professorspatula
06-26-2005, 15:36
There were my armies: Over 10,000 Saxons on the borders of the last Scottish lands - one in modern day Scotland, the other in Ireland. Huscarles, Horsemen, Nobles and many ranks of Fyrdmen spears waiting to shed blood on my order. The Scots - a bunch of highland hill hugging softies with large swords, gripped with fear as they awaited the coming of the armies that would end their days.
The Battle in Ireland was won with just 11 casualties. Our men had a good laugh about the ease of their victory, although a few Scottish men manning the now mostly pointless catapults retreated to their keep, where only starvation waited for them. At least they wouldnt die cold though - the catapults make for good firewood I've heard.
But in the last remaining Scottish stronghold, deep in the heart of the hostile highlands, my army was defeated by the haggis eaters! Although not by conventional means.
No, my army defeated the bulk of the Scots who had their king well protected at the top of a very steep hill with a thick blanket covering of trees adding to his advantage. The Scots had split their force in two at the deployment stage, which was unusual, and also sacrificed many lone units to prevent my army reaching the crest of the hill to defeat their king. With reinforcements then arriving from behind my army, the result of these actions by the Scots was my army was very tired before even marching up the King's hill. Princes charged down the hill to further challenge my Saxons, but all perished, but not before exhausting my cavalry and Huscarles. I'd already pulled in fresh cavalry earlier, but these were now tiring too, and the steep incline of the dreaded hill wasn't helping either. When I did move my force up the steep hill to challenge the King, his height advantage and freshness caused my Saxons to suffer many casualties, but eventually he was unseated from his horse and beheaded. He had dined on his last haggis earlier that day.
Victory was then a case of mopping up the final Scottish resistance which consisted of peasants and clansmen and a few nobles who were arriving from the other side of the battlefield fresh. After a few minor clashes, the Scots retreated or died fighting, typically with their backs to my cavalry. However, as victory looked all but imminent, the Scots resorted to a new and cowardly tactic that would defeat my otherwise invincible Saxon army: they hid on the very edge of the map, behind a steep mountain and out of reach from my army by all means. The final clansmen refused to enter the battlefield enough to be challenged, and just marched on the spot shouting something incomprehensible for twenty minutes as my army stood by and watched in horror as the sands of time defeated them.
Talk about annoying. I'd done everything to wipe them out, but they refused to fight. Fortunately I didn't lose my army and they weren't captured, but that's a bit below the belt. Afterwards my best general became a crippled alcoholic to rub it in further! Anyone else experienced this, where reinforcements become stuck and therefore make victory impossible? It took the shine out of my campaign against the Scots. I'll finish the last few of them off though - no mercy shall be spared. And those Picts will suffer too.
Actually the Viking Campaign has been poor. It's the first campaign I managed to gain control and power properly, but I was largely unchallenged. The Vikings never attacked anyone, thus spending the entire campaign crippled with unrecoverable debt (being the focus of the expansion, CA should have done more to prevent this happening), and none of the other factions even bothered with boats so my sea-trade and coastal provences were unchallenged throughout.
The Battle in Ireland was won with just 11 casualties. Our men had a good laugh about the ease of their victory, although a few Scottish men manning the now mostly pointless catapults retreated to their keep, where only starvation waited for them. At least they wouldnt die cold though - the catapults make for good firewood I've heard.
But in the last remaining Scottish stronghold, deep in the heart of the hostile highlands, my army was defeated by the haggis eaters! Although not by conventional means.
No, my army defeated the bulk of the Scots who had their king well protected at the top of a very steep hill with a thick blanket covering of trees adding to his advantage. The Scots had split their force in two at the deployment stage, which was unusual, and also sacrificed many lone units to prevent my army reaching the crest of the hill to defeat their king. With reinforcements then arriving from behind my army, the result of these actions by the Scots was my army was very tired before even marching up the King's hill. Princes charged down the hill to further challenge my Saxons, but all perished, but not before exhausting my cavalry and Huscarles. I'd already pulled in fresh cavalry earlier, but these were now tiring too, and the steep incline of the dreaded hill wasn't helping either. When I did move my force up the steep hill to challenge the King, his height advantage and freshness caused my Saxons to suffer many casualties, but eventually he was unseated from his horse and beheaded. He had dined on his last haggis earlier that day.
Victory was then a case of mopping up the final Scottish resistance which consisted of peasants and clansmen and a few nobles who were arriving from the other side of the battlefield fresh. After a few minor clashes, the Scots retreated or died fighting, typically with their backs to my cavalry. However, as victory looked all but imminent, the Scots resorted to a new and cowardly tactic that would defeat my otherwise invincible Saxon army: they hid on the very edge of the map, behind a steep mountain and out of reach from my army by all means. The final clansmen refused to enter the battlefield enough to be challenged, and just marched on the spot shouting something incomprehensible for twenty minutes as my army stood by and watched in horror as the sands of time defeated them.
Talk about annoying. I'd done everything to wipe them out, but they refused to fight. Fortunately I didn't lose my army and they weren't captured, but that's a bit below the belt. Afterwards my best general became a crippled alcoholic to rub it in further! Anyone else experienced this, where reinforcements become stuck and therefore make victory impossible? It took the shine out of my campaign against the Scots. I'll finish the last few of them off though - no mercy shall be spared. And those Picts will suffer too.
Actually the Viking Campaign has been poor. It's the first campaign I managed to gain control and power properly, but I was largely unchallenged. The Vikings never attacked anyone, thus spending the entire campaign crippled with unrecoverable debt (being the focus of the expansion, CA should have done more to prevent this happening), and none of the other factions even bothered with boats so my sea-trade and coastal provences were unchallenged throughout.