VIKING SCRIBE #81
Collision Course
I started out as Napolean III, leader of the French on an archipelago
world, 4 civs. The French were an ambitious people right from the start, as
our lone Settler founded Paris and immediately made more Settlers until the
island we had chosen as our home was blanketed with cities, and then the
Colossus was immediately constructed. With every one of our 7-8 cities,
there was access to the sea, and so a merchant fleet was constructed to
explore the world and bring wealth to the Glorious French Monarchy (I decided
the people could live with a king until our exploration needs were met).
Soon, Grenoble and Marseilles were established on two privileged sites on
nearby continents. Little could we suspect what lay in store for us.
Unfortunately, Marseilles was unintentionally founded on soil home to one
of my rivals:the Romans. Disbanding the city would only drain our treasury
and dishearten the people, so a treaty was made with the Romans (whose island
was the size of ours-and-a-half) for rights to keep Marseilles as a French
colony in return for our goods and friendship. Caesar eagerly accepted, and
French caravans poured into Rome (second in size only to Paris in the known
world) and Byzantium. Our sciences prospered as a result, and so a Republic
was proclaimed. Since we had no intentions of founding distant colonies on
the other side of the world, and the island Grenoble had been settled on was
mostly a frozen wasteland, this seemed to be a pretty nice arrangement. The
French jumped to first in science, and everyone was popping champagne bottles
in a nationwide celebration of one massive collective superiority complex.
Everyone, that is of course, except Julius. I admit I was getting rather
annoyed at his constant badgering for gold and knowledge, so after a while, I
refused to see him. This proved to have far-reaching consequences, for
around 400 A.D. or so, a Roman Horsemen unit brazingly attacked Marseilles.
Naturally, against Pikemen behind City Walls, this was foolhardy, and so
after the attack I expected to talk to Caesar, laugh in his face, and offer a
humiliating cease-fire. My analysts looked down on the Roman military, and
so were promptly fired after Caesar rejected my peace offer and managed to
rally a mammoth invasion force hell-bent on "liberating" Marseilles! Still
worse, a Caravel flying the Green banner had attacked Lyons, and Roman
colonies were discovered on a previously unknown continent!!!
Well, while the Senate didn't like it, the Monarchy came back to defend the
French people in this time of crisis. In the same turn, Magellan's
Expedition was finished, and this proved to be vital. Reinforcements were
rush-bought and delivered to the stricken city barely in time enough to meet
the advancing Roman army. This was a battle larger than most I'd ever seen
before the Industrial Age, and I was tempted to break out popcorn as I
witnessed the French Expeditionary Force (FEF) valiantly struggle against the
invaders. It may sound a lot for just one city, but you have to understand th
at Marseilles was the key to trade with Rome and an important port. In the
end, though, as weary Knights, Pikemen, and Legions struggled on, the Romans
never took Marseilles.
Now was the time for blood. Marseilles shrank three population points
during the epic battle, and France's people cried for revenge (Caesar STILL
wouldn't listen to reason, though by this time I probably would've rejected
any peace offers anyway). It came in three newly-arrived, ready-for-action
Musketeer units shipped from Lyons and Orleans. Around the same time, the
Zulus were discovered, and they declared war almost before I met with Shaka.
Well, this was going to be interesting........
The Zulus were smaller, more primitive, and generally weaker than the
Romans, even though they had a larger army. They were to my west while the
Romans were to my east, and though I was at war with both, they never seemed
to have met each other. It was then, as I was gazing at a map of known Zulu
lands, that I came up with a plan based on the principle of Fire and
Maneuver. Units planned to fight the Romans were now shipped off in Galleons
for Operation:Vendetta; the invasion of the Zulu nation and establishment of
a second front helpful in fighting the Romans. Musketeers and Knights (which
were at a ratio of about 2:1, respectively) sailed west, north to rendezvous
with units from Grenoble (famed for fighting barbarian hordes roaming the
frozen landscape), and then south to attack Zimbabwe. The Roman front was
stalled:Musketeers fortified themselves around Byzantium while Knights made
hit-and-run raids on the city, and the offensive was taken to Zululand. Fire
and Maneuver.
What followed was pay dirt for my admittedly clever scheme. While the
Romans made repeated, futile attempts to dislodge the Musketeers
(Elephants/Knights too weak and Catapults too slow), the second FEF ran
roughshod over the eastern half of the Zulu empire, which included Zimbabwe!
When Shaka grudgingly accepted French offers of peace, Musketeers were bought
to defend the newly conquered lands, and the FEF swung eastward to attack
Rome. With the simultaneous fall of Brundisium and complete destruction of
Byzantium, Caesar, too, kissed my feet and accepted peace.
You'd think that the two losing parties would collaborate to seek revenge
against me after such a loss, but it wasn't so. For in the year 1560, we met
with the long-isolated Aztecs (second only to me in power) and signed the
Cooperative Defense Against Belligerent Nations Pact, which intimidated the
civs for which the treaty was meant for so much that the only time French
troops were called again into actual combat (I did some bribing on the side)
was in a short war with Rome that gave me a one-city island via Marines. I
beat Montezuma to Alpha Centuri, and thus ends the story of a leader who
would just as soon have run a tiny financial state as become the greatest
general in history (on this world, at least).
By Jason T. Williams (aka Rhakira@aol.com, LeSmouraiX@aol.com)
Anglophile Born in Iowa With a San Franciscan Accent, and DAMN Proud of it!
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