Note: Battle reports are now the same for both sides - save for some very select details, if needed. It's simply too much effort to make the reports unique for each side.
Combat for 933The Taiga sees Moskurg lose ground.
Moskurg continues their campaign of firebombing Arstotzkan camps at night from high in the sky. Unlike before, Arstotzkans now have a method of defending themselves. Once a raid begins, Arstotzkan apprentices fire off multiple flares, lighting up the sky and clearly illuminating the Moskurg raiders. Moskurg has developed a new variant of their carpet; nicknamed the "War Pegasus", it can now float safely outside of arrow range. This makes Arstotzka's anti-magic bomb arrows ineffective at bringing down the invaders, but Arsotzka has also developed a new anti-carpet weapon. Trained falcons, equipped with small anti-magic gems to keep them safe from magical influence, quickly soar upwards on the updrafts caused by the numerous fires and attack the carpet-riding wizards. They are far faster than their new carpets, and the anti-magic gems sap magic from the carpets enchantments. It's not enough to make them fall out of the air, but it does make it difficult to flee once attacked. Moskurg wizards start carrying sabres and bows to combat the new falcons, but the inability to cast Lucky Strike on themselves and the blinding light from the flares makes it difficult to slash at the ball of feathers and talons scratching their face. The freezing temperatures in the Taiga once again sees the poorly-equipped Moskurgs freezing on guard duty, making Arstotzkan raids more effective. Over all, both sides do the same amount of damage and neither has a Raiding Advantage.
Moskurgs forces in the Taiga also suffers from being cut to two-thirds of their original size as a portion of the army goes off after the meteor - this, combined with Arstotzka's natural cold advantage, longer-range artillery, and anti-carpet falcons sees them pushed back to the jungle. al-Mutriqa, sadly, was not enough to hold the line.
Arstotzka regains full control of the Taiga. In the Mountains, Arstotzka has their garrison cut down to half their size as they go off to chase down the fallen meteor.
Moskurg makes quick work of the diminished garrison size - it's a tough, uphill slog, but they manage to regain a foothold in the mountains. The cold, longer-ranged artillery, and falcons cause lots of casualties, but Moskurg simply has more men to throw at the castle walls. Their ballistas hit with uncanny accuracy and their carpet troops - though now fewer in size - are more nimble. Ballistas hammer the walls and fire rains down from above, and Moskurg pushes into the sparsely-defended territory.
Moskurg gains ground in the Mountains. Arstotzka loses their Metal Ore bonus.The plains are close.
Much like the Taiga, raids see neither side gaining an overt advantage, although Moskurg does slightly more damage, giving them a Minor Raiding Advantage.
Arstotzka has longer-range artillery, despite having a limited number of them. They've also developed a rudimentary method of zeroing their area of effect; apprentices move into line of sight of Moskurg forces, observe where the artillery shells land, and use colored flares to communicate with the artillery operators further back. They're on the flat ground, and at long range, so their spotting isn't always effective, but Moskurg soon learns that "Green Flare" means they need to move out of the area. Unfortunately, being in range of Moskurg artillery and shooting off big, obvious flares means the apprentices are often killed as ballistas home in on them instantly. War Pegasi are still doing a decent job of hitting artillery in strike missions, and being outside of anti-magic bomb range means they don't have to deal with flak. However, they rarely do much more than knock out a few long-range HA1 artillery cannons before the falcons take flight and attack. In the day they do a better job of hacking the birds away, but a falcon attack is usually enough to drive them away. Their Teletalk wands aren't very useful for communicating at long-range, so War Pegasus squads are often on their own during raids. Additionally, Arstotzka's new primitive manner of large-scale coordination gives them a better method of coordinating attacks and barrages, albeit in a limited manner. They are without some of their heavy-calvery this year in the plains, so quick dashes across no-mans land is met with more failed attacks than normal. Overall, a bunch of people die and neither side gains a clear advantage.
Neither side gains ground in the plains.Having worked out a logistics error, all of Arstotzka's ships are now steam ships loaded up with their HC1-E cannons. They're faster than Moskurgs ships, and though their cannons aren't as accurate they can match Moskurg for range and are just as devastating as their firebombs. Moskurg has taken to putting a War Pegasi on each ship, and once engaged with the enemy the mage stays long enough to enchant the ballista with a single Lucky Strike before taking to the air. Their firebombs are still effective against their ships, and now that they're faster they can often catch them. However, Arstotzkan falcons bring down the flying wizards often enough that the battles are a wash. The fact that the carpet can't stay aloft very long before needing re-enchanting means they can't do strike missions at beyond line of sight ranges, although they can spot Arsotzkan ships before Arstotzka can locate them. The flares are useful in coordinating large fleets of ships, better than Moskurgs short-range teletalk wands even. They do give away Arstotzka's position when they use them, though, so it's limited to combat situations. Overall, neither side has a clear advantage and a lot of people die.
Neither side gains ground in the Eastern or Western Seas. Revision Credit!!!Moskurg sends a third of their Taiga invasion force.
Arstotzka sends half their Mountain force, Myark, and a quarter of their Plains Calvary.
It's not even a close fight; Arstotzka outnumbers Moskurg quite soundly, and Myark helps secure their victory. They come back at the end of the year with a nugget of
Meteoric Ore, retrieved from the Red Meteor. They may perform one extra Design this year that uses the
Meteoric Ore to create a National Effort artifact. This Design will
not contribute to their understanding of magic, and any attempt to recreate what they make with this design will require its own Design and be subject to its own roll.
It is 934, the Design Phase.Northern Taiga: 4/4 Arstotzka, 0/4 Moskurg
Central Mountains: 3/4 Arstotzka, 1/4 Moskurg
Western Jungle: 0/4 Arstotzka, 4/4 Moskurg
Eastern Plains: 1/4 Arstotzka, 3/4 Moskurg
Southern Desert: 0/4 Arstotzka, 4/4 Moskurg
Northern Sea: Arstotzka
Western Sea: Disputed
Eastern Sea: Disputed
Southern Sea: Moskurger
Sabre: Officer weapon. A single-edged blade that favours cavalry combat over infantry combat. Requires training to wield, one-handed. Expensive.
Spear: General infantry weapon. Essentially a dagger on a long stick. Very cheap, requires minimal training to use. Can be used double-handed, or single handed with a light shield. Cheap.
Halberd: An axe, a hook, and a spear all rolled into one. Does well against armor and in formation. Cheap
Buckler: General infantry equipment. A small iron shield, held in one hand. Only protects a small area, but can be wielded alongside a shield. Moderate cost, requires training to wield properly. Cheap.
Pavise Shield: A large, thick, high-quality shield to guard against arrows. Can be staked into the ground, or slung across the shoulders. Needs both hands to use while on the move. Very Expensive.
Padded Armour: General infantry armour. Very cheap, just layers of cloth, but doesn't protect against much. Well ventilated in hot conditions, though. Cheap.
Scale Mail: Officer armour. Scales of steel on a leather backing. Expensive, but lighter than chain mail. Expensive. Obsolete.
Elite Lamellar Armor: All-purpose armor. Worn over padded armor. Thin plates of steel sewn together with leather thongs, backed by more leather. High quality, decent protection against arrows and melee attacks. Cheap.
Recurve Bow: General infantry weapon. A light bow composed of laminated wood and horn, curved backwards to provide more force. Inexpensive enough to equip many troops with, with very reasonable medium range and power. Can be wielded by horse archers.
Bodkin Arrows: Arrows with needle points. Can reliably penetrate plate armor at point blank range. Can penetrate less reliably further away.
Arabian Horse: A light riding horse, from short-lived Iberian settlers in the past. Very fast and maneuverable, but not too strong. Expensive.
Horse Breeding Program: Mass amounts of horses available. Tend to do poorly in the desert, and aren't quite as high quality as the Arabian Horses. Cheap.
Lances: Essentially a heavily upgraded spear. Has a tendency to splinter after the first use. Cheap.
Sailing Ship: Wind-propelled wooden ship. Fast, requires minimal crew, cannot carry many passengers, but does carry at least one wizard - so long as they don't make puns. Very Expensive.
Ballista: Large siege weapon. Can fire javelins or stone shot great distances accurately. Reliable enough for consistent use. Can be mounted on ships. Wheeled. High-quality siege engineers.Expensive.
Firestorm ammo: Pots filled with Alnnar Almuqaddasa - "Holy Fire". Bursts into sticky flame on impact. Incredibly lethal, incredibly dangerous. Nearly impossible to extinguish. Normal Cost.
Wand of Heroism: Makes a squad fight beyond human levels. A National Effort.
Teletalk: Short-ranged psychic communication between mystics. Enough beacons can be produced to outfit an army. Expensive.
Staff of Tubikh Rrahim Albarq: Area-of-affect spell anchored to the caster. Prevents all magic from being cast within a short range. Spell contained within a staff of ivory, field of effect controllable. Produces a glow. Expensive.
Dispell Enchantments: Dispells enchantments on items, including standard crystal weapons. Expensive.
Pegasus: Charmingly named, enchanted carpets. Levitate, can be pushed around with Gust of Wind. Limited height, duration, speed. Typically rolled up and equipped with a saddle. Has pretty tassels. Expensive.
War Pegasus:[/b] A faster, higher, tamed version of the Pegasus. Requires each carpet to be broken-in before it can be used in the field, but now has its own form of locomotion. Very Expensive.
Detect Ambush: Reveals non-magical ambushes prepared by enemy troops or physical traps.
Lucky Strike: Magical guidance makes a squad shoot or strike true far more often than usual. Expensive.
Detect Thoughts: Read the mind of an enemy commander to determine their tactics ahead of time. Expensive.
Zen Inception: By putting enemy soldiers in a zen-like state, we can use their minds as a relay system to read minds further away. The spell is easy to disrupt, but simple to use.
Gust of Wind: Evokes physical force to create a heavy gust of wind, sufficient to disperse fog and most minor concealment, as well as disperse irritating swarms. Expensive.
Cyclone Shield: Protects the beneficent from most arrows and some blows with a sheath of wind. Expensive.
Storm Strike: Summons heavy rain and winds over the course of a day. Expensive.
Clear Weather: Negates inclement weather within the given area. Nests within Storm Strike for protection.
Hammer of Allah: Induce lightning from summoned storms. Strikes indiscriminately, so can't be used in "danger close" situations.
Spear of Allah: Call down an individual bolt of lightning to target enemy commanders. Difficult to control, has a tendency to hit the caster as often as not. Our mages refuse to use it.
Tubikh Rrahim: Area-of-affect spell centered around the caster. Prevents all magic from being cast within a short range. Cheap.
Dispell Enchantments: Dispells enchantments on items, including standard crystal weapons. Expensive.
Divine Desert Winds: Sends warm desert air north. Does not reach the taiga. Warms the area by one "level". Very Expensive.
As inspired by the "Behavior Rule" attached to Sensei's new Arms Race thread, I've decided to adapt them to Wand Race. Most of these are blatantly copied from his thread, and I expect them to be followed. After running this game for a few weeks now and following the last Arms Race, I'm aware that they're prone to attracting bad attitudes. Keeping the game smooth, on schedule, and argument free is probably a greater concern of mine than whatever you are arguing about: I expect you to be mature and adopt the same attitude.
1. Don't be salty! If at any time you find yourself having an urge to mouth off at another player, step away from the keyboard, go outside, and take a breath. Seriously. Players who repeatedly get angry or passive aggressive will be asked to leave. If you have an issue with the way the game is being run, DO NOT expect a tantrum to get you what you want.
2. Keep in mind that I am not a historian, so there will sometimes be mistakes and inaccuracies. Even in the best of circumstances, minor inconsistencies are a common occurrence. If some piece of equipment is imbalanced/unrealistic, I might consider changing it if you bring it up once -AND ONLY ONCE- and politely state your argument. However, I will err on the side of consistency with my own game, I do not like to go back and change things. Sometimes it is more important to simply keep the game running smoothly than other concerns.
3. Do not accuse me of being biased. Do not accuse me of being biased. I put a lot of effort into being objective and fair and being accused otherwise is pretty fucking irritating. On multiple occasions this has nearly derailed the game and made me want to abandon it all together. I have absolutely no more patience for this, and if you do it YOU WILL BE BANNED.
4. Do not spy on the other team's private thread. Trust me, playing fair is more fun for everyone! If you suffer from a lack of self-control and cannot stop yourself from spying, keep it to yourself. Do not use it to metagame. And do not post what you saw in the central thread. This has happened multiple times now, and if you do it you will be banned with no warning.
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Topic: Wands Race - [Moskurg] {COMPLETED} (Read 203937 times)