We certainly have some trouble ahead of us. I am not sure yet how tough this is going to be. The enemy has a lot of numbers, but we have better units -- many of the enemy units are level 1, and it looks like only the 5 kings are level 3. There are a lot of assassins, though, so we are going to have to keep our healers busy curing poison to avoid losing troops.
Turn 1
I start moving most of our loyal units west to form the initial line of defense. I send the griffon south to start claiming villages, and plan to use my spectre avatar for this as well.
For additional units I take one more griffon for village claiming, lots of dwarves to fight in the mountains, and the Minister of Justice and a fugitive to help hold the open ground.
IBT the enemies recruit a huge number of units.
Turn 2
Our loyal units continue west -- I am planning to form our defensive line where the mountains approach the water to the south. The idea is to kill enemy units with dwarves in the mountains, fugitives on open ground (as they get far better defense there than anything else we have), and whatever we have along the water edge. (If the enemy will go into the water let's take advantage of that.)
Both griffons, the spectre, and the shyde are grabbing villages since they have mobility. The shyde will be brought back quickly to back up the front -- we are going to need all the healing we can get. The other three should keep grabbing villages for income. I also have our one promoted dwarf explorer moving to grab northern villages -- there are about a dozen up there and we will need them.
Recruiting splits about half dwarves and half fugitives/misc ranged guys.
Our income has gone negative already with all the promoted units.
IBT the enemy recruits more and starts moving units to claim all the villages near them...which is a lot, unfortunately.
Turn 3
Contact is made with the enemy as we kill 4 units (wolfriders, the enemies' fast forward scouts) and form our initial defensive position.
The dwarves will take a while to get in position, so our line is going to have to bend back to the northeast at first. But they will get there. I recruit another batch of dwarves and fugitives -- almost all our level 3 units are in play and many of our level 2 as well.
We continue grabbing villages in the south, but be careful of the enemy units which are rapidly spreading out. Almost all level 1 types, but we are weak in the south so be careful not to get trapped by ZOC. Griffons are damn expensive (40 gold!) and we will not be able to afford replacements. Use their huge mobility to take what we can and then pull back.
In the north a couple fast dwarves start grabbing the various villages. Keep this going while the main dwarf forces moves to the front -- we need the income.
Speaking of income, the 4 orc leaders have spent their starting cash but the troll king still has about 350 gold.
IBT the troll king empties his treasury. The enemy now has 102 total units on the field
![yikes yikes](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/yikes.gif)
, with a total income of 73 per turn after all costs. And they are still grabbing more villages.
Initial attacks hit us, and Sister Thera dies for the first of what will undoubtedly be
many times.
![frown frown](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/frown.gif)
More positively, the enemy is moving into the water.
I would pull our master bowman back, as night is falling and he gets poor defense in flat ground. Put a fugitive there instead, and try to keep both ends of the line from getting flanked. That island to the south is tempting, but I would put a couple guys on the shore where Fire&Ice is right now and kill them in the water.
Our income sucks but there is enough cash left to recall/recruit one more good batch of units. Good luck!