Louis of Arabia
My basic plan for the war was to invade through Baghdad the north (Saladin's only visible source of iron and a new town) and swing south to come at Mecca from the woods. Medina in the southwest (whose borders you saw earlier) would be screened with two pillaging axemen until Mecca was dealt with. Then it's just a matter of mop-up (sorry for the lack of maps... I didn't have good intel on Arabian lands at this point). Baghdad fell easily, but I lacked the forces to make an assault on Mecca (darn lack of catapults). However, good news balanced out the bad as one of the two archers guarding Medina attacked out of the city... onto a square where I had just pillaged a road. And I had another axeman right next door.
The odds weren't great, but once I added the city raider promotion, I had a shot. Sure, maybe I'd fail, and maybe the unwounded archer just out of sight in the fog would take the city right back, but I wasn't going to get a better chance than this to at least damage on of Saladin's core cities anytime soon. And...
Ladies and gentlemen, we have victory! Saladin's archer thought better of attacking and wandered up towards Mecca, where he became easy prey for my beseiging swordsmen. While waiting on the forces to take Mecca, my first Great Person (Engineer) joins the city of Paris to lend his expertise in wonder building for the long term, and the Hanging Gardens and Chichen Itza are built by his hands. I also discover the bejeweled city of Thebes.
Finally, my assault force is almost ready in 250AD.
Just one more turn to get 3 more swordsmen in place...
And Saladin attacks out of the city again. I lose an axeman, but there are two less defenders inside the city walls to deal with. I'll take it! The fighting around the city is nontheless heavy, and all my swordsmen die with feathers in their chests. My axes win through, however, and Mecca falls in 300AD.
After that it's just mop-up, and Damascus, Saladin's last city, falls to my catapults and elephants in 600AD.
Thusly runs the tale of my first point. I am in the lead in all major areas (militarily, scientifically, economically, and production-wise), but I'm worried that other human players got a jump on me out of the gates. Dammit, Jim, I'm a builder, not a conqueror! Fortunately, that puts me in good stead economically. I only need a brief pause before I can war again. However, it turns out to be more than 450 years before I do so. Who will be next, the Malinese or the Greeks? Read on to find out...
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