Lands to Conquer 3.0 : Preview 2 - Reconquista Campaign

Here is the preview of the 2nd custom campaign that will be featured in the upcoming Lands to Conquer 3.0. the Reconquista Campaign. No spoiler tags this week as i don't think they worked well in the last preview.

First off though several things i want to say. The map itself is not finished yet and once again has been done by the amazingly skilled wilddog. There are also no new factions in the campaign as i just don't have time to add them in. Also i hope you've notcied the banners im including on the faction selection maps. In the HYW campapign it was the royal banner i used, in this campaign it's many of the experience banners, and in the Italian City States campaign it will likely be the heavy infantry banner.

Also instead of the historical descriptions for factions in this preview, im going to give a gameplay overview of them, and an overview of the 3 camapigns and the kind of gameplay im aiming for.

Overview of the 3 campaigns

I am aiming for different gameplay in each of the campaigns.

Hundred Years War - In this campaign it's all about war, and the gameplay of the campaign will be quite fast paced and a challenge to complete on Very Hard. There is little use for diplomacy in this campaign as all the factions hate each other. Finances are also quite tight. So you should have only a few stacks going around fighting battles and assaulting castles because of your low finances, and they will be assaulting probably because you'll be a bit pushed to meet the victory conditions near the end. The campaign is just 75 turns long to take 20 provinces. But it works well, and you can as always play beyond the end date. This campaign will be especially tough as the English, and easiest as the French.

Reconquista - This campaign will last longer than the HYW campaign, and you'll have to take fewer provinces so will be slower paced. But there will be more emphasis on religion. With the increased effect of religious unrest in LTC, and this campaign focusing on the wars between the Christians and Moors in Iberia, use of priests/imans to convert the populations in provinces could be key to victory, otherwise the religious unrest could seriously hamper you. The 3 factions in it also have very similar fighting styles with good skirmishing light infantry and cavalry and a core of heavy cavalry and infantry. Once again with the factions not getting on very well with one another diplomacy will not be much use.

Italian City States - The campaign with the most factions and least provinces, it is also the longest. There will be a clear cut superpower at the start, the HRE, but they will be disliked by the Pope so won't have things all their way. The smaller nations(Venice, Milan, Hungary) will be too weak at first to take on the HRE so getting in the Popes good books and using diplomacy well will help them towards victory. In the south Sicily will be large but weak, and will have to pass through Papal lands if it marches up mainland Italy. There will be more emphasis on city troops as those are the Italian factions specialities, and on diplomacy at first and conquest later.

Now onto the Reconquista preview.

Reconquista Campaign Preview

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A campaign that focuses on the reconquista of the Iberian paeninsula by the Christian factions, and the religious wars of that time period. It starts in 1146.

Spain

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The more powerful of the 2 Christian kingdoms in the campaign, Spain will have to drive the Moors out of Iberia to achieve their victory conditions. They start out with the most priests so can immediately begin to convert their target provinces. They also have the rebel provinces representing Aragon and Navarre to their east which if taken would give them all the money and troop producing centres they would need to beat the Moors, but the provinces are strongly guarded. Spain must also watch out for Portugal who have to take several Spanish provinces to complete their victory conditions.

https://img512.imageshack.us/img512/...ain2qk5.th.jpg https://img513.imageshack.us/img513/...ain3au8.th.jpg https://img505.imageshack.us/img505/...ain4pt4.th.jpg

Moors

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The Moors are the largest faction in the campaign, and have the most developed settlement - Cordoba. But they are not strong militarily, and their historical reliance on mercs is represented by the larger, faster replenishing merc pools in the south of Iberia. Valencia is also a well developed settlement that could soon be upgraded and producing Christian Guard. Holding Cordoba and Valenica is therefore going to be key to the Moors, as it utilising the large amount of mercs available to them. But they will also have tot ry and win the religious wars, and expand to the North in order to win.

https://img119.imageshack.us/img119/...ors2wh1.th.jpg https://img481.imageshack.us/img481/...ors3cu4.th.jpg https://img232.imageshack.us/img232/...ors4gx6.th.jpg https://img525.imageshack.us/img525/...ors5ic1.th.jpg https://img525.imageshack.us/img525/...ors6tv7.th.jpg https://img518.imageshack.us/img518/...ors7od0.th.jpg

Portugal

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Portugal is the smaller of the 2 Christian Kingdoms, and is not very strong at the beginning. But it does have an army relatively close to Lisbon which could be taken quickly. As Portugal will at some point have to fight Spain as well, taking out the Moors first would likely help make them strong enough to be able to do so.

https://img525.imageshack.us/img525/...gal2qq6.th.jpg

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That's it for this preview, i hope you've enjoyed it and are looknig forward to the next preview and 3.0