The Eagle Reborn: Snippets from an HRE Campaign (Stainless Steel 6.4, RBAI, Early Era)

[reaper101]

So... I've been reading a lot of Badass of the Week. Consider this next entry (another biography) to be a homage to that.

###

This week we'll cover one of the most ridiculously stubborn and generally over-the-top military commanders coming from the German Empire: Linhart Ruppel.

By the time the middle of the thirteenth century rolled around, the German Empire was doing pretty snazzily. Albrecht had pretty much dickboxed everyone into submission everyone and everything that didn't see the writing on the blood-spattered wall and become an ally of the Holy Roman Empire, so for once in Europe's history nobody was shanking each other over who got which pointy hat. But one of the pain-in-the-ass parts of being an Empire was having more than one front to fight on, and nothing exemplified this state of affairs than Egypt. While 'minor' in scale compared to the crazy of the Geonese War, it wasn't a ing paradise. The Khwarezmian Empire, a collection of Persians running for their ing lives from the ballsack-crushing forces of the Mongol Horde, took one look at Anatolia and decided they wanted it.
Now, Anatolia wasn't German territory (it belonged to their buddies, the Crusader kingdoms) but it was still enough to imperially piss off Emperor Albrecht once he got the news. He was a little busy setting Geonese on fire at the moment, so he tabled the matter and told the local generals to only start if the Crusaders started losing. They didn't, and so the Persians spent their time getting armies wrecked and staring awkwardly at German patrols on the other side of the border.
In 1234, they worked up the balls to try to extort a German magistrate. The bureacrat demonstrated the superior testicular fortitude of his people by telling them to off.
In 1235, Khwarez forces laid siege to Jerusalem.
They took it in 1238.
This, naturally, was a state of affairs the Germans couldn't tolerate, and so war happened.
Now, the main German forces were in Normandy, educating the French on why it was a bad idea to annoy them, so the task of beating the out of the Khwarez fell to the local generals, some of whom are described elsewhere on this site. Long story short, they were slowing pushing the Person Empire back, including reclaiming the Holy City, when Linhart Ruppel finally stepped onto the scene.

Born in 1229, as best as can be determined he was the son of a minor knightly house who decided riding with hundreds of other angry warrior-men in plate and mail was insufficiently badass, and he enrolled in the College of Generals at Gaza, graduating at 20. A couple years later, he took over an army of heavy cavalry and was given very simple instructions- go forth and wreck . This the young Ruppel did with a vengeance, storming and sacking the fortress of Qarisya in 1255. While the new Emperor, Fritsche, was sermonizing in Mecca, Ruppel was killing Muslims.
In 1265, another Crusade got called, this time on the Khwarez fortress of Mosul. While Fritsche brought the rest of the armies, Linhart decided to go and beat him to it, declaring for the Crusades and laying siege in 1266. He didn't want to risk the lives of his men against the fortress, however, and was reinforced by the Emperor and his gang of religion-pumped knights shortly. The two men struck up a quick friendship, and Fritsche named him the Marshall of the East after finishing the minor business of beating the fort into submission with holy righteousness. He then told Linhart to go beat the out of Baghdad. Linhart agreed, and linked up with a Mongol army (Germany's allies at the time) to surround and slaughter the Khwarez Shah and his army outside the gates of the city.
Linhart took the city without opposition, marching in triumphantly carrying the Imperial Sigil at the head of his army.

Linhart went through his first retirement shortly afterwards, returning to Gaza (which he was granted the lordship of) and perusing the copy of The Art of War he'd picked up in Baghdad. The War of Iberia flared up, and while Linhart requested a transfer to fight the enemies of the Emperor, he was denied largely due to being the only dude in Egypt who had the balls and charisma to lead an army.
In 1276, he un-retired and grabbed everyone he could find to go crush the last of the Khwarez Empire. The Mongols had spent the past thirty or so years beating the out of the former Empire, but Linhart intended to deal the killing blow.
The big obstacle was the mountain fortress of Tblisi, which guarded a major pass through the Georgian mountains, and had the distinction of actually defeating the Mongols. It was damn near invincible, with doubled curtain walls, ballistae-equipped towers, and a garrison commanded by the Shah himself.
Linhart stormed it in a day in 1284 after a lengthy campaign.
Now, usually the Empire handed off the settlement to whoever was the closest ally when the castle or town and the lands it protected we're surrounded, but Linhart looked ahead. He'd seen how the Iberians had started murdering each other once they ran out of Muslims, and didn't much like the fact that the Mongols and the Crusaders were now sharing a border. So he fixed up the fortress, parked his army there, and waited for orders.
Sure enough, the Mongols and the Crusaders went to war in 1287, and a few years later an army of Asia's most hardened badasses tried to attack Tblisi. Linhart was crazy-prepared for this, however, and had secured the love of the locals, who sheltered in the castle rather than doing the usual peasant response to an army, which was usually along the lines of dying.
The Mongols stormed the fortress. They lost almost their entire force, while Linhart's own were almost untouched.
At the turn of the century, 1300, they tried again, with an army twice the size. Linhart sent them running again. This cycle repeated in 1302, 1304 (the Mongols left before fighting, though the captain with an ounce of self-preservation was beheaded), 1308, and 1310. Each and every time, Tblisi weathered the onslaught, and Linhart Ruppel crushed the Invaders, primarily by massing hundreds of spearmen to bottle up the Mongol horse and then crushing them with heavy cavalry. Between hilariously one-sided curbstomps with the walls of his castle as the curb, Ruppel organized the citizenry, recruited every single mercenary he could find, and smuggled in supplies past Mongol territory in the Caspian and Black seas to feed his garrison and bolster his defenses.
While all this was going on, Germany itself had returned to the status quo of beating the out of all and sundry, crushing the Venetians and taking Constantinople, among other things. But there was a minor crisis, as the latest Emperor, Dietrich, had died without an heir.
In 1311, Linhart Ruppel, 82, was extremely surprised to find a messenger offering him the Imperial Crown.
He ordered the man from his sight.
The only orders I received were to hold here, to the last.
Give the thing to a better man- I am a general, nothing more.
The messenger returned to crown Heinrich, a half-Hungarian leper who nonetheless was the closest remaining tie to the House of Josef. By the time he returned, Linhart had died in his sleep. His men mourned his loss.

Tbilisi fell three months later.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

It's really good to see this back.

Those last few updates are fun, as usual!

[reaper101]

Before one begins to discuss the Venetian campaigns themselves, and the ramifications thereof, one must first examine the balance of forces available to each nation.
In raw numbers, the German Empire had no equal, not even among the Mongol Empire they warred with around the killing fields of Tbilisi. This, however, was largely an illusion- the vast majority of those vast numbers consisted of unblooded militia, men meant to keep the peace among the cities and towns of the Empire, perhaps to fend off bandits or raiders if need be. However, the Empire did have large cadres of professional troops, the victors of the Spanish and Geonese Wars, among them a few veterans of Albrecht's campaigns. In the late thirteenth century, the focus was still on the heavy cavalry, and with good reason- the first uses of the pike were barely out of their infancy, and those among the untested Flemish, considered a safe area for experimentation. Despite promising results in drill and war games, the German General Staff did not desire to upend a tried and tested method of war for a new and fledgling one.
So the German armies marched under banners and with equipment not much different from that of a century before- crossbowmen equipped with pavise shields performed the initial skirmishes, before falling back, and spearmen absorbed the brunt of the enemy charge before a second line of infantry- now typically the uniquely German zweihander swordsmen- countercharged, with cavalry outflanking and hammering at the enemy, as well as cutting down the routing troops. Artillery, mostly mangonels, played a minor role in breaking up enemy formations, but the age of gunpowder would not come for long years.
What had changed since the days of Albrecht was the scale of those armies. With the resources of the better part of a continent to draw on, including valuable trade in gold and cotton and silk from Egypt and a virtual monopoly on Mediterranean and Baltic trade, the Empire could muster massive numbers of professional soldiers in a relatively short period, and it had the money to do so nearly continuously- military expenditures were only tied now to the time it took to train them men, not the money needed to keep them paid and fed as in previous years.
In addition to men and gold, the Empire controlled the seas. The ports of Genoa and Marseille produced holks and cogs by the dozens, ensuring that Imperial power could destroy any pirate- or any nation that dared to challenge it. This navy had seen little action in recent years, winning effortless victories against the Aragonese and enforcing blockades as they pleased.

The Venetians, by contrast, focused on their infantry. Nearly as rich as the Empire, and with far fewer commitments, they could afford to armor a large number of their professional infantry in platemail, both archers and men-at-arms. Their archers outranged the Imperial crossbowmen thanks to their use of the Eastern compound bow, and were armored enough to serve as infantry if needed, while their actual heavy infantry were the equivalents or greaters of the feudal soldiers of the Empire when the latter dismounted. These relatively modern and well-equipped forces, however, could not make up for the twin weaknesses of the Venetian system- a lack of cavalry, and a lack of professionals. The bulk of their numbers, beyond a few professional cadres, consisted of the pavise militiamen who had fought to conquer Byzantium. While capable enough when led competently, these militia were prone to panic when their general fell- and the years of the conquering Venetian generals were long since past.
The Venetian navy had never recovered from it's battles in the Aegean, and though their war galleys were more than sufficient to police their waters, and more than experienced enough to make up for lack of numbers in a battle with most other 'navies' of the time (typically a few converted merchantmen hastily pressed into service), they were far too few to perform a fleet action.

Another sharp contrast was in the overall strategic system. The Venetians had a vast number of mercantile nobles at their calling, men who bought their ways into the armies, often arriving with their own bodyguards. While the men made up for Venice's crippling cavalry deficiency, being stout fighters, capable leaders they most certainly were not, and while the Doge ruled from Constantinople, his control over the people he ruled was tenuous at best, certainly not something capable of performing a protracted military campaign.
The German system, by contrast, was something that encouraged professionalism and aggressive applications- a series of General's Colleges across the Empire raised men and officers from the ranks (often taking those lowborn who demonstrated aptitude in for free) and put them to work, educating them in previous campaigns from all nations. Prospective generals read of the British subjugation of the Highlands to learn of coghdabead warfare and how to counter it, read the works of Eastern generals to learn strategic principles, learned logistics from Scipio Africanus and blockades from Admiral Hackett. While the Venetians squabbled for place and ranking among their own forces, the Germans had one leader, who delegated to section and company commanders as needed, his orders invested with Imperial stature. The generals themselves, the vast majority of whom owed their very place in life to the Empire, were unshakably loyal. The German strategic picture at the time was one of paved roads and highways, logistics made easy by vast sums being spent to ensure supply depots had been placed and stocked. A German soldier always knew where his next meal came from, and while it was rarely hot or good, it was still there.

Overall, with their relatively superior foot, and capable, if rare, heavy cavalry, the Venetians possessed a slight tactical advantage. But overwhelmingly, the Germans had the strategic advantage, with better logistics, more men, and far better educated (and more loyal) generals. This would prove decisive, when the heirs of Italy found themselves at war with a German ally, drawing their ire- and, in what may have simply been self-preservation on His Holiness's part, that of the Pope.

[reaper101]

Addendum: I would appreciate feedback- do you prefer the more silly parts, or the serious historical ones? Any enemies you want me to focus on in particular (some were quietly wrecked offscreen, but from what my spy networks have seen I can approximate their fate) that haven't been shown yet? Anything you want to see more of? I've got a whole campaign to choose from, here.

[reaper101]

Serious historical mode is active. Also, the names and descriptions here will change as my campaign goes on.

The governance of the Empire, like many of it's innovations, was stolen from the half-remembered glory of Rome.
As the Empire grew beyond the borders of Germany, it grew more and more difficult to maintain the territory under the aegis of the Emperor, even those such as Heinrich, Adolf, and Fritsche. To allow nobles military power again would lead to factionalization and fragmentation, a slow, sure death for the dreams of domination that they held. Letting those beyond the Imperial line fight to secure territories as distant as Egypt would encourage dissent and ambition, leading to rogue armies and wars like those that had doomed the Roman Republic. At the same time, capable commanders were desperately needed, to manage the growing Imperial Armies, or the Empire would find itself unable to fight against its myriad foes effectively.
Thus, two organizations were formed- the Divisions, and the Colleges.
The Colleges were the proving ground for young men, noble or otherwise, who wished to command. Under carefully selected tutors, these young men were taught a decent grasp of logistics, strategy, and tactics, but more important was the fanatical devotion each instilled towards the Emperor and the Empire. The Generals of this new system would prove to be the impetus for the almost absurd level of expansion demonstrated in the early late thirteenth century, the ability to allow trusted subordinates military commands worth its weight in gold. Generals, typically of lowborn birth, could be sure to receive lordships, especially of fortresses and castles, or cities captured on campaign. While the old noble core still had strength in the French, Italian, and German cities, the strongholds of the Empire were under the guiding hand of men who owed their positions, livelihoods, and very lives to the Emperor, men so fanatically loyal that there are dozens of reports of their openly destroying noble schemes.
The Divisions were the splitting of the army. Each consisting of roughly two thousand men, their numbers and composition varied according to their areas of recruitment, but each would wage campaigns as needed. New Divisions were raised as needed, and as the wealth of the Empire grew, they went from feudal in nature to permanent structures, named after their places of origin.
The number and diversity of these Divisions exploded during the Venetian Campaigns, and due to the destruction of records in the later years due to the Plague and the Mongol Wars, it is difficult to ascertain just how many there were, their places of origin, or indeed their composition, beyond general rules.

The West

Known divisions raised from the West include:
First Aragonese Division- sacked Granada under the command of Alberich von Hohenzollern. Later slated for peacekeeping duties, eventually called into service for the War of Lies under Jorg Mandorf.
Second Aragonese Division- a mixed force of mercenaries and local militia, called hastily into service under Peter Mandorf during the War of Lies.
First Iberian Division- Drew their missile troops from local Basques. Participated in the Baku Crusade under Rainald von Essen, taking heavy casualties.
Second Iberian Division- A garrison force for Pamplona, not meant for field use. Took Borgos anyway, killing the Spanish King in the process.
Third Iberian Division- A force partially composed of the Granada garrison. Took part in the Baku Crusade.
First Gallic Division- Raised for the Baku Crusade, primarily religious fanatics and garrison troops from the south of France.


The Flemish
The Flemish territories, though small in number and only consisting of a pair of provinces, nevertheless were able to levy a full Division via extensive recruitment of pikemen and English longbow mercenaries.
First Flemish Division- Formed under Athalwolf Vinke as an experiment in massed pike tactics, participated in the Second Polish War and the Baku Crusade.
Second Flemish Division- Formed during the War of Lies as a desperation measure, typically split between Bruges and Antwerp. Primarily pikemen with a leavening of heavy cavalry.

The Alpine
The Alps, as always, provided massive numbers of troops for the Empire. Year after year new companies were raised, put together, and assigned generals to go fight and die in the East. In time, Swiss halberds and pikes grew to dominate the recruitment rolls, proving their superiority on every battlefield.
Known divisions include:
Probst's Division- under Welf Probst, a primarily mercenary army, the first to furnish Swiss mercenaries. Took heavy casualties in the Baku Crusade.
1st-4th Alpine Divisions- utilized in the Venetian War. Took heavy casualties, and were disbanded or put to garrison duties thereafter.
Fifth Alpine Division- under Fritsche Rogga, held the line in France.
First Swabian- led by Joachim Wittenwiller of Salzburg. Included very few Swabians, but otherwise little of note. Took part in Baku Crusade.

The Eastern

Known Divisions:
First Turk Division- Under Heinrich von Prag, took part in the Baku Crusade. Made extensive use of horse and foot archers.
First Egyptian Division- a more traditional Division, raised from Gaza. Took part in the Arabian campaigns.

The Northern

Known divisions:
First Viking Division, took part in the first Polish War. Took Konigsberg.
Second Viking Division- Raised for the Baku Crusade. Little of note, took severe casualties.
Third Viking Division- Under Herrmann Frederiks, attempted to stymie the Norwegian invasion during the War of Lies, and was virtually annihilated.

The German

Known divisions:
The Battered Bastards- led by Albert the Bastard, last of the Josef dynasty, took part in the first Polish War, taking Wroclaw. Served in the Second Polish War as well, taking Halych with ease before being ordered south for the Cuman Pacification. Later inherited by Otto von Munchen.
First Prussian Division- a largely mercenary force originally led by Lothar Borg, took part in the Baku Crusade. Taken over by Albert Josef after Lothar's death.
Second Prussian Division- led by Arnoldt von Leuven, participated in the Baku Crusade. Famously held off a veteran Mongol army.
Third Prussian- led by Andreas von Passau. A classical Division.
First German- Led by Hensel Scherer. Took heavy casualties at Baku. Regained numbers with local mercenaries.


The Balkan

The Army of Glory- Raised by Heinrich VI for his 'Crusade'. Annihilated by Batublai.
First Basi Division- Raised to defeat Cumans. Annihilated, though did kill Batublai. Notable for quantity of elite heavy cavalry. Remnant companies integrated into local garrisons and participated in the Hungarian Front during the War of Lies.
First Magyar Division- Raised by Cuntz Munster for the Baku Crusade. Took heavy casualties, remaining foot amalgamated into the Second Prussian and cavalry into the First Prussian.
First Slavic- rag-tag force thrown together from remaining Crusaders and mercenaries to defend against Hungarian invasion.
New Imperial Model Division- a testbed of the halberd-and-shot concept. Took part in the Baku Crusade, successfully seizing the fortress.
First Anatolian- formed under Egbart Rogga. Annihilated in the Baku Crusade, survivors amalgamated into the First Slavic.

[Alwyn]

Addendum: I would appreciate feedback- do you prefer the more silly parts, or the serious historical ones? Any enemies you want me to focus on in particular (some were quietly wrecked offscreen, but from what my spy networks have seen I can approximate their fate) that haven't been shown yet? Anything you want to see more of? I've got a whole campaign to choose from, here.

Your writing is good and I like the way that you're analysing the strengths of different nations. I enjoy TV series which vary, with lighter/silly and darker/serious tones in different episodes. An AAR which is all-light or all-serious can work well, but I think some sort of variety helps to keep readers interested.

You asked what people would like to see more of. I'd like to see more zoomed-in detail about the crucial moments, the turning points, the surprises, the battles which you felt that you had win - that sort of thing. In your first chapter, for example, you cover a lot of different events. This is not necessarily a bad thing - as action can build tension and create momentum. There is, perhaps, the opportunity to say a bit more about whichever event(s) you see as the most exciting or important ones.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

Alwyn has beaten me to it : I see no reason why an AAR has to be either all silly or all serious. Especially since you've been telling us little stories from within a campaign, rather than setting out the whole grand sweep of a campaign. I think you should just pick whichever tone suits the particular story you're trying to tell, and not worry too much about whether a different story later in the campaign might want a different tone.

(Alwyn's other advice is good, too. But then, Alwyn's advice always is good...)

[reaper101]

This one just happened...and I'm trying to focus on the small bits.

The Death of the Piasts

The Battle of Malopolska was the signal of a revolution in warfare, and one distinctly German in character.
For nearly a generation, the Flemish (a small territory consisting of a pair of provinces ruled from Antwerp and Bruges) had trained in the use of the pike, alone out of all their contemporaries in the Empire. In the marshy ground, such a weapon was more than capable of proving devastating to the mounted horsemen preferred by European and Eastern powers the world over, but it had yet to be tested in open combat. Upon the organization of the Imperial military into Divisions, a man named Athalwolf Vinke saw the potential in the pike. A noble, the ruler of the province of Lorraine, he nonetheless was an innovator. Using the considerable capital available to him, he purchased the services of numerous English longbow companies, to complement the weakness of the pike formations to ranged weapons, and set German zweihander infantry and feudal cavalry to train alongside their more foreign counterparts. The long periods of drill served them well, for the Flemish Division was soon called to war. Initially slated for the Eastern Frontier to fight the Mongols, a temporary ceasefire saw them instead shunted to the Polish Front, just in time for the Second Polish War to flare up. Athalwolf and his men were told to take the Polish capitol of Krakow, by siege or by storm, and he put the city to siege as ordered.
However, in 1327, the Polish Senior Duke Stoigniew returned from a Crusade against the Portugese, and ordered an attack on the Imperial Division. Faced with the prospect of being caught between two armies, Athalwolf pulled his men back and prepared for a field battle.

Athalwolf set his men beyond the foot of a great hill, out of shot from any on it, and arranged his men with his archers and swordsmen in the centre, and the companies of pike split two to each side. His heavy cavalry were also split, four companies apiece, with his right flank anchoring itself in a small village (which has gone unnamed in historical records). His longbowmen, experienced in the matters of war, laid stakes to defend their position from any charge that might come.
Stoigniew had the high ground, but his crossbowmen, militia with weapons of poor quality, could not outrange the yew longbows of the mercenaries. They and the strelzcy mounted crossbowmen died in droves died in droves, as an Imperial cavalry company routed them from the field. At the sight of this, the rest of the Senior Duke's forces lost all cohesion, and charged down the slope despite all his urging. Being composed of civilian militia, none were brave enough to approach the bowline, which continued to loose bodkins and broadheads at the Polish, but instead turned on the Flemish companies at the flanks. The Dutch pikes found the militiamen easy prey as Imperial cavalry acted as a hammer to their anvil. Stoigniew ran his bodyguard towards his left (the German right) where the majority of his remaining men were concentrated, fighting desperately as the Imperial cavalry there flocked to his banner, eager to bring him down. The Imperial companies were mauled, for the Poles produced the finest armored cavalry in the world, and though the Senior Duke died, his men shattered the strength of three of the cavalry companies on the right flank, requiring Athalwolf's personal intervention.
On the German left, a fresh army, Krakow's garrison, was rapidly approaching. Unlike Stoigniew's forces, which were already nearly destroyed, this army boasted three companies of heavy cavalry, two of them the feared Polish Knights.
Perhaps the garrison had expected to find Athalwolf in disarray, setting out to pursue Stoigniew's fleeing army. They did not expect the Imperials to dress ranks and return to their positions.
The Polish cavalry, facing the German left, charged forward. One company of knights and a company of armored merchants were drawn off by the cavalry of the Germans, but a full company of Polish Knights, led by the captain of the garrison, made it through, seeing the unprotected infantry of the Flemish pikemen, out of their usual static formation.
Infantry never could defeat cavalry in a straight fight, not if the cavalry had the chance to charge. Faced with an onrushing force of the finest heavy knights in Europe, the Flemish demonstrated their complete and utter ignorance of three hundred years of orthodoxy. They dug their heels in, leveled their pikes, and screamed defiance as the Poles thundered down on them. Pikes snapped under the weight, and men were hurled off their feet by the force of the collision, but the Flemish line held, at the cost of three dozen lives. As the remaining Imperial cavalry and the swordsmen of the center charged forth, the Polish garrison army broke and ran, harried all the way by the horsemen.
From the count of the dead, Athalwolf and his men had lost 713 of the 2,319 they had brought to the field. This paled against the losses of the enemy, which amounted to 3,797 out of an estimated force of 4,100. For the first time in history, foot had triumphed over mounted men in a head-to-head fight. The men of the Flemish company that had held off the assault were rewarded handsomely, and their officers raised to knighthoods.

[Alwyn]

Nicely done! From the start, I wanted to know about this military revolution. I enjoy the development of technology, including new units, and you use this feature well here. I like the way that the ending of this chapter returns to the theme of the beginning, showing the consequences of this revolution in warfare. Knights are fearsome, but now even knights have something to fear.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

That's nicely done! I particularly liked the way you told us that "Infantry could never defeat cavalry in a straight fight..." and then showed us how infantry could do exactly that.

[reaper101]

The Holy Roman Empire was beyond massive- from it's capitol in Frankfurt it stretched from southern Spain to Kermanshah, from Finland to Egypt. It was immeasurably wealthy, boasting countless soldiers, whose armies even stymied the Mongol hordes when they clashed. It was acknowledged as an entity virtually free of Papal influence, no longer dependent on the Christ on Earth for validation.
Thus, it was surprising to all that a nation such as the Cumans came to stymie -and indeed, defeat- the Empire.
The first was Heinrich VI. Born of a Hungarian father who had married into the Josef dynasty, when the newly crowned Dietrich II was murdered in the streets of Constantinople, and Linhart Ruppel rejected the crown, the sickly young man found himself Emperor. Cursed with leprosy since a young age, Heinrich nevertheless performed his duties diligently, if with an increasingly less sound body. Over the years, he delegated more and more to his councilors, knowing the disease which cursed him would soon kill him.
In 1322, the Cumans attacked a German noble and his bodyguard as he traveled to take up a governorship in Brasov, claiming he had violated their borders. Heinrich gathered what forces he could- chiefly Croats and Bulgars, with Magyar cavalry and a core of German cavalry and infantry- and marched north from Targoviste, eager to remove the annoyance the province-sized nation of 'steppe savages' would prove, and cement his shaky claim to the throne.

###

"They underestimate us," Batublai said coldly, as he observed the antics of the German 'army' below. A rabble, numerous though they were. By contrast, his men were perfectly still, knowing their tasks and positions instinctively. The veterans of long campaigns, they had fought the Russians, the Mongols, the Byzantines and the Venetians, bowing their heads only to the last. And now the Venetians were torn asunder, trapped in the south of Greece last he had heard. No matter. Their very presence meant the most dangerous of the Germans were elsewhere.
He nodded, waved a hand, and his men nocked arrows to bowstrings.
Another gesture, and death whistled down the hill to the tune of shafts, followed soon by the thunder of hooves as the Khagan heavy cavalry followed him at a charge.

###

Heinrich's death provoked no small alarm amongst the German Empire, even as the aging Gottfried Tepl assumed power. The Cumans had been assumed to be similar to most of the Empire's past foes, favoring numbers and savagery over discipline and formations, the German specialty. The truth was that the Cumans were, man for man, the hardiest warriors in the world. The pagan soldiers favored archery tactics, and though their army was small, even the peasant foot were veterans of countless campaigns. Even in an incompetent's hands such a force would be deadly. Under the banner of a hardened soldier such as Batublai of the Kirghiz, they were a terror.
With the Venetians penned up in southern Greece, more forces were freed for retaliation against the Cumans. It was still believed that a professional German force could crush the smaller Cuman army, and with the death of the Emperor to avenge, the finest feudal cavalry available flocked to the banners of Carl von Mahren's banners in central Greece. In 1332, they marched to the Cuman fortress of Iasi, to encounter Batublai and his army.

###

The arrows that had brought down his fellows did not matter. The heavy cavalry that were tearing them apart, even if most were dead on both sides, did not matter. What mattered was that Batublai was dead.
But why weren't they fleeing? All other armies broke and ran when their general fell, it was a fact. Why weren't they--
Thunk.
Carl von Mahren toppled from his saddle, an arrowshaft sticking from his eyeslit. The last remnants of his army, tattered companies of foot and bowmen, broke and ran.

###

Though Mahren's army was virtually annihilated, taking with it some of the most experienced cavalry in the western hemisphere, it served a purpose. With the destruction of the retaliation army came the death of Batublai, cut down in his struggle against the German cavalry, and the near-annihilation of the Khazan heavy cavalry veterans who had crushed the German foot during the battle. Altogether, a third of the Cuman army was lost, and all of these men were utterly irreplaceable- decades of losses to the Mongols and constant warfare had drained the Cuman treasury to nearly nothing long before the war with the Empire came, and in any case any new men would take far too long to attain the same level of experience as those killed. This was problematic, as the Empire now had a third army to bring to the field. Led by Albert Josef the Bastard, Slayer of Poles, Conqueror of Halych.
It is said before the battle, the pious general gave a memorable speech, exhorting his men to crush the pagans that had bled the Empire so dearly, and to fight with all the chivalry and grace the Empire demanded of it's soldiers.

###

" THESE POINTY-HAT WEARING BASTARDS. CHAAAAARRRGGGGE!"
Twelve hundred spearmen and six hundred heavy infantry broke into a run, hurtling uphill as Albert screamed a variety of curses that brought back memories of recruit training in all the worst ways. Arrows didn't stop them, cavalry charges didn't stop them, Cuman infantry didn't stop them. None of it compared to the instinctive terror instilled by the nightmarish memories of Basic.

###

Sadly, the recordings of this speech are lost to time. However, it must have been truly inspirational, for despite holding the high ground and having a strong core of veterans still remaining, the Cuman force was annihilated utterly.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

You know, I've never quite believed any of the stories about lengthy and beautiful speeches inspiring the troops before battles. I mean, standing in the open air, how many of the troops can even hear them? Your version seems much more plausible!

I liked the explanation of how the first battle effectively caused the defeat of the Cumans in the second, even though Mahren's army was thoroughly defeated.

[reaper101]

The Mongols. The only Empire to rival the German in the conquest of Europe and Asia. With their swift and merciless steppe archers and heavy cavalry, they crushed almost all opposition. The German Empire could defeat them when fortified, as Linhart Ruppel's examples at Tbilisi showed, but the armies of the reborn Rome were untested against a threat of their scale and skill.
Then came the Baku Crusade, and all that changed.

First Stage
The Crusade, the brainchild of Bernhart Tallhoffer the Chivalrous, the newest Emperor, was meant to advance the armies of Christendom to the Caspian Sea, dealing with any and all Mongol forces along the way. It was also seen as a chance to bloody the various Divisions of the Army that had not seen combat since the time of Fritsche, as the Poles were largely a spent force and the threat of the Cumans had been extinguished. In 1333, the Pope agreed, and sent forth the formal announcement.
Almost immediately, several Divisions joined the Crusade.
Athalwolf Vinke and his Flemish and English pike-and-shot formations. Welf Probst and his Swiss mercenaries. Heinrich von Prag and the horse archers of the East. Those three, veteran formations all, were the first. But others followed.
Andreas von Passau and the Norse Division, Gerhard von Bayern and the Granada Division, Rainald von Essen and his Basque soldiers backed by their own longbowmen. Otto Becker and French mercenaries, Harold der Bartige and the Swabians, Egbart Rogga and a formation of Anatolian cavalry, Joachim Wittenwiler and the garrisons of Bordeaux and Angers. By 1334, all of these varied forces were on the move.
And still others. Engelbert der Einaugige and a mauled force of Greeks and Balkans. Hensel der Tirol and his mixed companies of halberdiers and handgunners. Hensel Scherer and the forces of Northern Germany, as well as Tancred von Steiermark and his force of Norse mercenaries. Arnoldt von Leuven and Teutonic auxiliaries. Lothar Borg and his German mercenaries and knights. Cuntz Munster and an army of Magyars and Croats.
In all, sixteen full armies, some making up the numbers with Crusaders and pilgrims as they went.

This was no idle feat- it was considered fully necessary for a successful campaign- the best way to fight the Mongols, it was thought, was to bury them in bodies, and the heartland of Germany produced far, far more people than the cold steppes and harsh deserts the Mongols made home. This was backed up as the Crusaders began to fight Mongol armies, and even when outnumbering the enemy greatly, still suffered horrendous casualties. It was a commonly accepted axiom that no one Division could engage a full Mongol field army and hope to survive- victory lay in surrounding them and the use of overwhelming numbers.

The Victory of the Urals
Arnoldt von Leuven proved them wrong.
An unassuming and unimaginative general, the young noble had engaged in brief battles with Novgorod (before the assassination of their Knyaz Roman thrust them into civil war) and had eagerly answered the call to Crusade. His army was battered, primarily cavalry with a strong infantry arm, all from the former Polish citadel of Thorn. Altogether, barely more than a thousand men, and not the best troops of the Empire. Hence, when a Mongol field army- veterans, led by a capable general and outnumbering Leuven two-to-one- attacked, all hope seemed lost.
Leuven acted quickly. He placed his men on a hill overlooking the battlefield, where his few pavise crossbowmen could have free reign, and backed them with his few spears in schiltroms. The heavy infantry formed the right flank, primarily knights but with a few companies of Men-at-arms. These were backed by his heavy cavalry, while his left flank was held by the Crusader medium cavalry.
The vanguard of the Mongol force was almost entirely infantry, with only a single company of their light cavalry. Leuven's cavalry hit them like a thunderbolt, the young general leading the charge personally. Despite being veterans, the sheer force of seven companies of cavalry could not be held back, and the Mongol vanguard perished almost to a man as Leuven's infantry dealt the finishing blow, nearly eight hundred dead.
The main body of the Mongols, almost all horse or foot archers, came after, having been delayed. Led by Ogadai of the Kharlugh, they began to move against the German lines. However, the German crossbows reaped a bloody toll of the Mongol horse archers, and when the time came Leuven's infantry rolled back down the hill, crushing the few companies of Eastern spearmen that served as the main body's infantry and moving on to the foot archers. Leuven brought down Ogadai himself, and that, as much as anything, spelled the end for the Mongols, with the medium and heavy cavalry of the Germans having ridden down their horse archers and their infantry fleeing.
Leuven lost nearly a third of his force, mostly Crusaders and dead feudal cavalry, but his dregs of the Imperial Army had utterly destroyed the Mongol force.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

Another unexpected outcome.

I think that was a very effective way to write this - does it reflect your own expectations as you played? I mean, did you think Leuven's army was doomed (either because it wasn't that good, or because it wasn't big enough)? Or was this how you expected the battle to go?

[reaper101]

Another unexpected outcome.

I think that was a very effective way to write this - does it reflect your own expectations as you played? I mean, did you think Leuven's army was doomed (either because it wasn't that good, or because it wasn't big enough)? Or was this how you expected the battle to go?

It does largely reflect my expectations. Leuven had taken some fairly heavy casualties, only having 2 half-strength companies of pavise crossbows, no horse archers, two 3/4 strength spear companies, some very battered heavy infantry, and a mixed bag of heavy cav. In all, the worst possible group for fighting a horse-archer-heavy Mongol army, especially since none were anything special in experience. But thanks to the hill I found myself on, my heavy cav managed to charge in and catch the horse archers rather than having them run away spewing arrows at my knights. It was still a close-run thing with the charge of my infantry, but Leuven and the surviving Crusaders managed to bring down Ogadai, and that was their breaking point.

On the Mongols in general- I don't like taking chances. I hit them with twice their number at minimum, three times if that's plausible. Had a fairly big battle where Andreas von Passau, Heinrich von Prag, and Athalwolf Vinke converged and surrounded a Mongol field army. Between the three, I had a ton of archers, longbowmen, spearmen, and heavy cavalry, had them completely surrounded, and outnumbered them four to one. They still passed out about 900 casualties among the three armies before dying. So yeah, I'm wary of them. However, the Crusade has hurt their manpower quite badly and I think if I play my cards right I can get my Polish vassals and Kievan allies to pick up the slack to the north where they're still strong.

[reaper101]

The Baku Crusade continues with this little installation. Watch this post for further updates.

Caffa
The Battered Bastards, that curious mix of infantry, mercenaries, and heavy spearmen under the nominal command of Albert Josef, had taken the city of Oleshe quite some time ago- however, Albert himself had, rather unwillingly, found himself riding herd over a Crusading army after the previous lord of it, Lothar Borg, had suffered a massive coronary shortly after assisting in the city's fall. Command of the Division, and the city, fell to Otto von Munchen, a 'ranker' raised to nobility by Albert after crushing a Mongol raiding party with minimal forces. Otto, however, was not content to wait for Albert's return, and gathered a small portion of the Bastard's cavalry. The Empire's intelligence network had thoroughly infiltrated the city of Caffa to the south, and confirmed that the only garrison was an old Mongol noble, Kubla of the Tartars, and his retainers. Otto intended to exploit that weakness thoroughly.
The battle itself was simplicity itself- the spies bribed the watch enough to leave the gates unlatched, and Otto's cavalry detachment made their way in with ease. Following the scenarios first written by an old Byzantine general by the name of Skantarios, Otto sent his Magyars ranging through the city, taking the square and meeting Kubla's bodyguard with a hail of arrows. Two struck the general, a man in his sixties, but the man remained ahorse, wheeling his men to confront the Imperial heavy cavalry making their way through the streets. His bodyguard clashed with Otto's, sending men sprawling on both sides as vicious combat between the armored soldiers took place. Through it all, Kubla continued to fight. He endured a dozen sword strokes piercing his lamellar, the same count of blows from heavy maces breaking bones, and a lance through the chest before his horse was finally brought down and he was trampled. Of the dozen casualties the Imperials took during that battle, eight were Kubla's. Otto, ever the romantic when it came to the warrior culture, ordered a monument to the old soldier erected, before the city was transferred to the Empire's Kievan allies.

Other Battles
Of the Georgian Mountains
Tbilisi, the famed resting place of Linhart Ruppel the Embattled, had long been under Mongol control. With it's control of the Georgian passes from the Russian steppes, it was considered paramount that the fortress be taken. However, a large Mongol field army stood outside the fortress, which possessed it's own strong, if inexperienced, garrison. In 1339, four Divisions- Athalwolf Vinke's Flemish, Hensel Scherer's North Germans, Heinrich von Prag's Easterners, and Rainald von Essen's Basques - managed to first drive the Mongol field army- led by Abadhun of Tayichigud- away from the fortress and out of reach of any attempt of the garrison to sally, while Andreas von Passau and his Vikings besieged the fortress. In 1340, the four divisions cornered the Mongols, Heinrich having looped around a mountain chain to trap the field army between his mobile cavalry and the heavier German soldiers. What resulted was a slaughter, as the fleet Mongol horsemen dashed to and fro, trying to come to grips with enemies that outnumbered and outgunned them. The Mongol army was annihilated. Tbilisi fell shortly thereafter.
Meanwhile, Welf Probst and his mercenaries had besieged Yerevan to the south. With Tbilisi and it's protecting army destroyed, two of the four divisions- Athalwolf's and Andreas's- came south. The three Divisions stormed the city, securing a link to Kermanshah and by extension the rest of the Empire.

Of the Russian Steppes
The steppes were seen as an opportunity for some of the Crusaders passing through. While many preferred to press on to Baku, Albert Josef (then known as the Bastard) had taken command of Lothar Borg's Crusaders, and found himself joined by Cuntz Munster, leading an army of Croats and Magyars. The two agreed to leave any cities or towns of Russia alone for the moment- while held by the Mongols, they were poor and not worth the trouble of taking or defending. Instead, the pair set their sights on the fortresses of Sarkel and Tmutarakan. Both were held by scarcely a platoon's worth of men apiece, and both fell in the winter of 1342. Each army left the fortresses abandoned, as there were no significant Mongol forces in the area, and set out to surround the sole possible threat to their new conquests- an elite field army led by Mongke of the Kirghiz.
Mongke only noticed the approach of Cuntz, which had far more distance to travel, and oriented his men to face them rather than continue onward and trap Albert in Sarkel. His forces led Cuntz into a trap, where his numerous horse archers and cavalry held the high ground. A hail of arrows began to fall. However, Albert's army, even primarily made of infantry as it was, had trapped the Mongol lord against a killing ground of his own. Albert's infantry charged, heedless of the danger, across open ground while the Mongol horse were engaged with Cuntz's abattoir. Albert himself led the cavalry against Mongke and his bodyguard, hacking the warlord down where he sat on his horse, and the Mongol horse archers, normally too fast to catch, had nowhere to go save at the enemy.
Cuntz, however, did not survive the battle. Albert took charge of the man's cavalry, while the infantry joined up with Arnoldt von Leuven, coming from the north.


Baku

Baku itself quickly gained a reputation as hell on earth. The fortress was situated on a relatively narrow peninsula, in such a way that it proved impossible for more than a single army to attack at once, negating the Empire's advantages in numbers and allies easily. The garrison, all veterans of the Mongol Horde and nearly a Division's worth in strength, and commanded by Khagdu of the Urgench, would prove fierce fighters. The fortress itself, beyond the men within, was protected by a double layer of curtain walls and towers equipped with heavy ballistae. With Khagdu's archers manning those walls, any assault would be met with arrows and bolts from above, and cavalry charges in the narrow streets.
Seven attempts were made on the fortress during the Crusade- by the Crusader Kingdoms, one by the Hungarians, and five by the Empire.
The first attempt was undertaken by Egbart Rogga's Anatolians, in 1340, the same year of the battle of Tbilisi. His forces, mostly Alani and Aldari cavalry, were utterly obliterated. The Crusaders and Hungarians made their own attempts in 1342 and 1333, and were annihilated, after which Peter der Bar took charge of the siege. His own attempt in 1345 was crushed as well. In the same year, Hensel Shcerer, Welf Probst, and Wenzel von Tirol made their own attempts. Hensel's Division was wiped out, as was Welf's (though the latter did manage to bring down Khagdu with a stray arrow). Wenzel, on the other hand, and his army of gonne-men and halberd militia, succeeded, as he had infiltrated the fortress enough to arrange for gates to be opened.
Thus ended the Baku Crusade- with nearly seven thousand German corpses outside Baku, another four thousand scattered across provinces to the north and south, and only six thousand dead Mongols in return. The Divisions were battered and beaten, far from home and in dire need of supplies.

Naturally, the very next year, the Black Plague began.

[Alwyn]

I'm enjoying your updates! Leuven's victory was impressive and Otto's encounter with Kubla is nicely done. The reference to 'an Byzantine general by the name of Skantarios' is interesting (I wondered whether that was an allusion to the famous AAR I am Skantarios or a reference to a historical general) and the monument was a nice touch.

[reaper101]

I'm enjoying your updates! Leuven's victory was impressive and Otto's encounter with Kubla is nicely done. The reference to 'an Byzantine general by the name of Skantarios' is interesting (I wondered whether that was an allusion to the famous AAR I am Skantarios or a reference to a historical general) and the monument was a nice touch.

It is a reference- I just reread the AAR, decided to revive some of his tactics.
In the reality of this AAR, there was a Skantarios in the 1000's (don't actually know due to FOW, just claiming it), who successfully beat back the Turks and carved out his own Anatolian empire for the Byzantines. However, even he couldn't beat old age, and he did eventually die, with successive Byzantine generals being less capable and more prone to error, eventually being steamrolled by the Venetians. The Byzantine Empire only remains on the islands of Rhodes and Nicosia, and both of those hate each other and have no formal ruler (rebels, but with Byzantine faction units). With no naval power they're a non-threat and thus have been left to their own devices while the Empire secures it's borders. If and when I get a warrior-king rather than the crop of administrators I currently have (I've stopped adopting as it's messed up succession), I think the islands will serve a useful purpose as a huge battle royale and/or blooding for the newest heir.

Also, updates above.

[NorseThing]

I just read and enjoyed your AAR as of now. For the rest I await! The snippets style is interesting. Will it always be in a date order or will you be back tracking a bit as you progress with the tale? I ask because you have hinted at updates to the posts -- how will I know where to read and when?

Btw --- a great read and I am interested in this. In any case I think I may be getting hooked.

[reaper101]

I just read and enjoyed your AAR as of now. For the rest I await! The snippets style is interesting. Will it always be in a date order or will you be back tracking a bit as you progress with the tale? I ask because you have hinted at updates to the posts -- how will I know where to read and when?

Btw --- a great read and I am interested in this. In any case I think I may be getting hooked.

The latest post contains the updates for the Baku Crusade, which I didn't want to spam people with. No more updates there. The post about Divisions might update from time to time, with new Divisions, but otherwise will remain static. Since it's not a major thing, your reading it isn't necessary.

I've caught up with and described a lot of what's already happened in my campaign thus far. However, I still need to cover the Polish Wars, which occurred before the Baku Crusade, so that'll probably be happening in the next few updates. Otherwise, what happens will be after 1345.

EDIT:

Oh...damn.
Let's just say after the RNG screwed me over, the game title is living up to its name. Will post some of it later on.
It involves traitorous allies, multi-front wars, desperate holding actions, plague, wrath, ruin, and people who haven't had war in over a century answering the call to arms.