Strategic Movement -Turn Four

Here's the map movment for Turn Four, with a bit of an insight into the strategic thinking behind the moves.

Orcs 

With the Warriors of Dunkel Schloss only one map section from their capital, Gaping Jaw, the Orcs have no choice but to bring them to battle:

a) To pin them in place
b) To hopefully drive them back
c) To make time for more reinforcements to get into place.

The Random Events phase granted the Dwarfs control of the Special map section adjacent to one of the ORc armies. Worth two map sections, again, this is a prize worth pursuing.

The third Orc army move is debateable. Moving it away from the Wood Elf frontier leaves an opening for adventurism on their part but with two hostile forces in the south east, close to Gaping Jaw, they are probably the priority.

In fact I'm going to move it into an unoccupied Wood Elf realm. If in doubt, expand your realms!

Though I may come to regreat that!

The Knights of Ebon Scar 

The Knights of Ebon Scar aren't under threat really so it's simply a matter of expansion and locking enemy armies in place so that they can't make inroads.

Having said that, one of my tips is to generally avoid conflict so I'm going to take as much land as possible and only bring the Daemons to battle for now.

I anticipate the Wood Elves attacking me in return but let 'em come!

One tricksy bit is you notice I attack the western Daemon army, locking it in place because I'm anticpating their other force going to battle with the Ogres one way or another.

Spider Goblins

Now this is quite annoying actually.

Spider Goblins are one of my more successful armies and they were on a steam roller ride to Barak Varr up until this turn; but the unfair start I foolishly gave them in the campaign has really stabbed them in the back now. With their special map section under threat and only two armies left to them, they have to expand and protect. There are too many Tomb King armies present to risk an attack on Barak Varr and even if they won it they would likely lose a good portion of their own land.

To this end they're going to lock the Tomb Kings in place and go to head of the Chaos Warriors, while also expanding and protecting their special map section.

Ogres 

Oooo! We have a siege possibility against the Daemons!

Or do we?

The Random Event for the Daemons allowed them to move one enemy army on their turn. My friend Mike is moving the Chaos armies this turn but as he isn't here right now I'm sure he won't mind me moving the Ogres as far away from Pernicious Gate as possible and also leaving the Valley of the Skulls open!

D'oh!

With that move enforced, the Ogres only choices now really are to bring the battle to the Tempestrians in Slaughter Pass once more, head off the Beastmen incursion on the Filigree Plain and send reinforcements down toward the Daemonic front.

Tempestrians 

Hmmm. The larger your realm becomes, the greater distance from the centre (where aremies are generated) to the borders.

I'd like to attack both those close pink Chaos Dwarf armies, but that would leave the northern Chaos Dwarf realm unclaimed. Maybe it's better to move forces into position and take as much land as possible.

Meanwhile the Beastmen have to be stopped before they can get started and troops need to be mustered and sent off in their direction. At the same time, my western borders are undefended (due to a terrible massacre at the hands of the Daemons).

Although I never play the Tempestrians in the game, they are definitely the force I'm rooting for at this level.

Who's Next? 

Well that's it from me for now. The Warriors of Dunkel Schloss are next in line and Mike is moving them. Here's the map of their current locations for him to start pondering.

And to aid Mike's decision making:

• Brown to the south are Tomb Kings 
• Bright green to the south east are Spider Goblins 
• Dull green to the west are Orcs 
• Dark green to the north are Wood Elves 
• Turquoise to the east are Empire
  
• The sections named in capital letters are the capitals of each realm. 
  
• The special map secions (worth double and granting special abilities in-game to the owner) are highlighted in red below.
  
• Having an army in an adjacent section to a battle adds points to the battle
  
• Once in contact with another army, your army can no longer move. 

Let's see if Mike is as good at Strategic Movement as he is in the normal game...