ES Vol. V|Iss. XI: Pro Deo et Rege, End of Days II, AAR

**therussian** · August 26, 2007, 05:46 PM

The Eagle Standard

Editor's Welcome
"This is the end"......no I won't do that again, it kind of loses its charm after the first time. But, I will say that this is the last issue of our fifth volume. It has had its ups and downs, the down due to my extended absence, but I'll say that I'm proud of Volume V. It's proved to me, and hopefully everybody that the ES is ready for business and won't sink again, like its past incarnations. Volume IV was just a test, but Volume V is where we pulled through. Thanks to all our writers: Hex Khan, selenius, Sir Dinadan, Leonidas the Lion and.......wow, is that really all of our writers? Hm.... Well, anyway, thanks to all of them for their great work.

Before I get too sentimental, I'll kick off our final issue of volume V. This issue includes interviews with "Pro Deo et Rege", "End of Days II", and the final part to my "Para Dios y el Rey" MTW AAR.

selenius4tsd interviewing [user]socal_infidel[/user], leader of Pro Deo et Rege for Medieval 2

Im speaking with socal_infidel who has been creating a devilishly evil piece of work called Pro Deo et Rege! I apologise in advance for any psychiatric/physical damages I have caused to him in the process of this interview - it seems that I have self-consciously shifted the aim from Hex towards my interviewees...

Tell us about yourself - the scarier, the better!
I'm an attorney working in New York City. Originally from Southern California (Socal), but I'm liking it here on the East Coast. Medieval II is my first foray into the Total War series and this is the first game I've ever modded.

When was the last time you got into a fight?
Ha! It's been awhile. Sixth-grade maybe. My best friend was getting on my nerves so I slugged him.

Were you in the right?
Oh most definitely.

Have you ever been mad?
Haven't we all? We're only human.

Why did you decide to create a mod?
I'm a bit of a realism-freak and at the time I began my mod, none of the other mods out there were quite doing it for me. Tornnight's The Long Road came closest. But I was playing the game on a laptop at the time and it couldn't handle the Big Map very well.

So I got to fiddling around with the files trying to tailor it to what I wanted. I think the first thing I did (besides unlocking all factions) was to take Pamplona away from Portugal. Couldn't stand that they started out with it. Like I said, a bit of historical freak.

Things just kind of grew from there. And my personal mod became one that I eventually released for all to play.

How do you mod? Do you mod naked for example, or dress up in armour?
It's hot here in New York, so that wouldn't be a bad idea! But no, I mod clothed - no armor either. To be honest, I usually enjoy a pint or two while I mod!

What is Pro Deo about?
Pro Deo et Rege is an attempt to provide a slower, more challenging and realistic campaign. It's geared for those who want a tougher time establishing and maintaining a medieval empire.

For example, the Byzantines start out huge in Pro Deo et Rege - with all the provinces comprising their empire at 1080 A.D. They also get a fully developed Constantinople and access to all their best units from the get-go. But they have to contend with administering such a far-flung empire. Money is tight.

They can only recruit their "core" units from their Greek provinces. In the outer reaches of their empire, they have to rely on local levies (who may not always be the toughest in a fight). For example, Cuman Tribesemen and Cuman Foot Archers, Balkan Archers and Slave Levies and Turkopoles and Turkish Tribesmen. It's a tough-go for them.

What do you think is the best feature of PDeR?
Definitely my Regional Area of Recruitment (AOR) System. This is a core feature of my mod actually. Basically, once you take a province outside your "home" region you have to build the infrastructure up there before you can start recruiting your own units.

I'll give you an example using my favorite faction, the Sicilians. Say they conquer Tunis from the Moors. Once they get there, they're going to find the existing military buildings useless. Their best bet is to tear them down to fund their own infrastructure development.

They need to build an Auxiliary Hall which serves to introduce their culture to the new area - get folks used to life under a new regime. Once they build that, they can then build an Auxiliary Levy Barracks which gives them access to Regional Levies - in this case, Berber Spearmen. They can also build an Auxiliary Bowyer or Auxiliary Stables, at this point if they desire. These will give them access to Desert Archers and Desert Cavalry and other regional units.

Finally, after building a Town Hall, they can start building their own military buildings, which will give them access to their own roster of units.

What this does is diversifies troop rosters and slow down expansion. So after spending the time building up their new regions, the Sicilians could march an army against the Byzantines with an army comprised of Norman Knights and Desert Cavalry. Or Berber Spearmen and Armored Sergeants fighting side-by-side. Makes for quite interesting armies!

Jinetes fighting for England! Italian Spear Militia fighting for the Turks! Russian Highland Archers!

Any plans for the future in terms of releases? Expansions, etc.?
Oh yes, definitely! I'll probably release one more update prior to the Kingdoms Expansion, and then it's full steam ahead with Pro Deo et Rege 1.0! I'm hoping the expansion gives us modders more tools to work with.

So expect to see all-new factions and even more new units with Pro Deo et Rege 1.00 for the expansion!

Any sneak previews...?
I'll share some screens of what Pro Deo et Rege offers so far! The next version is still being worked on (hush-hush!

).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Oh yeah, one more thing! If I had to sum up this mod or give it a slogan? PRO DEO ET REGE! FOR GOD AND KING!

Oi! That was my question!

Thanks again socal_infidel!
-------------------------

Don't forget to check out "Pro Deo et Rege"'s forum, here at TWC!

selenius4tsd interviewing [user]Halie Satanus[/user] and [user]makanyane[/user] about End of Days II, a mod for RTW:BI

"Oh crickey, not that mod again, made by that same pair, Halie and mak!" Today Im talking to them about their sequel to End of Days, and be assured that the sparks fly when you get three lactos-intolerant people in the same conversation...

So why make another End of Days?

Well after EOD I' I had a gap in my diary, all the jet setting and parties at playboy mansion ect just weren't satisfying my creative side, besides I had to save Mak from being roped into any historical "reality mods". Seriously, well Eod I was an alternative history mod, the myths of a Satanic army nation rising in the east and taking over the world do exist, I just wanted to make it as though it was a secret history lost in the vaults of clandestine religious doings, and such. EOD II; Lycan Rising, is totally fantastical, so Lycans vs Vampyres vs Mystical humans, ZOMBIE'S, nutty Druids and great big Ogres just seemed like a fun thing to do. EOD II is a totally separate entity, the only thing the same is myself and Mak.

I'd wanted to talk Halie into doing EOD I for M2TW, but didn't get anywhere with that (see below), instead he started coming up with these lovely new werewolf units, and the poor things were just crying out for a new home....

For the isolated Amazon rainforest tribesman who's just discovered Total War, what is End of Days about?

It's based on a prophesy!, which is always a good way of saying 'made up'.... I did a stint as a skinner for a historical mod when I first started modding (Bulgar might remember) It was an interesting experience which taught me one thing, I really can't be fussed with historical accuracy, I remember a thread long ago on whether Carthaginian armies had Phalanx troops, my view was who cares! could they beat a unit of Vampyre head hunters, (not if the Vamps have two hit points)..So to answer the question, It's about something else, something a bit different from Romans and Gaul's.

Answer is well explained above - but although End of Days doesn't go for historical accuracy, it does keep true to its own internal theme and I think creates a believable world to battle for. Fans get quite into the good fighting evil theme, and some of them even fight on the side of good guys!

What new features and components do you guys plan to introduce into II?

Well Mak can answer the more 'tech' aspects of what's going in. For my part, I'm trying to perfect how to make a mod by putting in as much as possible while only changing what is absolutely necessary, I think to many mods try to change every little detail and make every element unique, I don't think I'll live that long and being naturally lazy as I am, I only want to do what I have to. But don't take that as a sign of a lack of quality, EOD I has quality coming out it's ears, as anyone who's played it will tell you. EOD II is going to be even better because we have more experience.

As with End of Days, Lycan Rising will have all new units, strat map models, unit cards and interface graphics courtesy of Halie. The main addition this time will be an all new fantasy map, instead of being based on the normal RTW European theatre of war, this one is entirely invented. And as suited to something coming from Halie's imagination it will have certain darker and more troubling areas!

On the technical side there is more being done this time about changing the lighting and climates for the battlemaps, and to do with changing unit sounds, as vII has some distinctly non-human units.

How is the workload shared - is there anyone else on the team? And what is done between just you two?

Well, Mak does all the complicated stuff (coding), most of which is hidden away in the files, but the proof of the pudding in regards to her skillz is that EOD I only needed one patch and the fixes in that were tiny. For II Mak made the map from scratch and it is quite a fantastic map. Me!, meh, I do all the fluffy stuff, graphics and the like. No, no one else, just us.

Yeah, tis just us, the combination probably works quite well as I've not even managed to successfully view a unit in a 3D graphics program yet (and suck at Photoshop), but am slightly more patient than Halie with text editing files.

Anything in the pipeline regarding a M2 version? Or any expansions you will release after this?

Nope, I'm spending time with my nipper who's just turned 1 after this, so while I'll still be around I'm not going to make anything substantial, The only idea I have for another mod would be based on ancient Irish mythology and the 'Slaine' stories, but I can't run MTW2 on my comp and I'm not going to make another mod for BI'. I could be cajoled into working on someone else's mod though, never say never.

Bearing in mind Halie said there wouldn't be an EoDII, you never can tell! If not I'll probably end up modding M2 with my other half who's doing a British mod (assuming he hasn't finished by then). I've also found out some more technical stuff working on EoDII so I might go back and tweak EoDI as well, if the boss doesn't mind.

So... when was the last time you got into a fight?

Probably when I was at school ( a long time ago), I don't need to be violent I'm intimidating as is.
I only hit inanimate objects - unfortunately that tends to mean they win!

And were you in the right?

Right is a point of view, In mine I'm always right..
He can't be right - I'm the one that's always right....

Is there such a thing as the dark side of the moon?

If Patrick Moore says there is, there is.
"There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark". (from a quote that is actually in Lycan Rising!)

Do you feel crazy sometimes?

Wibble.
Sometimes !?

How many s's in "She sells sea shells on the sea shore"?

Don't care.
Please don't ask complicated questions when I'm trying to mod.

Sorry bout that one...
With all this work that you guys have on your plates, do you have time to play any other games outside the Total War series?

Nope, I barely have time to play my own mods, I've put some time into "FATW" and I really want "Assassins Creed" to be as good as the advertising, I'll probably get into that when it's out.
Nobody told me there were other games...! Seriously I am rather hooked on the Total War series, I would like to get time to play some of the other mods, LotR when it comes out, Arthurian which I enjoyed playing but haven't had a chance to play the new version of, and of course M2TW itself.

And last of all, is there anything you'd like to show off?

I've just finished composing the music for EOD II so maybe I'll showcase something from that when I have time. (which means I haven't had time to do anything else)...But there is plenty to see in the forums...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Also check out some of our links below:
EnD oF DayS II Lycan Rising.
Lycan Rising on the Wiki.
End of Days I; Released.

Fantastic stuff! Thanks again to Halie and mak for the interview!

After Action Report

Presents:

Para Dios y el Rey
by Bulgaroctonus

Part III (Parts I and II can be found HERE and HERE)

Note: This 3rd and final part to the AAR is kind of long, since I wanted to get it all finished before the end of the volume. Enjoy!

And so, in the year 1290 Don Diego de Olivares invaded French controlled Aragon, and war was declared between the two countries. Instead of attacking the French army there, Diego de Olivares decided to pull back to Castile. The following year was full of French invasions of Iberia, and many were uncontested (except for Granada, where the French won on sheer manpower alone: though outnumbering the Spanish by 3, French casualties were 3 times greater than Spanish casualties).

One of the largest and most important battles of these invasions took place in Cordoba. Hoping to stop the momentum of the French attack, Lord Velazquez de Toledo with an army numbering 6,000 men met in battle with a French army of 9,000 men. The battle was split into two sections, the western fight and the southern fight, and the latter was extremely bloody and grueling. The left flank of the Castilian army, which took part in the western fight, achieved victory over their French counterparts in an hour or so, but the right flank (fighting in the southern sector of the battle) was crumbling, despite all of the efforts by Lord Valazquez de Leon to rally his troops. Defeat was inevitable, until reinforcements from the left flank, tired but eager to fight, unexpectedly ploughed into the preoccupied French troops.

Unfortunately for the French army, their general was caught in the ensuing melee caused by the reinforcements and was cut down. News of his death spread quickly across the line, and the French made a quick and unorganised retreat, many dying or becoming prisoners. It was a close victory, too close, for Lord Valazquez. More than 3,000 laid dead or dying on the field. But it was also a sign to the French that Iberia would not go uncontested, and even though Granada, Leon, and Valencia were under French control, the Kingdom of Castile-Leon would regain what was theirs by divine providence.

The following year brought great hope to the people of Castile-Leon: Granada and Leon were both liberated. In 1294, King Filipe took a bold and daring move and invaded French-held Portucale, taking control of it after a year long siege. The same year that Portucale came under Castilian control, the Pope decided to excommunicate the French Kingdom for its prolonged wars with its Catholic neighbours, Castile included. This excommunication came as a serious blow to the French war effort, and the tide was beginning to turn. The year 1297 brought an even greater surprise with the death of the French king, Louis VII. The death of the king sent a shockwave throughout the French domain, and immediately there was quarrelling for the throne among the royal family. This quarreling led to a massive civil war, which in turn caused the French Kingdom to fall apart completely: its possessions in England and southern France were lost to rebel factions. Seeing the opportunity at hand, the Republic of Venice pounced on northern Iberia, particularly the former French provinces of Aragon and Navarre. King Filipe I, likewise, invaded French Murcia, and captured the new French monarch, King Louis VIII, and ransomed him back to Paris for a hefty sum.

But alas, King Felipe’s reign of more than 30 years came to an end in the year 1305, when he was struck ill and died. He was succeeded by his son, who became King Sancho IV. King Sancho’s first act as king was to procure an alliance with the Kingdom of France, who had just recently recovered from its crippling civil war and regained its land. The 1310s were an era of peace in Iberia, as there was a major war raging in the north, on the coasts of the North Sea. This kept France preoccupied, and gave Sancho the time and space to rebuild his army and navy, which had been almost wiped out during the last Castilian-French war.

In the year 1322, King Sancho was done with his re-militaristaion, and wanted to try out his new army before he sent it to war with the French. So he declared war on his Venetian neighbours, and marched an army of 7,500 men under the command of Lord Mendez de Toledo into Navarre, where he met Doge Jacopo I in battle.

The battle took place in a valley, and Jacopo I took great advantage of the mountainous terrain. The Castilian army advanced up the mountainside under a murderous barrage of missiles to get to the Venetian army, and the battle was met in a wooded area at the base of the mountain. The fighting was heavy, and the Castilians were slowly being pushed back down the mountain by the outnumbered Venetians.

Seeing how tough the fighting was, Lord Mendez decided to pull back from the woods and retreat to the other side of the valley, where he would meet the attacking the Venetians. The strategy paid off, and Lord Mendez was able to effectively utilise his cavalry (or what was left of it) and secure victory for Castile by killing the Venetian Doge. The battle had been horribly bloody. More than 4,500 Spaniards and 2,500 Venetians lost their lives in that valley, but the war was not yet over. Unable to hold Navarre with his depleted force, Mendez instead joined Don Arias Claris in conquering Aragon, which fell without bloodshed.

After the fall of Aragon, Don Claris decided to move his army back to Castile to protect it from Venetian attacks from Navarre; he arrived with his 9,000 man army just in time to protect Toledo from a gigantic Venetian force numbering almost 14,000 under the command of Lord Paganelli. It was the second time in the course of more than 100 years that Toledo came under threat of attack.

Don Claris set his army up across the main road for Toledo from the north, and it was not too long until the Venetian army came into view. Bracing himself for the upcoming battle, he addressed his troops of the importance of victory:

Men, we come from all Iberia: Castile, Leon, Valencia, Portugal, even you bastards out there from Cordoba and Granada (hearty laugh). We may be from different parts of this great peninsula, but we are all Iberians, we are all Spaniards. And this city, Toledo is OUR capital. And as Spanish soldiers, no, Spanish people, we have the obligation to protect it from any invader. My great-great grandfather fought for this same cause more than 100 years ago against the Moors, when they threatened our fair city. Their fight is our fight, their cause, ours. So let us take up the sword, the spear, the bow, and the shield, and let us meet those Venetians with the battle cry that was yelled more than a century ago on these very plains of our fair peninsula: FOR GOD AND THE KING! PARA DIOS Y EL REY!!!!!

Yelling and screaming their battle cry, the fierce Spanish warriors rushed headlong into the Venetian ranks as Castilian archers shot volley after volley of deadly arrows from the sky.

The ferocity of the Spanish attack stunned the Venetians. They fell like flies under the steel Toledo blades of the bloodthirsty Castilian soldiers. While the infantry were preoccupied in fighting, Don Claris sent the body of his cavalry around the flanks of the main battle line, and they slammed into the backs of the unexpecting Venetians. In the chaos that ensued, Lord Paganelli was cut down by the cavalry onslaught. The disorderly ranks of the Venetians began to fall apart. With their general dead, they no longer had any hope of victory, and hastily retreated. The stragglers were taken prisoner (or killed) by the pursuing Spanish cavalry.

This astounding victory not far from Toledo would be the decisive battle during the Spanish-Venetian War. The Venetians lost almost 7,000 men that day on the sunny plains of Castile. This blow astounded Doge Enrico III, and rendered him helpless for 6 years, and then he personally led an invasion, this time of Navarre, where he was killed in battle, and the Venetian Republic was totally and utterly defeated. The deaths of two Doges in the span of 20 years were too much, and the Republic fell to pieces.

With the defeat of the Venetians, King Sancho IV and the people of Iberia could live in peace once again. However, the spectre of France still loomed over the Iberian Peninsula. To ensure victory over France in any wars to come in the future, King Sancho commenced the casting of cannons in 1345, and in the following year the first cannons in Iberian history were cast.

But the militarisation of Castile did not last long, and in 1346 the Black Death struck Iberia, killing many of its residents, including King Sancho IV. Amidst such hard times, his son Filipe took the throne, and not long after he found a scapegoat for the Plague: the Jews. The Jews had long been residents of Iberia, living peacefully with both their Muslim and Christian masters. But a scapegoat was needed, and what a better scapegoat than the Jews? King Filipe II formally condemned the Jews as the causes of the Plague, and what ensued was chaos: amidst the disease and death of hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of Iberians, the Jews were being killed too: not by disease, but by cold steel. Pogroms raged throughout the Castilian-Leonese Kingdom, and died down only the following year, when order was restored by royal troops.

It was a dark time, and just as soon as the plague passed, King Filipe wanted to get that period of his reign behind him. He had greater things to do: plan a war with France. He waited until 1361 to formally cut allied ties with the Kingdom of France, and in turn allied with her enemies: Poland and Kiev. Relations began to cool between the two powers, and war was looming. It did not happen, however, until 1370, nine years later. The previous year, in 1369, the King of France, Louis IX died, and the time to invade France as perfect. So, in 1370, two armies under the commands of King Filipe II and his son Prince Alfonso invaded French held Aquitaine and Toulouse (respectively). The French troops stationed there, completely taken by surprise, retreated from the provinces and both were taken without force. In the meantime, Lord de Vivar invaded the last French stronghold in Iberia: Algarve, but was repulsed and killed after heavy fighting, leaving more than 3,000 Spaniards dead.

Further action did not take place until 1374, when King Filipe took Provence, and Prince Alfonso invaded Anjou, and taking the provincial capital of Angers only after a 2 year siege. But King Filipe was getting old, and in 1379 he died from exhaustion, and his song Alfonso became King Alfonso X. Shortly after his ascension to the throne, Algarve was taken, finally unifying Iberia once and for all. The Reconquista was completed, but war in France was not yet over.

The following years were full of conquests: in 1383 Ile de France was taken, in 1389 Milan was conquered (after a crippling French civil war), and in 1392 Flanders was taken without a fight, and Lorraine and Champagne were invaded. Only in 1393 were the French able to counterattack, and this time in Lorraine. The ferocity of the French attack surprised the Spanish troops, but victory was won at the price of 2,500 Spaniards.

This defeat broke both the backs and the spirits of the French army. In 1394 Tuscany was invaded with help from the Holy Roman Empire, and the French King Jean I was captured and ransomed for a hefty price. In 1395 Anjou was lost, but regained shortly after; in 1396 Tuscany was evacuated because there was no need for a province that would cause troubles with the Pope. In 1399 a French attack on Flanders was defeated; in 1401 Normandy was taken, and after a brief, one-sided battle in Brittany, it was taken also. The following year saw the conquest of Friesland. At this point, the Spanish war machine was unstoppable, and all of the French lands in Western Europe were almost gone (France still had a large amount of land in Northern Europe and northern Russia).

In 1407 a surprise attack from allied Poland gained Spain another enemy, albeit a weak one that could be easily defeated. And this was the thought of King Alfonso X when he marched into Polish-held Burgundy in 1409 with an army of 5,500 men. The two forces met along a river, with the Polish army blocking a key bridge that lead into the heart of Burgundy. King Alfonso made it his mission to take the bridge and rout the Poles at any cost.

The Poles put up a spirited defense, but the were no match for the battle hardened troops of Castile, and the battle did not go on for long

Seeing the destruction of their army, the Poles hastily sent a ceasefire request to King Alfonso, and he eagerly accepted. He had better things to deal with, because the following year Milan was invaded by the Holy Roman Empire. Despite being outnumbered 2 to 1, King Alfonso put up an excellent defensive battle, but the sheer number of German troops led to his ultimate defeat, losing about 95% of his army.

Hiding behind the walls of Milan, Alfonso quickly sent a message for relief from any Spanish army near Milan, and the following year it was relieved. Alfonso X stayed in Milan, already weary from battling for so long in his old age. He stayed there until 1421, when he died, and was succeeded by King Enrique I. The first years of King Enrique’s reign saw the conquest of Savoy and Swabia, as well as the conquest of Switzerland, where many of the Holy Roman elite were captured and killed. It also saw a final and lasting peace between Spain and France, and concluded the long series of Franco-Spanish wars that were spread of a span of more than 130 years. King Enrique’s reign was not long, and not very eventful, but he died in 1437, and was succeeded by King Alfonso XI. In 1440, tired of fighting and aware that victory was impossible, the Holy Romans declared a ceasefire with the Spanish, and an alliance was proclaimed between the two.

Peace at last. And not only peace, but a lasting peace. Peace for the ages. As war raged on in Eastern Europe, Western Europe was at peace. The Kingdom of Spain ranged from the Strait of Gibraltar to the North Sea, encompassing all land in between. In 250 years, the Kingdom of Castile, who’s only domain was the actual province of Castile, went on to incorporate all of Iberia and all of France into its domain.

This is where our history ends. Para Dios y el Rey!

Picture of the Week

Well, due the absence of the Eagle Standard last week, we have two PotWs to show you. The winner of Picture of the Week 71 was [user=Argent Usher]Argent Usher[/user], with his screen entitled "STRIKE - Bowling for Palpatine"

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

A nice, humourous screen for once! I like that.

And the winner of Picture of the Week 72 is none other than POTW vet, [user=Hattori]Hattori[/user], with his untitled screenshot (though props to Argent Usher again, his submission for POTW 72 was awesome........but not TOS friendly, I think)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

OW. That's gotta hurt

Anyway, that's our wrap up of the PotW! Though PotW 72 is still going on, I think it's safe to say that Hattori won

It's been great. See ya later (probably in a week, for a special "emergency" issue on the latest news on the new Total War game, "Empire Total War"

**The Walrus** · August 26, 2007, 06:17 PM

Rofl good PotW and interviews

I'll see all our fans(* can count them on one hand) next volume hopefully

**zznɟ ǝɥʇ** · August 26, 2007, 07:03 PM

Great issue guys, read every word.

Keep up the good work!

**Omar Nelson B.** · August 26, 2007, 07:18 PM

I sat down and read that whole AAR. I must say that I really enjoy people's writing and the family line stories. Nice job and thanks for the good read!
Second- wonderful interviews. Im currently playing Pder so it was nice to read.
Thank you once again for a good couple of hours reading.

ONB