Part 29: Chapter 3, Part 5: Grove Town

A few of Dozer's elite are guarding Grove Town. Shouldn't be a problem, right?



We start off surrounding the three paladins. This arrangement actually puts us at a disadvantage - the paladins have a huge range advantage with 8 movement, so it's going to be difficult to protect our weaker units.



The paladins are only level 1, but as promoted units they're still pretty tough. They hit pretty hard and double-attack everyone in our army except Cliff and Alm. They have enough Defense and HP to take several rounds to kill, especially one attack at a time. We'll have to make use of the Knight Killer and the Bolt Sword to really do any damage, and hide in the trees to try and mitigate the Speed of the paladins.


Turn 1



Even with the Knight Killer, it still takes three hits to finish off a paladin. And Clieve takes 8 damage from each time, as well.



In the short term, this move is pretty good - Python brings the paladin below 50% HP, into retreat mode for the enemy phase. However he's exposed outside a forest, and there's a forest tile next to him from which the enemy can attack and remain somewhat protected.



Robin and Gray run off to join the southern group. Let's see what happens here....



As expected, Python is attacked from the forest on the enemy phase. He takes 14 damage and misses his counterattack.



Cliff is also attacked from a forest, but he gets the second attack this time. He lands one attack for 10 damage.


Turn 2



The map is going to be very difficult to win without losing a unit at this point, with those two paladins grouped together to the north and two of the three enemy units hiding in forests with a large evasion boost. The wounded paladin who was in 'retreat mode' last turn is going to attack this turn, too, since there isn't a healing tile around for them.



Cleive evens the odds by also attacking from a forest. He lands his hit for 13 damage and dodges both attacks from the paladin.



Python's dead if he takes two more hits, and the only healing we have is on the other side of the map, so he tries to hide in the forest himself while still getting in an attack. He misses, though.



Force is able to connect and knock the second paladin into retreat mode for the turn. Unfortunately the first paladin, still in the center, is going to move on the enemy phase and can easily reach Python. If he lands both hits on the enemy phase, Python is finished.



So, of course, that's exactly what happened.



On the second attempt, Cliff was able to eliminate the southern paladin and the rest of the southern group moved up more aggressively. That led to the center paladin going after Alm instead of Python, because Alm was exposed and able to be attacked from a forest.


Turn 3



Just two wounded paladins left, but they're both sitting in forests.



This time Cleive misses. So does Python and Force. I bring Robin up there, and he misses as well.



Claire successfully kills off the center paladin, but it doesn't matter because....



The last paladin kills Robin on the enemy phase. I tried again while keeping Robin back, instead, and the paladin just killed Python again. I could keep trying different combinations of save states until I get 'luckier', but clearly a different strategy is needed here. Let's start over.


Turn 1



Cleive has the Knight Killer again, and is waiting in the forest. The paladins will bypass him entirely. The left paladin will go after Force in the upper left, and have to attack from the plains since it won't have enough movement to get into the forest. Likewise the right paladin will go after Python and have to remain exposed, as well.



Force gains a level from his counterattack. In every previous run he gained Power. Oh well.



I didn't plan the southern side as well, allowing the center paladin to reach the forest. Cliff missed both of his attacks, too.


Turn 2



As we've seen, Python is at the most risk here so Cleive helps him out first. Since Python actually got a critical on his counterattack last turn, Cleive is able to finish off the paladin entirely here.



Force retreats into a forest, forcing the paladin to remain in the open in order to attack him. Python also retreats out of range.



Cliff lands one attack, and everyone else sets up to force the paladin out of the forest if it wants to attack anyone. Everyone exposed can take two hits from the paladin, so we should be fine here.



On the enemy phase, Force successfully keeps his target's attention and even dodges both attacks, while the other paladin leaves the forest to go after Robin.


Turn 3



I'm done messing around - with the paladin exposed, Cliff wastes no time wiping it out with the Bolt Sword.



Cliff continues to be awesome. Also, he can now promote into a Myrmidon.



This time, Cleive attacks the exposed paladin from the forest. The last enemy is now in retreat mode and won't be a threat on the enemy phase.


Turn 4



Nothing left to do but for Cleive to finish things up here.



Another solid level to wrap things up.



Way more difficult than it should have been. Another strategy you can use, is to change the order of units in your roster, which affects how they're deployed. In that manner, you can place, say, Cleive with Cliff and Claire in the northern group and keep everyone else out of range.



The town's open, so let's go check it out.



Ooh, treasure. Let's -



If you save her, I'll give you my treasure.

Aww....



The floodgate exists to store water in the gorge, but... if it isn't opened periodically, the water overflows. The Rigelian army has occupied the gate and is keeping it closed. Please, Lord Alm. You must somehow open the gate before Sofia floods!

Where does the water go when the gate is opened? Just safely out into the ocean somehow? Anyway, moving on....



Rumors say she'll be executed soon. You guys better hurry if you want to save her!

Grove Town is much chattier than Mountain Town so far. Next!



Alm gets a trader, too. I guess if we'd lost Python we could send the Steel Bow over to Celica's group. I don't really plan on using this feature, though.



Is she the one at Dozer's fort? We were actually just about to head over there, and -



...What?



Okay, so Alm now has several goals:

• Defeat Dozer and save some liberation member from execution
  
• Save some dude's daughter at a shrine in order to get his treasure
  
• Open the floodgate before Sofia floods
  
• Save Dyute from the shaman Tatara

Oh, right, this guy joins us, too. Let's take a look.



More Power and Speed than Gray - sold. Also, Ryuto comes with the Excalibur spell, which has 5 Might, 100% Hit Rate, and 20% Crit Rate for just 1 Weight and 3 HP Cost. It has the same 1-2 tile range as the Fire spell but is so much better. Finally Alm's army has a useful mage!



Next up for Alm is the final showdown with General Dozer!

New Characters

Ryuto is a great mage if you don't have one or you've only been using Gray as a mage, since he comes with solid base stats and the Excalibur spell. The only one of our villagers that has better spell progression is Cliff, who's clearly better off as a physical unit anyway, so Ryuto will probably be your top mage as soon as you get him.
Next time:



Celica clears out the Desert Fort. That's right, it's a desert battle.