Europe is our dancefloor - let's waltz

Sweboy - yes, it's big but not scary... yet.

Capibara - Thanks, I hope I can keep the excitement

Austria 1529-35

So here we are, the big white blob embracing the big red blob. Yes, Austria and Burgundy are still best pals. Blob size being roughly equal, Burgundy might have more wine and trade, but Austria has the Pope, the HRE, high prestige and good reputation, so again brownie points to the AI for keeping it all in one piece. Stability -2 is the only thing below expectations



The AI has been busy colonising Gold Coast as well, not bad.



In 1531 Rheinlander culture is finally accepted, all those juicy German provinces are now fully integrated.



Here is where the quiet part of the the turn ends:



All of them were either allies, HRE electors or both so I decided not to get involved.

Then:



Crimea, Kazan and Golden Horde involved in a bitter war? And even the Ottomans abandoned Crimea? Brilliant! But hang on, isn't that a Hungarian province occupied by the Crimeans? When did Hungary get involved? Red alert! Red alert!

Actually Crimea is all too happy to close the western front, having plenty in the east, but as it turns out, Hungary must have got involved in a war with the OE/Crimea before that, the result being... not very good. I give them a year to see if they recover...



Not likely. So the Emperor has to sort things out once again. It only takes a few seconds to engage in the first battle, the Med is truly a pond.



Feeling such a Crusader King right now I can't refuse to give Rome back to the Pope, after all he's my pal as well.



You won't believe this, but my friends the Burgundians not only join me, they give the Turkish navy a good ride for their money and even bother to send regiments and besiege land provinces.

Also notice how Hungary had been left alone by the Ottomans, only for Poland to drag her back into war in October. Oh well, maybe they can get something out of this, but don't hold your breath.



By the end of 1534 the Austro-Burgundian war machine had achieved... not that much really, two provinces, the Ottomans seem to have infinite manpower.



I make a few mistakes abandoning sieges to support battles against big Turkish armies, and of course Poland and Burgundy waste no time to get the provinces left behind. I start thinking of finishing the war now that Hungary is safe, before the Burgundians make any more gains.

Then something happens so weird, so improbable, so unexpected, so stupid... Bulgaria and France go to war over Cyprus! But that is not all, Hungary joins Bulgaria against France!



Anyway, I end the Burgundian party in the Balkans by getting three countries released from the OE -as promised, Candar is free again!



Just in time for the end of the turn. Plus the Wallachians have lost a province to Serbia, and the OE is still at war with Poland. However Hungary is in trouble again, invaded not by French armies, but by those of their allies, Aragon and Sicily. Why oh why did they have to support Bulgaria?



Next turn we get into the 40's with Hungary, let's hope I can get them back on track.

rcduggan - according to the thread stats this is your first post Thanks for your comments though.

Zimfan - just noticed, I'm half way reading your two city-states AAR. April is definitely a good month to restart things, must be the Spring


I had a quick look at Hungary's situation last night and it is very messy, entangled not in two but in three different wars And I have installed 2.2, so expect anything to happen in the next turn...

Zimfan - thanks, I never thought I'd inspire anybody to write, although I guess I got drawn into it in the same way thanks to Storey. Having fun both playing and writing has always been my only target. I do think your AAR is brilliant though

merrick - thank you for keeping on reading, don't you worry about France, I've played 2 years into the new turn and it's the least of Hungary's worries (but French fleets have been annoying, I give you that).

rcduggan - you are welcome to comment as much as you like

Beamed - thanks. Yes, it is getting blobbier by the year, just noticed recently that Ming are already bordering Kazan

Minarchist - thank you, it's been a long gap.

Madmonkey24 - I do it regularly as Austria, but as you'll see in the next turn, I need not worry, the AI takes care of it

rcduggan - next update is imminent, but don't hold your breath, it is a very sorry tale.

Hungary 1536-42

Not one, not two... three wars! Playing with Austria I thought Sicily and Aragon were somehow allied to France, now I realise it was a completely separate affair.



And all of this on top of the still active Peasants' War and crippling inflation. Oh well, let's be positive, at least I can't blame the poor Hungarian AI for all this mess, none of it was of its making, and sure enough stability is 0, for the first time in decades! And Hungary is finally part of the HRE.

Back to the wars, a quick summary:

War 1 - Hungary, Lithuania, Bohemia and Poland against the OE and Karaman, warscore 0%. Poland started it and Lithuania is probably the alliance leader, so not much decision-making to do here other than kick Ottomans out of my lands.

War 2 - Hungary, Bulgaria and Austria against France and Cyprus, warscore -2%. Pathetic. Plus I'm pretty sure I never joined the war as Austria, the computer must have enrolled her on the first second of New Year's Day. I leave them to it.

War 3 - Hungary against Aragon and Sicily, warscore -11%. Now this one is more worrying. I check the details in the ledger and find the culprit: "6th War of Sicilian Aggression". So the Sicilians started it, a three province minor! How very dare they?!

My armies are in good shape though, so I waste no time in getting them busy chasing Ottomans, Sicilians and Aragonese. The Ottomans are dealt with quick enough, the Aragon-Sicilian alliance is a harder nut to crack. The NA 2.2 military AI is quite good, they open several fronts, even disembarking troops in the Black Sea coast

I win most battles but I get a hard time trying to recover Corfu. Of course it is blockaded by Aragonese (and sometimes French) fleets, so I have to sit in Janina waiting for an opportunity to cross into the island when no enemy fleet is around the coast. In the end I have to sacrifice my paltry 3-ship fleet in the Greek coast as a bait to lure the Aragonese fleet out.



While I recover Corfu my Polish friends have made the most of their war against the Ottomans, the OE is truly a shadow of its former glory. No gains for me but it's one less war to worry about. I don't think Poland will manage to hold such an improbable mix of lands for long (I hope, anyway).



In 1537 I get cores on 3 ex-Venetian Adriatic provinces, which gives a bit of a boost.

The rest of 1537 is unremarkable as I keep on chasing hostile troops up and down the land. Aragon continues to pour new 3k to 5k armies every now and then, it starts to get annoying.

The war with France goes nowhere, I only see their fleets blockading the Adriatic on occasion. Then they have the cheek to ask me for a separate peace on fairly punitive conditions. With 0% warscore I send them back to Paris with a kick in their backsides.



Just for fun I reply back asking for 25 ducats and they accept The king of France has clearly lost it, not that I mind, I count my ducats and run -only one war left.



By the end of 1538 I finally realise that my stubbornness is getting me nowhere, manpower is running low and the Aragonese seem to have double the armies and a nice fleet to move them around whenever they please. I stop asking for compensation and start asking for white peace, to no avail.

In early 1539 I get Sicily out, but they hardly had any troops involved anyway.



After some more unsuccessful peace requests on my part it is finally the Aragonese who, bizarrely, ask me for a white peace, at last!



What an utter waste of time! Sicily will pay for this... some day. First I'll need Modena to disappear or to get access through them so I can invade Sicily by land, there is not a chance I can develop a navy to match the Aragonese ever.

Left with 0 manpower and minting for survival I keep a very very low profile for the rest of the turn to recover.

Meanwhile France is getting aggressive with Austria in the stupid war of Cypriot succession, Kaffa and Pisa are occupied What on earth is Austria doing? They eventually agree a white peace, I'm not the only one wasting my time in useless wars.



At home the peasants don't get any happier, but the middle classes are a bit more grateful now that stability is not negative.



Then Austria, probably feeling sorry for us poor Hungarians, guarantees Hungary's independence. The AI really knows how to humiliate you.



On the diplomatic front I boost relations with Bulgaria and Lithuania, and warn Serbia and Wallachia.

We reach Land Technology 7 and the end of the turn.



But it is Government Technology that I crave for now, with 29% inflation I really need tax assessors soon. Hungary is 7th in prestige, but prestige alone doesn't pay the bills at the end of the month.

2nd in inflation (after the Papal State, who by the way have gone bankrupt three times during the turn) is not something I feel very proud of.



Castille must be doing very well off the colonies, they are way ahead of Burgundy and Austria.

Austria 1543-49

Everything looks more or less fine, if anything the silly war against France made the AI to bulk up the army, not a bad thing with so many big neighbours. There has also been some busy colonisation in Brazil, and even a merchant in Venezia.


I start again trying to rid of the Crimean provinces. Genoa is the only one willing to take them back.


In 1544 Castille gets another bunch of provinces off France. On top of that Normandy declares independence. Clearly there is no way back for France to the club of big powers.


But with Castille increasingly wealthy thanks to the American riches, I find a bit unbalancing that she should have half of France too. I start making plans to change that, successfully fabricating claims for Dauphiné the following year.


I re-arrange my armies and move the maintenance slider all the way up; in the height of summer of 1545 I'm ready and DoW Castille:


All my allies except Bulgaria join me, but really only Burgundy matters in the big picture.


This time I deploy my regiments as quickly as possible to prevent the Burgundians stealing sieges in my key provinces.


But no need to worry, they have plenty of work to do in the rest of the provinces. The Castillians (and their Portuguese and Navarran friends) don't put up much resistance at first, but increasingly large armies come up eventually. After a year of war most of southern France has been 'liberated'. I wait until Avignon falls to start making peace proposals. Of course I reject all of theirs (all white peace).


I ask for 4 provinces (with a warscore of just 44% it is a bit cheeky, but the Castillian might seems quite broken so it is fair). They refuse 3 times and finally in early 1545 I get away with Auberge, Avignon and Dauphiné, plus Blois for the Burgundians, they deserve some spoils for their huge help after all. My current strategy is simple: to envelop Burgundy in a big white bear hug

After this quick war with Castille I can get back to pursue more civic affairs: trade, workshops, colonisation... although Europe is everything but quiet: protestantism is spreading fast through Italy and Burgundy.


Further proof that Lorraine is the source of all evil, they were the first nation to embrace and foster the new ideas.


Then the OE DoWs Bulgaria, and of course Hungary happily joins to protect them. This time they should be fine to handle this alone.


The glorious Friedrich V dies in 1548, after 27 years in power.


I must admit I've been quite lucky with the royal family so far, longevity has been the norm, and only one regency council in 100 years. Being Holy Roman Emperor must give you access to better health insurance than the average monarch.


Finally in 1549 I manage to flog Azov back to the Genoans. Lithuania has recently won a big war against Kazan, so the Black Sea should be a bit safer now for Christians (having said that, the Genoans are protestants now).


A look at the middle east reveals the Ming already in Samarkand - Lithuania had better get ready


I change the government to Administrative Monarchy to make the most of so many provinces. The stab hit won't be a problem now.


A final look at the Empire:


And the colonies in South America:


And the already overcrowded North America...