Gernikako Arbola: A Navarran AAR

[r6mile]

The chosen start date is the 4th of September, 1479. I chose it because in 1479 Navarra obtains Bearn, and Aragon becomes a Castilian vassal (which will allow Spain to form). The 4th of September is the day the Treaty of Alcáçovas was signed, ending the War of Castilian Succession.

I will be playing TOT 3.0 with lucky nations off. The only other modification is that the culture in Bearn has been changed from Gascon to Basque. Both groups live in the province, the Basques in the west and the Gascons in the east ,http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...B%C3%A9arn.gif, for the sake of this AAR I chose Basque as the main culture for the whole province.

Normally there would be no border between Armagnac and Navarra, and Bearn would have sea access. The map can't be perfect though, right?

A little history:
Why does Navarre own Bearn at that date? Simple, the Count of Foix (which is represented as a French vassal), Francis Phoebus, grandson of Eleanor of Navarre, ascended to the throne of Navarre in 1479. He was the first of only two Navarran Kings of the House of Foix. In 1512 southern Navarre was conquered by the Crown of Aragon and from that moment on the King of Navarre only ruled the northern part of the realm, north of the Pyrennees. The aim of this AAR is to stop that from happening. Uniting the Basques under one King (in other words, recovering Vizcaya) is the second goal.

P.S: Does anyone know if the saves from 3.0 will be compatible with 3.1?

[Capibara]

Nice starting date, it'll surely give you more opportunity to succeed, good luck!

[Landwalker]

Interesting idea. As for the compatibility, I don't think anyone knows for certain. It seems that the magnitude of some of the changes have suggested incompatibility, though.

Cheers.

[r6mile]

Oh okay, in that case I might just wait until the patch comes out. Or if I can't wait that long (I'm a bit impatient hehe), I might use Magna Mundi Platinum and start this AAR on the 19th of September. It will surely make it harder.

[unddu]

I was told, that as long as there are no map updates (which there probably aren't) the new patch will prove save game compatible.


Also: Good luck!

[r6mile]

I'm confused. In that case I will play it only with TOT 3.0, so that when the patch comes out I will be able to transfer the save game; hopefully TOT for 3.1 will come out quick after the patch is released. If it turns out to be impossible, then I'll just start again, with Magna Mundi Platinum (and wait for the 3.1 compatible version of the mod).

[Rabid]

I was looking forward to seeing a MMP AAR so soon after it comes out but any Navarra game is likely to be quite interesting

I'm guessing trade and colonisation are going to be your main focuses, so best of luck not getting beaten down by your big scary neighbours!

[r6mile]

I'm not that great a writer, so I will make this mostly a gameplay AAR. Hope it keeps you entertained!

4th of September, 1479. Pamplona

This is our realm.
Surrounded by France, Castille, and Aragon, we are in a very vulnerable position. We can only support a mere 3 land regiments and 2 navies. We feel threatened by all our neighbours, and the only country we have very good relations with is the Papal State. Our King is no better than teenager. But we have a duty towards our people, and we will not dishonour it.



First, we need to expand our trade outside our borders; helped by our free trade policy, it shouldn't be too hard to increase our income. We send merchants to the northern town of Lubeck, the richest known trading centre.

We also sent diplomats to friendly nations, and we got good responses from all. The Castilians have allowed us to grant them Military Access (which will prevent them from declaring war on us), and we have allied with Naples, Brittany, and Venice. Our current mission is to build an army for our nation, which we will do as soon as we get the manpower. We decide to build a second transport ship.


Only a few days later, our foolish ally Brittany declared war on France, hoping that their exhaustion from the war with Austria would improve their position. We are men of our word, so we accept and enter the war.
At the same time, Naples declares war on our only very good friend, the Pope.
We also enter this war, which puts us at war with our ally Brittany.
We send our only regiment, led by our "King", to siege Roussillon and force a weakened French regiment to retreat.


Four months later, France accepts peace with Austria ceding them territory, and Naples accepts peace with the Papal State, relieving us of the burden of having to fight our Breton friends.
At the same time, the French siege our province of Bearn, and only three weeks later forces led by Louis XI attack us in Roussillon with an army thrice the size of ours: needless to say, we were exterminated.

Moreover, our navy that was blockading Gascogne lost a battle with the French, from which we retreated witout losing any ships.

Nobody thought we could get out of this one, but a month later Brittany accepts peace with France giving them a mere 8 ducats: the Basques were saved.


Immediately after the war, we establish Royal Marriages with Castille, England, Naples, Brittany, and Portugal, further expanding our lineage.
We also managed to recruit a cavalry regiment, the first regiment of our new Navarran Army. Our Trade in Lubeck now provides over 65% of our income.

It's now January 1482, and we have managed to survive.

[TheEnlighted1]

Good luck, you'll need it playing as tiny Navarre. Them and Salzburg are really tough to play as. Small and surrounded by major powers. Hope you sucede, I will follow along.

"!482, and we have managed to survive" but for how much longer I wonder?

[r6mile]

1st of January, 1487. Pamplona

The next 6 years were the most prosperous our nation has ever known.

First, we were hit by a Regency Council, which was not surprisingly more competent than our former King.

We established an embassy with Aragon, and were able to adopt the "Merchant Adventures" National Idea, making it a lot cheaper for our merchants to travel to foreign centres of trade.



Very soon, we had placed a total of 15 merchants in the more prosperous European centres of trade. We gain over 200 yearly ducats thanks to trade: now 85% of our income comes from trade. We have also managed to build the largest army that our Kingdom has ever seen: 4 cavalry regiments. Our Navy will be our next focus.


In September 1485, Castille annexed Aragon: the Spanish nation has now been unified and in 50 years it will be official. It's now January 1487, and we are one of the 10 richest nations in the world.

[r6mile]

Guys, any ideas for what I should do next? I'm thinking of first getting very rich through trading, and then build a large navy of galleys and transports. I'll also see if I can get involved in a war through my allies and maybe expand a little bit, maybe an island in the med: Ireland would be nice (not too far) but it's almost all conquered by the English now. Does anybody know if Galleys get any bonus in the Atlantic?

[Zeval31]

good luck mate, I'll be following this one.

That's a hell of money you get through trading !

[dem61s]

What you should do is sign an alliance treaty with Spain! I know, not that easy...

You might be able to get a few provinces in Europe in a lucky war and you should definitely do it if you get the opportunity.

But on the long run, the only way to survive is to build an army powerful enough to deal with your neighbours. At some point, either Spain will have the mission to vassalize you (I guess) and maybe there is this mission for France too.
I think the only way out here is to make a lot of money from your trade and start colonizing as fast as you can whatever the cost. Getting a military access from Portugal might be a good thing for that matter.
Again, if you can manage an alliance with Spain, that would really give you some precious time.

I tried a few times starting with Navarra (as a OPM though) and got vassalized each time. I hope you will do better than me!
Good luck

No idea about the Galleys, sorry.

[Urcules]

I thought galleys weren't very effective on the atlantic, I mean more vulnerable to attrition?

good luck, I like aars where you start as a complete underdog :-)

[r6mile]

Yeah I know galleys only have a bonus in the Mediterrenean, but I read that if they fight near the coast they don't suffer from a lot of attrition.
I can't get an alliance with Spain (says impossible), but I granted them military access which will cost them -5 stability if they declare war on me. The AI never cancels it and they probably don't want to lose -5 stability, so I'm pretty safe with them; the problem is France.

Next chapter coming in a few hours!

[r6mile]

1st of July, 1503. Pamplona

In April 1489, our Princess Catalina I became of age and replaced the previous Regency Council. She turned out to be especially talented in the areas of Administration and the Military.

Only two months later though her skills were challenged: France declared war, and the Basque people feared again.

All our allies came to the rescue. We quickly recruited a general to lead our small army, but it turned out to be useless: a massive French Army walked into our province of Bearn and captured it in just a matter of weeks.

We managed to end the war by giving Bohemia, a French ally, the Venetian province of Istria and paying France 25 ducats.

Also, Brittany has lost Armor. Two of our allies have lost some of their territory, but this is the price to pay for Basque freedom.

Just four months later France annexed their vassal of Armagnac, our former neighbour.

And to the West, a Basque patriot rebellion rose up in Vizcaya, but they were no match to the mighty Castilian army and were quickly exterminated.

Heretic rebels coming from Aragon managed to capture Bearn, but our Castilian friends came to our rescue and forced them to retreat to France: I guess it was a smart thing to grant them military access.


After improving our Naval technology, we decided it was time to expand, so we hired a colonial advisor to help us improve our colinial range and sent a boat colonists to Arguin.
Maintaining colonies is expensive so we were forced to take a loan of 233 ducats.

However, due to the agressiveness of the natives we had to send trops from Navarra to exterminate them and protect the Basque settlers.

A year later we discovered that Slaves were the most profitable resource in our colony.


In 1501 the province of Baleares declared themselves independent in the name of the former Crown of Aragon, this time however as a Merchant Republic. We sent a diplomat to establish friendly relations and they accepted to enter an alliance with us.

In the year of our lord 1502, a group of heretics denouncing our Holy Catholic Church's practices established their own "Protestant" faith; we can only hope that nothing like it spreads to our realm.

Peasants in Armagnac protesting their country's annexation a few years back by the Kingdom of France have taken arms and aim to become independent again: we hope their rebellion is successful.


In 1503, after years of sending colonists to Arguin our settlers there finally became self-sufficient; now we only have to build a barque in order to protect their coast and enjoy full tariffs.
Virtually all our income now derives from trade. We now have placed 5 merchants in almost every known centre of trade, and have the third highest income in the known world, higher than mighty France.


It is now July 1503, and we have once again managed to survive.

[dem61s]

Two of our allies have lost some of their territory, but this is the price to pay for Basque freedom.

If only. But it might just be enough for 5 years of freedom.

We now have placed 5 merchants in almost every known centre of trade, and have the third highest income in the known world, higher than mighty France.

Let's hope your manpower will excede France's as well in the next decades!

Congrats for getting yourself out of this tricky spot.
France declaring war on you worries me though. I certainly hope Princess Catalina will be able to do something to make sure it does not happen again in 5 years. Bad time for a leader with poor DIP.

[r6mile]

Let's hope your manpower will excede France's as well in the next decades!

I don't think my manpower will ever even come close to France's, but if I mint I might be able to field a lot of mercenaries, it might be a challenge to the French. If they ever declare war again, I'm not sure the mercenaries will be ready in time, the French probably will have troops stationed in Roussillon ready to hit me. And the problem is that my brand-new colony of Arguin also borders the French, and for some reason they have about 10,000 men stationed in West Africa, so it will be a war on two fronts. Hopefully I'll get a guarantee from Castille, and who knows, maybe an alliance as well.

[Capibara]

Great job so far, trading is one of the best options when you are in such a difficult position, well done taking the path of colonization, at least for now, maybe Ireland should be in the agenda as well

[r6mile]

1st of August, 1515. Pamplona

Our Venetian allies declared war on a two-province Byzantine Empire (rebelled from the Ottomans), and we decided to simbolically enter the war. We never planned to send troops their way, so all was good; it even allowed us to collect war taxes, which combined with the high administration skills of our Queen did not increase our War Exhaustion.

Our new ally, Aragon, accepted peace with Castille, and Venice demanded the province of Janina from the self-proclaimed Byzantine Empire. Another group of heretics branched out from the Protestant heretics has created the Reformed faith. All this Heresy must never be allowed to enter the Holy lands of the Basques!

Determined to expand their holdings in Greece, Venice declares war on Athens; we do the same as with the Byzantines. However, the Athenians were allied with the Ottomans and they enter the war; this allows us to enjoy a nice "Crusade bonus". No real danger there, except the embargo that they put on our merchants in Thrace. No problem, it's just one of many trade centres! The Ottomans go bankrupt three times before they accept White Peace with Venice, collapsing right after.

But the horror! Our newly established colony of Arguin converts to Protestant! We send a missionary and in just three months the province was once again Catholic.

We decide to establish a second colony in Trarza, just south of Arguin, and take a loan to finance the colonists. The colony turns out to be an excellent Grain producer.

Our Prestige suddenly receives a boost thanks to our newly adopted Anti-Piracy Act and our decision to invest in quality of troops rather than quantity.

In March 1511, a Trade Crisis hits our beloved and heavily-trading nation; thank God it only lasts for one year. We still manage to place at least 5 merchants in all known trade centres worth more than 200ducats; although we have the technology to establish monopolies, we only have been able to establish one in Lubeck.


However, it can't all be good. In August 1515, our Queen Catalina is excommunicated by the Pope, following orders of France, the current Papal Controller. Suddenly, we lose tolerance of the true Catholic faith, and our revolt risk increases, and most importantly, all Catholic countries can declare war on us without suffering from any penalty. Our Castilian neighbours will surely not attack, but we can expect a declaration of war from the French any time soon.


It is August 1515, and we are still independent. But for how long?