How I conquered and unified Calradia with deceiveness and betrayal

Wanna share my story with you guys. I'm writing this in my cellphone and I'm not a native speaker so bear with me.

My playthrough was done on Warband only with the Diplomacy Mod.

So how did I do it, how was I able to conquer all of Calradia. Well the first 100 day I focused on establishing enterprises on each and every city so if I was at war with some of those fake and puny factions I still had some income thanks to the rest of the cities. Next I focused on recruiting all companions and started their training. I didn't care much about their combat skills but the Trainer and Looting skills were priority. I had good 'ol Jeremus as my primary healer with Surgery, First Aid and Close Wounds maxed out as soon as possible and the always faithful Ymira as his assistant with 7/8 in those skills. Artimenner was my Tactician and Siege Master with Tactics and Engineer maxed out next to Borcha and Baheshtur as my Trackers, Spotters and Path Finders. I put all my points in Charisma and Intelligence maxing out Trade, Persuasion, Prisoner Management and Leadership the rest were thrown out here and there in any Combat skill.

So now, 200 days in campaign, I decided to make my move. Fighting those filthy Bandits while establishing my monopoly of enterprises, helping with some errands to the Lords here and there and some tourneys let me join a Faction right away. The first False Claimant I decided to destroy was Sanjar Khan as his army is the weakest and would be a good boost to my Right to Rule so I joined the Khergit Khanate and started putting my plan in motion.

As with all the others Factions I joined next (which were all of them until there were only 2) I started attacking Lords of all the Factions even if we were not at war, specially the ones we were not at war with. Next, after conquering a city or castle I would request it. Usually the fief in question would be bordering the next Faction I was going to join.

Now every single Faction decides to go at war with the Khergit Khanate and just before that I renounce my oath to my liege keeping my fiefs and joining the Faction I'm bordering territories with.

Fighting the Factions my Faction is not currently at war with has the advantage of that Faction not being able to reclaim the castle or city I just took from them. Slowly and steadily I start gaining more castles and cities and just before war breaks out I renounce my liege and move to the next Faction I want to destroy.

I did it in less than 600 days keeping the Rhodoks the last because I think their melee soldiers are the best. Of course Nord Huscarls are stronger and better but takes too long to train even with max Trainer while Rhodoks Sargeants are cheaper and as reliable. Arguably the second best melee soldiers thanks to their shields. I only used Melee Units for storming castles and cities and I needed the help of no Lord, since 250 Rhodoks Sargeants are enough to take all 250 units able to spawn in cities and castles.

Before Bariyye the last city of the last other Faction fell I renounced my oath one last time and created my own Kingdom: The New Calradic Empire.

Now I have to tell you that thanks to the Diplomacy Mod I was able to bring all the Lords back from exile, something I disabled while destroying the Factions (yes, you could say that was the only advantage I had apart from the Diplomacy Mod) so now I had my court always filled with Lords wanting to fight and die for The New Calradic Empire, something I used at my advantage while ravaging the Kingdom of Rhodoks. I took half of Calradia with one clean sweep before I needed to refill my empty lines thanks to Jeremus' and Ymira's healing skills, which made only 1 or 2 Rhodok Sargeant die by siege.

King Graveth had around 30 vassals with him, all which didn't go to exile when no Faction wanted them anymore, but I had all The Undesirables with me. They were strong and brought their respective regions soldiers so I had a very healthy and diverse army.

Thanks to my 30 Charisma and Intelligence, 10 Persuasion and Lidership, 99 Right to Rule and good relation with his vassals, most of King Graveth's Army left him as soon as they saw the New Calradic Empire' banners over the mountains, the only place were I hadn't retaken my territories.

The battles were bloody and totally one sided. We came down the mountains taking every castle, looting every village and killing every person we saw. It was inhuman, aye, but so is war and at the same time is the most human thing possible.

King Graveth retreated the rest of his badly injured army back to Yalen, the last Bastion of what was once known as the "Kingdom of Rhodoks". He only had 3 last faithful vassals with no more than 200 soldiers between the three. Our army, counting on the thousands, decided to play the long game and simply waited outside the walls of Yalen. Plus the garrison, the " Kingdom of Rhodoks" consisted of no more than 500 badly injured and starving soldiers. I sent couriers with my terms for their surrender but they returned with negatives. The last messenger was sent, the ultimatum was given: "We will destroy the city, kill all men and women alike, think on the people" but filthy and inhuman "King" Graveth didn't care. 'So be it' I said.

The siege started, it was a peaceful April night of 1259 when the soldiers of the New Calradic Empire stormed the walls of Yalen, last bastion of the now defunct fake Kingdom of Rhodoks. Catapults swung to my Siege Commander orders as molten destruction rained from above and the night became day while fire flew over the city. The warcry of my men was heard all the way to Tihr, or so they say. Thousands of my soldiers, men from each region of Calradia fought together for a new and lasting Empire. Khergit Lancers pierced through their armors while Vaegir Marksman helped them from afar. Sarranid Guards and Swadian Sargeants fought shoulder to shoulder while moving through the sewers into the city to open the gates for the main army, Nord Huscarls and Vaegir Guards shattered their shields and bones to my command. It was a massacre, no one was spared.

The city was breached, in the heat of battle many atrocities were committed to women and children that I don't want to talk about and when the fires died out and the daylight came to the city there was no city left. The streets were red with the blood of soldiers and citizens alike, Count Talbar was killed while defending the eastern wall by my archers. He was pinned down to the door of the Guard Tower like a porcupine with at least one arrow from each region. Count Belir's body was found next to the stables with some Swadian Knights bodies around, his head nowhere to be found. And the last one, Count Montewar was a bloody pulp, we wouldn't have recognized him had it not been for his sigil and helmet, apparently he was runned over by my soldiers when the gates were open.

The city was destroyed, Yalen was ours but the castle remained, I expected King Graveth to be ready for a last stance at dawn but apparently he escaped the city cowardly at night like the true traitor he is. It didn't matter, the city was ours, Calradia was ours and the job of rebuilding the Empire had just begun.

Submitted July 22, 2018 at 01:59AM by galagart https://ift.tt/2uSXRM0