Warlords Battlecry II Battle Report Number Five
It is well known that blood is thicker than water, but what of the bond of marriage? Reports on its strength vary widely, so how would it fare in the crucible of battle? Well we’re about to find out.
The Contest
Level 10 Heroes, no Dragons, 12 starting points, x-large map, Highlands terrain. Victory Condition, Raze All Buildings.
The Players
Mick. Mick is a veteran of previous battle reports, batting 1 for 3, and naturally hoping for a better outcome. Mick’s current excuses include ‘bad weather’, ‘poor light’ and ‘let down by allies’.
Mick chose a Dark Elf Alchemist called ‘Miss Mimmie’, intended as an item creator. Not perhaps the most heroic of names, but in fact a touching reference to his wife. This choice by Mick is both brave and original. Brave because a spouse is bound to suffer a certain disappointment if her avatar is dragged down to dusty death. Original because in this writer’s experience, very few partners are item creators. Purchasers yes, creators no.
Anyway, Miss Mimmie increased her Magery, got Alchemy mastery and bought the Lesser Item, Minor Item and Transmute spells. Transmute was intended to deal with the fact that Dark Elves cannot trade (probably because they cannot resist the temptation to poison all their potential trade partners). Miss Mimmie spent the rest of her points on Casting and Command skills.
Chris. Chris is also a veteran of previous contests, batting 0 for 2. Chris’s current excuses include ‘forced to play while injured’ and ‘temporary form slump’.
Chris chose a High Elf Alchemist called ‘Daendrina’, an original sounding name, albeit with the hint of the apothecary’s shop. Daendrina purchased Alchemy Mastery, all level 1 and 2 spells, a few points in Alchemy skill, 20 Magery and 20 Command (with the help of the High Elf Golden General skill).
Rachel. Rachel was bravely standing in for her fiancee Dean, who having won an allied victory in his only battle, was content to rest upon his laurels. His only excuse was ‘too busy’. Rachel chose a Barbarian Druid (leading Daemons) called ‘Booger Nose’ an obvious reference to his high intellectual capacity.
Booger Nose was intended as an all rounder, and invested in a wide range of skills. The obvious question was whether Rachel would uphold her partner’s perfect record, or whether he too could feel the pangs of vicarious disappointment.
Nick. Nick is SSG’s latest recruit, and considered himself unlikely to win, a judgment with which the cognoscenti agreed. However, Nick has quickly absorbed the SSG ethos, and was determined to cause as much trouble as possible before being destroyed. Nick’s excuse was ‘lack of first class experience’.
Nick’s Hero was a Barbarian Barbarian leading Humans going by the name of McFarland (though the more accurate description would be Politician). McFarland purchased Tracking and Running (for speed in both attack and retreat), and Plainsman and Riding (helpful to a strategy centered around Knight Lords). Remaining points were spent on Merchant and Combat.
The Early Game
Mick had a good starting position with lots of extra resources conveniently close to his base. He was able to quickly build up and create two new bases.
A look at the strat map in this screenshot will show how good players get resources early. Moreover, they construct Towers or even new bases to defend them. Mick was quickly able to reach Level Four and had started churning Sorcerers, and Spiders, who can be game winners for the DE.
Rachel did not have such a good start, lacking a Gold Mine close by. Her response to this was to send Booger Nose out to convert resources. Unfortunately, Rachel failed to understand the mentality (for want of a lesser word) of Barbarians. Booger Nose quickly determined that the closest concentration of resources was in Nick’s base, and tried single-handed to convert them. Regrettably Nick had not built Pacifist towers, and Booger Nose was slain out of hand. On receipt of this distressing news Rachel sent a large force against Nick’s base and caused significant damage. Nitpickers might say that she should have sent this large force with Booger Nose, but he sounds like the sort of Hero who would disdain to use an escort.
Chris had a good starting position and after completing a quest at a nearby Mausoleum, was rewarded with 10 floating eyeballs, which are good for both exploring the map and distracting your opponents. Chris was able to fend off some weak early assaults and concentrate on building up his base.
Nick had a very bad start, with broken terrain and a severe shortage of stone. This caused Nick to scale back his plans for making Knight Lords and Mages, and substitute Mercenaries and Archers instead. Desperate for resources, Nick took most of his men towards the center of the map. While Nick’s main force was absent, Rachel’s Booger Nose blundered into Nick’s base, with tragic outcome already described. Less happy for Nick was the assault of Rachel’s revenge force, which wiped out his base.
Only three Peasants and Nick’s Hero survived this terrible onslaught by heroically sneaking out the back way. Unfortunately, the red mist of battle had well and truly descended on the revenge force, and the pathetic remnants were followed. It was here that McFarland actually did something heroic, and sacrificed himself to ensure that the peasants could escape and that Nick could live to fight another day. There are ample precedents for this behavior, but they are all found under the heading of Fiction rather than History.
The Middle Game
Mick’s fortunes continued to look good. A quest reward of 10 Stone Golems and an Iron Golems bulked out his melee troops nicely, and production was humming along. Mick even had the resources to build Khargoth, his Titan. This was just as well as this happy picture was shattered by a night assault from Chris’s High Elves.
This attack was beaten off but at very high cost, with the mighty Khargoth left on only 11 HP.
Chris had not had such an easy run. His production was nicely in hand, with 6 Trees producing Dragon Knights, Longbows (replaced by Moonguards later) Unicorns and Mystics, a couple of Eyries producing Phoenixes and a couple of Dragon Shrines producing Wyverns (which proved very effective against Daemon and Dark Elf towers). Chris also had 3 Level One towers producing Wisps, which were continuously morphed into Ancient Wisps, ensuring that he had no lack of Crystal in the late game.
However, the neighbors were not friendly. Rachel had launched a massive assault on the northern part of his base, though this attack had been halted by massed ranged fire from Longbows and Ancient Wisps and Chris had also been forced to repel an earlier assault from Mick. His assault on Mick had been repulsed and Khargoth still lived, although only just.
All players seemed to be exhausted by this massive round of bloodletting, so Chris was afforded the time to build a large defensive wall with Towers around his base. From this Fortress of Solitude Chris was able to assemble large attacking forces in peace, and then to let slip the wyverns of war.
It was one such attack that killed off Mick’s Hero Miss Mimmie (see High Elves Retaliate).
Of the four starting Heroes, only Daendrina was still alive.
Rachel was having a slightly easier time. A quixotic attack from a not fully healed Khargoth was brushed aside, and Khargoth was killed, ironically by a large and noisy flock of Imps.
Rachel had started a second base, but was still struggling with resources. It is noteworthy that both Mick and Chris chose Alchemist Heroes, partly in order to use the Transmute spell to avoid resource shortages. With Khargoth dead, Rachel felt that Mick was vulnerable, and built up her forces for a massive assault.
Nick was unable to resurrect his side’s combat capability. Structures were built but the strong tides of war would invariable sweep them away. So Nick decided upon a policy of petty revenge. A tower was built, and since he wasn’t strong enough to do anything else, Nick contented himself with shooting critters. Having determined that Chris had least to do with his own demise, Nick gave most of his resources to Chris. He then managed to find an illegal key combination (since fixed) and take himself out of the game. Not a very glorious start to his gaming career, but Nick’s instinctive understanding of the principles of petty revenge show that he has a bright future ahead of him.
The End Game
Rachel and Chris were left as the two major powers on the map. Unfortunately for Mick, he was right in the middle. With Hero and Titan dead, Spiders were no substitute. High Elves, with their Titan Lunarion, attacked from one side and the Daemons attacked from the other and the Dark Elves were expunged from the pages of history.
Chris cynically allowed the Daemons to assist him in defeating the Dark Elves, and then promptly wiped out the Daemon assault force. With a Titan and the full weight of his production behind him, Chris then proceeded to destroy the Rachel’s bases and cruised to an overwhelming victory.
Summary
The best players build their victory on a very sound economic base. They capture and keep more resource points, and they build more production points than the less experienced players. Likewise they better understand the dynamics between sides and units. As an example, Chris new that Wyverns were effective against Dark Elf and Daemon towers but vulnerable to Human towers, and used them accordingly. They also understand how to combine the strengths of particular Heroes and Races, as illustrated by the fact that both Mick and Chris chose Alchemist Heroes to offset the lack of Trade for their sides. Rachel did very well to be a contender for final victory in her first multiplayer game, and with a Hero/Race combination which had an effective answer to resource problems she may have done even better.
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