Pics and History of your Empire

[Monk]

The year 1088 of the Christian calender.
Cairo, Egypt.

It has been eight years since The Fatimids began their march from the great city of the Nile, their mission to unite the holy lands under one banner and end the horrible infiting that plagues the independent rulers of the cities of Damascus, Kerak, Acre and Jerusalem. Sultan Al-Mustansir, already reaching old age in his 50s, knows that the road is going to be a long one, his people have no great military strength, but they have the wealth of the Egyptian lands to draw from. From such beginnings he marches forward and begins his conquest of the Levant.

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His overall position at home is quite secure. His nearest Islamic rival, the Moors, are half a world away in North Africa. The Order of Knights Templar, backed by papal interests, are starting to grab land in the North. It is perhaps because of these men that the Sultan set upon the path of conquest, can the Holy Land truly be trusted in the hands of Westerners? It is a question the Sultan must not answer, for in 1089 he secures not only Kerak but the holy city of Jerusalem itself! The accomplishment sends shockwaves throughout the entire world, and though the city is occupied peacefully once the local forces were defeated all of Western Europe looks upon the fall of the city as a terrible transgression. Still. The Sultan pays no heed, indeed. He pushes in to Acre and defeats the local garrison quickly the following year.

Not wishing to rest he pushes his men, forcing the march on Damascus. In 1091 his determination pays off the the local militias are put down, seeing the city turned over to Fatimid interests. The sultan finds that the Templars have beat him to Allepo, and thus decides now would be a good chance to consolidate his newly grown kingdoms. It is unfortunate that no kingdom can survive without growing pains...

Western Europe had heard rumors, whispers. The Fatimids had discovered holy relics of the man they called Christ and in their greed had spirited them away to Cairo! Of course, such stories were false, but to those of conviction and half a world away, it was hard to dissuade them as such. When the Sultan did not respond to threats from the Courts of Europe, the Pope acted.

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The Sultan stood in disbelief! His kingdom which barely had the strength to enact building programs and still defend itself, was now the target of a Crusade. What was worse his capital was the main focus! He knew that if Cairo fell, his entire kingdom would follow. Every man from nearby Alexandria, Damietta and Gaza was given a spear or bow and sent to Cairo, If the Latins would not see reason they would see their blood! Fortified and ready for the coming storm, the defenders of Cairo rallied under Ziyad al-Musayyab, commander of the greater Egypt armies, and thus they waited.

The Hungarians were the first to arrive in the Holy Lands in 1095, marching south and quickly besieging the city the following year. Having no funds to raise more troops, and with his norther army stuck watching the border in case the Templars took advantage of the situation, the Sultan was forced to pray that his southern defenses would hold.

Perhaps it was fate, but the Hungarian forces that besieged the great city were nothing more than light infantry forces and, primarily, mercenaries. The Hungarians had undertaken the call to arms and rose up with naught but levies, a poor man's crusade..

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Pinned against the walls the bulk of the Hungarian force is shot to pieces by the great many archers raised from the populace just the year before. When at last the gate does burst open the cavalry heavy crusader force finds itself staring down the business end of a spear line..

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The Fatimid defenders suffer light casualties and are able to drive back the first Crusader wave! However, Ziyad knows that more will come, despite this he allows those who are captured to leave freely once the fight has ended. The crusaders prefer exile in the Levant and disband their forces rather than return home disgraced. In response to the outright aggression shown to his people by the western Christians, he pleads to Imam Muhammad that he may embark upon a Holy War of his own, in retaliation for the Infidel wars upon Cairo. Muhammed agrees that something must be done, and calls A Jihad for the great stronghold of Tortosa powerbase of the Knights Templer. The Sultan has little trouble in raising a huge host and marches north in 1099, determined to see Allah's will done. After cornering a huge host of Templars outside the fortress, Al-Mustansir utterly defeats the defending force of the fortress and lays siege to the stronghold proper.

In the south Two huge armies arrive upon Cairo's doorstep. One led by King Alfonso, lionhearted king from the Kingdom of Leon-Castile. The other by his rival a man from the Crown of Aragon. The two men clearly do not see eye to eye and in 1102 Alfonso beats the Aragonese to the gates of the city, laying seige. That year Tortosa falls to the Sultan's forces. The Jihad has accomplished its objective but in the Sultan's mind it is far from over. He must secure his northern border of enemies if he is ever going to defend against further crusades from the West.

He issues forth from Tortosa and corners a large Templar force returning from Edessa, they were marching to relieve Tortosa and are absolutely shocked to find the Fatimids blocking their advance. The two forces clash in terrible struggle, the well balanced Fatimid army far outclasses their Christian counterparts and soon gain the upper hand. The Sultan leads the cavlary wing in a charge against the Templar's right wing, determined to punch through toward their infantry.

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But disaster! As the forces collide, an aged and battle scarred ruler is not as resilient as he once was, a templar spear finds its mark in him and he falls. His greif striken soldiers cannot believe their eyes.. their Sultan dead! The day however is not lost, as Captain Abul-Asshab rallies his grief stricken soldiers and leads them in a counter attack against the templars. The fury of the Fatimid counter-charge snaps the Latin resistance and the army crumbles. The good captain after the battle is regarded as a hero for his brave rallying of the troops, for his heroism in battle he is given the ultimate honor of joining the royal family.

1103 comes, with a new sultan crowned in Al-Musta'il, the defenders of Cairo prepare for the worst. The Spanish advance upon the gates that year and as before the men of the city greet them with an arrow shower. But these are not under trained slavs and mercenaries they face, but a highly professional force commanded by a King. The gate buckles and breaks and forth they come!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The line is snapped in half with an all out melee breaking out. It becomes every man for himself and while inflicting serious casualties upon the crusaders the Fatimids are slowly thinned until finally they break. Musta'il pulls his cavalry back around the edge of the city, regrouping in city square as the Crusaders march down main street.

Somehow in the confusion of the gate battle, Alfonso finds himself separated from his men. Al-Musta'il hears like a great clap of thunder a voice shouting for the charge in his heart. This is his chance, a chance to send panic through the crusader lines, a chance to strike them down!

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The good king turns... to find his death approaching. It is said he never had a chance to turn his horse about before they were upon him. His death sent shock waves through the ranks, their king's death seemed to remind the weary crusaders of all that they had lost, all they sacrificed so far from home. They broke and fled, the Fatimid calvary wing pursued them taking as many prisoners as they could before marching back into the city with the prisoners disgraced before the citizens. Knowing the crusaders may join with the Aragonese who waiting outside the walls, the Sultan nevertheless allowed them to go free. Feeling enough had died this day. In honor of the Fallen King Alfonso the Sultan saw to it he received all the burial rights a man of his station deserved.

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[Rhyfelwyr]

I've been pretty bored waiting for Kingdoms to arrive, so I had a go as the Rebels. I've heard some people like to consolidate a base as them, but I just blitzed like I have never blitzed before (normally more a turtle), and got the 80 regions Short Campaign victory by Turn 12.

If you want to try something a bit different, I recommend going the Rebels. Its great fun, you get such a diversity of units.

Turn 5:

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Turn 7:

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Turn 9:

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Turn 10:

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And at the End (Turn 12):

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Oh Yeah!

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[Monk]

Wow, very nice CR! Victory in 12 turns, that's insane.

[Martok]

Indeed. That's crazy, CR! How the heck did you manage that so quickly? Do the rebels simply start with that many settlements (I've never really bothered to count)?

[Csargo]

France turn 11:

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Not sure where to go next. England, HRE, or Iberia.

[Ferret]

all 3 at once!

[Iavorios]

As France do you really thing you have a choice? With some luck you will have some time to conquer northern Italy, and after turn 40 England and HRE and the Mors will come after you. Especially the HRE. By the way wat is Sicily doing until now? As for Italy, you simply can't allow this hordes of Milanese to pump of nowere. France and HRE are total war all the way.

[Csargo]

all 3 at once!

That's just craziness. I don't have the troops to attack all three at once.

As France do you really thing you have a choice? With some luck you will have some time to conquer northern Italy, and after turn 40 England and HRE and the Mors will come after you. Especially the HRE. By the way wat is Sicily doing until now? As for Italy, you simply can't allow this hordes of Milanese to pump of nowere. France and HRE are total war all the way.

I do at the moment. I don't know what the Sicilians are doing, probably off conquering North Africa.

[Armenia_Byzantium]

I have also just started a Byzantine campaign on 0.6 and am finding it fun.

Here are some random pics I found in my tgas folder:
an English campaign on vanilla:



A tough battle on BC ending with a 1 on 1 duel of two generals, my guy won in the end

Ah man, 1 on 1 > WOW stuff!

[El Jojo]

France turn 11:

Not sure where to go next. England, HRE, or Iberia.

You always have the choice, even as France... But if you want to play strategic and diplomatic, you need to have a high rep (trustworthy or very trustworthy). You achieve that by always occupying cities and releasing prisonners. And never declare war. Make them declare war on you. Take your troops out of bordering cities/castles and the AI will attack. If you leave angers with one unit, England will attack most of the time.

Look at the alliances, who is allied with who ? Who is at war ? Usually if the AI is at war with other factions and have good relations with you, it won't attack. Is HRE at war with Denmark or Poland ? Get an alliance with them and go after someone else, your eastern front is safe for now (but not forever of course! Keep a good garrison in Metz). If HRE is at peace with everyone, they get bored and will hit you because you're different. Same reasoning for other factions.
Where are your most developped castles because you will need reinforcement, bringing troops from Toulouse to Antwerp is a long walk etc....
And never, never leave a border settlement undergarrisoned (except to trap your next prey)

So, in fact, you don't decide where to go, you check where you may go and decide from there.
And of course, there's the fun factor, what kind of battle do you want to fight ? do you want to deal with longbows or would you rather make jinetes bite the dust ?

Your southern border is quite secure with Bordeaux and Toulouse as Castles, the english castle of Caen is a pain because it threatens Rennes, Angers and Paris, which means you'll waste a lot of money on Garrison... I would suggest going after England, taking Caen and ask for peace (it worked for me). If you feel a bit more risky you can try to take Caernavon before they get from the rebels, so you reverse the tables, now it's you who has a castle in their homeland...

[Rhyfelwyr]

Trust my internet to go as soon as Kingdoms arrives!

Once I get it back I'll post picks of my Scottish, New Spain, Jerusalem, and Teutonic Order campaigns. Also I did a quick one in normal M2TW as the Papacy, and I'm currently playing as Ireland in Britannia.

[Martok]

Once I get it back I'll post picks of my Scottish, New Spain, Jerusalem, and Teutonic Order campaigns. Also I did a quick one in normal M2TW as the Papacy, and I'm currently playing as Ireland in Britannia.

Excellent. Looking forward to seeing what you've done with them. (I wish you a speed internet recovery, btw.)

[PBI]

This thread seems to have gone awfully quiet lately, so I'll try and get the ball rolling again with an update on my BC Jerusalem campaign. Sorry for the long gap, I've been off on a Galciv II phase for the last few weeks, but went back to M2TW a few days ago.

So, things have been moving quickly on the northern front. The very next turn, the last Turkish strongholds fell, fulfilling the victory conditions for the campaign:

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But I elected to play on, as so many of the factions are yet unfought. So next was a quick campaign to finish off the remnant of the Armenians, before a blitzkrieg campaign against the Romans. I was aware that Constantinople would spawn a nasty stack of troops if I were to besiege it but I had no intention of giving them that chance; I assaulted it on the first turn with my new catapults, before an effective defense could be prepared:

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In the same turn I seized Cyprus, and put the castle of Dorylaeum under siege. I then ended the turn and awaited the Roman counterattack. It came in the form of two stacks besieging Constantinople, a large force from Trebizond marching out to besiege Sinop, and four stacks coming to the aid of the large garrison of Dorylaeum. However, the relief forces at Dorylaeum disappointingly didn't attack, meaning that I could force the win in the siege, and pick off each of the relief forces one by one in night battles. The forces besieging Constantinople were also crushed surprisingly easily; the forces of the Romans had looked intimidating, but proved to be mostly lightweight militias with a few medium cavalry mixed in. Whilst the victorious armies in Dorylaeum and Constantinople continued to mop up the remaining Roman settlements in Western Anatolia, the army of Cyprus moved on to Rhodes, and then Crete, before making an expedition south into Africa to take the oasis at Siwa. Meanwhile I used the proceeds of the sack of Constantinople to raise a new army in Syria, with which first to relieve Sinop and then to take the last Roman stronghold at Trebizond.

Meanwhile, in the south, my second Nile expedition succeeded in capturing the fortress of Axum and thus securing control of all the African lands on the map. I then transported it to Yemen to merge with the army on that front and take the castle at Ta'iz after a long siege. After a quick campaign to take Cholula in Somalia and the island of Suqutra (thus netting me all of the islands on the map ), my army now marches up the far end of the Arabian peninsular to campaign against the Imamate of Oman.

Whilst I had been campaigning against the Romans, the Abbasid Caliphate had been steadily expanding up the Euphrates, until finally they were able to attack the mighty rebel-held stronghold of Aleppo, on my borders. The battle fell fortuitously for me: The Abbasids lost, but severely depleted the garrison, leaving it free for me to seize myself. After a brief respite while I redeployed my troops from the west of Anatolia to the eastern frontier, I launched my attack on the Caliphate to end the Abbasid threat and take the great prize of Baghdad. With almost my entire force committed, and concentrated into the narrow cross-section of the Caliphate, I was able to overpower the Abbasid forces, which were strong in archers and heavy infantry but with few spears to repel my invincible heavy cavalry. Baghdad fell without a fight when I drew out the garrison as reinforcements (I really don't like incurring those huge defensive stacks), and the Caliphate is now ready to fall: Of its last three settlements, two are under siege, while the other soon will be. And now, with all of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo under my control, I am finally starting to turn a profit.

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The current state of my campaign. Note that the large blue area north of Baghdad is actually the Great Seljuks, not my lands. I really need to knock out some more blue factions.

So the question is, which way should I go next? As I see it, my options are:

1: Turtle for a while and build up some money. Not exactly my favourite choice.

2: Attack the Kypchaks. In principle they are my strongest rival with many strong stacks, and taking the steppes would mean my western frontier is completely secure so I can divert all my forces east. An attack on them before the Georgians would have to take place through the narrow Bulgarian frontier or by sea, though, which would take a while to move my troops into position.

3: Attack the Imamate of Oman. I will be doing this anyway from Yemen, but I could also send an overwhelming force from Mesopotamia to crush them from both sides. This would mean my Arabian frontier is secure, but is arguably overkill since Oman is pretty weak and my army in Yemen should be enough to do most of the job by itself eventually.

4: Attack the Georgians. Their empire looks small but is surprisingly strong, with large armies of good troops. Taking them out would make an attack on the Kypchaks or Seljuks much easier and remove a dangerous presence in my rear. However, the flipside is that both those empires would then only have me as an enemy. An attack on them would not be easy as their armies are tough and well armoured and their lands are mountainous, but my forces are in place to do it right away.

5: Attack the Seljuks. A potentially dangerous foe since they have the most room to expand, but they are relatively weak at present due to a few recent rebellions. Attacking them should be relatively easy despite all their annoying horse archers, but would leave me with a border against the powerful Khwarezmian empire, a strong Georgian force in my rear, and dangerously close to the coming Mongol invasion.

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome. I'm tending to favour an overwhelming attack on the Georgians at present, followed by a quick strike to destroy the main Kypchak forces ranged along the Georgian frontier.

[Ferret]

Wow nice Empire. I say options 3 and 4, Oman should be easy enough to crush with very few troops so that most of your armies can take on Georgia.

[Martok]

I pretty much second what you're already leaning towards, PBI. I'd go with options 2 & 4: Focus on taking out the Kypchaks and Georgians to secure your northwestern frontiers before anything else. The Seljuks and Khwarazmians will still be there when you're done.

[rossahh]

Attack the Kypchaks.

They're usually the toughest AI faction to fight, so have fun taking them out.

[Monk]

Very nice stuff PBI! My recent go at KoJ was very fun, it's just really surprising how expensive some of their troops are in upkeep. Those knights templar can break the bank!

Keep the ball rolling everyone, we've had some great stuff posted thus far!

[PBI]

Mm yes, it is a nice balance between unit strength and upkeep I think, your units are almost unstoppable, but so expensive that you almost always have to fight heavily outnumbered. Even now when I control almost all the big trade hubs I'm only barely turning a profit since I have a full half-stack of just Hospitallers I got as rewards for missions; an almost invincible force, but costs a small fortune to maintain.

[Rhyfelwyr]

I've now played as three factions in each Kingdoms campaign. I will get the pics uploaded eventually, but the internet is not working on my own PC and I'm having to use my parents crappy PC for the internet when I can.

That's a nice campaign there PBI, makes me want to play a mod. But I've just started playing RTW...

[Dead Guy]

My first attempt at anything resembling an AAR =) Have mercy :p I hope I get the images right...

Stainless Steel 6.1, no RR, no Byg's grim reality. (It's my first SS campaign) VH/VH
Kingdom of Norway, Late Era

The year is 1220 AD when King Haakon the Mauler realizes that his people are becoming dangerously undeveloped compared to the southerners. Whispers of an explosive substance that wll make armor and walls obsolete are reaching his court, and he does not yet have the facilities to recruit knights! A simple church in Eikundarsund is the most advanced building in his kingdom!

He withdraws his son Magnus from the war effort in britain, and abandons the Isle of Man and the Orkney Islands for now. Instead, the Viking lands must be united to finance the required development of infrastructure, smithys and the like. The british isles will have to wait.

The Norwegian Hird is assembled and marches against Västergötland and the capital Skara in 1221. The Danes have the castle besieged when it arrives, however, and the king decides to push on to Södermanland instead. But the Swedish rebels in Skara are victorious, and Haakon quickly reroutes the march to Skara once more, and lays siege. The decimated garrison is no match for Haakons Carls.

Nyköping is besieged just before the Danes arrive. Tensions build between the nations as the Danes are repeatedly denied expansion into Sweden. But then disaster strikes! In the form of a scottish army at least 2000 strong landing at Eikundarsund. There is no way to raise a garrison in time to repel the attackers, and the army in Sweden is years march away from the besieged city. But only after a few months the siege is lifted! Perhaps the pope called the scots off.

Nyköping falls and our army moves on to Visby by sea. A second army is formed near Skara with men from Oslo and veterans of the previous campaigns. Once more the Danes show up, anooyed at not getting to add the baltic trading hub of Gotland to their territories. This seems to be the last drop for them, and they besiege Skara on the mainland when Visby is taken by Norwegian forces. This however leaves the Danish castle Kalmar poorly defended, and the main army can therefore quickly sail from Gotland to Småland and capture the castle before it can be reinforced, while the new army in Västergötland is also victorious.

1235 Haakon dies of old age leaving his heir Magnus Haakonson as King of Norway. A few sieges of Kalmar follow, the Danes attack mainly with militia, some nasty war clerics and a lot of mercenaries since they have only cities left. Visby is also besieged by the Novgorod swine repeatedly, but they are repelled, and we eventually sign an alliance when Magnus marries a Novgorodian princess. The scottish eventually launch more invasions against the Norwegian shore. Their fleets are sunk and the invaders are rewarded with watery graves. There are many hard fought battles in the forests of Småland and on the plains of Skåne, between Norwegian and Danish forces. The danes start fielding more sword staff militia and norse war clerics. The Norwegian forces are mainly Norse archers and hurcarls, both mounted and on foot.

Gunpowder is invented. The Norwegian cities are still quite a long way from being able to train soldiers in it's use. We do not have the knowledge yet to make sophisticated cannons either. Alliances have been fomed with France, Genoa, who have since been pushed into the sea and controls only Corsica, and Hungary. The marriage alliance with Novgorod holds.

Around 1265 Lund falls and Roskilde quickly follows when the danish forces in Skåne are routed. The danish prince is in Königsberg for some reason, along with a huge danish fleet, and they are down to their capital Århus. They offer a peace treaty which Magnus refuses. Not capturing Århus would deny Norway a land route onto the mainland and into the Empire, it is also an immensly rich trading city. After a protracted siege the danes even offer to become vassals to the Norwegian King, but Magnus refuses and takes the city in the summer of 1276, declaring himself King of all Scandinavia in the process.

The "Holy" oman Empire have been excommunicated due to their aggresive war with Venice. A crusade is called on Hamburg in 1277, and the Norwegian general Haldor the Chivalrous joins the crusade and captures Hamburg the very same years. He is severly wounded in the process, but recovers during the following year. He is now accompanied by Roger de Molin, a knight of St John. The Holy Roman Empire accepts a cease fire and resumes trade with us immediately, as their forces are busy elsewhere.

In 1279 a Jihad is called on Jerusalem, and many Muslims march on the holy city. A search for a bride for Magnus' son who will soon come of age is begun.

1283: A fatimid army assaults the walls of Jerusalem. The defenders are heavily outnumbered but manage to win a heroic Victory. But alas, the very same year, another 2000 fatimid enter the region, along with about 4000 Seljuks. The situation looks grim for the crusaders.

1284: "Prince" Kolbein, an adopted general of King Magnus who is heir presumptive, dies a noble death in battle in West Pomerania. He is struck in the chest by a crossbowbolt. His bodyguard avenges his death.

1286: "Prince" Christoffer, a man Kobein decided to adopt, dies a noble death in battle outside the walls of Edinburg. What in the world did he do there all alone with just his bodyguard? Thorkel Haakonson is heir apparent and is married to an intelligent Sicialian princess. Jerusalem is captured by the Seljuks. Roskilde is chosen as the Kingdoms centre of academia, while Lund becomes the center of the church. Hamburgs artllery school is nearly completed. Serpentines will soon be an asset to Norwegian armies. The Holy Roman Empire is becoming dangerously large, they are drawn into a war with the papacy!

1287: Another crusade is called on the not so holy empire. Franfurt is the target this time. Once more, Haldor the Chivalrous leads the Norwegian army south from Saxony. At night he assaults the city after it has been infiltrated by spies. The Germans are taken by surprise and abandon the walls! The fools! Now the Norwegians suffer neither boiling oil or ballista towers on their way to Victory! Our Mangonels can't reach the city square however, the gate is too small to let it through! While our army manouvers to encircle the numerous Imperial forces in the city center, our trebuchet knocks down the walls to allow our Mangonel into the city. Catapults and Mangonels are set up close to the square and many feudal knights burn before they decide to fight the Norwegians in the streets. The day is ours with only 99 men lost.

1290: Frankfurt is isolated from the rest of the Norwegian lands. The Germans agree to exchange it for their fortress Magdeburg, at the same time making their border with their enemies the poles smaller. This is an economical loss for us, but Magdeburg is much easier to defend. The king now looks to the Briitish Isles again, not wanting to become too involved in the wars in the south. England has fallen, Scotland and Ireland have split their lands between them.
Magnus' daughter Gunnvor is married off to Eystein Ericsson, son to Haakons youngest daughter.

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The Norwegian eceonomy is now bustling, many armies can be supported at once and our borders are secure. Preparations are under way for opreation Invasion Alba. It's payback time.

(I didn't start taking screens until a wee bit late into my campaign I'm afraid, sorry for the mass of text, and so far none in battles since I don't master the techniques of geting nice clean screens.)

[Monk]

Bravo Dead Guy! More! More i say!

What a lucky break early on with the scots, it sounds like either
1. bad AI or
2. The pope called 'em off

Either way ! Those Irish are a lot tougher than they look so don't be fooled (i know all about that.) The British isles will be a hard fight but I'm sure the sturdy Norseman in their fury cannot be stopped!

[PBI]

Nice stuff Dead Guy, your screenies are fine except the minimap in the first one is weird for some reason, otherwise fine though.

SS does look like a lot of fun, I'm thinking I might try a campaign once I've wound up my BC KoJ campaign (I've made the vague aim of taking all the provinces, but at roughly 90 I'm only halfway!). Any suggestions for which faction to try would be welcome, not sure whether it would make sense to replay one of the factions I've tried in vanilla or go for something completely new.

[Dead Guy]

Thanks for the encouragement, more to come!

I'm definetly going to try France after this. I've never played them before, but it looks like they've got it all when it comes to troop types. They even have dismounted french archers in SS who can plant stakes. I like stakes. =) They also have a tricky starting position which I think I'll enjoy.

Yes I noticed the minimap got crazy, it was after I took a screenshot with the map zoomed in I think... It compresses the entire image when it takes the screen, maybe it has to do with that, the overlay color is still zoomed in somehow, but not the actual map :p

There are two things I'm not entirely sure of with SS. One is that there seems to be too few family members sometimes. England and Kwarezmids got wiped with I'm sure 4+ regions left because they lost their generals. The other thing is that the AI seems to have trouble coping with the increased religious unrest. They lose stupid settlements to riots, like HRE lost Vienna for example... Otherwise I like it. Should probably have gone with at least Real Recruitment though. I looked at an Irish castle that had about 11 units in it. ALL of them where Muire =) I've seen plenty of armies that are all Muire and just a general. If I only had more mounted crossbows!

Another nice little loophole is to move just your general into a city when his supplies drop, your army can stay and continue to siege or what not. It's a shame they removed the scares infantry on Huscarls for example, they're not very special anymore, just pretty good heavy infantry. Instead Muire for some reason scares infantry, they're just plate armoured and I assume very skilled guys but it's not like they're eating mushrooms and drooling all over the place or have helmets with antlers on them is it? :p It also seems my military minded guys that I put in Castles don't get so much out of their supposed education while they're young as those that are administratively minded and get to study at a university with library etc. Anyone have any extensive experience there?

Cheers

[Dead Guy]

Part 2 - The last king of Scotland

1295: Århus is chosen as the main naval drydock and construction of an admiralty is begun. Armies of Nobles Hirdmen supported by Serpentines and feudal knights are trained in Saxony. The Swordsmiths guild establish themselves there.

In 1299, Haldor the Honourable sets sail for Inverness with 1500 men, many veterans from the conquest of Denmark. The early middle ages end at the turn of the century and the late middle ages begin, apparently.

In 1303 Haldor arrives at an almost undefended Inverness. The fortress is assaulted and taken, scottish troops arrive the same year and lay siege. The highlanders are repelled although the fighting is tough because a spy has opened our gates, denying us the opportunity to deploy our men properly. The scottish prince dies in the battle.

1305: A Crusade is called on Frankfurt, the pope himself is the first to reach the city, but fails to capture it when he eventually assaults the walls. The scottish lay siege to Inverness again, once more many knights die because the gates are opened by a foul spy. Anund Ericsson sails from Saxony with another army to reinforce the norse in Scotland.

1308: A Jihad is called on Palermo. Moors, Seljuks and the golden horde join. Prince Thorkel joins the crusade against the Roman Empire, the Polish capture Frankfurt and the Crusade is a success. Prince Thorkel doesn't take part in anything but a skirmish in the forests surrounding the city.

1310: Brynhildr Haakonsson comes of age, a very charming young woman already. Anund Ericsson sacks Aberdeen in a surprise attack from the sea. Our saxon army besieges Groeningen, a german city.

1311: Our kingdom now covers a vast area! It is the largest in Europe. The king of Scotland is killed in the field and his dynasty is at an end. He has no heir and Edinburgh, York and Nottingham are left to the rebels. Edinburgh has a large garrison and our siege becomes protracted, the Irish quickly fill the void left by the scottish. They have the stronegst force of arms in the known world!

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In 1312, King Magnus the mean dies of old age. Thorkel is crowned king and Haldor the Honourable proclaims himself heir presumptive. He has none of Haakons blood! (Actually he is not in the family tree at all, but somehow I married him to some daughter that was not in the family tree either when I got him! Weird) Groningen falls to Norwegian troops. Haldor is extremely capable in battle and known to the Scottish, but older than the new king. He must eventually be removed so that Thorkels son can be married quickly and produce true heirs to Haakons line. Brynhildr is married off to Anund Ericsson, Haldors second in command in Britain.

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In 1320, Edinburgh is sacked by Anund Ericsson. The Irish attack our army at the southern border of the scottish lowlands. It is lead by a mere captain and the Irish bring a second army to flank us! Their Riderie charge us and inflict some casualties but we are somewhat protected by stakes. Huscarls are matched against Murie and Ostmen. The fighting is grim and terrible, and in the middle of it all an oil barrel from a Mangonel shooting over the engaged lines explodes amidst the men, killing at least a hundred, friend and foe alike! Because the foe is so strong in cavalry, captain Thorgils decides to commit his own cavalry against the enemys Riderie to protect his line. Despite the lack of our usual flank charge tactic the enemy eventually break and flee. Two regiments of Crusader knights are lost in the battle, and almost 300 infantry and archers. Our forces are eventually able to rout both the Irish forces, this is a heroic victory! But this is only the beginning of the battle of britain...

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1322: Skapti Haakonsson comes of age, a Sicilian bride has been found for him by our diplomat in Iberia.

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Haldor manages to capture York single handedly, with the help of an able spy!

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The 30 Irish Riderie that alone guard the city fall back to the central squre, where Haldor charges them head on.

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Disappointed with not finding any pots of gold, he then tragically meets his end in the field the same year. Skapti is married and begins training in Hamburg.

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In the winter a crusade is called on Silves, and the kingdom of Portugal. They are allied to us, and king Thorkel is put in an akward position when the pope asks him to join the crusade, to break his alliance with the Portuguese.

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However Sicily joins the Crusade and the king chooses to maintain good relations with Sicily, and with his wife and daughter in law.

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The Pope orders Thorkel to cease hostilities against the Irish, at the same time York is besieged by the Irish, while Anund governs the city recovering from Pneumonia. In 1324 they assault. Anunds garrison is equipped with 3 Mangonels which prove ruthlessly efficient during the assault! The Murie fight on almost to the last man on the walls and kill many experienced Huscarls. Many Irish burn in the field outside our gates.

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Anund executes those that survive the mangonel massacre, he is becoming a feared Viking leader.
Our allies the french take back Rennes and Bruges from the Irish. Our Kingdom now boasts the mightiest armed force in the known world!

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1325: The Seljuks arrive in northern Italy on Jihad, followed a year later by the golden horde. Our armies in Britain follow the popes command, skirmishes are fought on our land though, one Irish army close to Edinburgh is annihilated in the field. The Kingdom of Jerusalem captures Iconium, the Seljuk capital, but has still not regained Jerusalem. The fatimid are pushing north also. The golden horde seems to have paused in persia and are not the unstoppable horde the khwarezmids told us about.

In 1327, Ireland yet again lays siege to York. This time they pay for their aggression. The papist throne has excommunicated them from the christian faith! Now is the time to strike! By Iron and arrow we will leave our mark on Ireland.

(It's a pity the Irish AI doesn't field well rounded armies. I remember from Kingdoms that I had real troubles with Horseboys as Norway. Now I don't even have to fight Saethwyr. Still, they're no pushovers)

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[PBI]

1215AD

Within the year of 1202, the Abbasid refuges of Samarra and Ahvaz had fallen, leaving the Caliph holed up in his castle at Wasit. Leaving a single stack to continue the siege I began recruiting militia garrisons for my new Mesopotamian holdings and moved my main stacks north to advance against the Georgians. With four major armies near Mosul, and another near Mazaka, however, I decided there would be no need to fork out for the expense of new troops for the Georgian campaign, except for a detatchment of trebuchets from Baghdad.

On the eve of the attack on Georgia, the Abbasid faction heir, who had been wandering aimlessly for years, finally came to the aid of the Caliph and assaulted my army on the bridge south of Wasit. With the Caliph's army approaching from the rear, my army did not wait for the Abbasid heir to cross the river and instead rushed across, lead by the spearmen. With the faction heir dead, my men reformed on the southern bank to repel the Caliph himself. The battle was fiercely fought, the Caliph's army numbering many of the deadly armour piercing Faris heavy infantry, who did bloody work against my spearmen and light mercenary swordsmen. In the end my infantry ring around the bridge end was stretched paper thin, but this proved to be the Abbasids' undoing; as gaps started to appear in my lines, my heavy cavalry could finally bring their lances to bear against the weary and preoccupied Abbasid mass. It was a costly battle, but the last stronghold of the Caliphate had finally fallen, leaving me as master of Mesopotamia.

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In the same year that the last Caliph fell in battle, my carefully prepared strike against the Georgians was finally put into motion. In the South, the isolated castle of Diyarbakir fell quickly to Baldwin himself, who moved on to siege the large garrison at Van. The army of Mazaka advanced up the mountain valley toward the town of Erzurum, defeating a large Georgian army on the way, and laid siege to the large garrison and the faction heir. Meanwhile the other three armies advanced deeper into Georgia; one stack, grizzled veterans of the Nile campaigns equipped with siege weapons, bypassed the small town of Dvin and took the major Georgian cities of Ani and Kutaisi. My main field army of hospitallers cleared away the Georgian armies near Yerevan and swung east to besiege Ganja, leaving the way clear for the final siege army to take Yerevan, and then the Georgian capital and main recruitment center at Tbilisi, in a single turn.

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The Georgian campaign

Smoothing the way of my Georgian campaign were three very fortuitous declarations of war; firstly, the Ghaznis declared war on the Imamate of Oman, laying siege to their Persian holdings and keeping their armies in Persia from coming to the aid of their Arabian cities, negating the need for reinforcements for Clovis of Sidon's army in Yemen. Secondly, the Kypchak Confederacy launched and invasion of Georgia concurrent with mine, destroying several Georgian armies in the north and taking the city of Telavi and the castle of Baku. The was doubly fortuitous since not only did it cause the Georgians and Kypchaks to lose many men fighting each other, but it also left most of the dangerous Kypchak armies concentrated in the area around Telavi south of the Caucases, which would be useful for when I eventually moved against them. Thirdly and most importantly, the Khwarezmid Shah invaded the Great Seljuks from the east. Suddenly I could empty my deterrent garrisons from Mesopotamia to march north against the Georgians as the mighty Seljuk hordes flooded east to try to halt the Khwarezmid onslaught.

The Georgian forces were in principle powerful, consisting primarily of large numbers of heavy spearmen, swordsmen and archers, all heavily armoured. However, their lack of cavalry proved fatal, since my own heavy cavalry could simply destroy the heavy infantry in piecemeal charges, leaving the spearmen to be worn down my my own plentiful mercenary horse archers and finished by the infantry. In the end, the Georgian campaign became a scramble to take as much land as possible before the Kypchaks took it.

At this point a distraction appeared in the form of the renegade Fourth Crusade, turning against their own Crusader comrades to lay siege to the fabulously wealthy city of Constantinople. Whilst I rushed reinforcements across the black sea from Georgia, I sent in my assassins to give the leaders of the "crusade" the honourless deaths they deserved. The rogue crusaders were thus left to face my own men leaderless. The ensuing battle was a savage one, and one of which I sadly neglected to take any screenshots. The force I was facing consisted of two full stacks of rebel armoured spearmen sergeants, crossbowmen and latin knights, all of them the equals of my own troops. The battle ended in my favour primarily due to my advantage in my general still being alive.

However, with that threat eliminated, and the last of the Georgian cities falling to my men, my forces were well placed to continue northwards to eliminate the mighty Kypchaks, with several stacks in Georgia having suffered lighter-than-expected losses, one stack marching north along the Bulgarian coast, and another sailing by ship from Constantinople to Crimea. The Crimean army took Caffa and Aqmesqit on the first turn, while the Bulgarian force laid siege to Belgorod before progressing on towards Kiev; the Kypchak western front was severely underdefended thanks to the Kypchak forces being concentrated around Telavi, where I largely wiped them out in a series battles before driving north onto the steppes. One army retook Baku and continued north along the shores of the Caspian, while my main forces drove north toward Majar.

However, I overextended myself somewhat in this advance, and the first army to besiege Majar was attacked next turn by two full Kypchak stacks. The battle began well enough, the first stack attacking across the bridge into a hail of flaming catapult missiles. Within the first minute half the stack was dead along with their general, and all the rest save a few units of archers were routing back across the bridge. However, the brief scrap had whittled my ragged infantry force down to almost nothing, while I could not pursue the running troops due to the second army to my rear. My general and heavy cavalry engaged the onrushing Kypchak light cavalry, but they were vastly outnumbered, and with my cavalry thus pinned I had nothing with which to destroy the Kypchak swordsmen. My infantry had to fight toe-to-toe with the enemy infantry, a doomed struggle against such huge numbers.

At this moment Kypchak cavalry began streaming across the bridge and crashed down upon my catapult crews; somehow, the first stack which I had defeated and left for dead had rallied. This proved the final straw; hopelessly outnumbered, the last few survivors broke and ran.

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I had been defeated, the first battlefield defeat against a reasonably sized force I have suffered in a long while. However, it was a pyrrhic victory for the Kypchaks; two of their few remaining field armies had been decimated, and despite having lost one army I had many more on the way, and two full stacks in the west with no major forces to oppose them. In the next few turns they rampaged across the steppes, the westernmost army seizing Kiev, Kursk and Ryazan in quick succession while the army of Crimea continued its amphibious assault up the sea of Azov, taking Tmurtarakan and Azaq. Once Baldwin himself destroyed the Kypchak Khagan's army near Magas it was almost over; only a small pocket remained in the northeast.

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The last Kypchak settlement to fall was the tiny village of Astrakhan; but, that was not by a long shot the end of the campaign. The Kypchaks being nomads, they of course produced a horde, and a fearsome one: Six full stacks of nomad lancers and tribal horse archers. I was worried as I tried to rush a large stack of heavy spears to reinforce the tiny garrison I had used to take Astrakhan; however, once again the fates were extremely kind:

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A great earthquake hit Astrakhan province while the horde was still a turn's march away. While my minimal garrison barely had any men to lose, the Kypchak losses from the quake were catastrophic. By pure chance my own reinforcements were just outside the province when the quake hit. A single act of nature had done what it would have taken me several stacks of troops to achieve, and left the mighty Kypchak horde in ruins, easy picking for my spearmen. After a few short battles the mighty Kypchak Confederacy was no more, and my entire northern and western frontier was secure.

While the nearby stacks had rushed to the aid of Astrakhan, my more southerly armies had quickly moved into position for a quick attack on the Seljuks. My spies had noted that for all their efforts the Seljuks were being overwhelmed by the vast Khwarezmian forces and their eastern borders were collapsing fast. Not wishing to have powerful Khwarezmian armies a turn's march from Baghdad, I struck quickly and seized the large, but barely defended cities of Kirkuk, Tabriz and Hamadan from the Seljuks as well as the fortress of Kermanshah. Ardabil and Qazvin are also under siege by me and will fall soon; all the other Seljuk lands are lost to the Khwarezm Shah.

While the great northern campaigns were going on, Clovis of Sidon led his loyal army north against Oman. Taking first Salalah and then Sur with minor losses, he dug in for a long siege of the great Omani fortress of Nizwa. This ended in a bloody battle with heavier losses than he could afford; he was forced to rely on mercenaries to complete the campaign. However, once Muscat fell, the power of the Imamate was broken; all that was left to them were the tiny settlements of Suhar and Al Muharraq on the Gulf coast. At last, and with a severely depleted force, Clovis pursued the last remnants of the Omani forces north and destroyed them near Basra.

The achievements of Clovis have been magnificent; over a forty year career, he has marched from Jordan, right around the Arabian peninsula to Mesopotamia, conquering a vast swathe of rebel land and an entire faction singlehandedly with only the remnants of the Nile expedition and local mercenaries as reinforcements. Even now he is still campaigning against the Seljuks, although I am considering retiring him to Baghdad to make use of his high chivalry rating and raise it to a huge city.

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The campaigns of Clovis of Sidon

The next path of expansion is obvious; I only have one neighbour remaining. However, the question is simply whether I should attack the Khwarezmids now, or wait a few years for the Mongols to invade and draw their armies away from my borders. I am actually favouring the latter, not just to weaken the Khwarezmids, but also because it will give me a chance to reorganise my military, and finally build up a vast sum of wealth; my economy is finally booming, with many of the originally tiny miscellaneous settlements finally starting to reach city size, while Baghdad alone is making some 12000 florins a turn.

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The state of my economy. Note the amount of money being made from merchant trade alone.

Also, obviously the campaign is nearing its end; I suspect rolling eastwards over the remaining factions will be relatively straightforward. Thus I suspect I shall wait the time necessary to grow the fortress of Acre into a citadel, thus finally giving me access to my best troops for the first time since the start of the campaign.

[Martok]

Very nice, PBI! That truly was a fortuitous set of circumstances in connection with the beginning of your Georgian campaign -- I hope you sent the Shah a "thank-you" note.

[ArtistofWarfare]

Very nice, PBI! That truly was a fortuitous set of circumstances in connection with the beginning of your Georgian campaign -- I hope you sent the Shah a "thank-you" note.

Martok!

Long time no see...how are things?

After months, I 'seem' to be up and running with m2tw (aside from my camera issue in the apothecary). Is m2 where you're spending your time these days or are you still focusing on mtw?

I'm just cracking the egg with m2 and haven't even run a campaign yet...but starting to browse these forums a little more often now.

[Martok]

Martok!

Long time no see...how are things?

After months, I 'seem' to be up and running with m2tw (aside from my camera issue in the apothecary). Is m2 where you're spending your time these days or are you still focusing on mtw?

I'm just cracking the egg with m2 and haven't even run a campaign yet...but starting to browse these forums a little more often now.

Hey Artist, good to see you back, man.

I'm still playing mostly MTW (when I have time to play, that is). I've been spending more time in the Citadel as well, though, as RL issues have largely kept sapi away from the Org the last several months. (Plus, it allows me to keep company with many of my fellow Camel followers. )

[PBI]

Very nice, PBI! That truly was a fortuitous set of circumstances in connection with the beginning of your Georgian campaign -- I hope you sent the Shah a "thank-you" note.

I certainly would have done if he hadn't attacked me the turn after my last screenshot. It's kind of annoying, I was hoping the Kwarezmids would have acted as a buffer against the Mongols and sapped their strength, but instead they seem to have decided to expend their forces (around 14 full stacks by my count) against me.

I'll probably not be updating for a couple of weeks, am mostly playing Oblivion at the moment, and I think the campaign is almost done anyway; I'm mostly just playing on to take on the Mongols. I'm thinking maybe a campaign on SS will be next, or maybe I might dust off my copy of the original MTW for a change.

[PittBull260]

hi guys nice campaigns i see. I am the original creator of "pics n history of empires" from the first MTW. I have recently started a hungarian campaign and i will post pics soon. I just had a battle where the germans attacked my small army.
he was a 3 star commander and i had a 4 star commander and here are the results :)


i positioned my army on top of a pretty large hill and simple bombarded them with arrows n balistas. they came close i used one unit of hungarian nobles to fight them while a few other units went around and boom the germans were circled.
i will post pics and stories of the empire soon