Island of Eskania

[Nigel 57]

Eskania - a small and unknown isalnd in the mediterranean sea.
King Richard has decided to establish a foothold there andthe knights of Stronghold Nation have arrived in a ship at the harbour in the South of the island.

 

 

While the lords are disembarking, Sir Nigel has gone ahead on a scouting mission. He had hardly left the harbour, when he discovered that they were not the only force on the island. The Wolf and his troops have arrived before them and he has already started to build a castle. It is still small, but he has lots of space to expand and resources are nearby.

 

 

Sir Nigel quickly sets up a small fort to defend his position.
Unfortunately, the careless knight has forgotten to bring the tools with him, that are required to build a barracks.

 

 

So he is now stuck in the little fort with only a handfuld of men, hoping that the other lords can come to his help and bring more troops with them. There are barracks at the harbour, but no other buildings can be build there. The lords have to rely on supplies from Sir Nigel, who has lots of space around his little fort to produce food and weapons and to expand the fort into a mighty stronghold. There is also a mine in the mountains and it may be helpful if the miners can be won over to our cause.

 

This mission will truely require teamwork. The players can only produce troops and they are the only ones who can produce troops. I am the only one who can build, but apart from a few archers I have no troops available. We will have to trade goods and communicate a lot if we want to defeat the Wolf in this mission.

The mission is set up for 2 lords to come and help me against the Wolf but more payers should be able to join if we use the co-operation mode of the game. I know that EaglePrince and Lord Chris have already expressed their interest. If someone else wants to come along, he is more than wellcome. Please post in this thread if you want to join and we can take it forward from there.

Edited April 25 by Nigel
fixed broken links to pictures

[Nigel 57]

Thanks Chris, for your help with uploading the pictures.

 

Anyone who wants to join this event, please post here.

We can then find the time for an evening to play and see if we can defeat the Wolf and secure the land for the King.

[EaglePrince 204]

This looks really great, I like how you made the scenario! One cares about economy while the other fight. That is something I wanted to try back when I was a kid. :)

[Lord_Chris 223]

This is a very good idea - and the screenshots are excellent. I'll certainly try to attend this - but I think I'd probably need more details to confirm this.

[Micha! 27]

Looks nice! :D

[Andreas9541 3]

Very interesting. I like co-op a lot. In fact I created maps for co-op skirmishes but I never played co-op missions before. If you see me online on steam send me a message and hopefully we will be able to play.

[Nigel 57]

Glad to see so much interest in this event :D

 

EaglePrince, you are in.

 

Lord Chris, you too, if you can make it. What more details do you need to confirm? Playing times?

As usual, we will look for some time on a workday evening.

 

Micha! thanks for the compliment. Does "looks nice" mean that you want to join ;) Most wellcome if you do.

 

Andreas, we met online today and had a nice little co-op on one of your maps. I will see how I can accomodate you, too.

 

 

The map is designed for 2 lords (plus one lord that is needed for me in the fort). But more players can join if we use the co-op mode and have 2 players in one faction. I need to find out, though, if more than 4 human players are possible this way. If not, we can perhaps run this event twice or make a follow up event. But it would be very nice, if we could all join into the same battle and kick the Wolf out of here. :D

[Lord_Chris 223]

Lord Chris, you too, if you can make it. What more details do you need to confirm? Playing times?

 

Yes, playing times and the date to play is all I think I need to know - at least at the moment. But if there is a choice of only me or @Andreas9541 I'm quite happy to step aside and let Andreas play instead.

[Nigel 57]

Thanks, Chris, I will keep that in mind. It is good to know just in case.

 

 

 

Getting 5 of us to meet online could be a challenge in its own right, I guess. For the Siege That contest it was easier as we were playing the battles one at a time. But this in an event for all to play together.

 

I will look at my own calendar and send some suggestions for dates out via the PM system. Then we can see what works and take it from there.

[Nigel 57]

Just to keep all patrons updated, we are going to hold this event on December 17th.

 

I have confirmation from EaglePrince, Lord Chris and Andreas.

Micha, if you still want to drop by at that time, please do. But if you can't make it, well, if this event goes well, I am sure there will be more coming in the future.

 

I really look forward to it. :D

[Nigel 57]

We have 3 players, EaglePrince, Lord Chris and Andreas, disembarking the ship and coming to my rescue. Since we have only 2 keeps in the harbour, I have an idea of how to include you, Andreas. You can join the game as a knight in Lord Chris' army (I have placed a knight on the map for you to control - apart from the lords, you will be the only knight in our faction).

 

 

You can decide if you want to ride around the map freely on your own,
or join me in the fort and help me defend it
or get some men from Lord Chris and go on a mission - go scouting, capture a strategic position, harrass the Wolf's peasants or whatever the situation requires.

 

Hope you will like your role in this adventure 😄

Edited April 25 by Nigel

[EaglePrince 204]

I am sorry guys, it turned out I won't be able to play on December 17, I will have to stay at the university longer than I taught... :( I mean, normally I would come home around six o'clock (Central European time zone), but this time I will have to stay there at least until eight... I am sorry, guys.

[Andreas9541 3]

We have 3 players, EaglePrince, Lord Chris and Andreas, disembarking the ship and coming to my rescue. Since we have only 2 keeps in the harbour, I have an idea of how to include you, Andreas. You can join the game as a knight in Lord Chris' army (I have placed a knight on the map for you to control - apart from the lords, you will be the only knight in our faction).

 

http://forums.strongholdnation.co.uk/attachment/download/91/

 

You can decide if you want to ride around the map freely on your own,

or join me in the fort and help me defend it

or get some men from Lord Chris and go on a mission - go scouting, capture a strategic position, harrass the Wolf's peasants or whatever the situation requires.

 

Hope you will like your role in this adventure :D

What time will you be available on the 17th? (Post the time in your country so I can make easy comparison. I get confused with time zones)

[Nigel 57]

This event is starting tomorrow (17th ) at

 

19:00 h London time

20:00 h Paris/Rome/Berlin time

21:00 h Athens time

 

I am really interested to see how it will go. So far I have only been able do some limited testing using AI Lords - it will be the first time with human players and it could go any way. We could beat the Wolf easily, or it could be a long and hard fight, or he could beat us back to the ship and leave us in tatters.

 

I am excited :D

 

 

P.S. Sorry EaglePrince, I only notice your comment now. It is a pitty you cannot join, but I am sure there will be other opportunities.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Nigel

[EaglePrince 204]

Even though I won't be able to fight side by side with you, I am looking forward to read your battle reports. :)

[Nigel 57]

The gods of the internet were not in our favour and we did not manage to get the game working (antivirus software interfereing with Steam/Crusader, which took us the most part of the evening to resolve).

 

So we are now going to reschedule for January.

[Andreas9541 3]

At this point it would be fine for me if I was just spectating or had my own squad of knights scouting and giving you heads up on the opponents moves. I'm not sure exactly when I will be able to play on January

[EaglePrince 204]

Well, that would also be interesting, though it would be even better if we had fog of war in this game. Regarding January, I think that most of us have the same issue, we can't tell anything for sure. :)

[Nigel 57]

No worries. I think we all are just looking forward to the holidays now and we will have a better idea of our schedules once the new year starts.

 

Enjoy the Christmas time - we will continue this game when we get back in the New Year :D

[Nigel 57]

Just to let you know that I have not forgotten about this little adventure.

 

Let's look at our calendars and see if we can find an evening that suits us all. We can use the PM to organize it. Would be cool if we could still get a 4 player game going.

[Nigel 57]

We have started this mission today.

Duke Chris and Sir Andreas have come to rescue my neck from the attacking Wolf.

 

We have faught a hard battle and have not been able to finish, yet.

But I can say that we were able to defend and stengthen the little fort. And yes, we also managed to secure the mining village for ourselves. So hopefully we will be able to kick the Wolf out of his stronghold tomorrow - but man, his castle is really stong and who knows if he has some nasty surprise up his sleeve.

 

I have taken some screenshots of the battle and I will surely do a writeup when it is done. So watch this space :)

Edited January 30, 2016 by Nigel

[EaglePrince 204]

It seems really interesting, thanks for the short battle report. :)

[Nigel 57]

We managed to do it today. And yes, in the end we did give the Wolf a good beating and a run for his money.
But it was not easy - especially in the early days of this mission. Let me tell the story from the beginning.

The first attack of the Wolf came early and Sir Nigel only had 6 archers and 6 sprearmen to defend the fort. But Duke Chris (Blue) and Sir Andreas (Black) were quick to send more men.

 

It was clear that the flimsy little fort needed reinforcing.
Stone was rare, but on day 15 we had a double wall at the side from where the attackers came.

But while the fort was beeing defended, the Wolf had captured the mining village. We knew that we could not leave it in his hands for too long. So while Chris helped to protect the castle, Andreas looked for a way to capture the mines.

 

The Wolf was too stong there for a direct assault, but eventually Sir Andreas found a way through the mountains, where archers could attack them from above.

 

But the Wolf still made good use of the stone he was getting and his castle was growing.

 

All the while he was sending attacks againt the fort and kept destroying the orchards.
Food was beginning to be a real problem. Finally, on day 28, the mine was ours.

Edited April 25 by Nigel
fixed pictures

[Nigel 57]

But having the estate was one thing, getting the goods home was another. The Wolf was shooting down the carters until Duke Chris sent some archers for their protection. When the carts were finally coming through it was the first turning point.

By day 33 our little castle had grown in strength.

 

But so had the Wolf's ...

 

Fortunately, the mining village could be fortified.

That wall and tower took care of the estate's protection - a big worry off our minds.

 

By day 52 the King's men had their 3rd tower up and some pitch at their disposal, which came in handy.

But the Wolf's attacks were getting stronger, too, and on one occasion he managed to breach the wall and get some troops into the castle. Sir Nigel got a few bruises from that encounter, but Sir Andreas' crossbowmen were there and it all turned out good.

 

 

Now Duke Christopher decided to move the defences closer to the Wolf's castle. A small milestone tower was erected near the shallows, which the Wolf's men used to cross the river. That prooved very effective and finally provided some protection for the apple orchards.

Edited April 25 by Nigel
fixed pictures

[Nigel 57]

The success of the milestone tower prompted the Lords to build a second one.
With that, the river crossing should now be in control of King Richard's men.

 

But the knights had underestimated the old Wolf's strength.
The new tower came under heavy bombardment and collapsed. The Knights of Riverbourne lost many good men on that day.

 

 

* At that point, the first day of battle ended and we had to save the game to continue next day. As it is late at night now and my hand still shakes from wielding the sword, please forgive me if I will take a break now. The story will be continued tomorrow.

Edited April 25 by Nigel
fixed pictures