Ashoka’s team included his grandfather, Chandragupta Maurya, and Chanakya. Chandragupta Maurya started from humble beginnings. Chanakya was a philosopher who helped Maurya to build one of the largest empires on the Indian subcontinent. During their travels, the Nanda King had ordered their execution, but they escaped and later deposed the Nanda King, and therefore put an end to the Nanda dynasty, and began the Maurya dynasty. Later in life, Maurya renounced his position as king to become a Jainist monk.

Each one of these individuals had strategic prowess that was on-par with the 4 co-leaders of the Yellow Wang faction or better. Together, they made for a powerful, powerful force. Not to mention, Chanakya did not seem too keen on Baron beating his rival, Bai Qi. Even if it was centuries ago, their brief meeting in the banquet made it quite clear that he despised Baron to the core.

The days leading up to their fight with one another, both sides studied the previous recordings of their respective opponents during the Sun Tournament. As was the case for many other teams. This was the most important battle of their time here in the Chinese community, they all had to make it count. After this last round of matches, the overall indicator of the quality of strategists from each community would be revealed.

Before their simulation, Baron’s team invited Ashoka’s team for a little talk. Everyone got acquainted with each other, and although Chanakya made for a less than pleasant guest, they all enjoyed each other’s company. No information about each other was transferred, it was just a nice way for the leaders of both groups to meet before their match. 24 teams remained undefeated, after this round, only 12 would remain.

As they all got into the simulation, the setting that they would be fighting in would be the Rwandan Civil War in Africa. The war was between the Hutu Government army along with a few troops from France and the rebel Tutsi forces (RPF). Decades earlier, the Tutsi monarchy was replaced by a Hutu republic, relations between the two groups didn’t exactly improve. Inside the 4 years of conflict, 800,000 Rwandan citizens were murdered, mostly from the Tutsi population, aptly dubbed the Rwandan Genocide.

After the war, 40% of the Rwandan population either died or fled to neighboring countries. That wasn’t to say the Hutu were the evil ones either, as just a few decades earlier, 200,000 Hutu people were killed in another genocide. Tensions were high, and the monarchy pre colonialism and during colonialism made matters a lot worse. The Belgians leaving so hastily certainly did not help.

Baron’s team would be leading the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) while Ashoka’s team would lead the Rwandan army and defend. The battle would be largely in guerilla warfare type situations, and if Baron’s forces managed to get to the highly populated areas, then it would devolve into urban warfare. Unfortunately, guerilla warfare was Chandragupta Maurya’s specialty, so that would be a challenge.

Due to the position of their simulation, Baron and his team really would not be able to secure a lot of extra weapons, not to mention developing anything too advanced. This was less of an issue for their opponents as they had a bit of support from the United Nations. Even so, they could still develop the wooden m4’s for their 4,000 strong army. Training them would take a lot longer, but it would be worth it. They also had a few machine guns, autocannons, mortars, etc. stolen from the Ugandan military.

Baron informed Roxi and Jaxon of the blueprint that Nicholas had given him and how if they could get it made, they would be able to have the upper hand. Roxi took a look at it and reassured him that she would be able to get it done. Then she disappeared for a few months. When she returned, she fulfilled her promise and they had access to over 10,000 listening devices that were shaped like insects. In the jungle, no one would suspect anything like this to be anything special. He wasn’t quite sure how she managed it, but he was glad she was on his side.

Their target was the city of Kigali, where the president and all their highly influential supporters were. Currently, they were near the borders of the country of Uganda. They would need to first breach the forests between the border of Rwanda and Uganda, then head for the city. It would be easier said than done since the Rwandan military would have prepared for this assault unlike what happened in real life where they were unprepared.

The Rwandan military had 5,200 men under their command, but Baron knew it would only be a matter of time before they were to receive reinforcements from the United Nations. French, Belgian, English and German forces were not out of the question. Therefore, he had to bolster his forces as well. During and after the revolt in the 1960s, many of those living in Rwanda moved to Uganda, Burundi, DRC, and Tanzania. He had his soldiers go around recruiting the local populace as well as militias. Hoping to ignite a sense of nationalistic pride, and it worked, getting almost 3,000 more volunteers for his war. With more on the way.

On October 1st, 1990, the war officially began. Baron picked noon to proceed with the first phase of the operation. His entire force would split up into 3 separate entities, all moving through the forests. Each about 10km away from each other. At first, they encountered little to no resistance, but at different times during the day, they were ambushed several times. These ambushes did not last very long, but the effect it would have on the soldier’s psyche would not be light. At the end of the day, all 3 groups made camp approximately 15kms from the border. Not a bad day, but it would only get tougher from here.

For the next week or so, the three different armies continued onward, to the city of Kigali. Just as they were about to leave the forests, Jaxon’s army was ambushed heavily. He managed to drive them off, but his forces had suffered heavy casualties. There was no other choice than to continue. The light defense in the forests meant that the enemy had focused the majority of their forces somewhere else. Most likely the capital city of Kigali that was near the geographic center of the Rwandan country.

The three armies would have to pass through rolling hills and valleys for this next part, so they decided to regroup and march as one army. They had to split into three before so they could have an easier time weaving through the forest. Now began the second phase of the plan. A few small contingents separated from the main army and began delivering the intelligence bug contraptions made by Roxi into the hands of the spies already posted there. Those spies would then be able to record and have video evidence of firsthand intelligence.

While all of that espionage was going on, the army, now reduced to about 5,500, continued marching towards Kigali. Several times a few skirmishes with some of the Rwandan forces had broken out, but for the most part, those were not meant to stop anything, more to stall. Still, a bunch of minefields and other traps were set up all over the place which slowed down their progress. However, they continued forward until they were just outside the compounds of the city. They waited until nightfall, then marched right into the capital as one massive force.

Chaos reigned supreme that night. All the non-combatants of the city were smart enough to stay inside were not harmed by Baron’s army. However, since the lack of visibility was a factor, they had to light more than a couple of things on fire; trashcans, garbage, food stalls, cars, whatever they could get. Since their progress was being monitored by the Rwandan army, resistance was very fierce. Baron’s army could not get very far that night, but they continued the assault, nonetheless. By the end of the third day, they had only made small advancements into the capital, so Baron ordered a temporary retreat.

His men were tired, and nothing less than a death charge of his entire army would get them anywhere at this point. That very night, Nicholas’ very useful blueprint had netted them something very useful information. Many UN troops would be coming in to fight off his army. E.T.A 2 days. If they were to take Kigali, then they would have to do it in less than 2 days. However, given his current state of his soldiers, that might not be possible.

That night, after a nice rest, his army was once again on the move. They entered the city in small groups. It was quite difficult as there was a perimeter of guards patrolling all of the easily accessible points into the city. However, with Roxi’s skill in long-distance shooting, she was able to open up a few holes in the defense and allowing their soldiers inside without alerting their Indian opponents. That’s what they hoped for anyway.

All of their soldiers were now inside the city, but it would be difficult to move efficiently during the day while carrying guns around. So, they had to convene as close to the center of the city through the night as they could. Then, during dawn, they would show themselves and take over the capital in a surprise ambush. With a force as big as this in enemy territory, it was almost a given that at least one, more likely tens of people, would be found and caught and interrogated and spill the beans. So, they had to act quickly.

This plan did not pan out well. Just as their forces were convening upon the fist rendezvous point, they were ambushed from all directions, dead in the night. Neither side was able to deal that much damage to each other, but it certainly did enough for a hundred or so to desert the battle. Those that stayed did not have such high hopes after they had driven off their attackers. But, they were so deep in now that they decided to go through with it.

The rest of the assault did nothing more than make the Kigarama region of the city into an active warzone for the next day or so. Though they were not being pushed back, they could at best make it a stalemate. One side couldn’t push the other group any further. Finally, Jaxon led a number of their troops around to try and flank their enemy. For 2 hours, it looked like it might work, but then, even more Rwandan army troops appeared out of nowhere and things just devolved into utter chaos from there.

Once again, Baron’s army would not be able to capture the city decisively. Their only fault was in not being experienced enough in urban warfare. Roxi was amazing as always, taking down one enemy after another from a distance away. However, she could only do so much with this much cover that both sides had access to. All of a sudden, UN troops, helicopters, and whatever else had encroached upon their position.

There was no word about this from their intelligence. From their spies to Nicholas’ reconnaissance bugs. The only thing left to do at this point was to order a very unorganized retreat, this time outside of Rwanda. Many of their troops managed to scatter throughout the city, hide and then get out of the country within the next couple of months. It was a good thing that Baron had anticipated this type of action as the militias and other volunteers he had been harboring in the surrounding countries were ready for some action.

However, now was not the time to fight. It was time to wait and see just how long the UN forces were willing to say. Baron did not doubt that all three of his opponents were very good at politics, but were they good enough to keep the UN forces, mostly from France, in the capital city of Kigali forever? Not as on February 22nd, 1992, the UN forces left the city with minimal presence. There were a few stationed, but not enough to decide the fate of the simulation. Perhaps they would come back if Kigali was targeted again, but that was a risk Baron had to take. Then, an event so shocking that both sides were unaware until it was too late occurred in early March. Somehow, the Rwandan genocide started about a year too early.