Buddy/Ignore List
05-29-2014, 08:06 PM
I can proudly take credit for the concept of anonymous warlords games - I suggested it in a response to a post by Rick as to why more people didn't like Warlords. I felt that the coordination needed with allies was too much of a pain with that many kingdoms, but that if it were anonymous and with a draft, then you could create any team you wanted and wouldn't even know who the other teams were. With a few refinements, the concept was approved and off we went.
From when I first had the idea, I knew what team I wanted to assemble. My first pick was the TR - I figured the game would run long and wanted their growing military strength. I took them first because I could see that someone else might want them, too. The next pick was EL - I wanted northern teams to avoid what I figured would be a cluster in the south. Also, sometimes in these sorts of games, the DA stays on the shelf and that would be a nice bonus. My last team was the WI - giving me a military/political/magic trifecta in a corner of the map that I felt would be safe from early attacks. My thoughts were that only 4 would be contested (by the AN) and I could snatch up 1 and 2.
Turn 1 brought a nasty shock - the WA showed up at Lorethane with both his 1WA and a count. I figured that whoever had the WA also had the GI and that they were thinking the GI could have 5 and the WA could have 1. No doubt that the WA had enamored 1 if he was there to 171 the city and I expected there would be emissaries the next turn, along with sleep/ward spells, denying me an easy shot at 1. I was lucky, though. Lorethane had stronger than average walls - too high for the 1WA to 171 with just his small group. I had moved in both prince and duke, but now sent the duke to a town and used the prince to 310 the place in case he brought more troops to bear. Fortunately, the WA must have decided that hunting was better elsewhere because he pulled out of Oakendell, never to return. On turn 3, I turned the city neutral and if fell into my hands as I gained control of the region along with the Northern Mists. The Giant took 5 and the Black Dragon 10, so I had two of the four controlled regions and felt happy about that. With winter on the way, I wanted on turn with full production.
Meanwhile, in 4, things were going well. The AN turned the TR hostile on turn 2, but I wasn't going for the towns. I had divined the villages and used them to get morale boosts for my troops as well and using my high level emmies to get them. I figured I would let the AN go for the towns as they were less important for me right then. Once my groups were strong enough, I started going for the towns as well - capturing several AN emmies as I went.
I should say that I was surprised at how easy it was to figure the teams. I had expected it would take a while to guess who was who but it was soon clear that there was AN/GI/WA, GN/DE/BL and DW/RD/SO. I was really shocked to find that the RA was also not being played, but that made my TR happy. It did make me concerned that with no DA and RA, the DW/RD/SO team had a free shot at 3 regions in the east. I knew I'd have to keep my eye on them.
On Turn 5, the TR had taken enough towns and villages to (just barely) gain control of Torvale. I was proud that I'd gotten my three regions so quickly, but knew that one other team had done the same DW-3, RD-6 and SO-9. The GI still controlled 5, the GN 7 and BL 10. 8 was the only uncontrolled region and I could sense a GI/WA vs DE and allies war down there. I was just happy to see the GI/WA in the south and not the north, so resolved to leave them alone and go at it.
I took the AN capital on turn 6 - also using a teleported WI group outside of Meridon to prevent it from moving there. That let me hit his capital one more time the next turn and take Meridon for the WI. Mostly during the winter, I just built with the EL and WI - raising wizards and (in the case of the elf), making princes. With this, I had totally expelled the AN from Torvale and denigrated them, hoping to keep them from trying to come back.
I had figured the HC would be of limited value in this game, so had not made much of an effort for it. I did claim the last slot for the EL - mostly to block things against me if they got proposed. What was odd was that the BL/GN/DE had an absolute majority on the council, but never seemed to use it. I really wonder why - it could have been a real advantage. After a few turns where no issue had been proposed, I put in a standing order from the EL to lower the influence of the DW. It was only a 2,000 bid, but it went through time after time. I figured the GN would always vote for it and it always passed. Must have frustrated the hell out of the DW - he can't have had much influence left after a while.
I started to invade 7, but it was not a full on effort. Mostly I wanted to keep gaining experience for my TR groups and perhaps get some southern villages. I wasn't going for control. On turn 11, the SO took control of 10, having knocked the BL out of control a few turns before. That made me raise my eyebrows. 6 would win the game. I started moving my EL,WI and TR armies across the board by way of Amberland. I took some towns and villages as I went, not expecting to keep them (and I didn't). On turn 12, the SO also gained 8, which put me in a panic. I use the WI to declare the BL and AN allies the next turn, to signal to the other teams that I would observe a truce while dealing with the main threat (the WI was pretty safe from those positions) and even held off on attacking the GI town I was outside of that turn. One of my TR groups was in 10, looking for SO/RD towns to bash to help out the BL if I could while the others all headed for the Eastern Steppes. I didn't want to gain control of it and make myself the target. Plus, I wanted to overwhelm whatever the RD had left behind to guard it. On turn 14, I knocked the RD out of control. As the same time, the SO also lost 8 and the GN lost 7. I felt the immediate danger had passed so rather than a quick pivot to 3 or 9, I set about removing every RD pop center from 6 and splitting it between my three kingdoms. My plan was for the WI to eventually have it, the EL 3 and the TR 5, but I wanted that to happen at more or less the same time. After a few turns, I felt safe in going after the DW. With his limited influence, I knew he'd be an easy target. Plus, I saw his biggest group down in 7, as he'd hit a few of my remaining pop centers down there. Again, it was a combined WI/EL/TR operation. The SO had lost control of 9 on turn 15, so now the DW was the only one of that team left with a region. I was really worried that I'd become the new target, particularly in 4 where I was most vulnerable, but I kept some TR troops there to put out little AN fires and most of my political people were there as well.
On turn 17, I knocked the DW out of control of 3 while the GI gained 8. I felt it was safe to start fighting them again. Also, the RD showed up outside Meridon (still held by the WI, though I was getting ready to transfer it to the TR to increase the percentage of Torvale he controlled as a safety measure). The RD inadvertently did me a favor by destroying the city, lowering the population of the region and eliminating a vulnerable spot that an opponent could go at if they came at me in 4.
I had built up some good agents and wizards and now started putting them to use. I started throwing curses around and then assassinated the GI, RD, SO and DW kings. I also switched the HC order to the SO since I figured the DW had to be down to 8.
Seeing the end game coming, I took 3 with the EL and 6 with the WI on turn 19. The TR was invading 5 (and had knocked the GI out of control on the same turn. The RD had made my task of getting that region easier by destroying both cities and I figured to get it on turn 20. The rampaging RD group showed up on Viperhead, but I had expected it and domed the city, saving it. I didn't gain 5 on turn 20 and the RD moved to Lorethane instead. I didn't have wizards in place to protect that one because of a blown order, so I just had to cross my fingers. I had been raising the walls of my capitals - Lorethane was at 57k at that point. Because it was my capital and he tried to 160 the place, it was actually able to repel a RD group of like 20 brigades.
Next turn I was able to take 5 with the TR and claim the victory. The RD had doubled back to Viperhead - he'd used two wizards to dispel any possible dome over Lorethane and no doubt was planning to do the same to Viperhead, but I'd put 3 wizards in place just in case - my city would have been safe.
I really enjoyed this format. Some things worked as I had expected and others were very different. In games that started later, it's been changed so that you'd need 7 regions to win. I could have gotten that, I think - the other three teams had beaten each other up quite badly and my king-killing spree had to have cost a lot of them major influence pain (though I could never find the GN, BL or DE capitals - don't know where they were hiding). I'm of two minds about the possibility of winning by one position controlling four regions. Seems to me that it might be too easy to throw a couple regions to one of your positions and win that way. Each game will develop differently due to the composition of the teams and who is playing them, so it should always be new and exciting. I'd love to hear from some of the other players and well as from our Draft Master to see what got picked when.
From when I first had the idea, I knew what team I wanted to assemble. My first pick was the TR - I figured the game would run long and wanted their growing military strength. I took them first because I could see that someone else might want them, too. The next pick was EL - I wanted northern teams to avoid what I figured would be a cluster in the south. Also, sometimes in these sorts of games, the DA stays on the shelf and that would be a nice bonus. My last team was the WI - giving me a military/political/magic trifecta in a corner of the map that I felt would be safe from early attacks. My thoughts were that only 4 would be contested (by the AN) and I could snatch up 1 and 2.
Turn 1 brought a nasty shock - the WA showed up at Lorethane with both his 1WA and a count. I figured that whoever had the WA also had the GI and that they were thinking the GI could have 5 and the WA could have 1. No doubt that the WA had enamored 1 if he was there to 171 the city and I expected there would be emissaries the next turn, along with sleep/ward spells, denying me an easy shot at 1. I was lucky, though. Lorethane had stronger than average walls - too high for the 1WA to 171 with just his small group. I had moved in both prince and duke, but now sent the duke to a town and used the prince to 310 the place in case he brought more troops to bear. Fortunately, the WA must have decided that hunting was better elsewhere because he pulled out of Oakendell, never to return. On turn 3, I turned the city neutral and if fell into my hands as I gained control of the region along with the Northern Mists. The Giant took 5 and the Black Dragon 10, so I had two of the four controlled regions and felt happy about that. With winter on the way, I wanted on turn with full production.
Meanwhile, in 4, things were going well. The AN turned the TR hostile on turn 2, but I wasn't going for the towns. I had divined the villages and used them to get morale boosts for my troops as well and using my high level emmies to get them. I figured I would let the AN go for the towns as they were less important for me right then. Once my groups were strong enough, I started going for the towns as well - capturing several AN emmies as I went.
I should say that I was surprised at how easy it was to figure the teams. I had expected it would take a while to guess who was who but it was soon clear that there was AN/GI/WA, GN/DE/BL and DW/RD/SO. I was really shocked to find that the RA was also not being played, but that made my TR happy. It did make me concerned that with no DA and RA, the DW/RD/SO team had a free shot at 3 regions in the east. I knew I'd have to keep my eye on them.
On Turn 5, the TR had taken enough towns and villages to (just barely) gain control of Torvale. I was proud that I'd gotten my three regions so quickly, but knew that one other team had done the same DW-3, RD-6 and SO-9. The GI still controlled 5, the GN 7 and BL 10. 8 was the only uncontrolled region and I could sense a GI/WA vs DE and allies war down there. I was just happy to see the GI/WA in the south and not the north, so resolved to leave them alone and go at it.
I took the AN capital on turn 6 - also using a teleported WI group outside of Meridon to prevent it from moving there. That let me hit his capital one more time the next turn and take Meridon for the WI. Mostly during the winter, I just built with the EL and WI - raising wizards and (in the case of the elf), making princes. With this, I had totally expelled the AN from Torvale and denigrated them, hoping to keep them from trying to come back.
I had figured the HC would be of limited value in this game, so had not made much of an effort for it. I did claim the last slot for the EL - mostly to block things against me if they got proposed. What was odd was that the BL/GN/DE had an absolute majority on the council, but never seemed to use it. I really wonder why - it could have been a real advantage. After a few turns where no issue had been proposed, I put in a standing order from the EL to lower the influence of the DW. It was only a 2,000 bid, but it went through time after time. I figured the GN would always vote for it and it always passed. Must have frustrated the hell out of the DW - he can't have had much influence left after a while.
I started to invade 7, but it was not a full on effort. Mostly I wanted to keep gaining experience for my TR groups and perhaps get some southern villages. I wasn't going for control. On turn 11, the SO took control of 10, having knocked the BL out of control a few turns before. That made me raise my eyebrows. 6 would win the game. I started moving my EL,WI and TR armies across the board by way of Amberland. I took some towns and villages as I went, not expecting to keep them (and I didn't). On turn 12, the SO also gained 8, which put me in a panic. I use the WI to declare the BL and AN allies the next turn, to signal to the other teams that I would observe a truce while dealing with the main threat (the WI was pretty safe from those positions) and even held off on attacking the GI town I was outside of that turn. One of my TR groups was in 10, looking for SO/RD towns to bash to help out the BL if I could while the others all headed for the Eastern Steppes. I didn't want to gain control of it and make myself the target. Plus, I wanted to overwhelm whatever the RD had left behind to guard it. On turn 14, I knocked the RD out of control. As the same time, the SO also lost 8 and the GN lost 7. I felt the immediate danger had passed so rather than a quick pivot to 3 or 9, I set about removing every RD pop center from 6 and splitting it between my three kingdoms. My plan was for the WI to eventually have it, the EL 3 and the TR 5, but I wanted that to happen at more or less the same time. After a few turns, I felt safe in going after the DW. With his limited influence, I knew he'd be an easy target. Plus, I saw his biggest group down in 7, as he'd hit a few of my remaining pop centers down there. Again, it was a combined WI/EL/TR operation. The SO had lost control of 9 on turn 15, so now the DW was the only one of that team left with a region. I was really worried that I'd become the new target, particularly in 4 where I was most vulnerable, but I kept some TR troops there to put out little AN fires and most of my political people were there as well.
On turn 17, I knocked the DW out of control of 3 while the GI gained 8. I felt it was safe to start fighting them again. Also, the RD showed up outside Meridon (still held by the WI, though I was getting ready to transfer it to the TR to increase the percentage of Torvale he controlled as a safety measure). The RD inadvertently did me a favor by destroying the city, lowering the population of the region and eliminating a vulnerable spot that an opponent could go at if they came at me in 4.
I had built up some good agents and wizards and now started putting them to use. I started throwing curses around and then assassinated the GI, RD, SO and DW kings. I also switched the HC order to the SO since I figured the DW had to be down to 8.
Seeing the end game coming, I took 3 with the EL and 6 with the WI on turn 19. The TR was invading 5 (and had knocked the GI out of control on the same turn. The RD had made my task of getting that region easier by destroying both cities and I figured to get it on turn 20. The rampaging RD group showed up on Viperhead, but I had expected it and domed the city, saving it. I didn't gain 5 on turn 20 and the RD moved to Lorethane instead. I didn't have wizards in place to protect that one because of a blown order, so I just had to cross my fingers. I had been raising the walls of my capitals - Lorethane was at 57k at that point. Because it was my capital and he tried to 160 the place, it was actually able to repel a RD group of like 20 brigades.
Next turn I was able to take 5 with the TR and claim the victory. The RD had doubled back to Viperhead - he'd used two wizards to dispel any possible dome over Lorethane and no doubt was planning to do the same to Viperhead, but I'd put 3 wizards in place just in case - my city would have been safe.
I really enjoyed this format. Some things worked as I had expected and others were very different. In games that started later, it's been changed so that you'd need 7 regions to win. I could have gotten that, I think - the other three teams had beaten each other up quite badly and my king-killing spree had to have cost a lot of them major influence pain (though I could never find the GN, BL or DE capitals - don't know where they were hiding). I'm of two minds about the possibility of winning by one position controlling four regions. Seems to me that it might be too easy to throw a couple regions to one of your positions and win that way. Each game will develop differently due to the composition of the teams and who is playing them, so it should always be new and exciting. I'd love to hear from some of the other players and well as from our Draft Master to see what got picked when.
