There and Back Again: Chapter 1

A Novel written by the legendary Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, recounting the tales of intrigue, excitement, mystery, adventure, and combat he has shared with Gandalf The Gray.

It was a warm autum day when the Wizard Gandalf Mithrandil asked that I accompany him on yet another quest, this time as his scribe. The quest began in Rohan, where we made preparations at the stronghold of Fangorn.

Advance forces were sent out to quell uprisings in the neighboring native lands, and we immediately received a message from Delmar of Cork, requesting peace. Ever the diplomat, Gandalf readily agreed. As Gandalf's empire continued to expand, offers of peace came from Ice Queen and Chazmanian Devil. Accepting these offers, Gandalf the Diplomat began showing signs of the emergence of Gandalf the Combatant.

To the west, Maverick emerged as the first threat to Gandalf's expansion and emerging prosperity; immediately, Gandalf rallied forces from Chazmanian Devil, and his ally, King123, in order to suppress this threat. Gandalf continued to expand to the north, unobstructed as of yet, though to the east, the empire of Strides threatened. Calling on the aid of the people of Cork, Gandalf fought alongside Delmar, and quickly eliminated this new threat.

At this time, to the north, a rather small empire, under the guidance of Jelliott, attacked Gandalf's empire. Gandalf quickly dispatched messengers to this empire, and the emperor Jelliot agreed to peace. Jelliot was under assault from the powerful Incisor, and called upon the support of his ally, Dream Weaver, who made the costly mistake of engaging Gandalf. War resources shifted to production in the North, to quell this nascent threat. Perhaps Gandalf's most cunning move in this early stage of the game was a judicious use of Hand of Nergal against 199 of Dream Weaver's Amra, which caused this small army - that otherwise would have gone straight into the heart of Gandalf's empire - to drown in the Enzuathiayr Rapids, over which Dream Weaver had Grunch Guarded them.

At this time, the ever-wise Gandalf contacted Incisor. These two mighty warriors, quickly separating themselves as the most powerful in the realm, agreed to peace, so as not to hinder each other's growth. This peace would last through the end of the campaign.

Dream Weaver would put up a valiant effort, executing the ant-swarm tactic flawlessly. Eventually, though, Gandalf's superior resources, and superior lessors, won the day. Gandalf corralled Dream Weaver's roaming lessers, and cornered him near the border with AsianWolfman and Finndo. In a last-ditch effort, Dream Weaver summoned a mighty Amber Dragon; however, superior forces fighting with the aid of an Axe of Nergal, made quick work of that menace.

Meanwhile, in the southwest, the tide of the war with Maverick had turned decidedly in Gandalf's favor. Gandalf had overtaken most of Maverick's empire, but for a few regions directly between Gandalf and Chazmanian Devil. Maverick's last stronghold - in the region of Grakpam - loomed large, the fortress there giving Maverick a slight advantage. But, a combined StarPierce by Chazmanian Devil and massive assault by GandalfTheGray effectively ended Maverick's threat.

At this time, Gandalf had begun to attack the empire of Drey, whose empire was found to the east of the vestige of the empire of Strides. Also, the Knockout Kid had gained the upper hand on King123, who requested asylum in the safety of Gandalf's empire. Drey requested peace, and Gandalf accepted, in order to refocus attention on avenging King123's defeat to The Knockout Kid.

Gandalf allowed the KO Kid to draw first blood, but this scheme was all part of a carefully planned strategy - the crux of which was the region of Sakpilste, along with a second front in Khympamcil.

As part of the peace deal brokered with Drey, Gandalf acquired a temple of Crank. Additionally, Gandalf had nearly 1000 troops no longer needed for battle. Sacrificing these troops gave Gandalf all the fury he would need to implement his scheme to bring down the KO Kid. The KO Kid had a single Wooden moving through a corridor, via Khympamcil, en route to King123's escape path. He also had three Woodens moving to attack Sakpilste, where Gandalf had cleverly built a temple, apparently unguarded, but for a lone Magma Demon.

Gandalf moved a large force of Rip Lizards into Sakpilste from the opposite direction of KO Kid's advance, at the same time he conjured and summoned an Iron Hulk, and cast an Axe of Nergal. Gandalf would later come to find out that his Axe had out-bid KO Kid's Terrible Slobber by a scant 1 Fury!

In Khympamcil, Gandalf overpowered the lone Wooden with nearly 500 Rip Lizards, casting a Diablo Spear.

As a result of the battles, the KO Kid lost 4 Woodens and 65 Amra, while gaining only 17 Fury. Gandalf lost a handful of Rip Lizards, but gained nearly 450 Fury. The KO Kid would put up a valiant effort, but would never again challenge Gandalf. Other key battles would follow, but Gandalf had the upper hand in resources, especially Fury. Following an especially devastating battle in Glenfinnen, in which Gandalf's Iron Hulk "KOKs Worst Nightmare", along with 773 Rip Lizards and a Hand of Nergal toppled KO Kid's last bastion - the fortress of Lock Sheel Castle, which harbored 836 of KO Kid's finest Amra - the KO Kid would eventually surrender. Hindering the KO Kid even further was his on-going battle with Drey - who defended superbly, costing the KO Kid much in the way of fury and treasure resources.

Meanwhile, back to the northwest, Gandalf had been requested to aid in bringing down a new enemy - Vorrak, who had broken a NAP with Gandalf's ally, Drey, thus crippling Drey for most of the game. Gandalf had a single entry point to Vorrak - a corridor of dunes regions.

Eventually, Gandalf would break through to the heart of Vorrak's remaining empire. Gandalf overtook a key Temple, and moved into position against Vorrak's last remaining stronghold. Gandalf took two regions bordering the Fortress, and decided to attempt the imfamous Suckerman Slide maneuver. Gandalf would slide in from Eastern Grakpetr, with the Deserts of Old Puurmor serving as the suckerman location. Interestingly, the Deserts of Old Puurmor was bordered by Vorrak, Gandalf, Drey, Warthog, and AsianWolfman. Never before had the Old Wizard engineered a five-way battle!

The ensuing battle was nothing short of spectacular. Vorrak's 319 Crusaders VS Gandalf's 41 Rips VS Drey's 47 Rips VS Warthog's 144 Amra VS AsianWolfman's 134 Amra. In the end, somehow, AsianWolfman emerged victorious, with 5 Amra surviving the melee. Though Vorrak gained 173 Fury, he lost his stockpiled troops, and was reduced to 70NT per cycle. If not for a well-timed Terrible Slobber, the Suckerman Slide would have executed flawlessly. But, since this battle occured at the same time as the Sakpilste and Khympamcil battles with the KO Kid, Gandalf had no fury to counter this move.

Luckily, Gandalf took a region from Vorrak in which a temple was under construction. Imagine Gandalf's surprise when he discovered a brand new temple, The Flaming Hive, which would prove to be the eventual downfall of Vorrak. When Gandalf took Vorrkak's Temple, he immediately summoned a Magma Demon and an Amber Dragon (conjured in a temple taken from Dream Weaver). A crafty Vision Nerve allowed Gandalf's troops to claim the region from which Vorrak would attack with his last, gasping Amber Dragon, and Gandalf's forms made quick work of this last-ditch effort from Vorrak.

Due to the elimination of Vorrak, Gandalf's empire now bordered that of Warthog, who offered Gandalf peace. The campaign was beginning to crest the hill - the end was nearing, but not too soon.

All this time, Gandalf's ally, Chazmanian Devil, had been battling fiercely with AsianWolfman. Gandalf stayed aloof of this skirmish, but the ability to do was quickly diminishing. AsianWolfman had also begun to engage Gandalf's other ally, Drey. Both Drey and Chazmanian Devil requested Gandalf to intervene. Not wishing to engage in war with AsianWolfman, Gandalf made one move on behalf of each ally - taking Eastern Golgrak from Drey at his behest, and taking Wolfman's Demise fortress in Lossakchan from Chazmanian Devil, at his behest. Both moves cut off Asian Wolfman from attacking either ally further, and sparked a heated email debate that nearly ended in war between Gandalf and AsianWolfman, along with his ally, Warthog. Fortunately, Chazmanian Devil brokered a peace deal, and Gandalf allowed Warthog to recant his dissolution of his NAP with Gandalf.

During all this time, the lead in the campaign went first from Incisor to Gandalf, then suddenly back to Incisor, by a 20-point margin. Ever the strategist, Gandalf began implementing his endgame plan. In three cycles, Gandalf would reclaim the lead, which was up to nearly 40 points by the fourth cycle.

Unbeknownst to anyone but Chazmanian Devil and King123, Gandalf had skipped BOTH the third and fourth BBs, to cast the fifth BB.

Drey, under assault from Incisor and Warthog (the reason for Incisor's sudden reclaimation of the lead), implemented a plan to ensure his survival, which included casting BB#3 and allowing Gandalf to take it.

Gandalf now had 4 Black Betweens, but needed only 5000F to end the game.

Chazmanian Devil had offered to cast BB#4 for Gandalf, but as he was heavily engaged in his joint battle with Blackice against Delmar, he would not have resources enough to do so before Gandalf intended to end the campaign.

Having secured all borders, and implemented a plan to claim mountains and seas with all available forms, and to Grunch Guard those that were unreachable by those forms, Gandalf was now able to stockpile his resources for the purpose of mass Fury sacrifices.

Finally, on the 40th Cycle, Gandalf cast the final two Black Betweens - ending this most-enjoyable, epic adventure.

Friends and Foes

Ally	Started	Status	Outcome
Delmar	Cycle 1	Standard NAP	Game-long peace
Ice Queen	Cycle 3	Standard NAP	Game-long peace
Chazmanian Devil	Cycle 5	Ally	Game-long alliance; helped Gandalf win
Jelliot	Cycle 6	Standard NAP	Attacked Gandalf, but agreed to peace.
Incisor	Cycle 12	Standard NAP	Game-long peace
Drey	Cycle 16	Ally	After asking for peace from Gandalf, became game-long ally; helped Gandalf win
King123	Cycle 14	Ally	Gandalf offered King asylum from KO Kid's attack; became game-long ally
Warthog	Cycle 23	Standard NAP	Nearly ended NAP during the Wolfman Incident, but recanted, and remained at peace
AsianWolfman	Cycle 29	Standard NAP	Game-long friendly relations nearly broke down during Wolfman Incident, but Chazmanian Devil brokered NAP agreement

Opponent	Started	Ended	Outcome
Strides	Cycle 6	Cycle 12	Eliminated
Maverick	Cycle 6	Cycle 15	Eliminated
Dream Weaver	Cycle 10	Cycle 19	Surrendered to Gandalf, and was given survival
Drey	Cycle 14	Cycle 16	Requested NAP; became game-long ally
Vorrak	Cycle 18	Cycle 23	Eliminated
The Knockout Kid	Cycle 21	Cycle 28	Surrendered to Gandalf, and was given survival

Conclusion

What a fun game! Though it dragged on a bit at the end, this game was generally fast-paced and fun. This was the first game where I was successful both as a diplomat and on the field of battle. Chazmanian Devil (a game-long ally) and Drey (one-time foe, but eventual ally) deserve much credit for my victory. All who played displayed remarkable honor - Incisor, Delmar, AsianWolfman, Warthog, to name a few. Memorial battles included those with Dream Weaver (this guy never gives up!) and The Knockout Kid (got a bit too agressive this time, but I hope the tables never get turned!).

In this game, only first place got any of the purse. A few players, close together on a small field of battle, made for an interesting game. Communication proved to be the key to winning the day. I learned quite a bit about battling on multiple fronts, as well as the importance of fury management.