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We are back in the 12th century with the Barbarossa Campaign in mission number four, where Barbarossa is once again determined to conquer Italy. The Italians have rebelled against the Rule of Barbarossa once more, this time, multiple cities at once who have formed the Lombard League. This League was a powerful medieval alliance of northern Italian city-states formed in 1167. Its primary purpose was to resist the aggressive attempts of Barbarossa to assert direct Imperial control over Northern Italy. What makes the alliance so unique is that these Italian communes (like Milan, Venice, Verona, and Bologna) were notorious for fighting each other. However, Barbarossa’s heavy taxation and installation of strict imperial governors forced these rival cities to band together for survival. 
Chris
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Music: Teuton Intro Music of the official AoE II Soundtrack

Welcome back to our third mission of the Barbarossa Campaign! After dealing with our cousin Henry the Lion in the previous one, it is now time to get back at what really matters to Barbarossa and that’s being the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The third mission is based on the sieges of Crema  in 1159 and 1160 as well as Milan in 1162 during Barbarossa's second Italian campaign, which was part of the Wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. These were factions supporting the Pope (Guelphs) and the Holy Roman Emperor (Ghibellines) in the Italian city-states of Central and Northern Italy during the Middle Ages. During the 12th and 13th centuries, rivalry between these two parties dominated political life across Italy and naturally Barbarossa has his own ideas on how to deal with this situation, which leads us to the name of this mission: Pope and Antipope

Chris
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Music: Teuton Intro Music of the official AoE II Soundtrack

Welcome back to the Barbarossa Campaign, where we play as the Teutons and relive the 12th century of central europe out of the perspective of the Holy Roman Empire. Last mission, we’ve pacified the German part of Europe. In this second mission, it’s going to be all about establishing our claim on being this mighty emperor. For that, we make our way to the east to conquer Poland and also test the loyalty of Henry the Lion, our cousin who has his own secret agenda.
Chris
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Music: Teuton Intro Music of the official AoE II Soundtrack

It´s time for a new campaign run and after a little bit of consideration this campaign will be an old school campaign from the Original Age of Kings Game, released in 1999. I will play the Barbarossa Campaign and take a close look at what it means to be the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in the 12th century. In this mission, I will introduce Barbarossa and tell you how he became the Holy Roman Emperor.
Chris
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Music: Teuton Intro Music of the official AoE II Soundtrack

Welcome back to another civilizations Podcast – today abouit the Shu.
The Shu are relatively new in the Game being on of the Three Kingdom Civilizations and they come with a rich history of ancient china as well as novel ideas in Age of Empires II. For starters, they have a hero unit that's even playable in multiplayer and two other unique unit as well as regional units. They are predominantly an archer civilization with strong siege options and they can become a dps powerhouse if the unique techs come into play. At the same time, they are somewhat predictable as they don't have too much else to offer. I hope you'll enjoy this episode!
Chris

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Timecodes:
00:00 Introduction
08:30 Eco bonus
15:46 Military bonuses
25:20 War Chariot, White Feather Guard, Liu Bei, Lou Chuan
41:35 Unique Technologies
50:21 Strategies & army compositions
01:03:10 Campaign

Music: Shu Intro Music and "Operation Monkey" of the official AoE II Soundtrack