Abysia CB 5.0 AAR

[RedRover]

TURN 52
Drat! C’tis has the same idea I do. His Pretender, leading 310 Longdead, Ghouls, and Soulless, appear just beyond the east bridge. I will hold, taking one more turn to prep. I hope it’s not one too many. I divert research to pick up cheap upgrades: Alteration 1 next turn, then Thaumaturgy 3.

On the west continent, a force of 90 mixed infantry from Man moves adjacent to me. He has an independent province to hit, or me. Me he’s not at war with, and beyond the independent province is Caelum, whom he is at war with. I’m hoping he hits the independent, because there’s not much I can do to stop him if he decides to attack me.

On the west coast, I divert the big Devil unit directly to the east bridge. They can get there next turn. I have to stop the coastal campaign one province short of sealing the area. All the Devils in the small unit are dead and God’s Just are down to 21 men, so I send the Demonbred here back to the capital for infernal reinforcements. I have no idea if these will be back or if they will be sucked into the east bridge area.

Blood hunting has netted barely enough for one more Devil (I have three Apprentices, two with Sanguine Rods, active in three different provinces with populations over 6,000—I’m beginning to think a province only yields Blood Slaves once per season!).

In the northeast, I have stripped the fort garrison, and all mercs are forced marching toward the front. C'tis is too weak to penetrate me here in the northeast, and I will pillage my way down to the east bridge if he attacks there.

At the east bridge, I recruit another Anathemant Dragon. I slow down research to maximize item production. If this lot goes, I want at least one Flame Helmet in store so I can create a Flames From Afar caster quickly. Given the number of undead, I make up some Just Man Crossbows for leaders, and make sure all casters have a gem supply. If he hits me I may not win, but they’ll talk about the fight for a while.


TURN 52-53
Surprise! No attack. On the west continent, Caelum boots Man out of the province next to my fort. Man pulls out of his other province next to me instead of attacking me or the independent. Go figure. This turn I will have 810 gp to work with. Blood hunting yields 20 slaves this turn…finally.

On the west coast of the east continent, Arco has pulled out, too. I will grab the available Devils in my capital and finish sealing this area.

Even though I am greatly outnumbered, I’m gambling that a lot of the C’tis strength is undead, and that my Priests will be able to destroy much more than I lose. The plan is to attack in strength from the north, capturing provinces, but more important, razing Temples along the east edge of the map.

The force from the east bridge fort will attack across the river and see how much of his land north of his capital they can pillage. The big Devil unit is in the fort, to hold it, reinforce a main battle, or to harry an isolated province. My coming attack probably isn’t wise, but it will be fun.

Note: I manually archive Turn 53, the turn I attack, before turn resolution, so I can go back and see what a longer game would have brought, if this goes badly.

"And so, it begins..."

[RedRover]

TURN 54
Double drat! Caelum just hired away God’s Justice! This totally stalls the coast campaign for the foreseeable future. I can make inferior infantry at the rate of 1-2 per province per turn, so it will be 6-8 turns before I can build the number of troops I need over here. Arco may well clean up the key independents long before I can cobble together an effective force. Unless another good merc comes up…not this turn. I do take 24 Blood Slaves. Why is this working so well now after such a long dry spell?

The west continent is stagnant for me this turn. All money must go into the war with C’tis.

In the northeast, the war goes much worse than planned. I do take two provinces the first turn (the good). In one battle, my tactical setup costs me needless casualties (the bad), but worse, in the other battle my Pretender is Feebleminded (the truly ugly)! The only way I have out of this is to research and summon the Faerie Court (Conjuration 8), and I’m only at Conjuration 2 now. That is very far away and nearly half my researchers are in the field at the east bridge. Arrrrgh!

At the east bridge, I break out of my Citadel, slaying all in my path with minimal loss, including his Prophet (Urrah!!). My planned attacks for next turn cover the entire C’tis holdings north of a chokepoint two turns north of his capital. I'm on the march!

Who let the dogs out? Me.

[shovah]

feeble minded+pretender=really annoying game. its probably one of the worst things that can happen to your pretender

[RedRover]

shovah (re feeblemind): What's a game without a few bumps along the way?

As an old RPG friend used to say to us when the situation went sour:

"You're heroes. If it was easy, anybody could do it!"

(It does get worse. Read on...)



TURN 55
On the west continent, I recall my last Demonbred stationed here to my capital. Otherwise, I try to shore up my eroding dominion on this continent as much as possible, but it looks really bad: everywhere, black candles, tall and thick.

Overall, the northeast battles are going well enough, but my southern force, with most of my spellcasters, was hit by the huge undead army, led by the C’tis Pretender. Nasty battle, but eventually the Pretender (the Prince of freaking Death!) got to my command group and slaughtered them all, routing the foot troops, most of whom died in the rout.

I could have had a better tactical setup, but it’s too late now. The C’tis Pretender has a Staff of Storms, which grounded all my flyers. Good thing the Devils weren’t in on this battle, but that staff will greatly reduce the efficiency of my Devils when I do commit them.

C’tis still has 70 troops left here, plus 20 more adjacent to the east bridge fort, plus 70 more coming up from the south. These are the ones I can see. I don’t think that my combined forces on the ground can match his, nor can my afflicted Pretender take on his. Looks like I gambled and lost on this one, but I’ll play a few more turns and see what happens.

On the coast, building enough troops to take even one province is not possible. The war in the east swallows all my resources.

I notice that in two more turns I can have Blood 5. This will let me Send Lesser Horrors at the C’tis forces. I don’t think this will be much, especially against the Pretender, but right now it’s all I can think of.

Scores: For provinces, I lead. The second tier of Man, Pythium, and Ulm have leveled out in a tight group, C’tis is somewhat below them, but this will change radically once C’tis starts taking my provinces.

For income, I lead. Man is next, maybe 80% of my level. At maybe 60% is a tight pack of Ulm, Pythium, and Caelum. C’tis is sixth at about 30%, I hit him hard (*heh-heh*).
(Well, OK, the fact that Ghouls are eating his population is probably more relevant.)

For gem income, I clearly lead. Man is next at 70% of my level; C’tis and Ulm are tied at 50%.

For research, Arco leads, Caelum and Man are a neck-and-neck second at about 70%. I’m next at 45%, Pythium at 40%, C’tis about 25%.

For dominion, Ulm leads and is climbing well. Caelum is about 70% and fading. I’m about 55% and jerky, C’tis is about 45% and dropping, Pythium about 30%, Man 15%.

For armies, C’tis has lost about 5% off its 100% peak. I’m at about 12% total, so I had absolutely no business making this attack.

Oh, what shall I do? Stay tuned...

[Oversway]

This is a good read! Sounds like a very fun game.

[RedRover]

Oversway: Thanks. This game does have its moments. This is a holiday weekend, and I fully intend to overindulge in this sport.


TURN 56-60
A whirlwind of activity this time.

I drop Fires From Above on the biggest C’tis mass, then attack the province east of my east bridge fort. I also Send Lesser Horrors, two of them—they kill his Pretender!

His forces split into two large groups, one covering the way to his capital, and one poised to move north. I send two Lesser Horrors after the northern one, then split my own army: Abysians toward the C’tis capital, mercs and humans covering the east bridge crossing.

Meanwhile, I am raising Druids and making Sacks of Endless Wine, forging Skull Mentors as fast as I can, and building troops after laying in a major caster or two each turn. In particular, I start building super-heavy infantry at my main forts (so far I’ve been using the mediums). C‘tis sends major forces north to retake lost provinces, while I try to plug the chokepoint to the south. In this epic battle, I hold the field, but lose the Manticore. Drat!

I use the Devils for vertical envelopment of his largest force with limited success. Looks like there is no way I can save the Astral gem site—and I will be hard pressed to defend the northern fort. In the south he has two large armies, one has 380 troops-and his Pretender is back. The other has 280 troops. A lot of these troops are undead. I just can’t match his numbers, and the mass undead-killing spells are beyond me at this point. Things are getting hot.

[i][No score check this turn—I’m at war. Deal with it.]

[RedRover]

TURN 61-70

The western continent is quiet. Good.

By the east bridge, the Lesser Horror trick does not work so well when he has 500+ units. I have managed to destroy most of his northern forces, but more just keep coming. Devil production is slow, Lesser Horrors suck up much of my Blood Slave supply.

Along the coast, Arcoscephele dies by dominion snuff (!). (Don’t look at me, I didn’t do it!) I use scouts and flyers to grab as many unoccupied Arco provinces as I can.

Battle fatigue is setting in. By the end of turn 70, I have driven C’tis completely out of the north, though large blocks of troops (lots of undead) gather behind the river line south of the inland island.

I have broken up two major counterattacks here and killed the C’tis Pretender again. On the coast, I am building a fort north of of the Hundred Island crossing, and have discovered an abandoned coastal fort on my side of the next river line below the island. Advanced scouts see C’tis units two provinces east of the abandoned fort and inland. It’s a race—can I get to the abandoned fort first?

[No score check. I’m too busy.]