1. Greven's Papal States.
It was the first one I read and it intrigued me. It sold me on the game. After this I searched for other AARs and have read almost all those in the forum. I went back and read Greven's a second time and printed it out so I could follow along better. It also was well-written, humorous, and involved a minor country in the thick of the action.
2. Sapura's Sweden.
This was an AAR tour-de-force! It was also the second one I read.
This AAR revealed alot about the capabilities of the game for me so it was very educational.
3. Sapura's Lepanto/Venice.
Another minor country and one that I imntend to play straight-away when I get my hands on the game. This was an unusual AAR because Venice formed that commonwealth with Hungary and had a lot of success against the Ottomans. Also, I think this AAR revealed the 'super Ottoman fleet' effect that others have written about and which should be patched.
I really think there are others that were very good as well. Oranje's Dutch AAR is also wonderful (and educational) Kekonnen's and Devin's were well-done and entertaining.
The 'congeniality' award goes to Oranje for the Dutch AAR - very readable and useful for newbies and he attached maps to a web site that help envision what he did.
The 'suspense' award goes to Sapura's Sweden bc well, who knew what would happen next!
For me, the minor nation AARs were the most entertaining and interesting bc they could educate about less well-known parts of the world during that period of history. I think most people who are into this game are very familiar with the major powers so there is less mystery involved with their ascendancy. I really enjoyed the Knights of St.John also (2 of them) except that the AARs were kind of far-fetched as the Knights got too powerful.
Thanks for posting these AARs. Having these on the forum is a great way to hook buyers for EU!
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~ Salve ~