@loup99, thanks once again for running the ACAs.
Here are my votes and props for the 2017 4th Quarter. I’m still mainly reading the HOI3 and CK2 forums, so that’s where the weight of my votes will go. One day I may branch out more, but find at the moment my time is very fully occupied!
As always, anyone else I’m following and commenting on, that’s in effect a vote I wasn’t able to include because of the number limit of four votes per forum, so please don’t feel unloved. I put a premium too on activity as well as quality, so there are a few slow-movers which are great to read that may not have made it on for that reason. Doesn’t make them any less worthy of reading – slow-cooked fare can often be very tasty!
xxx
CK2
1. Before Plantagenet – A House d’Anjou AAR by
@JabberJock14
Caught up during this last quarter, always a riveting read.
2. The Bold Prince by
@coz1
Read all of The Rightful King then caught up with The Bold Prince during the quarter. If that doesn’t signify ‘page-turner’, I don’t know what does!
3. The Wolves of Westseaxna-a tale of Wessex by
@Asantahene
Always great story telling, characters and reader engagement.
4. The Red Crown: a sAARdinian Tale by
@prominences
I wanted to include a newcomer, and this AAR has been a rollicking ride, with great writing, humour, irony and storytelling. Quite different in feel from many AARs, and very clever use of different voices. You just have to follow Perdu’s adventures in the first section of what I hope will be a long-running AAR.
xxx
This means I’m torn, because there are other AARs I’d wanted to include. Such as
@Eurasia’s Road of Queens, which is prolific, always amusing, quirky and a favourite of mine. I’d also like to recognise
@steelcan for their
Nova Anglia, HIP AAR;
@cbusalex for their inventive wiki-style
History of House Flatnefr; and a nod to
@rufy_king for actually getting me into an AGOTAAR – something I didn’t think I’d ever do (no disrespect to the inspiration or the AAR genre; I’ve read all the books before I watched all the series) – with his raucous
Reavers of the Isle.
@markkur’s Little Britain was a small gem that came and went during the quarter – the host House killed off by merciless raiders and quarrelsome neighbours. While
@alscon’s The Forgotten Fifth introduced me to the ‘blood eagle’
and is now just getting to the story’s title aim: to make the fifth Ragnarrson remembered!
And when
@thebutterflycomposer gets back from his well-earned sabbatical and into writing regularly again for
The Little Dux and/or
The Empire of Albion, I’m going to have an even
harder time deciding how to narrow down my CK2 votes to four only! In the meantime he’s been a generous and prolific commentatAAR on many other AARs.
xxx
Other – HOI3
1. 'Odin' and Stalin's Secret Committee by
@roverS3.
Still going strong, with new character-based work introduced during the quarter as well. A mainstay of the HOI3 forum.
2. “U-boats for Uruguay” a short TFH farce by
@markkur.
Wrapped up during the quarter, very funny and lived up to its name (short and farcical). Watch out for his new
“Bitter Fruit”, which started up after the quarter finished.
by
@vonsson.
A short and sharp AAR which showcased an interesting mod he’s done, which started and finished within the quarter – a tribute to his brevity and conciseness.
4. Edit: an eagle-eyed friend has pointed out to me that my nomination of
Polish Victory, Polish Defeat - an AAR by
@marxiantj is invalid, since it began just after the end of the quarter, in early January! Sorry marxian, keep going with your excellent AAR, maybe next time! I therefore instead nominate
@El Pip’s Inevitable Defeat - Slovakia '44.
xxx
I’d also like to commend
@lautipus for his dedicated efforts to make Hungary great (again?) in
A new Hungary, 1936 AAR. Some other excellent new HOI3 content came in during the quarter and in January as well: a really good period for the forum, I reckon.
xxx
HOI4
1. Uranium for Uruguay by
@stnylan.
A short, sharp and quirky spin-off from markkur’s U-Boats for Uruguay. Another admirably fast paced ‘niche AAR’ that began and wrapped up during the quarter.
xxx
Finally, thank-you for everyone who has nominated one of my AARs for this quarter – it’s lovely to have your support. And to anyone whose AARs I read and comment on but haven’t nominated or mentioned above, I love your work too or I would be doing so!
There will have been some excellent work very worthy of nomination I’ll have missed, especially on CK2, as there is just so much to see and only so much time to see it (and write etc). But as long as we all have some readAARs, we’ll be happy!
