Chapter Three
That was the 7th of August, two days later
Burgundy DOWs France! Burgundy has the same sized army as France although that excludes the French vassals. Later that month…
Castile declaring war isn’t too bad while France is distracted by Burgundy. I may take a 4BB hit here if it gets me another Castilian coastal province - stopping colonisation dead is vital for long term success. It does make peace with Algiers more of a priority - I need the army back from North Africa.
Peace with Algiers - January 1418
BB is 10.26 / 25.00 falling at 1.10 a year. With a new border I now have the Holy War CB against Tunisia so they promptly send a warning, which may prove unnecessary.
Having waited several months for the cascading alliances to work through the war situation is very interesting. The Burgundian attack on France has really affected the position. While Burgundy vs. France is a full alliance conflict my wars are:
England, Aragon and Portugal vs. France and Epirus
England, Aragon and Portugal vs. Castile
I doubt I’ll get a better opportunity any time soon…
Peace with Castile - May 1418
This isn’t BB efficient at all but it does help stopping Castile. Also a nice picture of the English holding in southern Spain. Time to concentrate on France - I’d like to extract a couple of my cores. By the end of the year a beleaguered France is offering White Peace - lets face it that will never do will it. August 1419 and Aragon peaces out, France annexes Provence but otherwise things look pretty good.
September 1420 - Mission switch.
This is the jackpot! Occupying Paris gives cores on most of northern France. Of course right now Paris is under Burgundian siege so I might have a wait but I’ve lots of BB to run down. I’ve +44 war score and France has no army and no navy. Over the next couple of years Portugal leaves the war, Orleans joins and Brittany peaces out from the Burgundian alliance. This allows me to seize a few more provinces but until Burgundy makes peace I can’t occupy Paris for all those cores.
French peace with Burgundy - February 1423
Now it gets interesting…
Mid June and Aragon calls me to war against French vassal Foix. I honour the call but as I’m already at war with France I don’t actually get to join in.
A new King - March 1424
Not much of a king but diplo 6 is better than the last two. Then again the heir is diplo 8 so I’ll make the new guy a general in the hope of getting rid of him quickly. He does inherit a great war position.
A month later I get my first boundary dispute - a core on Ayrshire brings war with Scotland a lot closer.
Paris falls - October 1424
I DOW cored French vassal OPM Alencon, might as well pick up a core while it’s easy.
December 1424
Oh.