Buddy/Ignore List
10-01-2013, 06:07 PM
First, congrats to all for a hard fought and well played game!
Second, get something to eat and drink... this ended up longer than I intended.
In 108 I played the Unseen Sorcerer, and tried my best to live up to the name. As my most "powerful" group in the game had a combat value of under 14k, this was virtually a must if I wanted to be successful.
Early on, I attempted to negotiate for the city in Synisvania from the Ranger, offering to take nothing more than the city in the region. He did not find that nearly as appealing of a deal as I did and I feared we would come to early blows. However, we eventually managed to work out an acceptable deal allowing him control of the region and substantial influence for me. I also arranged early on to work with BL (HeadHoncho) and DE (Yellowbeard). I had worked with Yellowbeard before and knew him to be a strong player and very good to work with. HH, while unknown to me, was very communicative (a trait I highly value) and seemed a good fit for a third player in the group. The Ranger and I continued to talk, trading artifact locations and other miscellaneous info.
I spent the opening turns attempting to raise wizards and establish a sturdy 'base' in region 9. One of my decisions that paid for itself was setting a standing order on turn 1 to raise gold production at my capital. By game's end, the town was producing 82k gold per turn.
As both DE and BL have explained, the first expansion was to be Region 7. I was not able to contribute much to it as I had focused on raising wizards, but I was able to get an invisible group (2 brigades) to XF and enamor to friendly. There were two Gnome groups (masked) at the city at the time, but as they had no way of knowing if I was there, I was able to diplomacy the city and move my group away to safety. Combined with the Demon Prince stationing a prince there to status quo for a turn while I bought two governors, we were able to keep the Gnome from regaining the city. Heck, DuPont was even nice enough to raise gold production for me on the turn that we took it.
At the same time, the Giant had invaded Arcania. Yellowbeard was (rightfully) optimistic about his ability to play defense in the region, and HH was able to bring the Ranger into the fold to invade Amberland. In short order we had knocked the Giant out of control of the region and had reduced his political effectiveness as well. My Sorcerer groups continued to bounce around invisibly and eliminated a couple of Warlock wizards. Just after turn 12 the Giant (Bluefile2) resigned and the Warlock was not long after. One mistake that I made was using the wrong invisibility spell (845 instead of 846) and I ended up with my Sorcerer division being very visible opposite two Warlock patrols. Rather than slaying a couple more wizards prior to the Warlock dropping, I ended up running with my tail between my legs.
Around turn 15, the game went a bit sideways for me. With region 5 congested (Ranger substantial, Sorcerer significant, Underworld and Warlock holding pop centers), there were limited expansion options. Yellowbeard was up to his elbows in Ancient Ones in Torvale, HH was dancing with the Gnome in region 7, and the Ranger had jumped into the Talking Mountains to relieve the Red Dragon of his holdings there (along with help from the Witchlord). At this point, there were quite a few offers to expand into certain areas... including some that really surprised me. Rather than include myself in something that I felt was a bit too "mercenary" for my tastes, I invaded region 2. 3 invisible groups and a handful of emissaries, along with the Underworld jumping in at the same time (we landed at several of the same pop centers and that took some figuring out), the Witchlord quickly lost his region, as well as a small group with a Power-6 wizard. Harry O, I honestly didn't know the wizard was in the group.
Substantial in 2 regions and significant in a third, I needed to pick up substantial in a fourth region, so I jumped into region 3 to try to pick up the scraps while avoiding Ranger holdings. The final piece of the puzzle for my SVC was a wizard artifact. I had been attempting to divine one for several turns (with multiple priestesses) and finally had a bit of luck. I discovered that the Gnome held the Ring of Spells and the Orb was still in the open (and in Amberland!). On turn 20, I moved a group to the Orb, began discussions with the Gnome to see what it would take to get the Ring from him (to which he at first responded with "Give me back my city!"), and moved groups and emissaries to what I hoped was enough of regions 3 and 5 to get substantial in both.
Turn 21 saw me taking a single village in Amberland along with a town in the Talking Mountains. Both, combined with my first two uses of spell 610 and a couple of 600 orders to increase census, got me just over the hump to substantial in those two regions. My attempt at the Orb sighting was successful (I ended up risking a p6 via 139 and used 101 with a p9), which turns out to be a good thing as I'm told the Gnome had the Ring stolen. Had my victory check not gone through, I would not have been able to hold on to enough of region 2 or 3 on turn 22 to try again. The WI was back (with a vengeance!) at GI and had moved on several locations in the Mists, and the Talking Mountains were just a mess.
In retrospect, it was a very informative game. There were definitely some things that I was not a big fan of that took place: attacking the Giant (he's a buddy of mine in the real world - going to his wedding in a few weeks and he's going to mine - but I had told him immediately that I'd help defend 8 if he did not withdraw), some thoughts thrown out about attacking certain kingdoms (if your curious, ask, but I don't feel it is necessary to leave that in the public forum), and, ultimately, my desperation to get a wizard artifact. HH has stated for all that he did not like that I did not check with him first before the action and, while I see his point to a certain degree, simply put I did not feel there was any substantial risk to his position. And, as it turns out, there was no impact as the game ended. Hopefully that does not change anyone's opinion of me, but if it does... it does. As the last piece to a very complicated puzzle, I did what I could to minimize risks.
On to nominations, which I mentioned before but Ry Vor would like some expansion on:
Iron Willed - I agree with Yellowbeard in stating that the Gnome position, played by DuPont, deserves this title. Stripped of the majority of his holdings, having his military reduced (nice work, HH!) to virtually nil, and then being rendered politically ineffective... and then staying in for over 10 more turns just to fight it out?? That's the definition of Iron Willed.
Chancellor - Both Yellowbeard and HeadHoncho go above and beyond in working with new players. I've seen this both in-game as well as via email and on the forums. I do not have any in-game examples from 108, but I feel their efforts should be noted regardless.
Infamous - Lord Moontree of the Ranger, with his long-winded stories about his sister's second-cousin's father's family heirloom that was lost somewhere in Almaren, thus REQUIRING his kingdom to take it (I'm paraphrasing, but that's about how it went) had me rolling my eyes at first but soon came to be appreciated. We ended up in a mad scramble at the end to see who would achieve victory first and he definitely had an impact for me. I look forward to seeing what he can achieve in future games.
Again, great game to all. I look forward to seeing all of you in a future game, as both friend and foe.
Second, get something to eat and drink... this ended up longer than I intended.
In 108 I played the Unseen Sorcerer, and tried my best to live up to the name. As my most "powerful" group in the game had a combat value of under 14k, this was virtually a must if I wanted to be successful.
Early on, I attempted to negotiate for the city in Synisvania from the Ranger, offering to take nothing more than the city in the region. He did not find that nearly as appealing of a deal as I did and I feared we would come to early blows. However, we eventually managed to work out an acceptable deal allowing him control of the region and substantial influence for me. I also arranged early on to work with BL (HeadHoncho) and DE (Yellowbeard). I had worked with Yellowbeard before and knew him to be a strong player and very good to work with. HH, while unknown to me, was very communicative (a trait I highly value) and seemed a good fit for a third player in the group. The Ranger and I continued to talk, trading artifact locations and other miscellaneous info.
I spent the opening turns attempting to raise wizards and establish a sturdy 'base' in region 9. One of my decisions that paid for itself was setting a standing order on turn 1 to raise gold production at my capital. By game's end, the town was producing 82k gold per turn.
As both DE and BL have explained, the first expansion was to be Region 7. I was not able to contribute much to it as I had focused on raising wizards, but I was able to get an invisible group (2 brigades) to XF and enamor to friendly. There were two Gnome groups (masked) at the city at the time, but as they had no way of knowing if I was there, I was able to diplomacy the city and move my group away to safety. Combined with the Demon Prince stationing a prince there to status quo for a turn while I bought two governors, we were able to keep the Gnome from regaining the city. Heck, DuPont was even nice enough to raise gold production for me on the turn that we took it.
At the same time, the Giant had invaded Arcania. Yellowbeard was (rightfully) optimistic about his ability to play defense in the region, and HH was able to bring the Ranger into the fold to invade Amberland. In short order we had knocked the Giant out of control of the region and had reduced his political effectiveness as well. My Sorcerer groups continued to bounce around invisibly and eliminated a couple of Warlock wizards. Just after turn 12 the Giant (Bluefile2) resigned and the Warlock was not long after. One mistake that I made was using the wrong invisibility spell (845 instead of 846) and I ended up with my Sorcerer division being very visible opposite two Warlock patrols. Rather than slaying a couple more wizards prior to the Warlock dropping, I ended up running with my tail between my legs.
Around turn 15, the game went a bit sideways for me. With region 5 congested (Ranger substantial, Sorcerer significant, Underworld and Warlock holding pop centers), there were limited expansion options. Yellowbeard was up to his elbows in Ancient Ones in Torvale, HH was dancing with the Gnome in region 7, and the Ranger had jumped into the Talking Mountains to relieve the Red Dragon of his holdings there (along with help from the Witchlord). At this point, there were quite a few offers to expand into certain areas... including some that really surprised me. Rather than include myself in something that I felt was a bit too "mercenary" for my tastes, I invaded region 2. 3 invisible groups and a handful of emissaries, along with the Underworld jumping in at the same time (we landed at several of the same pop centers and that took some figuring out), the Witchlord quickly lost his region, as well as a small group with a Power-6 wizard. Harry O, I honestly didn't know the wizard was in the group.
Substantial in 2 regions and significant in a third, I needed to pick up substantial in a fourth region, so I jumped into region 3 to try to pick up the scraps while avoiding Ranger holdings. The final piece of the puzzle for my SVC was a wizard artifact. I had been attempting to divine one for several turns (with multiple priestesses) and finally had a bit of luck. I discovered that the Gnome held the Ring of Spells and the Orb was still in the open (and in Amberland!). On turn 20, I moved a group to the Orb, began discussions with the Gnome to see what it would take to get the Ring from him (to which he at first responded with "Give me back my city!"), and moved groups and emissaries to what I hoped was enough of regions 3 and 5 to get substantial in both.
Turn 21 saw me taking a single village in Amberland along with a town in the Talking Mountains. Both, combined with my first two uses of spell 610 and a couple of 600 orders to increase census, got me just over the hump to substantial in those two regions. My attempt at the Orb sighting was successful (I ended up risking a p6 via 139 and used 101 with a p9), which turns out to be a good thing as I'm told the Gnome had the Ring stolen. Had my victory check not gone through, I would not have been able to hold on to enough of region 2 or 3 on turn 22 to try again. The WI was back (with a vengeance!) at GI and had moved on several locations in the Mists, and the Talking Mountains were just a mess.
In retrospect, it was a very informative game. There were definitely some things that I was not a big fan of that took place: attacking the Giant (he's a buddy of mine in the real world - going to his wedding in a few weeks and he's going to mine - but I had told him immediately that I'd help defend 8 if he did not withdraw), some thoughts thrown out about attacking certain kingdoms (if your curious, ask, but I don't feel it is necessary to leave that in the public forum), and, ultimately, my desperation to get a wizard artifact. HH has stated for all that he did not like that I did not check with him first before the action and, while I see his point to a certain degree, simply put I did not feel there was any substantial risk to his position. And, as it turns out, there was no impact as the game ended. Hopefully that does not change anyone's opinion of me, but if it does... it does. As the last piece to a very complicated puzzle, I did what I could to minimize risks.
On to nominations, which I mentioned before but Ry Vor would like some expansion on:
Iron Willed - I agree with Yellowbeard in stating that the Gnome position, played by DuPont, deserves this title. Stripped of the majority of his holdings, having his military reduced (nice work, HH!) to virtually nil, and then being rendered politically ineffective... and then staying in for over 10 more turns just to fight it out?? That's the definition of Iron Willed.
Chancellor - Both Yellowbeard and HeadHoncho go above and beyond in working with new players. I've seen this both in-game as well as via email and on the forums. I do not have any in-game examples from 108, but I feel their efforts should be noted regardless.
Infamous - Lord Moontree of the Ranger, with his long-winded stories about his sister's second-cousin's father's family heirloom that was lost somewhere in Almaren, thus REQUIRING his kingdom to take it (I'm paraphrasing, but that's about how it went) had me rolling my eyes at first but soon came to be appreciated. We ended up in a mad scramble at the end to see who would achieve victory first and he definitely had an impact for me. I look forward to seeing what he can achieve in future games.
Again, great game to all. I look forward to seeing all of you in a future game, as both friend and foe.
-The Deliverer