4th Chapter: The Great Leap North, or, The End of the Turks 1250-1260
Considering the last entry, I actually did something different. I waited a turn and moved half my forces in Cyrenacia to the northen front, and only then began the attack on the Turks. This gave me an extra 400 camels for the invasion.
1250: Buildup…
1251: I began the backstab (Turks were my allies: “Well tough luck guys, I swear you can trust me in the next game. Honestly!” with an all out attack on three provinces: Lesser Armenia, Anatolia and Rum. The move proved a total success as they withdrew to castles in all three cases. But it only delayed the outcome… The attack must have been quite a shock to the Turkish Sultan who died from old age the same turn. At the same time I was announced to be the richest faction. And I didn’t even have a single trade post.
1252: Kept up the pace by attacking Armenia, and at the same time preventing a counter-move into now almost camel-empty Syria. It’s dead even, and the Turks decide to stand and fight this time. 1120 camels invade the region defended by 1176 Turks, but more importantly there are armoured spearmen in the ranks of the enemy. In the beginning it’s an even fight, but the camels quikly take down the horse archers and the medium cavalry, and when the spearmen are sandwiched between two or three units of camel warriors, they break and flee. Phew! Lost 245, but killed 305, and took 524 prisoners. But when the Turks proved unable to pay the ransom, it was a heavy blow to their fighting strength. At the same time the 246 Turks (hereof 120 peasants), under their second-best general 6-star al-Turkumani, sallied in Anatolia as their situation was hopeless. My captain was al-Qaim: a zero-star nobody, but backed up by 750 camels, he proved capable. Though he lost 200 camels he took Mr. Turkumani, but his fate was no different from his countrymen in Armenia. Thus the second turn of the attack showed a loss of over 1000 Turks and one of their finest generals. Furthermore the other sieges continued. The response force from Constantinople arrived in Trebizond, roughly 900 men under the leadership of Sultan Selim II. Not an especially frightening foe.
1253: I attack Trebizond with more than 1000 camels in the belief that the “more troops get there first” rule would make the battle happen in Treb. In the process Armenia was abandoned: I was trying to catch and destroy the Armies, not slowly occupying Asia Minor. But I was fooled, big time. The Sultan marched into Rum, and put an end to the siege. I withdrew without a fight. Treb is won though. And Lesser Armenia sallies, as expected, and they were dealt with. Somewhat unexpectedly I’ve cut the Turkish empire in half. But is Treb to close to The Big C and its enormous garrison?
1254: Empties Treb for show-down battle in Rum. Thought I could cut them off completely by attacking Armenia simultaneously. But I was fooled again. Treb was taken by a small relief force and the Armenian garrison was bolstered from Rum. I had to retreat from both provinces, but the Turks withdrew from Rum. As an extra bonus Rum is abandoned completely and I take the castle.
1255: I renew the attacks on Armenia and Treb – housing the Sultan – now that the “trap ‘em in Rum” plan failed. The Sultan retreats to Nicea and the Turks withdraw without a fight in both provinces. I’m a little puzzeled at this, because I don’t outnumber them badly, perhaps I had 10-20 % more than them. They fear the camel.
1256: I imagined this should be a buildup round to consolidate the gains. But the Turks thought differently… They invade Treb with almost all their remaining forces – 3200 Turks. Their leader is the infamous Selim II. It could have been ‘Uncle Gazi’ (8-star former prince) who also joined the battle, but as he is not the Sultan, command goes to 1-star Selim II. My leader is 9-star ad-Din ‘The Camel Hero’, with 1800 camels, and the difference in command lures me to do this battle. There were a lot of spears in the Turks’ army, and as the armies faced each other on hills separated by a valley I realised I had placed my army and more importantly ad-Din within the reach of a trebuchet.
The spears proved somewhat troublesome, and some camels had to be sacrificed to ensure rear charges. And yet it was a brilliant success. The spears didn’t kill the camels fast enough, and the archers and cavalry was overrun. The valor bonus played a big part here. Killed 470, but more importantly captured 880. And the Turks could not make the ransom!
1257: To exploit the recent victory ad-Din ‘Camel Hero’ ‘Fox of the Desert’ (& now skilled defender) takes on Nicea. The Turks invest Uncle Gazi, but he decides to lock himself up in the castle instead of fighting the camel horde and the ‘Desert Wind’ ad-Din. (I’m still working on a good nick-name for ad-Din. Perhaps ‘Matematician’ (ad-din, addin’ – get it?)) My Sultan dies of old age, and a new nobody is crowned. At this moment my royal line is quite incapable, and I use heroes and uncles in battle. As a result I continuously get reports of brewing plots. Meanwhile, Armenia falls to the camel siege.
1258: Success in Armenia opens up Georgia where they retreat and bring peace to the eastern front. At the western front, I make a little gamble and leaves Nicea and attacks Big C, though I’m a little short on camels. I anticipate a relief force going out from Constantinople to save Uncle Gazi. It turned out I was partial correct. There was a relief force, but it only consisted of Sultan Selim II. I imagine the shouts of joy in the Nicea Castle at the news of a recently arrived army from Constantinople, turning to desperate disappointment as it turns out to be the Sultan and nobody else. And then the news that the siege is lifted! What an utter surprise!
Well, the battle in Constantinople is close. 1300 camels vs. 1900 Turks. The initial setup reveals only three spear units. Rest of them archers and horse archers. This prompts a new tactic I called ‘The Camel Hammer’. Quite simple, really: Select all units. Click in the middle of enemy formation. Watch. When in range of enemy archers, run forward. When close, charge.
The few camels caught by spears were slaughtered, but the enemy formation was scattered and the battle became a mess. Camels chasing HA’s in all directions. New reinforcements coming on, while my battered camels tried to regroup. A capture of all Turk spearunits trying to chase routing camels, and at the end a small defeat as I realised I had brought on all the reserves, and the Turks outnumbered me in the field. I gave up and left, killing roughly 1000 Turks, loosing 760 camels.
1259: Picking up the pieces, I attack the two last Turkish provinces, predominantly moving camels at Constantinople and a more modest against Nicea. Uncle Gazi returns to Big C, but facing the camel horde he takes the entire garrison and tries to retreat to Nicea. This makes the battle of Nicea a last stand for the Turks. If they win, the main army is safe and ready to cause all sorts of trouble. If they loose, they’ll lose everything. And it’s an equal battle. My new Sultan is in charge, maybe that was a mistake, but he could use the experience. 380 camels vs. 360 turks.
Half of them armoured spears, which make the battle difficult. The battle opens, and the Turks have hidden the spearmen in a wood somewhere. Realising the opportunity, I rush the rest of them with all the camels. This time there is no gap in valor and the cavalry take their toll on the camels. At the same time the spears burst out of the woods to join the fight. But it is too late. The cavalry is broken by the camel horde, and the spears are run around the map. Before they are engaged the Sultan falls. A miserable fate for a miserable enemy. The first spears falls after a quick and fierce fight, being charged from all sides. The second unit, the last 100 of the Turks, are hit by 5 units of camel at the same time and breaks immediately. It is a victory! All 1434 Turks under uncle Gazi is caught and executed (no one could pay their ransom). Gunpowder comes online.
So I'm victorious in this war. Right now the map screams for buildup, as I'm making +5k every round, and I'm a little thin on most fronts. No immediate threat though, so many options. The Hungarians are the most impressive enemy at the moment. I'm considering an invasion of Italy.
What do you think?
/KotR
The Camel Campaign
First blood of the campaign, the ballista was placed to far from the main army
The Templars thought they had a good hill, but waited untill the rest of the army was overrun by the camels
The templars are destroyed, though their general escapes, much to my surprise
Oh my God! Where did they come from?!?
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It'll be interesting to see how things progress, particularly given the rules/guidelines you've set for yourself. Looking forward to it. 
Originally Posted by drone
. 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%)
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?
For the rest of the campaign I can only train 160 camels a turn, and the random number of princes that can be retrained, now I've opened that avenue. I have a lot of agents now though 
Even the vanilla spearmen manage to do some damage. Only when charged from all sides completely cutting them off from the rest of their comrades they break, and in the end, the camel horde is victorious! I lost 937 camels, almost half my army, but the Spanish lost 2154 after failing to pay the ransom. 
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