RBC15e - Spain - Demigod

[Grimjack]

RBC15e, The demise of Napoleon.

Jan1810(0) We have gathered some steam, and Napoleon is down to a 2CC. He still havnät managed to grab Amsterdam, so it is a particularly inept Napoleon though.

The game is likely won at this time, with us having 27700 vps, and France is the contender at 20.000.

We will see how many turns it takes to grab the remaining 30.000 vps though.

We are at war with France and Denmark, but at peace with the rest of the nations.
I spend the treasury rushing three new Soldados. I want them to cover our batteries. I also shift a couple of batteries down towards the Milan border, in case they decide to be frisky.

I am more and more convinced we should go against the independants, as having to station troops all along the shore to cover for the British landing four household cvalries would not be a fun way to play, and it would make our gathering of VPs slower.
There is not much to do vis a vis MM. Discover that POlicemen in distant cities generate as much gold as a taxman, and often a shield to boot.

IBT: I see two french cavalries come out of Brussels. One of them kills a Sipahi and goes back, the other goes into Prussia as far as I can determine. Denmark and Russia sign peace.
We build four Soldados, and five cavalries.

Mar 1810, Bologna is defended by Voltigeurs, but I will await our batteris anyway.

IBT: Sipahi and Imperial French cavalry shoot it out in the streets of Brussels, but the clock is running out, as the Turkish Stack of Janisaries just reached the outskirts. With some luck with the cultural borders though, Brussels will be ours before the autumn though.
Only get two cavalry this turn.

May 1810: 1 veteran voltigeur, two regular voltigeurs and 1 imperial cavalry is damaged before we redline the two conscripts backing them up.
We kill them all, and Bologne is ours. Bologne is weaker than Brussels in culture though, so I cannot bombard with our Batteries.
I have four cavalry and one army within striking range of Brussels, and I do nto think that would be enough. TOttomans have at least five Janissaries, and they ought to weaken up the French though.
I position troops for strike three on France next turn.

I rush two Soldados. Move troops into position next to Brussels.

IBT: I watch the blood flow as five Janissaries, One Sipahi and three Voltigeurs dies in the streets of Brussels. There will be a skeleton force left only for us to defeat.
The french is not terrified though, as they storm out and kill one of our cavalry.
We produce two Soldados and three cavalries.

Jul 1810 Napoleon's last stand.
The five defenders of Brussels are summarily redlined and defeated without losses, and France is no more.

We now have a choice. We can declare on the British lackeys, and gain Kingdom of Naples and Amsterdam.
Or we can declare on Prussia, and let the MPP force Austria to declare on us as well. Austria is strong compared to us, and that is rather impressing, considering
we have 14 musketmen, 42 cavalry, 21 soldados and 36 Grand batteries.
We now have furs of our own, so let the deal for russian furs slide.

I will stop here for the night, and continue tomorrow morning/evening.

Any advice on next course would be appreciated. I tend towards Prussia/Austria war myself, as trying to defend all that long coast from british invasions will tie up large parts of our troops.

 

[barbslinger]

I will have to look at the save to confirm from memory but your plan sounds well thought. That is a huge border to defend against the Brit landings. It may be better to get the Brits and Naples in on a war with us against the others. We are far and away the VP leader and pretty much assure a load of kills to get to our goal.

 

[chenglian]

Great job on finishing off Napoleon and managing the military.
With a good defense force and lots of artillery, both of which we have, we can easily negative Austria's strength. In fact, the more units Prussia and Austria can mount against us, the higher our VP will climb. I say we take Frankfurt, destroy any SoDs the AI can mount against us, then go on a city-grabbing spree to cement our victory.

 

[Aggie]

I like fighting a more powerful army more than fighting amphibious landings of civs like the Brits. So go for it Grimjack

Are we going for it alone or do we have military alliances?

 

[Grimjack]

=== Declare on the Prussians. War against Austria is likely to be longer, so I will let them declare on us for some war happiness.

We are a bit short on Soldados still, and all my rushing money goes to rectify this. ( I want one in at least every border city. We have been capturing cities faster than we built soldados. )

Prussia sign up Milano on a trade embargo against us

IBT: No declaration from Austria , We lose two cavalry that I had moved into position before I realized we had no available soldados to cover them.

Ahh, well, there it is, right after production. We are now at war withj Austria.

Sep 1810: I park SoDs outside Frankfurt and Belfort. Next turn should be interesting.

IBT: Lose a soldado to an Austrian counter. OUr soldados on the Prussian front is sturdier, as they repel three prussian cavalries.
Oops, Austria had an MPP with Russia, and we can soon expect russian cavalry to come knocking.

Nov 1810:

Frankfurt is redlined in a massive overkill by batteries. I kill off four defenders in the first wave of cavalry, and the other four defenders in the second wave. Frankfurt is ours.
There are a lot of Ottoman troops blocking the path to Frankfurt, and the advance is temporarily halted.

I do not have enough cavalry to take Belfort. Next turn I expect it to fall though, as I liberated it of some five defenders this turn.

We are vulnerable to an Ottoman doublecross, and it might be best to sign them in against Prussia, just to keep matters safe.
That move ought to make them fight against the Austrians as well, perhaps relieving the expected pressure.
We have too many batteries on the Prussian front. Split them into two task forces is my advice.
Get some 3-4 extra batteries to the Austrian front, and we will advance somewhat quicker there.
SOldados are needed almost everywhere. We have many cities, and we lose one or two every turn to counters.

Go for it Aggie.

Grimjack

Ps, I have not mobilized. Could be that we do not need any infra in the captured countries, considering the corruption in those cities.

Pps, Just realized I may have continued to pay luxuries to our citizens when it wasn't necessary.
Please fix it.

 

[Aggie]

Got it. Mission is clear. Kill austria and Prussia...

 

[Aggie]

Please skip me this round. I can't find the time until Monday evening

 

[Grimjack]

Hope you have a fun weekend, and it is not work that keeps you from play.

Grimjack -- Recently played
Aggie -- Skipped
Chenlian -- Up now
barbslinger -- Getting ready

 

[chenglian]

I got it.
Britain and the Ottomans are at peace with us, and it would be exceedingly tricky to have to fight them in addition to the three we are fighting now, so I will sign alliances with them.

 

[Grimjack]

Sign alliances against Prussia only, as we would then be free to switch targets faster.
( I believe we can finish off Prussia faster than Austria. )

 

[chenglian]

Nov 1810AD [IHT]
Our military looks like it’s in good position.
I sign alliance with Britian vs Prussia for WM and 518g. Britain goes to annoyed.

IBT
Britain and Austria embargo us.
Naples and Austria embargo us.
Naples declare on Prussia.

An Austrian grenzer pillages one of our tiles, some more move around, presumably to pillage.
Two Prussian cuirassiers attack a lone soldado out in the open. One dies, one retreats, and our soldado loses just 2hp.

Austria declares on Naples
Russia declares on Naples.

Jan 1811AD [1]
I ally with the Ottomans vs Prussia for WM and 475g. The world is at war once more.
The Ottomans become gracious.

The Battle of Belfort
Grand batteries reveal at least 3 grenzers and a hussar.
We lose 3 cavalry and kill 2 conscript grenzers, 2 regulars, 1 veteran, and one hussar and we TAKE BELFORT.

In a very boneheaded move, I order the 1st army to attack Hanover. It barely kills a fusilier losing 11 hp…

Numerous miscellaneous skirmishes ends up with us trading a few cavalry with Prussian cuirassiers. I could not risk them attacking our army. I move many units to cover the 1st army.

Even though we have a large force of cavalry, I still feel that we don’t have enough. We are fighting a two-front war now and I want our efforts to go faster. Thus, I decide to MOBILIZE.

Madrid is mmed and can now build a cavalry every 2 turns! Production in all other cities go up as well, generally shaving a turn or two off the production time.

IT
Sweden and Naples ally vs Austria.
I see numerous fights breakout between the Neopolitans and the Austrians.
Austria declares on the Ottomans. The game is afoot.
We lose 2 cavalry to counters, but it kills one cuirassier and redlines two more.
The Ottomans help eliminate some defenders in Hanover.
We spot 4 Russian guards and 8 Austrian hussars on the borders, with miscellaneous footsoldiers from Prussia and Austria assembled too!

Mar 1811AD [2]
Our front is not as under control as we had thought. The Frankfurt front is bogged down by the sightings of many Austrian and Russian units.
I move a SoD of GBs next to Hanover, but dare not overextend our cannon force. I wanted to move GBs next to Leizpig, but I will not take the risk. I consolidate all our forces in the North to gather in Frankfurt and prepare to counterattack any incursions.
The commanders near the Belfort front are proud to announce the destruction of 4 Austrian grenzer divisions with no lost to our cavalry forces.

IT
Ottomans and the Prussians duke it out near Hanover.
Prussian cuirassiers and Ottoman janissaries fought an intense battle. Numerous Prussian units inside the city falls, numerous Ottoman units outside the city dies.
A total of 17 Russian Guards move near our border. They are split in two main stacks, fortunately for us.

May 1811AD [3]
Skirmish near Frankfurt
Twenty of our GBs inside Frankfurt venture out to bombard one of the Russian guard stacks. We manage to yellowline most of them, but I do not attack with our cavalry reserve. Hopefully, the Russians will move again next turn, onto flat terrain, and after an additional round of bombardment, I will attack.

The Battle of Hanover
GBs redline all defenders inside.
Our cavalry charge across the Rhine River and attack!
After an intense fight, we TAKE FRANKFURT without a loss!

I begin shifting all divisions north to Frankfurt. I believe the most intense battles of the game will be fought, on Prussia/Austrian soil.

IT
Netherlands and Ottomans ally vs Russia.
Five Prussian cuirassiers launch a massive counterattack on Hanover, killing 4 of our cavalry. I left our only soldado to guard our GB stack outside the city.
Stage 1 war weariness hits.
As I anticipated, the injured Russian stack moves onto flat land, a perfect target for our GBs.
Pollution hits us near Zaragoza!

Jul 1811AD
It seems that the Prussians and Austrians are not finished by a long shot, and the Russians are just getting warmed up. I see many of their troops moving about during the interturn.

Frankfurt Front
After heavy bombardment and fighting, we kill only 6 Russian Guards and lose 2 cavalry.

Hanover Front
We only have enough troops to kill 3 cuirassiers. I move the 1st army into the city to make sure we keep it.

Lots of miscellaneous skirmishes. We are having bad luck, losing quite a few cavalry to redlined units. However, our army is back and our cities are secure.

IT
Britain declares on Russia!
Ottoman Janissaries help out and kill a few Austrian units.
Netherlands and Prussia embargo us.
Counterattacks from Austria and Prussia take two cavalry, but then Prussian forces concentrate on Ottoman Janissaries.
In a HUGE military upset, Russian guards assault a hill with a large stack of GBs. They defeated the Spanish defenders, retreated several cavalry, and captured 11 of our GBs!!
The first Russian Cossack is spotted. They have good movement but poor defense.

Sep 1811AD [5]
I will redeem myself. Fortunately, I split our massive stack of GBs near Frankfurt into two and only one got captured. Futhermore, the Russians sent only two wounded Guards to guard their new GBs. I bombard them and retake our GBs!

I move our army to guard our recaptured GBs. It kills several offending units in its way, losing 2 hp.

Many battles break out between Hanover and Frankfurt, too numerous to list. In summary, the Russian guard stack has been reduced to four, but I believe they have many Cossacks/more guards in the fog.

I left many cavalry in Frankfurt, most are healing.

NOTES:

I only captured two cities in my turns, Belfort and Hanover. Despite our allies to serve as distractions, Prussia, Russia, and Austria are still going strong and coming at us with considerable forces. Fighting is centered around Hanover/Frankfurt, with a smaller front near Belfort.

With our army healed, I believe we can reorganize our forces and move the GBs in Hanover to Berlin next turn and take out the Prussian capital. That should help break the Prussian efforts against us.

We have 38200 VPs, but only 26 turns left.

Prussia is our nearest rival in VPs, probably because of its many successful counterattacks.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/RBC15e-Sep1811AD.zip

 

[Grimjack]

It is rough going at first, but the AIs will soon be gassed. ( With the exception of Russia, which will likely continue to throw units at us for a long time. )

We might want to investigate peace with Russia when their MPP with Austria runs out.

Grimjack,

Barbslinger, you are up.

 

[barbslinger]

Got it. Will rack up some more VP's tonight. I'm guessing we are all out for VP location cities. I'll of course read all logs up to this point.

 

[barbslinger]

RBC15E – Sept, 1811

Preturn – Looks like some nice alliances are set up. It looks like the Ottomans, Britain, Naples and ourselves against the rest of the world with a few other also ran AI’s doing some fighting between themselves. Was thinking about a detour to grab the Amsterdam VP’s but realized they are in the Britain alliance. Well, I guess it is a knockdown dragout fight. Like to take Berlin for it’s VP’s and then use secondary troops to clean that up while concentrating our next battle for Vienna, Budapest through Prauge and Salzburg. Started wondering why I couldn’t build a school to help the few cities that are keeping us from lowing lux tax and see we are mobilized. I decide to go with 0% and just fix the offending 3-4 towns. It’s an extra 94g for rushing units. Not much I can do with units as most all have movement used. Must have pretty busy up there near Hanover. Well, let’s see how busy.
IT – Lose 2 cavs and a soldado. Defend twice for wins. Build a barracks and a few units.
[1] Nov, 1811 – Clearing out the riff-raff around Frankfurt we get a leader that becomes an army consisting of the *elite and 2 vet cavs. He goes on to kill the last Russian guard that was redlined. I move a group og GB’s with 4 cavs and a Soldado next to Berlin. Could be risky. All other Hanover GB’s with movement jump under the army heading to Leipzig. Another group I found is heading to Salzburg. Check towns and Brest is a troublemaker with a lone resistor in there.
IT – Lose an exposed cav to a Hussar. Britain and Austria trade embargo is over and then the Brits turn around and declare on Austria. Ha-ha, same thing happens with the Netherlands. I guess they recognize war prowess when they see it! We only get one attack on our stack headed to Berlin that we win. Prussia wins a single 1 vs 1 battle heading to Amsterdam. Would be nice if they somehow managed to get it. The Russians then show up with 4-5 6.6 guards and kill a cav, soldado and retreat another cav to steal 1 GB.
[2] Jan, 1812 – Bomb and kill 5 units in Berlin with the army having trouble. Hoping for it’s fall next turn. The Leipzig group makes it to the outskirts and covers Prussian iron. Can begin bombing next turn.
IT – Bad news. The 5 or 6 hp army goes down to a Russian guard. He had no movement left after the Berlin attack and they killed a Soldado prior. Damn ruskies.
[3] Mar, 1812 – Bombing on Leipzig shows only 3 units that all get redlined but with only this army covering the GB’s I’m not going to risk it. I spend the rest of battery on 3 guards redlining all of them. Lots of cav making their way to the front so both towns should fall by July. We get hit with WW that causes taxes to go to 20%. We are down to +342gpt.
IT – Lose a couple of units but nothing spectacular.
[4] May, 1812 – Kill some riff-raff. Bombs all-around and Leipzig falls. Moving troops to cover my butt. Berlin could fall this turn too but not enough reinforcements. WW hits again and we are up to 40%.
IT – We lose 1 cav. Not too bad, except that Prussia has signed peace with Naples, Britain and Netherlands.
[5] July, 1812 – We take Berlin at cost and my lose it on the IT. Bringing up more troops from the rear.

We may be able to keep Berlin if next leader elects to move a few cavs from Hanover to Berlin. The Russian Jaeger SW of Hanover was passing through to probably try and pillage. I was thinking of if it gets retaken we then can retake again and be able to move GB’s and Soldados from Leipzig in. None of the Soldados have enough movement to get there yet.
There is also a group heading to Salzburg with a number of cav and GB’s.
43K+ on the VP’s.

 

[Grimjack]

Got it.

I will play later tonight. Hope I manage to finish tonight.

Sounds like heavy fighting indeed, and the russians are bothersome.

Grimjack

 

[Aggie]

If you could finish tonight that would be great. I can play tomorrow.

 

[barbslinger]

Can we get peace with Russia now? That would really help. If they are not around we can run rampant on Austria and Prussia.

 

[Grimjack]

Your wish is my command.

Jul 1812, Time to spot the lay of the land.
I rush a soldado in Hanover. We are short of the meatballs on the front. I wake up a cavalry and kill off the redlined prussian one.

IBT: A fur of ours gets pillaged, and one cavalry ends up dead as he tries to defend Hanover from a Prussian cavalry.
We produce three new cavalry and one Soldado. I get reminded in no uncertain terms when the game will end.

Sep 1812 Redline Posen, and see what our cavalry can do. The cavalry can do very well indeed, and as Posen falls I am at a loss as to what sort of strawmen I can use to man the perimeter. I will put a Soldado and a cavalry in it, while I keep the main batteries and cavalries outside.

I rush a new soldado in Frankfurt, the closest city with some shields in its box. We are having quite some problems with war weariness, so it is all I can rush.

IBT: We manage to beat off two attacks on a small stack of batteries outside a small Austrian city. I take notice of Warsaw at size 26. Thats quite a few VPs for capturing that city. Netherlands has awakened, and I see a small Orange Musket venturing outside the Netherlander borders.

Nov 1812: Redline a Jaeger and snag a battery from him. I move into position to assault three cities next turn. I want to get rid of the Prussians fast so we can get rid of some war weariness.

IBT: Denmark and Sweden sign peace. We get a cavalry killed by an Austrian cavalry. We beat off three Prussian knights:

We produce four new cavalries, and finish making the military academy. We get global warming......

Jan 1813 Start siege of Salzburg by yellowlining its defenders. I redline the defenders of Prague. I also redline Stettin, and finally our batteries says hello to Hamburg.
Hamburg only has three defenders, and falls easily.
As the last defenders of Stettin falls, Cuesta comes forth to take the reigns of an Army. Salzburg falls as well. Stettin becomes ours after severe fighting, and we had just enough troops to grab it. Move troops into position to consolidate.

IBT: Prussia goes to war against Denmark. Good luck to them trying to get through our forces. We get a tile pillaged, and repel a cavalry trying to retake Salzburg.

Mar 1813: I will spend this turn trying to build some momentum for Aggie to take over. I suspect Aggie may with some luck push us over the VP top.
I kill off some seven units looking suspicious around our newly annexed lands. We are starting to get stretched somewhat thinly, but I expect the situation will improve once we get rid of the Russian city in Denmark.

IBT: I resign the deal with Turkey for Dyes, but it is getting expensive.

May 1813: Liberate Danzig after a short siege, and Aggie will get the honor of Eliminating the Russians.
I have left a fortified army in Posen. It is heavily wounded, and I intended it to get healed. You may want to move it somewhere instead.

Immediate plans was/is to eliminate Prussia, and get Russia out of Denmark after which we eliminate Denmark.
I suspect the capture of Warsaw thereafter will net us enough VPs to put us over the 60K mark.
Venice could fall as well, depending on the number of defenders. We are a bit light on batteries here. Do sift through the stacks on/near the front, as I have a habit of fortifying units while they heal, or when they should not be moved further this turn.

Grimjack


As this was my last turn, given we only have 16 turns left, and are pretty close to winning, I want to thank the team for the match. I think we showed quite clearly that Spain is playable on Demigod without resorting to 'tricks'.

 

[Grimjack]

Ps, beware the knights, they have move three...

 

[barbslinger]

Whew! Nice going Grimjack. I was worried about the lack of defenses near Hanover and Berlin but it appears they were gassed and had little to counter with. this should snowball into a win quickly now.