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Fyregecko: I forgot to say this when I first saw your signature, but now that I remember: considering the theme of this AAR, I very much approve. :laugh:

The borders have been cleared up nicely now. Although its not Germany yet, we can say this: Welcome to the North Germanic Union!

I guess you could say that, getting rid of the Dutch minors does make it look a lot more sophisticated. ;) Still hoping to get the Baltic connection though, and that might take a while...

Such a pleasant brown color as well.

Are there any nations left who would offer you a challenge? Or would it have to be a vast alliance?

No single nation, no. But there are still quite a few that can keep me busy.

That was a lucky string of cores, for aesthetic purposes. Those Dutch provinces have lots of money, too!

Indeed, I was very happy to get those.

Bohemia is starting to look foolish with you pinching their starting cores like that! But what will you do if you core Bohemia province itself?

Hope that I get cores on the surrounding provinces (or someone else conquers them) before the core expires, basically. :D Much like with for example Würzburg earlier where I sat around with the core until the nation was conquered by Bavaria, allowing me to grab the former capital.

France has recovered into a decent medium-sized country. You're a Boundary Dispute away from war with them (or maybe you should contrive to release some Imperial states). I guess this wouldn't be a problem?

Not really. Chances are I'll just rip them into pieces when the situation calls for it, especially since with their capital in Savoie I can't use them to get cores via Imperial Reconquest because they're a member state.

Since Lithuania is now a two-province country, wouldn't it be more convenient if Tver conquered them, avoiding the possibility of having a core on the captirla you can't take?

Brunswick kind of looks like a fish now.

:laugh:

Now I would like to free Pskov for that very reason before it gets independence somewhere else, but overall I'm protecting Lithuania for a reason. Lithuania's capital is a non-HRE province, while Bohemia has a good number of provinces that they've added to the Empire that have the potential to defect to Lithuania if Bohemia ever runs into serious rebel problems. So by keeping Lithuania around I create the possibility of getting Imperial Reconquest cores in the area down the line.

It's stuff like this that I mean when I talk about trying to engineer cores. Although officially such gains by non-HRE nations are obviously an outrage and the provinces will be immediately seized by the protector Brunswick to defend the people of the Empire. :D

Such pleasing borders you have there... :D

Thanks, I agree they're much better now. :)
 

Now I would like to free Pskov for that very reason before it gets independence somewhere else, but overall I'm protecting Lithuania for a reason. Lithuania's capital is a non-HRE province, while Bohemia has a good number of provinces that they've added to the Empire that have the potential to defect to Lithuania if Bohemia ever runs into serious rebel problems. So by keeping Lithuania around I create the possibility of getting Imperial Reconquest cores in the area down the line.

It's stuff like this that I mean when I talk about trying to engineer cores. Although officially such gains by non-HRE nations are obviously an outrage and the provinces will be immediately seized by the protector Brunswick to defend the people of the Empire. :D

Oh! I can see a real gentleman that protect a country so you can defend other defensless populations from unrightfull conquerors that maybe (hopefully) will come :rolleyes:
 
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It's interesting that your expansion is west/east oriented - it looks like there is some sort of barrier in the south.
 
It's interesting that your expansion is west/east oriented - it looks like there is some sort of barrier in the south.

He is avoiding contamination from those Wurst/Beer chuging monsters of Bavaria. Such food, bevrages are decidedly un-Gentlemanly!
 
Oh! I can see a real gentleman that protect a country so you can defend other defensless populations from unrightfull conquerors that maybe (hopefully) will come :rolleyes:

Hey, I just protect the weak, it's not my fault if they then go on a conquering spree! :D

Fyregecko: Excellent! :) I especially like the kind facial expressions. This made me happy, thanks!

So what are your current aims? :p

Apart from obviously going for any cores I get, I need to find ways to liberate some HRE states. The amount of members is right around the limit for the large HRE bonus for boundary disputes and I have to make sure I keep getting that.

It's interesting that your expansion is west/east oriented - it looks like there is some sort of barrier in the south.

If I had to guess, that barrier is Franken. The game doesn't want to give me Germany. :p

I guess this might be the lack of hm... hm... free cores ;)

Indeed. But in fact, the map is much more sensible than I feared when I started this. I thought Brunswick might become all snaky with these house rules.

He is avoiding contamination from those Wurst/Beer chuging monsters of Bavaria. Such food, bevrages are decidedly un-Gentlemanly!

Hmm, this gave me a funny mental image of gentlemanly Brunswickers trying to act (and eat and drink) all elegant and sophisticated in an Oktoberfest-like setting...
 
1615-1620: Driving Out the British

With the surrounding area completely under Brunswicker control, Syndic Hattendorf was able to convince the people of Antwerpen that being ruled by Brunswick would have them in a better situation than their current status as British citizens.

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Similarly, the Bohemian exclave of Poznan, a province suffering from plenty of unrest and instability under their oppressive masters, sought Brunswick's guidance.

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Other than these, most of the events of interest in the next two years concerned the military. General Schütze passed away in October 1616, while Hattendorf's reforms to further improve Brunswick's infantry tactics could be said to have reached completion in February 1617.

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Later that year, the Empire suffered a great blow as France conquered Lorraine as well as parts of Provence, and forced Luxemburg to become a vassal. The Emperor could not act as the small nations' coalition was the aggressor.

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The best response Brunswick could give for the time being was securing the French border area: this meant reclaiming Antwerpen from the British. War was declared in December, catching the Bavarian and Swiss ire in the process.

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To join Wassman and Talken, generals Erich Lindemann - a second cousin of admiral Heinrich Julius Lindemann - and Julius Jaxtheim were promoted to handle the many theaters of the war. The talented Lindemann would fight Bavaria, Wassman occupy Antwerpen, Talken board the fleet and head for Ireland, and Jaxtheim guard the home front in case the Swiss or even the Bavarians tried to come in elsewhere.

The first battles of the war took place in early January 1618. Wassman and Lindemann made successful pushes into enemy territory, while the fleet captured an English transport and sunk another while clearing the way for Talken's operation.

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With the strong first moves, the most difficult part was over. Franken and Antwerpen were soon taken, while the major enemy armies were hammered further and other small fleets dealt with.

By May the situation appeared to be fully under control. The British troops in Antwerpen had been eliminated, the Swiss were unable to enter Brunswick thanks to Jaxtheim's efforts, and the Bavarian army, originally 43000 men strong, was down to less than a half of that amount with minimal casualties to the slightly larger Brunswicker army.

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The triumphant warfare made Hattendorf's re-election a certainty. Brunswick's first elected Syndic had now spent 48 years in office.

Lindemann continued chasing after the Bavarians, closing in for victorious battles where possible. Meanwhile, now that Antwerpen was down, Wassman was free to head for British Brittany. His push into Armor succeeded in July.

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By late August, most of the troops that the enemy coalition had in theater had been slaughtered. Provinces were now beginning to fall everywhere from Bavaria to British Brittany to Ireland. Once again, the British people were starting to become rowdy due to their king's stubborn refusals to sign a reasonable peace agreement.

But the British would not budge and had to be persuaded further. By January 1619 their mainland provinces except for Labourd, all of the Irish holdings, all of Bavaria and parts of Switzerland were under Brunswicker occupation.

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In February, Hattendorf decided to sign a separate peace with Bavaria. By the terms of the resulting agreement, the nation was cut in half, with a resurgent Baden administering the western part.

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While this led to one less group pressuring the British to capitulate, the Syndic wasn't concerned as he had another trick up his sleeve. The fleet was sent to take over Orkney, and this simply struck too close to home for the British. The rich province of Antwerpen was handed to Brunswick.

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The Low Countries were now fully clear of British presence.

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The navy had played a large part in the latest campaign, but Hattendorf wasn't content: striking at England itself was still unrealistic as Brunswick couldn't haul enough troops over the channel all at once. A new fleet of merchantmen was commissioned to remedy this.

Poznan was next on the agenda. After moving ships into position and transferring Lindemann, Jaxtheim and Wassman to the east, war was declared in the beginning of September.

The Bohemian armies were badly out of date, and the initial battles of the war reflected this. Three enemy contingents were dealt with by early October, including a large one led by the skilled Ctibor Zatec.

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As such, Brunswick's men were able to go on a rampage. Enemy provinces were dropping like flies, and by January 1620 over half of the nation was under Brunswicker occupation. Bohemia had no choice but to not only cede Poznan, but also release the Ukraine as a sovereign state.

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With the liberation of a strong new Imperial nation, Hattendorf was able to substantially strengthen the weakened Holy Roman Empire.

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Antwerpen fell. Those boundary disputes mount up for gentleman. Bohemia looks a sorry mess compared to the state before its crossed Brunswick. More cores and you'll be creating the link to the Baltric
 
Borders fully cleaned up!

I think it's time Bavaria just gave up. How many times have they been reduced to their stating provinces?

I see you stripped GB of their Northumberland core. Serves them right for not using Reconquest ages ago. But I thought same-culture-group cores were permanent?

I think you did Bohemia a favor by taking Poznan off their hands.

And they really did add a lot of provinces to the Empire if Ukraine is an Imperial state!

Any more chance of those Lithuanian rebels now you've wrecked the Bohemian army again?

Speaking of the Empire, while you don't have an Imperial Ban CB on France since you're not the Emperor (or would you not have one anyway since they're in the Empire?), do you think you could give yourself a role-playing reason to go to war without an in-game CB and release those handful of Imperial states they've eaten? It would be infamy-free aside from the DoW hit. It would give a comfortable cushion to the Imperial Integrity bonus as well as keep France from regaining too much strength.

And isn't it time you diplo-annexed Ansbach? You'll be bordering a bunch more provinces if you do and get a third Franken border.

I like how you cited "securing the French border region" as a reason for taking Antwerp. It's good to think of reasons for annexation in your narrative other than "the King (or Syndic) convinced them Brunswick was awesome".
 
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I was waiting for you to get Antwerpen. You must have more cash than you know what to do with now. Does the Syndic take his morning swim in a huge swimming pool filled with gold? Or would that be ungentlemanly?
 
So...not that I'm biased but..
The French smack around "your" Imperial integrity so...you smack the British around.
Hmmm very continental.
Excellent update, nice to see that Brunswick is so well proportioned. Now for the Polish Corridor.
Oh and Franken too.
 
Now you should move South. There's hope a core will pop up conveniently enough to justifie this move -> towards unified Germany.

You should smack those Frenchies... :p
Well... Hm... hm... As in the West France is fragmented, and in the East there's no united Rssia, and you can beat England at sea; I can hardly see anyone who could oppose you. Unless China has crossed the Urals. ;) Were you playing without your gentlemanly rules, you'd pbly go after Europe conquest out of sheer boredom or 'because-I-can' factor.