My Moorish Campaign's initial objective is clear, to drive the Christians away from Al Andalus (Iberia) and reclaim those lands back into the embrace of Islam.

My first target is the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. A Jihad was called by my imam. Let the infidels beware!


Sultan Tahar recruited some mercenaries and used the extra movespeed boost Jihad gives to besiege the city immediately. The Protuguese have their Prince outside Lisbon but even with their combined might, the Jihading army will prevail, I am sure.


Meawhile, my another general Qasim is moving swiftly towards Tunis, before the Sicilians grab hold of it.


Well, that's it for now. A good start, by any stretch.

[This message has been edited by el_bandito (edited 02-16-2009 @ 09:32 PM).]

You should count your lucky stars you don't have to deal with anyone stabbing your back like poor hoppylyte and selif looking over their shoulders all the time

You are moving fast, it seems. After Lisbon, what then? Hammer into the Spaniards immediately? That certainly seems like your style! As Eoj says, you are lucky that none of your initial troubles directly involve the other players. If Sicily was human, Tunis would be a lost hope for you.

And my name is not Al.

Turn 2.

Allies---None.
Enemies--Portugal.

The second turn began with the dramatic assault on the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. The King of Portugal, Henrique himself is defending it. Both commanders are able but my Moorish host have superiority in manpower.


Victory in the name of Allah! The foe was admirably tenacious but the believers of the Prophet were stronger still.


The Jihad was immediate success. Just look at my coffers, brimming with cash! Not to mention the experience my units received.


The Portuguese faction heir, Affonso, is now the King and I wasted no time sending Sultan Tahar to eradicate the last of Portugal’s royal bloodline.


Another victory for the Muslims. Affonso didn’t put out much of a fight.


Bugs only fit for smashing beneath our heels.


In mere two turns Portugal is destroyed. Allahu Akbar!


Here are the territorial rankings for the human factions of the last turn. Looks like Swampy took York; cheeky bastard.



Here ends turn 2. With Portugal folding after mere two turns I now have free time to launch an assault on the Spaniards. Don't you love a smooth start?

[This message has been edited by el_bandito (edited 02-22-2009 @ 09:26 PM).]

You should count your lucky stars you don't have to deal with anyone stabbing your back like poor hoppylyte and selif looking over their shoulders all the time

But I am a Muslim nation literally surrounded by warmongering Catholic humans. That is even worse IMO. Just look at poor Gagonite, who is forced to bow before the infidel humans in the other hot-seat.

You are moving fast, it seems. After Lisbon, what then? Hammer into the Spaniards immediately?

The Spanish will be next, aye. It is a simple matter of "This here peninsula aint big enough for the two of us." The question is, should I strike at Toledo or Leon first?

And my name is not Al

It is now.

[This message has been edited by el_bandito (edited 02-23-2009 @ 10:57 PM).]

The question is, should I strike at Toledo or Leon first?

Toledo first; it is a castle, after all. It will be a lot easier if you can cut off their supply of Jinetes, Knights and Almughavars. Then Leon, Pamplona, Zaragoza, Valencia. That's the order I go in, it's a nice round trip.

Turn 3 had nothing worthy of a picture so allow me to skip it.


Turn 4.

The fourth turn began with the siege of Tunis. The enemy garrison has little amount of men but my men are no better. I do hope Qasim can take the settlement in the next turn.


Sold map info and trade rights for measly 400 florins. The Spaniards really hate us. Strange thing, considering the fact I eliminated his Christian rival.


Here is the territorial ranking. Bloody HRE has TEN settlements already! That means in a space of mere four turns, they conquered 4 settlements! The sleeping giant wakes early it seems. Good thing I’m not his neighbor.


Here is the over-all ranking. I’m rated below HRE and England, which is not surprising. What is surprising is the poor showing of Milan. Lets hope Selifator, the ruler of Milan is as ambitious as Hoppylite, the ruler of HRE.




HRE suddenly looks more of a threat than any other Catholic nations combined.

In the 'central thread', good play with stating your long-term goals. Gives you some leverage politically, and also may convince the other players to leave you alone due to you stating you don't have an interest in their lands.

You follow my mind well.

I've been on the receiving end of it, I'm trying to learn from the mistakes

Turn five for the Moors, or should I say the Emirate of Andalusia


Leon, according to my spy Hassan, is lightly defended, thus a prime target for my next drive to send the Christian dogs packing over the Pyrenees.


Before that, Qasim, the overall commander of the African theater assaulted Tunis. Praise be to Allah the greedy Sicilians were not there to intervene.


Tunis fell. Allahu Akbar!


Here is another of my primary targets, Toledo. The Castle is heavily defended but should I successfully take it, then Iberia will be mine without fail. Hmmm.*rubs chin*


Diplomacy Screen. As you can see I changed my nation's name as well as Swampy. Oxfordshire indeed.*scoffs*

HRE is allied to Milan, Papacy as well as Poland, and not surprisingly at war with the Danes. I predict the Danes will be wiped out within 1-5 turns.



Oh, BTW, "someone" had called a Crusade to Antioch I noticed. Someone eager to colonize the Holy Land perhaps? What this meant for me is that I won't have to worry about a Crusade for atleast 25 turns, WHEEE!!!

Turn 6.

First of all, thank Allah for sending me another general. The Moors of Andalusia are short on generals ATM.



There were lots of diplomatic overtures from the Christians but only one I personally paid heed to.

This. I firmly declined.


Here is his supposed reason for such outrageous demand. Swampy thinks he can just have his way when my Emirate is doing better than his nation, eh? Well he's got another thing coming for him! Swampy will only gain any headway when he sees me as an equal.


Lastly, the town of Leon is besieged by my heroic followers. It has begun.

[This message has been edited by el_bandito (edited 03-16-2009 @ 10:00 PM).]

Turn 7.


Crown Prince Miswar assaults Leon. The garrison is light, thank Allah.


Easy Victory. Continue like this, and Spain will fall soon. The Spaniards really hate us now.


Umayyah Sydani, an adopted general, is clearing out some rebel trash around Lisbon. I do hope he will be of use in the future.


General Qasim is now heading for Tripoli. I will go after African holdings as promised.



The human nations are developing nicely. England added another settlement; I bet it’s Caernarvon. Milan and Russia are beginning to earn more money, good for them. HRE is really becoming a huge empire. 12 settlements now! It’s only turn seven for Allah’s sake! At this stage Hoppy can probably take on two human nations without problem. I’m just glad I’m far away from him, hehe.

Turn 8 for the Moors.

First thing's first. Allow me to show some comparison between the human factions. The overall ranking shows HRE is out of control.


The military ranking. My military is still below Hoppy, but not by much. England's military noticeably went down; I suspect he attacked Bruges or Edinburgh.


Financial ranking. Aside from England and Milan, everyone else is showing steady economy.


My biggest obstacle to the total domination of Iberia--a full stack of Spanish toons. I'll get them, eventually.


Qadim finally reached Tripoli and besieged the place. Lets see if he can take it next turn.


OUTRAGEOUS! What is this rubbish? Methinks the HRE is getting too full of itself, ready to explode.


Here is my reply.



If Hoppy wants a piece of the Moors then he is welcome to try. After he deals with the French of course, hahaha.

Heh, once more an Iberian faction stands up to Hoppy. Also, don't forget to mention that if he gets excommunicated, all you need to do is tell Milan that he can call a crusade on him, and then you Jihad him. Easy.

Turn 9.


Sultan Tahar is still alive and kicking at the age of 64. He usually drop dead within 3 turns in my other Moorish campaigns but this time he is doing rather well. A definite plus. Perhaps it is due to his "Bastion of Health" trait.


England sent letter affirming my soveirgnity in Iberia. Swampy wants peace, which suits me well.


HRE sent a letter too apologizing for the blasphemy that was his last message. I accepted his apology.


As for Milan, Selfy is planning to attack France and he is receptive to my proposed attack on Sicily. Sicily is a roadblock which I must remove if I wish for a safe passage to Egypt.


Overall ranking for this turn. Milan and Russia noticeably went up, perhaps due to their new acquisitions.


I'm not doing too well on finance since I am building tons of stuff at the moment. "Always build first"--that's my motto.


Merchants on their way to Timbuktu. I think I have no competition there.


Qasim besieges Tripoli but judging from the garrison I am not able to take it easily. I sent back the ship to get more men from Tunis


A general of mine, Ayyub attacked a pop-up rebel army next to Leon. Bloody insurgents. He won, and his loyalty was raised but I lost some valuable troops in the process.


While my diplomat is heading North, he discovered this little surprise. "Bored 'o Waiting" indeed.


Since my forces in Leon is not enough to take on the Spanish in Toledo, I'm sending reinforcements led by a lad named Ummayah. Lets see if Spain survives after they join up.



That's it for this turn. Currently I have no hostile human players breathing on my neck and I can take my sweet time destroying Spain. After that, then it is Egypt, and the whole of Asia Minor. Let the Grand Muslim Caliphate rise once more!

[This message has been edited by el_bandito (edited 04-16-2009 @ 11:08 PM).]

Doing good at the moment Bandito =]. At the moment it should be ok to assume the Human players aren't going to challenge you. However France is now surrounded by Human players and that will be where you will meet and then it will become a much more important aspect of this campaign. Especially because you are playing as Moors whom i can't doing anything with until the Christian Guard and Camel Gunners become available. Definately agree with your building policy largely because you have to spend money to make money! And 3 things are needed to maintain war: Money, Money and more Money! =P. Taking Timbuktu and builing a market there will be good for ya, abundance of gold and ivory will soon get your coffers filled. War with Sicily is generally a good idea i find as they never really try, they might have semi-decent garrisons but they never retaliate. Only possible problem with it, when i did my Moorish campaign i took Naples and the turn after i had a full Papal stack attack it and a Crusade called on it. No doubt however you probably have already considered this.

P.S How do you change your Faction name? Also city names(Like Bored o' Waiting, which i like XD)

Timbuktu might be hard to take due to distances involved but, what you said about trading gold etc definitely makes me want to stage an expedition there.

Of course I had considered war with Sicily and the Milanese player Selifator is OK with that. As for the fate of Naples, I am planning to sell it to Selifator as soon as I can conquer it.

You can change the names of the factions only if you have the Retrofit mod, which we are using. Simply open the diplomacy menu and edit your faction name which is on the top of the menu and press enter. Same with cities; just open the settlement scroll and change the name there.


Turn 10 wasn't special at all. I decided to abandon the siege of Tripoli because the bloody Sicilians showed up there. I also decided to bypass the heavily defended Toledo and take the rebel settlements of Pamplona and Saragossa first. Since the Spaniards are out of cash, they are not going anywhere.

[This message has been edited by el_bandito (edited 04-29-2009 @ 11:26 PM).]