A Lion in the Holy Land - an English campaign AAR

[econ21]

A Lion in the Holy Land – a M2TW English AAR

This AAR is on VH/VH with the leaked unofficial 1.2 patch.

My personal “glory goals” are to meet the official victory conditions, establish a permanent crusader kingdom in the Holy Land and get to America.

The play style will be to avoid rushing the AI: I will not start wars (except crusading ones). I will establish an alliance with Scotland to keep them in play for longer. I will role-play the generals, but not deliberately do dumb things; any defeats will reflect my stupidity rather than theirs. To conserve the lives of my people and soldiers, I will generally try to occupy settlements and often starve them out rather than storm them; I will also often end battles as soon as the chance is offered.

I will try to use balanced armies and avoid exploiting the AI. I will follow a one ship to four passengers houserule.

This AAR is going to be focussed on gameplay rather than story, unless I feel inspired.

All screenshots are in spoiler tags, so that people can comfortably read the thread while the screenshots are still loading.

[econ21]

The reign of William the Conqueror, 1080-1128

Build queues in William’s reign


List of Battles in William’s reign


FA=field battle (attacker)
FD=field battle (defender)
SA=siege assault (attacker)
SD=siege assault (defender)
YA=sally (attacker)
YD=sally (defender)

Casualties are those reported killed + captured in the final column of the post-battle screens.

[econ21]

Part I: Things fall apart.

1080 (Starting balance: 10000 florins.) Prince Rufus stormed York [battle no.1 in table above; henceforth, b1].

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Prince Rufus takes York by advancing his infantry up two streets, then using his escort to attack the enemy archers from rear down a third.

Trade rights and maps were exchanged with France. Robert recruited two mercenary spears and advanced on Rennes.

1082 (6558 florins) Council of nobles gave mission to take Rennes, which Robert began to siege.

1084: (7107 florins) Robert stormed Rennes [b2].

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Although this time, the English have walls to contend with, they employ essentially the same assault tactics at Rennes as they used earlier at York. They assault along two different lines of attack, then - when space is cleared - work their cavalry into the enemy's rear along a third line.

England was rewarded with 4 units of mailed knights: 2 were sent to France; 2 to joined William in marching on Caernarvon.

1086: (7004 florins) Council of nobles gave mission to reinforce Nottingham with 4 units. Relations with France become poor. William and Rufus approach Caernarvon.

1088: (6448 florins) Caernarvon was besieged and could last out for 5 turns. Princess Cecilia established alliance with the HRE, as well as trading maps and trade rights. She had a secret love.

1090 (6033 florins) Cecilia married Augustine of Wellington; Robert felt unappreciated. A second diplomat was hired to replace Cecilia. England observed that the Scots had taken Dublin and had an army embarked off the coast near York.

1092 (6106 florins) Robert married.

1094 (2976 florins) Robert marched on Bruges. Augustine challenged rebels outside Nottingham [b3].

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Although the rebels include longbowmen and English knights, they are swept away by Augustine's army. First, his escort drives off the rebel screen of archers. Then his massed spear militia overpower the enemy infantry and cavalry.

[econ21]

1096 (2810 florins) Council of Nobles gave a mission to send emissary to Milan, which was done this year. Henry came of age. A second merchant was recruited so that a monopoly could be established on the wool trade in Nottingham.

Robert besieged Bruges while Augustine embarked with an army of militia spearmen from Nottingham to reinforce him. The Flemish garrison sallied from Bruges and Robert earned a heroic victory [b4]. The Welsh sallied from Caernarvon, which finally fell when they were repulsed [b5].

Story: Battle report for Bruges, 1096

1096, Bruges Robert, second son of King William and commander of the English forces on the continent, was a young man in a hurry. After the quick conquest of Rennes, the lack of action had left him feeling unappreciated. Some even rumoured there was more to it than that: his disaffection had occurred at the same time his sister Cecilia had acquired a secret lover and tongues wagged that their mutual love was more than merely fraternal. When Cecilia was hastily married off to a undistinguished suitor, Augustine of Wellington, Robert seemed galvanised into action. He himself was married within a year and then gathered a small army to march on rebel held Bruges.

In his impetuosity, Robert had brought only two regiments each of mailed knights, spear militia, and peasant archers. For some reason, he left a strong force of four militia regiments in Rennes, but left only two depleted mercenary spear regiments to hold the strategic castle of Caen. Lacking a spy, Robert had no knowledge of the strength of the Bruges garrison. Consequently, he was somewhat put out when the garrison promptly sallied out to meet him.Against him were two regiments each of mailed knights, Flemish pikemen, armoured sergeants and crossbowmen. Roberts only advantage was his own escort of tough warriors and the fact that his army was deployed whereas the Flemish rebels had to funnel out through the gate. Still, he would have to be sharp and move quickly to prevail.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The forces arrayed at Bruges

“Light fire arrows! Target the knights!” Robert shouted to his archers.

The Flemish knights advanced rapidly on the English position. The regiment of English spear militia on the right flank charged to intercept the enemy cavalry, pinning one regiment.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Flemish army is engaged by English spears on the right, but avoids the schiltron on the left

A large and indecisive melee developed: the English committing one regiment of knights and the Flemish some of their infantry. But on the left flank, the English spears formed schiltron and the rebels were savvy enough to avoid engaging it in strength. Instead, they pursued Robert’s escort which was retiring to avoid contact with an approaching regiment of Flemish pikemen. Robert was forced to about turn and counter-charge the enemy knights, praying he could prevail over them before the pikemen could arrive.

“Target the pikemen! Target the pikemen!” Robert screamed at the archers. Since the Flemish cavalry was now bogged down, the English archers were free to fire into the battle. Their fire arrows did terrible damage on the slow moving and unarmed Flemish phalanxes, often catching them in the flank or rear.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The English cavalry on the flanks evade the Flemish pikemen pursuing them, in the process allowing their archers good shots to the backs of their enemies.

By contrast, the Flemish crossbowmen fell prey to the second regiment of English mailed knights, which was able to reek havoc on the rear of the enemy lines – vainly pursued by Flemish spears and pikes.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The battle in the centre starts to swing in favour of the Flemish. All will depend on the English cavalry acting on the flanks.

Eventually, Robert’s tough warriors prevailed over the Flemish knights and he was able to join the second regiment of English mailed knights in rampaging around the Flemish rear. In that struggle, the mailed knights managed to cut down the enemy general.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The battle swings decisively to England's favour with the death of the enemy general, caught amongst the crossbowmen at the rear of the Flemish lines.

Leaderless, shot in the back by fire arrows, engaged by resilient English militia and subject to opportunistic cavalry charges, the Flemish centre gradually began to dissolve in rout.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Robert had taken a gamble bringing an inferior force to besiege a settlement, but he had won a heroic victory. In retrospect, this battle merely set up England for a fall. Robert’s his army was now out of reach with the strategic castle at Caen, guarded by only two depleted regiments of mercenary spearmen. And the heroic victory encouraged further recklessness amongst the English that was to lead to disaster.

[econ21]

1098 (5448 florins) Council of Nobles offers mission to take Antwerp. England is the largest faction.

1100 (? Florins) France attacked Caen, declaring war.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A large rebel army is spotted outside Nottingham. Robert pressed on to Antwerp, which would take six turns to fall. Henry took the London levy to Caen, where he fought a fateful battle [b6]

Story: The death of Henry, 1100

“Damn it! The French have humbugged us, by God!”

Henry sat in the palace of Westminster, staring at the communique from Caen. The French had declared war on England, marching a small army of four regiments of cavalry against the strategic English castle of Caen. Already the castle was under siege. Robert, marching on Antwerp, was too far away to return. King William and Prince Rufus were only just returning to Nottingham from taking Caernarvon. Augustine was in Bruges, but had no troops to speak of. What to do? The weight of expectations from his dreaded father bore down on young Henry. He had to act decisively.

“Muster the London levy. Have them board the fleet at Dover. Yes, damn it, all of them! Write to Nottingham and request that they send troops here to takeover garrison duties. Write also to the garrison at Rennes and order them to meet us at Caen. We cannot let the castle fall.”

With that, the Palace fell into a flurry of activity; no one thinking to ask precisely why they need to hurry to relieve Caen when its mighty walls were quite impervious to the French cavalry besieging it.

Henry reached France in good time, but the levy were slow moving and it was clear they would not be able to reach the besieged castle before the French had built siege equipment. Henry decided to ride on, recruiting a regiment of mercenary crossbowmen, and challenge the French besiegers. With the Rennes garrison also on the outskirts of Caen, Henry expected to be joined by there three regiments of spears plus the two in the Caen garrison. However, he miscalculated. Instead of ordering the garrison to sally, which might have given both his men and the Rennes garrison time to reinforce them, he started the attack himself. Consequently, while the Caen garrison would be able to reinforce him, the Rennes garrison was too far away.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The English have rushed forces to Caen and have four (small) stacks in the area. Fatally, however, only two are able to participate in Henry's attack.

Realising his error, Henry felt a frisson of foreboding as he deployed his lonely regiment of crossbows in front of his escort.

“Sire, should we not deploy further to the rear, so that the Caen garrison has more time to join us?” the mercenary captain asked politely. Henry briefly considered that, but was fatally vague about where the reinforcements would enter and dismissed it. When dawn broke, Henry was horrified to see four strong regiments of cavalry within charging distance of his thin line.

Henry sent an urgent message to the Caen garrison to join him, but then resignedly marched his escort forward to face the French cavalry. The French advanced at a walk, three abreast with one regiment in reserve. They moved slowly, but the divide between the two lines was so slow, they would soon be on top of the English.

Damn it, thought Henry: “Crossbowmen – target the mailed knights. Escort – forward, charge!”

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Today is a good day to die, as Henry might have said. But didn't.

The mercenary captain watched in awe as the three dozen English knights charge eight times their number. Fortunately, the French ignored the crossbowmen, engulfing Henry’s escort in mass of cavalry. This allowed the mercenaries to fire into the backs of the French knights, taking a heavy toll on their numbers. But slowly, inevitable, remorsely, Henry’s knights were cut down. Soon – far too soon for the spears of the Caen garrison to intervene – all that was left of the English was Henry himself, a young man in the midst of around two hundred enemy horse.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A brave man, making a good end. The idiot.

The sadness of the mercenary captain at watching the young man fall was shortlived – now it was to be his turn, as the massed French horse could finally turn their attention to the men who had been shooting them in the back for the last few minutes.

The mercenary captain looked at the two regiments of the Caen garrison approaching. They would not be here in time:

“Men, stand firm! Don’t run – those are not hobby horses they are riding!” he shouted.

The French spurred their horses at the crossbowmen, who fought gamely for a minute or two but the outcome was never in doubt.

When the tired Caen garrison arrived, there was no sign of the English relief force, except for the dead and dying on the field. The French cavalry charged, but the garrison formed schiltron and beat off their attackers. The French retired to a nearby wood, blocking the return of the garrison to Caen. The garrison commander cursed – it would not be enough to beat off the French, he needed to defeat them to emerge victorious.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The mercenary spearmen can hold off the French cavalry, but to get back to Caen holding them off is not enough.

Reluctantly, he marched his men into the woods after the French but when they approached the enemy horse and were charged, his men’s morale broke. The garrison were wiped out and Caen was left, still under French siege, without a single English defender.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Tired and unnerved by the presence of the enemy horse in the woods, the mercenary spears are quickly routed when they try to engage the French defenders.

[econ21]

1102 (3317 florins) The French took Caen; a half stack French army appeared to the south. Augustine besieged Caen with the London levy and two companies of mercenary crossbows. The Rennes garrison tried to link up with Augustine, but failed. Augustine was attacked[b7].

Story: The fall of Caen, 1102

News of Henry’s death quickly received Augustine, at Bruges. Like his brother-in-law, Augustine felt impelled to act decisively. He joined the London levy and laid siege to Caen from the west, summoning the three regiments from the Rennes garrison, encamped on the west of the castle, to join his force. Unfortunately, he did not anticipate the difficulty of manoeuvring around an enemy held castle and watched in frustration as the Rennes contingent took a large detour south and was unable to reach him before a strong French army arrived to relieve the horsemen, victors over Henry, now inside the castle of Caen.

Augustine was nervous – he was outnumbered, but he had a much more substantial force than Henry and the benefit of a decent hilltop defensive position. He arranged his three regiments of spears in line, with two regiments of mercenary crossbowmen in front, and positioned himself and a unit of town militia in reserve.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The French advance with a strong compact force.

The main French army approached – a balanced force of archers, sergeant spearmen and mounted sergeants. The English crossbows made little impression on the French – they first targeted the French archers who went into loose formation. By the time they targeted the French horse, it was too late and the French cavalry were already charging the crossbowmen. Augustine’s inexperience told: he had assumed the crossbows could automatically withdraw behind the spears in time. However, whether it was the loose formation they had adopted or some other failing, the crossbowmen were caught by the French cavalry and severely handled.

Augustine organised the left part of his line in schiltron and counter-charged with his right. But both results were disappointing. The French did not appear to engage the schiltrons whole-heartedly, perhaps preferring to allow their archers to pepper them with arrows. The counter-charge on the right got bogged down, with the superior French spearmen frustrating both Augustine’s own escort and the manoeuvre element of his infantry.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The English schiltrons on the left start to get worn down, while Augustine's attempt to flank on the right fails to make an impression.

Slowly, the morale of his infantry gave way. Augustine’s only just realised the imperative to flee the battle, barely managing to get away from the battlefield ahead of the hard-riding French mounted sergeants.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The battle ends while the French cavalry are in hot pursuit of Augustine. He escapes battle worn, but in tact. Had the battle lasted a few seconds longer, he would not have been so lucky.

Augustine fell back to the east, towards Rennes – further disheartened to here that the Rennes contingent of spearmen to the south of Caen had been attacked by the same army that had defeated him. Fortunately, the spearmen had been able to withdraw from the battle – but they had headed west and now were nearer to Bruges than Augustine’s own position outside of Rennes.

Back in the England, King William howled in frustration and anger at the news from the continent. He had lost his youngest son, Henry, and with him, a line of his family tree was forever closed. He had lost Caen, a fertile castle whose lands he had assiduously nurtured over the years in the hope of attracting sufficient population to develop a fortress. His armies were weak and divided. William had the core of an army outside Nottingham, but already had spotted a large army of rebels mustering there. Across the channel, Robert was tied down besieging Antwerp. A French move on Bruges would compel Robert to abandon the siege, wasting the precious time invested in it so far. Augustine had only the remnants of a force outside Rennes.

To add to Williams’ woes, the Pope – his supposed ally – had ordered him to stop attacking the French and instead organise an army to crusade on Antioch. An army to crusade on Antioch? Where did the Pope think he could the men? Did he think he could manufacture them?!