Post thy Truely Epic Battles

[Randarkmaan]

I was playing the Egyptians, on H/H and I had conquered Arabia, Syria, Palestine, Aleppo and Antioch as well as the African region to the west, by some feat of stupidity I had not yet moved against the rebel cities to the west, well anyway it all soon started to get a little complicated... First a crusade was called on me and nearly all Catholic factions joined against me, I had tried to secure an alliance with the Turks and I were already allied with the Byzantines. The first crusades to arrive were the Polish, whose crusading army consisted of lots of crusading sergeants and knights as well as those annoying mounted crossbowmen of theirs. This army was destroyed, though with relatively heavy losses, by my main army led by my faction leader consisting of mostly Mamluks (heavy cavalry and archers) and some infantry as backup. The next army (Hungarians) was a lot easier as it almost entirely consisted of pilgrims and fanatics, against whom I suffered about 30 losses and captured nearly the entire army. Then came the French, Venetians and Danish armies, all properly equipped. I beat back the French force though with very heavy losses for my already weakened army, I sent the cavalry to retrain in Gaza and the infantry to help garrison Jerusalem. Then the Venetians fell upon Jerusalem the next turn, without waiting for the Danish, and took it with not much losses as they rode their overwhelming number of heavy cavalry in through the gate as I did not manage to burn down the battering ram. After that I got peace with the Danish and they simply turned and left for home. But then the Byzantines betrayed me, they besieged Antioch which I managed to relieve with my retrained, enlarged and experienced Mamluk army. Though they kept coming and I took Cyprus to make them more fearsome of me, if that works, so I could force them to peace, which I did not get, but I left some strong forces and started training more. I turned back to besiege and retake Jerusalem. Then the Turks attacked Antioch after defeating a nearby Byzantine army, the subsequent turn they took it and sent their army southward. I took Jerusalem and diverted my army to defeat them, which I did, then they sent another army which I also defeated, time for my army to retrain again, though some units simply had to be replaced as they were lost.

Then the worst possible thing happened, which I have been building up to, the Mongols arrived in Baghdhad and to my surprise ignored it as they allied themselves with the Turks for some reason If you have seen it you will know that they have lots of stack with high command generals with lots of dread and troops with 6 experience a piece. First they took my castle at Aleppo, which despite defending very well was taken, anyway the Mongols had more than enough troops, so they could afford to lose a battle. I again diverted my once again retrained army led by my Sultan Moussa the Holy Warrior and one of his sons. I tried attacking the smaller stacks in night attacks to sort of bleed them dry, but it did not save me as they soon attacked me with two of their armies, one led by the Khan. They outnumbered me by 2-1 (2.5 to 1 to be more precise) and this may be a bit more fatal versus Mongol armies as they have lots of experience as well as very good generals giving further boosts. The battle started and I used my Mamluk archers varying success to fire back at the harassing Mongol horse-archers. I used my Mamluks and Arab cavalry mostly for swift attacks against the foot archers, which had to retreat quickly for fear of being overwhelmed by the lancers (heavy and light). After a little while of skirmishing they attacked with everything they had of cavalry, and I charged my men against, for a while I thought I'd win as I managed to chainrout some of their cavalry units, but then I saw that they had not attacked with everything they had and that this was mostly just the first army, which then fell upon me. I still resisted and in the chaos my Sultan's bodyguard slew their Khan. Their other general was killed by flanking Arabs. It was then I started to realize the advantage their numbers gave them. I was steadily losing men though forcing them to take a heavy toll for every Mamluk that fell. But in a slugging match such as this battle turned out as, the most numerous foe usually wins. And the victory went to the Mongols. My Sultan was killed as he was surrounded on all sides, my other general fled and was captured and put to death along with the other prisoners.



I'm not sure if I'm going to continue playing on this campaign, as it is a little hard, which may be a good thing, but I think I did some stupid things along the way, and the Mongols have captured Acre, Damascus and are moving towards Jerusalem, I am thinking of an escape plan that basically involves moving to Cyprus and starting to expand anew from there.

[Tamur]

I'm definitely a words are worth a thousand pictures person, and this is a brilliant thread. Some brutal battles! I'll hope to add something soon, but it's great fun just reading.

[Headlocked]

This is thread is such a great Idea!

For the record- i have encountered the so-called 'passive AI' bug only Twice so far in my campaign, and im nearly fimnished. Also, those occaisions were at the satrt of the campaing- i have a feeling the AI 'ealrns, or is more adept with larger armies, ie less worried about loosing men because, quoting the film Braveheart- "We have Reserves! Attack!"
Annnyways.

English v. Milanese.
Milanese have gutted the French empire, splitting it in two when they captured Paris. i am not too happy about this, as Milan is riche, strong and obviously aggressive; whereas France was a great ally, i'd married off to their Heir, & King!, and hoped they might last longer so i could finish off the danes.

After pasting the french, and building up the their armies in north France, the Milanese attacked Bruges, which I had captured and then defended from the Danes only 2 years previous. Three tough battles were required to prise them away and give them a kicking to remember; which they did, because as soon as the Danes attacked Antwerp Milan again marched on Bruges, with c.1,450 men.

A 1,500 strong, veteran army led by Prince Rufus barred their way. Taking up position laterally across a ridge the English deployed in three line sof Longbows, Bill men (with dismounted knights & spearmen at the flanks) and a reserve of Feudal knights. 2 units of Mailed Knights guarded the right flank, while the steep slope of the left side of the ridge was considered sufficient guard against a fast attack. A ballista battery supported the Longbows, with their stakes planted.

The Milanese set up oppoiste along the spine of the ridge, on slightly higher ground, crowsboow militia in front, main infantry force behind, and 2 units of broken lances supporting the centre.

The battle began with a prolonged and bloody archery duel between the Longbowmen and the Crossbows. The english eventually gained the upper hand, their longer range giving them an edge. The knights, with spearmen and fdismounted knights in support, swung right and down along the slope, intending to come up and flank the corssbowmen. The idea was to remove the archery support and lure the enemy infantry to an assault on basically a prepared position.

It failed. THe supposed support from the infatry was disjointed and slow, leaving the knights vulnerable to a counter charge by the Broken Lances. A sudden assault by the main force of billmen, attampting to use the distraction of the Lances to theirt advantage was counter by the entire Milanese centre counter-attacking. The enemy slope was literllay swarming with men. Bringing up the Feudal knights held the line, while the longbowmen porued fire onto the rear enemy ranks. most of the hand-to-hand infatry combat took place under a scattered copse of trees, breaking up formations and attacks. Driving off the mailed knights the Broken Lances counter-charged and crashed into the English infantry, bulging back their line close to breaking point.A counter-counter charge by the Prince Rufus rallied the line, but was checked by the Milanes general himself. Falling back the enemy general seperated most of the Princes bodyguard from their Lord, who was quickly surrounded and cutdown by the infantry. The english centre began to break, with an assault on their left flank finding a hole between the spearmen and dismounted knights, and the main infatry line. Repeated charges by the Broken lances finally yielded a break-through and the English line fell apart. Chaos ensued, with the complete mix-up of units in the main battle prevent organised retreat or any semvblance of formation. Billmen fought where they stood, in groups and one s and twos. The milanese cavalry pushed through the mass to swing around and attack the english infatry from the rear. sealing their fate.

The longbowmen were ordered to retreat, as well as the knights. The out-maneuvered left division of spearmen and dismounted knights covered the retreat, leaving thier comrades to die surrounded, outflanked, out of formation and leaderless.

A crushing English defeat. Bruges fell shortly afterwards, as did Antwerp to the Danish. The Citadel at Caen is being approached by a 1,700 strong Milanese army. The decisive Battle of the Marne Ridge has convinced the English the the continent can go hang- trying to hold onto multiple possesions, with no natural denfense such as mountains or seas is pointless,
at least until a more friendly pope is elected, and stronger cavalry force is available.

The AI is this battle was exemplery. This is exactly what I deserved, and without any false bonuses, cheats or free men. I lost partly because of my failure to organise my right flank, but mainly because I left a prepared, srtring position, fighting at a disadvantage with strong, supported infatnry chargeing from higher ground. The combined fighting by the milanese, with infatry supported by cavalry, while thier remaining croswbow men harred my cavalry and flanks, was superb.

I LOVE THIS GAME.
Bless CA, they have come up trumps again, and to HELL with the Whiners, Moaners, Whingers and be-littlers who cannot accept this great game for what it is and just HAVE to nit-pick.
It's brilliant. Get over it.
:)

HDD

[Dave1984]

I'd like to add to this thread.

After a long, bloody war in the North with the Danes, with the bridge between Bruges and Antwerp changing hands after some incredibly vicious battles no less than three times, the English army led by Godfrey Bucknell reached the walls of Antwerp, intent on revenge for the lives lost on that tragic bridge.
The town was not well garrissoned, and the recent battles at the bridge had weakened the Danish army, so the walls fell quickly and Godfrey ordered the immediate extermination of the populace.Their bloodlust satiated, the English settled in to enjoy the 'finer' things of the settlement, and no doubt nearly a year later hundreds of Anglo-Flemish/Danish babies must have arrived.
Stephen Pilson had been ordered to the region, ostensibly to deal with local rebels but also to test new artillery, the ribault and the bombard.
After crushing the local rebels and achieving satisfactory results with the new weapons, he left them for safekeeping in Antwerp whilst he, his brother Morcar and their company of knights headed southwards to guard Paris from a possible Milanese invasion.

In command of the small garrison of sixty longbowmen, two catapults, four ribualts, two bombards and his bodyguard of thirty knights, Godfrey must have looked uneasily northwest and hoped that the horizon would remain free of any tell-tale cloud of dust.

He was wrong to hope.

Taking advantage of the lack of defenders, a large army of Danish assault troops moved quickly into position around the walls of Antwerp.
Godfrey was lucky enough to sneak a messenger out, who rode quickly south to find the Pilson brothers.
On hearing the news, they abandoned their posts and marched north, pushing themselves and their horses as fast as they could in the hope of arriving in time to stop an assault, praying that they would not arrive to the smell of death and a Danish flag flying over the walls.

Dawn broke, and Godfrey looked out from the walls at the Danes. They were more lively this morning, and as the light increased he saw theram being brought forward, saw the ladders being assigned, and knew that this was it.
He rushed down to his men, his heart pounding as his page strapped on his armour.
He mounted his horse, bade his men do the same, and tried to find a speech, a rousing sentiment to stir his terrified men and lift them to great deeds, but could not.
He tried, but his mouth was dry, but eventually he managed to articulate a simple "God save us". He prayed to the Lord for a miracle.
Then they came.

The Norse axemen assigned to the ram rushed forward with it, trying to avoid the vicious arrows from the archers on the walls that whipped down around them. Some were not lucky, but the majority got through to relative shelter, and were quickly followed the the greater mass of Danish troops.
The Danish foot knights had been assigned the ladders, and had also brought them forward to the left of the gates, but had not attracted any arrows from the small garrison.
They were on the ramparts before the ram did it's job, and started hacking into the hated archers stationed on top, who in turn dropped their bows and fought back, like fiends, with anything they could get their hands on.

The gates burst open and the axemen poured through, but the foremost of them slowed and stopped in a moment of bowel-liquifying terror.
The mass of troops behind them pushed them onwards, not seeing the threat, until, for many of them, the world exploded.

The firing of all six guns simultaneously in such an enclosed space was deafening and a huge risk, but as the smoke cleared a pile of bloody and broken Danish bodies was revealed, and Godfrey grinned to himself, knowing his plan had worked and that this day may yet end well, lowered his visor, and ordered his horsemen to charge into the wavering Danes.
The gunners drew their knives and,screaming, also hurled themselves at the enemy.

The Danes at the back had heard the explosions, but were not able to see anything over the men in front, and kept pushing, eager to get to the fray, and eager to catch a glimpse of the progress of the battle.
So intent were they on pushing forward and struggling to see what was happening that they did not hear the thunder of hooves until too late, and some turned shortly before the Pilson brothers and their knights smashed into the crowd of men.

The Pilsons had ridden hard through the night, and as dawn had broken finally seen the spire of the abbey at Antwerp, and spurred their tired horses further on, knowing that they were almost there.
They had ridden into view of the proceedings shortly before the gate fell, and realising that they might be too late, rode hell-for-leather across the field.
As the knights hurtled into the rear of the Danish army, English men-at-arms clambered up the ladders at the walls after the Danish foot knights who were finishing off the archers who had vainly given their lives.
The knights of the ground hacked their way through the Danes, the weight of their horses pushing them further through the gates onto the swords and knives of Godfrey and his men.
Soon, as they stood astride the corpses of their friends and comrades, the Danes wielding their axes at the gate and the Danes gripping their swords on the walls realised that all was lost, gritted their teeth, prayed to the Lord and went to their deaths grimly hoping to take as many English with them as possible.
They were disappointed.

Nearly three thousand Danes lost their lives at the walls of Antwerp, ten times the number of Englishmen who fell that day, and this time the city was saved, but for now, the war is not over.

[Quillan]

When the Mongols burst onto the scene in the Russian steppes, I decided that I was going to hold the river crossings at Iasi rather than push farther out to fight them. In the two decades since, they've tried to force both crossings and been rebuffed, using two full stacks at each crossing, with one stack reinforcing the other. It looked like they decided the nut was too tough to crack, and moved on. They came back.

This time, they used three stacks at one crossing, led by not one, but two of their 8 star generals. They also chose a perfect day for it, right in the middle of a raging blizzard. Visibility was only about halfway across the bridge. Fortunately, I'd prepared for the battle by bringing up a trebuchet. When the scouts had reported the advancing mongol forces, some cows were slaughtered in preparation for the coming fight. Under normal circumstances, the best way to force the crossing would have been for the mongolian general to bring up his artillery and bombard the far end of the bridge, then storm across with the cavalry, but visibility didn't allow for it. As they began running across, I dropped rotting cows onto the bridge itself. The stench affected the horses far worse than the men, and some of the mongol units routed before even reaching the defenders on my side of the bridge. There were lots of them, though, and not all broke.

The first wave, casualties were light on my side. The archers and horse archers rained death upon them as soon as they became visible, and the arrows combined with the stench caused them to break quickly once combat ensued. The second wave started similarly, but as the mongol troops piled up on the bridge, they managed to clear the carcasses off the bridge, and soon I was engaged with powerful and angry mongol troops. I turned that wave as well, killing both of the mongol generals, but now the arrows were gone, and the third wave was coming. I managed to drop two more cows onto the bridge just as the leading elements of the third wave struck, but without the arrows, it was a tougher fight than the first. Some mongol elements spilled out around the side and engaged the archers. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't peasant archers, it was guard archers, and not ordered to skirmish. They put paid to the few who made it that far easily.

When the third wave turned, it was time for the fourth wave, comprised of survivors of the previous attacks who'd rallied and were returning in anger. The troops were beginning to stretch thin, a couple of units had to be pulled out of the line completely due to casualties, and all the infantry were less than full strength, most at 50-60% of starting. However, having broken once, the morale of the fourth wave was fragile. After a bit of combat, I heard the mongol commander order the retreat. I ordered a massive push. The mongol units in the back rushed off in good order. The units that were at the forefront of the assault broke. As soon as my infantry cleared the far side of the bridge, the cavalry took up the pursuit, chasing them as far as the terrain allowed. In the end, more than 2000 mongol elites lay dead on the field of battle, and the snow was red with blood. I'd lost more than 600 men out of 1400 in the defending force. How long before the next batch tried to force the crossing?

[Wartz]

1 picture tells 1000 words. :)

[Spendius]

STRONG peasant archers !