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[X] Leader

Better to be the hunter than the hunted. Enemies have agency too. We are currently unnoticed. Best make that count.
 
The demand that we only engage Drycha when we have allies supporting us seems to completely surrender the initiative to me. She can jump from one of our assets to the next, killing them one by one with her existing distractions pinning them down, and we'd always be a step behind because we wouldn't know who to assist next. Once she's killed one of our heavy hitters, her high value assets that are currently pinning them can redeploy to focus on the others.

This plan would fail when the Tsar arrives, but unless we mark and counter Drycha now she can establish crushing tactical superiority to break our individual strongpoints and inflict unacceptable casualties on us.

If this would be her plan attacking the Branchwraiths is our worst option, as it doesn't take out any of her major combat assets that are deadlocking ours, meaning we can't play the ganging up game in reverse.

Worst, for people afraid of facing Drycha alone, what would be much, much worse is having to face Drycha just after we've engaged the Branchwraiths. If she teleports behind us while we've two Branchwraiths in front of us we're totally screwed.

If you're worried about facing Drycha one on one without support how much worse would it be to face her when she's the one with allied heroes and also has the elements of surprise.

The option to target the spellcasters is the one that puts Mathilde in by far the most vulnerable position if Drycha chooses to exploit it. She would have no allies close enough to help so would be alone already facing multiple dangerous enemies even before Drycha stepped in.

You were talking about a running battle. Unless battle magic is what you think Mathilde should be slinging in that sort of fight, guns are a good option.

Personally I would expect to be trying to teleport behind her and hit her with a cannon sword, where if the first strike fails she tries to do exactly the same thing but with a Mindrazor. If the initial hit fails and it becomes a running battle I think a lot of the running may actually be teleporting into advantageous positions to strike with one hit kill melee weapons.
 
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I think it's also useful to think about what role Drycha is currently playing in the battle and his that influences the choices she'd take.

As I see it, shame acting as a mobile hard hitting tactical reserve. If she sees an opening to exploit or a gap that needs plugging she can near instantly teleport in to do so.

Those could be one of the enemy leaders or spellcasters looking vulnerable, or one of her own high value assets being hard pressed and needing relief, as well as an opportunity to achieve one of her own strategic objectives.

If Mathilde engages the Branchwraiths, that would be an example of both the first two. The Branchwraiths are valuable and very hard to replace forest spirits which she'd want to preserve, and by attacking them Mathilde would have exposed herself in a position of great vulnerability. It's also a fleeting opportunity. Mathilde would likely defeat the distracted Branchwraiths in short order unless Drycha intervened to take advantage of Mathilde's own distraction, while all the other 'theatres' of conflict and much more stable and less urgent.

That's why my judgement is that there's a large chance that Drycha will counter-attack Mathilde if she goes after the spellcasters. It's simply the best choice for her to make given what I believe is her role on the battlefield.

I mean, she might choose not to engage Mathilde like this, but it would be a serious tactical mis-step on her part, and I don't think we should rely on our enemies screwing up and letting us get a free hit in. Possibly more than anyone else we've ever faced, Drycha should know how dangerous Ulgu battlemages that are also heavily geared and trained for close combat can do. Not only is she basically one herself, but I'd expect that the Shadowdancers of Loec have fought her plenty of times using similar tools. We probably get to surprise her with our presence once, and that's it, after that she should know how to deal with someone like us.
 
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I mean, she might choose not to engage Mathilde like this, but it would be a serious tactical mis-step on her part, and I don't think we should rely on our enemies screwing up and letting us get a free hit in. Possibly more than anyone else we've ever faced, Drycha should know how dangerous Ulgu battlemages that are also heavily geared and trained for close combat can do. Not only is she basically one herself, but I'd expect that the Shadowdancers of Loec have fought her plenty of times using similar tools. We probably get to surprise her with our presence once, and that's it, after that she should know how to deal with someone like us.

It is worth keeping in mind that she does not know what a Mathilde is. In fact judging by how simplistic and just plain wrong her assessment of the locals is I am not even sure she would know that the Colleges of Magic are, much less guess that we have a one hit sword. If she were doing this as a Ulgu user odds are she would use Mindrazor which we obviously are not using. I mean hell it's not like she would have any reason to guess 'fights like a Loec worshiper' and 'uses top of the line dwarf equipment'.

That said everyone else is busy and as things stand she has every reason to think the battle will turn in her favor as she does not know about the City Rotas, so Drycha will think she has a free hand. It would thus make sense to go after the most mobile enemy asset, the one that is teleporting.
 
It is worth keeping in mind that she does not know what a Mathilde is. In fact judging by how simplistic and just plain wrong her assessment of the locals is I am not even sure she would know that the Colleges of Magic are, much less guess that we have a one hit sword. If she were doing this as a Ulgu user odds are she would use Mindrazor which we obviously are not using. I mean hell it's not like she would have any reason to guess 'fights like a Loec worshiper' and 'uses top of the line dwarf equipment'.

That said everyone else is busy and as things stand she has every reason to think the battle will turn in her favor as she does not know about the City Rotas, so Drycha will think she has a free hand. It would thus make sense to go after the most mobile enemy asset, the one that is teleporting.

The thing I'm getting at is that close combat focused Ulgu users wielding one hit kill weapons are probably not a surprise for her. The precise details about how we manage it differ, but teleporting Shadowdancers carrying weapons enchanted with Mindrazor are something her enemies in Athel Loren should be capable of sending against her, and Mathilde's capabilities aren't that far from what one of them could do. I don't think the fact that our sword hits like a cannon ball because of dwarven runes rather than the adamant will of an elven hero made manifest really matters in terms of what the tactical response is.

She doesn't need to know what the Colleges of Magic are, just that she's put us into the 'discount elves' box, and this is something elves could do and presumably teach their puppets to do, in her mind. Or even, if she recognises 'Loec' in/on Mathilde's soul, literally think that she's a bootleg Shadowdancer.

She doesn't need to know exactly what a Mathilde is if she's already familiar with a roughly analagous enemy that she can identify Mathilde as being similar to and so treat accordingly.

Our advantage is that she's really not expecting a hero or Lord tier Shadowdancer-equivalent to be active on the battlefield, but once she believes one to be she can adjust her plans accordingly, and her reaction to them and to her genuinely knowing what Mathilde could do may not be wrong enough to give us a big advantage.

Edit: this is a reason to hunt her down before she's aware of us, not to tip her hand and give her a chance to be the one ambushing Mathilde. If she sees Mathilde in action she'll not only know the kind of threat Mathilde is in ways she's familiar with, but also get the opportunity to see how she's different. As an example bad case, she sees Mathilde's Belt or Seed being used if we roll badly.
 
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Just gaming out what could happen in a bit more detail:

Let's first consider both sides tactical objectives for this phase of the engagement:

Forest Spirits
  1. Kill/capture 'the Boyar', who they believe Boris to be.
  2. Withdraw their forces in good order.
  3. Although they don't know it yet, they have a very limited time to do both the above as the Tsar is on hie way. If Drycha is given time to think, she may well realise this and move up her timeline.
Kislev
  1. Remain in contact with the enemy until the Tsar arrives with the cavalry.
  2. Don't take too many high value casualties in the process.

Then let's consider the choices available to Mathilde and Drycha and their consequences

  1. Mathilde attacks the Branchwraiths. Drycha has to decide how to respond.
    1. Drycha then counter attacks Mathilde
      1. Drycha kills Mathilde supported by the surviving Branchwraiths
        1. Drcycha teleports and kills one of Boris and Liljana supported by the manticore/treeman
          1. Drycha and the manticore and the treeman kill the survivor of Boris and Liljana, and can then withdraw in good order
    2. Drycha attacks Boris/Liljana while Mathilde kills the Branchwraiths
      1. Drycha kills Boris/Liljana supported by the manticore/treeman.
        1. Mathilde teleports to support the survivor out of Liljana/Boris.
          1. Liljana/Boris and Mathilde fight against Drycha, the manticore, and the Treemen
            1. It's a tough fight, Mathilde probably loses, possibly surviving by teleporting out with a long shot of victory against the superior forces. The Tsar may or may not arrive in time to save the day or deny the forests spirits a complete victory by preventing a clean disengagement
    3. Drycha does nothing and let's us have a free hit. Why would she do this? I think this option can be dismissed.
  2. Mathilde attacks Drycha with the following expected consequences
    1. The Branchwraith bleed the Kreml guard with their spell, but are ridden down afterwards by the returning scouts
    2. The Treeman and manticore fight Liljana and Boris but the stalematw continues
    3. Then, the following things can happen:
      1. Fair chance that Mathilde alpha strikes Drchya from stealth.
        1. If so, she teleports back in to help one of Boris/Liljana kill their opponent, then teams up with them to take out the remaining manticore/treeman alongside the other.
      2. Good chance that Mathilde stalemates Drycha. If so, eventually either 1 just above or 3 below happen, or:
        1. The Tsar shows up with overwhelming force and defeats the treeman and manticore and other forest spirits, and Mathilde can pull back to safety.
        2. Drycha notices the Tsar is incoming and tries to extricate her forces, making her more vulnerable to Mathilde and risking losing valuable assets as they disengage.
      3. Small chance that Drycha kills Mathilde and then 1.1 at the very top happens.
Basically, looking at the following range of options, I think that it's clear that if Mathilde attacks the Branchwraiths it's strongly advantageous for Drycha to choose to go after Mathilde, as that maximises the chances of achieving her full objectives.

It also seems clear that Mathilde is better off targeting Drycha directly. Even if Drycha takes the likely tactically suboptimal option of responding to Mathilde attacking the Branchwraiths by attacking someone else, that's also very likely to lead to Mathilde's defeat and quite possible death. Mathilde trying to solo Drycha is quite probably better than facing Drycha while outnumbered with Drycha the one having the advantage in terms of allies.

Looking at the chains of events. We really don't want to take an option where if the enemy makes a reasonably obvious tactical choice we have to be very lucky not to die and lose the battle. We'd be almost totally relying on them making a serious mistake.
 
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@Boney do we know the effects of Mathilde's sword on magical beings? I am asking like any buffs a magical being would get for being say a Dryad get temporary debuffed.
I doubt that. Stopping buffs and enchantments is kind of like taking the magic out of the object/person and reversing them temporarily to their base, mundane state.

Magical creatures just are magical, they have no mundane baseline to which they could be reversed back. As far as we know, dryads aren't transformed humans, they're dryads, a different species with different characteristics. Taking magic from them would be like taking mitochondria from a human, it's an intrinsic part of them.

Also, we already fought a magical creature, namely a Greater Demon. I don't remember it stopping being demony after we hit it.
 
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I doubt the sword does anything besides swording good against magical creatures.

Runes are very precise in what they do after all.
If this were some legendary anti-magic weapon imbued with umgi-magic it might have some secondary effects against magic that is not precisly item-bound, but Runes should only do what Kragg said they'll do.
 
[X] Leader
I just don't see leaving Drycha alone as wise. Like yeah Math might be able to mulch any of the big threats the far have exposed, but Drycha can counter-stab one of Math's allies as she pleases, or AOE the lot if no one in particular doesn't make a good showing of being dangerous.
 
and if she fights mathilde style with a ton of buffs, then Branalhune will probably knock them out.

Would Ockham's mindrazor count as a buff? Cos that would be great. Making her recast her one-hit kill combo every time would be great :)

Edit: it says "positive spell effect", and i'm guessing "shred target's mind with a touch" counts as hella positive.
 
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Well, if Drycha has any active magical effects up or magic items worn it'll at least deal with those.

At minimum it'll probably dispel whatever anti-scrying thing she had active.
Hard to say what she could have in terms of magic items.

Her army book entry didn't give her anything. For Total War they made the Fang of Taalroth into a battlefield item.

(It's an artifact of Taal that she stole in 2432 IC, she intends to use it for her plan to free Coeddil)
 
and if she fights mathilde style with a ton of buffs, then Branalhune will probably knock them out.

Would Ockham's mindrazor count as a buff? Cos that would be great. Making her recast her one-hit kill combo every time would be great :)

Edit: it says "positive spell effect", and i'm guessing "shred target's mind with a touch" counts as hella positive.
Okkam's is a buff yes. I'm just going to say though, if Drycha has Okkam's up when Mathilde hits her with the sword, something went wrong. The best situation for us is an ambush before she gets a buff up. Once she's aware of Mathilde and has Okkam's up, the battle has to turn into survival. Drycha is as fast as an Elven Prince (Initiative 7, Weapon Skill 7 and Movement 5). Trying to outplay her in direct combat is a death sentence when she has a deadly razor in her hand.
 
I mean, having a reputation for assassinating an intrigue lord would rather make Mathilde scarier, and the elves might be a bit more welcoming given Drycha's history with them. :V
Killing Drycha is more likely to piss off the Asrai than make them welcoming. It's a bit like murdering a troublesome Elector Count to gain favour with the Emperor. Drycha's relationship with the Asrai is unfriendly, but rarely turns to murder. She's a political opponent, not an enemy.

We won't be playing hide and seek with Ulgu because the forest won't let Drycha try - we can see her right now without even trying.
The forest is making it harder for Drycha to hide. Not impossible. Mathilde knows she's out there, but hasn't actually spotted her yet.

I mean if the armies of Kislev cannot hold against one relatively weak Ghyan battle magic spell how are they going to deal with Drycha unleashing her mastery of Ulgu? I think that even if that spell goes off (and it might not) it is less dangerous than Drycha on the loose.
I suspect Drycha is the "hyper-focus on like, two things" kind of caster. She's probably really good at whatever her tricks are, but doesn't have very many of them.

I mean it is relatively weak for battle magic, we know that because of the casting number, we also know Drycha is a Lord and we know just what high level Ulgu looks like. Methinks the armies of Kislev will have more of an issue if their prince gets killed or if they fall screaming into a Pit of Shades than if they have to fight trees, even a lot of trees.
Uh, the casting number? Where did you see that?

Also, we already fought a magical creature, namely a Greater Demon. I don't remember it stopping being demony after we hit it.
Did Mathilde actually hit the Daemon? I thought it blocked all her attacks and then got zapped by Horstmann and Pals.
 
Just gaming out what could happen in a bit more detail:

Let's first consider both sides tactical objectives for this phase of the engagement:

Forest Spirits
  1. Kill/capture 'the Boyar', who they believe Boris to be.
  2. Withdraw their forces in good order.
  3. Although they don't know it yet, they have a very limited time to do both the above as the Tsar is on hie way. If Drycha is given time to think, she may well realise this and move up her timeline.
Kislev
  1. Remain in contact with the enemy until the Tsar arrives with the cavalry.
  2. Don't take too many high value casualties in the process.

Then let's consider the choices available to Mathilde and Drycha and their consequences

  1. Mathilde attacks the Branchwraiths. Drycha has to decide how to respond.
    1. Drycha then counter attacks Mathilde
      1. Drycha kills Mathilde supported by the surviving Branchwraiths
        1. Drcycha teleports and kills one of Boris and Liljana supported by the manticore/treeman
          1. Drycha and the manticore and the treeman kill the survivor of Boris and Liljana, and can then withdraw in good order
    2. Drycha attacks Boris/Liljana while Mathilde kills the Branchwraiths
      1. Drycha kills Boris/Liljana supported by the manticore/treeman.
        1. Mathilde teleports to support the survivor out of Liljana/Boris.
          1. Liljana/Boris and Mathilde fight against Drycha, the manticore, and the Treemen
            1. It's a tough fight, Mathilde probably loses, possibly surviving by teleporting out with a long shot of victory against the superior forces. The Tsar may or may not arrive in time to save the day or deny the forests spirits a complete victory by preventing a clean disengagement
    3. Drycha does nothing and let's us have a free hit. Why would she do this? I think this option can be dismissed.
  2. Mathilde attacks Drycha with the following expected consequences
    1. The Branchwraith bleed the Kreml guard with their spell, but are ridden down afterwards by the returning scouts, but not before probably killing Boris.
    2. The Treeman and manticore fight Liljana and Boris but the stalematw continues
    3. Then, the following things can happen:
      1. Fair chance that Mathilde alpha strikes Drchya from stealth.
        1. If so, she teleports back in to help one of Boris/Liljana kill their opponent, then teams up with them to take out the remaining manticore/treeman alongside the other.
      2. Good chance that Mathilde stalemates Drycha. If so, eventually either 1 or 3 above happen, or:
        1. The Tsar shows up with overwhelming force and defeats the treeman and manticore and other forest spirits, and Mathilde can pull back to safety.
        2. Drycha notices the Tsar is incoming and tries to extricate her forces, making her more vulnerable to Mathilde and risking losing valuable assets as they disengage.
      3. Small chance that Drycha kills Mathilde and then 1.1 at the very top happens.
Fixed
 
Killing Drycha is more likely to piss off the Asrai than make them welcoming. It's a bit like murdering a troublesome Elector Count to gain favour with the Emperor. Drycha's relationship with the Asrai is unfriendly, but rarely turns to murder. She's a political opponent, not an enemy.
She literally wants to genocide all the Elves, wipe them off the face of the planet. How is that a political opponent. Drycha is on very bad terms with Athel Loren. I have no idea what gives you the imrpession she doesn't murder them.
 
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