I can start the game tomorrow.

Day 1.
Good luck to us.

[This message has been edited by Vovy (edited 11-09-2009 @ 10:58 AM).]

I've been sick the past couple of days. I'll send the turn out tomorrow (have to reinstall SM too since I messed up the resources while testing other stuff)

Edit (11/12): Turn will be out later this evening. Sorry for the delay.

[This message has been edited by Timelord (edited 11-12-2009 @ 01:01 AM).]

It` s ok.
I will go on on sunday.

The Witch - Day 1

Another invasion of Narnia begins; this time it shall be more successful than the previous attempts. The one who leads these other beasts shall be caged and taught tricks to perform in my personal circus.

Turn sent

Day 2.
First bloodly fights. I need in more holymakers.

The Witch - Day 2

A lucky indie archer killed 2 of my lvl 2s in 2 rounds, including my healer. This is going to get bad as I don't yet have a monastery.

Good news, though, is we have taken the central watchtowers and reconnaissance reveals no enemy troops nearby.

Turn sent

Day 3.

Captured tower in center. 2 or 3 small fights.

The Witch - Day 3

With the loss of our 2 lvl2 units yesterday and the appearance of a knight among the Lion's retinue, it became clear that our forces were outnumbered greatly.
Some drastic measures had to be taken though we would have preferred postponing that for a day...but we couldn't since the Lion's forces were within reach.

Turn sent

Day 4.
I see, that Witch is close from me. Preparing for battle.

The Witch - Day 4

We are also preparing for the upcoming battle by slowly healing our troops and recruiting where possible. The loss of that healer on Day 2 is being sorely felt.

We also had a couple of wolf riders join us way behind the front lines.

Turn sent

Day 5.
Some small fights. Footing to Witch`s army.

The Witch - Day 5

We start consolidating our armies. A big fight is expected for tonight or tomorrow.

We also take control of all the central watchtowers and I think that position will remain unchanged for a turn at least. More important, that sloop is no more.

Turn sent

Day 6.
My army is ready to invasion. Enemy located approcsimately at 1 or 2 turns from me.

The Witch - Day 6

More bad news. It seems the Lion is rolling in money. He recruited not only Prince Caspian today but also another general named Ravencourt. On top of that, he has managed to research Casting Specialist 1 - bridging the gap in our casting prowess.
My zephyr also revealed the strength of his armies. 17 units are on the path to my Orc town where my units are healing...and that is not counting his concealed units, wherever they are now

Turn sent

I ripped a bank.

Day 7.
I see Witch`s army. It will my the biggest fight in this tournament.

The Witch - Day 7

I failed to take advantage of the bridge today. I moved my spy to check out concealed units and in haste, moved him back to the city. I could have easily positioned my 3 stacks near the bridge so that only 2 stacks of Lion's (one on a balloon) could have attacked. Still, the walls might provide some advantage...let's see. I expect the Lion to attack tonight. 21 units of the Lion vs 17 units of mine.

I have stronger troops, I think but the battle is a little difficult to predict. If this was TC online, I'd say the Lion will win handsomely but FC can be quirky

In the south, Maugrim and Miraz are consolidating forces to cross the teleporter.

Turn sent

Day 8.
It was lucky strike! My fury army terminated all north-eastern Witch`s soldiers. Kills 17, losses 11. But kerrnel of my army (strong hi-level units) was survived this battle. I have 11 experienced units and opened road to Witch`s capital in eastern side of map.

Besides I am collecting forces to protect my south-western lands.

[This message has been edited by Vovy (edited 11-21-2009 @ 12:53 PM).]

The Witch - Day 8

Well, the armies at the Orc town did what they were supposed to do - draw out Kokkor's formidable forces from the homeland. While Kokkor was celebrating his army's victory, Maugrim stole up to the Lion's capitol with a beetle and a cavalry and killed him.

Good game, Vovy.
I'll post a detailed analysis of my strategy soon.

Final turn sent

This bug rider was from your goblin`s city?

Thancks for the game. Good luck!

[This message has been edited by Vovy (edited 11-21-2009 @ 01:33 PM).]

The tunneling was mainly done by Maugrim who got Tunneling as his first upgrade on day 2.

Here's what happened... (in the best 'Monk' voice I can)

Day 1 -> The quest stone spawns a yeti and penguin as infidels, which are recruited and along with the campsite recruits + spy, take out the ancient ruins.
The plan is to take the recruitment site, get a boat and transport the bulk of the troops across to take the Elven town and nearby resources. The main idea behind this is to get more gold income (and deprive the Lion of it) and also to force his hand early.

Day 2 -> Maugrim gets his first level up and one of the choices is Tunneling. This changes my whole strategy.
The new plan is to have my surface troops engage or distract the Lion's troops and make him think an invasion is coming from the surface while Maugrim and his troops travel through the underground. I will have Haste in 2 more days; so that should be just in time after all the tunneling is done.

Day 3,4 -> Troops on the surface head across, capture the Elven town and raze it. After that, they capture the nearby prod resources and head back to consolidate at the Orc town.
Maugrim and troll take the Orc town while the other troops take the Goblin village and prod resources (which gives Champ Guild) and head back in balloon.

Day 5,6 -> Mainly cleaning up nearby areas and waiting for Kokkor to come over. The first beetle produced 2 turns early so that is additional firepower for Maugrim's army. I also notice that the Lion himself is outside his tower and doing some conquering but I control myself from digging through to the dwarven town since I don't have good intel in that area.

Day 7 -> Kokkor's forces are just a turn away. I knew the troops in the Orc town were sacrificial lambs but I should have exploited the bridge to position them better.
Maugrim and his forces move past the tunnel created. To be safe, the tunnel was dug through to an obstacle so that only flying units can cross back, should Maugrim's troops fail.

Day 8 -> Kokkor's army won, as expected. Maugrim avenges the deaths of his comrades swiftly
--------------------

I was half-expecting Kokkor to turn back or the Lion to explore a little more around day 4-7. If I was the Lion, I would have been concerned where Maugrim was and also the other lvl3s that the Witch starts out with -> especially since the zephyr in the south showed there were no troops there. Still, everything went according to plan and I'm not complaining

Ladies and gentlemen, this is TNS, live from the scene where Timelord has just defeated Vovy!

Timelord, congratulations with your victory! I am certain will see some more images coming up to clearly see what happened. For example, did Maugrim still stay with the balloon?
And, are you looking forward to your match against Swolte?

Vovy, we are sorry to see you go! The defeat must have come as a great surprise, as the logs indicated YOU SEEMED to be winning!
How have you enjoyed this tournament? And, will you be back next year?
It was great to have a strong competitor in the tournament!

-error-

[This message has been edited by Swolte (edited 11-21-2009 @ 09:06 PM).]

Yes, I have sent the screenshots/collages I had to Enginerd for the video.

As for the match against Swolte, I am not too worried. He's likely to shoot himself in the foot anyways
Seriously though, it will be one of the toughest matches in the tournament - both for me and him. I just hope that I won't make too many glaring mistakes (like not taking advantage of the bridge in this match or overlooking the fact that there were actually 4 watchtowers in the centre - that was really bad!)

Congratulations TL, what a game and great screenshots. I am always amazed at the things I can learn from watching other players. What a great trap to suck in Vovy while sneaking around underground ready to pop up and the right moment. That thought had crossed my mind but I never had the guts to implement it, well done.

Also, really great to see how strategies change when unexpected things happen. A lucky break on that tunnel ability turns into a game changer, well, thx to TL for sending great pix, the cut and paste made the video production go quickly. Vovy told me earlier he wouldn't have any screenshots. Really was great to have him the tourney, a great game.

Enjoy!

I don`t think that Timelord has unit with tonneling. I had enought forces to secure my capital, but I thought that TL will come to me on the balloon through the center of map. And I made sureprize to him not far from the center.

I will be back next year, if anybody russian-speaking participator (for example Oleg) will tell me about registration of new tournament.

It was great tournament. This is my first games by e-mail. Thancks a lot to managers of competitions. Good luck to all. See you later.

[This message has been edited by Vovy (edited 11-22-2009 @ 03:01 AM).]