2013 Steel Championship - #118

[Ry Vor]

Let us gather in the Great Hall and hear the accounts of heroism and treachery, of great risk and great patience, of astounding agents and powerful wizards.

The 2013 Champion of Alamaze Steel is Wynand, who commanded the Stone Giants to victory in this classic, won on Turn 30.

[kik1661]

I played the Underworld in this one. I noticed right away that the GN was being played by the Gray Mouser , who had played the same kingdom in the 106 game that I won. I cut a similar deal to the one I did then , me getting a town and village and him getting the region. Beyond that we agreed to stay out of each others way.

Before the game started I swore to myself I would play it more aggressive than my previous go at the kingdom. That didn't last long. Turn 1 I lose a lvl 7 agent stealing gold from Avalon and another agent dies 970'ing it. Rut Roh!! My one early positive was managing to snag a HC seat and pretty much only bumped my influence that way. I set a standing order to raise it paying 3500 gold and got a surprising amount of issues through.

I hadn't had much luck getting any cheap PC's from other players looking to get on the UN's good side pre game so I decided to go all out on one region. Northern Mists here I come ... That's when the GI showed up early there, oh boy!! Now both the WI and GI where battling it out there , this was no beuno, I had just wasted my early em moves and a 470. I floundered for the next couple of turns not gaining much ground anywhere nor did I have much luck finding artifacts. I figured I was going to be an also ran as my ESO was no where near being done. ( Mine was 5 prisoners , 1 covert artifact plus 2 others , substantial in a region , and a power 3 wizard.) On turn 10 I had 0 prisoners , 1 artifact ( key of the gem) , and had 4 PC's total and a couple p2's. This wasn't looking good.

At this point I randomly decided to bait the Warlock. He seemed to be chugging along pretty well and I hadn't really talked with him. I killed/kidnapped a couple em's and maybe killed a p2. I moved in and took a few villages. I had no real interest in moving into 5 I just wanted the Warlock to think I did. He reached out to me but I just ignored it as I wanted him to continue to waste resources countering my nonexistent move into Amberland. Every few turns I would kidnap a guy of his or try and whack a wizard. I did enjoy his agent ,named Trick, at his capital. I took the bait later in the game with a low level agent and got my just Treat. I think my plan worked as I noticed myself being denigrated a lot and I imagine he took other measures beyond that.

Around turn 15ish I started working with the TR in 7 and 8 a bit ... This is when we started whittling away on the DE. I took out ,over a number of turns, his King ,a couple Demon Princes , lots of ems and agents , and a wizard or two.I think I may have stolen the Stone of All Minds as well. I grabbed a few of towns and a village and finally for the first time was significant somewhere by turn 20. Booyah!

On turn 20 I finally thought I had turned the corner. I had all my court still around, a few p2's for sleeps and wards , a lvl 18 , two lvl 16's and a lvl 12 agent. Sadly this was also when the SO,BL and DA headed into 8 ... I can't say if it was a coordinated effort but early it seemed like DA and SO were together at least. Over the next few turns I found myself down to 4 PC's total , this wasn't looking good. With the help of Hawk we some how got the BL to pull away , he ended up dropping sometime later still sporting the entire Sands and some impressive armies. We also worked out a deal with the SO to keep what he had gained from us in Arcania on the condition he went elsewhere. Looks like he choose Oakendell. This allowed me to claw back a few PC's in Arcania and I decided to focus on the DA.

I started killing/kidnapping pretty much any DA em's I could locate. I enamored both 6 and 9 to friendly and started to take all the DA PC's I could find in both. I contacted the DW and he supplied me with some DA locations and we agreed to a NAP and swapped artifacts. The DA offered a truce , again I just ignored the contact as I figured there was nothing to be gained talking to someone you were looking to wipe out. The DA did steal my crystal of seeing late in the game. He seemed very proud about it.

By the last couple of turns I had moved all in on 6 and knocked the DA out.I was probably a turn away from controlling 6 as the game ended. The DA did show up with an army that last turn to defend 6 though it was probably to late even had the game not ended. I killed a random p5 of his I found , gave the WI a major skeleton to drop on the DA ( the WI obliged as I was short on orders that turn.) The DA didn't seem to like that to much either. I had another skeleton to release for the DA but didn't get around to it, though I did release one on the WA in case he was going to bid on the HC seat that turn.

I was probably a couple turns from winning myself when Wynand got his SVC. I had the Sands friendly and 80% of the PC's covered to 330 the next turn. But it was not not to be. My agent core was pretty sick towards the end though as I was sporting 3 lvl 19's and a lvl 18. I had a couple equipped with Demon Bane and Ancient Annihilator which made killing even warded guys a breeze.

Big congrats again to Wynand for his well fought victory. Also to Tripwire for his silver medal and being a great person to work with. Lastly, Lord Thanatos for the bronze. I had hoped to at least be on the podium. Had I remembered to trade for the Stone on the last turn with the WI I would have just sneaked into third.

For Chancellor : Hawk. He really helped coordinate things between a lot of parties during the game.

Iron willed: The Dark One. I am sure both Wynand and The Deliverer wished this pesky undead wizard would have gone away.

Infamous: Wynand. For doing nothing but WINNING!!!

[DuPont]

I came into this game wanting to avoid early confict. As the SO, I really wanted to get my share of 9, raise my wizards and let things happen around me. Unfortunately, I was paired with the RA and he seemed to pick fights with everybody around us. The smart thing would have been for me to throw him to the lions, but I stupidly tried to help him out against the BL. But the DA and DW also charged into 9 and I was soon in a fight for survival as the damn RA dropped just after bringing this all down on my head. I don't know to what extent the DA/DW/BL were coordinated, but it certainly felt like I was fighting 3 people at the same time. The one saving grace was that I had insisted on Almarien as part of my share of Synisvania. I had been working on the walls and the gold production. Basically, my strategy was to keep raising defense and gold each turn - get wizards to 3 and no higher for now.

It was effective - if you are able to cast two 603's each turn, that's like gaining a town every time. So even though I had few other pop centers, I was far from broke and I kept the walls high
enough to keep up with the growing strength of the enemy armies around me, so nobody dared to try and storm my capital city. Eventually, the BL asked for an agreement that would let him keep his gains in the region so he could go off elsewhere - I was tying him down. He had about 1/3 of the region, so I was prepared to let him go. I was most worried about him hitting my capital, anyway. That left me with the DW and the DA but then, lucky break, they fell out and started fighting. The DA offered me the same deal as the BL - let him keep his gains so he could fight the DW, but this time I said 'no'. I wanted to get control and knowing he was tied up, I felt that he probably wouldn't be able to oppose me. I took enough to get control and then got back to him and told him he could keep the couple remaining PCs he had for peace and he agreed. For the first time since the start of the game, I was not in a fight and able to really start building.

I need to explain something, here. At the start of this game, Head Honcho and I had been in conflict in every previous game we'd played in and we'd said that we'd try to work together in the next one. Unfortunately, the kingdoms were assigned and we got natural enemies. We agreed to a secret deal not to attack and to also try and steer other people away from each other. Now that I was in control of a region, people started suggesting that they'd be willing to help me hit the WA. I had to find polite ways to say that I didn't want to do that and look for other targets. I was going to jump on the GI up in 2 - enamored the region and all - but when I was getting into place, it seemed like all the potential targets were taken, so I backed off and looked elsewhere. Then the TR took a second region - Arcania - and I began to worry about him winning. I'd just played in a game where the TR was able to win with 2 regions and some other stuff, so I talked to a few others and the WA, DA and I decided to move in. It wasn't all that well coordinated - the DA and I landed on some of the same pop centers. The TR got knocked out of control and I got a letter from the UN wondering why I had gone after them when they were the weaker alliance. I explained my fear of a TR victory and he spilled that the TRs SVC was substantial in 4 regions and he was nowhere close to that. So I agreed to stop fighting them in exchange for keeping what I had. This time I went after the RD and I can honestly say I didn't look to see who was playing the position (I often don't, it can mess up my thinking). The RD wasn't expecting it and while my invasion was less smooth than I'd have liked (one turn, I got all my teleport orders wrong), his armies were elsewhere and was in no position to defend himself.
I had an outside chance of winning. I needed two regions, two cities and some artifacts. I wasn't that far off, but congrats to the GI for his win.

I'll nominate Kik1661 for Chancellor - he did some major dip.

[Lord Diamond]

I would like to nominate Lord Thanatos for 'Iron Willed'. His game went to Hell, but he stayed in and managed to regain a lot of his power towards the end.

HeadHoncho for Chancellor.

Kik1661 for Infamous. I hated his agents with a passion!

[Wynand]

Folks,

This was the most challenging Alamaze game to date due to the quality and ferocity of opposition.

At the start of the game, the WA and I very quickly came to an agreement to work together during the campaign. We also pulled in the RD and DW in order to protect at least on of our flanks. The RD and I decided to storm region 2 and make a quick play for the Mists as our opening gambit. I negotiated substantial presence with the WA in 5 (my SVC required two controls and a substantial) and the RD had 5-10 turn plan to move into 1 (potentially) once the WI had been dealt with.

As I understand it now, the RD needed substantials for his SVC so this expansion plan seemed logical; a move into Oakendell, assuming it landed me in control, would effectively seal the deal for a GI win while simultaneously supporting victory requirements for one of my allies.

Our efforts in 2 were largely successful, but it we failed to put the WI down. He fled to 1 and must have come to terms with the EL. The RD quickly moved to chase, and we soon became embroiled in a war with the EL. My part in this conflict was limited; I fought one EL group and took his capital once....I was ready to expand my presence in 1 until the AN seemingly randomly declared me an enemy. Interestingly, I had no intention of moving into 4 (my territorial requirements would have been met by controlling 1) but was urged to take my forces into Torvale at the behest of my Warlock ally.

The campaign in 4 was a roller coaster; although my kingdom sustained almost no damage politically or magically (I think I lost 1 baron the entire game), due to the incredible resourcefulness of the AN, I was unable to make serious headway. The RD supported my aggression against the AN with some attacks on Avalon, but ultimately, I wasn't able to hold enough of the region to obtain control.

By turn 20, two coalitions had clearly formed; the DE, RD, WA, DW and GI were working against the TR, UN, AN, WI, EL...with the BL, DA and SO playing a spoiler roles. By turn 25, our team began to act extremely cohesively in an effort to support the GI claim to victory.

Finally on turn 30, we had destroyed enough PCs in Torvale for the GI's holding to qualify for control. The game thankfully ended on turn 30; if we had played another turn, this contest would have clearly gone the distance.

My victory in this one was really a team effort; the RD, WA, DE and DW were instrumental to the GI's victory. Their support during the last 3 turns was absolutely crucial in shutting down the AN's efforts in 4.

Special thanks to the RD and WA, who actively destroyed villages and towns in order to lower the population in 4 to a level that would allow my claim to be processed successfully. I share my gold with them.

Thanks also to the DE and DW for their unwavering support in killing wizards, providing wards and obtaining recons.

I nominate the Dark One (WI) for Iron-Willed. He endured until almost the very end....we could never count him out.

I nomimate HeadHoncho (WA) for Chancellor. He is the consummate team player and a strong leadership figure who drove the coordination of our coalitions' efforts.

Finally, I nominate Kik1661 (UN) the UN for infamous. Even though we never came into conflict, his influence was fear by all for the better part of this contest.

Thanks all, great game.

[Brogan]

Sounds like this was a lot of fun.

[Lord Thanatos]

I will send in my write-up soon. I played the DW in this magnificent contest.

My nominations:

Iron-willed = Lord Diamond for fighting to the end even when down to a single popcenter.

Chancellor = Head Honcho for keeping our alliance focused and on track.

Infamous = Bluefile2 for remaining relevant even when his wizards were dying.

[Tripwire]

Me Troll King Millen (akaTripwire)!

Me Troll find bung better in this fight! First Troll no want to fight with Ancient people and their magic so very early me send orcs and trolls down into Runnimede and eat little gnome people! They taste good but der big heads get stuck in trolls teeth! That not so good! They fight hard too and it take troll long time to kill little gnomey peoples. They keep killing troll magic men and talkey trolls! But me keep getting more trolls and more orcs and then the gnome finally die and we eat runnimede face.

So then troll decide to move into Arcania! We try to be sneaky and hide behind tree and jump all over Arcania with talkey trolls and big trolls armies all at one time! So we sneak big armies right on border and leave a few talkey trolls in Runnimede to keep little gnome from coming back then we JUMP on Arcania and find Demon Prince there! Demon Prince peoples give Troll gas, it was a very smelly campaign!

By this time Troll has lots of artifacts. Find lookey artifacts and flag waving artifacts and get "you no use magic on me" orb artifact and put them all in my 1 troll! Then we get 2 staffs that king use! We start using staffs on Demon king say, “You ugly and people no like you! Every turn we use staff and Troll King also denigrate Demon till people no likey him. We also have staff to make people think Troll is sexy and like troll! So easier to use talkey trolls too!

Then on 17th season of wars after battling very hard against demon people who don’t like to die! Which is Very strange. Troll decide to take big city in Arcania. We find very big capital there! And very big 1 demon army! But my trolls and orcs too much for demon army and they eat their faces and make them run away and eat the face of the city and that was big blow to Demons. They say “Ouchie!” and troll get a good foothold there. Also troll have automatic death sentance to any enemies he captures! That hurt Demon people I think, every town seems I took demon and killed him!

Then troll make many big mistakes right in a row! Troll King get greedy and decide to eat too many towns and villages and gain control of Torvale and me should have not done that. Also decide to attack Warlocky people in Amberland with his big magic domethingies and we do nothing but lose trolls and orcs there.

We were working with sneaky Underworld peoples and we should have let the sneaks take control of Torvale! We just wanted substantial and then no one would know troll was doing good! But we got greedy and it make others think Troll was going to eat all the face and win the world so they ganged up and jumped on poor trolls! Me had to run back to Runnimede and fight to get that back and it cost us too much time to get what we need to win the world.

Trolls battled back and made deal with sorcery people to keep what he took and then troll no eat him later on. Demon peoples still a pain in trolls ass the whole time too! At the very end troll send a bunch of talkey trolls into the desert to take some black dragon towns and villages and were on the verge of taking a lot there. We also send trolls up to fight giant who tried to win the world by stomping on everyone but troll was too late. He showed up with his army in the city on the same turn the Giant step with smelly feet on everyone. So troll no eat the world. Just a little portion. But troll king learn a lot!

The end!

PS: My 1TR at the end that I went into Meridon with was a massive army at 100K, 134% morale, no attrition, Warlord, Power 1 Wizard, Orb of Anti-Magic, Standard of Valor, Golden Spear of Lerix, and Sword of Alvinitar. I REALLLY wanted to fight someone that last turn but was too late.

Iron Willed: I vote for Demon Princes. He battled and battled and battled when I was sure he was down and out he stayed in there and fought. Well done!
Chancellor: I have to go with Ancient Ones. Once again he helped me thru this strange world of Alamaze and was a great coordinator (which I definitely am not).
Infamous: I vote for the Underworld, he was deadly in this one! It was the first time I got to see them in action with crazy good agents.

By the way my SVC was substantial in 5 regions not 4!! And I had to have 2 cities. That’s pretty crazy.

[theDarkOne]

Sounds like this was a lot of fun.

Yeah. A lot of fun getting gang banged by three kingdoms from turn 1. Loved it.

[kevindusi]

Sounds like this was a lot of fun.

Yeah. A lot of fun getting gang banged by three kingdoms from turn 1. Loved it.

Who was the third kingdom?!