Winter 1258

The Venetian Empire is now recognised as the most Glorious Empire in the Western World.
Palmerio the Crusader has taken the Rebel Castle in Dolonga and Rheims fell too. The Fall of Marseilles was a very tame affair compared to the previous two battles and I had to wait for the French reinforcements to see the Handgunners in action.
Over in the East the Mongols have retreated back into the Turkish Lands so I will have to plan the next stages like a game of Chess, moving units forward enough that it may provoke or finally catch up with the Mongols but not so that they are in any danger of being swamped by the remaining hordes of Mongols. What does surprise me a lot about the Mongols is the Faction Leader. He has a Command rating of 2 stars and leads half a stack of in-experienced troops. The lowest rating of the other Generals is 6 and not one of their command have less than 3 silver chevrons. The horde that just defeated me only has it's 5 units of Mongol Infantry intact. All but one of the Mongol Foot Archer units and Heavy Cavalry were wiped out and those two units are half strength but have a Gold Chevron of Experience.
Back to the French and I had a lovely surprise when I sent an Assassin after a French Family Member. A completely different Assassin film Sequence. Wow!! And there was me thinking I had seen just about all of the Successful Assassin sequences.