Rat44 CCM - Ultimate Challenge

That's all right--by the end of next turn the British will essentially be fighting alone. :rockon:

We take Tours from its four defending inf at the cost of three Hotchkisses, gaining control of Arc de Triomphe and pocketing 2940 gold (35-14).

This long process has finally given us a Hotchkiss route to Tamuin. We storm the city without loss, and:
 
Tamuin is defended by three Villistas and a hussar (39-14). Twenty-four Aztec units that we can see come off the map.

We seize Babylonian Strasbourg, held by two inf, for the loss of two Hotchkisses (41-16). This completes our conquest of the Babylonians' western lands, leaving them with their eastern core of eight cities and distant Avignon (not pictured):
 
We capture Akkad, though three early tanks go up in flames before we overcome the garrison of four inf--three of them elite (45-19). We gain control of Holy Book Printed, giving a useful happiness boost to our cities.

In skirmishing all along the front we smite two inf and a cav, gaining a very useful Great Artist (48-19).

We culture-bomb Uruk.

We take Samarra from its defending force of two inf, somehow losing three Hotchkisses (50-22). We capture a worker.

We ride down a marine inf outside Samarra and gain our first Great Leader of the round, who rushes light industry in Calgary (51-22).

We sue two uncovered French workers, capturing one and gaining a Great Artist from the other.

We storm Ur, again losing three Hotchkisses to defeat two inf (53-25).

We dispose of Nineveh's garrison, held by a musketeer (54-25).

We seize Nineveh, held by three inf, but lose three Hotchkisses (57-28). They seem to have forgotten how to retreat.

We can't eliminate Babylon until we fight our way through France to Avignon, so we turn now to the French front.

We dispose of Rheims's garrison, held by a hussar (58-28).

We capture Rheims from its three defending inf without loss, using mostly early tanks (61-28). We steal 3032 gold and capture a settler = worker.

We extirpate Lyons's two garrisons, held by an inf apiece (63-28).

We storm Lyons, held by four inf, for the loss of two Hotchkisses, also destroying a Zeppelin on the ground (68-30). We claim 3140 gold in loot and gain control of Wall Street.
 
We liquefy a final Bab inf around Uruk (69-30).

We rebuff insignificant Babylonian attacks, slaying three inf and a cav and losing an inf (73-31).

Our other four enemies don't attack.

Lagash flips back to the Babs. We lose one unit.


1796 (3): We re-take Lagash, held by one rifleman (74-31).

We seize Cardiff, a British enclave completely within our territory. We overcome the defending force of three British riflemen without loss (77-31).

We sweep two Bab cav off our rail lines (79-31).

We remove Assur's garrison, held by a rifleman (80-31).

We crush two inf and a Schneider 75 on our approach to Assur, gaining a Great Artist (83-31).

Assur is a very difficult objective, a size-nineteen hill city attacked across a river. We lose three early tanks before inflicting any casualties, but then our waves of tanks wear down the four inf and one rifleman holding the town, and we capture it without further loss (88-34).

In Assur we gain Art of Islam, which is useless to us as Christians. Unusually, we've reached this point in the game without acquiring any extra religious communities--essentially because ours has been the backward continent, and all the religious Wonders we might have captured have been built on the other.

We dispose of Eridu's garrison, held by a rifleman (89-35).

We take Eridu, held by two inf, for the loss of a Hotchkiss (91-36).

We remove the garrison serving Babylon and Ellipi, though it costs us an ET (held by a rifleman; 92-37).

We storm the Babylonian capital of Babylon, held by just four inf, for the loss of an ET (96-38).
 
We seize Ellipi, held by three inf, at the cost of three Hotchkisses. We sink at least one vessel in port (100-41).

This concludes the Babylonian campaign, apart from their distant city of Avignon, so we turn our attention to the French.

We culture-bomb Lyons so that our attacks on Paris won’t have to cross a river.

Our first attack on Paris brings Egypt into the war, due to a new MPP. Once again our new enemy is on the other continent, and it shouldn’t matter, except that our exploring frigates are in jeopardy.

Paris, unlike Babylon, has a real deity-capital garrison (in the standard sense)—ten inf, a Schneider 75, and an apprentice. We’re probably lucky to lose only six Hotchkisses in capturing the city (112-47), but counting retreats we have to commit twenty-six to the battle, and we’re left without the striking power to complete our conquest of the French core this turn.
 
We capture Arms Race (useless except to the builder) and a settler = worker. We gain 1503 gold in loot.

One of our lawyers exercises collateral estoppel upon a French heavy artillery and gains a Great Artist (113-47). That’s five Artists in a row from lawyer victories.

We take Marseilles, defended by four inf, at the cost of four Hotchkisses (117-51), and steal 1557 gold. Most French cities have multiple garrisons we aren’t able to neutralize.

Mopping up around Marseilles we overrun a French inf and a French late pikeman (119-51).

We culture-bomb Marseilles.

The Babylonians haven’t built any culture in Avignon since taking it from the French, so even though it’s ringed by hills, we’re able to storm it with partisans, and:
 
We lose one partisan (not generating any new ones) to defeat the two defending inf (121-52).

Thirty Babylonian units that we can see come off the map.

We aren’t attacked.


1797 (4): Research down to 40%, Electricity still due in one turn.

We remove Chartres’s garrison, held by a musketman (122-52).

We seize Chartres, held by two inf and a rifleman. We lose a Hotchkiss and gain 1088 gold (125-53), also capturing two workers.

The French rifleman wears the fatal red trousers of 1914—a great touch. :goodjob:

We bludgeon a French marine inf and a Gallic spearman outside Chartres (126-54).

Bordeaux is another French city protected by two garrisons, but in this case we’re able to neutralize both. We pummel a late pikeman and an inf and capture a worker (128-54).

We capture Bordeaux, defended by two inf and three riflemen, for the loss of two Hotchkisses (133-56).

Saint-Étienne is another large French city with multiple garrisons we can’t remove. We take the town from its three defending inf at the cost of three Hotchkisses and many retreats (136-59), collecting 1908 gold.

We dispose of Orleans’s garrison, held by a pikeman (137-59).

We storm and auto-raze Orleans, held by an inf, a rifleman, and a late pikeman (140-59). We steal 1378 gold.

We mop up two stray French units, a Gallic spearman and a rifleman, capturing a worker (142-59).

This reduces the French to two towns in the northern wastes we’ll scoop up in a few turns, so we now turn in earnest to the British campaign:
 
Aerial reconnaissance shows that some British cities are only three tiles apart, so our early tanks will have a role in the campaign beyond cheering on the Hotchkisses’ gallant sacrifices.

We seize Portsmouth, held by three British inf. We lose a Hotchkiss and capture a settler = worker (145-60).

We wreck a British heavy artillery outside Portsmouth (146-60).

We capture Birmingham, held only by two riflemen, but an incredible stand by the last rifleman on its last hit point (before it starts promoting) costs us three Hotchkisses and some retreats (148-63).

We dispense with Newcastle’s garrison, held by a musketman, and capture a worker (149-63).

We’re able to attack Newcastle with early tanks, and take it without loss (held by five riflemen; 154-63). We capture a settler = worker.

Edinburgh is completely surrounded by move-ending terrain (by CCM rules), so we change our axis of advance and attack from the north.

We excise Nottingham’s garrison, held by a rifleman (155-63).

We storm Nottingham, held by two riflemen. We lose an ET (157-64).

We culture-bomb Nottingham.

We dismantle Glasgow’s garrison, held by a rifleman (158-64).

We seize Glasgow, held by three riflemen, for the loss of two Hotchkisses (161-66).

One of our lawyers recruits a British worker as a paralegal and gains a Great Artist. A bit later another lawyer repeats the feat.

We pulverize Liverpool’s garrison, held by a musketeer (162-66).

We capture Liverpool, held by five riflemen. We lose two Hotchkisses (167-68).
 
Electricity --> Atomic Theory, due in seven turns at 70%.

We aren’t attacked.


1798 (5): We take Edinburgh, defended by three inf and a rifleman. We lose an ET and a Hotchkiss (171-70).

We storm British Tlatelolcat :lol:, held by an inf and two riflemen (174-70).

We demolish Sheffield’s two garrisons, held by a rifleman and a musketman (176-70).

We seize Sheffield, defended by an inf and two riflemen, for the loss of a Hotchkiss (179-71)

We capture Southampton, held by three riflemen and a lawyer—an easy battle, since we’re able to use early tanks (183-71). We capture two workers.

We take Dover, again using ET’s (held by three riflemen; 186-71).

We gain a Great Artist picking off a redlined Schneider outside Dover (187-71).

We storm Leeds, defended by an inf and a rifleman, losing a Hotchkiss (189-72).

We remove Coventry’s garrison, which unusually isn’t defended.

We seize Coventry, held by an inf, three riflemen, and a spearman. We lose an ET (194-73) and capture a settler = worker. From an uncovered worker near the town we gain another Great Artist.

We capture Manchester, held by four riflemen, at the cost of two Hotchkisses (198-75).

We culture-bomb Manchester.

We annihilate London’s garrison, held by a musketman (199-75).

Our extremely indirect approach has allowed us to assault London with early tanks attacking across open ground, rather than Hotchkisses attacking across a river. So having made every possible preparation, we send our tanks in…

…and we’re rewarded when we take the city at minimal loss, despite its defending force of five inf, three riflemen, and a marine inf (one ET lost; 208-76). We capture five workers.
 
The British have two suspicious naval stacks including steamers just off London, so houseboat settlers seem very likely…and indeed, when we storm their final city of Oxford they aren’t eliminated, so we return to the save before that attack.

On the French front we destroy one of those all-artillery stacks the AI likes—two heavy artillery and a Schneider (211-76).

We have too many uncommitted units to leave idle, so we’ll begin the Spanish war this turn, even though we’ll only be able to take a few cities.

The Spaniards have twenty-eight cities, so this will be our largest campaign on our home continent, as well as the last.

It takes two tries at 2552 gold each, but we’re able to safe-steal Spain’s world map:
 
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