The Great Game : Part II, Europe's Revenge

Burgundian War​

1485 - 1487

It was really all over very quickly. Absolut's strategy, naturally enough, was to build large cavalry armies and catch me on plains, causing casualties that manpower-poor Norway can't afford even if he lost the battle. This did not work. I was careful to stay in forests and keep my armies in supporting distance of each other. I landed an army in Zeeland; forty thousand men swept into the Rhineland, smashing all before them; another forty thousand followed to do the mop-up work of sieges. The only real excitement was when Dominus tried to break my control of the English Channel; he failed. However, as I did not want to excite thoughts of vengeance against me, and as Italy (for whom I originally entered the war) had peaced out some time before, I stopped with Wurzburg. Also, while I could win any given battle, I was sharply mindful that in the long run, Burgundy and England controlled much greater resources than me. I could not afford a war of attrition; my best bet was to smash, grab, and get the hell out while the going was good. Hence, Wurzburg.

An early stage of the war :


Battle for the Channel :

Great Eastern War​

1488 - 1495

This is what happened.

Well, the Ynglings were a bit pissed with the Piasts, as usual. I didn't quite get what the problem was, something about an agreement and a betrayal, the usual stuff that nobles are always going on about. Me, I just goes where I'se told. So this time it was Poland, just after we were done with Burgundy; well, Polish girls squeal as well as the German ones, so that was fine with me. Better than barracks any day. So we crossed the Oder and knocked the locals about a bit. The Poles were supposed to be far away fighting the Hungarians, so we had happy days at first. They build their farmhouses in stone, in Silesia, to stand off raids when our boys come across the Oder; but there's not much they can do against the hird. The German lads we had with us went a bit wild, it's not often they get a chance to raid so deep into polak lands.

This is what happened.

The Norwegian cavalry burnt our crops. But we were the lucky ones : They didn't rape my sister; she managed to hide in the woods until they left. They didn't look very hard. Later we found out they'd just finished with the Nowak farm, so maybe they were tired. Two of the Nowak girls died. Alicja was one of them. The others weren't much good after that. Maybe it's best Alicja is gone. I don't think I'd like to marry someone who would look that way at men.

Well, naturally the polak screamed to their lords, and the lords screamed to their dukes, and the dukes must have screamed to the Piast. Maybe he screamed to God, I dunno, but anyway he sure as hell screamed at his army, for in pretty short order, there they were. Now the Hungarians were supposed to have been killing Polish soldiers for years, all the while we were doing that peahen shoot in Burgundy, but let me tell you, it didn't show. Those damn polaks looked tough and surly, and there were a lot of them. I don't mind telling you, I hoped they didn't have too many relatives in the district that might name names and recognise faces. But it turned out all right for us. Not very fond of the Ynglings myself, but they have their uses; the guy they had in charge of us that time, Harald, well, a better nose for a plan you never saw. Got the leidang in front, keeping the Poles busy, then moved the hird in on their flank, pretty as you please. There wasn't much fight in them after that, so we had the district to ourselves for a while again.

The Polish army took my brother to the big battle. We got back most of him, but he's not much good on the farm without his hand. Not that it matters, since the Cossacks burned it down when they were running from the Norwegians. "To deny it to the enemy", they said. I think they just wanted to hurt someone that couldn't hit them back.

Well, after that we was pretty much free to go where we pleased, so we did. You never saw such farmland as those damn polaks got; peasants fat as Yuletide pigs. Squealed like pigs, too, when we took their stuff. Not like the borderlanders; you get further in, the peasants never saw a raiding party in their lives. So, we left the leidang behind to sit outside Krakow sucking their thumbs, and marched up the coast; which was a bit of a waste, really, because I was already holding so much loot, I just couldn't carry any more. I tell you, there's nothing worse than having to turn down a perfectly good bit of church silver because your horse just plain won't take any more.

Scorched earth, yay!


We got into Krakow just before they closed the gates. It was supposed to be safe from the Norwegians, and so it was. Those walls are big. But we didn't have much money - whoever heard of taking five pennies for one scraggly ham? So after a while we were hungrier than we had been on the road. Then my sister began coming in with good food. I think my father knew what was going on, but he was hungry too. So we were all right for a bit.

So, we burned up a good bit of Polish countryside, and then the word came down that we had to get back to Krakow and help the leidang out, since they were having trouble taking the place. Well, that wasn't so nice as the march up, because the peasants were wise to us now and anyway we'd taken most of what they had on our first go. But we got down to Krakow all right - it's not like Burgundy where there's forests everywhere and you can have three ambushes in a mile. The polaks are tough but they have to do their own fighting, the land won't do it for them. Anyway, we was just in time; the Piasts had gotten another army together, and let me tell you, if their last one looked tough, this one was a real terror in the night. They had everyone that could walk, crawl, or carry a scythe; fifty thousand if there was a one, and every last man down to the boys of twelve out for some Norse blood. Tell you the truth, I can't say I blame 'em after what we done to their friends up north; but my blood is curious valuable to me, and I wasn't letting any damn polak spill it.

After the big army drove the Norwegians away, we thought we'd be all right. Father was even talking about going back to our farm and building it up again. But the Piasts were getting really short of men, and the press-gang caught us sneaking out of the gates. So we joined up. They gave my father a pike, but there weren't enough weapons to give me one; so they told me to stick close by my father, and grab his pike when he died. That's how they said it - "when" he died. But it was better rations than we had in the siege, and my sister got better money too. My mother did laundry for some officers, and me and my brother did odd jobs, so it wasn't so bad. We even bought some seed corn, that we saved up for when we had a farm again. It's all right soldiering, when it's summer and the Norwegians aren't too close.


A murthering great battle! I actually won, but was so attrited that I found it best to retreat.

Well, there's some say we gave the Poles a bloody nose there on Krakow field, and I reckon they got a point; there was sure as hell plenty of blood spilt. But when you get right down to it, when the shouting was over, it was us going back to the Oder and them still holding that damn city, and three of my mates to go with it. So I don't hold with calling it no victory, and never mind what the damn skalds say. They get paid to please Ynglings, not tell truth. But I was there, and I say the polaks got us good and proper. Not for free, though. You never fight the hird for free.

As I said, it's not bad soldiering in summer; but when the fall came on, it wasn't so much fun. So Father got together with some other soldiers from our district, and they planned it out that they'd all get assigned to the guard duty one night, and then we'd go off on our own with none the wiser. So when the time came, we grabbed a few things from an officer's tent - he was sound asleep when my sister left him, and sounder still after I was done, so he wouldn't be missing them - and off we went. We didn't want any more part of the war, so we didn't go back to the Oder; we headed east instead. We had decided we were all going to build a walled village together, and if the Piast wanted any taxes he could bring an army to get it.

After that there weren't so many battles. I reckon the Poles had run out of fighting men; anyway, the ones I saw all looked pretty young. Not that we were much better off. They called down the leidang from the most gods-forsaken places along the coast, blond boys who never saw anything bloodier than a gutted fish. Still, it don't take much brains to figure out which end of a pike to point at the enemy. We was burning back and forth in Poland two winters, and I tell you true, when we were done, a sorrier bunch of peasants you never saw. But I'll say this for the Poles : They don't give up easy. Odwaga, they call it. Me, I say they're just plain stubborn. I reckon I've yet to meet the donkey that could out-stubborn your average Pole. Maybe they were waiting for a miracle to save them. If that's it, well, I guess God must be on their side. Turns out the Burgundians hadn't had enough last time around.

We'd been on the road maybe three months when Father said "Enough", and we stopped. We'd found a good place, with some forest nearby for firewood, and good earth under the snow. But it was a hard winter with no proper houses. My mother caught a fever and died, and many of our friends died too of the same sickness. But at last spring came. We broke the ground with a plow we made from the pikes they had given us; one of our men was a blacksmith, and he knew the trick to making charcoal. Then we got to use the seed corn we'd carried all that way from Krakow. My sister had a little boy, and I became an uncle; for a while it looked like we'd landed in a sheltered place.

Well, the Burgundians weren't messing about this time. None of your half-hard ambushes and peasant levies, they had good strong pike now and long guns to go with them, what they call arquebuses. Tell you the truth, I reckon we could still have handled them if the Poles hadn't been nipping at our heels. But, well, there they were, still strong in the fight, and the Burgundians fresh and wanting their own back. And the Germans weren't so happy with the war anymore, either. We damn near came to blows over getting some levies and food out of Brandenburg; and let me tell you, they were the most useless bunch of slackers I ever saw. As for the food, well, at least the hardtack had meat in it. So in the end they agreed to something or other, I can never keep those German cities straight, and we went back home.


Just a bit of trouble, I was in by then :


They found us in May of the second year; men on scraggly little horses, who said they were the army of the Free State of Lithuania, and wanted to collect taxes. Well, we'd all seen a real army, and twenty hungry little bandits weren't it, so we laughed them off. But we stayed up watching that night, and sure enough, they tried to come back and burn us out. They soon thought better of that idea. But we couldn't very well stay up every night, so we held a council to figure out what to do. But we needn't have worried; a week later, the real army marched through - a proper one this time, with the Piast banner at the front, and pikes and guns. They didn't look so hungry as when we had been in the war, so we figured things must be going better; and they only took half our stores. So that was when we knew the Piasts were going to rule us still. And when you think about the Norwegians, and the Free State, and the just plain bandits that we had that trouble with, well, the Piasts don't look so bad.


Well, the net result of the war was that I gave Wurzburg back to Burgundy, along with Anhalt. (Later I was able to buy back Anhalt, so the border hasn't changed.) Sweden declared independence, and Ufa defected to Poland. But I was just able to squash the other rebels before they got anywhere, and Sweden is my vassal again. Not that Poland got off free, either : Novgorod rebelled, and is now my vassal. It remains to be seen whether Sterk is prepared to live with that, but for the next ten years at least I expect there's bugger-all he can do. He'll have enough trouble suppressing his own rebels, thank you kindly. At the height of the war both Brandenburg and Lithuania broke loose, and I don't think he can have been that far out of sight of a government collapse. But he held on by skill and stubbornness, and won a white peace in extremely difficult circumstances. I salute him; I really thought we had him over a barrel when his war exhaustion hit ten.

The Baltic after the Great Eastern War :

Novgorod is my vassal.

And Europe :

I was a bit busy with rebels at the time, but yes, Poland did end up getting a province from Ear. Not sure which one, though. Also, Ufa defected to him, which is making the lands east of the Volga look a lot more solidly orange. Poland's not the only one with losses to avenge from this war. It's said that most wars have no real winners, and here it's true right up to the level of the kings, who usually make a bit of profit off them.

I wish! No, german and russian are out of my reach, so I'll go for the ugric in 1412, the fiftieth anniversary of the annexation of Finland. That probably means it will be edited in after the next session, since we won't want to stop in the middle for edits.

I wasn't, strictly speaking, outnumbered in these wars. Fighting Burgundy I had the tech on my side, and England wasn't exactly committing fully. Then, against Poland, the numbers were on our side for most of it, Hungary and Norway against just Poland. Then when Burgundy re-joined along with Italy, it was still only three on two, and Poland pretty battered. The problem was more my War Exhaustion than the actual Burgundian troops, I could have held them off if not for the rebels.

Still, an alliance with England might not be a bad idea. The question is, what's in it for England? They seem to have settled how to divvy up France, so there's no real source of friction with Burgundy and Spain, unless it's colonies. And there's no reason for them to fight Poland - if anything, Spain would be the dominant power that they should worry about. So England and Norway will probably remain friendly neutrals except as they get pulled into other squabbles; we've got nothing to fight about but no real common interest either, at the moment.

Now, if the Western Alliance breaks up, that's another matter entirely. If any Power should push for complete dominance of France, or try aggressive dominance of the New World, or even just try to re-impose Catholicism on England (I assume Dom will go Protestant as soon as he has the chance, same as me) then the 'auld alliance' could come to new life. But for the next twenty years, I don't see it.

Well, I had a rather good session as far as national developments are concerned; but there was none of the conflict that inspires me to tell stories. Apart from a brief brushfire war with the Lenape, ending predictably in their annexation, I was at peace throughout. Novgorod and Sweden were both annexed without so much as a whimper of protest, and the Swedes were even kind enough to build me a trading post with some of the bribe money I gave them - they rebelled at a time when I knew a bit of the American coast, and apparently had nothing better to spend their money on. So now I have two COTs, trade level 3, and Holstein is getting fat off the American trade goods my colonies send home. Monopoly time! And with the European vassals being swallowed, there is less and less competition in the COTs - Europe is coalescing into gigantic trading blocs. Italy even gave me actual money so I could bribe Sweden, on the grounds that Swedish merchants were giving them trouble in their COTs! I am not convinced this was a good long-term strategy for them, but I was happy to take their gold. It cannot have speeded up the annexation by more than a few years, perhaps as little as one, and I very much doubt the Swedes could have reduced Italian earnings by 80 ducats in that time. But that's hardly my problem.

Meanwhile, my arch-rival Poland was getting into trouble without me lifting a finger. At the end of the last session, Sterk was having serious rebel issues (same as me), with Lithuania and Novgorod breaking away, and more rebels than actual enemy troops still fighting. However, he had managed to defend his access to the Siberian corridor, and given a few years' recovery time could expect to begin an uncontested colonising program. Earendil was having none of that! As soon as he had gotten his breath back and WE down, he DOWed Poland again, seeking to block Sterk's access to Siberia. I did not intervene in this war, for two reasons : First, I felt confident Ear could handle it on his own, and second, my entry would inevitably have brought in Burgundy, Spain, and possibly England as well (being subbed, England was a little unpredictable at this time). So I would have been a liability rather than an asset. As it was, the Western allies did no actual fighting, except Spain, which with land tech 6 got soundly trounced in Persia. Poland was forced to accept the loss of Astrakhan and Alga - apparently, it was that or a real, state-wide collapse.

While this was going on, I was happily colonising, establishing spheres of influence with Burgundy (the Charles river to be our border), quarreling with Spain (who didn't like me colonising Cuba, but didn't quite want to DOW over it) and racing the English. We both DOWed the Lenape at about the same time; they fought pretty well from their forest fastnesses, destroying one Norwegian and one English army with attrition. I made the mistake of accepting a peace with their Iroquis allies; it turns out that the Iroquis led the alliance, and suddenly it looked as though the English would be able to grab that land. However, I bit the bullet and accepted the stab hit, and managed to get my replacement troops there first. So the Lenape were annexed to Norway.

I built my first manufactory, a refinery in Jæmtland, and spent some money kicking people out of my COTs, since I now had trade 3. In 1517 Sterk once again tried to reverse the issue with Hungary, after spending some time begging me not to intervene. Since Hungary was, indeed, getting rather big, I grudgingly agreed; anyway, I would only have brought in the western allies again. Unfortunately, Sterk crashed a few months in, and did not show when we rehosted. Since he had been talking to Ego about giving up, we assumed he had gone off, and ghosted and WPed Poland. It turns out a fuse had blown in his house, and he showed up half an hour later spitting mad. His plan was apparently to engage Hungary to the point where Ear could not have colonised Siberia, and hope to gain it for himself at a later date. That didn't work, due to the crash, and he is now apparently giving up, on the grounds that Poland's situation is hopeless. I don't think it is, myself, but it's no fun losing a war because of a mechanical malfunction. At any rate, if anyone would care to play a slightly battered Poland, there is probably a position open. I hope Sterk changes his mind and doesn't drop, though.

Anyway, I feel inspired to do a bit of strategic overview of the situation. Let's first take a look at the map of Europe.



Poland's position doesn't look so bad to me; sure, Hungary, by Sterk's report, has begun colonising Siberia, but I should think it possible to recover that in a few years, this time with allies. Now, if the eastern border of Poland was the Volga, as indeed should be the case, then he might have something to complain about. Even then, I think it might be a viable strategy to build manus everywhere, becoming the world's first industrial power; I don't think it's been tried in an MP game, but it might in principle be possible to gain as much strength from industry as from colonies. Then, of course, when you're strong you can always take other people's colonies away. Alternatively, it might be possible to expand north; Hungary is pretty strong, now, but Norway is just riding its coattails. You'll note that Sterk has managed to grab Bohemia's COT, compensating for the loss of Novgorod.

While not yet dominant, Hungary does have a lot of strategic options. With Poland a rather lessened threat, and Siberia open, there is certainly no single Power that can hold them back. Of course, that's just the sort of situation that naturally leads to coalitions being formed, as Sterk indeed has found to his cost, earlier. Rumbles of discontent are being heard from the west, and Babur has formed the Mughal Empire. If the Tims had been played this session, Sterk might have been in a rather better position, even with their low land tech. Again, here's a position for those who'd like to play.

Byzantium, now. The only true Roman Empire has come through its troubles, but finds itself surrounded by aggressive and powerful neighbours; it is no longer a question of the legions beating hordes of unarmoured tribesmen. There does not seem to be any obvious place to expand, and being stuck in the eastern end of the Med, the supply lines for colonising are rather long. Again, a strategy of industrialising early may be indicated; another possibility is trade, using moneys not spent on colonies to fund an aggressive merchant policy; a third option is to join coalitions against Hungary. Byzantium is the obvious candidate to gain from such a thing; there are even some greek provinces that might be brought back to the Orthodox Rite.

Jerusalem, on the other hand, is in a much better position to exploit its access to India. Expansion down the Red Sea coast and the African kingdoms seems certain; on the other hand, its core territories are not rich, particularly with Italy and Spain grabbing up North African coastline that might more naturally go to the crusader kingdom. Jerusalem has a lot of options, then : Peaceful expansion against the AI, joining a gang-rape of Hungary for the Persian lands, or attempting to join on Hungary's side, to recover lands in the Med. It is not clear whether it has the power to make this last a viable strategy; still, it is certainly a conceivable one.

Italy has recovered from its brush with the Western alliance, and grabbed Alexandria. Their explorers have gone down the African coast rather than across the Atlantic; presumably, they intend to hit Asia and make themselves a Power there. That may bring them into conflict with both Jerusalem and Hungary, not to mention China. Still, it's probably a better strategy than trying to compete with half of Europe for the Americas. Again, it is not totally clear which way Italy would jump in a conflict with Hungary. Grab some Byzantine territory? Defend Alexandria from the Jerusalemites? Conversely, try to take Egypt away from the Jerusalemites? Or perhaps expand into France, recovering lost ground there? Italy is fantastically wealthy; unlike Jerusalem, it definitely does have the ability to be a significant addition to either side's strength, the finger pushing down the balance of power. Both sides can gain from courting them - if nothing else, being midway between Spain and Hungary, it would mean the difference between fighting on your own border, and being able to push into the other guy's lands. Watch out for the Italians.

That brings us to Spain, already an Empire on which the sun never sets. The only power that might stand up to Hungary in a one-on-one fight, it has long blustered about its intention to do so, though the lack of land tech and the distraction of colonies prevented it from saving Poland. The civil war didn't help either; Spain has made itself seriously unpopular with all those annexations, its badboy is through the roof. Nonetheless, Spain will clearly be the backbone of any anti-Hungarian coalition; it is difficult to see how the other Med powers will be able to do much without its leadership. On the other hand, its interest in the short term is probably better directed towards colonies, and absorbing the gold-rich American lands.

There will always be an England, even when it is subbed for a whole session by random Vnetters. Still, they didn't do too badly, England has quite a colonial empire in northern America. More than any other Power, England has the option of staying aloof from any given conflict, and might benefit quite strongly by doing so; with peace in France, there is really no reason for them to fight, and there are virgin lands to be colonised, in easy reach. One would expect that an England which owns half of France would be drawn into European conflicts in defense of their holdings, but Dom seems to have avoided that fate, and can now benefit from the wealth of France to finance a grab for the wealth of America. Truly, God looks out for fools, incompetents, and the nation of shopkeepers. Expect them to rule the waves for a good few centuries.

Burgundy seems likewise to be pursuing a peaceful strategy, though they may find it more difficult to avoid being drawn into the Hungarian conflict - they are much closer and could easily send some troops thataway. Whether they would really gain by doing so is another matter, though a dominant Hungary is probably not a good thing for them in the long run.

Which brings us, full circle, to Norway. Like England, I have (assuming neither Poland or Burgundy attacks me) the option of staying out of European wars; the question is, do I gain by having Hungary dragged down, or by grabbing some German provinces from my neighbours? Really, my strategy here depends a lot on how large the coalition against Hungary is; like Italy, I have the power, in the right circumstances, to be the finger on the scale. Only in the right circumstances, though - I won't sacrifice myself as Hungary's sole ally against the rest of Europe. Unlike them, I have vulnerable colonies to protect, and while I can fight any single navy, the Western Alliance between them is about twice my naval size. Defending the Baltic would be the best I could hope for. Remaining neutral and colonising while others are distracted may be my best option. So, let me just encourage the kings of Christendie to cry havoc, and let loose the dogs of war!


All the nations, of course, are going to have to deal with the new religion. The Protestant event hit while I was waiting for a rehost, so I didn't get a chance to convert last session, but I intend to do so right away, for the good and simple reason that more than half my provinces did. Here's a religious map, where I converted Norway just to see what it would look like :



As you can see, my German lands correspond almost exactly to the religious change; only at the fringes of my empire do Catholics remain. I expect England to likewise convert at the earliest opportunity. Then, of course, we shall have to see whether any good Wars of Religion develop. It might be a good thing for me to grab the Protestant lands along the Baltic, if Poland gives me a chance. And of course, Germany is pretty wealthy, and if it's the right religion as well, it might not even cost too much to convince others to give it up.

Finally, let's look at the colonial situation :



Spheres of influence, and Norway's isn't looking too bad. Still, I may be in trouble when there's no more room to expand and people get aggressive. If I expand fast enough, though, I could have a lot of scandinavian, protestant, not readily convertible cities by that time. Or I could ally with England. Whatever, it's plainly going to be an interesting history.

Indeed, if ti were just me and Dom, we might discuss where the line of control should go in New England. But I don't want to fight all the navies of Western Europe, so I'm satisfied enough with our agreement on spheres of influence.

I agree that Spain might benefit more from colonies than from nerfing Hungary; on the other hand, in the long term, a Power with access to Siberia, dominating the Russian plains, and able to smash through the Mughals into India, is going to be very dangerous indeed to the rest of the world. Also, as you mention, Poland is Spain's ally. I think, were I playing Spain, I might also forgo the short-term gain for long-term safety. Ear is a skilled and dangerous player; with the resources of Siberia to hand, he'll be well-nigh unstoppable.

Håkon, fifth of that Name, by the Grace of God and by the will of the Yngling Ting, King of Norway and Denmark, King of Sweden, the Wends and the Goths, Grand Duke of Finland, Czar of the Trans-Volga Rus, Protector of the German Volk, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, Duke of Gotland and Iceland, Prince of Lord Novgorod the Great, Count of Bergen, Akershus, and sundry other places, Defender of the Faith, hereby announces :

Primo. Due to the corruption and simony of the Papal Court, which has for long years been a stench in the nostrils of the Faithful; due to the arrogance, impiety, and venality of the man, Salvador, who pretends to the titles Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Christ, which authority he shamefully abuses; because these abuses, which We have long sought to correct by peaceful means, have continued and grown worse; and because We therefore see no further hope of reconciliation with the present Church; therefore, the Lutheran Evangelic religion shall henceforth be the official religion of the Greater Norwegian Realm. All who confess to that religion shall therefore be bound to bring their children up in the same. Jews and Jesuits remain unwelcome in the Realm.

Secundus. In order to protect the Protestant peoples of Hinterpommern and Germany, whose governments have shamefully oppressed their consciences, We hereby announce that a state of War exists between the Norwegian Realm and the state of Stettin; this War shall not end until adequate freedom of conscience exists for the German people.

Tertius. We hope to remain on cordial terms with Our most esteemed fellow Monarchs and Sovereigns; but We call upon them, as brothers in Christ, to search their consciences and rebel against the false Pope and the corrupt Church, that is the Whore of Babylon spoken of in Revelations.

das said:

Interesting... are you sure that everybody else will just watch by while you take over Germany, though?

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Well, no, but Stettin is a one-province minor, which is wrong-culture for everyone and wrong-religion for everyone except me. Anyway, I'm posting the dip so people will have a chance to react, and not be surprised into sudden declarations of war by an unannounced move from me. I must admit that there is perhaps some slight mismatch between the grandiose language of 'protecting the Protestants of Germany' and the actual means of annexing a one-province minor. What can I say? The Ynglings of this generation tend to be a bit pompous. It happens when you've ruled a nation for four hundred years.

BurningEgo said:

Indeed, i really like all your writing KoM. Dominus was right, the boy can write.

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Why, thank you. It'll be interesting to see which way Byz and Ita jump in the long run. On the one hand, they both border Hungary and could expand contiguously. But then again, Spain has a lot of nice colonies that could be quite profitable to annex. Why shouldn't South America speak Greek? I keep myself occupied much of tha day figuring out the possible combinations. Byz+Hun+Ita vs Jer+Spa+Bur - if England comes in, Norway could take advantage - Poland can be relied on for Spain - what if England changed sides, though? French lands, yum. Then again, perhaps Norway could gain some concessions in the new world in exchange for some troops. And so on.

I agreed to no such thing. Sterk suggested that deal, this is true, but I did not agree. The peace that was eventually signed was a white peace with no conditions.

As for Ear, he doesn't have a fleet, true, but if he gets an alliance with Italy he doesn't need one. He can then just march right through the Po and fight you in France.