Erfworld 113, Page 101

[SteveMB]

Nice camp song.

[RMS Oceanic]

Looks like the "Divide and not Get Conquered" plan is starting to kick in.

[Occasional Sage]

Anybody have an idea for the tune of the song? Rob's a composer and performer, I'd bet there's actually a recording of this out there someplace, but my brain isn't making it all click.

Also, I'm surprised by the relative dearth of new information. This indicates that shuffling troops won't work as well as has been suggested in other threads, but that seems to be about it. Anybody catch something subtle?

[Frosty]

The song is too funny!

[Lamech]

And that is why lack of information sucks.

[kreszantas]

Bogroll FTW! sounds more like nursery rhyme than a "actual" song. But most songs are poetry or rhymes anyways...


The lack of "early" siege is just was Parson hoped on and that makes his dwagon losses seem a lot less significant. Had they not nuked those front siege there would not be a GK left to defend.

[Kyeudo]

Hamster's failed attempt to de-siege the collum has bought them a slight staggering to the order of arrival. Hamster's sticking most everything on the walls makes Ansom think that he intends to defend there and pray that the tunnels don't overrun the garrison.

I think he'll be surprised when somehow Hamster cripples the tunnel force somehow, possibly because he only made it apear everything was on the walls. With the tunnels no longer occupied, he can defend the walls better until they pile more units into the tunnels.

[AngryAngel]

A few obseravtions:

There's some discontent within the ranks of the coalition's warlords, especially the red clad lady in the first panel.

Since most of Ansom's remaining siege will arrive next turn, it's possible he intends to wait until the turn after that to attack. I say this because in some wargames, units that attack while moving (or even at the end of their move) suffer a penalty to their attack rating. Not sure if that's the case here, but he might want his siege at full power when it starts in on those walls, which seem quite high from Ansom's perspective.

As for the song, it sort of fits "We're Knights of the Round Table" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[Justin_Miller]

That is the best (and cleanest) battle-taunt song I've ever heard.

Bravo.

[DraPrime]

That is a fantastic song.

[SteveMB]

That is the best (and cleanest) battle-taunt song I've ever heard.

Bravo.

Parson does seem rather cheerful, considering the situation. Perhaps that's a hint about how good a deal he struck with Charlie....

[brob]

What a great page. Simple. The song's great. Nice contrast between the goings on inside and outside the wall.

[Lizard Lord]

Did parson withdraw all of the walled units so that they could join the party?

I find it to be rather amusing if he did.

[BarGamer]

Also, I'm surprised by the relative dearth of new information. This indicates that shuffling troops won't work as well as has been suggested in other threads, but that seems to be about it. Anybody catch something subtle?

Well, let's look at how GK can be assaulted. Again: Air, Tunnel, and Wall. Not counting Garrison right now.

Walls: Panel 6 states that the Coalition didn't want to assault the walls with siege, yet that's where Parson deployed most of his troops. This means that if Ansom used the 'scant few' siege he had against the walls, they'd get smashed against all the wall troops. However, if he waits a turn, he'd have the 60% or so un-smashed and out-of-dragon-range siege at his disposal.

Air: IF all the flying units they have were all sent after Stanley, or croaked, then they don't have an Air Route of attack. Heck, after seeing how powerful Wanda's response against Air units was in Page 97, I wouldn't be very enthusiastic about it, either. Unsolved mystery.

Tunnels: Webinar, obviously a good friend. Jetstone and Marbit forces down there, packed tight as sardines. Might be good enough to do it, just by themselves, with heavy-to-moderate casualties. However, panel 10 of Page 98 states that Ansom HAS to have everything in place before he moves, which was proven in this page.

Ideally, which is the only way Ansom's ideas work, GK goes barbarian, siege knocks down the walls and most of the GK troops, everyone else pours in, Webinar flanks and does cleans up from the tunnels, and it's an easy win, GG. We've SEEN this in Klog 12.

Wild Speculation Part:

Spoiler

Show

Personally, I think when/if Stanley gets croaked, Parson does what he said he'd do in Page 92: Surrender to CharlesComm. With Transylvania allied with (read: held hostage by) CharlesComm, Ansom doesn't have a choice except to pack up and go home. Sure, he croaked Stanley. But it doesn't matter, everyone's POed at him for not attacking this turn anyways and this is just more fuel on the fire. In fact, if Ansom tries anything by himself, Parson might demand the ArkenPliers or other compensation in return for not killing his friend Webinar and all the other tunnel troops. Wanda gets a new toy! Ansom goes home in disgrace. Parson and Charlie continue kicking butt around the world. And well... since it's speculated that Charlie is from the Real World, and he has his own Artifact, probably not assembled by Stupid Meals, Parson's sword may also be his own Artifact, ending out the awesome Page which is the end of the Battle of Gobwin Knob arc. What do ya think? :D

[Lamech]

Hey can Wanda open another can of DOOM on the tunnel units. All those tightly packed tunnel units who didn't plan for deadly AoE spells. And can't Sizemore collapse tunnels on them two. And what does Charlie have planned? This shall be fun.

[The Old Hack]

The cracks in the coalition are definitely starting to show. If Parson uses his coming turn to bloody Ansom's nose, he is going to really have trouble keeping things together. I can't wait to see the next few pages.

Edit: *blinks* I'll be darned. They're cooking food, it's not the stuff that pops. That's an Orly drumstick Bogroll is offering to Parson!

[SteveMB]

Hey can Wanda open another can of DOOM on the tunnel units. All those tightly packed tunnel units who didn't plan for deadly AoE spells. And can't Sizemore collapse tunnels on them two. And what does Charlie have planned? This shall be fun.

Wanda set off the air defenses -- the impression I get is that she used up a large amount of one-shot (over the time scale of a battle, at least) attacks pre-installed into the Tower of Efdup.

Of course, Sizemore apparently has some interesting surprises for the tunnel units (he mentions having disarmed some traps so they didn't go off prematurely as the enemy moved in). With the enemy packed solidly into the tunnels, even a limited collapse (a wholesale collapse of the tunnels risks bringing down the city) could do some major damage.

[Vreejack]

Did parson withdraw all of the walled units so that they could join the party?

I find it to be rather amusing if he did.

Looks like that's just what he did, just as Ansom was trying to demonstrate how well the walls were defended.

Not that there needs to be anyone defending the walls at night. Presumably the walls mark a hex boundary and so Ansom cannot attack anyway until his next turn...if he has one.

[BarGamer]

*blinks* I'll be darned. They're cooking food, it's not the stuff that pops. That's an Orly drumstick Bogroll is offering to Parson!

I lol'd. I STILL don't get Parson's comment, though. What Bogroll can SAY?? Doesn't make any sense. O_o;

Edit: Maybe Bogroll thought Parson REQUESTED a drumstick, or chicken? Except we haven't heard the lead-up to the joke...

[The Old Hack]

I lol'd. I STILL don't get Parson's comment, though. What Bogroll can SAY?? Doesn't make any sense. O_o;

What naughty words it is possible to say without them getting replaced with 'boop.'

[Vreejack]

Of course, Sizemore apparently has some interesting surprises for the tunnel units (he mentions having disarmed some traps so they didn't go off prematurely as the enemy moved in). With the enemy packed solidly into the tunnels, even a limited collapse (a wholesale collapse of the tunnels risks bringing down the city) could do some major damage.

I've always assumed that he would block off all escape avenues and then drown the enemy by flooding the tunnels. That would avoid collapsing too much and would completely panic the enemy into uselessness before they all suffocated.

[The Old Hack]

*blinks* Cripes. I just realised something. From what Ansom just said, half the original siege train hasn't arrived yet -- it's still on the road, away from the besieging force. Just how well is it protected? Might it be possible for Parson to get at it if he wins the battle in the tunnels? If he can destroy it, Ansom is reduced to having one tenth of the siege he started out with.

[teratorn]

Ah, Erfworlders seem obsessed with testes (we already had a "titan testes" from Vinny).

So that's why Bogroll was collecting the orlies in the previous strip! Drumstick!

The bad part is that we didn't learn about Parson's agreement with Charlie.

[NENAD]

The siege currently available for the attack on the walls is clearly insufficient to seize Gobwin Knob. The remaining siege will be on the move and, most likely, lightly protected until they arrive at the Knob. The only problem with the strategy of sneaking units out through the tunnels is that the tunnels are packed full of enemy troops. How do you sneak anything out of there? Or fight your way out, for that matter? My guess is that Parson's strategy is dependent on factors we're unaware of.

[Warren]

Like many, I believe that some massive doom is about to be unleashed upon the entire tunnel system (collapse, flooding, heavy C02 gas or even magma because the volcano's not so dormant as all that). This would explain why Parson withdrew all his forces from the tunnels to the walls, and why he had Sizemore disarm traps to ensure the maximal number of Jetstone troops entered the tunnels.

Of course, even after that Parsons's got an army on his doorstep that massively outnumbers his, and that army still has half its siege equipment ... and one problem with trying to sow dissension and convince the allies that Jetstone's only in it for their own glorification is that it seems most of the troops in the tunnels are Jetstone's, so if they are lost then while the Prince's leadership may seem less desireable, Jetstone also becomes less of a threat to the allies' independence ...

[Yodimus]

Oh my god, I love this comic.

Actually, this is the first time I've ever accidentally read the punchline panel of a comic, and the joke wasn't spoiled. It ONLY makes sense after you read every panel. Mr. Balder, he hides 'em well. :P

[Fez]

Egads... Parson is a filk fan too?

That's just rotten and mean of you Rob. Rotten and mean.

My, what will Ansom's allies think if things go poorly for not having attacked this turn, and not only that they lose the services of Charlie due to Ansom's miscalculations. Can't be fun getting pwned with the Jetstones.

Btw, when will we be introduced to the king, George Jetstone, his boy Elroy, his daughter Judy and Jane his wife?

[Fez]

Btw, when will we be introduced to the king, George Jetstone, his boy Elroy, his daughter Judy and Jane his wife?

Actually to answer myself, I suppose that would be 'his boy Ansom'.. at least he does have his flying vehicle.

[Borris]

I lol'd. I STILL don't get Parson's comment, though. What Bogroll can SAY?? Doesn't make any sense. O_o;

Edit: Maybe Bogroll thought Parson REQUESTED a drumstick, or chicken? Except we haven't heard the lead-up to the joke...

Looks to me like Parson is just done testing Erfworld's profanity filters. No matter what words may be censored in a game, players will always find ways to say things that sound dirty.

[Fez]

Looks to me like Parson is just done testing Erfworld's profanity filters. No matter what words may be censored in a game, players will always find ways to say things that sound dirty.

My kingdom for a thesaurus!

I remember in college working with a groups of friends to collectively write a romance novel as a lark. One thing we printed up was the list of banned terms for various body parts and activities, and then separately all sorts of idiomatic terms for the same things. One of my all time favorites the 'little pink piccolo'.

Poor Ansom

PS - We know units in Erfworld have loyalty ratings, given the complexity I presume they must have morale ratings too. Seems Parson is also building up his side's morale for the upcoming turn. Bogroll certainly seems cheerful.