Turn 2: the Bavarian Beast
Jim: Welcome back, dear viewers, to the second round of Double Domination: Germany versus Japan. With me is Bob. Good to see you, Bob.
Bob: Likewise, Jim.
Jim: Looks like the Japanese team is going for an agressive start again.
Bob: Indeed Jim. While in their absence the Taira Daimyo has secured an alliance with Fujiwara, this alliance is instantly shattered when Taira declares war on Minamoto in 1420. Fujiwara joins its ally Minamoto instead of Taira and Tachibana honours its guarantee on Minamoto.
Jim: Seems that the Japanese team wants those cores on Minamoto right away.
Bob: Taira now faces an allied army almost twice as large as theirs. The Japanese team again goes for their tried strategy of first finishing off Fujiwara and then turn southward. Ohh, bit of a setback there, the Taira Daimyoi is killed in combat. Doesn't stop the Japanese team, as they conquer the Fujiwara capital and force a white peace out of it in 1421.
Jim: After annihilating Fujiwara's army, I might add.
Bob: Correct, Jim. The overall military strategy of the Japanese team is to wipe out the main armies of their enemies and then split up their forces for sieging. However, the Taira navy isn't that strong, which probably is the reason they give 25 ducats to tachibana for peace. As the agressor, Taira loses 20 Legitimacy by this, quite a setback.
Jim: But a necessary one nonetheless. At the end of 1422, Taira has control over most of Minamoto's territory and can force a nice peace: Harima and Tanba are gained, as you can see on this image.
Bob: After this victory, things quiet down at the Japanese isles. The participants are strengthening the new Daimyo's rule, making Taira more Centralized. They also get a new mission from the referee:
Jim: Umm, Bob, isn't that mission quite impossible to fullfil?
Bob: I'm afraid you're right, Jim, but the referee won't budge, even after numerous complains from the Japanese team, sponsors, the IDDA and even the German team! Guess the Japanese team has to live with it!
Jim: Ridiculous. I normally fully support referee decisions but this is just unfair.
Bob: In the years 1423-1430, the Japanese team builds up is economy. In 1425 Land 4 is reached and armories are being built. In 1428 Production 4 is obtained, giving access to the always welcome Constables. Furthermore, the assasination of nobles offers the Japanese team a chace to empower the merchant class, moving Taira towards a more Plutocratic kind of rule.
Jim: All with all, a solid but not overwhelming turn by the Japanese team.
Bob: True, but Taira has now been established to be the main power in Japan and even beyond: take a look at these statistics gathered by the IDDA officials.
Taira has now the second largest economy in East Asia, with only Ming being bigger. Inflation is high, though. The Japanese team has to watch that if they want to have a sound economy.
Jim: Germany is now inserted into the alternative timeline, to the year 1430. Let's punch up a satellite image.
Interesting...Austria has lost a lot of territory, in particular to newly formed nations Styria and Tirol. An other interesting political change is that Bavaria is no longer allied with Hungary but instead is now allied with Brandenburg.
Bob: Some good changes for the German team.
Jim: Certainly, Bob. And the German team makes use of this immediately by declaring a War of Reconquest of Konstanz on Wurtemburg.
Bob: Both teams sure love declaring war the moment they arive, don't they?
Jim: Yup. Anyway, a quite mighty alliance is formed on Wurtemburg's side: Austria, Switzerland, Alsace, Hainaut, Modena and Ulm join, with Switzerland leading. On Bavaria's side only Brandenburg and the Palatinate join.
Bob: If I may interrupt, I want to point out that while this might give the audience the impression that the German team has a difficult fight ahead, the Bavarian alliance has 40 regiments on it side, while the Swiss alliance only has 24 regiments. Also, remember that Bavaria has Military Drill, making its troops very deadly.
Jim: Thank you Bob, for clearing that up. Besides, Austria has been badly mangled by Bohemia before and still has a high war exhaustion. So it comes to no surprise that in September Ulm is vassalized by Bavaria and in October Wurtemburg cedes Konstanz and is vassalized itself. Also, a 5 regiment Swiss army and a 4 regiment Alsacian army are annihilated.
Bob: Painful.
Jim: And the pain continues in 1431. After a couple of harsh defeats for the Austrian army in Linz, in April Austria cedes Linz to Bavaria. Another 4 Swiss regiments are wiped out. Due to the Palatinate's support, Alsace is vassalized. At the end of the year Switzerland concedes defeat, ending a very succesful war.
Bob: Unfortunetaly, for the German team, in their absence the Bavarian king has increased his hold on the country, so that the country is no longer fully Decentralized. The German team is thus forced to again use up their political influence to empower the local elite, increasing Decentralization.
Jim: The political experts on the German team are quite busy indeed. As the serfs become upset, the German team uses this upheaval to force the nobility to give their serfs even more rights. According to the Brockenheim scale, this means that Bavaria moves a bit towards the Free Subjects end of the Freedom scale.
Bob: Looks like the German team goes for a free Germany.
Jim: Hang on, I'm getting reports on the spionage activity of Team Germany. Hmmm, seems that they want to push a Personal Union on Saxony.
Bob: Makes sense. Leipzig is one of the required provinces to form the German nation and Saxony is an Elector.
Jim: They send spies to fabricate claims on Saxony, once....twice...three times....four times witout success! With each of these missions costing 100 ducats, that's a lot of wealth going down the drain!
Bob: Our analysts estimate that each mission's success chance was about 65%. I can imagine the frustration of the German team, as the odds of this unlucky streak is about 1.5%.
Jim: Harsh. But wait, it seems the fortunes are changing. Yes! In 1436, after four years Bavaria has finally managed to cook up a convincing claim on the Saxon throne.
Bob: But isn't Saxony allied with Brandenburg?
Jim: Apparantly the German team is willing to give up on that alliance, as they do declare war on Saxony!
The Palatinate once again joins on Bavaria's side, but on Saxony's side Thuringen, Hesse and Brandenburg join. Let's take a look on the alliance overview.
Bavaria has only a slight disadvantage in troop numbers, while having stronger troops due to Military Drill. This should be interesting.
Bob: I see that the German team favours assaults...Thuringen's provinces are taken in just two months. But wait...Thuringen is annexed by Bavaria!
Jim: Risky. As Bavaria has no cores on Thuringen, the HRE no doubt will interfere at some point. But I can understand this move to an extend: both provinces are needed to form Germany and apparantly the German team annexed Thuringen in order to get those cores as quickly as possible.
Bob: And now they have Leipzig. But the war still continues...
Jim: The Bavarian troops move north, intercept the Brandenburgian troops, and annihilate them! Only Hesse has troops left and these are locked in combat with the Palatinatian army.
Bob: The lack of opposing troops makes it possible to spread out forces. All four Brandenburgian provinces are now sieged simultanously.
Jim: And it works, Bob. In 1437 Brandenburg is vassalized!
Bob: Oh dear, that won't help with keeping infamy down. But vassalizing an Elector is indeed very much worth it.
Jim: With only Hesse left as active opposition, the war is concluded quickly. Hesse is vassalized in 1438 and Saxony is put into a union with Bavaria. The German team has now four electors under control!
Bob: Too bad for them, it won't help them in the short term, as because of the extremely high infamy of Bavaria, even its own vassals won't vote for it!
What's worse is that the Emperor Bohemia now formally requests Bavaria to surrender its illegal provinces.
Jim: I would doubt that the German team hasn't forseen this and took this into account. At any rate, they deny the request. The high infamy of the Bavarian king causes the peasants to protest. Again, the German team grabs this opportunity to reduce serfdom and make the Bavarian people more free.
Bob: And with that the German turn is nearly over, with the German team waiting for the infamy to drop...
Jim: Wait Bob, seems the German team isn't finishd yet...they send a spy to Lüneburg to forge a claim...and it's succesful! But it's March 1439, only nine months until they have to leave. Do they dare...?
Jim: Yes! Those crazy Germans are going for it!
Bob: The Hansa and the Elector Cologne join Lüneburg, but they are too weak to pose a threat to Bavaria.
Jim: Bavaria gains control over Lüneburg, will they make peace...no, they go southward and assault Cologne! And they vassalize Cologne! Bavaria has now five, I repeat five elector under control! In June Bavaria forms an Union with Lüneburg, ending the war.
The German supporters here in the studio are going crazy! This turn was an amazing victory for the German team! They gained four provinces, six vassals and two Unions!
Bob: While they pay their victory with an extremely high infamy and at a large monetary cost, I must agree that the performance of the German team in this turn was impressive. Let's take a look at the current Bavarian empire:
Jim: Bavaria is well on its way to form Germany. Only Brunswick, Mecklenburg, Altmark and Anhalt are not yet under Bavarian control. The Japanese team has to do very well in the next turn if they want to stay ahead.
With that, this very exciting turn has ended and we must bid you adieu. Until next time!
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