Deathmatch: the Bears' enclave

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

This is the best shot we'll have of them for a while so I'm posting it in:

Jungles/forests removed so we can see the borders. I pillaged the tile instead of scouting 1E further, which may or may not be an error. Niklas has got to have low commerce if he skipped building roads. A shame he had swords handy, this could've been a good expedition.

Mountie and warrior 1W would be wise up north in the strait.

Whenever you want me to suicide my archer down south, do tell.

I'll need reinforcements top but so will you down there. You regroup your stuff, I'll regroup mine and we'll see how this goes?

 

[Whomp]

I'll move the MW's and warrior 1W. I think we should let Gen_W's units move onto low ground...if they don't then they attrite themselves on the mountains. If they try hitting units on moutains then we have the advantage due to their damage.

 

[Whomp]

Eek...I hate the enkidu trade off here. I wonder if I should back down the MW's towards our cities so we can catch them on low ground and keep the other units fortified on high ground. The high ground is really mitigating some of the MW's advantages.
Here's the stacks coming...

 

[Elephantium]

So much maneuvering, so little fighting! C'mon, let's see some action!

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

Oh yes, action coming as soon as they lower their guard and step down to low ground

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

In pictures, the latest manoeuvering developments:

The Northern Front has caught 2 mounties unprepared and has kept pushing towards my cities. Next turn, a city, a wall and a legion will appear ... or will it be more legions?

As soon as I get my GA, I'm set for 4-turn legion/settler making.

Spoiler Roman Turtle :

The Southern front is more of a wildcard. We are starting to be swamped by Enkidus. This could be bad on a short timeframe but as soon as we hit catapults, it'll become a drag on their economy more than the work it involves on our plate.

There is some dangerous material here, namely the horsemen and the mountain spears. Attacking spears on mountains is borderline-stupid but it could give abreak to their units. I'd strongly suggest to wait for reinforcements before sending mounties downhill, especially since there's a number of EW that will take hits before we start doing some useful damage to swords.

If they come North, I'll put a city and roads up but not all will be done on time. If they come South, I'll put up a wall on the mountains with Legions and force them to walk grasslands. Either way, all my new legions are headed east-south-east.

Spoiler Bear Butte :

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

News from QSC:

We are still #2 and #3 in score, preceded by a heavily REXed General W and a heavily Jagged Niklas. The good General has reached the point of settling right on top of his partner's lands.

Spoiler Gen_W :

We just might have found a safe passage Westwards

Spoiler Passage?? :

And the stacks are looming closer for a second wave of attacks on my civ. Guesswork says they'll try to both strike at me rather than take separate takes in the fight. Hopefully, we can use terrain and speed to our advantage once in my territory. We won't have RoP for another while though, so all bets are off.

Spoiler northern front :

 

[Whomp]

OK we were about even on the battle report. He lost 5 EW's and I lost a MW and archer. All the units are damaged so that helps. I would move your legion directly south. My guess is he may try to meet the two stacks and countinue along the mountains and hills to my capital. I have 4 spears/2 cats out of the picture along with the ones you see here. I'm upgrading my warriors to swords and will have 3 in 5 turns along with additional MWs.

Stack two will have a tough time attacking.

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

Here's the battlefield at the end of my turn:

My moves highlighted in orange, with the idea that you'd do the purple arrows and Niklas would do the green one. Niklas looks like he'll either try to head for you or flank me at this point. I'd figure he'll take the mountain ASAP, or bluff me into dividing my guard. With 4 moves roads, no obstructing rivers and legion defenders on my side, I doubt he'll manage.

If you DM your spear from the N mountain (selected alone, apart from the MW's) and the ones in Urlacher, you can have 4 up on the mountain waiting for him. That should convince him not to move.

Now that I have legions in your backyard I think we'd need to give them precise orders, otherwise they'll just be in your way. With that in mind, I could either play very aggressively with them (attack his N stack as soon as possible), put up a wall on the S-SE of Urlacher, or directly bypass everything and head East to the edge of the mountain chain, attacking Gen_W if a window opens.

Either way it'll have to be coordinated with your moves otherwise I'll block you off and we'll get the lower hand of the deal, like with the archer back at the beginning of his incursion

 

[Whomp]

OK sounds good. I'll follow these moves as you suggest. I think the spears on the gold hill should head east and SE and fortify.

My northern attack force will be MWs and the southern attack force will be swords.

I think there's a good MGL opportunity with the southern stack since it's primarily EWs and two of three injured attackers.

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

He'll try consolidating on the mountain S of the volcano, that's for sure. Maybe I have my half-empty glasses on but I was just thinking about containing him as long as possible, not going after his second stack ... risky, though the idea doesn't seem bad at all otherwise.

 

[Whomp]

It's not necessary however it is mostly cannon fodder in that stack. With Gen_W in anarchy hopefully they'll move to the low ground for some opportunities. High probability targets would be nice with his 10s EWs

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

I'm considering building the pyramids. Sasquatch has a steady 15spt and will increase as it grows and I mine more stuff. It would cost us a dozen of legions in the short run though.

Niklas' swords have taken a nap on the other side of my border. That's what he was after: healing. I'm in no position to engage him this turn though I guess it wasn't as tactically thoughtful as I expected he'd be, although it does screw me sideways for now. I'd have loved to jump him while his spears were at 2-3/4. He obviously has more coming up but so do I.

They haven't shared Monarchy yet, Niklas is still a despot

You've got a tough round of choices to make with that stack there. Either you attack him on a mountain or you wait for him to consolidate his whole force together. With the amount of defensive cover we have for your cities, I'd attack the top stack now, to injure everything and thus slow him down.

A map at the end of your turn and orders for the legions would be nice. I don't think I screwed up but after looking at your save I think it could've been better on my end.

 

[Whomp]

I felt I needed to get in a better position to attack his stack. If I hit them this turn I would've been in the open with the MWs. Here's a picture.
Underneath the sword is another sword and MW. There's 2 MW's under the spear west of Urlacher. If he tries to blow through the spear fortified on the forest he'll have to use one of his two healthy horses and his odds are 28% win and 36% withdraw. If he wins then he'll have a lot of action from attackers next turn.
My odds with MW's hitting on forests is 58% win and 22% withdraw. The elite is 71% and 16%.

B--depending on what how he moves here's my thoughts for the legions...

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

Oh, I was thinking about the small mountain stack - more risky but hurts directly his attack units. Well, next turn he consolidates, but we'll be much more ready.

Unless I see something odd, I'll send 3 legions south and hit him ASAP, unless there's some blockade action that would be more beneficial.

I'm thinking about sending the odd one East to scout the border from a mountain top. I doubt a fortified mountain legion is worth wasting troops on - there's no way he'll beat it without losses.

 

[Whomp]

I'm not so inclined to hit him with a 3 vs. 4. I think that stack will be handled easier than the huge EW stack simply due to numbers. I think their next move is huge for both sides and could determine a lot in this game.

Oh and quatloos due next turn. What did we say I should research next? I forgot...

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

I'll research faster so I'll take construction, then the only other tech left is CoL.

I'm due for 3-4 more warrior upgrades then I'll set full steam to research towards construction. I'm not sure whether to go full or min towards Chivalry, but I do know we want to get there before them. Or win this game before that. I'd like to see us having Eng and Chivalry in the end, it makes everything less of a hassle, but I see no need to go further than that.

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

I have the bad feeling that he'll sit there on the mountain and heal for 3 turns.

Here's option #1: we keep moving forward to block.

Option #2 is to avoid a stalemate at all cost: we open the door.

This is highly debateable, but if he jumps in the hole, we have a turn of whackage on him and then he only really has 3 swords to attack with. The spears you have can cover Urlacher and we get to farm for elites.

Of course there's risks, but I'd rather take this one than have him heal his horses to full HP.

 

[Whomp]

I like the idea of opening the trap door. We really need him on low ground to make a dent in his stack.

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

Trap laid on both fronts. Let's see how the mice react.