Wow! I'm finally back! A huge shock. Just as shocking, we return to find Latvia being eliminated by Germany! The S!sters are making a point to avoid any "I'm sorry" moments here. Latvia makes it to 18th place. Carousel's ride has ended, and the gamble of splitting has not paid of, RIP.

Meanwhile, Jonida seeks to keep Roko where he belongs- at the bottom of the rankings. The odds are not in Croatia's favor once more.

Spain and Hungary make peace, with Barcelona falling to the power of Joci Pápai, as it should. This leaves Spain rather crippled.

And on the very next turn, Ireland turns on Spain, catching Miki en La Venda (in the blindfold). Meanwhile, Joci has caught Tati fever and seeks to take down the S!sters. Uh oh, S!sters! honestly every time i mention germany's entrants i think of that drama

Cork is now Finnish! But Russian troops are marching into Tampere. Darude, this is literally what your song is about. Don't Look Away.

Madrid falls! Miki is left in recently-conquered Jekabpils. All of that budget spent for nothing, it seems.

In a saving grace, Sarah has gotten what she desired, and leaves Miki to linger on in irrelevance.

Jonida has found surprisingly little success in this war so far, but Michael Rice, the friendly neighborhood dude, decides to help out.

Joci has made himself unpopular, unfortunately, as Sarah and Conan turn on him. Things don't look good around Buda and Esztergom.

Jonida decides she's had enough of Croatia and turns to Azerbaijan. Michael is confused in the background.

Taking advantage of Sarah's distraction, Katerine goes for a quick stab at Dublin.

Barcelona falls to the Irish.

And Spain has been eliminated by Serbia, in 17th place! Jekabpils is burned just like the staging budget. This is also our first member of the Big 5 eliminated, F for Miki and "La Venda".

Portugal is the first to the city-state continent with Luanda.

Katerine's attack fails and a white peace is signed. The Finns have pushed the Russians out of Tampere.

In a surprise, Italy snipes Zagreb! Who knew Mahmood could be so devious?

Noticing France's lightly defended frontier, Tamara declares war with her Balkan buddy Nevena.

The receipt pile up on the S!sters as Darude reveals shocking DMs! I need to stop, it's been months. Anyway, the Finns have open borders through Ireland so this could be bad for Germany.

Lyon falls to North Macedonia. Things are not looking good for Bilal.

Esztergom's been scratched up, but otherwise nothing has really happened in this war and this peace. Conan, you need to be more aggressive!

Riga is now Finnish(ed), but I have doubts that Berlin or Frankfurt are in danger.

In anger and desperation, the S!sters call out Joci and try to take him down. Katerine unveils herself as a fan and joins in

In a SHOCK peace, the S!sters give Finland a Frankfurter, er I mean Frankfurt. Berlin is becoming more and more of an easy target, but at least the troops have a smaller area to defend.

Bilal finds himself attacked on all sides as Michael and the Zala/Gašper duo declare war. also i have just realized the coincidence of the two North African-descended singers being placed next to each other by a desert.

Sarah emphasizes her displeasure at the S!sters and joins in. For some reason the S!sters have launched an attack instead of you know, defending their only city.

But the Anti-S!sters Squad is not unified! The allure of Dublin has tempted Darude to strike Sarah in the back. Sarah is tired of all this backstabbing.

Sergey decides this is a fun idea, and puts his differences with Darude aside to join in. Lordi, that Russian military is impressive.

The first two ideologies are founded simultaneously: Autocracy by Finland and Order by Russia. The World War II vibes are strong.

Madrid is "liberated" by Russia!

Russia makes peace with Ireland, and with Sergey's heavyhanded negotiations, has managed to create an empire stretching from Saint Petersburg to Barcelona. Sorry for Barcelona being cut off, no idea what I was doing then. Meanwhile Dublin falls to red

Nevena lets Tamara do the dirty work, and Tamara is doing quite well.

Mahmood does it again! Croatia has been eliminated by Italy, putting Roko's Dream in 16th place.

Soon after, Finland takes Dublin, and Sarah McTernan is eliminated in 15th place! The partition of Ireland is complete. Will Darude order Operaatio Barbarossa?

Paris falls to North Macedonia, which peaces out after, and Tamara is certainly "Proud". It's too bad we'll never see Bilal's "Roi" take Nevena's "Kruuna", though, as Toulouse looks like it'll fall if Zala & Gašper make any effort all.

The Anti-S!sters Squad returns once again.

Zala and Gašper decide not to take Toulouse.. because Tamara has decided Slovenia looks like a wonderful nation to visit!

Tamara's plan does not quite work out as Mahmood takes his chance to avenge his friend Bilal.

Sidenote: Germany's island colony of Munich is now Finnish.

Paris is now Italian, and Tetovo looks like it will be soon as well!

Jonida finally! makes progress and takes Baku from Chingiz.

Tetovo falls to Italy, and Mahmood looks to be satisfied. This also means that Turin is finally connected to the rest of Italy via borders. Maybe that's Mahmood's real reason for declaring war.

In a bit of a surprise, Berlin falls to Hungary! Joci smugly states, "I'm sorry, Germany, but you get... 14th place." What will the Anti-S!sters Squad do now?

Tamara makes the wise choice of ending her war with Zala and Gašper in order to focus on recovering Tetovo and Paris.

And now Albania marches into Ganja, eliminating Chingiz and Azerbaijan in 13th place! Poor Azerbaijan didn't get the chance to do much this time around.

Angered at Joci's taking of Berlin, Darude declares war in order to take it.

Tamara isn't doing so hot, as she's just lost Lyon to Mahmood...

In a surprise twist, Lyon flips back to North Macedonia and then to the UK! I didn't think that the UK-NMacedonia war would be relevant, but it clearly was! Meanwhile, Bitola looks quite at risk to fall as well.

Conan hops into the fray on Darude's side, making the Battle for Berlin a bit of a three-way.

But now it's time for the turn 200 rankings- Russia, Finland, and Portugal lead in population.

The same trio, in the same order, lead in production. Serbia's a bit of a dark horse, trailing the top three in both population and production.

The same trio, in reverse order, lead in military strength. Italy and Greece skip ahead of Serbia.

The same trio, in that same order, lead in technologies. This time the UK skips ahead of Serbia.

Serbia and Albania knock Portugal off the podium for wonders, however.

For an extra treat, let's go a bit beyond turn 200- Berlin has become Finnish, and Portuguese troops near Buda!

Russia and Finland also team up to kick Serbia out of 4th place in stats.

And finally, we end on Bitola becoming Italian as Greece begins to bombard Skopje... someone's still annoyed with the Macedonia name. Tamara's had a wiiiiild ride this part. See you soon with the next part, which will hopefully be soon! I better finish this game before JESC begins...