Below is the journal following the Arch-Fiend Discostu (Aka Amy Iscariot, The Black Sheep) and her attempted accession to the throne of Hell. You can find 2 other journals from her devilish rivals here and here.
I'll hand you over to Amy, copied verbatim from her own work:
Turn 0
A bit of background:
So my brother wants to try out a game of Solium Infernum and he’s convinced me and my other brother to play. I, in turn, suggested my fiancé and a friend of ours join in making it a 5 person match. We’ve read a blog that was written whilst another group played and decided that it would be fun to write a similar blog detailing our own progress through the game, if only to show off how sneaky we were (trying) to be during the match!
In advance of starting the game, which has to be delayed due to my up-coming wedding and honeymoon!, I thought I would note down some pre-game thoughts.
So this is turn zero! Pre-game, where we get to think about what our strategy might be, how we’re going to play the game.
I decided to use this time to assess the way my opponents are likely to play the game and plan my strategy accordingly. I am in a good position to do this as I know the most about the most opponents and their potential playing style! So here is my pre-game assessment:
Dan: This is my older brother and I suspect he will be playing the game to the maximum of his sneakiness. I don’t expect anything from this brother other than backstabbing and deceit. I think that he thinks he is cleverer than he actually is and so may out-sneak himself! Also the player most likely to have read all of the instruction manual and played the most trial games in advance. This is not necessarily going to be an advantage for him, just make it more surprising for him when he loses!
Tom: Little harder to call. He’ll probably aim for a more balanced approach but be up for sneakiness if the opportunity arises. He and I are at least in agreement that Dan cannot win this game! I wouldn’t necessarily expect any backstabbing here, but it’s probably not 100% unlikely!
Ian: Bit more difficult to predict having never played this sort of game together. If fantasy football is anything to go by he will be meticulous in choosing how to play each turn, unless he is not doing well, in which case he won’t really care. So in summary if he gets off to a good start, he’s worth watching. In terms of back-stabbiness, I don’t think that would particularly come naturally, however he’ll probably get into it, so later in the game be prepared for deviousness. Plus he owes Dan one free back stab, as per the gift voucher he gave out at the wedding!
Paul: Now he’s a bit more of a wild card. I think he will be aiming for deviousness. I know he prefers the more long winded – i.e. not killing everyone else, routes to winning Civ games, so I wouldn’t expect him to go all wrath-y and try to take my stronghold…
So that character analysis done, what will my opponents expect from me? Probably deviousness and back stabbing, can you actually win this game through doing war on your opponents ‘til they are dead? Perhaps I should go all out on Martial Prowess and take them by surprise… Or maybe some Martial and some deviousness, and Charisma is always useful, you always need that in RPGs…
So I’m in character creation now and I’m done. I’ve chosen “Envy” for my public goal. I’m guessing this means the others can see the goal and may be therefore giving away the game plan slightly, since it relies on use of Deceit/Cunning. Still I don’t lose anything for choosing this one and you gain only 30 prestigefor pulling it off. I wonder what the normal range is of prestige at the end of these games. Maybe I should look that up…
I’ve also chosen one perk, I was going to go for two until I realized how little that left me with for attribute bumping! The one I took was “Paranoid” which gives me some increased resistance to deceit performed against me. I figure we’re all going to be “deceit-ing” quite a lot, so hopefully this will foil some plans! Mwahaha! Plus it’s one of the cheaper ones! I was going to take “Master of the sword” as well but at 8 points that didn’t leave much else.
I chose “Duke of Hell” in the end. I thought second from top will give me some advantages and I can’t see many others choosing Prince. This probably just means we will all be Dukes, but nevermind!
That left me with a few points to scatter amongst my attributes. I’m hoping that as we progress through the game I can train some of these up further so I took 1 point in Martial, 2 in Cunning, 0 in intellect, 1 in Wickedness and 2 in Charisma.
DiscoStu lives!
Turn 1
So turn 1, we are go for turn-ige! Let’s open this bad boy up and see what we’ve got!...
Yeah, it’s pretty complicated, there are tabs all over the place, and surely these can’t all be important right now…
After a bit of a look around I’ve discovered how to see other peoples units. Looks like I trump most people’s except for Ian’s. My eye of suspicion turns to the new husband…is he just shamming being a little underwhelmed with the game and his approach to it…could he have secretly read the manual and therefore now know what he is doing!?!
I have come to the conclusion, through more investigation of my opponents that it appears that Ian and I have both gone for Duke status which somewhat explains our units extra beefiness. There is a random element to assigning units to players, but his guys have a 4 point lead in ranged attack which is not compensated by a lack elsewhere which leads me to think that he has picked the ranged equivalent of the “Master of the sword” perk I had my eye on.
Taking a look at the map, I’ve got a place of power practically on my doorstep! That will be useful. I’ve also got Dan practically on my door step too, which is not so great. I can also see Paul relatively close too. Ian and Tom are a bit more removed from me with some landscape features in the way.
First order of business, take that place of power – charge “Blood of Discostu”, for Wictory!!
Second order of business, maximize expansion and border protection by purchasing some of Hells finest cheapest minions, to the Bazaar!
I put a bid down on “The Accursed Company”, it’s higher than the minimum purely because I can’t work out how to separate tribute cards! Never mind, I don’t think that matters too much on turn 1!
Given that these are my two orders of a total of two orders I can’t demand any tribute. I’ll have to take the hit this turn to build my forces up. At least “The Company” doesn’t require any upkeep!
“End Turn”!
Turn 2
Now to see the results of my actions! It seems like my dudes were not able to take the place of power, bunch of weenies! But I was successful in my bid on the company! No-one else appears to have taken any place of power or has bought any additional minions. So it doesn’t look too bad for me at the moment.
I’m going to need to take that place of power, so I think first order has to be resumption of hostilities towards it. Fortunately my guys seem to have healed in between turns, probably because they are still essentially sat in my base. This means that they can charge in again. There seems to be something odd going on with my units. They have +1 or 2 on their attack. Could this be due to their proximity to each other? I have no idea, perhaps this is something to look up later. For now, charge!!...
I decide to forgo tribute again this turn in an effort to take another place of power slightly further away. I’m heading for the tree of woe, which is two hexs above Paul’s stronghold, but separated by a chasm. He appears to be racing Tom to “The black alter of despair”. I think it’s touch and go as to who wins that one. So I’m hoping I can sneak in to this other one before he gets back.
That wasn’t too complicated, next turn I will definitely demand tribute, definitely!
Turn 3
It seems that I am holding some scepter or something this turn. This means that I get an event card, but apparently I can only play it by using one of my orders!? This doesn’t seem like a good idea at the moment, especially as it would be a complete waste as the card blocks deceit moves for a number of turns. I haven’t even worked out how to be deceitful (in game) yet!
In other news I won my place of power after that last attack. This is a good thing as only Paul has a place of power of his own and I am currently winning in prestige terms! Woo yeah!
My first order is to continue my trek towards the tree of woe. Paul won his place of power but his troops are injured and I’m hoping he’ll wait to heal up before heading over there, especially as he doesn’t realize I’m that-way bound. If he doesn’t move in that direction this turn then I should beat him there. I’m concerned my “the company” won’t be tough enough to take it though, so I may have to read up on this whole attacking thing. If I don’t feel confident I could always move my Blood over there to support and by hovering around it, particularly if his guys remain lower HP then he may be too spooked to attack first… We’ll just have to wait and see what he does. At work he was talking about increasing his available number of orders by training up – something that I also intend to do, so I’m hoping this turn he will demand tribute instead of taking action!
My second order is to demand tribute myself. I wanted to level up my cunning, but apparently it costs not only an order, but also an amount of tribute, sigh!
Looking around the board, it appears that Ian has been unsuccessful in taking his place of power. It is temptingly low in HP, but Dan was intimating that it would be an easy snatch for someone; I don’t want him to think he can manipulate me! He’ll have to try harder than that. Perhaps this is a case where I am cutting my nose off to spite my face? Supporting my inaction on this point is that I don’t want to mess with Ian at this stage. I need him to stab me in the back before I steamroller him, thus ensuring that it was he who started it!
Tom has no place of power. I guess Paul going first and capturing that one they were heading for has scuppered his plans somewhat.
Dan doesn’t seem to have moved at all, or at least to have claimed new territory. I suspect he’s trying to boost his tribute or attributes to be able to start sneaking straight away!
So that’s this turn…
Turn 4
So it looks like Paul is heading for the Tree of Woe also. After scribbling on a couple of post-it notes, I’ve worked out that he’ll both get there first, and almost definitely win. I haven’t worked out whether there is a random element at all to combat, but assuming there isn’t for the moment, he will take the place of power in his turn, whereas if I attacked it, I would reduce it’s HP but wouldn’t be successful anyway, which would then leave it wide open for Paul. Or rather, he will move first, since he’s before me and win it anway. However, if he doesn’t go for it, or if something goes wrong, my “Company” is close enough to take advantage – if he manages to knock HP off it but for some reason doesn’t win.
Ian’s units are still recovering in his base, Tom is heading for an alternative and probably uncontested place of power and Dan has yet to move still. I reckon he’s sitting there pulling in the tribute. In fact that is all I intend to do this turn as I can’t level attributes or buy a Praetor or anything else without it.
Both orders “demand tribute”. Pretty dull, but necessary.
End of turn.
Turn 5
I picked up my tribute, getting there slowly. My minions dragged out something odd, looked like a map. I chose it, but now I can’t find it! I’ll take a look for it more carefully at some point.
I have decided to make a move on that place of power that Ian had a bash at. It’s still low HP and my unit can take it, assuming my assumptions regarding combat are correct! It’s been sat there all lonely like for ages now, and even once Ian’s units are recovered, it will also probably be recovered and he won’t be able to take it anyway. Much better for me to benefit from his loss, as I’m sure he would agree!
So that is order 1; order 2 is demand tribute. It’s a good job that it’s cunning I want to raise and not my other high attribute charisma, because that would be a lot more expensive!
I can’t remember at the moment what everyone else is doing. Ian’s waiting, Dan is sitting and Tom is moving towards another place of power, which I’m not sure he’ll be able to take any way! Paul seems to be stationary as well; probably waiting now ‘til he can level his attributes.
That’s all. End of turn
Turn 6
I won the place of power! Still feel a bit guilty for stealing it from Ian, but I am quite a few prestige points in the lead, so that consoles me! Nothing much else is going on really. Ian’s units are recovered. Dan still hasn’t moved and Tom seems intent on claiming all the land available! I suspect he is trying to block off the place of power he was heading to until he is able to attack it, which he can’t do at the moment and win! Paul is stationary, probably demanding tribute. I had a look into how to steal stuff from others, but you can’t do that until cunning/deceit is level 4! So back to the demanding tribute drawing board! I think given this new knowledge, next game I might try and level one attribute higher to start with, but as I recall, this is difficult as it requires more points per level…
Oh in other news, although I didn’t know who had bought what last turn where a praetor and a book of enoch got bought, apparently Paul was informed that it was Dan who bought the praetor. This suggests that he might be taking the route of challenging everyone to a duel; except no one else has a praetor so won’t be able to step up!
My two actions this turn are demand tribute. This could get quite dull, quite quickly!
Turn7
Two turns in one evening, check us out!
I picked up my tribute, getting there! Possibly next turn I can level up if I get the right sort of tribute!
In the meantime I have come up with a cunning plan. So cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel! Of course, it does depend on a few things – primarily being able to set up a vendetta against Paul, which means working out how the hell to do that! I’m going to check out the diplomacy stuff next turn, but the basics is that due to my position on the map I am both above and left of Paul, and above and right of him. My “Company” was moving towards him to have a go at the Tree of Woe, but that didn’t pan out as he got there first. What I have just noticed is that my units, which have taken Ian’s place of power, are now situated quite nicely above the other of Paul’s Places of Power. Now he has his unit at the tree of Woe, and it’s pretty tough, but if I bring my other unit down, my two units are acting like a pincer with either place of power in range. So the current vague plan consists of a couple of steps:
1. Make a demand off of Paul (note: work out how to do this)
2. If he grants my demand then I get some tribute – great!
3. If he doesn’t grant it I can vendetta against him, with the following choices
a. Try and take his weenie place of power with my super tough chosen!
b. Cut off the “land bridge” connecting his places of power – I seem to remember, but need to check out, that if you’re territory is cut off, you lose it?! This may need confirmation!
I like either of these options, but the exact route must be chosen based on what I can actually achieve, which means “to the Manual!!”
In other news, despite what Paul told me, it was apparently him who has bought the praetor! The lying so-and-so, so I suspect that it was Dan or Ian who bought the book. Books can apparently be stolen, so there’s something to think about, once my deceit is high enough (sigh!).
Ian seems to be moving towards the place of power by Dan, which looks incredibly tough! Tom is heading that a-way too. To my eye, neither of these two will be able to take it given their current stats, unless they have something tricky up their sleeve. I’ve also noticed that Ian has added some cards to his stronghold, don’t know what they do though.
So my orders this turn; in first place, move my unit into position above Paul’s place of power; and in second place, demand tribute (fingers crossed for the circle-y one!!)
End of turn.
Turn 8
So someone seems to have played an event card, it stole 4 of my tribute cards. Apparently it affected Ian too, but he lost more cards than me, suggesting my perk against deceit rituals protected me or one of my attributes. It’s a bit annoying though as the desperate rush for tribute is on to level up those damn attributes.
I’ve picked up my tribute, and my dudes have moved closer to Paul’s area.
In other news, it looks like Dan, Tom and Ian are all heading for the same place of power. I’m not convinced any of them can actually take it though given it’s pretty tough stats. Should be interesting to see what happens. Perhaps one of them has some combat cards or something to help them.
I’ve just noticed that Paul seems to have attached his Praetor to his units, I’m not sure what this does to them, whether the stats being displayed are the buffed ones due to his Praetor, or if I have to add them up…This would probably be useful to know. His units are looking pretty tough, so I might put off demanding tribute from him until I’ve buffed one of my units at least. They need to have a few more points in ranged attack to be able to compete. Still, my first command is to move my “Blood” a little bit closer to the border. Let’s see what he does.
The second command is to order more tribute. I am one “darkness” away from leveling cunning. Although, if I want to order a combat card for my Blood, I may have to use up tribute for that as well as leveling so I’ll have to decide which is more important.
I’m going to end this turn there and see what happens.
Turn 9
OooooO, I have been the target of a dark ritual, someone wanted to see something about me. I’m not sure who it was or what they saw, I suspect it wasn’t particularly useful though. My money would be either Dan or Paul.
My tribute was unsatisfactory in that I didn’t get the 2 darkness I need to level my cunning. More tribute needed (sigh!).
I’ve also realized that Paul’s unit, with its Praetor attached is too tough for either of my units and if I was to attack either of his places of power as my units currently stand, I would not defeat them in one turn. So what to do? Well, I investigated combat cards, but to raise my “Bloods” ranged by 1 (ranged is by far Paul’s units highest attribute) I would have to pay out 1 darkness, the exact resource type I need to save for my leveling! I could also raise “The Company”s attributes but there’s no point raising the melee and the ranged would cost me the same anyway! Waste of time! I’m leaving my units there, eventually I’ll be able to compete, or will hopefully have come up with some fool-proof plan!
I’m tired of demanding tribute two orders in a go so I’ve decided to bid on a manuscript in the bazaar. It costs me, but not in the resources I’m saving up to level so I can afford it. I bid on the one that, with its 2 other friends gives me a +2 in my cunning attribute! I suspect that as soon as someone cottons on to what I’m doing they will block me, but at the moment I am so bored, I don’t really care. So that is one order. The other, you guessed it, demand tribute.
In other news, around the board, Dan has blocked off that place of power leaving it open to him taking it if he can, ever. Tom is retreating back to the other place of power he had previously blocked off, although I still don’t think he is beefy enough to take it. Ian is place of power-less; I refuse to feel guilty. Ian’s unit, I’ve just noticed, has some sort of modifier. Perhaps he could make a move towards Tom’s stronghold, which is a bare two hexes away! I am winning currently in terms of prestige, but I am concerned that this leaves me a bit of a universal target.
That’s all. End turn!
Turn 10
Paul has wandered off! This is good for me because I’m hopeful that I can demand tribute and with him being some turns worth of hexes away, may be able to swipe his place of power before he can get to me! Of course he may choose to pay me off, but I can demand up to three tribute, so I think I will do that to try and force his hand. I’ve decided not to do that this turn though or next turn either. The reason being I’m not sure the order in which these diplomacy things get done in and I definitely want to retain an edge by being able to move before him. This would normally not be a problem as he moves directly after me, except Turn 11 is my go at holding the scepter thing and then it is his go. This means that in Turn 12 he will move before me. So I think on Turn 12 I will make my demand, and then have 4 turns to deal with the fallout!
That decided. I can check out the results of my previous turn! I get some better tribute (cards with 2 on them rather than 1), but no darkness once again. So, one order is to demand tribute, again.
For my second order, I’ve decided to bid on a manuscript that will eventually raise my charisma by 2 points. There are 2 of these manuscripts on sale, one requires darkness in the bid, which I am not prepared to spend at the moment! The other requires the drippy and the flame-y thing, both of which I have in abundance. So I bid on that one. I did win the previous manuscript, so I have to keep an eye open for the other 2 parts to boost my cunning. I’m hoping that they are offered in the bazaar and not “found” by one of my opponents as part of tribute delivered by minions, as my other manuscript part was!
Dan pretty much told me today that I was his target as I am so far in the lead, in terms of prestige. This is not so great, but at the moment I can only rely on my perk giving me defense against deceit!
End of turn.
Turn 11
My turn to draw an event card. I decide to keep my current one, as I can only hold one at a time. I still think that being able to disrupt deceit rituals for 3 to 6 turns will come in handy.
I won my item in the bazaar, it seems that someone else has been busy bidding too. Dan has bought the services of “The Beast” a tough unit, but requiring significant upkeep at 3 souls a turn. I have 12 souls total, Dan must have more, however I wonder if he bought them for a specific purpose e.g. taking that place of power, or does he intend to threaten someone (e.g. me) with them? Have to wait and see what he does with them. I am concerned that that unit is more than beefy enough to take either of my guys, without trouble and he is just a few hexes away from me. However, Tom is sitting merrily on his border, so I’m hoping that will give Dan pause on attacking me! Tom isn’t above using the distraction to his advantage after all!
I got a darkness! Just one; that means I’m one more away from level 3 cunning. And then I get to start saving for level 4, woo? This turn, to celebrate, I demand tribute twice in preparation for my upcoming action next round!
End turn.
Turn 12
So change of plans, it seems that Dan isn’t going to take that place of power and is instead using his unit to threaten me, and has demanded tribute from me. I don’t like being threatened nor do I fancy giving up tribute and prestige to Dan, so I refuse. I anticipate the vendetta he will now set on me and so head to the bazaar.
I got the tribute I needed to raise my cunning this turn, but instead of spending it on that, I buy myself a shiny new legion. They are called the sons of Typhon and are pretty snazzy looking. They won’t beat Dan’s unit in a fight, but I have some ideas about that – which may or may not work, depending on probably luck more than anything. My unit will drain my resources – much as Dan’s is doing to him, but to be honest I don’t expect them to live very long anyway!
I suppose I have to hope that no-one else is bidding on that unit as I only bid the minimum. I suspect people have far better things to spend their resources on though; I know I do/did!!
So buying that unit was turn one. Demanding tribute again is turn two.
I do wonder if desperately trying to level up is the way to go, more orders would be useful, but can I really be bothered to spend the next 10+ turns demanding tribute? I don’t think so…
End turn.
Turn 13
I got my sons of Typhon and they are sitting there looking all nice and bait-y. It seems that Dan has this turn to decide what he wants to set up for his vendetta, which puts me in a bit of a spot since I can’t afford to keep my new boys running for more than 1 turn :S I suspect he tried to cast a deceit ritual on me last turn, but fortunately my perk protected me so it had no effect.
Typically I got loads of darkness tribute this turn, after turns and turns of waiting! And I didn’t get any flame tribute, which is what I need to keep my boys on side!
I’m bringing up my “Blood” so that they can finish Dan’s unit off if they attack my “Sons”. I feel this could end badly for me, but I console myself that Dan’s plans are possibly not running to plan either. So moving is turn 1. Tribute is turn 2, just on the off chance that my “Sons” don’t get annihilated first go, and I need to pay them for another one!
End turn.
Turn 14
Hmmm, not sure this is going to work. Dan didn’t attack my unit, which is probably a good thing since I’ve just noticed that his unit has “ranged last” on it, which means if I attack him or visa versa I will not actually take any HP off him. So I have to play a guessing game really as to whether he will attack my unit or place of power first. My unit being there gives the PoP a buff, significantly increasing its attack capabilities, so the sensible player would take the support out first and then the PoP.
Due to this, I’ve decided not to attack first, as I would lose, and therefore lose prestige without any benefit to myself. Instead, I decide to move my Blood closer to the hex at the bottom of the PoP. In this, I hope to gain an additional buff to the PoP so that if his first move is to foolishly attack it, he may not win or might at least get damaged in some way :S
There’s no point doing anything with the “Sons” as I can’t pay them beyond this turn anyway so I suspect they will immediately jump ship.
The ritual I was thinking of using requires flame tribute, of which I have none, so there goes that plan. I may try an alternative ritual next turn that, if it works, will stop him moving a unit in the remainder of that turn. I’m not sure what the conditions of his vendetta are, though there is normally a time limit, so I might be able to delay things enough to make it awkward for him – also considering that his unit needs maintaining.
My second order is to demand tribute, since there’s not a lot else to do!
I’m going to wait until tomorrow to send this turn back on purpose, for the dual reasons of:
1. I don’t want Dan to think I am willing to hang off his every move (I actually wouldn’t have bothered looking at the game before going to bed tonight except I got a call from Ian about it)
2. Dan takes games seriously and is frustrated when other people don’t take them equally seriously. I don’t think this is going to go well to me, so I must have my petty revenge now while I can!
End turn.
Turn 15
It appears that Dan flew his unit over to the PoP that I appropriated from Ian and taken it. Interesting. Our vendetta is over, so I can’t retaliate. Not that I could anyway. Therefore I’ve reverted to plan A, which was to steal a PoP from Paul. Unfortunately my blood have now trekked all over the place to back up my stronghold and neighboring PoP so I have to march them back. This is not a bad thing because Tom has refused Paul’s demand and so Paul will have a vendetta to fight, and with only one unit, I suspect he may be a bit too distracted to deal with me too. Tom’s bought himself a new unit. I don’t think it can compete with Paul’s praetor backed boys, but he must have something in mind…much like I did? :S
My first order this turn is to get the blood moving back towards Paul, my “Company” aren’t beefy enough for the PoP they are next door to. My second order is to raise my cunning! Somehow in all the excitement I’ve gained the tribute I need to level this with some to spare! Once I’m level 3 cunning I can see about stealing stuff from my opponents, thusly fulfilling some of my public objective: envy. Let’s see how that works out!!
End turn.
Turn 16
So Dan’s unit has gone back to the bazaar. Paul has committed to vendetta against Tom, and Tom has two units poised to defend whatever Paul is targeting.
Apparently using my new level 3 deceit ritual costs tribute, shoulda known! And more tribute then I suspect I would be able to steal. So I’m not going to bother with that. Also at the first level (i.e. 3) the only thing available for stealing is artifacts, and I don’t think anyone has any of those! Leveling my cunning again will take 15 darkness!! So I have to keep plugging away at the demanding tribute. However, getting to level 4 cunning would allow me to steal Praetors, and Paul has one of those that looks quite tempting! But not this turn, I have other fish to fry!
I’ve made a demand off Paul, 3 tribute cards! I don’t think he’ll want to pay up as I know that tribute gathering has been a struggle for him! But he’s committed to attacking Tom in some way, so may not want to fight on two fronts. This just means I can either keep demanding tribute off him ‘til he cracks or concedes 3 times, then I can have one (or both! – getting greedy) of his places of power.
I think Dan made a mistake in taking my/Ian’s PoP which is now undefended since he can’t afford the upkeep on his unit. It’s injured and inaccessible to his other unit (as it can’t fly!). Ian can’t get there for at least four turns. But once I’m done with Paul, perhaps I can turn my attention back to it!
My first order is this whole “diplomacy” business. I hope I’ve done it right! It seemed to take me to my tribute tab but not requiring any tribute, so I pressed commit tribute and I’m hoping that’s right! I think the instruction manual is pretty rubbish. I know I’ve misread it a number of times but for a game which seems to promote these “diplomatic actions” as being a main thrust of play, it doesn’t go into any detail on how you do it. It’s pretty much just trial and error.
My second order is to buff my “Company” up a tad. As they currently stand, if I attacked the PoP near them, they won’t be able to take it in one go. If I buff their melee by one, they’ll win in the first attack. So I buy a combat card for then. Woo yeah!
End turn.
Turn 17
A waiting game! My demand has been sent to Paul, he is considering this turn how to respond. So while I’m waiting I may as well demand some tribute. I’m looking to buy part 2 of the charisma book in the bazaar, but I don’t want to use too much of my resources at the moment. So that will have to wait.
I’ve got my eye on Ian. He’s moving around the board gaining land and I don’t want him to block me off from Paul’s PoP, which he could do as he moves first. Not a lot I can do about that though, so I decide not to move my unit closer to Paul, I could get there in one turn as it is.
Dan doesn’t seem to be doing anything again. That PoP is slowly healing. I suspect that the player who just bought a Praetor is Dan though. He’s probably moving on to challenges.
Tom has his new unit now with a shiny Praetor attached. It doesn’t make it as strong as Paul’s, but it’s better. I did briefly toy with the idea of casting a ritual on Paul’s unit to decrease its ranged attack, which is its strongest. But I decided there wasn’t much benefit to me, and it would cost resources! Once his vendetta with Tom is settled I may have a go at rituals, unless he concedes to my demand.
End turn.
Turn 18
Paul has refused to give me tribute, thus I am able to claim vendetta against him. I decide to go for capturing one PoP rather than 2, as I have my two units placed already and he currently only has 1 unit between the two PoPs. I’ve given myself 1 turn to complete it in :S I wasn’t sure about this, but it seems to me that so long as I can move, I can take one of the two, depending on where he is at the time. I didn’t want to give it too long because he would then have the opportunity of re-capturing it, which would foil my vendetta. A bit risky, when you don’t really know what you are doing so I’ll have to chalk it up to a learning experience and hope it works!
Dan has demanded more tribute from me. His spanky unit is not here anymore so I’m not sure how he intends to back a vendetta up. Perhaps he will emergency buy something from the bazaar. Either way, I don’t currently see the point of giving in to him so I refuse. If I’m done with Paul in a turn, then I can turn my attention to Dan.
My first order is demand tribute. I’m still aiming to buy charisma + 2 part 2 in the bazaar, but want a bit more tear drop resource first. I also want to raise cunning to 4, but this requires more darkness, by about 6. Creeping up…
For my second order this turn I try a ritual “combat deception”, this ritual can decrease a targets combat attribute for d6 + 2 for 2 turns. I target Paul’s units ranged ability, which is at 10 at the moment, and too high for comfort. I’m not sure if this will work, or benefit me in the short term, but it’s useful to test these things out.
End turn.
Turn 19
It’s all going on now! My ritual failed, boo! I suspect Paul may have the same perk as me in defense against rituals. He doesn’t seem to have done anything to prevent me stealing the tree of woe, I suspect he doesn’t realize I can take it, since the only reason I have a chance is because of my combat card there, which should hopefully not reveal to him which attribute I’ve buffed. I am assuming this because I can’t see what affect Ian’s combat cards are having on his units.
So my first order, which should be carried out before Paul’s, is to attack his “Tree of Woe” and hopefully, unless I’ve seriously miscalculated, capture it! I am concerned that this combat card does not work in the way I’m assuming it works :S We’ll just have to wait and see!
I rebuffed Dan’s demand last turn and he was informed at the beginning of this one. We’ll see what he intends to do about it. He has still no other units sitting around so I don’t currently see how he intends to take any of my land, units or PoPs. Perhaps he has something more sneaky in mind, not sure, so will have to wait and see. Perhaps he intends to re-purchase his big tough units. In which case I’m hoping my rituals will have more impact on him than they seem to be having on Paul!
My second order is to move my “blood” back towards my stronghold, just in case.
I’ve noticed some oddness in my numbering and the numbering of turns in the actual game, apparently I have just given orders for turn 21 in game, and yet I’m only on 19 here. Not entirely sure what is going on. Maybe I missed one out!?
Anyway, end turn!
Turn 20
Success! I have succeeded in my vendetta against Paul. I have claimed his PoP, and in doing so won 4 prestige points and an additional 24 for completing my vendetta. I’m on 90 now and the closest behind me is Paul on 57. That’s a pretty good lead I reckon.
My other units moved. Turns out that was a bit pointless because Dan has challenged me to single combat using our Praetors. This is difficult for me because I don’t actually have one. Nor can I afford one at the moment, since it requires flame and tear drop, which I have not been building up at the moment. Still, I’m not too far off the cheapest one and apparently I have two turns, so with some lucky tribute pulls perhaps I can buy one up before I have to concede the vendetta. Dan is getting too cheeky by far and needs to be taken down a peg or two. After this vendetta is finished with I think it must be time for some revenge. I’ll have to leave a unit down by my new PoP to discourage Paul from retaliation. Actually, I think my Blood are probably strong enough to take on Dan’s stronghold. Might be worth pushing towards it and see what that gets me.
Having just taken a brief look a Praetor combat it looks pretty complicated and long winded. I dislike being forced to read stuff I have little interest in. Two manuscripts were bought at the bazaar, one being Impale which appears to be some special move for Praetors. The other was the manual of attack which increases the attack rating of one of your Praetors attributes. I wonder who bought these?
I’m going to save my money, take the loss this time and move into position. Apparently if I don’t select a champion and step up I will lose the prestige he has wagered, which is 15. That will put me on 75, still a good 28 above Paul. So I guess the important question now is what do I need in my arsenal to completely wipe Dan off the board?
In the Bazaar there’s an interesting unit called the “Cthonian Crawlers”. They are interesting because they can cross mountains. Just like the mountains which are sitting between my stronghold and Dan’s. If I move my blood up and get a vendetta going I can purchase these bad boys to sit in the mountains as backup to my Blood. From what I understand they wouldn’t be able to be attacked as no other unit can enter mountains. This may be useful and worth thinking about. I’m hopeful that Ian is going to attack his/my/dan’s Pop at some point, which might distract Dan somewhat. I’m edging towards hopefully increasing my cunning soon. This will allow my steal-y ritual to target Praetors. Perhaps if he doesn’t have one, he will be less likely to challenge people to duels?
Turn 1, move my blood; turn 2, demand tribute.
End turn.
Turn 21
Demand tribute times two and now to bed.
End turn
Turn 22
Now then, I lost that vendetta thing, obviously as I didn’t put forward a Praetor to challenge Dan’s. This turn, to pre-empt Dan demanding tribute off me, I demand tribute off him. It is one of the few turns in which Dan goes before me, so hopefully he was having a break from vendetta-ing this turn. In anticipation of him refusing my demand my second order is to purchase the Crawlers from the Bazaar. I’m wondering if Dan may have had this thought too. I guess we’ll see if he does and we have a bid off!
Ian has put in a demand against Dan, that was last turn and this turn Dan refused it. This may mean he’ll concede to me, in which case I’ll get 4 tribute off him. Otherwise I’m going to grab some of his cantons. I quite fancy blocking off his stronghold, i.e. taking all the land surrounding it. My new Crawlers obviously cost me some tribute, which puts me back in raising my cunning, but I’ve come to the conclusion that this can wait, because the reason I want to raise my cunning, i.e. to steal Dan’s Praetor, may actually not work anyway, in which case I will have allowed a number of turns to pass where Dan is able to challenge me to a duel again. I’m thinking, if I can time this right, I can wangle it so that the next opportunity for either of us to demand tribute will be when it is my turn first again. This may require me dragging a vendetta out longer than I might like, but we’ll see.
So that’s it; “Diplomacy” as order 1, shopping as order 2.
End turn.
Turn 23
Ok, Dan refused me so I claim vendetta. I say I’ll take 4 cantons of his land, the question is how long shall I give myself for this. He won’t know what my vendetta is specifically, but I think he will know the time line. My options, looking at the wheel of diplomacy, have to be either 1 turn or 4 turns. This is because next turn (24) I will be able to begin moving, Ian will draw the scepter that turn and so I will go second, and before Dan. In turn 25 it is my turn to draw the scepter and so I will go first, however after that it is Paul and then Dan’s turn to draw and for these two turns he will go before me. Therefore if my vendetta is over during one of these two turns, Dan can come straight back and demand off me again. This is something I want to avoid as, obviously, he’ll use his buffed up Praetor to challenge me. So I can have a 1 turn vendetta, but this is difficult as if he casts any delaying rituals on my units I will not be able to succeed in one turn. However, 4 turns also has an element of risk as he can start taking cantons back!
Of course, I don’t know what he will do. My guess is that he will buy a new unit in the bazaar, if he can afford it. I’ll have to be flexible once I’ve seen which he buys, if any.
I paid off Paul last turn. This has a handy side affect in that he can’t demand off me for 4 turns. This tallies nicely with my current vendetta against Dan, so that if Paul does demand again after that period, I may be in a position to do something else about it next time. I don’t think I lost any prestige for paying him off, although he gained some.
I’m not entirely sure what Tom is doing, he seems to have fallen very quiet at the moment. I don’t share any borders with Tom, so hopefully he won’t take it in his head to start with me while I’m distracted. He has those two units sitting there, but I don’t think they’ve moved recently. He is probably working on his resources and avatar… Or planning something sneaky.
So my orders for this move are
1. Move my crawlers to right under Dan’s stronghold; still sitting in the mountains ready for next turn,
2. Bid on a manuscript in the bazaar! I’ve gone for part 2/3 of the charisma book. It cost darkness, which I need for raising my cunning, but in the next few turns I won’t have much time for tribute and leveling probably so I’ll pick the saving back up later.
End turn.
Turn 24
I won my manuscript. I rush to the bazaar to see if part three is there…it is not. Bummer. My vendetta is on with Dan. I can start moving on his stronghold.
For my first order I decide to try a ritual, “Infernal affliction”. I’ve not tried this one yet, the other one I cast on Paul didn’t stick. Let’s see if Dan’s more susceptible. I want to discourage Dan from moving his unit towards my crawlers. This turn is Ian with the scepter; next turn is my last opportunity to move before Dan. At that point I guess it would be good to have fulfilled my terms so that I can just respond to whatever he manages to do back.
Secondly, I’m going to push forward with my blood and start taking land. I wonder if I get penalized for taking more land than I said I would… I would guess not. So for order two my “blood” move into two of Dan’s cantons.
It seems that Tom has decided to take some action, but instead of targeting Dan, as he ought, he’s picked Ian. I’m guessing he’s going to bag some of his land as a quick way of bumping his prestige.
That is all. End turn.
Turn 25
It looks like while I was casting my ritual on Dan, he was casting one on me. My crawlers got hit for 2; Dan’s Chosen got hit for 3. I suppose it is a bit concerning, thinking that Dan could just sit there firing off rituals on my Crawlers for the next 2 turns to stop my vendetta.
It also seems that when you take someone’s land you have to be sitting on it to claim it. Therefore when I moved onto two of Dan’s cantons, I only actually took 1; the one I stopped on. Good job I gave myself 4 turns then as I’ve got to stop on each canton individually.
I’ll just have to press on now, regardless of Dan’s ritual casting so I move my crawlers first by two spaces, intending on grabbing the “in between” space next turn. Then I do the same with my blood. It just means that I won’t be able to do anything but move until I have the cantons I need, which is unfortunate. I’ll have to hope that if Dan casts that ritual again I either roll to defend against it, or it at least doesn’t do too much damage each time!
Someone’s bought the siege engine artifact “Infernal Engine”. I was looking at this, but decided against it due to expense and not really value for money. As I recall it is attached to a unit and improves their performance against PoPs. So who would need that? Well Ian might find it useful if he was going to try and take that one next to his base off of Dan; and Dan might find it useful to take that one that is unclaimed in his territory.
Anyway, that is all.
End turn.
Turn 26
Ah, now I have seen another error in my plan. It appears that you can only take land when it is attached by shared border to your own! Thus my crawlers efforts would have been useless because the land they were stopping on was not attached and therefore couldn’t be claimed. It appears that is now irrelevant though because someone (…) has unleashed the “Heavenly horde” upon us all. This unit is going to go stomping around the board for an undetermined amount of time killing anything it comes across, and there’s nothing any of us can do to stop it since it is beyond tough. Unfortunately it took out my crawlers before I even knew it was there and my blood are in prime position to be next. This isn’t going to do much for my vendetta , which ends next turn. Thus, if I manage to not lose my Blood, they still will only be able to claim 1 more canton giving me a total of 2 of 4. A bit disappointing.
Now I can move my blood 2 spaces, but that will only separate me from the angels by 4 spaces. They can travel 5 and also fly! Dan’s unit will also be 4 cantons away from the angels, so then it’s pot luck as to which direction they take. I don’t think they are controlled by a player, but they do target the people with the most prestige, and I guess that’s currently me … I have just noticed that the spare they are sitting on, which was Dan’s and where my crawlers were heading is no longer controlled by Dan. Seems the angels may be a bit of a leveler. I wonder if they attack PoPs and strongholds? I also wonder who goes first out of the rest of us and the angels. I hope it’s the rest of us, otherwise there’s not much point trying to move my blood anyway.
Ahah! Hooray for the internet, it really is a basic human right, the SI wiki tells me that it will attack one legion from each player, starting with the player with the most prestige. It appears it will then move onto the next highest player and that is Dan. So I think I will gamble that it is done with me and not retreat my unit. I will take that canton of Dan’s land, may as well get the 2 even though I’m not going to achieve 4. In fact next turn I can take a third so I’ll be just one short. I wonder if there’s any way to get that fourth canton…
Ok, so my current plan:
It is now turn 29 (on the screen not here on this blog), after I have moved my blood this turn I will have 2 cantons of Dan’s. Then next turn is turn 30. I need to claim 2 more cantons in that turn to fulfill my vendetta, which is assessed after the orders are carried out. So, I will move my blood to take 1 canton this turn and I have bid on the cheapest units I can find in the bazaar. These will be placed bottom left canton of my stronghold, which due to Dan’s previous movements is only 2 cantons from my stronghold! I think I can still do this (subject to being in receipt of the correct information on my wiki site! Don’t let me down, random people who I’ve never met!)
Fingers crossed and End turn!
Turn 27
It appears that I was half right in my above musings on where the angels would head next. My assumption that they would attack the next person down on the prestige stakes and not me was correct. That this would be Dan was incorrect. They are heading over to Paul.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Dan may have retaken his turn! Dun, dun daaaaaah! The reason I suspect this is because during the day today I had two conversations about the Angels; one with Paul and one with Dan. I found out that it was Paul who set them off. He didn’t realize they’d stick around picking off each of us in turn. I then talked to Dan about it, who also didn’t realize this. I, unfortunately, illuminated him as to their next target (at the point I thought this was Dan). This turn he has made a demand of Ian, which costs 6 prestige to do. This puts him lower in prestige than Paul and therefore the angels have gone after Paul (sucks to be him, shoulda read the instructions better). So the question is, did he play his turn and then replay it (as the “host” he’s probably the only one able to do this) to lower his prestige or did he demand off Ian anyway, and if he did then why? Ian hasn’t got anything!!?
So Dan’s ineffectual unit is still sitting there. I hope the angels stick around long enough to take them out too. The angels are currently heading over to Paul to take out his Praetor backed unit. He should probably remove that Praetor this turn before he loses it!
My two moves need no thought really. I move both my units to take those last two cantons of Dan’s (I won my new unit at the bazaar, by the way). I’m hoping that neither of them succumb (I had to look the spelling of that up!) to any ritual of Dan’s.
End turn.
Turn 28
Righto, my vendetta has been successfully fulfilled! Woo, prestige for me. I’m on 109, compared to Dan’s measly 64 and Paul’s 63. Ian’s on 0 again. Tom won his vendetta against him and he lost his unit which, I guess, pushed him back down.
I lost my accursed company this turn. They suffered some disloyalty thing so wondered off of their own accord; possibly assisted by someone’s event card or ritual? Either way that’s not too bad a thing, although irritating, because they were down watching Paul/my PoP. Paul’s super unit got taken out by the angels, I think he may have had time to save his Praetor though. He has bought a new unit and this one is certainly tough enough to take out my PoP, but that means him demanding off me and me not paying him off, 1 tribute card at a time.
I still have my blood and my new boys poised around Dan’s base ready to pounce. My first order is to make a demand off Dan. This is to prevent him demanding off me and then challenging me to Praetor duel. I think if I get to vendetta him it is time to take out his stronghold. I’ll give myself a few turns to do it and hope he doesn’t cotton onto what I’m doing quickly enough to prevent it!
My second order is to demand tribute. Time to work towards that cunning level 4. I need 10 souls and 15 darkness, so a way to go yet. I spent quite a lot of tribute in that last vendetta with Dan.
Oh that angel is still hanging around. If it lasts 2 more turns it will have Dan and move onto the next person (Tom).
End turn.
Turn 29
My demand has been delivered to Dan so I expect to hear a response from him next turn. I’m half expecting him to concede and pay me off. The good news is that if he does concede. I can make another demand off him in four turns, which is happily when I once again take my turn before him. Thus avoiding the whole Praetor challenge issue. I do wonder whether I’d have been better off to start with getting a Praetor, but too late now!
Paul is hovering around near Ian’s cut off bit of land. I very much expect to see him demand off Ian next turn. I wonder if I could have his other PoP while he’s distracted! Probably not, with the Praetor sitting on it like that. Actually, after some frantic jotting on my post it note, I could take that PoP with my chosen. But I’d have to move them down there, which would take about 5 turns, and it wouldn’t be a subtle approach. Plus that would remove my boys from their position above Dan’s stronghold, so maybe I’ll leave it.
I’m taking a turn out from doing anything while I wait for Dan’s response. I’ll demand tribute for both orders. If Dan pays me off I hope I get enough then to level my cunning! I’m looking forward to trying to steal his Praetor.
Oh, that angel is still hanging around. I am a bit concerned again now though that once it is done with Tom, it’s next target, it will turn on Ian. Ian doesn’t have a unit currently so what does it do then? Will it give up and go away, or will it return to the top of the circle again!? I don’t really want to lose another unit at the moment.
End turn.
Turn 30
Dan conceded, not too shabby. It seems though that my expectation of having 4 turns grace before re-challenging was incorrect, as it’s only 2 turns this time. My assumption was based on my paying off Paul. I suppose it depends on what respective ranks and all that. In two turns I think it will be Dan’s go first, so he could drop a challenge on me. Not ideal.
The angels are still around. I’m going to move my chosen slightly to try and get out of range. I’m hoping that they will retreat this turn. But moving my chosen will claim me a couple more cantons, so not entirely a wasted order.
I’m doing not too bad on tribute. I need 5 more darkness to level my cunning. My second order is to demand tribute.
Paul has demanded off Ian. I imagine he has only asked for 1 tribute so I would put money Ian paying him off.
End turn
Turn 31
Back! After a pause for Christmas in Leicester we’re back for another turn. It’s actually useful to have written this blog now so that I can remember what the hell is going on!
Stuff that’s happened:
1. The angels have buggered off! Hooray, so my units are safe. I have claimed another two cantons of land and my unit is closer to Dan’s PoP.
2. Tom has bought “The beast”! I suspect that he has done this because there is that tasty PoP that no one ever claimed. Dan cordoned it off to take later, or so we assumed. But because he’s been hanging around and not doing all of much, the angels when they took out his unit also wiped clear a path for Tom to access the PoP.
3. Ian conceded to Paul’s demand and so is un-demandable by Paul for, my guess, four turns.
So what was I doing before the break? I was attempting to raise my cunning level. I need 4 more darkness. I was also waiting for my embargo on demanding from Dan to be over. So I think for this turn I will move my unit closer to Dan’s PoP, which I should hopefully be able to attack and take shortly.
My second turn is to demand tribute and keep my fingers crossed for a nice haul of darkness!
End turn.
Turn 32
People must have been in withdrawal! There’s a new turn already. Possibly I was the one holding things up this time. Not sure when the next turn will be though as Paul will be away from the internet for about 2 weeks starting sometime soon. We may get a few more in before then, I can’t remember when he said he was off.
Anyway, it looks like both Tom and Dan have taken it into their heads to demand off me. Coincidence? I think I’ll pay one and not the other.
Since I’ve made a start with Dan I’ll continue with my efforts. I know that saying no to Dan will result in a Praetor challenge – which I can’t meet as I have no Praetors. I’ve worked out that, based on last times experience, if I accept and then let it go on ‘til I’ve run out of time to put a champ forward it will be around turn 40 (game turns) before I can challenge. This is unfortunately when Dan controls the game again (he holds the scepter this turn) and so I won’t get a chance to demand first. However, if I pay him off, I get 2 turns grace and then when it comes to demanding again, it should be my turn with the scepter and therefore with the demanding.
Tom has got a big tough unit, but he’s never attacked me before, so I’m not sure whether he’s going for a challenge or some other goal, e.g. taking land. He’s at least 1 whole turns movement away from me before he actually touches down on my land, even with his 3 flying, so that will give me some time to think about what to do and perhaps preemptively attack or confuse or something his boys, who will be draining his resources fiercely. Next turn he goes first, but after that it is me first, so I can potentially ritual him, if it sticks and such like. His target may be my/Paul’s PoP, which is just a few turns away. Have to see what he does. So that sounds like a plan.
Dan pay off, Tom refuse.
Since I may be busy the next few turns I guess I should get some resource in. Both orders – demand tribute.
End turn.
Turn 33
So the good news is I got four darkness on one card this turn! Four darkness! In one card! A first for me! The bad news is that my remaining cards are still too low denomination so I can’t actually put all the cards required in the tribute bit to increase my cunning. So I’m using one turn to “consolidate tribute”, lame!
Dan’s been paid off and can’t demand off me for 2 turns. Tom has received my refusal and so has this turn to decide what he is going to do. Being as he has no units at all now; his hired mercenaries have gone back to the shop, I suspect he is going to challenge me to a duel of Champions. This will free up my units at least, since I don’t have to worry about mounting some defense. It also seems that although Dan cannot demand off me for 2 turns, this does not prevent me from demanding off him. Therefore I’ve decided to move my blood back to his stronghold to take him out. I’ve had quite enough of being a target because I am high on the prestige, so it’s time to start showing the others not to mess with me. Dan first, then a choice between Paul and Tom.
It seems that Paul has decided to join the party and also demand tribute off me. Since he is a lower rank he can only demand 2 tribute and it will give me, I think, 4 turns off. This seems like quite enough time to finish up with Dan and move on. So I pay him off. I think this will be the second time I’ve conceded to Paul (perhaps I should check back here?) so I have one more time before that whole blood feud thing kicks in, I think. I have some onesies kicking around so I’ll use those.
Once I’ve leveled my cunning next turn I may have to wait a couple of goes before I can use my pilfer ritual to save up tribute. I hope I have enough orders in the next couple of turns to get that together, cos I really want to go stealing someone’s Praetor! I think I will aim for Toms, since I think I tried a deceit ritual against Dan that did not work, suggesting, perhaps, some resistance to them?
So my first order is consolidate tribute; still lame, my second order is to move my blood.
End turn.
Turn 34
So I paid off Paul, someone played an event card (Tom) which took away any non-chosen type minions, i.e. any units with questionable loyalty, Dan has made a demand off Paul and Tom has challenged me to duel with Praetors.
I can level up my cunning this turn, so I’ve done that as order 1. The idea is that I can use my pilfer skill to steal someone (Tom’s) Praetor. I don’t think this will happen before the end of the deadline to submit a champion though, which is a shame, as I will lose 15 prestige.
I can make my demand off Dan next turn; I think I could have made it this turn but I wanted to raise some tribute in case the pilfer ritual costs more than I currently have – which, after just spending a shed load to increase my cunning, may be the case. However, with three orders from now on, hopefully I can recoup that tribute relatively quickly.
So order 2 is demand tribute.
End turn.
Turn 35
Gah! Once again my cunning plan is scuppered by an incomplete understanding of the rules. Apparently I can only use my brand spanking new ritual to steal peoples Praetors if I can see the Praetor physically. Thus although I know that both Dan and Tom have Praetors, otherwise how could they challenge me? I cannot steal them as they are not “on the board”. Paul has two Praetors placed on the board, in his two PoPs. However, I know that his deceit is as high as mine (probably) and he may also have the same perk I have that defends against deceit rituals! Still I have the ritual and the required resources so should I try it out? I think I may as well. It will hopefully only inform Paul that I was trying to ritualize him and no-one else will know and therefore give away my new skill. It might work?!
Of course, this will be too late for my challenge against Tom. But if he challenges me again I can put forward a contender. I wouldn’t expect it to win though.
I’m doing that on order 2 of 3, I get an extra order now I have a level 4 attribute, oh yeah!
The first order is to demand tribute off Dan. I wonder if he’ll pay up.
It’s my turn to hold the scepter this turn and I get a new option for an event card. Previously I’ve been holding onto the one I had which bans all deceit rituals for an undisclosed amount of time. This would also impact on me, but could be useful. I’ve now swapped it! I can remove a PoP from a chosen players control and neutralize it. I fancy using this on Tom’s big bad PoP. It took hired mercenaries to capture, I imagine it would be quite frustrating to lose :)
My final order is to demand tribute. I have noticed a problem. I don’t have any ones in resources, which means that to cast my ritual I used 1 more tribute than necessary. Maybe Dan will give me some ones.
End turn.
Turn 36
It worked! I pilfered Paul’s Praetor! Woo yeah! To save my losing it straight away I might just hold it in reserve where it can’t be seen. I hope that Paul doesn’t know who did it!
Someone (probably Paul) cast a looting the vaults ritual on me and I lost 3 tribute cards. That is a bit annoying, but since I’m not saving my tribute for anything in particular, it’s not too bad. I can cast that one myself, it costs 2 flame and 2 orb/darkness. I could give it a try this turn, but I only have 2 darkness at the moment, so might not bother in the hopes of better tribute from my minions.
Dan has this turn to consider my demand. I can’t play my even card at the moment, as I don’t have the tribute! Boo! It costs 3 each of souls, teardrop and darkness. Maybe next turn, and then Tom can say adios to his PoP!
Dan has a vendetta currently against Paul which is a Duel of champions! I hope Paul didn’t want to use my new toy! He has another one anyway, so we’ll see what happens!
I lost my vendetta against Tom so he gets the 15 prestige off me that I “wagered”.
So what to do this turn? I don’t have anything pressing to do so I guess I’ll go for the tribute route. I might send off a demand of Tom. Can I be bothered? I guess I don’t really want to fight on two fronts in case Dan doesn’t concede. Maybe I’ll wait this turn. It would be irritating though if Tom took the opportunity to demand off me again though….Nah, I’ll leave it for this turn. Next turn I might demand off Tom. I could at least take some of his cantons without much trouble.
I think for my first two orders I’ll demand tribute. For my third order I’m going to buy that manuscript that I’ve had my eye on. It does something to Praetors, I don’t really understand, but it might give my new guy a bit of a push up if I get challenged and accept. I’ll have 2 of 3 parts with this manuscript. I’m hoping the charisma book becomes available after this one is gone from the bazaar more than anything!
End turn.
Turn 37
Right, after an extended period away, due to one of our players holiday, we are back to finish the game!
I’m struggling to remember what was happening and how to play, but never mind!
What has happened this turn; from the top:
1. Tom has bought a demand against me before the conclave – the last time he did this I refused and he challenged me to a duel and I didn’t have a Praetor at the time.
2. Two people have independently cast looting the vaults on me stealing 4 tribute cards, one of these people is Tom, the other unknown #cough# Paul #cough#
3. Dan refused my demand and so I am able to vendetta him
4. It seems that preempting my vendetta, Dan has purchased his large friends again “The Beast” from the bazaar
5. Someone’s bought a Praetor
6. I bought my book – this has unfortunately not had the hoped for result and neither of the two books I now need are on sale!
7. I get some tribute
8. It’s Dan’s turn with the scepter
So, that’s quite a lot going on. Given that Dan has got his big old unit back and I don’t want to get my boys killed I wonder if I could get away with a vendetta. His fellas can fly and at the moment there is only one hex unclaimed between Dan’s two pieces of land (one to the right of his stronghold, the other my old PoP and one canton near it). It’s unfortunate that he could claim this canton and then have access to the PoP, which he wouldn’t otherwise…So perhaps I can get there first and intercept his pathway, isolating the PoP for capture? I’ll try it. Order 1 is move my guys to that space! Fingers crossed that Dan’s first move isn’t to do the same as he moves first this turn :S
I think actually, I won’t vendetta Dan at the moment, think how irritating it would be if you’d bought a big tough, expensive unit with no purpose for it to fulfill! I hope there are no repercussions to me for not vendetta-ing!
Bit of a waste of prestige that, but never mind.
Tom’s challenge, what to do…? I’ll refuse him. With people stealing my tribute now and with actually wanting to do stuff with it I don’t want to concede any to him! I have my Praetor, since it’s really Paul’s I won’t be too upset if it doesn’t win! Reject!
I’m going to give this looting ritual a try I think. Apparently it costs more to loot off Tom than it does Paul. Must be a result of his being a lower rank? So I chose to loot off Paul and hope it works, since I think he is partially resistant to deceit rituals.
Last order, tribute!
End turn.
Turn 38
Hmm, some interesting developments!
In the order that I receive them:
1. My looting ritual was unsuccessful
2. There appears to be some event the result of which is that no vendettas, demands and insults are banned for 5 turns! This also has the effect of cancelling any existing vendettas! Woo, this means that Tom can’t vendetta against me, mwahahaha. Also, that’s a nice expensive unit yo’ve got there Dan, I’m sure you can find another use for it somewhere, fruit picking perhaps?
3. My loyalty has supposedly come under suspicion and I can’t cast any rituals over level 3 for 3 turns. Not particularly a problem as the only ones I can cast are looting and stealing and probably didn’t want to cast these anyway. Kinda wish this was universally applicable though since someone tried, but failed, to loot me this turn!
4. I couldn’t move my guys to that canton as Dan moved his Beast there first, bummer. I guess I’ll have to wait a few turns ‘til he can’t afford them anymore.
5. My “lack of veal in claiming vendetta has been noted by the conclave”, but they haven’t taken prestige from me as far as I can tell, so no harm there
A reassessment of the map suggests that Dan can’t get his Beast to the PoP, it’s too many cantons away…So new plan. I can’t cast rituals and there are no vendettas, but can I play my event card to remove a PoP from a player? This should be my goal for the next 5 turns. I will need some more tribute. Three souls, three drops and three darkness. I am lacking the souls…Time to check my tribute and fingers crossed! Yes! Three souls!
So order 1 and please let no one loot me before I get this done! I target Dan, and since this is his only PoP it should take it out. There was no warning reminding me I couldn’t do such a thing, so I guess it’s allowed.
Order 2, move my guys to take the PoP, hopefully next turn! Dan can actually work his way to the PoP, but it’s round-about and would take 3 turns to accomplish. I’m on 131 prestige, Dan’s next on 81. If I can remove that PoP from him then he won’t be increasing regularly, and I will increase by 2 a turn more. Can’t be bad.
Order 3, tribute!
Turn 39
Woo yeah! It worked, take that Dan!
No-one stole any of my resources this turn. This is good. Lots of people bought stuff at the bazaar this turn:
Tom bought a unit
Someone bought The bannerof the flayed apostate
Someone bought the alien god – I think this is the one that gives prestige
I could possibly find out if I had any intelligence (ahem) but I don’t.
I still can’t perform any rituals this turn and there’s a ban on demands insults and vendettas.
So order 1, move my boys to take that place of power. Ian holds the scepter and so it’s him first, then me. I hope this means that no-one can stop me! Mwahahaha!
Order 2 and 3? I hadn’t really thought that far. More tribute I guess.
Oh by the way, 12/15 rods drawn now! Only three more to go…
End turn.
Turn 40
I forgot to update this as I took my turn so now I have to struggle to remember what happened yesterday :S
So I took the PoP, this is good.
The ban on demands/vendettas etc is still in force but the block on me casting rituals is off so I can cast level 3+ rituals again.
After some discussion via email on how to stop me winning, Dan has decided to get himself excommunicated. He has no direct route to pandemonium so did it by casting something on the infernal council, or something?
He has also bought himself a new unit, so he has 3 including his big boys, The Beast? And they are all uncomfortably close to my stronghold. Apparently he can attack anyone at this point and anyone can attack him.
I am holding the scepter so go first, my event card is not useful.
My first order is to cast that ritual that stops someone using their units that turn. I can target three units, which is handy, cos that’s how many units Dan has. Actually the only unit that can access my stronghold is his flying boys, the others will have to travel around the mountain range between us, but I’m reluctant to let that land go without trying to prevent them.
I’ve decided to place my Praetor in my stronghold, this should buff its stats somewhat, but it does put my guy on display for anyone to steal! This is order 3
Order 2 is demand tribute, since I can’t think of anything else to do.
End turn.
Turn 41
It seems my ritual worked but only on The Beast, which was unable to move, whether or not he wanted to move them is another thing. He doesn’t seem to have moved any of his units. So not sure entirely what his plan is.
My Praetor is sitting on my stronghold now giving it stats r11, m2, i1. Is that worse than before?
No-one stole my tribute, this is good; although I have little to spend anyway.
I suppose I should kick off this turn with my confusion ritual again and hope to scupper Dan’s plans, whatever they are. Unfortunately, for the next 2 turns, Dan will go before me, so I’m not sure how effective my ritual will actually be. This could go badly for me if he moves the beast close to my stronghold this turn and attacks it next :S Maybe I should attempt to steal his resources instead so as to force him to abandon his pay per turn unit… Yeah, I’ll go for that instead!
Ah, that’s a shame. I can only cast one ritual per turn, probably because my wickedness is low? So my half-plan to steal Dan’s artifact (he has it placed on the beast) as well won’t work. I’m also half tempted to increase my intelligence from 0 to 1 so I can put some work into achieving my public objective of stealing a load of stuff. But I don’t want to spend all my darkness in case I need to cast my confusion ritual next turn.
I think my other two orders are going to have to be to demand tribute, so I can work my rituals in my defense, since my blood probably can’t take on 3 units at once! I hope Dan runs out of money soon.
It’s still 12/15. I think we’ve got at least 10 more turns in this thing. I wonder if Dan can re-communicate himself anyhow. If not he’s never going to be able to gather more prestige…
In other news, I hope to have convinced Paul that he is Dan’s next target after me. So I hope to see Paul “ritual-ing” Dan something fierce!
End turn.
Turn 42
I forgot to write out what I did this turn again! This is getting a bit tiresome to be honest.
Trying to remember what happened. It was Dan’s turn on the scepter so he moved first. I think I decided that it wasn’t worth casting my confusion ritual last turn because if his first order was to move his unit then it would move before my ritual could stop it. So I cast looting the vaults instead in the hope that he would run out of tribute quickly and so be unable to pay his unit’s upkeep.
Then my other two orders were demand tribute, since I couldn’t think of anything else worthwhile to do.
End turn
Turn 43
In keeping with expectations Dan did move his flying unit and now it sits on my doorstep. He would be foolish to bypass me without attacking my stronghold and given the stats of his unit, it’s a pretty safe bet that it will be taken.
I managed to steal 5 of his resource cards last turn! That’s pretty good. I wonder if he paid for his guys in advance though, in which case there’s no stopping him.
Now that it’s Tom’s turn to go first I will actually go before Dan so I’m going to try my confusion ritual again. I only bother targeting his Beast since it appears he’s leaving the other two to guard his stronghold.
I’m going to move my unit down a bit. If I don’t end up dead then I suppose my unit could make itself useful somehow. So, that is order 2.
Order 3, is demand tribute.
End turn.
Turn 44
Well looks like that’s that then. My ritual failed and so I’m dead.
My thoughts on the game: Despite being touted as encourage deviousness, back stabbing and strategic play, it seems that the easiest way to win is to spend all of your resources on the biggest unit you can find and take pandemonium. If Dan succeeds in taking it in the next few turns and he can afford or has already paid for his Beast for the five turns he is required to hold it, that will be that. No-one will be able to approach him. Not even by buying those Sons of Thypoon or whatever they are called.
So all in all quite disappointing, what’s the point of being sneaky if you can just steamroller all the other players? And now we all know this, what’s the point of playing the game any other way?
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