Sunday, March 19, 2017

Deathmatch I: Combat Begins

Greetings, cannon fodders.

Today is the vernal equinox, and that means it's time for a Thunderdome: Last Man Standing event!  Sit back, relax, and enjoy this gladiatorial combat to the death. Four bold warriors have taken the ring for the inaugural battle. You who are about to die, we salute you!


Wait, did I turn the stove off before I left home?


Let's take a look at our honored gladiators and their placements.


From the halls of mighty [HORDE] comes the orc, Cro-Magnon. He has positioned his city of Biblical Violence in the upper left corner of Thunderdome. Cro-Magnon is running 20x Sov III, for a 300% troop production bonus. His city tile is a small mountain, which offers a spectacular defensive advantage for bow and spear troops, including the famed orcish kobolds. The terrain around Biblical Violence is 3 plains, 1 small hill, 4 large hill. Although large hills tend to favor siege defenders, the advantage is relatively small. His main defense is likely to be orc fangs, but it's possible that we will see some clearing attacks using cavalry equipped with crafted War Wolves (+20% hill bonus).

Next we have Pie from [BLX] with Iron Rain. Pie has been very quiet in the Thunderdome classroom, but his growth chart is positive. He could be an easy target with zero sovereignty claimed, or he could be a deadly sleeper account ready to pounce on his next door neighbor, Treggar. Pie has chosen to surround himself with five large forests, one plains, one small hill, and one lake tile. Although his city tile of plains is vulnerable to cavalry attack, as a human Pie's defensive units would receive a +100% bonus when equipped with plainsman leather armor.

Treggar of [GATE] is the first of our two dwarven gladiators. Like Cro-Magnon, he is running 300% sovereignty. With Ruthven Castle on a small forest tile, surrounded almost completely by forests, it's clear that dwarven infantry will be his siege breaking weapon of choice. Stalwarts will be an especially deadly option in the close confines of the arena, since they are a devastating short range attacker that can accommodate all terrains. Treggar has positioned his city just southwest of the arena center, which should allow him to reach all his opponents within 3 hours using fast dwarven siege engines.

Grum the Unaligned is our second dwarven warrior. He has also embraced the "dwarves in a forest" method with his inventively-named battle city, Grum B. His city tile and all surrounding tiles are large forest, creating an optimal defensive environment for dwarven infantry to break sieges.  Like the other two big fighters, Grum is using a military standard 300% sovereignty. His placement is slightly north of the arena center, putting him in close proximity to Treggar and Pie.

You have met the gladiators. To the victor belongs the roar of the crowd, and a custom medal from GM Cerberus. To the losers, only destruction and glory.


Misbehave, gladiators. Kill lots of stuff.

<^^^^^^^^||==O    Skint Jagblade
 

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