[SPOILERS] Woden gets swept away by the Gathering Storm in PBEM15

[Woden]

Turn 64
Start turn off with...



Now I can build a ram at Bomb Cyclone once the Archer finishes next turn. Archer finishes at Polar Vortex and I start an Immortal. My builder that quarried the stone moves to a forest and chops...



Immortal will finish next turn. Builder will move back to Bomb Cyclone to jungle chop into the ram. I move Magnus to Bomb Cyclone and Liang to Derecho. I don't think Magnus will be established in Bomb Cyclone by the time I chop. I will have to work it out to see. 

As expected, my scout dies. I move my Immortals up to Jester's 2nd city and spots a builder behind the city and I am pretty sure he is going to chop out walls. I am starting to think I jumped the gun a little bit. Should have waited a few turn for the road to establish and have a ram built. Still think the attack is do-able but may need to wait until some horses are out and I lose my extra movement. 

Turn 65
Here is how it looks at the beginning of the turn...



His builder has moved of the mine north of the city center and will probably chop out the walls this turn. He moved his sword out of the encampment, which means its strength is only 28. I think I have enough to destroy it... 



I shoot it with one Immortal and melee it with two. He will probably just repair it but at least it might take him a few turns. My immortal should be safe even if he finishes walls unless he attacks out of the city with the sword..but then I kill his sword.

Immortal finishes at Polar Vortex and I continue the Government Plaza. It will finish when horseback Riding does and I need the iron to upgrade my last Warrior. 


Turn 66
Start turn with...



I switch out Agoge for Maneuver, as I plan to build Horsemen once the tech is finished. Up at Edirne...



He did chop out walls and attack out of the city with the sword to kill my Immortal. I move the Archer up to the jungle hill and attack, then I move the injured Immortal across the river and shoot. Finally, I move the full strength ones east, one on the jungle hill north of the mountain and one on a marsh. Both shot and kill the sword. Unless Jester moves the Archer up to the encampment, the only unit he should have vision on is the Immortal next to the Encampment and he should survive if the Archer moves up...but then the Archer dies! 

Antananarivo's warriors are moving up to help out. Not sure if this is a good thing. They might help kill some units or just get in the way and give Jester free experience. Then again, if he is killing them, he is not attacking me. Ram will finish in 3 turns, regardless if I wait for Magnus or not.

[Woden]

Turn 67
Open the save to find out Jester has fixed his encampment. He must have used the overflow from the chop. Here is how it looked at the beginning of the turn...



He didn't move the archer down to the encampment and he only shot my Immortal next to his encampment. To start the turn, I chop the jungle at Bomb Cyclone and now the ram finishes in 2 turns, same time that Magnus establishes. I probably wasted a little overflow by not waiting but I am going to mine the plains hill next turn and put the science/culture governor into Bomb Cyclone for the bonus science. 

Up at the war front, I notice Jester's encampment is still pretty unhealthy. In fact, I think I can kill it again. I shift my units counter clockwise around the encampment and kill it...



The Immortal in there will take a few shots but unless he has another archer in the fog, he should survive. My next goal should be to move between his cities while I wait for the ram. Cut Edirne off from reinforcements from the capital. Right now, I have 5 Immortals and 2 Archers. Next turn, Polar Vortex will start a Horseman and Bomb Cyclone will start one after the ram completes. Even through I jumped the gun a little on declaring, I am still optimistic in this war. I just need to make sure I can take him out before he gets to Machinery, which should be his tech target.  

Checking to see how close I am to a General, I see...



Jester is running the +2 gpp card for a General, probably hoping to beat me to it. I have 15 turns until he reaches me in General points. I will have to see where the war is when I can change policies or maybe I run a project. All I know is

[Woden]

Sorry for the delay in my reports, very busy in RL. But since I don't think Jester has reported much, at least you aren't that spoiled on how the war is going.

Turn 68
Start turn off with...



Prefect timing as the Government Plaza finishes at Polar Vortex and I can start a horseman (due in 4 turns). I put Pingala into Bomb Cyclone with the Title and move Magnus back to Polar Vortex. He will eventually move to Edirne when I capture it to make sure I keep it loyal. 

Up at the front, I shift my units around Edirne...



I need to be very careful, 2 archers and city walls can take out an Immortal. I stay far enough away that city walls can't attack and lose enough to take out any archers that try to shoot my units. I will continue to shift units north and try to block more of his units coming from his capital. 


Turn 69
Here is what it looked like at the beginning of my turn...



No different than the end of last turn and no attacks from Jester. Of coarse, the only unit he should be able to see is the Immortal next to the pillaged Encampment. Let's keep it that way. I shift units around to the north and make sure to have an Immortal next to the Encampment to make him think I am holding fast...



My northern most Immortal spots a sword out in the open, most likely traveling from the capital. I am pretty sure Jester can't see my Immortal because the sword is on a flat grassland and his vision is blocked by the jungle. And he can't see my other Immortal and archer that is clocked by the grassland hill. 

The ram finishes at Bomb Cyclone and moves up. The city starts a horseman. I will start moving up in a few turns when the ram gets closer. Not excited about the sword but what can you do, he will make it into the city. 


Turn 70
Open the save to find that Jester has left his sword out in the open...



I debate for awhile if I want to strike the sword down or roll the dice and see if he is still there next turn when I originally want to move up and clear out any units around the city before my ram comes into play. I eventually decide to roll the dice and hold my units where they were. And I am not 100% sure I have enough shots to kill him. If I need a melee attack, I will lose an Immortal for sure. Better to limit causalities and the number of shots he can take with his archer(s) and city walls. 


Turn 71
Open the save and move my ram up...



Time for the sword to die. I start with moving my archers up and shooting, followed by the Immortals. It takes both archers and all 4 Immortals shooting at him to kill him...but I take no damage...



Clear out that archer and start chipping away at the walls next turn  


Turn 72
Start with...



And...



First horseman finishes at Polar Vortex. I send him towards the front. At the front... 



He killed an archer...good, better than an Immortal. Now I think I can take down his walls this turn. I start by shooting the archer with my archer and melee with my northern most Immortal, killing him. Next, I move the ram up and strike the city with the four remaining Immortals, blasting down the walls... 



This is my last turn of extra movement but next turn I kill the city.


Turn 73
Or not...



He got out an archer and redlined one of my Immortals. At least he didn't kill him and he has a promotion. I think I have enough to take the city but would leave the archer to kill my very injured Immortal. I decide to kill the archer, promote my injured Immortals with promotions, and shot the city with the remaining units...



City will fall next turn.

[MJW (ya that one)]

How helpful was the +2 move?

[Woden]

How helpful was the +2 move?

It has been fairly helpful. I was able to kill that last sword because I could move onto a jungle hill and still shoot. I think it would have been exponentially more helpful if I waited a few turns until I had a road on the jungle hill between the 2 mountains and a bridge across the river. Then I would have been able to cruise across the river and attack quickly with most of my units. Might have taken Edirne before he chopped walls up, or at least captured the builder before he could have chopped.  As it happened, I wasted much of the extra movement trying to get out of Bomb Cyclone. After the game, I might go back and replay these turns and wait to declare to see how fast I could have rolled over him with a blitzkrieg maneuver.

[Woden]

Turn 74
It took forever for the save to get back to me...well close to 48 hours but still felt like forever. But that is usually the case when your next turn is exciting. Anyways, start off with...



I can finally improve the spice at Bomb Cyclone. A builder is in route and should have it hooked up in a couple of turns. I start Engineering and switch Bomb Cyclone to build walls. I was running an Encampment project to speed up the General but I don't think Jester will be around long enough for the General to be useful. 

Up at the war front, the turn starts looking like this...



Jester shot one of my Immortals but I still have plenty to take the city. I shoot with my most injured immortals and the archer. I have enough left to pillage a mine for some nice gold and attack with the remaining Immortal to take the city...



Finally, I take a city. Jester reassigned the 2nd ring tiles to his capital. It is size 10, so he is probably going to pump put a few archers while I move my units up. Still don't think it matters, I should be able to take the city in about 10 turns. I will need a few turns to heal my units, then I will start moving them up. I will probably pillage along the way for some gold and faith. Should be able to get enough faith to buy a settler. I do like that they changed the pillaging to faith and gold but still think the gold is a little high. I was able to get 113 from one mine. The builder that is making his way to Bomb Cyclone will make his way up to Istanbul after he improves both spices and repair everything.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

While pillaging was still OP I managed to pull a 200-turn science victory as Scythia. I literally just swept from one end of Pangaea to the other and back again every 30 turns or so, pillaging thousands of culture and science every time.

It's for the best that they changed that.

[Woden]

Turn 75
All is quite at on the war front...



I move the healthy units towards Jester's capital, promote the Immortal in the city, and heal the remaining 3 Immortals
Of my four injured Immortals, their health is 66/100, 84/100, 86/100, 45/100. The two higher health ones will be fully healed in 2 turns and the others a few turns after. I don't think healing will slow me down, since it will take a few turns to move the healthy one towards Istanbul. The first of my horsemen make it to Edirne and the second will follow next turn. A third will finish at Polar Vortex in a couple of turns. Jester's power has not risen in the past few turns and no telling what he is building. I would think he could 2-turn or 3-turn archers with what I can see. 

Back home...



With the war, I haven't shown my core lately. Derecho finished its Campus a few turns ago and started a Trader that will go to Edirne when it finishes so I can get a road laid down. Random barb archers have been trickling up from the south. Currently, there is one that has fortified within range of my own archer and I don't think it has vision on mine because he is just sitting there and not shooting back. 

Current plan is to have Polar Vortex work on the Ancestral Hall after the horseman. Bomb Cyclone and Derecho will build their Libraries. I think I will go for Stonehenge and the Pyramids once the war is over and then push expansion. I will have lots of land to fill in the near future.

[Woden]

War update. Not too many turns since my report and all I have been doing is moving units.

Turn 76
Open the save to something a little surprising...



The unit in the city is fully healed. He promoted last turn and was at 84/100 health after the promotion. I didn't think he would heal also but I am not going to complain.  I start pushing my units towards Istanbul. I am going to get everybody into position before I push on the city to prevent unnecessary attacks from the walls.I will probably lose a few units but think I have plenty to take the city an kill whatever Jester can build. 
 

Turn 77
Last horseman finishes at Polar Vortex and I start the Ancestral Hall (due in like 12 turns)...



I will push settlers once the war is over. My units move closer to position. I do pillage a mine for some gold.  


Turn 78
At the ned of turn, my units are now in position to move against Istanbul...



A few of my units are not fully healed but close enough. Next turn I will move up against the city and attack the turn after. The northern Immortal will move across the river. The north horseman will move north of Istanbul. The Immortal with the ram will move next to the city and the one south of him will over to the wheat. The horseman on the pillaged mine will move to the bananas, then west of the city where he will meet the other horseman. The remaining 2 Immortals will move up to cycle out any injured units. With any luck, the city walls will fall with a couple turns of attacks and I can take the city in about 5 or 6 turns. Jester did get out a unit as his military power is now 23 but not sure what that could be. Maybe he has barbs on his west side and attacked it with a sword or spearman. I guess it could be a catapult, they have a melee strength of 23. We will see next turn.

[Woden]

Turn 79

I notice when I open the, Jester has added a unit because his military power is now 59. Time to see what is waiting from me. I move my units up into his borders and get ready to attack next turn...



I see he has a sword and catapult and since there is nothing in the city, I suspect something is coming out this turn. Not sure I understand the catapult, they get a -17 strength penalty against land units. Archers are better. I don't think I could take the city if he had 5 archers sitting behind his city but to have a sword and catapult...should be do-able. 

Next turn, I attack. 

In other news, Derecho finishes the trader and starts a library. Trader is sent to Edirne to build a road back to Bomb Cyclone.