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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jfdlsjfd" data-source="post: 9575005" data-attributes="member: 42856">We are surrounded by elves sharpshooters, and we are offered, out of the blue, to attack them or challenge them to a game of krarthian checkers.I guess the section was badly designed, because honestly...[ATTACH=full]395184[/ATTACH]Which sane person, being targetted by these bowmen, would take a gameboard out of their backpack? I guess that the number of fights in Ukraine decided by a game of Settlers of Catane is close to nil. Also, kudoos for the illustration. I suppose the section assume we met the Seer, which isn't necessary. Anyway, we do have a krarthian chess board, so we take the opportunity to do this the smart way. Also, playing a game doesn't preclude eliminating them afterwards.We're offered a choice to let Trixie cheat, or play fair and square. Since the penalty to cheat would be great, and we were advised to challenge them, we elect to at least try to follow the rules. We're reminded that elves are soul-less creature, unable to be creative, and that they'll probably play in a uninspired, methodical way. We have to select a strategy: advance in the center, advance in a regular formation, bluff by playing defensively while pushing our pieces on the side of the board, intersperse our strategy with random moves, or try to play reactively that whatever he does.First try: I select the obvious solution of doing a random move, reading the advice we're freely given by the book. It works at first, then suddenly, we notice that we're in a very bad position and he wins. As we have given our word to honor the result of the chequers match, our quest fails here, at the entrance of the Elf wood. Failure count: 1Second try: I select the bluff, hoping he will be thrown off by this creative tactic. It works at first, then suddenly, we notice that we're in a very bad position and he wins. As we have given our word to honor the result of the chequers match, our quest fails here, at the entrance of the Elf wood. Failure count: 2Third try: I play reactively with no overriding strategic technique (hoping that the hint is that I can wear him out as he makes uninspired mistakes. It works at first, then suddenly, we notice that we're in a very bad position and he wins. As we have given our word to honor the result of the chequers match, our quest fails here, at the entrance of the Elf wood. Failure count: 3Fourth try: I'll do the other choices from now. I advance in the center. It works at first, then suddenly, we notice that we're in a very bad position and he wins. As we have given our word to honor the result of the chequers match, our quest fails here, at the entrance of the Elf wood. Failure count: 4.Fifth try: I select to advance my pieces methodically in a regular formation. Then I win.Unless I missed the advice, the book gave us the worst possible advice to win the game. If we had asked Uraba the braided seer about what we need to do, she'd have told us that challenging the elf-lord to a game of chequers earnestly leads to failure, because Elves are notorious cheaters and masters of illusion, so unless we play very methodically, he'll magically project illusions of false chequers pawns to win. So we're advised to let no space for this to happen on the board. But we didn't take this path. </blockquote>

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