Overview.

I am Ry Vor, a persona of some repute in Fall of Rome (www.fallofromegame.com), and I am honored in this contest to play the position of Attila and his Huns. The roster of my foes and potential allies is a who's who of the best players, those ranked highest in Valhalla.

The Huns are among the players' most favored kingdoms, due mainly to the twin advantages of blazing speed and unrivaled horse archers. This generally makes them feared, as they were historically, but also provides for exceptional glory for those who may wish to take them down.

As the game begins, I soon receive an in-game message from Lord Thanatos, the #1 ranked player, who in this new game is Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths. His lands lay across the southern border of my region of Pannonia. He suggests that since in all previous campaigns we have been foes, that here we take the other path and become fast allies in this one game. I readily agree in my quickly dispatched reply. Although promises of alliance can be broken as easily as they are offered, in Fall of Rome the players generally hold dear the reputation of their persona, and Lord Thanatos will never backstab (I tell myself confidently). However, one must be careful not to read more into his message than what is written by this master diplomat and strategist. I make a note to carefully re-read the exact text.

With this favorable treaty in hand, I turn my diplomacy to the mighty Thuringians in Raetia, to my west. The Thuringians possess the finest military in the game, featuring the greatest heavy cavalry anywhere, accompanied by terrific leaders. If I have not been too late in approaching Howler (the persona playing them), "too late" meaning that he has already committed to attack me with another king, he should be interested in coming to peaceful terms, due to his central position and so the close proximity of many potential enemies. I reason also that the Huns are not likely his first choice as an immediate foe. I await his reply.

At this point I delay in contacting my other neighbors bordering my lands, the Norse, led by the unpronounceable but very highly regarded and dangerous Ffej Relluf (ranked #6), and the Teutons, who are led by King William, a player I have worked with in the past. My guess is Ffej Relluf is gunning for me, with help in tow, likely the Teutons. My capital in NW Pannonia is quite exposed to both of them, as well as to the Thuringians, although they don't know its location yet. I will feel much better if I get assurances from the Thuringians of non-aggression, at least in the early stages of the campaign.

My initial holdings are widely spread throughout the region, making my initial moves much more difficult than normal. Typically a first turn for an experienced player is the easiest in the game, then each subsequent turn grows in strategic complexity, sort of like chess for twelve players with terrain and different playing pieces where each player submits more than a dozen moves each turn and they are all processed simultaneously, according to a sequence of events. However, because in this case two of my legions are so far south of the capital and so the neutral villages, towns, and cities I am aware of, my turn requires more imagination than normal. Adding to the complexity as well is the caliber of the players in this game, which means more aggressive first turn moves, mainly political ones, are likely. An example of such an aggressive move would be one or worse, two kings in cahoots, each denigrating the same enemy king in that enemy's home region, making all the actions by his noble court much less effective. This malicious act is accompanied by each hostile king sending a royal noble such as a Baron or the more powerful Count to the city in the foe's region, making it nearly impossible for the enemy to gain control of the city politically with his noble court, as is standard practice. (Cities are too difficult to take with the beginning military, and the Huns in particular are notoriously bad at attacking well defended cities - better to take without bloodshed through politics - war by other means!

Now it is time to plan my first turn and issue the commands. I have Rulership of 13, meaning I can issue 13 commands. A few kings known for their Rulership can issue more, likely 15 commands each turn from the beginning. The Huns advantage is instead a slightly larger starting military than most. I will certainly use all 13 commands and will wish for more - there will be many thing I wish to accomplish that I cannot immediately. Commands are considered the "third resource", along with gold and supplies.

Early Strategic Objective.

The aim of the first two turns is to gain control of the region in which the capital lays, and so for the Huns it is Pannonia, in the center of the eastern part of the map. The location of towns and villages change from game to game, and players are only aware of the location of the twelve cities, one in each region, their own possessions, and those neutral population centers (PC's) nearest the capital. Gaining the region usually requires gaining control of the city, along with the neutral town and two neutral villages whose locations are known at the outset, while holding the initial possessions in the region. This will likely provide the needed 60% of population in the region flying your banner, and that is the requirement for Control of the region. Control provides many benefits, and is a virtual requirement to prosper in the game.

Since my southern legions are too remote to take a known neutral PC militarily, I must do with my division at the capital. We split it into two legions, recruit a brigade of Heruli (a mercenary brigade type), and move one force led by Attila to one village, and another led by Tribune (a lower ranking general) Bleda to the other. We send our Count to the neutral town, and our Prince named Saphrax, together with our Duke and our Baron in the south, all to Carnuntum, the city in our lands that is not yet under our control. Attila issues the Enamor order, a somewhat cautious and expensive command that should do well to diffuse any opposite attempts by hostile kings to Denigrate us in Pannonia. All of our fast moving legions scout as they move to reveal more of the land - the areas that are being scouted are shown in a red tinge in the map. Our routes also reveal a few areas across the border of our northern neighbors. This is done in hopes an Unusual Sighting will be detected there. Unusual Sightings contain a fierce guardian from myth, and likewise an artifact from myth. Legend has it for example, that the real Attila wielded The Sword of Mars, a powerful weapon artifact in the game.

Overall my moves are conservative by my standards, but should result in my conquering Pannonia at the end of the second turn barring an even more formidable alliance than I imagine aligned against me.

Turn 2.

Right after the time counter hits 0:00 time remaining, we receive our results for the first turn's commands. Everything went off without a hitch. Our recruiting of a brigade of Heruli so early has caused our Chamberlain to issue this warning: "King, our military is consuming more supplies than we produce. We must find ways to increase our supply production or face economic ruin." A sound, if dire warning in almost all cases, but we remain confident of our ascendancy in Pannonia at the end of the current turn, which shall solve our economic worries for the near future.

Our nobles are all in position. Our recon of Carnuntum shows the city is unbothered by foreign nobles, so with that and our successful plan execution, we have green lights all around for the conquest of Pannonia.

Unexpected and intriguing news from the first turn is the discovery of a superior artifact sighting in the southeast of the region. Superior artifacts are the highest class, but guarded by the most dangerous guardians. This one harbors the Hammer of Thor, a particularly nice weapon as it effects the missile (first) phase of combat. It will be quite a prize, but is too challenging a quest just now for my heroes (leaders) to gallivant after. They will need more experience first, through less daunting challenges. Kings die more frequently battling superior class guardians than in all other ways combined, I believe.

We set about the second and final phase of the conquest of Pannonia. Prince Saphrax will usurp control of the important city of Carnuntum, assisted by our Duke stirring unrest. Our Count will gain control of the other neutral town, and our military will take a village by force, with the rest of the orders needed to gain the region. Meanwhile, we escalate our scouting and reconnaissance of Scandia to our north, ready to pounce early there. We even have Priestess Nia divine unusual sightings in our northern bordering region of Scandia as well.

The superior unusual sighting is represented by the prismatic waterfall in the extreme lower right (SE) corner of the map in this screenshot. The big circle in the north show part of the radius of the divination of the High Priestess seeking other artifact locations.

Diplomacy on the second turn was entertaining. Lord Thanatos agreed with my suggestion to keep our alliance secret, and to instead supply misinformation to the others, to avoid a united front against us. I received a number of messages warning me of his malicious intent. I chuckle reading them, but then again, with no one but us wolves knowing the truth, any allegations of a backstab by Thanatos against me (or vice versa!) would have no witnesses to defend that malicious assertion!

Turn 3.

Yes! Pannonia is ours. Seven other kings also gained their regions, but not the Norse, my intended target. This provides me quite an advantage. My High Priestess found nothing in barren Scandia, how disappointing. However, there is another artifact, of the lesser kind, even further south in Pannonia my southern most legion found scouting! This is diabolical of the gods, as pursuing this more accessible prize takes me even further from the main strategic objective of conquering the Norse. You see, my heroes can take the guardian of this artifact, improve their experience, likely witness the advent of a new hero from the encounter, and collectively take on the superior guardian and garner the prized Hammer of Thor. Now, rest assured gentle reader, a Hun leader such as yours truly, with two artifacts including the Hammer on about turn 4, is a piece of work you don't want to be within two regions of. But the piss of it is, I can't traipse about after artifacts and extinguish the life from the Norse both, given the problems of geography. I'll send a patrol after the lesser artifact, but not the whole of my leadership, which must marshal my armies against the Norse. This turn I swarm Scandia at a gallop. I order attacks on two Norse villages in Scandia and then move both to combine with a third at the lone Norse holding in Pannonia. I move nobles into Scandia and King Attila enamors the peasants there, making them more receptive to my nobles' political overtures. I have issued all commands I am allowed to. In addition to the others described, I am training three agents to higher levels, and I have selected "The Conquering Hero" as my secret victory condition. Each player has up until the end of turn 3 to choose his secret victory condition, and may also win by The Rex: controlling three of the twelve regions on the map.

Turn 4.

Plenty more diplomacy comes in through the game messaging system. One example: Lord Howler of the powerful Thuringians to my immediate west has inquired about my posture toward my secret ally, Lord Thanatos, with a subtle hint that he could be persuaded to assist in an invasion of the Ostrogoths. I reply:

From: Ry Vor the Hun
To: Howler (Thuringians)

Greetings, Howler.

I am a bit troubled by Lord Thanatos to my south. I will be keeping an eye on him, and so cannot completely mobilize elsewhere.

At least you know you have peace with me and the Hun people, Lord Howler. Best of luck.

Ry Vor

Meanwhile I have moved the patrol into position for capturing the fine artifact in the extreme south. This turn they will undertake the investigation (battle the guardian). Assuming they survive the encounter, they are ordered to then move north to the site with the terrible, superior guardian, to, gods willing, attack that fell guardian the following turn. A patrol of my better leaders will be simultaneously heading south to rendezvous with them, and make a stronger collection of heroes for that undertaking. My foe the Norse has moved two nobles, a Baron and a powerful Duke to the site of a village I conquered from him. This is a tempting prize for me! I move my main force to the village in hopes of then conquering the village with my legions right after his nobles regain control. I will use the tactic "No Quarter" which greatly increases my chances of capturing and executing his nobles when I reclaim the village. This will be a crippling blow to his political machine if it succeeds.

At this point, all regions are controlled, each by a different king, i.e., seeming parity.

Turn 5.

We'll begin with the battle with the guardian. This is the report, verbatim:

Unusual Sighting encounter with the leaders of Nighthawk in the mountains of hex 1835.

On this day the commanders of the Nighthawk, namely General Ruga, Centurion Draza, together with a dozen hand picked men, intrepidly went forth to earn great deeds and fabulous treasure. Stories speak of Wrathful, an artifact of fine quality. The sword of King Ban, Lancelot's father, it is a fine instrument of death. It is said to be guarded by the giant wild boar, an abomination of nature, extremely aggressive, weighing over 700 pounds with giant tusks. They decided that the best course of action would be to take an ambitious approach. The party, impatient to demonstrate their quality, boldly approached the large, dank sinkhole, and entered. At that moment they faced the giant wild boar and battle ensued.

The giant wild boar attempted to gore the front rank. Draza was fatally wounded. The men inflicted a light wound.

The giant wild boar slashed upward with its tusks. General Ruga inflicted a serious wound. The men struck a critical wound, considerably weakening the guardian.

The giant wild boar attempted to gore the front rank. General Ruga struck down the monster with a devastating hit.

The giant wild boar was slain! The party breathed a sigh of relief and sought the lair's treasure. Centurion Draza has died. For his valiant efforts Ruga has earned a promotion to the rank of Commander. Mexor One-Eye has emerged as a leader. Wrathful has been assigned to Ruga. Wrathful raises spirits in the leader's legion, causing additional damage in infantry and combined phases of perhaps 300 warriors. The leader wielding it has his command bonus increased 15%, and is 50% likely to wound an enemy leader or guardian in battle. The party also recovered 9221 gold! It has been sent to our treasury. This was a glorious moment none who fought here would ever forget!

Else while, my nobles remained busy, with my Duke usurping control of a Norse village while his own Duke reclaimed a village. My high priestess is healing leaders and troops in my largest legion, Hawk. That legion will move to the Norse town that Prince Saphrax is in. Why? While true that our Prince can politically muscle this town, his arrival there is known by the Norse. I am therefore using him as bait, hoping to lure the Norse army there while I move my, hopefully superior force there at the same time. By the way, Hawk this turn did capture the village that had the Norse nobles. However, since I am engaged in a political as well as military battle for Scandia, I chose finally not to issue the No Quarter tactic, which would have hurt our relations with the peasants. This choice, as it turns out, did result in the capture and summary execution of his Baron, but not the elimination of his Duke.

I am moving the strength of my noble court to Colonia, the important city in Scandia. My regional reaction there is good, and we should have an excellent chance to take the city. My spies report the Norse has only a Provincial Governor there, and no legions, which could intercept my nobles relocating. My Prince, Duke, and Baron will move there to attempt to win the city for me.

Turn 6.

A most unexpected and alarming development. The dastardly Teutons, whose home is in Germania, invaded Scandia with a huge army group consisting of twelve brigades, including six expensively recruited mercenary brigades of Burgundians and Heruli, and have settled in position to assault Colonia - meaning the heart of my nobility that just relocated there is in great peril!

With my own legion Hawk at the Norse's largest town, and the Teutons now positioned to conquer his city, the campaign is in the mop-up stages against the once-proud Norse. Now our attention must turn to the matter of the Teutons. High Priestess Nia divines the location of villages and towns in greater Germania. My plan is to quickly invade Germania, as my Huns are of "blazing" speed, compared to the heavy infantry of the Teutons being most likely "slow". While he consolidates his prize in Scandia, I will ransack his home region. King Attila will enamor Germania to again clear the way for political initiatives. My agents have been training, but still are not ready for dangerous missions like sabotage and assassination. Yes, things have certainly "hotted up".

At the end of every six turns, and at the game's conclusion, players are scored. I am impressed that seven kings have outscored me so far. My ally the Ostrogoth is out in front with an impressive tally of 1900 points. Despite my control of my region and now two artifacts, I am in the middle of the pack.

Through the first six turns, we achieved for the most part what we set out to do:
    1. Gain control of and secure Pannonia;
    2. Invade Scandia and bring the Norse to his knees.

Now though we have a strong new foe, and our communications with the new set of neighbors, such as the Thuringians have lapsed. We enter the mid-game in reasonable position, but with a whole new set of challenges of greater difficulty, requiring new plans, schemes, devices, and brutal conquest. Things are just getting started!