AAR: The Seven Year War of Ascencion, AAR from Celebrities from Ermor's POV

[Valerius]

One more note on Abysia. While it posed a problem for me when Agartha didn't join in the attack on Ermor I wasn't unhappy at the thought of Aby being eliminated. My pretender was an Oracle with Dom 10 and great scales and I planned to go heavily into blood and mass produce vampire lords. The only nation that I thought would be able to stop the spread of my dominion was Aby (this was also the only other blood nation so their removal was also good from that perspective).

Side note: IIRC three of out of six pretenders in this game were Oracles. In case anyone is wondering why they've become more expensive in the latest CBM.

I agree with your analysis of minotaurs. Nice against size two units, also of some use against easy to hit larger units but not good against cavalry - especially untiring undead cavalry. And with only one attack per round and only two units per square they'd have to get very lucky to get a hit against your sacreds. They were there because I got worried and rushed an attack and that's what I had available.

[earcaraxe]

i would like to sum up the pretenders in this game, so: abysia's pretender was a rainbowish dom10 blood fountain with weak scales.

[LDiCesare]

Nice to see an AAR. Thanks for sharing.

[Larz]

Originally Posted by earcaraxe

i would like to sum up the pretenders in this game, so: abysia's pretender was a rainbowish dom10 blood fountain with weak scales.

Pythium had an asleep dom9 Oracle with Earth and Astral and good scales. Love the AAR Numahr. I'm learning a lot of info I didn't know during the game. My spy network was not the best so I was in the dark as to what was happening.

[Squirrelloid]

FWIW, its really hard to tell from stills of a battle what's going on. Its really too bad you can't get a top shot of the lines of battle at the start, and draw lines to represent troop movements over the course of the battle. But as it stands your battle stills, often zoomed in too close, aren't very informative.

What would be more useful is more world maps or local maps so it was easier to follow the strategic level of the conflict.

[Valerius]

Originally Posted by Valerius

I agree with your analysis of minotaurs. Nice against size two units, also of some use against easy to hit larger units but not good against cavalry - especially untiring undead cavalry. And with only one attack per round and only two units per square they'd have to get very lucky to get a hit against your sacreds. They were there because I got worried and rushed an attack and that's what I had available.

Small thing, but I want to correct my statement about minotaurs vs your sacreds. Since shadow vestals are size 2 they would be trampled, not attacked with a battleaxe. But with ethereal and twist fate they wouldn't be the easiest targets.

[Numahr]

Finally an update is upcoming! I had to fill the "holes" in my notes as I have detailed notes taken on the spot starting from turn 40, but not so much before.

Valerius: Re. Oracles, my pretender was an Oracle-like also actually, as it was a Sphinx. No ability to join battles by teleporting, but diversity to Earth magic. The main rationale being that Cyclops, used as Earth mages, would make undead hordes competitive longer by granting them "Army of..." battle enchantments. A side bonus being the accessibility of crystal items.
Re. minotaurs, in theory they are not so bad against Shadow Vestals I think, considering the limited number I can produce. Our battles don't really let us see because they were mainly fighting against longdead cavalry, and here they are clearly uncompetitive. But we'll see your other battlefield weapon in this update...

Squirrelloid: nice to have you on board. Thanks for the constructive feedback, it is good to know what my customers want... I have updated the forthcoming notes to integrate more maps and wider snapshots from the battlefields. However I will not follow up the suggestion of drawing arrows on battlefield views. D3 re just too chaotic, each of them having a wide diversity of troops, items, spells interacting with each other, it is already difficult to summarize them in a few lines. A good solution, mind you, would be to use a soft like Fraps to capture a vidop, upload on youtube and embed it in the AAR. Maybe one day...

Larz and LDiCaesar: thanks. I always felt there should be more D3 AARs as the game is quite spectacular and, somehow, narrative; plus it is a good way to discuss tactics and strategies with concrete situations. Now rather than ranting, I just did it... and I hope others will join, I'd love to read some others' AARs.

[Numahr]

Year 3 of the Ascension War

Global Strategic Situation



The global geopolitics shows a world at war, with no nation yet taking a clear lead.

South of Ermor, the Bandari-Abysian war is still going on. Bandar Log, however, already weakened by the Ermorian hold on two provinces of her sphere of influence, now has a second front: Pythium made her move and is invading Bandar Log’s Eastern provinces. Bandar Log is involved in conflicts with all her three neighbors, the price to pay for having attempted and failed an early invasion of Abysia.

West of Ermor, the small Agarthan nation concentrated Ancient One soldiers in a fortress near the Ermorian border. Agartha keeps a defensive stance but could attack Ermor any time. A line of fortifications is being built along the natural border line, with provinces in the Agarthan sphere being buffer zones. (*)

East of Ermor, Pangea consolidates her armies with new recruits to prepare an expectable Ermorian counter-offensive.


(*) Ermorian strategists apply the doctrine of elastic defense: to prepare two lines of defense, with defense assets concentrated in the second line. The first line, either provinces defended only with provincial garrisons or lightly defended forts, are intended to give time to prepare a strong reaction, weaken a bit the attacker and provide useful information on the enemy’s tactics to fine-tune appropriate counters. The first phase of the war with Pangea illustrated this strategy, with the fort of Werk Enum being the first line easy sacrificed while the counter-attack was being prepared. This strategy, of course, implies having enough territories, and possibly spending budget on more forts.


In terms of number of provinces, Pythium, Pangea and Ermor dominate. Pangea and Ermor have the most forts. Pangea has an exceptionally high income: her Pretender God’s dominion is very probably supporting life, fertility and economic activity. The two next graphs show the arcane power of the contending nations: magical gem income and research.


Magical gem income. Ermor is in the lower average, greater only than the two early warring Bandar Log and Abysia.


Research done on discovering new spells. Ermor is last, even lower than Abysia weakened by an early war. Note how Agartha, the only nation at peace, is very quickly progressing: the “dividends of peace”?

Ermorian Grand Thaumaturges, busy re-awakening the dead, devote little time researching. In Ermor magical research is the business of lesser mages only, and Ermor is progressing much slower than her competitors in discovering new spells. This is the result of the sharp strategic decision to devote all the most powerful mages to re-animation tasks only. The bad result in gem income, however, is a concern of Ermorian Thaumaturges. But the lack of magical diversity of the Ermorian mages, skilled only in Astral and Death magics, makes it a challenging issue.

The lack of theoretical magical power is not an immediate concern for Ermor’s wars, however. The key winners on the battlefield are considered to be the maneuvering abilities of the undead cavalry and the animation of skeletons and soulless warriors fallen on the battlefield, and Ermorian strategists consider these weapons competitive enough for the battles to come.

[Numahr]

Spring and Early Summer: Ermorian Offensive on Pangea

In early spring, both Emor and Pangea consolidate their frontline armies, depleted from the recent engagement at Werk Enum.

In spring, Valerius, the Pretender of Pangea, scores a significant achievement by casting the first Global Enchantment:



The flow of raw nature power generated by the spell will provide Pangea with a powerful fuel for her wars. This only confirms the importance of a swift and successful offensive.

From mid-spring to early summer, Emor’s thaumaturges lead Ermorian armies on the path of easy victories while Pangea retreats to the safety of fortifications. Ermor takes back her provinces and lays siege to the first line of Pangean fortifications at two locations simultaneously.


Ermorian offensives from mid-spring of early summer of year 3. Other world conflicts are more or less frozen. Ermor maintains strategic reserves far away from the Pangean front, especially in the vicinities of the fluid Bandari / Abysian border.

By mid-summer, Ermor is ready to storm the Northern fortress of Birman Highs.

[Numahr]

Mid Summer (28): Pangean wall of frenzied flesh, spear, hoofs and blades at Birman Highs

Orders of battle

Mors Erit Tua Sponsa (“Death will be your bride” *) is the first Ermorian Grand Thaumaturge commanding in a battle. He possesses exceptional magic powers.

(*) name inspired from the song "Death will be my Bride" by Brandan Perry, very “MA Ermorian” singer



He commands over a large army to storm the fortress, although smaller than the army winner of the Werk Enum battle five months earlier. It has 2 regiments of undead cavalry instead of four. Sappers and Lion Tribe Archers of the Werk Enum battle are here to provide ranged support. Ermorian heavy infantry and Shadow Vestals are deployed at the forefront to secure the breached gate. A wave of skeleton infantry re-animated during the siege is expected to absorb the first shock of contact. Eight Thaumaturges provide additional magic support to Mors Erit Tua Sponsa.


Ermorian deployment

Pangea, on the other hand, fields a new army, composed of soldiers not yet deployed in large engagements: Revelers.



Revelers look life the Satyr light infantry who played the role of cheap cannon fodder during the last battle, and were underestimated by Ermorian strategists. They present two unique and decisive characteristics. First, the ability to realize hoof attacks at the same time than a spear attack is overwhelming for their opponents, and creates a very strong impact on a limited space. Second, they share the same berserker ability than Minotaurs. These two martial characteristics are reinforced by their unnatural vitality and the enchantments they receive from Pans commanding them. Among Pans, one of them has been equipped with powerful war gear and leads the defense of the gate as a warrior rather than mage.



Finally, the superior arcane power of Pangea has unlocked two new powerful offensive spells for Pangean mages: Blade Winds, repeatedly thrown at the Ermorian infantry bottlenecked in the breach, and Strength of Giants, giving a new strength to each reveler’s spear or hoof blow. Ermor’s research, in comparison, has not made significant progress in terms of battlefield magic.


Battle

The result is an unbreakable wall of frenzied flesh, spear, hoofs and blades against which the Ermorian army lacks shock power.


Ermorian infantry stopped by the Pangean wall of frenzied flesh, spear, hoofs and blades.

The Lion Tribe archers rout from the battlefield, hit by rocks thrown from the walls, even before the first contact of Ermorian infantry with the revelers. Shadow Vestals and the crossbow-equipped Sappers, fighting with determination, inflict some casualties on the Pangean Revelers, but too few. The Ermorian undead cavalry and the re-animated soulless warrior horde are bottlenecked by the limited space of the gate and cannot bring any decisive contribution; they get slaughtered at the gate by Blade Winds, banishments and ranged attacks from the walls before reaching contact with the enemy.

The Pangean revelers finally push back the Ermorian infantry, while Pan mages now throw their Blade Winds from afar on the Ermorian back line of mages, killing several of them. At this point, the brave mercenary sappers prove their worth by lunching a suicidal charge on the counter-attacking revelers.


Out of arrows, while Shadow Vestals are either killed or are routing, the mercenary sappers charge the victorious revelers with their pick axes. The few surviving sappers finally routing are the last from all Ermorian soldiers leaving the battlefield.


Aftermath and the new strategic situation

The Birman Highs battle is a disaster for Ermor, burying the grand ambitions of conquering Pangea for a long time.



Ermorian strategists understand that siege battles cannot be won with the same weapons which dominate open battlefields. Ermor’s Grand Thaumaturges decide the development of new weapons strengthening the shock potential of Ermor’s legion, in view of future siege battles: Banes, Wights and Behemoths.

This defeat is somehow alleviated by a minor victory obtained the same month in the Sea of Boat Eater.


Underwater engagement won by Ermor in the Sea of Boat Eater.

But more importantly, a new Bandari offensive has been lunched in the South with guerilla forces.


Bandari troops lunching a new (desparate?) attack on Fort Batimor while Ermor is defeated by Pangea in the Northern front

In this challenging context, the Ermorian headquarter revises down its ambitions and orders a general retreat from Pangea. The new objective on the Pangean front is simply to hold the “natural” border line, while recovering the two Bandari provinces.

The new conflict in the South is not considered as a high-level strategic threat. Ermorian strategists are rather surprised by the monkey’s warmongering, as Bandar Log is considered too weak to sustain a new war with Ermor. Bandar Log’s war capacity seems exhausted as the monkeys are already fighting against both Abysia and Pythium. A relatively large Abysian army is seen conquering back Abysia’s natural border with Bandar Log.


Overview of the chaotic Southern Front in mid summer.


Abysian army securing their sphere of influence against Bandar Log.

Ermor has kept strategic assets in the area: the reserve army which just conquered the Sea of Boat Eater, assassins and volunteer militia. Ermor decides to keep a strong army at the Pangean border as a deterrent for new Pangean invasions, and to send all new resources to the Bandari front.