The Indian war III: Rifles, Part2
...
Back in the market square in London, the mayor and Don Deity:
Really, Don Deity, you should consider making peace with Ash, even if he wants the city of Bangalore back.
But I dont want to give the city of Bangalore back
and besides, I dont want to make peace with Ash, I want to capture all his cities and then drag his dead body through the streets of
OK, OK, I understand your point, but do you really think its a good plan to fight for a city you are very likely to loose anyways?
Yes, I think so, dear mayor. Id rather loose Bangalore then to miss the chance to kill most of Ashs army BEFORE he is able to upgrade ANYTHING to rifles then to make peace with him now
besides, there still is Bob with the wounded veterans stationed in Delhi, and they should arrive in time to support the garrison forces in Bangalore
And you really think that old Bob and his wounded comrades are enough to save Bangalore?
I dont know
and I dont really care, as long as the main host of Ashs army dies in the process. We are able to field 2 new cavalry every 4 turns, even without whipping. So whatever happens, Ash wont be able to match our production with the losses he already has taken, as long as he isnt able to field riflemen, so we WILL press on at all costs.
Zuummmpppp
Oh, Don Deity you are back early
As promised Bob, as promised
how many men exactly do you have stationed here?
I fear not enough to defend Bangalore
but two fresh battalions of cavalry heading towards Delhi could be rerouted and would be able to reach Bangalore in time, to strengthen the defences there.
Thats nice to know, but how many men do YOU have available here?
But most of them are still wounded
and it is most important to me that they all have a decent chance to return home, to see their wives and kids
Thats also nice to know, but now please tell me the numbers, yes Bob?
OK
I have 2 battalions of cavalry around patrolling the city for any intruders and altogether 5 wounded more for medical treatment. Another 3 battalions have already left for Jaipur and Lahore, protecting our advancing trebuchets
and I fear they wont make it back in time, even if I order them back immediately
Including yourself, that makes a total of 7 battalions you could sent towards Bangalore, if we leave only one battalion in Delhi
with the reinforcements from England heading directly to Bangalore, we could muster a total of 14 battalions of cavalry (of which 8 are wounded), including the forces already stationed in Bangalore.
This may be right, but with all the trebuchets Ash has moved towards Bangalore, we still wouldnt be able to hold the city
he would simply bombard us to death, then finish all survivors with his pikes, maces and knights
Who said that we want to hold Bangalore
let Ash have Bangalore
I want you to attack Ashs forces directly, starting with the stack that includes most of his trebuchets. Only move the two battalions that are coming from England into the city of Bangalore to protect the trebuchets there, because they wouldnt be able to reach Ashs troops in time anyways. And if all else fails, let the trebuchets bombard Ash units to weaken them. Then unite your troops with the garrison army of Bangalore in the hills outside of Bangalore and attack Ash right away
And so it came, that in late November 501 AD, the long expected clash of Ashs and Don Deitys main armies finally should take place, at a completely unexpected location, in the lonely hills outside of Bangalore
and very likely deciding the outcome of this war and therefore the fate of Don Deity and the English civilisation (and Ashs off course
):
We united our army with the men stationed in Bangalore Great General Bob, and we are awaiting your orders
How is the situation?
Our main forces are stationed right next to Ashs main stack, which contains 6 battalions of trebuchets, 3 battalions of longbows, 2 battalions of knights and 1 battalion of maces
but they are stationed on a hill, just outside of Bangalore, so mainly the longbows should cause trouble
and you should remember, that only 2 of our units will be able to move into Bangalore after the fight
IF you should want that
Well see, well see
start the attack NOW
The battle lasted until the break of dawn
and Bob was about to win a victory that finally would make him immortal in all English history books
but there was a prize
a high prize:
The most experienced veterans around Bob broke into the ranks of the Indian longbows, pushing ahead like hell, desperately trying to open a corridor for the lesser experienced English units, fighting their way up the hill, where the Indian main host was stationed. It was a bloody battle and lots of good men were lost on both sides
but in the end Bobs first wave succeeded. The second wave, containing mainly lesser experienced units and fresh recruits now could take on the weaker Indian knights and maces. They did their best, but losses had to be taken
Finally, after several hours of heavy fighting, the Indian resistance seemed to be broken and the wounded English units still waiting at Bobs side entered the combat and ganged upon the now unprotected Indian trebuchets and tried to finished them off, but two battalions managed to retreat towards the approaching Indian reinforcements (there simple werent enough English troops left to attack the remaining two Indian trebuchets),...
and to Bobs horror, he had to watch them all approaching Bangalore, cutting off his own way.
Great General Bob, we will never make it in time to Bangalore
should we order to evacuate the city?
How far are the two battalions of cavalry moving in from England away?
A messenger just arrived some minutes ago
they should make it in time, but the young general in charge of Bangalore still estimates his chances of holding the city quite small, due to the many trebuchets still left in Ashs army
I wont disappoint Don Deity
so we wont give up the city
once our two battalions of cavalry still able to move make it there, we will have 9 battalions of cavalry (6 wounded, including 4 that were almost dead) and 4 battalions of trebuchets in the city against the remaining 2 Indian battalions of trebuchets and the Indian reinforcements containing another 2 battalions of knights, 2 battalions of pikemen, 1 battalion of macemen, 2 battalions of trebuchets and 2 battalion of longbows
even IF the Indians should win EVERY SINGLE BATTLE
and I dont expect them to do that because they appear to be all quite inexperienced
we still would hold the city thanks to sheer number
we even can afford to loose one trebuchet now
give word to the young general in charge
he is to hold the city at ALL costs.
The siege of Bangalore started around 2:00 in the morning
After having heard from the messenger that he had to defend the city at all costs, the young general in charge was terrified at first, but then he decide to try his best and to do his duty. He ordered one battalion of trebuchets to face the Indian forces and under the cheering shouts of the English defenders, they even made it back towards the English ranks, inside the city. So he ordered another battalion of trebuchets to advance
they never came back.
Then he ordered his forces to fortify and wait for the final Indian advance
which came with brute force. Only half an hour later, after having suicided all his trebuchets (two managed somehow to retreat) Ash apparently ordered ALL his generals to charge with ALL their units, except the longbows, desperately trying to recapture Bangalore
but the English defenders stood their ground, never backing down, for almost 2 hours. But then, when Bob and his men had almost reached the city, the Indians, led by their pikemens, broke through the western flank
General, we HAVE to retreat. All our units are severely weakened, we cant hold them off any longer
But we have to
Bob and his men are about to arrive
just some minutes more
Its not possible
we are loosing WAY too many men
we cant hold them back
and it would be complete suicide to charge into the advancing pikemen
We WILL charge
and I WILL lead the attack myself. I need volunteers, and I need them NOW
And there were many English volunteers, happy to charge into the Indian pikemen, together with the young general
to charge for the last time (and down the drain went the first and only English combat 4 cavalry
the most experienced English unit by far
it had a very short level 4 life, lasting only 2 turns
).
But their sacrifice wasnt for nothing
they managed to buy Bob the time he needed. At the time the Indians had closed their ranks again and resumed their advance, Bob was there, and had closed the English ranks also. And when the sun finally appeared on the horizon, it became clear that Ash had failed
Bangalore was save again.
Later the same morning, two more fresh battalions of English cavalry arrived in Bangalore retreated from the advance towards Jaipur and Lahore, charging into what was left of Ashs army, exposing the remaining Indian trebuchets. What was left was an easy kill for the remaining wounded veterans around Bob and when the sun stood high later that day, everything was over
Ashs army was defeated.
And finally, after the massacre at Bangalore, Ashs overall power dropped below Don Deitys. Combined with the fact, that both, Alex and Bren like Don Deity more then Ash, and Ash still was on the rifles countdown, Don Deity dismissed the idea of making peace with Ash once and for all and decided to continue the war against India at all costs
although Ash would accept peace now without any conditions and even would gift all his gold for that (and maybe even his hidden and frightened twin brother)
So Great General Bob got ordered with most of his units back to Delhi, to heal and to regroup once again and then to resume the advance on Jaipur and Lahore
Sitting in his throne room, being busy mainly with feeling great, Don Deity suddenly remembered two things:
The first was to ask Emperor Bran who had told him about Ashs twin brother and where to get a decent marble throne for a fair price (his own old stone throne was already worn a little, after more then 4.500 years of excessive use).
The second was related with a forest, far far away from everything, between Chinook and Hastings and close to the Celtic border
long forgotten by everybody, including Don Deity and his various advisers
and had to do something with founding a city there around 1000 BC
so Don Deity decided to beam over and to cheer up the settlers a little still camping there since almost 2.000 years now
and to tell them to go on camping. There was no real need now for another city, and since Don Deity supposed that they were now sort of experts in camping, he assumed that they wouldnt mind much camping for some centuries more
In parallel, Don Deity received news that stupid Mao secretly had circumnavigated the Globe and had therefore stolen Don Deitys reward (+1 naval movement)
so the fact that the former brave English sailors finally had managed to make contact with the German nation in 530 AD wasnt really enough to make Don Deity proud of them again
But now back again to the war front in Central India:
Bangalore had received a quite strong garrison containing of 6 battalions of cavalry after the heavy battle there, just to make sure
And the rest of Don Deitys army was again healing in Delhi or marching towards Jaipur and Lahore, just like 100 years before
Ash had really managed to slow the English advance down drastically with his own advance on Bangalore, but in the end he had gained nothing but time (about 8-10 turns), at the expense of his army
...
In the mayors house in London, the mayor and one of his spies:
And you really think Ash has turned to drugs?
Everything indicates that
either him or its his twin brother again
its so difficult to tell them apart
only good, that Emperor Bran has informed Don Deity about the fact that there are two of them
And why do you think one of them has a drug problem?
Well, there was this banquet in Ashs new palace last week, in Bombay, and Ash (or his twin) was having a speech
and believe it or not, he referred to Don Deity as one of my best friends
HSMF? How can this be? Don Deity has killed most of his army now, has taken half of his cities and has slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Indian civilians (in average, about ¾ of the population in each captured city had been whipped to death
remember Don Deitys Golden Whip???)
I have no idea, I just report what I heard. (Yes folks, its unbelievable, but Ash actually still is pleased with Don Deity, despite the little war
)
There still was not much news to report from the English research
it seemed to be crawling a little here, a little there, trying to approach chemistry every year a little bit, but not much really
which Don Deity would REALLY needed now, to have at least a small chance to survive any battle against a major force of riflemen
Additionally, another serious problem starts to show, because England seemed to be quite poor on culture
more and more ground was lost to the Celtic culture pressure (this was a quite depressing fact by the way
CELTIC culture pressure
getting bogged down by CELTIC culture felt like
well
getting bogged down by CELTIC culture
) Chinook already had lost 3 tiles, including the only English area warm and humid enough to harvest rice
and more would be lost soon
but at least, Don Deity had overtaken Bren now in score, and seemed to be working its way up slowly but steadily, thanks to the successful war against the Indians and the excessive troop production going along with that
and was ranked now 4th in score (but still behind Ash
).
...
Although the risk of getting backstabbed should have decreased drastically now with Ash offering himself helpfully as easy prey, Don Deity still had a strange feeling creeping up his back, getting stronger and stronger
...
Im happy for any feedback, suggestions, tips and hints concerning this game...
IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you want to play along or ahead feel free to pick any save you like. Only thing you REALLY should do is to use spoiler tags for anything AHEAD of the actual story.
The saves for this game can be found
here (scroll to the end of the page)
YOU WILL NEED THE WARLORDS 2.13 PATCH TO OPEN THE LAST SAVES
...
See you Soon
Snaaty
...no... wait... 
Great update, I can't believe that DD hold the city, well I think I'll have to name my next Great General after you!
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