posted 01 November 2010 10:19 EDT (US)
While I was in the process of composing my AARs for a Rome: Total War campaign currently being run on my laptop system, I got to thinking about what I could do with Medieval 2. My regular PC could support the game better than the laptop did (the laptop's graphics hardware produced mixed results that were unsatisfying in M2TW, although there was an issue with my antivirus software (Kapersky Internet Security) which made it produce a warning box upon startup. However, I had been able to run it without any known issues.
I likeMedieval 2 for a number of reasons, including the following:
Of course, there was still a central authority, as in the Senate of RTW. Disobeying the Pope's authority had real consequences, including excommunication; but you also had to deal with a council of nobles who might want your attention in other ways. Ultimately, you would be requested to join a crusade against factions holding regions in the Holy Land, and being there risked contact with the hording factions of Mongols and Timurids later in the campaign.
I've settled on reinstalling M2TW on my PC as of this month. I also installed theKingdoms ex-pack, but will be concentrating on the main M2 campaigns. With Fraps installed on my PC, I have the means to screencap the campaign and battle moves in order to construct an AAR.
There are 5 factions which you start with inMedieval 2: Total War:
England
England actually has a few options for expansion. I always moved to take the rebel regions on the island and, if possible, Rennes on the continent before France can do it. Beyond that, it becomes a waiting game to see if the Scots are getting aggressive and preparing for the eventual fight for my continental holdings against France or the Holy Roman Empire.
Militarily, the English are supposed to have strong infantry and a good archery unit (the longbowmen). However, their cavalry is lacking and they could easily get overrun by anyone with stronger horsemen.
France
The French actually have a very wide avenue for expansion, from Dijon and Metz to the east, to Rennes and Bourdeaux in the west. After that, my most frequent adversaries have been the HRE, Milan and England. I've often started with either Dijon or Rennes, just to get the additional port on the Atlantic, then focused on strengthening my kingdom's defenses in case the English made their moves.
France gets the strongest cavalry units early in the campaign, but their infantry at this stage is very weak. Therefore, I'd be hard pressed to find a way to strengthen that before the other factions start attacking.
The Holy Roman Empire
The Germanic kingdom known as the Holy Roman Empire is similarly situated as France is, with avenues for expansion all around. The one complicating factor here is that one of its home regions is separated from the others by the home regions of Venice and Milan, and conflict with these neighbors is as unavoidable as night and day. I generally seek to take adjacent territories to strengthen my economy and build up my defenses in case one of the rivals comes calling.
Militarily, the HRE is well-rounded at the beginning of the campaign. The problems start when you find yourselves lasting into the later phases and have few strong units to counter those of the other factions. Apparently, Creative Assembly made it so that the Holy Roman Emperor had a similar attitude to gunpowder that Napoleon Bonaparte took to steam-powered ships.
Spain
Spain gets a fairly tight starting spot between a potential rival and a mortal enemy. I've always made my first move towards the rebel region bordering the Pyrenees, and follow it up with the castle to the southeast. However, I'll be the one fighting the Moors almost within the period of 10 turns when that phase of expansion is done.
Spanish armies get some decent light infantry and cavalry in the early phase of the campaign, but lacks a strong heavy infantry at that time. This will mean trouble if you find yourself fighting against France or the English in an early game.
Venice
Venice is in a similarly tight starting position to Spain, especially since it has the HRE basically putting a pincer move on its home region from north and south. Milan isn't such a good neighbor, either. I usually started my campaigns by capturing the Balkan territories and building up my economy to support a strong navy.
Venice gets a decent spear unit early in the campaign. However, its cavalry is lacking, and I've found a tendency for lots of knights to be awarded to me for carrying out missions for the nobles, which is a real drain on me, financially.
The unlockable factions would include Scotland, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Milan, Hungary, the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Sicily, Russia, the Moors, the Ottoman Turks, and the Abbasids of Egypt. Both of the hording factions (the Mongols and Timurids) are locked.
I generally make my decisions as to which faction to play based upon personal ancestry. I chose the HRE due to myy mixed Italian-German ancestry (with a strong mix of English in it). There was also the location, which was central to a lot of paths for expansion that enabled me to pursue these paths freely in the early phases.
My plan of action in this new campaign would be to strike out immediately, siezing the first targets of opportunity and then makng moves to consolidate my Fatherland before the French, Danish or Italians make their bids to fight me.
Progress, Session I
I started off with "only vital information" advice set, so Lady Gwendolyn was giving me the introductory lecture on what I had and where to look. I went through the overview screens, as is always the part for my campaign sessions.
There was the faction overview. Apparently, each faction inMedieval 2 gets a slightly different victory condition: mine as the HRE was to hold 45 regions, including Rome, before the 225 turns were up. It was Turn 1 (Summer, 1080 AD).
I controlled 6 regions, governed from 4 cities and 2 castles. Emperor Heinrich the Chivalrous was my faction leader, but he wasn't at the capital Frankfurt; he was in Bolonga in Italy, cut off by the Venetians and Milanese.
My family tree was rather small. Heinrich had two sons and a daughter. The rest of my generals were men of the hour (MOtH) adopted at some point prior to the game start.
Then came my rosters:
The military leaders were the following:
The regions controlled included the following:
My agents on the roster included:
The College of Cardinals who served under Pope Gregory of the Papal States included the following:
My current rankings amongst the standings under the Pope weren't too good: at 30% (3 of 10 crosses) -- all the other factions were starting at 60%.
At present, I had no enemies, other than rebels. That was bound to change sooner or later, especially as the factions ran out of rebels to subdue.
I was ready to start the campaigning. The first things I did was move Captain Markus closer to the rebel castle at Hamburg. I had no intention of letting the Danish get their hands on it!
While this was going on, I move my spy Rainald northwest towards the Danish border, where he got a closer look at the rebels in the castle of Magdeburg. My option B would've been to take Magdeburg, but it wouldn't be necessary if Hamburg fell into my hands.
Stettin would be another option, but it would be hard to get to if I didn't take one of the intervening castles first. As it was, it was dangerously close to the Polish. I was actually going to aim for Prague, which was a town that could give my economy a boost when it was needed.
Markus laid the siege of Hamburg immediately. My next move was to send Count Dietrich north with a portion of his garrison from Frankfurt to join the man before something happened to makehim rebel (it had happened before). Cardinal Péter was brought into Frankfurt region to aid in the conversion process (the region lagged behind most of the others in piety).
While this was going on, I began to bring Princess Agnes down to act as an ambassador for the Reich. I fancied that she would first contact the Milanese in order to set up an alliance aimed at keeping Venice at bay. Of course, things couldn't always work out that way, but it was worth trying.
Turn 2 (Winter, 1080 AD). The following reports summarized the information for me:
That turn saw a surprise visit by the Venetians to Emperor Heinrich. The diplomat Guido Batile openly offered trade rights and a map of Venice's regions, which I had Heinrich accept. My guess would be that they were softening me up for when they'd come stab my back later.
There was also a promising young commander named Wenzel von Fanconia offered for adoption by Prince Henry. I accepted, knowing that we'd be needing all the generals we could get as the Holy Roman Empire expanded. Wenzel would be sent north to Frankfurt later.
The rest of the turn was spent moving my units to where they would be needed. The spy Rainald went northeast past Stettin to begin exploring the regions of Poland and points further out. Dietrich was on his way to take command of Captain Markus's besieging army. And Princess Agnes was making her way into the Alps west of Innsbruck.
It was at this stage that I decided to do a little tweaking. I was concerned that I'd be losing funds a little too quickly, so I moved the AI spend policy on the slider a little bit to the left to put a limit on how much could end up being spent. (I wasn't sure if this would affect overall expenditures, but at least the AI wouldn't be spending like a drunken friar if I neglected to take the towns off of "auto-manage".)
There were still no Papal or noble council missions at the end of Turn 2, so I advanced. That was when I got no less thanthree EOT messages. Princess Pioska of Hungary followed the Venetian example by offering trade rights and the maps of her kingdom's territories to Leopold at Vienna. Then the Papal diplomat Talentus Arlocti showed up at the Emperor's door offering trade rights, to which I had him counter-offer an alliance with the Pope, trade rights and a map exchange. Both were accepted with open arms.
The first noble council mission was offered starting in Turn 3 (Summer, 1081 AD). The rest of the starting reports were as follows:
To make him a little more useful, I took Leopold out of Vienna for a short trip to the northern border to build a watchtower overlooking the neighboring region of Prague. In fact, that was pretty much SOP for all of my military generals once things got started up, especially for those with a tendency to have lower civil traits or who weren't in command of a town where the tax rate needed to be controlled.
Advancing to Turn 4 (Winter, 1081 AD), I got only the single EOT financial report, since I wasn't in the process of recruiting any new units until I could get more income flowing.
My first move this turn was to take the son in law Welf von Erfurt out on a trip to set up a watchtower to keep an eye on those pesky Italians from Venice and Milan, then go south to try and bring the rebels in Florence under Imperial control. He laid siege to the town and would wait for 4 turns for the outcome.
As I advanced the turn, two princesses came knocking on the door. The first was Ingrid of Denmark, offering trade rights to the burghers in charge of Frankfur; the second was Matilda of Sicily, offering the same to Emperor Heinrich at Bologna. In both cases, I accepted.
I was more wary of Denmark at any rate, since the faction was usually the more aggressive of the two which sought trouble with the HRE in many of my games. They ranked right up there with Venice and Milan in terms of being bad neighbors.
Turn 5 (Summer, 1082 AD) brought only a couple of reports:
With the sieges of Hamburg and Florence pretty much in waiting mode, all I could do was keep moving my spy Rainald through the frontier districts of Poland and hope that he came across an easy target that'd improve his skill levels without killing him. At present, the Poles didn't look too busy.
When I advanced the turn again, Prince Henry got a surprise visit from Princess Constance of France! She offered the straight trade rights agreement, to which I had Henry consent. She wasn't a particularly charming young lady...
By the time I got to Turn 6 (Winter, 1082 AD), I received 4 report messages:
The town hall would enable me to recruit a diplomat with which to carry out foreign missions such as the recent one for contacting Milan. The priest was Manfred von Munich (age 27), a rather low-level preacher who couldn't be counted on for more than doing minor missionary work in the provinces. No witch-hunter, he.
The spy Rainald continued his trek through the wilderness of Poland. Meanwhile, Wenzel von Franconia reached Frankfurt and built a watchtower to watch over the neighboring regions from the northwest. He was going to be needed to keep an eye on things until Hamburg fell into Imperial hands.
Turn 7 (Summer, 1083 AD) brought the following reports:
That diplomat was Ruprecht von Mahren (age 34), a promising agent with 3 influence scrolls on him. He was dispatched immediately to Milan to open the dialogue. Meeting with Duke Giorgio, he offered an alliance, trade rights, and an exchange of map information, which the Duke happily accepted. Milan might've been worth watching, but I'd rather have a chance of them turning against Venice first while I consolidated the defenses of the Italian holdings.
I also got a glimpse of a neutral army crossing my territory: Prince Charles of Denmark, apparently frustrated in his bid for Hamburg, was headed somewhere else. I hoped it was further west than Frankfurt.
After moving the spy Rainald a little more to the east (he was next to Krakow at this point), I advanced the turn. That brought up the first EOT battle message: the Italian rebels controlling Florence had decided to give the Emperor's son-in-law a chance to cut his teeth in a battle!
The odds were about even, if slightly skewed in the Empire's favor. Bucello had those Italian spearmen and a couple of town militia units in his garrison, along with a unit of peasant crossbowmen. Von Erfurt had just the levy spearmen and peasant archers in his army.
The first thing one should notice inMedieval 2 battles is that you really don't get a waiting period when an enemy launches a sortie against your besieging army. You just go straight into the battle and have to use your friend, the "Pause" button, in order to get a chance to rearranged your forces to absorb the sortie as best you can. Von Erfurt's forces were standing downhill from the gate from which the rebels would come pouring.
My counter-move was to send the spear militia in front of my general to shield him from the onslaught of any of the Italians who might charge in his general direction. The archers would move a little to the left to where their fire could supress the advance a little and keep those crossbowmen at bay (at this stage, the little advisor in the upper-left was suggesting that I use fire-arrows: "You can set your arrows alight..."). I settled for standard arrows in this case.
Recognizing that the crossbowmen were on a higher level where their missiles could get increased range and effectiveness against my spearmen, I moved Welf out beyond the left flank to anticipate their move and try charging at them. (At this stage, I was reminded of the pause in movement for cavalry thatMedieval 2 gives you -- no instant galloping like in Rome.)
Welf did just as wonderfully at routing the unit of town militia that came out to impale themselves on my spears. He managed to avoid the charge of the Italian spearmen in Bucello's force while doing so, but I needed to prevent those from reaching the archers, who were already taking fire from the crossbowmen in front of the walls.
With the rebel missile units dealt with, it was time to turn my general's attention to the melee itself. Bucello's Italians were beginning to press hard upon the Imperial militia, and Welf was brought into action to deliver a few hearty blows on the rascals before they could make an undesirable impression upon his men. Once these routed, it was a matter of pursuit through the gates of the town before they could be slammed shut.
It didn't take much effort to get inside the walls of Florence. While one unit continued the pursuit of Bucello's men towards the town square, I brought the rest towards the town to follow them in. The archers were to wait outside the walls to provide cover against the crossbowmen still fighting in the spaces between the buildings and the wall to the right, but Welf was needed to ride these men down. Afterwards, he would join the rest of the militiamen in charging the defenders in the square.
The rebel captain went down leading a desperate final charge against Imperial forces before they could take the square, leaving his men without a leader and quite desperately struggling for their lives...
It all came down the a final melee at the edge of the town square with the relics of Bucello's army. Welf played his part, charging through and behind the mass of rebel infantry that remained to deliver a final blow. The Holy Roman Empire were clear victors!
Florence would be sacked. This would be the pattern for all towns and cities which didn't surrender peacefully; the income gained from looting would go towards the building of improvements in the other cities of the Empire, and for the recruitment of more men for the armies of the Reich.
Turn 8 (Winter, 1083 AD). The reports came in:
One of the things that I noticed about the EOT financial report inMedieval 2 was that it included other summaries besides the obvious profit/deficit amounts. There was a military summary above which told you the number of recruitments, battles fought and won, and other significant details. Below, a balance of power ranking for various areas (the HRE continuously ranked 1st in military power for all the turns, so far...).
There was one unwanted character in the region of Florence at that turn, a heretic named Juva. I sent the priest Manfred von Munich into the area to see what his chances of eliminating the bastard were but they weren't so good (16%), so I brought him into the town to aid in converting the unbelievers. Thankfully, a cardinal from Rome would show up to aid me by getting rid of the heretic for me within a few turns.
Meanwhile, I had some relief in the fact that Prince Charles of Denmark had completely passed through Imperial territory without any open violation of our peace. I would have to consider the options of defending against this faction later, to which keeping a strong garrison in Hamburg would be of paramount importantce. In the meantime, Frankfurt had produced a fine merchant in Andreas Salier (age 31), who would immediately be sent into the region of Hamburg to claim the silver found there.
Advancing the turn, I got a pleasant surprise: the rebels at Hamburg had seen reason to surrender the castle without putting up a fight! I ordered Dietrich and his men to occupy the castle, sparing the population and limiting the looting to a minimum. Hamburg would be my bulwark against treachery by either the Danes or the Poles.
Turn 9 (Summer, 1084 AD). These were the reports:
There were no further moves this turn other than to set my agents along their courses. The spy Rainald continued his journey east, the priest Manfred took up residence in Florence and the merchant Andreas Salier set up his silver trade in Hamburg province. I was going to send a diplomat to the west to contact Poland, but instead got contacted bythem first!
The EOT message was from Princess Agnes Herman, who met Leopold at Vienna. The Poles freely offered trade rights and map information, which I had Leo accept.
Turn 10 (Winter, 1084 AD). There were 5 starting reports:
Helmut Merowinger (age 29) was the new diplomat who finished training at Frankfurt. Originally intended to make contact with the Polish, I still sent him east in order to seek out and contact any of the other factions that weren't contacted yet.
And so I ended the session. For the next session, I had my eyes on any of the remaining regions to the north and east that might present themselves as an opportunity for conquest. There was Prague, a town which would do much to shore up my economy, and the castle of Magdeburg.
Onward...
I like
- You had broader options in characters and actions, with new units that provided bonuses to additional aspects of the game, such as when you could use a merchant to lay claim to a resource to boost your income.
- Gone was the issue of not being able to remove artillery from a fort or settlement that bothered me so often with fighting back against sieges in
Rome. - You had the ability to advance through stages of the campaign as your faction's building levels increased, getting early gunpowder units and even gaining ships with the ability to cross the western edge of the map to reveal lands of the New World for conquest.
- Gone was the issue of not being able to remove artillery from a fort or settlement that bothered me so often with fighting back against sieges in
Of course, there was still a central authority, as in the Senate of RTW. Disobeying the Pope's authority had real consequences, including excommunication; but you also had to deal with a council of nobles who might want your attention in other ways. Ultimately, you would be requested to join a crusade against factions holding regions in the Holy Land, and being there risked contact with the hording factions of Mongols and Timurids later in the campaign.
I've settled on reinstalling M2TW on my PC as of this month. I also installed the
There are 5 factions which you start with in
England actually has a few options for expansion. I always moved to take the rebel regions on the island and, if possible, Rennes on the continent before France can do it. Beyond that, it becomes a waiting game to see if the Scots are getting aggressive and preparing for the eventual fight for my continental holdings against France or the Holy Roman Empire.
Militarily, the English are supposed to have strong infantry and a good archery unit (the longbowmen). However, their cavalry is lacking and they could easily get overrun by anyone with stronger horsemen.
The French actually have a very wide avenue for expansion, from Dijon and Metz to the east, to Rennes and Bourdeaux in the west. After that, my most frequent adversaries have been the HRE, Milan and England. I've often started with either Dijon or Rennes, just to get the additional port on the Atlantic, then focused on strengthening my kingdom's defenses in case the English made their moves.
France gets the strongest cavalry units early in the campaign, but their infantry at this stage is very weak. Therefore, I'd be hard pressed to find a way to strengthen that before the other factions start attacking.
The Germanic kingdom known as the Holy Roman Empire is similarly situated as France is, with avenues for expansion all around. The one complicating factor here is that one of its home regions is separated from the others by the home regions of Venice and Milan, and conflict with these neighbors is as unavoidable as night and day. I generally seek to take adjacent territories to strengthen my economy and build up my defenses in case one of the rivals comes calling.
Militarily, the HRE is well-rounded at the beginning of the campaign. The problems start when you find yourselves lasting into the later phases and have few strong units to counter those of the other factions. Apparently, Creative Assembly made it so that the Holy Roman Emperor had a similar attitude to gunpowder that Napoleon Bonaparte took to steam-powered ships.
Spain gets a fairly tight starting spot between a potential rival and a mortal enemy. I've always made my first move towards the rebel region bordering the Pyrenees, and follow it up with the castle to the southeast. However, I'll be the one fighting the Moors almost within the period of 10 turns when that phase of expansion is done.
Spanish armies get some decent light infantry and cavalry in the early phase of the campaign, but lacks a strong heavy infantry at that time. This will mean trouble if you find yourself fighting against France or the English in an early game.
Venice is in a similarly tight starting position to Spain, especially since it has the HRE basically putting a pincer move on its home region from north and south. Milan isn't such a good neighbor, either. I usually started my campaigns by capturing the Balkan territories and building up my economy to support a strong navy.
Venice gets a decent spear unit early in the campaign. However, its cavalry is lacking, and I've found a tendency for lots of knights to be awarded to me for carrying out missions for the nobles, which is a real drain on me, financially.
The unlockable factions would include Scotland, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Milan, Hungary, the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Sicily, Russia, the Moors, the Ottoman Turks, and the Abbasids of Egypt. Both of the hording factions (the Mongols and Timurids) are locked.
I generally make my decisions as to which faction to play based upon personal ancestry. I chose the HRE due to myy mixed Italian-German ancestry (with a strong mix of English in it). There was also the location, which was central to a lot of paths for expansion that enabled me to pursue these paths freely in the early phases.
My plan of action in this new campaign would be to strike out immediately, siezing the first targets of opportunity and then makng moves to consolidate my Fatherland before the French, Danish or Italians make their bids to fight me.
I started off with "only vital information" advice set, so Lady Gwendolyn was giving me the introductory lecture on what I had and where to look. I went through the overview screens, as is always the part for my campaign sessions.
There was the faction overview. Apparently, each faction in
I controlled 6 regions, governed from 4 cities and 2 castles. Emperor Heinrich the Chivalrous was my faction leader, but he wasn't at the capital Frankfurt; he was in Bolonga in Italy, cut off by the Venetians and Milanese.
My family tree was rather small. Heinrich had two sons and a daughter. The rest of my generals were men of the hour (MOtH) adopted at some point prior to the game start.
Then came my rosters:
The military leaders were the following:
Emperor Heinrich the Chivalrous (age 40, faction leader at Bologna, 451 soldiers) Dietrich von Saxony (35, general at Frankfurt, 440 men) Maximillian Mandorf (30, general at Nuremburg, 290 men) Ottó von Kassel (23, general at Innsbruck, 290 men) Prince Henry (22, faction heir at Staufen, 297 men) Leopold (20, family member at Vienna, 290 men) Cpt (??, commander of troops in the Hamburg region, ??? men)
The regions controlled included the following:
- Frankfurt
- Nuremburg
- Innsbruck
- Vienna
- Staufen
- Bolonga
- Nuremburg
My agents on the roster included:
Agnes (age 21, princess in the Nuremburg region) Peter the Warmonger (45, cardinal in the Nuremburg region) Rainald Eriach (20, spy in the Breslau region}
The College of Cardinals who served under Pope Gregory of the Papal States included the following:
- Godzimir (Bishop Preferati, Poland)
- Aston the Corrupt (Bishop Preferati, England)
- Halstan (Bishop Preferati, Denmark)
- Evio Perego (Bishop, Milan)
- Brian Maknab (Bishop, Scotland)
- Manoel (Bishop, Portugal)
- Niccolo Amocacci (Bishop, Kingdom of Sicily)
- Ulászló (Bishop, Hungary)
- Oliverio Gusti (Bishop, Venice)
- Étienne Tristram (Bishop, France)
- Froderigus (Bishop, the Papal States)
- Péter the Warmonger (Bishop, Holy Roman Empire)
- Aston the Corrupt (Bishop Preferati, England)
My current rankings amongst the standings under the Pope weren't too good: at 30% (3 of 10 crosses) -- all the other factions were starting at 60%.
At present, I had no enemies, other than rebels. That was bound to change sooner or later, especially as the factions ran out of rebels to subdue.
I was ready to start the campaigning. The first things I did was move Captain Markus closer to the rebel castle at Hamburg. I had no intention of letting the Danish get their hands on it!
While this was going on, I move my spy Rainald northwest towards the Danish border, where he got a closer look at the rebels in the castle of Magdeburg. My option B would've been to take Magdeburg, but it wouldn't be necessary if Hamburg fell into my hands.
Stettin would be another option, but it would be hard to get to if I didn't take one of the intervening castles first. As it was, it was dangerously close to the Polish. I was actually going to aim for Prague, which was a town that could give my economy a boost when it was needed.
Markus laid the siege of Hamburg immediately. My next move was to send Count Dietrich north with a portion of his garrison from Frankfurt to join the man before something happened to make
While this was going on, I began to bring Princess Agnes down to act as an ambassador for the Reich. I fancied that she would first contact the Milanese in order to set up an alliance aimed at keeping Venice at bay. Of course, things couldn't always work out that way, but it was worth trying.
Turn 2 (Winter, 1080 AD). The following reports summarized the information for me:
EOT Financial: I was running a spectacular deficit (-4,712 florins), to be expected for a turn spent making recruitment and build orders. Faction Announcements: My faction was the strongest, militarily; Alfgarda was born; and Heinrich gained the "Fair in Rule" trait as he oversaw the completion of a small church in Bologna. Construction: small church (Bologna) -- the other five regions saw the completion of dirt roads for trade and movement bonuses. Recruitments: town militia (2 at Bologna, 2 at Vienna, 2 at Frankfurt and 1 at Nuremburg), peasants (Innsbruck) and mounted sergeants (Innsbruck and Staufen).
That turn saw a surprise visit by the Venetians to Emperor Heinrich. The diplomat Guido Batile openly offered trade rights and a map of Venice's regions, which I had Heinrich accept. My guess would be that they were softening me up for when they'd come stab my back later.
There was also a promising young commander named Wenzel von Fanconia offered for adoption by Prince Henry. I accepted, knowing that we'd be needing all the generals we could get as the Holy Roman Empire expanded. Wenzel would be sent north to Frankfurt later.
The rest of the turn was spent moving my units to where they would be needed. The spy Rainald went northeast past Stettin to begin exploring the regions of Poland and points further out. Dietrich was on his way to take command of Captain Markus's besieging army. And Princess Agnes was making her way into the Alps west of Innsbruck.
It was at this stage that I decided to do a little tweaking. I was concerned that I'd be losing funds a little too quickly, so I moved the AI spend policy on the slider a little bit to the left to put a limit on how much could end up being spent. (I wasn't sure if this would affect overall expenditures, but at least the AI wouldn't be spending like a drunken friar if I neglected to take the towns off of "auto-manage".)
There were still no Papal or noble council missions at the end of Turn 2, so I advanced. That was when I got no less than
The first noble council mission was offered starting in Turn 3 (Summer, 1081 AD). The rest of the starting reports were as follows:
A Suitable Prince: Welf von Erfurt (age 30) offered his hand to my princess Agnes -- such loyalty to the Reich had to be rewarded! EOT Financial: There was a small profit (79 F), possibly due to the lull in recruitments and buildng that went on while I awaited events with the siege at Hamburg. Construction: dirt roads (Bologna) Diplomatic: The alliance between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papal States was announced -- I wanted this to be my insurance from backstabbing by the Italians. Faction Announcements: Princess Agnes celebrated her marriage (and her retirement from diplomacy); Leopold lost 1 loyalty point ("Feels Unappreciated" -- he wasn't going anywhere with that attitude).
To make him a little more useful, I took Leopold out of Vienna for a short trip to the northern border to build a watchtower overlooking the neighboring region of Prague. In fact, that was pretty much SOP for all of my military generals once things got started up, especially for those with a tendency to have lower civil traits or who weren't in command of a town where the tax rate needed to be controlled.
Advancing to Turn 4 (Winter, 1081 AD), I got only the single EOT financial report, since I wasn't in the process of recruiting any new units until I could get more income flowing.
EOT Financial: A deficit (-319 F).
My first move this turn was to take the son in law Welf von Erfurt out on a trip to set up a watchtower to keep an eye on those pesky Italians from Venice and Milan, then go south to try and bring the rebels in Florence under Imperial control. He laid siege to the town and would wait for 4 turns for the outcome.
As I advanced the turn, two princesses came knocking on the door. The first was Ingrid of Denmark, offering trade rights to the burghers in charge of Frankfur; the second was Matilda of Sicily, offering the same to Emperor Heinrich at Bologna. In both cases, I accepted.
I was more wary of Denmark at any rate, since the faction was usually the more aggressive of the two which sought trouble with the HRE in many of my games. They ranked right up there with Venice and Milan in terms of being bad neighbors.
Turn 5 (Summer, 1082 AD) brought only a couple of reports:
EOT Financial: I ran a slightly lower deficit (-128 F), which was like saying the National Debt grew less steeply -- those new regions were going to be needed soon! Relations Status: My good relations with neighbors at this stage could only make the Pope happier.
With the sieges of Hamburg and Florence pretty much in waiting mode, all I could do was keep moving my spy Rainald through the frontier districts of Poland and hope that he came across an easy target that'd improve his skill levels without killing him. At present, the Poles didn't look too busy.
When I advanced the turn again, Prince Henry got a surprise visit from Princess Constance of France! She offered the straight trade rights agreement, to which I had Henry consent. She wasn't a particularly charming young lady...
By the time I got to Turn 6 (Winter, 1082 AD), I received 4 report messages:
Bride Presented: Cristyne Windeck to Prince Henry -- I accepted since there would be the need for some heirs to the throne. EOT Financial: I had no idea how I missed it, but I did -- there was something of a gain (90 F), since I didn't see the gold pot get lighter in the lower-right corner. Construction: town hall (Bologna) Recruitments: priest (Bologna)
The town hall would enable me to recruit a diplomat with which to carry out foreign missions such as the recent one for contacting Milan. The priest was Manfred von Munich (age 27), a rather low-level preacher who couldn't be counted on for more than doing minor missionary work in the provinces. No witch-hunter, he.
The spy Rainald continued his trek through the wilderness of Poland. Meanwhile, Wenzel von Franconia reached Frankfurt and built a watchtower to watch over the neighboring regions from the northwest. He was going to be needed to keep an eye on things until Hamburg fell into Imperial hands.
Turn 7 (Summer, 1083 AD) brought the following reports:
Bride Presented: Heidindrudis Wahren to Leopold -- accepted, because the restless old boy needed a woman to keep him in line. EOT Financial: A small profit (32 F) -- not much, but better than the other direction. Recruitments: diplomat (Bologna)
That diplomat was Ruprecht von Mahren (age 34), a promising agent with 3 influence scrolls on him. He was dispatched immediately to Milan to open the dialogue. Meeting with Duke Giorgio, he offered an alliance, trade rights, and an exchange of map information, which the Duke happily accepted. Milan might've been worth watching, but I'd rather have a chance of them turning against Venice first while I consolidated the defenses of the Italian holdings.
I also got a glimpse of a neutral army crossing my territory: Prince Charles of Denmark, apparently frustrated in his bid for Hamburg, was headed somewhere else. I hoped it was further west than Frankfurt.
After moving the spy Rainald a little more to the east (he was next to Krakow at this point), I advanced the turn. That brought up the first EOT battle message: the Italian rebels controlling Florence had decided to give the Emperor's son-in-law a chance to cut his teeth in a battle!
Welf von Erfurt (291) versus Captain Bucello (244, Italian rebels)
The odds were about even, if slightly skewed in the Empire's favor. Bucello had those Italian spearmen and a couple of town militia units in his garrison, along with a unit of peasant crossbowmen. Von Erfurt had just the levy spearmen and peasant archers in his army.
The first thing one should notice in
My counter-move was to send the spear militia in front of my general to shield him from the onslaught of any of the Italians who might charge in his general direction. The archers would move a little to the left to where their fire could supress the advance a little and keep those crossbowmen at bay (at this stage, the little advisor in the upper-left was suggesting that I use fire-arrows: "You can set your arrows alight..."). I settled for standard arrows in this case.
Recognizing that the crossbowmen were on a higher level where their missiles could get increased range and effectiveness against my spearmen, I moved Welf out beyond the left flank to anticipate their move and try charging at them. (At this stage, I was reminded of the pause in movement for cavalry that
Welf did just as wonderfully at routing the unit of town militia that came out to impale themselves on my spears. He managed to avoid the charge of the Italian spearmen in Bucello's force while doing so, but I needed to prevent those from reaching the archers, who were already taking fire from the crossbowmen in front of the walls.
With the rebel missile units dealt with, it was time to turn my general's attention to the melee itself. Bucello's Italians were beginning to press hard upon the Imperial militia, and Welf was brought into action to deliver a few hearty blows on the rascals before they could make an undesirable impression upon his men. Once these routed, it was a matter of pursuit through the gates of the town before they could be slammed shut.
It didn't take much effort to get inside the walls of Florence. While one unit continued the pursuit of Bucello's men towards the town square, I brought the rest towards the town to follow them in. The archers were to wait outside the walls to provide cover against the crossbowmen still fighting in the spaces between the buildings and the wall to the right, but Welf was needed to ride these men down. Afterwards, he would join the rest of the militiamen in charging the defenders in the square.
The rebel captain went down leading a desperate final charge against Imperial forces before they could take the square, leaving his men without a leader and quite desperately struggling for their lives...
It all came down the a final melee at the edge of the town square with the relics of Bucello's army. Welf played his part, charging through and behind the mass of rebel infantry that remained to deliver a final blow. The Holy Roman Empire were clear victors!
Welf von Erfurt: 176 enemies killed (86 prisoners), 206 of 291 men remaining Captain Bucello: 88 kills (no prisoners), no men remaining
Florence would be sacked. This would be the pattern for all towns and cities which didn't surrender peacefully; the income gained from looting would go towards the building of improvements in the other cities of the Empire, and for the recruitment of more men for the armies of the Reich.
Turn 8 (Winter, 1083 AD). The reports came in:
EOT Financial: The capture of Florence and the loot brought in by sacking the town made a great profit for the turn (2,743 F). Trait Increase: Welf von Erfurt's success in the town's capture brought him the "Proven Commander" trait (+3 command). Recruitments: merchant (Frankfurt) Relations: good (Milan) -- a sign that Milan thought highly of my behavior so far, but how long would it last?
One of the things that I noticed about the EOT financial report in
There was one unwanted character in the region of Florence at that turn, a heretic named Juva. I sent the priest Manfred von Munich into the area to see what his chances of eliminating the bastard were but they weren't so good (16%), so I brought him into the town to aid in converting the unbelievers. Thankfully, a cardinal from Rome would show up to aid me by getting rid of the heretic for me within a few turns.
Meanwhile, I had some relief in the fact that Prince Charles of Denmark had completely passed through Imperial territory without any open violation of our peace. I would have to consider the options of defending against this faction later, to which keeping a strong garrison in Hamburg would be of paramount importantce. In the meantime, Frankfurt had produced a fine merchant in Andreas Salier (age 31), who would immediately be sent into the region of Hamburg to claim the silver found there.
Advancing the turn, I got a pleasant surprise: the rebels at Hamburg had seen reason to surrender the castle without putting up a fight! I ordered Dietrich and his men to occupy the castle, sparing the population and limiting the looting to a minimum. Hamburg would be my bulwark against treachery by either the Danes or the Poles.
Turn 9 (Summer, 1084 AD). These were the reports:
Nobles Mission: open diplomatic relations with Poland EOT Financial: A deficit (-1,493 F -- mostly from build orders (churches... lots of churches) Faction: Announcements: Vuifken von Erfurt born; trait increases (Fair in Rule -- Dietrich von Saxony, Ottó von Kassel, Leopold, Prince Henry and Maximillian Mandorf) Construction: small church (Nuremburg, Vienna) and small chapel (Staufen, Innsbruck) Relations: Very good (the Papal States -- no doubt due to the building of churches in the lands)
There were no further moves this turn other than to set my agents along their courses. The spy Rainald continued his journey east, the priest Manfred took up residence in Florence and the merchant Andreas Salier set up his silver trade in Hamburg province. I was going to send a diplomat to the west to contact Poland, but instead got contacted by
The EOT message was from Princess Agnes Herman, who met Leopold at Vienna. The Poles freely offered trade rights and map information, which I had Leo accept.
Turn 10 (Winter, 1084 AD). There were 5 starting reports:
Bride Presented: Fye von Bremen to Wenzel von Franconia (accepted) Mission Success: 2 units of mounted sergeants at Frankfurt for the fulfillment of diplomatic relations with Poland EOT Financial: A small profit (609 F) Construction: dirt roads (Florence, Hamburg) Recruitments: diplomat (Frankfurt)
Helmut Merowinger (age 29) was the new diplomat who finished training at Frankfurt. Originally intended to make contact with the Polish, I still sent him east in order to seek out and contact any of the other factions that weren't contacted yet.
And so I ended the session. For the next session, I had my eyes on any of the remaining regions to the north and east that might present themselves as an opportunity for conquest. There was Prague, a town which would do much to shore up my economy, and the castle of Magdeburg.
Onward...
