The single turn Crusade
Playing my Spanish campaign tonight, I had an interesting experience. Some time back, a Crusade was called against Antioch. I eventually made my way there by ship, barely arriving first, and taking the city. I took the advice of several other forum members to heart, and moved south afterwards to take Acre as well. Since that time, I've had to defend my small kingdom in the Holy Lands against the heathen Egyptians who won't make peace. I just finished fighting off an assault on Acre by a 19 unit stack of Egyptians, when word reached the city of the Pope calling a Crusade against Jerusalem. Well, I had a couple of units to retrain, and apparently this Crusade wasn't called at the instigation of another catholic faction, because nobody had yet joined, so I waited one turn.
The turn prior to the assault on Acre I'd had a new general come of age in Antioch. The 16 year old was born with 5 stars (!), 4 loyalty, and zero piety/chivalry. He moved to Acre and helped with the defense of the citadel, and I chose him to lead the crusade against Jerusalem. The turn following my receiving word of the crusade, he stepped out of Acre with 8 units, joined the crusade, hired a bunch of pilgrims and religious fanatics, and marched on Jerusalem. I dropped a highly skilled spy into the city, who reported that the city was currently only held by one general and a unit of cavalry, and also opened the city gates, so I assaulted. 550 pilgrims died taking down 56 Egyptians, but I took the city on the turn I declared for the crusade! My young general is now a 6 star, with 6 chivalry and 2 piety. Not bad for one turn's work.
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