slyda
Chieftain
go aussies, erm... mongolia?! great work. show the Germans how to lose a war.
The Chronicles of Khan
- Thread starter Sandman2003
- Start date
Sandman2003
Prince
Yay, another Aussie - welcome aboard Slyda.
El Loco - yes, the ole dog pile has its place, In this game I have some pretty paper thin defences in some places, with civs on all sides, so even though most of the paeticipants don't seem to contribute that much, at least it ties up units, and keeps those civs from attacking you! Adding the Byzantines in was as much as anything for the sake of the story!
El Loco - yes, the ole dog pile has its place, In this game I have some pretty paper thin defences in some places, with civs on all sides, so even though most of the paeticipants don't seem to contribute that much, at least it ties up units, and keeps those civs from attacking you! Adding the Byzantines in was as much as anything for the sake of the story!
Fundamentality
WEE A PLANE!!!
Don't worry dude!The Sandman always completes his storiesEl Loco said:when are u posting mate? (not to pressure you) but everytime i see uve posted i get all excieted. I would like to thank u for taking the time to right all the stories just to entertain a bunch of civ fanatics.
Sandman2003
Prince
Chapter Eleven: The Road to Berlin
The Mongols had taken the first hit in this unwanted war with the German capture of the outpost town of Uliastay, but if Subedei had his way, this would not remain unavenged for long. Subedei’s force had been divided into two separate attacks – one to the south, and the other, stronger force, in the north. The idea was to push through the outlying defensive cities of the Germans, and then converge the two forces in a pincher like movement on Berlin itself. Berlin was crucial because it was not only the capital, but also housed the accursed Great Wall that made all the outlying German towns particularly resilient to attack. The fall of Berlin would crush the German resolve, and enable a more rapid capture of the German outposts.
Intended Mongolian attack vectors
Subedei’s southern force started the campaign by pushing across the Great Dividing Range by Kazan, bringing the second Keshik army directly to the gates of the town of Dortmund. Here German defensive ingenuity was to encounter the determination of the multi-battalion armies of the Mongols for the first time. The Germans had two battalions of the powerful musket units garrisoning the city, and they knew they were on the Mongol border zone. The fighting was long and intense, but eventually the bravery and dedication of the Mongolian troops prevailed. Though if this was to be the resolve shown at an outpost town, what peril awaited the foolish attackers of a German city, let alone the capital itself!
Chagatai’s army was soon to test the defences of a city first hand, as he led his army against the fortress of Stuttgart. The charge was successful in smashing a defending battalion of muskets, but many more troops were defending this city, and so it yet held firm.
The main Byzantine force concentrated just north of here with a massive knight assault on the town of Bonn. The well trained Byzantine forces suffered heavy losses at this city, but weight of numbers won the day, inevitably crushing the German musket men. This then enabled the Byzantines to push their forces up over the Great Dividing Range in sight of Stuttgart as well. This prize may well be fought over, and not just against the Germans!
The Stuttgart defenders were spoilt for choice of attackers to counterattack, but fearing the wrath of the mighty army of Chagati, they sensibly chose the Byzantine knights, and in a bold move, German longbows slaughtered a battalion of Byzantine knights. The Germans exchange losses against the Americans as well, as they exchange a knight battalion for a sword battalion in the south. Such were the early exchanges of the war, but both sides continued their build up on the front with ever greater numbers of troops, as the conflict deepened.
Meanwhile, Ereen finally received his all important reinforcements in the shape of the seventh keshik army, and fresh keshik battalions. Ereen could ill afford to see Uliastay in German hands for a single minute longer than necessary, and so backed by the strength of an army, this was clearly the moment to strike. But these German knights continued to prove deceptively hard to kill, and even backed with the army, an elite keshik battalion perished against the town defenders. However, this time Ereen would not be denied, and the two thousand knights of the Germans finally met their match. As a further act to prove the superiority of the Keshik, Ereen ordered a third battalion of keshiks into action against another advancing German knight battalion. Caught in the open with the Keshiks charging at them as if from nowhere, the hapless German knights were cut down to the last man! Ereen had redeemed himself for now.
Yeh-lu meanwhile had finally been able to attend to a matter of some importance to the Khan. The city of Har-Ayrag was founded in the former location of Dalandzadgad, the first town lost to the atrocities of the once proud Mayan people. This hill town claimed horses, deer and fresh water in the town radius, and so was a valued site.
Meanwhile, Subedei raised the pressure on the defenders of Stuttgart. In the second offensive the second keshik army joined forces with Chagatai’s army in a joint move to shatter the city’s resolve. But it was still not to be! Whilst a further two thousand German musketmen perished, the city held strong and took an awful toll on Chagatai’s army, so much in fact that, Chagatai had to pull back from the battle to the relative safety of Dortmund to rest his forces.
The northern assault on Nuremberg also involved crossing a small mountain range, with Subedei once again thankful to the light design of the Keshik. But once again, Subedei was to find that these Germans had plenty of will to fight. The third keshik army was sent in first, but if Subedei was expecting the army to substantially break up the defence for the following battalions, he was to be sorely disappointed! The army took a heinous toll, but did prevail against a single musket battalion. With other armies still advancing from the Chinese line, Subedei was left with his trusty keshik battalions to win the day. So after a rousing speech about country and honour, the keshiks charged the city, battalion after battalion.
The Germans were determined to make a stand here, however, and forced the first battalion to flight, killing the second. But just as the battle was at its darkest hour, things turned for the better for the Mongols, and the battle weary German troops eventually ran out of fight. Muskets, the unreliable weapons that they were, started jamming, regiments ran out of the essential ammunition, and were ill-equipped to revert to swords, and so the keshiks gained the upper hand, surging over the broken walls, and then it was all down hill for the Germans, as a further three thousand troops were slaughtered to a man.
From the heights of the city, Subedei’s forces spied a knight battalion, no doubt headed for the city as reinforcements. As a final stamp of his authority on this battlefield, a further keshik battalion was dispatched to intercept. This battle too was extraordinary violent and bloody, and as the dust cleared it became clear that the keshiks were again the victor, with piles of German dead littering the approach roads to Nuremberg.
Around the Stuttgart – Dortmund area the battle intensified, as more and more German troops showed up, and the Byzantines entered the fray more determined than ever. Not even Chagatai’s wounded army was safe from attack, as a German longbow battalion used the cover of the forest to launch an ultimately suicidal attack on this strong unit, but nonetheless one that reminded Chagatai that danger lurked around every corner!
In the centre of all this chaos, with the moral of the people requiring a boost, once again they elected to embellish the palace of the Khan as an ongoing pledge of loyalty in these testing times. This time, rather than building further accommodation, since visitor numbers had temporarily dropped off as a consequence of the German War, they decided that something more symbolic was in order, and some huge decorative spires were added to the front area.
With the arrival of a third army by Stuttgart, Subedei decided to renew his stalled offensive their. Spurned on by the fall of the seemingly invincible Nuremberg, he was determined that Stuttgart would fall as well. The arriving keshik army was immediately introduced to the muskets of Stuttgart, smashing a battalion of the German troops. The second keshik army, regrouped after its first attack, pressed on to smash even the resilient city defence of two musket battalions to finally seize control.
However, the citizens of Stuttgart were not prepared to mildly acquiesce to Mongol rule, obsessed as they were with German culture. No this would take a sizeable garrison and a long time to crush the will of these Germans and bend them to the Mongol way. Subedei did not have the patience for this exercise, and moreover wished to make an example of these stern defenders for the rest of Germany to see. He ordered the immediate torching of the city. The citizens, if they were not burned alive, or executed by Subedei’s forces, fled to the forests and mountains never to be heard of again. After the fire, any structure that remained standing was methodically smashed to the ground. When he was done, Stuttgart was nothing but a pile of rubble!
Meanwhile, Ereen pressed on and crossed the Great Dividing Range. The charge of the seventh Keshik army saw it sweep aside a German longbow battalion without breaking stride en route for New Munich itself. The charge pressed the defence there and killed a spear battalion. By New Munich the Americans again came to the fore exchanging a sword battalion for a horse battalion.
By Dortmund the Americans claimed a bigger prise as their sword battalion destroyed a German knight battalion, before itself succumbing to a musket attack. The Byzantines also joined in this field of battle with an exchange of knight battalions. The Germans also tried to fight back at Nuremberg, but the lone longbow battalion failed miserably in its attempt to dispatch a keshik unit.
Further north still, the Americans amassed a sizeable force of division strength to assault the German isolated coastal town of Salzburg. Lacking the power of the modern musket defenders, this German outpost fell quickly to the weight of American numbers, and was soon in flames as well. It seemed the Americans were following Subedei’s example!
It was now that quite opportunely the Babylonian military alliance against the Romans came up for renewal, with the Babylonians keen on renewing for a further term. This alliance represented the last and sole tie that the Mongols had for that conflict. Given that the Mongol forces had now crossed the Great Dividing Range, and were within sight of Roman settlements, this phoney war had a small potential to turn real at the most inopportune time. The Khan had no wish to battle a second foe while his forces were engaged against the super-power Germany, and so the Babylonian request was denied. Furthermore, the Roman ambassador was invited to the Karakorum palace and offered a straight up peace deal. That which Caesar had longed for in the past was readily accepted now, and there was finally peace between Mongols and Romans.
750AD marked a new dawn in the Mongol offensive against the Germans. For the first time, the keshik core had grown to fill a staggering six divisions, or sixty battalions of the fearsome mounted troop. On the contrary side the Mongolian empire stretched over some 65 towns and cities, although many of these were still experiencing a level of lawlessness that meant that no serious productivity was likely to emerge for some time. Added to this was the fact that the defensive garrisons of the Mongols numbered only some 39 musket, nine pike and two spear battalions, meaning that many centres were either completely ungarrisoned, or at best weakly garrisoned. With the continuing demands for more keshiks coming form the front lines, and the continual growth in foreign cities under Mongol control, this situation was unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.
The Mongols had taken the first hit in this unwanted war with the German capture of the outpost town of Uliastay, but if Subedei had his way, this would not remain unavenged for long. Subedei’s force had been divided into two separate attacks – one to the south, and the other, stronger force, in the north. The idea was to push through the outlying defensive cities of the Germans, and then converge the two forces in a pincher like movement on Berlin itself. Berlin was crucial because it was not only the capital, but also housed the accursed Great Wall that made all the outlying German towns particularly resilient to attack. The fall of Berlin would crush the German resolve, and enable a more rapid capture of the German outposts.
Intended Mongolian attack vectors
Subedei’s southern force started the campaign by pushing across the Great Dividing Range by Kazan, bringing the second Keshik army directly to the gates of the town of Dortmund. Here German defensive ingenuity was to encounter the determination of the multi-battalion armies of the Mongols for the first time. The Germans had two battalions of the powerful musket units garrisoning the city, and they knew they were on the Mongol border zone. The fighting was long and intense, but eventually the bravery and dedication of the Mongolian troops prevailed. Though if this was to be the resolve shown at an outpost town, what peril awaited the foolish attackers of a German city, let alone the capital itself!
Chagatai’s army was soon to test the defences of a city first hand, as he led his army against the fortress of Stuttgart. The charge was successful in smashing a defending battalion of muskets, but many more troops were defending this city, and so it yet held firm.
The main Byzantine force concentrated just north of here with a massive knight assault on the town of Bonn. The well trained Byzantine forces suffered heavy losses at this city, but weight of numbers won the day, inevitably crushing the German musket men. This then enabled the Byzantines to push their forces up over the Great Dividing Range in sight of Stuttgart as well. This prize may well be fought over, and not just against the Germans!
The Stuttgart defenders were spoilt for choice of attackers to counterattack, but fearing the wrath of the mighty army of Chagati, they sensibly chose the Byzantine knights, and in a bold move, German longbows slaughtered a battalion of Byzantine knights. The Germans exchange losses against the Americans as well, as they exchange a knight battalion for a sword battalion in the south. Such were the early exchanges of the war, but both sides continued their build up on the front with ever greater numbers of troops, as the conflict deepened.
Meanwhile, Ereen finally received his all important reinforcements in the shape of the seventh keshik army, and fresh keshik battalions. Ereen could ill afford to see Uliastay in German hands for a single minute longer than necessary, and so backed by the strength of an army, this was clearly the moment to strike. But these German knights continued to prove deceptively hard to kill, and even backed with the army, an elite keshik battalion perished against the town defenders. However, this time Ereen would not be denied, and the two thousand knights of the Germans finally met their match. As a further act to prove the superiority of the Keshik, Ereen ordered a third battalion of keshiks into action against another advancing German knight battalion. Caught in the open with the Keshiks charging at them as if from nowhere, the hapless German knights were cut down to the last man! Ereen had redeemed himself for now.
Yeh-lu meanwhile had finally been able to attend to a matter of some importance to the Khan. The city of Har-Ayrag was founded in the former location of Dalandzadgad, the first town lost to the atrocities of the once proud Mayan people. This hill town claimed horses, deer and fresh water in the town radius, and so was a valued site.
Meanwhile, Subedei raised the pressure on the defenders of Stuttgart. In the second offensive the second keshik army joined forces with Chagatai’s army in a joint move to shatter the city’s resolve. But it was still not to be! Whilst a further two thousand German musketmen perished, the city held strong and took an awful toll on Chagatai’s army, so much in fact that, Chagatai had to pull back from the battle to the relative safety of Dortmund to rest his forces.
The northern assault on Nuremberg also involved crossing a small mountain range, with Subedei once again thankful to the light design of the Keshik. But once again, Subedei was to find that these Germans had plenty of will to fight. The third keshik army was sent in first, but if Subedei was expecting the army to substantially break up the defence for the following battalions, he was to be sorely disappointed! The army took a heinous toll, but did prevail against a single musket battalion. With other armies still advancing from the Chinese line, Subedei was left with his trusty keshik battalions to win the day. So after a rousing speech about country and honour, the keshiks charged the city, battalion after battalion.
The Germans were determined to make a stand here, however, and forced the first battalion to flight, killing the second. But just as the battle was at its darkest hour, things turned for the better for the Mongols, and the battle weary German troops eventually ran out of fight. Muskets, the unreliable weapons that they were, started jamming, regiments ran out of the essential ammunition, and were ill-equipped to revert to swords, and so the keshiks gained the upper hand, surging over the broken walls, and then it was all down hill for the Germans, as a further three thousand troops were slaughtered to a man.
From the heights of the city, Subedei’s forces spied a knight battalion, no doubt headed for the city as reinforcements. As a final stamp of his authority on this battlefield, a further keshik battalion was dispatched to intercept. This battle too was extraordinary violent and bloody, and as the dust cleared it became clear that the keshiks were again the victor, with piles of German dead littering the approach roads to Nuremberg.
Around the Stuttgart – Dortmund area the battle intensified, as more and more German troops showed up, and the Byzantines entered the fray more determined than ever. Not even Chagatai’s wounded army was safe from attack, as a German longbow battalion used the cover of the forest to launch an ultimately suicidal attack on this strong unit, but nonetheless one that reminded Chagatai that danger lurked around every corner!
In the centre of all this chaos, with the moral of the people requiring a boost, once again they elected to embellish the palace of the Khan as an ongoing pledge of loyalty in these testing times. This time, rather than building further accommodation, since visitor numbers had temporarily dropped off as a consequence of the German War, they decided that something more symbolic was in order, and some huge decorative spires were added to the front area.
With the arrival of a third army by Stuttgart, Subedei decided to renew his stalled offensive their. Spurned on by the fall of the seemingly invincible Nuremberg, he was determined that Stuttgart would fall as well. The arriving keshik army was immediately introduced to the muskets of Stuttgart, smashing a battalion of the German troops. The second keshik army, regrouped after its first attack, pressed on to smash even the resilient city defence of two musket battalions to finally seize control.
However, the citizens of Stuttgart were not prepared to mildly acquiesce to Mongol rule, obsessed as they were with German culture. No this would take a sizeable garrison and a long time to crush the will of these Germans and bend them to the Mongol way. Subedei did not have the patience for this exercise, and moreover wished to make an example of these stern defenders for the rest of Germany to see. He ordered the immediate torching of the city. The citizens, if they were not burned alive, or executed by Subedei’s forces, fled to the forests and mountains never to be heard of again. After the fire, any structure that remained standing was methodically smashed to the ground. When he was done, Stuttgart was nothing but a pile of rubble!
Meanwhile, Ereen pressed on and crossed the Great Dividing Range. The charge of the seventh Keshik army saw it sweep aside a German longbow battalion without breaking stride en route for New Munich itself. The charge pressed the defence there and killed a spear battalion. By New Munich the Americans again came to the fore exchanging a sword battalion for a horse battalion.
By Dortmund the Americans claimed a bigger prise as their sword battalion destroyed a German knight battalion, before itself succumbing to a musket attack. The Byzantines also joined in this field of battle with an exchange of knight battalions. The Germans also tried to fight back at Nuremberg, but the lone longbow battalion failed miserably in its attempt to dispatch a keshik unit.
Further north still, the Americans amassed a sizeable force of division strength to assault the German isolated coastal town of Salzburg. Lacking the power of the modern musket defenders, this German outpost fell quickly to the weight of American numbers, and was soon in flames as well. It seemed the Americans were following Subedei’s example!
It was now that quite opportunely the Babylonian military alliance against the Romans came up for renewal, with the Babylonians keen on renewing for a further term. This alliance represented the last and sole tie that the Mongols had for that conflict. Given that the Mongol forces had now crossed the Great Dividing Range, and were within sight of Roman settlements, this phoney war had a small potential to turn real at the most inopportune time. The Khan had no wish to battle a second foe while his forces were engaged against the super-power Germany, and so the Babylonian request was denied. Furthermore, the Roman ambassador was invited to the Karakorum palace and offered a straight up peace deal. That which Caesar had longed for in the past was readily accepted now, and there was finally peace between Mongols and Romans.
750AD marked a new dawn in the Mongol offensive against the Germans. For the first time, the keshik core had grown to fill a staggering six divisions, or sixty battalions of the fearsome mounted troop. On the contrary side the Mongolian empire stretched over some 65 towns and cities, although many of these were still experiencing a level of lawlessness that meant that no serious productivity was likely to emerge for some time. Added to this was the fact that the defensive garrisons of the Mongols numbered only some 39 musket, nine pike and two spear battalions, meaning that many centres were either completely ungarrisoned, or at best weakly garrisoned. With the continuing demands for more keshiks coming form the front lines, and the continual growth in foreign cities under Mongol control, this situation was unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.
Sandman2003
Prince
Chapter Eleven continued
General Ereen found himself at the gates of New Munich with the seventh keshik army and three further battalions of keshik. But with the memory of the Catastrophe of Athens clear in his mind, and the reports from his scouts of the numerous gathering of German forces around the city, he decided to temporarily delay the town attack, while these other forces were dealt with. The army healed up after its initial assault, while the battalions of keshik struck out and killed German spear, warrior and archer battalions, before retreating to the army’s safety net.
The Germans responded by moving a very large force into the relative safety of New Munich, apparently in the vicinity of a full division, suddenly making the task of conquering this outpost town suddenly seem that much harder. The most lethal unit seen entering the town was a battalion of the powerful German Crusaders. General Chebe wished to know in detail how this unknown unit performed in battle, and so Ereen was forced to attack the town specifically for his report to Chebe. The crusaders were attacked by the seventh keshik army, but fought valiantly. However, they were no match for the superior organisation of the combined force, and perished in Ereen’s assault. Chebe found it pleasing to observe that although powerful, these crusaders were not quite as fearsome as the muskets on defence. Perhaps he would have been less confident if he had realised just how much more powerful these units were on offense than they were on defense!
Ereen pressed on with the clearance of German units around New Munich, utilising three keshik battalions to dispatch a spear, a longbow and an elite archer battalion. This also forced Ereen to rebase his forces to the south of the town so that they could cover each other, and in particular benefit from the army’s protection once again. However, Ereen also found it desirable to retreat two wounded Keshik battalions back into Mongol territory in order for them to recover, and be used in the renewed assault on New Munich.
This retreat created an opportunity for the Germans that they were not going to turn down. The Germans struck, using two longbow battalions to destroy a wounded Keshik battalion and a Byzantine archer battalion. The second wounded keshik battalion was not to escape either. A German horse battalion was able to attack, and attack it did claiming the prized scalp of the retreating wounded Mongol unit.
But it was not the Germans who were to have the last laugh in this exchange. Ereen noted the departure of most of the force from New Munich and heading somewhere to the north, so he decided the time to strike was now! The seventh Keshik army again assaulted the town, and this time the remaining two spear battalions could do nothing to sway Ereen’s resolve. Finally New Munich fell after possibly the longest siege in Mongol history, spanning some four decades!
Subedei was not long to remain out of the action either. Subedei had split his strong northern force so that almost a division of keshik headed further south to the city of Koningsberg. As Koningsberg was a second tier city, the German high command had given it a garrison of only three battalions of regular muskets, so Subedei was certainly not going to wait for army support. In the bloody mass assault the Mongols suffered the humiliation of a full three battalions being routed from the battle, and losses of a thousand troops. But the German losses were greater as the full three thousand musket men were slaughtered and Koningsberg was ‘liberated’ from German control.
The capture of first Nuremberg, and now Koningsberg meant that Subedei’s northern forces had a clear path to Hannover, and the first tier German city of Leipzig! However, the advance from Nuremberg encountered the substantial resistance of a musket battalion ambush. These brave Germans right on the battle front lines fought all day and night and all the subsequent day. Their muskets ran hotter than hell itself, as accurate volley after accurate volley found its mark in the attacking keshiks. These brave Germans claimed the lives of a full two thousand keshiks, including an elite battalion before finally succumbing to the inevitability of the sheer might at Subedei’s disposal. With the roads now clear, no less than three armies and seven keshik battalions moved up for the inevitable assault of Hannover.
By the ruins of Stuttgart, Subedei’s armies again needed to rest. The Germans though used another battalion of crusaders to destroy an American sword battalion. Though by Koningsberg, two Byzantine knights dispatched two German spear battalions.
By Hannover, yet another keshik – knight tussle was decided in favour of the keshik! The assault on Hannover started in earnest with Ogodei’s keshik army smashing two musket battalions. Then Kublai’s keshik army followed up with the destruction of a third musket battalion. As only a longbow battalion remained defending the city, an elite keshik battalion was given the honours of finishing up, and claiming the city.
The third keshik army advanced on Leipzig smashing a German spear battalion on the way. However, the Germans retaliated using a longbow battalion to kill a keshik battalion, but in a further reversal, this longbow battalion was in turn destroyed by a Byzantine Knight battalion.
By Dortmund, the flow of German troops remained strong. The Mongols dispatched two spear battalions, and the Byzantines accounted for a further crusader, a spear and two longbow battalions.
By the Stuttgart ruins, Subedei’s armies were again forced to rest up, to gather their strength before the important push on the first tier city of Munich (the original, not the frontier town that Ereen captured).
And in international affairs, Rome managed to continue to reduce its enemies by finally agreeing to a peace with the Netherlands. Perhaps the Dutch were celebrating their recent victory over the Russians, and saw no reason to continue the Roman conflict. This Dutch victory saw the last Russian city fall, and the Russian influence in the world was irretrievably over. The Khan of course took quite some pleasure in the news of the end of this hated foe. The Khan had further reason to celebrate. The city of Ta-tu finally completed its establishment of higher learning – the first in the Mongolian empire – in a move not only pleasing for the sages, but also heralding the promise of improved capacity to research new knowledge within the empire. Even better, from the Khan’s point of view, was the fact that this freed the city to once more produce a steady stream of new Keshiks for the intense German conflict!
In his southern force, Subedei now had two completely fresh armies by Stuttgart, and the order was given to advance on Munich. A German longbow battalion offered no resistance to the rapidly advancing armies of Subedei. The Dortmund based units again destroyed an advancing German archer battalion. The Byzantine forces also advanced towards Munich, with their leading knights encountering only the weak resistance of a German longbow battalion.
As the Byzantine knights were relegated to clearing action against a German crusader battalion, the armies of Subedei struck the first tier city of Munich. This time, with the Germans only able to muster three regular musket battalions as the garrison, the Mongols’ force proved irresistible as they crushed the resistance to claim the city. Chagatai’s army, advancing from Dortmund, was left with only the clearing action against yet another German spear battalion.
Meanwhile, Subedei’s main force in the north had pushed on to the gates of the major first tier city of Leipzig. With four better trained German musket battalions in garrison, the Germans once again dug in deep to try and hold off the forces of Subedei. In one of the bloodier encounters yet, and even after making use of two keshik armies, the Mongols suffered heavy losses here, losing a full four battalions of keshiks. The prized city, however, fell into Mongolian hands, and with it, control over the esteemed Sistine Chapel. This proud structure was meant to enhance the spirituality of a nation’s cathedrals, and therefore the positive effects brought on by the religious fervour. However, the Mongols had not constructed any such ‘cathedrals’, and so wondered at the value in this extravagant building.
The Byzantine contribution to the Leipzig campaign consisted of a weak knight attack against a battalion of longbows, that was routed, but then a second Byzantine knight finally succeeded where the first failed. However, the Germans also had a medieval infantry battalion in place, and the end result was equal losses.
Down in the deep south, the German’s division now had started a trek through the cover of the Great Dividing Range in an effort to outflank Ereen’s forces and attack Uliastay once more. Near the pass through to Piedras Negras, the Byzantines and Germans swapped a spear battalion for a longbow battalion, while Ereen continued to face a steady stream of reinforcing German units, keeping his forces occupied while the main division pushed on. However, Ereen’s troops continued to make the Germans pay a heavy price for their delaying tactics by destroying a warrior, an archer and two longbow battalions, before being retreated in the longbow counterattack.
The German division consisted of a crusader, a spear and eight longbow battalions, and certainly posed a very real threat once again to Uliastay. Finally galvanised by this new threat, the governor of Uliastay demanded, and received, the funds to rush the town walls project, and had two battalions of musket forces rushed to the town. In addition, Ereen was instructed to hunt this division down, and stop as many units as possible from threatening the city!
As the Netherlands signed a military alliance with the Inca to join in against the Germans, the new threat did not daunt the Germans at all. The Germans still had the numbers in the southern area, and launched an assault on the American town of Los Angeles. The two archer battalions failed to take the city, but were reinforced with further longbow battalions, as the Germans further continued to build their offensive in the south.
But while the Germans seemed to be more than holding their own in the southern conflict, Subedei’s ground out victories in the north had put the pressure clearly upon the Germans, as the mighty capital city of Berlin was now in Subedei’s sights. With his southern and northern forces moving to converge on Berlin, the greatest battle yet in this horrific war was soon to be played out!
General Ereen found himself at the gates of New Munich with the seventh keshik army and three further battalions of keshik. But with the memory of the Catastrophe of Athens clear in his mind, and the reports from his scouts of the numerous gathering of German forces around the city, he decided to temporarily delay the town attack, while these other forces were dealt with. The army healed up after its initial assault, while the battalions of keshik struck out and killed German spear, warrior and archer battalions, before retreating to the army’s safety net.
The Germans responded by moving a very large force into the relative safety of New Munich, apparently in the vicinity of a full division, suddenly making the task of conquering this outpost town suddenly seem that much harder. The most lethal unit seen entering the town was a battalion of the powerful German Crusaders. General Chebe wished to know in detail how this unknown unit performed in battle, and so Ereen was forced to attack the town specifically for his report to Chebe. The crusaders were attacked by the seventh keshik army, but fought valiantly. However, they were no match for the superior organisation of the combined force, and perished in Ereen’s assault. Chebe found it pleasing to observe that although powerful, these crusaders were not quite as fearsome as the muskets on defence. Perhaps he would have been less confident if he had realised just how much more powerful these units were on offense than they were on defense!
Ereen pressed on with the clearance of German units around New Munich, utilising three keshik battalions to dispatch a spear, a longbow and an elite archer battalion. This also forced Ereen to rebase his forces to the south of the town so that they could cover each other, and in particular benefit from the army’s protection once again. However, Ereen also found it desirable to retreat two wounded Keshik battalions back into Mongol territory in order for them to recover, and be used in the renewed assault on New Munich.
This retreat created an opportunity for the Germans that they were not going to turn down. The Germans struck, using two longbow battalions to destroy a wounded Keshik battalion and a Byzantine archer battalion. The second wounded keshik battalion was not to escape either. A German horse battalion was able to attack, and attack it did claiming the prized scalp of the retreating wounded Mongol unit.
But it was not the Germans who were to have the last laugh in this exchange. Ereen noted the departure of most of the force from New Munich and heading somewhere to the north, so he decided the time to strike was now! The seventh Keshik army again assaulted the town, and this time the remaining two spear battalions could do nothing to sway Ereen’s resolve. Finally New Munich fell after possibly the longest siege in Mongol history, spanning some four decades!
Subedei was not long to remain out of the action either. Subedei had split his strong northern force so that almost a division of keshik headed further south to the city of Koningsberg. As Koningsberg was a second tier city, the German high command had given it a garrison of only three battalions of regular muskets, so Subedei was certainly not going to wait for army support. In the bloody mass assault the Mongols suffered the humiliation of a full three battalions being routed from the battle, and losses of a thousand troops. But the German losses were greater as the full three thousand musket men were slaughtered and Koningsberg was ‘liberated’ from German control.
The capture of first Nuremberg, and now Koningsberg meant that Subedei’s northern forces had a clear path to Hannover, and the first tier German city of Leipzig! However, the advance from Nuremberg encountered the substantial resistance of a musket battalion ambush. These brave Germans right on the battle front lines fought all day and night and all the subsequent day. Their muskets ran hotter than hell itself, as accurate volley after accurate volley found its mark in the attacking keshiks. These brave Germans claimed the lives of a full two thousand keshiks, including an elite battalion before finally succumbing to the inevitability of the sheer might at Subedei’s disposal. With the roads now clear, no less than three armies and seven keshik battalions moved up for the inevitable assault of Hannover.
By the ruins of Stuttgart, Subedei’s armies again needed to rest. The Germans though used another battalion of crusaders to destroy an American sword battalion. Though by Koningsberg, two Byzantine knights dispatched two German spear battalions.
By Hannover, yet another keshik – knight tussle was decided in favour of the keshik! The assault on Hannover started in earnest with Ogodei’s keshik army smashing two musket battalions. Then Kublai’s keshik army followed up with the destruction of a third musket battalion. As only a longbow battalion remained defending the city, an elite keshik battalion was given the honours of finishing up, and claiming the city.
The third keshik army advanced on Leipzig smashing a German spear battalion on the way. However, the Germans retaliated using a longbow battalion to kill a keshik battalion, but in a further reversal, this longbow battalion was in turn destroyed by a Byzantine Knight battalion.
By Dortmund, the flow of German troops remained strong. The Mongols dispatched two spear battalions, and the Byzantines accounted for a further crusader, a spear and two longbow battalions.
By the Stuttgart ruins, Subedei’s armies were again forced to rest up, to gather their strength before the important push on the first tier city of Munich (the original, not the frontier town that Ereen captured).
And in international affairs, Rome managed to continue to reduce its enemies by finally agreeing to a peace with the Netherlands. Perhaps the Dutch were celebrating their recent victory over the Russians, and saw no reason to continue the Roman conflict. This Dutch victory saw the last Russian city fall, and the Russian influence in the world was irretrievably over. The Khan of course took quite some pleasure in the news of the end of this hated foe. The Khan had further reason to celebrate. The city of Ta-tu finally completed its establishment of higher learning – the first in the Mongolian empire – in a move not only pleasing for the sages, but also heralding the promise of improved capacity to research new knowledge within the empire. Even better, from the Khan’s point of view, was the fact that this freed the city to once more produce a steady stream of new Keshiks for the intense German conflict!
In his southern force, Subedei now had two completely fresh armies by Stuttgart, and the order was given to advance on Munich. A German longbow battalion offered no resistance to the rapidly advancing armies of Subedei. The Dortmund based units again destroyed an advancing German archer battalion. The Byzantine forces also advanced towards Munich, with their leading knights encountering only the weak resistance of a German longbow battalion.
As the Byzantine knights were relegated to clearing action against a German crusader battalion, the armies of Subedei struck the first tier city of Munich. This time, with the Germans only able to muster three regular musket battalions as the garrison, the Mongols’ force proved irresistible as they crushed the resistance to claim the city. Chagatai’s army, advancing from Dortmund, was left with only the clearing action against yet another German spear battalion.
Meanwhile, Subedei’s main force in the north had pushed on to the gates of the major first tier city of Leipzig. With four better trained German musket battalions in garrison, the Germans once again dug in deep to try and hold off the forces of Subedei. In one of the bloodier encounters yet, and even after making use of two keshik armies, the Mongols suffered heavy losses here, losing a full four battalions of keshiks. The prized city, however, fell into Mongolian hands, and with it, control over the esteemed Sistine Chapel. This proud structure was meant to enhance the spirituality of a nation’s cathedrals, and therefore the positive effects brought on by the religious fervour. However, the Mongols had not constructed any such ‘cathedrals’, and so wondered at the value in this extravagant building.
The Byzantine contribution to the Leipzig campaign consisted of a weak knight attack against a battalion of longbows, that was routed, but then a second Byzantine knight finally succeeded where the first failed. However, the Germans also had a medieval infantry battalion in place, and the end result was equal losses.
Down in the deep south, the German’s division now had started a trek through the cover of the Great Dividing Range in an effort to outflank Ereen’s forces and attack Uliastay once more. Near the pass through to Piedras Negras, the Byzantines and Germans swapped a spear battalion for a longbow battalion, while Ereen continued to face a steady stream of reinforcing German units, keeping his forces occupied while the main division pushed on. However, Ereen’s troops continued to make the Germans pay a heavy price for their delaying tactics by destroying a warrior, an archer and two longbow battalions, before being retreated in the longbow counterattack.
The German division consisted of a crusader, a spear and eight longbow battalions, and certainly posed a very real threat once again to Uliastay. Finally galvanised by this new threat, the governor of Uliastay demanded, and received, the funds to rush the town walls project, and had two battalions of musket forces rushed to the town. In addition, Ereen was instructed to hunt this division down, and stop as many units as possible from threatening the city!
As the Netherlands signed a military alliance with the Inca to join in against the Germans, the new threat did not daunt the Germans at all. The Germans still had the numbers in the southern area, and launched an assault on the American town of Los Angeles. The two archer battalions failed to take the city, but were reinforced with further longbow battalions, as the Germans further continued to build their offensive in the south.
But while the Germans seemed to be more than holding their own in the southern conflict, Subedei’s ground out victories in the north had put the pressure clearly upon the Germans, as the mighty capital city of Berlin was now in Subedei’s sights. With his southern and northern forces moving to converge on Berlin, the greatest battle yet in this horrific war was soon to be played out!
Sandman2003
Prince
Chapter Twelve: The German War
The Germans had suffered immense losses up to this point in the conflict – in excess of seventy thousand soldiers to the Mongolian’s fifteen thousand. But in spite of this high casualty rate, the Germans remained as determined as ever, and with the Battle of Berlin beckoning, Subedei could expect no let up in the staunch German resistance. For this reason, Subedei was determined that this all important battle would not commence until he had overwhelming force in the field to smash the Berlin defences in a single go! The advanced expeditionary force of Ogodei’s army backed buy a further division of keshiks had already advanced within sight of the walls of Berlin, but would not be authorised to commence the assault until the other armies in the area had regained their full combat strength, and could join in the assault.
Meanwhile in the south, with the gains made by Ereen’s units, the German division had wisely pulled packed from the Great Dividing Range and was heading towards New Frankfurt. It was here in the fields of New Frankfurt that Ereen would experience his finest hour!
With most of the German force in the open grassland, and lacking the defensive advantages of the mountainous terrain, Ereen ordered the attack. The seventh keshik army combined with a keshik battalion to remove the remaining spear and longbow battalions from the mountains. Then in the grassland area, with the richness of targets available, the Mongols ripped into the three unprotected longbow battalions, totally destroying the enemy, and leaving the ground soaked in their blood.
The German division commander did not consider his force spent yet, and advanced around the seventh army, but this was to prove a fatal error of judgement, because this brought even more of Ereen’s force into range of the Germans. In a blow that totally destroyed the German southern offensive, Ereen’s forces ripped through the remaining eight thousand troops, including another crusader battalion, a spear battalion and the rest belonging to the longbow core. Everywhere in the approach field to New Frankfurt was now littered with the remains of dead or dying German soldiers. And now Ereen was casting his eye towards the terrified citizens of New Frankfurt!
Elsewhere the main push of the forces of Byzantine was near Subedei’s southern units. Here the Germans still held out hope that they could recapture a prized city, but the ongoing push of the forces of the two nations was destroying every German unit that got near the battle line. Both the Byzantines and the Mongols dispatched knight battalions, though the Byzantines lost an archer battalion in the process. But it was the Americans who got to the site of the ruins of Stuttgart first and founded the town of Cleveland.
In the north, the American division was pushing towards the German city of Heidelberg. On the way, just north of Hannover in a pitched battle, the Americans lose two battalions of medieval infantry, but claim a German musket and medieval infantry battalion in turn. However, the Germans are able to push a knight battalion past the advancing Americans to threaten the recently captured city of Hannover. Tolui’s elite battalion of keshik was the sole garrisoning force at this time, with the rest of the force earmarked for the assault on Berlin. But Tolui stepped up to the task that day, destroying the knight battalion, and earning the right to command his own keshik army in time for the Berlin campaign!
With the addition of Tolui’s army, Subedei is able to put four fully healed armies and seven keshik battalions in the attack on Berlin. This is finally deemed sufficient, and as they approach the gates of Berlin, the order to attack is givem!
The Germans seemed oblivious to this ominous threat to Berlin, or at the very least saw the Americans as the easier prey, as they launched their counter-offensive against the Americans by Leipzig. The victorious Germans claimed two American medieval infantry battalions in this counter–punch. Though in the deep south, Ereen in turn killed two German archer battalions en route to New Heidelberg. To make matters even less comfortable for the Germans the Dutch brought in the Chinese in to the conflict against the Germans. Most of the world was now united in an effort to remove these arrogant Germans.
Ereen now had split his forces into a northern assault on New Frankfurt, and a southern charge on New Heidelberg. After destroying yet another longbow battalion in the fields by New Frankfurt, the seventh army finally gets to attack the town itself, killing two spear battalions, but still more defenders remain. In the offensive defence of New Munich, yet another German longbow perishes at the hands of a keshik battalion.
Subedei’s southern force had a long trek through jungle to reach its next target of New Leipzig. In the initial clash at the town, Chagatai’s army killed a defending musket battalion, but then needed to fall back to regain battle fitness.
The Battle of Berlin was a crucial battle for both sides. In many ways it marked the Germans’ last stand. If it should fall, then the Germans would lose their Great Wall inspired town defences, as well as the capital and the will to fight on. With the world against them, the fall of Germany would become inevitable. Thus, packed with the best troops in all of Germany, the Berlinese were determined to hold out the Mongolian attackers at all costs.
Subedei sent in his armies first, starting with the veterans of the third keshik army. This army alone destroyed two veteran German musket battalions before battle fatigue forced it to stop. The second army into the assault was Ogodei’s army. This time however, Subedei ordered the army to fall back after smashing through just one veteran musket battalion. Subedei wished to preserve some of his army strength for the final push. Kublai’s army was next, and again ordered to fall back after dispensing with a single veteran musket battalion. The newly formed army under the command of Tolui was the fourth and final army available for this campaign. After crushing yet another veteran musket battalion, Tolui was faced with only regular musket troops remaining. He pressed the assault claiming a second battalion. But the honours of the battle went back to the veteran Ogodei. Ordered back into the campaign, Ogodei swept aside the final regular musket battalion, and Berlin was in the hands of the Mongols!
Berlin brought with it control of the Knight’s Templar training facility for those fanactical crusader units, the Great Wall construction that had so aided the German defences, and would now benefit the Mongols, and the Pyramids – sort of a massive granary which also started providing benefit across the Mongolian nation. However, after such a blistering assault, even the mighty Mongolian armies were in a state of battle weary shock, and needed to heal up in the newly captured city. Kublai’s army, though, still had the capacity to fight on, and so Kublai led a force comprising his army, and the seven keshik battalions towards the new German capital of Hamburg.
The Americans continued their push on Heidelberg, losing a medieval infantry battalion, but claiming a German musket battalion and destroying a trebuchet in the process. Furthermore, the Americans have now entered knights into the conflict. The once backward Americans were catching up in technology.
But this is not all. The Chinese have finally finished their feared unit, as they start sending riders to the German front. The Khan’s war room greets this news with hastily revamped priorities for future campaigns, and development of the Mongols’ military might.
It was into this air of despair that the Babylonian ambassador came visiting the Khan. It seemed that in the now long war against the Romans, the might of Rome had succeeded in holding out against all foes. Now that Rome had made peace with most of its enemies, and was able to concentrate the war against the Babylonians, they had started to make inroads against the Babylonians with the capture of Shurrupak. They were now seeking a Mongolian alliance against Rome and a right of passage.
The Babylonians spoke of the unity of the previous alliance against Rome, and begged for a continuance on those glory days. The Khan replied to the effect that the Babylonians had treated the arrangement as mercenaries, demanding maximum payment for minimum input. While the rest of the alliance fought first the Romans, and then the greater danger, the Germans, the Babylonians had devoted their energy to building these wonders of the world. Now they were paying the price for insufficient military build-up, and with the all important German war raging, the Mongolians were not in a position to bail them out. So no, there would be no further alliance against Rome.
Northern Front
Southern Front
Meanwhile, with the fall of Berlin, the allies found it possible to advance against the flagging German strength more rapidly. Kublai headed the assault on Hamburg, and in yet another bloodless coup for the Mongols, three veteran musket, a regular musket and a knight battalion were smashed to claim Hamburg, and the last supply of saltpetre available to the Germans. In fact the Germans had now been deprived of both horses and saltpetre, and so the quality of their replacement units was now rapidly deteriorating.
Next to Hamburg, a German musket battalion manages to rout the attack of a keshik battalion, but it falls to the next attack, ending even this small glimmer of hope.
And in the south, the news is no better for the Germans either. Ereen’s forces claim both New Frankfurt and New Heidelburg killing four spear battalions in the process, and suffering only two retreats.
The Mongol’s allies do not fare nearly as well, however, with the Americans losing two medieval infantry battalions by Hamburg, and the Byzantines losing a knight battalion there as well. By Munich, the Byzantines swap a knight battalion for a longbow battalion. To make matters worse for the Americans, however, their other foe, the Scandinavians does to Los Angeles what the Germans could not, and renders it into a pile of rubble. This does, however, free up a precious city site next to a gems resource, which remains a luxury that the Mongols are yet to possess.
The Germans had suffered immense losses up to this point in the conflict – in excess of seventy thousand soldiers to the Mongolian’s fifteen thousand. But in spite of this high casualty rate, the Germans remained as determined as ever, and with the Battle of Berlin beckoning, Subedei could expect no let up in the staunch German resistance. For this reason, Subedei was determined that this all important battle would not commence until he had overwhelming force in the field to smash the Berlin defences in a single go! The advanced expeditionary force of Ogodei’s army backed buy a further division of keshiks had already advanced within sight of the walls of Berlin, but would not be authorised to commence the assault until the other armies in the area had regained their full combat strength, and could join in the assault.
Meanwhile in the south, with the gains made by Ereen’s units, the German division had wisely pulled packed from the Great Dividing Range and was heading towards New Frankfurt. It was here in the fields of New Frankfurt that Ereen would experience his finest hour!
With most of the German force in the open grassland, and lacking the defensive advantages of the mountainous terrain, Ereen ordered the attack. The seventh keshik army combined with a keshik battalion to remove the remaining spear and longbow battalions from the mountains. Then in the grassland area, with the richness of targets available, the Mongols ripped into the three unprotected longbow battalions, totally destroying the enemy, and leaving the ground soaked in their blood.
The German division commander did not consider his force spent yet, and advanced around the seventh army, but this was to prove a fatal error of judgement, because this brought even more of Ereen’s force into range of the Germans. In a blow that totally destroyed the German southern offensive, Ereen’s forces ripped through the remaining eight thousand troops, including another crusader battalion, a spear battalion and the rest belonging to the longbow core. Everywhere in the approach field to New Frankfurt was now littered with the remains of dead or dying German soldiers. And now Ereen was casting his eye towards the terrified citizens of New Frankfurt!
Elsewhere the main push of the forces of Byzantine was near Subedei’s southern units. Here the Germans still held out hope that they could recapture a prized city, but the ongoing push of the forces of the two nations was destroying every German unit that got near the battle line. Both the Byzantines and the Mongols dispatched knight battalions, though the Byzantines lost an archer battalion in the process. But it was the Americans who got to the site of the ruins of Stuttgart first and founded the town of Cleveland.
In the north, the American division was pushing towards the German city of Heidelberg. On the way, just north of Hannover in a pitched battle, the Americans lose two battalions of medieval infantry, but claim a German musket and medieval infantry battalion in turn. However, the Germans are able to push a knight battalion past the advancing Americans to threaten the recently captured city of Hannover. Tolui’s elite battalion of keshik was the sole garrisoning force at this time, with the rest of the force earmarked for the assault on Berlin. But Tolui stepped up to the task that day, destroying the knight battalion, and earning the right to command his own keshik army in time for the Berlin campaign!
With the addition of Tolui’s army, Subedei is able to put four fully healed armies and seven keshik battalions in the attack on Berlin. This is finally deemed sufficient, and as they approach the gates of Berlin, the order to attack is givem!
The Germans seemed oblivious to this ominous threat to Berlin, or at the very least saw the Americans as the easier prey, as they launched their counter-offensive against the Americans by Leipzig. The victorious Germans claimed two American medieval infantry battalions in this counter–punch. Though in the deep south, Ereen in turn killed two German archer battalions en route to New Heidelberg. To make matters even less comfortable for the Germans the Dutch brought in the Chinese in to the conflict against the Germans. Most of the world was now united in an effort to remove these arrogant Germans.
Ereen now had split his forces into a northern assault on New Frankfurt, and a southern charge on New Heidelberg. After destroying yet another longbow battalion in the fields by New Frankfurt, the seventh army finally gets to attack the town itself, killing two spear battalions, but still more defenders remain. In the offensive defence of New Munich, yet another German longbow perishes at the hands of a keshik battalion.
Subedei’s southern force had a long trek through jungle to reach its next target of New Leipzig. In the initial clash at the town, Chagatai’s army killed a defending musket battalion, but then needed to fall back to regain battle fitness.
The Battle of Berlin was a crucial battle for both sides. In many ways it marked the Germans’ last stand. If it should fall, then the Germans would lose their Great Wall inspired town defences, as well as the capital and the will to fight on. With the world against them, the fall of Germany would become inevitable. Thus, packed with the best troops in all of Germany, the Berlinese were determined to hold out the Mongolian attackers at all costs.
Subedei sent in his armies first, starting with the veterans of the third keshik army. This army alone destroyed two veteran German musket battalions before battle fatigue forced it to stop. The second army into the assault was Ogodei’s army. This time however, Subedei ordered the army to fall back after smashing through just one veteran musket battalion. Subedei wished to preserve some of his army strength for the final push. Kublai’s army was next, and again ordered to fall back after dispensing with a single veteran musket battalion. The newly formed army under the command of Tolui was the fourth and final army available for this campaign. After crushing yet another veteran musket battalion, Tolui was faced with only regular musket troops remaining. He pressed the assault claiming a second battalion. But the honours of the battle went back to the veteran Ogodei. Ordered back into the campaign, Ogodei swept aside the final regular musket battalion, and Berlin was in the hands of the Mongols!
Berlin brought with it control of the Knight’s Templar training facility for those fanactical crusader units, the Great Wall construction that had so aided the German defences, and would now benefit the Mongols, and the Pyramids – sort of a massive granary which also started providing benefit across the Mongolian nation. However, after such a blistering assault, even the mighty Mongolian armies were in a state of battle weary shock, and needed to heal up in the newly captured city. Kublai’s army, though, still had the capacity to fight on, and so Kublai led a force comprising his army, and the seven keshik battalions towards the new German capital of Hamburg.
The Americans continued their push on Heidelberg, losing a medieval infantry battalion, but claiming a German musket battalion and destroying a trebuchet in the process. Furthermore, the Americans have now entered knights into the conflict. The once backward Americans were catching up in technology.
But this is not all. The Chinese have finally finished their feared unit, as they start sending riders to the German front. The Khan’s war room greets this news with hastily revamped priorities for future campaigns, and development of the Mongols’ military might.
It was into this air of despair that the Babylonian ambassador came visiting the Khan. It seemed that in the now long war against the Romans, the might of Rome had succeeded in holding out against all foes. Now that Rome had made peace with most of its enemies, and was able to concentrate the war against the Babylonians, they had started to make inroads against the Babylonians with the capture of Shurrupak. They were now seeking a Mongolian alliance against Rome and a right of passage.
The Babylonians spoke of the unity of the previous alliance against Rome, and begged for a continuance on those glory days. The Khan replied to the effect that the Babylonians had treated the arrangement as mercenaries, demanding maximum payment for minimum input. While the rest of the alliance fought first the Romans, and then the greater danger, the Germans, the Babylonians had devoted their energy to building these wonders of the world. Now they were paying the price for insufficient military build-up, and with the all important German war raging, the Mongolians were not in a position to bail them out. So no, there would be no further alliance against Rome.
Northern Front
Southern Front
Meanwhile, with the fall of Berlin, the allies found it possible to advance against the flagging German strength more rapidly. Kublai headed the assault on Hamburg, and in yet another bloodless coup for the Mongols, three veteran musket, a regular musket and a knight battalion were smashed to claim Hamburg, and the last supply of saltpetre available to the Germans. In fact the Germans had now been deprived of both horses and saltpetre, and so the quality of their replacement units was now rapidly deteriorating.
Next to Hamburg, a German musket battalion manages to rout the attack of a keshik battalion, but it falls to the next attack, ending even this small glimmer of hope.
And in the south, the news is no better for the Germans either. Ereen’s forces claim both New Frankfurt and New Heidelburg killing four spear battalions in the process, and suffering only two retreats.
The Mongol’s allies do not fare nearly as well, however, with the Americans losing two medieval infantry battalions by Hamburg, and the Byzantines losing a knight battalion there as well. By Munich, the Byzantines swap a knight battalion for a longbow battalion. To make matters worse for the Americans, however, their other foe, the Scandinavians does to Los Angeles what the Germans could not, and renders it into a pile of rubble. This does, however, free up a precious city site next to a gems resource, which remains a luxury that the Mongols are yet to possess.
Sandman2003
Prince
Chapter Twelve continued
The Byzantines though, had a change of luck at new Leipzig. The Mongols struck first using Chagatai’s army, but due to the persistent will of the defenders, Chagatai had then to pull back. The Byzantines seized the opportunity created by this vacuum to attack, and although retreated twice, managed to seize the city.
The American advance on Heidelberg again sees field action as the Americans lose a further three medieval infantry battalions and a knight battalion, but cost the Germans a longbow and a knight battalion.
While the Mongols continued to rest up battle fatigued troops, the Byzantines decided to bring the Scandinavians into the conflict against the Germans. Meanwhile, the German western front heated up as well. The party on that side of the conflict that demonstrated the mettle for this war was the Dutch, and they finally arrived in force. Their reward for this persistence was the capture of the German city of Frankfurt.
Back in the Khan’s court, Yeh-lu had become aware that the Mongols were once more falling behind in the technology race. Not only were the Chinese putting these new ‘rider’ units into the battlefield, but also the world science powers had developed Navigation, and who knew how much beyond the science of chemistry? To this end, Yeh-lu again persuaded the Khan to generously fund the sages, so that the secrest of economics could be learnt expeditiously. Finally with the secreats of economics learnt, the secret project in Tabriz was given a name, the Smith’s Trading Company.
But this knowledge could not be kept to the Mongols. Even at the risk of enabling a race for the trasure of the Smith’s building, it was more important still for the Mongols to reassert their technological leadership, and so the economics had to be traded around. First up were the Inca who agreed to swap economics for chemistry, a chest of gold, their world map and a small annual tribute.
With the addition of Chemistry to the Mongols’ stockpile of knowledge, it did indeed become evident that their existed still further knowledges based on this chemistry. The science of metallurgy was known, and known to confer military benefits. Consequently, Yeh-lu prioritised this knowledge next. King William had made a good trading partner in the past, and continued to now. The trade of economics and several chests of gold was made with the Dutch for the knowledge of metallurgy.
There was yet one further technology out there, but not in the possession of the Mongols. This was navigation. This time, Yeh-lu again turned to the Mongols’ eastern ally, the Byzantines to make the trade. Theodora was a little more amenable to a fair trade and so for economics and small change, Yeh-lu was able to secure the knowledge of Navigation.
The sages blessed with this wealth of new knowledge were to now return the favour to Yeh-lu. They had come up with a daring concept to try and meld the power of the musket with the power of the horse. This approach appeared to offer a very real way of matching the strength of the new Chinese unit, and so with maximum funding, the sages were granted every lee-way to succeed in this endeavour.
Subedei had now had time to recover his forces, and reposition to start the final push against the Germans. Almost simultaneously, Subedei attacked the Germans at New Berlin, New Koningsberg and Brandenberg. Though the Germans were able to still utilise battalions of muskets at these cities, Subedei had at least one army at the gates of each as well. In a red letter year for the Mongols, the Germans lost all three and a further six musket battalions and two longbow battalions. The German days were now seriously numbered.
In the deep south, Ereen’s forces were moving towards the final German town there, Artaxata, but hey were beaten to the punch by the Scandinavians. The Scandinavians showed no quarter to the hapless Germans, destroying the town and all its inhabitants.
The Americans had commenced their thirty year seize of the town of Heidelberg, and although taking heavy losses as the siege wore on, eventually the Americans’ persistence in this war was rewarded with the town!
In all this chaos, Yeh-lu found time to found another city, filling in the area of Mongolian influence just slightly east of the southern front-line. Nalayh also bordered one of the two remaining Indian cities.
Without army support, the assault on Bremen resulted in the loss of a thousand keshiks and two thousand Germans, and this was enough to seize the city. The Germans were down to the single city of Cologne. However, it was here that the Mongols were to suffer their most devasting loss of the entire campaign. With both Ogodei’s army and Tolui’s army in place for the assault, Subedei ordered this final bastion of German power attacked. Initially everything went according to the Mongol plan. Ogodei crushed a musket battalion and pressed on his advantage. But here things went off the rails. A particularly determined German musket battalion dug in, and defied the odds to not only rout, but to totally destroy the attacking army. Noble Ogodei himself was to perish in this last battle!
Enraged by the sight of his fallen comrades, Tolui led his army into the battle, and although the Germans came close to destroying a second army, this was simply not to be. However, deeply fatigued from this battle, Tolui’s army had to regroup, so the final assault was headed by a single keshik battalion, though by now the defense of Cologne had been left to a longbow battalion. The resistance was finally, and totally crushed!
One of the benefits of this new knowledge of Navigation was that now it had become possible to share each others maps. Though the Khan’s knowledge of the world had been extensive, it had never been complete. So as the last shots rang out in the German war, Yeh-lu was sent to the major powers of the world to trade world maps, and so regain som eof the lost treasury, and get a full picture of the world.
Yeh-lu chose to trade with the Byzantines, the Dutch, the Inca, the Scandinavians, the Babylonians and the Romans. Yeh-lu not only secured the complete world map, but also picked up 417 gold and 17 gold per annum tribute. The new world map clearly showed the power of the Mongolian expansion, as now the Mongols were most obviously the dominant force on the planet.
The Byzantines though, had a change of luck at new Leipzig. The Mongols struck first using Chagatai’s army, but due to the persistent will of the defenders, Chagatai had then to pull back. The Byzantines seized the opportunity created by this vacuum to attack, and although retreated twice, managed to seize the city.
The American advance on Heidelberg again sees field action as the Americans lose a further three medieval infantry battalions and a knight battalion, but cost the Germans a longbow and a knight battalion.
While the Mongols continued to rest up battle fatigued troops, the Byzantines decided to bring the Scandinavians into the conflict against the Germans. Meanwhile, the German western front heated up as well. The party on that side of the conflict that demonstrated the mettle for this war was the Dutch, and they finally arrived in force. Their reward for this persistence was the capture of the German city of Frankfurt.
Back in the Khan’s court, Yeh-lu had become aware that the Mongols were once more falling behind in the technology race. Not only were the Chinese putting these new ‘rider’ units into the battlefield, but also the world science powers had developed Navigation, and who knew how much beyond the science of chemistry? To this end, Yeh-lu again persuaded the Khan to generously fund the sages, so that the secrest of economics could be learnt expeditiously. Finally with the secreats of economics learnt, the secret project in Tabriz was given a name, the Smith’s Trading Company.
But this knowledge could not be kept to the Mongols. Even at the risk of enabling a race for the trasure of the Smith’s building, it was more important still for the Mongols to reassert their technological leadership, and so the economics had to be traded around. First up were the Inca who agreed to swap economics for chemistry, a chest of gold, their world map and a small annual tribute.
With the addition of Chemistry to the Mongols’ stockpile of knowledge, it did indeed become evident that their existed still further knowledges based on this chemistry. The science of metallurgy was known, and known to confer military benefits. Consequently, Yeh-lu prioritised this knowledge next. King William had made a good trading partner in the past, and continued to now. The trade of economics and several chests of gold was made with the Dutch for the knowledge of metallurgy.
There was yet one further technology out there, but not in the possession of the Mongols. This was navigation. This time, Yeh-lu again turned to the Mongols’ eastern ally, the Byzantines to make the trade. Theodora was a little more amenable to a fair trade and so for economics and small change, Yeh-lu was able to secure the knowledge of Navigation.
The sages blessed with this wealth of new knowledge were to now return the favour to Yeh-lu. They had come up with a daring concept to try and meld the power of the musket with the power of the horse. This approach appeared to offer a very real way of matching the strength of the new Chinese unit, and so with maximum funding, the sages were granted every lee-way to succeed in this endeavour.
Subedei had now had time to recover his forces, and reposition to start the final push against the Germans. Almost simultaneously, Subedei attacked the Germans at New Berlin, New Koningsberg and Brandenberg. Though the Germans were able to still utilise battalions of muskets at these cities, Subedei had at least one army at the gates of each as well. In a red letter year for the Mongols, the Germans lost all three and a further six musket battalions and two longbow battalions. The German days were now seriously numbered.
In the deep south, Ereen’s forces were moving towards the final German town there, Artaxata, but hey were beaten to the punch by the Scandinavians. The Scandinavians showed no quarter to the hapless Germans, destroying the town and all its inhabitants.
The Americans had commenced their thirty year seize of the town of Heidelberg, and although taking heavy losses as the siege wore on, eventually the Americans’ persistence in this war was rewarded with the town!
In all this chaos, Yeh-lu found time to found another city, filling in the area of Mongolian influence just slightly east of the southern front-line. Nalayh also bordered one of the two remaining Indian cities.
Without army support, the assault on Bremen resulted in the loss of a thousand keshiks and two thousand Germans, and this was enough to seize the city. The Germans were down to the single city of Cologne. However, it was here that the Mongols were to suffer their most devasting loss of the entire campaign. With both Ogodei’s army and Tolui’s army in place for the assault, Subedei ordered this final bastion of German power attacked. Initially everything went according to the Mongol plan. Ogodei crushed a musket battalion and pressed on his advantage. But here things went off the rails. A particularly determined German musket battalion dug in, and defied the odds to not only rout, but to totally destroy the attacking army. Noble Ogodei himself was to perish in this last battle!
Enraged by the sight of his fallen comrades, Tolui led his army into the battle, and although the Germans came close to destroying a second army, this was simply not to be. However, deeply fatigued from this battle, Tolui’s army had to regroup, so the final assault was headed by a single keshik battalion, though by now the defense of Cologne had been left to a longbow battalion. The resistance was finally, and totally crushed!
One of the benefits of this new knowledge of Navigation was that now it had become possible to share each others maps. Though the Khan’s knowledge of the world had been extensive, it had never been complete. So as the last shots rang out in the German war, Yeh-lu was sent to the major powers of the world to trade world maps, and so regain som eof the lost treasury, and get a full picture of the world.
Yeh-lu chose to trade with the Byzantines, the Dutch, the Inca, the Scandinavians, the Babylonians and the Romans. Yeh-lu not only secured the complete world map, but also picked up 417 gold and 17 gold per annum tribute. The new world map clearly showed the power of the Mongolian expansion, as now the Mongols were most obviously the dominant force on the planet.
Sandman2003
Prince
I was wondering what was wrong with William myself! Cavalry are next - foot soldiers take too long to get around a huge map!rbis4rbb said:WIlliam looks stoned in that picturebut anyways, good update. After the Keshiks become outdated, will you use siege and foot soldiers at all?
Sandman2003
Prince
I am not saying that foot soldiers don't work - far from it, but I have found out that the performance of horse borne units far outstrips the performance of foot soldiers in terms of rate of conquest and casualty rates as well. However, there are situations where foot soldiers and artillery are much better options. eg AA wars against Carthage or Greece for example - the loss rate on horses is heinous without swords. Also in the IA - cavalry versus infantry without artillery support is suicidal.
One other advantage of running with horses from the beginning is that you have a good upgrade path through chivalry and military tradition, and this is during a period in which the game favours the offense rather than the defence. When rifles and then infantry come out, the balance swings back in favour of the defense.
A good case in point to demonstrate the relative effectiveness of these two approaches iwas in my demi-god game (refer signature below). When I was still conquering my home continent, I had seperate SODs of foot soldiers and mass artillery, and knights. Quite frankly, the knights were three times as effective in capturing enemy cities, and it was the foot soldier SODs that ran out of troops.
The final point is that you also should play to the strengths of your chosen civ. If playing say Rome with a strong AA UU, then of course you would pump out the legionairies and catapults, but as the Mongols, with a horse based UU, of course you head for the horses.
So that is my reasoning. In the end, though, you have to do whatever works for you.
One other advantage of running with horses from the beginning is that you have a good upgrade path through chivalry and military tradition, and this is during a period in which the game favours the offense rather than the defence. When rifles and then infantry come out, the balance swings back in favour of the defense.
A good case in point to demonstrate the relative effectiveness of these two approaches iwas in my demi-god game (refer signature below). When I was still conquering my home continent, I had seperate SODs of foot soldiers and mass artillery, and knights. Quite frankly, the knights were three times as effective in capturing enemy cities, and it was the foot soldier SODs that ran out of troops.
The final point is that you also should play to the strengths of your chosen civ. If playing say Rome with a strong AA UU, then of course you would pump out the legionairies and catapults, but as the Mongols, with a horse based UU, of course you head for the horses.
So that is my reasoning. In the end, though, you have to do whatever works for you.
Sandman2003
Prince
Chapter Thirteen: The Spice War
The war with Germany was over with an overwhelming victory to the forces of the Khan and his allies. But the end of this war did not mean the end of world conflict. The long running Roman war still continued with the Romans fighting against the Babylonians, and both sides slipping behind in technological progress. The Americans too were still locked in a difficult war with the Scandinavians, and though Scandinavia was a long way away from America, the Scandinavians were only now starting to arrive at the more remote American cities in force.
Meanwhile, the Mongols continued their expansionary push. The town of Punjab that the Mongols briefly owned before destroying the town in the face of the advancing Romans had access to a supply of the valued gems. The Mongols had been enjoying the rich economic benefits from having their own supply of the valuable resources of wine, furs, dyes, incense, ivory and silks. This left only gems and spices as luxury goods that could impart benefit to the Mongolian people. However, trading for these goods was prohibitive, because the other nations had to supply so much to cover the entire Mongolian empire. In this way, the Mongols were victim to their own success.
So with trade out, and an ever demanding population wanting more, the Mongols were forced to look for a native supply of these valued luxuries. Now, Punjab had been destroyed, but the Americans had rebuilt Los Angeles there. Now more recently, the Scandinavians had destroyed Los Angeles, so this troubled town site was once more up for grabs, only this time, the Mongols had nearby bordering towns, so the effort to connect the gems to the rest of the Mongolian empire was much more manageable than previously.
A settler caravan was rushed to the spot, and the town, Gem City was founded immediately.
This meant that in time the gems would be available for the Mongols, leaving only spices as a luxury not currently within the Mongols grasp. The Mongols searched high and low for this commodity, but it was not to be found within their borders, or the immediately surrounding territory. There was however a supply not far from Mongolian territory…
It turned out the backward and treacherous Japanese people had a source of this spice. The Japanese had been traitorous and cowardly in their attempted sneak attack of Mongolian lands. However, they had also shown a grim determination, and had a substantial number of troops, so many in fact that they had succeeded in stalling Ereen’s campaign there last time around.
At this time also the sages were making excellent progress on the improved horse bound unit that utilised the musket technology. The progress had been so good that very soon these units would be available for going into battle. Of course there were competing demands on their use. The Sino-American peninsular had yet to be addressed, and as these units were built partly in response to the Chinese riders, then on the eve of their readiness one might have expected a move towards the Chinese.
However, the value of the spices could not be denied, and so as the massive forces of the Mongols were pulled back from former German lands, they headed south for locations along the Japanese border. Aside from anything else, the Mongolian military high command was interested to observe the performance of these new units, before taking on a more difficult foe.
As the troops were making their way home, some found value in taking a short-cut through the northern most Japanese territory. The Japanese reacted furiously to this trespass, further weakening the peace vote in the Khan’s court. Meanwhile, as the Scandinavians captured the American city of Memphis, the Americans teamed up with the minnows of the world, India in an attempt to hold out the berserks of the Scandinavian military.
The Roman war continued to plod on as well. Though both sides were running desperately short of quality attacking units, it was to be the Romans who continued to make progress in this war, capturing the Babylonian town of Sippar.
On a more disturbing development, the Mongols no longer lead the technological world, with both the Netherlands and the Byzantines winning the race to military tradition, and also picking up the new fangled government concept of democracy. This democracy promised to be a real scientific boon to these nations in times of peace – something the Mongols needed to be wary of.
Finally, the Mongols’ own form of military tradition came in, and research was set to a concept known as ‘physics’ with moderate funding – unless the sages could demonstrate an important military benefit of the new knowledge, this was the best they were going to get. A massive upgrade project was commenced with the troops on the Japanese front, and the veteran keshiks quickly adapted to the new form of warfare required as a cavalry battalion.
The Mongolian desire for spice had become insatiable, and the Khan could delay no longer. Not interested in the outrageous price the Japanese would charge for spice, if they would even sell it, the Khan made his demand simply.
And so the brief moment of Mongolian peace was shattered with renewed hostilities in the south. General Eren was put in charge of this operation, with Subedei acting merely as an observer. Subedei had been awarded the more glamorous role fo the northern conquests of China and America. Meanwhile, the Americans, just after signing in India against the Scandinavians, pulled out of that conflict themselves. As far as the Khan was concerned, one cowardly race had simply set up the extinction of another! However, he did agree to extend a right of passage agreement with the Americans. This would simply mean that after Japan, and repositioning of troops, the Mongols would have to strike China first, and the Khan had absolutely no qualms about this concept.
The first moves in the Japanese campaign were assaults on the Japanese northern towns of Matsuyama, Sapporo and Nagoya. The armies of Kublai and Tolui struck at Matsuyama, encountering only two pike battalions as defense. At Sapporo, the third keshik army encountered only two spear battalions as it claimed the town. At Nagoya, the new cavalry battalions were deployed for the first time. The cavalries’ greater range and devastating attack proved most effective against the two pike and one archer battalions present.
Japan had already lost three towns before the main force, based in Herakleia, surged forward. Owing to the dense forests around Herakleia, progress was slower, however, Ereen had amassed a huge force targeting the key capital city of Kyoto, with its sole spice resource, and the city of Osaka. In the forests, two archer and one spear battalions were destroyed.
The Japanese had managed to create one settlement far from the rest of their towns, over the Great Dividing Range just south of New Heidelberg. It was here that old Kublai senior finally decided to hang up his uniform, not before leading his keshik battalion against a Japanese archer battalion, however. Kublai senior was invited to Karakorum for a glorious tribute, and assignment to a special civilian project (well almost civilian).
The cavalry battalions were next to strike at the town of Edo, but it was here that they were to experience the staunchest Japanese resistance of the whole campaign. Perhaps also, these battalions had been rushed into battle without the full period of adaption to the new capabilities of the cavalry unit. In any event four cavalry battalions attacked the town, but the pike defense was not to be breeched! A thousand cavalry men died that day, as the remaining three battalions were routed from the field of battle, but remained exposed to the Japanese should they chose to counterattack.
To reduce the power of such a counterattack, Ereen was forced to commander units where ever he could find such units with a sufficient range to strike. Kublai’s keshik army killed a spear battalion, and another cavalry battalion dispatched an archer battalion, but there were still more fully healthy Japanese units within range to strike the wounded cavalry!
In the south, Ereen’s units were in position to strike the capital. First, Chagatai’s army destroyed the new samurai unit and a pike battalion. Then cavalry battalion after cavalry battalion were ordered to charge against the hapless Japanese defenders. Even one was successful resulting in losses to the Japanese of a further four thousand pike men and two thousand spesrmen. Kyoto had fallen!
In the forests surrounding Herakleia, the armies of Ereen killed a further five thousand Japanese troops. By Kyoto, a cavalry battalion caught a Japanese pike battalion in the open and made short work of the enemy.
The charge on Osaka was simply over-powered. Two cavalry battalions were sufficient to smash the pike defenders and claim the city. This fortunately offered up an alternative route to Edo, and so the second keshik army moved to destroy a pike battalion by Edo.
Force left over from the Kyoto assault was also in range to attack Yokohama. Here as elsewhere, the cavalry battalions proved unstoppable, with three being all that was required to smash the two pike and one medieval infantry battalions defending the town. A further two battalions of Japanese troops were destroyed just outside the town. And by Osaka, and old elite keshik battalion proved it still had battle value by destroying an archer battalion.
Japan was crumbling quickly but it was not over yet. At Piedras Negras, the Japanese surprised a large worker gang in the process of irrigating to the Great Dividing Range and beyond. The Japanese exacted some revenge on this gang by slaughtering the lot. This small victory was short-lived as cavalry battalions slaughtered the two Japanese battalions responsible for this act!
The town of Edo was to fall next as a keshik army claimed the lives of s samurai, a pike and an archer battalion to claim the resilient town. By Osaka, keshik and cavalry battalions combined to wipe out two more pike and one archer battalion. At Shimonoseki, the half victory of a cavalry retreat occurred before two more cavalry battalions destroyed the two pike battalions to claim the town. At Izumo, the inevitable march continued as cavalry destroyed two more pike and one spear battalion to seize the town.
The Japanese had placed much hope on their vaunted new weapon in the form of the samurai. So far this new unit had been swept aside by the awesome power that the Mongols had at their disposal, and that was simply not going to change now. Another samurai was killed by Kyoto, and in the town of Nara. Nara also had two pike battalions, but they were quickly disposed of by the keshik armies.
By New Heidelberg, Kublai senior’s old elite keshik battalion struck again to kill a Japanese pike battalion. And in sight of this Mongol-Japanese War, the Dutch won the race to the old American city of Artaxata and settled a new colony, Delphi.
The final destruction of the Japanese was in sight, and Ereen was not going to let them go. At Nagasaki, a cavalry battalion was again retreated, but again no significant losses were inflicted on the mongols as they swept the two pike and one spear battalions aside. At Tokyo the odd, but ineffective, samurai were defeated for the last time. The loss of a further pike and archer battalions sealed the towns fate.
In but four decades the Japanese empire was brought to its knees. The last sole town holding out, Hakodate, survived two decades longer, but only because it was all but worthless, being totally corrupt and it lacked the basic infrastructure of roads preventing a quick assault. The two pike defenders of Hakodate died to the same cavalry battalion, but an archer battalion escaped with a Japanese settler caravan and a worker to try and re-establish elsewhere. This was not to be, however, the Khan’s orders were to complete the removal of this annoying civilisation, and that was what Ereen had every intention of doing.
So just outside the borders of the recently captured Hakodate, a cavalry battalion spotted these Japanese refuges. The archer battalion was once again unable to put up any reasonable form of defense, and the settlers were simply enslaved to replace the losses at Piedras Negras!
The war with Germany was over with an overwhelming victory to the forces of the Khan and his allies. But the end of this war did not mean the end of world conflict. The long running Roman war still continued with the Romans fighting against the Babylonians, and both sides slipping behind in technological progress. The Americans too were still locked in a difficult war with the Scandinavians, and though Scandinavia was a long way away from America, the Scandinavians were only now starting to arrive at the more remote American cities in force.
Meanwhile, the Mongols continued their expansionary push. The town of Punjab that the Mongols briefly owned before destroying the town in the face of the advancing Romans had access to a supply of the valued gems. The Mongols had been enjoying the rich economic benefits from having their own supply of the valuable resources of wine, furs, dyes, incense, ivory and silks. This left only gems and spices as luxury goods that could impart benefit to the Mongolian people. However, trading for these goods was prohibitive, because the other nations had to supply so much to cover the entire Mongolian empire. In this way, the Mongols were victim to their own success.
So with trade out, and an ever demanding population wanting more, the Mongols were forced to look for a native supply of these valued luxuries. Now, Punjab had been destroyed, but the Americans had rebuilt Los Angeles there. Now more recently, the Scandinavians had destroyed Los Angeles, so this troubled town site was once more up for grabs, only this time, the Mongols had nearby bordering towns, so the effort to connect the gems to the rest of the Mongolian empire was much more manageable than previously.
A settler caravan was rushed to the spot, and the town, Gem City was founded immediately.
This meant that in time the gems would be available for the Mongols, leaving only spices as a luxury not currently within the Mongols grasp. The Mongols searched high and low for this commodity, but it was not to be found within their borders, or the immediately surrounding territory. There was however a supply not far from Mongolian territory…
It turned out the backward and treacherous Japanese people had a source of this spice. The Japanese had been traitorous and cowardly in their attempted sneak attack of Mongolian lands. However, they had also shown a grim determination, and had a substantial number of troops, so many in fact that they had succeeded in stalling Ereen’s campaign there last time around.
At this time also the sages were making excellent progress on the improved horse bound unit that utilised the musket technology. The progress had been so good that very soon these units would be available for going into battle. Of course there were competing demands on their use. The Sino-American peninsular had yet to be addressed, and as these units were built partly in response to the Chinese riders, then on the eve of their readiness one might have expected a move towards the Chinese.
However, the value of the spices could not be denied, and so as the massive forces of the Mongols were pulled back from former German lands, they headed south for locations along the Japanese border. Aside from anything else, the Mongolian military high command was interested to observe the performance of these new units, before taking on a more difficult foe.
As the troops were making their way home, some found value in taking a short-cut through the northern most Japanese territory. The Japanese reacted furiously to this trespass, further weakening the peace vote in the Khan’s court. Meanwhile, as the Scandinavians captured the American city of Memphis, the Americans teamed up with the minnows of the world, India in an attempt to hold out the berserks of the Scandinavian military.
The Roman war continued to plod on as well. Though both sides were running desperately short of quality attacking units, it was to be the Romans who continued to make progress in this war, capturing the Babylonian town of Sippar.
On a more disturbing development, the Mongols no longer lead the technological world, with both the Netherlands and the Byzantines winning the race to military tradition, and also picking up the new fangled government concept of democracy. This democracy promised to be a real scientific boon to these nations in times of peace – something the Mongols needed to be wary of.
Finally, the Mongols’ own form of military tradition came in, and research was set to a concept known as ‘physics’ with moderate funding – unless the sages could demonstrate an important military benefit of the new knowledge, this was the best they were going to get. A massive upgrade project was commenced with the troops on the Japanese front, and the veteran keshiks quickly adapted to the new form of warfare required as a cavalry battalion.
The Mongolian desire for spice had become insatiable, and the Khan could delay no longer. Not interested in the outrageous price the Japanese would charge for spice, if they would even sell it, the Khan made his demand simply.
And so the brief moment of Mongolian peace was shattered with renewed hostilities in the south. General Eren was put in charge of this operation, with Subedei acting merely as an observer. Subedei had been awarded the more glamorous role fo the northern conquests of China and America. Meanwhile, the Americans, just after signing in India against the Scandinavians, pulled out of that conflict themselves. As far as the Khan was concerned, one cowardly race had simply set up the extinction of another! However, he did agree to extend a right of passage agreement with the Americans. This would simply mean that after Japan, and repositioning of troops, the Mongols would have to strike China first, and the Khan had absolutely no qualms about this concept.
The first moves in the Japanese campaign were assaults on the Japanese northern towns of Matsuyama, Sapporo and Nagoya. The armies of Kublai and Tolui struck at Matsuyama, encountering only two pike battalions as defense. At Sapporo, the third keshik army encountered only two spear battalions as it claimed the town. At Nagoya, the new cavalry battalions were deployed for the first time. The cavalries’ greater range and devastating attack proved most effective against the two pike and one archer battalions present.
Japan had already lost three towns before the main force, based in Herakleia, surged forward. Owing to the dense forests around Herakleia, progress was slower, however, Ereen had amassed a huge force targeting the key capital city of Kyoto, with its sole spice resource, and the city of Osaka. In the forests, two archer and one spear battalions were destroyed.
The Japanese had managed to create one settlement far from the rest of their towns, over the Great Dividing Range just south of New Heidelberg. It was here that old Kublai senior finally decided to hang up his uniform, not before leading his keshik battalion against a Japanese archer battalion, however. Kublai senior was invited to Karakorum for a glorious tribute, and assignment to a special civilian project (well almost civilian).
The cavalry battalions were next to strike at the town of Edo, but it was here that they were to experience the staunchest Japanese resistance of the whole campaign. Perhaps also, these battalions had been rushed into battle without the full period of adaption to the new capabilities of the cavalry unit. In any event four cavalry battalions attacked the town, but the pike defense was not to be breeched! A thousand cavalry men died that day, as the remaining three battalions were routed from the field of battle, but remained exposed to the Japanese should they chose to counterattack.
To reduce the power of such a counterattack, Ereen was forced to commander units where ever he could find such units with a sufficient range to strike. Kublai’s keshik army killed a spear battalion, and another cavalry battalion dispatched an archer battalion, but there were still more fully healthy Japanese units within range to strike the wounded cavalry!
In the south, Ereen’s units were in position to strike the capital. First, Chagatai’s army destroyed the new samurai unit and a pike battalion. Then cavalry battalion after cavalry battalion were ordered to charge against the hapless Japanese defenders. Even one was successful resulting in losses to the Japanese of a further four thousand pike men and two thousand spesrmen. Kyoto had fallen!
In the forests surrounding Herakleia, the armies of Ereen killed a further five thousand Japanese troops. By Kyoto, a cavalry battalion caught a Japanese pike battalion in the open and made short work of the enemy.
The charge on Osaka was simply over-powered. Two cavalry battalions were sufficient to smash the pike defenders and claim the city. This fortunately offered up an alternative route to Edo, and so the second keshik army moved to destroy a pike battalion by Edo.
Force left over from the Kyoto assault was also in range to attack Yokohama. Here as elsewhere, the cavalry battalions proved unstoppable, with three being all that was required to smash the two pike and one medieval infantry battalions defending the town. A further two battalions of Japanese troops were destroyed just outside the town. And by Osaka, and old elite keshik battalion proved it still had battle value by destroying an archer battalion.
Japan was crumbling quickly but it was not over yet. At Piedras Negras, the Japanese surprised a large worker gang in the process of irrigating to the Great Dividing Range and beyond. The Japanese exacted some revenge on this gang by slaughtering the lot. This small victory was short-lived as cavalry battalions slaughtered the two Japanese battalions responsible for this act!
The town of Edo was to fall next as a keshik army claimed the lives of s samurai, a pike and an archer battalion to claim the resilient town. By Osaka, keshik and cavalry battalions combined to wipe out two more pike and one archer battalion. At Shimonoseki, the half victory of a cavalry retreat occurred before two more cavalry battalions destroyed the two pike battalions to claim the town. At Izumo, the inevitable march continued as cavalry destroyed two more pike and one spear battalion to seize the town.
The Japanese had placed much hope on their vaunted new weapon in the form of the samurai. So far this new unit had been swept aside by the awesome power that the Mongols had at their disposal, and that was simply not going to change now. Another samurai was killed by Kyoto, and in the town of Nara. Nara also had two pike battalions, but they were quickly disposed of by the keshik armies.
By New Heidelberg, Kublai senior’s old elite keshik battalion struck again to kill a Japanese pike battalion. And in sight of this Mongol-Japanese War, the Dutch won the race to the old American city of Artaxata and settled a new colony, Delphi.
The final destruction of the Japanese was in sight, and Ereen was not going to let them go. At Nagasaki, a cavalry battalion was again retreated, but again no significant losses were inflicted on the mongols as they swept the two pike and one spear battalions aside. At Tokyo the odd, but ineffective, samurai were defeated for the last time. The loss of a further pike and archer battalions sealed the towns fate.
In but four decades the Japanese empire was brought to its knees. The last sole town holding out, Hakodate, survived two decades longer, but only because it was all but worthless, being totally corrupt and it lacked the basic infrastructure of roads preventing a quick assault. The two pike defenders of Hakodate died to the same cavalry battalion, but an archer battalion escaped with a Japanese settler caravan and a worker to try and re-establish elsewhere. This was not to be, however, the Khan’s orders were to complete the removal of this annoying civilisation, and that was what Ereen had every intention of doing.
So just outside the borders of the recently captured Hakodate, a cavalry battalion spotted these Japanese refuges. The archer battalion was once again unable to put up any reasonable form of defense, and the settlers were simply enslaved to replace the losses at Piedras Negras!
Fundamentality
WEE A PLANE!!!
Way to go Sandman about getting all the luxuries! 
Sandman2003
Prince
I think you over-rate my abilities, El Loco, but I think I will try Deity continents next.
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