The Great Crusade (Knights of St. John AAR)

[GMaximus]

The Great Crusade (Knights of St. John AAR)

H/H
Goals: Capture of Istanbul and destruction of the Ottoman Empire and Barbary States.
Rules:
1. Istanbul cannot be marched upon until any other Ottoman lands hold out.
2. Avoid war with Catholic nations if possible.
3. Must send forces if an ally invades a Muslim nation.
4. 1 ship can carry three units max.

Comments would be hugely welcome, especially about whether I should carry on with the letter style or do this like a simple AAR. I'm not sure myself which style do I like more.

Chapter I
Whispers in the Council

Year 1700 Anno Domini
The island of Malta, fortress-city of Valletta


The Order of St. John in 1700.

Esteemed Remo Castelli,

I write this letter in a hurry. Admiral Alfonso Torricelli has successfully made the trip to Rome, allowing me the honor of meeting with His Holiness. Great Father is worried – dark clouds gather over Europe; we are the last untouched bastion of the One True Faith. The Spanish have had little luck against the heretics in the Netherlands; they cling on to Flanders, but only just. Even more – they seem to be in a close alliance with the French Throne, despite the fact the French so treacherously joined with the protestant heretics of Sweden during the Thirty Years’ War and ruined the dream to make Europe catholic again! It sickens me just to think such scum dare call themselves our brothers of faith.

I have signed the formal announcement of a military alliance with His Holiness’ most trusted generals, and the Holy Father has promised to send out letters to other rulers of Europe to join the Holy League and aid us in our struggle with the infidel Turks. At very least, I hope for monetary assistance from those who accept the call to arms; I trust you realize yourself that any hopes of military assistance on Terra Firma, where we find ourselves sadly outnumbered, would be in vain.

However, I would ask of you about our internal matters as well. This letter should reach you in the hands of Admiral Alfonso, and he is loyal to our cause, so there is little risk. When shall we make our move against the Grandmaster? You and Alessandro have long been silently undermining his authority, but this cannot go on. He is beginning to suspect me, else why would he have sent one of his own guards to accompany me? I fear that he may attempt to strike before we do, and that would lay waste to all our plans and hopes. We must attempt to convince the rest of the Council to join our cause, and spread our influence further amongst the ranks of the army. But have we enough time?

With all due respect,
Silvestro de Varo


Remo Castelli, Master of the Council of the Knights of St. John and head of revolutionaries.


Alessandro Rao, Justice Advisor of the Knights of St. John and revolutionary.


Alfonso Torricelli, Admiral of the Knights of St. John and revolutionary.


Most Loyal Patrizio,

Our suspicions are yet to be confirmed by the man We sent with our emissary to Rome, but We are almost sure. There is a revolution in the works, and it headed is against Us and all those loyal to Us. We can almost truly say that at the head of this revolution, this heresy, is Remo Castelli, who We have so unfortunately appointed to be Our second. However, if you keep Our soldiers loyal to Us, their revolution cannot succeed. Therefore We warn you to pick commanders with utmost care, ensure that they are not revolutionaries via whatever means you may see fit. We suspect that the navy has already been swayed by the golden lies of Remo and his ilk, thus exercise caution around Admiral Alfonso. We do not desire for the revolutionaries to know anything real of Our suspicions towards them, at least not until it is too late and God and We have punished them righteously and purged the World of their heresy.

The men in Valetta should be most vigilant when guarding over Us. Dispatch only those you trust most for the night guard; mention not the revolution, lest they begin having second thoughts. If questions arise, answer that We suspect that the heathens of Tunis may be plotting against us yet again. To reinforce this further, We desire that you raise two regiments of cavalry for a punishing expedition against the heathens in Port Surt, as a response to their recent encroaching upon our ports and the trade routes of Our dear allies.

Alert Uberto and Augusto of Our suspicions, and tell them to warn Us about any suspicious behaviour of the other members of the Council.

God’s grace be with you,
Grandmaster Ramon I


Ramon I, Grandmaster of the Knights of St. John and head of loyalists.


Patrizio Eppolito, Marshal of the Knights of St. John and loyalist.


Uberto Luzzatto, Trade Advisor of the Knights of St. John and loyalist.


Augusto Tozzi, Military Advisor of the Knights of St. John and loyalist.


My Great Sovereign,

While patrolling the waters to the south-east of Malta, I have encountered a heathen fleet from Tunis, undoubtedly headed towards the trade routes of our allies. Their force was attacked on sight and annihilated; I am pleased to note that their commander, so-called ‘Admiral’ Ghiyasuddin Abdulaziz (the very same who has troubled our coastal settlements as of late), has been captured and immediately hanged for his crimes against our Most Holy Order.

I have the honor to be in your service,
Admiral Alfonso Torricelli


'Wrath of Heaven', as painted after the description of Admiral Alfonso Torricelli by an unknown Brother.

[GMaximus]

Chapter II.
The Tripolitanian Expedition

Year 1701 Anno Domini
The island of Malta, fortress-city of Valetta.

The Tripolitanian Expeditionary Force, preparing to leave for Port Surt.

My Great Sovereign,

It is my pleasure to inform your majesty that the force for the punishing expedition into Port Surt has been amassed. In addition to two regiments of horse your majesty has requested, I have also conscripted two regiments of foot. Valetta is undermanned currently, however I have instructed for one more regiment of foot to be raised. Perhaps it will also please your majesty that one of our allies, Leopold I of Austria, has sent weapons and ammunition to aid our cause, including several 12-lber cannons.

If everything goes well, I shall return to Malta in a year. Admiral Alfonso Torricelli shall accompany me, so at least for the time being your majesty should not need to worry about the revolutionaries; if your majesty’s suspicions are correct, then the bulk of their supporters are in the navy, and with it away from Malta my men left in Valetta will confer an advantage of numbers to your majesty.

I have the honor to be in your service,
General Patrizio Eppolito


Port Surt, the first goal of the Tripolitanian Expedition Force.


Dear Esteemed Ally,

It has come to Our attention that the heretics in Prussia have dared invade the rightfully Austrian province of Silesia, therefore declaring war on the great nation of Austria. We write to you, Our most trusted and mighty ally, to ensure that, as a part of the Holy League, Austria has full support of the Order of Knights of St. John in this war. We shall send assistance as available. Even though the ranks of Our army are not as numerous as We would like, Our treasury is deeper than the size of Our holdings may suggest.

God bless your war efforts,
Ramon I, Grandmaster of the Knights of St. John


The formal declaration of war from the King in Prussia.


[Following are excerpts from General Patrizio’s journal of the Tripolitanian expedition]
We’ve captured another spy in Surt yesterday. At first he didn’t want to confess anything, but a few good pokes in the right places made his mouth move. Apparently his name was Mohammed Al Amri... Working for the heathens in Tunis, obviously. If they’re good at something, it’s setting up chains of spies – that’s the fifth one we caught this month. From the look of things, he seems to be their ringleader. I pray to God that he is, then we can expect the entire thing to collapse onto itself. They’ve already slowed us down, we need to move. Orders came yesterday from Malta; we’re going to have to scout the defences of Tripoli as well... Madness, with the amount of men I have. But it won’t matter anyway, if I can’t get rid of those damn spies, we won’t be able to move. The heathens needn’t know anything real about our strength. I’m confident we’ve managed to keep a lid on the information flow for now, but to continue that I need to either ruin their network or keep all my men here.

<...>


The official report about the capture of Mohammed Al Amri, the suspected ringleader of spies in Surt, from General Patrizio to Grandmaster Ramon.


God seems to smile upon us! Not only Mohammed Al Amri was the head spy in Surt; that’s but a small portion of our luck. The flow of information that hit against the gates of Surt has stopped, and we finally marched out. Alfonso has been at least of some help, his ships are there, right off the shore, even now. It seems to have deterred the local militias from doing anything stupid. I thought that then things were going well, until yesterday my scouts returned. Tripoli seems severely undermanned; it’s defended only by some armed peasants from the look of things. I’ve decided to exceed my orders and besiege the city; risky, considering the looming threat of a reinforcing army from Tunis. But if this succeeds we’ll deprive the heathens of one of their cities, and one of their ports. Perhaps it’ll make the raids on the trade routes and coast villages cease at least for a bit.

<...>


General Patrizio’s march towards Tripoli, supported by Admiral Alfonso.


We’ve started the siege of the city. It’s most unfortunate that I didn’t bring any of the Austrian cannons with me, as they’d come in handy now – the road to Tripoli is guarded by a formidable fortress. The garrison seems to have moved there to stop us; I’ve sent out a demand to surrender immediately, but, obviously, they refused. I only hope that they make a rash move and march out to meet us in the field without waiting for relieving forces from Tunis.

Alfonso seems intent on withdrawing back to Surt. I just hope he doesn’t slip away while we siege Tripoli, and leave us stranded here... That wouldn’t bode well, neither for me nor for the Grandmaster.

<...>


The siege of Tripoli begins.


God be praised! The heathens have made a move against us, after only a month. I’m confident that news of the siege hasn’t even reached Tunis yet. I’m a bit worried that their numbers will overwhelm us; time to see what the Spanish Tercios count for.

<...>


Patrizio’s troops right before the battle begins, deployed in an old-fashioned Tercio.


We have victory! The Tripoli garrison has been crushed, completely and utterly. I was wrong to be intimidated by their numbers; for even though their amassing army did seem like a looming storm cloud, their numbers counted for nothing.


The Tripoli garrison moving in for the battle.

At first things looked badly – they didn’t stop to exchange fire, predictably. Even the few in their ranks who had some manner of firearm dropped them or made use of them as clubs. My men only got off a single volley before the sword-armed heathens slammed into the pikewall.


The charge.

Fortunately, they didn’t notice that I had one regiment of horse move into the small forest on our flank. It was indeed a moment that reminded me of our ancestors, when the cavalry fell upon the heathens’ backs with a loud cheer. I could’ve sworn the ghosts of past knights were with our cavalry then... If nothing else, the peasants ran so fast it seemed as if they had an otherworldly foe at their backs. It was all over in a couple of seconds.


The militias rout, much to the dismay of the watching Barbary general.

After that, it was just a mop-up. The pikemen moved forth and dealt away with their general while we chased the rest of them to the ends of world...

<...>


The Barbary general died, foolishly trying to rout the pikemen in a charge.


The aftermath of the battle.


Tripoli captured, thanks to the bravery of the Knights of St. John!


The men looted Tripoli for three days straight. Hopefully when we leave, the populace will rise up and claim the ruins for themselves. Anything if Tripoli doesn’t fall back into the hands of the Sultan of Tunis.

The retreat towards Surt should be swift. The populace seems to be frightened enough by what we did to Tripoli to not try anything.


The retreat towards Port Surt, which was razed right before the Knights left.

[Maladin]

I love this AAR very much. The secret feud between revolutionaries and loyalists is especially interesting (way to roleplay the characters' traits!), and so is the epistolary style of the report. I am looking forward to the next updates and I hope this thread will get more replies.

[wiggles1984]

Absolutely love this AAR especially the letters! I hope you won't mind if i use a similare style for my upcoming AAR?

[GMaximus]

Well, it's not like the letter style AARs are my invention; they probably were in use long before I even got interested in TW. You don't need permission from anyone to use it, so long as you feel comfortable with such a style.

I'm very glad to see people are enjoying this AAR, though. I hope to get the next chapter up later today or tommorrow.

EDIT: Or not. I don't know if this is just a big coincidence, but after installing the latest patch I can't get past the end turn on this campaign. My best guess is that it's caused by the noble letter and peasant strike messages that should come up due to the unrest in Tripoli, as the CTD occurs after the Pirates' turn ends. No clue what could've caused that, though, as I've had those messages before just fine. In any case, I'm going to try look for fixes, but I have a bad feeling I'll either have to redo the thing and try to stick as clsoe as possible to the events that already happened, or wait for a patch that would offer a fix for the problem.