Jotunheim:Utgard AAR

[Arryn]

Turn #35, Late Winter of Year 3
A breath of fresh air.

Part 1 of 2

This month, no travellers bring word from afar of events in distant lands.

The Gift of Health cures my wyrm and four of my afflicted Jotuns this month. (Three Jotuns, plus Bove, remain wounded.)

Rimdriva's Acashic Record ritual upon Ultima Typhia reveals a magical site: a Canyon of Wild Winds (2 air gems). At Last I have a source, modest as it is, of air gems. I am, however, quite surprised to find an air site in plains, especially a canyon!

It does not surprise me that I have apparently made an enemy of Vanheim, the most powerful nation in the world thus far. After the previous two months in which their forces were repulsed, bloodily, by my avatar at Man, they signal their displeasure by summoning a score of Black Hawks to raid Robber Home. The score of Jotun militia assigned to the provincial defense make short work of the oversized birds, killing nine before the rest fly off, only to be hunted down and spitted in my neighboring provinces. There is much roasted fowl to be had after the battle.

A commander, a monk, one knight, a cu sidhe, seven fanatics, two archers, and twelve slingers sally forth from the fortress of Man to engage my wyrm and try to break the seige. All of the troops are starving and most have one to as many as four afflictions. The knight becomes a tasty appetizer. Hungry for more, the slingers become the next course of Jorgun's meal. Alas, the wyrm is only able to gulp down just three more slingers (and render unconscious 5 more) before the enemy goes into a general rout and retreats back into the relative safety of their unsupplied fortress. Jorgun is able to chase down one Last, diseased and crippled slinger before the battle ends. My avatar accrued 10 kills and 11 trophies this month.

An independent force attacks Pangaea in Grypha. 2 knights (leaders), 7 knights, and 13 fanatics engage 1 centaur commander, 3 harpies, 6 satyrs, and 9 light infantry. The knights make very quick work of the harpies after which they charge the rest of the Pan forces. Next to be impaled by the knights are all the satyrs. The knights move on to engage the light infantry and finish them off just as the fanatics finally reach them. The centaur commander, left without troops, barely manages to escape ahead of the pursuing knights, and Pangaea loses control of the province.

The "red" wizard that was recruited at the Academy of High Magics in the Black Alps possesses skill in water (2W) and blood magics (1B).

My researchers achieve mastery of the sixth level of Evocation, and expect to achieve mastery of the sixth level of Enchantment by the end of the month.

My realm has:

• ___8 Dominion max.
• __19 Temples
• __38 Provinces converted
• 1024 Treasury.
• 1564 Income. (+14)
• _534 Upkeep. (+62)

• 23 Provinces controlled
• Jotunheim: Dom=8, PD=25, Unr=0
• Zenthra: Dom=6, PD=17, Unr=0
• Eribon: Dom=5, PD=10, Unr=0
• Gwyrth: Dom=7, PD=17, Unr=0
• Iron Range: Dom=6, PD=10, Unr=0
• Saetica: Dom=4, PD=10, Unr=0
• Black Alps: Dom=8, PD=10, Unr=0
• Rim Mountains: Dom=1, PD=20, Unr=0
• Ancyrna: Dom=4, PD=17, Unr=0
• The Promised Land: Dom=3, PD=20, Unr=0
• Bel: Dom=3, PD=10, Unr=0
• Ashikaga: Dom=2, PD=0, Unr=0
• Pythium: Dom=7, PD=10, Unr=0
• Barra: Dom=1, PD=20, Unr=1
• Robber Home: Dom=3, PD=20, Unr=0
• Hoburgdorf: Dom=6, PD=20, Unr=0
• Man: Dom=0, PD=0, Unr=13 (under siege)
• Feral Woods: Dom=7, PD=10, Unr=0
• Ultima Typhia: Dom=6, PD=10, Unr=0
• Well of All Waters: Dom=7, PD=10, Unr=0
• Kepess: Dom=3, PD=15, Unr=0
• Melma: Dom=4, PD=20, Unr=0
• Herghendorf: Dom=3, PD=20, Unr=0

Gem income is:

• +_4 Fire (16)
• +_2 Air (02)
• +10 Water (18)
• +_4 Earth (18)
• +19 Astral (20) (includes 12 Clams)
• +_3 Death (10)
• +_9 Nature (23)

Magical knowledge (stars denote schools being researched):

• 7-Conjuration
• 3-Alteration
• 6-Evocation*
• 6-Construction
• 5-Enchantment*
• 5-Thaumaturgy
• 0-Blood Magic
• 234 RPs (of 279 available at labs)

To be continued in Part 2 ...

[ March 02, 2004, 12:54: Message edited by: Arryn ]

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
Obviously, because Ulm is up to something evil. You can tell just by looking at them. Just look at that shifty look in their beady little eyes. They're evil, I tell you! Evil!

It's obvious you're a Man. Elves have an unreasoning hatred of dwarves ...

[Norfleet]

Ulm is dwarves? They're really big humans, I thought. They're still obviously up to something, though. Can't you tell?

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
Ulm is dwarves? They're really big humans, I thought.

Okay, so they're mutant dwarves ...

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Arryn:
Okay, so they're mutant dwarves ...

I tend to be rather fond of dwarves, myself. They're old, they have long beards, and they're often mean, cranky, and irritable. They're also noted for tireless productivity. You know, rather like me!

But mutant dwarves? Unless you mean "mutant" in the sense of "has a chaingun for a hand", no mutants allowed!

[Arryn]

Turn #36, Early Spring of Year 4
In the nick of time.

Part 1 of 2

This month, no travellers bring word from afar of events in distant lands.

Vanheim summons a score of Black Hawks to raid Zenthra this month. The result is precisely the same as Last month.

Two earth gems are discovered in a ravine in Barra.

An independent force attacks Pangaea in Gaieta. 2 knights (leaders), 7 knights, and 13 fanatics engage 1 pan. The pan is easily defeated and Pangaea loses another province to a mysterious attack. I suspect a hidden pretender is playing with Pangaea's realm.

Vanheim attacks Mictlan in the province of Ragdan (due west of the Oak of Ages). The Vans muster 1 vanjarl, 4 einhere, 9 hirdmen, 4 huskarls, 10 barbarians, 3 heavy infantry, 4 light infantry, 5 fanatics, 8 woodsmen, 5 woodsmen blowpipe, and 7 archers. The Mictlani have a mere 1 tribal king, 2 warriors, and 2 slaves. Mictlan routs after just a single slave is killed by arrow fire.

A sidhe lord, a bard, two sidhe champions, two daoine sidhe, four horned serpents, and forty-nine fanatics sally forth from the fortress of Man to engage my force of Jorgun, Bove, Rod the Firbolg, four priests, twenty-one Jotun spearmen, and nine vine ogres. My priests kill several of the fanatics with Flame Bolts, but their sheer numbers manage to inflict enough harm to slay three of Rod's Jotuns. But by the time Man's army routs, they have lost all but their four commanders, a daoine sidhe, and 3 fanatics. A crushing and expensive defeat for Man, and dealt with just the vanguard of my army, not my full might. Nor did my wyrm contribute to the slaughter, as Jorgun was unable to maneuver around the wall of Jotuns in time after his preparatory spellcasting was completed. With my Jotuns now present, I expect that the fortress gates will quickly be breached.

Vanheim also attacks my province of the Rim Mountains, with a non-summoned force of 1 commander, 2 trolls, 4 heavy infantry, 5 vaetti, and 8 archers. My provincial defenders slaughters the entire Van force except for two insignificant, puny vaetti.

Observing from the Rim Mountains, I see the Atlantian force in Nifel conquer the independents of Fucan.

My main army in Melma numbers twice what the province can support. Consequently, half of the Jotuns are starving, as I had expected. The Gift of Health limits the impact to an increase by three of Jotuns diseased and/or afflicted in that army.

The "red" wizard that was recruited at the Academy of High Magics in the Black Alps possesses skill in fire (2F) and blood magics (1B).

My researchers achieve mastery of the sixth level of Enchantment.

My realm has:

• ___9 Dominion max.
• __21 Temples
• __39 Provinces converted
• 1001 Treasury.
• 1594 Income. (+30)
• _564 Upkeep. (+30)

• 23 Provinces controlled
• Jotunheim: Dom=9, PD=25, Unr=0
• Zenthra: Dom=6, PD=17, Unr=0
• Eribon: Dom=4, PD=10, Unr=0
• Gwyrth: Dom=8, PD=17, Unr=0
• Iron Range: Dom=6, PD=10, Unr=0
• Saetica: Dom=3, PD=10, Unr=0
• Black Alps: Dom=8, PD=10, Unr=0
• Rim Mountains: Dom=2, PD=20, Unr=0
• Ancyrna: Dom=4, PD=17, Unr=0
• The Promised Land: Dom=3, PD=20, Unr=0
• Bel: Dom=3, PD=10, Unr=0
• Ashikaga: Dom=3, PD=0, Unr=0
• Pythium: Dom=7, PD=10, Unr=0
• Barra: Dom=3, PD=20, Unr=0
• Robber Home: Dom=4, PD=20, Unr=0
• Hoburgdorf: Dom=6, PD=20, Unr=0
• Man: Dom=0, PD=0, Unr=12 (under siege)
• Feral Woods: Dom=7, PD=10, Unr=0
• Ultima Typhia: Dom=7, PD=10, Unr=0
• Well of All Waters: Dom=7, PD=10, Unr=0
• Kepess: Dom=3, PD=15, Unr=0
• Melma: Dom=4, PD=20, Unr=0
• Herghendorf: Dom=3, PD=20, Unr=0

Gem income is:

• +_4 Fire (20)
• +_2 Air (04)
• +10 Water (18)
• +_4 Earth (06)
• +20 Astral (35) (includes 13 Clams)
• +_3 Death (03)
• +_9 Nature (12)

Magical knowledge (stars denote schools being researched):

• 7-Conjuration
• 3-Alteration
• 6-Evocation*
• 6-Construction
• 6-Enchantment
• 5-Thaumaturgy
• 0-Blood Magic
• 265 RPs (of 327 available at labs)

To be continued in Part 2 ...

[ March 03, 2004, 11:55: Message edited by: Arryn ]

[1000yd_stare]

I love this AAR. You obviously put a lot of time into it; please keep up the good work for myself and the countless other lurkers who are reading it.
Thanks!

[Arryn]

Thanks, Stare! Yes, I do put a ridiculous amount of time and effort into it. It takes by far longer to write up a turn than to play one. And then there's the image captures and uploads to my web site. I am certainly pleased that folks in the forum appreciate it. Positive feedback is what motivates me to keep going.

As someone noted a while back, I even pause the battle replays to count each and every unit on the field, and often I examine most of the enemy units, individually, for things like starvation and afflictions. Writing up a single battle takes longer than wrting up the entire rest of the turn, including special events and my move plots. So you can imagin how long it takes, as it's doing now, when I have 3-5 battles each turn in my message report.

[Arryn]

Turn #37, Spring of Year 4
Treasures under the world.

Part 1 of 2

This month, no travellers bring word from afar of events in distant lands.

Rimdriva's Acashic Record ritual upon Ancyrna reveals a magical site, an entrance into The Underworld (3 earth gems). This valuable site permits me to recruit the excellent, tough, large (size 5) trampling Troglodytes, at 50g (and only 1r) apiece. (Unlike most tramplers in Dom, these have good morale, a 14!) The site will also permit me, once I erect a lab, to recruit Gnomes, which are nice earth/nature mages (2E + 2N) with glamour, stealth, and forestry. Gnomes will make great hit-n-run attackers, especially if accompanied by the proper summoned creatures.

(In the interest of speeding up the process of writing these turns, and to save myself some wear and tear, I'm not going to go into detail on battles fought by other nations against indies or each other. From this turn onwards, I'll just give a brief summary of what happened.)

Caelum attacks Vanheim in the Pillar of the World with Call of the Winds. The defending 3 PD beat off all of the birds, without a single loss.

Vanheim attacks my province of Herghendorf. Their force of 1 commander, 5 skin shifters, 2 hirdmen, 1 heavy infantry, 6 light infantry, 5 crossbowman, and 5 archers face my PD plus the bulk of my army (Bove, Grymis, et. al.). I suffer no irreplaceable (non-PD) losses and the Vans lose half of their attacking force, with 1 commander, 4 skin shifters, 1 light infantry, 4 crossbowman, 2 archers escaping back to Ivenmoor. Bove earns his third experience star.

Ulm attacks indies in Belmar (due north of my Well of All Waters). A diverse and tough Ulmish force of roughly 60 faces about a third their number of indies, a mix of cavalry and fanatics. The Ulms give much better than they receive, and the indy morale just isn't good enough for the indy heavy cavalry to press home their attack. Ulm wins with few losses.

Machaka attacks Abysia in the Yellow Mountains. A Machakan force of 20 bone fiends, 20 machakan archers, 2 spiders, a circle master, and the Machakan prophet attacks 4 Abysian PD. The prophet smites the PD leader and the battle ends before much else happens.

Pangaea attacks indies in Gaieta. The Pangaen Carrion Dragon pretender itself along with less than a score of assorted Pan units faces 2 knights (leaders), 7 knights, and 13 fanatics. The indy knights do considerable damage ... until the dragon closes into melee and terrifies the knights (with +15 fear). That pretty much ends the fight, except for routing knights, blocked by centaurs, being eaten from behind by the dragon.

A death match has been scheduled at the arena in Robber Home for next month.

My besieging Jotuns at Man breach the fortress gates with ease. The end of Man is nigh.

Atlantis has massed a significant force of spearmen and shamblers in Nifel that concerns me. I am fairly certain that Atlantis and Vanheim are not at war, so the only reason I can see for Atlantis to amass these troops is that they are considering a move upon Man.

The "red" wizard that was recruited at the Academy of High Magics in the Black Alps possesses skill in air (2A) and death magics (1D).

My researchers expect to achieve mastery of the seventh level of Evocation by the end of the month.

My realm has:

• ___9 Dominion max.
• __21 Temples
• __43 Provinces converted
• _978 Treasury.
• 1573 Income. (-21)
• _617 Upkeep. (+53)

• 23 Provinces controlled
• Jotunheim: Dom=9, PD=25, Unr=0
• Zenthra: Dom=7, PD=17, Unr=0
• Eribon: Dom=4, PD=10, Unr=0
• Gwyrth: Dom=8, PD=17, Unr=0
• Iron Range: Dom=6, PD=10, Unr=0
• Saetica: Dom=3, PD=10, Unr=0
• Black Alps: Dom=8, PD=10, Unr=0
• Rim Mountains: Dom=1, PD=20, Unr=0
• Ancyrna: Dom=4, PD=17, Unr=0
• The Promised Land: Dom=2, PD=20, Unr=0
• Bel: Dom=3, PD=10, Unr=0
• Ashikaga: Dom=2, PD=0, Unr=0
• Pythium: Dom=7, PD=10, Unr=0
• Barra: Dom=3, PD=20, Unr=0
• Robber Home: Dom=4, PD=20, Unr=0
• Hoburgdorf: Dom=7, PD=20, Unr=0
• Man: Dom=3, PD=0, Unr=12 (under siege)
• Feral Woods: Dom=7, PD=10, Unr=0
• Ultima Typhia: Dom=8, PD=10, Unr=0
• Well of All Waters: Dom=7, PD=10, Unr=0
• Kepess: Dom=4, PD=15, Unr=0
• Melma: Dom=4, PD=20, Unr=0
• Herghendorf: Dom=2, PD=20, Unr=0

Gem income is:

• +_4 Fire (19)
• +_2 Air (06)
• +10 Water (11)
• +_7 Earth (08)
• +22 Astral (30) (includes 15 Clams)
• +_3 Death (06)
• +_9 Nature (09)

Magical knowledge (stars denote schools being researched):

• 7-Conjuration
• 3-Alteration
• 6-Evocation*
• 6-Construction*
• 6-Enchantment
• 5-Thaumaturgy
• 0-Blood Magic
• 292 RPs (of 367 available at labs)

To be continued in Part 2 ...

[ March 04, 2004, 00:28: Message edited by: Arryn ]

[Arryn]

Turn #36, Early Spring of Year 4
In the nick of time.

Part 2 of 2

I recruit Seithkonas in Jotunheim, Pythium, and Ashikaga. Another "red" Wizard is recruited in the Black Alps, while another Garnet Priestess is recruited at the Well. I recruit another 4 Jotun spearmen in Jotunheim, 6 Jotun spearmen in Pythium, and 1 Jotun spearman in Ashikaga. I raise the PD in Ultima Typhia by 10 (to 20). These preparations drain the treasury of 995 coins.

The Ivy King Thomm begins a monthly ritual of Awakening Vine Ogres, at a cost of 1 nature gem each month. The four ogres per month, which do not consume supplies, will be useful in the Vanheim wastelands. The Wizard Lekiro begins the ritual to Awaken Sleeper, expending 10 nature gems. (I need another good commander of Jotuns to form a second army, and I already have other long-term plans for the recently-summoned Bane Lord in Jotunheim.) The Norna Rimdriva prepares to invoke the ritual of Acashic Record upon the province of Ancyrna, for which I allot 25 of the astral pearls in the treasury. The Skratti Tunne, using a Dwarven Hammer, forges another Clam of Pearls, at a cost of only 7 water gems. The Wizard Retheric forges a Clam of Pearls, at the normal cost of 10 water gems. The Enchantress Pladina forges a Charcoal Shield, intended for the firbolg that is being summoned by Lekiro, at a cost of 5 fire and 5 earth gems.

Jorgun and Rod the Firbolg maintain the seige of the capital of Man for a fourth month, while the four "battle" priests commence preaching my virtues to the unenlightened people of Man.

Bove, commanding the rest of my Jotun army, along with Grymis, the commander Ualgo, and two priests move from Melma to Herghendorf, where there will be ample supplies for all of the troops. From Herghendorf, I can strike into the weakly-held forested mountains of Kratas, should Ulm become hostile, and raze a temple. I do not think that this will prove necessary, but I will be prepared. What is more likely is that Ulm will strike next at the barbarians in the forest of Imictan, if the force in Arnbeg attacks at all. Assuming that I am correct, then I will take the army westwards into the plains of Ivenmoor and crush the Vanheim force which is guarding that border province and threatening Herghendorf.

The six priests in Barra, their mission complete, move to join the seige camp at Man. (I will have a formidable ecclesiastical contingent of 10 priests in Man this next month.) The priest in the Iron Range moves to Gwyrth, the Last province I control which does not, yet, contain a temple. The priest in Bel, having completed temple-raising, moves westwards to Ultima Typhia, while the priest in Ashikaga moves to rendezvous with Bove's army at Herghendorf.

The Bane Lord Ashsoul will escort 4 Jotuns from my capital to the Black Alps, to deliver them to the firbolg that is being summoned.

Turn #36 plotted movement (1280x1024)

[ March 03, 2004, 13:28: Message edited by: Arryn ]