LongBlade: Sometimes I think working here at GrogHeads is like living in Valhalla. We fire up wargames, fight all day, at the end of the evening retire for some rest, pour a drink, and chat on our forums. Then we get up the next day and do it again.

In this AAR four of our forumites have taken up the sword and are playing a four-player multiplayer game of Warlock: Master of the Arcane. Although I know their real names (and they’re good ones) we’ll file each of these reports under their nom de guerres on our forums so that folks can direct any questions to them there without confusion.

MetalDog appears to be the instigator of this particular game (no surprise to any of us who follow the forums regularly) and he’s the guy setting up the game. I’ll let him set the scene from here:

MetalDog: Choosing the parameters.  Not sure how well versed everyone is, so, I chose Normal Difficulty.  Ten minute Turns should be enough time and you can only win by eliminating your rivals.

The map is cylindrical allowing movement East to West over the border of the minimap and is made up of continents.  There are four total combatants and three other worlds.

I am King Rrat.  I am starting with Lesser Fireball and a lot of Gold, in the Treasury and being produced each Turn.

My starting position.  A handy dandy Neutral city lies waiting for me to take it.  How generous of them.

Quite a bit of Neutral activity near me.  Cannon fodder for my troops before I face my fellow Warlocks.

Swyndale becomes mine.  And the red units North of me belong to The Command Tent.  Not super happy to have Warlock company so soon, but, it’s better to know where he is than not know.  I build St. Mouseberg to take advantage of the Pumpkin Patch (a good friend of mine says, “you can never have enough Pumpkins.”)  It will also provide a place to stage from later.  AND Barthheart makes an appearance in the far Southeast corner.  Too close by half.

A better idea of where everything is currently located.

A look at the upcoming battlefield.  There are Donkeys for Stubborn Knights and I am making a cautious approach with my Settlers.  I don’t want to start the war to early.

Barthheart is making a reconnaisance in force in response to my probe of his territory.  I have had to move my Settler away slightly and hope that Bart will pull back far enough for me to plop down my city.

Building Shrine of the Rotten Pumpkin gives any of my units built in St. Mouseberg +3 Regeneration per Turn.  It also allows me to buy it for units that do not have it. I’ve built a Smithy and Barracks in Oddich which gives units built from there Fine Armor and Drilled.  + Melee and Missile Defense and +10% unit Power, respectively.

My first Hero!  Andreas may tip the balance in my upcoming wars.  Hurrah!

In response to Barthheart’s solid yellow line, I have taken to the forests and moved the rest of my units beyond his sight.  His Southernmost Archer unit is actually a Hero.  This doesn’t look good.

As I am currently thwarted from moving in the direction I want to go, I have retreated South and built one city already, Gorgonwood, and have a Settler on the way for the second.

As I followed Barthheart’s Turn, I noticed that he moved a Settler onto the Donkeys.  With the units he has currently and the ability to produce Stubborn Knights if he builds that city, I only have one choice, war!

Stay tuned for the other three players’ opening moves!

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