Battle for Westeros AAR

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Becephalus
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Battle for Westeros AAR

Post by Becephalus »

Preamble:
For those of you who don't know an AAR is an After Action Report. It is something strategy gamers make to relate good experiences to the community.

Anyway. A particular type of game I am fond of is the "huge" FFA with large armies. It is like Risk or other fun strategy wagames. This weekend one such game of Wesnoth was played on my new Westeros map. It is 60X30 and has maybe 80 or 90 villages so 1 gpv was in order.

There were 6 sides all human controlled and much politiking :) Regimes rose and fell empires were created and destroyed and there was much basckstabbing. I will here attempt to review the general course of events and important battles. Perhaps other players from the game can share things as well.

Prologue: Turns 1-7
The old King has died and six main powers rose to struggle for his throne! A struggle which was to last for over 10 years. The main factions in this civil war were:

Winterfell, which had red regalia and was led by Prince Kollle who employed standard tactics (Loyalists)
The Eyrie, which had blue regalia and was led by Rey the Magnificent who employed guerilla tactics (Elves)
Casterly Rock, which had green regalia and was led by Lord Becephalus who emploed standard tactics (Loyalists)
King's Landing, which had purple regalia and was led by Mayor Truper who employed base defense doctrine (Knalgans)
Highgarden, which had black regalia and was led by Dark Lord jb who employed scurrelous tactics (Undead)
Sunspear, which had gold regalia and was led by Princess Suicide_Girl who employee guerilla tactics (Elves)

The first year and a half of the war was mainly taken up by the Great Lords mustering their forces and establishing control over the are surrounding their power base.

Mayor Truper got off to a comparatively slow start as the people of the capital were still stricken with the loss of their King. Still they were resolved to have a new future free from the control of petty Lords. They had elected Truper to lead them and stood by his strategy of slow methodical growth.

Rey the Magificent led his people out agressively from their mountain fastness and attacked the troops of Casterly Rock attempting to hold the town of Fairmarket on the Blue Fork od the Trident.


These attacks were ineffectual and fresh recruits were brought in to garrison the village repeatedly while Lord Becephalus decided how to respond. He was more worried about the Undead forces massing to his south under Dark Lord jb.

The Eyrie also tried to prevent Prince Kollle's troops from coming down The Neck from the northern continent to the southern one. These attacks were brytally repulsed by the forces of Winterfell and 5 regiments of Eyrie soldiers were lost to minimal Winfellian losses.
This was greatly embarassing to Rey who had built up a reputation as a great leader, and mobs rose up in the streets of the Eyrie and stormed his palace hanging him from a nearby clocktower (Rey left). A honorable General from the Capital King's Landing who was on vacation managed to get the mob under control and restablish control. Thus began the rise to power of General Lawton.

The first battle of the Neck saw these casualties: an Archer, a Merman Hunter, a Mage, and 2 Scouts, all from the Eyrie. Dispatched by 7 of Prince Kolle's regiments of mixed composition.


Finally, the forces of the Dark Lord jb and Princess Suicide_Girl began to skirmish around the environs of Starfall until an envoy from the Dark Lord reach Her Highness and convinced her to form an alliance. The first hint of this ill news was that the Princess immediately launched an attack on one of King's Landing's regiments in Stonehelm. Such an alliance of the two southern powers hould be very strong. What wil happen next????

Power ratings (Villages/Units/lvl 2s)

Red: 13/14/1
Blue: 12/13/1
Green: 19/16/1
Purple: 14/13/1
Black: 13/15/1
Gold: 13/15/1

Image
Last edited by Becephalus on December 6th, 2006, 1:34 am, edited 2 times in total.
There are three roads to ruin: by gambling, which is the quickest; through women, which is the most pleasurable; and through taking the advice of experts, which is the most certain. -de Gaulle
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Post by Taurus »

Very entertaining Becephalus. What happens next?
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Post by Kollle »

Taurus wrote:Very entertaining Becephalus. What happens next?
Bece hax and gives himself all the villages.
Becephalus
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Post by Becephalus »

The South Rises: Turns 8-11

Given the disunity of the kingdom it was not at first apperant what was happening. Things seemed to be in chaos with Rey the Magnificent hung, and General Lawton taking over The Eyrie. Prince Kollle manage to indetify an Eyrie spy by the name of IB (observer who gave away secret merman strikeforce!), but was unable to bring him to justice. His appeals to other leaders to punish IB for his transgressions met with murmmured agreement, but little action.

Lord Becephalus had desired to use his navy to take some outlying western coastal villages from Winterfell, and did so with little resistance at first. He had also hoped to hold his position on other fronts but this became impossible when mounted scouts reported an huge undead army massing on his southern border. Worried by this enormous host Lord Becephalus stated that Dark Lord jb must have stripped his border with Princess Suicide_Girl. This was confirmed by an urgent dispatch from Mayor Truper who claimed a large force of mages and scouts was making its way north up the Boneway. The truth of this alliance was still speculation until two merman hunters were found to be assiting the undead horde with support from the sea. Dire news indeed, but Lord Becephalus was able to come to terms with Prince Kolle by agreeing not to take Castle Black and returning Bear Island to it rightful owner.


Meanwhile in King's Landing the populace was in a state of panic. The Mayor had not effectively garrisoned the East seaboard and a large forces of Dornish merman hunters were pillaging the coast as far north as Dragonstone. Some even feared a direct attack on the city itself. At this time Mayor Truper dicided to resign in disgrace, and a new Mayor Arucard was elected on the eve of a this huge battle for his lands very existance.


A bit further north the scandal surrounding the spy IB came to a head when General Lawton decided that his position of military weakness from Rey the not so Magnificent left him with no option but to aquiesce to the summary execution by hanging of the spy IB. His campagin to paint IB was a failure as IB successfully portrayed himself as a national hero just doing his job, and soon the fickle masses of The Eyrie cast General Lawton into exile. IB was raised to the leadership on a wave of popular support.

Power ratings (Villages(change)/Units(change)/lvl 2s(change))

Red: 13/14/1
Blue: 11(-1)/12(-1)/1
Green: 16(-3)/19(+3)/1
Purple: 13(-1)/14(+1)/1
Black: 17(+4)/13(-2)/1
Gold: 17(+4)/18(+3)/1

In the next installment we will highlight these two important battles in the south!

Image
Last edited by Becephalus on December 5th, 2006, 9:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
There are three roads to ruin: by gambling, which is the quickest; through women, which is the most pleasurable; and through taking the advice of experts, which is the most certain. -de Gaulle
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Post by Lathai »

Very entertaining!

I like the George R.R. Martin setting...
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Post by Taurus »

Look out Bec, they're comming for you! ;-)
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Post by Becephalus »

Fields of Bones 12-16
The fourth year of the war saw two viscious battles which were incredibly important in shaping the events to come. By the end of the year one power would be completely crushed, another crippled and its forces in full route. Near the end of this year the forces of the north began to stir.

In good news for Lord Becephalus all was quiet on the northern front from his perspective. With almost no sizable movement on Winterfell's part other than the demand of a surrender of Flint's Finger (which Lord Becephalus happily obliged in exchange for peace). An important alliance was also formed with IB to contain possible agression by Prince Kollle in the event he tried to make further demands. While Kollle had thusfar kept his word the army he was amassing at the Neck was truly mighty and worreid the Eyrie and Casterly Rock greatly. IB the spy even recoomended letting the force move south to attack King's Landing, but Lord Becephalus thought this a horrible idea, as once on solid ground it might change its intentions and become impossible to dislodge.


Interim Dictator Arucard meanwhile also sought stability near the crossroads at a time when he was new to his position. This desire was eagerly was obliged by the Eyrie-Casterly Rock alliance.


Meanwhile Prince Kollle while slightly intimdiated by the unifed front to his south. He had made a few seaborne invasions against the Eyries outlying villages, but had been forced to retreat espite the lands political termoil. The Prince was secretly plotting to wait until Lord Becephalus was critically weakened before unleasing his massive assault. He began to make vague offers of alliance with Interim Dictator Arucard and these offers were more or less well recieved. By the end of this period Kollle Prince Kollle was ready to launch his attack and was sorely disappointed when reports indicated that Arucard was not maintaining his end of the bargin.

XXX The Battle of the Boneway XXX
This was a disaterous attack for Princess Suicide_Girl's forces. She attempted to take a mage heavy force north up the narrow Boneway with naval support along the coast. While intially she made great progress capturing 3 or 4 settlements and destroying 2 regiments, she did not plan for the ulfserkers lying in wait or the regiments transfered from the enemy capital (Led by Arucard himself). Streaming through the mountains the forces of King's Landing tore apart any and all opposition. Arucard used the trademark cannon of his office to personally blow the head off a few enemies. Soon the forces of Dorne were on the run. Gryphons cut off some of the main force. Retreat became impossible and in the next few months general salughter commenced. During this time one gryphon had become feared above all others, Dulalil (lvl 2). His very name struck fear into the hearts of Dornishmen everywhere. Luckily for the Princess he was surrounded and finally killed by 3 mage reinforcements from the capital while he was pressing a counter-attack into Dornish lands. In the end Dorne lost much land and was put in a horribly weakened position.

Ironically, the great victory did Interim Dictator Arucard no good politcally. The people of the newly formed republic were wary of his power as interim dictator. Sated with their victories the people did not tolerate the fiasco surrounding the death of Dulalil. And inquest was formed and it was determined the split of screening forces westward to secure new lands (vacated by Highgarden during it's life or death strugle) was reckless and directly led to the death of this national hero. The people then elected the castoff General Lawton (formerly commander of the Eyrie for a year) as their new leader. General Lawton promised to be more careful with valuable lives in the future, and swore to eliminate Dorne from the face of the westeros once and for all!

ATT: 279gold
5X Merman hunter
7X Mage
2X Elf Scout
2X Elf Fighter

DEF:234gold
Thunderguard (leader)
3X Gryphon
2X Ulfserker
2X Dwarf Fighter
Gaurdsmen
Poacher
2X Footpad
Thief

Casualties
ATT:143gold
X4 Mage
X2 Merman Hunter
Elf Scout
Shaman

DEF: 62gold
Gryphon (lvl2)
Gryphon
Footpad


XXX Lannisport Fields XXX
This epic struggle reached up right to the very walls of Casterly Rock. The lead cavlary regiment which first spied the Highgarden Army paid dearly for this information. It was killed while trying to screen Lannisport from these foul abominations druing the first fighting in mid-winter. Interestingly at this the very hour of his triumph Dark Lord jb became ill (It was rumored this was a malaise over a broken heart when his favorite pet bat was slain early in the battle). This illness was even more odd considering he was an undead deathblade, but luckily his right hand man pikel was able lead the assault instead. And lead he dead slaying many of Lord Becephalus' troops personally.
The fighting raged for the entire year. Lord Becephalus hurling many javelins himself. The undead forces became increasingly desparate as their casualties mounted and fresh Casterly mages were trained. Also they had spent much of the Winter (when the long nights aid the non-dead in battle) advancing on Lord Becephalus. And now that they were beneath his very walls the long sun of summer days was disheartening them greatly.
Yet, Not Quite So Dark Lord pikel insisted they stay for the honor of jb and the Honor of the southern alliance. Meanwhile the two Merman auxillaries proceeded to ignore the chain of command and pillage randomly. Eventually the tide of undead slackened, and despite exceedingly heavy casualties Lord Becephalus led his army south to chase a fleeing NQSDL pikel. It quickly became apperant thats apart from the occasional band of corpses there was no resistance left. Worse yet NQSDL pikel found the gates of highgarden closed to him as Arucard's western gambit had captured it (a fact which was not known in King's Landing until it was too late to save his political career).
ATT: 304gold
Deathblade (Leader)
4X Ghost
4X Dark Adept
3X Ghoul
2X Merman Hunter Auxillery
2X Bat
2X Walking Corpse
Skeleton
Skeleton Archer
DEF: 257gold
Javelineer (leader)
5X Mage
3X Heavy Infantry
2X Cavalry
2X Spearman
2X Bowman
Merman

Casualties
ATT: 283gold
4X Ghost
4X Dark Adept
3X Ghoul
2X Merman Hunter Auxillery
2X Bat
Walking Corpse
DEF:177gold
4X Mage
2X Cavalry
2X Bowman
Heavy Infantry
Spearman


Power ratings (Villages(change)/Units(change)/lvl 2s(change))

Red: 13/20 (+6)/1
Blue: 13 (+2)/15 (+3)/1
Green: 18 (+2)/19 (-2)/2
Purple: 20 (+7)/18 (+4)/2
Black: 13 (-4)/2 (-11)/1
Gold: 10 (-7)/10 (-8 )/1

Review: There have been several ruler replacements so just to review, the leaders for the game were:
Winterfell: Kollle 1-end
The Eyrie: Rey 1-7 Lawton 8-11 IB 12-end
Casterly Rock: Becephalus 1-end
King's Landing: Truper 1-11 Arucard 12-16 Lawton 17-end
Highgarden: jb 1-11 pikel 12-end
Dorne: Suicide_Girl 1-end

Image
Last edited by Becephalus on December 6th, 2006, 6:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
There are three roads to ruin: by gambling, which is the quickest; through women, which is the most pleasurable; and through taking the advice of experts, which is the most certain. -de Gaulle
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jb
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Post by jb »

It turns out jb’s illness was simple boredom. Being undead for hundreds of years can have that effect.

And while noble Pikel tried to pick up the pieces, he just doesn’t have the H4X ability that jb naturally processes. And it certainly didn’t help that jb’s so called “ally� put a fish on land blocking 2 key units from partaking in the battle. One DA who was absolutely critical was especially blocked by this foolish ally move.

My plan was solid, but foiled by others. That is the nature of ffa’s I guess. Never trust another player. Not even yourself.
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F8 Binds...
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Post by F8 Binds... »

a simple question: what was the starting gold? if i have time, i would like to compete in one of these sometime... very entertaining!
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Post by Becephalus »

175 starting gold, but only 3 recruiting hexes, so the armies built up slowly.
There are three roads to ruin: by gambling, which is the quickest; through women, which is the most pleasurable; and through taking the advice of experts, which is the most certain. -de Gaulle
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Post by Zhukov »

Fog?
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Post by Becephalus »

Zhukov wrote:Fog?
That is the dumbest question I have ever heard? :)
There are three roads to ruin: by gambling, which is the quickest; through women, which is the most pleasurable; and through taking the advice of experts, which is the most certain. -de Gaulle
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Post by Zhukov »

That is the most useless answer I have ever recieved? :)
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Post by Sangel »

This topic is entertaining. Go Pink!
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Post by Becephalus »

Zhukov wrote:That is the most useless answer I have ever recieved? :)
Of course fog! Fog is the essence of all things good. And it allows people to deceive the other players :) As you will soon see.
There are three roads to ruin: by gambling, which is the quickest; through women, which is the most pleasurable; and through taking the advice of experts, which is the most certain. -de Gaulle
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