The Iberian Empire
Faction: Spain
Difficulty :Hard/Very Hard
Unit Scale: Huge
(This is my first AAR, and only my third M2TW campaign; though I've played RTW for years, I've only had this game for literally a week! Due to my total inexperience with the faction, game, along with the difficulty setting and huge scale which makes sieges very hard, I expect this campaign to be really challenging. I plan to go into great detail in my battles and such with tons of pictures; I hope you enjoy!)
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The history of the Iberian peninsula is a sorry one; it is marked by centuries of division and subjugation from outside forces. The Carthaginians and Romans carved into it and conquered it, and the fall of them only precipitated more invaders, first from the north, then from as far east as the Byzantines. Now the Moors from the South are participating in the long tradition of invading Spain, and even in the midst of this great outside threat Spain is divided between lords.
All of these feudal lords have the same dream of uniting Spain, and driving out the Moors, finally establishing a glorious kingdom that encompasses the entire peninsula...and perhaps more.
No man seems more likely to fulfill this dream than the king of Castile, who has already united several kingdoms under him now. Controlling most of northern Spain, he is in a favourable position for expansion, but he still has many barriers between him and total domination of Spain.
He is King Alfonso, a man in the middle of his life. Though with limited experience he already shows himself to be a promising general; ambitious and eager, he is determined to expand his territory even farther.
Prince Rodrigo, his younger son, shows similar promise. He is a slender and sickly looking man, but surprisingly intelligent and capable, if not necessarily the image of chivalry.
The elder son of King Alfonso is a young man named Vaasco, a loyal soldier and general under Alfonso. Though not an intellectual, he has already proven himself worthy to lead the army.
King Alfonso, though his army and his funds were meager after his most recent annexations, had no plans of halting his operations for recovery; he planned an immediate strike on the feudal lords of eastern Spain. They were local and served no greater kingdom but themselves, and thus he saw them as the most vulnerable, incapable of recieving outside help, and free to be attacked without offending the pope.
Quickly, he gathered his bodyguards and a few hundred men from the castle at Toledo to join with Vaasco's army. Without delay, they set off for the castle at Valencia.