Badja Kalaitzidou

by Terikel Grayhair

A great general once said, “Surprise is a weapon that explodes in the mind and destroys all reason.” This is especially true of ambushes- taking the enemy by surprise from hidden forces and utterly destroying him while he stands unprepared for your assault. Ambushes can be achieved tactically and strategically- and this article shall discuss both.

The strategic ambush begins on the campaign map. The player parks a suitable warhost upon a tile that is lightly-wooded and nearby where the enemy shall pass. Ensure the army has a few movement points remaining by clicking upon it and seeing if it has some green highlights around it. Alternatively, checking the army details scroll should show some blue on the vertical slider bar to the right. The figure shall kneel, and report ‘ready to ambush.’ Now all that is needed is for an enemy army to come wandering by.

That sets up your ambush. Whether or not it shall be successful is determined by the AI. Not all ambushes are successfully prepared, no matter how delicately and perfectly placed. It is a random event. If the ambush is not successful, the army that wandered into your position will have time to prepare and your ambush becomes a normal battle. If successful, however, the enemy blundered into your position and has no time to prepare.

Rejoice! For you shall have the enemy in marching formation while you yourself have the freedom to deploy your forces to inflict maximum damage.

The enemy army is in march formation. The general should be at the head of the column. Any phalanxes will also be in march formation- four abreast. This is important to remember, because phalanxes are deadly from the front but weak from the side- and now that front is facing their general and is only four men wide.

Emplace your forces for maximum effect. This does not always mean maximum contact! Have a plan in mind when you deploy- remember, you have all the time in the world to put this correct, and his forces are already deployed. I have found it best to place my missile troops behind a line of melee troops on one side of the ambush, with my cavalry on another- all clustered about the head of the column. My plan is to have the missiles pepper the enemy while the melee troops charge- dragging the attention of the enemy forces to that side. Then I charge my cavalry from the opposite side. Often the result is instant rout. Then its roll up the rest of the army as mass panic ensues and the cavalry runs down the routers.

Remember local superiority when you plan. It is this ability to plan your ambush while the enemy is visible that is so deadly. You can overwhelm a good portion of his army while they are still in march formation and cause the mass panic, which ensures victory. It is through this that a smaller ambushing force can often annihilate a larger army.

Another good thing to remember is that the enemy will seldom move out of march formation while moving into position to strike back. This gives your forces the time they need to utterly smash the opposing force and prepare to deal with the rest of the force. Plus, if you finish off the portion you are currently working on before the rest arrive, you can smash the remainder while it is still in march formation.

A good, well-executed ambush seldom lasts longer than ten minutes from ‘Start Battle’ to ‘Victory’. Ambushes are also good ways for smaller, captain-led armies to annihilate larger armies and gain Heroic Victories, often granting a Man of the Hour should you be a little low on generals.

Should your ambush fail and the enemy has time to prepare, then you have a standard battle, as stated above. This also may lead to opportunities to perform a tactical ambush, as your forces are situated in lightly-wooded areas. Thus we shall now discuss the tactical ambush.

Most units have the ability to hide in woods. Some units, like Arcani, can hide anywhere, while others can hide in long grass. Only artillery and phalanxes cannot hide in woods, and even the phalanxes can hide if they revert to standard formation. And of course the commanding general is always visible to the enemy. This last piece is key to the successful tactical ambush.

The enemy will see your general. If you have other forces deployed among the trees, and the little pine-tree icon is showing on their unit card, then they are hidden and not seen by the enemy. The AI will therefore not react to their presence until they become unmasked by moving, attacking, or having an enemy unit wander too close. But the enemy will see your general, deploy, and move to engage him.

Thus place your forces in hiding and your general where the enemy’s advance will lead him past your hidden forces. And viola! Your hidden forces fall upon the flanks and rear of the enemy in a tactical ambush that should destroy a large portion of his army, and generate the mass panic needed to destroy the rest.

Timing is very important in the tactical ambush. If you assault too early, the enemy can react to your presence and destroy your ambushing force before it can perform its tasks. If you assault too late, your presence is revealed while moving- giving reaction time- plus the embattled portion of your army is sustaining losses in battle for far longer than necessary. Launching at the right time, however, minimizes your casualties while inflicting maximum casualties on your enemy.

So now you see the advantages of the Ambush. It is sneaky, cold-blooded, underhanded, and some consider it an dishonorable act, but it is deadly efficient at destroying an enemy warhost.

The enemy is not the only one who can be ambushed. This can happen to you too, any time you move forces about the campaign map with no spy preceding you. If caught in a successful ambush, your forces will be deployed in march formation, and the only thing you can do is press the ‘Start Battle’ button. You are screwed.

But not really. Pause is your friend, your savior from a defeat. Press Pause directly after pressing the ‘Start Battle’. You can now see how the Lord AI deployed his forces, and plan your reaction, then pray to the gods of war that your men execute their orders before the ambushers execute them.

The Lord AI will typically surround your column’s head as laid out above. But you are human, and with the advantage of stopped time, can plan your unit’s responses in detail to turn the tide against the ambushed and sow mischief among his forces.

Step One of the Save Your Butt Anti-Ambush Plan is not to panic. Time is stopped, something real-life generals cannot do. Evaluate your situation with regards to troops, abilities, and enemy.

Step Two is to issue your orders. Remember that your units are in march formation, just like those of the AI when you ambushed him. If you issue movement orders, those orders will be carried out in march formation. So a good idea is to use the ‘move and deploy’ function. Click on a unit, then to the left-front corner of where you want the unit to deploy. Holding the left button down, drag out the little yellow arrows to the size of the formation you want and then release. I typically order my forces every other unit to face to the left with the remainder facing to the right- this puts my army in the middle of an enemy sandwich, but one which allows all my forces to be facing the enemy- no flank or rear attacks on my boys! Any forces outside the circle of enemy forces become my reserve and are ordered into attack positions (and formation!) supporting the ambushed portion.

Step Three is unpause.

Step Four is to be a general. You have evaluated the situation and given your orders. Now you fight the battle on terms a little more even that those which you gave the Lord AI, and have a fighting chance- something you refused him.

The AI will often attempt tactical ambushes as well. It deploys its forces in its preset formations, then evaluates your position versus his and begins to move. All his forces are at this moment visible. When they stop, they kneel, and then disappear. They have not left, they are now hiding. Here you have the advantage of human memory. When your forces hide, the AI no longer sees them and thus no longer considers them. You, on the other hand, know those forces are there. You remember, he does not. Thus you can fight your battle with the knowledge that he has unseen forces there, and act accordingly.

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"God save the king."

The end of the second Elizabethan era was marked by four words from Liz Truss, the British Prime Minister who only had two days to govern.

Only Britons in their 70's could remember hearing the phrase in public before, so his statement was so shocking.

It was an epilogue to a time when the queen became a global icon of leadership even though she was not a politician. Her influence was based on the fact that she was always there.

She's gone.

wars came and went, as did crises, tragedies, political scandals, and recessions during his 70 year reign.

He ascended the throne as the empire crumbled. She died with the kingdom she herself held together at risk of splintering as she slipped away into Scotland, where fervor for independence is rising.

Isabel presided over a turbulent era of women's liberation, expansion of gay and lesbian rights, deindustrialization and immigration that changed the face of her country. Spanning the Cold War and Northern Ireland's civil war, Britain's bitter entry and exit from the European Union, and the spasms of a globalized economy, the queen remained unmoved.

The queen was always present, from the days of black-and-white television to the age of technicolor and the internet, and the ubiquitous mobile devices with which mourners took selfies outside Buckingham Palace after her death.

During the long reign of the monarch, many leaders went down in history.

She learned in 1952 that her father George VI had died and that she was queen. Elizabeth was always the same and she was always very formal and smilng.

His death, sudden and quiet, removed that bastion of stability, just at a time when Britain and the world seem more confused and unpredictable than in decades.

As a result of his confrontation with Russia, King Charles III has a divided nation that is economically on the ropes and preparing for a terrible winter, as high energy prices and inflation are brought on by the new Cold War. There is a conflict with China. The extreme heat that scorched Britain in the last summer of the queen's jubilee could be a sign of a climate disaster that could be especially dangerous for her island nation.

Carlos, like President Joe Biden, waited most of his life to regain his position as head of state, and faces an impossible task to quickly restore the leadership and stability his mother provided him during seven decades.

He was dissatisfied after waiting so long, his marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales collapsed, and he had a slightly quirky character, which made him less beloved than the Queen.

For nearly three-quarters of a century, Elizabeth was the monarchy, earning deference and respect even among a minority of subjects who saw the divine right of kings and queens as an absurd anachronism and the broken marriages and misadventures of the queen's children and hangers-on. royal as a retrograde symbol of a modern nation. Most of the British have never heard of the monarchy.

The new king and his heir apparent Prince William must reform the institution for the 21st century if it is to prosper or at least survive.

The queen's passing could have repercussions in other countries.

After a period of reflection, Commonwealth nations where she was head of state, such as Canada and Australia, with young populations that have diversified well beyond British ancestry, may wonder if it's finally time to cut the last few ties to the big country.

Britain's quest for a middle world power will have to go on without the world's most famous woman, who most of the planet couldn't remember. She was a part of everyone's life, a figure that was remembered through generations.

The queen's absence will be felt in Britain. Her face is on a lot of coins and stamps.

People who reached 100 years old received a telegram. A new king will be crowned on Christmas day after the traditional royal broadcast.

His death underscored the scope of the reaction.

There was a minute of silence at the US Open tennis and the lights on the Eiffel Tower went out. Presidents, prime ministers and monarchs sent messages of sympathy ahead of the state funeral in London for the late leader.

She was a global figure because of her longevity. With her decades of ubiquity, Elizabeth was able to bridge partisan divides and engage with governments of different partisan leanings. When someone talked about "The Queen", no one asked what she was.

Not all countries wanted it. Her position is an enduring symbol of empire and colonial oppression.

Last year, she was removed as head of state in Barbados. The queen's overwhelming commitment to duty, forced conventions, and pent-up emotions may have hurt her family and her nation.

Princess Margaret, the sister of the queen, was unable to marry her lover because he was divorced and the monarch was also head of the Church of England.

The queen had to be persuaded to give a televised speech after her apparent indifference to Diana's death in 1997.

The queen's death could prompt a fresh examination of Britain's complicated constitutional arrangements and political system that goes beyond a possible push for an independence referendum.

The royal family still upholds a class system that some Britons think is repressive, despite Britain being a much more equal society. Britain's status as a faded military and diplomatic power cannot be hidden by the gun carriages and cavalrymen who will attend his funeral.

Elizabeth was loved by millions at home and abroad.

His high-level political skills were shaped by the tedium of endless foreign tours, small talk on official visits home, and the crushing protocol of state dinners. She must be the most photographed woman in the history of mankind because she lasted longer than anyone else.

She was extraordinary politics despite being constitutionally prohibited from doing so.

Nicholas Dungan is the chief executive of CogitoPraxis, a leadership and business consulting firm, and he said Elizabeth exemplified the highest elements of professional leadership.

You don't have to have political power to be a leader. You don't have to have a lot of power to be a good leader.

"You need personal power to be a leader," Dungan said, defining essential leadership qualities as self-control, integrity and vision, all of which the queen exhibited." She said that his gift from her can be an inspiration for the future as much as the service he gave them during his life.

Elizabeth brought glamour when she was representing Britain abroad. She was a great historical figure because of her experience and wisdom. The presidents of the United States seemed a bit overwhelmed when they met her.

"When we were just beginning to navigate life as President and First Lady, she welcomed us with open arms and extraordinary generosity," former President Barack Obama said Thursday, adding that he and his wife were in awe of the "legacy of the queen of tireless and dignified public service".