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2014 Steel Championship, Game #156
#1
High Elves of Thalion are 2014 Steel Champions!

The High Elves of The Real Thalion have claimed the Alamaze Steel Championship of 2014.  Controlling the entire north as well as the Eastern Steppes, it was a remarkable Rex victory against stout competition on turn 26. 

The Underworld of The Deliverer was a scant 21 status points behind, followed by the Bronze performance of Lord Diamond.  Next was Head Honcho with the Warlock and then Jumpingfist with the Giants.  Note that is an unusual cluster of kingdom podium finishers in this climactic matchup.  Well done, tell us all about how it went down here in Valhalla.
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#2
(AN) I earned my spot on the podium primarily by virtue of my excellent art collection, with some consideration given to my wizards and leaders.

Artifacts stolen from the Sorcerer both before and after his retreat from Alamaze:

ARMOR OF ANON
CROWN OF ANZU
ROD OF FIRE
STONE OF ALL MINDS
SWORD OF ALVINITAR

Artifacts purchased with hard coin:

AXE OF FARIN
PALANTIR CRISNIA
WAND OF LIGHTNING

Artifacts retrieved from the wild:

ALTAR OF THE HOLY ANCIENTS
ANCIENT ANNIHILATOR
ELAN, FLAMING SWORD OF THE NORTH + key
KEY OF THE STAFF
RING OF POWER + key
RING OF PROTECTION
RING OF SPELLS
RULER ELIMINATOR

Wizards of Note: P6 & P5

Leaders of Note: 5 Marshals of various grades

Agents of Note: L-13 & L14 (another was killed when someone destroyed a Warlock village last turn)

I was also Substantial and Significant in Torvale and Synisvania with an unaltered influence of 20.9.

Excluding the artifacts, I was a fairly mediocre kingdom with no military to speak of.

I really intended to go all aggressive this game, but I kept finding unusual sightings; "Just one more sighting and then I will attack someone!". I did throw some sleep spells and wards to help the Troll and generally annoy people, but it was fairly late before I moved to snag a few Ranger and Sorcerer pcs before they dropped.

It took me four turns to steal the Crown of Anzu from the Sorcerer. Then I was all worried that he would send his wizards to avenge the theft, so I murdered 6 of his wizards, four of them on the same turn. I don't know exactly when he dropped, but he still had three P-6 wizards at the end.

This was a free Championship game. Why did any players drop when they could still cause trouble?

I enjoyed my treasure hunting this game and it paid off with a bronze medal. I'll take it!
 Lord Diamond

Please do not take any of my comments as a personal insult or as a criticism of the game 'Alamaze', which I very much enjoy. Rather, I hope that my personal insight and unique perspective may, in some way, help make 'Alamaze' more fun, a more successful financial venture, or simply more sustainable as a long-term project. Anyone who reads this post should feel completely free to ignore, disregard, scorn, implement, improve, dispute, or otherwise comment upon its content.





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#3
... I shouldn't have traded away that ring of protection on the last turn. Smile

Overall this was a fun game. I tried to play the UN in-line with what felt, to me, like the UN should be run... which is generally to cause havoc, threaten, and extort... all while keeping a low enough profile that I wasn't worth attacking.

I managed to accomplish one of my lifelong goals as the Underworld and get someone to pay me each turn more than I produced just to leave him alone. While this only ended up happening 4 turns or so, I owe Wynand a serious thank you for allowing me to bully him enough to pay for my agents to harass other targets. 35k gold per turn. Woot!

I ended up with 10 artifacts, having traded two away the final two turns. My crown jewel was 31 prisoners, including 5 kings/regents (after having 'returned' a couple as part of various business endeavors). At one point, I had all of the Red Dragon emissaries in my dungeons. Assuming he didn't hire anyone after turn 20, he went 6 turns with no political emissaries.

As likely my second-to-last individual game for a while, I am happy to have gone out on the podium. To anyone looking to have a ton of fun, look no further than the Underworld. I just hope the powers-that-be allow them to keep the discount they get for training their own agents.

Artifacts:
PALANTIR PHONIS
CRYSTAL OF SEEING
GOLDEN SPEAR OF LERIX
GREAT AXE OF HURBLIND
RING OF PROTECTION
DEMON BANE
RING OF INVISIBILITY
TROLL SLAYER
PALANTIR REDJAK
GEM OF PLANES

Captives:
AGENT 8 ALPHINIAS DARKELVEN VA 80
AGENT 9 ANVIL DWARVEN VA 90
GOVERNOR BOSS HOGG TROLL VA 45
ENVOY CHROMIS RED DRAGON VA 15
AGENT 9 CRY WOLF SORCERER VA 90
AGENT 1 DWARVES MUST DIE RED DRAGON VA 10
BARONESS EDITH ROCKCLIFFE RANGER VA 75
FANATIC 4 ENTICE BLACK DRAGON VA 40
COUNT FIROK WINDRIDER RED DRAGON VA 90
REGENT FUGON THE SMART TROLL VA 150
FANATIC 12 GRANNIS DEMON PRINCES VA 120
AGENT 4 GURSHA'S GANG TROLL VA 40
AGENT 7 HAMMER DWARVEN VA 70
DUKE ITORIAN HAWKHEART SORCERER VA 105
ENVOY JAK NIESTRA BLACK DRAGON VA 15
REGENT KLINISIAN DROGA BLACK DRAGON VA 150
AGENT 2 LOOKERS ON POINT RED DRAGON VA 20
AMBASSADOR MIDRONUS ZAR RED DRAGON VA 30
AGENT 12 MORPHISTAR DEMON PRINCES VA 120
AGENT 9 MORNING STAR DWARVEN VA 90
AMBASSADOR MUZA PURPLESKIN TROLL VA 30
ENVOY OZAR IRONHAMMER DWARVEN VA 15
KING POSURA MAX DEMON PRINCES VA 150
REGENT RHAN OF TITUS RED DRAGON VA 150
AGENT 4 ROCKPOINT GUARD RED DRAGON VA 40
GOVERNOR ROMANOR SILVEREYES SORCERER VA 45
COUNTESS SHEBANNA XORAN RED DRAGON VA 90
GOVERNOR SRIKAR UBERSTALK SORCERER VA 45
KING VAKILLION RED DRAGON VA 150
GOVERNOR ZETHANTIRIA RED DRAGON VA 45
ENVOY ZOLNAMAR SORCERER VA 15
-The Deliverer
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#4
Congrats to Thalion! A very well deserved win I am sure.

As the Gnome I was in the poor position to be engaged vs. the Red almost the entire game. I did get to dig myself out but by then it was too late to really do much of anything except be a bother to the Giant for a few turns. Nothing like getting slapped around by a fully developed wizard kingdom, thanks Warlock, as well as a position like the Giants. BTW, how did you convince the Warlock to stop trying to win and dedicate his position to trying to help you win?

I can't thank the Black enough for the support he gave me against the Red, it was literally a life saver.

LD - That is an amazing Arty collection! Nice work!

I want to thank the other 14 competitors of game 156 for a mostly enjoyable experience.
Lord Brogan

156 - GN

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#5
(03-10-2015, 11:28 PM)Brogan Wrote: Congrats to Thalion!  A very well deserved win I am sure.  

As the Gnome I was in the poor position to be engaged vs. the Red almost the entire game.  I did get to dig myself out but by then it was too late to really do much of anything except be a bother to the Giant for a few turns.  Nothing like getting slapped around by a fully developed wizard kingdom, thanks Warlock, as well as a position like the Giants.  BTW, how did you convince the Warlock to stop trying to win and dedicate his position to trying to help you win?

I can't thank the Black enough for the support he gave me against the Red, it was literally a life saver.

LD - That is an amazing Arty collection!  Nice work!

I want to thank the other 14 competitors of game 156 for a mostly enjoyable experience.
Pleasure having you back in the action again Lord Brogan hopefully you decide to stick around.  I am curious what the census was of your and the UN town in R7.  I thought for sure I would capture control this last turn.
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#6
My combined census in R7 was 81,460. Two towns and a village.
-The Deliverer
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#7
(03-10-2015, 11:28 PM)Brogan Wrote: Nothing like getting slapped around by a fully developed wizard kingdom, thanks Warlock, as well as a position like the Giants.  BTW, how did you convince the Warlock to stop trying to win and dedicate his position to trying to help you win?

From the beginning, I staked success in this game on status points, as I was skeptical that anyone would take the Rex in a 30-turn game, and to the extent anyone could, I felt that of all of the competitors, the wizard Kingdoms and UN were probably worst-positioned to take the Rex.

So I cut an early deal with GI for the region in exchange for a strong alliance, and planned an artifact hunting strategy.  And, for the third game as WA in a row, that strategy failed pretty miserably.  Found few sightings, and for the ones I did find, I was often beat out by a turn or same-turn by various folks (AN, EL, at least one or two more, I believe).

As GI began to get rolling, I felt it was a better plan to support his shot at the Rex while I would take whatever status point items he could obtain, in an effort to make the podium.  And both of us came quite close to our goals.

Alas, a day late and a dollar short, but that's OK, I still had a blast in this game.  There are few things more fun, in my view, than a fully-developed wizard Kingdom.

Many congratulations to Cipher for the Rex, I honestly didn't think anyone was going to do it in this game!
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#8
2014 Steel Champion Thallion shall receive free play through 2015.  
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#9
(03-10-2015, 11:41 PM)Jumpingfist Wrote:
(03-10-2015, 11:28 PM)Brogan Wrote: Congrats to Thalion!  A very well deserved win I am sure.  

As the Gnome I was in the poor position to be engaged vs. the Red almost the entire game.  I did get to dig myself out but by then it was too late to really do much of anything except be a bother to the Giant for a few turns.  Nothing like getting slapped around by a fully developed wizard kingdom, thanks Warlock, as well as a position like the Giants.  BTW, how did you convince the Warlock to stop trying to win and dedicate his position to trying to help you win?

I can't thank the Black enough for the support he gave me against the Red, it was literally a life saver.

LD - That is an amazing Arty collection!  Nice work!

I want to thank the other 14 competitors of game 156 for a mostly enjoyable experience.
Pleasure having you back in the action again Lord Brogan hopefully you decide to stick around.  I am curious what the census was of your and the UN town in R7.  I thought for sure I would capture control this last turn.

It was 66,800.  I had a NAP with the UN and BL, so the only way I could get the region was to jack up the pop at one of my towns.  So over the course of several turns, I issued as many 600 orders and 610 spells as I could. BTW, it had a defense of 9,500, which was enough to drive off a Red army with 10 brigades on the last turn, lol.
Lord Brogan

156 - GN

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#10
So I played the BL, my favorite kingdom, in this game. I started off talking to the RA and SO, securing short term NAPs with them because I didn't want to see a RA emissary in Vanasheen on turn 1. The BL is well situated to gain his region on turn 3 and that's always a big plus, but having to fight for the city throws a big wrench into things and I didn't want that. I was planning to take my region and then barrel into the DE up in 8. Things went as planned and I even stumbled over the DE village in 9 and took it as a warm-up. But then my plans changed; first of all the DE contacted me and very nicely asked about the possibility of a NAP (even after I'd taken her village) and there was trouble brewing in Runnimede. I went ahead and gave the DE her NAP because the GN had been attacked by the RD and was hard pressed and had offered to drop out and throw his remaining PCs to me. Well, I wasn't crazy about the idea of my natural enemy setting up shop next door and having a ring of short term NAPs around me, I felt my only real danger immediate was an Elf invasion via the portal and that was probably not likely. I moved most of what I had into 7 as fast as I could.
Now of course the RD is a much better military kingdom than the BL, but as I had a better economic base, I used that to the best of my advantage, building large groups and catching the RD wherever I could and trying to grind down his groups. I got some lucky breaks and the GN was able to get back on his feet. Around this time, I started loosing people (starting with my king!) to some mysterious kidnappers. I had assumed that the RD was paying the UN to do this, but I found out later that the UN was doing it on his own and was, in fact, doing the same thing to the RD that he was doing to me. After getting sufficiently annoyed, I showed up on the UN's land based PCs – I was on the fence about either negotiating with him or just duking it out. Unfortunately, I had no way to get to his capital in the Sea of Mystery – he had NAPs with anybody who would be in a position to build fleets on that sea as well as the wizard kingdoms who could blow him up. But we came to terms – he returned my king for a palintir (and I found out that you really don't get much of your influence back when the king has been gone for more than one turn) and we signed a ten turn NAP. I started building a large agent force – I was considering when the NAP expired that I might go all out to free my kidnapped people and steal back a few artifacts depending on how things went during the ten turns, but meanwhile I wanted to stak in the action. I was in 7 and the RD was mostly gone, so I figured to wander up to 4. The TR was controlling it, so I went at him, though I was expecting this would draw in the AN as well. I knocked the TR out of control and then moved on the AN and that's when things got...interesting.
The AN contacted me – I was on his capital town and Meridon – he pointed out that he was not obligated to attack me on behalf of the TR and while I could hurt him this turn (some yummy artifacts were at risk) he could then make things hot for me. Well, I figured that I'd leave off and so agreed to a NAP without even looking at my turn. Just as well.
When I opened my turn I found that the GI/WA had landed on me along with the TR and the RD. Well, I knew the GI was funding the RD and had assumed he'd turned him into his catspaw and of course the TR was responding to my attack. But I was just disgusted by this massive gang-bang. Especially in the championship game – the GI knew full well where my groups were – had he come alone without the WA, he'd have certainly been able to still take my region and I'd have had respect for it – I was well aware that I was vulnerable in 10. But this Powell Doctrine pile-on – I had and have nothing but contempt for it. My initial feeling was I wanted to resign – I think I've gotten enough 'Iron Will' nominations that people would know it wasn't just sour grapes and I didn't want to dignify the game with my participation if that was how it was going to be. Several people talked me out of it, saying my leaving would show that such ballsless tactics actually work and that I should fight on. So I decided to do so and see what I could assemble to go after the GI. I knew I could enlist the GN, but even before contacting other players, I knew that the GI would have NAPs all over the place because that's what gang-bangers do. In the end, only the nearly defunct DW was in a position to join up and that involved me negotiating peace between him and the EL and getting the UN to release some of the DW's kidnapped people. Clearly the GI was most vulnerable in the Mists – it would take me two turns to get there, but I stopped over in 5 and snagged a couple of pop centers from the WA. The next turn the GI was knocked out of control of the Mists and then the EL took the region. I saw that the EL. I realized that the EL might well win via Rex as long as the GI could be slowed down – no question that the GN and I were getting the worst of the fight but we only needed to last as long as we did.
At the end of the game, I was quite happy with the positions of the top 3. I don't like putting together big alliances and this was sort of a 'coalition of the willing' but it did the job that it was set out for. Thanks especially to the UN and AN for talking me down when I would have otherwise quit.
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