Pics & History of your Empire [Archive] - Page 2

Knight Templar

10-25-2005, 09:45

My Hungairians/normal/high period/GA campiagn, although I've played it more like conquest as Hungarians don't have interesting goals at all. Before the game, I made little modifications; I made Szekelys trainable in every province, and I made crusader knights trainable for me, English, French, Sicilians (Templars), Italians (Hospitalers), Spanish and Aragonese (Ko Santiago) and HRE (Teutonics). Conditions for training were Horse Breeder's guild and Spearmaker's guild.

https://img473.imageshack.us/img473/9094/mad11td.jpg
This is the situation in the 1229. After conquering Balkan (except Constantinopole), I attacked HRE. They didn't even want to fight for their lands- I gained 4 provinces, but had only 1 battle.

https://img473.imageshack.us/img473/8758/mad21ja.jpg
Well, I conquered HRE except Provance, and now I'm preparing to attack French; as you can see, my economy isn't working and I need rich provinces like Flanders. Sicilians used the fact that I have no navy and started to attack Croatia by sea.

https://img498.imageshack.us/img498/4209/mad32ty.jpg
I conquered French Europeian lands, however they are still strong in Africa and Asia. In meantime, Turkish attacked me, so I took Constantinopole from them (another rich province) and bribed rebel army in Trebizond (there was civil war in Egypt).
Interesting to note, GH got England by marriage; in 3 years, this is the first time I see someone took a profite from marrying his prince to foreign princess.

https://img498.imageshack.us/img498/4155/mad42gn.jpg
By the 1275, I was just about to attack Italians, when I got message his king died heirless. Of course, I use this opportunity to gain 6 of their provinces with little fight.:charge: I also bribed army in Sweden hoping to conquer Scandinavia later. In Minor Asia, I eliminated the Turkish. English reappeared and took their homelands from GH.

https://img498.imageshack.us/img498/421/mad55qf.jpg
Damn Italians reappeared taking 8 provninces including Sweden. Another big army to deal with. I'm in war with English (got Wessek, lost Friesland), Egys, reappeared Turkish (in one moment they even held Constantinople) and Byzs (tried to conquer Nicaea). I dealed with Sicilians: my spies initiated rebellion on Malta and I bribed the rebel army, and I invaded Naples by sea (my navy got stronger).

https://img498.imageshack.us/img498/7007/mad68gq.jpg
My war against Turkish (soon will be eliminated), Egys and English goes well. However, I didn't leave lots of army in Europe, so Pope thought I was weak and invaded Venice (taken back soon). To be revenged...:knight:

https://img473.imageshack.us/img473/5025/mad70pp.jpg
I expelled English from Britain, they remained on Ireland. Asy ou can see, I have problems with Italians (who attacked me) and English royalists. War with Egys goes excellent. My spies caused rebellions in Denmark and Sweden (stupis Italians didn't build BF). I bribed rebel army in Denmark. I revenged the Pope.:charge:
I was also working on eliminating Polish (althought I'm not in war with them yet) by killing they heirs. My v5 grand inquisitor killed two sons of their king. He only has his brothers now as his heirs, so I thought I succeeded.

https://img454.imageshack.us/img454/7360/mad82pr.jpg
And here it is, 60 % victory. ~:cheers: ~:cheers: Egyptians are eliminated, Corsica and Sardinia conquered. I was so angry my plan with Polish didn't work (in the year the latest brother died, they got new 16-year old king), so I attacked them conquering 4 regions (Poland, Saxony, Silesia and Bragdenburg) in one year.
As picture shows, I worked on my agents (especially inquisitors).

miho

10-25-2005, 12:22

Nice work knight templar. How come you didn't have any cash in your treasury? You should have attacked the Middle East first because they're much more wealthier than central Europe.

dgfred

10-25-2005, 16:32

Excellent K T ! ~:cheers: Thanks for the pics ~:cool: . Great (spy,etc)

network.

Very interesting with the Horde in England ~:eek: , never seen that either.

Are you going to keep going or try a new game? ~:confused:

NodachiSam

10-26-2005, 01:08

Nice empire building Templar. That is one very screwed up map of Europe with Italy having norway and Egypt and the horde at one point having england.

Knight Templar

10-26-2005, 19:29

Thanks for compliments ~:)

Nice work knight templar. How come you didn't have any cash in your treasury? You should have attacked the Middle East first because they're much more wealthier than central Europe.

I felt I was not strong enough to attack Egypt.

@dgfred: No, I stop at 60%

Ciaran

10-30-2005, 20:03

Since I finished my HRE game, I might post some pics showing the development and rulers of my empire:

(https://img440.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1225ottoiv9iy.jpg)
In 1225 things are still as they started in 1205, for most of the part.

[img=https://img185.imageshack.us/img185/7684/1243ottov3eb.th.jpg] (https://img185.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1243ottov3eb.jpg)
A new man has taken over, the Horde has arrived, almost killing off the Polish, and the Italians were so foolish as to go to war with both me and Hungary. They are pushed from the continent and shall remain on Sardinia for the rest of the game. England and France are happily engaged in war.

[IMG]https://img387.imageshack.us/img387/2431/1284conradiii9wl.th.jpg (https://img387.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1284conradiii9wl.jpg)
France and England have swapped locations, the French insisted on going to war with the Danes as well and look where it got them. The Horde´s conquering its way through Russia, Hungary is busy at empire-building - they already are the strongest power around and myself, I´m picking the odd rebellious province, not making much in the way of progress.

(https://img415.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1291conradiii5nj.jpg)
1291, the year of the big revolutions. Provinces of England, France and myself went to revolt in this year. While the loss of the baltic province wasn´t all that much in the way of a loss to me, the revolting english and French provinces that went revolting proved excellent opportunities to expand my empire without upsetting anyone, apart from the rebels, maybe.

[img=https://img383.imageshack.us/img383/2240/1356ludwigiv0ej.th.jpg] (https://img383.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1356ludwigiv0ej.jpg)
Fifty-odd years and a war with the Danes later, the latter are anihilated, leading to a re-emergence of the French on the fair island of Ireland with nothing but an inn as infrastructure. Needless to say they would not play an important role again. The Horde has crumbled, too (not my fault, this time), leaving me Russia to conquer.

[IMG]https://img438.imageshack.us/img438/1038/1398lothariv5wq.th.jpg (https://img438.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1398lothariv5wq.jpg)
1398, the last year of peace between the two largest realms in the known world: Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire. At this time, Hungary rules all the land from Poland to Arabia.

(https://img438.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1409adolfi1qc.jpg)
Only eight years later, nothing is left of Hungary. Not their arms and armies, but their royal bloodline proved the weak spot. In the final battle, the Hungarian King and Emperor Lothar IV killed each other - it was indeed in the clash between their respective units that both rulers were killed. However, Lothar had in Adolf I an able heir left, the Hungarians did not have one. Their downfall led to several faction re-emergences, Poland and Russia being only two of them.

[IMG]https://img449.imageshack.us/img449/9751/1435adolfi9ku.th.jpg (https://img449.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1435adolfi9ku.jpg)
Adolf I´s reign was dominated by the conquest of the western European continent and several crusades against the Almohads, but also a border skirmish with the papal states, disputing over the ownership of the rich trading capital of Venice. The picture above is the last of the living Emperor Adolf I, he died the same year, being followed on the Throne by Hermann II, last Emperor of medieval Germany.

Martok

10-30-2005, 21:38

Nice game, Ciaran! That was a pretty spectacular collapse on the part of the Hungarians; way to hit them where it hurts. ~:cheers:

Ciaran

10-31-2005, 11:06

Thanks. The Hungarian end was pretty - abrupt, I never thought they only had one heir and would even send him into battle after he was made king. I was preparing for the German-Hungarian version of the Hundred Years War and was rather sure to be on the losing end.

I just don´t get why there are some thumpnails displayed and sometimes only the link appears ~:confused:

Mithrandir

10-31-2005, 13:03

I just don´t get why there are some thumpnails displayed and sometimes only the link appears ~:confused:

Hello Ciaran,

to post an image you need to enclose the link of the image in these tags :

To link the image to another image use these tags:

[url= ][/url ]

-Mithrandir.

miho

10-31-2005, 18:12

I have a question. How do you put images in my posts? If to put an image its very small. Like this:
https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/miho86/00000008.jpg

Why is it so small? Its jpg and 500kb large.

miho

10-31-2005, 18:14

Never mind.I figured it out images over 250 kb are automatically resised in photobucket. I'll try imageshack now.

Ciaran

11-01-2005, 11:57

Mithrandir: Imageshack provides with complete entries for thumpnail posting when uploading pictures, I just copied them into here.

NodachiSam

11-20-2005, 07:25

(I sincerly hope that the images in this post won't bog you guys down, because it is MASSIVELY IMAGE HEAVY) I promise next time to find a way to make the pictures thumbnails.

As promised (at least indirectly) here is my HRE campaign, completed.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1210.jpg
year 1210
Such sweet memories from long ago, when Emporer and Pope saw eye to eye. The HRE took all the Polish territories in one year as well promeria and prussia were also annexed into glorious holy roman empire.:duel: We are told they were overjoyed to now be ruled by pious, wise and gentle leaders. The following rebellions were merely caused by fringe groups financed from outside sources, probably the Italians.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1222.jpg
year 1222
A succesful German crusade takes Greece, german subjects now can find feta cheese in their market places.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1228.jpg
year 1228
Many years later little has changed except the Alhomods, hungarians and russians have gained some land.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1232.jpg
year 1232
Finally the northern Italian lords were brought to heel. They're disregard for the Emperor's authority has ended however their self proclaimed king still has holdings elsewhere. Also significant is the capture of croatia and hungary.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1236.jpg
year 1236
The dastardly Sicilians have stolen Greece, which was crusaded for so many years ago. It would be 5 decades before it would be reclaimed, after Sicily itself was taken. Aswell the barbaric mongols for the first time share a border with the HRE. It is an uneasy time for the empire.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1241.jpg
year 1241
The horde briefly gets hold of Syria and begins a slow decline as it is pushed further north over the coming century.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1254.jpg
year 1254
French success brings about an english civil war, essentially sending the english kingdom into decline. The pope is also attacked and crushed. A questionable war but it is very quickly resolved. The attacked was justified by claimed that the Pope who was turely supposed to rule rome in trust of the emporer and was refusing to acknowledge the Emporer's earlthy right to rule. However questionable this claim it was accepted by most HRE bishops and a new papacy was setup in Venice at the massive Cathedral there. The emporer wisely avoided having to deal with the anti German Roman aristocracy that always seemed to have such a large hand in past papal politics. A group of opportunist cardinals joined the new papacy giving some legitimacy to it.
However a very large group of cardinals and others who had lost much status squirlled away resources and prepared for a ressurgance many years later also supposedly financially assisted by those Christian kingdoms who opposed the HRE.
Toulouse was also aquired.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1260.jpg
year 1260
By this point the pagan mongols have been pushed back from the good christians. Disturbingly, the mohammadian turks have grown powerful and now share a lot of border with the HRE replacing the pagans that inspired great speaches by priests and bishops. In the western parts of the empire there is not too much concern but the east is highly uneasy setting the groundwork for many future crusades that would start in bohemia and go south east.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1273.jpg
year 1273
The Danes invade Saxony, which is an embarrasment for the Emperor, a situation that would be fully rectified within two decades time.

As a sort of counterbalace to that humiliating loss, the long time enemies the Hungarians have finally been defeated.

Rudolf the seconds reign certainly was interesting. In the next decade the Turkish wars would begin and last for over a century. To the virtue of the empire in the eyes of future historians the empire is for once, with the exception of the Danish hostility, not the starter of the war. The Turks attack the newly annexed exhungarian provinces.

A new rogue Papacy tries establish itself. Worried by the success of RudolfII several parties secretly fund the rebel pope and many declare allegience to this pope. Some of the old cardinals and rich atni german roman aristocrats are believed to be involved. This betrayal of the emporer angers him greatly but he is prusuaded not to crush the Pope. Relations are very poor with the new Papacy though. Future emporer's regularily ignored the Pope. The city of Rome was also plundered to punish the rebels and the cathedral in Venice was fabulously furbished and the palace in Bavaria too. The rebels cardinals were regularily found guilty of heresy by HRE agents.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1287.jpg
year 1287
France was my long time ally but they chose to ally with an enemy and eventually were excommunicated so they were crusaded against to allow the French to be ruled by true catholics. Ironically many emporer's in future and past decades were excommunicated themselves. The empire makes many gains in the west. Many scholars and aristocrats make references to the empire of Charlamagne, claiming that it is the HRE's destiny to regain those lands.

This is the year that that Rudolf the second, now refered to as Rudolf the great, took the holy city of constantinople. After a few fierce battles Turkish power was finally broken though German power could not expand too far into aisian minor without dangerously overextending itself so time was spent in consolidation.

The duke of sicily in convinced to join the empire. The emporer publicly praises their rationality, stating, such intelligence is rare among non-germans. That year and the following many decades German offers of alliance and truces are unfailingly rejected.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1296.jpg
year 1296
Greece is finally retaken finally. Western france and Sussex are attained. This is a period of great prosperity and optomism (at least for the ruling class) in HRE history.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HREDiplomacy1308.jpg
year 1308
Germany's enemies pretty much include everyone who has ever shared a border with them. The French to some extent however have some right to be mad since they were attacked first, as opposed to most of the others.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1313.jpg
year 1313
Expansion into Turk lands occured in this decade. Kiev, that piece of land in the northern Baltic,Trebezond, and Nicea were taken to further hinder the Turks and to take vital ports that allowed for the troublesome sea invasions previous. In a few years time, Anatolia and Rum were also taken.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1329.jpg
year 1329
At this point the spanish have become intolerable and can no longer be ingnored. The HRE has never attacked them yet the continue to attack insist on war while neglecting the much more threatening Egyptian forces eating at their southern provinces. They too have refused any sort of peace. The German nobility will not stand for this and begin to formulate capturing Iberia in their future plans... to save the Spanish peasants of course.

The false Roman Empire (from HRE perspective of course) and the French, in their warlikeness, invaded and occupied Nicea for over two years. The initial counter attack was unsuccessful but the second one was much more devasting to the Emperor's foes.

Also of note is the Turkish civil war, which further serves to weaken their empire.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1332.jpg
year 1332
This idiocy is not welcome, notice how Corboda has no a single soldier to fight off the very aggressive Egyptians.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/afterspanishcivilwar.jpg
year 1340

A Spanish civil war breaks out and Corboda and Portugal gain independance hough Corbode is recaptured. The Egyptians take adavantage of the weakened Spandiards as does the Holy Roman Emperor choose to make his move. With great fortune, the Pope has FINALY allowed the Germans to crusade against the Egyptians. ~:cheers: :charge: ... even though technically the pope is at war with the empire. Many cursades were launched and the pope's money was given to one of theheavily indepted Catholic island kings.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1361a.jpg
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1361b.jpg
Year 1361

This is an important year for the empire. Firstly a massive invasion was launched on Iberia and also the Turkish lands. Lesser Armenia was crushed denying the turks their original homeland.
Things were not too great for the HRE as their expenses have for years now been greater than their income. New conquests and the streamlining of the military in next year would correct this but it was embarrasing for the sitting emporer.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1362.jpg
Year 1362

The Emporer's influence jumps incredibly with such a succesful conquest. The new optimism and pride takes hold adding to already massive egos. There is much talk about recreating the old Roman empire. Many now seriously consider it a possibility whereas nearly two centuries ago few would take such dreams seriously.

Adding to this belief the Egyptian looses several provinces to a civil war.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1368.jpg
Year 1368. The Egyptian Empire continues to deteriorate, few forsee the events over the next two years.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1370.jpg
Year 1370
Where as the Egyptians had generally been considered a kingdom in decline a few years ago fear of Egypt grew exponentially surprising many except the spy masters. The Emporer was heavily criticized for not taking the opportunity to take the smaller independant kingdoms when he had the chance without starting a war with the muslim kingdom.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1382.jpg
Year 1382

The 3rd HRE crusade soon reached Edessa's border. Most knew that the neutrality was purely nominal. The crusade was perhaps, thanks to zealous intolerant assasination of all egyptian agents, a unconfirmed rumour to the Egyptian lords. They already had already prepared. Much innocent blood would be spilt.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/hre1399.jpg
Year 1398
The Roman citizens have taken up arms against the pontificate to the great amusement of the Germans. At first the Pope is rescued but later

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1407.jpg
Year 1407

Though the war was relatively long and costly the conclusion was unsurprising, especially for the cocky german lords. The victories were seen as divinely predetermined. More secular scholars would attribute the victory to vastly suprior army size and quality backed by a much more massive economy.

Also of note was that the corsicans gained their independance, largely attributed to inquisitional attrition. A Spanish royal line had been established in Algeria. The Cryptiots also joined the empire.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1449.jpg
Year 1449
Finally the mostly peaceful Spanish Algerian dynasty was brought to a catastrophic demise. If the imperial declarations were to be believed, the attack was a critically defensive action aimed at bringing peace to the mediteranean by gently crushing a great danger.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/HRE1451.jpg
Year 1451
Within a few decades the entirety of the mediteranean belonged to the HRE with the exception of the four island kingdoms of Sardinia, Malta, Crete, and Rhodes who were spared for their long time neutrality and also trading purposes. Finally the Roman empire, with the exception of said island kingdoms, was recreated and even larger than the original by the descendants of the very tribes of the poeple who greatly helped contribut to its original downfall.

Emporere Herrmann was not unaware of what he had completed, in fact he made sure to put a scultural portrait of himself in nearly every government institution. He did not precisely admit he was not the most important leader, and saw himself on terms with Rudolf the Second. Regardless he knew that his descendants would need to be strong to withstand the sands of time.

miho

11-20-2005, 12:33

Very nice NodachiSam. Too bad you couldn't go for the total domination. I haven't seen many ships in the screenies. You obviously didn't have much trade income.

Patron

11-20-2005, 18:46

Oh wow lol

That's very extensive Nodachi and it lasted over 250 years. It's nice to see someone play a game without a 30000 florin a year income and a global navy, it also has nice personal touches. I think I might start a German 1205 campaign.

Knight Templar

11-21-2005, 22:35

Great empire, NodachiSam. And very, very nice army attacking Algeria in 1449 :charge: . BTW, How did you mod ports ~:confused:

Patron

11-22-2005, 19:43

https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/asdasdasd2/ottoiv1215.jpg

I started my German campaign and this is year 10 in Otto IV's reign. I micromanaged to start off and managed to increase yearly florin yields by 1300 and then up to 2000 after I finnished building watchtowers and border forts. I spent some excess on as many advanced troops as I could build, in particular militia seargants and swiss halbs. I then invaded Poland, and scaring the Polish into Silesia at 1209 and the pope threatenned to excommunicate me if I attacked again. So I fortified the 3 provinces around Silesia and marched the rest of my troops across Germany after determinning France as the next most profitable venture. By this time I was getting some cash in and could spend on some feudal knights and a few mercenaries. My army was still small however so I concentrated my forces on northern France, luckily the French abandonned Paris and fled to Normandy allowing me to occupy the fortifications. Next year I sent some forces into Flanders, scaring the garrison into Ghent, though the French decided to march their entire army from Normandy into Paris to try and retake their capitol, so I garrisonned my troops there. Fresh troops had just arrived in Burgundy so I had to strength to repel the French liberation force, I also sent some troops from Flanders to occupy normandy so the French had no where to flee or withdraw to depending on how they chose to combat my superior forces. The rest is history.

dgfred

11-22-2005, 21:23

Nice fightin' Patron ~:cheers: . Venice looks kind of tempting too ~;) .

NodachiSam

11-23-2005, 01:14

Thanks for the comments, glad you guys enjoyed it.

Great empire, NodachiSam. And very, very nice army attacking Algeria in 1449 :charge: . BTW, How did you mod ports ~:confused:

The ports are actually a bug as another mod overwrote the original ports.

Very nice empire building so far Patron, very aggressive ~:cheers: I was lucky when I invaded poland in that they fled both provinces, hehe. Are the Italians next?

Patron

11-23-2005, 21:03

Shortly after the last pic I invaded toulouse and put young prince and heir Otto in charge, for some reason the French surrenderred without a fight. All 700 of them were held prisonner awaiting execution, when an emissary from landed in the mediteranean and gallopped to Toulouse with the promise of ransom. Fearing some sort of trick Prince Otto orderred his men at arms to begin putting swords to the hamstrings of the captives, but was later informed that the French may have conquerred some island in the mediteranean and we know nothing of it due to our emphasis on military rather than diplomatic intelligence. A ransom of 12000 florins was duely paid. So ended the French threat, for all practical purposes.

https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/asdasdasd2/ottoiv1221.jpg

Troops were moved into Toulouse to help enforce law and order, however the deceitful English, paranoidly fearing that they were next orderred a pre-emptive attack on Burgundy and Normandy. This came a quite a shock to the Germans as for decades their homelands had never been trespassed apon, the horrors of war were at their doorstep, the rape, pillage and injustice on full show for the Burgundian people. However the retaliation was swift and devastating. Some of the French King's ransom had been used to employ fearsome cavalry from the east who were eager for glory in these rich lands and crossed the channel forcing the peasants there to retreat into London, the Army in Toulouse decided to split into 2 parts, one would lift the siege at Burgundy and the other would invade Anjou, thus sealing them deep within German territory as had been done with the French several years before.

The tides turned very quickly and the English panicked. Their invasion force had completely dissapeared, the Germans had landed on Britain and had gained major strategic gains in the centre of France. The invasion force in Normandy and seemingly the English in Wales broke their ties to the King in Brittany, however the English remained strong on the Atlantic coast. Prince Otto took Aquitaine easily and laid siege to Bordeaux, however his brother was ambushed whilst marching on Brittany and his army was routed. However by now the situation for the English was dire, Prince Otto attacked from the south with a retinue of elite swiss halberdiers and 2 units of feudal knights and managed to kill King John I in battle.

At the moment my armies are mainting control over these lands that have been taken and the imperial coffers are experiencing a crisis considerring the expense of the war, however it is still managing to squeeze out enough to fund the emperor's plans for a fleet. The Pope has orderred an end to hostilities against the English and a withdraw from Aquitaine within 2 years if they cannot lift the siege, for long the Papacy has watched the Germans and attempted to curb their power, but through intrigue they have managed to circumvent many of the restrictions placed on them. There is currently a rebellion in Aquitaine, but if I can defeat them all or lift the siege next year I will be in an excellent position to gain more strategic lands in the east and in Italy to secure my borders.

miho

11-23-2005, 22:04

Nice. At what period did you start playing?

dgfred

11-23-2005, 22:14

Nice. At what period did you start playing?

I think he posted before that it was a 1215 (or so) HRE campaign start, but
I am not positive on that.

DukeofSerbia

11-28-2005, 18:37

DANISH FLEET!!! :jawdrop:

https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/5610/srbijaverovaliiline5ak.jpg

DukeofSerbia

11-28-2005, 18:43

Cruseders vs Jihad army in Byzantium territory (Constantinopoles)... :duel:

https://img307.imageshack.us/img307/3862/almoravididzihadikrstasi6fx.jpg

The Wizard

11-28-2005, 18:52

That fleet ~:eek:

Graphic

11-28-2005, 19:25

lugh

11-29-2005, 12:15

Ouch! Looks like 3 faction re-emergences and a civil war/uprising?

Graphic

11-29-2005, 18:31

Sicilia

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/ubersoldat/sicily.jpg

Just finished off the Spanish and now I'm wondering what to do next. Egypt is getting very big and their homelands are undergarrisoned. I'll think I'll beef up my Euro boarders and then take over the Middle East.

NodachiSam

11-29-2005, 22:55

DANISH FLEET!!! :jawdrop:

https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/5610/srbijaverovaliiline5ak.jpg

~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek:

Nice empires so far guys :)

Patron: Did you reach 60% with your game?

Patron

11-29-2005, 23:56

I'm not finnished. I've played lots of campaigns before and I'm going to play this one lightly over a period of time.

By 1223 the Germans had laid claim to all of France and Poland as lawless conquerors. Emperor Otto IV died a few years later for all practical purposes handing state power over to his son after the last of the English were rid from France. most of the French and English nobility were left intact, but the 2 crowns had almost dissapeared, the Germans don't know where they are, however the English navy is strong and King John II the dim led a suicide attack on Normandy. The king and a mere 20 knights suprised the garrison of urban milita and spearmen who tracked the knights and lured them into battle in a forest. The knights fought bravely and managed to slay 10 times their weight in men, but they were all killed. This act of stupidity combined with the French high aristocracy's flight to some unknown destination in the mediterranean caused a seemless transference of power to Emperor Otto V after his father's death in France.

There were uprisings in the east however. A large band of German bandits in Silesia was put down by the army which had destroyed the last of the Poles.

https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/asdasdasd2/ottoIV1228.jpg

Otto V is decidedly Franko-German now, having spent much of his adult life fighting against the English and being crowned in Notre Dame, he governed the 2 countries from Burgundy which had been the strategic clinch point during the war and continued the project of building a fleet left by his father using the small surplus his militaristic empire could yield. During the short 2 years of peace (1224-1226) the borders with the empire's hostile neighbours had been fortified with Germany's formidable forces and much of the elite had musterred in Burgundy and Provence for another lawless invasion. The invaders of Milan withdrew due to the unexpected movement of the reputed Italian infantry from Venice and the invaders of Genoa forced the Italians into retreat. In the same year uprisings in Lorraine and Normandy occurred and the King moved north from Burgundy for the sport of killing the 120 odd peasant archers who has claimed the large swathes of land for themselves, in his haste however he neglected to send forces into Normandy to quell the uprising.

Later that year reinforcements from Tyrolia coupled with the Milan invasion force forced the Italians to give up and retreated back to Venice or into Milan and the Italians attacked the Genoan invasion force besieging Genoa. The Italian army consisted entirely of Infantry and the German cavalry managed to skirmish heavily, split the army in 2 and flank the 2 segments with the help of 120 feudal men at arms. No Italians returned to Genoa.

Graphic

11-30-2005, 02:17

Next campaign, I'm upping the troop size. Battles with default sizes are pretty underwhelming.

dgfred

11-30-2005, 16:27

That fleet ~:eek:

That is the most ships I have ever seen in a game :jawdrop: . Wow, that
is some serious florins.

miho

11-30-2005, 16:50

Wow. Thats a lot of ships. The Italians have had a few full stacks in my games but this is unbelievable. Is it all they've got or they have more in other seas?

miho

11-30-2005, 17:30

What in god's name is happening in this picture !? ~:eek:
I had a massive rebellion and a civil war in the same time. Lost about 70% of my provinces in a turn.

Patron

11-30-2005, 20:38

How long did the danes spend building ships?

It has been 10 years since any major conflict and things are beginning to heat up again. Many have attempted to take advantage of Germany's thinly spread forces including an austrian royal family, but have all been put to justice, most considerred the war to be over until the invasion of Italy. Otto has confirmed rumours he first heard from mercenary horsemen from the east of a huge empire spanning steppes no christian has ever reached.

https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/asdasdasd2/OttoV1230.jpg

The war in Italy is proving difficult, but Charlemagne's territories have been restored and German is finally putting more weight on it's borders. There are currently 5 sorties underway which need assisstance, in Britain, the Pyrenees, Northern Italy, Denmark and Pomerania. These are complicated times indeed.

The Germans considerred the Aragonese to be a tough well developped mountain nation which still existed due to it's impenetratable defenses, however the King of Aragon thought the opposite of Germany and paid for it with his life when he stupidly invaded a Aquitaine and it's battle hardenned garrison of elite knights and swiss halberdiers, he charged uphill into a forest only to be greeted with falling blades. One of his princes escaped, but no one knows what happenned to him as it appears Aragon is now leaderless. The Garrison of Toulouse and Aquitaine are now organizing an invasion to capitalise one the situation, restore order and justice to Aragon and retaliate.

The Pomeranians unexpectedly invaded Poland, Germany has been unable to deal with these troublesome pagans for decades and Otto has expressed his will to secure Germany's long eastern borders within his lifetime. He has not been criticsed for neglect due to his obvious desire to secure Germany's borders as a whole.

The war of intrigue in England is over, Germany managed to polarise the fragmented Britons to her favour, short of reaching for her sword. The German navy rules supreme over the North sea and the pope seems to have forgotten the existence of the English, possibly due to more pressing worries. The opposing Welsh nobility were overwhelmed by the German defectors and slaughterred and their peasants have fled and now hide somewhere to the north. Robin of Locksley was unable to defeat the shire referee of Nottingham, but luckily fled to Wales and swore fealty to it's prince before the prince joined the empire.

The Danes have shown their dark side as pirates and attempted to sent find German sailors to a watery grave in the freezing North Sea. They failed, as has their relations with the empire and Germany now sees reason to keep a large garrison in Saxony.

The war in Italy has seen some terrible losses on both sides: 600 or so italian infantry, 240 crossbowmen and a prince were killed in an attempt to lift the siege at Milan; 600 Bohemian feudal seargants, 200 spearmen and 120 urban milita were killed or routed in an attempt to drive the Italians into Venice. The Italians are desperate to prove they can hold their own as they have always done, but their reputed infantry cannot compete with Germany's elite men at arms and it's heavy cavalry. Italian rebels have musterred in Tuscany and forced a "retreat", into Venice, along with more reinforcements from the heartlands. It is only a matter of time until Venice is under siege. However the Tuscan rebels and Italian navy will still have to be dealt with. The war with Italy has been predicted to last more than a decade, or more if the pope has the nerve to threaten excommunication during the siege of Venice.

https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/asdasdasd2/ottov1232.jpg

The German military is now a large unified loyal force, bound to their leader by the fact the military and social elite voted him into power in the first place. The recently raised nobility care not for honour, but the nobility's ties to Otto and his father have ensured the law of Germany, regardless of hte law of the pope or other nations. No longer are wars fought to "rightfully" put an 8 year old puppet into some obscure position of Marquis, the Otto now excuses wars by claiming that the means justify the ends, that securing borders through apparent injustice will prevent years of war and are in fact just. It could also be said that Otto respects the tradition of election and is a more just governor than other Kings, but he uses martial law to tax his subjects to the hilt and tortures and executes without whim as any other King.

NodachiSam

12-02-2005, 05:24

Nice empire so far Patron. Good luck with the Italians :charge:

Patron

12-04-2005, 05:34

https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/asdasdasd2/OttoV1240.jpg

I consider the elimination of the Italians as a turning point, with their navy gone Germany is finally in a position to dominate the mediteranean and free from the plague of piracy. There are also many rational figures making their appearance within Germany's strong borders, Albertus Magnus has been ordained Bishop in Aquitaine and is currently converting the Pomeranian and Prussian pagans to Catholicism and Roger Bacon is publishing his works in Wessex. Though Albertus has yet to make his contribution to philosophical history. Churches are springing up across France, Germany and Northern Italy, Otto is turning into a fine king, carefully negotiating with his conquerred populations in order to extract tax, but not force them into poverty and only promoting pious and intelligent governors into their position.
His military skills have only improved, the huge Spanish, Danish and Hungarian armies dare not tread on German land. From Burgundy and with talks with the pope (and 3500 florins) he has organized a crusade to venture east, through Hungary and to the pagan city of Kiev, which has thus far inspired 1500 followers of mainly medium infantry and a number of pavise arbalesters, a unit of strategic value that the German armies lack.

The War in Italy was less bloody on the part of the Germans than was expected. The Tuscan rebels and Venetian garrison, despite their up to date arms were slaughterred by the professional, competent and hardenned German army, in both cases using the heavy skirmishing strategy to confuse and seperate Italian forces enabling the infantry to hold them in position and face being surrounded. There was no siege of Venice or threat of excommunication, the pope used the threat to avert war against the Danes. Relations improved quickly after this threat and a cease fire was signed. Venice was abandonned by the Germans so the army could eliminate the Tuscans, but Prince Konrad had other ideas, he remained on the border in secret with his retinue of elite knights and 20 veteran mounted crossbowmen, when his spies reported the few remaining venetians had ventured out from their citadel, he rode to intercept and managed to pick them off one by one before finally surrounding and killing the Italian king. He picked up the Italian flag, shut his visor, marched straight into Venice and had a personal talk with the mayor of the broken city.

Though somehow the Italian line remained unbroken and they reverted to a war of piracy from Sardinia. Their navy's power seemed to stretch all the way to the North sea preventing any trade and threatenning the southern coast of France. Though Germany had several ships on the coast of Genoa and Otto orderred the Venetian ship builders guild to accept god's will and construct German ships. There were a few years of peace, whereby Germany fought a war of attrition against the Italian pirates and trained troops to invade those annoying Pomeranians and many of the other feats already mentionned. In 1237 A small force of 60 elite chivalric men at arms from Genoa disappointingly drove 300 Italian peasants from Corsica and much to their suprise, scouts reported they could not find the Italian Monarch anywhere in Sardinia. When this was reported to Otto, he feared wasting any more time dealing with the immense Italian navy and some island in the mediteranean where the Pirate King they protected dwelled and orderred his finest emmisary to find the Italian Pirate King and offer a ceasefire, after a famous discussion between 2 very experienced diplomats, Eschenbach succeeded in revealing that the Pirate King was in Greece. A few years later fine Venetian Caravels filled the Adriatic and Prince Conrad and a band of very impetuous swiss halberdiers left for Greece to rid Germany of this plague and usher in what may well be a rennaissance.

Eschenbach was later instrumental in convincing the Pomeranian warlord to convert to "catholicism", thus speeding up the process of getting the small numbers of fresh German troops into Lithuania without those violent pagan peasants being a thorn in their side.

Patron

12-11-2005, 11:53

The Rennaissance is underway, German empire has found a new life blood, a powerful state funded navy, that circumvents the less advanced Barques and Galleys of lower nations. Otto V is now as famous and influential as his father in his final years and has reserved himself a place in the history books. Venice and several provinces on the coast of the North sea and English channel are now producing military caravels to patrol the seas from the Baltic to the Aegean. From Venice to Prussia. For now Prussia is part of the christian world. The German army is not at a stalemate, the borders with the mighty Hungarian and Spanish kingdoms are secure, but Germany has excess military resources which it has donated to the furtherance of Catholicism. Though not officially sanctionned by the Pope, this doesn't really matter, seeing as it is a war against pagans and considerring Germany's reputation quite frankly no one cares. The pagans were wedged between the Mongol and German empires, the Prussians fled to Volhynia knowing that the German army would have to leave the warlord of Pomerania to quell the populace whilst the German army under prince Ludwig would have to invade alone. The German empire however has been training troops from all over it's lands and sending them east to aid in the war and several knights and some infantry bolsterred the small group of elites. The German infantry engaged in a savage melee with the hoardes of Slavic warriors, who fought bravely to do what they can against the better equipped, armoured and trained men at arms, until their rear ranks were lanced by 240 feudal knights. Otto V hasn't mentionned it, but he now realises that the Mongols did not destroy the pagans, but scare them to the borders with Germany, which explains their invasion of Poland all those years before (by the warlord of Pomerania who oddly conerted to catholicism).

The speed at which Germany subjugated the pagans was phenomenal, taking 1 province each year and send forces to conquer the next the year after, often leaving troops behind to besiege them and the pace continued as a year after the invasion of Volhynia Prince Ludwig and his knights and elite men at arms met up with the crusaders and prepared to attack the mongol garrison there.

https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/asdasdasd2/battleofkievottov.jpg

organize themselves, march in front of the shield wall and begin returning fire inflicting heavy casualties apon the unarmoured horse archers. The shield wall led quite a distance from a slope curving down to the lake bed on it's right, preventing the mongol force from flanking on that side without splitting their smaller army in 2, thus allowing Ludwig and his knights to double the strength on the left flank. Fearing that the knights would charge into the horse archers and continue charging until they could no longer be supported by the infantry, Ludwig orderred the polish mounted seargants to attempt to scare some of the horse archers, who had distanced themselves from the mongol heavy cavalry, further away from the heavy cavalry. The sergeants did their duty, and charged into a numerically superior mass of horse archers, they managed to split some of the horse archers from the main body of horsemen and began chasing them away from the mongol heavy cavalry who did not respond still waiting for their horse archers to win a ranged contest against the thick ranks of pavise arbalesters. Ludwig then sent 80 knights to kill off the seperated and fleeing group of horse archers, unfortunately this episode cost the lives of over half of the sergeants. Their sacrifice was not in vain however. Seeing his horse archers being slaughterred on all fronts and fearing the effectiveness of the german army at close combat, the Mongol General began a withdrawal. Ludwig rode amongst his knights urging them not to give chase. Instead the infantry were organised into an advancing line and the knights kept snuggly on the flanks where they proceeded to march to Kiev. The Germans had won the calculated face off, but could have inflicted more casualties and whether this will be indicative of the rest of the war is uncertain. With Kiev however the Germans are in a strong strategic position to raid many of the Mongol strongholds scatterred across the steppes and keep them at bay whilst they achieve further conquests and glory.

https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/asdasdasd2/ottov1243.jpg

NodachiSam

12-13-2005, 07:27

Pff, no coments?
I like your empire so far. Its good to see the Italians submit to their rightful emporer :) I suggest and hope that you show the hungarians the brunt of your power and also Take Constantinople. I would crusade to Constantinople and suck up some of the Hungarian forces beforehand though.

At that point you'll have a very respectable kingdom, in fact, you already do but I mean more so :)

miho

12-13-2005, 17:17

He already has a crusade marching towards the Horde. You could try bribing the army in Cons.

Patron

12-13-2005, 20:23

I have another crusade started, heading for Volga Bulgaria. At the moment I'm pushing my troops too far and they are spread thin, but I should have my trade routes up and running after a while. The Mongol armies are large, but I recently slaughterred a Mongol army in Khazar using some proffessional troops. However they invaded Prussia and slaughterred the warlord of pomerania's 1000 or so slav javelinmen and warrios with the loss of 150 heavy cavalry.

The attack on Khazar however was text book, with my protected arbalesters doing a lot of damage. They fled again, abandonning their foot soldiers, thus allowing my knights to have some fun.. I now have 2 major strategic clinch points in the far eastern europe theatre. I had hoped to raid a few weakly defend points along Mongolia's stretched borders, but there are a lot of them and it looks like I will have to fight a few pitched battles before I can say they are helpless. I will also have to lift the siege at Prussia..

I currently have a total GDP of 17500 florins, but a lot of this goes to the troops at my borders who are going to be staionary for some time as I use my excess to conquer the east, the Spanish have quite an advanced well led army, and the Hungarians will be swallowed up as part of my campaign in the east. I am spending nearly everything on trading posts and harbours, once all this is in place, the pace will pick up again. My chivalric knight buildings are almost complete in Paris and Munich.

The Darkhorn

12-16-2005, 16:31

I am currently playing an English campaign with my boss at work. We do it on Monday nights and play through one king each night (we've only done one so far). We got the idea from someone here at the org (though they were talking of PBEM with a zip file). When one of us is king (we alternate), he makes all the decisions and only fights battles he is leading. The other fights battles lead by other generals and royals. It's a lot of fun. Anyway, I've saved all the battles and tried to keep up with notable events. I will write a history of each reign (The first will be of William [II] the Heretic 1087-1114). It will be fun to see if my "son" is chip off the old block who furthers his father's ambitions or an "idiot boy" who screws up what I've built ("His mother was a French hussy...he couldn't have come from my loins...oh why oh why did I not send him on a crusade to Egypt...by himself?"). How do I do screen shots and post them?

Ludens

12-17-2005, 17:03

How do I do screen shots and post them?
You can take screenshots by pressing F2. The game will store them in the "tga" folder in the .tga-format. Unfortunatly, .tga is not compatible with standard windows progams so you need to convert them to .jpg with another program. (If you don't have an image program that is .tga compatible, you can download Irfanview from here: link (http://www.irfanview.com/). I never tried it, though.) I don't know if resizing still is required, but it used to be 70% height and width.

The rest is easy, however. All you need to do is send them to an upload site and then use the image-tags to put the picture in your post. The image tags work like this: [*IMG]https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/661/135ck.jpg[*/IMG]. If you remove the stars, you get:

https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/661/135ck.jpg

(I don't have any M:TW screenshots available here, or else I would have posted them ~;p .)

For hosting, I recommend ImageShack (http://www.imageshack.us/) (www.imageshack.us). The Org also has its own uploading servive (click here (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=26606)), but I must confess that Imageshack is faster and easier. They provide you with the correct image tags and upload immediatly, whereas I only check every day for new submissions to upload.

Martok

12-17-2005, 18:27

(I don't have any M:TW screenshots available here, or else I would have posted them ~;p .)

Burn the heretic! [rioting mobs follow] :san_grin:

Patron

12-21-2005, 22:03

After the conquest of Khazar it was found out the Khan Kubilai was long dead and had been replaced by the less impressive Ogadai, though he had complete control over the hoardes he had little experence in the field and experienced a humiliating defeat as he was kicked out of Chernigov, once again withdrawing to preserve his precious heavy cavalry, however behind them Mongols from Volga Bulgaria and Georgia drove out the Khazarian garrison. It was clear then that the Khan was fighting a war of attrition as the lands taken were of little use to him, he was also protecting key points and sending his swift forces out from them to attack the thinly spread troops and withdrawing just before my slower troops went in for the kill. Georgia, Muscovy and Lithuania were all heavily guarded, the possession of Lithuania being of most strategic value as it allowed incursions into Prussia and Volhnyia and then on to Christian lands and also allowed the Mongols to retaliate should I take their neighbouring territories, which had to be the next target if Germany's forces were to gain any objectives in this war.

The malleable and opportunistic military tradition of Germany's conquerors in the past inverted and they now saw the pitched battle for it's virtues, abandonning Khazar and Chernigov (aswell as Pereyaslavl to rebels). Around 320 knights, 240 crusader pavise arbalesters the 20 year old heir to the throne Prince Herrman with his retinue of 19 elite Parisian knights aswell as an anti-cavalry infantry regiment of seasonned swiss halberdiers, english chivalric seargants, Robin of Locksley's milita seargants and Bohemian feudal seargants with fine steel armour and weapons marched into Lithuania. Apon sight of the mongols Herrmann immediately orderred the infantry and archers to form up inside a nearby forest and for the knights to hide behind them, knowing that the mongols will send their archers forward in an attempt to harrass and seperate the line.

After the army was protected from archer fire, Herrmann organised his crusader arbalesters in front of the tree line with a unit of anti-cavalry infantry behind, but in the forest, to counter any charge. The usual exchange of fire began, leaving several hundred horse archers dead on the field. However this time, as predicted, the mongols decided to stay and fight instead of giving up such an important strategic point. Around 500 mongol heavy cavalrymen moved around the forest and formed up seemingly blocking the army's escape route. Herrmann orderred his arbalesters to begin firing apon the mongol heavy cavalry which only encouraged them to charge. Despite the infantry's advantage in the forest, there wasn't enough Infantry to cover all points of entry into the forest and Prince Herrmann himself was charged as the cavalry made their way around the flanks. The impetuous and impatient knights responded in kind by charging out of the forest, before wheeling around and charging into the rear of the heavy cavalry engaged with the infantry. This glorious counter charge became the stuff of legend as nearly all of the mongol heavy cavalry were slaughterred including Khan Ogadai. These heavy cavalry were reputed to be the equals of western knights, they were even referred to as Mongolian knights in the annals. It was also the first battle fought by the soon to be King of Germany. Of course this was no chivalrous contest, the cavalry were handicapped by unsuitable terrain and trying to fend off the swiss halberdiers, but that wasn't the point, it was the consequences of the bravery and skill of knights in this situation that attracted troubadours and storytellers.

Martok

12-21-2005, 23:38

Nice battle, Patron! What was the final tally at the end, by the way?

Patron

12-22-2005, 02:31

I duno lol, i didn't save it. I remember there were 2000 mongols and most of the 2nd wave fled, a lot of horse archers were killed and a portion of the mongol heavy cavalry were captured instead of killed. I must have killed around 500-600 and captured 300 or so. I lost quite a few of the famous pavise arbalesters so I think 200 of my troops died.

NodachiSam

12-24-2005, 00:48

Nice job Patron. I hate taking the mongols on and I usually only do it with very superior numbers.

NodachiSam

12-24-2005, 02:05

I started a Serbian campaign in XL high. Only medium difficulty.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/1208boughtempire.jpg
The Tzars first move was to send out his diplomat. The greeks and rulers of constantinople quickly agreed to bow to Serbian rule after enough fiscal pursuasion. It was expensive but the two rich provinces payed themselves off quickly. At this point Tzar steffen has allied himself with the Romans and the Sicilians, as well as Aragon. Hungary's approaches have been rebuffed as were the Bulgarians. Stefen in his ambition wished to invade them and put their lands under better rule, -for the benefits of the common plebeans of course.

The invasion of Bulgaria went fairly smoothly. It was a hard fought but acceptable victory. The bulgarians began in a bit of a valley with the Serbs on the other side of the hill. Steffen rushed his men to the hill and was unprepared when the bulgarians advanced instead of finding a solid defensive position, of which there some options. The Bulgarian king was killed in combat, collapsing their royal line. The hungary remnants holed up in the castle two years later were happy or at least willing to join the Serbian army to fight the pagans and catholics.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/bulgarianconquest.jpg

Circa 1215. The Cumens invade bulgaria with nearly twice as many men as the defending force. Luckily they were forced to cross a river by excellent Serbian manouvering. The bridge was held and the Cumens routed. The death ratio of foe to friend was 8 to 1 or more in Serbias favour. The miserable attack weakens the Cumans understandably but the Serbians are in no position to counter attack.

This condition however was no shared by the Hungarians. Who as far as the priest intelligence network could tell had not recently engaged in any conflict. They attacked the weakened wallachian rulers and routed their remnants to the castle.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/wallachiainvasion.jpg

Tzar Steffen composed an army strong enough to dispatch the hungarian guard. The hungarians fled but the Cumans reinforced their sallying troops.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/wallachiagreetingparty.jpg

The battle took place over a river and was hard fought and fairly long (because my computer ran at what seemed like two frames a second or something for a lot of it)
Steffen set up his archers on a hill where he would cross and then sent accross his spears and swords. He went accross the bridge with them to encourage them. "I is right behind yous!"

At the same time sent a battled hardened and battle diminished unit of fuedal knights accross the other bridge which was guarded only by a half unit of Cuman warriors. The most basic combat protocal was ignored and the knights charged straight uphill at the archers instead of flanking or charging from behind. "Wot, they is only archers" was the rational. Inexplicably the horse men were eventually completely defeated. (Strangly the archers were apparently losing badly the whole time)
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/bridgepointisfinallysurpassed.jpg
Finally, with good archer backup, the lump of soldiers at the bridge head was broken and Steffen could finally get all his men accross.

The Cuman general had graciously refrained from any fighting the whole battle. He was approached, flanked and finally wedge charged from behind with the less perfect horse archers who had no more arrows. The circumstances were less than ideal but with foot archer support the horse archers and the rest of the army broke the Cuman general's unit.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/closingin.jpg

By this time almost all the Cuman army was dead, captured or fleeing. In a scene that would later be repainted and glorified Stefen captured the fleeing Khan. The poor sap's ransom was refused though. 35 Cumans fled to their castle.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/kingcapture.jpg

A costly but ~successful~ battle to be remembered fondly for as long as the Serbian Clerical intelligence network stood.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/wallachiaconquered.jpg

The capture of Wallachia was glorious and grand but unfortunately the Sicilian allies took this opportunity to invade the much more valuable Constantinople.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/awfulbattleconstantinoplelost.jpg
The Serbians knew this would be a difficult battle, and they were soundly defeated.

Will constantine's city be recaptured and the Sicilian prince be brought to justice? Are the Greek's going to have to learn Sicilian? Will Stefen's third son ever get a royal bride? Find out next time!

Patron

12-25-2005, 04:49

Nice campaign so far, I would fight an opportunistic war against the Hungars and a proper offensive into Turkey and also build that navy up and dominate the eastern mediteranean. After you consider the Hungars pacified you should then start to raid lands around the black sea until you have pacified the Turks and Byzantines, so you can go for Khazar and seal Turkey from invaders from the north. Then you can concentrate on a nice middle east campaign, for thousands of years that area has swapped sides enmass, the Persians, Macedonians (nudge nudge), Romans, Jihads, Caliphates, but not Timur and the Mongols in this time line. The Serbians!

A year after the great victory at Lithuania the Mongols attemped to take Lithuania, but Mongols were no longer the devastating offensive force they once were, most of their gigantic war horses and valorous riders were killed, their horse archers were outclassed especially on the offensive where christian crossbowmen and arbalests had time to prepare and their domestic ponies and herdsmen could not possible mount a proper offensive. Though a few core troops existed still in Muscovy and Georgia, they were unwilling to be wasted. Despite the death of the Khan his son still lurked somewhere in the depths of the steppes, the crusade to Volga Bulgaria was reaching Kiev though and would soon drive them into less hospitable lands hopefully never to return. New troops arrived in Khazar including Herrmann's younger brother Lothair (Lot hair or lof air?) who was expected to take over command of the forces of the east if Otto V died and Herrmann has to return as King. The famous emissary Eschenbach nearing his 70s capped off his tremendous career by reconverting the ex-crusaders who honourably decided to replace the Byzantines as protector of Constantinople, ahem, who had converted to the orthodox church in name. There was a crusade to Constantinople originating in Spain in which the Spanish had hoped to use the German navy to transport their army, however there was a clerical error and the coast of Greece was left unguarded and instantly filled with legions of pirates and their ships which could sink transport vessels with their rams without ever engaging in combat, so they had to take a detour through Finland. The crusade was then cancelled next year as the ex-crusaders of Constantinople had converted back to catholicism. The King of Spain will be pleased to hear that Constantinople is under catholic, German hands, he has conquerred Finland and has 1500 hungry troops there to keep it safe.

However the year 1251 saw both the glories and horrors of war. A battle between 2 young men in Khazar, the son of Otto V and the son of Ogadai, Lothair was 17 when he fought the battle and Ogadai's son was 19. Lothair ambushed the Mongols and in a downhill charge, 80 feudal knights and an assortment of mercenary cavalrymen decimated an entire unit of Mongol knights and chased a few mongol horse archers off the field with minimal casualties whilst the rest of the army held the elevation. The knights returned to the rest of the army to fend off the horse archers slowly surrounding them, the young mongol King seemed to have had enough and attempted to engage the German body of troops. The knights charged into his unit of mongol knights, trapping him allowing Lothair and his foot knights to begin mowing his retinue down. The weaker horse archers dared not help their leader until it was too late and most of them were fended off by peasant spearmen. Lothair himself killed the Mongol King and the horse archers began to flee. However they returned and reinforcements enterred the field, the mongol army was immense and the exhausted smaller and slower German army succumbed to the traditional overhwleming tactics of the mongols. The army was slowly mowed down and fled leaving Lothair and the famous feudal knights fighting against numerically superior steppe heavy cavalry hand to hand. Lothair and his knights fought to the last. His sacrifice was not in vain however, for this was the last in line of the great Ghengis Khan, at least in Eurasia. According to heresay the remaining Mongol thugs hanged Lothair's mutilated corpse on the gates of Rostov, a city who's populous they had long controlled, but the teenager's remains were met with shock rather than the jeers of hate they wanted.

Herrmann waged a small campaign in Khazar driving the unchained mongol hoarde into the Crimea, he then set sail to attend 2 funerals in 1252, one with glee and one with despair. He was crowned Emperor Herrmann II in the Hagia Sophia for the same reason his father was crowned in the Notre Dame all those years ago and was met with cheers from the ex-crusaders of Constantinople and it's people due to the vast riches now permitted by the German navy.

https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/asdasdasd2/HerrmannIIcoronation1251.jpg

The death of the Mongol leader and his son, the conversion of Constantinople, the famous victory at Lithuania and the corwning of the victorious general in Hagia Sophia, the heart of the Orthodox church had a revolutionary effect on eastern europe, at least for those who are informed. Eastern europe had long seen Constantinople as the faher of the orthodox church, but with it's governorship at the hands of catholic crusaders, the demise of the Byzantines and the terrible invasion by the Mongols they had lost hope. However now that the Germans have put Constantiinople under the true church, the heart of the Orthodox church being used to ceremonially crown a catholic emperor, are in the process of driving out the Mongols and hold both Kiev and Lithuania, it is obvious what lies in the future. The dream of unifying everything from Georgia to Finland and combining it with the eastern borders of the German Empire is looking more and more.. divine.

He asked his famous valorous uncle Konrad to take up patriarchship of the eastern Roman empire and guide the crusaders and German army of the east to victory where he and his brother had left off. Konrad was a catholic, so he ordained himself as more of a Imperial Catholic Patriarch rather than a Byzantine Orthodox Patriarch and thus refused to have anything to do with the Orthodox church and kept one pace away from Catholicism in order to show his loyalty to the Byzantine people. Though Hagia Sophia was declared a Catholic cathedral, their annoyance was mosly dulled by the flood of trade enterring the city. The German clergy intends to convert them all before they realise what's going on.

https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/asdasdasd2/KarolingerRepublic1252.jpg

NodachiSam

01-03-2006, 06:03

Nice Campaign Patron, did you start in 1205? If so you're pretty quick with the empire building. That is a very stretched empire you have. I've never seen one like that before. Usually mine have as little border to defend as possible. I'm really surprised that Hungary is still around though. Are they allied with you for you to spare them or are you perhaps trying to avoid excommunication for now? When I play HRE, Hungary and Poland rarely last too too long. When Polish I also take Hungary out asap. They can be such a thorn in the side.

Right now I am waiting to take out Hungary. It will be a glorious day when they are put under my control. So far I've been fighting wars of defense and opportunity. I don't yet have enough provinces to make enough troops for defense, boats, and agents. That will change int he coming game decade though, especially after the siege in Nicea ends. In the East the Mongols have just showed up and I'll let them stretch out play defensive against them now. The Turks, as you'll read, have been weakened and won't last too long against the mongols. The same with my old enemies the Cumans.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/retakingofconst1.jpg
It was time to retake the great and holy city. Faced with an underabundance of troops but a large surpluss of revenue the path of action seemed obvious to the Tzar. A large mercenary army was raised quickly and marched north out of Greece. It met the Sicilian prince in a valley which was then surrounded and rained down upon with clouds arrows. The battle was won but it was clear that spear wilders were severly lacking. Many unneeded casualties were sustained when sicilian calvary ran down on the archers. The Prince was dispatched with a volley of arrows and not burried.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/retakingofconst2.jpg

In the same year a sicilian prince renowned as a tactician (8 star) invaded the motherland, Serbia. They were repulsed and the prince slain. As well the Sicilian King was also present and met the same end. It was truely a glorious victory. The end of this year was celebrated.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/defenseofserbia.jpg

The following year another prince came into Serbia and was burried but his brother managed to escape.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/serbiadefense2a.jpg
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/serbiadefense2b.jpg

The Roman (Byzantine) province of Nicea was then taken over by Seljuk Turks. The Romans were fairly long term allies of the Tzar and he felt strongly the need to assist them. Most of his advisors felt that the turks should be fought off immediately while a few felt that it was too risky and that they should be allowed to ware each other out first. The siege was thought to last at least 2 more years. Perhaps after that the Turks would be weaker and the province could be taken for Serbia. The king was uncertain and waited to invade the following year when his ships would protect Constantinople from sea invasion. At the end of that year however the Tzar recieved news that the castle had been taken and he decided to invade. He did not plan on giving the province back.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/invasionofNicea.jpg
The odds were a bit against the Serbs but the Tzar would not allow them to establish themselves too much. He remembered how they destroyed the greatness of so much of the Roman empire. That did not prevent his own hypocrisy in planning to keep what he took instead of returning it to the Romans however. He did not want to expand east and have a hole in his territory regardless of how long they had been allied.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/invasionofnicea2.jpg
The serbian forces marched towards the bridgehead. Curiously enemy forces reacted little and withstood arrow bombardment for along period loosing many of their men, especially their men at arms and spearmen. Their bridgehead thus was only defended with token effort. Serbian forces amassed accross the river and then marched up to the Turkish prince and his remaining soldiers.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/invasionofnicea3.jpg
The victory was clear and involved the death of another enemy family member. A counter attack was sure to follow however.

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/serb1230.jpg

It came the following year. The Seljuk king reportably invaded with over 5000 troops but this is undoubtably a massive exageration. The real number is believed to be closer to 1500 men.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/nicea2a.jpg

Lord Sgouros positioned his men on a massive hill and waited for the Turks to approach. Reportably, he was quite confident. His archers rained down arrows, incoming infantry and horses were pinned by infantry and flanked and surrounded by calvary.
Eventually the Seljuk king met his end.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/nicea2b.jpg
Re-enforcements like these horsearchers were delt with.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/nicea2c.jpg

This battle was a great success.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/nicea2d.jpg
Lord Sgouros was now a national hero. He was celebrated in all good and loyal Serbian cities. The Turkish threat has been reduced while the Tzar and his sons look west. The Hungarians are nothing but trouble and the general concensus amongst insiders in the Serbian aristocracy is that they should somehow be subdued. Perhaps, as the Navy is growing the Sicilians can finally be punished. All this while a new threat is reported coming from the east. A massive horde of horsemen apparently.

elbasto

01-03-2006, 21:09

There should be an After Action Report section with some of this stories...

Ciaran

01-04-2006, 10:17

Why, there already is one, in the Mead Hall.

elbasto

01-04-2006, 15:04

Why, there already is one, in the Mead Hall.

Nice info, I'll be checking it soon. :2thumbsup:

EDIT: Not a single M:TW AAR... :(

Ludens

01-04-2006, 15:50

There should be an After Action Report section with some of this stories...
We do not have a dedicated AAR forum, but, like Ciaran said, there is a story forum where there are many AAR's. Have a look in the library (link in my signature) and scroll down the story section.

There are several M:TW AAR's but they are not listed in the AAR section because I arbitrarily defined anything inside the Mead Hall as story and anything outside as AAR. They tend to be more story than AAR anyway. For example, have a look at "Adras the Immortal" by Louis de la Ferte Ste Colombe and "The Four Crowns and Four Rings" by Monk. Monk has written many other AAR's in story form and all are well worth a read. I would also recommend "Leo the Syrian" by kataphraktoi, but it is hardly an AAR as it focuses more on the characters.

elbasto

01-04-2006, 19:29

Thanks for the advice, I will be paying that section a visit shortly.

NodachiSam

01-05-2006, 01:28

I guess I'll check it out too.

Ciaran

01-05-2006, 11:55

Ludens

01-05-2006, 16:41

Ah,sorry that was my mistake, the Mead Hall is the story forum, what you´re looking for is the Throne Room, at least that´s the intended purpose, though I don´t know how many AARs there actually are. Again, mea culpa.
Actually, you are quite right. Throne room contains only one or two AAR's, and the rest is Play-by-Mail campaigns (that usually are accompagnied by one-reign AARs). Still, if you don't mind wading through a lot of organisatorial posts there are some quite good write-ups, especially in the earlier PBM's.

dgfred

01-25-2006, 15:52

Good stuff Nodachi and Patron :2thumbsup: .

Dutch_guy

01-27-2006, 14:19

Some good stories here, enjoyed reading them alot !

NodachiSam,Patron and all the other contributors to this thread might want to start a PBeM ( a MTW one ), more or less the same thing as what your doing now only with different players playing the same game ( check the Throne room ! )

The last MTW ( VI ) PBM was a very long time ago...

:balloon2:

Martok

01-27-2006, 20:02

I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but we should really ask one of the moderators to sticky this thread. Even when there hasn't been any recent entries, it's still nice to go back and read some of the older stories now and then.

Powermonger

01-29-2006, 10:51

I agree...reading all these past campaign stories and accompanying pictures has even further reignited the MTW fire within. MTW2 is going to have to stupendiously good to beat it's predecessor IMO.

I might restart my Danish campaign again once I rebuild my PC and submit my own story/diary of campaign progress.

NodachiSam

01-29-2006, 18:50

A play by e-mail game would be a really cool idea! Maybe we can do one for regular VI with patch or XL in the future.

Knight Templar

01-29-2006, 21:09

According to this topic (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=34050) last VI PBM was played about a year and a half ago. It would be great idea to start a new one.

Martok

02-06-2006, 18:06

*bump*

BrSpiritus

02-09-2006, 00:41

PBM would be cool, especially since I have XL installed now

Dutch_guy

02-09-2006, 18:49

If it's a PBM you would like to start, I'd like to point you in the right direction :

The Throne Room (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=38)

:balloon2:

PittBull260

03-04-2006, 00:24

haven't been on here in a while. I remember starting this thread hoping to read nice little stories with pictures so that I would get back into playing MTW, and after not playing any pc games for almost a year, I read these campaigns and I want to play it again SOOO BAD, but I threw away my CD, oh well I'm about to buy a new one :)

please keep posting your campaigns I love reading these things

:)

:2thumbsup:

Dutch_guy

03-16-2006, 19:08

I hear you PB,

Will be starting an early Italian VI campaign some time today / more likely tomorrow.

And yes, Bump.

:balloon2:

Joshwa

05-01-2006, 13:49

Think ill resurect this one...

https://img374.imageshack.us/img374/5783/hre5lo.th.jpg (https://img374.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hre5lo.jpg)

Playing as the Holy Roman Empire, GA hard, and the year is 1242 AD. I'm trying to keep the size of my empire down, because it annoys me when i have too many provinces to administrate, so im sticking to GA objective/really useful provinces.

PHew. I started out by snipping Silesia off from the Polish. They refused to see sense and make peace, and brought in their Hungarian allies, and both factions continued to make raids on my border right up until the 1180s.

The Italians got excommunicated for attacking Sicily, and fell into civil war in about 1150. I snuck in and stole Venice and Milan while they were controlled by the rebels, but the Italians didn't like this, and I ended up killing their king and knocking them out of the game. The Sicilians came back with a vengeance at this point, occupying the former Italian lands and threatening my southern border, and i ended up killing them as well, and occupying Sicily and Genoa. The pope took Tuscany, but he's my friend so I don't mind. The Sicilians have since reemerged in Malta.

Over in the West, the French had creamed the English, and began attacking my northern provinces by sea. Things were looking bleak, until their king died heirless and the whole of France and England went rebel. The English reemerged, and later the French, but the majority of their forces are stranded in Ireland, so they are pretty much just waiting for the end now.

On my Northern border, in 1210, the Danes attacked my poorly defended province of Swabia. Unluckily for them, I had just finished making my new High-era army of Halberdiers, Swiss Halberdiers, and Chivalric Men at arms. I beat them back to their castle, and they offered one of their princesses to me as a peace offering.

Back in the East, I took Pomerania, and, after the Polish took me off guard and took Brandenburg, I invaded both their provinces simultaniously and knocked them out of the game. I also gave the Hungarians a fair beating at this point, setting them back for a while, though they have been bailed out several times by other factions distracting me elsewhere, and have thus far managed to avoid the full on steamroller treatment. The Byzantines, meanwhile, had been quietly taking over the whole of Russia, and attacked me in C.1215. I held on, not making much headway but not giving ground, until the Horde arrived on 1230. The Byzantines were now getting squashed on two fronts, and looking at the state of the map, it looks like I should lay off them for a while, so they can keep the Horde at bay while i reorganise my forces.

NodachiSam

05-01-2006, 23:13

Very cool game. Looks like your doing a good job. I like your approach of controlled growth. I would've taken Poland though when you had the chance, it makes for a nice clean border and has good income (You probably know that though). Same goes for Flanders now that it is rebel.

Are you winning in GA yet?

Joshwa

05-01-2006, 23:28

I'm winning by about 20 points I think. I didn't take Poland at the time because i didnt intend to move on and take Prussia and Livonia, so yeah it does look a bit silly now! That'll reduce my borders as well. Good advice! Flanders is now in the hands of the nefarious spanish, who im now at war with in Scandanavia, so we shall see about liberating that from them...

Martok

05-02-2006, 06:17

Excellent, Joshwa! Let us know how you do. :2thumbsup:

Banquo's Ghost

05-02-2006, 07:58

I'm a great fan of the more realistic slow growth approach, it's much more challenging especially later on. I look forward to more reports!

Joshwa

05-02-2006, 22:29

UPDATE

https://img281.imageshack.us/img281/9867/hre28nr.th.jpg (https://img281.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hre28nr.jpg)

Denmark underwent a massive peasant revolt which ended up with the Danish royal family starved to death in their castle, and the rebels took over. I sent my new army of halberds and chivalric swordsmen and sergents to take over, mainly because i wanted to test how effective they were and get some experience for them. I then took Sweden without a fight.

The Spanish launched a seaborne invasion of Britain and northern france, and also settled in Norway. After the English were killed (again) I decided that enough was enough. Noone moves in on my turf. I conducted the campaign mainly at sea, where i blockaded their king in Britain, but our clashes on land were inconclusive at best, their jinettes proving a real handful. Their imperial ambitions were serverely cut short by the Turks, who, after defeating the Egyptians, had moved along Africa gradually until they were in the Iberian Peninsula.

As per advised in an above post, I invaded Poland, which was occupied by the Hungarians. I launched a double pronged attack, hitting Hungary as well as Poland, and pushing them back to their castle in both instances. The Byzantines (who are still holding out against the Mongols) attacked Carpathia from the east the year after, and the Hungarians dropped out of the game. I then took Carpathia, which had gone rebel, so that the Hungarians didn't re-emerge there.

The pope warned me off the Spanish at this point, so, fearing rebellion if i were to be excommunicated, i turned my sights elsewhere, launching a crusade the Palestine. This was not a total success, I only held onto the province for 10 years, and for 8 of those i was either besieging the Turks, or they were beseiging me! They eventually overcame me with force of numbers, my crusade army being serverely depleted. On an amusing note, my journey across Asia Minor somehow caused the English to reemerge there:

https://img253.imageshack.us/img253/8862/englishreemerge3nn.th.jpg (https://img253.imageshack.us/my.php?image=englishreemerge3nn.jpg)

The Turks look to be in a strong position at this point. The Byzantines should prevent them expanding any further into Europe, however, and the Aragonese should hold them for a while in Spain. I am tempted to take one of the rebel islands in the Mediterraenan and use that as a base to raid the Turkish homelands, and maybe get back Palestine!

Martok

05-03-2006, 02:56

Wow, Joshwa, looks like you've got your hands full! Yeah, if there are any islands available (Sicily and Cyprus would be especially nice), I would definitely take them and start attacking the Turks in the jugular. ~D And on a related note:

Holy crap, I can't get over how *big* the Turks have gotten! ~:eek: In my games, they rarely even survive that long, much less actually become a superpower. (Usually the Byz and the Eggies team up to destroy the Turks early on.) Any idea how they managed to do so well?

Joshwa

05-03-2006, 10:50

For some reason, I think the Egyptians went across the Sahara and attacked the Almohads instead of focusing northwards. The Turks were at one point boxed into their home territorries, with the Horde on one side and Egypt on the other! My only guess is that Egypt suffered a civil war or the king died heirless, so the Turks were only fighting on one front and pushed the horde back out of asia minor. They could then take all the rebel Eqyptian provinces one by one. The Spanish had all their troops in northern Europe, so when i blockaded them they couldn't get back down in time to defend spain I guess

Prince Cobra

05-03-2006, 14:18

~:cool:
I like your system. You do not want to conquer as much as possible but wisely let other factions fight each other while your empire become stronger and stronger. Just one inquisitive question: how do you develop your economy ( trade, farming and so on). And take the islands they are useful. But be careful- Turks are dangerous- their military machine become stronger while byz army obsolete so good luck...
Waiting for update :coffeenews:

Diehard_TH

05-04-2006, 09:43

Pitbull, like you i hadn't played MTW in some time then a colleague at work got into it and i've started up again, can't think why i stopped playing!

Here's a pic from my French campaign last year, got 60% shortly after this and played on to 1258 before starting a new game.
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/Diehard_TH/France1240.jpg
French Early Hard - now that's what i call an heir!

The game went pretty smoothly actually, trade was key and soon i had too much cash to know what to do with. A good start against the English gave me the foundation for reasonably quick domination.

My current campaign is below
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/Diehard_TH/Poland1328.jpg
Polish Early Hard (Vanilla VI) - Strange? More like a confused general; an atheist and a believer! Might have something to do with him being harassed by Inquisitors for some years.

My campaign started of ok with the rebel lands in the east falling steadily. My house rule is not to prepare for the horde, so that was a major challenge when it arrived. I had to retreat to Kiev and fought numberless battles over the bridges there until the Khan took Pereslavyl(?) which doesn't have a bridge when attacking Kiev. Still by that stage he'd lost most of his Heavy Cav so i managed to hold him with my, by then, skilled defender general.

I think the final battle that turned the tide, my army (mainly peasants and spearmen by this stage) had just started routing from the field with my 8* general down to 1 man and withdrawing when the time limit ran out. However by that stage i'd killed the Khan and most of his heavy cav so it was a good result for me and downhill thereafter for the GH.

I'd fought the horde for nearly 70 years before defeating them finally in Moscovy. I'd been struggling with negative income for about 20 years due to the French and Egyptians destroying my trade fleets (for no real reason) so i've never had more than 8000 florins in the entire game!

Managed to build up some sizable stacks in the west and launched an assault against the French capturing 7 or 8 provinces and improving the cashflow. Am now allied with everyone so trade income is rising but still only getting 3-4000 a year.

Was going well until 1326 (2 years ago) when the newly re-emerged Swiss attacked Swabia unexpectedly and i had to abandon the province. (see thread on Swiss for more info).

I finally have a half decent king although he's not as fertile as his forefathers and i only have the 1 heir (5* but only 1 acumen).

I think the worst is now over and a few years consolidating should see me renew my attack on the French (who must have had at least 50% at one stage). Onwards and upwards.

Question for someone - I've been fighting the French for about 10 years continuously now and i've not had a single warning from the Pope. Any ideas why not? I've not been fighting any other Catholics so no previous warnings would be in existance.

Oh, and reference another thread on Woodsmen; they are awesome!

Joshwa

05-04-2006, 11:31

The French must have at least half the number of provinces you do. They probably have Britain and Spain

EDIT

To Stephen Asen: I'm not sure about my economy actually! I think most of my money comes from Venice, Provence and Sicily. I just buy farming upgrades in my other provinces whenever I have nothing else to build and the whole system sorts itself out

Diehard_TH

05-04-2006, 11:54

The French must have at least half the number of provinces you do. They probably have Britain and Spain

If you're referring to my post Joshwa, then yes, the French have Spain, (at least they used to last time i had some ships that way) but most of their territories, especially Britain have been rebelling for some time and i think they only have Wessex now.

They used to have most of the HRE lands, Austria, Italian areas and half the Middle East. How the mighty have fallen!

Joshwa

05-04-2006, 23:41

https://img344.imageshack.us/img344/2175/hre31yv.th.jpg (https://img344.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hre31yv.jpg)

well I've finished my campaign now. The last 70 or so years were quite funny, the Aragonese, Spanish, French, Turks, and even the Pope tried to take a bite out of me. I launched an expedition to Asia Minor and killed the Turkish king, resulting in LOTS of rebel provinces. Sure enough though, he popped back up again, and conquered his way right into Bulgaria and attacked me in Hungary. This time i'd had enough. The Sultan was in Constantinople, and the Byzantines held Trebizond, so I attacked Nicaea by sea, and then pushed up through Constantinople, forcing the Sultan into Bulgaria. I had him by the nuts! I attacked with a force of Chivalric Sergents, Chiv Knights, and Gothic Knights. It was the first and only time i would actually use these bad-boys, but they were sure worth it! The Sultan was killed on the battle-field, and his heir taken prisoner. All in all, they lost just over 2000 men to my 200, and they died out, again. The Byzantines then retook Constantinople. I felt I had done my duty for Christendom at this point, and so settled back to pass the next 20 years in total peace until 1453. Ahhhh. Fin.

Martok

05-05-2006, 01:43

Diehard_TH: Way to beat off the GH and the French! :2thumbsup:

This is just a guess, but probably the Pope hasn't gotten after you for warring with the French for one or both of the following reasons:

1) They attacked first (although this doesn't always mean anything when it comes to the Vatican, I know).
2) They were very powerful in the beginning of their war with you, and the Pope tends to favor the weaker faction in any inter-Catholic war. (Probably why Aragon, the Danes, and Sicily seem to get away with attacking other Catholic factions so often.)

I wish your Polish empire continued success!

Martok

05-05-2006, 01:47

Joshwa: Wow, you actually managed to go the last two decades without war? Impressive. :bow: That was a fun game to follow; thanks for sharing it with us!

Oh yeah, and I'm glad you got to have a little fun with the Gothic Knights; they're pretty uber. ~D

NodachiSam

05-05-2006, 22:22

Wow both these games are quite interesting guys. Awsome game Joshuwa, I'd be pleased with that :D

Cowhead418

05-09-2006, 00:58

https://img336.imageshack.us/img336/3454/050820061841574ga.th.png (https://img336.imageshack.us/my.php?image=050820061841574ga.png)

I had abandoned this campaign for awhile for my Portuguese one, but I just recently got back into it. My goal is not to go on a massive conquering spree but for now I just want to fortify my borders and turtle for awhile, letting other powers grow stronger.

The Almohads were the strongest faction for about the first twenty years before they were torn apart by the Danes and the Genoese, who have the two strongest fleets in the game. This campaign is unique because it is the first campaign I've seen the Danes conquer ANY territory, and you can see they've conquered quite a bit. I was hoping the English and Danes would get stronger but both have recently been hit by civil wars.

The Sicilians are currently my major foe but I am keeping my eye on the Egyptians, who I've been told are the richest, most techologically advanced, and also have the largest army. When the Golden Horde sprung onto the scene they achieved several initial successes against the Egyptians but since then the Eggies have pushed the Horde into a corner. They are sure to be a challenge later on the game. I'm content to let the Sicilians act as a buffer for now.

For some reason, when I came back into the game, I had about two ships. I recall my navy mostly being destroyed by the Sicilians, and I'm focusing on building a navy that can fight with the best of them.

Earlier in the campaign I suffered through a failed Crusade and an ensuing civil war. I backed the rebels and lost two more Crusades I hadn't started yet, causing yet another massive civil war. Once again I backed the rebels and a new king took the throne. Unfortunately, this king had seven daughters in a row before finally a son was born just last turn. The king is currently 48 years old and I hope he can stick around for at least another fifteen years. My military is currently recovering from the troops lost during the civil war (damn Sicilians bribed some of the rebel stacks before I could get them back).:furious3:

Martok

05-09-2006, 08:08

You've gone through two civil wars?? Oof, that's gotta hurt! I wish you a speedy recovery, Cowhead; let us know how things are progressing. Oh yeah, and good to see you come back to this campaign! :2thumbsup:

NodachiSam

05-09-2006, 17:59

Martok

05-10-2006, 02:06

If I were in your shoes and at war with the Sicilians I could not resist the urge to take constantinople.

Who *could*? ~;) I rarely pass on an opportunity to take Constantinople--and even more rarely pass on an opportunity to pound on the Sicilians. ~D

DukeofSerbia

05-10-2006, 17:13

My friend played as Seljuks in XL early and he was attacked with three crusades - Castilian-Leonese, German and English.

https://img273.imageshack.us/img273/6775/nikorakadalje3rx.jpg

Martok

05-10-2006, 22:28

Dang, hit with three Crusades at once--that's a little nuts!

The map from your friend's game looks like it's just a little crazy overall as well. It looks like the Spanish have France & Pomerania, the Danes have Constantinople & Nicaea, the Pope has a good chunk of the Balkans.... And unless I'm seeing things, it appears that the *Scots* (or possibly the Norwegians) have control of a huge amount of territory! I've never seen either of those factions do so well when controlled by the AI! ~:eek:

NodachiSam

05-10-2006, 23:33

Maybe he can .matteosartori. the map and give a screenshot ;)

Cowhead418

05-11-2006, 04:38

Very interesting campaign cowhead! It doesn't happen often but I've seen the Danes get pretty big too (I think they got even bigger after this picture.http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/?action=view&current=continuedriseofdenmark.jpg

I feel bad for your civil war problem. It really is dam tough to keep high influence while staying the same size. I guess the game just isn't really built for that type of play. If I were in your shoes and at war with the Sicilians I could not resist the urge to take constantinople.
Well, I've tried for about the last 8 turns to take Constantinople but my efforts were fruitless. The Sicilians only stationed a garrison of about 15 men. Every time I attack, they retreat immediately into the castle (even if I attack with 20 men) and I'm forced to make a tough decision. Do I conduct a 10+ year siege or assault the fortress? Either way I face massive casualties. Right now I'm just letting the Sicilians have Constantinople, hoping that they will increase the garrison so as to shorten the inevitable siege when I do invade.

Diehard_TH

05-11-2006, 09:52

Well here's an update on my Polish campaign.

We last left our heroes building up for a further attack on the French however before the offensive could begin the bleedin' GH re-appeared, again, in the eastern steppes.

3 provinces in total with about 6000 men. All i had in the area was about 1000 peasants scattered across the 8 or so provinces around there.

After hastily diverting a stack of decent troops and my skilled attacker general from Flanders to the eastern front the chase began.
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/Diehard_TH/Poland1337.jpg
Poland 1337

Obviously just as i'm about to commence attacking the GH in Ryazan, after a 5 year chase around the steppes i eventually cornered the Khan here, the :furious3: Byz decide, out of the ****ing blue, to attack my fleet in constantinople. Thus along with fighting the GH i now have nearly zero trade income and am back to losing 4000 florins a year!

Well my general kicked ass, killing the Khan whilst another general, resourced from France, launched an offensive against the treacherous Byz.
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/Diehard_TH/Poland1350.jpg
Poland 1350

After a couple of years consolidating and getting my gold reserves out of the red, which took 5 years, fending of a large assault by the Swiss and continued forays by the Byz navy i decided to kill off the Byz.

My uber general was the star again and after discovering the Byz king trapped on Cyprus two of my heirs launched an assault.
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/Diehard_TH/Poland1359.jpgPoland 1359

The result was Byz collapsing into rebellion, good for my trade :2thumbsup: and finally the opportunity to actually build some stuff. As you can see i've reached the dizzy heights of 4000 florins but things should be ok as there is a trade centre being built in Constantinople, which has a 9 acumen governor.

Well all didn't go too well on the last turn, surprisingly! The Egyptians decided to attack my fleets and Georgia for some unknown reason. Still now the Byz are dead i'll just have to keep going round the Middle East.

Europe is at a wary peace although i'm keeping an eye on the Hungarians as they seem to be expanding quite well.

I've also just noticed that my heirs are both on an island with no navy next to it with the Eggys attacking my fleets. Hopefully my king won't die as my empire will spiral into rebellion if the new king gets trapped!

Geezer57

05-11-2006, 12:57

Well, I've tried for about the last 8 turns to take Constantinople but my efforts were fruitless. The Sicilians only stationed a garrison of about 15 men. Every time I attack, they retreat immediately into the castle (even if I attack with 20 men) and I'm forced to make a tough decision. Do I conduct a 10+ year siege or assault the fortress? Either way I face massive casualties. Right now I'm just letting the Sicilians have Constantinople, hoping that they will increase the garrison so as to shorten the inevitable siege when I do invade.
With an enemy garrison that small, you should be tossing a batch of high-valor Emissaries against them - one successful bribe, and the big "C" is yours intact! If their leader unit is too loyal, send some Assassins along with the Emissaries - when the top unit is gone, the next one down may be far less difficult to bribe.

Vladimir

05-11-2006, 13:16

With an enemy garrison that small, you should be tossing a batch of high-valor Emissaries against them - one successful bribe, and the big "C" is yours intact! If their leader unit is too loyal, send some Assassins along with the Emissaries - when the top unit is gone, the next one down may be far less difficult to bribe.

A small garrison is a boon for the player and not a vice as it allows you to do this.

bretwalda

05-11-2006, 14:20

I've also just noticed that my heirs are both on an island with no navy next to it with the Eggys attacking my fleets. Hopefully my king won't die as my empire will spiral into rebellion if the new king gets trapped!

I don't think that your heir (new king, long live the king!) will be trapped on the island, instead miraclously (sp?) teleported to your most advanced province. Now if that one is cut off from the rest of your empire - then you are f.... well, in trouble because your new kings influence will start out low anyway and THAT can lead to civil war.

DukeofSerbia

05-11-2006, 19:36

Maybe he can .matteosartori. the map and give a screenshot ;)

OK. I will try to provide that.:idea2:

DukeofSerbia

05-11-2006, 20:00

Another screenshot from my friend who play XL early with England.

Golden orde appeared in three province. I usualy saw them in two or one province. They came in Lesser Khazar, Volga Bulgaria and Armenia.

https://img271.imageshack.us/img271/9971/horda9pu.jpg

NodachiSam

05-15-2006, 07:06

Duke of Serbia: Those are the good games :D

In my current campaign as Genoa in hard Xl I had a low influence king suffer a civil war and mass rebellions.

The Pope invades and the hungarians invade.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/Genoese3.jpg

The following year, civil war.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/genoese4.jpg

The following year, more rebellions.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/genoese5.jpg

Naturally I said screw it and reloaded, this is later.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/Calcaneus/Games/genoese6.jpg

I know, its not a great war story or anything.
The French have been impecible allies this game.

Martok

05-16-2006, 02:37

Damn Nodachi, that's kind of a crazy-looking map there! The Scots have most of Britain, the Almos have eliminated the Spanish and dominate Iberia, and the Hungarians are pretty big. I rarely see the last one in particular--in my games, Hungary's one of those factions that usually holds their own but rarely expands much. And the French have been steadfast allies? That truly is an interesting geopolitical situation you're in!

naut

05-21-2006, 12:44

My current campaign, is Early XL, Bohemians, Hard

I've been talking it slowly, and I'm really enjoying the Bohemians ... especially their bowmen. :2thumbsup:

https://img102.imageshack.us/img102/4153/boh19ej.jpg

And if you are wondering why I did not attack Serbia, its because the Fatamids scare me! :skull: I need some buffer states!

Oh and my heir of course, :balloon3:

https://img102.imageshack.us/img102/1247/boh29qp.jpg

MuseRulez

05-21-2006, 18:18

:jawdrop: WHAT! How the hell did you do that? That guy must have some pretty virtues

NodachiSam

05-21-2006, 19:50

Ludens

05-24-2006, 13:04

The higher your kings influence the better your princes will be when they turn 15. Getting high or lower influence before or after they turn 15 doesn't affect them. Only the influence at the time. However, if your kings influence gets too high your princes can "roll over" and become really crappy. So if your kings influnce is at 7 or 8 you princes might have likewise attributes but at 9 or 10 there is a chance you'll get low values princes. It sort of encourages pacing yourself in a way. I think there is also a random element involved.
The roll-over effect you describe actually applies to command, not influence. With high influence the king's sons tend to have the same command level as their father plus or minus one or two stars. The problem is the game cannot calculate above 9, so any potential 10 or 11 star sons end up as 0 or 1 star losers. Otherwise you are right: high influence kings have better sons.

caravel

05-24-2006, 13:32

Pity I've no internet at home at the moment so I can't post screenshots without alot of hassle. My Turkish General in Georgia at present has some pretty impressive stats and a command boosted to 9* by quite a few good virtues, such as the expert defender and skilled last stand (I'm not usually too hot at turnig out these sort of generals!). His piety and dread are his most lacking attributes and they are at 5 and 3.

He accidentally got himself into the thick of the fight last night, so I had to forcibly extract him! By that time the rest of his unit was wiped out with just him remaining at valour 11 (phew). That was the second defense against the Horde's attempted invasion of Georgia. 4500 dead 700 prisoners, that they didn't want to pay for, and 2200 losses on my side, mostly Saracen Infantry and Ghazis. The Armenian Heavy Cavalry had a very good day as did the Turcoman foot. The next battle will be this evening, when the Horde make their next attempt. I had also isolated their secondary army in Armenia, defeated it and ransomed all of them (about 2500 of them) back for about 42,000 florins!! This is the biggest ransome I've ever seen in years of playing this game! :dizzy2:

naut

05-28-2006, 11:29

Wow Chezi that is the HUGEST ransom I've ever heard!!! :charge:

So I've started playing as the Bulgarians, High XL, Hard :juggle2:

And I must say its the hardest game I've ever played, so much backstabbing! :furious3:, First the Cumans then the Serbs, and if I'm not careful it will be the Byz next! :no: Its a miracle I survived at all.

https://img89.imageshack.us/img89/5310/bulgars19df.jpg

https://img89.imageshack.us/img89/6392/bulgars28zv.jpg

NodachiSam

05-29-2006, 05:17

Rythmic: Keep us posted man. Its interesting to see the Armenians and Danes expand like that. The Armenians look like they are too thinnly sprea out though. Maybe it is patriotic reasons, but they should've stayed out of Armenia :P

Prince Cobra

05-29-2006, 08:56

Wow Chezi that is the HUGEST ransom I've ever heard!!! :charge:

So I've started playing as the Bulgarians, High XL, Hard :juggle2:

And I must say its the hardest game I've ever played, so much backstabbing! :furious3:, First the Cumans then the Serbs, and if I'm not careful it will be the Byz next! :no: Its a miracle I survived at all.

Very happy somebody plays as Bulgarians !!!!~D ~D ~D
I wonder how we,the Bulgarians, survived for so long ( so many conquerors - byz,mongols ,turks, dangerous neighbours :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2:),too. Good luck my master! Please keep me in touch how your (and mine ) country progresses.~:)

naut

05-31-2006, 13:12

So I've played some more as the Bulgarians.

The Mongols Arrive:

https://img311.imageshack.us/img311/9485/bulgars36gq.jpg

Tragedy, the damn Cumans Invaded Bulgaria!!! :furious3:

https://img460.imageshack.us/img460/9934/bulgars42po.jpg

My forces are much too small to win!

https://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1576/bulgars54my.jpg

My men fight hard:

https://img460.imageshack.us/img460/4006/bulgars69li.jpg

But they are no match for the overwhelming Cumans:

https://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6499/bulgars77sq.jpg

My Allies lift the seige:

https://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2370/bulgars89fj.jpg

The Pope wants to marry my daughter??? :inquisitive:

https://img341.imageshack.us/img341/420/bulgars95mn.jpg

Finally peace with the Serbs!!! :balloon3:

https://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1/bulgars101tz.jpg

Bulgaria is safe, for now :dizzy2:

https://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2372/bulgars110do.jpg

Hope you enjoyed that!

Martok

05-31-2006, 23:48

Wow, your Bulgarians have really gone on a roller-coaster ride lately. :dizzy2: It was awfully nice of the Hungarians come to your aid, though; I don't know if I've ever seen that before! Yes, I've had allies help me out in field battles, but I don't think they've ever helped me break out of a castle. Well done! ~:cheers:

NodachiSam

06-01-2006, 05:20

Hang in there man! :D That looks like it would've been a tough battle to win, maybe if you had kept you archers a little further from the spears it would've let your horses charge in without being confined. When two units overlap they get a small defence bonus. Charging through another unit also muddles up the charage a bit. I wouldn't ally with all your neighbours though, you'll need to expand at some point.

Prince Cobra

06-01-2006, 08:44

:2thumbsup: I can't believe it!!! A byzantine army to help you without wanting to take some lands from you!? The Hungarian I can believe... although historically that was very very rare. Your diplomacy is excellent my master.:2thumbsup: Now I can sit safe in my mansion near the byz border and to have rest. ~;)
NodachiSam I think his strategy is good. Otherwise it would have been difficult to push the Cumans back. I expected the Golden horde to make more problems to the Cumans :no: . And the situation in the Middle East is interesting too- the Horde had made the Egypt weaker which potentially is good for Byzantium and to some extend for you ( the powerful Egyptians are far way). Of course this can lead to more powerful south neighbour which is not very good.
So the situation is very interesting- currently there is only one enemy the Cumans but they are extremely powerful... Interesting... I see future problems of their khan from the north - there are quite powerful countries there... But until then nobody knows what will happen...
And I liked the marriage proposal from the pope. Maybe this bug has its explanation- using my rich imagination I think it could be an uniate(actually Kaloyan really had an uniate with the Pope) or a marriage with any descendant of the Pope's ally Hungary. Or maybe the Pope feels lonely :laugh4:
Waiting for the next pictures... :coffeenews:

Diehard_TH

06-01-2006, 10:17

All went fairly well, my king was fine and the Cypriots were just about ok until i beat the Byz fleets and reinforced them. I then concentrated my assault on the Eggys resulting in the following position
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/Diehard_TH/Poland1370.jpg
Poland 1370

I lost cyprus to an Eggy rebellion but managed to cause serious damage to the Eggy holdings although not having much in the way of cash for troops i had fun keeping the loyalty of the holy land above 100%.

One slight incident was yet another re-emergance of the GH in Armenia as i was assaulting a castle. Just under 5000 troops appeared and after mustering all the tneighbouring troops i could the battle commenced.

Admittedly my 7* general helped but i finally got a 30 to 1 kill ratio! The pic below says it all
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/Diehard_TH/Poland3021.jpg
I didn't need any reinforcements and as you can see my 1 unit of archers didn't even run out of ammo.

My cav was awesome, my losses should have been less but a unit of Steppe cav got caught some GH Kharawsim(?) cav when i wasn't looking. I just kept charging in and retreating. The main problem i had was my cav got totally exhausted and i withdrew a couple of units as they were just knackered.

Great fight and the GH are now hopefully not to return.

A few years later the Eggy Sultan attacked a weakened Syria and with about 40:60 troops concentrated all my forces on him and his heir resulting in the end of the Eggys.
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/Diehard_TH/Poland1378.jpg
Poland 1378

The Eggys owned huge tracts of land and these are now rebels. My trade shot up and i was receiving nearky 30k a year! I didn't know what to do with all the cash so rather than sit back i transported a few nice generals over to Europe and decided to crush the French.

After a few nice attacks the French had a civil war, so more rebel provinces but i couldn't get their king and he ran away to Navarre. The pic below is just after i have bribed some rebels in Spain, to open up another front, and after attacking the Pope. He excommed me so had to die.
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/Diehard_TH/Poland1383.jpg
Poland 1383

The only slight hitch to all this is the Hungarians decided, out of the blue, to attack my navy. My assault force attacking the Pope is now trapped with no retreat and my trade income is next to nothing and i'm losing 1500 florins a year. (oh yeah the rebels seem to be enemy for some reason and i can't withdraw from them to reset their status!).

So i lauched attacks against 4 Hungarian provinces and tried assault castles in Wessex and Papal States. The results are below
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/Diehard_TH/Poland127.jpg
Papal States - No Retreat

The Hungarians deceded to help the Pope which was a problem as i had no retreat and i'm outnumbered 7 to 1.

I battled hard but eventually my archers & catapult ran out of ammo and the cav were all totally exhausted. Still they did pretty well
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/Diehard_TH/Poland127b.jpg
Lord Jagged's last stand.

The rest was interesting, the Hungarians attacked Poland and Lorraine, unfortunately i had a 0* general in Lorraine and lots of peasants so that fell but the rest held out and i won the provinces i attacked. I bribed Toulouse as well so it all looks set-up for very bloody last 50 years or so!
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/Diehard_TH/Poland1384.jpg
Poland 1384

NodachiSam

06-01-2006, 15:32

Very nice campaign Diehard! Impressive defense of Armenia; think of the propoganda opportunities :P!

DukeofSerbia

06-06-2006, 18:25

Game: XL mod 2.0+2.1 for MTW VI 2.01 + my modifications

Starting era: Early XL (1087)

Difficulty: Medium

Victory type: Glorious achievement

Faction: Byzantines

Unit size: default

Beginning story:

This is the map of Europe, Near East and North Africa in 1087.

https://img420.imageshack.us/img420/539/earlyxl5wq.jpg

Strategy:
The main enemy is Seljuk Turks in the start who are located in Minor Asia and Near East. Possible enemies are Serbs, Papal state, Sicily and Hungary and later Cumans, Kievan Rus’, Fatimids (Egypt) and Armenians.
Possible allies are orthodox Armenians (Kingdom of Lesser Armenia), Serbs, Kievan Rus’ and Novgorod.

Tactics:
Backbone of imperial armies are Byzantine infantry and Trebizond archers led by Kataphraktoi general if is possible or some other cavalry. Horse archers are also used, but later replaced with Byzantine cavalry. I use mercenaries and most of them are Steppe heavy cavalry and Italian infantry (only until 1205).
As Emperor of Roman Empire has discount on various agents, I later trained large number of assassins and few spies. And I have reason for that.

Main story:

1087 – 1110

In the first turn Armenian emissary came and offer alliance. I agreed. I used islands for only one purpose: building ships. Later I used them for recruiting troops. On start everything what I had I moved in Nicae.

On second turn Armenians attacked Seljuk Turks in Rum and conquer province. But Seljuk Turks retreated to castle so Armenians had to besiege them. After some four years Armenians lost Rum and Seljuk Turks went in counterattack. Then I came in action. I invaded Anatolia from Nicae and Seljuk Turks retreated without fight into Rum. Around 1100 I conquered Rum. By this time Serbs betrayed me and attacked from Serbia into Greece but they lost. Serbs also built barque and they invaded Naples, which I lost. Battle was very close. Meantime my Hungarian allies invaded Serbia (before that they conquered Wallachia and Moldavia) and the whole Serbian army retreated to Naples where they besieged my troops in Fort. This was the end for Serbs. I have loyalists’ rebellion first time since I play Medieval. Three Byzantine infantry and one unit of Trebizond archers, spearmen and peasants were enough for destruction of Serbian army and their king was killed in battle.

https://img352.imageshack.us/img352/7228/vizantijamojilojalisti2bv.jpg

Next time: how Pope get married, England and France became empires and destruction of Seljuk Turks by Armenians, Fatimids and my Romanoi plus annoying Sicilian fleet.

NodachiSam

06-06-2006, 20:07

This sounds like it'll be good DoS :) I like to play Romanoi too so it shall be very interesting to see how you go about this. I hope you finish this campaign for us. :D

DukeofSerbia

06-07-2006, 17:56

@NodachiSam

Thanks. I will continue.

DukeofSerbia

06-07-2006, 18:05

1110-1140

In Western Europe situation by this time is boring. Nobody is in war with anybody. Castile-Leon destroyed Portugal who was in war with Almoravids and Aragon who was in war with HRE (for both were excommunicated) and later England attacked Almoravids together with Castile-Leon. Holy Roman Empire conquered Venice and Croatia from rebels. HRE became the strongest faction.
I offered my princess to Pope John XXI and he accepted.

https://img47.imageshack.us/img47/6180/vizantijapapapristaonabrak1ax.jpg

https://img129.imageshack.us/img129/9541/vizantijapapaseozenio1hm.jpg

In Eastern Europe Kievan Rus’ attacked Cumans and destroyed them. In Near East I was still in war against Seljuk Turks together with Armenians and Fatimids (we all were allies). I captured Armenia, Armenians captured Edessa and Antioch and Fatimids captured Arabia. This was enough for Seljuk Turks’ sultan and he lost everything in civil war except Tripoli. Soon, Armenians captured and executed Seljuk Turks’ sultan and they conquered everything in Near East plus they invaded Tunisia and Malta (both were in control of rebels).

By this time England destroyed Almoravids and conquered 2/3 of Iberian Peninsula plus Morocco. Around 1120 France, Denmark, Bohemia, Hungary and Genoa started war against HRE as it was strongest and largest faction (I was the richest). Denmark relatively easy captured Northern provinces (plus they destroyed Sweden who was ally of HRE), France was held in Lorraine and Burgundy, Bohemia conquered one or two provinces, Genoa was wiped out and Hungary unsuccessful attacked HRE in Croatia and Austria. The only allies of HRE were England and me.

As Seljuk Turks were destroyed and eastern boundaries became peaceful I attacked my former ally Hungary from Bulgaria into Wallachia. They retreated without fought in fort and I assaulted them. The same story was in Moldavia. HRE finished Hungarians around 1140 and conquered Serbia, Hungary and Carpathia and became my new neighbor.

Two things annoyed me in this period: papal bishops and Sicilian fleet. Pope every turn sent at least two bishops in Naples. Crete is my base for training assassins. In one year there were 8 papal and Sicilian bishops in Naples. Assassins couldn’t kill them all. Conversion of Naples was very, very slow… Btw. Pope still sent bishops. Even now in 1233 Naples have still 16-20% of Roman Catholics as there is always at least one papal bishop and my bishop (not priest) is there and like he do nothing.
Just to mention that until 1140 there were no crusades.

Next time: war with Sicily, Fatimids and Kieavan Rus' plus England became huge; Armenia became great power and destruction of France.

Prince Cobra

06-08-2006, 08:38

Excellent, DukeofSerbia. You've fulfilled the dream of many Roman emperors to restore the power of Constantinople in Minor Asia.:2thumbsup: I understand your annoyance by the heretical bishops of the Pope... Don't worry you still have an Orthodox domination in your Western provinces and I'm sure you'll continue to having it. Because you're one of the best rulers who the Roman empire ever had, oh gloriuos one... (sorry, but it was impossible to speak about the court in Constantinople without praising~;) ). I'm interested in how the genuine empire progresses.

Wow, Diehard_TH, what a big Polish country... Good, good... (wondering)

edyzmedieval

06-08-2006, 10:57

Glad to see this topic is still alive. :2thumbsup:

I might try some more MTW, I miss the risk style maps. BKB Super Mod for me. :balloon2:

naut

06-08-2006, 12:12

More Bulgaria:

And I'll start it with a battle :balloon3:

https://img110.imageshack.us/img110/5823/bulgars127vk.jpg

Damn Cumans invaded Bulgaria, again :no: !

https://img110.imageshack.us/img110/7223/bulgars138dt.jpg

https://img114.imageshack.us/img114/6536/bulgars140df.jpg

https://img114.imageshack.us/img114/6584/bulgars159ye.jpg

:2thumbsup: Victory for Bulgaria!

DukeofSerbia

06-08-2006, 17:23

@Rythmic

Witch Bulgarian unit is that with sword? I first time see this unit.

@Stephen Asen

Thanks. Those papal bishops make me crazy. Like Pope only recruit bishops and nothing else... :furious3:

DukeofSerbia

06-08-2006, 17:29

1140-1156

Around 1140 Kievan Rus’ finished Cumans and they attacked my Roman Empire in Moldavia from Levidia. New wars were started: England and Castile-Leon together attacked France from back which conquered Swabia and Franconia from HRE and had large army and Armenians attacked Fatimids. I sided with Armenians.

I had problems with Kiavan fleet (longboats). With great loses I sunk their fleet, but the new problems broke out: Seljuk Turks and Serbs reappeared and Sicily continued Kievan job of sinking my fleet and disturbing my maritime trade.

Papal state attacked HRE and conquered northern Italy and after that several civil wars occurred in HRE. They lost many provinces and Balkan provinces became rebels. In 1154 Serbs reappeared in Serbia and after few turns they conquered Serbia and Hungary.

https://img308.imageshack.us/img308/7769/vizantijapovrataksrba8yy.jpg

And they didn’t live long. Their king was old (over 50 years) and his four brothers (princes) were even elder (over 60). Two of them were killed in battle when they tried to conquer Carpathia from rebels. There was 4* general. No more Serbs after 1165.
The same turn (1154) assassin was caught and killed in Moldavia. Ordinary thing except that assassin worked for rebels!

https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/232/vizantijaasasinpobunjenika1vr.jpg

Armenians slowly conquered Fatimids, as they were pretty tough. After Serbs reappeared, Seljuk Turks reappeared in Mesopotamia, too. Mesopotamia was rebel province (former Seljuk’s rebels from civil war) which nobody invaded. Seljuk sultan Mehmed I wanted to expand and he choose to attack me in Rum and second attack was in Armenia. He was crushed as his army was compound of archers and Saracen infantry. He gained poor attacker and doubtful courage vice and virtues. After few turn he died without heir (he was already old) and I invaded Mesopotamia and Georgia which also controlled rebels.

Around 1155 Sicily invaded Naples but I won. And the same story next year. I managed to build large fleet on islands (Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus) and I sunk whole Sicilian fleet. They were so weak that I didn’t want to invade Sicily. White peace was signed and every time when Sicily built ship I sunk its. There are now four full armies of high tech units in Sicily but they can’t invade anybody without fleet…

After I conquered Levidia from Kievan Rus’ their emissary came and offered ceasefire. I agreed. The worst things in campaign weren’t battles or enemies – it was my heirs. The first emperor Alexius had only two sons (6* generals) and his heir had four sons but they had only one or two command (he had nine influence). The next problem was massive number of princesses who nobody wants to merry. My general always had the highest loyalty so I didn’t marry them with princess as there is no effect. Few of them even became a spinster. But the worst thing was that nobody wanted to give princess to my heirs. Even orthodox factions refused to give princess. Finally, Bohemian king accepted which saved me. The whole game I have problems to find princesses for my princes.

Next time: end of Fatimids and France, second war with Kievan Rus' and the first crusade (the English one) is coming on my boundaries plus – the first true empire is born - England.

naut

06-09-2006, 07:42

@Rythmic

Witch Bulgarian unit is that with sword? I first time see this unit.

That my friend is Bulgarian Heavy Infantry. Fine quality Bulgarian infantry.

DukeofSerbia

06-09-2006, 11:53

@Rythmic

They look like Viking landsmen with different shield. I had so many battles on bridge but my enemy never broke up my lines. Armoured Spearmen are best for holding enemies on bridge from my expirience. Try with them.:2thumbsup:

DukeofSerbia

06-09-2006, 11:58

1156-1172

Sultan of Seljuk Turks died of illness and I invaded Mesopotamia. After conquest I destroyed every building here and retreated back to Armenia. I had two reasons: Mesopotamia is not rich province and terrain is sandy desert. Most of my army is armored or heavily armored – so, units like that are useless in that type of terrain. After I left Mesopotamia, Fatimids invaded from Arabia and war broke out. They were already beaten by Armenians, but it seems that they wanted more! First some 6* Berber camels general with excellent vices and virtues invaded Armenia and the next turn the same did Khalifah Ali I. Both times they were beaten. Nothing interesting happened except composition of Fatimid’s army. I will say in one word – camels, a lot of camels. ¾ of army were Bedouin and Berber camels. Second battle for Armenia was very close. Every Bedouin camel had at least one valor and mostly 2 or 3 (I gave +1 valor bonus in Arabia for them). This is screenshot from second battle. There were more dead camel’s bodies but I couldn’t catch them all…

https://img100.imageshack.us/img100/1862/vizantijafatimidijermenija0hf.jpg

Khalifah Ali I became good runner and weak attacker. I decided to finish him once and forever. My second invasion of Mesopotamia was led by 5* Urban militia general. Fatimids surrendered without fight. My general refused ransom. It was in 1161 and Fatimids were reduced to Cyrenaica. Armenians conquered Arabia, Sinai and Egypt.

https://img224.imageshack.us/img224/7480/vizantijaodbijenotkup3cn.jpg

By 1161 situation in Western Europe became interesting. Bohemia conquered Austria and Croatia and Czech king now control the most of central Europe. France was quickly overrun by Castilian and English armies and then broke into civil war. HRE survived only in Switzerland and Genoa and France was reduced to Burgundy and Savoy. England and France signed truce and English armies overrun Ireland (I forgot to mention that Scotland was conquered long time ago by English) which I saw first time that anybody invade Ireland. The real winner was Papal state. Papal armies just conquered those rebel provinces and Pope controls now most provinces between Provence and Venice up to Tyrol. Just to mention that Novgorod was destroyed by Denmark and Kiev after long war.

In 1162 Kievan Rus’ started war again. They controlled whole modern Russia plus Crimea. This time I was prepared for their fleet. After five or six years and there were no more any Kievan fleet in eastern Mediterranean. AI was excellent and they didn’t attack Leviadia from Lesser Khazar or Kiev as there is a river. They attacked from Pereyaslavl. My 8* Katapraktoi general with damn gluttony vice and virtue won again. I killed over 600 prisoners because Kiev had huge army.

https://img91.imageshack.us/img91/4155/vizantijakijevlevidiaskor2na.jpg

I decided to expand as the new emperor had “only” seven influences. Crimea fell easily. Then I moved my 8* general and his army from Levidia to Kiev. There was grand prince of Kiev. For some unknown reason they retreated to castle. I wrote unknown as I expected battle on bridge. Next turn I assaulted castle with great loses as castle had ring and catapult wall improvement. Those catapult towers can’t miss. Kiev is the key strategic point. Province is reach, Kievans improved buildings and is protected from all sided by rivers except from east which is the most important reason why I invaded Kiev. First time in campaign I was in position to recruit Byzantine cavalry as province was highly developed. In 1167 Kievan Rus’ tried to get back Kiev and battle was on the bridge. The problem for me was that I have only one Byzantine infantry and no spearmen so I used Trebizond archers as swordsmen on bridge. Grand prince Vladimir II was killed by swords of my Trebizond archers’ unit.

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/4048/vizantijakijevkijevskor9tz.jpg

Serbian king died from illness in 1165 and Serbia and Hungary became rebel provinces once again. Three armies of rebels in Hungary led by 4* and two 3* generals and two rebel armies in Serbia led by 5* and 3* generals. My armies were busy with Kievan Rus’ so I sent emissary with three valor in Serbia to bribe 5* general and his army. Initial offer was over 4000 florins but then price was raised over 6000. I agreed but general refused. Next turn I tried again. He wanted 7400 florins. I agreed but he refused. From then he became impossible for bribing. So I tried to bribe 3* general. Price was raised from 3700 to 4900 and general accepted offer. I moved troops from Greece and won next year battle with terrible losses. Rebel army was composed of Slav javelin men, archers, annoying horse archers and Slav warriors and battle was in hilly ground. Those Slav javelin men… My ally Bohemia four consecutive years unsuccessfully tried to conquer Hungary from Austria (there is a river on Austrian-Hungarian boundaries). Finally they succeeded. But rebels retreated to Carpathia led by 4* general who survived. It became obvious that my ally Bohemians plan invasion on my empire…

Around 1170 Kievans sent princess to offer truce. I agreed. Fatimid khalifah was captured and executed by Armenians in Cyrenaica. Minor Asia, Near East and Egypt are in hands of Orthodox states – Roman Empire and Kingdom of Lesser Armenia. Bohemia conquered Carpathia with great losses and French king was captured and executed by Castilian army in Savoy. Armenians attacked England in Algiers and the new great war broke out. My emissary noticed first crusade led by English 3* Templar Knight’s general. Their target is province of Edessa controlled by Armenians. That means they will try to go through my territories. England is strongest, largest and richest faction… Can be worst? Yes and it is. England and Kiev are allies.

Next time: English crusade arrived in Hungary, war with Armenia and Bohemia, Fatimids, Almoravids and Seljuk Turks reappeared plus almost every faction attacked English empire.

VAE VICTUS

06-10-2006, 02:54

castilians
hard
1301

this is my first MTW campaign, i think my empire is decent for a first timer, took me a long time to do it though. my main recruiting stations are navarre, and aragon. having trouble making navies, everyone attacks them when there are like 2 units. need help with battles, how to make money, and any helpful info.i dont knwo how to make it bigger, but i own most of spain, to the edge of italy, and the edge of norway.

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j46/vae_victus/twe.jpg

naut

06-10-2006, 04:27

What mod is that?

Another Bulgaria Battle:
https://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2968/bulgars168wq.jpg

https://img89.imageshack.us/img89/2341/bulgars173jt.jpg

https://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1776/bulgars188nb.jpg

https://img89.imageshack.us/img89/2514/bulgars194bq.jpg

VAE VICTUS

06-10-2006, 06:05

bkb super mod.
and i was the navarese, not the castilians.

NodachiSam

06-14-2006, 03:50

Keep the good stuff rolling guys :D

naut

06-14-2006, 12:28

BKB Super mod is good :2thumbsup:, I prefer XL though. Impressive campaign VAE VICTUS!

EDIT: I have more pics, I'll upload them tommorrow.

Prince Cobra

06-15-2006, 11:31

Duke of Serbia, congratulations. The empire is stretching. I imagine how Pope envy you and how he writes letters to ' Christian' kings asking them to stop quarrelling and to crusade against you. But what he receives is... excuses how difficult it is to find money in order to fight against the 'schysmatics'. :laugh4: Note English crusade against Armenians not against you (because nobody is stronger than Byzantium!). First it can be worse and your peasants are used to suffer from crusade pillaging. Of course you may want to defend them and to have war with many factions (but the English are not so close to you,oops Kiev is). It's your choice!Good luck with the empire! ( Although I'm sure you will sacrifice some peasant lives. But it's for the sake of the empire!)

Rythmic, maybe I have to help you with my soldiers against the Pagan Cumans. They are pillaging Bulgaria!!!! They defeated after a stubborn fight the army of the tzar!!! No, something has to be done! Send embassidors to your allies! They should help you!
Where is my helmet? D*mn it! And my armour! And my horse! OK! I'm coming! FOR BULGARIA AND JESUS CHRIST! CHAAAAAAARGEEEEEEEEEE!

Hope you liked the joke! Inquisitive to see other picture! And don't this Cumans have any envy neighbours???

Attention: We are looking for skilled assassins who want to fight for Bulgarian tzar and ready to kill the Cuman 'royal' family.We pay very well (and until the assassin is alive he is free the from any state taxes ).

DukeofSerbia

06-15-2006, 11:44

naut

06-15-2006, 12:13

Stow your blades Stephen Asen, the new King has replaced the dying King of Bulgaria.

https://img48.imageshack.us/img48/1432/bulgars208im.jpg

Once again the Byz have come to the aid of Bulgaria! :dizzy2: :balloon2:

https://img48.imageshack.us/img48/9972/bulgars216it.jpg

I love the Byz!!! The fleeing Cumans have been captured by the brave Bulgarian forces. The ransom has been refused! :2thumbsup:

https://img48.imageshack.us/img48/6906/bulgars221ku.jpg

This is a critical blow to the hated Cumans!

https://img149.imageshack.us/img149/2120/bulgars239hy.jpg

Amazing with the Cumans on the verge of destruction there has been peace for Bulgaria for ten years! :balloon3:

https://img48.imageshack.us/img48/1650/bulgars246wg.jpg

Prince Cobra

06-15-2006, 13:21

To Rythmic
Yes,sir! I obbey your will.
By the way what is the name of my present tzar?
I see- Byzantines are afraid of Pagan neighbour... And Bulgarians are Orthodox... And your good diplomacy...
But here are some comments:
I'm really happy I have enough time to relish the freedom of Bulgaria in my mansion... However:
I do not like the huge Polish and the big Hungarian kingdom. Are they your allies?
You love the byzantines ( I like them too- good culture, good capital (!) ) but I see they are weaker and weaker. So IMHO you should consider the possibility of conquering Constantinople if Byzantium loses Nicaea. But this is just a suggestion ( I do not know who are their allies, enemies; actually I do not know almost anything;and after all this is your campaign).
Also I see the peace is quite good for your economy. Do you trade by sea? What is your annual income? Just inquisitive :inquisitive: ... Good luck- you are in a difficult situation with this strong neighbours...
Edited: Wow, that was my 100th post!

Martok

06-16-2006, 00:14

Wow, Rythmic, I just cannot get over the fact the Byz have helped you out twice now, with no advantage to themselves. They really are wonderful allies!

naut

06-16-2006, 08:11

@ Stephen Asen: The new Tzar is Ivailo I. And yes both the Polish and Hungarians are my Allies. In the next few pics you will see I gained a lot of cash so I hope to build up a large invasion force and crush the Hungarians.

So IMHO you should consider the possibility of conquering Constantinople if Byzantium loses Nicaea. But this is just a suggestion

Yes I was considering attacking the Byz, especially taking Constantinople as it is rich and a chokepoint that is easily defensible. But the Byz are actually a lot stronger than you would expect (VG and Klibanophoroi with +3 defense, very nasty), and to my horror they have actually been able to afford the bribery of some GH soldiers (about half a stack):dizzy2:.

Also I see the peace is quite good for your economy. Do you trade by sea? What is your annual income? Just inquisitive

Yes I do trade by sea, I have ships in the Black Sea and several mediteranian seas. Its a an okay income, 1233 Florins a year plus I should get more now I've built another ship. But I can't expand trade much because the attacking Cumans cancelled out most of the almost completed ships! :furious3:

@ Martok: I'm also amazed I usually only have it happen to me once a game!

P.S: well done with the post count.

UltraWar

06-18-2006, 13:15

Rythmic I really like how your empire is going...

I tried a Bulgarian Campaign [Hard] took over Wallachia, Constantinople and Moldivia with my first Tsar... with my second I took over Greece and Nicaea... also allied with the GH...

I then had a huge war with the Crusaders who kept taking over my provences.... and then a Crusade from the Hungarians came and caused a civil war... my Tsar died at Constantinople and the Campaign was over...

Knight Templar

06-18-2006, 19:57

Nice to see so many people play Medieval. Keep on with your campaigns :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup:

Martok

06-20-2006, 05:53

Shameless plug alert!

King Kurt and I have been posting on our respective Sicilian campaigns here (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=65937).

In retrospect, however, I should've just posted in this thread. :oops:

Prince Cobra

06-24-2006, 04:45

Thanks, Rythmic! I'm still here, still alive and still reading this thread. I'm just very busy because of some nasty university exams ( actually I've just finished highschool :balloon2: ) :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2: . Continue, please. I love this thread!

naut

06-28-2006, 11:17

Well here we go ...

P.S: I hope your exams go well Stephen Asen

The perfidious Sicilians decided Greece would be a grand addition to their Empire.

https://img68.imageshack.us/img68/7808/bulgars258qx.jpg

However, the Bulgarian army will not lay down their arms without a fight.

https://img204.imageshack.us/img204/2589/bulgars267um.jpg

A shameful defeat!?! (I should probably not watched the football last night, then I would able to think straight :laugh4: :juggle2:)

https://img68.imageshack.us/img68/8420/bulgars271ww.jpg

??? ... What can I say, the Byz once again.

https://img204.imageshack.us/img204/1872/bulgars283zi.jpg

:laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: The foolish Sicilians were caught while fleeing from Greece.

https://img68.imageshack.us/img68/6504/bulgars295ml.jpg

This battle will be bloody! And I am terrible at using HA!!!

https://img68.imageshack.us/img68/5719/bulgars306re.jpg

naut

06-28-2006, 11:19

I warned that my skills at using HA are bad!

https://img49.imageshack.us/img49/8025/bulgars314cy.jpg

One day the Byz will turn against me, but it isn't this day!

https://img204.imageshack.us/img204/3347/bulgars325gq.jpg

EDIT: Pic works now!

King Kurt

06-28-2006, 13:12

Speaking up for the Sicilians - I am currently playing a Sicilian VI High period hard campaign as reported in see Naples and die - I have got to say there is no justice!! You must have some compremising manuscripts on the Byzantine Emperor for the number of times he saves your bacon!!! :2thumbsup:

naut

06-28-2006, 13:20

You must have some compremising manuscripts on the Byzantine Emperor for the number of times he saves your bacon!!! :2thumbsup:

Haha :laugh4:, that would make the game a whole lot more exciting. But, I'm not sure why the Byz are so friendly. They are usually a pain in the bottom!

naut

07-02-2006, 10:56

Bulgaria, and the most dangerous ally to the south.

https://img89.imageshack.us/img89/2307/bulgars334fr.jpg

The Byzantine Emperor is dead! Is this be the end of the Alliance?

https://img65.imageshack.us/img65/6673/bulgars345tt.jpg

Or will it allow us to strengthen our position?

https://img65.imageshack.us/img65/309/bulgars350rx.jpg

Peace with the Mongols, this will allow for some good trade profit!

https://img89.imageshack.us/img89/8670/bulgars361di.jpg

:balloon3: Internal improvement :balloon3:

https://img65.imageshack.us/img65/9940/bulgars379ah.jpg

A famine has befallen Bulgaria! The people suffer greatly. :wall:

https://img52.imageshack.us/img52/2055/bulgars380xh.jpg

Gunpowder has been discovered, will Bulgaria be able to utilise it in battle quickly though?

https://img89.imageshack.us/img89/6788/bulgars396fu.jpg

:balloon3::balloon3::balloon3: Until next time ~D

Vladimir

07-03-2006, 05:05

That is one nice army the Byzantines had there. Too bad they're about to be destroyed by the Egyptians.

naut

07-03-2006, 13:23

The Eggies are strong, which is potentially quite good for me. :2thumbsup:

Prince Cobra

07-03-2006, 14:05

Thanks, Rythmic. Just less than two weeks more busy times...:dizzy2:
Good work! Now you are a rich man!

Shaun

07-16-2006, 00:00

Refering to post 416, what units was that that the Byzantines had, they were between the varangian guards and the horses. Is that the XL mod?

Deus ret.

07-16-2006, 00:27

Yes, it's XL. They become available in high and are buildable mercenary pikemen, quite a gain for the Byz despite their shortage in numbers (forming a decent pike wall with 60 men units is either a hopeless enterprise or takes up too many slots).

Shaun

07-16-2006, 00:52

hmmm, never seen them before.
IM currently just started a Byz campaign in high, they seem like they can be pretty useful, what buildings do they need?

naut

07-16-2006, 12:32

Yes they are Latin Auxillaries, IIRC you require a Inn and Master Spearmaker to produce them.

Prince Cobra

07-18-2006, 11:01

Rythmic,
I am waiting for the news from Bulgaria :2thumbsup: . I have plenty of time now:2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: . Good luck with the campaign!

Shaun

07-19-2006, 00:41

Yes they are Latin Auxillaries, IIRC you require a Inn and Master Spearmaker to produce them.

Argh! My version dosent have them.:no:

Oh well, i modded in pikemen to Byzantium, they are just as good.

naut

07-19-2006, 12:37

Do you have XL mod? they should be there.

Next update soon.

Shaun

07-19-2006, 14:27

Yes, I do have XL mod, version 2.0. I noticed a few other minor things thats different from my version, the Serbians in my version are bright green, in yours they seem to be almost navy blue. Hmmm, whats up with that? I will try and DL the latest version( It hasnt been working for a while now).

danfda

08-01-2006, 21:49

Rythmic, did you ever finish your Bulgarian campaign? I confess I greatly enjoyed reading your posts (here at work :D ). I am currently in the middle of a High Serbian campaign, and sadly, I crushed my Bulgarian allies on turn three. Sorry Stephen!

Its about 1280 or so, I control all of the Balkans minus Croatia; the Byz are down to Rhodes, Mesopotamia, Rum, and Trebizond (the Turks are no more); the Armenians are still alive!!!! and are at war with the Crusader states. Damn Christians control all of the Fatmid's former lands and the Holy Land and now Lesser Armenia. I am sending one of my Tsar's sons (he's a chinless wonder, so maybe glorious battles can redeem him--otherwise, I will *accidentally* send him on a one-way ticket to Mongol country) with a plush stack or two into Antioch when I get home. This is my first war in a while, after hunting down and destroying the "perfidious' Sicillians after they decided Greece should be thiers. Fools. They sued for peace; I took Malta and Naples, and an Aragonese crusade took Sicily. The Cumans are nearly destroyed (the work of the horde) and the rest of the Catholic world is in shambles. Everyone is at war with everyone else. XL is quite fun, I've decided.

This is my first campaign in which the Armenians survived the first decade, so I have decided to make them my pet project and stave off the cursed Crusaders and the crusading Spaniards. I've also tried an Irish campaign which was a lot of fun (they have such fun units!) and the Cumans on High (I hate the Mongols, I really do). All in all, I am having fun, and am rambling. Keep this coming guys. I like reading about campaigns at work and there haven't been any new stories in a while...

Prince Cobra

08-03-2006, 19:45

Thank you, danfda. You are the second one who saved this thread! And yes I'm interested what happened in Rythmic's campaign and also in yours, danfda. :2thumbsup:

danfda

08-03-2006, 20:21

Well, since you asked, the Armenians died before I could save them. This was mostly due to an Aragonese crusade aimed at Constantinople that I had to protect against (they'd been allies for, ohh, 50+ years) and the Mongols declaring war on my ships (they, too, had been allied). So my invasion took exactly a year to long and the Armenian king got caught in a battle with the Byz, and died. The rest of the Armenian empire went rebel, and a year after that was all in Byz hands.

I went on a mad rush to build ships, and the Aragonese and Mongol fleets are now basically extinct. I'm at peace with the Mongols now, but that Crusade is still waiting to attack. It went through Venetian and Hungarian lands (high zeal + loads of troops = big crusade) so I've had to shift most of my invasion armies to Bulgaria and Serbia. I have no delusions about losing, but it is an annoyance.

I loaded up Lssr. Armenia and Antioch with spies, in hopes of an Armenian re-emergence. So far, no go.

On that note, I started an Armenian campaign last night. :D They do not have enough missile troops, methinkes.

Cheers.

danfda

08-03-2006, 20:25

Yes they are Latin Auxillaries, IIRC you require a Inn and Master Spearmaker to produce them.

By the by, its a spearmaker's guild plus an inn. :juggle2:

Prince Cobra

08-04-2006, 19:26

OK, good luck with your Armenian campaign... I hope it will be interesting ( if you want you may say what is going on with it). And I'm waiting for the Rythmic camaign, too.

naut

08-06-2006, 02:05

I've been really busy, but I'll post some now.

The Tzar is dead, Tzar Kaloyan II will rule in his stead.
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/2415/bulgars40wb5.jpg

He is a most charitable man, surely Bulgaria will prosper under him.
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/5049/bulgars41xg2.jpg

The line of Byzantium will surely be most inbred now, due to all my princesses in their bloodline. :laugh4:
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/3152/bulgars42ud6.jpg

The invasion of Hungary begins.
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/8878/bulgars43ie5.jpg

The army's of both valiant Bulgaria and Purfideous Hungary.
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/3797/bulgars44jy3.jpg

An attempt to flank using HA is made.
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/6307/bulgars45fk2.jpg

Although the flanking is successful, losses are heavy.
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/8365/bulgars46ek8.jpg

The enemy flees to their women, and scream like girls!
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/6104/bulgars47ac9.jpg

A noble victory! :2thumbsup:
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/6620/bulgars48mm2.jpg

naut

08-06-2006, 02:07

Serbia is in rightful hands.
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/205/bulgars49eo4.jpg

A ransom of the finest gold is recieved to pay for Hungarian scum.
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/5782/bulgars50sw0.jpg

naut

08-06-2006, 02:10

Lol I have to post this, Its Pike and Musket:

https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/1544/whattw3.jpg

Peasant Phill

08-07-2006, 09:48

What is that unit?

cegorach

08-07-2006, 10:35

Ehh. It is simple I forgot about muslime rebells from some non-muslim factions (so converted or independent) and outside of their homeland range.

Small mistakes happen when you have over 600 units to test and check...

Extremely easy to correct. The patch to be released this week will correct that.:book:

Ludens

08-07-2006, 11:01

What is that unit?
It's an alim, I think. In some mods the game spawns rebelion consisting entirely of agents.

Nice campaign, Rythmic!

Peasant Phill

08-07-2006, 13:04

Thanks Ludens.

My first thought was some kind of muslim agent but normally they don't appear in an army stack, let alone with valour 9.
How will they behave? As a normal unit or as an agent?

caravel

08-07-2006, 13:14

In MTW/VI That is the muslim spy icon.

In some mods the game spawns rebelion consisting entirely of agents.

I never knew that. Is that how the mod has been designed or do the agents appear due to an error in the crusader_unit_prod11.txt file?

cegorach

08-07-2006, 15:10

Similar errors happened in WesW MedMod and other mods. It is mainly because if you are using homeland idea, some places might not be covered properly.:inquisitive:

naut

08-08-2006, 11:13

cegorach1, I love your mod. Top job my friend :2thumbsup:

That is a rebellion of muslim spys. You can't invade because the game crashes, so I had to bribe and disband the unit.

Ludens

08-08-2006, 15:04

My first thought was some kind of muslim agent but normally they don't appear in an army stack, let alone with valour 9.
How will they behave? As a normal unit or as an agent?
It is an Muslim agent, but the game treats it as an army unit for some reason. You can go into battle with them, but this will most likely cause a CTD (not so sure about auto-calcing, though).

cegorach

08-08-2006, 19:31

Autocalculating solves the problem temporary the patch released this week will eliminate it.

Martok

08-23-2006, 21:49

Well after my disastrous first attempt (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=67807), I've started another Bohemian campaign (XL Mod). We'll see if I do better this time. ~:) (Sorry, I don't have any screenshots!)

Already, events are going in a different direction from my previous campaign. I quickly secured alliances with the Hungarians and the Venitians, the latter of whom are now at war with the HRE. The big surprise, however, was that the Polish offered to ally with me, which I accepted. The Danes and Swedes also sent emissaries to make nice with me, so I'd secured my borders with all my immediate potential rivals save one--the Holy Roman Empire.

Knowing the Germans coveted my lands, I wasted no time in building an army so as to discourage them from attacking me. (Not surprisingly, I made sure to include a large complement of Bohemian Bowmen.) I also worked hard to develop my land, improving my farmland and upgrading my mining operations to maximize my small tax base. Within a decade, Bohemia was endowed with a modest infrastructure, and an army strong enough to defend it against all comers.

I now needed to expand, and I was looking with hungry eyes to the south and west. In 1100, the opportunity I was waiting for finally occurred. The Pope, alarmed by Imperial agression against northern Italy, excommunicated the Emperor and called for a Crusade against him. I immediately launched an invasion of Austria, hoping to sieze its copper reserves to add to my own. Remarkably, the Germans withdrew to Vienna without a fight, and so I readied my army to lay siege to the city.

Preparations for the assault on Vienna had barely begun, however, when I received word that the Emperor had invaded Bohemia, and had routed my garrison there. Not wishing (or daring) to lift the siege in Austria, I dispatched most of my cavalry to drive out the Germans, led by my oldest son. The odds were not in their favor, however. My cavarlymen, though well-trained, were outnumbered almost 2-to-1. Worse, the Imperial army had brought a large contingent of cavalry, thus negating most of my advantage.

When they arrived in Bohemia, my men were therefore overjoyed to discover that the Polish had sent an army to assist us! With the Poles' help, I forced the Germans to withdraw to Francony, and my son stayed in Prague to settle things in Bohemia. The year after that, Vienna fell to my troops, and my king rode triumphantly through its streets.

With Austria now under my control, I was startled to realize that an even greater prize lay within my reach: Venice! The Venitians' war against the HRE was obviously not going well, as their capital was occupied by a large contingent of the Emperor's soldiers. Taking such a valuable province will be difficult, but I have determined it will be mine. I desperately need sea access and a port anyway, and it's unlikely such another prime opportunity will present itself to me anytime soon. Preparations for this new assault has begun....

naut

08-24-2006, 08:06

Sounds most exciting Martok! :2thumbsup:

_Aetius_

08-24-2006, 14:19

About 9 months ago I had a Byzantine campaign on MTW VI vanilla, I intended originally to turn it into a story using the game as a base. Unfortunately the game crashed and the save is long lost.

However I do still have the yearly notes I made for the entire length of the campaign, recording about 200 years of the game. It was without doubt one of the most exciting and fascinating campaigns I have ever played in, sadly there will not be any screenshots. With any luck the narrative alone will be enough to arose interest.

I hope to post the first installment later on, for now though I best get back to work, apparently I come to the office to do work :laugh4:

Martok

08-25-2006, 17:56

Looking forward to hearing it, _Aetius_. :2thumbsup:

Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to play my Bohemian campaign very much the last couple days. I got a little time in last night, however. While I was playing, a most fortuitous development occurred: the HRE fell into civil war. (E-e-e-xcellent!) Life just got a little easier for me. ~;)

Martok

08-30-2006, 23:11

Well I finally had a chance to spend some time on my Bohemian campaign last night (huzzah!). Things are generally going pretty well, albeit not as much as I hoped. The HRE's civil war had some unexpected consequences, both good and bad.

I'll start with the bad: Half of the Imperial garrison in Venice defected to the rebels, a situation which the Venetians exploited before I could. In the blink of an eye, they had retaken their beloved capital from the Germans. While I was happy for them, their victory forced me to turn elsewhere in my quest for a port. :wall: As a result, I began to look north.

In the meantime, however, the HRE's loss was my gain! I wasted little time in attacking Bavaria and crushing the German rebels there. Shortly after conquering Bavaria, I decided to move on Franconia as well. Aside from profiting from the province's trade goods and salt mine, I could also use it as a base to invade a port province (Friesland and Saxony).

The HRE had recently put down the rebels in Franconia and re-occupied the province, but they'd left only a minimal garrison behind. I had little worry that the new Emperor (an unimpressive man named Wilhelm) would retaliate if I invaded, as my agents reported his western lands were under heavy attack by the French. (In fact, Wilhelm was desperate enough to offer me a ceasefire, which I rejected.)

Speaking of the French, they sent a small army to "assist" me in taking the province--not that I needed the help. ~:rolleyes: While the Empire got to defend on a bridge battle (2 bridges), their garrison consisted of only 5 units of UM, and I knew my Bohemian Bowmen would turn them into pincushions. During the battle, the French suffered heavy losses assaulting their bridge, but mine were minimal. Only 5 of my men died in the battle, 3 of them from friendly fire. On the flip side, 5 Germans were the only enemies to escape the carnage (much to my chagrin, as I had hoped to destroy them entirely so I wouldn't have to assault the castle). One siege battle later, and Franconia was mine.

I was now faced with a new problem, however--the port provinces I had sought access to (via Franconia) turned out to be owned by allies! The French possess Friesland, and (in a move that surprised me) the Norwegians had apparently conquered Saxony a couple years ago. With the exception of the HRE, I was allied with every neighbor I share a border with, and I didn't wish to damage King Vratislav's influence (currently a respectable 6) by attacking one of them.

A possible way out of my predicament has since presented itself, although I'm not sure how wise it would be for me to take it. The French and English, once both my allies, have gone to war with each other. (Surprisingly, the English were ex-communicated instead of the French!) In a decision I fear may come back to haunt me, I decided to keep my alliance with the English and break off relations with the French. Doing so enables me to attack Friesland--as well as other French ports along the North Sea coast (Flanders, anyone? ~;))--without losing honor and influence.

Of course, the downside of all this is that the French are definitely more powerful than I am, and taking them on might be more than I can handle (even with the English forcing them to fight on two fronts). It might finally be time to sit down with Emperor Wilhelm and start discussing peace....

Maloncanth

08-31-2006, 03:16

https://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3839/1219ch3.jpg
The year is 1219. Fifteen years after her sacking, the Queen of Cities is once again in Orthodox hands. Hungary and the Ayyubid muslims acknowledged this fact with alliances, though the Cumans and Sicilians (in Greece) remain troublesome. ~:pissed:

Maloncanth

08-31-2006, 11:45

https://img191.imageshack.us/img191/6929/12281231xs7.jpg

The Sicilians invaded with an enormous army in 1228 and Prince Kaloyan opted to abandon the humble keep to rejoin his father in a desperate bid to defend Constantinople from the encroaching hands of the Catholics. For the next two years, the Bulgarians and Sicilians massed their forces, but fate would not have it. In 1230 the King of Sicily fell ill and died childless, struck down by Divine Providence! ~:pissed:

P.S. - Double bribery GET!

Maloncanth

08-31-2006, 16:13

I've played this XL mod thing for a bit now and I'm really rather impressed. It feels much more challenging strategically as the player's economic base is greatly shrunk, relatively. My main criticism would be that it's very generous to historically minor factions though. Right now as I type, the Lithuanians are utterly disembowling the Horde, the Crusader states have completely conquered Egypt and the entire holy land, and I think the Armenians turned the tables on the Turks around them.

Anyhoo...

https://img255.imageshack.us/img255/1306/12471249px7.jpg

In 1246, the Byzantine Empire invaded Horde territories in Georgia. Considering the Mongols by far the stronger side, and having only garrison troops ready in distant Moldavia, Kaloyan sided with the Mongols.

In 1247, two of his younger brothers as well as Prince Stafan, a rather disappointing and unready heir apparant, crossed the Bosporus and seized Nicaea.

Emperor Constantine XII returned next year with a heroic force of Kataphracts whom the vastly more numerous Bulgarian army heavily defeated. The Emperor was captured and executed when his own sons declined to pay ransom. The year after that, the Seljuk Turks returned to bordering Anatolia with a new army recruited largely of rabble.

Tzar Kaloyan II also fell ill and died in 1249, just in time to see his life's work, the great Asen walls at Turnovo completed. The new fortifications were said to be the equal of Constaninoples. His son Stafan however, did not share his Bulgaria-centrism and unlike his predecessors, was coronated not at Turnovo, but Constantinople, to a court full of intrigue and numerous uncles of superior intellect, questionable loyalties, and disparate agendas.

With large amounts of former East Roman territory now under Bulgar rule, the capital is shifted (officially) to Constantinople, and the Roman Empire of the Bulgar People is established.

danfda

08-31-2006, 20:15

Nice campaign Maloncanth! Keep it coming.

Martok

09-01-2006, 00:55

Nice, Maloncanth! Way to beat down those Sicilian scoundrels ~:cheers: I also see Greece is now in rebel hands and that the Sicilians have been kicked out. (I don't suppose you would've had anything to do with that, would you? ~D)

As for my Bohemian campaign, events continue to unfold in a different direction than what I was anticipating. :dizzy2: It is a time of change and uncertainty. Kings and Caliphs have died, leaving their thrones to largely-untested sons of sometimes questionable ability. Kingdoms have fallen, while others are just beginning their rise to power and glory. Old allies turn on each other, and traditional enemies become fast friends.

Last night's session saw a flurry of diplomatic activity by a number of factions, including and especially myself. Alarmed by the French's growing strength, I dispatched the Bishop of Prague to offer terms of peace to Emperor Wilhelm, who was vacationing in Switzerland at the time. Upon hearing His Grace's proposal, Wilhelm was all too receptive to agreeing to a ceasefire. Indeed, the message delivered to me made it clear he was painfully eager for peace--he sounded less like an emperor, and more like a dog hoping to get a pat on the head from his beloved master. I confess I actually felt a little sorry for him!

My diplomatic activities continued elsewhere as well. Desiring to secure powerful allies in the east, I sent an emissary to Levidia, where the Prince of Kiev was currently residing. (The Kievans had unexpectedly started dominating the eastern steppes, pushing out both the Cumans and the People of Novgorod.) Somewhat to my surprise and concern, the Prince politely but firmly refused my offer of alliance. Given that he recently conquered Prussia and appears to have designs on pushing further into central Europe, I've realized I must watch him as warily as I'm watching the French.

Fortunately, Byzantine Emperor Alexius II (whom I found campaigning in Naples, of all places) was much more receptive to my embassy's offer of alliance. I suspect his willingness to see me might have had to with the fact that he's currently fighting a multi-front war against a numer of enemies. ~;) Interestingly, one of those enemies is the Pope--a man with whom the Bohemians have enjoyed only a lukewarm relationship. Only time will tell what retaliation--if any--the Vatican inflicts upon us as a result of this new treaty.

Perhaps just as interesting is that my newfound friendship with Alexius forced me to terminate my alliance with the Hungarians (the Byz had recently taken Croatia from them). I did so with regret, as I harbor no ill will towards them; they've been nothing but good Christian neighbors. The Byzantines are currently the greatest power on the map, however, and I greatly desire to be on good terms with them--particularly since they now share a border with me!

In the midst of all this deal-making, the Bohemians suffered a great loss: Vratislav II, who had led his people to victory over the Germans and tripled the size of his kingdom, succumbed to pneumonia and died in his sleep. The people greatly mourned his passing, particularly since the throne was now occupied his son, Vratislav III.

Vratislav the Younger has never had much appetite or aptitude for statecraft--he viewed his father's diplomatic maneuverings with both disinterest and disdain. In addition, rumors abounded throughout the court (and among the commoners as well), that he was a bit of an odd fellow at times. It's thought that he may be a touch schizophrenic, although as of yet it doesn't seem to affect his mental faculties overly much. Whether this problem will become worse later on remains to be seen.

For all that the people have their doubts about his ability to rule them, Vratislav himself has none. Owing largely to his father's accomplishments, he can exert a modest amount of influence over his neighbors, and he's not afraid to use it. In addition, he has a deserved reputation as a canny battle commander. (So what if he occiasionally demands that trees be baptized before being cut down to build siege weapons? At least he knows how to win! ~;p ) Perhaps most importantly, however, is that Vratislav III is ambitious--much more so than his father. He feels he can surpass him, and he's determined to do exactly that.

Towards that end, he makes a move that surprises nearly everyone--he offers to form an alliance with the Bohemians' old enemy, the Holy Roman Empire. (It should probably be mentioned that at this point, "Empire" is something of a misnomer, as the Germans now own just 2-3 provinces.) Wilhelm, trying to find any advantage he can against the French, gladly accepts the offer.

In this treaty with the Germans, Vratislav proved himself to be more cunning than anyone suspected. For not only has he now secured a buffer zone between his lands and the French, but it also gave him the excuse to cancel his alliance with the Venetians. (They were still at war with the HRE, and had in fact just invaded Tyrolia.) This was important, as he'd decided that Venice was going to be his next target.

The very next year, fortune gave my king's plans a small boost. The Venetian Doge died of an illness, leaving behind a son who was incompetent in all matters of kingship, including warfare. Vratislav was ready to pounce, and immediately invaded Venice with an army that swept all before it. The new Doge (who didn't even have a chance to celebrate his coronation) possessed just enough intelligence to know his forces were no match, and retreated back to the city.

I now have Venice under siege and at my mercy, but there are ominous rumblings on the horizon. Word has come that while most of my allies have remained steadfast, the Polish have instead sided with the Venetians in this conflict. In addition, the Venetians appear to be preparing a massive relief army, as their conquest of Tryolia is now complete. It looks like I'm going to have a real fight on my hands, and this time the war may come on two fronts.... ~:eek:

Don Corleone

09-01-2006, 01:31

The year was 1087. Venice has survived for nearly 400 years as a vassal state of the Byzantine empire. They have held off invastions from the North by Germanic tribes, each led by a barbarian confident that they in fact are the next Charlemagne, as well as seaborne raids along the Adriatic by the new upstart Normans to the South, stationed in Sicily. At the age of 36, a bright young star rose in the sky for Venice, Vitale the first true sovereign of Venice ascended the throne.
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/tharris00/ItalianGame/start.jpg

Immediately, Vitale declared his independence from the traditional Ventian overlords, the Byzantines, but leading a charge into Naples. With a band of militia raised from the local city and his personal bodyguard, Vitale drove the Byzantines from Naples, freeing the mostly Catholic province from their Orthodox overlords, gaining the allegiance of the Holy Father in the very same year. Vitale's charge was so perfectly timed, over 40 Byzantine swordsmen fell in the initial impact, including the Byzantine's hapless General. Understanding that discretion is often the better part of valor, Vitale immediately ordered a halt of all contact with the Byzantines, by land or by sea, for a period of 2 years, to squelch the anger.
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/tharris00/ItalianGame/naples.jpg

Instead, Vitale focused his time on diplomacy with the other nations of Europe, including bonding his family to that of other Catholic former victims of the Byzantines, the Hungarians, to whom he wed his eldest daughter Adela, and the Poles, from whom his son received a beautiful bride, Zophia.

Aside from snatching the barbarous state of Serbia, allowed to languish in horrific squalor by the uncaring Byzantines, the 11th century of our Lord passed without conflict.

This all changed, in the year 1100AD, exactly. The pompous ass, Adam, Norman King of Sicily violated the Doge's second, and favorite, daughter, Margarita and then refused her hand to his son. Vitale first married his now ruined daughter off to his most able general, Bohemend de Tankerville, with whom Margarite's secret could be concealed. He then smashed two Sicilian based fleets and sent his eldest son, Margarite's older brother, the young Vitale to Sicily who stormed Palermo itself! Showing a shrewd accumen that would continue to serve the Doge through his reign, Vitale allowed the Normans to continue their pathetic existence in Malta... the heap of rocks while strategically attractive could not possibly afford the Normans enough wealth to ever challenge his rule of Mediteranean again. Vitale found himself as the sole owner of over 10,000 square miles of a vast blue highway of trade, the Mediteranean sea. He also demonstrated his reason and restraint to his fellow Catholic monarchs in Spain, France and Aragon, as well as maintaining the blessed alliance with the Holy Father in Rome.

[So much for last night's adventure. Will continue with another update tomorrow night, after playing some tonight. When I get some time, I'll explain my self-imposed role-playing rules.]

Maloncanth

09-01-2006, 01:47

No, the Sicilian king died of natural causes, honest ;p

May've been a bug actually. I think they started with a king but no sons and didn't get any as the years went by.

https://img481.imageshack.us/img481/5013/1254tj9.jpg

Despite the animosity between the Bulgarian peoples and their former Byzantine overlords in the late 12th century, the royal household of Bulgaria was properly a subordinate branch of the Byzantine imperial Comnenus dynasty through Theodora, wife of Tzar Kaloyan II whom he had married to secure recognition of the Bulgarians' legitimate 'regency' of Constantinople following 1219 the Bulgarians first to restored the city to Orthodox hands. Troubled by the raging Armenians at the the time, the proper Byzantine Empire was in no position to refuse. The Bulgarian royal family had also taken up the name Comnenus upon retiring from direct line of succession from the throne.

Following the arrival of the Horde, Bulgaria allied with the Khan for survival's sake, as did the Byzantines, until the latter attacked the former in the 1240's. The Bulgarians sided with the Horde and the close relation of the family branches allowed a legitimate rival Roman Empire, especially since the capital was in Bulgarian hands. The war of the Comenus family lines continues with the invasion of the Byzantine island stronghold of Rhodes, the attacking Bulgarians led by Ivan Comnenus is victorious over the defenders, led by Andronicus Comnenus.

Rich words for this victory as well as the strategic disenfranchisement of lesser lords to favour the king's many uncles with high titles has restored stability to the Bulgarian Roman Empire.

Maloncanth

09-01-2006, 09:11

With the conquest of the Rhodes corridor, the shores of the Bulgarian Roman Empire are truly secure for the first time. With the Hungarian border yet at peace, the Empire turns her eyes eastwards in the late 1250's to expand her holdings further.

https://img396.imageshack.us/img396/6536/12582qw2.jpg

Thoros Rubenid, Armenian royal on the losing end of a war for succession, held control of Lesser Armenia. A few thousand florins acquired his loyalty and his marriage to princess Vigilantia, (famous for her work on the front lines as a Hordewatchers agent from the age of fifteen) reinforced the allegiance of the talented general and his lands.

https://img396.imageshack.us/img396/2687/1258cc6.th.jpg (https://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1258cc6.jpg)

Despite the numerically superior Seljuk Turks, Bulgarian armies led by another uncle of the Tzar invaded Anatolia and with superior quality troops dealt the Turkish army an outrageous rout. Over three hundred muslims were slain or captured and executed, including their Sultan for four Bulgarian casualties and the Seljuk line returned to the ashes.

https://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1371/1259ni2.jpg

At the same time, the Crusader States attacked and easily conquered the remnants of Armenia. Ivan Comnenus once again took to the field in 1259, invading Trebizond, taking the province without a fight. The year was an eventful one, with alliance secured with the powerful Crusader States and the powerful English in the west. Gunpowder was introduced, the royal lines of the Armenians and the Turks were extinguished, and briefly prior to the full subjugation of Rum by the Crusaders, the Bulgarians replaced the trading empire of England as the wealthiest empire in the world.

The World in 1260
https://img166.imageshack.us/img166/5651/1260rb2.jpg

Shaun

09-01-2006, 16:45

Nice empire, XL certianly rocks!

Martok

09-01-2006, 19:35

That's awesome, Maloncanth; looks like you have a good game going! It's cool that there's several major factions (yourself, Kievans, English, Crusader States), instead of just you and maybe one other superpower. Even factions like the Danes, Mongols, Hungarians, Venetians, Papal States, and Castille-Leon all seem to be thriving fairly well. Looking forward to seeing what the BRE does next! (I'm curious to see if you'll finish off the Byz.) :thumbsup:

As for my campaign, I only had time to fight two battles. Although I won both of them, neither was decisive.

As I expected, the Venetians attempted to relieve the garrison in Vienna. Although the Doge's army outnumbered mine by a good margin, he fielded mostly inferior troops. In addition, my king's brother Boleslav was a far superior general (5 stars, whereas the Doge was only a 1-star), and I was able to win with acceptable losses. (I lost ~250 men, the Venetians lost ~600 men.)

In addition, the Polish simultaneously invaded Bohemia, where my small garrison there was personally commanded by King Vratislav himself. The Polish army (led by their crown pirince) wasn't very big, but it was composed of mostly cavalry (RK's, Polish Retainers, and 1 Horsemen) and a unit of Joggabys. This battle, while tougher, was also somewhat amusing. It was probably a bug or fluke in the AI, but what happened was this:

I'd stationed my men on a small but heavily-wooded hill, where my infantry-heavy army would have better odds against the Polish horse units. The enemy commander, not being a complete idiot, sent in his Horsemen and some of his Polish Retainers to scout out the terrain to try and find me. They wandered into a shallow valley between two hills, upon one of which my troops were positioned. My Bohemian Bowmen (who until now had been hidden in the trees) started pouring arrows into the Horsemen and PRs as they passed between the two hills. What's odd is that they then started wandering back and forth from one end of the valley to the other, allowing my bowmen to kill them at their leisure.

Eventually, the Polish commander rode in with the rest of his army, and his men started behaving normally again. But prior to that, his scouting forces just wandered around the valley, letting me pick them off one by one. Has anyone else noticed bizarre behavior like this? I know the battle AI does some strange things from time to time; but in over 3 1/2 years of playing this game, I'd never seen that before. :inquisitive:

Vladimir

09-01-2006, 19:56

Martok

09-01-2006, 20:04

It's probally the AI's inability to understand where missiles are coming from and why its troops are dying. My favorite cheesy tactic is to engage the enemy at maximum range and hope that they bunch up several units and die. In most cases, they even face their backs to me!
Okay, that might make sense. What I still don't understand, though, is why the AI wouldn't be able to see my archers in the first place. Yes, my Bohemian Bowmen were initially hidden since they were in the woods, but they became visible as soon as they started firing. Does the AI have a problem seing hidden missile units even after they've started firing?

Maloncanth

09-02-2006, 01:38

I considered finishing off the Byzantines but decided against it or at least against doing it traditionally. Georgia's a pretty worthless province and difficult to hold down from where I am. It'd only be territory for territory's sake.

I considered jumping them, killing them, and then letting the province go rebel but that might tempt the Crusader States a bit too much for the turns it could take to actually go rebel. Assuming it worked though it'd be a Byzantine revival (which could be good or bad) or else the Russians ending up bordering the Crusader States which is also good.

I'm also considering Crimea though that's an outside thing. It's probably less valuable and more difficult than Georgia and barely more politically acceptable since the Horde is right there. And it'd take ages of holding it to make something able to build Steppe Cavalry. It would make a nice supplement to my limited number of Boyars however.

My next preferred enemy by far would be the Hungarians. Hungary and Serbia have been built up excellently and would add much needed solidity to the lines. As it is, Carpathia is quite isolated (and valuable) and every province on the western frontier positionally needs a defense.

Shooting at the Horde would be acceptable, but I'd prefer the Horde remain as strong as it can in the face of the Russians. I dislike fighting Russians immensely because the computer can use Boyars better than I can. :embarassed:

The option I am taking is simply to build up. I'm in a rare state of peace now since the Georgia based Byzantines can't really hurt me and one thing MTW has taught me, reinforced by the additional aggression in XL is to value times of peace. It's not like Civ 3 where I won whole games hardly fighting at all. The economy is healthy so this is an excellent chance to start high level fortifications everywhere. I dunno if it's built into the mod but XL is not forgiving at all with facilities and most of the conquests so far have been unable to build anything worth building at all. In fact, Tzar Stafan's greatest accomplishment (or what will be) is definitely not the conquest of the Byzantines. That's miniscule small beans compared to the massive work being done to improve troop training quality and the economy.

Character Profile
Ivailo Asen Comnenus
https://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3336/ivailozu2.jpg
Ivailo Asen Comnenus, fifth son of Kaloyan I (and fourth uncle of current Tsar Stafan I) was always the odd one out of his siblings, perhaps from the syphillis to which his mother eventually succumbed. Nevertheless, he has become an administrator without peer, and perhaps the most important pillar of the empire.

On the surface unhinged loon, yet prone according to those close to him, to 'attacks' of incredible lucidity, Ivailo is as mad as he is ingenious. His outrageous and insane, yet in hindsight visionary schemes made him a bureaucrat and financier without peer. Under his guidance, Nicaea overtook Greece as the second most productive province in the Bulgarian Roman Empire after only Constantinople itself. He is said to be able to remember word for word and number for number, every financial report ever penned in his career as Duke of Nicaea.

Because he was only six years the elder of the Tsar, he shared a closer relationship with him and Ivailo's prodigal childhood achievements made him look up to his uncle with a sense of amazement at an elder brother figure. The only uncle to remain steadfast (as steadfast as he could in his usual state of mind) in the times of trouble following his coronation, the Tsar is said to have characterised him the most honest man in his court.

naut

09-02-2006, 03:01

Very nice Bulgaria campaign Maloncanth!

Maloncanth

09-02-2006, 04:29

I've noticed that the AI in XL seems very eager to retreat. I've just gone into a battle with comparable numbers of forces of fairly comparable quality (I had 3 flags on them due to general, they had better troops and advantage of defender) and they withdrew from the fight immediately. The same thing more or less happened with the Turks earlier. Has anyone else noticed this?

Vladimir

09-02-2006, 05:13

It seems that when faced with defending against 3-to-1 odds the AI seems to abandon the providence. At 2 to 1 I've had them withdraw to the fortification. Most of the time when they do the former they will attack the next year, but in the case of the latter, they usually starve.

Maloncanth

09-02-2006, 11:13

When Bulgaria conquered and supplanted large portions of the Byzantine Empire, they inherited the empire's traditional dominance of east mediterranean trade. This unbalanced trade served to keep the peace of the early 1260's a short affair. Though the Byzantines agreed to a ceasefire, the Crusader States, dissatisfied with unequal trade through which the Bulgarians profited hundreds of florins annually, declared war in 1266. The end of trade damaged the Bulgarian economy somewhat, and more importantly, highlighted a naval threat to the empire's coastlines.

Hostilities began in 1268 when, having amassed sufficient forces, the Bulgarians launched an army of over two thousand at Rum. The First Battle of Iconium was an inconclusive affair as the Crusaders opted to retreat. The Bulgarians traded 6 dead for 75 Crusaders dead or captured and ransomed. The Bulgarians then laid siege to Iconium Castle.

In 1269, the Bulgarians defended their siege of Iconium Castle against an attack of over three thousand Crusaders (no screenshot of this one). The Bulgarians were greatly victorious killing hundreds in the ensuing battle in which Wallachian Mercenary Cavalry demonstrated the first and many times their incredible prowess. Several Armenians as well as ex-Sicilian units also served with distinction. The cavalry forces captured over 1,300 Crusader prisoners whom Lord Basiliacus of Greece had impaled alive all along the road to Iconium such that the next Crusader army should see them as they marched on the Bulgarian siege the following year. This great victory however, was balanced by the disastrous Battle of Cyprus, where the Bulgarians lost their entire east mediterranean fleet. This forced a reshuffling of forces at the war front to draw a skeleton army back to defend the perimeter at Nicaea in case the Crusaders attacked there.

1270 was marked by a series of violent battles. The Golden Horde attacked in Moldavia, perhaps sensing an opportunity, and were defeated heavily by numerically superior Bulgarian defenders although this new war caused three inconsequential alliance breaks.

https://img207.imageshack.us/img207/313/1270ap3.th.jpg (https://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1270ap3.jpg)
The Crusaders again attempted to lift the siege in the Third Battle of Iconium with an army of roughly 1850 a somewhat lesser army of 1550 Bulgarians. Bulgaria was decisively victorious, losing 183 men for 1,178 Crusaders killed or captured and drawn and quartered to the man.

https://img207.imageshack.us/img207/6575/12702vi0.th.jpg (https://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=12702vi0.jpg)
Weeks later, the Crusaders struck once more, this time in Lesser Armenia with 2,225 crack troops under talented general, Lord of Sargines. Facing them was a vastly smaller force of 840 Bulgarians.

After a shaking start in which two units of Wallachian cavalry nearly routed, the Bulgarians settled into tight formation on a hill and awaited the main body of the Crusaders. Upon their arrival the Bulgarians showered formations one at a time with storms of arrows such that even with their great shields and heavy armour, the Crusader States' famed Order Foot fell by the score and scattered. Thus disrupted as they marched on the Bulgarian position, the slow but supremely heavily armoured Bulgarian halberdiers were able to engage in favourable terms even as the Latin auxilliaries and a single company of Bulgarian heavy infantry (stuck permanently on Losing Badly throughout) held the right flank. In the confusion, the general and his own bodyguard of Boyars rode into the Crusaders' rear and snapped the back of their first Battle, sending the whole of them into a rout. The second and third Battles arrived and, composed of inferior troops and demoralized by the destruction of the first, were easily beaten.

In this climatic Battle of Lesser Armenia, the Bulgarians annihilated the Crusader army, losing 226 men and killed 1,289 Crusaders and during the battle capturing a further 582 who were left bound at the shore to be drowned by the tide.
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/2012/127099cp0.th.jpg (https://img226.imageshack.us/my.php?image=127099cp0.jpg)

Suffering nearly five thousand casualties over a mere two years, the back of the Crusader army has been broken. If command of the seas can be retaken, the road to Antioch is just ahead.

EDIT: Leading to 1275, the war goes poorly for the Golden Horde as they are railed upon by the Hungarians and the Novgorods. As the Crusader States quickly rebuild their military forces, Antioch and Edessa are besieged and taken without fighting. The naval war however, rages on as the Crusaders and the Mongols both score victories despite inferior ships.

UPDATE: 1277, the English declare a Crusade on Constantinople and signs of a computer dogpile are definitely starting to form. Meanwhile, the Bulgarians are quickly finding the naval war impossible with the lack of mobility inherent in Italian/Byzantine ship designs.

Martok

09-02-2006, 18:15

Wow. ~:eek: Congratulations on your impressive victory, Maloncanth! ~:cheers: Lesser Armenia must've been a brutal battle!

Maloncanth

09-03-2006, 02:46

Well that was the high point of the game, really. I have the replay so I could take screenshots sometime in the future I suppose. ;) It's been downhill from there (in terms of interestingness) though.

Quick summary:

-In the 1280's the English Crusade arrives at Bulgaria and is defeated heavily by the Tzar personally taking the field.

-In 1282, Genoa declares war. The entire Genoan battlefleet is humiliated by a single Bulgarian galley, proving that the empire can roll dice with the best of them.

-In 1283, following rapid gains in territory in Syria and Mesapotamia and ongoing sieges in Georgia and Tripoli, Tzar Stafan I dies and is succeeded by Tzar Peter I. Hungary and the Crusader States are both wracked by civil war with Egypt and Sinai falling into rebel hands.

-1284: A huge army of Danes teleports to Egypt and crushes everything there. ~:coffeenews:

There's been no real battles of note for several years now, since the Crusaders consistently retreat. I don't mind either since I hate fighting offensively in the desert, especially with many of my units silver or gold armoured.

Silver Rusher

09-04-2006, 11:30

Duklja (Serbia): The Vukan Age

Hello folks, and welcome to my Serbian campaign.

Stats:
Early period
XL mod
Expert difficulty
GA
Huge Units

In 1086, Vukan, a young General but powerful defender in the service of King Constantin Bodin (or Petar III) of Duklja rose up against the leader. In a strangely successful rebellion, which ended up gaining an uncanny amount of support from the Dukljan people, Vukan emerged triamphant and proclaimed himself Tzar of the new Serbian Empire. Empire is the wrong word, though. All it consisted of was a fairly large but not-that-great plot of land, a town with a keep and some buildings, a few poor peasants, a couple of depressed Noblemen and a weak unit of spearmen.

But Vukan was going to change all that. In just a single year he united all the squabbling peoples of Serbia under his rule. Most were happy to subject (or probably just afraid of what would happen if they didn't), but the people of Rashka proved highly disputive. A battle was raged between the Serbs and the Rashkans.

https://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1148/chargeba4.jpg

https://img223.imageshack.us/img223/2681/winningei9.jpg

https://img235.imageshack.us/img235/7013/victoryco7.jpg

The Serbs experienced a great victory that day! Their 200 Spearmen managed to rout the 120 Urban Militia of Rashka in an overall small battle, but still a significant victory nonetheless.

And through this victory, Vukan gained control of all Serbia. And this is where we begin our campaign.

https://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3182/starterzu9.jpg

Serbian GA:

https://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6455/ga1ub4.jpg

Vukan was never going to stop here. He had united all Serbia, but his dream of a huge Serbian Empire fuelled him on. However, surrounding him already were two large empires: the Byzantine Empire, whom Vukan had no hope of defeating in the current state of his army, and Hungary, who had conquered Croatia at around the same time that Vukan led his revolt. One thing was for certain; Vukan needed was still not yet a contender for World power. At that point all he had in his control were 20 Caska Garda (Royal Guards) and 200 measly spearmen.

Four Years Later: 1091
So, I have provided you with a background. As I live in the service of His Highness the Tzar of Serbia, I write this account of the events that shall take place in his rise to glory. To begin with, the Turks have sent an emissary.

https://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2880/diplo1xz0.jpg
The Turks could help us in any future wars against the Byzantines, and so we accept.

The Sicilians also send an emissary.

https://img64.imageshack.us/img64/8302/diplo2zs9.jpg
We need strong Maritime ally, and so we accept.

We have also sent an emissary to the Hungarians with an offer of alliance. Strong allies like this are necessary, especially if Vukan wishes to attack the Byzantines.

1092

Another year has passed, and the construction of a Port in Beograd has finally been finished. Now we may be able to become a maritime power at some point. But not just yet.
https://img64.imageshack.us/img64/4636/portmr8.jpg

Also, excellent news for Tzar Vukan as his son, also called Vukan, has come of age. Now he is fit to fight in the Serbian army, should it be necessary.
http://https://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2414/heirby9.jpg

But the Hungarians have greatly insulted us. Not only do they refuse our reasonable offer, but our emissary was barely able to escape with his life!
https://img231.imageshack.us/img231/4792/diplo3zk2.jpg
And what are they doing in Croatia anyway? The Croats have no connection with the Hungarians; but they have a strong connection with us. Vukan's army is almost ready, war with Hungary shall follow soon!

1093
War begins!
The Serbian army, led by His Highness Tzar Vukan, has attacked Croatia. A unit of Spearmen is being trained in Beograd to hold the inner keep should it be attacked.
https://img64.imageshack.us/img64/1261/war1ea4.jpg

Our army consists of:
2 units of Caska Garda: 40 men total
2 units of Spearmen: 400 men total
1 unit of Archers: 120 men total
1 unit of Voynuk Swordsmen: 120 men total

Result:
https://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2308/retreatsx7.jpg
The cowards have retreated!

The Genoese have sent an emissary with a request of marriage.

https://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2107/diplo4jx1.jpg
Why should one of Tzar's daughters marry into this ignoble 'democracy', which allies itself with our enemies? In his wisdom, His Highness has refused.

1094
It has been a long year, but spies operating from our watchtowers have revealed the threat of a large Hungarian army. Unfortunately, the rebelliousness of the Catholics in Croatia means we have to tie down too many troops keeping them in check, which leaves us with few options. Tzar Vukan, a naturally good defender if there ever was one, has returned to Serbia to meet the garrisson and will defend if the Hungarians try to attack Serbia.
https://img215.imageshack.us/img215/9393/threatcc9.jpg

Other than that, this year there has been more diplomacy.

To begin, the Pope has sent an emissary.

https://img206.imageshack.us/img206/2060/diplo5vg7.jpg
No doubt he wants us to convert to Catholicism, and so we must decline. We are proud of our religious heritage.

The Fatimids have also sent an emissary.

https://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1871/diplo6kx7.jpg
They could also help us in future wars against the Byzantines, and so we shall accept.

Here is one final picture of the Serbian Empire at this time, but other than that I must be leaving you now.
https://img215.imageshack.us/img215/4489/ileaveyounowqi6.jpg

Stay tuned for the next installment!

EDIT: Future editions will not have the same level of detail. I will remove most diplomatic relations for example.

naut

09-04-2006, 12:19

Very nice, it makes me want to play as Serbia!

Silver Rusher

09-04-2006, 12:42

Well I have now had to replace all thumbnails with full size images...

Deus ret.

09-04-2006, 12:45

cool story and an interesting faction. keep it up! you could just use bigger pictures....

edit: oh, nevermind.....

Silver Rusher

09-04-2006, 12:49

I have been reading up about your campaigns, Rhythmic, and my God, those Byzantines are the most loyal allies I have ever seen!

naut

09-04-2006, 14:31

:laugh4:

I must say the Bulgars ar my most exciting faction to play as to date. Its a pity I haven't the time at the moment to play them furthur.

Vladimir

09-05-2006, 12:58

You do know that your king is Catholic already right? :inquisitive:

Deus ret.

09-05-2006, 13:20

At first I also was confused but the king depicted was the Hungarian ruler. :book:

Vladimir

09-05-2006, 18:46

No problem. I wasn't trying to be rude but the irony of your King's max Catholic piety was precious!

UltraWar

09-05-2006, 19:43

I have started a Armenian campaign in MTW:XL on Normal mode:

https://img167.imageshack.us/img167/3452/larm1xz2.png

Silver Rusher

09-05-2006, 20:27

It has been a long year, but spies operating from our watchtowers have revealed the threat of a large Hungarian army. Unfortunately, the rebelliousness of the Catholics in Croatia means we have to tie down too many troops keeping them in check, which leaves us with few options. Tzar Vukan, a naturally good defender if there ever was one, has returned to Serbia to meet the garrisson and will defend if the Hungarians try to attack Serbia.
https://img215.imageshack.us/img215/9393/threatcc9.jpg

You do know that your king is Catholic already right? :inquisitive:
You did notice the Hungarian emblem in the top left hand corner, the camera centered on Hungary, the Hungarian name, the little white flag on top of the Hungarian King showing that he was the character selected and the Orthodox crosses depicted on the Serbian emblem several times on diplomacy screenshots, right?:inquisitive: :furious3: :wall: :no:

EDIT: Also:

At first I also was confused but the king depicted was the Hungarian ruler.

No problem. I wasn't trying to be rude but the irony of your King's max Catholic piety was precious!
So after Deus ret. kindly pointed out your mistake, you completely ignored that as well. Hmm.

Nice campaign, UltraWar. You seem to have made mincemeat out of the Egyptians and Turks, well done. :laugh4: I think I may start an Armenian campaign right now actually.

Martok

09-05-2006, 22:49

@Silver Rusher: Easy, man. It was an innocent mistake on Vladimir's part, and I certainly doubt he meant to offend you. In addition, he *did* apologize, although perhaps not in a formal way:
No problem. I wasn't trying to be rude but the irony of your King's max Catholic piety was precious! It maybe wasn't "proper" English, but his phrasing is a fairly common way of expressing an apology. He was also clarifying that had your king been Catholic, it would have been ironic (thus acknowledging he'd missed that you'd posted a shot of the Hungarian king and not of the Tsar).

This is one of those situations where my native toungue (English) is prone to all sorts of misinterpretation and leads to miscommunications such as this. ~;) I think I speak for all here in saying that none of us would ever intentionally insult you or Tsar Vukan (or anyone else, for that matter). We now return to your regularly-scheduled thread already in progress. ~:grouphug:

Martok

09-06-2006, 01:07

As for me, I've discovered something about myself: I suck at playing the Bohemians. :dunce:

While I successfully fended off the Polish's first attack, I didn't fair nearly as well the second time they invaded. This time, they launched a two-pronged offensive: From Brandenburg to Franconia, and from Lesser Poland to Bohemia (again). My garrison in Franconia inflicted heavy casualties on the Polish; but it was too small to hold out for long, and was eventually forced to retreat to the castle. King Vratislav III faced a similar fate in Bohemia. My army there (not more than 300 men) had barely had time to begin replenishing itself when the Polish invaded with approximately 1400 troops, led by their King himself. Once again, my men fought valiantly, but this time they were simply no match for the overwhelming numbers of the enemy.

My son Boleslav was still busy overseeing Venice's formal annexation into my kingdom when he received word of the Poles' invasion. Commanding his brother to protect our new acquisition, Boleslav rode to Prague with as many men as could be spared, determined to lift the siege of the city and save his older brother. Alas, he would never make it that far--and not because of the Polish. I had not paid sufficient attention to events elsewhere, and that blunder was about to cost me dearly.

While I was busy carving out a kingdom in central Europe and dealing with petty feuds between squabbling nobles, a dangerous threat had risen in the East. From the vast steppes, a savage barbarian people called the Cumans had amassed enormous wealth and power. They had destroyed the Kievans and Volga-Bulgarians, humbled the once-proud Lithiuanians, and had even forced the mighty Byzantine Empire to withdraw from Georgia and pay them tribute.

Yet all this was not enough; the Khan's greedy eyes looked west. While I was occupied with fighting both the Venetians and then the Polish, the Cumans invaded Hungary with an army that made the Poles' 2nd invasion of Bohemia look like nothing more than boys playing with wooden swords. The Hungarians begged me for help, but I had no troops to spare them. Thus then were my old friends destroyed.

[Note: At this point, I activated the .matteosartori. code, so I could see exactly how big the Cumans had become. It was insane. The Khanate stretched from Khazar in the east to (at the time) Hungary in the west; and from the Black Sea in the south almost all the way to Novgorod in the north. ~:eek: Sensing which way the wind was blowing, Novgorod had wisely made alliance with them.]

Three years after the conquest of Hungary (and unbeknownst to me), the Khan invaded Austria just as my brother Boleslav was briefly resting in Vienna on his way to relieve the siege in Prague. Upon hearing of this new threat, however, he realized he had no choice but to meet this new threat. Therefore he reluctantly (and against the advice of many of his officers) turned his army east to defend his brother's kingdom against the pagan savages.

It was a terrible battle. Boleslav had less than 800 men at his command, while the Cumans fielded an army numbering over 2000. The heavily-wooded hills of Austria helped to even the odds somewhat in my favor, but in the end the Bohemians simply couldn't hold back the enemy's huge numbers of cavalry. Even my beloved Bowmen were outmatched, as they were overwhelmed by the barbarians' infantry, who wielded both bow and sword with equal--and deadly--proficiency. Little more than 150 troops made it back to Vienna to prepare for the siege. Brave Prince Boleslav fought to the bitter end, personally slaying nearly 100 of the savages before being run through by the Khan's own sword.

With three of my provinces now under siege by superior forces, the final blow was delivered--perhaps fittingly--by the Venetians. Sensing their time for revenge was at hand, they raised a second army to liberate their capital from my hands. This new army wasn't as large, but this time it contained good numbers of FS and FMAA (and relatively few UM). In addition, the Doge had brought with him two companies of mounted X-bows.

It probably wouldn't have mattered much in any case. In riding back to relieve the Poles' siege of Prague, Boleslav had stripped so many men from the garrison in Venice that my youngest brother (a decent 4-star general) couldn't do anything more than mount a token defense. As he retreated to the city, he received word that the kingship of Bohemia (such as it was) had now passed to him. In Prague, King Vratislav and the surviving garrison had succumbed to hunger and disease; and in Vienna the Cumans had taken the city by storm. The final days of the kingdom of Bohemia were near.

Desperate to save his people and hating the thought of dying of slow starvation during a protracted siege, he led one last mad charge against the Venetians. As courageous as his actions were, it was still folly. Before he could even reach the enemy lines, the last King of Bohemia was shot through the eye with a crossbow bolt; he was dead long before his body fell to the ground. Leaderless, most of the remaining nobles of Bohemia fled to Switzerland, where old Emperor Wilhelm welcomed them as allies against his myriad foes.

You know, while I've never claimed to be a great battle commander, I have long considered myself to be pretty good at the empire management part. My experiences with the Bohemians, however, may force me to revise my opinion of myself. :rolleyes:

danfda

09-06-2006, 03:59

I love Cuman warriors, almost more than any other unit. Its a strange relationship--the one Cuman campaign I've tried ended in utter disaster. But those warriors are near and dear to my heart.

Alas martok, while your story is a tear-jerker, it makes me very wary of ever playing as the Bohemians. :laugh4: You weren't the largest faction, obviously, so I am curious to know waht you did to make the computer gang up on you thusly. Were your armies just spread out that thinnly?

I should update my Serbian campaign...

danfda

09-06-2006, 04:27

Serbs, High, Hard

https://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n79/danfda/serb1.jpg
I mentioned this campaign earlier in the thread, at about 1300ad. The Serbs had control of the Balkans, Sicily, Malta, Naples, Nicaea and Crimea, and were wishy-washy allies of the Crusaders. The Crusaders were the world's elite, ruling from the western parts of Iberia through N. Africa to the Middle East and having deposed of the Fatmids (or is it Abbuyids? [sic]) the Turks, an the Armenians.

I was at tenuous peace with the pale yellow Christians, as the mighty Serb forces were dealing with the backstabbing Hungarians and Aragonese, who had decided that a Crusade to Constantinople was a good idea. After the defeat of the Crusade, the Aragonese crumbled into civil war. Ever the opportunist, the Tsar of Serbia sent numerous emissaries to eastern Iberia. A hundred or so thousand florins later, the Serb empire found itself in control of Aragon, Valencia, Toulouse, Cordoba, and Murcia. To the utter surprise of the new Serbian overlords, the mighty Crusaders had expanded into all of the previous French and English territories. :dizzy2:

The Byz, stranded in Georgia and Khazar (not the lesser variety) then did something unexpected and began to regain their lost territory. First it was Rum; then, Armenia, Lesser Armenia, Anatolia... The Serbian navies just watched in awe at the crumbling of the world's greatest superpower. Why it happened, they didn't know--but the Tsar was not a stupid man, and he knew that to win in the game of global domination, he must crush the Crusaders. To this end, the Serbian forces began a campaign in Iberia, opening up a two-front war with the Crusaders and aiding her new (and once former) Orthodox allies.

Fast forward to the current time (as shown above). Serbia has never reigned so supreme, and the mighty tirumvirate she and her allies the Scots (surprisingly strong in Northern Europe) and the Byzantines form makes the globe tremble in fear. The Crusaders are a mear shell, the Mongol threat eradicated, the Poles and Germans making the occasional half-hearted raid into Serbian land, the pesky Genosese nothing more than a naval headache, and the Pope sitting idly by in his Italian empire. Serbia has all but won in the global game of conquest, and all she has left to do is stabilize the newly acquired lands and show why her empire is the greatest the world has ever known. :balloon2:

(Sorry if this is long-winded...I had left a lot out and this really is the first of this kind of thing I've written. I will include more detail next time, I promise.)

EDIT: Picture fixed. ;)

Martok

09-06-2006, 06:35

Alas martok, while your story is a tear-jerker, it makes me very wary of ever playing as the Bohemians. :laugh4: You weren't the largest faction, obviously, so I am curious to know waht you did to make the computer gang up on you thusly. Were your armies just spread out that thinnly?
I think my armies being too spread out was a big part of it, yes. Bohemia has the double disadvantage of starting with just a single province and not having immediate access to the sea. Therefore you have to try and build a powerful army to expand quickly, yet also avoid having an army so large that you bankrupt yourself early on. (Bohemia's situation is made even more difficult by being completely surrounded by 3-4 factions, with no independent provinces nearby--to expand, the Bohemians *must* go to war with at least one of their neighbors.)

I was trying to expand at a reasonable pace with the smallest possible army I could get away with, without tanking my economy. In essence, I was trying to "shoestring" my way along until I was rich enough that I could build a bigger army and just sit there and defend myself. Venice was the key to my strategy--if I had been successful in holding the city and keeping the Venetians at bay, I could have gone on and eventually won the game.

As it is, I probably could've pulled it off, if it hadn't been for the Cumans unexpectedly showing up on my doorstep with that huge force in Hungary. Fighting off both the Venetians and the Polish would have been difficult, but definitely not impossible. Fighting off all three factions....there was just no way. Hell, just defeating the Cumans alone would've required divine intervention! :laugh4:

I still can't believe how big they were; they were well on their way to becoming a superpower already. The Cumans had nearly 20 provinces, with 1 to 2 full stacks in all of their border territories. ~:eek: It's honestly the only time I've ever seen them become anywhere near that huge.

But yeah, I think the main reason I was ganged up on like that was that I was spread so thinly, and the AI couldn't resist taking targets of opportunity--as it should, really. ~D

Maloncanth

09-06-2006, 07:02

When I started Bulgaria, I initially was at heavy war with the Cumans. It looked for a moment like I'd be surrounded and attacked by the Hungarians, the Sicilians, AND the Cumans suicidally overstretched by attacking Hungary. From there, I was able to affect the course of that war (to a degree) simply by stacking up in Bulgaria.

Then Sicily imploded. :laugh4:

Anyway, I'm going to see what I can do with this Bohemia place...

Martok

09-06-2006, 07:41

Martok

09-06-2006, 07:44

When I started Bulgaria, I initially was at heavy war with the Cumans. It looked for a moment like I'd be surrounded and attacked by the Hungarians, the Sicilians, AND the Cumans suicidally overstretched by attacking Hungary. From there, I was able to affect the course of that war (to a degree) simply by stacking up in Bulgaria.

Then Sicily imploded. :laugh4:
Nice. One of the things this game has taught me is that simply biding your time can be the smartest thing to do. ~;)

Anyway, I'm going to see what I can do with this Bohemia place...
Good luck! (Though I hope you won't need it!) ~:cheers:

naut

09-06-2006, 09:16

Anyway, I'm going to see what I can do with this Bohemia place...
Bohemia, a land of warriors. :2thumbsup:

Maloncanth

09-06-2006, 13:26

It's 1105 and this is what things look like now.

https://img59.imageshack.us/img59/3751/bohemia1105lr0.jpg

The Bohemian position really is very hard. Not only are your unique units six turns away (tower (1) -> bowyer's (4) -> 1 turn to build) but you don't start with anything particularly impressive either, so it's exceedingly difficult to rush any of your three neighbours. You also don't start with an emissary, which really stinks, especially in the first few turns. Even though Bohemia is passably rich and can build a variety of units, it (like any province) only has one queue so that cripples you early. In fact, I imagine it's all you can do just to build quickly enough to discourage a computer attack - Armoured Spearmen and a Royal Knight or two.

I don't think lacking a coastline is that big a deal. It's not like I was building ships early when I was playing Bulgaria either. There's just no room for them in the queue. It certainly will get inconvenient later but my strategy was simply to wait for an opportunity, then seize it until it goes away. No surprises so far on that front. Hungary allied on turn 2, which was great because I knew the Hungarians would have other business quickly (Serbians, Cumans, and the strong Early Byzantines). I had my sights on Poland since Lesser Poland was the richest province for what was guarding it, but then they offered alliance as well. I had to consider long and hard on that one. I couldn't afford a black mark diplomatically and I knew the Lithuanians were at war with Sweden or something so it might have been a long wait. In the end it was a coin toss and I opted to throw all my bets on the HRE being encroached on all sides as often happens. As it turned out this was probably the right choice as Poland never went to a major war with anyone.

So I sat like a vulture until one day, the Genoese and Germans went to war, then jumped in and knifed Austria from behind, and it went from there. :2thumbsup: It's very slow progress though, despite the fact that France has recently jumped in on the dogpile. There are many years between border expansions as the Bohemians are always at a serious numerical disadvantage and I've also had famines every three years on average now. All this is exacerbated by the severe damage these provinces always take. I dunno if it's an XL thing but geez, I took Austria with a tower and farms and Bavaria didn't even have a tower left when I finished sieging. Finally, I've made the point of never actually fighting the Germans in the field. Chickenlike or not, Bohemia can't afford even a 2 or 3:1 loss ratio with anyone and I just can't reliably pull that off on an attack with a 4-star general.

I've considered going after Venice but I don't think it's worth the risk politically. I might get called by the Pope and I just couldn't end the war fast. So I married the Doge's daughter to my prince and each day, the entire Bohemian royal family prays that the Doge will get cancer and die childless.

Here's hoping no one from Hungary stabs me in the back. :sweatdrop:

Update 1108: In 1107, the Cumans attacked and occupied Lesser Poland for a turn. I could see the Poles had enough to drive it off so I launched and joined in hoping for some brownie points. I figure Poland was in good enough condition to hold so it'd be politically safe since I wouldn't be taking the brunt of the assault. In 1108, we drove out the Cumans bloodlessly, the Poles send their gratitude and as it turns out, the Byzantines cancel their alliance with them. All in all, a good turn, though I didn't get any influence :(.

They Byzantines have now also overtaken the Germans as the richest.

danfda

09-06-2006, 13:40

Wow, danfda, that's one crazy game! I too am surprised at how well the Scots are doing. It's not uncommon for me to see them take over most of Britain, but I don't think I've ever seen them occupy Ireland or conquer lands on the Continent before.

And I don't think I've ever seen the Byz make a comeback like that--ever. To go from just a couple provinces to being a superpower again? And while doing so in the Late period? That's simply amazing! I wonder how they pulled it off. :inquisitive: (By the by, how did the Genoese end up with Denmark, Saxony, and Sweden? The only guess I have is that they must've bribed the garrisons there, since I know the AI has trouble extending fleets that far for an invasion.)

Which type of campaign are you playing, btw? Domination mode or GA?

Trust me, you're not long-winded. That particular adjective would be used to describe me. I appear to be terminally verbose. ~:rolleyes:

I've never seen the Scots do anything before. So with their emergence, plus the Byz revival...I don't have any idea how they did it. It was with very little help from me (directly) and the Crusaders were simply huge to begin with. It may be that my front in Iberia cost them too much in manpower and monies, plus I annihilated their navy, but the Byz had hardly any units at the start of the comeback. I honestly don't know how they did it. I wish I had taken screenies.

And the Genoese went Crusade happy. They took Sweden and Prussia and Livonia and various parts of Northern Europe, but when they began to crusade against me they began to get a little shaky. Only one civil war as of yet, and I wasn't able to really take advantage. Sad. Genoese fleets did cover almost all of the med, with really good coverage for a long while. Strangely, shortly before their ill-fated crusade to Constantinople they began to pull thier ships back...at any rate, their navy is nonexistant now. :2thumbsup:

And I am playing GA, so I tend to reign myself in a lot. The campaigns where I sit there, have my little corner of the world and watch the rest fight in such unpredictable fashions is one of the best things about this game.

And maloncanth, one thing I have learned in XL, Hungary will always stab you in the back, sooner or later. Good luck.

Maloncanth

09-06-2006, 15:26

Suddenly, this happened:

https://img61.imageshack.us/img61/1341/bohemia1115es9.th.jpg (https://img61.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bohemia1115es9.jpg)

Kinda like Kashmir except with two Indias and three Pakistans. Fortunately, the Germans were more than happy to ceasefire. :sweatdrop: We are now staring at each other grimly across the fields of Lesser Poland.

Martok

09-06-2006, 18:59

And the Genoese went Crusade happy. They took Sweden and Prussia and Livonia and various parts of Northern Europe, but when they began to crusade against me they began to get a little shaky. Only one civil war as of yet, and I wasn't able to really take advantage. Sad. Genoese fleets did cover almost all of the med, with really good coverage for a long while. Strangely, shortly before their ill-fated crusade to Constantinople they began to pull thier ships back...at any rate, their navy is nonexistant now. :2thumbsup:
Wow, I didn't even know the Genoese could Crusade. I thought that the only Crusading factions VikingHorde added was the Portuguese and the Danes. I might have to give them a try one of these days. Way to put down their navy, at any rate. :thumbsup:

And I am playing GA, so I tend to reign myself in a lot. The campaigns where I sit there, have my little corner of the world and watch the rest fight in such unpredictable fashions is one of the best things about this game.
Yeah, that's what I like about GA mode as well. It's nice to be able to win the game without having to take over the whole bloody map. (It's hard to believe that at one point, I actually was vehemently opposed to ever trying GA mode!) Are you on pace to win, by the way?

Deus ret.

09-06-2006, 19:26

Wow, I didn't even know the Genoese could Crusade.

they can, though they don't get GA points IIRC....

btw sorry for your bohemian campaign. it was interesting to read, though, and your failure very much resembles mine with the Polish in MedMod (see guides). sometimes the AI just can't resist ganging up on you.

danfda

09-06-2006, 19:37

WowYeah, that's what I like about GA mode as well. It's nice to be able to win the game without having to take over the whole bloody map. (It's hard to believe that at one point, I actually was vehemently opposed to ever trying GA mode!) Are you on pace to win, by the way?

Of course! :knight:

Its 1426 and I am about 30 GA points ahead, and it's pretty much a done deal. After the era I talked about earlier, I was in 4th--the HRE, Aragonese, and Crusaders were ahead of me (Crusaders by about 20 points). Civil wars and assassins later, the HRE and Aragonese "died off" (hehe) and my war with the yellow bellies put me firmly in first place.

Amazingly, I still have three allies in the Byz, the Scots, and the HRE. :laugh4:

they can, though they don't get GA points IIRC....

Nope!

Martok

09-06-2006, 21:02

Suddenly, this happened:

Kinda like Kashmir except with two Indias and three Pakistans. Fortunately, the Germans were more than happy to ceasefire.
LOL. Yeah, you're definitely in a rather hairy strategic situation. It's one reason why I find the Bohemians an interesting challenge.

I'm curious to see how you do, Maloncanth. If the Bohemians are still thriving past 1160, then you'll have bested me for certain. ~;)

As for myself, I fired up a new campaign as the Norwegians; and I can happily say that I've met with much greater success this time around. It's strange--for all that I'm of half-Norwegian descent (on my mom's side), I don't think I've tried this faction before. I've discovered there's something very liberating about playing the Norwegians: their lands are so poor that you have to expand almost immediately. There's no fretting about trying to develop your lands first--it's clear that the smart choice is to attack early and often!

My first target was the rich lands of the Swedish king, and I immediately began gathering together an army. I trained 2 more units of Vikings and 2 units of Horsemen (a unit that I have come to respect as a result of this campaign), and in 1091 King Magnus invaded Sweden with an army of 380 men. The Swedes fought hard, but their doom was inevitable from the beginning. My Vikings were simply better than theirs, plus I outnumbered the foe. Before you could even say "lefse", I had suddenly more than doubled the size of my kingdom.

I then began to ready my people for war against the Danes. Attacking them would be trickier, since they owned both Denmark and Skania. I therefore wanted to strike quickly and destroy them in one blow, but this would require careful preparation and timing. Toward that end, I built a couple longboats and deployed them in the Skaagerak (between Norway and Denmark). They would eventually help transport my army in the invasion, but in the meantime they allowed me to add a small amount of trade income to my still-meager treasury.

During all this, my son (also named Magnus) came of age. While not possessing a very subtle mind, he was already a great warrior and showed potential of becoming a fine general as well. I decided that I would test him early on, putting him in charge of the army that would be invading Skania. In the meantime, however, I continued to mass a powerful army. King Olaf of the Danes apparently believed I was getting ready to invade Britain, and therefore took no notice of my preparations. He was about to get a hard lesson in learning the consequences of ignoring me. ~D

Galagros

09-06-2006, 21:22

I love this thread (and the PBEs and after-action things). Anyways, I'd like to share one of my games once (even though mine usually suck since I am not good enough to play harder than normal mode), but I have forgotten how to take pictures in the game. I know there is a tga folder in the MTW folder, but I forget wehat key(s) capture the pictures. If someone could remind me I'd be thankful. :help:

Martok

09-06-2006, 22:10

btw sorry for your bohemian campaign. it was interesting to read, though, and your failure very much resembles mine with the Polish in MedMod (see guides). sometimes the AI just can't resist ganging up on you.
Indeed. I think I was simply too tempting an opportunity for the other factions to pass up. The strange thing is, when I keep a decent-but-not-overly-large garrison (300-500 men) in a border province, it's usually enough to discourage the AI from attacking. I can somewhat understand the Polish attacked me, as I don't think they had any easy pickings (aside from taking Brandenburg from the HRE). But why the Cumans chose to invade Austria when there were more attractive targets available to them--Serbia and all of the Polish provinces come to mind (since the bulk of Poland's armies were besieging Prague)--remains a mystery to me. :shrug: Oh well!

Oh, and thanks for the compliment. Glad you enjoyed my little story, tragic though it was. ~:rolleyes:

Galagros

09-07-2006, 01:42

(Note: I wanted the make the images a little smaller, but imageshack wouldn't host them when I tried to resize them at the same time for reasons unknown.)
Novgorodians - BKB Super Mod - Early Period - Normal

Starting Ruler: Prince Sviatopolk I, an able general and better than average defender.

1087: Unhappy with the size of his kingdom, Prince Sviatopolk invades Lithuania. No resistance is offered and the territory is claimed.

1088: An army begins to assemble with the intent of carving out an empire to go down in history.

1089: Prince Sviatopolk's first son, of the same name, comes of age. Rumors of his secret perversion run rampant in the castle.

1092: Angered by the cold treatment that his emissary has been recieving, Prince Sviatopolk I leads an invasion of Sweden to prove his country's strength. He leaves Lithuania in his son's hands for now.

https://img451.imageshack.us/img451/8586/1kb0.png

The invasion was a huge success that ended with our forces killing 4 men to every 1 lost. A newly acquired unit of Mordovian Horsemen was key to the victory. It was decided that the 138 prisoners should be publicly executed to instill fear into the populace.

https://img446.imageshack.us/img446/6052/2yj9.png

1093: The remaining 9 spearmen stubbornly resisting were dealt with.

1094: The Kazar Khaganate conquer Moscovy and are now in a position to invade the weakly defended Novgorod!

-the empire thus far-
https://img378.imageshack.us/img378/9788/3hk0.png

1095: The Cumans become the first "allies" of Novgorod when Prince Sviatopolk I's first daughter is wed to one of the heathen royal family. In addition, a port is completed in Lithuania.

1096: Prince Andrei, Prince Sviatopolk I's second son, comes of age. Though slightly overweight, he has a knack for killing.

1098: An alliance is made with the Seljuks and Egyptians, both enemies of the Germans, who had rudely declined our offer of alliance years earlier. Novgorod is secured when our diplomat successfully negotiates an alliance with the Kazar Khaganate.

1099: An alliance is made with the French, who have also become enemies of the Germans. Prince Sviatopolk I's first son, of the same name, has been publicly exposed as being perverse; the father is furious with his son.

1100: Preparations are made to invade Norway, where a large number of troops are massing.

1101: Prince Sviatopolk I again leads his men from the front in the outnumbered invasion of Norway.

https://img107.imageshack.us/img107/1112/4ao9.png

The lines get overextended and as we are ready to charge downhill into their right, their royal cavalry smash into our weakened right, flanking us.

https://img107.imageshack.us/img107/5961/5ik4.png

Our right flank is routed and the victory seems to be out of reach, but we are prepared to fight to the death!

https://img478.imageshack.us/img478/7482/6ow1.png

Half of the enemy force foolishly chases after our routing units instead of helping their comrades finish off the Novgorodians still fighting. This allows us to overcome the enemies weaker units and gang up on other units. A rain of arrows from Prince Sviatopolk's boyars and a charge from a group of Mordovian Horsemen reduce King Olaf III's unit to 1, the king himself. He flees the battlefield, diminishing the morale of his troops and leaving them to die.

https://img467.imageshack.us/img467/6091/7qt4.png

It was a bloody battle with large losses on both sides, but a victory nonetheless. Once again the Mordovian Horsemen proved invaluable. The Norwegain king's son, Prince Olaf, was captured in battle, but his ransom was refused and he was executed along with 182 of his countrymen. Prince Sviatopolk I's second daughter is married off to the Danes just as disturbing news reaches the King's ear; Not only are the Germans the richest nation, but they have also developed powerful new technology. Though he is set againt one day meeting the Germans in battle, Prince Sviatopolk I is no longer looking forward to it!

Phew! That was a lot of notes to take. I don't think I'll be able to provide as much detail in the future. I'll probably cut out all diplomacy unless it is important. Also, I generally auto-calculate battles in my campaigns, but have decided to play out most of them this campaign to add something for this thread. Hope it was at least mildly interesting to read! :2thumbsup:

Martok

09-07-2006, 07:20

Very good, Galagros. May the enemies of Novgorod fear your reightous might! ~:cheers:

I will be posting more of my Norwegian campaign, but not tonight I'm afraid. It's getting rather late, and even a night owl such as myself needs sleep from time to time! :sleep:

Maloncanth

09-07-2006, 14:28

Well the Bohemian Campaign is crawling along.

After about ten years of deadlock around Lesser Poland, the Cumans attacked Hungary and were repulsed. Following this, the Poles attacked three times into Lesser Poland, repulsed each time, but also weakening the Cuman garrison there. After the third attack, the Poles were totally out of action. With seven hundred scattered and battered men. I'd been propping more units into Bohemia in case of this and after the last Polish Offensive, launched one of my own, driving the Cumans out. That turned out to be the bloodiest siege I'd ever committed to. As it turns out, Lesser Poland is marked flatland and really very hard to defend. There are very few hills and lots of open terrain; totally Cuman Heavy Cavalry territory. The Cumans naturally attempted to recapture the province starting next turn.

Cuman Heavy Cavalry (along with Kataphracts in XL) are let's see: Irresistible Charge, Excellent Morale, Very Good Attack, Very Good Defence, and Very Heavily Armoured. They are also not slow like Kataphracts, which means they are very reminiscent of Chivalric Knights except the Cumans have them in early and roll them out in huge numbers since they only need Armourer + Horse Breeder. They had to have had half a dozen full or partial units of those each time they attacked, along with 2-4 more units of Steppe Heavy Cavalry.

Over the next six or seven turns, my King gets Eager to Retreat which I thought was utterly ridiculous :gah2:. What kind of a madman stays behind to fight superior numbers of Cuman Heavy Cavalry on flatland?

The computer apparently, because afterwards, the Cuman forces shrank to deal with other problems and I retook the province. On the next Cuman attack, I pressed autoresolve with about 1400 defenders vs 1100 Cumans (more than half the starting units were some kind of heavy cavalry) and got a bloody victory. For another two turns, the Cumans threw everything they had at my Bohemians and they managed to autoresolve a victory every time. I'm at a loss of how the autoresolve does it. I sure as hell would not have stood a chance manually commanding.

Then, on the third Cuman attack and with the end of the siege, everything ended. Civil War, Hungarian attack, Byzantine attack, king and princes captured (and ransom-refused, ~sadface :( ) and the Cuman Khanate vanished overnight. I had Lesser Poland; after sustaining the kind of losses that I did, you might say I deserved it. :sweatdrop: It would be decades before the campaign paid for itself though because I had only one province at the time that could turn out troops so it was literally decades before the income minus garrison costs of that province could be translated into replacements for the over thousand casualties I took. Lesser Poland would never be easy to defend either, so in the end, it was probably an even worse decision than bribing Tyrolia a ten years back. Then again, Bohemia had to expand somewhere.

Taking things at a snail's pace while the world changed around them, the Bohemians managed to eke out enough forces to pull together a war effort against the Venetians (alliance broke with them after they warred with France) to take Venice around 1150 and later Milan. Both of these provinces really got the Bohemian economy running again. Previously, they'd been on around +300-400 annually simply staying alive. With every neighbour bordering with two stacks or more I was nervous depleting garrisons for any reason and I didn't know enough about how AI's view garrisons on a strategic level.

To a degree it's fair to say the lack of expansion is misleading because the Bohemians were developing the territory they had quite quickly. Most of the provinces now have Castles under construction, which was a herculean effort of scrimping and saving. Things should be better now with some of the Italian cities in the fold, but I still expect to be viewing things in terms of tens of turns rather than turns until the Horde disrupts things.

Things turned around in the late 1160's when the Byzantines went to war with the Hungarians. I don't know who started it, but the Hungarians were utterly steamrolled. I do know they've gone to war with Egypt also, but with both Antioch and Tripoli out of their hands, I don't know how successful they'll be. It has given me cause to think about attacking the Byzantines outright but the heavily upgraded XL Kataphracts are really making it untenable. I do think I'll end up at war with them quickly in either case though. The other option is to attack some of the minor powers but that runs the risk of getting steamrolled from behind.

World in 1170:
https://img226.imageshack.us/img226/6872/bohemia1170im0.jpg

And here's an update from the Bulgarian campaign: 1284 there from a High start.
https://img53.imageshack.us/img53/3769/bulgaria1284rh1.jpg