The Camel Campaign

[Knight of the Rose]

In light of the recent...encouragement...I've decided to continue the campaign.

3rd Chapter: Return of the Jedi

1231: Bended the rules, nah – broke the rules by allowing retraining of princes and kings, as they are badly needed to take out the spearmen. I also began massive training of assasins and spies. I haven’t really mentioned them in the rules, so I thought it was ok. The horde arrived at Khazar only, and will probably not be a problem, at least not an immediate one. Once again I attack Antioch, as things has gotten personal with me and Mr. Cadoc (leader of the French). There are now only 441 frenchmen, yet it was another failure as the Order Foot cuts through my camels as a hot knife through butter. I managed to kill 82, and this is now officially a war of attrition.
1233: Rebellion in Antioch – apparently being excommed with the pope didn’t suit the crusaders in the holy land. It turned out to be quite a disappointment to me, as only a newbuildt hobilar joined the rebels and was crushed without a dent in the loyalist army. Check out my nemisis:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

1234: 5th battle of Antioch, 1390 camels vs. 354 French. This time I finally realise why the Order Foot is giving me so much trouble.

Count the little flags… yeah – that’s 11 of them, right there, together with good defence, armour, 'no retreat' morale and anti-camel pointy sticks. Oy! I think I have a headache… I throw everything at them, charge in the front, flank and rear, make them run across the map forever. They won’t die. As a final frustrated move I engage my Sultan, and he dies. Oh, the bitterness. Killed 241 though… Next time Mr. Cadoc.
1235: Start throwing multiple assasins at Mr. Cadoc - nothing personal, I asure you . Even a general who is invincible in battle, is as vulnerable as a child when asleep. The assasins all fail though, even at good odds (17%)
1236: A hero! Fakhr al-Din, 5 star skilled attacker camel hero. I need you boy, I need you badly.
1241: My spies revealed a vice on Mr. Cadoc. "Spy Network" It was the first time I ever revealed a vice, normally I don't use spies much. The effect was hard to tell. Seems loyalty for Mr. Cadoc went down from 10 to 5 shields though?
1242: The 6th battle of Antioch, with the camel hero in front and retrained princes at his side. In total 1880 camels and 60 Ghulams vs. 330 French. I’ll bet you al-Din won’t progress in virtues with these odds. The 11 valor beasts are now numbering 67, the rest of the French forces consist of Turcopoles and peasants. Once again the camels slice through everything but the jedi unit of Order Foot. And once again I throw camels into the jedies, to no use, as the French prevail without a dent. Then I run them around the map trying to excaust them. In the end I lead them onto a steep slope and at the lowest point I charge two Ghulam princes into their rear with hight advantage while the Order Foot Jedies slaughter an unit of camels set on hold formation - it only makes the camels last an instance longer, but this time it is enough! The Ghulams privail, and it is a victory! The retrained princes together with 6 star general proved to much for the Order Foot, though again they alone killed 350 camels before going down. A siege is begun.
1243: As the castle won’t fall without a direct assult I pull out to attack again the next turn.
1244: 7th battle of Antioch, and it’s a walk in the park, I even capture Mr. Cadoc. After a little questioning, he is ransomed back to France - or perhaps Cyprus. Yet 3 turcopoles manages to escape and makes the tatic a total failure as the siege continues. That was not the plan.
1245: Attacking with assasins, I take out the last three defenders in the next three turns. That’s another first… I had 8 assasins and there were three defenders locked up in the castle of death...
1250: The campaign is at a crossroad. The French are eliminated from the mainland, western border secure, not many Almos, but need more spies to asses their forces better. Turks have a massive army in Constantinople and are the most developed in the world. My best asset is Fakhr who is appointed Master of the Stables and thus became an 8 star when attacking.

Who do you think I should take on next?

/KotR