Turn 380AD

[Cort Haus]

GoW have decided to move against Barcelona. They have taken the hill at Barca-441, eliminating our stack-of-three on that tile.

They have 7 riders on Barca-441 (6@4/4, 1@3/4), one at Barca-44, and 2 at Barca-444 (1@4/4, 1@2/4).

We can knock out the lone rider then take up a defensive position true-fortified at Barca-4. GoW can't take Barca next turn, they can either move adjacent to it or hit our defenses (which would hurt them). So we can either put up a last stand inside Barca or raze and run - we should have enough boats to prevent a rout.

GoW must have taken losses against our stack, and with 10 units visible they are unlikely to be attacking Pamplona whilst operating near Barca simultaneously.

I don't know whether their target here is Barca or us.

We have Invention, and Gunpowder comes in 4 turns, +29gpt.

[Cort Haus]

From here GoW could also move into positions on the next turn to attack either New Madrid or Sirocco the turn after. Hmmm.

The six knights at Pamp-22 can move 6 to cover the desert and deter GoW from moving towards New Madrid - Which gets a Pike next turn.

We could consider abandoning Todelo and withdrawing all forces around there to New Madrid.

The galleys near the spices had better come back north.

The 2 Pike & Crush stack at the unroaded Barca-4411 are cut off, but Crush can have a peck at 'Sir Hoss' at Barca-444.

[Cort Haus]

We are average militarily with GoW, and stronger than ND. I'm thinking that part of the reason for Lego's surge on the power graph is the continued depletion of GS, GoW and ND units.

GoW have a wall of their riders and Lego knights defending the coastline by YK.

How many galleys do we want in the North, and what to do with them? There are 8 near Wittlich / Port Isolation plus one to the north of the channel. There's also one opposite Inchon on its way north. I presume our fleet is now there to deter a GoW invasion in the north. An alternative role would be for a empty stack to sail round their coast looking dangerous, but I think we need to be defensively-minded with them.

[asleepathewheel]

CH

I don't have time to open the save and check it out right now (trying to make lunch for myself and the wife)

But it seems like we're facing a situation we saw earlier in the game, where we sat in Barc and GoW just walked down the mountains. We can't allow that to happen again. was a huge mistake.

Sigh, I wish I knew more, won't bug you with questions, will try to get the save up soon. (I'm going to a college basketball game in 2 hours so might not make it.)

[Cort Haus]

Key question : what to do with Toledo?

We have 8 units around it, plus 4 beween Toledo and Pamplona, but GoW can attack it the turn after next - so we have to withdraw into it. I was hoping we might give it back to RP this turn - but if we withdraw from thje jungle ND can move forward and threaten it, so I giess we have to hold on to it.

[Theseus]

CH, I will be able to check the save later this afternoon.

[Cort Haus]

If we lose Barca, Pamplona gets cut off from our Iron, we lose our silks, New Madrid loses our luxuries, and our presence looks increasingly less viable.

We can attack 2 GoW Riders, leaving them with 6@4/4 plus 'Sir Panzer XXXIII, out for vengeance' who is on 3/4. I doubt Panzer will be taking risks with that unit.

Either GoW are awash with Riders (they also have a few defending the YK coast) or they're leaving the tough nut of Pamp for a while and coming at softer targets behind it.

If we pool defenses at Barca-4, their stack-of-seven could move to hills at either Barca-87, from where it could hit Barca, New Madrid or Sirocco, or to the hill at New Madrid-411 where it could hit Toledo, New Madrid, or Sirocco.

There's a lot of possibilities here, and I'm hoping someone else will be able to open the save.

I've got a turn to play in the other game too, so I'll come back to this.

[Cort Haus]

(X-post above) - Hi T - you'll enjoy pondering this one.

I reckon that the enemy is determined to see this through, and is prepared to fight until we're gone. With no reply from ND, I expect that even if are we defending saltpeter, the price for holding it, or even trying to hold it might be high.

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
(X-post above) - Hi T - you'll enjoy pondering this one.

I reckon that the enemy is determined to see this through, and is prepared to fight until we're gone. With no reply from ND, I expect that even if are we defending saltpeter, the price for holding it, or even trying to hold it might be high.

god help us, if we could get gunpowder and hold a sp deposit for one turn....at least we would have some muskets.

[Cort Haus]

In fact, the PTWDG2 turn has been played, so I can keep thinking about this - I'll look at the wf allocation next.

[Cort Haus]

Economy

Complete worker in Cyclone, order another (ensure +5F)

WoC wf : Off mountain/iron, onto grass (galley next turn)

Inchon wf : Use mountain / Iron

Other cities - no change AFAICS.

If we cut iron to be able to build spears, we have to cut two iron, then put back both roads and mines on each. That's 2 * (5 + 9) = 28 worker turns plus loss of shields, and we don't have enough workers in place. So cutting doesn't look like an option right now.

[Cort Haus]

Workers

Cyclone: 4, mine

Inchoff-1 : mine

Voice-99 : road


The following three can move south towards Eliopolis to grow it to size six :

HH-89 : 112

Wittlich-3 : 222

Beta-2 : 333

Assuming the northern galleys bring their cargo into Wittlich, gaps left in the sea wall can be filled.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel


god help us, if we could get gunpowder and hold a sp deposit for one turn....at least we would have some muskets.

OK, so it's worth keeping the workers here for now - perhaps move them to near NM within reach of the desert and out of reach of the riders.

[Cort Haus]

Battle of Barcelona

Knight from Barca-411 kills Rider ('Attack me, you know you want to') at Barca-44. Knight has 1hp left - fortifies in Barcalona.
Crush from Barca-4411 attacks 'Sir Hoss' at Barca-444 who is reduced to 1HP and escapes 9 to Barca-447
Another Knight from Barca-411 finishes off Hoss, becomes Elite (4/5) and moves to hill at Pamp-233, where he'll is joined by stack-of-six knights and 1 pike.from Pamp-22.
Third knight from Barca-411 kills Sir Rendah (ho ho) and moves to Crush's stack at Barca-4411
Stack at Barca-442 moves to Barca-4 and fortifies.

So, three riders killed, one promotion, no losses and a not-too-bad defensive position.

[Cort Haus]

Near Toledo

Time to withdraw from the jungle towards New Madrid:

Pike at Toledo-9 moves 222

Pike & MI at Tol-98 move 2

Pike & MI at Tol-999 move 4

Pike at Tol-96 moves 4

Pike & Cat at Tol-12 move into New Madrid

Pike & MI at Tol-47 move 332

Pike at New-Madrid-477 moves 333