Death By Lion

by Peter the Great

Ok, now this is a true story that did occur about January 1st. My friend sent me a nice central map that was built up looked really interesting. He told me that there was only small barbarian invasions in it and so I played it. I made a nice city of about 7000 but what he failed to tell me was that there was also large fleets of Egyptians that would invade. So I play happily for about 14 years (In the game of course) I built up a sturdy defense of 3 javelin divisions and 1 horse division, and plenty of walls with towers. It was May, a small barbarian invasion of 20 guys were just killed, I had moderate losses, I was sending them back to re-coup their losses when I saw the video of another invasion, I though it would be more barbarians, but no! It was a large invasion of about 80 Egyptians, plus about a dozen war camels, which I know everyone hates. Sigh.

They popped up in an area that was sparsely defended, by my standards anyway. There was about 3 towers covering a large area, which was stupid of me. The Egyptians paused for a second to think of a plan of attack. It gave me time to send in my slightly injured divisions of javelins and horses. I watch them getting nearer and nearer, suddenly a whole bunch of them die! ARRGH I finally noticed the guy on top of the camels throwing bows at my guys. My guys were dying by the cart-full. Only my horses were not attacked. I moved them to a close flank near my city hoping they would protect them for a little bit.

The Egyptians plowed through my defenses like a hot knife through butter. But wait! I just remembered about my internal defenses. Most people won’t do this, but in industrial areas or areas that I don’t want to become villas I put towers, and I put a lot near the industrial area they were heading for. I knew I would lose some buildings and my Peace rating would drop but it would be better then total destruction. I moved my horses to the area in hopes of inflicting some casualties. I had about 10 javelins left who were killing as best as they could. I built some gladiator schools and lion places in hopes of extra defense. By now the Egyptians lost about 3 camels and 20 guys. The towers were firing as best as they could, 5…6…..10 enemies down. Suddenly, another video of an invasion coming in. Sigh. Luckily it was a barbarian invasion, but I only had towers to contend with them. Suddenly, I hear a boom, the first building was destroyed. The Horses moved in, 5, 6, 7 horses down with only 3 Egyptians and a camel gone down. The towers seemed to keep the barbarians at bay. Whack, another couple barbarians go down. The first time I smile at the city in a while. Meanwhile back with the Egyptians, some gladiators and lions took out a dozen guys and a camel. By this time, all my troops are dead, and the Egyptians are at 5/8 strength. The end looked near. Haha, Mars spirit guardian finally woke up and took out 6 Egyptians, even though it wasn’t a lot it helped.

I watched as my towers shot and shot and missed and hit. A large festival passed and a fire broke out, but I didn’t care now. Boom, Boom, Boom, 3 towers go down from the last few camels. My defenses were crippled. About 3 months had passed and my horse division was at full health. YES!!!! I shot them towards the battlefield in hope of making the enemy retreat. The last camels went down and a few Egyptians were killed by my horses and towers. But wait, it looked like they were retreating!! Were they???? YES!! YES!! I watched with relief as they moved closer and closer to the invasion point, suddenly they stop. NOOOOOO!!! They were just re-grouping. My javelins were finally healed and they shot towards the enemy. There were still about 40 Egyptians left, but hopefully the Javelins would finish the job. I glared on at the screen as the pila flew and slowly took out some Egyptians. They Egyptians charged at the javelins and inflicted heavy casualties but they stood their ground. The last standing tower in the area fired a few volleys of ballista missiles and took out a few guys. Suddenly, again, success. The Egyptians retreated. WHEW

After the battle, I promised never to keep my city undefended like that again. I put in 2 legionnaire divisions and another Javelin division and a lot of towers, like I normally do.

A few more Egyptian invasions came but they were destroyed time after time with minimal casualties. I learned my lesson that time.

This story is dedicated to Spartacus, Gneaus Caecilus and Refector Defectus, who gave their lives to defend my city. In total 13 lions, 7 gladiators took part in the defense of my city, and so I salute them as well.