beefeater, another brilliant post ! keep em coming !
Long Live St King Philip ?!!
Vive la France
Boo ! to evil King Louis !!??
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beefeater, another brilliant post ! keep em coming !
Long Live St King Philip ?!!
Vive la France
Boo ! to evil King Louis !!??
BOOK VI, CHAPTER I
“…Chatillon:Count Beauchamp, castle, mill; Epirnay, church, abbey; St. Sauveur, King’s land, two fisheries, two markets; Clairvaux Abbess of Troyes (granted by Odo de Lacy for his daughter to become a nun); Petit-Sancerre, church, 2 mills…”
-Extract from the Great Census
A time for taking stock
Having captured Milan, France now finds itself in control of the closest medieval equivalent to Ernst & Young or PwC…outside Venice, that is. King Louis, who unlike his pious father is highly concerned that all taxes should be collected in full and on time, orders a general census to be taken, and the King’s accountants, accompanied by the King’s coercive lending commissioners, fan out throughout France.
These were their results:
https://img72.imageshack.us/img72/70...timeni7.th.jpg
Kingdom of France
Leaders
10, of whom the most experienced commander is King Louis the Merciless
Cities (and their planned specializations)
Milan - Assassins
Genoa – Spies
Marseille – Merchants
Bruges – Explorers
Rennes – Theologians
Angers, Paris, Dijon – Any other
Castles
Toulouse – Cavalry
Bordeaux – Cavalry
Metz – Infantry
Bern – Infantry
Rheims – Missile
Caen – Missile
Finances
Total income last year: around 25k
Total expenditure before recruitment and building: around 18k
Priorities
Having received the above reports, the King sets out his priorities:
Strengthen borders
The most immediate threat is the Danes, who are attempting to regroup around Antwerp. Capturing and sacking that city, and converting it into a heavily fortified castle, is the highest priority.
The next border to secure is the Pyrenees. This will mean bribing the Spanish and maintaining castle garrisons in Toulouse and Bordeaux. Castle garrisons are to comprise three armoured sergeants, three crossbowmen, a general or unit of knights, and a unit of mounted sergeants – or, in each case, their nearest equivalents.
France’s Italian possessions are potentially the weak spot in its armour, as they need to be kept as cities in order to maintain the flow of florins into King Louis’ coffers. To keep Italy docile, both cities are to have garrisons of seven militia units and three units of archers, backed up by a field army the same size as a castle garrison and led by one of the better generals. The field army will make camp between the two cities.
The Eastern frontier is where fighting is most likely to be bloody. Each of the three castles at Antwerp, Metz and Dijon are to have half-size castle garrisons, and there will be a field army to respond to attacks, again led by a general and wintering in a field fortification.
Finally, Marseille, Bordeaux and Genoa are to contribute ships for two fleets, with a planned crusade in due course.
Master of Spies
The new defence plan is reliant upon good intelligence about the actions along France’s borders. To this end, King Louis orders the construction of watchtowers along each one. This will be supplemented by a counter-intelligence network of spies and assassins trained in Italy within every settlement, and with additional spies sent into neighbouring countries as they become available.
Building program
A significant amount of France’s new-found wealth should be ploughed into making it as near as possible to being financially self-sufficient, as without new conquests the treasury could run dry. Each castle will be developed towards its specialism for unit production, but first priority will go to a network of ports, farms and markets throughout the Kingdom.
Wars of Religion
Finally, there are six more regions to capture. Once the Danes are subdued, French armies will aid the scots in annihilating the English. But there is another goal for the French – to send two full stacks on Crusade. Spare wealth will go toward bribing the Pope so that at a time of the King’s choosing, the armies of God can head East on Crusade…
More soon.
That sounds like an expensive garrison program. Playing as Venice I've taken over the cashcow that is Italy and I'm having difficulty maintaining two militia stacks, about 4 units in each city, a building program and barely any agents. Interesting to see whether your economy can handle it ~:)
excellent ! cant wait until the Danes feel the wrath of King Louis. Please post plenty of pics. How will he afford all these things? Will the peasants have to sell their Grandmas into slave labour to the King?!
Waiting...
Vive la France !
Long Live King Louis !
Bravo, Beefeater! I love the idea of posting in-progress AARs and seeing you overcome adversity. Excellent bridge battle, BTW.
Hey Wizzie, I think you might be interested in a little mod I put together that suits your needs. I just played around with a few text files and lowered population growths along with some other tweaks. I'm currently playing a 0.5 timescale campaign and it's a lot more fun.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wizzie
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=73286
Anyhoo, Beefeater, I particularly loved this post. Very nicely laid out plans, I love the detail, the planned specializations and everything else. Very nice, I just can't get enough. I think the community will eventually have to force you into doing a grand campaign AAR that will last... forever!
Oh and the Warrior King pic is awesome! (except for those green arrows which I've already talked about way too much ~:))
BOOK VII, Chapter V
“On the morrow, they returned to the attack on all sides. Ladders were thrown up against the walls, and the soldiers of Venice poured into the city, but the brave garrison of cross-bowmen held them back for many hours, and the defenders in the city cheered at every flight of bolts. But by evening the Venetians gained those sections of the walls where the militia sheltered, and not one militiamen left the walls alive. This was in the summer of 1186.”
European Wars - South
The capture of Milan was swiftly followed by the investiture by my Northern army, consisting of King Louis, Prince Michiel and assorted nobles, and some infantry and knights, of Antwerp. I then had two turns of relative peace where everything went according to plan.
Needless to say, this could not last. Before long, the Venetians sent one of their four large roving armies to attack Milan. It was beaten off handily by the defenders in a quick sally, but Venice had deep pockets and a second army was soon sent for, which assaulted Milan a turn after laying siege to the city. Things looked pretty grim for the city’s defenders: an early attempt to knock out the catapults by a maneuver failed, at the cost of two full units of mailed knights. The catapults continued to pound the walls, causing horrible casualties among the crossbow militia who were the first line of defence.
https://img87.imageshack.us/img87/53...gaspcb4.th.jpg
Storming the City
Before long, the walls and towers were reduced to rubble, and most of the defenders retreated to the city centre. The few surviving crossbow militia made the ultimate sacrifice, staying on the walls to keep the towers firing as long as possible. For around three minutes they held their positions, wave after wave of crossbow bolts punching through Venetian armour, until finally the Italian commander sent two units of foot knights onto the walls. Soon after, the crossbows fell silent, leaving Venice in command of the walls – but at terrible cost. The militia had done their work.
https://img87.imageshack.us/img87/28...allsgd6.th.jpg
The militia make their final stand on the walls. On the right, you can just see the first Venetian foot knights making their way onto the wall from the tower
Further into the city, the defenders had laid a number of traps for their opponents. Correctly guessing that the Venetians would attempt to take the main square as quickly as possible, the French commander had ordered small forces of knights and mounted sergeants to lie in wait down side streets. If the Venetians attacked down the main street, these cavalry would be able to rush forward and flank them as they tried to break through the defending spearmen.
The AI was too clever for that though, and I’m very pleased to say that it sent flanking cavalry of its own to sweep the streets and to envelop the main square. The Italian knights drove off my mounted sergeants on the north side of the square, and were only repulsed after fierce fighting by a reserve force composed of my general and a half-strength unit of mailed knights. In the south, their general himself led the flanking attack. Sensing an opportunity, my second unit of flankers (a full-strength unit of mailed knights) lowered their lances and charged him straight on.
https://img87.imageshack.us/img87/2951/joustbe0.th.jpg
The Joust
Yet again, the AI surprised me. Their general wasn't trying to hold off my knights on his own: scant seconds later, a unit of Italian spearmen which I hadn’t noticed slipped round the back of my unlucky knights. Caught between elite horsed men and an unyielding wall of spears, the knights were butchered. However, the Italian general then remained in place for most of the rest of the battle – guarding the street, or a bug? Certainly had it been used more extensively that unit of bodyguards could have caused me problems.
The remainder of the battle followed a pattern – the attackers charged the defenders, wiped out a unit of spearmen, were pushed back by the fresh replacements, but gradually gained ground at an increasing cost in lives. The defenders rallied in the central square and were sent back into the fray unit by reduced unit. New to MTW was the impact of my knights – they made repeated charges into the flanks of the spearmen (remember they drove off the flankers in the north?), which helped to break up several attacks.
https://img87.imageshack.us/img87/82...kingvo4.th.jpg
Flanking
The final stages of the battle were a war of attrition, which the French won – but only barely. There was a bad moment when the Italian general attempted a breakout, but the defenders, a motley crew of armoured sergeants, held.
https://img87.imageshack.us/img87/83...koutbc9.th.jpg
Last act in Milan
The defending garrison had been all but annihilated, but it had held. The prisoners were ransomed back to Venice for around 7,000 florins, and the next turn a large reinforcing army of modern troops from the stronghold at Bern arrived. It’s about 15 turns on now, and there have been no more Venetian attacks in the meantime.
The turn after the battle, Milan set up an assassin’s guild, and the 15 turns I mentioned above have seen a stream of unfortunate accidents befall those relatives of the Doge unwise enough to remain in Italy. I got 3 generals for 15 assassins, not a bad ratio given the fact that it’s easier to obtain the latter than the former.
European Wars – North
In the North, the Danes were also on the march: but instead of sending soldiers, they sent a diplomat, who wanted a ceasefire. Since I wanted Antwerp more than I wanted peace, I counter-offered: peace and 2,000 florins for Antwerp. The Danes said no – but then they came back at me with a counter-offer of their own!
https://img87.imageshack.us/img87/36...yothyr7.th.jpg
A continuation of war by other means?
I was more than happy to accept their 6,000 florin offer, leaving me with a full stack to send down to Italy. As events transpired, however, King Louis and Prince Michiel would be traveling far further than the pleasant plains of the Po valley.
Take up thy Cross
With exquisite timing, the Pope chose this moment to announce a crusade to Jerusalem. The call was well-heeded, and Christendom set aside its differences admirably. Germany, France, England, Spain, Venice, Poland – the Crusade did not lack for adherents.
I was very interested to see that the turn after declaring the stack containing King, Prince, and others for Crusade, the order of St. John of Jerusalem approached the mayor of Dijon, and the turn later the castellan of Bern, to offer them minor chapter houses. Both accepted. Marseille also got a Merchants guild.
A full stack sailed off from Marseille, dodging a Venetian fleet en route, and shortly afterward, found itself within distance of the Holy Land. Great deeds await – and dark ones, too. With King Louis the Merciless (and his son Prince Michiel, also known as the Merciless) leading the Crusade, I believe I have sent over men of precisely the same stripe as those that took the Holy Land in our real history…and the unfortunate citizens of the Levant should expect the same results.
https://img87.imageshack.us/img87/4483/sendim0.th.jpg
Journey’s End.
Brilliant thread :2thumbsup:
*heads off to read the England one*
Yet again, fantastic. Gets me in the mood to play some Medieval ~:)
Loving it :thumbsup:
Where is the England one, I can't find it?
brilliant ! looking forward to the next one
Bob, check any of beefeater's post and click the link to it in his signature.
That's so true. Beefeater: Porn for M2TW.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wizzie
Er, thanks Wonderland. I think. ^_^
Postscript
“But the King and his knights held a council and, after sunrise, attacked the heathens in the great mosque with arrows and lances. Breaking the bolts and doors, they killed those who hid, about seven hundred in number, who in vain resisted the force and attack of so many thousands. They killed the women, also, and with their swords pierced tender children of whatever age and sex. The heathens, seeing that their Christian enemies were attacking them and their children, and that they were sparing no age, likewise fell upon one another, brother, children, wives, and sisters, and thus they perished at each other's hands. Horrible to say, mothers cut the throats of nursing children with knives and stabbed others, preferring them to perish thus by their own hands rather than to be killed by the weapons of the victors. ”
The crusading army of the Franks met little opposition outside Jerusalem, and the city soon fell to an (autoresolved) sudden assault.
We can only imagine what the crusaders, those hard and violent men, must have thought when suddenly confronted with the splendour that was Arab Jerusalem. The streets were deserted, the bright silks of the marketplaces and bazaars left to stand weirdly in the sun. Shops were shuttered. Doors were closed. The citizens cowered within their homes, clutching their families to them. Muslims, Christians and Jews each prayed to their god. None was spared.
The victorious army, given full rein by King Louis, fanned out through the city in the hours just after dark. The quiet palaces and mosques of the wealthier parts of the city were first, torched and looted by the armed mobs, but the violence soon spiraled further out of control. The people of Jerusalem were dragged from their homes, many butchered on the spot, many more taken to the city square and forced to endure the jeering of the knights and men-at-arms as they saw their homes ruined and their wives and daughters despoiled. It was an orgy of brutality, and for days afterwards the streets ran red with the blood of its former inhabitants. Egypt was outraged, as was the whole Muslim world. But back in France, prayers were sung and bells rung out in joy at the capture of the holy land for Christians - and King Louis was declared to be a living saint. The discovery in the ruins of Jerusalem of what was believed to be the chalice passed between Jesus and his disciples at the last supper only added luster to his reputation.
Acre and Damascus fell soon after – the main Egyptian armies were on their borders with the Moors and Turks – which left France in control of 20 provinces. A few turns later I was informed that the English had been eliminated as a faction, presumably by the Scots or Danes.
And so this campaign was over – longer and far more fun for me than the English one that had been the first vignette. I hope you have enjoyed reading about this, as I have enjoyed writing about it!
Congrats on your splendid victory and thanks for some great reading!
Encore! Encore!
bravo !
franchement j'adore ! :2thumbsup:
i'm loving it hehe
Great post! Too bad it ended too soon, I was hoping for a Operation Sealion. :D
Personally Beefeater has shown the way, if I was CA I'd look to write up his vignette on their website, I guess a bit like Sainthood for a MTW2 player!
All aspiring MTW2 player should read this.
I still say a Beefeater grand campaign is necessary at some point. I know nobody argued that point, but hell it bears repeating. I almost cried a little when this was over. I wonder if III will be the HRE, which I believe is next on the order of factions listed. Damn, with such a tough time as the French, I'm already cringing at the thought of an HRE game. I can't wait!
Excellent...simply outstanding stuff Beefy!
God, could you imagine a grand campaign everyone!!
:yes:
OMG, that was just great.
Can't wait for the next one...
Congratulations Beefeater :bow:
brilliant stuff ! keep em coming
Thanks everyone for your kind words. Vignette III will be starting soon, and I can indeed confirm that the HRE will have top billing. My only concern is that it may be a little short - I'm planning a couple of house rules that will materially affect the good Germans' chances of success. *evil grin*
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beefeater
Hell Beeteater!! You're going to give yourself house rules playing HRE for the first time...now that is brave.
I can't wait!!!
Wow, you said it. That's crazy. I was sweatin' bullets just thinking about trying to get by on a VH/VH HRE campaign, the man's coming up with ways to make it tougher. A true Beefeater for the ages, a brave warrior of the e-world.Quote:
Originally Posted by AussieGiant
Hey Wonderland!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Wonderland
Sweatin bullets is a perfect description!! I only play HRE when I really have gone through most of the other factions!!
This one is going to be a cracker!!