"Horns of the Bull" Out Of Character thread

Okay, I'll play, and will try to keep as many regions as possible, and -who knows- maybe I can conquer some territories from the Numidians...

I think I'll play towards the end of this week. The coming days will be quite busy, and I fear I'm getting ill, so I'll have to fight an illness as well :embarassed:

So I'll post an update later this week.

Oh, before I forget, a quick question: what about the time I play? What's the rule? 10 years or the entire faction leader's career? Mine is currently in his early 40s so this might become a long game for me. :2thumbsup: or :sweatdrop:, it'll depend.

Hi Tricky Lady ~:wave:

My impression was that you finished the faction leaders reign. You had to pick an heir that was within 20 years of your faction leaders age to minimise the length of reign. Unfortunately I had no-one that fitted that critera and had to choose someone a little younger. This was further compounded by my faction leader dying peacefully at a very young age ~:mecry: !!

:charge:

I see. :sweatdrop:

If my reign lasts too long, I might get our faction leader more committed in difficult battle situations. :sneaky:

Hi guys,

The house rules :book: stipulate that you play "by Reign", we have encountered difficulties with this faction though...mainly that the faction members are all young(ish). This means we've been unable, so far, to abide by one of the other rules (as mentioned by Yakobu) but the rules are flexible and so am I :2thumbsup:

Tricky, if you want to put your faction leader into the thick of fighting....that's your call entirely. The benefit in the early game of having a heavy cavarly unit of significant numbers can't be underestimated. I used my faction leader constantly until his 78th and final birthday. Romans still didn't get him though!

As to game plan - Numidia seems a viable target as a small army can crush most of their much weaker armies (5-6 infantry unit + 3-4 cavalry). Just as long as you've got enough to hold the cities you take. Just watch the Numidian missle cavalry as they are remarkably resilient in hand to hand against your cavalry I've found.

This thread is here for players to ask help, assistance or just general questions so keep us posted on your developments and if you need help don't be shy :embarassed:

Have fun above all else.

Gaulgath - you're "in" now. take a seat and don't wait up....could be a long wait. :2thumbsup:

Hello guys,

A short update status... I haven't played much yet :embarassed: I'll play eventually, but the coming days are going to become much busier than anticipated (am buying an appartment + stupid work :furious3: )

So I was wondering if someone else is ready to play right now. If this is the case perhaps I can be moved down the list a bit... Just asking this as I know that when the PBM pace slows down a little when someone doesn't play for one week or more, the PBM is sometimes forgotten by other players...

Braden, can you move me down the list if there's another taker for the next reign? Sorry for being so annoying :wink:

I think PBMs are re-entering a dry-patch, with people getting preoccupied with other things. It might be best to forget about formal lists and just have Braden try to fix up the current player and the next in line.

AFAIK, the old list was:

Braden
Yakobu
Tricky_Lady
TinCow
Menelmacar
Zomby_Woof
Simon_Appleton
Mount_Surbibachi
Dutch_Guy

So it seems TinCow could be bumped up above Tricky_Lady. He posted in the WRE thread that he is getting over his Oblivion craze, so he's probably available.

I would suggest PMing Gaulgath to see if he would be willing to take the turn after TinCow. He volunteered in this thread and since he recently did a turn in the Seleucid PBM he should be reliable. Glaucus also wanted in, but I'm still waiting to hear if he is going to take up the now vacant slot on the Seleucid PBM that he volunteered for.

Most of the other players in the list either pulled out of recent PBMs or have not finished their write-ups for them. They, like Tricky_Lady can always post again when they are ready.

I'm still willing and available.

Simon, trying to stay with the list but I'm sure we'll get to you.

Have Pm'd TinCow, we'll see if he's available. Shame you couldn't make much of a go of it Tricky_lady. Any chance of ensuring the available .sav file is the most current?

Gaulgath will be Pm'd if TinCow cannot take over.

Good thing I checked in. Sure, I suppose I can play it. I'm still not quite over my Oblivion addiction, but I can take a day or two out help move this along.

Qs:
Should I be playing from where Trick_Lady left off should I play from Yakobu's save?
Do we want to impose a temporary 'reign' time limit due to the young age of the faction leader?

I think you better just take Yakobu's .sav file....

Hi everyone ~:wave:

My initial reign was very short so I am happy to share the reign of this leader if allowed. If you agree then TinCow could play him to a certain age and I will take over.

:charge:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by YAKOBU

Hi everyone ~:wave:

My initial reign was very short so I am happy to share the reign of this leader if allowed. If you agree then TinCow could play him to a certain age and I will take over.

:charge:

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It might make more sense for you to keep playing and then TinCow take over at a certain point - presumably you have plans etc that were in mid-execution so it might be nice to be able to see them through. How old is the new leader? If you take a life expectancy of 65, you could divide the reign up so that you and TinCow have roughly equal play time (including your short stint as the previous ruler).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by econ21

It might make more sense for you to keep playing and then TinCow take over at a certain point - presumably you have plans etc that were in mid-execution so it might be nice to be able to see them through. How old is the new leader? If you take a life expectancy of 65, you could divide the reign up so that you and TinCow have roughly equal play time (including your short stint as the previous ruler).

---

That sounds more appropriate to me. If the faction leader is in his early 40s as indicated above, we could just say he should play until 55. That should then give me a good 10 years, which is about what we wanted.

Hi there ~:wave:

I'm at work at present :embarassed: so not sure of age of leader. I'm happy to take the reign again as I did put Tricky Lady in a difficult position. Hopefully I will be able to turn it round before TinCow takes over. The only problem I have is that my next few days are very busy but I should definately finish my reign by the end of the weekend.

It will be great to get to some of those higher level troops as what I had were a little lacking :idea2: .

:charge:

Yakobu, can you find out tonight some answers for me so I can rule on this?

What year is it?
What age is the current FL?
What age is the next oldest Family member?

From this I can think of a way we can improve on the playing experience for the next people (i.e. you, TinCow etc)

Will do but if anyone can access the file before then please feel free to provide the information !! ~:cheers:

:charge:

P.S. On my write-up my faction leader died at 250BC.

Okay here are the answers:

It is 250BC Winter

The faction leader is Theages age 43.

He has a brother Asdroubas 34 (Heir); uncle Bomilkar 33; and cousins Bisaltes 29 and Juba 23.

I await your decision.

:charge:

Hi everyone ~:wave:

I'm a little concerned that this PBEM has stalled and Braden hasn't come back with a decision. Can we have a group consensus between the remaining players to see how we will continue?

:charge:

I agree - I second TinCow's recommendation that you play until your king is 55. I can't see that Braden would object to this, as it preserves the play order he set and seems to suit both you and TinCow.

I would just get started now - I know the weekend is prime gaming time for people with weekday commitments. I am sure Braden will not mind being presented with a fait accompli.

Moring guys and gals! Sorry, I've been unwell (again!) so haven't been able to concentrate on the computer side of my life this past week.

Anyway, I back econ21's suggestion.

Lets get this rolling again.:juggle2:

Hello again everyone ~:wave:

I have taken the current leader Theages to the grand old age of 55.

I have spent most of the reign stopping Roman fleets from landing armies on our islands. To reduce repair costs I tended to just target those fleets landing armies or blockading our ports. We have 3 fleets of 3 briremes each but the 1 near Sicily and the 1 near Palma need repairing.

We have a a 6 star general named Abascantus who I used to retake Palma. He is only 24 and is currently sat in Palma twiddling his thumbs. I look forward to hearing of his future exploits. Juba and Asdroubas (Heir) are also 4 star generals. We have also taken the Numidian capital of Cirta.

We are now making £6K a turn profit!!

Points to note:
Our faction leader Theages resides in Syracuse.
Our faction heir currently sits outside Thapsus and is set to auto-move to Carthage. Be careful as there are 2 Numidian armies close by.

I have done my write-up but must apologise as I am not a good story-teller so tend to just list the facts :embarassed:. On a plus side there are a few pics to look at.

I am enjoying this campaign amd may continue the save game as I have not played with Carthage before.

Over to you TinCow:
http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/HornsoftheBull3.zip

:charge:

Ug... I spent the entire weekend playing the WRE PBM and I haven't finished yet. I volunteered, so I'll soldier up and keep pounding away, but it may be a couple days until I can get to the Carthage PBM. I need to finish playing WRE first, then do the write-up (I'll do most of it at work though, so no 'important' time will be lost, lol) before I can start on Carthage. If someone else wants to skip ahead, feel free. Otherwise, I promise that I will play it and do a write-up for it, you'll just have to be patient.

@ YAKUBO - well done! I've just saved the write up to my HD for reading tonight but the results can't be sniffed at. Good show and don't worry if you feel the write up is lacking, all anyone wants is what happened. Embelishment past that is just extra gubbins :dizzy2:

@TinCow - As long as you keep us updated and that your prepared to do this then I'm happy.

I started playing last night. Only got through a few turns, but my faction leader is relatively old, so I should be done by the end of the weekend, if not sooner.

Good work TinCow, Gaulgath is in the running for next player.

I will PM him now.

:2thumbsup:

As you may know by now, Braden, I got your PM and am ready to play. Can't wait! ~:)

Ok, I'm done playing and have uploaded the save game:

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/...heBull227S.zip

Write-up should be posted sometime next week.

For anyone who is interested, here's the current state of the world. I'm rather surprised by Greece.

https://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b...PBM/mapend.jpg

Gaulgath, a few notes:

There's a big Gallic army right outside of Corduba. The city was full, so the last recruits and a new family member adopted there both appeared in single stacks alone and outside of the walls. Don't forget about them. Corduba also has a lot of unrest problems. I was going to knock down the current temple and build the Baal one for the added happiness bonuses, but never got around to doing it. That may help keep that city in order though.

The new faction leader is currently in Dimmidi. I was about to send him east and the army on the road was waiting for him. He's a bit old, but the next youngest guy didn't meet the 20 year requirements. Mine lived into his late 60s though, so may still have a long play time.

There's a lone family member on the northern coastal road who was on his way to Tingi to be governor. There's another lone family member on the road east of Dimmidi who was on his way to take Asdroubal's place.

There was a full stack Numidian army just outside of Cirta last turn, that's why the large stack of Sacred Band is in there. However, the stack has disappeared and I'm not sure where it is now, so keep your eyes open for it... and don't forget about the Sacred Band.

Brutii and Scippii keep landing armies on Sicily, some huge, some small. I've found a lot of success in sinking their armies while they're still at sea with the Sicilian fleet.

Save has been downloaded, I will begin play... now.

Excellent work TinCow and thanks Gaulgath, have pm'd you back a big "Thanks".

Looking at that map my personal inclination would be to take Cyrene but leave the Numidians with Libya as a buffer between you and Egypt.

Cyrene is a great staging post to then take Crete.....and have nice Creeeeshan archers!! :laugh4:

As for Corduba, I don't think I've ever had a Carthage game where I didn't have serious unrest issue there so turning to Baal might be a good idea as long as you're ready for the big initial hit whilst the settlement doesn't have any type of temple....

......over to you now Gaulgath,

(darn great position we have now...thanks again TinCow)

Preparing for the great march Gaulgath?

Good point Tiberius, it’s quite possible that Gaulgath will be in a position to start kicking out Elephants and hence to consider the great Alpine trek in the rules.

…now THAT’s something to write about!