Round 1
Withheld from the archive
This round was played, but we do not republish it here. Recent events involving mass civilian casualties are excluded from our public archive under our content policy, whatever their place in the day’s puzzle.
Terra Tempus Daily #90 — August 29, 2026
These are the 5 rounds every player got on August 29, 2026, with the answers and the history behind them. This day is finished, so nothing here spoils a puzzle you can still play — today’s Daily Challenge is a different five events.
Not enough completed runs on this day to report an average without singling out an individual player’s score — we publish one from 5 finishers up.
Round 2
Battle of Bouvines
Battle of Bouvines · 1214 · Medieval
Why there: Bouvines sat on the flat, open plains of Flanders near the contested border between the growing Capetian domain and the imperial and Flemish lands, making it the natural collision point for the coalition invading from the northeast toward Paris.
Why then: By 1214 the Capetian kings had spent decades centralizing royal authority and revenue, letting Philip II field a coordinated feudal host just as John of England, the Emperor Otto IV, and rebellious counts converged in a single desperate alliance to check that rising power.
- The Battle of Bouvines (1214) was a decisive victory for Philip II Augustus of France over a coalition led by Emperor Otto IV and King John of England.
- John's defeat helped trigger the baronial revolt that produced Magna Carta the following year.
- It is often regarded as one of the most decisive battles of the Middle Ages, confirming French royal dominance.
Round 3
Withheld from the archive
This round was played, but we do not republish it here. Recent events involving mass civilian casualties are excluded from our public archive under our content policy, whatever their place in the day’s puzzle.
Round 4
Battle of Nedao
Battle of Nedao · 454 · Antiquity
Why there: The Pannonian plain along the Nedao river was the grassy heartland where the Hunnic empire had settled its horse herds and subject Germanic peoples, so the revolt naturally erupted on the very lowlands the Huns used as their base of power.
Why then: The death of Attila in 453 removed the singular leader who held the confederation together, and with his sons splitting the subject tribes among themselves like property, the resentful Gepids and other vassals seized that succession crisis as the moment to break free.
- The Battle of Nedao (454 CE) followed the death of Attila the Hun the previous year.
- A coalition led by the Gepid king Ardaric defeated Attila's sons, ending Hunnic dominance in Central Europe.
- It was fought in Pannonia, in the region of modern Serbia.
Round 5
Battle of Pavia
Battle of Pavia · 1525 · Early Modern
Why there: Pavia sat astride the fertile, wealthy Po Valley of Lombardy, the coveted gateway to control of the Italian peninsula that made it the chosen battleground where French and Habsburg armies clashed over the Duchy of Milan.
Why then: By the 1520s massed gunpowder arquebuses had matured enough to devastate a mounted charge of armored knights, marking the moment when firearms overtook chivalric cavalry and reshaped European warfare.
- The Battle of Pavia (1525) was a decisive Habsburg victory in the Italian Wars.
- King Francis I of France was captured by the forces of Emperor Charles V.
- Spanish arquebusiers demonstrated the growing dominance of firearms over heavy cavalry.
Every Daily Challenge is five real events, one from each of five different eras, identical for every player, scored up to 10,000 points a round on how close you land in space and in time. Read how to play, see where the events come from, or play today’s.