Buddy/Ignore List
02-03-2022, 01:55 AM
Game ends on turn 23 with victory by the RD/BL team.
1 RD DuPont 36,015 46,443
2 BL DuPont 29,600 38,575
3 GN Brek 14,803 19,203
4 SA Lt Gisgo 10,462 16,228
5 DA Windstar 11,306 16,152
6 CI Brek 11,398 16,127
7 NE Windstar 10,943 16,016
8 AT Lt Gisgo 5,149 8,439
9 DU CosmicWizard17 4,784 6,922
10 AM CosmicWizard17 3,956 6,096
The way the draft went, six pairs of regions were pre-selected so that nobody would get stuck with non-contiguous areas on opposite sides of the board or something. I got the last slot which stuck me with my two least favorite regions (Krynn/Zanthia) but first shot at drafting kingdoms. Given my undesirable location, I decided at least I would take my favorite kingdoms and have a bit of fun, though I did not expect I'd have much chance of winning. I put the BL in #4 and the RD in #6 with an eye toward grabbing Stormgate early with the RD. But on turn 2, somebody attempted to sleep my RD Duke in Destiny's End to prevent me from taking the city. This did not succeed - my magic resistance kicked in and he was not slept and thus was able to rebel the city (and my Count took it) but they got lucky with a paired kidnap and so I lost him. Looking around, the most likely suspect was the AM/DU team lodged in #5/#8. It's possible it was somebody else, but based on that guess, I instantly went after them before they could build up - I had both my regions on turn #3 and they had neither of theirs, so I used my head start to advantage. In a bit of true dumb luck, on turn 3, one of my scouting groups randomly landed on the AM hidden capital. Sending the RD into #5 and the BL into #8, I took Imril on turn 6 and prevented the AM from ever gaining the region. He relocated his capital to the one sea town, putting that out of my reach, but that didn't bother me much. On turn 9, the RD took control of #5 and the BL knocked the DU out of control of #8. He'd also relocated his capital - the floating city was in the Waves of Azure, so again out of my grasp.
To my north, the NE/DA team in #1/#2 seemed to be in build mode, but I used my patrols to do a few overflights to I would have some targets if needed (I should point out that this was a Pagan game - something I had forgotten when I took a Temple as one of my starting bonuses!) The GN/CI in #3/#7 were also quiet while to the south the SA/AT team (in #9/10) were fighting the RA/TY (in #11#12) and the former was getting the better of it. This lead to an early exit for the RA/TY and I turn the BL loose on #12 to prevent the SA/AT from coming in and consolidating. I also brought the RD down and send him into #9. My spies had showed me that the SA had assembled a supergroup in the 1SA and I had to choose between putting all my RD troops in on army and try to beat them down or else just spread out and avoid him. I did the later, hoping to perhaps starve him during the winter (knowing the heavy cost of SA troops) or at least leaving him little resources for anything else. The BL had overflown #9 on his way to #8 so I had plenty of targets and I took control of the region on turn 12. I was also lucky both there and in #12 in capturing high level emissaries with my groups. I even got the SA king but then forgot to guard so he escaped. But losing that many high level people did make it a lot harder for him to take back towns once I captured them. On turn 15, the BL took #12 and I knew that the northern teams must be getting nervous (and, indeed the CI groups had shown up in #12 that turn, having taken #13 some time before). Rather than go toe-to-toe with him, I had sent the BL up into the undefended #7 and hit him there. On turn 16, he took Blackfire from me as I took Bronze Canyon from him.
The next turn found me outside of Stormgate - he was building the 4CI up with Stormgate Guards, but the 1BL was big enough to flank and destroy his group before it became a problem. Turn 16 saw me knock the SA out of control of #11 even as I lost a fight with the mighty 1SA - my group simply retreated and moved over to Python Cove, which I easily took the next turn, breaking the AT's hold on #10 and leaving the team without a region. I had not taken Stormgate despite destroying the CI group there - partly to avoid a 4 alarm fire to the northern teams and also to build up the 1BL to minimize damage, but I returned and took it on turn 18. The CI had knocked the BL out of control of #12 on turn 16 and I had done the same to him in #7 on turn 17. He then gained #12 on turn 18 and the RD added #11 so I had 6 regions overall and substantial in four others.
I will say the AM/DU never stopped fighting - the AM was never more than a nuisance, but between the DU and CI, the BL was never able to keep a solid hold on #8. The SA/AT also did his best, knocking me out of control of #9 even as I took #10 on turn 21. But on 22, the RD recovered #9 and the BL gained #7 giving me the needed 8 regions - only I had not ordered the victory check, not thinking I was going to get them both - damn! And the northern teams were finally swinging into action, with the 1DA landing on Sirocco and the NE also showing up. Even worse, the 1SA supergroup was also in Krynn. I felt pretty confident that I could hold all my other regions (and had an outside chance of picking up #8), but there was a risk of loosing Krynn and being reduced to 7 regions. Looking at the pop centers I was sure to keep, I built several bazars to boost population and also put myself into a position to try for #8 and #12 then next turn if it didn't work. Fortunately, the SA destroyed the town he took, which helped assure my holding the region and getting the victory.
Just in time, as it turned out - the GN, who had been boosting all his wizards to level 7 had showed up as well as more forces of the DA/NE team. I do not think I would have been able to hold on - four teams were against me at that point - two greatly diminished but the other two more or less at full strength. I had send the 1RD into #2 to cause some trouble to the DA, but it would have been tough going. I am not sure how things would have evolved at that point, but I would have had a very time countering all those GN wizards.
I've said it before with the double dragon team - speed kills. When you are able to rush from one side of the board to the other, it's very hard for people to counter that without teleporting groups and I was mostly fighting military or balanced kingdoms. Of the three wizard kingdoms in the game, the NE and GN did not enter the fray until too late and the DU had been hit pretty hard before he got a chance to establish. The lack of High Priestesses also gave my rapidly searching patrols a big advantage over those who would have had to look for my PCs more painstakingly. The AT/SA early victory over the RA/TY followed by my snagging many of their top people was also key to my victory. Also, but the CI and SA keeping most of their troops in their 1st groups, they did have a group bigger than my biggest, but I simply avoided them as much as possible and took lower targets. The 1CI seems to have spent a few turns at Blackfire, hoping to catch me there in the woods, but I simply avoided the place.
I do love playing the dragons, especially together. Everybody played a great game and I look forward to another confederation game soon!
1 RD DuPont 36,015 46,443
2 BL DuPont 29,600 38,575
3 GN Brek 14,803 19,203
4 SA Lt Gisgo 10,462 16,228
5 DA Windstar 11,306 16,152
6 CI Brek 11,398 16,127
7 NE Windstar 10,943 16,016
8 AT Lt Gisgo 5,149 8,439
9 DU CosmicWizard17 4,784 6,922
10 AM CosmicWizard17 3,956 6,096
The way the draft went, six pairs of regions were pre-selected so that nobody would get stuck with non-contiguous areas on opposite sides of the board or something. I got the last slot which stuck me with my two least favorite regions (Krynn/Zanthia) but first shot at drafting kingdoms. Given my undesirable location, I decided at least I would take my favorite kingdoms and have a bit of fun, though I did not expect I'd have much chance of winning. I put the BL in #4 and the RD in #6 with an eye toward grabbing Stormgate early with the RD. But on turn 2, somebody attempted to sleep my RD Duke in Destiny's End to prevent me from taking the city. This did not succeed - my magic resistance kicked in and he was not slept and thus was able to rebel the city (and my Count took it) but they got lucky with a paired kidnap and so I lost him. Looking around, the most likely suspect was the AM/DU team lodged in #5/#8. It's possible it was somebody else, but based on that guess, I instantly went after them before they could build up - I had both my regions on turn #3 and they had neither of theirs, so I used my head start to advantage. In a bit of true dumb luck, on turn 3, one of my scouting groups randomly landed on the AM hidden capital. Sending the RD into #5 and the BL into #8, I took Imril on turn 6 and prevented the AM from ever gaining the region. He relocated his capital to the one sea town, putting that out of my reach, but that didn't bother me much. On turn 9, the RD took control of #5 and the BL knocked the DU out of control of #8. He'd also relocated his capital - the floating city was in the Waves of Azure, so again out of my grasp.
To my north, the NE/DA team in #1/#2 seemed to be in build mode, but I used my patrols to do a few overflights to I would have some targets if needed (I should point out that this was a Pagan game - something I had forgotten when I took a Temple as one of my starting bonuses!) The GN/CI in #3/#7 were also quiet while to the south the SA/AT team (in #9/10) were fighting the RA/TY (in #11#12) and the former was getting the better of it. This lead to an early exit for the RA/TY and I turn the BL loose on #12 to prevent the SA/AT from coming in and consolidating. I also brought the RD down and send him into #9. My spies had showed me that the SA had assembled a supergroup in the 1SA and I had to choose between putting all my RD troops in on army and try to beat them down or else just spread out and avoid him. I did the later, hoping to perhaps starve him during the winter (knowing the heavy cost of SA troops) or at least leaving him little resources for anything else. The BL had overflown #9 on his way to #8 so I had plenty of targets and I took control of the region on turn 12. I was also lucky both there and in #12 in capturing high level emissaries with my groups. I even got the SA king but then forgot to guard so he escaped. But losing that many high level people did make it a lot harder for him to take back towns once I captured them. On turn 15, the BL took #12 and I knew that the northern teams must be getting nervous (and, indeed the CI groups had shown up in #12 that turn, having taken #13 some time before). Rather than go toe-to-toe with him, I had sent the BL up into the undefended #7 and hit him there. On turn 16, he took Blackfire from me as I took Bronze Canyon from him.
The next turn found me outside of Stormgate - he was building the 4CI up with Stormgate Guards, but the 1BL was big enough to flank and destroy his group before it became a problem. Turn 16 saw me knock the SA out of control of #11 even as I lost a fight with the mighty 1SA - my group simply retreated and moved over to Python Cove, which I easily took the next turn, breaking the AT's hold on #10 and leaving the team without a region. I had not taken Stormgate despite destroying the CI group there - partly to avoid a 4 alarm fire to the northern teams and also to build up the 1BL to minimize damage, but I returned and took it on turn 18. The CI had knocked the BL out of control of #12 on turn 16 and I had done the same to him in #7 on turn 17. He then gained #12 on turn 18 and the RD added #11 so I had 6 regions overall and substantial in four others.
I will say the AM/DU never stopped fighting - the AM was never more than a nuisance, but between the DU and CI, the BL was never able to keep a solid hold on #8. The SA/AT also did his best, knocking me out of control of #9 even as I took #10 on turn 21. But on 22, the RD recovered #9 and the BL gained #7 giving me the needed 8 regions - only I had not ordered the victory check, not thinking I was going to get them both - damn! And the northern teams were finally swinging into action, with the 1DA landing on Sirocco and the NE also showing up. Even worse, the 1SA supergroup was also in Krynn. I felt pretty confident that I could hold all my other regions (and had an outside chance of picking up #8), but there was a risk of loosing Krynn and being reduced to 7 regions. Looking at the pop centers I was sure to keep, I built several bazars to boost population and also put myself into a position to try for #8 and #12 then next turn if it didn't work. Fortunately, the SA destroyed the town he took, which helped assure my holding the region and getting the victory.
Just in time, as it turned out - the GN, who had been boosting all his wizards to level 7 had showed up as well as more forces of the DA/NE team. I do not think I would have been able to hold on - four teams were against me at that point - two greatly diminished but the other two more or less at full strength. I had send the 1RD into #2 to cause some trouble to the DA, but it would have been tough going. I am not sure how things would have evolved at that point, but I would have had a very time countering all those GN wizards.
I've said it before with the double dragon team - speed kills. When you are able to rush from one side of the board to the other, it's very hard for people to counter that without teleporting groups and I was mostly fighting military or balanced kingdoms. Of the three wizard kingdoms in the game, the NE and GN did not enter the fray until too late and the DU had been hit pretty hard before he got a chance to establish. The lack of High Priestesses also gave my rapidly searching patrols a big advantage over those who would have had to look for my PCs more painstakingly. The AT/SA early victory over the RA/TY followed by my snagging many of their top people was also key to my victory. Also, but the CI and SA keeping most of their troops in their 1st groups, they did have a group bigger than my biggest, but I simply avoided them as much as possible and took lower targets. The 1CI seems to have spent a few turns at Blackfire, hoping to catch me there in the woods, but I simply avoided the place.
I do love playing the dragons, especially together. Everybody played a great game and I look forward to another confederation game soon!
