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Pope and Antipope is the third scenario of the Barbarossa campaign in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. It is based on the sieges of Crema (1159-1160) and Milan (1162) during Barbarossa's second Italian campaign, which was part of the Wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines.

Intro[]

In Rome, the pope firmly believed that it was the church, not the emperor, who was the ultimate authority for the empire. Barbarossa could not convince the pope to see things his way, so he appointed his own pope.

This too was not enough, for pope and antipope promptly excommunicated each other.

In the end, Barbarossa had to resort once again to politics at the point of a lance. If the pope would not listen to reason, then perhaps he would concede with two thousand German knights pouring down the Italian peninsula.

The greatest of the northern cities, the virtual capital of Lombardy, was Milan. The lords of Milan were as proud as they were belligerent.

Barbarossa was determined to raze Milan to the ground as a warning to all the Italian city-states, and particularly the pope in Rome. The message was clear: He, Frederick Barbarossa, was the one and true Holy Roman Emperor.

Scenario instructions[]

Starting conditions[]

Objectives[]

  • Convert the Cathedral in Milan.

Hints[]

  • You are going to need villagers to provide a suitable offense.
  • The town of Crema is providing Milan with supplies. Perhaps you should take care of them early.

Scouts (Definitive Edition)[]

Your scouts report:

  • Barbarossa (1, Red) has moved south to deal with his Italian adversaries. His target is the rich city of Milan, and he can rely on the support of the city of Cremona (4, Yellow).
  • The town of Crema (3, Green) is vulnerable to early aggression. Barbarossa can also convert some of their Villagers so that they can serve his forces.
  • Defending the river is the River Guard (5, Purple). If Barbarossa hopes to transport his army across, he will likely have to defeat them first. They will train Throwing Axemen, Champions, and Bombard Cannons, but will also build warships.
  • Across the river is the mighty city of Milan (2, Blue). They have formidable fortifications, and their army consists of Crossbowmen, Genoese Crossbowmen, Hand Cannoneers, Light Cavalry and siege equipment. Their Cathedral can be found to the southwest of the city atop a set of cliffs.

Players[]

Player[]

Allies[]

  • Cremona (Carcano before the Definitive Edition) (CivIcon-Teutons Teutons): Carcano/Cremona starts up with a small fort in the north. They field some Teutonic Knights and Scorpions. They will be attacked several times by the River Guard, but will not ever cross the river themselves or lead an assault, although they will send War Galleys to scout and occasionally attack the River Guard's coastal buildings, usually the small encampment in the north of the map. They generally do not do much and will not send tribute to the player unless they are close to being defeated by the River Guard, in which case they tribute a substantial amount of resources. They are more aggressive in the Definitive Edition, occasionally sending landing forces of various infantry and siege weapons against River Guards and Milan, but since they do not advance to the Imperial Age, they will be outmatched by the Milanese troops. However, if the player clears the way, they can attack the interior of the city and even destroy the Cathedral, resulting in the loss of the scenario.

Enemies[]

  • Crema (CivIcon-Italians Italians (CivIcon-Britons Britons before Definitive Edition)): Crema has a small village in the east. They start out with a small army consisting of few Pikemen and archers. They tribute resources to Milan over the course of the game and provide them material support. They usually resign after a large number of their Villagers are killed.

Strategy[]

Since the player starts with no Villagers, they will need to convert some Villagers of Crema working on the mines in the north-east and Farms in the south-east. The player should send their forces down to protect the player's Monks, take out their soldiers, and then use Monks to convert their villagers. Alternatively, they can change the diplomatic stance of the player's ally to convert Carcanian/Cremonan villagers instead. They can use the villagers to build up a base. It is highly recommended to build a Castle as early as possible since the player will need many Teutonic Knights to defeat the River Guards and Milan in order to make their way to the Milanese Cathedral. While converting Villagers and attacking Crema, the River Guard and Milan will attack the player's Dock and land small numbers of units, so keep watch.

Establishing a base[]

Carcano/Cremona[]

There are three potential sites to build the player's town. The first is at their starting position, near Carcano/Cremona, which will provide them with a small amount of protection as Carcano/Cremona might sent units to attack any enemies provided their town is close enough. This only happens in the Definitive Edition.

There are some stone and gold resources nearby, however the terrain has many hills and might not be suitable to place buildings. It also leaves them rather open and exposed as there are few natural barriers to funnel attacks from the River Guard, so they will need to build a lot of walls.

Crema[]

The second is close to Crema. This is a good site for several reasons.

First, it will enable them to immediately build a town after converting some villagers and not risk them being killed traveling to another site. Also, the area is rich in resources like gold, stone, Berry Bushes, and Crema's Farms. Apart from that, the player can take over Crema's farms and buildings, saving them resources of building their own barracks, farms or even houses (remember to research Redemption at the Monastery for this).

Finally, the River Guards land the majority (although not all) their troops at the coastline south of Crema, and building the player's Town Center and Castle here will effectively enable the player to neutralize a large portion of their attacks before they can do any damage (if the player builds their Castle close enough to the Coast and researches Crenellations the player can effectively neutralize all the River Guards' Naval attacks on the player's town, as their Galleys will attack their Castle en masse and get destroyed in the process). This only is possible in the Definitive Edition.

The downside is abandoning the player's town near Crema which will in all likelihood result in being heavily attacked by the River Guard and Milan. The player will also face some more attacks from Crema but if they use their starting units skillfully and raze or convert all their unit production buildings same can neutralized quickly.

Near Milan[]

The final place to set up the player's town is in the peninsula north of Milan, Although there are starting resources and the area is somewhat easy to defend by walling off the shallows, this is the least suitable place given that the player will have to expend time to ferry their troops across the river (which they will only be able to do after converting some villagers) giving Milan and the River Guard a head start in building and upgrades.

Milan will also start attacking the player once they cross the river. Before that, they will leave the player alone, and the player will only be attacked by the River Guard. This will also entail abandoning the player's town near Carcano/Cremona.

There are two relics on the map, one north of Milan and the other lying southwest of Carcano/Cremona. The latter can be picked up at any point in time for extra gold, as Crema has no Monastery and will ignore it. The other one will eventually be picked up by Milan unless the player transports a Monk and takes it. Doing so is somewhat risky as there is a possibility of the transport being attacked by the River Guard on the way to or coming back from across the river, but if successful, it will give the player an extra gold source and starves Milan of one.

Mounting a counterattack[]

Milan and its cathedral

Milan and its cathedral.

When the player establishes their town, they should construct several docks so that they may build a navy and start attacking the River Guard. They should use Transport Ships to send units and attack them by land too. If they manage to attack them early, they might halt their attacks on Carcano/Cremona. The player should ideally defeat the River Guard quickly; chase down any remaining Villagers.

Once they have defeated the River Guard, only the city of Milan remains. Use siege weapons and Teutonic Knights to destroy their walls and enter the city. To defeat them more easily, the player should build up a small base on their side of the river from where they can send units faster (among the buildings they should have a castle and a monastery). There is a Gold Mine across the river in the south-east. Mining it will be useful, but Milanese forces will keep attacking the player's Villagers. Likewise, there are Gold Mines just outside the southern gates of Milan.

On Standard difficulty, Milan will not rebuild their Castle when it is destroyed, so it should be a priority target, as destroying it will prevent Milan from building unique units and Trebuchets. Once the player has defeated the Milanese army, send in a Monk to convert the Cathedral and the player will win the scenario.

Alternative strategy[]

Instead of converting Villagers, the player can send their Monks and military units into the Transport Ship and past the River Guard to the riverbank north of Milan. Once there, move around the wall until reaching the gates. The gates will open to let the Milanese Trade Carts enter and exit, and with good timing the player's units can slip through before it closes. Once inside, avoid all enemy military units, reach the cathedral and begin to convert it. The player may need to dispatch a few of the enemy Monks to stop them from converting their own Monks, but with decent micromanaging the player's military units should stall the Milanese counterattack long enough for the Monks to convert the cathedral.

In the Definitive Edition, as an alternative to waiting for Trade Carts to open the gates, there is also another way to enter Milan near the Cathedral. The cliff just west of the Cathedral (and the woodline that lies beyond the cliff) has a hole the can be exploited to enter the city, avoiding dealing with most of the Milanese military units. Note that due to the pathing of the units, they should be guided manually through the holes. Since the Monks can arrive directly near the Cathedral, it can be converted before the Milanese counterattack, without the need of using advanced micromanagement. Just make sure to protect the Monks during the conversion, since near the Cathedral there are some military enemy buildings and units. In particular;

  • The Siege Workshop north of the Cathedral will produce Mangonels that can be taken care of by Knights;
  • The nearby Milanese Stable will produce Scout Cavalry/Light Cavalry who can snipe Monks during the conversion of the building. Thus, it is safer to trigger an attack on the enemy cavalry with Pikemen and only then start the conversion of the Cathedral;
  • Additionally, three enemy Monks (with Atonement researched) are present in the area and may try to convert the player's own during the channeling. To prevent this, the player may want to use Scout Cavalry to snipe at least kill one (or possibly two) of them.

In the Definitive Edition, this will unlock the achievement "A Truly Holy Emperor", which is unlocked by completing the scenario without converting any Villagers.

Outro[]

Barbarossa was not kind to the Milanese. In response to one attempt at negotiations during the siege, he sent six Italians marching back into the city.

Five had been blinded, but the sixth had only had his nose cut off so that he could lead the other five.

Northern Italy had been mercilessly conquered and placed under Imperial governance. But Italy would not submit. If anything, the destruction of Milan made the Italian cities even more incensed at their would-be emperor.

Trivia[]

  • Since the Italians were not introduced until Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten, the Italian cities are represented as Britons, Franks, and Teutons. It was announced that they will all be Italians in the Definitive Edition.
    • The River Guard ultimately remains Frankish while Milan and Crema became Italian.
    • Carcano is replaced by Cremona and remain Teutons. This was probably done to avoid giving the player the ability to train the Condottiero.
  • The use of gunpowder units in this scenario is anachronistic, because gunpowder was not introduced in Europe until the 14th century.

Historical comparison[]

  • The scenario is named after Pope Alexander III and Antipope Victor IV, competitors on the Papal election of 1159.
  • Barbarossa was served in this campaign by Henry the Lion, an enemy in the preceding and following scenarios (though Henry was Barbarossa's ally in real life).
  • The bifurcated body of water present in the north of the map is most likely Lake Como, while the emissary river is the river Adda, which in turn flows into the river Po. The area of the confluence of the two rivers is also featured in the Blood and Betrayal scenario of the Sforza campaign.
  • The position of the cities of Crema and Cremona are incorrect, since Crema is actually located north of Cremona. It should be noted that also the position of Carcano, replaced by Cremona in the Definitive Edition, would be wrong: in reality the castle of Carcano is located on the opposite side of the Adda river (and in any case at a sizable distance from the latter).

Gallery[]

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