First of all... hope you get better soon JOE.
Secondly, sorry for the delay. The sheer number of units to move and plan took me two days to figure out.
Without further ado... my report...
(0)1795AD: Preflight Check. What exactly is our train of thought here? I'm looking around and seeing massive chaos. Lemme get a bearing...
Valdivostok is building a Cossack. It has no barracks, pitiful production (producing a total of 5 hammers), and is stagnanted with no future prospect of doing any better. It's claim to fame are three gold mines, only one of which is being worked right now due to food constraints. No food resources is going to make this an interesting run. In essence, this is a gimped city living off the water. Only hope for improvement in to irrigrate that forested grassland when we can, and then work the hill which gives 1 food. Not looking up... I'm putting it on a forge, we'll see how that goes... 24 turns. Ugh.
M&M Furgalloegrad (nice name) so it's not stagnant anymore. Leningrad is starving while not making very good use of it's squares. Fix that... Novgorod is mad, but there's little I can do to help it right now, as we need able cities working on Cossacks.
Moscow has a GIANT stack sitting in it. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why we are not utilizing these guys. Some of the Cossacks are hurt, but the grens and cats do no good sitting around. Time to mobilize comrades!
One thing I would like to know. Why were we researching rifling when we could've traded with someone earlier? Whatever. Can't do anything about it now anyways...
IBT: One of our wounded cossacks gets fragged by a cannon. Why are these guys out unsupported?
(1)1800AD: Rifling comes in. I'll start up steampower. One more tech after that and we can rock and roll with infantry.
Cossack frags that ridiculous cannon. Then it runs for Macau. Better to live and fight another day!
I pile the obscene stack into a forest near the border...
WTH are all these flanking promotions doing on our cossacks? Cossacks have no need to retreat from ANYTHING right now. Useless promotions.
(2)1802AD: Kill 2 knights, a cannon, and a grenadier on the eastern front. No losses, but some hurt...
Irritatingly, some foolish knights are pillaging on the norther front. Dispose of them easily...
IBT: I lose a decent cossack to a cannon. Damn these chinese troops...
(3)1804AD: Lots of enemies. But I'm going to take the fight to them. Cossacks are scattered across the countryside.
IBT: Lose a cossack and a grenadier defending. Enemies lose 2 rifles, and 2 cannons.
(4)1806AD: Take down an enemy rifleman and grenadier by Catherinegrad. Mao seems to be unwisely stripping the city of defenses to throw against my troops. Continue to advance.
IBT: Stacked Cossacks prove themselves very effective to the end. I put a pair on a hill (still no defence) and it killed 4 enemy artillery pieces before croaking...
(5)1808AD: This turn's kill log... 2 knights, a grenadier, a cannon, and a chokunu. Forces continue to advance, and the cat stack has almost reached the hill by Chengdu, where they will be safe. Stupidly, Mao spent all his cannon on paired cossacks, and while he did kill some of them, most of his cannon are dead or crippled.
(6)1810AD: Mao has decided that what remains of his forces in Chengdu should sit there, so I surround the city with troops.
IBT: Mao loses two more cannons, a rifleman, and another chokunu as his forces manage to kill one cossack.
(7)1812AD: Bomb Chengdu down to 24% defence. The slaughter begins as a cossack disposes of the topdog grenadier. They're down to muskets now! Rain hell!
I had a screenshot of Chengdu's capture, but it is somehow gone... Oh well. Captured Chengdu.
Dump units into Chengdu.
(8)1814AD: Holding pretty well. Killed a Mao Rifle. Been otherwise quiet...
IBT: Two Grenadiers go down, but manage to take down a few enemy rifles.
(9)1816AD: Mao gets a pair knights destroyed, along with 1 more rifle.
IBT: Mao again kills a grenadier at expense of his troops.
(10)1818AD: Starting to cover the countryside again, killed 2 rifles and a mace. Will take 1 more turn to even out the years.
(11)1820AD: Units are in place to take Catheringrad next turn.
It should be enough, but reinforcements can come from any direction to help with the assault. The brave citizens of Catheringrad should be glad to see us.