durandal wrote: I feel an unnecessary broken ability just got pulled out of nowhere.
I don't know about out of nowhere. The idea that a linked up turnamancer, or a very high level turnamancer, could potentially have the ability to do something to turns has been raised in these forums on a number of occasions, as well as whether it would be too powerful or not. Move a side forward in the order, end a turn, etc.
Point 1) it is a broken ability.
I've yet to see evidence that you cannot cast on other side's turns (maggie mentions needed to save juice for opponent turns and GK is not likely to be engaged).
I'm fairly sure something about it came up in book one. And Maggie is the communication hub, receiving info, which might be a different effect then the spell we see here.
catch units out of position (what didn't they just catch Stanely out dragon hunting?) ,
Well, they would have to have known where he would be and then have sufficient forces in GK's battlespaces to get him on his dwagon and get past the Archon scouts that would have warned him troops where in the area.
And again - we don't know exactly how it works.
or double tap an enemy by attacking ending their turn and attacking again (Parson would have destroyed ALL the RCC siege and been homefree if he had this ability at TBFGK).
And he didn't have this ability because he didn't have the right casters. He did have the right casters to cause a volcanic eruption though, wiping out that entire army.
Unless there are some AMAZING costs or restrictions to this spell it is simply broken.
I don't see it, and you didn't really give any examples of how it is broken, just ways it could be used that may or may not work, since we don't know the frequency it can be cast, its cost etc. Plus a lot of that depends on the "a spell can be cast that effects the enemy even if it isn't your turn and even if the enemy isn't attacking you in your battlespace".
There was an option to include ANY possible spell imaginable at this point in the story. It could have been a completely different caster there if necessary. There are plenty of possible spells which could have been effective without being broken and probably much much cooler. They could have shielded the airspace, snared the fliers, buffed their units, unleashed a massive Kamehameha and destroyed 96% of them, whatever. All would have done the job of stopping the assault cold. Instead of feeling "oooh, Wanda got burned!" the turn end gave me more of a "WTF?".
Wait, a spell that would have insta-killed 96% (a slight decrease on Parson's uncroaking of the volcano) of them would have even been preferable to a spell that by the looks of things has to be timed just right to allow existing forces the best chance to outmaneuver the enemy? Massive fireball vs battlefield control and tactics?
Some of those examples might have worked, but then again they would have needed Charlie and Jillian to know GK was planning on attacking primarily with flyers.
The turnamancer spell is not particularly clever, most just didn't expect such a thing to be allowable.
Well, as above, it has been discussed in these threads before. And link ups by there very nature allow things that are usually impossible by Erfworld standards.
It is also thown out at the very first attack. Really, you need game changing magic to stop the first enemy thrust.
Storywise GK is steamrolling Erfworld. They waltzed over Unaroyal, they have defeated everything in the way up to Jetstone's capital, which happens to be the most powerful side in the RCCII. This is far, far from the first enemy thrust. This is leading up to a mini-climax at the outset of book 2 that sets up GK reacting to what happens. Maybe it will be GK's first real defeat since the War of the Tools began.
Couldn't you just have brought some more fliers? Where will things escalate from here?
Why do things need to escalate? Charlie and Jillian have set things up perfectly, Wanda/GK walked into a trap. By their very nature such traps aren't readily repeatable. It isn't like Turnamancer maybe link up Time Warps will become everyday occurrences.
And so my time with the Tardy Elves draws to a close, and I am let to ponder how the experience will... eh, I'll finish later. No need to rush.
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