Kicking off our second “decade” of the long-running Crusader Kings II AAR that you know you love to read.

as always, click images to enlarge

In Part 19 we saw Oberto defeat the pitiful armies of the Duchess of Amalfi, watched the Duchies of Capua and Genoa go up for grabs, and witnessed the King of Sicily lose to the Muslims, thus weakening his realm. In Part 20 Oberto employs the most efficient Chancellor in the Kingdom – ever, gets told off by the Emperor, and realises the errors of his kindness.

Its official, Oberto gets to don the Golden band of Power in all his state photos. Death to the Count, long live the Duke (we get a fancy new flag too)

Oberto considers stripping Carla of her title, but too many vassals will get grumpy, and having just adopted them, now is not the time

We thought we’d throw you guys for a loop by bringing you the next installment of the Crusader Kings II AAR that won’t end the very next week, instead of, y’know, 5 months from now or something.

as always, click images to enlarge

In Part 18 Oberto recruited more plotters in his attempt to bring down Matilda, complicated his legacy by marrying for a third time and having twin boys, and found a patch of land to realise his dream. In part 19 he bullies a little girl, gets mugged in Firenze, and achieves greatness (sort of).

And there it is, confirmation of our claim on the county and Duchy of Salerno. Oberto already owns Napoli, he needs Amalfi and Salerno itself to seize the golden headband. Also included in the Duchy is Taranto but the Muslims have stolen it, He’ll sort that out later.

The Chancellor grabs us a claim on one of Matilda’s home provinces that could leady to the Duchy of Firenze. With a heavy heart Oberto has to turn it down, he’s currently emptying all the piggy banks he has, even the novelty, oversized whisky bottles full of spare ducats – going to war with Salerno will be costly enough as it is.

After a loooooooooooooong hiatus (we trimmed a few “O”s for space), UCG is back with another installment of the Crusader Kings II AAR that won’t end.  Thus outlasting Brant’s Civ V AAR and claiming the AAR longevity title.  For now.

In Part 17 Oberto fulfilled his ambition to become Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, started a plot against his old enemy, and realised his ambitions were stunted by his lowly social rank. In this part he decides to make his life more complicated, attempts to grow his plot and spies an opportunity down South.

Oberto sits down with his advisors (which isn’t as easy as you think, the Emperor keeps sending him on diplomatic missions right across the HRE) to discuss his claims and opportunities for expansion. Despite being the Count of Genoa and Nice he still doesn’t have a claim on the Duchy of Genoa , that belongs to his rival Matilda.

In Part 16  Oberto’s forces supported by the mustachioed legions of Bulgaria all but destroyed any effective armed resistance against his claim to independence. In this part he achieves his ambition, has a fine Italian woman on her knees and cleans up the mess……

Beaten, stripped of wealth and facing ruin, Matilda kneels before Oberto and offers surrender. The first part of his plan has finally been completed, his promise to his father as he lay on his death bed has begun to be fulfilled.