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 and I’m currently working on Kingdoms, the expansion pack for Medieval II. You may remember that in the first part of my diary, I focused on the Teutonic Campaign, one of four campaigns featured in the Kingdoms, and in particular the Teutonic Order faction, the Lithuanians, and describing the role that certain alliances and guilds play in the campaign. I’ll also be touching on some of the new units and battlefield weapons that players will have at their disposal.

Like the Teutonic Order, the Lithuanian faction also offers a significant change from the standard Medieval II faction. The Lithuanians utilise a new pagan religion game mechanic based on numerous temple chains that when built, unlock recruitment of elite religious warriors. The Pagan religion can move along one of three temple chains. Each chain provides unique benefits such as increased trade and better farming. Each chain has three levels, with each level providing units of greater strength, culminating with a special pagan unit unique to that temple chain. These elite units will help the Lithuanians withstand the relentless aggression from the Teutonic Order but if Lithuania starts to buckle, they will be given the opportunity to convert to Catholicism. This conversion will unlock opportunities to construct larger cities and new building types. This will come at the cost of losing the benefits associated with pagan temple chains and their unique pagan units so when the player reaches this crossroads in the campaign, they have a significant decision to make.

Alliances and guilds play an important part in the campaign. If you’re playing as Denmark, you will be given the opportunity to form the powerful and permanent alliance with their Norwegian neighbours known as the “Union of Kalmar”. This event will trigger when Denmark occupies certain regions on the campaign map. When the Union is formed, Norwegian cities and armies are turned over to Denmark, and Norway is effectively destroyed. The Danish faction additionally gains access to recruit three of Norway’s most powerful units for themselves.

In terms of guilds, all factions will be provided the opportunity to construct the Hanseatic League Headquarters provided they are not followers of the Pagan religion. The League Headquarters is a unique building, and only one can exist in the campaign game at any one time. To be offered the chance to construct the Hanseatic League Headquarters building, a faction must hold at least one of a number of historically important Hanseatic League cities. The more of these cities a faction can control at the same time, the sooner they will be provided with the construction offer. The Hanseatic League Headquarters building provides a power trade bonus increase to all settlements of the faction whcih controls it. To a faction like the Teutonic Order, who must fund their vast armies through captured cities, this is certainly an attractive proposition.

There are a heap of new units in the Teutonic campaign from the feared Teutonic Ritterbruder to the Lithuanian pagan followers of Perkunas. We have selected a wide range of new units to capture the diversity of the era and to bring these sometimes forgotten warriors to the screen. The campaign also features new weapons such as the fearsome Mangonel with its devastating exploding barrels and burning oil that can be poured through muder holes by siege defenders. Cannons also receive an overhaul, allowing them to shoot a deadly ‘grapeshot’ of mixed shrapnel that is sure to send the infantry running. This campaign certainly has no shortage of spectacular battlefield moments.

That’s all for now. I hope I’ve given you some insight into what you can expect from the Teutonic Wars campaign and the factions, weapons and the gameplay mechanics you’ll be able to explore in this facinating setting in Medieval history.