Once all the banners have been loosely committed to an attack, the conflict can be brought to the attention of Control by submitting the Battle Order in written form. Attacking Battle Orders must be submitted to Control, in the same round that they wish for the battle to be resolved. Control will then inform the opposing side of the attack. Players should not try to bring the conflict to the Defender directly, but may use a pending alliance or unsubmitted Battle Order in diplomacy as they wish. Caution is advised, however, because if the Lead House on the side being attacked, can quote the nature of the attack in sufficient terms to Control at the time of resolution, then the defender will be considered to have initiative in the conflict regardless of how many troops are brought by the attacking force.
When a battle is called, at High Noon, participating Players will bring their supporting Table Banners from their alliance or home table, to the battlefield table area. The Banners should be arranged opposing each other in alliance formation, following descending influence order left to right. This does not have to match the order that the houses are listed on the Battle Order but must follow the influence order of the primary alliance on either side. Assistance from banners outside of the primary alliance on the Battle Order can be placed at the end of the order, to the right of the alliance members, in any order.
This will be the telling moment where promises will be tested and both sides will see who has actually chosen to show up on the day. If a House or Player who has committed banners to the Battle Order brings fewer than promised, or fails to show up at all, the battle cannot be cancelled as the forces are considered to be committed. There will be some exceptions where a ‘retreat’ is allowed at this stage but they are situation dependent and if the Player can, they will be informed before this point.
Once all the banners have been loosely committed to an attack, the conflict can be brought to the attention of Control by submitting the Battle Order in written form. Attacking Battle Orders must be submitted to Control, in the same round that they wish for the battle to be resolved. Control will then inform the opposing side of the attack. Players should not try to bring the conflict to the Defender directly, but may use a pending alliance or unsubmitted Battle Order in diplomacy as they wish. Caution is advised, however, because if the Lead House on the side being attacked, can quote the nature of the attack in sufficient terms to Control at the time of resolution, then the defender will be considered to have initiative in the conflict regardless of how many troops are brought by the attacking force.
When determining this, Control should always lead with something non-declarative about the nature of the attack such as; "You are being attacked, do you know where from and by whom?" If the defender can answer the question, or guess, they will be given initiative in the conflic when the battle lines are called at High Noon.
When a battle is called, at High Noon, participating Players will bring their supporting Table Banners from their alliance or home table, to the battlefield table area. The Banners should be arranged opposing each other in alliance formation, following descending influence order left to right. This does not have to match the order that the houses are listed on the Battle Order but must follow the influence order of the primary alliance on either side. Assistance from banners outside of the primary alliance on the Battle Order can be placed at the end of the order, to the right, in any order.
This will be the telling moment where promises will be tested and both sides will see who has actually chosen to show up on the day. If a House or Player who has committed banners to the Battle Order brings fewer than promised, or fails to show up at all, the battle cannot be cancelled as the forces are considered to be committed. There will be some exceptions where a ‘retreat’ is allowed at this stage but they are situation dependent and if the Player can, they will be informed before this point.
Retreats can be offered by Control, when it is obvious that the attacking force is not sufficient to overcome the defences. This should be done in the interest of time, so that the Players don't have to go through the motions of fighting through an unwinnable conflict. Any banners that are part of a retreat are considered spent and cannot participate in other conflicts that round.