Pics & History of your Empire

[bamff]

Okay, you have inspired me to join the fun!

I am the first to admit that I have many league's to travel before I can call myself a general, but thus far in this campaign have scraped through (although my peasants, archers, and hobilars have paid a heavy toll for some tactical errors).

A couple of points where possibly I could have tackled things differently - bribing Wales, and hiring a couple of units of mercenary Italian Light Infantry to quickly beef up Anjou and Flanders wreaked havoc on the finances, but I think both were worth the short term pain (and painful it was - for a while there, my treasury hovered around a paltry 200 florins, with 76 being my "annus horribilus").

Apologies also for the absence of a pic in this opening - I will endeavour to include some in the following chapter....

Faction: The English
Starting at: Early Period
Type of Campaign: GA
Difficulty: Hard
Cheats: None
Current Year: 1152

The campaign opened briskly, as our forces invaded Flanders immediately, throwing almost all of our available forces from Wessex and Normandy into the fray. Our valiant king led this assault himself, spreading terror amongst our enemies. The ignoble French had no stomach for a fight, and fled like spavined nags to Champagne.
Toulouse was the next province to feel the weight of our military might, with our combined forces of archers and hobilars scoring an impressive victory (though at some significant cost to the cavalry). The isolation of this province had made it an inviting target, with the French unable to reinforce the garrison. The province of Wales was successfully bribed to join our cause, and one regiment of longbowmen was immediately dispatched to the province of Flanders to bolster its defences.
In 1092 the French made their anticipated counterattack on Flanders. 2 regiments of royal knights, 2 regiments of urban militia, and 3 of peasants descended on our forces, which included 1 regiment each of royal knights, fyrdmen, peasants, and longbowmen, and 2 of archers. One regiment of French knights and 1 of urban militia never reached our line, cut down in a hail of arrows. Horrendous casualties were inflicted upon the remaining French units as our arrows continued to rain down. One regiment of peasants broke and ran. Some Frenchmen survived and hit our line. Our fyrdmen, peasants, and archers fought valiantly despite suffering terrible casualties, and it was the French that broke first. Those Frenchmen still standing fled the field. Victory was ours, but at a truly terrible cost.
By 1094 Brittany had been added to the realm, although this invasion incurred the wrath of the Pope. The threat of excommunication meant that this would be our last attack against the French for some time. The French sought to take advantage of this situation, and launched a further assault on Flanders, and after another bloody encounter they were seen off again. On this occasion a mercenary unit of Italian Light Infantry proved invaluable, being the rock upon which the wave of French knights were finally broken. The court felt it was somewhat ironic that on the very day that the Papal threat was received, a wagon bearing a gift of 1,000 florins was received from his holiness for our services to the church…
The 1,000 florins was sorely needed, as these campaigns, whilst successful, had placed a significant strain on our treasury. It was time to rest our troops, and look to our ailing economy.
By 1101, our kingdom’s finances had recovered to the point that our noble king ordered the garrison at Aquitaine to invade Navarre. The local peasantry and spearmen fell in droves beneath our arrows and the hooves of our hobilars. News has reached court of the excommunication of the Italian Doge. It appears that an ill-conceived attack on Rome may have been the trigger for this turn of events.
In 1112, an expeditionary force travelled north to subdue the rebel forces of Scotland. A bloody battle ensued, with the clansmen exacting a heavy toll before our greater numbers eventually won the day. The Prince’s own regiment of knights had been cut down to only 6 riders by this terrible day’s end, but victory, and our northern border had been secured.
Some forty years of peace have now passed, broken only by a series of French attacks on Flanders. By the grace of God (and our longbowmen and archers!) none of these assaults has been successful. One must admire the bravery of the French troops - often they have pressed on with their attacks despite being outnumbered.
Trade is now the chief focus of the kingdom, and our barques are traveling ever further afield to establish new trade routes. A strong garrison was still maintained in Flanders, and our troops in Normandy, Anjou, Aquitaine, Navarre, and Toulouse were all maintained at a high state of readiness. Whilst Spain, Aragon, and the Holy Roman empire profess to be our allies, our King is sage enough to know that a dagger can pierce one’s back as easily as it can one’s chest…