So, I promised to leave an AAR for this gem of a game. Even though I got kicked in the gut, punched in the face and dragged all over the floor, I kinda enjoyed it.
It's an amazing map, a true eye candy and really well-balanced. Couldn't really tell much about Thrall and Vassal DP mechanics in the later stages of the game - well because I haven't experienced it - but I think it worked pretty well in the early game.
I was playing
Jotnar (Skyblue one at 6 o'clock), the Giants, on the European home soil.
PRE-GAME
I opted for Jotnar initially as my second choice because my first plan was to quickly attack Ljo (Yellow, 4 o'clock) and then wait to see what to do next. My first choice was Vanir (Green one, at 11) because it seems to be the only power who can get to 3 or even 4 dots without much contest, but then I decided to swap these two, knowing that others will probably see how op Vanir is. I wasn't wrong, Vanir was highly contested pick
.
SPRING YEAR ONEGoals for this round:
-> Thrall Laki to create a DMZ with Surtr (which would, in all fairness probably be used as a ramp to attack Surtr (Red, at 7) in the future.)
-> Capture Glae
-> Befriend someone, make alliances, create some sort of strategy
My first mistake was not sticking to my - attack Ljo in year one plan - for one simple reason, It was
Aeschines. Who would have attacked that beautiful creature right away? I also KNEW he wouldn't trick me, at least not right off the bat, I mean we're teammates in another game, and we're gentlemen.... OH HOW WRONG WAS I!!
Bad, bad amdin!
In this period
Civility (Dokk, Purple) and I exchanged
a gazillion of messages (that IS the exact number!)
I never EVER EVER EVER talked so much with anyone in a diplomacy game. He was friendly, a bit over the top, and REALLY immersed in this game. Cool dude to chat with and make plans. We made a secret pact, a triple alliance with Nanook's
Asgard (Blue, 2 o'clock).
The strategy was
1)take neutrals and thralls in year one.
2)year 2 attack Ljo
3)Start the push from East to West, something like a jugger. Civility expressed some concerns about being in the middle while the two of us pushed in the mid game, but I told him we'll use thralls and vassals to compensate so everyone feels safe and he agreed to it.
Civility and I coordinated our first moves. He agreed to spare me DP for Laki. He said he wanted to attack Gjall first and I agreed to spare some DP in the fall. At that point, I trusted him COMPLETELY. I remember saying to myself: "this dude talked SO MUCH with me, he's SO involved in our alliance, he simply can't be pulling my leg. And if he is going to stab me, well I'll be damned, but let him be, he deserves it just for the effort".
So, I decided to trust Civility. I couldn't have been more wrong, of course, but more about that later.
I also got in touch with Ljosalfar and we agreed on a pretty sensible split of the neutrals - he will support me with his DP from Uda to Gla, I will not play Uda-Utg to block him (like my initial plan was, before I knew who would play Ljo)- basically, a win-win deal for both. So, I knew Aeschines, he's agood communicator, we made a decent deal, it seemed logical -> I could trust him, right? Guess again haha! I went through with our part of the deal - unfortunately, he didn't!
Knowing I have 2 good friends in my book (BWHAHAHA, the joke's on me) I reached to
Surtr with a bit more aggressive approach.
I told him I plan to thrall Laki and that it should be in both of our interests to thrall Laki (me) and Eirie (him). I thought it's a sensible split, and a flexible starting position for both of us. He wasn't happy with it, AT ALL. He wanted Laki for himself - that's when I knew he doesn't really want to be my friend. So, what I did -> I decided to tell him my exact thrall moves - "look mate, I'll be putting 2DP on Laki, bounce me if you wish, but you'll take us both down"! The idea was that Surtr spends his 2DP for nothing, getting beat by our (me and Civility) 3DP combined.
Surtr didn't flinch. He didn't talk much at all and I had a feeling that he is going to be my first enemy, although that's not really what I wished. I immediately reached out to
Zwergar as well, trying to ensure an alliance vs Surtr. I promised him Erie and Mus if he attacks Surtr. He was generally OK with it, but didn't give any promises. Still, my hopes were up.
So, I thought I have a pretty decent start. I have put a lot of time and energy into the first moves and I heard some reassuring things.
Imagine my surprise when I saw THIS:
FALL, YEAR ONEAeschines openly told me he stabbed me. "No shit, Sherlock"! Still it was nice of him to at least apologize for it.
Civility on the other hand SWORE he put a DP on Laki, and told me that Surtr probably had someone helping him, trying to do to me what I tried to do to him (the 3DP vs 2 DP). I wasn't 100% sure about it, and the trick with these DP is you don't see how many points were spent. Aeschines told me something about Surtr-Dokk-Ljo chat and he indicated Civility(Dokk) probably tricked me.
I started to doubt Civility even more, of course, but I continued to play like he's my best friend. I was good at it. I knew he'll trust the next batch of my moves I feed him. I needed to do that because my Capital and my heir were surrounded by 2 enemy units and one neutral that can be easily influenced. This could be a GG for me, in the first round, after I spend A TON of time (probably second to Civility) on this game already. How Frustrating!
I had to go for some serious intelligence hunt. Civility and Surtr were both near me, but were also both near a neutral in Gjal. I found out that Bagle and Civility are working together (Civ helped Bagle into one neutral, now it was Bagle's time to help Civ into Gjal. I also knew Surtr wants Gjal and that Bagle promised it to him (Civility and Bagle were playing Surtr as well), so I made another deal with Civility that I'll push to Mimi with my F Thr to cut any support. What I did instead was of course, I supported myself to hold - > hoping that - if Civility was the one lying to me that he will be exposed, by both me and Surtr. If he's not lying, well - he will be in Gjal and not near me anymore and I won't be dead.
I also lied to Civlity that I'll thrall Erie, knowing that IF Civility and Surtr are working together, then Surtr is going to block it, if not, well he is going to thrall Laki. In both cases, no Thrall for me. Fortunately, I also was found out Civility won't go for a thrall on Permyak so I decided to surprise him there and take it for myself. I did tell Aeschines about it and he was all for it. That gave me hope I will break the Ljo-Surtr-Dokk triple.
FALL 01 TURN:
Fall turn was my sweet revenge. Civility went for a greedy 4 dots start and got bounced everywhere. Surtr got bounced as well and he was pissed at Bagle. Only Ljo managed to sneak in Glae, because Aekin cut my support.
We all thralled. Civility was the one taking Laki, the one with the most strategic importance though.
YEAR 2 - SPRINGMy new strategy was to do anything to survive. I wanted Dokk to go after Surtr, Ljo after Dokk and so on, while simultaneously "befriending" everyone. I told Civility that if I had to choose between 3 people who stabbed and attacked me - i'll throw to Aeschines who "I like the most" and who was the fairest to me. After a couple of million messages exchanged between Civility and I, he agreed (OR SO I THOUGHT) to attack Surtr. We made a really decent plan of attack, that would probably have worked if Dokk really wanted to go for it. I wasn't 100% convinced he will. In the spring I supported him to Mimi, with a plan to make him take Gjal while I push myself to Mimi in the Fall, preparing to take Rag next year, while Dokk outmaneuvers Surtr by playing Gjal-Ginnungagap (sea) and Mimi-Gjal.
At that point I was negotiationg heavily with everyone except Vanir and Midgard. I tried to make Zwergar attack Surtr but with no luck. I still don't know why he played so passive. I also tried to make Aesir attack Ljo, but I knew there's little chance of that. Especially because Aesir was most afraid of the "
inner circle alliance".
So this is the spring:
It seemes that the talk of the inner circle alliance wan't in vain. It was quasi confirmed by spring 02 moves. I decided then to make myself useful to Aesir and Ljo by inflitrating the inner circle, being a spy for them. I mean, I already "worked together" with Civility and Bagle vs Surtr so only Waka to go, at least that was my logic. That didn't really work. I got "in", I fed some info here and there, but nothing substantial. It's not that I was a bad double agent, it's more that Waka was paranoid (for a good reason) so I never became a full-fledged member of that circle. It might also be that Civility wanted to stab me again, so they didn't bother to tell me anything
Zwergar left me completely to dry by building that bloody army. He was playing too passive IMHO, this whole game, while he had the tempo and opportunity to even top the board.
So - my new reality was - working with bagle and Civility vs Surtr + working with Ljo and Aesir vs Waka and the inner circle.
I thought I was safe so I didn't support myself to hold again. I went for Mimi, trying to get the build that was promised to me by Civility.
I, again trusted Civility not to take my dot, but not because I trusted him as much as I trusted Aeschines (Ljo) that he won't support Civility vs me. I mean why would he???
In the FALL MOVE, I found out - he would!
Why - well, I don't know. Why, Aeschines? Did you really plan that I'll go kamikaze on Dokk and not you? I mean, I did flip a coin...
AnyWHO...I retreated to Aekin, towards Dokk, destroyed my F in the city, with intention to cripple Dokk. In the meantime Madr and Ljo breached Aesir's defenses. It's worth to mention Aeschines seemed like he hated Waka's guts. Waka contacted me when he saw me near Dokk's dots and I was ready to help him or Aesir or anyone really to take Dokk's dots. My thrall in Permyak helped Aesir and in the fall, I was supposed to go to his capital. However, somehow along the way that all fell apart and I simply died, while Ljo and Dokk continued working together. That's all I know...
I was sure that Aeschines will stab dokk and win, later in the game, but he didn't do that for some reason. I guess the reason is he hated Waka's guts + Civility worked his magic on him as well. I don't know, but I think he slipped the victory to Civility. All props to Civility though, he ran the map from day one, spending much more time and energy on negotiations than any other player, forming various triple aliances, breaking them in the right time and so on and so on.
All in all a fun game, strong board. I learned something from my defeat and I'll only get stronger.
Cheers all!
