Golden Horde - Scourge From The East

GrimPagan - I do believe that's quite a fitting name for the Horde.

Mettermrck - The turquoise experiment? I think you're right though this is up there with the likes of the Magna Carta or Declaration of Independence.

coz1 - Definitely a just cause, however the Europeans seem not to see it that way.

Chief Ragusa - It is the same colour and they shall go the same way too. Let them fall to the Hordes!

demokratickid - Since France has been falling apart with civil war after civil war. I've lost count of the numbers but must be around 20-30.

Tokhtamysh II : Part 3
The declaration of war had been sent to Spain with the hope it would draw in their long time ally and tempting target Austria. So it was with great annoyance that Tokhtamysh received the news that Spain would go it alone in this war, refusing even to call on her allies for help.

Perhaps they saw the Khan's plans and decided to scuttle them, maybe instead they arrogantly thought they could handle the threat alone. Perhaps it was the hardcoded reluctance of all European monarchs to call upon allies in any war with someone not deemed 'European'.

But the situation was not all bad for Spain still presented some juicy land ripe for the taking. With that in mind a few armies hastily moved to new positions and strategic arrows were pointed in other directions.

Strategic arrows show the way to Spain and glory​

For the Horde of old, Apulia, with it's rugged terrain might have been an obstacle. But to the modern Horde with it's infantry based armies the hills served only to funnel the enemy into convenient narrow lines making KABAP all the much easier to practice. Soon the Italian countryside was ravaged by methods that only half a millennium of being a plunderer can teach. Such destruction brought the Italians to their knees and the war machine headed south over the straits into Muslim lands lost to the Christians nearly a thousand years earlier.

Perhaps it was this then that sparked the Spanish to conduct their invasion of the old Saracen homeland of Egypt. It was a significant invasion led by forces from both the Red Sea and Mediterranean and proved troublesome for the undersized Egyptian garrison. At first.

Large numbers of Spanish tour the desert

Aswan proves a popular target​

The literal translation of Desert is red earth. It was a name that the Horde certainly made sure rung true as they headed north out of the Nubian desert. Surprising the much larger Spaniard force they quickly gained the upper hand and slaughtered thousands till the land was indeed red with blood. So numerous were the bodies and wreckage that the Nile became clogged and the size of the flood that year was quite reduced. An event leading one Horde engineer to conclude the site might be good for a dam to control the mighty river at some date.

The Spaniard invasion of Egypt thus fell to pieces. Quite unlike the Horde in Sicily who soon controlled the whole island.

Prompting Spain to agree to peace deal lest their homeland come under threat. No doubt they regretted not calling on their allies. No doubt they would not learn should war between the two begin again.

Chief Ragusa - Taking Italy will most definitely be on the cards. The ships are all remnants of the now defunct Ottoman navy.

Amob_m_s - Actually the fleet was inherited along with the Ottoman Empire.

coz1 - Haha, good point, as long as mine don't hold me back too much.

billy bob - Well the navy is one inherited from the Ottomans, they aren't building them in the Horde yet. Is there a problem with taking Sicily?

Mettermrck - Thanks. It came in handy the fleet, almost enoguh to convince the Khan to build one, but for now the old Ottoman one will do.

demokratickid - That they do. Fortunately not built by the Horde thoguh. If it was it would most likely be upon the ocean floor now.

Amob_m_s - Its a joke indeed, but fortunately the punchline is at the expense of the Europeans.

GhostWriter - I don't believe they have any cores but I still wouldn't mind a DOW or two. It means less BB

Tokhtamysh II : Part 4
In todays modern age when people catch the travel bug they easily fix things with a quick flight to a foreign destination or simply hop in the car and drive. But at the turn of the 19th century in the Golden Horde is wasn't quite as simple. Despite this it was fair to say Toktamysh was suffering from a severe problem now. Having toured the southern tip of Italy he was fascinated to see more. Unfortuanately, the Pope controlling the rest of the peninsula was anxious he see nothing. There really was only one thing for it. This bug demanded war.

Thus began the war with the highest holy man in all of Christendom. At last the Golden Horde was once again able to inspire fear across all Europe. To say that it did good things for Toktamysh's ego would be an understatement. In fact so elated was he that he asked himself why have one war, when you can have two?

Another hastily prepared declaration of war was sent north to Tataristan.

Few severe obstacles were met in any of the theatres of war. City after city yielded before the Horde and many thousands took swift courses in KABAP, much to their dismay. Tataristan made peace first, becoming a vassal state of the Horde.

Egypt didn't last much longer. They gave up most of their lands including the rich centre of trade in Alexandria. It was a welcome addition to the Egyptian domains of the Horde.

Toktamysh expected the Catholic states of Europe to rally behind their spiritual leader. But they didn't. The Khan could only shake his head in pity. If the Europeans persisted in being so divided then it would be their biggest mistake and he would make sure the united Horde took full advantage. Italy was soon overrun and despite a large invasion of Egypt, like Spain before, it would prove useless in stopping the onslaught.

Egypt is a popeular destination

But in the end Italy falls to the Horde as Rome is once again taken by 'barbarian' Hordes. Europeans arrogance about their enemies is yet another huge flaw.

Sinai too is taken from the Pope. Unfortunately the Arabic population have succumbed and converted to Catholicism.​

Saulta - Paralysed by fear is a good take on things I believe.

coz1 - Multi-tasking at war should be what the Golden Horde is all about. That purple will be in the firing line soon.

Mettermrck - They fell pretty easy in this case. No complaints there.

billy bob - It certainly was good to have a more traditional war with none of these boats messing about.

I recently got EU1 working again and for those of you interested I've begun an AAR on it here. It follows the Golden Horde too but I certainly don't expect it to go anywhere near as successfully as this AAR as EU1 puts the Horde in a much harder starting position.