European Union (Medieval - Total War (PC))

Member Name: DavidJWest

Product:	Medieval - Total War (PC)
Date:	10/12/02 (1417 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Massive, Depth, Scope

Disadvantages: Few glitches.

Medieval Total War is the sequel to the highly acclaimed wargame Shogun Total War. While Shogun was based around fuedal Japan in the 16th century, Medieval Total War concentrates on the more familiar scenario of Medieval Europe, from the mid 11th to the late 15th centuries.

To say the game is big would be a massive understatement. You take control of the economy and military power of any one of a dozen states and try to plot your way through centuries of conflict and even sometimes peace. As King (or similar, you can be a Turkish sultan if you prefer) your aim is to giuide your fledgling state to domination of the whole of Europe.

During your campaign you can try to exert your countries influence over the detailed map, cosisting of dozens of smaller regions. You will need to build up your terretories by constructing buildings ranging from small forts to massive citadels. On top of that you can raise armies of thousands based on dozens of different unit types.

The game is played on two main screens, the first being a large map of Europe showing all the terretories and more details being displayed for your own countries. You can see your own troops on the map with their leaders but there is a "fog of war" built into the game so if you are controlling the English for example you don't know what is happening in Egypt, unless you send forces there or control a neighbour.

The map stretches from the British Isles in the Northwest and the area of Russia which would now be around St Petersburg in the NorthEast. The most Southwestern point is Morroco and in the Southeast is Egypt. So as well as Europe you get plenty of North Africa and the Middle East to think about as well. Plus, if that wasn't enough most of the Meditteranean islands are depicted from Cyprus to Malta.

As ruler of your empire you will need to balance the defensive needs of your peoples with the urges of an expansionist. But you don't
have to be a warmongerer like I am, you could simply play the game using the economic model and try to get a stable and happy empire if you want to.

But personally the military options the game offers are far more rewarding. Once you decide to invade a neighbouring country you will have several interesting options to deal with.

Firstly who will lead your army on it's conquests? You can pick from a number of possible candidates, these tend to be members of the royal family, princes and the like. Each possible leader has a list of traits which need to be taken into account. For example if you have a prince who is described as being a "good runner" then you may want to consign him to a quiet backwater somewhere so he can concentrate on helping the economy by collecting taxes as he is likely to be a coward and the men under his control will have low morale.

It's important to pick a leader who has positive traits which will influence your army in a good way. Assuming the army wins battles the leader and all men in the army will gain combat experience and prove even more formidable in future battles.

Once you have chosen a leader then it's down to raising the army, how many men and what type of unit do you choose?

Size of army is important obviously but not to the detriment of all other considetations. A host of fifty thousand will probably sweep all in their path but will cost a fortune to supply and bankrupt the treasury quickly. Also this size of force is going to take years to build up which is not ideal.

It's best to go for smallish, well trained groups of units which offer the advantage of combined arms. For example if I were attacking with the English I'd want to have some archers or similar missile units, a few cavalry and a main force of infantry.

The battles are displayed on a 3d map of the field, it's virtually like being transported back in time to those da
ys. Every single solider is displayed in realtime 3d graphics and the detail is superb. You can see the archers take an arrow from their quivers, load, aim and fire and watch the arrows fly through the air until they land on their target. You need a pretty beefy PC to run the battles at a good speed, my Athlon 700Mhz with a TNT2 struggled a bit at first, but doubling the RAM to 256Mb helped a lot.

Attention to detail is excellent. After a hard battle the dead litter the field, but it isn't all that gory so younger players wont be put off by this. It's tastefully done!

The sound effects are also very good, the whoosing of arrows through the air and the screams of men fighting for thier kings. There is also some good music scores for when it's a bit quieter.

The maps are very varied and reflect the local countryside. For example the Scottish regions are generally very hilly and green with trees and lakes (lochs) dotted around and it rains a lot as well. As you get nearer to the hot and arid climates of Africa the maps are more desert like with not a cloud to be seen.

The best battles in my opinion occur where there are castles as you have to seige or be sieged depending on your position. There are numerous siege engines to be employed and the site of a trebuchet hurling rocks and smashing a castles walls down must be seen to be believed.

The battles can take a long time due to the sheer scale of them, up to an hour each so you can have the computer calculate the results for you if you wish.

In one game I was playing I had taken control of Wales (I was the English) by bribing their leader to join the cause.

This allowed me to train Longbowmen who are pretty formidable as far as missile firing troops go.

Armed with a unit of these guys I decided to put down the Scots who were building a sizable army in the north. Once I controlled Scotland my borders would be secure and I coul
d then plot where to expand my realm at my leisure.

So I marched north into the Borders, with a small, but well equiped and trained army. The leader was none of than King William, he of Hastings fame. A bit of a gamble taking my leader into the fight, but his reknown and bravery would give the troops a good boost in combat.

The year was 1092 as we marched through the Borders, 60 Longbowmen and 60 Billmen (Pikes) at the vanguard, my finest men whilst 200 peasants brought up the rear.

Peasants aren't much good usually but these guys had seen some combat on the continent so were not as green as usual. The more battles your men take part in the better they become. Unlike leaders there is no penalty for losing or running away!

As expected we had to fight a larger force of Scots, 400 Highlanders in total. This was not in itself a problem but the weather was. As you might expect it was raining, actually it was chucking it down which meant my Longbowmen would be at a big disadvantage as the wet would affect their accuracy and range.

The good news was that we had some good terrain to defend, being ranged on the top of a steepish hill would mean the Highlanders would be tired as they closed in for battle.

As the sun reached it's zenith my forces were lined up on the crest of the hill, their red banners fluttering in the breeze, the King and his bodyguards horses were steaming from the rain which was falling and they could be heard to snort their displeasure at having to endure the damp.

So it was that they came at us, my archers being protected by the Billmen withthe peasants to each flank and the King with his 20 Knights as bodyguard being positioned at a safe vantage point further back. The Scots advanced along the valley in front of us, from their camp on the far side of a small village they marched diagonally towards our disposition, apaprantly looking confident as they could see our small numbers. <
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The Highlanders were not entirely stupid though, they marched just out of bowshot across our front and then climbed the hills so as to come at us from our right flank.

My bowmen quickly rushed over to get within bowshot and opened fire. The rain had very fortuitously started to abate somewhat and so a few of the enemy were being felled.

The whole of my formation wheeled to the right as best they could to form a coherent line as the Highlanders were beginning to reach the top of the hill.

It was then I decided to charge them, before they had time to form up ready for their attack.

The peasants were first to engage them, while the Billmen were held in reserve to protect my archers who were still firing into the mass of Scots who were beginning to get annoyed!

One thing about Highlanders is they are very indisciplined but also very brave. Brave to the point of stupidity I would say. One of their units, one which had taken most casualties then charged into my men, who were generally in good order still.

I imagine the Scottish leader was not too pleased with this as it left his last couple of units quite vulenerable as they were still toiling up the hill and had no real protection. Seeing this I sent my Billmen down to charge them, with the added advantage of the high ground.

The Highlanders who had charged my men were causing some damage, the peasants they managed to meet in battle were being outclassed. But the Billmen were doing sterling work and had forced the latecoming Highlanders back down the slope and they were beginning to waver.

Things were hanging on a knife edge now as the peasants were the only thing between my King and the Scots, with the Longbowmen firing at targets of opportunity they were running low on ammo. The peasants were beggining to waver as I ordered the bowmen to charge into the fray.

Bowmen are not usually any good at hand to hand combat but Longbowmen are
actually faily useful. There is a historical reason for this, well more of a theory really. Longbowmen when captured by the enemy usually had their "drawing" finger chopped off, to prevent them returning to the army as bowmen again in future. So there was a great incentive for these guys to be good at defending themselves.

Just before my bowmen engaged in hand to hand fighting disaster struck. One of my peasant units decided to turn tail and run after taking about 50% casualties. Luckily the other peasant unit was far enough away not to be spooked by this and was continuing the fight, albeit now outnumbered almost 3-1. The bowmen got there just in time to shore up the defence.

At the bottom of the hill my Billmen had routed the foe and were chasing after the Highlanders who were running for the hills. Although it would be nice to to have let them continue the rout, I needed these men back to help the main fight and so I ordered them to regroup and join the main army. This would take some time as they had ran quite a long way already in their pursuit.

Things were looking desperate now on the summit as my remaining peasants were close to half strength and may rout at any time. The bowmen were doing well but they were outnumbered still.

So I took a gamble and sent in the King with his bodyguard of 20 Knights, the last throw of the dice. Charging in wedge formation, down a hill with full plate armour the first unit of Highlanders was scattered, but then a bloody fight broke out in the middle of the fray as the Knights charge finally stopped due to sheer weight of the enemy.

Luckily for me though, the first breaking unit of Clansmen spread chaos and fear through the remaining units who also turned tail and ran, with the Knights charging down many of the foe.

Another great victory of King William! I hope that wasn't too long for you, but the combat is such an important part of the game it was worth desc
ribing one battle in full. For the record the following year the Scots rebelled and kicked my English forces out of Scotland again!

In total we killed 156 Highlanders and captured a further 162 to ransom back for some much need cash! I lost a total of 12 Billmen, 16 Longbowmen, 47 Peasants plus 3 Knights.

Overall this is superb for anyone who likes strategy games, highly recommended and I cannot list all the features on here, it would be far too long winded.

There are a couple of minor faults with the game, the artificial intelligence does some silly things from time to time, but not enough to ruin the game. For example in one battle I faced over a thousand foe but the initial deployment they put all their siege engines on the field with far too few troops to protect them.

The replay value of the game is high and the difficulty levels are varied enough to challenge anyone and get them coming back for more.

I played my first few games on Easy level and conquered the whole of Europe on my third attempt. I certainly will play again both on harder skill levels and as other countries, the Byzantine Empire beckons! Or maybe the Egyptians?

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