Chapter Thirty Four
I’ve come up with an approach to try and defeat that Aragonese army in Lima. I can’t stand against it in open combat as it’s both larger and more advanced that the opposing force. I intend to let it move into one of my provinces with my troops scheduled to arrive 5 or 6 days after the Aragonese. The idea is that if they settle to siege I stop the move in and let attrition work its magic but if they assault I’ll hopefully hit a lower morale stack. The forts in this area are all level two so I’m expecting assaults – they’ll succeed.
I expect I’ll lose several provinces here and that I’ll need a big win in Europe to reclaim the lost territory and make gains.
Some unit comparisons or why I get whipped by Aragon
Whitecoat Infantry
Fire 5 / 5 Shock 6 / 8 Morale 8 / 9
Line Infantry
Fire 5 / 5 Shock 4 / 4 Morale 7 / 7
Gustavian Infantry
Fire 5 / 4 Shock 4 / 3 Morale 7 / 5
American Forest Musketeers
Fire 1 / 1 Shock 2 / 2 Morale 3 / 3
The Aragonese stack decides not to assault so my attack is called off. Attrition will do some damage while I hastily build some regiments of modern infantry in nearby Aragonese cores. Local anti-rebel forces move on Lima where two enemy regiments are situated, easy war score. Similarly I intend to take out the one regiment garrisons scattered across Aragon’s Far Eastern possessions.
June 1738 Aragon storms and seizes Huanuco
Battle of Lima
Here my combined field army for Peru and local anti-rebel forces are being smashed about by Aragon. This is day 4 of the battle and already my forces are close to breaking.
Lima is lost
That’s seven days of combat
In case you wondering it's definitely Aragon and not Aragorn I'm fighting but that King's Shock rating is a real killer.
Further manoeuvring leads to the Aragonese stack lead by their high shock King attacking my troops defending the mountains of Cajamarca. I’ve swapped in my best Shock General (6) and switched out five regiments of American Forest Musketeers for five regiments of Whitecoat Infantry. The Aragonese are due to arrive on the 15th of November, I intend to ‘scorch the earth’ before they arrive, even if defeated I want Aragon to bleed through attrition.
I break off combat in Cajamarca
The battle in Cajamarca goes quite well initially but the second round of Shock combat turns up a bad dice roll so I pull out – Aragon’s troops at fairly low morale will take a very big attrition hit here. I will as well but I’ll be ready to come back before the end of December. The Aragonese pull out a day later but with that artillery train it’ll take until January to make it to safety.
19/01/1740 Illinois converts
Battle of Huanuco
This is a pretty good defeat – Aragon is bleeding just as much as Iroquois and there is no way Aragon’s manpower pool can continue to take this level of punishment. A second battle in Huanuco in May would end in bloody defeat but reinforcements from the French cores to the North draw close.
Elsewhere Aragon’s Indonesian colonies have been seized and troops march on Malacca and its COT.
A third battle of Huanuco in June would prove inconclusive – the Aragonese have fully reinforced, but casualties must be draining their manpower.
Late July 1740 – Aragon decides to start liberating Castilian provinces – I need to make peace with Castile before I start losing war score!
The Peace Deal
Post-War Iberia
This demonstrates the relative value that the AI assigns ‘Homeland’ provinces against ‘Distant Overseas’ provinces. This five province deal was actually for a higher war score than either of the last two wars against Castile – which both turned over a third of South America.
August 1740
Yet another strike at Huanuco ends in bloody failure – this doesn’t even scratch them!
27/11/1740 Miami converts
Malta has fallen but it’s not enough to convince Milan to cede those two Caribbean provinces. Sicily is undefended so I’ll land there and probably have to wait another two years for the sieges to complete.
Victory at Lima
At last I’ve actually managed to win a battle with the Aragonese stack. The artillery train will cost them dearly, I’ll always be ahead of them so I’ll reinforce, recover morale and gain the defensive terrain bonus, useful in mountains.
The East Indies – January 1741
I’ve seized five colonies from Aragon, colonists are being sent to all five islands as they become available. I should be able to make all of these provinces good Shamanist Iroquois. There are still uncolonised provinces towards Alaska but they can wait.
Currently I’m at war with Milan and Aragon. The war against Milan isn’t really going anywhere (+5%); perhaps if I can capture Sicily they’ll make an acceptable peace deal. I’ve siege forces in both provinces and some ships blocking the straits from the mainland.
The Aragonese war is a more serious affair. I’ve not been able to make too much headway against Aragon’s homeland armies; currently we have no direct border. In the Far East I’ve destroyed Aragonese strength seizing colonies, defeating scattered infantry regiments on garrison duty and now besieging the Level 3 fortress at the Centre of Trade in Malacca.
The war in Peru remains bloody and inconclusive although I’ve finally won a battle and am chasing a defeated enemy rather than trying to push strong, well led force out of mountain provinces. The cost of this campaign must be running to well over 30000.
Perhaps I should finish off these wars but there are opportunities…
Castile has guaranteed, OPM Fez in Tangiers, Oyo (also guaranteed by France) and Portugal.
Oyo is a no for now – French troops have rights of passage through Aragon I would see a lot of hostiles bearing down on me in Iberia. Fez will still be there in a few years unless Castile decides to annex them so they can wait. Portugal looks promising as a way of drawing Castile straight back into war but their provinces are scattered across the globe. There is a least one and possibly two Portuguese provinces that are currently TI in the Pacific and then there’s this:
Portuguese Jamtland
You’re all wondering how did that happen aren’t you? Jamtland turned Reformed a couple of hundred years ago while Norway was Catholic. Religious rebels seized control of the province; it would eventually defect to Brandenburg the nearest Reformed state. Later Portugal dipolvasselised and then diploannexed Brandenburg.
I have no idea what to do about Jamtland.
Ceterum censeo Castile esse delendam
