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Muscles From Brussels marches on Madrid. A redcoat escort protects the battlegroup from flank attacks by Spanish cavalry. In the following action, a highly decorated elite light brigade was lost to Spanish defensive fire. Their comrades in Muscles were furious over the loss and promised ample retribution. The 2nd Spanish war veteran cavalry received full military honors.
And retribution was served...
The Turkish and British race each other to grab as many Spanish cities as possible in their weakened state. The Spanish defenders are mostly conscripts who are easily smitten by the well disciplined, accurate fire from the elite British redcoat squares of Muscles. The less experienced Turks throw stacks of infantry against cities and suffer huge losses in the process.
In the above photo, most of the Muscles Battlegroup waits outside Barcelona for 2 reasons: (1) They are enjoying watching the Turks bleeding themselves against the Spanish defenders and Muscles will have an easier time smashing the already hurt defenders once the Turks are repulsed, and (2) thanks to no support from the homeland, the British are suffering from an acute shortage of troops to garrison captured cities with and were not helped by the loss of 2 redcoat units during recent fighting, hence, the Duke's famed Muscles Army is holding the city to the west of Barcelona until units are relieved from duty down south to take over the security position. Captured cities are having buildings rush built in them and then are being systematically transferred to Portugal to free up the redcoats guarding them.
Note how the Turks and British are intermingled. Although no gunfire has ever been traded in anger, elite British sharpshooters add frustration to the Turkish recruits by shooting the fez caps off their heads for fun while waiting to attack. This happened so much that the Turks got into the habit of removing their caps when passing by British infantry units. The witty Muscles troops responded by removing their own bearskin hats and bowing deeply in sarcastic displays of respect. It is also rumored that King George III was inundated with letters from Muscles soldiers begging him to declare war on Turkey so they could fire on the Turks for real. King George came dangerously close to granting their requests and he praised the soldiers for their fierce warrior spirits.
The Swedes are kept happily supplied all the while, in preparation for the Russian war in the future.
Swedish rifle regiments hold the fort while the British have a look around.
Instead of supplying the Muscles campaign with badly needed infantry to garrison cities with, the British political pears send shipments of troops to Sweden to prepare a defense there against the Russians. Unscratchedfoot commented that if they are going to send military units to Sweden that they should send enough to enable an assault force to break through Finland and into the heart of Mother Russia. Instead, the pears are still sending half its new recruits to the Netherlands fortifications. A typical weak comprimise and half-hearted effort which will produce half-hearted results.
Just west of Denmark a strong British naval group is in place to force the Danish straights and clear them of the Russian frigates which are there permanently blocking the waterways.
Vultures circle the cities, anticipating a hey baby feast once the mutual slaughter between Britain and Russia begins.
While the campaign in Spain continues, the above photo shows the build-up in the Netherlands defences. Based on Hannibal tactical theory, the forts are each heavily garrisoned with cavalry, troops and cannon with weakly held gaps between them. The idea is that the Russians will either be cut down trying to breach the forts or they will move into the gaps to be slaughtered by combined arms flank attacks from the forts. Readers may note both the unique Dutch infantry dug-in at Amsterdam as well as the dotted borders which are far less imposing than the solid previous borders.
The biggest worry is the nearness of Brussels to Boulogne will make defending a nightmare just like it was during the 2nd Spanish War. Unscratchedfoot drew up a post-3rd Spanish War battle plan which will move the potent Muscles From Brussels Battlegroup, the cream of the British armed forces, into the wheat fields between Brussels and Boulogne. Once war is opened, the Duke of Wellington will get his childhood dream of 'eating' Brussels up and becoming yet stronger. Once Muscles is entrenched in Brussels, the Russian hordes will shatter themselves against the phenominal power of that battlegroup and be bled white in a horrific meatgrinder battle. At the same time, the northern front in Sweden will try to break through Finland and into Russia, driving towards Moscow. Unscratchedfoot, however, expressed doubts that the recruits in Sweden would make it out of Sweden and will likely be pinned down by massive Russian counterattacks after taking only 2 of Ivan's cities.
The last stand of the Spanish. Vultures around Valencia pick at the many Turkish and Spanish carcasses left rotting on the battlefields around the city.
Supported by Portugese forces, Muscles From Brussels makes the killing blow and the Spanish become extinct. The British decisively beat the Turks to the Spanish prizes, leaving them only a couple of small Spanish cities in the north including Corunna which was once so bitterly defended by the British from the Spanish so long ago. Note the path of British conquests was performed in a sweep north from Madrid then east and finally south in order to control the number of Turkish forces in the area. This allowed through just enough Turks to weaken the Spanish so the British could easily step in and take the cities after the Turks were left broken and bleeding on the fields outside the cities.
Muscles achieved perfect timing to generate maximum Turkish and Spanish casualties while minimizing the redcoats' own losses to almost nill. A total of 2 light brigade and 4 redcoat units was the British bill in the entire Spanish campaign, a gaspingly a light price to pay for so many fine cities. Between 70 and 80 Spanish units were destroyed by the British, plus countless more by the Turks, Portugese, Dutch, Russian and Naples forces flooding Spanish territory. The best prize was Madrid which boasts quite possibly the best production of any city in Europe.
Russia reacts to the British spies capturing about 30 workers trying to build roads just east of the Netherlands for moving military units during battle. Also, 2 more Russian jaegar infantry units are killed by spies. Russia followed up this unpleasant meeting with a threat, and with its forces still deep in Spain, Britain was forced to pay up 68 gold pieces to appease the furious Russian bear. This humility was the deepest the British royalty has ever experienced during its reign. Due compensation must be exacted.
A military academy has been constructed in Nottingham and is now producing a 3rd army which will be loaded and sent to Sweden to join the northern army forming up for an assault on Russian-held Finland. Also a general staff school will be built so that the Muscles armies can be expanded and also special agents will start to be trained.
The Ottomons show some interest in a mutual protection pact, though at quite a high price in gold. The quote from the Turks at top is interesting because his metaphor would quite likely become a reality should we sign. Note the minimap in the bottom left showing the powered up Portugal is now about equal to the British isles in cities, or wlll be once the last Spanish city is handed over to them.
Although the contract was rejected for the moment, oddly enough the King, a diligent hater of Turks, expressed keen interest in the alliance, especially considering the extreme danger that Russia may well pay off the Turks to join it in a war against Britain. The King is excited by the thought of so many Turks and Russians gunning each other down by the hundreds. Unscratchedfoot, however, rejected the alliance based on the logic that Britain together with Sweden, Netherlands, Naples and Portugal now had enough combined power to take on Russia in a meatgrinder war, though Russia still enjoys a decisive numbers advantage. But numbers are not everything... muscles count too.
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So what do you readers think? Does Britain need to ally with 'the devil' to defeat Russia or can it preserve its honor and take on the bear without the Turks? Supreme Commander Unscratchedfoot strongly prefers no alliance while the King and the pears in London are very eager to get it signed.
What if the Turks join up with the Russians against Britain?
That would mean all the yellow and green on the map would be fighting the rest of the countries (the little guys, the good guys!) outnumbering us by up to 4 to 1 in military forces! Would the staggeringly powerful Muscles Battlegroup be enough to stop them or will those fearless black smoke avengers go down in a hero's end?Please give your opinion. The fate of the British empire depends on a wise decision being made here. And any other insight on the strategical deployments would be appreciated as well.
. Atleast Britain will go down in glorious flames, should things go awry!
In the end, we got a bit "carried away", so we ended up losing some lands (which have not been returned to us) after marching deep into Russian territory - this of course involved allying with Germans to some extent; one of the not too popular events in our history...
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