Josh retreats from Newlands / SIN's players seem divided

Josh has come under fire from both SIN and YARR! in the Newlands, leading to him withdrawing from the region.
Reportedly, there were a number of sieges on his towns however, only two were successful. The siege which caused TUF's declaration of war with SIN on 3 - Legion! Legion who? was razed by Deo Volente on the 27th June at 12:44. The second successful siege was by Ranalos on  bb Assimilated Corpse on the 29th June at 08:04.
Sieges on cc Nightmare Lemonade, bb Assimilated Corpse and cc Default Dwarf were broken by TUF
Although YARR!'s and SIN's sieges have been very close to each other, it appears that they have not been coordinating with one another. With the raze report on bb Assimilated Corpse, Ranalos gave this comment: ' I had concerns, because a Sin siege landed after we launched, and I didn't want to hit that, but Josh cleared it before we got there.'.

It also looks like many SIN players are not involved with the SIN/TUF conflict. According to a source in SIN, the actions which lead to TUF declaring on SIN are not representative of SIN as a whole but instead of a group of rogue players. So far, the rogue players seem to be: Ron Fay/Odoacer, Deo Volente. Elanderrich and Bulani. When asked about the players, Jejune issued the following statement:
'I can confirm that the attacks on Josh were initiated by a few of our members. There is a high level of animosity toward him among many in the SIN ranks for a wide range of different reasons. I cannot confirm any specific motives for some of our players finally deciding to move on him at this juncture, though, because I really don't know exactly why. You'd need to speak directly to the players who were involved in the sieges.
As a policy, SIN believes in pvp and in the sovereignty of players to deal with conflicts in a matter that suits their own gaming objectives. SIN players are in command of their own destinies and are not subjects of our leadership. I don't make any apologies for the actions of my fellow players, and remain steadfast in my support of them. They have done so much in the past to make this alliance what it is today.'

At the same time as a group of SIN players have gone rogue, Goldy1 has left SIN and joined TUF. Before joining TUF, Goldy1 created an alliance called 'SIN HATERS'. Goldy1 was a highly active player for SIN in the Second Newlands War with a number of sieges and siege breaks. Losing him is a real blow to them. Since leaving SIN, he has launched a siege on Eldrathin's town of Alyria. Spektor, Unbow's former general, has also been added to TUF's roster
However, Goldy1 is not the only departure from SIN recently; Kaggen Deimo and Den both dropped out of SIN in the past week and Janadorf and Tink XX have both abandoned as well. As a result of these leavers, SIN has gone from being ranked 10th to 15th in terms of land.
Jejune has been promoted to leader of SIN, a position formerly held by Chandrian. When asked about it, Chandrian said that it was 'merely time for me to pass the torch on to a very capable successor. '. Jejune confirmed that the change of leadership was not to do with the recent events, saying that in SIN 'the top leadership position is a fluid one'.

The recent leavers and the rogue players do raise questions about the stability of SIN and it will be interesting to see if Jejune will be able to restore SIN back to it's former strength.

YARR! have also had a notable account leave them. Drax the Destroyer has been abandoned by Duran. Drax, who previously known as 'The Reaper' and 'Honey Badger', was involved in the current YARR!/TUF war as well as the Stomps/Claimers war and NW2.

Author: Eowan The Short

TUF declares on SIN after Josh sieged

At 3:40 on the 26th June, Deo Volente's sieges on  3 - Legion! Legion who? belonging to Josh landed. 7 minutes later TUF declared war on SIN in retaliation.
This is the latest in a string of wars for TUF which started on the 20th January with the Death/TUF war and since the start of this year, TUF have spent just 68 days at peace. It appears that their war with YARR! will continue.
Last month, SIN concluded the Newlands War 2 in victory, making them one of the most powerful alliances in the Broken Lands. Josh was involved in both the Newlands War 2 and the earlier Stomps/Claimers war which could be part of the reason why he was targeted in particular.
By attacking TUF, SIN could be looking to prevent the alliance from reaching a size where they could pose a major threat to them. As it is, TUF has already been weakened by months of fighting meaning that a war with SIN is likely to be very costly and possibly disastrous unless TUF receives support from another alliance. Support from another alliance is possible, a recent poll on the Illyriad Times shows that SIN is 'the Most Loathed' top ten alliance in the game by a large margin. However, the recent displays of military strength by SIN will go a long way to make alliances think twice before joining TUF.
When he was asked about his declaration of war on SIN, Agalloch had the following to say:' this is not the first time they harrass a TUF player but this time we arent willing to roll over to their dirty tactics we are taking a stand against shitty playing  of that sort enough is enough'

The siege on Josh currently has 3 sieges, on the North Eastern, Eastern and Southern squares around it. There are blockades on the South Eastern, South Western and Western squares and there is an encampment on the North Western square. The Northern and Southern square have dropped equipment on them, indicating that fighting has already begun over the city. All the squares around the city have the plains terrain so it is likely that cavalry will be used to try and liberate the city.

I have reached out to Deo Volente for comment but, so far, there has been no response.

Author: Eowan The Short