[RedRover]

TURN 146-147
The west continent, east continent, and oceans are mine. All that remains is the final conquest of the south continent. Aside from two forts under siege, Ulm has been pushed west of the central river. I have used the Faery Trodding Druid and sea forces to open a new front in the southwest corner of the continent. I have erected a new fort in a wooded province several provinces inland to consolidate my gains, and have started squeezing the surviving Ulm field forces from this side.

Hildegarde, guarded by a Crusher, has fallen to my Devil hordes, and on the far west coast, the Ulm hero Ratik has perished as well. The only thing of interest left in this war is to get my Manticore to the old C’tis capital (population 0), and see if a Wish will give me some population here.

A surprise reversal on a castle assault—Abysian forces destroyed by the Ulm Pretender (an Oracle) holed up with a pile of Clockwork Horrors and six (!) Crushers. Its Blade Wind is truly impressive (and I tried to clean him out with about 20 Sea Trolls, a few fanatics, and two Angels—not). Well, at least he isn’t going anywhere.

Note: The capital is in fact the fort just southeast of the henge special site in the northeast quarter of the south continent. I have enough troops nearby to bottle him up, but I will wait for the massed Devil horde to launch a final assault.

Turn 148 may be the next to last turn. Ulm has four Temples left unprotected by forts, and I will raze all of them next turn. All his forts are open to assault (though the capital is strong beyond the abilities of my local forces there).

Forgot to pay the Couatl merc again (that’s the fourth or fifth time now—one of these days it isn’t coming back).

Recalled Furcas and equipped him with a Hell Sword, Chain Mail of Displacement, Flame Helmet, Chi Shoes, Ring of Regeneration, Ring of the Warrior, and sent him out with 21 Devils. My Hound of War has returned.

Somewhere along the line I have summoned a Heliophagus and ordered it to the front. There was a time when I would have considered that a significant milestone--it is interesting how impending ascension changes your perspective. Such a powerful creature reduced to an insignificant, half-forgotten footnote to a successful campaign. Ironic.

The Warlock Demogorgon is now 3F/2A/2W/4E/4S/3D/4N/4B. Even though he was scheduled to empower Air this turn, things change. The Manticore spotted the Crown of Overmight on the available item list--and insisted. This, despite the fact the item is cumbersome and will screw up his flying and defense, and cost him an Astral level until he can empower. But…what the Manticore wants, the Manticore gets (the twit). We may even see if people “flocking” in can cause immigration into a dead province (I don’t think so—more likely it has the same dominion effect as the Juggernaut, if anything—I’ll check the documentation after I’m done with the game).

Just for the record, I set up the Wish with a single key word “population.” We’ll see what develops. The caster is in a fort in a province with no population at all.

Income: 7,064; Treasury: 8,667. Gem Income: 49F/21A/40W/39E/40S/40D/41N + 102B this turn. Even though this is late game, it seems like an awful lot of magic for a low-magic map.

I can hardly wait for the results of the great experiment.