War for Australia-Hungary Part 2: The Adventures of Cliff Hanger 2753

Welcome back to the war for Australia-Hungary! I'm your host, Casimir IV, as in Casimir 4 CBRXS2!

We begin with a shot of Mighty Horthy, who has created a fresh new 3rd city and so far fended off Matthias Corvinus.

We left off last part with the war for Amata, but Hawke is so bored with this front that he has chosen to build a city on the front lines.

Parkes continues to nominally "fight" Curtin, while his partner the Anangu have already backed out.

Hawke founds a city on the war lines that is clearly not on a mountain. Amata takes light damage.

The Magyars found the 5th and final religion of the game, eastern orthodoxy. They're still technically at war with the Murri, who are sending a roundabout force to attack them.

In addition to founding a religion, the Magyars are very well fed(due to only having 2 cities.)

Bob Hawke, meanwhile, is having some serious famine problems.

The Anangu found two cities on the front lines as well. Clearly neither side is taking this war seriously.

Matthias hasn't given up on attacking Horthy, but it's clearly pointless.

Bob Hawke builds the Great Lighthouse, an important asset on map where naval battles are so key.

Despite neither civ taking this war seriously, the Anangu choose to give away Amata, and Hawke chooses to raze it. Hawke's clearly unhappy, as his food totals and this decision attest.

Henry Parkes builds a strong wonder, the Hanging Gardens, in Perth.

Skirmishs begin to occur across the Austro-Adriatic sea.

Hawke is, in fact, unhappy.

The Murri, still at war with the Magyars, declare war on Matthias. Neither civ seems quite prepared yet.

Poland, not wanting to be left out, joins Horthy and the Murri in the war-y.
The Hungarian capital seems exposed, but archers instead of comp bows for Poland is big oof.

Bob Hawke declares war across the ocean, but he doesn't actually have any boats that can cross deep ocean yet. I'd be surprised if he manages to gain anything in this war.

Hawke also settles Uluru and Sicily simultaneously.
The Murri look to settle a bit south of Naples irl.

They do settle it, and it immediately takes damage on its first turn of existence from the Magyars.

The Murri start to damage one of Matthias' city. Those comp bows look menacing.

They quickly capture the city and put it to the fire, as they've so often done this game.

Bathory may not be succeeding at this war, but he's gotten himself the best defensive wonder he can get.
It's a pretty good consolation prize, I'd say.

The Anangu declare war on Curtin once again, and this time they've sent only melee units instead of only ranged units. Let's see how that plays out for them.

The other Hungarian city on the front goes down to yellow the second it's attacked. It's probably not long for this world. Matthias continues to waste most of his army against Mighty Horthy.

Matthias finally gives up the war on Horthy, but not quickly enough to prevent another city of his being razed.

Parkes is still in the war on Curtin. He's been surrounding Kokoda for the past eternity.

Buna takes damage, and this time, Anangu has another target as well: Darwin. Only time will tell if their strategy of embarking melee units will work to take down the city.

After a turn, Buna seems sure to fall and Darwin seems like it will probably stay alive.

[VISIBLE CONFUSION]

Bob Hawke is still at war with Parkes Australia, but that hasn't stopped him from being elected Prime Minister of Australia. I knew he was beloved, but this is ridiculous.

Buna falls, and embarked units continue to flood into the seas around Darwin.

The absolute mad lad Bob Hawke has sent a navy to attack Toowoomba. He's not satisfied with winning the election, he's also got to win the war.

Billy builds Petra in Newcastle. It's a pretty decent city for it.

Toowoomba begins to take damage from Hawke's navy, as Parkes has apparently left the city totally undefended!

Meawhile, a small contingent of Parkes Navy and Army have combined to whittle away this undefended city of Curtin's.

Poland attempts a naval assault on Visegrad, while the Murri ferry troops across the Austro-Adriatic sea in hopes of seizing the Magyar capital.

Curtin manages to flip back Buna, but if you look at the bottom of this picture, you'll see Cairns has fallen into enemy hands.

Billy Hughes, a sleeping giant thus far, declares war on the Poles, saying "You aren't even an Australia or a Hungary, ya cunt!"

Darwin continues to take damage from the embarked onslaught and Buna flips back. You see Anangu, flipping cities is a thing you can do when you actually have melee units.

Estergom takes serious damage, and although Arpads assembled a defense, the Murri's navy has uncontested control of the seas. That should lead to this capital falling eventually.

Oh man. So much in a single slide.
Darwin falls to red and is surrounded by Anangu units on land and sea.
Wollongong falls to yellow from Parkes' Bowmen.
And Toowoomba goes all the way down to the red from the scrappy Hawke navy.

Poland, sensing the need to defend against Huge Hughes, peaces out with Matthias. No cities were exchanged. womp womp.

Esztergom falls deep into the red. With multiple triremes in range, the city will fall next turn.

The city falls to the Murri, and the Magyars instantly make peace with them. There will be no flips today.

What a crippling blow for Arpad, who has been reduced to a single city rump state.

Poland, despite not really being threatened in the least, gives away a terrible desert city that Hughes promptly burns down. A small price for peace.

Darwin falls to the Anangu, while Buna flips back to Curtin's control. Wollongong is certain to fall, especially since Parkes founded a city in the middle of the warzone. And finally, it seems a single trireme has turned back Hawkes attack on Toowoomba.

And fall it does. Wollongong is now safely in the hands of Parkes Australia. What a terrible part for Curtin.

Hawke's naval efforts against Parkes *would* have been thwarted, but Parkes has, like so many other civs this game, settled directly at the war zone. This time, however, Parkes is going to pay for the mistake.
Hervey bay is instantly in the yellow and surrounded. Hawke even has a land unit supporting him.

Buna falls to the Anangu for what appears to be the final time. A very strong part for the Anangu after an auspicious start.

Hervey bay is officially in Hawke's hands now. He now has a foothold across the ocean. I can't wait to see what he does with it.

Toowoomba begins to take damage again. The naval support seems to be lacking, but this time they do have a land unit to aid.

Kokoda finally takes damage after eons of siege. It's a difficult city to capture for sure, but it should not be this difficult.

In a strange war declaration, Billy Hughes declares war on Matthias Corvinus. Not sure what he expects to gain from this.

Not only that, but now Hughes is in this war alone, as the Murri peace out with Hungary.

A new coalition emerges against Stephen I. When we last left Stephen in part 1, he had lost two cities and seemed crippled, but he's had himself a serious resurgence.

The first half of the coalition is the Murri, who have taken this time to neither send a navy or an army against Hungary. Instead, they've chosen to settle on the front lines.

The second half of the coalition is Parkes Australia.
Parkes has also elected not to send an army to the immediate front.

This means Stephen I should at least temporarily have the advantage on both fronts. But will he take advantage of this opportunity? Or will he collapse and be partitioned by two of the stronger civs in the game?

Stay tuned for next time! Can't... Hold... On... Much... LONGERRRRR

Part 2 Strawpoll: https://www.strawpoll.me/19076983