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Antipope
Dec 11, 2004
4.650
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The year was 1419 of our Lord and the young Duke of Wessex stared across the Thames, accompanied by 18,000 soldiers, an army larger than any that had been raised since the implosion of the Kingdom of England over 250 years earlier.
He cursed the names of Matilda and Stefan under his breath, they had ruined his beloved country, their greedy civil war had gone on for too long, Scotland had grown aggresive and taken Northumberland and still the country feuded.

Wales had taken half of the midlands and the country still fought itself. Even when normandy had declared independence and joined Brittany, depriving England of its contintental possessions.

It had taken the Scottish march on London to unite the remains of the kingdom, but it was not enough and the Scots had beheaded the English army. The north was lost, it became a vassal state of Scotland under the bootlicking Percies, London begged the Hansa for protection, and became a free city and the rump state of England was reduced to the home counties, his ancestors even lost Cornwall, the price for Bretonic support against the marauding scots.

The once mighty Kings of England and Normandy had become Dukes of Wessex, in all but name vassals of Brittany

But, Henry swore to himself, here was the turning point, he would restore the empire of William the conquerer and give Englishmen back their country.

Raising his standard he motioned his horse across the stone bridge, planting the flag of Wessex upon the other side, for war had been declared on the spineless percies, and Henry II would not rest until Wessex had retaken all that had been lost to them. And may God help any scotsman, frenchman or german who stood in his way.





Playing Interregnum (formerly aberration) GC on normal/normal as the Dukes of Wessex, I hope you enjoy my AAR :)
 
Henry had planned this war for years, and it must go perfectly or the last flame of English independence would go out. Bretonic and Norman support was given and the army of Henry included over 10,000 mounted knights, near ever lord in the country supplemented by any burgher who could bear arms, supported by the peasants equipped with short spears and swords, proof of Henry's offensive tactics they were only meant for holding the enemy, the cavarly were the killers in his army.

Henry held commanded, with his brother Bedford commanding the main foot detachment (Henry 3-3-4-1/Bedford4-4-3-1)

The first and only battle against the Yorkist forces was only a battle insofar as 2 opposing armies were present at the start. Before first blood was drawn nearly a third of the yorkist forces had defected, their resentment at their lieges acceptance of Scottish rule finally made them break their sacred oaths.

The remnants of the Percies's army held no cavarly and was litterally swept away in Henry's first charge, leaving the way to York open. Henry himself led the seige of York leaving Bedford to take the poorly defended towns surrounding Derby and Lincoln.

Around the beseiging armies swarmed the armies of Brittany and Normandy, marching north into Northumberland and Scotland itself, few returned and the scottish counterstrike could not be long in coming. Still it did not come fast enough for their puppets as they surrendered the countryside surrounding Lincoln. Bedford marched north and for the ports of Liverpool and Manchester, under direct scottish rule.

Unfortunately the best laid plans come awry, and even Henry's were not infalliable, the flaw that appeared was Brittany, the greedy King annexed the remanining Yorkist lands direct to himself, to the fury of Henry. They ignored his anger and the King of Brittany even took command of the Lancashire seiges from the Bedford before peacing out for a measly 50 ducats.

This left Wessex to face the rising scottish tide, brittany had betrayed them and there was no way Wessex could accomplish what England could not, Scotland seemed assured to increase their grip on the entire Isle.

Yet Wessex would not go down without a fight, and Bedford and Henry marshalled the diminished forces to stave off the Scots, and their Norwegian allies. Bedford continued his patient seiging of Lancashire as Henry attempted to move south to reinforce with fresh recruits, alas the Scots had 2 advantage here that the brave men of Wessex could not match.

The scottish fleet was able to ferry men to attack Winchester itself, and scottish raiders became commonplace for the rest of the war something Henry would remember for the rest of his life. Meanwhile the Welsh, cultural allies of Scotland allowed Scottish armies free passage into the south, Bristol was under constant seige or occupation, and Henry was cut off from his Duchy by the hostile army holding the south side of the Thames.

Things were indeed looking bleak as the Earl of Buchan, scotland's foremost general took Bristol and split his army to march on Winchester and Lincoln, but in doing so he made a grave error, perhaps he beleived no army remained in England to resist him, perhaps he simply beleived that his army could beat anything raised by the soft englishmen.

He was mistaken, and Henry's depleted army rushed forwards to engage the scattering scots, it would be a close battle, the two acknowledged masters of War in the isles facing eachother but Henry led his army more than as a brilliant strategist, he commanded the soul of every recruit with his bravery and charisma. The speech he gave him men before the battle of Eaglethorpe would live through history, immortalised by Shakespere less than 200 years later "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, we who stand against the Scots, we shall triumph!!!"

agincourt.jpg


The battle was one of the bloodiest ever fought in England, yet at the end of it it was the English who stood firm and the scots who fled after the Earl of Buchan had been beheaded by the Count of Reading, and the immediate Scottish threat had been ended.

Bristol was slowly taken back but it was a long and difficult task as raiding norwegian and scotish armies frequently landed along the Severn and ambushed the liberators.
In the north the news was worse, Lord Bedford had been beaten by the highland armies and had retreated to Bretonic york with less than a thousand men, where he was slain by the treacherous Bretonic lord at the command of the King of Brittany, who was concerned with the growth and resistance of Wessex to Scotland, he wished a subserviant Wessex, not a strong growing one.

When news reached Henry he was torn by grief, Bedford was as dear to him as any brother could be and his loss was also crippling for Wessex, unfortunately his death drove Henry to recklessness and during a routine battle to drive off some raiders, Henry and his guard got cut off from their support and were cut down by the Norwegian jarls, Henry barely survived thanks to the quick arrival of the Earl of Dover but he could never command in the field again and Wessex had lost its two generals and much of its army, the treasury was forced to take out loans just to pay for the armies wages.

But one last gamble was taken by the bedbound King, he used the loaned money to recruit and arm 10,000 cavarly and 5,000 infantry and he sent them all north, trusting his old army to take back Bristol.

Thankfully Scotland were on there last legs it seemed, and Lancashire and Northumberland were seiged with little resitance, Henry's gamble was executed and the 10,000 cavarly marched on Edinborough itself, leaving a small force to secure Northumberland, any major scottish defence would have destoryed any hope for Wessex, but none came.

Edinborough fell with barely a fight, only a few thousand scots attempted to save it and they were disorganised and surrendered quickly. With Lancashire under English control and the Royal Family of Scotland in the hands of the now famous Lincoln Lancers peace was secured, signed by Henry with much relief, he had accomplished this much before his death at least.

Most thought he would die of his wounds soon, but he lived on, he kept himself alive with the need to create a stable country for his heir Henry III, only 2 years old, and he knew that Brittany would have to be punished for it betrayal or it would destory the country his infant son would inherit.
 
Hmm, first Calipah, now you. Interregnum sure gets a nice following :D

And interesting, if troubled, start. Good luck beating everyone off ;)
 
Violent start, but a solid one.
 
To those not knowing how to select Wessex:

You need the Interregnum mod (in the mods section under the name aberration) http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=241

And play as normal, out of interest beta 6.10???? what the hell is that :confused:

And interrregnum is good because it means I do not need to make my AAR extraordinary through awsome writing, the setting does that for me ;)

Btw if anyone downloads interregnum have a look at the Wessex event file, I am a contributor :D
 
Hmm, very interesting looking setting - I'll have to check it out!

Very nice beginning. :)
 
Having just realised the problem Nobegow and Hurricane Hunter have I now have an actual solution.

The tag PUR is not in the list of selectables in the event file, to fix this open up the scenario file with word and where it lists all the country tags add in PUR in the middle somewhere.

It is now selectable :)

And update coming by the weekend
 
Or sooner :cool:


Henry II still lay near helpless on his the bed that had been blessed by the priests in preparation for the Last Rites, but he still held doggedly to life long after he should have succumbed to his wounds.

Governmental matters had largely devolved into the responsibility of Parliament and for the most part they ran the country well, serfdom was unheard of and freedom if not equality was commonplace in the Duchy of Wessex.

But matters of foreign affairs were still conducted by the Duke himself, and so control of Wessex's destiny was still in his hands, although any decisions that he and the privy council took would have to be carried out by loyal lords.

"The time has come to continue what we began 5 years ago, we have regained our strength and repaid our debts and our army stands as large as it can without harming the economy. Therefore my lords I propose to attack the anarchic state of Wales and take back the cities of Coventry and Birmingham and push the welsh back to there sheep infested hills". Henry's voice rose with conviction but a bout of coughing reminded those assembled how weak the ruler of their country was.

Marshall Hewitts, commander of the Duchy's armies nodded, "Agreed sir, they have no armies to hope to match ours, their army of 7,000 men is split between there two provinces, they cannot match ours even with their longbow regiments, our cavarly can and will overrun them on the plains"

"My Duke, Wales is isolated, only Ireland support them at all, and the Irish have no stomach to fight, especially not against us on our land, I would guess they might even dishonour the alliance entirely" chimed in the Mayor of Portsmout, unofficial head of the Duchy's foreign affairs and information arm.

"Then it is done, send the declaration to whoever rules those sheep-shaggers and follow swiftly with the army into the Midlands, try to kill the opposing army on the plains, try not to have to fight in Wales itself, it could prove difficult" Henry signed the declaration before slumping back onto the bed, asking for his 8 year old son to be brought to him.

Young Henry, to be called Henry III when he was coronated was the sole ray of sunshine to his father, and perhaps because of this he was forgiven many faults that could cause worry in later life. He was spoilt and arrogant, but was still scared of the dark and of his nanny, these traits were not desireable in the man who would have to complete his father's work. But to Henry II these were barely noticeable and he would continue dedicating his life to give his son all the chances he could.

The war with Wales went exactly as planned, although the longbow regiments upheld the reputation as the most lethal bowmen in Europe by defeating a force outnumbering them nearly 8-1 twice but in the end they were mown down by the charging lancers. With the welsh army broken the Midlands was quickly surrendered, with Ireland not even daring to help their once allies.


A quick war, but Henry realised that the main war was to come, for York and Cornwall must be taken from Brittany, and to do that would mean attacking the only major power who liked the growing Duchy, it was not something that was politically wise, but his dream called to him, and he so wanted England united before his death, something solid to give to his only son.


 
England is almost whole again.
 
Arzhur de richemont will kick you about :p

Na, nice going and good luck. I'd go after the Hanse first, though.
 
Avernite said:
Arzhur de richemont will kick you about :p

Na, nice going and good luck. I'd go after the Hanse first, though.

I wrote the event file (well sorta :D ) and I know that that would be a stupid wasteful thing to do, as I have no fleet and there is an easier way of getting London :rolleyes:

And Arzhur de Richemont is only a minor roadblock on the way to English hegemony, even if I did manage to kill Bedford and so lack a leader to fight him with :(
 
England, Proud, United and Free 1434-1448


A near insurmountable task lay before the foremost Lords of the Realm, York must be secured, as must London, but to do so is suicide, Henry's best generals spent weeks planning and could only conclude one thing; One on one Brittany will win.

Hearing this the recovering Henry summoned the Privy council with the task of securing York safely and quickly.
"Do not fear my brothers, for God has granted us the means for Victory! Brittany is even now at war with Augeverne and calls for our aid which I have denied, our alliance with them is broken and they are fighting a coalition of French states.
The time has never been better and I have set in motion plans to ensure the defeat of the High King, for Wessex is now allied with the Holy Roman Emperor, his Holiness Ernst of Bavaria and the King of Burgundy, Phillip the Good"
"That is brilliant your highness, with the support of those mighty nations Brittany is all but doomed, there is no way this can possibly fail, I will send the declaration of war at once."

As the generals saddled horses and joined the army in Derby a diplomatic whirlwind was occuring across Gaul, with every nation embroiled in a fierce struggle for allies and enemies, a great game of intrigue that would hit home in Wessex with a vengeance.


General Lucknow surveyed the walled city of York, no opposition had been offered by the Bretons and it was all proceeding well, a similiar force was in Cornwall and also had hit no resistance. Feeling remarkably pleased with himself Lucknow nearly had a heart attack when he saw an army of 20,000 soldiers marching towards his puny 6,000.

Recovering himself somewhat he realised they were not flying the flag of Brittany or Wessex, it looked Burgundian and he raced down to meet them, Burgundy were their allies last he had heard but he could fathom no reason for so many men here, in the heart of England.

Stepping inside the command tent Lucknow was surprised to see a Bretonic diplomat also seated by the man he took to be commander of the army.

"Ahh good morning General...Lucknow I believe, have a seat, as you may be aware Burgundy has left alliance with Wessex and I have been sent here by my King to consider the options we now have. Burgundy remains undecided on who to help in this war and so you and my good friend Pierre here had better convince me of who the King of Burgundy should support." Waving them both to stand, the Burgundian emmisary fell into a rather opulent chair and looked intently at the two enemies.

Comte Pierre de Nantes began
"Certainly most gracious sir, by helping Brittany we guarntee you the spoils of war from the Augervne coalition, that is more than half of France, we also offer you the chance to intergrate Orleans directly into your mighty realm. We also will pay Burgundy 100,000 ducats a year for your aid. Brittany will support any Burgundian attempt to take its rightful lands in the Rhine area or Holland, if you want anything else you need only ask milord"
Sitting down with a flourish Comte Nantes looked smugly at the nervous and sweating General Lucknow.

"Err...erm...well we did give you military access..er...and...we'll send you 200 ducats a year..er" As the Burgundian emmisary stood up and shook Comte de Nantes hand General Lucknow resorted to the only thing he could do.

He stabbed the Comte de Nantes in the gut with his officiers sabre.

"Alright Burgundian filth, you will send a message to the King of Burgundy saying that you have decided to help Wessex. You will then instruct all your troops to put their weapons into caches I will set up and will tell them all to go home. Then you will go home and look an idiot but it won't matter to Wessex by then.
And you will do all this with me standing behind you holding a sabre to your kidneys, understood?"

The burgundian nodded and started writing, as General Lucknow sent his aid-de-camp to set up some weapons caches for the Burgundians to use.

Lucknow never could stand this diplomatic crap, damn French invention it was...

The war with Brittany ended quickly as Burgundy left Wessex's alliance only to ally with Augervne and fight Brittany anyway, Brittany besieged on all sides surrendered York with barely a fight.

wessexpolitical14378ey.jpg
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A clever opportunistic war.