Retech

Will you please answer, Retech. If you don't know; mantlets are part walls, part shields. It's an Incan defensive siege unit. Pikemen = 500ish Mantlets = 1000 (They're solid steel?)

Almost done Icu.

Cool movie Icu. And I just forgot to put the 1. Your budget is 10 million. Your government basically means that instead of getting knights like the rest of the people, instead you have professional militia.

Not cannons. Basically what they did was they used the old fashion kind of rocket barrages using pieces of wood and some gunpowder (not sure exactly how it works), which were used in China against them.

-Confused- Nex, they count as already trained.

Okay, gotcha. Keep in mind the first wave might not be all together, or even come all at once.

4700 MAA (5 million) 500 Axe Riders (1 million) 2,500 crossbowmen (1 million) 500 pikemen (1 million) This is the first army (red). The second army (blue) is 500 pikemen 3,500 MAA 4,000 macemen 2,000 heavy horse archers 2,000 axe riders 2,000 crossbowmen 600 Longpikes 1800 archers 500 peasants

Everyone, please keep track of your own armies. Each time you recruit, send me a separate PM with all the troops you are recruiting. If people are having trouble keeping track of armies, I will have to go with the old system, where you pay to deploy.

Holy Roman Empire Invasion of Denmark The final chapter in the long HRE-Denmark saga ended with a costly victory by the HRE. The battle began with a large HRE force attempting to defeat the Danish defences on a ridge on the southern border of Denmark. The Danish had hastily built defences on the area, and lined the area with catapults and ballistas brought from the Danish capital. The remaining two thousand Danish Men at arms and five hundred Huscarls had been reinforced by five thousand poorly armed spear militia and two thousand crossbow militia, which dug themselves in to the ridge. The HRE began with an ineffectual bombardment of the ridge by their siege weapons, before marching towards the ridge. The Danish artillery took a heavy toll on the advancing forces, and the crossbowmen dealt significant damage to the HRE men at arms, when they drew close. The men at arms had barely reached the top of the ridge, when they were repulsed by a flood of spear militia, while the Danish men at arms swung around to catch their flanks. Meanwhile the 2500 HRE pikemen lost cohesion as the climbed up onto the ridge, and suffered heavily at the hands of the five hundred Huscarls. The twelve hundred HRE axe riders fared much better and struck the Danish men at arms on the side as they charged the men at arms, forcing them to withdraw up the ridge. However, the axe riders were repulsed by the spearmen, who had the advantage of the higher ground. The Danish artillery continued to fire at close range from the side, bowling over many HRE soldiers. Meanwhile, another huge HRE army landed behind the ridge. The knights on horseback reached the action first and charged the Danes from the rear, causing them to flee. The victorious HRE took control of Denmark, though it was left wartorn and destroyed. Casualties: Entire Danish Army HRE 2000 Pikemen 5300 Men at Arms 700 Axe riders

Sorry Rocco, I have to go now. I'll do your report first thing when I get back, in an hour. Oh, here's something some people should read up on, if they plan to expand into Asia minor, which will be the next phase assuming you aren't destroyed by the first wave of Mongols. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataphracts

Yesh Dungeonal, I left it there because I was expecting that Sweden was still contested. Also Rocco, do you know where the battle plan is? I don't have a PM for it.

Rocco, I am working out the battle now. Dungeonal, I basically removed any of the Byzantine's territorial holdings that weren't in the map, and Croatia was supposed to be theirs in the first place. It was originally that way. Mather, it was included. Your peasants were part of the massive force of peasants that were butchered in front of the city, and the nobles were part of the troops that were butchered inside the city. Yep.

Remove the Italian States, and add Croatia. That was supposed to be part of the Byzantines, but it was mislabeled as Croatia. I basically removed Croatia from the map.

Turkey doesn't exist in the game. There are the decaying remnants of the Byzantine empire, if you wanted. :P --- It's generally the high middle ages, so they existed! :)

Poland! Or you could lead the new country of Cordoba (the part of Spain just wrested from the Muslims by the crusaders), if no one has any fuss about that.

I couldn't think of any other reason as to which unit would be sent first. At first I figured the Knights of Santiago, but what commander would waste such a valuable unit so early? Also, the Pope wants to install a new government for Cordoba, and recommends one of his cardinals to the position.

First Crusade The crusading army under the esteemed leadership of Leon marched into Cordoba with great fanfare. Despite the great hopes of Leon's king, the peasants living in Cordoba seemed to be quite happy with the leadership of their Muslim overlords, who had improved the livelihoods of most of the peasantry. Despite this, the huge crusader armies needed little help from the populace, and simply took what they needed. Their first obstacle was a series of forts built in a chain to ward off Leon's aggression. They were constructed on a river which effectively separated Leon and the mountains nearby from the rest of the Iberian peninsula. Though the forts were not a commanding presence, they effectively blocked any attempts by rafts to cross the river. With this in mind, the crusading army found one of the only fords large enough to allow such a large army to pass quickly. Unfortunately, the Cordoban side of the Ford was flanked by two great fortresses, as well as a mighty gate. The Crusading armies made quick work of the gate and broke through with their trebuchets. However, the forts proved to be much tougher. Their slanted earthen walls and stakes were resistent to trebuchet fire. The leading general knew that the longer his army stood waiting, the more restless his troops would become. King Ferdinend decided to move in the five thousand French knights first because they were not of his country, splitting them into two groups and sending them over the earthen walls and into the enemy camps. As they crossed, they were struck by several hails of arrows, which were relatively ineffective against them. In the first fortress, the Muslim defenders sent two thousand spearmen at the 2500 French knights. The French Knights were ferocious and began to drive the enemy back. However, the Muslims dispatched their Naffatun, throwers of flaming jars of Naptha. The sticky and flammable material soaked through the armor of the French Knights, and they began to flee, suffering heavy casualties. Meanwhile in the second fortress, the two thousand Muslim Halberdiers were holding the French knights at bay, while the defenders of the first fortress began throwing Naptha at the French knights, causing them to flee as well. With the unexpected defeat of the French knights, King Ferdinand needed a new plan. He sent the six thousand Kievan men at arms around the sides of the fortress, while five thousand of Leon's peasants climbed over the walls. The archer fire was devestating, but the Naffutan were only equally effective against the peasants. Meanwhile the six thousand Kievan men at arms stormed the back of the fortress, capturing it and executing all the prisoners. The other fortress surrendered. The remaining forces continued marching to the capital, when they encountered a huge Cordoban force outside the city walls. The Muslims had garnered the support of the Peasants, who had brought their worldly possesions to the capital and burned their homes. In total, there were twenty thousand spear militia, as well as ten thousand religious zealots with assorted weaponary outside the walls of the city. They had established defensive positions. As the crusader forces entered the defences, they began to mercilessly butcher the peasants. The remaining two thousand French knights, as well as six thousand Kievan men at arms, four thousand crusader knights, 4000 knights of Leon, 5000 swordsmen of Leon, 1000 Welsh swordsmen, and a thousand Knights of Santiago crossed over the defences and into the makeshift camp. However, the camp was not only filled of peasants, and composed of four thousand Nubian spearmen, sent from Egypt. Once again naffatun were deployed, defended by the Nubian spearmen, but the bravery of the Knights of Santiago prevailed and cut through the defence, albeit with heavy losses. Soon the crusader army had broken down the main walls of Cordoba, and marched in flamboyantly. There they encountered the bane of many armies: urban warfare. Flaming barrels were launched over the city walls, and the metropolis began to burn. Resolutely, the Crusader force marched toward the marketsquare, the location of the Mayoral palace. Constantly they encountered walls of furniture set alight, forcing them to find a new way through. Eventually they found themselves near the market square, where five thousand Nubian spearmen, five hundred nobles, two thousand Mamluks, and four thousand spearmen waited. The crusaders charged several times, but found themselves repelled by the sheer density of the Nubian shield wall. Suddenly a huge Egyptian force broke through the pikemen which were stationed outside the city, before moving on the crusader army inside. They had archaic war chariots, decked out with blades on their wheels, a lancer at their helm, and a crossbowman to boot. After fierce hand to hand fighting, the crusaders broke into the marketsquare and forced the governer of the region to surrender, ending the first crusade. Casualties: 4500 French Knights 2300 Crusader Knights 3500 Kievan men at arms 3900 Leon Knights 1900 Leon Swordsmen 3000 Leon Pikemen 800 Welsh Swordsmen 7800 Leon Peasants 950 Knights of Santiago Muslims Over fifty thousand civilians Tens of thousands of militia Several thousand Nubian Spearmen Several hundred Egyptian Chariots (Will post Denmark battle and map soon)

Well they can't hire anymore troops, but they can still get militia. News has spread to every royal court in Europe that the Mongols have crushed Persia beneath their feet, and are expected to invade Europe this year. Get your defences in!

Kay, gotcha.

Yep. It's on the map. :P I wasn't sure about the budget arrangements with Rocco though. I think I saw it somewhere on the thread, but I've lost it. :(

Before you had the picture of your defences with four lines, and said that you were going to have 5k MAA at each of them. So I assumed you got 20k. Then your invasion of Norway only happened with 10k MAA, so you still have 13k MAA left, in Kiev, and 2k MAA in Sweden. ---- And now that I have read that entire PM, I realize I have made a mistake. Sorry. :) Small battle report changes Kiev retains all troops France only loses 1300 Swordsmen and 500 blood knights Oh, and the nobles are starting to run out of blood knights now, and refuse to give anymore, since they need to protect their own houses too

Scottish Invasion of England General Thunder and his Scottish invaded England earlier this year, in an attempt to prevent the English barons from forming a single country once again. His blow came during talks between the barons in London. However, during the period of fighting, the barons had built many castles across the land, and they served to impede him. His forces sieged a castle in Northern England, but he quickly realized that his force was not suitable for a siege with so many light archers, and he opted to surround the castle and wait for instructions from Scottish high command. His message is grim: "M' lord, I fear that our invasion may have come too late. The English have fortified their lands, and our forces cannot hope to break through more than a few castles before the English barons have united again. I suggest we have a strategic retreat, and attempt to mend relations with England." ---- With that, I am going to bed. Noodles!

You quickly discover that Budapest has been shipping in food on the river running through it, because you have yet to control the fortress which controls the river.

Holy Roman Empire Invasion of....the Holy Roman Empire The attack begins with the movement of the HRE army out of Denmark by boat into the lands of the Holy Roman Empire, controlled by the Danish. The Danes only had a meagre complement of troops, and was ill prepared for the sudden counterattack. Their initial plan was to drive home to Vienna, the HRE capital, but their scouts informed them the way was barred by another HRE army. The Danes fled the only way they could, towards Denmark, continually harassed by the two thousand Heavy Horse Archers and two thousand Axe riders of the HRE. As the rear-guard, the Danes left behind 500 Scandanavian axemen, which did their duty well and held off long enough for the rest of the Danish army to escape into Denmark. The Scandanavians have regrouped and raised a new defensive army for Denmark. Casualties HRE 200 Axe Riders Scandanavians 500 Scandanavian Axemen Result: Clear Victory The Norwegian Shuffle The year began with the invasion of Norway by a resurgent Kiev, sending ten thousand Men at arms from the King's army, as well as a whole host of the lesser nobility, a thousand in number, bringing with them an extra two thousand knights and four thousand men at arms. They marched flamboyantly to the primary Norwegian castle near Oslo, when they made a startling discovery. The French had also arrived in large force, outnumbering them almost two to one, and they weren't being friendly. The Kieven army barely had time to execute the Swedish king in front of the Norwegians, when the Norwegians struck first with a sledgehammer blow of 2200 Scandanavian axemen and 700 huscarls. This force was weak, but their fury ravaged the Kieven center. Suddenly the French archers, numbering 7500, fired huge volleys, which struck down many Kievans and caused chaos in their ranks. With that, five thousand French swordsmen came to reinforce the Norwegian center, pushing the Kievans back. The forces were still in Kiev's favor, but morale was firmly on the side of the Norwegians and the French. The final disheartening blow came when 6500 French blood knights swung around and charged into the already engaged Kievan mass, causing many to begin fleeing. Most of the knights fought to the death, while seven hundred lesser Kievan nobles were captured. However, a powerful snowstorm blew in, allowing two thousand Kievan men at arms to limp across the border back into Sweden. In a surprising twist, the French army turned and massacred the celebrating Norwegians, taking the country for themselves. Casualties: Entire Kievan Arms except two thousand Kievan men at arms France 2500 Blood Knights 4000 Swordsmen Norwegians Entire army Result: Crushing Defeat for Kiev and Norway (Earth, I can't find the PM with your plans)(Map coming) [Hide=Map] [/hide]