Latest Additions news - Insularis Draco mod for Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms

Let's have a look at some of the new additions to Insularis Draco after the first tentative beta release a couple of months back. Since then I've added a bunch of good stuff, including the following:

• Battle of the Catalaunian Fields Prologue
  If you choose to play the Romans, Salian Franks, Visigoths or Thuringians, you get to take part in the cataclysmic battle which decided the fate of the Roman Empire in Gaul. You'll be catapulted a year back in time to 451 A.D. for a truly massive eight-army battle where you'll need nerves of steel, a strong graphics card or small unit size (😅) to survive. Go up against Attila's fearsome Hunnic horsemen as one of Flavius Aetius's allies, or try to topple Rome as the Thuringians (a Hunnic vassal people).

On the campaign map:

On the battle map:

• Battle of Finnsburgh Prologue
  J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about it in his analysis of Beowulf, and now you can play either side in the legendary small-scale tribal conflict where, in the winter of 451 A.D., the Frisians attacked the Danish Hocings when they were their guests in King Finn's hall. If you start a campaign as the Danes or Frisians, you'll get a chance to change Old English literature forever 😛
  Defend the mead hall of Finnes Burich against the treacherous Frisians or get revenge for years of Danish raids.

• Coastal Smoothing and UI goodness
  It was a huge undertaking but I manually smoothed out all the coasts and riverbanks, making the campaign map much more organic and flowing. I also added a tiny script to remove the UI during the 'end turn' phase, to allow for a less busy look at the newly finished map while you're waiting for the other factions to plot your demise 😎

• Visigothic Unit Roster
  The Visigoths were a new and criminally underdeveloped faction in past releases. Their unit roster is now more detailed, with unique models and many unique units. In particular, the 'Gardiggos', their royal household bodyguard, look magnificent. Many of their units are taken from the 'East of Rome' mod.

• EBII-like Translation Project
  Ever since Benfras, a Middle Welsh specialist, approached me and reviewed my amateurish Old Welsh translations, we've been working to perfect the Old Welsh and (heavily reconstructed) Pictish unit-, settlement-, region- and character-names. This has resulted in a vastly updated version of the text side of the mod, with all factions/units/places having not only an EBII-style endonymic name, but also its translation underneath. This is a big change from Vanilla and not all players will like it but so far I have not found it to be annoying or disruptive of gameplay. Some examples below, on the battle and campaign map:

• Regional and Sub-Cultural units and mercenaries
  Many minor peoples which aren't given a full-on faction slot have been incorporated as regionally recruitable unique units or mercenaries. Famous historical tribes like the Burgundians, Attacotti, Airgiallans, Maeatae, Cornovii, Huns and the Slavic Wends, are now represented in one or more of these ways on the campaign map. You will certainly encounter them as enemies but, if you so wish, as allies:

Hunnic Lancers

Attacotti Hunters

Burgundian Mounted Nobles

Many more features to come in the future, and I'll show them all off like the show-off that I am :P