AAR: The Karlings from Bavaria

[orrmy]

So, I started playing CKII some month ago, and the only thing I really miss is some kind of feature that records the alternative history you are creating. After some decades of gameplay, it can be hard to remember how exactly it came about that some obscure pagan chief made himself King of Lithuania or something... I even got myself the Charlemagne DLC (mostly) just for the annual Chronicle, but that's not very detailed and only registers your own ruler's events anyway.

So I resorted to making notes and screenshots, and I thought if I'm already collecting all that stuff, I can easily do an AAR, too. I love reading other people's AARs, so why be selfish and just play for myself?

I have to start a bit "in medias res" though, because this is the game that I'm running right now, and I'm already some fifty years into it. So I will try to give a short introduction to what happened up to the "present" year 917, and after that I will report back here more or less in real time - that is, every other day or so. Be prepared for a slow development with lots of details, because I seldom have more than an hour a day for my CKII-adventures, and I like to play with the slowest speed setting and look around a lot to keep up with what's going on elsewhere in Europe.

And now, without further delay, here we go...

EUROPE IN 917

In a lot of ways, history played out as expected between 867 and 917. The Hungarians settled down in Pannonia, swallowing a good part of Bulgaria in the process and wiping the doomed kingdom of Great Moravia from the map, which lives on only as a Premyslid-ruled Duchy of Bohemia. West Francia gains Brittany and Lotharingia hangs on to its independence instead of being incorporated by the other Karling realms as it did historically, but both have lost territory to their neighbours or to nobles demanding independence. The Reconquista of Spain seems to be organized by Aquitaine. The Byzantines are gaining a bit of ground in the east, the Kindom of Poland has been formed, the situation in further east from there turned out different from historical precedent, but as chaotic as ever, and the same can be said about the British Isles.

The most striking difference to the start as well as to real history is the grey blob right in the middle that says "Bavaria", and that's because that's our territory - the realm of King Karlmann III. of house Karling.

Next Post: Sheer Luck - How the Great Bavarian Kingdom Came to be.

 

[Saxon125]

Welcome to the forums. I wish you luck in your first AAR. Strangest thing for me on the map, is a lord in Ireland gaining some land. In most of my games they stay divided and are easy to conquer.

 

[Asantahene]

I shall be checking in with this-good luck!

 

[orrmy]

Thanks for the warm welcome, guys!

Saxon, that's an interesting observation about that Lord in Ireland, so I looked him up, and he's a really interesting guy. Rose in rebellion against his Liege, made himself a count and went on conquering the rest of southern Ireland. As you would expect, he's pretty talented, and his daughter would be a nice marriage target if I weren't busy making all my younger sons bishops to keep the realm united...

 

[orrmy]

So, on to the recap of events up to 917.

I didn’t really choose to play Bavaria, it just came up when I hit the “Random Character” button. But it fits, as I’m a Bavarian myself and immediately had that vision of a Bavarian-led Europe that converts the Islamic infidels with the power of beer and pork roast.

Thing is, you have to play a Karling. How boring, you might say, and I thought so, too.

But you'd be wrong. Well, partially at least. It really is rather nice to get a good deal of support whenever you try to overrun some hopelessly outnumbered lordling at your border just because the mightiest rulers of Europe are your cousins. But you can bet that the guys will reliably chicken out as soon as you really need the help, and on top of that, all these friendly cousins have claims to your Kingdom, and they will send generous amounts of troops across your borders even if you didn't ask for their help - but this time, with ugly red icons instead of those nice blue ones. And don’t get me started with all these vassals. They’re so much work, you don’t even get to think straight anymore. Small wonder my rulers are constantly stressed…

But enough self-pitying. For this first part of the AAR, I have to resort to my own memory and what little information is still available in the game, as my notes begin only in 888, and I don’t have screenshots before 902. It’s a bit like doing real history - if you go back further into the past, your sources get fewer and fewer.

If you start a game in Bavaria in 867, you get to be Karlmann II., who had been granted the Kingdom of Bavaria in 865 by his father, Ludwig the German. The real Karlmann ruled in Bavaria and Italy and died in 880, leaving most of his realm to his brother Ludwig the Younger, who had already inherited East Francia at this point. Just like the first Karlmann (the ill-fated Brother of Charlemagne), he ended up being little more than a historical footnote, as he was eclipsed by his Brother Charles the Fat, who should reunite the Francish Kingdoms for some years, and his bastard son Arnulf, who would be crowned Roman Emperor.

Live long and marry a good woman - King Karlmann II. (865-892)

In the parallel universe of this game, Arnulf didn’t make it quite as far. He died in 867, no more than 17 years old, and was completely irrelevant to history.

His first son's death was one of the few real misfortunes King Karlmann II. had to face, and he immediately set out to change the fate of his family by doing something the real Karlmann had tragically failed to do: He shopped around Europe for a wife that would come with a strong alliance outside the unreliable Karling familiy structure, and came up with Eldonza de Cantabria of the ruling family of Asturias, far away on the Iberic peninsula.

Eldonza gave Karlmann the legitimate heir he needed, but she did much more than that. In 873, she succeeded in plotting the murder of Karlmanns youngest brother Charles the Fat. Thus, when Ludwig the German died in 875, only Karlmanns other brother Ludwig the Younger was there to claim his share of the Kingdom; Charles heir (another Ludwig, later known as “Ironside”), was just a boy at the time. When Ludwig the Younger died soon after his father, Karlmann was the uncontested ruler of Bavaria and East Francia, and our fictitious history had played out diametrically opposite to historical reality, where it was Karlmann who had died early.

In reality, it had also been Ludwig the Younger who inherited the Kingdom of East Francia. Seems that the inheritance rules of CK II are a bit less complex than the stuff the Karlings came up with. It wouldn’t have made a difference with Ludwig the Younger dying so early, but still, it’s interesting.

Karlmanns plan for expansion had been to turn against the pagan Bohemians, and he was off to a good start when his Chancellor fabricated a claim to the county of Pilsen. Karlmann took it without any Problems in a very short war, but he wasn’t able to press his other claims in the region because he was called into one senseless Karling war after another for some years in a row. He held Pilsen in his demesne for five years, then gave it to a loyal courtier when he inherited East Francia.

The realm had doubled in size in 875, but the problems that demanded Karlmanns attention end resources didn’t go away. Duke Radulf of Thüringia served as his stewart for a few years, then decided to rebel against his rightful king in 879. He lost the war in 881, was reduced to a duke of Holstein and finally assassinated. No one could ever find proof that the King was in any way involved in this incident.

In 884, just when his Armies had recovered from the losses in the war against Radulf and Karlmann was thinking about taking up the fight against the heathens in the east again, King Louis the Stammerer of West Francia decided to press his claims to Bavaria and East Francia. He was a powerful ruler, commanding easily a thousand more troops than Karlmann had at his disposal. It was a hard fought war, and only the fact that the Italian Karlings sided with him saved Karlmann from losing his titles.

But the loyalty of the Italians didn’t last long. Their King Louis was a deceitful man, so notorious for his machinations that his subjects called him “the Shadow”, and he had a claim to Bavaria, too. Just a few month after the war against West Francia ended in 886, he declared war against the weakened troops of his cousin Karlmann.

But Karlmann had managed to marry his daughter Trude to the heir of the Byzantine Emperor in the last days of the war against the Stammerer and thus was supported by some of the greatest armies christianity had ever seen. The greek soldiers wreaked havoc in Italy, but it still took five years to make Louis the Shadow renounce his ridiculous claims. It was the second time marrying Eldonza and having some children paid off greatly.

King Karlmann celebrated his victory with a summer fair in 891, but the burden of his duties slowly became to much for him. He was more than sixty years old now and had ruled for almost a quarter of a century, but most of the time he had defended his realm against outside threats or fought other people’s wars. He died of severe stress in the cold days of January 892 and left Bavaria, East Francia to his only son, Karlmann III. of Bavaria. Karlmann II. may not have conquered the world, but he was blessed with a good wife and exactly the right number of children and thus laid the grundwork for a survival of the German branch of the Karlings into the eleventh century, something they hadn't managed historically.

Next up: Karlmann III. (probably next week, don't know if I get around to it this weekend...)

 

[Asantahene]

The whole Karling succession thing is a right royal pain in the arse isn't it? You'd think they'd have seen sense and instituted primogeniture earlier eh?

Good update

 

[Maximan95]

Nice AAR! I´m new to the forums myself and have been checking out the great writing amassed here!
As a felow "Recruit" i have a question? How did you manage to change your avatar? I can´t seem to be allowed the option when i hover over my account in the upper right...

 

[orrmy]

Hey Maximan! Sorry that it took me so long to answer. I don't know if this helps, because it works just fine for me when hovering, but when I simply click on my screen name, it's right there, too. At least you should see the "Personal Details" option in the menu on the left side.

 

[orrmy]

Karlmann III., Part 1: No military man (892 - 897)

The old King Karlmann had always maintained good relations to the West Francian branch of the family, so when he heard that his kinsman Ekkehard, the Duke of Burgundy, had died leaving only his infant daughter Bonne as a heir, it was easy for him to arrange a betrothal between his heir and the baby Duchess. As a diplomatic act, the Bavarian support for Bonne presented the prospect that the wealthy duchy would become part of Bavaria in two generations, and it brought immediate stability to Burgundy.

So, when Karlmann III. arrived in Munich after his father’s death, he was already well prepared for his new office. He was a pleasant young man, very much more so than his gluttonous, quick-tempered and sometimes overly proud father, and he was naturally gifted in the art of diplomacy, which had made him a reliable chancellor to his wife for the last few years despite his youth. He also already had three children, a five year old son named Liudolf and two daughters named Ida and Romilda, whom he left in their mother’s custody in Dijon.

His father had left the realm in reasonably good condition. There were no immediate problems that needed attention, and the nobles were wary of the young Burgundian duke consort they had rarely seen in the last six years, but they hardly had any real reasons to complain about their new king, as one of the first things Karlmann did was to institute free investiture, which gave them the right to appoint their own bishops. Karlmann thus found cautious support from his most powerful vassals: His cousin Ludwig Ironside of Swabia and the dukes of Austria and Thüringia, who poth ahd risen to their positions under the reign of the second Karlmann.

The realm was wholly at peace when Karlmann III. ascended to the throne, but that wouldn’t last very long. Far away in Aragaon King Louis the Stammerer was attacked by the Umayyads, and King Karlmann, out of Christian obligation as well as out of a special affinity to the iberian homelands of his Mother, sent a contingent of troops to assist his Kinsman in his struggle against the infidels.

Under the inspiring leadership of Duke Poppo of Thüringia, the small Army was actually the first Christian army to arrive in Aragon, but that wouldn’t do the Bavarians any good. They were surprised by the Emir of Tangier's large army and succumbed to its superior numbers at Girona and Cotlliure. It was a complete defeat and the worst start imaginable to the reign of Karlmann III. Having never been a great military man, he let kept out of any warlike activities for more than a year before he admitted to himself that he really needed to try to win his spurs in that department, too.

Since the war in Aragon dragged on without a chance to make any difference by sending another Bavarian army to Spain, Karlmann decides to turn east. The region around Lübeck, a rightful part of the Duchy of Holstein, was illegally held by High Chief Kamil of Obotritia and seemed only weakly defended, so Karlmann declared war on the Obotritians to press his claim.

The war went well, but the high chiefdom’s fortifications proved stronger than expected. It took more than two years to take all the holdings in the county of Lübeck, and even after all the armies of the High Chief had been beaten, the Bavarians constantly had to fight off his fierce allies from other slavic tribes. Kamil was almost beaten, but in the end his downfall came from the pagan east rather than from the christian west. Msciwoj z Wranowi, the young chief of Dymin, saw the chance to exploit Kamils weakness, invaded into Weligrad, and the old High Chief quickly bent the knee to Msciwoj before having to admit defeat to Karlmann.

But for the Bavarians, Kamils defeat at the hands of his neighbor was not a good thing. Having had to fight only minor battles, Msciwoj could field a sizeable army while Karlmann’s troops were depleted and exhausted. He could have won a war against the Obotritian usurper, but he would have had to call in vassals and allies, and in view of the fact that the other Christian kings were still fighting muslim infidels in Aragon, he deemed a war against a minor pagan chief unjustifiable. In March 897 he sent those of his men who were still willing to fight back to Spain, but the Umayyads had retreated before they could contribute anything substantial to the christian war effort.

Thus, almost six years into his reign, Karlmann III. still had no military successes whatsoever to show. The people and his vassals respected him greatly for his patient and thoughtful style of government and had even begun to call him “the Just”, but Karlmann knew that one day, he would have to show his military prowess. But first, his troops badly needed rest. If at all possible, he intended to keep the peace for a few years, so that the realm might regain its strength…

Next up: Victorious vassals, and fighting the family...

 

[Asantahene]

Lovely. Seems that his diplomatic powers are not matched by those on the field of battle. Any good generals about?

Good update

 

[orrmy]

Lovely. Seems that his diplomatic powers are not matched by those on the field of battle. Any good generals about?

There are, and they will get their chance to shine. But they'll also be a pain in the ass. Karlmann's live will stay interesting, I can promise you that.

 

[Maximan95]

Hey Maximan! Sorry that it took me so long to answer. I don't know if this helps, because it works just fine for me when hovering, but when I simply click on my screen name, it's right there, too. At least you should see the "Personal Details" option in the menu on the left side.

NO problem
It's working fine now!
Apparently you have to wait a few days to get access to everything on the forums

 

[Asantahene]

There are, and they will get their chance to shine. But they'll also be a pain in the ass. Karlmann's live will stay interesting, I can promise you that.

Haha look forward to that

 

[orrmy]

Karlmann III., Part 2: Victorious Vassals & Fighting the Family (897 - 901)

Considering his mediocre track record in the battlefield, you couldn’t blame Karlmann’s vassalls for having the impression that they couldn’t wait for the King if they aspired to conquer new territories. The first of them to take matters in his own hands was Duke Wilhelm of Austria. He was 29 years old, a brillant strategist and, while not overly ambitious, he knew an opportunity when he saw one.

As long as anyone could remember, the county of Znojmo just north of Wilhelms capital Wien had been considered a rightful part of Austria, but as long as anyone could remember it had also been controlled by the Mojmírid rulers of Moravia. But the glory of this house was fading - the last Moravian king Rostislav had died in 884 after losing his realm to the invading Hungarians, and all that was left of the formerly powerful kingdom of Great Moravia were two geographically seperated counties in the hands of his son Ojír, who called himself a Duke of Ostrihom, even though he didn’t own a single speck of land there anymore. One of these countys was Znojmo.

Up until 895, the remnants of Moravia had been governed reasonably well by the Baron of Iglau, but young Ojír was a bookish young man with little interest in government affairs or the art of war. Thus, only a few months after King Karlmann gave up on the campaign for Lübeck, Duke Wilhelm declared war on the would-be Duke of Ostrihom and invaded Znojmo. King Karlmann had mixed feelings about his vassal’s self-initiative; on the one hand, it was certainly a good thing if Wilhelm won a new province for the kingdom, but on the other hand he already was one of the most powerful princes of the realm, and a conquest of Znojmo would not only bolster this position but could easily give him the idea that he might be better of without his king.

Karlmann seriously considered sending his own troops to Znojmo to assist Wilhelm even if he didn’t really need the help, so that the Duke at least wouldn’t be able to claim all the glory for himself, but before he had made up his mind, Wilhelm had already assumed the title of a Count of Znojmo. It had taken him no more than eight months to subjugate the Mojmirid, who held on to his formal Dukedom but was now de facto reduced to a lowly count of Boleslaw, threatened from all sides by the vastly more powerful rulers of Hungary, Bohemia and Poland.

The "Duchy of Ostrihom" in 898: Sole remnant of the former Kingdom of Great Moravia

Aside from a short campaign to Croatia in support of the Byzantine Emperor, who successfully reclaimed the county of Attienites for the Empire, Bavaria enjoyed two peaceful years after that. In October 899, King Louis II. of Italy died. His kingdom would have fallen to his brother Lothaire of Lotharingia had he not at long last managed to have a son with his second wife Adriane. The boy was only two years old when he ascended to the throne and would presumably face a considerable amount of opposition from ambitious nobles early on, but King Karlmann immediately expressed his support for him by arranging a betrothal between him and his adolescent half-sister Bertha.

The peace ended when in February 900 the old and sickly king of Lotharingia unexpectedly declared war. No one at the Bavarian court could come up with a good explanation for this folly - Lothaire the Gentle had considerably fewer troops at his disposal than the Bavarian king, and he lacked the funds to hire mercenaries. The old man had obviously lost his mind.

Nevertheless, Lothaires soldiers remained steadfastly at his side, and he was supported by allies from Slavonia, Gascogne, and most infuriatingly Italy, where the regency council had decided to take sides with the aggressors, even though their young king was betrothed to a Bavarian princess. Karlmann asked for help in West Francia, but Louis the Stammerer refused to take sides against his cousin. At least Byzantium once again offered support to Bavaria - without the Empereor’s troops, the numbers would have looked considerably worse than expected for the Bavarians.

Lotharingia concentrated its troops on the Bavarian border and, in early Summer, crossed the border to invade Pfalz, where they were destroyed almost immediately. Karlmann had handed his Armies over to his brilliant Marshall Radbot, who after years of training troops in the country had only waited to show his military prowess against a worthy opponent. He eradicated the Lotharingian main army in a matter of weeks and in only two great battles.

For old king Lothaire, it was the last straw. He had decided to personally lead his troops into battle despite his illness and thus witnessed the defeats at Kaiserslautern and Briey first hand. His condition worsened considerably after that, and only days later he died in his tent in his decimated army’s camp.

King Karlmann generously offered a white peace to Lothaires daughter Mafalda the very moment she ascended to the throne, as he was not very fond of fighting the family, but the new queen wouldn’t have any of it. She obviously hoped that she could decide the war with powerful Italian reinforcements before the Byzantine empereror’s troops arrived in Bavaria, but the Italians didn’t see any benefit in supporting her lost cause. Radbot defeated her allies from Slavonia at Dachau, split his army in two and advanced to Luxemburg and Pavia at the same time without ever meeting the least bit of resistance. He laid siege to both enemy capitals, and finally, in the summer of 901, Queen Mafalda hat to admit defeat and pay a hefty sum to Karlmann. Mafalda would clearly remain a problem anyway, as her father had married her to a noble from an obscure irish dynasty, which would thus inherit Lotharingia after her death. Karlmann and his kinsmen might have had their quarrels, but they were surely not prepared to let a whole kingdom slip from their hands.

But that was a problem Karlmann would have to deal with later. For the moment he had gotten the glorious victory he had needed, even if it didn’t come in a conquest of pagan territory as he had hoped. He had shown the world that Bavarians were a powerful force on the battlefield and earned respect among other rulers as well as his vassalls. But even more tumultous times were ahead for his kingdom...

 

[Asantahene]

What a bizarre move by the old King of Lotharingia! Lovely update-I like the way you describe the strategic campaigns

KUTGW

 

[orrmy]

Thanks! I am always a bit stressed out by wars and battles when playing, so I don't have the nerve to go into too much detail about them in the AAR and just try to get the gist of it all.

Probably a good thing.

 

[Asantahene]

Thanks! I am always a bit stressed out by wars and battles when playing, so I don't have the nerve to go into too much detail about them in the AAR and just try to get the gist of it all.

Probably a good thing.

Works for me

 

[Ed.Mike]

I'm also new here, and loving this.
Great way to deal with lack of pictures of the detailed events, by the way.
Congratulations!

And, oh, these wild marriages of queens with random irish folks! Galicia has it all the time in my games.

 

[orrmy]

Karlmann III., Part 3: Turmoil All Around (901 - 904)

The victory against Lotharingia had strengthened Karlmanns position at home as well as among his foreign kinsmen and the other European rulers. By disposition, at least in the early years of his reign he wasn’t very keen to wage war and would rather just maintain good diplomatic relationships with his neighbors, but in the first years of the tenth century, history didn’t give him a chance to rule peacefully over a quiet kingdom.

At first, almost Immediately after Queen Mafalda had surrendered, emissaries from Constantinople arrived in Munich to request support in the Emperors war against the Abbasid infidels. This conflict had begun three years earlier, when the Caliph had invaded Edessa, and while the Byzantine troops held their ground firmly, the war dragged on and slowly drained the Empires resources. Edessa was the duchy that had been given to his brother-in-law, Doux Leon Makedon, so as a matter of course Karlmann devised a plan to provide support to his Byzantine allies in this far away part of the world. He would send a small force by ship to attack the westernmost parts of the Abbasid empire and act as a distraction, while a greater contingent would arrive there by land via Italy and Sicily. Once the armies were united, they would advance to the east to force the infidels to split their forces and allow the Byzantines to strike a decisive blow.

The Bavarian soldiers had barely embarked when a second cry for help reached Munich from a rather unexpected direction. A group of nobles led by the fat Duchess Gerberge of Alsace had come out in open rebellion against Queen Mafalda in Lotharingia, who had a hard time defending herself as her armies were still weakend from the war against the very King she now begged for assistance. His counselors surely expected Karlmann to turn her down and leave her to her fate, but the King only had a hearty laugh when he heard of Mafalda’s plea and instructed his marshall to modify the troop deployment plans. It had been stupid of Mafalda not to stop her father’s irrational war when she had the chance, but the woman lacked the necessary education for ruling a country and had probably been under pressure from Lothaire’s old courtiers. Whatever she had done, he was prepared to forgive her, and no rebellion against a member of the Karling family should ever go unpunished.

So, in spring 902, the second Bavarian army made a detour to Lorraine on its way to italy, united with Queen Mafalda’s troops and crushed Duchess Gerberge’s army near Sarrebourg. It was a decisive battle, and whatever military effort was still necessary to quell the rebellion could be left to the Lotharingian army. The battle of Sarrebourg was the first moment of glory for the young Udalrichinger count of Breisgau, Ademar, who would soon be known as one of the greatest generals Bavaria had ever seen.

Finally, in September 902, news reached Bavaria that Lois the Stammerer had died. His sons Loïs III. and Carloman inherited West Francia and Aragon, respectively, but the elective Kingdom of Aquitaine was lost to the Karlings, as the nobles decided to raise the 62-year-old Duke Ramnulf de Poitou to the throne.

This was a severe loss to the family, but Loïs III. immediately set out to compensate it. The rich duchy of Flanders was by rights a part of his kingdom, but the ruler of its northern half, Boudewijn van Vlaanderen had cut ties with the kings of West Francia in the early 890s, and the new King of West Francia was determined to force those rich provinces back under his suzerainty. But Boudewijn proved to be a tough nut to crack, so Louïs, too, sent to Munich to ask for Bavarian support.

Karlmanns pledged to assist him as well, but asked for patience, as his troops were still engaged in other parts of the world. Luckily, the plan for the support operation for Byzantium worked better than expected. The advance force under Jürgen Chatenois landed in Djerba in the very west of the Abbasid Empire, found that the muslim holdings in this province were too well manned to take them and immediately advanced to Tripolitana, where they succesfully laid siege to Tripoli and Sabratah. The Caliph immediately sent reinforcements, but that only allowed the Emperor to overrun the now weakened muslim positions in the east and take the provinces of Aleppo and Bira. The war ended in March 903, long before any muslim troops showed up anywhere near the small Bavarian Army, and before Karlmann’s main contingent had even reached Sicily.

The victorious soldiers were swiftly sent back north, reached Flanders in August 903, and defeated two small flemish units at Kortrijk and Sluys before laying siege to Sluys, but like all other holdings of Duke Boudewijn, the castle was well provisioned and fortified. The Bavarian soldiers prepared for a long winter in their tents.

As the flemish war dragged on to 904, on top of it all Count Ratold of Württemberg decided to start a rebellion against his liege lord, Duke Ludwig of Swabia. Ludwig, he said, should step down and give the duchy to his sister Gudrun - a ridiculous demand, especially because Ratold was a well-known skirt chaser, and Gudrun was one of his lovers. Nevertheless, he found enough support for his claims to be taken seriously. Karlmann, who usually didn’t get involved in his vassall’s quarrels, was ready to take sides with his cousin against this nonsense, but Ludwig wasn’t called “Ironside” for nothing. He reassured the King and told him that he would easily be able to take care of Ratold himself.

Thus, Karlmanns troops could concentrate on the war in Flanders. After taking Sluys, the Army turned to Duke Boudewjin’s wealthy capital Brugge, cut off its supply lines and its access to the sea, and in this manner managed to break the citizens resistence in no more than four months. It was another display of brilliance by Ademar Udalrichinger, who was created Duke of Baden for his achievements in the flemish war, and it was the final blow to Duke Boudewijn. A week before christmas he gave in and signed a peace treaty that made Flanders a part of West Francia again.

When the soldiers returned from Brugge, they had been in the field for almost four years, but this Bavarian army was by no means exhausted. The ranks were full of hardened veterans that were more than ready for another war. And there still were some weakly defended pagan provinces left in the east...

 

[orrmy]

I'm also new here, and loving this.
Great way to deal with lack of pictures of the detailed events, by the way.
Congratulations!

Thanks! But I actually saw that I never deleted my saved games, so i can kind of go back in time and regenerate most images as needed. I even did this for the last update, even though I do have screenshots since 902.