Dawn of the Barbarian Menace

The year is 3430BC; Rome’s garrison of inexperienced Warriors is braced to meet the Barbarian threat gathering outside the borders. A third Warrior joins the ranks, and with Archery 3turns away, Rome starts temporary work on a Barracks. The first of the enemy throws himself across the Tiber and onto the battlements of Rome and our forces taste their first victory! (Meanwhile to the North, our Scouts are asserting their mastery of beast and defeat a Lion)

Archery is discovered (Rome switches to Archer), and Bronze Working is queued up. I have decided to trust the city governor to efficiently manage the city in this time of crisis; not something I usually do, but with all the Barbs moving around, I have no desire to MM Rome every turn! Meanwhile, our Scout has found another unguarded hut with a nice bonus:

Our first Archer completes in 3040BC and immediately defeats 3 attacking Warriors! He is promoted Guerilla as there is very little difference between that and CG, and I will want more local guards. The “score” is currently 20-0, but the Barbs have started bunching before launching attacks:

A second Archer completes and moves out to the Pigs to learn about fighting, while a third begins his training. Bronze Working is learnt in 2740BC, and Iron Working is next in line. There is Copper visible on the coast to the East, which looks like a fairly defensible spot, but I’m not thinking of expansion just yet. A few turns later and I lose my first unit; an injured Archer is cut down at 7% odds. While this is sad, it’s hardly unexpected; 7% odds implies I should lose 1 battle in 14, and the “score” is now 54-1 so I’ve been beating the odds so far!

The third (second) Archer completes and I decide it’s worth investing in a Worker, I also get the news that we are Puny, the 5^th amongst 5 Civs … but the Demographics show us 3^rd in GNP – that can’t last long! 2230BC we receive the first of the BIDL messages, as Stonehenge is completed, and we lose a Warrior who had ventured out to do some local scouting / fogbusting. Our actual Scout, meanwhile, has proceeded up the coast to the NE, turned the corner to head West, and finally been cut down by some rude Barbarian Warriors.

Next turn the Worker completes and moves to hook up the Pigs with a suitable escort. I revolt to Slavery finally (I have no idea why I didn’t do this earlier), and when I lose another Warrior soon after – leaving my defence force as 1Warrior & 2Archers, I whip Rome to produce an Archer, with the overflow giving me a second the following turn. I leave a part-built Archer in the queue and decide it’s a good time to finish off that Barracks.

I spot the first Barbarian Archer incoming in 1870BC, we finish researching Iron Working in 1810BC. I spot Iron to the NW, but that spot looks fairly difficult to defend, so I plan to expand East to the Copper and back-fill the peninsula before reaching out from the safe enclave. With that plan tentatively in place, Research moves to The Wheel, since the new city will need connecting and will not be on the river. Worker finishes the Pasture and then moves to Mine the exposed Grass/Hill to the East, but holds short for this stack’s arrival:

Defences are adjusted, and between turns three Warriors and the first Archer are killed to bring the tally to 101Warriors & 1Archer killed. The Barracks completes, so it’s time to run out a couple more defensive Archers, and the research path moves to Writing. The Worker has finished the Mine and now moves to start clearing some of the surrounding Forest, so approaching Barbs have fewer places to hide.

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