Count me in. I have no preference for a race.

phiroc01@yahoo.com

I'll take the elves. I've never tried that many handicaps before it should be fun.

Thundarr
tennisgeek@netpipeline.net

1 more to go....

OK, I'll take humans

thanks!

I included last wolf already, so we still need 1 more....

Are you sure? It seems to me that you have you, Minstrel, Thundarr and Lastwolf, which occupy all the slots available. If there is another player needed, I'll fill in. I have no preference for race, though be warned that I be a newbie.

Edit: my email is revisededition@hotmail.com

[This message has been edited by Nonchalance (edited 01-01-2003 @ 10:21 PM).]

I'm pretty good about giving noobies a break, so welcome aboard.

it is a beta test, so I dont want to be involved myself.

please just be sure toplay your turns and post promptly, and have the courtisy to let us know if there will be any delays in getting your turn out.

I will be sending it out shortly

enjoy!

I will be on vacation from Friday afternoon Jan 3rd to Tuesday January 7th. Otherwise I'm fairly fast on turns.

Aqua Claus:

It looks like our corner of the world is, uh, rather not populated. All we've managed to find are two small villages, which will take ages to develop into something useful. But we're not losing hope - our exploration is just starting. Maybe tomorrow we'll find something more exciting.

turn sent

Melonamee Day 1

Ah what a chill frigid land. Matches my heart. A Spirit confers a quest upon me for a temple cleaning to the north. Yea with my bank account, I'll get right on that.

Checking out the kingdoms finances, hmmm it seems I have run up a huge credit card debt in my previous life. Looks like I'll be dipping into my 401K if I don't quickly find some cities to conquer or a few gold mines.

Upon surveying my new kingdom I've decided my priorties. I liberated an air node from a wolf pack that obviously had no use for it. My scouts report back nothing but snow, trees, caves and wolves on the horizon.

Go forth my elves and conquer. Remember cash is king and my name is cash.

Turn sent to ummm next guy.

Burgermeister X (a weird name for a Fire addict)

Pretty desolated around here and much too cold for me. Fortunately a few furnaces help keeping the place from freezing.
Moving with my faithful war dogs to purify all these gnomes by the Fire.

Turn sent to Mingle Kringle.

Dwarves - Day 1

Not much happened today. Recieved spirit quest, and I be on my way to fulfil it, so as to appease the gods. Since this is my first PBEM game, and I don't have a wizard tower, I be very, very cautious. I may already have made a small mistake, but I hope not. Losing quite a lot of gold, and this is a top priority.

Turn Sent

Aqua Claus:

Looks like the North Pole is a much more hostile place than we anticipated. We've been attacked by a patrol of wolves, who massacred my unsuspecting scouts. Well, at least my economy is recovering - those scouts really valued their questionable services.

turn sent

Melonamee Day 2

Looking around frantically for cash sources I see some villages on the horizon. Alas there is a barrier of wolves inhabiting my forest preventing me from reaching these much needed villages.

Mana is abundant is this neck of the woods. Too bad I can't find a local usury to convert this to cash.

Turn Sent to Burgermeister X

[This message has been edited by Thundarr (edited 01-07-2003 @ 08:22 PM).]

Burgemeister X Turn 2

We were harassed by a wolf troop last night. Not much to be afraid of but they wounded some of our troops.

Today we took one of the watchtowers guarding the pass. We are now ready for an assault on Frostgate. Tomorrow night my minions will enjoy roasted frostlings.

Turn sent.

Aqua Claus:

The wolf patrol that went on killing my lone helpless scouts was finally taken care of... whew, that was sooo close. Also, a spirit approached us and requested that we get rid of some "unnatural creatures". She must surely be joking - with the sad remains of my army and three puny villages, it's a challenge we cannot meet. We continue our exploration, it looks like the North Pole is a very sad and deserted place.

Sorry I posted so late, I just now found the time.

Day 2 of the Dwarves:

This day be an excellent one indeed! A combination of daring, ruthlessness, a little luck and even a bit of skill(!) made this day most profitable.

First, I fulfilled my Spirit of Order's quest to hunt and destroy a pack of unlawful Hell Hounds. I be rewarded with the choice of either a powerful spell or a sum of gold. Being the Dwarf that I be, the choice was an obvious one. With financial problems secured, I set my mind on the next matter of hand.

I noticed a pack of 6 wolves 1 hex away from one of my stack containing 2 berserkers and a pioneer. Looking at the wolves' movement points, I noticed it be at 2! There be part of the luck. I be 1 hex too distant to join the combat myself, so I gambled by attacking the wolves with 2 beserkers, 1 cannon and 1 axeman. I knew not the power of such wolves, but I feared the worst. To add to the troubles, my troops started distanced from each other. My lone axeman managed to hold 3 wolves at bay while the cannon fired unmercilessly into the wolf pack. My berserkers (thank goodness for 28 movement!) raced as fast as their stout little legs could carry them and reached the combat (they dispatched 2 wolves on ther way) just as the lone axeman be overwhelmed and the cannon be taking hits. It seems Dwarves fight well when outnumbered...

Then I took one of the towers in the pass.

So, with the gold I recieved, and the valour my berserkers showed me, I be on my way to produce more berserkers.

Turn Sent...

Melonamee Day 3

A day of the Good and the Bad and the Ugly.

The Good, Survived a pack of wolves attacking my vanguard of conquest. Ended up with 3 more wolves to join my increasing army.

The Bad, a roving band of evil attacks one of my scouts that had managed to avoid the ravening hordes of wolves only to be attacked a triad of evil elves. Hopefully he died with a smile on his face.

The ugly, despite my mostly successful day of fighting the upkeep of my swelling army is pushing me to the brink of bankruptcy. My scouts report no goldmines or other sources of income that will be in my grasp before the bank of Meonamee runs dry.

Turn Sent to B X.
____________
I received a restart message from Mingle Kringle. I didn't see an explanation in your post. Can you clue us in?

Burg X - Day 3

We took the frosting's city but it costed us dearly. Seven of our dear figthers had to be burried in the snow, not the best place to rest for a fire warrior. We managed to keep our hero alive but that was close.

After accepting the Magic quest, we decided to destroy the Nature shrine in the frostling city.

The city wall should give us a better defense against two approaching wolf packs.

Our troops' morale is boosted by the smell of roasted frostling meat.

The surrounding landscape looks desperately cold.

Turn sent.

Day 3 of the Dwarves:

This day was good, but not as good as the second. We managed to destroy yet another pack of ravening wolves, though with minor losses.

As a small scout group descended into the underground, they be struck dumb by the sheer amount of treasures scattered about as if from some god. One obstacle only stand in their way: a stack of three minos. I attacked, expecting to be in Mingle Kringle's domain, as they were in his domain in the upper realms. Alas, it does not penetrate the rock seperating the two realms, and my troops died. We managed to take out two minotaurs, and severely wounding the third. Also, it put out income in the positive. Removing this last guardian of the treasure of the deep is a top priority.

Turn Sent.

About the turn restart:

At the beginning of my second turn, I recieved a small message (I do not remember exactly what it said) but I had read in these forums that a restart message said that the turn played was not the original and the player would be branded as a cheater or something along these lines, and since it was nothing like this, I thought nothing of it. It didn't say anything about it in the events window, so I just played my turn, saved it and sent it out. I didn't change computers or anything. What might possibly have caused the problem is that I reinstalled AoW a while back, because if I alt-tabbed it and came back to it, the screen would be very choppy, but I don't know if I did this before or after I played my first turn. I didn't recieve any messages after this turn, so I think it's all right now. I realise my very good fortune during my second turn, coupled with my restart message might sound suspicious, but please believe that I did not intentionally restart my turn, and I'll be sure to report any notifications I get when I open my turn. Sorry if I caused any worry.

Aqua Claus:

Another wolf pack is advancing. But now we know what to expect, and hopefully take care of them with smaller losses. Other than that, everything's peaceful. We continue our exploration, eager to make contact with other nations.

Melonamee Day 4

After a visit from Tony the legbreaker on the disadvantages of borrowing money I exort my crew to throw caution to the wind and attack a frostling village. My brave crew took the village but lost one of my prized druids. Victory is sweet! Positive cash flow again.

One of my scouts managed to find some gold just laying around. Now I can even build some new units.

More wolves move in on the horizon. Heres hoping I can build some archers quickly.

Turn sent

Burg X - Day 4

The wolves did not attack but are moving to our rear. Trying to reach them with a few of my best elements.

Turn sent.

Day 4 of the Dwarves:

The last minotaur guarding the depths was defeated today by the great Mingle Kringle himself. After having descended into the tunnels, he greedily started to grab all the treasure lying around, but soon checked himself, and proceeded cautiously. Who knows what lurks here, in the dark recesses of the underground...?

Not much else to report. I fear to send my pioneer, escorted by a small party, out beyond my borders, for fear that all the creatures guarding their treasures are set on 'guard area'. We'll wait and amass a large army before continuing...

Turn Sent.

Aqua Claus:

Looks like Mingle Kringle was way too careless in this hostile world (if I remember correctly). So, only three of us remain now. I only hope we'll at least live long enough to meet each other. My southern scout was attacked by a concealed force. Let's hope they are just guarding the area - I cannot sustain enough troops to defend against a flood of hostile patrols. I'm still looking for some natural resources that would allow me to maintain larger army.

turn sent.

Melonamee Day 5

And then there were 3.

My brave elven archers holed up and waited for the wolf pack attack. 6 wolves bought the big one with no losses. Unfortunately another pack slunk around and is just outside my wizard's town with only one wolf for support. It was looking like I was going to buy it like Kringle but I pulled out my fairie and now I know I will survive.

turn sent

Greenmonster I would recommend for the next time for this map to have the wizards start out with 2 or 3 more level 3 units or a hero to better survive the wolfish onslaughts.

Burg X - Day 5

We fought vigorously a pack of wolves tonight and had to bury one of our brave soldiers. Fortunately, another pack of 6 wolves accepted to join us. This new party makes our forces less miserable.

Looks like Mingle Kringle has not been very wise to start exploring the underground alone !! So long.

Turn sent.

PS. Like in several of my other games, I had an unexplained restart message today. Should I put a password on my game to avoid them? Any clue?

[This message has been edited by Minstrel (edited 01-12-2003 @ 06:20 PM).]

You can try that. I didn't get a restart this time so I don't know what the issue was.

Darn, I guess I'm out. I knew it was stupid to send Mingle Kringle into the depths alone, but all that treasure overcame me...

From what I saw of it, it looks like an excellent map, with only a few short-comings (for a newbie, at least). One of them is that you do not start out with very many troops, and there are a LOT of independants moving around, (Like the roving packs of wolves) which will whittle down your forces, leaving too few units to take out the independants guarding valuable resources. I guess you just have to be very, very careful wityh what forces yuou have, but since you start with such a deficit in your income, you are tempted to sacrifice some expendable units to loosen the load. Since you start with basically nothing, it's difficult to make up for losses quickly.

From what I've read here, some sides have it easier, like the Elves for example, who can just gain control of the Wolves to make up for some of their losses, or the Orcs who have naturally tough units and who even came across another town. This is all just from what I've read though, and I have no idea if they faced tougher opposition than the Dwarves did.

I guess a good idea to go about in this scenario would be to move all of your forces together and take out enemy stacks one by one, but this might lead to being behind your opponents later in the game, (because there are so many valuable things spread out all around, and you can effectively only set out in one direction,) and to a huge loss of gold.

It seems the other players aren't doing too badly, so it might just be that it's a very difficult scenario and not suitable to new players. Although I do admit to spreading myself much too thinly, because I was tempted by the seemingly easy-to-get riches in the depths, and that was my downfall in the end.

Nonetheless, it seems to be a nice, challenging map, and I'd love to play it again, either as the Dwarves, and not commit as many mistakes this time around, or another side and see another side of the scenario.

Good luck to the rest of you guys, and I'll definitely drop by now and again to see how it goes.

Edit: Just as I was ending my turn (basically going over the events) it said that the turn generated a restart message and to contact Burg X. What does this mean? This is the second time my game generated a restart message. Is there something wrong with my game?

Also, I saw that the Orc player (Minstrel, is it?) had sent me a message, but the 'Mingle Kringle was defeated' event popped up before, and I didn't get a chance to read it. Do you want to tell me what it said, or was it not important?

Again, good luck to the rest of you!

[This message has been edited by Nonchalance (edited 01-12-2003 @ 07:23 PM).]

Aqua Claus:

We continue our struggles. Today, I had to bribe a pack of wolves (I was too weak to fight them), which left me with almost no gold whatsoever. I'm planning to attempt finishing my quest - hey, I have to lose some troops anyway...

Melonamee Day 6

Bad day while I was gone the indies had a field day with my armies. I lost my village, lost my army that had my last druid and a triad of evil mopped up my wolf pack. Down to my last 33 gold so I disbanded my Pioneers and I'm only at -22 on income.

Wolf pack is hungrily eyeing me for dinner.

Turn sent.

This probably will be my last turn.

Burg X - Day 6

Some of my troops started to explore the underground today. The remaining ones are resting with me in the frostling village. Not much for today.

Turn sent.

Aqua Claus:

Today we finished the quest. The defense of the ruins we were supposed to clear was pretty strong - a rift lord and some rift spawns.
My loyal wolves and myself (from a safe distance) quickly dispatched the spawns. The rift lord took a lot more effort to kill, but even he eventually had to fall, surrounded by my forces.
We found some useless dwarven tool (bah, stupid dwarves) and a heap of gold, which was very needed. With the mountain path open and no more patrols in sight, we'll now go north. Our scouts have already spotted a poorly defended frostling town. It will be ours soon.
We're still waiting for the reward from the spirit of nature - she was pretty eager to give us the quest, but where's our well deserved reward?!!

Melonamee Day 7

The wolves spared me for some unknown reason and are moving north. I must leave an offering to the god of nature for sparing me.

I managed to take back the undefended town I lost before my knees were broken by Guido. With mostly summoned beings my cashflow looks like I might save enough to bribe some wolves in a couple of turns.

Turn sent

Burg X - Day 7

Not much happended today. We continued to explored the underground tunnels without seeing anything. The surface looks as desolated with only a few strongly guarded items and lone wolf packs.

Turn sent.

check the topic for beta 3 for some tips for all the races...

Aqua Claus:

We are going north. Today we cleared another watch tower infested by some frostlings. I slightly underestimated them, and took some losses, but I should be back on track when another wolf patrol comes to join my forces. I already see one...
Weird - still nothing from the Spirit of Nature! I completed the quest yesterday, and now when it's time to pay, she avoids me. That's not the way to treat valiant adventurers! Next time she comes around looking for some suckers to get them in trouble, I will know better.
Also, a great hero joined us today... Fubarno... strange - I'd swear I've already heard the name before.

Melonamee Day 8

My elven army huddles in the frosty city for comfort from all the wolves outside. We should be safe enough to hold out for reenforcements but if the evil triad attacks we fear we are lost.

Spirit of Nature thanks me for my wisdom in solving my quest. Too bad she gave me some rogues instead of a pile of gold I had hoped for.

Turn sent

Burg X - Day 8

Not much to tell today. We continued our exploration of the underground maze. Still nothing in sight. Another group of wolves joined us and we are heading towards some resources.

Turn sent

some bugs have been squashed.... see beta 3 for details.

will also be starting beta 4 which includes these fixes and updates.

sign up if interested.