[RedRover]

TURN 28
C’tis doesn’t attack me, it must all be going north, east of the river. He’s left about 40 Slingers and Lizard Warriors watching me, and the rest are gone. My assassin moves north after them—I need more scouts out here (one is on the way, but it will take awhile).

In the north, the Celestials overrun the Trogs. I will push them forward while building a base up here. I need some of these wooded provinces for my last few shots at Nature magic.

In the northwest, magic site three proves to be Astral. Still only 1 gem, though. Phooey. From the map writeup, I thought the special sites would have something better than one gem each. Or maybe they do and I just don’t have the right paths to find out. But my gem income is now at eight. If this force can hold together for four more fights, I’ll cost to the west continent have a good place for a blocking fort on the west side of the great bay. Right now there are 60 Barbarians across a river saying no. I look at the bridge in front of me and say yes. If I sit here, I starve.

I will have Construction 4 next turn. I put the rest back into Conjuration, but after I hit Level 2 I’m going to start on Enchantments. We haven’t seen a global yet, but my main protection is Dispel, and that’s Level Five—it’s a long way off and I haven’t started on it yet. We’ll look at the graphs on turn 30.

TURN 29
Random Nature gems! Now I can keep the scrying going, but can’t quite get a Thistle Mace. I expected a Fire Wand at Construction 4, but it’s not on the list. I will empower a Salamander and check again (besides, the Fires from Afar spell, Evocation 3, will be useful if C’tis does come my way).

In the north, I’m across the river. I can either turn west and take on a second province with Amazons and Nightmares, or turn east against normal Militia. I go east—once I establish a border with C’tis up here, I can clean up what’s behind me (I hope). If I lose the Celestials, I’m absolutely done up here until I can build a base and make Abysian troops in big lots. It’s tricky—I want the base as far forward as possible, with as many high resource provinces as possible, yet I have to take the ground, build on it, and establish a vible military force before C’tis comes after me. I suspect I’ll probably wait too long to start it, but we’ll see…

In the northwest, I am in supply trouble. I thought I could attack out of it, but disease has struck and I have no counter. This could be really bad—I hope the scum troops die first.

Elsewhere, I have detached an Apprentice to head northwest to build a lab and activate the Amazon leaders in the province I conquered. Nightmares mean Onyx Amazons, which gives me Death and Earth magic seekers. The blood hunts are ramping up again, and I think a Devil a turn is now sustainable indefinitely. Time to go for two. Hector has been on the market for a few turns. I was saving for a fort, but I can use him up north with the Celestials. I couldn’t hire him last turn; that would have lined up four mercs in the same month—couldn’t afford that. Question is, is the hire going to be worth it at this point? I bite…