Hi
I am playing (only) my second ever Med2 campaign - as Byzantium, early, med/med.
It's 1245. Things are going satisfactorily for Basilicus the Utter Bastard and his empire: the Seljuks and Venetians are no more. I have the Sicilians by the unmentionables in North Africa. My fleets dominate the Mediterranean. Jerusalem is within striking distance. And whilst the Genoese, Novgorodi, Khwarezmians and Fatimids all want a piece of me, my economy is healthy, my population is 'content', and I am able to field sufficient numbers of professional-quality troops to repel all comers, and to expand when I decide the time and circumstances are right.
Of course, all that is about to change with the imminent arrival of the Mongol Horde on my borders.
My spies have revealed the havoc wrought on the Khwarezmians by these demons from the far east. There remain a half a dozen cities/castles before the MH are (literally) at the gates of my eastern settlements, but the prospect of an Ain Jalut happening in this campaign before I have to shed Mongol blood seem slim.
The Imperial Council of War has planned the defence of Eastern Christendom based around a half a dozen ballista-towered major cities and fortresses, with a series of forts constructed at key choke points. I am confident that my brave scoutatoi spearmen and mourtatoi archers (with their stakes) can fight off the initial wave of these savage barbarians. Plus, I have a happy band of (8+ star) psycopaths impatient and eager to stab/poison/garotte as many of the heinous pagans' generals as they can.
But I have no idea as to how many armies I am likely to have to repel before the Mongol tide can truly be said to have been turned.
So I will be grateful to receive estimates as to the numbers of Mongol stacks that are likely to get as far as, say, the Eastern Mediterranean coastal provinces.
(I know I can use toggle_fow to see and count what's on the map. But I've resisted doing that 'cos the in-game tension is, frankly, too delicious to forgo. And I can still vividly recall the 'shock' I experienced the first time I went toe to toe with the Mongols in Med1. I got my @r$£ well and truly kicked. It was thrilling. And it revealed to me God's purpose when he gave his faithful crossbows.)
Thanks and best regards
VGB