Nigel

This sounds very interesting, Tokamaps. If I understand it correctly, it is not only a simple "capture the flag" style of MP game, but also, you managed to make it so, that the players get the wooden keep only, and dont need to build castle structures, but are just fighting for the flags with their armies? An interesting concept. I would like to try it out some day with you guys.

The attacks are in. The gauntlets have been thrown. The Black team are passive this round. They are trying to make their defence in their "Wolf Lair" in the North. But Kurnaz and Kiki are going after them. We will see if they can hold out or be the next team to leave the island. In the West, the Orange team with Strahi and Kita have also chosen not to attack anyone. But Igi and Dodorus have chosen to trun on them in this round. They are good friends in real life and Igi and Kita are even brothers, living in the same house. But a battle needs to be fought nevertheless. At the same time, Monk and Tat4bA, the Purple Empire, are attacking them in county 6. But there is more interesing news to tell. Since Monk is going on vacation tomorrow, the Blue and Purple teams arleady got together to do their battle. And yes, Igi and Dodorus won this fight by holding out in their castle for 60 minutes and beeing Greatest Lord at the end. Everyone in the MP community agrees that Monk and Tat4ba are the stronges team you can find. But even the strongest can occasionally loose a battle. So congratulations to the Blue team for this victory. I chatted to Igi after this battle and he told me that it was the clock that had saved them. Monk and Tat4ba, he said in all fairness, had been better and had the battle gone 20 minutes longer, he and Dodorus would have been defeated. But we have the 60 minute rule and I think beeing able to defend yourself against a stronger opponent for such a long time is also quite and achievement. So Igi and Dodorus do deserve to hold on to county 6 - for this round at least :P

Round 3 has finished and this is how the map looks now: The Green team has been attacked in both of their territories 1 and 3. Unfortunately, they did not manage to arrive at the designated time on the battlefield so their counties fall to the attackers. The Black team also did not arrive on the battlefield (holiday season is really taking its toll). This means that Dark Red is taking over county 11 and keeping hold of county 7. A battle was fought between Monk and Kurnaz for county 13 (Kiki and tat4bA are on vacation). You can see that Monk carried the day and continues to expand the Purple Empire. With that, another team has been eliminated from the tournament as Edward and King In The North have lost their last counties. As it happens, Edward approached me and was quite sad about the fact that he did not really get a chance to fight in this tournament, only because of timezones and coordination problems. So I am letting him stay on as a "mercenary". He can fight in Monk's team, while Tat4bA is on vacation during August. But if the Purple team should win (and looking at the map, that is not quite so unlikely :P), then the prices will go to Monk and Tat4bA, who are the core team from the start of the tournament. By the way, this mercenary idea is open to everyone of the other defeated players, too. If you want to, and find a team that will have you, you can join them as a merc. That is perhaps a good way to get more 2v2 battles going even during the holiday season. :) But now: Round 4 is open. Tell me where you want to attack by tomorrow midnight. SicilyRound4_01.bmp

Hmm, Greece - lovely :) I hope you enjoy it, EaglePrince. But also, this is a very interesting challange. I gave it a go and - yes - I managed to complete the mission at the first try. Too much stuff on my to-do list to try and improve the timing further. But hey, I figure if EaglePrince also only has 1 day to do it, then that is only fair :D Hope you will be able to put your submission in, EaglePrince. 52 Weeks_30_Nigel.zip

Good idea to continue accepting characters. It is holiday season now. Maybe when that period is over the adventure will start picking up pace. Also, as this seems to be a journey along a long road - I think it would even be possible to let characters join in mid game. Found in the street, so to say :)

The players have already submitted their attacks for round 3: The Green and Orange teams really want to know it. They are going up against each other again for county 1 and 2. Igi and Dodorus are attacking county 3 through a narrow opening that connects their counties. This border really exists for the original provices of Sicily, connecting Palermo and Caltanisetta. In fact, most of the borders on the map are original. I only added a few additional ones, because Sicily only has 9 provinces in real life. The Dark Red team is getting really busy this round. :o Attacking county 11 and getting attacked in county 7 and 13, they have to fight 3 battles. Get into the saddle and good luck to everyone. :D

The last day of round 2 is over and a lot of battles have been fought. County 7 was heavily contested: In the first battle, ErTu?RuL GAZ? was defeated by Rakso. This was the last battle for Ertugrul, who has stood up bravely on his own against many very good opponents. Although he was defeated, I can say that he conducted himself with honour. And we were there in the Group Chat so see him off with applaus. In the next battle, Rakso was defeated by Kurnaz and lost the county that he had only barey won. It is a tough life, but the Black team still sits safely in the "Wolf Lair" in the corner and they are planning their next move from there. In the final battle Igi attacked Kurnaz in county 7. It was a hard battle and Kurnaz decided to defend by going on the attack. He managed to get a group of horse archers into igi's camp, befor igi could get the walls up. Igi fought back bravely and still held out for a long time (until day 22), but eventually Kurnaz' troops carried the day and he is keeping county 7 at the end of this round. The re-match between the Green and Orange team did not take place (I saw that Edward Dunferline has not been online for 1 day). So as I said earlier, both teams are keeping their counties. With that, round 3 is now open. Please let me know where you wan to attack by tomorrow (Thursday) midnight CET.

Greetings my Lordships, Here is an update of what happened over the last couple of days at the battlefront. A few battles have been resolved: Ertugrul attacked county 10 but Kurnaz defended his territory. The battle was fought as a 1v1, since Ertugrul's teammate has dropped from the game. But Ertugrul keeps figthing on bravely and his next battle will be against Rakso to defend his last county 7. Monk and Tat4bA attacked county 5, but Strahi and Kita decided to withdraw from that county. Well, that is also a perfectly legitimate way to resolve an attack and may be a reasonable choice in some situations. Monk's mighty men are really powerful. The Green and Orange teams fought over counties 1 and 2, but that battle was somewhat controversial. After listening to all sides, I have come to the conclusion, that no one actually had bad intentions. But people got carried away in the heat of the battle and things happened that gave one team an undue advantage. The battle shall therefor be played again, or, if the short time does not make it possible, I will say that both teams have defended their counties. Also, it seems that the different timezones make it really difficult for King In The North to take part in the tournament. Although we now have a fixed time for him to play on Sunday, he did not show up. So I am not sure how it will turn out in the coming round. If it does not work, Edward may look for a new (or additional) teammate. Meanwhile, he has the option to fight 1v1. With all that said: tomorrow at 20:00 is the battle hours to end round 2 :D Let's meet up in the Crusader 2 Group Chat, where we can all talk to each other directly:

The attacks for round 2 have been announced and - omg - what a picture :o There are 3 attacks on county 7. Black was the first team to tell me their decision. They will play the first match against Red. Then, the winner will have to defend against Dark Red. And finally the winner of that battle will defend against Blue. In addtion to that, the Red team, ErTu?RuL GAZ? and GlorieuX, are attacking Dark Red (Kiki and Kurnaz) in county 10. Who knows? This may be their last chance of survival. In the South, Monk and Tat4bA (Purple) are moving along the coast and attack county 5. And Orange (Strahi and Kita) and Green (Edward Dunferline and King In The North) are fighting each other over counties 1 and 2. The round is now open for you all to arrange your battles. But there are also two things which need to be changed: We have seen in round 1 that it is very difficult for American players to meet up for battles with European players, as there is a time difference of 7 hours between Central American time and CET. And in round 1 the Green team "lost" their attack due to this problem. I will therefor set an additional battle hour at Sundays 17:00 CET (= 10:00 Central American time). All European teams can still use the battle hour on Wednesday evening at 20:00, but for battles with American players (currently the Green team, as King is from the US), the Sunday will be their time to meet. Also, several players have approached me and said that their teammate will not be available for some time periods (holidays or whatever other reasons). To avoid holding up the contest, I will also allow you to play 1v1 battles, if your teammate is away. If your opponent has 2 players available, they can decide who of their team plays the 1v1 battle. Of course, a 2v2 is always preferred. But if you know that your teammate will not have a chance to attend, then a 1v1 is better than nothing. So this option will be available to everyone from round 2 onwards. I hope this will make the battle arrangements easier from now on. Good luck with your fights in round 2. :) EDIT: To clarify: The time on Sunday is an additional battle hour. A round will still last one fulll week and the final battle hour will still be on Wednesdays. Round 2 will end on Wednesday the 20th July, with battles starting at 20:00 CET.

What a night. Three battles were fought on this last day of round 1. In the first two battles, Tokamaps and CadettKlinge were fighting for their survival against Strahi and Kita (orange) and Igi and Dodorus (blue). They batteled bravely, but in the end the enemies were too strong and they lost both of their provinces. With that, they are the first team to exit the contest. It was hard and it happened faster than I had expected. But guys, you were beaten by some of the best Crusader 2 players the world currently has. So let everyone join me in saying GG and may you now rest your horses and heal your wounds as you lean back and watch the tournament continue. In the final battle, Monk and Tat4bA defeated igi and Dodorus and managed to split the blue kingdom in two parts. It will be interesting to see what they will make out of this situation. But now it is time to open Round 2. Choose your next target and send me your decision by Thursday midnight (CET).

I, too, am sorry to hear that, Matthew. My thoughts to out to you and his other friends and family members, even though I do not know them. And thank you also for sharing your thoughts and feelings. Your message has certainly gotten through to me.

Another battle was fought yesterday. Tokamaps and CadettKlinge made a brave attack on county 9, but Kiki and Kurnaz were too strong and have been able to hold on to it. These two are really strong players. I remember playing against them quite some time ago. I can still show you the scars. :) We also had some difficulty due to timezones. King In The North is from the US and he and Edward Dunferline tried to get the battle for county 2 going. But due to the time differences it did not work out, even though everyone made a good effort. So in the end I had to make a decision and the best solution for this round is, that county 2 shall be kept by the defender. But we need to find a better way to make the battles possible for our American players. Therefor I will set up an additional fixed battle hour on Sundays. That way, everyone will know it in advance and can plan accordingly. But tomorrow will be the final day of round 1. And - unless you guys are doing some more fighting tonight - the following 3 battles will have to happen : Strahi and Kita vs. Tokamaps and CadettKlinge for county 5 Igi and Dodorus vs. Monk and Tat4ba for county 8 Tokamaps and CadettKline vs. Igi and Dodorus for county 6 Oh boy, Tokamaps and CadettKline are really getting under pressure this round and may be fighting for their survival. I am really keeping my fingers crossed for all of you. See you on Steam at 20:00 CET tomorrow.

Charles Loring looks up from the chores he was doing.... "This sounds like new and exciting adventure." OOC: just want to say, I am IN :D

The first battle was fought today ! The Dark Red team with kiki and kurnaz won against the Red team with ErTu?RuL GAZ? and GlorieuX. Well done to both teams and the honour of the first clash of steel in this tournament goes to all 4 players. And of course, congratulations to kiki and kurnaz for the first victory. :D Tokamaps and CadettKlinge, this means that kiki and kurnaz are now your opponents for your attack on county 9. Go ahead and contact them. You can arrange the battle whenever you like, but the battle hours on Wednesday evening will be the last chance to carry out your attack. Good Luck to all fighters who are still awaiting the battlefield.

Ahh, congratulations EaglePrince. This looked like a very nice mission and I would have loved to take part in it (and give EaglePrince a run for is money). Alas, I was afk for most of the week and very busy for the last couple of days. Well, such is life. In any case, I am looking forward to more missions like that.

Hello Spartacus and wellcome to Stronghold Nation :) We currently have 2 players for all teams. But who knows how it will go during the contest. We already had one player, who had to drop out and if you are interested in joining at some point, keep watching this space. There may be an opportunity coming up in the future. Keep your horses saddled. I have re-opened the registration form. So you can go there and submit your details.

Now the challanges are out and I have to say, there are some really interesting situations. The arrows in the picture below give an overview over who is attacking who. Rakso and Letonetma (Black) have not submitted their attack in time. They are missing their chance to attack in this round. But fortunately, no one is attacking them either. So they will definitely remain with 2 counties after this round. Monk and Tat4ba (Purle) are attacking Igi and Dodorus (Blue) in county 8 while Igi and Dodorus are mowing West to attack Tokamaps and CadettKlinge (Yellow) in 6. The yellow team is really getting under a lot of pressure. Their other county 5 is also getting attacked in this round by Strahi and Kita (Orange). So they may be fighting for their survival in this round. In the far West, Edward and the King In The North (green) are invading the orage land in county 2. There is a lot of action in the centre of the island. While kiki and kurnaz (Dark Red) and ErTu?RuL GAZ? and GlorieuX (Red) are fighting each other over counties 9 and 10. But Tokamaps and CadettKlinge are also moving in on county 9. Since kiki and kurnaz were the first ones to make their claim on county 9, they shall attack first. Tokamaps and CadettKlinge will then have to fight whoever wins that battle. Now that you know your opponent, you can go ahead and arrange your battles. This is easiest done this way: - the attacker suggests 3 possible dates/times and hopefully one of them will work for the defender - if the defender cannot make any of those dates, then the defender suggests 3 possible days/times - if none of this works, then the Battle Hours on Wednesday (20:00 - 23:00 CET) is your time to meet. But of course, if you simply meet in chat and manage to arrange a date/time directly, that is also good :) Onc you agree on a date, let me know - just to that I can keep up to date with what is happening. GL and HF :D

And so it begins..... This is the campaign map - now with 16 counties, 2 for each team. Strahi - Kita : Orange (2 and 4) Edward Dunferline - King In The North : Green (1 and 3) CadetKlinge - Tokamaps : Yellow (5 and 6) ErTu?RuL GAZ? - GlorieuX : Red (7 and 9) Igi.tanas - Dodorus : Blue (8 and 16) Mr.Monk - Tat4ba : Purple (14 and 15) kiki - kurnaz : Dark Red (10 and 13) Rakso - Letonetma : Black (11 and 12) And here are the battlefields for the counties: Ok, my lords: Round 1 is now open. Look at the map and see who you want to attack. You have the whole day (until midnight CET of Thursday 7th) to let me know your decision. You can notify me by PM, email or Steam chat. After midnight I will show you what battles are going to happen in round 1 and you will then know who your first opponent is and can make battle arrangements for the weekend. May the best team win :D

No problem, CadettKlinge. At least you gave it a try. :) I have enough maps now for all the 16 counties. So we are ready to go. One more thing happened. Unfortunately, Korsar had to drop out from the tournament (sending many apologies). This is leaving Edward Dunferline at a bit of a loss. The good news is, that I recieved another last minute application: King In The North. I have not been able to speak to him yet, but if I get his confirmation, we still have our full 8 teams. Meanwile, I am sticking to the planned start date and will upload the campaign map in the next few hours.

Ok guys, I have to go offline now for the next couple of days. When I come back, we will get the contest started. If you still have questions at this point, don't worry. For the first round, I am going to take you through it, step by step. Looking forward to the start of the battles :D

This is indeed what I have heared, too. In England, the two outstretched fingers are a worse insult that the one outstretched middle finger. The story behind it is, that these two fingers are required to draw a longbow. When the French captured an English archer, they would cut off these two fingers to maim him and never to shoot a longbow again. As a result, the (healthy) English archers would show their erect index- and middle fingers before the battle so demonstrate, that they were still very much able to use their bows and rain death upon the French knights. History is sooo interesting. Only, now I have established myself demonstrating my profound knowledge of the obscure and obscene side of history. Not sure if this, indeed, will bring me much honour....

@ Tokamaps: that should be fine. I think most players will prefer to do their battles on the weekends :D @ ErtugrulGhazi: interesting. I will talk to him and if it is indeed true, I will request him to change his name. Just out of interest. What does the name stand for? It is Turkish, right? Is there a story associated with the name? EDIT: so we chatted on Steam and resolved it. It turns out that the name is written differently and that our player is not a fake but just happens to choose a similar nickname (Ertugrul was a fameous leader of the Turkish people, father of Ottoman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire). So all is well now :)

Now that we have the teams, I can fix a start date for the contest. As it happens, I will be afk next week from Monday to Wednesday. Since I don't want to start the contest and then go afk for some days, we'll start as soon as I am back. Start day: Thursday 7th of July I will upload the campaign map on the night before (16 counties, 2 per team). On Thursday you can all look at it and decide which county you want to attack. Send me your decision by Thursday midnight. I will then show it for everyone to see. Then, on Friday 8th, you will know who is attacking you and who you have to fight. You can arrange battles yourselves during the weekend just as you like. On Wednesday 13th at 20:00 I will be online for the battle hours. If you have not been able to arrange a battle during the weekend, come to the battle hour and any remaining battles will be resolved then. After that, Round 1 is finished and I will upload the new map and on Thursday 24th the Round 2 will start. I hope I have explained this well. If it sounds a bit complicated, don't worry. I will be online on Thursday evening and I can answer any questions that you still have. Looking forward to an exciting and interesting campaign. :D

Yes, that would be nice. I have 10 maps now and there will be 16 counties. If we manage to get 16 maps, that would actually be fantastic. Just make sure the map is not biased and suitable for competitive 2v2 matches. Looking forward to what you will do. :D

But now, I am happy to announce that we have the full number of 8 teams. With that, registration is now closed. Several players have already registered as a team, but there were also some lonely knights and I have allocated them together. Here are the teams that will be fighting: Igi.tanas - Dodorus Edward Dunferline - King In The North ErTu?RuL GAZ? - GlorieuX Strahi - Kita CadetKlinge - Tokamaps kiki - kurnaz Rakso - Letonetma Mr.Monk - Tat4ba There are players of all different skill levels. Some of them are very good an have taken part in previous tournaments. It should be a very exciting contest. :D Please go ahead and add each other on Steam, so that you will be able to communicate easily.