When last we left off, Ridgelake (aka Charlelake) had set us up to hit Germany
and to build the Norse Saga (of all things!) Let's see what we can do...
We're at peace with the world. Other strong powers are Abbasids and Byzantines, but
we're WAY ahead. We have two relics in Paris, and have thoughts about two more, from
Germany and England. There are over 60 German units visible, mostly spears and swords,
and they're wisely sticking to high ground. We're avg with Germany militarily, but less
numbers of better units, including 22 knights and 4 armies. The kings are in Regensburg
and Naumburg (one was in Strasbourg but he's now dead). That means Germany goes *POOF*
when those two cities are killed. If we get Knights and armies in position, we should
take them out before our cities are in any danger. With the number of units in our
lands and their high view of their strength, I'm sure a boot order will get war.
At least, that will be part of the plan here. We're at tech parity and econ is strong.
[0] 1098 AD - Queue is pretty good, only very minor MM changes. IBT is quite long,
but nothing happens. Castille is trampling. They've not learned. Poles and Denmark
ally vs Abby and we get several bright red units crossing our land.
[1] 1101 - Pikes are not known, the time is particularly good to strike.
We move into position, and plan to strike next turn.
IBT - Germans seem to be pulling troops back and sending them SE. There is one
rather inconvenient side effect to this. We can't give them the boot order.
The plus side is that their troops will be out of position however, if we let them
continue east for 2+ more turns.
[2] 1104 - I see no downside to waiting 2-3 turns. IBT Danes declare on Turks.
Orleans starts Bayeaux and if we're beat it will swap to palace for another.
IBT - The German eastern exodus continues. Excellent.
[3] 1107 - Keep going, blue guys. IBT - zzzz (literally, sheesh)
[4] 1110 - The last turn of waiting. IBT - No sign anymore of Germans.
IBT - We lost our supply of silks and furs?
[5] 1113 - OK, we need to get *Germans* to declare on us. How?
But first, the lux. As I look at it, I decide to just raise lux. With war(s)
coming up I don't want to rely on any routes. Now, an Embassy, both to see
Regensburg and to open up some options. It has only six spears and one archer
besides the king! They're building a monastery - lol - they have no idea.
Their iron is re-hooked up and will be a casualty of the sword army.
There is no good means of making Germany declare, I'm afraid. The ruler decides
we have sufficient casus belli and so declares an annexation of Germany into our
Holy Roman Empire. There seems to be a dispute of this matter, and other nations
are not too pleased, but so be it. There were already displeased, and attributed
false deeds of wrongdoing to us, so if that's how they view us, that's how we'll
be. Nevertheless, we are dastardly not dishonorable, and declare outside their lands.
Three of those spears die immediately. IBT - Some units make it through Salzburg,
and we're paying for the iron re-hookup in seeing crusaders.
[6] 1116 - Quadrairon army fights his way onto the iron hill. At Regensburg,
knight army beats Crusader, spear on top. He's killed plus two more, then archer
on top. A vet knight kills that, then another knight takes out the German king!
He promotes to elite on that, and we were right to hold off those extra turns. There
are no troops on the back door, meaning we can keep this city, as the last town
will go poof before it can flip or be taken back. Rax market and manor in place.
IBT - Ok, so maybe they can attack. The Regensburg borders were so compressed we
lost it. No biggie.
[7] 1119 - Some plain knights assault Wurzburg and capture it, two promotions.
Regensburg is now a point of honor, and we recapture it, promoting a Knight.
At Naumburg the front army kills a crusader and spear, and the SOD that *WILL*
crush the city moves next to it. IBT - England and Rus ally vs Abbys.
[8] 1122 - Let's see if our units can take Strasbourg before the evil empire falls.
First an elite fish at Dorestad - it wins, but no ldr. Back at Strasbourg.
Tough luck for them, there's rather a large stack RIGHT NEXT to the city. I take
a closer look to see what is in there. Whoa! A 'red' crusader bears a splinter!
I'm fairly certain that will drop to the ground when the civ dies, so at least I
don't have to take out the stack. The spears of the city put on a spirited defense,
but our army, elite and vets knights prevail. At Naumburg a lucky spear kills a
knight, but that's the only downside - we slay 4-5 then their last king appears.
He submits (cough) to becoming part of the Holy Roman Empire, and we get a message
to this effect! An elite knight picks it up to earn a trip to the Holy Land!!
IBT - Not much.
[9] 1125 - Heal up and get ready to hand off. That elite knight who only could cover
the Relic now picks it up and heads toward Paris.
[10] 1128 AD - More healing, should be set next turn. Healthy knights and armies
have their movement left.
The Holy Roman Empire after the removal... er... annexation of Germany!
Thoughts on the game and for next leader...
- What's next??!! That's the BIGGEST question. With the VP we have and two relics
in hand, plus armies and seamanship online any moment now, it's time to sail for
Jerusalem folks! NO ONE has Pikes yet, but if we do nothing they will be everywhere.
Likewise, assassins are available, but the longer we wait the more of these nasty
and painful guys we'll see. I hope it's not just the recent feast mode that is
speaking for me, but I think any prolonging here is artificial. That said if the
rest of the team was keen on the fourth wonder, it would probably take only
ten turns to hop over to Chippenham and take it.
- Our knight armies can have four in them but we've only placed three! That's
specifically so they fit on the upcoming galleys which have room for 3-man armies,
no more. (Sword army is staying home)
- I have 3-4 cities on the coast on 'monastery' -- that's just a small harbor or
galley prebuild. Three armies, all the relic carriers, a few crusaders to be thematically
correct, a bare min of 3 extra knights to fill the armies to size 4 once we've
landed, and it wouldn't hurt to take an extra dozen knights or whatever extras we
have on hand. That's about 8 galleys, that's it! If we use build a harbor, we can
upgrade several of the curragh fortified in med ports. (If we do go after Chippenham,
4 galleys to hold 3 armis and one to cover are sufficient. Our only harbor is Dorstadt
on the North shore, convenient for England but too far to sail around for 'J')
- Our VP jumped up to 17,460, while Byz and Abby have risen considerably too, 6-8K each.
- Don't be distracted by Castille, Cordova, or Danes (moving across our lands or otherwise).
For that matter, if any penny tribute comes about, feel free to throw the bone.
- No diplo done this round, feel free to look for tech or WM trades. Actually, I peeked
at Byz and found they have middle class.
- If you want some ex-German lands, rush settlers *now*. Expect about 40 settler pairs
to scurry around trying to go for the junky land. I would ignore it, myself, and
focus on getting us to Jerusalem asap.
- Seamanship, and hence galleys/Mediteranean harbor, due in 6.
- Remember we own Domesday Book, so don't let cash go much below 1000g.
- This game shouldn't get back to me! Next player will see sea techs and fill 8 boats,
next will move it and/or land, and the next will take Jerusalem for the win. Norse
saga should come in just in time to speed the sail, too
RBC13F Franks 1128AD
Roster
Kylearan <-- may be da man
Charis <-- may be done
Kabuki <-- UP
Ridgelake <-- ON Deck
Good luck! Kabuki, every other time it's been up to you to lay down the smack. But
here if things go fine, you're a setup guy this time
Charis
I'd be 
if I said I can take it off your hands... and yes it would be preferable if there was more space between my turns.
Using 'sont' implies a different meaning of finished (as in dead, or screwed).
