A Few (Really) Good Men: Guide to Ashdod

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by lch

How come the people in that book all have colorful names like Talamandas, Bauchelain or Korbal Broach, but the protagonist is named a nonchalant "Quick Ben"?

He's not really the primary protagonist--I've just described to you one of his biggest scenes in the book--but it's a military nickname. He's also hiding from some of his numerous enemies.

The main protagonists, or viewpoint characters at any rate, of the book are probably Ganoes Paran, Gruntle (the caravan guard), Toc the Younger, and Whiskeyjack (who dies about 3/4 of the way in).

Note that KO has explicitly said that the Unfrozen are inspired by the T'lan Imass from the Malazan books, at least in a thematic sense. I've tried to mod them up as a nation but other things keep getting in the way, like trying out cool new nations that KO makes and learning SemiRandom.

-Max

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by WraithLord

B/C he's a bridgeburner. They all have short aliases (that stand for something, either absurd or heroic or stupid).
QB is actually Ben Adaephon Delat.

Hmmm. Kalam Mekhar doesn't, he just goes by Kalam. "You're THAT Kalam?" ask the shocked soldiers in IIRC /The Bonehunters/. Yeah, he's that Kalam.

-Max

[WraithLord]

Kalam seems like an exception (maybe b/c of his claw past). All the rest of them have aliases like hedge, fiddler, trotts etc.

I think in one of the books there was a description of a drill sergeant who started the renaming tradition

[Kamamura]

To the topic - inspired by the guide, I played these Ash-Dudes yesterday and I think this whole nation is just overpowered. They are giants, but they are not even clumsy, dumb nor particularly expensive. They are fast, deadly and overrun anything that dares to stand against them.

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by Kamamura

To the topic - inspired by the guide, I played these Ash-Dudes yesterday and I think this whole nation is just overpowered. They are giants, but they are not even clumsy, dumb nor particularly expensive. They are fast, deadly and overrun anything that dares to stand against them.

My first thought when Ashdod was released and I looked at its units was, "Wow, mages like LA Agartha!" Then I looked some more and was like, "Wow, sacreds like Lanka too!" That was before I discovered other cool tricks like how great Fire Storm is for Fire-resistant troops, or how cool Earthquake is when everybody in your army is a regenerating giant. I've had to crank my games up to beyond maximum difficulty, and still the game is over before I even get halfway through my bag of tricks.

I would love to see all nations be as fun and versatile as Ashdod. The only ones I know of that come close are Lanka, LA Agartha, and Shinuyama. (Of course that may be partly just a function of my playstyle.) And of course there are plenty of nations I haven't played yet at all.

-Max

[MaxWilson]

Potential use for chaffy human troops:

If you need to defend a position from an elite enemy army and sacreds aren't appropriate (maybe they're Ulmish Guardians, or the enemy has too many mages), set aside the following ingredients (Requires Alt-7; Ench-3, Conj-3 optional):

100-200 chaffy humans (often massable in one or two turns of recruitment)
Darkness (makes troop stats not matter as much by halving the differential)
Marble Warriors (durability--combined with your still-low fatigue)
Iron Bane (to make chaffy troops do damage when they hit)
Optional Strength of Giants (as Iron Bane, but a little moreso)
Optional Legions of Steel (a little bit more durability)

Combine ingredients in medium-sized province. Mix well. Scale up just by increasing the number of chaffy troops.

-Max

[rdonj]

Originally Posted by MaxWilson

100-200 chaffy humans (often massable in one or two turns of recruitment)

-Max

I expect wolf tribe warriors are probably ideal for this strategy?

[MaxWilson]

Yeah, that does sound rather ideal. Ashdod can do it with normal spearmen out of any fort, though, so isn't reliant on finding wolf tribe warriors in the right fort.

-Max

P.S. I would refer to this as a "tactic" and not a "strategy." It's more something you could whip out on a 1- or 2-turn notice when appropriate than something you would actually plan for.

[rdonj]

Normally I would too, but I was really distracted at the time and my brain wasn't quite working correctly. Although, whipping it out with 1 or 2 turn's notice might be a little tough for someone like me who is a bit logistically challenged.