Pics & History of your Empire

**Innocentius** · 05-01-2007, 23:04

Great stuff Maloncanth! Another interesting faction finally got their own campaign

I like the trick with the last pic, though I'm utterly worthless at Photoshop and whatever so maybe that's a basic effect...

**Maloncanth** · 05-02-2007, 15:27

Following the Fall of Constantinople in 1346 and the Great Mortality that followed, both sides took several years to regroup and recover. Though Roman military strength had fallen greatly below that of the knighthood, they retained their troop building facilities in Asia Minor and remained far from harmless. Moreover, the war at sea continued and it was now the Hospitallers who held many lands with many attendant concerns.

In 1350, a combination of naval success and falling concentrations of Hungarian strength had already made invasion feasible, but Dieudonne upon seeing the Marmara was not confident in taking it and withdrew without a fight. The Grand Master returned with a much larger force in 1354 and forced the Romans to withdraw.

With Hungarian troop concentrations falling further to a rare low, the Grand Master's advisors urged him to wage war on Hungary (who had been none too polite to his lordship's emissaries in the past) and secure their rich lands south of the Danube with such speed that the Pope would be unable to respond in course. Troops were moved to the border in preparation for this but Dieudonne was yet loath to wage war on fellow catholics. However, the empire, reduced to just Trebizond, yet refused to accept peace and instead reinvade the following year in a last desparate attempt to restore their position. Their force included a profusion of heavy cavalry.

However, in the ensuing battle, the foot knights and lesser halberdier troops turned the wooded hills against their former masters and utterly massacred the Byzantines in the field. As a result, the Grand Master resolved once and for all to turn his attentions eastwards and moved to secure the whole of Asia Minor, and eventually, the holy land in the name of the church.

The world in 1360.

In 1360, the Knights Hospitaller marched unopposed into Anatolia. Predictably, the infidels returned the following year, intent on repelling the incursion.

Battle of Anatolia

Knights prepare to sally as the Turks attempt to ease apart the formation.

The battle began as a classic set piece, with the knights outnumbered and occupying a moderate high ground. As the Turks maneuvered for position, the knights simply shifted their formation to face their enemy. Armed with numerous crossbows, the knights were confident in victory, but unlike his late father, the Grand Master would not be satisfied with simply shooting the opposition. He ordered the crossbows to be turned only against the lesser troops and riders and ordered his knights (about fifty mounted and a further eighty foot) to prepare for charge even as the Turks tested their forces against the solidity of the catholic wall.

Turks recede like the tide before the righteous might of God.

Finally, sighting his opposite, the Grand Master sounded the charge. The Turkish sultan withdrew to safety at once, ordering his lesser troops to surround and destroy the knights, but the christians attacked with such ferocity that almost the entirety of the Turkish main body of Ottoman Infantry and Sipahi's simply routed before them.

As the main force of Turks dissolved and were reduced to skirmish and harrassment by the Nizaris that yet held their ground, the Grand Master chased the fleeing sultan and finally confronted him on a hilltop where he fought and was slain.

The Turkish sultan is chased and is slain as he turns and fights.

**Innocentius** · 05-02-2007, 17:52

As you might have noticed I try to sum up the reign of one king in one post but I've reached that phase in the game when everyone has huge armies and are having fun throwing them at each other, so I decided to work with shorter posts to not make them unreadable.

Part one of the reign of King Konrad I the Warrior: 1244 - 1256 A.D.

If any Polish King deserves to be referred to as "the Warrior" it is most certainly King Konrad who unlike his father was very much a man of war. Already at the young age of 21 he had become famous after his victory at Vidra in 1242 and as a result of that battle the Fatamid Khalifah had once again ceased to be.
Having once tasted war in Wallachia Konrad would never quite get tired of warfare and it was not rare for him to get in conflict with the Council of Nobles and the Hanseatic Merchants as these wished for peace. The nobility wanted peace so that they would not be obliged to ride to war in some distant kingdom or khanate and the merchants so that it would not hurt their income. Konrad usually paid no heed to the advice from such men however and mostly did things in his own - often very violent - way. Bohemian chroniclers in particular often portray him as a monster and tyrant, worse still than the hated King Kazimierz II, responsible for the massacre at Letovice in 1218.

Even though being a man of war King Konrad's first major action as King of Poland was seeking peace with the Bohemians, who had never quite forgot the defeat at Letovice and the loss of their homelands in Bohemia and Moravia to the Poles. Nonetheless, the aged King Jaromir II finally signed a ceasefire with King Konrad in 1245 after being persuaded to do so by Konrad's emissary Wenceclaus Mazovia.
Konrad's second action was to marry. Curiously enough he married out of love and not out of political need as was the custom in Europe at the time. Rather than marrying some foreign princess he married a commoner from Lesser Poland. We don't know much about her and only her first name, Maria, is known thanks to the chroniclers. For what we know their marriage was happy and they had many children, girls in particular. This brings us into the somewhat confusing subject of Konrad's sons.
In 1246 his oldest son Boleslaw celebrated his sixteenth birthday with great splendour in Krakow, but at this time Konrad was only 25 years old! This has confused many and there is still no answer as to who Boleslaw really was, a common guess however is that Maria was older than Konrad and that Boleslaw was her son from a previous marriage, making him a bastard. Whoever Boleslaw truly was he was declared crown prince and heir to the throne by his "father" on September 5 1246. Prince Kazimierz, who celebrated his sixteenth birthday in 1251 is possibly Konrad's own son, but a bastard nonetheless as he was born before the marriage with Maria.

King Jaromir II of Bohemia died in the bitter cold winter of 1247 and was succeeded by his son, Vratislav, who became king under the name Vratislav V. Vratislav was not of the same opinion as his father when it came to the ceasefire with Poland, still not able to forgive those who had wronged his forefathers. He now declared war upon the Polish and took them by surprise as he sent an army into Brandenburg in the spring of 1248. This army was under downright terrible command, the general - who remains unnamed in all sources, even Bohemian ones - being infamous for his gluttony and obesity while the army itself consisted mostly of crossbowmen and arbalesters, troops less suitable for offensive campaign.
The people of Brandenburg was shocked as the Bohemians came pillaging and burning along their borders and decided to drive them out on their own. Brandenburg had not been a theatre of war since the German civil war of the early 12th century (after which the Elector of Brandenburg, Ludwig Zirn, had joined the Kingdom of Poland for protection against bandits and other small states) and there were no professional or royal troops in the region. Thus the people of Brandenburg armed themselves with what they could find in their homes - most of these weapons actually dated back to the 11th or 12th century! - and went out to meet the invaders.
In the Battle of Alsfeld this peasant levy was decisively defeated by the Bohemians despite their numerical superiority and the slaughter was terrible to behold. The Bohemian army failed to achieve anything however and foolishly spent their time pillaging the rest of Brandenburg, not bothering themselves to consolidate their position, leaving the castles and forts of the land untouched. They paid for their foolishness in 1249 as peasant levies from Saxony and Silesia, accompanied by a core of professional halberdiers from Pomerania, marched into Brandenburg. After a short series of skirmishes in which the Bohemians were repeatedly beaten they withdrew, burdened by their loot.

The war now rested for a few years, but King Konrad was all but idle. Massive recruiting campaigns were held in Denmark, Pomerania, Greater Poland, Lesser Poland and Bohemia. Konrad himself installed himself in Prague in the spring of 1251 and the next spring he considered himself ready. In one massive move the lands of Franconia, Bavaria and Austria were invaded by huge Polish armies. The Bohemians and King Vratislav V would indeed pay for their treachery! This was the largest full-frontal offensive Europe had witnessed to that date and was in scale comparable to those of the World Wars in the 20th century.
In all lands into which the Polish marched - Konrad himself commanded the army in Franconia - the Bohemians fled, terrified by this sudden aggression and perhaps some of them were old enough to remember the terrible invasion of 1217. Castles were now besieged and the Polish celebrated the conquest of these vast areas of land, however it was still years before it would all be over, and on the eastern front things were not going quite as well.

In the early summer of 1253, as the campaigns on Bohemian ground still raged on with unabated intensivity, the Mongol warlord Khogibag saw his chance to rise to famedom and wealth as the Polish had been disbanding several regiments of spearmen along their eastern borders lately. The Golde Horde believed this to be a result of the Polish feeling safe from the Mongols after their victories in 1243 and 1244, but in truth it was only since these men had become superfluous with the increasing use of the more effective polearms such as the halberd.
Assuming he would face a weakened enemy caught unawares Khogibag lead a great army from Novgorod south into Lithuania with some reinforcements from Smolensk to his aid. Lord Plast, the commander of the Polish royal army in Lithuania had foreseen this however and marched to meet Khogibag in what was to be

The Battle of Glubokoje

The rapid advance of the cavalry-heavy Mongol army forced Lord Plast to meet them on terms that they agreed on, luckily for him though the lands of Lithuania were heavily wooded and sparsely populated, especially after the wars and border raids against the Golden Horde and this slowed the Mongol horses down a bit. Nonetheless Plast could not find a suitable hill closer to the coast or near a river crossing, but was forced to meet the Mongols on ground that suited them best: the open plains.
Remembering the successful tactics used by Lord Dudzik at Jurjevka and Kupjansk Lord Plast deployed his troops in a similar manner with his right flank secured by woods and his left with a few additional regiments of halberdiers. The Mongols were all but ignorant however and had learnt from their failures in Levidia that the Polish infantry could not be beaten in melee. So for this campaign Khogibag brought vast amounts of horse archers and as a result of this Glubokoje turned out to be the bloodiest battle thus far in the Polish-Mongolian wars.
On June 3 1253 Khogibag and his army faced Lord Plast's in the wooded fields of Glubokoje. The battle began with the advance of a first Mongol wave consisting of mostly horse archers and a few units of heavy cavalry, including Khogibag himself and his retinue. A long and bloody archery duel that was to last for the entire battle now began, but for Khogibag his glory did not last for long. As the Mongol heavy cavalry seemed to prepare for attack the Polish arbalesters directed their fire against them to weaken them before impact. As if the Lord himself had intervened Khogibag was struck down by the very first volley and with his death the cavalry abandoned this attack, instead they became sitting ducks and they all perished for the Polish arbalesters without achieving anything.
The battle was not over however and the Mongols who enjoyed numerical superiority kept coming in wave after wave. Soon the Polish arbalesters ran out of bolts and the heavily armoured halberdiers found themselves unable to catch up with the fast Mongols. The same armour that prevented them from catching their foes was the same armour that saved them from their arrows however, as these arrows lacked the penetrating effect of the arbalest. Lord Plast was now isolated as he desperately chased off a unit of horse archers, trying to save his men. He was quickly surrounded by a horde of Mongols and only just made it out of the fray alive, his entire bodyguard slain by his enemies. The Mongols gave chase and would have caught up with Plast if it wasn't for the halberdiers who rushed to cover his retreat. Despite this Lord Plast fled the battlefield in terror and most likely also wounded. This had a heavy demoralising effect on the Poles and many nasty rumours of Plast's cowardice circulated after the battle.
Despite the grim situation the battle eventually again turned in favour for the Polish as a wave of light cavalry from the steppes entered the field. These did not carry bows like the other Mongols and when engaged in melee the Polish could finally use their halberds to full effect. With this wave of cavalry crushed, their leader dead and most of the Mongols out of arrows the Mongols finally decided to call it a day an retreated. The Polish had been victorious again, yet at a high cost.

Even though the Mongol casualties counted nearly twice as many as the Polish ones, Lord Plast was unable to treat this battle as a true victory as his personal honour and reputation had been badly damaged by his flight and these accusations of cowardice haunted him for the rest of his life. Nonetheless, none could disagree that the Mongols had yet again been decisively defeated and their expansion westwards yet again hampered.

In Franconia, Bavaria and Austria things were going even better. The castles fell in rapid order and the Bohemians lacked full support from the population. In Lorraine however great Bohemian armies had been gathering during the autumn of 1253, apparently to prevent King Konrad from further expansion, or so he thought for in December they marched into Franconia to expel the invaders. King Konrad was not worried by this turn of events and knew that the many defensive positions offered to him by the countless rivers here in central Germany would halt the advance of the Bohemian army and work to his profit.

The Slaughter at the Bridge

Near a small bridge crossing a small river flowing up to the Weser (exact location unknown) the Polish army, outnumbered by 3:1 set up a strong defensive position. The Bohemians immediately took the bait and hurried to meet their foes. Many Bohemian castle garrisons still loyal to King Vratislav now sallied and joined the army.
Incredibly enough the weather worked in the favour of King Konrad to that degree so that the river remained unfrozen, despite the bitter cold and heavy snowfall. The battle that followed is not very well described in the sources but with all probability this was a pretty one-sided slaughter. The Bohemians desperately attempted to cross the bridge but were mercilessly mowed down by volley after volley from the Poles. The young sergeant Ziemowit Stasiak had been given the honourable task of holding the actual bridgehead and he and his men slew any Bohemian that tried to put his foot on the other shore. For the great efforts of him and his men he was knighted after the battle, rising to fight with the dismounted chivalry instead.
This total defeat by the Bohemian army was worse than that at Letovice and King Konrad was henceforth reputed as the finest battlefield defender in Christianity at the time.

As news of this terrible defeat spread across Bohemia and Franconia in particular nearly all Bohemian castles decided that capitulation and agreeing to the Polish terms would be the best way - and possibly the only way of saving their necks. The only castles that remained in Bohemian hands were Munich Castle in Bavaria and Vienna in Austria. These castles were stormed and taken during the winter of 1253-1254 however and the prisoners took by the Polish here were all executed on spot.
On April 23 1254 terrible news reached King Konrad in Bamberg where he resided for the time being: the cowardly King Vratislav V had pleaded to Pope Anselmo down in Rome, and Anselmo had sided with him, excommunicating King Konrad for his aggressions against his Catholic brothers. This bothered the Kingdom of Poland surprisingly little however and only in rather recently Christianised lands such as Moldovia and Levidia was there a decrease in loyalty to the King. Konrad is reported to have said, as a response when hearing of his excommunication: "Ha! Merely words cannot overthrow a King! It takes sword, blood and guts and although our beloved Anselmo indeed possess the first two he certainly lacks the last!". Indeed no actions were taken against the Polish Kingdom or Konrad in person and the excommunication had no serious effects.

The year 1254 saw no military actions at all except a few minor border raids along both fronts but was instead a year of much planning. Konrad had two goals for the coming years, the first and most urgent being to finally force the Byzantines out of the Crimea. It was more than fifty years since any military actions had been taken between the Kings of Poland and the Byzantine "Emperors" in Crete, yet war was still officially declared and on the map Konrad was fighting a three-front war. Seeking to remove this third front he sent his younger brother Mieszko to the Crimea by fleet in the early days of 1255. Words of this invasion reached Manuel Bryennius, the Byzantine commander in the Crimea, quickly thanks to his extensive network of spies and when the Poles under Prince Mieszko landed just north of Cembalo on March 5 they found themselves greeted by Bryennius and his army. The battle that stood was brief but fierce and this was among the last times in history that the famous Kataphraktoi rode to battle.

The Battle of Cembalo

Manuel Bryennius had organised his troops in a negligent way with a big chunk of light infantry (mostly local Slav levies) and archers and Bulgarian brigands in the center with all of his cavalry, including his many horse archers, behind it rather than on the flanks. He had positioned his army atop a hill with a tiny valley, almost forming a perfect ditch, between him and the hill on which Mieszko positioned his troops. Already this was a mistake as he had now missed out on the opportunity of driving the Poles back into the sea even before they got out of their ships, instead he had provided them with a good defensive foothold.
The Prince of Poland ordered his troops into a traditional two-line formation with arbalests up front and with halberdiers right behind them. His mounted crossbowmen he sent around the enemy flank to harass the Kataphraktoi from behind. The archery duel that followed was highly inconclusive as the superior number of Byzantine bows made up for the longer rage and power of the Polish arbalests. Seeing this Mieszko ordered his infantry forward while his arbalesters would be shooting above their heads. The Byzantine infantry now joined for melee but were easily beaten by the Poles. Swords, spears and javelins could do little against the halberds. Some of the cavalry even joined into the fray but were also defeated.
Manuel Bryennius and his personal escort of Kataphraktoi retreated further uphill while the mounted units of the Polish army, including Prince Mieszko himself, slaughtered the now unprotected archers from Trebizond and Bulgaria. He then reorganised his forces and sent his halberdiers to deal with Bryennius, who was captured after a short struggle and the remainders of the Byzantine army were sent away running for their lives.

The few prisoners taken, including the defeated Bryennius, where ransomed back by the Emperor in Crete, despite the terrible finances of the "empire".
War in Crimea continued until July 1256 when Cherzonez, the last fortification still in Roman hands, fell to Prince Mieszko. After this a ceasefire was concluded with the Emperor and the Crimea was ceded to the Kingdom of Poland.

The second plan realised by King Konrad in 1255 was not quite as successful, although it was indeed no failure: Konrad had, after his capture of Franconia, noticed how poorly defended Swabia was, yet in Swabia King Vratislav V along with all of his sons resided. If he could manage to force them into battle or trap them behind the walls of their castles he could either end the Bohemian line of kings or ransom them back for a ridiculous amount of Florins! This plan was indeed tempting, and as soon as words reached him of the success of his brother in the Crimea he set his plans in motion and personally commanded an army into Swabia.
To his disappointment Vratislav did the only reasonable thing and retreated, not even leaving a single man to defend Swabia. Konrad had underestimated his fiend, or rather overestimated his stupidity but in a way he was successful nonetheless as he now controlled the lands of Swabia. The Swabian nobles were quick in swearing allegiance to King Konrad and the Kingdom of Poland.
The Bohemian armies - now positioned in Burgundy - reacted and Vratislav sent a young and yet untested general named Lord Reznik on a summer campaign to reclaim Swabia from the Polish. Konrad found himself outnumbered 3:1 once more, but nonetheless decided to meet the Bohemians in the field.

The Battle of Tübingen

At the little village of Tübingen, a rural idyll in the hilly inland provinces of Swabia the two armies met, Konrad using the terrain to his benefit. He placed his army atop a steep hill with woods on both sides overlooking the little village. The position was ideal: there was no room for outflanking and the only approach was through the village and up the steep slope.
The inexperienced Lord Reznik however was confident in his numbers and ordered an assault straight up the hill.

King Konrad I and his retinue overlooking the village of Tübingen and the approaching Bohemian army.

What followed was yet another slaughter, albeit not one as grim and terrible as in 1253 in Franconia. Lord Reznik sent his Bohemian bowmen in an attempt to force the Poles to attack him, but they were out-ranged and were soon decimated. He then sent his infantry in wave after wave, always under heavy fire from the Polish arbalests. Each time being driven back, reorganising at the foot of the hill to attack yet again.
Eventually the dismounted knights under Sir Chrosciszko Marosz charged into the flank of the Bohemain infantry, followed by a charge by the Polish halberds down the slope. Fighting uphill and with inferior weapons the Bohemians were slaughtered and quickly routed. Konrad himself participated in the pursuit.
Lord Reznik was however wise enough to not even bother to send for reinforcements and with his main battle defeated he decided to retreat. Many remarked that he was lucky to still be alive as generals facing the Polish had a nasty habit of dying in battle.

King Vratislav did not have the money to pay for the prisoners taken and they were duly executed.

Here we leave the Polish Kingdom for now; the further exploits of King Konrad being a story to be told later.

The Kingdom of Poland in 1256

King Konrad I of Poland

And finally some GA stats

As I believe you can tell from the minimap the Castille-Leonese are finally beginning to collapse, so they shouldn't be very much of a problem GA-wise.

**Maloncanth** · 05-02-2007, 18:09

Unfortunately, I just lost all of today's progress from a CtD which I managed to cause by reproducing quantum states of two princes. See the relevant details. History is going to be glossed over a bit until I get back to where I was.

**Martok** · 05-03-2007, 00:22

@ Maloncath: Good to see the Hospitallars are "bringing the light" to Asia Minor and the Balkans -- whether the people there want it or not.

A pity about your lost progress and the whole prince snafu, though. (You do seem to find creative ways to cause the game to crash!

) In any case, I look forward to the next installment.

@ Innocentius: Wow, Konrad really is quite the warmonger, isn't he? Not that he was looking for the Bohemians to backstab him, but he certainly renewed the war with gusto!

So are you going to try and finish them off before the excommunication is lifted, or will you let them be for now?

Also: I was looking at your screenshot of the GA points, and I must confess surprise at the Bohemians and Seljuks. It seems hard to believe the former could still be close to you in points, but that the Turks should have so very few. (Which only illustrates that I've never fully understood how they're really calculated.)

In any case, good to see you're ahead and doing well.

**Innocentius** · 05-03-2007, 15:15

Originally Posted by Martok

@ Innocentius: Wow, Konrad really is quite the warmonger, isn't he? Not that he was looking for the Bohemians to backstab him, but he certainly renewed the war with gusto!

So are you going to try and finish them off before the excommunication is lifted, or will you let them be for now?

I don't think they'll let me rest but I see no reason to destroy them either. All their provinces left to take would give me borders with the Pope or the Castille-Leonese (or the soon-to-re-emerge factions in western Europe). I might take Switzerland just for the units and then Tyrolia for the borders, but otherwise I'm through with them, for now. I'll just let them bash themselves bloody against my armies until nothing remains of theirs.
I have my true aim set to the east to secure the eastern parts of my kingdom and adding Livonia and Novgorod to the kingdom would give me two additional unit-producing provinces (not that Denmark, Saxony, Pomerania, Prussia, Lithuania, Kiev, Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, Carpathia and Bulgaria isn't enough, but still

).

Originally Posted by Martok

Also: I was looking at your screenshot of the GA points, and I must confess surprise at the Bohemians and Seljuks. It seems hard to believe the former could still be close to you in points, but that the Turks should have so very few. (Which only illustrates that I've never fully understood how they're really calculated.)

In any case, good to see you're ahead and doing well.

I don't think GA-scores from the previous "regime" counts when a faction re-emergese which would explain the low score of the Seljuks. The C-Ls got most of their points from Crusading (although they're kicked out now) and the same goes for the Sicilians. I have no idea how the Bohemians got all their points though...

**Maloncanth** · 05-06-2007, 01:30

Okay, after that Prince silliness and a ton of lost progress, I found the inclination to continue. It's 1370, with Asia Minor now under the armoured boot of the Hospitallers and Grand Master Dieudonne has just died from a surfeit of peaches.

This is five years before the scoring session and we are well behind the Golden Horde in points. Still, I don't think it's threatening enough that I can't afford to take a leisurely pace of things. My overall plan now is to build up (As you can see I have remarkably few actual large armies.) re-distribute some titles (I never bothered before as I kept waiting for the GM to die to free up princes.) Then go and own the Horde really hard for seven provinces.

**Martok** · 05-06-2007, 18:36

@ Innocentius: Gah! I'd forgotten about re-emerging facts having to start all over with the GA points, but you're right. A pity for them; they look like they're doing pretty well otherwise.

I still can't fathom how the Bohemians could've done so well, however. It's like they were all that big even *before* their wars with you began....

Originally Posted by Maloncanth

Okay, after that Prince silliness and a ton of lost progress, I found the inclination to continue. It's 1370, with Asia Minor now under the armoured boot of the Hospitallers and Grand Master Dieudonne has just died from a surfeit of peaches.

Originally Posted by Maloncanth

This is five years before the scoring session and we are well behind the Golden Horde in points. Still, I don't think it's threatening enough that I can't afford to take a leisurely pace of things. My overall plan now is to build up (As you can see I have remarkably few actual large armies.) re-distribute some titles (I never bothered before as I kept waiting for the GM to die to free up princes.) Then go and own the Horde really hard for seven provinces.

Yeah, I think you're still close enough to the Mongols that you don't need to hurry. Probably build up your new empire first (congrats, btw

), and then come out with both barrels blazing in a few years.

**Deus ret.** · 05-06-2007, 22:12

A nice empire, Maloncanth! You are very justified in taking measures against the GH and their points lead, but beware: Usually it's not them who pose the greatest threat to a Late GA win. Granted, the Russians are gone, but you should also have an eye on Hungary and Aragon. Especially the latter can rake in insane amounts of GA points in Late if given the opportunity.

Good luck & all the best for your campaign! I really hope you'll continue it to the end....

**Maloncanth** · 05-07-2007, 01:45

Prosperity
An abler financial administrator than either his father or his grandfather, GM Enrico propelled the realms of the Hospitallers to a period of prosperity the moment he was upon the great seat. With him at the realm the dominion rebounded ahead of Europe from the plague and Constantinople once again became the queen of cities - in catholic hands.

The Papacy had of course, been overjoyed. Even much of the holy lands remained out of catholic hands, the destruction of the excommunicated Eastern Empire without attendant destruction of its cities and wealth was a great victory for the true faith and the powerful armies of the Hospitallers (and any would-be crusaders) were powerfully poised.

As pious as he was sharp, in his early reign Enrico enjoyed an excellent relation with the Pope and the two exchanged gifts even though Papacy-dominated venice was now decisively outcompeted by Constantinople's merchants.

On his deathbed, Dieudonne had ordered his son to continue onto the holy land, but Enrico didn't agree with the Pope or his Father in this regard. To him, the greatest threat to Christianity lay not South, but North, where the pagan and barbaric Mongol hordes dominated much vaster lands than the Mameluks as far as Cathay. The fellow Teutonic order had had some successes against the Mongols and Enrico, having exchanged letters with their Grand Master, was more interested in meeting up with them in the middle of the Steppe, after expelling the invaders from Europe's soil.

With arguably the richest and most sophisticated realm in Europe and at least four commanders of awesome skill left by his father, Enrico knew he had potential aplenty and set about raising armies; there was literally more gold than could be spent and even with the greatest of excesses in adding lavishly equipped troops, the annual budget continually ran surplus during the 1370's. By 1372, Enrico was ready to launch his first small crusade across the Black Sea.

This battle was autoresolved. It might have been the most boring battle in the history of MTW otherwise.

Goodness, more money?!

Enrico easily took Lesser Khazar, defeated the Mongol counterattack, and conquered the province by 1376. The ease with which his forces defeated the once legendary Horde made the young ruler famous throughout the known world. The Germans quickly aligned with the Hospitallers, as did the Bohemians and Poles, though the latter were on the eve of their destruction. Even the once bellicose Bulgarians wanted alliance, leaving Hungary isolated. At the same time, the Fatimids broke off relations, surrounding the the Hospitallers with enemies and forcing him to leave many troops on the defense. Nevertheless, Khazar proper was taken by 1379, making the 32-year old Enrico, the most influential monarch in Europe.

The Teutonics stretch their hands, Enrico stays loyal to the fellow knighthood over the Swedes.

His first son was born at this time as well, the beginning of the height of the Grand Master's career. Despite his skill in combat and as a commander, the Grand Master knew he had even better commanders and rarely took to the field himself and instead, worked at carefully grooming his son for his future.

Then late that year, the Mameluks attacked, disrupting trade in the central med. Enrico was said to have greeted the news only with amusement. "Let the infidels come," said he. And the next year in the spring of 1380, they did.

Battle of Rum

Sir Roger Machiavelli: "I am ecstatic at this chance to prove my mettle. I shall sweep the Egyptians from the fields."

A large force of Egyptians marched on Rum against a smaller but vastly qualitatively superior force of Hospitallers and supporting heavy infantry. The latter were confident to say the least and the former had no idea what they were getting into as they marched onto the thick line of the knights.

"Let me assure you, sire, it shall be a bad day to be an Eggy."

The Egyptians engaged the Hospitallers from downhill, massing their troops on two horns on either side of the main Hospitaller line which they locked in place with medium cavalry and archers' fire. The Order Foot holding the center went through most of the day with their large shields raised as the forces of Halberdiers and Men at Arms conducted most of the heavy combat against inferior Saracens, Abyssanians, Nubians, and Muwahids, crushing first their left horn and then their right as Hospitaller crossbows wrought havoc in the back.

The left horn consisting of Nubians, Abyssinians and Muwahhid has collapsed. Saracens continue attempting to push the right horn but are being sent backwards down, bloody.

The Hospitaller general adopted a passive but solid and broadly practical stance, taking no risks until a chance as clear as day developed before ordering his right wing to charge.

It's a very bad day to be an Eggy.

With one sharp crack, the Egyptians' first battle collapsed into a rout. Following this, a second and third battle of Egyptians arrived, only to be destroyed in turn almost purely by archery. The muslims were on their way home within the hour.

The second battle, headed by Bedouin Camels, vanishes beneath withering fire.

A bad day to be riding a camel indeed.

With this victory, the Mameluks' position in the northeast extremeties of their realm is greatly weakened. Grand Master Enrico ordered his generals to proceed with the conquest of Georgia and Armenia proper.

**Maloncanth** · 05-07-2007, 01:48