I am new to this game, I purchased it two days ago and I was hooked from the start. after playing a couple of scenarios a couple of years each I decided to play as Sweden in a GC.
Now after 25 prosperous years I wish I had chronicled my history from the beginning. The most remarkable thing that has happened to me yet was that I as part of an alliance with France, Algiers and Scotland fought England and I wish to share this story with you as I remember it.
It was January in the year of our lord 1518. The war had raged on English soil for a full year, Scots and Frenchmen battling in Calais and in the Highlands, before I finally let my expeditionary force leave harbour in Gothenburg and set sail for England. After a two month voyage across the stormy North Sea we made landfall in Scotland. There my sailors could rest and during the remainder of the expedition. At this time England had all but run out of troops, and French and Scottish soldiers roamed the countryside, while larger armies lay siege to Wales.
As I planned our march south I decided not to let my men go to waste in the mass of armies besieging Wales as the supplies would not be enough for all our men, but rather try to take control over the Midlands, alone, with my small force of some twelve thousand arquebusiers, a full four thousand cavalliers, and forty cannons.
We set up camp outside of the garrison in Midlands and started laying siege to their fortress. Knowing full well that there was no aid for them to get we were not in a hurry. Supplies were readily available from the lush countryside and all we had to do was to wait.
Half a year had passed when the allied troops in Wales finally overran the local garrison. I wondered what their next move would be, possibly they would go south to Cornwall, or maybe they would even be as bold as to lay siege against the great city of London. Only small fragments of the English army still remained and they could do nothing to stop this massive army of some fifty thousand men, the English could not even help their men in the Midlands.
It was filled with fear and anger as I met the French and Scottish generals in my generals tent in the Midlands. I saw glory slip out of my hands as my small force would be pushed aside by them. I saw visions of starving men because the land could not feed such a gigantic army. So they had decided to 'help' me.
As it was I could do nothing. They were my allies and I had no say in where they took their armies. I knew know that the estimated six months tht remained before the garrison ran out of supplies would be harsh for both myself and my men.
It was December, the garrison had finally fallen. Hunger was a bitter enemy, they had learned it and so had I. A full third of my force had been lost in the siege due to starvation, diseases and the like. Still, I had gained the prize. Midlands was now controlled by us. The negotiations in my tent with my allied generals had been lengthy, but I had prevailed. As the highest ranking officer present I had demanded that the region should be controlled by Swedish forces. The Scots and the French both wanted this territory as their own and could not put up a united front against me and in the end I prevailed.
A messenger from my Monarch arrived. He wished to have this little war ended as it was a terrible strain on his coffers to support such an army overseas. I made a discreet contact with the English high commander and offered peace and the returned control of the Midlands for a 150 Ducats.
When they had aqcuired the money we marched straight to the sea where our fleet waited offshore to take us back home. It was yet another long wintery sea voyage across the North Sea, nothing I would recommend, but in February 1919 we sighted our harbor where the king himself waited to greet us for a successful expedition, and for having added a substantial amount to the royal treasury.
A year later, when I was out inspecting my troops I read a report of the war which said that France had annexed Scotland. I certainly understood that this was grim news for England, with her worst enemy having a base on the shore of her island. The report also mentioned Scottish resistance against the French and I wondered, maybe this would do more harm to France than good. Certainly they would be to busy to attack the British.
signed,
The Honourable Duke Karl Von Walz
Short Memoirs of My Wars Abroad.
Now after 25 prosperous years I wish I had chronicled my history from the beginning. The most remarkable thing that has happened to me yet was that I as part of an alliance with France, Algiers and Scotland fought England and I wish to share this story with you as I remember it.
It was January in the year of our lord 1518. The war had raged on English soil for a full year, Scots and Frenchmen battling in Calais and in the Highlands, before I finally let my expeditionary force leave harbour in Gothenburg and set sail for England. After a two month voyage across the stormy North Sea we made landfall in Scotland. There my sailors could rest and during the remainder of the expedition. At this time England had all but run out of troops, and French and Scottish soldiers roamed the countryside, while larger armies lay siege to Wales.
As I planned our march south I decided not to let my men go to waste in the mass of armies besieging Wales as the supplies would not be enough for all our men, but rather try to take control over the Midlands, alone, with my small force of some twelve thousand arquebusiers, a full four thousand cavalliers, and forty cannons.
We set up camp outside of the garrison in Midlands and started laying siege to their fortress. Knowing full well that there was no aid for them to get we were not in a hurry. Supplies were readily available from the lush countryside and all we had to do was to wait.
Half a year had passed when the allied troops in Wales finally overran the local garrison. I wondered what their next move would be, possibly they would go south to Cornwall, or maybe they would even be as bold as to lay siege against the great city of London. Only small fragments of the English army still remained and they could do nothing to stop this massive army of some fifty thousand men, the English could not even help their men in the Midlands.
It was filled with fear and anger as I met the French and Scottish generals in my generals tent in the Midlands. I saw glory slip out of my hands as my small force would be pushed aside by them. I saw visions of starving men because the land could not feed such a gigantic army. So they had decided to 'help' me.
As it was I could do nothing. They were my allies and I had no say in where they took their armies. I knew know that the estimated six months tht remained before the garrison ran out of supplies would be harsh for both myself and my men.
It was December, the garrison had finally fallen. Hunger was a bitter enemy, they had learned it and so had I. A full third of my force had been lost in the siege due to starvation, diseases and the like. Still, I had gained the prize. Midlands was now controlled by us. The negotiations in my tent with my allied generals had been lengthy, but I had prevailed. As the highest ranking officer present I had demanded that the region should be controlled by Swedish forces. The Scots and the French both wanted this territory as their own and could not put up a united front against me and in the end I prevailed.
A messenger from my Monarch arrived. He wished to have this little war ended as it was a terrible strain on his coffers to support such an army overseas. I made a discreet contact with the English high commander and offered peace and the returned control of the Midlands for a 150 Ducats.
When they had aqcuired the money we marched straight to the sea where our fleet waited offshore to take us back home. It was yet another long wintery sea voyage across the North Sea, nothing I would recommend, but in February 1919 we sighted our harbor where the king himself waited to greet us for a successful expedition, and for having added a substantial amount to the royal treasury.
A year later, when I was out inspecting my troops I read a report of the war which said that France had annexed Scotland. I certainly understood that this was grim news for England, with her worst enemy having a base on the shore of her island. The report also mentioned Scottish resistance against the French and I wondered, maybe this would do more harm to France than good. Certainly they would be to busy to attack the British.
signed,
The Honourable Duke Karl Von Walz
Short Memoirs of My Wars Abroad.
