Anyways, I would like to express that overall this has been a great game. I had many epic struggles against pythium, bandar, eriu, TC and rlyeh. The map is beautiful, and a nice twist on traditional Dominions maps. The only quibble I might have with it is the large number of scrub island provinces; I would probably consolidate a few of them myself.
I'll just lay the facts out here as to what happened in these final turns, so that the precise situation can be known by everyone. The turns are available from Pasha for anyone who doubts my account.
I was sieging one of rlyeh's VP's, with a middling little raiding army (as the castle had been undefended). I knew I had little chance, as rlyeh could easily get forces there, so I did not assault with my tart that was also sieging. Rlyeh (who was being subbed by rdonj) responded w/ a breathtaking 25 or so full starspawn, a large bunch of illithids, an astral hero, and a ton of chaff. It was an imposing force, and the major event in rdonj's last sub turn. According to him " this last turn is actually mostly wraithlord." Which was fair enough - a sub looking to a common enemy for advice. The point being that this potent force was explicitly known to WL, as likely he had a good hand in designing it.
That same turn my probing assault was repulsed, WL teleported in a few sieging SCs to another of Rlyeh's VPs. Had he been taking advantage of a substitute player, or was he already assured by Aristander that there would be no defense? This was a good anti-SC force; tarts equipped w/ gatecleavers. I didn't counter them, as I could get no response from Aristander, and I had just lost a fair force fighting WL to protect Caelum's cap, and expected that rlyeh could handle them. WL took this w/ no opposition at all - yet who assaults what one should expect to be a horrendous amount of astral power fronted at the gates w/ a ton of non-routing chaff, w/ tarts equipped w/ gatecleavers, unless, of course, you are assured you will not be defended against?
Now, I had huge turns to do, which were difficult as I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that the game was now being thrown; correctly as it turned out. It was in this context that Pasha reassured me that wraithlord was "a gentleman". The context surely implied that a "gentleman" wouldn't be involved in such activities, but I'll let Pasha speak for himself, if he wishes. Nevertheless, I got in my turns.
Repeat then for Rlyeh's cap. Rlyeh kept his full force away from WL, and did nothing to defend when he could have easily, as WL was assaulting w/ one earth mother w/ a gatecleaver, and one tartarian. It is clear there was collusion to throw the game between Wraithlord and Aristander. That Rlyeh needed his full army to defend against one shambler is an amazing claim.
Now, throwing a game is a borderline activity, and it is up to the community to decide whether it feels such playstyle is warranted, or to be encouraged. Personally, I haven't seen anything so low since fighting Norfleet's hacked armies. That's where I learned to play; I refused to give in to that, and likewise I will not stand silent in this case.
Now, dear readers, if there are any
, you may go back and peruse Wraithlord's recent posts and see how his spin jibes with the situation as presented.
Wraithlord would like to make the claim that he would have won anyways, but this is not the case. I had lost some major forces defending caelum, but so had he. It is clear that one does not stoop to having a game thrown to you if you feel assured you could win by normal means.