Multiplayer Battle Campaign

[Nigel]

A friend of mine, Edward Dunferline, and I started playing some coop MP battles in Attila, giving the AI some advantage to make it more challanging and inventing all kinds of different scenarios. That turned out to be a lot of fun and soon we came up with the idea to link up our scenarios in a kind of campaign. We were playing Franks vs. Romans and if we won, we could go on to conquer the next city but if we loose, we had to fall back and defend the previous one.

Then we thought it could be cool to track our progress on a campaign map. And this map could be posted up at a forum for other players to watch - and to join in if they want.

So here we go. Below is the first map of what we could call a Multiplayer Battle Campaign.


We play as the Franks, with a capital at Flevum in the North. A harsh winter has driven us to cross the river Rhine and start a settlement in the fertile land near Colonia Agrippina. While the governor of the proince has given us permission to settle there, the local commander wants to drive us off and take the good land for himself. He soon finds a cheap excuse to attack our camp.

So in the first battle we now have to defend our encampment against a roman army. As Edward and I are only young and low ranking Frankish nobles, we only have tier 1 units at our disposal, whereas the Romans can use all that is available to them. Let's see if we can hold the camp or get pushed back across the Rhine.

[Nigel]

The battle was fought and our tier 1 lvl 0 units held up pretty well.
The Roman commander, full of arrogance, only brought a medium sized army of high level legionaries to the battle. He had not reckoned that every woodcutter, every shepherd and every farmer boy would pick up arms to defend the new and fertile land that had been promised to them by Rome. So what we lacked in experience and equippment, we made up in numbers and eventually we were the ones left standing.



We went after their fleeing army and eventually tracked them down in a nearby village, where we defeated them in a second battle. Full of joy we returned to our camp. Now we would be left in peace and could finally start the preparations for the harvest, which we will have to bring in during the coming autumn. Or so we thought....



But the local commander has escaped the battle and is now telling tall stories of the "Frankish threat". The province governor of Belgica is a wise and just statesman. He knows of the hardships our people suffer in Frisia and understands our need for good and fertile land. But he too cannot ignore the fact, that we have now defeated a Roman army. So he gives the local commander permission to assemble a new army and go on a punitive mission.

This time we cannot fight under the cover of our settlement's defences. The fields are rich with crops and we cannot allow the Romans to destroy them. If we don't want to starve in the winter, we have to go out and defeat them in the open. And so the next fight will be a field battle on a cold and foggy autumn day.

[Nigel]

This time, the battle was much harder. The commander had learned from his previous mistakes and fielded a much stronger army (translation: the AI is too dump to choose a good army and I had to choose it for him ).


It was an eery feeling to stand on the hill and wait for the enemy without beeing able to see further than a few meters. Finally they emerged from the fog and sent in their melee troops first. We managed to defeat them in a brutal clash and thought that we had already won.

But they had still a considerable amount or ranged units, archers and skirmishers, who had reserved most of their ammunition. We knew that we had to get a move on, or else we would be shot like sitting ducks. But for our men, tired from the melee, this was easier said then done - the AI troops were kiting really well. In the end we manage to send them fleeing, but not without getting to the brink of defeat ourselves. It was a pyrric victory that we brought home.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Returning to the camp, we saw that a great Frankish warchief had arrived from Frisia. As he learned of the situation, he summoned us before him and sad: "I want that vile Roman commander brought before me. Edward and Nigel, take what men you can still find and hunt him down. Whoever brings me his head, or brings him alive, shall be rewarded well."

We found only a handful units each, but the defeated Romans had even fewer men. When we finally found them, there was no question that we would win this battle. Instead the question was: "Who will be the first to reach their general? And who will be the one to bring him down?". The race was on.

And it was a hunt through fog and forest. My men were the first to spot him, but they could not take him alone. Edward's troops reached him just in time, as mine began to falter. And in the end it were Edward's men who struck him down and tied him up (I actually had to look at the replay to find that out - video proof was good, even in those days).



The warchief was very pleased about his new prisoner. "You have done well, Edward, and deserve your reward. From now on I shall grant you the right to maintain a unit of retainers. You can choose a tier 2 unit, which will remain with you in the future battles for as long as you can keep the unit alive."

[Nigel]

The pyrric victory that we had won this autumn was not without consequences.
Yes, we had protected our settlement and the crops in the fields. But the high number of killed or wounded men after our battle meant, that we did not have enough hands to bring in all the harvest before the winter set in.

Now we have enough food to survive, but only barely. And in the nearby village of Colonia Agrippina (Cologne) the store houses are full and overflowing. We asked them to share, but they refused. So we are now preparing to take, what they do not want to give.

Colonia Agrippina is a colony village founded by Germanic foederati soldiers, who once served under the fameous Roman general Marcus Agrippa (hence the name). Their citizens have taken up much of the Roman way of life, but retained some of their original culture and also adopted some customs from the Gauls. The unfortified village is mainly defended by foederati spearmen and a few legionaries.

Edward and I discussed our strategy. We decided to move in under the cover of the night.

[edyzmedieval]

Nigel, thank you for this AAR!

Keep em coming - and please post more screenshots!

[Nigel]

Glad you are enjoying the stories.
I really like writing them. And I will see if I can post more screenshots.


We made the attack on Colonia Agrippina - and I must say, we had our first defeat in this campaign. But don't worry. We may be bruised and battered, but we are still standing. I am off for the weekend now, but the report is going to come.