Civilization V 1.0.0.17 release. Playing as Japan on a large/fractal map on warlord difficulty. Japan has been at war with England since the dawn of time when they tried to horn in on our peninsula.

Part 1 opens with my units massed for an attack on London from Hastings. As you can see, due to the "one combat unit per tile" limitation in Civ5, things are *very* crowded. England has been known to embark (ferry) units across the narrow strip of water to the north of Hastings, so I need to be careful and guard my right-flank. The left-flank is far more secure due to the presence of the mountain range and the knight in Nagoya.

After declaring war, I immediately surge across and kill off a spear-man and chariot archer. Then I move my units carefully forward, keeping my lines intact. My swordsman takes a fearful pounding from London's ranged attack. So I have to speed up the attack and use my archers to soften up London because the siege engines are falling behind.



Part 2 opens up with London under siege, but not yet fallen to my forces. Three separate AI empire's scouts are serving to guard my left flank because their AI wants to explore my lands and my units are in the way. (Stupid AI tricks.) But with (2) archers and (1) catapult, London doesn't have much time left unless England masses forces. There's a small feint towards York at 1m30s, but I immediately retreat out of range of the city's attack.

(That actually plays a big part in Civ5 warfare, a city can do a lot of damage to your units if you take too long to setup and siege the city.)

London falls at 5m45s, then I have to re-arrange my battle lines to take on Nottingham. Elizabeth begs for peace at 9m40s, but I'm not stopping until I take at least two cities.



Part 3 is the end of the line for Nottingham. I've gotten my lines straightened out and have started the march forward. England doesn't sally forth with but a sole English warrior who is quickly dispatched by my pikeman. Now the AI scouts are north of Nottingham (5m30s) - once again shielding my flank, but also making it difficult for my melee units to get within range to attack the city.

I manage to get two siege engines into play when taking Nottingham in addition to a pair of archers, so it falls a lot faster then London. As soon as Nottingham falls, I sue for peace so that I can consolidate and regroup.