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Don Deity Page 3 (1 vote) Introducing...General Supersnaat: … The market square in London, General Supersnaat, several reporters and about 500 civilians: “And you are the new general in charge of the whole English army?” “Yes... the WHOLE English army...and I’m in charge” “So you are highly qualified for this job?” “No, I’m only Don Deity’s cousi...umh...ahem...I mean I’m highly qualified off course…” “Aha…but at least, we suppose that you have a good plan for your crusade into the Celtic land?” “A plan??? Umh...a plan...plan…umh...it’s sort of...top secret, my plan...but I have one, really…” … Several hours later, General Supersnaat and his leading officers: “…and we need a plan, off course…” “But we thought you had one, General Supersnaat.” “Umh...this is only a test...I want to see, if you are able to come up with a plan yourself...just to compare, you know, with my plan…” “You there, what would you do?” “Strategic officer in training, sir, at your command...I would declare war, but only send in scouts to see the Celt troop movement...then I would have the bulk of the army wait inside our borders and fortifications for the Celt counterattack…” “That’s not a proper plan...that’s cowardice...you there, in the background, what would you do? “I’m only the cleaning women…” “Doesn’t matter, what’s your plan?” “Cleaning up here, and then going home…” … Two weeks later, the English army is approaching the Celtic border...so far, there had been only some border tensions in the regions around Chinook the English had lost due the Celt culture pressure, but no open war was declared...but this would change immediately, once the English army would cross the border... Two English officers riding ahead of the English army: “When did you receive your final orders from General Supersnaat?” “Yesterday, and you?” “Also yesterday...what are your orders?” “They are pretty simple...but apparently it has taken General Supersnaat almost two week to come up with them: Advance on Durnovia...capture Durnovia...advance on Camulodunum...capture Camulodunum...advance on Tolosa...capture Tolosa...and so on.” “Mine are exactly the same...and I suppose those of the others also… he even added a map, look:” “Do you really think that his so called “PLAN” will work out?” “I have no idea…” … Don Deity’s palace in London, Don Deity and General Supersnaat: “You ordered ALL men to advance towards Durnovia???” “Yes, I plan to advance with ALL forces…” “But I told you to leave some troops near Hastings so we can defend Old England against Bren’s army and set up the TRAP we already talked about…” “But that’s cowardice...we should advance with…” “No, we shouldn’t...you WILL stick to MY plan. And therefore you will order at least 10 battalions of decent units towards…” “But I don’t want to…” “I don’t care...you WILL sent some units back to Hastings and I will command them myself…” “Grumble....grumble…” “What was that?” “I said “Yes Don Deity”...grumble…” … Another week later, in the market square of Durnovaria, the victorious General Supersnaat, some reporters (imported from London) and some soldiers (pretending to be happy civilians): “Yes, I know, I was good, very good…” “It looks like you are preparing a party here?” “Yes, off course, I have to celebrate my glorious victo...I mean, we need to motivate our soldiers with a big victory party…” “Aha...but Durnovaria was only a quite unimportant borderland city between England, Greek and Celt...so what makes you think this is already a glorious victory?” “We have not only captured Durnovaria, we have also destroyed the Celtic army completely...so I don’t expect much resistance on our way into the Celtic mainland now...that’s why I already have sent a part of our army ahead, direction Camulodunum…” “Wow...you seem to have defeated the HUGE Celtic army quite easily...how many men did you have to face in the end?” “More then 30 battalions, armed up to their teeth…” “Really?” “OK...it was more like 15 battalions, and quite poorly equipped…” “But wasn’t the Celtic army expected to be WAY bigger???” “Everybody keeps telling me that...but I simply don’t believe it.” A shout from the background: “General Supersnaat, there are important news for you…” “Not now, can’t you see I’m busy?” “But it’s REALLY important...the Celtic army is approaching…” “What...but I have just destroyed the Celtic army…” “No you haven’t...you have only defeated the city garrison of Durnovaria...and some quickly drafted local reinforcements…” … Some minutes later, emergency meeting, General Supersnaat and the remaining officers in Durnovaria: “There were so many of them, that our informant hasn’t been able to spot them all, General Supersnaat…” “Who is this informant...and why should we trust his information?” “He is one of the priests working in the monastery in Tolosa...and he’s loyal...since Don Deity is now officially the head of the Hindu Church (after capturing the Hindu Holy City, Bombay), he would never lie to us…” “But IF Bren still has some units left, what I STILL don’t believe by the way, they will very likely march towards Hastings, no?” “We hope so...but if they decide to march in our direction, we are in BIG trouble...and our informant said that the Celtic army gathering there might be so big, that they might even consider facing us, NOT marching into Don Deity’s trap…” “So you want to say, that we should retreat our men from Camulodunum, and abort our advance, IF Bren’s army REALLY exists and REALLY moves towards our direction?” “I have already ordered the units back, you have sent ahead towards Camulodunum (ignoring Don Deity’s initial orders by the way)...but I fear they won’t make it back in time here, IF Bren’s army is really heading our way…” “Oh my God, this would be terrible...what am I supposed to do now?” … The Celtic Palace in Bibracte, Bren and his generals in charge: “We are gathering our army 20 miles behind Tolosa, as you have told my lord...And our secret service has brought in brilliant news… ...the English city of Hastings is only lightly defended, so we could overrun them with extreme ease right now...even without waiting for all our troops to arrive…” “We can’t leave the city of Durnovaria in English hands...the are nothing but barbarians...they have absolutely NO culture...and I fear they would slay most of the inhabitants of Durnovaria to satisfy their cruel and mad leader...and besides, I have a BAD feeling about sending any men near Hastings ...it is strange that the only remaining English borderland city towards our land is defended THAT lightly...I rather think they are trying to lure us into a trap there…” “So we continue gathering our army?” “Yes, we will. We HAVE TO protect the poor people in Durnovaria from the cruel English aggressors...not only have they committed the biggest genocide ever seen on this world among the poor Indian people in the name of Don Deity...even worse is the fact, that NOBODY doesn’t even seem to care about this almost unbearable fact...we have to prevent by ALL means, that the same happens in our country...we HAVE TO protect the Celtic way of live, our liberty, our freedom and the peoples rights against Don Deity’s evil quest for power...and therefore we will prepare a little trap of our own…” … In a small village only 6 miles away from Hastings, Don Deity gathered his generals around him. There were already 10 battalions hidden in the forest behind them, mainly Grenadiers, Cavalry and trebuchets, and more were scheduled to arrive each day. Reports from Tolosa kept pouring in, that Bren really was gathering his army there, much like Don Deity has hoped and planned. Soon they would split and advance, trying to capture Hastings, thinking it unprotected and ripe for taking...but he was prepared...no Celtic soldier would ever make it back alive over the Celtic border...Don Deity smiled a little at this thought, then he turned back towards his generals... About a hundred miles away, and only 3 hours later, General Supersnaat was getting more and more desperate. He watched the messenger from the monastery in Tolosa leave and placed his shaking hands on the desk in front of him, then he called for his officers...and showed them the map he just had received…
There were altogether 8 stacks of Celtic units approaching...maybe even more, but “only” 8 stacks had entered the scouting range of the monastery so far...and they were ALL passing Tolosa DIRECTION Durnovaria and NOT Hastings…: Stack 1: 5 units, 3 battalions of knights, 1 battalion of crossbowmen and 1 battalion of longbowmen There were altogether 65 battalions of Celtic units visible near Tolosa...and more might still be coming...and ALL were heading towards Durnovaria. … “How long will it take the units we had sent towards Camulodunum until they finally arrive back here?” “About 3 days (=turns) General Supersnaat...but like said before, the Celtic army will arrive here one day (=turn) earlier, because the can use their roads, while our troops have to sneak through the forests…” “We will all DIE here...I don’t want to die…” “Strategic officer in training, sir...maybe I have an idea....again...IF you would bother listening to me THIS time…” “Well...yes...off course I will listen to you...let us hear your plan!” “Look at this map: … Some minutes later, General Supersnaat and Don Deity, who had beamed up from Hastings immediately, when the bad news had finally arrived there: “And YOU really have a plan General Supersnaat, how we are supposed to survive the Celtic trap...YOU?” “Yes...off course I have a plan...I came up with it all by myself...if it works, we still wont be able to retreat our main army into English territory, but at least, we will be able to reunite our main army before the incredible huge Celtic army is able to surround us…” … It was already in late November, and therefore it was getting quite cold already. General Supersnaat and Don Deity were sitting together in the provisional English commando base in Durnovaria, near the fireplace. Spread on the table in front of them were some sheets of paper and a map… … The fact that the English army still was alive and Bren’s men really had moved next to Durnovaria proved, that General Supersnaat’s plan (or better, his borrowed plan), had worked out and there was hope yet. The first two small Celtic stacks had been destroyed quite easily, without any English losses and the English now controlled the strategic hills outside Durnovaria. The English even had been able to get some more reinforcements into Durnovaria thanks to the neutral Greek land connecting Durnovaria with England, but the situation still could only be called critical...VERY critical... … One of the other sheets in front of the two gave an overview over the Celtic forces stationed now near Durnovaria, trying to cut off the English reinforcement lines, and basically said: 38 Celtic battalions still lying siege on Durnovaria, mainly knights, maces, crossbows, pikes and trebuchets (A), with 11 Celtic battalions more in striking distance (B), stationed as rear guards only a little off from Durnovaria, on a hill just outside Camulodunum. … The next sheet gave a brief overview over the English forces: 3 battalions of cavalry stationed in Durnovaria, including General Supersnaat (C) … So for the first BIG battle, it all would go down to 21 battalions of English cavalry and two battalions of English longbowmen, backed by 6 battalions trebuchets, facing altogether 49 Celtic battalions, which apparently were well trained and eager to fight...but about 30 Celtic battalions more were scheduled to arrive within the next two days (=two turns), if the monks from Tolosa were right... The provisional English commando base in Durnovaria, Don Deity and General Supersnaat: “…and I don’t want to repeat myself another time General Supersnaat…” “…but, but...that would mean that I would have to ride out myself, fighting the Celtic barbarians with my own hands...it would be much better, if I just stayed here with you…” “Shut up and do your duty...besides, the risk of anything happening to you will be relatively small, you will only ride in, when the REAL soldiers are done...you’re still family...sort of…” “But can’t we just take a double…” “No we can’t...we need you out there, motivation our men...with the Celtic population being that hostile towards us, we can’t take the risk of any rumours spreading about us being the aggressors...and our men loosing faith in our good a justified reasons for that war…” “What “good” and “justified” reasons do you mean?” “See the point? Now go and do your duty and ride with the men to face the Celts...and if any of our soldiers should start asking questions they aren’t supposed to...just shoot them…” “But why can’t we just try to hold the city?” “You know that there is still heavy resistance among the city population of Durnovaria...they keep sabotaging our defenses faster then we can repair them (the city is still in revolt). And with that many collaborators helping the Celtic forces to retake the city, any fight within the city would lead to our complete destruction for sure...and besides, the Celts have WAY to many siege units in their army...they would simply bombard us to death, so it has to be us doing the initial BIG attack…” … When the sun started to rise the next day, the English army charged down the hill and out of Durnovaria, with the sun in their backs. The plan was easy: With the sun in their backs, the massive host of 21 battalions of cavalry would try to break the Celtic ranks and attempt to throw them back over the river… 6 hours later, General Supersnaat also entered the battle...the first real battle in his life...and the main thing he saw was blood...mainly blood...lots of blood...all over the place. … Dead bodies were already piling, wounded soldiers were crying for help on both sides and still neither the English nor the Celts were backing down even half a meter. The English cavalry was charging again and again, dealing huge damage to the Celtic host, which contained mainly of food soldiers. But for every Celtic battalion beaten or retreating, the Celts were moving in a fresh one over the river. The riverbank was already packed with provisional boats and rafts and more were being made on the far side of the river at incredible speed. The Celts seemed to be determined to hold the riverbank next to Durnovaria, trying to cut the English reinforcement lines...and now it was clear, that they fought with numbers...losses didn’t matter for them it seemed...and enough macemen, pikemen and knights would also bring down the English cavalry in the end. So General Supersnaat also charged with his men...and killed...killed for the first time in his life...it felt good...the blood left stains on his uniform, his horse and even on his face, but he didn’t notice it...he was caught in the heat of the battle...then, an eternity later (12 minutes) one of his bodyguards gripped him by the shoulder: … “General...GENERAL...we have to retreat now...our men are exhausted, wounded or dead. We can’t dare to charge again with all the fresh units the Celts have landed recently…” “But we have to...we have to throw them back over the river…” “I know...but we failed...and they Celts also know it...they are already shipping over their siege engines…” Back in Durnovaria, first thing General Supersnaat did was vomiting...now he didn’t feel good anymore...far from good...he felt empty, dirty and sad...but mainly dirty, so he took a long shower. About one and a half hour later, when he was on his way to meet Don Deity, he could already hear the Celtic siege engines at work, throwing stones and fire at the English camps, causing heaps of damage. He quickly walked over to the already overcrowded English medic tents, looking for some of his men, but seeing that more and more wounded soldiers were carried in, he decided to skip his visit and pressed on towards the English commando tent, looking for Don Deity... “Don Deity...I have bad news...we failed in driving the Celts back over the river...as you might have already found out yourself due to the fact, that we are being bombarded by their siege units…” “I know, I know...but you did a good job...there was no chance of winning this fight…” “But you said that I was supposed to throw the Celts back?” “Well...yeah...motivation, you know...wouldn’t have done much good if I had told you, that your best wouldn’t be good enough, don’t you think?” “Umh...if I look at it THAT way…” “You brought most of your men home...a lot of them are injured, some dead, but not a single battalion was lost...this is good news indeed.” “Well...I suppose the BIG dying will start soon. The Celts won’t allow our men to rest, left alone cure their wounds...and some of our battalions only consist of wounded soldiers now, not ready to fight at all…” “I know...but we have to plan ahead now. The Celtic army will take control over the southern outskirts of the town during this night, helped by the Celtic collaborators... and they will bring ALL their siege units in place for sure then...and tomorrow morning, the REAL bombardment will start, then they will come for us…” “So you have a plan Don Deity?” “Surviving...good thing is, that Durnovaria is build on a hill, so our two battalions of longbowmen will help greatly defending...and the sheer amount of our units will reduce the collateral damage the Celts will do for sure to some degree…” “But that isn’t really a plan, don’t you think?” “You have taken out 21 Celtic battalions today...that leaves them with only 28 battalions to attack us...subtract the 7 battalions of trebuchets and catapults they will suicide right at the start to deal collateral damage, that leaves them with only 21 battalions...so we WILL survive this battle…” “But our losses will be huge...and there are about 30 Celtic battalions more scheduled to arrive within the next 48 hours…” “I know, but IF we manage to keep open the corridor through Greek territory for our own reinforcements, we should be able to bring in also some more troops…” “We are talking about 5-6 battalions here…” “Well...better then nothing, don’t you think? And besides, cavalry and grenadiers are still superior to anything Bren can field...as you have proven yourself this morning…” “And what should I tell my men?” “I don’t really care...I expect half of them to be dead anyways before the sun is fully up tomorrow…” ... Dusk was arriving...and in the glory of the first daylight came the first wave of the Celt attack...stone and fire was raining down on the English camps again, barely dressed soldiers were screaming and running around. … Don Deity was standing in the mayor’s house in Durnovaria. Build upon a steep hill directly in the centre of the city, he was able to overlook the English camps and the approaching Celtic troops...despite the war going on, he was smiling...things weren’t really going as planned, but hey, who cared...as long as Bren took MORE losses then he did, everything was fine. The production capacity of England was already pretty impressive, and the Celtic production was falling back more and more due to the obvious massive whipping and drafting Bren was doing to get more units to the front, so the English production capacity was about the double then the Celtic now: General Supersnaat was furious. He ordered his best men to ride out again, because the next battery of Celtic siege engines was already pushed into striking distance by the Celtic army. How could they have been THAT fast...the longbows he originally had designed to defend weren’t even in position to reach the Celts and the Celts were already launching the third wave of attack...and his precious cavalry was again taking major hits from the bombardment. Finally, a messenger arrived, and informed him that the longbows were in place...spread on the rooftops of the frontline buildings towards the approaching Celts. ... Then there was a big BOOOOOOM ... When General Supersnaat opened his eyes again, there was only a crater left where most of the frontline buildings had been...and lots of smoke, ashes and dead English longbowmen. The remaining longbowmen were running past him, direction city center... “What the hell was THAT???” “One of the Celtic catapults has managed to hit the local tavern…” “AND???” “Well, we are not sure...but apparently the people of Durnovaria are ALL pretty heavy alcoholics...and there had been rumours going on that there should be about 120 barrels of high % spirits in this tavern…” “Oh...so you want to indicate that this was simply a heap of bad luck and heaps of bad whisky and such exploding and caused this?” “Yup…” “Great…” … Note of the Author: … Without the help of the longbows, it took the English cavalry about one full hour more, to take out all the remaining Celtic trebuchets and catapults. At that point, there was already no uninjured battalion left and General Supersnaat was desperately trying to bring the surviving men into line, to hold of the approaching Celtic soldiers. … It was another long and bloody day. This time, the English held their ground whatever the Celts were throwing at them. And General Supersnaat actually did a good job. He seemed to be everywhere at once, motivating or shouting at his men, whatever was best. Battalion after battalion of Celtic soldiers swarmed towards the English lines, but thanks to their training and discipline (and their rifles of course), the English losses were few...in the morning. But then, when the sun already was starting to go down, the Celts managed somehow to penetrate the western flank, exposing some of the heavily wounded English battalions. Other English battalions, containing also mostly of wounded and half dead men where rushing to their assistance, but it was already too late. Some battalions of Celtic pikemen were already in position to fend of the English reinforcements...and only some minutes later, the English western flank was no more...but they had fought brave, up to the very end...and apparently had done quite some damage to the Celts, who suddenly were retreating, direction river. … Don Deity was yawning and stretching when he finally got up from his comfortable armchair by the window...what a show...a little long in the middle maybe, but definitely worth watching...and he was pretty pleased...there wasn’t much left of the first Celtic wave...and the English had even taken less losses then expected, only 5 or 6 battalions of cavalry had perished (but unhappily, most of the survivors were more dead then alive)...so he spontaneously decided to beam over to Chez Leon in London and ordered a Beef Stroganoff the celebrate the day before meeting with General Supersnaat. … When Don Deity beamed back from Chez Leon in London to meet General Supersnaat in the English commando tent in Durnovaria, it was already night and General Supersnaat and his leading officers were already waiting for something like two hours for Don Deity… “Hi folks...how are things going?” “You know “how things are going”, Don Deity...we are still trapped here, most of our soldiers are wounded or dead and the Celts are fielding more reinforcements every hour...so why are you asking?” “Hey, no reason to be so aggressive, General Supersnaat...so far, we have done a pretty good job, don’t you think?” “I know, Don Deity...but we are running out of options now...we have absolutely no chance, to defend Durnovaria any longer. As soon as the Celts have assembled their reinforcements here, they WILL take the city, no matter how brave our men will fight…” “Hm...you seem pretty sure about that, so I assume you have received additional news from the monks in Tolosa...am I right?” “Yes...the messenger left about 30 minutes ago...after waiting for one and a half hour for you to arrive...look, here is the message he left: Dear General Supersnaat, we have bad news for you. The Celts seem to have retreated most of their troops from the Greek border, forming another 4 big army-groups, containing altogether about 30 battalions. And there are at least two battalions of siege units included in each group, so you better be prepared of another HEAVY bombardment before the attack… “And what’s with our own reinforcements?” “Only 4 fresh battalions of cavalry are scheduled to arrive in time...they are already in Greek territory and should arrive this morning…” “Well...so we have again altogether 20 battalions of cavalry ready...not to bad, if you ask me…” “Numbers aren’t the big problem this time, Don Deity...the main problem is, that ALL our soldiers stationed here are wounded...some are more dead then alive to be precise, so we simply won’t be able to fend of the next attack with all the siege units the Celts are bringing…” “Promotions…” “What? “I said: Promotions…” “I don’t understand what you mean with “promotions”, Don Deity…” “There is a trick to motivate soldiers...it won’t cure them, but enough motivation will also do...simply promote about half of them in a big celebration tonight, and tomorrow morning, they will fight again…” “WHAT??? That’s your new plan? We promote about 50% of our soldiers, and then they will be able to fight again?” “Yes...brilliant...don’t you think?” “Umh...you’re not really expecting an answer, am I right about that?” … The next morning, around 5:30: “What? We are supposed to ride out again and face the Celts on the open fields again?” “Yes...that’s Don Deity’s plan…” “But we won’t be able to retreat into Durnovaria after the battle...we will be fully exposed for their counterattack, General Supersnaat…” “I know...but Don Deity apparently is quite resistant to any advice concerning this matter...so your orders basically are, to take out the Celtic survivors of yesterday’s battle, and then to charge into the first Celtic group, approaching the river from Camoludulu. I will later join the fight also...Therefore we will take all our units with us, only the two battalions of longbowmen and two battalions of cavalry will remain in Durnovaria, to take care of any Celtic riders trying to pass us by…” … Only 30 minutes later, the English army was charging again...hitting the retreating Celtic units with brutal force...another hour later, there were no Celtic units left...they were either dead, or desperately trying to cross the river towards Camulodundun and the approaching Celtic reinforcements...but none of them should reach the safety of the riverbank...they either drowned or were taken down by the English cavalry flying by...or were wounded by the English cavalry and then drowned...or drowned themselves to show solidarity with their already drowned comrades...or whatever… Around 12:00, the first Celtic group finally arrived at the river, expecting to meet their comrades there, already preparing the passage towards Durnovaria for them...a deadly mistake, because what they faced were mainly English bullets… and only two hours later, another 7 Celtic battalions had perished. … Don Deity had been watching the show again from the mayor’s house in Durnovaria. Just when we was about to beam again to Chez Leon in London, to celebrate another glorious victory, the door burst open, and a messenger from Tolosa arrived, bringing him the latest news: And it turned out, that the news of the latest defeat had caused the Celts to change their strategy. The remaining 3 Celtic groups (a little more then 20 units altogether), didn’t unite to form another major army. Instead, the third group changed their path and suddenly was moving towards Hastings, the second group joined the Celtic defenders in Camulodamdum by fortifying on the hill next to Camulodurnour and only the first group was continuing to advance towards Durnovaria, but trying to sneak by the English army... When the messenger left again, Don Deity couldn’t suppress a grin...or better, a pretty evil smile...Bren splitting his forces could only mean one thing: He didn’t deem his army strong enough anymore, to face the English army directly...this was it, he really had made it. Soon, the Celtic resistance would collapse completely. All General Supersnaat had to do now, was to take on the remaining two Celtic groups near Camoludisios one after the other, and the path towards the inner Celtic provinces would be finally open. Still smiling, Don Deity decided to beam into the new English camp near the river, delivering the good news to General Supersnaat himself... In the English camp, Don Deity and General Supersnaat: “This is incredible...I never would have expected this to work, Don Deity…” “Well...yeah...cool...he, he…” “So what are we doing now?” “We change our plans. Now that we are pretty sure to win this war, we retreat all our heavily wounded units first to Durnovaria, then to Chinook. We don’t want to loose them don’t we?” “Well...if you say so...I thought you didn’t care much for my men...why care now?” “Because... and you will join them also. Your frontline days are also over. Just make sure, you bring them all home...we might need them soon…” “Wait a moment...what do you mean with “need them soon”???” “Umh...nothing?...but anyways, back now to our front here. You will select about 10 battalions of cavalry and have them attack the remaining Celtic stack on the hill near Camoludingsda. And if the Celtic group near Durnovaria doesn’t attack the city (and gets killed in the process), you order the two fresh battalions to attack them. What remains of that group after that, you can ignore until some of your veterans are healed, because they won’t be a big threat then anymore. Do you understand that?” “Yes, Don Deity. I will inform my men immediately and have your new orders executed…” … There only was one tiny problem remaining... named Hastings: … The mayors house in London: “What pressing news do you have dear mayor that I had to leave the Celtic front and head all the way back here?” “Umh...Don Deity...didn’t you just leave the Celtic front only about 3 seconds ago, using your amazing beaming powers?” “Well...yes...ahem...so what news do you have?” “We have some pressing domestic issues, that you should have a look on right now, and might I suggest that we revolt to…” “NEVER...I will NEVER EVER give up slavery...now that I have found out, that whipping my citizens to happiness is even more effective then turning them into…” “Calm down, Don Deity...slavery is fine with me...it was my dad that always complained about that...what I mean is more like a religious revolution...we are the head of the Hindu Church now and backed by the fact that ALL our cities are following the Hindu fate and we will have researched Steel pretty soon (next turn), I would advise you to switch from Paganism to Theocracy...this will allow us to build City Raider II “Cannons” right from the start...and this new weapon, produced in large quantities would change our warfare forever…” “Sounds interesting...how long would it take to produce some of these “Cannons”?” “Not very long...since two more Great Generals emerged thanks to the massive slaughter around Durnovaria, I have taken the liberty to settle one of them here in London, the other one in Bangalore...and our most productive cities all around the empire have been busy in pre-building some trebuchets and are able to switch production to cannons from one day to the next…” “Do you think we should then also revolt from Mercantilism to Free Market?” “I wouldn’t advise to do so...revolting to Theocracy alone will stagnate our production and research for about two years (two turns)...adding a switch from Mercantilism to Free Market would add another two years of stagnation...and keeping in mind the fact that you are about to advance towards the Celtic capital pretty soon, I would rather have some Cannons with me...if I were you...then a stronger research. Besides, two of my informants, the roman dude and a guy named bestbrian also pointed out, that there might be some Celtic stacks left near the Greek border and the Celtic capital…” “I appreciate your counsel, dear mayor...order the revolt to Theocracy immediately, and prepare a short domestic overview for me.” … Just before Don Deity was about to beam back to the Celtic front, the reports from the mayor arrived at his palace. The first report was about the development of the Indian provinces: They had been set on growth again by the mayor, but were still producing exclusively culture buildings, with a courthouse mixed in here and there. Occasional whipping sessions might still occur here and there, but after decades of really massive whipping the happiness factor came more and more into play and the whipping had to be reduced a little. A good side effect of the whipping by the way were the greatly decreasing prices for houses and flats in the Indian-English cities (there suddenly were loads of empty houses and flats available on the markets…) and therefore more and more English people migrated towards these cities to profit from that. Most cities were already having an English population of almost 10%, which was pretty promising (and pretty important, because you need at least 10% of your own population in any captured city to be able to draft). Only the stupid Greek city of Rhodes Alex had squeezed in there lately was very annoying in the overall picture of English-India, because it spread Geek influence deep into the new English lands...but like already pointed out some while ago, Alex will pay (somehow) for that… The next report was more about foreign politics and started with a short overview over the continental and global power situation: Much more annoying was the fact that Alex seemed to be up to something pretty big, because his power has started to climb drastically during the last years. This only could mean that he was now producing mainly military units...and backed by the fact, that he still was Bren’s best buddy and his closest oversee neighbor was Bismarck, the number two powerhouse on a worldwide scale, it became quite obvious, what he was planning to do...the fact that his mood towards Don Deity had dropped to pleased after Don Deity had attacked Bren only indicated in the same direction, because at that point the Greek military production had started to rise...at least, he wasn’t having “too much on his hands” so far. Bismarck and Little Kublai shared a solid second place on the global power chart. … The last sheet contained some personal lines from the mayor: Dear Don Deity, I have to voice my concerns about the actual political situation directly to you: While our campaign against the Celts seems to be running quite smoothly now, we are falling more and more behind in power compared to Greece. Additionally, the Greek are growing more and more vary of our foreign policy...might have something to do with us elimination our neighbors one by one. And we are still at war with Germany, the second most powerful civilization (together with Mongolia). And Germany is on quite good terms with Greece, so it is only a matter of time, until Greece will declare on us. Even if you manage to break the Celtic resistance in time, we should now start to fortify our borders towards Greece and try to find a solution for the city of Durnovaria...the city itself is bordered directly by Greek territory and just screams out to them “attack here” in big red letters… Sorry to bother you with my concerns, but I think we have to do something here immediately, or we will be easy prey for the Greek army. Sincerely yours, When Don Deity arrived back at the front, he considered the overall situation for some minutes before he went to sleep in his tent: The English foreign politics was very fragile at the moment because Germany still refused to start any negotiations with England, and he couldn’t do anything about it. And Alex...Alex was another pressing matter that had to be addressed, but like the thing with Germany, the problems with Greece would have to wait a little longer, because there was still a war to be won...but although Don Deity tried, he couldn’t find much sleep that night... At least, the English advance on Camelosomething was proceeding like planned the next day. The remaining Celtic forces managed to put up a decent fight, but when the day was approaching an end, the English army was already closing in on the city, preparing for the final advance. The English trebuchets were moved into position and during whole next night, the sound of heavy bombardment could be heard. It was only around 10:00 in the morning, when the first English soldiers broke through the city walls of Camelia and were preparing to move towards the mayor’s house. Another two hours later, everything was over, Camolidumdum was under English control. And only one hour later, more good news reached Don Deity: The English reinforcements near Hastings had successfully fended off the Celtic attack... With Camodingsda captured and Hastings successfully defended against the Celtic aggressors (those mean and evil buggers, that dared to threaten the peaceful rural population of Hastings), Don Deity ordered the English reinforcement gathered now around the lovely city of Hastings to move straight on towards Tolosa, to start laying siege on that city right away. If the monks there were right, Tolosa was only defended right now by two battalions of longbowmen and one battalion of macemen and pikemen each. The English advance also only contained of 3 battalions of cavalry, 1 battalion of grenadiers and 3 battalions of trebuchets, but all men were fighting with real anger and hatred in their blood, to avenge the incredible evil deeds of the Celtic army brought upon Hastings (the iron there was pillaged), so Don Deity estimated their chances of capturing Tolosa pretty high… ... Somewhere deep, deep in the forest, behind London: “And you are sure that there is this secret hut, mayor?” “Yes, absolutely, Don Deity...I heard the staff talking about it repeatedly...there must be an ancient magic groove somewhere here in this forests, and all of a sudden, this hut should have appeared there with an old shaman living within...and there are some rumours going on, that some Famous and Great People were buried there alive in strange and evil ceremonies in the long forgotten and dark ages of our civilization…” “Did you just say Great People being buried there?” “Yes...why do you ask, Don Deity?” “Umh...nothing...just being curious...lets go this way, I have a vague feeling that the mystic groove might be just behind this hill…” … Some minutes later: “This might really be the place, Don Deity...do you see this strange glimmering fog over there?” “Yup…” “I’m just wondering, why anybody should bury Great People alive...oh, look here, Don Deity...there is an arm of a beautiful statue sticking out of the grass…” “You shouldn’t believe every rumour you here, dear mayor...I know first hand that NOBODY EVER was buried here alive…” “Huh? What do you mean with this, Don Deity?” “Ahem...nothing? Oh, look...there...in the middle of the glowing fog...this might be the hut we are looking for…” … Knock...KNOCK... KNOCK, KNOOCK, KNOOOCK, KNOOOOCK… “Umh, Don Deity...it might be better NOT to knock down this door...you know, we want to start on good terms with this strange shaman…” “Grumble…” “Ah...there, I think I heard something from within…” “Enter oh humble and very impatient servants of the Great Eternal One” “Hi there...BOAH...you really are an OLD shaman...almost antique I would say...by the way, it’s enough if you just call me Don Deity...forget about the Eternal thingy…” “Huh? What did you just say?” “Nothing...my humble friend here said NOTHING...let me introduce ourselves first, o great and wise shaman...I’m the mayor of London, and this is Don Deity, the ruler of the English nation…” “Famous visitors then...what brings you to my simple hut?” “We have heard that you are skilled in the art of magic...and we might need your service…” “What do you want me to do?” “We have those huge wooden things, we call “Trebuchets”. And now since we have mastered the secret of “Steel”, allowing us to build those steel things we call “Cannons”, we are wondering, if there might be a way of transforming our remaining and useless Trebuchets into Cannons?” “Hm...let me think about this for a second...well...yes...I think I can help you. Simply take off the upper and lower hinges, then smear the whole thing with virgin pig’s blood and the excrements of a 12 year old…” “That’s disgusting...you, you...stinking old pervert sw…” “Shhhht Don Deity...let me handle this…” “Umh...dear shaman… might it be possible that we just bring the trebuchets here, without you telling anybody about the details how you are going to do the transformation?” “Well...off course, but I must charge you then 155 gold per transformation...and there won’t be any discount for numbers, because that only would result in minor cannons…” “Sounds good, deal…” … Not much later, heaps of trebuchets were pulled into the forest behind London, direction magic groove, and not much later, the first cannons started to reappear out of the forest. Although being a great thing overall, one of the negative effects of this development was the fact that the English research came to a complete halt, because of some annoying money issues. But Don Deity’s orders had been very strict in that regard: Direct all available funds towards the shaman until all trebuchets are upgraded, only then start to pay the scientists again. At least, Steel could be traded with Ash for Corporations, which helped to bring up the English research some more. Backed by the fact, that nice cottages were growing all over England, the prospect for a solid economical growth weren’t that bad after all (but never the less, Free Market would really, really help...). … Then, in March 950 AD, the latest news from the front arrived in London: The English reinforcement really had managed to take Tolosa all by themselves, even without any losses. And, only two days later, a Celtic ambassador waited in Don Deity’s palace and offered a full capitulation in Bren’s name… But vassalizing Bren had another pleasant side-effect...Bismarck, who refused to talk with Don Deity now since almost 500 years finally accepted the gift of Education and the state of war between Germany and England ended officially (not that there had ever been any hostile action between these two countries, but hey, the concept of love, peace and harmony simply goes better along the lines of Don Deity’s dream of pacifism). The first meeting of English and Celtic scientists also revealed, that Bren almost had mastered the secret art of Rifling (only three turns missing) and the English scientist eagerly agreed to trade all their knowledge for Replaceable Parts and a No Trade agreement with Greece...only to find out some time later, that Bren wasn’t willing to trade any more with England after the trade for Replaceable Parts was done, using the stupid explanation of “The Celtic people fear that the English people might become too advanced…”. … Don Deity’s palace in London: “This is incredible mayor...they are our vassals...which means we are their masters...and they still refuse to trade their technologies with us…” “I agree Don Deity...this is REALLY weird, but believe me, things WILL get worse in the future (of civilisation IV)...if I only think of colonies, it makes me wanna puke…” “Colonies? What the hell is that? “Forget about it...doesn’t matter here...so what are you going to do about the stupid tech-trading issue?” “I have no idea...I can make Bren jump up and down on one leg, with one hand stretched out and the other one on his head, while barking like a dog, but still the *?$& Celtic scum refuses to trade their technologies with us…” “I don’t believe you…” “Look there… (Opens door behind him)” “Go away...bark...this is already embarrassing enough...bark...without anybody watching… ..bark…” … - Alex was still building up troops like mad The power chart only revealed the already known facts... with Alex producing mainly troops, Don Deity simply wasn’t able to keep up, although his power was also rising steadily...the only good thing was, that thanks to the increasing English economy, rifling was scheduled to be researched within the next 4 month (=4 turns) and England was already preparing for major drafting activities in all cities … After the Celtic capitulation, Camduwu and Durnovaria now REALLY suffered under the massive Greek culture pressure, and General Supersnaat spontaneously decided, to leave these cities only lightly defended and to station the host of the English army in a save distance from the Greek border:
… And finally an overview over the might and juicy Greek belongings: … Another very destabilizing fact was that, although Bren had accepted to become Don Deity’s vassal, he would be able to break free anytime he wanted to, because the Celtic provinces contained still over 55 % of the overall population in the United States of England...and with his power now again being about 20% higher then Don Deity’s, it was quite obvious that Bren would break vassalage immediately, if Don Deity would only show the slights weakness against Alex...which would mean defending Campupu and Durnovaria by all means, an almost impossible task… And with the greatly rising border-tensions between England and Greece, and the diplomatic relations cooling down more and more (Don Deity had managed to gather altogether 7 negative modifiers already towards Greece thanks to their pacifistic foreign policy) it was only a matter of a few month (turns) until the war would start...and this time, it would be an uphill battle for Don Deity, facing superior numbers AND technology... There was only one thing Don Deity knew for sure, and that was that he needed a drink right now...and so he headed towards the bar, somewhere strange, hoping to meet some friends and advisors there to hear their opinion and to get some help… There was a sharp crack, a flash and a cloud of smoke that filled the center of the room. A man dressed in what had once been fine ermine lined robes but now where charred black and sooty stepped out coughing from the smoke cloud. "That's the last time I ever *Cough* let those priest experiment with their *cough, cough* blasted prayers!" He looked around the strange settings, noting the only person besides him in the room standing at the disk. Well, there was a barkeep too but this Emperor had never payed any attention to mere workers... "Excuse me? Hi, I'm emperor Pe Ell and could you be nice and tell me where I am? And perhaps more importantly how I get out of here... I can't leave those peasants running the country by themselves!" Emperor Pe Ell had a strangely nervous feeling as the man looked up, like he suddenly was way out of his depth. "A ruler? Would you like to hear my story?" Was all the answer he got. "What? No! I really don't have ti-" Of course the man, calling himself Don Diety told the story anyway and against himself Pe Ell was intrigued over the struggles of DD's nation. "Now that is quite the mess you've gotten in." He managed at the end, or at least when it was up to date. "Hmm, I feel humbled by a dietys presence. So what would I do? The hard part should be to get Bren to be vassal long enough for him to be drawn into the war. I've never myself had a vassal that big so I really can't predict his reactions but I don't think gifting cities will help. Possible you could use them to bribe him to war Alex if he does break lose? I myself woul probably stay on the defensive at least until we have built a few redcoats. Then try to bait Alex and massacre his troops with cannons and redcoats when he tries to attack." DD handed Pe Ell a paper. "Oh, you have prepared a multiple options poll, how thoughtful. Let me see here:" 1: B We probably don't have the time sadly. I really would like some extra economy but we can't ris getting overrun by Alex. 2: B I would like some redcoats along the front first but that depends a little on our enemy. Is he going for infantry? Because that would be scary... 3: B Can't see how that would help. Although it would give some diplo modifiers so it's actually worth thinking about later. Emperor Pe Ell handed the paper back. "Thats about as far as I feel confident to give advice. Oh, one thing. Did you build the hindu shrine? My memory is poor due to constant workrelated stress so refresh it for me." "Erm, this is kinda embarresing but could you send me back home?" “Hey Don Deity, you are here pretty early...I usually have to wait for you...oh, and by the way, what’s that smell, did you burn an old sofa or something?” “No not really...there was this strange smouldering dude popping out of thin air, calling himself Pe Ell... but then it turned out that I had a quite long chat which turned into a pretty helpful talk about what to do on my little world...you only missed him by some minutes, I beamed him back home recently…” “Good to hear that...I also had a very interesting discussion with some guys yesterday...I wrote you an email by the way, with some suggestions...did you get it?” “Yes, and I did already like you proposed, wanna hear about the actual situation in France?” “Of course I want…” “There you go: Alex didn’t declare on my poor civilisation and Bren is still our vassal, and therefore we managed to research Rifling and to revolt to Nationalism as you proposed. Sadly, there was no time to revolt to Free Market also, but hey, you can’t have everything...And I had General Supersnaat declare on Greece the turn we reached rifling, move all troops in place and to immediately engage two smaller Greek stacks near the cities of Cammenbert and Durnovaria… General Supersnaat had led his beloved cavalry into battle behind Cammenbrie himself, taking down two battalions of Greek cavalry and another two of Greek riflemen, and winning all battles without any losses, but now there are some heavily wounded soldiers in and nest to Cammecca. And another 3 English battalions of cavalry managed to destroy one battalion of Greek grenadiers and two battalions of Greek trebuchets stationed next to Durnovaria… But I already have a first question here: Look at this map, should another unit guard the wounded battalion of cavalry next to Cammudorudo or should I just use it as bait, hoping that Alex would move in some troops we could take on later?” 1: 2: 3: 4: 5: … And thanks to our scouting monks,we know that Alex has near the front: In Rhodes: In Mycenae: In Corinth: In Argos: And our scouts report, that he has about 20 mobile units more in his backlands, ready to move towards the front within two days (turns), mainly riflemen and trebuchets and a battalion of cavalry or grenadiers here and there … “That doesn’t sound too bad...I think you might be able to hold your ground…” “Umh...that isn’t the host of Alex army...Alex MAIN army is there: His main stack (1) contains: 9 battalions of riflemen, 3 battalions of cavalry, 8 battalions of knights, 1 battalion of horse archers, 2 battalions of grenadiers and 4 battalions of trebuchets And his smaller stack (2): 4 battalions of riflemen, 3 battalions of grenadiers and And our scouts report, that about another 10 units more are suspected in the tundra out of our current view…” ... “Oh...that’s bad…” “I know…” “I only have one advice for you...try to prevent Alex from capturing York at all costs...Alex has the money to upgrade ALL knights and horse archers the minute he captures York...and with another 10 battalions of cavalry, Alex main army would be unstoppable and very likely simply march on towards London, killing everything in their way… What can you field in York?” “Well, we have one battalion of redcoats, and one battalion of axmen, and some more units approaching: Another 7 battalions of redcoats are already moving towards York (6 drafted, 2 upgraded), and since we have reduced our research to 0, we will be able to upgrade every old unit we have and to move it also towards York, because we earn about as much gold as it cost in average to upgrade one outdated battalion per month (per turns = 400 gold)” “And how many battalions will be there in time?” “It depends...if we are trying to hold the hills outside York, what I basically would try to do, only 3...if we are trying to hold the city of York itself, maybe 5-7, but I still think our chances in doing damage to Alex army and therefore slowing him down would be better in the hills. Then we would be able to field some more units in York…” SLAM..... "We have arrived sir P. Sir?...... You can open your eyes now" "Are you sure?? Do you see any soldiers?" "No I don't. I see a lot of statues, but I don't see any soldiers. Actually I see a lot of statues." "How many statues do you see????" "Wait a minut, sir. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7..." "Stop you foul! Do you see more then 10 statues or what?" "I see a lot more than 10. I would say 1o times 1o statues at least" "So that would be something like.......eehhh....like 1+1 and no 4 left, that is.....20! Do you see 20 statues??" "Not like that sir P. 10 times 10 times 10 and so on...No matter. I see more than a 100 statues, so you can open your eyes now." "Good. Then I wiil open them...... Yes we are at the right place." " How do you know that? Because of alle the statues?" "Yes you imbecil! How many stonequarrays did you see on our descend towards the ground? Let my tell you. None. So how do think he makes them then?" "Who" "DON DEITY!!!!! Do you ever hear what I tell you?? If Don Deity dont have any stones to build statues of, how do you think he builds them?" "?" "Take a look at the statue over there. It is very detailed, is it not?" "Yes it is sir P. I have never seen anything like it........ Does he make them of he own people?" "Yes he does. Sometimes I wish i had the same powers.....!!!" "So sir P. Why are we here? If he is the kind of master that transform he's people to statues, what can we learn, besides always to have plenty of stones around?" "Last night, while I was listing to the Great Gig In The Sky, she told me of a great battle on a far away world. It was so great, that only the top goods, like herself, had ever heard about it. It is said, that there is only one recording of it. No one knows where it is. Imagine the knowledge, we could gain from a battle like that. "But that's........" "Precise. We are having a war against a leader called Alexander. And as we both know, 2 + 4 is 3, so i figured that it could quit possible be the same leader, because of all these dimension crosses. So I made a promise to the Great Gig In The Sky. That if she would transport us to this world, on the field of the battle, I would do something for her. So pay good attention when the battle begins. This can make the difference in our war" "I will sir P. What should you do for her, if I may ask?" "Just something....." "Sorry sir. What?" "Just something. It has absolutly nothing to do with the rumers of her basement and some weird cloth. Or at least not much... Now stop talking and be ready to take notes!!" … The Greek camp, two miles away from the mountain range leading towards York, the leaders of the two Greek battalions of cavalry, Sir Lancelot and Don Quijote, discussing their next steps: “We will never be able to defeat these damn English redcoats holing in up there on the hills without sending in some battalions of riflemen first, to weaken them a little, Sir Lancelot…” “Don’t worry about that too much, Don Quijote, we are famous, we never lost any battle as knights so far, so we wont start with that right now...and besides, with our new rifles and the shooting practice we had with Jon Wayne we are invincible…” “But the combat odds are something like 99% of loosing…” “Bah...those damn mathematicians...they have no idea of REAL warfare...we WILL charge without assistance and we WILL win, I’m sure…” … Emergency meeting in York, a nameless general (he achieved nothing of great importance, and therefore wasn’t important enough to be mentioned by name) and Don Deity: “Like I said Don Deity…. …based on the reports from the survivors, our two battalions in the hills were attacked by something during the night, they referred to as Yeti or BigFoot...the reports vary a little here, but it must have been a big flock of these things and the raids lasted up to the morning. That’s why they were caught by complete surprise by the two approaching battalions of Greek cavalry and didn’t stand a chance to fight back… “That’s plain ridiculous...I don’t believe a single word from that lousy report…” “Exactly...that’s why I have sent some scouts up there to check for evidence...and with the reports they brought, we came up with a new theory…” “I only hope that it’s better then the first…” “Well...we will see: There were lots of tracks leading to and from our army camp, but they were definitely human tracks. And backed by the fact, that we found heaps of empty bottles of extremely cheap ice-wine, we now suspect, that some descendents from the Whyshouldwestaythereians, with lots of spare wine, made friends with our troops up there and apparently they were boozing the whole night…” … Back up in the hills: “But it’s dangerous up here, with all the Greek troops patrolling these hills, Don Deity…” “Shut up...I want every single survivor (which I turned into stone personally) placed up here, as a reminder of what will happen, if our soldiers neglect their duty...wait...what was that?” “What do you mean, Don Deity?” “I don’t really know...but I have the strange feeling of being watched...from something up there in the sky...we better hurry…” … With the brave General Supersnaat far away leading the main body of the English army deep into Greek territory, and Don Deity and the nameless general busy moving hundreds of statues around in the hills near York, the Greek army met almost no resistance on their way down the hills, towards York. And apparently, motivated by their easy victory on the hills (loosing one of the redcoats against one of the cavalry had a chance of 1:99...loosing both was sort of ridiculous...but well, show must go on…) the Geek generals in charge didn’t even bother uniting their two army groups but pushed on, towards York at full speed: He decided to assign two battalions of redcoats with the task of holding the river and left only three battalions for the defence of York (which, at that point already had lost about 1/3 of it’s population due to emergency drafting and whipping)… With 6 battalions of Greek rifles nearby, and the two wounded Greek battalions of cavalry, that was a risky gamble, but more reinforcements were already on the way towards York and the major of York speculated in the Greek forces taking the bait and attacking the redcoats guarding the river passage and taking heavy damage conquering it (he had no illusions there, IF his plan would work, the next two battalions of English redcoats would surely die). But then, the Greek would be forced to split their forces even more and to put the first third of their army in direct reach of the first approaching English battalion of cannons…
“It seems like the Greek are taking the bait and are advancing towards us, not towards the city of York” “Umh… I don’t know if this is such good news...for us, I mean…” “Men, you all know your job. We are to hold this side of the river as long as we can. No retreat, no surrender. We will fight until...until the battle is over…” And it was a big battle that lasted more then 4 hours. The Greek riflemen tried to push over the river several times, but each time they were pushed back by the two brave English battalions of redcoats. The losses were huge on both sides. But in the end, The English just hadn’t enough men left to fend of the final assault. Still, completely surrounded, they stud their ground and even managed to push another Greek battalion back into the river, but it should be their last heroic deed. Not much later, Greek forces controlled both sides of the river, but their casualties were immense: Three Greek battalions of rifles were destroyed completely and the remaining two also had taken losses. Cut of from the main host of the Greek army, which, by the way, was slowed down even more, because they couldn’t resist to plunder the first English silver mine they came across, the situation of the Greek troops near the river of York was pretty hopeless now that the English were gathering more and more forces in the city of York… ...
“Umh...General Supersnaat, could you please explain to us, why we are camping exactly here, where the main Greek routes from Mycenae to Campalida pass by and any Greek units from Mycenae, that Alex sends out to meet us, or even those he sends out towards Camudoku can ambush us without any problems?” “Yes, off course...the whole idea of camping here is to lure Alex into attacking us...and NOT attacking Camabackta which is relatively lightly defended right now. Cammolia has enough garrison troops to fend of some Greek battalions of cavalry without support from Greek siege engines and food soldiers, but nothing more.” “So it is very likely, that Alex will attack US with the siege units he has in Mycenae, and very likely also with some of his riflemen...and also very likely with some of the mobile cavalry he has around his capital...” “Yup…” “Well...and especially our battalions are stationed right there, where you expect Alex to engage us, right? “Yup…” “So our question is, why are you doing this...I mean, we will take heavy losses due to the expected collateral damage from Alex...and then, also very likely, most of us will loose their lives to the Greek riflemen and cavalry…” “Yup… “ “I must say, I don’t really like your plan...I even must insist that you…” BANGGGG… “Why have you shot him!!!!” “Motivation...any more questions you four?” “Well...yes...I really want to…” BANGGGG… “And now, you two, pick new leaders for our battalions to replace these idiots…” “But there are three of us lef…” BANGGGG… “Sorry, what did you just say?” But there was no answer, only the sound of running feet was heard... “Hey, General Supersnaat, I must admit that I really like your methods to motivate your men…” “Don Deity...what the hell...where do you come from, all of a sudden???” “Beaming and such...remember?” “Oh...off course...what brings you here then?” “I just wanted to check on your situation...but after watching you motivate your men, I’m tempted to try that myself...might I have your gun a minute?” “Yes, our course, but…” BANGGGG… BANGGGG… BANGGGG… “Yeah...a really nice way to spread motivation...look at them running around confused and searching for an enemy or an ambush or something…” “Umh...Don Deity...I think there might be a little misunderstanding...you know, shooting down several soldiers from a distance isn’t exactly motivating them...more like... ...confusing them...you must call some of them to come over and speak to them and then…” “HEY...you two over there...yes, you...come over here...What’s your name?” “Sergeant Bob…” “And your’s?” “Corporal Bob…” “What a funny coincidence…” BANGGGG… BANGGGG… “Better now, General Supersnaat?” “Umh...ahem...you know Don Deity...I think you should stick to turning people to stone...for motivation I mean...could I have my gun back please?” … The Greek army attacked the English camp near Mycenae the same night, starting with heavy bombardment form the 3 battalions of catapults moved in from Mycenae. Then, two battalions of Greek cavalry moved in, and finally, two battalions of Greek rifles charged. But the highly motivated English cavalry and grenadiers fought brave and managed to take out two of the Greek battalions of catapults and a battalion of Greek rifles and Greek cavalry each. Only a battalion of English cavalry and a battalion of English grenadiers perished...there were lots of losses within the surviving English battalions, but some more battalions of Cavalry were moved in immediately from Cammenbuctu and the English army marched on towards Mycenae already at dawn the next morning, destroying everything that was left of the Greek army in their path with ease... And the Greek seemed to be in real trouble now...heavily besieged on all fronts, from England and their war allies (= their vassals, Bren and Ash...Don Deity had gifted them all warfare techs England had, two turns before the war against Greece started, to put Alex under some more pressure…) Greece really seemed to be close to total chaos. The Greek production apparently was already in bits and peaces, with two of their major cities under assault and a minor borderland city already fallen, because heaps of Greek workers were seen building workshops and factories, even in or near existing Greek towns (AHHHH...they are destroying OUR precious cottages…). But most of them drop whatever they had in hand at the sight of the advancing English army, so the Greek progress to build up more production was slowed down even more... It was no wonder then, that Mycenae was only poorly defended when the English army reached the outskirts of the city the same evening...only four battalions of Greek riflemen were left in the city, the rest had apparently either been already lost in the ambush on the advancing English army, the night before, or was needed somewhere else… ... Don Deity was sitting in his provisional commando tent near Corinth, on his desk the latest reports his scouting monks smuggled out of the besieged city...and his head heavy from all the thought spinning around. The situation had changed completely within the last 24 hours...the least fortified Greek city now was packed with soldiers, after the reinforcements originally heading towards Mycenae obviously were all rerouted towards Corinth. The Greek quite obviously showed little to no interest in recapturing Mycenae, but they seemed pretty eager to field everything they had to face his division of the heroic English army. And all he had was 3 battalions of cavalry, 2 battalions of grenadiers and 7 battalions of cannons, with two more battalions of cavalry sheduled to arrive this night. In Mycenae now were stationed altogether 6 battalions of riflemen, 2 battalions of trebuchets, 1 battalion of grenadiers and 2 battalions of cavalry. Especially the Greek cavalry was something Don Deity was really worried about...with their immense speed and their superior knowledge of the Greek lands, they would be able to reroute the English army with easy, cutting off the English reinforcement lines or attacking any of the English borderland cities or trying to take back the two captured Greek cities, thus preventing Don Deity to move more units to the front...And more Greek units were scheduled to arrive in Corinth every single day so time was crucial. He was again at the beginning off a night without sleep, trying desperately to come up with a plan...a plan that would allow them to capture Corinth as fast as possible, without loosing too many troops, or they would never be able to hold the city. And since the disastrous attack on Mycenae with the immense losses the English army had taken was still on his mind, he knew for sure, that rushing the attack again would only mean one thing for sure...loosing the fight for Corinth and lots of precious units... The sun was already beginning to rise again, when Don Deity had finally made up his mind...and ordered the attack on Corinth to begin... About 1000 miles away, another showdown was approaching. The governor of York was sitting in his office with an English scout, just returning from the Greek occupied mountain ranges: “And you are really sure about this?” “Yes sir, definitely...the Greek are splitting their army. All of the food soldiers and siege units are heading towards our second silver mine. And most of their riders are heading straight for the river of York, most likely trying to avenge the fallen Greek soldiers there by massacring our injured battalion of redcoats there…” “Well, thanks...you are dismissed…” … Only about 10 minutes later, the governor was sitting with his leading officers in his office again: “We have confirmed reports now that the Greek army wants to take back our side off the river of York right now...and they are approaching with 1 battalion of cavalry, 8 battalions of knights and 1 battalion of horse archers.” “We still have one wounded battalion out there…” “I know...but we only have 5 battalions of redcoats and 1 battalion of cannons here in York right now...if we move some troops out to protect our wounded soldiers, then the Greek would most likely reroute their attack and we would risk loosing York…” “I know...but we can’t let our men die out there…” “We have no choice...let the Greek take the river, then engage with all your men. Take out the Greek cavalry first with your most experienced battalion of redcoats, and then send our only battalion of cannons in next. Attack with our remaining 4 battalions of redcoats only after our cannons have weakened the Greek troops...We can’t risk of loosing more then one battalion of redcoats, with the few units we have here right now.” “Yes sir…” … Two hours later, the Greek riders took the river, killing all English soldiers left there. But their success shouldn’t last, another hour later the English forces charged out of York, enraged by the slaughter among their brothers...and all of them should return victorious, 1 battalion of Greek cavalry and 5 battalions of Greek knights died that day, leaving only 3 battalions of Greek knights and 1 battalion of Greek horse archers near the rive of York. Meanwhile, the rest of the Greek army plundered the second (and last) English silver mine near York, bringing them into striking distance to York. Reports immediately came in, that the Greek started immediately to put up their siege engines, in order to start bombarding York. … Around the same time, the battle for Corinth, also ended...although victorious, the fighting wasn’t going to good for the English: Despite bombarding the city, the English army had taken again massive casualties: 3 battalions of cannons died again, despite the odds should have been in favour for the English (at least for cannon nr. 2 and 3), and the first battalion of Greek cavalry engaging also perished, despite the odds being about 85% to win… At least the rest of the English army was victorious, and Corinth was fully occupied by the English the same night. Quickly drafted redcoats moved in from the former English borderland cities through Rodes, backed up by some veterans from the battle for Rhodes, highly profiting from the fact that the Greek cultural border now spared a corridor for them to sneak into Corinth.
After capturing Corinth, he was able to move in reinforcements, mainly through Rhodes the same night, having now a decent chance to hold the city, with 2 more battalions of redcoats and 1 battalion of cavalry arriving any minute now. But Alex was also shipping in various units. All in all, 2 battalions of riflemen, 2 battalions of trebuchets and 5 battalions of cavalry were now in striking distance of Corinth, so the situation remained pretty instable... The war and the fact that England had to live now without Silver also started to show some major impacts on the English economy...there were unrests in most of the cities all over England and the economy was going mainly in one direction...down… … Dawn was breaking...but still nobody was seen on the streets of York. The people were all hiding in their cellars, or, if they had none, in the big basement of the local library. The Greek bombardment was raining down on the city now since 8 days and no end was in sight. Later that day, 3 more battalions of redcoats and one battalion of English cannon moved into York, but the arround that time, the city walls already started to break at several points. Only the people in the governor’s mansion seemed strangely unaffected by the horror and fear that filled the common folk’s hearts in York: “Governor, the last units we were waiting for just have arrived...we are pretty confident now, that we will hold the city.” “This are brilliant news indeed...I have no idea, why the Greek bothered bombarding us all that time, waisting their chance of capturing the city...but well...who cares, are the reinforcements from Coventry finally in place?” “Yes, sir...it took a little longer then expected and we lost several farms in-between York and Coventry due to the Greek riders pillaging a little here and there, but we have them surrounded now...and I don’t expect any losses on our side in the final battle there…” “Good then...order them to attack immediately.” … And so it came that the remaining Greek riders finally died near the river of York, outnumbered and isolated, slained by numerous English redcoats, pouring in from all sides. And, apparently out of sheer desperation, the Greek commanders finally ordered the attack on York...only to suffer a complete defeat. Not a single English battalion went down in York, but the Greek losses were enormous. Two Greek battalions of grenadiers and three of riflemen lost their lives in a stupid and senseless slaughter, fighting a loosing battle right from the start… And then, something completely weird happened...instead of continuing the attack, the remaining Greek troops turned around and ran...only to face Bren’s army, who finally seemed to have decided to take possession of whyshouldwegothere-land and spammed settlers there like mad… And, quite obvious, the English silver mines got rebuild immediately. … Far north from York, Alex really tried to take back Corinth the same night, but his attack was uncoordinated and therefore also bound to fail. Two battalions of Greek trebuchets went down and another two battalions of Greek cavalry. Only one battalion of Greek cavalry was lucky enough to catch an English battalion of redcoats, already weakened by the Greek trebuchets, by surprise and scored a victory. Then Alex apparently accepted his failure and aborted the attack. The remaining two battalions of Greek riflemen fortified next to Corinth and tried to protect the surviving Greek cavalry...a pretty stupid plan...at dawn the next day already, Don Deity ordered his best cavalry to ride out and the Greek troops near Corinth were history. … With the newly opened reinforcement lines now through Rhodes, Don Deity decided to push on towards Argos right after the Greek counterattack against Corinth was repelled, giving the Geek no time to breath and to reorganize their defences. Strengthened by the fact that more and more Indian units were now roaming and plundering Greek land and also strengthened by the cowardly retreat of the Greek army near York, Don Deity now was confident that nothing could stop him now to take control over France soon, and marched strait for Argos, although Argos wasn’t one of the goals for this part of the war...but hey, you have to take what you can… So Ash was also ordered to attack Argos now, because he had several units near. And he really managed to help and immediately moved three battalions of cavalry and one battalion of trebuchets towards Argos form the Southeast. Not much later, Don Deity’s army closed in on Argos from the Northwest, and, seeing that Ash had already started the attack, joined in immediately...but too later for the host of Ash’s army, going down in a blaze of...well...not really glory...more like...blaze of waste… But thanks to Ash bombarding the city and suiciding two battalions of cavalry, successfully retreating only with the last one, Don Deity’s losses were minor this time, only one battalion of cannons and two battalions of (easily replaceable) redcoats went down during this fight: … Not much later, General Supersnaat also arrived in Argos, because the two divisions of the English main army now had to be united to one big army, because there were simply not enough English units near the front left, ready or healthy enough to continue the war on two fronts. Don Deity was still in Argos, while General Supersnaat was already leading the united army of England towards the next Greek city, pressing on with this war at full speed. The English army was led by a veteran battalion of commando cavalry (commando units can move on hostile roads) to ensure a save passage for the English cannons and to scout ahead (and retreat back again the same turn). … And there were more good news...the huge gains the glorious English army had archived during the first part of this war also assured that Bren now was bound to his word and to serve the English empire for good...his population now was down to 43% of the English population and it was pretty obvious now that the English army would soon capture more Greek cities, making it impossible for Bren to ever break away.
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dear sneat YOU ROCK!!! i wish
dear sneat YOU ROCK!!! i wish i had this game but my mom dosent want me too she sais too much violence and stuff so i just read a lil here and there.could u please tell me when the next update is coming i am so bored...your #1 fan
Nice updates Snaaty, very
Nice updates Snaaty, very entertaining, as usual!
@ HoldSteady: Thanks again
@ HoldSteady:
Thanks again for your feedback...
...
One Question: Do you actually play Civ also or do you just read the strories?
Hehe, I do play it,
Hehe, I do play it, sometimes, it kinda comes in waves.. A few weeks I do, then off with another game. But, it's not really the game that I read in your stories, I read your writing. I find it quite good!
sneat its been years
sneat its been years updaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate!
Snaaty, I enjoyed reading
Snaaty, I enjoyed reading this tremendously. Please post more stories, you simply must!!
@ HoldSteady: Thanks, great
@ HoldSteady:
Thanks, great that you liked it... ...but writing this is quite time-consuming, so I will finish this story first before decideing wether to do or not another story.
But there will be some updates for this story soon
Yes, I can imagine how time
Yes, I can imagine how time consuming it must be. I attempted twice to make an AAR for Hearts of Iron, but each time I bogged down in the work for it.. But, anyways, consider me fan.
Per Snatty's request we've
Per Snatty's request we've included the saves
Civilization IV Save 4000 BC
Civilization IV Save 2620 BC
Civilization IV Save 1900 BC
Civilization IV Save 1330 BC
Civilization IV Save 1030 BC
Civilization IV Save 0835 BC
Civilization IV Save 0565 BC
Civilization IV Save 0265 BC
Civilization IV Save 0055 BC (patch 2.13)
Civilization IV Save 0110 AD (patch 2.13)
Civilization IV Save 0260 AD (patch 2.13)
Civilization IV Save 0350 AD (patch 2.13)
Civilization IV Save 0455 AD (patch 2.13)
Civilization IV Save 0545 AD (patch 2.13)
Civilization IV Save 0635 AD (patch 2.13)
Civilization IV Save 0740 AD (patch 2.13)
Civilization IV Save 0815 AD (patch 2.13)
Civilization IV Save 0890 AD (patch 2.13)
Civilization IV Save 0890 AD (patch 2.13)
Civilization IV Save 0950 AD (patch 2.13)
Civilization IV Save 1040 AD (patch 2.13)
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