Post thy Truely Epic Battles

My latest Truely Epic Battle was a very nasty 'Alamo' at Iasi. I was in a long drawn our war with Poland as the Rus, when those Byzantine jerks decided to side against me (despite our alliance) with the Catholic pigdogs.
Iasi was the first line defence of my nation, if youve played the Rus you know that reinforcing garrisons is much more difficult, and that every town is essentially required to be self-sufficient in order to defend itself, since getting infantry from one city to another takes 2-3 turns on average, even with roads.
Anyway, I had just fended off a rather nasty Polish attempt at an attack, I managed to kill/route all their infantry, forcing their superior cavalry force to retreat.
Next turn, boom. Full stack of Byzantines appears on the bortder.
I said to myself, "Oh (explitive)".

Sure enough, next turn I have a full Byzantine stack sieging my pitiful force of three units of archers, two Slav mercenaries, four horse archers of various types and my generals cavalry. Also included are a unit of six Brigands and eleven Alan light cavalry.
I thought to myself 'This is going to be quick.'
So, I did the best I could. I lined my archers up on the walls, stuck two units of HA's at the rear gate and had my general wait in the middle until I decided what to do with him.
I was faced with about ten units of Byzantine spears, a few archers, a couple of units of those Byzantine crossbow cavy and a lot of spear cavy, plus two generals.
I started the battle, then waited until the ram was in range. My Alans got to martyr themselves first, in order to stop the ram, since the Byzantines ALSO had a superior cavalry force, so my archers could blast it with fire arrows. It didnt catch on fire, but I held them long enough that they decided to route all their other units to the siege tower/ladders which they now had up.
Through some miracle, my Slav mercenaries managed to hold off ALL of the assaulting infantry on the right with the tower, and the one on the left (with the ladders) killed enough that my archers managed to hold back the waves.

I have to say, those Slav Spearmen are bloody heroic. I watched as the single guy left in the unit on the left killed FIVE Byzantine spearmen before going down.

Anyway, all was going well, I had killed almost %80 of the enemy infantry, and it showed. Corpses all over the walls and at the base of the towers/ladders. My cavy archers who were harrassing the enemy flanks ran out of arrows, so I had them charge the buys at the base of the ladders/towers. That bought me some more time and routed the enemies there.

My downfall was at hand though. A unit of infantry came back from their previous route. I was otherwise engaged and my last unit of cavy which could get to them was fighting some sneaky Byzantines who tried to get to the rear gate. I sent my General out and watched as the Byzantine general's bodyguards slaughtered them, leaving only my General alive, so I had him run back inside the castle. A few minutes later, the gate was down. I ran the remnants of my Slav spearmen down there and watched as they, to, were destroyed. My archers still had some arrows left, so I had them fire at the flanks/rear of the cavalry now swarming through my gate, with little effect I might add.
I practically cried as my lone general rode down the street to meet his death, I did, however, get a kick out of his routing a unit of twelve Byzantine Cavalry after killing six of them (as in there were 18 originally), before that bastard of a Byzantine general killed him.
The Byzantines then rode to the castle square, starting the countdown timer. With only my archers left, there was little I could do, so I lined them up on the street and managed to get off two volleys before the cavalry arrived, killing all of them.

The final score?

780 Byzantine deaths
220 Russian deaths (only thirty-something captured and executed)

I hope you like your castle, you traiterous Byzantine jackass.

work's way better with screenshots.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but sometimes a thousand words is worth a hundred pictures.

That battle sounds fantastic. I know what you mean about those last stands, they're great.

Trouble is I didnt save the replay. It was 1am at the time and I was tired and not thinking clearly. I wish I had though. So no screens, anyway.

sounds great, well-written post!

got any regular battles?

still waiting on my copy from play.com :( :'(

pictures might be good, but one's imagination is enough sometimes!

HDD

This is too good an idea for a thread to let die. I have had two battles (well, 4 battles, but 2 pairs of 2) lately that both had me on the edge of my seat.

Playing Venice on VH/VH.

Having finally secured all of northern Italy, I dispatched my faction leader with a strong army and siege weapons to take the Sicilian territories. I am at war with everyone who surrounds me, except France. Milan and Venice are up to large walls with ballista towers and are defended by almost full stacks of Italian Spear Militia and Pavise Crossbow Militia, with 2 Corrocio standards (or whatever the morale boost things are called) and 2 catapults in Venice, as well as my faction leader, a fabulous general with gold chevrons. HRE sends a full stack to besiege Venice. They assault the second turn.

It is a large army composed of mainly spear militia with a few units of knights and some assorted dismounted heavy infantry. I have two peasant archers who fail miserably to burn the siege towers and approaching ram. With most of my spears on the walls, I watch in horror as the gate breaks. I have 2 spears there in schiltrom formation as an emergency and immediately rush 2 more from the walls to help. The schiltroms hold against the initial cavalry onslaughts, but they are wiped out by the following heavy infantry. A few tentative fireballs from the catapults, stationed on the road back from the gate, results in friendly casualties and a quick ceasefire. By pinning them in the gate area with spears on two sides, I am eventually able to win, but at a loss of 2/3 of my men. Still on the AIs turn, a half-stack HRE army arrives and lays siege again, preventing me from producing reinforcements.

The second battle looks nearly hopeless. It is only a half stack, but I am down to 1/3 of a stack myself, and most of that is crossbowmen. My melee is limited to 2 full strength Italian spear militia, two partial strength dismounted feudal knights, and my general. Their forces are mainly inferior spear militia, but with a core of 2 feudal knights and the general. Once again, the ram fails to burn and in rushes all of the melee. This time I could only afford one schiltrom by the gate and it is hopelessly outnumbered. In desperation, I pull all of my remaining melee units off the walls, letting the crossbowmen fight there, and rush to the gateway. The mass of HRE horse and foot completely fills the gate area and annihilates the schiltrom, then begins to push outwards in both directions. My thin lines of spearmen from the walls are holding, but they are slowly being pushed back, allowing HRE infantry up onto my walls through the gatehouse doors. In desperation, I unleash my catapults again. With such a huge mass of HRE men in the gateway, it is impossible to miss. The second fireball takes down what looks to be about 50-60 men at once, including the enemy general. 3 of the units break and I charge in my faction leader in an effort to route the rest as well. However, the rest hold and my faction leader goes down. I\'m in despair as the last of my dismounted knights dies on north side of the gatehouse and there is nothing to prevent HRE from taking the city with cavalry from that direction. However, I still have my 2 Corrocio standards, placed a bit of a way off to both sides of the gate, providing morale to the walls. They are only 40 or so men per unit, but they are all I have left. I tell them to drop the standards and charge in. They die, but slowly and hold the line on both sides. A few more catapult fireballs breaks the HRE morale and they all route, chased by my 8 surviving bodyguards. When it is all over, the only melee units I have left are 2 half-strength Carrocio standards and 20 spearmen. Remnants of a melee heavy full 20 stack army prior to the first battle.


Ragusa has been entirely isolated and self-dependant for almost the entire game. I sent a few generals and critical reinforcements across by boat when possible, but Ragusa held on by the skin of its teeth for the majority of its existence. After I had gained control of all of Italy, I was finally starting to have a good economic return, allowing my to build up Ragusa and train loads of Venetian Archers and Dismounted Feudal Knights. I sent a large contingent off south under a captain to counterattack against Byzantium. Hungary took this moment to launch a fresh wave of assaults.

They besiege and assault the second turn with loads of missile cavalry and light infantry. With a 2-wall fortress to defend and a still rather large stack of high quality archers and heavy infantry, nothing could hurt me, right? Wrong. A hit the Start Deployment button and to my horror, the battle simply begins. A spy has opened my gates, preventing pre-battle setup. My units are scattered all over the fortress and it will take several minutes for most to arrive at the attack area.

I rush as many as I can to the gates, rushing them up to the walls to fend off the 3 ladders and 2 siege towers. The men at arms hold the walls, but take high losses from what turns out to be several full units of Crusader Sergeants who must have returned from a failed crusade. Just as I think I have them beaten on the walls, I notice the unit I have placed by the gate for emergencies is fighting! I had forgotten that they could enter the gates anytime they wanted, and they had finally done so, driving a mass of cavalry in when I was not watching. I have 2 mounted feudal knights units near the gatehouse and I charge them in to hold the breach. All available infantry come off the walls and arrive to help hold the enemy. In a long battle of attrition, the enemy is routed and destroyed, by I lose every last one of my feudal knights. My melee units are down tot 1 and 1/3 units of dismounted feudal knights and 1 and 1/3 units of armored sergeants.

Of course, Hungary besieges again that very same turn before I can reinforce. On the second turn, they assault again… once again with a spy who has opened the doors, preventing me from deploying. This time it is hopeless. The only units near the gate are a unit of 17 venetian archers, 19 armored sergeants, and a full unit of peasant archers. Everything else is scattered around and no-where near available. Hungary advances with 2 seige towers and 2 ladders, their army being almost exclusively infantry. There is no way I can get enough men to the main gate in time to hold it, so I order all other units back to the second wall defenses. The 3 units near the attack remain to do what they can and to keep the outer defense towers shooting as long as possible. I pull the peasant archers back when they are threatened, since it is a large unit and I will need their arrows. The walls soon swarm with Hungarian infantry and my outer wall units are destroyed. I have just barely managed to man the inner wall defenses when I completely lose control of the outer.

There are two entrances to the inner area, the gatehouse (door open thanks to spy) and one end of the main wall, which is accessed from the outer wall area. Hungary assaults from both directions, with heavy infantry and cavalry and my melee is now limited to 1 unit of dismounted feudal knights, 1 large (but not full) armored sergeants, and 1/3 of a group of feudal knights. The segeants hold the gate and the knights are on the wall, to protect my archers, who can hit anything in the city with their long-range arrows. If I keep them alive and shooting, I might be able to win. The enemy general tries to force the gate. With half my segeants down, I charge in my general and manage to kill him. His bodyguard route and are cut to pieces by the archers as they flee. Hungary then moves 2 dismounted feudal knights and 2 crossbowmen units to the wall and beings marching towards the wall entrance to my rear area. I send out the 1/3 unit of dismounted feudal knights to re-activate the towers in the threatened outer-wall area and to hold them for as long as possible. They do not last as long as I was hoping, routing and dying to the last man. However, I noticed that the combination of my archers and the re-activated outer towers were inflicting significant losses on the enemy. I decide to go for broke and send my full unit of feudals to do the same thing the smaller group did.

While this is going on, 2 Hungarian infantry units attempt to charge the gateway, but massed arrows inflict heavy casualties and they are repulsed after a short bout of melee with the remaining sergeants. On the outer wall, the towers are doing much more damage than I had hoped and the feudals are holding well, but the Hungarian crossbows in the street are firing at them and I cannot get to them as enemy foot on the wall blocks the way. With my archers now running out of arrows, I charge my general out and take the crossbows in the rear. I route them with about 6 surviving bodyguards. All across the fortress, the Hungarians are retreating, so I pull all my archers off the walls and send them out across the city to re-take the outer walls. There is some final hand-to-hand fighting near the gatehouse, but the fortress is secured and the battle won.

I was playing the Egyptians, on H/H and I had conquered Arabia, Syria, Palestine, Aleppo and Antioch as well as the African region to the west, by some feat of stupidity I had not yet moved against the rebel cities to the west, well anyway it all soon started to get a little complicated... First a crusade was called on me and nearly all Catholic factions joined against me, I had tried to secure an alliance with the Turks and I were already allied with the Byzantines. The first crusades to arrive were the Polish, whose crusading army consisted of lots of crusading sergeants and knights as well as those annoying mounted crossbowmen of theirs. This army was destroyed, though with relatively heavy losses, by my main army led by my faction leader consisting of mostly Mamluks (heavy cavalry and archers) and some infantry as backup. The next army (Hungarians) was a lot easier as it almost entirely consisted of pilgrims and fanatics, against whom I suffered about 30 losses and captured nearly the entire army. Then came the French, Venetians and Danish armies, all properly equipped. I beat back the French force though with very heavy losses for my already weakened army, I sent the cavalry to retrain in Gaza and the infantry to help garrison Jerusalem. Then the Venetians fell upon Jerusalem the next turn, without waiting for the Danish, and took it with not much losses as they rode their overwhelming number of heavy cavalry in through the gate as I did not manage to burn down the battering ram. After that I got peace with the Danish and they simply turned and left for home. But then the Byzantines betrayed me, they besieged Antioch which I managed to relieve with my retrained, enlarged and experienced Mamluk army. Though they kept coming and I took Cyprus to make them more fearsome of me, if that works, so I could force them to peace, which I did not get, but I left some strong forces and started training more. I turned back to besiege and retake Jerusalem. Then the Turks attacked Antioch after defeating a nearby Byzantine army, the subsequent turn they took it and sent their army southward. I took Jerusalem and diverted my army to defeat them, which I did, then they sent another army which I also defeated, time for my army to retrain again, though some units simply had to be replaced as they were lost.

Then the worst possible thing happened, which I have been building up to, the Mongols arrived in Baghdhad and to my surprise ignored it as they allied themselves with the Turks for some reason :sweatdrop: If you have seen it you will know that they have lots of stack with high command generals with lots of dread and troops with 6 experience a piece. First they took my castle at Aleppo, which despite defending very well was taken, anyway the Mongols had more than enough troops, so they could afford to lose a battle. I again diverted my once again retrained army led by my Sultan Moussa the Holy Warrior and one of his sons. I tried attacking the smaller stacks in night attacks to sort of bleed them dry, but it did not save me as they soon attacked me with two of their armies, one led by the Khan. They outnumbered me by 2-1 (2.5 to 1 to be more precise) and this may be a bit more fatal versus Mongol armies as they have lots of experience as well as very good generals giving further boosts. The battle started and I used my Mamluk archers varying success to fire back at the harassing Mongol horse-archers. I used my Mamluks and Arab cavalry mostly for swift attacks against the foot archers, which had to retreat quickly for fear of being overwhelmed by the lancers (heavy and light). After a little while of skirmishing they attacked with everything they had of cavalry, and I charged my men against, for a while I thought I'd win as I managed to chainrout some of their cavalry units, but then I saw that they had not attacked with everything they had and that this was mostly just the first army, which then fell upon me. I still resisted and in the chaos my Sultan's bodyguard slew their Khan. Their other general was killed by flanking Arabs. It was then I started to realize the advantage their numbers gave them. I was steadily losing men though forcing them to take a heavy toll for every Mamluk that fell. But in a slugging match such as this battle turned out as, the most numerous foe usually wins. And the victory went to the Mongols. My Sultan was killed as he was surrounded on all sides, my other general fled and was captured and put to death along with the other prisoners.

https://img82.imageshack.us/img82/98...golsvy9.th.png

I'm not sure if I'm going to continue playing on this campaign, as it is a little hard, which may be a good thing, but I think I did some stupid things along the way, and the Mongols have captured Acre, Damascus and are moving towards Jerusalem, I am thinking of an escape plan that basically involves moving to Cyprus and starting to expand anew from there.

I'm definitely a words are worth a thousand pictures person, and this is a brilliant thread. Some brutal battles! I'll hope to add something soon, but it's great fun just reading.

This is thread is such a great Idea!

For the record- i have encountered the so-called 'passive AI' bug only Twice so far in my campaign, and im nearly fimnished. Also, those occaisions were at the satrt of the campaing- i have a feeling the AI 'ealrns, or is more adept with larger armies, ie less worried about loosing men because, quoting the film Braveheart- "We have Reserves! Attack!"
Annnyways.

English v. Milanese.
Milanese have gutted the French empire, splitting it in two when they captured Paris. i am not too happy about this, as Milan is riche, strong and obviously aggressive; whereas France was a great ally, i'd married off to their Heir, & King!, and hoped they might last longer so i could finish off the danes.

After pasting the french, and building up the their armies in north France, the Milanese attacked Bruges, which I had captured and then defended from the Danes only 2 years previous. Three tough battles were required to prise them away and give them a kicking to remember; which they did, because as soon as the Danes attacked Antwerp Milan again marched on Bruges, with c.1,450 men.

A 1,500 strong, veteran army led by Prince Rufus barred their way. Taking up position laterally across a ridge the English deployed in three line sof Longbows, Bill men (with dismounted knights & spearmen at the flanks) and a reserve of Feudal knights. 2 units of Mailed Knights guarded the right flank, while the steep slope of the left side of the ridge was considered sufficient guard against a fast attack. A ballista battery supported the Longbows, with their stakes planted.

The Milanese set up oppoiste along the spine of the ridge, on slightly higher ground, crowsboow militia in front, main infantry force behind, and 2 units of broken lances supporting the centre.

The battle began with a prolonged and bloody archery duel between the Longbowmen and the Crossbows. The english eventually gained the upper hand, their longer range giving them an edge. The knights, with spearmen and fdismounted knights in support, swung right and down along the slope, intending to come up and flank the corssbowmen. The idea was to remove the archery support and lure the enemy infantry to an assault on basically a prepared position.

It failed. THe supposed support from the infatry was disjointed and slow, leaving the knights vulnerable to a counter charge by the Broken Lances. A sudden assault by the main force of billmen, attampting to use the distraction of the Lances to theirt advantage was counter by the entire Milanese centre counter-attacking. The enemy slope was literllay swarming with men. Bringing up the Feudal knights held the line, while the longbowmen porued fire onto the rear enemy ranks. most of the hand-to-hand infatry combat took place under a scattered copse of trees, breaking up formations and attacks. Driving off the mailed knights the Broken Lances counter-charged and crashed into the English infantry, bulging back their line close to breaking point.A counter-counter charge by the Prince Rufus rallied the line, but was checked by the Milanes general himself. Falling back the enemy general seperated most of the Princes bodyguard from their Lord, who was quickly surrounded and cutdown by the infantry. The english centre began to break, with an assault on their left flank finding a hole between the spearmen and dismounted knights, and the main infatry line. Repeated charges by the Broken lances finally yielded a break-through and the English line fell apart. Chaos ensued, with the complete mix-up of units in the main battle prevent organised retreat or any semvblance of formation. Billmen fought where they stood, in groups and one s and twos. The milanese cavalry pushed through the mass to swing around and attack the english infatry from the rear. sealing their fate.

The longbowmen were ordered to retreat, as well as the knights. The out-maneuvered left division of spearmen and dismounted knights covered the retreat, leaving thier comrades to die surrounded, outflanked, out of formation and leaderless.

A crushing English defeat. Bruges fell shortly afterwards, as did Antwerp to the Danish. The Citadel at Caen is being approached by a 1,700 strong Milanese army. The decisive Battle of the Marne Ridge has convinced the English the the continent can go hang- trying to hold onto multiple possesions, with no natural denfense such as mountains or seas is pointless,
at least until a more friendly pope is elected, and stronger cavalry force is available.

The AI is this battle was exemplery. This is exactly what I deserved, and without any false bonuses, cheats or free men. I lost partly because of my failure to organise my right flank, but mainly because I left a prepared, srtring position, fighting at a disadvantage with strong, supported infatnry chargeing from higher ground. The combined fighting by the milanese, with infatry supported by cavalry, while thier remaining croswbow men harred my cavalry and flanks, was superb.

I LOVE THIS GAME.
Bless CA, they have come up trumps again, and to HELL with the Whiners, Moaners, Whingers and be-littlers who cannot accept this great game for what it is and just HAVE to nit-pick.
It's brilliant. Get over it.
:)

HDD

I'd like to add to this thread.

After a long, bloody war in the North with the Danes, with the bridge between Bruges and Antwerp changing hands after some incredibly vicious battles no less than three times, the English army led by Godfrey Bucknell reached the walls of Antwerp, intent on revenge for the lives lost on that tragic bridge.
The town was not well garrissoned, and the recent battles at the bridge had weakened the Danish army, so the walls fell quickly and Godfrey ordered the immediate extermination of the populace.Their bloodlust satiated, the English settled in to enjoy the 'finer' things of the settlement, and no doubt nearly a year later hundreds of Anglo-Flemish/Danish babies must have arrived.
Stephen Pilson had been ordered to the region, ostensibly to deal with local rebels but also to test new artillery, the ribault and the bombard.
After crushing the local rebels and achieving satisfactory results with the new weapons, he left them for safekeeping in Antwerp whilst he, his brother Morcar and their company of knights headed southwards to guard Paris from a possible Milanese invasion.

In command of the small garrison of sixty longbowmen, two catapults, four ribualts, two bombards and his bodyguard of thirty knights, Godfrey must have looked uneasily northwest and hoped that the horizon would remain free of any tell-tale cloud of dust.

He was wrong to hope.

Taking advantage of the lack of defenders, a large army of Danish assault troops moved quickly into position around the walls of Antwerp.
Godfrey was lucky enough to sneak a messenger out, who rode quickly south to find the Pilson brothers.
On hearing the news, they abandoned their posts and marched north, pushing themselves and their horses as fast as they could in the hope of arriving in time to stop an assault, praying that they would not arrive to the smell of death and a Danish flag flying over the walls.

Dawn broke, and Godfrey looked out from the walls at the Danes. They were more lively this morning, and as the light increased he saw theram being brought forward, saw the ladders being assigned, and knew that this was it.
He rushed down to his men, his heart pounding as his page strapped on his armour.
He mounted his horse, bade his men do the same, and tried to find a speech, a rousing sentiment to stir his terrified men and lift them to great deeds, but could not.
He tried, but his mouth was dry, but eventually he managed to articulate a simple "God save us". He prayed to the Lord for a miracle.
Then they came.

The Norse axemen assigned to the ram rushed forward with it, trying to avoid the vicious arrows from the archers on the walls that whipped down around them. Some were not lucky, but the majority got through to relative shelter, and were quickly followed the the greater mass of Danish troops.
The Danish foot knights had been assigned the ladders, and had also brought them forward to the left of the gates, but had not attracted any arrows from the small garrison.
They were on the ramparts before the ram did it's job, and started hacking into the hated archers stationed on top, who in turn dropped their bows and fought back, like fiends, with anything they could get their hands on.

The gates burst open and the axemen poured through, but the foremost of them slowed and stopped in a moment of bowel-liquifying terror.
The mass of troops behind them pushed them onwards, not seeing the threat, until, for many of them, the world exploded.

The firing of all six guns simultaneously in such an enclosed space was deafening and a huge risk, but as the smoke cleared a pile of bloody and broken Danish bodies was revealed, and Godfrey grinned to himself, knowing his plan had worked and that this day may yet end well, lowered his visor, and ordered his horsemen to charge into the wavering Danes.
The gunners drew their knives and,screaming, also hurled themselves at the enemy.

The Danes at the back had heard the explosions, but were not able to see anything over the men in front, and kept pushing, eager to get to the fray, and eager to catch a glimpse of the progress of the battle.
So intent were they on pushing forward and struggling to see what was happening that they did not hear the thunder of hooves until too late, and some turned shortly before the Pilson brothers and their knights smashed into the crowd of men.

The Pilsons had ridden hard through the night, and as dawn had broken finally seen the spire of the abbey at Antwerp, and spurred their tired horses further on, knowing that they were almost there.
They had ridden into view of the proceedings shortly before the gate fell, and realising that they might be too late, rode hell-for-leather across the field.
As the knights hurtled into the rear of the Danish army, English men-at-arms clambered up the ladders at the walls after the Danish foot knights who were finishing off the archers who had vainly given their lives.
The knights of the ground hacked their way through the Danes, the weight of their horses pushing them further through the gates onto the swords and knives of Godfrey and his men.
Soon, as they stood astride the corpses of their friends and comrades, the Danes wielding their axes at the gate and the Danes gripping their swords on the walls realised that all was lost, gritted their teeth, prayed to the Lord and went to their deaths grimly hoping to take as many English with them as possible.
They were disappointed.

Nearly three thousand Danes lost their lives at the walls of Antwerp, ten times the number of Englishmen who fell that day, and this time the city was saved, but for now, the war is not over.

When the Mongols burst onto the scene in the Russian steppes, I decided that I was going to hold the river crossings at Iasi rather than push farther out to fight them. In the two decades since, they've tried to force both crossings and been rebuffed, using two full stacks at each crossing, with one stack reinforcing the other. It looked like they decided the nut was too tough to crack, and moved on. They came back.

This time, they used three stacks at one crossing, led by not one, but two of their 8 star generals. They also chose a perfect day for it, right in the middle of a raging blizzard. Visibility was only about halfway across the bridge. Fortunately, I'd prepared for the battle by bringing up a trebuchet. When the scouts had reported the advancing mongol forces, some cows were slaughtered in preparation for the coming fight. Under normal circumstances, the best way to force the crossing would have been for the mongolian general to bring up his artillery and bombard the far end of the bridge, then storm across with the cavalry, but visibility didn't allow for it. As they began running across, I dropped rotting cows onto the bridge itself. The stench affected the horses far worse than the men, and some of the mongol units routed before even reaching the defenders on my side of the bridge. There were lots of them, though, and not all broke.

The first wave, casualties were light on my side. The archers and horse archers rained death upon them as soon as they became visible, and the arrows combined with the stench caused them to break quickly once combat ensued. The second wave started similarly, but as the mongol troops piled up on the bridge, they managed to clear the carcasses off the bridge, and soon I was engaged with powerful and angry mongol troops. I turned that wave as well, killing both of the mongol generals, but now the arrows were gone, and the third wave was coming. I managed to drop two more cows onto the bridge just as the leading elements of the third wave struck, but without the arrows, it was a tougher fight than the first. Some mongol elements spilled out around the side and engaged the archers. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't peasant archers, it was guard archers, and not ordered to skirmish. They put paid to the few who made it that far easily.

When the third wave turned, it was time for the fourth wave, comprised of survivors of the previous attacks who'd rallied and were returning in anger. The troops were beginning to stretch thin, a couple of units had to be pulled out of the line completely due to casualties, and all the infantry were less than full strength, most at 50-60% of starting. However, having broken once, the morale of the fourth wave was fragile. After a bit of combat, I heard the mongol commander order the retreat. I ordered a massive push. The mongol units in the back rushed off in good order. The units that were at the forefront of the assault broke. As soon as my infantry cleared the far side of the bridge, the cavalry took up the pursuit, chasing them as far as the terrain allowed. In the end, more than 2000 mongol elites lay dead on the field of battle, and the snow was red with blood. I'd lost more than 600 men out of 1400 in the defending force. How long before the next batch tried to force the crossing?

1 picture tells 1000 words. :)

https://img132.imageshack.us/img132/2663/0079nw2.th.jpghttps://img170.imageshack.us/img170/5936/0080eu5.th.jpghttps://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1045/0081az7.th.jpg
https://img151.imageshack.us/img151/5904/0082tj6.th.jpghttps://img169.imageshack.us/img169/3541/0083sk4.th.jpghttps://img245.imageshack.us/img245/3465/0084zd0.th.jpg
https://img138.imageshack.us/img138/7808/0085od5.th.jpghttps://img97.imageshack.us/img97/3776/0086io2.th.jpg

STRONG peasant archers !

Headlocked, Randarkmaan, Seogorath maybe even most because of starting this, and the others, Thanks for the great stories. All are captivating..

Headlocked, about your comment on the game, the AI and all: I couldn't agree more. This game is Digital Gold.

Right, I guess not every person has high standards and doesn't mid being fed crap, since that's all they've been eating since childhood?

Oh thy of small faith and imagination, go eat a horse turd (whoa, just roleplaying here moderator!).

Truly absents, I have played more computer games than I can count on my hands, even if my hands had 50 fingers each. A significant part of those were wargames, strategic games, etc. This game just isn't dissappointing me. I'm trying honestly to see something that turns me off, but I just can't find it! Off course there are things like an enemy coming to a siege with too few infantry (dont bring a knife to a gunfight), but these things are REALLY incidental. Commonly though, I am pleasantly suprised by as good an AI I have ever seen. He attacks when He is strong, he offers peace or refrains from attacking when weak. His battles are mostly excellently fought, for an AI. And that means it has tricks, it waits and let you come or it just rolls over you, not too many obvious repeatitive errors.

Sorry you are dissapointed, for god knows why (are u playing VH/VH?), but frankly I don't really care to hear you guys foaming over for what is really a VERY GOOD game.

You have played a lot of games. That does not prove anything.
I guess being around during the golden age of FPS shooters (96-03) has spoiled me somewhat, seeing as each new game had to push the curve in some way due to painstaking competition. CA has no competition to it's TW title. None. Nada. Zilch. Zip.

The series has stagnated. The last real gameplay enhancements were seen in MTW. After that, the game got new graphics, and that's it. M2TW adds absolutely NOTHING of value over RTW, there are no new gameplay elements and whether or not the AI is improved is at best, debateable.

I am dissappointed. Dissappointed, because no other company is taking a proper crack at this genre, and it's costing us, the fans, many headaches.

Well, I'm sorry you are dissappointed. I don't know much about FPS, except doom/doom2 and a bit of BF and CoD/CoD2 (in the years inbetween, I saw nothing that attracted me personally). What I do know is that those games focus more on action than strategy.
The games I liked most were Close Combat 2 and Shogun. Strategy there comes first, not reflex-ability, or the ability to make good headshots. It calls for more for things like maneuvring and anticipation.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying FPS don't need strategical insight, certainly not the later, groupwise like BF and CS. But it is significantly leaning more on reflexes and hand-eye coord. than strategy, compared to TW.

In TW, it is like master Sun says: Strategy without tactics is the longest road to victory, tactics without strategy is just the noise before defeat.

I guess what it boils down to is that I find you are not speaking for 'the fans', not by a long shot.

No, you didn't get it at all. I made a comparison. The genre of the games in comparison has no relevance on the validity of the argument.

Ah, forgive my stupidity. I will try to read between the lines more. Frankly, I still seem to try to understand what is galling you and your companions in sorrow. I realize I should refrain from that, for it has no use. I simply don't encounter the suicide attacks or all the other 'major bugs' I hear about. We just live in different worlds I guess.

Thanks Sir Silly Duck:)

but, eh, guys?

back to TOPIC, maybe?
any arguments, please start another thread....
If you're not posting a battle story please leave the thread uncluttered.:)

HDD

can we have some more long tales of battles? i have not got my game yet due to mac problems so keep em coming!

My epic battle. In my VH/VH English game, I had just struck a heavy blow at the treacherous Milanese by capturing their capital of Milan. My main force was sent to deal with Genoa. Due to happiness problems, I had a 1 star general and 7 town militias garrisonning the city.

Next turn, I found myself attacked by Venetians with a full stack. My spy in Genoa opened the gate and I rushed in to eliminate the Milanese who still have a full stack wandering around. Unfortunately, I no longer have enough movement points to save Milan.

The full enemy stack featured 7 units of Italian spear militia, 2 units of pavise crossbow militia, 1 mounted seargent, 1 mailed knight, and their general BG unit. The power ratio showed a distinct disparity and I was prepared to do a doomed defense by taking as many of them with me as I can.

I arrayed all my town militias in the town square and my general behind them. After they battered down my gates, they rushed in. Praise the high heavens as all their cav charged directly at my troops without infantry support. Their general fell to my men and their knights/mounted seargents then proceeded to rout. I've lost more than 20% of my infantry by this time.

Then came the massive meat grinder. 3 Italian spear militias charged in and started meleeing my boys. I took my general to their flank and did two charges. (No room for a proper lance charge but just with swords). This managed to rout them despite more spears approaching, threatening to sandwich my general. By now I've lost more than half of my troops due to the melee and the enemy xbows firing.

I reformed and pulled back my general to take on the other 4 units of spears. As the meat grinder proceedth, I finally worked up enough to send my general careening into their flank again. This time, tired of casualties from enemy xbows, I charged my general at their xbows who skirmished away only to meet a dozen enemy cav who managed to rally. In nail biting moment, I watched as my general's BG managed to take the cav all down. Then I charged the enemy spear units in the back and they routed. I gave pursuit and my general's BG managed to rout the two xbow units spooked by the mass running for the hills. By this time, my general's BG only had 5 men left and there were merely 8 men and 9 men left in two units of the town militia. My 5 men general's unit then managed to run down most of the routers and ended the battle with 1 gold chevron.

I executed all the prisoners after the battle for being treacherous backstabbers. I then proceeded to take my field army and completely thrash Venice. This general went from a nobody to currently a 6 star. In honor of his first victory, he is now commanding almost exclusively militia (spear militias and archer militia). He managed to crush two Sicilian field armies and also took Bologna from them when Sicily stabbed me.

as Basileus of Byzantium, my empire stretches from n. italy,in the south Egypt is my flank, and in the east aleppo is my farthest reach; everythin in between is mine. news came of a new foe, thundering westward with his hordes of horsemen, the mongols were coming. guarding the river crossing just west of aleppo, I, emperor(forgot the name) stood guard with my emperial army. the mongols came forward and engaged me. (there were 3 other stacks of mongol armies close by my spies informed me, so a victory at low cost was paramount, as my reinforcements being re-outfitted after a campaign against the turks)

i held the high ground on the east side of the bridge, and held all non-ranged units bak out of mongol bow range. when the mongols made a move to cross the bridge i sent out my 4 units of trebizond archers to harry them. the arrows flew, horses snorted as arrows thumped into their lean bodies, men gasped as arrows seemed to grow out of their bodies...my archers were taking a tax...however soon the mongol arrows darkened the sky, and my archers loosened their ranks. mongol heavy cavalry began to move towards the bridge; the whole of my infantry moves up, with 3 units of byz. spearmen taking position in schiltrons
_
_
_bridge
_
_
() ()
() spearmen

the heavy horse, being more brave than prudent, saw fit to challenge my mens spearpoints to battle. despite the power of their charge, after the initial shock, my men began to pull them off of the power steeds, and to hamstring the handsome horses. seeing the futility of their assault, the mongols disengage, only to have arrows bite into their backs when they turn.
now the center of the mongol army advances, i keep my spearmen in the basic triangle formation, but space the formations so other units can attack through the breaches...i move 2 of my varangarian guard up to the two holes, ready to pounce on the flanks of any enemy who engages my spearmen...(about 30% of spearmen are dead at this time by mongol horse charge, and intermittent missile fire)
_
_
_
_
_
() ()
()
X X <---V. guard

mongol force mix of infantry and heavy to medium horse cross the bridge...once more tides of men collide, steel rips flesh, bones crunch and snap, men cry and weep at the sight of there insides strewn about, dying horses, their guts protruding lash out in their death throes, hitting those unfortunate enough to lie by them. the triangle holds, i order the V. guard into the fray, they cleave horse and rider alike, axes biting through armor, flesh, and bone. slowly the mongols are pushed back, edged back bit by bit, until they are contained on the bridge...then my heavy horse form up, and charge as the infantry make way...victory is mine, the remaining mongol forces retreat, the cost wasnt cheap though,
Byzantine losses were 340
Mongol left 967 of their dead on the field.
(i fought this a week ago so no pics, sry)

I had 2 truely epic battles both sieges true. First was the taking of naples my venetian army had heavy cavalry both feudal knights cavalry miltia and mailed knights also had armoured spearmen and dismounted knights also lots of crossbowmen and some archers.The enemy had their king the heir and 1 unit of feudal kinghts also some 10 italaian speermilitia and 2 italian militia also some 3 crossbowmen. THe gate was opened by my spy .
This was a long battle the ai surronded some of my tropps i surrounded his it was a truely an urban warfare battle with units fighting in 5 to 6 places at once surrounding and being surrounded finnaly after 15 min (battle time) i managed to reach the outskirts of the town square with 50% of my heavy cav and 50% of my inf supported by the archers behind.the enemy king and heir charge. My men hold against them and a mass of militia after an all out melee lasting some 5 minutes i lose all cav and infantry the enemy loses the king and heir but still have militia some 150 my general is dead. adn alal my inf and cav with him. i have no more arrows i decide to charge and after grueling fighting with battered units. Only 2 units remain on both sies my peasent archers kill the last militia men i then exterminate the city with 10 archers.It was epic very thrilling and i could have lost it and won it countles times.
Second is my siege of constantinople also with venice i have some veteran mail kinghts (silver) some 5 units in all also 4 spearmen units and 3 peasent archers.
I had failed to notice that i was not fighting only the defenders but also a hungarian crusader army i fight on two fornts senidng the cav ot confront the hungarians and taking to the walls with my infantry i manage to slaughter some byzantine units before my m,en are diriven back by some pilgrims also my cav charges repeatevly on hungarian lines i manage to kill their general and also after being driven back from the walls outside the city i kill the byzantine emperor wtih arcerrs the day is lost but my men still fight.in a while my infantry is all dead but i have kille some 55% of the enemy force that's twice my own my kinghts fight on i charge the pilgrims with archers
my kinghts now reduced to 2-3 men per unit 12 in all are all 3 gold and are cutting through hungarian lines like butter making them run but they are too many in the end my general alone fights to the last in a mass of hungarian peasents cutting and slashing left and right vcovered in blood. All in all i lose 400 men and the enemy 1200 out of 1500 .I nearly wepped for my veterans.Even the ai seems to have seen they're bravery realisng some 14 captured men.

i'll be brief

King Snorri the Tyrant of Demark and his 3 units of spear militia, 2 units of spear staff militia, and 2 units of crossbow militia defended my city against a Venetian full and well balanced stack. it gave me 1 to 5 odds on Hard Difficulty.

by battle's end i had about 20 men left. After his entire entourage of body guards way slain, i watched king Snorri himself kill at least 30 heavy infantrymen personally. He may be a genocidal bastard, but at least he never abandon's his troops.

'King Ralph' 4 Turns of Epicness!

My last King (who was looking good) died after 1 year on the throne so I was a little circumspect about King 'Ralph' who didn't sound like any English King (possibly due to some intermingling with HRE). Anyhow... the cowpats hit the fan on his watch. France declared war and the French King with about 8 stars sieged Bruges which was held by about 6 spear units only. At the same time Spain declared war on me and sieged Toulouse (which they had only recently handed over to me) and a Danish Army appeared in Antwerp full stack obviously looking to get in on the action.

To respond to all of this I had only King Ralph who quickly mustered a full stack of spear, crossbow mercs and mailed knights. Behind him one other noble 'Tostig' scrapes together a second stack of mainly cavalry and billmen.

There are two more full French stacks lurking about near Paris.

It kicks off. King Ralph lifts the French siege of Bruges and a mighty battle King vs King kicks off. 3 Units of Cav skirt round the rear of the French army while everyone else rushes the front of them. They have Ballistas and Trebuchet and catapult so we can't hang about. As soon as the frontal charge begins the French King with 8 command stars is off. Leaving his army to it. He gets away despite my cavalry behind him as the war machines and 6 units of Frenchy crossbowmen need taking out quick. It's a massive rout of cheese eaters. We scoop up over 5000 florins of ransomable surrender monkeys and the French pay up. Kerching!

Better... the French army retreats right into my backup stack of Cavalry. So in the very same turn we attack them again, with Tostigs stack of mostly cav. They are massacred and there's lots of chasing about rounding up and killing off the routing French units. This time we only have a ransomable 2000 florins and the French don't pay. Bye Bye.

Next turn.

The Danish besiege Antwerp with a full stack and King Ralph rides to the rescue again. Its a bloody mess but we win and the Danes rout, those that aren't executed that is. Tostig moves towards Paris. I've been playing a 'fair' game where I have not attacked anyone first but when attacked I demand a city from my enemy, or take one. For the French this will be Paris as soon as Ralph returns from Antwerp as there's still two French stacks to deal with.

In Toulouse the Spanish attack. We have less men than them and their army is made up of mostly dismounted feudal knights with a lot of warmachines. I have quite a lot cav and spearmen and bill men with 3 units of archers. Undergunned for defending this one we ride right out of the gates leaving the archers on the walls. All the cav heads right, the Billmen and foot units all head left right for the Spanish General on their flank. The cav rides round the back, smashes into their warmachines and crossbowmen and rides away to recharge their way along the back of the Spanish line. By the time they reach the Spanish General he's down to 6 men having to deal with 8+ units of spear and bill wielding foot. The Cav take him down and the rout begins. Toulouse is safe.

Turn 3

King Ralph arrives to siege Paris with Tostig in support. We get an excommunication warning about the French, but who cares? The French must give up a city according to my rules.

Turn 4

Excommunicated but taken Paris. And over 20,000 florins!

At the end of the Turn King Ralph and Tostig are assassinated simultaneously by French Assassins.

Love Live King Ralph!

Definitely my most epic moment so far in 3 English campaigns. By the way I heartily recommend setting the turns to 1 year per turn. It's much MUCH better.

I am the English in having taken France and unifing the British Isles I have a lot of experienced units but a very pissed off Pope and no rebels in view. The Pope then saves me by declaring a crusade against Jerusalem, this is perfect I create an uber crusade army (English Knights (mounted and dismounted), armoured swordsmen and retinue archers) all units two silver experience at least with a bout five on gold, I give it to my faction heir who is a 7 star general having killed a lot of Frenchmen. I then create a second army with another slightly worse general which is only half stack and send him off as well. Leaving me with two full stacks to defend France one in the North scaring the HRE and one in the South.

The Byxantines rule most of Asia Minor, the Turks have been destroyed, the Egyptians still hold Egypt but the rest of the middle east is Mongol. I avoid open battle and take Jerusalem with light casulties, my units are now decrusaded but I have two full stacks (the second had been reenforced with crusader units. I take Acre, Anitoch and Gaza and make peace and having build up my cities and citedals (Marsksman Ranges, Earls stables etc.) I turn my attention to Europe, the Mongols leave me alone and I want to focus on dealing with Portugal (which has the Iberian penninsular) and Denmark (Northern Germany) and the HRE (Southern Germany, Northern Italy). Anyway turns pass and the Timurids arrive, I don't notice them for abouyt 5 turns and then my watchtowers in Anitouch see them, and boy there are a lot of them, easily 10 full stacks. I immediatly start a build up, quite a lot of my best units were sent back to Europe with my faction heir and I only have a single full stack including some crusader units. I start Gaza and Acre churning out Longbow men and knights and put an army on the two bridges over the river that goes around Anitouch, any way I get them both up to nearly full stack and then the Timurids attack at the South-Eastern bridge. They can only attack with three armies at a time and they have to come over one bridge. I do the obvious thing and pack my infantry at one end and have my archers slaughter anything on the bridge and I do, in the first battle I lose 200 men and kill 2200, they have 5500 but by the time the battle runs out of time I have only killed 2200. They withdraw and as it is still their turn and they attack again and lose another 400 men, for around 2500, unfortunatly I am down to two full strength dismounted English knights, a unit of 20 English units and 60 Armoured Swordsmen, I do have one full strength Mounted English Knights and my general but cav aren't that good in this type of battle, my archers have suffered casulties but my ten units are all full strength bar one which is down to 15 after being used to renforce other units. One more attacks and they are going to break me. But they don't even though they have three full stacks left the leave me alive, god knows why. The next turn the wander off North to annoy the Mongols, the Holy land is saved and the Timurids have been savaged.

Playing as the Egyptians i stationed approximately 130 man near the Jordan river little did i know that i was about to be attacked by an army of 2000 rebels i had 2 units of peasants archers 2 units of militia archers 1 spearman militia and a unit of mamluks all with the most upgraded armor the rebels attacked with there entire stack but my Mamluk archers and archers where able to rout some of them i used my spear unit to hold them of while i attack them with my archers when my spearman were done the rebels had sent Arab cavalry and Bedouin camels and horseman they quickly finished of my remaining archers while my Mamluks were able to rout 2 units of spearman after having almost all of my force defeated and my Mamluk archers run out of arrows i charge in into enemy spearman routing many of them my Mamluks fought like ''cornered snakes'' fending of the enemy my general was the last one standing i saw the guy wiping out an entire unit of camels before going down.
final Score
Egyptians
Killed:1023 Lost:115
Rebels:
Killed:106 Lost 1056

then i used my Jihad army to wipe the rebels out and i build a fort in place of battle to honor my brave warriors and there honorable sacrifice :bow:

No screen shots, nor survivors.
It was the winter of 1140 and Kiev was a key money-making city for the my Russian Empire. Mikahil of Sabatov was a fair and chivalrous governor, quite religious too, the mold for all to model themselves after. He had converted the Population to Orthodoxy and had built large houses of worship, decorated by an Eikon Studio. Kiev had nothing to fear, the neighboring Hungarians were allied with the Rus and the Grand Prince's wife was a Hungarian princess. Merchants traded the abundant slaves from outside of Kiev without contention. The economy and culture were flourishing, the people were happy and over 95% of the population was Orthodox.
All of a sudden, a large Hungarian Horde appeared, as if out of thin air. They immediatley besieged the city and in two years, decided to assualt the walls. The Hungarian forces consisted largely of heavily armoured Dismounted Feudal Knights and lightly armoured but incredibly ferocious Croat Axemen. They were commanded by the treacherous King Azonny and his son, the Prince.
Mikahil, was not so lucky. He had good, steadfast troops, but he was outnumbered by about 10 to 1. His regiment of Kazaks, his unit of peasant archers, his Druzinas, mercenary spearmen and spear militia did not stand a chance against the numerically superior Hungarian force. After a rousing inspirational speech or two about the odds of survival and taking hundreds of the filthy enemy down with him, he deplyed his troops. Archers and Mercenary on the walls to repel the ladders and hopefully the Siege Tower, his Kazaks at the gate to rush out and render the hapless Slav Levie that pushed the ram useless, the Militia spearmen right behind them to blockade the gate, Druzinhas positioned behind them to charge through the chokepoint and his body guard at the end of this odd formation to go wherever needed.
The Battle began and the Kazaks trotted out of the gate, stringing their arrows and shooting at the poor Slavs. The Archers on the walls singled out the ladder carrying Axemen and it was only a matter of time until the engines of war touched the walls.
As expected, the Siege Tower made contact with the wall, spewing Feudal Knights who were met by a seasoned wall of pikes and were destroyed with few losses. The Kazaks ran out of ammo and the Ram started knocking on Kiev's door. The Kazaks, far away from the ram charged the Slavs, routing them, but not before the Gate was forced open. Meanwhile, the ladders were abandoned and some axemen poured from the siege tower. The Mercenary pikemen fought on bravely, routing them and another unit of Feudal Knights (Those armour/weapons/experience upgrades really pay off) but were now at 1/2 strength. At the gate, the Kazaks had utterly destroyed the Slavs but were no match for a band of Axemen. The Spear militia fought on gallantly, but were faultering.
More to come, I don't have time to type the whole thing.

I am going to send images ofmy next battle.
I had an epic fight with the Milanese as the French.
To give you some idea; I had 1479 men and the milanese had 2500 in two armies. I had 500 archers and crossbowmen, plus four bombards and they had nearly 1400 crossbowmen. I wished that I had a couple ribaults. I lost over 80% of my force and was forced to retire from the field.:shame:

My cavalry: 500 men
Their cavalry: 4-500 men

Arrows and bolts and explosions everywhere!~:smoking:

Gonna get backat them with abetter army now.:whip:

My Spear men at the gate collapsed into a wave of calvary, as my Druzinhas charged through the gate, making the gateway chokepoint a larger mass grave. The Feudal Knights (Dismounted) kept coming on and being slaughtered, taking a few Druzinha with them every time until there were 5 left at which point all wa lost. The General charged, and spilled more Hungarian blood. His elite bodyguard was really tearing up the enemy, but there was no end to the reinforcements. As the bodies piled up, my forces rapidly became weaker. The Peasant Archers finished off 6 Feudal Knights on the walls but were hacked to bits by Croat Axemen.
The fearless general fought on bravely, but after slaying even more foes, he dissapeared under a wave of Knights.
Kiev was in Hungarian Hands.
Revenge was swift and sure, Ivan, son of then Grand Duke Vladimir, brother of Grand Prince (Now Grand Duke) Miroslav (Now the Cruel) retook the city with 2 units of Dvor, 2 Berdiche Axemen units, 3 regiments of Dismounted Dvor, 2 Trebuchet units and Sidor of Zabolata.
The town was sacked and since this tragic defeat, I have learned a lesson. I always keep 9 Dismounted Dvor, 2 Druzinhas, 2 Bombards and my generals just to repel attackers. Since then, Kiev (a large city based on mostly slave trade) has been near impregnable, mostly I sally forth and position my bombards just outside the gate, guarded by Dvor and wreak havoc on the attackers. I learned and Kiev will be held!

While trying to master the art of the single-click cavalry charge, I had an excellent battle in my English campaign.

The Danes were a general pain in the ass, and were blocking my ports every 2 turns. King Rufus decided to punish them by taking Bruges.
King Rufus gathered an army of 4 units of mailed knights, 4 units of longbowmen, 4 units of billmen, and 1 unit of dismounted feudal knights.

Landing in Flanders, King Rufus marched is army around Bruges for a couple of turns. Eventually the Danes took the bait and attacked. The Danes sprung a surprise attack with the garrison of Antwerp, consisting of 4 units of Townguards, behind this vanguard, the main army of Bruges assembled, evenly composed of Townguards, Viking Raiders and Dismounted Huscarls (about 5 units of each).

The English quickly set up a position on a clear, open ridge. Archers first, second row of knights, third row of infantry, and King Rufus' bodyguard in reserve behind.
Noting that the Danish van was caught out in the open, 120 knights (3 units) galloped down the hill, reorganised at the base, and then charged directly at the townguards of Antwerp. The result was 24 dead knights (one charge was interrupted by a single tree) and 200 dead and 25 fleeing townguards.

Repositioning on the ridge again, the English awaited the main Danish army.
As the Danish climbed the ridge under a hail of arrow fire, the flower of English chivalry, strengthened by the King's guard, charged down to meet them, followed at a run by the English infantry.
A perfectly executed charge, followed up by infantry, made short work of the Danes. After that, it was chasing routers.

It wasn't the odds, or the enemy that made this battle epic. It was the sight of 5 units of knights charging down a hill into the enemy, shattering their frontline, followed up by an infantry charge, just as the knights pulled out of melee that made it worthwhile for me.
Also I liked how my strategic plans translated in a tactical advantage on the battlefield.

The one negative thing about this battle was that the prisoners I sold retreated back to Bruges, so I didn't capture the town. After the battle, the Pope forced a temporal ceasefire upon me. ~:mad

Great thread here. I wanted to post about an experience that really showed me the AI in this game is better and it makes a difference. Sorry no screenshots but diagrams.

Playing Venice I just fought a pitched battle, even numbers (16 units a side), against a Sicilian army that had predominantly infantry units - mixed militia and merc spears, 1 missile cav, a Frankish Knight Heavy Cav unit, and a General's unit (two star). My army was mainly mixed archers and crossbowmen (peasant and merc - no venetian archers or anything quality) and a few militia units, only one spear unit, and 4 mounted Sgt.s and my General (three stars). The battle field sloped left to right with both armies deployed facing each other in the middle. So my left flank was high ground. When the battle started I moved to seize the higher ground, which the AI let me do. I ended up facing them down a slope.

I didn't like my chances if their spearmen got a hold of my archers or cavalry in melee so I planned to put my mounted Sgt units, 2 on each flank of the enemy, to try to pin their infantry in place (by threatening a charge into their rear if they advanced). Then my plan was to try to avoid a melee and let my missile units devastate the enemy infantry from higher ground. The problem was the two AI heavy cav units (General and Franks) I knew they could chew up the 2 mounted Sgt. units at each flank. So I wanted to try to destroy the Frankish knights so I could operate as planned expecting that the enemy General's heavy cav unit would then stay parked middle rear.

Initial Position (after rush to gain high ground)

Low Ground


------------------ Gen(AI) ---------------
-----------Sp Mil Mil Mil Mil Sp -----------
--FrK----Sp Sp Mil Mil Sp Sp Sp----MisCav



Sgt---PA MC PA PA MA MA PA PA MC PA---Sgt
Sgt------------------Sp------------------Sgt
---------------------Gen(V) -----------------

High Ground

FrK - Frankish Knights
Sp - Spearmen (mercs)
PA - Peasant Archers
MA - Merc Archers
Mil - Militia (Some Spear, some Town Militia)
MC - Merc Crossbow
Sgt - Mounted Sgt

How to destroy the knights? As the armies were repositioning I ran a mounted Sgt. unit up close to the Franks which had deployed left flank (their missile cav to the right flank) hoping my captain would taunt them into battle. He must have because they came charging at the lighter cav unit and chased it uphill blowing by my archers and the other cav unit. As they chased I charge my General and one of the Sgt's from the right flank to the left flank. I then had my fleeing unit turn, fight, and mostly get destroyed (1/3 strength) but pin the Franks while 3 other cav units charged into the flank and rear. It worked well,there was a hard fight and I whittled the Franks down to 19 from 40 and they ran off broken. I wanted to finish them but they are tough to kill with weaker cav and moreover I was anxious to get my cav on the flanks of the AI infantry otherwise it would advance on my weak archers. I left the depleted Sgt. unit to chase the Franks to the edge of the battlefield before I pulled them back to the main battle. Meanwhile I advanced my Sgt.s to the flanks of the enemy infantry, one unit chasing away the missile cavalry. The hail of arrows started.

However once away from the enemy the Franks recovered their morale and returned. I didn't notice as I had assumed them routed and thus no factor. Next thing I know my left flank archers are routing - the Franks are back in the battle charging my left flank and tearing up the weak archer units. Now I am in trouble as I have one of my cav units away chasing their missile cav, one on each flank of the AI infantry and the weak unit that the Franks had destroyed in the springing of the trap held back in reserve with my general.

Position: Returned Franks hit my archers

------------------------------------MisCav
------------------------------------Sgt


------------------ Gen(AI)------------------
Sgt--------Sp Mil Mil Mil Mil Sp --------Sgt
----------Sp Sp Mil Mil Sp Sp Sp----------



FrK->PA MC PA PA MA MA PA PA MC PA-------
---------------------Sp---------------------
--------------1/3 Sgt-Gen(V)----------------

So I charge the Franks with my General and my depleted Sgt.s and send my single spear unit out to that left flank. It isn't looking good as my archers die but my General and the Sgt.s halt the carnage. Then spears arrive (phew) and tip the scale and the pesky Franks, now 13/40, break and run away from that left flank to leave the map - I hope - I'm not chasing them with my General.

Time passes and the missiles are depleting the enemy units - slowly but surely. My two intact Mounted Sgt units seem to be pinning the enemy infantry effectively who stand and take the pelting from the archers. Time passes and I'm thinking I might pull off a defeat of a superior infantry force with peasant and mercenary archers. The AI infantry units are down to 40/60 even 30/60 in some spots.

But no it was not to be - the 13 Frankish Knights are back. This time they are charging the rear of my Mounted Sgts on the left flank and pushing them towards a nearby AI spear unit that has broken ranks to charge the Sgts - they are pinned. I consider and I think I'm not sending my General down into the ranks of AI spears to rescue my cav unit. I do charge my spear unit down the hill to attack the Franks again. Another AI spear unit breaks ranks and joins that melee on the left flank. My cav unit is on the way to being history and soon my only spear unit will be. Now I'm left facing 13 depleted units of AI merc spearmen and militia spearmen (attack 7/defense 13) with 8 units of peasant and mercenary archers (melee attack 2/defense 2) and 2 merc crossbow units (melee 6/defense 7) and what is left of my single unit of spears (30/60).

Of course I have the battle paused at this point. It's these situations where the battle is about to turn on one unit engagement that make Total War gaming so compelling for me. Basically it is time for a change of tactics or I'm dead.

Position: Returned Franks hit my Sgt.s, spears to the rescue

--------------------------------------------Sgt-->MisCav





------------------ Gen(AI) ------------------
FrK->Sgt<-Sp Mil Mil Mil Mil Sp --------Sgt
--------<<<Sp Sp Mil Mil Sp Sp Sp----------

-----Sp

-----PA MC PA PA MA MA PA PA MC PA-------
--------------1/3 Sgt-Gen(V)-----------------

So I redirect the spears charging at the Franks instead to hit the flank of the enemy spear unit thats going for my Sgt.s, I melee charge the one left side unit of merc crossbows down into the other unit of spearmen going for the Sgt.s, and I send my General and the wrecked Sgt.s in reserve at the Franks on that left flank. I'm thinking that my spear and melee crossbowmen will keep the AI spear units from getting to my cavalry long enough to rout those Frankish Knights again and to get the pinned unit of Sgt.s to retreat out of that mess without triggering a rout. My spears fight the AI spears with downhill charge and flank attack bonus as do the crossbowmen in melee. The General hits the Franks on a full charge and they break and run. My Sgt.s get free from the trap (about 23/40 left). Meanwhile my Sgt.s away chasing the Missile Cavalry catch and shred them, and can come back to the main battle.

I have to feint charge my Sgt.s on the right flank to keep the AI infantry there worried enough to stay in place and not charge my archers or join that left flank melee. I thought for a second my plan was back on track - death by a 1,000 arrows - but it was not to be. The AI spears had snagged my General, who wouldn't break free, and tied up the two units I sent to rescue the Sgt.s...... then the enemy General charges into that melee. As he does so the rest of the AI infantry turn towards my General and start to advance on him. It looks like the whole AI army is coming for my pinned General and if he is gone I'm dead - it's that simple.

Position: Generals in melee left flank, whole AI army moving in

---- Gen (AI) -------------------------<--Sgt
-----Gen(V)<-Sp<Mil<Mil<Mil<Mil<-Sp ------<--Sgt
1/3 Sgt<<Sp<Sp<Mil<Mil<Sp<-Sp<-Sp----------
2/3 Sgt-Sp MC

-----PA MC PA PA MA MA PA PA MC PA-------


So I charge all the archer units down the slope into the flanks of the militia and spearmen who are moving to join that left flank melee. I charge the full strength mounted Sgt.s on the right into the backs of the weakened militia (kill/rout a few weakened units quickly and maybe hit morale, change the balance in my favor). The other Sgt. heads along behind the AI army and charges into the rear of spears attacking my General in the melee, trying to fight through to my General.

What followed was a pitched battle of epic proportions. The pressure eases on my General a little. The depleted units of Sgt.s are in that fight with him, along with my one spear and merc crossbow unit, fighting the AI General, 3 units of spearmen, and a couple of militia. Its an even fight on the left. The units the Sgt.s charge rout pretty quickly (depleted and charged in the rear by a full strength cavalry unit). My archers did not fair so well, particularly against the spearmen in melee. Most of them are destroyed although they kill dozens of militia. Many units on both sides were destroyed or reduced to one or two men. The AI does not get to bring it's full army to fight my general and we are having a vicious little fight on the left still. I am watching the numbers drop - my General down to 8 then 6 then 4, the AI General 9 then 7 then 4 then 2 ...... I'm on the edge of my seat. There is nothing left to do but let the units fight it out. I zoom in and watch some of the action up close - great animations. The fight between the Generals is in the balance... and then ... I don't believe it ... 7 Frankish Knights return and charge my General from the rear and he is dead, all the units rout and it's over.

Those returning Franks - some kind of uber unit I'm thinking, definitely earned their pay. And after a while I start to muse on the rout and return thing. Silly me - should have read the developer's blog about the new AI:

Quote:

---

Morale was the area that was given the most attention and rightly so. In my opinion it makes or breaks the battle experience. We wanted to avoid mass chain routing as soon as melee troops engage. We also wanted to ensure that if you want to keep the units broken you must chase with a significant force or they will recover and fight back. Right now, during a large infantry engagement, you will be lucky to see any unit’s rout in the first 30 seconds and if it does happen, the rest of the army if they’re elite units, will stay and fight. Best of all, units that do rout will recover within 150m unless chased off the battlefield, so you can quickly throw them back into the melee.

---

I have noticed a real difference in battles, compared with other TW series games, in the area of routing units and morale. Used to be if you routed them - forgetaboudit. Even if they come back you just fire a few arrows, say boo, feint a charge and they are routing again. Not now. So now I know this is a deliberate ploy by the developers - and I really like it. Rout and return - it has a real effect on battles and it definitely won this one for the AI.

Great threat, great battles and a nice read for my lunch break :2thumbsup:

Best battle to this time (101st turn):

Golden Horde arrived some years ago. I was happy holding Jerusalem and Gaza, while being harrassed in Europe by HRE, Sicily, Venice and the sorry remains of the French. Had my hands full keeping the people of Jerusalem happy, though fortunately Egypt wasn't a problem any more as my massive army of priests, bishops and cardinals converted the heathens on a lightning fast rate and led to rebellions all over the Egypt Empire.

The Mongols, six full-stack armies strong lingered near Antioch, playing out three different alternative realities, I knew they would head for Jerusalem sooner or later.

So, two of my youngest princes out of the good arm of my royal family (16 years old, six star commanders and high chivalry ratings) assembled two mighty armies in Gaza and marched north. I occupiedthe bridge near Antioch, the Egyptians just holed up in their castles waiting for their deaths. Prince Thomas, my heir, led an army consisting of:

General (six star, four chivalry, +2 morale)
3 English Dismounted Knights
3 Dismounted Feudal Knights
1 Crusader Sergants
1 Fanatics
3 Levy Spearmen
4 Crusader Knights
4 Templar Knights

The Mongols attacked the bottleneck with two full-stack armies, led by two eight-star generals.

Thomas held an inspiring speech, the Infantery in two lines on one end of the bridge, the Mongols did not wait for one second and began rushing over the water. At the same time their rockets pierced the night sky and my frame rate dropped to the speed of a slide show.

The first wave of Mongol Cav crashed into my spearmen, shortly after the ground was black with dead bodies. My spearmen's numbers were dwindling fast but I was lucky: the Mongol general, silly as he was, led the charge and was killed a few minutes into the battle.

His troops though did not waver for a second. They seemed to grow more determined by the minute and threw all his armies (even his archers) the weakened forces holding the bridge. I threw in in quick succession the Fanatics, and my English Knights, finally breaking the spirit of the Mongols: they routed.

I was leaning back, happy over the outcome, when I noticed the Mongol reinforcements coming in. They rushed twoards the bridge (and if you've seen Mongols in full speed, you know what I am talking about). I barely had time to regroup my Infantry, my spearmen already wiped from the face of earth. Every man to the end of the bridge, my Cav, up toi this moment without any real work aside from chasing down occasional Mongol Cavs breaking through my lines.

The second Mongol wave hit me much harder. Men were dropping like flies, one flank was growing weaker by the second. A charge by three Templar Cav units mended the hole, yet the tide seemed to turn against me. With my Infantery reduced to a handful of men, I ordered them to retreat and threw all my remaining cav units against the Mongol tide.

I was lucky again: THe charge killed the second Mongol general, and slowly, very slowly I pushed them back on the bridge. The Mongol rocket launchers, obviously desperate in their attempt to save the day fired wildly into the night, but they should have trained aiming: in quick succession three rockets exploded in the middle of the bridge, Mongol bodies flying everywhere. A minute later they saw the futility of their attempt and routed.

My few remaining units chased after them, to no avail.

Result: a hard earned victory, five of my units surviving with only a few men in them. The Mongols Horde retreated in the following turns towards the desert where I could surround their army with single unit stacks and hindered any fast advances towards either Jerusalem or Antioch. My assassins picked of a few of their generals, the leaderless armies were singled out and fought in the open plains of the desert.


The battle may not have been one of tactic or finesse but one of brute force, yet I got the feeling that I single-handidly repelled the Mongol Invasion, leaned back and opened a nice bottle of wine :beam: . (The feeling didn't last long as Mongol reinforcemnts dropped in shortly after)