Right; so after my last fort fell to a Moss Agate FB with Deadly Dust because a bridge decided to not go up...
I've made a new fort in the same world. During the 3 years my previous fort lived I noticed one of the Dwarf Civs entered war with an Elf civ, so I chose that Civ to do my duty to Armok.
I made my exterior defences out of wood; just to cause emotional damage to any Elf who dared attack. It took 2 years for the first Seige; and that was Goblins. And by Goblins I mean a squad of 10 poorly-armed invaders with 5 Dwarves. One of which was literally unarmed and got mauled by the local Capybaras he decided to try and punch, to the point his ribs were mangled beyond recognition.
The first Elf Ambush was also quite dissapointing. Just about 10 Elves. By this point I had a equipped Copper military [No Iron].
A FB showed up in the Deep Pit; and it was a Fire-breatheing Swallow. It never reached my fort however. When I got to Cavern 2 there was ashes all over the place, but I never found the beast or it's corpse. I assume it moved on.
I kept digging deeper, and an Ettin showed up, which one of my Axedwarves encountered while outside. I do not know why UristMcAxeman was outside, but he slew the Ettin in single combat with no injury. A cyclops also showed up and I captured this one, putting it in a triggered cage in a little hole in the ground for the next time the Elves visited.
Another Goblin Seige; this one still with about 10 goblins but they also brought ~10 trolls and 15 Beak Dogs. I lost 1 Dwarf to this, who decided to ignore orders to pick off 2 lone trolls and then retreat, and instead charged into the main goblin army. Alone.
Then I found some tin. Metalwise my fort has Copper, a TON of Silver [I made 90 Silver Maces for weapon traps and still have tons of Silver], gold and no Iron. So for the first time I start making Bronze, and start equipping my military with Bronze.
Another Cyclops comes and is captured. Both females. I begin hauling the heavy cage to the site and... Elf ambush.
This one much larger. At least 30 Elves, 20 Horses, 15 War Bears, the first experiment I have ever seen [An ex-Dwarf... with Elves] and some Jaguars.
I release the single Cyclops I have set up upon them as my first line of defense. She punches two Jaguars that were ahead of the army to death, before getting swarmed by 2 Grizzlies and 10 Elves while she passes out from the effort of walking ~15 tiles and punching two big cats. The cyclops dies.
But not before spooking all of the Horses.
And with the Horses panicking, this apparently breaks the Elven morale and this big army of 50+ units, which has only lost 2 Jaguars and 3 units to some random animal-captureing cage traps I have dotted about, all flee. After killing the Cyclops.
I didn't even get to try out The Pulverisiser; or my new Bronze gear. Neither did the Cyclops get to murder any Elves. I mean I still have a Cyclops and now know unleashing it on Elves who bring Horses just... immediately sends them home. But still. Worse, the Dwarf-turned Elf escaped. My newly-promoted Axe-Lord [The one who killed the Ettin] also didn't get to fight.
Anyway, I still have enough Bronze, and there;s a bunch of Peasants and Fish Cleaners in my fort. So I'm working on gear for a squad of Speardwarves.