This weekend, I dusted off Medieval II: Total War to continue a campaign with Sicily that I started way back in January.
For waging wars on three or four fronts, it’s going well. By far the biggest issue facing me is the Mongols. The horde settled down after taking Antioch from the Egyptians, who I’d already torn to shreds in two successive crusades. From there, their armies fanned out in all directions. The Turks have borne the brunt of it; from what I can tell, they’ve lost over half their territory.
The Pope called a crusade on Antioch almost immediately and asked me to join, but I was hoping to avoid direct confrontation with them right now, so I declined.
My restraint ended up being futile; they attacked me a few turns later. Fortunately, they made some serious mistakes. Two of their best armies and generals were still at sea with just a few escorts, which allowed my navy to annihilate both for almost no losses.
Then they besieged Acre, and I thought it was doomed, but a suicidal cavalry charge managed to destroy their trebuchets and hwachas—all four of them moved well out in front of their line to bring my walls in range, so they were left totally unsupported—and their commander made the foolish decision to throw their entire army through the one breach they’d made in the walls, straight into the teeth of massed spearmen.
We also had a massive battle outside Damascus. I’m…not entirely sure what happened; it was the most confused I’ve ever been in any Total War.
I stationed my army on top of the tallest hill on the battlefield, with a line of spearmen stretching across the steepest side of the hill, my knights on the left wing, Knights Hospitaller on the right, and a small reserve made of Armenian archers, my general, and some dismounted knights. The Mongols made some weird maneuvers as they came up the hill, going side to side before trying to slide around my left flank. I was still reforming to match them when they charged, and everything dissolved into chaos.
Somehow, I found my line extended farther to the right than theirs. Maybe thanks to the terrain and the failed flanking maneuver? In any case, I was able to swing three companies of armored sergeants into the flank and rear of their center at the same time the Hospitallers blew their left wing apart and charged downhill into the massed foot archers in the rear.
It must’ve been the decisive moment of the battle, but I’m still not sure. The Mongols withdrew a little down the hill—maybe trying one of their feigned retreats—then counterattacked, and it was a mess all over again. Eventually, their general died and their center broke entirely. Their flanking attack finally crested the left side of the hill at this point, but it was too late to matter and easily dealt with. Their heir did come very close to killing my general when he charged full tilt into the reserves, but we ended up taking him prisoner instead.
Damascus fell immediately after, but I’ll probably need to abandon it at the end of this turn. Two more full-stack armies under Kitbuga and Hulegu just crossed the Euphrates. While they seem to’ve been headed for Aleppo or Antioch, if they march south, it’s only a turn or two to Damascus. Our defenses are too weak and our forces too chewed up to beat one of them, let alone both.
Looks like it’ll be a long war.
Still, I enjoy reading about other players' experiences and how they build up their characters, it's really interesting!
