Grand Final

After dozens of matches, the grand finalists were Trajan (Rome), Menelik II (Ethiopia), Sundiata Keita (Mali), Ludwig II (Germany), Nzinga Mbande (Kongo) and Gandhi (India).

In case you've skipped straight to the finale and believe your favourite has been hard done by, there have been several rounds to get to this point - each giving leaders at least a second chance to cut through and prove their worth. 

These final six have either won their way here, or at least not sucked enough.

The final will be a simple six-aside match until someone's won twice, with new maps rolled for each game. That's it. As explained in the first post there will be a dummy leader in the 'player' spot, as always Kupe, who starts at sea and has the lowest chance of messing up the wider game.

Before the results though, let's recap who the 'experts' thought might be the winners.

Pocket Tactics' 'S-tier' leaders were Abraham, Alexander, Basil, Frederick, Hojo, Montezuma, Pericles, Peter, Seondeok, Simon, Trajan and Wilfred... of those, only Trajan made it to the finale.

Game Rant recommended Abraham, Amanitore, Basil, Hammurabi, Jayavarman, Victoria (Age of Steam) and Yongle, none of whom made the final.

Meta Tier List recommended Basil, Frederick, Hojo, Monty, Pericles, Peter, Seondeok, Simon, Wilfred, Suleiman, Genghis and Eleanor (England)... none of whom made the final. 

Gaming Gorilla went for Hojo, Peter, João III, Curtin, Kupe (!!!!) and Teddy (Bullmoose). 

And without further ado, here we go...

Game 1

Despite Nzinga's domination across virtually every stat, including score, Trajan scored the victory via space. Menelik was a close third.

Trajan wins again, and he's champion. Let's move to game 2.

Game 2

It was almost done in two - Trajan putting in another strong effort. Both he and Menelik achieved space race victory, but Menelik was way ahead - in both that and on points.

Menelik was also close to a culture win, taking out this match relatively comfortably. Gandhi was a distant third place.

Game 3

A runaway win for Gandhi, who technically triumphed via science but was leading in every other way too (except religion).

Sundiata put in a strong showing too, but it's looking like Ludwig doesn't stand a chance so far. Menelik came in third.

Game 4

It's not over yet - with our fourth winner in as many games, this time Nzinga via space and culture, and almost religion too.

Gandhi was second, and Menelik third. Once again, as usual, Ludwig was last.

Game 5

Sundiata wins via religion - which means five of the six leaders in the final have a point each, all but poor old Ludwig, whom to his credit came in third this time.

That means unless Ludwig pulls off a huge upset in the sixth game, whoever wins next is the overall champion.

Game 6

And we have a grand champion! As I mentioned earlier, the plan was to keep playing until one leader had two wins under their belt... and so the trophy goes to Nzinga Mbande of Kongo! Somewhat of a surprise, considering she only scraped through the earlier stages to get this far.

After a close-run early game which saw Nzinga neck-and-neck with Trajan, Melenik and Sundiata, she ran away with it via a space victory. Trajan suffered the loss of his capital to Ludwig, effectively taking him out of the running, while Melenik and Sundiata just couldn't keep up with Nzinga's science output.

Round 3: Second semi-final

So far Trajan, Menelik and Sundiata are through to the grand final - let's find out who'll be meeting them there.

In this semi-final were Frederick Barbarossa, Mvemba a Nzinga, Ludwig II, Mansa Musa, Harald Hardrada (Konge), Teddy Roosevelt (Bull Moose), Kristina, Nzinga Mbande and Gandhi. Two matches, top three make it through. 

Game 1

Ludwig II stormed home, no one else even close. He achieved both science and culture victories - the latter, more than twice what he needed to win. Kristina made a valiant effort at a religious victory, but was no competition.

Game 2

What final would be worth playing without Gandhi? Luckily after a poor performance in the first match, the nuke-happy legend pulled through with a win in the second, scoring a place in the grand final. But it was close - both he and Nzinga Mbande achieved a science win, so Gandhi took it out on points. 

Third place went to Harald. (Kupe in the screenshot as the 'player' civilization needed to give the competitors a fair match, as per the explanation given at the start of this little exercise). 

So that makes our three finalists from this semi-final Ludwig II, Gandhi and - very narrowly on points - Nzinga Mbande.

Onto the grand final - Ludwig II, Gandhi, Nzinga Mbande, Trajan, Menelik and Sundiata.

Round 3: First semi-final

Eighteen leaders left! In this round, two groups of nine will play two matches, the best performing three from each going through to the final.

Tomyris, Poundmaker, Trajan, Eleanor of Aquitaine (French), Catherine de Medici (Black Queen), Kublai Khan (Chinese), Menelik II, Sundiata Keita and Sejong competed in the first semi-final.

Match 1

Here's how the scores landed.

Winner was Trajan, who pulled off a space victory and was also in the lead for culture. Kublai Khan managed to get three-quarters of the way towards a religious win, which is something I've honestly never seen happen in seven years of playing this game, from anyone.

With no other civilizations obtaining a victory condition, Trajan was the clear winner, followed by Kublai Khan and Sundiata Keita, on points. 

Match 2

This time it was Menelik's turn to dominate - winning via space, and closest with a second victory condition, via culture. 

No one else achieved a victory condition, so the runners-up - on points - were Sundiata Keita and Trajan.

Those two matches combined, the qualifiers are the two winners - Trajan and Menelik - with Sundiata, who came second in both games. 

Kublai Khan (2400) will be annoyed for narrowly missing out on points to Sundiata (2553). Both outscored Trajan and Menelik, but without any wins. 

Elimanated were Kublai Khan (China), Tomyris, Sejong, Eleanor of Aquitane (France) and Catherine de Medici (Black Queen). 

Onto the second semi-final!