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**Senior Tactician** · 04-01-2020, 11:13 AM

Victory By Rex Is The Warlock Kingdom!
Game End Status Points

Place Kingdom Player Results-37 Grand Total

1 WA Senior Tactician 41,095 61,999
2 SO Acererak 47,905 77,217
3 DU Rellgar 46,890 74,262
4 AN Wookie Panz 37,644 61,539
5 PI Agent Orange 23,240 42,643
6 CI Strylian 17,461 36,542
7 HA Eregnon the Black 11,455 24,683
8 GN Brek 9,856 20,459

If this game had a name, I cannot find it. Thanks and congrats to all players.

**Pine Needle** · 04-01-2020, 03:20 PM

Wow, that is silent.

**Senior Tactician** · 04-01-2020, 03:45 PM

Unnamed Silent Steel, Part one:

This game was a lot of things to me, so I apologize in advance for the long write-up. I've played many games of Alamaze spread out over at least 25 years. This might be the first game I have won, if its not, other wins must have been secret victory because I don't ever remember controlling four regions before. And while I may have played many games, Alamaze was always a game I merely participated in, and never drove the course of myself. I never really thought about trying to win, I figured if I just played accurately and efficiently enough, one day I might win a game. And that shows how little I understood Alamaze for a very long time. A simple lesson, but one of the most important ones I learned about winning this game is that you have to plan to win, it is unlikely to just “happen”. While I did not have a plan from the very beginning of the game, thankfully one started to develop early enough to be viable.
Before this game started, I studied the game, and Valhala for quite some time. Without going into great detail as to how, I decided that the Warlock was one of the more powerful kingdoms that, not only had not won a game, but had not performed well at all. And after I decided to choose this kingdom, Pine Needle stomped all over game 5342 and beat me to the punch of proving the Warlock, you little bastard. Smile

SO, I was stuck with the Warlock and due to my neurotic nature simply winning the game would not be at all interesting to me. So again, without going into to much detail how, I decided I was going to try to play the Warlock in a strictly Warlock fashion. Who was the Warlock? The Fire Magus? Not really. Based on his set-up sheet, I studied the WA. The WA gets the teleport spells one level earlier than all other kingdoms... and its a big level, 5 instead of 6 for teleport army. The WA is one of few who can recruit the mighty PC pummeling trolls. And, of more interest to me, gets the summon specter spell one turn earlier than even the necromancer, again, at 5 instead of 6. Trolls and specters have one thing in common, they both have bonuses vs PCs. And specters are highly mobile, giving you the ability to fly (basically a 7 square teleport) if your group contains only specters. I would later find that while at first glace they appear a bit frail, specters are actually quit tough vs PC. So, I decided the Warlock was about mobility and conquering PCs, and my strategy started to take shape.
From the beginning of the game, I knew my plan was going to take a very long time, so my first piece of luck was that not one person left their starting region for the first 15 turns. And I knew, because I hired five high priestesses and watched the game very closely. If I was going to have the incredible mobility of four teleporting flying armies, I was going to know where every single target on the map was. This was when I learned that you can track PC ownership on your map. If you divine all the PCs, your map will update with the PCs new owner, but unfortunately not with the PCs fortifications.
With four armies flying off into the world, I wanted to be able to leave my income base alone without fear someone might swoop in and cut me completely off from gold. So, city on the water, hidden ore yadda yadda and by turn 10 my capitol, great-castle, on the water, was producing 150,000 gold. About turn 10 was when I realized that water PCs count as coastal for the purposes of building a port, my goal was 100,000. I had planned originally to do food and gold, but it was taking too long and with undead summons, I would not need a ton of food. So on turn 16 I left my region with very little concern that someone would come in and take all my income. Even if they took the whole region sans my capitol, I would be fine to continue the attack.
What I left my region with was 28 specters and 10 power 5 wizards, activating all four groups for combat use, something I have always thought would be a lot of fun. It seems to me the go-to strategy is a massive group trailed by a patrol of wizards.... boring. Unfortunately, my plan only extended two turns into the future:

WA vs Nyvaria.
Turn 16 was when I confirmed that a group of 7 specters can indeed fly, despite the order entry program giving you an error. On turn 17 I reluctantly announced to the entire game that the Warlock had started his bid. I had always thought that destroying PCs was “rude” but it was time to get over that. On the very turn that I landed on four GN villages invisible, I noticed that a PC in the Untamed lands turned to the GN. Brilliant. The poor GN was down in region 12 urinating in the SO's breakfast cereal while I destroyed his villages. In one of my only political moves in the game, I usurped his water town and built a great castle there. It would be the fulcrum through which I would eventually come back and claim Nyvaria as well as a base of operations, and fleet, to begin an attack on Pellinor. I was in Nyvaria for two turns, and after destroying 7 villages and claiming the city and 2 towns, I was done here for now. My hope was that the GN would rush back and defend his region from other players until I was ready to come back later in the game and claim it. Unfortunately, it was much, much later due in large part to the GNs tenacity, he just Kept. Making. Power 7 wizards.... insane. I feared running into the mighty GN wizards for most of the game.

WA vs Untamed lands.
After plundering the GN villages and setting up a foothold there, I was unsure of what to do. My original plan was to do the same in Pellinor, but I got off track somehow. I had remembered Ashgar saying he wanted to “try something different” with the UN, and I really didn't want to rain on his parade too early. Also, by the time I was done with Nyvaria, he had recruited stormgate down to nothing, so I also feared a massive group of stormgate guard lurking somewhere. Although, throughout the whole game I did not even catch a single glimpse that such a group existed.
Meanwhile, the SO just Kept. Casting. Bounty. Over and over, I think this is why I decided I should go deal with him first. With my tiny groups, I couldn't have legendary castles sprouting up everywhere. So I landed in the Untamed lands aimed at destroying his villages, but something went dreadfully wrong. I scouted the SO, his massive group, his massive PC and for some reason decided I needed to build a large group myself, completely disregarding all my planning and preparation. And I was punished for it accordingly. I made what must have been a mountain of order entry errors, one of which was trying to fly after having recruited Uak Hai. I can see them there just staring at each-other and up into the sky shrugging their shoulders until the SO came over and smashed them into oblivion.
My first set-back, the SO completely destroyed one of my little groups. Fortunately I got out with wizards intact and retreated to Diamond Coast to lick my wounds and rebuild that group. I also re-affirmed my plans to complete this game using only my little groups, eschewing all other aspects of the game. I also raised 4 power 7's with the intent to use meteor strike to deal with large PCs. While I did so, the SO came to Nyvaria and claimed my PCs there. Several turns later I returned to the Untamed lands and laid waste to all his PCs save the city and two towns, and with that, I was off to Pellinor.

WA vs Pellinor
Pellinor had two water towns, and I drooled at the thought of taking them both and building great castles there to use as a foothold to eventually control the region. Unfortunately I had not learned my lesson the first time, and thought maybe my Princes and Barons could help out in the capturing of these towns. While my politicians moved on the water towns, my groups started culling the region, the city and a village were the first to go. But the UN saw me coming and easily grabbed both Princes and both Barons despite the fact they were blessed. My suspicions that the UN may have neglected his Agents in favor of the Stormgate guard (his “new strategy?”) were obviously faulty. Because I tried never to be in one place too long, I left Pellinor for several turns.

**Senior Tactician** · 04-01-2020, 03:46 PM

Unnamed Silent Steel, Part two:

WA vs GN
It was at least eight to ten turns now since I stunned the GN into inaction. I had been watching him, waiting for him to reclaim his region from the SO, but he never did... Until I decided it was time to take the city back from the SO. By a ridiculous twist of coincidence, we ended up at the city together. Him with a massive 42 brigade group with a lot of goblins, me with my four small specter groups. For this encounter, I consulted outside advice, the mighty Draugr. He was very informative, but when he mentioned that summon death could not be dispelled, I was practically giddy. No group of gnomes and goblins was going to be able to suffer -60% moral and -12 brigades... and I promptly reduced his group to quivering mush. He attacked my first group, and my 7 lowly specters killed another 10 brigades before retreating (organized withdrawal, but the goblins I think actually backfired, helped me make the battle last longer and do more damage to him), while my second group he attacked actually defeated him. He ended up with 5 brigades, I lost only 4 total. Again, not wanting to hang around and get caught by the SO or GN wizards, I left the area.

WA vs Pellinor, round 2.
After obliterating the GN group, I sailed onto the sea of Aszure, raised some wizards there, and moved on the water towns with my groups, with the intention of building great castles there in both. Unfortunately, winter hit me, and I could only afford one. So I built one great castle and destroyed the other. I also picked off a water village, leaving, as it turned out, exactly enough land PCs to be able to come back later and pick up the region for the win.

WA - army building, regrouping and rethinking.
I think it was about this time I noticed the SO grabbed stormgate and built a legendary castle there. Stormgate had been my go-to region to finish off the game. And, my original plan to deal with a legendary castle there was meteor strike. However, I realized I was not going to sit around meteor striking down a legendary castle while the SO walked over and pummeled my little groups into oblivion.... I needed a castle-buster if I was going to go forward with the stormgate plan. I took about 2 turns, summoning 10 brigades per turn, and recruiting companions as well, to build a group which, when I was done, didn't really look like it could take a legendary castle. However, it was at this time when the AM dropped the game, and a new plan emerged. After the UN had decimated my political core, in a panic I hired a ton of governors, just so I would not get eliminated if he came for my king. It was time to put those governors to use.

WA vs Darkover.
I had been watching the PI, AM and CI trade PCs with great amusement. If my map isn't lying, the AM invaded Triumvia in force, and the PI moved in at the same time tentatively, taking a few PCs, but then stomping in with a massive group later. But, the PI also moved into Darkover. When all was said and done, the mighty Cimmerians had defended his region from both attackers, as well as taken all of Darkover, but not the city, and the AM dropped. So I moved in. Six governors took the villages, and my four groups took the rest. Two turns and Darkover was mine, without resistance. My mighty castle-buster landed on Ramhorn only to find a legendary castle there, I had not bothered to recon it since the map said it was human owned. I was torn. I was not completely confident in my group so at first I put in the order to attack, then retracted it. I did not need to control the city for regional control.
In an event that probably had no effect on the outcome of the game, when I was changing orders, I forgot to cancel the attack on the city. I canceled the spells... not the attack, so my poor group attacked the legendary castle without the benefit of spells. And it was from this battle that I learned of the power of brigades special abilities. My group (127k vs PC) took the castle (197k defense), loosing 40%, but took it without benefit of any spells. Wights, hill giants, specters... all have fear, and fear that stacks. The trolls boosted the group by 30%. All in all a great learning experience. However, it was getting close to the end of the game, I feared I had no time to rebuild the group, and there was no way with its loses that the poor weakened group would be able to repeat that victory. So rather than rely on Stormgate (and the chance of running headlong into a massive SO group), I put a Nyvaria/Pellinor plan into motion.

WA – Endgame.
What was left of my castle buster landed on a town in Nyvaria while my other three groups cleaned up Darkover. I landed on a town and not the city, or the GN capitol, because I did not want to face the GN wizards. I figured if the GN was at the city, landing on a town might cause him to retreat to his capitol to protect it, and leave the city for me. It was also at this time when it occurred to me the GN could cast 7 domes of invulnerability, so my hopes of getting Nyvaria kind of depended on the GN making a mistake. I did not dispel dome when I attacked the town, I just attacked it and moved to the city... but, I also landed my three groups invisible on the town I just attacked, his other town, and the city, in case he moved there. Next turn I did 9 dispel domes, 7 on the city (he had 7 wizards), and one each on the other two towns. Thankfully, the GN did not suspect my other groups, cast only four domes of invulnerability, and I grabbed all three PCs and the region, moving immediately to Pellinor. If the GN has spread at least two domes to his other two towns, I would not have got the region.
The location of my final mistake, Pellinor. I noticed that the AN had every single PC, aside from my water castle, and presumably the invisible town, which I never looked for, never found. The AN still did not have control of the region, which worried me. I was about to claim only a little bit more census than the AN had (I should have destroyed one more village earlier) and hoped it would be enough. In order to get that census, one of my little specter groups had to conquer a great castle. I had not reconned and ended up sending my groups onto the wrong PCs. I was pretty convinced I had blown the game right there. If I delayed, the GN would reclaim his region, and the AN would come back and stomp me into mush. Time to consult Draugr again. The city was worth 77,000 and my little group, 22,000 only. My only hope was that Crack the sky did a ton of damage. Draugr was unconvinced, but when he told me that he thought crack the sky and fear stacked, I had hope. I put in the orders and the victory claim and bit my nails for three days. In the end, the battle was not even close. Crack the sky must be an awesome spell, it must stack with fear, and it must do a ton of damage because I only lost 15% attrition in the battle.

Four flying teleporting groups, carrying 10 wizards is, honestly, the most fun I have had in Alamaze and it had nothing to do with actually winning. Thank you and good game to everyone, and you WILL see this tactic again, I promise.

**Strongwill** · 04-01-2020, 11:10 PM

Hum... Well since you brought me up. And I really couldn’t care less, but when my AM is attacked by three kingdoms simultaneously I feel something amiss, even if it was coincidental. Let see you saw everything going on in two areas you had no influence in at all? (Your words not mine). I launched an attack into CI territory and the next turn.... maybe two, I have PI hitting me on pops in both regions, and CI on other pops. Never both on same pops? Maybe coincidence? And again not saying it was anything other than... Just from my perspective. then the WA starts sea patrolling and not merchant trading? Hum must of not needed the gold, I mean he isn’t the PI garnishing booty by patrolling? So yeah, I dropped, but no worries.

**Senior Tactician** · 04-01-2020, 11:31 PM

(04-01-2020, 11:10 PM)PTRILEY Wrote: Hum... Well since you brought me up. And I really couldn’t care less, but when my AM is attacked by three kingdoms simultaneously I feel something amiss, even if it was coincidental. Let see you saw everything going on in two areas you had no influence in at all? (Your words not mine). I launched an attack into CI territory and the next turn.... maybe two, I have PI hitting me on pops in both regions, and CI on other pops. Never both on same pops? Maybe coincidence? And again not saying it was anything other than... Just from my perspective. then the WA starts sea patrolling and not merchant trading? Hum must of not needed the gold, I mean he isn’t the PI garnishing booty by patrolling? So yeah, I dropped, but no worries.

When the SO group sat on the city in Nyvaria for an extra turn longer than I thought might be necessary, I was concerned he might be considering building a fleet and going after my water castle in Aszure. So, yeah, I sea patrolled around my town and around the UN towns and village in preparation of attacking them. I had no intention of any actions against the AM until after they dropped. The SO ended up leaving the city, and a bit later I placed a legendary castle on my "fulcrum", so I ended the sea patrols.

And, honestly, yes, I didn't need the gold. As I said, my capitol produced 150k per turn, just my capitol, the region was 250K per turn. I had the highest gold production every single status turn. And I finished the game with nearly a million left over.

Trust me I get it though, when it feels like coincidence has it in for you.

**Senior Tactician** · 04-02-2020, 12:02 AM

(04-01-2020, 11:10 PM)PTRILEY Wrote: Hum... Well since you brought me up. And I really couldn’t care less, but when my AM is attacked by three kingdoms simultaneously I feel something amiss, even if it was coincidental. Let see you saw everything going on in two areas you had no influence in at all? (Your words not mine). I launched an attack into CI territory and the next turn.... maybe two, I have PI hitting me on pops in both regions, and CI on other pops. Never both on same pops? Maybe coincidence? And again not saying it was anything other than... Just from my perspective. then the WA starts sea patrolling and not merchant trading? Hum must of not needed the gold, I mean he isn’t the PI garnishing booty by patrolling? So yeah, I dropped, but no worries.

Actually, I divined every region before turn 15 and I saw everything going on in every part of the map and even produced a detailed spreadsheet on which PCs were controlled by which kingdoms, turn by turn, until about turn 33 or so when I stopped that crap. I had to keep an eye on the DU and DE over on the other side in case they started to get very close to a win. I could have swooped over and ran interference if I had to. The DE and IL had a very nice back and forth, with the DE coming out on top, but then the DU came in and wiped them both out, only to have the SO swoop over and snag the city. The AN sat doing nothing until mid 30's, some time after I stopped paying attention. I was actually most worried about Wookie, and with good reason. One minute the UN and HA are fighting over Pellinor, and the next minute I show up and the AN has the whole thing. Knowing Wookie, and seeing the bounties and bounties of bounties I'm guessing his food production was near 7 digits.

**Agent Orange** · (This post was last modified: 04-02-2020, 12:50 AM by Agent Orange.)

PT,
Sorry you feel that way, But I can assure you there was no working together against you.
I thought with you and the CI fighting, id be able to take both region with little trouble...I was wrong and just kinda lost interest due to life events and half assed a few attacks and turns.
Strylian...well done on the groups I couldn't wipe it out no matter how many times I attacked it.
Good game to all.

also, being in 4 games was a bit much and it did sap my concentration overall.

**Wookie Panz** · 04-02-2020, 10:56 AM

What a very nice write up by Senior who found a way to use WA perfectly. Thanks for sharing your plans with us sir.

I did the typical AN thing, tucked away in Zamora. I got the plow and started building and developing everything. I scouted and found Rellgar's hidden DU capital in Sword Coast. He was developing and building as I was, and fortifying everything. He also had several sea towns and I did not. His fleets were stronger than mine too so attacking him would be a stalemate.
Then I spent a few turns looking for the DE hidden capital in Krynn. I had no sooner found it than Rellgar's DU moved in and took Krynn. I reconed for a turn in Zanthia thinking I might jump IL who had been fighting DE but DU was moving in there too.
The last easily reachable area was Mythgar where HA and UN had been fighting. By now I had been doing bounty for so long that my food income was 3.3 million a turn. Gold was several hundred thousand too but selling gold every 3rd turn would give me millions. I moved on a town in Mythgar that was now th UN capital and there was the UN and HA army groups. I had to fight them both to get the city so I split the wizards with an 8 doing summon death on each group and holding the 9 for crack the sky against the pc which was fortified. HA with magic resistance only lost 2and 30% to summon death but UN lost 4 and 67%. Mythgar fell quickly and it was on to Pellinor.
Eregon managed a quick come back in Mythgar and managed to break my control before I could fortify all of the towns so my troops had to return there and that is the turn Senior showed up in Pelinor with 4 groups and caught me out of position.
Very well done senior.

**Senior Tactician** · 04-02-2020, 11:32 AM

Wow. AN with a power 9's, and the WA with only power 7's. You don't mess around do you Wookie?