Ay, good moments and memories....strangely, the best I had took place on Beluaterra:
During the first and second age, when Rio was reduced to one city, finally gained a peace, retook territory, then the first invasion started. Rio held and held, there were 8-10 fanatically loyal nobles in our realm then. However, Rio fell right at the end of the invasion...by a hair. We then went into exile to Fronen, fought for them for some months, then returned south well equipped with gold and troops. All but one or two of those who marched north after Rios fall did return south. Rio was recreated, then held against Luz de Bia, first retaking their lands, then fighting a sharp war shortly after recreating the realm. Heady times indeed. I remember us all having a lot of fun, times were tense but the army was extremely dependable and tricky. The group of players was really extraordinary....lots of ideas and enthusiasm.
The other very worthwhile time was during the last invasion....first being part of forging an alliance to aid Enweil, then fighting umpteen battles on their behalf....we did kill a load of daimons, nearly managed to save Enweil, at the end had our whole army (no troops left for homedefense, none at all) marching for Enweils capital which was threatened by daimons....did arrive one halfday too late, still decide to attack, did not manage to beat the daimons. If we'd been one halfday earlier we'd have managed, defending their capitals walls jointly with Enweil. That was a huge disappointent....which was capped by Chenier accusing us of doing it on purpose. Go figure. Then, once Enweil fell, with Rio cut off in the south the siege mentality was great as well....we fought back and forth against the daimons, the dark walls closing in all the time, hope seemed lost, yet we marched an army from Grehk to near Fheuvenehm to hunt daimons....then right back again since the daimons attacked our very northern tip from the darkness. Longest march of a cohesive army that I know about. Then actually surviving the invasion...that was a blast.
All in all I had lots of fun with Rio - both politically, being in part responsible for its 'interior design', all our laws...which I actually think are the reason Rio has been so resilent over the ages. Then, lots of fun being its general in several different occasions, mostly starting when things looked bleak, mostly being able to turn things around....hugely satisfying. Again, no other game gave me such moments.
So three cheers for BM!
