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I have been writing AARs for Paradox games since 2001 and unfortunately the screenshots for the older AARs have been lost to time and host failure. They are still quite amusing to read, if I do say so myself, but given how I often leave important information, jokes, or easter eggs in the screenshots, they are by necessity less interesting to read than when they were originally published. For reasons of illness I had a lot of time on my hands in 2002, to which the AAR list stands silent testimony.

Europa Universalis I

Austria: From Pawn to Superpower (part 1) and part 2. (April 2001, completed) - My very first AAR. Suffice to say that few people noticed it at the time and I've become a better writer since then.



Europa Universalis II

The Timurid Scientists – (February 2002 – March 2002, completed) - The first documented World Conquest in EU2. Many people believed it impossible at the time. And the same happened with every patch after that until at least 1.05. Somebody would start a bloody "surely now WC is impossible!" thread in the general forum and I or somebody else would go through the tedium of proving them dead wrong. Some people just do not understand that Paradox games are deliberately made so easy for normal players to play (a very sound marketing decision) that anyone who dedicates the time and patience (oh lord, the patience) to actually learning how their games work have zero problems conquering the entire world except where game mechanics explicitly prevent it (and that has only been the case once or twice and can be gotten around). This was the first AAR featuring Chief Scientist, who had a brief career interrupting other peoples' AARs.

World Conquest for Dummies – (April 2002 – May 2002, completed) - Trebizond paints the world purple. Class is in session. Don't annoy the teacher. Several students graduated to writing their own WC AARs afterwards which was great fun to see.

It Came From the Mountains – (June 2002 – January 2003, completed) - The visit of the Transcendant One occasions much distress in Boing (née Tibet). An adventure with, admittedly, certain martial overtones. For fun, it showed how using a very different playing style from that advocated in WCfD worked just as well, though this was definitely not a WC game... Unfortunately, the series of thoroughly justifiable defensive actions taken happened to conquer the world anyway. These things happen.

WAAR of the Worlds – (July 2002 – December 2002, completed) - Prufrock451, a great writer and humorous fellow, modded the game and sent in max tech Zorthon aliens to conquer the world in this AAR. Then he handed the save over to me with instructions to fight back. This came completely out of the blue, but who could resist such a challenge? Not I.

Persian Tales – (February 2003 – March 2003, abandoned) - A few tales told be an unusual traveler who hooks up with some bandits on the trail across Persia. This AAR was a direct result of me rereading the Arabian nights and deciding to try writing a few stand-alone tales in a style reminiscent of those tales tempered by my own sense of humour. My favourite remains chapter 3's tale. Abandoned due to release schedule of latest game at work.

Knights of Opportunity: In Hoc Signo Vinces - (February 2003 – August 2003, abandoned) The Knights visit Europe, Africa, the Americas, and, well, pretty much everywhere else. Abandoned due to writer's block around 1750 once I reached the extremely tedious last wars of World Conquest, when victory was assured and all that remained was mopping up and fighting rebels, and I'd already been there and done that too many times.



Europa Universalis II - Multiplayer

TSUNAMI 2 – (July 2003 – July 2003, abandoned) - The sequel to the original marathon MP game tried to get an AAR thread but failed miserably after just two pages. I played two sessions, once as the Teutonic Knights, once as the Mughal Empire. Smashing human controlled Poland and Lithuania and annexing Novgorod with a diminutive Teutonic Order and an alliance of five one-province German AI minors has never been as fun. Thanks, once again, to Mowers for organizing such a fun marathon game. Just a crying shame that so few of the players wrote AARs.

Machiavelli : Europe Arising (May 2003 – September 2003, completed) - A game of power politics and attempted roleplaying (mostly failed) with a good deal of AAR writing. A great game all in all, though playing Austria with horribly competent (not to mention deceitful and avaricious) neighbours was a harrowing experience. It made for good experience in MP warfare, though, and I gave at least as good as I got. :)

Machiavelli II - The Rebirth (September 2003 – December 2003, completed)- Building the biggest and baddest Russia around coupled with roleplaying induced passitivity on my side was ultimately bad for the game. I should have broken treaties and thrown my power around, dammit.


When MP, true roleplaying, and storytelling TRULY meets....

Asia - the Awakening – (August 2002 – February 2003, abandoned sort of) - A handful of spirits duke it out in Asia. The game was finished but AAR writing dwindled at the end. A fun game was had by all and it later provided the inspiration for going further, much further, as Wyvern and I pooled our forces some time later for...

Throne of Heaven – (June 2004 – November 2004, completed) - Wyvern and I team up as gamemasters (he's the good GM, I'm the evil GM) for an AAR-obligatory fantastic game of intrigue, death, destruction, and many wonders in Asia. With individualized missions and doublecrossing being the order of the day, the participants had a good time. I play Gothmog and, though I rally the powers of evil to my cause, ultimately I and my allies (both the willing and those who tapped into Gothomog's power and were ensnared by it) are defeated (or SO THEY THINK!). The greatest thing was that most of those who believed they were good (and joined up fighting for the good side in the final battle) had, in fact, already slipped into corruption through their earlier choices by being seduced by other forces of evil than Gothmog. See e.g. this post, where I revealed the funnist player seduction of the game upon its completion. Let me just say that some of these their relations came as a bit of a surprise in the final revelation after good's victory: The end of the tale. This game also provided me with some of the greatest defensive wars I've ever played in EU2. Here is the discussion thread – first post explains the rules of the game.

Throne of Heaven2: The Olympian Rebirth – (December 2004 – May 2005, completed in terror) - Wyvern and I team up as gamemasters again for a second AAR-obligatory romp. I play as Autolycos. Watch in awe as the chosen heroes of the gods repopulate the new world trying to accomplish both their own natural desires and those of their whimsical gods... until they finally encounter the Titans. Which alas killed the game, as it slowed down to a crawl with the horde of Titan armies all over the place, and suddenly it was summertime and sessions were few and far between, but hey, it was a great game. Reading the first post of the Game Thread may make you less puzzled as to what is going on. The last five or ten pages of the thread deal with doom and gloom of the players as the magnitude of the Titan invasion hits them makes for great reading (in-between the boasting and general politics). Avernite said it best after the first few invaders were defeated:
We're doomed. We're so doomed.

25 years, 5 heroes, was needed for the Blackies. And now there's more coming. We can only hope the Gods have some power to spare for us while they battle the Titans...
So time consuming to set up and manage, so fun with the right players. A big thanks to those who participated.




Europa Universalis II - Collaborative AARs

Early on in EU2s AAR lifetime we had a couple of great collaborative AARs organized by MrT and open for everybody willing to write. With saves passed around, forgotten, or lost, with people of very different levels of competency at playing, and with everybody completely free to pursue his own goals to the best of his ability, this created some wonderful experiences for those involved.

Denmark: Fellowship of the Kings – (March 2002 – August 2002, completed) - I got the slot as Frederik V of Denmark (1746-1766) as reserve and I slightly improved the nation's standing in the world by overrunning England (annexed), France (set up ready for diploannexation), the Americas (crushing Spain), and a few other places besides. All in 20 years :D The link is to the story text copied clean and my entries are posts #91 - #95, but really, if you want to read part of it, read the whole AAR and see just how well people can do when they collaborate. Additionally, this AAR provides an exception to my normal writing style as it is much more serious than the vast majority of my work without, if I may say so, it detracting significantly from the quality.

Every Doge Has his Day – by the “B Team” – (May 2002 May 2003, completed) - I got to substitute for Ariel. My first ruler was Leonardo Loredano (1501-1521) and I got handed a Venice that had just suffered a severe reverse. Needless to say, desperate times called for desperate measures, so with everybody bemoaning our beloved Venice's defeat apart from the A-team who were taunting us, I dropped my intentions of a moderately peaceful reign and and went all out on the offensive. In Loredano's 20 years of reign Venice grew from 22 to 60 provinces reversing all previous defeats, defeating all significant powers, and conquering most of Central Europe besides in one of my most concentrated conquest sprees ever. Pietro Loredan (1567-70) distinguished himself in a very different way and was reported in a series of "what I did on my holidays" mails by private Giovanni Bossi as he moved constantly from war to war and, despite all the warring, ended up safely married to the girl his mother had chosen, and finally as for the brief reign of Sebastiano Venier (1577-1578), no joke can truly suffice.

The Righteous BastAARds – (April 2002 – November 2002, abandoned) - Can two right bastards succeed when playing the same nation alternatingly with the goals of a) fixing the problems caused by the other bastard, while b) royally screwing up the nation in a different way for the other bastard to fix?Norgesvenn (leading Cardinal Fang of the Order of the Swinging Sheepshagging Sinner) and I (leading Cardinal Biggles of the Chanting Lefthanded Genuflectors) playing Spain proved that this was, indeed, the case, though it lead to remarkably silly situations, even for us. It begins with maxing out loans due to be repaid on the very first day of the next player's reign without having the money to cover, of course, and escalates wildly from there.



Europa Universalis IV

The Phoenix Rising (Beta AAR) – (July 2013 – August 2013, completed) – Full lecture mode as I explain game mechanics chapter by chapter while going on a moderate conquest spree with Byzantium. Most images have somehow been lost, which is strange as all of them were hosted by Paradox (no foreign host services for beta AARs, everything is internal). Possibly a side effect of one of the major forum upgrades since then.

Russian Cheese – An Expansion Test AAR – (October 2013 – December, abandoned) – Follow Ivan and Boris in the Time Bunker as they suffer from a weird cheese fixation and the end of the world as they know it. The AAR was sabotaged by the Conquest of Paradise DLC release in January 2014, which was not nicely backwards compatible and which ”free features” screwed up my nearly completed World Conquest by breaking up my overseas empire in strange ways. I am not bitter. (Yes I am. (Or at least I was when I wrote this originally.))



Europa Universalis - Rome Multiplayer

We Three Kings – (June 2009 – January 2010 + final entry July 2012, completed) – Wyvern, Swuul, and I have a fun 3-player AAR game, where Blasted Numidia, Eternal Egypt, and Pontus of the Secret History go to extreme lengths not to fight each other while gaining ascendancy. Warning: Heavy on propaganda.

Imperator: Rome Multiplayer

We Three Kings II (Beta AAR) – (March 2019 - April 2019, completed) – Wyvern, Swuul, and I have a fun 3-player AAR game, where Awesome Armenia, Exalted Epirus, and Kustomary Kush go to extreme lengths not to fight each other while gaining ascendancy. Warning: Heavy on propaganda. We got around a hundred years of gameplay before the game was released. As many Beta AARs, it is heavy on mechanics demonstration.

Crusader Kings

The Byzantine Letters – (April 2004 – July 2004, abandoned) - 20 chapters of correspondence of the Eastern Roman Emperors, often with attachments. A remarkably silly romp that remains one of my favourites. From the very start this wasn't intended to be a complete AAR running until the end, just something to tide me over while waiting for the next patch, and indeed the AAR ended abruptly disappointing legions of followers, but they had been warned from post #1, so what can you do?


Crusader Kings II

Born to Breed: The Estridsen Lectures – (April 2012 – June 2012, abandoned) – An epic tale of the travails of the kings of Denmark as they populate the world with rulers of house Estridsen. (Or Ylving, as the game insists on calling them). This was sadly much shorter than I would have loved, but a period of extreme work-related stress finishing development of a game killed my interest in continuing the AAR.

A Fistful of Dukes MP AAR – (July 2012 – October 2012, completed) – Six AAR writers, each with their own Byzantine duchy. So obviously the emperor was a six-fingered man. A lot of fun was had until the game descended into serial assassination and extinction of player lines, after which we stopped.


Crusader Kings III

Born to Breed: House of the Prophets – (April 2021 - ?, ongoing) – Tales of the Sigurd dynasty as it populates the world with rulers of house Sigurdr, its inevitable expansion complicated by the occasional prophet.


Hearts of Iron I

Chopsticks in the Mist – (December 2002, completed) - Nationalist China overruns, well, pretty much everything you can think of with zero opposition and I throw HoI1 away in disgust, never to return to it. The highlight of the story is probably when the opposition has -88% war entry. Or perhaps realizing that most of the world is being overrun by militia.



Hearts of Iron II

Chopsticks in the Mist II (Beta AAR) – this AAR was never released to the public and thus only available for Hoi2 betas, sorry.



Victoria I

Blood to the Ankles - And Rising (Beta AAR) – (October 2003 – November 2003, abandoned) - Japanese WC AAR from the Victoria Beta that got frozen in the middle of being released to the public due to the pre-release pirating of Victoria, which caused Paradox to clamp down immediately on any further release of information useful to actually playing the game until such time as the game was actually released and paying customers would have joy of it (a decision I completely support). As the AAR was pretty heavy on exploiting the game for maximum conquest (surprise, surprise) it had to be frozen. Unfortunately, the resultant pause caused me to lose track of it as something else caught my attention and, hey, I had the Victoria release version to play rather than the latest beta. Of all the AARs that I haven't played through to the end, this is probably the one that I wish most that I had. It stops after only 6 chapters when I've just started the conquest of India + Americas but the game itself had progressed considerably further - the Japanese were mopping up Austria-Hungary and something like a WC seemed within reach.



Victoria II

Fruitcake, the Musical (Beta AAR) – (August 2010, completed) - Japan again, this was a Beta AAR showcasing some of the funny things that can happen while betatesting... such as a world-spanning fruit shortage in the Victorian age. And how to exploit it. I like teasing the devteam when I encounter something really silly. It was finally allowed to be released to the public on sufferance the very day before the release of the game, after the other Beta AARs, so long as, to avoid an overreaction from fans, I added copious disclaimers that the bugs had been fixed and that encountering such weird situations is normal during a Beta – which they were, and which it is.



Victoria III

The game is finally in development! Once it is done, I will find time for an AAR.



Stellaris

The Ebbesen Mandate – A Celestial Empire Test AAR – (April 2017 – June 2017, abandoned) – Spiritual/Xenophobe/Pacifist. Inwards Perfection and Agrarian Idyll? Was this to be the first ever peaceful Ebbesen AAR? Readers were skeptical, and they were right. It was a pacifist conquest test game. It was going well, but then I fell ill for a week, and suddenly had a lot to do, and one thing with the other I just never got around to continuing after that so like so many other of my AARs I abandoned it.



Galactic Civilizations II

The Yor Years - (August 2006, completed) - Here we go again. The Yor are practical, compact, and purple. As such, their destiny should be obvious to the observant reader: They conquered everything with a megalomaniac at their head.

With Malice Towards None. – (August 2006, abandoned) - This writing style sucked big time, so I abandoned the AAR after only two entries.



Mount and Blade

My Inevitable Greatness – (May 2010 – August 2010, abandoned) Khünbish Jalair's adventures in Calradia, an exercise in finding out just how sophomoric writing I'm capable of. That answer to that question was, alas, rather more than I could stomach myself, so the AAR was finally terminated it in disgust after 14 chapters.



Guess the Author

I have been a frequent contributor to GTA over the years. I can heartily recommend participating as a way of expanding one's arsenal of literary goodness.

Death of a King: by a Complete Stranger (September 2006, topic: Death of a King) - a very silly bonus entry to that month's GTA because all submitted entries (including your's truly's) were being held up pending an extra writer. The only GTA I ended up with 2 entries in. :D
Death of the King – (September 2006, topic: Death of a King) - being the truthful story of Elvis Presley's death told in classic fantasy form. Honestly.

The True Story of the Dreadful Demise in a Doomfilled Duel of Dandy Dan, the Dread For Hire – (July 2008, topic: The Duel) - not only my longest title, I consider this one of my very best GTA entries. One day I may well pick up the protagonist, Harry Sky, P.I. and the setting and write a short story or novella for him. The concept is strong enough.

Genesis – (March 2009, topic: A Cultural Clash) - this one qualifies as probably the weirdest story I have every written. But it works, mate!

A Moment of Horror: An Execution – (April 2009, topic: A Moment of Horror) - loosely based on the life and death of Gilles de Rais.

A Hot Retreat – (June 2009, topic: A Retreat) - Diary entries from a distraught but hot! princess retreating after the fall of the kingdom. I like this entry more than I probably should, but it is short and burns with passion.

The Bibliophile – (June 2011, topic: A Rumour) - A bibliophile will stop at nothing to get his hands on a book from the first days of the first empire, that is rumoured to have illustrations of an instructional nature... A Collector's Edition, in fact. Though it was only hinted at, this entry was set in the universe of my abandoned Mount & Blade AAR, My Inevitable Greatness, taking place in an age later than that depicted in the AAR, and the book he was looking for was indeed the fabled collector's edition of that AAR – an easter egg for those who had read the AAR and were sad that I had terminated it in disgust at the end.

A Rivalry – (June 2013, topic: A Rivalry) - This silly entry was based on unpublished material from my CK2 AAR game, Born to Breed: The Estridsen Lectures.

Green Bishop – (July 2013, topic: A Game). This is my only GTA entry that I actively dislike. The concept seemed solid enough: life as a mob in a MOBA, seen through the eyes of a mid-tier piece (the green bishop) waiting in a transit hub for deployment in a lane. But the execution of the story and the not at all funny part about the Ice Maiden, which smacks of mysogeny and adds nothing of value to the story due to the lack of meaningful follow up? I must have been in a really bad mood when I wrote it. The reviewers mostly liked it anyway, but they were more generous than the entry deserved.

The True Story of the Famous Fruits of the Kinky Kingpin and Randy Ronny, the Ravaging Raider - (April 2016, topic: Breaking Good) – This is one GTA entry I regret. I tried writing a continuation of sorts to one of my favourite GTA entries from 8 years previously (The True Story of the Dreadful Demise in a Doomfilled Duel of Dandy Dan, the Dread For Hire), but this entry lacked the magic of the original. The story didn't work and an attempt at sophomoric euphemistic fruit-related humour fell utterly flat. It isn't bad by the standards of GTA, and the reviewers liked it... but where I had expected to write something outstanding, I just didn't. One day I'll do Harry Sky, P.I. justice. Whether it is to give him a third GTA airing or writing him a full story.

For the Emperor - (January 2017, topic: Reviving the Past) – A Napoleon-like emperor laments his last throw of the dice in a losing war. But is all as it seems? Is he a completely reliable narrator? Exactly how should ”reviving the past” be understood? This story has multiple layers, and that's before you go into the efforts I took to link it subtly to another participant's prior writing in order to be able to argue convincingly that he was reponsible. I loved writing this one, and reading it years later? Just as much fun as first time around. I can be tricky when I want to. Definitely one of my favourite GTA entries.

The Night Before Christmas – (December 2017, topic: He Knows When You've Been Naughty) – this is a proper Christmas story, by which I mean that it is jolly and that you are guaranteed to end up smiling unless you have a heart of stone. Or no mouth. Possibly my best GTA entry, ever, though revisiting it there are some weak spots I'd like to revise.

Cometh the Hour - (March 2020, topic: An Epidemic) – writing about an Epidemic during the COVID-19 pandemic proved hard for most of the participants in this round, and certainly for me. So I wrote an absurdist romance set in a morally degenerated US anno 2036 or so under the eternal president Donald Trump, where they were bound to lick the pandemic any time now. And that was just the start of the misery and absurdity. I quite like this entry, but I made a serious misstep with the romance resolution and ran out of time before the deadline. Too explicitly sex-oriented, too little implying, a lack of banter and insinuations, and no slightly awkward moments of push-pull as are natural to any new romantic entanglements. So I wrote a better ending for the entry and published it as my criticism of my own entry, and you can find that at the bottom of this post

Long is the day and long is the night, and long is the waiting of Arawn – (December 2020, topic: Bleak Midwinter) – An added challenge this time was that authors were encouraged to be deceptive, writing in other player's writing styles, including misleading hints, etc. The result was a round of utter mindfuckery, and I participated with a (bad) poem in four verses about the Wild Hunt of Welsh myth, with the names of many GTA writers encoded in various ways, some easy to decipher, some distinctly less so. Great fun. Half were never found, and as for the other half it turned out that encoding ”DensleyBlair wrote this” in the poem when he was the one running the contest at the time and listed as a possible author (he was kind enough to list himself upon my request) was enough to throw most people off the trail.
 
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EU3

AlwaysWAARemblem.jpg

EU3 - HTTT Always War
Always WAAR - The British Always War AAR

Can the great British empire form in a state of constant war? This dynamic mod, changes the course of the game as there is constant war between every neighbor you will come across.

HOI3

OperationVistulaEmblem.jpg

HOI3 - SF Common Weapons
Operation Vistula - The Polish Alternative AAR

Poland fell to Germany in just 5 weeks of fighting, can TheCheeseMaster beat this, overcome them and conquer Berlin before 1943? Or will he fall to Germany and fail democracy to the traitorous fascists.

ScrambleForAfricaEmblem.jpg

HOI3 - SF Common Weapons
Scramble For Africa - The Ethiopian AAR

Ethiopia is possibly the hardest nation in the entire world to play as, no opportunities exist. The war with Italy will prove near impossible to deal with, but I will have to.

irelandinworldwar2.png

HOI3 - FTM Common Weapons
Ireland In World War Two

Its 1940, Europe has changed dramatically. Ireland successfully managed a coup in 1936 and because of this, Germany never caused their annexation and never put enough pressure on Czechoslovakia. But after a war with Poland, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia, the allies had had enough and declared war against a strong and powerful enemy. Ireland is in the middle of it.
 
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Rise Of Sardinia
A Dark Continent AAR - Europa Universalis 3 Divine Wind

God punished the Christian people, for it lived in sin and forgot His word. Spreading from the lands of France, the deadly disease He sent to Europe spared no one, killing men, women and children, leaving the continent empty. Only a few chosen ones managed to survive, seeking refuge in the major islands, who had not encountered the wrath of the Lord.

One of these islands was Sardinia. Mariano IV of Arborea, King of one of the four states in which the island was divided, wisely employed the refugees as mercenary soldiers, and in less than a decade he conquered the whole of the island, taking a new royal name: King Mariano I of Sardinia, or, in the native tongue, Giuighe Mariane I de Sardigna. He was succeeded by Queen Eleonora I. Her most known accomplishment was the conquest of Corsica, who was in a perpetual state of civil war between the Genovese refugees, whose government in exile ruled the island, and the Corsican locals, who, thinking of the Genovese as cursed by God, rebelled and longed for a local King. A good part of them accepted the rule of Eleonora, seen as the descendant of a dynasty whose survival was wanted by the Lord Himself, while more than an half of the Genovese were either lynched by the locals or sentenced to death by the Queen in person. Her reign was inherited by Mariano II of Sardinia.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?552159-Rise-of-Sardinia-A-Dark-Continent-AAR
 
AARs ahoy!

For Europa Universalis III
Republic of Russia: A Novgorod Divine Wind AAR
Started 2/24/11 - Completed 4/1/11
Tied for second place in Writing with the StAARs, Third Place in the EU3 OscAARs for 2011

Novum Romanum Imperium: A Tuscany DW AAR
Started 4/9/11 - Completed 2/15/12
Won WritAAR of the Week 6/13/11; Co-winner of Best Narrative EU 3 AAR, Q2 2011; Character WritAAR of the Week 9/12/11; Winner of Best Narrative EU 3 AAR, Q3 2011

Descent into Madness: A Random EU 3 AAR
Started 11/4/11 - Completed 6/7/12
Weekly AAR Showcase 12/4/11; Character WritAAR of the Week 1/24/12; Best Comedy EU 3 AAR in the 2011 ACAs; Tied for second in Q2 2012 ACAs for EU3; Second Place in 2012 EU3 OscAARs!

The Hohenzollerns megacampaign part 2: For God and the family (Bavaria DW 5.2)
Started 2/23/13 - Completed 11/29/13

For Victoria II
Syni Kyiva (Sons of Kyiv) -- Ukraine Tutorial AAR
Started 4/2/11 - Completed 5/22/11

Republic of Russia Part 2: Vicky 2 Conversion AAR
Started 9/19/11 - Abandoned 11/13/11

Novum Romanum Imperium 2.0 -- an AHD Vicky 2 Conversion AAR
Started 2/22/12 -- Completed 9/29/12
Weekly AAR Showcase week of 4/29; co-winner, Favorite Narrative Vicky 2 AAR, ACAs Q1 2012; Writer of the Week 6/4/12

Chaos's Revenge: A Random AHD AAR
Started 6/30/12 -- Completed 9/5/12
Winner of Best Character Writer of the Week for 8/26/12

Reliving the Restoration -- A Japanese Tutorial AHD AAR
Started 8/18/12 -- Completed 11/11/12
Weekly AAR Showcase, week of 11/25/12, Third Place for the 2012 VictAARian Cross!!

A return to Dutch arithmetic -- A Netherlands AHD AAR (2.31)
Started 11/15/12 -- Completed 2/11/13
2nd best Vicky 2 AAR, Q4 2012 ACAs

The advantages of backwardness: A Russian Empire NNM AHD AAR
Started 2/3/13 -- Completed 4/10/13

Nobody expects the Spanish expedition: An 1861 Spain HOD Beta AAR
Part 1|Part 2|Part 3
Started 4/5/13 -- Completed 4/13/13

Gunboat diplomacy: An HOD Tutorial AAR
Started 6/1/13 -- Completed 10/5/13
Third place in 2013 ACAs (First Half)

Sonderweg oder Anderweg? Hohenzollern part 3 -- Interactive!
Started 12/13/2013 -- Completed 6/14/2017
Tied for third place in the Q3 Vicky 2 ACAs!

Let's Learn Victoria 2 with Professor von Bismarck
Started 4/17/2018 -- Completed 5/20/2018

For Hearts of Iron III
We, the People: A USA FTM Interactive AAR
Started 1/8/12 -- Completed 2/20/13
Third place for the Iron HeAARt in 2013!

Tukhachevsky's Army and the Politburo -- an Interactive Soviet TFH AAR Admin|Updates
Started 2/27/13 -- Completed 1/25/2014

A history of World War II, by those who fought it (UK TFH)
Started 2/22/15 -- Completed 5/30/16
Weekly AAR Showcase 5/17/15, 1st place in Q1 2015 ACAs for HOI3, 1st place in Q2 2015 ACAs for HOI3

For Crusader Kings II
The rise of the Hohenzollerns -- A CK2 Mega Campaign AAR
Started 9/14/12 -- Completed 2/23/13
Tied for fourth best CKII AAR, ACAs, Q3 2012; tied for best CKII AAR, ACAs, Q4 2012; Character Writer of the Week, 3/2/13, third place in the 2013 CrusadAAR's Chalice

The Oldest God: A Zoroastrian AAR (featuring Death)
Started 10/9/13 -- Completed 2/11/14
Tied for best CKII AAR, second half 2013 ACAs; Weekly AAR Showcase 12/29/13; Character Writer of the Week, 11/25/13; tied for third place in the 2014 CrusadAARs Chalice!

Consecrated blood waters my fields: A Hvitserk megacampaign
Started 6/23/14 -- Completed 2/15/16
Tied for 2nd place in the Q3 2014 CKII ACAs, tied for 2nd place in Q1 2015 CKII ACAs, 1st place in Q2 2015 CKII ACAs

Death and Rebirth -- A CKII Interactive AAR
Started 5/31/16 -- "Completed" 2/10/2018

Toward a Slavic Germany: A Crusader Kings II Let's Play
Started 7/31/2017 -- Completed 9/26/2017

For March of the Eagles
The ulcer erupts -- A Spanish AAR
Started 4/11/13 -- Completed 5/3/13

The Bear Turns West (and South) -- A Russian Empire Let's Play
Started 4/25/17 -- Completed 5/5/17

For Europa Univeralis IV
Japan or Bust (probably bust!): A Uesugi CoP AAR
Started 2/19/2014 -- Completed 6/18/2014
Tied for third place in Q1 2014 ACAs and third place in 2014 EUIV OscAARs

The [Re-]Unification of the Norse -- part 2 of the Hvitserk megacampaign
Started 5/13/2016 -- Completed 8/8/2017

Let's Play Uesugi with Mandate of Heaven
Started 5/1/2017 -- Completed 7/17/2017

Let's Play A New Republic of Russia
Started 7/25/2017 -- Completed 7/29/2017

For Stellaris
Let's Play Stellaris: Utopia -- The Revenge of Krikkit
Started 4/6/2017 -- Completed 5/6/2017
Second place in the 2017 ACAs for best let's play!

The Lizard Scientific Foundation and Charity for the Less Fortunate (Stellaris)
Started 5/9/2017 -- Completed 6/15/2017

The Exalted Keepers of the Zeroth Law: A Synthetic Dawn Let's Play
Started 9/28/2017 -- Completed 12/5/2017

Harbingers of Doom: A Stellaris Apocalypse Let's Play
Started 2/25/2018 -- Completed 3/22/2018

For Hearts of Iron IV
Let's Play Death or Dishonor: The Return (?) of Bela Kun
Started 6/15/2017 -- Completed 7/13/2017

Let's Play People's Republic of Japan
Started 8/23/2017 -- Completed 9/27/2017

Let's Play Waking the Tiger featuring Professor Trotsky: A tutorial
Started 3/27/2018 -- Completed 4/13/2018


Fan of the week 4/24/2011, 10/15/2012, 10/27/13
Tied for second place in the 2013 WritAAR of the Year, and repeated the feat in 2014! Someday, the top spot shall be mine.
 
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TUFTO'S INKWELL

Purveyor of Narrative AARs since 2011. Currently on extended hiatus until my ability to start AARs matches my ability to keep them going.

Thrice Character WritAAR and Twice WritAAR of the Week.

Currently not writing any AARs, but if I ever do, I'll finish the entire story before the first post, just to make sure I don't abandon it.


My old, dead AARs (except maybe the Devil's Darkness, which I still hope to complete one day):
The Iron Horde


A Kirghiz Narrative AAR.

High sound the horns on the Steppe plains. The nomad and the citizen can never truly be friends. The Silk Road and all its riches are split between the House of Karen and the Samanid Shahs. The time is ripe for a new power, as the nomads begin their ride...


House of Ivy


An Ottoman Narrative AAR for EUIV

Byzantium was dying, the Mongol age was over, the Mamluks were declining, and the Crusade of Varna had just failed catastophically. A new time was coming; a Turkish time. And at the centre of its rise was Ivy the Egyptian, whose family would dominate the Sultans of Constantinople for over three hundred years...

A Spanish AAR for Victoria II

A century of empire. That's how we remember it. When the greedy imperialists took away the hopes and fortunes of a thousand nations. But it was also a century of revolutions and fury, resentment and crushing poverty. The revolution will never die. The barricades will never come down...


A Georgian AAR for Crusader Kings

Georgia. A little kingdom on the edge of the Black Sea. A land of tyrants, of plots and conspiracies, of noble men and darker ones. But when the Portugese branch of the Bagratuni dynasty takes hold of the realm, three centuries of blood and sorrow would follow, as Georgia reared its head to become the dominant power in the East...

Lost save; may be recoverable.


A Venetian Fantasy AAR for Europa Universalis III

All is not well in the world. The mortal states bicker and war, the fragile truce between the skeletal Reapers and the power-hungry Vampires is fraying, and the Jack O' Lanterns are looking up at the sky in fear. When one of the oldest and most prestigious Reapers, Kael, takes a young Copt, Mona, as his protege, they cut a path through the world using a single nation as their vessel: the Most Serene Republic of Venice...
 
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Europa Universalis IV AARs

Single Domination: a EU4 Ming AAR

Back when EU 4 was just released, I started what was probably the first EU4 non-European AAR. I got as far as 1660 before I abandoned this AAR. Still, if you liked Jim and Bob from Double Domination, check this one out.

Status: aborted


Europa Universalis III AARs

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Yin, Yang and the ugly: a Divine Wind Ming AAR.

A gameplay-focussed AAR in which I tackle the then-new Ming Faction system. The Divine Wind expansion changed Ming considerably, primarily by introducing Factions. Ming is either ruled by the Eunuch faction, the Bureaucrats or the Temple faction. Each Faction poses certain restrictions and penalties on you or providing bonuses and opportunities.

Will Ming be shackled by the machinations of eunuchs and bureaucrats or will the Central Republic forge itself a place under the sun, despite all the hurdles within and without?

Status: finished


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Double Domination: Germany versus Japan.

In this experimental AAR I play two countries, Bavaria and Taira (soon Germany and Japan) in alternating turns of 10 years. In 1770, the Final Battle between both nations will commence and determines who will win Double Domination!

Narrated by two sport commentators, Jim and Bob.

Status: finished.


Europa Universalis: Rome AARs

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Those Crazy Gauls.

In this AAR, I will play the republic of Gaul, formed from uniting the Gallic tribes under the Parisii banner. But a time-travelling mad scientists takes over the young republic and will decide its fate: Will he succeed in taking over the world or were they right to call him mad?

I have played EU:Rome VV now for about 20-30 hours and this will be my first long-term campaign. Don't worry if you are not familiar with the game, I will explain the mechanics as part of the AAR.

Currently aborted.

Status: aborted
 
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Gela's Inkwell​

I've been prolific throughout my career, but I've omitted links to almost all my AARs due them all sharing in a terrible case of author abandonment.

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Republic of the Blue Lion: An Athens DW AAR​


This is my personal favorite of everything I've ever written. It isn't complete, and I'm still working on it. It started off like a light narrative, with short text and lots of screenshots. In relatively little time, however, it evolved into a far more in-depth story where every character has their own ambitions and they work to the benefit (or detriment) of Athens in their own convoluted ways.

Gela's EU3 AAR for Beginners - A Guide​


The majority of people, it seems, believe this to be one of my best AARs. It's also a work in progress, but not abandoned. It's an attempt to help beginners understand the very complex game of EU3 a bit better, and is also a gameplay-style chronicle of the game I'm playing to illustrate it. Written with my best efforts in comedy.


My best attempt at a huge narrative undertaking. Much more in-depth than Blue Lion, I'm focusing most of my energies into this one at the moment. It is designed to have a lot less about the game and a lot more about the characters. It follows a cast of varying characters who eventually convene on the Eastern Academy of Scholarship, run by a man named Minas. The main character is Sivus Bischa, who is frequently annoyed at being treated as a second-class citizen simply because he is from Belarus.

It will also features a second cast of characters who live in the actual time period of the game. Their story is another one of twists, turns, and ambitions.
 
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Hello-

I have EU I, II, & III, and HOI I & III (skipped II). I enjoy writing once in a while and have done a few AARs for HOI3.

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HOI3[/size]

[post=12473136]Death on the Danube: 1936 Hungary[/post]
Semper Fi 2.04d (Gameplay style)

I attempt to bring a Hungary that has taken the Balkans into the Comintern but find out I have bitten off more than I can chew.


[post=12503066]Put the wAAR in wAARlord: 1936 Guangxi Clique[/post]
Semper Fi 2.04d (Gameplay style)

I join the Axis and conquer most of the Pacific with three Light Cruisers, but what comes next?


[post=12761906]No Peace for AAR Time: 1936 United Kingdom[/post]
For The Motherland 3.05 (Gameplay style)

Great Britain refuses to cave to German demands at Munich, and the Second World War starts one year early.


[post=12812410]Kneel Before Zog!: 1936 Albania[/post]
For The Motherland 3.05 (Gameplay style)

A country with one tech, one HQ and almost nothing else becomes one of the dominant powers of Europe, thanks to a puppet show.


[post=13112774]LIFE in the Trenches: 1936 Xibei San Ma[/post]
For The Motherland 3.05 (Narrative style)

Join acclaimed photojournalist Jacques Theriaux as he views the war from Xibei San Ma.


[post=13427495]Springtime for Hit-LAAR, or, Diplomacy will only take you so FAAR: 1936 German Reich[/post]
For The Motherland 3.05 (Comedy style)

A gay romp with Adolf and co. at the Berchtesgaden who try to win the war with Flower Power.
 
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I'm still pretty new to the forums, so my AAR list is much smaller than those above me.

La storia di Casa Orsini (The History of House Orsini)

It is a CK AAR following the History of the Orsini Dynasty. Though the only Orsini ruler in the game that is not a bishophoric (sorry 1337 Roma) is sadly fake, but the Dynasty is completely real. It is currently being updated like lighting, so check it out.

I also have an abandoned CK Capua AAR, that sadly ended due to a crash after only two updates.
 
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FALCONETTE'S AARs


DARKEST HOUR



The Darkest Hour of the Russian Empire

Scenario: The Great War
Timeframe: 1914-1918
Country: Russian Empire
Style: History book + Graphic-based + Gameplay
Chapters: 28
Status: Finished


The Darkest Hour of the Russian Empire 2

AwAARds:

  • Best DH AAR of December 2011

Scenario: The Great War -> The Day of Decision
Timeframe: 1918-1933-1939-...
Country: Russian Empire
Style: History book + Graphic-based + Gameplay
Chapters (+appendices): 34 (+3)
Status: Ongoing
 
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Paraipan's Inkwell

Europa Universalis 3


Inspired by the combination of the history book and narrative styles in recent AARs like The Grey Eminence, The Red Lioness of Holland or the old Triumph of Eagles, In the Sadow of the Vesuvius will also try to emulate this hisotry book\narrative style. Using the Death and Taxes mod, this AAR will try to stay within a minimal historical plausibility at all times. So, grab a phone, call your favourite pizza place, order a Napoletana (yeah I know that Let's Eat Pizza Napoletana is the name of another Naples EU3 AAR) and follow the kings of Naples as they try to transform their kingdom in an European super power.

Crusader Kings


My first attempt at an AAR. Also a history book\narrative combination centered on the House of Lacon, a Sardinian dynasty. As my old computer had a break down, I lost most of the screenshots and the most recent saves. I was planning to replay the game from an earlier save and continue the AAR, but the frustration of having to play the game all over again made me stop the AAR.



(click on the pictures for links to the AARs)
 
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tamius23's inkwell​

Are you bored? You will be after you've read some of the stuff in here.​

Crusader Kings 2 AARs​

The Il-Khanate 1218 - 1411

A return to my gameplay style after Shaybanid, this time for CK2. Starting as a pagan, the first one in CK2.

Now finished.

The Muromians 867 -

Another gameplay AAR; this time, following a Volga Finnic tribe in The Old Gods.

On hold due to a dead computer. May resume in August or be cancelled.

Europa Universalis 3 AARs​

Kaba Ma Kyei 1399 - 1575

My first AAR, about Pegu in EU3, started 1399. You could read it, but most of the pictures have gone. It's in a gameplay style.

The Story of Styria 1399 - 1821

Another gameplay AAR, chronicling the histories of the rarely-existent nation of Styria. Complete!

Helped me win WritAAR of the Week for June 10th, 2012 and was reviewed in the fourth New AARlander.

Children of Genghis Khan 1525 - 1821

This one is about Shaybanid, started 1525 (and rather better than the previous one). It's also a gameplay AAR.

I managed to survive until 1821, so it became:

Victoria 2 AARs​

Children of Genghis Khan part 2 1836 - 1929

A direct continuation of the previous AAR using the converter utility. Begins in 1836 in a gameplay style, then near the end it changes completely into a newspaper style. If you want to know why, you have to read it.

On hold due to the same dead computer as above.

Styria Redux 1836 - 1936

The Story of Styria continued in Victoria 2. Completed in just ten updates. The first EU3 to V2 AAR to end in 1936.
 
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Derahan's Inkwell


Can Poland Into Space? A Poland Polandball AAR This is by far my most successful AAR yet and the crown of my work so far :)laugh:).
This is about the story of Poland, or inoffically the Adventures of King Polandball is my AAR about Poland in Polandball form, trying to be a little comedy AAR (on hiatus, possible discontinuation due to possible savegame loss).
 
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Prosperity through Peace Alone
Germany After the Great War, 1933 --
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After 1919, Germany was, for all intents and purposes, a broken nation. Even after surviving near-economic collapse and diplomatic crises in the 1920s, however, she has yet to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. An aging President whose mental health is slowly slipping, an increasingly politically divided nation, and the fiery rhetoric of a man named Adolf Hitler are all threatening to break apart the shadowy remains of the German people and plunge them into a century of darkness.

Read this Darkest Hour Mixed Mod AAR to follow Germany through the harrowing 1933 election -- to decide the fate of German democracy and, indeed, the world -- and the international crises of the 1930s so that maybe -- just maybe -- Germany can finally conquer for herself a place in the sun.
 
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Cybvep's AARs


I. Black Crusaders - HPP mod Germany 1936 AAR
Check it here!

This is the first AAR I have ever written. Much to my surprise, it became rather popular. I used the great Historical Plausibility Mod for SF, which makes the game both more realistic and more challenging. It is not, however, very deterministic, which my AAR demonstrates quite clearly, as the war was started over Czechoslovakia in 1941 and the Soviet Union began their path to European domination by attacking Poland and Germany in 1942.

It is a gameplay AAR, but it involves quite a bit of German propaganda, as I gladly boasted about my victories and diminished the importance of my failures. The game was quite challenging for a while, because I gave hefty bonuses for the AI (but no penalties for the player - I hate that!) - there was a time when the Soviet Union had 8000 (!) manpower and outnumbered me greatly. The AAR involves everything from grand encirclements and great naval battles to massive struggles with the logistical situation in the East, which made the AAR feel more epic and seem more plausible. While it was never finished, you can rest assured that it contains plenty of action!


II. Influence Wars - Japan 1936 HPP Interactive AAR
Check it here!

Another HOI3 AAR utilising HPP mod, but this time it's an interactive one, involving heated discussions and power struggles between the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy. I got the idea for this AAR while contemplating on the RL internal conflicts between the various branches of the military during WWII. Few games try to represent the domestic issues like these ones, so I think that the idea is still quite fresh.

The funny thing is that I play a dual role of the Emperor and the Game Master of sorts, which means that I have to execute the plans created by the Army and the Navy AND find new ways of making the lives of the players miserable (e.g. they don't have access to the save games and I gave the AI various situation-specific bonuses which they do not know of), because we all know that unchallenging games suxx :D.

Interactive AARs are always hard to classify, but I think that it's best to describe the Influence Wars as a mix of Gameplay and Narrative AAR types. The AAR appeared in the Weekly AAR Showcase on 18th of December and won the AARland Choice AwAARd 2011 in the Favorite Narrative AAR, HoI(1-3) category.

Unfortunately, the AAR had to be stopped after I lost my whole HOI3 folder...

III. Destiny of the Clan Otomo - Sengukuo AAR
Check it here!


This is my only non-HOI3 AAR for the moment. It is purely a gameplay one and it shows my short-lived but flashy attempt at achieving dominance in feudal Japan. I recommend this one to anyone who loves to read about the player's failures. It appears that the game's AI and mechanics can offer a good challenge if you are playing as a small or medium-sized clan.

There is no fun if there is no chance to lose, right? ;)
 
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Tanzhang's (譚張) Inkwell (硯臺)

Hello everyone, (anyone?)
Having reached my self-imposed threshold of three AARs before starting an inkwell page (what's the point if you only have one or two AARs?), I believe it is now time for me to start an inkwell. In due time, I'll add content to this page: AwAARds, images, comments on my work, etc. but for now some simple links to my three AARs will suffice.

Thanks for visiting :)








 
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