A New Era -- Crusader Kings Two, AGoT AAR

[ZeletDude]

Hey guys! This is my first post in a while and I decided to have it be a new upcoming AAR with me playing as House Targaryen in the Crusader Kings 2, A Game of Thrones Mod. I will be starting Jan. 01, 8000, the very beginning of Aegon's conquest of Westeros.


First off; here is (part) of the starting map.

Aegon's initial holdings are the Highlordship of Dragonstone (the islands below the pink-blob to the right -- they are kind of hard to see thanks to his capital) and the Lordship of Blackwater Bay, which is the greyish province which forms the border between The Iron Islands and The Stormlands.

As you can (probably) see, there are 7 independent, and pretty powerful Kingdoms, each of which is ruled by their own powerful and illustrious Royal Houses.

The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros are as such:

The Kingdom of The North, The 'King in The North' is Torrhen of House Stark, ruling from Winterfell.

The Kingdom of The Iron Islands, King Harren 'The Black' of House Hoare, ruling from his recently finished super-fortress, Harrenhal.

The Kingdom of The Mountain and Vale, King Ronnel III of House Arryn, ruling from The mountain-top fortress of The Eyrie.

The Kingdom of The Rock, ruled by King Loren of The Illustrious House Lannister, ruling from Casterly Rock.

The Kingdom of The Reach, ruled by King Mern IX of House Gardener, ruling from Highgarden.

The Kingdom of The Stormlands, ruled by King Argilac 'the arrogant', ruling from Storm's End.

The final, and southernmost Kingdom is Dorne, ruled from Sunspear by Princess Mariya of House Martell.

Moving onto my initial character. We initially control King Aegon I, of House Targaryen. Aegon is married to Queens Rhaeyns and Visenya Targaryen, two of Aegon's sisters. Aegon's two children are Prince Aenys (the heir) and Prince Maegor.

The third and final image I will present to you right now is a multi-choice event (which I haven't activated). It presents three options and asks me to choose which Kingdom I want to start my conquest of. The three options are; The Reach, The Iron Isles and The Stormlands. -- who do y'all think I should aim to invade first? Post below.

I hope you all enjoy this AAR, and let it begin!

 

[Antilogic]

Since orange is the new black, you should take the black off that map. The Iron Islands shall submit!

 

[ZeletDude]

Chapter I - The Beginning of Conquest

In the opening chapter we saw the very beginning of the game, with the initial set-up and all that. Since Antilogic was the only one to comment (cough) I have went ahead and played out the next two invasions - the first being the Iron Islands.

Immediately after I chose to attack and force the submissions of the Iron Islands I rallied my levies and my personal troops and began to consolidate them.

Following my declaration of war, a nasty thing happened. Several minor lords (the pink ones to the far left) refused to have any part in this war -- and they decided to declare war upon me. Oh well, they will certainly come later... They are small and certainly not as strong as the Iron King's are.

Eventually my troops consolidated onto one province, the lordship of Dunkendale. All my armies, including the personal levie of King Aegon himself gathered there preparing for the greater battle, and with him came his famous dragon. My troops number approximately 11 thousand, FAR FAR less than the troops that the Iron Islands, or any of the other 6 Kingdoms (for that matter) can assemble. I am vastly outnumbered, but I do have one weapon no one else has, the power of fire in my dragon.

The very first battle of the war occurred just West of where my army was initially assembled, near the Lordship of Rayonet. The two great armies were lead by their respective Kings and surprisingly I actually outnumbered my foes.. Except unbeknownst to me, trouble was brewing in The Iron Islands, specifically in The Riverlands, an area very religiously and ethnically different from The actual Iron Islands, the home to the Iron Kings. The area had also been under the tyranny of King Harren 'the Black' for years (he also had just recently died, leaving his son, King Harwyn III the problems of managing the now unstable and dying Kingdom). Anyway, the first battle was, as I said, The Battle of Rayonet, while it may seem as though anyone could take the upper hand, I had as I said, Dragons on my side and that would be an extremely deciding factor in the upcoming battle.

The battle started off pretty even handed with no major breaks in morale, on either side. That was until an event was initiated, and the sun was blotted out by a massive flying figure. Aegon's black dragon. The Dragon swept down and engulfed the Iron Islander Army in fire, blood, and flying bodies. Their army was doomed and soon their nation was to be doomed as well.

When The Iron Islander Army was defeated at Rayonet word spread fast, as did chaos. Soon after that profound occurrence the Iron Islander Independence Faction, which consisted of plenty of High and Low Lords of The Riverlands declared independence and soon after their declaration of independence from King Harwyn III, King Aegon received an envoy from the leader of The Independence Faction. Lord Luceon of The Highlordship of The Bay Of Claws approached Aegon and asked him to accept the fealty of all the rebelling Riverlander nations in exchange for assistance against the oppressive Iron Islander regime... Aegon of course accepted.

Following the bending of the knee by the Riverlander Independence factions, Aegon's sprouting Kingdom nearly doubled in size. Stretching from The Neck, down to Blackwater Bay, a truly fearsome and noble sight, if I may say so my self. The Iron Islands was truly a shell of its former self. It held barely any territory, roughly four small lordships on the Mainland, and of course it's homelands off the Eastern Coast of The Riverlands, they were truly defeated.

The war was not however won, quite yet. Instead of surrendering King Harwyn III opted to remain holed up in his father's magnificent and powerful creation, the Castle Fortress of Harrenhal. Any normal army would have been stuck up against the walls of that fearsome castle for years, decades even. Aegon's Army, however, was anything but normal. They harnessed the power of Dragon's and Aegon was going to use that power as he saw fit. When Aegon's army arrived outside the gates of Harrenhal he gave King Harwyn one last chance, surrender or die, Harwyn sent no reply and Aegon's dragon was set loose...

...and Aegon succeeded. The Castle fell and every survivor was rounded up. Including now imprisoned, King Harwyn.

Opting to listen and follow through with his earlier promise, instead of being merciful Aegon put Harwyn to death, allegedly he fed his body to his dragon, yet that is unknown, and possibly only a myth.

Upon Harwyn's execution, his brother, and the last surviving male member of House Hoare, Donnel ascended to the now reduced throne. Instead of opting to continue the war, which would probably have led to his death as well. Donnel chose to surrender, and Aegon, choosing wisely to be merciful allowed him to continue his dominion-ship over his ancestral lands as Lord Paramount of The Iron Islands. He thus relinquished his continental holdings to King Aegon and House Targaryen.

Moving away from the war-side for a moment. The war had been going on for roughly 6 months, yes, in 6 months one of the most powerful Kingdoms in Westeros had been utterly obliterated by a rag-tag team of troops and a few dragons. (of course that understates the importance of these dragons... but still comeon!)

Aegon's heir, and oldest child. Prince Aenys had just turned 6 and was given an education every boy in this era dreamed of. The education to become a great and powerful Knight. And he soon after began to prove himself, could he be as great as his father? Only time would tell.

Following his conquest of The Iron Islands, Aegon was not satisfied. He had yet conquered his rage and enacted his revenge upon his now sworn enemy, King Argilac of The Stormlands. For, remember, King Argilac had refused his offer of marriage to Argilac's lone child, his daughter, and had in response cut of Aegon's envoy's hand. Aegon could not stand for this and following his conquest of the Iron Islands moved south into the Stormlands, to conquer their and continue his proclamation as King of the entirety of Westeros.

While Aegon's army was marching Southwards towards the Stormlands, Aegon recieved an envoy. The Lordships of Cracklaw Point (The point with the Pink Lordships) had asked if they could bend the knee to his power in exchange for them keeping their lands. He of course agreed.

When Aegon's army finally arrived into the Stormland's he saw no trace of an army. He kept marching towards the Stormlander capital of Storm's End, the illustrious capital that was supposedly impregnable, from both the sea and land. Outside the city Aegon's army had finally met Argilac's and the armies clashed. Aegon's army, much reduced from his conquests of the Riverlands had been reduced to about 9 thousand troops, while Argilac's army had swollen to approximately 18 thousand troops strong. The early math shows us that Argilac had a strong advantage, and Aegon knew this. Yet of course, his dragons had to be taken into consideration. Argilac (and the Westerosi Kings in general) were still far used to the idea of traditional, numbers based warfare, not the new type of warfare created by Aegon in his conquest.

Anyway, when the armies met they slugged it out, for what felt like days. Until finally Aegon's army cheered in brilliance as yet again, the sun was blotted out by Aegon's gigantic and magnificent flying beast. On the other side of the Battlefield, Argilac swore and opted to do what no man before had done. He rode towards the dragon, which was now on the ground ravaging his troops and opted to fight it head on. The dragon sensed him and immediately burned him to a crisp, before he even got close. That my friends, is the story of how King Argilac and House Durrendon had been extinguished.

Following the death of King Argilac his lands immediately submitted to King Aegon and he then after became the new King of The Stormlands. With two Kingdoms down Aegon's conquest has been going as well as he could have never imagined. Yet forces far beyond his control began to amount, as two Kingdoms in the West soon began to ally themselves together against the fiery of the dragons......

 

[SouthernKing]

Zelet! You're back!

Subbed.

 

[Antilogic]

Sounds like a solid start! Any voting on who's next? Since you are kind of already giving the Reach a reacharound, you should finish that job.



Some questions from a guy who hasn't played the mod:

How does the dragon event work? If you are in a battle, does it always trigger? Can you only use it a certain number of times? Does it just kill off a certain number of enemy soldiers?

Also, what are the skill ranges in the mod? 35 skill for your king is pretty awesome, and your lieutenants are pretty solid as well.

 

[Marcher Jovian]

I also vote for attacking the reach.

 

[Nintz]

Interesting. Haven't played CKII in a while, longer for this mod. Should play it again.

Subbed.

 

[ZeletDude]

Sounds like a solid start! Any voting on who's next? Since you are kind of already giving the Reach a reacharound, you should finish that job.



Some questions from a guy who hasn't played the mod:

How does the dragon event work? If you are in a battle, does it always trigger? Can you only use it a certain number of times? Does it just kill off a certain number of enemy soldiers?

Also, what are the skill ranges in the mod? 35 skill for your king is pretty awesome, and your lieutenants are pretty solid as well.

Well having the trait 'Dragon Rider' automatically adds 10 martial, then he also has one of the two family Valyrian Swords (Black Fyre IIRC) and that adds 1, the rest comes from his other skills, and 35 is a very good number to have for martial skill.

You don't always have to use your dragons. Whenever you're in a battle one of the little intrigue events get highlighted and you can choose to click on it, it says "deploy dragon in battle/siege" and you can choose to use it. Then afterwards its an essential win, unless they dramatically outnumber you. It also sometimes randomly kills the enemy, if they choose to face the dragon headon.

I also vote for attacking the reach.

Interesting. Haven't played CKII in a while, longer for this mod. Should play it again.

Subbed.

Thanks!

Also the unanimous targeting of The Reach, is noted

 

[ZeletDude]

Chapter II - The Battle against Two-Kings

Following the successful conquering of The Stormlands and the death of their King, Argilac 'the Arrogant', Aegon moved to secure the lands which fell under the jurisdiction of the former Storm-King. Aegon sought to wrest control from these rebel groups by legitimizing his bastard half brother, Orys (of House Baratheon) and marry him to Argilac's daughter, Argella. Upon this marriage, Orys would be granted the late Argilac's lands, including becoming the Lord Paramount of The Stormlands with his wife Argella becoming Lady Paramount. Thus began the reign of the famous House Baratheon. Along with this Aegon ensured an alliance with the lords of The Stormlands.

The War with the Reach began immediately following the granting of The Stormlands to Orys. Upon the start of the war The Stormlands immediately joined in and sent assistance. The first battle occurred just beyond The Reach's borders in the Lordship of Dalston Keep. The armies of the Reach numbered nearly 50 thousand men strong, while the combined armies of Aegon and Orys numbered only a little more than 18 thousand. The battle began on the rolling hills around noon, and by midnight, thousands were dead. Including a King and two princes.

The battle claimed the lives of King Mern IX, and his two brothers, Prince Garth and Prince Luthor. This triple blow to House Gardener nearly extinguished the male line of the family. Only the newly crowned, King Gyles IV (younger brother to Mern), and Gyles' sole child, Princess Lynesse had been spared.

The Rock and The Reach, usually enemies had decided to unite against the power of the Dragons in this ferocious battle, their decision was likely helped put together following the successive fall of two great Empires and the death of King Argilac. The armies of the Rock had been absent from the Battle of Dalston Keep, the Reachmen's army had been defeated and the joint army of Aegon and Orys were in pursuit of them. Only then did the Westermen's armies arrive and the now joint Reachman and Westerman armies engaged the army of Aegon and Orys, another epic battle occurred, not far from the first one of the war. Success and defeat occurred in this battle. Firstly, we saw the maiming of two kings; Aegon himself when he was cornered by a group of Lannister men; he was able to escape but his fighting days were likely behind him as the top portion of his right hand was severed from his body. King Loren of The Rock also befell tragedy when he was knocked from his horse while attempting to charge Aegon's dragon, this fall resulted in near paralysis, and helped lead to yet another victory for Aegon.

Following the victory against the Reachmen and Westermen armies Aegon left control of his army to his Half-brother Orys and his two sisters (both of whom had dragons them self) and instead tended to caring for his wounds, and his sons.

While back in Dragonstone Aegon decided to begin teaching Maegor how to become a true Knight, one which could eventually rival himself one day.

 

[ZeletDude]

While Aegon was tending to his wounds in Dragonstone his armies continued their march towards the Reachman's castle; Their magnificent capital of Highgarden. Upon reaching the city, Orys' and Aegon's wives' army stood outside the city and offered King Gyles IV a route out; surrender to them, and continue living. He, much like King Harren refused and opted to stay hidden inside Highgarden's high, beautiful white walls. That would prove extremely fatal as when the walls were overrun Lord Paramount Orys found King Gyles, his wife Queen Petrola and their lone child, Princess Lynesse in the throne room. King Gyles was holding a sword, in hopes of fending off the Targaryens, yet he was soon overwhelmed and sent to the dungeons, the very same dungeons his family had used on prisoners for years. His wife and daughter were similarly put in the dungeons and left to their fate; they waited in anguish and soon they found out their punishment, death.

The executions of Petrola Florent, along with Gyles and Lynesse Gardener ended the Gardener reign of the Reach along with the extinction of their famous and previously powerful Royal House.

Following the deaths of the Garderner King, Aegon was approached by an envoy from the Citadel of Oldtown, the center of the Westerosi church, the Faith of The 7 sought to bend the knee to King Aegon, in exchange he promised to convert to their faith, and fight for the church.

 

[Antilogic]

Those battles are awfully easy with that instant-win dragon button.

It looks like your choices are a lot more restricted in this mod--you have to marry and pick tutors out of a menu, for example, instead of simply being able to select any eligible person. Do the options track well with the Game of Thrones universe or is that a general mod component for CKII they added in?

 

[Crezth]

Those battles are awfully easy with that instant-win dragon button.

No kidding. This is going to get to be a big empire. How does succession work in this mod, Zelet?

It looks like your choices are a lot more restricted in this mod--you have to marry and pick tutors out of a menu, for example, instead of simply being able to select any eligible person. Do the options track well with the Game of Thrones universe or is that a general mod component for CKII they added in?

IIRC, it's from the original Crusader Kings, where instead of picking a guardian for your child per se, you chose from a laundry list of education possibilities.

 

[ZeletDude]

No kidding. This is going to get to be a big empire. How does succession work in this mod, Zelet?

It is pretty similar to how the vanilla game works; from what I remember. The entire Empire is whole like the Holy Roman Empire, and the Lord Paramounts are similar to the Kingdoms incorporated within the HRE.

IIRC, it's from the original Crusader Kings, where instead of picking a guardian for your child per se, you chose from a laundry list of education possibilities.

No, you can still choose individual guardians, however the events that give your child a specific education background helps them down the road, like the martial education gives them further martial ability, and the numbers education gives them further stewardship. However, you still need to give them a guardian to refine and hone the skills.


Guys, sorry for the LONG delay, the update is forthcoming, I have been ultra busy with uni midterms. I promise this isn't dead. Westeros will soon be united (I have played and I just need to write out the update )

 

[Honkoid]

Guys, sorry for the LONG delay, the update is forthcoming, I have been ultra busy with uni midterms. I promise this isn't dead. Westeros will soon be united (I have played and I just need to write out the update )

I'll be eagerly waiting

 

[Antilogic]

That's an interesting system for child-rearing, especially if it is a stand-alone mod that can be incorporated into standard games.

(Also eagerly awaiting an update and trying to come up with more innuendo on new targets. )

 

[ZeletDude]

Update is getting written, I can tell y'all that some interesting things have happened, with the potential of having the entire newly founded Empire fall completely apart

 

[ZeletDude]

Chapter III - A New Empire

With the fall of The Kingdom of The Reach, King Aegon now focused northwards, on the Kingdom of The Rock. The Kingdom of The Rock had joined forces with The Reachmen and thus were the next target of Aegon's conqeust. Aegon's army and his dragon marched forth, towards Casterly Rock, and the esteemed Lannister city of Lannisport. Upon reaching the gates of Lannisport the city refused to surrender, opting to ignore history and fight against Aegon and his dragonfire. Upon hearing this, Aegon ordered his army to march against the walls with his huge black-beast leading the way. The city's walls did not last long, and soon enough the city and the province of Lannisport, one of the largest in Westeros, had fallen to The Dragon King.

Just north of Lannisport stands the great Lannister castle and capital city, Casterly Rock. Following the fall of Lannisport, Casterly Rock was seen as the next obvious target of Aegon and his marching armies. When his army arrived outside the huge gates of Casterly Rock and offered surrender, King Loren once again showed his arrogance and refused the offer. King Aegon was expecting as much and sent his great beast into battle. The result should be obvious, and the castle fell that very same day. Upon reaching the Throne Room in the great castle, King Aegon found King Loren's Wife, and Children, but the King himself was no where to be found, for he had escaped. King Aegon ordered the imprisonment of The Lannisters and then sent an envoy to King Loren, surrender or his family will face sure death. The great King complied and bent the knee to King Aegon. Acting mercifully, King Aegon allowed Loren to keep his lands, becoming the new Lord Paramount of The Westerlands, forever under the dominion of King Aegon and House Targaryen.

After the Lannisters had been dealt with, Aegon continued his conquest and next focused on The Kingdom of Mountain and Vale and declared war upon House Arryn. The war was short lived, however, as King Ronnel opted instead to bend the knee. Following this, quick and unexpected event, Aegon then opted to move north and conquer House Stark and The Firstmen. Much like the Vale, when war was declared, House Stark, in great wisdom, too surrendered. King Aegon, very pleased then moved southwards, to Dorne. Much like the last two Kingdoms, House Martell and Dorne surrendered.

Following these rapid surrenders and success King Aegon had quelled the entire continent of Westeros, and had become the sole King to grace the land. Upon his victory he would forever be known as King Aegon 'The Conqueror'.

Immediately upon his ascension as King, Aegon worked hard to restore the Kingdom and built up his newfound Empire. At his original landing spot in Blackwater Bay, King Aegon decreed a new great city, King's Landing as the new capital of the Great Empire. The decree also set up plenty of castles and other royal residences to fit along with the Targaryen's rise to power. King's Landing would soon become one of the largest and most prosperous cities on the continent.

Following his victory Aegon immediately returned to his new capital, which was still under construction and worked to tutor his children in the ways of fighting, and Kingship. Both of his sons would soon prove to be great warriors and fighters, and hopefully, in terms of his heir, a good King. His second son, Maegor, soon however, began to outshine his older brother Aenys in terms of martial ability...

Also hoping to secure the far reaches of his Kingdom, and seeing as The Reach still had no Lord Paramouncy, King Aegon appointed Lord Oswyle of House Tarly as Lord Paramount of The Reach.

Although everything seemed well, it was not. One morning, Aenys went into his father's bed chamber and found him lying there, purple and dead. He had died due to his injuries sustained in battle against the Reach, which had plagued him. Upon his death, his young son, 10 year old Aenys ascended to the throne. It truly a troubling time for a child of 10 to rule such a vast, and unstable Empire.

King Aenys I's first action as King was to ask the Great Septon for an official coronation. He was advised to do so, in hopes of strengthening his rule and ensuring massive revolts would not break out in the newly founded, and very unstable Empire.

 

[Antilogic]

A successful conquest followed by an early death... so what do your relations look like with your vassal kings? Are the penalties for a young king and short reign great?

 

[ZeletDude]

A successful conquest followed by an early death... so what do your relations look like with your vassal kings? Are the penalties for a young king and short reign great?

Right now, my short reign modifier makes me have a -18 with every one of my vassals, that and I have the 'weak' trait, and my demense is too big, doesn't help. I have negative relations with Loren (The Westernlands), Obara (Dorne) and Orys (The Stormlands -- because he is a pretender and has a claim to my throne). The Tarly's of The Reach like me because I gave them a Lord-Paramouncy, The Vale also likes me. The Starks of The North are neutral towards me (0) mostly because we have religious and cultural differences. The Lord-Paramount of The Iron Islands also hates me, but it's impossible to get them to like me because they are infidels .

The only Lord-Paramouncy I haven't yet created is The Riverlands, so there is a huge vacuum of power there.. I don't have enough $$ to create the title. I am bankrupt, and I am gaining money too slowly for my liking.