Crisis of Piast Poland (1031-1058)
Creator: starhal || First Published: N/A || Players: 10 || Size: 50x50
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starhal (07/28/2026 09:18pm):
This map depicts the Crisis of the Piast dynasty, a series of events that almost brought the Polish state to an end in the
middle of 11th Century. I'll provide a simplified overview of events and factions, for more details start here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_of_the_Piast_dynasty

>Prelude<
King Boleslav the Brave, founder of the Kingdom of Poland and son of Mieszko, founder of duchy of Poland, died in the year
1025, leaving behind numerous troubles for his heir. Firstly, during his reign he had waged war against Germans to the
west, Pomeranians to the north, Kievan Rus to the east and Bohemians to the south, and while he was succesfull in all of
these conflicts, conquering entire Pomerania, a territory of Lusatia from Germany, Red Forts on the Rus border, as well as
Moravia from Bohemia, he had with these conflicts ensured Poland was surrounded by enemies, rather than friends.
Second, he had four wives and numerous children, but he had named his second son Mieszko his sole heir, while Mieszko's
older brother Bezprym and younger brother Otto left Poland and arrived at Ruthenian and German courts respectively.
Mieszko II Lambert had at first continued his father's policies succesfully, putting down a Pomeranian uprising, but
afterwards he attempted to exploit a succession crisis in the Holy Roman Empire and while the new emperor, Conrad II,
attempted to solidify his control by leaving for Italy to receive coronation by the Pope, Mieszko II conducted a raid on
Saxony, plundering it in the year 1028. The response was swift, with a joint German-Ruthenian invasion defeating Mieszko
and entering Polish capital of Gniezno in the year 1031.

> Beginning of chaos <

Mieszko II escaped south, leaving behind his wife and child(ren?), but with his path to Hungary blocked by Ruthenian
troops, was forced to seek refuge at Bohemian court. There, prince Oldřich imprisoned, castrated, and likely drove him
insane. Meanwhile, Germans and Ruthenians were unable and unwilling to dedicate resources to full conquest of Polish
territory, and settled for giving the crown to Bezprym. This is where history becomes unclear, as such I will describe it further
in descriptions of playable factions, together with historical outcomes for each faction

> Rules <
This map is designed to be played with fog of war on, clean weather, 500 funds per property, and a capture limit of 80
(Requiring conquest of the majority of the map), and the only units available for recruitment being infantry and woje: mechs
representing 'shieldbearers', and tanks representing mounted 'armored', two standard military formations of early Piast
Poland. Final recruitable units should be APCs and naval transports (But not blackboats). For more unit variety, you may try
allowing recons and medium tanks, although I do not recommend the latter. I highly discourage using indirect units, as with
majority forests and numerous chokepoints they'll make the map mostly unplayable.

Allowed COs: Recommended tier 4 only or with CO powers off. If played on higher tiers, no global damage or tier 0 COs,
also ban Kindle and missile COs.
starhal (07/28/2026 10:13pm):
> Faction Description <
Oh boy, here we go with conflicting historical sources. I'm definitely gonna get at least some details wrong

1. Orange Star: Rycheza and Kazimierz the Restorer
After Mieszko II escaped south, he left behind in the capital of Gniezno his wife, Rycheza, and their son Kazimierz, 15 years
old at the time. As daugher of the Palatin of Lotharingia, Rycheza had many allies among the German nobility, and as such
she was able to escape there with her son. According to one of two interpretations of events, she took with her Polish royal
regalia, either to give them to the Emperor so she could guarantee safety of herself and her son, or to sell them and use
acquired funds alongside her connections to build an army for her son's eventual return. Whatever occured, after traveling
between various German and Hungarian courts, Kazimierz the Restorer made his return in the year 1039 (Possibly after
numerous failed attempts), with support from an army of 500 heavily armored German knights his mother assembled, as the
last legitimate claimant for the Polish crown still alive. These 500 German knights are represented on the map by the
medium tanks.
Historical outcome: Victory

2. Blue Moon: Bezprym
I've mentioned that Rycheza taking royal regalia was one of two interpretations of events. The other is that Bezprym, as
newly crowned duke of Poland, sent them to the German emperor as proof of his allegiance to his benefactors. Little is
known about his short reign, apparently cruel and almost certainly the cause of uprising known as the Pagan Reaction, but it
is written by the chroniclers that after a year of ruling he was "Murdered by his brothers" in 1032, no elaboration. He starts
with a comtower in Orange Star's offmap section, which as a whole represents German support.
Historical outcome: Resign by turn 10 (Yes, we're being silly with it)

3. Green Earth and Pink Cosmos: Peasant Uprising and Pagan Reaction
As consequence of Bezprym's cruely, or maybe Boleslav the Forgotten's, or maybe Mieszko's, or perhaps still because the
crown kept pinballing from one head to another, common people of Greater Poland initiated an uprising, possibly anti-
christian in nature, possibly supported by Boleslav the Forgotten (If he existed). As you can tell by my use of the word
'possibly', there is a good reason it was considered a time of anarchy, all that we know for certain is that upwards of 50% of
Greater Polish population had died or escaped to Mazovia to the east, according to chronicles cities and monasteries
became so empty and abandoned, that wild animals found refuge in them. In this scenario, I decided to go with
interpretation that Bezprym caused it, and made Green Earth the Peasant Uprising and Pink Cosmos the Pagan Reaction,
sticking to neither interpretation.
Historical outcome: Eventual defeat

4. Yellow Comet: Mieslav's Country
Mieslav (Miecław) was the cup-bearer of Mieszko II Lambert, who began building his own country in Mazovia, with capital in
the city of Płock, before declaring independence in the year 1037. He was allied with Pomeranians, as well as Latvingians
(Proto-Lithuanian tribe), the latter of which are represented by his off-map properties to the east. His country served as a
haven of stability during times of chaos, but still suffered from Rus raids, and he was eventually defeated by a joint coalition
of Kazimierz the Restorer and Yaroslav the Wise of the Kievan Rus (The latter of whom, I had no idea how to include
involvement of on this map).
Historical outcome: Ally Acid Rain, capture Blue Moon HQ, get defeated by Orange Star

5. Red Fire, Grey Sky, Purple Lightning: Mieszko II, his younger brother Otto Bolesławowic, and their cousin Dytryk (Dietrich)
After the death of Duke Bezprym, on July 7th of 1032, Emperor Conrad II drew up a new division of Poland, splitting it into
three parts between Mieszko II, now released from Bohemia forcefully celibate (And possibly insane), his younger brother
Otto, and Dytryk who was a cousin of theirs so he'd get a piece too. Unfortunately, while we know the borders of this division
- one would receive Pomerania and Greater Poland, another Silesia, and the final one Lesser Poland and Mazovia (To
remind you, the latter possibly already de-facto under Mieslav's control), we do not know who received which territory. I went
with an interpretation that Mieszko II would get Greater Poland, since that's where capital was and he was the most
legitimate, Otto would get Silesia since one historian suggests that was the case, and put Dietryk in Lesser Poland.
EIther way it doesn't matter, because Otto and Dietryk both died almost immediately (Under unknown circumstances) with
Mieszko II following shortly behind in 1034, although one poorly supported interpretation of history suggests Kazimierz was
not his only son, and he had an older one named Bolesław, who took power in 1034 and became a leader of Pagan
Reaction, for which he was punished by Damnatio Memoriae
starhal (07/28/2026 10:44pm):
> Faction descriptions: continued <

Historical outcomes: Grey Sky and Purple Lightning resign a few turns after Blue Moon, Red Fire either resign 10-20 turns
after them or ally with Pink Cosmos and are eventually defeated by Green Earth, Acid Rain, Brown Desert and Yellow
Comet.

6. Brown Desert: Duchy of Bohemia
After the death of duke Oldřich, who imprisoned and castrated Mieszko and probably did other things of note (Such as
imprisoning Mieszko in 1014, when he served as his father's ambassador), in 1034, the position was inherited by his son
Bretislav, first of his name. He took back Moravia, previously conquered by Boleslav the Brave, and later commenced a
military expedition into Poland in 1039. He conquered the entirety of Silesia and Lesser Poland, and even invaded Greater
Poland looting Gniezno, but eventually Kazimir the Restorer would defeat him and take back Lesser Poland, while Bretislav
was fighting Henry III of Germany (1040-1042). Eventually, in 1047 Henry III would broker peace between Kazimir and
Bretislav, with the former getting back Silesia but the latter keeping Moravia and receiving finantial compensation. Bretislav's
looting of Gniezno also led to Polish rulers relocating their capital to Kraków in Lesser Poland, where it would remain for
over 500 years.
Historical outcome: Conquer southern half of the map, get pushed back to mountainline, survive until the end of the game.

7. Acid Rain: Pomeranian Tribes and Uprisings
Pomerania was one of the most recently conquered territories of Poland, and as such plagued by constant rebellions, often
with German support (Represented by comtower in the west offmap section of the map), although just as commonly
Germans fought against them. With the Piast dynasty in crisis, they again took this opportunity to rise up in rebelion, this
time with support from Velets - western pomeranian tribe.
Historical outcome: Allied Yellow Comet, survived a few turns longer than their ally but were eventually defeated by Orange
Star
Z3K3 (07/29/2026 04:08pm):
How come Poland is all forest



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