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Ambro-Jorvish invasion of Vasturia

Despite Crovan's role in engineering the conflict, he had initially planned to engage the nations of the Grand Alliance piecemeal, as he recognized the small size of the Ambrosian Army — only about 11,000 active soldiers in 1860. Though the army had absorbed many of the state militias upon the outbreak of war in 1860, bolstering its numbers substantially, the levels of training of these troops varied widely from the highly-disciplined regulars to the militiamen. In private, Crovan himself did not feel comfortable leading an army into battle, given that he had never held a large-scale field command before. Thus, he was reluctant to act on calls for the invasion of the Vasturian states, delaying it for a full month. However, political pressure began to escalate to begin campaigning before winter, and the Jorvish minister to Ambrose, Imbert Roorda, warned government threatened to break the alliance and go on the offensive alone if the Ambrosians did not act. Fearing a military coup against his government, Crovan finally relented and called a meeting of the Confederal General Staff on October 18th, 1861. Three armies, with a total of about 30,000 men, were formed: the Army of the Glencamber under General Irving MacDowel, the Army of the Kenetcy under General Erasmus Keyes, and finally, the Army of the Els. The Els was nominally commanded by General Charles Bowell, but was effectively under Crovan's direct command, given that he chose to exercise his role as commander-in-chief while campaigning with this army. Political rivals, namely Generals Nathaniel Banks and Daniel Sickles, had convinced Crovan of the necessity of leading the army from the front; Crovan accepted this while knowing full well that they planned to seize power in the event of his wounding of death.

The Army of the Kenetcy crossing into Vasturia

The northern invasion of the Vasturian states began on October 30th, 1861, with the advance columns of the Ambrosian Army of the Glencamber crossing the River Kenetcy into the Communal Republic of [INSERT]; after some brief skirmishing, the capital of the republic, [INSERT], would be taken unopposed the following day. This was met with outrage from many of the Vasturian states, and several would declare war on Ambrose, joining the Grand Alliance. Over the next week, the Ambrosians would march into three more states: Keyes moved his troops along the coast into the Republic of [INSERT], MacDowel pushed into the Duchy of [INSERT], and, on November 3rd, Crovan crossed into the Republic of [INSERT]. On November 5th, the Army of the Els met its first concentrated opposition in the 1st Druidic Army, made up of hastily-assembled components from the militaries of over a dozen Vasturian states. Crovan was able to rein in his subordinates and prevented them from giving battle until November 7th — after two days of evasion and flanking maneuvers, he engaged the Vasturians at Skarloey Creek. While he was numerically outnumbered, Crovan was able to force the Vasturians to march across open fields to attack his lines, which allowed him to maul them with cannon he had captured earlier in the campaign. The arrival of Vasturian reserves were able to prevent a full on rout, but the battle was a decisive Ambrosian victory; the 1st Druidic Army would retreat south on November 9th, virtually abandoning the northernmost Vasturian states to Ambrose — thus Crovan could claim to have liberated the Anglish-speaking peoples of northern Vasturia. This was touted as a major propaganda victory in Elsbridge, and it served only to secure Crovan's political position.

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MacDowel's advance would stall outside of [INSERT] in early December, 1861.

Keyes continued moving south throughout the month of November, however the increasingly worsening weather and his stretched supply lines forced him to settle in for the winter by November 28th, after many of his men died from hypothermia while besieging the port of [INSERT]. Crovan, emboldned by the victory at Skarloey Creek, ordered MacDowel to take the city of [INSERT], the capital of [INSERT] and an important Vasturian railroad junction, by December; he reasoned that if Ambrose cemented its hold on north-central Vasturia before the onset of the harsh winter, the Vasturians would have little chance of retaking it in the spring, even if by then they had coalesced into a singular political entity (as was looking more and more likely). The key to the city was the [INSERT] Citadel, a massive star fort on the River Kenetcy that overlooked the city itself; the Vasturian garrison, under General [INSERT], evacuated the city on November 20th and concentrated his forces in the citadel. Rather than proceed with "all deliberate speed" as he had been ordered to, however, MacDowel bungled the approach to the fortifications and arrived nearly a week behind schedule. After a hasty river crossing made hazardous due to the ice floes, the Ambrosian assaults were bloodily repulsed by the well-entrenched enemy in the First Battle of [INSERT]. MacDowel concluded that he did not have enough manuever room and settled in for a siege of the city; he was dismissed from command by Crovan shortly therafter, and the Army of the Glencamber was absorbed into the Army of the Els. However, this would be the end of northern campaigning for the year

Nordanian Crisis
Clockwise from top left: —
Date 9 September 2018 (2018-09-09) – x Location Nordania, Sea of Njord
Belligerents
Ambrose	Wosrac Sjealand Vasturia Eibenland
Commanders and leaders
John Frederick Cleburne Henry Wallace Thomas J. Whelan John Haldeman	Queen Amelia I