Dark Elves, day 1. (turn 1 received from Elves).

Ah, familiar sights ... Am I really back on these bloody fields, once again? Hard to fathom what mad impulse led me here...

Turn sent.

Day 1,

capturing in all directions.

TS.

Dark Elves, day 2.

So far so good.

Turn sent.

Dark Elves, turn 3.

Added some halflings to my kingdom.

Turn sent.

elves, day 4.

doing quite well.
TS.

Dark elves, day 4.

Hmm... I expected to run into elves by now... I wonder where they all are? I hope they're not planning anything sneaky...

Turn sent.

Dark Elves, day 5.

First elf sighting...a cowardly spy, cut down while he cowered in a patch of woods...

Turn sent.

Dark Elves, day 6.

...And the elves disappear again. Remarkably quiet game, so far. Almost unsettling.

Turn sent.

Dark Elves, day 7.

Added some humans to my domain.

Turn sent.

day 4-7 (late post)

Our forces are busy here and there.
We have noticed the Dark elevs approach from the north east.
we are converging to meet with them soon.

Dark Elves, day 8.

The elves appear to have invested heavily in gladerunners -- I order a brief pause to consolidate my farflung holdings.

Turn sent.

Dark Elves, day 9.

Still consolidating... In the swamp, Serena has finally made a personal appearance, perhaps planning a suicide-redeployment back to the elven capital. Impossible to know for sure -- in any event, I prepare to greet her with a warm reception .

Turn sent.

Dark Elves, day 10.

So, Serena has brought an army along into the swamp -- a unicorn, 2 x-bow, 2 axemen, and 5 berserkers, many of them veterans from the battles along their passage south. I gather my forces in the Bayou and await their arrival. Tomorrow could get bloody.

Elsewhere, killed another gladerunner, captured Durbin, and dispatched a probe to see how well the elves have guarded their northern mines.

[This message has been edited by JWorth (edited 06-30-2003 @ 03:11 AM).]

Elves,10.

The dark elves picked the spot for the fight, conditions at their favour. foolishly I have attacked and lost a major battle. this mistake could well signfy my end.

Dark Elves, day 11.

That went better than I expected -- 11 elven soldiers killed, at a cost of three of my own. I order a day of thanksgiving throughout my kingdom.

In the north, a mine falls to my scouts, and I continue to advance. Will Serena challenge me as I march into her realm?

Turn sent.

Dark Elves, day 12.

The elves moves to block my progress up north, and there's nothing to do but fight. It's a large battle -- the largest of the entire war, thus far -- and I'm quite satisfied with the results -- half my forces, seven scrubs and an abomination, traded for Serena's entire blocking army (Elme, iron maiden, scout, and eight berserkers, archers, and swordsmen). My survivors move into position to threaten the elven capital.

Turn sent.

Next turn I will lose the game.
You have played well, and made good moves.
it's a well deserved victory.

would you like to start another game?
maybe different settings?

Thanks, Izaqyos. As you predicted, my surviving cavalry made short work of Serena in her capital on their turn. Good game -- that was fun.

I'd be game for a rematch -- perhaps switching sides on this map? I've also been wanting to try Tournament Oblivion again: http://members.lycos.co.uk/btooic/forum/index.php?act=Downloads

It seemed like a really good design on my one previous time playing it. I'd be happy with either side, if you're interested.

Let me know what you think.

-- JWorth

Let's first try to switch sides on this map.
Is that ok with you?

That works for me. Do you want to set it up, or should I?

can you please set it up, unless you are very short on time.
we'll use this thread?

Will do. I'll see if I can get it set up and out to you before I leave town -- I'll be returning late on July 7th, and we can pick up the thread then.

Rematch set up.

Danny's Sock, tournament version
Dark Elves: Izaqyos -- izaq_y at hotmail dot com
Elves: JWorth -- jay at immaterial dot net

All house rules in effect.

Good luck!

[This message has been edited by JWorth (edited 07-03-2003 @ 12:43 PM).]

Elves, day 1.

The war drums beat once again over the swamps and the frozen plains...

Turn sent.

Elves, days 2-3.

Moving out, exploring, and securing resources.

Elves, day 4-5.

More exploring and securing resources. Had my first sighting of the dark elves, the first of what I'm sure will be many more...

Turn sent.

Elves, turn 6.

Hmm...it seems that all of the elite dark elf units have headed south...perhaps discretion is the better part of valor for the moment. Lets see if I can't distract them with some nymphs.

Turn sent.

Elves, day 7.

A great victory! Yesterday, the heavily enchanted dark elven horde captured Danny's Bayou and dug in. As iron maidens like nothing better than leaping over walls , and as Arachne seems to have expended all of her casting strength this turn on stone skins, I send in my solo (gold-medaled, fully enchanted) maiden to kill Arachne, and hopefully 3 or 4 other defenders, with the plan of dispelling all of the dark elven enchantments in a single stroke and softening up the defenses for the main assault under Elme's command. Shockingly, the iron maiden is victorious on her own, killing Arachne, Morrandir, a shade, a spider queen, a blade dancer, 2 executioners, and a monk without assistance. I'm a bit embarrassed by my good fortune (approximately a 25% chance of this result, in my quick test), but I'm not complaining.

Captured a mine and a windmill in the south, and moving to exploit on all fronts.

Turn sent.

[This message has been edited by JWorth (edited 07-11-2003 @ 11:54 AM).]

I believe this is an exploit of the AI.
Since the defending units did nothing but wait to be attacked by the Iron maiden.
Probably the code for the AI has some instructions for melee units of the kind -
"if walls are intact do nothing"
maybe it should be reported (if it hasn't been before) to the devs. so they can fix it in SM.

Elves, turn 7-10.

Advancing on Arachne's capital, securing resources and villages along the way.

I agree that the melee defenders behind walls vs. phasing (or wall climbing) attackers effect is pretty extreme -- probably should be toned down in SM. Though the counters are relatively simple, once you're aware of the danger. If it helps at all, you can read my shock & surprise when Tekk Zero gave me my first (painful) lesson in this area, late in this game here: http://aow.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=25,613,,all

[This message has been edited by JWorth (edited 07-12-2003 @ 04:43 PM).]

Elves, turn 11-13.

Ouch. My farflung forces converge on Arachne's capital, only to suffer a serious setback on the dark plains, when the dark elves sally forth to offer battle: 18 units dead, versus 11 for the evil army. Arachne ends up holding the field of combat, along with 3 of her seemingly unstoppable monks .

Ok, we'll have to do this the slow way...

Turn sent.

Elves, days 14-15.

Whew. Follow-on infantry forces were just strong enough to take and raze Arachne's capital. Arachne wanders alone in the wildnerness, now, with little hope of ever recruiting reinforcements. After the bloodbaths over the past couple of days, this is welcome news.

Turn sent.

[This message has been edited by JWorth (edited 07-14-2003 @ 10:30 AM).]

Day 16.

My brave foe goes down fighting...

Thanks for a fun game, Izaqyos.