Starting positions. Red areas are Danish, blue Swedish, yellow Russian (Novgorod) and green the Estonians.
This is a simple DBA campaign set in northern Estonia in the early 13th century. The campaign rules from DBA 2.2 are above, but 3.0 will be used for games. Anyone besieging Reval gets a -1 on their roll to capture it - the castle is strong and well-equipped and can be supplied by sea.
The campaign lasts from 1220, when the Danes have conquered the northern coast and the Swedes have set up their fort on the west coast, but the interior of the country is still independent. It ends in 1225 when the Sword-Brothers seize the Danish lands. Can the Danes conquer all of Estonia? Can the Swedes hold on and even expand their foothold? Will Novgorod conquer Estonia instead of the Danes? Can the Estonians drive out the invaders?
The historical series of events are as below.
In 1206 Valdemar II of Denmark conquered Osel, and in 1218 he was promised by the pope that he could keep any lands in Estonia he could take. The next year with the help of a fleet from Rugen the Danes landed in Estonia, defeated an attempt to drive them out, and began to build a fort at Tallinn, which the Danes called Reval. This soon grew into a very strong castle and a wealthy town settled largely by Germans. In 1220 the Danes and Sword-Brothers, who had conquered Livonia to the south, ravaged Estonia, and the Swedes, not to miss out on the conquest, built a fort at Leal.
The invaders soon fell out over who was entitled to which area of conquered Estonia and appealed to the pope. The Estonians of Rotalia drove the Swedes out after a year or two and after Valdemar imposed sanctions and threatened to blockade various ports the Sword-Brothers abandoned their claim to north Estonia.
Over the next few years there were repeated Estonian attempts to drive the Danes out, and while they had temporary successes the Danes and their German settlers proved too much for them. In the 1220s the Novgorodians invaded and besieged Reval, and in 1225 the Sword-Brothers seized north Estonia from the Danes and in 1227 even captured Reval. However it was handed back to the Danes in 1238 by the Teutonic Order who had absorbed the Sword-Brothers.
MCCXX (1220)
The Danes invade south into Nurmekund. The Estonians raise an army to meet them. The Danes out-manoeuvre them and manage to bring them to battle in an open field where the Danish knights need have no fear of Estonians ambushing them from the woods. The Estonians learn a terrible lesson about the effectiveness of knights. [The Danes win the battle 4-0 and so conquer the area.]
Later in the year the Danes press south into Ugandi; the Estonians harass them and avoid battle until winter forces the Danes to retire. [The Danes besiege Ugandi for two seasons without success and winter arrives.]
The Danes invade south into Nurmekund. The Estonians raise an army to meet them. The Danes out-manoeuvre them and manage to bring them to battle in an open field where the Danish knights need have no fear of Estonians ambushing them from the woods. The Estonians learn a terrible lesson about the effectiveness of knights. [The Danes win the battle 4-0 and so conquer the area.]
Later in the year the Danes press south into Ugandi; the Estonians harass them and avoid battle until winter forces the Danes to retire. [The Danes besiege Ugandi for two seasons without success and winter arrives.]
MCCXXI (1221)
The Danes again invade south into Ugandi. The Estonians again give battle. They are again out-manoeuvred and forced to fight in an area more open than they would have liked. Their leader however has learned his lesson, and tailors his tactics to deal with the threat from the Danish knights. After a hard fight the Estonians withdraw and the Danes occupy Ugandi. [The game ends 4-3, with the score being 3-3 for a couple of turns.] The Danish king decides not to move against the remaining independent Estonian tribes in Sakala - partly because he does not want to risk another battle which would probably be on ground suitable for Estonian ambushes, and partly because he hopes the Estonians will finish off the Swedish outpost in Rotala at sometime in the future. The year ends with no more action. The Swedes and Novgorodians have been quiet throughout 1220 & 1221. Maybe the Russians are nervous about events in the east, where the Mongols are committing genocide in Khwarezm and defeating the Georgians.
Spring 1222
