A Catalonian Reconquista, CK 1.05

[Tim O]

I tried this once before and I built a rather extensive Mediterranean empire, but I never managed to unify the Iberian peninsula because of the strength of the Kingdom of Leon. I also got bogged down fighting the French and the Holy Roman Empire

So, I decided to start over and concentrate wholly on the peninsula before going onto the rest of Europe. My strategy was to let the Kingdom of Castile & Leon and the Emir of Seville tear each other apart, and then when they ground each other down enough I attacked the Emir's vassals. It worked well, the only war with another Christian kingdom I had to wage was a short war with the Kingdom of Navarre for the Crown of Arragon. At that moment of triumph however I was mortally wounded and my one year old son inherited.

Luckily, my vassals didn't revolt and he grew up into a fantastic warrior, though his diplomatic skills are nil. He looks Arab, which I find weird, since both of my his parents were Catalan. I never got a message saying he was a bastard though, so I guess his Mom didn't get caught.

Despite my near continuous campaigns against the Emirate of Seville the Kingdoms of Leon, Castile and Navarre fell to the Saracens rather quickly.

My Crusade against the Emirate of Seville was going well, and I'd managed to liberate Castile and crown myself it's King, when I glanced north and noticed that France had been obliterated.

Just now, I managed to crown myself King of Leon and the Duke ruling eastern Portugal pledged fealty to me when his war against Seville started going badly. Thus I've united the Christians of the peninsula with only one short war against a Christian state. Soon I'll liberate the rest of Portugal, crown myself it's King and proclaim myself Emperor of Iberia. I can't seem to recreate the Crown of Navarre for some reason though, which I find annoying. Meanwhile the Emir of Tunis rules half of France.

 

[Tim O]

I scoped out what was going on in France and it seemed like the Emirate of Tunis and been fighting it out with the HRE. They lost some ground in the north. The Emirate of Fez must have been fighting one of them because their army had been literally annihilated to the last man. So I struck fast and hard against them and snapped up all their land along the coast along with an independent Sheikdom along the way. I decided to ignore their North African holdings, I want to concentrate strictly on Europe. However, my ten year old heir who I gave the Dukedom of Almeria on the southernmost tip of Spain, obviously has a different opinion and invaded Morroco, taking two counties. It's his problem though, I'm not gonna help him. As long as they don't pull of a counter invasion off Iberia, I don't care.

 

[Farquharson]

I can't seem to recreate the Crown of Navarre for some reason though, which I find annoying.

I've noticed this too. Although Navarre is a Kingdom at the start of the game, for title-creation purposes it's only a Duchy.

 

[Tim O]

I've noticed this too. Although Navarre is a Kingdom at the start of the game, for title-creation purposes it's only a Duchy.

Too bad, it was small, but it did manage to survive for centuries.

Meanwhile, I just made my bastard son Rashid the Duke of Bourbon. Hey, at least he's Catholic. Most of France is split between the Emirate of Tunis and the Fatimid Kingdom! The Throne of France lays empty and is up for grabs. That'll have to wait though. I'm going save up my money for the next couple of years and than crush what's left of the Emirate of Seville.

 

[stnylan]

Looks like plenty of opportunities for you to expand northward.

 

[unmerged(59077)]

France is probably the one major European nation that tends to get overrun by Muslims in the game.

Which is strange since the complete reverse should be true. Oh well. It's CK, not EU2.

 

[VILenin]

France can go either way in my games, though Iberia is almost always Muslim. So it's nice to see the Christians winning for once, and as Aragon no less! Keep up the good work, there aren't too many gameplay AARs in CK land.

 

[Tim O]

Well, it took two and a half years of hard fighting that brought me to the brink of bankruptcy, but I finally managed to crush the Emir of Seville. I crowned myself King of Portugal and made my third son (2nd legitimate) Duke of Tejos, and my fourth son (3rd legitimate) Duke of Austeras.

Then I spent a few years saving up money and building improvements like post offices and tile factories. Then I struck north and attacked a couple of Sheikdoms centered around Orleans that had foolishly declared independence from the Fatimids. I gave Orleans to my 5th son (4th legit), though I can't yet create the Duchal title, so he remains a count for now. I plan on saving up money for the next couple of years and then attacking whichever of the Tunisians or Egyptians are weaker at the time.

 

[Tim O]

It took four years of war from 1127-1131 to drive the Tunisians from France's fair shores. Man was it tough, I had armies running around all over the country. I made my sixth son (2nd bastard), Duke of Anjou, and elevated my aforementioned fifth son to Duke of Orleans.

The Fatimids were even harder, it took four years to beat them and I wouldn't have been able to if not for the Duke of Bourgone. He landed in Egypt and besieged the King's home province which made his armies in France turn around. I caught them on the beach of Provence piecemeal and destroyed them, after which he gave up. Also, I made my seventh son (3rd Bastard), Count of Artois.

Here's the map of France, circa 1136. Provence declared independence from the HRE and they're the same color as me so I used the vassal map instead. Just need a few more counties to crown myself King of France.

 

[Farquharson]

Good going! And once you are King of France, where next I wonder? It looks like the King of Germany is letting the Muslims get the upper hand as well - perhaps he needs some help? Oh, and who's that in Forez? I'm sure they shouldn't be there... On second thoughts, are these all the nauseating yellow of the Seljuk Turks or something???

 

[Tim O]

Good going! And once you are King of France, where next I wonder? It looks like the King of Germany is letting the Muslims get the upper hand as well - perhaps he needs some help? Oh, and who's that in Forez? I'm sure they shouldn't be there... On second thoughts, are these all the nauseating yellow of the Seljuk Turks or something???

Yup, the Turks bypassed the Byzantine Empire, which has held together much better than usual, and attacked the HRE instead. The Sultan can call on over 70,000 swords so I'll definitely want to attack him only when he's already fighting the HRE. My next victim though is the North African colony in Flanders, gonna have to be careful that the home provinces don't cross the straight and land in Spain.

 

[stnylan]

Germany, or the German muslims next perhaps?

 

[oddman]

Hey, interesting!

 

[VILenin]

Ugh, I really hate seeing the Turks in Germany. Still, I suppose it means you don't need to run up your badboy score taking their provinces. Just make sure you catch them distracted and you should be fine.

 

[Lurken]

About Narvarra as a non-recreatable kingdom, it is down to gamebalance, otherwise it is too easy to reclaim that crown as a duchy if it has fallen to heathens.

 

[Tim O]

The Pope had called for a Crusade to take Jerusalem and Tajaddin took up the Cross. He ignored the mad ravings of the Pope though and struck out for the North African colony of Flanders. Me thinks he should call for a Crusade to liberate Northern Italy from the Seljuks instead. After two short campaigns I'd conquered Flanders. It seems I hadn't given Artois to my 7th son as I'd thought, so I gave him Ghent instead and made him Duke of Flanders. Meanwhile the Germans conquered one of the counties sworn to me, I let them do it because they're my allies and I was used to getting requests for aid from them. When the message popped up that they were attacking said county, I was like Who? And just clicked on no, assuming I was turning down yet another attack on a third party. By the time I realized my mistake it was too late. Still a couple of the idependent counties plead fealty to me despite Tajaddin's obviously growing senility and he finally achieved his dream of Crowning himself King of France, aftwerwhich the even more counties plead fealty to him.

Hmm... I just noticed one of my vassals inherited a county in England. Also, I took this screenshot right before I made son 7 Duke of Flanders. He owns both Bolugone (sp?) and Ghent.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

A Catalan Moor... or an Aragonese Moor... The Moromaño of my AARs made true

Let's see.