Tales from the campaign

[steelbound]

I was thinking it would be nice if people would have a thread where they can tell the rest of us about their campaigns. I for one am interested in how other people play their games.

To start:


This was my first complete 2.0 game. I played it on M/M as the Danes. It took me nearly 4 weeks to finish even with auto-resolveing all my battles and was by far the longest game I played turnwise. One of things that I noticed in this game was how some of the factions that seemed destined to get killed off at the beginning of the game hung around and flourished by the end. For example the byzantines were reduced to a few provinces in greece but at some point they invaded egypt and took most of the provinces there and right as I was finishing the game they had taken most of turkey (crushing the remains of the portuguese empire there) and looking for more. The spanish did quite well for themselves even though they spent most of the game trying to secure the iberian penisula.

I started out my game by attacking the HRE. Then a quick war to grab a few provinces from poland. Peace. At this point the scots had taken all of england and northern france which caused them to be ex-communicated. Which was what I needed to take there provinces along the northern french coast and pushed the scots back into scotland. Peace with the scots. Eliminate the poles. Take on the novagrods and grab 8 provinces but they refuse peace and force me to keep a stack up there. Attack the hungarians (I'm going to try to work my way down to constanipole link that with the rest of my empire) I take Wien, Buda, Pest, Zegrab, and Beligrad but lose steam and the Hungarians won't sign peace treaty so I leave 2 stacks there. My final free stack attacks the Venetians at Venice (I want the city) and I win the city. I take Pisa from them but when they won't sign a peace treaty I give up Pisa and take that stack back to Venice.

At this point I need two provinces and also Jerusalem. So I send one stack that was watching the Hungarians down to Jerusalem and since I had to attack the milanese to take Jerusalem I timed the taking of Milan with the taking of Jerusalem. And that's the game.

One thing I learned was having just 3 empires actively at war with me almost strained my economy to the limit since I spent every single penny I earned retraining my troops. Also, even at 45 provinces I didn't feel that I was the undisputed champion.

[Dooz]

Nice man! That is one warped historical alternative though, awesome.

I too, like seemingly a whole bunch of folks here, have been having probably the best M2 campaign ever with this latest build. Been telling my friend about the events every few days, updating the situation. Might as well recap it here. Games being played on H/VH


1180-1121

Well folks, playing as Spain, into my first 100 years has been really something. In the beginning, there was an alliance and... and invasion. The Reconquista was afoot. King Sanchez gathered up his troops and began his invasion Muslim strongholds on the peninsula, as well as several rebel Iberians who would soon be united under his throne.

Spanish troops march on under King Sanchez' command.

To make sure the very limited resources are not stretched to a breaking point, any further than they already are, an alliance is secured with bordering Portugal. A move I know is going to hinder any future plans against them as I'm trying to run an honorable kingdom. After all, King Sanchez is a respected man, having taken Cordoba (which just happens to be right in the middle of Iberia) in a glorious Crusade which he called for personally.

City after city, castle after castle falls before the might of Spain.

And so, over a period of near 40 years of everything from light skirmishing to heavy fighting, King Sanchez had succeeded in driving the Muslims out of Iberia and expanding his Kingdom to rule the entire peninsula, except most of the western coast which was Portuguese held.

The Muslims flee Iberia for good, having been driven away by the now legendary King of Spain.






It wasn't easy. The economy was very tight all along, barely keeping a standing army while trying to build economic infrastructure when possible, a mine here, a port there. Overall things have gone quite well on the campaign trail, no real hindrances in the conquest of Iberia. There has been a bit of intrigue in the kingdom though as the king's son has been swindled out of being the rightful heir to the throne, instead the honor going to an adopted son. The would-be prince Gonzalo has taken to the campaign trail with his father as of late, learning the ways of war for when the time comes to expand... or take back the throne.

Elsewhere in the world, kingdoms have been flourishing, rising powers being established. France and the HRE have been expanding particularly well and now hold sizeable chunks of land in central and western Europe. The Italians have done well establishing their kingdoms too, as well as the powers in eastern Europe. To the north, Scottish clans have united and expanded southward taking more than half the island. And of course in the Middle East, powerful Muslim nations are being established, a scary sight for the Christians of Europe. To add to the threat, Constantinople has fallen to Muslim occupiers and it seems the door into Europe has been battered wide open. The Moors however for the moment seem weak and having been driven out of Iberia turn their attention to the scattered tribes of Northern Africa. Things are building up, you can feel it. No other major wars have broken out yet but with uneasy peaces and border disputes, things won't be steady for long.

[Ivniciix]

It's interesting to see an independent province in France and Turkey as late as 1121. I'm curious if they have been that way all along or were looted at some point and then left to fall to rebels.

[Fargham]

Some of the 'Independant' states are quite formidable on VH/VH

York, for instance, took a beating 4 sieges in a row from Scotland, before I snuck in immediately (Playing England) following the last to capture the city, and even then all the troops were elite - gold chevron - bastages. Even the militias were battle hardened, and the best I could do was whittle them down with my longbowmen before even attempting to siege the walls.

At 1110 in my current campaign, there are still a few neutral territories in France, as they seem to get beat on by HRE, Milan, and even Spain at times, the French have a heck of a time conquering the stray Neutrals.

Also, it seems the Crusade calls always seem to come at the time when I have just enough money to create a full stack of units. You have no idea how much it sucked to have to send Prince Henry off to Cairo while trying to fend off Scotland, HRE, France, and sometimes even the pesky Independants. To even pay for the Crusade, I usually need to sack both that city, and hopefully a neighboring one, and dwindle down the garrison such that I can make a small amount of money on the newly conquered city, just before the Muslims come back with giant stacks of angry men to take the city back.

Despite not liking the HRE in 1080, the new Pope seems to allow them to attack my settlements (Antwerp), and then has the gall to tell me not to try to take it back (or face lowered rep). Hey jerk, it wasn't but 10 years ago my Prince captured Cairo for you, now you are telling me HRE can have my lands at will? I just spent the last 10 turns getting him home!

I could see if Antwerp had been HRE at one point, but it was Indapendant when I found it, that makes it mine!

[Irishmafia2020]

Great idea for a thread, I was thinking about doing a minor AAR as well since my campaign has been so rewarding.... How do you take screen shots by the way?

[Dooz]

Great idea for a thread, I was thinking about doing a minor AAR as well since my campaign has been so rewarding.... How do you take screen shots by the way?

www.fraps.com for a screenshot program. Free and great.