[RTJ AAR] Heiliges Römisches Reich

[~Beren~]

The Holy Roman Empire, a conglomeration of lands and Germanic states, would soon be led to ultimate greatness with rulers who would dare conquer all the known world. Emperor Heinrich the Champion, one of the first of these rulers, sees great potential with his German subjects. The year is 1098, Heinrich rules with an imperialist fist. To make his empire great, he would need to establish a firm foundation by acquiring certain trade agreements with several other factions. From the Iberian Peninsula to the merchants of Venice and to the exotic traders of Russia, the Kaiser managed to gain trade rights with almost all the European powers. While the Reich's treasury fills with gold, the Kaiser plans to raise a powerful army to continue his conquest in Northern Italy. His first obstacle, is the Italian state of Milan. There has been a resentment of German rule by the Milanese people, and so they also prepare for an inevitable assault. The two armies agreed they would face each other on one of the plains of Northern Italy.

September 17th, 1100, Emperor Heinrich's forces rallies up and waits for the arrival of the Milanese army:


As the Milanese finally come into view, the Kaiser orders his missile troops to fire-at-will:


The crossbowmen managed to inflict some casualties within the Milanese ranks, but that didn't stop them from initiating a full frontal assault:


After countless hours of intense fighting, the Milanese soldiers rout in blind panic. Most were either captured or killed:


A group of knights managed to capture the enemy general, Armando, a nobleman of high reputation. The Kaiser, knowing this, shows unheard-of mercy. Letting the young general live and even releases him and his men back to Milan:


This is just one of many victories the Reich will experience in the years to come:

[sicărius]

looks like a big battle. wish my medieval 2 was working...
be even better with more pictures/longer story. apart from that good!

[Goatbuster3000]

Looks very nice! I believe all AAR's would benefit from pictures, and you have some very nice ones! Long live the Reich!

[~Beren~]

After defeating the Milanese main army, Heinrich and his forces advances towards their capital. The city of Milan itself. The Pope hears of Heinrich's actions and their relationships worsened. But The Kaiser offers the Pope a huge sum of gold to make up for it and even establishes an alliance with the Papal States. Without the further help the Pope himself, Milan is an open target to the Reich's armies. Heinrich gathers his men, and starts to besiege Milan. A few months have passed. And the Kaiser decides it was time to assault the city. He has built 4 siege towers and a ram, hoping these would be enough to attack the walls.

Milan, a place of culture, trade, and wealth. It's defenders won't give up the city so easily without a fight:


At the first few minutes of the battle, it would seem as if luck wasn't on the Kaiser's side with the first tower in flames:


Then the second:


And even the ram does not survive the flaming arrows:


But the other two towers manages to link up with the walls, and highly skilled and experienced knights flow out from these towers:


They fight the defenders, trying to reach to the main gate to open it for the rest of the army to charge in:


These knights have done well, but sadly they won't live long to see their impending victory. Even as they have opened the gates, Milanese swordsmen climbs up to engage the worn-out herores:



The Kaiser recieves word that the gate has finally been opened and orders his men to charge in while they still have the chance:


While our brave heroes, reduced to just four men continue to fight on, preventing the Milanese from recapturing the gates.


Milan's fate has been sealed as the horde of German troops rush through the gates:


Now the fight turns to the streets. As pockets of Milanese resistance fanatically holds and defends the city square. It would take hours before the Reich will have total control over the city:


Now that the Milanese forces have been almost annihiliated, the Duke charges himself into the fray:


After a couple of more hours, the Duke lies dead. Milan is completely under the control of the Heiliges Römisches Reich. The Kasier occupies the city and the Italians honor him as a chivalrous ruler and showers him with gifts. After Heinrich's son Henry the Chivalrous conquers Genoa, the Milanese faction has been defeated, and crumbles.

In the year 1124, his holiness the Pope has called a crusade to regain Jerusalem, which is currently under the firm control of the Seljuk Turks. Heinrich the Champion accepts the mission and joins the crusade. He lets his son, Henry, to take care of internal matters at the Kaiser's absence. Henry would raise his own army and conquer the northern settlements of Hamburg and Magdeburg. He would also ally with the people of Denmark and would fight side by side in future battles.

The year 1126, the Kaiser reaches the city of Antioch and besieges it. He needs to recruit additional troops after facing countless Turkish troops along the region of Turkey. Hearing news that the Fatimid Caliphate is at war with the Turks, he sends an emissary to offer a temporary alliance. The Fatimids, cautious about making deals with non-Muslims, accepts the Kaiser's offer of assistance againts the Turks.

[Mallerd]

After a couple of more hours, the Duke lies dead. Milan is completely under the control of the Heiliges Römisches Reich. The Kasier occupies the city and the Italians honor him as a chivalrous ruler and showers him with gifts. After Heinrich's son Henry the Chivalrous conquers Genoa, the Milanese faction has been defeated, and crumbles.

I believe they did not call themselves Holy Roman at that time, because the Byzantines called themselves Romans. Only when they were gone I believe they were afraid that the world would end if there would be no Roman empire left, so they started calling themselves Roman.

[Janissary]

Good AAR but try to fill it up with more stories.

[~Beren~]

Hmm, those aren't enough? Ok I'll make some more.

[Hex Khan]

your AAR has good potential, but you seem to be doing what all beginners do when they start AARs, simple simple advice that will make your pxs more pleasing to us your viewers.
1)Pause the game regularly when your watching events it gives you time to collect yourself and focus on cool images and time to find the best angle to take the pix from.
2)Deselect any units by pressing 'enter' this stops both the annoying green arrows beneath your units and the arrow at either side of your screen pointing out the direction of that selected unit.
3)Make sure you get rid of any pop-ups, so the glorious pix of battle are unspoiled by events saying general slain, gate captured, gate lost, units have fled etc
Except from thatyour doing really well and i'm looking forward to any future updates, you'll post a bit more narrative wouldnt go a miss either but good work all the same!

[~Beren~]

Thanks for the suggestions Hex , They are always welcome.

I'll try to apply them in every pic I take
But just one question. How do you take out the banners? I can't find the preference file in the directory anywhere. Is it packed? Because if it is, then my computer doesn't have the memory to unpak all 7GB.

[Hex Khan]

Thanks for the suggestions Hex , They are always welcome.

I'll try to apply them in every pic I take
But just one question. How do you take out the banners? I can't find the preference file in the directory anywhere. Is it packed? Because if it is, then my computer doesn't have the memory to unpak all 7GB.

I dont know if its been addressed yet, since when you originally asked how, as i've been away writing my AAR for th Eagle Standard.

in order to remove the banners, you need to go to the medieval 2 folder and your see a file of the CFG type called ''Medieval2.preference'' right click and open with wordpad, and it should open up with various lists of settings look for the show_banners 1, replace the 1 with a 0 and save changes and that should remove them from your game.

if it comes up with some kind of error saying its in correct right click on the document again and select the properties and then remove the read-only tick and apply changes and repeat the above process, once done right click go to properties and select the read-only. and that's it done and dusted.

I see theres been more updates since i've been checking up, looking good.

[~Beren~]

When Heinrich joined the Holy Crusade, he brought all of his best men with him. This made the Holy Roman Empire an open ground for her enemies. To the West, the French plan to gain more land. They have besieged Metz and Antwerp. To the East, Polish woodsmen sack and pillage Wroclaw and Prague. It is up to Henry the Chivalrous to defend the remaining Germanic states, and keep the empire from crumbling in the absence of its powerful leader. Henry rounds up the local peasants and provides them with sufficient training and armaments that he has assembled a large militia army. He also manages to get some support from the Swiss with some pikemen. Henry wants to prove to his father that he is capable of running the empire and preserve his long dynasty. 1125 CE, Henry's first move is to relieve Metz and Antwerp from the French. For they pose a far greater threat. The forces besieging Metz, are comprised of battle-hardened veteran troops. The odds are against Henry, but he is confident that he will free his besieged comrades and hopes to either rout or eliminate the French army. His men doesn't share his optimism however. Fighting against a well-trained opponent sounds like suicide. They doubt their leader who has hardly any experience in battle.

As the German forces advances near Metz, the French immediately shifts to counter their assault. Captain Francios leads the French forces. A wealthy nobleman who has seen almost countless wars and has always led France's armies to victory. He is well-known even throughout the Reich's ranks. Francois believes this to be an easy and fast battle. But he under-estimates the power of the Swiss pikes. He organizes his soldiers, but assures them that they would easily beat the Germans. The French soldiers laugh and taunt at the sight of the oncoming Germans. They become impeteous, and would soon prove to be their downfall.



Henry then deploys his pikemen in front and counter the French cavalry. They were easily dealt with...


The French soldiers, eager to spill blood, rushes blindly towards the forest of pikes, ignoring their captain's orders to hold their position:



As the battle rages on, the French soldiers realizes that the pikemen were far too strong and routs. The captain himself dies in battle. The once proud French army is defeated by mere peasants and the power of the pikes. They would soon realize it a powerful weapon and would use it in future battles.



After a long gruesome battle, th Reich wins a heroic victory. Henry is praised as a hero (some even considers him a saint) that he is given the title Henry the Brave. Now he marches on towards Antwerp, where the situation is more dire. The French managed to break through the gates and stormed the castle. The troops garrisoned inside are still trying to hold them off, but won't last long. Henry must now hurry towards Antwerp, before it falls to the French.




On the other side of the Mediterranean, Heinrich successfully captures Antioch and Aleppo. He now marches towards the holy city of Jerusalem and end the Crusade. The Kaiser meets up with a group of crusading knights who gladly accompanies him to their goal. But along the way, they were ambushed by an army of Fatimids. Heinrich wasn't surprised, he figured that the faltering alliance between the Egyptians would break sometime. They were able to kill them all, except for one whom they kept prisoner. Heinrich wanted to know the name of their commander who ordered the ambush. The badly wounded Arab replied in a faint voice, "Saladin"

[Elric von Rabenfels]

Good AAR
But...
Would you be angry...
If I tell you...
That I like my own one better?

PS: But I´m overloaded with skinning work so I can´t work on it most of the time.

[~Beren~]

No not at all. I understand why you would prefer your own (because you made it ). It's not like I'm trying to compete with others.

I have a lot of free time right now, three days of it actually. President's day vacation and all. So I thought that, after seeing all the other AARs (even yours), that I would make my own.

[Elric von Rabenfels]

I have a lot of free time right now. President's day vacation and all. So I thought that, after seeing all the other AARs (even yours), that I would make my own.

You saw my AAR? How was it?

[~Beren~]

Yours was great! Honestly, your AAR and the one titled "For the Swiss Confederation! - The Battle of Marignano" were the ones that inspired me to make my own. Seriously

[Elric von Rabenfels]

Yours was great! Honestly, your AAR and the one titled "For the Swiss Confederation! - The Battle of Marignano" were the ones that inspired me to make my own. Seriously

Thanks! Comments like this make the work writing AAR´s (With skinning work in the back of your head) fully paid .

PS: I wanted to write a new chapter in "German Blood" but a few minutes ago, my mod team-leader gave me some work

[~Beren~]

July 16th, 1127 CE.

Heinrich has survived an ambush set for him by the Sultan Saladin. He swears revenge. By "persuading" the local inhabitants, the Kaiser knows of Saladin's camp, just a few miles off the Median Desert, past Gaza. Heinrich immediately rushes to confront the Sultan before he manages to escape. What he doesn't know is that Saladin is already prepared for his arrival. A few miles off Saladin's camp, Heinrich is blocked by Saladin's own forces already in formation. The Kaiser hastily rallies his men.

With the support of the crusaders bolstering Heinrich's troops, they easily out-skill the enemy. But even so, Saladin's troops heavily outnumbers the Germans 3:1.


Heinrich has heard many fascinating stories about Saladin. As he always said, "You have to know your enemy, to beat them." Saladin is a ruthless but a very cunning strategist and leader. He has conquered lands past Tripoli and Tunis - the former capital of the mighty Carthage. He has wiped out the other Crusading armies who tried to capture territories under Muslim control. This would be the most challenging battle Heinrich will face. The clash of titans.






At the heat of the battle, Saladin orders his troops to withdraw. Seeing this, Heinrich becomes outraged. He yells to his troops to follow Saladin and to not let him escape. But Saladin was able to outrun Heinrich's exhausted troops.




The Kaiser regretfully quits the chase, and heads back towards Jerusalem. He plans to assault the city at night. Therefore gaining a chance to surprise the Turkish defenders.

[~Beren~]

Aha! I've been wondering what that file was for but wasn't able to open it.
Thanks Hex, now I don't have to worry about arrow markers on units ever again

[Hex Khan]

glad to help, keep up the good work mate

[Rion]

What Mod/skins do you use?