Short story: We took 3 cities (Cordoba, Barcelona and Seville) in 10 turns. For reasons mentioned below, I did not take our mega stack to Madrid. I think this was the right decision, as it would have been suicided in Madrid. The copper was pillaged at the earliest opportunity, and Izzy's ability to make metal units is gone. She made very few when she had the opportunity to do so. There may be 1 or 2 left in Toledo, but all others have been killed.
BIG NEWS! We have met Bismarck, and he lives next to Kyoto. Finally, a trading partner. We need to explore his lands and see if he has any neighbors. I met him on turn 9 and have not completed any trades, although he is willing to make some trades for Compass if we want to give up that monopoly. (What, we have Compass? That's another story)
Inherited Turn - 185 AD
Move Spear to protect Toyota
Change builds in Osaka and Tokyo from Spears to Axes
Send Karate (who is fortified on hill south of Osaka) scouting west to make sure Izzie isn't gaining access to iron on West coast.
Send Sword out of Tokyo to guard quarry and to prepare for advance to Seville. I will muster troops there to send in to Seville. Send sword out of Osaka to join him.
Take Barcelona or move onto Madrid? Will decide next turn as stack has no movement left this turn, but I am leaning towards moving on to Madrid. I question whether our stack is up to taking Madrid as it is, but if we stop to take Barcelona, I'm confident we will not have enough remaining forces to take Madrid. Our SOD has 3 swords, 7 axes, 1 spear and 1 archer.
We have 338 gold in the bank, but at 0% research we're only making +4 GPT. This is astounding. I don't see much that can be done at this point except a little MM. I was able to add 1 GPT by MM'ing Osaka to work oasis instead of floodplain. I also removed 1 scientists in Kyoto and put him to work on fish. We already have 2 unhappy citizens, but I want to grow several more so we can whip the market. Currently, it would take 8 citizens to whip it. This also adds 2 GPT, so we are now at +7 GPT, although it does slow down COL, which is hopeless at this point anyway.
Boy could we use pottery to build some cottages!
Turn 1 - 200 AD
IBT - Izzy sends 2 archers out of Barcelona N towards Madrid. This leaves a chariot, spearman and archer in Barcelona. This makes Barcelona very tempting, plus it means that Madrid will be better defended than we expected. I think we are already thin to take Madrid on a hill with archers. I decide to take Barcelona and send a smaller stack to Madrid to take out the copper, scope the situation and do some pillaging.
The battle for Barcelona:
Promote sword to cover and attack Barcelona archer (75% odds)...and we win.
Promote sword to CR1 and attack Barcelona spear (88.7% odds)...and we win.
Attack remaining chariot with spear (99% odds)...and we win...and Barcelona is ours.
We capture a worker, but put him to sleep for the moment.
Send stack of 4 axes north to Madrid. Move 2 axes and an archer into Barcelona to defend our new prize.
Continue military movements to prepare for Seville. Also, move Toyota and spear SE. I either want to build shortcut for road between Osaka and stone quarry or mine on hill along river.
Date, who is scouting south of Toledo encounters a Spanish chariot.
Turn 2 - 215 AD
IBT - Chariot near Date disappears.
Date continues W to verify Izzy has no access to iron. Axe stack continues northern journey.
Turn 3 - 230 AD
IBT - Barb warrior appears S of Tokyo. Chariot re-appears near Karate. Karate takes out chariot and confirms that Iron is still unworked.
An Izzy axe appears north of Seville.
I start moving forces towards Seville from Barcelona.
Osaka axe->axe
Turn 4 245 AD
IBT - Izzy's axe moves next to Barcelona.
Axe stack continues north. Madrid's troops are now revealed, and surprisingly Izzy still has no axes. She has 1 spear and 7 archers. It is imperative to pillage the copper asap. The copper is guarded by 1 measly archer. Madrid has 60% cultural defense. Given this, I think the decision not to go after Madrid with our stack was wise. We would have suicided our entire stack before having any chance of taking out Izzy's archers. We now need a seige startegy for Madrid.
Barb archers advance towards axe on Osaka gold.
Turn 5 - 260 AD
That crazy Izzy. She's sending a galley south with an archer/settler pair.
Izzy's sole archer guarding the copper is taken out by an axe. I move another axe to the copper to protect our valiant warrior and move the remaining 2 axes to the forested tile 1 south of Madrid.
Izzie's axe moves to the cottage outside Barcelona. I decide to attack with our axe, even thought it has 50% odds. Even if it loses, we should do enough damage to take it out with one of our swords. Miraculously, it wins! Next turn, we will pillage Izzy's copper, and then NO MORE AXES!!
Barcelona comes out of revolt, and a library is started.
Turn 6 - 275 AD
The axe who took out the archer guarding the copper is promoted to CR1 and is allowed to rest to promote healing. The other axe pillages Izzy's copper. This was a timely move. Izzy still has no axes in Madrid.
The battle for Seville. Seville has only 2 archers, but it has walls and 50% cultural defense. We have 2 swords and axe on the jungle hill to the south, and a sword and 2 axes in the jungles to the west.
Following Perugia's advice, I promote the attacking swords to cover.
The first sword goes in with 65% odds...and wins.
The second sword goes in with 65% odds...and loses.
An axe goes in to mop up, and Seville is ours.
Our axe in Tokyo takes out the barb warrior that was threatening from the south, just for the experience.
Turn 7 290 AD
Our marauding axes pillage rice south of Madrid.
Great scientist is born in Kyoto. Choice is Academy or Compass. While I really like academies, I think Optics is very important to us this game, so I lightbulb him for compass. We'll get another for an academy before too long.
We now have plenty of cash to research COL and the war is going well, so I up our research to 100% at a cost of 63 GPT. COL is due in 7 and we have 596 in the bank. I decide that Cordoba is our next victim and start moving troops in that direction.
Osaka axe->axe
Turn 9 320 AD
Look who shows up...Finally a trading partner!
He lives south of Kyoto
I hold off on any trades until we can discuss as a group. This will result in delay of only 1 turn as I'd like to play my last turn to take Cordoba!
I awaken our Galley next to stone island and move it towards Bismarck. I also move our spare WB out of Kyoto to put it on scouting duty.
Turn 10 - 335 AD
An archer flees Cordoba towards Barcelona. OK, that leaves just 1 spear and 1 archer in Cordoba. I think we can handle that.
The battle of Cordoba
Sword 1 goes in at 93.7% odds...and wins.
The second sword goes in to take out the spear at 98% odds...and wins.
Sign OB with Bismarck and send WB into his waters to begin scouting. Continue to bring galley to Bismarck.
Back in Osakaland, move troops towards Toledo. I think the holy city would make a nice prize. Taking it also prevent Izzy from getting Iron.
Seville comes out of rebellion and I start it on library. It has no hammers in it and can be changed.
The rape of Madrid continues (also you can see Izzy's galley with archer/settler is still trying to figure out where to go).
And here is New Japan
Bismarck will give Pottery, Masonry, Agriculture, Polytheism, Meditation for Compass. Should we take it?
). 
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move in Cordoba. I didn't even think of looking for a granary. I just checked the autosave, and there was no granary in Cordoba, so no harm no foul this time, but I wished I had thought of it.
