From Russia with Love

Situation in Russia before my first update:
Year is currently 1077(I started 1066), Vsevolod Rurikovich the Prince of Pereyaslavl, Hlynov, Moskva, Rostov, Suzdal, Tver and Yaroslavl(I was able to create almost all of those titles as soon as I had money). Vsevolod and his sons will not aim to a world conquest, instead the title of King of Rus is the main target. Vsevolod has a beautiful wife, Mathilde de Hauteville. His previous wives were Ermentrude de Macon and Irene, but both of them died. Vsevolod has two sons, Vladimir(24 years, Count of Rostov and Pereyaslavl Zalessky) and Sviatopolk(0), and a daughter called Anna(22, Countess of Gorodez and Galich Mersky. Thanks to his mother(Mathilde de Hauteville), Sviatopolk is third successor of Duke of Apulia and Calabria, Bohemond de Hauteville. Unfortunate accidents may happen to first two successors.

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4381/cossacknikitingh6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4381/cossacknikitingh6.d4eccae8bd.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=440&i=cossacknikitingh6.jpg)

Situation in Europe before my first update:
Byzantium is breaking up. Several principalities, such as Ionikos and Samos, are breaking free from the tyranny of Byzantium. Spain is just a big war field, Duchy of Braganza fights valorously against muslim forces. Some counties have tried to break free from the HRE, but have failed miserably.

If you want, you may take places in my AAR(like in Till's EU2 AAR(the Granada AAR)). You can take at least my court members(marshal, spy master, steward, diocese bishop, chancellor), or for example Sviatopolk, the to-be-Duke of Apulia and Calabria.

Edit: I removed the family tree, needs too much work. I'll come up with something for this post.

From Russia with Love
Update 1

"Vsevolod, Vsevolod, great news!"
"What is it, Koz'ma?"
"We have been told that the Pope has started a crusade! They want to take Jerusalem from the infidels?"
"And how is this great news for us?
"Well, now they're distracted, and we can mess around in Russia without them caring!"
"Hmm... Good point..."

Year was 1079, when the first crusade started. Emirate of Fatimids soon got some war declarations, as Kingdom of England declared war to them, and many duchies and counties in England did that also. Principality of Pereyaslavl's trusted ally, Kingdom of Sweden, also joined the crusade, and sent big armies through Russia to take the Holy Land. As Pereyaslavl was Sweden's ally, it joined in the crusade too.
Quite a large army of 7000 men was sent to capture Palmyra, a city owned by the Fatimids. It was a quite rich province, and Pereyaslavl wanted to get advantage of it.


After a long trip, Vsevolod had led his army all the way to the province of Mesopotamia, when Vsevolod's messenger delivered horrible news...

"Vsevolod, Vsevolod, terrible news!"
"What is it, my friend?"
"A war has been declared on us! Bastards in Principality of Pronsk and Principality of Polotsk have decided to attack us!"
"Are you sure!?"
"Yes!"
"Oh bollocks... Men, turn around, we're heading back to Russia! Let's kick some Pronski... wait... what is the adjective for someone in Pronsk?"
"Pronskian?"
"Hmmm... maybe. Let's kick some Pronskian a$$!"


Pronsk and Polotsk had allied against Pereyaslavl. Pereyaslavl and Pronsk were the two biggest powers in Russia until death of Prince of Pronsk, Svyatoslav Rurikovich. His realm was split equally to his children, creating Principality of Ryazan and Ural. Svyatoslav's son, Oleg, had decided to create his father's empire again, as he had declared war to Ryazan as well. Only Novgorod and Kiev didn't participate in this Great War of Russia. Pereyaslavl's ally, Sweden, acted cowardly and didn't join the war.

Great War of Russia
Vsevolod was determined not to lose this war. He made a masterplan, which prevented Pronsk from conquering Pereyaslavl's most important provinces, Vladimir, Nizhni Novgorod and Smolensk. Vsevolod led his army to Lower Volga, a province controlled by Pronsk. At the same time, a grand mobilization was made in Pereyaslavl. All counties agreed to mobilize their troops except County of Uglich, but soon they changed their opinion.

Main targets were conquering provinces of Kolomna and Novgorod Seversky, the capital of Pronsk. Polotsk was a lesser threat, and they would be crushed later. Regiments were merged in Tver and Suzdal, as they were strategically in good places. Army of Suzdal soon moved to Bryansk, a province controlled by County of Bryansk, which was a vassal of Pronsk. There was fought the biggest battle that was ever seen in Russia, the Battle of Bryansk.

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1943/bryansknn4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1943/bryansknn4.796e986b8c.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=46&i=bryansknn4.jpg)

About 15 000 men died in that battle, including Vsevolod's son Vladimir. He was the first successor, now Sviatopolk is the heir. Pronsk won the Battle of Bryansk in the end, but it was a true Pyrrhic victory. While the fight was on, Ryazan conquered Kolomna and Novgorod Seversky, and Vsevolod's army took Lower Volga. Polotsk conquered Smolensk, Pereyaslavl's capital, but it was soon reconquered.

After the Battle of Bryansk, Pronsk sued for a white peace. Vsevolod accepted. It was time to deal with Polotsk.
Immediately after that Pereyaslavlian troops went directly to Vitebsk, which was soon conquered. As was Polotsk, capital of Polotsk(surprise!). Prince of Polotsk then sued for peace too, and Vitebsk was given to it's rightful owner, me. Two days after that Fatimids made peace with Pereyaslavl.

Tribe of Kola decided to attack Pereyaslavl during the Great Russian War. Tribe of Kola was destroyed completely after Polotsk made peace. Serves those pagans right...


Another great war started also. Denmark and Norway attacked Sweden. Pereyaslavl didn't go and help his ally. Serves those cowards right...

Oooh, Can I be Marhsall?

I have no clue how this game works so I watch with interest :D

PrinceScamp is the marshal. I'll make a list of characters in the second post.

Edit: Captain2@ Crusader Kings is a strategy game in the times of crusade(surprise!). The goal is to build a great dynasty. If the throne of your realm slips out of your family, it's game over. There are very few historical events, unlike other Paradox games.

I'm not so familiar with this game myself, but I surely will follow this.

That was a tough fight at Bryansk. I hope the death of one of "your" sons doesn't create any problems. And it will be interesting to see if you will manage to inherit Apulia and Calabria - that would be cool. :D

Do you thing you will do a megacampaign, by the way? And could you post a screenshot over Russia? Lots of provinces and counties to keep track of. ;)

Who is next in line for the throne? Princess Anna or Prince Sviatopolk.

I attempted to play this game once as England, quickly grew bored with my large army and easy conquest of Scotland and Ireland, even France made no objections to my taking of Caralis and Normandy. Though I may play it again now....:goodjob:

The fight in Bryansk was truly epic, lasted about 6 months. :D

I don't think I can inherit Apulia and Calabria yet, Duke of Apulia seems to be a real stud, has too many children to kill... :(

I'll play this as long as I have interest to. Screenshot of Russia will be in the next update, which will be tomorrow.

Ah after rereading the update, I saw that Sviatopolk was the heir apparent now. Apparently Russians do not allow females to ascend to the throne. :(

If possible, I would like to apply for a position as General of one of your armies.

General, please.

Also, do you have Deus Vult?

Well, generals of my armies are other counts, so I'll assing you as Sviatopolk, germanicus. I'll come up with something for D'Art. And women can't inherit, as you noticed.

No Deus Vult.

Edit: Captain2@ Crusader Kings is a strategy game in the times of crusade(surprise!). The goal is to build a great dynasty. If the throne of your realm slips out of your family, it's game over. There are very few historical events, unlike other Paradox games.

yes sadly I own it, yet I have no clue how to actually play :lol:

I usually end up being destroyed within an hour of starting

Who do you usually play as?

In my opinion, the English, Spanish and maybe the Italians may be the easiest nations to play as they start with a more stronger position, but alot of civil strife and wars. (easily beaten of course)

The Italians may be a bit hard for a newcomer, now that I think about it, but the HRE is probably the toughest nation to play in that game. The French also are in a tough position with the war with England and a possible front against Spain opening up these guys were easily my toughest yet.

Hope this helps... but your problem may lie more or less with the how to play than the strategic position of your armies and family members.

IMO easiest nations to play are Apulia(duchy with a good position to beat heathens and easy to become King of Naples), Sweden/Norway/Denmark or Swedish/Norwegian/Danish duchy(Scandinavian countries have an elective law(or whatever is it called) and are in a good place considering expansion, as pagan tribes are near), Gwynedd(beat up Duchy of Deheubarth and you're the King of Wales, then make vassals in Ireland, though you have to be careful not to get in war with England) and Poland(beat Baltic tribes and then try to get advantage on Russian principalities). Russian principalities are also kinda easy to play, though you can get in trouble if your badboy rating is too high, then other Russians will crush you.

Update today.

From Russia with Love
Update 2

The year was 1089. Vsevolod was growing old, but he was never too old for a small war. This time, it was against the muslims.

The Muslim War
Vsevolod got nervous when he saw troops of Sultanate of Qarakhnid in Novgorod Seversky. He knew that Pronsk had started a war against them when they tried to beat some muslims, but they had failed miserably. Vsevolod didn't know what to do, attack or let it be. But soon, a messenger came.

"Vsevolod, Vsevolod, great news!"
"What is it, Pavel?"
"Principality of Ryazan has declared war to Sultanate of Qarakhnid! The muslims shall be beaten out of Russia!"
"Fabulous! Now, mobilize troops of Vladimid, Nizhni Novgorod, Smolensk, Suzdal and Rostov. Let's beat up those muslims!"
"What? You mean that we're joining the war too!?"
"Of course!"

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2010/800pxlu7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2010/800pxlu7.d0a3ce8536.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=72&i=800pxlu7.jpg)
Vsevolod before leading his troops to Kolomna

Principality of Pereyaslavl needed something to do. This time, it was expansion in Russia. Qarakhnid had conquered many good provinces, such as Kolomna and Novgorod Seversky. Vsevolod quickly led his massive army of about 8,000 men to Kolomna, and liberated it to Pereyaslavl. After that, Vsevolod crowned himself as the Prince of Vladimir. Next target was Khopyor, which was also a Qarakhnid province. Even though there was no direct land connection from Khopyor to Pereyaslavlian lands, Vsevolod liberated it too, and created Bishopric of Khopyor. Hooray for Vsevolod!
At that point it was obvious that the Qarakhnid were beaten. The last hit against them was conquering Sarpa, a Qarakhnid province in Georgia. It was liberated very quickly, as there were no soldiers defending it. Sultan of Qarakhnid sued for a peace, and Vsevolod accepted.

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/8541/aftermuslimwarrw5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/8541/aftermuslimwarrw5.ac145a8c17.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=409&i=aftermuslimwarrw5.jpg)
Principality of Pereyaslavl after the Muslim War
Light green is Pereyaslavl, brown is Pronsk, dark green is Ryazan, red is Novgorod, yellow is Kiev, grey is Polotsk(the grey area below Kiev is Hungary). As you can see, Ryazan 0wned Pronsk by taking old Pronsk lands from Qarakhnid.

Even after the Muslim War, warfare didn't end. Couple of years after that, Sweden declared war to the tribe of Western Sames, and Pereyaslavl joined the war. Oddly enough, Sweden didn't conquer the weak Western Sames, but instead made peace with them and declared war on Norway(Pereyaslavl obviously didn't join it:D). Pereyaslavl thanked and conquered Västerbotten and Lappland. Vsevolod's son Sviatopolk was granted the title of Count of Lappland. Hooray for Sviatopolk!

You may think that warfare ended here.

It didn't.

Vsevolod's crazed heretic grandson Alexei was the count of Rostov and Pereyaslavl Zalessky. As he was heretic and crazy, he refused to pay taxes and broke off from Pereyaslavl. He was soon punished for his behaviour, and Rostov and Pereyaslavl Zalessky were conquered back. Alexei was exiled to some Hungarian county. Serves him right...


I'll update the second post sometime today.

Looks like the next update(I think I'll do it tomorrow) will be EPIC. :D

This update will not be as detailed as the first two updates, because so much happened yesterday when playing this save.

From Russia with Love
Update 3

At last Vsevolod could rest. No more wars, no more crazed grandsons. No more worries.

Well, Vsevolod thought so.

First, marshal Gerden Tuure's depression got worse, and he crazed completely. He was immediately demoted, and Davyd Rurikovich was the new marshal. Two days after that, Gerden died by suicide.
Well, that wasn't so bad, there are always new eager men ready to be marshals.
Year was 1100. It was a sunny April day, when sorrow flew through realm of Principality of Pereyaslavl. Vsevolod died.
All Pereyaslavl was shocked. Some thought that he was invincible, as he was so old(70) when he still led the country. But no. Pereyaslavl's vassals were shocked too, some tried even to make a civil war. That wasn't possible though, as the next prince was as great as his father. Sviatopolk was crowned as the Prince of Pereyaslavl two days after his father's death. County of Beloozero was the only county that tried to get advantage of Vsevolod's death, but Beloozero failed miserably. Their army was utterly crushed, and only couple of Pereyaslavlian troops were killed, or even wounded. Unfortunately, Sviatopolk was one of them. He got severely wounded, and was unable to continue fighting.

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/3000/image02to1.png (http://imageshack.us)
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/3000/image02to1.19332d6f75.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=91&i=image02to1.png)
Sviatopolk Rurikovich after conquering Beloozero

Year after Battle of Beloozero, Sviatopolk got sick. Most of Sviatopolk's court thought that it wasn't anything serious. But it was. One and a half year after getting sick, Sviatopolk died. Second dead prince in 3 years. Oleg Rurikovich, Sviatopolk's brother, inherited Sviatopolk, as Sviatopolk didn't have any sons yet.
Again, some counties wanted a civil war. This time county of Syrj and county of Veliky Ustug broke free, but they were crushed completely. Oleg was a pacifist, so he didn't like fighting wars, especially against other Russians. He got stressed, thanks to the great responsibility being a prince gives.

The year was 1112. Now it was time for peace. No nations threatened Pereyaslavl's independence. But Europe thought that Pereyaslavl wasn't among the most honourable nations, thanks to crushing rebelling vassals and such. That's why marshal Ramon Berenguer(exiled from Aragon that was conquered by Granada) decided to attack tribe of Ingers and Votes.(Hah, you already thought that it would be really a time for peace!) That showed rest of the world that Pereyaslavl was a true Pagan Hater! Southern Finland was also conquered in that process. A worse thing was that Oleg got more stressed from all that violence, and got really depressed. 5 days after making peace with tribe of Tavasts(which controlled Southern Finland), Oleg made a suicide.

Sorrow stroke Pereyaslavl again. Everyone thought that Pereyaslavl would be stable again, but no, that didn't happen. Oleg's and his wives Ailbe Ui Mórdha's son, Bryachislav Rurikovich, inherited Oleg. The odd thing was that this time, no counties tried to break free from Pereyaslavl. That was a good thing for Bryachislav, who was 6 when he was crowned the Prince of Pereyaslavl.

Bryachislav wasn't a pacifist, no. He loved war. Even though some called him a coward, he liked fighting. Maybe he was a coward, but cowards can be great military leaders too. They won't go to war without preparing.
9 years of peace followed Bryachislav's crowning. But peace had to end some time. Emirate of Turkmen raided the principality of Pronsk, which had unified with Ryazan and splitted and unified again(don't ask me why). That was a great opportunity for Bryachislav. Even though he was still young(14), he knew when to fight and not to fight. He declared war on Emirate of Turkmen.

Turkmen soldiers were skilled, but much less numerous than Pereyaslavlian soldiers. Turkmen was already at war with Pronsk and Empire of Byzantium, though Byzantium fought against Pronsk too. Rostislav of Moskva, who was the count of Moskva, was assigned to lead Pereyaslavlian army. He conquered many provinces from the Turkmen, such as Bryansk, Novgorod Seversky, Ryazan and Sugrov. That forced the Turkmen armies to flee to the Ural mountains. Rostislav didn't end fighting here. He led his army to Chuvash, where 15,000 Pereyaslavlian soldiers fought against 8,000 Turkmens. Turkmen army was annihilated completely, and they were no longer a threat to Pereyaslavl. After that battle, Rostislav conquered Syrt, Bashkirs, Bulgar, Kama and Grassland Cheremisa. Hooray for Rostislav! Peace was made couple of days after that.

Realm of Pereyaslavl:
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8347/lorboeu1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8347/lorboeu1.a9766ab9e0.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=171&i=lorboeu1.jpg)
I also conquered Estland and Livonia. :D

Bryachislav Rurikovich:
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6665/dorbout2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6665/dorbout2.84cce200f2.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=341&i=dorbout2.jpg)


Now I'll tell you what happened outside Pereyaslavl: First crusade was a success, Poland took Jerusalem, though two weeks after end of crusade, Fatimids took it back. Second crusade was a greater success, Duchy of Orkney liberated Burgos, and they still have a chunk of Northern Spain. Third crusade was called to liberate Alexandria, no one has done it yet.

Norway and Sweden have continued fighting, nothing big has happened there.

Muslims conquered Paris and Northern France. France took back Northern France, but Scotland conquered Paris, Chartres and Maine. :D

Germany conquered Bedford(province next to London).

Nice progress there. When will you take out Novgorod? It can't be much time left now before you become the King of Rus, it seems.

I'm not sure if I'll take out Novgorod, claiming provinces and conquering them gives tons of BB. I might attack Kiev, because I have claim on the titles of Prince of Kiev and Count of Kiev(meaning that I can make myself the prince of Kiev and conquer the province of Kiev).

From Russia with Love
Update 4

Year was 1130. The Second Muslim War had ended two years ago, and Pereyaslavl was stable again. Bryachislav Rurikovich, Prince of Pereyaslavl, had dreamed all his life of being the King of Rus. Suddenly he realised, that he was able to make himself the King of Rus. Only things needed were couple of more Russian provinces, so no other principality could argue against Bryachislav being crowned as the King of Rus.

First, Bryachislav set his eyes on Pronsk. It had suffered massive defeats against Emirate of Turkmen, and Pereyaslavl and Byzantium had conquered provinces that were previously Pronsk's. Now, Pronsk owned directly only one province, but had several vassals. That was a great thing for Bryachislav; he could just march to Pronsk and force them to recognize him as the rightful Count of Pronsk and Prince of Pronsk.
Bryachislav soon mobilized regiments from Smolensk, Suzdal and Rostov, declared war at Pronsk and marched his troops to Pronsk. A small battle was fought against regiment of Pronsk, but they lost the battle really fast. Just two months after declaration of war, Pronsk surrendered. Now Bryachislav was also Count of Pronsk and Prince of Pronsk.

Conquering Pronsk(and some of its vassals, as they joined Pereyaslavl) wasn't enough for Bryachislav. He needed more provinces to declare himself as the King of Rus. Next target was Kiev, as it was easier to beat compared to Novgorod. But because Bryachislav and previous rulers of Pereyaslavl liked fighting wars, other nations were becoming aggressive towards Pereyaslavl(aka my BB was rising through the roof). That's why Bryachislav didn't march to Kiev immediately after conquering Pronsk. Luckily, in 1134, Kiev declared war on Pereyaslavl's ally, Principality of Polotsk. That gave Bryachislav a good reason to conquer Kiev and Lyubech, two provinces owned by Kiev. Those were conquered very quickly, but unfortunately in the Battle of Kiev, Bryachislav got severely wounded. He had to return to Smolensk, but Igor, count of Chernigov, finished the job for him. Kiev and Lyubech were given to Pereyaslavl in peace negotiations.
Now everything was ready for Bryachislav's crowning.

Well, almost everything.

Such a remarkable occasion as crowning of the first King of Rus must be celebrated properly. That is why Bryachislav started saving until he had enough money to throw a massive celebration in honour of the foundation of Kingdom of Rus. In August 5th 1136, Bryachislav was crowned as the first King of Rus.

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/8750/2673722ih6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/8750/2673722ih6.09c3d1a605.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=373&i=2673722ih6.jpg)
Picture of Bryachislav's crowning celebration

Two days after Bryachislav's crowning, Novgorod pledged allegiance to Rus, and thus became a vassal of Bryachislav. Unfortunately, Bryachislav couldn't enjoy being the King of Rus more than 4 years.

1140, Bryachislav died.

He got ill from the wounds he got in war, just like his uncle Sviatopolk. He died, thanks to illness, just like his uncle Sviatopolk. Bryachislav's son, Nikita Rurikovich, was crowned as the new King of Rus. Hopefully his reign will be much longer than Bryachislav's...

Looks like a fun game. I might pick it up since the campaign can continue into EU2 according to the website.

The problem is that if you convert a CK save to EU2, there will be no nations in Asia, Africa or Americas.