Game 1: Germans vs. French on Arkansas
tabben picked up an early Tomahawk treasure steal, something that he converted shortly afterwards into a double kill on Conquerer999’s explorer and substantial villager idle time. He followed it up by picking off a CdB in Conquerer’s main base and wresting total control over the map in early Colonial, allowing him to apply pressure with an age up in the back of it. Conquerer, having opted to make more units in Colonial, attempted a counterattack with a Musketeer-Hussar composition.
The attack was a risky one, however, and Conquerer was forced to pull back when tabben popped five Skirmishers from his barracks. Conquerer's position looked dire, as tabben's Uhlans threatened to turn the organized retreat into a disaster. Conquerer had critical reinforcing batches on the way, narrowly keeping his forces together.
For a moment, it looked as if Conquerer had pulled off the reverse-reverse-bait. There were fewer Uhlans on the board than Hussars, and a paltry collection of Skirmishers that had no chance of whittling down the musket count before they closed the distance. With Conquerer having an age up shortly to follow, he looked to take control of the game in Fortress.
It will work!
It was not to be, however, as tabben revealed a shipment of 3 War Wagons complemented by another 3 trained. tabben came out of the fight with a lead of 28 military population to 2, and Conquerer had only barely started his age up.
It won't work.
Not content to sit idle, tabben immediately pressed his own offensive, keeping Conquerer away from a forward mine while assembling a Skirmisher-Jaeger-War Wagon composition. Conquerer put together a skirm-goon army that looked continuously outmassed, and, noticing this, tried to take a fight with Falconets. But by this point, tabben's mass had grown unmanageable, and Conquerer called GG.
A clean double-falc kill cements this game.
Game 2: Russians vs. Indians on Pampas Sierras
Another common matchup. Conquerer fared better in Discovery this time around, managing to grab most of the map's llamas in the early game. Meanwhile, tabben set up a double-blockhouse contain in the center of the map and sent a batch of Strelets and a shipment of Cossack in to pressure. Although they idled the Town Center a little and picked off Conquerer's age-up Sepoys, Conquerer eventually dispatched this first army with a 4 Sowar shipment and a double-MM call.
Perhaps he dispatched it too easily.
tabben decided to build up economically after the initial attack, a respite that Conquerer used to attempt to age up. But tabben responded with a powerful timing that caught Conquerer off-guard, and waves of Russian units poured into a relatively undefended main base. Having used up both his Sentry and Irregular calls against the initial attack, Conquerer was forced to activate an early ceasefire, and lost the majority of his army before his Urumi could finish shipping. The result was a series of staggered timings that tabben was free to handle one at a time. With 40 units in his base and dozens more on the way, Conquerer tapped out.
By the way, watching the villagers in the top-right try to build that house is infuriating.
Game 3: Chinese vs. British on Jebel Musa on Bonnie Springs
With Conquerer down two games, it was beginning to look as though tabben hadn't lost any skill during his hiatus. tabben went for the power play early on, choosing to ship 7 Steppe Riders as his first card in Colonial and snapping a 90% finished house right away. He followed it with a 700 gold shipment and an age up, leaving Conquerer with mixed signals as to whether he should be attacking or defending.
Conquerer getting quicksearch'd.
With a Confucian Academy built, tabben built up a respectable defensive force that held off Conquerer's Musk-Huss pressure until he could find a shipment and stabilize. Despite the position looking grim for Conquerer, he kept things together, keeping tabben's villager count low with a couple of good raids, keeping an army large enough to make a China cav smash unreliable, and sniping an expensive Flying Crow with Hussars. tabben's big push came weaker than expected.
But not weak enough. tabben's infantry ball proved too strong for Conquerer to match with his age 2 units, and the Musk-Huss army traded poorly even though raids in the back had staved off Conquerer's earlier defeat. After losing a major battle that gave tabben free reign over the British forward base, Conquerer found himself low on food and unable to produce either the number or quality of units needed to match tabben's army. tabben eventually strolled into Conquerer's main base to even out the economies, leaving the situation kaput.
Not pictured: Conquerer's beautiful 10 villager raid. Pictured: Conquerer's beautiful 10 villager raid not saving his army from being demolished.
With both players effectively out of villagers, the result came down to a major fight around a side-encampment that Conquerer had put together. Although the fight looked close at some points, Conquerer ultimately couldn't find the units he needed to take it, and fell 3-0.
Then again, another five hussars reinforcing from the south plus a few popping from the stable would probably swing this. But where would Conquerer get those?
Game 4: Indians vs. Dutch on Baja California
With things now at match point for Conquerer, the situation wasn't looking great. tabben opened with a mid-base Agra (one that Conquerer barely missed a block on) that he proceeded to task four villagers to. Conquerer went for a bank-heavy Dutch build that started off promising, but...
Top 10 photos taken moments before disaster.
Conquerer first lost two villagers working on an unfinished bank, unfortunately moving the ones closest to his Town Center inside and leaving the outer villagers exposed. With a bank unfinished and two villagers dead, things were looking bad, but...
Top 10 photos taken moments after disaster and also before an even worse disaster.
...they got much worse.
Conquerer found time to make it to age 3 and built up a decent force of Skirmishers and Ruyters, but tabben followed up an eventually ended the series with a classic Ceasefire into Sepoy-Urumi smash. The series ended in tabben's favor with a score of 4-0, demonstrating that he had maintained enough of his skill to continue to be one of the top players around.