Let's get this party started.
As the army I will be using assembles, the HRE asks for my help in his war against his former vassal. I agree, though I won't actually do anything.
The army arrives and starts to siege Badajoz.
I realize I have lots of money, so I decide to build a holding. I opt for a city to increase my income.
I end up assaulting the holding because French and Scottish troops are arriving, leading to lots of attrition.
And again, I assault and win.
They give up at that point and the territory is given away. Now time for my next victim.
I want to try to cut France off as much as I can, so I need to move north.
The HRE backs me up. It will be interesting to see if he will back me up when I end up in a war with France (which I inevitably will at the rate things are going).
The army arrives in the theater. It is composed of my personal troops and a few others from Italy. But its mostly just my troops and those of the barons under me.
Inclining North Africa for over a hundred years.
We assault and win a siege. Notice the small enemy force gathering. My troops from Greece (which have been roaming my lands bashing in peasant skulls) will deal with them soon enough.
It is at this point that I realize something. Something that I find very interesting.
This is the youngest daughter of the King of France. Age 14.
This is her mother. A princess of the HRE.
Unless I am mistaken, if I were to manage to murder off my current wife and marry her, then the children of that marriage would have claims on both France and the HRE. You are probably saying, "But Xeno, the French didn't want to be friendly with you before, why would they now?" Well that's true, but now I have a border with them, which probably makes the French more concerned about me. I am going to attempt it at any rate and see what happens!
Step 1 Decide:
The appropriate ambition is decided upon.
Step 2 Kill:
I need way more support.
Lucky me, my German Catholic wife is apparently hated by the entire realm as I have no trouble getting support to kill her as you can see. Time to engage!
The deed is done.
Step 3 Get Hitched:
I am guessing that suddenly having a border with one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world made the French a little more inclined to interact with us.
They are going to regret it later though. MUAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
That's the smell of world domination on its way, and the restoration of the Roman Empire. It is glorious. Now if I can just squeeze some sons out of her, murder my first kid (don't particularly want him to rule anyway since he will likely be really old by the time K2 dies).
Now then. Back to laying a beat down on the poor isolated Muslims of Iberia.
My army catches up to the enemy army and beats them. I pursue and eliminate then lay siege.
Another siege is won, and France takes Toledo. Muslim Iberia is doomed. In fact:
The Muslim world appears to be doomed. Or at the very least it is at the complete mercy of Orthodoxy.
Not long after the siege:
And our enemy wants the war to end. Territory is given out as usual. I cannot usurp the ducal title though yet. Once my Greek army gets out of enemy territory and can be disbanded without losing half the troops, we will select our next victim.
I decide to go after A-A. Maybe this way I can at least secure western Iberia for myself.
We help to bring Orthodoxy back to the former Orthodox lands of Nubia.
Good ideas are worth the gold.
This is Rome. We have 11 Military advances, 15 economic, and 13 cultural.
Compared to the capitals of the other major powers, we are doing alright. Better than the Catholics, but nowhere near the Byzantine Empire.
The army arrives and marches north. It will be slower than a naval deployment, but I won't suffer attrition this way. Also for the curious:
This is my military screen at present. Yes my total army is about 75k strong. Compared to the other (based on the iffy accuracy of the ledger at any rate):
We rank as very powerful. France is roughly our equal, not sure why the HRE is so weak (relatively speaking at least), and the Byzantine Empire is perfectly
capable of beating me like a dog if they are so inclined (especially considering what their targets would be). Anyway back to Iberia and my Muslim bashing.
The army arrives at their goal and the enemy has a much larger garrison then I had hoped. Guess I will be waiting them out.
Don't worry. I will show a religious and cultural map at the end of the update.
My city finishes. Yay!
Excellent news.
I decide to bring another small army into the area to deal with some peasant rebels, and decide to keep them around to help out against A-A. Currently they are headed for all that there is of the A-A army. Rather stupidly, I forgot to take the shots of me beating the little army and then of the pursuit and
annihilation of it. Sorry.
My army is now headed to Lisboa to take an enemy holding that is in our territory.
I will take it!
The army get redirected to deal with a rallying enemy force. We win. Also they have hired some mercs as you can see by the no morale cavalry group just south of me. My troops go to deal with them now.
Conversion!
And not long after we engage the enemy mercs and beat them. They are pursued.
We beat them again and pursue some more.
Our young bride to be comes of age, so we send the marriage proposal.
Again the enemy army is beaten and we pursue (the mercs joined up with the levies in this battle).
We are now married to the Princess of France. Hehehehehehe.
We also finally win a siege.
And the enemy army has almost had it as well.
They are finally all wiped out. My army heads to their single holdings in our territory.
And I decide to build another city. This time in Capua.
The first Iberian province converts to Orthodoxy!
As does Venice!
And another siege is won.
Sucks to be Muslim. Here comes another round of war for the Caliphate.
Another victory.
And they decide to end their war with me.
A ducal title is usurped and handouts occur.
A new kingly title is added to our ever growing list.
It adopts the laws of our primary title since it was previously non-existent. Its good to be the king.
I still cannot usurp some titles though. I really want Egypt. I am curious what its shield is for a Christian.
And to wrap things up:
Look at that beautiful religious map.
Our cultural spread is a little slower, but is still going pretty well.
That's this update. Next time I will try to finish off Iberia and the Caliphate in Africa.