Game 12 - Updates

[kevindusi]

So turn 4 has come and gone and, with winter upon us, the Goods control 4 regions (including two in the south) compared to 2 controlled by the Evils (including one in the south). Runnimede appeared to be hotly contested until the Ancient Ones sent the Gnome packing and took control, and I don't think anyone has any idea what is going on in the Southern Sands... including the Black Dragon.

Would love to hear thoughts from our opponents, or from my teammate, who spent turn 4 wandering around looking lost, from what I can tell.

[kevindusi]

Upon further review of the turns, it seems the Witchlord has lost a capital and is trying hard to lose a second. The Troll remains yet to manifest itself, the Black must be starving, but the Demon Prince appears to have a firm grip on Arcania. The Darkelf similarly controls the Steppes, but with powerful Dwarf and Giant groups at his doorstep, he must be nervous. The Gnome is hard at work making himself a non-factor, and is largely succeeding.

The HC is now split 2-2 after the Demon Prince spent two months allowance on the last seat (54k bid compared to the Goods bid of just over 7k). The final seat is up for grabs this turn, with the issue on the table being the Gnome's influence in 7, again. Suspicious at best, the Evils need to consider a handsome bid to keep him viable in the region. The Goods, with control of 6 cities to the Evils' 2, surely can afford to throw more at it... but is the opportunity cost of raising those Warlock wizards worth it?

Wynand has promised this turn to take the training wheels off, so we expect huge things from the Elf and the Giant. His Dwarf grabbed the first region for the Goods, but last turn The Deliverer delivered on all three of his regions, including a hotly contested Runnimede. Once the Giant and Elf get their thumbs out, it will be only a matter of turns before we hear the familiar cry of "uncle" from Loric and Dupont. In honesty, they've already lasted longer than anticipated.

Evils, where are your voices??

[HeadHoncho]

I believe Rick is referring to this thread. One more player needed!

http://kingdomsofarcania.net/forum/showt...p?tid=8636

[DuPont]

Overall, this game isn't going well for the Evil side. Really a combination of things. The TR made an early strategic decision to try and catch the AN at his capital and moved all his forces south on turn 1 in hopes of this. Unfortunatly, his capital happened to be in the water and this put the TR behind two moves. The DA went fine, but with the WI I made a boneheaded error and split my forces. I was able to capture Zarathon with my group, but sent my emmies into the Mists when I should have sent them into Amberland.
We're behind the 8 ball now and with these sorts of games, it's so hard to make up for lost momentum. We'll see how it goes, though.

[Ry Vor]

EVIL HAS BEEN BANISHED!

I was surprised to be informed that the Evil side of DuPont and Loric have conceded to the Good side of The Deliverer and Wynand.

So, we got a bit of an update earlier in this thread, but what were the main lessons learned, and do you like the Warlords format (12 kingdoms, 4 players, good vs. evil with players determining which good or evil kingdoms they control)?

[kevindusi]

Personally, I think this is my favorite format. It has the benefit of playing multiple kingdoms and also a built-in error checker if your teammate is willing to look over your orders.

In any game of Alamaze, who you choose to work with is going to make a huge impact - my successful games have been where I have had strong allies. This format is certainly no exception.

I believe there were two things that contributed most to the Goods' victory:
1) Coordination - again, I believe this more than anything can make a huge impact at the opening stages of a Warlords game.
2) Understanding of the faster pace - there is not much 'build' time at the start of a Warlords match. Having some experience with the format (and some harsh lessons via Will), the Goods were faster out of the gate.

There was certainly some good fortune for us as well. As indicated by DuPont above, one of the Evils' opening gambits was ineffective due to a fortunate starting position for the Ancient Ones.

I guess one more item of note is the importance of recons. These often get overlooked in individual games, but in a Titan or Warlords match, information is key.

Again, I think this is my favorite format overall, especially if you can find a good teammate. While Wynand is no Dave Kuykendall (who is, right?), he is a great guy to work with, and made the coordination a breeze.

[DuPont]

I actually find this is my least favorite format - I find I prefer controlling one kingdom or the entire team. Anyway, I have no complaints about my ally in this game. I really pointed out my two main errors above - the WI split his forces, which I should not have done - that was totally boneheaded and I should have gone full-tilt into Amberland. That was caused by tunnel vision and I kicked myself for it afterwards.
Going for the AN capital could have paid off big had it worked out, but it was not to be. In hindsight, I don't know that I would have taken that same risk again. Had the TR stuck to Torvale and the WI gone after AM, the Evils would have had 4 regions at this point and quite possibly 5. Alas, water under the bridge. We could see that the evil's advantage would only grow at this point, so didn't see the need to prolong the obvious. Good game all!

[HeadHoncho]

Just curious, why go full-tilt into Amberland rather than take Northern Mists?

[DuPont]

Because my capital started on the landward side of the Sea of Terror and was within 1 turn of Zarathon. On turn 1, I enamored Amberland to friendly and moved the 1WI to the city and took it with a 171 the next turn. But instead of divining the towns in Amberland, I did the ones in the Mists and moved my emmies there on turn 2 - knowing the GI would be doing the same thing. I would have done better to stick with Amberland - I would not have had to enamour two regions and I might have caught the WA napping - I know the GI would have reconed all the towns in the Mists, but in Amberland, I probably would have been able to do the same, knowing which WA people to sleep and he wouldn't have known my people's names.