Gentlemen in Germany - a Brunswick AAR

[Malurous]

A gentlemanly gesture on your king's part paid dividends. That's a nice looking nation you have there.

Thanks! Yeah, that's how we roll.

I can see the sea!

Me too!

A war with the Golden Horde, the Ottomans and Armenia? Probably wise of the late king to stay out of such things.

Haha yes... Especially since "losing" the war was actually to my benefit.

Have you constructed your navy yet?

A small one is constructed quite soon.

Yey ports are fun

Yeah, a bit expensive though and the selection at Alko is relatively limited.

Wait, I don't think that's what you were talking about...

Well things certainly move more quickly in Germany than they do in the Americas. Eleven months from PU to inheritance must have been a nice surprise. A port does open up Brunswick's options greatly, although now you'll have to be a bit more way about joining wars against the naval powers.

Yeah true, that adds some nations to the list of ones to avoid... But at the same time, any additional power base I can get is welcome.

Hehe, the speed is certainly different. Not to mention game speed - I'd estimate that, left untouched, this game probably runs a decade in the time a year takes for the Inca one.

Were you at all concerned that the HRE might have stepped in in your war against Bremen?

It was a war with a CB, so no reason for them to do that. I'm avoiding the HRE like the plague obviously due to the military access ability.

[FinnishFish]

Yeah, a bit expensive though and the selection at Alko is relatively limited.

Wait, I don't think that's what you were talking about...

Yeah they have kinda limited selection but those beers tastes very goo....

Wait a second im not even allowed to buy them so....

[Boris ze Spider]

What is your free trade slider now?

[morningSIDEr]

Nicely done, some useful gains. At this rate of expansion I daresay Brunswick could have one of her rulers elected Emperor within the next fity or so years!

[blsteen]

The sea!
nice to see Brunswick doing well

[Malurous]

Yeah they have kinda limited selection but those beers tastes very goo....

Wait a second im not even allowed to buy them so....

I was talking about port wine you know. But no matter, I think I know what you thought.

I'm actually one of those rare people in this country that didn't drink before they're supposed to - I'd say I've made up for the lost time later though!

What is your free trade slider now?

I have a strong belief that it's +3.

Nicely done, some useful gains. At this rate of expansion I daresay Brunswick could have one of her rulers elected Emperor within the next fity or so years!

Could have, I'm sure. Even sooner - I have strong relations with most countries and elector Oldenburg as vassal, while most of the majors are pissing people off. But the fact that I'm actively avoiding that slows it down. Because frankly, I'm playing somewhat ahead of the AAR and it's looking more and more likely that France becomes IN-ish. You know, that we're going to have a proper Big Blue Blob in this game. So I really don't want to become HRE with a mid-sized country here. The French would slaughter me if they could reach me, which they would if I were HRE.

The sea!
nice to see Brunswick doing well

Update coming up!

[Malurous]

1442-1446: Reasoning with Brandenburg

The formation of the regency council for Erich turned out to be controversial. One noble, Friedrich Wilhelm Hattendorf, didn't react well to being left out, and assembled a private army.



While causing regrettable loss of life, the rebellion was thoroughly unsuccessful and Hattendorf's troops were defeated in only two months in a series of four battles around northern Brunswick.

Meanwhile, Bavaria's annexation of Thuringia created a monster on Brunswick's southern border.



The nobles found Bavaria extremely threatening, and decided that the court had to improve to cope with the new situation. As a first step, Treasurer Eickenroth was replaced by the more skilled Otto Schütze, whose father and grandfather had held the same position earlier.



Next, production techniques in the nation were modernized. This had tangible effects on Brunswick's revenues by the start of the next summer.



Finally, in late summer 1443, the council instituted the Brunswick Navy. Consisting of first one and later two Carracks originally commissioned by the Bremians before the inheritance, the Navy would help protect the northern part of the country, making a two front struggle less likely.

Feeling safer after these reforms, the nobles had no qualms about claiming the Osnabrück area for Brunswick in early 1444 after disputes between Osnabrück's and Hannover's nobles led to some of the foreign nobility backing such a claim.



However, it wasn't Bavaria or Münster that would put Brunswick's revamped war machine to its first test. In fact, Münster was standing by Brunswick's side, joining the protection of ally Magdeburg against a Brandenburgian attack. Keen to regain their glory and joined by Austria and Hesse, the Brandenburgian side outnumbered the opposition nearly four to one.



Led by newly promoted general Jaxtheim, Brunswick's army fought Hesse first, protecting Münster from that nation's aggression.



After the initial January 1445 battle, the Hessian army was wiped out on Brunswick's side of the border the next month. Jaxtheim left Münster to take care of sieging Hesse's lands and hurried to Magdeburg's aid.

Brunswick followed a familiar plan and the army headed straight for Brandenburg itself. The city fell on September 18.



Still, Brandenburg wasn't willing to negotiate yet - Brunswick would have to force their hand some more.

The army Brandenburg had in Altmark was too large for Jaxtheim to relieve the province, especially since Joachim I Hector, the Brandenburger King, was a general of legendary reputation. So instead, Jaxtheim lifted the smaller sieges in Brunswick and Westfalen, slaying all enemy forces on Brunswick's soil.

This, however, left Altmark vulnerable, and Brandenburg conquered the province in the beginning of 1446.



This wasn't enough to faze Brunswick. With Brandenburg's forces moving on to Anhalt, Brunswick occupied the weakly defended Altmark in the end of January. At the same time, Münster won the siege of Hessen.

The Brandenburgian army would spend the rest of the war outside the walls of Dessau, unable to solve one of the more advanced defenses in the world at this point in time. Münster and Brunswick were able to occupy Nassau and Ruppin in the meantime, so both Hesse and Brandenburg had most of their territory held by enemies without being able to make any progress themselves. Finally in July, they had no choice but to negotiate.

Brandenburg was forced to re-release the conquered Magdeburg, as well as to recognize a Brunswicker Anhalt and an independent Meissen. The regency council hoped that the latter would prevent further Brandenburgian hostilities.

[Athalcor]

hmm, that Bavaria is....not small.

[Omen]

A very dynamic HRE. Good to see you're in the thick of it. A gentleman shys not from battle.

[morningSIDEr]

The nations neighbouring you are rather large to put it mildly, thus hopefully they will leave you to expand as you are doing for a while longer. Still, gaining more allies via the various releases secured from Brandenburg should prove useful.

[Boris ze Spider]

It seems as if you have escaped a sticky situation, well done good sir.

[blsteen]

Congrats on bringing the war to a successful conclusion. Even with the blobbing alert you hopefully will be able to hold your own with a little help

[Keanon]

I can never take the name of Brunswick seriously, it's too much like brunsviger, a favourite cake of mine!


Edit: http://www.google.dk/images?um=1&hl=...w=1280&bih=865

Google link of the cake.

[gabor]

That was a cleverly waged war. You've officially become a medium power. Btw, is there a way to become the Electorate of Hannover? Whenever I play the game I like having such a mid-term goal.

[Dewirix]

A nice pre-emptive war with Brandenburg means that they're locked into a five-year truce with you giving you a free(r) hand to go after your new core in Münster.

Barvaria is doing worringly well though. It would be useful if they got dragged into a war with someone else.

[Malurous]

hmm, that Bavaria is....not small.

You don't say!

A very dynamic HRE. Good to see you're in the thick of it. A gentleman shys not from battle.

You've gotta protect the weak.

And for several gameplay reasons as well: as I can't take provinces without a core and (because of RP) don't force-vassalize anyone deemed "innocent", having those OPMs around means extra opportunities to increase my power by diplomatic vassalizations. Also, those vassals are simple to diploannex in the future if I ever get a core on their province. Additionally, I could eventually add anyone resisting vassalization to my SoI, again making it easier to add the province if I get a core.

And most importantly, boundary disputes fire twice as often inside the HRE if there are at least 25 member states. It goes without saying that that's huge in a game like this.

The nations neighbouring you are rather large to put it mildly, thus hopefully they will leave you to expand as you are doing for a while longer. Still, gaining more allies via the various releases secured from Brandenburg should prove useful.

It's clear that something has to be done about them sooner or later. But for now, I'm happy with expanding when I can and working the diplomacy.

It seems as if you have escaped a sticky situation, well done good sir.

Cheers! It was very helpful, not to mention good from a story perspective, that Brandenburg decided to sit on the "local fortification expert" province for most of the war.

Congrats on bringing the war to a successful conclusion. Even with the blobbing alert you hopefully will be able to hold your own with a little help

Thanks! Yeah, those blobs have to be taken care of, but I'm sure I'll eventually come up with something.

I can never take the name of Brunswick seriously, it's too much like brunsviger, a favourite cake of mine!

Haha! Does that word have a meaning and if so, how would you translate it? Brown something?

That was a cleverly waged war. You've officially become a medium power. Btw, is there a way to become the Electorate of Hannover? Whenever I play the game I like having such a mid-term goal.

Thanks! No way to do anything like that, besides, wasn't the official name Brunswick-Lüneburg?

I'm not sure there should be either as far as game mechanics go, as Brunswick and Hannover represent different things in the game. Over the game's time period, the Brunswick, Lüneburg and Hannover (exists in later starts) tags jump all over the place, representing a myriad of dynasties and combinations of them, some of them at a very illogical or wrong place and/or time. Not that I blame Paradox, thanks to local succession laws the history of this region has countless branches breaking away and combining at different times and places. It's impossible to represent accurately in a game like this.

Hmm, probably we came up with a less divisive succession law when the von Welfs died out, makes sense.

A nice pre-emptive war with Brandenburg means that they're locked into a five-year truce with you giving you a free(r) hand to go after your new core in Münster.

True. Magdeburg's release also turns out to have a pretty central role in the close future...

Barvaria is doing worringly well though. It would be useful if they got dragged into a war with someone else.

The positive here is that they have so much unlawful imperial territory that they should go over the infamy limit eventually. I just have to cope until that happens.

[blsteen]

Cope well...
Magdeburg is now a piece of meat exposed for the sharks to feed on.

[FinnishFish]

Nom nom nom on that Madgebur nom nom nom

[Keanon]

Yeah Brown first, sviger is a bit more dunno, you also use it about your spouses parents, Svigerfar and Svigermor, and the way it is pronounced it sounds like Svie which is a kind of pain. Yeah I have no idea really, but it's their name :b I'd say most likely they're named after this region in Germany like Wienerbrød (Which is called Danish in britain xD) is, and we just made swick sound danish as svig. Either way this is a nice AAR, sorry about the derail, this is just a reason why I never choose Brunswick, I pick stuff like Saxony if I want german minors :b

[Malurous]

Cope well...
Magdeburg is now a piece of meat exposed for the sharks to feed on.

That's why I'm keeping the alliance that I got with Magdeburg and intend to protect them if I can. It's true that they certainly aren't safe where they are.

Nom nom nom on that Madgebur nom nom nom

If someone tries to do that, they'll have to answer to me.

Yeah Brown first, sviger is a bit more dunno, you also use it about your spouses parents, Svigerfar and Svigermor, and the way it is pronounced it sounds like Svie which is a kind of pain. Yeah I have no idea really, but it's their name :b I'd say most likely they're named after this region in Germany like Wienerbrød (Which is called Danish in britain xD) is, and we just made swick sound danish as svig. Either way this is a nice AAR, sorry about the derail, this is just a reason why I never choose Brunswick, I pick stuff like Saxony if I want german minors :b

So it's Brown-dunno, at least in that sense it's the same as Brunswick's German form Braunschweig, which I can only translate as Brown-dunno! But interesting stuff nevertheless, it could very well be that it's just a Danish form of Brunswick as it sounds more or less same.

And no problem, I always encourage readers to go off on a tangent if something in my AAR inspires them to, and still I've never seen it get out of hand.