White, day 1

Three teleporters, two decisions, but only one goal: bring down Black!

ts

White, day 2

Right, scouting is over. Now we need an army!

ts

Lord Black, the Imperious. Day 1 of my Exile.

Hear me, oh cruel and indifferent world. Thou has mocked me with my fate. Thou hast denied my greatness! I am a Lord, a noble unfit for such tasks. Were it not for these slanderous accusations against me, I should never choose such a fate. But such was the only way for me to leave the prison they had sent me to. Fraud, they said, thief and liar! A cold-blooded reptilian I may be, but that money was MINE! It is THEY who lie!!! I am guilty of no wrongdoing. But I shall do this task if it reward me my freedom. I am given some few servants to command. This is good, for my genius is not in doing, but in instructing other how to do. Once I controlled an empire, but now I am reduced to a few lowly magical creatures. But I shall rebuild. From this task given me, I shall resume my dominion. Only my first day in these lands and I have gained ownership of a town, a furnace and an Inn. And soon there shall be more. Soon, the world shall remember to fear my name:

Lord Conrad Black, master of the medium!

(Salute, Albinscott. Only opponent I've played before. Good luck).

The Imperious Lord Conrad Black, Day 2:

A hero joined today. I am used to commanding, and it is good to see the ranks of my followers expand so. His name is Gatom, he told me. I said that there are only two names in my army: ‘Lord Black’ and ‘you there’. I think he will soon get the picture. If I wanted independent thought I wouldn’t fight with summoned creatures. I used to control all the town criers in the kingdom you know. I was a media baron. But those memories are too bitter.

All in all, the peons below me did well, capturing a water mill, two nodes, a tower and clearing a shipwreck for a mighty weapon. Plus we enlisted 4 more soldiers in addition to the hero. The army expands, but my lust for power remains unsated. I feel secure enough now to throw the quest given me aside. Restore the world? Who cares. I shall rebuild my empire in these shattered lands. Peoples weakened by this cataclysm shall be all the easier to dominate. My only fear is that I may not be alone in my goals. Undoubtedly these commoners would have sought to hedge there bets by seeking more than one savior to unite the towers. I can practically smell this opponent on the air. When we meet, it shall be blood on the sword!

Conrad has spoken.

White, day 3

Well, things are going much slower here in our corner. But then again, like Black himself said, he was once a media baron of some kind. Not much credit should be given to such a personality...

ts

Lord Black the Imperious, Day 3,

Bah! What good these underlings. All they win me today is a tower and one measly mine? And I actually had to do a lot of work myself. My warriors had turned into a bunch of babies! Whining and complaining: “Oh, Lord, we are wounded and weak with loss of blood.” “Oh noble Lord Black, let us have a bit of rest while we sew our limbs back on.”
Whiners. Just like when I ran the town crier racket. They would come to me with soar throats and aching feet. What was I, there mommy? I told them I wanted to hear less crying and more crying. In other words, BACK TO WORK YOU LAZY PINKOS!

Anyways, I digress. I turned over my new mace to Gatom. He’d better use it well or I’ll turn it into a necklace for him. Spotted several interesting targets today. We should have this area secured in another two days or so. Then we can expand further. Now for a fine glass of sherry and a good nights rest on my feather bed. What? You expected any less of me? I’m a rich noble, I have to have the best, darnit.

Now get out, this interview is over!

White, day 4

We have achieved a daily routine: battlefield-healing house-battlefield.

ts

Sent reminder to James.

Sorry, but I need to ask one more day. I'm going to be up late tonight and early tomorrow for my wife and mine baked goods business, which we sell at a local farmer's market. I will play that turn tomorrow night for sure.

james.

Lord Black, the Imperious, Day 4

What are you doing back? Didn’t I send you away? Wait, what’s that you have there? Wine? Hmm… looks good too. Let me see that. Ahh, yes, a fine vintage. Very potent stuff, I wonder where you got it. Never mind. Someone must have told you my one weakness. Booze. Come back in and we’ll have a drink. What have I been up to? Well, wouldn’t you like to know. I am making my fortune, let me say that. I have recruited new followers, let me say that too. My, this is certainly fine stuff. You know, I made do for many a year on bread and water while I was imprisoned. And that was if I was lucky. Those scum that put me there don’t have any appreciation for the finer pleasures in life. Yes, but all that is behind me now. This white wizard my scouts report is going down, and hard. And after he is gone, there will be nothing to stop me from making these lands my own. I’ll reestablish my media empire. Plant a few vinyards. Yes, it will all be befitting a Noble Lord such as me. What? Leaving so soon? Well, you can let the bottle stay. Me (hiccup) and it have business to attend to tonight.

[This message has been edited by JamesEde (edited 09-06-2009 @ 02:41 AM).]

White, day 5

Proceeding with the daily routine.

ts

White, day 6

Tenso-Rama captured from the enemy. "Hey, nice town!"

Elsewhere, 2 Knights, 2 Cavalry and 2 Halberdier are defending this cute recruitment site. "Average" defenders??...

ts

Lord Black, the Imperious, Day 5:

Hoy, what this? That lowlife pirate I hired has found something he calls a ‘Druid’s circle’. Whatever that is. You know, in my previous life I lived in a very different world, where all such things as druids and pirates were the stuff of make-believe. But oh well, I’m here in this world now, and it’s a welcome change from that prison. Well, so far we have hired a number of new recruits out of that circle, and they are helping to expand the army greatly. That nymph seduced me some sort of human-lizard creature riding atop a giant dinosaur. Should prove very powerful against white. We’ve also capture another city, this one populated by creatures similar to that lizard man. Don’t know if they’re any good at fighting, but we’ll soon find out. I have a nagging suspicion that that White fellow is close by, but we have more than sufficient troops now to take him out, so I’m not too worried about it. Sure hope I’m not surprised by anything tomorrow…

White, day 7

Managed to sell a War Hall in Tenso-Rama before the enemy re-captures it, but it won't make any difference: Black displays too much mighty for us to handle.

ts

White, day 8

Delaying the inevitable as the enemy progresses.

ts

TS, log later when I have time to write something. Fallen behind on my storyline, i know. I think Conrad drank too much one of those nights and that's how he missed reporting in for day 6.

james.

Lord Black the Imperious, Days 6-8

Where am I? Why am I dressed like this? Oh, gods, does my head ever hurt. Why did I drink so much grog? The last few days are a blur. Last time I party with the ‘Heavy Hitter crew’. Oh, don’t you know the Heavy Hitter crew? Well, (ooh, why is that sun so bright). Let me tell you about them. They are a specially handpicked lot that function as my enforcers. They were never really official until that proclamation I made the other night at the bar. Well, it wasn’t so much an official proclamation as it was me standing on a bar table and shouting out “I dub thee guys the Heavy Hitter Crew, right before I threw up. Yeah, my pants were around my ankles, so what? I see you were there too. Anyways, all that’s beside the point.

Lets just read the memos here. Hmm…

(reading): ‘unicorn of enemy seized town, sending reinforcements to intercept’

‘will be unable to intercept until tomorrow’

‘unicorn dead, but town military base has been looted’.

Well, that was a nasty bit of business. I see that this white character is a tricksy lot. My Heavy Hitters ain’t tricksy, they just pound the crap outta people. Good to see I was still coherent enough to send them on into enemy territory. Hmm… (reading), seems we captured an orc town and seduced one of their shamans. He’ll soon be inducted into the HHC, soon as we cast some enchantments on him. Spies are acquiring our next targets. These lands seem to be crawling with ugly orcs and goblins, but they’re good fighters so we’ll see if we can’t pick up a few for our side.

Ahh, this is the life. There is nothing, NOTHING more satisfying than commanding slaves to increase your wealth and power. I don’t miss Canada at all.

White, day 9

A nice day with some favorable battles against independents and, perhaps more importantly, an enemy Zephyr Bird being shot down.

ts

TS - log later

White, day 10

Black razed the south teleporter, by the Goblin area. An impressive force stands there, powered by a Nymph who seems unstoppable in her seducing activities. We will try to resist, but there is little hope, facing the unbalanced numbers.

ts

Lord Black the Imperious, Days 9-10

The Heavy Hitter Crew expands daily. You know, I really find these orcs and goblins to my liking. They’re tough brutes, nasty fighters. Perfect servants for my empire. I always was a little partial to evil, you know. At least they hold no illusions. Kill or be killed. That was my motto in business, and it serves just as well in this new life. These past days have seen more encounters with that White fellow. Seems he is very close indeed. Just over the ridge. We’ll see how fast his legs can carry him. Soon my mastery of these lands will be complete. It is only befitting that their rule be committed to a noble, such as myself.

What, didn’t know I was of the nobility? Thought I was just some common evildoer? I was knighted I was. I left me home, renounced my citizenship in fact, and became a lord in a far-off island. But that is long behind me now. Now I am in this world, a world of fantasy and murder. And I will rule it, just as I ruled the media so many years ago!

For I am the true and only, Lord Black!

White, day 11

Black will be moving north tomorrow, for sure. Nobility, yea...

ts

Lord Black the Imperious, Day 11

Faced a serious morale issue today. It would seem that the troops feel they deserve better pay. As if half-rations was already not enough? Just like at the Post, people always complaining about their pay. "Oh Conrad, we need to feed our kids." Give me a break. But unlike those worthless paper workers, I need these troops, so I was forced to find some quick sources of income. The water mills helped a bit, but what was really tasty was the town and furnace I snatched from that White fellow. Yah, those hit the spot. You'd be amazed how fast a unicorn can run when its got haste enchantment, is on a road, and is in shadowland. One MP per hex, I tell ya. Wait, what am I talking about? How would I, as a former newspaper owner from earth, who escaped from prison to an alternate world and was transformed into some sort of lizard creature, know anything about MP, whatever those are? What was in that wine I was drinking?

White, day 12

Black the Snatch.

ts

Day 12 TS, log later...

Lord Black, the Imperious, day 12

Aha! Yes, I must send a thank you note to that White person. His lands have provided the income and alignment fix for my morale problems. Two cities of the (sniff) 'good' races have balanced out the alignment effects of the (completely misunderstood) quote-un-quote 'evil' races. So my unicorns and other good soldiers didn't get all uppity when I conquered another goblin town. Seduced a couple more gobbos to the cause, too. Yes, the money rolls in now, and I can finally begin to enjoy the high life again. Sure, I gave the troops a bit of a raise. They're dogs, they'll fight all the harder on a full stomach. Once this White is gone, I'll institute a round of layoffs to trim the fat. And I can't imagine White can fund his own armies much longer. Where is he going anyways? I can see no trace of his domain anywhere? Is he running away? It will only delay the inevitable. Wherever he is, the Heavy Hitters are coming!

White, day 13

White the re-Snatch.
Now let's hope that those morale problems may arise once more.

ts

White, day 14

The enemy troops are impressive! They are now in the central area of the surface level.
Oh, and there is a new Zephyr Bird too.

ts

Lord Black the Imperious Day 13

Jeez, the pressure of these daily editorials is getting to me. Even the Post didn't have this kind of deadline. Oh wait, it did, but I had a legion of paid hacks to write my right-wing drivel. Now I have a legion of paid hackers that stand there and dribble (saliva). Not quite the same.

Where has that White gone? His domain is nowhere to be seen, and I suspect he's hiding in the shadow world. Very well, we'll soon have a spell to follow him there, or, if we tire of the chase, we might have enough strength by now to simply take all 4 of the towers that will supposedly bring about our domination of these lands. Things are looking up, pass the brandy!

TS day 14, log later.

Lord Black, the Imperious, Day 14

Ahhh, that's more like it. Now I finally have a residence worthy of my nobility. I had my troops take a wizard's tower today. Its a bit mucky with dead bodies roaming around, but hey, its a fixer-upper. I actually might have preferred the undead, but their 'pure evil' alignment made my good and neutral units nervous. Wimps. I'm certainly not afraid of being pure evil myself. But that's leadership. Sometimes you have to posture a bit to keep up appearances. So now I should have no more morale problems due to either alignment or gold. In fact, once this town is migrated, I'll be rolling in gold. And believe me, when I say rolling in gold, I mean that in the Scrooge McDuck literal sense.

Elsewhere, we shall soon make preparations to cleanse the surface of this white mold. I haven't seen anything more than a boar or slinger here or there, so it shouldn't take too much. Let White hide in the Shadow world. I suppose he thinks he will find some hope there, perhaps a huge army set to refuge. I have made up my mind to simply conquer the 4 towers and be done with it. Certainly a lot easier than chasing that guy all over the map.

Ahhh, so nice to have a tower...

White, day 15

Black can go ahead and conquer whatever he wishes, we won't oppose... much.
In the meantime, and because we are jealous, we took a tower for ourselves. "Mine is bigger than yours, nha-nha-nha!"

ts

White, day 16

Black went underground. We went... nowhere.

ts

Lord Black the Imperious, Day 15

What? WHAT?! So, no sooner do we mention that we intend to take all 4 towers than this Mr White goes and takes one of them? And right in front of me, so to speak. Well, actually right in front of my reflecting pool, but same thing. The nerve! How could he have known our plan? Is there a spy amongst us?

Wait a minute, what are you doing there? Yes, you, in the back, with the scroll and quill. Have you been taking notes? I never authorised any more than the first three interviews. I didn't realize you were still reporting for the news. Well, I DO NOT consent to have my every thought published where any yahoo can read it. Do you realize the danger if my strategy were to be given away. Guards, arrest that lousy reporter.

Lets get a couple things straight, I run the media, the media doesn't run me. Also, uhhh... (now what was the other thing?). Oh well, its not important. General, continue using the bird to harass the settlements in the north. Move the main force underground to begin conquering the remaining towers. Open the Caubernet Sauvignion and tell the cook I want roast beef tonight. And polish my shoes, for Spirits sake! Just cuz I'm a horrible looking lizard creature doesn't mean I can't have some style.

Lord Black the Victorious!, Day 16

"Oh, hello. No, no, come in, the party's jush getting started. Have a drink. Why not, I'sh been havin' many drinksh. Ish a party fer me! Hooray for me! Oh, what, you mad? Aw c'mon, ya little twerp, I let yoush outta the dungeon didn't I? Hey, you can't have hard feelings at my party ok? (takes a big swig of whisky) Ish jus a party for me (hic). Aw damnation, I gotta hic(hic)cups! Anywaysh (hic), I totally take back what I shaid about (hic)you. Yoush ain't no spy. I want (hic) you to write mysh auto... auto... autobiographysh, A BOOK (hic), goshdarnit. You gonna (hic) tell me life story, so alla (hic) fine peoplesh know how I come to rule thesesh (hic) lands."

- Thats just about the last conversation I ever had with the Draconian wizard known as Lord Conrad Black. He died shortly after that party of liver disease. I wrote this book out of a strange sense of honour to the commitment I made to him, even though I had only agreed to do so to avoid being thrown back in the dungeon. Fact is, I found the wizard fascinating. A total glutton, snobbish, conceited, cruel and stubborn. Funny thing, he always denied being a lizard man. Claimed he was a human from another world who had made a deal with the Spirits to be transformed to our world and help restore the lands to prosperity. I guess the Spirits had their revenge after all, knowing that he never made the slightest effort to help the people. No, Black only ever wanted power, and all the perks that come with it. In the end, it was the perks that did him in. And now, our lands have peace and justice under the firm but benevolent rule of Andre, son of White the tragic.

Thus ends the tale of Lord Black the Imperious, as written by Brother James the wandering historian.

PS. good game Albinscott. You were definitely tricky with your concealed units and use of teleporters. I was more like a big clumsy lumbering beast. Still, a beast has power. I think it was getting those nymphs so early that gave me the edge. I checked in the editor and they weren't assigned to that druid's circle specifically, so it was just coincidence that I was able to hire them (and a druid!) there so fast. After that, the strong but low resistance orcs and goblins to the east gave me ample means to build my army. Coupled with the haste spell and some good enchantments, my heavy hitters became fast and deadly. I wasn't honestly sure if you knew where I was headed in the underground, cuz I half expected you to bolt from the tower on your last turn. Sorry to knock you out of the tournament, but I look forward to playing our other games together, as well as new ones in the future.

james.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're live here at the scene where the mighty armies of JamesEde defeated Albinscott.

JamesEde, congratulations with your victory. From your description, it does seem you have had some luck with recruits but you utilized them masterfully. Did you think Albinscott would have had a chance had you been less vigilant?
One more game left for you, no?

And Albin, it seems you have had some excellent opponents, and some share of bad luck. Did you start off this match different from the others?

Congratulations James, well played. I really enjoyed the posts. Flander will report later this week but you've now clinched a spot in the 2nd round and with another victory and some help can challenge Cranberry for the top spot.

Albinscott, great game but don't give up hope. There are only about 340 out of the 1024 combinations where you can advance... (oh, don't worry, you only have to worry about winning the tiebreaker in about 230 of those games )

Regrettably, I'm dead! Black folk seem to have the upper hand these days, in XXI century

It's funny that Enginerd has posted here, since apparently (after reading his post on Colors game vs Orangeknite1) I tried to follow the same initial strategy: decided to go with Syron upper right corner for the settlement and then Prod Resources, taking advantage from ground moving bonus and nearby healing sites. I also sent a Unicorn on day 1 to the Orc (south) area, for exploring 2 Camps Sites there.
Unfortunately, both decisions had poor results... The Unicorn found only non-aligned Camp Sites and the fight over the Syron town resulted in the death of my Earth Elemental. At that point, fighting against all those small but tough animals over the Prod Resources would be very risky. Plus, by day 3 (at least), Black was already Magnificent while I was Weak...

From then on, I just tried to take the best from the surroundings structures. The Recruitment Site in my area was too solid to fight for, but some of the structures were feasible. Then I saw Black's army moving east, in sight from the watchtowers I had taken in the orc area. "Baaah! I will never be able to fight that! Unless the wizard goes back west. But why would James do that? There is no tower there, the towers are in the center, so the wizard will always have the protection from all those troops", I thought.

I had thought about setting a trap with 8 concealed/Enchant Weap Slingers behind some decoy, but hadn't the time because at some point there was a strong stack coming to my halfling village in the east. I went to the shadow world - shadow sickness is a tough nugget! The idea was to check some more Recruitment Sites, get a few easy structures to keep money and mana coming in (which was never a problem for me) and to use the teleporter to get to the original human area where James had started and where I had a concealed Slinger controlling the defenses. I wasn't expecting Black to show up by my newly acquired Tower's doorstep so soon...

James played very well, granting a perfect performance vs the indies along the way to the center and eastern areas. Again (after Timelord), I failed to be better than my opponent in this regard and as a consequence, I failed at growing a decent army to fight the enemy.

Congratulations to James. Oh, and very nice posts, btw! I'm afraid I had exhausted all my imagination on the Rocky Divide vs. ZombieEater thread, so you didn't have much help from me to set an interesting 2-sides story.

I don't think I have the quality to move to the second round of the tournament, no matter the odds. Next year I will perform better, though!
This tournament idea was truly great, thanks Swolte, Enginerd and all other working behind the set!

[This message has been edited by albinscott (edited 09-24-2009 @ 09:44 PM).]

Thanks guys. Lets see, first question: would Albinscott had a chance if i'd been less vigilant about using my units?

I think that if I had not made an effort to seduce at least one level 2 or 3 every turn that it was possible to do so, then my army would have been more comparable to his. Its a bit of a vicious cycle. Seducing the stegadon so quickly gave me a powerhouse unit to put beside my earth elemental and my elite minotaurs. With my hero enchanted and sporting a lightning mace, this was a powerful stack very early in the game (day 5!). Once you have that kind of success, its almost hard not to crush defenders, which only opens up more recruitment sites and income to hire units. Added to this was the druid i picked up from the same circle as the nymphs and I also had the ability to basically entangle and then seduce at my leisure whatever I wanted.

THe biggest threat for me was those bloody teleporters. I admit i never even sorted out their network on the map before playing. And then Albinscott pops outta one and takes my town. That was a rude awakening. Luckily he didn't do it in force, and I was able to recover quickly, leaving a small garrison behind to guard the human settlements until i could raze the previous teleporter and break the link. By that time I had gathered that White was having problems, as the strongest units I was seeing were level 1s and 2s. So I could afford to take it slowly and build myself up. His retreat to the shadow world seemed to confirm my suspicions but... I happened to notice a satyr under his command before I finished his wizard off. If i had let him muck about too long in that shadow world, some nasty surprises might have come out at me. Luckily, the way between his tower and mine was short. It may have been guarded by two demon lords, but outnumbered by 8 good level 3s, those things fall like any other.

second question: ONe more game to go? Yup.

Quoted from JamesEde:

I happened to notice a satyr under his command before I finished his wizard off.

I wish! The only Satyr I saw in the Shadow World was an indie defending a Recruitment Site, north of my Tower. It remained there, as I decided not to engage that group.

Whoops, the grey must have looked white.