A little update of the situation for those, by which I mean me, who may have slightly fuzzy memories.
Faction: Russia
Turn Number: Very large
Memory of playing turn: Somewhat vague
In 1754, King Ivan IV, a good general but rather poor diplomat, found himself at war with the Mughals. Noone is quite sure how the war started, although some speculate that it had something to do with certain comments made by the Russian King concerning the mother of the Mughal emperor. Whatever the cause, it would not be as onesided as some of Russia's more recent wars. The Mughals outnumber Russia in cavalry, although the latter had a large infantry advantage, somewat inflated on paper by the inclusion of the forces of Russian allies like Poland who had little chance of getting their armies to the front.
Early victories would go to the Russians, although as often as not they would there would be as many or more Russian casualties as Mughal and Kazak ones.
Finally, after starting a strong spring offensive into Kazak land in spring of 1755, a separate peace was negotiated with them, with their being forced to cede the territories of Argyn and Kyzyl Kum.
Just as things were looking up, a series of devastating losses followed. By far the most deadly was the battle of Mangyshlak, in which some 30,000 Russians perished, putting out of commission one of the countries main armies. At the same time smaller losses pushed the Russians out of Mughal territory. While their infantry was still weaker than the more advanced Russians, Mughal cavalry had apparently outstripped them, and they gained many of their casualties by chasing the Russian infantry as they routed.
The arrival of Polish reinforcements enabled the Russians to consolidate their armies, and King Ivan went for a different tactic. Until the larger Mughal forces were eliminated, the many Russian armies would merge into a few especially large ones. This tactic worked and in 1756 another major push into Mughal territory occurred, with horrendous losses for the Mughals.
Finally the balance of power shifted back away from the Mughals, and they found much of their territory occupied. After long negotiations, they agreed to cede Kerey, Nady, and Kulenda.
Most Monarchs would have taken the chance to consolidate their gains after a hardfought war, but King Ivan. Ostensibly because they had bailed out on the war with the Mughals so early, he canceled Russia's alliance with Sibir. As soon as a chance to strike came, when Sibir went to war with Manchu, he sent a formal declaration of war to Sibir. His closest advisors knew his casus belli was a rationalization, and that King Ivan had a mad dream of Russia expanding all the way to the Pacific ocean, but their was little they could do about it.
Even at peacetime levels, Russia's forces far outnumbered Sibir's, and even without taking into account Russia's technological superiority their was little question who would win. Most of Sibir was overrun and they were forced to cede 6 territories. Betwen this war and the one with the Mughals, Russia's borders had come very close to the Pacific Ocean.
With the 18th century entering it's last half, it began to look as if nothing could stop Russian expansion eastward. Kazak started a short war in 1760, bringing the Mughals into it, but not even the Mughal empire could stad against Russia now. Kazak was promptly vassalized and the Mughals released the nation of Buluchistan, adding yet another country to fight against them in any Russo-Mughal wars.
Russia's new eastern border:
The new nation of Buluchistan. I wonder about war scores, because I've seen one province nations have higher ones to be released, while it was pretty low for this bigger country. Maybe it's tied to province income?
That Russian army you can see was an all cav army I used to rampage through Mughal territory, trying to kill 1,000 man reinforcement armies.