185 Anon

[HeadHoncho]

Congratulations, DuPont!!!

[Ruingurth]

Congrats Dupont on a well earned win!

[Mad Hatter]

Thought I'd shared my game/strategy before I take off on vacation:

Got my feet wet in another game as the GN and learned my lesson regarding the importance of raising agents, so I began the game doing that and reconnoitering for US and pc’s.  I was fortunate enough to not have the UN to contend with, but on turn 1 I ran into the 2RD at village we both stopped at, was relieved when he didn’t attack and subsequently left the region.

Took Cradia on T2 and moved my capitol there, for the time being. T3 four regions were claimed R2-5 and I took R7 on the next turn. I immediately began to raise my wizards.

T5 saw the GI getting into some kind of altercation with the TR and EL, as enemy declarations started flying. Meanwhile, I began to look for US’.  And although the AN took my village in R8 and took that region, I hoped to indicate to him that I had no ill intentions and declared him an ally, of which he never reciprocated….of course we were sad 

On T7 we freed Dragon Slayer and the Key of the Staff. And when R4 went uncontrolled I decided that I needed info as to why. That is when I found the new GI cap at Meridon.

On T9 I came across the portal to R3 and the DA was having trouble with the RA and DW. With so much turmoil going on in R4 and R5 suddenly flipping to TR control, I decided to divine the pop centers in R4,…just in case. Two turns later, as I’m raising my regional reaction in R4 the GI gets control.

With the RD dropping, I followed up and grabbed his pc’s in R7, just to secure total control. And found the portal from R4 to R9 right on the border of the regions and the Last Heard of Winged Stallions (an artifact that was more of a hindrance than help). I had also divined the location of the Staff of the Orator and teleported to its location at NU

1st and 2nd attempts to get the Staff failed, but my other group secured a palantir. In the meanwhile, I’m still reconning R4 as the GI secured the region and then lost it. 3rd time into the US for the Staff proved to do the trick, only to come out of it to find a WI group setting directly across the field from me. Well, I cast a spell than ran like hell and sailed across the sea and force marched an extra square for good measure. The WI attempted to subdue me and someone, perhaps him, attempted to steal it also. Narrow escape….phew…

T15 saw the first skeleton released, by the AN against the BL, the TR took R4. Several turns earlier I had decided to move my capitol to my town at TA. After watching things in R4 switching hands between the TR and GI, I thought it was time make a move. The AN being declared neutral now, I moved on his and the GI pc’s in R4 and taking them with ease. (I figured he’d be too busy with the BL to be bothered with two little pc’s in the back-waters of R4) All the while my agents are stealing gold from TR towns, just for the training. As I’m slowing moving into R4, those nasty DW are spreading into their neighbors lands (R6).

As luck would have it, I stumbled across the TR capitol. Having leadership info on the two battling kingdoms to the north might come in handy if one ever becomes the dominant ruler on a permanent basis. And so it begins, or so I thought, on turn 17 the 1TR showed itself in R7 and 3TR on my village in R4. I cast curse on him the following turn, as it happened, he dropped that turn. I was so stunned, he controlled R4/5. This same turn I had the extra order and tons of gold, so I divined AN pc’s in R8. And I was in 2nd place in the standings…woohoo!

Turn 19 saw the AN and DA kingdoms retire. Now I’m scrambling in 2 directions and the GI is starting his move back into R4, as he captured poor, innocent Baron Joe Trader when he attacked a pc. The following turn I grabbed R4 and the WI took R5. And the EL decides to make an appearance in R4 along with 4 divisions of GI troops.

I’m not sure what the DW did, but the SO was successful in getting him removed, so not wanting the seat to set there with the stench on it, we bid for it, chopped it up, burnt it and put a nice golden one in its place for us to recline on.

We captured an EL Baron and Prince, just as a scandal and curse were released on him. We slow crept into R8, being ever so cautious as to other kingdoms intentions there.

Turn 22: The GI divisions haven’t moved AND although all of my attempts at sleeping his king and emmies succeeded, trying to kill them proved daunting. I suspected that he might be dropping though. As the BL and I danced around each other going into R8, we eventually took an emissary of the other, though accidents as a result of event sequences. So, as he did not seem to be hostile I decided I did not want to fight him in R8 and divined pc’s in R1 and decided to go that direction. A turn later the GI dropped, although he didn’t have much to take away at that point, but it was nice that his groups vanished and I acquired another palantir (The two I had, I used occasionally, never seemed to be enough orders.) and Troll Slayer.

I decided at this point to try my hand at torture and I extracted 2 skeletons from each of the EL and BL prisoners, before I got rid of them. I also located my Prince, in BL custody, and found his Queen setting all alone with wizard slayer. Thought about stealing it, while I divined the rest of the BL pop centers and continued reconning R1. Meanwhile killing EL agents and emmies.

Hiring Govs and promoting, what a tedious task, but I spent several turns doing this. The gold was plentiful so I divined pc’s in R2 and used the Staff to be friendly, just in case. The BL declared me an ally and moved a group into the region. At the same time I found an US at LD. I moved there invisible, just in case that is where the BL was headed there, and he did show up. This was a pivotal point in my game, which way to go, do I hit the BL group setting opposite me or not. We’ve had a hands-off game so far, so I decided to move away and let him have what was there. All attention north; so the next few turns I made some drastic blunders when I ran into the WI in R1 and switched to R2 until the SO showed and moved back into R1…

I learned a lot in this game and had some real fun. I was fortunate in that major kingdoms around me dropped, except for the BL, and I got to manage GN kingdom a little better than the first time I played them.

Hats off to Dupont for what seemed like a swift victory in the end, although it went 36 turns. I’d like to know what was happening in Synisvania as ownership kept switching hands. And what the BL was doing after he got R8 and it was a long time before he took R5. I really thought that the BL was fighting the SO, but never seemed to get any hard evidence of it.

[DuPont]

Thanks all. Oddly enough, I had no plan or expectation of winning this game until at least halfway through it. I'll type something up for Valhalla later tonight.

[IMPERIAL_TARK]

WI

This was my very first Alamaze game so I wanted to be competitive but more importantly, learn from the pros!; I was not disappointed on either account. I managed to get on the HC and take R2 both on my third turn. At the time I didn't realize how important and just how fortuitous that was especially when I've since learned how common it is for people to drop Emmys into Viperhead on T1 as well as Sea Patrol in the Sea of Terror (I never encountered a single Sea Patrol and I had multiple groups zipping across the sea for many turns (we'll call it beginner's luck). With my region under my early control, I grabbed a HP before the brutal winter set it.  Winter.... brrrr.... now that was a SHOCK to the system (no amount of advice on the Forum can truly prepare you for that beauty).  Using every low-level wizard trick in the book to create just enough food so that I kept everybody fed was a chore!  After I survived my first winter, I turned to building up my wizards, armies, and agents. And amazingly, I was just left alone to my own devices (for most of the game).

Meanwhile, the TR and GI erupted into a huge war that the EL hopped into on occasion. The DW seemed content in the Talking Mountains especially when the RD dropped rather early (T8). The war was great for me as my natural enemy, the GI, was dancing with the TR instead of me. In what seemed truly bizarre to me at the time, the GI and TR ended up taking the other's region. It was also on T8 that I started getting "recommendations" from the TR in form of creatively named agents (very clever!). First he wanted me to take Avalon (even after he held the rest of the region).... so I did and kept it till the last couple of turns of the game.

My starting capital was at GN (just two squares north of Evanon) and I kept waiting for either the TR or GI to show up and take it; but they never did....ever. However, based on advice from the Forum, I decided that a water village capital would be prudent, so I moved my capital to EN around T10. It made for ferrying reinforcements a pain but kept my court safe for the game. Actually started to get a bit bored (not that I was complaining) with just constantly building up so I started to do some artifact hunting via a teleporting group. I managed to fetch both Demon Doom and Demon Death (and of course there was no DE in the game!). I also took a couple of swipes at the treasure trove of artifacts that the DW had tucked away in R3 with a group. I came within an eyelash of getting the Staff of the Great Orator (yes, GN, I did try to steal it right after you returned with it from your Unusual Sighting). But would be artifact poor throughout the game with the two daggers as my only items.

I completed my ESO (what a rush!) and nabbed 2 WI brigades, a P1 (giving me 7 wizards), and a General. The TR had been egging me on with those wonderful agent messages to engage the EL. By T17, I decided to give it a whirl. I'd found his capital with about 12 members of his court in it and only 14K defenses (HOT DOG!). He had 3 of his 4 groups there but only one with troops (11 brigades). So I teleported in with a 19 brigade Army Group and a P7, P5, and P3 wizard having just assassinated his infamous Marshal Glorin. With some help from Head Honcho on wizard tactics, I was set to catch him with a Wall of Flame while I issued Standard Battle Plan (to not go through my own wall; since I wanted the capital more than the group fight with the EL in forest) and then take the capital Town with a determined attack. It was flawless save for one small problem. I accidentally put the Wall of Flame up against the WRONG GROUP; a frickin patrol (I still routinely beat my head against my office wall every time I think of that damn typo; it would be VERY costly). Not only did the Elves not have to go through the Wall of Flame but my army group was thusly "surprised". The battle was still close (he lost 37%, I lost 46%) but it made me retreat and didn't take the capital. The EL then brutally pursued me for 2 turns till I had lost my P3, killed all my leaders, and all but 2 brigades (nicely done Telrandir). But surprisingly, the EF did not follow me into R2 and try to retaliate.

Two turns later I got a gift. The TR dropped the game and I was in position to send all my emmys into R5 and take control the next following turn. Suddenly I was just one of three kingdoms with 2 regions, on the HC, had a 21 Influence, and had been in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th place in all status point standings. I might have a chance to win this even with the WofF blunder! I used my time to rebuild my army (gotta love Summon Skeletons, Ghouls, and Wights!) and raise my wizards.

By T26, I had a P9, P7 Lich, P6, and three P5s with another 21 brigades at my ready. The EL finally came into R2 and took Viperhead. That was a mistake. I retook Viperhead, crushed his army and followed him back into R1 where I WOULD take his capital (still there full of a court of about 12 emmys). I would end up taking the EL capital on three different occasions). I was on the move to take R1 when the GN arrived. Curse him!

Long story short, I spent the last 10 turns watching all my hard work being undone. The GN showed me what an emmy blitz coupled with sleep spells and assassinations looked like. I went from a full court to a couple of Governors and my King in two turns. And while I did hang on to take Oakendell in the end (my only region at game's end), I was ripe for invasion when the SO arrived (where the hell did he come from... he was a non-factor until suddenly he exploded out of nowhere at game's end) to take Northern Mists and the BL dragon armies ripped Amberland from me. I had a chance to retake Viperhead on the game's last turn and stop the SO from keeping R2 and winning the game. I thought it was overkill for me to cast TWO Dispel Dome of Invulnerability to make sure I took the city. Kudos to DuPont for casting 3+ Dome spells to outmaneuver me!!!

I felt great though to have managed 4th place in my very first Fast Anon Steel Rex game and survive my WofF debacle. I learned so much! I had a great early mentor in JumpingFist and then HeadHoncho later in the game; I barraged them both with daily newbie questions. While the early game went as I thought it would, and I was clearly not aggressive enough in the mid-game, I was stunned and completely unprepared for the end game where I thought my two army groups and a P10 plus FIVE P7 Lichs would rule! Instead emmys and agents were the currency of the day. All I could do was watch in awe as my kingdom got divvied up in short order by the GN, BL, and SO simultaneously (it was breathtaking to watch; sort of like the android being torn apart by the alien queen in the movie, Aliens).

I'll forever have an affinity for the WI position (my first Alamaze love) and I did manage to get a Fleet Admiral title out of it (first needing ships to protect my capital, then ships to protect Avalon, and then ships to protect my capital again when I moved it to Oakendell). Never ended up using them once but perhaps they had a deterrent effect?! Can't wait to hear SO (Dupont) story as it was a true magic act to come out of nowhere (my money had been on the DW for most of the game).

[Ry Vor]

Nice after action report by the WI. 

Everything turn, turn, turn. 

[VballMichael]

DW
Yep, I think I was the favorite to win it for a lot of the game. But that was also my downfall. I became a target. I took 2 regions quickly and a ton of artifacts and led in status. Then the RA and SO hit me simultaneously (in fairness, I did attack the RA first). And the SO was devastating: a major group to hit my capital, and 5-6 wizards eliminating pop centers every turn, and turned me from Friendly to Hostile in one turn with wizard spells. I had no defense to that. (I think there has been some talk of taking some of those spells away from patrols). And then, with my big agents all dead, my artifacts started disappearing.
I just hung on by taking a pop center every turn in Synisvania even after I lost my first two regions. I had fun even though the last 8-10 turns were painful. I would just open my turn to see how much damage had been done .

I do have a question. I thought we as a group were discouraging clever communications in an anon game through the use of agent names. No rules broken, no aspersions cast here. But special agent naming allows too much coordination for an anon game, even to the point of telling an ally which pop centers to hit on which turn.

Again, congrats to the podium finishers, especially that nasty SO who did so much damage to poor, innocent Dwarven children.

[Jumpingfist]

What were some of the names? And I believe we all talked about it long ago so maybe we need an official sticky by one of those good writers (looks at HH) for the new guys that come into the game

[Hawk_]

What were some of the names?  And I believe we all talked about it long ago so maybe we need an official sticky by one of those good writers (looks at HH) for the new guys that come into the game

I agree I think messages in names are wrong.

[Thudargh]

RA

Here is the saga of the Rangers during the 185th Age of Alamaze.

In the beginning, it was known that the Demon Princes were absent from the land leaving Arcania ripe for the picking.  Seeing as the Sorcerer and I were sharing Synisvania, I saw an opportunity to claim a region entirely of my own and moved emissaries to Zarathon and Esteria Vale immediately, as well as Jukanta.  Unfortunately it seemed the Black Dragons and the Ancient Ones had similar ideas concerning Arcania, and the Sorcerer had designs on Jukanta as well.  Ultimately, I was never able to mount any significant effort toward contesting Arcania.  Synisvania was another matter.

I found the Dark Elves seeking to take a neutral town in Synisvania as well as keeping two groups in the region.  I took this to mean the Dark Elves had designs on Synisvania, ones I couldn't afford to let flourish.  I moved against the Dark Elf, arranging the capture of one of their governors and attacking their groups.  I also began scouting the Eastern Steppes in order to take the fight to him, as I doubted war would end after blood had been spilled.

The military engagements in Synisvania were all in my favor and control of the region became mine.  Unfortunately, my efforts in the Eastern Steppes were not as successful.  I moved emissaries into towns and villages in the Sea of Drowning and found Dark Elf emissaries already present.  I also found quite a number of Dwarven emissaries.  What ensued was a three-way political battle with a leavening of assassination.  The Dwarves ended up besting the Dark Elves, and eventually poisoned the Eastern Steppes against me.  With my political attack dead in the water, I withdrew to Synisvania to rearm.

As it turned out, right when I chose to abandon my campaign in the Eastern Steppes is also when the Sorcerer apparently initiated his assault on the Dwarves.  This is no doubt why the Dwarves did not press their advantage against me - too busy.  I took the opportunity to develop my wizards and agents, while my military remained active in the southeast corner of the Eastern Steppes.  There was a town and village in the area that I was able to conquer.  I also repeatedly cast Bounty upon Synisvania in order to increase my somewhat limited resources.

Then a Dwarven Army came south into Synisvania.  I was a little surprised by this, but came to realize he was aiming to take Jukanta.  I chose a strategy of destroying his army's morale.  I repeatedly cast Blinding Light and poisoned his food supplies.  Since I was sharing the region with the Sorcerer, the Dwarves were able to break my control by taking a single town, but I regained it by taking Jukanta from him.  Still, control was tenuous and it was broken and reestablished more than once.  I was fairly okay with this as it essentially promoted my governors for free.  I was also able position some patrols with high level wizards in the path of his group, and cast black magics against him.  The high light was probably when my P5 killed his P7.  Oh, and I did my best to rob the Dwarves blind.  And steal their artifacts.

But then the end of the age came into view.  I received word of three Sorcerer emissaries arriving at three different Synisvanian PCs under my control.  At the time, the Sorcerer had control of the Eastern Steppes and the Talking Mountains, so the purpose of this act was clear - he had victory in sight and I was the clearest path to it.  I did not begrudge him this act - control of Alamaze would clearly never be mine and he had been a good neighbor.  All I did to resist was to declare him neutral and that was only to avoid the status hit of having declared an ally.

I was happy to end the contest in fifth place.  That's not a bad showing for a kingdom that never owned more than half a region.  I actually ended with quite a bit more status points than I got in my one podium finish.