The Battle of Nottingham
860 A.D.: The bulk of the German forces veer South, going around the Celtic defenders bound for London and heading toward Nottingham. Seeing the signal fires, the Celtic general turns his troops back the way they came as swiftly as possible to defend the city.
880 A.D.: Nottingham burns. Every available troop is sent up the Dublin Road to relieve the siege.
Unrest grows as the cities of the Celtic South are left to local militias.
Remember that policy I took that gave me happiness for every city with a garrison? Yeah, well, pulling all of my troops to meet the Germans has caused my Happiness to take a plunge.
890 A.D.: Nottingham falls to German forces, becoming the first Celtic city ever to be captured.
This is not good. I've gone entire games of Civ without ever losing a city, so it's a pretty big deal. And since Nottingham lies at a crossroads, the Germans have also broken my trade routes and supply lines to York and London.
900 A.D.: Intense fighting at the River Nottingham leads to heavy German and Celtic losses. Their blood is carried out to sea, leading to the day after the battle becoming known as the Morning of the Red Tide.
Word finally reaches the French and Swedes of the horrors visited upon their fellow PC Elitists. They declare war on Germany.
It's about time. Apparently one of my cities needed to be sacked before they decided this was pressing enough for them to bother. The tide may be turning, but I'm still in a lot of trouble. France and Sweden are each over 10 turns from Nottingham, and the Germans could reach York or London in only two.
That same year, the Celtic town of Truro is founded West of Cardiff.
At this point, I'm preparing to lose all of my English holdings to the Germans. If that happens, I'll need to replace my lost infrastructure by founding new cities and trade routes.
