Game:

Medieval: Total War (2002)

Duration: 13:53

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The Mongols have been fighting this campaign like a game of chess. Unfortunately for them, they opted for a game in which their opponent has twice as many pawns and in Mosul a tower the like of which no chess game has seen.\n\nPhilip and Christofle de Monrtfort, having crashed Abaqha, head for the Monastery of St John the Baptist, local headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller to leave their wounded. Philip presses into his army what patrols they find along their way. Now is the chance to crash the Mongols once and for all.\n\n Scouts alert Philip that Kuo Kan instead of attacking Mosul is marching to intercept his army in the desert. Philip and Christofle de Montfort march out and deploy to meet the Mongols. Kuo Kan takes a strong position on a hill near the monastery and deploys his rocket launchers and trebuchets. He is planning to hold this relatively strong defensive position for as long as it would take for the other two generals to arrive\n\nChristofle and Philip move their main force to the side of the hill where the hillside is not too steep. Then they send the light cavalry to ride around the Mongols as the heavy troops march to just outside the range of the trebuchets. As soon as the Mongols turn their rocket launchers and trebuchets to fire at the light cavalry, Philip sounds his trumpet. Christofle de Montfort attacks Kuo Kan from the rear as Philip leads a frontal charge of the knights. Some of the Mongol heavy cavalry rides towards Christofle de Montfort to hold up his army. Two companies stay by Kuo Kan. The knights smash into the heavy Mongol archers, push them aside and charge the Mongol general. An epic fight ensues. Despite being outnumbered, the heavy Mongol cavalry puts up a good fight. The Mongols are completely surrounded. Kuo Kan escapes temporarily from the melee having sacrificed every man in his bodyguard only to realise he is completely surrounded and his army is on the verge of collapse. His gamble has not paid back. Like Abaqha he also runs but he has nowhere to run to other than straight into the Antioch knights. His horse is killed and he is taken prisoner.\n\nIt is, however, a sour victory for Antioch. Philip's bodyguards are nearly all killed or wounded. Robin de Toulouse has been killed in the fighting. Chrstofle de Montfort deploys his army at the top of the hill and prepares for the onslaught of Abashan. Philip gathers the heavy cavalry and prepares to meet Abashan. But Abashan does not attack. Instead opts to enter into negotiations for the release of the prisoners. Kuo Kan and a few of his companions are ransomed for 10770 florins.\n\nPhilip expects the Mongols now to move off and seek plunder in the Turkish Sultanate. Abaqha has left in the direction of Tabriz, still held by the Turks. But grasps the opportunity and marches west along the Euphrates, seeing that the Antioch mounted patrols have been largely withdrawn. Abashan and Kuo Kan stay near Baghdad. When Philip moves towards Kuo Kan, instead of withdrawing in the direction of Tabriz, he retreats west as if he is looking for a way to cross the Euphrates. Philip follows on his trail Kuo Kan only has some of his bodyguards a couple of mounted archers and two understrength light missile companies with him. He also has two of his rocket launchers . Having found no way to cross the Euphrates he is moving back towards Baghdad under the cover of night when Philip's patrols stumble across him. There is some exchange of arrows but he marches on regardless. Philip's cavalry has been severely depleted so that he has now with him a strong infantry force. Kuo Kan rides into the dark of the night straight into Philip's infantry and heavy cavalry. Worse still, the crews of the rocket launchers decide to open fire. Blinded by the lights of the rockets they are firing randomly into the darkness in fact straight at the back of Kuo Kan's bodyguard. The rockets lands ride in their midst and Kuo Kan is instantly killed. An ironic if fitting end to Kuo Kan's suicidal plan to conquer Mosul. His death practically ended the siege of Mosul without the Mongols' having fired so much as an arrow at the mighty fortress.\n\n-------------------------\n\nMy Antioch Crusaders Mod campaign AAR\nhttp://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=425329

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