Re: Pics and History of your Empire
King Edward the Great of England was a wise ruler, great warrior, and above all an honourable man. While his rule was marked by near constant warfare, it was nearly always at the behest of more unscrupulous foreign rulers. His great campaigns against the Fatimids and Turks were waged in the most worthy of causes, to take and secure the Holy Land under rightful Christian rule. His campaigns against fellow Catholics had often been forced upon him; the despicable Polish invasion of English Lithuania had left him no choice but to annex that kingdom to ensure the safety of his own subjects, likewise the wars with Denmark and Sicily. Elsewhere he had intervened only to bring an end to the seemingly interminable conflict in eastern Europe and the Balkans, annexing Venice and Hungary and in the process no doubt saving many more of their people from death and hardship at the hands of their callous and warmongering rulers. His kingdom's longstanding alliances, meanwhile, he had respected; he would not even allow suggestion of an attack upon the Republic of Novgorod or the Holy Roman Empire despite the clear strategic advantage he would gain from such a move, mindful as he was of the help both realms had rendered English armies in past wars against common foes. Likewise in his campaigns against the Turks he took the utmost of care to respect the territory of his Templar brothers in arms, stalwart allies in the fight against the Saracen.
However, the fact remained that Edward was an old man, with only a few years of life remaining to him, and for all his great military victories he had not managed to produce a son to inherit his throne. Thus as he contemplated his great empire from the citadel at Tblisi, Edward gave careful thought to whom among his lieutenants would be worthy to be his heir and heir to the Kingdom of England. After considering and rejecting many candidates, Edward finally decided on a worthy successor, Miles Clifford, the Duke of Cologne, a man who reminded Edward of himself in his youth. Raised in the great fortress and armoury of Hamburg, a comitted Crusader against the Lithuanian pagans, a great and courageous general unaffraid to lead his men from the front, victor over the Poles and the Hungarians, and even now leading the war against the Danes in person at the very opposite end of the empire. Thus Edward relaxed in Tbilisi to enjoy the last few years of life in comfort surrounded by luxuries from the lands he had conquered, confident that the new King Miles would be a scourge upon his enemies and an honourable friend to his allies.
However, the new Prince Miles was not an honourable man. Crusader propaganda had painted the popular picture of Miles bravely battling the pagans in Lithuania and bringing the benevolent influence of Christianity to their benighted forests, but it had made no mention of the brutal slaughter Miles had inflicted upon the Lithuanians in the conquest of that land. From the reports of Miles' exploits it had seemed to Edward that the two of them were alike, but the few who had met both knew the two men could not be more different; one man to whom loyalty to his allies and his church were foremost, terrible to face in battle but merciful to those he had defeated, waging war only when he felt compelled to by duty or compassion; the other, a bloodthirsty and power-hungry fanatic, convinced that it was his divine right to rule all of Europe, waging war not out of necessity or duty, but out of enjoyment, preferring to resolve all problems by brutal force and indifferent to the suffering he thus inflicted.
Thus, while Edward lay on his deathbed in Tbilisi, Miles made his dark plans to put into motion after his coronation, even as his armies completed their conquest of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Not all were oblivious to the coming storm, however. Although Miles' noble reputation was intact within Catholic lands, tales of the horrific deeds carried out by the "Butcher of Lithuania" and his contempt for all non-Catholics had spread among the Orthodox Christian peoples of the Republic of Novgorod and Kievan Rus, spread by Novgorodian troops who had witnessed Miles' actions firsthand when fighting alongside him in Lithuania. In time these tales had spread via the Black Sea trade routes to the ear of the Byzantine Emperor. Thus when Miles was crowned King shortly after completing the conquest of Denmark, the Emperor knew that it was not a question of if the English would attack, but when. Thus, expecting Miles not to be prepared yet for war far to the south, he launched a preemptive attack upon Thessalonika and Skopje.
The attacks were repulsed, and soon Miles' armies were closing in for the kill; his occupation forces in Hungary attacking from the north, the late King Edward's veterans of Anatolia from the east. The powerful army based at Thessalonika marched south into the Peloponnese as reinforcements arrived from the north, taking the city of Athens and the citadel at Corinth, while a second force marched down the coast from Ragusa, taking Durrazo and continuing into Epirus to siege Arta. In Anatolia meanwhile, Smyrna fell quickly to attack from Isparta, quickly followed by Nicea as the northern and eastern English forces raced to be first to reach Constantinople.
In the end, the eastern armies led by Laurence the Conqueror won the race, the northern forces being delayed by the strong defenses at Sofia and Adrianople. The city, protected its legendary walls, was nonetheless weakly garrisoned and the few defenders could do nothing to stem the English onslaught; the great city fell, and the Emperor was killed. Though the fortresses at Sofia and Cannakale and the island of Crete yet held out, the "Roman" Empire was as good as destroyed.
However, the Byzantine Romans were not the only Empire Miles would destroy within the first years of his reign. Almost immediately upon being crowned, Miles called a secret council of his senior nobles and told them to prepare their battered armies for war against the Holy Roman Empire.
This order caused considerable consternation among his generals. The Reich had long been a loyal ally of the English crown, and many of the older generals remembered with gratitude the aid the Reich had rendered them personally during the long wars against Venice, the Fatimids and Denmark. However, the king bluntly dismissed their concerns, declaring that he would recognise no allies of the English crown, only subjects. With the new king a ruthless and dangerous man, and surrounded by his cadre of loyal generals who had served under him in the northern wars, none of the old guard dared to question him further. Instead, the English armies put into motion Miles' carefully prepared plan.
Miles had noted that aside from the large forces guarding the German exclaves of Toulouse and Zagreb, the rest of the Reich's forces were concentrated around their economic centers of Frankfurt and Nuremburg. Thus his plan called for separate forces to deal with the isolated exclaves, while his main armies would attack from every direction, taking the ring of fortress guarding the borders of the Reich before a defense could be prepared.
English forces from Nottingham and Angers attacked from France, taking Metz and proceeding south to cut of Bern and Staufen from reinforcements. An army from Prague took the far-flung fortress of Magdeburg, while armies from Hungary marched west and took Salzburg and Innsbruck. Meanwhile, forces fresh from the subjugation of Denmark flooded south to confront the Reich forces at Frankfurt head on, and a small force in Italy took the isolated city of Milan.
At Toulouse, meanwhile, a Hospitaller force from Spain confronted the great German army that had been amassed there. The battle was one of the greatest of the era, two of the finest bodies of heavy infantry in the western world facing off against each other. In the end though, the losses inflicted on the Reich infantry by the English artillery, coupled with the defeat of their cavalry by the English Hospitaller knights, led to a catastrophic defeat of the Reich's forces and the fall of Toulouse, the last remaining province of France not in English hands.
Horrified by the unprovoked attack, the armies of the Empire hurriedly marched out in every direction, but they were too late to save their border fortresses. Instead, caught in the open, the armies of the Reich were systematically isolated and destroyed by the disciplined English forces. At last the Holy Roman Empire was whittled down to just the cities of Frankfurt and Nuremburg. Ignoring the Emperor's pleas for peace, Miles's armies closed in.
Now, less than ten years into his reign, King Miles had utterly destroyed two great empires, and stood as master of all of Europe west of the Carpathians, save for the Papal States. However, the King was yet young, and his dreadful thirst for conquest was not even close to sated. Not even allowing his troops to rest after the exhausting campaigns in Germany and the Aegean, Miles ordered all his forces to march east.
The veterans of Germany marched for the great expanses of the steppes, nominally under the banner of the Eight Crusade against the citadel of Bulgar, held by the pagan Cumans; in reality they were to attack the Orthodox Kievan Rus, with the aid of the Republic of Novgorod. With victory achieved, they were then to deviously turn on their erstwhile allies, and claim all of the great expanse of Russia for the English crown.
Meanwhile, as if to dispel any notions that he may actually be Crusading in good faith, King Miles would sink to a new low by launching an attack on the English crown's most dependable allies, the Templar state in Syria and Armenia. Knowing that the armies earmarked for the attack were largely drawn from those who had once followed King Edward against the Turks and had regarded the Templars as brothers in arms, Miles decided to quell any danger of mutiny among his Anatolian nobles by leading the attack in person.
Against the Kievans, the attack progressed rapidly. The Kievans were already exhausted by war with Novgorod to their north and could muster little defense on their western borders. The English Crusaders quickly wrapped up Bucharest, Iasi and Zhytomyr before driving on to the east, taking Kiev and Pereyaslav. Meanwhile, a Crusader force sailing from Italy crossed the Black Sea and landed at Tmurtarakhan. The great fortress fell in a bloody assault, leaving only the Crimea in Kievan hands. The Kievan ruler managed to raise a sizeable force to defend the city of Caffa, but it was composed mostly of hastily levied spearmen; the force was first routed in the field, and then systematically slaughtered inside the city by the English attackers.
As the English forces in Kiev took a brief respite as they hardened their hearts for the vile act of betrayal they were about to commit, Miles' troops in Syria were fully engaged in an equally despicable attack. While the English had been at war with the Byzantines, the Templars had been concentrating on the capture of the last Turkish city of Kermanshah. Thus all their troops were concentrated in the east, and they were utterly unprepared for the sudden English attack. As soon as word arrived of the Templar capture of Kermanshah and the destruction of the Turkish sultanate, Miles gave the word to begin the attack.
The key Templar provinces in Syria were overrun almost immediately; before the Templars could take in the fact of the English attack Damascus, Tortosa, Antioch, Aleppo and Edessa had fallen. Meanwhile English forces attacked further to the north through the Taurus mountains and sieged Diyarbakir, while from the citadel of Tbilisi two great armies marched forth, one to the west to attack Kotaisi, the other to the south to take Yerevan.
The invasion sent a shock throughout the Templar kingdom; as the Templars hurriedly tried to march their armies west, they were forced to abandon the city of Kermanshah gained at such cost from the Turks; without a Templar garrison, the people of the city revolted, and sent emissaries to the Khwarezmian Shah to offer allegiance. Meanwhile, the general atmosphere of panic and chaos led to mass rioting and ultimately a revolt in Baghdad, the Templar garrison being too few to quell the vast populace.
With the loss of Syria, and the rebellions in the east, the Templars were crippled. The English attacks continued, capturing Diyarbakir, Mosul, and isolated Qarisiya, before Miles personally drew up his enormous force before the walls of Baghdad. After much preparation, he launched his attack, his professional troops matched against the numerous but largely unarmed citizen militia defending the walls. It was more of a massacre than a battle, and sure enough was followed by a dreadful orgy of slaughter and destruction and Miles unleashed his victorious troops to sack the city.
The Templars made their last stand at Tabriz. As Henry Hungerford, victor of Yerevan, closed his siege around the city, the last Templar field army under Councillor Wilhelm came to the relief of the garrison and met Henry in battle in the mountainous terrain outside the city. The battle opened with Henry dispatching part of his heavy cavalry to annihilate the garrison before they could link up with Wilhelm's force. Although they succeeded, the brisk battle followed by a steep climb back up the mountain left the cavalry detachment weary before the main battle had even joined. The terrain did not favour the English, preventing their cannons from easily being brought to bear, while the English infantry were outnumbered by Templar infantry of equal quality. Both sides numbered Knights of St. John among their ranks, the order having splintered in two, the larger part siding with the English crown, while the Syrian chapters remained loyal to the Templars. The English longbows were successful in largely annihilating the Templar cavalry, but the infantry were still outmatched; it was only with the aid of repeated cavalry charges to the rear that the Templar's main force could be routed.
In the north, the Crusade target of Bulgar was taken by the last independent Catholic power, the Teutonic Order, thus freeing the English Crusader armies in Kiev from any obligations to continue east; it was time instead to turn north. After annexing the independent city of Polotsk, the attack on Novgorod began in earnest with the capture of Novgorod itself, most of the Novgorodian forces being concentrated south after the war with the Kievan Rus. Those forces were in many places dangerously spread out among the new English possessions in the area; the English took the opportunity to ambush many of the weaker forces of Novgorod to reduce the numbers who could be rushed north to defend.
However, the English in the south were not as prepared as those attacking in the north; the forces who had taken Kiev had been the vanguard, and the main armies were still catching up from Poland. Novgorod, meanwhile, turned out to be much stronger than Kiev. While the Velikii Knyaz mounted a powerful defense around Smolensk, other forces went on the offensive, besieging Pereyaslav and Kiev, although in the process losing the fortress of Bryansk to an English army which had been bypassed on the march south.
In the end, the English garrison of Pereyaslav repelled the siege with a successful sally, although with some difficulty. Against the stronger besieging force, the English first employed hit and run attacks with their fast Crusader knights to kill the Novgorodian artillery crews, although in the process the knights were all but wiped out by archer fire. There followed a bombardment by the English artillery and archers to thin out the enemy ranks and largely destroy the dangerous Druzhina cavalry, followed by an infantry charge and a flanking move by the cavalry to rout the deadly dismounted Boyar Sons. With the siege broken, the army sieging Kiev abandoned their siege and retreated toward Smolensk.
It was at Smolensk that the campaign would be decided. The Velikii Knyaz had prepared a formidable defense of the fortress, a great army of Druzhina cavalry, Dismounted Boyar Sons and Dismounted Dvor archers. The first English attack was a disaster; the English army was a reserve force consisting of large numbers of Levy Spearmen with a few heavier troops thrown in; the light spearmen could not resist the onslaught of the Boyar Sons and their axes, and the English center collapsed in rout. The second attack fared little better; a professional English force successfully routed two smaller armies of Novgorod before coming to grips with the main host, but was too small and too tired to overcome the Novgorod infantry, while the mighty Hospitaller Knights were defeated by the axes of the Druzhina. However, the English did succeed in killing the Velikii Knyaz and the crown prince before being overrun, and although they were routed, the brave actions of the general in repeatedly charging the pursuing infantry as his men fled around him, only withdrawing once all of his men had left the field, saved a large portion of his army from destruction. It took a third attempt, with yet another fully professional English army, to finally break through the weakened and leaderless defense and seize the fortress.
However, with the fall of Smolensk, the campaign was nearing its end. Only the citadel at Ryazan and the city of Moscow still held out, plus a small Novgorod holding in the far east. Even better, most of the surviving nobility had been wiped out at Smolensk; thus, the last Velikii knyaz of Novgorod met the advancing English in battle on the approach to Ryazan. As ever, the infantry of Novgorod proved a dangerous foe, and the battle was ferocious; but Velikii Knyaz Kirill was struck down by an English cannonball just before the lines joined, and the English knights easily routed the cavalry militia facing them. The last Velikii Knyaz of Novgorod, together with its last significant field army, had been destroyed. The republic collapsed into anarchy as the various states found themselves no longer bound by a central authority, and the English found themselves rulers of all the lands of Europe as far east as the river Don.
While the great battles raged to the north against the people of Novgorod, Miles had meanwhile been preoccupied in the Middle East. Having defeated the Templars and taken Baghdad far more cheaply than he had expected, King Miles decided to use the armies he had amassed for yet more conquest, to overrun the Khwarezm Empire and push the bounds of his empire far east into Persia. Pausing only to restore order in their new Mesopotamian cities, the English armies drove on to the east. In the north, Henry Hungerford, now known by the epithet "the Chivalrous" due to his merciful treatment of his Templar prisoners and his personal courage in battle, led the attack against Kermanshah, recognizing that the garrison, although much larger than his force, consisted mostly of militia. However, the Khwarezm armies were large and experienced from their long and increasingly successful war against the Mongols, and they sent a relief force; the ensuing battle saw an odd English force, with large numbers of the traditional longbows, but only small numbers of infantry and cavalry, both heavily outnumbered by their Khwarezmian counterparts. The English had a substantial extra advantage however, in the form of the unit of mercenary elephant mahouts they had recruited in Mesopotamia.
The battle was extremely close fought, with the English cavalry detachment performing well but being almost wiped out, with Henry himself lucky to survive; while the vast Khwarezmian infantry force could only be held back and finally routed by employing the longbowmen in a melee role to supplement the regular infantry. The elephants, meanwhile, gave a good account of themselves, routing several units, but ultimately were panicked by the Persian archer fire and were then brought down at great cost by the enemy cavalry. At last, however, the many English archers began to tell, able to flank the infantry battle and fire arrows into the enemy rear whenever not engaged in melee themselves. Henry had won the battle, and taken Kermanshah, but his army was in no condition to continue the offensive.
In the south, King Miles led the attack personally along the Euphrates, besieging and taking Basra from its weak garrison. Finding the Khwarezmians unprepared for an attack in this area, he pressed his advantage, moving on to take the fortress of Ahvaz, splitting the Kwarezm empire in two and leaving the rich cities of central Iran exposed, while other English armies continued the attack against the now isolated cities on the south coast of the Persian Gulf.
In the meantime, further English armies had crossed the Zagros mountains to continue the attack. On the road between Kermanshah and Alamut, an English army under Henry FitzHenry scored another great victory over the Khwarezmians, leaving the way open for Laurence the Conqueror to besiege Alamut. Although the Khwarezmians have gradually been winning against the Mongols and driving them back, they now find themselves trapped between the Mongols and the English.
Sensing victory, Miles pushes onward both north and south of the Caspian. In the north, only the Cumans and the Teutonic Order survive to resist the English advance; in the south, the Khwarezmid Empire is collapsing, and beyond them the Mongols are a shadow of their former might.
The current province tally stands at 169, after 159 turns. Given that there are (conveniently enough) 199 provinces on the map, the target of gaining all of them by turn 199 now looks quite possible. Obviously this is getting into the very late game which is always a bit boring compared to the early game, it's all a bit of a foregone conclusion, but I feel having got this far I may as well see it out.
BTW, excellent stuff as always Monk. Interesting route of expansion, eschewing France in favour of Scandinavia. And I see you face exactly the same problems of being squeezed from three sides by France, Scotland and Ireland as I had! Those accursed Irish...
I would suggest bypassing Caernarvon and heading straight for the Irish mainland, if you have the fleet for it. Otherwise the Irish just seem to keep pumping out stack after stack to land in Wales as fast as you can beat them.
I look forward to the next update.
Re: Pics and History of your Empire
Wow PBI, that is an epic campaign!
Re: Pics and History of your Empire
Quote:
Originally Posted by
PBI
BTW, excellent stuff as always Monk. Interesting route of expansion, eschewing France in favour of Scandinavia. And I see you face exactly the same problems of being squeezed from three sides by France, Scotland and Ireland as I had! Those accursed Irish...
I would suggest bypassing Caernarvon and heading straight for the Irish mainland, if you have the fleet for it. Otherwise the Irish just seem to keep pumping out stack after stack to land in Wales as fast as you can beat them.
I look forward to the next update.
It's been a real hassle, and it's forced me to make some really tough decisions. Not to mention it forced me into probably the most dire straights I've seen in a TW game in a long time. Not since the Rise of the Byzantines have I felt such urgency, or seen how much can ride on a single battle. I can only imagine how things will turn out later! :sweatdrop:
Also, no hints so early on as to what path I took, but I think it makes for an interesting read, couple of shockers too. :yes:
Who, me? :hide:
6.2 has created some really amazing strategic situations on the toggle_fow scene. I can't say too much cuz I don't want to reveal too much, but it's been really surprising. While I've watched some of the tried and true constants remain (France and HRE getting bogged down in bitter wars), I'm witnessing a much more aggressive AI than in 6.1 that has lead to some interesting situations. (The Khwarezmid Empire is destroying the Cumans while the Lithuanians are ransacking Novgorod.)
After you finish up your English campaign I highly suggest giving 6.2 a spin. Real Combat 4 is great fun as well, it takes some getting used to when you peice together a levy backed army and they get decimated by 40-60% casualty ratings after one battle. Really drives you to develop a professional army.
BUT ENOUGH TALK. I loved the update PBI! Keep them coming. ~D
Quote:
Originally Posted by glyphz
Whoa! That's a very interesting campaign you have there, Monk
Very eager to hear more
So envious of those who get to play SS 6.+
Glad you liked it! Depending on how class goes tomorrow (if i am not dead tired) I might have an update for you all to read, if not tomorrow then definitely the day after.
Re: Pics and History of your Empire
Nice stuff guys, as always.
SS 6.2 looks good! Didn't know it was out yet! I guess I better finish my french SS 6.1 campaign and start a fresh with something I haven't tried yet.
I was trying to get an interesting campaign going defending the alps as the french, but the AI is way too passive on the campaign map, so I got bored... :/ I had some great fun when I took Gaza with a Crusade, built up a stack of defenders and ballista towers and weathered siege after siege =) Now, I've defeated about 20 stacks of Jihad, one of the battles pitted me against 5 stacks at once, but the AI is just too stupid to reach the central square in 30 minutes. I had to sacrifice some men on the second ring wall though, so it got a little hairy there...
Through it all, I've had a unit of 25 or so dismounted feudal knights that I can't retrain because of real recruitment, it's too late and they've gone out of style ;). I decided to put them on top of the gate house, as it would free up a slot that I could fill with more scots guard and would let me deep fry some assaulters as they went through the gates. The bastards lasted 4 battles, even though they were wiped out in 2 of them enough survived their wounds to fight another day!
Another fun little detail about the whole Gaza defense, is that the crusader I sent down there and stayed on as garrison commander has gone completely insane from all the failed attempts at his life the egyptians have pulled. He still has 10 stars once a battle starts though... I'll post a screen of that lunatic later, when I'm not at work :p
Hope the new year is good to you all, it's been a while since I posted actively here :/
Monk! You're doing my Norse campaign all backwards :D More please!
Cheers!
Here's what it looks like now
And here's the lunatic master strategist
Re: Pics and History of your Empire
It is curious the way the fates of the nations can change, on a whim, and forever alter the destiny of the world about them. Twenty years ago the Scottish kick-started the war for britannia with their sneak attack on the city of York, and now they find themselves in Exile, the Irish have stepped up to attempt to fill the power vaccum in the isle and recently invaded Wales, and though they were forced back they still maintain a firm hold on the local strongpoints.
The English King knew that if he were to end the senseless warring among the isle, diplomacy could not be an option. He had already tried such a few short years ago, when the irish initially landed in Wales. They made outlandish demands just for a cease-fire! William was old, but he was as proud as he was in his twenties, he was not about to be bullied about by the Ireland of all kingdoms. As the northern campaigns against the Scottish came to an end and the Hero of the Scots war, Gregory Darnley, settled into Amberdeen to enjoy his well deserved retirement William knew he would need another army to deal with the Irish.
For the last fifty years the English had primarily relied on levies to form the mainstray of their armies. These willing men, farmers during the harvest months, were more than willing to fight and die for King and country. The problem lie in their battle prowess, no army that marched from Nottingham with a backbone of levy-men could survive a battle with fewer than 30% casualties, with some battles seeing English hosts decimated just to obtain victories. It was a situation that William needed to remedy, and so while the Veterens of the Scots campaign marched into Wales to contain the Irish threat and reinforce the offensive, A new type of army was being forged. A professional army.
Caernarvron. It was a mighty fortress that had exchanged hands twice already, and by the time reinforcements arrived in Wales, led by Gerald Uhtred, the local defenders were in sorry shape. The fortress was once more under siege by a massive Irish host and was in danger of being taken without hardly a fight in another year! A former cavalry commander, Uhtred served at the command of General Darnley himself in the wars of northern conquest. He was the perfect man for the job of leading the relief force.
The Irish turned quickly to face him and Uhtred knew the battle ahead was going to be hard fought. With few men to his command, he had hoped to find reinforcements at the fortress, instead he found a ragged assortment of defenders too weary to aid in the coming battle. He attacked the irish lines head on, striking hard and quickly. The Irish had brought with them a detachment of their deadly Ridire, the heavy cavalry that had in each battle before proved deadly to the light cavalry forces of England. Still, General Uhtred was undaunted.
The two sides slammed into one another as the battle was joined, Uhtred leading the lightly armed Hobilar detachment of the English cavalry in a frontal assault on the Ridire. It was a daring move, but one that was able to stand toe to toe with the deadly force. The infantry lines hit each other amidst the field and the true battle for Caernarvron was joined, both sides not giving an inch, both sides knowing a victory here would see their Kingdom claim the lands surrounding. Uhtred and his massed cavalry won the right flank after a series of deadly charge and recharges, but his detachment had suffered heavy casualties. Yet just as he was about to turn his attention to a charge against the unprotected flank of the Irish, a rider arrived. The left flank was in danger of collapsing! A company of horsemen had flanked the English and were bearing down on the thinned out ranks of the levies!
Uhtred had no time to waste, he turned his cavalry and circled around behind his own lines, just as a group of Irish militia began to bear down on his position. Seamlessly as he fell back, the Welsh mercenary spearmen who had been in reserve moved up and engaged the flanking Irish infantry, preserving the line and holding their own.
Allowing Uhtred to lead his cavalry in a frontal assault on the main Irish Cavalry force. The charged proved to be deadly, as the lances of the English came down and the two sides crashed together, an entire unit of Ridire was slaughtered.. the rest soon turned tail and retreated. Having narrowly defeated the cavalry, the Infantry finally began to break, Uhtred pushed home and finished the job, winning the battle once and for all. But as so many times before the cost was high.
General Uhtred knew that if he did not retrieve reinforcements soon the irish would return with a greater host than that which had just been defeated. It was decided that Luitenant Ralph Clinton, the second in command during the battle, would take charge with the survivors and bolster the defenses at the fortress while Uhtred returned to Nottingham to take charge of the new force being raised there. Wales was indeed safe, for now..
In the following weeks after the battle that saw the English not only reclaim Caernarvron, but secure it, the Kingdom of Scotland was completely and utterly destroyed. Not by England, but by the French! The wars along the Northern coast of France had been Scotland's last dict effort to keep itself above water, and after three long years they had faltered and lost it all. The French, after defeating the only common rival she had with England, finally agreed to a ceasefire and a return to trading with it's neighbor across the channel. The French king stopped short of agreeing to an alliance with England, however, believing it not the right time for such a declaration to be made. Even so, for King William it was joyous news indeed.
it was 1133, and while the Irish were licking their wounds and preparing for another attack on Wales, William reached out to another enemy, Denmark. The two powers had clashed in many naval battles since the outbreak of hostilities, and many Danish and English ships now lined the bottom of the North Sea. Still, William knew what is was the Danes wanted. They wanted Scandinavia. It took nearly two solid years of negotiations between the two before some form of common ground and deal was finally found! William was reluctant to give up his hard won conquests of the North, but he knew that if he did so it would go a long way to mending his relationship with the Danes, but the price of comprimise was steep. In the end, William had to abandon all territories from Oslo and east, with the promise that no English threat would further encroach upon those lands. The diplomats managed to bargain for England to keep its holdings West of Oslo, however, and the new agreement would soon become known as the Oslo Accords. Thankfully all garrison forces were allowed safe passage home, and William knew the perfect place for them to sail.
After brief skirmishes with the Irish near Wales in 1138, Uhtred once more returned to the war torn land with a rebuilt army, it was an army much unlike the one he had commanded at the last battle of Caernarvron. This one was consisted of tough, drilled professional soldiers, levies made up the small minority and were intended for future garrison duty. Garrison Duty for Ireland that is.
Landing a few mile south of the city and near a busy port, Uhtred fixed his eyes on Dublin. He was shocked to see it so sparcely defended. Could he really have destroyed the irish in such detail that they could not afford to raise a new army? He laid siege and the following year saw to it the city was stormed and added to the growing reach of the English kingdom. But still, something wasn't right. Entrusting the Army to his second in Command, Samuel of Moray, he planned to return to the city and see to its proper occupation. But on his way to dublin he and his cavalry force walked into an ambush! Barely able to escape with his life the general retreated north, leaving Samuel to deal with the Irish.
Samuel cornered the Irish on the edge of a dense forest and marched upon their lines. Although completely unproven in his own command, he was the only man who could do the job in Ireland. As he advanced he adopted a triple line deployment. One that allowed great flexibility in his force to break up and move to put down potential threats, it was one that before now the English army was not disciplined enough to employ. The skill and discipline of the largely untested army proved too much for the Irish to handle, and without the element of surprise on their side they were quickly destroyed, leaving the way into the rest of the isle relatively clear! William's newly formed, professional army had proven itself battle worthy, surviving the fight against Ireland's best with far fewer casualties than any English army before them.
Pushing on to Galway Samuel managed to wrest control of it before any significant force could be raised to stop him, proving himself not only as a sound tactician but a fine strategic thinker, he had been battle tested and proven, just as the army had.
Having lost their primary settlements and fortresses, the Kingdom of Ireland agreed that the time for war was over. They had after a solid decade of war, lost. In 1145 it was made official, Ireland was now a client kingdom of England, the army that had seen this happen, the powerful and professional backed host, took garrison at Galway to keep an eye on the Irish and ensure they did not rise up.
King William, who was now at a practically ancient age of 72, could for the first time in many years rest easy. His court joked that maybe now that his earthly work done he could die peacefully! But they knew better, he was far too stubborn for that.
Re: Pics and History of your Empire
Re: Pics and History of your Empire
As it seems not so long ago, thread necromancy was not being frowned upon as largely as what it once used to I thought I would give this thread a bump (Please oh great mighty FH please do not smite me!). There are some great old stories in here, plus I thought I'd give it a kick in the guts with a recollection of my current SS campaign that I posted at another forum not so long ago.
Hope you like it -
This is my current Teutonic Order Campaign at turn 94. (Black provinces with white border).
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/...lviewofmap.jpg
- I'm using SS6.2 RR/RC Compilation (no bgr).
- VH/VH
- Large Units
Here is a historical view of the campaign map.
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/...1222TO1313.gif
The story so far...
I have been building my Eastern military forces over the last 20 turns or so preparing for the Mongol's who have just turned up on my doorstep at this very turn - they, in conjunction with Novgorod, just eliminated the Kievan Rus. I decided long ago that the city of Kiev was going to be the best defensive position to try and hold for as long as possible, as it has good defensible river crossings north and south of the city that will help bottleneck their assault.
The only other nation I am at war with is Hungary, they betrayed me so I have made it my business to make them pay with what little forces I have left in the west/south, I just recently took two of their provinces in 1 turn after a combined assault. The trickiest and probably most enjoyable of these two assaults was at Kassa, whereby over 60% of my troops were militia - and I never use militia in my offensive regiments. I took huge casualtlies in that siege however it was quite satisfying once the day was won.
As for my western neighbours, I have gone to great lengths to make sure I am allied with the more stronger factions (aside from Hungary). A war against any of these factions whilst fighting the Mongols would probably mean certain doom for me. I have alliances with France, Denmark, Norway, Venice and The Papal States (you start as allies with the Pope). I was originally intending to become the HRE's big brother and try and protect them from being annihilated, however they broke off their alliance with me and then became excommunicated. After a Crusade was called against them at Frankfurt I went to war against them and took Stettin, Prague, Wroclaw and Magdeburg. The French won the race to Frankfurt, so with the Crusading I army that raised for this crusade, I marched them deep south into HRE territory and took Bern. I then gave this to the French as a deal for an alliance - the French love me now.
My Empire is quite stretched, using RR you really feel the pinch not being able to freely recruit those elite troops every one or two turns. My biggest taste of disaster came early in the campaign when a siege against Lithuania's last province went horribly wrong. They had a full stack within their walls plus a small contingent outside the walls, so I sieged them using two stacks. After defeating the contingent outside I turned my attention to those inside, I pretty much had them beat too, however I didnt realise that I left "Timed Victories" on and due to my massive 75% casualty rate my progress was too slow, so I lost the battle when they only had 100 or so men left to kill in the city centre. As a result they recovered about 900 men that I had captured. I recovered and took the city a few turns later with a rag-tag army made up of the previous two stacks plus some other units that I rushed in.
The Almoravids (moors) have had two Successful Jihads. They took Jerusalem away from the Papal States (who I gave to the pope after the first crusade of the game - I lost my General and a lot of troops in the battle, plus I was not centering my plots on the middle east yet, so I gave the city away), then later lost it to the Fatamids. Now just recently in the last two or three turns they have just successfully taken Kermanshah (spelling) from the Mongols.
The last of my news:
- 6 Factions eliminated already at turn 96 - Kwarezm, Cumans, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Poland, Lithuania and Kievan Rus.
- Roman Empire (2 provinces), Aragon (2 provinces) and HRE (1 province) on the brink of elimination.
- Crusade under way against the Almoravids capital of Granada.
- The Mongol Empire is beginning to crumble, although they have superior military numbers they have massive unrest in all their cities and a few have rebelled. I am intending on sneaking a few armies through deep into their territories and take them when I get the chance.
- My total military might is only 13% of the size of the Mongol army.
I thought I would add a shot of the oncoming Mongol army that is stretching across Russian lands. They have about the same amount of stacks raping and pillaging the middle east too - This shot doesnt show what is already sitting next to Kiev.
Some last shots at turn 94.
I hope to post an update of this shortly. Please share some stories about campaigns you are currently playing. Even if you can not post pictures, it would be great to hear of some tales of glory or destruction.
