Archons Took a mana sorce, and headed out.

Undead Still waiting in the void.

Similar actions on both sides...a node and a mine were captured.

Day 2

Captured some production resources and gold.
Heading towards nearby towns to see where their faith lies.
Archons fare worse than the Undead....though the resources helped the Archons better.

-----------
Turn sent to Hiranu

Archon day 3 - took a resource pile, and got a tower guard. Not what I was hoping for.

Und day 2 - broached the surface, and looked around

Game A - took an undead town

Game B - Sitting and converting still

I set a password on both games to prevent accidents

Merlin - Fought a hard battle and took an independant town, but without enough units to prevent revolt
Necron - Marching around all day

Days 3-5

UNDEAD - Captured two towns and migrating. Thats it. Oh and recruited one more bone horror.

ARCHONS - Captured a halfling city. A slinger (without medals) killed my charioteer with three consecutive shots with dam 4,5,4. Heading towards another city, this time shadowdemons.

Undead - captured my second city above ground. They offered to sell themselves.
Archons - Had the city I took revolt cause they killed too many units when I took it. The other city still has my charioteer sitting in it waiting to convert it.

Undead - Found a circus with intersting players in it, but they don't seem to care for me much
Archons - One more turn to finish converting the city I took.

Undead - Finished migrating an Archon city we captured. Captured another orc town. Tomorrow will probably recruit another dark elven town. Only drawback is that we are not producing any troops anywhere...all the money is being channeled to recruit the dark elven town - which is asking an abominable price for a couple of soldiers. We are only hoping that the town will be ready to produce fine soldiers when we buy it.

Archons - Not faring as well as the Undead. Migrating a shadowdemon city. Captured a couple of nodes. Tomorrow, a human settlement will fall.

----------
Turn sent

Undead - working on building troops to take the undead town I've located. Should be faster to migrate

Archons: Decided against taking the aforementioned shadowdemon city. maybe later. Could use some more cash.

Undead - Fulfilled a magic quest and conquered another orc town. Undead rock.

Archons - Captured two town today - one dwarf and another syron. hence, no time wasted on migration.

------
Turn sent to Hiranu

Undead - Working on fulfilling a magic quest.

Archons - Removed one zombie from existance using hired troops.

Undead - good going, explored a rainbow's end with strong defense and got enough gold to recruit a nearby undead town.
Sighted avernus and his motley crew members...wondering whether any units are concealed in that stack or not?? Sending for reinforcements.

Archons - Moving forward at great speed and great visibility due to my elite zephyr. Vision IV, can you believe it?. Units busy on fulfilling a tough Order quest.

---------
Turns sent

Undead - Moving far too slowly, finally converted anothe town at least.

Archons - I wish I hadn't lost my zephyr so early. Really does slow up visibility. But I've got a couple of decent combat groups moving around.

Undead - one of the decent forces our friend-with-the-band is talking about is his hero, paladin and pirate??. Worry not about them, they are under special surveillance to see how soon they return to full hp so that we can fight a decent battle!!!
At the other side, a flame cannon, a frost cannon and an engineer surrendered to my troops. A shame that!!. My bone-horror was reaching elite status and I needed that xp.

Archons - we witness the rag-tag vampire trying to take some gold we had already set our eyes on yesterday. My pegasus flew to take the gold from under the vampire's nose, snubbing her. Will she attack??
Hired another dwarven garrison today and tomorrow a quest of some importance for us will be completed.

----------
Turns sent

Archons - Not looking good for the hero. He decided that discretion was definatley the better part of valor, and left rapidly.

Undead - Working on aquiring another undead town as I slowly expand my influence.

Undead - When Merlin says the hero left rapidly, he means it. Unable to find a trace of these delicious mortal morsels. Explored a ruin to get some much-needed gold.

Archons - Undead seem to have spawned everywhere. Moving troops to secure the borders.

----------
Turns sent

Undead - Proceeding according to plan, though the zephyr has shattered my well-laid plans for the north.
Avernus braved my spectre and earth elemental and came out with an additional pegasus as an escort but the outcome was inevitable. However, we salute his courage. It must have been that or his master's stupidity.

Archons - Trouble brewing for us...and for the undead too. The tigran city they have captured is in anarchy, the rogue they recruited might desert anytime. And still they advance upon my lands. A welcome party is already underway to escort them back to their proper place...under the ground. And this time we will cremate them, no burials.
Though one wonders why the Undead city was captured after a battle only to be left to us!!!

-------------
Turns sent

Archons - We'll have to go with stupidity.

Undead - I didn't feel like paying for that city. They asked too high a price to buy that which I could rightfully steal.

Undead - Laying claim to the orc city again and moving one of my heroes to counter the zephyr. Healing my troops and readying them for the forth-coming assault on the Archon strongholds.

Archons - Too bad the city you 'stole' will not be yours next turn. Recruited an elven village in the heart of the Undead domain. Those gladerunners were crying with laughter at the mischief I had dreamed up for them.
Meanwhile, the zephyr did well to survive against the shredder, though one wonders if he was in a different stack from the shade. The zephyr not only survived but was also able to reach a mighty artifact which it helped teleport to one of my heroes.
And how could I forget the heroes of arthur?. One with 1 hp and the other with 2 hp. How I wished for 20 more mp on my zephyr!!!! It would have sent those two heroes to hell without losing its balance.

------------
Turns sent

Archons - Loss of the heroes requires some rethinking.

Undead - Making steady progress, but I couldn't kill the stupid bird.

Undead - the stupid hero with spell-casting retreated from the zephyr after landing a blow. This is unbelievably stupid of him. With the taste of victory still sweet in its mouth, the army is heading further into Archon relams while a scout is sent forth eastwards.

Archons - The gladerunners have started making merry!!!

--------------
Turns sent

Archons - Starting to regroup, should be able to handle the invading force now.

Undead - I squished a stupid glade runner, but the things are like ants, they are everywhere. I clearly need some Raid.

Undead - Elme supported by a gargoyle, a charioteer and two pegasus riders comes into view heading for the dwarven town, no doubt?. Even though Luna assured me that her small force will be able to handle this group, I decide to take measures - measures to make Merlin remove that band and think for sometime.

Three options face Merlin - either kill my boar and capture the dwarven town, thereby delaying the attack on Luna (if he had that intention in the first place) or attack Luna now or explore the options in the north. Don't know whether that area is visible to you. So, best left unsaid.

Meanwhile, the intruding zephyrs were roasted and thrown to the dogs!!!. Fortifications at all cities are underway and tomorrow, one of those oh-so-good Archon towns will bow to the power of the Undead. Mwuahahaha!!

Archons - Shucks, my northern glow was expected to stun and kill the efreet, not add to its XP!!. Another mistake was made when my pegasus with a nymph and two gladerunners attacked the lone Luna. With 2 hp to spare, she escapes. However, Arthur cannot put his heroes on the frontline now...for some time atleast.

The horror, shade and sheriff look threatening enough. Will the vampire join them?. I suspect this is going to be Arthur's main attack point and reinforcements are summoned from other towns. In two turns, we will have a mighty army ready to meet the Undead.

The situation does not look so rosy in the north. But where dwarves are concerned, you never can tell!!!

-----------
Turns sent

Edit: Hiranu, congrats on the color-change!!

[This message has been edited by Timelord (edited 01-16-2004 @ 04:03 AM).]

Archons - All is lost. I retook the twn, but failed to kill the force, leaving an earth elemental in far too pleasant a position.

Undead - Much luck in combats this turn, but I need to reinforce that hero in order to keep him alive. Another efreet will do the trick.

Archons - Still working to recover rom the loss of my main battle group, as I watch the dwarven twn go up in flames.

Undead - Lost a hero exploring a campsite today. Very poor planning on my part. Worse I lsot and efreet getting some resources, and so my stack in enemy territory has morale problems.

Undead - Feeling the power those bone horrors bring into me as they rampage through enemy territory. Two avengers fled rather than encounter the wrath of my followers and left an Archon town to be looted.
The earth elemental has been joined by another hero and a darter and has been buffed up to deal the best attack possible.
Recouping is going on in the centre while we are still looking for the rogue who was there two days ago.

Archons - The troops in the north are suffering from bad morale...especially the lone mammoth. Hope he deserts.
The gladerunners have thrown Arthur on the defensive and now, his good units - bonehorror, hero, efreet are all guarding their towns. No doubt they will once a couple of archers are in place, but two days is a lot of time!!!

---------
Turns sent

Archons - looking to face down the incoming hero.

Undead - lost two units to morale problems, and will probably loose two more. More forces are coming.

Undead
The hero and earth elemental again survived. Another hero of Merlin, with an avenger and a charioteer lies on the ground. We thought of taking out the legionnary too but decided to be prudent.
A rogue was spotted in the north (just a hex short of the vegetation) and was promptly slain. Troops are sent in that direction to explore the possibility of more of Merlin's troops.
The lightning warrior certainly came as a surprise. Have to deal with him with a little more strategy.
A spirit of war quest will be completed tomorrow and I hope the reward is good enough.

Merlin
We are taking the war to the undead before they produce any monstrosity in that new town of theirs, if its not too late this turn itself.
A human scout is raiding the structures in the north. Soon, I can expect another raider - this time, a mammoth! Preparations are being made to counter the stack coming in from the north.
The dark elven hero is being targeted and will be engaged in battle tomorrow.
While all these mighty manouevers are going on, the gladerunners are making merry. Hopefully, one of the two towns will rebel and become an indie city.
More surprises await Arthur.

----------
Turns sent

Archons - Making some slow progress, and bringing more units into play.

Undead - Lost far too many cities, that hurt very hard.

Undead - The archon city was looted completely and the stragglers killed without mercy. The conquerors are now moving north to join up with the hero and earth elemental.
The lightning warrior was killed too...though with two too many good units being killed.
The preparations for the final offensive on the Archon stronghold is underway.

Archons - An unexpected summons and the arrival of a nearby bone-horror delayed the demise of the remaining hero of Arthur. My troops prudently withdraw.
I was glad to see that the Undead town had rebelled.
The shadowdemon town will get converted to the archon cause without any garrison, it seems.
The promised attack on the Undead town near our flanks was conducted with just the loss of 2 units - a lightning catcher and an archer. Soon, it will be turning out Avengers.
No doubt, we can expect another cowardly attack during the night by the Undead forces camping outside our dwarven village.

Archons - I think I may have gathered enough forces for a decen counter-assult.

Undead - I'm soo toast.

Undead

If the forces gathered by Merlin constitute the pitiable garrison that faces my advancing troops, I pity him.
We have also recruited some willing followers at a campsite quite close to the Archon stronghold and this should provide adequate support for the attacking force.
Should more be needed, a more powerful force is coming!!.
A couple of those pestilential zephyrs were put to death.

Archons

Making steady headway with my forces. Supplements are on the way to bolster the frontlines.
A scouting stack headed by a repeater was decimated after being caught in a pincer attack.
More fun being planned and two more cities of Arthur are expected to fall in the next two days.

-----------
Turns sent

Last turns

Undead - Merlin sends his charioteer to attack my bladedancer and hound while providing domain for him by coming out from the cave. The bladedancer decimates the charioteer AND the wizard and heads underground but falls one hex short of the centre of the main city. Meanwhile, the goblin hero snatches the haste ring - rushes underground and Arthur, with a timely summons of an earth elemental captures the wizard's tower city and the battle for supremacy is won.

Archons - An undead city lies in ruins after being looted. The desperate attack by Luna, aided by a bone horror and two efreets fail miserably. A stealth attack force of two gladerunners, a rogue and two zephyrs (with a nymph, archer and swordsman as backups) are poised to enter underground to challenge arthur himself. And the Undead surrender!!!!

----------
Both were good games, Hiranu...but the fact was I started off well in both games. Had more towns of my alignment nearer to my starting town than you on both occasions. And I found some useful artifacts during my exploration of those rainbows (not to mention the cash). That and the lack of lost time due to migration were the chief factors in both games, I feel.

See and I would have said the fact that you're a better player, and that I tend to make very dicey moves would be the determing factors, but I like your version better, we'll go with that.