155 ended Turn 32 - WI victory

[Airborne Ranger]

Cumberbund Bandersnatch

I started this game quickly, gaining the Mists on turn 3.  I had decided that I would play this game in a defensive, isolationist manner.  I would solidify my hold on R2 and prepare for invasion.  As part of this plan, I wanted 3 Power 6 wizards to summon Wights, and 3 Power 3 wizards devoted to raising the production of my capitol.  This was facilitated by gaining the Stone of All Minds later on turn 6.  I declared all my neighbors enemy and moved my cap to a water town.  Also on turn 6, RD attacked my starting village in The Talking Mountains so I moved into his village in R2 and took it.  He later would respond by attempting to take a random R2 village politically and failing.  This accounts for the sum total of aggressive action against me in this game.  Around this time, I took the DW village in R2 when it seemed the RD had him on the ropes for fear that it would soon become the DW capitol.  Despite an early standoff with the EL, I left the EL town in R2 alone and my town in Oakendell was likewise left undisturbed for the remainder.

Abandoned Pantones

The Stone of All Minds allowed me to get my ESO on turn 10 and I purchased a P1 wizard and two adepts.  This gave me a great jumpstart.   It was about this time that DA dropped.  I decided to see if I could share a piece of the abandoned pie and moved emmies into four pc’s at the western edge of R6.  Two reached their neutral targets and two bounced back due to RD and DW groups.  Recons confirmed fighting in R6 between them and RD had DW on the ropes.  To avoid conflict with RD, I opted for the better part of valor and withdrew all emmies from The Steppes.  Still, I saw an opportunity to hunt artifacts in region 3 and 6.  My agents carved up the regions quickly and I pulled my group with a P4 and 2 P3’s to devote to investigate sightings, raising the level on my ESO gifts up to replace that group at my cap.  By turn 12 I had my capitol boosters running and by turn 15, I had 3 P6’s positioned to start pumping out Wights and I was starting to bring in artifacts.

The Tumble Drying Aspect

I was concerned about the RD – I began issuing recons of his holdings constantly.  I repositioned emissaries and enamored R3.  I started making plans for dealing with him when he came calling.  But he didn’t.  He declared the SO and RA ally and I became more alert.  Then, on turn 18, he declared me neutral.  On turn 19, he declared WA and UN enemy and his invasion of R5 was on.  It was turn 20 and the whole world was at war except for me.  I had raised my Wight crew to P7 over the winter.  I had 12 artifacts.  My capitol was at 22K defense and brought in 54K gold per turn.  I had a group with 17 brigades, 8 of them wights, worth 72K vs. PC.  My political corps now had 9 nobles and my influence had been over 20 for many turns.  It was time to consider moving on the RD in R3 now that he had presumably moved all his resources to R5.  On turn 21 I cast a Curse on RD and tried to kill his King with a Sleep spell and a Summoned Demon.  I figured RD would just assume it was the WA.  The demon, regrettably, failed.  But something even more important happened – the EL dropped.

The Shed of Ideas   

I didn’t waste a second.  I had long since divined the PC’s there, so I moved into Oakendell right away.  I could teleport my Army Group to Lorethane and move into several eastern PC’s with emissaries but most of them were positioned to go into R3 and I had to stepping stone them to their targets.  On turn 22, I entered the region.  On turn 23, I knocked EL out of control.  On turn 24, I took the region.  I had encountered no other opportunists.  I surveyed the map and decided I could win this thing.  So I drew up an eight turn plan to victory.  The early part consisted of raising the rest of my wizards up to P7, building another Army Group, hiring and raising emissaries, raising regional reactions, and scouting as much as I could of my target regions: Torvale and the Talking Mountains.  But I was also busy trying to take out the remaining EL presence in R1.

Our Assets Are Arguments

The EL had a monster group at Lorethane with one artifact and had built a sea village into a 39K defense capitol fortress but also had left behind 2 artifacts in the cap.  I had 14 artifacts now.  If I took out both the big group and the capitol, I could have 16 – maybe 17 by the time it was done.  It would take several turns to establish the navy necessary to pull it off.  So I set to it.  I cast Summon Death spells on the group and Destroy Village spells on the cap.  It was turn 26 now.  On the next turn, I would destroy the group and move to the capitol.  But that was the turn that the system changed.  My group reported no one to attack and the cap was now neutral.  The artifacts were gone.  But all was not lost.  My recons had revealed other artifacts at the GN town at SA so I adjusted my plan to teleport and attack there instead of Meridon, taking the city with my Prince when the time came.

Mr. Trousers

My plans also required a massive boost in Influence to hire and raise all those emmies and still end up with an Influence of 23 or better so I could have the full range of actions on turn 31.  I monopolized the High Council for
several turns and, though I feared that I would provoke the ire of the others, I needed it because my Wizards were busy leveling or whittling down EL defenses.  Well, since the EL was no longer an issue, I could cast Conjure Prestige spells and get my Influence that way.   About the same time, WA gained the upper hand on RD and took Control of R3 on turn 29.  This was a complication.  The WA had declared me enemy in the early game as a defensive measure and the RD still had me at neutral so I much preferred RD in control if someone had to be.  The good news was that someone (WA, I presumed) had destroyed many towns in R3 and my political corps was now surplus to requirements.  I considered changing my plans but I had invested too much into R3 already. 

What We Lost in the Fire

Things were little better in Torvale.  GN had been all but pacified.  The last thing I wanted was TR free to return home or attack me before I could spring my attack.  TR now had an Army Group at the GN capitol at SA and there was nothing I could do about it.  I knew the last chance I had to score Artificer of the Witchlord had just evaporated.  At least now I could ignore the town – it had a remarkably small census – but things were moving quickly and not to my advantage.  Enemy groups were all over my target regions but I kept moving toward my end game.  All I could do was hope that the battle had moved elsewhere by the time I struck.  I monitored the census of the PCs in R4 and R3 gamed out different combinations of ways to gain 50+% in each.  I finalized my emissary positions for the attack and issued a Sea Patrol in the Sea of Mystery hoping to keep the TR on that island but only caught the GN instead. 

The Cardigan of Destiny

On turn 31, the last turn of winter, I struck.  I moved 11 emissaries, teleported an Army group to each city, and had a second group with 3 P7s in each region which I used to Infuriate Populace.  I had no idea where everyone was.  For all I knew, WA especially had resources in region so on turn 32 I issued 5 Dispel Dome spells (none of which were needed).  I was very nervous in submitting that turn.  If anything scotched the plan, I could be antagonizing 2 strong kingdoms at once and ruining my game.  The plan was to issue a victory check on turn 32 and win in one decisive strike and it worked!  I took control of both regions and claimed the win with a amazing amount of victory points. 

World’s Yummiest

I ended the game with 14 artifacts, 9 P7 wizards, 4 lvl 10 agents and 6 lvl 7, two big groups with 13 brigades of wights, 4 marshals, 45 pc’s and 550K total production, 25 influence, and a record of leading the Status Points at every single update turn.  It was a slow-motion stealth game I played that would probably not be possible now with public SP updates, Secret victory conditions, and harder Sightings.  I had the benefit of some luck – if RD had chosen to attack me instead of the WA, this would be a very different Valhalla report.  But I also made some of my own luck - The EL’s drop was fortuitous exactly because I was in great position to take advantage.  Aside from that early exchange of villages with RD, I had no conflict until my game winning attack.  I’ve won before but this one was special because it was a solo win in anonymous, a format that has tested me previously, and because I made a plan and then made it happen – a luxury this game so rarely allows.

[Lord Thanatos]

WA perspective

First of all I must say I really enjoyed this contest. When games extend past turns 25 or later the Alamaze world is filled with high level agents, wizards, leaders, and emissaries. Kingdoms are strong and well-developed so that the players are faced with different challenges than we face for the first half of the game. With great strength (and even obvious weaknesses) the kingdoms interact in a much more deadly, decisive manner. I love this aspect of Alamaze! All Hail the Rex!

Also, because this was an anonymous contest kingdoms grew to prominence or fell by the wayside primarily in 1v1 interactions - or, at worst, uncoordinated 2v1 interactions. I think this element of game play puts a much greater spotlight on the decisions we make and strategies we pursue as players, instead of being forced to succumb to the inevitability of the weight of orders and air-tight coordination that happens in non-anonymous games. Again, I love anonymous Alamaze contests!

As the WA (with no GI to share Amberland with) I determined that I would focus almost exclusively upon my mages, instead of either gaining territory or artifacts. First I needed sleep spells to defend my region from emissaries. Then I wanted dome spells to defend my region from groups. Then I wanted summon death spells to destroy groups. Then I wanted to build an army of wights to go on the offensive. Then . . .

Therefore, instead of building a single very strong mage initially I focused on getting all my mages to P2 together, then P3 together, then P5. It was interesting to see all my wizards at P3 before raising a P4. Then when I had 8 P5s I still had no P6s. I found the Ring of Spells relatively early so my P5 was able to cast dome and provide me a level of comfort.

Early on the other players seemed reluctant to move into the center of the board. This makes a lot of sense in a Rex game, because it becomes very difficult (impossible?) to hold the middle if the other players believe you are close to winning. I was the beneficiary of such reluctance and was able to build mages unmolested early on.

Once I had lots of P7s and plenty of wights in my main group it was time to move out somewhere. By this time the RD was the first, and only, kingdom to control two regions. I sighed and figured it might as well be me that made the RD extinct -- or tried to. Our battle raged across regions 3, 5 and 6 for at least twelve to fifteen turns.

Interestingly the strengths of the RD kingdom were mostly nullifed in that I was more mobile with teleportation, my groups were likely stronger with summon death spells, and wizards could raise both regional reaction and influence. I also possessed Elan, Flaming Sword of the North. The RD, of course, had greater income for a longer period of time and had quite a fleet of emissaries when the conflict began. Additionally, he had at least two wizards capable of dispelling domes of protection. The RD played well and aggressively. It was an enjoyable contest throughout. On turn 30 I was finally in control of all 3 regions.

The UN was quite a thorn in my side during my conflict with the RD. The UN invaded Amberland at a time when I had nothing to spare to focus upon defending against him. Eventually, I elected to simply destroy every town and village in Amberland he had managed to gain control of. One of these popcenters turned out to be his capital and I killed his king. His capital might have relocated to another Amberland pc, because when I destroyed the final two pcs he controlled in Amberland this eliminated him from the contest. I will readily admit that the UN probably was beaten up by his earlier conflicts such that it was more likely luck rather than skill on my part that the UN was eliminated. [Just for the record, I am adamantly against elimination. The UN should have been allowed to stick around and attempt to assassinate my wizards. I would have had to use more invisibility spells to protect my wizards which would have meant fewer spells to use against the RD.]

Anyhow, as turn 31 arrived I had to decide where to obtain my fourth region. Options: Synisvania - where RA, SO and BL had each controlled the region at some point during the contest; Northern Mists - where the WI, who was first in status points was holed up; or Torvale, where the mighty TR was in control but most likely was fully engaged in Runnimede. I decided Torvale was too far away for my emissaries to be able to defend my holdings in regions 3 and 6. I also gambled that the WI would seek to win the contest by focusing upon amassing more status points [this is why I was annoyed that my success in R6 was revealed as control, I wanted the region to remain uncontrolled.] I elected to move into Synisvania.

On turn 31 the WI moved fully into R3. I responded by moving all my groups invisibly (except my main battle group - which was only masked) to Viperhead and moving all my emissaries into pcs in the Northern Mists. Had the WI not been successful in controlling two regions on turn 32 I think he would have lost control of R2 on turn 33. As it was, my strategy was two turns slower than necessary and the WI obtained a well-deserved victory. Second place is not too bad!!

A note on being two turns too slow . . . At one point the RD took control of both cities at CU and IN when I cast two dispel magic spells and a kill wizard spell from an invisible group at IN. The dispels failed to prevent the RD from casting two dispel dome spells (as I had also cast two domes of protection on IN) and my kill wizard spell failed (we all know how difficult it is for a P7 to kill a P4!!) so he was able to attack the city. This required me to spend two turns retaking Evanon (in addition to Hammerhold, which I would have had to capture anyhow) and delayed my assault upon a fourth region to turn 31 instead of turn 28 or 29 as I had originally planned. My error, and I shall learn from it. But that is the beauty of anonymous contests -- the players' strategy determines the outcome instead of the players' diplomacy.

Great Alamaze Contest! One of my favorites ever. At one point the WI, RD, TR and BL all controlled two regions while the RA and WA each controlled one region. The SO, GN and UN at this point were all still viable and fighting strenuously against their opponents. The EL unfortunately quit. Only the DW and DA were driven to the point of irrelevance and that only by a concerted assault by the mighty RD. I truly hope everyone else enjoyed this contest as much as I did?

Iron-willed: SO, for fighting against both RA and BL almost the entire contest;
Infamous: UN, for being the first kingdom I am aware of that was eliminated under the new rules.

[Lord Diamond]

Game details attached!

[Bash Grimtooth]

I was the BL in this game.

Actually, this is the best that I have done in the game since I first rejoined.

As the game went, I did a massive emmy attack on the SO in Synisvania. That gave me two regions. Then the RD came in and gave me some grief, then he left and I didn't hear of him except near the end of the game.

My attack on the SO went well, but I made one critical mistake: I should have followed up and eliminated the SO instead of turning my attention elsewhere. Needless to say, the SO (at least that is who I think did this) rebounded and killed my king, my regent, and I believe another regent with agents and sleep spells. Rather nasty, but effective. My influence went from around 19 to about 9.

In any event, I had a fun time!