"Got Blood?" -- BF Ulm AAR (Newbie)

[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by HotNifeThruButr:
I'd really love to see more of this, I dabbled in Black Forest for a while, because of the rangers. Accuracy AND axes in melee, wow! But I got trounced... repeatedly... by the AI.

The Rangers are nice, but they're not much different from the Arbalests of base Ulm. Well, they fire more rapidly, and are more accurate, but they're much worse in melee combat (due to lack of armor).

Anyways, I wonder why you use Infants of Ulm instead of Zweihanders. Although rangers can fend for themselves in a melee, I'm sure Zweihanders' improved armor, and therefor tanking ability, makes them superior to Infantry of Ulm combined with the fact that your recruitable mortal commanders, the Commanders of Ulm (how imaginative) can only take 25 men apiece instead of the standard 50.

Actually, I don't use the Zweihanders because 1) they're more resource-intensive than the infantry (IIRC), and 2) They don't have shields. Especially when you consider I'm firing crossbow bolts into melee after a while, you want shields on your tanks. The difference in survivability between Morningstar Infantry and Zweihanders is quite large. Point-by-point:

1) Zweihanders don't have shields, which means they're going to be taking damage from my own Rangers.
2) Zweihanders are easily hit, and while they better armor, defense is rather important.
3) Zweihanders actually have greater encumbrance, and therefore their endurance is less.
4) I can buy a Morningstar Infantry, a Ranger, and a mage for the same resource cost as a Zweihander. This is my limiting factor at present.
5) I seem to recall from SaberCherry's combat simulator that the Morningstar Infantry was generally better than 2-handed wpn. Infantry.

I have quite a few reasons why I'm using Morningstar Infantry. Points 1) and 4) I think are the most important.

Aside from that, I also wonder how/when you're going to get a slave trade going. I'm a newbie to blood magic, and have only dabbled in it in one game with Diabolical Faith. What demons do you plan to summon, if you're not only using it to make Counts. How will you deal with only having your pretender to summon them?

Well, with a little help, the Counts can summon each other. Irma can also summon the Ice Devils. I can probably also get her Blood high enough (through Vessel/Armor/Thorn/Artifact Book) to summon the Heliophagi. Time will tell with this.

I might've missed it from another post, but are you playing the AI or in Multiplayer?

I'm playing SP (that is, against the AI). If this wasn't totally after the action, I'd be kinda stupid to do it.

Another small note. Everything up until turn 7 was done under 2.08. That means, before the missile fire rules were changed. If anything, this should make the Rangers more deadly.

Hope this helps.