Be honest...

[mightyreds]

More Please!!!!!!



Subject says it all really. All of your stories are top notch, Grundel. You may not think all of them are great, but believe me, you certainly have a talent for storytelling. Every one has been very compelling.

Keep up the great work!!!

[Plan Austral]

I want more!!

[Grundel]

The finale

++ Field of Blood ++

Across each other stood the armies of Persia and Germany. The sun was at its highest point, and a gentle breeze blew. What would have been a beautiful, early spring day was about to be stained the blood of a thousand men.

Gunther relied more on instincts and aggressiveness than tactics. Quite often, as he learned throughout his career, a well timed charge could overcome any strategic advantage the enemy had. That, and the seemingly fearless nature of his men.

Darin stood along side his country men, scimitar in hand. His wounds had little time to heal. However, he did not feel pain now. He was no longer alone, hiding and creeping through back alleys. He stood proud, and in the face of those that would destroy him and his culture. He did not fear the coming battle.

Little was said before the battle began.

The Persians had to rely on formations and tactics. Spearmen marched ahead in a line that spanned the entire battlefield, two deep in men. On each flank marched the Immortals, ready to engage after the initial charge of the enemy. In the rear lay the catapult batteries, which had already begun to hurl their flaming pitch.

The Germans, on the other hand, began their charge. The army of horsemen was quite massive, and outnumbered the Persian attackers 3:2. In reserves they kept a division of archers, which began to fire their deadly volley into the advancing horde of spearmen.

There were many casualties on both sides before anyone ever engaged another man, one on one. Persians began to fall, wounded or killed by arrow strikes. Germans were set afire, and archer formations scattered as the pitch hit with its explosive fury.

The sides met, and blood was spilled.

The wall of German horsemen slammed into the spearmen like an angry wave battering a stone beach. However, unlike the stone beach, the spearmen were decimated. Whether or not the Germans took many casualties was masked by their relentless charge. The immortals converged upon the horsemen.

Although fighting bravely, the Immortals were little match for speed and ferocity of the Germans. The battle was obviously leaning in favor of the Germans. Persians stood their ground, and took two, sometimes three enemies with them to their own deaths, but the fact remained, they were dying, and there were more Germans than Persians.

There were, however, more Japanese than Germans.

They never saw them coming.

Flanked from the rear, the archers, having expended there volley and at a safe distance, watched the battle from afar. The blood curling screams of the samurai as the tore into the German ranks startled them. If they were not cleaved, they ran.

Having dispersed the archers, 5 full armies of Japanese swordsmen and elite samurai entered the fray from the rear. The German horsemen began to disperse, and were fleeing the field. However, there was nowhere to flee to. Scattered, the small group of horsemen were no match for the combined forces. The Germans were defeated.

The German survivors were shown more mercy than they had gave their fellow countrymen.

Grievously wounded, Gunther looked down at his amputated arm, still holding his branded sword, and still twitching. He felt his life slowly slipping away. He dropped to his knees, like he did so many years ago, and yelled. There were no shamans around this time. He looked to one who bested him. A worthy adversary. Gunther died that day, on the blood soaked plains of Tyre. He died a happy man, and took his place in the halls of the honored ones, as was the tradition of his people.

Darin matched the gaze of the fallen German soldier. He seemed almost…happy?! “They are ruthless, and evil people,” Darin thought. A scream from the dying soldier startled him. He turned to face this man, this man he had thought he had already bested. However, he realized that with one arm, this man was no threat. As he thought that, the man collapsed, dead.

Darin spit on Gunther.

++ Epilogue ++

The wise men say that for every good thing that happens, it must be matched by something bad.

The blood that was spilled in and around the great city of Tyre was unmatched to this day. Bodies were scattered in all corners, and the streets stained with blood. Women and children had been crucified, and used for target practice. The rotting order of decay stained the air.

The Germans were defeated almost 30 years later. Hordes of Immortals overwhelmed the armies of Bismarck. The Persians fought with valor that was unmatched by any people in history. Their bravery renowned, and the victories numerous. All because of the horrors of Tyre. Every able Persian took a sword and went to fight the great German Evil. The Japanese and Zulu years later joined in this great crusade, drawn in by the might and righteousness of the Persian cause, and also in recognition that they also shared a border with a monster.

The empire of Persia today spans the entire southern part of the continent, its greatness attributed to these victories. No other army would ever challenge the Persians again for centuries.

Ironically, the fall of the German empire rested on the shoulders of Gunther. Not for his defeat at Tyre, but for his Victory there.

For every evil deed, good shall spring forth from it.

The end.

[Grundel]

I had some screen prints for this, but i still can't get them uploaded. I upload to my ftp sight, and then they disapear.

MY offer still stands...

[Speaker]

Grundel,

I have to let you know that your stories were the inspiration for writing mine. My first attempt is titled "A History Lesson." Let me know what you think. If you send me your screenshots, I would post them for you. You could contact me by email or im and send them over. Keep writing and I'll keep reading and probably take another turn at writing myself.

Later,
Seideberg

[Chronus]

WOW!

Good story, Grundel. I'm glad to read stories about defeats as well as victories.

I do have two questions:

1) Your defeat was rather sudden . . . I was rather accustomed to you winning. Did you misjudge something somewhere or were you simply tired of the game and wanted to get it over with?

2) What level were you playing at?

Thanks for the story!

[Grundel]

Chronus...


I was actually the Persians


This was my third game that I ever completed...cheiftan level, large world, 10 civs...

I was the Persians. I have some screen prints from this game, but if you read my prior posts, you will know that I am having problems posting them

The events that lead to this story were as follows.

I had a right of passage with Germany. When a couple of horsemen units started wandering around my empire, i paid them no mind, until they attacked Tyre! In the actual game, Tyre damn near fell, but didn't. I then bought down some immortals from a nearby city, and wiped them out. I brought Japan and Zululand into the war with me, and we wiped out Bismarck a few turns later.

When I write, i try to take a small portion of the game I just played, and elaborate upon it. In this case, the horsemen units that attacked Tyre.

Instead of writing about the more strategic perspective...I defended Tyre, I attacked Hamburg, I got the Japanese to attack leipzig, the Zulu jumped in and attacke Konigsburg, and all three of us race to gobble up german cities...I took the exploits of a small soldier in the Persian army...Darin, and his run in with the ruthless leader of the Horsemen ....Gunther. In my minds eye, I imagined how Bismarck would send his most ruthless General against what would be pretty overwhelming odds...if you saw the screen print, Persia was 3 times the size of germany. I elaborated a bit to try and make Gunther sound as evil as possible for simple story telling purposes.

If you read the Mercury Device, that was about a 2-3 turn section of an earlier game where I attacked a close by city so i could get some coal.

Thanks to Velocyrix's strategies, I have promoted myself to Warlord and am enjoying a pretty cool game as the French. I hope that the events during this game...my victories and defeats...will make for some good stories.

[marcuspeddle]

Originally posted by Grundel
This one isn't ready yet I was thinking about posting something different for the next contest anyway...

Btw, Anatolia, when is the submission deadline?

Each week's contest runs from Sunday Midnight GMT to the same time a week later. So, I suppose, the deadline is midnight Sunday but if you miss it it just means you'll be included in the next week's contest. Everything sent to me by e-mail will be sent to the other judges to be scored.

[Chronus]

I was actually the Persians

DOH!

Where's the "embarrassed" smiley face?

Actually, I did consider the possibility that you were the Persians but you had more detail in describing Gunther so I made an assumption.

Good story, anyway.

[Padma]

Grundel: Outstanding! As I alluded to in a post to an earlier story, you have the makings of a fantastic storyteller! (Makings? make that "You ARE...."

Ike: I am not normally a rabid grammar nazi. The post you refer to I was trying to make CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. That particular story was excellent, and just needed a small (very small) boost to be outstanding.

There was nothing in this story to break the thread. It was simply good all the way through. (BTW, never, ever use a computerized grammar checker! They are totally lobotomized.)

[ike0481]

Originally posted by Padma

Ike: I am not normally a rabid grammar nazi. The post you refer to I was trying to make CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. That particular story was excellent, and just needed a small (very small) boost to be outstanding.

I know. Normally I wouldn't say those things but I just thought it would be too funny.

[Padma]

No hard feelings, Ike. I like your writings too.

(Just read U.F.O. -- WOW!)