Book 2 – Text Updates 019

[Dances-with-Marbits]

I would also be surprised if Ansom hadn't learned how to Rock Out.

It could very well be that he evolved from being a Dance-Fighter (which, I might add, seems rather pretentious to me - and thus suited to Royals) to a Rocker, which suits Gobwin Knob a lot better than the RCC2 (with the exception of Haggar, but then again they seem to be just barely Royal).

Besides, as has been pointed out, Ansom's leveled up. Who's to say he hasn't taken a few levels in badass, thus unlocking the ability to Rock Out/trading his Dance-Fighting special for Rocking Out (albeit not quite as well as Stanley with the Arkenhammer)?

Just sayin', it could be possible.

Although I've not seen mention made of it, I'd find it highly suspect if he hadn't leveled since tBfGK; he was level 10 at the beginning of GK's conquest, and since then has been directly involved in the taking of fourteen cities

[davesnothere]

Interesting - Rob posted only 3 minutes after the start of the Tennessee vs. Ohio St basketball game tonight.
It's a tournment time and they didn't manage to win again, close game.. They eliminated Michigan in the earlier playoffs.

so much for the real world....

My prediction is mostly straight forward: I expect Jillian to approach and call for parley with Ansom. Then hit him with Vanna.
If she can get him near their troops, they might be able to grab him without too much damage (does he get his movement if he turns?)
Then the rest of the forces press the battle... without Ansom's bonus, it could be a rout.
Given that, the RC forces may have enough time/move to get back to Jetstone and take some more shots at Wanda.

But you never know when/where the twists come. Maybe the turning doesn't work. Or something else goes wrong.
I still half excpect Charlie to have some Archon air force ready to take on Wanda's group.

D.

[ShinyBrownCoat]

300 didn't have game rules.

Neither does Erfworld.

[MOD]

Prediction of the most minor sort. Vanna's future spell to turn Ansom will be called "Face the Strange" or "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes".

.

[Davre]

Unless I have misunderstood the term 'heavy', I think this is a blooper: The text says 'two heavies' but in the art there are five or six twolls and the spidew.

On a a different topic, depending on what happens in this turn, there could be a whole lot of bodies for Wanda to decrypt if she can get her hands on them. The already decrypted will dust, of course, but there could be a lot of Haggar casualties. Sammy and his band would make a nice addition to the GK leadership corp. I'm not saying that she'll be able to, the opposition could prevent it by burning the corpses or even unwittingly by staying in the same hex. It would probably be hard to do it while getting hit on the head. And that's all assuming that Jetstone doesn't try to drop back and take her out with the archers.

I have a feeling, however, that Haggar and Ansom aren't just going to slug it out, toe-to-toe. I think Jillian's going to bring a little more of the foretold chaos. Jetstone's lack of trust for Haggar could figure as well. Instead of Haggar going in as first wave as per Charlie's orders, maybe they'll all be jostling for space or something.

[Glenn]

Davre, Gobwin Knob only had two heavies in the hex in front of the bridge when Ansom realized they might have a problem. So he sent Captain Ford back to the end of the column (which was in a different hex) to bring the rest of their heavies forward into the hex where they might be attacked.

[Sonic Screwdriver]

They're really hinting that there's a physical limit to how many units can stay in a hex, which I'm curious about. Does this at all influence incoming/attacking units?

[Dances-with-Marbits]

They're really hinting that there's a physical limit to how many units can stay in a hex, which I'm curious about. Does this at all influence incoming/attacking units?

I imagine the limit is a hard cap of individual units, regardless of size. Else it'd probably be better to fill to the brim with normal infantry, to make the most of Ansom's intra-hex leadership bonus, rather than heavies.

[djones520]

Unless I have misunderstood the term 'heavy', I think this is a blooper: The text says 'two heavies' but in the art there are five or six twolls and the spidew.

On a a different topic, depending on what happens in this turn, there could be a whole lot of bodies for Wanda to decrypt if she can get her hands on them. The already decrypted will dust, of course, but there could be a lot of Haggar casualties. Sammy and his band would make a nice addition to the GK leadership corp. I'm not saying that she'll be able to, the opposition could prevent it by burning the corpses or even unwittingly by staying in the same hex. It would probably be hard to do it while getting hit on the head. And that's all assuming that Jetstone doesn't try to drop back and take her out with the archers.

I have a feeling, however, that Haggar and Ansom aren't just going to slug it out, toe-to-toe. I think Jillian's going to bring a little more of the foretold chaos. Jetstone's lack of trust for Haggar could figure as well. Instead of Haggar going in as first wave as per Charlie's orders, maybe they'll all be jostling for space or something.

Losing a hex of heavies for a hex full of possible regular infantry really wouldn't be that good of a trade off. Especially if Ansom gets croaked or turned.

My prediction is that Sammy's forces are going to get waxed. But the majority of GK's units will be injured and easy prey for the next wave from FAQ and Jetstone to easily clean up.

[effataigus]

Well, as I see it, Ansom can win, win with Parson's help, lose and die, lose and be turned by FAQ, lose and be captured by FAQ, lose and be captured by Jetstone, lose and be captured by Sammy and given to Charlie to ransom to FAQ, or not have to fight at all. Perhaps win and be captured too.

My money is on Ansom getting captured or turned by FAQ after a messy battle. Parson then takes over. Nobody with a big name dies with the possible exception of Vanna and Sammy... and them only because it would get rid of the issue of repeated time warps until we find another turnamancer and because Sammy is hardly a major character.

I hope Ansom is ransomed for a favor from FAQ... because it rhymes... and it would put Charlie where he is most interesting.

[Dancing Cthulhu]

Oh Ansom, poor, poor Ansom. Still, at least her gets to show of his planning for the worst skills. It is interesting he apparently thinks like that yet he didn't seem to display much of that "fight for the best but be prepared for the worst" mindset at GK.

Also interesting to see a little of his views on Jillian. Nothing really there about his feelings for her (while we have seen how strongly she feels about him/Wanda), but he does have the hang up on her being a queen now. Plus he doesn't seem to be wondering why Jillian, who was so opposed to becoming a queen, has retaken her throne at all...

Although I've not seen mention made of it, I'd find it highly suspect if he hadn't leveled since tBfGK; he was level 10 at the beginning of GK's conquest, and since then has been directly involved in the taking of fourteen cities

I don't know about "directly involved" - did Wanda have him leading the attack on every one? And at least a few of those cities would have been low lv with fairly small garrisons (like the first one we saw fall). Plus we don't really know of any character higher then lv 10, so it might take a lot of exp. to get to 11 and attacking weaker cities with massive force as GK has been doing might not have offered enough.

I would also be surprised if Ansom hadn't learned how to Rock Out.

It could very well be that he evolved from being a Dance-Fighter (which, I might add, seems rather pretentious to me - and thus suited to Royals) to a Rocker, which suits Gobwin Knob a lot better than the RCC2 (with the exception of Haggar, but then again they seem to be just barely Royal).

I don't know, Sammy thought GK was set up for a certain type of dance-fighting which would have fit with Wanda and how she was dressed. Ansom meanwhile never even had dance fighting to begin with... I guess like Archons it might be something that can aquire with lvls, but any lvl up? We didn't see Scarlet appear to pick up a new ability (assuming Oss did in fact give her enough XP for it).

And I wonder how possible it is. If Dance fighting is an ability a royal heir/warlord can attain with lvls what abilities has Ansom picked up instead before now? He is lv 10 at least, it seems strange he wouldn't have learnt it already, considering how potent a good dance fight can be.

Besides, as has been pointed out, Ansom's leveled up. Who's to say he hasn't taken a few levels in badass, thus unlocking the ability to Rock Out/trading his Dance-Fighting special for Rocking Out (albeit not quite as well as Stanley with the Arkenhammer)?

Just sayin', it could be possible.

When did he lv up? I guess we could assume that happened... But then again look at Scarlet killing Oss (who would have been fairly close to Ansom) to get her to get to her next lv (and unlike Bogroll it looked like she didn't get multiple lvls from croaking a high lv character, since she is reasonably high lv herself). Would she have gained lvls along the way with Ansom and Wanda?

Where the heck is Sizemore? I've backtracked and can't locate him.

Gk seems like the safe answer or possibly still in the MK. It doesn't seem unreasonable he isn't in the war room since he has no reason to be there.

Well, I thought warlords that could lead dance-fight were only able to lead those troops in their own stack.

Maybe, although I always read it as Ansom not having dance fighting. I may be misremembering but I thought someone from the GK side said none of the RCC commanders could lead one.

I should probably go back and look myself, but were all those uncroaked Wanda was leading just her own stack?

I still think there is no way Sammy will end up fighting Ansom and GK. Look at the units behind Tremmenis when Charlie is mentioned. They will not let an army through to the bridge under the direction of Charlie because they think he is the enemy and is going to reinforce GK. They might even think the spell was in order to give Sammy time to bring up his units to help GK.

Eh, from the last page Trem, the Chief Warlord, didn't look like he was unhappy/worried/angry about the idea of Charlie being involved. Jillian obviously isn't. And if they were worried about Haggar and Charlie their choices would be rock and hard place-ish. Trem and his forces go first, allowing a GK/Haggar sandwich to form with Jetstone as the filling or they let Haggar go first and Jetstone can then have their swords at the Haggarites backs if they break, plus it leaves open the way to retreat to Spacerock if need be.

Plus it wouldn't make much sense - GK didn't need more forces to win. The spell robbed them of a quick victory by croaking Slately.

[Dancing Cthulhu]

I hope Sammy gets the ever loving crap kicked out of him.

Looks like that is what Charlie wants to happen as well.

Also, ths update is pretty strong evidence against Ansom being disillusioned with "Toolism." He's incredibly upset about being denied command of the attack, but thats it. Stanley's banner still flies over his head.

Indeed, he's been kicked out of his own party. But the fact he seems to resist giving in totally to the Toolist mindset is promising - most of the troops seem to have warmed to the idea Fate is on their side and everything will just work out because the Titans want it to work out. I wonder, if Ansom makes it out, whether that will play on his mind at all - the fact that in this case the Toolists really have to help themselves if they want to survive.

On a strategic note, the hex is still somewhat outgunned at this point. It seems the best units that weren't heavies all went with Wanda. Ansom's presence (and bonuses) might be the only thing giving them a chance against Haggar's headbangers. I'm surprised the hex has any Warlords left. They must be pretty low level to not bring to the main charge.

I guess GK must have a few now. In addition to the ones gained after the volcanic eruption GK might have popped some more, plus there is any taken from Unaroyal and Jetstone up till this point... they even had Unaroyal's Chief Warlord.

[BLANDCorporatio]

YAY! Finally the text update about Ansom again!

And it turns out, his inner monologue is NOT elevator muzak!

So I assume next page is where it begins? After seeing Sammy's forces, Ansom's group appears quite outmatched.

It warms my heart to finally see a thread where fans cheer for Ansom.

What you said. This character needs more love, and it definitely helps that his informed ability of great tactician is finally in clear display.

About Golems, yeah, too bad there aren't any here. Sizemore could make several, and those things could kick so much boop it was unbelievable.

And I support the "You've got another thing coming" theory.

Heck, why not, it would be surprising (and awesome) if the bridge actually held and Ansom wins the engagement*! Of course, that throws all bets about how the story will move on out the window, but it would do so in a neat fashion and it may be fun.

*: there's ways and ways to win. The 300 "lost", but the Persians didn't really win either. Ansom may win simply by making his dusting/capture a very expensive feat (good for GK), or by repelling enough troops that Tremmennis says "boop this" and gets back to Spacerock (... not so good for GK) leaving Jillian to do whatever she wants.

The only thing that kinda worries me now is the abundance of casters here. There's Vanna the Abominator, Ditto and Mancer, some Dollamancer, some other caster pair too ... too much.

Then something happens, but I have no idea what; I'm going to guess nothing to do with caster links this time, though.

May the Titans hear our prayer.

[Lord Kasavin]

The Persians outright won the battle of Thermopalye both by flanking the narrow defensive position and as history often forgets by beating the Athenian navy that would have allowed them to flank the position by sea anyways. The Persians didn't loose the war until the naval battle of Salamis. The famous "300" was just the number of Spartans who remained behind either to die for honor or to let the rest of the Greek armies flee. We really don't know. Also, over a thousand Greeks from city states other than Sparta remained behind with those 300 from Sparta, who probably deserve the same level of praise.

As for Ansom's situation... I feel Civ. IV gives a better way to analyze the situation. Anyone whose ever attacked a city without being sure they had enough troops knows this feeling. The attack is going to be costly, you will loose units. The prize is worth this. Yet, if your attack fails, the units you failed to wipe out in the city will heal much quicker than your attackers, and will likely gain several levels and thus become even more difficult to dislodge.

I think that describes the dynamic of both sides right now. That being said, it does appear regardless of what else may happen, Ansom doesn't have enough troops on hand to capture a fully reinforced Jetstone (with casters and CW bonuses).

[Aster Azul]

Awesome! The picture of Ansom mounted on the Spidew is really good, and it's good to see that he's really a good tactical mind. I wonder what will happen?

I was going to say the same thing. Ansom lookin' pretty bad-ass on that spidew. Good job Xin!

Am I the only one who thinks that Ansom on the spidew looks kinda cool?

[BLANDCorporatio]

The Persians outright won the battle of Thermopalye both by flanking the narrow defensive position and as history often forgets by beating the Athenian navy that would have allowed them to flank the position by sea anyways.

I must admit my grip of ancient history is a bit relaxed, but the story I was familiar with went something like- Thermopylae was won by the Persians, BUT it bought some precious time for the Greeks who then went on to win that war, indeed, in a massive naval battle.

It may be that this story is not quite accurate, and is merely intended to fit the "win the battle, but still lose the war" pattern.

[Vreejack]

300 didn't have game rules.

Neither does Erfworld.

Both have rules, but as a game, neither are balanced.

Actually, Erfworld was very balanced for a very long time as evidenced by the fact that nobody had yet won, or was even ahead when Parson showed up. Charlie has a game-changing weapon but is using it to maintain the balance. Stanley has a game-changing weapon but was using it stupidly and was about to lose it. Only Wanda had the intelligence and desire to leverage her unbalanced power into victory.

[Morgaln]

300 didn't have game rules.

Neither does Erfworld.

Both have rules, but as a game, neither are balanced.

Actually, Erfworld was very balanced for a very long time as evidenced by the fact that nobody had yet won, or was even ahead when Parson showed up. Charlie has a game-changing weapon but is using it to maintain the balance. Stanley has a game-changing weapon but was using it stupidly and was about to lose it. Only Wanda had the intelligence and desire to leverage her unbalanced power into victory.

Just because people are not using game-changing features effectively does not make the game balanced, it only means people are not playing the game to its limits.

[Jorgath]

Delurk to post.

You know, while I will say that Ansom looks pretty awesome on that spidew, I can't help but remember another moment with a Gobwin Knob Chief Warlord directing a battle on a spidew...

[fjolnir]

Re:Dance Fighting, Ansom can dance fight, he was the one who led the DDR attack with the archons assistance (basically using the archon's foolamancy and leadership abilities to broadcast his steps to the non-dancefight capable units...)