IX. MAARC - Nominations

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

Nominate AARs for March's contest.
The nominated AAR must have at least 2 updates in March.

Give the following info:
Title (as link)
Game: RTW / M2TW / ETW
Mod:
Faction:
Difficulty:
Description (short):
Teaser: (optional; a short excerpt in a spoiler with max. 3 big pictures)

[Sgt.Valenzuela]

guess ill add mine here

[AAR ETW] Spains Holy War

Game: ETW
Faction: Spain
Difficulty: Hard/Hard
Description (short): Luis a ignorant King sets his eyes upon ottoman empire and to reclaim Jerusalem. However! will he live long enough to do so! And will his successor complete his crusade!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Morinzil]

I will add my AAR too:

[ETW AAR] United Provinces - Concordia res parvae crescunt
Game: ETW
Mod: None
Faction: The United Provinces
Difficulty: H/H
Description (short): Concordia res parvae crescunt, meaning Unity makes small things grow
Teaser:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Summer 1701 - The Fall of Westphalia

When the army of Hendrick van Nassau-Ouwerkerk reached the outskirts of Cologne, he decided to skip the drag of a prolonged siege; a quick victory was needed to assure the United Provinces' safety against the other German city states and the ever-present Spanish threat in the south.

The Dutch managed to gain an easy and quick victory. The bulk of Westphalia's forces were armed civilians and proved no match for the well-trained profesional Dutch army.


The two armies who are about to clash.


The brave Line infantry of the Dutch Nationale Eerste Leger waiting for battle, painted by a well-known artist.

[Lysimachos]

The Legacy of Megas Alexandros

RTW
Europa Barbarorum 1.1

Faction: Seleucid Empire (Arche Seleukeia)
Difficulty: Medium/Medium
Description:
This AAR tells the epic Saga of the offspring of Seleukos Nikator, General and friend of Alexander the Great. The descendants of this Diadoch, who has adopted the idea of a universal empire, forged through the best of west and east, struggle for the survival of their reign and strive to fulfill the Legacy of Megas Alexandros...

The focus of this AAR is to capture the protagonists' personality and motivations, rather than only report the events of a campaign.

[Yorkshireman]

THE FIGHTING 33rd - A Regiment at War.




ETW Battle AAR's
Faction: Great Britain
Battle Difficulty: Hard
Description: Follow the men of His Majesties 33rd Regiment of Foot. (West Yorkshire) as they fight their way through the bitter defeat of the American War of Independence and on to glory in the conquest of India.

[Giovi]

yeah I managed to get 2 update



If the image don't load look here
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=224699

Faction: Venice
Difficulty: H/VH
Description: Italian peninsula was in an uproar.
Italy did not exist as a political entity in the early modern period. Instead, it was divided into smaller city states and territories: this aar will follow the attempt to unify Italy under Venice power..The second chapter it is finished and the power of Venice was quickly expanding but new conflicts were on the horizon

Teaser:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Chapter 1

Venice was the most rich city in this age : a very important crossroads
for the precious oriental spices. The powerful fleet of Venice controlled the whole adriatic and eastern Mediterranean Sea the only rival power was the
republic of Ragusa.
During the early years of XV under the Doge Tommaso Mocenigo and under the Doge Francesco Foscari Venice was slowly becoming powerful in the North-East of the italian peninsula.
After the peace of 1433 the conflict between Venice and Milan restarted because of the sacks made by Milan in the Pope’s land.
This direct action of Milan in the center of Italy contrasted venician interests and then Venice allied with Florence helped the Pope.....

The war was inevitable...

Chapter 2
After the tragic defeat the Doge had to re-establish the honour of Venice in the region and
then a massive recruitment campaign was made and many mercenaries were enlisted

(wide pic)

[Junius]

I've got three updates this month, so I am going to take part in this. Good luck to everyone, and I see at least three writers whom I respect have already entered, so I may need that luck also.


Title: A Sicilian Life
Game: Medieval 2: Total War Kingdoms
Mod: Stainless Steel 6.0
Faction: Sicily
Difficulty: M/M
Description: Read the autobiography of the aging Boemundo de Taormina, a Sicilian count. It starts with his childhood in Sicily, and traces the main events of his life.
Teaser: Taken from the opening chapter.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

My life began on the singular island of Sicily, singular in it's beauty, with dusty plains, and high mountains, cool streams and shady forests, calm bays and placid lakes. It is an ancient land, one populated by myths and gods, heroes and legends. I, however, had very mundane origins. I was born to a knight who had arrived with Roger, and who had helped drive out the Saracens. In gratitude, my father, Tristan, had been granted a parcel of land, where he built his estate. It started off as just a wooden keep, the building I was born in, but eventually it was seethed in stone, and a small village sprang up around it. Sicily is hot, but fertile, and I enjoyed my early child among her famed citrus orchards. My father's land, it had belonged to a Saracen noble before him, was decorated by citrus orchards, which I loved to walk among, and pick fruit from when they were in season. However, this wonderful life, lived among the oranges and lemons, with their fresh smell in my nose, and the sun on my face, and sometimes the cool breeze through my hair, all of this was ruined by the return of my father. His horse had fallen and crushed his right leg during a skirmish with some brigands. He could never fight again, and always walked with a limp and noticeable pain for the rest of his life. At the time of his return I was six, and he seemed to want to live all that he could not now accomplish through me. I was to become a page at the estate of one of my father's comrades, a Sir Rodric. His estate was near Syracuse, on the other side of Sicily. I could not imagine leaving my orchards, the places I had grown up, but, after I turned seven, I was sent off to live the life of a knight's page. I could never forgive my father, but we were soldiers, our family, so, eventually, it would have happened anyway.

[ReD_OcToBeR]

The Ishtar Gate to Alexandria
Rome Total War
Roma Surrectum 1.5c
Seleucid Empire
Hard / Hard
Description: The struggle of survival against all corners of the known world. The AAR follows a series of great battles, generals and their rise to glory or fall to Hades in an effort to keep the Empire alive. The first posts I struggled to find my style, then after the second page I found it.

[Benz282]

Heh...might as well submit this one for March; gonna be a while before I get the real AAR out.

Title (as link): The Greco-Roman War
Game: Rome: Total War
Mod: RTR ExRM w/ Multiplayer Script
Faction: The Seleucid Empire
Difficulty: M/M (but against Humans and only autoresolving, so...really, a lot harder...)
Description (short): A series of stories following characters and events from a multiplayer campaign from the Augustus! sub-forum, using the ExRM modification. A list of the factions controlled by people (and who controls them) is in the AAR. This AAR focuses in on the war between The Seleucid Empire, The Greek City-States, and The Republic of Rome (all of whom are human factions), starting with the subjugation of Greece into the Seleucid Empire, and (eventually) ending with the fall of Rome, Antioch, Babylon, and Pergamum.

The AAR is currently in an unfinished state, but will be the sole source of my attention in the next week or so, meaning it might just end before the end of March.

[SonOfAlexander]

Title: The Epic of Caelvs Morsvs Lvminivs
Game(s): RTW Vanilla and RTW BI
Faction: N/A
Difficulty: N/A

Description: This story is a tale of a man who conquered all of Europe. He revoultionised the world and made more of a difference to the world than any other man in history, even Alexander himself. In the most recent update, Caelus is about to battle with the Hibernian tribe the Menapii, in the Battle of Lismore

[tuore]

Cold Winter's People

Game: Empire: Total War and from this update's date i am using Darthmod 0.2
Mod: None
Difficulty: Medium/Medium

Description: Russia is trying to regain glory through conquests, revolutions and colonizations.

Teaser:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

This is the rise of the Russian 18th century empire.
--------------------------------------
Few turns later, our government had problems. Small riots had spread out to a full-scale revolution!



Upper class had revolted.

Here is the battle of Moscow. We are the monarchists and they are the republicans.



Revolution was over.

---------------------------------
We had now a foothold in America, and the siege of Sweden could continue.
Pirates have been driven away...
Alexandr in the east and Lazar in the west... everything was going well.

[Zhangir]

Title: Sacrum Romanum Imperium Nationis Germanicæ
Game: E:TW
Mod: Vanila
Faction: Austria - the leading state of The Holy Roman Empire
Difficulty: Medium-Medium
Description: A very specially styled AAR, Unique in its layout, which I was planning to write well before E:TW was out. Notable for its Historical Accuracy in the sense that it tries to act to the merits of the century, very recent.
Done in the style of a XVIII century newspaper, the AAR takes us through the pages of "Die Wien Presse" as its writer, Moritz von Amerling, gradually gets caught in the clashes between the powerful families of the Ministers, as they realize the power of the word, as opposed to the power of the sword. Is in the initial stages now, but I hope is promising so far.
Teaser:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

1702 year from the Birth of Christ.
22nd of November.

People of the Holy Roman Empire! WAR is upon us!
The Sacred Roman Empire of the Nation of Germans is under threat! Our News Journal is Sad to declare, that the Prussian Kingdom, a member of our Holy Empire declared our Beloved, Wise Emperor Leopold I - unable to govern and manipulated. Moreover, the false News Journals of Berlin and Konigsberg claim that our Emperor is manipulated by his First Lord, his Lord Chief Justice and the von Starhemberg family. Basing on these fake Protestant lies, the Prussian aggressors have declared war on our peaceful Archdutchy of Austria and all the lands governed by the highly efficient and competent Philipp von Sinzendorf and his wise sovereign and Your King, his Highness Leopold von Habsburg.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Theodotos I]

Sword of Albion

Faction: Clan MacDougall
Difficulty: M/M
Description: In captivity far from his native land, Ewan MacDougall struggles against the odds of survival--and the swirling maelstrom of intrigue that surrounds the citadel of Dunscaith. . .

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Chapter XVI: “He That Hath No Sword. . .”


My hands were raw and bloody, bathed in stinging salt water as we continued to pile rocks into the sea. Many of us were stripped to the waist, our clothing cut to shreds by the elements as we formed a chain along the breakwater, rough rocks passed from man to man, jagged edges tearing into flesh. Our blood stained the rocks, washed away each night by the swelling tide.
A man had drowned in the waves the night before last, caught over-balanced by the rock he was lifting. Several among us had formed a grim pool, a lottery, gambling as to who would go next. Who would be the next to die.
The sun beat down hot upon our heads, upon our exhausted bodies. The young man beside me sagged, the stone dropping from his hands, splashing into the water below us as his knees gave way. He nearly went over the embankment, his helpless body rolling near the edge. I scrambled for him, grabbing at his garments in a frenzied attempt to stop him. A priest’s cassock, my mind processed irrelevantly as the worn fabric tore in my grasp, sending him closer to the edge.
I saw his eyes—the eyes of a man not much older than myself, saw the fear there, the uncertainty on the brink of death. I reached out my hand, myself now sprawled on the edge of the breakwater, my feet clawing for a firm hold.
My hand closed fast upon him, clutching his forearm with the desperation of a man possessed. I could hold him, but my strength was spent. I could not pull him to safety. I could not even save myself.
How long I lay there, clinging to the rocks with blood-slick hands, I know not. Probably no more than a minute, maybe not that, but it seemed like far more. Far more.
Hands upon my arms, upon my legs. I was drug backward across the rough rocks as our fellow prisoners pulled us to safety. I collapsed upon the breakwater, the limp form of the young priest in my arms. He had fainted.
Seawater, brought up from the bay, was splashed upon his gaunt face. I slapped his cheek gently, fearing for one horrible moment that our efforts had been in vain, that he had died under the stress.
His eyes fluttered open, blinking as the outside world returned to focus. They locked on my face, a startling blue-green gaze so penetrating it seemed to sink to my very soul.
His hand upon my wrist, he whispered something in Latin. A blessing, I realized. “Thank you,” he breathed. “Thank you, my friend. May God’s face shine upon you for your kindness unto his servant.”
A guard came rushing up, spear in hand. “This man saved my life,” the priest explained, rising slowly to his feet.
The man stopped, his expression softening slightly—I glimpsed something I might have taken for mercy in his eyes. He nodded.
“Get back to work as soon as you are able,” he said finally, before turning away.
Such passed for mercy. The priest smiled as the guard left, glancing over at me. “I am Father David,” he stated, clasping my raw hand in his.
“Ewan MacDougall,” I replied, our blood commingling, mixing in the painful handclasp. Brothers.
Blood brothers.
We fell to work once more, continuing as the sun rose higher into the sky, until a mighty bell sounded from the mainland, calling us from our work to the dinner prepared for us.
David moved behind me, his slight form still staggering unevenly from side to side as he navigated the breakwater.
“What type of soup shall they feed us today, Ewan?” he asked, a smile crossing his thin face. I looked at him.
“Whatever it is, I hope there is less water than yesterday,” I replied grimly. He laughed, genuine amusement twinkling in his eyes. “Agreed, brother.”
We separated as we passed by the pot of soup, the cook filling each rude wooden bowl with the allotted portion of cloudy water. I saw the priest circling at the edge of the crowd, near one of the guards. A man jostled my elbow, nearly spilling my ration of soup, and I turned, what I had observed passing instantly from my mind.
I sat down upon a log to drink my soup, looking up at the sky, overshadowed by the towering walls of Dunscaith on the cliffs above us. A symbol of the oppression that kept us here, of the power that had defeated us and brought us to this place.
I shivered and turned away, my attention focusing back on my meal.
“Ah, Ewan,” a voice said above me, “I have found you at last.”
I looked up to see Father David standing above me. I smiled, motioning for him to sit down beside me. As he did, the folds of his rough cassock parted, my eyes fastening on the glint of metal so briefly disclosed.
“What do you have there?” I asked, my curiosity aroused. He looked around for a moment, then shot a strange glance in my direction. Once again I felt as though he was reading my thoughts.
“You have a knife,” I stated unequivocally, sure of what I had seen. The look on his face only made it a certainty.
He reached out, grasping my wrist in a powerful grasp, far stronger than I would have anticipated. “You will not betray me, Ewan.”
It was then it struck me, a chill running up and down my spine. He was not asking a question. . .
I shook my head. “Where did you get it?”
Father David looked around once more, as though to see if anyone was listening. “I took it from one of the guards—not more than five minutes ago.”
“You? A priest?”
He smiled, that amused, all-knowing smile I had come to realize was characteristic of him. “Is it not written in the word of the Lord, ‘he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one’. I had no garment to part with, and no one was selling a sword. . .”

[Sgt.Valenzuela]

Total Wars: Attack of the Curry
ETW
Maratha's Confederacy
VH/H

Tarabai a young woman leader of a mighty India faction bent on ruthless slaughtering of Islam and enslaving the world. Will she be able to march on Western Europe and conquer! or will she be driven back and defeated!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[tuore]

How about the vote? It's the first of April!

[Theodotos I]

Ha, that's the joke. It's April Fool's and we're not having a competition this month.

[BubbleBoy]

Was that an april fool?