How do I attack a strongly-defended position?

[IndyPendant]

Hi all.

We're playing in the King game. It's a VP game, with the single VP province the central isle. 3 VPs wins the game. MA Arco has 2 VPs, and in 3-4 turns he'll have the third.

I am the best positioned to stop him--arguably, the *only* one in the game able to. I am MA Ermor, with good gem income, good (but not completed) research, good gold, tiny blood income, I've got tartarians and hordes and hordes and hordes of undead, a great many 'regular' units such as knights and longbowman, tons and tons of thaumaturges, and magic (and mages) of every type available to me.

I just attacked with a horde of exclusively-undead units, and got slaughtered. In. *ONE*. Turn. Now, don't get me wrong, I expected to lose with my initial assault (hence the attack with only undead and a few good leaders)...but not quite so...pathetically. I had expected to do some damage before I was defeated!

The main issue as I see it is that as the defender, Arco goes first. So he has a ton of S-Casters cast Communion Slave, allowing his latter casters to cast some major damage-dealing spells--before I can even get my defenses up. I lost roughly 2/3 of my army in the first turn, including most of my casters--before I even had a chance to go!

We are very very deeply in end-game here, so we're talking a hundred or more leaders involved in the battle, units in the hundreds, gems tossed around like candy, massive battlefield spells, that sort of thing. --Oh, and I also need to besiege his castle and defeat it *after* I win through to the island itself, to keep him from winning! All in 3 to 4 turns.

So. Is there anything I can do? Or do the game mechanics essentially screw me and it's game over? (Did I mention that I have three or four turns to come up with something? ; ) I have some ideas I can try, but at this point I give them a very slim chance of success...hence my appeal to the forums for help.

--IndyPendant.

[Tuidjy]

If the army is not under a great many domes, hit it with everything you have.
You can tell by looking at your replay. The domes should appear in the upper
right corner. If there are only a few domes, hit the province with twenty
voices of Aspu (enlist other players to help) and then let loose with Flames
from the Sky, Beconning, Murderous Winter, yada, yada, yada... Do not forget to
cast the voices on the turn you send the damage dealers, as well.

If there are more than a few domes... Well, the odds are against you.

As for the attack, yes, you will have to survive the first turn. Against a good
Arco, it's a nightmare. He has most of the elements, and some meteors to toss
on top of that. You need decoys. Tartarians are great for that. But frankly,
you are attacking - unless you are much stronger, you are supposed to lose.
But if you survive the first turn, use all the battlefield enchantments you have,
and watch his human mages drop off like flies.

[Twan]

The battle was only won by my indie mages with earth/air, allowing me to cast several rain of stones in round one. If you have the gem income and forge capacity to give a good protection to 30 or so mages (and add your tartarians etc) you have chances to defeat my army I think (I see some tactics I can't counter, but I won't say more of course).

[NTJedi]

IndyPendant... in my opinion we need more information for what units, mages, thugs and SCs are expected to be in the province when you attack. Also any blessings and the type of sacred units for the attacker and defender.

This late in the game it's unlikely the ususal Arco troops are the only ones defending.

[Zeldor]

NTJedi:

In battles like that troops are not so super important. If he cannot survive one turn then Arco can as well have just 1000 militia around mages