Turn 21

I have nothing to say but: Mysterioso the God of Ermor has been permanently vanquished. Go us!

Marignon attacked me with a harbinger SC. casted iron will, mistform, and arrowfend.



looks vulnerable to a couple things I'm going to try.

GJ Raiel on mysterioso. Now bring me namad2's head to go with it. :p

I guarantee Marignon will pull some forces to deal with my army.

I have a couple images for you guys.

First, the summary of the battle. All his dead commanders are his mages. Unfortunately, they were just Witch Hunters, and not Grand Masters.


Second, THE GIANT CRAWLING DOOM APPROACHETH!!! hehe


More as I look at the turn further.

First off, thanks to Ulm and Agartha for their support. If anyone needs arrows or hurricanes I found a couple air sites total worth of four air gems a turn.

My silver order adepts can take on Sidhe lords so they wont be much of a problem anymore, Vanhiem dissapeared for a while but has reappeared on my border so im going to prepare myself.

Recuiting mages for the most part but also Storm Gaurds and Spire horn archers - both have some degree of shock protection and storm gaurds fly during storms, which ties in to my heavy magic strat.
In two turns ill hit evoc 7, which means shimmering fields.

Ulm - Any chance of getting some of those northern provinces back in the next couple turns ?

Sure thing, take whatever you can hold, just let me know exactly what provinces so I can move people out. And of course if there is a province that would force my units to use a different route to the eastern front I want to keep 141, 137, 130, 139 as its my root to the eastern front.

Updates:
A sidhe tried to attack me and routed because he shockwaved his arm off (dropped his frost brand too)
I found a magic site that gives me WITCHES! 1N1E 100 gold, and sacred (half upkeep) so this is awesome.
Eriu took 3 sites from me and I took back 2, but I killed 1 of his Sidhes and cut the arm off another one.
I got a vine shield, antimagic amulet, and frost brand from the Sidhe I killed, who needs help making an SC/thug?
I have 4 air and 11 water gems that I can't use, who needs them?

I'm going to attack 242 (independents).
I think I'm going to siege Eriu (157) next turn and see how that goes. If you guys can put the heat on Eriu that'd be nice.

Stretch wrote:Sure thing, take whatever you can hold, just let me know exactly what provinces so I can move people out. And of course if there is a province that would force my units to use a different route to the eastern front I want to keep 141, 137, 130, 139 as its my root to the eastern front.

Updates:
A sidhe tried to attack me and routed because he shockwaved his arm off (dropped his frost brand too)

That is just awesome.

Stretch wrote:Sure thing, take whatever you can hold, just let me know exactly what provinces so I can move people out. And of course if there is a province that would force my units to use a different route to the eastern front I want to keep 141, 137, 130, 139 as its my root to the eastern front.

Updates:
A sidhe tried to attack me and routed because he shockwaved his arm off (dropped his frost brand too)
I found a magic site that gives me WITCHES! 1N1E 100 gold, and sacred (half upkeep) so this is awesome.
Eriu took 3 sites from me and I took back 2, but I killed 1 of his Sidhes and cut the arm off another one.
I got a vine shield, antimagic amulet, and frost brand from the Sidhe I killed, who needs help making an SC/thug?
I have 4 air and 11 water gems that I can't use, who needs them?

I'm going to attack 242 (independents).
I think I'm going to siege Eriu (157) next turn and see how that goes. If you guys can put the heat on Eriu that'd be nice.

Okay stretch, joelz is back now, so whenever you're ready let me know and I'll switch him back in to command. I can imagine you wanting to stick with them though, what with ulm being pretty powerful and having an exciting life right now. But we should give joelz back his nation soon.

I haven't done the turn yet, those are just my ideas on it. If Joelz wants it back now then it's all his!

A few notes:

Hidden Forest just discovered in 175. Recruits some very nice witches (cheap, decent addition to your magic diversity).
1 month until a fortress is built in 149. Eriu tried to attack it last time and was reamed by my charging knights.

I've recruited a bunch of knights that gradually make their way over to the east side of the map to kick Eriu's butt, and on the way they lance Sidhe's. Sidhes like using mistform/air shield and other spells but wind up getting destroyed by some nice knight charging. Stick em in the front lines and ram the lances down his throat, as if/when you attack Eriu he will mass at least 10 Sidhes/Tuathas and probably try to evoke you to death again.

Stay away from militia and concentrate on elite troops, except for chaff, which militia/light infantry is fine for.

You just got another 3E mage in 169. You've got a 1S master smith back at your home base, which is good for site searching. Also a 3E master smith back there, and just this turn a 2F2E master smith in Ligrea (143) enabling some nice site searching!

Cast auspex with Oscuro while you still have him! Got at least one nice air site because of him.

The army in 236/northern area is killing indies and going to put pressure on Ashdod, because we have Ashdod on the run.

If at all possible, siege Eriu this turn (or next) to keep Eriu from summoning more cap mages. You might not have quite enough chaff, but once those halberdiers close with him they do some decent damage to his Sidhes (thanks for recruiting so many of them) with the anti-sacred Black Halberd.

You could probably take the provinces back from Eriu that he stole with like 5 halberdiers and an indie fighter and move everyone else to get ready to attack Eriu next turn, and really close him in.

Marignon has a decent army in 118 (Hergendorf) but royal guards don't have lances. If you move your troops correctly you can have 59 black knights in the 134 next turn, along with some mage support (and I got you Magma bolts/iron darts evocation). They will completely annihilate his stupid marignon army (I think) with their lance attacks, just make sure to queue up some good knight flankers on attack rear to really decimate his crossbow corps.

I bought all the archers in 181 to quickly fill up the fort of Eriu's that I stole (got 2 off him actually, he's low on forts and you should press that advantage to the hilt before he researches high enough to make your strong troops worthless) but feel free to use them as chaff or an early arrow rain on his sidhes.

I was researching up to Conjuration-3 because it was going to take forever to get to Construction 6 and summon earthpower would help a lot when your enemies start getting mage-heavy armies that you can't just trample with your massive halberdier/knight/chaff armies. Construction-6 is killer with your pretender build as I'm sure you know, though.

I can send whatever old turns you need to get caught up.

Eriu has stepped up his research in the last 2 turns. He's going to cast all kinds of crazy shit at you if you don't kill him now.

Check "The Forge" to see who I was going to send the items that I crafted last turn to (there were several requests). You are the crafter king and have a lot of hammers now... craft it up!

Knights rock and seem like good anti-sidhe-thug troops. When he uses trickery, magic, and magic items, just send 10 knights to finish him fast.

Remember to set up many chaff squads at many different levels (i.e. 5 guys in a squad together, not 30) if you siege Eriu for when he decides to band 7+ mages together and evoke the shit out of you! If you can get them up really close to him, his mages will start shockwaving you and it usually kills some of his mages or makes them rout.


Most importantly, I guess: You had your massive armies set up in pretty good shape when I took over and I've used them to build forts along the path to the east into Eriu, taken a couple Eriu forts, and dealt several heavy blows to Eriu (11 mages at least are dead and 1 lost an arm). Eriu seems to be playing oddly, like he's expecting you to play "hold and attack" games, but just queue up some frontline chaff to take the worst of his hits and have knights and strong infantry ready to charge him and close as fast as possible, especially getting to the back areas quickly. His troops suck and his mages buff so much that you can do serious damage before they're finished (or they tire themselves out evoking your chaff). You built your nation into a very big club and I have been gleefully smashing Eriu with it and it's going to keep working for a few more turns, so have at it! You've got mage support on the front lines and lines of elite troops hitting the front almost every turn.

Great job Stretch!

Mysterioso is gone. Hurrah. Good job C'tis and Pythium. Shin and I now need you to bring everything you have to bear on Ashdod.

Thanks for the gems Abyssia.

Regarding my turn:

Bad news: My Gorgon is dead. An unexpected attack by Ashdod's flying SC Zach (must have CT'ed in) before she could move out. In Lomark province 277, directly south of Ashdod's Cap. Still hold the province though despite a counter attack.

Ashdod interupted my fort construction and took 303 with an Adon and 7 Sheshei.

TC also stopped my fort construction (which would have been completed this turn) in 255 with his Deva.

Good news:

My massive assualt succeeded in retaking my fort in 281. Casualties were about even on both sides, around 110. Many Sheshei killed but several Adons escaped to 303 despite being surrounded by my forces.

TC is now threatening my other fort in 253 with a large force 130 units strong and the Deva is lurking nearby in 255.

TC is putting pressure on me to divert my attention from Ashdod most likely. I can move the remainder of my huge force to intercept TC or continue my focus on Ashdod, either taking 303, or sieging Ashdod's fort in 285 or moving on the cap with the remaining 300+ army.

Suggestions?

Agartha, Abyssia, a little help vs TC if you can.

Screenshot1: The Pangaean host breaking the seige in 281 (quite a bit of friendly fire unfortunately)



Screenshot 2: The TC host (details in Strategy thread):

Stretch, would you mind doing this turn before I take over? I would like some time to study the turn reports and I don't have too much of that currently. Also could you please send me the turn files of last 3 turns?

Bandar - I didn't move in to Ulmish territory as they didn't give me the go ahead. But I will move there next turn.

Still no Hammer I have a spare pair of Boots of the Messenger if anyone is outfitting a Thug/Battle Mage. And am available for astral or nature (genms required for the altter) forging.

But research getting more respectable now and should be climbing up the Conjuration path fairly quickly now.

Jotunheim - The bad news is my Capital fell He spammed Confusion and flew in (gift of flight) a number of troops. I'll get a screenshot and detail his tactics a bit in the appropriate thread later. Lacking magic or much of anything decent I didn't cause many casualties but I did kill a few Skinshifters and Barbarians.

The better news is that my couple of Gyjyas escaped thanks to me opening an escape route from my Capital with my stealth units and my Pretender this turn and a bit of luck with them waking up from spell fatigue just in time to route away This leaves me with both an S2+ and B3N1+ casters. Plus an extra Skratti. Even my Priest and Vaetti Hag escaped and a handful of sundry animals and giants I don't really have time to build an Illusionist at Bolivar's Lab or knock it down. But Illusionists - while a great find for most nations - don't add much to Vanheim.

Vanheim now has a lot of troops (scouts say 200, but I think it is less than this) at my Capital led by at least 2 Vanadrotts and 3 Vanjarls. More details on these later. If we are lucky these will try and go north and kill off my remaining fort and troops. That will involve him in another siege taking up time and basically fighting a nation that is not exactly a big threat to Team vet at the moment.

But he may also go straight for Caelum which would be worse for us. He has a lot of troops and decent air mages with that army. I saw very few evocation type spells being cast but he has decent reserach now. He should have at least arrow fend by now if not Storm so Caelum should not bank on missle weapons or even flying to help him in that fight. Even though Caelum has plenty of air mages and good evocation research the fights I have seen so far have shown these to be ineffective vs Vanheim. Most of Vanheim's army is Skinshifters. With their second shape even a direct Thunderstrike only shapchanges one or two and the next Thuderstrike usually hits a different Skinshifter.

This army currently has NO astral mages with it (but he may be able to teleport Adepts of Iron there). Might be worth risking mind hunting if anyone can, although his air mages have reasonable MR. I'll try and get some screenshots of them. Basically the cast a few buffs and other minor spells and faigued out. Sidhe Lord Thugs they were not, but they are capable mages given the spells.

for septimus, i move my army vs TC (more than 200 Abysia Soldiers)

I can cast "send lesser horror" and "rain of toads"(thanks septimus) where is Ashod's Capital? 304?

Who need of a "send lesser horror"?

Way to go, Raiel! OK, the Ermorian campaign is finished, and I've already turned my attention to Ashdod. Took 302 (against minimal PD only) with a large and mage heavy army, and will move from there against 305 next turn (or I might hold up and build a lab in 302 to pass out some gear to my mages). I also took 320 from Vanheim/Ashdod with an army of pure fodder (again, no real opposition). It will take another two turns for my northern forces to regroup for the attack after monitoring the Ermorian situation, but after that, I'll be able to threaten Ashdod's capital from two directions.

Anyhow, research is finally starting to pick up, I'll have Thau-5 in another turn or two (Soul Slay and Gateway), and then I head up the Conjuration tree (I'm jealous of Marignon's angels!).

Viccio, yes, 304 is Ashdod's capital, so drop those frogs! Does anyone know where the Father of Winter is? He'd be the best target for Horrors I'd think. Others might have good suggestions too.

Joelz wrote:Stretch, would you mind doing this turn before I take over? I would like some time to study the turn reports and I don't have too much of that currently. Also could you please send me the turn files of last 3 turns?

Um, okay I accidentally set you to take the turns again for the moment, but I think I have switched it back now. Stretch, please verify that the turns are going to the proper email address...

Noob Gold Total - 393,166
Noob Gem Total - 2,191

Vet Gold Total - 155,287
Vet Gem Total - 1,136

Fun fact: The noob team's gem income for this turn was exactly 222.

OK, I can take this turn, and yeah I got the messages that it switched away and then back to my correct address. Bandar, I'll send a hammer this turn, and you can take whatever provinces you need as long as you don't cut off lines of attack to the east, just let me know what they are. It's less for me to have to worry about keeping away from Eriu.

I had one more turn of finding no gems sites. Getting use to it, really I am.

I have my force at 222, and have begun my assult on TC in Prov 224. He just moved his force out of there, but he beefed up PD. I should win no problem.

I am moving more forces into 222 to re fortify, and should be good. I have a prov 237, that he could take and it is of course one of my better gem producers. But I am going to leave it undefended becasue if we push him back, then it should be fine.

Here is a look at my war zone:

Stretch wrote: Bandar, I'll send a hammer this turn, and you can take whatever provinces you need as long as you don't cut off lines of attack to the east, just let me know what they are. It's less for me to have to worry about keeping away from Eriu.

Thanks and thanks

I'll post the province I am going to this evening when I can access the game. I will just be marching through.

OK, I just realized I have an issue with it now being winter - all my mages are old (some super old), and Ashdod has a Death dominion

I think I'm going to have to hold where I'm at at 302 and 329 (I'm withdrawing from 320 for the time being) for two turns, and try to preach the Death scales away before Late Winter hits. The turn after this, I'll probably forge a couple of Shrouds just to be on the safe side too.

Well, hopefully my proximity to his capital will still give Ashdod something to consider, and it will also give me time to sort out my supply situation, and also pass out some useful gear to my mages as well, before I go back into action.

Septimius, I think you can afford to divert a little attention towards, tc now that we've got the top two noobs on ashdod as well. Ashdod is the preferred target, but don't shoot yourself in the foot and let tien'chi walk all over you just to attack ashdod.

viccio wrote:for septimus, i move my army vs TC (more than 200 Abysia Soldiers)

I can cast "send lesser horror" and "rain of toads"(thanks septimus) where is Ashod's Capital? 304?

Who need of a "send lesser horror"?

I doubt a lesser horror would kill Vanheim's SC. hes a bit strong for that. Feel free to try if you like though, if anybody knows where he is.

If my attack on Marignon's angel this turn doesn't work, I wouldn't mind seeing how a lesser horror does on him - he's not incredible for an SC, especially before his buff cycle.

TwoBits wrote:OK, I just realized I have an issue with it now being winter - all my mages are old (some super old), and Ashdod has a Death dominion

I think I'm going to have to hold where I'm at at 302 and 329 (I'm withdrawing from 320 for the time being) for two turns, and try to preach the Death scales away before Late Winter hits. The turn after this, I'll probably forge a couple of Shrouds just to be on the safe side too.

Well, hopefully my proximity to his capital will still give Ashdod something to consider, and it will also give me time to sort out my supply situation, and also pass out some useful gear to my mages as well, before I go back into action.

I'm going to snipe some of Ashdod's provinces in the south where I have positive dominion already: specifically, I'm moving to 254 this turn and probably 244 next turn, unless another army appears. I likewise will probably hold off on the push on Laerian Swamps (267) until after late winter. I'm sending my stealth-prophet into the area ahead of the armies to hopefully cut down on some of that negative dominion. Other than reinforcing 280, I don't foresee any other major military activity for next turn. I still need to look at the forging/gems/research situation.

Hello all! The battle against Ermor went rather well. Yet another instance of "If only I'd known that BEFORE this battle!", though. Lost only 2 mages, a few dozen chaff and 22N/2W gems - just about worth it, in my opinion.

I'm moving 10 mages with chaff to defend 317 and 322. If Ashdod doesn't attack, and thereby force gem use, I'll probably be ready to take back 303 next turn.

Sending 2 skull mentors to ulm and forging two more. Sending C'tis more death gems and another hammer or two would be a good idea. Holding off on thug production until Ulm is satisfied.

I'm finishing Construction 6 this turn. Not much more to report.

Bandar is moving in to the Ulmish fort area of Omicria (221). Just passing through. I'll then go to the Swamps or Ferra then on to the indies and you can recapture the areas after I am through. And thanks!

Bandar is looking for earth gems with which to make Communion matrixes. With a pair of earth boots we can make crystal coins too.

Attacking 242, 157 (Eriu capital), and 122 (from Eriu, but it's off the beaten path from Caelum and next to my capital). I'll have reinforcements to 157 the turn after. I'm not sure if I can win the siege but I will do some damage, I hope.

Sent Raiel a dragon helmet, charcoal shield, frost brand, and dwarven hammer.
Sent bandar a dwarven hammer.
Sent Pangea a fire ring, I think.
Sent 1 more item but I forget what it was.

Making shield of gleaming gold, fire brand, and fire helmet for Raiel to send next turn, as well as another hammer.

Caelum I hope you are taking 114 from Eriu. I'm leaving it specifically for you.

I read you loud and clear re: Omicria, Bandar. I'm pushing up through the indies towards Ashdod so you can just follow me up until we get near some Ashdod provinces and then I'll split off if you've got a stronger army to attack his fort with. I will be 2 provinces ahead of you so we won't be in danger of bumping heads.

Lab going up in my witch province, temple going up next turn. I just noticed that I also get 1S1N shamans to recruit there once I have those lab/temples up! ULM JUST GOT DIVERSIFIED.