Armenia Succession PBM

[Zim]

Figured now that the game is under way we needed a real thread for it.

Faction: Armenia
H/VH
Maintain alliances with Orthodox Brethren
Players each have a 20 turn "reign".

Players:

Zim
Ramses II CP
Elite Ferret

[Zim]

I've finished the first reign. Not much to report. We are allied with Georgia and the ERE and have trade rights with all neighbors. During my reign Vahka and Famagusta were added to the Kingdom of Armenia, with the latter quickly becoming a major economic center.

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/Armenia1.zip

[Ramses II CP]

I'll get started sometime today.

[Ramses II CP]

EF you're up, I saved it during the AI turn so you could see the start info:

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/Armenia1194s.zip

Brief summary:

We're allied to the ERE, Georgia, KoJ, Makuria, and the Sindhi. We're at war with the Turks, who are almost done, and the Ayyubids, who are very strong. The Abbasids attacked us, but I gifted them Aleppo in exchange for a ceasefire because they're also very strong and I wanted to clean up our Turkish backfield first. I would suggest after the Turks are gone that you try to help the KoJ with the Ayyubids a little (I've tried to get the ERE in that war by gifting them a little town on the border) but focus on the Abbasids because Georgia is getting hammered by the Kypchaks, Abbasids, and Seljuks... and I mean hammered. If we don't save Georgia any advance into Ayyubid territory just gives the Abbasids a longer border to attack.

We only have one decent merchant, near Aleppo, and a few weak spies. Our Faction Leader is 60, but I already passed on his 'master of horse' badge and titles. Oh, and we have one ship that is holding closed an Ayyubid port down south. There are diplomats positioned near Georgia, the ERE, and in the Ghazni/Ghorid/Rajput region.

Oh, and we're sieging that Ayyubid castle north of Edessa.

Hmm, that about covers it. Our reputation isn't very good, evidently because I had to sack three Turkish towns to keep order and continue the war. Taxes are almost universally set low to allow for growth.

Any questions? I'll be doing a writeup, maybe this weekend, but I've got ~400 screenshots to get through so it'll take some time.

It's a fun situation, lots of possibilities. If Georgia falls, and I don't think we can save her, then I'm betting we and the ERE get a big old stew of Kypchaks and Abbasids with some Seljuks on the side against our north flank. Good luck!

[Ferret]

gah already! I'll start straight away, prepare yourselves for the least productive reign this PBM will ever see

[Ferret]

dang Jerusalem has fallen already lol. Looks like I'm gonna have to declare war on the Abbassids eventually.

[Zim]

I don't know, I only gained two settlements for us, and both together aren't worth what Antioch is.

gah already! I'll start straight away, prepare yourselves for the least productive reign this PBM will ever see

[Ferret]

I'm gonna have to end my reign at ten turns as I really don't have time (more exams coming up next week and over the next few months). However in those 10 turns I have managed to detroy all of Ramses' hard work

The Seljuks were destroyed straight away, and an expidition is being prepared to take Alexandria (an army and fleet at our homelands).

I also drove through Ayyubid lands but had to bypass Damascus because of a huge garrison but went on to take Kerak (which will fall anyway) and then Gaza (which is cut off and surrounded by enemies.

Even more bad news came in Turkey. After the Turks were destroyed the Romans backstabbed us and grabbed tow of our settlements and would have wiped us out if I had not obtained a ceasefire (and one of their cities as revenge). We also lost our hold in Cyprus due to this betrayal.

Some good news is the Makurians are positioned to take Cairo which will help the Southern war effort.

Finally there are two more pieces of bad news, don't you just love bad news , firstly the abbassids have two massive armies besiging our Northernmost Province and will be able to blitz to our home territories if they are not held and Secondly the Georgians have been wiped out by the Kypchacks.

Good luck Zim: http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/Armenia1198.rar

[Zim]

That is quite a lot of bad news for 10 turns.

I'll post a writeup thread tonight and as much of my turn as possible (to be finished over the weekend).

[Ramses II CP]

Oh wow, the outlook is, err, grim. Our economy was crushed by losing those four core cities to the ERE, who were at perfect relations just a few years ago! What caused 'em to go to war do you think?

If we can't get a true alliance back in the west we're either going to drive to Constantinople or get squished between the Abbasids and ERE. I'd give up those southern holdings if I were you Zim, they'll never be profitable and the KoJ is already pretty much dead. Your call.

It'll be interesting to see where we are when I get my shot.

[Zim]

I'll figure something out (I hope). If not, then this can be one of the shortest pbms ever.

[Ferret]

all thanks to me, I'm such a great commander

[Zim]

FInsihed the writeup, although since I just editted a palceholder post, it's still at the bottom of the page.

I'll get to work on that save within the day.

[Ramses II CP]

I'll get mine up as soon as possible.

[Zim]

Geez, you weren't kidding when you said the situation was bad.

Played a little bit. Discovered spearmen suck pretty bad at almost anything but pinning (and I had to pick the faction in the BC hotseat with great spearmen and weak charge cavalry. ). I think I can guarantee we'll still be around come Ramses' turn, but can make no such guarantee regarding the condition Armenia will be in when he does.

[deguerra]

What time time limit on getting the turns done? (And I assume this is for BC?)

[Ramses II CP]

It is Broken Crescent, and I don't think we're in any kind of real hurry to get reigns done. I'd personally like for everyone who participates to write their turn up in some fashion, but otherwise it's pretty much open season.

[deguerra]

Well the only reason I never AAR is because I can never really drag myself to it when starting a campaign. Being in that frame of mind straight away should eliminate that. So if you're willing to have me, I'd love to try my hand at ru(i)n(n)ing Armenia.

[Ramses II CP]

Hah, you haven't had a look at the save yet, and I don't even know how Zim has done. If we can't turn things around the end might be nigh no matter how well you play.

[Zim]

About Armenia's chance of survival. Let's just say if I pull things through the map of Armenia will look very different...

[Zim]

Alright, while I'm no Ramses or askthepizzaguy when it comes to SP, let it never be said that I can't manage to do ok when backed into a corner.



Armenia's center at the end of my reighn (check the minmap to see how thigns have changed).



Me vs the Abbassids. This chart doesn't really tell the whole story, since we had some wierd borders from that bad war with the Romans, not to mention our territories in the Levant, which sucked up quite a bit of my military for garrison duty. Abbassids had over twice our military and our other enemy the Ayyubids were at least as strong as Armenia when I started.



We have gone from 10th or so to 3rd in the faction rankings and own a nice Empire in the middle of the map. Next two potential targets are the Seljuks (easier) or Kypchaks (strongest faction), at least if we want to continue filling out the middle of the map.

Things are a bit of a mess I'm afraid. No money for the first 15 turns or so, then I started making tons of cash (after taking Baghdad, go figure. ). Buildings are queued in all settlements, but not neccesarily in the best order, and our armies are large but a bit motley. Started autoresolving my battles around 4 A.M.

We're at war with noone, and gained the Romans back as an ally. Kypchaks are not allies but we have good relations (they went to war with the Abbasids towards the end of the reign).

[Zim]

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/Armenia_1208.zip

[Ramses II CP]

Nice! That gets us closer to our goal of a Mongol war too, especially with the Kypchaks on favorable terms and the ERE back as allies.

I haven't fought the Abbasids much, but they're supposed to be one of the tougher factions. Very impressive Z.

I believe Deguerra was thinking about taking the next reign?

[Zim]

Thanks Ramses. I'll be honest, I pulled out every trick in my meager book. Using general's guards heavily against infantry armies (we never did get any other charge cav while I played, although Homs should be teching up to them), Using spies to open gates and take out their castles (and Baghdad eventually), attacking armies next to settlements to draw out the garrison, crushing their tougher armies between two of my full stacks, etc.

Should make for an interesting aar post, although it might take a while. So many battles...

[deguerra]

well, I'd be happy to take it if thats ok with you Ramses

[Zim]

Got the first Mongol related even, they should be appearing during the next reign. If we want to get closer to them we'll have to conquer northeast fairly quickly (through Seljuk territory, Kypchaks are also fighting them so be careful).

Nice! That gets us closer to our goal of a Mongol war too, especially with the Kypchaks on favorable terms and the ERE back as allies.

[deguerra]

So in general what should I be aiming for? The Mongols were mentioned. Anything other than that?

[Zim]

We've been trying to stay allied to the Orthodox factions as much as possible, and maybe make it east to fight the Mongols. If you have other plans I wouldn't let those interrupt them. Each player can play out their reign however they see fit.

[deguerra]

Well looking at the saves two things spring to mind:

1. The Ayyubids are extremely vulneralbe. They are already being attacked by Markuria from the south. If we wanted, the KOJ and us could easily hit their already precariously overstretched empire.

2. The size of the Kypzchaks is insane. Scary, scary, scary. On the one hand that makes me want to stay away from them. On the other they must be contained! And they have old Armenia...

[Zim]

It's your choice. Taking the north coast of Africa might provide some nice trade between those provinces and southern Anatolia. Then again taking on the Seljuks before the Kypchaks can finish them off will contain the Kypchaks. Of course, you could always just attack the Kypchaks directly. Other than our allies the Romans they control the last settlements in our area of recruitment.