Good job...
lol I really like the bit about Edred Cudel , haha.
Printable View
Good job...
lol I really like the bit about Edred Cudel , haha.
December 839
Your Majesty,
My dearest brother,
You have no idea in what a state the Mercian court is in since the news of your victory and King AEthelbert's death has reached us here. King AEthelbert, as you know , has no son of his own. He had never been clear about the issue of his succession either, and made promises to this lord one day, and that lord the next. No wonder it is, that now the noblemen cannot agree upon a new king. There is a distant branch of his family living overseas. No one has heard of them for may year now and the lords are debating whether to send messengers in search or to choose a new monarch among themselves. Why, they cannot even agree on the most urgent matters, like whether to continue the war or to seek peace. At the moment is seems that every lord is pursuing his own plans, as if Mercia were no more than a loose collection of independent dukedoms.
Still, I am being treated with courtesy and respect. The Mercians, you have to say, know what hospitality is. Even if the other ladies sometimes call me the enemy Princess, it is all in jest and good humor. I am getting on well with the people here and me and your emissaries lack nothing. Well, nothing apart from seeing the family. How is mother ? I heard she has not been well lately, although she has kept remarkably for a woman of her age. I would so wish to see her once more, before she is reunited with father. How are the brothers ? Have Harold and Aethelstan finally made up ? I was so relieved, when I read that one of Aethelstan's captains has finally managed to capture one of those horrible viking chieftains. Let's hope that will be them a lesson and they leave us in peace from now.
Anyway, I must close now. A reception will be held at court in a moment and in these turbulent times I don't want to miss an opportunity to pick up the latest gossip.
Give my best to the family,
Your loving sister,
Princess Gunhild (the Enemy Princess http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...icons/wink.gif )
P.S.
for your information I have drawn a rough sketch of the Mercian dukedoms, as they seem to come out after the king's death. As I said, every Duke seems to be running his own little empire now. But just don't hold me responsible for the details. By the time you see this, the map may well be out of date.
http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/stor...axon839_13.jpg
850
The years following the defeat of the Mercian king had been a time of relative peace. In the West the vikings had kept away from the shores and the goldmine in Defel and other facilities had been rebuild. In the East Prince Aethelstan and Lord Wigferth had expanded the realm deep into the Mercian territories, chasing off the local Dukes or subduing them quickly if they offered resistance. Alas, Wigferth had been struck down by a fever a few years ago. The great general had died in his bed, defeated in a fight where all his tactical talent could not help him. Princess Hygeburh, who had come to love him dearly in the short years of their marriage, was inconsolable and had retired to a life of seclusion.
And then, early this year, news had arrived that a distant relative of the Mercian king had arrived from overseas at the head of an army and was trying to rebuiild his kingdom. Many of the former Mercian Dukes had already sworn allegiance to him. It seemed that a second Mercian war was becoming a realistic threat. For now, however there was still peace and other things were on Edmund's mind.
His own health had taken a turn for the worse in the past months. And while his physician had officially reassured everyone that long walks in fresh air and plenty of sleep would make the king better again soon, he had discreetly made clear to Edmund that it was time to ensure that there was no doubt among the Saxon noblemen about the order of the royal succession. Only too clearly had everyone seen the devastating effect it could have if such things were left to chance.
Edmund had long favored Harold among all his younger brothers, a preference which had been the cause for occasional disputes in the family, since Harold's character was not without fail. A charming young man, he had always been popular with the ladies at court - a bit too popular for his own good. Eventually Edmund had sent him to the armies of the West and that seemed to have eased the situation. Now there was a letter on the kings desk with which he called him back to the Royal castle.
..... have I made preparations and confirmed you as my heir if this illness, of which I have told you, proves too much for my old body. Should you not find me alive by the time you return, a great responsibility will be upon your shoulder. But I am confident that you will stand up to it better than anyone. The Kingdom has been enlarged but the Northern borders are secured by armies and treaties. Fear not the armies of the old Mercian Dukes. Their numbers seem huge, but I doubt if the quality of their weapons and training has improved much over the past years. The troops which the young Mercian king has brought with him are a more serious threat. But he will need time to establish himself and organize his new realm. Besides, the old war has officially ended and while a new war is a possibility, it does not have to be soon. All this should give you a few years to build a good position.
Rule with wisdom and remember that the envy in the hearts of your friends can hurt you more than the steel of the swords of your enemies. You have seen the chaos of a civil war in Mercia and you do not want it to happen in your own kingdom. So be generous when awarding titles and ensure the loyalty of your noblemen. And as a final, well meant advice, take a wife soon. Charming the ladies at court may be a splendid thing for a young knight, but it is quite unbecoming for the King. And you will find that the strength and the wisdom of a good wife will help you bear the responsibility of your new duties.
So, my brother, make haste and return to our castle. My time is running out and I would love you to receive the crown from my own hands, while the life is still in them.
Expecting you with eagerness and love,
ER
It was no more than a few weeks later, that the Saxon Kingdom celebrated the coronation of a new king.
http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/stor...Saxon850_1.jpg
Great stuff Well done, Nigel - you resolved the Mercian war well for the nation AND provided excellent stories - both timely and well illustrated - that make it interesting for readers to follow. How would you like Edmund to be known as?
The present Saxon save game, The Saxons 850.rar, has been uploaded at the usual general address:
http://www.totalwar.org/Downloa....oupload
An EM with the savegame has been sent to the next in line, GreasePaintMonkeyBrains, and a wake-up call will be issued to his successor, the Emperor.
The line of kings is currently:
Simon Appleton, King Behrtric, Scourge of the Welsh, 793-827
Major^3, King Egbert I, The Valiant, 828-829
Nigel, King Edmund I, 830-849
GreasePaintMonkeyBrains, King Harold I, 850-, current king
The Emperor
TC27 (tcollin2@lineone.net)
Fellow Saxon Lords,
Haved downloaded the saved game and i will start
playing it tonight.
Regards
GPMB
Just to let you know I have been following this thread closely.
Good work dealing with the Mercians. It remains to be seen if the peace can last with Mercia.
Glad you like it.
I am now really looking forward to follow the developments of the Saxon Kingdom. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...cons/smile.gif
As for a name, is it not so that this is given to a king posthumously by the people who follow after him ? I would be quite happy for GPMB (or anyone else) to give me a name based on what they have read. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/biggrin.gif
How about the following as a title for your monarch?
King Edmund I The Bane of Mercia
Interesting idea, Nigel - that the successor king name his predecessor I think we should adopt that principle subject to the dead king's consent. So, it falls to GreasePaintMonkeyBrains to propose a title for King Edmund I. I think the Emperor has made his job easy, though, by making a fine suggestion - the Bane of Mercia.
It's been seven days since GreasePaintMonkeyBrains posted that he had the game - please can he post an update? There is no rush to finish a reign, but I need to know that this campaign is still on track. If I don't hear anything by Monday morning, I think we should move on to the next player.
Just to let you know my email address has changed since I got broadband installed. My Org profile has been updated with the new one.
Ok, the weekend has gone by and still no word from GreasePaintMonkeyBrains. I propose that the Emperor takes up where Nigel left off.
This means that the line of kings is currently:
Simon Appleton, King Behrtric, Scourge of the Welsh, 793-827
Major^3, King Egbert I, The Valiant, 828-829
Nigel, King Edmund I, The Bane of Mercia, 830-849
The Emperor, King Harold I, 850-, current king
No one else is signed up to this campaign (since TC27 and GPMB have disappeared from trace). Any volunteers? The kingdom was in good shape when Nigel left it and I am sure it will thrive under the Emperor.
BTW, Emperor - given the lack of volunteers, I see no reason to hold back for role-playing reasons and make this is a long campaign. Our destiny is to drive out the Vikings and unify England.
Now that is a mandate for me to be a totally brutal bar steward?Quote:
Originally Posted by [b
I'll get to work on the campaign tonight... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/biggrin.gif
Well, whatever has kept GPMB from continuing, I think Simon made the right decision to move on to the next player. I had a lot of fun with my reign and am burning to see how the story goes on. Would be sad to see this thread run dry.
Wellcome to the Saxon Kingdom, Emperor. May you rule with wisdom and success. Good luck unifying England under one crown. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...-2thumbsup.gif
Oh man, forget unifying England...
This is a struggle for survival. Have you seen the size of the Mercian Hordes at our doorstep?
Our armies are thin, our empire is vast with a large border to defend and many inland provinces are WITHOUT a garisson http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif (what were you thinking?)
With such a large force on our doorstep in such a small area they will be hungry for land soon enough, and I can bet any money that they will attack us...
Oh well I guess I should pre-empt their invasion with a massive troop training campaign, and by fortifying our lands.
Sadly we don't have the cash for it and every turn I run out of money http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...cons/mecry.gif
This is going to be tough
Ok its official the Saxon Kingdom is finished... Consigned to oblivion
I tried to pre-empt the Mercian invasion by training new troops but wound up having serious loyalty problems with commanders.
There were executions for treason going on left right and center, but still the Loveless bastards would have none of it
No matter how many times I have tried to reload from the savegame and get out of this situation my King's low influence means that ANY Mercian Victory no matter where it is on the campaign map slams us right in the middle of a bloody Civil War, and we get swamped by the rebels and the Mercians.
(the only way I can see to avoid it is to bring all the princes into the King's army stack, but then we have a great lack of command in the field that cannot match the Mercians)
Our border is too wide and our enemy has so many good troops from their re-emergance.
I hate to say this but it seems that there is nothing I can do to prevent the Saxon Kingdom getting bogged down in a Civil War and the Mercians will exploit it all the way to our destruction.
As such my king shall henceforth be known as King Harold The Shafted.
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/gc-wall.gif
I think it was a big strategic mistake for my predecessor to attack the Mercians while they were so powerful earlier on. We won that war, but lost the second.
Sorry guys, it couldn't be helped http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...cons/mecry.gif
can I try it? is the situation really that bad? how many mercians are there?
Go ahead, feel free to download it.Quote:
Originally Posted by [b
In those two provinces, the Mercians have close to 12 stacks (ok some of them are peasant, in perticular the East Engle lot).
However we only have four depleted stacks on that border.
Four more in Wales (two covering our Northern border with Northumbria)
And One and a half Stacks in Cornwall.
The rest is all lightly garissoned. oh and watch out for Prince Alfred, he's the lowest loyalty guy (3 shields to start with) and has so far most often been the Civil War Ringleader. (But his high-loyalty brother was the ringleader when I reloaded it for the third time)
Take a look at the Mercian Forces in Lindissi, and you'll see what finished me off (Those stacks are full of Armoured Spearmen and Saxon Huscarls, and we have armies mainly made up of Fyrdmen)
Goodluck you'll need it http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...icons/wave.gif
Oh boy - well, you win some and you lose some, I guess. Sorry for the frustration, Emperor. When I said the kingdom was in good shape, I was going by the screenshot of the minimap and had not loaded the game to see the strength of the revived Mercians. Sounds like we won the first war, but lost the peace by letting them respawn.
In fairness to Nigel, he did not attack the Mercians - they attacked us during my reign. He did well to defeat them, maybe too well and we should have let them live on in an enfeebled state.
If Katank or anyone else wants to take up the 850AD savegame and make a go of it, go ahead. Otherwise, it sounds like this thread has died a violent death. Maybe we should link to it in the Entrance Hall thread on Has anyone ever lost to the AI?...
How embarassing http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...embarassed.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...s/confused.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...embarassed.gif
I honestly had thought the kingdom to be in doing fairly well. It certainly looked good on paper.
Ok, true, I did know about Harolds littel vices and kind of anticipated a loyalty issue with his brothers. But if I had guessed it would be all that bad, I would have murdered him, while there was still time http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...s/gc-skull.gif.
What I really did not foresee was the Mercians returning in such force just in the year of King Edmunds death http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...cons/frown.gif. I had hoped that, if we keep the peace long enough, we can eventually create a situation where we match their strength (ignoring their vast peasant armies) and they would go for the weaker Northumbrians first. Or we could just outproduce them, owning more than double their provinces.
I shall give it a try myself and see if I can come up with a way to get out of this (probably not if Emperor tried it already). Other than that, my king will probably have to go down in history as King Edmund the Clueless http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...embarassed.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...gc-stunned.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...embarassed.gif
Ok guys finally some good news regarding my attmpts to replay this save-game. (I'm just too stubborn and hate losing)
When I replayed the campaign last night (for about the fifth time) I was able to finally beat the Mercians off the map.
The first thing I did was launch a pre-emptive strike on the Mercians in East Engle, slaughtering much of the peasant hordes (with an army mainly made up of, Archers and depleted units)
Trials for Treason and disbanding of disloyal generals kept the peace and held off the threat of Civil War... My spies gave me regular warnings about suspect plots against me though, one time they told me who the ringleader was and he was executed.
The downside is we lost a heck of a lot of territory to them and they advanced right into the middle of our heartlands, they besieged our Keep with five full stacks but I was able to cut that army off and surround them.
After I pulled back nearly all of our armies we finally crushed them in a brutal last stand at the Castle Gates. (I auto-resolved that battle because every time I face their troops in the field we have serious morale problems).
That single act was enough to end their ambitions, and the capture and ransom of their king in a nearby province has ended our financial worries. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/biggrin.gif
I managed to successfully take the Mercian's old Provinces, but they re-invaded Lindissi before I killed their king and Mercia went rebel.
The Vikings then invaded Lindissi and we got a loyalist rebellion... so now the embattled Saxon kingdom is at war with the Vikings (again)
The year is 876 and King Harold lies dead... the Vikings are back, but are greatly diminished (they have very high valour, being led by 9 Star Heir but have hardly any troops left now).
(I don't think this counts because it was a reload after losing so many times. I guess I just wanted to let you guys know the sacrifices involved in order to pull a win out of that situation)
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/ht_duel.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg.../ht_charge.gif
I personally think reloading in a PBEM takes some of the fun out it BUT I suppose that the decision on the future (or lack thereof) of the Saxons lies with Dr. Appleton...
I agree with you there Demon, It shouldn't count.Quote:
Originally Posted by [b
I guess I just wanted to find out if it was possible to win it at all. (only by sacrificing half our empire and pulling all our armies back)
But for me the campaign certainly ended in defeat. (to lose on all but the Fifth time certainly shows that)
Interesting - well done, Emperor, in pulling victory from the jaws of defeat. You have more perseverence than I would have had in that situation.
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...s/bigthumb.gif
Generally speaking, I agree with Demon of Light that reloading is to be frowned upon in PBEM games. But given the circumstances - that chance landed the Emperor with an almost unplayable savegame - I would not be too dogmatic about it.
For me the issue is more whether anyone wants to take the throne after the Emperor. If someone did, and the Emperor was willing to write up his 5th reign, then I would be happy to keep the thread going. But no one was waiting on the list for their go and so, unless someone comes forward and wants to take the helm, I think we can put this thread to rest.
Best move on to another VI campaign. I understand the Welsh, Irish and Picts have a few votes in the Poll I made.
I'll start one off tonight. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...icons/wave.gif
I am glad, Emperor, that you managed to defeat the Mercians after all. Good job, I am sure it was not easy.
And sorry about all the frustration I have left you with.
I have to say, I too managed to beat the Mercians when I had a go at it myself and I guess I was more lucky than you.
Here is how it went :
I tried to avoid a confrontation as long as possible and managed to uphold the peace for another 5 years. During this time I reorganized the army, trusting the treaty with Northumbria and moving most troops to the Mercian border. The Mercians meanwhile spread their elite troops out over the 4 free provinces. When they finally did attack I had made sure it was with an army led by their king himself (and I freely admit that I needed a reload for this). The battle was one of the hardest I ever fought, and at one point I focused all attention and efforts on killing the Mercian king. Fortunately this risky plan succeeded just as the battle was hanging by a thread.
After this battle was won, the Mercians were off the map again. In the years that followed I managed to take over the rebellious provinces by bribing their armies and making sure I attacked with superior force, as I dared not risk a defeat and subsequent civil war. But with time the loyalty of the generals began to increase gradually, too and I ruled for another 15 years in relative peace.
Well, I guess I have probably had more luck than brains with this and, Emperor, I am sorry if I left you feeling stranded. Still I don't think I should get hung for driving a PBM into an impossible situation. Ohh, yes, ok, you may behead, drown, draw and quarter and burn me at the stake for making things so difficult.
In any case, I agree that it was hardly doable without the possibility to reload and if that is against the rule, then I guess this campaign is ended. But as Simon says, it is probably more a case of finding someone who wants to carry on now. And so it may well be that this thread sinks naturally into oblivion and we move on to new things.