Day 2 starts with our Babylon player dropping due to a family emergency, so they get filled in with the person meant to play Parthia.
We look forwards to a good day of gaming without disruption.
Turn 10 movement and expansion is uninteresting.
Trade comes, I have a very exciting hand. I manage to work some trade, and get myself Politics to hopefully recover from the Civil War.
Nubia took one for the team and knowingly purchased Regression - they were stuck on AST anyways and needed to dump the treasury.
Otherwise, it's just another Piracy hitting Saba, with Hatti and Assyria as secondaries.
I move in to take some of my old territory back. Saba has been pushing hard into the Levant at this point, creating even more conflict there.
Calamities: Earthquake, Famine, Slave Revolt, Barbarians, Cyclone, Epidemic, Tyranny
Egypt gets the Cyclone, reducing the three cities that were previously mine. Honestly, I think I would rather deal with the cities given my Politics.
Hatti gets Famine, and secondary from Epidemic. This means that once Assyria gets hit by Tyranny, Hatti is somehow the beneficiary - even though they are far in the lead.
Nubia buys a Cultural Ascendancy out of nowhere, putting them into a very strong position - especially with how Saba has been playing.
Finally, some excitement happens on the board. Egypt invades Hatti across the sea, sacking a city and taking some space. Assyria joins in and Sacks another Hatti city.
Trade is particularly unexciting. I get a set of 4 spice and grab myself Literacy and Architecture.
Calamities: Treachy, Epidemic.
Crazy low counts, next turn is going to be spicy.
At this point, we take a meal break and eat some Korean fried chicken. Babylons player feels sick and needs to go home - it looks dire for getting more game in. Two of our backup players are also ill.
I make a call, a complete longshot, and manage to get a filler in. We have to wait almost an hour. The player is very new, I've done one small teaching game once like 2 years ago. We toss them right into the fire in the middle of the board, a pan more sizzling than the fried chicken we just finished.
Turn 13 is a rough one across the Middle East.
The Egyptian invasiaon of Anatolia continues, and the Hatti empire struggles to hold any ground.
The players of Egypt and Hatti move off to a second room as Babylon is given the rundown of the games situation, they discuss extortion.
Calamities: Volcano, Treachery, Famine, Superstition, Flood, Civil War, Civil Disorder, Regression, Piracy.
Most notably, Civil War hits poor Assyria, with the benficiary being Egypt. This turns Egypt into a powerhouse across the entire coastline, with nearly sole access to the Mediterranean.
I steal a city from Saba with Treachery, but am in return hit with Piracy and lose my two cities along the Persian Gulf.
I end the turn with a purchase of Cultural Ascendancy, hoping to stave off Saba - who is clearly preparing to go to war.
Turn 14 is uneventful on my side of the board, with the aggressive Saba trapped between two ascended cultures. I make some space, trying to maximize my economic potential for the future.
Egypt engages in heavy warfare and extortion. I hear discussions of tributary states being set up in Hatti and Assyria, and Egypt lauding themselves as participating in only "Honourable Extortion"
Calamities are light, but devastate Nubia.
Barbarian Hordes rampage thorugh their land, destroying 2 wilderness cities. Saba has a Cyclone in the Red Sea, which also hits Nubia. Finally, Babylong gets hit with Epidemic - Nubia as one of the secondaries, and once again I am omitted (I certainly was the correct target over Nubia).
Saba ends the turn with a purchase of Advanced Military - goodbye peace and prosperity.
I do my best to make space and stop Saba from being able to stop all my plans. Having Architecture is extremely useful here, as I can have a bunch of potential city build with lower investement, meaning one of them is guaranteed. Even so, I am invaded wherever Saba can muster the manpower, and barely hold on to my land. This is by far the largest conflict this side of the world has seen, comparable only to Egypts invasion of Hatti.
Egypt actually follows through with the so called "Honourable Extortion" and begins to retreat from Anatolia - this is devastating for me as Hatti is still my only competitor on score. I believe they got a free 9 value trade card in exchange, and were able to build up to 8 cities anyways that turn.
Calamities: Volcano, Treachery, Famine, Flood, Piracy, Regression.
Saba steals a city from Assyria with Treacher, but gets hit by Piracy (a familiar pattern).
I have the treasury to purchase a 9, and it's Regression. I die. This is the one time in the game where the Regression really matters - we have decided that next turn is the final turn, and I'm nearly tied with Hatti on score, those 5 points will probably really make a difference.
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The final turn begins.
Saba begins a campaign of terror against all of their neighbours (the entire board except for Hatti), moving individual units into every place they could be annoying - really capitalizing on their Advanced Military. This devastates Babylon, this being their fourth ever real turn of playing they just didn't see it coming - or even know of the possibility of such action. I manage to hold on to some cities, although Saba is just able to move 2 units to stop my attempt at destroying the pirate city in Susa.
I only hope that I can end the Calamity phase with enough cities to progress, I only need 3 on the board due to my Wonder of the World, so it shouldn't be that hard.
Calamities: Treachery, Slave Revolt, Civil War, Barbarian Hordes, Cyclon, Epidemic, Tyranny, Regression, Piracy.
Yikes, what a way to end the game.
I end up with just the Cyclone. I reduce Harmozia to it, my hope is to keep Gherra and purchase Chaldea at the end of the turn to give me one extra city buffer, so I don't place the Cyclone in the Persian Gulf.
I get targetted by the Epidemic, I don't even remember who actually had it, but I think Hatti was the other Secondary at least. I reduce a couple more cities, and end up on just 3. A scary place, if I lose even one more, I won't advance, and I know that theres a Piracy coming.
Nubia gets hit with Tyranny. with everyone else doing their best to keep city count high at all costs, my 3 is the lowest, so I am the beneficiary. This give me 2 extra cities, I'm safe now and will be able to advance on AST.
Saba got the Civil war, and gave everything on the Arabian Peninsula to Assyria, making for a funny board state, but sadly not one we will play in.
After Calamities, everyone tries to max out how many points worth of Advances they can get.
I manage to get 15 points, which is pretty damn good for a game ending 3 or 4 turns early. I feel pretty good about my position, as Hatti is complaining about how poorly their trade round went.
Turns out, Hatti also got 15 points worth of Advancements.
Hatti is ahead of me by exactly 5 points, exactly 1 AST space, exactly 1 Regression that I purchased on Turn 15 - fuck.