Game 81 Grudge Begins

General
#21

well its not really pride comming from PRS or anything vandal-like thing, but I dont think we’re to fall. If we do I’ll of course put the blame on our two newbies, because I’m bad, blond and made of teflon, so theres nothing that’ll stick on me.
But in the most unlikely event, things go your way, we’ll be gents that dont play hide and seek with just one MT each.
In the wise words of Kenny Rogers

You gotta know when to fold them
and know when to hold them.
And know when to run…

I dont know about the team rating thing, if we win your team switch with
team Claus Jacobsen placing at rank 50?
Then its a deal allthough our teamcaptain have to confirm it.

#22

Hi

Ouchh:eek: this hurts, clear win for Dave, he hit the nail right on the head (Mental note to self - These are smart ones, be careful). Better lose an argument on the forum, than losing on the battlefield, Id say. The generous offer of swapping teamratings we cant accept, but if you want to double the stakes we might consider it, although Harly surely will oppose it. As for the snickering Nazguls, they are still waiting for their plans to bear fruit, no doubt you will notice them along the way.

Minister of Information and Wet Affairs [001@t02]

Loke:D:D:D

#23

Hi Ho,

No need to work on my suggestion for a PRS swap; our team really doesn’t put much merit in them, other than to get an “idea” on how well our opponents play the game. It really isn’t all that accurate for much more than a directional understanding of competence.

On the other hand, I don’t understand how someone can tell after 2 turns that they will win in this game system. Sure, he is allowed his opinion, and free to share it on the forum, but don’t you think it is a huge risk to do so and then have “the risk” of it backfiring on them. It takes at least a few turns to develop any meaningful plan of attack; and we have only run 2 turns.

But, if you guys really, really feel that this game is already over, and we are such pushovers, I’ll make a suggestion. Each of you retire your Nazguls + Urazhil. Think of the challenge! The adventure! Then the game will be “more equal” for you, and you’ll at least get to enjoy it, as no one enjoys a totally mismatched game. :wink:

Off to find Snow White.
Dave

#24

Dear Sir Dwarven speaker

You’re of course right in most matters, and thats slightly annoying :eek:
I dont think for one bit that the game is won (yet) and I’m certain that you freeps will learn a lot from this game. That fact that you, Dave, being fairly reasonable compared to some other opponents and you’re “only” 6 players are factors that implies that we will be tested well.
However you statement
“It takes at least a few turns to develop any meaningful plan of attack; and we have only run 2 turns.”
is not true in this game. Thats like planing what to do, while reloading all weapons at once and you freeps ran out of bullets quite a few places its seems.
In any case we need our nazguls mugshots for entertainment, so they’ll stay in game for amusement only :smiley:

#25

Of course you are correct on most matters too.

Just for factual accuracy, there are 7 of us currently. We added another player just before we started.

My only point beyond teasing you both is that a lot can happen between turn 2 and the end of the game. Assassinations can fail or succeed. The artifact hunt (and who gets what) can have a huge effect on the outcome, as well as special encounters, dragons, and such. While you may not agree with our starting strategy; we still have a lot of ground to cover before I’m willing to admit we are behind, or ahead in this game or any game I play at this point. Too much randomness still to test us all.

I’ll give you that your team is more experienced, and seasoned, and you all should win this game. You have odds. :wink: But I’ve won against the odds before. :wink:

Now, where is Ms. White? I need to tickle her toes…

Dave
Dwarf

#26

Greetings Freeps

Guess you expected to lose some commanders and their armies at Thuringwarthost, 3 out of 4 is what we what hoped for. A little bonus was the termination of Pelendur and his army, the naughty boy burned down a village and paid the ultimate price for it.

Waiting for the other half, pdf´s that is, while looking around for the next victims.

Minister of Information and Wet Affairs [004@t03]

Loke:D:D:D

#27

Howdy Dwarven spokesbeard

Fairly lucky turn for you freepsters, even more than you know.
But still, you’ve got your Harad-blitzt and kill Rhudaur thing going for you, dont you.
BTW, say hello to our old team mate Paul Roberts from five of us. He and Jon Shushan sets our teams roughly equal in experience, just for those betting on the game :smiley:
I guess its about now, you start upon putting a eothraim strategy together :eek:

Blond Sorceress

#28

Hi There

Important events in this turn:

The battle of Osgiliath went not as planned and resulted in an free victory and plenty of new Gondorian troops to fill the depleted ranks.

Thuringwarthost was a big surprise, we will never know what happened there. The first mystery was that the Eo´s did not fight, the second was that the sole surviving army decided to stay and fight it out another day. 3 almost complete cav armies where discharged from duty, fully paid:D, with only 3 dead in the process. No brute tactics here as we hope to invite the people of Eothraim and offer them jobs in our mines and manufacturing business.

Mmm - Angmar is very unclear, the free won the battles and lost an army when their commander died suddenly, this army too did not fight, got paid and went home. The Dunlendings went into a trap, while the Dwarves, Woodmen, Arthedain and Cardies are crawling all over the place, with both the prospect of winning and losing a bit.

The blitzkrieg in Harad is doomed for time being due to a well organized enemy and the exposed flanks. Celdrahil rampage (2 towns) has come to an early end, Amroth will participate in a drowning type experiment. The Corsairs are the only ones left: will they continue the blitzkrieg or will it be a sitzkrieg?

With little success the free interfered with our buyout, better luck next time.

You lost 6000+ starter troops, the majority heavy cav, with minimal results. The Dragon Lord won 2 battles in a row:confused: and the Woodmen siege attempt of Mt. G. is a very strange tactic.

The Nazguls, still snickering, declare Mordor a fortress only to be entered by the foolhardy or exceptional lucky free Victims/Visitors.

Minister of Information and Wet Affairs [004@t03]

Loke:D:D:D

#29

Greetings Evils Dudes,

Ok, turn 3 is yours. I haven’t even seen all the turns yet, but it seems clear the agent LUCK is with you. If your agents continue to get the rolls; this game should be an easy walk for you all. It is almost ashame this game (ME PBM) is so lop-sided towards agent activity and to think they have adjusted it to make it harder…

As for the Eothraim event, that explaination I’ll leave to someone else. I believe he just tried something risky and got zapped by the agent LUCK. He happens to be one of our most experienced players. It is also clear our team just lost its focus some that turn, many, many mistakes…

But, the Dwarves keep on marching along side the rest of the free peoples of ME. We live and die with our neighbors (teammates).

Gloat away, you earned it on turn 3. :slight_smile:

Dave
Dwarf
“FREE FALIN” March this turn at Gobo-gate.

#30

Well, it smells like …
dead horsemen and poor horsemanship. Dont worry to much dear dwarf, it only haunt your side as a true nightmare for well, lets be frank,the rest of the game :stuck_out_tongue:
Somehow I would guess that the eothraim is THE old teammate and former Dark L player :smiley: :smiley:

BTW in our last and far too long grudge game we lost 98 characters to Cloud lord alone, but all nations survived anyway, but things were delayed a lot from pure agent nations.

#31

Please don’t mistake my communication as an act of surrender or anything, just stating the obvious. We, including the Eoth, are still alive and well and plan on fighting to the bitter end. Just acknowledging a great agent turn for you all. :wink:

In our last game (#61), turn 7, we had a CL turn that was really unbelievable (9 for 9 successful agent actions, including 7 assassinations). I think we killed nearly 5% of all the FP characters at that time in one turn given all the other actions. That was the last turn of that game too…

We expect some assassinations, you have too in this PBM game. I just think it is bizarre to lose whole armies due to one… This is coming from one that has played PBM for 15 years and over 15 different PBM games. They have allowances for ships that lose harbors; why not one for armies that lose commanders? Ah well, it works the same both ways at least… :wink:

Dave
Dwarf

Funny how you all keep your nations secret, afraid of something?

#32

Dear misguided Dwarf

Killing off 3 armies was not luck, it was careful preparation and perfect execution. Luck would have been to get them all, you must have noticed the failed attempt to do Athaulf in.

As for your celebrations at Gogo Gate, is it now a Dwarven stripjoint with short bearded dancers - eww, dont expect any of our guys n´gals to visit such a place.

Ah, a new post: Dont know if I keep my nation secret, you must have guessed that Im Cloudie and Fupstein is the selfdeclared teflon covered Blond Sorceress, the others havent posted yet, they rarely do anyway.

We would be severely disappointed if you surrendered now, its still possible to turn the table. Possible, but a challenge non the less. You have the advantages of a greater tax/resource/recruitment base, more gold and maybe you will get the best artefacts:rolleyes:. Adding some subcommanders to your armies will frustrate my efforts to cut entire armies out of existense with only one agent, but you know that ofcourse. It isnt that hard to counter the agentactivity.

In g86 CL averaged 3.63 assass a turn, it was annoying but not as destructive as intended.

Minister of Information and Wet Affairs [004@t03]

Loke:D:D:D

#33

Greetings Dark Ones,

I am the Arth and NM. I am enjoying this game so far as the WK, Rhu and LR seem to be playing well so far. I enjoy a challange. It seems the WK / Rhu plan is to wait for Dragons. I hope to destroy a few more towns before they show up. I wil say to date the biggest moves so far is the threat on the NG MT (didn’t know you could pull that off with that high of a loyalty) in Ithil Pass and the DW town/fort in the mts. That will help the WK a lot. Also, the EO cav going down. Now we have to figure out how to bottle you guys up at the north gate.

Nice of the LR to dock his ships out of view and run an army at my town. I liked the move. Did the DrkL like how I got up to his town? I expected an agent to take out my army there?
I am sure my Arth armies are about ready to meet a few agents :slight_smile:

Anyway, good luck in the game. After Jan is over I will have more time to jump on the board.

John aka Arth/NM

#34

“Misguided”?

Hmm, I’d give you 3.x assassinations a turn after turn 5 or so, but we both know that only 2 agents start off with any great ability. After turn 3, you add the other agent artys you start with, and then you get 3 - 4, and even then you get a couple maybes out of the mix. To get 4 out of 5, plus another one up north against the Cards on turn 4 (5 out of 6 success); that is just plain luck. Of course we could have done better with a guard or two, so maybe a mix of luck and our foolhardy aggressiveness. Any player with common sense will admit that, but maybe you think I’m a foolish newbie by feinting otherwise. :wink:

Still, luck or skill, it doesn’t matter now as you still took out a good chunk of the Eoth forces. We must do better. :slight_smile:

Ok, I do remember Fubstien’s Blonde Sorceress comment, my apologies to him. We don’t target players so it doesn’t matter anyway, however it does allow us to gloat on the forum if something nasty happens to you… I keep expecting something to happen to the shortones; but nothing yet.

Gobo-gate is a Dwaven establishment, your kind are not welcome anyway. Dwarves hate visitors (except maybe humans); especially ones that carry a stench. Rhuduar humans should be ready as more Dwarf pubs will be opening soon in the region. Finally, I know who I’m downgrading this turn. :slight_smile:

Dave
Dwarf
“FREE FALIN” Posters available at the Dwarf website.

#35

Dear Free Aggressors

First of all, thanks for the information on the Dwarven intentions of conquering Rhudaur, as we lost track of the short ones. To show our good faith we will return some as well, Sauron has forbidden us to play the market for time being. He is worried about our Evil reputation and fears it shall decline and become one of boring merchants and haglers. So now you can relax and wont have to waste any orders in an attempt to ruin our buyout.

We will meet in the dark for a last time.
Ji Indur (from way back - forever undead)

Minister of Information and Wet Affairs [kill count is discontinued as it seems to have caused some misunderstandings in the Mines of Moria]

Loke:D:D:D

#36

Loke, you make me laugh!

Dwarves are known for causing misunderstandings. :slight_smile:

We also believe in FREE will; or we wouldn’t be called the FREE peoples; so continue your market actions, kill counts, or whatever you wish to do. The Dwarves take everything with a grain of salt. Did I say Rhuduar? Oops, I meant Blonde Sorceror.

Finally, a victory worth having is earned not given; so any game I’m in I’ll either enjoy the earned victory, or enjoy giving a victory well earned.

As I’ve always told my opponents, friends and allies, it wouldn’t be called a war game without war. :slight_smile:

Dave
The Misguided Dwarf

#37

Dear toothless and baldbearded Grannies of the Free Falin Front

To secure the release of your favorit salty friend Falin please:
A. stop complaining/campaigning,
B. slit up your matresses and get out your hord of gold etc.,
C. mail it straight to nice Uncle Ji,
D. wait for his release,
E. and dont tell anybody.

The not so nice Uncle Ren has put up several bids, they are as follows:
A. 1 gold unmolested,
B. 1000 gold with tongue removed,
C. 20.000 gold with certain appendages removed, promising to lower his aggressiveness and generally calm him down.

Your offer should be in the excess of 20K gold if you really are concerned about his - erm - health and remember to keep it hush hush, lest you want Uncle Ren to raise his bid.

Even if I got victory handed on a silver platter I would turn it down - after I killed the messenger and stole the silver thingy ofcourse.
Ji Indur (from way back - forever undead)

Minister of Information and Wet Affairs

Loke:D:D:D

#38

No offense cloudy, but if any gold will be dispersed for Mr. Falin, it will have to be through the Grand poop-pa himself, the WitchKing. Afterall, he is being held by the WitchKing, not the clouded one.

We will be holding a FREE, “FREE FALIN” Concert in the grand halls of Gobo-gate. All the funding will go to the 501c3 charity set up to pay for his release, if it so happens a ransom amount is declared.

Dwarf

#39

The trial on the Failed Free Falin Fraud

Judge: Sauron
Prosecuter: Urzahil
Defendant: Nice Uncle Ji

Urzahil: You are charged for the attempt to rip of your fellow Nazgul Murazor with Ren as a knowing/unknowing accomplice and the failure to do the same to some Dwarwen grannies. Do you have anything to say in your defence?

Ji: Erm - yes I mounted this operation to test the loyalty of Ren and Murazor to our cause and our Master Sauron and at the same time aquire some much needed military funding. Ren was partly in to it and was sworn to secrecy.

Urzahil - Screaming: I never heard such rubbish, are you trying to lie your way out of this? Questioning Rens and Murazors loyalty and that clumsy attempt to cheat some senile shorties, do you think Im a complete fool who will believe a silly story like that?

Ji: Yes of… - No! - as you know Im in charge of our counter espionage and it was a routine check, I had no reason to doubt thier loyalty, I only tried to combine several task in one.

Urzahil - Still screaming: Even more lies, this is …(Gets interrupted by a loud voice)

Sauron: Calm down Urzi, didnt you know about Ji´s duties, he is the head of counter espionage and has been for centuries. Furthermore he briefed me recently on this operation.

Urzahil: Well - eh - no, he is lying as always, he is trying wriggle out…

Sauron: What?!! - are you doubting my words - fined for ignorance and insubordination 5000 gold each - now get on with it.

Urzahil: Murazor, you informed me on this lousy plot to cash in on your hostage, tell me how it came to your knowlegde.

Murazor: There were some rumors about it and I approached Ren to get it cleared up. At first he was stalling, then I applied some pressure and he told me the whole story.

Urzahil: Is that true Ren?

Ren: Yes it is, thats excactly what happened and suddenly I realized that I was an innocent…

Sauron: Innocent, you were sworn to secrecy and never the less you told Murazor? Well, well what are we going to do about that? Oh, I know, youre fined 12.000 gold for devulging secrets. Tell me Murazor, did you pull your rank on Ren in order “to get it cleared up”?

Murazor: No not really, ehem just a little bit and only in a friendly way…

Sauron: Ill take it as a yes, fined 3000 gold for that one and getting access to classified information another 8500 gold. Fine - with this matter almost wrapped up, I wi…

Urzahil - shouts: Arent we forgetting about Ji and the charges against him - uops - - Great Master of Darkness.

Sauron: Thank you Urzi for reminding me, let me see, 2000 for interrupting me and once again 5000 for questioning the excellency of my memory. Ji, yes - you succeded in proving that Ren and Murazor are more or less loyal, but failed miserably in …

Suddenly a growling sound comes in the general direction of Ji: arggigantuangreedygoldgrabbingghoul.

Sauron: What was that Ji?

Ji: Eek, erm I was clearing my throat and getting ready to …

Akhorahil - springs to his feet and shouts: I heard what he sai…

Sauron: Quiet and sit down, I will not tolerate further interruptions - thats 2000 and 7500 for the sheepish look you are wearing just now. Back to the failed attempt to get some 20.000 gold from the shorties, you set it up and didnt pull it off. Whats your comment on that.

Ji: One could say that it was meant to fail, it was a minor part of the loyalty test and by targeting gossiping grannies success was most unlikely, erm yes something like that anyways.

Sauron: Sounds reasonable, a bit thin but reasonable. Cant get you on that one. Case closed, thank you all for attending, it was very profit… er pleasant, dont forget the strategy meeting later today, Ill just put my feet up and take a little… Which reminds me, Ji - go and fetch me a Dwarf.

#40

Dear BS,

Nice move with the army split. Not sure why I did not think of that during my planning as I have done that many times in my other games. Anyway wanted to say congrads on now making the Rhun area a real fight. You guys should have some nice troops left over after the battle. Lets just hope my remaining troops can track you down and weaken you enough so as not to burn anymore of my pops.

Still waiting to see a lot of our turns and the outcome to see if we made up for any of last turns mistakes :confused:

John aka NM