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== Introduction ==

Recently,I'm playing the game of Italian Map in Landgrab Risk.The game have already reached 200+ and not end or even won't finish in short terms.This game is really interesting for me.I will use the "third-person view" to mention this battle report(actually like a novel).7 players who play this game is particularly called "Mr Pink","Greystroke87","Feenix",Lady M","The Glen",crouchie" and "Garibaldi the Liberator".

In this game,I'm called "Garibaldi the Liberator"(just simpily call" Garibaldi" below).to be one of the main character in this game,Garibaldi(me) have ever experienced a lot of things,such like how he was able to recover and seize the luck to establish the great power at Lombardy(north-west region of Italy which contains 4 continents and 2 fortress though of the narrow area) after losing the kingdom of Sardinia and "was exiled" to Milan.And how he successfully crippled the stronger Feenix with diplomacy and good tactics.And how he was betrayed by his ally Lady M and vowed to avenge for his unfortunate.Garibaldi(me) is still the king of Lombardy now.

This game will also show you many treacherous faces and the game of betrayal.I think this is quite "real" in diplomacy.No one would trust the others faithfully and completely.The great game of diplomacy will be seen in the part 3:The Enraged Dragon.In that part,the triangle between Garibaldi,Lady M and Feenix acted the curious relations in the international diplomacy.the alliance didn't fixed and shifted as the environment changed.

Let me remind you one thing before starting the report(or called "epic history" as you want),there're a "leader"(Attack + 1) and "fortress"(Defense + 1) system in this game.Every player can set up only one leader.And varient fortress spread across Italy.Since I can't show the sign of fortress in the map,I will mention them below.They include Saluzzo,Montserrat,Mantua,Florence(nothern part of Florence),Pisa(western part of Florence),Sienna(northern part of Sienna),Lower Bolsena(southern part of Sienna),Patrimony of St. Peter(most southern tip of Umbria) and Campania Principati(top-left of Two Sicilies,just south of St. Peter Fortress)

I will start the story from the nearly-current age,using the memory of Garibaldi to initate the story from the beginning.Prepare to watch this epic story in the world of "The Song of Italy"!......

Preface:In the winter of Montserrat Fortress

At the palace of Montserrat Fortress,the capital of Garibaldi's kingdom.This is the season of the winter.Garibaldi gazed to the huge plain of Lombardy from the top of the palace wall and pondering his glorious past and the shattering dream of the empire.Suddenly,a messager have came and tell him,'Your Majesty,the envoy of Lady M brought a letter to you,here is.'Garibaldi quickly grabbed it and read it quickly,'Unbelievable!How this treaechrous empress dare to offer the request of reconstructing alliance shamelessly?'Garibaldi claimed.But Garibaldi decided not to express his hostile attitude to deal with her.'Tell that envoy I will reply in 3 days,and he stay in the palace until my reply.Tell the general of palace to supply him with food and shelter.''Yes,Your Majesty.'The messanger replied and then went away,left the king to shiver in the cold wind of the winter.

Garibaldi then continue his memorizing of the past.He then said,'I never forgive what Lady M did to me.She have destroyed the prosperous of my thriving kingdom.I could completely defeat Feenix if not because of her.I have already sat on the golden throne in the palace of Venice if she hadn't turned her spear.She shattered my dream of unifing Northern Italy.I vow....I will avenge for the cause of her betrayal,stormed Sardinia and Two Sicilies in one day.Sardinia....That small "Island terrtories" was my former kingdom and also my original home at the past,it is just at the far side from the coast of Genoa....'He started to memorize his career from Sardinia....The story started from here.

Part 1:The Chaos of War

Italy fell into apart and disorder.Seven warlords have to fought each other until anyone can achieve the unification.But which one will be able to defeating all rivals and win?Only the God knows......

=== Every player's initial terrtories ===

At the Northern Italy,the fertile land of Lombardy(north-west of Italy,which contains 2 fortresses and 4 continents,totally cost 6 values) was filling with the clash of two kingdoms.Mr Pink and Greystroke were fighting for Lombardy.Moving your eyes to the east,you can watch Venice and Mantua Fortress(both cost 4 values in total).They're firmly controlled by Feenix.

At the Central Italy,The Glen and Lady M were there and confrontating directly in two fortresses of Sienna(2 values).And Umbria became the battlefield of them.The Glen easily expanded to Florence and was slowly moving northward.

At the Southern Italy,crouchie almost controlled Sicilies and part of Umbria.While Garibaldi captured the southern tip of Sicilies.

At the west of the Italian Peninsula,there're two islands called Corsica and Sardinia,they belongs to the continent "Sardinia".It's Garibaldi's domain.

=== The timeline of the history in Part 1 ===

Turn 5:Venetian Expedition --- Greystroke invaded Venice,the domain of Feenix
Turn 12:Battle of Turin --- Mr Pink decisively defeated Greystroke
Turn 16:The fall of Montserrat Fortress --- Mr Pink conquered Greystroke
Turn 19:Lombardy Expedition --- Garibaldi assaulted Mr Pink's terrtories,sacked Savoy
Turn 23-31:crouchie's invasion of Sardinia,Garibaldi was "exiled" to Milan

Feenix:Rise as the strongest at Venice

Feenix had the good fortune at the early period.He quickly consolidated Venice and Mantua Fortress.Except one invasion of Greystroke to Venice,Feenix could grew peacefully without any opponent's hinderance.He quickly gathered the powerful force at the north-east,becoming the greatest power in Italy at the initial age of the game.

Mr Pink:Rise at Lombardy

Mr Pink established Saluzzo Fortress as his original and main base,he expanded to Savoy and started to clash with Greystroke who settled himself at Montserrat Fortress with his main army.Since Greystroke divided his army unwisely and attacked Feenix at Venice,his force was weakened.But the decisive moment didn't come until the battle of Turin(northern part of Savoy),which Greystroke assaulted Mr Pink from Montserrat Fortress with slight advantage(15 vs 11).Both sides also have "leader".Greystroke's troops lost badly.And Mr Pink soon captured Montserrat Fortress and conquered him without much loss.After that,Mr Pink built the "First Kingdom of Lombardy",which was soon became the attacking aim of Garibaldi of Sardinia.

However,crouchie's invasion of Sardinia caused Garibaldi to lost his kingdom of Sardinia,this relieved her threat and she soon grew as the strong power almost equal to Feenix.

Strategic comment:Dividing troops and launched the meaningless attack will only cause your decline rapidly.Only concentrating army on the strategic place lead you to the way of victory.Besides,don't foolishly abandon the well-fortified position dashly without good reason.If Greystroke heavily guarded at Montserrat Fortress instead of riskly launched the battle,would Mr Pink shatter him so easily?

Greystroke:His quick decline

Greystroke just concerned on capturing terrtories at Northern Italy.He usually left small garrison to these unimportant provinces,so his power graudally waned.His invasion of Venice(Feenix) was only the meaningless success.Sawing that Mr Pink's threat was imminent to Montserrat Fortress.He decided to gamble for his kingdom.

Greystroke led his troops from Montserrat,and then "charged" to Mr Pink's army at Turin.After the fiercious combat,Greystroke lost the battle.He was shocked of his defeat.It was too late for Greystroke to regret.Soon after,Mr Pink's army entered Montserrat Fortress and hunted down Greystroke's remaining troops.

The Glen and Lady M:The deadlock of the confrontation

Two lords' main base was so near,The Glen owned Sienna Fortress(northern part of Sienna) while Lady M controlled Lower Bolsena Fortress(southern part of Sienna).Two castles just had the distance of arrow,but both of them couldn't subdue the others.Their battle erupted occasionally around the Central Italy.The Glen soon controlled Florence.

After crouchie went to Sardinia,Lady M quickly filled the power vacuum of Sicilies,captured St. Peter Fortress and Campania Principati Fortress.Most of Sicilies was in her hands.Her conflict with the Glen at the continent of Umbria was long-drawn one.The notable thing is the Glen divide his troops to many pieces,so it won't give the other players any threatening feeling and could control widespead provinces.

crouchie:Rise at the south

crouchie had the good strategic position at the Southern Italy.He captured most of the Sicilies except the southern tip of Sicilies which was occupied by Garibaldi.In fact,holding Sicilies was impossible for him.That explained why he "transfered" to Sardinia later.He also firmly controlled St. Peter Fortress(southern coast of Umbria) and Campania Principati(just south of St. Peter) Fortress and garrisoned them with strong army.

crouchie had prepared to invade Sardinia while Garibaldi neglected his threat from Sicilies and focused on Lombardy Campaign.Thus,crouchie's assault to Garibaldi captured him by surprise,his army decisively annihilated Garibaldi's smaller army at Calabria(22 Vs 15,both no leader),the southern tip of the Italian Peninsula.To secure Sardinia,crouchie even brought all his army to Sardinia and abandoned Sicilies only for the sake of capturing Sardinia.crouchie loudly claimed,'The die is cast!Now I prepare to pay everything for Sardinia.Hope the God bless me!'Finally,Garibaldi chose the better decision:Retreat,avoiding the seeming certain conlict with crouchie.

Strategic Comment:crouchie seems like knew how to use "surprise" element in Risk.He placed light garrison in Sicilies,successfully gave me the illusion that he didn't have enough power to threaten me,and suddenly attack me after cashing cards.The invasion of Sardinia is the bold and well-done one(maybe also "risky" one).

Garibaldi:The ambitious king was "exiled"

Garibaldi rose as the strong power at Sardinia since it was at the corner and easily defended.His general went to ask him,'Where should we going to expand?'Garibaldi spoke to him,'Can't you see what the opposite coast is?There is the fertile plain of Lombardy*.Once I take it,I can organize the powerful army in this rich region and sweep the whole of Italy as swifting wind.'

*Lombardy is not the continent,but the historical region at the north-west of Italy as I have mentioned before,it includes 4 continents and 2 fortresses,provide 6 continent values.That's why it's unusually important though of the narrow area.

Hence,Garibaldi launched the offensive to Mr Pink of Lombardy,it was called "The Lombardy Expedition" in history.Savoy was ransacked,but Mr Pink's fortresses was untouched.When everything seems went well to Garibaldi,the disaster followed.Garibaldi used Genoa as the base of the Lombardy Campaign,he stayed there and commanded the battle.At the barrack of Genoa,one man brought the news to Garibaldi from Sardinia.'Dire news!My lord!crouchie have invaded Sardinia,our capital Sardinia(southern part of Sardinia) was occupied!'Garibaldi was terrrified,but soon calmed down and ordered,'Prepare the ships to Sardinia,I'm going to strike back!'

Unforunately for Garibaldi,crouchie bet on everything he had and put all his army to Sardinia.Both sides' main army(with "leader") confronted directly particularly at Corsica(northern part of Sardinia) and Sardinia.crouchie even had the slightly numerical advantage(28 vs 24).Garibaldi realized he can't recapture Sardinia and decided to avoid his direct and fruitless conflict with crouchie,so he evacuate to Milan and left his original home.He gazed the blue ocean after he boarded the ship to leave.'I will return,and drive the invader away from my home.'Garibaldi vowed.

After he was exiled to Milan.He was heavily stressed by both great powers(Mr Pink and Feenix).Seems like even survive was quite difficult for him in such situation.

Strategic Comment:Don't let the sense of vengeance taint your brain.The foolish revenge just procure your certain defeat.You can revenge to him everytime you can,why don't just enduring him?Remember,retreat doesn't mean the defeat,it just give you a chance to regroup and then counter-strike with more powerful troops.Always avoid the conflict in the disadvantaged situation whether you lose terrtories to your opponents.If you can do so,you're hardly to be conquered.

=== Every player's position at Turn 48 ===

(2nd rank)Mr Pink      Total army:60      Reinforcement:7
Terrtories:Whole Lombardy except Genoa(eastern part of Genoa)

(6th rank)Garibaldi      Total Army:32      Reinforcement:3
Terrtories:"exile" in Milan

(1st rank)Feenix      Total Army:83      Reinforcement:7
Terrtories:Venice and Mantua Fortress

(4th rank)crouchie      Total Army:46      Reinforcement:5
Terrtories:Sardinia,Genoa(eastern part of Genoa) and southern tip of Sicilies

(3rd rank)The Glen      Total Army:66      Reinforcement:6
Terrtories:Sienna Fortress(northern part of Sienna),Florence,part of Modena & Ferrara and Umbria

(5th rank)Lady M      Total Army:47      Reinforcement:3
Terrtories:Lower Bolsena Fortress(southern part of Sienna),part of Umbria and northern Sicilies

According to this statistics,Feenix was the strongest now,and only Mr Pink was able to challenge him in current time.Garibaldi was the weakest since he was in "exiled" now.

Now it's time for you to guess how the story continued now.Will Garibaldi able to recover after he was expelled from Sardinia?Will Mr Pink and Feenix have the epic battle between them?Also,I have already mentioned "two kings" will rise later.Who're they actually?Mr Pink?crouchie?Or other players?To answer these questions,you must watch the next part:The Rising of Two Kings.