Siena in Africa. A colonialist AAR

[qwertzuiop]

Chapter 27: We Are Safe

In the year of our lord 1517, the Sienese founded a great city. And they lived happily ever after.

Or maybe not... when the Papal Controller France tried to conquer Papal Controlled Avignon...

Gianpaolo Pirlo (The Doge): "Should we join or not."

Giovanni Gentile (Diplomatic Advisor): "Of course, the Ottomans aren't going to join... one month has passed since the war declaration and the Ottoman Sultan has not replied yet. The war is going to take place only in Europe, we are completely safe."

[One month later...]

Gentile: "Well that doesn't look so good...

... but we will be alright, the Castilians are helping us out.

Also, the Ottomans are going to concentrate all their forces on Italy and there is no way they are going to invade us."

Pirlo: "I hope you are right..."


[18 months later...]

Gentile: "That has worked out rather well, hasn't it? The war is ongoing somewhere in Europe... in the meantime we can stare at golden maps...

... and smack rebels even without RCA support.

We'll be completely fine. Oh hey, Ottomans passing by!"

Pirlo: "..."

Gentile: "Well, let us just employ some hit and run tactics to make sure they are not going south. Why would the Ottomans risk their army in the desert anyway?

I mean, the Ottomans are completely predictable... sitting around in North Africa and whatever...

They would never threaten our lands."

[A scout from Djerid enters the office]

Scout: "Oh, my great Doge! There has been a big storm in the desert..."

Pirlo: "Okay. Where is our army? [calling a messenger] Tell our commanders to stop their rebel hunting activies or whatever they are doing in the south and to protect the capital immediately!"

 

[JCan]

Uh oh.

 

[Nuada Airgetlám]

Damn. Do you have enough troops to fend them off?

 

[Tom D.]

That doesn't look good. But it was predictable. Although I wonder why the Mamluks would ever give MA to the Ottomans...

 

[atwix]

those poor 3000 Djeridians!

 

[qwertzuiop]

Uh oh.

Yeah... I thought the same. That was really not what I wanted and it was the first case of 'strategic failure' in this story (or maybe just bad luck).

Damn. Do you have enough troops to fend them off?

Well yes, maybe I had enough troops to beat their first stack but just look at their troop numbers in the next chapter.

That doesn't look good. But it was predictable. Although I wonder why the Mamluks would ever give MA to the Ottomans...

Well, the Ottomans were actually at war with the Mamluks before (which is why they did not immediately join this war). But as far as I remember, the Mamluks were my rivals so that explains why they would allow the Ottomans to pass through.

those poor 3000 Djeridians!

I actually spawned a noble uprising on top of the Djerid army before they could get destroyed by the Ottomans. Didn't really make any difference but it was funny

 

[qwertzuiop]

Chapter 28: Race Around Lake Chad


"Gianpaolo Pirlo here. Let me describe the situation after the Ottoman invasion of 1520...

So unfortunately, the Ottoman commander Alaattin Ishak had read our tropics report... knowing that the tropical climate is not that bad, he managed to lead over 30000 troops into our territory.

Meanwhile our army had arrived from the south, ready to protect La Libera but also ready to run... we were not in a position to fight the Ottomans directly. So we just watched them from the other side of Lake Chad while they were besieging our fortifications in Kanem. We did our best not to engage them in battle but at the same time discouraging them from an attack on our capital.

In the meantime, Alighieri had unfortunately died...

... Shortly after visiting the Portuguese settlement in 'Rio de Janeiro'. Why isn't it called Rio de Febreiro? Or maybe 'Fiume d'Alighieri' after our great explorer?

After that, the war dragged on for many months... we could only pray...

... and re-elect...

... and lose.

After this defeat, the race around lake Chad started... the Ottoman army could now move completely freely and we were basically running away. But we managed to protect La Libera for six more months... no Ottoman soldier ever entered the province.

Then, in the spring of 1522, things suddenly changed. We were preparing for battle. The Syndicate had created a secret plan and then there was a big meeting with the strategists of the Syndicate and our own commanders. At first, they decided to employ more mobile cavalry...

And... oh, what's that? English tourists in the Lion Mountains?

Sorry for the distraction. In April 1522, the critical phase started...

Now let me describe the situation... in the race around Lake Chad, the Ottoman army was currently moving north into the province of Kotoko. The Syndicate's Chief Strategist, who had proposed Lake Chad as a completely safe area for our capital in the first place, was very determined to get this right. Yes, even in the ranks of the Syndicate there was confusion and even some disappointment about the situation... after all, their strategy had been perfect up to this point. So what did they do? Well... a noble uprising.

The local nobles of Kotoko had been a bit... unruly before and the conflict escalated just as the Ottomans were about to enter the province. The nobles did not know the Ottomans were so close and the Ottomans could not distinguish between the nobles and our own army. So they immediately attacked... while our army was hiding in the swamps...

After the Ottomans had dealt with the nobles, our army moved out of the swamps and forced the Ottomans to fight. The attack was coordinated by Salah Sulaym, the '5-shock-general' from Djerid. We found out that he was the best tactician we had and he could match Ishak, the experienced Ottoman commander.

And that was a very good decision. The battle dragged on for a long time, but in the end we won the biggest battle of our history. Our 20000 soldiers forced the 28000 Ottoman soldiers to retreat. Goodbye, doomstack! See you later! But... not as close to our capital next time. Please."

 

[JCan]

Nice!

 

[atwix]

nothing like revoking estate control from provinces to spawn rebel stacks for enemies to walk into once the are movemement locked..

Really advanced strat

I believe it was first used in Italy, in 16th century... Or was it Sienna?

 

[Nuada Airgetlám]

Whew! Hopefully you have enough time to retake those occupied provinces.

 

[Hidenoriz]

Rebel and conquer! I guess we didn't need the RCA that much when our rebels can be so useful

 

[qwertzuiop]

Nice!

Thanks, I really had to try hard

nothing like revoking estate control from provinces to spawn rebel stacks for enemies to walk into once the are movemement locked..

Really advanced strat

I believe it was first used in Italy, in 16th century... Or was it Sienna?

Haha yeah, really 'advanced'. Before that I had a game as Lorraine... around 1600 I just started to randomly annex a lot of the HRE members so I got a huge coalition (I did that on purpose). Then I just spammed the revoke estate button all the time. Even on their 100k armies. Even if I didn't have any chance to get to the province in time. Since I did that I really appreciate it as a strategy

Whew! Hopefully you have enough time to retake those occupied provinces.

Well in the end that was not required

Rebel and conquer! I guess we didn't need the RCA that much when our rebels can be so useful

Yeah that's true, rebels can be really useful.. the RCA is in trouble maybe.

 

[qwertzuiop]

Chapter 29: Stage Three

"Hello, my name is Roberto Testa. I just became the new Doge after the great Gianpaolo Pirlo passed away. He is a Sienese legend... he even managed to reach the '6-6-6, dark arts of rulership' level... there even was a special edition of the Rulers Magazine and they voted him best Doge of our history.

Shortly later Florence and the Papal States came to an agreement... not to fight each other for now but to combat the heretics together. And they chose the most relevant city in Italy to host the council.

Of course Siena is 'owned' by the Medicis right now but... the city still reflects our greatness and as everyone knows, the word 'Siena' has become a universal idea by now.

But anyway... maybe I should tell you the whole story. Let's start in 1522...

After the battle of Kotoko and the great victory of Salah Sulaym we were trying to chase the Ottomans out of our country. But that was not required as the war was over. Negotiations had been ongoing in Europe and in the end the French king got Avignon. How did the old Doge say? Goodbye, doomstack!

After that, we decided to dissolve the Sienese West African company because they were not providing enough 'sailors'. Just so you know, I was already part of the administration at this time... I was tasked with revoking the traders' privileges and establishing the 'Gulf of Guinea' as a new proper state...

... the traders were not really upset though because at the same time, we established a woodcutter's headquarter in South Africa. We just told them we would found a South African Trading Company as a compensation... sooner or later...

... and the Portuguese were also very interested in the region. Maybe in the future, we will be able to sail to India and find more riches.

Speaking of riches... so after the Ottomans had left our country, Pirlo declared war on the Empire of Mali.

They are of course heathens and evil slave traders...

... and of course we want the gold and we want to dominate West Africa. Once and for all.

But shortly after the war started there were some interesting events in Europe. The Castilians lost their war against France. That was to be expected...

After that, the French king publically denounced the Rebel Combating Agency, saying 'Down with the RCA, let chaos reign all over the world!'

But the RCA still had a lot of influence... and they punished the king in an orderly way.

In the meantime, we started to invade Mali... yes, actually we had to 'protect' against them...

There was a big battle in the province of Gwiriko and we won. But nobody could really remember the results because that was the time when the Doge died...

The Malians were of course very rich due to their gold mines and even though we were winning the war they could still field a sizeable army. We beat them again in the battle of Joma. Salah Sulaym's services were needed again to counter the Malian commander... we can't we have such great generals?

At the end of the year 1526, we were looking forward to something. Gold. Lots of gold. We wanted the gold...

... And we got the gold! Mali was split into three different parts. That's not the nicest thing to do but hey... they were our rivals. And evil. Probably.

After that I received a letter from the Syndicate which officially announced stage three. While stage one had been about finding a way through the desert and stage two about becoming the dominant power in Western Africa, stage three was described as follows 'A global quest for gold, expand with ambition and caution. Keep our alliances and cooperation. Do not challenge any of the greater powers, prevent enemy invasions'."

 

[Hidenoriz]

Oh, so now begins the Sienese colonization of the Americas? Nice! Dominate the new world!

 

[Nuada Airgetlám]

Sienese Australasia?

 

[frolix42]

the wealthy elite of Siena is truly ambitious. And crazy. But most importantly ambitious.

So is this AAR. Looks like a fun game.

 

[weresloth]

subbed

 

[qwertzuiop]

Oh, so now begins the Sienese colonization of the Americas? Nice! Dominate the new world!

That might happen but I won't necessarily dominate

Sienese Australasia?

That's an option too, yes. One of those might happen... or both?

So is this AAR. Looks like a fun game.

Yes, it has been fun indeed.

subbed

Welcome, hope you're enjoying it.

 

[qwertzuiop]

Chapter 30: The Concept of Serenity


"Introducing the concept of serenity was another of the Syndicate's plans.

How does it work? Well...

Maybe like this?

Yes... I became a Serene Doge.

Due to our serenity we were also able to explore large parts of the American coastline. At this time it became widely accepted that 'America' was indeed a new world and it was not right next to to India or China. Yes... one of the Portuguese explorers made contact with the native peoples in 'Panama' and confirmed that there was another ocean on the other side. But that one was not on our maps yet...

This meant that our newly established settlement in South Africa could play a very important role if we wanted to sail to the east...

Shortly later, I got re-elected as the Most Serene Doge of the Universe.

Serenity is often connected to wealth... or is it? Maybe... who knows...

Unfortunately, one of the Tuareg leaders from Aïr condemned our capitalist policies... whatever this means...

Also people tried to imitate us because of our serenity.

I'm not quite sure what they mean by 'westernized' though, how about Sienized?

After that we did our holy duty and declared another war on our quest for gold. We wanted to control the coast of Senegal...

... but please don't tell the Pope that we are just after the additional trading income. No, actually... because we are so serene our sins can be forgiven...

... Songhai is not so small but we're not really concerned.

And then we annexed.

So... what did I say about wealth before? In 1533, we were finally in a position to create a powerful economy on our own... without any RCA support or anything... the gold mines were doing their work and we would be able to repay our new loans soon.

Apart from that there wasn't much happening in these years... if you are serene you got to wait for something to happen..."

 

[Nuada Airgetlám]

I missed that Siena was a duchy until now. Congratulations on the upgrade to Serenity.