Gentlemen in Germany - a Brunswick AAR

[blsteen]

The gentlemanly thing is to stab them...politely.

Alrighty then...then give them your handkerchief to mop up the blood.

[Dewirix]

Funny how your games seem to revolve around PUs at the moment! Another core (with a DIP 3 leader no less) is obviously a good thing, but the trick is on to get back in a position to use it before it expires.

[FinnishFish]

I did some research of you Mal and found this AAR keep it going ^^

[Malurous]

A PU with Friesland isn't the end...
And wouldn't the gentlemanly thing to do is suffer under the PU and be polite while muttering under your breath?

Yeah, I suppose that's what we'll do (sort of). I mean, messing around is gentlemanly as long as other nations don't realize what's going on, right?

Very well written, easily and seamlessly tying every event together to create a very good update, the civil war proving an especially good read. A pity that you are stuck in a personal union with Friesland but it should make for yet more interesting content.

Thank you for the high praise! I'm happy that I managed to create a good read out of a four regiment pretender rebellion.

Here's hoping that the coverage of the PU period is indeed satisfactory.

The gentlemanly thing is to stab them...politely.

Yeah, we'll insult them politely, which should lead to a totally classy end of the union, after which we'll have our revenge in a gentlemanly manner.

Too bad you will hve to wait to take teh core on anhalt. But i suppose you will never lose it if its same cultural group

Yes, that's true and that will fortunately be the case for some time - German provinces all around.

Alrighty then...then give them your handkerchief to mop up the blood.

Yup. That handkerchief might be poisoned, making it an unfortunate fit for an open wound, but we'll give one nonetheless. And in a well-mannered way of course.

Funny how your games seem to revolve around PUs at the moment! Another core (with a DIP 3 leader no less) is obviously a good thing, but the trick is on to get back in a position to use it before it expires.

Hehe, at least the wait for a PU to end should be a short one compared to the wait for an inheritance sometimes.

Like Dogia pointed out, that's a correct culture group core so it won't expire.

I did some research of you Mal and found this AAR keep it going ^^

You "did some research" on me? At first that sounded a bit worrying, but then I realized that looking at my signature is all the research needed in this case.

Good to have you here as well!

Considering that you're always concerned about my post times, I have a perfectly good explanation this time. I just came home from some heavy drinking, otherwise I wouldn't be up at this hour, I swear!

[Malurous]

1419-1430: The Fall of the Roman Empire and the Kalmar Union

Eager to be ready to cut ties with Friesland when the time was right, the major nobles of Brunswick worked hard to further develop the military. Results were seen by March 1420 when the bulk of the nation's infantry had received better arms and armor. The Brunswick army Men at Arms were born.



During the same year some worrying developments took place around Europe. Burgundy had lost several wars, leaving no counterbalance for the French, while closer to Brunswick, Pommerania had been conquered from outside the Empire by Poland. Austria, the new Emperor, wasn't giving a good first impression by allowing that to happen.

Brunswick reacted to these potential outside threats in the usual way - attempting to strengthen trade. Several reforms were made to support Free Trade.

With this emphasis and the advisors hard at work, new trading techniques were again discovered in September 1421.



Brandenburg was one nation that clearly benefited after the change of Emperor. An ally of Austria, they expanded twice within months, nabbing Meissen in late 1421 and Altmark in early 1422. Brunswick now had a strong neighbor, and it didn't stop there: in December 1422, Brandenburg conquered Anhalt, the province that Brunswick had a claim on but couldn't act on because of the personal union.



After some nagging from Brunswick's merchants, the Hanseatic League finally noticed the nation's strong trade influence in October 1425 and opened a trade station in the city of Paderborn.

In April 1427 major news came to the Brunswick court: the Roman Empire had fallen, Constantinople had been conquered by the Ottoman Turks.


The last days of the Roman Empire.

The world was changing both near and far but Brunswick had to stay passive. As a result, local nobles were getting more and more fed up with the foreign King. Using Albrecht II's illness in the summer of 1427 as an excuse, they took a larger responsibility of some of the local matters on their own shoulders.



During the next year, Brandenburg lost a war to the Teutonic Order and were forced to release Meissen. They still controlled the lands bordering Brunswick however.

By the end of 1428 it was becoming clear that the Kalmar Union was to be short-lived. Sweden had split a year earlier, and now it was Norway's turn. Denmark was in serious trouble as the Swedes eliminated their army.

The nobles saw this as an opportunity to strengthen Brunswick - a rare one given the Frisian ruler. Some of Brunswick's trade revenue was funneled to Hannoverian elements in Holstein.



Denmark's plight was demonstrated in October 1429 when Sweden conquered Skåne and neighboring areas, throwing Denmark out of the Scandinavian peninsula. This show of weakness by the incumbent dynasty became a rallying point for the various rebel factions, and Vilhelm Reventlow seized the throne in the beginning of 1430, becoming Vilhelm I.

Not accepting the usurper, the Hannoverians of Holstein pledged allegiance to Brunswick instead, thankful for the financial support for their cause.



Brunswick's plan had worked, but the nation faced an important choice. The aristocracy assembled again, much like in 1399, to discuss the situation. While keeping Holstein had its supporters, especially among those frustrated by Brunswick's inability to snatch Anhalt, cooler heads prevailed and the terms of the 1399 agreement were honored. As Brunswick had no legitimate claim on the area, Holstein was released as a domestically autonomous vassal state.



Holstein agreed to pay Brunswick a fee, while Brunswick would protect the small duchy. Duke Peter August I Peglows, a Brunswick sympathizer, took the throne of the newly free nation.



In yet another sign of the nobles' disdain for the Frisian ruler, Peter August's oath was carefully worded: while it was presented to the King as was mandatory, only loyalty to Brunswick was ever promised. No mention of Albrecht II was made in the entire vow.

[Boris ze Spider]

Nicely done with Holstein.

[Ashantai]

Nicely handled!

[Henry v. Keiper]

Glad to see some political maneuvering to prepare for the upcoming revolution. Also, I'm digging the history-book fashion of the AAR, and the goal of acting like a real nation and not like a player trying to take over the world. Those AAR's are my favorite kind.

[Omen]

That was a smooth, and honorable move. Well done.

[TrojanAC]

I played an Alsace game sticking to the same rules... it was fun, but after vassalising big chunks of germany i wasn't able to annex anything, because it just gave cores on the capital province and since im playing dw infamy inside the empire was killing the fun.
the mission ended up switching between "annex switzerland" and "convert hesse" (both loyal allies with to much provinces, both countries without other ones to release while keeping the capital province where missions gave me a core) and i finished the game as techleader, frenchbeater and 13 province minor ... but since you are playing httt and the ai still buys non cored provinces you should be fine

[FinnishFish]

Keep it coming

And why were you drinking on Monday

[Gottskalk]

Good job as always! I love seeing someone playing brunswick. Too bad you lost the Welf line but what can you do :P

I was wondering if you are making any serious moves towards the imperial title ?

[Malurous]

Glad to see some political maneuvering to prepare for the upcoming revolution. Also, I'm digging the history-book fashion of the AAR, and the goal of acting like a real nation and not like a player trying to take over the world. Those AAR's are my favorite kind.

Yeah, I figured that the history book approach fits the house rules in this one.

I played an Alsace game sticking to the same rules... it was fun, but after vassalising big chunks of germany i wasn't able to annex anything, because it just gave cores on the capital province and since im playing dw infamy inside the empire was killing the fun.
the mission ended up switching between "annex switzerland" and "convert hesse" (both loyal allies with to much provinces, both countries without other ones to release while keeping the capital province where missions gave me a core) and i finished the game as techleader, frenchbeater and 13 province minor ... but since you are playing httt and the ai still buys non cored provinces you should be fine

Good to have you here, your Ansbach AAR was a great read!

The fact that selling provinces is possible could be huge at some point. However, I do think of that as a last resort. I'll rather force release if I can. Also, I'm not going to go for a horde of vassals as that's just too easy. I'll diplo-vassalize what I can but only force-vassalize nations that have been bugging me too much.

I've been fortunate enough to get cores on OPMs or non-capital provinces so far. We'll see how it goes in the future.

Keep it coming

And why were you drinking on Monday

Will do!

Because I had a friend visiting from France and a free Tuesday.

Good job as always! I love seeing someone playing brunswick. Too bad you lost the Welf line but what can you do :P

I was wondering if you are making any serious moves towards the imperial title ?

Thanks, yeah nothing I could do about the line ending sadly.

In fact, I'm definitely avoiding the title for now. At this point the trick is to fight wars where most of the enemy alliance can't reach me, and becoming Emperor would take that option away. So gotta make sure that I don't vassalize too many electors. That will change when I'm a bit stronger - we'll see how much. One thing to consider: all signs point to this game's France being a monster candidate, and becoming the Emperor early could mean fighting that monster before I have a proper power base.

Boris ze Spider, Ashantai & Omen: Cheers! Had to get a bit creative there in order to not waste the whole PU period, and fortunately Denmark's wars with its former juniors created the necessary opening.

[Boris ze Spider]

See you got an avatar, i like it.

[morningSIDEr]

Good stuff. Even whilst forced into a personal union, allies are being gathered for what will no doubt prove an epic clash between yourself and Friesland! Well, hopefully epic. Likely more epic than a 4,000 strong pretender rebellion anyway (which you nonetheless turned into a great read)!

[Dewirix]

Brandenburg are one of those annoying middle-tier powers that you'd like to see taken down a peg or two, but not in such a way as to strengthen any of their larger neighbours. Vassalising Holstein was a good move and will provide you with a little bit more power when it comes to the next war.

[blsteen]

A vassal...that will hopefully not cause too much problems when the Danes try to resurrect their empire...or Brandenburg decides it NEEDS an outlet onto the North Sea.

[Robbz]

Moar pleassee.

[gabor]

Great read. Holstein exposes you to Denmark, but the threat from there doesn't seem menacing now than Sweden has taken the lead in Scandinavia. Brandenburg has been checked too; so with the PU finally broken I can foresee a bright future for your German gentlemen.

[Malurous]

See you got an avatar, i like it.

Good! Never had one before, but now that I'm actually AARing a nation that has a flag here, I thought why not.

Good stuff. Even whilst forced into a personal union, allies are being gathered for what will no doubt prove an epic clash between yourself and Friesland! Well, hopefully epic. Likely more epic than a 4,000 strong pretender rebellion anyway (which you nonetheless turned into a great read)!

Thanks for the compliment! Friesland will pay... eventually.

Brandenburg are one of those annoying middle-tier powers that you'd like to see taken down a peg or two, but not in such a way as to strengthen any of their larger neighbours. Vassalising Holstein was a good move and will provide you with a little bit more power when it comes to the next war.

True, I won't want Bohemia or Poland bordering me any time soon... But still, Brandenburg is too dangerous right now to let stay that way.

A vassal...that will hopefully not cause too much problems when the Danes try to resurrect their empire...or Brandenburg decides it NEEDS an outlet onto the North Sea.

Brandenburg is a direct threat to me, I think they're more likely to drive through me than to the North Sea. I suspect gabor is right about the Danes.

Moar pleassee.

Wow, I got your first post. Welcome to these thoroughly awesome and friendly forums!

You'll get your wish in a minute.

Great read. Holstein exposes you to Denmark, but the threat from there doesn't seem menacing now than Sweden has taken the lead in Scandinavia. Brandenburg has been checked too; so with the PU finally broken I can foresee a bright future for your German gentlemen.

Cheers! Yeah, I don't see Denmark as a big threat either. The only risk is Sweden eating them, but they don't seem to cross the straits.

Brandenburg is of course the most immediate concern as soon as the PU ends - a dangerous stronger neighbor that owns a Brunswick core to boot.