02-03-2022, 01:44 PM
MOSTELLER'S BATTLE TACTIC # 8
The Ice Age is a phase of the game that can occur at the end of a game of Hyborian War. What follows are advice and tactics that you, the player, may find useful to enhance and improve your game play during the Ice Age phase of your Hyborian War game.
(1) Prophecy spells are a useful tool for finding out when the Ice Age will start. Often times, you can find out well in advance when the Ice Age will start for your particular game. Regardless of whether you are playing a barbarian nation during the ice age, defending against one or more barbarian nations, or both, the first step to preparedness is knowing when the Ice Age will start, so that you are not caught completely unaware when it does actually begin.
(2) For the purposes of the Ice Age, the following kingdoms are considered "barbarian kingdoms:" Asgard; Vanaheim; Cimmeria, & Pictland.
(3) Once the Ice Age begins, no kingdom will, at that point, have any chance of success in attempting to negotiate peace with any of these four barbarian kingdoms. The barbarian kingdoms, however, will still be able to negotiate peace with non-barbarian kingdoms, but not with one another.
(4) Once the Ice Age begins, barbarian nations' active imperial armies will be able to move into any kingdom's provinces, be they the provinces of allied or non-allied positions, both player-kingdom and non-player kingdom provinces, alike. This provides the barbarian nations with much enhanced mobility on the battlefield, and can be difficult for uninitiated to deal with, at times.
(5) One of the favorite tactics of players who play barbarian kingdoms during an Ice Age is to move their active imperial armies into their enemy's provinces, and on the same turn, issue intents-to-invade for other enemy provinces bordering the ones they will launch their invasions from. This has the end effect of a player's kingdom being attacked from their own provinces. When this happens, this can often result in feelings of frustration and hopelessness by the targeted nations so affected by barbarian invasions during the Ice Age.
(6) The key to dealing with multiple barbarian invasions during an Ice Age is to not freak out, but to remain calm, so that you can effectively plot strategy and tactics to repel such invasions, and failing that, to enable you to minimize your losses to the barbarian aggressor(s) invading you.
(7) While peace treaties are 100% pointless to attempt against a barbarian nation during the Ice Age, Disrupt Warpact can still be used to impede or stop one or more invasions by barbarians during the Ice Age. This, of course, depends on the fact that there is an actual warpact attack occurring against your kingdom in the same turn your diplomats are successful in seeking to disrupt warpact. If you are only getting attacked by a single kingdom during a single turn, even if it is in multiple places, that does not qualify as a warpact. A warpact occurs any time you have two or more nations invading a given kingdom during the same turn. Even when successful, a disrupt warpact may not always be 100% successful, but only partially successful in stopping some, but not all, invasions by barbarians during the Ice Age. You may want to try to disrupt warpact multiple turns in a row, if a warpact continues to threaten you with invasion. If you are successful in disrupting warpact, the success of that order only lasts one turn. Be certain that you understand that aspect of how disrupt warpacts works.
(8) Remaining mobile is advantageous to the barbarian player. With proper planning, a barbarian kingdom during the Ice Age holds the potential to deal a staggering blow to one or more enemies. Issuing intents-to-invade in rapid succession, turn after turn after turn, helps barbarian kingdoms to maintain this much needed mobility. Mobility lends itself very well to the achievement of momentum, something I have spoken at length about in another tactics advice section.
(9) Conversely, if you are facing invasion by barbarian kingdoms during an Ice Age, one of your primary objectives should be to reduce, if at all possibility, the barbarians' mobility, and especially once they invade your interior, or poise themselves to cut your capital off from your outer-lying provinces.
(10) It is important to remember that elimination of a barbarian kingdom's mobility during the Ice Age is impossible to achieve. Thus, don't waste your time worrying about trying to figure out how to pull that off. Instead, the goal is to reduce their mobility, not eliminate it. One of the keys to doing this is, since you can't stop them from invading, to try and slow their invasions down. Seeking set piece battle is one way of doing this, as is making sure all of your province defense orders are already set to "Set Piece" before the Ice Age strikes.
(11) If barbarians are successful in getting nothing but open field battles against you, then every single turn after they invade, your kingdom is going to face them in battle, in all likelihood If you managed to do nothing but get set piece, instead of open field, even if you still end up losing the province, at worst, you could only lose every other turn, where the same barbarian army in question is concerned, compared to that same barbarian army succeeding at getting open field battle every turn. In a 7 turn war season during an ice age, a single barbarian army can engage your forces in open field battle no less than 7 times. That same army, forced to fight set piece instead of open field, at most, can only engage your forces in 3 times. The difference is that you will end up fighting less than half as often, resulting in less troops being lost, as well as losing less provinces to the barbarian invaders.
(12) Using strategic movement spells is a good way to enhance your kingdom's chances of getting set piece, rather than open field, when you are fighting against barbarian nations invading you during an Ice Age. Remember, every little bit helps. If you have Force March, Far Sight, or even Rains, cast them all as strategic movement spells. The worst you can do is fail. You have nothing to lose. The great object is to force the barbarians into set piece battle, where possible, rather than face them in open field.
(13) All four barbarian kingdoms fight at heavy losses before retreating, during open field battle. This is another reason most other kingdoms are better served to not engage them in open field battle. They already have an advantage in open field battle, so, if at all possible, you should try to negate that advantage, by doing everything you can to get set piece battle.
(14) Checking the option to Decline Battle, during the strategic movement phase, is also another way to assist you in getting the set piece, instead of open field. Exercising this option might even help the enemy gain the terrain of preference that they seek. However, the terrain type that the battle will be fought in is immaterial to the core fundamental objective of trying to slow the enemy's invasion sequences down. The best way to do that is to tie the barbarian invaders into as many set piece battles as possible. Again, they may still win, but at least they won't win nearly so many, because there won't be as many battles occurring during the same timeframe, if the battles go set piece instead of open field.
(15) If an Ice Age starts in the middle of a set of war seasons, if your kingdom can successfully negotiate peace with the barbarians BEFORE the Ice Age starts, then that treaty will continue to hold until the following peace years, which should also be the last peace years of the game. This is yet another reason why knowing exactly what turn the Ice Age starts (learned through prophecy report information) can serve you well, when fighting against the barbarians during the Ice Age.
(16) Circumstances vary from game to game, and from kingdom to kingdom, but more times than not, players allow their fears to get the best of them, and begin doing irrational things, effectively costing themselves the war against barbarian kingdoms during an Ice Age. Again, remain calm, and don't lose your cool. Think calmly, rationally, and if you find yourself in a situation from which you can't seem to find a way to extricate yourself, ask other players of Hyborian War for advice. They may not know what to do, either, but there is also a chance that one or more of them will, and will be able to help you plan a way to counter your barbarian enemies.
(17) The barbarian kingdoms' characters can still die during an Ice Age. Continue spying their court and military. If you have limited covert assets at your disposal, opt to spy their military over their court. By knowing where all of their armies are each and every turn, you can better prepare an effective response, and possibly, even find opportunity to counterattack. By knowing an enemy's army locations each and every turn, at a bare minimum, you can know the extent of what their targeting opportunities are, where your provinces are concerned. Knowledge is power, and this is also true during an Ice Age war against the barbarian kingdoms.
(18) If barbarian kingdoms are allied to other kingdoms, and you have an opportunity to break their alliance, this can often times result in the barbarian kingdom's armies getting attacked by their allies, and then retreating away from your borders. Some barbarian players retain alliances formed during the course of the game, as they go into the Ice Age. This is to the disadvantage of barbarian kingdoms, because it leaves them with a window of vulnerability which a diligent, watchful opponent could possibly capitalize on, to the barbarians' detriment.
(19) If your kingdom has a number of imperial armies, ideally, you will want to deactivate a few. How many depends upon a number of factors, and upon a wide variety of situations that can vary from game to game, and from kingdom to kingdom. By deactivating several imperial armies in a timely fashion (prior to barbarians actually invading you), barring a depleted troop base, you should have more troops available to respond to barbarian invasions, even if they attack you from your own provinces.
(20) When deactivating imperial armies to help defend against barbarian invasions, remember - you are trying to drag the battle into going set piece, rather than open field. By staggering the placement of your defensive armies, ideally, you will want to place them in such a way that more than one defensive imperial army can cover any of your provinces. This way, no matter where you get invaded, you will have that province's provincial troops, as well as the troops in 2 or more defensive imperial armies, available to intercept and respond to the barbarian invasion.
(21) If you get a chance to attack a province that an active barbarian imperial army is located in, seize that opportunity. A minimum strength invasion army (8 troops) is the bare minimum needed. You will want to assign a capable military commander, if you have one, and try to get set piece battle. The longer you can tie that barbarian army up in their own province, or in someone else's province, the less you have to worry about defending your own province when it invades you. Any single barbarian army can't be everywhere at the same turn. Whether you win or lose the battle, that's irrelevant. Your primary object is to inhibit and impede the barbarians' mobility, and by doing so, it will have the end result of degrading the barbarians' ability to conduct offensive operations against you.
(22) If possible, try to persuade any allies that you might have to assist you in sending one or more active imperial armies of their own to help tie the barbarian invaders down. It is irrelevant whose troops tie the enemy down. What matters is that you hamper their ability to move against you. In order to achieve that, you must lock those barbarian armies into set piece battles. That is the best way to hold on to as much of your territory during an Ice Age against the barbarians, as is possible. By locking them into set piece battles, and especially where the barbarians want open field battles, you also gain the benefit of screwing up their planning and timetables.
(23) Taking the barbarian nations out, or keeping them reduced in size, over the course of the game leading up to the Ice Age is another way to limit the damage one or more barbarian kingdoms can inflict upon your kingdom, once the Ice Age hits. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This axiom is well worth heeding, if you expect to possibly fight the barbarian kingdoms during an Ice Age in your game of Hyborian War.
(24) If you can persuade one or more barbarian kingdoms to ally with you, your headaches may be over, or at a minimum, severely reduced.
(25) If you can persuade the barbarian kingdoms to go somewhere else, and attack someone else, then that is less that you have to worry about. The single best diplomat available to your kingdom is you - not any superior diplomacy diplomat characters.
(26) If you can persuade the barbarian kingdoms to fight each other, then that will
leave them with less resources and armies available for attacking you.
(27) Barbarian kingdoms can assign troops through anyone else's provinces, during an Ice Age, regardless of whether they are allied or not to the kingdoms controlling the provinces between their capital and their outlying armies.
(28) Successfully fighting and defending against barbarian invasions during an Ice Age is rarely a hopeless cause. Give credit where credit is due, but do not over-exaggerate a threat from barbarian kingdoms. Of course they will threaten you, and try to cow you. Once you are scared of them, half of their job is already done. If you surrender without a fight, you've lost, already. If they want to take your kingdom from you, make them earn it. Who knows? You might just surprise yourself, and them, as well! They can't take a single kingdom with all of their words, combined.
(29) Take a closer look at that barbarian blowing all of that smoke, and you may just find that they are a paper dragon, and not the monster they might at first seem to be.
I hope that you find these Ice Age tactics helpful to you, regardless of whether you are playing a barbarian kingdom during an Ice Age, or whether you are trying to defend against one or more barbarian kingdoms during an Ice Age period.
The Ice Age is a phase of the game that can occur at the end of a game of Hyborian War. What follows are advice and tactics that you, the player, may find useful to enhance and improve your game play during the Ice Age phase of your Hyborian War game.
(1) Prophecy spells are a useful tool for finding out when the Ice Age will start. Often times, you can find out well in advance when the Ice Age will start for your particular game. Regardless of whether you are playing a barbarian nation during the ice age, defending against one or more barbarian nations, or both, the first step to preparedness is knowing when the Ice Age will start, so that you are not caught completely unaware when it does actually begin.
(2) For the purposes of the Ice Age, the following kingdoms are considered "barbarian kingdoms:" Asgard; Vanaheim; Cimmeria, & Pictland.
(3) Once the Ice Age begins, no kingdom will, at that point, have any chance of success in attempting to negotiate peace with any of these four barbarian kingdoms. The barbarian kingdoms, however, will still be able to negotiate peace with non-barbarian kingdoms, but not with one another.
(4) Once the Ice Age begins, barbarian nations' active imperial armies will be able to move into any kingdom's provinces, be they the provinces of allied or non-allied positions, both player-kingdom and non-player kingdom provinces, alike. This provides the barbarian nations with much enhanced mobility on the battlefield, and can be difficult for uninitiated to deal with, at times.
(5) One of the favorite tactics of players who play barbarian kingdoms during an Ice Age is to move their active imperial armies into their enemy's provinces, and on the same turn, issue intents-to-invade for other enemy provinces bordering the ones they will launch their invasions from. This has the end effect of a player's kingdom being attacked from their own provinces. When this happens, this can often result in feelings of frustration and hopelessness by the targeted nations so affected by barbarian invasions during the Ice Age.
(6) The key to dealing with multiple barbarian invasions during an Ice Age is to not freak out, but to remain calm, so that you can effectively plot strategy and tactics to repel such invasions, and failing that, to enable you to minimize your losses to the barbarian aggressor(s) invading you.
(7) While peace treaties are 100% pointless to attempt against a barbarian nation during the Ice Age, Disrupt Warpact can still be used to impede or stop one or more invasions by barbarians during the Ice Age. This, of course, depends on the fact that there is an actual warpact attack occurring against your kingdom in the same turn your diplomats are successful in seeking to disrupt warpact. If you are only getting attacked by a single kingdom during a single turn, even if it is in multiple places, that does not qualify as a warpact. A warpact occurs any time you have two or more nations invading a given kingdom during the same turn. Even when successful, a disrupt warpact may not always be 100% successful, but only partially successful in stopping some, but not all, invasions by barbarians during the Ice Age. You may want to try to disrupt warpact multiple turns in a row, if a warpact continues to threaten you with invasion. If you are successful in disrupting warpact, the success of that order only lasts one turn. Be certain that you understand that aspect of how disrupt warpacts works.
(8) Remaining mobile is advantageous to the barbarian player. With proper planning, a barbarian kingdom during the Ice Age holds the potential to deal a staggering blow to one or more enemies. Issuing intents-to-invade in rapid succession, turn after turn after turn, helps barbarian kingdoms to maintain this much needed mobility. Mobility lends itself very well to the achievement of momentum, something I have spoken at length about in another tactics advice section.
(9) Conversely, if you are facing invasion by barbarian kingdoms during an Ice Age, one of your primary objectives should be to reduce, if at all possibility, the barbarians' mobility, and especially once they invade your interior, or poise themselves to cut your capital off from your outer-lying provinces.
(10) It is important to remember that elimination of a barbarian kingdom's mobility during the Ice Age is impossible to achieve. Thus, don't waste your time worrying about trying to figure out how to pull that off. Instead, the goal is to reduce their mobility, not eliminate it. One of the keys to doing this is, since you can't stop them from invading, to try and slow their invasions down. Seeking set piece battle is one way of doing this, as is making sure all of your province defense orders are already set to "Set Piece" before the Ice Age strikes.
(11) If barbarians are successful in getting nothing but open field battles against you, then every single turn after they invade, your kingdom is going to face them in battle, in all likelihood If you managed to do nothing but get set piece, instead of open field, even if you still end up losing the province, at worst, you could only lose every other turn, where the same barbarian army in question is concerned, compared to that same barbarian army succeeding at getting open field battle every turn. In a 7 turn war season during an ice age, a single barbarian army can engage your forces in open field battle no less than 7 times. That same army, forced to fight set piece instead of open field, at most, can only engage your forces in 3 times. The difference is that you will end up fighting less than half as often, resulting in less troops being lost, as well as losing less provinces to the barbarian invaders.
(12) Using strategic movement spells is a good way to enhance your kingdom's chances of getting set piece, rather than open field, when you are fighting against barbarian nations invading you during an Ice Age. Remember, every little bit helps. If you have Force March, Far Sight, or even Rains, cast them all as strategic movement spells. The worst you can do is fail. You have nothing to lose. The great object is to force the barbarians into set piece battle, where possible, rather than face them in open field.
(13) All four barbarian kingdoms fight at heavy losses before retreating, during open field battle. This is another reason most other kingdoms are better served to not engage them in open field battle. They already have an advantage in open field battle, so, if at all possible, you should try to negate that advantage, by doing everything you can to get set piece battle.
(14) Checking the option to Decline Battle, during the strategic movement phase, is also another way to assist you in getting the set piece, instead of open field. Exercising this option might even help the enemy gain the terrain of preference that they seek. However, the terrain type that the battle will be fought in is immaterial to the core fundamental objective of trying to slow the enemy's invasion sequences down. The best way to do that is to tie the barbarian invaders into as many set piece battles as possible. Again, they may still win, but at least they won't win nearly so many, because there won't be as many battles occurring during the same timeframe, if the battles go set piece instead of open field.
(15) If an Ice Age starts in the middle of a set of war seasons, if your kingdom can successfully negotiate peace with the barbarians BEFORE the Ice Age starts, then that treaty will continue to hold until the following peace years, which should also be the last peace years of the game. This is yet another reason why knowing exactly what turn the Ice Age starts (learned through prophecy report information) can serve you well, when fighting against the barbarians during the Ice Age.
(16) Circumstances vary from game to game, and from kingdom to kingdom, but more times than not, players allow their fears to get the best of them, and begin doing irrational things, effectively costing themselves the war against barbarian kingdoms during an Ice Age. Again, remain calm, and don't lose your cool. Think calmly, rationally, and if you find yourself in a situation from which you can't seem to find a way to extricate yourself, ask other players of Hyborian War for advice. They may not know what to do, either, but there is also a chance that one or more of them will, and will be able to help you plan a way to counter your barbarian enemies.
(17) The barbarian kingdoms' characters can still die during an Ice Age. Continue spying their court and military. If you have limited covert assets at your disposal, opt to spy their military over their court. By knowing where all of their armies are each and every turn, you can better prepare an effective response, and possibly, even find opportunity to counterattack. By knowing an enemy's army locations each and every turn, at a bare minimum, you can know the extent of what their targeting opportunities are, where your provinces are concerned. Knowledge is power, and this is also true during an Ice Age war against the barbarian kingdoms.
(18) If barbarian kingdoms are allied to other kingdoms, and you have an opportunity to break their alliance, this can often times result in the barbarian kingdom's armies getting attacked by their allies, and then retreating away from your borders. Some barbarian players retain alliances formed during the course of the game, as they go into the Ice Age. This is to the disadvantage of barbarian kingdoms, because it leaves them with a window of vulnerability which a diligent, watchful opponent could possibly capitalize on, to the barbarians' detriment.
(19) If your kingdom has a number of imperial armies, ideally, you will want to deactivate a few. How many depends upon a number of factors, and upon a wide variety of situations that can vary from game to game, and from kingdom to kingdom. By deactivating several imperial armies in a timely fashion (prior to barbarians actually invading you), barring a depleted troop base, you should have more troops available to respond to barbarian invasions, even if they attack you from your own provinces.
(20) When deactivating imperial armies to help defend against barbarian invasions, remember - you are trying to drag the battle into going set piece, rather than open field. By staggering the placement of your defensive armies, ideally, you will want to place them in such a way that more than one defensive imperial army can cover any of your provinces. This way, no matter where you get invaded, you will have that province's provincial troops, as well as the troops in 2 or more defensive imperial armies, available to intercept and respond to the barbarian invasion.
(21) If you get a chance to attack a province that an active barbarian imperial army is located in, seize that opportunity. A minimum strength invasion army (8 troops) is the bare minimum needed. You will want to assign a capable military commander, if you have one, and try to get set piece battle. The longer you can tie that barbarian army up in their own province, or in someone else's province, the less you have to worry about defending your own province when it invades you. Any single barbarian army can't be everywhere at the same turn. Whether you win or lose the battle, that's irrelevant. Your primary object is to inhibit and impede the barbarians' mobility, and by doing so, it will have the end result of degrading the barbarians' ability to conduct offensive operations against you.
(22) If possible, try to persuade any allies that you might have to assist you in sending one or more active imperial armies of their own to help tie the barbarian invaders down. It is irrelevant whose troops tie the enemy down. What matters is that you hamper their ability to move against you. In order to achieve that, you must lock those barbarian armies into set piece battles. That is the best way to hold on to as much of your territory during an Ice Age against the barbarians, as is possible. By locking them into set piece battles, and especially where the barbarians want open field battles, you also gain the benefit of screwing up their planning and timetables.
(23) Taking the barbarian nations out, or keeping them reduced in size, over the course of the game leading up to the Ice Age is another way to limit the damage one or more barbarian kingdoms can inflict upon your kingdom, once the Ice Age hits. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This axiom is well worth heeding, if you expect to possibly fight the barbarian kingdoms during an Ice Age in your game of Hyborian War.
(24) If you can persuade one or more barbarian kingdoms to ally with you, your headaches may be over, or at a minimum, severely reduced.
(25) If you can persuade the barbarian kingdoms to go somewhere else, and attack someone else, then that is less that you have to worry about. The single best diplomat available to your kingdom is you - not any superior diplomacy diplomat characters.
(26) If you can persuade the barbarian kingdoms to fight each other, then that will
leave them with less resources and armies available for attacking you.
(27) Barbarian kingdoms can assign troops through anyone else's provinces, during an Ice Age, regardless of whether they are allied or not to the kingdoms controlling the provinces between their capital and their outlying armies.
(28) Successfully fighting and defending against barbarian invasions during an Ice Age is rarely a hopeless cause. Give credit where credit is due, but do not over-exaggerate a threat from barbarian kingdoms. Of course they will threaten you, and try to cow you. Once you are scared of them, half of their job is already done. If you surrender without a fight, you've lost, already. If they want to take your kingdom from you, make them earn it. Who knows? You might just surprise yourself, and them, as well! They can't take a single kingdom with all of their words, combined.
(29) Take a closer look at that barbarian blowing all of that smoke, and you may just find that they are a paper dragon, and not the monster they might at first seem to be.
I hope that you find these Ice Age tactics helpful to you, regardless of whether you are playing a barbarian kingdom during an Ice Age, or whether you are trying to defend against one or more barbarian kingdoms during an Ice Age period.