[AAR] - After Action Reports Archive

Alright, so here is the plan i am going to put into motion. Since there is a lot to do in SoD now i am just going to make a running blog at my characters attempts to take hold of the land. So anyway on to the rules/changes/tweeks.


First the changes:
-Party size increase, at least 100 troops or more for lords and myself.
-Bet increase for tournaments. 1000 denars and lower.
-Battle size increased to 400 (well, it looks like my computer is not that great... Wont stop crashing unless it take it below 450)
The rules:
-When i get my first castle i have to be at war with at least three factions including the one i took the castle from.
-If i lose said castle, its over. or if my faction is taken over again.
-I can only recruit troops from my own faction, and buy mercs from taverns. Rescues/prisoners/other factions are not available.
-No Companions, they can be used as stat pads.
-If i get taken prisoner its game over, no rebel gets a slap on the wrist. they get hung.

Difficulty:




Days 1-6: Charging in head first.

So here is my Character, Leader of the Antarians and devout of the the ways of the void.



Seeing that I was close to the castle that I had in mind. I decided rather than trying to build up my army slowly that I would make a gamble for the keep of my choosing right away. Charging up to the top right I find myself a Vaggy caravan and lay waste to it opening my war with them and starting my mad race for power.



No casualties at all in that fight, and some cheap items to fence from the bodies Antarians are well suited for cutting down almost anything it seems! After a brisk march I find my objective, Radoghir castle. Laying siege to the castle I am told that there will be a long 4 day wait for the tower to be built. Little did I know that this was going to get far rougher than I could have imagined.

Day One.




Day Two.



This fight almost prematurely ended this little story of mine. I got unseated from my horse by a well placed arrow. But my troops held it together and finished the fight.

Day Three.



Three fights, Three lords charge up in defense of this castle making probably the most coveted castle I ever attacked, usually they just ignore me and let the holed up lord fend for himself. Taking no chances I parked my troops behind a hill every fight so the archers could not turn my troops into pin cushions. It worked better than I could have imagined clearly with the casualties on the four lists I did pretty damn good with that choice. With a sack full of loot and and few sore wounds the tower was going to be finally ready tomorrow. And with that I Finally started the siege and my first step towards greatness! Well that was the plan...

Turns out that towers move far slower than I could have guessed. Usually I do not really notice but when my troops are falling over like dominoes it feels like its taking forever! When the tower finally drops the ramp I only have half my forces left to try and take it from 100 hundred Vaggy's. Two handed axe in hand I start we weave into the fray leading the front. arrows fly over my head as I start taking my first swings. Turns out my troops are really pushy and thrust me right into the crush, a place I was not planning to be until I was damn ready! But now I am forced to swing away like madman before I get cut down myself. Its not long before its just me, 2 nobles, 3 elite infantry and a 5 vets just holding the lip of the ramp. I am not taking too many hits but its not long before its just me and way too many soldiers for me really see this ending in my favor. Luckily they think that i am too much of a threat to leave the walls and i get to chip away at them until i can see anyone on the wall anymore. I peek into the courtyard and there are easily 25 archers! Well with some fancy foot work and keeping a soldier between me and doom. in the end this was the result.







And Here is the end result!



Well, even though the fact that I might be totally boned because I do not even have 20 troops to protect my castle. it Looks like I will be need a lot of hired help keep my foothold.



Days 7-21

With my first castle in my grasp i quickly come to the conclusion that this is why i do not try this on day one. Quickly i start my first barracks, but dont have enough for a mill. Oh well, no bread for the unwashed masses. and they let me know how they feel about by only giving me 2 peons for my army, YAY. Resisting the urge to burn them all alive i ride back to the keep.

So now i pick my opponents  i decided to declare war on the following

-Vaegirs
-Khergit
-Rhodoks



As you can see in the screen above only have 13 troops for defense and nothing to escort me around, this is not a good thing considering that i now have to tip toe through enemy territory with only my lonesome. So i take a deep breath and make a mad dash through Vaggy land, turns out The Nords were up to no good as well and had three lords laying siege to another Vaggy castle. This is good news to me because now i get to run free towards Wercheg. Quickly i round up the local towns folk and sell off my spoils. other than my undamaged laminar armor and my chipped battle axe, there is nothing worth mention in my inventory. With 7k in my hand i am tempted to ride back to my village and build that mill but i decide that troops and maybe a tournament would be better money spent. So off to Dhirim, more troops but no tournament. This is right around the time i figured out that i had Zero points in training so i got pretty pissed off at myself. But that's the breaks, looks like the only way they are gonna see promotions is through blood and steel.


Pravin was far more productive, a tournament and GASP more troops. I win the tournament but pretty much letting my team mates do all the work. 39k in my pocket i blow it all on myself like any good lord would do. Old plate armor, mail boots, gauntlets, great helm and a Heavy nord battle axe. Looking fancy i run up through the mountains to Suno, then Thir. There is another tournament, but... i lost to a crouched lance to the temple. Oh well, moving on with a nice lump on my head and only 15k left from the few victories that i did land. I ride out of Thir and then i get that oh so lovely message that my keep is under siege!



Now i have to run right across the map, with 143 of the greenest troops alive. I am moving at a speed of 2.9 during the day. Suddenly i am struck with the knowledge that i might not even come close to making it. Regardless i try to make it there anyway, slogging it along at the pace a snail would find laughable i pray they are slow at building that tower. Days swing by agonizingly as i finally pass over the bridge i see my opponent. 31 troops, its one of the guys i spanked for the castle. But he is locked in a fight with my forces, looks like i made it just in time. The fight is over before it can even really start. Half his guys are wounded and i do not want to fool around so i  jump off the wall and cut them down personally. Hauling the lords knocked out ass back into my keep i eagerly write a ransom note to his king, and send him his vassals ring finger, with ring still attached so he knows just the kind of man he is dealing with.



Only three of the thirteen remaining of my original troops. But somehow my peons LIVED?! So with a massive meat shield garrisoned in my castle i now run around with 50 of my worst, moth pathetic army i have ever mustered. Hopefully some will live long enough to actually make it to the higher tiers. next up, training, and my first town... i hope.



Noted on the top of my list of tweaks, i changed the amount of denars you can bet in a tournament. So if your packing the cash and skills you can rake in big.

a little update here...



second time getting crouched since i started this story... failed a quest too because of it. because of that dang retreat bug even if my soldiers win.



Day 20-63 OK! so 40 days, and I cannot take a town mercs. Every time I build them up, and i only can though combat min you so the casualties are brutal. For every troop promotion i nearly pay double in some cases. But when I finally got about 40 Hired blades and about 25 sword sisters with nearly 180 units of fodder to help I just cant beat the tide. I had to retreat every damn time because they cant fight their way out of a wet paper bag so I limped back what was left of my army to my castle to lick my wounds and because in the horrible amount of time it took my barracks and archery range were ready to pump out some real troops. As depressing as the defeats at Rivacheg were i have managed to use this force to pretty much cripple any chance of retaliation coming any time soon from the Vaegir's. Every lord i see is sitting at low 40 parties now with maybe only a lancer two as the only real threat. But that is not stopping them from trying to siege me on a weekly basis. This is the best they can throw at me. Oh and if your curious that Swadian is just your average lord for them. They have been doing very well. So while The Swaidians were looting the local town i decided to try and take a second keep. I needed to do something to bring up morale, because those hired blades can be easily turned on me too bad for them because i now have loyal troops to watch my ass. So the siege starts and all goes well as time is warping by until... King Yaroglek joins the party! YAY This guy would have pretty much wiped the floor with me if he brought a real army. Looks like times have been rough on the king, only 1 marksman and 4 knights. I parked my troops on a nice river edge between me and his horsemen and ripped them apart! He should have just ran away after the fight but he decided to stay for tea KING ME BABY! On my way back to train up my troops a little more I swing back around with some trained troops. I had my mercs parked back at the keep for defense because they are terrible at everything else it seems. Maybe i am jsut using them wrong but they cant seem to do **** right. When a lord from Vaegirs shows up right in my path! So its me and my real troops fighting a rag tag band of failure. The end result of that slaughter was this. Much, much better I didn't even really have to help either. if this was my merc army I would have seen at leas 30 dead, and even more wounded. With that out of the way the castle is clear for the taking, i maybe this time i wont fail because i dont have any damn mercs to fail it up on me! Next time I try to take a castle. seriously this time i will take it, i promise. P.S: sorry about the lack of pictures on my siege of Rivacheg i forgot to take snap shots of the lose. It was bad i tells ya, 250 troops, four attempts at it losing 30 troops every damn time.



Day 64-70

And so the siege of the second castle starts! With King Yaroglek having a little time out in my dungeon until he coughs up the denars to breathe fresh air again I pretty much have my options wide open to, a single castle. Yep just one fort right below me is maybe the only other place I have a chance of taking over. So hopefully I have some better luck than that fiasco that was the siege of Rivacheg. So with out further delay the siege of Slezkh. With my troops fresh from a nice string of victories i make my way there after upgrading some soldiers once more. The siege ladder was set up smoothly and without incident.

No i figured that i would sit back for this one, Remembering that the last time i was in front my soldiers pushed me right into the line of fire. So this time i let them lead this dance.



Vaegir's have a lot of arrows by the way... a lot of arrows. I don't remember seeing a single archer not stop ****ting while i waited to climb the ladder. But even though that my guys were talking a horrible amount of punishment from afar they pressed onward over the onto the walls. My nobles and elite troops were holding up well against the onslaught of steel waiting for them at the top. It too bad that the lower tiers did not fair that well. The Javelin troops didn't perform very well at killing the archers as i had hoped. Clearly they just don't have enough ammo to make a good impact. With the Veagir's being pushed back from the ladder my infantry finally breaks the back of the defense and starts to push into archers firing points, for every Antarian elite that falls 5 Veagier's are sent to the gods they pay respect too. Finally i decide its time for me add to the pressure I make my way onto the ladders and beak off to the other side alone. More archers were on the other side and they needed to be stopped from taking pot shots at my soldiers exposed backs. They take a few shots at me but my armor turn away the poorly aimed shots as they try to stop me in panic, because those arrows would be last they fire ever again. cutting a swath i knock the enemy from the walls one at a time, every swing claiming another soul. Just as i am about to make my way onto the platform where a nest of Veagir's were cowering. My remaining nobles and elites join my side and help cut down the last of the defense.



Here is the death tolls for both sides





With my Forces cleaning up up the the bodies from the walls a messenger comes from Radoghir, The castle is under attack! Looks like they noticed that my other castle was being guarded by the most useless band of troops I have ever hired. Charging back thinking that it is probably some mickey mouse task force to bother me. Turns out this is what they sent my way.



Well, that's just fantastic! they must have figured out that i put there king was being held in my only dungeon. Looks like the cheap bastard wont be giving me my money after all. Attacking a force like that would have been suicide, considering that even if i attack them my forces wont even step out of the castle to defend me.  I run back and grab the forces I left at the castle and make my way to help defend my castle. My only real plan was to just charge in and try to take out as many of them as I can. Running into the fray I notice that 3 of the lords, the ones below 50 troops run like little *****es and the only one thats gives chase is the 100 strong lord. When I get him far enough away i pounce!



Easy pickings, they fall pretty fast and the others make scarce back over the bridge. So it seems i got two keeps now, but now I have TWO castles to guard and pay for. Suddenly this does not seem like such a great prize after all. The next few months I am gonna have to take the time to try a build a force to once again Attempt to take Rivacheg. Although the clock is ticking, I might have my first two in the first 3 months.



Day 71-109 Rivacheg revisited (this one is going to be picture heavy.)

Over a month of preparation, a month of training and blood. A month hand picking the best of my peasants and letting the others fall to the cold floor that is the north so only the strong can step over to protect the harsh realm that my kingdom calls home. And now we are ready, ready to go back and take what it ours to take what others do not deserve. The Vaegirs are weak, they charge us with horses and frail spears. and then they lob arrows at us from afar, only to have the arrows turned away by the finest armor in the land. When that fails they hide behind the walls of their city. Cowering like simpering children, like its going to save them from our steel! our armor is thick, our will is uncrushable! They will fall to our might even though there is 100 more of the cowards on that wall, it just means we will need 100 more pikes to mount the heads after our victory!

The Rivacheg siege requires a tower so it takes some time for the battle to take place. 50 hours with my 5 engineer skill, not long at all. There is no molestation this time, 5 lords and a king are in prison and the other are stuck dealing with Nords and Swadians. Its been a long preparation for this one, with only two villages to supply me and a horrible medical skill every death was a future solider lost and a moments longer I would have to spend getting my forces ready. Nothing very eventful happened during the days waiting for my numbers to grow to a healthy 200 standing forces, 50 in each garrison as well just in case.



Turns out that the tower was not bad to have this time around, usually its just a slow and ponderous piece of junk. Now it was literally shielding my troops from a hail of arrows!



but the whole other side hot to shoot away at my troops, my trained javelins took most of the abuse with their shields. While my elites just shrugged off the arrows with the hardened plates of there armor.



By the time the tower finally rolled out the ramp the archers had ran out of arrows. Or so i thought, it seems they know when they are and back off so fresh bows can take the defenses. too bad it was too late!





My top tier troops were making mince meat out of the defenders! it was pretty insane just how many kills they were landing to each one falling over. Maybe it was just the pure number of them coming over the top or maybe it was because just how narrow the wall was, but it was like watching pitbulls get let lose in a baby nursery. By the time it was over there was clear location where the Vaegirs made there stand.



It too bad the archers were trapped in the very nooks that they were taking pot shots at us in.



In the end the casualties were far less than i was expecting, with no ladders to climb and a siege tower that provided cover from the worst of the arrows my troops make easy work of Rivacheg.

And now the numbers!

Mine



Thiers



Ale and whores for everyone!



Celebration Tourny



New armor!




I have to say this went far better than i was expecting. The slaughter of my mercs was terrible so i consider this a well deserved payback. With my first town under my belt, and sadly only two more villages the rest of Veagir will fall shortly. on a personal note i think attacking the Veagirs first was a good choice, the troops they use are lightly armored and do not stand a chance when put up against my hard hitting, long living infantry. I am still dreading the Kerjits though, mobility and ranged...

and just for fun.




Days 110-134

With Rivacheg firmly in my grasp and two more addition Villages cowing to my control with it. I am forced to take action against the keep that sits right next to me before i can even truly relax with my fresh gains. My troops were ready, fresh from a well fought victory and rested after a nice but slightly short celebration. But war waits for no one and there was momentum to be gained



The preparations for the siege go off with no problems or interruptions whatsoever. when the ladders are ready my forces rush into battle!



After a quick volley of Javelins the time for close and bloody work is at hand. my troops hack and slash at the stunned and wounded troops from the sudden and potent barrage of javelins. Many archers fell and the troops with shields now had spears weighing them down. my elite shock troops breached the wall easily with such weak resistance against a force that was now very accustomed to working there trade on walls and dealing death to anyone that go in striking range.



Its not long before the walls were clear of resistance and the courtyard is mine.



The losses were light, as i seem to be getting better and better at this.



They however never seem to fair that well



And another castle is claimed by forces and Rivacheg is now safe from a close threat. i move my sights to more tactical holdings. not wanting to give my enemy time to recoup i rush down to my next target.



Before they can even react my forces are at the wall and throwing spears over the battlements taking a few of the slower reacting men out of the fight.



My forces storm the breach, hungry to end this fight and find rest in some new castle walls.



They hack the Veagirs to ribbons and once again another castle falls into my hands.



With my elite forces tired and needing rest i leave the remainder of them to recuperate in my new holdings calling forth fresh troops and green forces to replenish my thinning forces. Feeling arrogant i continue the push onwards towards the last fortress between me and another town.



This siege had far more casualties then both of the others combined because of the lack of elite presence.

both losses are here



Now with three new castles in my control my seat of power has grown quite large and so has my need for more troops to protect the lands around me. Not really wanting to use lords yet i set out to allocate my garrisons properly. on my way back to most recent capture i run across this...



shiiiittt



its almost a shame that i cant seem to host larger fights because i pretty much won this one just because of one simple fact... they had to come in waves and could not use overwhelming numbers. oh well, i should either tone down the settings or get a second 4870.

here was the end result of that fight.

my own


Them


After a hard month of fighting, it looks like the Veagir's might have played there last hand against me and the gamble failed. With more than 7 lords rotting in my dungeons and another town under threat it wont be much longer before i break them completely and take everything for my own.



Alright, so i have been trying to rollback my Javelin armor mess up. But all attempts have failed so far, i am just going to have to venture on and just call it a unexpected upgrade.

Days 135-166: Antarian steamroll.

With Reyvadin cut off from the rest of the remaining land owned by the now demolished Vaegirs i aim my sights right for the final killing blow.

There is no resistance when i set up the ladders and get ready to once again take to the walls and make bloody carnage against the cowering defenders. With my elites standing at my back i know that the battle os well over before its even started, there is a obscene amount of green troops looking down from the walls. And many take well aimed throws of javelins and give us some opening kills. Not wanting to miss out on the fun i draw my bow and arrow and take my own well aimed pot shots, the Vagiers should take a lesson from me.


(image was from another siege but very funny either way.)

As i rake in one kill for almost every arrow that leaves my bowstring, once my quiver runs empty i order the Siege to end, with the final assault.



The battle is over once my men set foot on the floor of the wall, swinging the massive swords the wield in wide arcs they cut down anyone stupid enough to be in the front or just plain unlucky. Its not long before the battered enemy is making a last ditch stand at the very stairs that will lead my blood thirsty troops into the heart of the city.



my losses were much higher than i was expecting.



and the defenders once again now just lay in a fetid heap outside the city walls for the crows and other beasts to pick at.



Jeribe castle is my next target and as i approach the lords holding up inside make a run for it into the night as i ready the towers, looks like they know a lost cause when they see it. Demoralized the enemy tries to strike a deal before the dawn slaughter, but i am not listening. The tower drops its ramp and the battle starts in full.



but its over before all my troops set foot inside the walls, how pathetic.



Casualties were laughably low.



and the enemy mostly tried to surrender, but my soldiers take no prisoners. most men in this fight died on their knees.



With the Vaegirs now pushed away from Swadia and the Nordland, the only two people i am not at war with. I set my sights for one of the two last towns that the Veagirs hold now.



Khudan is well guarded by almost 500 troops and around 7 lords including there king. so it looks like it is time to bring out the big guns, my Honor Gaurd.



You thought the elites were bad, the Honor Guard packs heavier armor, bigger and longer swords and almost twice the power strike. its a shame i can only have so few.

There are no deals with me or the Veagir king. He knows that if he falls here and now that his people are lost. and i know that ransom is far below me now, the only thing waiting the lords and Yaroglek is the gallows or worse after this battle. They fight harder than any enemy before, desperation is quite the motivator when everyone in the city knows that their back is against the wall. My men hack apart the green troops that fill most of the Veagir ranks and quickly i find that my men are actually falling to such overwhelming numbers. My losses slowly start to stack up, but the enemy is piling in by the tens or twenties for every soldier i lose. Desperate as they are, the armor they are issues is too cheap, too light and just not enough to stop a Antarian blade. Even the Strongest and most well armed Vaegir knight falls to a single swing of my Honor Guards Swords. They stood at the front of the whole fight, and not a single one of them fell to the weapons of the enemy. They left me swelling with pride, my hand picked killing machines.

But this fight did have quite the toll on my troops. every soldier i lose is another day i have to spend training a raw troop from scratch. Losses are costly to me, and even though over 400 Vaegirs died today.





I knew it was going to be at least a week of my time to garrison my gains and retrain my lost ranks. Its getting harder and more costly to protect my kingdom, and there is not much relief in sight as my coffers sink lower and lower.

But thats another problem that i will deal with in due time, now i had a king to behead personally and a kingdom to annex. With Yaroglek's head belted to my side i ride up to Curaw's walls they roll over like good beaten people and give me the city without a fight. Vaegirs is now all mine and now i look towards the land Kerjit, a style of fighter that just might give me a real fight.

PS: just a few observations here

The honor guard seriously made that fight go much smoother than the Reyvadin siege. The held the front the whole fight and not one was wounded. I hate to see what faith troops are capable of...

The surrender of Curaw is jsut some fluff i added in, meaning i am sick of fighting Vaegirs and reporting the wholesale slaughter of them would be redundant at this point. close to 7 lords fought me at Khudan and they got skull ****ed, i just called it from there and rolled over them.

On another note, You might have noticed that there seems to not be many action reports of me and the other two factions fighting. well heres a screenshot for you.



Those assholes have been harassing me for longer than i care to mention. I just dont want to fill my reports with every damn fight i get myself into. If i think its gonna be close i will add it in but that is usually not the case.

Oh and another thing, i only leave 100 troops garrisoned in every town/castle. But it is seriously hitting my pocket books now, people are not reproducing fast enough to become tax payers, and if did not have the tournament values set so high. i would have been screwed a long time ago...

well, took me a while to write up something worthy of being read (and to be comparable in awesomeness to vellarain's report (which inspires me) and the others on the AA thread)

there goes the first chapters of my odyssey through calradia, a true Sword of Damocles novel! (be humble revan.)

Chronicles of Lady Myara, Antarian survivor of Legate Marius bloody campaign:
Day 1: Long journey, sorrowful as well, for me, and for all my soldiers, survivors of whatever was left of our homeland, after the long lasting war that claimed everything we called life, we found ourselves stranded in this strange land called Calradia, in a region the locals called “Lower Khergit steppes”, next to a large fortified city called Narra, It seems war is also plaguing this land, what other use a people would have for such tall walls? Our party has named me leader, considering how I turned that last battle from another bloodshed, to a silver of hope, escape, exile, so here it begins, my journey, and that of 40 other hardened soldiers of the once-great Antarian Empire. Our first step, is to travel to this Narra, and find out about what goes on in this strange land.

Day 2: We reached Narra, so I gave all soldiers a leave, in order to each one to seek their own solace of the hardships we endured, and also in order to find our next steps into rebuilding the old empire, and returning, hoping to avenge my homeland, and all others touched by the scourge of the Imperial Legion.
Most of my men head over to the Tavern, of course, for men, mead, ale, and some food are the quickest way to forget sadness, I myself head over there, but to inquire as how this land offers opportunities, dangers, rewards and punishments, a simple man whose name escapes my memory tells me the kingdoms are at a long bloody war, no side ever gaining sway over another, and that no peace agreement lasts long, and they are usually means for the kings to regather their armies to launch themselves at the bloody conflict once more, and those same kings are seeking mercenary companies, both native and foreign, in order to gain the much needed upper hand. According to that man, after a tip of around 30 gold coins (thankfully antarian gold serves in this region as good as their own currency) the Kingdom of Swadia in the north is the best opportunity since their king is known to flaunt their great wealth at their great capital of Praven, so its Praven our next destination.

Day 5: We travel northward towards Praven,  my lieutenant affirms that the troops are concerned about food,  And so I remember that we lost most of our supplies in the escape from the legions, so we planned to stop at a nearby village of Saren which belonged to a entirely different nation, one that called itself Kingdom of Rhodoks, but the scout sent reported that the village was plagued by bandits that forced the already poor villagers to give up any kind of supplies they could produce, despite the fact that the village was close to a mighty castle.  I decide I wouldn’t stand up for such villainy, and order my troops to overtake the outlaws, and free the villagers. I hoped, as foolish as it may sound,  I wouldn’t ever need to shoot that crossbow again…

Day 6: The villagers were thankful that we freed them from the bandits, supplied us with the food we needed so much, and some of their younger offered to join us, I figured that we’d need more people in order to feel safer.

Day 8 : Praven at last, Mighty town indeed, great walls, twice as mighty as Narra’s , it appeared at every joint and corner that it was the capital of this Swadian kingdom,  as usual, we headed first for the tavern, which I met a very unusual madam as one of the patrons, she called herself Matheld, and was, to much chagrin of some men of this land, a soldier, and according to her own tale, born in the land of the Nords, and after seeing two of her sons killed in battles, decided herself to join a mercenary company, which coincidentally or not, I led, so I hired that woman to join me on our travels.
Headed to the castle in hopes of meeting the Monarch of this kingdom, one named Harlaus, but according to his men on the gates, he was in campaign against his enemies, and only a certain Lord Grainwad was present in the castle at the moment, who was in turn quick to offer me and my men (after a quite embarrassing meeting) a contract as a mercenary in service of the kingdom of Swadia, it appears that the lords of this land have more authority than in my old land, this would be interesting at least. Since Grainwad’s offer was exactly what I intended to seek with the King, I promptly accepted, and there I was. Lady Myara of the antarian empire, once a made a high lady of the emperor’s lineage, now found myself leader of a mercenary group, operating in a land we didn’t knew much about, working for a king I had yet to meet.

Day 9: Our first assignment! it appears that the news of this land travels quickly, as couriers bearing the news of my newly firmed contract run to the four corners of the swadian kingdom, and I was informed that currently the Kingdom of Swadia fought a war in two fronts, against the kingdom of Rhodoks, who apparently are rebels who separated themselves from swadian rule years ago, and the invading Kingdom of Nords, men from the seas of the north, bent on conquering and slaying whomever stands on their path,  “Invaders”, this description chilled me to the spine, since It reminded the fate of my own people, so I asked Lord Grainwad for an assignment around that region, he told me that caravans were being raided in a constant basis by the Nordic lords, seeking the riches and taking away many men, both prisoners and dead, Grainwad tasked me to the town of Dhirim, where I could find out more about those very same raids. After a quick stop at the local blacksmith for a better quality quiver of crossbow bolts, we started our travel towards Dhirim, a journey that would take several days.

Day 11: Half way through our journey, we stopped to camp for the night, I was awakened by a very dark nightmare, one involving the fate of my homeland, and more disturbingly, my family.

Day 12: We met a Swadian caravan on the way to Dhirim, since we shared the same destination, I agreed to help escort the merchant to his destiny, in exchange for some gold, I got to get used to these jobs, being a mercenary isn’t much like what I had planned, but the situation dictates the needs, or so the sages say.



ok, like promised, if a little late, another day of the chronicles (and its a wall of text for ONE day xD)

Day 13: Dhirim, another walled wall, although poorer than either Narra and Praven, maybe because of the recent raiding problem, or the proximity with the kingdom of nords, or a combination of all those factors, but strangely there were lots of people headed for the local arena, upon asking a local townsman I discovered that a tournament of arms was being held on the town, and the winner would be endowed with a great deal of renown on this land, as well as many riches, befitting the skill on a variated range of implements of war. Such tournament would be an excellent opportunity to raise funds to pay the troop’s wages, and start to make myself a name on this region, for better or worse.
    The rules were simple, each combatant was given a weapon, either a two handed sword, a single handed sword with a shield, a bow with 2 quivers of arrows, or a jousting lance, and some combatants could be lucky enough to earn the right to mount a horse during the match.
The combatants were also divided into four teams, the last team standing would see the remaining members advancing to the next tier of combats.  There were also a network of betting that would allow one to bet a large sum of gold on the victor, allowing their wealth to increase tenfold, should the betting be sucesseful, unfortunately, the competitors were unable to bet on themselves, but nobody said anything about asking someone else to make the bet for you.
The first tier was quite chaotic, I don’t remember much aside from the fact that there were 4 teams with 6 combatants each, and the ceremony master gave me a red padded shirt, a plumed helm and a large clumsy two handed sword, the battle was quick, I managed to knock down 5 opponents, one of which was mounted, until a short woman of a cadre which called themselves “Sword sisters” defeated the last member of the blue team, who stayed back sending arrows towards us.
    Before the second tier of combats, I found out I could send for another bet on myself, and I remembered to ask one of the peasants on the crowd the names of the combatants still in the tournament, two names came to my attention, one “Lord Mirchaud” and a quiet man named Kradus, apparently a local champion.
The second round was quick as well, but much clearer on my memory, I had been lucky enough to be granted a Sword, shield and a horse, so I could ride around and circle my opponents, while the rest of the combatants were destined to go into the melee where skill wouldn’t count as much as pure luck. As member of the yellow team I charged directly towards the two archers of the blue team, in order to take away their advantage of range, good thing those swords were wooden and dull edged, otherwise that blow would be one bloody decapitation strike, instead of a rolling head, I sent the poor archer several meters away, almost dragging him with me with my horse, then he fell unconscious, oblivious to the combat going on around him, and utterly denied of the chance of taking the glory. I didn’t counted however, with a blunt knock on my left shoulder, the other archer had enough reflexes to send an arrow towards me while I rode away from him, an arrow which hit my back with enough force to make me drop my shield, and almost fall out of the horse, I quickly turned my attention towards him, foolishly so, since a lancer from the red team charged towards me from my right, fortunately for me, my horse noticed the threat, but was able only to turn to save me, and the lance crashed fully upon the horse’s flank, sending me flying from the saddle, into the dusty ground. I tumbled for several meters, but wasn’t hurt badly, thankfully the boots granted by the ceremony master avoided me from breaking my ankle, so I got back up on my feet.
    I scooped around to see where my enemies were, where what was left of my teammates were fighting, and where I could engage someone. I saw 2 men from the green team heading towards me with short axes, and scrapped shields, seeing nowhere to run, my only option was to engage these odds, while lacking the protection of my own shield. The two of them were charging me with their axes held high, guard low, badly for them, I knew exactly how to act, and a quick stab sent the first man down with a winded wheeze, then parried a blow using my own sword, and proceeded to fight with the other man, we parried each other’s blows for a while, enough for both of us to notice that we were dealing with a skilled opponent, but the advantage was on my side, since my weapon had a longer reach, I could twist a overhead slash to disarm and knock him out with a blow to the head. The round was over, and we were victorious, once more.
    The next rounds were plain, nothing extraordinary enough to be reported, other than the fact I was able to raise the bets more and more, to the point I felt obligated to win, since otherwise I would have no money left to pay the wages, and a leader without the support of her troops, isn’t a leader at all.
In the final bout, it was a duel between me and Lord Mirchaud, what a way to introduce yourself to a lord, but we did come to blows, or to bows since the ceremony master thought it would appease the crowd to set us with the same set of weaponry, Bows and arrows, something I was not used to, back in Antaria, the warriors were trained in the use throwing spears, not bows and arrows, my own use of crossbows was seen as “exotic” by my peers. But apparently my opponent was not fond of the art of archery either, so I came out with the upper hand by placing a lucky shot to his knees, throwing him down, allowing me time to aim a arrow to his head to knock him senseless, the tournament was mine to claim victory, the reward in riches, and the glory, not to mention the bounty on bets my men placed for me, after I, of course, shared their part.
    Later that day I met with Dhirim’s guildmaster, in order to learn more about the caravan raids, the reason that brought me here in the first place, apparently, all caravans that depart Dhirim headed either to the Kingdom of Vaegirs, or the swadian town of Suno get raided by Nordic troops. The guildmaster knew that sending a full sized army to escort each caravan would be too costly, and a small mercenary band would be able to at least scare the raiders long enough for several caravan runs to be completed, and bring much needed supplies to other regions (not to mention the wealth brought by such successful commercial venture), the guildmaster sent me to accompany a caravan to the nearby town of Suno, to scare any raiders, and to estabilish a greater presence of the swadian army, even if in the form of an foreign mercenary company.



Small edit: guys, i dont know if that style of writing appease readers, i'd like some feedback, to encourage me to keep writing and posting =)



posting up a few more days:


Day 14: We depart Dhirim accompanying one of the merchant caravans, the caravan itself was composed of 25 guards plus around 25 men from the swadian army, plus my 43 men we formed a quite impressive column, I personally highly doubted we would be attacked, but that feeling lasted only until the scouts returned in the twilight hours, reporting that apparently, a party of 70 nordic men, led by one Lord Bulba were heading our way, apparently dismissing the fact that they were outnumbered, so I called out for a stand by on our ranks, we would meet that enemy head on.

Day 15: First hours of the morning: Bloody battle, I remember killing many, and seeing many friends fall as well, these nords are really hardened men, they were able to take out almost all of the caravan escorts, but they didn’t counted, nor knew how to, face antarian steel, thats surely one great advantage of fighting unknown enemies, we antarians can always count on superior training, and our finely forged weapons and armor over pure unrefined battle-lust, most nords were killed or severely wounded, a few escaped capture, but we had the greatest prize of all, their leader, a rugged man, who seemed absolutely disgusted of being captured by “pitiful mercenaries led by a fancy dress madam” as he politely put it. Apparently, the order to raid swadian caravans came from their king himself, in order to sow disorder on towns and allow the plundering of many villages in a rampage of carnage without equal, a tactic never waged before on calradian lands, hence its effectiveness. I ordered my men to chain that man and drag him as we made our way to Suno. Oh, and had him muffled few hours later, since he wouldn’t shut it.

Day 17: We reach Suno, another great town, the guildmaster was grateful of my help in escorting the caravan, and paid me 200 gold coins, (though he called them “denars”, well, new land, new culture I guess) and an extra 300 for having not only defeated a Nordic lord but managing to capture him as well, feat that was apparently great for a mercenary company, I must really be something special, because all I do apparently is superior to every other mercenary company in this land! On a side note, a quick stop by the tavern allows me to hire some Crossbowmen to my army.
I decided to go after King Harlaus, after all, he was my employer, and I had yet to meet him, so I had to make my way back to Praven through a pass on the mountains, close to the village of Elberl.

Day 20: The journey goes smooth, we reach Elberl, a small and quiet village on the mountain-side decide to spend the evening amongst  the villagers, after buying a few supplies, head to the forest-covered mountain side. Yet another nightmare haunts me on that night. I see a village burning, and men with red eyes happily striking down women and children.



Well, making vonmist return to the faithful fold of gaming is an honor ^^

I shall dally no more, here goes another excerpt of the journal

Day 22: We travel towards Praven, but the thick forest force us to travel slower, in order to avoid ambushes, also some of the scouts report the presence of bandit groups, who apparently are shy of approaching men on steel armor, as much as I and my men would like, time is of the essence, and they know these woods far too well, we would spend days chasing them to no aval.

Day 25: We arrive at Praven once more, during the night, as I was headed for the tavern I got approached by a group of muggers, apparently intending to put a an end to my journey, they outnumbered me by four to one, but I wasn’t about to let petty thugs have my hard earned gold, so I drew my sword and charged them, despite their numeric advantage, they didn’t expected a simple lady to draw a two handed sword to fight them, and they would have ended up regretting their act, if their heads weren’t busy being several meters apart from the rest of the body, I had unleashed my fury upon those criminals, and a strange lust for blood surged upon my mind, those men paid the price dearly. Along with the bodies there was a small bag of gold coins, perhaps this wasn’t a simple mugging, but a assassination attempt, who or why I would never find out, but this was a problem for another day, as for the assassins? Well, they lost their heads on this.
I arrived at the tavern, the first thing I asked for was a mug of ale, and a room to spend the night to put my head in place, why had I slain those men with such ease? Haven’ t there been enough deaths on my life already? This time was a matter of either me or them, yet their deaths weighed my mind for some time.

Day 26: In the morning, putting the happenings of the night on the past, I set out to the castle, fortunately this time King Harlaus was home, so I ask for an audience in his royal chambers, in order to inquire what next step should we take. He acknowledges my victory over the nord raiding party, and pays my wages for the weeks I’m already under his service. He does have a task for me though, as I shall quote him “Well, it seems Grainwad actually did something useful and hired a skillful madam to serve the might of the swadian army, I need you to join me in a campaign against the rebellious Rhodoks, Graveth stood on my way for far too long, and you lady, are going to be pivotal in his downfall!” Pivotal, I wonder if why the so called mighty king thinks he needs a mercenary company to run a cattle drive to feed his troops, doesn’t he has, you know, peasant servants?



Day 28: So be it, let the king has his cows, I joined him in a skirmish against a rhodok caravan, a task I felt bad about, since I was tasked with defending one such caravan not long ago, the battle was brief, not worth mentioning, since we outnumbered the guards in 10 to 1 odds, a great cowardice, but at least I was granted my share of the loot, by the end of the day Harlaus decided to march towards the rhodok capital of Jelkala, cut the head of the snake and it’ll stop shaking, so sayeth the great king.

Day 30: What a mess, Harlaus’ so called campaign of righteousness ended up on him getting locked up when he met Graveth and his entourage of lords, and the mighty kingdom of swadia ended up on losing 2 castles, Reindi Castle and Ryibelet castle were both in the hands of Rhodok forces, in the south the Nords have redoubled their offensive, and managed to overtake the swadians in Kelredan castle and Derchios. The time was right to jump out of a sinking boat, although I did felt bad about it , it wasn’t a honored thing to do to desert the army, but then again, I was a mercenary lady, not a regular military leader, as every swadian Man with a cottage to collect taxes from was so keen to point out.



Day 31: There goes a month since I arrived in calradia, and already so many things happened, I returned to Praven and met a pair of interesting men in the tavern, Artimenner was a engineer in trade, he helped build some of the finest walls on several of calradian castles, but after a run in with a corrupt lord, found himself needing work,  and Lezalit was a grumpy man with the scars of a few battles on him, and with an expertise on training soldiers, a skill that would help us so in the coming battles. After a night over some ale, I convinced them to join me and lend their expertise in building siege implements and the hardening youngsters into warriors, in hopes to put my lastest plan in motion, and help me rebuild a peaceful antarian land, in a side note, I also hired several Mercenaries, Crossbowmen and professional blades. Back into the mountain pass, towards the now Rhodok occupied castle of Ryibelet.

Day 32: A small nord envoy reaches our group, he expresses no ill intent, and desires to parlay with me, regarding Lord Bulba, whom, despite a few failed attempts of escape, was still a prisioner. The emissary presents an offer to me, coming from King Ragnar himself, it appears Bulba is an important member of Ragnar’s army, and he wishes him back at his side to continue his war, the emissary brought with him a Chest with 2500 denars, a ransom in exchange for the noble’s freedom, after pondering about it a bit, I decide to accept, since I needed some money, and a prisioner would only slow us, even more such an important one.

Day 34: Once more we found ourselves on Elberl, and the village elder appears to have recognized us, I sat down with him in order to ask him what he knew about the rhodok movements around Ryibelet castle, and if any swadian lords were in the vicinity. He recommended that I follow a group of his villagers that were headed to the village of Ryibelet and see the situation by myself, he promised he’d shelter my troops and feed them, but in return, I had to do him a favor, apparently, he had a son who lived in Ryibelet, he was afraid that he had been either conscripted into Rhodok army, or been killed during the siege or anything of the like. Mercenary, cattle driver, now baby sitter? These people are deeply annoying, but I had greater goals in mind, and that “favor” would help advance such goals.
We arrive at Ryibelet at dusk, the plains and small group favored a quick travel without incidents, the village seemed mostly unharmed, save for a few rhodok soldiers stationed nearby, nothing seemed to indicate a occupation by another nation, those people looked swadian enough. We did found Elberl’s elder son, he was fine, grumbling about some wound, and how his crops were all taken by the rhodoks, but in good health anyway, he refused to accompany us back to Elberl, I hope my word is good enough.
The fortifications were paltry, weakened since the lords were not willing to part with their troops to defend a castle that had yet to be assigned by Graveth, the time to strike was there right in front of us.





This is coming close to the 1st important battle i will have to describe... after that i promise that the novel will run a bit faster, as my memory of what happened begins to fade =O

The invasion started in the very corner of the Nord Empire, away from the mainland so to speak, separated from us by 2 bridges. While half of their considerable force attacked the villages and Chalbek Castle, I got caught up in the siege for Curin Castle (having just completed a deliver letter quest where I had been set upon by a mass of sea raider, myself and a small band of troops were resting in the barracks). It was a desperate battle with only a few hundred Nord troops (and my small party) defending against several thousand Imperial troops. However we managed to stave off attack after attack until finally there were 50 of us left. My gallant elite band of troops had all finally fallen to the Imperial hoard so it was just me and the Nord warriors who had survived. This final attack was devastating to the Nord forces, all but myself and one lucky Nord warrior fell to the enemy troops, having retreated all the way up to the top of the keep and killing man after man after man until they retreated to regroup. Unfortunately, the death of so many of his comrades caused the remaining Nord warrior to dive off the top of the keep to his death (no joke). I took this chance and ran like hell to Thir, where I quickly hired some more troops, got some more supplies and ran all the way back to Curaw.

I had initially taken Curaw after one of the Vaegir lords insulted me, so that became my base of operations, I built up a small 300 man army to defend but otherwise kept to myself. (They asked for peace pretty quickly after I started to besiege Ismirala castle)
I managed to build up a massive army, was spending about 30k per month on them all in the end. I went around doing quests for the various lords who weren't involved in the combat in the south getting money and stockpiles of food and equipment which I intended to use on my companions, in the end, I never had time to train or the space in my party for them.

Meanwhile the Rhodoks were being thoroughly trounced, having lost all but a castle and Jelkala, the Nords lost about half of their estates, and the Swadians got off fairly lights only losing some of their armies, the Imperials went around them mostly. The Vaegirs, although I despise them, actually did themselves credit by sending some troops to help, but they got cut down just as quickly as the Nords did.
I decided to finally get involved and avenge the defeat at Curin castle. I slowly picked off the smaller straggling parties one by one capturing almost 32 of the enemy centurions (and keeping them in the Curaw dungeon, where they rot to this day) - when I normally play, I can usually unleash a devastating attack on any faction foolish enough to attack me or the faction I am allied with, so I normally let people go as they can't raise a significant force in time to bother me and it gets me honour and good ratings with them.

I slowly worked my way through the centurions until I had a large enough army (from all the prisoners the imperials had taken, plus a few hundred triarii I managed to "convince" to come over to my side) to take Veluca back and worked my way down from there. About half way through my rampage, when I got to Grunwalder castle, I happened to notice Legate Gaius Marius trying to run away from my larger party, so I chased him down (being an all mounted army is good for this) and managed to capture him! Kept him in Curaw too
Meanwhile the Swadians were the target of the current war efforts of the Imperials, however they didn't seem to like how much power I was getting (Nord, Vaegir and Rhodok were all at 100 relation with me - having saved half of them quite a few times and rescued a few too) so declared war on me. I tried to ignore them so that they would be able to help against the imperials, being the only real power left since the Kergit had made peace and were attacking the remains of the once grand Vaegir army.
I couldn't quite ignore the Swadians totally though, since they sieged my castles a few times, so I had to bring in a few lords and get them to garrison the castles. Would have preferred to have their armies with me during some of the larger sieges, but oh well.

I finally managed to get the Imperials down to Tihr, Hrus castle, Curin castle and Chalbek Castle. At this point there were so many Centurion parties hold up in each settlement the sieges were getting very hard, since they ended up with more troops in the castles than I could field at any one time. I decided that I should take back Curin castle with an all Nord force, to take revenge for the earlier defeat (at this point I could field a full army of any faction - apart from Kergit, who kept well out of the fighting (wusses), I mean even the Vaegirs sent in some armies to help, not that it did much, they all ended up getting captured and killed).
It was an epic battle, right at the beginning, in typical fashion, my Nord Huscarls raced up the siege tower before me and alot got cut down by the 10 or so centurions that were waiting at the top, so I quickly sent some arrows their way. After we finally managed to kill the main force we had to clear out the keep, this was no mean feat however as I never usually take a shield, favouring two bags of arrows instead, I got 2 or 3 javelins stuck in me, that hurt a lot and I had to leave the fighting to my Huscarls, who did an admirable job, but were defeated by the superior Triarii, so it was a close call but I managed to finish them off thanks to my good skill with a bow. I left a good portion of my wounded and injured forces in the castle and went back to my cities to reinforce my army. I then moved on and took Hrus and Tihr, these weren't so hard since most of the centurions had fallen back to Chalbek castle. When it finally came time to take Chalbek, the remaining imperial forces were all there, I had just over 4000 renown so could only take 325 soldiers with me and they had a good 600 garrisoning the castle.
I decided I would really need some help for this so tried to convince the battle weary Nords and the Tattered remains of the Rhodoks to come with me, to no avail, as ever they wouldn't come with me. So I hung around outside the castle, trying to coax some of the parties to run after me, when they didn't I just went in and sieged the castle with the intent of starving them out. While waiting to build a tower the two larger parties (each around 150 troops) decided to attack me one by one, so I managed to fairly easily remove around 300 enemy from the final siege, so I thought I may as well finish it, as the Swadians were really starting to annoy me by sieging all my castles. Fortunately my Lords were holding them off, but I knew it wouldn't last for long.

I went in against them with 250 odd men; I came out with 25 standing and 15 wounded. Those Principes are right arses to kill, their javelins really cut through my toops shields and their shields take so many arrows it's not worth it. I did, however manage to claim the 280 soldiers I lost from the prisoners, and a further 50 Principes from the prisoners I took who converted to my side.

There were the odd one or two Centurion parties left, but they were no more than 50 man parties and with nowhere to hide I quickly hunted them down and destroyed them. To this day, I am trying to maintain the peace, the Rhodoks are slowly recovering, although they  were crippled by the invasion, the Nords have rebuilt and rearmed, but the Kergits are still battering the Vaegir armies. If it wasn't for the Swadians I would help the Vaegir, but my battle weary troops, and my wallet, are not up for two front lines. However, I still haven't got the screen saying that the Imperial Expedition Force has been eliminated, so I still believe there may be a small band of Imperials out there somewhere...

Thanks for reading, and thank you for one of the best mods for M&B 1.011 so far. I await the completed v4 with baited breath.

Story of Vyincourd empire 

Kings log
around day 40 took the vyincourd castle 1 day later nords took it back (no time to train toops)
took 2 moths to get enough mercenarys from bars and bandits. Took the vyincourd castle from vaegir it really did change hands 3 times during that time
day 100 lost the castle again had time to build barracks but the next day i lost it so no new troops and my only lord deserted to swadia (ill kill him if i see him **** traitor)
day 120 i have it again but this time i had time to tain troops before they (buggers) invaded again and i killed 4 enemy partys with 50 antarian elites (around 400 kills)
day 125 i have 100 antarian elites and im ready to move on to next castle... to be continued
Day 349 and im afraid very afraid
i took reyvadin and dozen castles but i didnt expand fast enough so i m going to get wiped out  i just know it
i have aroun 3000 elites but they r all scattered around front lines (im at war with all other factions)
Day 398 nords and swadians are dead it took less than moth for the imperials to wipe em out i took 2 more cities from vaegir and garrisoned 1000 men to imperial front line (3 castles) so im holding out... somehow...

Kingdom of Ismirala


By the end of the 1st month - did trading routes between the cities,
temporarily joined Rhodoks,
and waited for a good opportunity to claim a castle.

Ismirala castle was just taken by Khergits - low resistance for 1st castle. After that I barely held it against the counter-attack.
Took Rendyar castle just next to it immediately after that - Swadians are easy to butcher if you can lure them to sally forth.
Graveth of course refused to grant me a second castle so I rebelled by day 40.
20 days of heavy resistance from Khergits, Swadians, Rhodoks. - I had to repell a few sieges, barely giving my lords enough time to rest and recover their parties.
By day 60 I had barracks, practice ranges, and good enough garrisons to start an offensive. Took Vincourd and Derchios, then striked a jackpot by freeing 30 Nord veterans who became huscarls allmost immediately. Used them to take Dhirim
By day 80 I had secured Vincourd, Derchios and Dhirim and moved against the Swadians again. Uxhal fell rather easy to the huscarls, Praven followed soon after that.
Im around day 100 - gathering troops, fortifying my new fiefs and preparing to finish off Swadia and take its place - probably leaving them with a castle or two. No need to destroy them entirely.

To be continued....




Kingdom if Ismirala update

Ok, I admit - i finished off Swadia. Not my fault! - I left them with Suno and two castles, but my own lords decided to finish the job and took em out in a month or so. Just as I was enjoying the peace with everyone period, upgrading my fiefs and gathering loads of cash the damn Nords decided to play stupid and declared war on me. Now I am desperately searching around my towns for a peace quest from my Guild masters(thats how I ended my row with the Rhodoks.)
Its about day 200 and I got couple of thousand men in total.
I notice however a most annoying problem. When told to garrison troops, castles and towns just keep pumping without limit. Ismirala castle has a garrison of 500+ alone, and its starting to put a strain on my economy - my weekly payroll is 10k - i can handle it, but without much left for improvements.




Kingdom of Ismirala update.

Stupid Nords always asking for it...Finally received the peace quest from Suno and around day 270 I am again at peace with everyone, and gone renown hunting.

I decided to make Tehlrog castle my base of operations against the Imperials - I placed all of my elite troops there and took a few recruits for training, putting them there again once they are top tier. I am otherwise travelling only with my companions and trashing sea raiders on industrial scale.

My companions have become god damn tanks - they actually compete with me on kills!(all combined - not separately) The fighters - Nizar,Matheld,Marnid, Firentis, got chargers, heavy armor, and masterwork swords(the others - Bunduk,Jeremus and Deshavi, I keep away from the thickest of it) - I killed 100 sea raiders with those guys alone. My goal is to get about 2000-2500 renown by the time the Empire arrives, as well as at least 200 top tier troops in Tehlrog to form the backbone of my army, and maybe about 500-1000 other in Suno for reserves.




Kingdom of Ismirala update

AAARGH! The Expeditionary force!!! Arm the torpedoes! Bring the main caliber to bear! Berbatov to the front! Call Chuck Norris!




Those imperials decided to appear right behind Veluca! Years of planning and fortifying the coastline for a little Omaha beach were ruined! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! 

At least I drew 1st blood, defeating one of the centurions, but am not trapped inside Veluca, with just a few hundred men.



Kingdom of Ismirala Update

For the N*tieth time my terrible warcry "U NOOBS!" breaks the air. I managed to break free from Veluca during the night, defeating two of the besieging centurions. After that things for the Rhodoks and the Khergit when down the drain. Veluca was lost, and all the surrounding castles in the first few days of the invasion. But now - its time to resist the Pax Imperialis. The rhodoks managed to put up some kind of defense - beating a few centurions but regretably their victory was a hollow one and their host was crushed quickly. However - any attempts from the Empire to move down to Praven were crushed in turn by me. I have to fight alone, as my lords are holding the Vaegirs and the Nords. So far I took down about 15-20 centurions myself - and 4 of them are now in Praven's dungeon, never to see the light of day again if I have something to say about it(I ransomed back a few - I need the cash to cover the lack of loot). The main body of the Imperials is now raping the Khergits(and its real bad judging by the reports), which will give me enough time to fortify Praven, Uxhal, and the surrounding area. Both towns have more than 500+ men, but most are conscripts.



Kingdom of Ismirala
One month after the beginning of the Invasion the tide has turned. Yeah, it was bad, my girl got violated too and lost her ornate armor for a while, but the tide has finally turned, and the Reconquista of Calradia can begin. The imperials hold Halmar, Narra and Veluca, including many castles, but only a handful of centurions are still combat-ready. Everything else I crushed beneath my boot.


This is my personal collection of about 20 centurions held in Praven. The khergits and the rhodok have a few too, and many others are licking their wounds behind castle walls.

I have destroyed the Khergits and Swadians by day 200.  I spent the last 20 days building up my main cities Praven and Ichamur (as someone already pointed out, its best to give most of the cities to other lords for them to garrison troops there).  I decided that I wanted to place a huge load of top tier units in Praven, so I put around 280 troops there (50 Huscarls, 80 S. Sharpshooters, 20 Hired Blades, 40 Merc. crossbowmen, and a bunch of other random stuff.  This will be my main base of operations.

I have Rolf (I love that guy), Jeremus, Bunduk, Marnid, Aylen, Ferentis, Borcha and a couple of other guys.  They all have great stats with level 4 riding.  My current income is around 14000 p/month (I have the tax levels around 30% which is supposed to be relatively good) and outflow is around 17000, but I make up this inbalance by destroying bandits and sea raiders.

Anyway, my current troop count is only 135, but its made up of 60 Huscarls, 40 Swadian knights, 30 Swadian sharpshooters, 1 sword sister (she cracks me up) and some other riff raff.  So, anyway, I found a lone SPQR troop of 169 and decided to attack them with my 135 troops.  Those devils set themselves up in a defense line requiring me to attack them!  Anyway, I found out that if you setup your archers at a decent distance from them, they just let your archers pick them off like candy in a bird's nest.  So, what I found to work best is to have your archers on a hill, with a good line of infantry in front of them (infantry on the lower part of the hill).  I then have the 40 cavalry sitting at a flank and set myself at the opposite side of the flank (I love weaving my balanced battle axe and prefer as many enemies as possible in my area).  Anyway, I totally demolished this group of SPQRs...I had really expected more.  They killed 2 of my troops and I killed all except for 3 stragglers.

Ok, so to complete my profile, I have 4 patrols following me that contain about 100 troops each (mainly cavalry mercenaries).  I also have kept most of my lords in their castles/towns so they are mostly full to the brim of troops.  Anyway, at any given day I could field at least around 1000 to 1300 good troops (with a few lords).  I'm not sure this will be enough to stem the tide, but thankfully they have started attacking the Vaegirs, which until now have been almost totally free of war.

My setup:

I have battlesizer at 400 (its really worth it for those glorious battles) and difficulty level around 116%.  I also have GE from Zaro and the metal sound mod.  I'm playing V3 of SOD.

I'm only on day 2 (I changed the invasion date to 225 days after start of game) of the invasion and I'm looking forward to some disgusting fighting.  Let's see what happens...

FS

An account on the beginning of the most illustrious Kingdom of Tihr, by Lord Myran Songbow:
March: Day 1
I arrive into Calradia, a son of a deposed Adenian Nobility, heir to a stolen throne, and inheritor to a pilfered inheritance. And I arrive, with every intention to take back what is rightfully mine, and defend a land from my own land's fate.
March: Days 2 - 7
A few days after I arrived in this alien and unknown land, with nothing more than some ragged armor, a small crossbow, my sword, and the banner of my family, I begin my quest for glory. But every dream starts small. I first explore every castle, village, and city in the land, all the while eradicating the more pitiful brigands of the land, and fleeing from the greater ones. It would seem in this land, either fortune or damnation waits around every corner. It is only with luck and determination that I will go on to carry my family's banner onto glory.
April
I have at last passed my first month in Calradia. I have adapted to this new world expertly, and I have raised a small, yet highly trained, band of mercenaries. My band includes a few notables, including Artimenner, our chief engineer and siege expert, Lezalit, our drill sergeant in arms, and master of tactics, Nizar, my faithful lancer, Marnid, my trade advisor, my most helpful shield maiden (Who's name I seem to have forgotten), and Alayen, the master Knight and swordsman. I also have 4 hired blades, 7 mercenary infantry, 9 mercenary crossbowmen, 6 mercenary horsemen, and 4 mercenary cavalry. I am currently in the service of the kingdom of Swadia, which is a great nation in this land, and will be a worthy and mighty opponent when I finally take my chance to seize power.
May- June
I am now a master at rallying troops: I am a master leader, with one hundred and ten soldiers under my direct command, and nearly three hundred more in my regiments. But my companions have also progressed as well. Artimenner, my faithful engineer, is now a master at erecting siege equipment, and rivals Lezalit in the art of tactics. However, Lezalit still is my master trainer, who can make a raw recruit into a hardy veteran within days. Marnid can now strike a deal with the merchants at a incredable price, and can now hold his own in a scrap as any other soldier. The shield maiden, Alayen, and Nizar are now masters of the art of combat, able to take down five, to nearly twenty on their own. My contract with the Swadians has ended: I am now a free agent, and now I have my eyes set on Tihr. Tihr is a prime choice for my first fief, as it is the main trade hub in the area, and through past experiences with the Swadians, I have discovered it is the only city within Calradia to have a double wall, a key feature which decimated my ally's army. I have now camped outside the city: Artimenner should be able to finish those ladders within a couple hours. For now: we wait. But soon the ladders will be at the walls, and we shall try our luck to defeat the Nords.
July
Success! We have captured the city of Tihr, and created my own kingdom! From here we shall strike out against the nords: but for now, we shall rest, regroup, and reorginize, as we lost many in the assault. But until then, I shall keep to traveling the villages and towns, looking for new recruits.
August
I have now formed an elite band of Cavalry and Knights beneath me, under the title of "The Order of the Golden Griffin", named after the Griffin that adorns my banner. We have already captured all the castles in the surrounding area, and as king, I have marshalled my lords and regiments into a great army. We now march onto Sargoth. It, besides Knudarr castle, is the biggest threat to our position west of the great river that divides the Northern lands. I now command a army of around one thousand soldiers, including troops provided by my vassal lords. We have managed to crush every army that has come our way, but our army was decimated when the combined forces of all the soldiers of the Kingdom of Tihr, and the joint forces of the Nords and the Vaegirs intercepted us on our march, creating a pitched battle consisting of around two thousand troops. Luckily, our heavy cavalry and knights managed to break through the nordic lines, and our swordsmen, militia, and crossbowmen stymied the Vaegir charge, allowing for our cavalry to sweep across the Vaegir infantry formation. It resulted in a victory, but not without a loss: our losses consisted of around 600 dead or wounded. Nearly the entire enemy force was destroyed, however, and it cleared the path to Sargoth.
Early through Mid-September
We captured Sargoth with the forces left from the Great Battle of Hrus Ridge. However, the amount of casualties halted our progress towards domination of the coast, and Knudarr still remains under Nordic rule. However, back on the home front, Tihr and it's surrounding villages have become the richest land in Calradia, and Tihr is a hotspot for Caravans coming and going to every corner of Calradia. Temples to the old gods adorn every settlement, and the guildhouse in Tihr has become a hotspot of activity.
Later, I managed to make it back to the capital, and collected the vast army of Adenian regulars that had accumulated there over my campaign, and I head back out to the front. I managed to capture Knudarr single-handedly, giving my complete control of the western bank of the river. My lords have finally regained their strength, and I am now ready to march onto Wercheg, and beyond.


We march under gods, for glory, and the Order of the Golden Griffin!
I shall post further updates on the glorious Kingdom of Tihr, and the Order of the Golden Griffin later, as my campaign progresses. I have hopes to gain control of the entire Northern coastline, an area consisting of Tihr, Suno, Sargoth, Wercheg, Dhirim, Rivacheg, Revadin, and Khudan. Wish me luck!

At day 365 and so on, none of my holding get assaulted

it actually is happening to me, but I get so bored and Imperial is recruiting more and more from fallen kingdoms, so I decide to save the last remaining faction (Rhodoks) with only Valen left

By the way, here is how I played till now, around day 60, I took the castle Kelredan (because it was weaken enough by the other factioins' inwar) and by my opportunistic move, grab it for my own. Then I only concentrate warring against one single faction (Swadia in the beginning). Around day 120 I successfully took Suno which became my bastion.

Swadia was the first to be eliminated, I took on the remaining cities except Praven, not because I didn't have the strength, because Nords was sieging it as never ending story, I couldn't get a hold on it (and the Nords actually weakens the city defense without taking it). In the meantime I get a bit impatient because the Swadia is really agonizing, no more fight.

Then the Nords declare war on me, good for them as they became my practice and expansion targets, taking their possessions one by one, and unfortunately for me, while I'm busy with them, the Rhodoks see a real opportunity and took easily the very weak Praven from my hand while I was battling fiercely.

Then a peace period (Swadia and Nords eliminated), I was around in good cooperative relation with the other 3 factions (above 20), stocking, recruiting, developing my holdings for my lords. For simple reason, money concern but need of good troops, as the lords don't cost money. when needed, you just take over their possession to yourself, draw from the garrison, then give it back to them again.

Yes I know there is a risk of relation drop, so another way around, I decide to designate a scape goat lord, he's going to be vengeful vs me, every time (and it's AI coding failure??) when I give a property to other than me, no problem within the team, so I first give it to the scape goat one, take it from him immediately, as the relation cannot drop over than -100, it stays there. And I have always troops free of charge (just beware to not have a huge army at your hand during the weekly maintenance cost, otherwise it's going to cost you)

Around day 200 Vaegirs get nervous and declare wars on me, anyway I was about going to do the same, as logically taking most of Swadia and full Nords territory, I was aiming at either Rodhoks or Vaegirs

Same story, I went one to give these Vaegirs fellows a good lesson, and it did and relatively fast, for I can assemble a horde pack (more lords), so I use the outnumbering sieging blitz (please refer to my other post in 'your siege tactics') save one castle for them.

Why, ransom payment, you control where departs your enemy, full of weakened lords, potential prisonners to be sold, well war economy... Also it prevents the faction lords to shift to other factions once eliminated.

In the same way, while I'm still at peace with 2 others (Rhodoks & Khergit), so no risk of attack, I deliberatly took the rich cities like Reyaddin and other former Vaegirs cities as money earner with little but few garrison, attracting the leftover Vaegirs armies coming for assault, wiping them out with my troops for XP for my companions This tricks I run it for dozen weeks, netting me around 10k cash weekly, enabling to buy much better equipment for all my heroes!! At one time, I even had a reserve of 200k

Well, all the way, SPQR was in the meantime at war vs all, then some peace deal made and war declaration again and so forth.
And in the faction relation report, with Imperial I eventually succeed to drop -100 to around -22 by day 360, simply I was fighting his enemies (other factions), making my relation improving with Imperial, quite curious! And the on top of that, they offered me a peace deal which I accepted couple days before the invasion, which let me the initiative to stock up and training up my armies, and choose my ground and terms, quite handy

Then by day 365, the invasion never happens, only by day 380, I see the action, the invasion force coming from Tulga side up north, and Imperial by day 430 already finished off Khegits, letting Rhodoks in very alarming state (only Valen survives till now)

So by now, I took the resolution to go to the aid of Rhodoks, otherwise, eliminated factions lords will shift side to the Imperial, and lords meaning more armies, bad thing for me

Now I've taken 8 centurions as prisoners, and during Imperial initial conquest, its invasion force is also stretched out and somehow weakened, I think I'll have a good chance to stand some first tough incoming onslaught, taking more centurions prisoners, and to certain balance critical point, instead of defensive stance, I'm going to reunite the Calradia



Around 50 boundless knights, for I've lost 3 by now with tough defense for the Rhodoks' Ibdeles Castle (and twice!)
Why bother to defend someone else? As it's quite strategic and front door castle before Yalen
if it's fallen, the assault on Yalen would be the next, opening an already stretched front line
I just need in the meantime the Rhodoks as a harassing and defensive force on my Eastern front.

Also I could have more faith troops, for I only figure out the mechanism way into the middle of the game as this is my real steady campaign that I endeavor to finish it (Real nice Mod, BTW)
The other Mod, Calradia at war I've been playing and enjoyed, quite pity the buggy end stage parts (not able to recruit lords, so no possibility to expand your empire) get me less interested and then shift to SOD with fervor

Currently I'm at day 447, kind status quo in term of territory gain, Imperial up North (7 cities), Rhodoks with Yalen surviving + 2, the rest I'm in control of 10 cities. The difference is that I'm taking more Centurions (with Legate Gaius  Marius) into my custody, 23 by now.

I'm planning on the counter offensive once 2/3 of Imperial lords would be into my prison.

Another note is fighting Imperial is like multiplying your Renown meter, I had 3849 at day 437 before I declare war on Imperial, within 10 days campaign, I have now 5019 (which is quite impossible with Native or other tweaking Mod)

A side note, I only take mounted troops (Adenians), not only it's devastating on the plain, also on the overall map, it travels much faster and can chase with speed, and this cohesion is also easier to command, because once you order your infantry to charge, they tend to run all around the field like headless cattle. And archers are quite feeble against Imperial well shielded troops.



Very powerful, and deadly in a pack of 100 and plus (It's a pity I couldn't run higher battle size due to my modest machine config)

Tactically, there is some pre-work for my main hero to perform before the cavalry charge
Since the 'couched damage' is such a blessing with a one shot one kill performance. After trying all couple of spear/lance, I finally use only the 'Balanced Young Knight Great Lance' with range:415, despite the low speed, but as you charge (I'm riding Heavy Charger) to and fro in the enemy packs, it does not really matter anymore. And the weapon length is such a real treat 'I touch you and you cannot touch me' game.
Before lance jousting, I first shoot (strong war bow) as many adverse cavalry (horse please) as possible, making them foot soldier. And usually, the Centurions are equipped with 2-hand weapon, so No-Shield=Easy archery prey, I first try to disable them first (520xp per lord!). Why this horses killing, simply they stop your charge through the enemy ranks, and it's no good when you stop abruptly in the packs of Imperial Triarii, ouch! Also less or no enemy cavalry on their first assault wave will less or not at all distract my cavalry into their chase, therefore mightier vs enemy's main force.
And another thing I observed with AI, if it's having a numeric units advantage, it usually advances to your force slowly and orderly (even the cavalry) in 1 or 2 lines, letting you to choose ideally the charging ground. And the timing is while I still harass solo its ranks, and all its shielded units facing ME shield on, and when the distance is enough for my cavalry, then I order the charge on its backs, hehe, and such a nice view like in the cinema, and you just see from the carnage the damage report only casualties from enemy's side
And if I'm really outnumbered, let's say I only dispose around 10 cavalry units against enemy's 60-70 units onslaught. then I need absolutely to preserve my troops untouched (not letting them charge head on). I still reproduce my harassing solo tactics. but I time carefully my troops to follow me before the enemy can reach them to another safe spot, and so on till the number difference ratio became bearable, then the charge can be commanded, still, it's not always guaranteed the result because more waves of enemy reinforcement coming up. I end up time with some dead and some wounded troop. But it's all worth the try, the most is the renown to 50 per battle. Once I pitched 170 against 700, in the end I think I grabbed around 200 renown points.

The most effective troop according to my view, curiously it's not the faith unit: boundless knight, for it costs more, no helmet protection, and difficult to resupply. The choice falls to the Adenian Magnates, fully armored, not bugged (not like some Adenian Knights fighting with fists with a 2-hand axe not usable on horseback), these are my core troops, and they really can sustain quite some damage head on.
And to have them it's quite quick work, before the invasion, I've already built a dozen knight chapters quite early on, meaning I've lots of Adenian Squires available ready, then I made myself the so-called 'training caravan', visiting these castles and collecting my noble recruits, with all my companions' trainer skills as high as possible (myself is at 6 with current level of 3, every single night passed and whenever possible (just end up somewhere there is a need a troop training-upgrade), the squires become the would-be knights (up to 90% from 1 night), and just bring these knights to some real fights, then the magnates would-be is there waiting for you. All these only require couple of game days cycle.
So I'm having around 300 magnates, 500 knights (maintained by my lords' garrisons). And I'm seriously thinking maybe the knight chapter or the formula should be tweaked down or requiring some other pre-requisite development, making them more difficult to be built.

The regular Adenian cavalry is also very decent to excellent, particularly the heavy one, on par or better to the Swadian knight, much less costy, but the upgrade is much longer time consuming compared to what I've stated about noble line, so the choice is made.

I would guess the same system would work with the Antarian as their noble line is very similar, though I didn't play with.



Kingdom of Kelredan
On day 526
the Calradia is fully embraced under the Adenian might



-----

Some after thoughts
  -  Very nice Mod, was expecting a bit more from the end scene than the simple statement
  -  Noble units and faith troops in the end of my conquest just over-flood the battle, maybe a need to make these troops less available for the game balance. (I was roaming with 250 Adenian Magnates + 50 Boundless knights, a bit too much  ) Still I have plenty reserve of Magnates of around 600 allocated in key front line castle/cities, ready to strike, and I can travel very lightly with my companions only (travel speed: 9.3)
  -  Predictable AI behavior, during siege particularly, where by the end, within 2 weeks game time, I just stormed and took 4 key cities from Imperial (the 4 former Khergit ones), this was THE fatal blow for the Legion. And all this done with my patient one-man-show tactics, and really almost zero troop loss to take on, more explanation from my posts on 'your siege tactics'
  - Fought couple of against all odds battle vs Imperial, where tactically push you towards next level of excellency
  - Still can exploit some in-game settings to get around some 'should-be' difficulty zones like troop maintenance cost, a vital mechanism to allow to grow your troop without too much worrying about the pay-roll

The birth of kingdom of Slezkh and the big peace curse

Proud knight from Aden, Kaligan refused to serve the puny kings of Calradia, for sure being a vassal was out of question for him, and he prefered to chose his preys rather than being a mercenary. So he started his life in Calradia as a tournament champion, also chasing bandits, doing some quests and trading goods between two competitions. After a month and a half, having gathered something like 25k gold and five good companions, he started to recruit mercenaries, planning to exploit the calradian wars to take an undefended castle.

The unexpected thing was the tendancy of all calradian realms to make peace with each other fast. The confuse big war of the beginning was already finished when Kaligan started his plan. After only a month or so of warfare, Swadia had signed peace with both the rhodoks, nords and khergits, and was only fighting the Vaegirs. Khergits and Rhodoks also ended their war. So the situation was : 3 realms ganging against the poor Vaegirs (whose king was prisoner of the nords) + the Rhodok quiet and at peace with the entire world in their corner.

Of course Kaligan decided to join the gang, hoping to get good relations with both Swadia, Khergits and Nord by fighting their common ennemy. The problem was the situation was already so bad for the Vaegirs that it was hard to pick a good fight. Farmed by 3 others realms + the Kaligan company as soon they walked out of their castles, the few Vaegir lords not staying in their walls hardly had any prisoners to free, so even large victories were rarely a bargain. And as the vaegirs had already lost half their castles, the remaining few and their cities were all heavily defended with 3 or 4 lords permanently inside (or when a castle wasn't garrisonned by 300 men, it was sieged by one of the ennemy realms). And all other realms were in such a good shape, having only one easy war to fight that it was out of question for Kaligan's little band to attack them.

It took about a month for Kaligan to find an easy target, the castle of Slezkh, having only a dozen of guards remaining after a swadian assault. Then, with his kingdom founded, a personnal army of about 150 good soldiers and the support of a first vassal, the plan was, as soon as possible to take one the Vaegir's western cities and expand the realm on this side of the river.

But of these two targets, one, Curaw, was endlessly sieged by the Khergit, and the other Khudaw the gathering point of many Vaegir lords. And as well in the east, Rivacheg was sieged by Swadia and Reyvadin heavily defended. And this situation remained the same for weeks (except Kaligan had taken a second castle, Bulugha, in the meantime, and Rhodoks started a war against Nords).

Money starting to be a problem, Kaligan finally decided to make a try on Khudaw, even if it had 5 lords and about 450 soldiers inside. Attacking with a small army of 60 or so men, all hired blades, huscarls or elite adenian infantry, to make the garrison sally forth worked fine in the beginning, and allowed after 3 assaults to reduce the ennemy by half with only 20 losses or so. The plan was one more depletive assault, then coming with the lords for the final taking.

Unfortunately in the forth assault 3 or 4 vaegirs lords and all their knights decided to sally out together, and Kaligan, knocked out in the middle of ennemies, unable to retreat, had no choice but watching the slaughter of his elite infantry, and then was taken prisonner, also losing his uber expensive plate armor.

After escaping, Kaligan had no choice but spending some time as a caravaner, making money to rebuild his forces and make more buildings. He would have been ready for a new attempt on a city without the episode two of the big peace curse.

Having hard times against Rhodoks, the Nords decided to make peace with Vaegirs, with as consequence the release of King Yarovlek and a bunch of other Vaegir lords. And soon after, the Vaegirs concluded peace with Swadia too.

Now only at war the Khergits and Slezkh kingdom, and having most of their lords freed, the Vaegir gathered a 600+ men army to besiege Slezkh and a desperate battle had to be fought on the walls.

If it was finally a victory for Kaligan, it was a pyrhic one, of the about 200 men force Kaligan had rebuilt only fifty survived the assault, meaning several more weeks lost, and one more month of war to reduce the Vaegir to their state of before the peace with the nords.

We are now in September. Slezkh kingdom is still only two castles large but has finally rebuilt a force of about 200 elite soldiers, now including some uber adenian knights, in addition to the armies of its two lords, and is slowly winning the war against the Vaegirs (something like 6 of their lords are prisoners in Slezkh and 2 or 3 at Bulugha) even if now alone (one more damn peace as fired, between Khergits and Vaegirs, Khergits and Swadia are now at peace with all nations). Slezkh is about to be ready to take a city, but Kaligan wants to buy heavy armor to his companions first, and, the money lacking, decide to make some caravaner trips to gear them.

So he is buying spice and salt far in Khergit land planning to sell it to the nords...

When the Calradian politics curse continues...



some battles later... 20 september

Finally it was easy to end the war with Swadians. I just had to fight their first wave of lords sieging my castles to gain time, which wasn't really hard as they engaged lots of weak troops (lost perhaps 60 guys to kill 700). Then I released the two or three swadian lords I've made prisonners to better relations, and ran to finish my caravan trip so I could pay for a peace (20k gold is not an huge price for life).

The problem now is money, I have something like 2k gold left, not even one week of wages ; and of course succeeding to take some vaegir cities before another power rackets me.




Day 190, so I have less than 6 months, but now I have Khudan + a new castle I've given to a lord, and two more vassals. I expect to finish the Vaegir in 2 months or so then I should have some time to fight the swadians or rhodoks (who have conquered several ex-vaegir/nord castles far from their lands but close to mine).




Kingdom of Slezkh chapter 2 - less than 2 months before the invasion

Day 314 -

The vaegir are finally vanquished and all their forts and cities are now under the Slezkh flag but it took far more time than expected. The tendancy of Adenian lords to wander when they should be garrisoning their forts, coupled with the delay between a conquest and the moment a place start to produce its own garrison slowed a lot Kaligan progress. Some forts had to be taken 3 or 4 times due to their undisciplined lords not staying where they should.

The first plan of Kaligan was to let the Vaegir live with Rivacheg as only city to continue to ransom their lords, and to fight the Rhodoks as they have a lot of Nords prisonners, the elite infantry lacking for Adenians.

But just after the war against Rhodoks was declared (around day 250) Swadia declared war on Slezkh a second time (in fact king Harlaus probably entered a furious madness state, as he also declared war to Khergits and Rhodoks the same month).

Anyway, with Swadia in addition to Rhodoks to fight, Kaligan couldn't let the Vaegir lords recover and raid his heartland, so it was decided to finish them as soon as possible. Unfortunately the nords, best friends of Slezkh kingdom, decided to help Kaligan and one or two of their lords chain sieged Rivacheg (without assault, and without stopping vaegir lords from going out with small forces and loot Slezkh villages).

In the meantime many big battles were fought against the Swadians, who sent wave after wave of lords around Ismarila Castle and Curaw, and layed waste on many villages too. The situation was so each time Rivacheg wasn't under siege for a day or two, Kaligan and his lords were too far, at the other end of his realm fighting Swadians.

And finally when a siege could be started, Rivacheg had the 11 remaining vaegir lords + king Yarovlek keeping the walls, and five or so assaults were needed just to clean them. Of the 550 soldiers gathered by Slezkh more than 200 were killed before the city could be conquered.

Anyway, without the vaegir problem (and with Rhodoks not really active against Kaligan, as they have already lost all their holdings in the west) Slezkh can now concentrate its forces against Swadians, and expect to take one or two of their city before the coming of the imperials.

But the day of the invasion is now very near future, and Kaligan's kingdom is not really ready.

If the ex vaegir cities owned are all very prosperous, they also have low populations, in the 500-1000 range result of several plagues, with as only option to pay to help the survivors. With four cities and 5 villages under his rule, Kaligan has just the income to pay his wages  with normal tax. The only good news are the religious progress, near a thousand of calradians now worships the Void, and more and more magnates chose to become black knights.

Every day in Slezkh temples lambs are offered in sacrifice to the dark gods, with prayers asking for an invasion starting far away. If the empire comes from the west, directly on Slezkh, the future of Kaligan's realm risks to be very short ; if the invasion begins far, in Rhodok territory or so, he should have sufficient time to prepare.



Kingdom of Slezkh Chapter 3 - Imperials are strange people

Kaligan avoided to make the same errors with Swadia which had made the war with Vaegirs so long and painfull. Instead of gathering his vassals and taking castles with their horde of regulars, he asked them to defend his lands and raided alone the swadian heart lands with a pure elite small force of less than an hundred heavy cavaliers, making circles around ennemy castles to pull the ennemy lords out of their walls. In 5 or 6 big battles in the central plain, despite being largely outnumbered he reduced the swadian active forces to about nothing, capturing King Harlaus and a dozen other lords, without losing more than ten knights.

Then, as soon the prisonners were in the dungeons of Slezkh castle, Kaligan changed his army for one counting many huscarls, other elite infantry and mercenary sharpshooters and rushed straight to Praven, taking it in no more than three assaults. And after Praven, Suno, another town not too hard to take as the besiegers have just to make ladders. In only two or three weeks of war, Swadia was on its knees.

Then the Slezkh lords could be allowed to quit their walls and help finish the work. The ennemy was sufficiently weakened for them to take castles, even some by themselves.

Kaligan was celebrating his victory when a strange guy came to his court asking to meet him. He was an ambassador of the imperials.
"Dear king Kaligan, said the guy, of course we have invaded your old realm, burnt your estates, killed your wife, reduced your sons in slavery, raped your daughters etc... and we guess you may have a little grudge against us or even dream of a revenge. But anyway, hum, you know it was nothing personnal, and in fact we see you as a good friend, especially as you helped us a lot by destroying the Vaegirs and Swadian realms before our coming. So... Even if of course it's probably a deadly mistake for us to let you more time to prepare your revenge, we wish to make peace with Slezkh kingdom just before the invasion, after all Calradia is big and we'll be happy with an half."

Despite his heart was in favor of impaling the ambassador, Kaligan was conscious he needed some time to equip the newly conquered cities and finish the swadians, and the invasion coming was now very close, so he accepted to gain some more months.

The imperials came from the east of the nord coast, and declared war to anyone in Calradia but Kaligan, letting him time to develop Praven and Suno structures and also take Dhirim. Then, Kaligan decided to let the Swadians live, as their freed lords may help in the coming war against the empire, and accepted peace with King Harlaus. As a peace was also concluded with the Rhodoks (they offered one as soon the imperials declared war on them) Slezkh was now at full peace with everybody, and Kaligan took pleasure travelling around the world with just his companions (he had a big team of elite heroes, counting Bunduk, Nizar, Katrin, Lezalit, Artimener, Baheshtur and Deshavi) chasing bandits and deserters, waiting for his new buildings to be finished.

During this time the invasion was progressing at a strangely slow pace, only taking some nords or rhodoks forts, and finally Tihr.

About one month after the d-day, Kaligan, considering his realm ready, gave orders to his vassals to gather in his cities and defend them (Suno was especially threatened, as the only outpost Slezkh had on this side of the river) and searched a centurion to ask him to deliver to his demand, surrender of die, etc...

It's how Kaligan realised why the invasion progress were so slow.



They had a little tendancy to gather disproportionnate forces.

After all it was decided to wait a little more and declare war via the chancellor.  

Well I finally got my invasion and it was anti-climatic.

A complete slaughter of the Imperial troops, with almost no casualties on my side.

It wasn't my 200 paladins.
It wasn't my 80 Paladins of the One.

They barely came into play.

It the Antarian Elite Infantry.  They just do horrible horrible things to the imperial troops in the open field.

I did lose one battle that was 4000 to 1500 due to my lords having so many low tier troops.  I still did 3 times the casualties, and escaped back to gather my elites.  Ever sense then its just been a brutal slaughter of all things Imperial. 

Two days into the invasion and I already have 10 or so Centurions locked up in Yalen.  I'm actually almost out of room for lords there being most of the nords and vaegir lords are held there as well.

Really though I just have to blame the AI.  Javelins should really hurt my shieldless infantry, but it just never seems to toss more than a couple of them.  Maybe because they are listed as infantry rather than ranged units.  My tactic is just to gather up my elites into a tight battle line, and approach the imperials, keeping the cavalry about 100 yards behind.  The imperial horsemen will clash into the line and usually die pretty quickly.  Once those are dealt with the enemy infantry will be close and I order the infantry to charge.  Once they have the enemy attention, I'll have my cavalry charge.  A lot of imperials die and then I reform my lines for the next wave. 

It feels like a battle vrs the Rhodoks.  I think my next go I'll play the Villianese.

My current character and usurped Antarian Prince, Danton of the Rose came to Calradia to rebuild his lost empire.

His group of loyal followers joined him as he rode throughout the countryside. He made quick friends with the Nords and Khergits, and the trio of allied kings -- Ragnar, Sanjar, and Danton -- set their sights on Rhodokia.

A few days later, and the Kingdom of Almerra was established, with the provinces of Grunwalder and Saren under its control. WIthin days, my army was replenished with mercenaries, and I set my sights on Yalen. With assistance from King Harlaus himself -- it seems even the Swadians want in on this gangbang against democracy -- I took the city, and the steamroller that is Almerra began to grind ahead. In the span of a month, all but 5 Rhodokian castles were in my hands, and all their lords, minus one, and King Graveth were in the dungeons of Yalen.

While Swadia continued to wage war against Graveth's plundered lands, King Danton of the Rose set his sights on the Vaegirs, who stood idly by in the war. As the Khergits assaulted from their homelands, capturing two castles, Ragnar and I began to loot the interior of their Kingdom. I took Reyvadin quickly, though the foul King escaped. As the war neared its end, I set my sights on the greatest prize in all Calradia: The Rock of Rivacheg.

A thousand Huscarls, headed by 100 of Antaria's elite, laid siege to the fabled city, as all that remained of Vaegir's armies gathered to fight for their last bastion of hope.

Their numbers swelled, and over 2000 of the world's finest archers stood against us. However, timely reinforcements arrived from the Khergits, along with several members of mine own and Ragnar's armies. The Alliance of the Second Age of Calradia stood before the gates, and the charge began.

We cut a swathe through their forces, my elite swordsmen proving an unstoppable force to combat the immovable object that was Rivacheg. As the fighting spilled into the streets, Sanjar and I took on the Vaegir King, determined to defend his final holding. He, in the end, proved no match, and was cast down by the Khergit Khan.

And as night fell on the land of Calradia, the impenetrable wall was breached, and the city was set aflame. However, Danton worried as his men looted the streets. If they could take this city, so could the Imperials.

However, there was no time to celebrate. Almost immediately, a refreshed Rhodok force struck, capturing Khudan, of all cities, and several Swadian castles. After a quick retaking of the Vaegir city, Danton now rides to defeat the defiant Graveth once and for all, so that the Second Age might come to Calradia, and The Three Kingdoms would be there to usher it in.



An excerpt from the diary of King Danton of the Rose, Crown Prince of Antaria, Lord of of the Rock of Rivacheg, Master of Yalen, and Emperor of the Impirium of Almerra,

August 20, 1247

Our most forceful campaign to date has ended. The push an obviously desperate Rhodokia made last month was pure folly, and they have paid a dear price for their Joker's antics upon our fair Imperium. With mine own men, the Guardians of the One, leading the charge, a campaigning army of a thousand men made their way to their chosen points of conquest in the shattered Rhodok territory. The previous day, I had arranged a meeting with King Harlaus in his throne room, where I smoothed out the final details of our plan.

Harlaus would make a push on the lost Reindi fief, while Lord Klargus would take Maras castle, on the border of Calradia. At this same moment, his other lords would take Ibdeles Castle, while my men made for a small castle bordering Veluca. At the same moment, I would take Culmarr castle, and all of Rhodokia would be under the control of other nations.

In this agreement, the price was paid that, in return for their assistance, Swadia would be accepted into the Nord-Khergit-Almerra alliance, and would be allowed to seek shelter with us when the Imperial Legion arrives sometime next year. This was agreed upon, and the war began.

As I laid siege to Culmarr, I received word that Reindi and the target of my Knights and Barons had already fallen. While pleased with this, I realized it meant nothing until the other castles were mine. Two days passed, and two more messengers arrived, informing me that Maras and Ibdeles was now property of Swadia. It had fallen to me to deal the final hammerstrike to the Rhodoks. I relished the moment as the siege tower laid its plank upon the enemy walls, and threw out a cry of bloodlust with my men.

We swarmed the walls, my Elite Infantry casting aside their pathetic "Sergeants" as if they were mere recruits. I noticed a man (Lord Tellrog, perhaps?) holding a desperate line with his platoon against my men, so I found my way to their rear, and made short work of them. When he fell, the final charge shattered any hope of a Rhodokian victory, and what few survived surrendered moments before they were put to the sword.

As my men raised my banner over the battlements, I saw several Lords make their escape. Their parties were small, but swift. It could be months before they all were brought to justice... but that war is for another day. For now, I return to Rivacheg to put down a riot. It seems those people can never be pleased.

Well my character is an Antarian lord, drove to Calradia by war he arrive for a bit of fun.

Upon arrival on the coast of the Nord kingdom out hero started a long journey towards the kingdom of Rhodoks and after helping out as a mercenary in the war against the Swabians he got admited as a Lord of the Rhodoks.

War waged in Calradia more as the Swabians were at with all the other kingdoms while the Rhodoks were standing brave against the Khergit Khanate. Taking advantage of the Swabian war against the Nord - Vaegir alliance Gheorge started long campain that brougth Suno and Praven and the neighbour castles under Rhodok control. War in the south was also doing good as Distar was conquered and handed to Lord Gheorghe, and Narra and Asugan Castles also being brought under Rhodok control.

By day 240 I held Distar and Dhirim as my fiefs under Rhodok rule. Knowing the invasion was close I prefered to stockpile troops instead of expanding. The Swabians had been eliminated, 2 castles and Uxkhal under Nord control, while Rindyar under Vaegir control, the rest being part of the powerfull Rhodok kingdom, still at war with the persistent Khergit.

Apart from that the Nord, Vaegir and Rhodok reached a tranquil peace, the Nord and Vaegir attacking and going to war on and off against the Khergit.

By the time the invasion started at day 345 Dhirim was the base of 1500 mixed troops of mercenaries, nords veterans, vaegir marksmen and rhodok troops. The invasion started near Radoghir Castle. The Vaegir being occupied with the Khergit in the south couldn't mount a response against the Imperials. Neither did the Nords react, them also being down in the south began to retreat their troops.

Just as the assault on the castle started the Vaegirs made a suprise peace with both the Khanate and the Imperial invasion force. In the light of this event the Nords have been taken off guard. The lack of response from both the Khanate and the Rhodok, both too busy killing each other, lead to a quick downfall of the Nords. In two weeks Thir and Uxkhal were the only claims the Nords had, plus 3 other castles which were under siege. The invasion didn't move towards the Khanate who were fast also on delcaring a peace with the Invsaion force, instead it took it's tool on to the Rhodoks.

The Rhodoks, congratulations to them, held pretty good, having the north east and the Jelkala under siege, but nothing lost. By this time, I took Malayung Castle from Khanate, the Rhodoks refusing my claim on it.

Thus began the Dhirim rebellion. Having lost in defense against the Invasion only 500 troops, the army of 1000 started it's march. After a few skirmishes against the Imperial armies, the famous battle near Suno, where 100 Rhodok Spearmen and 100 Rhodok Sharpshooters held the front against 600 imperials. The day was on, on the hill only 17 Rhodok soldiers where alive, their lord, me, uncouncious in the middle of the mass of bodies.

Thus I took the example of the Vaegir and payed 22.980 denars for a peace with the Imperial Invasion force. As the Dhirimi gathered and a peace with the Khanate was arranged, the long Rhodok occupation war began. Taking back all the Rhodok holds on Swabian lands, Narra, and the rest of the Rhodok cities and castles apart from the Imperial held Almerra and the Dhimiri sieged Grunwalder Castle marked the end of the war. By day 430 Grunwalder had fallen to the combined forces of 7 Dhimiri lords.

Now the story has yet to be ended, the Imperial force is forcing their last push against Thir and Uxkhal to end the Nord rule in Calradia. The Vaegir are rebuilding after an exhausting war with the Khanate. The Khanate itself, having lost Malayung, Distar and Narra, and after being under siege from the Rhodoks and Vaegirs, are now trying to take Asugan (the last Rhodok held Castle in Calradia) with a weaken force. The Rhodok are fighting for their lives in Asugan. As for the Dhirimi Kingdom, the lords are now resting, rebuilding their armies after the long occupation war, the castles and cities are gathering troops for defense, everyone is tense the scent of war is is being smelled from the south, the Khanate, and from the north, the Imperial Invasion force.

Day 435: Asugan has fallen, the Rhodoks have been eliminated and both Thir and Uxkhal of the Nords is under siege by the Imperials.

Day 445: Thir and Uxhal have fallen, the reign of the Nords has also been eliminated from the face of Calradia. Vaegir and Khergit are now fighting again, the Imperials making a push for for the Khanate. Taking advantage by their weakend state, Dhirmi Kingdom have launched a strike agianst the Khanate, succesfully taking Ichmaur, Tulga and Halmar, as the Imperials have been sieging the castles.

<To be continued>

PS: Sorry for my bad spelling, bad writing style and the repeating of certain words. I am not english and my vocabulary is kinda bad.