415 AD - Wasn't this close to the time the Huns showed up? Some similar time, maybe a few hundred years later, there would be some relationship between horse people and farm people to form the Slavs and the Cossacks. Right now, we are thundering over the desert in War Chariots. Hmm, my atlas does say that area is a mid-latitude desert - so the Slavic people are further west.
Our main stack was in Sparta, about where we can find present day Bulgaria. We decided it was best to march on Novgorod and unite the main stack with the troops moving up through the Caucasus Mountains. This might make a counterattack through the Caucasus Mountains more difficult, but much easier to go through Sparta at Athens, both of which will be wide-open.
In other news, somebody founded Buddhism. I think that is 5/7 World Religions so far. I think that leaves Philosophy and Divine Right.
Turn 202 - 430 AD - We finished research on Metal Casting. There were a couple of minor events. We got money changers in Thebes, for a bonus +1 gold for the Marketplace. Somewhere in Germany, they got a Jade Trade going.
Turn 203 - 445 AD - There was a slave revolt in Rostov. Something interesting about Spiritual is we can switch in and out of Slavery. Ideally, we are only spending 5 turns. So maybe we save some money and reduce the risk. At this point, a slave revolt is not going to be crippling.
Turn 204 - 460 AD - The Siege of Novgorod
We used the stack of catapults to blow down the city defenses. They defenders were easy marks for our highly trained and experienced Swordsmen. We opened with a CR3 Swordsman with 10 Experiene, of course. That way, if we lose, then we don't lose too much experience. Eventually they will get to 17 XP for another level.
Espada 4 vs Archer at 70.0% - Victory, 2.9/6 hp remaining, 13 XP
Sword 1M vs Sword at 75.1% - Victory, 5.0/6 hp remaining, 14 XP
Zuk-Thoth vs Archer at 98.7% - Victory, 4.3/6 hp remaining, 49 XP
Espada 2 vs Spear at 98.8% - Victory, 4.3/6 hp remaining, 18 XP
Espada 3 vs Spear at 88.7% - Victory, 6/6 hp remaining, 10 XP
Sword 1P vs Spear at 99.0% - Victory, 6/6 hp remaining, 10 XP
We smashed through the defenses of Novgorod with no losses. It will take a couple of turns to heal up and keep marching. We also got to march in some of the troops approaching from the east.
In other news, China and Mongolia have gone to war. Maybe that will keep them busy for a while.
Turn 207 - 505 AD - Continuing on with the pointless builds (I think the issue is I lose focus on the main idea, with is to build more units and continue a war, instead of buildings and wonders that gain very little.) we built the Parthenon in Persepolis and the Moai Statues in Athens.
We are now getting a bonus of 50% great people points generated, but running no Specialists. I would have been much better off capturing this Wonder. There are better ways to hog Wonders.
The Moai Statues in Athens - I figured we had time to build them and Athens has two Fish Tiles and about twelve more Coastal Tiles. It is basically an island. I thought this was one of the best spots. My rating: 14/20.
We also got a cache of lost and rare writings in Mecca, adding 138 beakers towards Machinery. This is more than half a turn of progress in a single event! There was an option to spend 138 gp to get +1 Beaker from the Library of Mecca, but I really can't justify over 100 Turns for a payoff. Maybe if we were researching something very cheap. I would say we have been doing very well with events so far! We got, from what I remember:
Lost grain in the Granary of Thebes - It cost 20 gp to replace, not a big deal.
Islamic Wedding with Greece - I spent 15 gp to get a bonus happy point in my main cities for 30 Turns. 15 gp is tiny. 30 turns of Happy is huge.
......I think there were a few more......
Money Changers - 1 gold from the Market Place in Thebes
Rare Scrolls - 138 free Beakers
Turn 208 - 520 AD - We advanced our troops to Yekaterinburg and took this as an opportunity to destroy the Iron mine.
I do not know if this is Russia's only source of Iron, but it was worth a try. No Iron means they are building Archers and Chariots and really have no answer to Swords and Phants. It also looks like they have researched Construction and can build Catapults. Hopefully they do not know how to use them well.
Meanwhile, the Russians counter-attacked Novgorod with a single Chariot against a Swordsman in a bid to recapture, but that did not happen. That was interesting, because I remember seeing about 4 Chariots in Moscow.
Turn 209 - 535 AD - The Battle of Stalingrad
This is pretty close to where the Russians counter-attacked at Stalingrad, isn't it? Also, are we doing this war wrong? We are indirectly allied with the Italians who are fighting the French - and over here, we are attacking the Russians, wiping out ridiculous odds. The Italians are also fighting the Germans, so that's different. England appears to be sitting neutral. That's different. The Mongolians are attacking the Chinese and I have no idea what the Japanese are doing. The world is at war!
Meanwhile, the Russians showed up with what looks like their stack. It looks like Catalina went heavy on City Raider, which is not going to do them a world of good right now - Or at least defending a city against that stack would be rough and bloody.
This stack seemed big enough to justify promoting one Catapult to Barrage. We would then be dealing with a stack of weakened units.
Catapult 1 vs Sword at 26.7%...... and we lived with 1.4/5 hp remaining.
Catapult 2 vs Sword at 32.3%...... and we lost, but the Sword has 1.6/6 hp remaining
That's it for the Catapults. Looking back, it was about even odds we get to keep one Catapult and we came up lucky, again. Sometimes, I think the RNG is bent on screwing people over who do not have a contingency plan for losing a battle. So just like Axis and Allies, good things happen when you roll lots of dice. It's time to bring in the Elephants.
Elephant 1 vs Sword at 77.1% - Victory with 5.1 / 8 hp remaining and 6 XP
Elephant 3 vs Sword at 89.5% - Victory with 3.9 / 8 hp remaining and 5 XP
Now the War Chariots see action and get to be relevant one more time! The Spears are in the city and not in the Stack!
Carro 1 vs Catapult at 90.1% - Victory with 2.6 / 5 hp remaining and 29 XP - Carro 1 just keeps winning!
Carro 8 vs Chariot at 96.4% - Victory with 1.3 / 5 hp remaining and 14 XP
Carro 4 vs Chariot at 96.4% - Victory with 0.5 / 5 hp remaining and 13 XP - This is every bit as good as surviving!
Carro 10 vs Chariot at 97.4% - Victory with 1.8 / 5 hp remaining and 14 XP
Carro 3 vs Axe at 99.4% - Victory with 2.9 / 5 hp remaining and 11 XP
Hacha 2 vs Sword at 99.9% - Victory with 2.0 / 5 hp remaining and 4 XP
Sword 11 vs Sword at 99.9% - Victory with 6 / 6 hp remaining and 4 XP
We still have a stack left over to attack the city. The main defender appears to be an Archer with CG3. See that +125% from city?
Never tell me the odds.
-Han Solo
Espada 3 vs Archer at 25.1% - Defeat, but we reduced them to 1.4 / 3 hp and they will die later.
Sword 1P vs Sword at 75.1% -Victory with 4.0 / 6 hp remaining and 13 XP
Zuk-Thoth vs Sword at 96.8% - Victory with 4.2 / 6 hp remaining and 63 XP
Sword 1M vs Archer at 96.9% - Victory with 3.8 / 6 hp remaining and 16 XP
Espada 4 vs Spear at 98.0% - Victory with 5.6 / 6 hp remaining and 15 XP
Espada 2 vs Spear at 99.6% - Victory with 5.2 / 6 hp remaining and 19 XP
There is is. We captured the great city of Yekaterinburg and destroyed a stack of Russian soldiers. I count 14 kills in this turn, plus another 6 in Novgorod, and another cheap kill on a Chariot. She also charged Novgorod with a single Chariot just before we met the stack at Y. So far, this war has cost us one Catapult and 1 Sword. I like this kill ratio! We shall see how much time the loss of one Catapult costs us. If we wipe out Moscow and head west to St. Petersburg, then we can catch up with a replacement.
Turn 210 - 550 AD
There was still some fighting at Yekaterinburg.
Elephant 2 defeated the Axe approaching from east of the city.
Swords 10 and 11 attacked the Chariots that showed up to the Northwest of the city.
Then they defeated a counter-attack from an Axe. Go figure. The combination of Hills and River gave the Swords a small edge and the Russians holed up in Moscow.
Turn 212 - 580 AD - Continuing with the pointless builds, we built the Great Library in Thebes.