Grasslands Gambit

War of the Icenian Coalition
Yoahtl's capital Altepetl (left) being skybridged (right) by Gang Shi on December 10th
Date 8th December 2023 — Present Location Gang Shi, Yoahtl, in quadrants -,- and +,- Result Ongoing Black Mesa Vault griefed Hostilities continue
Combatants as of 9th December 2023
Dawn Guard Pact Icenia ChrisChrispie (President) JuniorTide Lagiacrus Shadno Drekamor NEBULANDD August27 Kingstell Anvil hugepoopie 7_Misun Forged_TK Sdorr Zolo17 Jaimiemie Dr_Bacon_Hair Yoahtl Simpology MechanicalRift VilyanZ Huskydog9988 ArkenX Awesome_Daniel matt4fun9 Quauhtli Pqrrot Ascant Spoonce Jaydon	Gang Shi Gwua (Leader) jbblocker ___TheBoss___ HassDaMahn XxTBxX3276 TheRealJewy 7joshh DiamondVictor Highroll SirFrenchie_ Toaxbis realmichael butter_villager TheIowanGod UghBraces LeJonas mrpearlyogirl _Altelier zman083104 n0stalgiic Dark_Muffin23 Luminous15 CryptoClixy Fur Tuna420 ObedientSlave Squilliam Villainize oMqtt undoxed IbisMan Squidhasthebad loo_wee_gee SQOpenSpellBook Spenduh ZibeKabir UB40
Strength
10+ Fighters 15+ Support Personnel	10+ Personnel 15+ HCF/Loka logons
Casualties and losses
None (As of 10th December 2023)	2 vaults griefed 10 players pearled (As of December 10th 2023)

The War of the Icenian Coalition is an ongoing war on CivMC. It was declared by Icenia and Yoahtl, allied with one another in the Dawn Guard Pact, against Gang Shi on the 8th December 2023 in response to leaks from the Gang Shi Discord that implied Gang Shi intended to eventually go to war with the two in order to establish dominance over the server.

Background

Gang Shi had initially been dissolved in the SEC–Gang Shi War in April 2023, as part of a war between Gang Shi and the Security Enhancement Coalition, including Icenia and Yoahtl. Following the end of the Butternut-SEC War, in which Icenia and Yoahtl, still in the SEC, fought a failed war against Butternut County and fighters from Gang Shi, Gang Shi was reestablished (with the SEC dissolved). Subsequently, Icenia and Gang Shi were the subject of several incidents, including the bombing of unreinforced Icenian structures and the pearling of an Icenian senator. Meanwhile, Yoahtl and Gang Shi signed a non-aggression pact to ease post-war tensions and promote peace. But after a leak including plans to divide and conquer Yoahtl, Icenia and other nations (detailed extensively in the "Pearled Harbor" post on the CivMC subreddit), Yoahtl and Icenia decided to preemptively strike Black Mesa.

Course of the War

First Strike

On 8th December 2023, on the anniversary of the insiding of the Crucible on CivClassic and also a day after the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Icenia and Yoahtl launched an surprise attack on Black Mesa, Gang Shi's main pearl holding vault. A Reddit post was made, called "Pearled Hartbor", claiming that Icenian and Yoahtl fighters had disabled and ctr'd most of the vault with the help of an unnamed insider, before explaining the coalition's stated reasons for the attack.

Attack on Florence

On the morning of December 9th, Icenian fighters began a skybridge over the Florence bunker located south of Whole Foods, believing it was a staging ground for an attack against the farming complex. A watercubing operation was briefly interrupted by the arrival of XxTBxX3276, UghBraces, loo_wee_gee, and 7Joshhh, but ultimately continued and was later augmented by a bombing operation on the 10th, firmly disabling Florence from being used.

Logboxing of Jbblocker

Concurrent to the operation in Florence, other Icenians trapped a section of Gang Shi's northern iceroad heading through the -,- and created a section that could be easily closed off to prevent escape. Later in the day on December 9th, Emperor of Gang Shi Jbblocker was spotted coming up the iceroad, and the iceroad was sealed on opposite ends, trapping him inside. Jbblocker logged out before he could be combat tagged. Attempts to free him by XxTBxX3276, UghBraces, loo_wee_gee, and 7Joshhh were driven off and Jbblocker was entombed within a fortified logbox. Following the battle, the fight moved to the city of Altepetl upon server restart.

Siege of Altepetl

At approximately 11 PM EDT on December 9th, Gang Shi forces began an skybridge assault on Altepetl, the capital of Yoahtl.

Toaxbis was initially shot off the skybridge by defenders, resulting in the first pearl of the war.

Yoahtl player Spoonce was later killed due to a bowshot from the attacking skybridge, but DiamondVictor didn't have a pearl on his hotbar, and Spoonce escaped being trapped in the nether.

Counter skybridges from the city were able to successfully hold the attackers back from the trench, and eventually a decisive breakthrough was made on the bridge after additional fighters rotated to the defense of the city following the daily server restart. TheRealJewy was trapped in a 3 deep obsidian pit on the skybridge, where Shadno attempted to jump in and fight him in the enclosed space before being pearled. Icenian fighters, including Lagiacrus and Auqust, quickly moved to secure Jewy, and were able to footgrind him along with 4 other Gang Shi fighters (Highroll, SirFrenchie_, realmichael, and DiamondVictor) who attempted to rescue him from the situation. Shadno was then freed by Lagiacrus.

Fighting continued throughout the night, but the main assault was repulsed by 4 AM. Further engagements occurred throughout the day near the city and on the skybridge, and by 3:45 PM, Gang Shi had lost 10 pearls without any defender casualties.

Counter Attack

On the afternoon of December 10th, following some additional light skirmishing on the skybridge, DGP forces launched a ground tunnel against the only gangshi iceroad connecting to their attack bunker for the skybridge, succesfully cutting it off and obtaining Butter_Villager's pearl in the process, causing Gangshi to retreat from the area. Following this, the ground and sky bunker were fully disabled and looted, yielding a surprising number of compacted potions.

HCF Recuitment

In an war update posted on December 10th, Yoahtl claimed that Gang Shi was recruiting players from HCF to fight in the war.

Reactions

On the 8th December, a poll was created on Reddit asking which side they supported in the war. As of December 10th, 2023, 51% of voters supported the Icenian Coalition, 27% Gang Shi and allies, and 23% were neutral.

See also

• SEC - Gang Shi war: First conflict between Icenia and Yoahtl, and Gang Shi
• Butternut-SEC War: involved conflict between Icenia and Yoahtl, and fighters from Gang Shi
• List of Conflicts on CivMC