VampireBat - LA game for new players- started

[Aezeal]

You should've taken a window on my battle with arco

Arco had only PD.. but major PD.. about 70 troops maybe

my lines.. whole back line filled with volva and galdermen
in front of them 3 large groups of melee troops (einheres and skinshifters)

my thuggish vanjarl bravely stands alone in front of my army farting in arco's general direction.

first turn: all lightning flashing above my armyfrom summon storm power. My troops appreciate th fireworks and are not scared by arco so they relax and enjoy it a bit.

his troop move forward, my army yawns

second turn: About 7 thunderstrikes decimate his army, the first soulslays seem uneffective
my troops see blood and move ahead.

my thug has buffed by now and is ready to move

his troops move further forward, my troops are laughing in disbelieve that they can be so stupid

Next turns: more thunder strikes, my thug kills every unit he meets the soulslays start to be effective too. When the largest (remaining) concentration of his troops meets my thug hy skinshifters are there also and his troops turn around and flee. My skinshifters are way faster though and so are soulslays and most troops die before they have fled.

[Zenzei]

what had happened if I had found any of your Ranger squads patrolling last turns? You would have violated the NAP because that could have been easily considered and attack...

I did thought about this too and I came to conclusion it was worth a bit of a risk(ranger attack didn't work out as well as I had planned though). And because you didn't find them out during the expiration period and I didn't attack with them until NAP had officially ended, you really can't say I broke the NAP, can you?

Personally I would find this kind of move a bit grey zone but definitely not a NAP breach because the notification had already been made. If you think this issue needs more conversation, I'm happy to talk it out.

you took just 3 provinces from me, 2 were previously attacked by Patala. You also killed about 70 Patalan units by error I assume

Yep, there was an unfortunate error.

[Aezeal]

stats seem to indicate ulm took patala provinces.. and patala lost a great many troops in this exchange

mictlan skyrockets in gem income though

[Karlem]

Technically I would have consider them breaking the NAP had I encounter them. We are "good ennemies" and I will not bother about it but just wanted to say it to you for future game. I usually consider anything other than a scout breaking a NAP.

Well, I consider you killing Patala troops a "fortunate error", do you mind? .

[Aezeal]

I just think it's funny, neither un- ot fortunate.

Does anyone mind..

If Arco has more nice high PD's then a few astral windows on our borders are adviced

[Karlem]

Just Patala missing. Ghill, come on, just do it

[Karlem]

Ufff Zenzei.... did it hurt?

*******************
Borale. To one side mighty Ulm: 13 commanders, 150 units and 15 undead... The commanders are 4 mighty vampire counts, 4 black priests, 1 bane lord fully suited, the Ghoul Baron Ulrich and some more...

To the other side Bifrons.

- No one can harm the mighty devils, no one can damage the forces from frozen hell! You will all die! - said Bifrons
- He can bleed, he can die! - said Ulrich

The rangers of Ulm fired their crossbows, the mindless thralls advanced. Some Vampire counts send some minor imps and even Gravetongue, the bane lord arrivd to combat.

However Bifrons was ready. The Bane lord was quickly incapacitated and he was fast and his shield covered him nearly completely so the stings from the crosbows damaged more the thralls than him. His weapon answered his call and everytime someone died he captured his essence and instead of being damaged every minute it passed he was stronger!

The evil forces of Ulm send imaginary soldier, undead hordes and mighty warrior but he was unharmed. They were brave he killed ¡¡¡142!!! of them before they retreted but then ulmish forces noticed:

Sir!!! There is nowhere to retreat!!

And then they died

*******************

So I think I won round 2.

[Aezeal]

Karlem how did you avoid getting killed there? Your opponent could tell us anyway so just tell us how Bofrons was outfitted and which spells he used.

Zenzei, same question for you about your banelord.

PS what stats should I be thinking of for both thugs?

[Ghill]

Well...this looks like the end for Patala.

Things I learned this game
-An SC is worth a significantly more expensive army if applied correctly.
-Demon Sc's are very popular (and powerful)
-All the good anti-demon spells are at research 6 or higher! (cleansing water being the one that would have helped me most.)
-Body guards are mandatory for all important non SC generals

I have only two regrets this game. That I didn't get to write a battle report (All of my combats were slaughters one way or another.) and that I got 'NAP trapped' (should have delcared war on mictlan when I ran out of room, he was so close to my capital anyway.).

[Karlem]

Well, Ghill, now that you are nearly out I wanted to tell you some things just for you to learn something additional.

1.- Elephants. At least I didn't see you using them at all during turns 1 to 20. They rock! 4-6 elephants are the indy killer army. Check it, it works incredibly well.
2.- Bless. Nearly any nation can use a bless but take a close look at your national mages: they are powerfull (for late age) they just need more armour, reinvigoration (go earth 9!!) and probably a frost brand to be thugs if you add:
3.- Alteration. Ironskin means prot 20, body ethereal and luck means they will only be damaged by 12,5% of the attacks and add regeneraton or awe and then they just skyrocket. For the cost of 1 shield (5 astral for lucky coin or 10 nature for eye shield) and 1 weaponf (5 water gems for frost brand) thy can kill most PD.
4.- PD is useless for late game. do i need to explain this? You had PD>25 in many sites. PD is only usefull to kill remote spells and to help you in key battles (for example against arcos I raised my PD, but onyl because I knew for sure that he was going to attack and that I needed more troops). Do not put PD just to use money.
5.- Spam temples isn't good. Do not put a temple in each province, becasue I will get for those 400g some troops and you will loose against my bigger army. Temples should be placed only to recuit priest for blesses or inside castle to recruit units if you aren't a dominion bases country (ermor, ryleh...)
6.- Extra forts are for extra mages. You build extra forts to build more mages to research more. Speacially if you have low cost sacred mages like the yogis or Gurus. You need magic 1 to have them skyrocket but please think about it.

Basicaly this is all, I stil have to chase you around but it will be quite hard for you to do big harm. It has been quite inteesting and you have fought well, but next time try to get evocation 4/5 (bladewinds/falling frost) and communions to cast them continuously.