I send emissaries into enemy lands to spread religious dissent. Soon, purple fingers begin stretching across the map, gradually reclaiming lost lands which were probably taken from someone else in the first place. My empire is diminished but capable-although huge chunks of Anatolia belong to the Turks, it’s still possible to fight back. I start a new Crusades campaign, 100 years after Manzikert. I decide to make myself feel better by changing history, because games let me do that. Compared to the frothing barbarians of the West, Constantinople had guile and romance.
It makes me sad, because the Byzantines were always my favourite faction, which is a bit like picking the least-worst racist in an inner-city chain pub, but also: I don’t care. Specifically, the battle of Manzikert, in which the once-supreme imperial army was crushed by the Turks. I’m drawn back to Medieval 2: Kingdoms after reading about the Crusades: a compelling period of history, rich in tales of dashing Norman princes, religious fervour and the taut diplomacy of the Byzantine Empire.
