Golden Horde - Scourge From The East

[Duke of Wellington]

You gotta love the GH!

You have to otherwise this AAR would just be

[CatKnight]

You have to otherwise this AAR would just be

Now that is probably the most succinct summary of the Golden Horde I've ever seen.

Very entertaining, Duke! Good luck fighting off what appears to be your destiny. Your writing style (with the undercurrent of serenity in a sea of chaos) works well.

So I take it we're at war with Genoa? Not sure how you're going to win that one. You might not LOSE...but you are going to have a lot of trouble taking the fight to the Genoese homeland.

[Duke of Wellington]

CatKnight - We'll have to wait until next update to see how Ulugh handles the war But he and his successors appreciate the well wishes

[Saulta]

CatKnight - We'll have to wait until next update to see how Ulugh handles the war But he and his successors appreciate the well wishes

This aar looks promising, I´ve always liked Mongol aars!!!

[Storey]

Grundius - Financially I'm having a hard enough time building an army to really comtemplate a navy. Let alone one large enough to defeat Genoa's usually large navy that likes to patrol the Ligurian Sea

Beside your galleys wouldn't survive the attrition necessary to get to Genoa. Stay away from any thoughts of a fleet. As you point out your financial problems are not going to get better any time soon.

Joe

[Duke of Wellington]

Saulta - Good to have you along. I'll be following your aar too at the moment

Storey - The attrition would be a big killer getting there. Especially since getting MA from one of the Italian states, vital to avoid the attrition and possibly to allow a land based invasion, would be slightly impossible

[Singleton Mosby]

Veyr nice AAr so far, i like the GH big time Could'nt you try to revive the times of Baku?

[Duke of Wellington]

Veyr nice AAr so far, i like the GH big time Could'nt you try to revive the times of Baku?

Thanks Nice to have you along. Is Baku the same as Batu? It would be nice to see their golden age revived but we will have to see where Ulugh and Co. can lead them

[The Danish King]

This is a well-written AAR, DukeOfWellington!

I like your style.

[Duke of Wellington]

This is a well-written AAR, DukeOfWellington!

I like your style.

Thanks, I'm enjoying writing it so I'll do my best to keep it entertaining. Fingers crossed I'll be able to update tomorrow

[coz1]

You're doing well so far, Duke. This is not a country I would try anytime soon, so hats off for that and for keeping things together for these first years. Let's hope you can keep a handle on things. So when do you plan to deal with the folks up north? Surely before they turn bearish.

[Duke of Wellington]

You're doing well so far, Duke. This is not a country I would try anytime soon, so hats off for that and for keeping things together for these first years. Let's hope you can keep a handle on things. So when do you plan to deal with the folks up north? Surely before they turn bearish.

I would be crushing them straight away but, since I'm trying to play like a Khan I think I'll wait until they provoke something like stopping paying tribute...

[Duke of Wellington]

Just played through the next lot, things are looking good still Lots of things going right but the first big bad event to hit has done so.....
Will update in a few hours

[jwolf]

... but the first big bad event to hit has done so.

That's the GH we know and love! I'm anxiously awaiting the next update to see how your poor bewildered Khan takes the news.

[Duke of Wellington]

Ulugh's Second Rule : Part 1

In the excitement of returning to power Ulugh had failed to properly think through his methods. Though the rebellions incited in Azow and Crimea had been vital to his coup they now became a double edged sword. Instead of spending his first months back in power drinking and beheading Baraq's supporters, Ulugh was forced to ride quickly against the nationalists lest they capture the cities and spread their sentiments further.

The rebels soon proved to be as easy to dispatch beneath the hooves of the Horde as the grass of the steppes over which they rode.

Ulugh was then to prove his competence, a lesser Khan may have begun feasting and grown fat on success but Ulugh denied himself the simple pleasures and focussed on more pressing matters like war.

At the time the Black sea region was a warzone with Genoa and her allies fighting the Horde and Shirvan who were simultaneously engaged in war with Georgia and Trebizond.

Ulugh elected to continue his predecessor's policy regarding the Georgian war. But in preparation for battling the Genoese he immediately sent a spy to Kerch disguised as a merchant. The spy was initially successful but then asked one too many questions and was quickly uncovered before discovering anything of real use to Ulugh.

Shirvan began to march on Kerch but shortly after entering Horde territory Trebizond led a surprise raid on the Shirvan homeland. Though small in number they moved quickly slaughtering much livestock and people. The Shirvanese army did an about turn returning home to massacre the Trebizond raiders. They then marched on Trabzon the capital of Trebizond in revenge for the brtual attack.

With the Shirvan army distracted Genoa seized the opportunity to attack Sochi in an effort to liberate the recently conquered Christians. The Horde led by Ulugh took advantage of the situation and struck for Kerch in an effort to take it whilst undefended.

Shortly after beginning the siege Ulugh received bad news from the east that made him deeply regret focussing so much on the west. It seemed the governors of his eastern most provinces had become unhappy with the lack of attention and had all defected to the Uzbeks who had welcomed them so much so they had shifted their capital to the north in order to tighten their hold upon them. For now the Uzbek treachery would go unpunished but when Ulugh was less committed to other wars....

Fuelled by anger Ulugh doubled his efforts to take Kerch and only a couple of months later in March of 1428 it fell. He then turned his anger to the Genoese troops occupying Sochi. However a well coordinated defence and a mountainous province resulted in a defeat for the Horde.

The Theodoran pigs apparently had spies in Horde territory for as soon as word of the loss reached Theordoros a declaration of war was sent to Ulugh.

The Theodorans unwisely marched their nearly 30K strong army into Crimea. The province was unable to support such a large army and the Theordorans quickly began to suffer large losses from desertions, starvation and cold.

Dealing with first things first Ulugh waited until his trroops were rallied and marched back into Sochi, with the benefit of experience now on the side of the Horde the Genoese had no chance and every last one was slaughtered.

Turning his attention to the Theorodans (who were continuing to take heavy losses for little reward in Crimea) Ulugh led 17,000 Horde cavalry men to neighbouring Donetsk ready to fall on the invadors as their numbers dwindled.

Waiting for attrition to do its thing

During this time civil unrest in Moscow had led to several people claiming the throne, one of them Vasily, offered the Horde 50 ducats for support. This was given and Vasily was set upon the throne in debt to the Horde.

In September Genoa offered peace for 52 ducats but Ulugh refused believing that if he held out more could be attained. A wise move, Genoa offered peace again in January, this time for 244 ducats, there was much rejoicing before the money was spent on more tax collectors and recruiting more cavalry.

In high spirits the Horde attacked the now equal size army in Crimea completely destroying it in hours and losing very little in the process.

Ulugh then led his brave men into Theordoran territory to besiege their capital. A couple of thousand Theodoran army men evaded the main body of Ulugh's army and captured the unfortified province of Krementjug only to be quickly obliterated by Ulugh's vanguard

The results of the rejoicing earlier in the year then became apparent when an heir to the throne was born and stability increased.
As the year 1430 rolled around Shirvan had completely conquered Trebizond but for some reason unknown to Ulugh's advisors, had not made peace either by annexation or other means. The siege in Theodoros was progressing well and likely to fall early in 1430. Ulugh rode home to spend some time with his newborn son and contemplate the situation.
Theodoros would undoubtedly fall but what to do with it afterwards remained a question in the Khan's mind. Muscowy was pacified and showing less signs of resistance than earlier. The main threat to the Horde came not from Christian infidels but Muslim brothers in Uzbek. They would have to be dealt with....

[Grundius]

Great going so far. Just too bad you lost those eastern provs, but in the west you're doing well imho. You made an extra challenge for yourself with playing in character, because I think by the time Muscovy "provokes" you, they will be pretty strong already. Good luck with that.

[Duke of Wellington]

It does make a bit more of a challenge but in the end its more fun. I still feel like I'm playing too much to my own usual style it can be hard to make decisions you know are unwise like attacking a decent size infantry army in mountains with a purely cavalry army. I hope Muscowy doesn't get too big they haven't really grown yet which is odd. I'm surprised at how well its going I'm not even struggling with money though that mostly down to war which is quite historical I imagine.

[jwolf]

Your pictures are really nice, especially the helpful annotations such as "462 doomed men." Was the transfer of the Eastern provinces an AGCEEP event, and if so, could you do anything about it? Does the GH still get their big disintegration event during the 1440s as in vanilla?

[Duke of Wellington]

The transfer of the eastern provinces was an AGCEEP event. A bit annoying since it claimed in the event that it was due to a weakening horde and rebellion etc. I am getting stronger and no major rebellions. I think they do get the big disintegration event but I'm not entirely sure, I don't really want to look in the event file I don't think it would leave me feeling too good.

[coz1]

Yeah, I would not do that. Wait until the actual event fires to get depressed. Nice work there, even if you had some provinces leave the fold. They'll be back. But for how long?