Opening Strategy
in Fall of
The First Three Turns from the Thuringian Perspective
By: Ry Vor
Overview.
The Thuringians!
Historically, these were considered the greatest heavy cavalrymen of the
era, situated in Raetia in central
My kingdom’s unique starting advantage is an additional experienced leader: a Commander. He is capable of executing nearly any tactic and with his first important success will advance to the important level of Marshal. Additionally, I expect my initial treasury is a bit larger than the others, a nod toward the difficulty of the starting geography. I am inclined to select The Conquering Hero as my secret victory choice, which would dictate a more aggressive campaign. I can delay my choice on the secret victory choice until turn three, however, and will.
The Plan for Turn 1. The Alamanni to my immediate west share my main concern – too many covetous neighbors. I will make an overture for non-aggression treaty and hope for something firm in response – the message is off to him through the game’s message board. I also send messages to the Huns to my east and the Visigoths to the southwest, just a little introduction and a hint of the possibility of future cooperation. In the middle game they are each positioned in likely spots for us to jointly work together in expansion.
Next, as nearly all kings will do, I turn my attention as to
how to most rapidly conquer “my” region i.e., the region where their capital is
located. In my case, this is
Raetia. The first decision
here is whether to target the region’s city, Trier, as the centerpiece of the
conquest, or alternately, to gain the city through its own proclamation by
virtue of gaining control of Raetia through political coercion and conquest of a
majority of its towns and villages.
Gaining the city would best be done by likely the combined efforts of
three high ranking nobles, perhaps the three highest – Prince, Duke, and
Count. Two normally might suffice,
but since all kings know the location of all cities, another king may send a
Baron or other noble to
I must discover early where the remaining towns and villages of Raetia are located, so this becomes the main objective of the first turn. I plan the movements of my legions, the area of focus for the High Priestess Vala to divine population centers, and have my available agents fill in the difficult nooks and craneys for exploration, all designed to reveal the greatest possible amount of the territory of Raetia to me. With luck, my legions or agents may also discover an unusual sighting where a lost and powerful artifact might be recovered through battle with its guardian.
I do not recruit mercenary brigades, or even hire additional characters, as I am already torn on how to prioritize the thirteen commands available to me, and because I know my economy cannot at this point bear the strain of supplying a larger military. King Childeric remains in the capital rather than joining a legion and campaigning himself. The beginning plan is now set.
Turn 1 Results.
The Alamanni King gave me assurances of alliance – this is a
very important development, for if the Alamanni and Thuringians battle early,
likely neither will emerge into the middle game in good shape. All the commands for Turn 1 were
executed flawlessly. We have no
encounters with other kingdoms reported, although intelligence gathering was not
as thorough as I would have liked due to the constraint on orders dictated by
our Rulership of 13 – meaning only 13 orders beyond “free” orders like transfers
can be issued. In Fall of Rome
there are really three resources to be concerned with: gold, supplies, and
available orders. Our baron in Köln
will delay any Teuton King plan to take that region on turn two by issuing a
status quo order.
Unfortunately we could not afford the order and gold to do the same to
the south against the Lombards in
Turn 2 Plan. While the first turn involves planning
much of the early game strategy and planting the seeds of diplomacy, turn two is
important for nailing down the first conquests within the home region. With King Childeric having enamored
Raetia last turn, my count should be able to move the people of the town of
Turn 2 Results.
The big surprise was that five kings took their regions on the turn. Among these were the Lombards to my
south, who I did not meddle with, instead giving some of my attention to the
Teutons, who remain among those without regional control. My spy revealed the
Teuton king did commit his prince and count to trying to take the city and was
thwarted by my baron maintaining status quo, in this case neutrality there. My own orders again were carried out
without a hiccup. My division
conquered the village easily, and while my casualties were quite light and no
leaders were wounded, neither were any promoted and no centurion emerged as a
new leader. The 1st
Thuringian brigade did gain enough experience to advance to Old Guard
status. The exchange rate for
resources is now 17 supplies for 10 gold, meaning quite a few kings have been
selling supplies for gold.
Agent Leopard’s advance recon found another village in the southeast
corner of Raetia, and interestingly there is a
Plan for Turn 3. The most nagging aspect as I
address updating my strategy is that the Lombards gained their region, and have
already begun to meddle a bit in Raetia as evidenced by their count. Meanwhile the Teutons, who had the
same approach to the early turns as the
Turn 3 Results. Both Prince Frederic and Duke
Rothesteos succeeded in usurping towns, bringing control of Raetia to us and the
ancillary benefits that come with this, including all the neutral population
centers raising the banner of the Thuringians, notably the city
Conclusion. The strategy has been sound, if not spectacular. We have our region under control after three turns, as we had hoped. We could have taken the alternate strategy of trying to take the city directly and gain the region if unopposed at the end of the second turn, but as the Teutons learned, this could also result in not having the region after turn four if one or more players contest it. With the region controlled and so the economy in better shape, our bigger concern now is that our diplomacy probably has not been extensive enough, and this should have been better addressed by using the message board more frequently. In conclusion, here are some rules of thumb for the early game that can help new players indoctrinate to Fall of Rome:
1. Issue all orders you are allowed every turn, even if this means choosing less expensive orders;
2. Watch your economy carefully in the early turns. If you overspend in turn one, you may be handicapped on turn two. Consider how much you produce vs. how much your military consumes.
3. Do not neglect gathering intelligence through reconnaissance, or use of your noble court to gain new population centers.
4. Develop a strategy to gain your region and consider the next steps early. Choose actions that support your secret victory condition requirements when in doubt.
5. Keep up your diplomacy by using the message board. It is free and you may be surprised how much information you can gain from the other players.
Good luck, see you somewhere in Germania or