Dark Castle: Turn 9

Let's check out our battle:

Nifel:

This was a well executed battle where my Knights hit the front lines in sync with my chaff wall. After a few rounds of combat the  independents fled for their lives with my Knights in pursuit. 

We now have two more pretenders make their entrance. Ulm to our West:

And Bandar Log to our South:

Ulm in particular is somewhat annoying because he's now within 2 squares of my capital. The nerve of him to take my land before I conquer it!

This demands an immediate diplomatic response, which I send in poem form to the Ulm player:

Bone Daddy, the god of spooky fright,

Hates knights who disturb his peaceful night.

He warns them with a creepy grin and a cackle,

Don't enter my domain, or I'll make your armor rattle with fear and pain!

The knights may try to test their fate,

But Bone Daddy's power is far too great.

He'll send his minions to haunt and scare,

And the knights will flee without a prayer.

So heed this warning, knights of the land,

Stay away from Bone Daddy's command.

His evil ways may seem quite absurd,

But his evil powers cannot be deterred!

I bet he never received a diplomatic message like this before. Always keeping them guessing is Bone Daddy's philosophy, even if it's about your own sanity. 

Anyway, I think it's worth looking at the full strategic position in regards to our 4 neighbors. The below map shows the position of Man (Green circle), Bandar Log (Yellow circle), Ulm (Blue Circle), and Marignon (Blue Circle).

I have yet to reach out to Bandar Log, so we make use of Bone Daddy's impressive diplomatic skills and send a carefully crafted message to Bandar log:

Bone Daddy grins evilly and says, "Greetings my monkey friends. Although Bone Daddy is not usually considered friends of the living, we are interested mutually beneficial relationships. There's plenty of time for murder and mayhem later is Bone Daddy's philosophy. We should have our eyes peeled for these pesky humans. Rumor has it that there's a league of humans forming intent on wiping us outsiders from the face of the world. Now I have issues with that since I used to be human too, but I digress. Anyway, if you're in the market to sell some death gems we're always buying. If you want any bananas or anything just let us know."

The "league of humans" is obviously bullshit, but the truth is not something Bone Daddy is very concerned about. 

For my attacks this turn  I'm going to need to take Obocte, which is next to my capital, and seize some land to my West to stop Ulm from encroaching on my capital. However, Obocte looks like it could be a bit tough with War Elephants, so I send forces from 3 directions to seize it. We'll have 5 Knights and 42 chaff.

 Here is the formation:

Since I might bump Ulm and I want them to seize more land, I need to make sure it has some staying power. I'm also a little paranoid about fighting elephants in general because of their trample ability, which can cause a lot of damage (I think I still have some PTSD from previous games). I found the best way to deal with them is to attack them in force, which can often break their low morale. 

We also sent my Eastern force to assault the Caverns. It will have 3 Knights and 37 chaff.

Let's check out our event:

Excellent. Our fortune scales are working extremely well for us. This gives us enough gold to start another Palisade in Karene and a temple in Morn.

I know I said I wasn't going to say when I was going to site search, but I feel like I should mention that I'm taking another Spectator from my capitol (Shek Dimmu) and sending him to search for sites in my West. My research is awful, but I feel like it's worth it to sacrifice his 6 research points at the chance of finding more death gems quickly.

For recruitment I summon another Spectator and a recruit a priest and scout.