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The style was good apart from possibly we didn't need to know about every tribal raid (I've been guilty of the same sort of thing myself) ;)

And yes writing an AAR really does enhance your gaming. Well that's my experience and I'm onto my 4th solo AAR (and I contributed to a collaborative one as well) :eek:o
 
Brand new Sibir aar sounds promising. But why don't you stick it out for the time being? No one expects a WC from you. Reclaming lost territory should be your goal now.

I do agree garantees are 'overpowered' and destroy the balance, i even wrote some time ago about it; well we'll have to wait for MMtG for changes in this department i guess.
 
Second Book

7 April 1482 – 1 Jan 1483





After the liberation of Alania and the end of the war, Khan Baraq I Genghisid returns to his camp outside the ruins of Sarai. His heart is empty and his lust for fight is long gone. The war is over. His father, the Great Khan Sayyid Ahmad I Genghisid, is dead. He died right after the war had begun and left the war in the hands of Baraq and trusted him to prevail. He didn’t prevail. He was utterly defeated by the end of the summer and had to run from Alania like a dog in the night. One year did he spend high in the mountains, together with his closest soldiers. Alone, hidden, hunting and praying. Meanwhile, their enemies plundered, murdered and took what they wanted. They divided the country among themselves, but left the sacked and burned remains of Sarai unclaimed.

When they were satsified, they declared peace and returned home. Everyone except Qara Koyunlu, who wanted Alania as their prize but had lost control of the province when the armies of Khorasan returned home. Qara Koyunlu themselves had left only a small guard and they now besieged the city.

The Khan descended from the mountains and rode to Sarai. The city was burned and the camps of the nomads were burned, but they had taken refugee to the Steppes. The Khan set camp outside the city and slowly the nomads began to gather around him again. The Khan raised a mingghan of boys and maimed men and rode to Alania. In the last battle of the great war, the Khan defeated his enemies and liberated Alania. Soon after, a peace was signed with Qara Koyunlu and the war was over.

And now, with the peace secured, the Khan starts to rebuild his country. The first task is to drum up all officials and bureaucrats that is still alive. They hardly recognize their Khan. Gone is the young, noisy and lighthearted man who wanted to conqueer the world. The man who now asks them to come back under his command is thin, serious and heavyhearted. The Khan rebuilds his administration from the base in order to fit their new needs and the result is far more effecient than before.

When the first snow of winter comes, the rebuilding of the cities have begun and the gold miners in Alania have returned to work, and the Khan grows silent. One morning he gathers the men who spent the year in the mountain with him and they leave for a long pilgrimage to Mecca. He leaves General Surenchar, the man without hands, in command while he is gone. He also leaves his wife with their two year old son Ahmad.


 
It certainly does!

With a bit of perspective I realised that Golden Horde in this situation is too interesting and unique to abandon. To suffer setbacks, huge setbacks, are part of the game and what makes it so damn fun. One long term goal now is of course to reclaim what was lost in the war, but almost every country in the region, including us, are in the Ottomans SoI, so I fear opportunities are limited. We will bide our time.
 
2 Jan 1483 – 1 Jan 1485











Golden Horde in 1 Jan 1485
Our Khan returns to Sarai again one evening in the winter two years after he left. His pilgrimage has taken him through Georgia, Ak Koyunlu, the Mamluks’ land and Hedjaz. He has visited Mecca and he has met people from all over the arab world. On his way home, he was a guest at the Sultan of Sultans Inaj Burji of the Mamluks, in the holy city of Jerusalem.

When he left his country it was still devestated by the war, but what he can see now delights him. The cities of Sarai and Alania are rebuilt, the gold mines are in full production and his treasury is filled with over 150 ducats. The trade, however, has not recovered the war and the loss of Astrakhan. We still have some merchants trading through Astrakhan, but they are fewer than before and no new merchants are going there. On a good note, the cities and the mines are well protected by three new mingghans of cavalry, consisting of young vicious men all armed with bows of a new and harder design.

General Surenchar reports that the new army organization can operate with up to eigth mingghans and that our greatest weakness is our limited manpower of just around 3000 men in the reserves. The new cavalry units he calls Steppe Cavalry and the infantry is also remodeled and he calls them Steppe Archers. General Surenchar has thought of new ideas of training and organization that will increase the fighting morale and the Shock tactics. It will need the Khan, though, to institute the new regime since the changes will break with the traditional training. The General got the idea from the Ottomans during the war and he calls it Battlefield Commisions.

The Khan’s first act of governing is to declare that Golden Horde from here on will follow Islamic law and no longer tolerate the ways of heathens or heretics. Then he institues the new regime for the army and sends all his still alive and unmarried relatives to the great courts in the region in order to start building a new alliance.

The Khan’s reappearance and new teachings shakes the very foundation of the country. First of all, the Khan has zero legitimacy in the eyes of the people after the disatrious war. Had it not been for their own disintegration and for his loyal General Surenchar the nomads would have elected a new Khan when he left. Second, the mongols have never paid much interest to religion and they do not agree with their Khan’s new arab style clothing and long beard. The nomads on the Steppe around Sarai do no longer recognize him as their Khan and the Orthodoxs in Alania fear religious persecution. The country is in chaos. The Khan allocates all resources towards regaining stability, but this time no horse races will calm the people, this time the problems are far more grave.
 
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2 Jan 1485 – 1 Jan 1494





Khan Baraq begins his fundamental changes of the Golden Horde society. The country is in turmoil and soon the Khan realises that no effort to stabilize the country is working. He decides to let the country fall into chaos and rely on his fearsome mingghans of cavalry to survive.

Meanwhile, in the fall of 1486 Georgia is drawn into a war on the Balkans, turning against the Ottomans. The Turks still have a huge force in Circassia and soon Georgia will be crushed. This could have been an oppotunity to expand, but we still have a truce with Georgia until 1491. At the end of the great war, we had a short war with Georgia that went unnoticed and ended in a white peace after the Ottomans joined us. Still, Georgia is the only possible area for expansion for us and we will monitor the situation closely. They are allied with Nogai, however, and we can’t take on them at the moment. We would like to ally with Ak Koyunlu, but can’t approach them until our truce with the Ottomans has expired, because of their sphere of influence.

Instead, the Khan shakes the local tribes in Sarai into the line. In 1488 Georgia agrees peace with the Ottomans, ceding an island outside of Greece that they apparently controlled. The Georgian military are wiped out, but they immediately begin rebuildning. In the beginning of 1489 we form an alliance with Ak Koyunlu and everyone understands that war with Georgia is exactly two years away. A military build up on both sides starts. Georgia raises 2 cavalry and 6 infantry, while we order two mingghans of infantry to be raised. In the middle of that work, General Surenchar dies in a riding accident, caused by his lack of hands.

In the beginning of 1491, our troops is ready in Alania and we declare war on Georgia. Ak Koyunlu joins us and Nogai joins Georgia. Our strategy is to defeat and conquear Georgia first and then worry about Nogai. Georgia has deployed half of their troops in Kartli and half in Imereti. We attack Kartli, easily defeat their army and begin a siege. Meanwhile, Ak Koyunlu attacks Imereti, defeats that army and begins a siege. After a year long siege we break through and take the city of Tbilisi.

At the same time, beginning of 1492, Nogai troops are advancing on Sarai. They have approximately 10 units in total, but they move in armies of two or three units. We ride back with our cavalry and in a serie of battles over the coming year we simply crush them everytime, almost without any casualties. In the spring of 1493, the weird situation is that we have killed the entire army of Nogai, but we can’t approach their land to conquer them since Shirvan won’t give us military access. Finally, Ak Koyunlu wins their siege and in the peace negotiations we claim the province of Kartli while Georgia also renounce their claim on Alania.

When our truce expire we will again attack Georgia, annex them and consequently change name to the Georgian Horde.







 
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2 Jan 1494 – 8 Feb 1504



After the war, Khan Baraq intensifies his ambitions to turn Golden Horde more Islamic. The orthodox Georgians, previously treated with respectful curiosity, are now treated with hostile scepticism, even though no attempts to convert them are done. The introduction of the new training regime for the army is much more successful. After the victorious war against Georgia and Nogai, everyone sees the merit of the reform.

In the spring of 1495 Khan Baraq is assassinated. During a visit to Tbilisi he and his guards are attacked by a large force of Georgian nationalists. Khan Baraq manages to flee, but he is badly injured by multiple arrows and dies during the night. He is succeeded by the oldest of his two sons fifteen year old Ahmad. He becomes Khan Ahmad I.









Khan Ahmad I continues his fathers ambitions to turn the country more Islamic, but the truth is that he lacks his fathers fiery convictions. He also lacks the basic understanding of the military, but he is a good commander in the field. One of his fathers ambitions was to once again attack Georgia and, while Khan Ahmad I might drop other ambitions, he focuses his energies on preparing for a next war.

In the spring of 1503 Khan Ahmad I leads his troops over the border to Georgia in an attack. This time Georgia lacks allies and their army is half the size of ours. The battle is won almost before it has begun and then a siege of Batumi ensues. When the siege has lasted almost a year and is nearly won, Khan Ahmad I inspects his troops near the main gate and is hit by a stray arrow in the head. He dies immediately. His younger brother Ahmad succeeds him and becomes Khan Ahmad II.









Contrary to his brother, Khan Ahmad II has a natural understanding of the military and he is well liked by his men. Within a week the city falls and Georgia is annexed. Also, with this great victory, every resistence to the Great Khan Baraq’s reforms is over. A time of peace and quiet could be asked for. Khan Ahmad II doesn’t see it that way. He is young, bright and wants to conquer the world.







 
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Shirvan must die - warn them ;)
 
9 Feb 1504 – 18 May 1514





With the beaten Georgia at his feet, Khan Ahmad II, searches the horizon for more war. However, the web of alliances around his country is as bad as they were during his grandfathers great war. He has to bide his time in wait for a loose thread in the web. He had no idea that, at the very same moment just south of the borders of Kartli, a group of religious fanatics in the province Qarabagh in Qara Koyunlu made plans that would forever change the fortunes of Golden Horde.

The conquest of Georgia means that Golden Horde know consists of just one Islamic province and three Orthodox provinces. The mongols are, furthermore, a small minority of the population. These security aspects, together with the new Khan’s more pragmatic views, contributes to the abandoning of the Great Khan Baraq’s Islamic reforms. The tolerance for heathens is not restored, but all persercutions and attempts to convert the Georgians are stopped. Instead, Khan Ahmad II fights the nomadic tribes in Sarai.

In the beginning of 1509, a religious revolt occurs in Qarabagh. The revolters soon seize control of the province while the entire north part of Qara Koyunlu is embroiled in a civil war. In the spring of 1510, the revolters in Qarabagh declare independence from Qara Koyunlu and forms the country of Persia. Khan Ahmad II toys for a while with the idea of annexing the little country, but decides not to when it occurs to him how poor the province is. The Persian diplomats work hard to secure allies for the expected war with Qara Koyunlu and their neighbours Shirvan guarantees their independence. Soon Qara Koyunlu attacks and Shirvan consequently dishonours their guarantee.

Khan Ahmad II is still furious towards Shirvan for their refusal to grant him military access during the war with Nogai and he decides to attempt to lure Shirvan into a war with us. In the late autumn of 1510, the Khan declares war with Persia and sends a diplomat to Shirvan with a strong recommendation to stay out of the war or else pay the consequences. The diplomat’s head is returned together with a declaration of war. Our total forces are 4 mingghans of cavalry and 2 mingghans of infantry, while Shirvan has total forces of 7 cavalry and 7 infantry. The Shirvan army also consists of Steppe Cavalry and Steppe Archers, so our only advantage is the brilliant leadership of Khan Ahmad II.

Encouraginly, events turns out according to the Khan’s plan when scouts report that a large Shirvan army (5/4) is marching to Alania. The defensive positions in the mountains of Alania have brought numerous great victories to Golden Horde over the years and our commanders know the terrain so well by now that the Shirvan army practically is marching into a death trap. Just after thay have passed the borders and before they have begun the climb up the mountains, they are ambushed. It is obvious that they hadn’t expected an attack so soon and the battle turns into a blood bath. A couple of days later, seven thousand Shirvan soldiers are dead and the rest retreat, while less than a thousand of our troops are dead. We ride into Astrakhan in order to intercept the retreating army. The rest of Shirvan’s army (2/3) is marching to Astrakhan from Burtasia but will reach us a week later than the retreating army. As it turns out, the retreating army is demolished in a single day and we have time to regroup before the second army reaches us. That battle is also won in a single day, without any significant losses for us. In less than a month, in three decisive battles, we have completly eradicated the Shirvan army. After that we besiege their provinces and in the spring of 1514 the last fort falls and they sign a peace treaty that returns Burtasia and Astrakhan to us.








 
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Nice! :D

A way around the diplomatic mess normally appears if you have patience. KUTGW.

Who's next?
 
crimean khanate would be nice , as they hold one initial horde province , plus they were the target before the great war
 
To find a way to get to Crimea would be a sweet revenge for the great war! But I'm very satisfied over the recent gains and in particular to get Astrakhan back. My monthly income almost tripled.

Golden Hordes tech levels in 18 May 1514:

Gov
Leader Hamburg 15
Ottomans 13
Muscowy 9
Golden Horde 8

Prod
Leader Frankfurt 15
Ottomans 13
Muscowy 12
Golden Horde 8

Trade
Leader Bremen 16
Ottomans 12
Muscowy 11
Golden Horde 11

Naval
Leader Hamburg 15
Ottomans 13
Muscowy 12
Golden Horde 8

Land
Leader Anhalt 17
Ottomans 15
Muscowy 15
Golden Horde 11
 
You could have converted to Orthodox. An Orthodox Horde would have been interesting. Still the Crimeans would be a nice target, if you can get at them on their own.

You're not too far behind in land and trade techs, so that's a good sign.