Harrowed Halls

This weekend we finished up a Clash of Cultures game. The following is a recount of just one small encounter between Mike and me and how things can go so terribly wrong…for me.

It all began when Mike made a surprise amphibious assault against one of my undefended cities. He basically walked in and took it. Then he built a fortress there.

I had another nearby city with a two army units in it and I knew if I didn’t take the city back on my turn, Mike would reinforce it and I’d never get it back.

So on my turn, having built a couple more units, I attacked my former city with three army units and a cavalry unit that grants +1 for each army unit with it. Mike had one army unit and the fortress.

The fortress has some special abilities that are only good on the first round of combat. I had a technology to negate those abilities, but I didn’t have the resources to use the technology. Four units plus my +3 bonus should be enough to easy take the city back.

To battle In Clash of Cultures, you roll a number of dice equal to your number of units, add up the total and divide by 5. The result is the number of losses the enemy takes.

At the beginning of the first round of battle, Mike plays a card that allows him to roll a d6. On a roll of 5 or 6 he can destroy one of my units. He rolls a 5 and destroys my cavalry.

Now I’m down to three units and I’ve lost my +3 bonus. Still, I have three units to his one. Worse case I may lose all but one of them and still take the city. I can easily kill Mike’s single army unit.

I attack rolling three dice and add them up. My total is 4. On THREE d6 my total is 4! I don’t even get one hit! Mike rolls and kills one of my units.

Now it’s the second round of combat. Mike’s fortress provides him with no bonuses. All he has is a single army unit. I have two. I should easily win.

Mike plays a card. (Darn those cards to heck!) If he rolls a 6 on his attack die he can reroll it and add the two totals together. If his total is 10 or more he can kill both of my units and save his city.

Against all odds, he rolls a 6!

He still needs his reroll to be a 4, 5, or 6…and he rolls a 5!

He decimates my army! His single unit does die, but the city remains his and I now have two unprotected cities a stone’s throw away from him. On his next turn, his armies walk in and take them. And I’m knocked back to the Stone Age with just a few unimproved cities and a worthless leader.

Next time things will be different!

(He’ll probably kill my leader too.)

Chaos Steve