In 530 BC there are two more events worth mentioning. First, we finally entered in Republic, wasting only one GA turn in Anarchy. Second, we were able to secure two more luxuries from Arabia, giving Feudalism in return.
In the successive interturn, the breeding program may begin. Mpondo completes its Zulu settler and is auto-abandoned:
In 510 BC a settler, ready to enter into action, founds the breeder city, where Temujin is promplty joined to produce a Mongol settler (with some side effects):
In the Zulu front, our forces keep advancing in enemy territory:
It is another victory, but costly this time. We sent archer first (they're the most expendable forces ATM) but all four of them were killed and it took the brute force of maces and legions to overcome the defenders.
Meanwhile, in the northern region, we use our navy to drop a force outside Intombe and leave Bapedi open, to lure enemy units into open land:
The trick works, as in the successive interturn an enemy units comes out of Intombe and recapture it:
But at the same time, a nasty surprise comes...
...followed by a good one:
With that surprise attack against Arabia, the Zulu take over a key city, thus cutting off the trade route we had with the Arabs. No more spices and silks for us

The capital falls into disorder, other cities are saved from it by navigating through the city screen and putting on clowns.
On the other hand, the
Rotten Tub surviving in perilious waters three times in a row is indeed a lucky event.
Dea Fortuna must be having a thing for that boat
In 470 BC, we manage to buy a luxury from the Celts, in return for Republic, and turn off the clowns but the luxury slider must be kept at 10%.
On the war front, we recapture Bapedi as expected and take over Intombe:
The Zulu are down to 3 cities: Hlobane, Baghdad (just captured from Arabia) and Uskudar (in Ottoman territory). That last one is quite far away and if it doesn't change hands, it will be problematic to send a force to take it over. I expected the Ottomans to recapture it quickly but apparently they have other concerns -.-
With this update, the story takes once again a break of about a month. GotM 117 is out and i'm going to compete in it. Thanks for following and see you soon!