IHT: Fighting the Ottomans with Hussars. Deja vu!
Our army is very small. If it were me I would have waited with the war. But I let's see what we can do. Klagenfurt is changed to barracks. Sipahi can reach Landeck, which is only defended by a spear. A pike is placed in the city, more troops are not close by.
IT: I see a frightening number of Sipahi running around. I also see an Ottoman knight win a battle, producing a leader. A musket in Lugdunum (behind walls) kills a Sipahi that attacks over a river. This was the only battle vs the Ottomans in this interturn.
Turn 1 (760 AD) 4 Knights are upgraded to Hussars. A vet Hussar kills a longbow and we enter the
Golden Age. We now make 233 gpt. Another Hussar kills a rifle and the Ottoman leader
Our knight army pillages a horse tile in Ottoman land.
Portugal won't give us ToG for 235 gpt. Is our Reputation damaged? I'm almost sure of it.
IT: Ancient cav killed by Sipahi. This is the only battle in this interturn. We were lucky so far, but Byzantium is now Ottoman, they will come after us soon.
Turn 2 (770 AD) One knight upgraded. We have 8 Hussars.
Ancient cav vs MDI: AC killed, MDI redlined.
Hussar->Sipahi: Sipahi killed
Hussar->Knight: Knight wins
IT: 3 Sipahi attack Bischofshofen and only the redlined one can't kill a unit. One Hussar is amongst the dead. Vienna riots. I see no direct reason, but I scroll ahead and prevent riots of other size 12 cities this way.
Turn 3 (780 AD) I switch to a barracks in Bischofshofen. Losing 12 shields, but we need it badly. We are defending with muskets (against Sipahi). Well...we only have 2 muskets, the rest are pikes. One of the musket is sent to Bischofshofen.
An elite Hussar kills a longbow, but no leader.
Near Bischofshofen:
Vet Hussar vs Sipahi: Hussar redlines and kills the Sipahi
Elite horse vs redlined Sipahi: Elite horse wins, no leader.
Vet AC vs 3 hitpoint Sipahi: AC wins.
Siege of Neapolis:
Vet Hussar vs reg rifle: Hussar redlines, but wins
Vet Hussar vs reg rifle: Hussar wins, three hitpoints left
Vet Hussar vs redlined knight: Hussar wins and we
take Neapolis.
Having Neapolis means that we can reposition our defensive troops.
Every time I push enter for the interturn, I know that we can lose one or more cities. We have no reasonable defense.
IT: [dance] Only one Sipahi shows up and kills an AC. Even better news is that the Ottomans want to talk! But we have an alliance with England, so first they have to throw the towel into the ring.
Turn 4 (790 AD) Two horses upgraded to Hussars. We have 12 of them now.
Four turns in and no distaster has happened so far. I'm beginning to feel lucky:
Siege of Viraconium:
Vet Hussar->vet rifle: Hussar takes two hitpoints and wins
Vet Hussar->vet rifle: Hussar redlines the rifle but loses.
Elite Hussar->redlined rifle: Hussar wins, doesn't promote but
we take the city.
Close to Byzantium:
Vet Hussar->wounded Sipahi: Hussar wins.
The knight army pillages iron in Ottoman lands.
IT: Knight kills Hussar in Viraconium. Rifle kills AC.
Turn 5 (800 AD) The English are excellent allies. They keep the Ottoman troops far from us and manage to hold their core cities. But still I hope that they make peace soon, allowing us to decide when we want to make peace with the Otto's.
Siege of Byzantium:
Vet Hussar->vet rilfe: Hussar killed, rifle has two hitpoints
Vet Hussar->vet rifle: Rifle redlines, Hussar is killed
Vet Hussar->wounded vet rifle: Hussar killed, rifle redlined (I thought the Hussar could retreat
)
Elite Hussar-> redlined rilfe: Hussar wins, no leader.
Elite Hussar->redlined rifle: Hussar wins, no leader
Vet Hussar->vet longbow: Hussar wins, promotes and we
take Byzantium
Bloody batle, but we now have secured our own cities. The Ottomans can only attack from the south-west:
A tebuchet wounds a rifle to two hitpoints. An elite AC kills the unit, but no leader.
The Ottomans are in doubt when I ask peace for Magnetism. We are the only nation in the middle ages. I buy us into the Industrial Age.
For 113 gpt we get Magnetism and ToG from the Gracious English. The Portuguese and Indians won't do that trade for 266 gpt
We must have broken a deal with the Ottomans. The peace deal? Not that it matters much: we want to annoy the Ottomans anyway and we only need rifles, rails and factories. With that we should be able to dominate this world
The Ottomans know Nationalism, others do not. We have to hurt them a bit more to get that in the deal, they are outraged when I add 146 gpt to the peace deal and Nationalism.
IT: No counterattack of the Ottomans. The English finish Smith, the Otto's finish Shakespeare.
Turn 6 (810 AD) Iron pillaged in Ottomania. That was their last one
This is a quiet turn. Our Hussars have to reposition and others have to heal. Chariot upgraded to Hussar.
IT: Vienna riots due to war weariness. I scroll ahead to prevent other riots. The Ottomans are again silent.
Turn 7 (820 AD) Luxury upped to 10%. All entertainers are fired.
Siege of Veii:
Vet Hussar->vet rifle: Hussar redlined, rifle has two hitpoints left
Vet Hussar->vet rifle: Hussar killed, rifle redlined
Vet Hussar->wounded rilfe: Hussar wins
Elite AC->redlined rifle:
We take Veii and immediately form a Hussar army
IT: Nothing
Turn 8 (830 AD) We have 14 Hussars now, 3 of them form an army.
Siege of Rome:
Hussar army kills two vet rifles. But another rifle shows up. Since the army is reduced to 6 hitpoints, we take a rest. Other Hussars come to help the army.
Knight army pillages a horse tile. The Ottomans have more horses though.
IT: A Sipahi kills the Hussar that generated our leader (in Veii). Another Sipahi is killed by a Hussar that stand on a mountain.
Turn 9 (840 AD) Two elite Hussars kill wounded Sipahi and a rifle, but no new leader. The army is sent back to heal.
IT: nothing from the Otto's
Turn 10 (850 AD)
An embassy with India costs us 53 gold. They are at peace with the world, but have a lot of obsolete troops close to the battlefield.
The Siege of Rome:
Vet Hussar->vet rifle: rifle takes two hits, Hussar retreats.
Vet Hussar->vet rifle: rifle killed
Elite Hussar->conscript rifle: rifle killed, no leader
Elite Hussar->two hitpoint rifle: rifle killed, no leader
Elite Hussar->sipahi: no leader, but we
take Rome.
The three silk tiles of the Otto's are pillaged. They will have a slight hapiness problem
The next player should have a ball. We are in the GA, have 18 hussars (a.o. a Hussar army) and the Ottomans are in trouble. The English are loyal allies and hold their ground. The Ottomans are the only civ with Nationalism, so in fact they are the least likely victim for our Hussar. But the others will have it soon and the Sipahi ARE strong. So now is the time to cripple the Ottomans even more. They lack iron, lost ivory and silks, but the pillaging machine called knight army has a lot to do still.
Antium has horses, saltpeter and incense. An obvious next target.
850 AD save
