Unrest and simmering hostility boiled over into a clash of arms, the clatter of machine gun fire and the conjuring of fireballs against the armor of tanks. The defining conflict of modern Limitherian history is thoroughly examined with a blow-by-blow account, using a fair treatment of perspectives from the Ansrythan Defensive Union, the Vaestermark Empire and beyond. The development of weapons of war are explained with clarity, from the iconic Sphinx tank of the Allies to the Imperial orc-made Screeching Phoenix rocket projector. Also discussed are the tactics which proved so deadly to attacker and defender alike. The use of magic from both sides is explored from first-hand accounts of mages on the battlefield to the strategic use of necromancy. Painstakingly chronicled are sources ranging from divisional archives and contemporary newspaper articles to modern scholarly analyses. Events in each theater of operations are contextualized within the broader political and economic situation. This first volume covers the prelude and outbreak of hostilities between the Ansrythan Defensive Union and the Vaestermark Empire; the encirclements at Tocki, Dibusher and Larakesh; the brief secession of Heimhult and the invasion of Yliria; and finally, the entry of Escania into the war.