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Aero fell afoul of their Canadian neighbours tonight. Given the trademark cold shoulder by RUSH, Aero are down to two territories- it looks like they had been given a “friendly” escort to RUSH's borders. Confronted with iK and NiF, it looks like it is going to be a tough job for them. Other than show aero to the door, RUSH was rather quiet tonight- no doubt putting the troop bonus troops safely away for their later conflicts.

The same can't be said for NiF however- as ambitious as always, NiF were keen to tear chunks out of the neutral territories in the centre of the USA- this rather aggressive move has catapulted NiF into first place- an entire 63 territories ahead of VIA. Showing an unusual amount of restraint with regards to their fiscal policies, NiF have spent a comparatively small amount of plinks so far this battle. Maybe NiF High Command has realised it is much cheaper to accumulate troop bonuses than spending every last plink you can get your grubby hands on. Paying special attention to their borders with iK and LW, NiF were careful not to engage in full-scale combat. I sincerely doubt that this state of affairs can continue to exist- it all hinges on whether LW and iK shall return to the warm and fuzzy environment of the VIA camp.

On the subject of iK, I received some bad news today- the self-styled “Caesar” of iK shall be entering retirement after this battle. Months of constantly waging while whilst staring into every shadow searching for the next betrayal has taken its toll on Bruno. While he shall still loiter about FBG, beerpack is stepping into his shoes to assume full time command of iK's legions. Secretly, I feel this is more to do with the recent heartbreak that iK suffered at VIA's hands- but better to let the corpses stay buried- an approach SF seemed to be adopting tonight, choosing not to wage war or stir up trouble with any of their neighbours. After their success in France in the last European battle, these guys appear to be biding their time- will they fall prey to VIA's seductive charm this battle?

Probably the most monumental event tonight was Fubar's last minute entry. A tried a tested tactic, Fubar no doubt hoped to capture an island for themselves and remain inconspicuous until later in the battle. Fubar's hand was forced- with the last few neutral zones disappearing quickly, they chose to land in Jamaica. Deploying nearly 17,000 troops to this isolated part of the map was a disastrous move. Lpa were quick to move in- bleeding their other territories dry in their attempt to muster a credible defence. The most important thing to note here is the “Defence rating” of this isle- it is rated as “Very High”. This means that the battle calculation will churn out a result that would correspond to the defender having twice as many troops. In this case, it means that Lpa will have nearly 50,000 troops defending Jamaica- more than enough to wipe out the 17,000 strong invaders.
Lpa's dash to complete the Pirate's Trail really paid off- those 10,000 troops are a large part of the defensive force. Unfortunately iK were not as lucky as Lpa were. Hoping to complete the Pacific Ring tonight, they were relying on DJR's goodwill. It seems that DJR's goodwill is subject to terms and conditions, 100,000 conditions if you get my drift. It is no too late for iK to turn the situation around, 100,000 plinks for 10,000 troops at this stage of the game is a bargain. DJR risk making a life-long enemy if they over play their hand however and I can't imagine an alliance with iK/VIA interests them- especially after the fiasco in France in Battle 3, not to mention DJR's Dele going public with a few ill-chosen words of Kaiser's.

Following in Fubar's footsteps, tA decided to be fashionably late. I'd like to take this oppurtunity to welcome tA back into the fold- after a long exodus, caused by systematic betrayal in the closed beta battles. With less than 10,000 troops, tA are going to need to up the ante to survive- let's see if their old friendships are still alive.

Last but not least, VIA jumped up to 2nd place today. Putting his experience and rather large budget to good use, Kaiser closed the vast gap between himself and his allies. With central USA gearing up to wage war on Canada, what will South America do? Clearly the VIA coalition are in for a rough ride if they are forced to fight on two fronts at once.

On a quick sidenote, there may not be battle reports written by me later this week as my friends insist that I “celebrate” the fact that I have aged another year. I shall be happy so long as there is cake.
I couldn't give a flying llama.

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