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tamius23

Indefatigable Psychotic
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Feb 12, 2011
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I have started an AAR for CK2, after a week of not knowing who to play. I started as the Il-khanate as soon as they appeared, in early 1218. Before then, I played as nobody, so as not to meddle with the goings-on in those years.

They start off as Tengri pagan. I can't find anything that prohibits me from writing about pagans - I hope I haven't broken an unwritten rule.

This AAR is in a gameplay style, much like this one.
 
Table of Contents:

Chapter 1, March 24th, 1218: page 1
Chapter 2, March 24th, 1218 - April 30th, 1222: page 1
Chapter 3, April 30th, 1222 - April 25th, 1262: page 1
Chapter 4, April 25th, 1262 - April 26th, 1290: page 1
Chapter 5, April 26th, 1290 - July 22nd, 1306: page 2
Chapter 6, July 22nd, 1306 - June 13th, 1328: page 2
Chapter 7, June 13th, 1328 - January 15th, 1345: page 2
Chapter 8, January 15th, 1345 - April 5th, 1376: page 2
Chapter 9, April 5th, 1376 - February 23rd, 1383: page 3
Chapter 10, February 23rd, 1383 - January 18th, 1391: page 3
Chapter 11, January 18th, 1391 - November 5th, 1400: page 3
Chapter 12, November 5th, 1400 - July 16th, 1402: page 3
Chapter 13, July 16th, 1402 - October 12th, 1411: page 4
 
Last edited:
The Il-khanate​

Chapter One​

This AAR begins on March 24th, 1218.

States of the world, 1218:

ck2map1.jpg


As I started at Stamford Bridge, England was a free-for-all. There were three English Saxon kings killed in the wars with Denmark, Norway, and Normandy, but eventually it was partitioned between Denmark and Norway, with the Danes holding the Kingdom of England title. The current King of England is Knud III, which would be Canute IV, if you included the pre-Harold kings.
The Croatian House of Trpimirovic inherited the Kingdom of Hungary, and sometimes they are united as one kingdom, but more often than not the realm is ripping itself to pieces. This is partly due to differing succession laws (Seniority in Croatia, Primogeniture in Hungary).

Religions:

ck2map2.jpg


Not much to report here, other than that Bulgar went straight for Finland to convert all the Komi to Islam, and that Poland has made great progress in western Russia. The powerful Duchy of Prussia remains pagan and controls much of the Baltic coast.

Cultures:

ck2map3.jpg


Poles have settled in western Russia, and Germans in North Africa. The yellow blob in Sicily is the Occitans there.

Me:



My character is 65 years old and starts unmarried. He has no family whatsoever. I married him to the youngest woman I could find, who happens to be 33. Since I don't have an heir of my dynasty right now, should I die, I lose the game.

I have two major vassals (along with countless barons) - the Khan of the Seljuk Turks and the High Chief of Merv. Both are 120% likely to revolt against me. Fools.



I have approximately 100,000 soldiers, and 5000 gold. The troops are mainly cavalry and seem not to cost anything at all in maintenance.



My demesne and my realm. Note that I have a CB on the entire world, which is one of the perks of playing a horde. Will make up for the few events for pagans - hopefully I will be presented with the option to change religion later.

I have made the decision not to use my magic upkeep-free forces and infinite CBs yet, in case the Khagan is killed in battle. Hopefully, his wife will have a child soon and conquest will begin in earnest.
 
This is a really interesting idea (and of course, I've enjoyed your previous stuff.) Subbed!
 
At last, a Mongol AAR! Subscribed!
 
You can play as Pagans? :O
 
Avindian: Thanks! Good to have you along.

Tanzhang, esemesas: It took some effort to play as them. When the Mongols arrived, I switched to the Khagan (using the console) and saved. You're not supposed to play as pagans - events will be out of place (your character still goes to church, for example). But I just couldn't wait for them to convert!








The Il-khanate​


Chapter 2​

You may have noticed in the previous chapter I made no mention of unpausing the game. That's because I didn't. With that in mind, I will do so now.



Somehow made it to May without either of my two rebellious vassals attacking me. I've decided to hold a Grand Tournament.



I spoke too soon. The Seljuk Turks have revolted, at the same time as some peasants. You can see that the Seljuk Turks are pretty powerless.



They muster around 3000 soldiers. This doesn't look to be a particularly difficult war.

The Khagan mustn't get involved in battle, as there is a possibility of him dying. He's in a castle being beseiged by peasants.



The tournament finished. Oddly enough, it wasn't cancelled due to war, but I don't know why.



After just one year, the Seljuk Khan is willing to surrender. I accept his surrender and send soldiers to save the Khagan in Farrah, and the peasants are swiftly despatched.
The Khan ends up in my dungeon, where he dies of natural causes almost immediately.



Excellent news! Let's just hope it's a boy, as my current laws are Agnatic rather than Agnatic-Cognatic.



But while his wife is pregnant...



Bad luck, a girl. If I can get the Khagan to live to 75 I could change the laws...



But his adventures with a courtier turn out well. With an heir, I can now use my Horde to invade anyone without fear of dying!



Hordes appear to be exempt from the limitation that you mustn't have levies raised. Time to expand the Il-khanate!



But while I manoeuvre my forces into position, the High Chief of Merv finally revolts. He'll be crushed along with the Turkmens.



Turkmen soldiers offer little resistance.



Fortunately the High Chief of Merv dies. (Probably of old age; he was 66). He wrangled one county from Persia, which now passes to me; I don't know how he did it.

ilkhanate19.jpg


The Turkmens are willing to accept peace at 84% warscore, so I put them out of their misery.

ilkhanate20.jpg


And here's my realm after the conquest of the Turkmens. I gain all the baronies I occupied, so now I am massively over the demesne limit. There's also a small peasant problem in Afghanistan, but they will be swiftly dealt with.

Until next time!
 
Your V2 AAR is a very enjoyable read and this one looks very promising too, I'll certainly keep an eye on it. Good that you got an heir so quickly, I was rather worried about that but Iturgen seems virile enough despite his years! Now with heir secured, rebellious vassals dealt with and a massive army at hand the conquests can begin.
 
To Constantinople!

Any plans to convert from Tengri at some stage?
 
morningSIDEr: Yes, the conquests will begin! Though with conquest comes more rebellious vassals...

Tanzhang: I haven't tested it yet, but presumably I will be given the choice to convert to Catholicism, Sunni Islam, ... Lollardy... I have noticed from previous games that upon Mongol conversion every pagan vassal and province immediately changes to the new religion.







The Il-khanate​

Chapter 3​



Before one of my stacks is able to deal with the peasants, one of my vassals decides that this is a great time to revolt. He's the direct successor of the High Chief of Merv, with a different primary title. Meanwhile, the High Chief of the Turkmens, who I just fought, is 118% likely to rebel.



After some uneventful occupation that calls itself a war, he surrenders, and I take all his titles with impunity. Understandably, he's not happy, but I don't care. I redistribute them among loyal pagan Mongols.



The Khan of the Seljuk Turks was succeeded by a young boy, and sure enough, as soon as he hits sixteen he attacks me. I've also been sent 40,400 more men to aid me in my conquests.



With the Seljuks pacified (no more titles for you!) the next target for invasion is Persia, now that they have finished their civil war.



It took very little occupation for him to capitulate. (Meanwhile, a chief rebelled.) The Ilkhanate is now twice the size it was previously, but apparently the Persian Sultan is likely to rebel too...



The inevitable happens. Not much choice here but to imprison him and revoke all his titles, exactly as I do to other vassals who cross me.



He doesn't surrender immediately, but makes me push him all the way to 100% warscore. He gets the no-titles-for-you treatment too.



While I'm busy bashing rebellious Persian vassals, the Golden Horde arrive in the north, in territory currently controlled by Cumans. They look set to be my number one rival.



There's method in my madness here. I (stupidly) revoked the Sultanate of Persia first from its previous holder. This then made me unable to revoke the rest, since the laws of Persia are "autonomous vassals". Now I can take the titles from all the Muslims and replace them with pagans.



The Khagan pops his clogs at 85. I'm now playing his eighteen-year-old (bastard) son, and he already has a child, courtesy of his Lappish wife. Yes, I know, she doesn't look it.



I was running low on soldiers, but fortunately I was sent 40,000 more.



Apparently torturing my prisoners in the dungeon makes me a bad person.



Clearly Husun has inherited his virility from his father. Twins! That means he's had four children by 23.



And here's the fifth.



Now that my civil war is finally over, here's a picture of the realm. The Golden Horde has made made more progress against the Cumans in the north.



My seventh child. You can also see in the picture that Khwarizm is revolting - the last rebellious High Chief. The rest I have pacified with presents, honourary titles, and requested their conversion.



With relative peace in the Il-khanate, it becomes time for expansion. I declare war on the (Greek) Sunni Caliph.



But before I can occupy much of the Caliphate the Byzantines swoop in and claim most of it for themselves.

And let's leave it on that bombshell.
 
I've never played long enough to get to the Mongols -- do they just get an uber-doomstack or do they get some land too?
 
Any plans to kick out what looks like French Jerusalem?
 
This is awesome! :D
How strong are the Romans in your game? Do you plan on invading them while you're still receiving mountains of attrition-free troops, or will you snack on the neighbouring states before going for them?
 
Tanzhang: I could use an invasion CB on the King of France, but I might not get enough warscore from Palestine to enforce my demands, which would be irritating. I will leave France alone for a bit, short-term plans are to eat the Shia Caliphate.

Konnigratz: Take a look at the ledger page:



Even with the chunk taken out of my levies from that war, I command the largest army in Europe. Doesn't include the free soldiers, so don't underestimate the Golden Horde. There are some weaker duchies that I'd like to take on before the Roman Empire, like Gallilee and Damascus, but I will have to fight them eventually.

Taiisatai64: Hello there :)




The Il-khanate​

Chapter 4​



The invasion of the Sunni Caliphate is going well, albeit at a fraction of its former size. The Khagan is at death's door, though, so the campaign will be cut short (there was only one barony left).



The new frontier in the west.



Sadly the Khagan dies of his illness and his eldest son succeeds him. He's a much nicer person than his father (who was envious, greedy, and wrathful)



It was only when I noticed Jurchedei named his son "Mahmud" that I realised both were Persian!



With most of my vassals either beating each other up or in prison, where they belong, and 40,000 more Mongol soldiers, there might be an opportunity to invade someone.



You'll do, Emirate of Nefoud. I raise levies, rather than use the stacks-of-doom for siege, and attack.



Somehow Nefoud vomits a 14k stack of desert warriors. I have a 15,000 man one nearby, but leave them for a bit for the attrition to bite.



The stacks collide and I take victory from it. Nevertheless, small levies are picked off by other hostile troops and peasant rebels.



The Emir surrenders and immediately rebels. Since all his soldiers were killed in the war, it was a bit of a pointless gesture.



My grandson turns six years old, so I educate him myself to prevent my dynasty turning and staying Persian. My son is still a Persian, though.



With my realm at peace, it's time to attack someone. The Shia Caliphate is very weak at the moment, so I choose to invade them. The Emirate of Sanaa can be cleared up later. I raise my levies, now numbering 133,000.



Ilkhanate soldiers move in to occupy the Hedjaz. Meanwhile, Mahmud hits sixteen, and he's still a Persian. Oh well.



He surrenders, and I thought I would get him to be my vassal, but sadly not. The truce expires in a year, and I can destroy him then. The time will help me ameliorate relations with vassals whose levies I used in my conquest.
 
Sadly the Khagan dies of his illness and his eldest son succeeds him. He's a much nicer person than his father (who was envious, greedy, and wrathful)

I'm surprised he is proving a more pleasant guy than his father. Someone known as 'the Cruel' strikes me as eminently likeable!

Very good stuff thus far, rapid conquest. The appearance of the Golden Horde seems to promise some epic wars in the future (or so I certainly hope!). The Byzantines will have to be watched carefully too, their daring to steal land in the earlier war with the Caliphate need be punished!
 
A Mongol AAR? Yippee!

Good start, I hope the Golden Horde and Il-Khanate will clash at any given opportunity, and that you get to sack Constantinople first. :D