View Full Version : Pics and History of your Empire
So we have one of these threads in the Main hall but looking around here, I really don't see one. So I hope Martok doesn't mind If I start one for kicks. :beam: Besides, i think it's a ton of fun to read the history of some of the .orgah's empires that they've created.
I'll start the thread off on the right foot with my current campaign as England. (patch 1.3, Stainless Steel 6.0).
In the year 1154 of our lord the Kingdom of England's borders have been extended greatly by the blood of it's noble soldiers. After a long service to the holy father in Rome, England has chosen it's own path, forging it's own destiney from the fires of conflict and war.
Current state of affairs: https://img153.imageshack.us/img153/3519/engla1or7.jpg
1080-1102.
Here reigned King William the Conqueror.
After securing South of England and proclaiming himself, King William spent his days securing his newfound kingdom and doing all that he could to ensure that his sons would inherit a strong position from which to conquer. In 1095, the first crusade is declared. The King's son Prince Henry vows to see the holy city taken from the hands of the Fatamid Caliphate that now claims the city as their own. The long journey proves to be too much for him, and though he continues onward with his men, his mental health deteriorates. He soon becomes known as Prince Henry the Mad, and often threatens to skin his own men alive if they disobey him!
1102-1154.
Here reigned King William the Profane.
1103: The following year after his coronation news reaches the King that his brother, Prince Henry, has sacked the city of Jerusalem! The Crusade is deemed a great suceess by the pope, and though saddened by the treatment of the city, sends a gift in florins to the Kingdom of England. Prince Henry seizes control of the city and names himself regent acting as William’s right hand in the Holy Land. Well, he actually named himself “Great Poobah”, but no one was really sure at the time what he was talking about. So they just went along with his madness and assumed (and hoped) he meant regent. A number of border skirmishes sees the Fatamids retreat to Acre.
1104: King William meanwhile has quietly initiated a buildup of troops, his gaze sets on Scotland where the Scots have built for themselves a sizeable trade empire with their fleets sailing as far as Novgorod! The king begins to fear what this new found wealth could do for Scotland, He resigns to strike first…
Elsewhere in 1104 the Sicilians seize control of Cairo and Alexandria, setting up a client-crusader Kingdom of their own. The Pope names Sicily and England as inspirations to all Christendom, the Fatamids howevere are quietly building their strength. Biding time.
1106: William strikes! Gathering the army based at Nottingham the king hits first as he planned, slipping around the main Scots force and taking York with little resistance! The Scots turn quickly with the news and march on York, the battle that would follow would be the bloodiest in the British isles in many decades. The forces of England are triumphant but suffer terrible casualties; William is unable to press his advantage and winters in York. It is the first taste of the new Staple of the English Army that the scots have had, the Longbow. It will not be the last.
In the Holy Land Henry is slipping further into his madness. No longer fit to command the army he resides in Jerusalem as his men lay siege to the Fatamid fortress of Acre. Without a strong leader though, they are unable to make much progress and the siege bogs down.
1107: Scotland launches a counter attack. The Second Battle of York would prove to be just as bloody as the first, but again William wins the day and is able to keep control of the city.
The siege of Acre ends when the Fatamids mass an army and crush the crusaders outside the city walls. The English crusaders are forced to retreat to Jerusalem, shadowed the whole way by the Fatamids. A siege of the city is all but inevitable now as a call for aid is sent to the Sicilians in Cairo.
1108: The pope intervenes in the Anglo-Scot war forcing a ceasefire. Coming as a direct response to the peace talks the Treaty of York is signed by the two powers, in it England agrees to withdraw from York and pay tribute to Scotland for the next three years. Unable to press further with so few men William is forced to accept the peace and returns home to Nottingham to brood and rebuild. Later that year it is his tragedy to learn that Jerusalem falls to the Fatamids and the holy city is once more in Muslim hands. His brother Henry is assumed dead.
1112: Five years pass in peace between the English and the Scots, Henry though is beginning to feel cramped. Having annexed Bruges and Rennes along the North of France he is starting to sense himself “boxed in”. He begins pondering a new war with Scotland but before he is able to even draw up plans a large Spanish force lands near Exeter and lays siege to the city! The nerve! He is unable to marshal a force in time to save the city from being occupied.
1114: Numerous skirmishes between the Spanish and English follow but no significant ground is taken until 1114 when William sends his forces against the entrenched Spanish at Exeter. The two forces meet a few miles north of the city and though the Spanish have a great deal of cavalry forces and Jinnets, they underestimate the effectiveness of the English longbow. The city is won back and William initiates peace talks yet the spanish ignore the call for peace.
1117: Sensing a deadlock William sends the vanguard of his army, lead by an upstart captain only known as Richard against the Iberian landmass itself. Quickly dispatching the local forces Richard pushes on toward Castile, determined to cut the heart out of the enemy when to his surprise the Spanish are suddenly a lot more talkative! A ceasefire is signed and with the Treaty of Exeter the Spanish forsake all claims upon the British Isles, on condition England break it's alliance with the Kingdom of Aragon and pull out of Iberia. Richard is named Man of the hour and invited to join the royal court, of which he happily accepts.
1120: Having at last secured himself from threats abroad and no client Kingdom in the Holy land to finance William once more sets his eyes on the Scots and York; he decides though if he is going to avoid the blunder of his first campaign he must wait. A decade passes, the Kingdom of England builds quietly.
1130: The Scots become embroiled in a bitter war with the Kingdom of Norway and while their main army campaigns against the Norse across the sea, William sees his chance. Moving quickly the now rebuilt English army occupies York and blitzes north, by the time the Scots realize what has transpired they are too spread among their satellite provinces to send aid home.
1134: The Second Anglo-Scot war is in full swing; William leads his men into the wilderness, navigating the highlands as the army under Richard advances on Edinburgh. Even though the siege proves particularly bloody for both sides, the Scottish King Donnald is slain in defense of his capital. The loss of their king greatly demoralizes the Scots defenders and within the year the cities near Edinburgh are rolled up without so much as a fight.
1137: William emerges from the wilderness North of the great fortress of Inverness, taking the defenders completely by surprise. As the last bastion of the Kingdom of Scotland on Great Britain, the defenders of the city fight tenaciously. Though in the end the fortress is taken, William realizes his dream of a united Island all under his banner.
1140: The Scots across the sea learn of the occupation of their Homeland and send raiders along the coast of the English territories. Their raids are vicious, but each time they are repelled. Unable to reclaim anything of value the scots are slowly dragged down with their wars against the Norse and the Danes.
1143: William sends his navy to Block all Scottish ports, and slowly, one by one, the satellite provinces and trade hubs the Scots had used for so long to finance their kingdom are seized by the English. By 1146 the Kingdom is nothing but a memory.
1147: Unwilling to sit and watch as their territories are simply taken over by new foreigners, the Kingdom of Norway launches a vicious assault on Oslo and dislodges the English who had just a year before seized it from the Scots. King William pulls his men back, setting camp in a town on the western edge of Norway to rebuild. During this period King William takes up the habit of swearing, and not just a little swearing mind you! It’s not uncommon to hear the king erupt into tirades, cursing the Norse and everything about them. Uttering words so laughable it’s hard to say what they really mean, his men love him for it, i suppose it always helps to have a laugh before a battle.
1148: Captain John leads an expedition with the finest troops England has to offer into the Emerald Isle, defeating a local Irish garrison and laying siege to Dublin.. however during the summer months of the campaign the Irish counter attack and slaughter both John and his men near the city. Ireland soon severs all ties with England as a result of the unprovoked attack
1151: The second invasion of Ireland takes place, only this time commanded by Prince Henry, son of the king and heir to the throne himself. Dublin is soon seized and Henry pushes on finding and defeating a huge Irish host on their way to recapture the city. However the Irish cavalry nearly proves too much for the infantry lines of the English, Henry is forced to hold his position in Dublin and wait for reinforcements.
1153: Dublin falls under attack by a second Irish army, this time commanded by none other than their king. The siege turns bloody, both sides lose fully three-fourths of their command but the English hold the city, barely. Henry finds himself in possession of near five hundred Irishmen captured in battle, and without another thought allows them to return home to their families. His men and the Irish take to calling him “Henry the honourable” for his actions henceforth. The following year the King passes and his son succeeds him to the throne. Long live the king!
Well? Come on! Don't be shy, let's see those empires! I'll have much more screens next time, I kinda got the idea for the thread spur of the moment.:yes:
Henry707
05-02-2008, 08:56
Nice job Monk, I love reading through the history of peoples empires - so interesting to see the way players develop their games..
I'll be honest, I think I tend to rush through so quickly I never stop to take snapshots - I think I'll slow down.
In the case of the England, always interesting to see where you focus first.
On the Britannia campaign, my rule of thumb is normally, crush the welsh, knock out the scots then knee the Irish in the ghoulies. When the Danish land, give them a poke in the eye with a sh*&$(( stick....
Henri...
Rhyfelwyr
05-02-2008, 14:31
I have a habit of saving my games every ten turns with the toggle_fow on so I can trace my empire when I'm looking back. I've down this for about a dozen campaigns now, so I'll upload some pics soon. Its nice to see how the AI does as well.
Nice AAR there, Monk! Not that you didn't already know it, but you definitely have a gift for narration. :medievalcheers:
I have to ask, though, if only out of curiosity: How come you invaded Ireland when you were still dealing with the Norwegians? I'd have thought you'd have wanted to take care of one before going after the other. :sweatdrop:
So we have one of these threads in the Main hall but looking around here, I really don't see one. So I hope Martok doesn't mind If I start one for kicks. :beam:
Not at all, buddy -- in fact, I whole-heartedly support and endorse the idea. Everyone go nuts! :2thumbsup:
Nice AAR there, Monk! Not that you didn't already know it, but you definitely have a gift for narration. :medievalcheers:
I have to ask, though, if only out of curiosity: How come you invaded Ireland when you were still dealing with the Norwegians? I'd have thought you'd have wanted to take care of one before going after the other. :sweatdrop:
Not at all, buddy -- in fact, I whole-heartedly support and endorse the idea. Everyone go nuts! :2thumbsup:
To be quite honest I underestimated the Irish strength. I figured they'd be an easy win hence why I didn't even send a general along on the first invasion. Boy I could not have been more wrong, in SS 6.0 the Irish have a lot of power in their cavalry forces and the AI took full advantage of them. I found myself in a two front war, and without two of my largest trade partners. It was a tough time especially since in SS the AI uses their navy to launch seaborne invasions. :dizzy2:
Glad you liked in Martok ~D, I'll have more as I play further.
With the passing of William the profane, the kingdom falls to his son, Henry. The aggressive expansion the realm saw under his father was responsible for the fall of Scotland and the gaining of much prestige for England. However it was not without consequences. The rest of Europe views the English as nothing less than untrustworthy for their conquest of Scotland, and their campaigns against the Irish wins them no love among the other Kings and Princes of Christendom.
In 1157 the Pope sends a messenger to the new king, it is a simple warning. Return Dublin to the Irish, pull all troops from the Emerald isle, and pay tribute to the Irish for the damages the war has caused. If Henry fails to comply he faces excommunication and the kings limiting his trade. It would seem, however, that Henry not only inherited his father’s lust for conquest, but his subtly.
In 1159 Henry Leaves Ireland as a sign of goodwill, but refuses to return Dublin to the Irish; his son arrives in Ireland to take his place, Prince Edward, and quietly a slow build up of troops commences within the walls of the city. To the world, Henry is all that his father was not. A good Christian, willing to live in peace. He signs the Treaty of Oslo in 1160, effectively ending the conflict with Norway and returning the lands the Scots had originally conquered from them. His subjects, however, know better. The armies in the Norselands are quietly ferried away.
1162. It has now been five years since the pope declared hostility between the Irish and English end, on the very anniversary that the decree was issued Prince Edward leaves Dublin at the host of a mighty force, the men from Norway had simply been moved to Ireland! Edward marches toward the great fortress Galway, and clashes along the road with a huge Irish force. Whereas many of the former English armies who had faced off against the Irish had been poorly led, Edward's army is a tough and professional group who has seen many battlefields.
https://img248.imageshack.us/img248/8177/eng3kx2.jpg
Edward is determined to break through and lets the Irish crash upon his spear line, He leads the cavalry on a charge around the left flank himself, and while the pinned Irish are shot to peices by the deadly longbows the lances of his mailed knights come down...
https://img364.imageshack.us/img364/4601/eng4ri2.jpg
There's no coming back from that one. The entire Irish host is either slain or captured, yet to everyone's great surprise, and considering there is much more war to be fought, Edward lets the prisoners return to Galway. It would seem he is just as honorable as his father. He wastes no time and leads his host into the siege of Galway. The pope is furious when hearing that hostilities are renewed in Ireland and demands that Henry call his son back, however Henry promptly refuses. The pope responds in kind, excommunicating England from the church. He demands that all the Christian kings and princes cease all trade with the English, however no one is capable of obeying this directed.
The Pope had just a year before declared that the Danes were the Devil's agents on this Earth and demanded all of Christendom take up arms against them. Of which they were obliging.
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/3034/eng6mr4.jpg
The Frankfurt Crusade was in full swing, England had seized the trade empire the Scots had built and were profiting greatly from all the nations who were crusading, If they were to severe ties all those men would be very disappointed when the city fell if their wages could no longer be afforded!
Meanwhile Galway falls to Prince Edward; the fortress is occupied as is the honorable thing to do. He begins to be called "Edward the Honorable" as his father was before him. Henry, upon learning of his son's choices, could not be more pleased. After the fall of Galway in 1166 Henry sends envoys to the Irish King wintering in his new capital of Cork. The messenger pleads for the King to see reason, to become a vassal of the English king. But the request is flatly denied. Edward upon hearing the news decides that the end game of the war is near.
1168. Reinforcements arrive in Ireland and Edward marches from Galway south straight into the heart of the Irish defense hoping to provoke a fight. He intends to draw out the last strength of the Irish lords and smash them, leaving Cork an easy target. His plan couldn't have worked better. Issuing from Cork the Irish march out to meet the English, bringing with them great works of siege and enough men to match the English man for man. However, the greatest strength to their side, their cavalry, is absent. The long war of attrition has killed many of the Irish nobles and lords who can afford horse and armor, those who have not fallen are starting to defect to the English, preferring fealty to King Henry rather than fighting for a lost cause.
https://img176.imageshack.us/img176/1689/eng9ef7.jpg
https://img242.imageshack.us/img242/690/eng11hy8.jpg
(sorry for all the battle pics, I just love this mod. ~D)
Still, the people of Cork stand proudly and fight to the last. Edward is impressed by their tenacity. The battle of Cork would prove to be the bloodiest of the war since the first siege of Dublin. Indeed, Edward's center is nearly broken through by the time he is able to lead the cavalry in a charge along the flanks! English discipline proves just enough, and the prince wins the day. The following year Cork is besieged. With only a few units of militia to guard the city, it doesn't take long before they surrender. By 1170 Edward has conquered the isle of Ireland and occupies Cork. Defeating the Irish, a feat his predecessors had severely underestimated, he is named "The Conqueror" sharing that title with his great grandfather.
Edward, after spending some years in Ireland returns home and rests in Nottingham. Minor troubles plague the Kingdom of England for the next decade, but as complete master of the British Isles King Henry commands authority that no other English king has enjoyed.
1180. A chance for redemption! The pope falls ill and dies, allowing the Kingdom of England to petition the church for reconciliation. With their wars with Scotland and Ireland now over Henry swears that the warlike ambitions of the English are through. The new pope, however, is not convinced. He decrees if England truly wishes reconciliation, she must join the crusade. The following year it is made official to the rest of the world, a Crusade has been launched with its ultimate target the Fatamid stronghold of Gaza. Henry, however, sees even greater potential. Jerusalem resides but a short march from Gaza, and if Gaza falls along with Acre and the citadel of Kerak, a new kingdom of Jerusalem could be founded!
1182. Prince Edward is named commander of the English Crusader forces sets sail for the holy land. He is determined to see his father's will done and eager to prove that England is ready to take her place among the other kings of Christendom again.
1186. After many months and years of marching through wilderness and sailing down the perilous coast of Egypt (Edward was quoted at saying "Let me face the peril!"), the English arrive in the holy land and waste little time. They besiege the stronghold of Gaza before the Fatamids even have news of their arrival. Gaza is quick to fall!
1187. Jerusalem is besieged by Edward, now known throughout Europe as a great crusader, he encircles the holy city. The Fatamids try desperately to break through and relieve the city, but the large garrison left at Gaza keeps them in check. Without aid coming from the south the city falls to the crusader forces. Nearly a full eighty years after being expelled from the city the English have returned and this time they intend to stay.
1189. Acre, too, falls! Edward presses on to Kerak as the English diplomats devise a cunning scheme to ensure the Papacy will never excommunicate England again. As a gift, King Henry presents the Pope with Jerusalem, to be ruled by the Papal States and ensure no petty rivalries would see its downfall. The Pope is, to say the least, shocked by such an offer. He happily accepts and names England an inspiration to christians everywhere.
https://img353.imageshack.us/img353/6471/eng18gt2.jpg
1191. Kerak falls to England. With three outlying fortresses guarding every approach to the Holy City, the Papal States take over command of the city. A new Kingdom of Jerusalem is founded under these conditions, and though the pope is the "official" ruler of the city; all those in Outremer know that it is Prince Edward who holds the true power of the crusader forces.
Current state of Affairs:
https://img376.imageshack.us/img376/3241/maptm2.jpg
TWFanatic
05-03-2008, 13:19
Nice AAR, looks like a fun campaign. :smash:
Question: what mod are you using? Or is that Kingdoms?
It's Stainless Steel 6.0, a mod for kingdoms. :2thumbsup:
ncie to see one of these threads at last, I always like seeing other people's empires :beam:
TWFanatic
05-03-2008, 14:00
It's Stainless Steel 6.0, a mod for kingdoms. :2thumbsup:
It looks like a good mod, I'll check it out.
Ditto Ferret.:egypt:
Outstanding, Monk. :medievalcheers:
Out of curiosity, how many men did you bring on Crusade, anyway? It must have been a very large host to have been able to take 3 citadels plus Jerusalem itself!
Outstanding, Monk. :medievalcheers:
Out of curiosity, how many men did you bring on Crusade, anyway? It must have been a very large host to have been able to take 3 citadels plus Jerusalem itself!
My botched initial invasions of both Scotland and Ireland taught me something I'm not gonna soon forget; two stacks are better than one. ~D
Two full stacks, around 1500 (aprox) in each, so a good 3000 between them. Add to that I was hiring every single mercenary I could find, I thought it was a bit of historical irony to have mercenary Saracen infantry fighting for a Crusade. Add to it that the wealth of Scotland and Ireland in my pockets i'm making 10k a turn even after the crusaders are back under my payroll so I can afford the endeavor unlike the first time!
Hey guys!
SS 6.1 was released and unfortunately it's not Save game compaitble. After a lot of thought I decided to upgrade to 6.1 and leave my English campaign behind. I've well documented the storyline and I'm thinking of turning it into a Mead Hall/Throne Room story, I dunno but I do know I don't want to just let it fully die!
Anyway. I thought that maybe some of the hold outs who are gonna stick with playing 6.0 a while longer would might like to give my game a shot, maybe you can turn England into a super power! I've provided a very good base. Here is the situation:
https://img258.imageshack.us/img258/7955/eng1mg3.jpg
https://img396.imageshack.us/img396/3508/end2qp6.jpg
https://img364.imageshack.us/img364/7760/eng3ff0.jpg
Basically the "Kingdom of Jerusalem" is prospering, I've taken the city south of Kerak and renamed it New London (I was gonna use New York, but that just made me laugh too much!), a good deal of the Fatamid's southern provinces are under your command but Cairo stands as a bastion of their power. It's a year after I launched a failed assault on the city so things will be slow going there for some years.
The Venetians have seized Alexandria and are allied to you, they were instumental in pressuring the Fatamids into near submission, don't be afraid to use them!
Antioch and Tortosa were added to the English's Crusader empire two turns ago. They currently cannot recruit so they are still vulnerable. The Fatamids are at war with the turks to the north and you/Venice in the south, Your crusader forces are spread thin but the good news is so are theirs! Public order is tough to maintain, conversion is slow going. Most provinces though have at least 25% catholic by now.
The biggest downside is the more success I saw against the fatamids, the more the other Catholic nations seemed to resent me for it. Relations are slowly taking a nose dive at home and war could be imminent. On the home front you are allied with most of Europe (the factions who matter anyway). France is your biggest ally as you've been connected with them through marriage alliances throughout the game (it's kept them from attacking) they are also your biggest rival power wise. I do not recommend taking them on.
Well that's all you need to know. One final map screenie before I make a new campaign.
https://img380.imageshack.us/img380/9135/mapgi6.jpg
If you do decide to play, this game was done in patch 1.3, Stainless Steel 6.0. Have fun!
http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/Mnkeng1.rar
Rhyfelwyr
05-04-2008, 18:11
knew all these ancient save-games would come in useful for something. I mainly keep them just because I like to see how the AI performs. There's some interesting AI expansion throughout these as you'll see. Unfortunately I lost my Scottish, Venetian, French, and Sicilian files after I had problems with the PC. Right now I'm playing as Hungary, and the only team left to play as is Portugal, which I will be doing a long campaign as, perhaps with house rules or even an AAR just to make it more interesting, since I'll have played the same map 16 times already. :sweatdrop:
Then I'll be moving on to Kingdoms, the next stage in my backward blitz of the TW series. Summer holidays in 2 weeks after exams!!!
Byzantine Campaign:
Sorry, got the third pic wrong, should have shown things at Turn 150. You can see the WWII war of attrition is about to take place in the second pic. And then the Romans in Mexico on the last one!
https://img389.imageshack.us/img389/6035/byzantines50yf0.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img389.imageshack.us/img389/6035/byzantines50yf0.4bca5e35a9.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=389&i=byzantines50yf0.jpg)
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/5544/byzantines100mn8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/5544/byzantines100mn8.b4e656abb5.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=141&i=byzantines100mn8.jpg)
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8890/byzantines150ke8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8890/byzantines150ke8.2e7f239caa.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=141&i=byzantines150ke8.jpg)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/765/byzantinesendhl7.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/765/byzantinesendhl7.7d4d4a1491.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=413&i=byzantinesendhl7.jpg)
Turkish Campaign:
English were strangely successful here. It was a lot of fun fighting with that army you can see in the last pic. Elephants in Mexico!
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/2553/turks50kz8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/2553/turks50kz8.6b418d7e4e.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=413&i=turks50kz8.jpg)
https://img240.imageshack.us/img240/8004/turks100py4.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img240.imageshack.us/img240/8004/turks100py4.e989e9fea5.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=240&i=turks100py4.jpg)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/1555/turks150ha4.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/1555/turks150ha4.cb7fe9a1c9.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=413&i=turks150ha4.jpg)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/2513/turksendmx5.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/2513/turksendmx5.cfb30cb044.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=413&i=turksendmx5.jpg)
English Campaign:
Decided to build a mini crusader empire in the game. Took the screenie of the Mongols since its the first time I have seen them conquer somewhere without holding Antioch. Also probably the only time I've seen Venice eclipse Milan.
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8624/englandba0.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8624/englandba0.241747d765.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=141&i=englandba0.jpg)
Polish Campaign:
A couple of odd things such as Spain beating Portugal to Dublin and the Danes taking Paris, but otherwise pretty standard. Strzelcy and Polish Nobles are just too easy to win with.
https://img240.imageshack.us/img240/6450/polandzc8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img240.imageshack.us/img240/6450/polandzc8.e0114e48df.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=240&i=polandzc8.jpg)
Egyptian Campaign:
Probably the only time I've seen Venice take Florence. Russia and the Scots also did well, with the Portuguese migrating northwards up France for some reason. Victory conditions were pretty annoying having to cross the Sahara to fight the Moors. Took Sicily by Jihad to help my men on their way.
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/6084/egyptob2.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/6084/egyptob2.09b08f653f.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=141&i=egyptob2.jpg)
Holy Roman Empire Campaign:
Byzantines did well and ended up north of the Black Sea somehow. It was a very fun campaign, that army in the third picture is invincible!
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/8725/hre50da5.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/8725/hre50da5.e49931d583.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=413&i=hre50da5.jpg)
https://img240.imageshack.us/img240/8858/hre100lt2.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img240.imageshack.us/img240/8858/hre100lt2.daec21ec2d.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=240&i=hre100lt2.jpg)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/4505/hre150es0.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/4505/hre150es0.b45a3b5256.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=413&i=hre150es0.jpg)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/6127/hreendes1.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/6127/hreendes1.e0b6be745a.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=413&i=hreendes1.jpg)
Spain Campaign:
Pope got stuck on the island, probably the only time I've seen a Catholic faction take Rome. Also note the Hungarian monster, well done the Magyars.
https://img240.imageshack.us/img240/7448/spaingw7.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img240.imageshack.us/img240/7448/spaingw7.20e3edfd6f.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=240&i=spaingw7.jpg)
Denmark Campaign:
Felt silly having to go to Bologna just to win the game. Reviving the claims to England would have seemed more sensible and fun to me, since half the teams in the game half to beat the HRE to win their short campaigns. Really cool unit roster though. Norse War Clerics!
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/315/denmarkbr8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/315/denmarkbr8.f1d7c03632.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=141&i=denmarkbr8.jpg)
Moorish Campaign:
Probably the only time you will see Arguin as a Huge City there in the last pic. Also that third pic displays why I am so sick of these Mongol/Timurid wars of attrition. At least I got Camel Gunners.
https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8854/moors50fn5.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8854/moors50fn5.c06845e801.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=530&i=moors50fn5.jpg)
https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/5550/moors100zm2.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/5550/moors100zm2.29954e3e4a.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=530&i=moors100zm2.jpg)
https://img153.imageshack.us/img153/9476/moors150tv0.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img153.imageshack.us/img153/9476/moors150tv0.f4e40d4118.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=153&i=moors150tv0.jpg)
https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/5980/moorsendwa8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/5980/moorsendwa8.4baceaccfc.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=530&i=moorsendwa8.jpg)
Milan Campaign:
So easy to get stinking rich, with brilliant units available in the cities. The Magyars seem to have mistaken themselves for Poles and conquered the whole Russian steppes. :shrug:
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/3278/milancs4.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/3278/milancs4.c9195c0faa.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=413&i=milancs4.jpg)
Russia Campaign:
Dvor Cavalry are simply the best HA in the game. Also I don't know how the Turks ended up in Bulgar. Like the Danes, a really unique and fun unit roster to conquer with.
https://img225.imageshack.us/img225/5164/russiadp6.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img225.imageshack.us/img225/5164/russiadp6.18e846f4aa.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=225&i=russiadp6.jpg)
And my current Hungarian campaign:
Building a mini crusader empire since I'm fed up fighting the HRE as whoever I play as.
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/492/hungaryjg2.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/492/hungaryjg2.6b17440e22.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=413&i=hungaryjg2.jpg)
Wow, very nice Rhyfelwyr!
The third screenshot in the Moorish campaign is my favorite, that's a huge force! :dizzy2:
What difficulty to you play on out of curiosity? It can't be easy to keep order in empires that big.
Rhyfelwyr
05-04-2008, 19:32
In all those campaigns I played on M/VH, since that's the 'fair' settings to use. Playing on H or VH campaign difficulty makes diplomacy really awkward, which is annoying since I find it one of the more interesting elements of the game early on.
I don't find keeping order a problem really (although that is on M to be fair). I tend to exterminate once it gets to mid game since I don't really need the long-term payback from settlements.
EDIT: Also I had a save game where the Papal states had conquered those two islands west of Italy, then launched an invasion of Spain and took Valencia!
Some very nice screenshots, Caledonian Rhyfelwyr. :2thumbsup: Out of curiosity, how many battles had that German army won?
@Monk: So are you going to start up another English campaign now that you've got SS 6.1, or are you going to play a different faction this time around?
Rhyfelwyr
05-04-2008, 22:29
Some very nice screenshots, Caledonian Rhyfelwyr. :2thumbsup: Out of curiosity, how many battles had that German army won?
I could'nt honestly tell you since it was quite a while since I did my HRE campaign. Although I do remember making a heck of a lot of kills with Gothic Knights and Reiters. The Gothics maces and Reithers secondary spear are so devastating after they use their lances/pistols for shock effect. Two of my favourite units in the game no question. Plus watching Zweihanders charge in and knowing the first line of enemies is going to drop. :drool:
I wish I could have added more narration like Monk, but I've forgotten how exactly things went in the older campaigns. I'm going to have a read at some AAR's and then do one as Portugal once I'm finished as Hungary.
EDIT: I should stop making up smilies...
Speaking of which, I wasn't even allowed any smilies in my main post here since it took me over the 50 pics limit. :sweatdop:
Took half the afternoon getting that post made. Anything for the Guild!
Nice pics, Caledonian Rhyfelwyr.
I notice that on some of your campaigns, the AI actually seem to have done quite well at conquering each other and built some decent sized empires to fight. Am I right in thinking this is more common on easy or medium than it is on hard/very hard? I usually play on hard and the AI always seems to be strangely lethargic when it comes to attacking each other. I may have to go back to medium sometime to see if it makes things more interesting.
Rhyfelwyr
05-05-2008, 16:41
All those campaigns are on Medium campaign difficulty, VH for battles.
It is nine years after the terrible battle of Manzikert, and the court of the Emperor Alexius in Constantinople enjoys no peace. Long gone by are the days of the great legions of Rome and the Eastern Empire is in steady decline. A choking stagnation has settled upon the nobles, and it seems there is no end in sight. Western Greece has slipped from the Empire's control, and Anatolia is ripe for the Turk's conquest.
https://img258.imageshack.us/img258/1440/byz1rb7.jpg
Yet the Emperor, despite his position of weakness, knows that if the glory of Rome is to be restored, simply wishing it were so is not the way to accomplish it! His eyes set to Greece; the cities of Arta, Durrazo, and Scopia must be taken and consolidated if this wayward province is to once more return to the empire. For the task of uniting the Greeks again under the banner of Constantinople, Alexius chooses Evarestos Evgenikos, an upstard general who has much to prove.
Gathering what strength the empire has left Evarestos moves quickly, striking at Arta in 1083, encircling the city and cutting off all assistance from the nearby fiefdoms. It is a short siege that ends in the surrender of the meager garrison after only a single year, Arta once more swears fealty to the empire. Not resigning to rest a single moment Evarestos rides north with the bulk of his army and lays siege to Durazzo! Without even the simplest of defensive walls, the city soon falls to the Empire.
That year the Emperor himself issues forth from Constantinople, determined to bring much of the lost Anatolian provinces back into fold and halt Turkish advances at all costs. Accompanied by his own adopted son, Dositheos, the Emperor sets his gaze now to the fortress of Canakkale. Dositheos presses on and also sieges the small city of Smyrna as well. Meanwhile back in Greece Evarestos is rebuilding his strength, preparing to siege Scopia.
The sieges drag on, Alexius and his generals allowing the defenders of each settlement to be fully weakened before storming each settlement in turn. One by one, the provinces are absorbed into the Eastern Empire once more! Meanwhile, word reaches the emperor that the Turks are campaigning in the north of the Black sea, becoming embroiled in a bitter war with the Cuman tribes on the Russian steppe.
https://img242.imageshack.us/img242/6199/byz2gg7.jpg
The year: 1095. All of Greece has once again been united under a Roman athority, at least, that is what they consider themselves! Emperor Alexius and his son have been putting pressure on the Turks by seizing the provinces who saw fit to rebel when the empire was at it's weakest. Yet just when things look to be turning around...
Treachery! The Fatamids land an invasion force on Cyprus and besiege the small Roman garrison stationed there. Cut off and unable to send any reinforcements, emperor Alexius is forced to accept the loss of the satellite outpost... With no diplomat in position to negotiate a cease-fire, the Fatamids begin to raid and disrupt Byzantine trade along the Anatolian coast.
Despite the raids from the Fatamids the Byzantines begin building their strength. The Cuman-Seljuk war is heating up, and as the Turks throw more manpower toward their northern border, the Byzantines quietly build. Waiting fr the right time to strike. Alexius may be of Greek decent, but he is a cunning strategist in the spirit of the old Roman tradition. He will not enter a war he cannot win.
1099. The time to strike arrives! Gathering every last bit of strength the he has the Emperor issues forth from Nicaea at the head of a vast host, All of Greece empties as every man who can wield a spear and every mercenary who can be found is given the banner of the Eastern Empire and told to march east! Alexius strikes fast, hitting the town of Ankara like a whirlwind. The defenders never knew what hit them, and the city falls with little resistance.
Evarestos pushes south, surrounding Iconium as Dositheos boards the ships and sails around and hits Sinop from the Black sea. As the seige of Iconium drags on Evarestos makes a startling discovery. It would seem that the Sultan of the Seljuks himself had been wintering within the city when the Byzantines surrounded it, and now resides trapped within! A rare chance to cut the heart from the turkish war machine lies before the Romans, but Evarestos drags his feet, content to wait outside the walls instead of storming the settlement.
Sinop falls the following year, and as the spring time of 1101 approaches Alexius is pushing on toward Caesarea, the great fortress and power base of the Turks in Asia Minor. Wasting little time the Emperor lays siege to the city and waits for his chance to storm the walls.
1103. A massive relief force appears near Iconium. It would appear the Turks had not invested as much in their northern war as the Emperor believed! Evarestos lifts the seige and pulls back from the walls, drawing up battle lines three miles north of the city. The sultan follows, taking command of the relief forces and marches on the Roman battle lines. The Battle of Iconium would become renowned throughout the western world as a reference to a bloodbath. Despite what could be gained by both sides, each had brought with them their finest troops to do battle, fully three-fourths of each army is left to ruin.
The Sultan wins the day but is unable to press his advantage; in a rage he orders the one hundred Romans captured to be put to the sword and returns to Iconium. Evarestos retreats to Ankara, his position is perilous, but a rebuilt army is already sailing in from Greece. The Turks will not have much rest before another Roman army is upon them!
The sting of defeat the empire feels at Iconium would be remedied just single year later at Caesarea. With a pathetically small defense force, and the main Anatolian army left in shambles at Iconium, Alexius is free to launch his final assault on the great fortress. It soon falls, leaving Iconium as one of the last vestiges of Turkish power in Anatolia.
https://img258.imageshack.us/img258/9499/byz3un2.jpg
Content to rebuild his strength, Alexius winters in his newly captured stronghold; his men however do not take a single moments rest, be they mercenary or regular soldier, they hunt down and rid the land of brigands who have risen looking to capitalize on the recent change in leadership in the region.
1108. With his strength rebuild Alexius marches on Iconium again, this time the Sultan has no one to save him. After a long and drawn out siege, the signal is at last given and the city is stormed. It is said that the Sultan was made to pay for the lives of the one hundred soldiers he murdered in his rage, some five years prior.
1110. The Strength of the Eastern Empire may still be a shadow of its former glory, but the Emperor Alexius has made it very clear to his subjects. He shall not rest until the glory of Rome is restored... With the death of the Turkish Sultan and the Seljuks being driven from Anatolia no one dares to say he is incapable of such a feat.
https://img186.imageshack.us/img186/7084/byz5dp8.jpg
Privateerkev
05-07-2008, 03:36
Very nice thread! :2thumbsup:
Hmm... SS 6 tempts me so...
Outstanding, Monk! I haven't seen a Byz AAR in a long time (either for Medieval 2 or MTW). Looking forward to reading of Alexius' further exploits. :thumbsup:
Four years pass in uneasy peace for the Eastern Empire, though no true agreement is signed. The Turks retreat out of Anatolia though beyond the borders of the Empire the Turks are rebuilding. Alexius knows if he does not strike again, and strike decisively, he risks facing a rebuilt and vengeful Seljuk host returning to pillage and burn Constantinople's hard won conquests. Leading half of the entire eastern army north along the coast of the Black Sea, Alexius fully intends to put an end to the Turkish threat once and for all. Meanwhile leading the push further south is Dositheos, a commander who is biological son of the emperor himself, although far from heir apparent. Alexius lays seige to the coastal city of Trebizond, encircling the defense forces and preparing to strike; all the while Dositheos is pressing eastward, nearing the great fortress of Diyarbakir.
https://img294.imageshack.us/img294/7285/byz1bi7.jpg
1115 arrives and news reaches the emperor that the Cumans and Turks have at last signed a peace treaty. Although doubt begins to trouble him, he is certain he can inflict heavy enough losses before the main Turkish host arrives to defend their lands. He is mistaken!
https://img242.imageshack.us/img242/2682/byz2qa2.jpg
Grand Commander Sehzade, hero of the Cuman-Seljuk war, marches on Alexius' siege force at Trebizond. Knowing full well that if he is able to draw both the garrison out of the city and defeat it and the relief force, he can seize control of the city and deal a heavy blow to Turkish morale. Outnumbered, the Roman army is not the war machine that swept through the lands but four years before. Heavy loses and a prolonged campaign has taken their toll and the Emperor has been forced to turn to local mercenaries to bolster his ranks. Yet despite this, he has nothing but the greatest confidence in his soldiers that they will hold in the coming battle. The battle of Trebizond would see this confidence tested, the Turks hit the Roman line but the mercenaries and forces of the empire hold fast, Alexius himself turns and leads his battered cavalry forces along the right flank, hitting the turks. The already decimated cavalry forces take heavy casualties as they charge, repeatedly, into the enemy line. But the line holds.
Even as Turkish reinforcements arrive the tide of battle refuses to be turned, Alexius smashes the Seljuk forces, forcing an utter rout.
News of the victory spreads throughout the empire, the Turks are forced to retreat and Trebizond falls to the weight of the Roman advance. Alexius rests upon his conquest, knowing the men of this army are spent; they are assigned garrison duty in the new Imperial outpost. The following year, joyous news spreads through the ranks of the military once more, it is said that in the south Dositheos has utterly crushed Turkish resistance at the siege of Diyarbakir! The victory not only asserts Constantinople's authority in the area, it also completely cuts off the city of Edessa, which is controlled by the Turks, from reinforcements in the east. Alexius, upon hearing this, leaves Trebizond and races south determined to lay the siege of Edessa personally. Although, he has no army to do it with!
1117: Isaakios, youngest son (and thusly the one with most to prove) leaves his brother in Diyabakir and marches toward Edessa, not content to wait for his father coming in from the north. Meanwhile, the Army is slowly being rebuilt in Anatolia and with every year that passes the empire's strength only grows.
1118: News shocks the empire when Isaakios manages to take Edessa in a bloody siege! His lack of patience appears to have paid off at first glance, but attacking with so few troops ensured that the battle was hard fought. Isaakios only has enough men to keep public order within the walls of the city, and is forced to wait for reinforcements. Luckily, the fall of Edessa sees the last of the Turkish strongholds west of the Euphrates in the hands of the Eastern Empire so there is no immediate threat.
The year 1120 arrives and the Roman army is again rebuilt and ready for action, just in time, it would seem, as a massive Turkish force appears to he east of Diyarbakir. Alexius soon realizes however, that if he were to continue his campaign east the empire would not truly profit. The lands beyond do not serve his interests, roman interests, and thus he resigns to sue for peace with the Turks. Though the Turks bite their tongue to hide their insults, they eventually agree to a cease-fire.
Still, with a great army at his command and no one he was warring with.. What was Alexius to do? Why seek another enemy of course! He recognized the lands to the south, the small Christian kingdom that had been founded during the first crusade. It was controlled by a group of men calling themselves "Knights Templar", and though they had even aided the Empire in keeping the Fatamids in check, Alexius noted their lands would make the perfect springboard for an eventual invasion of the Holy Lands.
https://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2984/byz4ft1.jpg
1123. Roman forces cross over into the north of the Templar kingdom and races toward the fortress of Adana, only to find the Fatamids had beaten him to it! Indeed, it would appear the war between the Templers and the Fatamids was more advanced than his spies had led the Emperor to believe. Still, the Romans camp just out of sight of the stronghold, content to watch as the Fatamids use up their strength in taking the city.
Meanwhile, Alexius marches westward from Edessa, not content to wait for Adana to fall before the war starts in earnest. His forces strike quickly and seize Aleppo, a Fatamid stronghold, before the local forces are ever able to react! With the local populace in check he pushes northward, finding the main Muslim forces. The two great commanders face off against each other, but neitehr is willing to commit to the fight.
1124: Adana falls to the Fatamids, without giving them a single moment's rest; Captain Apasios besieges the tired and battered troops of the former assaulting force. Trapped, undermanned and exhausted, the defenders of Adana are little match for the well rested Romans. The fortress is absorbed into the ever growing reach of the Empire. Apasios pushes south, his gaze on Antioch. He knows if he can seize the city he shall be considered a hero among the people of Constantinople!
Alexius meanwhile acts. He hits the Fatamid general guarding the western road to Antioch with every bit of strength he has. The battle of Lower Syria would be recounted among the empire's most bloody and terrible battles. It would have been fought to a terrible stalemate if at the zero hour Alexius himself, at the head of the lancer column, led a counter attack against the left flank of the Fatamids. The weary fatamid left crumbles and flees before the Roman onslaught, winning the day but forced to return to Aleppo. A fresh troops are already on their way to reinforce his position, but all the same, the Emperor spends the winter in frustration that his new fortress.
1125: Apasios reaches the river north of Antioch but is unable to push further. He sets up camp within a days march of the city, knowing that he'll soon be upon the city. However as he sits waiting a large Fatamid host throws themselves upon the Romans, Apasios is forced to pull his men back, but the Fatamids pursue him, forcing a battle some three miles north of the river. Whereas Alexius was ground to a halt in the east, Apasios does the emperor one better by completely decimating the enemy forces sent against him. Completely destroyed and routed, the Fatamid defense of Antioch collapses. Apasios, with his great heroic victory, is invited to join the royal court. He happily agrees!
The following year in 1126, Apasios surrounds and lays siege to Antioch. Not wanting to prolong his glory a second longer, he orders the city stormed. The defenders fight valiantly, but they fall. Antioch becomes the newest addition to the Eastern Empire's advances and Apasios is widely considered a hero for near single-handedly winning the battle... reports of his bravery were greatly exaggerated.
Upon hearing of the city's fall the Fatamids send forth a great army, intent on recapturing the city in the name of their Caliph, however first they must contend with the Knights Templer in Tortosa. They turn west and march upon the crusader's final stronghold, the empire's spies report that the Grandmaster of the order retreats to the coast as the Fatamids move in upon him...
1127: The Battle of Tortosa sees the strength of the Knight's Templer broken, the Fatamids press their advantage and lay siege to the final stronghold of the order. Emperor Alexius finds himself in an interesting position. On one hand he could watch as the knights are destroyed, but on the other he would lose the only ally against the Fatamids he could potentially have. He decides at last to send a relief force under the "Hero of Antioch" Apasios to smash the Fatamids and relieve the Grandmaster. Apasios arrives in the summer of that year and launches his attack against the fatamids; the Knights issue forth from the citadel and joining the battle alongside the Romans. Cornered between the two forces, the fatamids fight with an inhuman fury. Nearly all of them resigning to fight to the death, their would prove the death of many in both the Crusader's and the Roman forces, and the Eastern Empire's forces are reduced to a mere 40% of their strength. Even so, they prevail!
1128: Alexius uses the defeat of the Muslim forces at Tortosa as initiative to move on Damascus, which was left with hardly the defenses it required for such a city. The great city cannot long hold out and after a short siege it too finds itself brought into the Roman fold.
1131: Fresh troops begin to arrive in Antioch, brought in from Greece, Thessaly and Anatolia. It seems the war machine that Alexius has built is showing no sign of slowing down, with every city that falls it is growing stronger! The Emperor himself has been given the title "conqueror" by his subjects and his men; it is an honor he is happy to accept.
https://img120.imageshack.us/img120/1786/byz6vm3.jpg
1133: Alexius the Conqueror dies on campaign in the deep desert, so far from the walls of Constantinople that he first issued from many years ago. His powerful army, though mournful at their leaders passing, press onward. With every breath he took, he sought to see the glory days of Rome restored, to once more bring honor and nobility back to a stagnant people. His great sacrifices and ambitions have been the doom of many men on both sides of the conflicts, yet his subjects know well that were it not for the drive of this man, Constantinople may have very well fallen..
https://img292.imageshack.us/img292/2964/byz7yc6.jpg
https://img182.imageshack.us/img182/7840/map1pm3.jpg
My experiences (at least in SS) with the Byzantines has been a very fun one. Every last florin you have on every single turn needs to be spent, whether it be on training or on building, you really cannot save for the future since you need it now. The turks were annoying and the Fatamids are proving to be a tough lot, it seems everytime I destroy a stack two more leap into its place.
I have also just started a Byzantine campaign on 6.0 and am finding it fun.
Here are some random pics I found in my tgas folder:
an English campaign on vanilla:
https://img211.imageshack.us/img211/9066/25707505tn4.th.jpg (https://img211.imageshack.us/my.php?image=25707505tn4.jpg)
A tough battle on BC ending with a 1 on 1 duel of two generals, my guy won in the end :beam:
https://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6387/15235291lb3.th.jpg (https://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=15235291lb3.jpg)
A tough battle on BC ending with a 1 on 1 duel of two generals, my guy won in the end :beam:
https://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6387/15235291lb3.th.jpg (https://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=15235291lb3.jpg)
Love it!
yeah it was great fun but annoying in the great scheme of things. I thought I could easily win that battle but I didn't notice that the Kypchack bodyguards have a full sized unit of hybrid cavalry with two HP :wall:
Rhyfelwyr
05-08-2008, 21:58
Reminds me when I had a go at the Agincourt historical battle ages ago. I was losing until Henry V personally slew the French General. :2thumbsup:
And I will have some very interesting pics of my 'chivalrous' Portugal campaign. They will include the Milanese in Thorn and Stettin, a Milanese army near Marrakesh, the HRE in Zagreb and Ragusa, and Italy unified by the Papacy. Speaking of which there was an anonymous Pope. :shrug:
@Monk: Very cool, man. Nice to see Aleksios still campaigning when he died. :2thumbsup: Are you going to continue pursuing the Fatamids then, or are you hoping to get a cease-fire in place?
A tough battle on BC ending with a 1 on 1 duel of two generals, my guy won in the end :beam:
https://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6387/15235291lb3.th.jpg (https://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=15235291lb3.jpg)
Interesting! How did that happen in the first place, though? Did you both have larger armies in the beginning of the battle, only to have both sides slaughter each other until only the opposing generals were left?
@Monk: Very cool, man. Nice to see Aleksios still campaigning when he died. Are you going to continue pursuing the Fatamids then, or are you hoping to get a cease-fire in place?
:2thumbsup:
House rules dictate I have to reform the Roman Empire as best I can with the province boundaries. I'm gonna keep battering the Fatimids until I have what i need from them, then maybe call a cease-fire.. that is if they don't inflict heavy losses on me first and grind me to a standstill. The campaign is becoming more and more bloody the closer I get to Jerusalem.. they really want to hold onto that city! Truthfully though I am trying to keep myself warring with the Muslim factions for as long as I can. Western Europe has some powerhouses at the moment, I'd rather not invite a crusade upon me by attacking a catholic nation. (then again, i may face one anyway as I take more of the Levant) One thing I didn't report was how the Crusaders took Baghdad in 1105. There was at least three french stacks guarding the city, it took three factions united by Jihad for the Muslim world to reclaim it. I'm not looking forward to that kind of fight :no:
I'll have more to report when I get a chance to play more of the campaign! I highly reccomend trying the Byzantines out, very challenging. Though their unit skins are a bit goofy.. fortunately there's lots of mods that can fix that! :thumbsup:
@Monk:Interesting! How did that happen in the first place, though? Did you both have larger armies in the beginning of the battle, only to have both sides slaughter each other until only the opposing generals were left?
yeah there were plenty of men in the beginning. I had a GB, some Templar cavalry and a half stack of HA mercenaries against their army of a massive GB, a selection of spearmen and foot archers and a few HA units. After a drawn out battle with massive losses on each side I repeatedly charged my mass of mercenaries at their general only to find them all dead and so I sent in my general and all the bodyguards ended up dead, leaving those two to battle it out. Closest battle I've ever had :sweatdrop:
Four emperors have come and gone on the Eastern Empire's throne in Constantinople and much has changed since the death of Aleksios the Conqueror.
1133 - 1170.
Here reigned Emperor Ioannis the Brave.
Also called the Conqueror, and the Honorable, Emperor Ioaniss took power upon the death of his father Aleksios. None could dare despute his claim to the throne... well except perhaps the other rival princes. But any doubt as to whether this man truly deserved the crown was soon silenced in the following decade with his campaigns south against the Fatimids.
Predictions of the campaign were said to be nothing but bloody, the emperor's finest telling him that to take Jerusalem would require all the Empire's might... despite this warning Ioannis would hear of nothing else but victory. Despite initial setbecks, the Emperor gathered to him every soldier the local garrison could spare and hit the city in 1140, cutting off the defenders and sacking the city inside of the year. Acre and Kerak would soon follow in turn, needing much less force than was previously predicted. The Fatimids seemed on the verge of defeat.
https://img364.imageshack.us/img364/2980/byz1ww6.jpg
The emperor pushed on, aided by the strength of the Knight's Templar at his side, he pushed into upper Egypt meeting little resistance and sacking the ancient city of Alexandria. As he pushed south toward Cairo however, he found the Fatimid strength rebuilt. Surprised by their numbers he was forced to retreat back to Alexandria and wait. Unfortunately the occupation of much of the Levant had drained his forces and forced them to turn to garrison duty to prevent local uprisings, it was not until 1146 that he was able to push on Cairo in earnest. The battle of Cairo was particularly bloody, seeing the destruction of the Fatimid forces.. Although Byzantine troops were reportedly so exhausted they were unable to push a single step forward. Cairo lay defenseless, but it was not to be.
It was not until the following year that the Emperor was able to push forward, laying siege to the already battered walls of the great city. The defenders of Cairo were few, and after a drawn out siege the city fell in 1150. The fall marked the beginning of the end for the Fatimid resistance to the Eastern Empire in Egypt. Though they would make attempts on Alexandria, they would never again hold a stronghold in the storied land. Egypt was once more a province of the Roman Empire.
https://img410.imageshack.us/img410/9515/byz2te7.jpg
While Ioannis still had to contend with the weakened Fatimids in North Africa and in Lower Egypt he decided that his empire would be better served by opening a second theatre of operations. He chose Italy. Too long had the very cradle from which Rome had grown to an empire been controlled by petty city states. Even now the Italian wars were in full swing and the peninsula was in chaos. What had started as trade disputes between the Sicilians and the Venetians had exploded into all out war. With Venice fighting not only Sicily but the Holy Father, the Pope himself! Genoa was also rumored to be aiding the conflict from the background, providing financial aid to the Papacy.
https://img158.imageshack.us/img158/9051/byz3bz4.jpg
It was the perfect time to strike, while Sicilian and Papal authorities were concentrating on Venice, Ioannis was about to come knocking on the back door. Meanwhile, his armies in North Africa were hunting down the last strongholds of the Fatimids. By the time Roman troops landed in Italy, the Fatimids had been all but driven from their lands as far as Tripoli. Ioannis was now the true master of the eastern Mediterranean.
Initial skirmishes at both Naples and Bari saw both settlements exchange hands to the Romans with hardly much of a fight. Southern Italy was secured by as soon as 1160 and the gaze of the emperor set upon Sicily shortly after. The island, however, was guarded by some eight thousand men, all marching north to retake their lost provinces. It was to their misfortune then that to greet them along the narrow Italian coast was waiting the armies of the Eastern Empire. Utilizing a new tactic by their standards, the Romans presented a shield wall to the Sicilians in battle after battle. With only militias to their service to back up their powerful knights, the Sicilians found their efforts to batter down the shield wall fruitless. Indeed, upon the lines of the Byzantines the Sicilians were allowed to break, in battle after battle the shield wall prevailed. The southern Italian campaign saw a Byzantine force of almost three thousand reduced to just over eight hundred. However that was enough to press onward. In 1162 Roman forces arrived in mainland Sicily.. and in just three short years both local power bases had been capture.
https://img59.imageshack.us/img59/9608/byz8lv4.jpg
Resigning to their fate, the Sicilians agreed to yield to the storm. The following year in 1167 the unthinkable happened. The Eastern Empire reclaimed Rome herself from the Papacy. Joyous celebrations erupted throughout Constantinople indeed, when Ioannis heard of his general's success he could only smile for the dream of Aleksios was becoming a reality some thirty years after his death. He expected the Christian forces to rise as one upon the capture of Rome, but it would seem due to the aggressive policies of the Pope in Italy not a single king in Europe seemed to care. One could even say they rejoiced upon t he capture of the eternal city. Three years later, even as the war for Italy progressed, the Emperor passed after spending the final 20 years of his life in the city of Cairo. May he rest well for his glorious conquests!
1170-1172
Here reigned Emperor Gennesios the Saint.
Who could seek to fill the shoes of Aleksios and Ioannis? Gennesios came to power in 1170, though his reign would be short due to his old age at the time, is impact would be profound. Already great in his piety he found the faith of many Byzantine territories lacking, and set about the building of many (and I do mean.. many) Orthodox churches. The wars in Italy came to a short standstill as the Romans both rebuilt and ferried in fresh armies from their great citadels in Anatolia and Greece.
1172-1180
Here reigned Emperor Kalliparios
While neither a battlefield commander nor a great building, Kalliparios was a man who ruled from his capital of Constantinople. Content to never leave it's walls and delve into the Arts and culture of the city while his generals continued their relentless wars in Italy. He was a man who believed in allowing the Generals have their way... although he wasn't without his intrigues.
Byzantine Politics.
Kalliparios would become known for one thing above all else. When he was crowned Emperor adopted son was named the heir, Prince Zigavinos. However.. Zigavinos had been a treacherous man since he was accepted into the royal family. Having openly defied the last two emperors in public during their reigns, he stood as a man who had few friends and as even less popular man among the masses. To allow him to sit upon the throne could have proven disastrous for the Empire even at its greatest hour. Therefore it was decided he must be forced to exit the stage..
The battle of Bologna, a city in the North of Italy and the final bastion of power for the Papal States in Italy came in 1177. Zigavinos grudgingly accepted his role in support of the left flank of the Byzantine force. What he hadn't truly noticed, however, was that his flank had intentionally been weakened with militia and mercenaries. When the two forces clashed Zigavinos found his wing was in danger of breaking! Bravely he charged into the breach intent upon sealing it. His actions that day would forever be remembered by the Royal court, for while Zigavinos succeeded in halting the Papal troops, and indeed saving the left wing; he was cut down in the attempt. A hero to the common people, his name was used as a rallying cry for further support in the Italian Wars. And with his death a new heir was named, ending whatever problems that may have arisen with the next transition phase.
1179 saw the fall of Bologna and the final city of the Papal States conquered by the Byzantines, now widely regarded as true Romans. The following year a brutal surprise attack upon the Genoese saw the Republic nearly collapse. Diplomats were dispatched and offered a single deal Become a client kingdom and have their Capital back… or die by the sword.
https://img440.imageshack.us/img440/6244/byz13ls7.jpg
They accepted.
1180-Current.
Here reigns Emperor Amintas the Conqueror
Having been named heir upon the death of Zigavinos, Amintas proved his worth in the campaigns against northern Italy and Genoa. Not only sacking the city of Genoa but allowing the Genoese to return to their capital just one year later; currently the Emperor campaigns against the Venetians. In a deadly surprise attack in 1181 Roman forces cut off and besieged the only two strongholds the Venetians had left after the long wars against the Papacy. Battered from the Italian wars, Venice is about to fall...
https://img246.imageshack.us/img246/751/byzmapxh1.jpg
It's good to be the king.
Galain_Ironhide
05-12-2008, 02:23
Nice work Monk! I'm very tempted to buy Kingdoms just so I can play SS.
Keep it up :2thumbsup:
Can't wait to see you recreate the entire Roman Empire, at it's peak. Good luck :2thumbsup:
@Elite Ferret: That's nuts! I'm not sure I've ever seen a battle come down to the opposing generals before, not even in the original MTW. A pity we don't have a badge for "most unusual battle". :sweatdrop:
@Monk: Well done! I shall drink to Amintas' swift completion of the reconquest of Italy. :medievalcheers: Will the Byzantines initiate a new campaign elsewhere now, or will they stop to consolidate their gains?
Thanks guys glad you like the updates! :2thumbsup:
Sorry about the "rushed" feel in the last post, i had 60 turns and 4 emperors to cover so I had to keep it condensed :sweatdrop: Next one i'll be sure to spend 15 min writing instead of just 10. :laugh4:
@Monk: Well done! I shall drink to Amintas' swift completion of the reconquest of Italy. Will the Byzantines initiate a new campaign elsewhere now, or will they stop to consolidate their gains?
I've hit the 48 province count in the last pic (i think) and SS's Victory condition for Long is 60 provinces. The great thing about having such a huge empire is after a while you really don't have to consolidate, drop a family member in a recently sacked city and keep on trucking. As long as you've got a few militia in the city and have sacked it, it should be fine (unless its faith is radically different or something). Plus My castles in Greece and now Italy have been replenishing my losses almost as fast as I incure them. The key is establishing a good force rotation (and making 13k a turn doesn't hurt either :thumbsup: ) The amazing thing is i've not faced a single revolt despite having 0% orthodox in some provinces for extended periods of time, Antioch being one of these! (though i've come close..)
If you'd like a sneak peak... :knight:
https://img170.imageshack.us/img170/8977/uhohzw9.jpg
https://img166.imageshack.us/img166/5502/uhoh2mk8.jpg
https://img120.imageshack.us/img120/1035/uhoh3he7.jpg
Currently the Byzantine Empire finds itself engaged in warfare in three seperate theatres of operation. North Africa, the Middle-East, and Lower Hungary. I broke my alliance with the hungarians so I could seize the former Roman territories they currently control. Once I establish the Danube river as my northern border I'll end the war with them, but I'm bound by my own house rules to take at least four of their southern provinces. In North Africa I opened a front with The emperor himself, the Moors are focused on Spain so rolling up their African provinces should be quite easy (i'm getting very profecient at invading through lightly defended corridors). I did a toggle_fow to see what strength the Moors posses... Not good! They are nearly as powerful militarily as I am.. it's gonna be a tough fight when I meet their forces.
Unfortunately my ally since near the start of the game the Khwarezmian Empire declared a Jihad against me in the Middle-East, and wouldn't you know it every Muslim faction (including the Turks and the Fatimids who I let live) joined... Cairo is the target (again, argh!) and now I face 5 stacks (that's right... five) coming down hard on the city. The Heir to the throne has been entrusted to the city's defense and I'm mobilizing my forces in Kerak and Acre. It's gonna be bloody. I let both the Turks and Fatimids live instead of eliminating them for the sake of adding to my Mongolian buffer zone, as well as providing "barbarians at the gate" feeling for my frontier border.
I should have wiped them out when I had the chance... :skull:
Yikes. Good luck in your defense of Cairo, mate; I suspect you may need it. ~:eek:
I should have wiped them out when I had the chance... :skull:
You know what they say: Hindsight -- it is a [insert expletive here]. :sweatdrop:
Here follows the accounts of the reign of Amintas the Conqueror, Emperor of the Roman empire during the years of our holy lord 1182-1199
Shortly after Amintas took rule over the Roman empire, acting as Regent for the true heir Prince Aleksios, he found that the empire's strength was great. There was no other in the entire known world who could boast the financial, cultural, productive nor military strength that the great Romans could. Indeed, it was a good time to assume control of the Empire. However due to the recent "parade" of emperors due to old age, the Throne has lost some of the authority it once had in the days of Aleksios and Ioannis, where their word was that of God's!
This small fact, however, would not slow the conquering hero Aminitas, indeed, he quickly set in motion plans to deal with the Venetians, and within the year the long and bloody siege that had been dragging on since 1181 was put to a quick and sudden end. Venice was no more. No sooner did this challenge be met and overcome then another presented itself.
Cairo. The jewel of the Nile river, stormed in 1140 by Emperor Ioannis and used as a seat of power in the middle east for decades. The preachers of Islam stated that this city groaned beneath it's Byzantine occupiers and urged all to rise up and drive the Romans back into the sea. The Muslim word obliged...
https://img170.imageshack.us/img170/8977/uhohzw9.jpg
Forty-seven years after it's capture the Khwarezmian Empire set the call out to all muslims loyal to the teachings of Islam to take up arms. And be they Fatimid, turk, or Moor they accepted. This would perhaps not have been so bad had Aminitas just recently opened up a new front for the Empire to expand in. Just the year before the empire had seized Sardinia and Corsica from The Moors and was landing troops in North Africa. Aminitas was too far to send aid to Cairo.. he would have to trust that the defenses of the Holy Land could hold.
Prince Aleksios, descendant of the great visonary himself was entrusted to guard the city with his life. The rightful heir to the throne, and now old enough to fight himself, Aleksios knew that if Cairo were allowed to fall the Fatimids may take initiative off the Jihad, many lands could potentially be lost. A call was sent to both Acre and Kerak, the two most advanced citadels the Empire had in the region. Every man who could be armed within two years was to report to Cairo!
https://img177.imageshack.us/img177/3879/byz1br6.jpg
Unfortunately the Armies of Islam were fast moving and the first of many waves of the Jihad arrived outside the city walls in 1189, commanded by none other than the forces of the Khwarezmian empire.. Aleksios pulled every soldier he had into the city and waited. Determined to hold out until relief forces could arrive. What he didn't know was that the Fatimids and Turks had sent detachements as well, and they would be arriving very soon. Any relief would have to fight through them. The Khwarezmian Jihad surrounded the city and waited...
The following year they struck, having bided their time long enough they assaulted the walls in 1190; the roman armies had only just now set out from Kerak and were on the way to Cairo. Aleksios was on his own. Even so he drew up his men in a sturdy shield wall, blocking off the main road into the city and daring the holy warriors of Islam to batter it down. As the enemies of rome so love doing, they obliged. The gates grumbled beneath their mighty ram and forth came the Muslims with swords and spears high, hitting the shield wall and forcing the romans backward. The well drilled and diciplined spearmen held the line as best they could, inflicting heavy casualties upon their foe as wave after wave hit the shield wall. Yet eventually it was too much and the shield wall collapsed. For the first time since it's first use in the Italian wars, the shield wall was battered down!
https://img183.imageshack.us/img183/3315/byz2du4.jpg
https://img138.imageshack.us/img138/1276/byz3tl7.jpg
Aleksios fell back to City Square, his entire cavalry detachement behind him as the Muslims advanced down main street, confident in their victory. However the shield wall had done it's work well enough, the men of the Jihad had their ranks ripped apart, and when the powerful kataphractoi cam charging down upon them they could not hope to withstand their force! The Muslim army broke and was driven back front he walls by the actions of Prince Aleksios himself, however his army was in shambles. He prayed the relief forces would arrive soon...
The Armies of Jihad regrouped outside the citywalls in disbelief they had just lost. Victory was theirs, only to be snatched away by the valiant prince! Fortunately a Jihad of this size had men to spare, and the Turks and Fatimids stepped up to the plate to try their hand at the city walls, laying siege in 1191. They would find however that in defeating the initial push for the city Aleksios had done all he needed to, buy time. The relief forces under Isaakios Komnenos arrived just in time to engage the Fatimids before they could properly establish siege lines. It was a curious thing, in that while united by their Jihad the Turks and Fatmids had no love for one another. Should the turks have wished it they could have marched to the Fatimids aid and defeated Isaakios.. instead they stood by and watched as he defeated the Fatimids in detail and then turned to them! Cairo had been saved for the moment and was reinforced. Asaakios rode on the Alexandria to raise more troops for the war as Aleksios held fast in Cairo.
1192. The Cairo Jihad was in full swing as Aminitas campaigned mercilessly in North Africa, scooping up the cities of Al-Mahdiya and Beleb el Anab essentially making the Client Kingdom of Sicily safe from further Moorish wrath. Aminitas pressed forward toward Algiers in search of the Main Moorish force in North Africa which was alluding him thus far. Elsewhere in 1192 Ktenas the Chivalrous was entrusted to lead the Hungarian campaign, a daring ploy to add the territories south of the Danube to the Empire's grip. If the surprise attack worked then the dream of reviving the Roman Empire would be ones step closer.. if it failed The main armies guarding Constantinople would be destroyed.
1193. The plan works! Sofia is quick to fall and Ktenas presses his advantage, moving north determined to advance as fast as he can before running into the main Hungarian force. The fools thought they could leave their flank unprotected against Roman interests. Hah! The following years are a period of uneasy peace in fighting. All armies are advancing in the different theaters of operation. Cairo prepares for the second wave.
The year of 1196 would forever be marked as a year in the history of this rebuilt Roman empire as a time when like no other, the generals of Constantinople were as Roman generals of old. It was a year of heroic deeds and great valor. In Cairo the second siege of the city began only this time it was supported by two stacks of the Khwarezam empire, more than enough to sack the city and still the Fatimids and Moors were on the way! Isaakios issued forth from Alexandria with a rebuilt army intent on relieving Aleksios but the march would take time..
Meanwhile Aminitas at last caught up with the main Moorish force of North Africa. After having seized Algiers the previous year he'd been itching for a real fight, it found him outside the walls of Mellila. An army led by Crown Prince Umar numbering in the thousands cornered Aminitas outside the city, forcing him to lift the siege and turn to face him The two sides clashed in the country side. The great Shield wall presented to the moors stopped their powerful troops and halted their deadly arrows allowing the cavalry to slowly pick at the flanks of the Moors. Finally the Emperor, leading the charge himself cornered and slew the crown prince, causing the Moors to break in a panic. What followed was a terrible rout for the Moors, Mellila fell that year. North Africa was now open to conquest...
During the same months a roman Captain known only as Vasilikos found himself outnumbered and besieged at the Battle of Ragusa. A Hungarian army had slipped around Ktenas and was laying siege to the city. Against all odds the captain held the line, suffering serious casualties but completely breaking the Hungarian force upon the great Citadel walls, yet the good captain would not be the only one defending against the Hungarians.. A two pronged attack had been launched against the Romans focused on Venice and Regusa by the Hungarians. Two huge armies, each numbering at 1700 marched on Venice, in it's defense stood Vartholomaios the Conqueror, hero of the Southern Italian campaigns and the man who was credited to be the true master mind of the wars against the Papacy. In defense of the city, however, all Vartholomais can conjure is a rag-tag assortment of veterans of the Northern Italian wars. Pound for pound they are vastly superior to Hungary, but The Romans are heavily outnumbered.
A stroke of luck appears however, as the Hungarian force is led by Lazzlo Hontpaznan and while a fine general is impatient. He chooses not to wait for his supporting force and attacks Varth's line outside of Venice with his men. Lazzlo's men are a diciplined and professional army, while the Roman forces are a loose collection of militias and troops left over and underpowered after the wars with Genoa and Venice. Though that may be, they are hardened veterans, ones who know how to defend a bridge and that's just where Vartholomaios chooses to draw his lines. The battle becomes as bloody as one can imagine, with nearly the entire hungarian force slain or captured, the day ends seeing Lazzlo completely humiliated by being captured (and later.. executed)
https://img182.imageshack.us/img182/3249/byz8qh7.jpg
https://img528.imageshack.us/img528/1905/byz9ry7.jpg
The very same year the second Hungarian force hits Varth's lines and this time the weathered general suffers heavy casualties. Losing over 60% of his men he is able to hold, barely. Perhaps the only thing that saw him and his men through were the great combat experience they had. Venice is safe nevertheless and the Hungarian power base is severely weakened as a result of their defeat outside the city's walls.
Cairo. Isaakios reaches Cairo only to find the Moors and Fatimids supporting the Khwarezmian empire outside the city. While not able to assault the main besieging force directly, Isaakios draws the Moors and fatimids into combat and is once again able to defeat the great hosts while still maintaining a good chunk of combat power. He moves in close to Cairo, intend on relieving the city should an assault come. 1196, the year of heroes (and heroic victories!) ends.
1198, the second assault on the city of Cairo comes and Isaakios uses the chance to slip into the back gate of the city while the Muslims hit the front with everything they have. The streets around the gate house become an absolute bloodbath as two full armies clash for control of the city in the streets, yet the Romans inspired by the news of victory from all over the empire (and their own success) fight with a tenacious spirit. Unwilling to give a single inch without blood and eventually even the Muslim general must yield to this fury! He falls in a failed attempt to punch through the Roman line, his troops flee soon after.
https://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4917/byz10li4.jpg
https://img441.imageshack.us/img441/8475/byz11qc1.jpg
1199. The jihad.. has failed! The might of four empires and countless thousands of men against the Roman empire, and the Romans have triumphed.
https://img441.imageshack.us/img441/7597/byz12yy3.jpg
:beam: 1196. Best. Turn. Ever! :2thumbsup: Didn't edit this gramatically cuz I wanna get this posted before I sleep so there's likely trip ups here and there. Hope you enjoyed!
Rhyfelwyr
05-14-2008, 16:05
That's me finished my last campaign on M2TW, played as everyone now. :sweatdrop:
And in perfect timing since my exams finished today so now I've got a summer holiday for Kingdoms and the older TW titles. :2thumbsup:
I decided to play this game with as much chivalry as possible, and I also set cities to auto-manage without governors to make it a little tougher.
As you can see I had a pretty standard start, but this turned out to be a bizarre campaign for AI expansion. The Pope went Rogue (Cavour would be proud), Milan migrated to Novgorod by the end, and I found the Aztecs much more fun to fight when I couldn't completely overwhelm them like I usually do when I own the whole map and have a bajillion florins. Plus the Timurids actually managed to conquer two places, but then mysteriosly disappeared. Keep a close eye on the mini-map in these pics:
https://img218.imageshack.us/img218/2453/portugal50zp3.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img218.imageshack.us/img218/2453/portugal50zp3.c670d589cc.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=218&i=portugal50zp3.jpg)
https://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2552/portugal100pq9.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2552/portugal100pq9.30951124f0.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=84&i=portugal100pq9.jpg)
https://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6846/portugal150vd2.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6846/portugal150vd2.7345fc07e3.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=341&i=portugal150vd2.jpg)
https://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1162/portugalendhv4.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1162/portugalendhv4.b17b2b8def.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=84&i=portugalendhv4.jpg)
Crazy, the pope conquered all of Italy, I've never seen an aggressive papacy in my games. Great Pics. I never have the patience to conquer the whole map. After reading this thread I'm real tempted to try SS 6.1.
That's some feat CR. Was that all in vanilla? That must have taken some patience!
The only time I've seen the Pope go on a rampage like that was also in my Portugal campaign, that's strange. Does being Portugal make the Pope more likely to attack Milan perhaps?
Oh, and don't forget to do all the BC campaigns as well...:whip:
Rhyfelwyr
05-15-2008, 13:15
That's some feat CR. Was that all in vanilla? That must have taken some patience!
The only time I've seen the Pope go on a rampage like that was also in my Portugal campaign, that's strange. Does being Portugal make the Pope more likely to attack Milan perhaps?
Oh, and don't forget to do all the BC campaigns as well...:whip:
I'm just one man! :sweatdrop:
Tried to buy Kingdoms today but my town is a dump and all its got are cardshops, so it looks like I'll need to go into Glasgow on Saturday.
I helped the Pope in that one though. Milan kept attacking me at Dijon, so I sacked Milan and Genoa and raized every building in them. :beam:
Then the Pope seemed to step into both of them once I abandoned them. Strangely Milan was already starting to migrate north by then. I swear I did nothing to send them up to Novgorod. Normally if they lose Milan then they stay around Frankfurt and Metz, I've no idea what they were doing.
And yes it was all in vanilla, or Patch 1.2 if that still counts as vanilla.
I was wrong. The end province limit is 70 for SS, as I hit the 60 mark at the turn of 1200 I found that the diplomacy model in the game had completely broken down, every faction was gunning for me and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. They wanted blood, so I gave them their own... The Muslim factions having all declared war upon me during the Jihad, though their Jihad had failed, continued to pound at the gates. Al Aqaba was besieged and relieved more times than I can count (or care too.) by both Fatimid and Khwarezmian interests. Caffa in the North of the Black Sea, seized in 1203, was besieged so many times by the Turks I swear they could make a map of the surrounding area by memory. Let us also not forget the Ssettlement of Fes; former capital of the moors in North Afric which had fallen to me in 1202. It was besieged by the Moors at least twice in its own right.
Yet still not a single settlement was yielded. Not a single inch of ground given before being stained red. It was a new day for the Roman Empire, a sword day. As the entire world turned against me and factions i'd never even interacted with before attacked as soon as we shared a border, i began to see that with my current infastructure taking western Europe was just not going to be an option. The Aragonese were too powerful (the current powerhouse in West Europe) to defeat while fending off invasions from five fronts (North Africa, The Levant, the Middle-east at Edessa, Caffa in the Black sea, and the Hungarians in Eastern Europe.) so I resigned to push on to the 70 province limit and call it quits.
The AI didn't make it easy. Every single turn was more costly than the last, there were times when settlements were kept from falling to enemy hands by a single and final desperate charge of the Bodyguard cavalry into the disorganized and thinned ranks of the enemy. But not once did my valiant soldiers give up, if I could I'd buy 'em a beer as they did Constantinople proud.
Somewhere in the data file graveyard Aleksios smiles; though the old roman empire may not be reforged in it's entirety a new Roman Empire has found itself. One that perhaps could very well stand the test of time.
https://img183.imageshack.us/img183/5562/byz1qq5.jpg
Final game map:
https://img505.imageshack.us/img505/1632/map1ea6.jpg
There will be no final write up as quite frankly during the final 10 turns I was fighting so many battles each time I hit the "end turn" button that it's kinda all blurred together, and for the fact that by 1207 I actually found myself hating this AI for being so unreasonable (Really? Turn down a 14,000 single payment/2000 tribute for 20 turns for a ceasefire? Seriously?). I had a ton of fun though and hope you guys enjoyed the updates. Though I didn't get to revive the Roman Empire, I'm pretty happy with what i was able to accomplish. :thumbsup:
Oh and one last thing: Watching a cavalry charge from soldier eye level while listening to the intro solo on "Go into the water" off the dethalbum? Priceless.
Great stuff Monk, looking forward to your next campaign already :beam:
Why don't you try again with the other Romans?
That was a terrific campaign, Monk; I commend you on your successful resurrection and resurgence of the Roman Empire. Looking forward to your next AAR! ~:cheers:
@Caledonian Rhyfelwyr: So where exactly is your Portuguese campaign sitting, then? Are you getting ready to move against the Fatamids/Egyptians, or are you still working on the French?
If you do try another one and want a real challenge, try playing as the Shah in the late era, really tense fight for the first 10 turns or so.
Rhyfelwyr
05-15-2008, 20:48
@Caledonian Rhyfelwyr: So where exactly is your Portuguese campaign sitting, then? Are you getting ready to move against the Fatamids/Egyptians, or are you still working on the French?
That's it all done. It was set to short campaign conditions since I was playing chivalrously, and didn't want to do another storming of the world with 4 full stacks come turn 50.
You can see in the last pic its at Turn 211, so I was nearly out of 'official' time anyway.
I had to restrain myself from rampaging across France. As for the eastern Front, that's the Mongols you see there. I fought them a little on a Crusade to Jerusalem, but that's about it.
I'm a little intimidated to post this following Monk and CRs' excellent posts, but here goes.
So here are a couple of screenshots from my current Kingdom of Jerusalem campaign in Broken Crescent. It's pretty fun, KoJ have absolutely lethal heavy cav and pretty tough spearmen, but their archers are pretty much worthless so the large quantities of horse archers the Ayyubids and most other Muslim factions field are a real pain.
My strategy so far has been to take the offensive immediately against the Ayyubids. So I gathered all my starting forces under King Baldwin and laid siege to Gaza on the first turn, and spent all of my starting wealth on troops. On the second turn I took Gaza from the minimal garrison, and marched my second army South under Reynald de Chatillon to lay siege to Aqaba. With the Egyptian frontier secure, I raced King Baldwin North to engage the large Egyptian army marching from Damascus.
It was a tough fight, but in the end my superior spearmen won through against the Saracens', while my heavy smashed through their light axemen without breaking step. The enemy's Northern army destroyed, the way lay open to Damascus.
This is where I discovered that infuriating feature of BC, the fact that whenever you siege a settlement of a certain size, it will automatically spawn hordes of defenders, usually of better quality than the original defenders. However, they were still no match for my armoured spearmen, and Damascus fell the next year.
I used the money from sacking Damascus to raise a second army in the south under Reynald de Chatillon. Whilst King Baldwin marched upon Homs, the last Ayyubid stronghold in the North, Reynald marched towards Qahira and the inevitable showdown with the mighty Salahuddin.
That showdown came the next turn, in the deserts west of Aqaba. The battle was long and bitter under the hot desert sun, but once again the disciplined Frankish spearmen were too much for the Ayyubids, while they could do nothing to stop my heavy cavalry from driving off their own and delivering a crushing blow to the rear. In the rout, the mighty Salahuddin himself was cut down by my spearmen.
However, my army was too weak after the battle to lay siege to Qahira itself; instead I layed siege to Bilbeis, the last Ayyubid castle, since Homs fell to my forces the same turn. Baldwin continued on towards Antioch whilst a third stack was raised with the specific aim of besieging Qahira.
In the North, I decided Antioch was too well defended to fall to a direct assault, so I dug in to starve the defenders out; in the South, Bilbeis fell before Reynald's veterans reinforced by the new reinforcements, leaving the way clear for both stacks to finally besiege the great Ayyubid capital. The next turn, the city was assaulted, the two mighty armies of Jerusalem proving too much for the hurriedly assembled defenders. The war against the Ayyubids was won; all that was left was for my men to mop up the last stronghold at Alexandria.
The eventual sally of Bohemund of Antioch was somewhat of an anticlimax; the chivalrous general led his heavy cavalry in gallant, but foolhardy charge against my spearmen, leaving his otherwise formidable army leaderless and vulnerable to be pinned by my spearmen while once again the knights templar made a crushing charge against the flanks.
Now, at last, my economy was starting to flourish, with Damascus, Antioch, Jerusalem, Qahirah and Alexandria all producing a decent income. With this I was able to at last begin to develop my cities, building many ports and roads and upgrading my castles to produce better troops. I also began planning an expedition against the rebel settlement of Famagusta on Cyprus, whilst my Southern armies marched south to besiege Luxor.
However, Baldwin arrived on Cyprus to find the Romans had beaten him to it; rather than challenge the formidable Roman garrison, he diverted his fleet North for a surprise attack on the Armenians of Cilicia. Already beset by the Turks from the north, they were unprepared for an attack from the south as well; Adana and the Armenian capital quickly fell, and the Armenians sued for peace soon after on favourable terms. With a foothold secured in Anatolia, I was ready to begin a campaign against the Turks to complete the victory conditions.
The Turkish forces, though at first intimidatingly large, proved lightweight; their skirmishers and light axemen are no match for my templars. I soon layed siege to a castle in the center of Anatolia, Sultan Arslan trapped inside.
So the current state of my campaign is this: The Turkish castle has fallen, the Turkish sultan dying in the assault, and King Baldwin stands poised to ravage Antolia with his veterans, while a second crusader army is marching north to aid him. Meanwhile, Reynald de Chatillon has taken Luxor and Aswan, and is continuing south to mount an attack on the Makurians. Another crusader army is being assembled in Palestine, ready to march southwest along the Red Sea coast towards Mecca.
I am not sure where the campaign will take me after the Turks are dealt with; at the moment I am thinking either of concentrating all my forces westwards to overcome the Romans and seize Constantinople, or else striking east towards Baghdad. Any suggestions would be welcome. :beam:
https://img187.imageshack.us/img187/241/girltraitkj0.th.jpg (https://img187.imageshack.us/my.php?image=girltraitkj0.jpg)
Bit of a peculiar trait for a fearsome high-dread general, this.
https://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8019/jerusalemwc3.th.jpg (https://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jerusalemwc3.jpg)
The current state of my empire.
Also, could someone let me know whether my pics have displayed properly? This is the first time I've tried posting screenshots so not sure if I've done it right.
The Khwarezm Shah after some epic horse archer victories vs the Mongols and the KoJ.
https://img183.imageshack.us/img183/6695/shahgi4.th.jpg (https://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shahgi4.jpg)
Quintus.JC
05-16-2008, 13:23
How did PoorbloodyInfantry get the characters? They look exactly like the characters in Kingdom of Heaven, do they come naturally in BC? Or is it moded?
I'm playing BC with the 1.05 patch, and I haven't modded it at all so I guess they come like that.
whoah somehow missed his post. They come with BC.
Great stuff PBI, shame the AI doesn't seem to have expanded much. I think it would be more interesting if you went for Contsantinople as the road to Baghdad seems too full of rebels.
I'm thinking along those lines also, partially because once I've defeated the Turks I'll be surrounded by the ERE and won't fancy turning my back on them, and also because Aleppo lies on the road to Baghdad and has a huge stack of armoured horse archers which I really don't fancy fighting.
Hopefully once I'm done with the ERE and maybe the Kypchaks also the Abbasids and Seljuks will be a bit stronger. Also, I am quite tempted by the route along the Red Sea and around the tip of Arabia, since this seems to be the path of least resistance at the moment.
whoah somehow missed his post. They come with BC.
Great stuff PBI, shame the AI doesn't seem to have expanded much. I think it would be more interesting if you went for Contsantinople as the road to Baghdad seems too full of rebels.
Some of the factions seem to have expanded quite a bit, i think it's just the fact that BC has so many rebel territories it makes it not look that way. The Abbasids and the Great Seljuks are always slow in expansion in my games for some strange reason, wouldn't be surprised if they became powerhouses by 1200 though! :yes:
Both good posts!
Poor Bloody Infantry: Constantinople, deffinately. Though it's gonna be hard to lock down (it spawns gold cheveron pikemen for god's sake!) it's well worth the cost in digital blood as the path through Anatolia will likely net you a large portion of coastal provinces. With those in hand you can easily control trade and make a fortune to finance your push East. :2thumbsup:
Elite Ferret: Very nicely done defeating the mongols! What are your current plans for expansion? Looks like you established a client kingdom outside your borders centered around Jerusalem, gonna expand that? Doubt the Fatimids will take kindly to that!
That small Kingdom was a result of a very fun Jihad. I took an almost full stack of horse archers and won three heroic victories with them (it is the army outside Acre in the pic) and after the assault on Jerusalem with my main army the KoJ had no more family members, so they went kaput.
The bad news is the Turks just declared war on me so I'll likely fight a long war with them slowly edging towards Constantinople. I had hoped to fight the Fatamids and have Turkey neutral in the North but the Turkish Sultan obviously decided that fighting the Byzantines, Venetians and Kievans wasn't enough :clown:
I suppose that is what playing on VH does to the diplomacy but I still like to because the AI expands much faster, when I first got 6.0 I played E/E for a test game and by turn 40 only one AI faction had conquered a settlement :wall:
edit: and about BC expansion, I guess my viewpoint has been affected by playing too many hotseat games where everyone expands really fast :laugh4:
@Poor Bloody Infantry: An excellent AAR, mate! It's certainly a worthy entry -- as much as Monk's and CR's. (Your screenshots showed up just fine, by the way.) ~:cheers:
I second the recommendation that you go for Constantinople. In addition to the considerable wealth to be gained by taking the city, it appears to me that it's in a more strategically secure position when compared to Baghdad. Given Baghdad's location, it seems like it would be vulnerable to attack from multiple directions and multiple factions, whereas "Big C's" corner position would likely be much easier to hold onto.
@Elite Ferret: How big are the Turks in your Khwarezmian campaign, by the way? Are they a serious threat, or more of a speed bump?
Quintus.JC
05-16-2008, 19:31
I'm playing BC with the 1.05 patch, and I haven't modded it at all so I guess they come like that.
I guess Balian and Raymond III of Tripoli is there as well, do you get to use the Hospitaller guy? Played by David Thewlis in the film. What about the Muslim party, is that Nasir guy avaliable?
Does King Baldwin die in his twenties in the game?
The Turks are currently the second strongest faction, but the majority of their armies are fighting in Turkey itself and I should be able to gobble up a lot of land before they reach me, assuming the fatamids don't attack. Handy thing is my best citadel, one I started with, is right on the border with the Turks so I can send elite troops straight at them.
With the Ayyubids defeated, my empire is fairly secure, and my expansion has settled into three distinct fronts: The Turkish front, led by King Baldwin himself, campaigning against the Turks in central Anatolia; the Nile front, led by Reynald de Chatillon; and the Arabian front, led by Gerard of Sidon.
On the Turkish front, Baldwin immediately confronted the full Turkish stack near Karaman. Expecting a tough battle, I was amazed and delighted to see that the Turks had deployed at the bottom of a deep ravine. My archer auxilia caused heavy casualties firing down from such a great height with impunity, and when the Turks tried to counterattack with their skirmishers, they were driven back down the steep hill by the charge of my Templars. The sight of their skirmishers routing, closely pursued by my cavalry, was enough to rout the remaining Turkish infantry and I drove the mighty army from the field with minimal casualties. It was a pattern which was to be repeated many times over wherever the Turks tried to face me with a captain-led army.
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/4700/battleofkaraman1ko2.th.jpg (https://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=battleofkaraman1ko2.jpg)
Here my own army surges down the steep mountainside in the foreground. In the distance can be seen the Turks at the bottom of the valley.
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/1060/battleofkaraman7gg0.th.jpg (https://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=battleofkaraman7gg0.jpg)
With the main Turkish field army destroyed I was free to march on Kayseri and trap the Turkish crown prince within. Meanwhile my second Anatolian army marched through the mountains to the south and layed siege to Konya, once again trapping a full Turkish stack within (with the added benefit that since the town was fully garrisoned, there would be nowhere for the extra defenders to spawn.) Next turn, the Turks attempted to relieve Kayseri and the crown prince led his army out to do battle with mine.
This army proved more formidable than the one at Karaman; after quickly defeating two small reinforcement armies I turned my force to face the Turkish crown prince and his army. The ensuing battle, fought over a ridge in the center of the field, was the sternest test my armies would face in the whole war against the Turks. Their infantry force was larger than mine, and mostly spears, making any frontal charge by the Templars suicide. My infantry was forced to engage the Turkish spears and axemen at the foot of the ridge, superior in quality but at some points outnumbered two or even three times by the opposing Turks. My archer auxilia on the ridge above duelled with the Turkish horse archers; meanwhile my cavalry charges to the flanks were having little effect due to the sheer numbers of the Turks; not enough would be killed in each charge to let my infantry overwhelm them, and due to the presence of their prince they would not break and run.
However, eventually on the right flank, my cavalry superiority began to tell, as the Turkish infantry gradually withered away under the repeated charges. At last the right flank gave way, but this didn't lead to the usual chain rout; however, I could use my victorious infantry to steadily roll up the Turkish army, flanking and destroying units one by one. Finally, the Turkish prince was caught between my cavalry and spearmen and slain, effectively ending the Turkish resistance.
With victory, Kayseri lay open and was seized by my troops. However, it had come at a high price: around a third of my infantry had fallen, but more grievous still was the loss of most of my Templar knights. From now on Baldwin would have to lead the cavalry charges personally.
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/5757/battleofkayseri3qn6.th.jpg (https://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=battleofkayseri3qn6.jpg)
My archer auxilia rain arrows down upon the Turks below, while my spearmen await the command to attack.
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/3500/battleofkayseri5ky4.th.jpg (https://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=battleofkayseri5ky4.jpg)
Baldwin charges the enemy rear at the height of the battle.
With his somewhat depleted force Baldwin continued the campaign northwards. Sweeping aside the meagre resistance he layed siege to the new Turkish sultan at Kirsehir. However, the defenders were too numerous for Baldwin to risk his fast-diminishing army in a reckless assault. After all, his own supply situation was perilous, with reinforcements having to make a long trek from the Levant, through Armenian territory. Meanwhile the Turks seemed able to raise new troops at will and in vast numbers. Thus the Turkish front went into a lull as Baldwin settled down to starve out the defenders at Kirsehir and Konya.
On the Nile frontier, Reynald de Chatillon was campaigning against the Makurians, having laided siege to Qasr Ibrim, the gateway to their kingdom. On the second year of the siege, the besiegers were attacked by a Makurian relief force. Coupled with the already-formidable garrison, the Makurian force outnumbered Reynald's by almost three to one. Although it was composed mostly of the light Makurian warbands, still the task facing Reynald was substantial, since he had not only to defeat this huge Makurian force, but to do so with his own army sufficiently intact to continue the campaign; it was a long trek back to the cities of the Levant, so there was no possibility of reinforcement.
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/51/qasribrim1yq1.th.jpg (https://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=qasribrim1yq1.jpg)
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/1505/qasribrim3wo4.th.jpg (https://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=qasribrim3wo4.jpg)
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/4505/qasribrim5er7.th.jpg (https://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=qasribrim5er7.jpg)
The battle was tough, but in the end the heavy armour of the Franks and the Makurians' lack of cavalry was decisive; after routing the Makurian garrison, the crusaders turned and, although already tired from the previous fight, carved through the light infantry of the relief force. Chatillon's losses were heavy, but with the aid of local mercenaries, he would be able to continue the campaign.
After a quick siege of a lightly-defended castle, Chatillon continued up the Nile to besiege the Makurian capital of Dongola. Using the latest catapults recruited from Qahira, he attacked immediately.
Dongola seems to be laid out as an oasis, as seen in the picture. Although I was pleasantly surprised to discover this unique settlement layout, it seems the AI cannot cope with the pathfinding and as a result, the Makurian faction leader began the battle outside the walls, able to be easily cut down by my cavalry. As a result, assaulting the breach made by my catapult was rather easy as the enemy infantry fled before me. Additionally several Makurian units seemed unable to navigate their way to the town center, meaning I was able to win by holding the town center for the required time.
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/1444/dongola1iw8.th.jpg (https://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dongola1iw8.jpg)
The oasis at Dongola
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/3699/mak2kf0.th.jpg (https://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mak2kf0.jpg)
With the fall of Dongola, the way was open to capture the final Makurian settlement at Meroe. This fell to assault a few turns later, but by now the expedition was severely depleted; I resolved to march it north to retrain, and redeploy on the Anatolian front, whilst a new wave of reinforcements would deal with the remaining rebel settlements in east Africa.
Meanwhile Gerrard of Sidon was campaigning along the Arabian coast. Again, he would be hard to reinforce and minimising casualties was of the utmost importance. However, this proved easy enough against the lightly-defended rebel settlements; a quick assault by the swordsmen would clear the rebel spearmen from the walls, after which my halberdiers would be sent in to deal with the cavalry. The 2H bug seems to have been fixed somewhat and I was pleased to discover that my halberdiers can quickly chew their way through an entire unit of Bedouin camels without loss (sorry Martok!) First Medina, then Mecca and San'a fell in quick succession. Before long Gerrard will have reached the Indian ocean.
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/9359/jermap4ri4.th.jpg (https://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jermap4ri4.jpg)
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/6429/meccahu9.th.jpg (https://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=meccahu9.jpg)
By now the long sieges in Anatolia had finally ended. At last Baldwin could proceed to seize Amasia and lay siege to the Turkish castle at Siva, while the secondary army layed siege to Ankara. Both castles had large garrisons, but consisting mostly of cavalry, meaning the walls could be taken easily by assault, leaving the archer auxilia to follow the infantry onto the walls and shoot down upon the Turkish riders with impunity.
With the two Turkish castles taken, the war is all but over. The last two Turkish settlements are under siege and will fall next turn, fulfilling the victory conditions (I am already far past the 20 province limit required - why is it, that whenever I play a short campaign I feel like carrying on to the bitter end long after winning the campaign, while whenever I choose a long campaign, I am bored after 20 regions?) Next will be a quick campaign to finish off the Armenians and secure my supply lines, then I will begin to prepare for the war against the Romans, who I suspect will provide a very different challenge to the factions I have faced so far.
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/5582/jermap3av2.th.jpg (https://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jermap3av2.jpg)
My empire a few turns ago. I have since taken Sana'a, Meroe, Amasia and Siva, while Sinop and the other Turkish settlement are under siege.
Quintus, in answer to your question, Balain and Raymond of Tripoli are indeed represented. I haven't seen the film though so I don't know about the other people you mentioned. As for Baldwin, he is still going strong at 35.
The year 1088 of the Christian calender.
Cairo, Egypt.
It has been eight years since The Fatimids began their march from the great city of the Nile, their mission to unite the holy lands under one banner and end the horrible infiting that plagues the independent rulers of the cities of Damascus, Kerak, Acre and Jerusalem. Sultan Al-Mustansir, already reaching old age in his 50s, knows that the road is going to be a long one, his people have no great military strength, but they have the wealth of the Egyptian lands to draw from. From such beginnings he marches forward and begins his conquest of the Levant.
https://img265.imageshack.us/img265/7376/fatimid1ed6.jpg
His overall position at home is quite secure. His nearest Islamic rival, the Moors, are half a world away in North Africa. The Order of Knights Templar, backed by papal interests, are starting to grab land in the North. It is perhaps because of these men that the Sultan set upon the path of conquest, can the Holy Land truly be trusted in the hands of Westerners? It is a question the Sultan must not answer, for in 1089 he secures not only Kerak but the holy city of Jerusalem itself! The accomplishment sends shockwaves throughout the entire world, and though the city is occupied peacefully once the local forces were defeated all of Western Europe looks upon the fall of the city as a terrible transgression. Still. The Sultan pays no heed, indeed. He pushes in to Acre and defeats the local garrison quickly the following year.
Not wishing to rest he pushes his men, forcing the march on Damascus. In 1091 his determination pays off the the local militias are put down, seeing the city turned over to Fatimid interests. The sultan finds that the Templars have beat him to Allepo, and thus decides now would be a good chance to consolidate his newly grown kingdoms. It is unfortunate that no kingdom can survive without growing pains...
Western Europe had heard rumors, whispers. The Fatimids had discovered holy relics of the man they called Christ and in their greed had spirited them away to Cairo! Of course, such stories were false, but to those of conviction and half a world away, it was hard to dissuade them as such. When the Sultan did not respond to threats from the Courts of Europe, the Pope acted.
https://img233.imageshack.us/img233/1967/fatimid2un3.jpg
The Sultan stood in disbelief! His kingdom which barely had the strength to enact building programs and still defend itself, was now the target of a Crusade. What was worse his capital was the main focus! He knew that if Cairo fell, his entire kingdom would follow. Every man from nearby Alexandria, Damietta and Gaza was given a spear or bow and sent to Cairo, If the Latins would not see reason they would see their blood! Fortified and ready for the coming storm, the defenders of Cairo rallied under Ziyad al-Musayyab, commander of the greater Egypt armies, and thus they waited.
The Hungarians were the first to arrive in the Holy Lands in 1095, marching south and quickly besieging the city the following year. Having no funds to raise more troops, and with his norther army stuck watching the border in case the Templars took advantage of the situation, the Sultan was forced to pray that his southern defenses would hold.
Perhaps it was fate, but the Hungarian forces that besieged the great city were nothing more than light infantry forces and, primarily, mercenaries. The Hungarians had undertaken the call to arms and rose up with naught but levies, a poor man's crusade..
https://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2558/fatimid4ms1.jpg
Pinned against the walls the bulk of the Hungarian force is shot to pieces by the great many archers raised from the populace just the year before. When at last the gate does burst open the cavalry heavy crusader force finds itself staring down the business end of a spear line..
https://img527.imageshack.us/img527/9130/fatimid5dr1.jpg
The Fatimid defenders suffer light casualties and are able to drive back the first Crusader wave! However, Ziyad knows that more will come, despite this he allows those who are captured to leave freely once the fight has ended. The crusaders prefer exile in the Levant and disband their forces rather than return home disgraced. In response to the outright aggression shown to his people by the western Christians, he pleads to Imam Muhammad that he may embark upon a Holy War of his own, in retaliation for the Infidel wars upon Cairo. Muhammed agrees that something must be done, and calls A Jihad for the great stronghold of Tortosa powerbase of the Knights Templer. The Sultan has little trouble in raising a huge host and marches north in 1099, determined to see Allah's will done. After cornering a huge host of Templars outside the fortress, Al-Mustansir utterly defeats the defending force of the fortress and lays siege to the stronghold proper.
In the south Two huge armies arrive upon Cairo's doorstep. One led by King Alfonso, lionhearted king from the Kingdom of Leon-Castile. The other by his rival a man from the Crown of Aragon. The two men clearly do not see eye to eye and in 1102 Alfonso beats the Aragonese to the gates of the city, laying seige. That year Tortosa falls to the Sultan's forces. The Jihad has accomplished its objective but in the Sultan's mind it is far from over. He must secure his northern border of enemies if he is ever going to defend against further crusades from the West.
He issues forth from Tortosa and corners a large Templar force returning from Edessa, they were marching to relieve Tortosa and are absolutely shocked to find the Fatimids blocking their advance. The two forces clash in terrible struggle, the well balanced Fatimid army far outclasses their Christian counterparts and soon gain the upper hand. The Sultan leads the cavlary wing in a charge against the Templar's right wing, determined to punch through toward their infantry.
https://img227.imageshack.us/img227/113/fatimid8og5.jpg
But disaster! As the forces collide, an aged and battle scarred ruler is not as resilient as he once was, a templar spear finds its mark in him and he falls. His greif striken soldiers cannot believe their eyes.. their Sultan dead! The day however is not lost, as Captain Abul-Asshab rallies his grief stricken soldiers and leads them in a counter attack against the templars. The fury of the Fatimid counter-charge snaps the Latin resistance and the army crumbles. The good captain after the battle is regarded as a hero for his brave rallying of the troops, for his heroism in battle he is given the ultimate honor of joining the royal family.
1103 comes, with a new sultan crowned in Al-Musta'il, the defenders of Cairo prepare for the worst. The Spanish advance upon the gates that year and as before the men of the city greet them with an arrow shower. But these are not under trained slavs and mercenaries they face, but a highly professional force commanded by a King. The gate buckles and breaks and forth they come!
https://img91.imageshack.us/img91/4997/fatimid11zy3.jpg
The line is snapped in half with an all out melee breaking out. It becomes every man for himself and while inflicting serious casualties upon the crusaders the Fatimids are slowly thinned until finally they break. Musta'il pulls his cavalry back around the edge of the city, regrouping in city square as the Crusaders march down main street.
Somehow in the confusion of the gate battle, Alfonso finds himself separated from his men. Al-Musta'il hears like a great clap of thunder a voice shouting for the charge in his heart. This is his chance, a chance to send panic through the crusader lines, a chance to strike them down!
https://img366.imageshack.us/img366/3143/fatimid13kr8.jpg
The good king turns... to find his death approaching. It is said he never had a chance to turn his horse about before they were upon him. His death sent shock waves through the ranks, their king's death seemed to remind the weary crusaders of all that they had lost, all they sacrificed so far from home. They broke and fled, the Fatimid calvary wing pursued them taking as many prisoners as they could before marching back into the city with the prisoners disgraced before the citizens. Knowing the crusaders may join with the Aragonese who waiting outside the walls, the Sultan nevertheless allowed them to go free. Feeling enough had died this day. In honor of the Fallen King Alfonso the Sultan saw to it he received all the burial rights a man of his station deserved.
https://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9836/map1qb1.jpg
Rhyfelwyr
05-20-2008, 20:06
I've been pretty bored waiting for Kingdoms to arrive, so I had a go as the Rebels. I've heard some people like to consolidate a base as them, but I just blitzed like I have never blitzed before (normally more a turtle), and got the 80 regions Short Campaign victory by Turn 12.
If you want to try something a bit different, I recommend going the Rebels. Its great fun, you get such a diversity of units.
Turn 5:
https://img382.imageshack.us/img382/9587/turn5mx0.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img382.imageshack.us/img382/9587/turn5mx0.67dd366817.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=382&i=turn5mx0.jpg)
Turn 7:
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/6474/turn7sy5.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/6474/turn7sy5.f18bd19aac.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=399&i=turn7sy5.jpg)
Turn 9:
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/409/turn9ob5.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/409/turn9ob5.c152501ea5.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=399&i=turn9ob5.jpg)
Turn 10:
https://img382.imageshack.us/img382/7438/turn10zd4.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img382.imageshack.us/img382/7438/turn10zd4.5a5cb795f5.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=382&i=turn10zd4.jpg)
And at the End (Turn 12):
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/2125/endyi8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/2125/endyi8.b5a25bc6b3.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=399&i=endyi8.jpg)
Oh Yeah!
https://img234.imageshack.us/img234/3034/victorysq4.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img234.imageshack.us/img234/3034/victorysq4.0773edfc68.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=234&i=victorysq4.jpg)
Wow, very nice CR! Victory in 12 turns, that's insane.
Indeed. That's crazy, CR! How the heck did you manage that so quickly? Do the rebels simply start with that many settlements (I've never really bothered to count)?
France turn 11:
https://img142.imageshack.us/img142/448/francefr9.jpg
Not sure where to go next. England, HRE, or Iberia. :dizzy2:
Iavorios
05-22-2008, 12:57
As France do you really thing you have a choice? With some luck you will have some time to conquer northern Italy, and after turn 40 England and HRE and the Mors will come after you. Especially the HRE. By the way wat is Sicily doing until now? As for Italy, you simply can't allow this hordes of Milanese to pump of nowere. France and HRE are total war all the way.
all 3 at once! :beam:
That's just craziness. I don't have the troops to attack all three at once.
As France do you really thing you have a choice? With some luck you will have some time to conquer northern Italy, and after turn 40 England and HRE and the Mors will come after you. Especially the HRE. By the way wat is Sicily doing until now? As for Italy, you simply can't allow this hordes of Milanese to pump of nowere. France and HRE are total war all the way.
I do at the moment. I don't know what the Sicilians are doing, probably off conquering North Africa.
Armenia_Byzantium
05-23-2008, 08:48
I have also just started a Byzantine campaign on 0.6 and am finding it fun.
Here are some random pics I found in my tgas folder:
an English campaign on vanilla:
https://img211.imageshack.us/img211/9066/25707505tn4.th.jpg (https://img211.imageshack.us/my.php?image=25707505tn4.jpg)
A tough battle on BC ending with a 1 on 1 duel of two generals, my guy won in the end :beam:
https://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6387/15235291lb3.th.jpg (https://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=15235291lb3.jpg)
Ah man, 1 on 1 > WOW stuff!
France turn 11:
Not sure where to go next. England, HRE, or Iberia. :dizzy2:
You always have the choice, even as France... But if you want to play strategic and diplomatic, you need to have a high rep (trustworthy or very trustworthy). You achieve that by always occupying cities and releasing prisonners. And never declare war. Make them declare war on you. Take your troops out of bordering cities/castles and the AI will attack. If you leave angers with one unit, England will attack most of the time.
Look at the alliances, who is allied with who ? Who is at war ? Usually if the AI is at war with other factions and have good relations with you, it won't attack. Is HRE at war with Denmark or Poland ? Get an alliance with them and go after someone else, your eastern front is safe for now (but not forever of course! Keep a good garrison in Metz). If HRE is at peace with everyone, they get bored and will hit you because you're different. Same reasoning for other factions.
Where are your most developped castles because you will need reinforcement, bringing troops from Toulouse to Antwerp is a long walk etc....
And never, never leave a border settlement undergarrisoned (except to trap your next prey)
So, in fact, you don't decide where to go, you check where you may go and decide from there.
And of course, there's the fun factor, what kind of battle do you want to fight ? do you want to deal with longbows or would you rather make jinetes bite the dust ?
Your southern border is quite secure with Bordeaux and Toulouse as Castles, the english castle of Caen is a pain because it threatens Rennes, Angers and Paris, which means you'll waste a lot of money on Garrison... I would suggest going after England, taking Caen and ask for peace (it worked for me). If you feel a bit more risky you can try to take Caernavon before they get from the rebels, so you reverse the tables, now it's you who has a castle in their homeland...
Rhyfelwyr
05-30-2008, 16:55
Trust my internet to go as soon as Kingdoms arrives! :furious3:
Once I get it back I'll post picks of my Scottish, New Spain, Jerusalem, and Teutonic Order campaigns. Also I did a quick one in normal M2TW as the Papacy, and I'm currently playing as Ireland in Britannia.
Once I get it back I'll post picks of my Scottish, New Spain, Jerusalem, and Teutonic Order campaigns. Also I did a quick one in normal M2TW as the Papacy, and I'm currently playing as Ireland in Britannia.
Excellent. Looking forward to seeing what you've done with them. (I wish you a speed internet recovery, btw.) :beam:
This thread seems to have gone awfully quiet lately, so I'll try and get the ball rolling again with an update on my BC Jerusalem campaign. Sorry for the long gap, I've been off on a Galciv II phase for the last few weeks, but went back to M2TW a few days ago.
So, things have been moving quickly on the northern front. The very next turn, the last Turkish strongholds fell, fulfilling the victory conditions for the campaign:
https://img79.imageshack.us/img79/6389/victoryza9.th.jpg (https://img79.imageshack.us/my.php?image=victoryza9.jpg)
But I elected to play on, as so many of the factions are yet unfought. So next was a quick campaign to finish off the remnant of the Armenians, before a blitzkrieg campaign against the Romans. I was aware that Constantinople would spawn a nasty stack of troops if I were to besiege it but I had no intention of giving them that chance; I assaulted it on the first turn with my new catapults, before an effective defense could be prepared:
https://img79.imageshack.us/img79/4157/constantinopleeh6.th.jpg (https://img79.imageshack.us/my.php?image=constantinopleeh6.jpg)
In the same turn I seized Cyprus, and put the castle of Dorylaeum under siege. I then ended the turn and awaited the Roman counterattack. It came in the form of two stacks besieging Constantinople, a large force from Trebizond marching out to besiege Sinop, and four stacks coming to the aid of the large garrison of Dorylaeum. However, the relief forces at Dorylaeum disappointingly didn't attack, meaning that I could force the win in the siege, and pick off each of the relief forces one by one in night battles. The forces besieging Constantinople were also crushed surprisingly easily; the forces of the Romans had looked intimidating, but proved to be mostly lightweight militias with a few medium cavalry mixed in. Whilst the victorious armies in Dorylaeum and Constantinople continued to mop up the remaining Roman settlements in Western Anatolia, the army of Cyprus moved on to Rhodes, and then Crete, before making an expedition south into Africa to take the oasis at Siwa. Meanwhile I used the proceeds of the sack of Constantinople to raise a new army in Syria, with which first to relieve Sinop and then to take the last Roman stronghold at Trebizond.
Meanwhile, in the south, my second Nile expedition succeeded in capturing the fortress of Axum and thus securing control of all the African lands on the map. I then transported it to Yemen to merge with the army on that front and take the castle at Ta'iz after a long siege. After a quick campaign to take Cholula in Somalia and the island of Suqutra (thus netting me all of the islands on the map :beam:), my army now marches up the far end of the Arabian peninsular to campaign against the Imamate of Oman.
Whilst I had been campaigning against the Romans, the Abbasid Caliphate had been steadily expanding up the Euphrates, until finally they were able to attack the mighty rebel-held stronghold of Aleppo, on my borders. The battle fell fortuitously for me: The Abbasids lost, but severely depleted the garrison, leaving it free for me to seize myself. After a brief respite while I redeployed my troops from the west of Anatolia to the eastern frontier, I launched my attack on the Caliphate to end the Abbasid threat and take the great prize of Baghdad. With almost my entire force committed, and concentrated into the narrow cross-section of the Caliphate, I was able to overpower the Abbasid forces, which were strong in archers and heavy infantry but with few spears to repel my invincible heavy cavalry. Baghdad fell without a fight when I drew out the garrison as reinforcements (I really don't like incurring those huge defensive stacks), and the Caliphate is now ready to fall: Of its last three settlements, two are under siege, while the other soon will be. And now, with all of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo under my control, I am finally starting to turn a profit.
https://img79.imageshack.us/img79/6063/currentih5.th.jpg (https://img79.imageshack.us/my.php?image=currentih5.jpg)
The current state of my campaign. Note that the large blue area north of Baghdad is actually the Great Seljuks, not my lands. I really need to knock out some more blue factions.
So the question is, which way should I go next? As I see it, my options are:
1: Turtle for a while and build up some money. Not exactly my favourite choice.
2: Attack the Kypchaks. In principle they are my strongest rival with many strong stacks, and taking the steppes would mean my western frontier is completely secure so I can divert all my forces east. An attack on them before the Georgians would have to take place through the narrow Bulgarian frontier or by sea, though, which would take a while to move my troops into position.
3: Attack the Imamate of Oman. I will be doing this anyway from Yemen, but I could also send an overwhelming force from Mesopotamia to crush them from both sides. This would mean my Arabian frontier is secure, but is arguably overkill since Oman is pretty weak and my army in Yemen should be enough to do most of the job by itself eventually.
4: Attack the Georgians. Their empire looks small but is surprisingly strong, with large armies of good troops. Taking them out would make an attack on the Kypchaks or Seljuks much easier and remove a dangerous presence in my rear. However, the flipside is that both those empires would then only have me as an enemy. An attack on them would not be easy as their armies are tough and well armoured and their lands are mountainous, but my forces are in place to do it right away.
5: Attack the Seljuks. A potentially dangerous foe since they have the most room to expand, but they are relatively weak at present due to a few recent rebellions. Attacking them should be relatively easy despite all their annoying horse archers, but would leave me with a border against the powerful Khwarezmian empire, a strong Georgian force in my rear, and dangerously close to the coming Mongol invasion.
Any thoughts or suggestions welcome. I'm tending to favour an overwhelming attack on the Georgians at present, followed by a quick strike to destroy the main Kypchak forces ranged along the Georgian frontier.
Wow nice Empire. I say options 3 and 4, Oman should be easy enough to crush with very few troops so that most of your armies can take on Georgia.
I pretty much second what you're already leaning towards, PBI. I'd go with options 2 & 4: Focus on taking out the Kypchaks and Georgians to secure your northwestern frontiers before anything else. The Seljuks and Khwarazmians will still be there when you're done. :yes:
Attack the Kypchaks.
They're usually the toughest AI faction to fight, so have fun taking them out.
Very nice stuff PBI! My recent go at KoJ was very fun, it's just really surprising how expensive some of their troops are in upkeep. Those knights templar can break the bank! :help:
Keep the ball rolling everyone, we've had some great stuff posted thus far!
Mm yes, it is a nice balance between unit strength and upkeep I think, your units are almost unstoppable, but so expensive that you almost always have to fight heavily outnumbered. Even now when I control almost all the big trade hubs I'm only barely turning a profit since I have a full half-stack of just Hospitallers I got as rewards for missions; an almost invincible force, but costs a small fortune to maintain.
Rhyfelwyr
06-16-2008, 09:32
I've now played as three factions in each Kingdoms campaign. I will get the pics uploaded eventually, but the internet is not working on my own PC and I'm having to use my parents crappy PC for the internet when I can.
That's a nice campaign there PBI, makes me want to play a mod. But I've just started playing RTW...
Dead Guy
06-21-2008, 16:52
My first attempt at anything resembling an AAR =) Have mercy :p I hope I get the images right...
Stainless Steel 6.1, no RR, no Byg's grim reality. (It's my first SS campaign) VH/VH
Kingdom of Norway, Late Era
The year is 1220 AD when King Haakon the Mauler realizes that his people are becoming dangerously undeveloped compared to the southerners. Whispers of an explosive substance that wll make armor and walls obsolete are reaching his court, and he does not yet have the facilities to recruit knights! A simple church in Eikundarsund is the most advanced building in his kingdom!
He withdraws his son Magnus from the war effort in britain, and abandons the Isle of Man and the Orkney Islands for now. Instead, the Viking lands must be united to finance the required development of infrastructure, smithys and the like. The british isles will have to wait.
The Norwegian Hird is assembled and marches against Västergötland and the capital Skara in 1221. The Danes have the castle besieged when it arrives, however, and the king decides to push on to Södermanland instead. But the Swedish rebels in Skara are victorious, and Haakon quickly reroutes the march to Skara once more, and lays siege. The decimated garrison is no match for Haakons Carls.
Nyköping is besieged just before the Danes arrive. Tensions build between the nations as the Danes are repeatedly denied expansion into Sweden. But then disaster strikes! In the form of a scottish army at least 2000 strong landing at Eikundarsund. There is no way to raise a garrison in time to repel the attackers, and the army in Sweden is years march away from the besieged city. But only after a few months the siege is lifted! Perhaps the pope called the scots off.
Nyköping falls and our army moves on to Visby by sea. A second army is formed near Skara with men from Oslo and veterans of the previous campaigns. Once more the Danes show up, anooyed at not getting to add the baltic trading hub of Gotland to their territories. This seems to be the last drop for them, and they besiege Skara on the mainland when Visby is taken by Norwegian forces. This however leaves the Danish castle Kalmar poorly defended, and the main army can therefore quickly sail from Gotland to Småland and capture the castle before it can be reinforced, while the new army in Västergötland is also victorious.
1235 Haakon dies of old age leaving his heir Magnus Haakonson as King of Norway. A few sieges of Kalmar follow, the Danes attack mainly with militia, some nasty war clerics and a lot of mercenaries since they have only cities left. Visby is also besieged by the Novgorod swine repeatedly, but they are repelled, and we eventually sign an alliance when Magnus marries a Novgorodian princess. The scottish eventually launch more invasions against the Norwegian shore. Their fleets are sunk and the invaders are rewarded with watery graves. There are many hard fought battles in the forests of Småland and on the plains of Skåne, between Norwegian and Danish forces. The danes start fielding more sword staff militia and norse war clerics. The Norwegian forces are mainly Norse archers and hurcarls, both mounted and on foot.
Gunpowder is invented. The Norwegian cities are still quite a long way from being able to train soldiers in it's use. We do not have the knowledge yet to make sophisticated cannons either. Alliances have been fomed with France, Genoa, who have since been pushed into the sea and controls only Corsica, and Hungary. The marriage alliance with Novgorod holds.
Around 1265 Lund falls and Roskilde quickly follows when the danish forces in Skåne are routed. The danish prince is in Königsberg for some reason, along with a huge danish fleet, and they are down to their capital Århus. They offer a peace treaty which Magnus refuses. Not capturing Århus would deny Norway a land route onto the mainland and into the Empire, it is also an immensly rich trading city. After a protracted siege the danes even offer to become vassals to the Norwegian King, but Magnus refuses and takes the city in the summer of 1276, declaring himself King of all Scandinavia in the process.
The "Holy" oman Empire have been excommunicated due to their aggresive war with Venice. A crusade is called on Hamburg in 1277, and the Norwegian general Haldor the Chivalrous joins the crusade and captures Hamburg the very same years. He is severly wounded in the process, but recovers during the following year. He is now accompanied by Roger de Molin, a knight of St John. The Holy Roman Empire accepts a cease fire and resumes trade with us immediately, as their forces are busy elsewhere.
In 1279 a Jihad is called on Jerusalem, and many Muslims march on the holy city. A search for a bride for Magnus' son who will soon come of age is begun.
1283: A fatimid army assaults the walls of Jerusalem. The defenders are heavily outnumbered but manage to win a heroic Victory. But alas, the very same year, another 2000 fatimid enter the region, along with about 4000 Seljuks. The situation looks grim for the crusaders.
1284: "Prince" Kolbein, an adopted general of King Magnus who is heir presumptive, dies a noble death in battle in West Pomerania. He is struck in the chest by a crossbowbolt. His bodyguard avenges his death.
1286: "Prince" Christoffer, a man Kobein decided to adopt, dies a noble death in battle outside the walls of Edinburg. What in the world did he do there all alone with just his bodyguard? Thorkel Haakonson is heir apparent and is married to an intelligent Sicialian princess. Jerusalem is captured by the Seljuks. Roskilde is chosen as the Kingdoms centre of academia, while Lund becomes the center of the church. Hamburgs artllery school is nearly completed. Serpentines will soon be an asset to Norwegian armies. The Holy Roman Empire is becoming dangerously large, they are drawn into a war with the papacy!
1287: Another crusade is called on the not so holy empire. Franfurt is the target this time. Once more, Haldor the Chivalrous leads the Norwegian army south from Saxony. At night he assaults the city after it has been infiltrated by spies. The Germans are taken by surprise and abandon the walls! The fools! Now the Norwegians suffer neither boiling oil or ballista towers on their way to Victory! Our Mangonels can't reach the city square however, the gate is too small to let it through! While our army manouvers to encircle the numerous Imperial forces in the city center, our trebuchet knocks down the walls to allow our Mangonel into the city. Catapults and Mangonels are set up close to the square and many feudal knights burn before they decide to fight the Norwegians in the streets. The day is ours with only 99 men lost.
1290: Frankfurt is isolated from the rest of the Norwegian lands. The Germans agree to exchange it for their fortress Magdeburg, at the same time making their border with their enemies the poles smaller. This is an economical loss for us, but Magdeburg is much easier to defend. The king now looks to the Briitish Isles again, not wanting to become too involved in the wars in the south. England has fallen, Scotland and Ireland have split their lands between them.
Magnus' daughter Gunnvor is married off to Eystein Ericsson, son to Haakons youngest daughter.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/HaldortheChivalrous.jpg
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/KingMagnus1291.jpg
The Norwegian eceonomy is now bustling, many armies can be supported at once and our borders are secure. Preparations are under way for opreation Invasion Alba. It's payback time.
(I didn't start taking screens until a wee bit late into my campaign I'm afraid, sorry for the mass of text, and so far none in battles since I don't master the techniques of geting nice clean screens.)
Bravo Dead Guy! More! More i say!
What a lucky break early on with the scots, it sounds like either
1. bad AI or
2. The pope called 'em off
Either way :sweatdrop:! Those Irish are a lot tougher than they look so don't be fooled (i know all about that.) The British isles will be a hard fight but I'm sure the sturdy Norseman in their fury cannot be stopped! :medievalcheers:
Nice stuff Dead Guy, your screenies are fine except the minimap in the first one is weird for some reason, otherwise fine though.
SS does look like a lot of fun, I'm thinking I might try a campaign once I've wound up my BC KoJ campaign (I've made the vague aim of taking all the provinces, but at roughly 90 I'm only halfway!). Any suggestions for which faction to try would be welcome, not sure whether it would make sense to replay one of the factions I've tried in vanilla or go for something completely new.
Dead Guy
06-21-2008, 23:29
Thanks for the encouragement, more to come!
I'm definetly going to try France after this. I've never played them before, but it looks like they've got it all when it comes to troop types. They even have dismounted french archers in SS who can plant stakes. I like stakes. =) They also have a tricky starting position which I think I'll enjoy.
Yes I noticed the minimap got crazy, it was after I took a screenshot with the map zoomed in I think... It compresses the entire image when it takes the screen, maybe it has to do with that, the overlay color is still zoomed in somehow, but not the actual map :p
There are two things I'm not entirely sure of with SS. One is that there seems to be too few family members sometimes. England and Kwarezmids got wiped with I'm sure 4+ regions left because they lost their generals. The other thing is that the AI seems to have trouble coping with the increased religious unrest. They lose stupid settlements to riots, like HRE lost Vienna for example... Otherwise I like it. Should probably have gone with at least Real Recruitment though. I looked at an Irish castle that had about 11 units in it. ALL of them where Muire =) I've seen plenty of armies that are all Muire and just a general. If I only had more mounted crossbows!
Another nice little loophole is to move just your general into a city when his supplies drop, your army can stay and continue to siege or what not. It's a shame they removed the scares infantry on Huscarls for example, they're not very special anymore, just pretty good heavy infantry. Instead Muire for some reason scares infantry, they're just plate armoured and I assume very skilled guys but it's not like they're eating mushrooms and drooling all over the place or have helmets with antlers on them is it? :p It also seems my military minded guys that I put in Castles don't get so much out of their supposed education while they're young as those that are administratively minded and get to study at a university with library etc. Anyone have any extensive experience there?
Cheers
Dead Guy
06-22-2008, 10:11
Part 2 - The last king of Scotland
1295: Århus is chosen as the main naval drydock and construction of an admiralty is begun. Armies of Nobles Hirdmen supported by Serpentines and feudal knights are trained in Saxony. The Swordsmiths guild establish themselves there.
In 1299, Haldor the Honourable sets sail for Inverness with 1500 men, many veterans from the conquest of Denmark. The early middle ages end at the turn of the century and the late middle ages begin, apparently.
In 1303 Haldor arrives at an almost undefended Inverness. The fortress is assaulted and taken, scottish troops arrive the same year and lay siege. The highlanders are repelled although the fighting is tough because a spy has opened our gates, denying us the opportunity to deploy our men properly. The scottish prince dies in the battle.
1305: A Crusade is called on Frankfurt, the pope himself is the first to reach the city, but fails to capture it when he eventually assaults the walls. The scottish lay siege to Inverness again, once more many knights die because the gates are opened by a foul spy. Anund Ericsson sails from Saxony with another army to reinforce the norse in Scotland.
1308: A Jihad is called on Palermo. Moors, Seljuks and the golden horde join. Prince Thorkel joins the crusade against the Roman Empire, the Polish capture Frankfurt and the Crusade is a success. Prince Thorkel doesn't take part in anything but a skirmish in the forests surrounding the city.
1310: Brynhildr Haakonsson comes of age, a very charming young woman already. Anund Ericsson sacks Aberdeen in a surprise attack from the sea. Our saxon army besieges Groeningen, a german city.
1311: Our kingdom now covers a vast area! It is the largest in Europe. The king of Scotland is killed in the field and his dynasty is at an end. He has no heir and Edinburgh, York and Nottingham are left to the rebels. Edinburgh has a large garrison and our siege becomes protracted, the Irish quickly fill the void left by the scottish. They have the stronegst force of arms in the known world!
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/ThefallofEdinburgh.jpg
In 1312, King Magnus the mean dies of old age. Thorkel is crowned king and Haldor the Honourable proclaims himself heir presumptive. He has none of Haakons blood! (Actually he is not in the family tree at all, but somehow I married him to some daughter that was not in the family tree either when I got him! Weird) Groningen falls to Norwegian troops. Haldor is extremely capable in battle and known to the Scottish, but older than the new king. He must eventually be removed so that Thorkels son can be married quickly and produce true heirs to Haakons line. Brynhildr is married off to Anund Ericsson, Haldors second in command in Britain.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/KnownbytheScottish.jpg
In 1320, Edinburgh is sacked by Anund Ericsson. The Irish attack our army at the southern border of the scottish lowlands. It is lead by a mere captain and the Irish bring a second army to flank us! Their Riderie charge us and inflict some casualties but we are somewhat protected by stakes. Huscarls are matched against Murie and Ostmen. The fighting is grim and terrible, and in the middle of it all an oil barrel from a Mangonel shooting over the engaged lines explodes amidst the men, killing at least a hundred, friend and foe alike! Because the foe is so strong in cavalry, captain Thorgils decides to commit his own cavalry against the enemys Riderie to protect his line. Despite the lack of our usual flank charge tactic the enemy eventually break and flee. Two regiments of Crusader knights are lost in the battle, and almost 300 infantry and archers. Our forces are eventually able to rout both the Irish forces, this is a heroic victory! But this is only the beginning of the battle of britain...
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/heroicvictory.jpg
1322: Skapti Haakonsson comes of age, a Sicilian bride has been found for him by our diplomat in Iberia.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/Skapticomesofage.jpg
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/Irene.jpg
Haldor manages to capture York single handedly, with the help of an able spy!
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/Yorkalone1.jpg
The 30 Irish Riderie that alone guard the city fall back to the central squre, where Haldor charges them head on.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/Yorkalone2.jpg
Disappointed with not finding any pots of gold, he then tragically meets his end in the field the same year. Skapti is married and begins training in Hamburg.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/Skaptimarries.jpg
In the winter a crusade is called on Silves, and the kingdom of Portugal. They are allied to us, and king Thorkel is put in an akward position when the pope asks him to join the crusade, to break his alliance with the Portuguese.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/crusadegrows.jpg
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/breakportu.jpg
However Sicily joins the Crusade and the king chooses to maintain good relations with Sicily, and with his wife and daughter in law.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/accept.jpg
The Pope orders Thorkel to cease hostilities against the Irish, at the same time York is besieged by the Irish, while Anund governs the city recovering from Pneumonia. In 1324 they assault. Anunds garrison is equipped with 3 Mangonels which prove ruthlessly efficient during the assault! The Murie fight on almost to the last man on the walls and kill many experienced Huscarls. Many Irish burn in the field outside our gates.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/burnburn.jpg
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/burnburn1.jpg
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/diegeneral.jpg
Anund executes those that survive the mangonel massacre, he is becoming a feared Viking leader.
Our allies the french take back Rennes and Bruges from the Irish. Our Kingdom now boasts the mightiest armed force in the known world!
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/strongest.jpg
1325: The Seljuks arrive in northern Italy on Jihad, followed a year later by the golden horde. Our armies in Britain follow the popes command, skirmishes are fought on our land though, one Irish army close to Edinburgh is annihilated in the field. The Kingdom of Jerusalem captures Iconium, the Seljuk capital, but has still not regained Jerusalem. The fatimid are pushing north also. The golden horde seems to have paused in persia and are not the unstoppable horde the khwarezmids told us about.
In 1327, Ireland yet again lays siege to York. This time they pay for their aggression. The papist throne has excommunicated them from the christian faith! Now is the time to strike! By Iron and arrow we will leave our mark on Ireland.
(It's a pity the Irish AI doesn't field well rounded armies. I remember from Kingdoms that I had real troubles with Horseboys as Norway. Now I don't even have to fight Saethwyr. Still, they're no pushovers)
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/Muire.jpg
1215AD
Within the year of 1202, the Abbasid refuges of Samarra and Ahvaz had fallen, leaving the Caliph holed up in his castle at Wasit. Leaving a single stack to continue the siege I began recruiting militia garrisons for my new Mesopotamian holdings and moved my main stacks north to advance against the Georgians. With four major armies near Mosul, and another near Mazaka, however, I decided there would be no need to fork out for the expense of new troops for the Georgian campaign, except for a detatchment of trebuchets from Baghdad.
On the eve of the attack on Georgia, the Abbasid faction heir, who had been wandering aimlessly for years, finally came to the aid of the Caliph and assaulted my army on the bridge south of Wasit. With the Caliph's army approaching from the rear, my army did not wait for the Abbasid heir to cross the river and instead rushed across, lead by the spearmen. With the faction heir dead, my men reformed on the southern bank to repel the Caliph himself. The battle was fiercely fought, the Caliph's army numbering many of the deadly armour piercing Faris heavy infantry, who did bloody work against my spearmen and light mercenary swordsmen. In the end my infantry ring around the bridge end was stretched paper thin, but this proved to be the Abbasids' undoing; as gaps started to appear in my lines, my heavy cavalry could finally bring their lances to bear against the weary and preoccupied Abbasid mass. It was a costly battle, but the last stronghold of the Caliphate had finally fallen, leaving me as master of Mesopotamia.
https://img114.imageshack.us/img114/2948/wasit1mp3.th.jpg (https://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wasit1mp3.jpg)
https://img114.imageshack.us/img114/1016/wasit2kq1.th.jpg (https://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wasit2kq1.jpg)
In the same year that the last Caliph fell in battle, my carefully prepared strike against the Georgians was finally put into motion. In the South, the isolated castle of Diyarbakir fell quickly to Baldwin himself, who moved on to siege the large garrison at Van. The army of Mazaka advanced up the mountain valley toward the town of Erzurum, defeating a large Georgian army on the way, and laid siege to the large garrison and the faction heir. Meanwhile the other three armies advanced deeper into Georgia; one stack, grizzled veterans of the Nile campaigns equipped with siege weapons, bypassed the small town of Dvin and took the major Georgian cities of Ani and Kutaisi. My main field army of hospitallers cleared away the Georgian armies near Yerevan and swung east to besiege Ganja, leaving the way clear for the final siege army to take Yerevan, and then the Georgian capital and main recruitment center at Tbilisi, in a single turn.
https://img393.imageshack.us/img393/5654/georgia2lb3.th.jpg (https://img393.imageshack.us/my.php?image=georgia2lb3.jpg)
https://img393.imageshack.us/img393/7760/georgia3gp6.th.jpg (https://img393.imageshack.us/my.php?image=georgia3gp6.jpg)
The Georgian campaign
Smoothing the way of my Georgian campaign were three very fortuitous declarations of war; firstly, the Ghaznis declared war on the Imamate of Oman, laying siege to their Persian holdings and keeping their armies in Persia from coming to the aid of their Arabian cities, negating the need for reinforcements for Clovis of Sidon's army in Yemen. Secondly, the Kypchak Confederacy launched and invasion of Georgia concurrent with mine, destroying several Georgian armies in the north and taking the city of Telavi and the castle of Baku. The was doubly fortuitous since not only did it cause the Georgians and Kypchaks to lose many men fighting each other, but it also left most of the dangerous Kypchak armies concentrated in the area around Telavi south of the Caucases, which would be useful for when I eventually moved against them. Thirdly and most importantly, the Khwarezmid Shah invaded the Great Seljuks from the east. Suddenly I could empty my deterrent garrisons from Mesopotamia to march north against the Georgians as the mighty Seljuk hordes flooded east to try to halt the Khwarezmid onslaught.
The Georgian forces were in principle powerful, consisting primarily of large numbers of heavy spearmen, swordsmen and archers, all heavily armoured. However, their lack of cavalry proved fatal, since my own heavy cavalry could simply destroy the heavy infantry in piecemeal charges, leaving the spearmen to be worn down my my own plentiful mercenary horse archers and finished by the infantry. In the end, the Georgian campaign became a scramble to take as much land as possible before the Kypchaks took it.
At this point a distraction appeared in the form of the renegade Fourth Crusade, turning against their own Crusader comrades to lay siege to the fabulously wealthy city of Constantinople. Whilst I rushed reinforcements across the black sea from Georgia, I sent in my assassins to give the leaders of the "crusade" the honourless deaths they deserved. The rogue crusaders were thus left to face my own men leaderless. The ensuing battle was a savage one, and one of which I sadly neglected to take any screenshots. The force I was facing consisted of two full stacks of rebel armoured spearmen sergeants, crossbowmen and latin knights, all of them the equals of my own troops. The battle ended in my favour primarily due to my advantage in my general still being alive.
However, with that threat eliminated, and the last of the Georgian cities falling to my men, my forces were well placed to continue northwards to eliminate the mighty Kypchaks, with several stacks in Georgia having suffered lighter-than-expected losses, one stack marching north along the Bulgarian coast, and another sailing by ship from Constantinople to Crimea. The Crimean army took Caffa and Aqmesqit on the first turn, while the Bulgarian force laid siege to Belgorod before progressing on towards Kiev; the Kypchak western front was severely underdefended thanks to the Kypchak forces being concentrated around Telavi, where I largely wiped them out in a series battles before driving north onto the steppes. One army retook Baku and continued north along the shores of the Caspian, while my main forces drove north toward Majar.
However, I overextended myself somewhat in this advance, and the first army to besiege Majar was attacked next turn by two full Kypchak stacks. The battle began well enough, the first stack attacking across the bridge into a hail of flaming catapult missiles. Within the first minute half the stack was dead along with their general, and all the rest save a few units of archers were routing back across the bridge. However, the brief scrap had whittled my ragged infantry force down to almost nothing, while I could not pursue the running troops due to the second army to my rear. My general and heavy cavalry engaged the onrushing Kypchak light cavalry, but they were vastly outnumbered, and with my cavalry thus pinned I had nothing with which to destroy the Kypchak swordsmen. My infantry had to fight toe-to-toe with the enemy infantry, a doomed struggle against such huge numbers.
At this moment Kypchak cavalry began streaming across the bridge and crashed down upon my catapult crews; somehow, the first stack which I had defeated and left for dead had rallied. This proved the final straw; hopelessly outnumbered, the last few survivors broke and ran.
https://img393.imageshack.us/img393/5237/kypchakdefeat1dq1.th.jpg (https://img393.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kypchakdefeat1dq1.jpg)
https://img393.imageshack.us/img393/7850/kypchakdefeat2it0.th.jpg (https://img393.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kypchakdefeat2it0.jpg)
I had been defeated, the first battlefield defeat against a reasonably sized force I have suffered in a long while. However, it was a pyrrhic victory for the Kypchaks; two of their few remaining field armies had been decimated, and despite having lost one army I had many more on the way, and two full stacks in the west with no major forces to oppose them. In the next few turns they rampaged across the steppes, the westernmost army seizing Kiev, Kursk and Ryazan in quick succession while the army of Crimea continued its amphibious assault up the sea of Azov, taking Tmurtarakan and Azaq. Once Baldwin himself destroyed the Kypchak Khagan's army near Magas it was almost over; only a small pocket remained in the northeast.
https://img164.imageshack.us/img164/2662/kypchak2wu7.th.jpg (https://img164.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kypchak2wu7.jpg)
The last Kypchak settlement to fall was the tiny village of Astrakhan; but, that was not by a long shot the end of the campaign. The Kypchaks being nomads, they of course produced a horde, and a fearsome one: Six full stacks of nomad lancers and tribal horse archers. I was worried as I tried to rush a large stack of heavy spears to reinforce the tiny garrison I had used to take Astrakhan; however, once again the fates were extremely kind:
https://img164.imageshack.us/img164/3905/kyphordecq8.th.jpg (https://img164.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kyphordecq8.jpg)
https://img164.imageshack.us/img164/5173/kypquakefo7.th.jpg (https://img164.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kypquakefo7.jpg)
A great earthquake hit Astrakhan province while the horde was still a turn's march away. While my minimal garrison barely had any men to lose, the Kypchak losses from the quake were catastrophic. By pure chance my own reinforcements were just outside the province when the quake hit. A single act of nature had done what it would have taken me several stacks of troops to achieve, and left the mighty Kypchak horde in ruins, easy picking for my spearmen. After a few short battles the mighty Kypchak Confederacy was no more, and my entire northern and western frontier was secure.
While the nearby stacks had rushed to the aid of Astrakhan, my more southerly armies had quickly moved into position for a quick attack on the Seljuks. My spies had noted that for all their efforts the Seljuks were being overwhelmed by the vast Khwarezmian forces and their eastern borders were collapsing fast. Not wishing to have powerful Khwarezmian armies a turn's march from Baghdad, I struck quickly and seized the large, but barely defended cities of Kirkuk, Tabriz and Hamadan from the Seljuks as well as the fortress of Kermanshah. Ardabil and Qazvin are also under siege by me and will fall soon; all the other Seljuk lands are lost to the Khwarezm Shah.
While the great northern campaigns were going on, Clovis of Sidon led his loyal army north against Oman. Taking first Salalah and then Sur with minor losses, he dug in for a long siege of the great Omani fortress of Nizwa. This ended in a bloody battle with heavier losses than he could afford; he was forced to rely on mercenaries to complete the campaign. However, once Muscat fell, the power of the Imamate was broken; all that was left to them were the tiny settlements of Suhar and Al Muharraq on the Gulf coast. At last, and with a severely depleted force, Clovis pursued the last remnants of the Omani forces north and destroyed them near Basra.
The achievements of Clovis have been magnificent; over a forty year career, he has marched from Jordan, right around the Arabian peninsula to Mesopotamia, conquering a vast swathe of rebel land and an entire faction singlehandedly with only the remnants of the Nile expedition and local mercenaries as reinforcements. Even now he is still campaigning against the Seljuks, although I am considering retiring him to Baghdad to make use of his high chivalry rating and raise it to a huge city.
https://img104.imageshack.us/img104/8034/clovisxn6.th.jpg (https://img104.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clovisxn6.jpg)
https://img104.imageshack.us/img104/1701/oman2ly1.th.jpg (https://img104.imageshack.us/my.php?image=oman2ly1.jpg)
https://img117.imageshack.us/img117/572/oman1vg5.th.jpg (https://img117.imageshack.us/my.php?image=oman1vg5.jpg)
The campaigns of Clovis of Sidon
The next path of expansion is obvious; I only have one neighbour remaining. However, the question is simply whether I should attack the Khwarezmids now, or wait a few years for the Mongols to invade and draw their armies away from my borders. I am actually favouring the latter, not just to weaken the Khwarezmids, but also because it will give me a chance to reorganise my military, and finally build up a vast sum of wealth; my economy is finally booming, with many of the originally tiny miscellaneous settlements finally starting to reach city size, while Baghdad alone is making some 12000 florins a turn.
https://img45.imageshack.us/img45/4341/money2et7.th.jpg (https://img45.imageshack.us/my.php?image=money2et7.jpg)
The state of my economy. Note the amount of money being made from merchant trade alone.
Also, obviously the campaign is nearing its end; I suspect rolling eastwards over the remaining factions will be relatively straightforward. Thus I suspect I shall wait the time necessary to grow the fortress of Acre into a citadel, thus finally giving me access to my best troops for the first time since the start of the campaign.
Very nice, PBI! :thumbsup: That truly was a fortuitous set of circumstances in connection with the beginning of your Georgian campaign -- I hope you sent the Shah a "thank-you" note. ~D
ArtistofWarfare
07-07-2008, 00:09
Very nice, PBI! :thumbsup: That truly was a fortuitous set of circumstances in connection with the beginning of your Georgian campaign -- I hope you sent the Shah a "thank-you" note. ~D
Martok!
Long time no see...how are things?
After months, I 'seem' to be up and running with m2tw (aside from my camera issue in the apothecary). Is m2 where you're spending your time these days or are you still focusing on mtw?
I'm just cracking the egg with m2 and haven't even run a campaign yet...but starting to browse these forums a little more often now.
Martok!
Long time no see...how are things?
After months, I 'seem' to be up and running with m2tw (aside from my camera issue in the apothecary). Is m2 where you're spending your time these days or are you still focusing on mtw?
I'm just cracking the egg with m2 and haven't even run a campaign yet...but starting to browse these forums a little more often now.
Hey Artist, good to see you back, man. ~:wave:
I'm still playing mostly MTW (when I have time to play, that is). I've been spending more time in the Citadel as well, though, as RL issues have largely kept sapi away from the Org the last several months. (Plus, it allows me to keep company with many of my fellow Camel followers. ~D)
Very nice, PBI! :thumbsup: That truly was a fortuitous set of circumstances in connection with the beginning of your Georgian campaign -- I hope you sent the Shah a "thank-you" note. ~D
I certainly would have done if he hadn't attacked me the turn after my last screenshot. It's kind of annoying, I was hoping the Kwarezmids would have acted as a buffer against the Mongols and sapped their strength, but instead they seem to have decided to expend their forces (around 14 full stacks by my count) against me.
I'll probably not be updating for a couple of weeks, am mostly playing Oblivion at the moment, and I think the campaign is almost done anyway; I'm mostly just playing on to take on the Mongols. I'm thinking maybe a campaign on SS will be next, or maybe I might dust off my copy of the original MTW for a change.
PittBull260
07-15-2008, 06:51
hi guys nice campaigns i see. I am the original creator of "pics n history of empires" from the first MTW. I have recently started a hungarian campaign and i will post pics soon. I just had a battle where the germans attacked my small army.
he was a 3 star commander and i had a 4 star commander and here are the results :)
https://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/DEADLIFT/hungarybattle.jpg?t=1216101025
i positioned my army on top of a pretty large hill and simple bombarded them with arrows n balistas. they came close i used one unit of hungarian nobles to fight them while a few other units went around and boom the germans were circled.
i will post pics and stories of the empire soon
PittBull260
07-15-2008, 19:58
and here is the empire in the year 1423(i moded the game to start at 1200 for technology). i was expanding west and england personaly pissed me off so i took over caen then london and nottingham, money making cities right there. but then the mongols came.....they took two of my cities in the east and i was able to stop them before they reached my capital. now im working on taking all my cities back. and as u can see i have a lot of enemies so it aint easy.
https://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/DEADLIFT/empire.jpg?t=1216148074
pretty much all my neighbors are at war with me but im mainly focused on the mongols and they will go down soon!
Good stuff Pitbull! I've never played a campaign to the 1400s, i've always stopped in the 1300s or so, but wow. All neighbors at war? I know from experience that can be tough. :skull:
Good luck on reclaiming lost ground!
I fired up SS recently, so I should have some stuff for you guys by the end of the weekend. :beam:
Dead Guy
07-21-2008, 13:06
Part 3 - A storm of swords
The year is 1324, and the Irish have just been excommunicated.
Troops are gathering to conquer Mercia. A captain-led small stack of cavalry sneak in and besiege London. They are defeated but the city rebels with a small garrison due to a clever spy. The Irish leaves Nottingham virtually undefended to reclaim London, Anund the Merciless sacks Nottingham, then Winchester which is also left with a small garrison.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/InfiltrateLondon.jpg
Some pesky Murie being dealt with. Mounted Crossbows, the scissors to their paper.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/Murievsmounted.jpg
The poles capture Silves on crusade and the Seljuks capture Palermo. My forces besiege Exeter as the Irish regretably for me decide to lift their siege of London. I start to prepare for a second front on the mainland and convert Oslo to a town to increase income.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/fireserpentine1.jpg
1332: Exeter is sacked. Coilin of Roscommon is defeated in the field outside London, him and his men are executed. My reputation has now dropped from very reliable to mixed, due to Anunds merciless killing. As I send a spy to Ireland by boat, it becomes apparent that the Irish have three strong stacks at Dublin. I conclude that the best way forward is a surprise attack on Galway, which will hopefully draw out the stacks at Dublin and entice them to assault the citadel.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/doh.jpg
1336: London and Caernarvon are under siege by our forces, Anund sails for Galway in 1338.
1340: Galway is captured, and later besieged by Irish. Anund becomes known as "the Malevolent".
1345: Capture Cork and London, set up for the final offensive against Ireland. Only Dublin remains. Prince Skapti captures thorn in a large field battle on my newly opened second front, the poles then agree to a cease fire.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/keep.jpg
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/keep1.jpg
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/victoryinbritain.jpg
1348: I take Frankfurt by Crusade, and trade it for Antwerp with the HRE. Rumors reach the court of a great plauge killing vast numbers in the east.
1352: The Plauge hits our southern lands, we wait it out. Poland sends a Plauge bearing spy to Stettin after the Plauge has passed. The King is so annoyed by this insolence that he decides to wipe the bastards from the face of the earth.
1359: Lithuania is destroyed due to their faction leader being killed at Vilnius. I repair the damage done by the plauge, both economical and military in terms of dead soldiers.
1360: I Invade Finland, taking Turku by surprise. Reval falls two years later. Four more years later we reach Novgorod and attack a small stack outside to draw out the entire garrison. The Norwegian artillery make mince meat out of the Novgorod line. Leon Castille are destroyed by loss of blood line. Up until now there has amazingly been four factions in Iberia all the time.
1372: My youngest Princess steals a Polish general outside Prague. He cannot escape to my lands and so i move troops in to support him. The poles attack with 3000 men, they're slaughtered but at the cost of quite many Norwegians.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/slaughter.jpg
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/thisisNorway.jpg
Portugal is destroyed 2 years later. I'm planning an Invasion of Konigsberg and Riga to control the entire northern sea, but I'm occupied both in Russia and northern Poland. I capture Konigsberg despite this in 1374, the last brother of the teutonic order falls with less than a minute left of the battle. The Teutonic Order besieges Konigsberg immediately, I have no time to reenforce it and my future Prince is in there. Frankfurt is also captured, again, as well as Pskov and Metz.
1375: Bern is captured, Pskov is besieged by Novgorod, so is the city of Novgorod. I decide to sally my army in Pskov to aid the garrison in Novgorod, which is still pretty small. But the russians assault Novgorod before I get there. An amazingly lucky trebuchet projectile kills at least a hundred men inside the gate (because I forgot to turn off fire at will)! Luckily they are all foes and the assaulting army routs.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/thegatesofnovgorod.jpg
1378: I capture Staufen. Poland besiege Konigsberg after I heroically defended against the TO. Poland are now excommunicated and I call a Cruasde on Vienna, taking Prague on the way.
Vienna is taken when alies from Venice and Hungary arrives. Breslau, Bern, Nuremburg, Innsbruck, Krakow, Smolensk, Riga and Salzburg also fall to the Norse onslaught, while I simultaneously get to defend many of my settlements to assaults from Novgorod, Poland and TO.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/CrusadetoVienna.jpg
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/Skaptiwins.jpg
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/gatesofreval.jpg
1387: King Thorkel dies at the age of 65 after forcing HRE into vassalage. Here begins the reign of Skapti the Conqueror, King of the North. I have a great foothold in the Alps, the Poles and Teutonic Order are virtually destroyed. I plan to try to get Novgorod as vassals because I don't want to extend out onto the steppes. I'm no longer allied to Venice which present my only way forward in the south. My vassals HRE and allies Hungary block the road to the south east, France to my south west. Perhaps Italy will be my next target... the Pope has about 5 regions there, so it will be a prolonged campaign, perhaps with a crusade or two decending upon me. It's been a lot of fun so far, some really hairy siege defences, in particular Konigsberg right afterI captured it. The southern slopes of the Alps really makes me want to park an army there and see how steep they really are, and how easily defended.
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/nofow.jpg
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/1385AD.jpg
Great stuff Dead Guy! I particularly enjoy the third screenshot of the artillery line opening up.
What are your plans for future conquest? You seem to have Europe on the ropes, or at least right where you want it. ~D
Dead Guy
08-03-2008, 21:37
I think I'm actually at the point where I can comfortably wage war on all fronts. I was thinking about undertaking an expedition instead, load up a fleet with priests and 2 good armies and set sail for the holy land. But to do that without too much hassle I'd like to take a settlement with a port in the mediterranean... Venice seems like my best bet, since I border it with Innsbruck. I am sailing a fleet around Iberia now though so I might just borrow the Italian roads for a while :p
Right now I've taken a break because I got a little tired of the infantry line that can't die tactic. I decided to try out Bygs grim reality and real recruitment, as well as total combat and lusteds latest battle and campaign AI, all at once =). Unfortunately I haven't been taking screens :(. My choice of faction was Knights Templar early era, which turned out to be the hardest campaign I've ever played. I had to make some pretty strange moves to survive against the fatimids early on. The problem is that KT combined with Byg's means that you basically have one castle to recruit units from, Tortosa, your one and only starting settlement. Every other region you conquer needs to be brought up to 75% catholic before you can recruit worthy troops... It's a headache to which the only cure is mercenary alans, armenian cavalry and turkopoles. Since the AI mainly fielded huge armies of spearmen and some javelin skirmishers, it proved to be a very effective army though. The alternative would have been a boring horde of spearmen. However, I could only afford a single 3/4 stack and it had to run around all over the place hehe, the general that's been leading it for 12 years is quiet able by now though! https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/Templarofdoom.jpgNow I've taken the coast from Adana to Cario and I'm finally making a profit.
How did your own SS campaign turn out by the way?
I think I'm actually at the point where I can comfortably wage war on all fronts. I was thinking about undertaking an expedition instead, load up a fleet with priests and 2 good armies and set sail for the holy land. But to do that without too much hassle I'd like to take a settlement with a port in the mediterranean... Venice seems like my best bet, since I border it with Innsbruck. I am sailing a fleet around Iberia now though so I might just borrow the Italian roads for a while :p
Right now I've taken a break because I got a little tired of the infantry line that can't die tactic. I decided to try out Bygs grim reality and real recruitment, as well as total combat and lusteds latest battle and campaign AI, all at once =). Unfortunately I haven't been taking screens :(. My choice of faction was Knights Templar early era, which turned out to be the hardest campaign I've ever played. I had to make some pretty strange moves to survive against the fatimids early on. The problem is that KT combined with Byg's means that you basically have one castle to recruit units from, Tortosa, your one and only starting settlement. Every other region you conquer needs to be brought up to 75% catholic before you can recruit worthy troops... It's a headache to which the only cure is mercenary alans, armenian cavalry and turkopoles. Since the AI mainly fielded huge armies of spearmen and some javelin skirmishers, it proved to be a very effective army though. The alternative would have been a boring horde of spearmen. However, I could only afford a single 3/4 stack and it had to run around all over the place hehe, the general that's been leading it for 12 years is quiet able by now though! https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/Templarofdoom.jpgNow I've taken the coast from Adana to Cario and I'm finally making a profit.
How did your own SS campaign turn out by the way?
I gave up on my Fatamid Campaign...
In the first forty years I was fighting so desperately to keep just the starting areas. At first the Crusades were easy to fend off, but they gradually got harder and harder, more advanced ect. I think i lost like 10 sultans in battle from 1098-1130 in desperate charges trying to hold back the tide. It was crazy!
Going to start a new campaign when i get some free time. Maybe one that I can enjoy being the aggressor again. :laugh4:
OK, so here are a few pics from my first Stainless Steel 6.1 campaign as Denmark, in the early era. It's only on Easy campaign/ Normal battles, as I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of difficulty (although easy on SS seems to be about the same as about Hard on vanilla, just not as unfair), hence why I've managed to conquer quite a large area; it's been quite fun though.
https://img241.imageshack.us/img241/9392/cavscrapie8.jpg (https://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cavscrapie8.jpg)
A unit of Huscarls battles with a rebel unit of Feudal Knights in a night battle in the north of Scandinavia. Not a particularly exciting battle, I just thought it was a nice picture.
My opening moves were to launch a campaign north into Sweden lead by my faction leader, quickly mopping up the rebel settlements, and snatching Oslo from under the noses of the Norwegians. I also took the castle of Hamburg, which would be my bulwark against the south for the next hundred years. My king then took the island of Gotland, and began to campaign on the east shore of the Baltic, taking Finland and Estonia before Novgorod could reach them.
If was some 20 turns before I first came to blows with another faction; sacking income in SS is roughly a tenth of that in vanilla, so my early expansion did not result in the easy riches it usually would and I spent the next few years slowly building up my settlements. However, eventually my spy in Norway noticed that most of the Norwegian forces had left by sea to attack the rebel settlement of Groningen, leaving their homeland scantily defended. I was able to take both their settlements of Bergen and Eikundarsund in a quick campaign with my Oslo garrison, equipped with catapults.
Shortly afterwards, the Pope called a Crusade against the Fatimid capital of Cairo. I was in a relatively poor position to take advantage, with my distant position and my meagre forces scattered all around the Baltic. Thus by the time I could muster enough units in Hamburg to have the minimum for a Crusade, the other factions had a considerable headstart. However, the Crusades of the factions most likely to beat me to it (Venice and Hungary) both became snarled up trying to take the land route via the Bosphorus, whilst my own force raced South to the head of the Adriatic, amassing an almost full stack of Crusader troops on the way, and made the rest of the journey rapidly via mercenary ships. Upon arriving in Egypt, I had my forces literally burn their boats and easily overcame the small garrison of Alexandria (the main Saracen forces were occupied with the Fatimid expansions into the Levant).
Next was a brutal siege for Cairo itself. My Crusaders took the city, but sustained heavy casualties whilst doing so. However, more problematic was the fact that, without the free Crusader upkeep, my huge mercenary army would be a financial black hole. I quickly bought up the local Saracen mercenaries to replace my losses before my cash reserves vanished completely, and continued the campaign, both to press my advantage against the Fatimids and to deplete my expensive mercenaries. I proceeded to take the wooden castle of Damietta, defeat two large Fatimid armies returning from the East, and seize the castle of Gaza. However, more strong Fatimid armies lay beyond, including the large garrison of Jerusalem, and my position was precarious, with my captured settlements fomenting with rebellion and the uncaptured castle of Luxor posing a threat to my flanks; thus when the Fatimids asked for peace in order to focus upon repelling the Templars to their north, I agreed.
https://img125.imageshack.us/img125/1856/bridgeegyaz1.jpg (https://img125.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bridgeegyaz1.jpg)
My Crusader swordsmen and Saracen Mercenaries slash their way across a bridge against the inferior Fatimid infantry.
https://img125.imageshack.us/img125/4113/midcampcr9.jpg (https://img125.imageshack.us/my.php?image=midcampcr9.jpg)
My Crusader kingdom at the end of the first conflict with the Fatimids.
With my Middle Eastern expansion on hold for the time being, I focused instead on expansion in the north, with the Huscarls and Norse Swordsmen I had trained before the campaign and could no longer afford to have sit idle. So as not to anger the Pope, I decided to attack Orthodox Novgorod. The losses my forces took in the campaign, the extra income from the wealthy city of Novgorod I took, and the money saved by being able to disband many of my mercenaries in the Middle East, finally began to stabilise my economy.
This rapid expansion was followed by several years of peace, as I developed my cities. The Baltic sea trade began to flourish as many of my impoverished settlements finally grew large enough to build ports and mines, and the plentiful trade goods available in the Middle East brought a lucrative new income stream from my merchants. This lull was broken only after my economy had truly begun to thrive, and I was able to train enough of my own troops in Gaza to continue the campaign against the Fatimids. By now, I dominated the College of Cardinals thanks to my efforts to convert the Muslim lands I had taken as well as my Pagan and Orthodox holdings in the north, so I was able to request a Crusade against Jerusalem, allowing me to get a second stack of Crusaders to the Holy Land while my local forces seized Luxor to eliminate the threat to my flank.
With my more secure footing in the Middle East and my Crusader reinforcements I was able to quickly wrap up the remaining Fatimid lands; soon I was master of my own Crusader empire stretching from Mecca in the South to Damascus in the north and from Alexandria in the west to the banks of the the Euphrates in the east.
Following my pattern of alternating between campaigns in the Middle East and Europe, I next decided it was time to expand south into the Holy Roman Empire. The Reich was at the time embroiled with a long war with France, during the course of which both sides had been excommunicated; however, they had also had some success in taking the Venetian capital and with the extra income were slowly starting to gain the upper hand. Thus, once my forces were ready, I launched a third Crusade against the Imperial capital of Frankfurt.
https://img293.imageshack.us/img293/3498/hussitestx6.jpg (https://img293.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hussitestx6.jpg)
Danish Huscarls battling Bohemian Hussites on the walls of Prague.
The Reich's forces in the north were weak, and I was able to quickly push deep into Germany, taking Cologne, Magdeburg, Frankfurt, Nuremburg and Salzburg. However, as I continued through the Alps, the resistance began to increase as the Imperial forces began to return from Italy and France. I took Innsbruck in a Heroic victory, and pushed through into Italy. Venice and Bologna fell easily thanks to my plentiful siege weapons, but the Emperor still possessed formidable forces in Ancona. My first attack on Ancona was repulsed in a savage battle, my king's army being sandwiched between two massive Imperial armies and destroyed, the king himself cut down in the battle. However, the Imperial forces were depleted to a single stack, which fortified itself in defense of the Emperor in Ancona itself.
I finally took Ancona with my replacement army, in an epic siege. My armour-piercing dismounted Huscarls barely managed to take the breach made by my trebuchet in a ferocious scrap to the death against Imperial swordsmen and Armoured Sergeants, before being relieved by my Norse Swordsmen and Dismounted Knights of Jerusalem. There followed a huge confrontation on the main road to the centre, with the Emperor himself entering the fray and doing bloody work against my swordsmen. The Imperial infantry greatly outnumbered my own, and were at only a slight disadvantage in quality, but my Norse soldiers' Shield Wall gave them an advantage in the vicious close combat, and my archers and crossbows were able to mount the wall just behind the melee and shower arrows and bolts down into the mass of enemy troops. However, the fight was close-fought, and many of my infantry units were reduced to a handful of men; the fight only swung decisively in my favour when I was able to bring up one of my catapults to just behind the battling swordsmen, and blast flaming boulders into the enemy mass at point-blank range; finally, as his men began to fall or flee around him, the enemy king was felled by a lowly spear militiaman, and the remnants of the Imperial infantry began to break towards the centre.
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/4642/ancona0rr2.jpg (https://img413.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ancona0rr2.jpg)
This image is shortly after the death of the Emperor, after which the ultimate success of the assault was no longer in doubt.
https://img297.imageshack.us/img297/1426/ancona1ta5.jpg (https://img297.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ancona1ta5.jpg)
Late in the siege, my catapults goad the enemy knights into attacking my spear militia; my troops are positioned such that the knights will not be able to charge them.
https://img115.imageshack.us/img115/5598/ancona2kk7.jpg (https://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ancona2kk7.jpg)
The aftermath of the pivotal battle in the streets.
At last Ancona was mine, and the Holy Roman Empire was destroyed. By now my empire has reached the point of singularity after which victory is inevitable; I am making more money than I can spend, many of my settlements that started out as towns are reaching Large City size, and my best troop production buildings are starting to be built in Hamburg and Gaza.
I followed my conquest of the HRE by crushing the pagan state of Lithuania at the behest of the Pope; my stack of heavy infantry and siege weapons easily outmatching the light Lithuanian forces, as seen in this shot from late in the siege of Vilnius:
https://img143.imageshack.us/img143/561/kaboomtx6.jpg (https://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kaboomtx6.jpg)
The conquest of Lithuania was completed a single turn before the emergence of the Teutonic Order; Their two stacks, finding no pagans in the area to attack, instead have descended on the Orthodox Kievan Rus and sacked their capital of Kiev. My own forces in Lithuania now march upon Kiev in order to take what I can of their lands before they are overrun by the Teutonic Order on one side and the Cuman Khanate on the other.
I have decided at long last to intervene in the protracted war between England and Scotland, landing in Kent and seizing London from the excommunicated English. My army is now carving a path through England, having seized Winchester and Exeter and laying siege to Nottingham.
Meanwhile, the Mongol horde has arrived and is laying waste to the lands of the Khwarezm Empire. Before long I may need to defend my Crusader kingdom from them.
https://img241.imageshack.us/img241/779/danes1iu4.jpg (https://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=danes1iu4.jpg)
https://img293.imageshack.us/img293/8161/danes2gu9.jpg (https://img293.imageshack.us/my.php?image=danes2gu9.jpg)
The current state of my empire. Note the huge amount of money being made from merchant trade, having your capital in Denmark and flooding the Middle East with merchants really pays off.
Sorry for the rather wordy and long post, I guess it's actually a pretty typical campaign, but it is fun. I'm thinking maybe next I will try a campaign as the Mongols on the late campaign, for a nice easy romp of conquest and destruction.
Damn! 15,000 a turn from Merchant trade? That's insane, I guess they have a use after all.
Anyway, great post, and nice pics! SS is great, too. So much more fun than Vanilla.
This thread should probably be stickied...
Great Stuff as always PBI :thumbsup:
Damn! 15,000 a turn from Merchant trade? That's insane, I guess they have a use after all.
It's an insane number but certainly believable given that PBI has annexed nearly all the Levant as well as holding all those juicy fish trade nodes along the Blatic. My latest attempt at Denmark was on H/VH, SS 6.1. Whew, slow going, especially considering the HRE just loves to race you to the nearest money maker provinces. For instance there's a teched up castle just south of your starting territory that, unless you claim right off the bat, could prove to be a major obstacle on your conquests of Germany later.
Keep up the posts PBI! It's always nice to see other Empires. :medievalcheers:
The year 1099, Ireland.
After nearly nineteen years of bartering, negotiations, skirmishes, plotting and overall intrigue, Great King Brian the Mauler has at long last united the Emerald Isle under one banner, his. The long road to unification was one that the Irish people had been crying out for twenty years and at last it had come. They could now be considered a true nation of their own right and King Brian was the man responsible.
Yet Brian knew that beyond the shores of Ireland lay the greatest destiny of all of his people. In brittian the English and Scots had been locked in a bloody war for the last decade and at the turn of the century Brian's spies reported a decisive turn in the war.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/IRISH1.jpg
London, capital of the forces of the English had fallen to the Scots! All he needed was a way to enter the war, some injustice committed upon his people that would allow him to take advantage of the English's perilous position.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/IRISH2.jpg
It would seem the English were eager to provide it. That very same year a weary army of England came ashore upon Ireland, what reason they had forsaken the mainland and the war Brian didn't know, but he wasn't about to ask. He gathered his host at Dublin and attacked quickly, utterly annihilating the enemy force with little trouble. The Anglo-scots war had a new player...
Following up in 1100 Brian and his two sons lead the main Irish army in a seaborne invasion of whales, something the English thought beyond the irish's capabilities seeing they lacked a port system! Such a fact would not be an obstacle, a little gold can buy many things and transport is one of them. Caernarvon, the main powerbase in the Whales countryside was quickly beseiged and captured. Lacking in troops it appeared at first glance as if Brian would not be able to finance a further push, yet he found in the welsh a very willing population, one who despised the English. A number of Gent raiders and welsh spearmen signed on full time into the Welsh army as mercenaries right then and there! The campaign would continue.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/IRISH3.jpg
1103. After building forces and recruiting local mercenaries to supplement his army, King Brian leads an attack against the lightly defended Settlement of Exeter. With the main English army trying desperately to fend of the Scots to the East at Winchester, the attack on Exeter was an easy affair for the Irish. Despite the merciless reputation of the defending commander, the King of the Irish granted a full pardon to the captured English upon the battle's conclusion.
The following year the English sue for peace, The King knows that he cannot sustain his momentum; not to mention his economy is in dire need of strengthening. Therefore he decides to accept. Meanwhile the Scots make a determined push on Winchester but are again repulsed by the English, Brian quietly begins to rebuild his forces.
1108 arrives, four years after the cease-fire is signed and Brian has had enough! He sends his son Domnall the Chivalrous, mastermind of the Exeter siege, against the English entrenched at Winchester. Extended years of fighting the Scots had left the English army decimated and without strong leaders, the battle that followed was more of a clean up operation than a true battle - something the Irish failed to understand. An overconfidence in their arms is building.. one that could prove disastrous...
Slowly the English have been pushed back, bit by bit, by a coalition of French, Scots and Irish armies. The grand Norman invasion that had claimed half of the british isles has been undone, pressed back to Antwerp King Ralph the Merciless of the combined English forces contemplates his options... then what should he find but a combined host Of French and Irish marching upon his great fortress. Surrounded and out of options he pulls back into the citadel and awaits the seige.
A struck of luck appears however in 1112, the Irish commander Corcc of Monaghan has a falling out with the French commander, the french forces pull back from the siege leaving the battle in the hands of the irish. King Brian, wintering in Exeter, is furious when he hears of the development and orders his army to retreat. The King knows without the aid of the French his men have not the strength of arms to overcome the English, Corcc refuses the order and continues the siege.
Summer of 1113. A terrible surprise awaits Corcc as he sieges Antwerp, the English have recalled their army which was marching to retake Caern, the entire southern army now marches north and is bearing down upon the Irish. Lifting the siege Corcc turns to meet the new force, drawing his lines four miles south of the main fortress. The English king sallies forth, he has the Irish trapped between two armies.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/IRISH4.jpg
Yet the irish stand their ground. The Irish army is a hodgepodge of English mercenaries, Whelsh auxiliaries, Ostmen, and Irish citizen soldiers; while the english army in stark contrast is a tough, professional and veteran force. Though having lost much of their kingdom they march with dodged determination intent on driving back the invaders. With a foe in front and one behind, the Irish's only hope is to charge home and defeat their first foe quickly, before turning to meet their other. They charge headlong into the whirl of arrow fire, hacking their way through the ranks of the english and winning home with a charge of their cavalry. The battle is hard fought, and Corcc and his men start to celebrate when...
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/IRISH5.jpg
Over the hill comes marching the second English army, their armor glinting in the high afternoon sun. The Irish have not the strength to win the day and only now does Corcc see the error of his ways - yet what can he do?
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/IRISH6.jpg
He charges. With the remainder of his host behind him he slams into the english line, determined to fight to his last breath and utterly refusing to retreat. His men follow the charge, but being exhausted from the earlier confrontation are quickly hacked to pieces. Soon the Irish host is in full retreat, and Corcc of Monaghan is no more.
The Battle of Antwerp is a disaster militarily, one that will likely take many years for the irish to recover from. It is too early to tell whether the English can capitalize upon the momentum from the battle and retake the Normandy coast.
--
It's been too long, here's a small teaser from my recent Irish Campaign, SS 6.1. Those English are not to be counted out, even when down to one province! NoScript seems to hate imageshack so i switched to my old photobucket account for images, funny in a way i haven't used that thing since i stopped playing WoW. ~D
Very nice, Monk! Loved the narrative you used to explain the actions of Corcc of Monaghan. Well done. :medievalcheers:
Walternat0r
09-15-2008, 12:37
This is my Venice campaign on SS6.1 m/h (I don't use Grim Reality or what have you, far to hard :no:)
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS.jpg
Thessalonica is my capital as it keeps my corruption at its lowest, even though its still quite crippling :( I'm only making ~20'000 a turn at the moment, which is totally rubbish.
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS4.jpg
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS2.jpg
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS3.jpg
As you can see, a fantastically fragmented empire - that's due to my house rules of only attacking ex-comms, muslims and orthodox factions. France are my vassals and England have been reduced to just owning Caernarvon and the Scots seem quite intent on taking them out so i'm leaving them to it.
I recently Crusaded to Fes, with one Stack taking Badajoz and Cordoba, and another creaming its way across N. Africa, just sacking and demolishing all the way so Marrakesh is there only settlement with any buildings in it, that helped me financially quite a lot as my larger cities needed upgrading at this point, and 12'000 florins was basically half my income per turn!
On the up side, I have a shed load of good allies (admittedly, tributes help there!), popes in my pocket so I can pick and choose who I want to fight. France are my vassals, I had knocked them back to Metz with the help of Genoa (an oddly reliable ally, since turn 2 as well). But they've not taken Rheims and Clermont from Genoa and have 3 stacks or so, I can only assume that they have a terrific kings purse to keep armies that size with only 3 poxy little settlements!
Right now i'm about to scope out Ireland, see whats going on there, and hoping to take Lisbon from Portugal, then Oporto then demand they become my vassals. Then I might crusade to Egypt as they seem to be gobbling up Africa quite handily, and I think they need putting in their place.
Woah! Nice shots Walternat0r. Some absolutely huge powerhouses in those shots. The cumans and Lithuanians ruling the steps, i wonder are they at war? Egypt the supreme power in the levant, no surprise there! Where are the mongols though? Did the kwarezmians manage to hold back the tide?
Also i think the fragmented kingdom has a very cool look to it, it really has that "trade empire" feel at a glance. Don't underestimate the value of the holy land! Even though egypt looks supremely powerful, the fight for cities like Antioch and Alexandria would be worth it in how much money they'd give. :2thumbsup:
Good luck in building further!
Walternat0r
09-15-2008, 18:03
I just had a quick gander at the state of the world using toggle_fow and I found the mongols - they seem to be taking there time if i'm honest!
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS5.jpg
The Teutons seem to be ignoring the Pagans, maybe because Lithuania are damn powerful lol
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS6.jpg
And here's just a screenie of the way my faction and world stands
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS8.jpg
Uh oh, just realised my King is "The Malevolent"! I was kinda aiming at a chivalrous game and this buggers worse than Darth Vader :wall:
It looks like Turku is rebel still, I think it might be worth sending a ship up there to continue my spread out empire and provide some sort of castle-based springboard for taking out Lithuania, seeing as the Teutons obviously aren't interested.
Nice stuff, Monk and Walternat0r. :2thumbsup:
On the Mongols, I've found they seem to be a bit lethargic too, just sacked two Khwarezm cities and have been just hanging around ever since. It's just about the only disappointing thing I've found about SS. To be fair though I suppose they aren't much better in vanilla.
I definitely approve of the scattered trade empire appearance. I too very much enjoy picking up all the little miscellaneous islands and isolated provinces here and there. One of my most enjoyable campaigns in RTW was as the Greek Cities; I set myself the target of not only keeping my original holdings, but also expanding to retake anywhere that was once a Greek colony. This meant launching naval expeditions to all sorts of places like Crimea, Sardinia, Cyprus and Spain, followed by some tricky campaigns to defend them against the locals. Loads of money from my massive trading empire, but a logistical mountain to climb in ferrying enough troops from the mainland to all my far-flung colonies.
Nice stuff, Monk and Walternat0r. :2thumbsup:
On the Mongols, I've found they seem to be a bit lethargic too, just sacked two Khwarezm cities and have been just hanging around ever since. It's just about the only disappointing thing I've found about SS. To be fair though I suppose they aren't much better in vanilla.
FH sent me a PM not long ago about the mongols in his mod, I have to say he got my interest peaked but I had already started a campaign as the Irish! I'm contemplating giving myself a break from SS while i give his mod a go, after all I've got nothing to lose and i've always been curious about it. :yes:
Askthepizzaguy
09-18-2008, 00:24
Wow... this SS6.1 looks very interesting! I desire a map like that... but I hated SS's supply system. All fixed/deleted?
Good work everyone with your pics!
Nice campaigns, everyone!
@ ATPG: The supply system is now optional for SS- when you install it you just have to make sure that the supply system is not included in the installation. I personally like the system, but I suppose it could be annoying for blitzers... also, the map is HUGE. Not only does it cover more area, the map is also scaled up, so provinces are bigger.
Askthepizzaguy
09-18-2008, 03:38
Nice campaigns, everyone!
@ ATPG: The supply system is now optional for SS- when you install it you just have to make sure that the supply system is not included in the installation. I personally like the system, but I suppose it could be annoying for blitzers... also, the map is HUGE. Not only does it cover more area, the map is also scaled up, so provinces are bigger.
My main objection is that it was broken, buggy, and easy to circumvent. Also it seemed unrealistic. I suppose if I hadn't been in my home territory for 10 turns, it could become a problem. But it was almost as though as soon as I stepped out, my morale and supplies would drop substantially.
Need to fix it, tone it down, and have it apply even less on crusades and jihads (unless it drags on 20 turns)
Galain_Ironhide
09-18-2008, 05:21
My main objection is that it was broken, buggy, and easy to circumvent. Also it seemed unrealistic. I suppose if I hadn't been in my home territory for 10 turns, it could become a problem. But it was almost as though as soon as I stepped out, my morale and supplies would drop substantially.
Need to fix it, tone it down, and have it apply even less on crusades and jihads (unless it drags on 20 turns)
I've just started my first SS6.1 GC as England (I downloaded this weeks ago and never installed it), whilst I'm only in the early stages of it, I have enjoyed using this mod. Well to be frank, its a whole heap easier to expand quickly than in the mod DLV5.73. I played a GC as Spain using that one and you are forced to take things slowly due to the negative income effects on literally just about everything (and plus an even tougher supply system with armies in the field). I do miss the stone forts that are positioned in all provinces throughout the game map in DLV. You can download a forts mod for SS6.1 but unfortunately you need M2TW Gold edition - which I don't have :sweatdrop:. I think the SS Mod Developers should consider making stone forts a permanent feature for future patches/editions of SS.
My intentions for this GC is to sit low for maybe a 100turns and wait for the AI to develop itself a little before I begin my conquest. Don't know if I'll be able to help my self from taking a province or two (or 3 or 4) though. We'll just see how soon boredom sets in :clown:.
To stay on topic -
I like how the Venetian Empire has turned out Walternat0r - Keep it up!
Walternat0r
09-26-2008, 12:36
Ey up, I haven't been playing much recently cus I made the mistake of buying Spore, and now my life has devolved into an endless cycle of dancing, eating, and flying random creatures spawned from the dregs of my imagination. However, I had a little stint (About 5-8 turns) and now look a bit like this
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS12.jpg
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS13.jpg
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS15.jpg
I've gotten rid of Portugal and traded Oporto and Murcia for Granada with Spain. They were having a hard time with Aragon so I figured a couple of settlements nearer to the action would help them out some. Also, Granada is much closer to Fortress level :)
After I took the final picture I took Cork from Ireland so they're trapped in Galway now, once i've taken them out i'm going to gift all of sunny Ireland to the Pope in exchange for Rome (thats the plan anyway). Then expand territories around the Baltic coast, am not planning on going inland as the corruption is huuuuuuge up there.
No write up for these, don't have time and I've let it go a long time without documenting/ screenshots of a few things. But I'll be sure to do so after this post. Basically I wanted a chance to out-do the Mongol AI in MTW, and SS 6.1 has a late campaign, so taking a break from Vanilla mod (which is pretty fun btw) I jumped into SS again for a little mongol action. My find? Every battle I enter into I'm outnumbered, but I'm never outmatched.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/MONGOLS1.png
From my war against Khwarezmid Empire. Heroic victories like this were just par for the course, if not increasingly nail biting to fight. Sure, you have great troops but in the beginning you cannnot replinish them. You have 4 stacks to conquer the Kwarezmids.. you're not gonna get anymore until they are dead.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/MONGOLS2.jpg
My Mongols adopted the virtue of marching concentrated, and fighting concentrated. Early on I didn't let a single stack go anywhere unless another was right there with it. The Kwarezmids were way too powerful to Underestimate. As you can see from the mini-map that approach was working.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/MONGOLS3.jpg
A great victory here! Jebe the Tyrant finds the faction leader of the most hated enemy, it wasn't easy to track him down, the AI did a good job of protecting him and instead just sending me cannon fodder princes to massacre all the time. After a quick seige, the pain in my side known as the Kwarezmid empire was no more.
After securing Baghdad and Basra, I thought about resting on my conquests and building up a little bit. I could just imagine Genghis khan, his troops arrayed before him as the conquests had come to a halt, "Then it is finished." one utters.. but the Khan just smiles. "We have only just begun."
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/MONGOLS5.jpg
The jihad was headed straight for Acre and the Kingdom of jerusalem. KoJ had severely weakened the Caliphate, the Fatimids were on the ropes having lost Cairo. So I thought I would knock out two factions with one Jihad, hit the crusaders hard then mop up the Fatimids!
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/MONGOLS6.jpg
Another battle results screen, nothing special. This is from when i cornered the Crusader king in Kerak and forced him to sally. The Knights of Antioch and Knights of Jerusalem were really no match for my well trained horde and mercenaries who swept through them like sickle to barely. Notice all the gold chevrons ~D
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/MONGOLS7.jpg
The king was without heirs and imagine my surprise, KoJ is eliminated! The Fatimid tried to move quickly to reestablish lost lands but I put a stop to that. :egypt:
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/MONGOLS8.jpg
The attack on KoJ and later on the Fatimids really strained my resources and I'm always hurting for troops, but I just moved two fresh stacks across the desert to reinforce the Levant. Once i mop up Fatimid resistance in the corners of the desert, the Turks will be next.
You can see the Moors were eliminated, by Portugal of all people! That means after the turks are gone I'll be the sole remaining Muslim faction in the game. :2thumbsup: Unless the Cumans are muslim and not pagan... Oh, i smell another conquest coming on!
write up will acompany next update, hope you guys like the screens!
Walternat0r
09-28-2008, 13:01
Good stuff Monk! How many turns has that taken you? I find with SS6.1 a slower approach is generally best, considering the effects of supply and whatnot on morale. Although... gold chevrons troops probably wont notice the difference lol.
I've never tried a Mongol campaign myself, although reading the Conqueror series by Conn Iggulden has definately sparked a strong interest in doing one! What are they like financially? With 4 cavalry based stacks are they not rolling in debt by the time you get a small (~5 settlement) khan-dom going?
Nice stuff Monk, I've been thinking of trying a Mongol campaign.
I kind of assumed that thanks to the insanely low upkeep for Mongol units, once you get over the initial imbalance between troop levels and number of provinces and started to make any decent income it would get very easy to support a huge force, did you find this?
Looks like fun, I might try it as my next campaign. :2thumbsup:
Good stuff Monk! How many turns has that taken you? I find with SS6.1 a slower approach is generally best, considering the effects of supply and whatnot on morale. Although... gold chevrons troops probably wont notice the difference lol.
I've never tried a Mongol campaign myself, although reading the Conqueror series by Conn Iggulden has definately sparked a strong interest in doing one! What are they like financially? With 4 cavalry based stacks are they not rolling in debt by the time you get a small (~5 settlement) khan-dom going?
I'm at about turn 35 or so, only up to 31 was covered in my screens though. :2thumbsup:
You're right, the Mongols are in serious debt, they start out with about 120,000 gold to give you a head start but that money runs out quick. There's a money script that each turn takes away from you 5000 gold (You can see it in the console, add_money -5000.) The money script is there to prevent the AI horde from growing to big too fast, but I find it an annoying obstacle that I have no control over. There's been numerous turns where my treasury indicates I should make 10k that turn only to find myself in the red. :wall:
Troop upkeep is super low but your troops are mostly cav so they are horrible in sieges. I've kept at least one infantry unit in each stack to help siege but most of the time if I can't force the enemy to sally it turns very bloody.
I kind of assumed that thanks to the insanely low upkeep for Mongol units, once you get over the initial imbalance between troop levels and number of provinces and started to make any decent income it would get very easy to support a huge force, did you find this?
Mongol units have a very small refresh pool, so even after you destroy the Kwarezmids you're still going to be hurting for troops. I am finding that the max I can maintain at one time is about 3 stacks of cavalry, I could easily switch over to an infantry based army and field maybe two more stacks than that.. but that's just not horde-like! :skull:
The upside is my troops are, pound for pound, the best in the game. There's a reason why those guys are at 3 silver-2 gold chevrons. They've survived since my initial campaigns against the Kwarezmids.
KingKnudthebloodthirsty
09-30-2008, 23:06
Im sorry if this gets a bit off topic but are all factions in the SS are playable? if there is any nonplayable factions, i wanna know. like i wanna play as the koj but they werent around in 1080, as with the teutons. im considering downloading SS and another question, how long is the download? is there some factions that are only playable in the 1200s game?
Yes, all factions are playable except Papal States and Rebels, but some are only available in the late period (Teutons, Mongols and Jerusalem) and the Templars are only available in the Early.
As for the download, it's huge I'm afraid (500MB or so). Get good broadband, set it downloading and go out for the day.
Walternat0r
10-03-2008, 12:12
Wahooooo I finished, my first ever completed campaign in Stainless Steel lol.
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS23.jpg
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS22.jpg
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS21.jpg
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS20.jpg
Towards the end of that campaign i've basically been keeping Spain afloat by taking back their cities from Aragon, then gifting them to the Spanish. The useless buggers just cannot defend themselves. I'm not sure whether to carry on and go for world domination - which could take a while as it took me 155 turns to get this far - or give everything I have to the pope except the British Isles or something, and see what he gets up to :P
To KingKnud; if you didn't know already, you can make all factions playable in vanilla version, you just have to edit the descr_strat.txt file. Although word of warning, when I did this, it made all the rebel settlements the lowest level of village, with no garrisons :wall: and even when I changed everything back it stayed the same, so I had to reinstall. Thank God there's no DRM for m2tw :P
Nice stuff Walternat0r, I like how you've basically built up this huge empire consisting of many fairly small and isolated regions on every edge of the map, but left the center of the map completely untouched.
khaos83_2000
10-16-2008, 02:40
https://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Walternat0r/VeniceSS20.jpg
47 cities and 20 castle = 67
why it show 70 regions?
because of vassals??
seireikhaan
10-16-2008, 05:07
My English campaign in SS 4.1.
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/916f15667b6a79cb0dc27a4f319ecdbdf5faed10.png
All I can say is that you guys taking half the map by the time the Mongols come are insane.
Currently at war with Milan, who owns basically all of Italy.
Walternat0r
10-16-2008, 12:46
khaos83 Yeh I have France as vassals, 3 regions :) Bit strange really. My occupied French regions are really poorly defended (for economic reasons) and they have perhaps 4-5 stacks of Armoured swords, spears and mailed knights, pansies.
I agree that blitzing is totally insane, I can't even dream about pulling something like that off lol, what are you planning to do now makaikhaan, expansion wise?
seireikhaan
10-16-2008, 20:22
I agree that blitzing is totally insane, I can't even dream about pulling something like that off lol, what are you planning to do now makaikhaan, expansion wise?
Probably wipe out the Milanese. I hate their effing crossbows, and if I can wipe out their forces in Milan itself, they have little in terms of an army, though they'll undoubtedly start raising more. They've got essentially all of Italy except for Rome, which rebelled on the Papacy.(:inquisitive:). If I can sweep up all of Italy, I'll be ridiculously wealthy, and at that point, I'm not sure where I'd go. I could try and go after Portugal, who's starting to turn the tide in Iberia, or I could go after Denmark who owns a good chunk of the North and are a potential naval threat. But I'm sure I won't have to worry about making that choice since the AI is sure to throw someone at me, probably Hungary, just for kicks even though they're my allies. :wall:
TheLastPrivate
10-17-2008, 11:15
My main objection is that it was broken, buggy, and easy to circumvent. Also it seemed unrealistic. I suppose if I hadn't been in my home territory for 10 turns, it could become a problem. But it was almost as though as soon as I stepped out, my morale and supplies would drop substantially.
Need to fix it, tone it down, and have it apply even less on crusades and jihads (unless it drags on 20 turns)
Yes, and it doesn't affect captain-led armies (which the AI ever does so often) which makes for a good concept/challenge but sadly not implemented too well overall (maybe even impossible to implement correctly).
Davicus Grimmshade
10-25-2008, 16:00
Awsome pictures and stories ^_^.
My only question is what are these steel mods 6.0 and 6.1 that you guys are playing and whats the benefit of these?
Year 1234
https://img65.imageshack.us/img65/6506/1234byzmapli5.jpg
Got some problems when latin crusaders and a jihad attacked same time, but the situation got better when I took Ragusa and Zagreb and Venice gave Acona for ceasefire.
Aleksios the Mean took most of Anatolia.
https://img160.imageshack.us/img160/537/1234aleksioskn1.jpg
And this random general took Egypt.
https://img384.imageshack.us/img384/1927/1234benghazisiegexk7.jpg
Now I'm going to destroy Moors with my 55 bodyguard emperor.
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/7481/1234emparorzq5.jpg
Great stories and pics you have posted. I thought that I could write a little story but then I remembered how bad my English is and didn't write it.
Here (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=159996) is the Stainless Steels download and features thread. (Needs Kingdoms.)
Dead Guy
10-26-2008, 09:59
Awsome pictures and stories ^_^.
My only question is what are these steel mods 6.0 and 6.1 that you guys are playing and whats the benefit of these?
The Stainless Steel forums are here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=314
There are a lot of submods which can be confusing. Overall the mod is harder than vanilla, the map is bigger, factions from kingdoms are in the grand campaign, no america, you can start late campaigns in 1200. There's an education system for your family members, and a supply system that can be a little too much sometimes... With submods it becomes even harder, especially with Bygs grim reality which forces you to keep your king at home to recruit a lot of times.
Oops, now I see Olavi has already given you an answer :p
In other news, I've started playing M2 again! Stay tuned for my SS 6.1 Switzerland campaign!
Great stuff Olavi! Another convert to the Byzantine empire!
That was perhaps the toughest campaign i played in SS, but it was by far the most rewarding. My advice is to mop up those Templars before you try to push into Europe. Otherwise you'll be fighting a multi-front war, and unless you have the infrastructure to support it that's a risky proposition. :yes:
My campaing come to a sad end. SS is broken. It looks like this (https://img390.imageshack.us/img390/2261/sssk8.jpg) now.
Galain_Ironhide
11-09-2008, 01:04
Ouch! What happened to make it do that?
An earlier save to restart from maybe an option? Or if your whole SS is broken, a fresh install looks in order. Just keep your saves folder in another location for the time being while you reinstall.
Don't know. Had few days without playing and now it looks like that (whole game not just that save). Even weirder is that, some other mods have the same problem, some mods don't.
Have re-install kingdoms and SS. But I'm not sure what submods I have so I'm not sure that can I continue playing byzzies. :wall:
Recently, as I was winding up my SS6.1 campaigns as the Danes and the Spanish, I have been pondering what campaign I should do next. It occurs to me, that since a typical campaign for me lasts on average 2 months or so, I will only have time to fit in 2, at most 3 campaigns before Empire is released in February. It also seems to me that I should probably take some time off playing TW between now and then, so as not to be sick of it by then. Thus I plan to do one major campaign, and possibly one more quick campaign after that, and then take a month or so off to play something totally different before ETW is released.
So, I have decided to play my last major campaign as England, on Stainless Steel 6.1. This seems to me to have a nice symmetry to it, since my very first M2TW campaign was also as England, back in January 2007, on Easy/Easy in good old unpatched vanilla, with warts, shield bug and all. As such, it seems a good idea to play essentially the same campaign, but this time on Very Hard/Very Hard on a mod which ups the challenge somewhat from vanilla in itself, not to mention being essentially free of the problems that plague vanilla.
For reference, here is my original vanilla campaign at the point I ended it:
https://img355.imageshack.us/img355/1856/oldenghh6.jpg (https://img355.imageshack.us/my.php?image=oldenghh6.jpg)
I had forgotten how very small the campaign map is compared to vanilla. The separation between settlements in Russia on the vanilla map is about the same as the separation in France on the SS map.
My vague aim will be to equal the achievements of my first campaign; either 97 regions, or all of Europe, North Africa, and most of the Middle East and Russia, by 1476. I will hopefully post the first update on my new England campaign tomorrow.
Cool idea, should be interesting to see how this turns out. And good luck! SS on VH is hard.
My first unpleasant discovery upon starting my England campaign on SS6.1, VH/VH, is that the Scottish are not the pushovers they once were. The classic opening gambit as England is to rush for York; however, to my surprise the Scottish beat me to it, besieging York on the very first turn. This somewhat threw my opening moves into disarray; normally, I would take York, Dublin and Caernarvon before massing my troops to overpower the few troops the Scots could muster. Now, however, I would be faced with a Scotland as large as my own lands, fielding Highlanders and Border Horse in larger numbers and superior in quality to my own meagre Levy Spears and Hobilars, risking Excommunication in a lengthy campaign and with the threat of the French in my rear and the Irish and Norwegians likely to make landings on either flank.
As such, I abandoned expansion north of Nottingham for the time being; even Caernarvon seemed well-defended with many longbows, impoverished, and isolated and vulnerable to Irish attack. As such, I focused my expansion around Caen in Normandy, striking east to seize Rennes from beneath the noses of the French. Meanwhile my forces from England landed in Flanders and besieged Flanders; my freshly trained Longbow from Nottingham could not have had an easier target than the slow moving, tightly packed Flemish pikemen. Quickly I worked my way up the North Sea coast as far as Groningen, the French and the Reich helpfully distracted fighting each other.
https://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1817/eng1eb3.jpg (https://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng1eb3.jpg)
A Flemish cavalry charge meets a disastrous end against my mercenary spearmen.
No sooner had I secured my grip on the Low Countries and finally annexed Wales, than an opportunity arrived to improve my precarious position, with two distinct holdings separated by sea and surrounded by potential enemies. The ongoing war between the Empire and the French Crown finally prompted the Pope to excommunicate the French King and, at the suggestion of the English King, to declare the First Crusade against the key French castle of Toulouse. All across Europe, Catholic kings saw the opportunity for conquest and rallied to the banner of the Crusade.
From the English castle of Caen marched a great army of well equipped and fanatical Crusader troops accompanied by the deadly longbowmen, to besiege the castle of Angers. The unprepared garrison fell quickly to the assault, and the army marched onwards toward Bordeaux, meaning to swiflty deprive the French of their castles and thus cripple them. Meanwhile another army, hardened veterans of the Welsh campaign, landed in Flanders and marched south upon Paris, defeating a sizeable French force on the way.
https://img378.imageshack.us/img378/2867/eng37wr6.jpg (https://img378.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng37wr6.jpg)
Aided by my Spanish allies, my troops crushed the garrison of Bordeaux; however, things were not going so well back on the British Isles. Seizing upon a revolt in York which temporarily drove out the Scottish rulers, King William moved in with much of his remaining forces in Britain to "restore order", in so doing bringing York under the rule of the English crown; however, he had left the rest of Britain underdefended to play this gambit, and as long feared the treacherous Irish seized upon the distraction of the English monarch to land in Wales in surprising numbers, and take the town of Caernarvon from the surprised and hopelessly outnumbered defences. William had shrewdly expanded at the expense of the Scots without yet risking open war with them, but at the expense of the loss of Wales and the start of the Anglo-Irish War, a conflict which would continue to plague him until his death.
Meanwhile, a nimble Imperial crusader army had slipped past the French defenders near Lyon and besieged and taken Toulouse, creating an Imperial exclave crusader state on the coast of the Mediterranean. The First Crusade was over, but the English troops had no intention of celebrating their victory; with the French reeling from their defeats, the English drove on mercilessly, the western army, having rested and reinforced at Bordeaux, marched upon Clermont, while after the fall of Paris, the eastern army drove on, defeating the French once again in a great field battle west of Rheims and taking that city, before trapping the French King Louis under siege in Dijon. The strategy of depriving the French of their castles was working; the French could scarcely muster much besides Spear Militia, Peasant Crossbows and Mounted Sergeants, all easy pickings for the dreaded Longbows.
With the French King at their mercy, the English troops held back from delivering the killing blow, knowing that his death would bring a French reconciliation with the Pope and an end to the conflict. Instead, they waited, while the western army ravaged Clermont and besieged the French crown prince with a large but ill-equipped army at the wooden castle of Lyon. The ensuing assault was a massacre, the hardened Crusaders driving the French defenders from the gates back to the center, while the Longbows took the walls and rained death upon the demoralised rabble huddling in the center. Thus the crown prince of France met his ignominious end under a hail of English arrows.
https://img374.imageshack.us/img374/7051/eng17el0.jpg (https://img374.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng17el0.jpg)
The last assault wave at Lyon. The last ragged and demoralised French defenders prepare to meet their ends around the fallen body of their prince, as the English billmen close in for the kill.
With the fall of all other French cities, the French King had outlived his usefulness. The army besieging Lyon closed in and quickly and efficiently dispatched him. The Kingdom of France was no more; and the King of England stood triumphant over a wide and rich swathe of Europe, bordered in the South by the petty Iberian kingdoms; they would be to busy squabbling among themselves whenever they were not united against the Moors to be interested in expansion north of the Pyrenees; and in the east by the Reich, who had now become locked in a losing war with the Venetians and would have no manpower to spare for a western campaign for years to come. The time had come to deal with the threat of the accursed Irish and the barbaric Scots.
After the first fall of Caernarvon, King William, shocked at this sudden reverse and in failing health, retired to London to see out his days, in no fit state to meet the Irish onslaught. It was left to his adopted son, the valiant and selfless Robert Plantagenet, to lead his small force into Wales to meet the larger Irish force now rampaging towards Nottingham. Knowing that the loss of Nottingham would likely mean the loss of all of England, Robert's men bravely stood their ground and routed the Irish rabble, before retaking Caernarvon. However the Scots, seeing the English distracted in Wales, seized the chance to avenge their earlier humiliation by the English king and promptly retook York.
https://img146.imageshack.us/img146/508/eng23oh0.jpg (https://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng23oh0.jpg)
Robert Plantagenet drives back the Irish in north Wales.
For the next ten years, while the main English strength was distracted in southern France, Robert and the crown prince William Rufus struggled to hold off the Celtic onslaught, taking it in turns to rush out to meet the latest attack while the other guarded Nottingham, their only hope of reinforcements, against potential attack from the other direction. Every time Caernarvon was retaken or relieved, a mighty Scottish army of Mailed Knights, Highland Nobles and Highland Archers from the Highland fortress of Inverness, accompanied by trebuchets and mangonels from the great city of Edinburgh, would descend upon York; and as soon as Robert's English Longbows and Billmen had prevailed against it, a fresh horde of Irish light infantry would land in Wales. Even the final victory at Dijon did not bring immediate relief; the aging and increasingly decrepit King William ordered those veteran crusaders he did not disband or leave garrisoned at Lyon on an expedition to campaign against the excommunicated Danes. Perhaps he reasoned that his English holdings were as good as overrun, and viewed it as more important to secure his Continental holdings by taking the great fortress and Hanseatic League headquarters at Hamburg, followed by the wealthy Danish cities of Arhus and Roskilde.
The next few years did bring a few welcome changes that would turn the tide of the war against the Scots and Irish, however. Firstly, although no hardy veteran reinforcements would be returning across the English Channel, the heavy English losses in the last few battles of the campaign had worked to improve the financial situation, allowing the money to be spent on training fresh troops in Nottingham. Secondly, in 1142AD, the ancient king finally died in London; at last, the newly crowned William II would rule the Kingdom as he saw fit, free from his father's tyrannical and increasingly erratic oversight; he would at last be able to give the British Isles the focus he felt they deserved. And thirdly, the Kings of Scotland and Ireland were at last rightly excommunicated; for years, the once-cosy relationships of both monarchs with the Pope had left William effectively unable to counterattack against them, but their relentless assaults on English lands had at last worn out the patience of the Holy Father.
Finally able to take the offensive, William II seized his chance. Choosing to sacrifice Caernavon once again to the latest Irish invasion, he mustered as many troops as he could to his banner and marched north to end the Scottish threat, since not only was the key Scottish economic center of Edinburgh more easily accessible than the Irish homelands, but the Scottish armies of heavy infantry and light cavalry had proven more vulnerable to the arrows and stakes of the English Longbows than the vast numbers of Irish light infantry, who had often been beaten off only narrowly by the greatly outnumbered English heavy infantry.
A mighty Scottish army under Prince Etmond met the new English King in battle at the Scottish border, close to Durham. As expected, it was an utter rout; the massed Scottish cavalry were forced either to charge to their deaths upon the English stakes, or else to take the long way round, under constant withering longbow fire, to meet their deaths upon the Scots pike mercenaries serving the English king. Unsupported, the Scottish nobles and pikes were forced to advance into a lethal barrage of arrows, killing many and throwing the rest into disarray. The ensuing infantry contest was over quickly, the longbowmen crushing the Scottish morale with a point-blank barrage of flaming arrows just before the lines were joined. In the ensuing rout the Scottish crown prince was killed. Within a year the great metropolis of Edinburgh, largest city in the British Isles, had fallen to the English king.
However, with most of the English forces committed northwards, the Irish invaders were free to drive further than ever before into English territory, while Robert Plantagenet desperately built up his forces in Nottingham. While a smaller Irish force marched south to besiege Exeter, the main invasion force neared Nottingham. Robert, seeing his army would not be finished in time, was forced to plug the gaps with an emergency levy of the poorly-regarded English spearmen from London and Winchester. However, the Irish march on Nottingham would prove to be the high point of Irish fortunes in the Anglo-Irish war.
https://img379.imageshack.us/img379/4103/eng29ds1.jpg (https://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng29ds1.jpg)
High tide: The point of the furthest Irish advance into English territory.
Robert's hastily assembled force met the Irish in the field within sight of the walls of Nottingham. The encounter would be bloody indeed; the Irish army was not one of the disorganized, ill-led raiding parties from the early years of the war, but a disciplined force under one of the Irish King's sons, and numbering several of the legendary Ulster Swordsmen, the deadly Ridire cavalry, and the unruly but savage Deisi tribesmen. The contest was very close fought; while the Irish general together with his cavalry contingent hurled themselves suicidally against the English stakes, some horsemen did get through the gaps, and their charge decimated the longbow units unlucky enough to be in their way before the billmen could drive them off. This was followed by the confrontation of the two bodies of infantry; the Irish, ferocious but depleted by English arrows and demoralised by the death of their leader, and the English, nerves rattled by the shock of the Irish cavalry charge, and with for the large part shaky morale and cheap equipment. Had it not been for the destruction of the Irish cavalry, the English infantry would likely have been routed; as it was, losses were heavy, but the line held long enough for the longbowmen, able to move freely without the threat of cavalry, to flank and pour vollies of flaming arrows into the already demoralised Irishmen, while Robert was able to lead the English cavalry in charges against the Irish rear wherever he could do so without riding onto his own stakes. At last, the remnants of the Irish infantry gave way, and were ridden down. But it had been at a heavy cost in terms of English losses, especially to the crucial Longbowmen.
Robert now left his weary and battered army to recuperate in Nottingham, while he, not pausing to rest after the exhausting battle, led his personal bodyguard on a furious ride to the relief of Exeter. Only he, a great general and the King's Master of Horse to boot, could manage such a feat; his men would have taken three turns' march, by which time the city would have fallen. However, Robert arrived at the walls of Exeter, and with a force of locally raised mercenary huscarls and crossbowmen, destroyed the mere two units of heavy infantry besieging Exeter (they had faced a mere single unit of Levy Spears within the walls, so without relief the city would have fallen). It had been a great day for England; although it would be some time before Robert's forces were rebuilt sufficiently to strike back and retake Wales, the Irish threat to the English heartlands was ended.
In the meantime, William II pressed his advantage in Scotland, knowing that with their sole money-making city gone, the Scots had no means to replace their losses. Hearing from his spies that the Scots had prepared a formidable defensive garrison at Aberdeen, he bypassed the city, and instead marched into the heart of the Highlands and took the great Scottish fortress of Inverness at great cost; however, his losses were of little concern - with the troop production facilities of Inverness at his disposal, losses could be replaced at will. Within a few years, he departed Inverness at the head of a fresh army to march on the Scottish king at Aberdeen.
The Scots did not wait to be besieged, but instead marched out and attacked the English in the mountains west of Aberdeen with two mighty forces. In a fierce snowstorm, the Scots attacked up the mountainside into the teeth of the Longbows. However, as before, the numerous Scottish cavalry were confounded by the longbowmen; some charged home disastrously against the stakes, some hesitated in front of the stakes, searching for a clear way through the stakes while the longbows poured volley after volley of arrows into them; a few managed to make their way around the end of the line of stakes, but found they fared no better against the pikemen mercenaries guarding the flanks. And behind them, trudging up the slope into the face of the blizzard and the English barrage, came the infantry; by the time they reached the English lines, the few survivors were so demoralised and so exhausted by the long climb through the snow that those on the right flank routed before battle was even joined. On the left flank, where the Scots army commanded by the crown prince rather than a captain was attacking the Scots fared better, but were ultimately swept away by a cavalry charge led by William himself, who had marched high up the mountain to flank the Scots and then came thundering back down the mountainside into the Scottish rear. The Scottish infantry routed, leaving their Prince alone to make an honourable end on the points of the pikes wielded by his countrymen among the English army.
https://img379.imageshack.us/img379/9256/eng26nk9.jpg (https://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng26nk9.jpg)
The Battle of the Grampians, centered around an impassable cliff face in the center of the English line; the English were beset by two armies, one on each flank. Here the Scottish cavalry hurl themselves desperately against the English stakes.
The way to Aberdeen was clear; the city was besieged and assaulted, the minimal garrison annihilated, and the Scottish King killed. The Scottish had fallen at last.
https://img379.imageshack.us/img379/9439/eng32nf1.jpg (https://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng32nf1.jpg)
The Scottish King is cut down trying to drive his way into the thicket of pikes. The Scots pike mercenaries hired at the start of the campaign probably destroyed a greater proportion of the Scottish nobility than the rest of the army put together.
Meanwhile, a turn of events was taking place that would seal the fate of Ireland, though it would be some time before that became clear. The Pope, concerned by the burgeoning power of the Fatimids at the expense of the Templar Knights and Byzantine Empire, called the Second Crusade to take the Fatimid capital of Cairo. Though his lands were far from the Holy Land and it was clear his troops would never make it in time, King William II complied with the orders of the Holy Father and ordered a Crusader army to be assembled in Bordeaux under Fulk de Muncy, which set off toward the east. In the event it was a Templar army which took Cairo, but it had never been William's intention to get anywhere near Egypt: His real target was the rich cities of northern Italy held by excommunicated Venice. However, as Fulk neared the Alpine passes he found his way blocked in every direction; furthermore, his spies reported that the main target, Milan, had already fallen to the Reich, while the cities of Venice and Bologna were strongly defended and would be hard for an isolated stack short on supplies to take. Instead, he turned the army around, and marched for the English Channel. Here he boarded a fleet, rounded Land's End, and made a surprise landing on Ireland itself outside Dublin.
The attack was carefully timed; a turn earlier, the vast army assembled in Nottingham had marched forth to besiege Caernarvon, just as a fresh Irish army had landed near the town. In a single turn, the Irish went from relentless offensive to outright retreat; Robert Plantagenet, by now an expert in the Irish methods of warfare and how to counter them, routed the Irish army near Caernarvon and triumphantly retook the town, this time for good. Meanwhile Dublin fell to the English. Suddenly the Irish found themselves having lost half their territory, and for the first time in the war with an English army on the Irish mainland, bearing down on Galway, while the victorious troops crossed the Irish sea to attack Cork. Robert himself, meanwhile, retired to Nottingham to oversee its growth into a great fortress.
However, although the Irish were on the back foot, they were not defeated just yet. Although Galway was taken in assault by Fulk de Muncy, the rashness of Robert Plantagenet in leaving his army under the command of a little-known captain proved costly. The army was assaulted outside Cork by two large Irish forces. The first attack, by the Irish crown prince, was driven back with heavy losses, however due to the English lack of cavalry they could not pursue and utterly destroy it. Meanwhile, their infantry was depleted and exhausted from the hard fight, and thus when the Irish King then attacked from behind, the infantry were quickly routed, leaving the longbowmen to their doom.
The defeat at Galway did at least have the effect of destroying a large part of the remaining Irish forces. Nonetheless, when Fulk finally arrived to siege the city two turns later, he was in for a brutal assault. Although defended mainly by spear militia and a few Deisi javelinmen, the defenders fought heroically against far superior troops, first sallying out against the rams and forcing the crucial English heavy infantry to run the gauntlet of Irish arrows and javelins in order to prevent the destruction of the spear units manning the rams; then, once the gates fell, the spear militia behind fought stubbornly to resist the rush of English infantry into the city. All the while the Deisi remained on the wall, showering the English heavy infantry with deadly javelins. Once the gate was cleared the English heavy infantry climbed the towers and set about the Deisi tribesmen from both sides, while the English billmen and spearmen, needed to deal with the bodyguards of the king and crown prince who were yet unfought, were instead forced to exhaust themselves against yet more spear militia, attacking in waves from the center.
Normally, light skirmisher troops on city walls, set about on both sides by armoured heavy infantry such as crusader foot knights, should rout in seconds, and if not they should be quickly slaughtered, heavily outclassed by the foot knights even with the wall bonus. However, these men did neither; they fought on almost to the last man, and as it turned out, were not only not being slaughtered by the foot knights, but were actually winning against them, unruly tribesmen armed with shillelaghs and with no armour were actually defeating professional warriors armed with the best weapons and armour money can buy. It was only a hail of flaming arrows from the longbows outside the wall that had any effect on the Deisi, finally routing them (but not before having to kill almost all of them with arrows, more of them than the knights managed).
https://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6189/cork1gt5.jpg (https://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cork1gt5.jpg)
The heroic Deisi on the walls of Cork, defying arrow and sword to smash their way through soldiers many times their betters.
At last the Irish nobility in the city center were on their own. My troops were exhausted from the bitter struggle for the gate, but enough of the billmen and spearmen had survived. The last of the catapult ammo was expended against the General's Bodyguards, killing a good number and inciting the rest to charge into the thicket of billhooks and spearpoints, while the Irish Kern mercenaries showered the horsemen with javelins. Many infantrymen were cut down, but in the end the cavalry were all destroyed, and Cork, and Ireland with it, had fallen.
King William II now had peace, for the first time in his reign, and now held sway over the whole of the British Isles, most of France, and all of the North Sea coast apart from Norway. However, the respite would last only a few turns; King William himself set sail across the North Sea from Scotland to attack the formerly Scottish rebel-held city of Eikundarsund, and meanwhile, the continuing onslaught on the Templar Knights led the Pope to call the Third Crusade, this time against the great Fatimid fortress of Gaza. Once again the Kings of Europe answered the call, and William, this time, did so in earnest. A full stack of the finest English troops marched south from Hamburg under Edward Manners, raced to the head of the Adriatic ahead of the Imperial, Venetian and Sicilian crusade attempts, and boarded mercenary galleys bound for the Holy Land. However, although the intention is to genuinely crusade against the Fatimids this time, Edward will not do so rashly. To land directly on the Levant coast, with his one, unreinforceable stack and hopeless supply situation, would be suicide. Instead he has landed upon the island of Rhodes, aiming to first clear the Fatimids from the various Mediterranean islands they have occupied, while at the same time securing a safe base of operations to recruit reinforcements close to the Holy Land but which is relatively safe from Fatimid counterattack. The aim is to move on to Cyprus, and then Egypt proper.
https://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6373/eng35sb8.jpg (https://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng35sb8.jpg)
The current state of the English empire. Note that Rhodes is an English possession, though not visible on the minimap.
So, there we are, some 29 provinces in 66 turns. To equal my vanilla achievements (98 in 199 turns) I am a little behind, and if I am measuring it by proportion of map taken rather than number of regions conquered I have a long ways to go yet (I had not expected the Scottish and Irish to be so brutally stubborn!) VH/VH SS is, as expected, proving a challenge, though I suspect the field battles would be a lot harder still if I were not the English; have Longbows always been so overwhelmingly powerful? On the other hand, sieges are proving to be brutally hard after playing as the Danes with their superlative heavy infantry and the Spanish (on late start) with their excellent gunpowder; the English have neither, being a primarily foot archer nation is a big disadvantage in siege assaults. This is not helped by the fact that on VH/VH, absolutely any siege which you autoresolve without having the most overwhelming of numerical advantages will without fail result in catastrophic defeat; thus you are essentially forced to fight every single siege battle manually. On more than one occasion I have resorted to charging my entire Longbow corps through the city gates to join in the melee, reasoning that their arrows were essentially useless here but that their AP mallets were needed to shore up my faltering melee infantry.
My next moves are, as I stated, to attempt to gain a foothold in the Holy Land with my Crusaders, while my next moves in Europe are yet undecided; likely either:
1) A push through Scandinavia to take out the Danes and Norwegians, and thence into Lithuania and Novgorod.
2) An offensive into Northern Italy to finish the Genoese and take on the Ventians; unlikely since this is the route I always take and I am bored of it.
3) An all out attack on the HRE. Gonna have to happen sooner or later, but probably later since they are my allies (since the AI actually respects alliances in SS, I always feel deeply ashamed about breaking them).
4) Expansion south of the Pyrenees to take the Iberian peninsula.
I am tending towards 4 at the moment since Iberia is a route I don't often take.
Great campaign, mate! Well-done narrative as well. :2thumbsup:
Personally, I'd love to see you next move south into Iberia. That nearly always proves to be an interesting situation. ~D
I vote option 1, though 4 sounds good too. Great writing :balloon2:
All those options sound great, but let's see number 4!
Someone has to unite Iberia. :smash:
Standing over the ruins of Eikundarsund, surrounded by the corpses of the last refugees to escape his sack of Scotland, King William II contemplated his great Kingdom. The Scots who had for so long threatened his lands were now his subjects; the whole of the coast of the North sea was his, save for the frigid north of Norway. Meanwhile from Ireland word reached him from Lord Fulk de Muncy, of the death of the Irish High King at Cork, and the fall of the last holdout on the British Isles against English rule. For thirty years the attention of the English armies had been focussed inwards, battling enemies on the English home islands; now it was time to once again strike outwards from the English borders on the continent, as had been the case during his father's reign.
But where to strike? He contemplated marching out from the gates of Eikundarsund and simply keeping going, sweeping aside the warring Scandinavians and driving on across the Baltic into Pagan Lithuania; but he did not relish more battles against the hardy and ferocious men of the North, and in the dark and frozen forests of this land even the mightiest army could vanish and never be seen again. He pondered the wealthy lands of central Europe and northern Italy; but the wealthy Venetians were locked in a bitter war against the Genoese and Holy Roman Empire which would keep all three powers in check for many years to come; upsetting that balance by intervening could lead to the rise of a dangerous enemy, commanding feared veteran armies of the Italian war together with the great wealth of Venice. Besides, for William's troops Crusading in the Holy Land, the aid of their German allies would be essential if the were to prevail against the Saracens.
William's thoughts turned to his Crusader expedition, commanded by one of his most capable and loyal young generals, Edward Manners. Word had reached him of Manners' successful sack of Rhodes, which he planned to use as a base for further raids and campaigns against the Fatimids. Perhaps he could send his mighty armies to his aid, and carve himself out a mighty Crusader empire? But it would be a dreadful gamble; with no port on the Mediterranean, his troops would be forced to either make the long and dangerous voyage around the coast of Spain and through the Straits of Gibraltar, or else to trust to hiring what scant and unreliable merchantmen could be found on the southern coast of France and running the gauntlet of the Saracen navy; either way it was likely his men would be unable to arrive in time and in sufficient numbers to aid the young Crusader general.
Then William thought of the lands south of the Pyrenees, of the bickering Christian kinglets and the wealthy cities of the Moors. The Kingdoms of Portugal, Castille-Leon and Aragon had all long been at war with the great empire of the Moors, but even this dire threat was not enough to unite them; any time the Kings of Castille and Aragon could find to spare from battling the Moors, they would spend battling each other, and even then the Aragonese king could find somehow the time and men periodically lay siege to the Imperial exclave at Toulouse. The most recent such depredation had led to the Aragonese king being excommunicated, and to a Catalan uprising in Barcelona. The Kingdom of Aragon was in a rare position of vulnerability, and thus King William ordered all his forces, from Norway, Denmark, Scotland and Ireland, to rally at Bordeaux.
When all was made ready, two mighty English armies set out a year apart from Bordeaux. The first, under the King himself, marched through the territory of their German allies and crossed the Pyrenees to the east, putting down the Catalan rebellion at Barcelona and marching on Zaragoza, while a detachment was sent by sea to take the the town of Palma on Majorca from the Aragonese. Meanwhile, the second army under the King's brother Henry, took the route to the West of the Pyrenees, and driving back an Aragonese army north of Pamplona, laid siege to that fortress, just as William was arriving at Zaragoza.
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The Battle of the Pyrenees; a charge of the Knights of Montesa in service of the Aragonese king meets disaster on the English stakes.
The Aragonese King, safe within the ramparts of Pamplona, was content to wait for relief; the Aragonese crown prince was leading the bulk of the mighty Aragonese army south of Zaragoza. He led his army to attack William's force at Zaragoza, while the strong garrison sallied to beset the English from both sides. First the garrison, commanded by the prince's brother, charged the English lines; it was a brief but savage struggle, but the losses inflicted by the longbows and the victory of the English cavalry under the King himself over their Aragonese counterparts swung the encounter in favour of the English, just in time to rout the garrison and swing about to face the main Aragonese threat under the crown prince.
Fortunately William had ordered his longbowmen to plant their stakes to the rear of English force, preventing the mighty Knights of Montesa from sweeping down upon the English from behind. Thus the Aragonese were forced to lead with their infantry against the center. One unit of Knights make the march around the English line and charged home against the Scottish mercenaries guarding the flanks; the disastrous fate that met them deterred the rest of the Aragonese cavalry from doing the same, forcing them to remain outside the stakes, under a withering fire from the longbows and unable to come to the aid of their infantry. Unsupported, the light Aragonese infantry were wiped out by the English veterans, and the English spearmen and Scots pikemen surged forwards against the few surviving Aragonese knights. Only the prince himself and his bodyguard stood their ground, meeting their grizzly end on a tangle of Scottish pikes.
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The Battle of Zaragoza; the garrison of the city charges the English lines.
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The Battle of Zaragoza; the weary English troops turn about and reform their lines as the heavy cavalry of the Aragonese prince looms up out of the mist.
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The Aragonese charge on the flanks falters against the steadfast Scottish pikes.
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Checkmate; the Aragonese prince futilely stands his ground and meets his death against the English infantry.
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The invasion of Aragon.
With Aragonese defeat and the fall of Zaragoza, the last hope of relief for the besieged Aragonese king was gone. The English forces, together with their Spanish Allies, closed in. However Henry, a veteran of the conquest of France, was not about to waste the lives of his loyal men; having punched a hole in the curtain wall with his trebuchets, Henry ordered his men to wait while his Spanish Allies, eager to come to grips with their hated foe, assaulted the breach.
The ruse worked. The Spanish light cavalry inflicted a few casualties on the King's bodyguard, but were largely destroyed by the heavy knights. However, as the Spanish cavalrymen fell back from the breach, the Aragonese could not resist the temptation to pursue their defeated enemies. As the Aragonese charged from the breach at the heel of his foes, he was met with a deadly hail of longbow arrows and mangonel fire and cut down with most of his men. The last few defenders of Pamplona, despondent and exhausted, were cut down soon after by the disciplined English attackers.
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The Aragonese King marches into a trap at Pamplona, abandoning the protection of the walls to pursue the defeated Spanish diversionary force.
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King William II resting at Zaragoza. Monuments to his many great victories against the odds litter the Kingdom from north to south.
With the fall of Aragon, William thus had established a firm foothold south of the Pyrenees; however, he would not be content until he had brought order to the whole peninsula, and driven the Moorish
hordes back into Africa. In order to do this, he would have to next attack his loyal allies, the Kingdom of Leon-Castille. They had been brave and stalwart allies in the war against the Aragonese, but they held the wealthiest lands in Spain and stood in the way of the Moors; thus, with a heavy heart, William had his troops rest and resupply in Aragon, before marching across the River Ebro into Castillian lands.
A great English force marched along the south coast to besiege Valencia, assaulting the fortress and putting the garrison to the sword. Meanwhile Henry's force marched from Pamplona to besiege the fortress of Burgos and the Castillian King. William himself took a central route, toward a confrontation with the main Castillian armies around Toledo.
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The siege of Valencia; the defending Castillian knights make a valiant but futile charge against the English spearmen.
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William's surprise invasion of Castille-Leon.
The invasion of Castille would not go smoothly for King William. Apart from the outcry both within his own kingdom and from neighbouring rulers at his treacherous and dishonourable attack against a loyal ally, his unprovoked attack on a law-abiding Catholic country attracted the fury of the Pope. Though the Pope was a former Archbishop of Canterbury and a mentor to the king in his youth, he could not overlook this transgression. Perhaps William had grown complacent, and thought his many campaigns against his excommunicated neighbours would mean the Pope could overlook such a flagrant breach of the peace; but as William continued his onslaught, sacking and burning Burgos and killing the Castillian King in defiance of warning after warning, the Pope had no choice but to accede to the demands of the outraged Castillian ambassador, and order King William II of England excommunicated from the Catholic faith.
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At Burgos, the otherwise steadfast Spanish defenders are thrown into chaos as an English mangonel rains death upon them, killing many.
The Excommunication was no doubt a very great personal blow to the aging King, being not only a dire threat to his immortal soul and to his rule over his subjects, but also in his eyes a personal betrayal by one of his oldest friends. However, his troops remained utterly loyal to him, and he would not allow them to see any sign of his inner disquiet while the campaign against Castille continued. Instead, he met the Castillians in battle that same year near the source of the River Guadiana, and scored another great victory, opening the way for Henry to cross the Tajo and besiege the fortress of Toledo.
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Another hopeless Castillian cavalry charge against stakes and pikes at the Battle of the River Guadiana.
Meanwhile, around a third of Henry's forces under the command of Henry's son-in-law Elias took a different route from Burgos; sensing that the Castillians had left their economic heartland exposed in their defense of Toledo, the small army marched along the north bank of the Douro and snatched Leon from its minimal garrison. With nothing to prevent them doing the same against Salamanca, the Castilllian position had been rendered hopeless.
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Near the end of the Castillian campaign; with Toledo lost and Salamanca soon to follow, the Spanish forces can do little but await destruction.
After the inevitable fall of Salamanca, the end came quickly in Castille itself; in a series of battles, the last Castillian forces attempting to relieve Toledo were routed and the fortress was taken. However, it had come at a heavy price; the depleted local garrisons back home as troops were diverted south to the front coupled to the religious unrest triggered by the excommunication of the king had led to a precarious situation in the rest of the kingdom, and the latest special tax levied by the king to fund the war effort proved the last straw; as the war in Castille was drawing to a close, the victory was met not with celebration, but with a wave of violent rioting and unrest across the kingdom.
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A series of pictures from the closing battles of the Castillian campaign, as the Castillian forces desperately try to relieve Toledo.
The riots were put down by the King's soldiers, at a great cost in lives and property. However, the damage to the King's state of mind would be permanent; he became increasingly paranoid, perceiving betrayal first by his friend the Pope, then by his loyal subjects. Although he had the victory against Castille, ill news reached him from Edward Manners, who had suffered a very great defeat and almost met his death at the hands of the Fatimid Sultan. It was while the king was in this mood of pessimism and paranoia that the long feared Moorish attack finally came. A Moorish army landed on Majorca and besieged Palma, while reports reached the king at Valencia that a large Moorish force was mustering south of the River Jucar.
Despondent at the Moorish attack, William led his garrison to meet the Moors at the river crossing, while sending messengers to his generals in Toledo and Salamanca to "do their utmost" to weaken the Moors, supposing that there would be a similar onslaught to the west and the best his generals would be able to do would be to inflict heavy losses on the Moors before being driven back. In fact, the Moorish forces were much weaker in the west, and Williams generals interpreted his order to mean they were supposed to take the offensive.
William's force met the Moors at the Jucar, a single bridge over the narrow river gorge with steep mountainous sides. Looking upon the Moorish force, the defeatist King William was dismayed, thinking himself vastly outnumbered, and as such determined to fight to the death. In fact, the Moorish force was smaller than he had realised, and had nowhere near the strength to cross the river and scale the mountainside into the hail of English longbow and catapult fire. Indeed, the Moorish general was under orders simply to hold the river crossing against any English attack. Thus there followed a lengthy standoff, each side waiting for the other to attack and come within range of their archers. Realising the Moors would not attack immediately, William ordered his catapults to open fire, hoping to provoke them into a charge into the killing zone of his longbows. However, although the catapults inflicted some losses on the Moors, the Moors did not attack, so when the catapult ammunition was spent, William ordered them to withdraw and ordered his mercenary knights to cross the river and attempt to draw out Moorish units, charging their lines and immediately withdrawing.
This met with more success, with several Moorish spear units taking the bait and being decimated by the longbows; however, the cavalry were under an equally withering fire from the Moorish archers, and after taking heavy losses, routed back across the bridge. William was becoming increasingly dismayed by what he viewed as the battle being lost before him; in what he viewed as a delaying action to save the rest of his men, he ordered his infantry and archers to expend the last of their arrows against the Moors and withdraw, while he led his loyal bodyguard across the river in a last, glorious charge against the Moorish lines. Knowing his health was failing and his empire was in danger of collapse, he decided he would avoid the long sickness and loss of faculties that had accompanied his father's death, and instead meet his end in battle; driving on into a hail of Moorish arrows and a thicket of spears, the mighty King William II of England met his end.
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The crossing of the River Jucar, with a formidable climb awaiting any man brave enough to cross the bridge.
The English army had inflicted heavy losses on the Moors, although many of the Moorish casualties would recover; but more importantly William's sacrifice ended the unrest that had plagued the kingdom, bringing reconciliation with the Pope. The new King Humphrey was crowned at Hamburg; although he had been a great general in his youth, Humphrey was content to leave the business of waging war against the Moors to his capable generals, while he concentrated on overseeing the growth of his settlements and the expansion of his kingdom's infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the English army marching south from Salamanca forced a crossing of the river Gaudalquivir, defeating a Moorish army, and at considerable cost captured the great Moorish capital of Cordoba. The force from Toledo, meanwhile, continued south towards the fortress of Granada, while the garrison of Valencia counterattacked under a new general, Lewes of Surrey, defeating the Moorish army on open ground and pushing on towards Murcia. Meanwhile fresh forces were being assembled in northern Spain to relieve Palma and assist the attack on Granada.
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An English army bombards the Moorish defenders of the crossing over the Guadalquivir.
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The assault on Cordoba; English archers and trebuchets torment the defenders, provoking a charge by the Moorish sultan.
The light garrison of Granada was unable to stave off the attack, and the fortress fell, shortly followed by Murcia. The English armies now converged on the straits of Gibraltar, and the last Moorish stronghold in Europe at Silves. The Moorish armies had concentrated north of Gibraltar, but Silves was under repeated attack by the Portuguese, and many of their troops were forced into relieving the city, weakening their forces. The English consolidated their position in the newly captured Moorish lands, waiting for reinforcements from the north, before continuing the advance to drive the Moors out of Europe for good.
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Near the end of the European phase of the war against the Moors. Only one major field army and the beleaguered city of Silves remains to the Moors in Europe.
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A major battle against the Moors to the south of Cordoba, which effectively signalled the defeat of the Moors in Europe.
Meanwhile, English reinforcements in the form of veteran longbowmen and Knights Hospitaller from Valencia relieved the siege of Palma. Silves was soon besieged by the victorious English forces; however, the assault proved costly, with most of the English forces lost; again, the English were forced to rest for a year while reinforcements continued to flow from the north.
As the English armies prepared to cross the straits of Gibraltar, the spies in advance of the main force reported that the Moors were preparing their main defense at the fortress of Melilla, leaving the large city of Fes lightly defended; this was thus the first target of the first English force to cross the Straits, the veterans of William's campaigns now under Lewes of Surrey. The city was taken, but again at heavy cost; the heavily armoured English infantry tired quickly under the desert sun, and thus made hard work of defeating their lightly armoured Moorish foes. However, they were followed by the army of Elias which passed by the city marching east, laying siege to the strong garrison of Melilla.
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Moorish crossbowmen choose to die under artillery fire rather than abandon the wall of Fes.
The Moorish defenses were now collapsing. As troops flooded west along the coast toward the confrontation at Melilla, the troops which had relieved Palma now landed at Algiers, having been unable to elude the Moorish fleet to reach the Straits. With the fortress almost empty, they took the great castle with minimal losses. Leaving behind a garrison, the main force marched toward Oran, to squeeze the Moors from both sides.
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The invasion of North Africa. Fes and Algiers have fallen, Melilla is under siege.
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The siege of Oran. The Moorish defenders concentrated too hard on holding the walls, leaving the gate vulnerable to a massed attack. Here the forces on the wall have realised their mistake too late, hurrying out of the towers into the onrushing English throng.
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The Knights Hospitaller charge the Moorish foe.
At Melilla, the besieging army of Elias was attacked by much of the remaining Moorish force in the last great battle of the Moorish campaign. The form of the battle was similar to the Battle of Zaragoza against Aragon, with the smaller force of the Moorish crown prince attacking first, and the sultan leading the attack personally from the other side. The attack of the crown prince was driven off with heavy losses, the infantry demoralised by the fetid cows hurled by the English trebuchets, and depleted by mangonel and longbow fire. However, they could not be pursued since most of the English cavalry were lost, and much of the Moorish crown prince had survived, continuing to harass the English rear as the Sultan attacked. In the event, the Sultan attacked at a diagonal to the English stake line, leaving much of the English infantry unable to reinforce the flanks for fear of leaving the protection of the stakes and being cut down by Moorish cavalry. Meanwhile the crown prince did bloody work against the longbows while the infantry were occupied.
At last, though, the Moorish sultan was brought down by point-blank fire from the trebuchets, and after repeated personal charges by Elias wherever the Moorish flanks were exposed and away from the stakes, the Moorish forces broke. The crown prince, too, was finally brought down by the longbowmen's mallets. Elias had the narrowest of victories, but it did not matter; Melilla had fallen, and with the landing of an English army shipped all the way from England at Marrakesh, the Moors were completely defeated.
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Aftermath of the Battle of Melilla; the pivotal right flank of the English line.
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Elias lost more than half of his men in the encounter, but the last significant Moorish army was utterly wiped out.
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Siege of Marrakesh; English forces drive into the breach, forcing back stiff Moorish resistance on both sides, a dangerous mix of spearmen and Urban Militia which neither infantry nor cavalry can engage safely.
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The English longbowmen succeeded in scaling the walls in order to lend assistance to the exhausted infantry in the streets.
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The last Moorish sultan held in combat by spearmen and brought down by English longbows.
While the campaigns in Spain had been taking place, Edward Manners had been waging a long campaign of his own in the eastern Mediterranean. Far out of reach of reinforcements and largely forgotten back home, his men faced a difficult task against the Fatimids. Initially under the auspices of the Third Crusade to take Gaza, Edward instead prudently took the Fatimid castle on Rhodes, while his German allies took the main Crusade target. After a brief rest, his men once again boarded their ships and took Cyprus, before landing on the mainland and seizing the fortress of Damietta. After another brief rest, he took Alexandria.
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At this point the Crusaders were at the strongest they would be for many years, with England in possession of Damietta and Alexandria, the HRE ruling Gaza and the Templars ruling Cairo.
However, English control of Alexandria was short lived; after a year, the people of the city revolted against their new rulers, and Edward wisely withdrew his outnumbered troops from the city rather than be slaughtered by the mob. However, as he layed siege to the city once more, the Sultan of the Fatimids, fresh from the recapture of Cairo, came to its relief at the head of a vast army. Edward's men fought valiantly, but in the end the Saracens were too many; his force was routed, his bodyguard slaughtered, and he himself forced to flee for his life to Damietta.
However, the Fatimid sultan pursued him, and laid siege threatening to drive the English crusaders from the mainland altogether. Seeing the Fatimid force consisted of many horse archers, Edward reasoned it was best to wait for the assault, which came soon enough. His force was hard pressed on the walls and at the gate, but the English stakes, spearmen and boiling oil were finally enough to kill the sultan and rout the Saracen cavalry, leading the men assaulting the walls to panic and flee also.
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The Saracens are slaughtered as they try to force the gates of Damietta.
Damietta was secure, but the Fatimids would soon be back, and meanwhile Edward was in no position to continue the offensive. He also recieved word from his spies that the Imperial fortress of Gaza was under assault. Reasoning that the longer Gaza held out, the longer it would be before Damietta faced another major attack, Edward ordered his freshly raised troops on Cyprus to come to its aid. The gambit worked; with the besieging Fatimids not relishing the prospect of English reinforcements coming to the aid of the German defenders, a Fatimid emissary arrived at Damietta seeking a ceasefire with the English.
Neither side regarded the treaty as a permanent settlement rather than a temporary respite; Edward wanted time to rebuild his forces for a fresh assault in Egypt, while the Fatimids wished first to deal with the Imperial fortress of Gaza and to stave off the encroaching Templars to their north. Nonetheless, Edward set about capitalising on the respite. Receiving word that unruly Alexandria had rebelled against the Fatimids, likely due to religious unrest caused by his efforts at converting the locals, Edward landed and besieged and retook the city from the ill-equipped rabble.
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The disorganised rebels in Alexandria were numerous, but badly outmatched against the well equipped English infantry.
Recalling the unrest which had driven him from the city fifteen years ago, Edward took no chances and had the population butchered. Meanwhile, good news reached him from England; the new king Humphrey had named him as heir to the throne. Doubtless Humphrey was nervous that Edward, far from the reach of the crown, might be tempted to disregard the new king and was eager to ensure he would not be tempted to rebel. Regardless, Edward set about carving out a realm in the Middle East worthy of a future King.
Noting that the outlying Fatimid settlements of Benghazi and Iraklion had turned renegade, Edward dispatched naval expeditions to seize both, knowing he could do so without violating the treaty. With six provinces in the eastern Mediterranean under his rule, three of them islands, Edward reasoned it would now be impossible for any single Fatimid attack to wipe out his realm before reinforcements could arrive, especially since the western Mediterranean was now largely in English hands.
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Tuareg camels at Benghazi attempt to prevent the English seizing the gate.
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An uneasy peace in Egypt, as the Fatimids close in on Gaza.
Meanwhile in Spain, the English generals reluctantly prepared for the task of invading Portugal, knowing that the Portuguese army was strong, the Portuguese citadels were well defended, and the attack would likely bring a fresh excommunication. However, an event intervened which rendered the task ahead far less formidable: The Portuguese King died without naming an heir. The Kingdom descended into civil war and the various provinces came under the rule of petty warlords, apparently blissfully unaware of the huge English armies on their doorstep. King Humphrey breathed a sigh of relief; with no central authority, he could deal with the Portuguese warlords piecemeal, and the Pope would not intervene to prevent him imposing a rightful, stable authority on a war-torn land. He could mop up Portugal at his leisure, while turning his eye to the east.
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The Kingdom of Portugal collapses. The minimap shows the current extent of the English Kingdom.
There we are, up to 51 regions in 95 turns. This puts me just about back on schedule to reach 98 by turn 199. The question is, of course, which way next?
1) Focus on Scandanavia, putting the previously planned attack into action and sweeping around the north east of the map centrifugally.
2) Focus on central Europe, a straightforward frontal attack against the HRE with the option to continue out against any of the Poles, Hungarians or Venetians. Excommunication a near certainty.
3) Focus on the western Mediterranean, taking out the excommunicated Genoese and the Sicilians. Would link up the two halves of my empire, and allow for expansion in just about any direction.
4) Focus on the eastern Mediterranean; invade the Byzantines and Turks and secure the wealthy Aegean and Anatolia. Possibly continue north against the Kievan Rus.
5) Focus on Egypt and the Holy Land; concentrate all my forces and deal with the Fatimids once and for all, followed by an attack against any one of the Turks, Khwarezmians or Templars, possibly depending on how well the Mongols fare. Probably the most lucrative thanks to the possibilities for merchant trade, but also the most difficult in terms of ferrying troops long distances.
I haven't decided which option yet; I will likely be following 5 to some extent whatever happens when the Fatimids inevitably attack again, the question is if I make it the main focus of expansion (note I do have to take Jerusalem sooner or later to fulfill the victory conditions). Otherwise I'm leaning towards 3, Genoa are getting a bit too successful against the Venetians and my troops are already in the right area.
Wow, PBI! That's one hell of an update. :2thumbsup:
Personally, I was going to advise you go with option #3 even before you said that was what you were leaning toward. Genoa is indeed a threat to your dominance in the Med, and my hatred of the Sicilians has carried over from MTW -- destroy them. ~D
Very much well done on the unification of Spain!
An attack on the excommunicated Genoese and the Sicilians will go a long way to making you liked again by the pope. You can gift him unneeded cities in Italy and pretty much get on his good side again while at the same time mercilessly crushing your biggest rivals in the Western Med.
An Invasion of Italy seems all but certain in this scenario. If you move quickly with a seaborne operation you can easily cut the heart out of the Sicilian war machine before you ever fight their main force. :yes:
Awesome job, and a nice empire! Option 3 definitely sounds the best to me. Also, maybe you should try to buy Toulouse off of the HRE- it would better connect France to Iberia, and you might be able to get an alliance out of it, if you want.
Number 1! 3 sounds good too though. Great update :2thumbsup:
Veho Nex
11-30-2008, 12:21
I say 5. Lucrative trade and a challenge. Exactly what is great about games.
1221AD: The English empire bestrides all of Western Europe from Roskilde to Marrakesh. Under its great King Humphrey the Chivalrous, the mighty English armies drive the Moors from Europe before taking the pursuing them to Africa, finally subduing all of their mighty cities, leaving only Egypt still in Muslim hands in all of Africa north of the Sahara. Meanwhile Portugal, the last free kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, disintegrates into petty princedoms; no threat to English rule remains in all of Western Europe, and as her dreaded armies turn eastward, the rest of Europe trembles.
In Egypt, Prince Edward rests in Alexandria; having successfully defended his Crusader Kingdom in the Nile delta again and again, he finally forced the Fatimid Sultan to agree to a truce, allowing Edward to consolidate his gains. Fresh troops are raised to defend his capital at Alexandria, while the English fleet uses its dominance of the Eastern Mediterranean to secure the remote castle of Benghazi in Cyrenaica and the island of Crete.
However, both sides knew the truce was only a temporary reprieve; Edward had established that the Saracen could not drive him from the Holy Land, but hungered to take the offensive once more and seize the glorious prize of Jerusalem; while the Fatimid Sultan campaigned aggressively against his other foes, finally overrunning the stubborn German Crusader kingdom of Gaza, while through cunning machinations he convinced a Fatimid Imam to declare a Jihad against the great city of Baghdad; as Turkish and Khwarezmian armies descended on the city, its Templar rulers withdrew their forces to meet them, ending the threat to the Sultan's northern frontier.
In the end it was the Fatimids who broke the truce first, the Sultan himself leading a great army out of Cairo to besiege Edward at Alexandria, while a second army, hardened by the brutal siege of Gaza, surrounded the fortress of Damietta. Edward had long expected and planned for such an attack however, and his men steeled themselves to meet the assault, confident in their great Prince who had inflicted bloody defeat upon the Saracens so many times before; while quietly, the mighty English fleet embarked from Rhodes to put Edward's long-prepared plan into motion.
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/3268/eng170pe3.jpg (https://img141.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng170pe3.jpg)
The Fatimid Sultan, having defeated the Holy Roman Empire and the Templars, commits all of his forces in an attempt to drive his last and greatest Crusader foe from the Holy Land for good.
Meanwhile in Europe, the one-time allies of the English crown the Genoese, spied a brief opportunity to challenge the rising power of the great English empire; with most of her armies resting in North Africa or Spain from the great conquest of the Moors, the wealthy English lands in France were almost defenseless. A mighty army under the Duke of Genoa marched from Marseille and besieged the fortress of Lyon, the only obstacle to a Genoese rampage through the wealthy English cities all the way to Flanders. Meanwhile a smaller Genoese force landed on Majorca, meaning to take Palma from the minimal garrison and use the island as a barrier, delaying the English armies as they sailed up the coast of Spain and buying more time for the offensive in the Rhone valley.
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/5885/eng172cu9.jpg (https://img141.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng172cu9.jpg)
The Genoese ruler besieges Lyon, the only significant obstacle to conquest of France.
The year 1225 would be a year of great sieges. At Palma, the ramshackle defense won an unexpected victory; facing a vastly superior force, the local militia succeeded in luring the Genoese attack into a bottleneck at the gate; as the militia spearmen pressed the Genoese infantry from both sides, the town's two ballistas fired deadly iron bolts into the thick of the Genoese throng. The ballistas carved paths of killed and maimed men through the Genoese ranks, throwing the survivors into panic; hemmed in on both sides and unable to escape the lethal ballista fire, the few Genoese who did not die fled in panic back through the gates. The Genoese delaying action had failed; now they would face English armies landing in their homelands.
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/3365/eng178ph4.jpg (https://img141.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng178ph4.jpg)
English ballistas fire with deadly effect into the bottleneck at the gates of Palma.
Meanwhile, the great army of the Genoese Duke assaulted Lyon; however, the defenders were ready. A hail of longbow fire took a devastating toll on the attackers as they waited for the gates to be breached, while the Italian Militia attacking by ladder and tower were driven off, brave men, but no match for the heavily armoured knights on the walls. The Genoese army pushed bravely through the breached gate, but into a bloodbath; within the gates they met stakes and more stalwart English foot knights, while boiling oil poured from the gatehouse slaughtered the men beneath, trapped between the troops in front, and the men behind still surging forwards to try to force the gate. At last the Duke was killed by a charge of English knights, and the slaughter became a rout.
At the same time in Egypt, the Sultan launched his rash assault against the walls of Alexandria; on the walls the battle was fierce and close, and the mighty Ghulams came close to carrying the walls at the weakest point, where the wall was defended only by a small unit of Billmen; only an intervention by forces from further along the wall, who had fared better and driven off the attacks in their sector, finally overcame the ferocious assault. But the assault on the gate once again fell victim to the mighty longbows; the densely packed Saracen Militia, waiting for the ram to do its work, were decimated by the intense arrow fire, and only a fraction of the assault force made it through the gate; outnumbered and demoralised, the assault was hopeless.
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/6020/eng181dm2.jpg (https://img141.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng181dm2.jpg)
Fatimid infantry assault the walls of Alexandria...
https://img146.imageshack.us/img146/2162/eng186lb4.jpg (https://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng186lb4.jpg)
... while at Lyon, the English defenders prepare to hold the gateway against the Genoese onslaught.
By the end of the year, both the Genoese and Fatimid offensives had been stopped in their tracks. While it would take many more hard battles before either would be overcome, the Genoese window of opportunity to seize France and take a strong position to defend against the English from had closed, while in Egypt, the Fatimids would never again come so close to driving the English from Egypt. As the Fatimids were being routed at Alexandria, Edward's counterattack began as an English army landed at Acre, taking the fortress from the minimal garrison and menacing Jerusalem itself.
https://img141.imageshack.us/img141/126/eng174lq3.jpg (https://img141.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng174lq3.jpg)
The surprise English landing at Acre whilst the main Fatimid forces are occupied in Egypt.
Impressed by Edward's great victory in Egypt and success in taking lands from the Fatimids even in the face of a huge offensive, the Pope determined the Fatimids were now weak enough to drive from the Holy Land altogether, and thus declared the Fourth Crusade against Jerusalem itself. King Humphrey, too, was impressed enough to grant Edward the funds he needed to raise ever more troops from the new Christian converts in Egypt; leaving behind large garrisons in Damietta and Alexandria, he raised the Crusader banner once more; boarding his fleet, he landed in Palestine, and laid siege to Jerusalem itself.
The Fatimid Sultan, knowing that a defeat at Jerusalem would spell the ultimate doom of his kingdom, mounted a last, desperate offensive; armies besieged Alexandria and Acre, and a mighty force attacked Edward's army from one side while the garisson assaulted the other, a pincer attack which had in the past proved one of the few tactics to be successful against the English longbow line. However, Edward had changed his tactics; short of trained longbowmen, he had amassed as many heavy knights as possible, supplemented ferocious mercenary cavalry from the Khwarezm Empire. With vast superiority in cavalry, he used his horsemen in piecemeal charges to destroy the Fatimid dismounted Ghulams and Al-Haqa infantry while avoiding the enemy spearmen; the Fatimid infantry were then pinned by the English infantry and destroyed by cavalry charges to the rear. With the first army destroyed, Edward turned his force, and repeated exactly the same tactics on the second.
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2735/eng198ho1.jpg (https://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng198ho1.jpg)
Fatimid heavy infantry are crushed by the unstoppable charge of the Khwarezmian mercenaries.
At last, after nearly 50 years of war, Edward led his army in triumph through the gates of Jerusalem, greatest of all Crusader prizes. As Fatimid armies reeled from their defeat, the Sultan realised that his hopes of retaking his lost lands were gone, and ordered all his armies to retreat, hoping to mount a new defense to prevent the English penetrating further inland. But as their armies struggled to maintain order amid the chaos of the retreat, another disaster befell the Fatimids; the Fatimid army besieging Alexandria did not recieve the order to withdraw in time, leaving Cairo vulnerable to a quick strike from Damietta.
https://img146.imageshack.us/img146/125/eng197mt0.jpg (https://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng197mt0.jpg)
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6666/eng200wb2.jpg (https://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng200wb2.jpg)
Edward presses the offensive against the Fatimids after the fall of Jerusalem, besieging Gaza while a surprise attack from Damietta snatches Cairo.
Meanwhile, in the western Mediterranean, the Genoese were steadily overwhelmed by the English fleets and armies flooding from North Africa. A large Genoese army from Ajaccio was destroyed when the English fleet sank their transports, preventing them from coming to the aid of Marseille; that city fell to massive English forces landing by sea and marching from Lyon. Meanwhile, Ajaccio and Cagliari fell to amphibious assault. In north Africa, the intial English attack on Beleb el Anab was defeated in a series of battles with the unexpectedly strong Genoese forces, which then took the offensive; however, the threat to Algiers was stopped at a river crossing and fresh English forces arrived from Marrakesh, taking Beleb el Anab.
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/1194/eng201zo7.jpg (https://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng201zo7.jpg)https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6765/eng202hy2.jpg (https://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng202hy2.jpg)
The English retreat in north Africa is halted and turned into advance at a river east of Algiers.
However, on the main front against the Genoese on the Ligurian coast, the Genoese were being slowly but surely driven back. As the armies victorious at Marseille marched up the coast, another English force landed at Genoa itself and launched a massive assault, taking the Genoese capital.
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2206/eng207ue9.jpg (https://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng207ue9.jpg)https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/3751/eng206oh2.jpg (https://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng206oh2.jpg)
English forces swarm onto the walls of Genoa, overwhelming the defenders.
As English forces took the last Genoese city in north Africa, the Genoese were left with only the city of Bologna. Three mighty English armies assaulted the massive garrison; the well-trained Italian militias fought bitterly for every inch, and the English commander was forced first to fight a bitter contest for the breach in the wall, a running battle through the streets, then a ferocious bloodbath in the city center as the Genoese made their last stand. The English general was forced to throw in more and more troops as first the initial assault troops, then the reinforcements who replaced them, were wiped out by the savage battle. However, finally with the help of longbows and mangonels the huge Genoese force was worn down, and as the centre square became less crowded, the last defenders could be finished of relatively cheaply as the English cavalry at last had room to maneuver and charge.
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/505/eng214yk6.jpg (https://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng214yk6.jpg)
English armies converge on Bologna.
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/8428/eng216fr6.jpg (https://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng216fr6.jpg)
The closing stages of the furious battle for the centre square in Bologna.
With the Genoese defeated, King Humphrey pondered what to do next with his mighty force. Prince Edward was winning on all fronts against the Fatimids and would require no help. He considered his options in Italy; his first choice would have been to attack the Sicilians with his standing forces in Bologna; however the Sicilians, free of significant threats for many years, had amassed a formidable army; meanwhile, the Venetians, although still strong, were beset on all sides by the Reich, Hungary and the Byzantines. Furthermore wealthy Venice itself was in easy reach from Bologna; thus Humphrey ordered his forces to attack the Venetians and secure North Italy before any war with Sicily would be risked.
However, the bulk of his resources would be spent on a new offensive in a different area. For years Scandinavian kingdoms of Norway and Denmark had been locked in warfare, not far from Humprey's own residence at Hamburg. With both sides weakened by the years of conflict, it had long been clear to Humphrey that a truly determined English offensive could bring all of Scandanavia under his sway, and beyond, it would be a short voyage for the English fleets to ferry troops across the Baltic to campaign against the pagans and Orthodox Christians of Lithuania and Novgorod, where he could safely expand with the full approval of the Pope. With new Retinue Longbowmen and English Knights from the citadels of Nottingham and Hamburg, and Knights of Saint John from Spain, he began to amass a force for an attack on the Danes.
Meanwhile in Italy, the war against the Venetians was not going as well as hoped; though the key Venetian fortress of Ancona had fallen, Venice itself was mounting a tenacious defense. The first attack on the defending army on the plains outside the city, by Simon Plantagenet, victor of Bologna, was a catastrophe; Venetian losses were heavy, but ultimately Simon's forces were overrun by the vast Venetian army and Simon was killed. Although the defensive garrison had been substantially weakened and the Venetian Doge also killed in the battle, the English forces in the area were not strong enough to mount another direct attack; instead, a smaller force was stationed on the main bridge leading to the city to prevent any link up with reinforcements marching from Ragusa.
The Venetians mounted several attacks to try to dislodge the English from the bridge; although the small English army was almost wiped out in the battles, the Venetian defenders were at last whittled down to just the massive city garrison itself. At last the city could be sieged directly by a force of reinforcements from Spain; not large enough to assault the city, but enough to defeat a sally.
In Denmark, as the English armies were within a day's march of the Oresund between Zealand and Sweden, an unexpected turn of events shifted the target of the attack at the last second. The Pope, apparently satisfied that the forces of Islam were being driven back both from Iberia and north Africa and in the Holy Land, turned his attention to the north-eastern frontier of Christendom, and the pagans of Lithuania. An earlier attempt to Christianize Lithuania by the Teutonic Order had failed, the Order being diverted instead by the rich prospect of plunder in the Kievan Rus lands to the south and abandoning their original mission. Determined to succeed this time, the Pope declared the Sixth Crusade against the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
The English armies in Zealand, originally earmarked to attack fellow Catholics in Denmark, were instead diverted to join the Crusade, and sailed across the Baltic to land in Lithuania. The first force, under Miles Clifford, besieged and took the fortress of Palanga before pushing inland toward the Crusade target; the Lithuanians had been anticipating attack by the Crusader armies of Poland and Hungary and were not prepared for an attack from the sea. The second English army landed further up the coast and besieged Riga.
https://img373.imageshack.us/img373/1777/eng222io9.jpg (https://img373.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng222io9.jpg)
The Sixth Crusade besieges Palanga.
The armies of Miles Clifford finally besieged Vilnius itself; unable to afford the loss of their capital, the Lituanians mustered a massive force to confront the Crusaders. However, their reliance on heavy infantry proved costly against the English combined arms; their army proved vulnerable to isolated heavy infantry units being picked off by cavalry charges, leaving the spearmen helpless against the English swordsmen, while throughout the English longbows exacted a heavy toll. Vilnius had fallen, and the English forces prepared to ravage Lithuania.
https://img373.imageshack.us/img373/4801/eng224vm0.jpg (https://img373.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng224vm0.jpg)
English mercenary spearmen and Lithuanian heavy infantry clash outside Vilnius.
During the campaigns in Lithuania and Italy, Prince Edward had been continuing his relentless offensive against the Fatimids. Though the Fatimids fought bitterly for every city, they were gradually driven ever further back, losing first Al Aqaba, then Kerak, Luxor, and finally the city of Tayma, leaving only Medina and Mecca in Fatimid hands. As Edward rallied his forces in Tayma to repel yet another Fatimid counterattack, a messenger managed to run the gauntlet of the Fatimid siege; King Humphrey the Chivalrous had died of old age at Cologne; Edward was now King.
https://img373.imageshack.us/img373/7960/eng227my8.jpg (https://img373.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng227my8.jpg)
King Edward, already known by the epithet "the Conqueror", was truly a man worthy to be the first English King to be crowned in Jerusalem rather than London, a peerless general and a stalwart defender of the faith. However, the other kings of Europe, jealous of his magnificent domain and gambling on the new king being too distracted by his ongoing campaigns in the Middle East to properly defend his European holdings, nefariously launched invasions of English lands. The two greatest military powers in Europe after England itself, Sicily and Poland, declared war on England in the same year. A large Sicilian force marched up Italy and laid siege to Ancona, threatening the success of the English siege of Venice. Meanwhile a Polish army, sore at being beaten to Vilnius by the English, attacked English-held Palanga, shamefully putting the English attempts to conquer and Christianize Lithuania in jeopardy for their own selfish interests.
The new King Edward I thus faces a major crisis in the first years of his reign. The war against the Fatimids looks to be almost won, with his armies closing in on Medina, although the new king had a severe scare in a battle on the approach to the fortress, almost being overwhelmed by light Arab cavalry. The real challenge will be in Europe: In Italy, English forces face a steep uphill struggle, with the Venetians far from subdued and a Sicilian invasion threatening from the south. Once the vast Sicilian field armies are overcome the job will be far from done, the great Sicilian fortresses will need to be methodically cracked open and stormed.
In Lithuania, a great victory has been won against the pagans, but they are far from defeated. Meanwhile, the mighty Polish field forces threaten from the south and will require a vast effort to overcome with troops needing to be ferried across the Baltic from Hamburg.
https://img373.imageshack.us/img373/8997/eng228vg7.jpg (https://img373.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng228vg7.jpg)
King Edward I closes in on Medina.
https://img356.imageshack.us/img356/8761/eng232gd8.jpg (https://img356.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng232gd8.jpg)
The vast forces of Poland which may overwhelm the English bridgehead in Lithuania.
So I make that 76 province in 116 turns. That leaves another 22 to take in 83 turns, so that's well ahead of schedule. Looks like matching my targets in terms of fraction of the map held is way out of reach though. I count 23 provinces belonging to factions I'm at war with so I could hit the lesser target just from them, will probably attack some other factions though to exceed it by as much as possible. I actually already reached the campaign victory conditions with the capture of Bologna, holding 70 provinces including London, Caen, Galway, Bordeaux, Inverness and Jerusalem.
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/914/eng217qp3.jpg (https://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng217qp3.jpg)
The choices of what to do next are I suppose less clear cut than usual, since I am at war on 3 fronts and will not be able to completely neglect any of them; however, there is a question of where to place the most emphasis:
1)Focus on the Arabian Front; massively crush the last Fatimid strongholds and build up forces to attack either the Turks, or the Templars (who are looking oddly anaemic given their wealthy cities and the vast forces they have fielded in the past with less resources).
2)Focus on the Italian Front: Amass Knights of St. John in Spain to massively reinforce my armies in north Italy, take Venice and possibly Ragusa (though with Venice gone the Venetians will cease to be a significant threat) and prepare for a showdown with the multiple Sicilian stacks and an invasion.
3)Focus on the Northern Front: Finish off the Lithuanians and take the fight to the Poles; hopefully the huge Polish army will turn out to consist of many poor quality troops given that it has never been used and thus never replaced with newer units.
Depending on how well 1) or 2) go they will likely be followed by an attack on the Byzantines to attempt to link my empire up in the middle, while success in 3) will likely be followed by the long awaited invasion of Scandinavia. I'm tending toward 3) at the moment mostly to please Elite Ferret.
GREAT update PBI!
Man you are making me wanna reinstall SS. :yes:
I'm going with 3. The Poles present your biggest threat and therefore need to be dealt with before they grow any stronger. Knock out the Poles then rush the HRE from both sides, crush them in the middle and unite your new European empire!
Veho Nex
12-05-2008, 09:00
He made me install it in the first place :) But I say go north, slaughter Lithuania and then on to polish lands. After that go even farther north and destroy the steppe regions. Then head south and link your empire.
Playing Stainless Steel 4.0, replacing only certain files from the 4.1 patch (changed: map, traits/retinues; unchanged: unit stats, diplomacy/reputation).
I have a Danish and Portuguese campaigns, but lost interest to continue. Perhaps, writing about them will change that, at the same time reviving this awesome thread. Do note that my english isn't perfect.
Starting off with the Portuguese:
Starting positions:
Map:
https://img181.imageshack.us/img181/5842/0914cn1.jpg (https://img181.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0914cn1.jpg)
Royal Family:
https://img181.imageshack.us/img181/7848/0920fk9.jpg (https://img181.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0920fk9.jpg) https://img181.imageshack.us/img181/1949/0916do8.jpg (https://img181.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0916do8.jpg) https://img181.imageshack.us/img181/1880/0918hs2.jpg (https://img181.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0918hs2.jpg)
Summer 1080: The time to strike has arrived! The largest factions in Iberia, the Kingdoms of Leon-Castille, Aragon, and even the Moors, have stopped bashing each other. Their greedy eyes are set on the smaller kingdoms and towns that litter the peninsula. Those cowards! Only those who risk it all can be called the brave! Only the brave can attain imperishable glory! None of them deserve to rule a united Iberia. Only I.
With that, King Henrique de Portugal gave to his oldest son, Afonso, the authority to command all available soldiers he can gather, and march them to Porugal's border with the hated Moors by the end of the year. The King wanted a piece of the action but he was presently needed at the capital, Lisbon, where plans for a Ballista maker had just been sent out.The heir may only be 19, but he is smart and military-minded, a very capable leader in his father's eyes. Afonso dares not disobey his father's trust, and as ordered marched his army south-east, with a spy leading the way into Moorish hands. The sultan's army in Iberia has dwindled lately, sending a large portion of it back south, to enforce their rule upon their subjects in Iberia, and some further south, past Gibraltar. The prince has already ordered a fleet to blockade the passage between the 2 continents. No Moorish soldier will ever step foot into Iberia again, and anyone within who points a sword against Christianity will be cut down. Also troops from Oporto, under Joao's command, were being transported by another fleet south by sea.
https://img120.imageshack.us/img120/6919/0922do4.jpg (https://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0922do4.jpg)I think i overdid the intro, as the following is just a summary (due to limited pictures)...
1081: Prince Afonso has entered Moorish lands. The locals had mixed reactions with their passing. Some cheered, the others hid. There were also some who whispered among themselves in a foreign tongue. Other than some scouts that they caught, they did not encountered any resistance. Can it really be this 'easy?' Afonso ordered his men to march as far as they could without causing a ruckus...
Meanwhile, the king has found his 'ticket' out of Lisbon and his dull duties. The nobles had just sent him a proposition. The town of Silves, just south of Lisbon, for 2500 gold. He eagerly took his bodyguards and a couple of spear militias, and joined the fleet from Oporto, with the prince's reinforcements, going South. Before leaving, he sent a letter to Joao to take over his duties in Lisbon...
1083: Afonso has reached the city of Corduba, and did not waste anytime surrounding the city. Much to his pleasure, he received word from the spy about the composition of troops within, how far the nearest enemy reinforcements were, and most importantly, that he had somehow taken over the city's stonegates, with help from willing Christian citizens and disguised clergymen. He told his men the good news and the men cheered, grateful to not having to wait long to have a taste of the action.https://img101.imageshack.us/img101/9849/0473gs8.jpg (https://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0473gs8.jpg)https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/9476/0474ko9.jpg (https://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0474ko9.jpg)
The prince ordered his men to follow behind him, as he charged into the gates, which opened obediently, as though following to his will. As he passed through the gates, he saw the spy on top of the walls, pointing at the enemy soldiers' positions within the city. Raising his sword to the spy, he rode with his men west. There, as the spy told him, was a group of Desert Archers and a group of militia, who were marching towards the center square. The prince charged at them with great speed, and the archers greeted them with a volley of flaming arrows, and swords. Screams could be heard as the infantry finally passed the gates without opposition. They did not wait long as the prince, greeted them with blood dripping off his gauntlets. He ordered the spearmen to march upfront and hold the entrance to the city square in schiltrom formation. A unit of crossbowmen marched forward and fired at the enemy spearmen, and before long thundering hooves charged at them.
https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/5250/0475lf9.jpg (https://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0475lf9.jpg)The prince knew it was the sultan, himself, that was guarding their most precious holding in Iberia, based from the spy's information, but withheld this info from the rest of his men. He doubted that anyone would recognize him , and he was right. However, it only took the impact between the heavy cavalry and the spearmen, for the inexperienced militia to realize they were dealing with something to be feared. As the men in front (including a couple of unlucky crossbowmen) were cut down and the cries started to grow louder and numerous, Afonso ordered his men into the sea of blood and screams. https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/2039/0477do6.jpg (https://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0477do6.jpg)https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/861/0476cx9.jpg (https://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0476cx9.jpg)Men fell from both sides, but it was obvious who would run out of men first. Finally, the sultan's horse was bogged down, surrounded by enemies, and was struck down by spears. The sultan disappeared from view, and the remainder of his bodyguards routed. https://img244.imageshack.us/img244/4626/0479mu1.jpg (https://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0479mu1.jpg)https://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5445/0480yt2.jpg (https://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0480yt2.jpg)Prince Afonso dealt with the remaining horsemen in the square, and ordered his missile troops to shoot down the remaining infantrymen huddled together in the middle, defiantly shouting curses at them. All were struck down, and Corduba was finally retaken from infidel hands. Suddenly in charge of a large population, mostly of a different religion, who had a change of rulers in one day, and with reinforcements still more than a year away, the prince was forced to sack the city.
Meanwhile, Afonso's sister, Maria de Portugal arrived in Leon, but before meeting with the king of Spain, she overheard that Corduba has fallen to the Portuguese. She proceeded establishing trade and trading her kingdom's new map for a sum of gold.
King Henrique has arrived on the coast west of Silves and brought all troops with him, and started the siege on the rebel town.
1084: Maria proceeded west, while Afonso decided make the most of his surprise attack, and marched out of Corduba towards Granada in the south-east. He had already sent the spy, followed by his missile troops, ahead a year ago.
In the west, the walls of Silves has fallen...
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...and the King marched in and butchered the resistance, ending with a shooting gallery.
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1086: Prince Afonso arrived outside Granada where his army stood guard around the castle, arriving weeks before him. The soldiers who greeted him, pointed at the castle walls, where the expected orange banners were replaced with that of Portugal, and the guards on the walls with his own men.
"We control the gates. Our spy has taken over this gate when we arrived. They dare not take it back 'less they be shot down."
Prince Afonso could not hold back a smile. He praised the men for a job well done and led a short prayer of thanks to God. He remounted his horse and said, "Sound the horn! Let's get this over with! Hya!" https://img166.imageshack.us/img166/416/0494qd9.jpg (https://img166.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0494qd9.jpg)After the battle, Afonso was in a very good mood and decided to simply occupy the settlement.
A messenger from Lisbon arrived in Silves, with a letter to the king from Joao. Some brigands have banded together just south of the capital, not long after the king left, and have been harassing travelers and merchants alike. After leaving a modest garrison, King Henrique marched north.
1087: Prince Afonso received word that a small band of Moorish soldiers left in Iberia had not surrendered, and under their appointed leader have marched outside Granada, intent of recovering the castle. The prince summoned his army and marched out to meet their foe on the field, before they damage the countryside... https://img186.imageshack.us/img186/791/0502un6.jpg (https://img186.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0502un6.jpg)https://img53.imageshack.us/img53/2985/0503gq5.jpg (https://img53.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0503gq5.jpg)
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King Henrique, on his way to the rebel army's position, was met by Joao and his company of militia. https://img53.imageshack.us/img53/9837/0505ry1.jpg (https://img53.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0505ry1.jpg)
https://img53.imageshack.us/img53/2258/0506px5.jpg (https://img53.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0506px5.jpg)
https://img300.imageshack.us/img300/6529/0507pb1.jpg (https://img300.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0507pb1.jpg)Together they neutralized the rebel threat. Afterwards, King Henrique left Joao in command of most of the army and ordered him to have the town of Salamanca join the kingdom, while he travels to the city of Corduba, which he plans to turn into the kingdom's new capital. Joao was more than happy to prove himself in battle, and sent a message to Lisbon with the message "to try out their newest weapon at Salamanca."
Meanwhile, Maria de Portugal established trade rights with the Kingdom of Aragon, who were also more than willing to part with a sum of gold for an updated map of Iberia.
1089-90: Newshttps://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8715/0498gw4.jpg (https://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0498gw4.jpg)
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https://img186.imageshack.us/img186/7100/0501je6.jpg (https://img186.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0501je6.jpg)1092: The princess, Maria de Portugal, has been traveling west, past the Pyrenees, seeking an audience with French, when she crossed paths with the French royal princess, who was heading to Iberia herself. Maria compared the French princess to a real jewel of the Mediterranean and a perfect partner for her brother, Afonso. Maria picked her words wisely, and befriended the French beauty. Most importantly, she was able to convince her to fall for her brother...
Atop a hill to the south of Murcia (east northeast of Granada), stood Prince Afonso, with a little more than a couple hundred men hidden behind him. Beside him was a spy who came from the town. As they surveyed the town, one of the northeastern houses caught fire.
"He has done it! That's the signal! Hurry, m'Lord!" the spy cried. Prince Afonso wasted no time and charged towards the already opened southern gate, his men behind him.https://img300.imageshack.us/img300/608/0509gb7.jpg (https://img300.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0509gb7.jpg)
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Afonso was inside his tent, rewarding the 2 spies that caused the diversion in Murcia, when his chief bodyguard entered. Afonso has guests, it would seem.
"About time those reinforcements arrived! Seriou-...":shocked2:
...
...
:heart:
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"WOOT!" :fistpump:
"I love you, sis!"Murcia was occupied.
On the other front...https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/5158/0517ad1.jpg (https://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0517ad1.jpg)
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https://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8159/0522kx4.jpg (https://img249.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0522kx4.jpg)No doubt the new weapons proved to be a success.
Salamanca was occupied.
Joao was approached by his advisor, bearing a letter addressed to him, from the king, once Salamanca has 'joined' the kingdom...
end part 1
For almost two hundred years, the plains of north Italy had been ravaged by near-constant warfare. Venice, Sicily and Genoa were locked in a vicious three-way war. The Venetians at first had the upper hand against the Genoese Republic, taking the cities of Genoa and Milan, before the Genoese rallied and drove them back to the Adriatic. Meanwhile, Sicily repeatedly but unsuccessfully laid siege to the Venetian fortress of Ancona, while Sicily and Genoa fought their own bitter conflict over control of Tunisia and the western Mediterranean. Meanwhile all three engaged in side wars with the Moors, the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary and the Byzantines.
The deadlock was not broken until the Genoese, buoyed by their successes and the recent demise of the Moors, decided to open yet another conflict, against the burgeoning English empire. The attack was a disaster; in the wake of the Genoese defeat the English swept through the western Mediterranean and overran the Genoese Republic, gaining a foothold in northern Italy in the process. Meaning to take advantage of the exhausted combatants, the English pushed on to attack Venice; Ancona was quickly taken, the garrison which had withstood so many Sicilian assaults apparently unprepared for an attack from the other direction, but then the campaign began to bog down. The garrison of Venice itself was strong, and the fighting on the approach to the city was savage and often came down to sheer attrition. Meanwhile the desolated lands around Ancona once again found themselves host to a Sicilian invasion force as the Sicilian king strove to take advantage of the coronation of a new English king in faraway Palestine, and take the prize of Ancona so many Sicilians had died for.
However, by the year 1254 the great Venetian host was at last whittled down and forced back into the city itself; with the garrison under siege, the English were able to bring up an elite army of Hospitallers, freshly raised in Spain, to make the final assault. At last, the English besiegers moved in to attack the great city.
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The English force closes in on the formidable garrison of Venice, but only after a lengthy bombardment from cannons and trebuchets to breach the wall in four places.
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English mangonels rain fire upon the Venetians, throwing the defenders into chaos.
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A courageous lone Hospitaller is the first into the breach, leading the rest of the knights to rout the lighter Venetian cavalry before the infantry enter the breach.
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The infantry flood into the city, eventually getting the upper hand over the Venentian heavy infantry and pikemen.
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The siege of Venice was a costly victory, but it transformed the situation in north Italy; with the remaining Venetians driven back to their holdings in the Balkans, the English armies could concentrate against the Sicilian threat.
King Edward was pleased to hear of the great victory at Venice, but he had other things on his mind. His most hated enemies the Fatimids, whom he had fought for much of his adult life, had been driven back to a small enclave on the coast of the Red Sea, centered on Medina. However, even now they were determined to stubbornly fight to the bitter end. His plan had been to dispatch a large force to bypass the great fortress and take the only other significant Fatimid settlement of Mecca, while he himself laid siege to the Sultan himself in Medina. However, the plan soon faltered; although Mecca was taken, a great propaganda prize for the Crusaders, Edward's own force took heavy casualties in the fighting on the approach to Medina in which Edward himself made a narrow escape from death, coming through with only a wound a battle which claimed the lives of most of his bodyguard. The remaining English force was sufficient to keep the Fatimids bottled up in Medina, but not to take the fortress by storm.
After several years of siege Edward's supply situation was dire, while the Fatimid garrison showed no sign of weakening. With his men close to mutiny, troubling news coming in of attacks all across his far-flung empire, and in constant pain from his wounds which could not be treated in the filthy conditions, Edward relented; leaving the siege in the hands of a lesser commander with a fresh army from Egypt, Edward retreated to the relative sanctuary of Tayma, to rest his troops and to recuperate himself while he directed orders for the many other wars across his empire.
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Edward retreats from Medina, leaving another commander to continue the siege.
The situation across the empire was severe indeed; in spite of the victory at Venice, the Italian front was still precarious, any success by the repeated Sicilian sieges of Ancona threatening to undo all the English gains, while the Venetians were reduced in strength but certainly not eliminated as a threat, and kept from counterattacking Venice only by constant skirmishing with the Hungarians. Far to the north, meanwhile, the English Crusader force in Lithuania had run into trouble after taking Vilnius, struggling to hold the lands they had taken from Lithuanian counterattacks and constant unrest in the local populace, while a devious Polish attack took Palanga and threatened to cut off the English expedition.
And closer to Edward himself, things were no better. Although the Fatimids were all but defeated, the siege of Medina still took up most of his resources, and at the same time the Byzantines decided they would make a bid for dominance in the eastern Mediterranean, besieging Iraklion on Crete and landing an army on Cyprus. To add to an already difficult situation, the Turkish fleet decided to lend their aid to the Byzantine attacks. Thus Edward found himself at war with fully seven different factions at once.
Edward thus set about the business of reducing the number of enemies he had to fight. Ordering new armies raised in Spain and Africa to fight the Sicilians, and in England and north Germany to sail for Lithuania, he made it a priority to inflict a defeat on the Byzantines and thus sue for peace on favourable terms.
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At Iraklion, the Byzantines assaulted, but found the garrison and the defenses more stubborn than they had anticipated; though the attack was fierce, it could not break the defenders in the gateway and the Byzantine force was scattered into the hills of Crete.
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Meanwhile at Nicosia, two larger forces clashed on the field; the Byzantine infantry fought bravely, but ultimately marching uphill into longbow fire had cost them too dearly, and they were crushed.
With the Byzantine invasions repelled, the English garrison at Rhodes took the offensive; making the short naval crossing to mainland Anatolia, they besieged and took Smyrna. This was the victory Edward needed to seek peace; and he sent his diplomats to speak to the Byzantine Emperor.
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At the following talks at Cannakale, both sides were eager to come to terms; the English were still militarily weaker locally, but the Byzantines had lost Constantinople and were embroilled in a long war with Hungary and Kiev; they desperately needed Smyrna back and could not afford to wait to retake it. Thus Edward agreed to peace in exchange for ceding the cities of Smyrna and Iraklion back to their previous rulers, needing them little and reasoning that a resurgent Byzantine Empire could act as a counterbalance to the dangerous Hungarians.
With peace agreed, the eastern Mediterranean was secure; the Turkish armies could do little to threaten Rhodes or Cyprus with the English fleet patrolling the seas and a Templar army invading their eastern provinces. Thus, Edward found himself free to plot the final capture of Medina and the demise of his bitterest enemies. His spirits were not even dampened when word reached him that the army he had left to man the siegeworks had been routed by the Fatimids and its leader killed; undeterred, he led his well-rested and re-equipped army south to besiege Medina once more.
This time the Fatimid ruler did not wait for him to come; perhaps weary of the long years of virtual imprisonment in the increasingly fetid fortress, he marched out to meet his nemesis in battle. In the hills just west of Medina, the armies met.
Edward, experienced strategist as he was, had positioned his army such that to reach him, the Fatimid force would have to pick their way up a rocky, uneven mountainside, all the while under constant fire from English cannons, trebuchets and longbows. The barrage decimated the Fatimid army, and the rough terrain left their formation in chaos; the resulting battle could only have one result. Although the Sultan made many brave charges, and inflicted grievous casualties among the longbowmen, he was finally cut down along with his heir, and his great army destroyed.
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An English cannonball rips through the Fatimid ranks.
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With the last of the Fatimid ruling family destroyed, the faction was effectively ended; a small band of loyalists still held out in Medina, but they were easily overwhelmed by the triumphant English army. At last, the Fatimids were gone, and Edward was undisputed ruler of Egypt and the Holy Land.
To cement his control over the region once and for all, Edward now turned his entire strength in the Middle East against his last remaining enemy in the region, the Turks. Army after army of his landed on the south coast of Anatolia, seizing Isparta and Adana before any defense could be mustered. The Turks proved a far weaker opponent than the tenacious Fatimids; exhausted by the long war against the Templars, the Turks proved unable to withstand the vast English force now rampaging through Anatolia, and Ankara, Iconium, Caesarea, Sinop and Trebizond fell in quick succession.
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The Turkish commander at Isparta braves a hail of arrows to charge to his doom against the English onslaught.
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English archers employ the same tactic at Adana as at Isparta, taking an elevated position from which to butcher the Turkish horse archers with arrow fire.
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An English knight, eager for glory, charges to engage the Turkish sultan in personal combat at Ankara.
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The Turkish defenses in Anatolia collapse; soon they are left with only the citadel at Tbilisi and a single city in Iran. Leaving the Iranian remnant for the Templars, Edward begins the long trek from Trebizond to take Tbilisi.
On the Italian front, the war had become one of attrition. Venice had been taken, and the Sicilians defeated at sea and their ports put under siege, crippling their economy. However, the English land forces could not find a way to easy victory over the mighty Sicilian armies in the Marche of Ancona. The English forces could find no effective way to counter the massed Sicilian Norman Knights and crossbows, and although every assault on Ancona was repelled and every Sicilian army which attempted to penetrate further north defeated, it was often at the cost of equal if not greater casualties among the English ranks. However, the English had a key advantage in such a contest of attrition: While the English could afford to replace their losses, the Sicilian economy was stifled by the blockade, and with all their resources going into supporting their vast force, no more troops could be recruited; every army lost was an army which would not be replaced. Meanwhile, the English could use their naval supremacy and stranglehold on the Sicilian economy to gain another advantage; with the Sicilian forces in Italy and powerless to help, the English army in Africa took the Sicilian possessions of Tunis and Tripoli.
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Another Sicilian attempt to take Ancona fails dismally.
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English cannons bombard a Sicilian army in a costly battle for both sides.
With the Sicilian army slowly being ground down in the Marche, the English once again used their fleet to put into action a plan to end the war. The victorious army in North Africa was ferried across the Mediterranean to besiege the Sicilian king at Syracuse; meanwhile a fresh army from Spain under the English Prince Edward landed at Naples and besieged the Sicilian crown prince.
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The Sicilians could not afford the loss of their two remaining cities along with the entire royal family; rallying all the forces they could muster they met the English in the field to break the sieges; however, despite the heavy losses they inflicted, the Sicilian armies still had no means to break an English longbow line; both the King and the Crown Prince were killed in battle, triggering a succession crisis and effectively destroying the Sicilian kingdom.
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At Syracuse, the Sicilian king watches his army wither under the English barrage.
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The Sicilian Kingdom descends into anarchy.
The English plan had worked even better than hoped; the Sicilian kingdom disintegrating, the English were free to take Bari and Palermo and mop up the remaining Sicilian forces at leisure. There was only one negative; the English crown prince had been killed in battle at Naples. However, King Edward soon named a new heir, the hero of the Seventh Crusade, now Prince Miles, in Lithuania. On the Italian front, the death only spurred the surviving generals on to greater efforts, hoping to be named steward of the new Italian provinces.
To this end, with the Sicilian threat gone, the mighty armies in Italy sailed across the Adriatic to eliminate the last of the Venetians once and for all. The assault on Ragusa was long and bloody, but as usual the English tactic of standing off with artillery and archers to deplete the defenders before commiting men to a costly assault on the breach paid off, and the fortress fell. After this all that remained was an expedition deep into the Balkans to take the last city of Belgrade. At last, the Venetians were gone, and the English were undisputed rulers of Italy.
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The English general hardens his mens' resolve for the assault on Ragusa.
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The Venetian defenders are once again decimated by English mangonel fire.
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Deciding to preserve the lives of his men, the English general instead brings up the cannons to finish the last defenders in the center.
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The Venetian last stand in the center of Belgrade.
The English now no longer had any enemies in the region; apart from a quick expedition to "restore order" in Vienna after a revolt (and thus quietly sneak Vienna from the Hungarians while they were distracted against the Byzantines) the English armies in Italy were now free to rest and recuperate in the cities they had taken.
While Venice was under siege, and while King Edward had been closing in on Medina, a great war was raging far to the north in the forests of Lithuania. At that time the English position was in danger of being overrun, with the English armies struggling to hold the settlements they had taken, the Lithuanian forces regrouping to drive them back into the Baltic, and a great Polish army attacking from the other direction to cut the English off from retreat. However, the English did have complete naval control of the Baltic, leaving them able to ferry in more troops as needed from Denmark and England. It was these troops who managed to stabilise the situation, among them many advanced Retinue Longbows, English Knights, Demi-Lancers and foot knights from the newly constructed citadels at Hamburg and Nottingham. These new troops, coupled with the Lithuanian over reliance on heavy infantry instead of more balanced forces, gradually turned the tide; in the first landing, Palanga was retaken from the Poles, and a powerful garrison left behind to prevent the fortress falling again.
Next a force landed at Reval, took that city, and marched on the fortress of Pskov. The English were finding the Lithuanian forces, while large, could be dealt with relatively easily; with few archers or cavalry, the many swordsmen or axeman could be dealt with by cavalry charges with ease, while the spearmen were easy targets for the English archers. By far the greater demand on manpower was the large garrisons needed by every city to quell the rebellious pagan population.
https://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5958/eng244ym7.jpg (https://img211.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng244ym7.jpg)
The Lithuanian massed infantry proved highly vulnerable to English combined arms, allowing for crushing victories.
https://img211.imageshack.us/img211/2907/eng249gh0.jpg (https://img211.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng249gh0.jpg)
An illustration of just how hard a task the Lithuanian infantry faed to advance against the English longbows.
With Pskov taken, and the longer-held English lands starting to be calmed, the expedition could mount an attack southward, to the last Lithuanian cities of Hrodna and Minsk. With the fall of these cities, Lithuania was defeated, and England faced only one more enemy in the north.
However, the Poles would prove formidable enemy than the Lithuanians. For one thing, their army was immense, having been constantly built up for years with no wars to deplete it. However, more importantly, the Poles were not only Catholic but directly allied to the Pope. This meant that the Poles could attack more or less constantly without sanction, but after retaking Palanga King Edward was warned in no uncertain terms that if he made further attacks against Poland he would face excommunication. Rightly fearing such a fate, Edward forbade any more attacks against the Poles for the time being, and ordered his planned landing in Prussia to turn northwards to attack another target. Meanwhile, his armies in Lithuania would gradually wear down the Poles on the defensive.
Instead, the planned attack force moved to intervene in Norway. For years England's Norwegian allies had been at war with the Danes, at first successfully, but in recent years the tide had turned and the Norwegians had been driven steadily back. At last Oslo had fallen, and only the fortress at Bergen remained. Seeing that the Norwegian king no longer had the means to protect his own people, Edward ordered an army to land at Bergen and take control in a quick campaign, killing the Norwegian royalty, but saving the people from butchery at the hands of the savage Danes.
https://img267.imageshack.us/img267/851/eng318ts6.jpg (https://img267.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng318ts6.jpg)
https://img267.imageshack.us/img267/3930/eng320ap8.jpg (https://img267.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng320ap8.jpg)
The brief Norwegian campaign.
In Lithuania, however, the onslaught was fierce and unrelenting. Polish army after Polish army laid siege to the fortress of Palanga and the cities of Hrodna and Minsk. Time and again they were driven off with great slaughter, but always more armies were sent to take their place, so that the garrisons could not reinforce between attacks.
https://img377.imageshack.us/img377/6492/eng296vd0.jpg (https://img377.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng296vd0.jpg)
Destroyed Polish siege towers before the walls of Minsk.
https://img360.imageshack.us/img360/5893/eng321sz1.jpg (https://img360.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng321sz1.jpg)
Polish attackers once more strive to take the walls of Hrodna.
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The last and greatest Polish attack against Hrodna.
https://img360.imageshack.us/img360/4852/eng332yw8.jpg (https://img360.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng332yw8.jpg)
English trebuchets and mangonels inflict a heavy toll on attacking troops waiting to breach the gate.
However, as the defenders fought off yet another furious Polish attack, Prince Miles began to notice that the Polish armies, while each being larger than the one before it, were becoming of steadily worse quality. The early armies had been truly dangerous, with many hardened Crusader troops, Polish Nobles and swordsmen. However, the later armies consisted mainly of massed spear militia and light cavalry, troops ill suited to a siege. Miles correctly assessed that this was a sign that the Polish king was becoming desperate, as he was running out of both troops and money.
With the Poles having fallen out of Papal favour somewhat, and more importantly with the money now in place to buy the Pope's forgiveness for any transgressions, King Edward gave the word for Prince Miles to launch his counterattack. Two armies marched from Palanga and Minsk aiming to take the fortresses of Thorn and Halych, cutting Poland off from the sea and depriving them of the ability to train additional troops to repel the invasion. Behind them followed the long-prepared reserves from Vilnius and Pskov, led by Prince Miles himself, while the army which had occupied Norway landed on the Baltic coast to threaten Poland from the north.
https://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5283/eng338hn3.jpg (https://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng338hn3.jpg)
The English counterattack on Poland.
The invasion made quick progress; the Polish king had clearly thrown almost all his forces into the attack on Lithuania and had not prepared any significant reserves, while the long years on the defensive in southern Lithuania had given Miles time to prepare a vast force in the north. Thorn and Halych fell quickly, followed by the cities of Wroclaw and Plock, leaving only the capital at Krakow remaining to the Polish king. He had rallied here along with all that remained of his nobles, but they were not enough to repel the coming siege; although their javelins took a heavy toll against the English infantry, they were too few to prevail once the English spearmen closed in.
https://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8195/eng341gb3.jpg (https://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng341gb3.jpg)
The first English troops enter the breach in the walls of Krakow.
https://img237.imageshack.us/img237/7657/eng342gk7.jpg (https://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng342gk7.jpg)
The nimble Polish nobles are bogged down in close-quarters fighting with densely packed spearmen.
https://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6789/eng343uw4.jpg (https://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng343uw4.jpg)
The last Polish horseman is brought down by a charge of German mercenaries.
After years of war, the exhausted Polish kingdom had collapsed within a few turns under the weight of the English attack. King Edward had eliminated the last remaining threat to his rule; of the seven factions who had threatened his realm during the first years of his reign, only two remained: The Byzantines, who had agreed to peace after only a short war, and the Turks, who with the fall of Tbilisi would be reduced to a single city sandwiched between the Templars and the Mongols.
https://img210.imageshack.us/img210/7108/eng347au7.jpg (https://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng347au7.jpg)
Europe just after the conquest of Poland.
Indeed, the kingdom would have been at peace, were it not for a new turn of events in Scandinavia: Incensed at having been denied Bergen by the English annexation of Norway, the Danes had long been planning to take revenge and make a bid for control of all Scandinavia. Finally, they sent a powerful army to besiege Roskilde. Although the defenses of Roskilde were strong, the large garrison was nonetheless composed mainly of spear militia, while the Danes had brought an army of swordstaff militia, dismounted Huscarls and Feudal Knights. Though Danish losses were heavy, the attackers broke the gate, the garrison were slaughtered to the last man, and the city sacked.
Furious that a city which had been in English hands for so long should fall into the hands of the enemy, Edward ordered an immediate counterattack to liberate Roskilde. At first it was heavy going: Roskilde was retaken by the English under Henry Lovell at considerable cost, but then immediately came under siege once more by an even more powerful Danish army. However, this military setback proved to be a political stroke of good fortune: Disgusted by the Danes' unprovoked attack on the English, and at their lack of mercy shown to the population during the sack of Roskilde, the Pope excommunicated the Danish king for warring against his fellow Catholics.
https://img401.imageshack.us/img401/3484/eng351kz8.jpg (https://img401.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng351kz8.jpg)
Danish knights charge the English attackers during the liberation of Roskilde.
This gave King Edward the pretext he needed to rid the north of the threat of Denmark for good, and unify Scandinavia under his rule; he thus ordered an all-out attack on Danish holdings by his armies in north Germany, Poland and Lithuania. The Danes had deployed most of their troops in the west, to attack Roskilde and to threaten Eikundarsund (though the army sent to besiege the latter was deterred by the large garrison and instead settled for raiding the countryside), and were thus unprepared for the series of amphibious landings throughout the Baltic. Visby on the island of Gotland was first to fall; not a great city, but a key strategic holding due to its silver mines. The army which had occupied Visby then continued to the mainland, besieging and taking Nykoeping. Meanwhile the garrison of Roskilde sallied; the battle before the walls was long and tense, the Danes having brought a a great many feudal knights which the English longbows without their stakes would be vulnerable against. However, the English edge in artillery, forged in the great cannon foundry at Arhus, proved decisive; the Danish general was cut down at long range by a cannonball, and the Danish ranks were thinned and demoralised by the cannon and mortar fire. Thus when the feared Danish charge came, the men had little stomach for a long fight after the death of their general and the demoralising barrage. Although many English troops fell in the charge, it proved too much for the Danish discipline; as Lovell's cavalry threatened to flank them, they fled in dismay.
https://img401.imageshack.us/img401/1462/eng367aa8.jpg (https://img401.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng367aa8.jpg)
With Roskilde once more safe, and two major Danish armies destroyed, Henry Lovell took the fight to the mainland, landing at Lund and taking the city. At the same time, an English force landed in Finland and took the castle of Turku. Finally, Edward Barlow landed at Kalmar leading his army fresh from the conquest of Poland; drawing the powerful Danish garrison into a field battle and destroying them utterly.
It had been a disastrous year for the Danes; half their empire, and all their economic centers, had been taken in a single season of campaigning. What was left of their kingdom was split into three; Oslo and Skara in southwest Sweden, Uppsala in the far northeast, and isolated Stettin on the European mainland.
Meanwhile, Prince Miles, trusting his lieutenants to take care of the Danes, had been giving thought to the situation in central Europe. The English rulers had long been concerned by the power of the Hungarians, who had been locked in a long war with the Byzantines which would have left them immensely strong had they been victorious. In recent years the Byzantines had been resurgent, retaking Constantinople, Thessalonika and Greece. However with the elimination of the threat of the Venetians the Hungarians had rallied; after a bitter struggle, they finally stopped the Byzantine counterattack at Skopje, a fortress whose loss would have seen Hungary effectively defeated. Although it had taken them committing their entire army, leaving their northwestern provinces all but defenseless, they had steadily regained ground, retaking Bucharest and Thessalonika.
Edward and Miles were concerned by the Hungarian resurgence, regarding the Byzantines as significantly less of a threat, and preferring to see Constantinople an isolated city-state than capital of a vast empire. They also were aware that Hungary was now the only barrier preventing them from linking the isolated northern parts of the empire in Poland and Lithuania with the Italian territories. They thus ordered the invasion of Hungary, both to remove a dangerous rival and to complete their hegemony over eastern Europe.
The English attack was designed to overwhelm the defenses before the Hungarian army busy battling the Byzantines at Sofia could come to the rescue. In the end, Hungary was entirely overrun within two years; in the first attacks, isolated Prague was taken by the garrison of Wroclaw, while an English force from Vienna took the largest Hungarian city of Buda. In the Balkans, the fortress of Skopje also fell to an army from Belgrade, cutting the Hungarian army off from its base of operations, while Prince Miles himself captured the fortress of Satu Mare in the Carpatian mountains.
https://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8195/eng353zd8.jpg (https://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng353zd8.jpg)
English Crusader swordsmen bring the fight to the Hungarian crossbowmen in the streets of Prague.
https://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6405/eng356tt6.jpg (https://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng356tt6.jpg)
At Satu Mare, Prince Miles' artillery relentlessly batters at the second curtain wall, the first having already been overrun.
https://img237.imageshack.us/img237/9974/eng364yo0.jpg (https://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng364yo0.jpg)
After a single turn of attacks, Hungary is fragmented and left with only three isolated provinces.
With key Hungarian settlements taken on every front, and with ever more English armies flooding up from Italy, the completion of the conquest would not take long. Prince Miles continued south to besiege and capture the fortress of Bran; with Bucharest having fallen to the Kievan Rus, this meant the Hungarian eastern marches had been completely annexed. Meanwhile Thessalonika fell to the army continuing its march from Skopje, meaning that for the first time English lands stretched uninterrupted from the Baltic to the Aegean. The Hungarian king made his last stand at the fortress of Szekesferhervar, with a vast army of dismounted feudal knights, pavise spearmen, and the dreaded Templar Knights; the siege would be by far the hardest battle of the campaign.
The siege opened, after the cannons had breached the outer wall and the English mortars had shaken the defenders, with a savage fight for the breach. The English infantry poured in and set about the defenders, trying at first to focus on the enemy spearmen and leave the swordsmen for the cavalry, but soon descending into a free-for-all. The cavalry, meanwhile, forced their way through the Hungarian infantry into the empty streets beyond; although this was costly and lost them many horsemen, it paid off as the survivors wheeled about and charged into the rear of the Hungarian defenders. Beset by swordsmen in front and cavalry behind, the Hungarian infantry were hard pressed and finally broke, leaving the outer wall to the English.
However the siege was far from over; the defenders at the first wall, though they had fought heroically and sold their lives dearly, proved to be less than half of the Hungarian garrison. The remainder had withdrawn to defend the inner wall, no less formidable an obstacle than the outer, only now the English had tired men and not many cannonballs remaining.
The cannons set carefully about reducing the second line of defenses; breaking only the gate to access the inner courtyard, the guns proceeded to knock out the ballista towers and gatehouse guarding the gateway, which otherwise would exact an appalling toll on any English attack. The last cannonballs were used sparingly; drawing the guns right up to the open gate itself, the gunners discharged the last rounds straight into the thick of the Hungarian Templar knights, before withdrawing from the field.
This was the tactic repeated by the English to gradually wear down the formidable Hungarian force within the inner wall; first the English longbows would advance to the gateway, and fire a volley at point-blank range into the nearest Hungarian formation; then they would fall back, and the Hungarians counterattacking through the gate would be surrounded on three sides and worn down by the English infantry. The battle at the gate was long and extremely bloody, but at last the huge Hungarian force was whittled down to nothing.
https://img205.imageshack.us/img205/7440/eng368je2.jpg (https://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng368je2.jpg)
English longbows fire through the gates to draw out the defenders at Szekesferhervar...
https://img205.imageshack.us/img205/7062/eng370cs0.jpg (https://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng370cs0.jpg)
... and the German mercenaries equipped with armour-piercing maces close to cut down the counterattacking Hungarian spearmen.
The last Hungarian stronghold had fallen, leaving England as sole ruler over eastern Europe. King Edward, latest in a line of great English kings, was perhaps now greatest of them all; having inherited a kingdom that was already great, but disjointed, he had now forged it into a vast unified empire, stretching from Lisbon to Vilnius, from Inverness to the Aegean, not to mention a vast kingdom in Africa, the Levant and Anatolia conquered by his own hand.
https://img50.imageshack.us/img50/4672/eng373ww5.jpg (https://img50.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng373ww5.jpg)
The current extent of the English empire.
The question, of course, is what to do next. The current province count is 116 in 140 turns; the lesser target of matching my vanilla haul of 98 in 199 turns was achieved with the fall of Trebizond. With 59 turns remaining, and only 84 provinces left to capture, the harder goal of matching the geographical extent of my vanilla empire is starting to look achievable. The only question is where to attack first. The Danes are inevitably headed for elimination of course, but beyond that there are three or four overall strategies I like the sound of:
1) The Pope's Right Hand: Not counting the Danes, there are now only two other Catholic factions left, the HRE and the Templars. Both are allies, and thus pose no threat, but it would be possible to target them next to unite the entire Catholic world under a single ruler, allowing all Catholics to continue the fight against the heathen without fear of betrayal by fellow Catholic lords. Practically speaking, taking Syria and Armenia from the Templars would make for a great base of operations for further attacks north or east, and swallowing up the HRE would bring all of Europe as far east as the Balkans under my sway, allowing my armies to march straight through the center rather than cutting around through Italy or the Baltic.
2) The One True Church: A variation on the religious theme of 1), I could instead focus on eliminating the remaining Orthodox factions, namely the Byzantines, Kievan Rus, and Republic of Novgorod, leaving the Catholic church as the sole undisputed Christian faith. Practically, taking the Byzantine lands around the Aegean would have great strategic value, while taking out Kiev and Novgorod would move me several hundred miles further east and leave Iran as the last significant portion of the map without an English presence.
3) Saviour of Baghdad: Focus everything on a concerted attack into Iran to deal with the threat of the Mongols. Likely would start with a campaign in the north from Trebizond to consolidate the eastern Caucausus, and another in the south to march across the Arabian desert and take the Khwarezmid Gulf coast and the fortress of Ahvaz; alternatively an attack on the Templars to gain a more secure footing in Mesopotamia to attack from. Either way, the next step would be an all out attack against the Mongols. Not truly necessary as the Mongols seem to have run out of steam after the initial rampage, but would lead to quite an interestingly shaped map for the end game.
Alternatively some combination of the three is quite possible.
I am also considering killing off the current faction heir, in the hope that he will be replaced by someone with a more royal-sounding name. "King Miles" just doesn't seem to me to have the right ring to it.
Incidentally, nice stuff glyphz, I hope to hear more about the rise of Portugal. I feel I must also salute your siege skills, very impressed that you can manage such low casualties, my sieges are almost always bloodbaths for both sides. And how on Earth did a unit of peasant crossbows manage to rack up 154 kills in a single battle?! I think that's about as many kills as I've managed in total with peasant crossbows in my entire time playing M2TW!
The current extent of the English empire.
The question, of course, is what to do next. The current province count is 116 in 140 turns; the lesser target of matching my vanilla haul of 98 in 199 turns was achieved with the fall of Trebizond. With 59 turns remaining, and only 84 provinces left to capture, the harder goal of matching the geographical extent of my vanilla empire is starting to look achievable. The only question is where to attack first. The Danes are inevitably headed for elimination of course, but beyond that there are three or four overall strategies I like the sound of:
1) The Pope's Right Hand: Not counting the Danes, there are now only two other Catholic factions left, the HRE and the Templars. Both are allies, and thus pose no threat, but it would be possible to target them next to unite the entire Catholic world under a single ruler, allowing all Catholics to continue the fight against the heathen without fear of betrayal by fellow Catholic lords. Practically speaking, taking Syria and Armenia from the Templars would make for a great base of operations for further attacks north or east, and swallowing up the HRE would bring all of Europe as far east as the Balkans under my sway, allowing my armies to march straight through the center rather than cutting around through Italy or the Baltic.
2) The One True Church: A variation on the religious theme of 1), I could instead focus on eliminating the remaining Orthodox factions, namely the Byzantines, Kievan Rus, and Republic of Novgorod, leaving the Catholic church as the sole undisputed Christian faith. Practically, taking the Byzantine lands around the Aegean would have great strategic value, while taking out Kiev and Novgorod would move me several hundred miles further east and leave Iran as the last significant portion of the map without an English presence.
3) Saviour of Baghdad: Focus everything on a concerted attack into Iran to deal with the threat of the Mongols. Likely would start with a campaign in the north from Trebizond to consolidate the eastern Caucausus, and another in the south to march across the Arabian desert and take the Khwarezmid Gulf coast and the fortress of Ahvaz; alternatively an attack on the Templars to gain a more secure footing in Mesopotamia to attack from. Either way, the next step would be an all out attack against the Mongols. Not truly necessary as the Mongols seem to have run out of steam after the initial rampage, but would lead to quite an interestingly shaped map for the end game.
Alternatively some combination of the three is quite possible.
I am also considering killing off the current faction heir, in the hope that he will be replaced by someone with a more royal-sounding name. "King Miles" just doesn't seem to me to have the right ring to it.
Incidentally, nice stuff glyphz, I hope to hear more about the rise of Portugal. I feel I must also salute your siege skills, very impressed that you can manage such low casualties, my sieges are almost always bloodbaths for both sides. And how on Earth did a unit of peasant crossbows manage to rack up 154 kills in a single battle?! I think that's about as many kills as I've managed in total with peasant crossbows in my entire time playing M2TW!
Thanks for the kind words, PBI:bow:.
Generating low casualties in sieges tend not to be pure battle skills in my part, but taking advantage of the AI. One of my objectives is to control where the fighting happens, or simply fighting in my terms. Thus, avoiding fights on or close to enemy walls is a must. Spies and siege equipment make this happen. Cavalry are the first inside, and their targets are missile troops and siege units. Infantry tend to huddle in the center plaza afterwards, and allow you to shoot them down with missiles :shrug:(Unlike in RTW, where shot at enemy units will chase you). Cavalry, however, will charge once they take casualties from missiles, so spears in schiltrom or countercharge w/ cav, while missiles retreat, are a must.
If the enemy is stubbornly waiting at the walls, I send a sacrificial cav uniy, run straight to the central plaza. That should make the AI pull back their units to the square. Then, you just lure the missiles out first, then the cav, and finally your missiles will take care of the infantry. There are still some siege battles that end in large casualties in my part. In such case, recognizing them, then throwing vast number of troops and auto-resolving does the trick
Concerning your campaign, always a good read BTW, I'd suggest taking out the HRE, your current westernmost front. That way you can concentrate your armies in the east. If your settlements complete surround theirs, their only expansion is through you. Better take the battle in their lands. Besides, despite being catholic, the money generated from their towns are misused. In your hands, they can be used more efficiently, such as dealing with the infidels.
I'd love to play SS6.1 and Broken Crescent, but I decided not to get Kingdoms...
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partII (delayed as to load past save files and take pictures)
1093-96: News:https://img249.imageshack.us/img249/426/0523oi6.jpg (https://img249.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0523oi6.jpg)
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Anxiety begins to cloud Prince Afonso's heart. He thought that with the the Moors completely repelled in Iberia, the next step would be their downfall in Africa. Instead, not long after his marriage to Constance, the prince found himself outside Toledo, the Spanish capital, his army merged with his father's, from Corduba. He thought his father intends to unite Iberia under the banner of Christianity. Rather, King Henrique plans to unite Iberia under his.
There was a storm outside, but the heavy downpour and thunder cannot mask the king's displeasure. The spies failed to open the castle gates, and he had to wait until the siege engines were built. The pope will definitely not be pleased, when word about his attack reaches his Holiness' ears.
Meanwhile, Joao was besieging the city of Leon, where only the Spanish king reside. He has ballistae with him, but waited for the news of the fall of Toledo.https://img129.imageshack.us/img129/2433/0923wl9.jpg (https://img129.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0923wl9.jpg)
1098: The pope sent a warning to King Henrique to cease hostilities with the Kingdom of Leon-Castille.
"Does it say anything about excommunication?"
"Er... no, nothing. Only a warn--"
"Ha! Then we proceed! NOW!!!"
The enemy decided not to hold the walls, and the battering ram smashed the gates unhindered. The peasant archers were lured out and dealt with by father and son. In the plaza, the arrows rained upon the Duke of Toledo. As he and his men turned a corner, they were met by 220 spears. As men perished, King Henrique watched, laughing...
https://img129.imageshack.us/img129/5295/0925dc7.jpg (https://img129.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0925dc7.jpg)https://img201.imageshack.us/img201/1050/0527jv1.jpg (https://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0527jv1.jpg)
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Once word about Toledo reached Joao' ears, he proceeded with the siege of Leon, eager to cross swords with the enemy King.
https://img257.imageshack.us/img257/7833/0533ur7.jpg (https://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0533ur7.jpg)
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https://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8154/0544dk9.jpg (https://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0544dk9.jpg)The Kingdom of Leon-Castille was no more...
1099-1104:https://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4155/0545of0.jpg (https://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0545of0.jpg)
https://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2371/0546sd8.jpg (https://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0546sd8.jpg)
https://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8839/0547mc1.jpg (https://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0547mc1.jpg)"No one can stand against me, not when I have the Vatican's blessings!"
https://img377.imageshack.us/img377/5739/0548lz8.jpg (https://img377.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0548lz8.jpg)
acquired after the expulsion of the Moors from IberiaThe princess Maria arrived in Rome, after audiences with the Genoese, Venetians, and the HRE. She was able to establish trade rights with the Papal States, but not an alliance. If only she arrived before his father conquered Leon-Castille...
1105: Captain Leonardo Romao was promoted into the royal family. Portugal needs capable men to lead its armies.https://img508.imageshack.us/img508/7773/0926el4.jpg (https://img508.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0926el4.jpg)
Joao found himself outside the battered walls of Pamplona, via a fleet from Leon. He was impressed to hear (from farmers) that the castle had survived attacks from the French and the Aragonese, under the leadership of an unnamed general. Whispering a silent prayer, he readied himself and his men to face the brave defenders of Pamplona.https://img265.imageshack.us/img265/4577/0551kq0.jpg (https://img265.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0551kq0.jpg)
Joao experienced heavy resistance once inside the castle walls. He, himself, was wounded from the enemy Jinetes and Javelinmen.https://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8951/0553editwv4.jpg (https://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0553editwv4.jpg)
He marched further into the castle and...
https://img205.imageshack.us/img205/4910/0556edituu7.jpg (https://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0556edituu7.jpg)
:jawdrop:Joao was dumbstruck at what he saw.
...
"These men surely have God's favor!"
...
......
https://img242.imageshack.us/img242/5622/0558edithb2.jpg (https://img242.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0558edithb2.jpg)https://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8427/0559editrz4.jpg (https://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0559editrz4.jpg)
https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/1876/0560ot8.jpg (https://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0560ot8.jpg)
https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/217/0561rt9.jpg (https://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0561rt9.jpg)
But like any other men, they bled ...and died. The population was spared, but any defiant soldier that remain were cornered and shot down.
1107-10https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8026/0562lc6.jpg (https://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0562lc6.jpg)
https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/9780/0563yl1.jpg (https://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0563yl1.jpg)
https://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2940/0565zn4.jpg (https://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0565zn4.jpg)
https://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8396/0566eo2.jpg (https://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0566eo2.jpg)King Henrique was besieging Valencia, when he was joined by Leonardo Romao. Comparing the garrisons within, the King decided to abandon the siege and set sail to Palma
1111https://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4829/0567qy5.jpg (https://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0567qy5.jpg)Assassins have been active in the shadows since the creation of an inn in Corduba. This year, they caught their biggest catch yet.
Leonardo was given command of the army assaulting Palma. King Henrique beckoned one of the spies to approach...https://img201.imageshack.us/img201/783/0568ci7.jpg (https://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0568ci7.jpg)
https://img201.imageshack.us/img201/9594/0569bc1.jpg (https://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0569bc1.jpg)
https://img181.imageshack.us/img181/6587/0571bd7.jpg (https://img181.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0571bd7.jpg)
https://img181.imageshack.us/img181/6584/0572oc4.jpg (https://img181.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0572oc4.jpg)
The spy reported back to the King.
"I see. So he passed."
"Whatever do you mean" the king's chief bodyguard asked.
"He'd be a fool to lose, not with the size of the army I allowed him to command. But! If he did not fought himself, I'd leave him here to rot."
end part II
partIII (I'd add more to the last post, but there's an image limit per post... I'm gonna need to pick up the pace~:sweatdrop:)
1113: The Kingdom of Aragon was a growing one... Iberiahttps://img72.imageshack.us/img72/535/0929ul0.jpg (https://img72.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0929ul0.jpg)
Burgos
https://img370.imageshack.us/img370/6179/0583bv3.jpg (https://img370.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0583bv3.jpg)
https://img378.imageshack.us/img378/9307/0584lu1.jpg (https://img378.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0584lu1.jpg)
https://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2811/0591tz1.jpg (https://img407.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0591tz1.jpg)
Zaragoza
https://img258.imageshack.us/img258/3659/0595gg5.jpg (https://img258.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0595gg5.jpg)
https://img258.imageshack.us/img258/7686/0594xb1.jpg (https://img258.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0594xb1.jpg)
https://img262.imageshack.us/img262/8438/0598gp3.jpg (https://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0598gp3.jpg)
https://img262.imageshack.us/img262/3070/0599cc1.jpg (https://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0599cc1.jpg)
https://img291.imageshack.us/img291/8291/0602oz7.jpg (https://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0602oz7.jpg)
https://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2959/0604xh5.jpg (https://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0604xh5.jpg)
Barcelona
https://img228.imageshack.us/img228/9017/0608ua1.jpg (https://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0608ua1.jpg)
https://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1308/0610ut8.jpg (https://img88.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0610ut8.jpg)
https://img88.imageshack.us/img88/7840/0615xl2.jpg (https://img88.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0615xl2.jpg)
https://img175.imageshack.us/img175/284/0617my8.jpg (https://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0617my8.jpg)
https://img175.imageshack.us/img175/9845/0620nh0.jpg (https://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0620nh0.jpg)
...it's just too bad that they stood in the way of King Henrique's united Iberia.
Adios, Aragon...
Portuguese everywhere celebrated, for their kingdom was the sole legitimate power in Iberia. The man responsible, however, continued to quench his thirst for battle...https://img175.imageshack.us/img175/4186/0621ct5.jpg (https://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0621ct5.jpg)https://img230.imageshack.us/img230/2311/0624df1.jpg (https://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0624df1.jpg)
https://img230.imageshack.us/img230/9589/0630kx6.jpg (https://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0630kx6.jpg)
1114-20 News: https://img254.imageshack.us/img254/1081/0631xt1.jpg (https://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0631xt1.jpg)
https://img254.imageshack.us/img254/4764/0634cb5.jpg (https://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0634cb5.jpg)
https://img175.imageshack.us/img175/3153/0636vl7.jpg (https://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0636vl7.jpg)King Henrique wanted an island resort that Christmas. Leonardo was picked Santa that year...
1122: https://img175.imageshack.us/img175/6932/0637kd6.jpg (https://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0637kd6.jpg)
https://img175.imageshack.us/img175/7788/0638xn8.jpg (https://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0638xn8.jpg)The Pope sent emissaries to the members of his fan club...
1125: Moorish Countdown(Chapter 1)https://img99.imageshack.us/img99/9153/0642jm7.jpg (https://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0642jm7.jpg)
https://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5048/0643fj3.jpg (https://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0643fj3.jpg)
https://img99.imageshack.us/img99/507/0645gp0.jpg (https://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0645gp0.jpg)
https://img99.imageshack.us/img99/8816/0646sf6.jpg (https://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0646sf6.jpg)
https://img519.imageshack.us/img519/7011/0647uy1.jpg (https://img519.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0647uy1.jpg)
https://img519.imageshack.us/img519/1919/0650sh3.jpg (https://img519.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0650sh3.jpg)
https://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4712/0652ka1.jpg (https://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0652ka1.jpg)
https://img266.imageshack.us/img266/5185/0654hp8.jpg (https://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0654hp8.jpg)
Intermissionhttps://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9564/0931vf1.jpg (https://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0931vf1.jpg) It has been many years since Princess Maria visited Rome. There, she grew a secret liking for men of the cloth. Since then, she journeyed northeast meeting foreign dignitaries, establishing connections with her homeland. She wasn't particularly lonely as she has a priest as a member of her cortege, which she was very fond of. This secret connection turned out well at first but unfortunately, the priest turned out to be an alcoholic and a real creep.
Once she finally accepted that things weren't working out the way she wanted, she set out. She failed to lure the fabled Istvan at Satu Mare, at first, but that did not deter her. She revised her battle plan, and it bore fruit. The renown(?) Polish general Boleslaw Piast fell for her. https://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5438/0641od8.jpg (https://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0641od8.jpg)
Narrator: Very nice moves :applause:
Maria: Why thank you!
Boleslaw: :inquisitive:
Maria: No, nothing...
B: Shall we ride back to Iberia, so I can finally meet your father?
M: If you want to meet my father, it would be better that we move south-east, to the Holy Lands. Dashing honeymoon destination, BTW. You might want to hire some locals as insurance along the way, too
B:...
M: You might get a chance to decimate infidels along the way :yes:
B: Smash infidels?! Brilliant!
M: (sigh) Medieval men... https://img385.imageshack.us/img385/8332/0932qw0.jpg (https://img385.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0932qw0.jpg)Welcome, Boleslaw!
1126:Moorish Countdown (ChapterII, part 1)
https://img139.imageshack.us/img139/6642/0659pa1.jpg (https://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0659pa1.jpg)
Twas finally Prince Afonso's turn. He besieges the last Moorish settlement at Marrakesh. How long he waited for this day. To cross swords again with the Moorish royalty, who he considers as his most worthy rival. He would not be able to face the Moorish Sultan, as last anyone heard, by any Portuguese spy or Moor, he ventured to the famed riches of Timbuktu...https://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7704/0934zt8.jpg (https://img242.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0934zt8.jpg)...without a map.
[Sultan]: "Where the #@%$ are we?"
...
[Sultan]: "Useless!!! The whole lot of you! :furious3:
[Sultan]: Someone better know where NORTH is!!!"
...
...
"Great Sultan!"
[Sultan]: "Hmmm?"
"Our imam! Our imam is a known cartographer and brilliant astronomer!"
[Sultan]: "Bring him here then!!!"
...
[Sultan]: :stare:
...
[Sultan]: :brood:
:ahh:
"But he was with us when we set of-"
[Sultan]::bomb:
"He's... HE'S GONNA GO NUTS!!! RUN! QUICK EVERYONE, HIDE!!!
*stares at desert*
"BUT WHERE???!!!"
:skull:
to be continued in Part IV (image limit was reached... I guess smilies count?)
Wow, those are some epic campaigns guys! Me likey! :2thumbsup:
Wow, those are some epic campaigns guys! Me likey! :2thumbsup:Much thanks, Camel Lord Martok:bow:.
Finished editing/adding the last 2 posts, and around 2/3s on the way to reaching the last saved file...
Pace has picked up & summaries more compact, but in doing so, it turned into a sort of comedy (esp. comparing it to the first post):shrug:
:edit: Happy New Year, ALL!
KingKnudthebloodthirsty
01-03-2009, 02:19
Happy New Year! In a teutonic campaign in kingdoms, i was able to crush lithuania after 22 turns. The year: 1271. It was an awesome campaign and i exterminated everything in my path. My best general is HAns and he accumulated 10 dread for endless carnage. I never posted my screenshots b4 so i dont know how. Anyone tell me, plz. I try to click insert image but it said the url. My thing is in Microsoft word not online.
You can't upload images directly to the Org, you have to host them somewhere else on the internet and link to them. There are plenty of places which will let you sign up & upload images for free, I personally use Imageshack. Very easy to use, basically it lets you upload images to your account and then generates a code for each image which you can copy/paste into your post in this thread, so it'll display here.
Note you can't upload images in the TGA format M2TW uses for screenshots however, you have to convert them to JPEG format first using an image editor like Photoshop (or even Paint I think).
Incidentally, anyone else who uses Imageshack know why my images are all coming up as thumbnails? Imageshack used to have a box you could tick to turn thumbnail mode on and off but it seems to have disappeared.
@PBI I copied one of your image links
https://img529.imageshack.us/img529/5622/eng234vg4.th.jpg (https://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng234vg4.jpg)
...../5622/eng234vg4.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
What makes it turn out as thumbnail is: ".th"
Just take it out.
https://img529.imageshack.us/img529/5622/eng234vg4.jpg (https://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng234vg4.jpg)
.....5622/eng234vg4.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Note you can't upload images in the TGA format M2TW uses for screenshots however, you have to convert them to JPEG format first using an image editor like Photoshop (or even Paint I think).
:edit:@KingKnudthebloodthirdty
Note you can't upload images in the TGA format M2TW uses for screenshots however, you have to convert them to JPEG format first using an image editor like Photoshop (or even Paint I think).
If you don't like converting .tga to .jpeg via Paint/Photoshop, you can try IrfanView (a freeware. wiki/google to learn more). Had all my pics in the tgas folder converted in one go.
partIV
1126(cont'd):Moorish Countdown (ChapterII, part 2)
Assassinations did not endear to Prince Afonso, more so since 2 assassins (the 1st was caught and killed...) just robbed him of what he considers his destined battle.https://img139.imageshack.us/img139/5340/0660bd0.jpg (https://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0660bd0.jpg)
https://img367.imageshack.us/img367/5439/0661editgn7.jpg (https://img367.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0661editgn7.jpg)
https://img139.imageshack.us/img139/8172/0662fb1.jpg (https://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0662fb1.jpg)
https://img139.imageshack.us/img139/4533/0663tw9.jpg (https://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0663tw9.jpg)
https://img183.imageshack.us/img183/5675/0669mr0.jpg (https://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0669mr0.jpg)The Moors ceased to exist...
Celebrations arose not only in Portuguese Iberia but also in other Christian lands. Again, King Henrique missed the festivities. The king was last seen sieging Valencia, the last settlement not under Portuguese control. Instead, he was sailing east, eager to attain even greater glory...https://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2579/0671hc2.jpg (https://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0671hc2.jpg)
1128-32: https://img183.imageshack.us/img183/3349/0672ul2.jpg (https://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0672ul2.jpg)
https://img352.imageshack.us/img352/2183/0676ch6.jpg (https://img352.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0676ch6.jpg)
https://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5892/0679tz6.jpg (https://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0679tz6.jpg)
https://img244.imageshack.us/img244/9543/0680li1.jpg (https://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0680li1.jpg)The French-English war began, as well as the war between the Genoese-Sicilian alliance against the Venetians.
Meanwhile, two more crusading armies sailed eastward, while another, a mercenary army led by Boleslaw Piast and his wife Maria, marched southwest to the Black Sea, in the hopes of hiring a mercenary fleet. Prince Afonso stayed behind to govern the Kingdom's holdings in Northwest Africa, while Joao did the same in Iberia.
1134: https://img53.imageshack.us/img53/4157/0681uh7.jpg (https://img53.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0681uh7.jpg)The crusader fleets continued their journey east, making routine stops along the way(Sicily, southern Italy, and Peloponnese) to replenish supplies, hire crusader mercenary troops, and impress the local women.
One fleet led by Baltazar de Ataide, a hero from the war against the Moors, sailed along the African coast. A less desirable path for crusaders past Sicilian holdings. He met hostile locals and bloodthirsty pirates (who were dispatched easily), one of whom divulged that they (pirates) originated from Benghazi. Baltazar decided to give the settlement a "visit."https://img367.imageshack.us/img367/2230/0944ng9.jpg (https://img367.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0944ng9.jpg)
https://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6520/0945eo4.jpg (https://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0945eo4.jpg)Boleslaw and his ragtag army of mercenaries arrived at Constantinople by fleet. He and his wife, Maria, assured the Emperor that they have no ill intentions in his lands, and even offered to tackle the Seljuk Turks' army near Byzantine Smyrna, in exchange for supplies (though supplies are always replenished when your general ends the turn aboard a fleet) and employment of mercenaries (Crusader sergeants are very precious, as Portugal does not produce any quality spearmen:sweatdrop:).
Boleslaw took in the view of the magnificent city, and wondered for a while what it would be like to walk its halls as King...https://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7591/0947me0.jpg (https://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0947me0.jpg)
In other news, Portugal's allies the French had become a nuisance :no:
...according to the Pope.https://img224.imageshack.us/img224/4872/0682ne3.jpg (https://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0682ne3.jpg)(Could possibly be an opportunity to expand Portuguese influence past the Pyrenees. Any plans however had to be put on hold as 80% of Portugal's military might were participating in the crusade.
1137: An eventful year in all fronts.
West:
Prince Afonso took a trip south (when unrest in Marrakesh had become manageable) and assaulted the unwalled town of Arguin. The trip took a bit longer as the Prince has become a bit lazy...
The Tuareg Camels were an unfavorable match against Mailed Knights...https://img369.imageshack.us/img369/945/0695mf4.jpg (https://img369.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0695mf4.jpg)
https://img369.imageshack.us/img369/488/0697dc5.jpg (https://img369.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0697dc5.jpg)A rebel clean-up that turned into a real mess...https://img369.imageshack.us/img369/8805/0688kw1.jpg (https://img369.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0688kw1.jpg)
https://img255.imageshack.us/img255/2281/0689kn7.jpg (https://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0689kn7.jpg)
https://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4305/0690ka1.jpg (https://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0690ka1.jpg)https://img360.imageshack.us/img360/9112/0691pa8.jpg (https://img360.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0691pa8.jpg)
https://img255.imageshack.us/img255/2725/0692ip3.jpg (https://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0692ip3.jpg)The enemy had Desert Archers, Tuareg, and missile cavalry (+ high ground). The captain charged the camels. The Jinetes chased away the missile cav., before turning back and joining the knights in melee. All this happened while being rained by fire arrows and javelins. Misfortune befell the captain who was struck down by the enemy general (who also died during the captain's death's close-up. Their death scroll came right after the other. Pretty cool, I must say:yes:) Once the enemy cavalry was neutralized, the remaining Jinetes kept the enemy missile troops occupied while the spearmen rush up the mountain. Quantity forced the enemy troops to rout.
East:
Boleslaw Piast's army was now in Anatolia, but rather than fighting the Seljuk army in the open, as he had agreed upon with the Byzantine emperor, he maneuvered around it and besieged the city of Iconium, which happened to be garrisoned by only the Sultan.https://img353.imageshack.us/img353/9514/0687zp6.jpg (https://img353.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0687zp6.jpg)
https://img353.imageshack.us/img353/8965/0698ro5.jpg (https://img353.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0698ro5.jpg)
https://img353.imageshack.us/img353/7560/0700dg8.jpg (https://img353.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0700dg8.jpg)
Meanwhile...
After their last stop at southern Greece, King Henrique reached Fatimid lands. The garrison was wiped out, and the majority of the population was put to the sword...
1138: News spread that Aleppo was struck by a catastrophic earthquake. In the west, the prince's fleet off the coast of Arguin, was ravaged by a storm. Thankfully the prince was in town...
King Henrique continued to rampage in the Fatimid's homelands, attacking a smaller Fatimid army camping outside the large city of Cairo, egging the Sultan to come out to its aid.https://img363.imageshack.us/img363/5426/0703mz7.jpg (https://img363.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0703mz7.jpg)
https://img184.imageshack.us/img184/2807/0707wc6.jpg (https://img184.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0707wc6.jpg)
https://img184.imageshack.us/img184/9259/0708gi3.jpg (https://img184.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0708gi3.jpg)
The first army was composed of Javelinmen, Desert Raiders, and a couple of Spear Militia, who were easily routed (Cav charged the skirmishers, followed by the Raiders, all the while, the spearmen were peppered w/ missiles before flanking).
However, the reinforcements, or rather the Sultan himself, was a different story. Once spotted within range of his missile troops, the king commanded his bodyguards to charge at the sultan before he wrecks havoc among the infantry. The clash turned very bloody, with the King loosing more than half of his personal men and sustaining severe injuries himself (a first!), and even after the infantry joined the melee to support him. The king eventually emerged victorious, and the remaining Fatimid army lost the will to fight.
The king was not in a favorable mood and took it out on the prisoners, followed by the massacre of the populace...
The bloodbath at Cairo, however, produced the recovery of a great and holy treasure.https://img224.imageshack.us/img224/8076/0710mp5.jpg (https://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0710mp5.jpg)Though wounded, it was not yet over for King Henrique. Bent for glory, the king brought his new prize and all the horsemen in his army deeper into Egypt and faced the new crown prince outside Memphis. He relished at the thought of dissolving the Fatimid lineage even further...https://img224.imageshack.us/img224/2118/0739fx5.jpg (https://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0739fx5.jpg)
https://img396.imageshack.us/img396/6155/0740br2.jpg (https://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0740br2.jpg)
https://img396.imageshack.us/img396/7859/0745rp5.jpg (https://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0745rp5.jpg)
https://img396.imageshack.us/img396/1439/0746kr3.jpg (https://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0746kr3.jpg)
Unlike the battle outside Cairo, the Portuguese horsemen were able to bring down the enemy general in mere seconds. Simultaneous charges to the flanks and rear caused heavy casualties to the prince's guards. Completely surrounded, the prince did not get an opportunity to retreat within Memphis' walls. The king made sure that Memphis did not have a single soldier to defend it when he arrives...
Baltazar de Ataide had just reached the devastated port of Alexandria, when he heard news of the kings conquest inland. Receiving a message left by the king, needing no reinforcements and to leave the Fatimid heartlands to him, Baltazar continued sailing West. His new goal: the castle at Gaza. Once ashore, he let the spies loose...https://img224.imageshack.us/img224/4656/0719zu3.jpg (https://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0719zu3.jpg)
He then ordered his reserved cavalry to confront a small Fatimid army before it can reinforce the Holy City...https://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3113/0721as2.jpg (https://img514.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0721as2.jpg)
https://img514.imageshack.us/img514/8803/0722fr4.jpg (https://img514.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0722fr4.jpg)
https://img514.imageshack.us/img514/6277/0723qj9.jpg (https://img514.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0723qj9.jpg)
Leonardo arrived further north, and took out the last Fatimid castle along the Mediterranean...https://img514.imageshack.us/img514/8901/0725gd6.jpg (https://img514.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0725gd6.jpg)
https://img58.imageshack.us/img58/2954/0727jm9.jpg (https://img58.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0727jm9.jpg)
https://img58.imageshack.us/img58/1854/0731vq3.jpg (https://img58.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0731vq3.jpg)
https://img58.imageshack.us/img58/6462/0733wa7.jpg (https://img58.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0733wa7.jpg)
https://img224.imageshack.us/img224/3554/0735np6.jpg (https://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0735np6.jpg)In Anatolia, the Seljuk sultan stood alone between Boleslaw's crusader army and the citizens of Iconium. Even in death he must weep to see his subjects be put to the sword. Parts of the city leveled, reduced to smoke and rubble. The streets littered with corpses, as though the beasts of the underworld were set loose...
Oh how terrible the crusades can be...
Leaving behind a barely adequate garrison, Boleslaw moves east quickly and towards his next targets, before the Seljuks can mount a counter-attack...
(Taking advantage of the AI, once I siege their next settlement (i.e. Caesarea/Adana), they usually tend to rush to the that city's rescue, and ignore the first settlement you took from them (Iconium), despite having an army near it.)
Family Tree: https://img367.imageshack.us/img367/3897/0948iv6.jpg (https://img367.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0948iv6.jpg)
While in somewhere in the vast Saharan desert...https://img229.imageshack.us/img229/6363/0949edituu7.jpg (https://img229.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0949edituu7.jpg)Cont'd at part V
Thanks a lot for the tip regarding my images, glyphz. My last update has been fixed accordingly and is hopefully a little easier to read now. :bow:
Hey guys!
It's been a while since i contributed to this thread in any huge part, but that changes tonight. I just reinstalled kingdoms to really put my new 4gigs of memory through their paces and I gotta say I love the change. They make a huge difference. :yes: I also took a trip over to TWC and checked out the Stainless Steel board, looks like the modders have been busy! Real Combat 4 has been released along with a beta 6.2 SS patch, how could I turn down an even harder game than SS 6.1 (exactly what is promised).
I jumped into Early England, they are always my test run kingdom before i try anything too hard. H/H difficulty. You'll have to forgive me, I didn't take many screens on my first go through. I'll be sure to next time! Hope you enjoy the first installment in any case.
1080, New Ambitions.
King William. the pragmatist, the slaughterer, the conquror. Secure in the Halls of London from threats both at home and abroad, he enjoyed great Authority in the stance of the kings surrounding him, but perhaps not the world over. Still many challenges remained, and still many kingdoms dominated Britannia. The Scots were strong, having united under the banner of King malcom, they could easily sweep down from the highlands and prove a real nuicance. While the Irish across the straights, while weaker, were a concern in of themselves.
William knew that war against these nations would prove a costly affair, and for his nation to undertake such actions would without a doubt bring him at odds with Rome. The council of nobles demanded to know what he plan to do against such threats, and in truth, William hadn't the faintest idea! In the meantime, he sent his son against Rebels in York and worked on improving commerce and infrastructure. It was not until at last in 1084, after securing York and putting plans in motion that would see the fortress of Caen under his rule that fully did his blueprint for Britannia take form.
Ireland had already signed an alliance with Scotland the year prior and word reached London that the irish diplomat was traveling the English countryside on his way to France. Not wanting to risk a war with two powerful neighbors so soon, and in desperate need of tride rights, William sent a representative. It was surprisingly easy to obtain an alliance with the Irish. The scots proved much more trying. With relations already uneasy, and a number of reported raids along the border (atrributed to both sides) William knew the road to peace would not be an easy one.
Using his Alliance with the Irish to persuade the Scottish to the peace table, William set the stage for a diplomatic conference in York. Representatives from all three nations met (and some say threatened each other) for days on end! Yet, through all the veiled threats, demands, offers and frustration the Bards spin the tale that a strange thing happened.. The diplomats found common ground. Here, on the edge of Europe the Scottish, English and Irish all signed into being the Accord of York, a triple alliance of Britannia. All three nations sharing Alliances, Trade routes, map information and even military aid should it ever come to that. The scottish had a significant condition though, that the English deal with Norwegian raiders who had taken to raiding the ports and coasts of Scottish provinces.
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The Alliance, as of 1094
Therefore William put into action the largest troop and naval build up seen in recent times. By the time in 1090 that Whales had been secured, the powerful English fleets patrolled the Norse sea along with their Scottish allies, hunting down pirates and raiders alike. But it was not enough for William, a new ambition had grown and seeking to prove himself to his allies set in motion plans to invade the Norse lands. Rumors of a bitter war between nations in Scandinavia and the lucrative black sea trade routes as his prize, William believed he could defeat the Norse within only a few short years! However.. his health was failing, and more and more he found himself confined to London unable to venture beyond its walls. The campaign would fall to another, the Brothers Henry and Robert Plantagenet.
The Brothers Plantagenet
It took many years and long trials to ensure the army sent against the Norse would be not only well supplied but could fight once the voyage was done. Of the two commanders selected for the voyage, Robert was always the tactician, and Henry the warrior. It was decided that the western strongholds of Bergen and Eikundarsund needed to be secured simultaneously, otherwise the English might get bogged down defending too small a beach head.
Finally the day arrived, the navy prepared, the army massed. Two thousand strong of england's best, accompanying the army was a fierce new innovation, the Longbow. Still far too expensive to outfit an entire army with this new deadly weapon, nevertheless Henry declared he would not march without at least two detachments of longbowmen along for the voyage.
Landfall! 1097, Henry landed just south of Bergen while Robert surrounded and cut off Eikundarsund. It was a devastating move, one that even caught the Norse king off guard, who was wintering in Eikundarsund! The two sieges that followed were short and bloody, no quarter was given by the English for the defenders of the fortresses and they soon fell, the King of the Norse refused to surrender and was slain where he stood in the city square.
Unable to push forward Henry fortified his position in the North while Robert gathered his troops and mached to meet his brother so that the offensive could be maintained, however waiting for him at acrossroads some twenty miles north of Eikundarsund was the Main Norse army. While the English outnumbered the Norse 1200 to 800, the Norwegian force consisted primarily of hard hitting axemen and well trained swordsmen. It would be a tough fight.
The battle lines were drive on the road itself, the Norse physically blocking Robert from meeting up with Henry. On a cold morning in late November, the english laid defensive positions the battle was joined. Although the Norse, led by the grieving son of the slain king, fought with a tenacious spirit they were cut down by the superior English firepower of their peasant archers and limited fire support from the longbows. Henry had commisioned his force to be built around Archery, light cavalry and levies from the nearby countryside of Nottingham. It was a highly mobile force, and one that picked the heavily armed Norse apart.
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The strategic situation in the battles aftermath. The road to Oslo is open, what can stop English ambition now?
With the Western army of the Norse obliterated the way to Oslo lies open. The Britannian Triple Alliance prospers as England carves a new empire out of the North.
Much has transpired in the decades that have gone by. 1100 seems so far away for the English king in London. William the Conqueror, still clinging to life, commands his faction with great authority. And though he cannot fight, his mind is still sound.
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Extent of the English realm in 1104.
His diplomats were the architects of the triple alliance of Britannia, an alliance that stood for 15 years without a single dispute between the mighty powers of the Isle. Indeed, it had even fueled King William's desire to expand elsewhere, as a sign of good faith to his new found allies that he was working in their best interests. However, the King of the Norse, slain in defense of his lands, was at the time in very good standing with the Pope. And as William's armies marched on Oslo the Pope issued a warning. If William did not draw back his forces then he would be excommunicated. William chose excommunication.
You can imagine the King's shock, when acting in the best interest of his Allies, the Scots used the opportunity of the excommunication to declare war upon the English realm! William could not believe it when the irish followed suit, severing ties with the English Crown and throwing in their support with the Scots, he had gravely misinterpreted the political climate and the consequences of his war in Norway.
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The English realm, with York under siege.
Fully 1/4 of Scotland's standing armies descended upon the lightly defended northern borders of the Brittish and brought seige to York. With nearly his entire main army campaigning under the Plantagenets in Norway, William was in real trouble. York would likely be lost before a new force could be msutered, but he wasn't about to throw in his lot with despair. He sent out the call to Nottingham to raise a new army, Cavalry forces would be provided from the south as Infantry and the sheer numbers of the force would come from London and Exeter. It would be upon Nottingham to provide the staple of the English armies, the powerful and expensive longbowmen and a vast force of peasant archers.
But it would take time to raise, and in the meantime the siege dragged on.
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Gregory Darnley, a relatively unproven commander and new member of the royal court was the only man still in England who perhaps had the chance to lead the army. He wasted little time and once the force was trained, marched out in 1107 clashing with the Scots along the road to York, which had fallen just the year before.
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The battle was incredibly bloody, each side had committed a full force to its efforts in the province and neither was about to back down. The Scots hit the English line under a hail of constant arrow fire, from both conventional and longbows. Yet even so they tore into the English center, and the levies nearly gave way even when supported by light men-at-arms! General Darnley led his cavalry forces in a wing attack against the Scots' Cavalry, led by General Donnchada. The two cavalry forces fought viciously, as whoever won there would tip the balance in favor of their side! In the end the sheer number of mounted Englishmen ensured that Donnchada had to retreat, his broken cavalry detachment behind him.
Having won the battle for the flanks Darnley led his battered cavalry battalions in a full on charge against the left Scot flank. Yet still they refused to break from the shock! It was not until the english had inflicted massive Casualties upon the Scottish left that the combined force finally decided to sound the retreat.
Although it was a victory, the English force had been mauled. Suffering a humbling 50% casualty rating, the English who survived the battle earned a great respect for their foe, knowing that to underestimate the Scottish would surely see their downfall. Darnley would need to wait to push his advantage on York at least another season before he could summon reinforcements from Nottingham. His forces camped some three miles south of the city, just in sight. Letting the surviving scots see them, and know that soon they would lay siege.
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Meanwhile in Norway, the brothers Plantagenet continued their campaign. Oslo was quick to fall, and while Darnley was fighting for his life upon the Northumbrian fields outside of York, Robert and Henry saw to the siege and capture of the great fortress at Oslo. The defeat signaled the end for the Norse line of Kings, leaving the small independent fiefs of Scandinavia vulnerable to the further encroaching English. The Danes had already secured a number of the southern territories, so Robert decided to secure the north and cut a path into the Baltic.
back in England, Darnley had gathered reinforcements and had laid siege to York. It was long before he had re-occupied the city, but not without a tough fight from the veterans of the previous fight. In a surprising move, the general had allowed nearly 600 prisoners to return to York. His advisers argued they would be fighting the very same men again, but it's said Darnley replied simply "They stole York from us. It's time we showed them how real men fight a war."
While York was being retaken, another crisis was developing. The French decided to repeal their alliance with the English, citing that no good christian could support a state who so brazenly made war and then destroyed other states. France moved quickly and besieged the Fortress town of Caen, the main military bubble of power of the English in Normandy. With few forces in the area and zero to spare in Britannia, the defenders knew they were on their own. Though they fought valiantly, they were defeated.
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English defenders fight desperately for the gates at Caen, but are defeated all the same.
The war against the Scots continued, with little worry about the mainland powers, William concentrated all his focus on directed the campaign against the Scots. All the while his generals in Scandinavia added settlement after settlement to the Expanding English empire. Darnley led his veterans of the Northumbrian battles into Scotland itself and besieged Edinburgh. The seige was bloody and hard fought, the Scottish king not willing to surrender or retreat, he took up residence in the city and dared the English to fight him, and fight they did. General Darnley was content to hold the seige for a number of seasons before finally deciding to storm the gates. His hand was forced, you could say, by dwindling supplies and the lack of fresh foraging lands near his army's camp.
1115 saw the fall of the Scot's own capital and the death of their King, but again Darnley found himself unable to press forward. He would be forced to wait until 1117 until his strength and supplies were great enough to march forward. As his forces closed in on Aberdeen he was surprised when his scouts reported there was no significant force let between him and the city!
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General Gregory Darnley continues his campaign in Scotland.
He would soon learn that the bulk of the Scottish forces were engaged on the mainland, having gotten themselves embroiled with a war over Antwerp with the French. Knowing he had destroyed the main Northern armies at Edinburgh, Darnley could pick apart the sparse defenders at his leisure.
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However.. not all was easy sailing. Responding to the developing situation in the main isle, the Irish landed a massive force and besieged the English center of power in Wales. With no standing army near enough, yet another force would have to be mustered in order to respond, and just as before with York it would not come in time to save the city from occupation. The War for Britannia had a new player.
Led by an upstart captain, the English force, once finally mustered, clashed with the Irish along the coastal roads leading into Northumbia. The Irish were attempting to push on to York and cut off Darnley's supplies, effectively halting the Scottish campaign. If such happened all it would take for the Scots to make amphibious landing near Aberdeen and the Northern armies would be annihilated! It was must win for the English in the strategic picture.
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The armies of England gathered to halt the Irish advance.
The battle that followed was viscous, unorganized and personal. The lines devolved quickly into an all out melee as order was all but lost in the heat of the battle, neither side having strong leaders. But when all was said and done, through the rain, wind and lightning, the English prevailed by the closest of margins, forcing the Irish to fall back to their newly obtained stronghold. York was saved at a high cost. At the same time the defenders of York were fighting off the Irish host, the northern English armies were working to secure the Highlands. After years of war in Scotland, Darnley had managed to secure the last Scottish stronghold, now only the single province on the mainland, the location of the King, was loyal to the Scottish crown.
Yet still, England finds itself engaged on multiple fronts. Scottish raiders now plague the eastern coasts of Brittan while the Irish continue to land troops in wales. The French still refuse to end their conflict with the English crown and block trade with many potential ports, while the Danes have declared an all out war against the English positions in Scandinavia, blocking trade and putting increasing pressure on the military outposts around the Baltic.
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Whoa! That's a very interesting campaign you have there, Monk:applause:
Very eager to hear more:yes:
So envious of those who get to play SS 6.+~:handball:
King Edward the Great of England was a wise ruler, great warrior, and above all an honourable man. While his rule was marked by near constant warfare, it was nearly always at the behest of more unscrupulous foreign rulers. His great campaigns against the Fatimids and Turks were waged in the most worthy of causes, to take and secure the Holy Land under rightful Christian rule. His campaigns against fellow Catholics had often been forced upon him; the despicable Polish invasion of English Lithuania had left him no choice but to annex that kingdom to ensure the safety of his own subjects, likewise the wars with Denmark and Sicily. Elsewhere he had intervened only to bring an end to the seemingly interminable conflict in eastern Europe and the Balkans, annexing Venice and Hungary and in the process no doubt saving many more of their people from death and hardship at the hands of their callous and warmongering rulers. His kingdom's longstanding alliances, meanwhile, he had respected; he would not even allow suggestion of an attack upon the Republic of Novgorod or the Holy Roman Empire despite the clear strategic advantage he would gain from such a move, mindful as he was of the help both realms had rendered English armies in past wars against common foes. Likewise in his campaigns against the Turks he took the utmost of care to respect the territory of his Templar brothers in arms, stalwart allies in the fight against the Saracen.
However, the fact remained that Edward was an old man, with only a few years of life remaining to him, and for all his great military victories he had not managed to produce a son to inherit his throne. Thus as he contemplated his great empire from the citadel at Tblisi, Edward gave careful thought to whom among his lieutenants would be worthy to be his heir and heir to the Kingdom of England. After considering and rejecting many candidates, Edward finally decided on a worthy successor, Miles Clifford, the Duke of Cologne, a man who reminded Edward of himself in his youth. Raised in the great fortress and armoury of Hamburg, a comitted Crusader against the Lithuanian pagans, a great and courageous general unaffraid to lead his men from the front, victor over the Poles and the Hungarians, and even now leading the war against the Danes in person at the very opposite end of the empire. Thus Edward relaxed in Tbilisi to enjoy the last few years of life in comfort surrounded by luxuries from the lands he had conquered, confident that the new King Miles would be a scourge upon his enemies and an honourable friend to his allies.
However, the new Prince Miles was not an honourable man. Crusader propaganda had painted the popular picture of Miles bravely battling the pagans in Lithuania and bringing the benevolent influence of Christianity to their benighted forests, but it had made no mention of the brutal slaughter Miles had inflicted upon the Lithuanians in the conquest of that land. From the reports of Miles' exploits it had seemed to Edward that the two of them were alike, but the few who had met both knew the two men could not be more different; one man to whom loyalty to his allies and his church were foremost, terrible to face in battle but merciful to those he had defeated, waging war only when he felt compelled to by duty or compassion; the other, a bloodthirsty and power-hungry fanatic, convinced that it was his divine right to rule all of Europe, waging war not out of necessity or duty, but out of enjoyment, preferring to resolve all problems by brutal force and indifferent to the suffering he thus inflicted.
Thus, while Edward lay on his deathbed in Tbilisi, Miles made his dark plans to put into motion after his coronation, even as his armies completed their conquest of the Kingdom of Denmark.
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Beset by the armies of Prince Miles converging from all sides, the Kingdom of Denmark collapses.
Not all were oblivious to the coming storm, however. Although Miles' noble reputation was intact within Catholic lands, tales of the horrific deeds carried out by the "Butcher of Lithuania" and his contempt for all non-Catholics had spread among the Orthodox Christian peoples of the Republic of Novgorod and Kievan Rus, spread by Novgorodian troops who had witnessed Miles' actions firsthand when fighting alongside him in Lithuania. In time these tales had spread via the Black Sea trade routes to the ear of the Byzantine Emperor. Thus when Miles was crowned King shortly after completing the conquest of Denmark, the Emperor knew that it was not a question of if the English would attack, but when. Thus, expecting Miles not to be prepared yet for war far to the south, he launched a preemptive attack upon Thessalonika and Skopje.
The attacks were repulsed, and soon Miles' armies were closing in for the kill; his occupation forces in Hungary attacking from the north, the late King Edward's veterans of Anatolia from the east. The powerful army based at Thessalonika marched south into the Peloponnese as reinforcements arrived from the north, taking the city of Athens and the citadel at Corinth, while a second force marched down the coast from Ragusa, taking Durrazo and continuing into Epirus to siege Arta. In Anatolia meanwhile, Smyrna fell quickly to attack from Isparta, quickly followed by Nicea as the northern and eastern English forces raced to be first to reach Constantinople.
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English troops battle the Varangian Guard in the streets of Athens, aided by longbow fire from the rear.
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The English conquerors make a grisly example of the defenders of Athens.
In the end, the eastern armies led by Laurence the Conqueror won the race, the northern forces being delayed by the strong defenses at Sofia and Adrianople. The city, protected its legendary walls, was nonetheless weakly garrisoned and the few defenders could do nothing to stem the English onslaught; the great city fell, and the Emperor was killed. Though the fortresses at Sofia and Cannakale and the island of Crete yet held out, the "Roman" Empire was as good as destroyed.
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English forces lay siege to Constantinople.
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Armenian mercenaries storm the walls of Constantinople to silence the arquebus fire tormenting their comrades below.
However, the Byzantine Romans were not the only Empire Miles would destroy within the first years of his reign. Almost immediately upon being crowned, Miles called a secret council of his senior nobles and told them to prepare their battered armies for war against the Holy Roman Empire.
This order caused considerable consternation among his generals. The Reich had long been a loyal ally of the English crown, and many of the older generals remembered with gratitude the aid the Reich had rendered them personally during the long wars against Venice, the Fatimids and Denmark. However, the king bluntly dismissed their concerns, declaring that he would recognise no allies of the English crown, only subjects. With the new king a ruthless and dangerous man, and surrounded by his cadre of loyal generals who had served under him in the northern wars, none of the old guard dared to question him further. Instead, the English armies put into motion Miles' carefully prepared plan.
Miles had noted that aside from the large forces guarding the German exclaves of Toulouse and Zagreb, the rest of the Reich's forces were concentrated around their economic centers of Frankfurt and Nuremburg. Thus his plan called for separate forces to deal with the isolated exclaves, while his main armies would attack from every direction, taking the ring of fortress guarding the borders of the Reich before a defense could be prepared.
English forces from Nottingham and Angers attacked from France, taking Metz and proceeding south to cut of Bern and Staufen from reinforcements. An army from Prague took the far-flung fortress of Magdeburg, while armies from Hungary marched west and took Salzburg and Innsbruck. Meanwhile, forces fresh from the subjugation of Denmark flooded south to confront the Reich forces at Frankfurt head on, and a small force in Italy took the isolated city of Milan.
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English cavalry rush into lightly defended Metz...
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...and at Staufen, English lancers prepare to charge the German defenders from the rear.
At Toulouse, meanwhile, a Hospitaller force from Spain confronted the great German army that had been amassed there. The battle was one of the greatest of the era, two of the finest bodies of heavy infantry in the western world facing off against each other. In the end though, the losses inflicted on the Reich infantry by the English artillery, coupled with the defeat of their cavalry by the English Hospitaller knights, led to a catastrophic defeat of the Reich's forces and the fall of Toulouse, the last remaining province of France not in English hands.
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An army marches upon Toulouse from Spain.
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The Battle of Toulouse; the battle lines about to clash for the decisive encounter.
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The Battle of Toulouse; the opposing heavy infantry clash.
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The Battle of Toulouse ended as a crushing defeat for the Reich.
Horrified by the unprovoked attack, the armies of the Empire hurriedly marched out in every direction, but they were too late to save their border fortresses. Instead, caught in the open, the armies of the Reich were systematically isolated and destroyed by the disciplined English forces. At last the Holy Roman Empire was whittled down to just the cities of Frankfurt and Nuremburg. Ignoring the Emperor's pleas for peace, Miles's armies closed in.
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The Holy Roman Empire is overrun.
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English forces flood into the breach at Zagreb, slaughtering their way through the plentiful but poorly equipped defenders.
Now, less than ten years into his reign, King Miles had utterly destroyed two great empires, and stood as master of all of Europe west of the Carpathians, save for the Papal States. However, the King was yet young, and his dreadful thirst for conquest was not even close to sated. Not even allowing his troops to rest after the exhausting campaigns in Germany and the Aegean, Miles ordered all his forces to march east.
The veterans of Germany marched for the great expanses of the steppes, nominally under the banner of the Eight Crusade against the citadel of Bulgar, held by the pagan Cumans; in reality they were to attack the Orthodox Kievan Rus, with the aid of the Republic of Novgorod. With victory achieved, they were then to deviously turn on their erstwhile allies, and claim all of the great expanse of Russia for the English crown.
Meanwhile, as if to dispel any notions that he may actually be Crusading in good faith, King Miles would sink to a new low by launching an attack on the English crown's most dependable allies, the Templar state in Syria and Armenia. Knowing that the armies earmarked for the attack were largely drawn from those who had once followed King Edward against the Turks and had regarded the Templars as brothers in arms, Miles decided to quell any danger of mutiny among his Anatolian nobles by leading the attack in person.
Against the Kievans, the attack progressed rapidly. The Kievans were already exhausted by war with Novgorod to their north and could muster little defense on their western borders. The English Crusaders quickly wrapped up Bucharest, Iasi and Zhytomyr before driving on to the east, taking Kiev and Pereyaslav. Meanwhile, a Crusader force sailing from Italy crossed the Black Sea and landed at Tmurtarakhan. The great fortress fell in a bloody assault, leaving only the Crimea in Kievan hands. The Kievan ruler managed to raise a sizeable force to defend the city of Caffa, but it was composed mostly of hastily levied spearmen; the force was first routed in the field, and then systematically slaughtered inside the city by the English attackers.
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Kievan infantry are surrounded and destroyed on the walls of Iasi.
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English forces surround the Kievan ruler at Tmurtarakhan.
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Crusader infantry overpower the Kievan levies in the streets of Caffa.
As the English forces in Kiev took a brief respite as they hardened their hearts for the vile act of betrayal they were about to commit, Miles' troops in Syria were fully engaged in an equally despicable attack. While the English had been at war with the Byzantines, the Templars had been concentrating on the capture of the last Turkish city of Kermanshah. Thus all their troops were concentrated in the east, and they were utterly unprepared for the sudden English attack. As soon as word arrived of the Templar capture of Kermanshah and the destruction of the Turkish sultanate, Miles gave the word to begin the attack.
The key Templar provinces in Syria were overrun almost immediately; before the Templars could take in the fact of the English attack Damascus, Tortosa, Antioch, Aleppo and Edessa had fallen. Meanwhile English forces attacked further to the north through the Taurus mountains and sieged Diyarbakir, while from the citadel of Tbilisi two great armies marched forth, one to the west to attack Kotaisi, the other to the south to take Yerevan.
https://img519.imageshack.us/img519/7154/eng423ra2.th.jpg (https://img519.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng423ra2.jpg)
https://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1010/eng425nr8.th.jpg (https://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng425nr8.jpg)
The rapid conquest of Syria.
The invasion sent a shock throughout the Templar kingdom; as the Templars hurriedly tried to march their armies west, they were forced to abandon the city of Kermanshah gained at such cost from the Turks; without a Templar garrison, the people of the city revolted, and sent emissaries to the Khwarezmian Shah to offer allegiance. Meanwhile, the general atmosphere of panic and chaos led to mass rioting and ultimately a revolt in Baghdad, the Templar garrison being too few to quell the vast populace.
https://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5389/eng424uf0.th.jpg (https://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng424uf0.jpg) A unit of Templar swordsmen is crushed by a charge of Khwarezmian mercenaries.
https://img160.imageshack.us/img160/816/eng430dx7.th.jpg (https://img160.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng430dx7.jpg)
With the last Templar fortress at Mosul captured, Miles closes in on Baghdad.
With the loss of Syria, and the rebellions in the east, the Templars were crippled. The English attacks continued, capturing Diyarbakir, Mosul, and isolated Qarisiya, before Miles personally drew up his enormous force before the walls of Baghdad. After much preparation, he launched his attack, his professional troops matched against the numerous but largely unarmed citizen militia defending the walls. It was more of a massacre than a battle, and sure enough was followed by a dreadful orgy of slaughter and destruction and Miles unleashed his victorious troops to sack the city.
The Templars made their last stand at Tabriz. As Henry Hungerford, victor of Yerevan, closed his siege around the city, the last Templar field army under Councillor Wilhelm came to the relief of the garrison and met Henry in battle in the mountainous terrain outside the city. The battle opened with Henry dispatching part of his heavy cavalry to annihilate the garrison before they could link up with Wilhelm's force. Although they succeeded, the brisk battle followed by a steep climb back up the mountain left the cavalry detachment weary before the main battle had even joined. The terrain did not favour the English, preventing their cannons from easily being brought to bear, while the English infantry were outnumbered by Templar infantry of equal quality. Both sides numbered Knights of St. John among their ranks, the order having splintered in two, the larger part siding with the English crown, while the Syrian chapters remained loyal to the Templars. The English longbows were successful in largely annihilating the Templar cavalry, but the infantry were still outmatched; it was only with the aid of repeated cavalry charges to the rear that the Templar's main force could be routed.
https://img125.imageshack.us/img125/5594/eng431li1.th.jpg (https://img125.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng431li1.jpg)
Miles prepares to assault Baghdad.
https://img164.imageshack.us/img164/2333/eng434lb0.th.jpg (https://img164.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng434lb0.jpg)
The aftermath of the Battle of Tabriz, the final defeat of the Templars.
https://img181.imageshack.us/img181/8792/eng435fq6.th.jpg (https://img181.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng435fq6.jpg)
English armies stand victorious in the Caucasus and Mesopotamia
In the north, the Crusade target of Bulgar was taken by the last independent Catholic power, the Teutonic Order, thus freeing the English Crusader armies in Kiev from any obligations to continue east; it was time instead to turn north. After annexing the independent city of Polotsk, the attack on Novgorod began in earnest with the capture of Novgorod itself, most of the Novgorodian forces being concentrated south after the war with the Kievan Rus. Those forces were in many places dangerously spread out among the new English possessions in the area; the English took the opportunity to ambush many of the weaker forces of Novgorod to reduce the numbers who could be rushed north to defend.
However, the English in the south were not as prepared as those attacking in the north; the forces who had taken Kiev had been the vanguard, and the main armies were still catching up from Poland. Novgorod, meanwhile, turned out to be much stronger than Kiev. While the Velikii Knyaz mounted a powerful defense around Smolensk, other forces went on the offensive, besieging Pereyaslav and Kiev, although in the process losing the fortress of Bryansk to an English army which had been bypassed on the march south.
In the end, the English garrison of Pereyaslav repelled the siege with a successful sally, although with some difficulty. Against the stronger besieging force, the English first employed hit and run attacks with their fast Crusader knights to kill the Novgorodian artillery crews, although in the process the knights were all but wiped out by archer fire. There followed a bombardment by the English artillery and archers to thin out the enemy ranks and largely destroy the dangerous Druzhina cavalry, followed by an infantry charge and a flanking move by the cavalry to rout the deadly dismounted Boyar Sons. With the siege broken, the army sieging Kiev abandoned their siege and retreated toward Smolensk.
https://img525.imageshack.us/img525/5487/eng436sf6.th.jpg (https://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng436sf6.jpg)
https://img525.imageshack.us/img525/8453/eng438pp1.th.jpg (https://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng438pp1.jpg)
English infantry charge the enemy lines at Pereyaslav.
It was at Smolensk that the campaign would be decided. The Velikii Knyaz had prepared a formidable defense of the fortress, a great army of Druzhina cavalry, Dismounted Boyar Sons and Dismounted Dvor archers. The first English attack was a disaster; the English army was a reserve force consisting of large numbers of Levy Spearmen with a few heavier troops thrown in; the light spearmen could not resist the onslaught of the Boyar Sons and their axes, and the English center collapsed in rout. The second attack fared little better; a professional English force successfully routed two smaller armies of Novgorod before coming to grips with the main host, but was too small and too tired to overcome the Novgorod infantry, while the mighty Hospitaller Knights were defeated by the axes of the Druzhina. However, the English did succeed in killing the Velikii Knyaz and the crown prince before being overrun, and although they were routed, the brave actions of the general in repeatedly charging the pursuing infantry as his men fled around him, only withdrawing once all of his men had left the field, saved a large portion of his army from destruction. It took a third attempt, with yet another fully professional English army, to finally break through the weakened and leaderless defense and seize the fortress.
https://img107.imageshack.us/img107/3930/eng446ae5.th.jpg (https://img107.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng446ae5.jpg)The Second Battle of Smolensk; the English general charges the pursuing troops of Novgorod to buy time for his soldiers to escape.https://img113.imageshack.us/img113/9185/eng447rk1.th.jpg (https://img113.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng447rk1.jpg)
Smolensk falls at last.
However, with the fall of Smolensk, the campaign was nearing its end. Only the citadel at Ryazan and the city of Moscow still held out, plus a small Novgorod holding in the far east. Even better, most of the surviving nobility had been wiped out at Smolensk; thus, the last Velikii knyaz of Novgorod met the advancing English in battle on the approach to Ryazan. As ever, the infantry of Novgorod proved a dangerous foe, and the battle was ferocious; but Velikii Knyaz Kirill was struck down by an English cannonball just before the lines joined, and the English knights easily routed the cavalry militia facing them. The last Velikii Knyaz of Novgorod, together with its last significant field army, had been destroyed. The republic collapsed into anarchy as the various states found themselves no longer bound by a central authority, and the English found themselves rulers of all the lands of Europe as far east as the river Don.
https://img187.imageshack.us/img187/8748/eng449ts2.th.jpg (https://img187.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng449ts2.jpg)
Mercenary Mongol rocket launchers bombard the enemy Druzhina.
https://img159.imageshack.us/img159/6971/eng460pr4.th.jpg (https://img159.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng460pr4.jpg)
English armies advance on Ryazan and Moscow.
https://img259.imageshack.us/img259/3824/eng463xf3.th.jpg (https://img259.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng463xf3.jpg)
The aftermath of the battle of Ryazan.
https://img398.imageshack.us/img398/8791/eng466zb2.th.jpg (https://img398.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng466zb2.jpg)
Novgorod collapses.
While the great battles raged to the north against the people of Novgorod, Miles had meanwhile been preoccupied in the Middle East. Having defeated the Templars and taken Baghdad far more cheaply than he had expected, King Miles decided to use the armies he had amassed for yet more conquest, to overrun the Khwarezm Empire and push the bounds of his empire far east into Persia. Pausing only to restore order in their new Mesopotamian cities, the English armies drove on to the east. In the north, Henry Hungerford, now known by the epithet "the Chivalrous" due to his merciful treatment of his Templar prisoners and his personal courage in battle, led the attack against Kermanshah, recognizing that the garrison, although much larger than his force, consisted mostly of militia. However, the Khwarezm armies were large and experienced from their long and increasingly successful war against the Mongols, and they sent a relief force; the ensuing battle saw an odd English force, with large numbers of the traditional longbows, but only small numbers of infantry and cavalry, both heavily outnumbered by their Khwarezmian counterparts. The English had a substantial extra advantage however, in the form of the unit of mercenary elephant mahouts they had recruited in Mesopotamia.
The battle was extremely close fought, with the English cavalry detachment performing well but being almost wiped out, with Henry himself lucky to survive; while the vast Khwarezmian infantry force could only be held back and finally routed by employing the longbowmen in a melee role to supplement the regular infantry. The elephants, meanwhile, gave a good account of themselves, routing several units, but ultimately were panicked by the Persian archer fire and were then brought down at great cost by the enemy cavalry. At last, however, the many English archers began to tell, able to flank the infantry battle and fire arrows into the enemy rear whenever not engaged in melee themselves. Henry had won the battle, and taken Kermanshah, but his army was in no condition to continue the offensive.
https://img185.imageshack.us/img185/3166/eng442db9.th.jpg (https://img185.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng442db9.jpg)
The Battle of Kermanshah; Henry finds himself in a battle to the death with the Khwarezmid light cavalry.
https://img177.imageshack.us/img177/306/eng443rx1.th.jpg (https://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng443rx1.jpg)
The aftermath of the battle; although in principle most of Henry's force was intact, in fact he had lost almost all of his infantry and cavalry as well as his elephants.
In the south, King Miles led the attack personally along the Euphrates, besieging and taking Basra from its weak garrison. Finding the Khwarezmians unprepared for an attack in this area, he pressed his advantage, moving on to take the fortress of Ahvaz, splitting the Kwarezm empire in two and leaving the rich cities of central Iran exposed, while other English armies continued the attack against the now isolated cities on the south coast of the Persian Gulf.
https://img120.imageshack.us/img120/2360/eng456nt0.th.jpg (https://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng456nt0.jpg)
The siege of Basra; the English infantry pin the masses of enemy spearmen, while longbow fire from the walls quickly thins their ranks.
https://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8563/eng451qg7.th.jpg (https://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng451qg7.jpg)
English cavalry overrun a group of Persian archers in a skirmish north of Basra.
https://img294.imageshack.us/img294/1148/eng457fe3.th.jpg (https://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng457fe3.jpg)
https://img261.imageshack.us/img261/6975/eng459cs4.th.jpg (https://img261.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng459cs4.jpg)
King Miles' capture of Basra and Ahvaz.
In the meantime, further English armies had crossed the Zagros mountains to continue the attack. On the road between Kermanshah and Alamut, an English army under Henry FitzHenry scored another great victory over the Khwarezmians, leaving the way open for Laurence the Conqueror to besiege Alamut. Although the Khwarezmians have gradually been winning against the Mongols and driving them back, they now find themselves trapped between the Mongols and the English.
https://img520.imageshack.us/img520/7548/eng458xv5.th.jpg (https://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng458xv5.jpg)
The approach to Alamut.
https://img170.imageshack.us/img170/351/eng464ym9.th.jpg (https://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng464ym9.jpg)
The aftermath of the victory which essentially breaks Khwarezmian power in north Iran.
Sensing victory, Miles pushes onward both north and south of the Caspian. In the north, only the Cumans and the Teutonic Order survive to resist the English advance; in the south, the Khwarezmid Empire is collapsing, and beyond them the Mongols are a shadow of their former might.
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/3536/eng467ni2.th.jpg (https://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eng467ni2.jpg)
The current extent of the English empire.
The current province tally stands at 169, after 159 turns. Given that there are (conveniently enough) 199 provinces on the map, the target of gaining all of them by turn 199 now looks quite possible. Obviously this is getting into the very late game which is always a bit boring compared to the early game, it's all a bit of a foregone conclusion, but I feel having got this far I may as well see it out.
BTW, excellent stuff as always Monk. Interesting route of expansion, eschewing France in favour of Scandinavia. And I see you face exactly the same problems of being squeezed from three sides by France, Scotland and Ireland as I had! Those accursed Irish...
I would suggest bypassing Caernarvon and heading straight for the Irish mainland, if you have the fleet for it. Otherwise the Irish just seem to keep pumping out stack after stack to land in Wales as fast as you can beat them.
I look forward to the next update.
Although I can't quite shake the feeling that you are trying to one-up me! England SS6.2 to my England SS6.1? Hmph ~;)
aimlesswanderer
01-21-2009, 05:13
Wow PBI, that is an epic campaign!
BTW, excellent stuff as always Monk. Interesting route of expansion, eschewing France in favour of Scandinavia. And I see you face exactly the same problems of being squeezed from three sides by France, Scotland and Ireland as I had! Those accursed Irish...
I would suggest bypassing Caernarvon and heading straight for the Irish mainland, if you have the fleet for it. Otherwise the Irish just seem to keep pumping out stack after stack to land in Wales as fast as you can beat them.
I look forward to the next update.
It's been a real hassle, and it's forced me to make some really tough decisions. Not to mention it forced me into probably the most dire straights I've seen in a TW game in a long time. Not since the Rise of the Byzantines have I felt such urgency, or seen how much can ride on a single battle. I can only imagine how things will turn out later! :sweatdrop:
Also, no hints so early on as to what path I took, but I think it makes for an interesting read, couple of shockers too. :yes:
Although I can't quite shake the feeling that you are trying to one-up me! England SS6.2 to my England SS6.1? Hmph ~;)
Who, me? :hide:
6.2 has created some really amazing strategic situations on the toggle_fow scene. I can't say too much cuz I don't want to reveal too much, but it's been really surprising. While I've watched some of the tried and true constants remain (France and HRE getting bogged down in bitter wars), I'm witnessing a much more aggressive AI than in 6.1 that has lead to some interesting situations. (The Khwarezmid Empire is destroying the Cumans while the Lithuanians are ransacking Novgorod.)
After you finish up your English campaign I highly suggest giving 6.2 a spin. Real Combat 4 is great fun as well, it takes some getting used to when you peice together a levy backed army and they get decimated by 40-60% casualty ratings after one battle. Really drives you to develop a professional army.
BUT ENOUGH TALK. I loved the update PBI! Keep them coming. ~D
Whoa! That's a very interesting campaign you have there, Monk
Very eager to hear more
So envious of those who get to play SS 6.+
Glad you liked it! Depending on how class goes tomorrow (if i am not dead tired) I might have an update for you all to read, if not tomorrow then definitely the day after.
Dead Guy
01-21-2009, 14:42
Nice stuff guys, as always.
SS 6.2 looks good! Didn't know it was out yet! I guess I better finish my french SS 6.1 campaign and start a fresh with something I haven't tried yet.
I was trying to get an interesting campaign going defending the alps as the french, but the AI is way too passive on the campaign map, so I got bored... :/ I had some great fun when I took Gaza with a Crusade, built up a stack of defenders and ballista towers and weathered siege after siege =) Now, I've defeated about 20 stacks of Jihad, one of the battles pitted me against 5 stacks at once, but the AI is just too stupid to reach the central square in 30 minutes. I had to sacrifice some men on the second ring wall though, so it got a little hairy there...
Through it all, I've had a unit of 25 or so dismounted feudal knights that I can't retrain because of real recruitment, it's too late and they've gone out of style ;). I decided to put them on top of the gate house, as it would free up a slot that I could fill with more scots guard and would let me deep fry some assaulters as they went through the gates. The bastards lasted 4 battles, even though they were wiped out in 2 of them enough survived their wounds to fight another day!
Another fun little detail about the whole Gaza defense, is that the crusader I sent down there and stayed on as garrison commander has gone completely insane from all the failed attempts at his life the egyptians have pulled. He still has 10 stars once a battle starts though... I'll post a screen of that lunatic later, when I'm not at work :p
Hope the new year is good to you all, it's been a while since I posted actively here :/
Monk! You're doing my Norse campaign all backwards :D More please!
Cheers!
Here's what it looks like now
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/France1392.jpg
And here's the lunatic master strategist
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn143/Likaetaren/BenoittheMean.jpg
It is curious the way the fates of the nations can change, on a whim, and forever alter the destiny of the world about them. Twenty years ago the Scottish kick-started the war for britannia with their sneak attack on the city of York, and now they find themselves in Exile, the Irish have stepped up to attempt to fill the power vaccum in the isle and recently invaded Wales, and though they were forced back they still maintain a firm hold on the local strongpoints.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/Eng-map2.jpg
The English King knew that if he were to end the senseless warring among the isle, diplomacy could not be an option. He had already tried such a few short years ago, when the irish initially landed in Wales. They made outlandish demands just for a cease-fire! William was old, but he was as proud as he was in his twenties, he was not about to be bullied about by the Ireland of all kingdoms. As the northern campaigns against the Scottish came to an end and the Hero of the Scots war, Gregory Darnley, settled into Amberdeen to enjoy his well deserved retirement William knew he would need another army to deal with the Irish.
For the last fifty years the English had primarily relied on levies to form the mainstray of their armies. These willing men, farmers during the harvest months, were more than willing to fight and die for King and country. The problem lie in their battle prowess, no army that marched from Nottingham with a backbone of levy-men could survive a battle with fewer than 30% casualties, with some battles seeing English hosts decimated just to obtain victories. It was a situation that William needed to remedy, and so while the Veterens of the Scots campaign marched into Wales to contain the Irish threat and reinforce the offensive, A new type of army was being forged. A professional army.
Caernarvron. It was a mighty fortress that had exchanged hands twice already, and by the time reinforcements arrived in Wales, led by Gerald Uhtred, the local defenders were in sorry shape. The fortress was once more under siege by a massive Irish host and was in danger of being taken without hardly a fight in another year! A former cavalry commander, Uhtred served at the command of General Darnley himself in the wars of northern conquest. He was the perfect man for the job of leading the relief force.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/England21.jpg
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/england22.jpg
The Irish turned quickly to face him and Uhtred knew the battle ahead was going to be hard fought. With few men to his command, he had hoped to find reinforcements at the fortress, instead he found a ragged assortment of defenders too weary to aid in the coming battle. He attacked the irish lines head on, striking hard and quickly. The Irish had brought with them a detachment of their deadly Ridire, the heavy cavalry that had in each battle before proved deadly to the light cavalry forces of England. Still, General Uhtred was undaunted.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/england23.jpg
The two sides slammed into one another as the battle was joined, Uhtred leading the lightly armed Hobilar detachment of the English cavalry in a frontal assault on the Ridire. It was a daring move, but one that was able to stand toe to toe with the deadly force. The infantry lines hit each other amidst the field and the true battle for Caernarvron was joined, both sides not giving an inch, both sides knowing a victory here would see their Kingdom claim the lands surrounding. Uhtred and his massed cavalry won the right flank after a series of deadly charge and recharges, but his detachment had suffered heavy casualties. Yet just as he was about to turn his attention to a charge against the unprotected flank of the Irish, a rider arrived. The left flank was in danger of collapsing! A company of horsemen had flanked the English and were bearing down on the thinned out ranks of the levies!
Uhtred had no time to waste, he turned his cavalry and circled around behind his own lines, just as a group of Irish militia began to bear down on his position. Seamlessly as he fell back, the Welsh mercenary spearmen who had been in reserve moved up and engaged the flanking Irish infantry, preserving the line and holding their own.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/england24.jpg
Allowing Uhtred to lead his cavalry in a frontal assault on the main Irish Cavalry force. The charged proved to be deadly, as the lances of the English came down and the two sides crashed together, an entire unit of Ridire was slaughtered.. the rest soon turned tail and retreated. Having narrowly defeated the cavalry, the Infantry finally began to break, Uhtred pushed home and finished the job, winning the battle once and for all. But as so many times before the cost was high.
General Uhtred knew that if he did not retrieve reinforcements soon the irish would return with a greater host than that which had just been defeated. It was decided that Luitenant Ralph Clinton, the second in command during the battle, would take charge with the survivors and bolster the defenses at the fortress while Uhtred returned to Nottingham to take charge of the new force being raised there. Wales was indeed safe, for now..
In the following weeks after the battle that saw the English not only reclaim Caernarvron, but secure it, the Kingdom of Scotland was completely and utterly destroyed. Not by England, but by the French! The wars along the Northern coast of France had been Scotland's last dict effort to keep itself above water, and after three long years they had faltered and lost it all. The French, after defeating the only common rival she had with England, finally agreed to a ceasefire and a return to trading with it's neighbor across the channel. The French king stopped short of agreeing to an alliance with England, however, believing it not the right time for such a declaration to be made. Even so, for King William it was joyous news indeed.
it was 1133, and while the Irish were licking their wounds and preparing for another attack on Wales, William reached out to another enemy, Denmark. The two powers had clashed in many naval battles since the outbreak of hostilities, and many Danish and English ships now lined the bottom of the North Sea. Still, William knew what is was the Danes wanted. They wanted Scandinavia. It took nearly two solid years of negotiations between the two before some form of common ground and deal was finally found! William was reluctant to give up his hard won conquests of the North, but he knew that if he did so it would go a long way to mending his relationship with the Danes, but the price of comprimise was steep. In the end, William had to abandon all territories from Oslo and east, with the promise that no English threat would further encroach upon those lands. The diplomats managed to bargain for England to keep its holdings West of Oslo, however, and the new agreement would soon become known as the Oslo Accords. Thankfully all garrison forces were allowed safe passage home, and William knew the perfect place for them to sail.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/englandmap1135.jpg
After brief skirmishes with the Irish near Wales in 1138, Uhtred once more returned to the war torn land with a rebuilt army, it was an army much unlike the one he had commanded at the last battle of Caernarvron. This one was consisted of tough, drilled professional soldiers, levies made up the small minority and were intended for future garrison duty. Garrison Duty for Ireland that is.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/england26.jpg
Landing a few mile south of the city and near a busy port, Uhtred fixed his eyes on Dublin. He was shocked to see it so sparcely defended. Could he really have destroyed the irish in such detail that they could not afford to raise a new army? He laid siege and the following year saw to it the city was stormed and added to the growing reach of the English kingdom. But still, something wasn't right. Entrusting the Army to his second in Command, Samuel of Moray, he planned to return to the city and see to its proper occupation. But on his way to dublin he and his cavalry force walked into an ambush! Barely able to escape with his life the general retreated north, leaving Samuel to deal with the Irish.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/England28.jpg
Samuel cornered the Irish on the edge of a dense forest and marched upon their lines. Although completely unproven in his own command, he was the only man who could do the job in Ireland. As he advanced he adopted a triple line deployment. One that allowed great flexibility in his force to break up and move to put down potential threats, it was one that before now the English army was not disciplined enough to employ. The skill and discipline of the largely untested army proved too much for the Irish to handle, and without the element of surprise on their side they were quickly destroyed, leaving the way into the rest of the isle relatively clear! William's newly formed, professional army had proven itself battle worthy, surviving the fight against Ireland's best with far fewer casualties than any English army before them.
Pushing on to Galway Samuel managed to wrest control of it before any significant force could be raised to stop him, proving himself not only as a sound tactician but a fine strategic thinker, he had been battle tested and proven, just as the army had.
Having lost their primary settlements and fortresses, the Kingdom of Ireland agreed that the time for war was over. They had after a solid decade of war, lost. In 1145 it was made official, Ireland was now a client kingdom of England, the army that had seen this happen, the powerful and professional backed host, took garrison at Galway to keep an eye on the Irish and ensure they did not rise up.
King William, who was now at a practically ancient age of 72, could for the first time in many years rest easy. His court joked that maybe now that his earthly work done he could die peacefully! But they knew better, he was far too stubborn for that.
https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/englandmap1145.jpg
I of the Storm
01-26-2009, 10:14
Excellent!:2thumbsup:
Galain_Ironhide
02-02-2010, 14:22
As it seems not so long ago, thread necromancy was not being frowned upon as largely as what it once used to I thought I would give this thread a bump (Please oh great mighty FH please do not smite me!). There are some great old stories in here, plus I thought I'd give it a kick in the guts with a recollection of my current SS campaign that I posted at another forum not so long ago.
Hope you like it -
This is my current Teutonic Order Campaign at turn 94. (Black provinces with white border).
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/1313finalviewofmap.jpg
- I'm using SS6.2 RR/RC Compilation (no bgr).
- VH/VH
- Large Units
Here is a historical view of the campaign map.
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/TOGC1222TO1313.gif
The story so far...
I have been building my Eastern military forces over the last 20 turns or so preparing for the Mongol's who have just turned up on my doorstep at this very turn - they, in conjunction with Novgorod, just eliminated the Kievan Rus. I decided long ago that the city of Kiev was going to be the best defensive position to try and hold for as long as possible, as it has good defensible river crossings north and south of the city that will help bottleneck their assault.
The only other nation I am at war with is Hungary, they betrayed me so I have made it my business to make them pay with what little forces I have left in the west/south, I just recently took two of their provinces in 1 turn after a combined assault. The trickiest and probably most enjoyable of these two assaults was at Kassa, whereby over 60% of my troops were militia - and I never use militia in my offensive regiments. I took huge casualtlies in that siege however it was quite satisfying once the day was won.
As for my western neighbours, I have gone to great lengths to make sure I am allied with the more stronger factions (aside from Hungary). A war against any of these factions whilst fighting the Mongols would probably mean certain doom for me. I have alliances with France, Denmark, Norway, Venice and The Papal States (you start as allies with the Pope). I was originally intending to become the HRE's big brother and try and protect them from being annihilated, however they broke off their alliance with me and then became excommunicated. After a Crusade was called against them at Frankfurt I went to war against them and took Stettin, Prague, Wroclaw and Magdeburg. The French won the race to Frankfurt, so with the Crusading I army that raised for this crusade, I marched them deep south into HRE territory and took Bern. I then gave this to the French as a deal for an alliance - the French love me now.
My Empire is quite stretched, using RR you really feel the pinch not being able to freely recruit those elite troops every one or two turns. My biggest taste of disaster came early in the campaign when a siege against Lithuania's last province went horribly wrong. They had a full stack within their walls plus a small contingent outside the walls, so I sieged them using two stacks. After defeating the contingent outside I turned my attention to those inside, I pretty much had them beat too, however I didnt realise that I left "Timed Victories" on and due to my massive 75% casualty rate my progress was too slow, so I lost the battle when they only had 100 or so men left to kill in the city centre. As a result they recovered about 900 men that I had captured. I recovered and took the city a few turns later with a rag-tag army made up of the previous two stacks plus some other units that I rushed in.
The Almoravids (moors) have had two Successful Jihads. They took Jerusalem away from the Papal States (who I gave to the pope after the first crusade of the game - I lost my General and a lot of troops in the battle, plus I was not centering my plots on the middle east yet, so I gave the city away), then later lost it to the Fatamids. Now just recently in the last two or three turns they have just successfully taken Kermanshah (spelling) from the Mongols.
The last of my news:
- 6 Factions eliminated already at turn 96 - Kwarezm, Cumans, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Poland, Lithuania and Kievan Rus.
- Roman Empire (2 provinces), Aragon (2 provinces) and HRE (1 province) on the brink of elimination.
- Crusade under way against the Almoravids capital of Granada.
- The Mongol Empire is beginning to crumble, although they have superior military numbers they have massive unrest in all their cities and a few have rebelled. I am intending on sneaking a few armies through deep into their territories and take them when I get the chance.
- My total military might is only 13% of the size of the Mongol army.
I thought I would add a shot of the oncoming Mongol army that is stretching across Russian lands. They have about the same amount of stacks raping and pillaging the middle east too - This shot doesnt show what is already sitting next to Kiev.
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/1313mongolhorde.jpg
Some last shots at turn 94.
My army size compared to the mongols
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/1313militarymongolsvsTO.jpg
The power blocks of the campaign. - TO, Mongols, France and the Fatamids
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/1313topterritorialfactions.jpg
Finances and Overview
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/1313financialoverview.jpg https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/1313Overview.jpg
I hope to post an update of this shortly. Please share some stories about campaigns you are currently playing. Even if you can not post pictures, it would be great to hear of some tales of glory or destruction.
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