[M2TW AAR]: Vignette III - HRE

[Whacker]

Keep up the good work mate, keep em comin!

[zverzver]

Thank you Beefeater. Great AAR.
Post more you'v got yoursef a reader.
By the way what is the difficulty setting for this game?

[Beefeater]

Zverzver , Good spot - it's on VH/VH. I've edited the first post to make this clear.

[Beefeater]

ANNUS HORRIBILIS

May 13, 1205

Breslau is cold. Wet. Filthy. Prince Leopold boasted today that he found this place a midden, and has left it a castle. Irrational. Throw stones at a turd. Smears the stones, doesn’t cleanse the turd. Breslau.

Prince feeling overlooked. Gave me missives for every courtier in Nuremberg. No wish to replace Henry. Fifteen years ago already too late, and Mandorf defecting hurt him. Now Leopold does his duty. He told me of Polish raiders on the plains. But he thinks there are worse than raiders coming. Leopold fears betrayal.

He is right. Kleiben’s man met me before I left. The Poles are a day’s march from here, maybe two. Leopold’s little Kingdom will not last the summer. Henry won’t send men. Mandorf? Who knows? No point warning Leopold of the Polish army. He’ll find out. Soon.


Known Europe at the end of the Langobard Crusade

State of the Reich

The Lombard League was decisively crushed at the battle of the Milan hills, and with its passing, Northern Italy was brought within the Imperial fold. The remaining Milanese outpost of Genoa soon fell. On the Adriatic coast, the Venetian exiles found themselves crushed between a resurgent Byzantium and an aggressively expansionist Hungary, and despite sporadic attacks on Vienna, they never again posed a serious threat to the Reich.

Henry’s Rock

The spoils of war were ready to be distributed among Germany’s nobles. Realising the impossibility of directly controlling both central Germany and the Reich’s Italian possessions, Kaiser Henry returned to his beloved Metz, leaving the Italian cities in the control of his able (and more importantly loyal) lieutenant, Friedrich von Schwaben.

While Henry was away in Italy, Nuremberg had eclipsed Frankfurt as the most prosperous city in Germany proper. Mandorf’s gold had been financing Henry’s wars – much to the ageing Leopold’s chagrin – and Henry was now in a position to repay Mandorf with interest. Nuremberg was made an Imperial Free City, and capital of the ever-expanding Reich. As Praesiderender Buergermeister, Mandorf was now the most important man in Germany outside the Imperial family.

Kingdoms of Germany

The Kaiser’s own lands are tinted white. The Free City of Nuremberg is tinted gold. Leopold’s holdings are in blue, and the Imperial Italian lands are tinted red.

Having secured its control of Italy, the Reich should have been ready to consider expanding into pastures new. Yet the fall of the Lombard league had set in motion the wheels of a machine that Henry could not even imagine, much less control. The Empire was far from safe.

Stirrings of Unrest

The Empire enjoyed a brief period of peace after the capture of Genoa. The cities of Germany grew, and those of Italy slowly recovered from the devastation of war. In Venice and Bologna, the powerful Italian trade costers re-opened guild houses. Leopold even managed to negotiate an alliance with the Poles, who were concerned by the rise of a Viking nation in the East known only as the Rus. Leaving the veterans of the Italian campaigns under the control of von Schwaben to prosecute his campaign against the Sicilian Normans, Henry returned to the quiet of Alsace. For a dozen or so years, markets and churches were built, forests cleared and roads extended, in the name of progress.Von Schwaben soon gathered an army around him in Bologna, the front line against Sicily, and prepared to set out. All seemed well.

Yet there was something rotten, and the trail led back to the state of Denmark. The first stirrings of trouble were the refugees from the Reich’s outlying villages in the north. They trickled into Frankfurt in small, drab bands, complaining of harassment from Danish brigands. The forces sent by local Burgomeisters to deal with the threat failed to return. Requests that the Danish crown take action met with a stony silence. Back in Italy, a full Sicilian stack marched toward Bologna, trapping von Schwaben’s army in the city. Worse was to come.

On a winter’s day, the hammer blow struck. France, Denmark and Poland all declared war on the HRE, sending forces towards Milan, Frankfurt and Breslau respectively. Although Germany proper did have armies in it, apart from the Breslau garrison they were composed entirely of militia in varying states of readiness. Thus, at the moment a strong, mobile army was most necessary, the only regiment in the Reich with a serious cavalry force was stoppered up in Italy, besieged by a large, determined and well-equipped force of Sicilian Normans. As if this were not enough of a trial, the Venetian exiles sent two armies out from their Dalmatian hideout, one to pillage Austria, the other to recapture their former capital.

Annus Horribilis – Von Schwaben (Italy)

The year had begun well with the successful defence of Venice against its former owners. Two threats then remained for von Schwaben to neutralize before he could spare any troops to assist in the defence of Germany.

First, a large French army had Milan under siege. Unless it could be dislodged before the city fell, one of von Schwaben’s paths back to Germany would be cut off. But before von Schwaben’s men could take on the French, they needed to beat back the Sicilians from Bologna. Second, a Sicilian siege train (ie an army composed of ballistae and catapults) was marching up to reinforce their compatriots camped outside Bologna. If the siege engines arrived, Bologna would fall, without a doubt. While they were still distant, there was a chance of repulsing the Normans, just as the Venetians had been repulsed some weeks before. Von Schwaben decided to take the fight to the enemy.

The Sicilian army

The von Schwaben plan was to sortie with his knights and thereby surprise the Sicilians. Bold in theory, in practice it was an abject failure. Mailclad Norman knights overwhelmed the German advance party, killing most and routing the rest. The victorious Sicilians surged forward through the open gates, killing as they went…

Check…

…and the walls offered little more protection to the unlucky Germans. Despite a spirited defence, de Guiscard’s trained killers soon commanded the outer city.

…and Mate.

It only remained for the Sicilians to press on to the city centre, which they did in short order.

The consequences of this battle are hard to overstate. German power in Italy had been shown to be a sham, and utterly broken by the Norman onslaught. Days later Milan fell to the French. Panicked, and desparate for a little divine aid, Henry made the decision to withdraw from Italy in full. Yet again, it was to be the Vatican that would profit, as Henry ceded the cities of Venice and Florence to the Papal States. The experiment that had begun with Heinrich’s victory in Bologna was now over.

Annus Horribilis – Leopold (Poland)

From his castle, Leopold had had little to fear from the plainsmen of Poland. Although their armies were large, they were ill-equipped compared with the Germans, Bohemians and assorted mercenaries that protected Breslau. Confident that reinforcements would soon arrive from Prince Jan (formerly a disloyal General, now heir to the Imperial throne), who had moved to Prague, or from Mandorf in Nuremberg, Leopold prepared to ride out the storm.

Those reinforcements never came, Jan and Mandorf both finding excuses not to send aid. By the time the Polish army arrived at Breslau, Leopold must have realised that his brother’s heir had left him to die. Mandorf’s betrayal would have hurt deeper still, not only because he had been Leopold’s protégé, but also because Mandorf had gathered a very large militia army in Frankfurt.

Not all the news was grim, however. The strength of Poland lay in her excellent light cavalry, dominant on the grassy steppe but of little use in a siege. Breslau was well fortified and well supplied, and her walls were crammed with archers. Leopold’s kingdom would be no easy target.

They’re miles away

Expecting a quick victory, Leopold prepared to withstand the assault. Unfortunately the Poles were less predictable than he had thought. What Leopold’s men had taken for ungainly rams were in fact catapults, and before long the curtain wall was breached. Leopold and his knights marched swiftly to defend the gap, and had Leopold been facing a West European army, he might well have halted the assault there. The Germans readied themselves for a cavalry charge, spearmen to the fore.

A nasty shock

What happened next must have been a very unpleasant shock. Instead of a simple charge, lances lowered, the Polish nobles preceded their assault with a deadly hail of missiles. Barbed spears fell among the defenders, opening a path through which the expert horsemen drove, scattering the defenders on their way, Leopold went down with a Polish javelin through his chest, and a breakthrough turned into a panicked rout. When the dust cleared, the Poles had taken the city, leaving the unfortunate archers helpless on the walls.

Prince Jan had little time to reap the fruits of his betrayal. Prague fell soon after, in similar circumstances, and Jan was killed in the fighting. The defence of the Reich fell to its heartlands – and at their centre, Mandorf. It was an opportunity he could not miss.

Annus Horribilis – Mandorf (The Dane-mark)

The main Danish army was camped a short distance from Frankfurt when Mandorf intercepted them. Caught unawares, the Danes put up a good fight, but outnumbered and overwhelmed by the German militia, they were chased back to the fortress of Magdeburg. Soon after, Mandorf took the fortess in a lightning campaign, first sacking it and killing the defenders, and then defending it against further attacks.

His achievements were the only bright spot in a terrible year for the Reich. Mandorf was made a family member on the back of them, and was now heir to Henry’s throne, although his pleasure at this may have been tempered by the knowledge that he held the role owing to the untimely death of the previous two heirs.

One last task remained to Mandorf. Expelled from Italy by its new masters, a ragged band of knights who had fought against the Lombards had made the long, slow journey north to Magdeburg. They sought land, and permission to rebuild the chapel they had kept in Milan. To refuse them, with the Danes practically at his doors, would have been to deprive himself of much needed fighting men. But to give them land would mean depriving the nobles of the Reich, without whose support the Empire was a lost cause.

Mandorf hit upon an inventive solution. Donating a thousand florins from his personal revenues, he built a small fortified chapel for the ex-crusaders to worship at. In return, he promised the order any land they wanted – provided that they could conquer it for the Reich. The knights accepted, and their first chapter house was built in the conquered fortress of Magdeburg.

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading. This was an incredibly tough period, and at the end there was nothing to do but cut and run from Italy. That’s going to hurt the cash for a long time to come, especially now that Prague has fallen to the Poles. I’m really not sure how to take them on with a typical catholic army – the Polish nobles are the most efficient knight-killers I’ve met. About the only good news is that their infantry look pretty weak. France won’t be too much of a problem I think. The Danes are worrying though.

Final thought – the Sicilians are much tougher than I expected. Not just because of their excellent troops, but because they were able to afford to field plenty of high-quality armies one after another, slowly grinding down my defenders. Strategically, they are tough to get at as well – the German navy won’t exist for another thousand years or so. So if anyone’s managed to beat them consistently as the HRE, I’d be interested in hearing how.

Next up – I get to play with the Teutonic knights. Drang nach ost!

The shape of things to come

[AussieGiant]

Well that was a hell of a period!!

Unfortunately I can't give you any tips on crushing the Poles.

On a stratgic level the game is amazing. I'd say you have to try and secure one front and that seems easiest by going North. If you can get to the sea and neutralise the Danish then you can at least concentrate on the other fronts.

What does the Reich Map look like now?

[Kobal2fr]

For some reason, reading about your current woes and disasters is even more fun than your earlier campaigns, which went pretty much according to plan. Schadenfreude fits the HRE, I guess

[Basileus]

Bring a lot of Crossbowmen if you want to beat the Sicilians(if they are fielding alot of Norman Knights), getting Palermo is a good plan to stop their advance.

[lecnac]

Vorwärts!

urm...

Advance!

Well written indeed, my Friend Rindfleischfresser, your campain ails the boredom caused by waiting for the patch : )

[Lord Magus]

I got a Sicilian army advancing to me aswell, never fought against them.
The Danes are not that hard, I captured the castle you that is near their capital and i'm fighting them from there.
France is busy with England and Milan, Venice are sending half stack armies every couple of turns to recapture Venice(the city), god knows where they get the money.

Milan has decided to attack the Westeren borders of the empire, which are lightly defended and I'm probably going to have some problems at the easteren borders.


And I really enjoyed this story, you lost for a change ^_^

[Kommodus]

I fought the Sicilians pretty regularly as Venice. However, they tended to field mostly dismounted Norman knights in my campaign, and not much cavalry. Since I tend to field cavalry-heavy armies, I ran them down with my horsemen.

Great story! Campaigns are more fun when not everything goes according to plan.

[R'as al Ghul]

Thanks again for the excellent read and the inspiration. I've started a HRE campaign myself, am on turn 15 or so and I love it. The voice acting is hilarious but the strategic situation is grim. I'm on good terms with the pope but have also lost my first priest to the inquisition. Venice has declared war, sieged Bologna and Vienna, where beaten back but have a full stack sitting in Venice. Otto v. Kassel is trying to lure them into a field battle by camping in the Province. Danes took Hamburg, Poland's army which wanted to take Magdeburg went rebel.....Very enjoyable, looking forward to teching up to get better units.
BTW, you also seem to suffer from huge Cavalry losses, like myself. They're powerful, yes, but after a battle there's seldom much left of them. Pulling back after a charge is crucial but I more often than not fail at it.

R'as

[Beefeater]

Ras, Cavalry don't disengage easily unless the unit they are fighting is also fighting something else. Someone was asking earlier what peasants were good for - this is one use for them. I'm not going to stop though - I REALLY like my heavy cav.

[cassiusdio]

Good read, your campaign seems to be going as well as my first campaign as the HRE did, i got to a certain point where i felt i was secure, and suddenly all hell broke loose and i was fighting on all fronts. on my third campaign i got to grips with the diplomatic side of the game and managed to appease the french and polish long enough to secure Italy. the key to the french appears to be Metz. whenever i have had the settlement, the french have been fairly aggressive, when they have had it they have been fairly passive, content to battle with the english and spanish.

Poland is a little more tricky, a lot of the territory they will b after is the same territory that you will be, I simply let them take the provinces they wanted to, and concentrated on Italy, the 3 factions down there can become a real handful if they are allowed to grow too far.

Milan is perhaps the easiset to neutralise, Venice is a straightforwrd city to take, and florence is rebel, so no real challenge there. Sicily on the other hand has the advantage of defence in depth, and a fairly safe castle on sicily.
My prefered method of eliminating them, and this has worked as both milan and the HRE, is to wait until they besiege Bologna, and be ready to land a force on sicily, assault and take palermo in one year. that will stop them producing their rock hard norman troops, then, wait until their army is close to retaking the fortress, and launch a quick naval attack on Naples, assault and take the city the turn you get there, assuming you still hold bologna, they should revert to being rebels, at which point they are less of a handful.

The danes will probably attack next, they generally take Antwerp and Bruges before they become a problem, and you can simply shift your forces north, safe in the knowledge that the wealthy italian cities are fairly secure

Regards

[Brass Eye]

Excellent work, Beefeater. Beautifully presented. I have to admit, I haven't been following this thread religiously, but it's been fun to dip into.

Hard luck on such a terrible turn! Fingers crossed that things pick up from here on in. Mind you, if this is the beginning of the end for the Reich, this could have the makings of a classic Teutonic tragedy...

[The Teacher]

good job keep it up!

its time the mods stickied this ... ;)

[Wizzie]

Fantastic stuff. I have to say the atmosphere in these posts are incredible, and it's all from the little medieval touches like "midden", "Annus Horbilis", etc. All very small details but they do add that extra layer of immersion that takes this AAR above the norm. And the immaculate layout with maps of the world, the seperate fiefdoms, etc. helps as well.

I have to say the political aspect is being played out beautifully as well. Leopold being left in his castle to die because the other Generals saw a path for their own advancement is genius, and probably takes a bit of willpower to execute when you're watching one of your provinces being taken in-game.

All in all a fantastic read - I'm looking forward to reading about the campaigns led by the Teutonic knights.
Also, I've noticed you tend to cover vast swathes of turns in your posts - glossing over boring periods and highlighting more interesting/intense periods. It works well, and probably makes writing the thing an awful lot easier when you don't have to take notes about every single turn! (Yes, I've tried to do campaign AARs before too )
It also works around the abstract character ageing process, which is pretty handy.

Anyway, all in all keep up the good work

[Beefeater]

It was tough leaving Leopold to die, although I did expect him to last a few more turns. I didn't expect the Poles to take Prague so soon, though - Jan the Man was supposed to have managed, at the least, a fighting retreat.

[Wizzie]

Oh, just wondering. If the patch due tomorrow is incompatible with existing savegames, what will become of this vignette?

[Whacker]

Oh, just wondering. If the patch due tomorrow is incompatible with existing savegames, what will become of this vignette?

Most likely be fine. I don't recall any of the TW series having savegame compatability issues between patches.

[Wizzie]

In RTW the 1.3 patch was incompatible with save games from 1.2 or before as some of the files changed in the patch were files that were heavily utilised in the core campaign mechanics (or some other techie reason like that).

[Dooz]

Well then, Beef would probably just finish up this episode with the existing build before patching up and starting the next one. Wouldn't be too big of a deal I'd venture.

[KARTLOS]

great stuff - failure is deffinately a more entertaining read!

the poles are vrey tough to deal with. in one sicilan campaign i took them on in a forrest battle with a knight heavy army. having never encountered them (or any other spear chukkas) i was expecting an easy victory, i won but my full stack was reduced to about 50 men! the nobles skirmished and took out my knights whilst i was left a little lost in the woods.
the semi-cheating strategy to deal with them is to avoid their field armies and take out their cities - the ai often leaves cities poorly defended.
a good counterto thenobles is another misslie cav - but i dont think you have any as the germans?? that being the case i would suggest you avoid chasing them with you own knights and hope they waste the javelins on your cheaper infantry.

[myz]

he has not updated for a while now.

[R'as al Ghul]

Ras, Cavalry don't disengage easily unless the unit they are fighting is also fighting something else. Someone was asking earlier what peasants were good for - this is one use for them. I'm not going to stop though - I REALLY like my heavy cav.

Yes, I know mein Kaiser.
It's just that I often get impetous and charge them in....it took me awhile to get accustomed to this new cav system. The better/proper way is of course to charge the flanks and rears of the already engaged line. I've made some progress in handling them yesterday and in one battle I absolutely dominated with my Mailed Knights. I had them hidden in a small forest with my main force+General luring the enemy down from his hill. When he had gone past my hidden Knights and engaged with my main army I completely annihilated a unit of Pavise Xbow which didn't even move and struck decisive blows to the rear ends of his Italian Militia (Venice) with my Knights.
I like how the terrain differs from my Venice campaign that I played before. In Italy it's mostly a landscape of rolling hills with little wood. In Germany there's plenty of forest and armies may lay in ambush everywhere. One of my Generals, travelling between castles was actually ambushed by rebels. Didn't happen to me before and was a nice change. My General recognized the ambush early, though and I was able to deploy. I hid all my troops (3 Spear Militia) and lured them with my General past the hidden units, effectively ambushing the AI in return and routed him pretty fast.
I've also managed to get Venice and Milan excommunicated but taking their cities will be difficult. The AI just blocked the path to Venice with its faction leader, alone. I wonder if its plan is to get him killed and thus reconciled?

BTW, we have a snack salami in Germany sold as Bifi (pronounce Beefy).
May we call you Beefy?

R'as

Edit: Have you also been approached by Milan and Sicily begging for alms by offering "Give us Tribute or we attack?"

[Beefeater]

Wonderland - absolutely right. I'll finish the Vignette and only then install the patch.

R'as - Beefy's fine! Although Beefeater's better half has now taken to calling him that, which he finds slightly disturbing.

I think your point about the terrain is interesting. Germany's quite a good place for infantry because the terrain permits ambushes - the most entertaining stack I've used has been mostly been dismounted Imperial Knights, who can tear up pretty much anything in heavily wooded areas.

[wiretripped]

Awesome topic, Beafeater.
It actually made me register to voice my appreciation.

I'm playing the HRE as well, and having great fun. They're one of the neatest factions in the game IMHO.

Glory for the Reich!

[Beefeater]

DRANG NACH OSTEN!

May 25, 1235

Another fifteen wagons arrived today. Must speak with Walfen about location of storehouses. Nuremberg now wealthier than Venice was. More wagons every week; they come from Riga, Prague, Krakow, even far off Helsinik and Novgorod. Not our wealth, theirs. The Knights’.

A new chapterhouse was completed this year. Great grey mushrooms, with black-and-white spores. Infesting the Reich, sucking its wealth. Violent men, with swords. Brutes with steel. Their time is now. My time.

I have seen the turning of things. My sixty-fifth year approaches, and know that soon I will be dead, and one with the Lord. They will not outlast me. Herr Baum’s factory will show that, soon. Such a wondrous thing, his black powder. From a sprinkling of dust, force that shakes mountains and levels walls. Walls cannot withstand the powder, what chance armour? No armour. No knights. No great grey chapterhouses and no arrogance masquerading as godliness.

God’s judgment on the Knights. God’s victory, to the Reich. Until then, the wagons will still roll.


The Known World at the foundation of the Teutonic Order


Kingdoms of Germany
(Black with white cross – Teutonic land. Light Blue with a yellow eagle – Nuremburg. Imperial Eagle – Kaiser’s personal estates)

When last I posted, things were looking pretty grim for the Empire. As you can see from the above maps, Poland has encroached on the Reich’s eastern borders, I’ve been kicked out of Italy and France has now overtaken me as the largest nation in Western Europe (nine provinces against my seven). The one bright spot has been Mandorf’s war against the Danes, as a result of which the Teutonic order has been founded to prosecute the Empire’s wars in the North. This leaves Germany split into three parts: the Free City of Nuremberg, Kaiser Henry’s personal holdings, and of course the final piece to the German jigsaw: the fortress of Magdeburg, home to the first chapter of the Teutonic Knightly Order.

Finally, some good news (for us). First, the Mongols have arrived, and can be expected to be causing havoc in the East. This might keep the Poles occupied in the near future. Second, the Sicilians have noticed that we no longer share a border and are offering peace and trade rights. No reason not to accept, and so I do.

Das Reich Streiches Bäck

There are currently three armies in Germany. Mandorf’s army is campaigning in the North, and has just taken Magdeburg, having smashed the Danish armies in the region. It’s tempting to sit there and launch a raid against the Poles, but the Danes are on the back foot and Mandorf recognizes the need to put them out of play permanently.. Sacking Magdeburg has left the Reich with enough cash for two units of Teutonic Knights (900 fl. each): once these are recruited, Mandorf will head for Stettin, and then Hamburg. It is important to take Stettin first so that firm borders against the Poles can be established.

The second army is heading south through the Alps, and is composed of the survivors of the Italian Wars. I plan to rest it in Innsbruck, and take on new recruits; once that is done, I’ll hold it in reserve to use against Poland once the Danes are taken care of.

Finally, Kaiser Henry is building a third army, which will be sent either north to finish off the Danes or East to turn away the Poles, as necessary. However, the Poles have halted now that they have captured Prague. I’m not sure why - It’s a bit early for the Mongols actually to be causing them any trouble, but I am just glad for a rest from the attacks. Nuremberg and Vienna have large town garrisons and could probably hold off any attack for a while, but as recent events have shown there is no guarantee on VH/VH that the AI will roll over and play dead.

The Danish Campaign


Order Knights

Two turns later the first knights are built and Mandorf moves out. Stettin falls very quickly – the AI had only left two units of spearmen to defend it – and he moves on toward Hamburg, which puts up little more of a defence. There is however a large Danish army moving down from the North, and spies report that the Danes have taken Antwerp.

With the cash from sacking Stettin and Hamburg, I am able to bolster both Mandorf’s army and Henry’s with a few more units of Teutonic Knights. As Stettin had already been developed into a citadel (see how the AI wasted it?) I now also had access to Imperial Knights, and I built a few of those while waiting for the inevitable offer of a chapter house in Stettin, which came a turn or two later.

Henry’s army should do a fine job of mopping up Antwerp, but only if Mandorf can first crush the army marching south from Aarhus. Fortunately they were as keen to fight as he was, so he did not have to wait long for battle. The spot was a quiet and grassy plain, somewhat to the north of Hamburg.

This would be my first time using Teutonic Knights in anger, and I was keen to put them through their paces. The Danish are famed more for their infantry than their cavalry, and so it was with this army, which was composed mainly of spearmen and archers, with scouts (Danish light cavalry) screening the flanks. Since Mandorf’s men had more cavalry, I decided on a massed attack on both flanks with Feudal Knights and Sergeants. The Teutonic knights would trail behind and, once the enemy cavalry was ground down, lap round to engage and kill the Danish general.


In the thick of it

The plan worked a charm: once they were in close combat, Mandorf’s Teutonics beat down the unfortunate Danish bodyguards and the general soon followed. A single massed cavalry charge was enough to rout the remaining Danes, and when the fighting was over, the road to Aarhus was open.

While this was happening, Henry had assembled a smaller army and marched on Antwerp. The campaign was short and predictable, but I wasn’t sure what to do with the city as it is dangerously close to the French and their large armies, although those are currently occupied in Caen. In the end the Kaiser sacks Antwerp, sells off every building except the merchant’s guild and the church, and retreats, leaving the city to any power that wants it.

The Danish faction leader is nowhere to be seen – I presume he is in Scandinavia somewhere – and so Mandorf encounters no more opposition on the way to Aarhus. The city falls and is duly sacked. Mandorf is rightly proud of his achievements – but his dreadful ways have attracted the attention of someone Up There. Disease hits Aarhus a few months later, and its fearsome governor spends his final moments retching up his innards before being trundled away on a plague cart.

The army remains in fine shape though, and once the plague passes it resumes its march towards the final remaining Danish settlement: Stockholm. Kaiser Henry sends a young general named Maximilian to take command, which he duly does.


Norwegian Woods

The army is ambushed by Danes in a forest, but Maximilien’s Teutons see them off handily. As Stockholm has a largish army in it, Maximilien settles down for a long siege. With the city eventually succumbing to siege and starvation, the Danes cease to exist as an independent faction.

This leaves two of the three victory conditions fulfilled. All that remains is to conquer the balance of nine territories, and this war will be over.

Fall Weiss


Getting their retaliation in first

The reason behind Poland’s cessation of attacks soon becomes clear. I had carelessly left a unit of reinforcement mounted sergeants outside Nuremberg. The Poles were unable to resist such a tempting morsel, and their army pounced – earning them an immediate excommunication.

Not one to be stopped by an interfering cleric, the Polish King continued his attacks, with a large army of Polish cavalry marches west, to be met by my refugee army. This latter is composed almost entirely of heavy cavalry – mostly dismounted Imperial and Feudal knights, with a sprinkling of Teutonics and Sergeants. This is only possible because I’ve recently sacked three cities. However, having had the cash to field huge knight armies, I can report that they are pretty damn effective. This is only increased by Kaiser Henry’s decision to merge the army with his own victorious band, and so the force that counters the Poles in the woods outside Nuremberg is both large and well led.

It has to be said that the decision to fight among trees was, from the point of view of the Polish commander, a shockingly bad one. The Polish army was almost entirely composed of cavalry, supported by crossbowmen and catapults. In heavy woods like these, they were unsuited to a stand up fight against elite heavy infantry, and as you will imagine, Henry’s forces massacred them in the forests. Henry’s light cavalry is able to chase the pursuers back to Prague, and then to Krakow, both of which were captured and sacked.



You’re nicked, sonny
Meanwhile, Maximilian has led his force of Teutonic Knights, dismounted Imperial Knights and Crossbowmen over the Baltic and into Prussia. Their first stop is Thorn, which the Poles had left lightly defended. I definitely think that the AI leaves too few troops in border castles – a big Citadel like Thorn should have been better manned.

Not that that mattered to the Teutonic Knights. They had been offered any land that they could take, and take they did! The Grand Master of the Knights set up a headquarters in Thorn, a testament to the burgeoning power of the Order. As with history; so with the game: the Knights had taken on the Poles and beaten them in Germany, and now they were looking to do the same on Polish soil. The impetus to do so, however, did not come from Nuremburg – or even from Thorn.

I mentioned earlier that the Poles had managed to irritate His Holiness sufficient for him to demand their excommunication. He had promised at the time to do such things (though he knew not what) as should be the terrors of the earth, and in a sparkling flourish, he delivered, calling a Crusade on Vilnius. Augmented by cheap crusader troops, the Knights duly delivered.


Drang Nach Osten!

Knightly armies swept through Poland and Lithuania, annihilating all resistance. The Pope unfortunately died before the consummation of the Crusade, but that was little relief to the Poles, who were now reduced to Halych, Burgundy (Dijon) and distant Kiev, had no forces left that could battle the Knights. The Russians also made a brief appearance, battling with the Knights over a division of Poland’s spoils in an eerie prefiguration of later events, but they were decisively defeated (although the Boyar Sons gave one army a run for its money).

Magdeburg, Stettin, Breslau, Thorn, Vilnius, Riga – a small force had even sneaked over the Baltic to capture Helsinki, and each of these places now housed a chapter of Teutonic Knights, great or small. Thanks to the efforts of the Knights, I was now only two provinces from victory. Russia and Poland were exhausted, and I suspect beginning to feel the impact of the Mongol hordes. France remained thoroughly embroiled with England and an assertive Spain. Finally, an ageing Kaiser Henry could breathe easy.

End Game
There followed a long, slow period of peace. Many turns later, a Pope more concerned with the Holy Land than with punishing recalcitrant Europeans ordered a crusade to Jerusalem. For this, I was able to assemble an all-Knight force. They marched through Allied Hungary, took ship in Anatolia, and captured the Holy City in an easy battle, before marching on to Acre, besieging and capturing that, and ending the campaign, the Holy Roman Empire utterly dominant both in Europe and in Outremer.


This is the end


Well, that’s all folks. Here’s hoping that you’ve enjoyed the AAR. The next one will be as the Spanish - absent anything to change my mind, I'll continue working my way through from left to right. As a final little Christmas gift, here is a map of the world as of Germany’s triumph – enjoy!


Mission Accomplished

[Shahed]

Well done ! Excellent screenshots !

BTW can you please post your system specs and editing softare ?

[elbasto]

Great AAR!

Really looking foward to your next one...

[IronMonkey]

Wunderbar!
I've been reading your work since your first installment. I wanted to compliment you earlier than this but there was a problem with the "forum Deity" activating my account. You have inspired me to give it a go.

I enjoy the pace and length of your style. The juxtaposition of (the right) screen shot to accompany the text is superb. You seem to have an academic grasp of the Medieval period and you show skill in drawing one into the fortunes of your characters, Vielen Gut!

Thanks again for your work and willingness to share your exploits with the rest of us! I only hope mine are as interesting!