Part 80: Lanka - Turn 25

I might as well forge ahead, since you've seen this from Hinnom's perspective already.

Turn 25 - Lightning Falls


Let's jump straight to the action. You've already seen Hinnom's failed bird raids.





A kitted, lightning immune Melqart and 23 Dawn Guard.



I've brought 37 demons, plus ghouls and lightning casters.




Here is my secret weapon, Storm. Actually, it was supposed to be the secret weapon against Sauro, since Storm halves precision and eats half of all projectiles in midair. But it also can power up air mages, so it's good against anyone.



Thunder strike is good as always.



That Melqart is super dangerous. He can kill a square of Palankasha a round.



The bastard escapes with ONE hitpoint.



KILLCOUNT
The object of this offensive is to wreck Hinnom economically. Ideally this will mean holding his cap under siege, but I will settle for depriving him of gold and the cap of resources.

In addition, I want to operate on the Sauro border so I can immediately counterattack Sauro if necessary. Raiding Sauro from the Hinnom border will be far easier than crossing my land bridge.



Unfortunately I'm not sticking to my objective with this move. I see the low-hanging fruit of "9 hostile units" consisting of "mainly Melqarts" and oh god if I killed them the war would be over.
There is also a more sensible tactical objective. There will be a lab in the target province since he's using it to stash his pop-eaters. I want to resupply on Air gems for Storm.

I know Hinnom is using retreat scripting and even consider it likely he'll use it to escape. This is a good example of not thinking in terms of movement and instead thinking tactically. The "right" move considers the following:
1) If Hinnom withdraws the Melqarts, it doesn't matter if he's retreat scripted or not, I don't catch them.
2) If Hinnom doesn't withdraw the Melqarts, he has two retreat routes this turn.
3) If Hinnom doesn't withdraw the Melqarts, then he gives me an extra turn to gain positioning to cut his retreat route.
4) I also have options for helping cut retreat routes, but none of them are available this turn.

So in other words the right move is basically go for the cap this turn, and cut his retreats next turn. You guys know how this turns out.

Note that Sauro did in fact move away from the border. I'm cautiously optimistic. But this is also approximately the turn Xanrick subs in for Dawkish, and you guys know I'm lazy at diplo...

Next turn: Missed opportunity...