This should be fun! And I’m not kidding.
We prepared to take the offensive against Algeria (dumbasses), while putting a peace offer to Bavaria – real gracious stuff, which was easy on Bavaria and even generous (considering) to Austria. This offer asked for Niederbayern for us and a renouncing of claims on Schwaben (Wurttemburg) and Tirol (Austrian).
The Bavarians refuse (of course – nimrods!), and take a stability hit because their people KNOW they’re nuts!
In Algeria, we’re engaged in twin battles. Bey Mohammed is smacking Gen. Pico around in their capital (awesome die roll), and we decide to retreat after losing 1,500 troops for no real gain. We’ll pick away at him until his morale is low, then gang-tackle him.
But in Tlemcen, we’re doing well against a second round of divided forces, and will surely win again.
I decided not to press for too much in Bavaria – it was a war I mostly didn’t care about. They ceded Altmark to us, and renounced their claims on Tirol (my bone thrown to Austria).
Bavaria remains at war with Burgundy and Castile, but we’ve just taken the territory Burgundy would most want. They’ll have to take Brandenburg, now (which has become Bavarian by annexation), if they want to take anything. That just further exposes this arm of conquest of theirs, so that if we get into war with them, we’ll have plenty to feed upon.
We attack their capital again, a couple of months after our first defeat.
Just look at those values! I’ve rolled a 9, he a 3, and I’m the one getting killed! Still, this for me is a battle of attrition. I have two units ready to pick up, in staged engagements, and I will withdraw from this battle with these units as soon as I pass this 5-day die-roll round.
Actually, I stayed through another 5-day round where I was knocking out just a dozen of their troops every day with my meager fire values (which are still better than theirs).
But then our second wave hit. We still had difficulty, as they were in defensive positions, had a lot of troops, and had superior leadership.
We're still winning, overall, because our successive attacks have reduced his morale, and he can't keep this up forever, even if he started with more troops.
Interestingly, Bey Mohammed retired from his capital before I even expected him to. Yes, we had far more troops than he had, but it was Milan that was taking the major casualties, and unless the last day of combat knocked him something fierce, he wasn’t out of morale…
I’m at a loss to explain. But, fortunately, I’m at a win in his capital!
Transporting troops toward Tunisia in order to head off the rogue Algerian forces which were playing havoc with our few demoralized regiments. Gen. Pico took control of the defenders in Biskra, and attempted to rally them against the oncoming attack from the north. Landing troops in the Algerian rear would sandwich them.
Except that the Algerians still had a navy of some ability…
Fortunately, we were able to slip quickly away from his larger force, and then defeated a smaller force guarding the Tunisian coast.
In the midst of all these warfaring events, we received a diplomatic opportunity. The Burgundians desired military access in order to carry on their war against Bavaria. Who are we to stand in their way? It improves our relations with Burgundy, besides, which is a step toward stability on that frontier.
Bey Muhammad was waging a surprisingly strong attack upon Biskra, where Gen. Pico hoped to forestall him with a small, and dwindling, cavalry force.
More cavalry departed from Kabylia, meaning to catch Muhammed from behind and prevent defeat.
Meanwhile, the Milanese fleet landed 3 regiments from Spain in Constantine, to raise the siege there. The Algerians had made a go at contesting Tunisia, but they hadn’t the staying power to make a difference.
In the end, the Algerians were chased all over the length and breadth of Tunisia, and were killed at every oasis. No rest could be had.