Early July 1879(last battle update)
Since some last players had submitted their orders waiting what would happen next and I was quite curious myself if I could indeed (as Japan) bounce the combined German-Chinese onslaught, I decided to resolve this last turn. Well, since the orders of landing by the attacking forces were given BEFORE the players decided to abandon the ship (although Netherlands never actually declared war!) we might as well solve the mystery regarding the outcome.

This was the situation when the Germans decided to land on Japan, helped by an adjunct Chinese expedition force.

In Northern Honshu, the Japanese forces were ready to bounce any American incursion, regardless if the Americans kept reserve forces for (!!) Netherlands or not. 3 Generals with at least 6K worth of forces in 3 distinct armies and more under recruitment were waiting for the inevitable second front. Tokyo itself could resist a hell lot of assaults, with many stuffed resources and even a specialized "fort defender" leader.

The outcome of the battle in Fukuoka... well, let's just say that bjfagan screwed his offensive again (for a 3rd time in a row in this theater of operations). Even with the help of the Chinese the result were damning for the German-Chinese forces. Just look at the numbers, as more Japanese troops were coming in, the German-Chinese had no chance of relieving their forces. And notice that Saigo has not even committed yet. No doubt their players decided to abandon game this very turn.

(btw: I resolved this turn twice without turning the nations in AI and two with turning them to AI... just to be certain, the result was always the same, regardless)


The next fortnight, the situation for the German-Chinese forces looks desperate. Unless bjfagan could bring in fast (perhaps using his exploit: the scripted Suez channel) some extra 3-4K worth of troops from Europe or elsewhere just to counter the Japanese in numbers and playing at home turf, it will be total defeat in a matter of two months or so (4-5 turns). Next turn Saigo would have arrived (or marched to the sound of guns) with an astonishing number of fresh troops to hit the battle-worn Germans in Fukuoka who were already separated from their Chinese allies. Once MC was lost, probably next turn already, the engine would have been quite brutal to the stranded offenders. Without MC and bases they would have no supplies coming in, no replacements for troops, even the dice roll for leader activation would have been less probable. In other words, a major defeat of the Germans and Chinese was averted by... the not playing of their players!


Aaanyway. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. We had our good times and our bad times, I hope most of you remember the good times. All players that have abandoned this MP since it started were players that one way or another were losing with their avatar nations. For better or for worse, we kept this tradition up to the end.