My Polish campaign

[Misfratz]

I thought it might be fun to write about the progress of my Polish campaign, with irregular updates as I go along.

Polish; Early; Hard; Huge; VI unmodded

Why the Polish?

The main reason for choosing the Polish was this Wikipedia article about the Battle of Vienna in 1683. In particular:

The King of Poland ordered the attack, the cavalry attacked in four groups. One group was Austrian-German, and the other three were Polish. Over 20,000 men charged down the hills (the largest cavalry charge in history). The charge was planned and led by King of Poland Jan III Sobieski at the head of 3,000 Polish heavy lancers, the famed "Winged Hussars".

So, I read that, and I thought: "I want to lead the largest cavalry charge that I can in Medieval."

I think that the Polish have one of the best cavalry rosters in the game, adding Polish retainers [from high] and horsemen to the basic Catholic selection, and being in close proximity to Lithuanian cavalry [from high], Avar nobles [Moldavia] and Steppe cavalry [heavy and light].

My intention is to build up large enough cavalry forces so that I can play battles with 1280 cavalry charging down the enemy. Thus far the most cavalry I've had on the field at once has been about 350, which has been fun. That was a mix of Horsemen, Mounted Seargents and Lithuanian Cavalry [bribed in Lithuania].

Year 1120

A map showing the state of play is beneath the cut

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I've achieved my initial objectives which were:
1. Take the key cavalry-producing regions of Moldavia, Kiev and Volhynia.
2. Grab as much of the Baltic coast as possible - Lithuania, Prussia and Pomerania - to improve my borders and for future trading.

I've also engaged in war with the HRE, which was nearly a complete disaster, as I had to retreat from Saxony and Franconia. I'd become over-excited when the French made some easy early gains, and revolts spread on my borders. However, the HRE are falling to pieces - despite having the most men in their armies - with Catholic bandits at one time or another controlling Saxony, Franconia, Bohemia, Bavaria, Brandenburg and Swabia [not all at the same time].

You can also see that the Byzantines are being swept aside by the Turks and the Spanish look to be in trouble against the Almohads. Perhaps recreating the 1683 Battle of Vienna will become a necessity?

My plan moving forward is to judiciously take chunks out of the HRE - Franconia is next - and to build up my income so I can support a decent number of Avar Nobles that I will soon be able to build in Moldavia. Sweden and Khazar are tempting targets for income reasons, but I need to beware of spreading myself too thin, as cavalry armies are expensive to maintain.

[@ndyN]

Nice thing you did on your campaign ,but you could attack Franconia and Saxony from HRE and then move north against sweden and norvay and denmark .From then south and It would be good if you use a diplomat to bribe some rebels or HRE soldiers and atack Swabia , Bavaria or Bohemia

[Martok]

Nice, Misfratz! Yeah, the poor HRE often has a hard time holding together, so taking them out (or at least taking some of their territory) should be relatively easy.

Myself, I tend to stay out of Khazar, if only because defending it against the inevitable Horde appearance is a pain in the neck! As for recreating the Battle of Vienna, that's certainly a distinct possibility. Still, I wouldn't count the Byzantines out just yet; it's been my experience they can be surprisingly resilient at times.

If anything, I suspect the factions you may end up having to worry about are going to be the French and/or Almohads. Of course, the frogs are often a major threat, but also watch out if the Almos take out the Spanish as well! I don't usually see them be that expansionist in vanilla MTW/VI, but you probably know as well as I do that the Caliphate can be very dangerous once it gets on a roll. Either way, good luck!

[Axalon]

Hello Misfratz, this looks serious….

Anyhow, I welcome your initiative here with the MTW-campaign chronicle with open arms - or is AAR the correct term for it? Regardless, best of luck managing polish glory…

Apart from that, I think you are really missing out on some great stuff by playing just raw MTW. There are 4 different medieval-themed MTW-mods available and I would imagine that the experience offered by these are likely to be more interesting and diverse in various degrees then what you get from “just” a standard raw game. I think that you should really consider checking it out; I would be surprised if you were sorry for it (that goes to all who still plays raw MTW by the way). It is a pretty common opinion that these mods usually offer a “better” and “improved” game in various ways....

In my version, MTW-redux, there are plenty of big and special cavalry-formations available for almost all factions for instance. Technically, you should be able to create hordes of cavalry (with one faction) over 3000 men strong at the same time on the battle-map in redux (max size-settings, which you appear to use). I am uncertain if any of the other 3 mods are capable of doing something like that. Just a thought, you do whatever you want of course....

- Good luck

[Misfratz]

Axalon - Thanks for the heads up on even bigger cavalry charges with your mod. I'm sure that I will try out modded games in future, but I don't feel I've exhausted the standard version yet.

@ndyN - I would like to get through to Sweden, but I think the Danish outnumber me five heirs to four, so I may stay clear of them for the time being.

Martok - I'm sending some bishops down to Constantinople to keep an eye on that war for me. If nothing else a siege of Constantinople should delay the Turks for a long time.

[Misfratz]

Update 1129
The map is below the cut. Bavaria was also held by Catholic bandits, and it was there that my Avar nobles first saw battle. This turned out to be a river battle [across the Danube!] but my cavalry surged across the bridge in double-quick time, and it was a complete massacre.

The unit of Lithuanian cavalry I'd bribed in Lithuania is now down to 35, so I may bribe those that popped up to rebel against the Novgorods.

The HRE still have substantial armies in Burgundy, Provence and Austria, and I've now made peace with them so that I can consolidate, though I may pick off Austria if the opportunity presents itself. I think I can leave the French to wear themselves out fighting them. It would be nice to increase my money supply so I can afford more Avar nobles before they become unavailable in 1205.

I've decided against expanding further east (eg to Khazar) and I think I'll build up Lithuania and Kiev to act as a bulwark against the golden horde, and so that I can train Lithuanian cavalry and heavy steppe cavalry.

The French and Hungarians both look capable of causing me serious problems if they wanted to, though I've exchanged a large number of princesses with the Hungarians to try and keep them friendly. My hope is that the English and French won't be able to resist fighting each other, and I can then attack the French.

In the Muslim world something strange has happened to the Almohads, and the Turks have just exchanged provinces with the Byzantines. I've never attacked a really large castle like Constantinople before, so I'm not sure how easy it would be to send an army down via Bulgaria and take it before the Turks do.

Oh, yes, so far there haven't been any crusades, so I'd imagine it can't be long until one is declared...?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Martok]

The French and Hungarians both look capable of causing me serious problems if they wanted to, though I've exchanged a large number of princesses with the Hungarians to try and keep them friendly. My hope is that the English and French won't be able to resist fighting each other, and I can then attack the French.

A sound plan, although I advise keeping a very close eye on the Hungarians. They may attack you or they may not, but either way it's a good idea to deploy substantial forces along your southern border. It will keep them honest, if nothing else....and if the Huns end up invading anyway, at least then you'll be prepared.

In the Muslim world something strange has happened to the Almohads, and the Turks have just exchanged provinces with the Byzantines. I've never attacked a really large castle like Constantinople before, so I'm not sure how easy it would be to send an army down via Bulgaria and take it before the Turks do.

Now *that's* more what I'm used to seeing from the Almos! In vanilla MTW, they were dangerously aggressive, but (in a case of well-intentioned over-compensation) they were nerfed in VI. A pity for them, but at least you shouldn't have to worry about a Muslim France knocking on your western borders now.

As for attacking "Big C", you'll want artillery -- lots of artillery. And a fair number of "extra" assault troops you won't mind losing when you have to throw them into the breach(es). Taking a Citadel in the Early period is difficult, obviously, but it's definitely doable with the right army composition.

Oh, yes, so far there haven't been any crusades, so I'd imagine it can't be long until one is declared...?

Well you don't actually receive a message per se informing you that (for example) the English are Crusading to Palestine/Antioch/etc. Unless I have agents scouting the map, often times the first "notification" I'll receive that a faction has launched a Crusade is when it shows up at my border wanting permission to pass through my territory.

That being said, it might be a little while yet before you start seeing Crusades (possibly another decade or so, but maybe sooner). They tend to take a while to appear, if only because it generally takes some time for the AI to construct the necessary infrastructure (notably the Chapter Houses). The French will likely be the first to launch a Crusade your way, but I've seen the English beat them to it on occasion.

[Xerrop]

Great to see an AAR for good old Medieval.
Good luck on your campaign
and +Rep for sharing your MTW-experience.

Oh and to add my two cents: try to hold the Turks alive by fighting the Byzantines. Maybe this can help the Turks by putting pressure from their western borders. So they could focus on the more dangerous enemy: the Egyptians.
The Turks are doing well at the moment when looking on your maps, but usually they get destroyed not far in the campaign. It would be interesting to see a strong ottoman empire alive later in the campaign.

btw. how have you created these maps? They look awesome.

[Misfratz]

@Xerrop - The map was downloaded from somewhere. It might have been from totalwar.org. Sorry I can't be more helpful. Anyway, it was made by "webwings" using data from "Bushface". I had to modify it a fair bit so that I could use "fill" in MS Paint to colour in the different provinces, but I like them a lot. The computer I play on doesn't have any room for screenshots, and it's not easy to transfer them to my web-connected computer, so these maps will have to do.

[Misfratz]

Update 1140

The map is below the cut.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

My second King died in 1130, and his heir didn't inspire much in the way of confidence, being 16, so I had to move a few loyalist generals around to take control of my major armies. Consolidation has been the order of the day.

Swabia rebelled, so I was able to pick that up without going to war with anyone. Meanwhile, the HRE have clearly been paying heed to their GA goals, as the Provence/Milan switch leaves them +2 up, because of the "Holy Roman Empire" objective.

The Turks continue to make progress against the Byzantines, with the first (by my reckoning) Battle of Constantinople occuring in 1138. This the Turks lost, though they inflicted substantial casualties on the Byzantines (~third of their defending army). The Turks are also now beginning to build catapults.

However, things could rapidly go wrong for the Turks. They've already had a rebellion in Armenia, and some of their generals are wavering in their loyalty. Another defeat at the gates of Constantinople could see civil war erupt. Furthermore, their Sultan is 64 and the impending inheritance may not go smoothly. Finally, if a crusade ever did barge its way through Asia Minor, it would cause a few problems.

Looking forward to 1150 I'm happy to consolidate what is already a strong position and make a move if any of my enemies (that would be everyone else) shows a sign of weakness.

[Xerrop]

I had to modify it a fair bit so that I could use "fill" in MS Paint to colour in the different provinces, but I like them a lot. The computer I play on doesn't have any room for screenshots, and it's not easy to transfer them to my web-connected computer, so these maps will have to do.

That´s no problem, the map is better then screenshots due to the clearly represented provinces - a good work.

When making a screenshot instead, you would only be able to show one quarter of the map ...

[Misfratz]

Just to say quickly that I'm sorry there have not been any updates for a while. It's my birthday on Sunday so I've been cooking a lot of cakes - had a party last weekend - and I'm now heading up to London to see my new nephew.

Hopefully there'll be an update by the end of next week!

[Xellos_Moon]

ohh plss do continue. Im currently playing the polish right now. Not having alot of success though as the Hungarians decided to war with me. Im able to hold them off but the pope is keeping me from finishing them off. Also, we have almost the same situation. Except that i took HRE first and now they are down to only 1 province. Which is provence . Also the byzantines have lost constantinople and have instead build an impire on the steppe northern lands. They look very weak and the mongols will be coming for them.

The spanish vs almohads took a very unexpected result. The spanish got lucky and took out the almohad royal bloodline. Even though they still had a sizable force, they all became rebels. The spanish also single handedly took out the egyptians. Thier 7 star generals really made the difference. The south will be a good duel of the turks and the spanish.