Hi, my name is Brendan Rogers, AKA ‘Caliban’ to the Total War community.  I do various jobs here at CA such as artwork, design and also modding support for the community. In this diary I’m going to talk a bit about the different ideas, features and history of the Teutonic Wars campaign, one of the four campaigns included in the Kingdoms expansion for Medieval II.

The Teutonic Wars campaign recreates the conflict in Northern Europe between Christendom and Paganism, fuelled by the desires of the dreaded Teutonic Order. The Teutonic Order was very appealing to us for the focus of a campaign because of their controversial and influential impact on Medieval Europe. The Order was formed in Palestine during the Eastern Crusades, which was then later recognized by the papacy as a military order. Their influence on Medieval Europe stretched hundreds of years and played a large part in the conversion of pagans to Christianity. Recreating the Order as a faction in the expansion allowed us to create something completely different to the factions available in Medieval II.

The campaign takes place on a brand new custom map, the boundary of which covers the northern area around the Baltic Sea from Abo down to Kiev and from Hanover through to Novgorod, and Poland with the Holy Roman Empire included as an unlockable faction. As I’ve mentioned, The Teutonic Order is the most unique faction to play, because of their religious foundation; they play quite differently to the other factions in Medieval II. First of all, there is no family tree. The faction leader is the Grandmaster of the Order known as the “Hochmeister”. Faction members can’t marry or have children nor is there a faction ‘heir’. A suitable leader for the faction is selected only when the Hochmeister dies. Secondly, and more significantly when it comes to gameplay in the campaign, the Teutonic Order’s method of unit recruitment is driven by religion; Teutonic Knights will only be available from regions with high levels of Catholic belief. This means that the Order will need to utilize mercenaries if they are to expand quickly, while the use of priests is crucial in order to ensure that any newly taken lands convert to Catholicism as soon as possible.

When it comes to settlements, the Order can only construct castles so they will need to utilise captured cities wisely or alternatively convert them if they are able to. We’ve given The Teutonic Order new Castle architecture and texture sets. This is unique to the Teutonic Order and helps differentiate their castles from other Northern European settlements.

During the campaign the player will experience a host of new missions including the arrival of Adventure Crusaders. These European nobles arrive on the map seeking to fight alongside the Order for papal favour. Large cash rewards will be awarded to the Order if they can show them a good time. On the flipside of this, the Lithuanian Council of Nobles is understandably distressed at their arrival and is eager for the Adventuring Crusaders to suffer a gruesome death, so you get a completely different perspective if you’re playing as the Lithuanian faction.