Didn't recruit Amelia. I'll pick her up in Chapter 13. Missed her by ONE stinkin' turn...

Restarted a few times, but only to look up how to save the villages. Had to have Seth rush down, kill the Pirates, and rush back, while poor Tana acted as target practice for a Pirate to keep him away from the eastern village. Ross swept the east side of the map, essentially. Wasted several good Vulnerary and Elixir charges, but ah well.

Trying to keep levels even. People are starting to hit ten-and-above. Seth is level 4, which should tell you how much I've been using him as a crutch. I am badly out of practice playing FE, and I am in BAD shape regarding playing FE without any sort of Arena or Skirmish Abuse. These chapters were all so much freaking easier when I was carrying around promoted or almost-promoted units. At least Seth is no Marcus.

All right, Fire Emblem 8. I concede that you're really not a cakewalk when I don't abuse your mechanics. Happy?

Ha. Maybe, after this, I'll try an ENM run without Arena Abuse. I'll see whether Arena-Abused!HHM is easier than that...

Let's just call this growing up as a Fire Emblem player and leave it at that...

(Actually, all frustration aside? I'm enjoying the challenge. The mage-heavy party is... dubious, but nonetheless really pays off when I have to kill enemies fast. And Ross has more than paid back the Exp. I invested into him as a Trainee. Yeah, I could have put it into Vanessa instead, but VANESSA could not have casually wiped out several axe-users and a couple of Archers, now could she?

...Aaagh, speaking of flyers? I ship Tana/Cormag. I am going to be in so much pain whenever there's an archer-happy chapter with those two around... )

___

Renvall was actually not very bad when Ephraim showed up. I used Kyle and Forde to soak up some enemies, though I really should have granted that Exp. to units I actually planned on USING, and had Ephraim just walk through the area as a maelstrom of destruction. Meanwhile Ross and the mages covered the right half of the map, and all was well. Except I stalled so I could get Natasha Exp. for all the wounded units, and so my turncount is absolutely hideous, but I think it will pay off long-term. After all, she turns into a Bishop, and Slayer made Artur effectively my most powerful endgame unit in my previous run. TWO Bishops = wiping the floor with monster armies. Ja?

...Partly because AI-controlled!Gerik ran onto a Fort like a coward and left her standing around in the entranceway, so a Myrmidon got a free hit on her. Gerik, you feckless wimp...

Sent units east to handle the scramble of Myrmidons, Mercenaries, and Bandis, then had Seth rescue Innes and hand him off to Tana for recruitment, then had him wall for Gerik and Tethys while Innes made his way back down.

All units recruited, reinforcements mostly wiped out. Assuming nothing major happens, chapter is in the bag.

*sigh* I don't know what I'm worrying about. I HAVE Grass/Poison types out the kazoo, and the only thing you need to really do to survive Rock Tunnel is make sure you have something to OHKO Geodudes and Gravelers.

Now let me figure out what to call this Zubat. Let's see...

I didn't realize my Golbat had Confuse Ray! That makes it MUCH more useful. Mainly because I hate confusion and I hope the A.I. does too.

Managed to avoid any calamities from the Self-Destructers. Had a horrible moment where Absorb failed to OHKO, but the Graveler wasted its turn on Defense Curl instead and all was all right.

HAHAHAHAH

OMIGOSH

OH, WOW

OPERATION TWINEEDLE IS A SUCCESS

I just beat the ENTIRE Celadon Gym in 20 uses of Twineedle. While taking no damage EXCEPT from Tangela, which got off a few rounds of Bind due to being only Grass rather than Grass/Poison, because my Beedrill outsped every single one.

You see, Bug is super-effective against Poison in Gen 1, rather than being resisted by it. (They should have kept that. It actually makes Bug-type moves usable.) So all Grass/Poison Pokemon? Have a 4x weakness to Twineedle.

I just found what Beedrill's niche is supposed to be. You know how Butterfree's Lethal Joke entry notes that it's ideal for taking down Bruno? Beedrill just absolutely MAULED the Celadon Gym. And it wasn't overleveled, either. I just walked in with a level 24 Beedrill and walked out with a level 29 Beedrill and the Rainbowbadge.

Stopping for now. That was a VERY satisfying new section.