APLA: 750,000 men Armed Forces of Kentucky: 600,000 men At 0100 hours, the APLA crossed the border with Kentucky, declaring war and beginning an armed conflict that would quickly see them gain the upper hand. Artillery rained down on Covington and Florence, as armored columns quickly seized the crossings across the Ohio River. Further down the border, troops crossed under the cover of night in Mayville and Portsmouth, establishing supply lines and quickly eliminating any border checkpoints. Paratroopers landed at 0400 hours on key highways (I-75, 71, and 64) in an attempt to stop and hold back any reinforcements from making their way to the front. While one unit would get destroyed by Kentucky's forces, they provided a key reason for the rapid advances in the early portion of the war. The next flashpoint of the war would take place in the front line from Lexington to Stanton. While Kentucky's military planners thought that the C.S.A would target the obvious locations of Louisville and Frankfort, the C.S.A had focused the majority of their troops around the Lexington area, launching another offensive, managing to encircle and destroy a large portion of Kentucky's army. Kentucky's military planners, still confident that the main force, the main blow of the C.S.A was coming towards Louisville, placed their best troops near the city. Taking advantage of Kentucky's continued delusion (spurred on by continued diversionary attacks), another large encirclement destroyed much of Kentucky's army and militia forces, while draining their morale and boosting the C.S.A's. Further west, another of Kentucky's armies was about to get encircled, but was saved by a last-minute counterattack that destroyed 2 C.S.A divisions, allowing about half of the force to escape. At this point, holding western Kentucky was a costly affair for both sides, and so Kentucky retreated its forces to strengthen its lines. At the same time, Lexington was slowly being surrounded, while artillery and air attacks crippled Kentucky's ability to fight in the city, although C.S.A troops took just as many, if not more, casualties than their enemy counterparts. After weeks of deadly urban combat, Kentucky withdrew its forces. While the war continues to be in the C.S.A's favor, Kentucky is far from defeated.
TLDR: While the C.S.A has a potentially decisive advantage, Kentucky is not anywhere close to surrendering. Laurentian Volunteers Wanted! kfc mmmmm idk if this is considered powerplay or not
