Part of the campaign:

Welcome back to another round of Groundhog Day! I apologize for the extremely slow rate of releases; most of my energy these days is going toward a book I'm writing, so GHD is given a lower priority. That said, I haven't stopped, so I'll continue to put these out when I can.



I'll narrating as usual up until turn 200, and then I'll turn it over to /u/1760s who will take us through to the end.

Most civs found their second cities, except for the Philippines and Rif, who have space but apparently no motivation. Bulgaria already has a third settler ready to go.

The first war broke out when Mexico declared war on Canada (as usual), however I apparently failed to grab a picture with the notification. Off to a great start I see...

More wars break out when the Philippines and Bulgaria declare war on the Achaemenids! Emilio Aguinaldo eliminated Cyrus in both previous rounds; can he do it again?

Cyrus strikes back and takes Cavite el Viejo, which immediately flips to Bulgaria. The only losers here are the poor Philippines...

North Kyushu gives up on the game quite early with a boneheaded peace deal in which Shimabara is handed over to Kosovo.

Bulgaria declares war on the Garamantes, who are exhausted after a long war with Kongo that just ended. Little does Vasil Levski know that he's about to get involved in a grind that will seemingly go on forever.

The Achaemenids seem to have recovered Cavite el Viejo, but for how long?

The answer is not very long at all. Bulgaria retakes the city and makes peace with the Achaemenids, cementing the border, at least for now.

Namibia attacks a seriously weakened Mexico! Porfirio Díaz is already fighting off an Australian naval invasion, so this second attack could do him in.

Or he might just do himself in instead. Mexico makes peace with Namibia and gives away Guadalajara in the peace treaty.

In an almost exact repeat of what happened in round 2, Canute declared war on Ibrahim Rugova, tried and failed to take Prizreni, then made peace and gave away Ribe. Nice job learning from your mistakes, dude...

Surprise snipe! An Australian trireme grabs Mexico City right from under the noses of the Canadian army. Porfirio Díaz of Mexico is eliminated in 21st place.

The turn 100 stats show that Canada has the largest army (although they were robbed of the capital that army was about to capture).

Bulgaria and the Comanche lead in crop yield, thanks to the fertile grasslands and flood plains in that part of the continent.

Australia has the most production thanks to its salt mines, but Canada and the Comanche are close behind.

Returning to the action, we see that Djalla has built the Great Wall to keep out the invading Bulgarians and Romans. This seems to be one of those rare moments when the civ that builds the great wall actually needs it.

Namibia attacks its weaker neighbour, the Nuraghians, whose capital is in easy striking distance!

Jacob Morenga manages to flip Su Nuraxi momentarily. But can he hold onto it for real?

In fact, he chooses not to, instead agreeing to peace in exchange for Losa, which he burns to the ground. Sardus is left licking his wounds in his wrecked capital.

Retribution comes quickly for Namibia in the form of war declarations from Australia and Kosovo! Can Billy Hughes expand his overseas territories?

The Sikhs declare war on Canute to take Lundenburh, exactly like both previous rounds.

Australia continues its remarkable conquest on the other side of the inland sea, taking Guadalajara!

Meanwhile, Rome finally breaches the Great Wall and manages to take Zinchecra. Still, there's not a scratch on Garama.

Djalla recovers Zinchecra, only to lose it to Bulgaria this time. Still looks like it could keep flipping, too.

As so often seems to happen, I didn't notice when Punjab captured Lundenburh. So here it is.

Uh, excuse me what the fuck? An Australian transoceanic expedition has pressed inland from Guadalajara and has captured Windhoek, the Namibian capital! Australia now has as many cities in its overseas territories as it does back home. This is nuts.

After a brief respite, Rome attacks the Garamantes again in an attempt to succeed where they failed before. However I see little that's different. Bulgaria still can't even hold on to Zinchecra!

Guest narrator Miles taking over as of this slide!



It's turn 200, and Australia has emerged with a military lead...

...a tech lead...

...and a production lead. Pretty impressive for this early in the game.

Australia tries its luck against Kongo, but this doesn't look like an easy conquest.

Cyrus breaks his way into Malolos, eliminating the Philippines in 20th place.



Cloudberg's note: Cyrus gets his revenge for being eliminated by the Philippines twice in a row.

A huge anti-Bulgaria coalition declares war, including Kongo, Megara, and the Achamenids, among others!

Cyrus snags Cavite El Viejo, which he couldn't hold earlier.

Billy Hughes's attack on Kongo has backfired, as Sydney falls to Nzinga!

The anti-Bulgaria coalition grows, with the notable addition of the Comanche.

Hughes pushes back, retaking Sydney and flipping Loango.

Quanah Parker takes Plovdiv, cutting Varna off from Bulgarian reinforcement.

3 turns later, Varna is Comanche as well.

Bulgaria's bad day gets even worse as more civs declare war. Djalla wants Zinchecra back.

Cyrus beats the Comanche to taking Sofia!

And with the Garamantes retaking Zinchecra, Bulgaria is eliminated in 19th place.

...of course, Rome is still apparently at war with the Garamantes, so Zinchecra flips again.

A somewhat depleted Comanche military now faces a Megaran invasion from the north.

Seeing Kongo weakened by war with Australia, Cyrus decides to join in.

Theagenes flubs his invasion so hard that he ends up giving away Megara Hyblaea just to make peace. Oops.

Rome, having been focused on Djalla, now faces an invasion from Punjab and the Comanche.

Turn 300 shows Australia edging out Kosovo on the military rankings...

...and in tech...

...and ahead of the Comanche in production. Hughes is certainly a force to watch out for.

Quanah Parker takes Zinchecra from Rome. This city can't catch a break.

Kongo manages to get enough troops to Sofia to take it from the Achaemenids. Cyrus can't easily get it back, either.

Rome gives away the arctic base of Neapolis to the Comanche in exchange for peace. I'm kinda surprised the AI didn't raze it, really.

The Comanche finally got annoyed with Sofia being not theirs, and take their military to Nzinga.

2 original capitals fall to the Comanche just 1 turn later!

And with Cyrus taking Kabasa, Kongo is swiftly eliminated in 18th place.

Punjab tries again against Rome. Hughes offers Ranjit Singh his moral support.

It takes over 10 turns, but Cumae goes down!

Rif inexplicably gives away Tamasint to Australia. Hughes sends an admiral to scope out his prize.

Australia gets 1st in the World's Fair, but Lincoln gave them a run for their money.

The Punjab-Rome war ends with Cumae back in Roman hands. Ah well.

The Comanche aim to wipe out the remaining Megarian cities. Theagenes has a bit of a navy still, but is that enough to survive?

Djalla finishes a cool fort, and Australia and Punjab get jealous and decide to try and take it for themselves.

The Megaran navy crumples as the Comanche take Megara itself!

Megara flips and Byzantium falls. Theagenes still has a colony to the west.

Australia finishes off Garama, eliminating the Garamantes in 17th place.

Slightly late turn 400 stats show Australia just edging out the Comanche in military strength...

...but America and Kosovo have a 1-tech lead.

The Comanche also have the production lead now by a notable margin.

Ranjit Singh drags his buddy Billy Hughes as well as Mackenzie King into war against Kosovo.

The last Megarian colony, Chalcedon, is now under Union attack!

Rome, seeing that Punjab has burned a lot of its military stalemating Kosovo, attacks! Thing is, Roman military tech is lagging by comparison, so it may not be so easy.

Lincoln takes Chalcedon, eliminating Megara in 16th place.

A whole mess of wars are declared, most notably Rif against Canada, Nuraghians against Namibia, and Anglo-Norse against Punjab.

Cumae is once again in Punjab's hands, and the news only gets worse for Rome as Kosovo will no longer be distracting Punjab's forces.

Antium falls as well!

Kosovo somehow commits the forces to take Tamasint off of Australia...

In the Rump-state Rumble, Sardus takes Kactchanas, eliminating Namibia in 15th place!



Cloudberg's note: Ironic, considering that Namibia very nearly eliminated the Nuraghians a few hundred turns back.

Things go from bad to worse for Rome as the Comanche join against them!

But it's still Punjab that finishes Julius off. Rome is eliminated in 14th place.

Two of our front-runners go to war as Quanah Parker attacks Australia!

And he's not alone, as a few turns later he gets a bunch of allies in the anti-Australian war.

Unfortunately for Sardus, this is punching way, way above his weight as Australia takes Kactchanas...

Su Nuraxi falls as well, eliminating the Nuraghians in 13th place.

That same turn, Kosovo takes Kactchanas off of Australia's hands.

M'banza Kongo falls to Australia too, as Quanah Parker starts to lose ground.

It flips back to... Cyrus? With a Pikeman? Okay...

Australia takes it back, as well as Zinchecra!

By turn 500, Australia has a major military lead over the Comanche.

Hughes also has retaken the tech lead...

...and the production lead.

Australia takes Shimabara, kicking Kosovo out of this chunk of the map.

An Anglo-Norse galleon flips Shimabara, but Canute sadly had zero chance of holding this bold capture.

North Kyushu, on the other hand, finally gets to take back the city it gave away so long ago!

The Comanche have reclaimed Zinchecra, but Australia's taken Kabasa.

A major push from the Comanche takes Kabasa back and threatens to make more gains!

Canada surrenders Montreal to Rif for... some reason.

Lincoln finally makes his move against Cyrus!

Australia keeps M'banza-Kongo in the peace deal, with Quanah Parker having cut his losses there.

Australia had retaken Shimabara from North Kyushu, only to lose it to Rif!

Lincoln's navy snags the Achaemenid colony at Tarsus.

Seeking to toughen up before trying going to war with Australia again, Quanah Parker sticks his military on the struggling Persians.

Rif loses both Shimabara and its capital to Hughes! The Australian Overseas Territories continue to expand.

The Comanche take Cavite El Viejo and attempt to block the Americans from taking Susa.

Malolos is next to fall!

Indeed, the Comanche take Susa, blocking Lincoln from taking it.

Australia takes Kumamoto, finally eliminating North Kyushu in 12th place.





Cyrus gives his Antarctic city of Ecbatana to Quanah Parker to save his life.



Also, remember how the Zunbils are on this map? No?

Punjab gears up to attack Kosovo again. Hard to say whether it'll go any better...

...or Kosovo can just give away Ribe and Prizreni to Australia first...

Australia quickly makes use of its new beachhead to finish off the Anglo-Norse in 11th place.



Cloudberg's note: Of the 7 civs that declared war on Australia, Billy Hughes took cities from all of them, eliminated three of them, and gained five original capitals.

Canada makes its first conquest in ages by taking Tamasint!



Cloudberg's note: Actually first conquest ever lol.

The Zunbils finally attempt to be relevant just in time to try and flip Pasargadae.

Lincoln is cut off again as Pasargadae falls to the Zunbils. The Achaemenids are eliminated in 10th place.

A few turns later, Punjab takes Prishtine, which eliminates Kosovo in 9th place.

Lincoln, outraged that Jimofuta blocked him, tries to take out the Zunbils.

Canada attacks Rif, which seems like a good way to give them Tamasint back.

Shocking.

Australia declares war on the Comanche, and Quanah Parker's Full Moon Riders may struggle against Hughes's tanks and helicopters.

Kabasa falls...

Kabasa and Malolos flip...

The whole front crumples as more cities are captured or bombed to black!

Australia punches through as far as Plovdiv...

This time as far as Sofia... The Comanche are getting lots of flips but this is definitely more than they can handle.

The Union navy flips Zamindawar!

Punjab joins in against the Comanche, quickly snagging Sofia!

Lincoln takes Zamindawar and Jaguda, while Pasargadae falls to... Wuyue?? Right, they're still around.

By turn 600, Australia's got a massive lead in military strength...

...a 3-tech lead...

...and a ludicrous production lead. Yeesh.

Wuyue snags Zabol, eliminating the Zunbils in 8th place.

Punjab takes Neapolis, which the Comanche couldn't hope to defend.

The Comanche give up a good chunk of land for peace with Australia this time, including Ecbatana, Cavite El Viejo, and more.

Lincoln immediately strikes against Quanah Parker while he's weak!

...but he's blocked again as Wuyue takes Susa from right under his nose!

Australia sics its military on Punjab, which... hoo boy. We can all see where this is going.

Lundenburh is the first to fall.

The badly beaten-down Comanche make time to take Sofia off of Punjab before Australia can.

Prishtine and Cumae are down!

Cumae flips, but now it's Rome and Gujranwala...

Ranjit Singh loses his capital!

1 to go...

And with the capture of Neapolis, Punjab is eliminated in 7th place.

Undeterred, Lincoln takes Varna off of the Comanche...

...only to lose it immediately as Australia declares war!

Hughes's navy takes Tarsus!

America takes it back and... liberates the Achaemenids??? The Great Emancipator strikes again.

Canada decides to attack Australia! No, you didn't read that backwards. Canada attacked.

Mackenzie King really should've seen this coming.

Canada's swiftly eliminated in 6th place.

Cyrus begs to be freed from his mortal coil, asking Hughes to send him back to the afterlife.

Rif declares war on Australia as well. I think at this point it's mostly on principle.

Hughes retook Tarsus, re-killing Cyrus, so naturally America takes Ecbatana to revive him again. Of course.

Tarsus is getting burned this time. F.

Tamasint is also captured and set aflame.

It's turn 700. Are you surprised by these stats anymore?

Because, I mean...

...you could probably guess.

Annual is captured...

...as is Chefchaouen...

...and apparently, Monte Malmusi ended up Australian hands in the peace deal.

Hughes annihilates the competition in building the ISS.

Lincoln's surrender includes giving up Chalcedon, Philadelphia, and New York. Oof.

Australia's also resettled Tarsus island.

World war is declared on turn 800 because we all know what's coming.

Cyrus is re-re-killed, this time by Wuyue.

Wuyue tries to take more of the southwest of the map for itself, but there's only so much it can do.

Australia pushes the Comanche back, picking up the old Bulgarian capital...

...as well as Baltimore.

Lincoln grabs Jaguda...

...Australia takes Susa...

...and Hupenuu...

...and Albany...

...and Qiantang...

...and Yuezhoue...

...and Xifu, exiling Wuyue from its homeland...



Cloudberg's Note: Wuyue has actually taken the Australian island city of Toowomba. That counts as victory in my book.

...and Washington...

...and Pasargadae, and Jaguda...

...and Kwaaru Nuu...

...and by capturing Zamindawar, the United States are eliminated in 5th place...

...and that's game! Australia ran away with this game!

Megara was the last capital to fall. The Comanche, Wuyue, and Rif are all still technically alive still at the end. Cloudberg, back to you.



Cloudberg: Thanks Miles for yet another timely narration! The score now stands as follows:



The Zunbils: 1

The United States: 1

Australia: 1



Thanks for reading and I'll be back with more eventually!