View Full Version : [M2TW AAR]: Vignette III - HRE
Beefeater
12-03-2006, 00:29
THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/7592/pentagonaltowerns9.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
The Pentagonal Tower in Nuremberg
Being an extract from the journals of Adolphus Mann of Nurenberg, Doctor of Letters
August 28, 1080
Reynhardt was late this morning. Slovenly. He knows I detest his lack of punctuality. I know that he will probably never change.
‘Master,’ he said, bobbing his head slightly. His Adam’s apple protrudes slightly, giving him an unhealthy look. ‘I’m sorry about being late, I…I…I…was held up on the road. There was an accident – a cart full of pigs overturned – it was very crowded…’
Waved a hand to dismiss his excuse. He had been staring again at the Pentagonal tower, dreaming of being a knight. Fool of a boy. Not new. It’s been forty years up already. Muscles of a clerk, anyway. This is the best place for him, and I told him that, not that he appreciated it.
‘The tax scrolls, boy.’ Met with Graf Mandorf today to discuss our revenues. Sharp man. Hard man. Clever like diamond. Asks difficult questions. Worth cultivating.
Returned home late.
Welcome to Vignette III – a record of the struggles and tribulations of the Holy Roman Empire though many years of history. First, though, a disclaimer.
DISCLAIMER
I should confess that I was disappointed by the lack of separate periods in the campaign game. To my mind the most interesting HRE is the late Medieval Battle-of-Pavia HRE, in which semi-bourgeouis armies of handgunners and halberdiers wreak havoc upon arrogant noble foes with much more expensive armour. It is the HRE where Grafs and Landsherrs with improbable names and unfamiliar titles bicker constantly over the forests and cities of a Germany rapidly embracing the early Renaissance, where strange peasant cults constantly threaten the established order and where within each monastery there is a Reformation waiting to begin. It is the Germany of the novel ‘Q’. Absolutely historical. But to be honest I’ve yet to find a more entertaining version of the Mitteleurop of my mind’s eye than that of Games Workshop’s Warhammer universe – which may give some clue why the franchise has done so well in Germany itself.
As I find it quite difficult to write about early-medieval Germany, I have settled on a simple solution – ignore the problem. This will therefore be full of anachronisms, misrepresentations, inaccuracies and other bugbears of the slothful writer. For these sins, reader, and for the peculiar treatment of time in the game, please be forgiving.
Game is of course on VH/VH.
INTRODUCTION
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/8476/startpositionoh1.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Das Reich
The HRE begins with six provinces: the castles of Stauffen and Innsbruck, and the cities of Nuremberg, Frankfurt (Capital), Vienna and Bologna, this latter playing host to the Emperor with his army. The campaign goals are to hold twenty provinces, eliminate the Milanese and eliminate the Danes. One way of achieving this would of course be to invent some seven hundred and fifty years ahead of time the concept of Blitzkrieg, smash Denmark, do the same to the Milanese, and quit before turn 30 rolled around. But that would just be too easy – and besides, I hope to maximise the chance of playing with some decent late-era troops.
HOUSE RULES
Think of the HRE and, especially if you’ve played MTW1, you are likely to shudder at the memory of generals with shockingly little loyalty. In fact, it’s not too much of a stretch to say that for most of its history, the HRE was characterised by its inconstant and fractious nature. Now the game models this with low loyalty for HRE characters, although this is far less pronounced than it was in MTW1, but this isn’t really enough of a penalty since you don’t really need generals to keep your provinces in order – low taxes and a sensible building policy will do that nicely.
So I decided to spice things up a bit for this campaign. Each different family member in this campaign will have their own agenda based on a number of factors: their traits, the bit of land I decide to give them, and the overall goal of the game. I’ll decide from time to time who gets funding – certainly at the start, it’s the Emperor who will get most of his pet projects approved in the first instance. Now, let’s meet our cast.
WHO’S WHO
Family
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/4213/heinrichifa4.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
In the prime of life, Emperor Heinrich and a moderate-sized army are based in Bologna. Since he’s in Italy, it’s a fair bet that this is where Heinrich perceives his sphere of influence to be. So Heinrich will have command of the German army in Italy and perhaps into the Balkans – and isn’t terribly interested in what happens in Germany Proper. He’ll need to pick up a castle en route, though, or rely on reinforcements from the North which may not be forthcoming for his best troops.
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/1294/princehenryux1.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Prince Henry is based in Staufen. Since from his castle walls he can faintly see the Rhine valley, any expansion of his personal power base will come at the expense of the French - and the Swiss castle in Bern would be a tempting bulwark against a possible attack from the ambitious Milanese.
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/2707/leopoldsk8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Heinrich’s second son, Leopold, has set his eyes east and to the endless possibilities offered by the wide plains of Eastern Europe. He will need to develop skill fighting the expert horsemen of those regions, though, and their new champions the Kings of Poland and Hungary.
Generals
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/4079/maximillianmandorfaz3.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Possibly sizing themselves up for the Imperial crown are Maximillian Mandorf, Dietrich von Saxony and Otto von Kassel. They’ll make decent governors, and a good way of testing the traits system. Oh, and Mandorf looks promising. Watch him closely…he can only benefit from sharing a hometown with my narrator.
Well, that’s the scene set. Update to come after I’ve played the first few turns.
Kobal2fr
12-03-2006, 00:45
:laugh4: I'm already in love with our new, no-nonsense, spare worded narrator.
As to your (future) roleplaying of the conflicting generals, I can only remain in silent awe : that is so much more than I'm capable of... Get inside one mind ? Sure. Inside 4 conflicting ones ? Now that's brain nimbleness.
Nutranurse
12-03-2006, 01:01
:shock:!!! Wow...thi actually convinced me to join the forum just to encourage you :laugh4:
I must say I love your idea of role-playing generals. It not only ands a new kind of flavor to the game, bit it PROLONGS the fun of it! Hell I am thinking of doing a similar project, though with a different faction of course.
Still I will be cheering from the sidelines:laugh4:
AussieGiant
12-03-2006, 01:42
So Mr Beefeater,
The plot thickens.
Role playing Generals is a great idea!
Your Loyal Reader
AG.
Attn: Consumer of meat products
We hereby do this day, 2nd of December, formally and respectfully demand further excellent reading, post-haste, for the mutual benefit of said fans and the satisfaction of said author.
Signed,
Everyone
Remember remember the 2nd of December
Beefeater plotted and brought
an excellent read, that for no reason
should ever be forgot.
We await with bated breath mein Kaiser. Lang lebend das Reich!
AussieGiant
12-03-2006, 09:20
Attn: Consumer of meat products
We hereby do this day, 2nd of December, formally and respectfully demand further excellent reading, post-haste, for the mutual benefit of said fans and the satisfaction of said author.
Signed,
Everyone
I formally second the motion made by the honorable member for North Carolina.
All those is favour say: "Aiee"
Aiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! :charge: ~:cheers: ~:grouphug: ~:eek: ~:wave: :jumping: ~:thumb: :cheerleader: :bounce: :eyebrows: :hippie: :elephant: :dancing: :shakehands:
AussieGiant
12-03-2006, 10:29
Aiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! :charge: ~:cheers: ~:grouphug: ~:eek: ~:wave: :jumping: ~:thumb: :cheerleader: :bounce: :eyebrows: :hippie: :elephant: :dancing: :shakehands:
I'm pleased to announce the motion has now been formally passed with the member for California's approval.
We just have to get it passed by both houses of parliament and we can turn it into a Law!!
:idea2:
The Teacher
12-03-2006, 13:12
bring it on beefy!
Brilliant as always!
kampfen deutscheland!
Faenaris
12-03-2006, 13:19
Since I am from Germanic stock (well, one of my ancestors was), I'm looking foward to this Vignette. And I'm loving it already. ~:)
Thumbs up, Beefeater, thumbs up.
Looking forward to this one even more so than the French vignette :book:
Beefeater
12-03-2006, 23:38
GERMANIA ITALIENSIS
Being an extract from the journal of Adolphus Mann, Doctor of Letters
February 5, 1100
Full day. Met with Herr Kleiben. Distasteful. Necessary. Information is power. He still reeks of the brothel though. Huns are peaceful since Prince Henry’s marriage. Poles too far away, Danes too quiet.
Mandorf worries about Von Saxony’s adoption. Not jealous – something subtler. The Graf had more pressing concerns in any case.
“Venice.” When he wants my opinion he is always this way. A statement, never a question.
“Still besieged, Mein Graf. Herr Kleiben says that Heinrich is personally in command after that unpleasantness with the inquisitor.”
“Ja. Pity about von Kassel.” Was that the trace of a smile on his face? “Unwise of him to stray so far from his bodyguards.”
Unwise of me to raise the subject, he means. Change it. “No news from Milan, Mein Graf. Their merchants are still trading in the occupied cities; if they plan war they are hardly hurrying.”
“Why should they? Think, Adolphus! Heinrich takes Venice, with his forces reduced. From Rome to Innsbruck, who else has an army? If the Duke of Milan has any sense, he’ll canonise Heinrich – once he’s had him executed. Not good for you and me, Adolphus.”
He is right. With Heinrich dead, Henry would rule, and his adopted sons are Von Saxony and Von Tyrolia. No place for Mandorf there.
“I think our dear Kaiser may need assistance. Do you have the letter of credit?” I show him. He inspects it, smiles, signs.
“Present this to my friend Andreas in Innsbruck. Tell him what we need – arms and armour for five score horsemen, and provisions for a siege. Raise knights as well, or however many you can.” I bowed and left. Clever, Mandorf is.
I hope, for his own sake, that Von Saxony keeps a good priest handy.
General
As with chess, Civ, or almost any turn-based game of strategy, the first few turns are the charm. The HRE is going to try to expand in several directions at once and will probably continue to pull away from the centre. This will make for some interesting situations as our characters grow less able to call upon reinforcements from one another…
Kaiser Heinrich
Knowing the importance of keeping His Holiness friendly, Heinrich authorises the first expenditure of the game by permitting the expansion of the Town Centre in Bologna. As the Italians tend to field missile-heavy armies, he also orders Von Kassel in Innsbruck to raise knights and sergeants, and to build a stables so as to increase the pool of troops available for recruitment.
Shortly afterwards, he moves out with his full starting army and besieges Florence, which the council of nobles had decreed was an appropriate target. Relations with the Papal states take nose-dive to ‘very poor’. This does not throw Heinrich, however, who orders Von Kassel to lead the newly-recruited knights and sergeants from Innsbruck to the Milanese border. Florence falls to a lightning assault…
https://img79.imageshack.us/img79/9286/firenzeco2.jpg (https://imageshack.us/my.php?image=firenzeco2.jpg)
Machtpolitik
…but the Venetians have taken careful note of the reduced German presence in Italy and move to besiege Bologna. Heinrich rides back at full speed and engages the Venetians in an evening battle.
Skirmish Bolognese
This is one of those maps I always have trouble with. The whole thing is dotted with trees. I mean, who in their right mind would really fight in a forest? It’s a death trap for an organised army.
The Venetians are out in force, their army composed of Italian militia backed up by peasant archers. Heinrich splits his men into three groups: infantry to the left and right of the Venetian lines, archers forming a classic ‘weak centre’, and advances.
https://img79.imageshack.us/img79/2725/treehuggingcz0.th.jpg (https://img79.imageshack.us/myphp?image=treehuggingcz0.jpg)
Tree-hugging
The infantry envelopment works like a charm, catching the unfortunate Italian archers from both directions and breaking them very quickly. The Venetian general committed his reserves to the battle, and for a moment looked set to turn things around. The Italian captain fought on bravely…
https://img79.imageshack.us/img79/391/deathofacaptainhv5.th.jpg (https://img79.imageshack.us/myphp?image=deathofacaptainhv5.jpg)
Death of a Captain
…but fruitlessly, finally sinking to his knees as he was run through by German spears. Italian resistance crumbled as Heinrich himself led a devastating charge into the flanks of the one unbroken unit, and the battle was won. Heinrich offered to ransom his prisoners, but the Venetians pled penury.Von Kessel took responsibility for passing on the bad news in person, with the aid of a large, sharp axe.
https://img79.imageshack.us/img79/2561/perfectchargejp7.th.jpg (https://img79.imageshack.us/myphp?image=perfectchargejp7.jpg)
A near-perfect charge
Having shattered the bulk of the Venetian land forces in Italy, Heinrich met up with Von Kassel and laid siege to La Serenissima herself. As the Pope had recently gratefully accepted large gifts of German gold, neither Heinrich nor Von Kassel spared much of a thought for the lurking figure with the broad-brimmed hat…
https://img79.imageshack.us/img79/1235/haveyousinnedxj6.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Confess to me today, or confess to the Lord tomorrow.
…since the Pope was appeased, it seems safe to assume that the insanely pious (and probably also piously insane) Oddus de Giallo was on a frolic of his own when he burned Von Kassel for heresy. Possibly he had relatives in the unfortunate Venetian army that had recently come to a bad end?
Heinrich didn’t stick around to find out for certain, and immediately rode with his men for Florence, only returning a turn or two later when Cardinal Redcap had departed. As things stand, Venice can only hold for another four years at most – although they have had plenty of time to regroup, and another attack can be expected. More troops have been urgently requested from Innsbruck, although I am not sure they will be in time for the inevitable Venetian relief force.
Traits: Heinrich is now ‘Fair in Rule’ and a ‘Wall Taker’.
Into the West
Prince Henry’s ambitions in France would require more troops than he had to hand. Imperial couriers sped north, bearing the message that Dietrich von Saxony should commandeer the expeditionary force in Northern Germany and lead it to Prince Henry. This Von Saxony dutifully does, beating off a rebel ambush on the way.
As the column is marching through Teutonic forests, interesting news comes from the other side of the HRE. The daughter of King Lazlo of Hungary has arrived in Vienna, seeking trade rights. On what one presumes is a brief trip to Vienna, Henry spies the young lady and is immediately enthralled by her enormous tracts of land. They are married the following spring, and with that marriage the honest townsfolk of Vienna can breathe a little easier.
https://img79.imageshack.us/img79/8676/bridalwaveur2.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
“Willst du bist der tot euch scheide, treu ihr sein für alle tage?”
Eventually von Saxony’s troops arrive and Prince Henry leads them off towards Metz, conquering it handily and building a Wooden Castle around the old Motte and Bailey.
https://img79.imageshack.us/img79/9161/jvtya9.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Made Man
Success is making Prince Henry increasingly aware of the need for a coterie of generals he can trust. He adopts the ambitious and disloyal Jan von Tyrolia as a son, and packs him off to govern Vienna. Brother Leopold may get a nasty shock if he tries to requisition more troops from his old power base. Henry also adopts Von Saxony as his spare heir, following another victory of the northern governor against rebels (Shortly before his adoption, VS began to ‘Feel Appreciated’).
Traits: Henry is now ‘Fair in Rule’, ‘Religious’ and bears the ‘Marks of War’. Although his ‘Wife lacks charm’ he does at least have ‘Royal Ties’ as a result of his marriage (what, except just being the heir apparent? Bizarre).
Bohemian Dances
The second son, Leopold, has been busy in the east. Marching immediately from Vienna towards Prague with all the men he could muster, and requisitioning most of the garrison of Nuremberg as well, Leopold settles in with an army composed mainly of archers for a long siege.
The siege continues for seven long years (yes, I’m following the character timeline not the strange doubled-up timeline used by the game. Except for the diary excerpts…), at the end of which the Bohemian citizen-soldiers, half-starved and outnumbered, attempt to break out.
https://img79.imageshack.us/img79/7998/coldironfg6.th.jpg (https://img79.imageshack.us/myphp?image=coldironfg6.jpg)
Cold Iron
The battle is pleasantly one-sided. The citizens of Prague had been depending upon a band of lightly armoured Slavic mercenaries. The effect of these weird, demonic figures approaching through the mist upon the superstitious German peasants can only be imagined. The natural response to eldritch forces – arrows of cold iron – proved extremely effective against burlap armour, and the mercenaries fell in their droves.
https://img79.imageshack.us/img79/1506/guerillasinthemisteh7.th.jpg (https://img79.imageshack.us/myphp?image=guerillasinthemisteh7.jpg)
Guerillas in the mist
Leopold cleaned up shortly afterwards with his household cavalry. By this point Leopold had clearly noticed that Jan Von Tyrolia had seized power in Vienna, and would have been keenly aware of the need to bolster his own position. His solution was to bribe the Bohemians with new lands in the northeast: leaving behind a token force, he marched the very next year on unwalled Breslau, capturing it swiftly in an unremarkable fight. The nobles paid handsomely for their new lands (Council Mission, 2500 florins, capture Breslau), and the village itself was swiftly converted into a castle.
Traits: Leopold has acquired the ‘Marks of War’ and is now known to be ‘Brave’.
The Home Front
Mandorf is unlikely ever to be adopted into the family – he’s no general – but as a bright man in a safe, central city, he is better placed than anyone else to see the big picture. In his first few turns he oversees the expansion of the farming system to communal farming, and builds dirt roads, a grain exchange and a small church. He has also built a brothel and commenced the training of spies – these will be crucial for the next 10 turns, as someone is certain to attack the HRE and they can give an idea who.
Conclusion
It’s been an eventful few turns, and the outlook for the HRE is mixed. Venice will strike back with probably quite decent troops, and even if they can be dislodged, it’s highly likely that the Milanese will start causing trouble in Italy. An alliance with the French would be helpful but is improbable given the natural conflict for dominance of Alsace and Lorraine.
The Hungarians are probably dependable as allies – so long as Von Tyrolia keeps a decent garrison in Vienna and is not tempted away with Magyar cash. The Poles however have taken advantage of the sedate pace of Leopold’s expansion and are now entrenched in North Germany, with control of the castle at Magdeburg. The Danes are in Hamburg and could also pose a threat. Finally, the French might decide that Alsace would look nice as the easternmost province of France instead of the westernmost province of Germany.
Everything to play for.
Beefeater
12-03-2006, 23:39
Does anyone know how to shrink the images? I'd rather not have them quite so large.
This gives whole new meaning to the phrase "WHERES THE BEEF!?!?"
Outstanding! More!
Jestocost
12-04-2006, 00:31
After a short campaign with Hungary and a long, continuing one with Poland, I was bearing quite a grudge against the HRE. You've actually errr... humanized them for me with this compelling story.
Great work, Mr. Beefeater.
Excellent work again Beefeater. It's pretty easy to resize your images, depending on what program you have.
If you have any version of Photoshop, just open the screenshot in it and go to the Image menu, click "Resize" and then "Resize image". A dialogue box should pop up with the image dimensions. Edit the width from 1024 pixels (presuming your running the game at this resolution) to 790 pixels (standard width of most forums).
(Note that if the height & width are 'locked' [you'll see a little chain linking the height and width boxes] then the height will edit itself to scale with the new width. If not, you'll have to manually edit the height to 593 pixels to keep the image proportional).
AussieGiant
12-04-2006, 01:35
Mr Beefeater,
Excellent work as usual sir.
Can I ask a favour. Can you post a pic of the empire before each section?
Due to the fact your all over the place like a dogs breakfast I am having trouble keeping up with who and where :)
Due to all the pending intrigue I'd like to know the "lay of the land" so to speak.
Once again fanatastic stuff.
Beef, if you're hosting on Imageshack, after you've got it hosted, it'll give you three pieces of code to use for linking the image. Pick either of the two that start with [ URL=... and click on that, then copy the highlighted text. Just paste it into your post. That'll give you a clickable thumbnail image linked to the fullsized one. As an example, here's one I took earlier tonight. It was intended to show the massive range of culverins, but the cursor doesn't show in the screenshot. The code is this:
{URL=https://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=culverinspg2.jpg]{IMG]https://img120.imageshack.us/img120/5528/culverinspg2.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
except the opening { has to be replaced with [ and the result is this:
https://img120.imageshack.us/img120/5528/culverinspg2.th.jpg (https://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=culverinspg2.jpg)
Lord Magus
12-04-2006, 16:41
Can I ask a favour. Can you post a pic of the empire before each section?
Yeah, do this please :)
I love your stories ^_^
The Teacher
12-04-2006, 17:24
brilliant stuff keep up the good work!
Beefeater
12-04-2006, 17:34
Thanks to Quillan for advice on Coding, and to Wizzie for info on how to produce forum-sized images in the future.
I'll start each future post with a picture of the Empire as requested, so we can watch it spread across Europe (or shrink if that's what happens...)
Lord Magus
12-04-2006, 17:54
Small question...
What does "Vignette" mean?
Basileus
12-04-2006, 18:36
Small question...
What does "Vignette" mean?
A short story if im not mistaken.
Sehr schön mein Herr !!!.
Beefeater
12-04-2006, 19:15
A vignette, in the sense I'm using it here, is a short 'sketch' in words.
Um...I was bored with my current photoshop project and got slightly sidetracked (https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/wizmouse/Journal.jpg)...
Um...I was bored with my current photoshop project and got slightly sidetracked (https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/wizmouse/Journal.jpg)...
Oo, nice. Maybe all of Beefy's vignettes can be compiled and made extra pretty with cool stuff like that, and other templates and such, maps and so on. This (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=68510) AAR at the TWC has a cool presentation style with original templates.
Kobal2fr
12-05-2006, 00:27
Um...I was bored with my current photoshop project and got slightly sidetracked (https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/wizmouse/Journal.jpg)...
Very good idea but... cursives ? This is the HRE we're talking about here ! Nice, thick gothic script (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackletter) would be better I think, if harder to read :sweatdrop:
AussieGiant
12-05-2006, 02:38
Thanks to Quillan for advice on Coding, and to Wizzie for info on how to produce forum-sized images in the future.
I'll start each future post with a picture of the Empire as requested, so we can watch it spread across Europe (or shrink if that's what happens...)
Veilen Dank fuer die Empire Pictures Herr Beefeater.
Gruss Gott
AG
Beefeater
12-07-2006, 04:06
WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS
June 18, 1104
Arrived at dawn. The Venetian sentries were tired and careless. Left the captains behind and hurried to the Emperor. I needn’t have bothered. He has little time for clerks. Little time for any man whose tailor doesn’t work in iron. Brains of iron too.
Watched the battle from a distance. We won. Rejoicing &c. Kleiben had done his job well: before Heinrich’s men took the city, Kleiben’s cutthroats had visited the homes of the grander families. The wiser turned to us. The difficult or obtuse had accidents.
Taxes arrived in a rush. Occupying armies encourage this response.
The story so far…
https://img296.imageshack.us/img296/236/mapqy9.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
The HRE, Turn 10
Heinrich’s rule has been good to the HRE, and the Reich now sprawls from France, through Italy, and out onto the wooded hills of Bohemia. This has been a blessing to Germany’s nobles, who have greedily fanned out to claim new lands, and an even greater blessing to Imperial cartographers, armed with an excuse to provide new maps every few years.
https://img296.imageshack.us/img296/8252/kingdomsuv4.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Kingdoms of Germany
Atop the great pyramid of squabbling nobles sit the Hohenzollerns, who have divided up the empire into their respective spheres of influence. Kaiser Heinrich rules directly over the Reich’s Italian and Alpine possessions: Staufen, Innsbruck, Bologna, Florence, and in all probability very soon Venice are his to dispose of as he pleases. Heinrich’s lands are outlined in red-pink on the Kingdoms map.
His eldest son, Prince Henry, has made the fertile Rhine Valley his power base, and sits in his fortress at Metz. His lieutenant Dietrich von Saxony, a man of unimpeachable honesty and valour, governs over Frankfurt, titular capital of Germany. Henry has also taken steps to fortify his position by sending Jan Von Tyrolia, a somewhat shady protégé, to govern the Osterreich from Vienna. Henry’s domain is outlined in gold.
Finally, the King’s other son Leopold now rules over Bohemia. His, rather smaller, holdings are outlined in blue. Leopold does not in fact control Nuremberg directly – that honour goes to the increasingly cruel Graf Mandorf – but Mandorf still acknowledges Leopold as his master, and can be assumed to be supporting his cause. The map is actually slightly misleading – the Poles do not hold Breslau, it is in fact Leopold’s fortress. There is, however, a Polish army wandering the region. Leopold is preparing for war.
Gesta Germanorum
A Polish attack would be only the second war that the Reich, for all its many borders, is involved in. At present Heinrich’s army is well advanced in its siege of Venice, and the city will fall next turn. There is thought to be at least one, perhaps two Venetian armies still active, but neither is expected to be a great threat.
True to form, the Venetians sallied forth as their supplies ran out. The battle that followed was short and utterly one-sided. Half-starved, outnumbered and demoralised, the defenders barely managed a single ragged charge before Heinrich’s professional killers trampled them in the dust.
https://img296.imageshack.us/img296/1554/nosurrenderdu7.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Where Angels fear to tread
As his men plunder Venice, Kaiser Heinrich summons his lieutenants to him and makes a surprising announcement. He is to recognize one of his bastards as a third son. The man in question, Thorsten der Stoltze, was sired in Bologna during a youthful indiscretion, and thirty years of warm Italian sun have given him a pleasant and easygoing demeanour that made him a welcome playmate of Prince Henry in their childhoods, and the Prince sends his warmest congratulations on the news.
https://img296.imageshack.us/img296/926/tsag5.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Ein Neue Mann
Leopold is less thrilled by this turn of events. As second son his position is quite precarious enough thanks to his elder brother’s installation of his own man in Leopold’s former capital of Vienna, without some parvenu Italian muscling in on the remains of Leopold’s patrimony. While the rest of the royal family winter in Alsace or Venice, Leopold is left ruling the harsh, barely Christian wildlands between Prague and Warsaw. Marauding bands of Polish nobles thunder across the steppe in open defiance of his rule, raising the question of how long peace can be maintained with the HRE’s expanding neighbour.
War and rumours of war are not worldwide, thankfully. The French have been peaceful for many years, and the Hungarians under King Lazlo have proved a strong bulwark against a resurgent Byzantium. The Normans of Sicily have made no trouble lately, and the Milanese have even gone to far as to offer an alliance! Heinrich accepted with alacrity.
Brinkmanship
Finally, it looks like war. A medium sized Polish army ends its move a few days’ march from Leopold’s fortress at Breslau. Spears are raised and helmets donned, and the flags of war are flown from the walls…
…but it was a false alarm. The Polish forces retreat back into Poland.
Back in Venice, Heinrich and Thorsten’s rule is threatened by a huge Venetian army commanded by a minor cousin of the Doge. The Venetians have terrifying siege machines and a multitude of crossbowmen, covered by several units of full mailed knights. It seems that even without his former city, the cunning Italian leader has more than enough money for war.
Heinrich marched out to meet the Venetian host knowing that he was outnumbered and seriously outmatched. However, his Knights and Mounted Sergeants gave him the crucial advantage of enough mobility to strike a crucial hammer blow against the mostly foot-bound Italian militia and mercenaries. Marching swiftly out of the city, Heinrich drew his cavalry up on the Italian flanks.
https://img296.imageshack.us/img296/5879/knightarraywm7.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Forest of lances
This is where things got interesting for me. Shortly after taking the above picture, I selected my cavalry units as a group, and right-clicked the nearest Venetian unit. Not only did each of the cavalry execute a perfect charge, they did so by lapping around the entire Venetian formation (not just the nearest unit), riding past the poor Italians like Apaches round a wagon. It was superbly cinematic – congratulations, CA, on a first-rate graphics engine.
It hardly needs saying, but the Venetians were taken completely by surprise (they had just started moving toward the city at this point, but were shuffling around so didn’t displace the German charge.) Eventually, the Venetian cavalry made their numbers felt and the Imperial flanking force had to withdraw, but by that point Heinrich’s main force of spearmen had taken up positions around the depleted Italian forces.
https://img296.imageshack.us/img296/8831/theythinkitsalloversp8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Enfilade
The spearmen charged in, and all was over. Barely fifteen Venetians escaped the field of battle, and their heartless Doge refused to ransom the wounded.
Next Steps
Now that the main Venetian army was destroyed, the path to final victory in this war was over. Heinrich spent a few turns in Venice building up his forces, and prepared to march along the coast towards the Adriatic stronghold of Ragusa. Only with Venice gone could the rising power of Milan could be addressed – they had the turn before overtake the HRE as the nation with the largest army.
Before Heinrich could attend to these matters, a second Venetian army, a tiny stack of five units led by the Doge’s son and heir, laid siege again to the city. Heinrich prepared to brush them aside.
November 12, 1112
A cold morning, by Italian standards. I shall be glad to leave here and return to Germany again, where even a three-year old child knows to stopper the door up to keep the cold at bay.
Dispatched my report to Mandorf. The man grows more vicious by the month , but that is understandable. Leopold still locked in that henhouse of a castle by Breslau. Our star is hardly in the ascendant, but at least with Heinrich on the throne Prince Henry’s faction is kept in check.
The Venetian force has shrunk again. Paid a local urchin to find out why. Seems they are deserting rather than face Heinrich’s knights. Also not surprising: the bakers, grocers and apprentices that make up Italian armies would do better to stick to their trades rather than trying to fight professional warriors like Heinrich’s. The Kaiser will attack them tomorrow. With this force gone, the way to Ragusa is clear.
Thorsten came to my chambers to drink with me. Sly. What does he want I wonder? I am too old to be talked into sharing my knowledge with him like a blushing seminarian, and if he thought to make me drunk and read my papers, I fear he should learn little from them, even if he can read.
He left soon after. Followed him, but a servant nearly saw me in the East wing so I doubled back, and on my return he was gone. He had no reason to be there. I shall write of this to Mandorf.
November 13, 1112.
There is little time to write now. In an inn in the mountains, half-way to Innsbruck, and if the Lord favours me I shall be in the Castle by dawn. My fingers are numb from cold and my limbs numbed with weariness, but I have a room to myself and that for now is enough.
Heinrich rode out this morning to face the Venetian army. Knights and sergeants in gleaming array etc. He spoke briefly with me.
“Write this in your books, clerk. On..May, 14, Year of our Lord 1112, Kaiser Heinrich killed the mangy son of that Venetian hound, and the hopes of Venice died that day. Think you can manage that?”
Not waiting for my answer, he strode off. Giant man, like Gog or Magog. Something wrong, a nagging doubt. Not important. I returned to the Dovecote to report. From there, I could make out the battle faintly. There was a brief skirmish between the Doge’s son and Heinrich’s knights before the Italian was taken prisoner. True to his word, Heinrich slew the youth without asking quarter, and the Venetian army crumbled soon after. Heinrich, Thorsten and their knights charged off to pursue the stragglers.
Strolling back to my chambers I happened to pass through the East wing, past the Milanese ambassador’s quarters, and into the kitchens. Fool that I was! Remembered my doubts then, yes, remembered and swore and ran to my horse.
Found Heinrich in the woods near the road, or what was left of him. Thorsten had led the Kaiser into a Milanese ambush, not that it had stopped the Italians butchering the both of them, with their guards also. He wanted money? No, already wealthy. Power in Italy, his own little Kingdom? No. Thorsten was never independent. Henry’s doing, probably, thirsty to rule and swelling with the desire for war with France. If I survive to return to Mandorf, I shall head for Breslau. A castle in Poland would be safer than this inn.
I hear men downstairs. Maybe Henry’s. Maybe the Milanese. I’ll sleep in the barn tonight, and leave before dawn.
The nights are growing colder.
https://img296.imageshack.us/img296/567/longlivethekaiserbr0.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
A new era.
not really sure what happened or how it happened. I think the king just died, and he wrote an interesting story about the death. Doubt there was a Milan ambush between venice and ragusa.
Beefeater
12-07-2006, 09:40
Myz - Perceptive. Thorsten and Heinrich died unexpectedly in a skirmish with a much smaller Venetian force besieging Venice, although it's true that Heinrich was at the time leading a large army that I was intending to use against Ragusa. Heinrich was barely in his grave before the Milanese declared war - it looks as though the death of a high authority faction leader can be enough to embolden neighbours who are unsure whether or not to attack.
On the other hand, imagine the popular reaction to these three events in sequence - Heinrich and Thorsten die in a battle they should have survived (and which they went on to win posthumously), Henry crowned Emperor, Milanese attack. You tell me the conspiracy theorists wouldn't cook something up :D
R'as al Ghul
12-07-2006, 11:23
We want more!! :2thumbsup:
Get your German arsch to your machine and play. We want to feel the might of the Reich....
R'as
Lord Magus
12-07-2006, 15:37
So you lost two generals to a small Venetian force |:?
IrishArmenian
12-07-2006, 15:59
Excellent work. This was probably my favorite installment yet.
I vote for a muslim faction next.
The Teacher
12-07-2006, 23:38
excellent work! keep it coming
What was that cavalry charge all about? Beefy, would you mind expanding a bit on what exactly happened there? You clicked all your cavalry onto one enemy unit, and they enveloped their whole army from both sides and charged in?
Beefeater
12-08-2006, 12:58
What was that cavalry charge all about? Beefy, would you mind expanding a bit on what exactly happened there? You clicked all your cavalry onto one enemy unit, and they enveloped their whole army from both sides and charged in?
The Venetian army was lined up in standard siege formation - one long line, with the General's unit behind the centre of the line.
My force of Knights and mounted sergeants was drawn up at right angles to their right flank, something like this:
K
K
K VVVVVVV
K
K
with V representing the Venetian lines and K my cavalry.
Shortly after clicking on the nearest unit, my cavalry charged past the unit I clicked on to engage the units further down the line. The end result:
K K
KVVVV
K K
It was entertaining to watch.
Wow, that maneuver coupled with each of them pulling off a perfect charge as you mentioned means that was a hell of a thing. I wonder if that's a one time thing that happened or if it's programmed that way somehow. Awesome stuff nonetheless, loving the reports. I liked the shots of the map and the kingdom division RP's and so on. What, oh what does the future hold for Emperor Henry?
The group attack thing command is programmed to do such, it works beatifully when you basically have an even match up between attackers and defenders. However it runs into problems when your line has more units than your opponent's.
See the manual for more details, it's around the section where they discuss grouping units.
Beefeater
12-09-2006, 21:24
May 12, 1105
Mandorf is brewing something. Three days now without a summons to his chambers. Leopold is still in Poland. But for now, Nuremberg is safe. Henry’s Milanese never planned to honour their alliance. Did Kaiser Henry?
Kleiben reported that the Kaiser has been seeking the Pope’s support against the Italians. He will need it. Three powers against the Empire. France should invade from the East, Poland the West. And yet no invasion. Polish raiders retreated last month. French and Hungars now married to Imperials. Bound to peace, with chains of silk.
Rumours of unrest in the countryside. Rebels. Bandits, &c. Mandorf does not suppress them. He says he has not the troops. Maybe.
Mandorf is brewing something. But what? And while he brews, Italy burns.
Better there than here.
https://img95.imageshack.us/img95/5125/maphe3.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
The HRE, Turn 20
Young Henry’s Game
Sitting in his castle at Metz and reviewing his realm, Kaiser Henry has good cause for satisfaction. Venice has been humbled and its rulers expelled; the Reich’s eastern borders are secured by a network of garrisons; the French and Danes are contained and now seek a peace that Henry has no intention of granting them.
Yet for all its strength, the Reich cannot rest easy. Sub-alpine Italy remains the soft underbelly of German power, and the Milanese have been quick to take advantage of Heinrich’s untimely death. Henry’s strategy for these next few years is therefore simple: avoid wars in the German homeland while securing German influence in Italy.
https://img95.imageshack.us/img95/5000/kingdomskj9.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Kingdoms of Germany
The sudden death of Heinrich may have emboldened the Milanese to attack, but for Henry it has brought massive dividends. Fully eight of the eleven Imperial Laender now fall within Henry’s personal control, and thanks to Henry’s web of alliances through marriage, Leopold is growing increasingly sidelined in the Bohemian plains.
At the centre of this giant wheel sits the hub of Nuremberg, and ruling over it with a fist of iron, Maximilian Mandorf – “the Merciless”.
Chains of Silk
Jan von Tyrolia, governor of Vienna, has seen his fortunes improve still further with Henry’s inheritance of Imperial power. Now he is about to see them rise beyond the level he could ever have imagined. There were dire rumours of unnatural behaviour in the Imperial castle when Jan was adopted by Henry as next in line to the throne, and it was as much to dispel these as to secure his future that Jan was maneuvered into marriage with a young French Princess.
Whatever the reasons for the wedding, it served to calm outraged nobles and churchmen in Vienna, and to cement Jan’s claim to the throne should he survive Henry.
https://img95.imageshack.us/img95/5477/lombardiaee6.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Formation of the League
Heinrich had been a colossal figure, and his death sent a shockwave through Italy. The first manifestation of this was an uprising in Venice itself, as partisans of the exiled Veneti princes took to the streets calling for their return. Then the Milanese marched on Bologna, overturning at the whistle of a crossbow bolt an alliance that had lasted over twenty years. Guiscard’s Sicilian Normans, ever alert to the main chance, were rumoured to have sent a small force to attack Florence.
Venice, Milan and Palermo. With Henry years away in Metz, the three great powers of Italy set aside their many differences to form a tri-partite alliance. Their stated aim was to expel the German invaders; many suspected the true goal was a unified Italy. His Holiness watched very carefully as the Lombard League was formed. The league’s emissaries spread through to the courts of Europe, but their efforts were focused on the court of the Kings of Poland and Denmark, for these were the only neighbours of the HRE not bound to alliance with the Empire.
In Metz, Henry received news of the League’s formation, and immediately prepared to march south. However, the path through the Alps was not clear. In the years leading to Heinrich’s death, Henry had consolidated his control over many of the regions of the Empire and this centralization – combined with Heinrich’s expensive Italian wars – had left the central Empire desperately short of soldiers, and bands of mercenaries and rebels devastated the countryside. To counter the Lombard threat, Henry would need to make his way to Italy fast, and he could not afford to be fighting rebels at every step. Henry therefore decided to abandon the plan to take on extra troops from Innsbruck, and to march instead through Switzerland, where the proud fortress of Bern still stood undisturbed by the great families of Europe.
Henry soon captured Dijon, which was defended only by a skeleton garrison. Not wishing to keep it, and mindful of the need to keep the Poles friendly, HRE made a gift of this border territory to the King of Poland. Lombard hopes for alliance were dashed at a stroke: there would be no invasion of Polish nobles to distract Henry’s men.
A league embattled
With no hope of an alliance, the Lombard leaders resolved to act immediately. The Duke of Milan still commanded four large armies. Two of these marched west into Burgundy, a third invested Florence, and the fourth moved around northern Italy in a defensive role. The Venetians sent their main force back to Venice, trapping the main German army in Italy within the city. Finally, the Sicilians moved north from Florence to invade Bologna with a small advance force. The main Sicilian army lagged slightly behind..
The Empire this point has only two armies in the field. Henry’s army is marching through the Swiss Alps, but there are few roads in Switzerland and progress is slow in the cruel Alpine winter.
https://img95.imageshack.us/img95/5239/imperialarmyinitalyoh1.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Equites Germanorum
The second army is an all cavalry force out from Innsbruck, where the largest stable in the Empire is kept. Too weak to face the Venetian or Milanese armies, the knights fell upon the Sicilian force outside Bologna.
https://img95.imageshack.us/img95/5772/faceoffvj9.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Face-off
The Sicilians had brought mostly cavalry to the fight, and it ended up as a straight charge which the Germans won, but barely and at the cost of both generals. Germany now had no mobile army in Italy – but the Sicilian reinforcements had been wiped out to a man. Without his reinforcements there was no longer any cause for delay, and the commander of the Sicilian army outside Bologna ordered an assault on the city, whose wooden walls protected a small garrison of militia.
https://img95.imageshack.us/img95/7480/attackingthewallstu2.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Storm on the Walls
Sicilian ladders were placed against the walls and the assault commenced. A battering ram went up in flames, and then for hour after bloody hour the Sicilians poured men into the battle, the German defenders holding at great cost the wooden walls of Bologna. As the sun went down, the first unit of Militia, exhausted from the struggle finally broke and fled. The fall of Bologna would cut Florence off from any German relief if the Sicilians decided to fortify their new gain, and the expectant Italian knights moved toward the gates in readiness to charge.
Yet the Germans had been counted out too soon. The German general took personal command of the soldiers on the wall, and step by stack the Sicilian attackers were driven back, until the last Sicilian spearman had fled the walls.
https://img95.imageshack.us/img95/7968/thegermandefencedy8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Turning the tide
A stalemate ensued, but without infantry the Sicilians could do little more than ride around outside the city. Driven off, the Norman soldiers retreated the following morning.
https://img246.imageshack.us/img246/690/crusadebm8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
The Langobard Crusade
News of the Sicilian defeats disheartened the remaining Lombards as they encouraged the Imperial troops, but the most significant effect of the battles was to ring from the halls of the Vatican. After years of maintaining an uneasy neutrality, Pope Gregory took a stand. In successive turns, he announced first the Venetians, then the Milanese, and finally the Sicilians, excommunicate.
This was crushing news, and the Lombards were afflicted with mass desertions and riots on the streets of their home cities. The Milanese army pulled back from Florence, and the Venetians from Venice, to take stock. The next turn the Venetians retreated toward Ragusa, and with no Sicilian forces in sight, Milan was left as the only effective opposition to Imperial pretensions in Northern Italy. Worse was yet to come.
Henry had spent nearly the Empire’s last florin buying influence with the Vatican, and now he called in his debts. At the instigation of the Empire, Pope Gregory issued a bull Ad Exstirpando against Milan. While Milanese armies marched across Lombardy, Henry’s small force was bolstered by crusading zealots as, in a show of piety, the Kaiser himself took the cross.
In Arcadian Hills
The Duke of Lombardy rushed to prepare his defences. A Milanese army was sent to continue the siege of Venice, a second to support it, and a third marched west to attack Henry’s troops, who had now crossed the Alps and threatened Milan. The remaining Milanese forces had returned to the cities of Milan and Genoa to help maintain order in the teeth of mounting unease among their populations. In the final year of the decade, Milanese hopes suffered a humiliating blow when their army besieging Venice turned Condotierri, its commander defending his brigandage by pious expressions of support for the German crusade. As Henry’s army prepared to attack Venice, the Milanese struck back in an attempt to behead the Imperial forces.
https://img246.imageshack.us/img246/8301/ducalarmyhr7.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
The Ducal army
The army of the Duke of Milan, composed largely of tough crossbow militia from Genoa and Italian spearmen and led by the Duke’s son and heir, drew itself up in a great line of attack among the Sub-alpine hills. They were supported by the garrison of Milan, which had marched as fast as it could to join the battle.
Henry’s forces were a rag-tag band of impoverished knights, crusading zealots, weary infantry and assorted hangers-on. They had just finished a march through some of Europe’s most inhospitable terrain. Fortunately for Henry, this had not caused casualties or made them weary, and they had escaped the dreaded camp-plague that commonly afflicted armies on the march.
https://img246.imageshack.us/img246/6943/butcheryyd3.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Cat among the Pigeons
Henry’s light cavalry were a perfect foil to the Genovese. Before the Italian reinforcements could arrive, a massed charge by Mounted Sergeants and some Knights had scattered the greater part of the Italian army before their deadly crossbows could be employed. The remainder of the Ducal army broke and ran once their leader was killed.
The Milanese garrison arrived to find their main army scattered and the best defensive position on the battlefield now occupied by grinning Germans. In less than an hour they were routed, and their captain taken prisoner. The impoverished Duke of Milan was unable to ransom his soldiers, whom the Germans promptly executed.
https://img246.imageshack.us/img246/9508/collapsejf2.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
No ransom for you!
The path to Milan was now clear. On a crisp November morning that year, Kaiser Henry rode into the greatest free city of Northern Italy at the head of a vagabond host, and ordered them to make free with the town. Fifteen thousand florins later, the Crusade was finished, and the Milanese in a very unfortunate situation indeed. The Emperor celebrated his victory by authorizing the creation of a new knightly order from among his soldiers, and agreed to consider at an unspecified future date the granting of lands for the preservation of that order and the suppression of heresy. Reflecting its roots in Northern Germany, the new order was to be known as the ‘Teutonic’.
The Teutons are coming! The Teutons are coming! Oh boy, that was awesome. Lucky break or shrewd diplomacy, getting the Pope to back you against the Italian aggressors. Good stuff, future is looking a bit brighter for the men in black.
Nutranurse
12-09-2006, 23:29
Amazing as expected.
One question, just how do you make the Map at the beginning of the entries?
Beefeater
12-09-2006, 23:46
Nutranurse, I photoshop the map from the faction selection screen that comes up when you start a new game. I'm not the world's most skilled photoshoppist, alas - if anyone has ideas on how to improve it (or, in particular, how to improve the in-game screenshots using Photoshop), please do let me know.
Nutranurse
12-10-2006, 00:02
Thanks Beefeater (you are quickly becoming one of my favorite people on the forum :D) As for the screenshots they are already very good :D. I can tell that you have a pretty nifty Graphics Card. Also you seem to catch the men in the most exquisite positions during the fight. My I fond of the picture of the men fighting atop the walls.
I've mentioned this at least twice so sorry to sound like a broken record, but to improve battle screenshots could you please remove the green arrow markers around the units? You can do so through the preferences text file.
Beefeater
12-10-2006, 01:49
Wonderland, thanks for bringing this to my attention. From about halfway through the turns I played in the most recent post I had turned off the markers - 'Face-off' should be the last pic showing them. Agree that they detract from immersion.
That said, I think that in the previous post they were quite handy. I have in mind the encirclement picture. At a significant zoom out, I'm finding it a little difficult to quickly tell which units I have selected without the markers. I'll continue without them for now though.
AussieGiant
12-10-2006, 02:36
Mr Beefeater!!
Excellent..simply excellent.
Now just a question. Your screen shots look amazing. What are the game settings you are playing on and what are your PC statistics?
Lord Magus
12-10-2006, 08:47
Excellent story!
Is there a faction named "Palermo"?
Beefeater
12-10-2006, 10:21
Lord Magus - Palermo is the Sicilian capital. Since Milan and Venice are cities, I went with 'Palermo' for the sake of the consistency of the sentence.
Aussie Giant - Processor's a P3 3.4, I am using 2 gig of RAM, and the Graphics card is an ATI Radeon x1900.
The Teacher
12-10-2006, 17:55
excellent keep it coming!
Excellent stuff!
By the way, if you'd rather keep the green circles ingame and not have to edit the preferences file, it's quite handy to just hit "Enter" before you take a screenshot to deselect all units ~:)
Beefeater
12-11-2006, 01:13
Ta Wizzie, that's worth knowing (and, previously, I didn't).
AussieGiant
12-11-2006, 01:49
Lord Magus - Palermo is the Sicilian capital. Since Milan and Venice are cities, I went with 'Palermo' for the sake of the consistency of the sentence.
Aussie Giant - Processor's a P3 3.4, I am using 2 gig of RAM, and the Graphics card is an ATI Radeon x1900.
Thanks for the details Beefeater, that is good to know.
Joining the forums today:laugh4:
I have played Total War since the first Medieval game and think its the best strategy games out there.
Just HAD TO pop in here and say how much I enjoy Beefy`s vignettes. Great work!!
Currently playing HRE aswell. Im eagerly waiting for your next post:book:
Lord Magus
12-12-2006, 13:37
I've started a campaign as the HRE, and I'm also getting attacked by Sicily, Venice and Milan.
The Milanese main army was crushed by my feudal knights, Venice is currently regrouping after a crusade on them, and Sicily is blockading my ports O_O
Brighdaasa
12-12-2006, 14:02
great read, keep it coming please :)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ee/Wheres_the_beef_commercial.jpg
Keep up the good work mate, keep em comin!~:thumb:
zverzver
12-12-2006, 16:30
Thank you Beefeater. Great AAR.
Post more you'v got yoursef a reader.
By the way what is the difficulty setting for this game?
Beefeater
12-12-2006, 19:06
Zverzver , Good spot - it's on VH/VH. I've edited the first post to make this clear.
Beefeater
12-14-2006, 01:00
ANNUS HORRIBILIS
May 13, 1205
Breslau is cold. Wet. Filthy. Prince Leopold boasted today that he found this place a midden, and has left it a castle. Irrational. Throw stones at a turd. Smears the stones, doesn’t cleanse the turd. Breslau.
Prince feeling overlooked. Gave me missives for every courtier in Nuremberg. No wish to replace Henry. Fifteen years ago already too late, and Mandorf defecting hurt him. Now Leopold does his duty. He told me of Polish raiders on the plains. But he thinks there are worse than raiders coming. Leopold fears betrayal.
He is right. Kleiben’s man met me before I left. The Poles are a day’s march from here, maybe two. Leopold’s little Kingdom will not last the summer. Henry won’t send men. Mandorf? Who knows? No point warning Leopold of the Polish army. He’ll find out. Soon.
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/494/mapzk4.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Known Europe at the end of the Langobard Crusade
State of the Reich
The Lombard League was decisively crushed at the battle of the Milan hills, and with its passing, Northern Italy was brought within the Imperial fold. The remaining Milanese outpost of Genoa soon fell. On the Adriatic coast, the Venetian exiles found themselves crushed between a resurgent Byzantium and an aggressively expansionist Hungary, and despite sporadic attacks on Vienna, they never again posed a serious threat to the Reich.
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6448/fvsna7.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Henry’s Rock
The spoils of war were ready to be distributed among Germany’s nobles. Realising the impossibility of directly controlling both central Germany and the Reich’s Italian possessions, Kaiser Henry returned to his beloved Metz, leaving the Italian cities in the control of his able (and more importantly loyal) lieutenant, Friedrich von Schwaben.
While Henry was away in Italy, Nuremberg had eclipsed Frankfurt as the most prosperous city in Germany proper. Mandorf’s gold had been financing Henry’s wars – much to the ageing Leopold’s chagrin – and Henry was now in a position to repay Mandorf with interest. Nuremberg was made an Imperial Free City, and capital of the ever-expanding Reich. As Praesiderender Buergermeister, Mandorf was now the most important man in Germany outside the Imperial family.
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/9496/kingdomsxj8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Kingdoms of Germany
The Kaiser’s own lands are tinted white. The Free City of Nuremberg is tinted gold. Leopold’s holdings are in blue, and the Imperial Italian lands are tinted red.
Having secured its control of Italy, the Reich should have been ready to consider expanding into pastures new. Yet the fall of the Lombard league had set in motion the wheels of a machine that Henry could not even imagine, much less control. The Empire was far from safe.
Stirrings of Unrest
The Empire enjoyed a brief period of peace after the capture of Genoa. The cities of Germany grew, and those of Italy slowly recovered from the devastation of war. In Venice and Bologna, the powerful Italian trade costers re-opened guild houses. Leopold even managed to negotiate an alliance with the Poles, who were concerned by the rise of a Viking nation in the East known only as the Rus. Leaving the veterans of the Italian campaigns under the control of von Schwaben to prosecute his campaign against the Sicilian Normans, Henry returned to the quiet of Alsace. For a dozen or so years, markets and churches were built, forests cleared and roads extended, in the name of progress.Von Schwaben soon gathered an army around him in Bologna, the front line against Sicily, and prepared to set out. All seemed well.
Yet there was something rotten, and the trail led back to the state of Denmark. The first stirrings of trouble were the refugees from the Reich’s outlying villages in the north. They trickled into Frankfurt in small, drab bands, complaining of harassment from Danish brigands. The forces sent by local Burgomeisters to deal with the threat failed to return. Requests that the Danish crown take action met with a stony silence. Back in Italy, a full Sicilian stack marched toward Bologna, trapping von Schwaben’s army in the city. Worse was to come.
On a winter’s day, the hammer blow struck. France, Denmark and Poland all declared war on the HRE, sending forces towards Milan, Frankfurt and Breslau respectively. Although Germany proper did have armies in it, apart from the Breslau garrison they were composed entirely of militia in varying states of readiness. Thus, at the moment a strong, mobile army was most necessary, the only regiment in the Reich with a serious cavalry force was stoppered up in Italy, besieged by a large, determined and well-equipped force of Sicilian Normans. As if this were not enough of a trial, the Venetian exiles sent two armies out from their Dalmatian hideout, one to pillage Austria, the other to recapture their former capital.
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/4663/venetivz1.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Annus Horribilis – Von Schwaben (Italy)
The year had begun well with the successful defence of Venice against its former owners. Two threats then remained for von Schwaben to neutralize before he could spare any troops to assist in the defence of Germany.
First, a large French army had Milan under siege. Unless it could be dislodged before the city fell, one of von Schwaben’s paths back to Germany would be cut off. But before von Schwaben’s men could take on the French, they needed to beat back the Sicilians from Bologna. Second, a Sicilian siege train (ie an army composed of ballistae and catapults) was marching up to reinforce their compatriots camped outside Bologna. If the siege engines arrived, Bologna would fall, without a doubt. While they were still distant, there was a chance of repulsing the Normans, just as the Venetians had been repulsed some weeks before. Von Schwaben decided to take the fight to the enemy.
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/3992/siciliahh3.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
The Sicilian army
The von Schwaben plan was to sortie with his knights and thereby surprise the Sicilians. Bold in theory, in practice it was an abject failure. Mailclad Norman knights overwhelmed the German advance party, killing most and routing the rest. The victorious Sicilians surged forward through the open gates, killing as they went…
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/5007/gatesopenbu8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Check…
…and the walls offered little more protection to the unlucky Germans. Despite a spirited defence, de Guiscard’s trained killers soon commanded the outer city.
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/1540/normansgw8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
…and Mate.
It only remained for the Sicilians to press on to the city centre, which they did in short order.
The consequences of this battle are hard to overstate. German power in Italy had been shown to be a sham, and utterly broken by the Norman onslaught. Days later Milan fell to the French. Panicked, and desparate for a little divine aid, Henry made the decision to withdraw from Italy in full. Yet again, it was to be the Vatican that would profit, as Henry ceded the cities of Venice and Florence to the Papal States. The experiment that had begun with Heinrich’s victory in Bologna was now over.
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/1589/plainsmentq3.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Annus Horribilis – Leopold (Poland)
From his castle, Leopold had had little to fear from the plainsmen of Poland. Although their armies were large, they were ill-equipped compared with the Germans, Bohemians and assorted mercenaries that protected Breslau. Confident that reinforcements would soon arrive from Prince Jan (formerly a disloyal General, now heir to the Imperial throne), who had moved to Prague, or from Mandorf in Nuremberg, Leopold prepared to ride out the storm.
Those reinforcements never came, Jan and Mandorf both finding excuses not to send aid. By the time the Polish army arrived at Breslau, Leopold must have realised that his brother’s heir had left him to die. Mandorf’s betrayal would have hurt deeper still, not only because he had been Leopold’s protégé, but also because Mandorf had gathered a very large militia army in Frankfurt.
Not all the news was grim, however. The strength of Poland lay in her excellent light cavalry, dominant on the grassy steppe but of little use in a siege. Breslau was well fortified and well supplied, and her walls were crammed with archers. Leopold’s kingdom would be no easy target.
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/7541/preparationsl0.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
They’re miles away
Expecting a quick victory, Leopold prepared to withstand the assault. Unfortunately the Poles were less predictable than he had thought. What Leopold’s men had taken for ungainly rams were in fact catapults, and before long the curtain wall was breached. Leopold and his knights marched swiftly to defend the gap, and had Leopold been facing a West European army, he might well have halted the assault there. The Germans readied themselves for a cavalry charge, spearmen to the fore.
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/2994/polskaze6.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/8350/polska2ov0.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
A nasty shock
What happened next must have been a very unpleasant shock. Instead of a simple charge, lances lowered, the Polish nobles preceded their assault with a deadly hail of missiles. Barbed spears fell among the defenders, opening a path through which the expert horsemen drove, scattering the defenders on their way, Leopold went down with a Polish javelin through his chest, and a breakthrough turned into a panicked rout. When the dust cleared, the Poles had taken the city, leaving the unfortunate archers helpless on the walls.
Prince Jan had little time to reap the fruits of his betrayal. Prague fell soon after, in similar circumstances, and Jan was killed in the fighting. The defence of the Reich fell to its heartlands – and at their centre, Mandorf. It was an opportunity he could not miss.
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/2955/danesmt3.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Annus Horribilis – Mandorf (The Dane-mark)
The main Danish army was camped a short distance from Frankfurt when Mandorf intercepted them. Caught unawares, the Danes put up a good fight, but outnumbered and overwhelmed by the German militia, they were chased back to the fortress of Magdeburg. Soon after, Mandorf took the fortess in a lightning campaign, first sacking it and killing the defenders, and then defending it against further attacks.
His achievements were the only bright spot in a terrible year for the Reich. Mandorf was made a family member on the back of them, and was now heir to Henry’s throne, although his pleasure at this may have been tempered by the knowledge that he held the role owing to the untimely death of the previous two heirs.
One last task remained to Mandorf. Expelled from Italy by its new masters, a ragged band of knights who had fought against the Lombards had made the long, slow journey north to Magdeburg. They sought land, and permission to rebuild the chapel they had kept in Milan. To refuse them, with the Danes practically at his doors, would have been to deprive himself of much needed fighting men. But to give them land would mean depriving the nobles of the Reich, without whose support the Empire was a lost cause.
Mandorf hit upon an inventive solution. Donating a thousand florins from his personal revenues, he built a small fortified chapel for the ex-crusaders to worship at. In return, he promised the order any land they wanted – provided that they could conquer it for the Reich. The knights accepted, and their first chapter house was built in the conquered fortress of Magdeburg.
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/9048/teutonsj7.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Hope you’ve enjoyed reading. This was an incredibly tough period, and at the end there was nothing to do but cut and run from Italy. That’s going to hurt the cash for a long time to come, especially now that Prague has fallen to the Poles. I’m really not sure how to take them on with a typical catholic army – the Polish nobles are the most efficient knight-killers I’ve met. About the only good news is that their infantry look pretty weak. France won’t be too much of a problem I think. The Danes are worrying though.
Final thought – the Sicilians are much tougher than I expected. Not just because of their excellent troops, but because they were able to afford to field plenty of high-quality armies one after another, slowly grinding down my defenders. Strategically, they are tough to get at as well – the German navy won’t exist for another thousand years or so. So if anyone’s managed to beat them consistently as the HRE, I’d be interested in hearing how.
Next up – I get to play with the Teutonic knights. Drang nach ost!
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6786/tkfx2.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
The shape of things to come
AussieGiant
12-14-2006, 04:05
Well that was a hell of a period!!
Unfortunately I can't give you any tips on crushing the Poles.
On a stratgic level the game is amazing. I'd say you have to try and secure one front and that seems easiest by going North. If you can get to the sea and neutralise the Danish then you can at least concentrate on the other fronts.
What does the Reich Map look like now?
Kobal2fr
12-14-2006, 04:11
For some reason, reading about your current woes and disasters is even more fun than your earlier campaigns, which went pretty much according to plan. Schadenfreude fits the HRE, I guess :laugh4:
Basileus
12-14-2006, 09:59
Bring a lot of Crossbowmen if you want to beat the Sicilians(if they are fielding alot of Norman Knights), getting Palermo is a good plan to stop their advance.
Vorwärts!
urm...
Advance!
Well written indeed, my Friend Rindfleischfresser, your campain ails the boredom caused by waiting for the patch : )
Lord Magus
12-14-2006, 13:57
I got a Sicilian army advancing to me aswell, never fought against them.
The Danes are not that hard, I captured the castle you that is near their capital and i'm fighting them from there.
France is busy with England and Milan, Venice are sending half stack armies every couple of turns to recapture Venice(the city), god knows where they get the money.
Milan has decided to attack the Westeren borders of the empire, which are lightly defended and I'm probably going to have some problems at the easteren borders.
And I really enjoyed this story, you lost for a change ^_^
Kommodus
12-14-2006, 15:37
I fought the Sicilians pretty regularly as Venice. However, they tended to field mostly dismounted Norman knights in my campaign, and not much cavalry. Since I tend to field cavalry-heavy armies, I ran them down with my horsemen.
Great story! Campaigns are more fun when not everything goes according to plan.
R'as al Ghul
12-14-2006, 15:55
Thanks again for the excellent read and the inspiration. I've started a HRE campaign myself, am on turn 15 or so and I love it. The voice acting is hilarious but the strategic situation is grim. I'm on good terms with the pope but have also lost my first priest to the inquisition. Venice has declared war, sieged Bologna and Vienna, where beaten back but have a full stack sitting in Venice. Otto v. Kassel is trying to lure them into a field battle by camping in the Province. Danes took Hamburg, Poland's army which wanted to take Magdeburg went rebel.....Very enjoyable, looking forward to teching up to get better units.
BTW, you also seem to suffer from huge Cavalry losses, like myself. They're powerful, yes, but after a battle there's seldom much left of them. Pulling back after a charge is crucial but I more often than not fail at it.
R'as
Beefeater
12-14-2006, 16:31
Ras, Cavalry don't disengage easily unless the unit they are fighting is also fighting something else. Someone was asking earlier what peasants were good for - this is one use for them. I'm not going to stop though - I REALLY like my heavy cav.
cassiusdio
12-14-2006, 17:44
Good read, your campaign seems to be going as well as my first campaign as the HRE did, i got to a certain point where i felt i was secure, and suddenly all hell broke loose and i was fighting on all fronts. on my third campaign i got to grips with the diplomatic side of the game and managed to appease the french and polish long enough to secure Italy. the key to the french appears to be Metz. whenever i have had the settlement, the french have been fairly aggressive, when they have had it they have been fairly passive, content to battle with the english and spanish.
Poland is a little more tricky, a lot of the territory they will b after is the same territory that you will be, I simply let them take the provinces they wanted to, and concentrated on Italy, the 3 factions down there can become a real handful if they are allowed to grow too far.
Milan is perhaps the easiset to neutralise, Venice is a straightforwrd city to take, and florence is rebel, so no real challenge there. Sicily on the other hand has the advantage of defence in depth, and a fairly safe castle on sicily.
My prefered method of eliminating them, and this has worked as both milan and the HRE, is to wait until they besiege Bologna, and be ready to land a force on sicily, assault and take palermo in one year. that will stop them producing their rock hard norman troops, then, wait until their army is close to retaking the fortress, and launch a quick naval attack on Naples, assault and take the city the turn you get there, assuming you still hold bologna, they should revert to being rebels, at which point they are less of a handful.
The danes will probably attack next, they generally take Antwerp and Bruges before they become a problem, and you can simply shift your forces north, safe in the knowledge that the wealthy italian cities are fairly secure
Regards
Brass Eye
12-14-2006, 18:01
Excellent work, Beefeater. Beautifully presented. I have to admit, I haven't been following this thread religiously, but it's been fun to dip into.
Hard luck on such a terrible turn! Fingers crossed that things pick up from here on in. Mind you, if this is the beginning of the end for the Reich, this could have the makings of a classic Teutonic tragedy...
The Teacher
12-14-2006, 18:22
good job keep it up!
its time the mods stickied this ... ;)
Fantastic stuff. I have to say the atmosphere in these posts are incredible, and it's all from the little medieval touches like "midden", "Annus Horbilis", etc. All very small details but they do add that extra layer of immersion that takes this AAR above the norm. And the immaculate layout with maps of the world, the seperate fiefdoms, etc. helps as well.
I have to say the political aspect is being played out beautifully as well. Leopold being left in his castle to die because the other Generals saw a path for their own advancement is genius, and probably takes a bit of willpower to execute when you're watching one of your provinces being taken in-game.
All in all a fantastic read - I'm looking forward to reading about the campaigns led by the Teutonic knights.
Also, I've noticed you tend to cover vast swathes of turns in your posts - glossing over boring periods and highlighting more interesting/intense periods. It works well, and probably makes writing the thing an awful lot easier when you don't have to take notes about every single turn! (Yes, I've tried to do campaign AARs before too :sweatdrop:)
It also works around the abstract character ageing process, which is pretty handy.
Anyway, all in all keep up the good work :2thumbsup:
Beefeater
12-14-2006, 19:07
It was tough leaving Leopold to die, although I did expect him to last a few more turns. I didn't expect the Poles to take Prague so soon, though - Jan the Man was supposed to have managed, at the least, a fighting retreat.
Oh, just wondering. If the patch due tomorrow is incompatible with existing savegames, what will become of this vignette?
Oh, just wondering. If the patch due tomorrow is incompatible with existing savegames, what will become of this vignette?
Most likely be fine. I don't recall any of the TW series having savegame compatability issues between patches.
In RTW the 1.3 patch was incompatible with save games from 1.2 or before as some of the files changed in the patch were files that were heavily utilised in the core campaign mechanics (or some other techie reason like that).
Well then, Beef would probably just finish up this episode with the existing build before patching up and starting the next one. Wouldn't be too big of a deal I'd venture.
great stuff - failure is deffinately a more entertaining read!
the poles are vrey tough to deal with. in one sicilan campaign i took them on in a forrest battle with a knight heavy army. having never encountered them (or any other spear chukkas) i was expecting an easy victory, i won but my full stack was reduced to about 50 men! the nobles skirmished and took out my knights whilst i was left a little lost in the woods.
the semi-cheating strategy to deal with them is to avoid their field armies and take out their cities - the ai often leaves cities poorly defended.
a good counterto thenobles is another misslie cav - but i dont think you have any as the germans?? that being the case i would suggest you avoid chasing them with you own knights and hope they waste the javelins on your cheaper infantry.
he has not updated for a while now.:viking:
R'as al Ghul
12-15-2006, 10:54
Ras, Cavalry don't disengage easily unless the unit they are fighting is also fighting something else. Someone was asking earlier what peasants were good for - this is one use for them. I'm not going to stop though - I REALLY like my heavy cav.
Yes, I know mein Kaiser. :wink:
It's just that I often get impetous and charge them in....it took me awhile to get accustomed to this new cav system. The better/proper way is of course to charge the flanks and rears of the already engaged line. I've made some progress in handling them yesterday and in one battle I absolutely dominated with my Mailed Knights. I had them hidden in a small forest with my main force+General luring the enemy down from his hill. When he had gone past my hidden Knights and engaged with my main army I completely annihilated a unit of Pavise Xbow which didn't even move and struck decisive blows to the rear ends of his Italian Militia (Venice) with my Knights.
I like how the terrain differs from my Venice campaign that I played before. In Italy it's mostly a landscape of rolling hills with little wood. In Germany there's plenty of forest and armies may lay in ambush everywhere. One of my Generals, travelling between castles was actually ambushed by rebels. Didn't happen to me before and was a nice change. My General recognized the ambush early, though and I was able to deploy. I hid all my troops (3 Spear Militia) and lured them with my General past the hidden units, effectively ambushing the AI in return and routed him pretty fast.
I've also managed to get Venice and Milan excommunicated but taking their cities will be difficult. The AI just blocked the path to Venice with its faction leader, alone. I wonder if its plan is to get him killed and thus reconciled?
BTW, we have a snack salami in Germany sold as Bifi (pronounce Beefy).
May we call you Beefy? :grin:
R'as
Edit: Have you also been approached by Milan and Sicily begging for alms by offering "Give us Tribute or we attack?" :laugh4:
Beefeater
12-15-2006, 11:27
Wonderland - absolutely right. I'll finish the Vignette and only then install the patch.
R'as - Beefy's fine! Although Beefeater's better half has now taken to calling him that, which he finds slightly disturbing.
I think your point about the terrain is interesting. Germany's quite a good place for infantry because the terrain permits ambushes - the most entertaining stack I've used has been mostly been dismounted Imperial Knights, who can tear up pretty much anything in heavily wooded areas.
wiretripped
12-15-2006, 15:58
Awesome topic, Beafeater.
It actually made me register to voice my appreciation.
I'm playing the HRE as well, and having great fun. They're one of the neatest factions in the game IMHO. :cool:
Glory for the Reich!
Beefeater
12-18-2006, 01:55
DRANG NACH OSTEN!
May 25, 1235
Another fifteen wagons arrived today. Must speak with Walfen about location of storehouses. Nuremberg now wealthier than Venice was. More wagons every week; they come from Riga, Prague, Krakow, even far off Helsinik and Novgorod. Not our wealth, theirs. The Knights’.
A new chapterhouse was completed this year. Great grey mushrooms, with black-and-white spores. Infesting the Reich, sucking its wealth. Violent men, with swords. Brutes with steel. Their time is now. My time.
I have seen the turning of things. My sixty-fifth year approaches, and know that soon I will be dead, and one with the Lord. They will not outlast me. Herr Baum’s factory will show that, soon. Such a wondrous thing, his black powder. From a sprinkling of dust, force that shakes mountains and levels walls. Walls cannot withstand the powder, what chance armour? No armour. No knights. No great grey chapterhouses and no arrogance masquerading as godliness.
God’s judgment on the Knights. God’s victory, to the Reich. Until then, the wagons will still roll.
https://img205.imageshack.us/img205/4979/mapuw5.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
The Known World at the foundation of the Teutonic Order
https://img185.imageshack.us/img185/2685/kingdomsyp4.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Kingdoms of Germany
(Black with white cross – Teutonic land. Light Blue with a yellow eagle – Nuremburg. Imperial Eagle – Kaiser’s personal estates)
When last I posted, things were looking pretty grim for the Empire. As you can see from the above maps, Poland has encroached on the Reich’s eastern borders, I’ve been kicked out of Italy and France has now overtaken me as the largest nation in Western Europe (nine provinces against my seven). The one bright spot has been Mandorf’s war against the Danes, as a result of which the Teutonic order has been founded to prosecute the Empire’s wars in the North. This leaves Germany split into three parts: the Free City of Nuremberg, Kaiser Henry’s personal holdings, and of course the final piece to the German jigsaw: the fortress of Magdeburg, home to the first chapter of the Teutonic Knightly Order.
Finally, some good news (for us). First, the Mongols have arrived, and can be expected to be causing havoc in the East. This might keep the Poles occupied in the near future. Second, the Sicilians have noticed that we no longer share a border and are offering peace and trade rights. No reason not to accept, and so I do.
Das Reich Streiches Bäck
There are currently three armies in Germany. Mandorf’s army is campaigning in the North, and has just taken Magdeburg, having smashed the Danish armies in the region. It’s tempting to sit there and launch a raid against the Poles, but the Danes are on the back foot and Mandorf recognizes the need to put them out of play permanently.. Sacking Magdeburg has left the Reich with enough cash for two units of Teutonic Knights (900 fl. each): once these are recruited, Mandorf will head for Stettin, and then Hamburg. It is important to take Stettin first so that firm borders against the Poles can be established.
The second army is heading south through the Alps, and is composed of the survivors of the Italian Wars. I plan to rest it in Innsbruck, and take on new recruits; once that is done, I’ll hold it in reserve to use against Poland once the Danes are taken care of.
Finally, Kaiser Henry is building a third army, which will be sent either north to finish off the Danes or East to turn away the Poles, as necessary. However, the Poles have halted now that they have captured Prague. I’m not sure why - It’s a bit early for the Mongols actually to be causing them any trouble, but I am just glad for a rest from the attacks. Nuremberg and Vienna have large town garrisons and could probably hold off any attack for a while, but as recent events have shown there is no guarantee on VH/VH that the AI will roll over and play dead.
The Danish Campaign
https://img287.imageshack.us/img287/931/teutonicsjw0.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Order Knights
Two turns later the first knights are built and Mandorf moves out. Stettin falls very quickly – the AI had only left two units of spearmen to defend it – and he moves on toward Hamburg, which puts up little more of a defence. There is however a large Danish army moving down from the North, and spies report that the Danes have taken Antwerp.
With the cash from sacking Stettin and Hamburg, I am able to bolster both Mandorf’s army and Henry’s with a few more units of Teutonic Knights. As Stettin had already been developed into a citadel (see how the AI wasted it?) I now also had access to Imperial Knights, and I built a few of those while waiting for the inevitable offer of a chapter house in Stettin, which came a turn or two later.
Henry’s army should do a fine job of mopping up Antwerp, but only if Mandorf can first crush the army marching south from Aarhus. Fortunately they were as keen to fight as he was, so he did not have to wait long for battle. The spot was a quiet and grassy plain, somewhat to the north of Hamburg.
This would be my first time using Teutonic Knights in anger, and I was keen to put them through their paces. The Danish are famed more for their infantry than their cavalry, and so it was with this army, which was composed mainly of spearmen and archers, with scouts (Danish light cavalry) screening the flanks. Since Mandorf’s men had more cavalry, I decided on a massed attack on both flanks with Feudal Knights and Sergeants. The Teutonic knights would trail behind and, once the enemy cavalry was ground down, lap round to engage and kill the Danish general.
https://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8208/firstblooduo7.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
In the thick of it
The plan worked a charm: once they were in close combat, Mandorf’s Teutonics beat down the unfortunate Danish bodyguards and the general soon followed. A single massed cavalry charge was enough to rout the remaining Danes, and when the fighting was over, the road to Aarhus was open.
While this was happening, Henry had assembled a smaller army and marched on Antwerp. The campaign was short and predictable, but I wasn’t sure what to do with the city as it is dangerously close to the French and their large armies, although those are currently occupied in Caen. In the end the Kaiser sacks Antwerp, sells off every building except the merchant’s guild and the church, and retreats, leaving the city to any power that wants it.
The Danish faction leader is nowhere to be seen – I presume he is in Scandinavia somewhere – and so Mandorf encounters no more opposition on the way to Aarhus. The city falls and is duly sacked. Mandorf is rightly proud of his achievements – but his dreadful ways have attracted the attention of someone Up There. Disease hits Aarhus a few months later, and its fearsome governor spends his final moments retching up his innards before being trundled away on a plague cart.
The army remains in fine shape though, and once the plague passes it resumes its march towards the final remaining Danish settlement: Stockholm. Kaiser Henry sends a young general named Maximilian to take command, which he duly does.
https://img304.imageshack.us/img304/2694/norwegianwoodwl7.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Norwegian Woods
The army is ambushed by Danes in a forest, but Maximilien’s Teutons see them off handily. As Stockholm has a largish army in it, Maximilien settles down for a long siege. With the city eventually succumbing to siege and starvation, the Danes cease to exist as an independent faction.
This leaves two of the three victory conditions fulfilled. All that remains is to conquer the balance of nine territories, and this war will be over.
Fall Weiss
https://img287.imageshack.us/img287/2060/polskpx9.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Getting their retaliation in first
The reason behind Poland’s cessation of attacks soon becomes clear. I had carelessly left a unit of reinforcement mounted sergeants outside Nuremberg. The Poles were unable to resist such a tempting morsel, and their army pounced – earning them an immediate excommunication.
Not one to be stopped by an interfering cleric, the Polish King continued his attacks, with a large army of Polish cavalry marches west, to be met by my refugee army. This latter is composed almost entirely of heavy cavalry – mostly dismounted Imperial and Feudal knights, with a sprinkling of Teutonics and Sergeants. This is only possible because I’ve recently sacked three cities. However, having had the cash to field huge knight armies, I can report that they are pretty damn effective. This is only increased by Kaiser Henry’s decision to merge the army with his own victorious band, and so the force that counters the Poles in the woods outside Nuremberg is both large and well led.
It has to be said that the decision to fight among trees was, from the point of view of the Polish commander, a shockingly bad one. The Polish army was almost entirely composed of cavalry, supported by crossbowmen and catapults. In heavy woods like these, they were unsuited to a stand up fight against elite heavy infantry, and as you will imagine, Henry’s forces massacred them in the forests. Henry’s light cavalry is able to chase the pursuers back to Prague, and then to Krakow, both of which were captured and sacked.
https://img279.imageshack.us/img279/614/thechasexs1.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
You’re nicked, sonny
Meanwhile, Maximilian has led his force of Teutonic Knights, dismounted Imperial Knights and Crossbowmen over the Baltic and into Prussia. Their first stop is Thorn, which the Poles had left lightly defended. I definitely think that the AI leaves too few troops in border castles – a big Citadel like Thorn should have been better manned.
Not that that mattered to the Teutonic Knights. They had been offered any land that they could take, and take they did! The Grand Master of the Knights set up a headquarters in Thorn, a testament to the burgeoning power of the Order. As with history; so with the game: the Knights had taken on the Poles and beaten them in Germany, and now they were looking to do the same on Polish soil. The impetus to do so, however, did not come from Nuremburg – or even from Thorn.
I mentioned earlier that the Poles had managed to irritate His Holiness sufficient for him to demand their excommunication. He had promised at the time to do such things (though he knew not what) as should be the terrors of the earth, and in a sparkling flourish, he delivered, calling a Crusade on Vilnius. Augmented by cheap crusader troops, the Knights duly delivered.
https://img287.imageshack.us/img287/1047/drangmu8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Drang Nach Osten!
Knightly armies swept through Poland and Lithuania, annihilating all resistance. The Pope unfortunately died before the consummation of the Crusade, but that was little relief to the Poles, who were now reduced to Halych, Burgundy (Dijon) and distant Kiev, had no forces left that could battle the Knights. The Russians also made a brief appearance, battling with the Knights over a division of Poland’s spoils in an eerie prefiguration of later events, but they were decisively defeated (although the Boyar Sons gave one army a run for its money).
Magdeburg, Stettin, Breslau, Thorn, Vilnius, Riga – a small force had even sneaked over the Baltic to capture Helsinki, and each of these places now housed a chapter of Teutonic Knights, great or small. Thanks to the efforts of the Knights, I was now only two provinces from victory. Russia and Poland were exhausted, and I suspect beginning to feel the impact of the Mongol hordes. France remained thoroughly embroiled with England and an assertive Spain. Finally, an ageing Kaiser Henry could breathe easy.
End Game
There followed a long, slow period of peace. Many turns later, a Pope more concerned with the Holy Land than with punishing recalcitrant Europeans ordered a crusade to Jerusalem. For this, I was able to assemble an all-Knight force. They marched through Allied Hungary, took ship in Anatolia, and captured the Holy City in an easy battle, before marching on to Acre, besieging and capturing that, and ending the campaign, the Holy Roman Empire utterly dominant both in Europe and in Outremer.
https://img185.imageshack.us/img185/9251/endgameth6.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
This is the end
Well, that’s all folks. Here’s hoping that you’ve enjoyed the AAR. The next one will be as the Spanish - absent anything to change my mind, I'll continue working my way through from left to right. As a final little Christmas gift, here is a map of the world as of Germany’s triumph – enjoy!
https://img185.imageshack.us/img185/3671/finalmapoz1.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Mission Accomplished
https://img309.imageshack.us/img309/4383/victza7.jpg (https://imageshack.us)
Well done ! Excellent screenshots !
BTW can you please post your system specs and editing softare ?
Great AAR!
Really looking foward to your next one...
IronMonkey
12-18-2006, 05:28
Wunderbar!
I've been reading your work since your first installment. I wanted to compliment you earlier than this but there was a problem with the "forum Deity" activating my account. You have inspired me to give it a go.
I enjoy the pace and length of your style. The juxtaposition of (the right) screen shot to accompany the text is superb. You seem to have an academic grasp of the Medieval period and you show skill in drawing one into the fortunes of your characters, Vielen Gut!
Thanks again for your work and willingness to share your exploits with the rest of us! I only hope mine are as interesting!
Very nice Beef, another one for the books. You should probably add the link to your sig now :2thumbsup: . And was that title of the third screenshot an intended Beatles reference? You just keep getting better and better.
Lord Magus
12-18-2006, 06:44
It's over :(
But why do you do only short campaigns?
It's over :(
But why do you do only short campaigns?
Because he's human and can only do so much... :grin: Even writers can be burned out after so long. Personally, I kinda prefer the shorter ones in a few installments, that way you get more gorey detail than if he did a long campaign and had to summarize it more.
MORE MORE MORE MORE!:yes: :book: :whip: :2thumbsup:
Great reading.
Now looking forward to your Spanish Vignette:book:
The Teacher
12-18-2006, 10:07
brilliant ! another excellent edition ! well done
Von Nanega
12-18-2006, 10:09
Your method of ordering differant parts of your empire to differant characters has helped me order my game to be not so random. Thanks Beefy! ~:thumb:
thalyrikalone
12-19-2006, 02:42
I was just wondering, Beefeater, how do you plan out your campaigns? Because you seem to know exactly what moves you plan on making next.
AussieGiant
12-19-2006, 10:07
Hi Beefeater!!
Great work.
Cheers for the great reads while I'm at work.
R'as al Ghul
12-19-2006, 11:23
Thanks and applause, Beefy!!
I've also almost finished my HRE short campaign. I've the 20 regions + Antiochia but have yet to kill the Danes and Milan.
I'll follow you to Spain, I think. It's quite entertaining to have someone playing the same campaign and you can compare notes. :2thumbsup:
R'as
zverzver
12-19-2006, 11:26
Great work. Can't wait to read about concuest of mighty Spain. I love AAR and I find you storytelling style is just the way I like it. I don't want to nag but I think you should do long compaign AAR, I find the "empire mid life crisis" (after 15-20 cities) to be the most chalanging period. It would be a pity if you will not go to America as Spain, I think concuering Aztecs should be a long term goal of your AAR.
Thank you. It was a great read.
Beefeater
12-19-2006, 12:16
Sinan, all my editing is done with Photoshop. I am not really all that good at photo editing, which is why the pictures are all of slightly different sizes: were I a bit more disciplined, they would all be precisely the same dimensions as one another. My system specs are at post #53 in this thread.
Thalyrikalone, I wish I were that good! Actually my planning is very simple: wipe out any large AI stacks in my territory, then take a settlement or two as punishment. If the AI faction looks weak, I'll keep on taking their settlements until I'm either getting close to overstretch, the Pope threatens excommunication or they mount a good enough defence to make the cost/benefit of attacking less favourable. I tend to ignore small AI stacks wandering in my territory, or to mop them up with equally small armies.
As I suspect is the case with most players, I almost always win unless massively outnumbered, and sometimes even then. This means that I never attack with more than 1 stack - I've never had the need to - which makes conquest easy to the point of being a little dull as there's not much need to reinforce. That said, it will be interesting to see if the patched AI gives a bit more of a challenge in this regard.
Zverzver, I'm planning on playing Spain as a short campaign, but won't expand much (if at all) outside the Iberian Peninsular, except to raid, crusade, and raise cash for teching up. So yes, in all probability you'll be seeing Aztecs. I just haven't worked out how to make a long campaign a credible story yet - medieval states just couldn't grow that big, for a host of reasons. A long campaign might work for Byzantium or the Turks, but then it wouldn't really be a vignette, would it? :beam:
Spain will be the next Vignette, but I need a brief break from M2TW. So my next actual story on these boards will be in the Arena, and will probably be based on Dominions 3 (or possibly Hearts of Iron Doomsday). I'll start that, and try to wrap it up, before Christmas.
zverzver
12-19-2006, 15:59
HOI Doomsday. Great game. Have you writen any HOI AAR, I would like to read them.
Beefeater
12-19-2006, 16:45
Wonderland, yes, it was the Beatles song that inspired the name. Hardly an original reference I admit though. Come to think of it I probably should claim that it was based on Murakami...more literary :beam:
Ras, glad that you are enjoying these! I absolutely agree about sharing notes - that is one of the nice things about this community.
Lord Magus
12-19-2006, 20:24
Beefeater, how do you keep track of what you do? you write stuff after every turn?
Ituralde
12-19-2006, 20:40
I've been an avid reader of all your three Vignettes and just wanted to thank you here for the effort. I like to take notes with my laptop when I'm playing on my desktop PC and have done some AARs in the past, but you're spicing them up with those pictures quite well and also have a firm grasp on condensing the events of the game, so that it's fun reading about them.
Great work! :2thumbsup:
Beefeater
12-20-2006, 11:09
Lord Magus, I alt+tab to a word document every so often and jot down anything noteworthy. Then when I come to write it up I look for a pattern linking the events. If the AI is working correctly there should be a clear pattern visible - take and hold, aggressive expansion, fighting withdrawal etc.
Daveybaby
12-20-2006, 11:38
Great stuff as usual. Can't wait for the next one.
shawpower
12-20-2006, 13:38
This forum is a fountain of great knowledge, but I've just come across my favourite part of it. Fantastic read. I dipped into your English vignette and I have to say that you have improved with each story. Big thumbs up. (8-D
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