Post thy Truely Epic Battles

[pat the magnificent]

i'll be brief

King Snorri the Tyrant of Demark and his 3 units of spear militia, 2 units of spear staff militia, and 2 units of crossbow militia defended my city against a Venetian full and well balanced stack. it gave me 1 to 5 odds on Hard Difficulty.

by battle's end i had about 20 men left. After his entire entourage of body guards way slain, i watched king Snorri himself kill at least 30 heavy infantrymen personally. He may be a genocidal bastard, but at least he never abandon's his troops.

[cap23]

'King Ralph' 4 Turns of Epicness!

My last King (who was looking good) died after 1 year on the throne so I was a little circumspect about King 'Ralph' who didn't sound like any English King (possibly due to some intermingling with HRE). Anyhow... the cowpats hit the fan on his watch. France declared war and the French King with about 8 stars sieged Bruges which was held by about 6 spear units only. At the same time Spain declared war on me and sieged Toulouse (which they had only recently handed over to me) and a Danish Army appeared in Antwerp full stack obviously looking to get in on the action.

To respond to all of this I had only King Ralph who quickly mustered a full stack of spear, crossbow mercs and mailed knights. Behind him one other noble 'Tostig' scrapes together a second stack of mainly cavalry and billmen.

There are two more full French stacks lurking about near Paris.

It kicks off. King Ralph lifts the French siege of Bruges and a mighty battle King vs King kicks off. 3 Units of Cav skirt round the rear of the French army while everyone else rushes the front of them. They have Ballistas and Trebuchet and catapult so we can't hang about. As soon as the frontal charge begins the French King with 8 command stars is off. Leaving his army to it. He gets away despite my cavalry behind him as the war machines and 6 units of Frenchy crossbowmen need taking out quick. It's a massive rout of cheese eaters. We scoop up over 5000 florins of ransomable surrender monkeys and the French pay up. Kerching!

Better... the French army retreats right into my backup stack of Cavalry. So in the very same turn we attack them again, with Tostigs stack of mostly cav. They are massacred and there's lots of chasing about rounding up and killing off the routing French units. This time we only have a ransomable 2000 florins and the French don't pay. Bye Bye.

Next turn.

The Danish besiege Antwerp with a full stack and King Ralph rides to the rescue again. Its a bloody mess but we win and the Danes rout, those that aren't executed that is. Tostig moves towards Paris. I've been playing a 'fair' game where I have not attacked anyone first but when attacked I demand a city from my enemy, or take one. For the French this will be Paris as soon as Ralph returns from Antwerp as there's still two French stacks to deal with.

In Toulouse the Spanish attack. We have less men than them and their army is made up of mostly dismounted feudal knights with a lot of warmachines. I have quite a lot cav and spearmen and bill men with 3 units of archers. Undergunned for defending this one we ride right out of the gates leaving the archers on the walls. All the cav heads right, the Billmen and foot units all head left right for the Spanish General on their flank. The cav rides round the back, smashes into their warmachines and crossbowmen and rides away to recharge their way along the back of the Spanish line. By the time they reach the Spanish General he's down to 6 men having to deal with 8+ units of spear and bill wielding foot. The Cav take him down and the rout begins. Toulouse is safe.

Turn 3

King Ralph arrives to siege Paris with Tostig in support. We get an excommunication warning about the French, but who cares? The French must give up a city according to my rules.

Turn 4

Excommunicated but taken Paris. And over 20,000 florins!

At the end of the Turn King Ralph and Tostig are assassinated simultaneously by French Assassins.

Love Live King Ralph!

Definitely my most epic moment so far in 3 English campaigns. By the way I heartily recommend setting the turns to 1 year per turn. It's much MUCH better.

[Aracnid]

I am the English in having taken France and unifing the British Isles I have a lot of experienced units but a very pissed off Pope and no rebels in view. The Pope then saves me by declaring a crusade against Jerusalem, this is perfect I create an uber crusade army (English Knights (mounted and dismounted), armoured swordsmen and retinue archers) all units two silver experience at least with a bout five on gold, I give it to my faction heir who is a 7 star general having killed a lot of Frenchmen. I then create a second army with another slightly worse general which is only half stack and send him off as well. Leaving me with two full stacks to defend France one in the North scaring the HRE and one in the South.

The Byxantines rule most of Asia Minor, the Turks have been destroyed, the Egyptians still hold Egypt but the rest of the middle east is Mongol. I avoid open battle and take Jerusalem with light casulties, my units are now decrusaded but I have two full stacks (the second had been reenforced with crusader units. I take Acre, Anitoch and Gaza and make peace and having build up my cities and citedals (Marsksman Ranges, Earls stables etc.) I turn my attention to Europe, the Mongols leave me alone and I want to focus on dealing with Portugal (which has the Iberian penninsular) and Denmark (Northern Germany) and the HRE (Southern Germany, Northern Italy). Anyway turns pass and the Timurids arrive, I don't notice them for abouyt 5 turns and then my watchtowers in Anitouch see them, and boy there are a lot of them, easily 10 full stacks. I immediatly start a build up, quite a lot of my best units were sent back to Europe with my faction heir and I only have a single full stack including some crusader units. I start Gaza and Acre churning out Longbow men and knights and put an army on the two bridges over the river that goes around Anitouch, any way I get them both up to nearly full stack and then the Timurids attack at the South-Eastern bridge. They can only attack with three armies at a time and they have to come over one bridge. I do the obvious thing and pack my infantry at one end and have my archers slaughter anything on the bridge and I do, in the first battle I lose 200 men and kill 2200, they have 5500 but by the time the battle runs out of time I have only killed 2200. They withdraw and as it is still their turn and they attack again and lose another 400 men, for around 2500, unfortunatly I am down to two full strength dismounted English knights, a unit of 20 English units and 60 Armoured Swordsmen, I do have one full strength Mounted English Knights and my general but cav aren't that good in this type of battle, my archers have suffered casulties but my ten units are all full strength bar one which is down to 15 after being used to renforce other units. One more attacks and they are going to break me. But they don't even though they have three full stacks left the leave me alive, god knows why. The next turn the wander off North to annoy the Mongols, the Holy land is saved and the Timurids have been savaged.

[LegioScythia]

Playing as the Egyptians i stationed approximately 130 man near the Jordan river little did i know that i was about to be attacked by an army of 2000 rebels i had 2 units of peasants archers 2 units of militia archers 1 spearman militia and a unit of mamluks all with the most upgraded armor the rebels attacked with there entire stack but my Mamluk archers and archers where able to rout some of them i used my spear unit to hold them of while i attack them with my archers when my spearman were done the rebels had sent Arab cavalry and Bedouin camels and horseman they quickly finished of my remaining archers while my Mamluks were able to rout 2 units of spearman after having almost all of my force defeated and my Mamluk archers run out of arrows i charge in into enemy spearman routing many of them my Mamluks fought like ''cornered snakes'' fending of the enemy my general was the last one standing i saw the guy wiping out an entire unit of camels before going down.
final Score
Egyptians
Killed:1023 Lost:115
Rebels:
Killed:106 Lost 1056

then i used my Jihad army to wipe the rebels out and i build a fort in place of battle to honor my brave warriors and there honorable sacrifice

[IrishArmenian]

No screen shots, nor survivors.
It was the winter of 1140 and Kiev was a key money-making city for the my Russian Empire. Mikahil of Sabatov was a fair and chivalrous governor, quite religious too, the mold for all to model themselves after. He had converted the Population to Orthodoxy and had built large houses of worship, decorated by an Eikon Studio. Kiev had nothing to fear, the neighboring Hungarians were allied with the Rus and the Grand Prince's wife was a Hungarian princess. Merchants traded the abundant slaves from outside of Kiev without contention. The economy and culture were flourishing, the people were happy and over 95% of the population was Orthodox.
All of a sudden, a large Hungarian Horde appeared, as if out of thin air. They immediatley besieged the city and in two years, decided to assualt the walls. The Hungarian forces consisted largely of heavily armoured Dismounted Feudal Knights and lightly armoured but incredibly ferocious Croat Axemen. They were commanded by the treacherous King Azonny and his son, the Prince.
Mikahil, was not so lucky. He had good, steadfast troops, but he was outnumbered by about 10 to 1. His regiment of Kazaks, his unit of peasant archers, his Druzinas, mercenary spearmen and spear militia did not stand a chance against the numerically superior Hungarian force. After a rousing inspirational speech or two about the odds of survival and taking hundreds of the filthy enemy down with him, he deplyed his troops. Archers and Mercenary on the walls to repel the ladders and hopefully the Siege Tower, his Kazaks at the gate to rush out and render the hapless Slav Levie that pushed the ram useless, the Militia spearmen right behind them to blockade the gate, Druzinhas positioned behind them to charge through the chokepoint and his body guard at the end of this odd formation to go wherever needed.
The Battle began and the Kazaks trotted out of the gate, stringing their arrows and shooting at the poor Slavs. The Archers on the walls singled out the ladder carrying Axemen and it was only a matter of time until the engines of war touched the walls.
As expected, the Siege Tower made contact with the wall, spewing Feudal Knights who were met by a seasoned wall of pikes and were destroyed with few losses. The Kazaks ran out of ammo and the Ram started knocking on Kiev's door. The Kazaks, far away from the ram charged the Slavs, routing them, but not before the Gate was forced open. Meanwhile, the ladders were abandoned and some axemen poured from the siege tower. The Mercenary pikemen fought on bravely, routing them and another unit of Feudal Knights (Those armour/weapons/experience upgrades really pay off) but were now at 1/2 strength. At the gate, the Kazaks had utterly destroyed the Slavs but were no match for a band of Axemen. The Spear militia fought on gallantly, but were faultering.
More to come, I don't have time to type the whole thing.

[Cesare diBorja]

I am going to send images ofmy next battle.
I had an epic fight with the Milanese as the French.
To give you some idea; I had 1479 men and the milanese had 2500 in two armies. I had 500 archers and crossbowmen, plus four bombards and they had nearly 1400 crossbowmen. I wished that I had a couple ribaults. I lost over 80% of my force and was forced to retire from the field.

My cavalry: 500 men
Their cavalry: 4-500 men

Arrows and bolts and explosions everywhere!

Gonna get backat them with abetter army now.

[IrishArmenian]

My Spear men at the gate collapsed into a wave of calvary, as my Druzinhas charged through the gate, making the gateway chokepoint a larger mass grave. The Feudal Knights (Dismounted) kept coming on and being slaughtered, taking a few Druzinha with them every time until there were 5 left at which point all wa lost. The General charged, and spilled more Hungarian blood. His elite bodyguard was really tearing up the enemy, but there was no end to the reinforcements. As the bodies piled up, my forces rapidly became weaker. The Peasant Archers finished off 6 Feudal Knights on the walls but were hacked to bits by Croat Axemen.
The fearless general fought on bravely, but after slaying even more foes, he dissapeared under a wave of Knights.
Kiev was in Hungarian Hands.
Revenge was swift and sure, Ivan, son of then Grand Duke Vladimir, brother of Grand Prince (Now Grand Duke) Miroslav (Now the Cruel) retook the city with 2 units of Dvor, 2 Berdiche Axemen units, 3 regiments of Dismounted Dvor, 2 Trebuchet units and Sidor of Zabolata.
The town was sacked and since this tragic defeat, I have learned a lesson. I always keep 9 Dismounted Dvor, 2 Druzinhas, 2 Bombards and my generals just to repel attackers. Since then, Kiev (a large city based on mostly slave trade) has been near impregnable, mostly I sally forth and position my bombards just outside the gate, guarded by Dvor and wreak havoc on the attackers. I learned and Kiev will be held!

[Barny Bangs]

Great threat, great battles and a nice read for my lunch break

Best battle to this time (101st turn):

Golden Horde arrived some years ago. I was happy holding Jerusalem and Gaza, while being harrassed in Europe by HRE, Sicily, Venice and the sorry remains of the French. Had my hands full keeping the people of Jerusalem happy, though fortunately Egypt wasn't a problem any more as my massive army of priests, bishops and cardinals converted the heathens on a lightning fast rate and led to rebellions all over the Egypt Empire.

The Mongols, six full-stack armies strong lingered near Antioch, playing out three different alternative realities, I knew they would head for Jerusalem sooner or later.

So, two of my youngest princes out of the good arm of my royal family (16 years old, six star commanders and high chivalry ratings) assembled two mighty armies in Gaza and marched north. I occupiedthe bridge near Antioch, the Egyptians just holed up in their castles waiting for their deaths. Prince Thomas, my heir, led an army consisting of:

General (six star, four chivalry, +2 morale)
3 English Dismounted Knights
3 Dismounted Feudal Knights
1 Crusader Sergants
1 Fanatics
3 Levy Spearmen
4 Crusader Knights
4 Templar Knights

The Mongols attacked the bottleneck with two full-stack armies, led by two eight-star generals.

Thomas held an inspiring speech, the Infantery in two lines on one end of the bridge, the Mongols did not wait for one second and began rushing over the water. At the same time their rockets pierced the night sky and my frame rate dropped to the speed of a slide show.

The first wave of Mongol Cav crashed into my spearmen, shortly after the ground was black with dead bodies. My spearmen's numbers were dwindling fast but I was lucky: the Mongol general, silly as he was, led the charge and was killed a few minutes into the battle.

His troops though did not waver for a second. They seemed to grow more determined by the minute and threw all his armies (even his archers) the weakened forces holding the bridge. I threw in in quick succession the Fanatics, and my English Knights, finally breaking the spirit of the Mongols: they routed.

I was leaning back, happy over the outcome, when I noticed the Mongol reinforcements coming in. They rushed twoards the bridge (and if you've seen Mongols in full speed, you know what I am talking about). I barely had time to regroup my Infantry, my spearmen already wiped from the face of earth. Every man to the end of the bridge, my Cav, up toi this moment without any real work aside from chasing down occasional Mongol Cavs breaking through my lines.

The second Mongol wave hit me much harder. Men were dropping like flies, one flank was growing weaker by the second. A charge by three Templar Cav units mended the hole, yet the tide seemed to turn against me. With my Infantery reduced to a handful of men, I ordered them to retreat and threw all my remaining cav units against the Mongol tide.

I was lucky again: THe charge killed the second Mongol general, and slowly, very slowly I pushed them back on the bridge. The Mongol rocket launchers, obviously desperate in their attempt to save the day fired wildly into the night, but they should have trained aiming: in quick succession three rockets exploded in the middle of the bridge, Mongol bodies flying everywhere. A minute later they saw the futility of their attempt and routed.

My few remaining units chased after them, to no avail.

Result: a hard earned victory, five of my units surviving with only a few men in them. The Mongols Horde retreated in the following turns towards the desert where I could surround their army with single unit stacks and hindered any fast advances towards either Jerusalem or Antioch. My assassins picked of a few of their generals, the leaderless armies were singled out and fought in the open plains of the desert.


The battle may not have been one of tactic or finesse but one of brute force, yet I got the feeling that I single-handidly repelled the Mongol Invasion, leaned back and opened a nice bottle of wine . (The feeling didn't last long as Mongol reinforcemnts dropped in shortly after)