AAR Preview - Duchy of Normandy: The Exiled Vikings +++ (new content!) +++

[danova]

Duchy of Normandy AAR: The Exiled Vikings
AAR Preview by Blip99

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Chapter 1: The Wanderer

Summer 865 AD


"I can never go back...never."

My name is Hrolf, and i am an exile.

My father was a very powerful danish noble, advisor to the king and trusted friend also. But when the king died his successor, who had always envied my father, had him quietly killed whilst my older brother Gurim and I were on a hunting expedition. When we returned to our home we found our father dead, lying on the threshold.
He was surrounded by blood but still grasping his sword. Upon seeing this Gurim lost his mind with rage and although i tried to stop him he rode off to "...disembowl the bastard king..." .

I never saw him again but i hear he was captured and privately executed. Upon hearing of this i knew i could not stay in my homeland but must leave forever. It was a hard choice but now looking back, i know it was the right one.

I joined a viking fleet and was quickly recongised by the leader, Sigfred, as being sharp witted and brave. Though only young, I soon became one of his most trusted men, and was with him when we raided the frankish city, Paris.
We gained much plunder there, the stupid franks letting us loot half their city, then paying us to go away! Every man was richer after Paris, with enough silver to retire comfortably and still be wealthy. Sigfred then took us to raid the northern coastline of Frankia. There we found a land at the mouth of the Seine which was fertile and prosperous, and, because knowone was there to stop us, we stayed.

After we set up our stronghold at Rouen, Sigfred suprised me with a an unexpected offer, he wanted to adopt me! I accepted of course, for one because i like the old man, and two because when he passess to Valhalla, i will gain control of all of the norsemen in northen Frankia.

So here i sit around the hearth with my adopted father and the other leaders, discussing what our next move must be, for there is an abundance in poorly defended, weak petty kingdoms surrounding us that must either bend knee or perish. I am determined to make a new life for myself here and not look back, I will conquer all i come across and send my enemies writhing to the corpse hall.

I am Hrolf the Wanderer and all will fall before me!!



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[danova]

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Chapter 2: The Normans

Winter 865 AD

After the meeting with the other leaders, Sigfrid turned to me and said, "Hrolf, even though it may not seem like it, our position in this land is weak, we must consolidate our borders if we ever hope to expand.", I nodded at this as he continued, "I also believe it would be in our interests to ally ourselves with the Eastern Franks, they are too powerfull for us to manage and if they become our friends it will leave our flanks secure."

"Very well father," I replied, "I will send Foulque to begin relations with the Franks, and then i will set about mustering the men for an attack on Caen".
He growled agreement then dissmissed me.



I have heard lately that the locals have given us a name, we are not just 'vikings' to them, i suspect because we have actually settled here, but they have called us 'normans' or northmen, and apparently this is also what the frankish emperor refers to us as.

Well, what better way to start anew than to throw off the shackles of your old life and former country; from now on i am no longer a Dane, but a Norman!

Battle 1: Battle at the Rivermouth

Winter 865AD

Yesterday i gained reports of an uprising against Norman rule in the far reaches of our lands. Quite a sizable army had formed under the leadership of a minor frankish lord called Friedrich, so i marched the troops to meet them some miles from the mouth of the Seine river. Their force was larger but killing a bunch of peasants wouldnt really be that difficult.



I was right.

When my army reached the field of battle i drew up the sheild wall with my vikingr and huskarls and then placed my one unit of arches behind them.



I placed myself and my bodyguard on the right flank. Then i gave the order to advance on the enemy.



The army had to march uphill so my men could not see where the enemy was, so they got too impetuous and lost formation at the top of the hill.
This is when disaster struck, the enemy had two units of archers and they made my men pay for losing formation, killing many brave warriors before we had even touched them.





My men were battle hardened troops however and this did not phase them, i gave the order for the shield wall to form again and they obeyed immediatly.

The enemy archers, finding they could not penetrate my wall, instead fired upon my archers, who, unprotected, were cut down light the wheat in harvest time.





Not liking the way the battle was going, I charged my horse straight into the enemy archers and my bodyguard followed, killing indescriminantly.



I pulled my unit out of the melee not wanting to lose all of my blood brothers and ordered the shield wall to charge. This proved devestatingly effective as the enemy either were not diciplined enough or just were ignorant of shieldwall tactics, so were cut down.



When the rest of the enemy were engaging my shieldwall i circled my bodyguard round their flanks and charged their rear, gouging deep into their ranks.



Just then i heard a cry ring out from somewhere in the crush in front of me, "Friedrich is dead, run for the hills!!"



This put heart into my men and they fought with renued vigour, moments later it seemed, the rebels broke ranks and fled.



We chased them down, showing no mercy. I was dissapointed i could not catch a few of them who had deserted their lines part way through the battle, I despise cowards.




So we had won the day, and i my first victory, although i will not make the same hasty mistakes next time. My aid tells me that we killed over 800 of them compared to around 200 of my men killed, it was my fault that all those men died, and i doubt my father will be pleased.

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[danova]

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Chapter 3: Building a Nation

Summer 866 AD

I recieved a letter from Foulque, our diplomat, saying that he had succesfully formed relations with the Eastern Franks and even gathered some map information, which undoubtedly will be usefull in the years to come.

My father has ordered a mass building program in the capital, saying that by doing so it will create more money to fund the army we will need to take Caen. I have yet to see the fruits of this labour.

Winter 867 AD

My fathers building projects continue, whilst i bide my time training and supervising the land we now call home. A traveller arrived in Rouen the other week, he revealed himself to be a very talented bard, renowned throughout the land. His name was Gaillard and my father liked him so much he asked him to stay. He has foretold a great victory for us in the near future, i do hope he is correct.


Summer 869 AD

It has been a happy few years now for me, I am feeling for once in my life like i belong somewhere and although we have yet to make a move on Caen i feel the time is coming very soon. Also to make it all worthwhile my wife Poppa gave birth to our first child, a strong little boy who i have named Girars.


Winter 870 AD

Sigfred finally gave me my marching orders to attack Caen! Unfortunantly i do not have enough men to conduct a full assault on the town but will camp outside and see if they come out and attack us.

Chapter 4 soon (The assault on Caen!!)
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[danova]

01. Reserved!

[danova]

02. Reserved!

[danova]

03. Reserved!

[danova]

04. Reserved!

[danova]

05. Reserved!

[Celtichugs123]

Looking good, mate!

[Skep]

To bad theres no pix. I dont like AAR without screenshots.

[danova]

To bad theres no pix. I dont like AAR without screenshots.

Dont you see the picts?
We have a pict!
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[General_Meevious]

I see this one:



It looks very nice. =)

The AAR is engaging too, look forward to the next part (or will it be three parts again? How exciting)!

[Merula]

Wow...you posted it without telling me Could you please PM me danova? I need to talk to you about this
Oh but thanks for the nice comments people this was my first AAR but i was unable to release it cos it was still beta, buuuuut you can read my other one (in my sig) if you cant wait for another update for The Exiled Vikings.

[danova]

Wow...you posted it without telling me Could you please PM me danova? I need to talk to you about this
Oh but thanks for the nice comments people this was my first AAR but i was unable to release it cos it was still beta, buuuuut you can read my other one (in my sig) if you cant wait for another update for The Exiled Vikings.

I'm so sorry. What is the problem? Asked you many times from me when will release your AARs...
Aren't you ready?
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[danova]

I see this one...

I corrected the picts!

[Skep]

haha I thought you were joking or something. . thx!

It looks playable to me ^^

[Merula]

I'm so sorry. What is the problem? Asked you many times from me when will release your AARs...
Aren't you ready?
.

Ah its fine, its just that i had to reinstall my copy of Med2, and i forgot to copy the contents of my tga folder, thus deleting ALL my pics for this AAR.
I was hoping just to continue again using the new build, i can still do that, just give me two days and i shall have 5 new redone chapters I actually thought you wanted me to stop doing it on that beta and start again with the current one, which makes a lot more sense with all the additions you have made...
If you could delete chapter three, i can have the revised one pm'd to you today (or tomorrow) and you can post it here.
Sorry i forgot to thank you for actually posting it though, it was good of you to do, although i would have reathered you tell me first

EDIT: I have started working on the revised version, as i said before, could you please delete chapter 3. I have changed my mind on the PM'ing you the chapters, as i wouldnt mind making this an actuall release. So will you let me write it up in the AAR forum and then you copy-paste the contents of however many chapters you want to this page as a preview?
Thanks again

[Kinjo]

Looks awesome can't wait to give this mod a spin. I just wish the all of the bodyguard units were dismounted foot units excluding the Franks/Normans.

[Merula]

Looks awesome can't wait to give this mod a spin. I just wish the all of the bodyguard units were dismounted foot units excluding the Franks/Normans.

Dont worry they are Maybe the Scots have a mounted bodyguard, but i cant remember exactly...

[Kinjo]

Dont worry they are Maybe the Scots have a mounted bodyguard, but i cant remember exactly...

That's what I was referring to, by chance will this mod be taking advantage of the engines ability to give a unique model to the faction leader? it would be awesome to see a king looking model on the battlefield for the faction leader.