Part of the campaign:

What's up everyone, it's Groundhog Day again. This is an unusual round in that it's split into two parts. There's a very good reason for that: this round is so long and weird that I ended up with over 270 slides. And I can't really delete any because, well, let's just say this round has more twists and turns than a duck's penis.



Anyway, let's get started.

Second cities are founded, except for North Kyushu, Rif, and the Achaemenids, who are still trying to figure out how the "found city" button works.

Theagenes already has four cities, which is simply unacceptable. The first war begins when Bulgaria and the Comanche both declare war on Megara.

As a result, the Comanche easily capture Chalcedon, which was unprotected on the wide open plains.

Mexico attacks Canada! This happens early in almost every round, but I always find it amusing that these two civs just hate each other when the US isn't between them.

Mexico captures Montreal but Canada seems to be gearing up for a counterattack.

Indeed, Canada retakes Montreal and then makes peace with Mexico.

Kongo declares war on Bulgaria, which makes sense since Vasil Levski has three entirely disconnected cities floating around Nzinga's borders.

The Philippines declare war on the Achaemenids, who are already fighting the Zunbils. This could end badly for Cyrus.

Turn 100 arrives without much having happened. That means the stats should be close. Rome has the most soldiers, followed closely by their next door neighbour Punjab, and then the Comanche.

The Comanche have the most food by a decent margin, followed by the Garamantes.

Production is a very close race, with Australia coming in first with two more hammers than the Nuraghians and six more than the Comanche.

Later that same turn we finally see some real action as Kongo captures Sofia, decapitating Bulgaria!

The Achaemenids finally founded a second city, which was promptly captured by the Zunbils.

Kongo continues to dismantle Bulgaria's disjointed empire, taking Plovdiv.

But then Kongo faces declarations of war from the Garamantes and Rome, who are unhappy with how Bulgaria is being treated.

Rome snipes Plovidiv with one trireme after the Garamantes did most of the damage.

And we have our first elimination as the Philippines capture Pasargadae out from under the Zunbils' noses for the second round in a row! Cyrus of the Achaemenids is eliminated in 21st place.

Canada is surrounding Mexico City, but Wuyue attacks from the west, threatening Toronto!

Canada's offensive is probably about to collapse as Namibia joins the war against William Mackenzie King.

Later that same turn, Kongo and the Comanche attack the rising Philippines.

The Zunbils, gunning for a repeat of their round one performance, secure the great wall to prevent invasions.

Wuyue captures Toronto, and Canadian forces have been beaten back from Mexico City as well.

Plovidiv flips and flops fo a bit before falling into the hands of the Garamantes.

Mexico is hardly out of the woods, however, as the Nuraghians move down the coast and take Guadalajara.

The Comanche land a decisive blow against the Philippines, taking Cavite el Viejo!

But then Megara and the United States both attacj the Comanche! Aguinaldo could make a comeback yet!



In the background, Wuyue declares war on Mexico.

Indeed, he swiftly recaptures Cavite el Viejo and makes peace with the Comanche.

Meanwhile, Namibia has captured Montreal, and Wuyue lays siege to Mexico City.

And Qian Liu rolls into Mexico City, eliminating Porfirio Díaz of Mexico in 20th place.

The war against the Comanche is going well for Theagenes as he recaptures Chalcedon.

And then Húpenúú falls as well! The Comanche capital lies in ruins!

On the next turn, as Húpenúú keeps flipping in the background, Kosovo declares war on North Kyushu.

Meanwhile, Australia opens a new, exciting front against the Garamantes.

And Megara conquers all the way down to Kúhtsútúúka, eliminating Quanah Parker of the Comanche in 19th place.

Namibia continues its conquest of Canada, capturing Ottawa and exiling William Mackenzie King to a snow island.

A short while later, Australia captures Varna, eliminating Vasil Levski of Bulgaria in 18th place.

Australia also advances on the Garamantean front, taking Zinchecra.

But then the Philippines and Wuyue both attack Australia! The USA and Megara come along for the ride.

Taking advantage of the collapse of the Garamantes, Kongo recaptures Plovdiv.

The Philippines take Varna with a combined naval and embarked attack.

Rif declares war on Canada, but can Abd el-Krim get his ships down to Vancouver in any coherent fashion?

Australia captures Garama, eliminating Djalla of the Garamantes in 17th place!

The Philippines land an even harsher blow against Australia by taking Sydney.

Sydney flips to Australia and then to Wuyue. (The capital flip in the background

Kosovo has captured Kumamoto, eliminating Kato Kiyomasa of North Kyushu in 16th place. This draws the ire of Canute, who immediately declares war on Ibrahim Rugova.

Prizreni falls, but Canute's army looks pretty exhausted.

Anyway, time for the turn 200 stats. After such an uneventful first 100 turns, these second 100 turns have been pretty crazy, so I'd expect to see some big changes.



Indeed, Rome has fallen from first to 11th in military power. The big boys are now Megara, the Philippines, and Wuyue.

Australia has a slight tech lead, with The Philippines, Megara, and Punjab not far behind.

Megara has the most production by a significant margin. Wuyue and Australia round out the top three.

Anyway, we return to the action, where the Anglo-Norse have lost Prizreni and then given away Ribe to Kosovo in a peace treaty.

Punjab awakens for the first time this round as Ranjit Singh decides he wants Lundenburh.

Australia launches a massive invasion of Kongo, which is fighting Megara in the west at the same time. This could end badly for Nzinga.

Plovdiv starts flipping as the Australians advance.

Whoops, I missed Punjab capturing Lundenburh. So here it is a little while later.

Wuyue attacks Namibia, but this won't be an easy fight like Canada and Mexico were. Qian Liu will need to work harder for this one.

Kosovo isn't happy that Punjab has a city on their side of the northern sea, so Ibrahim Rugova goes to war to take it.

A mess of wars erupt as the Nuraghians declare war on Namibia but face DOWs from Wuyue and Kosovo at the same time.

Kosovo takes Lundenburh, putting Punjab back in its place.

Namibia deals the first blow to the Nuraghians, taking Guadalajara.

But Namibia is at war with Wuyue, so Qian Liu immediately swoops in and takes the city.

Namibia flips it back but loses it to Australia this time.

Instead of trying to take Guadalajara again, Wuyue captures Montreal.

Rome declares war on Punjab, now that Ranjit Singh's army has been sufficiently depleted.

The war between Wuyue and Namibia ends with Qian Liu ceding all of his conquests and walking away with nothing more than he started with.

Australia captures Guadalajara again while Namibia receives Losa in a peace treaty with the Nuraghians.

Kosovo captures Lahore while Rome closes in on Gujranwala.

And Gujranwala falls, eliminating Ranjit Singh of Punjab in 15th place.

Kosovo makes gains in the south as well, taking Kactchanas from Namibia.

Meanwhile, Megara declares war on Kongo for like the fourth time (most of them offscreen).

Namibia decides that it should be able to finish off the embattled Nuraghians.

Australia attacks the Philippines, but Aguinaldo's navy is not so easily overcome. In fact, it's already attacking Sydney.

Namibia's attack on the Nuraghians falls flat as Sardus recaptures Losa.

And things go even more wrong for Jacob Morenga as Qian Liue declares war on him again!

Megara finally manages to land a blow against Kongo, taking Sofia.

Wuyue captures Guadalajara... again.

Canute throws himself suicidally against Kosovo.

Australia apparently won the fight with the Philippines and took Varna.

Megara continues to chew through Kongo, taking Kabasa.

And Kosovo captures Roskilde, eliminating Canute of the Anglo-Norse in 14th place.

As usual, Billy Hughes doesn't want to miss his chance to join a Kongo war that Megara started first.

And Australia takes Mbanza-Kongo, eliminating Nzinga of Kongo in 13th place.

Namibia makes peace with Kosovo and gives away Montreal. Oof.

To ease his pain he decides to try again at eliminating the Nuraghians.

Kosovo is trying to do the same thing and has already captured Losa.

Dark horse much? Lincoln comes out of nowhere to win the world's fair.

Kosovo decides to give away Montreal the hard way by declaring war on Wuyue.

Meanwhile, Namibia captures Su Nuraxi, eliminating Sardus of the Nuraghians in 12th place.

As expected, Wuyue takes Montreal.

Kosovo attacks Namibia! Ibrahim Rugova has a large and technologically advanced army. At the very least, Su Nuraxi should fall.

Why, so it does.



It really seems like Ibrahim Rugova is not content with his second place finish in round one and is gunning for first this time.

Wuyue takes the opportunity to join the war against Namibia in the hope of picking up some more cities.



Slightly offscreen, Rif has finally managed to take Vancouver, eliminating William Lyon Mackenzie King of Canada in 11th place. Took long enough!

Wuyue easily rolls over Namibia, taking Ottawa.

And Windhoek falls a few turns later, eliminating Jacob Morenga of Namibia in 10th place.

Now, keen-eyed readers may have noticed that I didn't do the turn 300 stats. Yeah, sorry about that, I forgot. I also forgot to do the turn 400 stats until turn 421. But anyway, here they are.



Australia now has the lead in military manpower, followed by Megara, Kosovo, and the Philippines in the 300,000 club.

The United States leads in science with 51 techs, while Megara and Australia are right behind with 50 each.

Kosovo now has a solid lead in production, and Australia in second has an equally solid lead over Megara in third.

Australia invades Rome with a technologically advanced army of riflemen and field guns.

But Billy Hughes is immediately faced with declarations of war from Megara and Wuyue, which will put a serious damper on his plans to conquer Rome.

As if that wasn't enough, the Philippines join in too.

Emilio Aguinaldo absolutely steamrolls Australia's southwest flank, taking Varna and threatening Sydney.

Megara makes gains as well, taking Plovdiv.

Australia strikes back at Wuyue however, capturing Guadalajara again.

Megara takes Mbanza-Kongo.

The United States got involved too and took Brisbane, which apparently was on this island... TIL.

The Philippines capture Sydney! And this time they might have enough troops to keep it.

Rome is still pretty scared of Australia though, so Julius Caesar gives away Gujranwala to Billy Hughes in a peace treaty.

Megara, having made peace with Australia, declares war on Rome to finish what Billy Hughes started.

Turn 500 arrives, meaning more stats. Kosovo has the largest army now, followed by the United States for some reason.

It's probably due to Lincoln's science lead, which has grown from one tech to two.

And Kosovo has by far the most production, while Wuyue has climbed into second.

Theagenes captures Rome with a naval attack!

And then Julius Caesar makes peace with Megara and gives away Cumae.

Suddenly, four civs all attack Megara! It will be the Philippines who do the bulk of the fighting, however. They appear to be dominant on land but sorely lacking at sea.

Aha, I see—the USA will give handle the naval battle while the Philippines fight on land! Emilion Aguinaldo has already taken Kúhtsútúúka and more cities are sure to follow.

Húpenúú falls as Aguinaldo's advanced army continues to tear through Theagenes' outdated troops.

Heruclea falls and Húpenúú seems to have flipped a few times.

The United States takes Megara itself, capturing it with naval units only!

Kosovo joins the war in a bid to take Rome.

Rome also joins in, probably for the same reason.

Megara has recaptured its capital and made peace with the United States, but now Rif is threatening to take it instead.

Rome recovers its capital! Bet you didn't see that coming!

However it promptly loses it again.

And this time Kosovo takes Rome. Julius Caesar is also totally out of troops.

Rif is apparently at war with the Zunbils, and has taken Susa and damaged Zamindawar... interesting.

Rif, Rome, and the USA all declare war on Kosovo! Ibrahim Rugova has a huge navy, but it's an era out of date compared to Lincoln's, which could prove decisive.

At the same time, Rif and Wuyue declare war on Australia! Billy Hughes' cities are insanely strong, so it's doubtful that Qian Liu will be able to break through.

Lincoln lays the hammer down and takes Mitrovicë, destroying much of Kosovo's navy in the process.

The Zunbils recaptured Susa but have given away Jaguda to Rif in the peace treaty instead.

As a sort of a side trip, Kosovo takes Antium, eliminating Julius Caesar of Rome in 10th place. Megara is still holding onto the city of Rome though.

But then Theagenes just straight up gives it away in the peace treaty. Nice.

The USA continues its inexorable advance, taking Ferizaj on the mainland.

Lincoln takes another bite out of Kosovo, and this time it's a capital.

Rif bows out of the war and gives away Tangier in the process.

Rif is back it at right away though with a risky coalition war against the Zunbils!

Australia appears to be winning the war with Wuyue, taking Guadalajara yet again.

Lincoln takes the barely defended city of Tangier from Kosovo.

The USA also sweeps into Zamindawar while Rif just barely holds on to Jaguda.

Miraculously, Rif not only keeps Jaguda but takes Susa as well, eliminating Jimofuta of the Zunbils in 9th place.

Now it's time for the turn 600 stats, which will mark the end of the first half.



The USA has surged into the lead in military power, with the Philippines holding a close second. No one else is even close to those two.

The US also leads in science by six techs, with the Philippines again in second.

And Kosovo still has the most production even after losing several cities, but Lincoln is very close to tipping the balance.



Anyway, because this round is so long, I'm cutting it off there and the second half will be uploaded separately in a day or two. Feel free to discuss you predictions in the comments!