[Eitb spoilers] Miguelito's fortune hangs on a thread

[DaveV]

What's the discord address?

[Miguelito]

miguelitorb
does that work? I actually have little idea how Discord works, just went to the RB channel and found people from there. If that's better, you can find me in (and use) the tech thread / where is the turn channel for this game: https://discord.com/channels/10191131442...0976649287

[DaveV]

I'm no Discord expert either, but I found the turn reporting thread.

I played turn 82, and conquered Valley of Drake, coldrain's city north of your stack. It held five warriors that I killed with fireballs and Einherjars. The city is held by two Einherjars, one badly wounded; I imagine he can retake the city easily by using the two nearby tigers. That still leaves him the dilemma of me being able to kill its new garrison and retake it.

Which brings me to my next piece of news: Q declared on coldrain and took a city. It doesn't look like he fired his world spell yet.

In the south, Auro is building up a pretty scary stack. I'm scrambling swordsmen to Godric's Hollow.

Here's a screenshot, rotated 90 degrees so I can show both theaters. Valley of Drake (North) is on the left; Auro's stack is highlighted and in Erebor on the right.

[Miguelito]

Can tthe main stack advance on the capital or on the depths? I believe rapid advance is pretty important, he can outproduce us, so need to cut the industrial base.
If it results in a stackwipe or Auror stabbing then that's on me (of course don't go in if it's clear we'd lose)

[Ginger*]

yeah id argue that if Auroracher win con for a conflict with you is also to divert resources away from your conquest of Coldrain, bc we lose without the elven lands. So I'd set up some small stuff to stall (maybe someone who can cast binding light?) or respect the what he has there, but prioritize the ongoing war.

At least that's my thinking if I'm Auro: "Hmm a full backstab would earn me a game long saboteur next door, so theres risk, whereas if I slow him for free with a threat then I've stopped his future potential"

[DaveV]

coldrain didn't attack against Valley of Drake, so I threw everything against The Depths, killing a hunter, two fawns, two tigers, and two warriors at the cost of a few fireballs. I had good RNG rolls, winning several 90% attacks with mages. He has a big stack in the capital, all of whom can hit our stack next turn. I took Guerilla I promotions on two swordsmen with available promotions. That's normally one of my least favorite promotions, but I think the key is to survive the next turn, and having some units able to absorb several attacks is important. Here's the situation:



Q peaced out, in exchange for another city I think. So we have to face the full elven onslaught.

[DaveV]

I had enough time to play last night but not report, so here's a belated update.

Coldrain recaptured The Depths by sacrificing a couple tigers, then garrisoned it with two warriors. I killed them with Hosts at ~70% odds.

Here's a shot after I moved everything next to the capital, losing a swordsman at good odds against his fawn blocking the spot where our stack is now sitting:



I bombed the defenses down to zero, then threw the remaining three fireballs against the stack. I'm not convinced there are enough hitters to win, even with a few spellstaffs available.

In other bad news, the barb warrior that's been marching toward our territory killed our swordsman upgraded from a warrior and (stupidly) left sitting in his path. I killed the redlined barb warrior with Oliver Wood, one of the new adepts. He's now up to 6 XP.

On the other front, Auro continues his buildup:



It might be easier to make progress against him than coldrain, since Arcane Lacuna would make his adepts no better than warriors and keep Bambur from repairing his wood golems. Fighting Auro and coldrain at the same time seems like a losing struggle.

Edit: it should say 84 instead of 82 in Auro's unit rosters.

[DaveV]

He threw some tigers at my stack and killed the bear; the odds can't have been great, so he probably has a super tiger now. I returned the favor by killing Gilden Silveric at 1% odds (sorry, coldrain!), unfortunately, with a Host (note the guy with 62 XP). That Host can probably keep killing a unit per turn and stay alive, but I offered peace for Sen's Fortress and Demon Ruins, the two cities to the north of our territory.



If he doesn't take peace, it is probably time to use the spellstaffs; I figure I can do more damage with fireballs if Gilden is gone, and the trend is probably in his favor if I don't do some serious damge.

Meanwhile, in the south, Auro keeps piling onto his winning advantage (the cursor is on Erebor):

[Miguelito]

Poor bear breaks my heart but that's some retribution.
The stack looks light on swords, any chance to bring in more?

With hindsight, I probably should have said to raze the first few cities. I know you asked. Shame to have lost Valley as well. But it was always a long shot, and well n news what will happen yet if he doesn't take peace ...

And if he does, lots of interesting turns the game can take yet as well.

[DaveV]

I figure he's much more likely to accept peace with the two first ring cities still on his roster. They've both lost all infrastructure and quite a bit of population, so it will take a while before their value returns to what it was before the war.

Edit: and the stack *is* light on defenders, but swords are still at least a couple turns away. I was hoping the scout would be top defender against the tigers, and keep him from using them.