Archived: Chronicle of Spain - A Redux 1004 AAR (Updated 1/2/14)

[daigaku]

Hi @Cyprian2,

hey, great epic story-telling, really! And, with all this battle-trouble going on, how did you find the time to make all those cool screenshots?!?

Not being a storyteller myself, it is real fun to read how you put pieces of history together with the development of the game, like the bit about the "cousin" - I wouldn´t have thought up something catching like that myself, for sure. Keep telling more, please!

What makes me wonder a bit (playing 1003-VI/now1004e-VI myself) is the high stats of your Leaders - I´d love to start out with 6 influence and a heir this loyal in my games as Norse. Is this a 1.1 vs. 2.01 thing? Or a bonus for playing "veteran"? (sniff) never had those starting-stats for my guys up in the grim North...

Never having played the Spanish in Redux, I also never met one of those Rogue Knights. Are they something like Rebel Champions down south there?!?

Eager-to-read-more greetings

daigaku

[Cyprian2]

Hi @Cyprian2,

hey, great epic story-telling, really! And, with all this battle-trouble going on, how did you find the time to make all those cool screenshots?!?

Not being a storyteller myself, it is real fun to read how you put pieces of history together with the development of the game, like the bit about the "cousin" - I wouldn´t have thought up something catching like that myself, for sure. Keep telling more, please!

What makes me wonder a bit (playing 1003-VI/now1004e-VI myself) is the high stats of your Leaders - I´d love to start out with 6 influence and a heir this loyal in my games as Norse. Is this a 1.1 vs. 2.01 thing? Or a bonus for playing "veteran"? (sniff) never had those starting-stats for my guys up in the grim North...

Never having played the Spanish in Redux, I also never met one of those Rogue Knights. Are they something like Rebel Champions down south there?!?

Eager-to-read-more greetings

daigaku

Greetings right back at you, @daigaku. Your words of encouragement are much appreciated!

For screenshots, I use the F2 capture method. That way, the battle isn't interrupted and I can simply go to my TGAs folder and sort the pics as I please. It's kind of a scattershot approach, so you have to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were.

This being my first AAR, I'm still learning a lot about pacing. I'm basically clutching at straws to find elements that might make an interesting story, but the main idea here is to tell it as fast as possible. Otherwise, I'll be stuck writing hundreds of pages. This is, after all, just a few turns into the campaign so far! But thanks for your kind words. It helps to know someone is enjoying this as much as I am. :P

The high stats seem to be luck of the draw mostly. My king started with ridiculously good stats. I think they tend to get a little worse as the years go on, especially if no new conquests are added to your realm. Some people advocate using the green_generals switch, which makes all generals start with lower stats. Things are definitely easier when you have a jedi or two!

As for the Rogue knights, they appear to be a later addition. I don't recall seeing them in earlier versions, or certainly not before 1003.

Well, stay tuned for more. (Hopefully by the end of the week.)

regards,

Cyprian

[daigaku]

Hi @Cyprian2,

"....end of the week"?!? Hopefully you won´t let us wait that long! Being myself more a basic-pattern and analytic man, I really have fun with a story like yours. A "story" or AAR told by me would more sound like "took with me 4 Slavic bowmen to crush the Polish infantry, put them on a hill to extend their longrange even more, used the Boyars to flank and tidy up the remainders" No fun to read, just basic tactical info;-))

About stats: Even if Daddy had 8 or 9 influence, the heir, with hardly any exception, starts again with - lousy 4. It´s a pain in the ass to get that up to min. 7 again, even using the rebellious-province-exploit. The drop in loyalty is a really harsh one, so I have to keep all my russian (and even more the newly acquainted) provinces heavily garrisoned. I hope for you, playing this rather heavy-under-pressure faction, the "luck of the draw" stays with you!

greetings, and a happy new year wishes you

daigaku

p.s. ...had completely forgotten about the "thanks" button....

[Cyprian2]

Chapter 3: The Bull's Horns

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In the years following the battle of Gasteiz, with the annexation of Navarre nearly complete, a measure of discontent grew among certain Castilian nobles. This came about indirectly with an offer of alliance from the pope. Pope Urban II, a militant pope even by the standards of that age, had been waging war in Italy for several years against the so-called "bad Christians" of Lombardy and the Holy Roman Empire. Urban also advocated the total annihilation of all non-Christians, whether pagan or muslim. So it was that he sent an emissary to Alfonso of Castile with an offer of alliance, at the same time imploring the Spanish king to make war on the Moors. Now, Alfonso was well aware of the growing threat which the muslims posed to the Christians, but he was above all things a cautious ruler and would not engage in a war he did not consider winnable. Some in court, however, whispered that it was not caution but cowardice that stayed his hand. One courtier, pretending to speak of the equally inactive Portuguese, dared ask (within earshot of the king): "Is there any true difference, my friends, between a king who will not fight and a bull that has been tethered by the horns?" The courtier was Sir Enrique, of the Quesada dynasty, who would become a sworn enemy of King Alfonso and his sons.

In 713, when the Moors annexed Valencia, it looked as though Alfonso had little choice but oppose them. At least, such was the conviction of the war hawks. Who was the king, they demanded, to tie up the Spanish host in Navarre when the greatest enemy had arrived on their very doorstep? In 714, their discontent turned to full-fledged rebellion. Enrique Quesada took command of an anti-royalist host and prepared an assault on Castile itself, hoping to replace the king with a council of nobles calling themselves "The Bull's Horns."

The rebels struck first at sea. Though a competent commander, admiral Don Antonio de Àgreda was taken by surprise off the Costa Verde. A fleet of rebel corsairs (hired by The Bull's Horns) bore down upon Àgreda as his ships were trying to tack. The entire royal navy was lost.



It would be many years before Castile could afford the resources to make a new royal fleet. The king heard news of this disaster on the road from Navarre as he rushed back to Castile with the bulk of his knights. There was nothing he could do but to push on. What men had been spared from the pacification of Navarre were already tired from the forced march. Prince Sancho, alone and having barely escaped the rebels, met his father and brother on the road. The de Asturias dynasty was reunited. Taking a little rest and sustenance, the Spanish host encamped on the highlands of Castile and prepared to face the renegade Quesada and his Bull's Horns.



The rebel host marched from Valladolid in the middle of the night and, by morning, they had reached the Spanish royal camp.

Along with the usual rogue knights and foot champions, their number included a sizeable contingent of crossbowmen led by a Spanish noble by the name of Rodrigo de Trastàmara. The crossbow was a very new weapon to Spain. While in Navarre, the king had hired some crossbow mercenaries who had come all the way from Bavaria. For the first time in Spain's history, the crossbow would be wielded by two opposing forces.



Prince Alfonso had assigned his own bodyguard to his brother, Sancho. Such was Alfonso's confidence in the coming engagement, that he chose to ride alone at the vanguard of the army. The royal cavalry took up their position at the top of a hill as the Spanish foot caught up.



Once in position, Lord de Claris's archers and the mercenary crossbowmen plied their deadly trade before the oncoming rebels.




Seeing the core of the rebel knights mired in the mud at the bottom of the hill, King Alfonso and his knights charged. Soon, the ground was a soupy mixture of blood and mud.




Having slain many rebel champions and rogue knights almost singlehandedly, the king charged into the ranks of the mercenary archers, where the leader of the Bull's Horns had attempted to disguise himself.

Meanwhile, Prince Alfonso struck down and captured one opponent after another. No man, it was later said, could have stood before him that day.



The rebel army fell into disarray and was routed in just over an hour of fighting. Still disguised as an archer and fleeing with the remnant of his men, Quesada was knocked to the ground by the king, at which point, blubbering and screaming for mercy, he revealed his true identity.



Quesada was taken, along with several highborn rebels, including Rodrigo de Trastàmara, whose renegade crossbows had worked to deadly effect that day.

The Bull's Horns were shattered.



After the confiscation of their lands in the name of the crown, Enrique Quesada and Rodrigo de Trastàmara were led to the town centre of Valladolid, where an angry bull snorted and stomped in a wooden enclosure. The populace crowed and jeered at the sight of the two leading members of the Bull's Horns meeting, in a very literal way, their namesake. Both men died bleeding and begging for mercy in the dust. While most of Castile agreed that this was a most fitting end, it would not endear the de Asturias dynasty to the men's families. For now, however, rebellion at home had been stamped out.

[daigaku]

Hi @Cyprian2,

great story-telling again; and this spanish ending, with the rebel leaders dying in a corrida, is truly the cream on the cake ;-)) let´s have more of it!

One thing I saw: you don´t use some "fast moving" cavallry to "collect" routers. No need for, or not yet in production? Myself, I´m always happy to have something like the IrishHorsemen or LightCavalry at hand for this purpose, some pedestrians being faster on foot when routing than an exhausted RoyalKnight or similar unit. Of course, if you spared Prince Alfonso for just this job, there was no need for something else - I wondered nevertheless.

Please keep us informed about your progress, sure not only me being interested in your campaign!

Thankful greetings, daigaku

[Cyprian2]

Thanks again, friend @daigaku, for your continued support. I'm actually in the process of reworking a few things in the beginning chapters -- hopefully giving the story a better narrative framework. Haven't had much free time lately, but I assure you there's more coming. A lot more.

As for your question about cavalry, yes, I agree that it's best to have some light cav waiting in the wings for chasing down routers. In this particular battle, I was stretched pretty thin, so the brave Prince Alfonso and his (nonexistent) retinue had to do the trick. Spanish horsemen are Spain's answer to the European generic light cav and they are usually my preferred chaser-downer (And let me tell you, they are worth their weight in florins!).

Anyway, keep checking back for more story. You may also find you'll need to re-read some of the earlier chapters...

best,

Cyprian

[daigaku]

Hi @Cyprian2,

about:LightCav

I myself, having played Redux only as (my all-time favourite) Norse, English and Russian, always try to get Ireland (yes, even as Russian!), for the Irish Horsemen and their pedestrian counterpart, Irish Spearmen. Elite, great morale, fast moving - what can one expect better? Both because of their speed great for flanking or surrounding, and great chasers. As Russian, I put them together with those increadible Slavic Horse Archers - those demoralize the enemy with showers of arrows, and then a charge with both units, the SlavHorse wielding swords, the Irish their spears - even Knights break before such an attack. Just had a look - pity those SpanishHorse aren´t equipped with javelins, like in Vanilla - would make them even worse for any foe.

Keep going strong, and wish you great battles,

greetings daigaku