Part one: The Crown, 963 to 1683
Thirteen missions in real places and real years. Each has its own goal: sometimes you build a stronghold from scratch, sometimes you defend a fortress, sometimes you lead a great charge. The chronicle of the Rowan family ties it all together.
963
Build and defend
The prince has just lost twice and needs a stronghold on the river. You raise the starosta's manor from nothing, teach settlers their trades and train the first warriors. When Dargosz and the Veleti ride in across the ford, you hold the manor, and then you burn their war camp yourself.
965-966
Escort and night
The stronghold already stands. You lead the warriors to meet the procession of Dobrawa and bring it home through ambushes, then finish the chapel with its baptismal basin. On Holy Saturday you light six fires and keep watch while the Veleti strike the island four times in the night. At dawn Mieszko is baptised.
967
No building, a ruse
No building. A hundred foot soldiers, Bohemian cavalry hidden in the forest and Wichmann with the men of Wolin across the field. You pull your infantry back just far enough to be believed, then send the horse into his back. In the end you surround Wichmann in a farmstead, and his sword goes to the emperor.
972
No building, field battle
No building. Margrave Hodo and Count Siegfried attack in waves and the Saxons win at first. You hold the escarpment and the narrow pass under the stronghold until Czcibor, the prince's brother, counterattacks and cuts down their best men.
1017
Finished stronghold, siege
A stronghold with a stone wall on a rocky spur faces three weeks of siege. First a day to harvest, quarry and train, then a rainy night when the first relief gets in, a great relief force that slips through the ring of imperial camps, and finally the assault of siege engines. When they burn under fire from the parapet, the sick army of the emperor leaves for Bohemia.
1109
Defence and sorties
In the days before the raid you block the fords, bring in the harvest and repair the old rampart. When Emperor Henry V crosses on the day of St Bartholomew, you hold the stronghold on Ostrów Tumski against engines, rams and ladders, while the field army of Bolesław Wrymouth beats the imperial foragers by day and by night. Hostages are tied to the engines under your wall.
1241
Preparation and battle
The raid cut short the rebuilding of the castle in stone, and you finish it section by section. Then comes a field battle against the Mongols that cannot be won: Henry II dies whatever you order, but the men you save decide the strength of the garrison. Under the walls the Mongols show the head of the prince and demand surrender, and the stronghold does not give in.
1331
Build, two battles
September 1331. The Teutonic Knights push deep into Poland while you grow Brześć Kujawski into a town with brick towers and a church. News of Sieradz, Konin and Radziejów arrives as chronicle cards. On the morning of 27 September you break a detached column of Altenburg before help reaches it, and in the afternoon the advantage passes to the enemy, as it did in history.
1410
Camp and great battle
Two days of camp by the lake after the storming of Dąbrówno: you build, train lances and ready the knights. Then the great battle beside the Lithuanians, who fall back as they did in history, and the charge of the reserve of the master straight at the king.
1456-1457
Economy and relief
Fifteen months in three parts. First you pay the mercenaries from taxes and loans, then you live through the revolt in the castle and take the keys on Whitsunday 1457. In the autumn the burghers open the town gate from inside, and you hold the castle until relief arrives: hunger, bombardment and a fight on the causeway.
1605
Great field battle
A small camp on the plain by the Dvina and a Swedish army far larger than yours. You pull the skirmishers back until the enemy believes in a retreat, then the Winged Hussars charge for the first time in the campaign, straight at Swedish pikes and muskets. After it comes the pursuit.
1655
Finished fortress, sorties
There was no general assault, and the game does not invent one. For forty days the siege is work: heavy guns, mines, breaches to repair and talks played for time. Two sorties, one by night and one in daylight, wreck the enemy positions. You play the deputy of Piotr Czarniecki, and the garrison is led by Zamoyski and Czarniecki, not by the prior.
1683
Finale, the general charge
The finale of part one. You bring the guns through the Vienna Woods, set up camp, clear the vineyards in the morning and send a banner in as a probe in the afternoon. Around five the whole cavalry, with the Winged Hussars, charges the camp of the grand vizier. The city itself is only a skyline of smoke and mine blasts.
