[SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (SotO 5, Apr 3)

[Makrell]

Cool AAR i like it :-)

[Alavaria]

Ch 37

What's A Crusade?

Spoiler for Chap 37: What's A Crusade?: 

Two units of Perkunites on pilgrimage to Constantinople were attacked and forced to flee to a nearby Lithuanian fort for protection.

However, their troubles were not over - they were attacked again by the evil Russians!





They gathered together as the Russian ram started breaking the gate.

It was time for a heroic effort, and they hadn't even met any Romans yet!







In the rear of the fort, their comrades were busily holding off a swarm of Russian junior militia who climbed up on ladders.

Their long scythes gave them quite an advantage in the combat!





"The gates are down! Prepare to fight!"





But no, the cowardly Russians can't take boiling oil.

Freezing, no problem, but oiling oil, no way! Unless they're under a ram, anyway.







Seems Russians can't hold their boiling oil.

Heh. But seriously ...







What's there to say?

Spoiler for Details: 

I'm as surprised as you are.

We all thought the Kievanites were bankrupt. Now we know they had at least 540 florins - though not anymore!





Mindaugas: Have you ever heard of a "crusade" before?

Captain: I believe it's what the popites call a holy war. Why?





Mindaugas: These fancy chaps are saying they'll take my head off!

Mindaugas: To arms! I want a fancy shield too!





Unfortunately, Lithuania was forced to abandon the field.







They did what they could, but skirmishing backward forever was impossible, due to what any Lithuanian knew was the ...

Thin Red Line.


Ahahaha~ it ain't just a myth guys, it's true!







A few Lithuanians tripped and were eviscerated by the crusaders. But a few levy archers against 719 is a small sacrifice.

Spoiler for Details: 

Mindaugas: Sieged by angry berserkers. Brings back memories, eh.

Captain: Well the walls will hold them off for a bit. The men need to refill their quivers and we'll be ready to sally.

Mindaugas: Yeah. Their popite war cries are annoying.

[Exarch]

nice i'll be sure to vote when it's time to then

nice going, 'thin red line'
yeh i've had to do strategic advances to the rear at times whilst bloodying their noses

and besides, once u secure scandinavia, all that amber will bring in a nice tidy profit

[Karnage]

A tactical defeat is no defeat I think, they may believe they have won the day but I know you'll get them back. Great update even without my favorite staking.

[Alavaria]

Ch 38

Norway Unites Under Lithuanian Leadership!

Spoiler for Chap 38: Norway Unites Under Lithuanian Leadership!: 

In Brasov, after all the Roman merchants had been properly "processed" by Linas' trained "loot and plunder" squad, Lithuanians moved in to fill the gap.

As per his suggestion, they organized as a frontier branch of the Kiev Merchants' Guild, in order to gain aforementioned tax benefits.





Oh yeah, and guess what.
More attacks on instutionalized paganism.

Seriously? That's the third "other" religion, barring "heresy" of course.






Byzantines are ahead of us again. Rimgaudas has vowed to build more then they do.

An economic building spree/race is in the offings! Recall that Rimgaudas' architects mean that we have a slight "handicap" because we save more (and therefore spend less).







Hmm, one big force seiging Mindaugas, and a small force up further north. Opportunities for a cheap win, methinks.

Mindaugas: I think to! To!





The first issue of the day is to remove these annoying Norwegians and their "crusaders".

Though famed for their valor, when the Lithuanians look at them, what do they see?


Mindaugas: Fancy shields ...

Everyone wants a crusader shield as a trophy for their home! The luckier ones will even get their chain mail armor!





The Lithuanian crossbows fire on the enemy, making them suddenly desire to gain a little range from the walls.





The quick cavalry find it easy to fire on the backs of the retreating Norwegians.

They're not so brave now, are they!







As the tired infantry form ranks, the shooters swing around their flanks, trying to get in more good shots past the large shields.








Crusader Foot Knight: Just like the Holy Land, eh?

CFK: Running about with our horses dead ...

CFK: Heathens shooting us with bows ...

CFK: Dying >.> Blargh!







Bravely charging forward into a tragic rout!

Oh these militia never fail to amuse.







Rout, you crusader sergant wannabies!

Your puny spears can't stop the fury of Lithuanian-generals-with-unbarded-horses!








Relative easy, all things considered.

A cheap win for Lithuania!

Spoiler for Details: 

Mindaugas: Anyone feel like a nice bloody ... stake?

Captain: Steak.

Mindaugas: Both! Looting time! Dibs on the fanciest shield!







And now his plan goes into action.

These three units of mounted archers and (oh so expendible) viking mercenaries will defeat these raiders.

They need to capture at least one enemy prisoner!





It really wasn't a good day to go crusading.

High chance of arrows was right. Surprise!









And they captured a grand total of 5 men. Joy and celebrations will be the result of this.

Spoiler for Details: 

These last men are set free.

They take off with the speed of only a viking fearing for his life.






And the trap swings shut.





It's time to fight!







The stragglers are wiped up as the enemy's garrison enjoys a stroll in the rain of arrows.

Those vikings. Always thinking they're so tough.







You thought you were hot,

Guess what, your not.

You are dead, dead, dead.





A brilliant last ditch effort, they fight against the hired vikings. Much blood flows, none of it Lithuanian.

And thus - victory!

Spoiler for Details: 

This time, there's stakes for everyooonnneeee~~~






Even the civilians got some stakes.

Ohohoho.





Mindaugas: Excellent, now to grab more land.

Captain: Perhaps you might consider some delay ...

Mindaugas: What?

[Karnage]

lol, its a Norwegian Forest Lithuanian style ;P

[Lord Lancelot]

Great update, i always like AAR for Lithuania, becouse i am from Latvia +rep

[Alavaria]

Ch 39

A ... A Draw?!

Spoiler for Chap 39: A ... A Draw?!: 

Were the Romans actually going to fight the Hungarians for us? No way in frikkin hell.

Aliminas is there waving a Hungarian flag to cheer them on, but both sides know that the winner will just get staked by him.

So they won't fight. Smart chaps.





MORE ROMANS IN THE WEST!!!


Linas is roused by the terrible sound of German horns, and especially the sound of soldiers running about outside, as they began checking the walls and preparing sheaves of arrows and bolts (mostly arrows).

Linas: We need to give the southern fort a hand. Never forgive and never forget. To arms!





Oh my, the Roman general leads a smaller force onto the field, but his MILITIA have HEAVY MAIL. This is crazy and altogether unexpected.

Defeat is all too likely this day.







Perkunite: I see Linas' flag over there!

Captain: Wonderful. Anything else?

Perkunite: They're shooting Romans.

Captain: BS. You can't see arrows at this distance.







The massive Roman human wall is rather well armored.

Lithuanian cavalry have excellent range and firing speed, but this sort of armor tends to defeat their arrows.


(You can see how advanced their targeting skills are. Lines hit flank of boxes)






The archers merrily fire away, but when Linas himself appears, the Romans recognize the "Grim Staker" and give chase!







These mailed knights are chasing a unit of Lithuanian cavalry. As you can see, the unit at the end of the lines can shoot them in the side as they follow their prey down the curved track.

... and then, of course. A gristly end on the spears of Linas' men.







So sad. Another Roman dead.

Linas' infantry are safely "withdrawing" into the fort. Because they can't retreat, they have to go INTO the fort to escape the battlefield.

Don't question it!







The Romans give chase - all of them on foot.

The general and his force watch the fort vigilantly, lest the Lithuanians inside try to run away.







The slow-motion chasing of horsemen by infantry continues for a while.

Linas is trying to catch those crossbowmen when they're isolated from their infantry escorts. The Romans are a bit too clever for that, though.







We've traveled a quarter of the way around the fort (red line.)

Every now and then the Romans get stung in the side by Lithuanian arrows. Always from the side!







More arrows.

Linas takes the chance to charge into a group of swordsmen, killing many of them and sending the rest running.







What? It made the crossbows rout as well? Hurry, get them!







However, rather than capture these crossbowmen, the Lithuanians ride up behind them and shoot them to death.

We can't keep captives if we don't win.





We're trying, but there are too many Romans! Too much armor!

The men start to run low on arrows.







Oh cruel day!

Linas runs away by hiding in the fort. And stops sallying.

Though he started outside the fort. No questions!







We have been defeated! With the sad loss of 2 Lithuanians, 608 Romans are a mere nothing!

The 184 captives must have felt very lucky to not be decorating stakes as the battle ended.

Sadness

Spoiler for Details: 

But guess what!

Oh. Ho! Linas is back again, and he's made sure to bring along the stakes and shafts!

Invite all your Roman friends, it's time for Round two!

[Exarch]

lol, nice!
yeh, too bad the hungarians and romans didnt end up fighting, i woulda been there with a Roman flag this time lol

[Alavaria]

Well I suspect it was because the Romans were stronger, so he wanted the Hungarians to fight harder and therefore more Romans would die before the Hungarians were all destroyed. But of course the AI won't ever indulge me when I have a fort with a STACK outside Varad.

-------------------------
Ch 40

Grilling Up Some Stakes

Spoiler for Chap 40: Grilling Up Some Stakes: 

Linas marched out on the Romans before the latter could regroup.

Breaking the army would raise the siege on the fort. And buy a little more time for the city.





Seeing the Lithuanian infantry ahead of them, the Romans rushed forward, already taking missile fire from the horsemen.







They charge up the hill, taking fire from front and rear.

And when they reach the top, what awaits them? Cheerful Lithuanians and a long row of stakes.







And that, was that.

Spoiler for Details: 

Oh, that looks really painful! Did you slip and fall onto a stake there, Roman?

People really shouldn't leave those things hammered into the ground.







Forces from Baia are moving westwards, being careful of the small Roman scout force.

Mounted archers from the city on the west will leave Linas (of the East) and garrison a fort, to provide a good incentive for the enemy to run.

Not that they will, but that's why there are footmen (to carry the stakes, not to make them run).





The Prince is defending Smolensk from a not-inconsiderable Russian force.

A rather good mixture of different units, all considered. But Baltics and Levy Archers are more than enough for a skilled general!





The enemy mounted archers are dealt with in the classic way.









Enemy general charges his Boyars into a thicket of spearmen in the forest.

Great move! He inflicts many casualties, of course >.> ugh.







However, his men rout, and he is soon surrounded and killed.

Then, it's just a coward chase!







The joys of victory. Again a ton of captives.

Spoiler for Details: 

The prince sends them a-swimming. In the freezing rivers.





Perkunites: Convertttt~

Philibert: Uggghh.

Philibert has gained title: "the Unorthodox"





We gave the Cumans military access. See, after we bought back the city from them...

Well, you can see how they might have gotten stuck without free access out.







Just look at these obscene alliance blocs. France: 4. Then HRE: 6

... and the Papal states have 11 allies? What?! Denmark 7.


.


Let's try to make Poland a little weaker, shall we?

Kantibutas and his men march out, sure of their imminent victory!

[Alavaria]

Ch 41

Poles Are Kinda Like Stakes

Spoiler for Chap 41: Poles Are Kinda Like Stakes: 

The Merchant's Guild continues to rapidly expand as more towns become full-fledged cities.

This is paving the way for a prosperous Lithuania.





Uh oh.





Hmm, the Seljuks are ahead of us in production. Odd, they must have caught up pretty quickly.

If we want to spend more on construction... hmm, we need more settlements to build in! Genius!






You know, the Order doesn't really give a damn anymore.

Seriously Denmark, send a ship over to our ports and just lets do it already.

Come on Papal States, you scared? We're curb stomping your allies, you know.




Heretics! One of our priests has fallen to Popite ideologies!

As you might imagine, he was quietly found on a stake. Bah. The priests at the local Theologians guild will be on watch for popite heresies.


It's not easy, since there are many many priests about.







It's time for Kantibutas to demonstrate his ability!

The Polish have formed together into two armies. He will take them both on!





Rather than risk being caught in a pincer, Kantibutas waits until the Polish form into a single large force.

And that's when he advances his men.





Their "shooters" are given a good dose of Lithuanian arrows.

However, simply exchanging arrows for bows will not work, as the Lithuanians can't kill the crossbowmen easily (the Poles have armor).

So we advance!







Not the best move, perhaps.

A massive Polish force waits until our infantry are blocking our archers, then they charge!

Almost immediately, a unit of archers breaks and runs for it.







The situation doesn't look good, but the Baltics easily rush forward and attack the enemy.

Ideally, the Poles would have had to charge under a rain of arrows. However, we aren't so weak that catching us without missile cover will give them a victory!







Two enemies on the Lithuanian left were routed by a combination of fire arrows and charging Perkunites.

Kantibutas: Get your scythes into them, men!







The front is falling apart. The poles have a large advantage in men, and are simply overwhelming the Baltics.

Perkunites are working on the flanks, but gaps are opening up. The archers do what they can, but under crossbow fire, it isn't easy.







But, of course. They're cowards, and the Perkunites put the fear of Lithuania into them.

Haha, watch them run! Run Poles, runnnnnn!!!







Hmm, that's not enough of them for a total rout. This could be useful ...

Spoiler for Details: 

Kantibutas: Opps, was looking away for a moment. Oh, what happened here?

Kantibutas: 903 Stakes on poles? I mean Poles on stakes. *shrug* Ok, whatever. Lets move on.






Kantibutas: Oh ho ho, thought you'd escaped me, huh.

Kantibutas: Too bad.

[Kirby Killa]

Great job with this. Hopefully the Byzantines won't end up attacking in full force. If they do, the stakes are high, as you might get shafted by their metal horses. *Is shot by pun police*

[Alavaria]

*groan* Don't joke about the metal horses. Anyway, in the south-east there's a growing mass of Perkunites to deal with them with extreme prejudice.

I don't use these guys much, but quite a lot of settlements can train them, on average I probably get 1 to 1.5 new unit(s) every turn. So there's a gowing mass of these chaps with their 8 attack AP scythe. Though the Ducal Axemen have 10 AP attack (!) the Perkunites are cheap and easy to get.

That said, Byz family members seem to be staying away after Linas killed those two east of Baia.

[Exarch]

wow, how is lithuania going to deal with that mass of alliances?

that's right
stakes.

[Alavaria]

Alliances aren't really an issue, despite how much I'm amazed at the AI's ability to ally-bloc on Gracul. AIs tend to do nothing until borders touch. Then they'll move all their armies over and smash them to death in a few turns. Then they start losing territory to me. (eg: Norway lost 3 stacks in as many turns...)

Ch 42

A Long Hard Pole

Spoiler for Chap 42: A Long Hard Pole: 

Kantibutas: Let's so it men! It's time to redistribute some Polish territory to Lithuania!





The leader of Poland is spotted (those magnificent white bardings are visible to anyone with an eye) and fire is opened!

It looks to be another good day for the archers!







A charge at a rather steep angle!

The force of his (remaining) knights pushes the Baltics back. However, the Perkunites behind rush forward - weapons at the ready!







Msciwoj: Break free, men! Break free!

They turn about and wheel around, running into the well-documented magical stakes.







Like magic, the stakes impale several horses.

Again the Pole runs, but once he's free of the stakes, Kantibutas' men attack him.

There is no way out!







The survivors of the Kracow Defense force reached the battle only to be confronted with their worst fear:

Lithuanians.







Uh huh.

Too bad for you guys.

Spoiler for Chap 42: A Long Hard Pole: 

Spoiler for Details: 

Kantibutas: Sometimes I wonder what the Grand Duke knows about this odd phenomenon.

Kantibutas: I'm starting to be convinced that the corpses are staking themselves. Haha ...







Krakow was taken with a good, sound sacking.

Kantibutas: Ahahaha.





What, a butcher? But he's Kantibutas the Humane!

The stakes were always there. Nothing to do with Lithuania. (Note that 5875 Poles committed mass suicide when Krakow was taken).





Poland has been reduced to a bunch of fools hiding behind flimsy wooden walls in Wroclaw.

[Alavaria]

Ch 43

Why You Do This

Spoiler for Chap 43: Why You Do This: 

Linas: Bloody Romans again ...





At first, it seemed things were going well, however ...





The one unit of baltics were caught between two units of Roman horsemen and routed.

How annoying!





However, revenge is always available.

Look what happened to their captain!







Seriously, you guys make it easy by attacking in small groups like this.

Spoiler for Details: 

At least I can make some cash of you...


Linas watched the Romans march off into the horizon.

Linas: Fools. We'll get another chance to kill them.





And then, we have THIS.

Who was the fool who thought sieging almost double your number in Lithuanians was a good idea?





Running back, abandoning your siege weapons (and their engineers) to the Lithuanian general isn't a good idea either.

(You can see the Lithuanian Cavalry buying some time, until the siege weapons are neutralized.)







Wanna race? You're on Kievan Rus general. Let'd do this!





Heh... oh my, you're catching up!

What a moron.







Nice looking scale armor you have there, pity you're bleeding to death all voer it.

Russians. Always so inconsiderate of others - I wanted to loot that helmet too!

Spoiler for Details: 

With Rimgaudas nearby, it was inevitable that the captured Russians would be allowed to go free.

The Order will have to try hard to keep the Grand Duke out of any "real" fights against the Romans.





You know, it doesn't matter much as Lithuania is currently hated by the whole world.

Honestly, why even bother trying to play nice.





By the way, we have ceased diplomatic relations with Novgorod. They appear to have magically died somehow (probably it was the Cumans).

So 1 faction has been destroyed so far.

[Exarch]

lol, nice
btw why on earth is the great power of lithuania paying tribute??!! oh wait, cumans,they're your allies and pagan as well.
guess that's ok
getting factions to pay tribute is one of those little humiliations i like to make my former enemies suffer

[Alavaria]

Well, not only is it less than if I had hired an extra unit of Baltics (240/turn) but actually it's not just to make them happy.

When I bought Baia, I offered them as a sweetener 200/turn for like ... uh, forever. This was before all wars broke out and my rep was shot to nothing.

The later trading of a settlement with them (to prevent it from rebelling back to Hungary) was cash only. No one trusted me anymore

[Alavaria]

Ch 44

Who Is He?

Spoiler for Chap 44: Who Is He?: 

Rimgaudas is heading towards Baia after hearing about the defenders' heroic efforts against the Romans.

Along the way, he meets a small force of Russians.





This is one try at fixing the general's textured by using another model.

Rimgaudas disapproved of the "full mail" look.





Yes, those ballistae shot their own engineers.

It's due to the steep slope.

Spoiler for Details: 

Uh huh, he released more people.





There's a small force of Norwegians causing trouble at Uppsala.

And now the Order has its chance!





Narimantas tries his best, but ...







Ok, we'll have to try again.





Now Vasalgas is here. He'll save us from the Vikings!







Ouch. Looks painful!







A rather sweet victory.

Spoiler for Details: 

Meet the Order's new general. Captain Vasalgas, a carefully chosen man who will carry on the Order's ideals in this new land.


Mindaugas: ...

Captain: He'll be arriving here shortly.

[Exarch]

very good
lol yeh i hate it when ur using ballista on steep slopes and the men dont move outta the way