530 end by Rex

[Netstrider]

Thanks to everyone who played. This was a fun game and I enjoyed every turn. I was never really attacked at any point in the game, and that might be the advantage of the UN. Everyone is scared of those agents. I was left in piece early on, not losing a single PC in the first 10 turns. Too tell the truth, I didn't really like the idea of playing the UN much and am actually quite surprised at winning.

I started the game with a nice water capital at OI and a town at EB on the Sea of Mystery. I thought I could grab Avalon and maybe a village or two without annoying the SA too much where he would do something about it, but figured he would tolerate a fair amount since the SA couldn't easily do much about it. After grabbing the
city, I concentrated on building merchant fleets in the two seas. This generates quite a bit of income. I always seemed to have plenty of cash with the city, the trading and the agent training bonus income.

T5
Oakendell (1) Minor Tolerant Druid
Northern Mists (2) Unestablished Suspicious Necromancer
Talking Mountains (3) Unestablished Suspicious Warlock
Torvale (4) Minor Tolerant Sorcerer
Amberland (5) Significant Friendly NA
Eastern Steppes (6) Unestablished Suspicious Atlantians
Runnimede (7) Unestablished Suspicious Gnome
Arcania (8) Unestablished Suspicious Red Dragon
Synisvania (9) Unestablished Suspicious Dark Elven
Southern Sands (10) Minor Tolerant NA

By T10 the RA has dropped since the RD spent the first 10 turns kicking him around it looks like. Lots of chaos down south. That should bode well for the Master of Shadows I'm thinking.

T10
Oakendell (1) Minor Tolerant Druid
Northern Mists (2) Unestablished Suspicious Necromancer
Talking Mountains (3) Unestablished Suspicious Warlock
Torvale (4) Minor Tolerant Sorcerer
Amberland (5) Significant Friendly Sacred Order
Eastern Steppes (6) Unestablished Suspicious Atlantians
Runnimede (7) Unestablished Suspicious NA
Arcania (8) Unestablished Suspicious Red Dragon
Synisvania (9) Unestablished Suspicious NA
Southern Sands (10) Minor Tolerant Dark Elven

T12 Rankings. I'm not really doing all that great, am I? But also on T12, the RD inexplicably drops and I'm well positioned to grab R8.

Atlantians 1,475 2,000
Druid 1,275 1,925
Necromancer 1,300 1,700
Dark Elven 1,230 1,630
Underworld 1,125 1,400
Warlock 1,075 1,375
Sacred Order 775 1,275
Sorcerer 975 1,225
Nomad 525 1,000

On T18, things are looking pretty good. I have just more than half of R8, leaving the SA to grab what he could get. Several times his groups would end up on my PCs
and vice-versa but we seem to have a solid understanding to leave each other alone that hopefully will last.
On T16 and 17 I did send some emmys into R7 but seeing the SO consolidate there I decide it's not time to poke that bear. He leaves me alone with a single town and I do likewise.

I still haven't done much thieving, kidnapping or stealing to speak of. The only prisoners I have are a couple of RA emmies I grabbed early. My agents are solid, with 5 trained to 18 and I do have the ring of Invis. But honestly, I don't have anythign to do with them as I have no real enemies. I have 12 artifacts including some real nice ones. I have also decided to have some fun and go after the DA who is leading the pack. On T18 I'm Friendly in R10 and making my move.

Dark Elven 2,359 3,989
Druid 2,005 3,930
Underworld 2,141 3,541
Warlock 2,130 3,505
Atlantians 1,275 3,275
Sorcerer 1,950 3,175
Sacred Order 1,475 2,750

On T20 I'm making headway in R10. Also making lots of cash and am just throwing it all into wizards. I have 3 x P6, 1 x P5, 3 x P4, a P3 and P2. I take Vanasheen
and a few other PCs this turn, but the DA is hanging onto the region.

By T24, I have R10 and I'm making headway in R9. DA army must have gotten crushed somewhere because I still haven't seen much of anything from him. I'm leading on status points in this turn and gaining on DU overall:

Druid 2,975 6,905
Underworld 3,116 6,657
Dark Elven 2,464 6,453
Sorcerer 3,050 6,225
Warlock 2,250 5,755
Sacred Order 1,850 4,600

Oakendell (1) Minor Tolerant Druid
Northern Mists (2) Unestablished Suspicious Druid
Talking Mountains (3) Unestablished Suspicious Warlock
Torvale (4) Significant Tolerant Sorcerer
Amberland (5) Significant Friendly Sacred Order
Eastern Steppes (6) Minor Suspicious NA
Runnimede (7) Minor Friendly Sorcerer
Arcania (8) Control Friendly Underworld
Synisvania (9) Minor Tolerant Dark Elven
Southern Sands (10) Control Friendly Underworld

It kind of seems like the Mage kingdoms are duking it out up North and letting me clean up the South with the exception of R7. This is still the weirdest UN game everwhere. By T24 I have stole
gold exactly twice and not assasinated or kidnapping a single emmy. I'm looking all over for DA emmys and I can't find any!!

T28
Avalon has fallen! A large DU group teleported there and took. Such nerve! But the DU goes back to where he comes from and this does not appear to be an all-out a assault on either the peaceful UN or R5. Odd. Like I should talk.

T30

Maybe going after the DU and R1 would be fun? I send an expeditionary force to EE and drop right on top of the 1DU with 14 brigaes and 3 liches. Retreat!!

At this point I can't believe my good luck and I'm thinking I'll go with the flow and claim victory with points.

Oakendell (1) Minor Friendly Druid
Northern Mists (2) Unestablished Suspicious Sorcerer
Talking Mountains (3) Unestablished Suspicious Warlock
Torvale (4) Significant Tolerant Sorcerer
Amberland (5) Minor Friendly Sacred Order
Eastern Steppes (6) Unestablished Hostile Sacred Order
Runnimede (7) Minor Friendly Sorcerer
Arcania (8) Control Friendly Underworld
Synisvania (9) Control Friendly Underworld
Southern Sands (10) Control Friendly Underworld

I have 3 regions and tons of income which I'm throwing into wizards. I have a 100k army with 7/6/5 wizards. It's never taken more than a town or fought an opposing group.
I have 19 artifacts. I still have not kidnapped or assassinated ANYONE. I lead in status points.

Underworld 3,191 9,848
Druid 2,925 9,830
Sorcerer 2,975 9,200
Dark Elven 1,740 8,193
Warlock 1,750 7,505
Sacred Order 1,850 6,450

T32: ADD kicks in. No way I can just sit around and wait. SO could win if he takes R1. Time to do something.

The next several turns are a comedy of errors and futility. I don't really want to tangle with one of the remaining mage kingdoms and don't want to backstab my buddy the SA.
Hey look the SA lost R6 and the WA takes it. That's fair game, target acquired! I move into R6 for my final region and decide to put my big bad UN army to the test.

By this time I have 2xP8, 2xP7, 4xP6 and I move everything into R6. Nothing can stop me!

T34: Attack Gundibar with two dispel domes - but that's not enough. Try to kidnap some WA emmys and steal some bling but all my worthless agents manage to fail.

T35: Attack Gundibar with *five* dispel domes. Same result. Ok, If I had sieged this would be over by now. Still no WA army come to fight me though. Weird.

T36: Ok, there must be easier pickins somewhere. SO looks like he might be busy with DU and I'm already friendly in R7. My military can all teleport and I had a whole
stable of reserve emmys at OI so a move to R7 is pretty easy. On the upside my L24 finally manages to kidnap a WA Baron! Yay!

T38: Yes, SO must have been pretty busy. Never see any force of his or an emmy and I take R7 for the victory.

In 38 turns playing the UN I have captured 2 emmys and stole maybe 10k in gold. I don't think I played this kingdom quite the way it was imagined

Thanks again all and see you next time around!

[Atuan]

Wow very impressive Netstrider... Congrats on what appears to be a well played game.

[VballMichael]

Congrats. Great job.

[Thunderb0lt]

That was some good reading. Your gold production must have been enormous. Did your setup give you the name of the ring of invisibility?

[Atuan]

no that is a halfling foreknowledge trait. UN gives demon death or the other demon dagger and a palantir.

[gkmetty]

1 UN Netstrider 21,745 35,239
2 DU Imperial Tark 13,895 26,729
3 WA Canticar 14,575 25,189
4 SO DuPont 9,980 21,700
5 SA Jhereg 7,800 15,950

[gkmetty]

WA

Like Netstrider I enjoyed this game but my experience was very different.
Things were quiet for 13 turns and I was prepared to move on the Eastern Steppes on turn 14 when the NE dropped from the game. I quickly adjusted to try and take advantage of this open region. The DU apparently had the same idea and on turn 16 he took the region but I had already moved in.

The DU and I fought over the Northern Mists for the next five turns. I had not spent much time building up my military so the DU exploited his advantage there but my emmies were clearly superior. It helped that I was able to take out six of the DU emmies between turns 17 and 23. I also threw multiple regional spells that hurt the DU armies and for a while I kept him hostile in the region.

On turn 17 the DA had conquered three regions and I was afraid he might continue his conquest tour into the Talking Mountains so I denigrated him and on turn 18 I looked at several of my own pop centers. As suspected the DA moved into the Talking Mountains in force but I was able to denigrate him further and assassinate several of his emmies. I was afraid the DA would try for a usurper victory which meant he would only need to be substantial in the Mountains to gain a win. So I pulled out of the Mists and went into defensive mode.

The DU easily took the Mists and moved into the Mountains. Now I was fighting both the DU and DA. I was able to hold both of these kingdoms off and I never lost control of the mountains once. The DA tried a victory check on turn 20 but it failed and a few turns later he was under pressure further south so he pulled out of the mountains.

At some point the DU stumbled upon my hidden capital and the following turn I miscalculated my domes and he took it. Fortunately he did not capture my king and eventually I recovered all of the emmies he had captured. The DU hung around with multiple groups in the mountains for several turns. With the DU being hostile in the region, not hitting any targets successfully and constantly being hit by regional effects his military power slowly dwindled. Then the SO hit the DU hard and all the DU groups disappeared from the mountains.

On turn 31 I invaded the Eastern Steppes and took the region from the SA. By turn 33 I had firm control of the region and the SA was fighting a losing battle when the UN decided he wanted a piece of the region. Once again I was fighting two opponents in one of my regions. The UNs massive army was at the city with some impressive wizards so I domed three times. This held off the attack but I noticed that between the two groups the UN had at the city he had five wizards of significant level so the following turn I domed six times. Once again this held off the UN army and he moved on. It was a good chess match with the WA against the UN and SA. I enjoyed the play, but then again I ended up on top. I never lost control of the Steppes while the UN and SA both lost several emmies.

Around turn 35 the UN was moving out of the Steppes and the SA had been neutralized in the region so I set my sights on making the podium. I finished the development of my wizards. Collected a few loose artifacts and captured several prisoners. This gave me enough points to sneak past Dupont for a third place finish.

I really enjoyed the game, not a boring turn in all 38.
Congratulations to all the finishers. With a special acknowledgement to Jhereg for lasting 38 turns as the SA against the magic kingdoms. I count the UN as a magic kingdom.