Archons, day 1.

Ahem. After an extremely long nap, I shake myself from my slumber and decide that it's time to whip this kingdom into shape. Sorry about the delay...

My legions are on the march.

Turn sent.

Nekron - Undead - Day1

My troops explore, and spy some valuable resources.

TS

Archons, day 2.

Muahahahaha....

On of the strangest turns I've ever played, but it might well turn out alright... much will be clearer in the morning.

Turn sent.

Nekron - Undead - Day2

Hmmmm, What could my adversary be up to already on Day 2? I suspect that I'll find out soon enough.

Unfortunately, nothing but the mundane for me. More exploration and resource gathering.

TS

Anon, turn 3.

The world's slowest 'championship' continues (and it's all my fault ). Methodically peeking under every rock and root in my kingdom, looking for resources. Nothing exciting to report.

Turn sent.

Nekron - Undead - Day3

Well, part of the "day 2" mystery is solved -- Anon was sent to the void, or so the scribes say. I wonder if he cleared his magic vault, or was he advancing to the Elven city?

I suspect the latter, because his hero and a lone charioteer were found camped there, without support -- magical or mundane. The poisoned, cursed, and dis-enchanted charioteer (courtesy of an enchanted bladedancer and a dispel magic) was cut down along with the hero escort; the fact that FC favors missile over melee surely did not help Anon's cause.

My forces are all severly wounded, however, and if Anon has a relief force in striking distance then my victory will be short lived. The rest of his army is *somewhere*; I hope I do not find out where it is the hard way.

TS

Anon, turn 4.

Continuing at a snail's pace against my extremely understanding opponent .

Ouch.

Turn sent.

Nekron - Undead - Day4

A slow day of consolidation and healing. Elves and DarkElves reunite, and plan for the continuing campiagn.

TS

Anon, day 5.

Doing some regrouping of my own, after the fiasco a couple of days ago. I see that the game judges my performance thus far as "pathetic" . I wonder if any wandering heros will see things differently...

Turn sent.

Nekron - Undead - Day5

A copy of yesterday, except that a few scouts a well enough to begin seeking the enemy. I'm sure that he is planning something nasty

TS

Anon, day 6.

Gathering my defenses... Still rated as pathetic by the computer. This could get humiliating. I'm sure that all the neighborhood heros are running for the hills...

Turn sent.

Restart caused by a system lockup (apparently, the game doesn't like it when my wireless mouse goes to sleep...I'll have to remember to play faster ) sorry about that.

[This message has been edited by JWorth (edited 11-10-2003 @ 01:42 AM).]

Nekron - Undead - Day6

Not seeing the enemy is more bothersome than fighting him.
Scouts continu searching for some sign of our crafty foe.

TS. A restart message greeted me as I opened the game, for no apparent reason. It's the third one this weekend though, and they've all occured after a savegame crash of another game (fight for life). No battles or anything else important occured.

[This message has been edited by Dafyth (edited 11-10-2003 @ 08:56 AM).]

Anon, day 7.

Need intelligence (and more time to play ).

Continuing to slowly stabilize the position (I hope).

Turn sent.

Nekron - Undead - Day7

Well, Anon has been busy. I have made contact with the bulk of his forces; in some cases hanging my scouts out without defense. But the intelligence gained will hopefully be worth the cost, and I have some better ideas of how to plan next.

TS

Anon, day 8.

Nekron's vampires have been busy as well -- the undead hero makes an appearance on my borders with an impressive mob in his wake. I set my carpenters to work cutting stakes by the wagonload...

Elsewhere, some minor skirmishes, which go well -- a tower and a water node are returned to their rightful owner, and I make the first dent in the unnatural horde -- a skeleton and an efreet are laid to their final rest.

Turn sent.

[This message has been edited by JWorth (edited 11-29-2003 @ 03:29 AM).]

Nekron - Undead - Day8

Heh, it is as I feared -- my scouts pay the price for my aggresive exploration. My next sets of scouts shall have a little more support. Hopefully they will fare better.

TS

Anon, day 9.
Nothing too exciting to report, except for the fact that I've finally moved up from "pathetic" -- now I'm "infamous". We'll see if any heroes can be convinced to overlook my reputation...

Busy fortifying the dark elven city of Astori in the west, and sent out a raiding party in the center to grab some resources and see what's going on. Let's hope they fare better than Nekron's scouts did.

Turn sent.

[This message has been edited by JWorth (edited 12-07-2003 @ 04:54 AM).]

Nekron - Undead - Day9

The Dark Elf city has been reinforced well -- I will have to wait until tomorrow to attack.

My Elven garrison has also been recalled, as a strong Charioteer has arrived in the area. I cannot let the ELven city fall.

My Hero continues her trek North. Things will get messy should Anon have access to Sacred Woods. The bottleneck at his Capital will be a tough nut to crack if that is the case.

TS

Anon, day 10.
Well, yes, the concern about holy woods was well founded...though the initial effect was disappointing, and I've decided to offer Nekron the option of starting a fight, after my holy vines have had a chance to take further effect. It'll be interesting to see what the undead hero decides to do.

In the south, my unicorn grabs the tower on the approach to the elven city to check out the view. Hmm...seems that the elves have turned traitor and are cheerfully cooperating with the evil horde. We'll have to do something about that (and give my unruly dark elves a lecture on the virtues of obedience).

In the west, today is the day that Nekron has promised to storm Astori. I hope I have enough pointy sticks stockpiled...

Turn sent.

[This message has been edited by JWorth (edited 12-08-2003 @ 09:09 PM).]

Nekron - Undead - Day10

Anon springs a surprise within a surprise – not only sacred woods, but two stacks of attackers to box in my beleaguered troops.

As he left me the option to attack, I felt honor bound to take it before he could use more magic against me. My poison and death magic (especially from the double strike Blade Dancer), the Charioteers’ preference for archery, and a chance to dispel some of the enchantments even the field of battle a bit.

In the end, I lost 13 brave warriors to his 14. My two surviving units limp away ‘ere the remaining Charioteer and Unicorn in the general area can hunt them down. But I fear it is too little, too late anyway.

I have also withdrawn my troops from the Dark Elven city for general homeland defense in case Anon has a follow up for his devastating 1-2 punch.

This day belongs to Anon – I salute my crafty adversary.

TS

Anon, day 11.

Well, that didn't go completely according to plan. I'd thought the advance guard would be strong enough to get the job done on its own. Now, I'll have to detach scouts from the follow-on forces to play hunt-the-leader... Still, no complaints here...the undead army has scattered, and I suspect that a long game favors the side of light -- already, the supply of independant recruits for Nekron's nighmare seductresses is greatly reduced.

Is it possible that the undead army that decamped today from the west plans to march all the way across the battlefield to reinforce the turncoat elves? I'm sceptical...

Turn sent.

[This message has been edited by JWorth (edited 12-13-2003 @ 04:38 PM).]

Nekron - Undead - Day10

My poor hero is between a rock and a hard place -- literally. I have to decide wehter to test the Cavern of the Damned, or the forces of light. A relief force is headed from the other side of the tunnel, and I trust it will be strong enough to provide a few more options.

Perhaps a little pressure in the West will ease things in the East a bit?

TS

Anon, day 12.
Scratch one hero. Loose ends in the east are finally cleared up, and I can turn to the preparations for my offensive -- assuming those rumors of an undead expedition in the caves don't pan out, in which case we'll have to improvise.

An elven hero has joined the beleaguered garrison at Astori. For the moment, the situation there looks like a stalemate, and I'm losing track of the number of times the death node in the suburbs of the fortress has changed hands.

Turn sent.

Congratulations to the newest Wizard Ladder Champion!

The glorious counter attack I had intended today instead turned out to be the absolute worse disaster I have ever expeienced in FC. The attack *was* born a bit out of desperation, but my sims show either some chance of success, or grevious harm to the enemy the times that I lost.

Heh, my 9 attackers (2 Beatles, Knight, Vamp, Spider, Efreet, 2 archers and a swordsman) were slaughter to the last without landing a blow on the enemy. I ran the replay several times to ensure that it was not a mistake

In all fairness, JWorth had nicely turned the tide over the last two moves, and all I had to look forward to was a long, protracted defence. So this perhaps merely sped things up a bit.

Regardless, I can't think of a better champion to pass the pointy hat to (and a few of my Wizard points at that)! I now get to join that illustrious group of former champions -- I hope that Swolte and Tekk Zero have saved me a seat

Congratulations my friend, and well earned -- it was a fun game for me to play, even in a loss.

Edit note: Sorry JWorth -- I forgot to change my sig . . .

[This message has been edited by Dafyth (edited 12-14-2003 @ 04:09 PM).]

Thanks, Dafyth. That was a really interesting match -- had you not taken that ill-fated crack at Astori, this was looking like it was going to be a nail biter for a while yet. Running out the door now, so the post-mortem will have to wait, but I'm honor bound to offer you a rematch before any other challenges (it'll be interesting to see how that works, given that I only seem to have time for a about a move a week these days...).

Thanks again for a fun (and challenging) game.
-- JWorth

Thanks for the rematch offer JWorth. I may take you up on that in the near future, but right now I will defer to Evil Roc. He has been waiting very patiently for a match, and I think that he is ready to go.

Congrats to JWorth becoming the new Ladder Champion and the valiant effort put up from Dafyth.

Quoted from Dafyth:

Works for me...

I am glad that you both have got the chance to get to be champion as I know you both have wanted it badly. Perhaps both the current and former champion are ready to get the Doubles Tourney on the role. I wonder how the game will go as I don't think I have played Age of Wonders since my last game with JWorth. It should be fun to see how much I remember.

Quoted from Tekk Zero:

Well now doesn't that just sound like an invitation for me to pick the ball back up, admit my failure as the "organizer" of that long-forgotten tourney, and get around to setting the game up Anyone still interested? I expect no forgiveness from any of you guys regarding AWOL from official duties. Truly sorry about it though. So, Who wants to play?

I'm game . Where were we when we lost the thread?