SMC: The Zulu wars

[shade]

Since we have an abundance of troops closing into their territories we can just as well assimilate them while passing through, don't we?

We have roughly 3 armies(cfr map) and some freelance units.
Army 1(North of Swasi)

• 6 Fanatics
• 6 cannon

Army 2(East of Swasi)

• 2 Fanatics
• 5 cannon
• 2 Diplomats
• 1 Riflemen
• 1 Dragoon
• 1 Knight

Army 3(North-East of Ulundi)

• 8 Fanatics
• 2 Cannon
• 4 Diplomats
• 1 Riflemen

First of all our Riflemen Near bapedi should take out that cannon.

Army 2 has 2 diplomats, I suggest we send them south to bribe Bapedi and Ngome.
We can take out Swasi easily, we occupy the 4 marked squares this turn with cannons(defended by a fanatic):
The forest square with the 2 cannons and the fanatic from the mountainsquare north of it.
The tile North of Swasi with a fanatic and a cannon(again from the mountainsquare North of it.)
The tile Northeast with a riflemen and a cannon(mountain NE)
the tile east of swasi with 2 cannons(mountain E and NE) and a fanatic(Mountain N).
Next turn we have a nice blastaway of their defences.
After this nice offencive the 2 armies can be moved direction the black spot(if there are cities there to take out) and army n°3.

The freelance diplomat(5) could be directed toward Mpondo... and do his job.

About army n°3: their east flank(3 fanatics+1 cannon) can start uncovering the black, if needed assisted by a diplomat.
The rest of army 3 should start surrounding Ulundi(using the cannons to weaken their defences(if to expensive to bribe)) There are 3 cannons aproaching from the North that could give a hand there.

Not knowing what the dark is hidding from me I trust our President he will know how to handle cities build there.

I think this will be enough movement for an entire session, the idea is to form 1 big army from the 3 smaller ones now. Also due to the fact that our diplomats die on their missions I think it might be interesting to recruite some new ones and send them to our armies. When all this is finished the big army can then be send east to those 2 American cities.

I think this should do it...

You have 3 days for voting
Shade

[cavebear]

I like the plan. While Swazi could be bribed most cheaply because it is in revolt, it has no City Walls and the other Zulu cities do. Attacking it militarily seems best. Bribing cities with Walls is easier than batterring them down and I like saving the city infrastructure so that the newly- conquered city can contribute to our cause .

It would be good if we could find and capture the Zulu capital so that the remaining cities can be taken more easily. The Zulu capital has to be in the dark area between Ulundi and Bapedi.

[Sparrowhawk]

I like the plan except for Swazi, as Cavebear points out, it is in Disorder, and could likely be cheaply bribed. We have 6 diplomats in the area...could we at least check the cost of bribing Swazi before attacking, and if it is cheap enough...bribe it rather then attacking.

Based upon the attack on Washington, we may need all the units we can when attacking the Capitals (Babylon and others).

I am not sure how far those diplomats are from Swazi though..perhaps the time required to move them into position to bribe would be too great?

/me Interested Citizen of the Apolyton Imperium

[shade]

there are only 2 of them close to the city but I would like to use them to bribe Bapedi and Ngome(they are the only 2 close to those cities. The other 4 are stationed 2/3 squares from Ulundi.
We also don't know how many cities there are hidden in the black,and unlike spies diplomats are gone when you use them . I think the attack could be done with almost 0 loss of our units.

Shade

[Ljube]

I suggest we attack Swazi with our dragoon nearby, possibly even our knight and bribe what is left of Swazi.

This is to reduce its cost - a compromise solution between bribing it outright and capturing it next turn.

And it's this turn!

[Sparrowhawk]

At a minimum, as I suggested above, we should check out the cost of bribing it this turn with one of the diplomats, though I like using them for the other two cities...if it is cheap under disorder I think it is well worth the diplomat, then we can rush another dip in Swazi if you want another one for the other Zulu city. And if it is too expensive to bribe, even under disorder, then no loss, just don't bribe.

/me offering his 2 cents worth

[Ben Kenobi]

When all this is finished the big army can then be send east to those 2 American cities.

Why not start on the Germans? We could really wreak havoc on their outposts.

[cavebear]

1. Because they have a lot of gold, and ir would be very expensive to bribe them.

2. Because they are far away and we don't have much contact with them yet.

[shade]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


Why not start on the Germans? We could really wreak havoc on their outposts.

3. they would be on our path.

(cfr map:
red: our armies
green: the Zulu imperium(as far as we know)
blue: the 2 American cities
fushia: Germany)

[H Tower]

how would a zero increase in funds through taxes affect your plans for this session?

[shade]

my plans?

I don't think there would be any effect.(this session we have more battles sceduled and less bribing)

Shade