Pics & History of your Empire

[Powermonger]

I agree...reading all these past campaign stories and accompanying pictures has even further reignited the MTW fire within. MTW2 is going to have to stupendiously good to beat it's predecessor IMO.

I might restart my Danish campaign again once I rebuild my PC and submit my own story/diary of campaign progress.

[NodachiSam]

A play by e-mail game would be a really cool idea! Maybe we can do one for regular VI with patch or XL in the future.

[Knight Templar]

According to this topic last VI PBM was played about a year and a half ago. It would be great idea to start a new one.

[Martok]

*bump*

[BrSpiritus]

PBM would be cool, especially since I have XL installed now

[Dutch_guy]

If it's a PBM you would like to start, I'd like to point you in the right direction :

The Throne Room

[PittBull260]

haven't been on here in a while. I remember starting this thread hoping to read nice little stories with pictures so that I would get back into playing MTW, and after not playing any pc games for almost a year, I read these campaigns and I want to play it again SOOO BAD, but I threw away my CD, oh well I'm about to buy a new one :)

please keep posting your campaigns I love reading these things

:)

[Dutch_guy]

I hear you PB,

Will be starting an early Italian VI campaign some time today / more likely tomorrow.

And yes, Bump.

[Joshwa]

Think ill resurect this one...



Playing as the Holy Roman Empire, GA hard, and the year is 1242 AD. I'm trying to keep the size of my empire down, because it annoys me when i have too many provinces to administrate, so im sticking to GA objective/really useful provinces.

PHew. I started out by snipping Silesia off from the Polish. They refused to see sense and make peace, and brought in their Hungarian allies, and both factions continued to make raids on my border right up until the 1180s.

The Italians got excommunicated for attacking Sicily, and fell into civil war in about 1150. I snuck in and stole Venice and Milan while they were controlled by the rebels, but the Italians didn't like this, and I ended up killing their king and knocking them out of the game. The Sicilians came back with a vengeance at this point, occupying the former Italian lands and threatening my southern border, and i ended up killing them as well, and occupying Sicily and Genoa. The pope took Tuscany, but he's my friend so I don't mind. The Sicilians have since reemerged in Malta.

Over in the West, the French had creamed the English, and began attacking my northern provinces by sea. Things were looking bleak, until their king died heirless and the whole of France and England went rebel. The English reemerged, and later the French, but the majority of their forces are stranded in Ireland, so they are pretty much just waiting for the end now.

On my Northern border, in 1210, the Danes attacked my poorly defended province of Swabia. Unluckily for them, I had just finished making my new High-era army of Halberdiers, Swiss Halberdiers, and Chivalric Men at arms. I beat them back to their castle, and they offered one of their princesses to me as a peace offering.

Back in the East, I took Pomerania, and, after the Polish took me off guard and took Brandenburg, I invaded both their provinces simultaniously and knocked them out of the game. I also gave the Hungarians a fair beating at this point, setting them back for a while, though they have been bailed out several times by other factions distracting me elsewhere, and have thus far managed to avoid the full on steamroller treatment. The Byzantines, meanwhile, had been quietly taking over the whole of Russia, and attacked me in C.1215. I held on, not making much headway but not giving ground, until the Horde arrived on 1230. The Byzantines were now getting squashed on two fronts, and looking at the state of the map, it looks like I should lay off them for a while, so they can keep the Horde at bay while i reorganise my forces.

[NodachiSam]

Very cool game. Looks like your doing a good job. I like your approach of controlled growth. I would've taken Poland though when you had the chance, it makes for a nice clean border and has good income (You probably know that though). Same goes for Flanders now that it is rebel.

Are you winning in GA yet?

[Joshwa]

I'm winning by about 20 points I think. I didn't take Poland at the time because i didnt intend to move on and take Prussia and Livonia, so yeah it does look a bit silly now! That'll reduce my borders as well. Good advice! Flanders is now in the hands of the nefarious spanish, who im now at war with in Scandanavia, so we shall see about liberating that from them...

[Martok]

Excellent, Joshwa! Let us know how you do.

[Banquo's Ghost]

I'm a great fan of the more realistic slow growth approach, it's much more challenging especially later on. I look forward to more reports!

[Joshwa]

UPDATE



Denmark underwent a massive peasant revolt which ended up with the Danish royal family starved to death in their castle, and the rebels took over. I sent my new army of halberds and chivalric swordsmen and sergents to take over, mainly because i wanted to test how effective they were and get some experience for them. I then took Sweden without a fight.

The Spanish launched a seaborne invasion of Britain and northern france, and also settled in Norway. After the English were killed (again) I decided that enough was enough. Noone moves in on my turf. I conducted the campaign mainly at sea, where i blockaded their king in Britain, but our clashes on land were inconclusive at best, their jinettes proving a real handful. Their imperial ambitions were serverely cut short by the Turks, who, after defeating the Egyptians, had moved along Africa gradually until they were in the Iberian Peninsula.

As per advised in an above post, I invaded Poland, which was occupied by the Hungarians. I launched a double pronged attack, hitting Hungary as well as Poland, and pushing them back to their castle in both instances. The Byzantines (who are still holding out against the Mongols) attacked Carpathia from the east the year after, and the Hungarians dropped out of the game. I then took Carpathia, which had gone rebel, so that the Hungarians didn't re-emerge there.

The pope warned me off the Spanish at this point, so, fearing rebellion if i were to be excommunicated, i turned my sights elsewhere, launching a crusade the Palestine. This was not a total success, I only held onto the province for 10 years, and for 8 of those i was either besieging the Turks, or they were beseiging me! They eventually overcame me with force of numbers, my crusade army being serverely depleted. On an amusing note, my journey across Asia Minor somehow caused the English to reemerge there:



The Turks look to be in a strong position at this point. The Byzantines should prevent them expanding any further into Europe, however, and the Aragonese should hold them for a while in Spain. I am tempted to take one of the rebel islands in the Mediterraenan and use that as a base to raid the Turkish homelands, and maybe get back Palestine!

[Martok]

Wow, Joshwa, looks like you've got your hands full! Yeah, if there are any islands available (Sicily and Cyprus would be especially nice), I would definitely take them and start attacking the Turks in the jugular. And on a related note:

Holy crap, I can't get over how *big* the Turks have gotten! In my games, they rarely even survive that long, much less actually become a superpower. (Usually the Byz and the Eggies team up to destroy the Turks early on.) Any idea how they managed to do so well?

[Joshwa]

For some reason, I think the Egyptians went across the Sahara and attacked the Almohads instead of focusing northwards. The Turks were at one point boxed into their home territorries, with the Horde on one side and Egypt on the other! My only guess is that Egypt suffered a civil war or the king died heirless, so the Turks were only fighting on one front and pushed the horde back out of asia minor. They could then take all the rebel Eqyptian provinces one by one. The Spanish had all their troops in northern Europe, so when i blockaded them they couldn't get back down in time to defend spain I guess

[Prince Cobra]

I like your system. You do not want to conquer as much as possible but wisely let other factions fight each other while your empire become stronger and stronger. Just one inquisitive question: how do you develop your economy ( trade, farming and so on). And take the islands they are useful. But be careful- Turks are dangerous- their military machine become stronger while byz army obsolete so good luck...
Waiting for update

[Diehard_TH]

Pitbull, like you i hadn't played MTW in some time then a colleague at work got into it and i've started up again, can't think why i stopped playing!

Here's a pic from my French campaign last year, got 60% shortly after this and played on to 1258 before starting a new game.

French Early Hard - now that's what i call an heir!

The game went pretty smoothly actually, trade was key and soon i had too much cash to know what to do with. A good start against the English gave me the foundation for reasonably quick domination.

My current campaign is below

Polish Early Hard (Vanilla VI) - Strange? More like a confused general; an atheist and a believer! Might have something to do with him being harassed by Inquisitors for some years.

My campaign started of ok with the rebel lands in the east falling steadily. My house rule is not to prepare for the horde, so that was a major challenge when it arrived. I had to retreat to Kiev and fought numberless battles over the bridges there until the Khan took Pereslavyl(?) which doesn't have a bridge when attacking Kiev. Still by that stage he'd lost most of his Heavy Cav so i managed to hold him with my, by then, skilled defender general.

I think the final battle that turned the tide, my army (mainly peasants and spearmen by this stage) had just started routing from the field with my 8* general down to 1 man and withdrawing when the time limit ran out. However by that stage i'd killed the Khan and most of his heavy cav so it was a good result for me and downhill thereafter for the GH.

I'd fought the horde for nearly 70 years before defeating them finally in Moscovy. I'd been struggling with negative income for about 20 years due to the French and Egyptians destroying my trade fleets (for no real reason) so i've never had more than 8000 florins in the entire game!

Managed to build up some sizable stacks in the west and launched an assault against the French capturing 7 or 8 provinces and improving the cashflow. Am now allied with everyone so trade income is rising but still only getting 3-4000 a year.

Was going well until 1326 (2 years ago) when the newly re-emerged Swiss attacked Swabia unexpectedly and i had to abandon the province. (see thread on Swiss for more info).

I finally have a half decent king although he's not as fertile as his forefathers and i only have the 1 heir (5* but only 1 acumen).

I think the worst is now over and a few years consolidating should see me renew my attack on the French (who must have had at least 50% at one stage). Onwards and upwards.

Question for someone - I've been fighting the French for about 10 years continuously now and i've not had a single warning from the Pope. Any ideas why not? I've not been fighting any other Catholics so no previous warnings would be in existance.

Oh, and reference another thread on Woodsmen; they are awesome!

[Joshwa]

The French must have at least half the number of provinces you do. They probably have Britain and Spain

EDIT

To Stephen Asen: I'm not sure about my economy actually! I think most of my money comes from Venice, Provence and Sicily. I just buy farming upgrades in my other provinces whenever I have nothing else to build and the whole system sorts itself out

[Diehard_TH]

The French must have at least half the number of provinces you do. They probably have Britain and Spain

If you're referring to my post Joshwa, then yes, the French have Spain, (at least they used to last time i had some ships that way) but most of their territories, especially Britain have been rebelling for some time and i think they only have Wessex now.

They used to have most of the HRE lands, Austria, Italian areas and half the Middle East. How the mighty have fallen!

[Joshwa]

well I've finished my campaign now. The last 70 or so years were quite funny, the Aragonese, Spanish, French, Turks, and even the Pope tried to take a bite out of me. I launched an expedition to Asia Minor and killed the Turkish king, resulting in LOTS of rebel provinces. Sure enough though, he popped back up again, and conquered his way right into Bulgaria and attacked me in Hungary. This time i'd had enough. The Sultan was in Constantinople, and the Byzantines held Trebizond, so I attacked Nicaea by sea, and then pushed up through Constantinople, forcing the Sultan into Bulgaria. I had him by the nuts! I attacked with a force of Chivalric Sergents, Chiv Knights, and Gothic Knights. It was the first and only time i would actually use these bad-boys, but they were sure worth it! The Sultan was killed on the battle-field, and his heir taken prisoner. All in all, they lost just over 2000 men to my 200, and they died out, again. The Byzantines then retook Constantinople. I felt I had done my duty for Christendom at this point, and so settled back to pass the next 20 years in total peace until 1453. Ahhhh. Fin.

[Martok]

Diehard_TH: Way to beat off the GH and the French!

This is just a guess, but probably the Pope hasn't gotten after you for warring with the French for one or both of the following reasons:

1) They attacked first (although this doesn't always mean anything when it comes to the Vatican, I know).
2) They were very powerful in the beginning of their war with you, and the Pope tends to favor the weaker faction in any inter-Catholic war. (Probably why Aragon, the Danes, and Sicily seem to get away with attacking other Catholic factions so often.)

I wish your Polish empire continued success!

[Martok]

Joshwa: Wow, you actually managed to go the last two decades without war? Impressive. That was a fun game to follow; thanks for sharing it with us!

Oh yeah, and I'm glad you got to have a little fun with the Gothic Knights; they're pretty uber.

[NodachiSam]

Wow both these games are quite interesting guys. Awsome game Joshuwa, I'd be pleased with that :D

[Cowhead418]

I had abandoned this campaign for awhile for my Portuguese one, but I just recently got back into it. My goal is not to go on a massive conquering spree but for now I just want to fortify my borders and turtle for awhile, letting other powers grow stronger.

The Almohads were the strongest faction for about the first twenty years before they were torn apart by the Danes and the Genoese, who have the two strongest fleets in the game. This campaign is unique because it is the first campaign I've seen the Danes conquer ANY territory, and you can see they've conquered quite a bit. I was hoping the English and Danes would get stronger but both have recently been hit by civil wars.

The Sicilians are currently my major foe but I am keeping my eye on the Egyptians, who I've been told are the richest, most techologically advanced, and also have the largest army. When the Golden Horde sprung onto the scene they achieved several initial successes against the Egyptians but since then the Eggies have pushed the Horde into a corner. They are sure to be a challenge later on the game. I'm content to let the Sicilians act as a buffer for now.

For some reason, when I came back into the game, I had about two ships. I recall my navy mostly being destroyed by the Sicilians, and I'm focusing on building a navy that can fight with the best of them.

Earlier in the campaign I suffered through a failed Crusade and an ensuing civil war. I backed the rebels and lost two more Crusades I hadn't started yet, causing yet another massive civil war. Once again I backed the rebels and a new king took the throne. Unfortunately, this king had seven daughters in a row before finally a son was born just last turn. The king is currently 48 years old and I hope he can stick around for at least another fifteen years. My military is currently recovering from the troops lost during the civil war (damn Sicilians bribed some of the rebel stacks before I could get them back).

[Martok]

You've gone through two civil wars?? Oof, that's gotta hurt! I wish you a speedy recovery, Cowhead; let us know how things are progressing. Oh yeah, and good to see you come back to this campaign!

[NodachiSam]

Very interesting campaign cowhead! It doesn't happen often but I've seen the Danes get pretty big too (I think they got even bigger after this picture.http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...eofdenmark.jpg

I feel bad for your civil war problem. It really is dam tough to keep high influence while staying the same size. I guess the game just isn't really built for that type of play. If I were in your shoes and at war with the Sicilians I could not resist the urge to take constantinople.

[Martok]

If I were in your shoes and at war with the Sicilians I could not resist the urge to take constantinople.

Who *could*? I rarely pass on an opportunity to take Constantinople--and even more rarely pass on an opportunity to pound on the Sicilians.

[DukeofSerbia]

My friend played as Seljuks in XL early and he was attacked with three crusades - Castilian-Leonese, German and English.

[Martok]

Dang, hit with three Crusades at once--that's a little nuts!

The map from your friend's game looks like it's just a little crazy overall as well. It looks like the Spanish have France & Pomerania, the Danes have Constantinople & Nicaea, the Pope has a good chunk of the Balkans.... And unless I'm seeing things, it appears that the *Scots* (or possibly the Norwegians) have control of a huge amount of territory! I've never seen either of those factions do so well when controlled by the AI!