Medieval II: Total War - Victory

K. Fields
2020-01-30T15:11:10-05:00
Video Games

It took me a while but I finally got into Medieval II: Total War. After reading the manual and reacquainting myself with some of the gameplay elements I'd forgotten from Rome: Total War, it became much more enjoyable. Originally, I wanted to play as France. Instead, I wimped out and chose England. I thought the safety of an island home would prove to be more defensible and make for an easier game. In retrospect, that was probably true.

Once I'd conquered the British Isles, I used my castle in Caen as a forward base to expand on the main continent. The French struck at us first, which made it easy to retaliate. Occasionally, we had to cease hostilities at the threat of excommunication by order of the Pope. Gradually, we expanded by taking Rennes, Angers, and Rheims. We also captured Bruges and Antwerp from rebels. Unfortunately, that prompted Denmark to wage war on us in an attempt to reclaim those regions. After repelling several Danish attacks and blockading their ports, they called for a ceasefire. We gladly ceased hostilities to focus on our costly war with the French. Just as we had Paris surrounded in the late 1200s, rebels ousted the French and took the city. The French were forced south with a new capital in Marseille and a castle in Toulouse. We sent a large force south from Angers and captured Toulouse. Victory appeared all but certain.

As France was on the brink of extinction, an unexpected twist occurred. Milan, which had battled France for many years, launched a sudden attack on us. They besieged our castle at Angers, which caused an undesired distraction. We recruited additional troops to force the Milanese out of English lands while simultaneously building up in Toulouse to defeat the French. Our assault force was aided by the recent invention of gunpowder. After constructing a gunsmith and adding a bombard to our army, we headed east for Marseille. In 1302 AD, we captured the last French city. The campaign began in 1080 AD so it took over 200 years. With 15 regions under our control and our primary enemies defeated, it was victory for England!

England captures Marseille to achieve victory