Turn 3

Now that the opening moves are out of the way, we can focus on recruiting an army for London and optimizing money, resources, and population. The money serves a strategic role in sieging Bordeaux and accumulating influence. Population and influence largely go into a wonders for fame engine if one is so interested.

Blitz Paris for 6480 influence, which is significantly larger than what you can get the first two turns, and conveniently arrives when you more or less exhaust your initial reserves. Have the embarked southern horsemen claim Subra. This will be the city that produces an army to siege Bordeaux. Have your scouts claim Jishui (for the dye) and Pipirima (population). You can go ahead and buy remaining extractors in Kang and Liesma. I claim the Pyramids for the cost reduction and place them in Liesma for food. Settle Carnotena in Kang and queue Pyramids. This city has limited strategic value until the end, with possible opportunities to contribute if you can settle Independent People nearby. Attach Liesma to Paris and queue the pottery workshop to save production.

The north should look like this:

and the south like this:

Turn 4

Enact Natural Right and Codified Law for the science boost. Demand Citalá. Detach Liesma from Paris, attach Citalá and buyout a garrison with money. Detach Citalá and buyout the harbor and extractors. This exchanges influence for gold/production and allows Paris to produce an army for London. Attach Citalá and Liesma to Paris, and queue three swordsmen and two archers at the new garrison. Move the northern horsemen into the Channel.

To the south, queue scouts in Carnotena. Buyout extractors in Subra, found Castrum Blesense, and queue Pyramids. Have the horsemen claim Janeldass.

In the east, buyout extractors in Jishui and claim Tonatiuh.

Turn 5

Buy extractor in Plautos, queue scout riders in all three cities. Disband the northern scouts in Paris. Claim Theemin for its dyes. Move the new army into the Channel.

To the south, buy the silk extractor in Janeldass and move the horsemen to claim Mizar. Note, as Janeldass is not adjacent to Subra, you have to place an extractor to generate roads and cross the river. With the new scout out of Carnotena, claim Iklil (for population).

Turn 6

Enact Conscripts for more flexibility on fielding an army for Bordeaux. Buy extractors in Theemin, and have the scouts claim Fawaris, which can be a useful place to settle Independent People for militarist stars and the defeated unit count. With the scout riders out of Paris, claim Furud (resources, possible city). With those out of Castrum Blesense, claim Axolotl, which is key for a path to Bordeaux. Send the ones from Carnotena to claim Al Minliar Al Asad (more population). Attach Pipirima to Paris to ensure a buyout reserve of 120. Keep that army moving!

To the south, queue a production-saving pottery workshop in Castrum Blesense, and claim Fumalsamakh.

Turn 7

Move your northern army onto British shores, careful not to let the horsemen stray too far in case of extra units. Claim Hanging Gardens, place on river sage. You will notice the Pyramids reduce the buyout cost. If you so choose, you can start attaching and detaching territories to transfer population to buyout wonders for fame. Who knew the sacrifices the French made to come out on top? Disbanding odd scouts can also help with shifting population.

Attach all the southern territories to Castrum Blesense and buyout a garrison with money. Its placement is somewhat important in determining whether buyout units on the turn of the siege will be included in the battlefield. Detach the territories and buy extractors/harbors. At this point, you can also steal some population from Plautos with a temporary attach. Now consolidate the southern territories again and queue swords/archers at the garrison. By moving the outpost in Fumalsamakah, you can also embark the horsemen.

Claiming more territory and resources can be helpful for the fame game.

Turn 8

This turn is pretty straightforward in carrying out sieges. Leading with the horsemen in both cases can prompt the defenders to attack, but usually Bordeaux is awkwardly defended such that you can assault pretty easily.

London is the target with more combat headaches. If all the defenders remain within the walls, it can be difficult to take their flag or eliminate their units in a single turn. Not a problem for this sample play-through, however!

Bordeaux is pretty straightforward. If they focus forces here, you can easily reinforce via the garrison. As it turns out, they did not reinforce Bordeaux. Unfortunately, that meant reinforcing the British Isles. Despite taking both cities and reducing their war support to zero, a stray territory west of London became a city and deprived me of T9 vassalization.

These are factors that can wreck victory even when following optimal steps. For some reason, this is more likely to happen on Humankind than on Hamlet. It is more manageable if the loose territory is next to Bordeaux, as you have the horsemen in the water with a good deal of range. A new city back in England is pretty much a dealbreaker. Another factor that makes Bordeaux easier is the hostile Normans to the south who are often ransacking outposts just when you are negotiating vassalization. They can also be a good source of militarist stars for the valiant.

Notably, there are several paths from Subra to Fumalsamakah that seem viable. The armies do not necessarily need to have as many units as I have used above, but it is a good idea to send a solid force with swords to London, as it is harder to reinforce.

Feel free to ask questions and share further optimizations--purely for honors, of course! And a hearty thanks to Amplitude for a contest that elicited some creative approaches :)