Russian Campaign

[Silverheart]

Hi, everybody! I´ve played the russians once, on easy, when I was just a beginner, and now I wanted to try again on a harder level.
I will give short, simple reports on the actions taken during the reign of each Grand Duke.
Since I´m not very adept with the Russians, feel free to post tips and comments on my actions.

FIRST GRAND DUKE YSEVOLOV: Established the Novgorodian kingdom by expanding from the great city, taking Smolensk and Riga. From Smolensk he then expanded southwards personally, taking Kiev, while the army in Riga conquered Vilnius.
After securing the Polish and Hungarian borders with watchtowers, the Novgorodian kingdom was officially established.
The first diplomats were sent out, and an alliance was established with Poland (very good relations) and the Byzantine Empire (Outstanding relations + Marriage alliance). Hungary was also given Map information and trade rights for the purpose of establishing Very good relations.
Ysevolov died in Kiev.
Main Legacy: Founder of the Novgorodian Kingdom.

[Silverheart]

SECOND GRAND DUKE VLADIMIR: Conquered Helsinki on a request from the Merchants guild.
Upon a stinging (though not unexpected) betrayal from Poland and Hungary, flinging the kingdom into a two-prong war, Vladimir secured the borders by rallying military forces in the settlements of the border regions. After the initial crushing defeats below the walls of Vilnius and Kiev, Poland requested ceasefire.
As part of the ceasefire, the Novgorodian kingdom gained the castle of Iasi.
However, it wasn´t long before Poland returned with their Hungarian allies to re-ignite the war.
Vladimir responded by creating the 1:st Regiment - a small army of cavalry, fast and light but deadly capable with Kazak horse archers and Druzhinas. This army was perfect for dealing with the many rebellions in the kingdom and pushing back invasion forces.
Little did he know what effects this would have in the long run...
Diplomatic conversations were started with most European nations (though no new alliances). Due to the many diplomatic relations of Poland and Hungary, the rest of the known world soon started to dislike the Russians more and more.
Vladidmir decides to stop acting like a nice guy, and personally launches an invasion against Scandinavia.
Owned by the Danes, Scandinavia was surprisingly easy to conquer, thanks to extensive use of Cavalry miltia (courtesy of the Merchants guild) and by blocking the crossing between Sweden and Denmark with a small fleet the danes became unable to send reinforcements to their scandinavian generals. Upon conquering Oslo, Vladimir had established the first colonies, officially turning the Novgorodian kingdom into the Empire of the Rus - Russia!
The empires´ economy becomes more strained because of the wars.
Diplomatic relations continue to grow worse, despite the best efforts of diplomats. In response to the increasing tension, Vladimir makes plans to send an army westwards with the purpose of establishing more colonies on the British isles.
However, a heavily armoured danish army, which had lingered around in the swedish forests, decimates his forces in Scandinavia before being defeated.
Vladimir died in Oslo.
Main Legacy: Founder of the Russian Empire.

[Silverheart]

THIRD GRAND DUKE MIKHAIL: Alreday old when assigned the throne, Mikhail didn´t have a long reign.
But his time saw some major events.
The Mongol invasion ocurred.
The Byzantine empire, Russias only allies, was destroyed by a Hungarian-Venetian alliance. The Hungarians were quick to turn on the Venetians, after these were weakened by Milanese attacks.
In response to the 1:st Regiments success, the Polish adapted their invasion forces by recruiting heavy Missile Cavalry to counter the light and swift horsemen of the Regiment. However, while this made them immune to Regiment interference, it forced them to recruit much less infantry, and the russian settlements of Kiev and Vilnius were still able to defeat them by playing defensively. This doesn´t do anything to relieve the empire of the increased external pressure, however, and the economy becomes more strained due to the increased amounts of garrison troops necessary.
The 2:nd Regiment is disbanded after only a few years of service for the sake saving funds.
Constant battles are being raged at Vilnius, Kiev, Iasi and the surrounding plains (the 1:st Regiment does its´ part in taking out any smaller forces lurking about).
Desperate to save the situation, Mikhail decides to follow up on Vladimirs plan of colonizing Brittania, and begins the recruitment of the Briton Force in Smolensk.
Mikhail died in Novgorod.
Main Legacy: Defender of the Russian Empire.

[Silverheart]

FOURTH GRAND DUKE NIKITA: Young, very skilled and popular... Nikita was the new hope of Russia, and was able to attain much success thanks to the work of his ancestors.

The Briton Force was successfully able to establish a russian foothold in Britannia by attacking and quickly destroying the Scots.
The 1:st Regiment was moved eastwards, to clear the recently conquered Steppes (Ryazan, Moscow and further east) from rebels.
Nikita pushes the economy to the limit when amassing a large army of milita and mercenary troops in Kiev. Realising that the strength of the Polish lies in their heavy Missile cavalry, Nikita marches westward to counter-invade Poland, aiming for the source of the polish elite troops: their castles!
With the danish having their access to Scandinavia cut off, all the excess troops there are shipped to Britain, where Nikita wants to finish the dream of Vladimir. With the reinforcements on site, the Briton Force moves south and captures York from the Danes, and begins clearing the russian areas from rebels.
With uncanny skill, Nikitas´ militiamen conquers the Polish fortress Halych. After some resting, he moved north-east, taking the even heavier fortified fortress of Thorn with equal skill.
With their castles lost, the Polish are now officially no longer a threat to Russia...
Diplomatic relations continue to grow worse, except for with the Mongols, who early on agreed to forge an alliance.
With the first British colonies up and running, the economy is no longer strained.
Not trusting the Mongols for a second, Nikita begins pumping the new funds into the castles of the east in preparation for whenever the Horde will feel like betraying them. No troops are recruited, but watchtower will provide the necessary warning.

GRAND DUKE NIKITA THE SCARRED, 33 YEARS OLD (end of part one).
Current legacy: Saviour of the Russian Empire.

[Silverheart]

FOURTH GRAND DUKE NIKITA, second part:
With Poland as good as neutralized (aside from the occasional super-size militia armies) Nikita chooses to stay in Thorn to recruit new, professional soldiers for his army, and to fight back Danish attacks.
After a few humiliating defeats, the Danes give up their attempts of eastern expansion.
The Briton force conquers all of Brittania, by attacking England with a two-prong attack. Only in Caernarvon is England able to make a stand, but falls during the third attempt, where a mysterious figure appeared seemingly out of nowhere to command the russian forces to an unlikely victory.
With Britain secured as a russian colony, the economy is now relatively stabile.
The 1:st Regiment is now constantly moving back and forth between the eastern and western part of the russian steppes, and also played a big role in the termination of a polish army ten times larger.
With the once polish castles secured, Nikita moves his army southwards in response to a combined invasion by Polish and Hungarian crusade armies - the crusade was actually launched against Sicilian tunis, but Russias´ enemies used it to recruit large bodies of fanatics.
With never-ending skill Nikita defeats them both, before marching straight into Hungary.
Aiming for the hungarian capital, Bran - defended by three enourmous armies and mighty fortifications, victory seems unlikely for the first time in his career. But Nikita crushes the hungarian opposition with unbelieveable skill, and for the first time in history the Hungarian empire loses a region to foreign conquest.
With the invention of gunpowder, Nikita combines the infamous Cossacks with the new technology to create the first gunmen in history - the Cossack musketeers!
Unexpectedly, Venice makes a move to conquer the independent (rebel) peninsula of Caffa.
Left alone in peace until now, Nikita decides that if Caffa shall belong to any nation, it should be Russia.
And so, the first Musketeers are called up for service to launch an attack on the venetians.
Since the venetians are denied good access to russian lands by Hungary, the risk of retaliation is considered negligent.
The Rifle Force begins it´s journey from Novgorod to liberate the Caffians.
The Mongols have not made any moves towards Russia, but seems content pillaging around in the Zagros mountains.
GRAND DUKE NIKITA LORD OF TERROR, 50 YEARS OLD (end of part two).
Current Legacy: Invincible Champion of the Russian Empire.

[Silverheart]

FOURTH GRAND DUKE NIKITA, third part:
With the use of spies, the people of Caffa was persuaded into overthrowing their venetian conquerors twice, paving the way for the Rifle Force to move in and assume control of the peninsula with minimum casualties on all sides.
Nikita himself continues his onslaught with the purpose of weakening the Hungarians in the same way he weakened the Polish - by taking their castles. He claims Bucharest and Sofia, before staying to secure the new borders.
The Russian-Danish war is fought primarily on the seas between Sweden and Denmark, with constant clashes of fleets gradually increasing in size.
The 1:st Regiment has its´ hands full dealing with rebellions as the empire expands. However, in preparation of the future imperial super-wars that Nikita knows are coming, the empires funds´ are constantly pumped into improving the economy.
With the Mongols clearly advancing westwards from the Zagros mountains - after clearing away the Turks - and Egypt scrambling to take control of the chaos they have left behind, a two-prong MegaClash is clearly underway.
The mysterious person is seen again, seemingly discussing with Nikita, and alerts the Grand Duke of a new empire that is growing in the East. One that is at least as much of a threat as the Mongols...

Meanwhile, the Briton force finishes the war against England by conquering their last stronghold in Caen.
Originally, Nikita plans to hand Caen over to the French, for the purpose of establishing better relationships, but those plans are cancelled when France declares war. Instead, Caen will be used as the defense of the British colonies, by acting as a focal point for french aggressions.
An enourmous outbreak of the plague sweeps through the empire, severly damaging the economy and bringing the demise of several royal family members.
The Grand Duke himself escapes this "Black death" by leaving Sofia in good time, seeking refuge in a field fort.
As the disease passes, the empire begins the slow process of pulling itself together after the damage it has caused, both in terms of human lives and eceonomically.
Nikita the Honourable died in Novgorod.
Main Legacy: Hero of the Russian Empire.

[Scipio Afracanis]

You have inspired me to play as Russia next, H/H Van.

Great reading so far.

[Silverheart]

Thanks for the response, I was beginning to that think people were just annoyed by this...
And if you liked it so far, there is even better things coming up - nothing but a three-front total war against Mongols on one end, Timurids on another and the Egyptians from a third direction!
It´s gonna be fun on the bunch!!!




edit: sorry for the delay with the next duke. I just got Caesar III and AoM on my computer, so I´m not playing M2TW very intensively right now...

[Alex-Warhammer]

This is quite a good idea, it will give some tips to new total war campaign players.

[SmokinJoe]

I just completed this campaign on hard, and one strat I found very usefull against the Teutonic heavy infrantry was thus: 4 Boyar sons, 5-7 heavy lancers (whichever type are available, Tsars Guards are the best of course), and the all of the rest Kazaks. Keep backing up your main line of lancers, while the hundreds of kazaks shoot them to shreds. Use Boyar sons cavalry javalins until they are empty (targeting spearmen and/or charging artillary when alone), then move them behind the enemy line. When the enemies' tired and beat up infantry finally reach your lancers, charge from in front and behind. I used this one army throughout the entire campaign and they were all gold ranked at the end!

[Silverheart]

FIFTH GRAND DUKE ANDREI: Andrei was an unfortunate character in Russian history.
Being the heir of the Great Nikita was NOT an easy thing to live up to, and it brought much hardship into his life.
Barely had the corpse of Nikita gone cold before the Mongols, having recently thwarted a Jihad against Constantinople by taking the city themselves, betrayed Russia. They attacked the citadel of Sofia, but the castle was defended by the hardened veterans of Nikitas´ personal campaign army, and didn´t fall to their onslaught.
France, the definitely largest and most powerful empire in the west (stretching from the Pyrenee mountains, along the north of the Alps, all the way to the south of Denmark and well into the territories once held by the Holy Roman Empire) logically refuses to allow the russian presence in Caen, and sends massive armies of heavy elite troops against the russian defenders, who hold on, sometimes only barely.
Andrei recruits a large army in England, and sends it to the mainland in an attempt to use Nikitas strategy of taking the enemies´ castles. But it falls, since the French have too many armies in the way of the russian army, and too many castles for one single army to take. The french had soon retaken their lost territories, and were back to attacking Caen.
The Holy Roman Empire, being caught between the superpowers France (largest empire of the west), Denmark (able to fund mighty armies thanks to their tunisian colony), Hungary (still fielding large armies of well-trained militiamen) and Russia (most powerful empire in the known world), attacks and destroys the Polish in a desperate attempt to gain more land and cope with the loss of their western regions to the french.
The Timurid Empire invades Russia from the east, and unlike the Mongols, these people have no interest in negotiation.
They attacked and pillaged their way almost straight through the Steppes, slowly advancing westwards despite the best efforts of brave russian defenders. No castles defenses hold more for more than two attacks, as the Timurid have many demonic weapons in their ranks. Even the russians had only begun experimenting with gunpowder troops, but the Timurids had long ago mastered it. However, the russian troops are nonetheless wearing the timurids down, and by the time they conquered Kiev their horde was only one third of its´ original strength.
However, Andrei was clever enough to send the 2:nd Regiment south to take the castle of Tbilisi.
Thanks to this, the Egyptian Empire, still neutral to the Russians, were effectively denied access to all regions north of the Zagros mountains.
Meanwhile, Andrei himself had left the university of Novgorod to lead an army from Bran northwards. The purpose: to push back the Danes all the way back to their home peninsula. Krakow, having recently rebelled against the Germans, is also claimed while passing by. The army reaches Magdeburg, and claims it. Then, Andrei moved north to take over Stettin as well. The fortress of Magdeburg was torn down, and then the city was handed over to the germans, for the sake of establishing better relations and helping them in their war against the french.
Then a turn of events occurred which saw the power of both the Mongols and the Timurids broken.
A crusade was called to retake Constantinople from the Mongols. Since the horsemen had only attempted to expand against Sofia, they were now pretty much helpless against the Papal armies sent against them.
Constantinople fell to the crusading pope, just before HE turned to attack Sofia as well - still no luck, though, the russian veterans held their ground every time, and soon the Papal armies had exhausted their numbers.
The Timurids, having lost so many men when attacking russian settlements, had no hope of victory when all the extra troops from settlements they didn´t attack were merged together and sent to reclaim Kiev.
When Kiev fell back into russian hands, and Constantinople into catholic, both the Mongols and Timurid found themselves forced to flee as fast as possible westwards, disappearing into central Europe.
Now, the Russian empire has just begun to recover economically from the pressure of the Hordic Wars, but still faces war on multiple fronts.
The Venetians, Hungarians, Danes, French, and even the Pope himself are officially at war with them - And any of the Hordes might return any time to make a final attempt on russian territories, not to mention the hard work that will be necessary to reclaim the now-independent Steppes.
Andrei died in Stettin.
Main Legacy: None (called a curse by some - for the many wars and misfortunes that happened under his rule - and a saviour by some - for his ability to handle the misfortunes so admirably)

[Silverheart]

SIXTH GRAND DUKE STANIMIR:
Stanimir is best known for spending considerable sums on risky projects, of which far from all were successful...
After a large amount of rumours about philosophers and other scientists accepting a theory about the world being ROUND in shape, Stanimir decided to spend almost every florin in the treasury on constructing ports capable of building enormous vessels.
A whole fleet of these monster boats were built and manned in the Brittanic colonies, and sent straight westward, to either find Asia... or the worlds´ end.
As it turns out, they found neither.
Instead the russian troops disembarked in a strange land, never heard of before, and began exploring this alien domain.
Meanwhile, the city of Krakow recruited large amounts of troops to attack the remnants of the Timurid Horde.
Having only recently reassembled themselves after their losses at Kiev, the Timurids were capable of using their remaining elephants to keep the russians at bay... barely.
An uncountable amount of money was also used for a new offensive against the French Empire: Several small fleets were built to set up a massive blockade to every Danish and French port in the atlantic and a large army was recruited to take place as the new garrison of Caen.
The current garrison then became free to make a move agianst the poorly defended Angers to the south. One quick, cruel battle later Angers fell to Russian conquest.
And even though France was able to break through some of the blockades, they were quickly defeated, and the Danes were also quick to stop resisting the Russian domination over the north Atlantic.
The exploration fleet started its´ journey back to Brittania after the army it had transported to set up the first Atlant Colony rebelled to side with the locals. Stanimir began preparing the Brittanic colonies for recruiting the force of retaliation, while also using the garrison of Tbilisi to conquer the independent fortress of Trebizond. Just like in Caffa, a catholic nation had set their sights on it, and naturally the Russian couldn´t allow it to fall into enemy hands...
Stanimir died in Riga.
Main Legacy: Hammer of the French (his reign brought more victories against the french than any before, and also brought the entire north Atlantic under clear Russian dominance)

[Norwegian_viking]

Great tread, i really liked the story telling +++++rep+++

[Silverheart]

SEVENTH GRAND DUKE DMITRII:
Dmitrii is a bit of a mixed character in russian history.
He spent a lot of time and effort on continuing Stanimirs legacy of battering the French empire and establishing transatlantic colonies.
When the french recruited large fleets of powerful war ships in their mediterranean ports, and sent them around the Iberian peninsula to crush the Blockade fleets, Dmitrii authorized unrestricted spending on fleets to counter them, and the long Atlant War ensued as the Russians and the French were now both contesting the rights to the Atlantic sea.
A large army was sent to the Americas, destroyed the deserters from the last russian army, and claimed both a large portion of the northern American continent and the islands all around the warm seas.
A second, specialized army was sent to the middle American continent, and it didn´t take long before the war against the only american superpower, the Aztec Empire, was in full effect.
A member of the Grand Dukes´ royal family, Sviatopolk the Ugly, led a campaign army against the peninsula of Denmark in a personal effort to end the war.
Unfortunately, it turns out that a last member of the Danish royal family had long before been placed in the Danish colony of Tunis. When word of Sviatopolks´ actions reached the Grand Duke, he commended the deed, but the mysterious person (seen by the Grand Dukes´ side more often nowadays, it seems) gave Sviatopolk the mission to finish the deed of taking out the danes once and for all. The mysterious, nameless, person remains with Sviatopolks mercenary army throughout his journey through Germany and Italy, leading the army personally every time the Vatican tries to stop it with their massive armies.
Meanwhile, the Grand Duke himself is secretedly given another important mission.
After driving out the Hungarians from Nicaea, the last Catholic stronghold in the East - Iconium, owned by Venice - has been placed in focus for all the great religions, as Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox alike sends vast armies to gain control over it. Dmitriis´ mission was to represent Orthdox christianity in this titanic conflict, and attack the Catholics to tempt the muslim Egyptians into attacking. Then, when the dust were to settle, it would be easy for Russia to move in and claim the area. It didn´t go too well, though, since the Russian army was heavily outnumbered compared to the catholic and muslim forces, and Dmitrii had to fight hard battles. It was only slowly that the catholic forces were drained.
Dmitrii died in battle outside Iconium.
Main legacy: Colonizer of the Russian Empire (for his success in establishing the first transatlantic colonies).

[Norwegian_viking]

Screenshot...NOW!

[Dekazon]

Very Interesting, I will be looking forward to this.
Some Screenshots would be nice, though.
++rep++

[tudor93]

nice nice, but we want pics
+rep

[Alexandru]

Great stories, you've got readers

[Silverheart]

I´m SORRY, guys, I really am, for being so nooby (oh the shame!), but I haven´t figured out how to take screenshots yet, and have never looked it up before either (it has just never seemed as anything important - oh the indignity is beyond comparison!)

[Somerandomdude2]

I´m SORRY, guys, I really am, for being so nooby (oh the shame!), but I haven´t figured out how to take screenshots yet, and have never looked it up before either (it has just never seemed as anything important - oh the indignity is beyond comparison!)

Open microsoft paint. Press Crtrl + V, or select Edit > Paste.

Save and upload to an image hosting site (imageshack or something, google free image hosting and you'll find a whole bunch).
Post here, using the web address of your screenshot.