KGCM Post Your Empire
Feel free to post your completed campaigns in this thread and tell the story. If you have won a campaign and taken all of the regions required in your victory conditions, this is the place to show off your victory.
Played long campaign on 4.2, VH/VH, ironman rules, FOW off except for screenshots.
Here is my campaign as the Turks, the first campaign I have completed for ages, over a year at least. I am one of those players who very rarely gets to complete even a short campaign. However this campaign was so enjoyable to play and such a challenge that I can honestly say I didn't start to get bored until around turn 170. And then the age of gunpowder kicked in and kept me hooked for at least another hundred years! As the years passed, getting those 50 regions in time looked uncertain.
My first serious problems were not with Antioch but with the Mongol hordes. To begin with I captured Edessa easily, then added Aleppo. Antioch would take much longer to capture with a tough city garrison though. When the mongols first besieged Tbilisi with a full stack I barely survived. However when they returned with even more armies I could hold it no longer. The problem with this campaign early on is that you will not be able to keep a peace with Byzantium. And being at war with Antioch as well puts you in a very vulnerable position. It means you can never fight the mongols with your best armies. Because often they are forced to fight elsewhere against your other enemies. Anyway I was doing pretty well against Antioch and holding my positions against the greeks for a long time. But with so many mongol armies pouring into the north I was in serious trouble. It was looking like unless I could finish Antioch off quickly I would almost certainly be crushed in the middle. Yerevan fell soon after Tbilisi but I held onto Tabriz and Trebizond for much longer.
I managed to defeat Antioch around turn 60, and Jerusalem was made a vassal by Egypt for the time at least. So I was then able to concentrate on just 2 enemies at once. However the Pope called a Crusade and that would change everything. One by one each Catholic Kingdom joined the great Crusade on Cairo. And last but not least Jerusalem declared war on Egypt! This mean't that I was under immediate danger of being invaded by the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Although they only had Triploi and Acre left (thanks to Egypt) they still had about 5 good full stacks, so this was very scary indeed! Meanwhile regions like Iconium, Malatya, Sinope were changing hands often. The Mongols and the Byzantines in this particular campaign were the 2 most powerful factions in the world. So it was now that the crisis point was in the south. Against such strong attacks from Jerusalem Krak and Damascus fell quick. However I barely managed to hold onto Aleppo and Antioch. And this would save my campaign I think, because if the Catholics reconqured anymore of my regions in the Holy land and had time to get stronger I think all would be lost. After some key battles were won the danger passed and I rushed to take Tripoli and Acre before Egypt could get their dirty hands on them, this was achieved. Meanwhile the Crusade suceeded and Hungary captured Cairo. But this left a problem, many of the Catholic armies did not end up going home. Infact many off them walked into my regions and stayed their!!
Anyway my next plan was to deal with the Byzantine Empire whilst holding the mongols. In this campaign I must note 2 castles are of the greatest importance. First Trebizond, and secondly Smyrna. Smyrna is where most of the greeks heaviest and best units are trained. Capturing it when the greeks are at their most powerful is extremely tough though. Because they constantly send full stacks at you into Anatolia from all corners of their empire. However if you can capture and hold this key castle it will make an attack on Nicea possible. This took me a long time but eventually I had all of Anatolia. It is also worth mentioning that when Byzantium are at war with Venice they are easier to fight. After winning Anatolia I called a Crusade on Constantinople. Because there was no way i could take it myself. At this point I decided to defend my new frontiers and get my bloody revenge on the mongols! By now the money was coming in and things were a lot easier. I attacked the mongols with great armies from 3 directions Baghdad, Adana and Caesarea. Finally I could concentrate most of my power on the mongols and kick them out. The reconquest was complete within 20-30 turns, I don't remember what number exactly. Meanwhile the Byzantines managed to retake Nicea from me but I retook it quickly. And the greeks were now at war with just about everyone. So the time to strike had come and the great siege of Constantinople begun. The garrison script for this great city is very tough and more reinforcements were needed before the attack could begin. Eventually the city fell but almost immediately (2 turns i think) the Pope called a crusade on Constantinople. I was suddenly faced with a war against the whole of Christandom which I was not expecting in the least! And it didn't take very long foe the whole of europe to converge on Constantinople and steel my prize. I sucessfully defended the city against Milan, Venice and the Papal states but it was Hungary once more who triumphed in the Crusade. However while this was all going on, new armies had already been sent out to retake the great city from the Crusaders. I recaptured the city and thought that was the end of the matter. But about 20 turns later the Pope called a second Crusade on Constantinople
Anyway aside from this annoyance I started to think realistically about the best way to obtain 50 regions. I still only had about 30 regions and there was still a long way to go. In the end I decided on the easiest way my ally Egypt would be the next target. Venice neighboured me near Constantinople and looked very strong. Could I have taken on all of the Catholics and captured 20 regions from them in about the 150 turns I had left? I doubted it. Anyway the Egyptians would still be a powerful adversary. But the byzantine Empire were not finished. Although I captured Adrianople as well they sent elite armies out from Sofia. These were the toughest AI stacks in the whole campaign. The mongol armies had proved very tough armies to beat. But full stacks of Varangian Guard, Archontopoulai, Byzantine Gunners with gold chevrons.. I did try to capture Sofia and had it under siege twice but Byzantine reinforcements arrived just in time. Anyway my main focus was now on Egypt. To start with I attacked Jerusalem and Kerak at the same time. Took Kerak successfully, but the garrison script and egyptian reinforcements stopped me from taking Jerusalem at first. Before I could attempt to retake the holy city again though I had some late elite egyptian armies to face in battle. And they were certainly very tough, and I lost a few. I did not expect Egypt to field such good armies tbh, at this I am proudI also forgot to mention earlier that when the Crusaders had captured Cairo in the great Crusade over 100 turns ago. I had recaptured Cairo and held it for my friends the egyptians
Having control of their capital city up until war helped enormously. Because I could fight them from deep within their own territory as well as the front around Jerusalem. I also had complete control of the seas so I could naval invade Egypt from Cyprus as well. As a result this war only took me about 30 turns to win. All that was left was to get another 5 regions or so from somewhere which I did in the end with about 100 turns to spare.
In the end a great campaign, one of my most enjoyable, and well worth completing. Some of the late battles were so great. Perhaps if it were not for the mongols things would have been much easier. But lots of exciting moments, and a victory for the turks.
Dave
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The mongols were the largest faction for most of the game until late on when I overtook them. Russia and Lithuania were totally wiped out, and only the Teutonic Knights halted the mongol invasion. This is mostly because of the mongols free unit upkeep.
Originally Posted by Dave Scarface
