A Land Divided- An Italian AAR

9-On the defensive again

1222
Ajjacio has fallen to the Aragonese, and a large army Aragonese army of 18 divisions lands on the beach of Naples and lay siege to our city. Meanwhile Silvestro Sanuto sets out from Arta to capture Athens, but is beaten back when an entire army under the command of the brilliant Byzantine general Nikitis Mangifas arrives by sea and then chases him away from the city. For the first time Silvestro is also defeated in battle, but retreats safely to Arta.

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Following the retreat from Athens the Byzantines engage Silvestro in the mountains

The Aragonese assault the walls of Naples, but are massacred: whilst the Aragonese general Franco de Quintana commands an admittedly large rabble of militias, our great Doge Benasuto had the Knights Hospitaliers at his command, and they were devastating at cutting down the Aragonese and routing them.

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The aftermath of the battle: the captured prisoners were released

Small Moorish armies laying siege to Palermo, previously considered weak and worth no attention, band together under their separate commanders, Najah ibn Siraj, Sawwar al-Jasur and Captain Ubta their forces are formidable: 2400 Moors against 2200 Venetians, under the command of Anechino d'Aquileia . By sallying out and catching the main army off guard and then swinging round to defeat the Moorish reinforcements Anechino secures a heroic victory for himself, and returns to Palermo as a hero, although the Moors now focus their power on us: their land stretches across the entirety of North Africa, and they have organized fortresses which are training men every day to war against us. Once again the Moors are released and set on a ship to which they will undoubtedly try to launch another attack from.

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The statistics of the battle in which our men fought bravely under the guidance of their general

At the gates of the Byzantine fortress of Corinth Silvestro is attacked, but he manages to defeat the equal force of Greeks and then executes the prisoners in order to keep the way to Corinth clear. A Byzantine nobleman remarked that "Venetians cannot take a city in a siege: they lure the defenders out onto an open battlefield. Honourable cowards."
Wernher Rogga of the Holy Roman Empire lays siege to Venice with an ex-Crusader army, with formidable cavalry and infantry at his command. Outraged at this misuse of Christians, the Pope condemns the Kaiser but does not excommunicate him, much to our surprise and disappointment. Although it seems Wernher has the upper hand but Filippo the Mean manages to rout his army, although he doesn't hunt the Germans down in case the Crusaders turn and rout his own forces.

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Knights bearing the Lords Cross attack other Christians, a shameful act, one that resulted in their defeat

Franco de Quintana, the Aragonese general who, along with 800 other prisoners, was released after the siege of Naples, head north with a mercenary army and arrives near the fortress of Ancona. The legendary Gerardo the Conqueror, whose army has just finished retraining, rides out and crushes the Aragonese once again, proving our military prowess over theirs another time.
In a new offensive campaign Gerardo, who is deemed to old to lead his men in any further action, hands his army over to Marcantonio the Lazy, who sets off north to capture Bologna from the Germans. Upon arriving at the city and laying siege he is surprised to see Feudal Knights preparing to attack, and pulls his men back to the east coast before planning to make his next move. But before he can do anything Marcantonio is attacked by two separate German armies, each intent on tearing him and his men to pieces. Jens Tiefen leads the initial attack, with Prince Volkmar, the governor of Bologna, close behind. In the ensuing forest battle German catapults and ballistae thunder away at our lines as wave upon wave of Germans are pushed back. But the catapult fire manages to kill Marcantonio, and for a moment it seems as if our severely weakened army will turn and run under the strain of cavalry, infantry AND artillery pounding at them. But they bravely stand their ground, and the Germans ace, their artillery, proves their undoing, killing both of their generals and resulting in the full rout of the German forces in the battle.

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Many men were lost in the fierce fighting, as the unit cards show.

Although Marcantonio's leaderless army held out in the initial battle without him, when a second attack came they were defeated and sent south, down to Ancona. It seemed as if our offensive in northern Italy was grinding to a halt.

The graphics on this mod look sweet. Nice AAR btw

Announcement

School, laziness and my social life have stopped me from updating A Land Divided for a good while now, and from the amount of views this has I assume people are expecting some new material. I'm afraid this won't be happening for a while, since the game has now become so difficult it's not even fun any more, and I'm going to begin another campaign (which I probably won't AAR.) Anyway, I'm just posting to let you all know that there won't be any frequent updates on this, if at all.
However, if someone else has Stainless Steel 4.1 and would like to continue this campaign as well as the AAR I could try and transfer the files...or something like that, it can be done.
Sorry lads, but when a campaign becomes more of a burden than it is fun it's time to move on.
LLC