"Accept them and plot a removal of leadership.

Let the body flail with the head missing then make a new offer. You get to stay and work your asses like anyone else and accept our rules or lay your head on the chopping block.

Or better still call their threat and let them know you're a fan of "Scorched Earth".

There is no happy medium when one group leaves you no options. If they wanted to stay and provide a security force asking would have made more sense.

But they had to force it and now rather than a possible asset they are wormchow-to-be."

" A has basically told B that they are not taking no for an answer. "

"It is a bit unrealistic for a tank to have fuel after two months of roving, but even if it did and you were in their camp it's also unlikely that they'd engage their own camp with a Bradley. Thermal scopes don't see uniforms. Everyone would look like the bad guy. And in a circumstance that lopsided, there would likely not be a diplomatic solution. Look at Athenian history- the traditional "might makes right" dialogue from Thucydides is historical evidence of that..."

"They already threw down the ultimatum TreeLegs. They WILL impose on us and they are not above using violence to do it so how can this end without virtual shackles being placed on the community?

There is no end to this this doesn't end with death, or virtual enslavement. These people will take everything because they can. And they will do it repeatedly. This could have been a peaceful thing till they let it be known that we had no say.

There is no solution here when one group is exerting force over the other. You remove them or you remove you."

"Thermal really is mostly black and white, actually. It doesn't even work through glass that effectively. Certainly not at long range. And again, you neutralize a lot of the advantage of having a tank by being on their position. They wouldn't fire that close to their own men. Even on high alert against modern militaries most squads would sleep and watch half up half down. It's unlikely that they'd feel threatened enough by this group to leave more than about 10 on watch, and that is not an insurmountable number for people with any weapons. It wouldn't take much ammo to make a dent there.

Also, these people live on the land, so it'd be tough for the troops to hide somewhere that the people couldn't find them. Think USSR vs Afghanistan in 1989. Soviet tanks litter the countryside over there still today. Tanks don't guarantee a win."

"Not telling granny to get her gun. Telling her to get her rat poison. We would probably not be able to fight them conventionally but poison? Oh yes that sounds workable.
Downside of dependance on others for food. They know where and how to hit.

And they can't be trusted. I cannot trust my people to them. If they want to show that they can be trusted they better offer something more than their word.

But then what if they refuse. We just revealed that we aren't exactly cowed by them."