GR29 - AWM vs 30 civs, Pangea

[Northern Pike]

We sink another seven vessels belonging to the houseboat civs, but don’t eliminate any of them (49-0).

We get our offensive on the Sumerian island started by capturing Kish, held by two riflemen, a musketman, and two Enks (54-0).

We abandon Kish (and a corrupt mainland city) and found Rowan and Mowett on the Sumerian island.

We take Kisurra, held by three riflemen (57-0).

We storm Utrecht, held by three riflemen (60-0).

We seize Breda, held by three riflemen and a guerrilla (64-0).

We capture Rotterdam, held by five riflemen (69-0). The town is awkward to hold, but we’ll try for the sake of Smith’s.

We take Harlingen, held by three riflemen (72-0).

We abandon Cherbourg on the mainland and found Babbington on the Dutch island.

We storm Holwerd, held by three riflemen (75-0).

We winkle out two riflemen of Amsterdam’s garrison, but the town remains defended (77-0).

Returning to the offensive on the Sumerian island, we seize Bad-tibira, held by three riflemen and an Enk (81-0).

We capture Isin, held by three riflemen and a musketeer (85-0).

We ride down twelve Sumerian units outside cities (97-0).

We perforate two Viking frigates (99-0).

We abandon one Sumerian and two Dutch cities, and found replacements on the mainland.

Minor rail movements reveal a French settler stacked with a Musketeer in fog in the former Russian lands. We disembowel the Musketeer, capture the settler, and eliminate the “Glorious French” (100-0). At least one French unit comes off the map.

Two Sumerian cav and a Sumerian horseman perish attacking Bad-tibira (103-0).

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

1762 (4): We can see a Sumerian stack of about seventy, and a Dutch stack of sixteen.

We dispatch a Celtic caravel, the last of their vessels we can see, but don’t eliminate them (104-0).

We dispose of the last three Egyptian transport vessels we can see, along with three of their frigates, but don’t eliminate them either (110-0).

We finally make contact with the Hittites, who have four cities and haven’t discovered Ceremonial Burial yet. They’re on an island slightly northwest of the Dutch island. We declare war.

We batter a Hittite galley and two Viking frigates (113-0).

We abandon two mainland cities and found the tactical towns of Padeen and Brigid on the Dutch island.

We take Lauwersoog, held by four riflemen (117-0).

We storm Den Helder, held by three riflemen (120-0).

We seize Eindhoven, held by three riflemen and a guerrilla (124-0).

We abandon Utrecht and replace it with Reade.

We abandon Eindhoven and found the tactical town of Blaine.

We capture Arnhem, held by three riflemen and a guerrilla (128-0).

We take the Dutch capital of Amsterdam, held by a remaining garrison of four riflemen and a guerrilla (133-0).

We storm Maastricht, held by three riflemen (136-0).

We abandon a corrupt mainland town and found the TT of Sarah Sweeting.

We seize The Hague, held by three riflemen (139-0).

We abandon another corrupt town and found the TT of Emily Sweeting.

We capture Middelburg, held by three riflemen (142-0).

We abandon The Hague and found the TT of Graham.

We take Groningen, held by three riflemen (145-0).

We abandon a corrupt mainland city and found the TT of Amanda.

We clear a Dutch rifleman off our rail lines (146-0).

We abandon Middelburg and found the TT of Christine.

We storm Leiden, held by three riflemen, two cav, a Swiss, and a maceman, and sink at least one ship in port (154-0). Evidently the Dutch just unloaded a galleon there.

We abandon Leiden and found the TT of Sloth.

Finishing off the Dutch this turn while working within our shipping constraints is going to be a near-run thing, so we found Mrs. Broad and Dundas simply because settling on a tile is the cheapest way of railing it in terms of shipping capacity.

We seize Haarlem, held by three riflemen (156-0).

We replace Haarlem with the TT of Potto.

We capture Delft, held by four riflemen, three guerrillas, and two cav, and eliminate the “Glorious Dutch”. We sink at least one frigate in port (166-0). Seventy-five Dutch units that we can see come off the map.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

Turning to the Sumerian island, we abandon Bad-tibira and found the TT of Gibeah.

We take Sumer, held by three riflemen (169-0).

We storm the Sumerian capital of Ur, held just by four riflemen (173-0).

We abandon Kisurra and found the TT of Kibrothhattavah.

We seize Lagash, held by four riflemen (177-0).

We slay eleven Sumerian units outside cities (188-0).

We use Immortal armies to quarantine the Sumerian stack of about seventy.

We capture Akshak, held by a rifleman and two musketmen (191-0).

We take Agade, held by three riflemen (194-0).

We hound a Sumerian caravel and a Sumerian galley to destruction, along with whatever they might have been carrying (196-0).

We abandon Agade and found Endor as a replacement.

I turn research back on, in case we need Espionage to steal plans.

The Sumerian island, before the final push:

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

1764 (5): One of our destroyers combing the vast seas locates an Egyptian caravel and destroys it—and we still don’t eliminate them (197-0). Nothing emphasizes the size of the maps we play on like this needle-in-a-haystack searching.

We shatter a Viking caravel (198-0).

We abandon Mowett and found the TT of Taberah.

We storm Umma, held by four riflemen. We lose a cav, since we now have independent units ashore as well as armies (202-1).

We seize Der, held by three riflemen and two Enks. We lose a cav (207-2).

We found the TT of Massah.

We capture Erech, held by five riflemen, a musketman, and four assorted AA units (217-2).

We found the TT of Baal-Zephon.

We take Kutha, held by four riflemen, a musketman, and a maceman (223-2).

We abandon Umma and found the TT of Migdol.

We storm Zabalam, held by three riflemen (226-2).

We abandon Zabalam and found the TT of Hazeroth.

We seize Kua, held by three riflemen (229-2).

The Sumerians have nine cities left, but it looks as though they’re all in a belt of tundra forest. If so, finishing them off this turn will require exact technique.

We abandon Erech and found the TT of Dophkah.

We capture Nagsu, held by two riflemen and a pikeman, and generate our first Leader/army of the round (232-2).

We take Marad, held by two riflemen (234-2).

We abandon Blaine and found the TT of Bethpeor.

We storm (Sumerian) Lisht, held by a rifleman and two Enks (237-2). We sink at least four vessels in port (241-2).

We abandon Lisht and found the TT of Gath.

We seize Apisala, held by a rifleman and an Enk (243-2).

We can see the two remaining Viking cities now. Both are enclaves on the Sumerian island.

We capture Babil, held by two riflemen (245-2).

The Sumerians are foresting the tundra, the swine; no wonder it’s so rugged. On reflection, it’s obvious that AI civs do this, since their tundra cities are normally found in forest. But for some reason I don’t usually catch them at it.

We take Tutub, held by two riflemen (247-2).

We abandon Tutub and found the TT of Libnah.

We storm Kutallu, held by a rifleman and an Enk (249-2).

We abandon Brigid and found the TT of Gilgal.

We seize Anshan, held by two riflemen (251-2).

We abandon Anshan and found the TT of Hazor.

We smite four Sumerian units outside cities (255-2).

We capture Susa, held by two riflemen, and eliminate the “Glorious Sumerians” (257-2). 102 Sumerian units that we can see come off the map.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

Turning to the Viking enclaves, we take Hareid, held by two musketeers. We sink at least one frigate in port (260-2).

We storm Molde, held by two musketeers, and eliminate the “Strong Vikings”. We sink at least one frigate in port (263-2).

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

The Sumerian island in full:

 

[Northern Pike]

We repeat the process of founding new towns, disbanding foreign workers in them, and rushing transports, this time on the Dutch coast facing the Hittite island.

We scuttle a Hittite galley, and an Egyptian frigate (265-2).


1766 (6): We land cav armies and independent cav units next to all four Hittite cities.

We do some work on our coastal railroad—if Greebley were active in the game, I’m sure we would have finished it before parking our workers —and in the process spot an Egyptian galley in fog just offshore. We rush destroyers to sink it next turn.

Two Hittite swordsmen gallantly attack our armies (267-2).

Thebes flips, and Burdigala re-flips. Both were empty. This is good luck and good timing, since now we should be able to plant spies with the Celts and (if necessary) the Egyptians, steal their plans, and locate their settlers.


1768 (7): We consign the Egyptian galley off the far northeast of our continent to Davy Jones’s locker (268-2).

We re-take Thebes, held by one spearman, and finally eliminate the “Glorious Egyptians” (269-2).

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We seize Harran, held by three spearmen (272-2).

We capture Tarsus, held by three spearmen and two Three-Man Chariots (277-2).

We take Ugarit, held by four spearmen, a 3MC, and a swordsman (283-2).

We storm Hattusas, held by four spearmen, and eliminate the “Fledgling Hittites” (287-2). Twelve Hittite units come off the map.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We don’t re-take Burdigala, so that we can plant a spy next turn.

We discover Espionage and complete INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, pre-built with US in Persepolis.


1770 (8): We succeed in planting a spy in Burdigala and stealing the Celts’ plans. Since we have their plans but not their map, we see something rather unusual:

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

The Celts’ settler is right at the North Pole in its galley. Fortunately we have destroyers fairly close from our random searches of the darkness. We send ten destroyers north and hit Enter.

Leptis Minor flips. The Celts are rallying!


1772 (9): We steal the Celts’ plans again—just as well, since the galley is moving.

We reach the galley with our destroyer’s last movement point. The settler and its escorting spearman walk the plank (290-2).

We re-take Leptis Magna, held by one spearman (291-2).

We re-take Burdigala, held by one pikeman, and finally (292-2):

 

[Northern Pike]

Always worth another look:

 

[Northern Pike]

Nine elite victories this round produced one Great Leader.

Congratulations to the team on another accomplished performance. This combination of map, difficulty level, and aggression setting hardly challenged us. We faced occasional tactical crises, which I hope entertained the lurkers, but there was never a point when we didn’t seem to be winning.

I’ve watched the whole replay, which takes thirty-four minutes for a game on this scale. From about 400 AD to 1000 AD our southern tundra was the only unsettled territory in the world, so it’s no surprise that we met so many enemies then, and we did the right thing in filling the tundra as quickly as possible.

I wasn’t particularly impressed by the number of AI wars I saw in the replay, so for the game as a whole the maximum aggression setting helped us less than might have been supposed. That our early neighbour America was involved in other wars almost from the start was certainly useful, though.