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**unclemike** · 04-26-2019, 12:32 PM

For those new to Alamaze, check out the Valhalla website for end of game statistics (select the dropdown lists along the right side of the page for Maelstrom games): http://fallofromegame.com/alamazeorders/valhalla.html

Congrats to the Demon Princes for winning the first competitive 12-player Maelstrom game!

Victory By Rex Is The Demon Princes Kingdom!
Game End Status Points

Place Kingdom Player Results-18 Grand Total

1 DE The Wise One 30,668 34,512
2 RA Eregnon the Black 23,734 28,979
3 AN Draugr 15,311 18,392
4 DU The Painted Man 14,700 18,000
5 SA Rytek 13,277 17,961
6 UN DuPont 13,476 17,005
7 EL Airetar 7,250 9,940
8 IL Canticar 4,112 5,254

As I mentioned before, I think the Demon Princes will dominate Maelstrom due to their shear awesomeness! Demon princes may gate anywhere on the map (no range restrictions) and may Summon Skeleton brigades for free! Combine that with the low cost of recruiting Damned troops (which get converted into Zombies) and you'll have a 30-brigade group for practically at no cost at all.

And that was my primary strategy heading into this game and it worked well. I was able to gain control of my region fairly early and started summoning skeletons on turn 4. By selecting Triumvia as my starting region, one of my kingdom brigades automatically became veteran which is what I needed to start recruiting damned troops. Definitely, you should convert them to zombies due to their lower food/gold maintenance cost and the fact that zombies can automatically grow by themselves (i.e. they eat the dead on the battlefield that add new zombie brigades to your group).

The Sorcerer started in The Crown Islands and took over my town in his region on turn 2 so I had to teach him a lesson for that and invaded his region first. I expected tough resistance and thought I would have to battle pwr-5 wizards but the Sorcerer player must have had other plans and explored for artifacts or something else because his wizards were low level. I easily conquered his region because of that and took him out of the game due to not having a sanctuary on his part to survive an onslaught.

Next on my list were the Cimmerians in Zanthia because he moved an army into my region so I went after him next. He split up his forces among three groups (I guess to conquer more of my pc's in a turn) but that was a mistake because my main group easily crushed his forces when I intercepted them. Even after combining what he had left into a single group, they were no match for my skeleton/zombie hoarde.

That gave me three regions under control (Triiumvia, The Crown Islands, Zanthia) and I was wondering where to go next when I got the report that someone was stealing gold from my pc's. Not much of a guess to think it was the Underworld in Krynn next door so I decided to move against him as my fourth region.

Surprisingly, he didn't have the proper defenses built up against a political neighbor like the Demon Princes. He should have prepared on doing status quo with emissaries at every pc of his to protect against a political powerhouse like the Demon Princes being nearby but he there wasn't any such resistance for my guys. So I conquered his region fairly easily with my emissaries without an issue.

For those new to the game, consider casting the Conceal Emissary spell when you have a chance. It's pretty awesome. The Demon Princes get it as a 3rd level spell and it makes your travelling emissaries invisible when they move into enemy territory. Only a level 10+ agent recon or a true seeing spell will pick them up while magically concealed so use that spell to your advantage in conducting an invisible and undetectable political attack on your neighbor. The spell is just awesome to do and worked great for me in this game by putting your opponents behind a step or two.

About my undead horde, see the attached picture of my group having a 157k combat value of which I only paid 20k food/gold a turn. I don't think any other kingdom can do that in the game so cheaply in building them up practically for free. The group has plenty of room to continue to grow in that my leaders were not all warlords, brigade morale was not at the max, and not all were elite brigades, etc. So you can see with the Demon Princes, not only can you be a political powerhouse but also have a very strong group at low maintenance.

**Eregnon** · 04-26-2019, 12:56 PM

This confirms what I suspected when I first saw the map - there are more likely to be blitz wins in Maelstrom than in Resurgent. With fewer PCs, a region is easier to take over. I had thought to take some time to try out the new buildings and build up PCs, but this game ended on turn 18.

It also illustrates the point that a good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan later. I realized the DE was close to winning, and I moved emissaries and/or groups to every PC save one in the Crown Islands on turn 18, exactly 1 turn too late to do any good. Not sure if I could have driven the region neutral, as he had gated a prince back to the minor city, but it would have been close. Still, it would have been better to move in the turn before, with fewer forces.

Also, it looks like the group intercept exploit will be more useful in this game, because of the map configuration. I was fighting the GN in the Diamond Coast and his capital had been relocated to the minor city at DZ. He had 10 fleets on patrol so I couldn't sail across, but my regional intel detected his division, which I knew must be across the sea, so I intercepted it, thus teleporting across the ocean without needing so much as a rowboat. In the old map, this was only likely to happen when crossing the "Moat of Terror" into and out of the Northing Mists. With this map and the way regions are broken up by water, there are many more opportunities for this to be used.

**Strongwill** · 04-26-2019, 06:42 PM

Great write ups guys. I like the DE also Mike. That intercept exploit should be fixed.. Smile

**Calidor** · 04-27-2019, 01:18 AM

Yeah sounds like an interesting game. Also agree that fixing that intercept exploit would be good. I’m sure it’s a complicated fix though and not even sure it could be done.

**VballMichael** · 04-27-2019, 05:06 AM

Congrats to the winners. I played this game poorly. No, really poorly. I will try to make a better showing in the next game Smile

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**The Painted Man** · 04-28-2019, 03:00 PM

I played the Druid, and cast a lot of hidden ore and fertile fields spells. And recruited troops. And then the game was over.

**Ry Vor** · 04-28-2019, 04:03 PM

(04-28-2019, 03:00 PM)The Painted Man Wrote: I played the Druid, and cast a lot of hidden ore and fertile fields spells. And recruited troops. And then the game was over.

Sounds like your people were blissful right up to the moment of the Apocalypse.

**Ry Vor** · 04-28-2019, 04:21 PM

Why would the Demon Princes be stronger in Maelstrom than in The Choosing? The kingdom really wasn't altered other than undead brigades being maybe 20% tougher. The political power moves are a lot harder in Maelstrom, generally as said, using the old Frost Lord player aide, now slide a column right, so that an action considered in The Choosing at Tolerant would now have a Tolerant action in Maelstrom treated as Suspicious.

**Wookie Panz** · 04-28-2019, 05:05 PM

(04-28-2019, 04:21 PM)Ry Vor Wrote: Why would the Demon Princes be stronger in Maelstrom than in The Choosing? The kingdom really wasn't altered other than undead brigades being maybe 20% tougher. The political power moves are a lot harder in Maelstrom, generally as said, using the old Frost Lord player aide, now slide a column right, so that an action considered in The Choosing at Tolerant would now have a Tolerant action in Maelstrom treated as Suspicious.

With regions being a bit smaller they are easier to take. Also, the very low cost and maintenance of skeletons and zombies make them very efficient .

**Ry Vor** · (This post was last modified: 04-28-2019, 08:05 PM by Ry Vor.)

(04-28-2019, 05:05 PM)Wookie Panz Wrote:
(04-28-2019, 04:21 PM)Ry Vor Wrote: Why would the Demon Princes be stronger in Maelstrom than in The Choosing? The kingdom really wasn't altered other than undead brigades being maybe 20% tougher. The political power moves are a lot harder in Maelstrom, generally as said, using the old Frost Lord player aide, now slide a column right, so that an action considered in The Choosing at Tolerant would now have a Tolerant action in Maelstrom treated as Suspicious.

With regions being a bit smaller they are easier to take. Also, the very low cost and maintenance of skeletons and zombies make them very efficient .

But if regions are easier to take, they are easier to take for everyone. The Demon Princes are a political power with special political abilities, and in Maelstrom, the political part of strategy got more difficult, with both PC resistance and Regional Reaction higher (Friendly went from 1.0 to 1.5, a 50% increase in difficulty). Additionally, several improvements provide built in (intrinsic) Maintain Status Quo. Skeletons and Zombies have the same maintenance cost as The Choosing, and the same special order for skeletons.

So we have one Maelstrom game in the books, won by The Demon Princes. Might be early yet to crown the Princes.

Also, it might be worth noting which starting regions win and place. The one game ended so far had the kingdom winning beginning in Triumvia, which might surprise some.