Part of the campaign:

Welcome back to Groundhog Day, and once again, I apologize for the delay—I've got so many writing projects going on that sometimes this one slips through the cracks.



Anyway, going into round 8, Australia leads with 2 points while several other civs have 1. Possibly for the first time ever, there hasn't yet been a tie. Now, to bring you through this round, I'll hand it over to guest narrator Miles5280s.

Miles here, let's get going!



2nd cities roll out, and... I find Punjab's choice to be questionable. Ranjit Singh's probably shot himself in the foot with that one.

Then again, I'm not sure the Nuraghians' city placement is much better... and North Kyushu has taken notice and declared war.

As Losa takes heavy damage, Namibia decides to get in on the action.

Canada's already built 4 cities, which Mexico won't stand for. Diaz attacks! Meanwhile, the Philippines attack Bulgaria in the background.

Kiyomasa takes Losa and promptly razes it.

Mexico takes Toronto, cutting off Vancouver in the process.

Namibia quickly takes Su Nuraxi, wiping out the Nuraghians in 21st place before they could even get off the ground. What a quick elimination!

Australia attacks Kongo, seemingly forcing Nzinga to drop her almost-complete attack on Zinchecra.

Before the defenses are fully rebuilt, Bulgaria tries to snipe it!

And succeeds! Although Australia taking M'Banza-Kongo is definitely more important...

The undefended Vancouver looks like a tasty target, so Wuyue tries to beat Mexico to taking it!

A few turns later, it falls effortlessly.

Wuyue tries to keep its momentum going by moving on and attacking Mexico directly!

This, however, backfires and ends up with a peace deal leaving Vancouver in Mexican hands.

Rome sacks Lahore, and Punjab has no way to get back to its capital.

Aguinaldo's not exactly thrilled with the Comanche squeezing Kwaaru Nuu onto the map, and set out to take it.

Canada, attempting to re-establish itself, decides to try its chances against Rif.

Unsurprisingly, Kwaaru Nuu is swiftly taken.

A coalition attacks Bulgaria. This could be a Kosovo UA situation, but then again I could also see the other members wanting to attack anyway.

Kongo finally gets Zinchecra! ...way too late for it to of much use to Kongo's long-term chances, however.

Rif gives up Annual to Canada in the peace deal, despite it being in little immediate danger.

Turn 100 stats show recurring power Australia leading the way militarily...

...and in food...

...and in production. Will Hughes remain dominant?

Well, attempting to finish off Kongo would be a step in that direction. Nzinga lost Zinchecra back to Bulgaria, too, so she's on her last city.

5 turns later, and Kongo's eliminated in a familiarly-low 20th place.

Australia, still being at war with Bulgaria, rolls right on through to Zinchecra.

Rome attacks the beleaguered Garamantes as a way into the west of the continent.

The overflowing Filipino army adds to Bulgaria's woes.

Kosovo attacks Punjab... except that they had an active DoF at the time, so the UA activated... so Punjab appears to have declared war on itself! I don't think this does anything in practice except look ridiculous.



Oh, and North Kyushu is dragged along. Well, Ranjit Singh is screwed regardless.

Aguinaldo snags Levski's capital and shows no signs of slowing down.

7 turns later, and the Philippines take Plovdiv and eliminate Bulgaria in 19th place.

Only a few turns later, and Aguinaldo's already moved on to a new war with the Comanche.

Before he can get far, however, Lincoln and Hughes tag-team him from both sides!

Kosovo finally gets into Gujranwala, eliminating Punjab in 18th place.

Quanah Parker takes Plovdiv, and Aguinaldo decides to cut his losses and make peace at that.

Nevertheless, Australia pushes into Cavite El Viejo!

Canute attacks Kosovo, but this means he'll have to deal with Rugova's buddy Kiyomasa, too.

Australia's unrelenting charge continues into Sofia!

Cyrus joins the fray by also dogpiling against Aguinaldo.

Canute gives away Ribe to Kosovo in exchange for peace, cutting Lundenburh off...

Kosovo and company declare war on Namibia, and Morenga faces invasions on several fronts.

Canute reduces himself to city-state status by giving away Lundenburh to North Kyushu who had zero way of getting to it... Galaxy brain play, dude.

The Philippines are reduced to their capital as well, since Cyrus has taken Kwaaru Nuu.

Despite being outnumbered, Namibia takes Gujranwala from Kosovo!

As Cyrus is finishing off Malolos, Quanah Parker tries to snipe it!

But the Achaemenid forces finish the job first, eliminating the Philippines in 17th place.

Turn 200 stats are here...

...and as before...

...Australia sweeps a lead in all categories.

Kosovo retakes Gujranwala and makes peace with Namibia.

This is no Kosovo-forced coalition, but 4 civs dogpile on North Kyushu! However, Namibia is probably the only relevant one.

Cyrus, riding high on his victory against the Philippines, tries to take out the Zunbils next!

Only a few turns later and Jaguda has fallen.

Nearby powers, however, don't want Cyrus to get too powerful, so Lincoln and Hughes team up to take him down a notch.

Australia's win streak keeps up as they add Malolos to their capital collection.

Namibia and company's coalition has floundered and Namibia has to surrender Su Nuraxi to Kiyomasa for peace.

The Zunbil capital flips!

The next flip looks a bit more decisive as the sun-worshippers are exiled to the snowy wastes.

Aussie forces roll down the coast into Kwaaru Nuu!

Mexico has a nearly full carpet as it attacks Canada once again!

The Anglo-Norse and North Kyushu team up against Kosovo, with Rugova dragging Morenga in on his side.



Cloudberg's note: that doesn't appear to be the case, as Kosovo and Namibia are also at war.

Wuyue aims for revenge against Mexico... or at least, for Vancouver again.

Lincoln takes Susa, and the Achaemenid army looks badly depleted.

Kosovo takes Lundenburh off of North Kyushu, who couldn't reinforce it.

Cyrus gives up Jaguda to Australia in the peace deal, but Hughes burns it rather than try to defend it.

Lincoln tries his hand at a naval invasion of North Kyushu, his island-colonizing rival.

Canada gets Toronto back from Mexico in exchange for peace.

Mexico and North Kyushu try to sandwich Namibia!

...but with Australia attacking Mexico's coast, Diaz is likely to have his hands full.

The American navy razes Saiki, and Yanagawa is next on the chopping block. Kiyomasa's ships are outdated by comparison to Lincoln's.

Other powers join in, although the relevance of that remains to be seen.

Kosovo surrenders Prizreni to Rome, diminishing Rugova's standing.

That same turn, Kiyomasa takes Gujranwala, reducing Kosovo further.

Of course, Australia had just joined the anti-North Kyushu coalition, so Hughes takes it for himself...

The Aussie navy also picks up Vancouver, while dealing heavy damage to Mexico City!

3 turns later, it falls, and Mexico is on its last legs.

The American navy takes Yanagawa and Yatsushiro, razing the latter.

Rugova drags his new best friend, Theagenes, into attacking Canute.

Not content with that, Rugova convinces Canada to attack Namibia, too.

America makes landfall in the North Kyushu core, taking Kumamoto! Also, Yatsushiro seems to have flipped and has been kept instead of razed.

Kactchanas is the price of peace between Namibia and North Kyushu.

That means that when Windhoek falls to Canada on the next turn, Namibia is eliminated in 16th place.

King wastes no time in taking the opportunity to try and humiliate Canada's old rival, Mexico.

...but Diaz strikes first, taking Windhoek!

It's in vain, though, as Guadalajara is captured...

...and Windhoek is retaken as well, eliminating Mexico in 15th place.

King pushes onwards to attacking North Kyushu next!

Australia and Rome team up to finish off the Garamantian rump state.

Cyrus belatedly takes Zabol, eliminating the Zunbils in 14th place.

Rome snags Garama, eliminating the Garamantes in 13th place.

Hughes aims for another overseas invasion of North Kyushu...

...while also bringing Rome with him in attacking Kosovo (feat. Megara).

America and the Anglo-Norse join in against Rugova (also feat. Megara).

Australia adds Su Nuraxi to its scoreboard of capitals!

Meanwhile, Canadian troops roll into Kactchanas, reducing North Kyushu to a city-state.

Rome takes Lundenburh, although Kosovo has dealt heavy damage to Roskilde.

Canute, however, turns the tides and finally gets Ribe back!

Kosovo has fully crumbled as 3 armies converge on Prishtine.

But it goes the the Anglo-Norse, who finally get their revenge on Kosovo by eliminating them in 12th place.

The Comanche and Anglo-Norse attack Megara! Will Theagenes keep up on persisting?

Nah, he'll just give away 3/4 of his cities to Australia to block Quanah Parker from taking them. Can't have your cities captured if you give them away! (taps head)

Hughes backstabs his buddy Julius, and has Garama surrounded already.

It only takes 3 turns for the Aussie forces to overwhelm Garama.

Are you surprised by the turn 400 stats?

Because, like...

...by this point, you shouldn't be.

Megara falls to the Union navy, eliminating Megara in 11th place.

Canute wants Lundenburh back, and takes the fight to Rome!

Canada seeks to, semi-belatedly, finish off Rif.

Australia rolls into Rome as Julius's empire crumbles!

Hughes takes Antium and Prizreni as the price of Roman surrender.

Canadian troops crunch Ajdir from all sides, eliminating Rif in 10th place.

Canute finally gets Lundenburh back after all these years.

Lincoln's out to finish off Kiyomasa for good this time, with Canute's support.

It takes 20 turns, but Shimabara is captured, eliminating North Kyushu in 9th place.

Canada contributes more hammers to the World's Fair than Australia!

On the other hand...

...Australia continues to dominate the stats...

...in pretty much every way.

After slicing through Achaemenid territory with citadels, America attacks!

...and yet, somehow, it's the Comanche navy that takes Zamindawar.

America takes Pasargadae, kicking Cyrus out to the south.

Canute takes Lahore! The Anglo-Norse aren't in a position to win the game, but they've made a nice comeback all the same.

America and Canada go to war! Calgary isn't in a fun position...

The Canadian pirates are decimated as Calary falls.

Still Australia.

And more Australia.

And yet more Australia.

Speaking of Australian production, Hughes wins the International Games by... (checks notes) 6000+ hammers. Yeesh.

Oh, and the ISS by... (squints) 8000+ hammers. Overkill much?

The America-Canada war has turned into a drawn-out meatgrinder, but Kactchanas has now fallen!

It flips, but so does Ajdir!

Turn 700 brings a major turnabout: America has surpassed Australia in military strength! And this is despite actively losing troops against Canada.

Australia maintains its tech lead, however.

In production, Australia's lead is nearly gone. Will Lincoln stop the Aussie juggernaut?

Shortly afterwards, Lincoln strikes as far as Montreal!

Windhoek falls as Canadian resistance fractures.

Finally, King surrenders all but 3 cities to America!

Turn 800 stats show a huge increase in America's military...

A tie at the end of the tech tree...

And last but certainly not least, Australia finally knocked out of the #1 production spot!

World war is declared. Who will come out victorious?

Another shot of the pre-war state of things.

Several cities are nuked as Australia surrounds Lahore. Cumae is taken, eliminating Rome in 8th place.

The Comanche are driven to the coast, unable to hold the line as Plovdiv is captured.

Lahore falls as Canute attempts to survive.

Union XCOMs lead the way, taking 4 Aussie cities this turn including multiple original capitals.

Lincoln finishing off his home peninsula includes taking Zabol, belatedly eliminating the Achaemenids in 7th place.

America snags Ottawa as what remains of Canada collapses.

Lincoln also picks up Kuhtsutuuka.

The following turn, Hupenuu is taken as well, eliminating the Comanche in 6th place.

Look at all those damage numbers! Australia's reduced Wuyue to its capital.

America takes Roskilde, Canute's capital, while Australia has retaken Lahore.

Ottawa has flipped back to America as Canada is left with just Annual.

Australia forces its way through to the Comanche coastlands!

Xifu falls, eliminating Wuyue in 5th place.

Lincoln takes Ribe and keeps Prishtine in contention.

Annual is captured as well, eliminating Canada in 4th place.

A major Australian push takes Mexico City, Toronto, and Guadalajara!

The American homelands are wrecked by repeated nukes as Australia takes the peninsula's eastern coast.

Lundenburh is taken by Australia, eliminating the Anglo-Norse in 3rd place.

As the last 2 powers face off, Lincoln loses ground in the southeast.

Susa and New York fall! This looks like things have been decided.

American troops seem to be running out of steam.

Washington falls!

As does Ajdir...

And by taking Roskilde, Australia wins yet again! A dominant performance by Hughes that survived even Lincoln's impressive lategame development.



Cloudberg, back to you.

Thanks Miles for the narration! Anyway, as much as we might have been rooting for Lincoln to overcome the odds and even the score, he has failed to do so. That puts Australia at 3 points while Wuyue, the Achaemenids, the Zunbils, the United States, and the Garamantes all have 1. This puts is at a moment of reckoning: unless one of the civs on 1 point can win round 9, it will be mathematically impossible for anyone except Australia to take the title. That means that round 9 will be a SUDDEN DEATH round. The round, and Mk. 11 itself, will immediately end when all of the aforementioned civs are eliminated, because at that point it will not be possible for Australia to be dethroned. If one of those civs wins, we will continue on to round 10 to see if they can tie it up. Thank you for reading, and I'll be back with more soon this time, I hope!