Not being able to sit down to play PC Games for a few weeks because you've been so busy can be a little discouraging. Finally, today I can get back to tweaking my strategy for the Nation of Ulm in the TBS Strategy game "Dominions II".

My strategy is something like this: early on, my pretender god, an old crone, will lead my armies of men (Ulmish armies are the most well-equipped in the world) to take lands. My avatar will go slowly though, because she must search for secret sites of magic to fuel my magic enterprise later on. When I can empower a mage to take my god's place on the battlefield -- oh yeah, I shall also make him my god's high prophet as well -- then the old crone will sit back and make magic quills to increase the intellect of my mages and astral clams that will provide me with more magical resources every month. Eventually, I should have enough to scry all of my lands for the most secret of secret magic locations, so that none escape the wisdom of my pretender god. Being so decked out in magical resources, it will be time to implement my main strategy: to use my smiths to create powerful magical items to equip two kinds of armies.

Anyway, I can't tell you the rest of my strategy, or that would just be...wrong. Check out the game yourself, though, here (yes, there is a demo):

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/d2/1.htm

Keep in mind that soon, Dominions III will be released, and that page is here:

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/Dom3/1.htm

Finally, if you want to know what the community is like, go to this forum:

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/ postlist.php?Cat=&Board=UBB74

My only word of caution is that, since this is an indie game, don't expect fancy graphics or an easy to use GUI. However, there are plenty of FAQs and walkthroughs out there on the site to explain how the game works. There is a LOT to this game.