• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
I don't think it's too far out of the realm of possibility.

France and England may not have been formal allies at the time, but they did both support the Dutch rebels against the Spanish during the Eighty Years War. Spain at the time was a huge hulking beast and it's only natural for the other majors to become allies of convenience (or at least like-minded antagonists) against the colossus. Neither of them wanted to see the Habsburg empire get any larger.
 
Waah, fantastic! After some minor difficulties and setbacks I've caught up with part deux of this AAR and it's really growing on me! I'm most certainly interested in the inevitable meeting between Rodrigo and Talena on the battlefield.

You're still updating every second day?
 
Mr Sometimes: I really think it'd make it worse, actually. :p It would add fear and jealousy to the anger they already feel towards Talena.
Fire and Ash: Absolutely! Those 2000 tech 0 Aztecs frightened me so much I stationed half my fleet in the caribbean! (Well OK it was just to stop the Spanish fleet but whatever!)
poloport: I was lucky that they had no boats...or this AAR would have been over....
Sather: Not really - as Adam and Chris say there wasn't much emnity between France and England at this point. And the balance of power had to be maintained. Spain was over-mighty at this point, this meant that nations often worked against them. I mean...historically France allied with the Ottomans! Something I never could do in the game.
Boris: Maybe...but damn useful!
Chris: Welcome back again! :)
AdamClason: Welcome back to you as well! :) It's usually every day actually. :p Thanks for your kind words.

Section 3 – Duelling Kings

Chapter 20 – The Glittering Host

18/1/1535

The winter light shone down on the most impressive spectacle Talena had seen for a long time. Cavalry in bright armour clattered along the roads, cracking the ice where it lay thickly. This was a display, a show for the people of Paris. Their King was riding to war, and with him went a host of knights and cavalry such had not been seen since the days of Agincourt.
Following the cavalry came ranks of foot soldiers, some with crossbows, others with cumbersome arquebuses or pikes. At their head rode François with a crown over his helmet, and the Fleur-de-Lys on his surcoat.
Surely such a sight gave heart to the people who saw it. However, those who knew more were worried.

Z36Paris.jpg


Z56Armies.jpg


Talena turned away from her vantage on top of a tower to find herself facing Maria. She stepped back, waiting for the other woman to speak.
“I’m back!” she said entirely too cheerfully.
“Welcome back, I guess,” Talena replied cautiously.
“Relax, I’m not here to attack you!” she said with a smirk. “I’m back from America, a place where I must say I had a lot of adventures. Still, nothing too exciting.”
“Didn’t find what you were looking for? What were you looking for anyway?”
Maria smiled. “I didn’t…but I think I know where to look next time. And no, I can’t tell you what.”
Talena glared at her. “You know, I want the truth out of you.” She stepped forward. “And I mean to get it,” she added threateningly.
Maria reacted oddly. She stepped back and actually looked apprehensive. “Hey, don’t get angry with me! I’m on your side.”
“Are you? Right now you’re at the top of the list of people I don’t trust.” Talena advanced again, backing her up to the edge of the tower.
“Talena, I’m sorry, I can’t-“ she begun.
Talena wasn’t really listening. The old frustration, being trapped in the past while this girl could come and go freely took over. She grabbed Maria before she could slip away and pushed her roughly into the parapet. Below them was thirty feet of open air.
“You listen to me!” Talena hissed into the frightened woman’s ear. “Thank you for rescuing me, but from now on I don’t want anyone trying to railroad me. No one is going to manipulate me, no one! I will do what I want, and your petty war with the Order doesn’t concern me. Now…get out of my sight!”
Maria blinked, clearly terrified. “Well…okay. But you can’t stop being involved. They’ll find you…one way or the other!”
“Then I’ll deal with that myself. Now go!”
Maria fled.

Talena wondered if this was the smartest thing to do, but at the moment she didn’t care if she was being selfish or irrational. The homesickness had made her so angry! With a sigh she watched the last French troops depart. She suddenly had lost all appetite for war.

XXX

The odds facing France were considerable. In addition to the considerable resources of Spain there was added the power of the Austrian Hapsburg lands. All up France was encircled and badly outnumbered.

14WarOdds.jpg


Still, the initial campaigns went well, and in no time a combined invasion of the Netherlands had occupied most of it save for a few outposts. In the south the Kingdom of Navarra, a land long claimed by France was finally taken and annexed directly.

16VictoryLuxemburg.jpg


15AnnexNavarra.jpg


However, despite these early successes the main army of the Hapsburgs had not yet appeared, and they would do so soon.

Z48ImperialTroops.jpg
 
I'm afraid dear Talena doesn't always do the smartest things. Which is probably just as well for all concerned. Next 8 updades are written, but photobucket is being troublesome and not uploading. Hang with me until I belt it into shape.
 
Apologies for the delay!
Mr Sometimes: I would...but I have pro membership at photobucket (necessary for the amount of pics this thread has) so I'll just work with it.

Chapter 21 – The Prince’s Battle

XXX

After scoring a major success in Luxemburg during April, King François marched south to counter a new threat – The Emperor Carlos himself. With twenty thousand soldiers the Emperor marched from Catalonia through the south of France to the isolated Spanish enclaves in Charolais and Franche-Compte. The Emperor aimed to link up with forces from Hapsburg Austria, and then march directly on Paris.

The plan was audacious, and might have worked had he moved faster, but he was bogged down across Southern France and when he arrived only five thousand Austrian troops were present to reinforce him. Still, with this force of more than twenty-five thousand he begun his march.

Opposing him was just twenty thousand troops led by the King himself.

XXX

12/7/1535

“So is there going to be a battle today, Talena?” the Prince asked. He looked nervous as attendants strapped on his armour. He was not expected to fight in his downsized suit, but even so, this was his first battle.
“Yes, highness,” Talena replied casually. She wore a breastplate, but not much other armour. She appeared calm, composed. The very model of how a guard and teacher of a royal prince should be. Inside however, she was a bit more nervous than she let on.
“Father…his Majesty…said that we will fight today. I saw the flags across the river…it’s all very exciting,” he said.
Talena laid a friendly hand on his shoulder. “You’ll find battle a lot less exciting once you’ve seen it. Stay with me, my Prince, and I’ll keep you safe.”
The attendants finished and quietly left the tent. “I must thank you for all your help. It’s been very confusing, but you are doing right by me, and not asking anything in return.”
“I am getting the only thing I need; stability. I’ve spent too long travelling, never settling down. It’s about time I do.”
Henri nodded, though he probably hadn’t even been listening. Instead, he was looking out of the tent and saw his father approaching.
François pushed his way into the tent and smiled at his son and heir. “All ready, my son?” he asked.
“Yes, father.”
The King looked up at Talena, who bowed slightly. “I charge you to look after my son. This day is an important one for him to see. When he becomes King he must know how to defend his realm. But I hold you responsible for his safety.” With that very direct order in mind he embraced his son and left to begin the battle.
“Stay with me, Henri,” Talena said quietly. “You’re here to watch, not fight.”

Z56Armies.jpg


From a ridge above the Aron River, which flowed into the Loire at the right side of the battle, Talena could see the massed Spanish forces opposite. Since the Aron was too wide and deep to cross except at two points, the result was a divided battlefield where each wing was several miles from the other.“
“So they’re trying to push across the river and attack us?” Henri asked.
“Yes, and the King has deployed the army to block them. See how he had placed the cannon on the heights over the river on the right? And there, on the left, the Spanish are already across, so it’s our job to push them back over the river.”
Henri watched it all with a sense of wonder. More than forty thousand soldiers were in view, some mounted, others not. It was set to be a bloody battle.

Z49Battle.jpg


Talena rode with Henri over the fields and hills until they came to the left flank of the French army. There, the Spanish had already crossed over and were deployed on the north bank, and moving into the attack.
“Can’t we go closer?” Henri asked. Already clouds of smoke and dust were beginning to hide the action.
“No, I’m not having you hit by a cannonball,” Talena replied firmly.
“As a woman I expect this is rather unsettling for you,” he commented earnestly.
Talena gave him a cynical look. “By your age, highness, I was already fighting in a war and had killed three men who tried to rape me. I think that most women aren’t like me though,” she added.
Henri looked at her, speechless. “Where was this?” he asked.
“A long way away. A very long way away,” Talena said with a sigh.

M1Nevers.jpg


The battle went on, and Talena watched as they moved on closer to the action. It wasn’t even a conscious thing, but yard by yard they were getting closer. By now they were passing through the first wounded soldiers retiring from the fray. One man had his left arm almost severed, another was trying to hold in his guts from a gash. As they watched that man collapsed in the dust.
Henri was pale, but with deep breaths he continued on.
“War is not glorious. Anyone who tells you it is has never seen it,” Talena said grimly, noticing his expression.

It was not much later on when a particularly loud cannonade caused a cloud of smoke that covered them entirely. Disorientated, Talena led the Prince out, and unfortunately right into an emergency.
The armies of both sides used infantry mixed with cavalry with supporting artillery where needed. In one area the French had been pushed hard, and some Spanish guns across the river had got them in an enfilade and were causing heavy punishment. The French soldiers were wavering, and if they broke then the whole wing of the King’s army might be unhinged.

“Stay back, Henri,” Talena warned. French soldiers were streaming past them, and the Spanish flag was flying as they let out a cheer, sensing victory.
The Prince ignored her, and galloped forward towards the fighting.
“Idiot boy!” Talena shouted at the uncaring world and followed.
A reserve French force of cavalry was moving forward, and the Prince in his distinctive armour rode parallel with them, through the fleeing soldiers. He snatched up a banner and called in a clear, ringing voice.
“Rally, men of France, would you see your King disgraced? Would you let these Spaniards defeat us?”
Talena had never seen something so idiotic…yet so brave. The fearlessness of youth, she reckoned. Whatever the reason, it worked! By the time she arrived, though arrows and bullets were thick around them the French rallied. Meanwhile, to their right the reserve cavalry charged, and the situation stabilised.
And there, banner still in hand, was the Prince.
“You’re a damn fool, Highness,” Talena said quietly. “But you’ve got quite a way with people!”

17VictoryNevers.jpg




XXX

The Battle of Nevers was a tactical draw, but strategically it was vital. The Spanish and Austrian forces were compelled to retreat, and soon after there came a stunning result as the entire Spanish army was compelled to surrender. It truly was revenge for Pavia, which had occurred just ten years before.

17PaviaAvenged.jpg
 
What do you plan to take from the Spanish?

Paella :D


Marvelous update Ashantai! I curse myself for not having a back-up for when my computer crashed which forced me to quit my aar. Once again you've made me hungry for writing and I'll make damn sure to have played 100years plus so I can get way ahead just in case something happens.
 
Phew. I'm glad that worked out well, because looking at the opposing military strengths on the war status screen was a bit more of an "OMGWTF?!" experience.

With the defeat of such a sizeable force, do the Habsburgs have any goodly-sized formations left to throw at you now, or just dribs and drabs?

EDIT: Hmm, even their navies are bigger than yours, and you've got England! Maybe it's still an OMGWTF experience, after all. I hope your in-game tactical movement is superb, because you won't have much margin for error—Austria being the HRE manpower sink, and all.
 
Very good updates and a cracking victory at Nevers. Well, the victory of Nevers was a draw as you rightly noted but it allowed for the triumph at Charolais. Hopefully you can go on to secure some good gains from the war. Perhaps annoying for Talena that Henri ignored her but he is learning well from her; ignoring authority and doing as he wishes whilst showing impressive bravery. Actually that is probably the reason for his insubordination, he is learning a bit too well from her!