The battle of Königsberg
We continue the story of glorious Lithuania were we left of last time.
Our hitman tries to take one of the vile heretic scum, but fares just as well as the last one.
We need Lithuanian hitman I tell you, is big difference!
The Lithuanian hitman may be better but the priests sure ain't, one of hthem even succumbs to heresey him self!
And so does another one, these heretical scum can not be tolerated!
There thats better, death to the heretics!
The current plan is to Finish of the already weakened order, however first the Polish force threatening Hrodna must be dealt with.
What is this? Everyone seems to want a piece of glorious Lithuania, now the Danes as well decide to declare war on us, we really should send a hit man there...
Though there is some good news as another heretical priest has been revealed as the heretic he is, and subsequently burned, suffer not the heretic!
A new hit man is trained, he looks considerably more promising than the last ones.
Is Lithuanian, has it in blood
Well at least he doesn't get caught even if he fails his missions, so he may yet have some potential
The town of Hrodna has grown greatly the last years and is now large and prosperous (not in that way) and we may consider building some mighty stone walls to better protect it. However the war taxes our treasury greatly and we do not have the funds for it currently.
One of our commanders is ambushed by brigands and highwaymen on his way back from his mission of establishing watchtowers. He is greatly outnumbers but with the greater quality of his men victory is not only possible but highly probable
Our force is small but skilled and well equipped, unless they get in lucky hits the enemies arrows shouldn't be able to harm them.
Charge!
Just a few meters from the enemy line, only two men fell from the enemy arrows. And with the high momentum of galloping horse, man and armor we should trample them beneath us!
The charge is utterly devastating, about half the enemy force is taken out in one blow.
The bandits are not very skilled in close combat, used to only confront defenseless peasants with their bows. The bandit leader is quickly cut down, seeing this the remaining men run for their lives. Victory is ours!
Superiority through quality, though usually when Lithuania is facing her foes the situation is the opposite.
novgorod one again honors the alliance and declares war on Denmark, but sign a truce with Poland, presumably because they have no direct land border. Well no matter as long as they keep the Danes in Estonia of our backs we should be able to deal with the Teutons and Polacks.
This time however our hit man succeeds in his mission
See no problem for skilled Lithuanian hit man
Alright he can handle a simple heretic, but how about an enemy general?
Is no problem, Lithuanian hit man kill any one, could kill Jesus man if was not dead already
So they could kill Jesus if they hadn't already been captured and killed, because they can't even assassinate a rambling mad man?
Is not what I mean, not mock me!
Another success in battling heresy is rep ported, the last of the heretical priests have been executed. Though Latvia is still rife with heresy.
As the grand Lithuanian army approaches the enemy captain bringing reinforcements turned his tail and bravely fled, leaving the Polish general in a dire situation, where he is greatly outnumbered
The Polish army is very well equipped though and it will not be an easy victory.
We set up stakes in the woods and prepare and ambush, with some luck the enemy cavalry will not realize the presence of the stakes until it is to late, impaling their mounts.
The polack force approaches
Thanks to superior Lithuanian stealth skills we hide in the woods among the non existent grass and bushes, one day I have to find out how that works
I tell you, but I have kill you then
No thanks
Cavalry archers move out of their hiding place and starts firring on an unsuspecting foe.
It is surprisingly effective considering their armor, but we strike form behind negating the advantage of their shields
The enemy being quite close the archers open up a surprise volley that is relatively effective
The enemy knights become quite annoyed by the cavalry archers. Really when the knights are aware of the threat the cavalry archers thhe archers are no more of a threat than a bee is to a bear. However the the bee may enrage the bear and lure it away from our forces.
Some of our heavier cavalry manages to get charged by Polish knights however to devastating effect.
Some enemy heavy swordsmen engage our ill equipped troops in close combat it would be a slaughter, however one of our skirmisher companies unleash a surprise volley of javelins. So many fall so quickly that their morale and organization is completely ruined and they rout.
meanwhile the enemy general recklessly charges into the woods and gets caught in yet another ambush, his body guards are quickly slaughtered
Indeed he him self goes down quickly, however he is not killed, merely wounded and captured. His ransom should be a nice sum, perhaps it could be used to fund the construction of walls for the city he was so eager to assault.
Upon their general being captured the rest of the enemy either routs or surrenders, victory is ours!
An envoy is sent to the Polish court offering the ransom of the captured knights and nobles. However the Polish Kings responds by sending the envoys head back on a pike. Such an insult can not be tolerated, and the heads of the Polish nobles are sent to the Polish King in turn.
This worsens our relations with Poland, and the Pope as well. Should our relations with the papacy grow to bad we may find our selves the victims of a crusade soon enough. We shall be ready!
Or I send hitman, kill pope
They can't even kill a lone heretic priest in the woods, how can they kill one of the best guarded men in the world?
Trust me, has ace up sleeve
Some mercenaries are hired to aid in the assault on Königsberg. Their loyalty is questionable being Prussian, but as long as we use them correctly it should not be an issue. Also as you can see mercenaries are much more expensive than in vanilla, a nice touch if you ask me, also these are some quite excellent spear men. The attack value of a basic levy spearmen is 2 for comparision.
Our latest Lithuanian hit man performs another successful mission this time Killing a high level Order commander. I'm starting to think that they might be useful after all.
See once we have Lithuanian hit men they much better than poor Latvian ones.
Yeah I'm sure thats all the difference.
It is.
This hitman is proving to be quite capable.
As the glorious Lithuanian army stops for the day a temporary fort is established. being caught with out defenses against the plentiful Order heavy cavalry would be devastating.
New reaches Lithuania of a Islamic Jihad on Jerusalem, excellent if the Christians and muslims are fighting each other this should be all the easier for us.
Our hitman moves in to for an assassination attempt of the favored successor of the grand master.
However it fails miserably, well I suppose that was a difficult mission even for a Lithuanian hit man.
The Order army is split in two one small one patrolling the country side
And a large elite force defending Köngsberg (fun fact, Königsberg didn't even exist at the current date) castle.
here is a picture of it (not so fun fact, this doesn't even exist today.)
An attempt is made to assault the small force at night to prevent the larger forge intervening, however the grandmaster is sly as fox and has possibly foreseen this turn of events and is ready for battle. This could end poorly for Lithuania to say the least, where is our hitman to take out this nuisance?
Is training new one, old one killed in impossible mission
I though they could kill any one?
yes is can kill all... except not all
The battle begins
The small enemy force is straight ahead.
However the enemy is brining in large reinforcements.
Some spear men are deployed to cover from attack hitting ass and flank.
For such a clever commander the grand master is reckless to say the least and charges ahead of his main force into our lines. Brave but meaningless
Some heavy axemen charge in from the flank, not all hitmen operate in the dark.
The smaller enemy force advances, and most of the enemy cavalry is deployed directly at our rear, many soldiers have been redeployed to prevent distasteful rape of our army.
Mean while the Lithuanian axe hitmen have managed kill the Order grandmaster, such a blow to enemy morale way turn the battle to our favour, for as it is now we are both out numbered and the enemy troops are of superior quality.
Indeed even the enemy knights are shaken by the fall of their leader, imagine the fear that the lesser men must feel!
nearly all our forces have been moved to fight the larger army only a few remain to engage the smaller force should it charge, it would seem it is kept in reserve. Luckily through holding our position in the beginning we have the stakes to cover our flank from the inevitable cavalry charge.
Several enemy companies rout after the fall of the grandmaster, though the battle is still in the enemies favor
Finally the enemy reserve charges, why has he held back so long? Well no matter it has only benefited us
The main force is nearly completely broken and is retreating, though some of our forces are routing as well.
The other Order commander repeats the mistake of the ex grandmaster, these knights pursuit for glory and honor shall be their undoing.
He actually manges to singlehandedly (with his body guard of course) to break one of our companies. Though not with out losses
After his forces sustained huge casualties he retreats him self, though we send some light cavalry that was previously chasing routers to intercept him long enough for our heavy cavalry to reach him and finish him.
Thats is the final nail in the coffin and the battle is won, a glorious victory indeed. One wonders what the outcome would have been should the Grandmaster not have foolishly thrown his life away, but it is best not to dwell on such thoughts.
The remaining defense of Königsberg is just a few of the cowards that abandoned their brothers in the previous battle, victory is simply a formality at this point.
Though we still need some siege equipment to take the city.
Hmm interesting, a new way to produce armor has spread to Lithuania, this shall surely be off use.
I have a quick look at our victory conditions, interesting enough capturing Rome it self is one of them, perhaps once day the Drank Duke shall parade through the streets of the ancient city it self! Though at that point the title of Duke would hardly be fitting.
The vile Danes and Poles have formed an alliance, not that it changes anything they were both our foes already.
A small Polish force is spotted near Hrodna even with some Knights in their ranks they should be little more than a nuisance.
Finally the army is ready for the the assault on Königsberg
I decided to auto calc this battle considering how small the enemy force was the battle would pretty much consist of marching from point A to point B to claim victory.
Ah glorious, Prussia is added to the lands of the glorious Lithuania. The city is very modern and has many skilled craftsmen they shall come of great use producing arms and armor for the nobles of Lithuania. While all affiliates of the Order are expelled the local Lords as allowed to keep their land as long as they swear fealty to the Grand Duke. The Order is not eliminated, but it has lost all of it's possessions, thus rendering it next to useless, and offers no threat.
The castle it self took some damage in the fighting and repairs are ordered, also the construction of a shrine to the gods.
it should be noted that unlike other factions Lithuania has a choice of holy sites dedicated to different gods giving different bonuses similar to Rome Total war.
A monument is also contrcuted at the site of the great victory over the Order, glorious indeed! However we are still at war, and we are at war at two fronts, which one shall we deal with first?
Either
A) Take the Danish Lands in Estonia, they are separated from the Danish mainland and should be an easy target.
or
B) All out assault on Poland, there can only be one potato nation!