Horror at Cordoba...
From a desire to stir things up a little I decide to use my new pet Pope to call a crusade. I have made friends with the Egyptians and there is still a full stack of Venetian troops hanging around the middle east to setting the target there could be a problem. I settle for Cordoba, the Moors have some full stacks sitting around and our Spainish and Portugease brothers could use the help. So the crusade is called, lots of nations respond (but neither of the Iberian factions do?). I find my self with a spare stack of troops after the conquests of Bern and Metz, a decent General merc Spearmen and Crossbows, so cavalry and a couple of catapult units, so I decide to join in and send them on their way bolstered by further Crusader Spearmen.
Now I have been learning the new ways of siege assaults (mostly through failing dismally). Love way all the towers keep firing, but it would be nice if they stopped when captured. As it stands they only way to stop them firing is to destroy them or push the enemy troop really far back from the walls.
Now my Crusade is the first to reach Moorish lands and north of Cordoba in a narrow pass between mountains and a river the Moors have a fort with a full stack of garrison troops. We attack immediately and make good use of the catapults to first knock down the gate and then expend their ammunition as flaming missiles into the fort and the clustered together defenders. This is followed by a full assault and a and the slaughter of the garrison. My surviving troops and grouped into full units and the remaining partial units are dismissed to by replaced by further Crusader Kinights and Spearmen. This is a great boost to morale, a full stack of enemy troops in a fort so easily dispatched.
We then approach Cordoba itself and lay siege. The city is defened by archers and spearmen and a single catapult unit. In addition a second army ws camped outside the wall consisting of further archers, spearmen, cavalry and 5 more catapuly units. With hindsight we should have attacked the exterior unit to draw out the cities garrision. Well we had the catapults so I elected to attack immediately. I had learned from a previuos assault that placing the catacpult s too close would result in them being destoryed almost instantly by the cities towers so set the at the maximum range. It started well and the gates fell in short order. I then targeted the first of the towers over the gates with th intenion of destroying both be assaulting through the gates and straight to the main square where we could force the defender ininto melee combat and steal away their advantage in missile troops A bold plan, but one that should succeed if the men kept their nerve under the intention missile fire.
While this was taking place my general and 4 units of Crusader Knights moved around the city at a safe distance to intercept the reinforcements. The archers and spears moved too quickly but we caught the catapultes in the ones and slaugtered them to a man.
The first setback came with the new toughness of the defenses. Only one of the two towers fell (and to the last volley from the catapults too). One tower intact plus the archers on the walls made approaching the city hazardous (wonder if the Shield bug fix will make this slightly less hazardous for units with shields to walk towards the walls) but the army made it there mostly intact and chaged into the gate that was being held by Moorish spearmen and cavalry. My men whre killing them, pushing them back, bit not quickly enogh and the archer and tower fire was causing heavy casualties. Then the gate defenders boken and my force charged into the city. Ahead lay the square, the defenders where now mostly archers and the routed rementants of the spears and cavalry that had tried to hold the gates. We only needed to reach the square and we stood a chance. then halfway up the street leading to the square and thudd and and a raoring noise, growing closer. The sole catapult unit left was setup in the square and was firing flaming missiles driectly down the street at my men! The first shoot landed cleanly on my general, the leader of the crusade!! This combined with the constant rain of arrows was too much for the men and panic set in, strading as it always does from the front to the rear and soon all where running back for the gate. The gate now defended by the arcers that had come down from the walls. The very few men who escaled through this force where ten cut down by arrows from the gate tower. All that was left was to withdraw the catacpults units that had loked on helplessly from there original firing position. I paid the ransoms for those that still lived and the merge force withdrew to my nearest ally, Portugal where I disbanded the survivors, a merge 400 of the oringinal 1200 men, rather than forcing them into the long journey home.
Lessons learned used in Dejon:
Attacking the city of Dejon a few years later showed the lessons that had been learned from Cordoba. The attacking force consisyed of two stacks, a primary stack of the general and some dismounted imperial knight, a few crossbowmenand most importanly 8 catapult units plus two units of those new fangled Trebuchets and a small secondary stack with my cavalry (Imperial Knights). First the towers where destroyed along a long section of wall with the gates in the middle. Then the gates where reduced and finally the remaining ammuntion was used to "encourage" the defending crossbowmen to abandon the walls. The Crossbowmen where withdraw (as they where mains used to screen the siege engines and the cavalry brough on. The small but professional force of 4 units of Dismounted Imperial Knights and the general entered the city and in short order fought there way ot the main square and kill the defender to a man...
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