Hello! It's me, Admiral_Cloudberg, back with yet another iteration of the Groundhog Day series! For those who are new to the format, 21 civs will be fighting on a tiny map, and each part details an entire playthrough until someone wins. Then the game will be reset to turn zero and run again. This will repeat ten times and the overall winner is the civ that wins the most rounds out of ten.



Now, the civilizations! In the western peninsula, we have seven civs:

1. In Athens, Greece under Eleftherios Venizelos

2. In Andorra la Vella, Andorra under Roger Bernard III

3. In Milan, the duchy of Milan under Gian Galeazzo

4. In Tunis, Tunis under Abu Zakariya

5. In Port Royal, the Buccaneers under Henry Morgan

6. In Corranderrk, the Kulin under William Barak

7. And in Taleh, the Dervishes under Mohammed Hassan.

Moving east, we have six more civilizations:



1. In Tinmel, the Almohads under Abd al-Mu'min

2. In Ankara, Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

3. In Poverty Point, Poverty Point under Táhera

4. In Amsterdam, the Netherlands under William of Orange

5. In Edinburgh, Scotland under Robert the Bruce

6. And in Diakhao, Serer under Ama Joof.

Further around the northeast are a further six civilizations:



1. In Douglas, the Isle of Man under Illiam Dhone

2. In Lisbon, Portugal under Marquis of Pombal

3. In Rome, the Papal States under Innocent III

4. In Honolulu, Polynesia under Kamehameha

5. In Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs under Montezuma

6. And in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil under Pedro II.



Please ignore the sugar on tundra next to Lisbon; that's a bug that I swiftly removed.

And finally, the last two:



1. In Pliska, Bulgaria under Krum

2. And in Antananarivo, Madagascar (also, Imerina) under Ranavalona I.



You might notice that this civ list differs slightly from the one posted initially. That's because Jerusalem, the Vikings, and Pinochet's Chile all broke the game and were replaced by Tunis, Serer, and Milan respectively.



Now, let's get started!

The second cities are settled for the first time! Although a decent number of them change every round, some will inevitably repeat, so I'll be giving a full tour of all of them. Over here, I would say that Tunis, the Kulin, and Greece have all made very questionable settlement choices.

In the central area, all the settles look reasonable. Nothing much to report here.

More sensible settlement choices in the northeast. Most civs seem to be sticking to spots close to their capitals.

And down here, Bulgaria seems to be taking a risk settling that close to Madagascar. Also note that, based on the minimap, Scotland hasn't settled a second city despite having space to do so.

On turn 35, the first war begins! And guess who has attacked who—that's right, it's Madagascar moving to take out that Bulgarian forward settle as soon as possible.

A second war breaks out one turn later when Serer attacks Portugal. Ama Joof wastes no time going for the cities, choosing to attack Porto directly instead of taking out the nearby units first.

In the first city capture of Mk. 8, Madagascar takes Preslav and burns it to the ground! In the background, the Aztecs and Portugal both attack Polynesia, probably because Kamehameha has somehow settled four cities already.

Portugal is in big trouble, however, because Serer has captured Porto and is now damaging Lisbon as well.

It's more trouble now for Bulgaria as Turkey also attacks the beleaguered civilization. Tarnovo seems to be the target, and I foresee no possible timeline in which Turkey doesn't capture it.

Finally, the first war in the western subcontinent begins as Milan attacks Greece! Eleftherios Venizelos has a very small army and a poor choice of settlement, at least in terms of production, so this is bad news for Greece.

Aha, our first elimination of Mk. 8! Serer has captured Lisbon, eliminating Pombal of Portugal in 21st place.

However, this immediately brings a declaration of war from the Netherlands! With Serer's army severely depleted, they may not be the last to try to pile on our first conquerors.

Guess what—Turkey has taken Tarnovo. Pliska, however, still holds strong due to its highly defensible location.

Suddenly, Polynesia also attacks Serer! Kamehameha has beelined Construction in order to unlock his unique improvement, with comes with the side effect that he's invented composite bowmen way before anyone else.

Meanwhile, Milan captures Thessaloniki from Greece. Will Athens follow?

Before we can find out, Polynesia sweeps in to take Lisbon from Serer. It's rather painful to see Ama Joof lose his conquests so early.

Poverty Point suddenly awakes from its slumber and attacks Scotland! Robert the Bruce never did found a second city for some reason, so he's in a very vulnerable position here.

The Aztecs attack the Papal States, which gives me an opportunity to show you a feature that will arise repeatedly in this mark: crusades. Whenever Innocent III is attacked, he calls a crusade against the attacking civilization. This doesn't actually do anything in this game because there aren't any city-states, but it's still cool lore-wise even if it's just for show.

Anyway, we have another death on our hands! Madagascar has taken Pliska, eliminating Krum of Bulgaria in 20th place.

The Buccaneers awake from their slumber and declare war on the Kulin! Corranderrk is going to be a tough nut to crack, but if anyone can do it, it's Henry Morgan.

But first, yet another pre-turn-100 elimination! Poverty Point has taken Edinburgh, eliminating Robert the Bruce of Scotland in 19th place.

One of Poverty Point's special "spirit guardians" that watch over the civilization allows Táhera to make peace with barbarians. The Steam page tells me that this is the Red Fox, which also causes Poverty Point to receive a melee unit in the capital every 15 turns, and allows Fox Men (Poverty Point's unique great prophets) to act as great generals.

In a surprise turn of events, Serer is actually on the offensive against the Netherlands and has captured Utrecht. All their units around the city were killed except for one spearman, but apparently the city's health was low enough that that was all they needed.

Suddenly, more civilizations attack Serer, including the Papal States, who have called a crusade against them. This is bad news for Ama Joof.



Also of note: in the background, Andorra declares war on Greece.

And just one turn later, Andorra swoops in to capture Athens, which Milanese forces had brought down into the red. Eleftherios Venizelos of Greece is eliminated in 18th place.

Andorra immediately attacks Milan, which seems like a questionable decision, given that Roger Bernard doesn't have much of a land army in place to defend Athens.

Polynesia attacks the Papal States, and of course Innocent III launches a crusade against Kamehameha. Basically, the crusade mechanic here just makes every war involving the Papal States about twice as badass.

In a surprise turn of events, instead of losing Athens, Andorra has actually managed to capture Thessaloniki. There's no way they can keep it, however, given the Milanese units already surrounding the city.

Oh hey, it's time for the slightly late turn 100 stats. (SHHH THEY WERE ALWAYS THE TURN 112 STATS, WHAT DO YOU MEAN TURN 100???)



Anyway, info addict reveals that the Dervishes somehow have the largest army, followed closely by their neighbours, Poverty Point. Madagascar is not far behind them either.

In technologies, Poverty Point is the obvious leader. Usually nobody has a decisive tech lead at this point in the game, but somehow Táhera is already three techs ahead of her closest competitors.

In production, Andorra leads, just barely edging out Poverty Point by two hammers. Polynesia is in a close third, but after that it's a massive drop down to the main body of civs in fourth and below.

Remember what I said, folks! Henry Morgan doesn't seem to have lost any of the competence he's famous for, as he absolutely flattens the Kulin and captures Corranderrk.

In a worrying turn of events for everyone who hates Polynesia (read: almost everyone), Kamehameha builds the Great Wall.

Milan finally manages to put together a force big enough to fight back against Andorra, and uses it to retake both Thessaloniki and Athens.

Meanwhile, the Manx end their war with Poverty Point by giving away Castletown. Absolutely top tier AI right there, folks. (In all seriousness, the test rounds have shown Illiam Dhone's AI to be well above average, so this is more of a fluke than anything.)

The Aztecs attack Brazil, which certainly won't be an easy fight. But I kept this picture for some reason...

...Oh, that's why. After seven turns, Brazil makes peace with the Aztecs and gives away Sao Paulo in the peace treaty.



Brazil very nearly won one of the test rounds, by the way, making it to the final three while in control of pretty much everything between Honolulu and Ankara. But they were double-teamed by the two other remaining civs—Tunis and the Isle of Man—and ended up losing almost all of their territory, mostly to the Manx. Tunis then crushed the Manx and won the round.

Anyway, there's some major progress in the war between Kamehameha and Innocent III! Unfortunately for our many fans of the Papal States, Innocent is looking a little worse for wear, as he's lost Benevento and is losing his grip on Rome as well.

Sure enough, Polynesia takes Rome, eliminating Innocent III of the Papal States in 17th place.

Polynesia then decides to immediately attack the Aztecs, a move which I can only describe as premature.

The Buccaneers are back in action! Henry Morgan drunkenly attacks Tunis, which is fine, since he'll probably win anyway.

Meanwhile, it seems that Madagascar is at war with Turkey, because Ranavalona just captured Tarnovo.

Boom! Just like that, the Buccaneers take Tunis itself, forcing Abu Zakariya to retreat to the undeveloped exclave of Kairouan.

The Aztecs are the first to make a capture in the war with Polynesia, taking Benevento. However, it looks like Kamehameha has the larger army at the moment.

Oof! Henry Morgan also takes Kairouan, eliminating Abu Zakariya of Tunis in 16th place. This also gives Henry Morgan control over Cerro de Potosi, whose wealth he will doubtlessly spend on alcohol.

Polynesia retakes Benevento and burns it to the ground. It seems that Kamehameha follows a doctrine of "if I can't have it, then neither can you."

The Buccaneers and Milan both declare war on Andorra! However, Roger Bernard has a better-positioned army than either of the attackers, so this might actually have been a bad move on their part.

The turn 200 stats reveal that Madagascar now has the largest army, probably due to their tendency to spam their pikeman UU.

The Buccaneers and Polynesia now lead in technologies after overtaking Poverty Point's huge early lead. Andorra has caught up with Táhera as well.

But Poverty Point now has the most production, edging out even Polynesia. After those two, it's a long drop to third place, which is... Andorra, somehow.

Speaking of Andorra, they're on the offensive against the Buccs, capturing Tunis!

Ouch, that's got to hurt. The Aztecs give away Teotihucan to Polynesia in a peace treaty, only for Kamehameha to raze the 20-pop city.

Serer is back in business, baby! Ama Joof teams up with the Dervishes to attack the Netherlands in Serer's first offensive war since their initial conquest of Portugal.

Polynesia, Brazil, and Poverty Point all attack Madagascar. I can't help but feel that this is a mistake by Pedro, or an effort by Kamehameha and Táhera to get him killed.

In an interesting turn of events, the Aztecs give away Sao Paulo to Madagscar in a peace treaty, and Ranavalona begins burning the city.

To make matters even more complicated, Montezuma then declares war on Pedro II.

Brazil briefly captures Sao Paulo. Madagascar retakes it immediately, but its population has decreased enough that Ranavalona no longer wants to raze it.

Madagascar also takes the Brazilian island colony of Salvador.

Oh shit! After a brief peace, Andorra attacks the Buccaneers! Roger Bernard is really playing his cards well this game.

The Netherlands make peace with the Dervishes and give away Rotterdam. I find this choice... interesting.

Boom! The Aztecs beat Madagascar in the race to capture Rio de Janeiro, eliminating Pedro II of Brazil in 15th place.

Andorra storms through lightly defended Buccaneer lands, taking Tortuga!

Meanwhile, Serer finally captures Amsterdam, eliminating William of the Netherlands in 14th place.

Things suddenly take a turn for the worse for Andorra as the Buccaneers retake Tortuga, and Milan launches a major invasion from the south!

On the same turn, Polynesia and Serer attack the Aztecs! Kamehameha already has crossbowmen, so Montezuma will have to put up a really strong fight if he wants to walk away with all of his cities.

But in fact, it's Serer that makes the first move, capturing Rio de Janeiro!

On the other side of the continent, Milan takes Engordany from Andorra.

Andorra then makes peace with Milan and gives away Escaldes. Brilliant move.

Just as Serer seems to have consolidated its hold on Rio de Janeiro, Madagascar attacks from the south!

Ranavalona wastes no time capturing Rio de Janeiro, although the city is bound to flip.

The Buccaneers attack the Dervishes! Henry Morgan now has oceangoing ships while Mohammed Hassan does not, so the Dervishes should fear for their coastal cities. The Buccaneers are coming!

Serer makes peace with Madagascar and gives way Kahone. It just now occurred to me upon seeing the minimap, but goddamn, Madagascar is getting BIG.

As predicated, the Buccaneers have captured Beledweyne and are now harassing Las Anod.

Shortly thereafter, the Buccaneers take Las Anod as well. For some reason, Mohammed Hassan decides this is a good time to attack the Kulin.

Milan attacks Andorra again! It remains to be seen if Roger Bernard can survive another Milanese onslaught.

The Dervishes make peace with the Buccaneers and give away Buuhoodle.

Henry Morgan then turns his drunken eyes upon the Kulin. William Barak won't stand a chance.

Finally, Polynesia makes progress in its war against the Aztecs, taking Tenochtitlan!

Later that same turn, Serer captures Douglas, eliminating Illiam Dhone of the Isle of Man in 13th place.

Andorra seems to be putting up a good fight against Milan, because Roger Bernard has just retaken Escaldes.

But then Milan takes it back and the two sides make peace.

The Aztecs make peace with Polynesia and give away Texcoco, which Kamehameha decides to raze.

And in an outcome that surprises no one, Henry Morgan KOs William Barak in an inebriated bar fight, eliminating the Kulin in 12th place.

Oh shit! It's a battle of giants as Polynesia attacks Madagascar!

It would have been a fair fight, but it's not anymore, because Serer has decided to intervene on Polynesia's side.

Milan attacks the Buccaneers! You'd think other civs would have learned their lesson about attacking Henry Morgan, but apparently not.

Serer manages to snag Kahone before Polynesia can, ensuring that Ama Joof regains his second city once and for all.

Now, the very, VERY late turn 300 stats! Madagascar actually still has the largest army, even though Polynesia initiated a war against them.

Poverty Point is back on top in technologies, although Polynesia has the same number of techs.

And Polynesia now has a decisive lead in production. Kamehameha is far from unstoppable, but he's definitely leading overall right now.

Serer continues its campaign against Madagascar, retaking Rio de Janeiro.

But Ranavalona recaptures the city and makes peace with Serer. Still, the war was a win for Ama Joof.

Serer's next move is to attack the technologically superior Poverty Point. Nevertheless, there's a pretty good chance that Ama Joof could take Castletown.

Sure enough, Castletown falls. Getting any father, however, looks close to impossible against Poverty Point's more advanced units.

Oh. Shit. Whatever dreams Ama Joof might have had of conquering Poverty Point are definitely up in smoke now as Polynesia invades from the east.

On that same turn, the Buccaneers defy Milan's declaration of war by capturing Escaldes.

Milan then makes peace and gives away Brescia in the treaty. Impressive.

Meanwhile, Polynesia attacks the Aztecs again, although Kamehameha doesn't seem to have prepared an army with which to take Tlatelolco.

On the same turn, the Buccaneers attack the Dervishes again, virtually guaranteeing that Mohammed Hassan will be exiled to Rotterdam.

As Ama Joof struggles to defend against Polynesia, Madagascar restarts its war with Serer as well. This could be catastrophic.

The Almohads give away Marrakech to Poverty Point for... reasons.

The Almohads then attack Turkey, while Turkey decides that fighting the Almohads isn't enough and they must fight Poverty Point as well.

Polynesia makes the first move in the war with Serer by taking Kahone. However, Ama Joof has assembled a defensive army and is giving the fight everything he has.

And the Buccaneers take Taleh. There's no way Henry Morgan can get at Rotterdam, however.

The Serer resistance begins to disintegrate, and Polynesia pushes forward, taking Porto.

Turkey makes peace with the Almohads and gives away Istanbul.

Three turns later, Poverty Point captures Ankara, eliminating Mustafa Kemal Ataturk of Turkey in 11th place.

One turn after that, Polynesia takes Tlatelolco, eliminating Montezuma of the Aztecs in 10th place.

And then Poverty Point attacks the Dervishes, all but ensuring that another elimination will follow in the coming turns.

Time for the turn 100 stats! Madagascar doggedly clings to the number one spot in military manpower, somehow leading by 30,000 troops over even Polynesia.

Polynesia and Poverty Point remain tied for first place in technologies.

And Polynesia retains the top spot in production. The Buccaneers have risen significantly, however.

Anyway, we return to the game in time to see Poverty Point capture Rotterdam, eliminating Mohammed Hassan of the Dervishes in 9th place.

Meanwhile, Polynesia continues to devastate Serer, capturing Douglas with a well-executed naval attack.

Utrecht also falls as Douglas flips repeatedly. In the background, Milan attacks Andorra again.

This time, Roger Bernard is ready. Just four turns into the war, his superior navy has already retaken Engordany and is headed south toward Athens.

To make matters even worse for Milan, the Buccaneers attack them again!

Gian Galeazzo begins to move against Brescia, only to lose Athens to Andorra. Roger Bernard now controls three unconnected coastal enclaves, all of them capitals.

And in the final blow for Serer, Polynesia takes Diakhao! Ama Joof immediately surrenders, handing over Castletown in the peace treaty.

Milan retakes Athens and makes peace with Andorra. I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed.

Suddenly, Poverty Point attacks Serer, and Amsterdam is already mostly surrounded. What an ignominious end for Ama Joof...

Meanwhile, Milan finally manages to retake Brescia, and Buccaneer forces seem to have scattered.

And Poverty Point easily captures Amsterdam, eliminating Ama Joof of Serer in 8th place.

Táhera then moves on to her next target: Madagascar. For the first time, we see where Ranavalona gets his huge military numbers: an almost complete carpet of infantry-line units, something I've never seen another civ build before.

Oh shit! Polynesia sides with Poverty Point and also attacks Madagascar!

But it's actually Ranavalona who starts off on the offensive, capturing Tlatelolco with a combined naval and land attack.

Polynesia immediately strikes back, taking Rio de Janeiro!

Tlatelolco is also recaptured...

But not for long...

Oh shit waddup! It's time for the fifth (?) Andorra-Milan war!

Andorra immediately takes Athens for the third time.

Thessaloniki soon follows, and this time Roger Bernard has also brought a land army and is assaulting Brescia!

But before he can take Brescia, he takes Milan itself! Unbelievable! Andorra now has FOUR coastal enclaves including four capitals. I almost wish Roger Bernard could just take every coastal capital and nothing else.

But then Andorra takes Brescia, eliminating Gian Galeazzo of Milan in 7th place, and three of the four enclaves are united into one contiguous Andorran Empire.

Polynesia begins to grind down Madagscar's resistance, forcing them well back from Tlatelolco and taking Sao Paulo as well.

Suddenly, the Buccaneers attack Andorra! This is it—Henry Morgan's master plan to take full control of the western subcontinent!

But Táhera throws a bomb right into the middle of his plans by invading the Buccaneers from the east! At the very least, Buuhoodle is in big trouble!

But that won't stop Henry Morgan from making gains on the western front, taking Tunis from Andorra and reclaiming the city he lost way back in the medieval era.

Polynesia, meanwhile, continuous to make incremental gains against Madasgacar, this time by taking Salvador.

17 turns later and Polynesia at last takes another city. Yes, that means nothing has also happened in the massive grinding stalemate that is the Buccaneer War.

Now, turn 500 arrives, and with it come some shifts in the stats. Polynesia now has the largest army by an enormous margin, while Madagascar has fallen all the way to fourth.

However, Poverty Point has begun to take off in science, beating out Polynesia by four technologies when they were tied just 100 turns ago.

Polynesia has doubled its production since turn 400, but so have the Buccaneers, interestingly enough.

Now, back to the action, where Polynesia is now on the home stretch against Madagascar, having taken both Mahajanga and Toliara.

And just like that. it's over. Madagascar makes peace with Polynesia and gives away Tarnovo.

Just one turn later, Polynesia attacks Poverty Point! The military tech of both civs is about even, but Polynesia's army is clearly much larger. This might be a tough fight for Táhera.

However, that won't stop her from taking Tarnovo on the second turn of the war.

Nor will it stop her from taking Castletown just a few turns later. Polynesia is now down 2 for zero in this war.

But not for long, as Kamehameha surges forward and take both Castletown and Amsterdam.

Edinburgh soon follows as Táhera loses all ability to fight back.

And then Poverty Point makes peace with Polynesia, handing over Jaketown, Rotterdam, and Claiborne. Táhera has taken an absolute drubbing.

Two new wars begin five turns later as Poverty Point attacks the Almohads and Polynesia attacks Andorra.

Táhera makes shot work of the technologically backwards Almohads, capturing both Tinmel and Fes on the third turn of the war.

Two turns after that, Istanbul falls as well, eliminating Abd al-Mu'min of the Almohads in 6th place.

Meanwhile, Polynesia launches a naval attack against Andorra and captures Engordany.

With Andorra distracted, Henry Morgan finally manages to take Andorra la Vella, ending a bloody stalemate that had been going for the past 100 turns. (Yes, it has been exactly 100 turns since Henry Morgan took Tunis. Neither side has made peace at any point since then.)

Andorra quickly peaces out with the Buccs, receiving Brescia and Thessaloniki in the peace treaty.

Henry Morgan then attempts to attack Poverty Point. Táhera's army is somewhat depleted, but her city strengths are very high and her tech is superior.

Polynesia, meanwhile, takes Athens, exiling Andorra to Milan, which Kamehameha can't reach.

Poverty Point makes the first move in the war with the Buccaneers, capturing Taleh with help from a vigorous aerial bombardment.

The turn 600 stats reveal that Polynesia's army size continues to astound.

Poverty Point has increased its tech lead from four techs to five, while the Buccaneers have pulled even with Polynesia.

However, Polynesia has increased its hammer count by almost 90% while the Buccaneers productive capacity has barely changed.

In fact, it might be getting worse, as Poverty Point somehow manages to take Barere Barere Balug while hanging on to Taleh.

The Buccaneers retake both cities, only to lose Buuhoodle instead.

Poverty Point retakes both Barere Barere Balug and Taleh while holding Buuhoodle, but before Táhera can take another step, Polynesia attacks Poverty Point a second time!

Poverty Point immediately makes peace with the Buccaneers and keeps all three conquered cities.

Poverty Point itself flips, while Táhera does manage to recover Claiborne.

But Kamehameha quickly brings the hammer down and recaptures both cities.

Buuhoodle follows soon after, even as Táhera refuses to give up her wonder-whoring tendencies and builds the Pentagon.

The Buccaneers, desperate to conquer something while they still can, attack Andorra.

Five turns later, Milan falls, eliminating Roger Bernard III of Andorra in 5th place.

Henry Morgan then attacks Poverty Point again, hoping to regain some of his lost cities before Polynesia takes them.

Oh my god... no, don't look at the banner, and no, no cities changed hands. What's actually happened is that Poverty Point has chosen the Horned Serpent spirit guardian, which plunges all rival civilizations into a period of anarchy. That's right, Polynesia and the Buccaneers won't be able to produce anything, adopt new policies, or earn gold until the anarchy is over.

That doesn't stop Henry Morgan from taking Barere Barere Balug and Taleh, however.

And, somehow, Marrakesh as well. Poverty Point seems to have retaken Claiborne, however.

We are briefly interrupted by an announcement informing us that Polynesia has a fuckton of production.

Anyway, one turn later, Poverty Point makes peace with Polynesia and gives away Fes, Istanbul, and Tarnovo.

Then Kamehameha decides that it's time to finish of Madagascar. This should be quick.

Four turns later, Antananarivo falls!

And one turn after that, Pliska falls as well, eliminating Ranavalona I of Madagascar in 4th place.

Then, six turns later, Polynesia attacks the Buccaneers! Henry Morgan has a partial paratrooper carpet, but will it be enough to save him?

It seems that the answer may be no, as Polynesia takes Marrakesh almost immediately.

Henry Morgan does manage to capture Athens, however.

He also takes Buuhoodle, putting him up two for one in the war so far.

Make that three for one, as the Buccaneers also snag the island city of Engordany.

Kamehameha dominates another international project, surprising no one.

And then Polynesia begins to turn the tide decisively against the Buccaneers, taking Buuhoodle and Taleh.

But Henry Morgan retakes Taleh and unleashes the ace up his sleeve: nukes. The Buccaneers are famous for being one of the most nuke-happy civs in the game, so this war is probably about to go nuclear.

Sure enough, as Polynesia takes Las Anod, Henry Morgan nukes Poverty Point and Kamehameha responds by nuking Barere Barere Balug.

Somehow, Poverty Point manages to sneak in on the action and take Taleh.

Polynesia takes Beledweyne and nukes Port Royal. It's a shame that Henry Morgan doesn't have nukes in range of Honolulu.

Excuse me, what? Yes, Poverty Point has captured Athens. Even though she's almost dead, Táhera hasn't given up trying to take as many capitals as possible.

Polynesia begins to advance farther, taking Barere Barere Balug, while much of the battlefield lies covered in fallout.

Corranderrk is the next to fall, although Henry Morgan is already in position to take it back.

Táhera gives Taleh back to the Buccaneers in a peace treaty. The city will probably be Polynesia before you can even blink.

Yep, saw that one coming.

With Taleh out of the way, Kamehameha cuts even deeper, capturing Kairouan.

And then Henry Morgan makes peace with Polynesia and gives away Engordany, Tunis, Puerto Cabello, and Nassau. Wow.

When turn 800 arrives, I declare world war so Polynesia can get on with winning.

Kamehameha immediately nukes every Buccaneer city, just to be safe.

Port Royal, cut off from the rest of Henry Morgan's empire, is the first to fall.

Escaldes follows shortly thereafter.

And guess what, Poverty Point has taken Milan with a single XCOM. Táhera just doesn't know when to give up.

Speaking of Poverty Point, Polynesia has taken Ankara and is closing in on Marrakesh and Tinmel.

Both cities fall, eliminating Táhera of Poverty Point in third place.

On the other front, Kamehameha has taken Milan and Andorra la Vella. The end is very near now...

Brescia falls...

And that's it; Polynesia has won round 1! This comes as something of a surprise, given that they did poorly in all the test rounds, and the guy who picked them did so because they were supposed to suck. So this might be a fluke, or we could all just be completely wrong about Polynesia.

Anyway, Polynesia is the only civ with a victory point right now, so there's no need for the usual score list.



Thanks for reading, and I'll be back with more next week!