I know I have a tendancy to end campaigns when I'm doing real bad, but for this one, I'm determined to play it to the bitter end. No matter what embarrasing losses I take. With that said, ehere i go:

The Bohemians - Early XL - Normal

In 1087, Bohemia is a minor kingdom surrounded by the great countries of Poland, Hungary and The Holy Roman Empire. The little kingdom is only independant to that degree where it does not anger any of its neighbours, and its kings have to obey their superiour "brothers". That was all about to change though, under the rule of King Vratislav II.
King Vratislav II of Bohemia was already at the age 28 in 1087, and was well-known for being a natural leader, a man who had the full support from his subjects. In 1087, Vratislav commenced his reign by quickly developing Bohemias defencive capabilites. Wath towers were constructed all across the borders, and archers as well as spearmen were recruited.

Of all his potential enemies, Vratislav deemed the Holy Roman Empire as the most urgent target to neutralize. At the moment, they were weakened by their everlasting conflicts with the pope, and their inland provinces were only sparsely defended. In 1088, King Vratislav II invaded the German province of Franconia, the Germans fled without a fight, facing numerical superiority. Franconia with its fertile lands was a much welcome boost the economy of Bohemia.
For a few years, the Bohemians sat back, establishing their foothold in Franconia before moving on to the next target. In 1091, Bavaria was invaded and fell without a fight. That way, King Vratislav had more than doubled the size of his kingdoms. The borders were now a lot more secure, the economy was flourishing and the Bohemians had carved themselves a new kingdom at the expence of The Holy Roman Empire.

Peace came, although war still officially declared between the Bohemians and the Germans. King Vradislav kept asking for a truce with the Holy Roman Emperor down in Austria, but kept failing in convincing him. Not even offering him the hand of his daughter was accepted. Despite the hard-headedness of the Emperor, no actions were taken for a while.

In 1094, the Germans finally made their counter attack, Franconia was attacked. The Bohemians faced numerical superiority, with the Germans outnumbering them more than 3:2. Nonetheless, the Bohemians took their stand, and glouriously defeated the invaders, despite their numerical superiority and better quality of troops.

The Bohemians took their stand on a slight elevations (the best they could find) while King Vratislav himself rode around the enemy, drawing a full company of spearman away from the main army. The knights quickly out-manouvered the spearmen, charged the from uphill and killed them all. Once they were disperced, the King attacked the main body of the enemy from the rear, killing and capturing many.

After this battle, many years of peace followed. Sons and daughters to King Vratislav II were born in the plenty, and several alliances were concluded, most notably the one with France, a powerful ally against the Germans.

However, the Kingdom of Bohemia lacked a coastline, Vratislav new the importance and possible profit of trading, and thus aimed to provide himself with some coastal provinces. In 1102, Saxony was invaded. As they usually did, the cowardly Germans ran away. This time however, they had a fort to retreat to. This did not last for long anyway, and it fell in 1104. In the same year, a ceasefire wis finally signed with the Holy Roman Emperor. After many years of declared war (although only a few years of actual fighting) peace finally returned to the Bohemians.

A long period of peace followed, and alliances were sealed with many countries, many of them distant and even unheard of to most Bohemians. The slow process of constructing a fleet in Saxony was commenced, but it was to take years before the Bohemians had a fleet to be reckoned.

As he grew older, King Vratislav II started looking for a few last chanses of noble deeds, for which he would be remembered. The rebel province of Friesland was deemed to strong, so instead, King Vratislav himself commanded and army attacking Brandenburg in 1111, once again breaking the peace with the Holy Roman Empire.
This time, the Bohemians had the upper hand, and except for a few unfortuneate casualties caused by a few crude decisions on the battlefield, the battle went as predicted:

All of the prisoners were ransomed by the Emperor.

Thus we leave the Bohemians and King Vratislav II for a while. The year is now 1112 and the Kingdom of Bohemia is now far stronger and bigger than it was initially, and King Vratislav has made himself famous all across Europe. He is now 53 years old, and hopefully has at least a few years yet to live. The line of heritaged is properly secured by his numerous sons, all of them being good warriors like their father.

The Kingdom of Bohemia as of 1112: