Summer 190 AC

Orkoth fell and when he did, I stomped on his face and continued towards Algar. Algar is mine as well, nothing a little Contagion and minions couldn't handle. Captured the Great Mill. The Elven Kingdom is crumbling and my beauty is running away... the chase is on!

Summer 191 AC

After defeating a Crag Spawn stack threatening my newly conqquered fortress of Algar, I turned my purple eyes to the southwest... and for the first time in a long time, my jaw dropped. Not figuratively, it literally dropped and I had to put it back on again. Anyway, what I saw redefines the old saying "a storm is comin'..." I MUST have this power!

Things are heating up... I wonder if your mana will last to keep the storm at bay.

Turn 130 - FP 121. Highest are Greenskin at 173, lowest are Centaurs at 65. I am now in 2nd place. The campaign against the Elves is going well. Suffering few losses... however that Deathstorm is frightening, will try to kite it away from Algar. Skeleton King stack will head south for further conquest. Skrymir is defending the homeland. Outside one stack, the Shadows have been quiet. In each city I'm alternating a building, then a unit to either replace losses on the campaign or bolster defenses down south. All in all things are under control. Looking forward to seeing what other surprising content is in store.   Save.

Summer 191 AC

The new spoils of Algar are located near a magma river. I've seen one before far to the south... I sense I can use this somehow. Maybe my travels south will enlighten me further. Regardless, my future Queen awaits. She will not surrender yet, which is a quality I admire. Hold out to the end, it will make the casting of Eternal Resurrection all that more sweet.

Kingdom Report:

Lay of the Land:

Skeleton King:

Warmster Skrymir:

Bone Shields (tanks):

Bone Spearmen (basic DPS):

I'm going to apply some lessons I learned on Seans' mod when every stack was a killer... first kite, and when that doesn't work, try some wardens, lol. I do have Freeze as well. This will be interesting!

Fall 191 AC

I've found a location on the magma river that looks useable... instructing my researchers to explore further and make haste with the discovery.

Spring 192 AC

I've ordered the engineers responsible for this high tower monstrosity to be thrown into the magma river and never to be reanimated. Must I do everything myself? I did order it rushed due to the deathstorm but that's besides the point...

Summer 192 AC

Conquered the Elven capital of Alfsigr but not before falling in battle and being routed. Fortunately, Roland's Adventurer's carried the day and managed to finish off the catapult and 2 elven archer city defenders. For that level of service, I will let them stay human and not become a minion. They earned it. Must animate an entire new army. My Queen is down to one settlement now...

(this battle was epic... it came down to the last few exchanges)

The end of the battle with Rowland's Adventurer's carring my standard:

Results (Skeleton King defeated at top of scroll):

Former Elven Capital:

Winter 192 AC

Far to the northeast my scouts located a Fiery Gorgon champion named Vasss living in a van, down by the river... uhh, I mean in a hut by a water shard. He heard of exploits down south regarding the Elves, whom had always ostracized and harassed him. He offered his services as long as he could kill Elves. My scouts said kill them all, less the One that belongs to the Skeleton King... and so joins my second champion.

Spring 193 AC

A band of ruffians named the Syndicate decided to threaten the former Elven Capital. I gave chase and located their hideout. To my surprise I found a Demonshrill champion named Tluzoo willing to join my campaign. Needing vassals to hold my newly conquered lands, I agreed. The undead avalanche is picking up speed.

Fall 193 AC

Skrymir wasn't doing his job, boozing it up lamenting over his war injuries... That slippery Edror snuck up from the southwest and is now threatening the Empire with a dangerous stack of macemen. Skrymir froze the army, giving me time to move my two new champions back to fortify the southern border. To the east, one band of minions are kiting the Deathstorm stack away from our settlements and towards the center of the world.

The Edror threat:

Deathstorm:

Turn 140 - FP 158. Highest are Greenskin at 198, lowest are Elves at 52. Campaign to finish off the Elves is almost complete. Their core Kingdom has been gutted, they have one outlying settlement to the south. I will not conquer them without their Queen surrendering. Off the west, the Shadows have one threatening stack which I am focusing on. Still kiting the Ophidians on the western boundary, and now kiting the Deathstorm. All in all, things are under control. Save.

Winter 193 AC

I control the northern half of the world. Once I have my Queen the Shadows are next on my list. Edror will be strung up at the capital - a warning to all who resist the inevitable. Caravans report there is an extremely dangerous land to the south... a wild land. When I have time I will visit it myself.

Kingdom Report:

Lay of the Land:

Spring 194 AC

Skrymir delivered but not without casualties. Lost our Ice Elemental again and a few minions. Used Freeze and then Wither to augment our troops. But we sent Edror skimpering back home...

Clash of the Titans:

Fall 194 AC

The last Elven city... Sowien is up north a little ways from my location. Will take this city and demand surrender, she will be mine!

Well... the higher they are, the harder they fall. Sowien's last defense took my by surprise and I was careless. To survive I burned a prismatic potion, a healing nectar, and an escape scroll. Holding on but just barely...

Winter 194 AC

My travels south around Sowien's last city led me to a giant landslide. Off in the distance was quite a surprise - a wingless dragon! If I could only use the beast as a mount... it appears there must have been quite a battle and this creature was on the losing end.

Spring 195 AC

The Magma Forge is under construction.

Once complete allows casting of the Magma Forge Spell:

Spring 196 AC

Sowien yielded in the Spring of 196 AC... her spirit now broken. I think it's because she couldn't resist my undeadly physique. Do I keep my Queen as Elven, or Undead? For now she will remain the same... I may cast Enternal Resurrection, or I may not. Time to turn my attention to the Shadows.

Turn 150 - FP 174. Highest are Greenskin at 216, lowest are Golems at 53. Elves are destroyed, Sowien is now Queen of the Undead. Made peace with the Shadows, to give time to consolidate and pacify a few of the dangerous mobs left internally on the borders. There are several settleable spots, plus Curgen's Lair is down south which is a great opportunity for the King to gain xp. Next 10 turns will be dedicated to consolidating power and pacifying any dangerous monster lairs (tired of kiting those Ophidians on the western border). Designed a new warg riding bone firemage which will own the battlefield. Have a plethora of new spells at my disposal considering Sowien surrendered. Extremely powerful now... Save.

Summer 196 AC

The outcome is inevitable. All elves destroyed except the most important one. Her spirit is broken, must find the best way to repair and reforge her broken spirit. There is peace in the lands for now... I will break it on my own terms. Prepare yourselves, enemies, for the Skeleton King storm is comin'.

Kingdom Report:

Lay of the Land:

New Bone Firemage:

Summer 197 AC

My armies are a sight to behold. The Golems and the Shadows are both allied with me, fearing what I may do... leaving only the Greenskin and Centaurs. If they do not bow, this awaits...

Turn 159 - FP 201. Greenskins highest at 214. Researched Alliances and decided to end this with a Diplomatic victory. At this time, the only serious threat on the map was the Deathstorm (kiting and wardens are keeping it busy) & Curgen's Wildlands. Skeleton King was about to lead a campaign to the southwest to clear all border mobs while Sowien and the 3 other champs were settling/pacifing the middle of the map. One settlement was founded and the second I did that Curgen's mobs cam pouring out.. was looking interesting. Final Save. Here's the turn prior save (turn 158), before I made the final two alliances. Turn 158 can be continued.

Summary:

HF's content rules, he is "Da Man". Wish the environment changed (spread undead tiles) but Brad mentioned that's a 32 bit limitation. We can get that when they do 64 bit. Only other drawback I can think of is that mid to late game feel you get when you know the game is over and there's nothing the AI can throw at ya. This was about to become a steamroll, which is why I called it via diplomacy victory. If anyone wants to pick up where I left off, feel free to download the turn 158 save above and give it a go. Regardless, hope anyone reading enjoyed the playthrough.

Fall 198 AC

As my power increased so did my negotiation skills. The pretenders were willing to enter into alliance treaties and become city-states underneath my leadership. As long as they bend and serve my will, they can live. I have my Queen, my seat of power, and the might to enforce my will at any time. The world is finally mine and no one questions my hegemony.

Final Negotiations:

Kingdom Report:

Lay of the Land:

Victory Screen (no Draginol level, Breon, boo!):

Well played! Lots of fun for me to read.

Yeah, the late-game mop-up is a big problem with the vanilla game. Since I'm using the same rules and balance there's no real good way for me to "get at" the problem other than the 20 new events.

Thanks, HF. It was a pleasure to play your mod and share The Skeleton King's story. 

HF - been thinking about this... one thing you could consider modding in is city defenders. To me at least, vanilla FE's design choice with defenders as militia, leaves city warfare feeling more like a speedbump rather than knockdown dragout fight. For example, in this playthrough my breakthrough came when I took the Elves Fortress up north. I had to only mildly consider the defenses. City defenses in the last 2 cities were tougher, especially the one that had a catapult, but still, the steamroll advanced. My FP increased drastically once I was able to take AI improvement buffed cities. Being able to easily take bastions of power just feels wrong (i.e. the battle doesn't really feel any different than on a non-city tile).

As a player of Sean's mod, in my last playthrough the AI had bolstered their defenses and it was an army unto itself. His design switched from militia, to defenders. This stopped me in my tracks. This forced me to not even consider attacking the city early or mid game until I had proper techs researched and enough military to attack. Had to build the Maginot line - on the other hand, the damn AI was hammering me into the ground with one of the few strategic spells it uses... the HP debuff. I think it cast it like 16x on my fortress protecting the northern border. That was going to be a game loser anyway (gratz AI!)

Since we don't have city walls, siege mechanics, etc. it makes sense to me to improvise with the mechanics we do have, which is switch the design from militia to defenders. Just my humble opinion to help with the mop-up problem... maybe Derek landed where he did because the game could slow to a crawl, dunno. I'd personally find it more fun with cities that put up a fight. The AI builds the buildings, it gets the units, and we don't have to worry about the AI moving them somewhere stupid, etc. Taking a city feels like a real accomplishment in that scenario.

I hear ya, been wanting proper sieges forever. Upping the strengrh of militia sounds like a pretty clear-cut case of balance changing though. I don't really want that for this mod. I don't want people playing it to have to relearn a bunch of mechanics. I want it to be the same game, just better diversity in factions and more content.

I don't see how you can want that. The core game balance is so full of problems. You have the power to fix it. Why would you not fix it? I think this is the core difference in our mod design styles.