Buddy/Ignore List
Good game all, and congratulations to the Lycan for the win!
This was my first (multiplayer) game of Alamaze since the First Cycle of Steel back in the late 80's (!). I was the Witchlord in Game ~41 or so. Despite the considerable amount of rust I built up in the ridiculous number of intervening years, I got the Gnomes into control of Mythgar reasonably quickly in this game. The Lycan looked to be engaged with the Alchemist to the west, and the Tyrant with the Sacred Order to the east, so when the Pirates to my north failed to consolidate Pellinor quickly (concentrating on Stormgate?), I decided to move in.
I had a good cadre of wizards but had under-recruited. Regardless, with good wizard support I did reasonably well muscling in against the Pirate until the Giant showed up, but between the two of them they forced me back (mostly) into Mythgar.
My first critical mistake came when the Giant showed up to Emerald Meadow. I was counting on sniping at his 1st Army Group with my smaller groups, hitting him with wizards and making him run through a wall of fire, and then making a quick retreat, hoping to bleed him enough he couldn't take the city. I had an army and patrol with 6 mid-level wizards between them, and I planned on having the patrol create phantoms to facilitate the same wall of fire / retreat trick. I knew he had a warlord and I'd read the Giant overview, but apparently not closely enough! Instead of a phantom screen and quick fade into the underbrush, STOMP and my phantom patrol was gone. My secondary army, set up for a similar tactic with real troops -- STOMP, gone. I did some damage, but not nearly enough against his prime troops.
My second critical mistake came as I'd also intercepted the First Giant with my First Gnome that turn, setting myself up for the same (literally) crushing defeat on the next. What I missed was that I probably could have dispelled with my lower-level wizards and landed a stun to suppress the warlord. I don't believe he had two warlords at that point, so that would have invalidated the stomp attack and allowed me to retreat to fight another day. Instead I resigned myself to losing the group and just went for as much damage as I could muster. STOMP and all my troops and wizards were Giant toejam, and the Gnome regime was mortally wounded.
As is well known, however, the two (im)moral pillars of Gnomish society are Avarice and Spite. I still had pop centers, influence, agents, and plenty of gold, so I shifted my plans to make Mythgar and Pellinor as close to Vietnam for the other kingdoms as I could make them. As civilians crawled into their underground holes to stew and brood until fortunes turned, I sent agents on assassination missions, sniped pop centers in the rear areas with my emissaries, recruited three new adepts and leveled them to 4 so I could harass with Cold Darkness, cast Imp Familar, and scoot around invisibly, and generally tried to make myself as much of a nuisance to the Giant (and later, the Lycan and Tyrant) as I could manage before they eradicated me. By the end I'd lost my capital, all agents, and all but one emissary, but assassinated at least two Giant warlords (maybe 3?), a Giant Lord Commander, a Giant Power-4 wizard, a Lycan Prince, and assorted lesser emissaries.
I played a lot of PBM games back in the day, but Alamaze was always my favorite. I'm happy to have the chance to play again and see the improvements that have been made!
This was my first (multiplayer) game of Alamaze since the First Cycle of Steel back in the late 80's (!). I was the Witchlord in Game ~41 or so. Despite the considerable amount of rust I built up in the ridiculous number of intervening years, I got the Gnomes into control of Mythgar reasonably quickly in this game. The Lycan looked to be engaged with the Alchemist to the west, and the Tyrant with the Sacred Order to the east, so when the Pirates to my north failed to consolidate Pellinor quickly (concentrating on Stormgate?), I decided to move in.
I had a good cadre of wizards but had under-recruited. Regardless, with good wizard support I did reasonably well muscling in against the Pirate until the Giant showed up, but between the two of them they forced me back (mostly) into Mythgar.
My first critical mistake came when the Giant showed up to Emerald Meadow. I was counting on sniping at his 1st Army Group with my smaller groups, hitting him with wizards and making him run through a wall of fire, and then making a quick retreat, hoping to bleed him enough he couldn't take the city. I had an army and patrol with 6 mid-level wizards between them, and I planned on having the patrol create phantoms to facilitate the same wall of fire / retreat trick. I knew he had a warlord and I'd read the Giant overview, but apparently not closely enough! Instead of a phantom screen and quick fade into the underbrush, STOMP and my phantom patrol was gone. My secondary army, set up for a similar tactic with real troops -- STOMP, gone. I did some damage, but not nearly enough against his prime troops.
My second critical mistake came as I'd also intercepted the First Giant with my First Gnome that turn, setting myself up for the same (literally) crushing defeat on the next. What I missed was that I probably could have dispelled with my lower-level wizards and landed a stun to suppress the warlord. I don't believe he had two warlords at that point, so that would have invalidated the stomp attack and allowed me to retreat to fight another day. Instead I resigned myself to losing the group and just went for as much damage as I could muster. STOMP and all my troops and wizards were Giant toejam, and the Gnome regime was mortally wounded.
As is well known, however, the two (im)moral pillars of Gnomish society are Avarice and Spite. I still had pop centers, influence, agents, and plenty of gold, so I shifted my plans to make Mythgar and Pellinor as close to Vietnam for the other kingdoms as I could make them. As civilians crawled into their underground holes to stew and brood until fortunes turned, I sent agents on assassination missions, sniped pop centers in the rear areas with my emissaries, recruited three new adepts and leveled them to 4 so I could harass with Cold Darkness, cast Imp Familar, and scoot around invisibly, and generally tried to make myself as much of a nuisance to the Giant (and later, the Lycan and Tyrant) as I could manage before they eradicated me. By the end I'd lost my capital, all agents, and all but one emissary, but assassinated at least two Giant warlords (maybe 3?), a Giant Lord Commander, a Giant Power-4 wizard, a Lycan Prince, and assorted lesser emissaries.
I played a lot of PBM games back in the day, but Alamaze was always my favorite. I'm happy to have the chance to play again and see the improvements that have been made!