Abysia CB 5.0 AAR

[RedRover]

TURN 136-140
The whole western continent has fallen, except some forts and two wooded provinces down near the henge in the southwest quadrant. But I have strong forces there, and it’s just a mopping up operation at this point.

I can’t stand waiting. I attack Caelum’s Pretender just to get rid of it. Why should I give Caelum the 55 gold tax income every turn?

I steadily grind down my other foes. I take one of Man forts (south coast, Hervewood), and put another coastal fort under siege. The second fort turns out to be his capital. It's very tough; aquatic troop assaults bounce twice here with murderous losses. However, in a few turns, my fort assault group will arrive from the west, and that will finish things. I use a Doom Horror to break up Caelum’s big aquatic force and walk into his Sea provinces virtually unopposed.

On the eastern continent, I have counterattacked Ulm and taken the entire continent. (I actually got the southeast corner, a wooded province, with Impress Soul, followed by a Druid [via Faerie Trod], who built a Lab, summoned Dryads, built a Temple, and generally made a nuisance of himself.)

I take the island between the east and south continents with aquatic troops, and these provinces become the anvil on which I smash Ulm’s last forces on the eastern continent. I then push on across the island to the fertile south continent coastal provinces of Ulm.

Along the north shore of the southern continent, I expand my holdings westward—there is still an independent province between Ulm and me to the east, so I leave it alone. I use aquatic forces to hit the coast east of that, however, and I will run as far into his interior from there as I can, burning Temples all the way. A force of Devils arrives from the north.

On turn 138, the Manticore finally recovers his wits (at least that’s what we tell the faithful) and pops off the Arcane Nexus global spell (drat, I got this spell and the Strands of Arcane Power global confused—only noticed the difference when I started getting Astral power instead of magic sites—comes of playing too late at night).

In the north sector of the west continent, Caelum has been holding onto a lake. I clean it out with a Doom Horror and discover his Prophet. Unless he hid another priest underwater off the west coast, this should end the god callbacks.

On turn 140, Caelum is snuffed, after being killed eight times. Man is reduced to two small field forces and a besieged fort. I am making inroads on the southern continent: many temples destroyed, a fort (capital?) under siege (Ashdown, northeast quadrant southeast of a henge special site).

Ulm counterattacks onto my eastern continent (I missed a connecting route between ports—sloppy), but his forces are contained and will probably be driven back this turn. My combat-thinned forces in the southeast area of the southern continent have gone about as far as they can, but the northern force on this continent continues to chew up Ulm's backfield.

In the western half of the south continent, I cross a river line and start building a fort as a base for expansion here. Ulm has enough local troops to block and maybe counterattack here. I decide to finish Man before pushing further on this front.

By this time, I’m building a Demonbred and Sanguine Rod every turn in my capital to expand Blood production. The Philosopher’s Stone has been long built, and I’m burning a significant number of gems to supplement my income for end-of-turn Temple building. Also, except for one Mound Fiend casting Leprosy each turn, I’m converting most of my Death gem income to Astral.

Incidentally, an Income vs. Treasury note. Until turn 50 or so, my army costs topped out around 310 gold (not counting mercs). From that point, it has slowly grown to about half the Income figure, or a little more. Total income in the late game now is in the 5,600-5,700 range, upkeep around 2,700-2,800.

Just for fun, I cast Gift of Reason on a Summer Lion. I’d like to raise a unit of Summer Lions, led by a Summer Lion. Unfortunately, Summer Lion Commanders can’t command magical creatures, and they only have two misc magic slots, so there’s no way I can use a Crown of Command to work around this. (Hmmm, it would be nice to have an Amulet of Arcane Authority that enables command of 10 magical creatures; enough for a raiding force, for example.)

Scores (turn 140):
For provinces, I dominate; Ulm 25%; Man 2%.

For income, I dominate; Ulm 20%; Man 3%.

For gem income, I dominate; Ulm at 23%; Man at 0%.

For research, Man leads; I trail at 95%; Ulm 20%.

For dominion, I lead; Ulm 90%; Man 3%.

For armies, I dominate; Ulm 50%; Man 5%.
(Note: I have been using the word "dominate" when I lead and the next highest score is 50% or less.)

Hall of Fame: No change. I hold six positions with living heroes. Ulm still has the prophet, Hildegarde. Two dead Pretenders and dead Orion round out the field.

Treasury: 3,170; gems 40F/20A/30W/26E/26S/34D/32N + 79B this turn. Schools: Conj 8, Alt 8, Evo 8, Cons 8, Ench 9, Thaum 7, Blo 8. Currently researching Evo 9 at 285 RP per turn (usually 299, but I’m doing some special forging and wizard movement this turn); completion in two turns.