Nations - MA, CBM 1.6, max lvl 6, NI, Assimilation - Olm/Man and Louist/Ulm win!

[Olm]

A knock at my chamber door. "Come" I demand. The hinges squeak and a daughter in white enters the room. "I's time, mother." "I come."
Without further preparations I rise from my desk and follow the girl. It is two hours before dawn, but I expected the call and prepared everything. All that is necessary is on me. I wrote my last will shortly after the disease got me and it lies on my desk. Since midnight I have just been waiting and meditating. And my mind is not made up yet. Since the meeting at noon yesterday it revolves around the task before us. It is daunting, frightening, but then it is something to do.

For months our lot of diseased crones where just fading away, with nothing to do. It was depressing. But then, yesterday, we were told to gather in the hall, and there the Mistress, may she live and rule forever, spoke to us in a vision. She had a task that needed doing. A difficult task. A very dangerous task. And thats why we were chosen. We are doomed, sure to die in a few month. But we are still mighty mages. So the Mistress told us of the mightiest champion of the enemy. His prophet. A Pan called Ares. A very strong mage of earth and nature. Equipped with mighty gear he is almost impregnable. Even a large force with lots of Knights of Avalon could only win a battle against him, but not kill him. Thats now our task, to kill this mighty warrior.

We are seven, all diseased to the death. But as I see the others I know, they are as resolved as I am. We nod to each other, everyone knows what to do. Then everyone takes her three air gems and invokes the spell. And all seven of us are taken away by strong winds to a distant province where the battle awaits.

[Olm]

We arrive and are greeted by the scout party in this province. A mother and five bards, so we are twelve now. The bards lead us to the field camp of the Pan. We take positions and start the attack. The camp has magical defenses, so we cannot surprise him. We advance and he starts his spells, strengtheneing himself for the fight. The Mistress figured out a weakness against poison, so the plan is to attack him him with poison and sleep clouds while phantasms keep him from just chopping us up. But he is not alone, a small force accompanies him. Not much, but we are defenseless, so most of us concentrate on them instead of Ares. They go down easily, but where is Ares? I cannot see him. A scream! I turn around, and there he is, just in the middle of our formation. And at his feet lies Gunhild, or whats left of her. He has winged shoes. We need time! Sprites, I call on them without thinking. The others react instinctively too. In seconds the Pan is covered in vines surrounded by Dragonflies and my sprites. Its effective. He is immobilized, cannot harm us. So we blast away with all we have. Most of us use Streams of Life, but I see other spells too.

Its just impossible how many spells he just shrugs off. Spell after Spell, and he doesn't care. And then its over. just so. The last Stream of Life just got through somehow and the mighty Ares, hero of countless battles is dead. We did it.
What do I feel? Relief mixes with exhaustion. And sure there is some pride. But one thought dominates: I lived the day, but it was probably my last great deed. I will not die today. But for sure tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, or another day in near future. We were victorious against one of the mightiest heroes of the world. But there is no victory, against the disease. And the days will become darker and darker. Perhaps today Gunhild was the luckiest of us seven.

[Olm]

Could we postpone the next turn to Tuesday? I will be on short vacation until Monday. I will get the current turn in, but I will probably not have the time to do the next one before Monday evening.

[buzzsaw]

Nicely written!

[Valerius]

Thanks for the in character post, Olm! Nicely done! And (unfortunately) very nicely done killing Pan's greatest hero. That was the only unit I had the could stand up to your combined forces and Pangaea is in mourning at his loss.

You almost took the fort in 64 as well. Unfortunately I lost some quality troops (as well as a lot of chaff) and with your raiding and my decreasing number of provinces putting me in the red, there won't be any replacements, and all my successful defense did was postpone things a bit.

Originally Posted by Olm

Could we postpone the next turn to Tuesday? I will be on short vacation until Monday. I will get the current turn in, but I will probably not have the time to do the next one before Monday evening.

Yes, of course. Enjoy your vacation!

Originally Posted by Olm

Your Bane Venom Charms are very effective, they diseased lots and lots of my mages. I would even go as far as to call them overpowered for the price especially thinking what a strong death nation can do with them.

As far as the bane venom charms go, they are a particularly good match for Pan since I can use them without fear of crippling my own mages. This is even more so the case in this game with the lack of indie mages. In a normal game if I had any half way decent indie mages I would hesitate to use a bane venom charm when under siege. Here the only non-national mages I'm likely to have (barring taking - and keeping - an enemy cap) are undead who also won't be bothered by being diseased.

Originally Posted by Olm

MA Man is described as a rather weak nation in the tactics guides. I cannot agree with that.

Keep in mind that given all the special circumstances of this game it's hard to draw lessons that would apply to a normal game. Where Man really suffers is in the late game and of course that's not a factor here. It's also worth noting that most of those guides were likely written before CBM started buffing Man.

One thing about these settings was that they were intended to really emphasize national strengths - and weaknesses. In a normal game there's a decent chance that you'll be able to break into new paths of magic with indie mages and their complete elimination has a big effect on how things play.

Btw, if you like this version of Man you'll definitely want to check out the 1.92 version as it has everything you're using plus additional boosts.

[Olm]

Originally Posted by Valerius

Thanks for the in character post, Olm! Nicely done! And (unfortunately) very nicely done killing Pan's greatest hero. That was the only unit I had the could stand up to your combined forces and Pangaea is in mourning at his loss.

Well, it did not work as intended. I wanted to poison him to death.
But my mages reverted to streams of live.
What I found interesting is, that it seems to me that every SC, even the mightiest, can be stopped by a low level spell like entangling vines. He needs every turn to break free. So I can perhaps not kill an SC, but there is a way to neutralize him. Is that correct?

Originally Posted by Valerius

You almost took the fort in 64 as well. Unfortunately I lost some quality troops (as well as a lot of chaff) and with your raiding and my decreasing number of provinces putting me in the red, there won't be any replacements, and all my successful defense did was postpone things a bit.

That problem remains for you.
The fort is now taken, and your home province under siege.
Your income has dropped to neglegible levels. I wonder how you will try to turn the tide.

Originally Posted by Valerius

As far as the bane venom charms go, they are a particularly good match for Pan since I can use them without fear of crippling my own mages. This is even more so the case in this game with the lack of indie mages. In a normal game if I had any half way decent indie mages I would hesitate to use a bane venom charm when under siege. Here the only non-national mages I'm likely to have (barring taking - and keeping - an enemy cap) are undead who also won't be bothered by being diseased.

But with an undead nation like Ermor, they must be killer.

Originally Posted by Valerius

Btw, if you like this version of Man you'll definitely want to check out the 1.92 version as it has everything you're using plus additional boosts.

Yes, I started a game with Man under CBM 1.92. (The idea with always taking Man is to really get to know one nation, before trying others).
Definitely cool stuff added. I always missed a commander for my Knights of Avalon, and now its there. The downside is, that the hero Rhianna is not so special anymore. In our game she is very special to me, because she uses the full potential af the KoA's in terms of speed on the tactics map. Addition of healing to the daughters is cool I think. And the added spells are great and very thematic.
But I guess I will miss those slingers. really got to respect them as siege force.

[Valerius]

Originally Posted by Olm

Well, it did not work as intended. I wanted to poison him to death.
But my mages reverted to streams of live.

It may not have been what you had in mind but it worked well enough. Sometimes the AI can drive you crazy but there it did a good job with tangle vines to pin down my prophet and then stream of life to go for the kill.

Originally Posted by Olm

What I found interesting is, that it seems to me that every SC, even the mightiest, can be stopped by a low level spell like entangling vines. He needs every turn to break free. So I can perhaps not kill an SC, but there is a way to neutralize him. Is that correct?

Yes, tangle vines works great. And it appears that as long as the arrow hits the square the target is in the effect is automatic (no parry attempt and air shield doesn't help). It won't get you the kill but will help your troops kill the SC. Or, as happened here, protect your mages while they take shots.

Originally Posted by Olm

That problem remains for you.
The fort is now taken, and your home province under siege.
Your income has dropped to neglegible levels. I wonder how you will try to turn the tide.

I think my current plans have less to do with turning the tide than with making a last stand.

[Olm]

I've got a game mechanics question regarding another game:

I had troops in Province A, the enemy had troops in province B.
Now I moved all my troops to B.
It seems he moved his troops to A.

I expected a clash of all troops in either A or B, depending on who is faster.

But the result was a battle in A AND B with my troops being split.

My understanding was that troops from one province move together. Is that wrong, or did something else happen, which I did not take into account?

[Valerius]

Seems to me a battle likely occurred in the magic phase in province A and after you won that your surviving forces fought the battle in B. Or is there something that caused some of your troops to be left behind (forgot to issue movement orders or commander(s) assassinated resulting in troops being left behind)?

[Olm]

Originally Posted by Valerius

Seems to me a battle likely occurred in the magic phase in province A and after you won that your surviving forces fought the battle in B. Or is there something that caused some of your troops to be left behind (forgot to issue movement orders or commander(s) assassinated resulting in troops being left behind)?

No magic movement. And even with left behind troops the two armies shouldn't be able to pass each other, right?
I will have to investigate further.