AAR: Me, Floris | Completed | Chapter 60 & Epilogue posted (19-09-2015)

Wow i love this !!

GREAT JOB!

CONGRATULATIONS once again!!!

Lord Barrett, Phoss & Kellick: The battle cry is spreading, I see. Although I'm not sure if the chicken would like it.

Lord Brutus: I hope I'll see some more pork and chicken then, since I'm now installing 1.125. And I'm glad I had already quite some butter then.
Actually I had quite a nice outfit ready for her to use as soon as she would level up two more levels, since she hasn't have enough strength to wear it. So if she'd just complete her training, she would be rewarded in the latest fashion. Aw well, I'll save it for her for if she returns one day.

Kellick: Except for helmets she takes off when talking to you.

Lord Brutus: Hm... I'm now at day 973, so I'll have to look harder for dried meat too .

CounterPoint391: Why don't you become her stylist ? As soon as we've tracked her down...

Count Edmundus: Great to hear it!

VOIEVOD: Thanks!

CounterPoint391 said:

Ymira actually would look decent if she actually did her hair differently....

Spoiler

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That pic is fabulous. I love that peek-a boo look. I'm fantasizing over an imaginary 13th century girl. Does this mean I"m sick. God I hope so.

Credits go to Sybilla for the hair....I just ported it to warband. And I ordered Ymira to do her hair better via the Edit Mode....

CounterPoint391 said:

Ymira actually would look decent if she actually did her hair differently....

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Yeah, right.

Lord Brutus: It becomes sick when you dig one up.

Count Edmundus: Even if it would be stealing, I wouldn't mind. I find it a handy format, so I'd be honoured if others also make use of it .

tyrannicide: If dogs have it, then it must be the latest fashion.

LOL, yeah I don't care for it. I like to see their eyes.

CounterPoint391 said:

Ymira actually would look decent if she actually did her hair differently....

Spoiler

Click to expand...

Reminds me of Android 18 from DBZ. Anyone else see it?

Hey monnikje how did you add a custom banner (Holland one) while usein' better banners and diplomacy? I'm havein' trouble with this, but i do know how to add them without those mods.. what dds file do i need to convert? Keep up the good work !

Lord Barrett: I'm sorry, I don't know DBZ that well enough.

Count Edmundus: The steps I took:
- Install Diplomacy, which gives a new module.
- Follow the instructions from the Better Banner Mod, and install it in the Diplomacy module.
- I used the Banner and Flag Standardization Pack and Gimp, although another photo editing program like Photoshop will work also fine, to create my custom flag.
- Then I opened std_banners_a.dds in Gimp, of course after I had installed the Gimp DDS Plugin, and didn't load the mipmaps. Then I replaced the first flag with my custom flag. Don't forget to mirror your flag, since the game will mirror the flag from the DDS-file! Since I had chosen for my game the first flag available, I immediately had my custom flag in use after I had replaced it.
I hope this works for you .

My problem is that i couldnt open the std_banners a file with DDS converter it just crashes but i got it working, thanks !

Dear Diary,

Last time I wrote in here, I was standing before the gates of Malayurg castle, ready to start a siege. And that's exactly what I did. While the army joined my side, I ordered my men to build a siege tower, which of course took two days to complete. During this time, the Khergits slipped past and started their own siege on Ichamur. I had to hurry. Quickly we continued to build on the tower. Eventually we finished it before the Khergits managed to storm their former city, and I lead my men forward to take the castle.

For the first time in this entire war the Khergits didn't jump down their walls. Had they learned from their previous mistakes? We started our attack run from a great distance, from which our crossbows were more effective than their their bows, despite them having cover from the walls. All the men of me and my vassals stormed the place, and we quickly took it. During the siege I even managed to capture Brula noyan. I gave the fief to lord Mirchaud, as I had promised. While I conducted these small affairs, a Khergit delegation arrived: they offered 2000 denars Dundush noyan, which I accepted. Taking Khergit lords prisoner is a lucrative business, although it still surprised me they hadn't tried to buy their leader, Sanjar khan, free.


A panoramic view of the attack on Malayurg castle.

After I took the castle, I hurried back to Ichamur, after leaving Rafarch with his army in Malayurg castle: I needed to break that siege. I rode as fast as I could, leaving my main army far behind me, but I was too late: the Khergits had taken the place. On my way towards the city, I met Hugu noyan with his army: I defeated him, but he escaped. After the fight the Khergits offered me 1100 denars for Druli noyan, which I of course accepted.

Then I arrived at Ichamur, where I immediately started the siege by building ladders. They were finished pretty soon, so after my lords arrived, I immediately stormed the place. All the remaining noyans had packed together there, so there was quite some defending army. but it wasn't enough to stop me form taking the place. I even captured Rochabarth noyan. After I sold my prisoners to sinister looking people in the tavern, and sold all the gear I captured from them, I was ready to ride out again, to the next castle: Rindyar castle. While I rode towards there, some Khergits decided that they wanted to retake Malayurg castle. But that was on my route, so I was in time to remind them of their error. I drove them away, but before they left, they paid me 4300 denars for Brula noyan. Those are ransoms I like them to pay.

At the castle I immediately prepared ladders in four hours, which was enough for my army to catch up. They had quite a lot of defenders, along with a few nobles that had escaped my grasp before, so there were over 200 defenders. Still that was a lot less than the army I had brought with me: they weren't able to withstand waves and waves of countless soldiers climbing up the ladders and fighting their way to the heart of the castle. It was a bloody fight, and despite our greater numbers, our losses were very heavy. While 246 defenders died and 13 got wounded, 119 attackers died and 200 got wounded. Could any siege go any worse? Soon I learned the answer to that question. It was a sad day, which the capture of Ulusamai noyan couldn't light up.


The battle of Rindyar Castle.

After this bloody victory, I still marched on to Dramug castle. Some of my lords rode away to attend to their wounded men, but most rode along with me. That was a good thing, since the Khergit had even more defenders over there than at Rindyar castle. Quickly I prepared the ladders, and together we stormed the place. It was huge, and we had to run a long way before we were able to find our enemies. And when we did, we had to fight them in small and enclosed spaces. It was a nightmare. Not only got 217 of our men killed, also 367 got wounded. The enemy lost 299 men and had 29 wounded. These two sieges had severely weakened the Hollandic army. But we were almost finished: the Khergit had only one place left.

For the final siege I had to replenish my men, so after a short visit to the nearby city of Reyvadin, where I unfortunately got robbed, I returned to Khudan. All my nobles had scattered across the landscape, to do the same thing I had done: get more men. In my capital I took quite a lot of sharpshooters and sergeants, and marched to the last Khergit holdout. During the ride quite some lords met me, and joined the campaign. This was going to be the last major battle of all, and we marched towards it. This was the last march.

At Reindi castle all the remaining Khergit noyans had gathered, making a last stand. 17 of them were defending along with the garrison of the city. But those nobles had been beaten before, and hadn't had any time to rebuild their armies. Despite that they had the advantage of both the walls and their numbers: I arrived with only 6 lords.


The last march ended at Reindi castle.

The battle took long to finish. I ordered all my infantry and cavalry to climb the ladders, while all my archers were standing back and shot the defenders from their walls. But the fighting was hard, and many fell. It was a blessing that this was their last castle, since my entire proud army had been destroyed or been wounded. The capture of Reindi castle was really the last battle of this campaign. After I had finally shot down the last of the defenders, I managed to capture quite a few lords. I kept Brula, Druli, Dundush, Gastya, Hugu, Khavel and Nasugei as prisoners, while setting Tulug, Urumuda and Vlan free. Some other noyans escaped, but where could they go? There was no place to hide. The Khergits had been the third faction I wiped out from the face of Calradia. Satisfied I returned to Khudan, where it would be time to appoint some fiefs.





*****
Gameplay notes
I've updated my game from 1.113 to 1.125. Well, actually I reinstalled it. There were some mods that changed things outside the module directory, and I was too lazy to find out which mod had changed what. Also I updated all the mods to their latest versions, while I was at it. An overview:
1. Mount & Blade: Warband v1.125 (was 1.113)
2. Diplomacy v2.2.5 (was 1.10b)
3. Better Banners Mod v2.0 (stayed the same), along with my custom banners.
4. More horses v2.5 (no idea what it was)
5. More Warhorses v1.5 (no idea what it was)
6. Arena Overhaul mod v1.0 (stayed the same)
7. Reworked Armors 1.6 (stayed the same) with the hotfix for Warband 1.125.
8. Historic Castles Project - the British Isles v1.1 (was 1.0)
9. More Metal Sound Mod v2.1 (stayed the same)
10. Warband Battle Size Changer v1.5 (stayed the same)
I just couldn't get the Epic Heraldry Mod working, both the old v0.65 and the new v0.72, so for now I'm doing it without it. Unfortunately that means my horses are - once again - screwed up, although it's not as bad as other times: I don't have to buy new ones now, although they do have new colours.
Another thing I noticed, was that 1.125 seems to handle large battles a lot better than 1.113. In the old version I really shouldn't attempt to start a siege with a battle size of ridiculous high: crash guaranteed. But in the current version there didn't seem to be any problem. Well, my computer didn't let everything go as fluently as could be, but at least it didn't crash. That's a relief.

Since Floris' stats haven't changed, I thought I'd made a heraldic weapon for him, with his motto: Pro Suillae et Gallo. For Pork and Chicken!


The major change is the extermination of the Khergits. Holland has usurped all their lands. Also the Sarranids have conquered Jamiche castle upon the Rhodoks.

Well done ! only three factions to go

Extermination is the correct word for the demise of the Khergit faction. I hate those sneaky boogers. Congrats on making Calradia a better place in which to live. Love the heraldry.

Do you have a masterplan, like taking over the entire Calradia, or are you just kinda going along and see what happens?

Count Edmundus: I'm counting down .

Lord Brutus: I'll make sure to teach my new Khergit citizens the Hollandic way of how things are done.
Thanks!

Phoss: In the long run I want to unite Calradia, but until then I'll see what comes along.

Hi, whit what program did you do that heraldry: for pig and chicken?

Just in Gimp, although Photoshop would do the same trick. I first looked up at wikipedia what the components of a coat of arms are. Then I searched the web for the different components, and combined them into one image. For example: the shield is the shield of the county of Holland that is displayed on wikipedia, and the crown is a cut-down version of the current Dutch crown as displayed on wikipedia. The pig and the chicken are just some line drawings I found, and which I coloured with the same yellow as used in the weapon. I gave it all a shadow, and wrote the motto down there, and voila, the heraldic coat of arms is ready. I thus didn't use a special program, only my regular photo editing software.

THANKS!