Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 44)
Ch 45
Sweet Armor
Spoiler for Chap 45: Sweet Armor:
Why is there a large Dane force wandering around?
Perhaps there was a crusade at some point - explains why Norway had crusaders around. Still, I don't ever remember hearing of a crusade, though I do of a jihad. Odd.
Jautilas, annoyed by the bandits popping up in "his" area, commissioned Daumantas to "expel the scum" from Lithuanian lands.
Hopefully, it would instill some law and order in these neglected "backwaters".
The HRE is provoking us. Again allying with our enemies.
However, we're already at war, so now instead of staking them, we'll just continue staking them.
Rimgaudas' architects are busy at work. And it shows!
Mindaugas: Who's this general, and how come he's suddenly appeared here?
Captain: I'll answer you later, but first you need to give him the men stationed here.
Here at the intersection of three regions sit a group of loyal priests.
The English ("the Unorthodox" if you recall) and the Poles still have their men in our lands causing problems.
These Romans near Varad aren't doing anything.
In order to encourage some conflict, Aliminas will eliminate them and try to blame the Hungarians.
Go Magyars!
They're very skillful horsemen and archers.
And then they're onto the Roman infantry!
These Romans are nothing before us.
Nice try at a charge Romans.
Oh wait, are those ...
Mission accomplished, right?
Spoiler for Details:
Aliminas: Wait, they won't possibly buy this.
Aliminas: Hungarians don't use stakes! Aww dammmiiiittttt, the Romans aren't that stupid.
By the way, Rimgaudas found a "look" that satisfied him. The European plate armor look!
Sadly, Lithuania doesn't have the ability to make such fine armor, and maintaining them is also a problem.
In order for a general to keep up with this new fashion, they need new armor (and getting one that fits is not trivial).
This means they have to kill enemy generals to take their armor!
Last edited by Alavaria; October 19, 2010 at 04:09 AM.
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 45)
Ch 46
Just As Planned ... ^___^
Spoiler for Chap 46: Just As Planned ... ^___^:
Daumantas, as the official Lithuanian rebel exterminator of Lithuania went to work!
You weren't expecting anything, were you?
Other than success, of course.
Spoiler for Details:
Now this battle. A real game-changer, this one!
Baltics vs Spearmen.
Fight!
We don't feel like fighting fair. Oh well.
Spoiler for Details:
And yep. Rewards! A mega-chivalrous person pops out of the town garrison after massacring rebels!
Rimgaudas immediately assigns him to a wonderful desk job - he will tour Lithuania with "specialist" architects and ensure that everything is up to standard.
Now, he really wanted to fight, but oh well, it happens.
Rimgaudas managed to find some siege engineers who could help him with a set of unusual papers. - plans for catapaults!
It was said they could break even stone walls! He immediately saw the use against the Romans.
Rimgaudas: Excellent, it will reduce casualties when we have to assault a fortified position. Pay the engineers, we need to get these rolling out the gate!
Jautilas was looking to roll into a different set of gates.
Jautilas: It looks a lot nicer than my current castle.
Jautilas: I want it!
Oh Vienna, you're in for a big surprise =p ohoho.
Linas of the south is gonna show you what a real mass staking is like, if you don't take care of yourselves.
Lithuania looks like it could use more land.
Um, and also, we're in contact with the Danes, huh. Luckily for us...!
Yep, they declared war by attacking the Order's general.
Across a bridge.
Genius, huh.
The men are firing the moment the Danes are in range.
We need to kill as many of them as we can!
Those poor Lithuanian axemen were horribly cut apart by the angry axemen.
What a pity ...
Do your best, Eastern Spearmen. Go for gold in the Scandinavian Olympics!
Damnit, what a massacre.
Another win for the Order! Yay!
Spoiler for Details:
Celebratory stakes for everyyyyone!!
Mindaugas: Well, perhaps you can explain why this stranger suddenly shows up and takes my army.
Captain: Perhaps it's time I explained everything in detail...
Mindaugas: It's the Order, isn't it? You're a member of the Perkunites.
Captain: Yes, I am.
Mindaugas: High ranking too, I assume?
Captain: You're very wise, like your father was. I am a member of the council of Masters of the Order, second only to the Grand Master.
Mindaugas: *whistles* Getting those reinforcements was nothing for you, then?
Captain: Only getting them secretly.
Mindaugas: So the Order wants this land, is that it? Why I'm here, that is.
Captain: Don't take this the wrong way. We're not insane fanatics ...
Mindaugas: Despite what the Grand Duke says.
Captain: Heh, well let him believe that. We don't mean to cross him. The Order needs a strong outpost away from the mainland.
Mindaugas: Uppsala, then?
Captain: We're reliably informed there is a large fortress south of here. Kalmar. You can take everything that you've conquered up to now.
Mindaugas: That's all?
Captain: We'll guarantee your safety against the vikings, if you'll give us free access. Privately, of course.
Mindaugas: Done! So, friend, will you be taking off?
Captain: No! I will be staying with you. Indeed, the man you just met will probably be my replacement - if he survives the crazy axe vikings, that is.
Mindaugas: Excellent ... these tidings are good. I will enjoy myself here. Do whatever you need "to secure the defense".
Captain: I'm glad you took it so well. Well, enjoy your wine ...
Mindaugas: Going off already?
Captain: There's something interesting happening outside. They're testing some kind of war machine.
Mindaugas: Does it throw fire?
Captain: It might ...
Last edited by Alavaria; October 20, 2010 at 12:22 PM.
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 46)
good to see that things are progressing so well....for the Order that is!!
Muahahahahah!!!
btw, u almost had me concerned there that norway was turning into a bit of quagmire
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 46)
Originally Posted by Alavaria
The Norwegians and Danes are so vulnerable to mounted archer abuse it isn't really funny anymore >.>
Just a few units can mince a stack by themselves ^___^
ah, i do love them pure infantry factions
especially when i'm feathering them with archers or crossbows
it really is quite something to see the danse macabre they put on when under fire from a volley of arrows from all sides
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 47)
Ch 48
In Which We Beat Romans
Spoiler for Chap 48: In Which We Beat Romans:
Heh, this King of Hungary we didn't have anything to do with.
The chap was sitting in his castle, safe from the invading Lithuanians. Pity.
Kantibutas' Plock finally got its own merchants guild. Yay!
Our continuing spending seems to be increasing ... or else the Romans' was decreasing.
Either way, we're ahead!
Wait, what?
Then those Roman forces near Varad were actually ... aww, damnit Romans.
Linas: Wow, it's even bigger than the last city I sacked!
Linas: Wonder what goodies it has in it!
The Roman spear militia, armored in heavy mail, would not go down without a fight!
They were even more heavily armored than the mercenary spearmen we sent in! However, they couldn't actually kill many of the mercs.
Possibly because these Levy Archers were playing a role ...
And that's how it worked.
Spoiler for Details:
Linas: And now for sacking, yay!
7481 Romans lost not only their property, but their lives!
Aragorn protested against Linas' harsh policies.
Linas just drank his confiscated wine and grinned.
In the west, Algimantas was helping remove a force of Romans who had (again!) attacked Kassa.
It starts with skirmishers as usual.
The enemy general loses knights and his army suffers a little from the running archers.
We do out best to keep them on their feet and stuck with arrows!
However, these armored units are quite challenging to kill.
Hey, these spear militia got separated!
We hurriedly kill them before the others can help.
This heavy mail is seriously troublesome!
Despite having no lances, Roman merchant cavalry are nevertheless quite deadly.
However, they are routed well enough. And the Slavs are not as heavy as Baltics, so perhaps the losses were not surprising.
The Romans split into a L-shape, hoping to avert flank attacks. Their archers are ready to shoot some Lithuanians (oh no) !
In response, we send out the Levy Archers to engage the enemy archers. While this is happening ...
Algimantas attacks!
The enemy general also charges Lithuania's archers - but that's ok, because the real arrow-flingers are on horses anyway.
The Baltics attack the Roman mounted sergeants (who were chasing archers) while Algimantas chases after the enemy general (who is losing men to the arrows aimed at his bodyguard).
Oh no, the heavy Roman spearmen are closing in!
The woodsmen are running back. They're not good against these spearmen who have large shields.
The Romans waver!
Lithuania, take heart! Attack!!
It's a massive infantry fight.
Archers are doing their best, however the Romans really have heavy armor *ugh* so it doesn't do much.
Fire arrows, however - have a great effect.
And they run. And we chase.
Many Romans captured today!
Another slap to the face of the West Romans.
Lithuania has gotten the better of you, yet again!
Spoiler for Details:
And stakes! Yay for stakes!
Aliminas stays for a bit to enjoy the sights and rest.
Spending so long on the Hungarian lands had tired him out.
Last edited by Alavaria; October 19, 2010 at 10:39 PM.
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 48)
Population to be massacred: 4033
Florins gained from looting: 7481
It's not bad, not the best though.
Lithuania gets these "crappy" Cavalry Militia though. Leather armor, no shield, unexciting melee attack.... But they throw arbalest bolts!
It occurred to me I might try converting them into something like the Italian Cavalry Militia (ie: not just swords, but also a spear) and use the Ducal Cavalry model but I don't think so..
In contrast, see the TO's militia. They're pretty good in a melee, and if they can pincer some knights between them, they'd probably do pretty well.
I lack a good force of fast expendable & cheap melee cavalry that can swarm enemy knights and so on. The Anarchists on the other hand, have not only the cavalry militia but the low-upkeep Knetche (problems getting Merchants up though).
Last edited by Alavaria; October 19, 2010 at 11:39 AM.
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 48)
Oh, rubbish, it finally killed my bandwidth.
If anyone wonders why you can still see the cavalry militia pictures, its on a different account, but I don't want to reupload all the hundreds of pictures that are in chapters already written.
Oh well, let's wait until the end of the month.
Last edited by Alavaria; October 19, 2010 at 10:40 PM.
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 48: Paused due to Photobucket)
lol, yeah i can see that lithuania doesnt have much good militia cavalry with the exception of having a good attack on the arbalasts/peltasts.
i've even taken to using the cavalry militia offensively in some of my lithuanian campaigns
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 48: Paused due to Photobucket)
Originally Posted by Audeamus
Those are some really nice battles you've pulled off, I always kinda dismissed Lithuania as inferior to the surrounding factions.
The AAR itself was rather amusing to read and I liked it overall
Thanks =p
I donno is Lithuania is inferior or not, but I'm certain the AI is >.>
Originally Posted by Audeamus
On a side note, I noticed you mentioning changing some armor upgrade stats etc, have you changed any unit stats? Or are you playing "vanilla" SS?
Hmm, I added Brigandine & Heavy Brigandine armor to the Baltics (they're so expensive but can't even get the equivalent of heavy mail?), and used the models for the Ducal Spearmen. Same added to the Lithuanian axemen, those use the Prussian Axemen model. Hardly use the dumb axemen anyway though, 2 AP attack seems rather ineffective... they can kill people though. Leather for the Perkunites. I don't care that they use special robes, they can use leather robes =p (Woodsmen get leather, Croat axemen start with it and can upgrade to mail)
They only show up about now, as building an Armorer is so expensive, I usually stop at blacksmith. Vienna had an armorer though.
Lets start with a kingdom near and dear to the Grand Master's heart - Poland.
First of all, note the two Roman armies marching on our land. The biggest issue is that Kantibutas himself is tied down keeping Krakow in check.
Some "help" has been called for from Scandinavia. In fact, Mindaugas will get some fighting, if the Romans indeed try to siege Thorn, as we suspect.
Finally, notice the poor Poles, hiding in Wroclaw, a Large Town. Haha.
The circles are possible forting points. As you can see, a good portion of the north-west can be totally blocked off.
"As soon as possible we need to continue westwards. We have a good momentum here, and can finally finish off the Poles.
Those Romans, I wonder what they're doing here. I thought Linas had them busy dancing on stakes.
Our strategy against such juggernauts like the West and East Romans will be to hold them at points and then rapidly strike and take control of castles or cities. Take-And-Hold."
See those Danes? Crusaders, doubtless. Methinks they haven't heard that the Lithuanians they are fighting in their homeland are the same as these Lithuanians ... heh.
We have taken Vienna, of course - and Linas is camping outside because he can't control it. Next turn he'll be able to lower taxes, but for now it's not possible to drop taxes.
Those Romans won't be able to take back the city, thanks to ye olde fort!
"Linas will need some help. The Romans are sending heavily armored men over, and he has put in a requisition for more of those Hungarians. Unfortunately, they are more needed to fight Romans (Roman light horse are fast moving, Europeans are not)
It is important that we not waste time, however. It is doubtful that the Romans can recover that quickly after losing several large armies on stakes."
*************************************************************************
Directly South: More Romans.
Recall that Hungary and Byzantine are no longer at war. So there are 2.5 stacks defending Varad. Sheesh!
Unlike with Poland, Hungary is in a Fortress. As a result, they are massing military forces,m unlike the Poles who were restricted to militia. Troublesome, huh.
Perhaps if we hadn't taken their ORIGINAL capital (a city) we could've made them run west. As a bonus, attacking a city is of course easier than a fortress.
"Hungary, Hungary, Hungary... The Grand Master carefully orchestrated pulling them into the war, but they've held Varad for years with any chances of dislodging them still slim.
Rubbish - I'm certain by now they asked the Romans for help. Their pope ally wasn't good enough, I guess."
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South-East. Look at those Romans go *whistle*
You can see the forces in Baia and Brasov (and a bunch of Perkunites in a fort north of Baia).
Linas will try to get those catapults down to the Roman fortress and take it in a fast assault!
"Romans... what are they good for? Stake them all!!
P.S. Make sure to send Linas a good squad of "fixers" to keep Rimgaudas out of his hair. The stakings must not stop!"
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East: Kievan Rus has a nice castle. We want it.
Look at our Cuman allies in the north. Wonder why they're muddling around in our land. (They have been moving east, so it's not likely to be an attack).
"...
What's in the east again?"
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Last edited by Alavaria; October 20, 2010 at 12:25 PM.
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 48: Paused due to Photobucket)
I swear you made a typo here
Originally Posted by Alavaria
Our strategy against such juggernauts like the West and East Romans will be to hold them at points and then rapidly strike and take control of castles or cities. STake-And-Hold."
Today I learned what you must have felt when facing the metal horses. Started a game as Hungary, everything went well, had lots of money, good forces and a great start, but then the Romans attacked with 2 units of those heaviest cavalry they start off with + general and some infantry. They just plowed through everything and laughed at my mounted archers
On a side note, those Cavalry Militia could be somewhat effective against Roman crunchy units though? 10 missile attack is pretty sweet.
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 48: Paused due to Photobucket)
Originally Posted by Audeamus
I swear you made a typo here
Should be stake, take, and hold. =p Since generally I walk into settlements rather than assault.
Originally Posted by Audeamus
Today I learned what you must have felt when facing the metal horses. Started a game as Hungary, everything went well, had lots of money, good forces and a great start, but then the Romans attacked with 2 units of those heaviest cavalry they start off with + general and some infantry. They just plowed through everything and laughed at my mounted archers
To be honest, I wasn't ever caught off guard by said metal horses. I know it's about 1 unit of 2h AP melee to kill them. So I had Croats on the west side and woodsmen on the east, and Perkunites everywhere, ready to kill those chaps.
Problem is, they didn't seem to want to show up much (family members, that is, I think the starting scholarii got themselves killed somewhere fighting other AI factions - thanks autoresolve!).
I suspect, those guys are easier to kill in autoresolve than actual battle. Because spear militia can't kill them in melee (not really- 1 unit might chew through 4-5 of crappy militia) but in autoresolve, the massive numbers will get them down. So I assume the AI just wasted them somewhere *whistle* Probably against Hungary, since they stole some hungarian lands.
Originally Posted by Audeamus
On a side note, those Cavalry Militia could be somewhat effective against Roman crunchy units though? 10 missile attack is pretty sweet.
Yeah, but there's still 18 armor to get through (and shield). The issue is at best, 10 missile (non AP) against 18 armor won't do all that much - especially when the javelins run out so FAST. In this, it's better to use AP melee, 6/7/8 (woodsmen, croat axemen, followers of perkunas) will take them down fast.
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 48 & Intermission 3)
Ch 49
I Like Viking Fortresses
Spoiler for Chap 49: I Like Viking Fortresses:
Yesterday, Linas was resting in his newly occupied room in Vienna when he had a sudden idea.
What if men used really, really, really long spears?
Returning from his victory at Visby (Mindaugas agreed to help him control the population), Vasalgas found a Lithuanian outpost being attacked by the Danes!
Vasalgas: Yeah, yeah. Lets finish them and keep moving southwards.
Vasalgas: We should try and secure that castle.
Spoiler for Details:
Vasalgas: Horsemen, with me. Infantry, encircle Kalmar!
The Danes are quite advanced, having learned from the Romans.
Their spear militia also have rather heavy armor!
Um, not that it helps them ALL that much, however.
Ouch, that looks painful.
Perhaps infantry can't fight mounted archers too easily?
Spoiler for Details:
And you can guess what happened next.
Release prisoners, lift siege on Kalmar...
Prince Birger marched out of his fortress, just in time to get caught by the Lithuanians.
Vasalgas had hired some infantry to help give the enemy an "obvious" target.
The men quickly identify the Danish prince and attack him!
They can see the mercenaries standing among the trees.
They can also see the arrows flying at them from the Lithuanians. Hah!
They pause for some reason, maybe feeling a little scared.
The Lithuanians keep firing away, giving them no chance to retreat!
Poor guy. Had all those fancy knights, but only he and two others were not killed by arrows.
Hah. Western knights!
And then the huskarls, mounted and on foot.
Well, some of them get their axe fight, but fighting mercenary vikings while being shot in the back is a no-win situation.
We exterminated them quite effectively.
Spoiler for Details:
It's the great ideal - a walk in victory!
Venice is unhappy at our celebration.
So we take it. Kalmar is a good fortress that will be the counterpart for Thorn, which is across the waters.
Now the Danes will definitely not be able to drive us out of these lands!
Last edited by Alavaria; November 05, 2010 at 10:24 PM.
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 44)
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Alavaria
Re: [SS 6.3] The Order of Perkunas: Stake and Shaft (Chap 48)
reppppp ;P
