(Eggy/GA/Early/Hard)
I have a soft spot for early blitzing, but lately I’ve been trying to be more turtle-like. So, I did not attack Syria immediately. Instead, I focused on building my economy/infrastructure. My plan was to wait until Turks and Byz began warring and then I’d take Syria for a nice two-province northern border. I planned on stopping there and let Byz have the rest, ruthlessly stabbing them in the back once the GH hit them. In the meantime I would strike west to Cordoba or Navarre/Aragon.
I did not have long to wait until Turks attacked Byz. So, I prepared a small army and invaded Syria. I soon controlled the province, fought off a counter-assault and besieged the fort. Syria was now mine. However, during this surgical strike, a prince was born with just about all the bad vices you could imagine: crack-brained, odd toes, etc. You name it, he had it. He was second in line to the throne, which was a bit too close considering the planned campaign I was preparing for with the Almos.
Being the ruthless ruler that I am, I called him to the palace and espoused the glories of warfare. Inspired by my witty words of woeful wisdom, the prince rushed down to the local inn (Antioch), hired some of the best mercs he could find and led a suicidal charge into Edessa.
He had two units of Rus Spears and Italian Inf, and one vanilla spear, viking, arab inf, hobilars, and mounted sarges. No missile units. Into Edessa he charged. One look at the giant toe sticking out of his forehead and the Turks tucked tail and fled to their fort. Well, two years of besieging would see the province mine, so I let him stay there. The intent was to kill him off, after all.
The next year the Turks attacked from Rum. He remembered his dad’s delightful discourse on tactics: the best defense is a good offense. So Prince Toe-in-the-head lined his men up side by side and charged the Turks. They soon routed. The Turks, that is. Incredible; all he did was tell his men to march to point well behind the Turks. That was it. So, the Turks fled and the province was mine. But, I still have a prince to deal with. Hmm, what to do…
Aha! Another suicide attack. Into Rum this time. He again lines his men up in his trusty battle-winning formation and begins marching toward the enemy. Hey, wait a minute. Who are those purple/white guys over there? Why, our allies, the Byz, came to help! How nice. I soon came to realize that the Turkish king wasn’t much smarter than my almost-heir. He sent most of his units to engage the Byz and only faced me with his archers. By the time his archers were done running (as in off the map), my prince and his myriad of merry mercs were well behind the enemy. Prince Screw-Loose turned toward the remainder of the Turks and marched forward in his usual manner. The Turks routed and Rum was mine, since I had more men than Byz.
Huh. Now I have two provinces and one live prince that I didn’t really want. Decisions, decisions. Besieging the keep at Rum was not going to kill my peculiar poditic prince, so off to Armenia he goes. Finally! Hopeless odds. Outnumbered nearly 3:1, he lines his men up as is his wont and marches straight to the enemy. And they rout. The Turks that is. ARGH! Armenia is mine.
Well, one piece of good news: Rum rebelled since I did not leave any units there. Two nice large stacks. Back to Rum goes my prince, knowing full well that this will be his final battle. But wait! Those drat-blasted allies of ours “helped” us again. This time with more troops than us (we have been taking casualties after all). Well, you know the story: he lines up and marches to the enemy. They rout. Byz gets Rum and we are sent to Edessa.
Try as I might, my prince refused to die. He may have just about every vice in the book, but after that “suicide” campaign, he also had several virtues as well as becoming a 3-star commander. Obviously, he is destined for greatness.
Instead of my king or heir leading the charge into Almoland, it will be one hardboiled egg(y) with an odd protrusion on the front of his helm.
