I finally had an exciting game. Played as the Egyptians on Emperor/Epic on a large Pangaea map with 12 civs/24 CS. Had an iffy starting location near tundra but decided to go with it. Followed a strategy of building wonders and increasing culture while fortifying my borders. My location was in the centre of a dumbell-shaped contintent so everyone else was split into eastern and western areas. The Ottomans were becoming a serious threat in the West though as they and the Aztecs mopped up several other civs. The Aztecs were mainly on the far side of the Ottomans though and I had a city in a coastal salient in the heart of Ottoman territory. In the East the Japanese and Russians were killing everyone else. Although the Russians were lower tech than me, the Japanese had the highest score in the game. Two city states, Sidon and Singapore, were between me and the Japs in the north-east while the Russians were slowing expanding their territory to my south-east and east.
I used three Great Scientists to leap to rifleman/artillery and built several riflemen and a single artillery. My intention was to wound the Ottomans, who appeared to be the most serious threat, then turn to face the Japanese. Unfortunately, just as I was about to launch my spoiling attack against the Turks, Russia and Japan attacked me simultaneously. Singapore was my ally and held a narrowish mountain pass so they held up the Japs while I rapidly reoriented my suddenly feeble-looking military to fend off the massive number of Russian musketmen, crossbowmen and pikemen crossing my border. A couple of Japanese riflemen also appeared down the narrow strip between the sea and the mountains that was held by Sidon. I used my available funds to ally Sidon to distract further Japanese reinforcements and managed to destroy the intruders with a combination of my single artillery, a nearby city and one of my own riflemen. Meanwhile my other 4/5 Rifleman ran aorund the countryside killing off Russian invaders. Every city starting building military units but it was a very slow process.
I finally halted the Russian hordes just as the Japs conquered Singapore and started exiting my end of the pass. I got a second artillery just in time and used riflemen fortified on hills supported by indirect fire to hold the line. Workers moved in and built forts under fire plus road links to those forts. Eventually I reached a point where I could hold the line and spare a few riflemen. I used this strategic reserve to launch an offensive against the Russians and took two of their cities. They offered peace negotiations and I settled for two of their cities, one of which I razed and the other was quickly taken by a fresh wave of Japanese troops. Three factors swung the balance in my favour. A new great scientist allowed me to research infantry, a third artillery was built and I finally got a couple of ironclads into service. They sailed down the coast and blasted the Japs who had just taken Sidon. While holding on the Singapore front, I launched an offensive and liberated Sidon, which was then indebted to me. The Japs were fully committed on the Singapore front and didn't mount any attempt to retake Sidon. This allowed me to move the full weight of my forces to face them. A large battle ensued on the plains near St Petersburg, a Russian city south of Singapore that I received in the Russian surrender but which was captured by the Japs. While that battle raged, I launched a blitzkrieg down the pass to Singapore and recaptured the city, which completely unhinged the Japanese line. Their forward units were now trapped between Singapore, which bestrode the pass leading back to the bulk of Japanese territory, my units near St Petersburg and the new Russian border. I mercilessly crushed them and launched my victorious forces in a twin assault through the territory of Sidon and Singapore. The Japanese were in serious trouble and three of their cities quickly fell, including the former Indian capital. I was running out of steam though and Ottoman forces were massing in the West so I settled for peace negotiations. The Japs kept most of their territory but I liberated several English cites and two Indian ones, recreating both civs. They didn't seem very grateful though.
My battle-hardened forces used the newly built railways to move to the West. At this point I realised that I had no aluminium at all in my territory and the Ottomans had several resource locations. As the Ottomans were plainly going to attack me anyway, I used my carefully hoarded funds (and 7000 GP from the Jap surrender) to upgrade several of my infantry to Mechanized Infantry and attacked them first. The Egyptian blitzkrieg took two cities immediately but the Ottomans also had infantry by now and a costly, drawn-out battle took place, with my outnumbered but technologically superior forces holding off Ottoman human wave assaults. I created a Citadel in the midst of my defensive line, which was located in some woods along a river, and used it as a bulwark upon which the Ottomans expended themselves. My first tanks and aircraft arrived, which proved sufficient to break the stalemate and I took the city which was backing up their attacks. The Ottoman defences collapsed completely and my tanks ran unhindered across great swathes of their territory. Several cities fell and the Ottomans sued for whatever peace terms they could achieve. I was magnaminous as usual and just ensured they would be no further threat. Now for those Aztecs!
Steve