Abysia CB 5.0 AAR

[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.]

[RedRover]

TURN 71-80
All the action is on the East continent this period.

On the northeast/east bridge front, by hitting the C’tis with two Lesser Horrors a turn, I hold them off and kill lots of them. I need more Fire sites. If I can put up the Eternal Pyre global spell to get a Fire gem surplus, I can eventually cast Purgatory (Thaum 7) to keep the undead hordes under control. Most of the C’tis armies are Ghouls; without them his military would be insignificant, I think.

The timely arrival of the mercenary Arco phalanx (Agyraspides) allows me to siege and take the coastal fort before C’tis can get there. It turns out to be the old Arco capital; lots of Astral gems, and all for me! The irony makes me chuckle--in later histories (which I will write), we will be the liberators!

I take the whole small local area bounded by rivers, then start pushing south and east. I have my eye on another abandoned fort southeast of "Fort Arco" and inland (province #87). Also, my deep-ranging scouts detect that Ulm has crossed onto the eastern continent and is moving north. Cue the *Darth Vader theme*, Ulm is on the march!

A second timely arrival, God’s Enforcers, allows me to besiege and take the inland fort! Hah! It has a laboratory and Azure Wizards—I finally get a Water site searcher! Incidentally, I have built a force of Shamblers, equipped a Salamander priest with a Ring of Water Breathing, cleared the waters around the magic site island, and built an underwater Temple there (a full 50 turns after I took the island magic site!). If I can send Lesser Horrors to a C’tis coastal province and rout the army there, the Shamblers can pop out and raze another C’tis Temple or two.

Turn 78, the C’tis Pretender pulls off a vertical envelopment of my main army on that front, materializing behind it with 120 Ghouls. Holy crud!

I hit him with four Lesser Horrors and try to break through to friendly lines. Without waiting, he moved north, destroying my local troops there, so the trapped army didn’t catch him, but he didn't annihilate my most important army, either.

Of note: The commander of my Devils had picked up a Lycanthropos Amulet turns earlier, which I ignored (bad idea). He changed and charged berserk in this battle, dying immediately. This stranded my big Devil unit (by "big" I mean 14-15) next to 1,020 hostile troops (three provinces full of Ghouls). Worse, the commander had been carrying a Cauldron of Endless Broth, so the rest of my army, now one province north, starved next turn! My main force followed the enemy Pretender, while the leaderless Devils basically fought a round and retreated when they were attacked the next turn.

In the center of the east continent, the two mercenary phalanxes from the coast circle the mountain block north of the big desert in opposite directions. I may not be able to hold this ground, but grinding up the C’tis temples in this area is my main goal, anyway. Best case, I will clean him out west of the river line near his capital and meet Ulm coming up the continent. I am now working toward a number of goals: Eternal Pyre/Purgatory/Second Sun, the Faerie Court/Couatl, binding Arch Devils, Mind Slay (for the Manticore, once I fix him).

My gold income on turn 81 is 1,014 gold, gems: 10F/3A/3W/7E/9S/8D/6N, and I'm pulling an average of 30-40 Blood Slaves.

My earlier panic has subsided. I'm feeling like things are starting to come under control, though there is much to do. Finally some breaks are going my way.

[Scores? Maybe later...]

[shovah]

i know its a little late now but if you ever need magical dicversity you should trying going for lamia queens

[RedRover]

shovah: Thanks for the suggestion. At this stage in the game, I've been grabbing every tool I can to put C'tis down, although bludgeoning him with Lesser Horrors has been my most successful strategy so far. (I'm afraid I will get no awards for finesse or style this game!)

I am at this point mostly set up for Fire and Blood magic--most of my Nature magic is going into supply items--the C'tis ghouls have really stripped the eastern provinces--I can hardly go into them without starving. I don't have a lot of Death magic, either, and most of my Death gems at this point are going into Skull Mentors to boost my research so I can get things like the Eternal Pyre and Faerie Court (to un-feeblemind the Manticore). We may see some Lamias before I am done, though.
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TURN 81-90
I take the desert province southeast of Fort Azure. I also put pressure on the C’tis west river line. By disrupting his large armies of undead with Lesser Horrors, it is now proving fairly easy for my much smaller ground forces to push into his provinces and raze his Temples.

I won’t get much from the C'tis nation provinces, because all his Ghouls are killing his population and making his provinces useless for supply and taxes. Also, putting more than two Lesser Horrors into a province has proved to be a waste, unless his Pretender is there.

On the south continent, it looks like Pythium got the green west half and Ulm got the desert right half. My deep scout looking for capitals down there is discovered and slain, I quickly send another.

Turn 88-89 sees the decisive battle for the C’tis capital. After taking the province and besieging the fort on turn 88, I am pushed out by a huge force of Ghouls. I kill the C’tis Pretender for the fourth time. I have units enough left to launch one final attack on turn 90, preceded by four Lesser Horrors and a Horde from Hell; there were still 1,040 undead of various types in the capital.

The province fell again and, even with no C’tis relief forces left, I haven't got enough troops left for an assault, so I choose to go for a strategic dominion snuff, and start constructing Temples. *wheeze*

Side Note: One of my really good Salamander Priests picked up the !@#$%@# Lycanthropos Amulet after the capital battle. I thought I was rid of that thing! (WE are NOT amused...)

On west continent, the Fish Fort (remember that?) is finally finished, and I start building Ichtyids there. This may not bode well for Caelum and Man, since control of the ocean provinces is one of my milestones on the way to extended west continent operations. Stay tuned...

[I have been slacking off on the score graphs. I'll do them next time, promise.]