Viking Raiders (1984) - Raiding is all fun & games until Olaf starts drinking
We're back on the multiplayer games with Viking Raiders, in which Vikings replace their "burning" skill with a "building catapault" skill. Their "loot" and "getting drunk" skill remains untouched.
It's going to be the same players as the Apocalypse multiplayer, basically because I feel bad for making them play Apocalypse. We'll return to the histrocial system for the following game, which should not be in 6 months.
So we have:
- Dayyalu the Wrathful
- Scribe the Scrounger
- [Operative] Lynx the Longsword
- Barachel of Ammon [KarbonKitty]
The map has been chosen thanks to a convoluted system that I don't want to get into, and Dayyalu the Wrathful is now pondering his moves:
I am sad to report that my reading of the manual indicates that army being drunk does not, in fact, increase its combat ability. Although given that the manual is about as long as an average tweet (xeet?), that might still be the case, just not mentioned!
Also, hoard is spelled correctly, yay! The catapult isn't, but that doesn't bother me nearly as much. 😉
The spelling of Catapault must be intentional.
Deep in the Frozen North, where in ages past Troll and Vanir walked the Earth, an army of angry men assembles. Guided by the visions of clan shamans and promise of loot, violence and drink, they prepare ships and weapons of war. First, their neighbors will know their wrath. Then, the weak Vikings of the South, corrupted by their proximity to the Franks and their deviant ways.
Well, after a one-turn kill, we started on a new map:
Dayyalu the Wrathful moves first. Some of this men use the ship as a bridge and attack Lynx Longsword's catatapault. Meanwhile, others take said ship and go search for treasures!
Viking see! Viking do! My boys... cross the boat-bridge and destroy Barachel of Ammon's catapault. It looks like starting with a catapault is NOT the meta. Another of my men get drunk on wine that was on the way. I also send some good lads join the fun in the West. A
[disclaimer: I recaptured my moves for the gif, so the drinking horn did not respawn in the GIF where it really respawned in our game]
After that, I build more troops and more ships, and wish good luck to Lynx Longsword with his turn.
Luckily my guards were sober enough that Dayyalu's sole attacker and Scribe's scout were stopped, and after that I focused on rebuilding the castle defences. Now that the green clan has been assimilated by Franks, there most likely will be a need for strong defence.
In the west there's a mad race going on. Who will claim the treasure chests? Stay tuned...
Operative jumped a step. Here is my destruction of Barachel of Ammon:
That puts me at a significant advanage - but still no chest to get some revenue.
Back to my turn AFTER Operative Lynx moved...
... but actually not much happened, except this beautiful naval action:
One movement, 4 Dayyalu assets sent to the bottom. No wonder he feels wrathful!
The race for the treasure turned into a fight for the treasure:
Unfortunately for Dayyalu, his man Olaf was more interested in drinking than watching the backs of his friends who went after the treasure. So, my warrior was able to take out two of Dayyalu's men single-handedly, and my men can now focus on collecting the treasure.
On my home island I sent a warrior to take out the trespasser, but he failed. So, I had to resort to overkill by crushing him with a boulder. Hopefully his friends on the north side of the fjord were paying attention and understand to stay out of my land.
[Shivering] What is that I feel in the air? Winter is coming!
I had expected to have a peaceful night since scouts were reporting that Dayyalu and Scribe were fighting far in the northeastern corner of the map. But then I awoke to find an intruding party on my land, this time sent by Scribe.
So, the natural course of action was to give them a proper Viking welcome:
Once again we are able to witness Scribe's ships sinking under the southern seas fjords.
On turn 6 winter had advanced so much towards south that the northern fjord had frozen, thus making my land accessible by walking.
In the northeast Scribe had gained upper hand against Dayyalu. Dayyalu had taken advantage of the ice bridge and sent some men towards south. They were good practice for my catapault crews. Otherwise I used this turn to prepare for offensive action by postioning my troops accordingly.
On turn 7 Dayyalu had been building up his defences, and they had been enough to stop Scribe's conga line coming from the east. (Editor's note: the rules make conga line tactics unsuitable for use in this game.)
Men, Dayyalu-the-Fearful is hiding in Dayyalu's Deep, but that won't save him. It is time to show him the might of the sword!
Dayyalu being now out of the game, there's only Scribe left. Me having now the advantage I start pivoting my forces towards east. There's no chance that Scribe can stop me now, or is there? You will see...