(SSHIP-Pisa) Dreadbolt: Going East, XI-4

[Alavaria]

I would say that's a healthy balance of Chivalry and Dread in your generals, but considering your FL and FH both have maxed dread

Well it sorta matches though... since the Dread characters are all generals mostly, so the people who are affected most by them are the enemies who are getting steamrolled. Meanwhile the Chivalry ones are all working to grow the Empire internally, building up the cities and people rather than expanding borders.

I begin wondering about this Lady. It seems Pisa is not quite forgiving.

It's pretty much been constant that Our Lady is more like what you expect in that timeframe (not ours) or classical Greece like is referenced a few times. Arguably Pisan society is less stratified due to (1) focusing aggression on external enemies who are endlessly present and (2) the fact it was just - in the last two or so generations - greatly shaken up, with many Cities being new ones, and thus many free citizens who previously were serfs.

But yeah, it's very much a militarized nation. If you asked her though, she's point out that when working with the Spartans it was the other way around since they even had trouble with the (basic, she'd say) issue of "having enough children". They had a shakeup and population explosion under her...

[Alwyn]

Great chapter! Our Lady's speech is done well and combines effectively with the battle images, as does your account of Pisa's strategies such as giving peasants land in exchange for loyal service.

[Alavaria]

Dreadbolt: Filling The Land
Ch IX-8: Bravely Charge







The Moors could expect no aid from Egypt. It wasn't a very realistic possibility in any case, given how long and vulnerable any supply lines from Egypt to Iberia would be.

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In Africa, guarding the critical waters around Sicily from southern Tunis, Simone "the Victorious" was enjoying his retirement. Even though Pisa was only a brief sea trip away...

Apparently being a good general does not mean you can handle taxes. It's just as well that Tunis was important enough to have its own Quartermaster.




It's actually somewhat hard to notice the small inefficiencies if the Empire is nowhere close to the line between red and black.

==========================================================



Speaking of lines, there are no less than three "blue" borders which have to be dealt with...








The forces of Ri Aed (Scottish King) which had retreated from London were astonished and dismayed to find their fallback position, Castle Lincoln was already besieged. Or to be more specific, we were camping outside of the castle's only gate.

The enemy decided to force the issue by crushing us between themselves and the castle walls. However, we had taken some precautions.



Fish are important part of your diet. If you live near a sizeable body of water anyway.






Initially we considered allowing them to enter the castle in order to siege the lot of them instead. Since they would have many more soldiers but not much more supplies to feed them.

However, we couldn't resist letting loose a few shots and the Scots decided on a charge with brave hearts.






Ri Aed: These Pisans are foot-heavy, there's no need to fear them. Knights, let's crush them!

Officer: Avoid their tricky stakes, sweep to the right and get around their flank.

Ri Aed: Then they're sure to break and run... Charge!




Marco: Friends, it seems the Scots want a contest of lances... Officer.

Officer: Prepare lances. Units one and two, counter-charge!




Marco: As as for us, lets quickly swing to the side and get their general in the back. Spears!

(Pisan heavy cavalry use the 'lance' as the heavy frontal charging weapon. The shorter -but still heavy- spear is used on the attack when a lance is not flexible enough. It's still a lance though, they don't use it in a melee, for example.)




Marco: Excellent, call for the cavalry to break off. How are the foot handling themselves?

*Sound of a horn*






The furious Scot charge slammed into the Pisan infantry formation like a wave crashing into a boulder, and broke with about as much effect.

As the Pisan horse regrouped, the soldiers who still had their lances intact prepared to charge into the milling mass... but it wasn't needed.






We chased them to and through the gates, catching the garrison off guard.






The gatehouse was secured in no time. Marco dismounted and climbed up to get a better view of the castle interiors from the walls.






We held the gate and our captured sections of the wall easily, thanks to crossbows and the (now) height advantage.



_





Marco: And that was for disrupting my son's birthday party.

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Pisan heavy cavalry, are also called 'knights' or 'lancers' (and occasionally 'lances').

Technically speaking many such soldiers do hold a non-hereditary title of "Knight of the Land," as in "the whole land (of the Pisan Empire)". In many ways, they are not dissimilar to regular soldiers though, being paid from the Empire's central treasury.
However, the critical difference lies in the terms at the end of their service.

Regular soldiers (including cavalry) are usually given fairly specific land allotments and a pension.
Knights get a degree of preferential choice in where they settle down (if they want to) as well as some years of (capped) tax exemption, which can be passed down in the family for the duration.

As a result, many of the earlier more mercenary-contracted soldiers drawn from the various powerful families, be it retainers or children without priority on the estate, took on the Empire's new knighthood.
The 'original' knightly titles still exist, which is to say, only the ones linked to lands around Pisa specifically. All the rest of the Empire was annexed later on, and thus was alloted under the new system.

A land allotment is essentially ownership, it does not on its own confer any tax advantages. Original Pisa land allotments were grandfathered in with perpetual tax-preferred status, but were later on simply purchased outright and retired by the Empire.

[NorseThing]

I like this for a number of reasons. The maps and accompanied explanations are helpful after so many pages of a long AAR. The narrative leading up to and into the ill fated Scottish cavalry charge was, of course, the highlight of the update for me. The pictures and especially the smaller ones at the end completed the great update.

[♔atthias♔]

I like this for a number of reasons. The maps and accompanied explanations are helpful after so many pages of a long AAR. The narrative leading up to and into the ill fated Scottish cavalry charge was, of course, the highlight of the update for me. The pictures and especially the smaller ones at the end completed the great update.

I could not have said it any better well done

[Alwyn]

Nicely done, great update - and a great line from Marco towards the end!

[Alavaria]

Dreadbolt: Filling The Land
Ch IX-9: Massive Military Expenditures

Spoiler for Riga: 

The march of Oberto's Fourth Army was not slowed thanks to the quick acquiescence of towns like Riga.

For whatever reason, certain specific towns were worth taking note of, even though this far east, (any) settlements were few and far between.

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Surprised by our bold strategic insertion via sea in the south, the Moors who had been marching towards the land border further west immediately retreated.

Unfortunately for them, Isbliyya was suffering from a plague, which only worsened with the burden of more soldiers within its walls.






To the far west, a second strategic invasion was about to land, causing a scramble for the walls of al-Ushbuna.

Adding insult to injury, our southern fleet began a blockade of the docks of Isbliyya.






Adding executions to annexation, nothing says "more law" than gallows.

(Portugal's heir, by the way)




Meanwhile, it seems we might need to use some of those gallows sooner rather than later...

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The pope demanded a pause in hostilities. We decided to send Matteo Soppino to make this a reality.


_





On paper at least. Blood still continued to flow, but not on battlefields at least.

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As the Defender of the Faith, we shall see how well the latest High Duke of Poland can defend his faction's last bolt-hole.






Sometimes you wonder though, as our armies are hardly "plain". Alessandro Spreafico was leading the "new" Seventh Army, which included all the mercenaries that Marco had been leading before.

Hungary was his for the taking, and the men were of course still eager to claim it for the Empire (and themselves)!






As the Poles found out, it was a lot of men. Honest, but definitely not plain. Good crossbow bolts can be expensive, but they're very worth it. Sometimes you can even reuse them, or at least recycle.

Reduce (wasted shots),
Reuse (gather bolts from the battlefield), and
Recycle (the steel heads in particular).








Not much to say, it was a horrible siege (for them). Our crossbows as usual picked off the enemy with impunity from obscene ranges.






Mail armor, while still the best in many parts of the world, is already viewed as obsolete, at least among those able to afford the better coats of plates.

Shields are as important as always. Always have a good shield.






A large and thick piece of well-seasoned wood is an excellent defense, and much cheaper than even the cheapest metal armor.

Of course, our soldiers tend to have both, but remember that the shields were there from the very start. The first real armories were busy making large numbers of shields (and spears, but you obviously need some weapon to mean something on the battlefield).








If that finale looked like an "honest, plain" battle of two spear formations, it wasn't. Not only were the Poles' Eastern Spearmen hopelessly outmatched anyway, but...

There were crossbows that soon after started shooting them in the flank, totally wiping them out.






Rest easy, we'll defend the faith, title or not.






The pope approves of us, after all...

[NorseThing]

& Christian factions remain. I can only assume this is a temporary inconvenience.

[♔atthias♔]

good writing I especially like the pope approves of us after all part +rep

[Alwyn]

I enjoyed this, including the lines about "Adding executions to annexation" and 'reduce, re-use, recycle'! The arrows showing the movement of units are a nice touch.

[Alavaria]

Dreadbolt: Forward, Advance
Ch X-1: In Which Spears...



Our internal security is very good. As you can see, even this town Bergin in the far north has 20% law, without any coming from its own buildings.

That works out to about 8 points worth, where the Assassins' HQ is 2 points and each Master Thieves' Guild is 1 point.




This helps keep the corruption down

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Yes, one the one hand, a thousand times a thousand arrows. On the other though, we do have powerful siege engines.






(Soldiers who are on the wall sections which are "cut off" from stairs down will immediately fly up in the air and die. This doesn't happen in RTW.)








Wooden walls are definitely no protection against our powerful siege engines. It might have taken longer to assemble the light trebuchets used to take down the wall, then to take down the wall.






As we pressed through the breaches, the enemy struck back with all their cavalry!

We were not about to back down, especially once the melee began in earnest. More spearmen entered the town and joined the fray!








In a rather unusual turn of events, the battle actually was decided by infantry and spear-work.

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Spoiler for Castle Kolyvan: 

We took Castle Kolyvan. No big deal, though it is another location for docks in the far north.

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The new leader of the Moors was... not a unifying figure. Decried as a Usurper, his first action was to accept a ceasefire from us.




This caused them to break off the "siege" of Citadel Granada, more of a tactical consideration than a strategic one though.

[♔atthias♔]

interesting developments in the empire
well done update+rep

[NorseThing]

Yes a great update. I liked the discussion about how the siege engines were deployed.

[Alwyn]

It sounds like the siege engines and spearmen of Pisa are as deadly as the crossbowmen. I wonder if the ceasefire will last long.

[Alavaria]

Dreadbolt: Forward, Advance
Ch X-2: Toppling Dominoes



It is hard to consider "this" to be a day of judgement, or even a year. Even decade would be stretching it, because this is nothing less than a multi-generational conquest.

Considering how Our Lady seems to have little concern for the uninhabited lands, until they are inhabited, that is, perhaps such a time scale is no coincidence.

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In the east, Novgorod struggles to find a suitable response to our citizens who have solidly taken up residence and refuse to be moved. It doesn't help any that, out in the "frontiers" high-powered crossbows are considered the appropriate gift for a child who has just come of age.

(Although it's possible to make one that can pierce armor that even a youth can span, it's highly inefficient to say the least. Training does help a great deal in both speed and stamina, though.)






Meanwhile, Volodymyr is having troubles preparing for the anticipated counteroffensive, due to "leadership problems".








Stragglers still show up periodically, and are dispatched with minimal fuss.

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Marco Bernandi at some point took over control of the supporting elements for Alessandro's "Crusader" force in Hungary.

Given that these "supporting" elements by now numbered a whole Grand Banner, the Seventh Army was now able to engage in two places at once.




The planners had somehow missed the town of Zara, with Hungary's last king and hopes.

Ugolino Licci, one of the veterans who commanded a garrison in Italy, was briefly deputized and let some militia out to quickly end Hungary. A rather shameful end, perhaps.








They did their job well, and now there's a garrison in a city on the east side of Italy which carries its own conquest honors.

Quite a story to tell.




Hungary's story, though, has ended.

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Marco, now showing his age, rolls down the coast, the First Army eliminating the holdouts in Fortress Valencia, along with the latest Aragonese king.

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Simone's third army, moving westwards along the north coasts of Iberia, encounters the Large Town Burgoa.

It is defended by the newest Aragonese king, Rei Suero who has become the Defender of the Faith.






He couldn't defend his walls from our siege engines, or himself from our crossbows.








Prencipe Gonazlo, who was actually commanding the defense, didn't do any better against the Third's spearmen.





His last few knights fared similarly...





The end of Aragon sounds much better as a massive clash between two heavily armed and armored forces slugging it out in a brutal melee.

Instead of some raggedy* knights drawing their swords in a last rush into our spears. Before getting sliced to bits by crossbows, the true killers.


*The knights are wearing Light Mail (Armor: 4) while all of Pisa's line infantry are upgraded to wear Heavy Mail (Armor: 6)

[Beckitz]

Really nice update! Wow, 11 pages - that's a lot! I guess empire is its own reason for existing...even when that empire has become the better part of the known world...

[Alwyn]

Toppling dominos, indeed! I enjoyed Marco's quip about the birthday party. On the campaign map and battlefield alike, the balance of power seems clearly and consistently to favour Pisa's grand empire.

[Alavaria]

Dreadbolt: Forward, Advance
Ch X-3: Three Generations' Retrospective





The following was dictated to this recorder (scribe) by Lady Tita, the daughter of Podesta Marco.




From the great Podesta Baldassare (the unifier of Italy), to Podesta Soderino (destroyer of Romans), to Podesta Marco, long may he live, the Visconti family and Pisa have risen to a position of unapologetic strength by the great and nourishing mercy of Our Lady.

However, this was not always without question. To those our brothers and sisters in the frontier especially, there are no lack of those who would will otherwise, with steel.




According to our records, and also directly passed onto me by Our Lady, the struggles of our day, or the day of our children's children, pale in comparison to that of earlier.

In a past age, when we had not developed a civilization untainted by the Roman. And had not advanced so greatly in numbers, or understanding. Yet we fought harder enemies.




Having spread themselves out, and their influence even further due to the failure of her earlier servants, the later Greeks, the unholy Roman empire deeply aggravated Our Lady.

As we could not give them any quarter, it was indeed her sustaining hand which allowed us to prevail over such ones who fought to the very last in their defiance.




The Romans were like the droplets in a storm, far outnumbering us, but did not prevail.

Though now we can now drown the storm with steel, it seems that for the moment, our enemies are dry as the deserts of Africa.








The west will close off a critical front forever, as its west boundaries are the sea itself.

For we can and will march to this sea, having done so across lands before.






To those who come forth against you with steel, assail them boldly with steel in return.

For no one who takes the field against you will be allowed to take back their wager.








Do not neglect to ensure that every one of them who came will thus depart. Be careful to complete this good work to completion before you take your portion from the field.

For the fallen, and what is yours, will be there when you return, and will not rise to assail you in the future if you allow them their leave.






Remember to show Our Lady's generosity to those who surrender to you without complaint, and do not confuse the many innocent with the few guilty.

For those who live by the same words we do, shall indeed live by them.




Our Lady has seen the determination of the Moors. They have been acknowledged. Those who have been assigned to the West, do not delay to send. Be it food, weapons, yourselves.

For if they will to hold their own land, they are not to withhold it from you.





(Yes, the grammatical choice is deliberate, as it the admittedly not perfectly matching in length X, For Y section, but it is intended to be prose, since letters didn't have screenshots of M2TW in them obviously)

[Alwyn]

Great chapter, I enjoyed your use of a distinctive, poetic style for Lady Tita.

[Alavaria]

Dreadbolt: Forward, Advance
Ch X-4: We Demonstrate Faith



Being faithful has many benefits. For example, it is practically spare change for the Empire to build something like "a" cathedral. Unfortunately, as a city, no matter how Large or Huge it is, can apparently only work on one construction project at a time, it is truly "construction slot time" that is limited.

Spoiler for Hardly a Battle: 

Those lacking in faith, were found lacking... their lands will doubtless soon be repopulated with better, more faithful people.

This is only another small step to the ultimate reunification of civilization under Our Lady.






As can be seen, we have by and large taken on first the task of reunifying those "following the pope". This will leave us able to stand united against "everyone else".

This somewhat discounts the "Kingdom of Jerusalem" which is by this point a small vassal of the Egyptians.

Spoiler for No Contest: 

By the way, the Scots were no happier to be unified under Our Lady's Empire than under the rule of the English crown.

So be it.




The pope "demanded" we stop killing the northerners, lest our reputation with him suffer.

This is what our diplimats call a "nudge and wink".










One Scottish fortress down.

Spoiler for The Usual: 

We had secured all of the mainland... there was news of some small Scottish town in "Ireland" across the waters to the west, but then...

But then he spawned.




William Wallace, who had made somewhat of a name for himself protesting against the overreach of a papacy he described as "paying blood tribute to some strange woman from God-knows-where" announced the creation of the Reformed Scottish Nation of Protestants Against The Evil Empire.

Or, as their battlecry would be known, the "Freedom!!" faction.


When the sheer extent of their numbers and the mind-boggling advanced nature of their arms and armor were fully understood, Our Lady immediately called for a meeting of the cities in the Northern area.

Grand Banner General (Consigliere) Adelmo "the Faithless" was asked if his forces had enough crossbow bolts to deal with army sieging Dun Eideann. He responded with the oddly ironic line of "faith is a thousand times better than a thousand arrows" which is odd because arrows are not very powerful. We also do not stock any arrows as crossbows are the only missile weapon in the mid-to-long range role.

The actual number was about 18,000 bolts by the way, more than 7 for each of the approximately 2400 Reformed Scottish.