First of all, I like to thank all my opponents in the game and give kudos to my ally, Kal, who did much of the heavy lifting (yes, I love my Oscar and would like to thank the game designer-Rick--the production chief, Cipher, etc
I'll do a quick break-down of my position but first a couple of observations:
1. The "neutral" team did join the evils turn 1. While it probably resulted from a lack of communication from our side, it was also a matter of geography which has been pointed out many times--i.e. RD almost has to go after DW; SO against RA; GN's most logical expansion is Torvale. Our esteemed game masters have recognized this issue and the new warlord format reflects it.
2. From what I saw, there really wasn't much coordination between the evils--as LT said, they focused on building their individual positions and scattered their efforts.
3. That said, Kal and I (the goods) only coordinated in the loosest sense of the word. I don't believe we ever had military or diplomatic forces working together in any region at the same time. Kal ended up stuck with the heavy lifting (DW got pounded by RD early). SO, DA, RD attacked RA. DE/TR, going after AN (That left me alone to go one on one with UN/WI/BL and the GI/EL/WA has an advantage in that match-up) What we did do is keep each other informed of our general plans and each concentrated our forces one region at a time.
Enough of general comments.
Breakdown:
EL grabbed OAK early. WA grabbed Amberland. GI moved into NM (as Dupont noted, it's not a normal move in the individual game. In the team game, it's almost assured) and gained control by turn 5. For the next few turns, GI concentrated on capturing all remaining WI pop centers while EL and WA built wizards. Turn 11 saw the capture of the last WI pop center (most of his mages had perished in sea-battles). BL tried to help out, but by that time the GI had 3p3s and major BL army was destroyed (4 GI, 6 OG versus 6BL and 8 WY). Total destruction of BL army (and wizards) to the loss of 2 OG brigades. GI moved into TM on turn 13--jumping the RD while he was busy chasing the RA--and gained control by turn 17...game then ended.
General breakdown of positions at end of game:
EL was weakest of the three. 17.6 influence. 1 Major army (10 EL, 2VE), 1 minor (2el). Wizards of p6, p4,p4,p3,p3. BTW: Lord Thanatos: There was an invisibile EL patrol at QW this turn. Though you 2SO was hidden/invisible...I think you might have lost a number of wizards to kill spells
GI: 16.2 influence. 1 Major Army (3GI, 13 OG--82K combat), 1 minor army (5 GI, 6 OG--57K combat strength). Wizards of p3,p3,p3,p2. One was about to head into ES, the other to intercept the 1RD (hit by two demonics over the last two turns)
WA: Influence 17. This was the position that would have been the "backbreaker" against the evils going forward. After screwing around in the early going, I started concentrating on raising the wizards big time (at the urging and help of Kal, I might add...he did transfer the stone of all minds to me as well!). At game end, the WA had p8, p8, p6,p6,p6,p5,p4,p3 and was raising three a turn (depending on defensive necessity). Scattered, into four groups, they were positioned to either ward pop centers (you did try and attack DU, didn't you, LT?) or cast demonic regionals in TM, Amberland and NM. The p8s were just going active (assassination via demon in TM, then releasing scandals on RD). BTW: Dupont....your capital village at NI with your 11 characters would have been destroyed by spell this turn (as well as the pop center at NC)...village at MB would have been following turn. Since the WI was--I believe--eliminated and the SO crippled (RA knocked off 1SO early on in sea-battle and he would have lost mages in 2SO to kill spells from hidden EL this turn), the evils didn't have an effective counter to WA wizards and--in the long run, if the game had continued--that would have been the difference. General note: Sometimes it's not the best idea--in a team game--to spend the resources to build defenses/increase production at a pop centers. While Cradia's stats were impressive, the p8s could have knocked 17K off the defenses a turn (p9 would be more) and the armies running around at this stage (1Gi and probably 1TR) could take the pop center.
Buddy/Ignore List
