How to Run a Small Nation into the Ground: A Broken Crescent AAR

Hello,
There's been a lot of talk about the MTW2 mod Broken Crescent recently, here and in a thread in the Citadel. After a bit of difficulty (on my end, not their's) I managed to download and install the mod today.

I thought people might appreciate seeing the mod in action, the new units, factions, etc. so I'll be writing an AAR of my first campaign. I have only a vague idea of what's changed gameplay-wise, and decided to try a fairly small faction, so there's a fair chance I won't succeed, hence the name of the AAR.

My intended victim...er...faction? The relatively unassuming Kingdom of Makuria, located in northern Sudan and Southern Egypt, or so say the BC forum thread for the faction. They are Orthodox Christians, and strong in lighter infantry and cavalry. They have a pretty cool history of conflict with whoever is controlling Egypt at the time (the Ayyubids in the mods timeframe), and I'm looking forward to more of the same in my game.

Here's a pic of the Kingdom and its capital, Dongola.

https://img352.imageshack.us/img352/...annubiasi6.png

I should have my first update tonight. :yes:

Good luck. Makuria has been my first and only campaign and they're awesome.

Thanks, Xehh II. I've really been enjoying the campaign.

Scratch everything I had pre-edit. Turns out high level churches slowly convert the population, and although the image is off, churches still seem to work fine (adding the public order bonuses, etc.) That's good enough for me.

Alright, time to get this started.

We come to the small nation of Makuria in 1174. It consists of two settlements, the more noteworthy of the two being the capital, Dongola. The leader is Negus Melku, who seems to be an ancient relation of Samuel L. Jackson. That can only be a good sign. I'd make a Pulp Fiction joke now, but it's been done in the BC forums. :clown:

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Fearful at the small size of his Kingdom relative to that of the mighty Ayyubids to the north, the Negus decides it is time to expand. In the meantime a diplomat is sent north to secure a temporary alliance with the Ayyubids. It is unlikely to last long as there is a history of conflict ebtween the two nations, but for now at least it should serve to stave off an attack from the north.

The city of Qasr Ibrim to the north is claimed by no major power, and shall be first to suffer from the armies of Makuria. After a siege of a single season, he decides an assault is in order. Makurian forces are far greater than the defenders, although the cities walls may even things up a bit.

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Some Tigrayan spearmen man the ram, while Zanji mercenaries take ladders to the walls. All find themselves under a hail of fire arrows. The ram is set alight, but the ladders reach the walls and the real fighting begins.

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Fighting is fierce on the walls, and the Makurian army suffers terrible losses. Eventually, however, our advantage in numbers tells and the enemy is pushed from the walls. Some also credit our slightly superior shirt technology as a factor. Whatever the reason, the gate is opened and the Negus' bodyguards pour into the city, running down any resistance on their way to the town square.

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Once the bulk of the Makurian army has swarmed into the city and towards the town square, it is only a matter of time before the inevitable occurs. After defeating the valiant rebels in the square, Makuria finds herself in position of Qasr Ibrim.

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In 1175 a shocking thing happened. A Fatimid Caliphate was overthrown by Salahuddin, who declared himself Sultan of Egypt! With his emphasis on retaking the Holy Land from Makuria's friends the Latins, this could only bode ill for the Makurian-Ayyubid alliance.

The Negus was now even more determined to strengthen his country before any war began. However, there was one main obstacle to further expansion. An Ethipoian by the name of Zacharias had declared himself King of the lands lying east of Makuria. He had a powerful army at his command. Melku would have to defeat him to lay claim to the nearby settlements. He collected as many men under his banner as possible, and challenged Zacharias to a battle. The Maurians were outnumbered by a few hundred men, but did have the advantage of better if sparser infantry.

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The battle opened curiously. Zacharias was apparently better at gathering an army than commanding one, and his troops were ill-positioned to take advantage of being on the defensive. Instead they allowed Melku to gain the high ground, where his infantry could take advantage of their higher quality, hopefully making up for their sorely inadequate numbers. Not having enough ranged units to beat melku in a firefight, especially shooting uphill, Zecharias had little other options than to charge up the hill.

This proved a poor decision, as Melku's cavalry sweeped around to flank the Ethipoians. The Ethiopian cavalry had been divided and was easily defeated in detail, allowing the Makurians to strike at their enemy's flanks. Even Melku himself got in on the action, taking out the few units of especially high quality spearmen possessed by the enemies.

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The Makurian infantry also took the offensive, counter charing their foes. Caught between infantry and cavalry, the Ethiopians slowly broke and ran, until none were left standing on the field. Zecharias acquitted himself well, however, never fleeing but instead falling in battle.

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The next years saw great expansion by the Kingdom of Makuria. All the lands to the east of Makuria were taken. Unfortunately, two attempts to take Yemen across the sea failed. The first stalled because not enough troops were brought. The second, led my Melku himself, led to the capture of Aden, but Melku died in bed the next day of a fever and his men were unable to control the city. By the time the forces were mustered, Ayyubid armies had already occupied the area.

Makuria did take the Horn of Africa, however, and a small island in the Persian Gulf. While still standing in the shadow of the Egyptian Empire, by the turn of the 12th century Makuria was now at least a powerful country in its own right, able to field multiple large armies.

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OK, everyone, I may be on the verge of Total Peace. :clown: The Ayyubids are sticking far more faithfully to their allaince than I thought, and I don't have other neighbors.

What do you think? Should I cancel our alliance and see what happens? Or maybe just builld up my cities until they attack another ally (I allied with the Crusaders for one thing)?

Try and wait for the Crusaders and the Ayyubids to fight each other then attack the ayyubids.
Why didn't you take Aswan? It's much better having a castle on the border than a city.

I had gotten a mission to take Meroe and while I went after it the Ayyubids beat me to Aswan. I thought I had more leeway. Next game I play as Makuria I'll go for Aswan first and then sweep back south.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xehh II

Try and wait for the Crusaders and the Ayyubids to fight each other then attack the ayyubids.
Why didn't you take Aswan? It's much better having a castle on the border than a city.

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And now for a little segment titled "New From Around the World".

Makuria was not the only nation to see some major occurences and many scrolls were received detailing hapennings elsewhere in the last quarter of the 12th century.

In 1183 Muslim forces captured the ancient Indian city of Delhi, gaining much prestige for Islam.

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In 1189 the Jewish Philosopher Maimonades writes his most memorable work, which seeks to reconcile his faith with Aristotelian philosophy.

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In 1190, a new King is crowned in faraway England, apparently much interested in crusading.

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The same year, the Pagan hordes of the Kypchaks manage to unite all of the steppes under their rule.

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Lastly, the famed Persian philosopher Shahab al-Din Sahrawardi was put to death in 1191 for daring to write works his rulers found theologically questionable.

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Just wanted to give everyone an idea of some of the new events in BC. :yes: Unless anyone is really interested I probably won't post anymore that don't deal specifically with Makuria.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zim

Some also credit our slightly superior shirt technology as a factor.

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:laugh4: :laugh4:

Makuria spent the beginning years of the 13th century at peace. There were no more rebel Kingdoms to conquer. and so much of the Makurian army was disbanded so that there would be money to upgrade settlements.

Elsewhere much happened, as rumors that the faraway steppes north of China had been united under the rule of a great Mongol leader named Temujin abounded. At around the same time the Pope launched a crusade, which ended up taking a slight detour away from the Holy Land and towards Christian Constantinople. Obviously they just need directions.

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Shortly after the Makurian King decided it was time for war with the Ayyubids. But first their alliance had to be broken. In order to damage their relations the Makurian diplomat Moise was sent to offer a rediculous deal for the castle of Aswan. Moise offered the Ayyubid governor of the strategically important castle a small sum of florins per turn for 20 turns, hoping to insult the Egyptians. However, this offer had an unexpected result, revealed in this dramatic reenactment of what we today believed occured.

Governor Camona: So, what do they offer this time, advisor?

Advisor: 256 florins per turn for 20 seasons.

Governor Camona: Really!? That will cover the payments on my new camel!

Advisor: Sir, Aswan makes 4 times that amount every season. Heck, one of our larger buildings is worth more than that amount. They obviously mean the offer to be a jest against us. They even sniggered as they told me about it, and insulted the Sultan's mother.

Governor Camona: Nonsense! It is a wonderful offer. Tell them we accept.

Advisor: *sigh* Yes sir.

And just like that, the Castle of Aswan, with far more advanced structures than any of their current settlements, became a part of Makuria.

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The acceptance of this offer was greeted by astonishment. Was there no end to Ayyubian stupidity? Even more attempts were made to weaken Makurian-Ayyubian relations, with a sum of 100 florins offered for the rich city of Luxor just north of Aswan, but to no avail. Finally a sum of 687 florins and the far off settlements of Suqutra and Culula were offered for Luxor. Noteworthy is that both of those settlements together did not make 200 florins in a single season, but Ayyubian stupidity abounded and once again they agreed to the deal, this time throwing nearly a half stack of Saracen Militia into the bargain. Further attempts to offend the Ayyubians by offering 100 florins for Cairo and Alexandria failed miserably.

The King had had enough. Forces were concentrated on his Northern border, and trade rights, military access, and finally in 1214 the alliance were canceled with the Ayyubians. They seemed to get the message this time, and relations dropped to "very poor". More forces were diverted to the front, and preparations for war were made.

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In 1215 the Ayyubids and Oman went to war, and the next year the Ayyubids sent several large armies in the direction of Makuria. Obviously they had also prepared for war, but the Makurian King hoped that their fighting on two fronts at once would weaken them.

3 armies were prepared. General Alemu headed the war, as he was Makuria's best general. He led an army consisting of Sudanese Longbowmen, higher quality Makurian infantry, medium cavalry and a core of worthless Saracen militia (they're much weaker in BC) to soak up arrow fire and charges.

General Jacob had a slightly smaller force, meant to use in reserve, while faction heir Ezekiel had a largely cavalry and archer force coming around onto Cairo from the East.

The war began in 1216. Jacob moved in to secure a bridge south of Cairo, while Ezekiel blocked trade to Cairo's port and secured supplies from captured merchants. Finally General Alemu suprised a fair sized but leaderless force of Ayyubids in a night attack.

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The way I counted it, about half of their forces were shirtless to a quarter of mine. Battles against the Ayyubids will be tougher as they have the superior shirt technology, but we will make up for it with advances with our diapers for older men division, a must for any general worried about jsut how frightened his men will get when they see that the enemy has armor and they don't.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by phonicsmonkey

:laugh4: :laugh4:

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This was the first battle between the small Kingdom of Makuria and the mighty Ayyubid empire, and Alemu knew that for the Makurians to have a chance they'd need an easy win to keep up their morale.

The Makurian army managed to use the darkness of night to mask their approach to the top of a small hill overlooking the enemy army. As soon as they'd sneaked up close enough to the enemy force, General Alemu ordered a charge by his cavalry on enemy infantry, leading it himself. Aside from his bodyguard most of his cavalry was fairly light for shock warfare, but the combination of surprise plus the specific targeting of non speararmed infantry (his own guard an exception, he plowed right into an enemy spear unit) resulted in massive losses for the enemy at little cost to him.

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Once the charge was completed all cavalry were ordered to the top of the hill, and the Sudanese longbowmen were ordered to open fire on the enemy, setting alight arrowheads covered in pitch to lower enemy morale. The enemy charged up the hill at a doublemarch, trying to cover the ground between them and the Makurians before they suffered too many losses from missile fire. They failed in this.

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By the time the battle lines clashed, the Ayyubids were weary from their trek uphill and demoralized by their losses. When Alemu wheeled his cavalry around to flank and pin them between the cavalry and infantry line, they broke and fled. The first victory went to Makuria. The Ayyubid sultan, enraged that his well trained infantry could lose to an army as poorly armored as Alemu's, refused to pay the ransom for the 400+ prisoners taken.

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The next season was eerily quiet. Ayyubids forces had apparently retreated from all of Egypt, and our spies could find no trace of them. Only one decent army remained in Cairo. Alemu sieged Cairo while Leul Ezekiel, heir to the throne of Makuria, took his force to siege the citadel of Bilbeis, which was all but empty.

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Then suddenly the next season three huge Ayyubid armies appeared from nowhere. One came to relieve the siege of Cairo, and Alemu was forced to retreat to a better position, but the other two sent off Leul Ezekiel. Ezekiel was relatively inexperienced, and did not know the land of Egypt well. His guides, paid off by the Sultan, led him into a trap, and he was cornered against a curve of the Nile by one large army, and a smaller one led by the Sultan himself. There was no escape, and he resolved himself to stand and fight.

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Although the numbers were even enough to make one think it would not be completely onesided, Ezekiel's army consisted of light cavalry, a few weak infantry regiments, and a lot of archers, while the enemy armies were rich in heavy infantry, and possessed some heavy cavalry as well. Ezekiel lined his men up on a hill, with cavalry in front, archers behind, and infantry in the back, ordered to rush to the archers' defense if they were charged.

Recalling his cousin Alemu's devastating charge, Ezekiel attempted to do the same, confident that he had more cavlary than his kinsman had had. He hoped to disorganize the enemy line enough for his missile superiority to sway the outcome of the battle. This was not to be, however. Enemy cavalry managed to chase down and wipe out his lighter cavalry, and less than an hour into the battle Ezekiel, attempting to slow the enemy advance with repeated charges, found himself pulled from his horse and impaled by an enemy spear. After his death, his men lost heart, and they quickly routed upon the enemy's infantry charge.

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OOC Note: Ezekiel's men were out of move at this point, so although only 500 fell in the battle, all of them died.

In one fell swoop, the second largest of Makuria's three invasion armies had perished, as well as the King's son. Alemu resolved himself to make the best of the situation, and keep the Ayyubid hordes out of his country as long as possible. The next season the Egyptian Sultan had parked himself on a bridge south of Cairo, along with a smallish but extremely well trained and equipped force.

General Alemu resolved himself to force the Sultan from that bridge. If he could take the bridge he'd be in a position to threaten Cairo, and the Ayyubids would be forced to deal with him before heading south. This battle would determine the fate of Makuria.

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The Sultan had lined his men up at one end of the bridge, with crossbowmen in front, heavy infantry behind, and his own fearsome bodyguard behind. Knowing the crossbowmen did not have the kind of range that his longbowmen did, and that the Sultan would be reluctant to leave his defensive position, Alemu ordered his Sudanese longbowmen to move just far enough forward to fire at the enemy. Five units of archers unleashed barrage after barrage of arrows at the enemy. Eventually almost all of their crossbowmen were killed, their medium spearmen had suffered hevy losses, and even their more heavily armored men had some casualties.

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His archers having expended their ammo, Alemu ordered a general charge, leading with his one unit of sturdy Makurian spearmen, who were to hold the line while the rest of army entered the melee. Before long a huge mass of Makurian soldiers pressed upon the enemy. Although they weren't as well equipped as the Egyptians, they had numbers on their side.

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Slowly the enemy forces dwindled and eventually some of Alemu's light cavalry broke through the lines, enabling them to wheel around and charge the enemy flank. Eventually, these charges, combined with the capture of the Sultan, caused enough panic among the Ayyubids that they began to rout. The bridge was won, although at a heavy cost of over a third of Alemu's army. Reinforcements had to be brought in from the few reserves built up since the beginning of the war, preventing Jacob's army from being brought up to full strength.

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Nonetheless, Alemu's move had paid off. Not long after, he was attacked on the bridge, this time with Jacob's forces as reinforcements. Through the skill of his archers, and bravery of his infantry, he won the battle, eliminating one of the Ayyubid's best armies in the area.

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All was not well, however. The next season Jacob sieged what appeared to be an empty Cairo, but a mighty host was raised from within the city (garrison script) and, combined with reinforcements from an army just outside the city, they crushed him. Makuria was now limited to a single army. Alemu decided it was time for another bold maneuver. Noting the army that had aided the garrison of Cairo stayed in the vicinity of the city, Alemu gambled that if he attacked it the garrison would ride out to help. If he could eliminate both Cairo could be captured this very season. Alemu's ploy paid off, and he found himself facing two powerful Egyptian armies.

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This was a hard fought battle. The first Ayyubid army had many mounted archers but fewer infantry than the Makurians. Alemu hoped the mounted archers would skirmish with his longbowmen, allowing the latter's greater numbers to ensure their victory. Surprisingly, they actually charged the archers several time, leading to the quick loss of a whole unit. Still, it could be worse. As the mounted archers became tied up in melee, Alemu and his bodyguard charged them, easily defeating the lightly armed Ayyubids.

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Eventually the Makurians were able to throw back the Ayyubid infantry charge, killing their general and sending them fleeing. They had just enough time to regroup at the top of a small hill when the Cairo garrison, consisting wholly of infantry fresh and untired by battle, charged in.

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The Makurian infantry stood strong, and with Amelu making charge after charge into the enemy flanks the enemy finally broke and ran. Amelu had lost half of his men, but he had defeated a mighty host and emptied Cairo of defenders. The city was sacked, netting 20,000 florins with which to hire new troops.

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This would prove to be aturning point in the war. Makuria, impoverished for much of the war, now had the funds to hire troops in every castle. An Ayyubid army sieged Cairo, but with reinforcements under the command of general Discorus, they were driven away. Still, the war was far from over. The Ayyubids had more money and soldiers than Makuria could hope to match. It was decided to enlist the aid of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. A large lump sum of money was offered for them to take Makuria's side in the war, but they declined it and asked for a tribute of over 4,000 florins per turn for 3 turns. This would bring Makurian recruitment almost to a halt for 3 years, but it was decided that it was worth it to bring the Latins into the war. Their offer was accepted and it quickly paid off when they took Gaza and sieged Damyut.

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Ayyubid power in the region was slowly being broken. They made another attempt to retake Cairo but this was easily fought off by Alemu and a large cavalry army brought north under the command of the Negus himself. The Negus moved on to siege Alexandria while Alemu moved to take the citadel of Bilbeis. Only the latter resisted sallying after a quick conscription of soldiers.

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The Egyptian forces were thought to be slightly stronger but Alemu had the advantage of parking on a small hill just otuside the city. He also had several members of the royal family with him, each with their own bodyguards. He made great use of them charging the enemy infantry repeatedly. This tactic worked but at great cost. One Makurian Noblemen died in the battle, but through his sacrifice and the efforts of the other many of the ehavily armored enemy infantry was defeated before making it to the Makurian line. This proved vital as the Makurian infantry was not nearly as well equipped. Even still it was a close fight, with the Makurian line buckling at several points. In the end, thought, the Makurians won through tenacity and greater numbers. This would be the last major battle in the Makurian-Ayyubid war. Alexandria scarcely put up any fight at all. Makuria now ruled nearly all of Egypt. Only Mecca was also taken, and eventually a peace was made with the Ayyubids, now restricted to a few Arabian provinces, under threat in the northwest by the Kingdom of Jerusalem and in the east by Oman.

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Makuria had entered a golden age. They and their allies the Latins had ascended to great power status. Trade with the Franks and the Citadel of Bilbeis allowed the Makurians to equip a new army with Frankish mail, although they retained Makurian weapons. Even the longbowmen were equipped with new armor. Never again would Makuria's existance be threatened by a foreign power. Alemu spent the rest of his days training the new army by eliminating brigand armies that began to spring up in Egypt.

Spiffy new infantry in their fancy mail armor (who'd have thought their was a step up in defensive shirt technology?).

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Makurian Knights in action.

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The Makurian Empire. Note how little land the Ayyubids have now (they're the yellowish faction). Just about every faction has expanded considerably or been destroyed. The Mongols are just starting to make their presence known in the Kwarezm Empire.

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Final thoughts: This is hands-down the best mod I've played for MTW2, and only a bit more time separates it from EB quality. The abundance of history scrolls even reminded me of EB. I only had one ctd, which did not repeat itself, and despite playing the most bugged faction (they're still working out the kinks of having added a new culture), there were barely any issues. Only things that I really noticed were that my princesses were suspiciously blond, the churches need an image, and the bodyguards need a proper name and text description. Makuria also can't build priests at the moment, but in BC you can't build them until you get a fourth tier church anyway, so I didn't even notice it.

It's nice to finish an aar with limited aims, although I guess I failed in them (that is, I failed to run the faction into the ground and somehow did well with them, despite making multiple blunders, like not noticing the effects of the garrison script for Cairo until I'd sieged it twice :clown:).

I'm going to try starting another AAR tomorrow, this time with the Great Seljuks, this time taking more time to work on a story. I hope some of you enjoyed this one enough to give it a shot as well.

Thank you for reading. :bow:

This AAR was awesome, looking forward to the Seljuk one.

Thanks. I'm glad somebody liked it. :yes: There were a few harrowing moments, especially after my early losses when I had one stack to their three stronger ones and who knows how many more on the way. :sweatdrop:

Eventually my goal is to cover a decent spread of factions so that people thinking of downloading it can get a good luck at the mod. Next will be the Great Seljuks, then maybe weat to the ERE or east to the Rajputs (or Sind if I'm feeling masochistic. I hear they have it tough).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xehh II

This AAR was awesome, looking forward to the Seljuk one.

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I've played as the ERE a bit, it was fun especially using the native varagians(the long P axemen) but I found it difficult to beat the Turkish Sultanate because you have no horse archers of your own.

Yeah, I remember a thread about that in the BC forum. I guess the ERE archers are also a bit on the weak side?

I had a lot of trouble as Makuria against the heavier horse archers, luckily the Ayyubids didn't field a lot of them, and the Sudanese Longbowmen are good archers.

If I recall correctly the Great Seljuks have very weak infantry, and lighter horsearchers than the other eastern factions, but lots of horsearchers with the closer range bows. It should be interesting, especially if I get attacked on all sides.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xehh II

I've played as the ERE a bit, it was fun especially using the native varagians(the long P axemen) but I found it difficult to beat the Turkish Sultanate because you have no horse archers of your own.

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Nice aar sir. So you're going to be playing Great Seljuqs next. Enjoy those massive bodyguards they get for their generals, those guys are tough.

Might I suggest for future (BC) AAR's;
Ghorids- awesome assault infantry, good cavalry, and no spears
Abbasids- dude, it's the Caliphate of Baghdad...plus the awesome Black Flag tm

I'm looking forward to it after Makuria's fairly weak bodyguards. :yes:

Abbasids are definately on the list, although the next one after the Seljuks will probably be in a different region. Ghorids might be a nice change after two fairly infantry weak factions. :thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MerlinusCDXX

Nice aar sir. So you're going to be playing Great Seljuqs next. Enjoy those massive bodyguards they get for their generals, those guys are tough.

Might I suggest for future (BC) AAR's;
Ghorids- awesome assault infantry, good cavalry, and no spears
Abbasids- dude, it's the Caliphate of Baghdad...plus the awesome Black Flag tm

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Ghorids are great fun, I'm playing them at the moment

love those Kabuli Axemen...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phonicsmonkey

Ghorids are great fun, I'm playing them at the moment

love those Kabuli Axemen...

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Yeah those Kabulis ain't bad for the cheap price.

I'm liking pwning many Rajput elephants with those Turcoman Jav-cav :yes:
And Sultan Mohammed is one bad mother******. (as quoted from the Makurian King)

Alright, I know I said I'd play the Great Seljuks for the next one, but after reading about the Abassid's terrible performance in this (excellent) Eastern Roman Empire AAR, I feel I have to win their honor back, so I'm going to play an Abassid one first. First update should be up in the Throne Room sometime today. :beam:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=141676

Very nice AAR sir! I have only really started playing BC yesterday as the Georgians and have to say it is big. big fun. Reading your story was very nice and I have to admit I would have thought you would complete your goals without any doubt....could I have been more wrong.

Now heading for the seljuk AAr :)

Zim, when fighting Ayyubid armies, did you find that they had low morale?
Because in my Makuria campaign I find that they have extremely low morale, in fact, I think that's the only reason I can beat them.

Singleton Mosby Thanks. You mean my goal of running a small nationinto the ground? I certainly thought I was about to. A mixture of luck and the awesome power of Sudanese Longbowmen (properly supported) saved me. :beam:

Xehh II I can't say I really noticed. Most of the time they were using far better troops than I (had a citadel about the time I had my first fortress), and they didn't seem to run too quickly, unless I managed to to kill their general and hit them in the flanks with one or more bodyguards, an even then the elite troops didn't break.

The only exception seemed to be when I had that big bridge battle, and I had 6-7 Sudanese archers (already with larger units than other foot archers). All those fire arrows sent them paking pretty quickly.

very nice! i played with the makurians too but lets just say it dident go to well...
looking forward to see more stories from you :yes: