PBEM game: The first step (Running)

[Shmonk]

Hmm, seems like we might not get the next turn until Monday possibly, unless we get the last 2 to submit there turn sometime this afternoon (darn).

And I have the same problem. Most of my provinces I'm surrounded by have heavy cavalry, and that's not fun. So I'm going after the other non-cavalry ones first. Also, there's a province of Ghouls and Soulless that should be easy - for me (Marignon), at least. Thankfully my priests/inquisitors do NOT like undead... unless, of course, they're controlling them.

[Shmonk]

Darkvines, now I finally saw my first one last week. In an SP game I attacked a province with druids and 2 darkvines. Not knowing what they were, I initially though they were a type of Vine Men. So, I thought they'd be easy. Then watching the battle, I saw how wrong I was. Yikes!

That's what I like about this game, I haven't played a lot, or even completed more than 1 game, and I'm still enjoying finding new things.

[sushiboat]

You guys might want to play your cards closer to the chest. If you give everyone details about your nation, that information may be used against you. To get advice, you can send a private message to quantum_mechani or Ironhawk. You can also keep a game journal, which you can share with us later as an after-action report (AAR).

[Alneyan]

Turn 3 has run (current turn is turn 4). From now on, I will send all game-related information in mails, as everything seems to be working fine.

[sushiboat]

Turn 4

Man announced a prophet. Ermor hired the mercenary sage Dagan.

According to the graphs, Machaka conquered a third province to become sole leader in that category. Only Pangaea has not taken a province outside of its capital. All other nations own two provinces each. Marignon and Machaka have found new gem income. Pangaea's army size jumped up to join Machaka and Arcosephale in the top tier of that category.

Another Pretender, Atrineus of Arco, made the Hall of Fame with 2 kills.

[Molog]

Turn 4

Lost the bid for Dagan, for the rest everything is classified.

I think Ermor, Pythium, Machaka and Earoscale are going to be dangerous.

[Shmonk]

Wow, this could be a bad thing, checking the forums at work. So I guess I was searching for magic sites if I (Marignon) found new gem income. I'm playing an SP game also, so I had forgotten what my orders were for this game. Now I'm looking forward to getting home and seeing what else happened on my turn...

[Ironhawk]

RibbonBlue said:
Great my luck is just going great. The independts around me are all Milita/longbowmen/heavy infantry/crossbowmen/knights.
Theres also a druid province and barbarian province.
All my provinces have knights. I saw one province that had milita+longbowmen, I go to conqure it with my army. 4 Knight commanders and 3 knights!!!. The druid province I am attacking will probaly contain darkvines. My luck is just going great!!!

Sorry for the slow reply. RibbonBlue as Man you have a very strong selection of national units with which to defeat the indies threatening. I will run down them and just make some quick comments, some of which have already been covered in the thread.

Barbarians: Man LOVES barbarians. They have barely any prot and arent particularly fast. Build about 20-30 longbowmen, set them way in the back of the field and Fire Closest. You will tear them to pieces before they even reach your men. Bring a set of spearmen or other chaff and set them to Hold and Attack if you feel you really need it.

Druids: Another indy type that is favorable to Man. Again, just mass up your longbowmen and this time set them to Fire Archers. The woodsman will have to move forward to get into range of your longbows (if they have been placed farthest possible back!) so they wont even fire first. Your longbows will slaughter them in 1-2 volleys and they will flee. Then the blowpipe guys will be in range and the same will happen to them. Darkvines could pose a problem, I dont recall thier prot. Maybe bring some chaff to tie them up while the longbows go to work on them. You might also get some lucky arrow hits on the druids themselves which could cause a rout.

Knight Provs: These are tricky. I will list off a way to defeat them here but it requires a bit of subtlety to get the tactical placements just right so I highly recommend you put off attacking knights until later in the game. Anyway, the trick with Knights would be to bring 1) chaff and 2) knights of your own. Put the chaff up front, set to Attack Cavalry - these guys will all die, but they will use up the Lance attack. Somethign cheap (with shields in this case, since enemy has bows) and use enough of them so that they wont rout if a couple die to arrows in the first 1-2 turns before the knights can kill them. Then have your Longbowmen set way back and on Fire Cavalry. Probably you wont kill any, but you might wound one or two, which can be the deciding factor with a small squad. Then have your knights way back as well with Hold and Attack Cavalry. So they will jump into action once your chaff has eaten the indy lance attacks and Lance the enemy in return.

[RibbonBlue]

Cool, thanks alot this really helps. I just slaughtered a mass of barbarians. The knights will fall soon hopefully.

[Alneyan]

I would stay away from the knights for now, at least until you have taken care of weaker provinces. If the knight provinces are within your territory, you should be able to take care of them later on, preferably without losing a lot of troops. For now, I would focus on trying to slaughter those weak independents, unable to fight off a storm of arrows (you can win such battles with no losses with a bit of luck, and losses should be low). Then again, I usually leave the task of clearing the knights to my Pretender, so I may not be the best advice in the world.

Turn 5 has run, and I have sent a general mail. As usual, please let me know if you did not get the general mail.