[Aethyr]

Well, after playing a couple of games on Aran now I think with 8-9 players someone's bound to find themselves in a very early war.

In the Alta game I found myself boxed in between R'lyeh (who knocked out Machaka quick) and Abysia, who almost single-handledly wiped-up the map with everyone else. FAJ's a very good player; between his skill and my starting position, there was not much I could do.

In the Elli game...well I suspect I'll be fodder soon either to the next wave of Caelum's elephant rush, or to the mighty giants of Fomoria who have just appeared on my border.

I'm not complaining; its just the luck of the draw. It just means that you must have a strategy that allows you to expand quickly and protect yourself from early rushes.

However, with 8 players I think that Llamabeast's modified Paraganos map (used in the Chupacabra game), with modded starting positions, would probally give each player a good chance of expanding and make for a more robust mid-end game. You may want to give this map some consideration for future games.