Pre-word; This AAR uses quite an old version of the mod Chivalry Total War, played on RTW 1.5. I can't remember the difficulty settings tbh, as I'm playing from a campaign I began before Christmas and so the AAR starts 32 turns in. Hope y'all enjoy it.
BYZANTIUM; HEIRS OF ROMEThe new era has dawned for Byzantium, friend. How do I know? I should perhaps introduce myself first. I am the secretary Phrantzes, loyal servant of the mighty Emperor of the Byzantine people. We are the heirs to the greates Empire the world has yet seen, and by God's name, we shall reconquer what is ours! I will relate to you, in short, how the tales I am about to tell are set.
The Byzantine Empire in the early 1100s was on the brink of collapse. Under the pathetic Emperor Konitos, we lost most of our lands in Anatolia to the Turks. Italy had fallen to the Normans, and the fringes of a Turkish Anatolia and the western satellite of Greece seemed to be all that was left - a slow slide into obscurity. Konitos had one son, Diogios, who was utterly ineffectual and was duly poisoned. The next successor was Romanos Doukas, an aged uncle of Konitos. This crippled old man was the only one who had what it took to rebuild the Empire. Scraping together the scatters armies and filching troops from old garrisons, he built a motley collection of troops, pulled it together and set out to retake Anatolia.
His successor, the present Emperor Michael, was the one who oversaw the armies, as his father died a week after the army left Konstantinoupolis. Anatolia was recovered from the small sultanates and emirates that had sprung up across it. Once more Byzantine armies bordered the great Seljulk Sultanate, and our buffer state of Cilician Armenia, who we saved many a time from detruction. Michael did not lead the armies himself, but mostly left the work to some of his more capable family members.
In the west, Giorgios, a young man of the royal house, set out for the independent town of Bari, hoping to regain a foothold in Italy for the Empire with a very few troops. He found it was already under siege when he got there, by the Norman house of the Sicilians. Their attack failed, but Nikeforos was then able to destroy the battered garrison. However, a second Sicilian army came, much larger than the first, and decided they may as well siege the place anyway. They killed Giorgios and slaughtered his men.
Giorgios had a young cousin, Nikeforos, who was in Serbia at the time, raising mercenary reinforcements for the Italian fighting. He marched into Italy, and beat off the Normans from Bari, then launched into a full-scale war. His unparalleled genius in siege command allowed him to take and hold the southern Italian cities - Bari, Capua, and the Sicilian capital of Mileto, against terrible odds. He held Mileto outnumbered three to one against the main Sicilian army, finally breaking their power in the peninsula, although he himself only had forty men left after the siege and had to be rescued by reinforcements for Greece. However, once the Sicilians were removed, the Byzantines were able to wipe the Norman kingdom from the map. They now held the heart of the mediterranean, although they had little popularity and holding it would be difficult. Nikeforos, known as the Conqueror, took the title of 'Prince of the Western Empire' and was made the heir of
Caught between the Seljulks and the Byzantines, the Armenians found they were unable to prevent a war. They were ground down until their entire royal house had been wiped out. Only some very daring battles commanded by another Nikeforos saved Ikonion from the victorius Selljulk army, which had to be content Tarsos fell to the Byzantines, but the strategic capital of Sis was held by a large Turkish force. The ensuing war paralysed both giant contestants, and little headway has been made since in the east, with the exception of the Turks losing Abkhazia. The one great hope for the Byzantines in the east is that Nikeforos, a zealous crusader and cunning commander, will be able to push through and destroy the immensely well-funded, powerful Turk war machine. The Eastern Nikeforos will be referred to by his name of Nikeforos Delphinas, although he too carries the epithet of 'the Conqueror'.
And so we reach the present day.
The Empire is in a better state than it has been for years. Our greek provinces are doing very well.
However, there are still difficulties for the Empire. The long war in the east saps our resources, but the Turks are determined to win and we cannot stop defending ourselves. Georgia has become a new field for the conflict of late.
Also in the West, many cities are near revolt at our Orthodox beliefs. I cannot think why these people do not accept the True Church, but Nikeforos the Conqueror assures me in his letters that with funds and time Sicily can once more stand as a proud part of the Empire.
If there are three people who have rebuit the Empire, it is those below. Firstly my beloved master, the Byzantine Emperor Michael Doukas, leader of the Dynasty, and heir to Rome. The Emperor is a quiet, clever man who is a great philospher and an epic poet. He is an expert on the greater issues of manageing his realm, and he sees his main function as making sure there are people with the correct skills in the correct places. His patronage of the capital is very great - as is his understanding of architecture and the fine arts - and he rarely leaves to the bitter, war-torn battlefields of the east or the rebellious, religiously divided west.
Nikeforos the Conqueror, the crown heir, is a great speaker, a zealous and fearless commander, and one of the greatest men in the Empire. He is harsh, I think, and not the kindest of men, but his devotion and his loyalty to the reconstruction of the empire of the Caesars is very great. One day he will make a fine Emperor.
Cunning as a fox, not to mention brutal, the crusading Nikeforos Delphinas, conqueror of the east, is one of the greates assets we have in that war. He makes no show of snything other that what he is; an utterly ruthless fighter who had manged to claw back land that men though ungovernable and keep our frontiers safe through the long fight.
THE WINTER OF 1117
In the East, the pious islamic city of Ani is besieged by our forces under Nikeforos. I will show you his letter;
I write to you, good Phrantzes, to ask that you tell our most noble Emperor of the sack of Ani, one of the Turkish cities in the Caucasus. My men have been able to take the town with only fifty casualties, mostly Kontaratoi or our auxiliary Caucasians.
The gates are broken without resistance. These Caucasian Mercenary troops are a mainstay of our armies in Georgia and the Caucasus. They are not terribly tough, but numerous and battle-hardy enough to hold a line well.
The Turkish commander orders a charge with his bodyguard into the Kontaratoi spearmen. These light spear-armed troops are the real rank and file of Byzantine armies, forming a solid battle line. They are poor at killing the foe, but are excelliet units to pin the enemy down due to their numbers and large round shields.
Having destroyed the guards through weight of numbers, a simple block of spearmen is all that remains. My men rampage victorious through the streets, destroying the cursed turkish shrines. The Turks will find this town rather lessened in stature if they are ever able to return.
Unfortunately, the populace were too unruly. Realising he could not control the fanatically islamic populace and not wanting to lose his men. Nikeforos upped and left with his army, burning everything he could. However, there was still another battle to be fought; our foothold in Georgia, the city of Kutaisi, was under siege.
Joined by a sally from the town's governor, the commander Manuel Branas, Nikeforos attacked the Turkish forces, who found themselves suddenly outnumbered.
I have a few accounts of the battle - from Manuel, Nikeforos himself, and also an Italian friend of mine, Giuistiniani, who served as a Latinikon - a knightly mercenary - with Nikeforos. I shall relate to you the course of events;
Nikeforos drew his forces up with the caucasians and a small party of Cypriot crusaders forming the centre, with Kontaratoi on the flanks and his heavy swordsmen - the Spatharoi - outside them to protect the wings. He kept his cavalry, including Giuistiniani, behind the rest of his forces.
The Seljulks, realising they could never fight two armies, charged stragiht at the center of the battle line, hoping to panic the caucasians and cause a rout.
Carrying their banner forward into the enemy, the Crusaders and Caucasians held firm. The spatharoi on the Turkish left flank turned to charge the saracens in the side, and Nikeforos pulled his cavalry round to face the rear of the Turkish right.
As the knights charged in, the Turkish right broke and fled. The battle was essentially over. The Turkish commander was found to have fled the battlefield with his bodyguards - a wise move.
Giuistiniani was wounded in the fray, or so I have heard. I do not know how he is... I hope he is well - I met him in Genoa some years ago when I was on a diplomatic mission, and have been unable to talk with him except in writing since.
The Turks did not attempt to counterattack that winter. Our battles in Georgia were a success - and the pluder went to finance new building works in the rough Italian provinces.
