Game 177

[Lord Diamond]

Game details attached.

[HeadHoncho]

(WI) This was a fun game and only my second Rex victory, so it was a pretty satisfying win.

I basically took R4 on T3 spent the next nine turns building. I forgot to set an ESO so I just received the default, which meant only two more adepts for me, kind of a bummer since WI only starts with six. But I soldiered on, and busily searched for artifacts, built my political corps, and raised wizards. I did really well on artifacts, finding the Stone of All Minds and the Key of the Slayer on T7 (a banner turn by any measure).

At the end of T12, my NAP with DA had expired, so starting on T13 I began a covert campaign against him, summoning demons and assassinating his King and other emissaries. I also gathered my forces and launched a T15 invasion, coating pretty much all of his towns and villages, and moving an invisible army to KU.

Unfortunately, I found out that ON THE VERY SAME TURN, JumpingFist as EL had invaded R6 as well. Either one of us could have taken R6 alone, but with the two of us potentially stumbling over each other, we decided quickly that it was better to come to an accord. I would take R6 but would then immediately turn around and help JF in R9. It worked like a charm, and in a couple of turns, DA was pretty much devastated, with only his capital water town and a village left, and a few brigades and a P5.

I then lived up to my word and helped EL invade R9. That, too, started like a charm, but JF had a change of heart and decided to cut a deal with RA instead. So I pulled my punch and left RA alone, and the three of us negotiated peace in exchange for two palantirs from RA (one to me, one to EL), and whatever other territorial concessions EL obtained.

It was the very next turn, however, that JF decided to drop, so hearing that, I immediately aborted my plan to take the rump portion of R7 from BL, and instead diverted to R1. I started with my army taking the city and emissaries taking villages.

Meanwhile, my game-long UN ally (LordThanatos) had been busy, taking R8 after the DE drop, R7 after the UN drop, R3 from The Gray Mouser's DW in a war, and was moving on R4 for the win. When LT and I do alliances, our typical preference is to work together only loosely, helping out here and there but generally staying out of each other's way so we can avoid the complaint of, "Hey, two veterans are ganging up on me!"

Unfortunately, one unnoticed Governor at QC ended up costing LT control of that region, and then the AN's powerful defensive ability to denigrate multiple times made it effectively impossible for him to take R4 politically, and without a credible military, UN was kind of stuck.

LT then had the same thought I did, to move on R1, but he was already a couple of turns behind me. We agreed to let the dice rolls decide control, and since I had a head start, I ended up taking R1, with LT having a significant chunk of the rest.

With each of us having three regions at that point, it was just a question of grabbing the fourth. LT's invasion of R4 had at that point been beaten back, so as my NAP with AN expired on T24, I received LT's blessing to invade R4 myself.

It was at that moment, however, that SO dropped, and so instead of going into R4, I decided to take the sure thing and invade R5. I had already grabbed two EL towns in R5 with decent census, so with two invisible armies now, I moved on both cities, and coated every other pop center in R5 with emissaries.

BL and AN made a move to stop me, but I was counting on that and made sure I knew the location of any enemy groups in R5. So on the final turn, I issued a ton of 330's, domed a couple of other pop centers where BL groups were, and took both cities. I ended up with every pop center in R5 except one, I believe, and that was my fourth region and the win.

My nominations are:

Iron-Willed: RA (Lord Alz), who stuck out a really horrible invasion and persisted to take the Bronze.
Chancellor: AN (Manaleshi), who for a relatively new player did a good job of negotiations and diplomacy.
Infamous: UN (LT), my ally who totally thrashed and beat back a DW invasion, went and took his region, and then almost had the Rex with UN, but for the AN governor at QC and his 310 order.