Rat44 CCM - Ultimate Challenge

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We unhorse an Egyptian cav on our approach to Coimbra (139-22).

We found the TT of Bremo Bluff, bringing us closer to Coimbra.

Ah, the Egyptians have built some railroads for us. That’s considerate.

We remove Coimbra’s garrison, held by a rifleman, though we lose an ET (140-23).

We capture Egyptian Coimbra, held by three askaris, for the loss of two ET. We destroy at least two Zeppelins on the ground—judging by the futile bombardment in the interturn, it was probably more—and steal 4262 gold (145-25).

We lawyer down a worker outside Coimbra and gain a Great Artist.

We take Egyptian Pula, defended by two askaris, and claim 4355 gold (147-25).

We remove Trieste’s garrison, manned by an askari, at the cost of an ET (148-26).

We storm Egyptian Trieste, held by two askaris, and wreck at least three Zeppelins on the ground (153-26). We gain 4454 gold.

We seize and raze Lienz, held by four inf, and:

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We lose one ET (157-27). One Austrian unit that we can see comes off the map. This time we get workers from the razing—five.

We now cross the mountains to attack the principal Egyptian lands:

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We culture-bomb Rusicade.

We found the TT of Barboursville, completing our mountain crossing and bringing us within range of Cairo.

We capture Cairo, defended by five askaris, and take custody of a settler = worker (162-27). We gain 6834 gold.

Greatly enjoying the fact that we don’t have to build our own railroads, we found the TT of Cobham, moving us closer to Dahshur.

We excise Dahshur’s garrison, manned by an arq (163-27).

We take Dahshur, held by four askaris and an invisible unit. We lose one ET (168-28) and claim 6925 gold.

We found the TT of Sweet Briar, bringing us near to El-Amarna.

We remove El-Amarna’s garrison, manned by an askari, at the cost of an ET (169-29).

We take a moment to sink three redlined Russian vessels in our home waters (172-29).

We storm El-Amarna, though the battle is an RNG disaster in which we lose four ET to defeat three askaris. We destroy a WWI biplane on the ground and claim 7017 gold (176-33).

We found the TT of Radcliffe, enabling us to attack the Eg capital of Thebes with early tanks.

We wreck Thebes’s garrison, manned by an askari (177-33).

We seize Thebes, defended by five askaris, at the cost of four ET, with many more retreats (182-37). We capture a settler = worker and gain 7114 gold.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

Civinator, are there three levels of city toughness in CCM, as in the standard game? I’d always assumed there were only two, but these very large Egyptian cities are proving to be extremely difficult objectives.

We found the TT of Wellesley, bringing us close to Memphis.

We extirpate Memphis’ garrison, manned by a musketman (183-37).

We capture Memphis, defended by seven askaris and two marine inf. We lose four ET and sink at least one steam frigate in harbour (193-41). We take 7218 gold in loot.

The battles for the huge Egyptian cities have used up most of our fully healed tanks, so in the rest of the turn we’ll look for softer targets for our Hotchkisses.

We found the TT of Vassar, giving us access to Egyptian Pyongyang.

We remove Pyongyang’s garrison, manned by an askari. We lose a Hotchkiss (194-42).

We take Pyongyang, defended by three askaris, at the cost of three Hotchkisses (197-45). We claim 7332 gold.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We found the TT of Barnard to consolidate our communications with Pyongyang.

Quite a few Russian tanks are in our way in Egypt, due to rails and presumably an RoP. We bullyrag fourteen, along with two heavy artillery. We lose a rifleman and (rather typically) a heavy artillery (213-47).

Seoul has never had a cultural expansion under the Egyptians, so we can attack it without founding a TT.

We storm Seoul, defended by three Askaris and a rifleman, for the loss of two ET (217-49). We claim 6164 gold.

Namp’o is another city that doesn’t have an Egyptian cultural expansion yet. We seize it from its defending force of three askaris at the cost of one Hotchkiss, and claim 5137 gold (220-50).

Our possession of Namp’o will allow us to move units adjacent to the fourth and final Egyptian city shielded by blocking terrain, Orenburg—creating the possibility that we might eliminate the Egs next turn, though many things will have to go right.

We sink another two Russian vessels in our home waters (222-50).

We capture Egyptian Wonsan, held by three askaris, at the cost of a Hotchkiss (225-51).

We sink an Egyptian steam frigate off Evora (226-51).

We found Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Spelman, and Mary Baldwin, setting up our tactics for next turn.

We take the Russian island city of Paegam, making the attack set up by Greebley (held by three inf; 229-51). We claim 2838 gold and sink at least one ship in port (230-51).

We sink a Turkish ironclad off Paegam, and a Turkish steam frigate off Pyongsong (232-51).

In skirmishes all along the front we account for four Carth riflemen, a Carth cav, a Carth inf, an Eg flamethrower, an Eg musketman, an Eg rifleman, a Russian marine inf, and a Russian tank (243-51). In the process we destroy Giza’s garrison.

We abandon sixteen cities, mostly British.

The Egyptian front now:

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We move units adjacent to the four Eg cities behind blocking terrain.

We’re vigorously counterattacked by the Carthaginians, Russians, and Egyptians. Somehow we only go 14-12, though almost all the attacks are bad (257-63).

The interturn takes a while as we cash-rush 207 units.


1823 (3): Beginning our operations with the four Egyptian cities behind blocking terrain, we storm Orenburg, held by three askaris and a rifleman. We lose two ET and a rifleman (261-66) while claiming 8337 gold.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We remove Heliopolis’s garrison in a battle of lawyers (262-66).

We seize Heliopolis, held by eight askaris, a rifleman, and a Lancia. We lose four ET and a Hotchkiss (272-71), claiming 8527 gold. We sink at least one steam frigate in port (273-71).

Using rushed dreadnoughts, we sink a suspicious Egyptian stack of two steam frigates and a steamer that looks as though it’s harbouring a houseboat settler (276-71).

We excise Byblos’s garrison, manned by an askari, at the cost of an ET (277-72).

We capture Byblos, defended by two askaris and a rifleman, and gain 5827 gold (280-72). We capture a worker.

We take Alexandria, held by two askaris, and take 6151 gold in loot (282-72). We then overrun an askari/settler pair in the area (283-72).

With the four shielded towns in our hands, taking the remaining eight Egyptian cities this turn will be simple; it’s just a question of whether they have surviving settlers.

We clear a Carth arq and one of their riflemen off our rail lines, losing an ET (285-73).

Giza is the last of the Egyptian megacities and may cause us some loss, but with 297 early tanks available it doesn’t matter much. In the event, however, we storm the town in a crushing victory, routing eighteen defenders (ten inf, five Lancias, and three riflemen) for the loss of just two ET (303-75). We gain 9803 gold and capture two workers.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

Turning to the three-city enclave the Egyptians still have in their northwest, we wreck Sakkara’s garrison, manned by an askari (304-75).

We seize Sakkara, defended by four askaris and an inf, for the loss of an ET (309-76). We claim 10153 gold.

We capture Egyptian Pusan, held by two askaris and a rifleman. We lose one ET and gain 7051 gold (312-77), also capturing six workers.

We take Egyptian Hyangsan, defended by two askaris and a rifleman, and claim 7756 gold (315-77).

We storm Egyptian Cheju, held by two askaris and two cav (319-77). We gain 8726 gold.

We haven’t been building tactical towns so far this turn because we’ve been attacking closely spaced cities, but now we found the TT of Cedar Creek to gain access to Egyptian Smolensk.

We winkle out Smolensk’s garrison, manned by an askari (320-77).

We seize Smolensk, defended by three askaris, and claim 15270 gold. We destroy at least one WWI fighter on the ground (324-77).

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We found the TT of Sarah Lawrence, giving us access to Egyptian Yakutsk.

We extirpate Yakutsk’s garrison, held by an askari (325-77).

We capture Yakutsk, defended by two askaris and a rifleman, and claim 17180 gold (328-77).

In battles outside cities against the Egyptians we shatter four askaris, two cav, one hussar, one heavy artillery, and one Schneider, and capture two settlers (337-77).

Ulsan is the final Egyptian city. Have we done enough in hunting down their settlers? We take Ulsan, and:

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We defeat two askaris in Ulsan and claim 28634 gold (339-77).

Eighty-eight Egyptian units that we can see come off the map.

We sink three assorted Carthaginian ships, one of which we know contains their last settler (342-77).

We storm Oea, the last continental Carthaginian city, though their distant island town will keep them in the game for a while. We rout the defending force of five inf, a rifleman, and a hussar for the loss of one ET, and destroy a coastal battery when we enter the town (350-78).

Fourteen enemy cities remain on the active continent, thirteen Russian and one Korean. We have enough strength to conquer them all this turn, but two will have to wait until next turn due to blocking terrain: