Yanno what? Mad props to the Smurfs. They're the #15 tribe, with no sister/slave tribes, and they're putting the pain to the #6/#9 tribe. That's pretty impressive, no matter how you look at it. If the Paladins are the ones who declared this "war," they absolutely can't complain that geography is their enemy - They picked the battle, and if they failed to take basic logistics into account they deserve to lose territory.
I don't care who wins, although I have a tendency to root for the underdogs in this situation. I just don't want to hear even one Paladin player say "We can't get at them because they're too far away." Clearly, you have enough villages near theirs that they can take two of your players out of the game in what appears to be a couple of hours.
And this is allegedly the Smurfs' first "real" war? I wonder if they haven't gotten some advice from Death? Maybe a little indirect, unintended support?