Pong 3: Turns 197 - 204 (The Fall) of Russia

This post is a few months overdue because life got in the way, as it tends to do. I'm very proud to announce that there's a new member of our family, as our adoption has finally gone through! I've been changing diapers and making bottles for the past few months, which has seriously cut into my videogame time :)

Come with me, and watch the fall of Russia!

We pick up where we left off. My capital has fallen to the Norsemen and their superior navy, many our cultural relics have been looted, and I'm doing everything I can to salvage what remains of the Russian Empire.

I'm hoping that I can turn the tide a bit, or at least slow things down and make it desirable for Nate to work out some sort of peace treaty.

Sonya continues to stir up rebels in Viking territory. 

I was hoping they'd be more effective, pillaging and knocking out trade routes. They got some pillaging in and may have affected the happiness of the nearby city, but have otherwise been little more than a nuisance.

Moscow falls.

My remaining troops are nearby, giving me a faint glimmer of hope. Still, trading my cities back and forth isn't a winning proposition.

There's that "encampments can fire on the same turn they're taken" rule again.

That one was just really poorly placed. In general, this was a major failing of mine this game: building too few encampments, and placing them poorly. Having some on the coasts might have been better, though the three-range battleships would still be able to blow them to bits from safety.

Ow.

The Zanzibarbarians don't have very advanced troops, but are annoying enough.

Sure. Why not? Russia is a friend to all!

Using everything I have, I am unable to take back Moscow the turn after it's captured.

The writing is on the wall.

That's a lot of Battleships! :(

Friends and Enemies abound. 

Nubia is going to War with China? I don't see much of a point for Nubia, assuming they're going for a Science victory. I guess they have a huge army and need something to do?

War weariness and luxury loss have taken their toll without me noticing.

The people of our greatest city rebel against the Party. It is truly a sad day.

Nubia begins moving on China.

The partisans / guerrillas Sofiya recruited have only briefly annoyed the Norsemen, and now it seems as though they've mobilized a defense force large enough to beat back anything else I could conjure up.

The range on Battleships continues to amaze me. There's just so much land that I can't use to defend myself, and no way to fire back at the navy as they shell my cities.

The World at Turn 201

The end continues. My army is all but destroyed.

This heroic charge will be remembered forever! 

Or at least until the Norsemen seize and destroy all of our records and cultural artifacts.

...

My friendship with Nubia expires, and they decline to re-up.

Battleships have been shelling for several turns, and tanks are fast enough to waltz right into to Smolensk. 

The Russian empire has been destroyed. The government in exile flees east.

Victory goes to Nate and his Norsemen.

At this point we call the session, because I have to talk to my wife about flying to Pennsylvania to adopt our new baby girl :) 

Over the next few weeks Nate and I talk about how we should continue the game, and the most likely plan was for me to take over Nubia and see if I could take them to a Science victory before Nate nuked the crap out of them. However, newborns being newborns, I was too busy to ever make good on that. The game sat unplayed for months.

We're planning to start up again after the expansion comes out in mid February, with a few more people in the mix! Stay tuned!