Game #1203 Tournament game#50 | Round 5 : 2019 PBEM Duel Tournament #50

Thanks for the extensive report, very nice!

I definitely made some mistakes, yes. My scouts saw your units usually too late in their move to be able to run from them, which was a pity. But especially losing that beetle, which was kind of meant as an incentive for you to take it, so I could then attack your army... That really backfired when you could still escape over the water... 

I have found it is very annoying to have a slow leader :-). If only he could have run one step faster at certain times ;-), I would have attacked you earlier. Or perhaps you would have moved further from me, if you would have been able., of course.

My secondary army also had an invisible tier 3 fey unit, which I am guessing you had not seen yet? I was thinking of sending it forward to harrass your cities... Bit risky maybe.

About not keeping your cities: It just takes too long to stay in it and convert it, it was 4 turns. I just wanted to disrupt your economy and your unit building, and go straight for your throne. Then wait there while my secondary army takes the rest and join my main army then. 

Maybe it would have been better if I razed them in 2 turns, one by one, but I was afraid you would be pumping out units with all your cities too fast then.

I should not do it, but I can't help but wonder how the game would have gone if I would have been starting player. I probably would have caught your tier 3 snake on the surface, and then reach your Throne before you could get your army strong enough to counter me. At the very least my leader would have been back before you got to my Throne.

I would have liked to see some grand final battle between our leaders!

Anyway, your strategy worked nicely, well played!

So, a report...

Spirit had picked the following combinations in previous rounds:

Dwarf    Dreadnought
Draconian    Sorcerer
Tigran    Warlord

So I expected him to pick Rogue or Theo against me, or maybe Necromancer. I expected him to pick Human. AD was a good choice vs Crows and Cherubs and could potentially build a good army to counter-rush a mind-control assault thanks to Evolve. So I went for that, pretty concerned that he might pick Necro, in which case, I would be in trouble. I doubled down in Blight damage and took Goblin, for a fast expansion and advantage UG. I took Partisan because it's just so good (and needs nerfing) and instead of my usual Destruction Master for this combo, I picked Grey Guard Master, to help vs Necro and for the gold for each city, which synergizes well with my Settler swarm strategy.
I played very cautiously and didn't clear for the first 3 turns, refusing 2 heroes, to finally get a Sorcerer (not what I wanted). I think I rushed a Builder's Hall then built a Darter in 2 turns, and then 2x Untouchables, because I had started with 2 Marauders and was concerned I lacked ranged units to clear. Then I started clearing and settling. I knew I was not really developing or gaining levels fast enough but I had a robust and stable start.
We met around turn 13 and I started killing Spirit's Cherubs which he dispatched a bit too carelessly to places where I could reach them (I was lucky to have built a Hunter just in time!). The Cherubs had appeared UG and he was playing Orc so I was really unsure where he had started: UG or surface? I thought UG so I tried to send troops there to find him. He had vassaled a Fey Dwelling and then later on a Giant Dwelling UG, so I was reinforced in my belief that he was there.
I was quite concerned he would go for a MC rush and rush me and so I put a lot of efforts trying to find his main stack.

He did not settle any city but went on to buy all the cities and Dwellings of the map: that meant I could not lose my domain. Because if I did, I would lose all my mana income (and I was really struggling to pay the upkeep of my summons, especially once they evolved, and especially because the Empire upgrade to reduce upkeep never showed up in my research book!!), and I would get nothing in return by taking his Throne because that's only 1 city. Conversely he would get all my 3 cities + Vassal + all his own Vassals.
My Leader tried to go to his location through east UG, but I discovered that it was a dead end UG and I had to move to the surface, from the bottom right corner of the map (he was in the bottom left).
On turn 18, Spirit found my Throne with a Cherub and tried to take it but discovered a concealed Swarm Darter (surprise!) and sacrified the Cherub on a fight which he lost.
Finally on turn 19, I found him! He was on the surface. But I was still unsure whether his Throne was UG or on the surface, even though I started to think it was on the surface because nothing was cleared UG.

Sheenah was level 11 and ahead of my own heroes and Leaders (I had focused XP on a Shock Serpents and Spiders but the Serpent was only Mature, not yet King).
The next turn I saw his Leader and the rest of his army, made mostly of units mind-controlled by a level 11 Theo Leader wit h Divine Justicars. It was a tough army and difficult for me to beat. I started rushing Sun Guards from a Tigran Vassal I had bought, and kept building units like Untouchables, Blight Doctors and Swarm Darters (for Weakening + True Sight vs his soon level 13 Sorcerer). My idea was to overwhelm him with a lot of units and as many pikes as possible. I had cleared an Inn and turn 21 was approaching so I could buy a T3 and maybe some additional pikes.

As shown on the screenshot, Spirit was quite close to my Cave Entrance, 1-2 turn away from my Throne. So I played cautiously.

On turn 21, I did not buy the Shock Trooper (not effective vs his army I think) but 1 Orc Impaler. That's my army (the Impaler was quite far).

Spirit started casting Mark of the Heretic on me and made a series of mistakes. First I think he should not have rushed me that hard. He couldn't really know, but I think if he had stayed on the surface and clear a few sites with Floating/Flying units to get his Sorcerer to level 13 and Master Illusionist, that would have been much more annoying for me. Second, he kept splitting his units, first a Beetle Rider alone which I killed and ran away using a river, then on the last turn an Apprentice away from the main stack. Third, and related to second, he did not stay in the cities he captured, allowing me to retake them.

His Martyr e volved to Exalted when he cleared the Sanctum on the surface. I calculated his move cautiously (and you can see the river I'm talking about here).

You can see here the lone Be etle Rider I killed with my Floating level 7 Sorcerer + Mature Shock Serpent + Hunter + 1 Darter I think. They then escaped through Water for the first three. I had tried to level up my Serpent to Elite those 2 turns but failed. It also shows how I was sneaking my Sun Guards to reinforce my army.

This is the surface situation: the Hunter I had sent to find Spirit found a Cave Entrance and emerged just near his undefended Fortress which he took and destroyed on turn 22 a nd then positioned himself on Forest (concealed) at strike range of his Throne. I had researched Long Strider (to try to get the upkeep reducing Empire Upgrades, but of course it's also great to get +8 MP!!! especially on Darters and Blight Doctors and not just Hunters) so I moved a lot. You can also see where my Leader as: south-west surface.

And so after the split of the Apprentice and the rest, I decided to attack with the advantage of numbers. Waiting more would have put me in danger of attacking my Throne which might have been harder (though there was no wall, not sure why, usually you start with Wooden Walls) + his secondary stack was about 3-4 turns from my Throne + I was only going to get 2 more pikes but I would lose mana.

Next turn I took undefended (to my big surpri se) Throne.

My Leader stack had my Leader level 10, Theo level 7, 2x Elite Warg Riders (though one died the last turn as I was scouting extensively to find a way to reach his Throne - and there was none, only through water or a long way around it - and he got kiled by roamers), Elite Hunter Spider Queen, Vampire Spider Queen, 2 Befriended Bears, 1 Veteran Butcher, 1 Toadstool Fairy, 1 Hunter Spider Baby, 1 Elite Befriended Baby Shock Serpent. So not crazy but enough to take Spirit's Throne (especially after the Evolve of the Serpent).

The scores:

Oh my! A few turns ago I thought I was going to smash you! :-) I thought I could just walk to your Throne uncontested, I had such strong units in my main stack...And my secondary army was approaching your territory from the south.

I did not think you would dare take out my lone Beetle earlier, because I thought I would then be able to catch you. I did not anticipate the hit and run with part of your army over that water line, so I could not catch you after. Mistake on my side! And then I guess you just had too many units. That stun on my 100 HP cavalry did help, of course. 

And I had a feeling you were not so fast with your scouting, so I just left my Throne open. Ouch! I am not used to people actually ever reaching my Throne before I kill them, so I learned something today ;-).

A pity that the game was over after only one fight! I did not even see your main army, I am very curious. What levels & units?

I was very happy with my first hero, a sorceror. Other than that, my start was not great. I picked the wrong direction early, and I had to go back to kill a bandit camp very near my base, which slowed me down. It took much too long for me to finish my first city quest. My strategy was going for many vassals fast for income and unit gifts, but it took a while before I found some friendlies.

But clearing stuff went quite well afterwards, I was levelling hard and I had some luck with my conversions. When I learned your race and class I knew I had to hurry before you would grow too big. I could tell you invested in building new cities, so I thought that would have slowed you down enough so that I conquer you. But, so many units! The concealment was very annoying too... And I did not want to raze your cities with my good alignment...

I made some seemingly small mistakes that perhaps added up to just losing that critical battle. Perhaps I should have quickly hunted that tier 3 shock serpent, but I had no vision past that, so I did not dare risk it. Anyway, lots of ifs.

Well played and congratulations! Perhaps we'll meet again in this tournament ;-). 

Wow, I did not dare to hope you would not have garrisoned his Throne and I would win on turn 24, after having killed your Leader in a tough battle of swarming T1 Goblins (+ a few allies) vs a bunch of elite troops! But I guess you did not expect the movement 40 Hunter appearing out of nowhere. Sorry it ended very fast! You had an interesting overall strategy, was a tense game! Fortunately I made the right class/race choice in the end. I was afraid you would be playing Necro, which would have somehow screwed me.

I'm going to post a short report later today or tomorrow.

Hi guys,

Settings looks good and both players class and race is received. 

1st game of round 5 that can start

I've sent my class & race to Jonny Thunder and marcuspers. I have created the game named:

'PBEM 2019 Game 50'

using the settings that can be seen in:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5FcJgi9Kgh76L9zF9

Once the judges say we can begin, I will send the game password to Hiliadan!

:-D