RTJ is really fun!!!

[Nemotrox]

just played the best battle i can remember (including other mods, vanilla mtw2, and mtw1 for that matter)
(i'm using rtj+regionsmod)
And i lost!!

I was Venice with an army in Milan territory (we're in war) when they attacked me. It was 3:2 odds Milan, we both had relativly the same troops of militia forces. Our pavisxbows and spearmen kept fighting in a long drawn out fight... i gotta go but i'll continue later...

Background--

its around 1130, i have small kingdom that strectches around adriatic. We cities are strong and i have a VERY good faction leader in Jerusalem --i took it during first crusade. My Doge has full chivalry, full command, 2/3 authority and 2/3 piety (he's a beast). Well, Milan attacked Germany, so i attacked Milan. This battle occured a few years into the war with grevious losses on both sides so far--the similar militia forces just destroy each other.

Battle:

Short distance from city of Milan
around 2100 strong Venice vs 1000 strong milan + 2200 strong milan reinforcements

Army Composition:

Venice: large proportions of all militia spearmen/militia, militia crossbows, militia cavalry, 1 catapult, 1 ballista
Milan: mostly milita spearmen/militia, few crossbows, no cavalry, 1 catapult

It was a rainy, in the late afternoon, when Milan advanced on my troops. The Milanese captian stopped, awaiting the 2,000 more troops to enter the fight. So I advanced enter his artillery range to begin assaulting him with my crossbows and my artillery. But due to the rainy weather and well shielded Milanese I couldnt do enough damage before the second army would outnumber me. So my merchant cavalry charged--destroying parts of their ranks. However, the spear militia routed about half the cavalry. With my cavalry--was about 300--mostly destroyed I faced one weak enemy and another fresh one. My army turned while my cavalry charged and I pelted the oncoming 2,000 with bolts.

Then the melee started and the death toll skyrocketed. My militia soldiers were far outnumbered by the Milanese so I sent my militia crossbowmen to help. They couldn't hold forever. My artillery--and the first army's which i couldn't destroy--rained down fiery rocks into the fray. My generals knights wearily had to enter the fight to reinforce the lines and keep morale up, but the Milanese general did so also. Then my cavalry was routed and the first army with still around half their troops advanced into the battle to outnumber my forces and hit my flank.

With my army begining to crack my general tried to hit their general on a charge, however it did not work and spearmen were too close for a longer fight. Eventually my forces became scattered and crossbowmen were everywhere trying to skirmish and stay alive while my main army line was finally broken. Both our forces were terribly disorganized and I was able to meet their general again. With about 200 crossbowmen I thought I could still break their morale and win if i could kill their general.

Then it happened, while my general was in melee with theirs, I saw a fire ball eerily approach. My view was at my commander and I just watched in awe at the ball hang in air... then crash and my screen filled with orange and my headphones boomed as my general and about 8 knights were engulfed in fire. Seconds later my crossbows dealt a deadly blow to their general as well. My then troops hopelessly routed.

Results--

Venice:
Around 300-400 troops survive (150 prisoners released by Milan--note I released a few hundred of theirs also in previous battles), 1500 died
Killed around 2200 enemies
Milan:
1st army- around 300-400 remain, 700 died
2nd army- around 1100-800 remain, 2200 died