If you take into account the fact that Battlemaster requires certain things to be done in your realm, then extrapolate "places I can do these things" to "places that are within my realm", then yes, they did. It's not a precise business comparing BM to RL history. Impose all kinds of military occupations, requiring tithes, recruits, logistics support, etc along the way? Yes. Require declarations of support for "Christendom"? Yes. Require that the cities and such swear allegiance to the King of France? No. But in BM the only way to get those things is to set up a realm.
And there were some realms set up along the way. Pretty much anything after they sailed from Italian ports (or marched past the boundaries of "Christendom", which could get pretty murky) was at least attacked, if not outright conquered. Constantinople sacked and made into the seat of effectively a Crusader state, etc.
With all due respect, this is a load of bologna.
First of all, many of those things, like the sack of Constantinople, happen after several crusades of reasonable success.
Second of all, there were 14 crusades. Very few of them involved setting up puppet realms along the road. Off the top of my head, I'm unaware of any crusader state that would fit such a description other than perhaps Edessa.
Third, let's be clear: they were able to march to Israel, and fight multiple battles and sieges. Even if we adjust for BM tactics which are very different (campaigns don't usually feature more than just a very few major battles), morale losses should not be so crippling as to force armies to withdraw before entering combat.
We're not talking about a vast overland journey here. We're talking about a journey by ship through friendly, inland seas (certainly friendly than the Medieval Mediterranean for most of the way). The army should not be deserting at first landfall, or even soon after.
I fully grasp the importance of these
types of mechanics: I'm just suggesting that maybe the specifics need revisiting. Yes, mounting long-range campaigns should be a major task of great expense which can only be carried out by powerful, stable realms. A realm that could field 20,000 CS on its border might only be able to field 5,000 CS on such a campaign.
But such a thing should still be possible. As of now, our multiple attempts to make it work on Dwilight suggest that... it kind of isn't. It really doesn't matter your settings, your preparation, your provisions or whatever– your army is going to start deserting you very, very soon after landing. Certainly before you could ever finish a TO and hold off an army trying to break that TO.
