[SPOILERS] Tholal plays in the woods

[Tholal]

Turn 89:

Here is why I am being destroyed.


(apologies for image quality - photobucket decided to resize my image without asking)

Not much I can do about Bronze-equipped, Combat II, Shock Beastmen (who are now upgrading to Sons). And this is not because he's been defeating my army. For the most part, I've simply avoided him. I left 3 Warriors in my border city that he first attacked (foolish me -- I thought that having fortified warriors in a city while my foe is attacking across the river would provide some sort of defense, but instead they all died while only killing one Beastman) and I lost a Scout to a Sons attack last turn. Aggressive-trait Doviello are not the sort of close neighbors you want to have.

To top it off, I now also have ~6 Combat II Barbarians following along with the Doviello army. I had hoped that they would stop to pillage my improvements that are now in neutral land, but apparently they arent interested and instead are providing cover so that I cant pillage the improvements myself!

Hunting completes next turn, though I doubt I will ever actually build or upgrade a Hunter. Unless one or more of the other players hits the Doviello now, this game is over. He'll just steamroll over the next opponent after I'm done with. And their ability to upgrade in the field makes it easy to keep on the offensive.

[HidingKneel]

Friggin' Doviello hordes...

[Tholal]

Friggin' Doviello hordes...

Ha! Indeed! If only I had something that made most of my units invisible....

[Dantski]

Friggin' Doviello hordes...

Ha! Indeed! If only I had something that made most of my units invisible....

eyelids?

[Tholal]

[Tholal]

Turn 95: Doom approaches. I have maybe 3-4 turns left. None of my troops can get decent odds against any Doviello troops. I can kill some of the Barbarians, but Black Sword is using his troops to provide extra cover for them. I also have great odds on a Bloodpet that the Calabim have on a hill nearby, but killing him is pretty useless at the moment. Instead I declare war on the Bloodsuckers and send my 4 remaining Workers towards his land. Hopefully, at least some of my people will survive, even if its merely to toil in the work camps of the Calabim.

[Tholal]

Turn 98: And so the proud and somewhat foolish Elven Nation lies in ruins. Took only 18 turns. The only survivors are a handful of laborers who offered themselves into a lifetime of Slavery to the Calabim rather than be pressed into military service under the savage bootheel of the Doviello!

I made more than my share of mistakes. I should have had Hunting completed much sooner which would have given me a fighting chance. But looking at everyone else's spoiler threads, I dont think anyone could have really handled this stack on turn 80.

[Qgqqqqq]

GG nonetheless, and well done for remaining calm despite the rush!

[DaveV]

Tough luck, Tholal. I seriously considered gifting my copper to you, but I was afraid that could cause me to become the new rush target. Plus, what I had seen of your army seemed to consist mostly of scouts rather than warriors.