Mori Gabriel Syme
02-07-2003, 17:40
I loaded up my game last night; the year was 1230, I controlled Greece, & my 1400-man crusade was sitting in Constantinople waiting for me to hit "end turn." I did so after tidying up a few things.
The Byzantines moved half the forces in Constantinople, under command of an eight-star general, into Greece. The Egyptians moved a jihad into Constantinople, but they retreated before battle upon seeing my crusade. I handily defeated the Byzantines in Constantinople while they trounced me in Greece.
In 1231, I moved my crusade to storm the citadel & sallied my troops in Greece, intending to flee the province rather than fight or starve. The Byzantines recalled their force from Greece to relieve the capitol, however, so I reclaimed Greece without a fight. Despite my numerical superiority, the eight-star general ejected my crusade from Constantinople in a long & heartbreaking battle, including an episode of his cavalry slaughtering my spearmen & order foot in the woods.
In 1232, the 280+ men of my obviously ill-fated crusade slumped back into Constantinople to face a similar number of better-quality Byzantines, but the situation turned out to be even worse than it first appeared: the Egyptians brought not only their jihad, but also several hundred more men for a total of about 1400.
When the battle began, I immediately pulled back to a hill behind me to wait. The Egyptians looked to come my way & even sent a few cavalry, but then they turned to the Byzantines who were on a hill to my left. The Egyptians pressed the Byzantines very hard & even routed some Byz units, but then the power of the general was felt & hundreds of Egyptians fled for their lives in terror before his fearsome visage. My 2 hobilars (that's men, not units) picked off a few stragglers & returned.
When the Egyptian reinforcements arrived, the Byzantines were scattered around the map, so those reinforcements came at me. They included a lot of cavalry, so my general, being a Good Runner, made use of his talent, losing two thirds of the men. That freed my camera to move around the field however, so rather than clicking to end the battle, I decided to see how the Byzantines were faring.
I could only find one Byzantine man: the eight-star general. I found him as he rode down a unit of napalm throwers. He was like a machine. After killing most of a unit of 33 Bulgarian brigands, he charged uphill into 30 Bedouin camel warriors & killed half before they routed. I saw him take on 53 camel warriors & 8 Khwaz. cavalry. He sliced through 18 Ghulam bodyguards. Finally surrounded by 10 Ghulam bodyguards, a dozen camel warriors, a handful of saracen infantry, & 200 peasants, he died with his spurs on. It was an amazing sight
After veiwing my paultry battle stats, I clicked to return to the strategy map. The outcome of this seemed clear. The Egyptians had lost a lot of men, while the Byzantines had lost invaluable assets in its general & Constantinople. This meant I would have time to rebuild my forces in Greece before anyone could mount a serious threat to my presence in southeastern Europe. As I rhapsodized about the possibilities, I realized I could see my Windows desktop.
My autosave bore the year 1231. I went to bed.
The Byzantines moved half the forces in Constantinople, under command of an eight-star general, into Greece. The Egyptians moved a jihad into Constantinople, but they retreated before battle upon seeing my crusade. I handily defeated the Byzantines in Constantinople while they trounced me in Greece.
In 1231, I moved my crusade to storm the citadel & sallied my troops in Greece, intending to flee the province rather than fight or starve. The Byzantines recalled their force from Greece to relieve the capitol, however, so I reclaimed Greece without a fight. Despite my numerical superiority, the eight-star general ejected my crusade from Constantinople in a long & heartbreaking battle, including an episode of his cavalry slaughtering my spearmen & order foot in the woods.
In 1232, the 280+ men of my obviously ill-fated crusade slumped back into Constantinople to face a similar number of better-quality Byzantines, but the situation turned out to be even worse than it first appeared: the Egyptians brought not only their jihad, but also several hundred more men for a total of about 1400.
When the battle began, I immediately pulled back to a hill behind me to wait. The Egyptians looked to come my way & even sent a few cavalry, but then they turned to the Byzantines who were on a hill to my left. The Egyptians pressed the Byzantines very hard & even routed some Byz units, but then the power of the general was felt & hundreds of Egyptians fled for their lives in terror before his fearsome visage. My 2 hobilars (that's men, not units) picked off a few stragglers & returned.
When the Egyptian reinforcements arrived, the Byzantines were scattered around the map, so those reinforcements came at me. They included a lot of cavalry, so my general, being a Good Runner, made use of his talent, losing two thirds of the men. That freed my camera to move around the field however, so rather than clicking to end the battle, I decided to see how the Byzantines were faring.
I could only find one Byzantine man: the eight-star general. I found him as he rode down a unit of napalm throwers. He was like a machine. After killing most of a unit of 33 Bulgarian brigands, he charged uphill into 30 Bedouin camel warriors & killed half before they routed. I saw him take on 53 camel warriors & 8 Khwaz. cavalry. He sliced through 18 Ghulam bodyguards. Finally surrounded by 10 Ghulam bodyguards, a dozen camel warriors, a handful of saracen infantry, & 200 peasants, he died with his spurs on. It was an amazing sight
After veiwing my paultry battle stats, I clicked to return to the strategy map. The outcome of this seemed clear. The Egyptians had lost a lot of men, while the Byzantines had lost invaluable assets in its general & Constantinople. This meant I would have time to rebuild my forces in Greece before anyone could mount a serious threat to my presence in southeastern Europe. As I rhapsodized about the possibilities, I realized I could see my Windows desktop.
My autosave bore the year 1231. I went to bed.