Ephesibor is a rich province, full of forests and plains, known for his martyrs and a shipwreck that happened a year ago. More importantly, it is the site of a Castle of Ragha, the main defense of the passage towards the East Continent. If Lemuria conquers the region, it will have a beachhead towards the Raghan homelands. Let us see the two armies.
And here we have the attacking Lemurian army- composed of Spectral Legionari, Shadow Soldiers, Shadow Beasts. You can see some Apparitions - the figures with a toga, horrible undeads that spread disease-. A more peculiar troop are the Zhayedans: holy RAGHAN troops, that defected thanks to the powerful Apostasy spell in a previous engagement. They're few, but they're good. Think of Persian Immortal Gryphon Cavarly. The Spectral troops are all ethereal, so difficult to hit without magic weapons. The Lemurian leadership is composed by Lemur Consules, immortal ethereal bastards. They're also Holy 3, so excellent priests, and one is a Prophet, so Holy 4. A solid army, even if with a unimaginative set-up.
Here the brave defenders, the Raghan army. They have chosen a more creative formation. Most of the army is composed of Turan troops- the Abysian/Humanbred part of the Dual Kingdom- good infantry with survival skills and fire resistance. We can also see some Turan Elephants - not excellent troops to take in this confrontation, I fear- and some crossbowmen, too few to make a difference. The Raghan leadership however is quite good: we can see a pair of Shah, two Turan sorcerers and the jewel of the Raghan formation, a Fravashi, the "Higher soul". Not a great mage or a great warrior, nonetheless it has Ethereal, Awe 3 - so the enemy, even Spectres, can be too awestruck to hit it-.
After a few turns, we can see the evolution of the battle. The Lemurian Zhayedans ironically are extremely effective at keeping the Raghan line occupied, with few losses. The magic bombardment from the Raghan sorcerers and priests - Banishments and Dust to Dust, a powerful anti-undead spell- fails to cause enough losses to the Lemurian army, thanks to the powerful magic wards that the Lemurian Consules can cast. The Raghan PD, without a good battle plan- the Raghan player cannot directly control PD-, "overflows" from the sides of the Zhayedans and gets slaughtered piecemeal by the ethereal undeads. I missed from the screenshot the Raghan elephants, that are trying to flank the Lemurian battle line.
The Raghan counterattack is creative. The Elephants hit the flanks, while the Fravashi attacks the rear of the Lemurian formation. The Spectres attack en masse the Fravashi, leaving the Lemurian flanks weakened and the Zhayedans unsupported. The apostates start suffering the pressure from the Raghan infantrymen. The Fravashi is now tying 6/10 of the Lemurian army: the spectres fail to damage it for several turns while their army suffer further losses from Banishments.
The Lemurian southern flank and center collapses. The Zhayedans flee from the battle, followed by the Shadow Soldiers (amusingly, they are not mindless). The Spectral Legionari are still tied with the Fravashi. The Raghan elephants are hitting the flank, and the battle seems to be turning good for the troops of the Dual kingdom, with all of their mages/priests still active, even if fatigued.
Sadly, it's not enough. The Fravashi fails a morale check and when the exhausted Raghan heavy infantry hit the Legionari, they are quickly routed from the Fear effects of the Lemurian Standard Bearers. The rest of the army follows suit, and the field is conquered by Lemuria. The siege of the Castle of Ephesibor begins.
All said, a close call. From the losses, I would say thet the Raghan army had a chance at winning this, but the stacking of the wards and protections on the Spectral Legionari made them too tough for stock, unaugmented infantry.