AAR - After Action Reports

[tornnight]

Please only After Action Reports (AAR) in this thread.



All other posts will be moved.

[Rusty Hammer]

Well hopefully this qualifies as an AAR, so here goes. I was looking for new challenge with TLR, so I am playing as the Danes, and I decided to grab all my generals and my army and take Wexford Ireland then give all my other territories to Germany. So currently I have just taken Wexford, and have no other regions, so hey William the Conqueror look out you got more Vikings sitting over here drinking Guiness and you're next.

[super-panda]

delete this.(my threads)

[Irishmafia2020]

@Rusty...
As a fan of the Danes, and of the Irish, I'd like to hear more about your experiment...

[Rusty Hammer]

well I'm only about 10 turns or so in as the Danes, and here is my little Viking migration.

[/IMG]

Ah look at that wee little Viking settlement, I can't remember the year but the vikings did have settlements, or rather perhaps continued raiding in northern Ireland for a time but I believe that was earlier than 1080 AD.

[Fargham]

The Year is 1126. Both King William I, and first two sons, Robert and William II are dead. Prince Henry has taken the throne. England, after a series of stunning tactical moves, has taken much of the northern coast of Europe, and all of the Isle of Britain. Both William II and Henry, being tactical masters both on and off the battlefield, have managed only 1 loss to enemies, that of the city of Antwerp to a surprise attack from the HRE, while Henry was gone on the Crusades.

William II, King of England, had taken a reserve army to liberate the city of Antwerp, as Henry rushed home from Cairo, leaving behind his crusader army in an attempt to both avoid pirates, and to hurry home to aid his elder brother with the impending war with the HRE. As King William II headed towards the city of Antwerp, the Pope called another crusade, this time, on Cordoba, in Spain. As the HRE reassigned its generals to gear up for the Crusade, or perhaps fight on another front, William took this opportunity to reclaim Antwerp before Henry returned home. With a massive army smashing through the HRE forces at Antwerp, English spies spot Hamburg nearly undefended, and William advances and quickly conquers that castle. This however, does not please the Pope, once a friend of England, he orders them Excommunicated. The world, however, notices that the Pope's words carry little weight. England has already crushed the Fatamids at Cairo, the HRE at Antwerp, and were about to knock out the Scots in a superbly orchestrated blitz attack.

Henry, at this point, had returned to England, bolstered with his new found glory of the capture of Cairo and Alexandria, recruits another small army, for a very difficult mission. The annihilation of the Scots.

The Scots had not angered the English, in fact peace reigned for nearly 30 years. However, Henry was anxious, after his return home to fight the HRE, only to find out that his brother had decimated their armies at Antwerp. Not being one to rest, Henry recruits another spy - something Henry learned in the Crusades, and will use to great impact in the next few years. His spy reports the Scots failed invasion of Ireland, and makes his move. In a scant 3 years, Henry conquers most of Scotland, leaving only a small castle in Inverness, which he will take a few years later.

England's string of success is going to cost it eventually, and it is 1126 when this fate finally arrives.

Due to the cost of Henry's private war in Scotland, and the need for a large force on the HRE border, there is scant money to hold together the veteran Crusader army in Cairo and Alexandria. Additionally, the Fatamids are yearning for Cairo to return to their hands, so they cleverly call for a Jihad on Alexandria, the wealthier of the two cities. If the English lose Alexandria, the cost of holding Cairo would become too great and they would return home.

However, at this time, William the Second no longer reigns. Henry, the youngest son, is now King of England, and has been paying very close attention to the situation in the Middle East. With the call of the Jihads, and the Excommunication still lingering, England is doomed to lose its holdings in the region. However, Henry is not the type to give in easily, and he does not fight fair.

Before Henry left for England, he gave full authority in the region to an unlikely man, a man his elder brother, the King, did not even know existed. The man, who would later become spymaster of the English Kingdom, was left in charge of the defense of the region. He had spent years tracking the movements of the Muslim kingdoms, and the moment the first Jihad army showed up, he ransacked the town of Cairo, abandoned its defense, and sent its treasures, secretly, back to England. A husk of a town was all that remained for the Fatamids to capture.

However, the combined forces now at Alexandria, veterans of years of fighting, easily crushed much larger armies from the Fatamids, Seljuks, the Abbasids, and the Moors, who brought the largest army ever under 1 faction to besiege Alexandria... 4000 troops under two generals, including the Crown Prince himself.

The tactics were amazingly simple. Open the gates to the invaders and crush them as their cavalry blocked the entrance to the city. A nasty kill zone, in each occasion, was filled with the arrows of hundreds of English longbowmen. Every time, the Muslim armies would charge into the city, they would find themselves on the wrong side of a wooden stake barricade, trapping themselves in against the pressing hordes of infantry attempting to reach the safety of the gates. In each case the bottleneck served to be the death of 10,000 muslims in less than 10 years.

England was growing extremely prideful of these successes, and the Catholic factions in Europe would not touch them, despite Excommunication. The Pope, however, did not appreciate the lack of faith, and ordered a Crusade. The crusade would be against Alexandria itself.

Facing the might of both Muslim and Catholic factions was out of the question to the very worn down English crusader army. While highly elite, many of their top units could not be retrained this far from their base in Nottinghamshire. It was with great reluctance, so it seemed at the time, to again sack the city, and leave it open for conquest.

However, the English spymaster was much smarter than he seemed. The conquering army, perhaps seeing their luck turning, would soon realize that they had made a fatal error.

The Syrians, the slowest to raise an army to join the Jihad, were welcomed strangely, by the now mixed Catholic and Muslim citizens. Many of whom did not see the Syrians as liberators, but invaders. The approaching hordes of Catholic Crusaders would then pin a giant Syrian army within the walls for many years. But why is that significant?

The still rather large mix of English militia and elite crusaders was still at large. The force was expensive to maintain, but at the same time, years of punishing the muslims at the walls of Alexandria had left all of the governments nearly bankrupt, and their cities undefended (for the most part)

The Syrians, in addition to having taken a city on the verge of Crusader invasion, also failed to notice the change in English policy. This new army was not led by a Prince on a Crusade, it was led by a spy, and they were simply out to cause as much chaos as possible. They also did not seem intent to stay put as they had before.

Jerusalem fell in 1130, with Damascus and Tyrus shortly after. Each time the spymaster would slip inside the city walls, bribe the guards to open the gates, and let the English in. The army would rush in, sack the town, tear down the buildings for whatever valuables could be salvaged, and leave before the locale Syrian defenders could rush to their rescue.

By 1135, the English army had sacked every town in the Holy Land, including Antioch. Only the fortress at Acre had been left untouched, its defenses strong enough to be not worth its cost in lives.

Strange again, some towns, though left defenseless, did not revolt against the new English governments. Jerusalem in fact, which was left mostly intact, began training its own militia units, loyal to the English crown.

The Syrians, badly bruised and battered, have little to take back the defenseless towns, risking loosing Acre in trade does not seem worth it. The English, on the other hand, have two options:

Risk the deserts of the Middle East to invade the rich lands of the Abbasids and beyond, or turn their sites closer to home, to the slow march to England.

The English spymaster, still young in spirit, grins as he heads down the dusty road from Antioch. He is taking the western road. Short term, he has his eyes on Iconium and Nicea, in Seljuk hands. His real goal however, he thinks to himself, is the capital of the world. Constantinople. It has been in the hands of the Fatamids since the turn of the century, nearly 40 years. He thinks to himself that he is just the man to return the city to Christian rule. The Byzantines are good people he thinks... perhaps he'll simply turn the city over to them? (unless the AI is retarded and refuses it- 'Hey, want your Capital back, mr Ally? - No thanks, don't trust you... hold on to it a while longer, thx!)

He heads towards Iconium, unsure of how much the Sultanate of Rum has recovered from their devastating defeat at Alexandria many years earlier. He does hold one doubt, and that is living long enough to see his 'army' through safely to Christian lands. They have not seen a general since Henry left them more than 30 years ago, and of course, they are only a ragtag band of Billmen Militia, Spear Militia, Hobliars, and of course, the famous English Longbowmen.

[Phil Stanbridge]

That's a fantastic AAR /\! Reads like a good book.

[madscientist22]

Great AAR, can't wait for the next installation!

Edit:

Please only After Action Reports (AAR) in this thread
All other posts will be moved.

Uh, does that include comments on the AAR? If so, oops...

[tornnight]

No worries. Eventually I'll clean out comment types and leave the meaty posts. I also need to consolidate other AARs that have been posted in the past.

[Rinion]

Hello!

This is going to be my first AAR, and my first post on TWCenter.

I was looking for a mod which had a longer campaign than the original 250 turns? Then I found TLR, which I love to play.

This AAR is going to be about Venice. I already played, which makes it an AAR, though, when I'm done writing my first part(The story that I've already played.), I'm going to give an in-depth report of the continuing game.

((I'm going to head into M2 to catch some screenshots.))

How should I start? Hmm... I'll just put up some of my pictures and explain while doing so.

Overview



Here's the overview, it seems like I'm almost halfways, but it's the last part that uses most turns.
I don't convert my castles, I'd rather just have many places to recruit from

Financial



I put this up to show that I've focused my income on farming, taxes are too troublesome, because of the high amount of castles, and the extra Public Order Buildings you have to build. Farming makes it easier to tech, and easier to train the stupid governors.

The Pope

No picture here ^^

Currently, the pope is Venexian, because, there are like only 3 peoples with Cardinals, that's me Spain and Hungary I think... So, I'm hoping to control the Pope for the rest of the game.

Diplomacy



My main friends are HRE, Spain and Milan. I asked England for an alliance with no reason... But it doesn't matter.
I keep marrying HRE's daughters... When I wage war, I kinda just become really good friends with Spain... And Milan is just standing right beside me, cheering for me! Dunno why I guess they're bored.

The Italian Campaign!



This is about where I started out. I held Zara aswell, but that picture comes in later

My first campaign was against Bologna, quite successful. It was against the filthy Rebels. Not long after, I jumped on Pisa and Genoa, but before that...



So everyone knows I started out with Zara and Venice. Before I tok Pisa and Genoa, I just picked up Zagreb, which Hungary had earlier controlled with only 1 general, the rebel kicked him out ^^



So, my only real war I've had was against Sicily. But before that, I picked up these two islands.

Saint John's



From the beginning of the game, I had these bastards with me, and I still have ^^ Vital in my war against Sicily, as the Cavalry I get is devastating. It started even before the first crusade against Cordoba, which I forgot to tell about(Coming right after this chapter). Suddenly, these knights wanted to have a small chapel house in Venice, few years later, another one in Bologna. After the war, I gained a major chapter house in Venice, and a small one in Reggio.

Crusade Towards Cordoba

A brief moment, I just ran down with an half dead army, took the city and ran back up

1st Italian Wars

Venexia Vs. Sicily

It started with me losing Spoleto.





I answered with taking Reggio, which was a heavy fortified castle, with nice units in it. This became a crucial event in the war, as they massed armored swordsmen and seargants against my militia. Taking Reggio gave me the upper hand in this war.

Following, I tok back my city, Spoleto, along with their fortifications in Greece, which you can see on the first picture in the east.

After some other bloody battles, I had managed to take Palermo, their Capital.

And a long long time after that, I finished them off. I had 2 Cease Hostilities events from the pope, which wasn't any fun... But I didn't ignore the orders, I just waited... So I finished them off. Having all of Italy united, except Milan and Rome. Not bad

Crusades in Egypt

Then the pope called for an crusade to Cairo... I answered, and stopped by in Crete\Iraklion.



They had lots of peasants, fun to fight.



The crusade tok me deep into the Egyptian territory, no not really, I just had to take Cairo, that's it. I wasn't satisfied with only Cairo, and therefore asked for an crusade on Alexandria. I joined that crusade aswell, but managed to cancel it by taking the city with an Non-Crusade army ^^



And this is where I am right now. This ends my first poorly written AAR. This kinda just covers the tactical part of the game, but I didn't want to go in-depth with my unit strategy and fighting strategies, as I believe everyone here can win a decent fight better than myself >.<

[super-panda]

to be deleted.

[Darkarbiter]

Heh didn't notice this thread till now
Imperator de Basileia Ton Romaion-A "The long road" M2tw AAR
First of all a few comments. I did a Spanish AAR quite a few months ago on anno domini 0.92 and then my computer crashed. After trying out the latest
version of anno domini I was disappointed with the number of bugs, lag of continued developement and the incredibly frustrating turn time. I've found a mod that is epic and doesn't have a frustratingly long turn time and I'm still pretty impressed by everything so I was inspired to write an AAR.
I will be playing the Medieval Eastern Roman Empire of Byzantium on medium/medium.
Rules and general guidelines
-Roleplay lots
-No cheating or reloading
-If your winning too much do something stupid (although from the looks of it I don't think I'm gonna have to be doing that too much with this mod)
-In general fight out battles... don't look at things too tacticly. If they're islamic there can only be war (and temporary peace)...
if they're Orthodox or Catholic then weigh out the situation but favour Orthodox.
-Most important of all... don't stick to the game if you don't feel like it... just because someone has died doesn't mean some photo editing can't fix it
-The Byzantines are patriotic... do not let the enemy take one of your cities... do not allow any nearby orthodox towns to become Catholic or Islamic!
-Picture before text ALLWAYS. It looks much better. *Picture of fight*
"Our men attack the castle"
I prefer people to evaluate things for themselves then see what I have to say about it. This is mainly refering to battles.
-No Adoptions
-Prefer not using mercs. ESPECIALLY ones of another religion.
-No warning 56k thumbnail crap... I really hate having to open a new tab just to look at stuff

Introduction:

Imperator Alexius is a man of effeciancy and battle. He is neither particuly bloodlusty or agressive nor peaceful and empathic. Usually weighing things out. That being said... although he is intelligent on the field of battle he is neither a very good trader or governer. Battle however is his expertise.
He is allways talking to the men and his officers about tactics and what the current state of the army is. If there is a chance where he can strike the enemy whene they are weak he will take it. He does not concider such situations as cowardly.

That being said the empires borders are not exactly expanding at the moment. However Imperator Alexius has sworn that he will retake Asia Minor before he dies... it is rather unlikely but every man has his dreams. He hates the turks most out of anything in this world. Claiming they have corrupted the good people who used to be part of the empire.



Prince Adronicus is very much like his father, who he greatly respects. He however prefers governing to the field of battle much to his fathers
dissapointment. Because of this and also because he sometimes has a few too many to drink the feeling of respect is not allways mutual. Still things recently have been rather good although I cannot say it has allways been that way. Andronicus is just as religous as his father. He wishes that the empire were larger but he fails to do anything about it. Sometimes when Alexius is in need of another general he will ask Adronicus but Andronicus will reject his offer and go back to governing a town or province. I think his father may be slightly unsure of whether he is the best option for the crown.


Isaac Comnenus is a noteable brother of Alexius who Alexius usually gets to command his armies if he does not. He is quite talented in politics,
commanding and everything in between. Isaac is a very loyal general and rarely expresses his true views on anyone. Although I do think we can trust him and that his motives are similar to ours. If it were another situation however I wouldn't want him to be on the other side. Alexius recently sometimes feels that Adronicus should be more like Isaac. Although I don't really think many members of the caught and especially not Adronicus have caught on. Adronicus can be sometimes a bit naieve.

Nikeforos Comnenus is the youngest brother. He is usually ignored by the others but he doesn't really mind. He's the most astute of them all and would have made a great trader. Although he is shaping to be a great goverener even though he has only started recently. I'm sure after he gets accustomed to the job he will make many governing innovations.


Gavriel Branas is perhaps Alexius's most trusted advisor. He gives advice on all things from where we should expand our borders to who to trust and who not to. He is disliked by Nikeforos mainly due to a rather unfortunate event that happened a while ago but very few people know about that and not even Alexius.
Gavriel Branas is usually brought along with the army to "englighten" those towns which we take or just to brighten up the army. He is a key person for
the army and he most defenitly hates catholics. Fortunately Alexius does not share this view with him. Gavriel is of Kieven descent and has recently been ushering Alexius to make an Alliance with the Kieven Rus'. Alexius will bring this issue up with us soon. Gavriel most of all hates the Sicilians.
They have recently taken Naples from us and that will not be forgotten... Alexius thinks this is a lost issue though. He believes we cannot afford a war against both the turks and the Sicilians at the same time. Gavriel however usually does not think of things praticly which Alexius is well aware of.

[Irishmafia2020]

Good start, I've been thinking of playing as the Byzantines, so I'll keep an eye on this....

[Darkarbiter]

Chapter 1:
1080:
"Now is the perfect time to strike!".
Emporer Alexius agree's to his officers comment.
"Officers send out word to gather more men... we will attack Nicea as soon as enough men are ready. Let us take back Asia Minor and show the Muslums
the power of Byzantium. In order to pay for this I will be scrapping the fleet. Since we own no overseas provinces apart from Cyprus it is hardly necassary
anymore. Should the need arise for a fleet again we can allways rebuild"
"Here here"
"It is done then. Soon we will have a sizeable army in Constatineople to attack the evil turks. I will lead our army personally"
Later that year:
A rather impatiant looking messenger burst in through the door of the house we were communing our meeting in.
"My Emperor... we have not heard from our spy in Nicea for quite some time. It would appear he has been captured or killed"
"This is most troubling... we will need to starve them out or attack them directly then. Still the plan to attack will go as planned."
1081:
A turk just entered our commune. "My master wishes to talk peace". "Peace... there can be no peace tell your master about your arm"
"I am sorry I am not very good at speaking Greek what did you mean by arm"
"Guards show this man what having one arm feels like"
I doubt that the Turkish will send another emissary for peace talks again. Certainly Alexius has shown to them that he means business.
Later in 1081:
Alexius and the council are passing their time while Alexius waits for the last of the troops to arrive for the assault.
1082:

Clearly the turks had not learned the lesson from last time. Alexius was quite enraged by this proposal. "You are threatening the might of Byzantium?
We have god on our side and the biggest army on earth. Tell your master to see that he does not send another diplomat and guards... let this man walk
home blind". Most people in the court tried not to look disgusted as to get on Alexius's good side. Alexius was not really watching anyone else however.
Later 1082: Alexius and the council are still waiting for the last men to arrive. Reports say they should be here in a week.

Emperor Alexius marches towards Nicea with his men.
"Emporer Alexius our scouts report that the enemy outnumbers us 3 to 2."
"I do not care... we shall besiege their castle anyway. If dare rally we shall fight them. If the siege continues we can allways use extra reinforcements.
Do not forget that god is on our side."
1083: I don my armour as I hear the call for arms. We march the last mile to Nicea and begin setting up trench and fort networks. So far the enemy
has not made any signs of responding apart from manning the walls. A group of Armenians approach the council and Alexius. "Emperor Alexius we are mercanaries
from Orthodox Armenia and we wish to join your fight against the Turks. We hate the Turks nearly as much as you do. For a small sum we will fight by your
side and join your army".
"Yes alright that seems fair. We can use any extra man we can get... if only to reduce losses. We will capture this City I assure you."
After 6 hours pass Alexius orders the stand down and only keeps a third of the army ready at any one time. It would appear the Turks are either waiting for
reinforcements or for us to break off the siege. I don't think Alexius will give up until the city is taken however.
Later 1083: More men from Constantineople arrive to back us up. If we were outnumbered before the odds are very close now. Either way Alexius's commanding
will get us through.
1084: The siege continues... Gavriel has arrived to convert the populace when we break through to the city.
Later 1084: The siege is still on... with no sign of Turkish reinforcements the Turkish inside are getting anxious.
1085: A messege bearer comes in and tells us that mail armour is now relatively common throughout the technologically backward Europe. We will need to be
more vigilant when fighting our foes now.
Later 1085: The turks are running quite low on food and water now. A few of them have died or given their lives away allready. We've seen a few soldiers
jump off the walls due to disease and madness. We suspect that they won't last another year of this before surrender.
1086: The turks are now on half rations and have little water left. Alexius claims their surrender is just around the corner.
I awoke at 6am to the sound of shouting. The officer from our council on duty had awoken Alexius and he said that there is much sound coming from the city.
The front gates just opened and there are now men pouring out. I quickly don my armour and get into my cavlry battalion amongst the chaos.

Only time will tell the outcome of this one. Until then I shall wait.

BTW The most updated version will be at the place I said in my sig. I'm also starting a The Long Road PBEM there if your interested.

[Ziame]

The year is 1285. Here is the story of Muslim domination. Sorry for the use of English names)

King of Denmark looked at his little kingdom and cried "I wanna moar cities!" His generals quickly captured Lubeck, Oslo, Kalmar and Uppsala. "Now it's moar fun" he said. He stationed grand garnisson in Lubeck and send diplomats to HRE, Poland, and Scotland. The 4 countries formed an union against the muslims. Moors besieged Paris, and continue to advance on England. Meanwhile, they took Cairo and are en route to Jerusalem. After the fall of Paris ( winter 1173 ) Pope called all the christiandom to defend Europe.

Coalition was formed, Scottish crusaders repelled Moor invasion from Scottish Islands (formerly now as British Islands), HRE stretched economy to its limits and send four giant armies to fight with the Moors. While they were engaged, Syria(which had previously taken whole Asia Minor, from the territories of Khwarezm to Damascus; and had taken Bizantium) signed alliance with Moors, and began advancing on Commonwealth of Poland, Lithuania and Hungary. Vien, Budapest and Iasi quickly failed under the onslaught.) Polish forces withdrew from HRE territories because they had to defend their own lands. in summer, 1146 Thorn fell into Turkish hands. (Gotta explain - whole eastern Europe Kiev, Novgorod, and so on, are taken by the Khwarizmian, who are vassals of the Syria). Frankfurt and Innsbruck fell to the Moors. Scotland (Irland is independent) is the only country free of Muslim occupation on the West. HRE signs a peace treaty - they give everything they have beside two cities Magdeburg and Stettin to the Moors. Cowards. Danish expeditionary force(three kickass armies that costed the Danish king everything) moves on to help Poland in their lonely fight. They're utterly beaten, the remains of what used to be Grand Army of Denmark watch how the barbarians from Mauretania burn Poland to the ground. In 1197 the only bastions of Christianity are: Scotland, Danmark and Grand Papal States*, the union of Papal States, Milan, Venice and Sicilian kingdoms. Grand Pope furiously declares war on the Moors and sends great army (8 kickass armies O_o) to loot, burn and convert barbarians. Christiandom starts to wake up from the apathy. Rebel armies start popping out everywhere and attacking and taking Muslim cities. They get angry and burn Reims, Caen, Paris, Poitiers, Frankfurt, Cracow, Thorn and Iasi to the ground. Rebellies are stopped. Pope's Grand Army advances in the former HRE territories. Another Danish army attacks Moors.

HRE sees opportunity of getting back their lands. They see their home is struggling for the very survival of Christianity. They beg Scotland to help. Scottish king happily agrees.

Meanwhile, the remnants of Spanish nation manage to reach Ireland. They claim it, and try to regain their nobility and riches. Scotland quickly signs an alliance with them. Scottish forces take back France, and Pope-Danish-HRE's forces take back Germany, and start to reclaim Polish lands. Syria turns on Moors. Everything seems to go our way.

Not for long. As the Turks claim Africa and then starts to move on Iberia. In the 1215 clash between Scotland and Turks ensue. Scots lose France, and England. New Spain doesn't last for long. Meanwhile, Khwarezm moves their brand new armies and crushes Pope-HRE's forces. Danish army falls back to Arhus, Denmark loses Lubeck.

The year is 1285. Turks made me an offer. I took it.

Now, I'm a vassal under Syrian protection. Whole Europe is Turk/Khwarizmian. Only Danmark survived. And new Pope struggles to save his domain. But he will fail.

And I will not. I have plenty of time to take revenge.


The list of important battles:

Battle of Cordoba: The First Iberian Coalition tries to halt Moor invasion. 5000 troops under command of King Juan bravely hold on for ten days, before Moor onslaught in the number of 15000 fanatic soldiers bring the walls down.

Battle in the Pirenees: The last remains of Spanish army incorporated into Grand French Army (7000 soldiers) face 20.000-worth of troopers.

Battle of Damascus: Battle which decided the fate of whole Asia Minor. Syrian army took down armies of allied Sultanate of Rum and Abbassids. After that, Syria claimed everything

Battle under Cairo: 10000 Moors face 5000 Egyptians and are utterly crushed by the latter. Egyptians pursue them only to be vanquished by the next army. Egypt falls after this great victory.

Roman Campaign: campaign, planned by the Italians, to take down the Pope and Papal States. Pope excomunicated them and claimed whole Italy. This way Grand Papal States were created.

Battle for Paris: French troops gathered from whole France tried to stop Moor advance. They failed and caused the city to be razed to the ground.

Battle for York: Moors, after taking down the Brits, face the fury of Scotland. They flee to Caen, and Scotland claims whole Scottish Island.

Battle for Ryazan: Battle in which Kiev's army was taken down, and Khwarezm was free to advance further.

Mongol battles: couple of battles in which Mongols where slain by the Khwarizmians.

Battle for Vien: Polish army had slain the opposition of the Polish-Hungarian union. Commonwealth of Poland, Lithuania and Hungary ensued.

Battle on the fields of Florence: new Pope's army fails to defend their homeland, Turks now hold everything but Danmark.



*when you give a couple of territories to the papacy they start expanding rapidly, though they don't attack Christians, and if you give them some city they start to hate you

Explanation: yes, it IS a weird story and it's not completely true... but it's good, isn't it?

[Zetland]

Just a Brief AAR, describing, in a conversive format, the first 20 years of my French expansion. Hope it is enjoyed. Thank you.



Oscar.







In the year of Our Lord, 1099, trouble began to cloud the sunny relationship between King Phillipe of France, and his beloved general, the Comte de Champagne. The cause of the rift was the death of the King's named regent, his younger brother, Prince Hugues.


The horse galloped through the gates of Paris, its flanks lathered from a hard ride. The rider was in no better a mood, though none of the palace staff would dare to ask him why. His glare silenced the master of the royal stable, and the servant was waved away without a word.

This rider was Guillame de Poitou, Comte de Champagne, most loyal and best loved of the King's Generals. By the looks of his face, however, he hadn't merely come to pay his respects to King Phillipe. Doors crashed back before him, and he entered the throne room like a man on a mission. His eyes met King Phillipe's as he entered, and the mild mannered king flinched somewhat at the the anger within them. Anxiously, he waved away the dignitaries about the throne, allowing Guillaume to approach.



He smiled his most disarming smile, and beckoned the Compte to sit in one of the chairs supplied for the petitioners to the throne. This was met merely with a curt shake of the head.



"What were you thinking, Phillipe?" The Compte growled. "Have you gone mad?"



The King flapped at him to moderate the volume of his voice, at the same time waving away courtiers and servants.



"No. King or no, you will hear me out, with no silencing of tongues. Why in Hell did you send your brother to Toulouse? You might as well have killed him yourself." Phillipe's eyes flashed, dark and mirrorlike with anger.



"You dare to speak to me like that?" He hissed, fury dripping out of every pore. "He was in charge of the armies. Of course he led the charge on Toulouse. I am not to blame for his death. Why do you care so much for him, anyway? In many ways, his actions bordered on treasonous..."



"Enough. You see treason where there is none, you see plots where there is harmony, and you sent him to die. No man could have survived that battle. In twenty years, he has been loyal commander, expanding the realms of your Crown, bringing new petty lordships under your leadership, and increasing your power. Why else would you keep sending him forth against foe after foe. In the course of these twenty years, he captured Marsailles and Angers, he secured your son's lands in Dijon, he hammered the bandit armies of the Eastern Alps, and smashed Bordeaux. And for what? Every time he returned, a new fiefdom for you, and asked to be allowed to go back to his lands, back to just tend his own life, you sent him off again with another goal."



"He would have stolen my son's place as King. He would have circumvented my son's birthright." Phillipe stammered, without conviction.



"You could have dealt with that differently. You didn't need to send him out to die! Are you a King or an assassin?"



"I am King, by divine mandate. You have no right to speak to me thus, questioning my judgement. To question me is to question God himself."



"Well, perhaps the Almighty made a mistake." The King crossed himself nervously at this blasphemy. "For twenty years, while you have partied here in Paris, your Brother has ruled. Your brother was a better king than you ever were. That was why you killed him. Your own spies must have told you of the wealth of spearmen in Toulouse. No man with an army that heavy in horse stood a chance."



"Silence. I am King. My daughter is Duchess of Milan. My sister is Queen of England..."



"And your brother is buried, and supping with the Almighty. I'm going now, Phillipe, back to Rheims. I will not return to the Ile, no matter how often you send for me. You will recieve your tribute as agreed, and I will live out the rest of my days as governer. By God, I'm glad I never married your daughter. You are a dangerous man have in power."



De Poitou deliberately turned his back on the King, leaving the hall in stunned silence.

[Impresario]

Nice AAR's everybody. It was real pleasure to read them.

[The Noble Lord]

Very good stuff to read!

[RKO]

Hi all !

This is not really an AAR as same quality as previous posted (I'm afraid I forgot to print the battle report) but I really wanted you to share with me my experience of TLR 2.4 (waiting for TLR 3.0 ! )


So year is 1120. The emperor, Alexius I Comnenus, has reestablished the Byzantine Empire domination on most of the Greek peninsula from Constantinople to Zara and has even conquered hardy Balkans cities including Cluj and Campulung taken over both Magyars and Kievans. He's a true conqueror, appointed by God, as it's locally said of him

Belgrade, Venice's possession, has just fallen to the might of his armies and he has now sent them on Zagreb. Besieging Zagreb is on, though it'll be tough to take it from the Venetians . Indeed, Venice's heir is besieged but his armies are very powerful and he may not wait for too long to break this siege.

East side of the Byzantine Empire are the Seljuks . From almost since Alexius I Comnenus has been sacred as the Byzantine Emperor, the Seljuks have been trying to take Constantinople and it's been tough work, really, to avoid this fall. It's now being a 40 years relentless conflict between the two factions on the ownership of this settlement and although the Byzantine armies have never been defeated in this town , there's a lot to fear that the Seljuks will call for a Jihad so that at least, and after 35 years of constant sieges with bigger armies every time, Constantinople becomes part of the islamic religion and preferably Seljuk !

Meanwhile, the Sicilians have been facing huge rebellion from their people and lost their capital city, Palermo, and their castle, Reggio. They now only rule Bari and Brindisi and Nobles court had to reluctantly accept to move the Kingdom capital to Brindisi. Has this been direct consequence of their loss of both Durazzo and Ragusa under the might of the Byzantine armies some 15 years ago ? Or Zara's, to their oldest enemy Venice ? Hard to say. Anyway, the Sicilian leaders have decided it's time for the Byzantine Empire to pay for this insult. Venice will pay later, that's for sure.

Armies have been long and well trained for this purpose, money has been spared, target has been chosen. It'll be the little isle of Kerkyra, long time possession of the Byzantines (around 1090). This settlement is of rather strategic importance for whoever wants to regain territories near the Balkans and old Greece. It's now a large town, after having been transformed from a mere wooden castle and is starting to have an interesting economic development. Money is coming in, thanks to its well developed port and market .

Obviously, it's defended by a Byzantine family member but he's rather inexperienced, young and troops are not that numerous though powerfuls and professionals.

In addition, the Byzantine Empire is under heavy attacks from the Seljuks and everybody knows they just lost two family members while defending Constantinople, known as to be the Byzantine Empire's lumbs and heart.

Here is the opportunity for the Sicilians to get back Durazzo and Ragusa ! Secretly, they prepare their attack since the Adriatic Sea is full of unbeatable Byzantine fleets. Better avoid any confrontation !

During Summer 1120, the Sicilians invade the isle of Kerkyra and besiege this little town.

Byzantine reinforcements are called but since the Seljuks attacks on Constantinople are constant, the Kievans pressure on Cluj and Campulung permanent though unpredictable and Zagreb's offensive and siege going on, their numbers are low . Furthermore, the best fleet sent on scouting around Palermo and Reggio region is late in coming back to Kerkyra and finally can't be on time for a couple of days or so . Reinforcements won't be able to cross the Adriatic and therefore Kerkyra will have to defend by itself !

That's very unfortunate since only 4 Trebizond archer units and 1 Byzantine infantry unit defend this isle. And that truly will be very unfortunate since they'll have to face... 32 units at the same time mainly made up from free company longbowmen, swordsmen mercenaries, spearmen mercenaries and peasant archers .

Something like 3600 soldiers against a mere 630 leaded by a young but fierce Byzantine general, part of the legendary Comnenus family. Seen the size of their army, the Sicilians decided they needn't any general and a mere captain would be more than enough.

This was without counting on the well known Byzantine fighting spirit ! And much luck !

It took rather long, and quite certainly too much time, to the Sicilians to decide to attack the town. It was already sunset when they started to attack and quickly there wasn't enough light for archers to fire upon their enemies from far with good accuracy. This, the Byzantine general understood it at once and quickly decided, how audacious and courageous !, to go out of the town with his bodyguard and attack as many archers as possible, the weakest troops but potentially the deadliest too. Once the gate would have been taken, it would be his infantry's job to resist as long as it could to this Sicilian wave !

Before dying in the last moments of the battle, the Byzantine general and his bodyguard killed around 450 enemies and captured some 250 others ! He thought, while dying, that if he had been a little bit more cautious if may have won this battle. But enemies were so numerous and everywhere and he was so exhausted and his bodyguard so decimated that... he finally died in his most loyal knights' arms .

Meanwhile, the Byzantine infantry was fighting like hell to stop the Sicilians entering the city . But pressure was so strong that they couldn't help going back.


So the Trebizond archers started their action. And it has been the greatest ever seen since then .


Mmmh... yes, their captain's name is Jerry but please let me keep going !


Cunningly deployed by their general, something like 20-30 meters from the gates, very close but not too close so that they weren't engaged in melee, they were waiting for the best moment. Once their brothers in arms fighting like living demons began to suffer under their enemies' pressure, they started shooting at the Sicilians. Relentlessly. Without any compassion. Without any pride for this easy death . Only caring about their own life and their brothers in arms'. They killed enemies by tens, even hundreds before running out of ammunition ! Infantry had just fallen and so timing was quite almost perfect. They fought well after their general's death, only for the pride of the Byzantine Empire. And perhaps also because the Sicilians were being killed as well as routed en masse that maybe they could save their lives ! Before routing themselves, they were only around 35 out of 630. What a pride ! And what an honor for the Byzantine Empire to have so great soldiers ! Though the Sicilians didn't accept their bravery and executed them all .

This so close victory costed something like 2500 soldiers to the Sicilians ! The Byzantine reinforcements, who hadn't been able to cross the Adriatic Sea due to their fleet's delay, easily took back the settlement from the Sicilians the next month. Thanks to the Kerkyra's defenders, and their so smart general, the Sicilian ambitions to take back Durazzo and Ragusa, were over. At least for a couple of years !


This battle is now known as 'my greatest defeat ever !'

Hope you enjoyed reading ! Unfortunately I was so amazed thinking that I could have won this extra-ordinary battle, odds being 1 against 5, that I forgot printing the final report. Too sad but this fight, which lasted around one hour, is worth its weight in gold


Tip: if you ever want to have unlimited armies on the battlefield at the same time (or at least as many as your computer enables), look for the preference file (medieval2.preference.cfg) and manually change the option unlimited_men_on_battlefield from 0 to 1

Honestly, that's awesome if you've got a good pc config !

[Big Dogg]

nice aar RKO have a rep on me