Cinematic moments

For all the slight moans that people may have, this is still one beautiful game... and it has thrown up all sorts of amazingly cinematic moments.

I was playing last night, fighting the mongols. Outnumbered and caught in the open, I had a massive stack of knights hosptilar (8 units) backed up by four untis of longbows and a couple of units of heavy infantry. Facing me was one of those fresh mongol horde stacks... umpteen bows and big nasty men with droopy moustaches and a serious penchant for cracking skulls.

I set up my longbows on a slight hill, and with my wooden stakes did my best to construct an impromptu fort. The infantry and my general sat behind them. Knowing I was beaten anyway, I then strung out my knights in one massive line across the open desert. This is where the cinematic theme came in.

The sun was coming up over the desert, just outside of Damascus. Massive line of 320 knights, strung out and slowly walking forwards. Facing them, on a slight rise, the massed horde of jeering mogol horseman and archers. I managed to time my charge with the knights so that they all began to trot, then canter, then lower lances and charges in perfect time with each other, while a storm of arrowns rained down on them. Zoomed in on a close camera angle, and with the graphics ramped up, it looked almost as good as a film.. especially when they hit the mongol lines. One of those moments where I just sat and stared at my PC screen with a great big grin on my face.

Anyone else got a cinematic moment to share?

(btw, I won the battle as well... massed heavy cavalry charges seem to be the way to go against the mongels! :idea2: )

Sounds absolutely beautiful, the stuff that can make a grown man cry . . .
It's just too bad you can't record your battles anymore, as mere screen shots may be good for hanging on the wall, but actually showing a friend your bbattle would do so much more . . .

i had a nice moment, i was being seiged, and every single one of my troops had given his life to slow the advancing Venice horde back. My General Valiently charged into 4 units of spears....he retreated with 2 bodyguards left, under heavy fire. Cantering round the entire settlement, to return to the centre square. Knowing his fate, he gave a heart-warming speach, and then charged into 3 full spears and 2 archer units... The General himself was a crazy man, swinging and swinging like he had never before, only to be cut down, the last man stand.

I once charged a mad and disloyal general at the open gates of an enemy castle, just to see how far he could make it. To his credit, it fought on to his death... loved his charge through flaming arrows straight into a wall of spears.

I'm playing a slightly different HRE campaign right now. Instead of duking it out with my fellow christians in Europe, I grabbed two armies, put my Kaiser and his two sons at the head of it and marched off to the Mediterrenean. They conquered Tunis, Cagliari, the one north of Cagliari, Iraklion and Rhodos, starting a German Empire near Rome.

The holdings in Europe were gifted to the Papacy and the remaining Generals (4 of them) were grouped and sent towards my enemies, the Venetians. They caught up with a huge army and they proceeded to attack. I think there was a sunrise on that day and I lined up my generals in one long line and ordered the charge. I exspected them to do some damage and then die gloriously.

When they started the charge, I panned my camera so that they appeared to be charging out of the sun. Biting back the words "Forth Eorlingas!" (Sunlight or not, cavalry can NOT withstand pikes!), I saw how my generals hammered through the venetian host, killing left and right. They massacred half the army (about 1200 men or so) before they were overcome and dragged from their horses.

The year is 1352 now, Venice has vanished and the Turks have won the campaign. I'm soldiering on, ready to burst into Spain. And when the time comes, I'll invade America. After that, I'll start a new campaign. ~:)