The War - Part 1

[Dave99]

The war was going well. Why the Indians attacked us I'll probably
never learn. Sure, we'd never been exactly friends - Asoka and I
tended to annoy one another whenever we got together for a state
talk - but we'd never had any REAL problems. Oh, there were those
trade issues I suppose.

But India was half a world away from America. To invade one
another, ships had to be sent that took many turns to reach their
target. The first ship he sent, he landed some knights which tore
up the countryside a turn or two before my forces took them out.
It cost him quite a bit to tear up a windmill and a mine.

I prevailed upon my good friends, Isabella of Spain and Kublai
Khan of Mongolia, the other 2 major powers on my continent, to
declare war upon Asoka. Louis XIV of France, always up for a
good war, also agreed to declare against India.

Twice more Asoka sent his galleons and both times my caravels
defeated him on the sea. He offered peace if I would pay him 220
in gold. I countered that I would agree to peace if he gave ME
220 in gold. He declined of course.


It wasn't long before I regreted not negotiating further with
Asoka. The Japanese empire to my south had long been a jewel my
eye had admired. Tokugawa and I were cautious with each other.
We had never thought it wise to have open borders between us or
to otherwise get too friendly.

I had been planning for an invasion for many decades. Once I had
rifleman (which I had only just obtained) I would build my army
and invade. Upon reviewing the opposition, I decided that would
not be wise. In Osaka, the one city close enough to my borders
to see what the Japanese forces there consisted of, Tokugawa had
amassed over a dozen units. None of them at the level of the
rifleman, of course, but war elephants and knights, when amassed
in a great horde, are not something to ignore. It was obvious
Tokugawa had been admiring my empire (and well he should!) while
I had been coveting his!

Sure enough, it wasn't long after Asoka chose America for his
first punching bag, that the Japs declared war and invaded with
their massive army.

My rifleman were a wonder. 3, 4, 5 or more units would often be
required to take out one rifleman. They held at Washington, they
held at Boston. They devasted army after army. But in
Philadelphia the Japs got lucky. It was costly for them but they
took the City of Brotherly Love away from the 2 brave rifleman
that gave their lives defending it. By destroying the road
network in southern America, the Japs had made it too difficult to
bring reinforcements to the city in time to save it.

Nor did I have any hope of retaking the city any time soon. Even
at a better than 3 to 1 attrition rate, by army had been whittled
down too far to attempt any assault while the Jap forces just
seemed to keep on coming.

Tokugawa did not long allow his troops to sit back and enjoy the
depravations they were committing in poor Philly. Soon his armys
were marching northward again. Another attempt at Boston was
successfully repelled. But a new development arose in this battle.

Tokugawa now had riflemen.

 

[Dave99]

The gun had kept the Japs at bay in our capital and our major
cities. Now the gun was pointed at us. We defeated his single
rifleman unit, along with knights, elephants, longbowmen, and
others at Boston. But Tokugawa played his next hand very smart.

He loaded up 2 galleons with rifleman and knights and made
landfall behind the lines, in Atlanta. Fair Atlanta, beautiful
in the sweltering late spring season, felt the fury of the gun
and the lance for the first time in her long history. She fell
quickly. Her champions able to slaughter the masses of knights
arrayed against her but not them and the riflemen both.

America's future appeared dark. Her leader, myself, beginning to
believe that the time of his empire was over and that the story
of the American Experience would become only a chapter in another
great civilization's history books.

It was decided that Tokugawa would not be the greatest winner in
all of this. Instead, we would surrender to Isabella. The
beautiful lady and her wonderous Spain had stood by America
through thick and thin. She had declared war against Asoka and
had kept America flush with trade throughout her struggle
against the Japanese menace. Yes, Spain would be the great
winner should the Japs prove able to take their new riflemen
units on from Philadelphia and Atlanta to Boston, New York, or
even Washington itself.

In fact, immediately following the fall of Atlanta, we contacted
her. Seeing our plight she proved quite willing (with a little
persuasion from the warchest) to come to our aid once again and
declare against Tokugawa. The Khan, seeing Isabella's decision
as a chance for Mongolia to expand, was also finally willing to
fight Japan.

Now Tokugawa had to split the large force he still commanded
over three fronts. The pressure on America was lifted a little
and his forays from Atlanta and Philly were defeated. And
though it was not cheap on either the warchest or the people of
America, our armys began to gradually grow.

Tokugawa, finally unable to mount another major assault against
us, resorted to harrassment tactics. The rural south suffered
terribly with the Jap marauders in the field. Time and again
though, we defeated his units with little to no loss to ours.
And slowly a core force of battle-hardened, veteran rifleman
began to assemble near Atlanta.

In addition, we had a new weapon coming up to take on the
rifleman Tokugawa had oppressing Atlanta: the grenadier. This
new unit, while not as powerful outright as the rifleman, was
specifically trained to combat and defeat the Japanese
rifleman. We hoped that this would turn the tide of the war
and allow us to scour his rifleman infesting our cities without
the high losses we had been suffering to our own forces.

Soon the new units, along with the core veteran rifleman,
sent word that all was in place to reclaim Atlanta. I
instructed my generals to begin the assault. The first
grenadier unit went in and found themselves facing not a
rifleman unit as we'd expected, but a veteran force of knights.

It was bloody. The grenadiers were defeated by the lance but
at a high cost to the knights as well. We attempted to finish
off the knights with the second grenadier unit but the enemy,
wise to this type of maneuvering, pulled back the knights and
the grenadiers found themselves facing a fresh rifleman unit.

Our men marched into battle confident: this was what they had
been trained for. Alas, their bravery was nought but
overconfidence. The veteran Jap rifleman tore into our fresh
from the barracks grenadiers and the entire unit was lost.

But again, it was not without high cost to the Jap riflemen.
It was left to our veterans to finish the job and finish it
they did. 5 rifleman units began the assault on Atlanta and
it took all 5 to take out their knight and 2 rifleman units
but at the end of the day, Atlanta was free again and it felt
like the war was finally turning the corner.

In the words of one of our great statesman, "This was not
the end. Nor was it even, the beginning of the end. But it
was, the end of the beginning."

 

[Dave99]

The liberation of Philadelphia was delayed as more harassing
units appeared near Boston and Washington. Our brave riflemen,
still limping from the Atlanta campaign, once again rose to
the occasion and repelled the marauders while inching their
way towards Philadelphia.

It was decided that, our forces still being far from numerous,
only one wounded unit was left to defend Atlanta. This was a
mistake.

Tokugawa must have launched his galleons the moment the assault
on Atlanta began. It arrived while our army was still in the
field cleaning up his raiders and maneuvering towards Philly. Our
caravels were there but were unable to catch the galleons before
they could deliver their murderous load. At least those galleons
never returned home again.

2 knights, 2 catapaults, and a rifleman landed at Atlanta.
A runner from the sole, understrength rifleman at Atlanta
reached our generals quickly, having run the entire 21 miles.
After delivering his message that Atlanta was under siege,
the man died right there, exhausted beyond his body's
capacity to continue.

Later, after this bloody war was ended, this man would be
honored with a worldwide race named after his heroic run.

Our armys, frantic to keep Atlanta safe after their so
recent and bloody relief of the beleaguered city, threw
all caution to the wind in their attack of the countryside
raiders. The cleanup was accomplished quickly and the
armys quickmarched back towards Atlanta.

They arrived to find Atlanta in the hands of one, bloody
Japanese rifleman unit. Our brave men, alone, hurt,
understrength, had fought to the last to protect the people
of Atlanta. They had defeated the catapaults and their rain
of stone and fire. They had withstood the raging charges of
the knights and utterly beaten them. They had torn into the
Japanese riflemen, shredding their ranks but, finally,
succumbing to the blistering fire from the enemy rifles.

The Rifleman of Atlanta will always be remembered along with
her people. For that once fair and blooming city, having
suffered so terribly under the iron Japanese boot, had nothing
left in her. In the final battle, the city was totally
destroyed. Nothing but ruins remained where once a center of
joyous commerce and human peace had flourished.

 

[Dave99]

During the struggle over Atlanta, 2 things occured. Having
long since paid for peace with Asoka, we were once again
flustered when both England and the Aztecs, neither of whom
had we had much contact with, declared war upon us with
opportunistic glee. Around the same time we developed the
frigate and, with that, were easily able to fend off these
two new annoyances from our shores.


Sad after their Pyrrhic victory, our forces began the long
march back to Phildelphia. Their way was not an easy one.
Many raiders had to be put down before their march reached its
end.

But, despite the cost in American blood, fresh forces continued
to arrive for our war-economy cities. New faces filled the
riflemen ranks and our forces, always before at a numerical
disadvantage, appeared as though they might finally be gaining
an edge on the Jap war machine.

Another development snuck in on the army's campaign towards
Philadelphia. We had been expecting a new unit and had kept
its development very quiet. I had ordered that gold be put
aside against the time when this new unit was complete and we
could take our fine, veteran rifleman units and upgrade them.

When it finally occured, it was two or three turns before anyone
in the high brass was informed. But when we finally noticed
that our scientists had brought us the half-mythical "infantry"
unit technology, we scrambled to upgrade every rifleman and
grenadier near the front. The attack on Philly would be by a
unit as far above rifleman as the rifleman was above the
longbowman.

When it came the battle was almost anticlimactic. Our frigates
had been bombarding the city for some time and its defences
were minimal. Four infantry units assembled in the forests
north of Philadelphia. When all was ready, they began the
attack and the three rifleman units defending their plundered
American city fell, one, two, three. Philadelphia, the first
to fall to Tokugawa's greedy treachery, was once again safe
among her brothers.

Tokugawa, seeing the effectiveness of the infantry applied so
devastatingly to his elite riflemen, quickly sued for peace,
demanding some small pittance of gold from us. Enraged, I
did not even reply. Instead I ordered that Philadelphia be
defended by 2 crack infantry units and that all other available
forces assemble south of New York.

When all was in preparation, our infantry, along with a couple
of veteran knights, began their march on Osaka.

 

[Dave99]

Osaka was a struggle to take and to hold. Japanese riflemen
and knights fought tenaciously for possession of their native
city and gave their lives to keep us out. But at the end of
the day Osaka was ours and the few losses we suffered were
more than replaced by the fresh infantry from America's
heartland.

Despite having taken the war to the enemy, we found ourselves
still needing to devote a sizeable portion of our armed forces
to the defence of our homeland's countryside - Japanese raiders
still finding their way behind our lines and wreaking havoc.

It was decided that their was only one way to stop this from
occuring: destroy the enemy in a most rapid fashion. And this
we set out to do. We developed a strategy: with our infantry's
success in the field and the war ranks continuing to swell with
fresh units, we would quickmarch our way across the Japanese
northland to Edo, Okayama and, finally, to his capital, Kyoto.

Our army hardly had a chance to recover before once again
leaving the safety of the foreign city and decamping into the
hostile Japanese countryside. But it was with a glad heart
and a proud head that our boys cut a swath across the
northland of Japan, knowing that the fighting and dying they
did there meant Japan would never again be able to threaten
New York or Boston.

On their way to Edo, our generals were informed of some
worrisome news: A massive Japanese force was on its way to
Philadelphia.

Being on the other side of the continent, there was no way our
main army could get there in time. It was decided that the
army would continue its march to Edo, while what relief was
possible - a single infantry unit - was sent from Boston to aid
Philly.

It arrived just in time to watch from the hills north of Philly
as the Philadelphia defenders utterly slaughtered the enemy.
Rifleman, cavalry, even old-fashioned catapaults and terrifying
war elephants were sent into the fray. Our infantry mowed them
all down until nothing was left to threaten Philly again. There
was some cost, our infantry there would need a little time to
regain strength before Philly was fully defended again, but no
units were lost and, what seemed to us to be Tokugawa's last
gasp, was put down handily.

And as the glorious news was delivered to our generals, the main
army marched over the hills to see laid before them a city as
grand as any that could be found in our own American empire: Edo.

 

[Dave99]

The way things had been going, our army thought it was going to
march right in to Edo in one turn and parade down its wide,
colorful streets. Tokugawa, however, had other ideas. No less
than three of his riflemen units defended glorious Edo. They
were supported by two knights and one catapault: a total of six
units sat waiting behind Edo's fortifications. We had no way of
reducing the defenses either - Edo was an inland city, we had no
artillery, and we weren't about to slow the training of our
infantry just to produce a catapault or two.

Instead of heading straight in, our four infantry and two knights
waited for two more infantry, already on their way, to arrive.
Meanwhile, we set up a camp and laid seige.

When the attack came, it was not resolved instantly. Our veteran
infantry went in first, going head to head with their riflemen.
Two infantry were killed in that first attack, but one of the
enemy's riflemen and both of their knights were eliminated. Our
own knights took out the catapaults and, the following turn,
the surviving army again hit their riflemen and broke through into
Edo proper.

A grand and glorious city it was. Knowing how their own soldiers
were, the Edo people were terrified of the gaijin men in their
midst. But our men, unlike the plunderers of Philadelphia and
beautiful Atlanta, treated the people there with respect and
dignity. As a result, our army was left alone to quickly heal of its
wounds and, once again, a powerful force of infantry was on the
move through the northland of Japan.


Okayama was a large and well-fortified city on the west coast of
our continent. Capturing her would place the entire northern
reaches of Japan in our control and in order to ever disturb the
peace of our heartland again, Tokugawa would have to either go
through this new border zone or go around by sea.

Before Edo was even completely pacified our navy had been pounding
away at the defenses in Okayama. By the time our army arrived
fortifications in Edo would be but a memory.

The army's journey to Okayama was largely uneventful. Some small
Jap forces were encountered along the way but they proved no
threat to our battle-savvy infantry. We knew it would not be a
quick battle in Okayama though. Like Edo, Tokugawa was loath to
give it up and had stationed an even larger force there, made up
largely of riflemen. Four riflemen, two knights, and a unit of
war elephants awaited our four infantry and two knights.

Once again, the generals deemed it wise to wait for reinforcements
before attempting the conquest of the city. Another infantry was
nearly there, coming down the coast by way of Philadelphia. If
needed, two more were behind it coming through Edo. Camp was
established and seige laid while the navy continued to pound at
the defences. They would be reduced to zero by the time our
army was ready to assault.


Back in Washington, three diplomatic events occurred in quick
succession. Tokugawa's ambassador came to me and offered 500 in
gold in exchange for peace. I replied that they could have
peace in exchange for Okayama. My offer was quickly turned down.

Then my advisors informed me of a diplomatic event, as though it
were news of some sporting event being canceled: Spain had made
peace with Japan. And right on the heels of that, the Khan had
enough and announced cessation of hostilities with Tokugawa.
Japan then had only one front to worry about: her northern one.

I sent word to the army: prepare for enemy reinforcements from
the south.

 

[Nexushyper]

Good story please continue

 

[ArmoredCavalry]

you really meant you liked good wars, far more interesting then my own.

 

[Dave99]

Good story please continue

Will do, as soon as I know the rest of it.

you really meant you liked good wars, far more interesting then my own.

Yeah, it has been an interesting one. I really thought it was all over after Atlanta went down. The come back has been exhilarating.

 

[Poseidon_55]

Atlanta sounds alot like the battle of stalingrad

 

[Perseids]

I made this account just so I could tell you this story is amazing. It was THAT good.

 

[phoenix_sprite]

Very Good, Id like to read more about it!

 

[Dave99]

I made this account just so I could tell you this story is amazing. It was THAT good.

Really? Well...thank you. I've just finished catching up on Helmling's Philosopher Kings and he tells his story so much better than I do. I had been considering ending the game and starting a different one but since there seems to be a bit of a following, I guess I'll have to continue. It may 3 or so days before I can get back to it though.

In the mean time, I will try to write up the disturbing events that have occured since my last post. Expect something later tonight or tomorrow morning.

 

[Damion_Foster]

Really? Well...thank you. I've just finished catching up on Helmling's Philosopher Kings and he tells his story so much better than I do. I had been considering ending the game and starting a different one but since there seems to be a bit of a following, I guess I'll have to continue. It may 3 or so days before I can get back to it though.

In the mean time, I will try to write up the disturbing events that have occured since my last post. Expect something later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Lol well, I would definately like it if you kept it going, you're the only person who has written a story that is indy-mod(don't know if you'll go furthar than mod, but i hope so) so yeah...tis good stuff! keep up the good work

 

[Dave99]

Lol well, I would definately like it if you kept it going, you're the only person who has written a story that is indy-mod(don't know if you'll go furthar than mod, but i hope so) so yeah...tis good stuff! keep up the good work

What is "indy-mod"?

 

[Damion_Foster]

What is "indy-mod"?

Industrial through Modern

 

[Dave99]

With a new potential threat to think about, the generals outside
Okayama chose only to wait until one more infantry unit arrived
before attacking. After the reinforcements arrived, we attacked
the city in force. It was bloody. Though its fortifications
were gone, wiped out by the navy, the riflemen and other forces
Tokugawa stationed there hung on tenaciosly.

Okayama was purchased with the blood of nearly half of our brave
infantry but in the end the city was welcomed into the American
empire and her production was added to the growing might that
I found myself in charge of.

We faced a choice then. We could either head south along the
coast to the Japanese capital of Kyoto, as originally intended,
or move east back into the mainland to target Nagasaki.

We knew Kyoto was heavily defended and, with the cessation of
hostilities on Tokugawa's southern fronts, we were worried of
additional forces appearing from that direction to challenge
us. Though, being the Japanese capital, it was a great prize,
with our weakened force we feared taking Kyoto might prove a
long and bloody task.

Concerning Nagasaki, on the other hand, we had little
information. Its defenses were unknown and we would not be
able to reduce any fortifications there with our navy. But
there was a forested hill south of the city that would make
an excellent siege camp: cutting off Nagasaki from any
reinforcements and providing an excellent defensive position
should any unexpected forces appear. In addition, our
supply lines would be shorter.

Having turned our attention back towards heavy research,
we had two new units coming up as well: tanks and an
artillery. If we could hold out until they arrived the
artillery would be able to soften up our target prior to the
assault led by the new tanks and supported by our veteran
infantry.

The choice was made to turn eastward. Three green infantry
were left to hold Okayama while the newly reinforced army
began the long march to Nagasaki. No resistance was
encountered along the way and our army took the time to
tear up roads leading to Okayama to help protect our new
acquisition from attack.

Shortly after taking up a strong defensive position, the
army was met by two brand new tanks and an artillery unit,
which immediately began opening fire on Nagasaki. It would
be only a few turns until the defenses were destroyed but
the assault would have to wait. With four riflemen
defending her, our Generals felt an additional two tanks
would be needed for the assault to be assured of success.
We would wait until their arrival to begin.


Back in Washington, my pride in our men was overflowing as
what started out as a desperate defense of our heartland
and our very existence turned into a grand campaign of
retribution and conquest upon the very enemies who had
dared to invade our homes.

Then news arrived from Seattle in the north. An Aztec
invasion fleet had been sighted, had made landfall, and
had disgorged modern armor and gunships.

Seattle fell in a day.

 

[Dave99]

Nagasaki was within our grasp. We could have held our
position on the hills of the city and continued
bombarding until it was ripe for our assault. But
Tokugawa, ever shrewd, knew we were in trouble with the
Aztec landing and conquest of Seattle. He contacted us
with his most generous offer to date: over 1000 in gold
and a minor technology in exchange for peace.

We debated over his offer for days. Nagasaki could be
ours and THEN we could force peace upon the Japanese.
But taking the city would likely cost us a portion of
our campaign army. Troops which we desperately needed
in the north.

With regret, we chose to accept Tokugawa's offer. After
many long and bloody years with the invaders from the
south, the conflict with our neighbors was over.
Unfortunately, this did not mean our people would know
peace.

While bringing our men home, we worked furiously to
complete the design of the new armor that could rival
the Aztec's own. It would be ready to begin production
by the time our veterans returned home.

Meanwhile, the Aztecs did not rest long at Seattle.
They cut right through the middle of our heartland and
struck at the lightly defended city of Vandal. Again,
there was no contest. Their armor and gunships tore up
the lone infantry unit tasked with the defense of the
former barbarian city.

Two cities under Aztec control and our army had not yet
even made it home. Hope remained, however, as our
scientists announced that we could began producing our
own modern armor.

Cities were retasked immediately. As the Aztecs
continued their march, this time toward Detroit, one
unit of the new weapon was quickly rush built. But it
could not reach Detroit before she fell, so it was
decided to make our stand in New York - their next most
likely target.

The Aztecs had apparently run out steam however, as
they did not immediately move on the Big Apple. This
allowed us time to bring up our artillery, infantry,
and tanks from Japanese territory. We immediately
converted two of our tanks to the new modern armor.
Our treasury was depleted. There would be no more rush
builds nor upgrades in the immediate future of this
conflict.

The Aztec ruler made it known that he would grant us
peace if we would but grant him Boston. My advisors
urged me to accept. And I knew they were probably
right. But I also knew that four major cities lost
to the enemy would mean the end of the American
civilization. We had one last chance. If we could
meet them with our whole force and defeat them, we
might yet turn the tide and free our citizens caught
behind the enemy lines.

No, Boston would not be sacrificed. Strength against
strength, blood would tell who would control the
whole of our continent's northlands.

 

[Dave99]

Eventually the Aztecs, heavily reinforced, sallied from
Detroit and, sure enough, aimed their spearhead at New
York.

The gunships tore us up, enemy artillery decimated us,
their armor finished the job. In 2 turns, New York was
gone. Even more devastating, our entire campaign force
was wiped out. All other cities had been stripped of
their defenses to support the stand in the eastern city.

Now nothing stood between the Aztec tyrants and our
beautiful capitol of Washington.


After New York fell I contacted the lovely Isabella of
Spain to offer our remaining lands up into her gracious
hands. I knew my people would be well cared for by the
kind Lady. But I assume she wanted no conflict with
the raging Aztecs as she would not even hear my offer
of surrender. I then considered surrendering to the
Aztecs to spare my people the bloodshed of further war
but they too would not even allow me to present my
offer.


So here I sit, putting the final words to paper, as I
look out the palace window; over the city's houses and
buildings of thriving industry and commerce; over the
green fields and croplands that have existed since the
dawn of time; over the rolling hills to the east; and I
see the dust rising up from the enemy's tank treads as
they continue their unstoppable roll across the
countryside toward us.

My people tell me they will be here in less than an hour.

I have instructed the two infantry units stationed here
to offer no resistance.

Without looking up from this writing I picture the blade
sitting in the massive display cabinet on the opposite
wall. The one carried by the leader of the First
Settlers who founded this city so many, many years
ago. Who looked at the wide river and the lush fields
and saw a future - a future filled with prosperity for their
children. The blade is the oldest artifact we have. Its
history predates any written record that has survived.

I'm glad those First Settlers are not here to see this day.

The blade has not been used for any practical purpose in
millenia. It was part of the opening paragraph of the
American Experience. It will play one final role - in
America's closing paragraph.

These are the last words of the American leader. All that
is left to me now . . . is the blade.

 

[Perseids]

that was really good.