LAST MONTHS

0

TOTAL

Game #103 | Hiliadan vs cbower 2

cbower vs  Hiliadan


Match Details

Played:2015-12-29
Savegame
Rating 1 - Excellent Game
Amount of Humans:2
Kind of game:   PBEM
Game-value: 44
Result Player Classes Races Team Points Extra Points Missed Points Quitter Rate
1 cbowerTheocratElves2800here
2 HiliadanDreadnoughtDwarves100-23here
Posts to the game:

This was a fantastic game. 68 turns in a game that remained competitive throughout and challenged my notions of how PBEM is played. Hiliadan scouted well early, gained advantage in early map position, and performed an early raid around turn 12. I was fortunate on these early turns. I won a scout fight on the nagas dwelling where the next turn it was released as a vassal. But was more fortunate that I caught wind of Hiliadan's raid just in time. A random tower picked up his movement from the underground to my elf vassal. My main army out west was about to move further west to hit some sites. This one turn difference proved important because it meant I could follow his raiding party and retake each city before he could raze it. One more turn to the west and I would have been forced to give them up. As it was I was able to split my main army and send enough floating units to catch his raiding part at sea before they could escape. Feeling like a righted the ship and finding his throne I plotted a course to him. I was torn, in his raiding party were some champion and his leader so I felt I had the advantage on the board in units for the moment.  But I din't want to be hasty since it was going to take time and you always need a little more on the offensive. So I plotted a route to him where I could pick up some friends on the way, I gave up about  turns but I was able to significantly increase my stack. I felt safe at home so I left little there. Shortly after I moved out my Elf outpost was attacked by a small group of draconian units, which I should have paid more attention to, but I wrote of as random left overs from his theo that had escaped. I arrived in the right time and place. He had a sizable force a few turns east to me, but I had a clear path to his cities west. He had a decent garrison but no match for my invasion group. If his garrison was able to combine with his main army he could have won, but luckily for me I had the better positioning. I razed a city took his throne and took up a strong defensive position on the only bridge leading into his throne. But Hilidan did not chase me into a bad fight. He had a clear path to my throne now and he took. He razed my vassal on the way, my elf out post. I reinforced my throne with everything I could and then a I released it as a vassal for the extra troops. Hilidan took some losses but my old throne was his. Meanwhile I collected the rest of Hilidan's property in the north UG. Which was was better then my real estate. With that done I settled on chasing him down at my old throne.  When I got close I realized he had not absorbed it or released it, but migrated it to draconian in 2 turns. It was then I realized those draconian units from earlier were not random, but there was a city down there. That was a foolish mistake on my part not, to explore it or put it together sooner. I was able to split and grab back my old throne with a small group the turn before he released it. My larger stack took the dragon city and cleared some good sites. This was about turn 47, I felt pretty confident at this point. Hiliadian had a little more then a stack left from the fight on my throne. I had about 14 good units. But a funny thing happened here, Hiliadian didn't crumble under the weight of being without a city, no he started growing in strength. He went north east while I had moved south to collect the cities. The northwest was almost completely unexplored. My scouts picked him up and much to my dismay realized he was gaining not only units but gold too. His units had wealthy empire on them. He had even bought out an t3 from an inn. Meanwhile I was making a small amount of gold and not adding much in units, I had to get sell some rewards to buy some t3 from inns. Finally though I had a strong  stacks. My scouts had shown Hiliadan to have two groups of units. One led by his theo and one by the necro. His leader had disappeared all together. The theo was topside going moving north east. The necro was moving in the same direction but was underground and farther behind. Both seemingly moving towards his old throne. Together they would be scary separate I could handle them. Luckily since he was clearing he was taking a longer route. I was able to take a more direct route. He had a scout near his old throne I kept en eye on him, I kept disbanding my scouts so he didn't see me seeing him. My main force movements was seemingly not being tracked. His scout was a t3 so when he moved it close enough to peak at my throne, I was able to take it with my garrison units. From there I was able to move those units to the UG entrance. I kept them in the UG to mask my force. I had enough that he could peak without committing a good amount of units. It was a tense time for me. He was moving his units together on the surface but the only way across from where he was was across the ocean. He was being careful to move his units together. He even had them all on land but his theo. I couldn't show him I was there though, I couldn't reach in a turn and hutning him would take some time. So I waited. Luckily there was a couple sites just ahead of him that would put him in range. He took them and I was able to take his theo group by surprise. From there I focused on expanding. Hilidan still had a champ 6 archon titan, glutton and obsidian dragon spell, to my force which was mostly leveled t3. Hiliadan however did not have the mana income to sustain a dragon force and with limited undead healing he couldn't real advance his troops. Eventually the lack of resources forced Hiliadan to be aggressive. Where the movements ended up favoring me and I was able to pick apart his finally army. Take a look at the score from the proof attached. The game remained competitive even though Hiliadan had lost all his cities vassal's at turn 47. 20 turns on the run, and he was growing during that time. 

user
Published on Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Confirmed by Hiliadan
Very very interesting game for me! I was afraid it would be a bit boring for cbower while I was on the run but it looks like he enjoyed it too! <smiletext0> I learnt a lot in this game.

Before my first raid on turn 2, I had settled my throne + 1 other dwarf city and had one vassal dwarf city which then was absorbed (+ the Naga dwelling as vassal I think but not sure when I got it). My economy was gaining momentum and I was looking to get the Cannons as soon as possible (but I realized during that game that it may have been foolish as it requires too much time).
I had an Elite First Born in my stack and was getting close to cbower's throne. I had no idea where his leader was, which worried me but I decided to try and attack him anyway, especially since he told me he was XPing very fast (and I later got the confirmation through my scout).

We had a few scout encounters and as cbower wrote, I was a bit unlucky on one on the Naga dwelling he controlled and which he released one turn later, as I might have delayed him for a few turns (but not very significantly anyway), as his leader cast a healing spell which let him win.

While still in the underground, I stupidly lost my Elite First Born while clearing a Library as - disturbed by issues with my neighbour IRL - I lost track of which of 2 Evangelists had converted my Boar Rider and killed the wrong one, failing to liberate my Boar Rider... I was so angry at it as my First Born was in theory more or less unkillable now that he was Elite.... I don't think it would have changed much as later fights were overwhelmingly won or lost (by cbower or me) but who knows.

As cbower wrote, I later took his outpost, then his throne but his leader was coming back with a very strong force. I saw it coming and tried to flee but was intercepted by a force of floating units and killed in the sea. My Theo hero had escaped in the UG, as I saw it would become ugly.
cbower could have seen her and killed her but I was lucky (I had a screenshot of it - she was 5 hexes South of his path, or something like that - but my PC had an issue, I'll see if I can get it back).
At this point, cbower made a big mistake he mentioned in his report and did not find the entrance to the UG south of his outpost where I had taken a Draconian city on my way to his throne. So I was able to quickly build a small force and take his outpost and raze it.

At this stage of the game, I had made several critical mistakes such as attacking too early without knowing where his leader and troops were, and probably pushing for his throne while I could still move back to the UG (but I may have faced his army on the route to the UG anyway due to the geography of the map).
I further failed to spot the movements of his troops coming for my throne (which route did you take? I'm still not sure! through the sea North of the entrance at the end, right?) and to build sufficient garrison in my 2nd city, which got invaded by independents just before cbower hit the UG entrance next to my 3rd dwarf city (the old vassal).

My main army was rebuilding strength east of it and I had just raised an Archon Titan from a site with my necro but I considered my army could not beat him. I naively thought I could kill his 3rd stack that he left behind to raze my 3rd city but he knew I was there and moved it just after razing. So I took the opportunity that all his troops were at my throne and fled on the surface, with 1-2 turn lead on him. I took and razed the Naga dwelling on the surface on my way and marched for his throne which I took after a long march from North-West (my throne) to South-East (his).

Then I split my forces which were quite slim, to try to rebuilt them through converting (with my Theo) and ghoul curse (with my Necro). My leader went alone in the sea as he had water concealment through an item. That way, I hoped to avoid getting all my forces smashed, and to maximize converting / ghouling and XP (as some sites can be cleared only with 1 stack). It went pretty well but as one group was UG and the other on the surface, I could not rejoin them easily while approaching my ancient throne.
I lacked mana (but was rich thanks to clearing and taking gold instead of items most of the time) and wanted an Obsidian Dragon (I got the secret spell in a site) so I was unable to scout. I cast the Dragon just next to his throne, that he had retaken, with my concealed leader and took it back. Released as a vassal, it provided me with some income.

The Paragon Dragon (first T4 built or invoked) was nice but, alone, was not able to do much else.
As cbower said, I had a sphynx bought from an inn (not a very good idea in retrospect but I hoped my old cities would be poorly defended as the danger was supposed to be elsewhere; they were not) and thought he wasn't spotted but the report from cbower shows he was!

I then made a big big mistake with my Theo stack by failing to assess the movements from the entrance to my group and giving a clear shot to cbower to attack me from the UG. One group was dead.... It's so stupid because I knew he was probably there. But even without this mistake, he may have killed me because I had the sea at my back and rapids in the east, so I couldn't go far if he decided to get out of the UG to chase me.

My second group took the Naga dwelling by moving through a water body in the UG but I did some mistakes on my way (not used to fight on water!) and lost some troops. I later lost my Glouton because of another mistake while fighting independents.
I had no idea what his leader and troops were doing, lacking scouts (no mana!).
My options were limited:
- the access to his new capital (my old throne) was very difficult (so bad I lost it!!!) with only one bridge in the east and a vassal in the south accessible only by the south (very far) or the west (by the surface, very far too) and many possibilities to be spotted
- going back to the surface was irrelevant
- the only real option was to try to take back the southern UG draconian city I had lost to him eventually but access was also difficult

Then I realized there were unexplored sites east of the UG and it looked possible there was an access to the city through dirt cavern walls (the ones you can excavate). I scouted and it proved to be true!
Unfortunately, cbower's scouts were following me everywhere and I lacked floating, flying or lava-walking units to killed the annoying cherubs! (I lost my flying ghoul Eagle Rider in an independent fight) So my move was known but I hoped he hadn't seen there was an access to the Draconian city by the east (did you? late I guess).

At this stage, I had added 3 big mistakes to the previous ones:
- in mid-game, after my early raid, failure to raze or vassal the cities I took (I think I tried to absorb first) - that was probably my most significant mistake, as I'm sure at least in one case, I had 2 turns to raze but failed to do so -
- getting my Theo exposed on the strategic map by failing to see I was 7 hexes away from the entrance
- many errors on the tactical maps in several fights against indies, where I lost the Glutton, the Eagle Rider and other units

After a long journey, I reached the place where I could emerge from the dirt caver walls and attack the Draconian city. 4-5 turns away (and 3 turns from the city), my Dragon picked up on cbower's 3 stacks by chance but lacked movements to avoid them (I had first moved it in another direction but then changed my mind, wasting his move points) and I disbanded him.
I was faced with a harsh choice: taking the city but then getting the final fight against his powerful army or running again to the surface (or running back from where I came). But I had nowhere to go and he was more mobile than I in the surface. So after checking I could take the city before he could reach it, I went for it with 3 stacks (+ a few units).
I took it as planned and had enough move points to cluster most of my units in 3 stacks (disbanding some who lacked the MP) as planned.... BUT, I had made another big mistake: one of the stack was adjacent to the city, so cbower could pick it up separately by attacking the city.... That was the end! I eventually put 2 stacks to defend the city and the 3rd one alone. They were all crushed the turn later and I surrendered.

So a series of misplays from my part and one big mistake from cbower (not finding the Draconian city) who otherwise made mostly good choices.
Thanks for the game, I progressed a lot on this one!

user
Published on Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

103 | Age of Wonders 3
Match has been reported, please confirm!
Back to the game page

user
Published on Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

103 | Age of Wonders 3
This was a fantastic game. 68 turns in a game that remained competitive throughout and challenged my notions of how PBEM is played. Hiliadan scouted well early, gained advantage in early map position, and performed an early raid around turn 12. I was fortunate on these early turns. I won a scout fight on the nagas dwelling where the next turn it was released as a vassal. But was more fortunate that I caught wind of Hiliadan's raid just in time. A random tower picked up his movement from the underground to my elf vassal. My main army out west was about to move further west to hit some sites. This one turn difference proved important because it meant I could follow his raiding party and retake each city before he could raze it. One more turn to the west and I would have been forced to give them up. As it was I was able to split my main army and send enough floating units to catch his raiding part at sea before they could escape. Feeling like a righted the ship and finding his throne I plotted a course to him. I was torn, in his raiding party were some champion and his leader so I felt I had the advantage on the board in units for the moment.  But I din't want to be hasty since it was going to take time and you always need a little more on the offensive.

So I plotted a route to him where I could pick up some friends on the way, I gave up about  turns but I was able to significantly increase my stack. I felt safe at home so I left little there. Shortly after I moved out my Elf outpost was attacked by a small group of draconian units, which I should have paid more attention to, but I wrote of as random left overs from his theo that had escaped. I arrived in the right time and place. He had a sizable force a few turns east to me, but I had a clear path to his cities west. He had a decent garrison but no match for my invasion group. If his garrison was able to combine with his main army he could have won, but luckily for me I had the better positioning. I razed a city took his throne and took up a strong defensive position on the only bridge leading into his throne. But Hilidan did not chase me into a bad fight. He had a clear path to my throne now and he took. He razed my vassal on the way, my elf out post. I reinforced my throne with everything I could and then a I released it as a vassal for the extra troops. Hilidan took some losses but my old throne was his. Meanwhile I collected the rest of Hilidan's property in the north UG. Which was was better then my real estate. With that done I settled on chasing him down at my old throne. 

When I got close I realized he had not absorbed it or released it, but migrated it to draconian in 2 turns. It was then I realized those draconian units from earlier were not random, but there was a city down there. That was a foolish mistake on my part not, to explore it or put it together sooner. I was able to split and grab back my old throne with a small group the turn before he released it. My larger stack took the dragon city and cleared some good sites. This was about turn 47, I felt pretty confident at this point. Hiliadian had a little more then a stack left from the fight on my throne. I had about 14 good units.

But a funny thing happened here, Hiliadian didn't crumble under the weight of being without a city, no he started growing in strength. He went north east while I had moved south to collect the cities. The northwest was almost completely unexplored. My scouts picked him up and much to my dismay realized he was gaining not only units but gold too. His units had wealthy empire on them. He had even bought out an t3 from an inn. Meanwhile I was making a small amount of gold and not adding much in units, I had to get sell some rewards to buy some t3 from inns. Finally though I had a strong  stacks.

My scouts had shown Hiliadan to have two groups of units. One led by his theo and one by the necro. His leader had disappeared all together. The theo was topside going moving north east. The necro was moving in the same direction but was underground and farther behind. Both seemingly moving towards his old throne. Together they would be scary separate I could handle them. Luckily since he was clearing he was taking a longer route. I was able to take a more direct route.

He had a scout near his old throne I kept en eye on him, I kept disbanding my scouts so he didn't see me seeing him. My main force movements was seemingly not being tracked. His scout was a t3 so when he moved it close enough to peak at my throne, I was able to take it with my garrison units. From there I was able to move those units to the UG entrance. I kept them in the UG to mask my force. I had enough that he could peak without committing a good amount of units. It was a tense time for me. He was moving his units together on the surface but the only way across from where he was was across the ocean. He was being careful to move his units together. He even had them all on land but his theo. I couldn't show him I was there though, I couldn't reach in a turn and hutning him would take some time. So I waited. Luckily there was a couple sites just ahead of him that would put him in range. He took them and I was able to take his theo group by surprise.

From there I focused on expanding. Hilidan still had a champ 6 archon titan, glutton and obsidian dragon spell, to my force which was mostly leveled t3. Hiliadan however did not have the mana income to sustain a dragon force and with limited undead healing he couldn't real advance his troops. Eventually the lack of resources forced Hiliadan to be aggressive. Where the movements ended up favoring me and I was able to pick apart his finally army.

Take a look at the score from the proof attached. The game remained competitive even though Hiliadan had lost all his cities vassal's at turn 47. 20 turns on the run, and he was growing during that time. 
Back to the game page

user
Published on Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

No worries. These things happen. I have similar problems if I use my mac work machine. I have to be careful.

user
Published on Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

I had a shutdown again........ I should have closed the other softwares first, so that it doesn't heat up that much. That's so shitty, I still haven't recovered my data from my personal PC and the work one is definitely not good enough. <smiletext6>

Pictures of the crash and double PC:



other PC trying to recover


2 PC


Replaying the turn now... let's try to get the same results...

user
Published on Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

cbower >> Screenshot
Not much spoiled I don't think. Sorry about the quality I had to take it with my phone. Hope it helps.


view above.

user
Published on Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Hiliadan has written at 21/12/2015, 12:06 AM >>
If it doesn't show anything strategic, I'd like to see it yes.


My own PC's hard drive seems to be damaged. So I had to install AoW3 on my work PC that I brought with me on holidays. Unfortunately, it seems it overheats when I play AoW3... (not powerful enough?) So it just crashed while I was at 2/3 of my turn against you....... I took a picture with my phone of the Window reload window but looks like it actually didn't really take it as I cannot find it on the phone... I hope that overheating or anything does not happen again (it just switched off the PC without any warning!). I'm fortunate it was not on AlX's game for the tournament (I played it just before our own)...

user
Published on Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

cbower has written at 19/12/2015, 04:06 AM >>
Sounds fine to me. Also I had a crash which I was able to take a screenshot with if you need it.

user
Published on Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Hiliadan has written at 18/12/2015, 02:13 PM >>
As in my other games, I extend the turn timer to 3 days due to Christmas and New Year holidays.

user
Published on Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Hiliadan vs cbower 2
Game is up, password = battlefield
Tournament setting
Back to the game page

user
Published on Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

InformationHiliadan vs cbower 2
cbower joined !!