Monthly Mayhem - June's Juggernauts [finished]

[Sord]

Greeting fellow fiends. Enough of all that namby pamby stuff, it's time to show who really has the power! Nobody is being elected, only eliminated!

June's Juggernauts
Map: Small Map, Infernal Divide, Great Rivers, Common PoPs, Short (10 tokens), Census OFF, Rectification ON

Special rules:
- Must start with at least 1 point in wickedness.
- Must excommunicate yourself as soon as possible by casting an Infernal Affliction ritual at pandemonium (other methods are also acceptable, but not required).
- If you are not excommunicated, you must make at least one tribute request each turn (if able).
- May not play any events ever (most players won't get them).
- May not attack pandemonium until after all players have been excommunicated.
- I will regenerate the map if it contains a place of power with the +1 order attribute.
- I will regenerate the map if any player's personal guard does not have an unobstructed path to at least two neutral places of power.
- The winner will be the player that is able to eliminate all other players.

Rule clarifications:
- The only reason for not casting infernal affliction is if you received NO hellfire in any of your tribute draws. You must take a hellfire if it would enable your to cast the infernal affliction ritual. You are not required to take additional hellfire beyond the one required to cast infernal affliction on pandemonium.
- Places of power are not there for the prestige generation (since we will all be excommunicated), but may be used to level up and heal your legions and will of course grant any other bonuses they might have.

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June's Juggernauts continues the Monthly Mayhem series where I will start a game on the 1st of the month. Each game has a theme that I hope will make them just a bit different. Recruiting will start about a week before the 1st of the month and the game will be started on the 1st. Both new and experienced players are welcome to join.

I like to see about 1 turn per weekday, any turns on weekends are bonus. The game files will be shared using Dropbox. If you are unable to play for a while, let me know when you'll be back and, assuming it is reasonable, I'll put the game on hold until you're back. If you just disappear, I will have to fret for a bit, and will likely replace you with an AI in about a week, and that would be sad if you really are coming back.

To sign up, PM me your name and dropbox email address (or leave a response to this post) and I will add you to the list.
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Players
1. Sord
2. Shai
3. Rowbizz
4. Eseth

[Sord]

I'll be starting this tomorrow (June 1st), but sure wouldn't mind a few more players. I expect it will be a very short game with big legions and not a lot of long term planning. Great for new players and a nice break for the veterans!

If your new, you might want to take a look at http://si.battlespot.com/wiki/Starting_Legion on how attributes effect your starting legion.

[Eseth]

May I join?
If so, I prefer the 12th picture but can change if needed.
Archfiend name: Eseth.

[Sord]

Dropbox folder has been setup and shared. Currently waiting on Eseth's dropbox email address.

If I understand correctly, the rest of you are all new to multiplayer SI, so I'm expecting a light, fun game (but feel free to surprise me with something evil).

[Sord]

And the game has been started.

I just realized that when someone is excommunicated, access to the bazaar is cut off. Had I thought of that before, I would have banned bazaar access too, but I'm not changing the rules now, so buy what you can while you still have the chance!

[Eseth]

Basically your first turn should be:
1st order: Bid on a legion
2nd order: Infernal Affliction on Pandemonium. (or Pandemoneum, not sure)
?

I'm doomed, if anyone is gonna buy anything This is going to be interesting until it becomes hectic... So if I'm getting it right, this game is about combat cards, leveling up, quick conquering and a bit of Destruction.

[Sord]

The game has finished. Only two players manage to acquire legions on turn 1 (Sord and Rowbizz). Shai also had taken the slotful perk to get some more build points, limiting his one legion to just 1 movement.

My memory is that Eseth and Rowbizz sent their legions out to capture some PoPs. Shai also was slowly moving his legion towards either a PoP or pandemonium (they were next to each other). Eseth's path took him close to Rowbizz's stronghold (and maybe that was the original plan), which he managed to capture while Rowbizz's legions were away. I (Sord) ended moving my legions towards Shai's legion since it looked like Eseth and Rowbizz were busy with their own war (and mine was the only stronghold that Shai might likely be threatening.

Also, Shai presumably had little charisma and failed to get any hellfire for the first 3 or 4 turns. That meant he got dibs on the turn priority (being the only one in the conclave) and even got to keep it after finally excommunicating himself. However, his only being able to move 1 space per turn meant it wasn't too hard for me to control the engagement to my liking (plus I had an extra unit) and I was able to eliminate his legion just after Eseth captured Rowbizz's stronghold.

I then split my legions to send one to capture Shai's stronghold and the other to defend against Eseth. I'm guessing Eseth didn't have much in the way of tribute as he spent a few turns capturing some more PoPs (I'm guessing to try and level up) which let me focus my efforts on Shai.

Shai made an excellent defensive combat card that resulted in my first attack on his stronghold being a wash (neither of us lost any hp that weren't immediately healed). It also exhausted my stock of tribute, but I'm guessing it exhausted his also as I saw no additional combat cards after that. I spent one turn gathering tribute (including the joy of rediscovering the new chance of failure to get tribute), but did get the tribute I wanted to safely attack again and the second attack was a success.

I think Eseth decided to go all in at that point (my legions were still divided, so it was only going to get worse if he gave me more time) and approached my stronghold. I think he was also casting infernal afflictions, but they were failing to hit (presumably a combination of lower destruction and bad luck). My main legion was able to win a battle and we called that game (I could easily march to his stronghold and capture it with either of my legions unless he had some really great combat cards, which presumably he didn't since he agreed to the result).

I found this variation quite fun and with a few changes, will likely try it again. The main change would be to put of the excommunication until a later turn (maybe turn 5) so a bad initial tribute draw (or even two players trying to get the same legion) doesn't result in a severe disadvantage. It also seemed like a nice way to learn some of the basics of dealing with excommunicated player attacks without having to first play entire game.

[Eseth]

I enjoyed this type of game as well. It was swift, no diplomatic blabber, just pure combat and destruction. I was a bit surprised that I managed to outlive 2 opponents because I didn't buy anything from Bazaar. I was lucky that Sord picked the second player that had bought a second legion before excommunication.

Sord explained the flow of the game very well. Yes, I was getting desperate and started throwing all kinds of rituals when there were only two of us left because it was the only chance I saw.

Not too balanced but it can be improved into a great template!

By the way Sord, may I ask if you had some kind of perk that increased your legions' Ranged or Melee stats? Because your legions had horribly high stats and my Dark Augury ritual failed...

[Sord]

I had a 2/1/1/1/2 build with Master Archer/Master of the Sword/Obscure perks, Marquis rank, and Lust objective.

So yes, I was getting +2 to both ranged and melee.

I think I underestimated the effect of obscure for this game type. I was expecting tribute to be just shy of meaningless, but with the turn one bazaar purchase and heavy use of combat cards, I think I really needed the tribute I got. And here again, I think I got really lucky as my tribute draws were great (I kept getting cards with 3's on them) and I forgot I had obscure until I looked a my build just now.

I'd also say I didn't take in to account the difference between rank 2 and 3 in martial as it relates to combat cards. Although I'm not sure which is preferable since rank 2 has some 1 resource options (+2 boosts for just 1x) and lets you give -3 penalties if you have 2 resources, while rank 3 gives both a stronger boosts of +3/-4 and lets you put 2 per card, but you have to have pay 2 to get each them. Rank 3 also adds a HP boost option to use up some of those souls.