iversonjm has won the 2nd KO tournament!

[ericdoman1]

My pc is up and running again but for how long no idea. Can't afford another one yet.

Matt has an edge I reckon. I think he will be on about 18/46 vs 7/22 shortly

My bp losses are my better troops which is not good. Matt's armour is certainly making the difference, especially when he is winning more of teh impact rolls. Maybe I should have staed back as long as possible and tried to caue more caualties through shooting but I prob moved into charge range a few turns too soon

[ericdoman1]

My game vs Matt is going to be very close.

I am on 36/46 vs Matt on 12/22. I will quite prob lose 10+ bps in Matt's go but for certain at the end of my turn. I will prob take about 7 to 9 bps of matt but I ma going to need to loot his camp, to have a chnace. If I do not Matt will prob win 18-20/22 vs 46+/46

Once more though I made the mistake of not trying to shoot him up a bit more that would have certainly made the difference as a number of Matt's bgs are close to auto rout. One big turning point was a fragged sup lf evded which I on never to evade. if I had gotten lucky and it had stood I would have prob won the game. He charged in with a lancer, my lf evaded and was then able to disrupt and then fragged my cic. If the lf had held, he would have routed it, my cic would have prob remained steady but then I could have rear charged the lancer unit, routed it and a gap would have appeared for more erar charges, agst units that at this moment are either steady or disrupted.

[stockwellpete]

Eric has just PM'd me to say that he has lost the semi-final to Matt by the narrowest margin possible! Congratulations to Matt for reaching the final with his Buyid army and commiserations to Eric for just failing to reach the final again.

Matt will play either Morbio or Aristides in the final.

[iversonjm]

My game vs Matt is going to be very close.

I am on 36/46 vs Matt on 12/22. I will quite prob lose 10+ bps in Matt's go but for certain at the end of my turn. I will prob take about 7 to 9 bps of matt but I ma going to need to loot his camp, to have a chnace. If I do not Matt will prob win 18-20/22 vs 46+/46

Once more though I made the mistake of not trying to shoot him up a bit more that would have certainly made the difference as a number of Matt's bgs are close to auto rout. One big turning point was a fragged sup lf evded which I on never to evade. if I had gotten lucky and it had stood I would have prob won the game. He charged in with a lancer, my lf evaded and was then able to disrupt and then fragged my cic. If the lf had held, he would have routed it, my cic would have prob remained steady but then I could have rear charged the lancer unit, routed it and a gap would have appeared for more erar charges, agst units that at this moment are either steady or disrupted.

Final score was 21/22 v. 46/46.

I had another unit to cover the rear of the lancer. I was assuming the archer would hold.

[stockwellpete]

What is the position now in the other semi-final please?

[Aristides]

It's a bit slow as the greeks have super-armoured elite guys who like to fight in the open, and the jews have guys that can only fight in the woods. The jews have ca twice as many guys but have lost twice as many too. The game's play is regular but both generals are understandibly cautious... Both, too, are complaining about dice and (not present) lucky players... Could go either way...

[stockwellpete]

OK, thanks for the update. It sounds like another closely fought semi-final.

Morbio, if you have time, maybe you could post a screenshot in this thread (I don't mean belatedly start an AAR) just so everyone can see the position and score?

[Morbio]

Latest news from the front....

[stockwellpete]

I have given Morbio and Aristides until "lights out" on Tuesday 20th November to complete this match as it looks like it might run very close to the maximum 24 turns. I think the position on the map in the post above is around turn 14 or 15.

[Aristides]

After an epic struggle that went down to the wire, my Judaeans have defeated Morbio's Seleukids: (47/49) to (24/24).

[Morbio]

An epic battle that was a lot closer than I expected, in my wildest hopes and dreams I couldn't see myself getting to within 10 points of victory. Ironically having got so close I was undone by a couple of evade settings. The battle was poised with my Seleucids needing 2 points and the Jews needing 4. I had one unit left to move and it was my elite Companions (disrupted) and directly ahead were LF archers. I expected them to evade, which would led to more LF and then possibly to the rear of average MF light spears - failing that I was hoping to catch the LF when it evaded, if it took 2 hits and lots of damage it may have routed (but unlikely). What I didn't expect was the LF to stand - it did and took heavy damage, but my Companions were now exposed to a rear charge from poor MF archers. My LH 2IC field commander was in melee with average MF light spears and had a 'no evade' setting (it had been positioned to stop a rear charge to my Superior cavalry that had looted the camp) - I didn't remove the no evade setting and it broke off to the top edge of the battlefield. Next turn the poor MF archers' rear charge routed the Companions - 2 points to lose. MF light spears charge the LF commander, it loses but doesn't disrupt... another MF charge is drawn... 3rd charge, massive damage and routs - game over I should have expected the break off (LH in melee with steady infantry) and set to evade. Had I done that only 1 point would have been lost and I would have had a chance to get my 2 points needed. I hade good chances for this with a rear charge set up by LH versus LF which was trying to loot my camp. I also had another 2 attacks on a disrupted superior MF spears, elite Companions in melee and superior armoured cavalry in impact.

The moral of this story: Think through the details, especially when it's very close!

Thanks Aristides for an enthralling encounter, congratulations on your win and good luck in the final versus Matt.

[Turk1964]

Morbio i think you did rather well considering your opponent had 25 more BGs.I think most of us would have struggled there

[stockwellpete]

So the final will be between iversonjm and his Buyid army at 300pts and Aristides with his larger Josephus Jewish Revolt army of 350pts. Congratulations to both players on reaching the final - that makes it five games in a row that you have both won now. And very well played to the two beaten semi-finalists ericdoman1 and Morbio. Both semi-finals were incredibly close affairs in the end.

By agreement with ericdoman1 and Morbio they will share third place in the competition - there will be no 3rd-4th place play off in this, or any future, competition.

[Aristides]

Morbio i think you did rather well considering your opponent had 25 more BGs.I think most of us would have struggled there

Yeah... but that's why we have a point-system: those guys were encased in metal while we just had rags and scarves! Also he had Elite troops - a rarity these days, I find. We had many Poor troops. Too many probably.

On balance, _maybe_ FoG overvalues numbers but M did a very good job of keeping the front narrow; also, as my numbers were in DG troops rather than cheap cav, i was restricted to certain kinds of terrain so outflanking was not a possibility.

[Aristides]

I expected them to evade, which would led to more LF and then possibly to the rear of average MF light spears.

We were thinking along the same lines; when i set it to no-evade I wondered whether the unit would in fact stand... your LH gen on the board edge was very close to auto-rout anyway: I had noticed this but forgot to pepper it with missiles before charging (like a fool I was playing Ticket to Ride at the same time); and then after the first charge it was 1% away from auto-rout and I thought that was it - as you would have won next turn, I reckon. Fortunately, i had an Av MF just in range who stepped up.

[stockwellpete]

The final has just started. I will post the latest score in the thread title space so players can follow the match.

[Aristides]

Our army of The Chosen moved cautiously forward, scouts ahead, seeking the enemy - the enemy that had desecrated our temples and left our city in ruins.

Rumour spoke of an army of few men, but men encased in bronze and iron, men who would fight with their teeth rather than run from the field.
And then, through the dust and sun's shimmer we spied them.

A small army indeed but rumour spoke true - the foe shone with the reflected brilliance of their armour: silver and gold glimmered in the bright sun. Too, many were mounted upon fine, large horses. Our defeated enemies say we wear only cloth because of our Faith, but in truth it is poverty that creates this lack.
In our land horses are so rare that a man needs the ownership of many villages to purchase just one beast.

A council was called and it was decided to not confront the foe directly, but to seek the safety of tree and hill, and to injure our enemies where we might with fast-flighted arrow and slung stone.

[My army is much larger than iversonjm's; both armies have Sup IF, but the Arabs are armoured; my opponent also has good shock cavalry - I have none. So we're shifting to the Bad Going.]

[Morbio]

My army is much larger than iversonjm's; both armies have Sup IF, but the Arabs are armoured; my opponent also has good shock cavalry - I have none. So we're shifting to the Bad Going.]

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose... the more things change the more they stay the same.

Different army, same tactics... good luck Matt - I hope you have enough LF and LH to catch the Jewish LF otherwise you will be stung to death! I also hope you have few pikes, because pikes in terrain really aren't good - that was a big problem for me.

[ericdoman1]

Aristides

Excellent post!

Good luck to both

[iversonjm]

My army is much larger than iversonjm's; both armies have Sup IF, but the Arabs are armoured; my opponent also has good shock cavalry - I have none. So we're shifting to the Bad Going.]

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose... the more things change the more they stay the same.

Different army, same tactics... good luck Matt - I hope you have enough LF and LH to catch the Jewish LF otherwise you will be stung to death! I also hope you have few pikes, because pikes in terrain really aren't good - that was a big problem for me.

Sadly, I have neither LF nor LH, but also no pikes...