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1203
Colonna sighed and sat down in his commanders post. At the end of the previous year, he had summoned the most loyal and thrustworthy generals to Venice, and revealed his plan to devastatingly strike the Holy Roman Empire by attacking several provinces at the same moment. He knew the armies of the German Emperor, who was merely considered as a the emperor in name as the real power was in the hands of the Sicilian King nowadays, were wide-spread over the few provinces in which his power remained solid. The Sicilian armies would attack Austria, Bavaria and Milan. Spies had reported that the German Emperor was contained in Milan, so Colonna would lead the army that invaded Milan. He wanted the emperor for himself.
In May 1203 the huge attack is started. Veteran armies from the Wars against the Byzantines are sailed back to Venice and Genoa, and many young inexperienced subordinates are recruited from small villages in South and North Italy. Old manuscripts written in those days mention several thousands of militia, poorly equipped and heavily armoured swordsmen, knights on old jades and elite knights Templar in their shiny armour, and old nearly blind bowmen as well as freshly trained and well-equipped arbalesters marching towards German positions. All were very decided to win a battle to consolidate the might of the new world power. Colonna's first campaign is successfull. Austria and Bavaria are easily conquered, for the Germans abandoned the province (Bavaria) or retreated to the castle (Austria). Colonna, leading the Sicilian army that invaded Milan, managed to fight his way to the German emperor, who was surrounded by militia who took down all of his bodyguards. The German emperor, who believed to have the Pope on his side, agreed to surrender. And so Colonna could ransom the German emperor and a few of his general/governors for an amount which was told to be well over 10000 florins.
1204
Even though the Sicilians sent their best diplomats to Rome to ask the Pope to bless their conquests on the Germans, the latter managed to convince his Holiness of the contrary. A few months later, the Sicilians receive a letter of utmost urgency from the Pope. His words are short and simple: stop attacking your German fellow Christians or you will be excommunicated. As Colonna judged the Sicilian empire to be too outstretched to survive a possible peasant mass rebellion, he decided to send a letter to the Pope and to the German emperor (now transferring his capital to Prague) offering him a ceasefire of 10 years. The Germans accepted the royal Sicilian offer.
1205
He did WHAT....???
Eummmm....
C'mon. You really must be kidding Colonna walks to the small window and stares at the peacefull Lombardian landscape.
And why did he do that? Oh my God... All this hard work and carefully state-planning will prove to be useless.
Our beloved King, Allan I, God bless him, accused the French of having kidnapped his mother, the huge pink elephant. He thinks they have locked her in a tower deep in the French domains. Someone heard him mention Paris. Others told that he was muttering about invading Brittany, sir.
But how did he ever raise an army? I mean, the core of our army stands at our new borders with Germany, and the only other huge army is defending Constantinople...
The messenger starts to look nervously around. Colonna frowns.
You're not telling me that he took our Eastern Army to attack France, are you?
Yes, sir. I am telling you this as I was told to do so by Lord Giuliani, the commander of the Eastern Army. He sailed to La Rochelle on command of our King.
This guy is really crazy. Now we surely will get excommunicated. We must act swiftly. If this guy loses one battle the Pope is going to drop us in less than a few days. It was already so difficult to get him agree to that ceasefire with the Germans...
It seems that we don't have much time to lose. Go to Brittany and look for your Lord. Come back with more news as soon as you can.
1206
Brittany is conquered, sir
...
Brittany is officially claimed by our glorious King Allan.
But... How?
The French only fielded a rabble army of peasants and spearmen, while we had hardened and better-trained veterans from the Eastern campaigns. Only a few French found the courage to fight against our well-equipped men-at-arms, and most of them instantly fled the field when our King appeared.
Why? What did he do that made them flee?
We were battling for hardly half an hour when we suddenly heard the sound of a bell. It was King Allan who was standing on the top of a hill, on our left flank. He was accompanied by his bodyguards. But what frightened the French is that he had painted himself in black, and there was something odd about his war helmet too.
Go on.
He had fixed two bulls' horns on his helm and drowned them in pig's blood. His eyes seemed to be on fire, and he carried a French burning banner in his right hand. On both sides of his horse hung a few skulls, also drowned in blood. We really don't know what kind of evil spirit made our King behave like this, but it sure frightened the French to death.
But that couldn't have chased an entire army.
Oh well, it did. The bodyguards were constantly shrieking and the King himself repeatedly shouted the name of the devil. They continued this when they charged into the French's flank, what caused them to rout.
Mmm, maybe a crazy King is not so bad for Sicily after all...
1215
King Allan defeated two other French armies in Anjou and Normandy, when he decided that fighting a rebel ducks in South Sicily was definitively more urgent than consolidating the recently conquered front with the French.
It seemed just another gift of God, but at the end of 1215, a messenger brought some news from the French court. The French King had died, leaving the kingdom to rebellion, as there were no heirs to claim the throne.
As the rebels didn't want to sign a peace treaty with the Sicilians, Colonna decided to invade the remaining rebels and invaded and conquered Ile-de-France, Flanders, Lorraine, Champagne and Friesland the next years.
***
The game can be downloaded here: The_Sicilians_1228_PBM.rar
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My apologees for telling you this so late I've got some bad news: I haven't ended the Sicilian reign, and I doubt I'll be able to this month. A good friend of mine lent my METW and VI cds, but returned the VI one with a few scratches. The game now refuses to load and he has promised me to buy a new copy next month...
And I see Tricky Lady already resumed Again, Im terribly sorry
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No worries, Ellesthyan, and thanks for letting us know. We'll have to leave your current reign as an alternative reality to TrickyLady's, but depending on how things play out, there may well be a slot for you next month if you want it. As far as I can make out, the current list is just Llywelyn and he'll only be able to take up the throne on Thursday or thereabouts.
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I have edited my post with a write-up.
As our king was mad, and this had to be roleplayed, I thought I would just randomly invade another country with a random army.
So I just made a few small papers, wrote the remaining factions down and then picked one. Luckily for Sicily I picked the neighbour, France and even more luck was that the French King died without heirs a few years later...
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg.../gc-smiley.gif
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Thanks, TrickyLady. I remember thinking the logical next move for Sicily was to attack France. It was weak and its conquest would have shortened our borders. But IIRC, France was one of our few allies and I did not have the heart. Maybe my son was not so insane afterall?
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Greetings everyone. I have just downloaded the savegame and will get started right away.
Llywelyn
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Well, I'm finished. I managed to conquer most of Russia with a few rebel holdouts that shouldn't be hard to clean up. Just begun building Bell foundries and started a crusade to Georgia.
I had already gotten rid of the Horde once, but they reappeared on me in Georgia and Armenia. Mostly peasant armies though, so it shouldn't be too hard to get rid of.
Writeup to follow.
The file is uploaded as The Sicilians 1265PBM.zip
Llywelyn
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Well done, Llewellyn Good to see this campaign on track.
As far as I can make out, there are no more players on the list. Anyone want to be king?
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1228 AD:
Sent to be educated in the monestary of Constantinople when he was born, Angus lived a calm existence in a environment of great learning and culture. In fact, he didn't even remember his father and had only once, years before, met his younger brother, Alexander. In the spring of 1228, Angus found himself standing at his fathers feet, who by now was deathly ill. Before father and son could speak, the old, eccentric king breathed his last. Don Duncan Corsini, an aid to the aged king, turned to Angus and knelt down on both knees. Long live King Angus he said. Everyone else in the room followed in like manner and Angus begun to realize the enormous responsibility that was now solely his.
The next morning Angus arose and said his prayers very early. He wanted to explore the castle that was to be his home, but before he could get to the stairwell leading down to the lower level, an advisor found him and led him to a room with which he would become very familiar. This room had many maps and books and a table at which many people could sit comfortably. This was the war room as Angus would learn. Over the next few days, Angus was briefed by a variety of advisors on everything from the economy and military status to the condition of farmland and the whereabouts of agents of the kingdom. This was much to take in and Angus found himself deep in prayer about all these matters. He pledged that he would follow God's will for the kingdom to the utmost.
1229 AD:
Prince Alexander matures.
1230 AD:
Golden Horde emerge with around 12,000 troops.
Alliances are made with the Polish, Hungarians, and Danes.
1231 AD:
The people of Novgorod abandon Khazar due to the Golden Horde.
As a result, Kiev, Lithuania, and Novgorod erupt in civil war.
1232 AD:
10,000 Golden Horde troops enter Georgia and the province must be abandoned.
Corsica conquered.
Italians vanquished.
1233 AD:
King Angus I organizes a crusade to take back Georgia from the pagan mongols.
Armenia is invaded by the Golden Horde.
As a result, the Hungarians cancel their treaty. God will surely punish those who side with pagans.
1234 AD:
The Polish also cancel their treaty and side with the Golden Horde.
1235 AD:
10,500 mongols enter Trebizond determined to expand their kingdom. Lord Prignano with his 8000 army decides to stay and fight. On the day of the battle, he chooses some excellent high ground on the edge of the battlefield. There he places his artillery and archers protected in front by a small but formidable infantry line. He knows this will be a long day. At the end of the day, Lord Prignano is victorious. The Golden Horde take twice as many casualties and must retreat to Georgia. (Aside: I commanded this battle at first, but my computer crashed because it was so large. I ended up auto-resolving the battle, but still won with a 2:1 kill ratio. This REALLY sucks because it was more like 10:1 when I commanded this myself. It was a really beautiful battle. I had about 10 catapults firing into their line. Those catapult crews must have had huge valour points because they didn't miss. Almost brings a tear to the eye.)
Corsini. the king said.
Yes, my liege?
I need you to do something for me.
Anything for the kingdom, sire.
1236 AD:
Khan Ogadai I of the Golden Horde is found dead in his tent. Over the next few months, various warlords begun fighting with each other over power and by the end of the year, what was a mighty threat vanishes into rebellion.
Georgia is retaken by the crusade.
Turkish reappear in Armenia.
King Angus I marries.
1237 AD:
Turkish Sultan killed in battle. Turks degenerate.
Prince Algune is born. (Our boy works fast.)
1238 AD:
Lord Scolari is promoted to Lord High Constable making him 9 stars.
Lord Bonaiuti is promoted to Lord High Admiral making him 8 stars.
1239 AD:
Ryazan conquered.
Khazar conquered.
1240 AD:
Volga-Bulgaria conquered.
Armenia retaken.
1241 AD:
Muscovy conqered.
Chernigov conquered.
1246 AD:
Princess Maria is born.
1247 AD:
Novgorod conquered.
Smolensk conquered.
Kiev conquered.
Prince Aodh is born.
1248 AD:
The king of Hungary is assassinated.
Novgorod is lost to the Russians.
Pereyaslavl conquered.
Crimea conquered.
1249 AD:
Lithuania conquered.
The Hungarians sink a Sicilian vessel. Traitors.
Pope Gregory VIII cancel his treaty with the Hungarians.
1250 AD:
A Hungarian invasion in to the Crimea is successfully repelled.
A Hungarian invasion in Constantinople forces the garrison to retreat to the castle.
1251 AD:
Constantinople is retaken.
1252 AD:
The king of Hungary is assassinated.
Novgorod conquered.
Prince Algune matures.
1253 AD:
The prince of Novgorod is assassinated.
Prince Allan matures.
1254 AD:
A Hungarian invasion in to Austria is successfully repelled.
A Hungarian invasion in to Venice is successfully repelled.
Constantinople is invaded again by the Hungarians.
1255 AD:
Constantinople is retaken.
1256 AD:
Livonia conquered.
1258 AD:
Why would he do this? the king asked.
This is a most foul treachery. Corsini said
He has obviously gone mad. said the king. We must set him right.
Pope Gregory VIII, a long time ally of Sicily invades Naples. The garrison retreats to the castle.
Later this year, the prince of the Novgorods dies in a small rebellion and their kingdom disintegrates into rebellion.
1259 AD:
Naples retaken.
Pope Gregory VIII dies, but his last order from this death bed is a naval blockade of the island of Sicily.
(Aside: Sometimes the AI can be very sneaky indeed. I did not expect the attack from the Pope, but the naval blockade was really awful. Since King Angus is in Sicily, this effectively cuts him off from the remainder of the kingdom. Mass rebellion. I cut taxes, moved armies, trained troops, and basically did everything I could mitigate the effects. And, of course, moved the good king to Naples.)
1260 AD:
The Golden Horde reappear in Georgia and Armenia.
1261 AD:
Georgia and Armenia are abandoned to the Golden Horde.
1262 AD:
Prince Aodh matures.
1263 AD:
Khazar successfully defended against the Golden Horde.
The French invade Saxony and are defeated.
They also invade Friesland and the garrison retreats to the castle.
1264 AD:
Livonia lost to a rebellion.
Friesland retaken. (The French king is killed in this battle.)
Armenia retaken.
A crusade is sent to Georgia.
King Angus I dies.
(Aside: I had intended to fortify our position in Russia by taking Livonia and Finland. I also intended to crush the Golden Horde and generally stabilize Georgia and Armenia. Unfortunately, King Angus I didn't live as long as I had hoped. As for the money situation, I had a strong positive cash flow my entire reign. However, the war with France severely cramped our wallet. I begun building Bell Foundries, so the next king should have the capability to get some cannons going fairly soon.)
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I'm leaving for vacation on Monday, but after a week I'll be back and glad to be a Sicilian king again. https://forums.totalwar.org/forum/no...ns/biggrin.gif
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Good to hear, RisingSun. I'm also off this weekend but won't be back until September (mainly work, not vacation, unfortunately https://forums.totalwar.org/forum/no...cons/angry.gif ). Would you be interested in keeping an eye on this thread and bumping it if it gets stalled? You could start by taking the next reign and then seeing if you can find a successor. Regardless, have a good vacation
