⏭️ Flanking Actions and Contesting Regions -

All conflicts in a round are resolved simultaneously. For example, if a region attacks another that is itself attacking a third region; the middle region will suffer a penalty to its defence, gaining one victory point (1VP) by default instead of the usual two. This is because their defensive forces are considered depleted by the attack on the other region. This also means that a depleted region can never hold initiative advantage and cannot call in assistance from an allied banner. Regions that are attacking and defending in the same round are resolved as separate Battle Orders and different banners must fight in each conflict as they cannot be doubly committed.

Two Battle Orders can target the same region in the same round. Keep in mind that Banners are still limited to one Battle Order per round and both attacks will be resolved separately. The same banner cannot be contributed to both sides of a battle in the same round. In that circumstance, an attacker must coordinate two or more separate Battle Orders. Defenders do not have to choose in which battle to use their available banners as defensive banners are considered available for each defensive action. However, if the same region suffers an additional attack in the same round, they suffer -1VP penalty in the subsequent conflict as their defences are considered depleted. This penalty is applied regardless of if the defenders were defeated or not. (For instance, one Battle Order might target capturing a Player character and in the next they are intending to conquer the region. In this case the Defender could lose the first and succeed in the second, though in the second conflict they would suffer the -1VP for exhausted defenders and, in this example, an additional -1VP for losing their Banner Lord Bonus).

The exhausted defence penalty is also cumulative if the region is targeted by even more conflicts in that round but resets each round at Dawn. A defending region that is victorious in one conflict may call in more allied banners to help them in a subsequent conflict, if they would have been otherwise able to do so, i.e. they have initiative. This can be used in the same round to help overcome an exhaustion penalty. No defender may do this if they were defeated in the previous conflict that round. Any additional banners committed to defending subsequent conflicts must not have been use in any other conflicts that round.