[SPOILERS] Tholal chooses a civ

[Tholal]

Beginning at about turn 121, diplomats from the Orcs begin to regularly appear in our court.

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Urag gro-Shub: Hey,
Would you be interested in a NAP agreement of some sort? Maybe even a joint military action.[/COLOR]

I intimate that I might be amenable to such actions.

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Urag gro-Shub: I'm considering a strike at either Ichabod or HidingKneel. I'm willing to supply the majority of the forces, but you would have an opening to attack them from a different direction.
The elves are reasonably well defended by recon(rangers/hawks), priests(leaves/veil), and of course their worldspell. Right now the Hippus are significantly softer and probably the weakest of the four of us.
The actual attack is probably 15-30 turns out. This is still in the speculative stage of planning, but if you participate I'd like to bring you in from the beginning and you get a generous share of any spoils. My primary goal will be the damage inflicted.
I'd give you whatever NAPs or guarantees you need to be comfortable sending most of your army away, but even if you decline, you aren't the next person I want to attack.
In addition, I'm willing to share maps and resources. I don't need iron any more, but I can have a trade connection to you soon and access to most types of mana.
Let me know if you're interested. If not, I understand. Maybe I can at least buy a secure border if I go in alone.
Cheers, Ellimist[/COLOR]

I agree that the Hippus do seem weak and mention that they are a lot closer to me than the elves. I also show a card, letting the Orcs know that I am aware of their NAP with the Hippus until turn 140.

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Urag gro-Shub: Yes, that is correct. (140). ASAP after that would be the preferred time to strike.
I should be able to accumulate plenty of units by then to do crippling damage. What about you?[/COLOR]

Initially, I did consider joining with the Orcs to defeat the Horselords and take much of their land for my own, but then a couple of things happened...



Noctis and a Golden Age on the same turn?! Damn Orcs!

So I reach out to the Elves to guage their plans as we have not hear from them in some time.

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]Arendel Phaedra: I've been corresponding with Ichabod. The plan, as I understand it, is to hit the Clan as hard as we can on turn 141.
Hopefully the Hippus can knock out the Esus city so that my own forces aren't walking into a meat grinder.
Perhaps the dwarves could contribute by marching on the former Kuriotate territories?[/COLOR]

I agree that the former Kuriotate lands do look tasty and will await their signal (for what, I do not specify).

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]Arendel Phaedra: Consider this the signal, then. The fireworks start on turn 141!
On an unrelated note: please let me know if and where you spot the Horsemen (I'll do the same).[/COLOR]

As rumours of impending war did sweep across the lands, amidst the chaos and uncertainty did rise one of the Great Banes.

Arendel Phaedra: In case you didn't get my email last turn: Stephanos is currently on the border between the Ljosalfar and the Clan.

Works for me.

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Urag gro-Shub: Sounds good. Let's start with a NAP between you and I until turn 156.
I should be ready to hit Ichabod from two or three directions once my NAP with him runs out. I'll leave it up to you whether you want to attack at the same time as me or wait for him to react.
If you want to trade maps, mana, or resources, just let me know.[/COLOR]

And here is my response. I delayed it a couple of turns because I'm refusing his NAP, which will make him suspicious. I've tried to imply that I will be joining him in an attack on the Hippus without ever directly stating that I would do so. But he must already be planning for an attack by the other 3 players so I doubt I'm fooling him any. Or perhaps he'll just think I'm a total incompetent, which is not a complete untruth.

[COLOR="Silver"]Carlos the Dwarf: Apologies for the delayed response. The young cubs have been keeping me busy.
Carlos the Dwarf: Our elders have determined that NAPs of any significant duration tend to be of negative impact in the long run and have thus decided that we will not engage in any upon this world.
Carlos the Dwarf: It seems as if the Hippus are increasing the size of their military. We have started a Golden Age to hopefully help us keep pace[/COLOR]

So the plan is to hit the Orcs. There really is no other choice. Especially after this latest little event.



The meteor event gives a Clan-specific option for a Golden Age! Aye Caramba! Now the Clan is at the beginning of a double-length Golden Age. He could very well take all three of us on and win!



In the meantime, the Orc power continues to grow while the Elves struggle to keep pace and the Hippus make a surge in military investment.




I used my Great Engineer to start a Golden Age and plan on having a brief settling frenzy with my Worldspell mixed in the middle somewhere. Here's the main colonization area on my eastern border.



I also have a Gems site to the West and another site north towards the Clan that I would like to settle. I hope to get at least 4 cities up in the next 10 turns, with each getting a Great Work from a Thane, and a brand new Temple of Kilmorph from a Stonewarden, allowing them to immediately work on Markets and Training Yards. I'll have Workers in the area for each city chopping and building as soon as the city is in place. This will hurt my immediate army production, but I hope that in the slightly longer term, it will be an overall improvement.



Hunting done in two turns. I'll shoot for Horseback Riding->Trade after that.

[Tholal]

Well I'm screwed. What horrible timing.



Buboes will raze Deep Well this turn. He already killed an Axeman who was out fighting barbarians. I have my army moving in that direction, but with his Fear, it will be tough for me to break a strength 30 unit (before promotions) with my strength 6 axemen. My worst fear is that he sits on peak tiles and attacks my cities from there. Either way, any chance I had of affecting the imminent war is out the window. Seems like it might be kind of moot anyway. Ellimist is taking full advantage of his double length golden age and his power rating is soaring dramatically. I know my force is pitiful in comparison, but I was hoping to be able to at least engage in a few battles and maybe make a surprise attack on the edges of the former Kuriotate empire. Ellimist has brought some reinforcements to the closest city to my north (dont have a current pic, but last I saw was 2 Ritualists, 1 Stonewarden, ~6 Axemen (with Mithril and Sheut Stone ) and a couple of other random units).

Ellimist offered me Spirit Mana this turn, but we dont have a trade connection at the moment, so the deal cant actually happen. I gifted Iron to the Hippus this turn, so the Orcs probably wont be too pleased with me from now on anyway.

[Tholal]

So I messed up even more. I left my main army stack in range of Buboes, forgetting that Fear can cause units to flee. He attacked, killed my best Axemen, and sent my stack scurrying off away from my empire.



Burning Blood affected about 6 units on Turn 141, of which half defected.

Trapped away from my empire, I decided I would send my stack the long way towards Ellmist's back-lines. Even if I wasn't able to do anything, perhaps Buboes would follow and cause some trouble.

Unfortunately, I ran into a weird movement bug. Check out this image.





My army made the first move through the hills in the bottom of the screenshot. My units are all Dwarven, so I get double moves through the hills. We reach the forest tile, and everyone has zero movement left. Adept casts Haste, and only half of my stack gets to move onwards. Oddly enough, the ones who can move onwards are the units with 1-base move. Anyone who had extra moves due to promotions (mobility and burning blood), are still stuck in the forest tile! What the hell?!?

[Tholal]

T142: Buboes caught up to my fast-movers (who are lagging behind the slow-movers), feared them again and caused more defections. A third of my army is trapped to his north, a third to his south, and the other third either dead or fighting for the barbarian cause now.

Ellimist has noticed that the Hippus have iron and seems none too happy. He's moved some reinforcements near my northern border. I almost hope that he sends an attack my way so I can do something fun, but I suspect he'll just play defense while dealing with the Hippus and Elves.

No time for more screenshots unfortunately.

[Tasunke]

ah what a little spirit mana could have done :/

[Tholal]

ah what a little spirit mana could have done :/

Ah yes. And to top things off, I could have gotten Spirit Mana from Ellimist (assuming he would still trade to me) or the Elves on the turn after my army was broken apart. I asked for a loan from HidingKneel this turn so if Buboes comes back my way, I'll be better prepared. Any serious action against Ellimist is out the window though unless the war drags on for an extended period.