Warlords Battlecry II Battle Report Number Three
The Background
It is not widely known that SSG is divided into two groups, one in Sydney and one in Melbourne. The group in Melbourne, as befits the bucolic, semi-rural nature of their home town, are honest and straightforward people. When they play Battlecry II, sides are allocated fairly, and games are won or lost and then forgotten.
Not so in Sydney, an altogether more cosmopolitan environment. In accordance with its role as a head office, the Sydney group (or faction to use a more accurate term) is a swirling hotbed of conspiracy and vendetta. Memories are long, and allegiances short.
Out of this poisonous atmosphere came three experienced campaigners, veterans of many years of intrigue and backstab. As we shall see, the three men were united in ferocity, but varied widely in wisdom.
The Players
Roger ‘Killer’ Keating was a Fey Ice Mage. Killer concentrated on his favorite Freeze and Ice Ring spells, harbingers of his icy determination to prevail. Other Ice Mage abilities were chosen and Killer spent the rest of his points making a merchant/magic Hero with sufficient speed to run away from any other Hero in the game. Killer never intended to stand in the line of battle himself, but to send the eldritch minions of the Fey to do his killing.
Steve ‘Pigling’ Hand was an Orc Fighter, who was very definitely intended to stand in the line of battle, or indeed to create his own battle if none were conveniently to hand. Pigling ended up with a Combat value of 38 and a Damage value of 72, but scorned to learn even the simplest spell of Chaos Magic. This was a wise move given the rudimentary nature of Pigling’s literacy skills. Other skills that Pigling found useful were Hordemaster, which decreases the cost of Orcish armies, and Orclord and General, which increased the Hero’s command radius.
Gary ‘Incarnate’ Makin was a Daemon Deathknight. Incarnate also invested heavily in Combat skills, but the high costs of Daemon armies forced Incarnate to also spend heavily on the Merchant skill. Deathknights are fearsome fighters, and Incarnate could surely handle any single unit with ease, unless that unit was a Hero that had been even more devoted to the purchase of combat power at the expense of all else.
‘Purple’ was the patsy AI Squire player, cynically included to make up the numbers, and sure to be overwhelmed by whichever player cared to take the trouble. Purple’s fate was preordained.
Pre-game Maneuvers
In a three player game (as this game effectively was) diplomacy would normally be a critical factor. Players would negotiate, agreements would be reached and play would proceed along lines shaped by the outcome of the negotiations.
As was previously mentioned, SSG Sydney does not proceed along conventional lines. Instead, each player carries a mental ‘Vendetta Index’ whereupon all the treachery and misdeeds of other players, across all games and years, are accurately recorded. Any negotiation phase is a merely an opportunity to consult the Vendetta Index, and plans are formed accordingly, though of course words to the contrary may be uttered. Sadly, the list of crimes on the Vendetta Index is now so long, that no player has room to record any wrongdoing of his own.
How would these factors resolve themselves in the upcoming battle? The only certainty is that the player’s words would provide absolutely no guide whatsoever to their real intentions. We have therefore provided an expert translation (expletives deleted).
Killer: “My initial plan was to develop my base without exposing my rather weak hero to a fast assassin or combat hero that have ended my games quickly in the past. I researched visibility as fast as I could so my hero could patrol the map with some sense of safety.”
Killer’s Real Thoughts: “I have been so rotten to so many people that both players are almost certainly going to come after me. I’m going to lie low, prepare defenses, and hope to see vengeance coming from far enough away to let me make a run for it.
Pigling: “Roger is a better player than me, particularly in the end game where he’s better at juggling several things at once. Therefore my plan was to patrol aggressively with my hero and hope to meet and kill Roger early.”
Pigling’s Real Thoughts: "I remember a game five years ago where Gary ratted me out, and yet didn’t go on to win. I abhor incompetent treachery above all else, so I’m heading straight for Gary."
Incarnate: “My plan was to kill all the other players”
Incarnate’s Real Thoughts: “I remember a game five years ago where I took too long to backstab Steve, and this delay cost me victory. I shall not be swayed by sentiment this time, and shall get rid of Steve straight away."
What Really Happened
Hostilities commenced with Pigling in the northwest corner, Incarnate in the southwest and Killer in the northeast corner.
As predicted by the translation of their pre-game thinking, Pigling and Incarnate headed straight towards each other, pausing only to convert some resources along the way. They soon met, and engaged in some straightforward, honest, hate-filled combat. Pigling, who had invested more heavily in outright combat capacity, quickly prevailed and Incarnate was slain.
With Incarnate dead, Pigling naturally decided to put the boot in, and headed straight for Incarnate’s base. Shortly after his death, Incarnate’s towers had been totally toppled, his base converted and Incarnate was out of the game.
Incarnate’s only consolation was to inscribe yet another entry in the Vendetta Index.
While Pigling and Incarnate were butting heads, Killer had casually killed Purple’s Hero, and had already established a second base about half way down the eastern map side.
Killer was obviously benefiting from being left alone. A second base for Killer had a number of benefits. It provided insurance against a single base-crushing rush, added to production capacity and its towers could prey on passing wildlife and Purple’s armies to provide extra crystal for the Fey.
The game was now evenly poised. Pigling had two bases, his own and Incarnate’s. Killer had two bases, both constructed by the sweat of his brow, but probably not quite as well provided with resources.
If Pigling really wanted to avoid being turned into next year’s bacon, he would have assembled a large rushing force, something the Orcs are good at, and launched a powerful assault on one of Killer’s bases.
Instead, Pigling, already wounded by the combat with Incarnate, attacked Killer’s second base, along with a few escorting armies. The unfortunate results are shown in this screenshot.
Note that Pigling is near death, so even had his imprudent headlong charge succeeded in wiping out Killer’s second base, Pigling’s hero would still have been rendered virtually useless as a result.
Note also from the screen shot that Pigling has only explored half the map, and that Killer’s main base is completely obscured from Pigling. Pigling was probably suffering from a rush of blood to the head, and let his thirst for vengeance take priority over more strategic concerns. To create four or five Goblins and give them a Scout attitude should have been the work of a moment.
Pigling was forced to retreat, and Killer was able to assemble a force and follow the retreat back to Pigling’s base.
While this first attack was beaten off, it did do some damage, and Pigling, still severely wounded, was forced to hide ignominiously in a Tower, and was thus unavailable for any serious counterattack. Being in the Tower did allow Pigling to heal at double the normal rate, a benefit available to any unit that can fit inside a Tower.
Killer made a tactical withdrawal to his base, and set about building a large force of cheap units, in order to counter what he expected to be a rush of similar quality units from the Orcs, just as soon as they got their house in order. This period of respite also allowed Killer to build higher level Keeps, research unit upgrades, and take out the hapless Purple and take over his base.
Pigling started assembling a powerful attack force, and somewhat belatedly, set about exploring the rest of the map. The uncanny Fey don’t need to resort to such pragmatic efforts, since they can research a spell that reveals the entire map.
With Hit Points (if not honor) suitably restored, Pigling led a large attack force straight towards Killer’s main base. Killer had assembled a blocking force, and although this was destroyed, along with several buildings, this attack force was not strong enough to do serious damage to Killer’s infrastructure.
While not Pigling’s very last throw of the dice, the failure of this attack meant that the initiative had firmly shifted to Killer, and only extraordinary circumstances could shift it back.
Killer now set about creating a series of harassing forces. These were each centered around a Banshee, and also included Unicorns, Pixies and Lightning Hawks. The supporting armies were given a Magic Guardian attitude, which had a number of benefits. Using Magic Guardian, the whole group could be directed by just moving the Banshee, the Unicorns would heal the whole group without any user intervention, and the other units would attack anything in the general vicinity of the Banshee. The Banshee, being the Fey General, could even take time out from the battle to add yet more resources to the Fey control. The resulting abundance of resources allows Killer to construct more Towers as he extended his control over almost the entire map. The following screenshot is an an illustration of superior realtime unit control.
With the prospect of impending baconization concentrating his mind wonderfully, Pigling gathered all his forces, and struck out at Killer himself, who had ventured as far as the middle of the map. Pigling’s attack force included a large number of Goblin Shamans, whose area affect Lightning spells are great for killing large numbers of low grade units.
Pigling’s charge fell agonizingly short of success, killing all the units with Killer, but failing to kill the great man himself. It did succeed in reminder Killer that he was only a proxy killer, and to not confuse himself with a real fighting hero, especially as Killer’s presence was probably no longer necessary to secure victory.
With the failure of this last gasp effort, Pigling realized that he’d been done like a dinner. When Killer’s next attack reached his base, Pigling bravely stepped out of his Tower. ‘Who shall dance with a Pixie?’ came the question. ‘I will’ said Pigling, and he danced and he danced and he danced till he fell down and couldn’t get up again. See this screenshot for an illustration of the dance.
Lessons Learned
1. Daemons cannot rush, still less can their Heroes.
2. Melee heroes need powerful healing, and failing that should exercise discretion.
3. Poor reconnaissance leads to poor decisions.
4. Under pressure, there is no substitute for simple, well-rehearsed techniques that optimize time management. Killer rehearses these in his single player battles, even though the situation may not require them, and can therefore use them effectively on the multiplay battlefield.
Consequences
Incarnate will obviously reincarnate.
Pigling has vowed to mend his ways, and come back as the puissant Prosciutto.
Killer is natural born, and need do nothing.
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