Erfworld 65, Page 59

[Kyeudo]

Looks like alot of people were right. The center hex is empty and the three dwagons were decoys.

Wonder what parson's planning.

[hobbitfeet]

So the pliers can be used as an actual weapon? I'd assumed that just having them used their powers.

[Etheric]

I always thought empty was the most likely one of all the alternitives going around here.

Ok what next for Ansom. Firstly go scouting with the bats properly this time to see where the stack is. Then I am sure he will find his main force too far away considering how little move he has left.

Then defensively. Make a nice big stack of siege and however much else you can get. Preferably with Ansom and the arkenpliars if possible. Hope that it can survive the assult. With the pliars, and some luck maybe it could. The mathemancy watch will make that one an intersting fight for sure.. It does depend if either the watch or Parson knows what the pliars can do.

I would be tempted to use the big force he has there to croak as many dwagons as he can too but it depends what else he can do with it... it can at least kill one other stack of dwagons as they have at least 1 move left.

The wildcard is Jillian. Maybe she and the archerons have got the move to get to the stack, what will happen then is anyones guess.

[zeropsm]

LOL

i knew it was empty...now is time for the fully healed dwagons come out of the fog right behind them!!

[Scientivore]

It's hard to tell when we don't have much information about how much taking out the three dwagons cost them.

Too true. I was assuming based on their intention to move one more hex and take on a score of (heavily wounded) dwagons and three (uncroaked) warlords. Of course, even if they could croak four full strength dwagons, they might prefer to just sit tight now and keep their own remaining strength for Stanley's next turn, when 19 A dwagons heal back to full.

I've been in situations like that in the TBS games that I've played. They tended to result in a lot of reloading as I looked for a course of action with a result better than "complete disaster".

And there's also the question of whether she'll actually do it. She ignored his orders to avoid engagements on the recon flight, but accepted (albeit with obvious displeasure) the order to stay with the incursion group, so it could go either way.

I read Ansom's comment on page 56 ("I will hold her in reserve") as just leaving her hanging, waiting for his call thinkagram. Whatever else I've criticized my avatar for, the man knows how to spin things!

Well, I'd say it was more stated than hinted at here: http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0039.html. Also from this I would feel pretty safe in saying that she is hiding the fact that she is royal from ansom. However I would bet that the reason for that is somewhat complicated.

Oh yeah, she's Xena Jillian, Barbarian Princess. As long Ansom tells her to leave the rescue heavies (and Webinora), she'll go wherever the action is. I'd stake my upkeep on it!

[CrazyGM]

I just love those "gotcha" moments, im sure Parson has many many more.

[Caledonian]

The command for the elves to unleash the barrage of arrows is volleyball terminology.

(groans)

[Gdrad]

Satisfying.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

"X"ed out eyes=dead. Must be a Giant in the Playground thing.



And Ansom is about to get pwned!

[Scientivore]

They can say testes but not BOOP?

"Testes" is not one of the *NSFW* Seven Ten Dirty Words.

[RubberBandMan]

If the forest units only had enough move to GET to that hex inside (which I think was parsons plan, I bet he put it far enough away to attack through the weak hex, but not close enough to retreat if something went wrong ), then it means the forest units only have one, or very few move. Meaning the B-dragons can most likely wipe them out, while the newly healed A-dragons finish off the siege, and at the end of turn get far enough away to be safe. The B-dragons have to spend almost no move to take out the attacking party, and the A-dragons seem to have enough move to get to the main army, then retreat far enough back that causal scouting doesn't bump into them.

Parson was very slick, and Ansom just wasted his units for nothing. If he couldn't break though six dragons to get to the weaker center, then a mob of 20 of them will kill him dead, while the A dragons just blow up whatever.

This is going to tip off the smarter people, like vinny, that the new warlord is crafty.

[Gdrad]

Satisfying.

[SteveMB]

I read Ansom's comment on page 56 ("I will hold her in reserve") as just leaving her hanging, waiting for his call thinkagram. Whatever else I've criticized my avatar for, the man knows how to spin things!

My read on the situation between Jillian and the rest of the group as of page 51 makes me think that only a direct order from Ansom would have prevented her from taking off again once the turn started (or sooner, just to be airborne and away from them). Admittedly, there's no real evidence.

"X"ed out eyes=dead. Must be a Giant in the Playground thing.

I've seen that convention in other cartoons.

[Scientivore]

So the pliers can be used as an actual weapon? I'd assumed that just having them used their powers.

We saw him use them in a flashback on Page 22.

[plainsfox]

Oh yah. I'm figuring that if Ansom survives this, He'll be forced into a VERY conservative mindset for a while, as he figures out what's going on. This buys GK time. Perhaps time enough to replace three dragons.

[Humnick]

So if Jillian is royalty, and Ansom is doing this for the King, is she the princess? Also, in this case Ansom is at the same level as Parson (Warlord) and the King would be at the same level as Stanly. This could make Ansom "disposable" in game terms as he could be replaced by a new Warlord.

My guess is that Ansom attacks one more group of dwagons and then sends for all of his fliers to his square. Parson would never attack a group that huge and although he wouldn't wipe out Ansom, he'd take out the entire seige and be able to withdraw to Gobwin Nob.

Net loss: 3-7 Dwagons
Net Gain: Killed several stacks of woodsy elves, Killed a few bats, Wiped out entire seige, Ansom and company are stalled and delayed one turn from reaching the capitol...

[Autonomous]

So if Jillian is royalty, and Ansom is doing this for the King, is she the princess? Also, in this case Ansom is at the same level as Parson (Warlord) and the King would be at the same level as Stanly. This could make Ansom "disposable" in game terms as he could be replaced by a new Warlord.

I remember at least one occasion that Ansom's heraldric device is a "royal" radish. Slightly less solid, he also appears to be the leader of the Coalition, and unless I'm reading it wrong that means more than the leader of the Coalition on the field.

If I had to put I label on Ansom's position in the hierarchy it would be "Prince". Which, given that there's definitely an aristocracy in the Earth sense (implying Ansom is a potential future King), probably makes him slightly less disposable than a Warlord.

[Demented]

Fw00t! And the woodsy elves have it!
For now.

I kinda wonder how effective Parson's original plan would've been. They mowed through three dragons rather easily... Four dragons wouldn't have been all that more dangerous.

Unless he was going to have the dragons farther away from the column, so that only Vinny's bats and/or Jillian's Gwiffons could've counterattacked.

[rosebud]

I'm considering this the canonical thread; the others should get locked. Three threads is idiotic.

Anyhow, I don't understand why people think Parson can walk over Ansom. There's too damn much firepower in that hex for safety. All the archers get their hitsies, remember?

As mentioned, Ansom still has one hex movement. It's going backwards, but at least towards the column could make some sense. Taking out a stack of dragons and possibly a warlord would be of value, Ansom has the troops to do it, and it does not require too much thought to commit to that action. Given the size of the tunnels, it's not like the ents, I mean trents, can do much else anyhow.

The siege is slow-moving, so it seems unlikely they can be moved anymore than the forward movement they probably made. The best they can do is move some air cover in with the hopes of providing some protection at the risk of losing those troops during hit and run attacks next round.

As for Ansom and Vinnie and feeling sad for them, I don't see it. It's at least interesting.

[innovan]

Is it the center hex is empty ...or is it all the hexes are now empty and the dwagons moved on to munch on the main line again while every elf/gump unit in Ansom's army used their last possible movement point for the day to move here?

Frames 1 and 2 are a bit too dark to make out whats happening. (Black bows against a black background) May want to lighten or change the bows' colors for these frames before publishing.

Sniff... goodbye dwagons. You had personality and great expressions, but you didn't last until dawn to get your hit points back. You will be missed.

I still say the dwagons should have just flown up high enough out of reach of the stupid gumps/elves to save themselves.

Stupid gumps.

[SteveMB]

So if Jillian is royalty, and Ansom is doing this for the King, is she the princess?

Princess of which kingdom? Two obvious possibilities are that she was a royal of the lost Croatan tribe (if so, and if she and Wanda are the only survivors, that adds a new wrinkle in their relationship) or that she is of the royal house deposed by Stanley's "sorta" regicide.

Whether it will become significant in this story, or is simply being raised as a bit of background for another story to come (assuming sufficient success for the project to continue) is unclear.

Is it the center hex is empty ...or is it all the hexes are now empty and the dwagons moved on to munch on the main line again while every elf unit in Ansom's army used their last possible movement point for the day to attack here?

Stanley's turn hasn't started yet; the dwagons haven't yet had an opportunity to move anywhere.

Frames 1 and 2 are a bit too dark to make out whats happening. (Black bows against a black background) May want to lighten or change the bows' colors for these frames before publishing.

They look fine to me. This sort of relatively low-contrast image is sensitive to the vagaries of one's display -- I recall the indentation for Parson's watch on his Stupid Meal toy being difficult to see when reading on my laptop, but quite obvious on the desktop monitor.

It shouldn't be a problem in the final ink-on-paper publication, unless the printer boops it up somehow, in which case I presume Rob and Jamie will apply some techniques of polite persuasion to induce him to fix it until it's done right.

[Haruspex]

Serve! Fw00t! Three dead dwagons, X's to boot. I like where this is going. Now that the empty center is revealed what's Ansom gonna do? Can his foresters fight the rest of the dwagons, or is he out of move?

[Burrito]

I don't know, I have a feeling the Forces of the Radish lost at least a few in that fight. It just seemed like a highlight reel on SportCenter. Either way, the outcome was still the same. Three Warlords and a bunch of units = three dead Dwagons. It would have been neat to see Vinny take one out though.

Now we just need to figure out where the Dwagons and Warlords went to.

Option A: Already pulled back to Gobwin Knob

Option B: Set up to attack the main collumn/Seige

Option C: Set up to counter/suprise attack Ansom

Option D: None of the above/something crazy and full of awesome.

[Gallanoth]

I knew the center hex would be empty!

[Vreejack]

Serve! Fw00t! Three dead dwagons, X's to boot. I like where this is going. Now that the empty center is revealed what's Ansom gonna do? Can his foresters fight the rest of the dwagons, or is he out of move?

First he has to find them. I suspect that Vinny can find them before his bats lose all their move, but when he does they will prove to be too far away for the forest forces. Perhaps only Jillian and the archons will be able to reach them, and that would amount to a suicide attack. True, they might re-croak the commanders, but that's a lot of dwagons, and even if they each croak a dwagon on their turn that still leaves the rest of the dwagons to fight back, and combat in this came is deadly. I am guessing that each side would lose half its forces each round of combat (or however it is executed.) Will Ansom order it? This would still be his best and only chance to save the rest of the siege units, so he may feel compelled to. Perhaps he will even feel the need to lend Jillian his arkenpliers. It should prove interesting.

[Zeku]

1. The A's, wherever they are, must hit siege and then retreat to Gobwin on this turn. We can assume Ansom will cover all available 'forest hiding spots' with his air units from now on, preventing dwagons from parking near the column, and thus preventing them from escaping annihilation via Jillian on the following turn. Thus, this is the turn that all siege must die.

2. Concerning warlords. There are plenty of warlords to allow every A dwagon to attack a siege unit. All the As move to a base hex near the column, and then cycle warlords through each A dragon for a hit and run, and then the entire stack flies to Gobwin. This wastes move, but otherwise the warlords would end up back in Gobwin prematurely, and thus incapable of leading the rest of the A's against the siege. Those unled A's would have to fight to the death.

3. However, this means that there may not be enough warlords to perform the same hit and run with the B stacks against Ansom. As we know, the B's have less move, but have the advantage of starting the turn next to Ansom's forest units.

[selgnij]

Hi all, kind of new to these forums. Alright, brand new.

A quick note: I don't think Ansom is going to try attacking any of the two adjacent hexes with what remains of his move. The number of dwagons isn't the only factor to consider, the type also seems to have an impact. Going by Ansom's comment on page 58, it seems that yellow, pink, and purple dwagons are the weaker types. So the 4 in the adjacent hex we've seen may be stronger, and while they might not be enough to survive Ansom, attacking them would probable lead to enough damage that he would be a sitting duck next turn. (Particularily if the two remaining uncroacked warlords are waiting, 1 in each adjacent hex.)

Next move Parson has some choices, he could launch full scale at Ansom or attack the seige. Which one he attacks is up to Ansom. If Ansom calls for air support to protect his group from being pounded by a swarm of dwagons there won't be anything to stop the dwagons from just flying in and killing off the seige then retreating to safety. If he orders the air support to protect the collum, he and 2 other warlords get killed, along with their forest units. As a bonus, Stanley gets the pliers.

I'd think he will order air cover for himself. Seaige can be rebuilt in a relatively short time, and even without the seige, they might still have enough forces to win, plus they will move faster without the seige, makeing up for this lost turn. Either that, or Jillian will simply refuse to let him die and go to support him anyway. Sry about the length, and the spelling.

[Ganurath]

The warlords can choose to have units not attack. Are we certain the center hex is actually empty?

[Jaloob]

Did I miss it in a previous page or am I the first to pick up on the forest gumps?

[SteveMB]

Next move Parson has some choices, he could launch full scale at Ansom or attack the siege. Which one he attacks is up to Ansom.

Which one he should attack depends on what Ansom does with his remaining options. The catch is that Parson may have a problem if he's been so caught up in tactical planning that he overlooked the issue of how to get Stanley to go along with whatever plan he comes up with. (My guess is that Stanley will want to ambush Ansom and take the Arkenpliers, even if finishing off Ansom's siege units would be a better strategy.)

I think Parson is quick-thinking enough to manage it, if he remembers the basic principle of leading Stanley into thinking it was his own idea.