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unmerged(188695)

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Jan 3, 2010
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  • Hearts of Iron III
Concept:
A veteran fighter (L31) from previous game were we conquered parts of Kergits and Sarranids comes in an entire new world.
This world is also new for me, first time I play this mod, so I'll be able to write what the character feels.
It's the character itself that tells the story.
My base idea is based on 'the Lord of the Rings' as you can see at the names i use: Aragorn, Knights of Rohan, Kingdom of Rohan,... .
I've learned from the mistakes I made in my previous AAR's, so i hope you'll like this one better.
Expect this AAR to be a long one, the game devellops great and it'll take a while before my character can get to the wars as he has to equip and train companions and get to know them. He has to get to know the new troops he's facing. And starting over again to gain good relations with the lords. This will be my first Big AAR.

Difficulty:
Damage to Player: Normal
Damage to Friends: Normal
Combat AI: Good
Campaign AI: Good
Combat Speed: Normal
Battle Size: 150

Mods:
Prologue:
Age of Change

Story:
Sword Song

Added:
- Since chapter 2 I use the Better Banners Mod.
- Since chapter 2 I use the Historic Castles Project - the British Isles, in which nine castles have been replaced by very good replicas of old British castles, pretty nice for a Brithish mod.
- Since chapter 2 I use the More Metal Sound Mod V2.1, where the battle sounds are enriched with more metal sounds.
- Since chapter 3 I modded the game so I had disposal of the war horse and the charger again as they were left out in the mod. The entire modding is descriped in medieval ways in chapter 3 itself, together with all my faults and errors.




Overview of the chapters:
Prologue, The King
Getting Settled
Chapter 1, The Mercenary
Chapter 2, The Vassal
Chapter 3, The Rise Of The Horse





Knights of Rohan

Prologue
My hair began to turn gray when this story started, no, not a story, it’s more like a flight. You might think great kings don’t need to run away, but we do. It all happened the day I gave a party for my 16 royal knights, my best soldiers, my local-counterpart. Their names have to be remembered forever!
Alayen, Ymira, Jeremus, Bunduk, Bahestur, Firentis, Deshavi, Matheld, Nizar, Borcha, Klethi, Katrin, Artimenner, Marnid, Rolf, Lezalit. One by one fine soldiers and friends. All held a piece of land in my kingdom.

Mapoldkingdom.jpg


The party was one of the best ever given, abundance of food and wine, lots of things to talk about. This would be a party to remember! And remembering we will. A tradition in the Kingdom of Rohan was that knights could wear their favourable weapon during a feast, that was our luck that night. I stood up to bring a toast to these fine knights as all of a sudden the door was taken down, and before us we saw 36 men, all dressed in black clothing and black coats. As they stood in the shadow nobody would be able to see them, so black their clothes were. I knew who they were, I knew what they came to do. These men were mercenaries, hired to kill kings and great knights. They are the Dark Army, nobody knows their numbers, nobody knows their whereabouts. But we knew we were outnumbered 2:1, and if these men were just normal soldiers they would be killed in a minute. Although these men weren’t normal soldiers, they were trained to kill. The battle started quickly after they ran into the hall. I told my wife to run away and go to somewhere else, another town even. Bariyye wasn’t save anymore. The leader of the squad came towards me, followed by a soldier that looked alike. Soon I would find out this was a relative of him. In my entire career from knight to mercenary to vassal to king I never met any soldier that was a challenge to beat. That night I would be experience the challenge still existed.

Knights.jpg


The youngest of them started his attack, it looked like he wanted to impress his leader. His blows were tough to block due to his size, but he wasn’t a good fighter. I blocked all his attacks and after 3 blows I found an undefended spot, I turned out to my left to evade his attack and I stroke. It was a perfect hit, his entire right flank was split open, and he felt to the ground. Dead. My other opponent became furious, and he started his attack as soon as I was in his reach. The speed with which he wielded his sword was never seen and I had for the first time in my life problems with defeating an opponent. The fight kept going on till my arm became heavy; my enemy seemed to be as fit as in the beginning of the fight. When I blocked an overhead blow I saw Artimenner fall. He had a sword right in his chest. He was the oldest of us all. Nobody knew his exact age, but he had to be around 70 or even more. The fact that he felt took down my guard and I was hit in my left leg. A small wound in the upper leg, nothing mortal but very annoying. Nizar, Borcha and Rolf would go down next, followed by Firentis and Marnid.

I felt a strange feeling. I never thought I would lose one of these guys. I turned out to my right this time and started my own series of blows towards my enemy. Whatever I did, he always parried or blocked my attacks. Bahestur and Lezalit were killed soon after I started my attacks. The only male knights left were Alayen, Bunduk and Jeremus. My best knights. I started wondering why only the male knights were killed already and the women were still standing. I wish every day again I didn’t had to witness the answer on that question. The last 3 male knights were captured by the enemy and stripped from all their clothing and weapons. My opponent pushed my back to the corner of the room, I was stuck. More Dark Soldiers came towards me and soon I was overwhelmed. They took me captive but made a simple mistake, they didn’t stripped me from my clothing as small token of respect. They couldn’t know I had a dagger under my shirt. But my plan to use him was quickly disrupted when they putted my in front of Alayen, Bunduk and Jeremus, face to face. They decapitated them right in my face! I saw them die! Too depressed to be able to do something I let myself be taken away.

Characterreport.jpg

In my head I see all my achievements again.

They took me to the upper part of the hall. A place from where you could see everything that happened down there. I was my wife fighting too, she used my single-handed sword. Unfortunately I also saw how she was defeated in battle and captured. The other women would follow the same faith. All six women were cuffed and their weapons taken. I thought it was all over now, as the enemy soldiers started to clean up the mess they made. Soon they would kill me and the women. My kingdom was destroyed. I could have conquered the rest of Calradia without a problem. The current kings were weak, and so were their armies. ‘Keep your eyes open.’ That’s what one of my guards told me. I didn’t understand why as there was nothing more to see. That changed quickly. I saw the leader of the enemy entering the hall again, together with 5 other soldiers. That moment I would know why the women were spared during the battle. The enemy became wild when they came closer to the women. I should have closed my eyes, but one way or the other I couldn’t. My wife and my 5 female knights were raped like they were nothing more than animals. It wouldn’t take long or they started to moan from pain. The enemy didn’t mind it, they continued like what they did was just a walk in the park. I couldn’t take it anymore.

I pulled my dagger and killed my two guards in an eyewink. My sword I found not far away, on a table, with sheath and all. I gasped it on and went down. This time it was the enemy who was surprised and I killed 5 of them before they knew what happened. They all came towards with me with their swords ready to strike. I noticed I didn’t hear the women anymore. I tried to see what happened, but all I saw was blood. Lots of blood. Their torture had finally ended. I had nothing left here but death. So I ran away, I ran to the stables. The stables were empty! Our attacker knew what they were doing. I kept running through the streets like a fool. I ran to the town tavern, The Galloping Pony. The bartender was a good friend of mine. I asked If he had a horse for me. He had. He gave it to me, I mounted and took off. The enemy was close behind me. I could see them. We rode through the streets of Bariyye. The gate came in sight. I shouted to the guards to open it. It went to slow! It would never be open by the time I reached it!

Mapjourney-1.jpg


Like I miracle the gate was open far enough for me and my horse. Now we were in the wilderness. The pursuit didn’t end. The enemy kept following, and I kept rushing my horse. We rode through the entire desert. We came into Swadian territory. Praven! Praven would be my rescue. There I could get on a ship! But what if these men still followed me? That would be troubles for later, first we had to make it to Praven. It became noon, I was riding towards a big hill, but if I remembered well there was an open field behind it, followed by a forest. There I would try to lose my pursuers. Unwanted we rode right into a battle between the Swadians and the Nords. Chaos is the only word that would give it the right imagination.

After a hard time I was in the forest, I didn’t looked back. I feared even more pursuers were behind me since one of the Nord warlords thought I was a Swadian night. I had to kill him. Nord Svenners started to chase me down. I kept riding, night felt over the country. If I was lucky I would be able to reach Praven before tomorrow night. I was tired; I didn’t sleep for 48 hours already. If I could stay awake till tomorrow night was a mystery.

After a long journey I finally arrived in Praven, I asked to harbourmaster which ship would be the first to leave. ‘The Golden Hawk’ he said. I went to The Golden Hawk and shipped in. The next 30 minutes would be the longest of my life, looking to the horizon whether I saw riders coming or not.
Nothing happened and my voyage began. A veteran knight and king who lost everything was now sailing to Britannia, a barbarian island. I didn’t know what to expect.

Thevoyagebegins.jpg




Notes:
Aragorn.jpg

This is the inspiration for my character's look.

Young.jpg

This is the character when I started it.

Middle.jpg

This is the character once i had my Kingdom of Rohan.

achievements.jpg

This is the detail of the character.
 
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Chapter 1

After many days the long awaited cry from the crow’s nest was heard over the entire ship, ‘land in sight! Land in sight!’ We finally arrived at our destination. I went to the front of the ship looking for the shore. Long I didn’t had to wait, the shore was rocky and gray. But after some yards I saw green, the king of green I always wanted to see. The grass and trees were untamed, this land was indeed a wilderness. I desperately hope there aren’t savages like everybody says, but noble knights and kings with great authority. Old and wrinkled I might be, but my arms were still strong and my mind was developed. I should be able to get myself a nice title once again. Maybe not the title of king, but who knows. We’ll see what the time brings.

mapbritannia.jpg

The story begins in Lundene

We went to the Thames and harboured in Lundene, my prays weren’t heard, and my greatest fear became hard reality. I was aground in a barbarian society! I was already attacked by a robber when I was going to the tavern! Unfortunately for him my sword was sharp and his leather armour was weakened by the weather. His body would be found in the morning, and I had to be out of town by then as my reputation from in Calradia didn’t come with me. It was left in Calradia, dead, like my friends and wife. I saw I was close to a tavern and I noticed I was thirsty. Hopefully this people know how to make beer.

I went inside and ordered myself the specialty of the house, exept from two young ladies there were no other people in the tavern. I decided to go and make a little talk with them, it would be best if I got to know more about this strange country. These ladies called Saskia and Hild, and made me think of Ymira and Klethi, only younger. The stories were the same except from some little details. They met each other on a trip and stayed together. They were interested in my story, and looked honourable. I started talking, from how my father was a great soldier and thought me how to wield a sword to when I met and trained 16 fine people with stories and histories, looking for a place to stay. How I hired them, payed and feed them, till how I made them into the finest soldiers ever known in Calradia. From the mercenary work I had done till how I became a vassal of Sanjar Khan and how I rebelled against him, finding my own kingdom. I ended with the things that happened in the great hall of Bariyye.

picturetavern.jpg

Me and my sword

They wanted to accompany me on my journey, I told them about the payment and training they would get. But also about the equipment I would buy for them personally, like I did in Calradia. Only the best would be good enough. They were happily surprised by this and promised me to follow my lead wherever I go. Hild had also a brother named Gunnar who she promised to pick up for the next journey. He should be in Oxford. We went to Oxford and found the brother together with a friend of his, Bran. The ladies told them about me and afterwards they came to me. Gunnar told me who he was and said that he had promised the girls to protect them till they found a safe place to stay. He would still accompany them because he didn’t trust me. He and his friend would be travelling with us as long as the girls did. I truly respected his integrity.

The next day we went to the local market to buy ourselves armour, weapons and horses. I was disappointed when I saw the horse market, it were all just normal horses used by auxiliaries. No heavy warhorses. I asked Hild if we could find them somewhere else but she started laughing at me. ‘Horses with mail upon them? I don’t know how you get that idea, but that’s just silly!’ Those were the words she said to me. I explained them the difference between light cavalry and heavy cavalry. They couldn’t understand as for them cavalry is cavalry. They are just an auxiliary force or the generals themselves. We bought some of the fastest horses, 3 celtic shields, 1 handed swords and 2 handed swords and some scale armours. Our voyage began.

I learned fast, and so did my companions. A lord in this part of the realm was called ‘Ealdorman’. Infantry was the most important part of the army (In my own opinion this had to change very quickly, nothing goes above the Rohirrim I’ve trained back in Calradia.), and last but not least, war is always going on somewhere. That part was interesting, especially when we ran into Ealdorman Ceolwulf.

Ceolwulf.jpg

A dedicated vassal of the King

I told my companions they shouldn’t tell him about my pasted. They shouldn’t tell him about their past. They just didn’t have to say anything. Ceolwulf let us in, curious to our inducements. I told them we were a band of mercenaries, looking for money and war. The Ealdorman’s face began to shine. ‘Well, you are lucky sir ...?’
‘The name is Aragorn.’
‘Well sir Aragorn, I’ve promised my king to hire some mercenaries for his upcoming campaigns. We’ll pay you 50 denars for accepting the contract, after that you get a monthly pay according to our parties strength. The contract was a 3-months contract and could be prolonged month for month after that. I gladly accepted this offer and went looking for some recruits to form the backbone of our army.

I found 35 peasants willing to fight for me, I started the training a few days after we left Oxford. They didn’t made as much progress as the once I trained in Calradia, but you can’t have everything. I hired 5 temporary bowmen, mercenaries till the bone. I offered them a contract for a couple of weeks. They could end it when they liked and would get paid after every week service. In order to get the skill level or my recruits higher I started fighting outlaws. But these outlaws were almost hardened soldiers, sea riders they called themselves. Heavily armoured, sharp weapons, groups from 20 to 40 men strong. My men had a hard time, I took down most of the enemy so the ratio became 4 to 1 in our favour. That way the recruits could overwhelm their opponent and they learned to co-operate. None the less we lost 5 men after a few battles, 2 of them were the mercenary bowmen I hired. The 3 who were left thanked me for the money and went back on the road. They didn’t wanted to die yet. My recruits developed to veteran infantry men. I followed the countries soldiers line, Wessex veteran fyrdmen they were called now. Wessex was the country I was in, the country that paid me for my services.

KingAlfred.jpg

Disappointing, I'll prove him he'll need me in the future.

I went back to Lundene to speak with the king. He didn’t had any tasks for me. I went back to the wilderness, chasing down outlaws and earning some extra money. That was during the days, in the evenings I trained my soldiers, my companions I learned how to fight from horseback. After a couple of days I received a message from the marshal, I had to join his army with at least 8 units. He was close to Guildford castle. We went to that area and after a day searching we found him. The marshal was Ealdorman Aethelwold. The army left the next day towards Bexhill, a small village close the Hastings castle.

It was raided, and I could do little, so I asked Aethelwold if he had another task for me. ‘Yes, I need somebody who can scout some villages of The Church, we have to little intel on them.’
‘You found your man, which villages have to be scouted?’
‘Folkstone and Canterbury’
‘I’ll inform my men and leave as soon as possible, look out for me the second morning, I’ll be arriving from the Nord.’
And so I went on my first assignment.

BattleArchbishop.jpg

Me during the battle against the Arch Bishop, described later on.

The villages were scout quickly, no enemy was seen. I wanted to attack some sea riders but time didn’t allow me. So I went back to Bexhill. Aethelwold already waited for me, the entire army ready of departure. I give him my report. He was most pleased with the result and ordered the army to ride for Folkstone. The village would be raided. I gave my men a little break to eat. A few seconds later Hild came to me: ‘I’m sorry to tell you this Aragorn, but there is no more food.’
I completely forgot the food. That was stupid, and army with empty stomachs doesn’t fight.
I couldn’t go back to a village of our own to buy food as I had to follow the marshal. So I ordered my men to pack. We would go for Folkstone, we had to arrive before the marshal and buy some bread there.

siege.jpg

Aethelwold praises me right before the siege.

The trip was hard and longer than the first time, but we made it to the village. At the horizon I saw the Wessex’ army approach. I quickly bought 100 breads from the villagers. We putted up camp in the forest to the Nord of the camp. Once the village was burning I joined the army again. The village Dover would be raided too. Margat was the next target, but The Church gathered its army and they protected that area. Together with the marshal and 2 other lords we attacked the Arch bishop who was leading the army himself. 250 men on each side, most of them infantry. It would be a battle I never saw before. Both sides made long lines and marched towards eachother. Bowmen started firing their missiles. The infantry charged frontal. Complete chaos broke out. This wasn’t what I called a battle! This was hacking and smashing! Not a single tactic was used.

I ordered my men to charge from the right flank while I went ahead of them. I killed many men that day, the marshal was most pleased with me. That night I was invited to eat in his tent. He asked me how it came I was such a good fighter, at my older age. I trusted him enough to tell him my story. He ensured me he would tell the king of my performance that day, and I would be rewarded. The next day the Christian army had disappeared and we went to Stamford castle in the Nord. The siege was short because the marshal feared a counter strike from the Bishops. We would use a siege tower, and we were lucky, there were only 66 defenders in the castle. I went up the siege tower as one of the first soldiers and cleared the way for many others. After a fierce battle the castle was taken. Our campaign was successful and Ealdorman Aethelwold gave everybody a break. He called me with him a last time, he needed somebody to collect taxes in Oxford. I would be given ¼ of the tax. I accepted the mission and went to Oxford.

It took me 3 days to get the entire city pay the taxes. During those 3 days I wondered how I could continue. Back in Calradia I had killed around 1500 man. Beloved fathers, sons, husbands. Here, in Britannia I already killed 200 men. How many lives a man can take before it becomes too much? How many lives I would take before mine was taken? These 2 simple questions wouldn’t let me go. I went towards Guildford castle to give the money of Oxford to Aethelwold. He was content about the amount and give me even a few denars more. Not that I needed them as I had enough money, I was able to take some of my gold on my flight. 100k it was. But that was just a piece of what I had back in Calradia. But it helped to pay the armour and weapons needed for my party. It was comforting to have somebody like Aethelwold as a friend so soon.


Notes

gunnarandhild.jpg

Brother and sister, how nice.






PS: Remember to reply your thoughts, that way I know if improvements are needed, and which. Like you see in the differences between previous AAR's I'm a fast learner.
 
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The next chapter arrives!
I'm trying to finish the BONUS chapter 3 today.
Have fun reading, and please tell me your thoughts, I always see what I can do to make things better.


Chapter 2

The war with The Church kept going on, although we, Wessex, were winning. Since we took Stamford castle and Hastings castle, King Alfred was pleased with the results of the war and sent a messenger to the Arch Bishop to conclude a peace treaty.

The night after we gave 4/5 of the taxes of Oxford to Aethelwold I took my men into town. During the collecting I saw a nice tavern, it was big but still cosy. It had 50 beds and seemed to started only a couple of days ago. The wood was still shiny, the beds were still soft. I went to the bartender and told him me and my men wanted to rest here for the night. ‘For 25 denars a night you can stay as long as you want,’ the bartended said.
‘Make sure you keep my men amused and we’ll keep coming back, if not, you will never see us again and lose a good costumer. Am I clear?’ I couldn’t help it, but I had to think about The Galloping Pony back home.
‘Your men will have a king’s treatment, if you catch me.’
‘You should know the truth.’ How could that poor bartended know who I was back in Calradia.

medieval-tavern-wench-costume-2011-.jpg

My men didn't mind our stay.

That night I and my companions went to my room right after diner. They still didn’t knew what I meant with horse warfare. An army of horses is the best thing there is, they are fast, manoeuvrable, and most of all! They were deathly! Lances or swords, it didn’t matter. The speed at which they ride towards the enemy is so high they can smash his head of his body without any problem. At the end of the meeting they were getting the idea.

‘There is only 1 problem.’ That was Gunnar, he proved himself in the field and showed valour during the fights. I could make him in a fine fighter. ‘Here in Britannia we don’t have what you call mailed cavalry. That’s pure blasphemy for the local lords!’
He had a point, without the armour and craftsmen I could do nothing. Unless I, no, no! That will only happen when all hope has fainted.

knightwhatif.jpg

That night I dreamed of how it could be if my plan succeeded.

The next morning I gathered my men. Some got into their beds, with company of course, others were less lucky and laid drunk on the wooden table in the taverns hall. After a few minutes they were all awake, fresh water is even in Britannia a great cure! An hour later we were ready to go for some outlaw hunting. We rode to the eastern gates when we arrived I saw Aethelwold had gone the same route just a few minutes ago. I could still see him. I ordered my men to move a bit faster, we were going to accompany this Ealdorman for today.

It didn’t take too long to run in on the army, but I noticed they weren’t going to the forests but towards the river Thames. That meant he would go towards Stamford castle. I gave Gunnar control over the army and rode to the marshal as fast as my horse could. When I asked Aethelwold what he and his men were doing he told me that as marshal he needed to protect the lands of Wessex and he had to lead the armies of Wessex to victory. He was setting route towards Stamford castle to break the siege, during the night The Church gathered his army again and besieged the castle. The garrison is still weak, and won’t hold it for much longer. I volunteered to ride towards Stamford castle, ahead of the main army. I would hold the castle till they arrived. Aethelwold didn’t want to let me go first, but I persuaded him. Trust me, I said, I know what I do. And I gave him a quick wink. I rode back to my little army to inform them our next mission.

Stamfordcastle.jpg

The battle was though, but we survived.

We entered the castle from behind, a backdoor is always useful. We took position down the stairs; we would chop the enemy’s legs from under their bodies while our archers shot at their eggy heads. One would always hit! We held our position but overwhelming wasn’t far away anymore. Luckily for us Aethelwold divided the national army into 2, a fast and a slow part. The king would lead the slow one while Aethelwold would bring the fast one to the caste before night.

It was late afternoon when Aethelwold arrived; we drove the Christians back, but lost a lot of brave man ourselves too. Once the king arrived it became a real massacre, many elite troops joined the battle and not long after dawn the enemy was utterly crushed. Stamford castle was successfully defended.

Obviously I took hard hits, I left my helmet at home, underestimating the Britain archers. I was heavily wounded, but I had a new idea in my head, archers would be pretty nice while I prepared myself for the mailed knights. They would be useful in sieges too, and winning sieges makes you stand great with your king. I asked around with the soldiers of the Ealdormen, mostly the archers, informing where I could find the finest archers people. Welsh territory or SherWood would be the best places. The Welsh would have the archers with the best range, SherWood with the best aim.

Welshterritory.jpg

Welsh territory.

Me and my men recovered from our wounds in Stamford castle and after 2 days of rest we rode towards Welsh territory. We recruited peasants from LLanidlos, Quay, Lyndley, took the nights rest at Monalarch were I met Godric, a trader who lost everything. As king I knew trade was very important to make money, and after the wars I would certainly start with it. Then I would be very handy to have somebody with native knowledge. I told him about the fighting, but he didn’t care. We finished our Welsh trip by a visit at Brecon, we had ourselves some Welsh peasants who were ready to train. It should have been around 12 of them. Together with 18 horseman that made a nice army. But I planned to hire 10 more SherWood peasants.

The trip through the forests of Nottingham were exhausting, and I decided to go straight to Nottingham and leave SherWood for the next day. that was a good move, as in SherWood I met Bedwyr, who told me he was great with bow and spear, and had experience with training men how to use bows. Fortune smiled at me that day, and I was most pleased to hire him. The next day we took off to hire 10 SherWood peasants, we were right on time as the next day was the kings monthly enlistments day. after that nobody would have wanted to follow us anymore.

I went looking for the marshal army, and found it need Beomflot, they were travelling towards the village of Margat as they were reported there would be enemy armies assembling. As we arrived the reports seemed to be right and we engaged the enemy. Once again I showed my valour in the battlefield and rode ride towards the enemy commanders. Till now I was able to take the leaders of the enemy out myself, today would be a difference. And so it happened, I took down the enemy generals, no wait that’s wrong! It aren’t generals, it are just some holy men who think God will protect them against my sword! How silly, they would soon find out that their God had abandoned them.

Bishopsarmy.jpg

Pictures were taken by a stunt man.

During the battle I saw a great part of the enemy including complete armies windrowed from the battle. I went looking for Aethelwold and told him about this matter but he told me we should finish this battle first. And so I did. I ordered my cavalry to go lose and kill as many enemies as they could. I trained them well it seemed ‘cause the enemy was defeated in no time.

Once again I told Aethelwold about the running armies, this time he listened closely and gave me the privilege to track them down, the army would follow me without hesitation, but if anything would go wrong, my head would be hanging on the bridges of the Thames the next day. A truly barbarian way of letting the people know what happens if you do things against the law or are indicted for treason. But my head would stay where it was for a little while longer as I led the army to the army that had their camp near Hastings castle. We attacked immediately, on my request. The odds were once again in our favour and the enemy army that had run the first time we defeated the Arch Bishop near Margat was crushed. Rest would return over the country for a little while.

overviewbattlehastingsmargat.jpg

My honour rocked towards the sky!

That evening the king himself invited me in his field post. I was very surprised and dressed up as good as possible. When I arrived I got wine to drink and strangely large pork to eat. He told me he was impressed by my achievement on the battlefield. He wanted to know how that came. Damned, if I tell him my story he’ll be suspicion the entire time, I had already overthrone a king, and I could do it again. I lied, I said I was one of the knights of the king, myself. King Alfred looked up, ‘But if you followed a traitor, how do I know you won’t do it again?’

I expected that question, but this time I could answer with the truth. ‘That won’t happen, as I followed my father back then.’ Followed by a little lie, ‘Now my father is death,’ as it wasn’t the father but the son who died. Alayen, a fine soldier and an honourable heir. A bastard from back in the days, when I didn’t know that the army would grow to a kingdom. Back in the days Ymira was only 20, and I was 25. Alayen was quickly grown up, to quick. At the age of 10 he already had the posture and force of a 20 year old guy. And when he reached the age of 15 he was a man in all ways. He would became the best of my 16 knights. My heir. Lady Arjis didn’t made a problem of my long gone passion with Ymira. Besides the nightly meetings we held we kept it completely professional. Although we did those meetings as professionals too, but that was another meaning of the word.

I was back in the kings tent when King Alfred asked me if I wanted to became his faithful vassal. I would get the fief of Bexhill, and be a respected lord. I accepted without hesitation, I would need a place to work on my cavalry force.

achievementsnewvassal.jpg

Finally I'm allowed to wield my own banner again!

I rode to Oxford to get myself a fitting armour for my new title. Or should I say old regained title? The bartender was most pleased when I asked him if he had some beds for me and my men. My men deserved it! In the early morning I went looking for an armourer. I found one 2 blocks away from the tavern, and when I asked him whether he could make me a fitting heraldic mail with my banner on it he told me he could do it, but that it would double the price to make it fitting. Never the less I accepted it without bargaining. It would be ready in 2 days. Finally I could rest for 2 full days, maybe I could get to know Hild and Saskia a bit better. It has been a long time since I had a woman.

The heraldic mail was just perfect, my day couldn’t be better wasn’t it that I received word that The Dane Law declared war against us. This night they besieged Lydford. After picking up my new armour I went to the market to buy some more food for our journey. But on my way to there I had the feeling I was followed. 3 blocks further I had to go through a small alley, there my chaser attacked me. He was just a street brat. It was clear he didn’t follow the latest imperial new and didn’t know I was a vassal now. I wanted to knock him out and hand him over to the court but then I remembered the heads at the bridges of the Thames. I decided nobody deserved such a death, so I killed the man fast and without too much pain. Even if he didn’t know it, he would be grateful to me in the next world.

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The land of the Danes, don't expect it to last long once i have my cavalry force.

With new food we rode to Lydford and joined the defence of the castle. It seemed like we were undefeatable as we won yet another battle. This was a faction that could rule the entire Britannia, if they had the right ruler. King Alfred was too soft, after taking 2 castles he is pleased and asks for a cease fire. He could have taken at least another city before asking. The Dane Jarls, as the Lords were called, fled to all directions. Aethelwold divides us in pairs to hunt down the enemy. At me he gave to honour of hunting Jarl Faarn in my own.

When I ran into them they were already prepared to fight and charged right towards us. I ordered a frontal charge, the huscarls and other axe wielding soldiers would be to slow to hit us by the time we ran right through them. My tactic proved useful and after a short skirmish the entire Dane army was eliminated, but there was no trail of Jarl Faarn. When I walked over the battlefield I found track. I studied them and came to the conclusion Jarl Faarn ran away with his Elite units, leaving a part of his army behind to keep us busy for some time. By the time we would be able to catch up with him he would be far in Dane territory, a place I didn’t wanted to go yet. Till I had my cavalry army though.

Notes
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Spies report they saw Jarl Faarn fly with a part of his army.



Preview!
Next chapter will be about the including of heavy cavalry to the game, a little bonus from me to you. All the problems i had with modding will be made into a story-fitting chapter.
That means that the next chapter will be about how Aragorn is going to produce the mailed knights, how they were be produced, and last but not least, the fails of the process! The last you really can't miss, by making big mistakes Aragorn will invent new things for that time being. Spectacular changes will occure.
A little taste: Knights without body armour and invisible shields.
 
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Chapter 3

It was time to get myself horses, heavy horses, warhorses. Every horse that had protection would do. I had great plans, heraldic horses, colourful horses, so I stood up early and went to Bexhill. By the time we arrived the sun began to rise. I called together all townsmen, ‘For the coming weeks you won’t need to work on the field, I won’t tax you, and I will send you grain. The better the work the more grain you will receive. During those weeks I’ll be protecting all of you against those so called sea raiders.’ The people were happy, although they didn’t know what they had to make yet. So I explained them the concept of Mounted Warfare. These villagers were smart and got my message.
I ordered my men to bring all the needed materials to an open place, today we would build a production house in this village.

Once the production house was ready me and my men putted all needed tools in it, and made them work. I called the villagers in, explained them how the tools worked and how they had to make the mails and plate armour I needed to the men. The women would be on the other side, making the surcoats for the armour. I made sure we had the best equipment; we even had things other man never saw. Half-automatic tools! It would take many more centuries before anybody else would be using them, this was my secret.

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The smithy at the left side of the production house.

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The weaver at the right side of the production house.

Everybody started their work, and all went well. But after a few hours the master smith came to me. Saying things I just couldn’t understand! Things like:
‘SCRIPT WARNING ON OPCODE 1718: Invalid Agent ID: 24; LINE NO: 65:
At script: agent_troop_get_banner_mesh.
At script: agent_troop_get_banner_mesh.’

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I don't get a word of this jabbish talk!

When I went inside to see what happened I saw a disaster! The armour I brought in to make it stronger with our own technologie and as example for these peasants was completely gone. Instead there were new armours and weapons even! New weapons and new armour! It could be funnier, there even were strange coloured cloths/uniforms. It was a complete disaster, I asked the men what they did. Just as you told us sir. We took the resources from the thing were the mail already was present and combined it with the resources of our own world. You could say copy and paste if you like.

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At least there is also progress, we have 2 mailed horses! But why am I a midget!

I ordered them to reset everything, hoping they had a back-up plan as I didn’t. After hours of hard work they called me in. They looked terrified. And with reason! When I came in I saw, no that’s not true. I saw nothing of it. But I saw that the shields we left behind, were all turned invisible. Only the iron in it was still visible. Now I knew what caused that explosion an hour earlier. This time my head weaver came to me, saying the exact same crap as the master smith did half a day earlier:
‘‘SCRIPT WARNING ON OPCODE 1718: Invalid Agent ID: 24; LINE NO: 65:
At script: agent_troop_get_banner_mesh.
At script: agent_troop_get_banner_mesh.’

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I wonder if they would still take blows during battle.

As that wasn’t enough I noticed there were strange drawings on my pay list, a list where I note which unit get how much money. Drawings of me as a monk and my men as mailed soldiers without a body! As that wasn’t enough yet, I saw some man were having fun with their new clothing. The coloured one. They were pretending to be royal huscarls, but huscarls with strange armour and invisible shields.

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A bad joke, me as a monk, my soldiers without a body and a huscarl with that silly uniform!

But long I wouldn’t be able to stay, I ordered the peasants to reset everything they had done, we would start all over again, from scratch but with the current knowledge. I had to go hunting some sea raiders. It looked like the explosion we caused made them completely mad. They had stolen horses from the local lord together with some nice plate armours. That while half my cavalry was fighting without body armour because they didn’t had any anymore. We took the outlaws down, and went back to the production house as soon as we could.


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I know it looks silly, those sea raiders should have died from laughing at us.

When we returned I saw the peasants had reset everything. I gave them a break and a good warm meal. In the meantime I thought about what could be our problem. And then I had it! Our problem was we wanted to keep the existing horses. What we did was ADDING the ‘new’ horses to our list of items. But what we needed to do was just CHANGE some of the horses, REPLACING the old once with the new once. It weren’t the horses that had to be added, but the armour. We changed the settings of our tools, and started to work again, me included. Changing some of the old hunters to war horses and chargers. This time it went all well, we had our new horses. It took us an entire day, while it was done within an hour!

Now we finally have heavy horses. The next day’s I’ll be busy with equipping them to my men.


Notes
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Other Ealdormen are already interested in those invissible armours.
 
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Quick question: how does the 'size' bb-code work over here?
I tried the one you can see and this one:
Code:
[size=8]...[/size]

but the 8 was just as big as when it was on 15 :s.
 
Sorry for the delay, normaly posted half a day earlier. But I was to busy with my political map of Britannia which I'll introduce in Chapter 6.



Chapter 4

I went back to Oxford to take a drink in the tavern, nothing special you would say. And I have to admit that it wasn’t the drink but the girl that made my head spin. I hoped I wouldn’t have a hangover the next day.
The lady’s name was Adriah, she claimed she saw me in one of her dreams. I would be the Saviour off the people. I had to follow the prophesy and hire her so she can stand by me during this quest. I could do little but accept her offer. She looked like a fine girl and she had potential with weapons.

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I admit she's a bit strange, but as long as she kills enemies and serves me she's welcome.

Before we left Oxford again I dismissed all bowmen in my company, I wouldn’t need them anymore. The time of cavalry came once again! But before this cavalry was ready for big battles they had to train as war horses are way different from other horses. War horses can be used as a weapon. Once again I took my men to the sea raiders and let them slaughter them. After 5 parties of them a messenger came to me. Ealdorman Aethelwold requested me to rejoin his marshal army within 4 days. When this message was sent he was raiding Retford.

The trip to Retford went slow as we had to go through the Nottingham forests, very dense woods I can tell you. When we arrived at our destination it was burning already, no sign of any army in the next miles. So I went riding around a bit, when I had to run for some gathered Bishops I ran straight into our army, what a relieve it was. I was once again lucky, very lucky. Together we started the chase of these 3 Bishops.

Bishop Aelred was the first one to be defeated, by our entire army. After him, me and Aethelwold took out Bishop Wulfhere as he was to fast moving for the other armies. The rest of the army would put up a trap for Bishop Whitan. When Wulfhere was defeated me and Aethelwold made the circle of our army complete, a circle around Bishop Whitan. He had nowhere to go and his army was eliminated on the spot.

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2 fine catches.

That night I saw a messenger going into Aethelwold’s tent, a few minutes later Aethelwold came outside. Prepare to defend your homeland, the Danes besieged Hereford castle; this was his declaration. An hour later we were all moving towards Hereford castle, me and Aethelwold ahead of the others. But there was less we could do, the enemy army was too big for us, so we waited for the rest of our army. By the time they arrived the Danes started to fly and only their Earl (king), Yvar the Boneless, was left. We took him on with our entire army; the honour of taking him down was for me again. He was a tough guy, shields in front of him and on his back, but his flank wasn’t secured. My sword went into his flesh like it would go through water, without difficulty. The Dane king was slain, but after the battle he was nowhere on the battlefield. Routing enemies must have taken him with them.

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We'll meet again.

Our mashal didn’t want to go any deeper into Dane land until he had more intelligence about it. He was looking for a scout. I was most happy to volunteer since my men were tired of the many fights and the Dane axes were sharper then the Khergit Sabres back in Calradia. I had to scout the area around Rochdale castle and its village Bury; afterwards I had to get a report of Clipstone too. I decided to start with the castle and finish the assignment with the Church’s village.

Right between Rochdale castle and Bury I was attacked by an army of the Danes, it went so quickly I didn’t knew which lord they served, and after the battle I was left with nothing but that question. There was not a single trail of their commander, it looked like there wasn’t one. I had no more time to think about it or to track this ghost down. At the horizon I saw a 70-80 men strong army approaching, with my 47 soldiers (16 mounted thanes, 7 Companions, 24 Wessex fyrdmen) I wouldn’t stand a chance against them.

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My new pride!

Running away into the woods seemed like a good idea at that time, and it seemed to stay that way. Until everything changed a few miles before we reached Clipstone. We were ambushed by deserter, 68 mercenary horsemen to be precise. They gave me 2 choices, fight to death or pay for passage. If we fought we would die, that was certain. If we paid we might die too, but that didn’t matter, it was worth the try because if we were killed it didn’t mattered if it was with all our money or some hundreds less. The price they asked was a bit higher than I had feared, it seemed like they saw our small number and the fact that we were exhausted from walking more than 12 hours through the woods of Nottingham. 4223 denars and we would go free. I paid them and a minute later they were already gone. We continued our journey to Clipstone and scouted the area. That night we bought ourselves some beds in a tavern of Nottingham.

Next morning we rode for Stroud were we met Ealdorman Osric, we asked him where we could find our marshal. Somewhere around Selbya I guess, he answered. It appeared to me we took the wrong route that morning and so another long journey through the forests of Nottingham began. By the time we reached Aethelwold he told us he resolved the Wessex army forces. Bad luck for me, he didn’t need my scout report anymore. But there was some good luck too! Two times even. The first one was when Harald Fairhair ran right into our armies right before we would split up, it turned out to be a suicidal action of him, and we gave it to him. The second one was that the king would hold a feast in Lundene to celebrate our numerous victories over our enemies.

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It seems like I'm losing it.

I went to Lundene and on my way there I met King Alfred again. He wanted to know how I was doing.
‘Well, everything goes just fine. The village you gave me is very prosperious, and my men are strong. It seems that when allied soldiers see my banner on the battlefield they don’t know any fear, and fight even harder than before.’
‘They do, and I’ll tell you why. Aethelwold is full of good words about you, all you do is good for him. The fact you ride into battle as first one and take out the enemy commanders single handed is a big bonus to your cause too. In the beginning people thought you were just another rascal coming from a far away country, running for the law, and fooling around you were a veteran soldier or a vassal or whatever. But now they saw you spoke the truth, continue what you are doing and you’ll make many friends, included mine. But let your power grow to strong and you’ll get even more enemies.’ With those last words his eyes flamed up for a split second. He would be one of those enemies.

I would think about his words a lot the next days, but now I didn’t had any time. The king was reported there was enemy activity near Lundene. He asked me to go there and secure the area at all cost. When I arrived at Rushden I saw it was being raided. But the raiders consisted of 3 parties. 70-80 men strong parties. I knew I couldn’t defeat them on my own, not yet, so I went looking for help.

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Only bravery gave us this victory.

That help was given by Raedmund, we attacked the enemy but were outnumbered 3 to 5. 123 of us against 204 of them. Luckily for us these Bishops were defeated not long ago by the marshal’s army and had not much more then militia and peasants. We lost almost no man, our party lost 1 mounted thane, a good guy. He always kept smiling, even when an spear had pinned him to a tree once. it was just with his left arm, but it was enough to be stuck. I saw him fighting against 3 Dane veteran soldiers at that time. I came right on time that time, killed the Dane soldiers and rescued him. This time I wasn’t there to save him. I was at the other side of the battlefield. Saskia did what she could to save him, but it couldn’t be. He died fast and without too much pain. The throwing axe in his chest was buried with him.

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Even after losing a good soldier i stay honourable.


We continued our trip to Lundene, but I heard grumbling between my companions. That never happened to me before. In Calradia I had 16 more companions and they never complaint. So I went looking what I was. They shouted without listening to the others. Chaos in my own army, that was unacceptable! I told them that I would invite all of them in my tent to tell me what was on their mind.

Here’s a quick overview of their thoughts:
Hild: (made me think about Klethi)

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Happy about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Happy about the current state of affairs.

Saskia: (made me think about Ymira)

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Happy about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Happy about the current state of affairs.
Disliked Bedwyr.

Gunnar: (made me think about Bahestur)

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Happy about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Happy about the current state of affairs.

Bran: (made me think about Borcha)

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Happy about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Happy about the current state of affairs.
Disliked Godric.

Godric: (made me think about Marnid)

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Downright appalled about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Not at all happy about the current state of affairs.
Disliked Bran.

Bedwyr: (made me think about Lezalit)

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Downright appalled about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Concerned about the current state of affairs.
Disliked Saskia.

Adriah: (made me think about Deshavi)

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Happy about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Happy about the current state of affairs.


Notes:

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I'm a man of my word, no taxes for Bexhill. They deserved it.

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Some love me, some hate me. But hey, that's live!

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Building friendly relations.

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Wars improved my fighting skills, being a king made me a great leader.