[DLV / DLV+BB AAR] Baltijos Imperija - A Lithuanian AAR

[Atli]

This is my first AAR and English is not meine Muttersprache , so do not expect too much and please do not be too harsh with your criticism.
This AAR won't be the usual chronicle with literary ambitions you are probably used to read. I didn’t take all the screenshots while I was playing, but tried to save almost every turn so I could reload and take the pictures afterward. Some battles will have to be replayed, only for the screenshots. You’ll see that the “fog of war” it’s toggled off in most of the screenshots, but I play with it toggled on, of course.

Game + Mod: Medieval 2:TW Gold Edition, German version, patch 1.05 + Deus Lo Vult 6.2

Faction: Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė (Grand Duchy of Lithuania)

Settings
Campaign Difficulty: Very Hard
Battle Difficulty: Normal
Unit Size: Huge

House Rules
Not many, actually, appart from accepting whatever happens without reloading, etc. (and no console cheats, of course).
I won't attack armies that are standing next to a city with a small garrison: this forces the garrison to join the battle and, if it is small, chances are high that you can wipe them out -all of them- and avoid the garrison script.
I’ll try to play honourably, cities will be usually occupied (not sacked) unless they are too far away from my homelands and the general has dread points.
Allies will not be attacked, and I will not break alliances through diplomats either. Ideally, I will attack neutral factions only if they are at war with an ally or allied to an enemy.

[Atli]

Historical background
By the 12th century, the peoples inhabiting the lands now known as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formed a pagan wedge between increasingly powerful Christian states – Orthodox to their east and Roman Catholic to their west. The Wendish Crusade of 1147 against the Polabian Slavs set a precedent for later attacks on Baltic pagan peoples by the Christian kingdoms of Scandinavia and the Holy Roman Empire. The Poles also strove to impose their influence in the area. In 1171 Pope Alexander III declared all wars against the pagans of the north equal to the crusades to the Holy Land. The Lithuanians, one of the pagan Baltic tribes, had already begun the process of unifying themselves and around 1180 they founded the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

STARTING SITUATION: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1180

Lithuania starts with two provinces: the region around Vilnius, homeland of the Lithuanians, and the land of the Latgalians.

Settlements: Vilnius (city) and Jersika (castle)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania borders to the north-west with the independent tribes of the Samogitians (Lowland Lithuanians) and the Livonians. Beyond Latgalia, to the north-east, are the Novgorodian lands. To the east and south east are the Principality of Polotsk and other independent East Slavic peoples. To the south-west, Lithuania borders with the Kingdom of Poland, and to the west with Prussia, once a pagan land, now occupied by the Teutonic Order.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and its neighbours in 1180

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Family members
Grand Duke Algimantas (Faction Leader), 47 years old, in Vilnius
Duke Gytautas (Faction Heir) son of Algimantas, 27 years old
Jaunutis, second son of Algimantas, 22 years old, in Jersika
Princess Gabija, daughter of Algimantas, 18 years old

The family tree in 1180

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Agents
Princess Gabija
Kastytis, a diplomat
Skolmantas, a spy

[Atli]

INTRODUCTION

Read this first:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The game starts in the summer of 1180 and the Teutonic Knights have already two provinces in the Baltic region: Thorn (Marienburg) and Prussia (Königsberg). To be coherent with these historically inaccurate starting positions -in reality the Order wasn't present in that region until 1226, their campaign against the Balts began in 1230, the conquest of Prussia took several decades and Königsberg was founded in 1255-, I will assume that the Prussian Crusade started much earlier than it actually did. For this reason, I’ve mentioned in this AAR many events that in reality took place at a different time or not at all. The same applies for many characters, especially the Baltic rulers.

Little is known of the Baltic tribes during the first millenium of the Christian era. While the rest of Europe saw the rise of the medieval kingdoms and gradually converted to Christianity, the Baltic peoples, partially isolated by numerous lakes, streams, swamps and dense forests, kept their pagan faith and remained divided in many tribes ruled by local noblemen, sometimes forming sporadic alliances against common enemies, but often conflicting with each other. The coastal regions suffered attacks by Scandinavian raiders, and the eastern tribes were under constant pressure from the Slavic nations. At the beginning of the 12th century the pagan Baltic nations were surrounded by powerful Christian states. The tribes from Aukštaitija, the Lithuanian Highlands, started to see the need to unite in response to these increasing threats and consolidated into a political entity that eventually became the Duchy of Lithuania. Under the rule of Dausprungas (1145-1159) the Lithuanian state was an expanding regional power able to fend off invaders from the east.

But it was from the west that the greatest threat would come. Catholic missionaries had been seeking the conversion of the neighbouring pagans to Christianity through peaceful means, but when the Second Crusade to the Holy Land was called in 1145, the north German Saxons expresed their desire to campaign against the pagan West Slavs who lived between the Elbe and the Oder. With the aproval of pope Eugenius III, the crusade against the Wends started in 1147, joined primarily by north Germans, Danes and Poles. This was the first of a a series of campaigns against the pagan peoples of Northern Europe around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. After the West Slavs were defeated and converted, the crusaders turned their attention towards the lands beyond the Vistula.

Before the Wendish crusade


The Prussian Crusade: Subjugation of the Western Prussians (1162-1174)

“The Sembi or Prussians are a most humane people (homines humanissimi), who go out to help those who are in peril at sea or who are attacked by pirates. Gold and silver they hold in very slight esteem. (...) Many praiseworthy things could be said about these peoples with respect to their morals, if only they had the faith of Christ whose missionaries they cruelly persecute. At their hands Adalbert, the illustrious bishop of the Bohemians, was crowned with martyrdom. Although they share everything else with our people, they prohibit only, to this very day indeed, access to their groves and springs which, they aver, are polluted by the entry of Christians. (…) Living, moreover, in inaccessible swamps, they will not endure a master among them.”
Archbishop Adam of Bremen, History of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen.

In 1161 the Polish princes requested the help of the Teutonic Order to defend their borders and subdue the pagan Prussians. The Order received the already devastated Culmerland, which they pacified and fortified as a base of operations. In 1162 the Teutonic Knights began the subjugation of the disunited Prussian tribes with a degree of courage that was only equalled by their cruelty. Reinforced with Polish and German crusaders, the Knights marched north against the Pomesanians, the westernmost of the Prussian clans, and then east along the Baltic coast against the Pogesanians, Warmians, Bartians and Natangians. Over the next twelve years, the cusaders systematically reduced all organized resistance, building fortresses as they advanced and exterminating every man, woman and child who would not accept Christianity.

The Prussian tribes and the Teutonic Order in 1161

But after the crusaders consolidated their control over Natangia and Bartia, a series of events slowed their further advance. The Teutonic Order had kept most of the conquered territories and created there their own independent state. This angered the Polish King Bolesław II, who, in 1174, accused the Order of holding lands rightfully his and ceased to support the crusades. By then, the Monastic State of the Teutonic Order extended until the Pregel river, bordering the Sambians and the Yotvingians, which were the richest and most populous of the Prussian clans.

The State of the Teutonic Order and the pagan Baltic tribes in 1174


Denmark was also becoming more a rival than an ally of the Order. In previous years, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa had compelled the Danish King Valdemar to acknowledge him as his liege. When Valdemar refused, the Emperor ordered his vassal Bugislaw of Pomerania to invade Denmark. The Danes not only repelled and destroyed the Pomeranian force, but also invaded Pomerania and forced Bugislaw to acknowledge Valdemar as his overlord. The hostility between Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire also damaged the relations between the Teutonic Order and the Danes. Valdemar even requested authorization from the Pope to crusade against the Curonians and Livonians independently from the Order.

The Teutonic Order, fearing that the Pope could grant Denmark the right to christianize the Eastern Baltic, sent an army across the Vistula Lagoon in the spring of 1175 with the intention of attacking Romuve, an important pagan worship place in western Sambia. The Sambians defeated the crusaders in battle, however, inspiring the Western Prussians to rebel against the Order. The Prussian uprising weakened greatly the Teutonic Knights' offensive capability. The Order signed a two year truce with the Sambians, but in the same year the Pope and Heinrich von Bassenheim, the new Grand Master of the Order, began preaching a crusade against the Eastern Prussians.


Lithuania during the Wendish Crusade and the Prussian Crusade

Dausprungas became the ruler of Upper Lithuania in 1145, after a succession crisis. He already wielded great power long before that, and was probably the same Dovsprunk who appears in a Novgorod chronicle as the leader of the Lithuanian army who defeated the Ruthenians in 1131.

Dausprungas’ wife, Birutė, was the daughter of a Samogitian duke. They had two sons, Skalmantas and Žvelgaitis. Among the Lithuanians, the throne usually passed from brother to brother before passing to the eldest son of the eldest brother who had held the throne. Dausprungas had a brother, Daugirutis, nicknamed Tauras (“aurochs”), who should have succeded him; but Dausprungas chose his son Skalmantas as his successor. This would lead to a series of civil wars and the formation of a pretender rival dynasty, the Taurids, which existed up to the end of the 13th century.

In 1156, Skalmantas died in unclear circumstances. Tauras, accused of his murder, sought refuge in Polotsk. In 1159, Dausprungas died at the age of 70 and was succeeded by Žvelgaitis.

Žvelgaitis' family tree


Žvelgaitis soon acquired a reputation as an ambitious but pragmatic ruler and a skilled diplomat. The Selonians and Latgalians acknowledged him as overlord in exchange for protection against the Ruthenians. Žvelgaitis established ties with many Western Christian countries, especially Poland. He even allowed the presence of Christian missionaries in the territories ruled by him, in sharp contrast with the other Baltic pagan nations. Žvelgaitis also invited Western scholars to his court. One of them, a Polish chronicler known as Grimaldus, was the first author of an essential source for the history of medieval Lithuania, the Gesta Lituanorum.

During the Prussian Crusade, numerous Prussians fled to the eastern pagan lands, and reports of the advancing crusaders alarmed the Lithuanians. While Poland was allied to the Teutonic Knights, Žvelgaitis’ priority was to keep his south-western border safe. He sent letters to the Polish king and the Pope informing them of the privileges already granted to the Dominicans and Franciscans in Lithuania for the preaching of God's Word, and including vague promises of accepting the Christian faith and allowing a peaceful christianization of the country. But it is very unlikely that he ever intended to become a Christian himself, since that would have offended the staunchly pagan Aukštaitijans. More probably, he knew that a direct conflict with the Teutonic Order was inevitable, and his negotiations were a mean to buy time to accomplish his most important objective: the unification of Aukštaitija and Samogitia.

In the last two decades, the political structure of Aukštaitija had undergone rapid changes. While Samogitia was a confederation of clans, in Aukštaitija the tribal system had given way to a more feudal one. Many Samogitian lords supported Žvelgaitis, but still an important part rejected him for his centralizing policies and his concessions to the Christians. Žvelgaitis’ nephew, Algimantas, favoured a military solution, but Žvelgaitis feared that this would weaken them at a time when the greatest danger came from the crusaders.

Depiction of Vilnius Castle



The Prussian Crusade: Invasion of Sambia

The Western Prussian uprising of 1175 ended almost two years later with the Treaty of Christburg, which granted civil liberties and considerable autonomy to native converts to Christianity. In 1177, with the rebellious Prussian tribes pacified, Pope Innocent IV directed Dominican monks to preach the crusade against the Sambians, and the Order sent embassies to the Kings of Hungary, Bohemia, and the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. A 40,000-strong crusading army gathered for the campaign, including Bohemians, Austrians, Moravians, Saxons and Swabians. Sambia was conquered in April 1177 in a campaign lasting less than a month. Near the pagan settlement of Tvangste, the Teutonic Knights founded Königsberg ("King's Mountain"), named in honor of the Bohemian king.

About two thirds of the secular crusaders returned to their lands after the conquest of Sambia. The remaining crusaders, led by the Teutonic Knights, continued their advance dividing their forces: a larger army under the Teutonic Grand Master Heinrich von Bassenheim marched east against the Nadruvians and the Yotvingians, and a smaller force went north against the Skalvians. Alarmed by the crusaders' rapid expansion into territory bordering his lands, the Samogitians attacked the Christians near Ragainė. This battle was followed by raids and skirmishes along the natural border marked by the Neman River.

In 1176 the Aukštaitijans had formed an alliance with the Curonians and helped them against Danish crusaders. After the battle of Ragainė, Žvelgaitis moved openly against the Teutonic Knights, without impediment from the Poles, who were themselves trying to expel the Order from their lands.


End of the Crusader advance; battle of Kaunas

In November 1178, Heinrich von Bassenheim, who was fighting the Yotvingians, led his army north against the Lithuanians. Near Kaunas, at the confluence of the Nemunas and the Neris rivers, the crusading army was met by a combined army of Aukštaitijans, Samogitians and Curonians. The battle raged for most of the day, and both sides took heavy losses. Seeing that the Crusaders fought with such determination that they could still turn the tide of the battle to their favour, Žvelgaitis led a cavalry charge through a gap in the enemy lines against the Teutonic Grand Master. In this action Heinrich von Bassenheim died, and the Knights were forced to retreat. The battle ended with a costly victory for the pagans. Žvelgaitis was fatally wounded and died the day after the battle.



After the battle of Kaunas, the Teutonic Knights sent emissaries to the pagan rulers to agree upon a formal ceasefire. The Yotvingians were not completely pacified and there was a risk of a new Prussian uprising. Algimantas, the new Duke of Aukštaitija, intended to prolong the war until the crusaders withdrew from the lands between the Neman and the Pregel, but the Samogitians and the Curonians did not support him in this. The Treaty of Tilsit ended the Prussian Crusade, recognizing the Neman River as the border between the Order and the Lithuanians.

[TaronQuinn]

Excellent start; clear, straightforward, but with lots of potential. DLV AARs seem to be rare now-a-days, and its good to see someone taking it on, especially with Lithuania. They never seem to get an AAR. I look forward to what will happen next.

TQ

[Atli]

@TaronQuinn: Thanks for your undeserved nice comment. I've come to a momentary halt for two reasons: First, I have a lot of work this week (which is actually a good thing). Second, I've read a lot of AARs these days, and now I'm less satisfied than before with my style and the content itself of the AAR. There seems to be the generalized opinion that one should not start an AAR unless it has an interesting plot, full of surprises and drawbacks, etc. I'm afraid that this kind of things don't happen too often with my playstyle.
Anyway, I've played until 1235 and I've promised myself that I won't continue playing until I have updated my AAR. And I really want to continue my campaign. Well, maybe it's time to mention my

Objectives:
The short campaign victory conditions for Lithuania are to hold 15 provinces and destroy Novgorod. I'm not playing for the victory conditions. I've played as Lithuania at least two times before in a different mod, and tended to expand south and east (like in real history). This time I want to try something different:
Lithuania will become a Baltic Empire. The Baltic will become a "Lithuanian lake", like the Mediterranean for the Romans. Then, we will go for Rome and Constantinople. And then for the Mongols.

[Atli]

Well, I haven't had much time lately -not even to play DLV Europa or anything-, so this AAR is taking longer than I thought. Just as a small sign that I haven't abandoned this AAR, I have edited the "Introduction" with some (partially fictional, you'll see why) historical context.

[Lord Minotaur]

Atli are you a lithuanian? and is this AAR dead? you didnt update for a month

[Atli]

Hello Lord Minotaur. No, I'm not Lithuanian (I like the language though). And -believe it or not- this AAR is not dead, but hibernating

[Lord Minotaur]

so who are you?

[Atli]

This AAR “moves” to plain DLV:

I started this AAR in enthusiasm for DLV Europa and the Lithuanian faction; I had to make a long pause due to work and now, due to technical issues, I’m moving this AAR to plain DLV. I already explained this in the DLV Europa thread, but I’ll mention it briefly here: the Vista laptop where I was playing DLV-E without considerable troubles has a bad ventilation system, gathers dust and overheats; initial screen CTD’s make DLV-E almost unplayable in my new W7 desktop PC. I’ve corrected the AAR title and the first two posts.

@Lord Minotaur: That's a strange question...

[Atli]

After many editions, the Introduction is finished. I suggest you to read it bearing in mind that, while it is mostly fictional (to make it consistent with the start of the game), many events mentioned in it actually occurred at a different date.

Dievas willing, the AAR proper will begin soon.

[Atli]

Chapter I: Rise of Lithuania

In 1178 Algimantas, son of Skalmantas, eldest son of Dausprungas, succeeded his uncle Žvelgaitis as Duke of Aukštaitija and ruler of a state known in the West as Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Algimantas is usually considered the founder of this political entity, since most historical sources mention him as the first Grand Duke (Latin: magnus dux) of the Lithuanians. The papacy claimed the right to grant the title rex “king” only to Catholic monarchs, and since the oldest chronicles were written in Latin by Western scribes, they generally use dux “duke”. Algimantas’ status, however, was comparable to that of a king.

Algimantas in 1180


Algimantas continued the political reforms that dissolved the tribal-communal relationships and transformed the Grand Duchy into a feudal state. Aukštaitija and the region around Vilnius formed the Land of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos žemė, Latin: Ducatus Lithuaniae), ruled directly by the Grand Duke; this administrative unit was the nucleus of the Grand Duchy. Algimantas reduced the autonomy of the regions of the Grand Duchy that were outside the Land of Lithuania. Under Žvelgaitis, the Latgalians were allowed to elect their own leader, who then swore allegiance to the Duke of Aukštaitija; Algimantas abolished this right and named his second son Jaunutis Duke of Latgalia.

But the radical transformations and lost of influence caused great discontent among the Aukštaitijan local nobility. In 1180, several noblemen rebelled against Algimantas and a civil war erupted. The rebels seized control of a few villages and forts and their leader Rupeikis assembled a large army that threatened the capital, Vilnius. The decisive battle between the loyalists and the rebels was fought in the winter of 1180.

Battle of Kreva (November 16 to 17, 1180)



On 16 November, Algimantas led an army to intercept Rupeikis near Kreva, to the south-east of Vilnius. The Grand Duke deployed his army on a hill. Most of his men were archers and skirmishers, while Rupeikis had a stronger infantry. The rebels did not attack, however, since they were slightly outnumbered and in a disadvantaged position. In the night, Algimantas ordered most of his men to descend the hill with lit torches and march into a nearby forest; there they quenched their torches and returned quickly to the top of the hill. With this trick, he intended to give the rebels the impression that he was re-deploying his army, leaving only a small company on the height.



Rupeikis bit the bait and marched to what appeared to be a poorly defended advantageous position. As soon as the rebels were within range, Algimantas' archers opened fire. When Rupeikis realized his error, it was too late. He ordered his men to push forward, understanding that a retreat in that situation would be disastrous.



The battle lines clashed and many loyalist archers fell to the rebel axemen before they could pull back behind the spearmen. Algimantas and Gytautas charged the enemy flanks, and soon Rupeikis was captured.



The rebels finally collapsed and fled the battle.



This loyalist victory dealt a fatal blow to the rebellion, and for some years the rebels did not venture outside their strongholds.


The legend of Videvutis

The 14^th century Chronicon ducum regumque Lithuaniae includes an interesting myth about the early history of the Balts. According to this legend, all the Baltic nations were once united under one king named Videvutis. Before he died, his sons asked him to divide the kingdom among them, because none of them wanted to be ruled by any of the others. Videvutis’ eldest son, Litvas, received the land between the Nemunas and the Daugava, which thenceforth became known as “Litua”. The Chronicon continues explaining that the early Grand Dukes based on this legend their claim to rule over the Baltic peoples.

Whether the legend of Videvutis existed at the time of Algimantas or not, one thing is certain: Towards the end of the 12^th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the most powerful of the Baltic nations, and, being a landlocked state, its natural area of expansion was the Baltic coast. The coastal regions from Prussia to Livonia had highly priced resources like amber, timber and furs, and the ports were a source of great wealth from trade through the Baltic Sea.

The Baltic coast


The incorporation of Samogitia

The first step in the westward expansion of the Grand Duchy was the incorporation of Samogitia. In preparation for this, Algimantas concluded in 1181 a pact and hostage exchange with Novgorod, that brought a long-lasting peace between both nations. The Rus’ were suffering from Tatar incursions and benefited from an agreement that secured their western border.

Algimantas, like his uncle Žvelgaitis, gained many Samogitians for his cause, but met with the strong resistance of Erdvilas, a powerful Samogitian duke who controlled the west of the country and the important town of Raseiniai. When Erdvilas made an ad hoc alliance with the Curonians against Algimantas, the supporters of the union with the Grand Duchy rose against him. In the winter of 1183, Algimantas besieged Raseiniai.



The Aukštaitijans built battering rams and attacked the town from three sides: Algimantas and Gytautas led the assault of the eastern and the southern gates respectively, while a smaller force was sent to storm the undefended northern gate.

Gytautas leading the assault of the southern gate


Before attacking the walls and gates with their rams, the Aukštaitijan long range archers caused many casualties on the defenders.





Erdvilas led a sally from the eastern gate in a desperate attempt to destroy the rams, but Algimantas charged him and killed him.





Algimantas' men opened a breach in the eastern wall, and soon the northern and the southern gates were in their control too.



The Aukštaitijans poured into the town. The defenders of the eastern gate were attacked from both sides and overwhelmed by a charge of the Ducal cavalry.





Algimantas and Gytautas charged the last defenders of the city, who were holding the town center. After the first onslaught the Samogitians, surrounded and demoralized, surrendered to the Grand Duke.





With the death of Erdvilas and the capture of Raseiniai, the main focus of opposition to the incorporation of Samogitia to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was eliminated. Algimantas assembled the Samogitian nobles in Raseiniai, where they recognized him as their lord.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1184

[Atli]

(Continuation of Chapter I: Rise of Lithuania)

The Taurist rebellion

Algimantas spent the winter in Raseiniai preparing an expedition against the Curonians, but reports that the Teutonic Knights were gathering a significant force on the border, near Gelgaudiškis, about two day’s march from Raseiniai, forced him to delay his plans.



There came also news of an uprising in eastern Lithuania; the rebels were followers of Tauras, a man who claimed to be the grandson of Daugirutis, Dausprungas' brother.

A story about the origins of Dausprungas contained in the Gesta Lituanorum might shed some light on the legitimacy claims of the Taurists, despite the tale's dubious historical value. The chronicle recounts that for a long time the Lithuanians were divided into many independent tribes, each ruled by an hereditary kunigas (a word derived from the Germanic word for “king”, but usually translated as “duke”). In times of war, a “duke of dukes” (kunigų kunigas) was elected for a limited period among the greater dukes. The power of these military leaders increased with time, and in the time of Dausprungas, the title was held by Vytenis, duke of Panevėžys. According to this tale, Dausprungas was the son of the duke of Kernavė and became Vytenis’ greatest military commander.

The Taurists claimed that Daugiritus, and not Dausprungas, was the duke’s eldest son and successor. His brother Dausprungas, on the other hand, achieved renown as a warlord in the wars against the Ruthenians. When Vytenis died, there was a fierce struggle for power among the greater dukes. Dausprungas, although not a duke himself, had enough influence to convince several other lords to support him as their leader. Among Dausprungas’ supporters was Daugirutis, now duke of Kernavė. Dausprungas had promised his brother to make him his co-ruler, but after he came to power, he did not keep his word. The Taurists regarded Algimantas and his descendants as usurpers, and were joined by many Lithuanians who opposed the feudal reforms imposed by Algimantas and sought to preserve their ancient laws and customs.

In March 1184, a messenger from Jaunutis brought more urgent news: the Taurists were already in the outskirts of Vilnius.



The city was was weakly garrisoned, since Algimantas had taken most of his forces to Samogitia. The army stationed in Raseiniai was composed mostly of foot soldiers; the only mounted men were the personal guard of Algimantas and Gytautas. Fearing that the infantry would arrive too late to defend Vilnius, Algimantas decided to take only the cavalry and ride towards the capital.

Not far from Vilnius they met with Jaunutis and his household guard. The Taurists had just camped near the western gate of the city, but had not started yet to build siege equipment for the assault. Having learned from his scouts that the Grand Duke was coming with a small cavalry force, Tauras formed his troops to meet him. From their watchtowers, the Vilnians saw the horsemen on the western horizon bearing the Grand Duke's standards. Narimantas, the captain of the garrison, led his men to the battle.




Tauras had moved all his troops away from the city walls. The rebels outnumbered the loyalists almost three to one, and had many archers, axemen and spearmen. Narimantas’ troops, on the other hand, were hurriedly trained, unarmored townsfolk, equipped with javelins and shortswords or small axes. But the rebels had a serious disadvantage: their only cavalry were lightly armored horse archers, uncapable to counter the superiorly trained and equipped ducal guard.

Jaunutis feinted an attack on the rebels’ center, while Algimantas and Gytautas flanked the enemy lines to attack the archers.





The charge was devastating...







and before the rebel spearmen could react, the ducal cavalry disengaged again.

Finally, the Vilnius garrison arrived to the battlefield. Jaunutis charged the rebels right flank while Algimantas and Gytautas rode around the enemy lines to meet Narimantas.



Algimantas formed his battle line, while Gytautas and Jaunutis disrupted the enemy formation.







The battle lines approached each other. Algimantas and his sons flanked the rebels again. The loyalist infantry threw their javelins at the enemy, then drew their swords and axes and engaged in close-quarters, while the ducal cavalry charged from behind.





Tauras fought bravely, until it became obvious that the battle was lost for him.






Tauras managed to escape the battle, but most of his followers died or were captured.

[Atli]

Chapter II: Conquest of the Baltic coast

Although the Taurist rebellion was crushed, its unexpectedness revealed that the Lithuanian army was barely sufficient to face the internal and external threats. The country’s military strength had been decimated by many years of war; the treasury verged on bankruptcy.

In a council held at Vilnius in September 1184, several nobles urged Algimantas to attack the Curonians and annex their land into the Grand Duchy. Part of the resources needed for the war effort would come from the merchant guilds and wealthy traders, who were interested in gaining access to the Baltic coast and the control of the amber trade.



Gytautas was made Duke of Samogitia and was put in charge of the subjugation of the Curonians. During the winter of 1184-85, Gytautas advanced north-west from Raseiniai and besieged the castle of Medininkai, which fell in March 1185.



Leaving the castle with a minimal garrison, he led his army towards Kuldiga, the largest Curonian settlement.



Gytautas captured Kuldiga in June 1186, after a four months siege.



Scenes of the battle for Kuldiga:

Lithuanian archers


Curonian mounted archers attempting a sally, and being chased by the ducal cavalry


Curonian archers




Lithuanian spearmen entering the southern gate


Fighting within the walls


Victory

[Atli]

Hello fellow Total War players,

it's been more than a year since my last post in this AAR, and yet I haven't abandoned the idea to finish it, or at least bring it to a point where it justifies its title: the formation of a Baltic empire. I had to reinstall Kingdoms and DLV, which means that I have to start again from the beginning. I have already chronicled the events until 1186, so my plan is to play exactly the same way -if possible- until that point, and continue from there.

Now, I have recently discovered a sub-mod called Battlefield Balance, by Taiji, which is much more than its name suggests, and is considered by many the unofficial latest version of DLV. It's said to fix many bugs and increase stability, and only that would be enough for me; but as far as I can see it also makes many interesting changes, like a new map without the Americas and more provinces int the Old World, navigable rivers, etc. The only change that I'm not sure if I will like is the 4 turns per year time scale, which means that it will take 400 turns to advance only to 1280!

The current BB version is 4.24. I will be playing BB 4.23 though, since, from what I understand, the latest update makes only a few minor (mostly graphical) changes and -in its author's words- "might cause performance issues on the battlefield".

I started this AAR back in October 2010 with Harry Lime's DLV Europa, and in 2011 this AAR moved to "vanilla" DLV. This will be the last mod change. I'll start within the next seven days.

[Radzeer]

If I may suggest something, post this AAR (or at least the update links) in the Writers' Study MTW2 AAR section. That is quite a lively community these days, and would give your story and DLV a nice exposure. There hasn't been a DLV AAR there since la coupe's French story, and that is a shame considering the quality of this mod, particularly for roleplaying.
Anyway good luck, and hope to see you there (too).

[Atli]

Thank you, Radzeer! I'll follow your suggestion as soon as this story has more substance to boast about.

I have already played until 1188. Raseiniai and Kuldiga start more developed in BB than in DLV -they have stone walls instead of wooden walls- so it took me two years longer to take these settlements and get to the point where I left the tale. And suddenly things got more interesting than I was expecting:

[Atli]

From this point on, this is an AAR of my Lithuanian campaign in

Deus Lo Vult 6.2 + Battle Balance 4.23

Settings
Campaign Difficulty: Very Hard
Battle Difficulty: Very Hard
Unit Size: Huge

House rules
More or less the same I mentioned already in the first post. I might attack neutral factions if I have a good reason to do so.

Objectives
To survive. To become the dominant power in the Baltic region. Then, we shall see...

Now here comes a short update.

[Atli]

(Continuation of Chapter II: Conquest of the Baltic coast)

Since the conquest of Sambia and the destruction of Romuve by the crusaders, an awareness of the need to unite was growing among the pagan Baltic peoples. The Curonians, a Baltic tribe with many religious, cultural and linguistic similarities with the Lithuanians, still remembered the support provided by the Grand Duke Žvelgaitis against Scandinavian invaders, and the alliance of Curonians, Samogitians and Aukštaitians that had defeated the Teutonic Order in the battle of Kaunas only a few years earlier. Despite that, many Curonians continued to resist the Lithuanians even after the fall of Kuldiga, and it was not until 1188, two years later, that Algimantas' authority was recognised by most of their leaders.

During Algimantas' first years of rule, the powerful neighbours of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had their own problems to deal with: the East Slavs were fighting the Tatar invaders, the Teutonic Order had to pacify the rebellious Prussian population, and the Poles felt more threatened by the aggressive and ambitious Teutonic Knights than by the Lithuanians. Algimantas took advantage of this situation to concentrate all his military strength in his campaigns of expansion. In only ten years he doubled the size of his realm and gained access to the Baltic coast.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1188


Algimantas strengthened the ties between the Grand Duchy and the Kingdom of Poland, giving preference to Polish traders and missionaries. His administrative, judicial, and legislative reforms were mostly based on the Polish state model, in what has been called a "westernization without christianization". He also established good relations with Christian states like Hungary, Denmark and the Kievan Rus'. Aware of the ever-present menace of a religious conflict, he sought to convince his Christian neighbours that peace was more profitable than war, and led them to believe that a slow but peaceful conversion of the Lithuanians was possible.

[Kaskad]

Hope you could make it with the Crusade ... It's gonna be very tuff
I like the screenshots too

Also, I think Radzeer is right, you should post your AAR in Writers' Study MTW2 AAR section

Continue !