer than I thought I was going to.”
Trixie firmly shook the extended hoof, still beaming. “Even though I’m getting Haupstadt back, the war is far from over. You can always move your navy into the Griffon Sea after I leave it. I’ll have a devil of a time getting you out of there!”
The farmer frowned and tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean? Your navy can’t move this turn.”
The smile froze on Trixie’s face, but she pressed on bravely. “Um… yes it can. It’s going to attack Haupstadt with the support of Kaunas and Siauliai. That’s three against two.”
But CT was already shaking her head. “That’s not how Twilight explained it to me. Since the piece attacking Haupstadt is a navy, the only territories that can support it are ones along the coast. Kaunas and the Griffon Sea can’t support each other because they’re too far away and neither piece is an air force. Your attack can still work if your navy attacks my navy instead of supporting, but that means it’s your army has to be the one that takes Haupstadt.”
Trixie blinked. Her eyes flicked down to her map, back up to Carrot Top’s, then back to her map again. She frowned. Blinked a couple more times. Then she finished processing what she’d heard and it hit her like a ton of bricks.
Oh. Oh! OH NO! MERDE!!!!
Fortunately, she managed to keep her inner panic off her face. “If you excuse me, I just remembered something I forgot to tell Ditzy.”
Carrot Top nodded her understanding, but Trixie had already turned away and was rushing to the grey pegasus. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that there was about five minutes or so left in the timer. Should be enough time for this. How could I overlook something like this! How can she keep seeing these tiny details before I can?!?
At the moment, Ditzy was deep in conversation with Cheerilee. Trixie overheard something about Lyra moving an army into Pte before tugging the pegasus to the side with her magic. “Excuse us, I only need her for a moment!”
Cheerilee arched an eyebrow and looked at Ditzy, who shrugged before allowing herself to be pulled away to a private corner. As soon as they were gone, the schoolteacher looked down at her notebook and bit her lip. She had the look of a pony who was running out of options, but neither Trixie or Ditzy saw.
“What’s this about-” Ditzy started, but Trixie cut in before she could finish.
“I need my army to attack Haupstadt!”
Ditzy frowned for a few seconds and then seemed to understand what she was talking about all at once. “The one in Kaunas?! But doesn’t that mean that…”
“Yes,” Trixie sighed, pulling out her map again and studying it intently, “Carrot’s air force is going to escape.”
The elk unit in question sat in Konja, threatening to take it from Trixie. But four other territories surrounded that one; Markovo, Hippopotamia, Latigo, and Kaunas, all of which were or were about to be occupied. The plan had been to send any one of those armies into Konja and crush the unit like Ditzy’s navy had been in the Everfree, but if a hole appeared in their net…
“It’s going to escape into Kaunas right after I leave it.” Trixie said flatly. No matter how she looked at the board, she had to take Haupstadt this turn or lose the opportunity.
“We can still push her air force out of the space, so she doesn’t get the supply center.” Ditzy said consolingly, running her hoof over the other three spaces. “This army here needs to take this turn to get to Markovo, but you’ve got a piece in Hippopotamia. That should be enough, with my support.”
Trixie was already shaking her head. “No good. That piece is an air force. If she attacked your army in Latigo it would disrupt your support, even if she doesn’t get to move. Then it would be her air force against mine, neither would get to move, and she’d take control of the space. It needs to be an army that knocks her out, since armies beat air forces one on one.” Trixie took a deep breath and let it out. “You’re going to have to take it.”
“But that means you still lose! How is that any better for you?”
“At least the elks won’t have it!” Trixie snapped, but reeled in her disappointment before she could say anything else she might regret. After all, it’s not like it’s Ditzy’s fault this is happening. “Since I’m gaining one this turn, I’ll have the same number of territories and won’t lose any of my armies. For all we know, she might decide to get rid of that piece anyway when she loses Haupstadt. Besides, I know I can trust you with Konja for me. You can let me take it back afterward and everything will be as it should by the next winter turn.”
“Sounds like that’s the best we can do right now.” Ditzy agreed. The two of them pulled out their notebooks and fixed their orders, sealing Carrot Top’s fate on this side of the map for the rest of the game.
…
“So you’re still going to try, even though we both know I outnumber you?”
Lyra shrugged. “On paper you might, but there’s no guarantee that's what your pieces are doing this turn. You could be lying…”
Raindrops gave her such a look at that that Lyra barked a short laugh and started over. “Alright, you probably aren’t lying about going for Killa with everything, but you never know. No offense, but I think I’ll bank on the off chance you make a mistake. It’s not like I’ve got much better to do with those right now.”
“Don’t count on it.” Raindrops replied dryly, but the musician was already walking off with a wave of her hoof. Raindrops clucked her tongue against her cheek thoughtfully and lazily looked over at the timer. A little over a minute or two left. Just enough time to write my orders.
She pulled out her notebook and placed the pencil between her teeth. Her first couple of moves were easy, with her talk with Lyra fresh in her mind. Navy in Azure Reaches moves into Killa. Air force in Yana supports navy’s move into Killa. Air force in Sargasso Sea support’s navy’s move into Killa.
She paused and double-checked her map to make sure she got this next one right, and turned back to her book. Army in South Dune Sea attacks Ptehinchala. There, that will disrupt her attack. Geez, though… it takes a while to write these out when you’ve got so many units. Now, which one’s next? Ah, right… still not sure why she moved that one, but I’m not going to turn down a free prize like that…
She wrote Navy in Zebrican Sea moves into Zebrica into her book, and then paused again to check her map once more. Readjusting her grip on the pencil, she turned back and wrote Navy-
“Hey, quick question!” Cheerilee said, slipping down onto the chair next to Raindrops and tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention.
Raindrops mumbled around the pencil. “A little busy right now. Can’t this wait?”
“Not really.” Cheeriee’s eyes flashed towards the open book for just a moment. “I just thought you’d like to know that Trixie and Ditzy weren’t being on the level with you.”
Raindrops grunting in a tell-me-something-I-didn’t-know way and bent back over her paper. Navy in A-
“I’ve seen Ditzy meeting with Lyra when they thought nopony was paying attention.” Cheerilee cut in, leaning forward a bit for emphasis. “Haven’t you wondered how she keeps getting the better of you?”
The weather pony sat up a little straighter and arched an eyebrow for her to continue. She had her full attention.
“You’re being played. I heard the whole thing over the earrings. Just stay where you are and don’t attack back for several turns? That’s what you’ve been doing all game. You should ask yourself why they don’t want you to take all those pieces you’ve got and use them.”
“I think I’m more interested in why you’re telling me this.” Raindrops mumbled. “Aren’t you on our side in this?”
Cheerilee shook her head with a small smile. “Earrings, remember? When they agreed to let Ditzy take me apart, all bets were off. Just don’t feel like watching you go down like I did.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.” Raindrops said, returning to her notes yet again. Navy in Apacl-
“That’s not all.” Cheerilee said in a sing-song tone.
Raindrops spit out the pencil in irritation and rounded on her. “Come on, I’m trying to write! Can’t we talk about this later?”
“I thought you’d want to know that somepony else is trying to sabotage you as well.”
“Oh yeah?” Raindrops challenged. “Who?”
“Time’s up for the round!” Twilight called out.
Raindrops’s mouth dropped like a lead weight. She looked over at Twilight, down to her paper, and back up to her friends face with a look of stunned disbelief.
“Pencils down, and pass your papers forward.” Cheerilee shrugged apologetically.
…
Several minutes later, they were all gathered around the table once more.
“I’ll make this quick.” Twilight said, trying for a light tone and quickly noticing how out of place it was at such a serious table. “Trixie has finally won back Haupstadt, sending her army from Kaunas to take it. Her other army enters Markovo and her air force supports Ditzy’s army in an attack on Konja, surprisingly. Carrot Top’s piece there had tried to attack the army, but is forced out to the only open spot instead, Kaunas.
“But that wasn’t the only time players supported each other this turn. On the other side of map Ditzy tried to hold Pferdreich with the support of her piece in Trottingham, but it didn’t work. Both of Cheerilee’s units supported Carrot Top’s army when it attacked and the elk’s take the supply center.”
That means Carrot Top gained a territory to replace the one she lost! Trixie thought with disbelief. She doesn’t lose any pieces even without Haupstadt! How? How could she possibly have found a way to survive that trap!
“Ditzy, there’s a lot of places for that army to be displaced. Where do you want it to go?” Twilight asked.
Ditzy thought about it for a few moments, and then pushed it up into Breidas, deep in the elk lands. The others all sucked in a breath at the aggressive move before turning back to the librarian expectantly.
Twilight shuffled out another page and continued. “Lyra attacked Killa again with her three pieces, but the tapir army in the South Dune Sea attacked and disrupted her support. This allowed Raindrops’s navy here to move in with her other pieces help. Let’s see… Cheerilee’s last army moves into the West Dune Sea unopposed. Raindrops started to write an order for her navy in Alpaclan, but since she didn’t finish it doesn’t move anywhere.”
There was a dry brittle crack and Twilight was jolted out of her groove, uttering a little surprised cry. Raindrops had had her hoof pressed so hard on her supplies that she’d snapped her pencil clear in two. The pegasus’s eyes never ceased glaring at Cheerilee, who was studiously ignoring her.
Realizing that she was the only one who reacted to that, Twilight swallowed her nerves and decided to press on. “Well, um… there’s not a whole lot else. The tapir’s last navy makes landfall in Zebrica, but Lyra’s air force slips around behind it and takes the Zebrican Sea. Lyra’s army in Naqah stays in place and the one in Heyuktan rushes to defend Pte, even though Cheerilee went west. She also tried to hold Semental, but Ditzy pushed her out with her last two units. And finally Lyra’s other army marched right up into Rocinante. And that’s it. Lyra, you have to…”
But the mint unicorn was already pushing her displaced unit into Caneighda. She also plucked one of her pieces off the board at the same time Ditzy planted the two she’d won. The other four had already paired up and left the table, so the two of them started talking right there at the table.
Twilight was left completely alone, still holding the last round’s papers in her magic. She looked around, but now that she’d covered all their moves nopony was paying attention to her anymore. They were all completely focused on the game.
“Um… alright then. Go.” She said, flipping over the timer, but she might as well have been silent. Nopony was listening.
I've only updated this story once in the last year. That is inexcusable. I am sorry. I will attempt to speed things up and give this story the conclusion it deserves.
In the meantime, let's take a look at the maps.
Here's the end of the Summer turn at the start of the chapter:
Click here for a closer look.
And here's the end of the Winter turn, with new pieces:
Click here for a closer look.
One of the reasons I like this story a little bit more than the Maneverse one I'm writing is that these six ponies have a least a little experience with playing politics. The Mane Six only ever do what the Princess's tell them while being very polite, so they don't really know how to be sneaky. This has led them, in that story, to fall upon each other rather openly and make very obvious attempts at manipulation.
Not so here in the Lunaverse. Here I can freely use all the sneaky aspects of the game that the Maneverse counterparts would never think of. Passing notes and hidden messages. Watching who all the other players are talking to and who they're spending a lot of time with. Even the thing with the earrings is based on something I've done in real life. I had pulled another player into a side room to have a private conversation with. What he didn't know was that I had my phone on in my pocket and everyone else was listening in on our conversation, while I dragged all his secrets out. The act of spying is so ingrained in this game!
And apologies for anyone who couldn't follow that gigantic blurb in the middle of the chapter, when I went in hyper observation mode. When this story is finished (and there isn't all that much left!) I was thinking about maybe writing a crossover story with the board game Clue. So I've been reading some of the Clue books and a little of that style crept in. It's sure fit the theme naturally enough!
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5701839
Yes it is!
I honestly liked that part, if it is the same one you're referring to in the author's note, where it went really vague and observational. I think it fit really well with this story.
Funny how a board game is making for one exciting fic. I'm waiting for those tensions to bubble over, too.
Yay! This fic is alive! Thank all that's good and chocolate flavored! Anywho, thanks for making this next chapter. I like the L!Verse version so much more than the M!Verse. It's so much more ... cut throat fun. Thankfully they aren't playing Ogre's and Obliques (although I'd kill to see that become a thing). Think of how evil Dungeon Masters are, and how my last two forays into the Earth version ended. It'd be both hillious, and even more ruthless.
My first time I was Ass raped to death by a Barbarian Skeleton ... still have no idea how that works.
The second time, I had a Prince of some obscure Race not in the Players guide, cut off my hands and strangle me to death. Had a necromancer raise my corpse, was blown up by the prince, resurected by the necromancer, blown up again in an indistigusishable crater, all the while a Good Aligned Paladin watched and did nothing (btw. Yes I was chaotic neutral, and an elf, but still. Aren't good aligned Paladins supposed to protect from evil aligned creatures / races if they see that stuff about to go down?). All in the span that it took me to go to the bathroom, and back.
And thus does a 'simple' board game continue to destroy the Elements far more thoroughly than any villain they faced ever could.
I love it.
I think it's the "there are no rules" thing that really ruins this for the gang. I've always played by "gentlemen's rules", which means lots of lying but no "cheating". Much more of this and they won't be able to trust each other at all.
It's all a plan by Discord, naturally.
Remind me never to play this game with my friends.
I would be so, so bad at this game.
Yay, another chapter, and wow has the duplicitousness kicked into overdrive. I just loved Trixie convening an alliance to take out CT, only to be overruled when Ditzy and Raindrops voted they should all go after Lyra instead. The best part though might been when Cheerilee, instead of honoring her own part of that alliance chose to let CT listen in on the secret meeting instead. Surprisingly, Twilight is perhaps starting to become a more interesting character beyond just narrating each turn moves, sort of ironic seeing as how it's due to her seemingly being increasingly ignored by everypony else in the room.
It's still a little hard for me to actually follow the board movements, even with the maps provided at the end of each chapter, but that's not really a critique. For me at least, the game itself is just a backdrop, a stage to facilitate all these wonderful character interactions.
5707837
Pretty much exactly this.
I really do love this concept.
"probably to try and block Carrot Top’s piece" - is Twilight supposed/allowed to make strategic observations like this?
Thought the camels were done for, but apparently not quite yet.
"Oddly, it was Carrot Top who grumbled in disappointment" - is she just metagaming, trying to distract people from her real plans, I wonder?
"Show time." - this is where I pictured everything going slowmotion, like the "heist" scene in Office Space. Hope things become clear about who was next to Cheerilee, which unicorn got the right message, etc... Or maybe I was supposed to figure that out from previous chapters that I will have to read again.
"That’s not how Twilight explained it to me." - It's been too long since I read the rules. Is CT bluffing? Guess not, going by the results. Makes sense, fluff-wise for the game.
Could you standardize the army movement photos? They're superhelpful, but it would be nice to browse through the moves without the whole continent shifting around. Maybe just use your Blank Map from DA and indicate troop movements on that? Would make it clearer, too, and I wouldn't have to constantly look to that to see which province was where.
May I ask, where did you manage to get this map? I think it would be a great thing to use for a game, but I don't know how you got it.