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Walter Model said:
The turks are actually advancing in to Europe? Incredible! Is this common in your games, Rensslaer?
I typically see them playing on the outside fringes -- they'll advance into the Balkans, but not beyond. It's unusual for me to see them this deeply into Europe, though I think they were drawn in by wars unwisely declared by Europeans.

Renss
 
Victory, great news :) The French have been defeated again, and you have grabbed several provinces, splendid work. Also now that you control the Pope you get some nice bonus, maybe you should move against the heathens soon…
 
Europe1496.jpg


Military access through the Papal States, graciously granted by the Holy Father himself (on advice of some of his more influential cardinals!), allows our troops to move freely from one end of our empire to another through Avignon.

The Empire:

Milan1496.jpg


But the ravages of war visited upon France have resulted in a startling – no, shocking! – reverse.

Nations1496.jpg


I am convinced that this is because I sent my cavalry all over southern France, looting cities and then moving on -- besieging them long enough to start the smoke, but not long enough to make the city fall.

As a friend once said about radios, "They don't work so well once you let the smoke out!" The same can be said of cities. :D

Milan’s 16 provinces are some of the most advanced in all of Europe, boasting no fewer than 4 universities.

Buildings1496.jpg


Brunswick, for whatever reason, lost its head. It declared war upon neighboring Cologne in the fall of 1496. They found themselves at war with three of the ecclesiastical states of northern Germany, and it wasn’t long before they had Colognian troops in their capital.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough, Burgundy decided to get into the act!

StupidBrunswick.jpg


Naturally, Brunswick was ripe for the picking by its more powerful neighbors, since it was having trouble coping with its weaker neighbors (probably because Brunswick had recently been weakened by a pointless war with Cleves and Wurzburg!).

I think Karl I must just have had a thing against Papal authority, because he kept picking fights with the most Catholic realms around. Perhaps that would all come to an end soon.

Soon after, Hesse jumped on the bandwagon.

FranceAragon.jpg


In December, France made peace with Aragon. There was some significant trading of land. Aragon had previously annexed two French vassals – Armegnac and Foix (Bearn). In the peace settlement, Aragon ceded Bearn back to France.

So, all in all, France basically annexed one vassal, and lost another to Aragon (a gain of 1 province for Aragon, all told).

Add in the two provinces France lost to Milan, and they lost 2 provinces proper, and 1 vassal, for the gain of only one vassal who became a province. It would be very hard for the French to call that anything but a substantial loss. But don’t think they didn’t try! :D

For Christmas, 1496, King Lodovico did something which might be regarded either as strange, or clever.

2ndAlliance.jpg


He swallowed his resentment over the treachery of Wurttemburg in not following us to war with the French. All in all, Wurttemburg remained one of the friendliest powers to Milan in the whole world. Most others were jealous of Milan’s power, and relations had soured. The old campaign to become Holy Roman Emperor was stillborn – the money which would have needed to be invested was needed for other things.

Additionally, Wurttemburg now vied closely with Pommerania for the support of the Imperial Electors. Considering that we might soon have a Holy Roman Emperor living next door, we figured it might be best if he were an ally, and not an enemy.

Perhaps, if we asked nicely, the Holy Roman Emperor might even allow us to vassalize him! :rofl:
 
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Your realm has grown nicely. Naturally you got one university from the French for free, which is extra benefit. :D
 
Brunswick did not attack you. Fighting everyone else, Bremen must have been overlooked. I'm sure the 'Bremen corridor' will exercise Milanese strategists for many years to come.

There's still a large amount of French blue in the north and their victory over Aragon was not according to the script. The French Italian Wars usually conjures images of French troops trampling over noerthern Italian cities not Milanese vcavalry rampaging across France. You have five years to prepare for the Third Franco-Milanese War. How do the French manage to keep their prestige so high?

Did you turn any military tradition into a leader?
 
Silly Germans fighting everyone like that. Good to see that although the French managed to grab a province from Aragon they still lost more than they gained. It sure shall be interesting to see if you are able to make the emperor your vassal.
 
Did you turn any military tradition into a leader?

Military Tradition Man : Get your military tradition!
Milan Ruler : Ok!
MT Man : Yeah, but fight France first...
Milan Ruler : Ok!

2 years later ...

Milan Ruler : Ok, done, what's the next step?
MT Man : Hmm... let's throw a 100 sided die...
Milan Ruler : Breathes heavily ...
MT Man : Looks like you got 37%!

At Court

Milan Ruler : Look, I got 37% Mil. Tradition! Look at this skinny little infidels, lets turn one of them into a leader!
Milan Ruler hands a bag of MT to some random guy called Alessandro...

Alessandro : Wow, thx mate!
*Suddenly turns in to a 2-2-3-1 leader*

Milan Ruler : Awesome your better than me! Let's get you some clothes on ...

:D
 
Good to see your diplomacy is not holding any grudges. Very practical of you.
 
What percentage of your empire is French culture at this point?
 
Dropping by to say I'm enjoying this a lot.

Once I replace my in principle excellent graphics card I'll be buying EU3 but until then I might as well try and unlearn some EU2 habits through AARs.

Did I say I like this? - I read Fire Warms over the last week or so and I don't have Vicky!
 
Hmm... Okay, my bandwidth exceeded thing is tweaking.

Glad to see you guys like this so much! :D

Rensslaer
 
Is the red/orange blob to the East of you Poland? If so you should get them to join you in an alliance and go pick on the Turks. It's the right thing to do. :D
 
Now, back to Brunswick… If you’ve been following the story up to now, you probably know what’s coming next! :D

As if things weren’t already worse than could be expected, Brandenburg declared war upon Brunswick (which was already fully occupied by her previous assailants!) in July, 1497.

Austria followed, honoring its alliance. :rofl: And a Brandenburger officer is at our court to ask a question…

WhyNot.jpg


Why not?!

Instantly, we become the controller of the war (take that, Mr. von Habsburg!).

Screwed.jpg


The whole thing was silly, though… Burgundy controlled one Brunswickian province, and Cologne controlled the other. We had no grounds by which to make peace without doing something – anything! Our only hope was that one of her enemies would not demand territory. That was a forlorn hope.

By the first week of September, Burgundy and Cologne had split the spoils, and we were at peace once more… With a non-existent country.

In September also, we gain a third cardinal! This puts us ahead, again, of Portugal, who had acquired a 2nd, but not yet the controllership.

12Days.jpg


You will notice, from the above screenshot, that this poor fellow who died lasted only 12 days between obscurity, a very temporary position of power, and death! I can truthfully say, I didn’t lay a hand on him. :D

It’s also interesting to note that our alliance with Wurttemburg – the one which seemed so against our vengeful interests (interests of venge???) – has already borne fruit!

HRE1497.jpg


In light of their drop from favor, to the benefit of Pommerania, of the Electors, Wurttemburg has switched its own Elector’s loyalty to prefer King Lodovico for Holy Roman Emperor over themselves or the northern Germans.

Perhaps it’s time to start renewing some of our acquaintances and relationships with these electors. These relationships have not survived well through our inattention, brought on by these frequent wars. I’m sure our international reputation as an aggressive nation hasn’t helped any.

As you can see, we still have Riga on our side. But our relationship with even our ally Brandenburg has fallen to woefully inadequate states! At the new year, when we have the funds to do so, we should attend to this.

Little did we know that this whole Holy Roman Empire perception would shift, come spring!

LodovicoI.jpg


And just as Milan’s prospects are beginning to shine, poor King Lodovico passes away. He is surely the most successful Milanese king, and his 15 year reign was probably the most remarkable 15 years of any Mediterranean power in recent memory.

The king’s son and heir, Filippo II, proved himself a tactically competent general during the wars in France. However, in all other ways, the is inferior to his father.

FilippoII.jpg
 
However inferior he may be in more sedate matters Milan is not a peaceful state, and therefore his military abilities may prove more useful.
 
*Sniffel*

He will be mourned.
 
Howcan a war that lasted 0 years and did not see the coalition doing any fighting be described as a brutal piece of Brandenberger aggression?

Ludovico deserves his state funeral. His son seem lacking in the administrative and diplomatic capacities - must be his stutter (hire speech therapist) and is only slightly above average as a general. The French will want to test his metal.

Why did the elector with the rather apt bovine device vote for Pommerania when they had relations of -191? It's got to have liked somebody in the Empire better than that.
 
Technomucio said:
Very very great job in France...and now keep your attention on Tuscany ;) Italy now need a great Emperor and i think you could be the man. :D
Thanks! I'm definitely going to prefer going into Italy to going into Germany. Maybe Germany as a 2nd project...

Lord E said:
Victory, great news :) The French have been defeated again, and you have grabbed several provinces, splendid work. Also now that you control the Pope you get some nice bonus, maybe you should move against the heathens soon…
Unless I see some special opportunity, I'm going to secure my back before moving against the Turks. I would like some allies in the area, too, so I'm not going it alone. But one of these days, for sure!

Chief Ragusa said:
How do the French manage to keep their prestige so high? Did you turn any military tradition into a leader?
I'm not sure about French prestige. I think they may have some prestige-producing advisors. Plus... They're the FRENCH! What could be more prestigious??? :rolleyes: I did get a new leader.... I think he's in the next update.

Lord E said:
Silly Germans fighting everyone like that. Good to see that although the French managed to grab a province from Aragon they still lost more than they gained. It sure shall be interesting to see if you are able to make the emperor your vassal.
Well, I won't do it in the AAR, because I think that's impossibly unrealistic. But I might try it and then restart -- just to see if it can be done! :D

Walter Model said:
Military Tradition Man : Get your military tradition!
Milan Ruler : Ok!
MT Man : Yeah, but fight France first...
Milan Ruler : Ok!

2 years later ...

Milan Ruler : Ok, done, what's the next step?
MT Man : Hmm... let's throw a 100 sided die...
Milan Ruler : Breathes heavily ...
MT Man : Looks like you got 37%!

At Court

Milan Ruler : Look, I got 37% Mil. Tradition! Look at this skinny little infidels, lets turn one of them into a leader!
Milan Ruler hands a bag of MT to some random guy called Alessandro...

Alessandro : Wow, thx mate!
*Suddenly turns in to a 2-2-3-1 leader*

Milan Ruler : Awesome your better than me! Let's get you some clothes on ...

:D
Oh, Walter! You remind me fondly of my old roleplaying days! I didn't like alot of the RPG systems out there, so I made my own! Ran it as gamemaster for a while, and had great fun.

stnylan said:
Good to see your diplomacy is not holding any grudges. Very practical of you.
Thanks! I hope it pays off.

Fulcrumvale said:
What percentage of your empire is French culture at this point?
Hmm... I'm not sure. Not a huge amount, I think. Actually, there are two or three French cultures. I've got Cosmopolitaine, and Occitan, or something like that (doing this from memory, without a net!). Maybe something else. Lombard is still way more than what I've got from them. I think I may even have some Burgundian from Lyonnais.

PrawnStar said:
Dropping by to say I'm enjoying this a lot. Once I replace my in principle excellent graphics card I'll be buying EU3 but until then I might as well try and unlearn some EU2 habits through AARs.

Did I say I like this? - I read Fire Warms over the last week or so and I don't have Vicky!
Thanks, PrawnStar! And welcome! I'm happy to hear that someone is still reading Fire Warms! You read it in a week?! Wow. I hope all the pictures were there -- my bandwidth for the account I used for about 1/2 the screenshots tweaked out this week (should be okay starting in March, I would think).

Storey said:
Is the red/orange blob to the East of you Poland? If so you should get them to join you in an alliance and go pick on the Turks. It's the right thing to do. :D
Well, Brandenburg, in the north is red, and Poland is about the same shade of red (it stretches from the Baltic to the Black Sea). The purplish thing to the east of Poland is Lithuania. I actually have decent relations with both, but I'll wait on an alliance until I'm ready to go against the Turks. Otherwise they might drag me into wars.

Fulcrumvale said:
*Sniffel* He will be mourned.
Lodovico RULED! :D

Olaus Petrus said:
The king is dead, long live the king! :D
You'll enjoy Filippo, too.

Chief Ragusa said:
Why did the elector with the rather apt bovine device vote for Pommerania when they had relations of -191? It's got to have liked somebody in the Empire better than that.
The -191 is actually OUR relations with them (Mecklenburg). That's naturally because of our war with them. If I intend to become Emperor, I've got some work to do! Even relations with Brandenburg have fallen pretty low.

Thanks everybody!

Another update hopefully later tonight!

Rensslaer
 
Sad to see the passing of Ludovico - :( ; he will be remembered!

What does it take to unite Italy? Is that part of the "master plan"? Definately time to work your way down the Boot!
 
In January of 1498, we promote a new general to replace Gen. Paradisi. With King Lodovico’s death, only Guzman remains of the accomplished generals from the wars of expansion. Benedetto Visconti promises to be a competent, if not spectacular, military leader.

Remember those plans I was laying out to get more Electors on our side? Remember how it seemed that Wurttemburg had lost her chance at the Holy Roman Emperorship? Well…

EmperorAnnexed.jpg


Sweden annexed the Emperor’s home of Pommerania! Naturally, as a noble but powerless Swedish subject, the Emperor could no longer rule.

Since we had had no time to do anything but improve our relationship with Wurttemburg (which actually didn’t move a soul – probably because they knew what was about to happen!), we had no claims on the Electors with which to press the issue. Our census taxes were already spent, mostly on our new general, but also on that foiled diplomatic move.

All in all, I cannot complain that our ally the Wurttemburgers now control the Empire. If anyone should contest with us – say, Austria – they should surely be sorry.

As a final note of trivia, Pommerania had been the world’s foremost leader in military thinking and technology.


LiguriaTrade1498.jpg


On another side note, you might be interested to hear that I’ve finally been successful in one of the lesser CoTs (my own!). I now maintain 4 merchants in my CoT, which is better than I’ve been able to do in a long time! Perhaps I’ll soon turn my attention to other CoTs.

Strategically, though war with Tuscany still appeals, we have been waiting for our international reputation to improve after annexing so many provinces over a 15-year period. We’ve been biding our time, in anticipation of that day when we could again add to our empire.

But in October of 1498, other matters intervened once more. We were called upon to honour our alliance with Sicily…

WarAragon.jpg


And it would bring us in conflict with the neighbors with whom we had recently fought France!