For King or Country

Description

For King or Country is a modification for Medieval 2: Total War that depicts the English Civil Wars. There are two factions; the Roundheads (Parliament) and the Royalists. The map is detailed and accurate for the time period. There are twelve historical commanders fighting on each side, and all of them have custom portraits and traits. Both sides have a range of units from Musketeers to Pikemen, Dragoons to Harqebusier Cavalry. Each faction also has 6 unique recruitable regiments of foot. Each regiment has it's own banner, coat colour and commander.

The purpose of the mod is to simulate the first English Civil War. The main aim is to accurately represent the two main factions, their leaders, their commanders and their armies. The mod aims to provide a unique battlefield experience by representing 17th century warfare, something that no M2:TW mod team has so far achieved.

The campaign map is unique in that rather than having 'regions' or 'provinces' there are historically accurate counties. Each county has a single settlement. Faction generals are accurately placed according to their historical location in 1642 and represented with custom portraits and regiments.

Features

Factions

For King or Country focuses on the struggle between the two main factions involved in the English Civil War, Parliament and the Royalsits. Each factions has a roster comprising of Pikemen, Musketeers, Artillery, Dragoons and Cavalry.

Generals

The mod aims to be historically accurate with 12 commanders of the war on each side. These include: Sir Thomas, Lord Fairfax, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex for the Roundheads and King Charles I and Prince Rupert of the Rhine for the Royalists. A turn represents only one month, so it is not likely that sons will come of age, so you must keep your commanders alive.

Events

There are over 50 historical events that occur throughout the course of the war, nearly one for every month.

Map

The map covers all of England, Wales and Scotland. It is as geographically correct as possible, split into 42 counties, each containing an accuratly placed city or castle - without sacrificing gameplay.

Game Mechanics

The focus of For King or Country is to have two well balanced factions, each with units that follow the "Rock, Paper, Scissors" model for weaknesses and strengths. The basic makeup of armies of the time was Pikemen, Musketeers, Calvary and Artillery. Pikemen were good against calvary and other infantry in melee but weak against musket and cannon fire, due to their tight formations, while Musketeers and Artillery crews were weak against calvary charges.

The English Civil War was not a long war, and as such there will be 12 turns in a year, each representing one month. There is not a lot of focus on building an economy, or "teching up" but on how much support your faction has within each region. Support replaces religion from Medieval 2 - the reason being both factions were Protestant. There were of course, a few exceptions. Using religion in For King or Country would be a waste of a feature. Instead the feature is used to represent 'support'. Support for either Parliament or King. Every settlement will have a level of support for both sides and this level can be increased or decreased based upon the buildings made in that settlement and the governor that controls it.

The New Model Army

The New Model Army was the reformation of all the Roundhead regiments into an army. Upon refomation all soldiers where equiped with red coats because red dye was the cheapest dye available at the time. This was the origin of the English 'red coat' soldier. In For King or Country once you get to January 1645, all of the old regiment units are no longer available to recruit. You will be able to recruit and retrain new model army Musketeers, Pikemen and Dragoons everywhere. Whereas before 1645 you must recruit and retrain according to the militia ordinance.

Scottish Covenanters

The Scottish Covenanters will appear in the campaign. They are led by the Earl of Leven and David Leslie. In For King or Country, the covenanters will invade Northern England and attack Newcastle in January 1644.

AoR

During the run upto the beginning of the English Civil War, tensions grew between King and Parliament. Control of the county militias, known as trained bands, became a central focus as there was no standing army in England. The tensions began to boil and in January 1642 King Charles attempted to arrest 5 members of Parliament. Parliaments reaction was to deny Charles control of the Army.

Parliament passed 'The Militia Ordinance'. It was a piece of legislation that pushed the country one step closer towards Civil War between the King and Parliament of England. It permitted parliament to choose who could command the militia and where. This was an outrage to the King who had traditionally been in control of appointing the Lord Lieutenants to command the county militias (known as Trained bands). It was the first law Parliament had put into affect without royal approval.

In response the King sent out Commissions of Array to gentry across England empowering them to summon all men aged 15-60. The question of whether to obey Parliament's Militia Ordinance or the King's Commission of Array became an early test of allegiance for nobles and gentry.

Parliaments Militia Ordinance divided the nation up into "Associations". Each Association had a commander and it was his job to recruit into his regiments. This system is simulated in For King or Country.

Standards, officers, ensigns and generals

Each regiment has it's own historical standard carried by an ensign.

The Team

Mod Development

• AlphaDelta

Webmaster

• Tharros

Contributors

• Grandviz (Campaign and Battle AI)
• Headlock (Battlefield smoke mod)
• Macky (Faction Descriptions)
• GrnEyedDvl (12 turns per year script)

Researchers

• Atterdag
• AWZC
• Tyrtaeus
• Der Angelsachse
• leonn
• firekiller
• Ruire
• Tharros
• Hælge Jørnsen
• Icefrisco
• Headlock
• The Englishman
• King of History
• Yelü Dashi
• Lebre
• Dux Eboracum
• Megalos
• Nakharar
• Destraex

Supporters

• Augustus Lucifer (scripting support)
• Mirage (Mapping support)
• Der Angelsachse (Signatures)
• Atterdag (Signatures and Avatars)
• Lord Vader (Signatures)
• Hælge Jørnsen (Signatures)
• Macky (Traits and Building concepts)
• BritPatriot1815 (Traits and Buildings)
• AWZC (Signatures)
• Headlock (Signatures)
• Jingle_Bombs (Signatures)
• KnightsErrant (Development Tools)
• Digweed (Resource: http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/)
• Tharros (Website)

History

• Version 1.0 was released in September 2008.
• Version 1.5 was released in November 2008.

Visual Material

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External Links

Hosted Forum at TWC.