Definitely count me in, the Powder Monkey will field his army of Averland for glory, the empire, and of course bananas.
I will join Oss in team Germany and am willing to try and recruit some fellow players of the forces of good. I know of HE, WE and Dwarf players, but sadly there is no empire general among my acquaintances. I could certainly search for German Empire forums and spread the word there. My elven / dwarfish colleagues I know quite well, so maybe I can convince them to write some empire fluff into their reports as well. Maybe how they defended some village that was used as a staging point for our forest clearing activities and contained supplies for our troops. In return we could dedicate battles to rescuing captured elven leaders - you get the picture. This would strenghten our bonds with our allies and spread around our fluff ideas.
On burning the forest:
I would certainly not like to burn down a substantial part of the Empire, and find the idea alone a bit unrealistic if not ridiculous. How can you burn down tens of thousands of square miles in the course of a few months? Even if it could be accomplished, what would be left for us? We would be left with an Empire of scorched earth. This reminds me a bit of the scouring of the shire from Tolkiens Lord of the Rings...
Clear the forest of our enemies, then establish forts to keep the peace - that is something I would gladly dedicate my games to, although I think this too is something easier said than done. I normally avoid comparisons to real life warfare on the forum, but I can think of another conflict where defoliating huge forests and trying to catch enemies operating out of said forests proved difficult enough even with a huge technological advantage.
What could be done in my opinion is achieving local superiority in places where the crown is rumored to be. Someone said the crown is located in the dwarven ruins of Whotsisname? No problemo, General H orders one of his engineering / mining companies there, protected by forum members X, Y and Z. On their way they lay a temporary road, clear the forest near it and the rumored mine, then start digging. Meanwhile the 'forum armies' report the escort duty and what they do to protect the expedition: Kill a raiding party of orcs that stumbles over the expedition, burn down a beastmen encampment (In case you still want to burn down something), etc etc.
Whatever we do, I will find my place in it and participate. I applaud and support every attempt to coordinate empire efforts...
Your coordinated, anti-burn PM
