Tides of Conquest Late Medieval campaign, turn 4, 1312 CE

[Nijis]

The expansion of Castilian power brings an influx of gold into Castilian coffers. As noble houses flaunt their new-found wealth, however, rumors begin to spread that the gilded youth of the land, together with recently converted Muslim aristocrats who have only feigned their conversion, have carried out blasphemous parodies of the sacraments. The crown deflects the blame onto merchants from Ifriqiya, which just happens to be the rival of its new client state of Qusantina. King Nadal calls the chivalry of the land to abandon their frivolous pursuits and join him on a crusade to northern Africa.

Aragon, for its part, takes a break from its bloody campaigning in Italy and also looks to north Africa for a distraction, raiding Castile's local ally Qusantina whose corsairs have recently, for some reason, been focusing primarily on Aragonese shipping and island outposts.

Venice, like much of Italy, was battered by the recent many-sided struggle for control over the peninsula. Those wars have died down for now, but the Doge makes a speech before the Grand Council demanding retribution against the Empire for past forays into the Veneto, and the noble ladies of the city bring out their jewelry to be melted into ducats to finance an army that will march across the Alps.

After recent victories in Flanders, the victorious army of the imperial north led by Augustus Bach decided to continue to Paris itself. This expedition intends to demolish all the French forts that it finds on its way and burn its warehouses of wheat and weapons, in order to avoid future actions on the part of the King of France in Flanders and other territories of the north. Meanwhile, after serious strategic failures in the defense of Austria, the emperor commanded an army whose objective was to return Bohemia to the imperial sphere of influence, as well as to punish the Hungarians. In the east, the Teutonic Knights received financial and material support from the emperor to continue their crusade against the orthodox Slavic barbarians.

France and England, recently at odds over Normandy, pursue their war on other fronts. A French expeditionary force sails to Wales to help local rebels under the banner of one who claims to be the son of King Dafyd of Gwynedd, executed by the English some 20 years ago. As France's campaigns continue, some of its merchants begin to notice that recently minted sous seem a bit lighter and less lustrous than older ones still in circulation.

England, in response, launches a campaign from its Gascon holdings into neighboring Provence. King Geoffrey meanwhile makes what he hopes will be a conciliatory measure to his Celtic subjects, allowing a council of mostly Irish monastery abbots to calculate a date for Easter over the objections of English bishops loyal to Rome.

In Sweden, King Ake revokes a number of feudal privileges, prompting the jarls to grumble and give him the sobriquet "Hard-Ruler." For now, however, they are distracted by the king's latest foreign venture, an expedition to Denmark to force the Danish king to allow the free passage of ships through the Skagerrak and revoke the outrageous tolls that he had been charging.

Tensions between the kingdom of Hungary and Constantinople have been building up due to conflicts between their partisans in the Slavic principalities that form a buffer zone between them. A Hungarian army is dispatched to Bulgaria, whose king recently spurned an offer by the pope to rejoin the Latin church. A second Hungarian army marches west in response to an imperial invasion of Bohemia.

The Ottoman emir Ogün Bey, with his eye perhaps on grander titles, announces that he will be endowing a series of madrasas and hospitals in the cities of Anatolia. Lest anyone doubt that his ardor to spread the faith burns any less, however, he also announces that this year's ghazwa will be directed against the heart of the Roman empire in Constantinople.

Constantinople's Basileos Epiphaneous is meanwhile beset by petitions from rural Thrace, where debt-ridden peasants claim that the local aristocracy are trying to seize their land. Not in the mood for such distractions, he has the ringleaders arrested, but declares that there should be land aplenty for those who join his upcoming campaign to restore the Greek-speaking cities of Ionia to the Empire. A few Byzantine adventurers meanwhile head east to the kingdom of Georgia, which fought off the Ottomans only to face a new threat from migrating Alans pushed south by the Golden Horde.

Khan Okin of the Golden Horde, which for years now has been camped near the old ruined Khazar city of Atil in the Volga delta, decides that it is time to build a new capital worth of their great empire. Architects are summoned to build new palaces and mosques of stone, and word goes out that learned imams are needed to guide a horde that is, for the most part, more Muslim in word than in deed. The Muscovites however continue to press on the Khan's northern frontiers, attacking raiding east along the Volga into the forests of Mordvia.

[anderarcos11]

Challengues for Indibil, SnuggleBunnies and LachieMac setted up

German-allied Estonia (anderarcos11) attack Muscovite-allied Novgorod (SnuggleBunnies)
Map: Northern European Hilly
Side 1: Teutonic Order (1226CE to 1319CE) Medieval
Side 2: Rus (1265CE to 1379CE) Medieval

Germans (anderarcos) attack Hungarian-allied Bohemia (LachieMac)
Map: Northern European Hilly
Side 1: German (Imperial) (1200CE to 1319CE) Medieval
Side 2: Bohemian (1200CE to 1399CE) Medieval

Germans (anderarcos11) attack French-ruled Ile de France (Indibil)
Map: Northern European Agricultural
Side 1: German (Imperial) (1200CE to 1319CE) Medieval
Side 2: French (1155CE to 1319CE) Medieval

[Nijis]

SnuggleBunnies issues the following challenges:

Muscovite-allied Zaporizhia (SnuggleBunnies) attack Golden Horde-ruled Tanais (Kongxinga)
Map: Steppe
Side 1: Cuman 1180-1394 (Medieval)
Side 2: Tatars (1242CE to 1399CE) Medieval

Muscovites (SnuggleBunnies) attack Golden Horde-ruled Mordvia (Kongxinga)
Map: Northern European Woods
Side 1: Rus (1265CE to 1379CE) Medieval
Side 2: Tatars (1242CE to 1399CE) Medieval

Password is snuggles

[TomoeGozen]

Challenge created for anderarcos11 :

Venetians (TomoeGozen) attack German-ruled Austria (anderarcos11)
Map: Northern European Mountainous
Side 1: Italian(Guelf) (1200CE to 1319CE) Reconquista
Side 2: German (Imperial) (1200CE to 1319CE) Medieval

PM sent.

[LuciusSulla]

I guess I'm only supposed to issue the challenges for battles where I'm attacking, since the attacker can choose ally rule?

Challenge created for gort7078

East Romans (LuciusSulla) try to annex Ottoman-ruled Ionia (gort7078)
Map: Mediterranean Agricultural
Side 1: Byzantine (Central) (1262-1399) (SS)
Side 2: Ottoman Turkish (1299CE to 1361CE) Sublime Porte

PW: 2023

PM to be sent soon.

[Indibil]

French army launches a raid against English in Walles.
Challenges created for wzfcns
PW: indibil
PM: sent

[Nijis]

LuciusSulla - that is correct. The attacker issues the challenge.

[Cuddlefission]

Aragonese (Cuddlefission) attack Castillian-allied Qusantina (rpadilla1988)
Map: Middle Eastern Mountainous
Side 1: Aragonese (1275CE to 1319CE) Reconquista
Side 2: Granadine (1232CE to 1319CE) Reconquista

Challenge posted, PM sent

[LachieMac]

Have created and sent challenges to anderarcos11 and LuciusSulla. I have brought Bohemian allies to the Austrian fight as I believe that's allowed under the rules (and thematic as Bohemia is now allied with us on the map!)

[Doyley50]

Swedish (doyley50) attack German-allied Denmark (anderarcos11)
Map: Northern European Agricultural
Side 1: Swedish (1155CE to 1319CE) Medieval
Side 2: Danish (1200CE to 1319CE) Medieval

Challenge set up. Pwd 1234.

[Nijis]

Yep, Bohemian allies are allowed for Hungary as the attacker.

Issuing challenge to LuciusSulla
Mamluke-allied horde (Nijis, provisionally) try to settle in East Roman-allied Colchis (LuciusSulla)
Map: Northern European Hilly
Side 1: Alan (1050CE to 1500CE) Sublime Porte
Side 2: Georgian (1145CE to 1450CE) Swords and Scimitars

PW is Georgia

[anderarcos11]

Germans (anderarcos11) beat Venetians (TomoeGozen) 60 to 29.

The Venetian invasion of Austria was defeated by the army of the empire. The imperial cavalry formed in the center, facing the Venetian cavalry, of lesser quality. On the flanks, light troops and crossbowmen were positioned, defending a hill on the left flank and hidden in a forest on the right flank. The attack began with the Venetian advance on the flanks, which had to withstand an intense hail of shells. Subsequently, while the Imperial flanks resisted and wore down the Venetian troops, the Imperial center made up of elite cavalry charged into the Venetian center. Little by little, both the Venetian flanks and their center fell until they were defeated. The imperial electors celebrate the victory and plan the corresponding reckoning with the rebellious Venetian republic.

[anderarcos11]

Germans (anderarcos11) beat Frenchs (Indibil), 46 to 20

The glorious imperial army of Augustus Bach continues its advance in the north with a new victory over the king of France, which culminated in the sack of Paris, although he had to give up holding said city due to lack of supplies. On the way, all the forts and warehouses of wheat and weapons inside and outside Paris were looted and the fields between Paris and Flanders were razed. With this victory, the French will not be able to cast their shadow over Flanders, now part of the empire, for long.

[LuciusSulla]

East Roman (LuciusSulla) defeats Mamluke (Nijis) 53-25

Mamluke-allied horde (Nijis, provisionally) try to settle in East Roman-allied Colchis (LuciusSulla)
Map: Northern European Hilly
Side 1: Alan (1050CE to 1500CE) Sublime Porte
Side 2: Georgian (1145CE to 1450CE) Swords and Scimitars

The Alan horde met with the local Georgian army on a pathway into the Caucasian Range. Attempting to break through the Georgian defenses, the chieftains assembled the warriors of the tribes.

The Alans concentrated their riders in the central, where the terrain is mostly flat. Their right wing consisted of a large group of axe-wielding warriors and archers, in an attempt to control a steep hill at a critical location a little right to the center of the battleground and project its arrows over the enemy.

The left wing, meanwhile, consisted of a small group of warriors and archers from a small clan. They were only expected to protect the riders' flank when the riders charge deep into the Georgians.

After the battle started. The left wing soon found out in terror that they are facing enemies three times their own. Their attempt to back off from the enemy soon failed when the Georgian skirmishers caught them and started inflicting heavy casualties on the lightly protected tribe warriors. Desperately, the chieftain ordered them to charge into the skirmishers before all of his warriors runs away, only to find that his warriors ended up in more awkward and scattered positions.

In an attempt to save the left wing from slaughter, the riders pivoted to the left, trying to intercept the marching Georgian forces from reaching the scattered left wing. However, the riders soon realized that they are trapped by the Georgian spearman and shot at by the Georgian horse and foot archers from all directions. The place they clashed with the Georgians is also too far from the hill occupied by the right wing for them to get any meaningful support from the archers.

The Alan riders had to fight for themselves. With them shot down, surrounded and chased down, the battle soon came to an end.

[anderarcos11]

German-allied Denmark (anderarcos11) beat Swedish (doyley50), 61 to 48

The aggressive attempt of the Swedes to form the Kalmar union by force was thwarted by valiant Danish resistance. The Danes formed up building on a hill and behind a deep river. In the early stages of the battle, light troops of archers clashed with the Danish archers victorious. Subsequently, the bulk of the Swedish army advanced, achieving some initial victories, but soon their left flank was defeated by Danish cavalry and crossbowmen, supported by spearmen. Although defeated, the Danish right flank held out long enough for the Danish troops on the left flank to attack the already worn-out Swedish center, thus achieving victory.

[LuciusSulla]

1st game: East Roman (LuciusSulla) defeats Ottoman (gort7078) 60-4

East Romans (LuciusSulla) try to annex Ottoman-ruled Ionia (gort7078)
Map: Mediterranean Agricultural
Side 1: Byzantine (Central) (1262-1399) (SS)
Side 2: Ottoman Turkish (1299CE to 1361CE) Sublime Porte


2nd game: East Roman (LuciusSulla) defeats Ottoman (gort7078) 46-9

Ottomans (gort7078) attack East Roman-ruled Byzantium (LuciusSulla)
Map: Mediterranean Agricultural
Side 1: Ottoman Turkish (1299CE to 1361CE) Sublime Porte
Side 2: Byzantine (Central) (1262-1399) (SS)


The horse-archer-heavy Ottoman forces are easily countered by Byzantine's combined forces of spearmen, foot archers, lancers and horse archers. The East Romans easily repelled the Ottoman's invasion near Constantinople and reentered Anatolia.

[Indibil]

The French army gets an astonishing and impressive victory over the English in Walles. 58 - 9 %.
Maybe this victory will help French in the continent, we hope.

[LuciusSulla]

East Roman (LuciusSulla) defeats Hungarians (LachieMac) 42-16

Hungarians (LachieMac) attack East Roman-allied Bulgaria (LuciusSulla)
Map: Northern European Hilly
Side 1: Hungarian (1200CE to 1319CE) Medieval
Side 2: Bulgarian (1186CE to 1319CE) Swords and Scimitars

The Bulgarian army camped downhills, awaiting the Hungarians' approaching. The Hungarians, marching down the hill, amassed its archers on the right flank and its cavalry on the left flank.

The Hungarian calvary soon engaged the Bulgarians, but the right-flank archers stayed on the hill to keep out of the charging range of the Bulgarian cavalry. Outnumbered, the Hungarian cavalry was soon routed.

[Indibil]

English (wzfcns) counterattack into French-ruled Provence (Indibil)
Map: Mediterranean Agricultural
Side 1: English (1272CE to 1319CE) Medieval
Side 2: French (1155CE to 1319CE) Medieval

French repelled the attack of English forces to Provence. 63 - 47 %

[SnuggleBunnies]

SnuggleBunnies (Rus) defeats anderarcos (Teutonic) 76-52

Difficult terrain for a cavalry battle, with a stream, hills, forests, and rough. The Order's crossbowmen were a deadly threat.

GG