Outside Nikosia, 1366 A.D.

This seems familiar, Andreas thought to himself. He had been in Outremer now, and aside from one battle in which he fought under then King Matthias, his only combat had been assaulting the lightly held city of Antioch. Now he was called on for a similiar duty, assaulting the citadel of Nikosia.

Still, it wasn't quite the same. Matthias was going on pilgramage soon, and Andreas would be responsible for the defense of Outremer while the Viceroy was away. Nikosia was vital if a ginle general was to defend all of Outremer. It could reinforce both Adana and Antioch, and serve as a fallback point if disaster struck.

Like Antioch had been, Nikosia was lightly defended. Unlike Antioch, there was a very large army in the vicinity, so it was especially important to minimize losses.

Andreas had a large army, though lacking in heavy infantry, while Nikosia was garrisoned only by one general and a single unit of militia.



The Greeks. aware of the overwhelming odds against them, decided to hide in the innermost of the Citadel's walls. Andreas' cannons made short work of the outer walls ,then began the long trek to the center of the Citadel.



The inner wall was just as easily breached and crossbowmen secured the final wall. The Greek militia made a futile attempt to reach a tower and dislodge the German crossbowmen, but were cut down by Teutonic knights. Meanwhile the enemy general curiously seemed to fled the square.



Andreas almost didn't catch the Greek leader's intent. Apparently reconciled to the thought of losing Nikosia, he had decided to take out some of the German missile units straggling outside the innermost wall. Spurring his bodyguard on and throwing caution to the wind, Andreas chased the Greeks down and General Slavos was pinned between Andreas' guard and the crossbowmen he had hoped to run down. Andreas himself cut down the Greek leader, ending the battle. Nikosia had been taken, but with higher losses among the German cavalry than planned. Andreas hoped that his forces were still strong enough to take that army on Cyprus and get back to the mainland before Matthias left.