The 14th Century

C14th - Progress
The 14th Century is so much fun. The Mongols were herded down from the Turkish Territories down to Antioch were they were warmly welcomed by the newly finished Cannon Towers at Antioch. While the Mongols rampaged harmlessly away next to the Sea my forces took the opportunity to relieve the Turks of a few cities. Well, it was the appearance of the Mongol Horde in the Turkish Territories that prevented me from obliterating this faction in the first place. As the Turks didn’t deal with them it was up to me to position the Mongols in a place where I could deal with them and that was better on my home ground than on the Turks. I’ve just expanded my home territory so I can deal with the remnants of the Mongol horde when they run away.
Have had two subsequent chances to take the Mongols on at a 1-to-1 strength and lost one in a Dusty, hilly setting and won one in a Cloudy, mountainous setting. It was quite strange trying to play that one with a Minimal Battlefield HUD, especially as the camera angle on a Mountainous terrain setting can be at a fantastic tilt.
Elsewhere some advice from a friend regarding Guilds has seen me whittle away guild buildings for those Guilds which I already have several Master Guild Houses and the HQ. This has left room for other Guilds to approach me and offer their services and when the Assassin Guild approaches you can hardly say no. In fact within three turns Thessalonica had been upgraded to a Master Guild and is now the Assassin Guild HQ. The Theologian Guild has offered their services but not before the Merchant Guild did. My income from Merchants has increased to well over 1000 florins which is impressive. That and the Merchants produced there are not such Numpties. A large no of my Generals stationed in Cities are getting the Explorer Ancillary and therefore getting the extra bonus to sight and Movement.
My Fleet in the North Sea managed one victory over a Danish Fleet and so delivered an Army into Scotland in time to stage an Historical event in 1314. I had an easy victory over Inverness or a hard fought battle for Edinburgh as my two options for this event so I opted for taking Edinburgh. It was a hard fought battle against Heavy Pike. I learn a few things about Bombards such as Ammunition appears to be split evenly over the two and each has it’s own individual line of sight. Had a hilarious moment when one of the Bombards was firing its last few shots at the Scottish Generals unit (of about 10). 1 shot, leaving 9, another shot leaving 8 etc. till they ran out before killing the General. Didn’t manage the victory in the half hour slot I had allowed so I lost and without a proper General (i.e. no family Member present) the invasion army melted into the Highlands.
The pesky Danes were finally sorted out in Arhus when I cornered the King and the Faction Heir within the city walls. A ribault and some Musketeers (Oh! Yes, the 14th century is a really advanced place to be) took out most of the opposition once the Culverin had placed some accurate shots to the Towers and gates allowing my Troops to enter with ease. I have to say the Danish King survived long enough to make a lone charge towards my Musketeers only for my Spearmen to step forward to receive it. The Horse stopped but the rider didn’t and went flying to his doom.
The Spanish conveniently had themselves excommunicated and the Portuguese decided to attack me. Just had the Moors, Russians and the Pope left as neutral/friendly till I couldn’t resist a lightly defended Carthage just a sail away from Palermo (with its Master Swordsmith and Armoury Factory helping me produce finely kitted troops)
Took Baghdad and only have one city left on the Eastern Front left to take from the Turks. Will need to build these up in time to meet the Tuirmids(?) whenever they decide to appear. Objectives left are to wipe out the Turks, the Mongols, the remaining Catholic Factions and then the POPE! Yes, the Pope must die.
What will become of the Catholic faiths leader once I am the only remaining Catholic Faction and I take Rome?
Hopefully somewhere along this path there will come a guy brave enough to adventure into the unknown or someone will master ship building enough to produce craft worthy of crossing Oceans and I will enter the New World. I just can’t wait though ruling a vast Empire is a bit time consuming so I’ve only reached 1328.

1286 - Venice, progressing onwards

Such wonderful inventions such as Lenses and Clocks have been developed. How much longer before enterprising voyagers use them to chart the oceans I wonder?
A surprise for me over in Turkey as Marco Polo decided to tag onto one of my Diplomats. Seems to give Trade and Movement benefits to the Character he joins so not sure why he can appear as Retinue for a Diplomat. However it was nice to see him make an appearance.
A few of my Assassins were turning 60 so tried out a few trickier missions with them, mainly so I could see the Failure film sequences with the hope of seeing the other Snake Failure sequence. Was rewarded with this particular one, which is quite a laugh. Unfortunately one of my younger Assassins got killed during one of his missions and so have a slight shortage now of competent Assassins. Raised one in Nuremberg and he has acquired a Handgun -007 eat your heart out. Still need to train him so he is more effective though.
Bucharest and Bran have fallen, the Hungarians must be struggling for cash one of their field armies turned Rebel just as it was heading to retake Bucharest. Their other Field army decided to attack my army which was heading their direction and despite losing a Ribault and Ballista crew for little damage in return, I used the Terrain to wear down the 3 units of Feudal Knights while peppering them with Crossbolts till they were worn out and thinned enough to use the light Cavalry to drive them off. Have had a few battles against various Rebels that have appeared and used lesser forces to drive off a stronger force which has resulted in a few Men of the Hour promotions.
A bit concerned about my Family Line as my Faction leader and Heir are both approaching their 60's and the Heir doesn't have any children. What happens if they both die in the same turn? Will I have a Civil war to determine my Families rightful lineage?
Bordeaux and Toulouse fell to my Armies after finishing off the English in Caen. The Spanish tried to recapture Toulouse but my superior firepower (3 units of Arquebusiers and a Ribault which has a longer reach than I realised) put this army to flight before it could build enough Siege equipment to even think of attacking the walls. Have an Army heading over to Bruges to take this from the Danes. Put an army on the Bridge between this territory and Antwerp to prevent any relieving force arriving. A Stalwart defence over a couple of turns by the Captain in charge has meant that Antwerp will be ripe for the taking as soon as I have Bruges.
The Poles have declared war, mainly by trying to blockade a few of my Ports however they aren't anywhere near powerful enough to take on my Navies. The Danes on the other hand gave me a surprise by nobbling (OK- annihilated!) my North Sea Navy, which I considered to be quite powerful, and has meant I have had to put together a hasty Navy from my French Territories to replace it in time to complete the Nobles request to Blockade Toledo. Managed to with the reward of 3 Galleass (boy do these ships pack a punch - I am working on Cannon Foundries in cities with Ports so that I can get the Cannon upgrades for ships when/wherever I need to replenish my Navies).
Will see if I can persuade the Poles to keep their attacks to a minimum till I have finished the Mongol Horde, which has now arrived at the edge of my Territory with Turkey (border between Aleppo and Edessa) after being herded South to Edessa by my Armies. One of the Mongols did besiege the City of Edessa but failed to capture it. I'm beginning to think these Mongols are more talk than action. Had a fantastic battle vs. one of their army Stacks which included Trebuchets and Rockets. Can't wait for my Monster Ribault to make it's way over to the frontline and see how it compares to the Mongol Rocket Launcher. Came to the realisation that Mortars are only good for attacking Towns/buildings or for giving you a brilliant Birds-eye view of the battle/enemy as you follow it's shot (use the Delete key). Still to see the effects of a Culverins explosive shot in action. Have taken the Horde down to 7 full stacks and several remnants. Best one was taking out the Mongol Faction leader with an opening (fire) shot from a Bombard. It still took a lot of the battle to persuade the rest of the army to run away but it was a lovely shot to start a battle with.
Moving people with Architect retinue around as several cities are requiring their walls upgraded and Bologna/Constantinople are ready for expensive buildings which will give me Musketeers (Royal Arsenal) and Ornate Plate (Armoury Factories). At 15,000 Florins each it is quite a chunk of cash so the 10% Discount will be welcome. Will soon (in about 16 years) have the best gunners with the best armour with Infantry and Cavalry to protect them. Hopefully in time to travel to the New World (if anyone discovers it). Meanwhile I need to gain some more territory as my building programmes are starting to cripple my economy.

1278 - The Spanish Excommunicated

The Spanish have been excommunicated and also decided to attack me - this fits in perfectly with my Nobles requesting me to blockade Toledo's Port and allows me to expand south from my French conquests.
England decided to attack Rennes so diverted the force heading south from Angers to head north to attack the English City of Caens while a small force from Angers went to relieve the besieged city. This they did, or at least their arrival caused the English to flee after being hit by a Flaming Ballista which sallied forth from Rennes.
Only have two turns left before I can concentrate on the Danish (without fear of excommunication) so took two of the remaining Hungarian towns/castles leaving Sofia as their last refuge.
Hunting down as much of the Danish Family as I can with Assassins so that only the King is left when I go to attack them. The Film sequences seem to go in cycles, last night was stones the previous evening tended to be knifes.
Over in Turkey I'm drawing a noose around the collective necks of the Mongol Horde and hopefully make the opportunity of thinning them out enough to then launch a Full Scale attack on them. Culverins are in production and will be on their way soon.