Part 18

Update 18
Last time I discovered that the sorceress units far outclass my own and that Dimitri is great at recruiting wandering stacks. That almost sounds like an eventful update.

Day 11

We’ll start the same way we ended, by attacking gargoyles for fun and profit.


Everyone does the same thing, how nice.


Strength in numbers!


There is one thing different, everyone can kill a gargoyle stack in a single strike. No losses and a pitiful 300 experience gained.


The second castle gets a tavern.


And the first castle gets a mage guild level. Very nice and extremely welcome spells for us.
Unrelated to the mage guild, but I miss the arrows at the bottom of the town screen. In later games you switch easily between different towns from within the town screen. Not here.


After recruiting some peasants Maximus discovers a gold mine!


No morale advantage, but I can block three of them on the second turn. Provided that the rogues survive the first round I can even block all of them. Let’s do this.


We’re off to a rocky start, that rock in the middle already ensure my rogues need another turn.


We did it. Interestingly, the enemy archers targeted every unit except the swordsmen. Had they focused their fire I would've lost more units. I don't recall the AI ever spreading their fire like this before.


I have 2 rogues left. Time to let them go, it’s better for morale.


Or I can get new ones.

Day 12

Good as new.


And also a portal.


Maximus finds more gold. I have scouted the entire island. There are three gazebo’s so I will be able to level everyone to level 3. The amount needed to level up increases slightly starting at level 3. Level 1 and 2 need a flat 1.000 to become the next level. Level 3 needs 3.200 to become level 4 and the requirements become steeper from that point on. There is a very welcome gold mine that I want and after that I should probably get moving. Arturius is going after the gold mine. Dimitri needs to get home to get a spell book and there is a new week coming so he can get extra units. Once he has those units I’ll try and get those wandering swordsmen to join.

Day 13

A new week has arrived.


Attack power comes with the ages.


I should probably move Maximus out of the way first next turn.

Day 14

Go get them Arturius. Actually, the terrain is ridiculously advantageous to us. The top two ogres can’t move forward more than one step before they're blocked. If the middle one also moves forward that means the top 2 are stuck until he moves or if they move back. At the same time, the turn order goes from top to bottom, so the second one can't get out of the way of the first one meaning the first one will always waste at least one turn doing nothing.


The AI plans ahead by blocking the second ogre with the first. I’ll help and my archers kill the middle one in a single shot.


And this is the terrain helping us. The ogres have managed to move forward one line in three rounds.


I’m disappointed, the peasants didn’t kill the stack in a single attack.


Six died due to their overconfidence.


Well, at least Arturius learned something from this. This is great since he can now cast spells twice.


Also, I’m an idiot as I parked Arturius in Dimitri’s way so he still can’t reach the gazebo now.

Day 15

Dimitri swapped some units with Maximus.


Arturius visits the gazebo and gets a +1 to his attack.


I’m going to let them attack even if it means my cavalry have to take the first hit. If I send the cavalry forward first they’ll be the target for all remaining nomads. Better to just have one nomad attack them instead.


Look at the horse snorting! Good thing my cavalry put them down immediately. It must have had rabies or something.


These guys are pretty fragile.


Victory with again low experience. These guys were so weak they didn’t even kill anyone. Then again, I've been defeating wandering stacks a lot more than I've been doing in previous maps. Reason is simple, I'm on, what appears to be isolated, island and up against a stronger army. I figure I'm going to need properly leveled heroes to get a minor advantage.


Now for our prize.

Day 16

Nothing happened today, so enjoy this screen of three knights.

Day 17

Dimitri gets a new army and visits the gazebo for a +1 to his defense. Annoyingly gazebo's don't show if the heroes have visited them yet, but with three heroes it's easy enough to remember. I just doubt myself sometimes, if only I had someway to check without walking to all three like a log with all of my actions. Anyway, let's recruit those swordsmen.


Arturius is really trying to become the smartest knight on the map. If he can get some spell power he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.


He picks up some extra peasants and heads home to get some spells for his future battles.


He has a nice army now.


"Hello, can I interest you in the word of our lord and saviour Morglin?"


Guess not.


The random terrain gods are smiling upon me. Only two swordsmen can approach at the same time due to the trees and rocks.


I keep a close eye on the number of hits the paladins and cavalry have to tank and they get to work slaughtering the enemy.


Unfortunately I miscalculate this swordman's walking distance and he manages to kill a cavalry.


This was wholly unnecessary. I had even considered pulling that guy back to have the swordsmen take his place.


A small price to pay for the ability to outrun our foes.

Next turn I build my second jousting arena.

Day 18

I notice that today is the seventh day. I decide to keep Dimitri around to get another round of guys. Meanwhile Arturius is also almost there and he will get the cavalry from the second castle. The armies will probably be joined together at some point in the future, but at the moment I enjoy the terrain they can cover together.

Day 19

Too bad I have a massive shortage of wood, otherwise I’d upgrade the barbarian castle further.


Arturius finds some goblins on his way. Good for a little bit of experience. I already spent all of my money, but there are still units left for me to buy.

Day 20

Dimitri gets his final units and moves to go to the portal.


So this probably won’t be worth my time.


Nope, not worth the effort.

Day 21

A quick stop at that one gazebo for Dimitri.


And next turn he’ll try his luck again.


It may look shabby, but it’s an army and he can cast spells to back them up.

Day 22

Good job Dimitri.


That’s twenty extra swordsmen and the shrine had haste. Very useful.


I just noticed that I have the wood needed for this and I want the extra income for the coming battles and fortifications. I'll need cash if I want to take and fortify an enemy castle.

Day 23

Together they will try and take the enemy islands.


Bring it.


And bring it they did. After this round only two will be left standing. At the start of the next round only one. This is good since each hit did 10 damage to my cavalry.


And so the strong survive.

Day 24

One small step for Dimitri…


One big leap for knightkind.


There are a lot of gazebo’s on this map. See that horseshoe in the right corner?


I did as well.


A repeat of steps for 360 experience and a horseshoe. I suddenly find myself investing in thieves guilds.

Day 25

Easy come easy go. The horse shoe had to be bought for 2.000 gold.


More swordsmen, let’s hope they join.


That would be fun for you to watch at least. After the first round I would be facing over 300 of them.


This is going far too well. I’m waiting for everything to come crashing down.

Day 26

Let’s try that trick again.


It’s would’ve been too good to be true if they had joined.


I kill a stack each turn.


And we’re all done with no losses.


I want my trolls.

Day 27

Those ogres are for Arturius and the shrine teaches paralyze. A very good spell to have.


Arturius is following right behind him.


Yay for trolls.

Day 28

Arturius visits the shrine for Paralyze and attacks his stack of ogres.



Not exactly a fast paced battle.


We grew tired of this.


Victory and defense +1 for Arturius.


Gold and gem mines for all, but mostly me.


I would like that artifact as well, but I’m not sure if the griffins are worth the hassle.


While I’m thinking I’ll just kill these guys first.


I miss my archers as I wait for them to come in range.


The results are the same.


It was only a pack of ogres, so less experience for Dimitri but still a defense +1.


Who cares, let’s just do this.


One down, four to go.


So they do about 8 damage to my swordsmen per attack and he has 25 hitpoints. He killed one on retaliation and this guy is the second to attack him. I moved the pikemen in front of them to protect them from being swarmed. This is the same reason that the rogues are clinging to that shrubbery. It keeps them safe.

I’ll let him skip a turn forcing the other griffins to pursue other targets who can take the hit.


Like this.


An easy win.


And no losses.

Day 29

Are you sure you want to do this?


It's their funeral, but at least the pitiful experience gained was just enough for another level as Dimitri gets another +1 to defense.


I think I’ve found my harbour.


I’m not going to bother with tactics, I'll just rush them down.


Cowering in a corner isn’t going to help.


That is the look of an orc making a slight miscalculation.


Victory! Now to build a boat and set sail.


Wait are you kidding me? I have to save up wood again to build a castle here first. That's 40 wood I have to save up for! That's twenty days of sitting around, maybe I should pick a fight with some ghosts while I wait.


Let’s check on the enemy while I wait. That’s a lot of mines they’re holding. I want to attack them.

You know, this is a good place to stop. Just over a 100 images and I took a pivotal building.
Next time I build a castle, a boat and try to take over the world. (Although I don't expect to finish this level next update.)