I was the Red Dragon this game. I had a very focused game plan, for better or worse. My plan was:
*Start in a corner region with the RD
*Use emissaries to take my starting region while using flying groups to scout my target region
*To this end, I used customization to get a prince and extra troops and the starting hoard of gold to get the high council, as I'd need my king to enamor regions
*Invade the target region as early as possible, turn four being the goal
I got Diamond Coast through the draft, and the DE became my target in Darkover (my starting town was in that region).
The opening turns went very well. I picked up my region on turn 4 and had scouted out the majority of Darkover (only 8 squares unexplored) by turn four. I got extremely lucky and landed on the hidden DE capital turn three. This would pay off in the upcoming turns.
Turn four the DE gained control of Darkover. I enamored to friendly and moved in emissaries and groups. I put myself in a position to impact two towns, two villages, recruit, and move to the city.
Turn five I took the towns and villages and moved and combined on the city. Turn six I took the city and moved to the DE capital. The DE gated in princes to the city to take out from under me, however I anticipated this and relocated my capital there. The DE dropped the next turn. I had control of Darkover on turn eight.
While things are clearly going great at this point, I did have a substantial setback. I sent a group to investigate an encounter (excellent strength) and lost the top two leaders failing to obtain the artifact. This was important as it was my top two leaders overall, which meant I could not obtain my ESO, as I had set a goal of having a warlord. Needless to say, this also sapped a lot of strength from my groups. ESO plans had been to get three wizards (adept, adept, and p-1) and use my endless gold to assemble an impressive little group of wizards. That clearly didn't happen.
Looking at the landscape around me there seemed to be two potential targets - the DK in Triumvia and the SO in the Crown Islands. I set about gathering intel from both. I really looked hard at moving to strike the DK capital as early as turn 10 - it was in the water but was still vulnerable. In the end, I decided against it as the SO's region looked to be an easier target - fewer PCs and all were in range. Triumvia, on the other hand, was rather sprawling. I was looking for a decisive strike across the region. I was concerned a fight with the DK would turn into a long war, one I wasn't confident I could win, as the DK has 1) Better wizards, 2) Better troops, and 3) Better agents.
The SO, on the other hand, I could hit the entire region in a single turn.
On turn 13 I did just that. The region had ten PCs - I moved to eight of them, only his capital and a village were not covered. Everything went according to plan and the region flipped from the SO over to RD control on turn 14.
However, the SO pulled out a genius move that turn. I was telegraphing a move to his capital, which was on the four-square island in the region. I had planned to move two groups there and combine to take it. When I saw the results my groups were sitting out in the ocean...? Did I mess up the turn? No, the SO used Storm at Sea to block my movement across the water. This prevented me from reaching his capital, giving his capital a several-turn reprieve. It was a great move on his part and something I did not even consider.
Also on turn 15, the SO took the city back with a division backed by wizards. The following turn I had my main group intercept his group at the city. I arrived at the city...but his group was not there. Did he teleport? Did he go invisible? The group wasn't on any PCs in the region. I had a recon of his capital; it wasn't there. I still had regional control - the group did not show on regional intel. Did he remain at the city and go invisible?
Turns out the answer was he went invisible at the city! I guessed correctly and attacked. His group was surprised and was destroyed in the battle. Three p-5s gone! I had expected the SO to drop at this point. Down to one PC, no wizards above p-3, virtually no troops, region controlled by an enemy. But he did not, he kept fighting.
Turn 16 was the big battle above. Turn 17 was a consolidation turn for me and turn 18 I went for the SO capital (being sure to dispel Storm at Seas along the way). I combined the majority of my troops, having recruited the max number of companions, twenty-five brigades arrived at the SO capital. My group value was 95k, the SO capital was...81k. Seems he had a piggy bank and upgraded his capital.
I looked long and hard at attacking. I thought I could do it, I had two p-5s and a p-4. A p-5 fear on the town, plus other battle spells appeared to be enough. However, the SO had all his wizards there in patrols - six p-3s and a p-2. He could, in theory, dispel my battle spells and make taking the capital either REALLY hurt or outright fail. I decided to siege and attempt to kill his wizards.
Turns out that was the right call. The SO used his wizards to raise defenses and I managed to kill one of them. I also double fed/paid my troops for a bit more value. SO defense = 93k; RD group = 104k.
The next turn was a repeat performance. I killed another wizard, he raised defenses. SO defense = 103k; RD group = 104k. That would be juuuuust enough to complete the siege next turn, turn 21.
Turn 21 - I now have three regions, tight control of all three. The SO is still in the game but must be operating from a sanctuary. During the siege of his capital I kept busy gathering intel of the regions to my south. The LY, in Zanthia, had dropped at some point and the DK and GI were fighting over that region. The DK seemed to be winning that fight.
Here is the situation:
*The DK has a legendary water capital, with a large census locked up in that town
*Zanthia is rather small and divided between the GI and DK (more DK than GI)
*Krynn is also rather small and under GI control
I developed a plan:
1) Move into the city and towns in Triumvia using concealed emissaries
2) Move into Zanthia with groups
3) The next turn, move groups from Zanthia into spots in Triumvia I couldn't reach with emissaries turn
4) The next turn, move everything out of Triumvia back to Zanthia
5) Then attack Krynn from Zanthia
My rationale:
Triumiva was very large and the DK capital had a large census (73k, compared to 60k for the city). I could impact lots of PCs in the region but getting control without taking his capital would require taking almost everything. The city and his capital were nearly enough for control right there. Thus my goal was not to take Triumvia but to distract the DK there. Hit places in Triumiva then leave for easier targets.
The first phase of the plan went well. Turn 22 moved into the city in Triumvia and three towns (concealed in all locations but a single town.) I moved groups to a town and two villages in Zanthia; I wanted the Zanthia attack to look small. Turn 23 I took the city and three towns in Triumvia (which only gave me significant in the region; I mentioned the region was large). Groups moved to spots in Triumvia.
This is where things started to go badly. I expected that the DK would move and retake his city and towns in Triumvia; he did not. Instead, he teleported to my city in Darkover and other spots, likely thinking they were my capital. They were not. My capital was the old DE capital, still hidden way up at AN. All of a sudden I had a chance to take Triumvia! Instead of moving back to Zanthia with my groups I instead moved to the last two non-capital towns in Triumvia.
I had control of Crown Islands, Darkover, Diamond Coast, and substantial in Triumvia and Zanthia. It was turn 24. Looking at the math if I took both towns, and kept everything else I would gain control of Triumvia. I was taking enough to take control of Zanthia. It looked like it was enough to win. The biggest question was, would the DK dome those last two towns? I believe he had the wizards in the region to dome at least one but likely more (he had a lot of wizards). I decided to get clever and diplomacy the towns. P-5 diplomacy; big groups; friendly in the region - a genius move on my part! I plugged the numbers into the helper tool on the webpage and it came out green across the board. I felt pretty confident.
Turn 25 got back and I took control of Zanthia! Four regions, but not Triumvia? Turns out I failed at both diplomacy attempts?! The helper tool was incorrect. Even worse, the DK arrived at my hidden capital (clearly he used revelation the turn before). Did the DK dome those towns? We may never know.
At the end of the day, it wouldn't have mattered as I forgot the little matter of the victory check
So even if I did take those towns and got the region I would not have won.
After that things went downhill quickly. The FT invaded Diamond Coast and later Darkover. The DK played ping-pong with my capital and began retaking his PCs. Even the SO got in the act, showing up with an army out of nowhere. Everyone played well and quickly sliced apart my carefully crafted kingdom. I had a small window to claim victory and missed it.
Overall a fun game, with lots of challenging turns. Congratulations to the Free Traders on his victory. Big props to the Sorcerer for never quitting. Slops to the Death Knights for playing an overpowered kingdom
Buddy/Ignore List
