Yay finaly a HRE I meen Scotland AAR.
It's a nice change for me as most of the AARs here a RTW ones so I don't read them much.

Looking forward to it, Bones!

Nice choice of faction.

I shall be following this closely.

So here we go. For those who haven't played M2TW, or have but haven't played Scotland, they are an infantry reliant Kingdom. Here are some of their most famous units.

Highlanders: Very useful in the early game, and I even usually find good use for them late game.

Fierce and wild warriors from the Scottish Highlands. These hardy and reckless warriors, accustomed to in-fighting and raiding for loot and slaves, fight with little to no armour, a shield and are equipped with an axe. Notoriously ill disciplined these warriors can pack a punch but are no match for disciplined and armoured units in formation.

Highland Nobles: Great shock infantry with back breaking charge.

These are the clan leaders and their kinsfolk from the highlands and isles of Scotland. Although their mail armour and helmets are better than the common folk can aspire to, their equipment is scarcely comparable to that of the nobility from more prosperous lands further south. Nevertheless, their fighting spirit and vicious two handed swords mean that they command respect on the battlefield.

Noble Pikemen (these may be the best Pike unit in the game):
[PNG, (118.71 KB)]
Since Scottish armies cannot field cavalry to match the English knights, they have found other ways to neutralize this threat, such as rows of brave men with long steel pointed sticks. These well trained, although sometimes reckless clansmen are armed with pikes, allowing them to present English knights with a wall of pointy death.

They can also recruit some really good Pikemen from cities, The Heavy Pike Militia:

Heavy Pike Militia are commoners of the wealthier sort who've been levied into local militias to defend their settlement or bulk up field armies. Given some training, equipped with a pike and heavy armour, these troops are one of the toughest militia units available. Able to present rows of sharp points to charging cavalry, this unit can take punishment and dish it out.

I would not be doing my duty if I did not mention the underrated Border Horse: These are some of my favorite units. You wouldn't know it by their stats, but their speed is invaluable on the battle field.

This light cavalry unit is accustomed to raiding and skirmishing and can quickly be overcome in a prolonged melee with the wrong enemy. Equipped with light mail and spear, this unit is handy for out flanking your opponent and chasing down archers.

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With that out of the way, lets get on to the action. We will first take a look at my starting position. We have one settlement, Edinburgh.


King Malcolm leads the Scots from Edinburgh.


24 year old Prince Edward is in command of the southern army and is Faction Heir.


His younger brother Prince Edmund leads the northern army.


I begin by queuing up economic buildings in Edinburgh. This is one thing I like about M2, the ability to queue many buildings at once without having to pay for them until it's their turn to be built.


The Council of Nobles orders me to take York.


My spy, Fearghus, infiltrates York and reports his findings.


Prince Edward wastes no time. He marches his army south and attacks the English Rebels.


I set up on three sides. One spear unit and an archer unit on two sides, a unit of Highlanders on the third side.


Once the battle started, I sent my cavalry, made up of Prince Edward and two units of Border Horse, to the fourth side. Edward spots a unit of exposed rebel archers and leads his body guard in a charge.


I missed a couple pics here. Once he pulled out my archers were in position on two of the other roads to the square. They draw some of the spearmen out while my Highlanders ready themselves for the charge.


They charge, closely followed by Edward from the adjacent road.


Captain James is taken down by my Spear Militia.


And Scotland had her first victory of the campaign. York was safely in the hands of the Scottish.


Just in time too, it looks like. England was only a turn away from taking it for themselves.


Too bad for England. Their field army has rebelled! That's some good luck for me.


My diplomat has made it to mainland Europe and negotiated trade rights and an alliance with the French. They will be key allies for taking out England early.


Meanwhile, Edmund has waited out the garrison of Inverness and they sally out to meet him in the midst of a storm off the coast.


I'm not sure if the storm on the campaign map is the reason for the storm on the battle map, but if so...that's cool.


I moved all my infantry and archers far back in order to make the rebel army march a long distance to get to them. I then use my cavalry to harass the rebels as they march. I missed the screenshot because I was so mad, but Edmund died in the initial charge of the battle.

Here are my Highlanders charging the enemy.


My screen shot taking duties were completely forgotten in the surprise of Edmund Canmore dying in a charge into Highlanders.

This is the only other screen shot of the battle I got in my madness. Edmund's body guards charge into the back of another unit of rebel Highlanders.


Victory, but the cost was the life of a Prince.


Work begins immediately at Inverness to convert it into a city. I don't need a castle that far north.


With the death of Prince Edmund, King Malcolm has no choice but to take over command of his army. He marches them towards Dublin.


Meanwhile, Prince Edward has reaches Caenarvon with the southern army and lays siege.


My diplomat has negotiated trade rights and an alliance with Milan.


King Malcolm has arrived at Dublin. They sally out to meet him.


They have a decent army including two units of Galloglaich. These guys are monsters for the early game.


The same strategy is used as the last sally battle. I just hope King Malcolm doesn't meet the same fate as Edmund at the hands of the Galloglaich. Here's the moment of truth. King of the Scots charging recklessly into a full strength unit of Galloglaich.


The unit of Galloglaich go from 118 men to 54 from one charge from the Scottish King!


King Edward swings around the battlefield searching for the other unit of axe wielding monsters. He finds them!


This charge is even more powerful, reducing the Galloglaich to 33 men from 118. He withdraws from melee just as the Border Horse charge in from the other side to finish them off.


With the rebel's best two units ground into the dust, King Malcolm orders his cavalry behind his infantry and lets the enemy march to him.


The Scottish footmen stand ready atop this little rise.


The archers are ordered to fire.


This unit of Town Militia routes under the pressure of the fire arrows.


This unit isn't quite so cowardly. It takes a single charge from my spear militia to route them.


The enemy army was in full route.


Prince Eward wants to adopt Gordon Broune into the family. Normally I would decline simply for the name, but with the loss of Edmund I accept.


King Malcolm catches a boat with his army and reinforces Edmund at Caenarvon.


The garrison of York ride out to deal with some rebels to the north. I just had to include it in the AAR simply because of my Captain's name.


Venice agrees to trade rights and an alliance.


The rebels at Caenarvon sally out to meet King Malcolm and the combined armies of Scotland.


Same strategy as the previous battles. The infantry pull back and set up while my Generals crush lone enemy units with heavy charges.


My main goal is to route all the Longbowmen before they can close with my infantry.


The Border Horse see this unit of Peasants and charge.


Malcolm sees a unit of Spearmen with their backs exposed. They didn't know what hit them.


The initial engagements went a lot better than I expected. This is the final unit the Rebels had.


I decide to not risk anymore cavalry lives. The lone enemy unit bravely marches towards my lines.


It didn't turn out well for them.


My archers are loving this.


They lasted longer than I expected, but eventually they route.


The Border Horse are sent to mop them up.


Caenarvon is now under the rule of The Scots.


The next turn Alexander Canmore comes of age. He's very promising.


Once again, work begins immediately to convert Caenarvon into a city. I need all the money I can get right now.


Besides, King Malcolm has his eye on a different castle. Lightly defended as well.


King Malcolm had done his best to position himself for this moment. He was now finally prepared to decisively deal with the hated English.

I'm not sure why the English have so few fighting men in England. They had the large-ish stack rebel, then they surely lost a good number of men fighting those rebels...but usually they have 1.5-2 stacks hovering around Nottingham at this point of the game. Well, I won't worry myself too much about it. It's a stroke of luck for me.

Edit: Fixed typos. I can't get that picture of the Noble Pikemen in the first part of the post to show up. For some reason, whenever I put it in there, the forums automatically give it url tags and make it a link instead of an img. Any help from a mod would be much appreciated.

[This message has been edited by Bones40 (edited 08-05-2009 @ 07:03 PM).]

Very nice start. It's very interesting that the English have so few men, but they could be hiding in the trees...

It's possible, but I highly doubt it. I've been all over that area with my spy, sending him from Nottingham to London and back again. Sending him out to the field armies and back. Just gaining experience with him by having him work every turn. If they are in the trees, they are definitely north of Nottingham either near where that one English army went rebel or northwest of Nottingham. I will definitely check it out before attacking.

[This message has been edited by Bones40 (edited 08-06-2009 @ 01:05 AM).]

Looks good so far.

Aye, this is really good.

I can't believe you accepted a guy name Gordon Broune into your family! Don't leave him in charge of any sort of administration!

Nice work, anyway. Chase those English foreigners right back to France! That doesn't make much sense.

Quoted from Edorix:

I can't believe you accepted a guy name Gordon Broune into your family! Don't leave him in charge of any sort of administration!

I know, I really didn't want to accept but circumstances demanded that I did. King Malcolm is going to die soon and then I would have been left with just Edward and Alexander.

So far, good old Gordon has been relegated to building watch towers in Ireland. We'll see what the future holds for young Mr. Broune.

We last left off with King Malcolm preparing to go to war with England and push them off the island once and for all. Nottingham, and indeed all of England, seemed to be lightly defended. Fearghus Campbell, Malcolm's best spy, was called into duty to find those missing English soldiers. Sure enough, he spotted them in Sherwood.


That must be the army that dealt with the English rebels. They are quite beat up and won't cause much of a problem.

My diplomat was a turn away from making it to Rome. This war will go much more smoothly if I can ally myself with the Pope beforehand. So Malcolm waits a season to initiate his attack.


Patrick McDougal doesn't disappoint. He offers regular tribute to sweeten the deal.


The tribute pays off.


With that out of the way, Malcolm marched his forces to Nottingham and laid siege.


This is a funny result of starting a war with England.


I looked at the Pope-o-meter and it hadn't changed. My guess is when I went to war, it lowered my standing with the Pope by a point. Then, when the turn change happened, my regular tribute raised it back up to where it was.

When I laid siege to Nottingham, instead of coming to the aid of the garrison, the two armies that were trying to ambush me in Sherwood ran away. No matter, Nottingham would be mine.


I assault with two towers and a ram. My Spear Militia operating the towers will be up against Billmen on the walls, while my town militia operating the ram have nobody on the other side.


The Spear Militia pour out of the towers.


My Town Militia that operated the ram have made it inside the walls and assault a unit of Hobilars.


This unit of Town Militia braves the oil from the gate to reinforce them because Prince Rufus was about to charge.


Meanwhile, a Spear Militia unit has charged to the square which was only guarded by Hobilars.


Back near the gate, Prince Rufus gets out in front of his men and is surrounded by Town Militia.


And is quickly cut down.


With that, one of the Billmen units on the walls routes.


My Spear Militia was about done with the Hobilars at the plaza.


They finish just in time to catch the other unit of Hobilars that had routed back to the plaza.


The fight at the gate was won.


The routers were cut off by my Spear Militia in the sqare.


This unit of Billmen was all that as left. They had managed to route my Spear Militia at the second tower.


Unfortunately for them, I had a fresh unit of snarling Highlanders ready to unleash on them.


They broke on contact and were vaporized in seconds.


Malcolm had kicked the war off with a bang, capturing the only remaining castle in the Isles.


I am now able to recruit Highland Nobles, Sergeant Swordsmen and Mailed Knights.


This is all that remains of the English forces. Choosing not to risk the Pope calling a cease fire before I can capture London, I decide to leave the English army to the north.


Fearghus Campbell reports that King William the Conquerer is the lone occupant of London.


This army is standing just outside.


David Canmore has come of age.


My diplomat makes it to Sicilian lands.


The Council of Nobles has ordered me to take Bruges. I was thinking the same thing as soon as I secured my island.


Speaking of which, Malcolm and his three remaining sons attack Henry outside of London. King William is drawn out in support.


Henry marched his army right at me.


Their infantry braved the fire arrows and closed with my lines. Then came the hammer...Eward and Alexander.


While Eward and Alexander charged the back of the infantry, Malcolm and David charged Henry.


With the first army dealt with, King Malcolm scrambles his army back into orderly lines just in time to meet the reinforcing English Army lead by King William himself.


Once again, the Scottish archers are ordered to soften up the English.


They were charged by Hobilars who were met by my Town Militia.


Soon, William the Conqueror was surrounded by baying Scots.


The death of a tyrant. William the Conqueror was conquered.


The remaining English soldiers were run down.


Victory.


The Scotts had finally truly achieved independence.


Fearghus Campbell prepares to embark to the mainland to infiltrate Bruges.


Pikemen, Armoured Sergeants, Crossbows and Mailed Knights. This won't be easy.


The last remaining English resistance on the island is dealt with using auto-resolve.


A watch tower is constructed on the southern coast of Britain and reveals a decision that needs to be made.


Caen, which may be the last English settlement lays rather undefended. Not only would it possibly eliminate the English if I took it, but having a well developed castle as my beach head for the eventual invasion of Western Europe would be very nice. Also, a French army was seen in the area so they clearly have their eye on it as well. Time is of the essence.

On the other hand I have a mission to take Bruges which is a wonderful trading city, especially if I could get Antwerp as well. You see that the Danes are knocking on the door of Antwerp and we can only assume they will want Bruges next. Even if they don't, you know the HRE or France will be coming north soon.

So where do I strike first? Caen, Bruges or should try to get to Antwerp before the Danes which would surely start a war with them? Your suggesions are welcome.

[This message has been edited by Bones40 (edited 08-07-2009 @ 10:44 AM).]

I say strike first at Caen then move north to Bruges and let the Danes have Antwerp.

I would say strike Bruges, rebuild your forces, then sail over to Caen and wipe out the English. Bruges is rebel, and gives you a foothold. Plus, you can threaten Caen from landward- possibly drawing out forces- and then go amphibious and take it by sea. Or feint at sea and march by land.

Also, if you should fail at Caen, your army is destroyed, and I get the impression you were tasked/ordered to take Bruges- something hard to do with no army. Thus accomplish your task /promise first, then take out your age-old foe.

The problem with using Bruges as a foothold is that it's a city. I was planning on just taking militia units over to take it because I would only be able to retrain militia units there. All castle units would have to be shipped back to Nottingham, retrained and shipped back to Europe. Also, if I wait too long, the French look like they will take Caen. I need Caen because I need a castle in Europe so I would have to start a war with France.

The Pope will be calling a Crusade any turn now and I'd like to finish off the English and not be at war with anyone when it's called. If I go to Caen first, I think I can still make it up to Bruges in the allotted time, I may even be able to take it with a Crusading army. I think I have 12 turns left to take it.

Yeah, 12 turns is plenty of time. Go take Caen. Don't worry about it.

Oh, and about your last update...

Whack 'em and whack 'em and whack 'em!!!

WHEEEE - CRASH!!!

ehem. Yes. What I meant was:

Excellent progress. Good work, General Bones.

[This message has been edited by Edorix (edited 08-07-2009 @ 09:49 AM).]

What to do. What to do. A decision awaited me. I decided to send Fearghus Campbell, master spy, from Bruges to check out the happenings around Caen. His discovery made my decision a lot easier. So that's where all the English had gone.


I didn't have an army yet that could deal with that English force, and I couldn't sit around and build it while I had Bruges to take. So, Terikel's advice is heeded. The army departs immediately to cross the Channel to Bruges. And look at that, the Antwerp rebels had repelled the Danes.


The army traveled with a heavy heart though, but also with the excitement for Edward to begin his reign.


With Antwerp also up for grabs, the Scottish army wastes no time assaulting Bruges in order to hopefully get to Antwerp before the Danes come back. I missed the odds screen, but the enemy army screen is in my last post...2 Flemish Pikemen, 2 Armoured Sergeants, 2 Crossbows and 2 Mailed Knights. My troops were completely outclassed.

Fearghus had made it back from Caen just in time to open the gates. I deployed on three sides. One side was completely undefended and I rushed 2 units of Highland Archers to the walls.


Town Militia were also ordered through the same gates to hold up the enemy. Here come some Crossbow men and Armoured Sergeants.


My Archers opened fire from atop the walls.


Soon the Crossbow men retreated back to the plaza.


The Town Militia there, aided greatly by the two units of archers on the walls behind them, had managed to push the Armoured Sergeants back to the square.


Meanwhile, another unit of archers were able to get atop the walls on the other side of the city. Some Flemish Pikemen followed them up.


After chasing my archers around the walls, getting plenty of fire arrows, they routed. I had a couple units of Town Militia ready to intercept them on there way back to the plaza.


After dealing with the routing Pikemen, the Town Militia were able to prepare themselves for a charge from Mailed Knights.


On the other side of the square, some Town Militia had made it to the square and were about to engage the other unit of Flemish Pikemen...this wasn't going to be pretty.


Another unit of Town Militia reinforced the first and the Flemish Pikemen showed their discipline, marching orderly back to the square.


That was weird. I let the two units of Town Militia rest since they had been fighting for awhile and I had a fresh unit of Highlanders show up on the scene. They charge into the backs of the Pikemen.


After letting my inferior, more easily re-trainable, troops do the heavy lifting of the initial assault my Highland Nobles are itching to get into the mix. They arrive just in time.


Here another fresh unit of Highlanders charge and route the enemy commander...


Right into the axes of some Highland Archers.


From there my troops descended on the square from all sides.


It was a terribly brutal melee. Just the type of fight the Scots look for.


Finally, the last of the rebels had been slain.


It was a great victory, though bloody. There was no way around it. The quality of the garrison troops combined with not being able to starve them out at all was a combination that was hard to overcome.


As I feared, I am only able to retrain the lowest tier Militia troops here, Town Militia. And only one per turn at that. The professional troops are shipped back to Nottingham for retraining.


The English ask for a cease fire, but are unwilling to meet my demands.


Edward brings home another adoption candidate, this one is rather promising. I accept.


The Council of Nobles wants Antwerp now, and is offering a nice reward.


The next turn Antwerp was besieged. I will take my time and starve them out this time.


While that was going on, England decided to try to intimidate me.


Luckily, my troops arrive back from retraining in Nottingham. They discover this little army.


In this shot of the enemy army, you can see that my French Allies are threatening Caen. That should draw that huge army back.


The shots of the start of this battle seem to have been lost. Here is a shot of my Highland Nobles charging Davy Browne.


And my Highlanders charging some Billmen.


Davy was laid low by the Highland Nobles.


Clear Victory.


Thankfully, the huge English army was sent back to secure Caen.


The Rebels in Antwerp have been starved out. They march out to meet us.


The same strategy as the previous Sally battles was used. However, the rebel commander charged my spearmen before they could get to where my army was assembling. The Spear Militia turned to prepare for the charge and the rebel commander impaled himself on the initial charge.


This unit of Armoured Sergeants was well out in front of the rest of the army and were about to be lit up with fire arrows.


Some more Mailed Knights charge my archers and meet my spearmen instead.


With the enemy cavalry force dealt with, my archers did most of the heavy lifting.


Victory was never in doubt.


With that, both of the twin trading cities were pumping gold into my coffers.


My economy looks good now.


This young man received a battlefield commission after dealing with some rebels near York.


France had gone and gotten itself Excommunicated. Of course, next came this mission from the Pope. I'll think about it.


Edward brought in another stray. I accept.


While looking through the family tree I discover something most unsettling. The infamous Mr. Gordon Broune had somehow positioned himself to be named Faction Heir! How did this happen?


I finally am able to train assassins and put one to work immediately on the English Cardinal.


Scotland is making a name for Herself.


The first true professional army of Scotland is finished being assembled. It is made up of 6 Highland Nobles, 4 Highland Pikemen, 4 Highland Archers and 4 Mailed Knights. They are led by King Edward and...Prince Broune. I have plans for Mr. Broune.


My Assassin remains busy in Europe. He takes out a Heretic.


And an Inquisitor.


Meanwhile, Edward has landed near Caen.


He brings the English field army to battle, drawing out the garrison in the process.


I set up with my archers out in front of my Pikemen, who are stretched in a long continuous line, three ranks deep. You can see "Prince" Broune out in front, prepared to carry out his special orders.


On my left flank, the Highland Nobles set up an ambush.


My Mailed Knights do the same on my right flank.


The English approach and "Gordo" leads is bodyguards in a valiant charge.


They are quickly engulfed.


As he fights for his life, some English cavalry charge out in front at my exposed archers.


They take some furious fire at point blank range...


...and are met with a nasty surprise.


They route almost instantly after clashing with the Pikemen.


Another unit of English cavalry get the same surprise.


In the meantime, I received a new Faction Heir.


Good Ole' Gordo died a good death though. He put up a heck of a fight.


With Gordo dealt with, the rest of the English army closed with my Pikemen.


My Highland Nobles, unable to contain themselves any longer, come charging out of hiding.


The route was on. My Mailed Knights begin chasing the routers.


The rest of my army prepares for the garrison.


The Highland Pikemen held firm once more.


A stunning victory!


And the reward:


For some reason, though, Caen went over to the rebels instead of letting me walk in and claim the undefended castle.


Here's the new Faction Heir. He's no Canmore, but he'll do. I'd really like for Alexander to be named heir.


In preparation for war with my French allies, my assassin gets to work on one of their generals.


And one of their Cardinals.


With the help of my spy, the Scottish Army immediately assaults the rebel controlled Caen.


I auto-resolve.


Here we sit.


Caen needs to be built up a tier to be on par with Nottingham so I'm not quite ready for a full scale war with France. I could probably handle it, but I like to cover my bases before waging war. It's turn 43 and still no Crusade has been called. I'm wondering if I should sit back, build up and prepare for an eventual crusade or immediately take on France...who is still excommunicated. I have a mission to end my alliance with them and it ends in 2-3 turns.

What is your counsel?

End your alliance with them and swiftly hit them hard at Angers. That will lessen their ability to train decent troops. Since you say France is excommunicated, I see absolutely no reason not to attack them when their border is so weakly defended.Then take out Rennes and head south to snatch Bordeaux, which I notice is still rebel-held.

I love that you got a Scottish general called Gordon Broune, such an excellent coincidence!

Get lots and lots of spearmen with schiltrom, as France appears in my games to have multiple mail knights and generals in their stacks. Now just go and obliterate the froggish scum.

P.S in one of the screenshots I saw mercenaries for hire. Are there that many different ones normally in retrofit or did you mod them in yourself?

I didn't touch the mercenary pool.

Break the alliance and hit Angers and Rennes at the same time.
How come your not making much money when all the cities you have are in the plus?

I have full building queues in every settlement, plus I'm recruiting troops quite a bit. Other than that, I don't know. I'm on H/H. I'm actually pretty impressed with what I'm making. Usually I don't have the money to have full building programs in every settlement this early...or ever really. Those higher tier buildings in Nottingham, London and Edinburgh are expensive.

Small-ish update for today.

My French Allies ask for assistance against a tiny band of rebels. I decline, hoping it might break the alliance.


No such luck. And suddenly, the Northern French border doesn't seem so poorly defended.


I use my diplomat to inform the French that I am no longer going to honor the alliance.


And King Edward besieges Angers. We are at war with the Frogs.


The following turn, the big French stack attacks, drawing out the garrison in the process.


I don't have the benefit of setting up ambushes this time around so I set up in a standard formation. Archers in front, then Pikes, followed by Highland Nobles. Each flank is guarded by a unit of Mailed Knights.


The French have to scale this small hill under heavy fire to get to me.


French Knights try to turn my left flank. My own Mailed Knights charge down the hill, preemptively putting an end to the flanking maneuver.


The Highland Archers skirmish away from the charging French horse. It's now the Pikemen's turn.


The French try another flanking maneuver on my left. My reserve Highland Nobles and Mailed Knights charge to nullify it.


When the French failed to turn my left flank, their right flank began routing.


Henry finally enters the fight by charging Highland Pikes and Nobles.


That wasn't the smartest of decisions. Edward charges in to turn the odds even less in favor of poor Henry.


With the death of Henry, the Frogs route. My Mailed Knights run down all they can.


The Frogs are decisively beaten in the first battle of the war.


And another castle belongs to the Scottish war machine.


And of course, just as the French War is kicking off...


As the wise Andalus pointed out, Bordeaux is a nice juicy target.


Hmmm. The Pope wants help with his war against Sicily.


Edward immediately joins. The plan is to send his Crusading army to take Bordeaux. I would be sending a few units behind him to garrison as he continued on to the crusade.


The damn Spanish had other plans though. I didn't want to wait around to see the outcome of that siege so Edward continues to Tunis.


Milan has betrayed the French as well. Things don't look good for the Frogs.


A nice young commander is adopted.


Edward arrives at Tunis. It's garrison is quite pathetic.


I auto-resolve.


I had declared all my armies as crusaders right before Edward attacked so I get 65 units with an experience upgrade.


Come on. This was right before Edward took Tunis. I had sent another army to take Bordeaux and this Danish army is making a road block.


Meanwhile, the French try to flex their muscles.


My Assassins have gotten quite good. An assassination mission with a success rate of 29% is carried out.


Prince Michault is impressed and contracts us to kill his father.


It seems the Milanese simply can't play nice. There goes another ally.


On the west coast the road block is finally cleared, and Fearghus opens the gates for Aed Bell at Bordeaux.


Aed assaults immediately.


I was half asleep during this battle last night so I didn't do a very good job of screen shots. There wasn't much to it anyway. My catapults take out the towers and I rush two units of Noble Highlanders through the gate.


After a very long melee ensued, some Rebel units begin to route.


I send in my two units of Mailed Knights and the rest start routing.


Somewhere the enemy commander was slain.


I then sent my two fresh units of Noble Highlanders into the square to finish off the exhausted defenders.


Clear victory.


Bordeaux is going to take a lot of work to get it ready for my Iberian Invasion...


...but that's a ways off yet anyway.

[This message has been edited by Bones40 (edited 08-08-2009 @ 06:16 PM).]

Being naughty are we? don't overstretch yourself.

Ha! The fact that you have Bordeaux, Angers and Caen reminds me of MTW where the English had those three settlements and the French had Rennes.

Fearghus, now known as "The Clever", was ordered to investigate what the French capabilities were in Toulouse.


It's a fortress and it may be the last castle the French have. Although it would bring me closer to the inevitable conflict with Milan, it would greatly weaken the Frogs if I took it.

In the North of France, the French Army that was formed for the completed crusade was threatening Caen. David Canmore rides out to confront it.


The French army had a lot of crossbows so my Mailed Knights were sent forward to keep them from firing while the rest of my army advanced.


The crossbows skirmish back and my Mailed Knights also clash with their infantry.


I repeat this maneuver quite a few times.


Finally, my army is in position.


My Mailed Knights have done their work well.


They make one more pass, not to charge the crossbows again, but just to force them to skirmish away while my infantry began their charge.


Then David sees an opening in the center and charges the enemy.


The French are pushed back by the intensity of the Scottish attack.


The Frog Commander is left lying on his back in the snow as baying Highlanders charge past.


The French were annihilated.


While investigating the desert of his newest settlement, King Edward happened upon a few trespassing Sicilians.


The Highlanders gave him a warm Scottish welcome.



Meanwhile, I had sent my fleet over to Palermo to investigate and it was weakly garrisoned. So I sent a small force over to nab it from them while they were still excommunicated. Once the army arrived, they found a different situation. I guess we will wait and see what happens.


The Pope was repelled at Palmero, but at least he weakened the garrison nicely. I wonder why I wasn't asked for assistance. Regardless, I laid siege.


Back in Africa, Edward came upon another tiny Sicilian Army. What are they doing?


First, Edward deals with the archers.


The Sicilian infantry pursue him.


My Highlanders are beginning to take to this desert warfare.


The Sicilians are convinced the Highlanders are Demons.



Edward continues mapping his new territory.


Meanwhile, the Crusadeless Crusading Army of Denmark was looking conspicuous around Angers while I was assured we had good relations.


Here we get a better look at Toulouse. It is nicely developed and needs to be taken before they produce anymore troops of the quality of those Dismounted French Archers...and before Milan can take it for themselves.


I decide it's time to take away the French presence at my rear.


Colin Vissman marches his militia army from Bruges to deal with some Rebels the French had driven north across the border.


Colin charges the enemy missile units while my Pikes move into position.


"That's not a spear. This is a spear."


With the infantry dealt with, the Pikemen converge on the Rebel General.


He doesn't stand long against the Pikes.


I think this is Colin's first solo command victory.