Introduction
I decided to try my hands at an AAR, since I'm really having a blast with this campaign (so far) and there doesn't seem to be much going on on the 1.12 patch yet in that regard.
Admittedly trying to make an AAR out of this came as a bit of a late thought, so especially the early game doesn't have many pictures. If there's an interest I'll try to make much more from now on though.
Once I read that Andalusia is going to be a formable nation in 1.12 I knw that I'd finally have to go for the Re-Reconquista. The small guys Granada has always fascinated me, but I never really got around to give them an honest try so far (partly because the most common strategy for a long time was to just run away).
1st part:
Towards a brighter future
Granada really doesn't start in an enviable position in 1444. The last remaining Muslim country on the Iberian peninsula, consisting of a measly 3 provinces. I knew I was in no position to fight the Christian Iberians head on, so I needed two things. Some friends, and if possible some more land to build up. The Maghreb nations all liked me, so for the greater good a tough choice had to be made. I allied Morocco and Tunis and started fabricating a claim in Tlemcen.
One year later Tlemcen's only allies was Touggourt, so I started a second claim and then declared war on Tlemcen. With the help of both Morocco and Tunis the war was a breeze. I peaced out Touggourt for money (Tunis sieged them, so I couldn't take any of their land), and took a total of 4 provinces for myself while vassalizing the rest of Tlemcen. With coring and annexation having gotten more expensive I figured I have to spread it between those two to not fall behind too much.
Since Tlemcen didn't have any further claims on its own I took the province of Kasdir in addition to the others, started a claim on Mzab, and then gave Kasdir back to Tlemcen. Well worth the 10 prestige imo, since Mzab didn't have any allies and I could feed them to Tlemcen right away.
After subjugating Tlemcen I also was able to finally pick some rivals. I went with Portugal and Castille, further options were Aragon, Morocco, and Tunis. I decided to wait and see how things develop before picking a 3rd rival.
I also was able to ally the Ottomans after this, which soon became very valuable.
->Queue the first dow from Castille, backed up by Portugal. I sieged down Ceuta before Castille got Garnatah, and with the strength of alliances, and Castille taking some brutal attrition in the siege, that was enough to get out of the war with just conceding defeat. I was contemplating dragging it out and trying to get Ceuta already (it was worth 20% warscore o.o), but decided that it wasn't worth it compared to the massive war exhaustion I'd get from having my capital occupied all this time.
In the mean time my bad starting king finally kicked it, his successor was a 3/0/5. Not exactly good, but good enough. And even better, his heir was a 3/2/6, so hopefully I can get a lot out of that.
Since they got nothing from me the Iberians went for Morocco next, once the truces ran out. That was what I was waiting for, so I finally chose Morocco as my 3rd rival and with the support from Tunis (and my vassal Tlemcen, with what little they had) I declared war on Morocco. The Iberians didn't really do much at all, but between me and Tunis Morocco didn't really stand a chance anyways. And it meant that Morocco lost no territory in the other way, so more for me.
I got the north, Tlemcen the east, and in the south I released Sus. Morocco didn't manage to get any allies, so once the truce ran out it was rinse and repeat. Castille attacked me again somewhen between those wars, but it went exactly as their first attempt.
With Sus in the south I figured that Tlemcen's land would now be better off in my hands, so I started annexing them (for something like 900 diplo points... ).
I tore down most of the forts I got, for how much they cost early on I figured I didn't really need more than one in Africa, at least for the time being.
And then finally came the opportunity I was waiting for. So far there was no chance for me to start expanding into Iberia, since Portugal was allied to both Aragon and Castille and I couldn't beat two of them (or even all 3) at once. I was already considering moving my capital to Africa and building a power base there, but then Castille attacked Aragon. Which called in Portugal, and between those 2 Castille got beaten back and I had my chance. I merced up and then attacked Castille. Their only ally at that point was Hungary, and they couldn't contribute much. Castille almost made a comeback when Aragon peaced out with only releasing Galicia, but with loans and some more mercs I still managed to beat Castille.
I took what I could from the Andalusian provinces, plus Asturias in the north. Again, I wanted to split the cost between coring and diplo-annexing vassals, so I released Leon in the hopes of feeding them northern Iberia.
Portugal quickly vassalized Galicia, and Aragon vassalized Navarra.
Further to the south Tunis proceeded to annex both Touggourt and Djerid. With my capital staying in Europe, and Tunis being allied to the Ottomans as well, I figured I'll just let them be.
Since Castille lost the Historic Friends modifier with Portugal from being at war with them they proceeded to rival each other in their truce time, so Castille was pretty much alone now. I fed the rest of Morocco to Sus, and when the truce with Castille ran out I was strong enough to beat them 1 on 1 by now (with some generous use of mercs again. You really need those to not be out of manpower forever if you do some early warfare now). I got the remaining 2 provinces I needed from Castille to form Andalusia, and the rest of the warscore went to Leon.
Now it was just waiting for Aragon to get caught up in any of the Italian wars, and I could finally declare war on Portugal. Aragon still joined in, but they had enough troops in Italy that I could quicly siege their capital and get them out of the war.
Portugal got my capital in the meantime, but since it was now a 1 on 1 they didn't really stand a chance when Aragon was out. I got Algarve and Alentejo, the last two provinces I needed to from Andalusia (Aragon had too many allies to co-belligerize, and I didn't dare to keep them in the war long enough to get provinces from them).
Some (a little chaper, since I picked admin as my first idea group) cores later and it was done:
Andalusia is restored, but that's only the first step. The next step will be to keep momentum and drive the Christians back. Thinks will get a little more difficult though, since France decided to ally both Aragon and Portugal.
I decided to try my hands at an AAR, since I'm really having a blast with this campaign (so far) and there doesn't seem to be much going on on the 1.12 patch yet in that regard.
Admittedly trying to make an AAR out of this came as a bit of a late thought, so especially the early game doesn't have many pictures. If there's an interest I'll try to make much more from now on though.
Once I read that Andalusia is going to be a formable nation in 1.12 I knw that I'd finally have to go for the Re-Reconquista. The small guys Granada has always fascinated me, but I never really got around to give them an honest try so far (partly because the most common strategy for a long time was to just run away).
1st part:
Towards a brighter future
Granada really doesn't start in an enviable position in 1444. The last remaining Muslim country on the Iberian peninsula, consisting of a measly 3 provinces. I knew I was in no position to fight the Christian Iberians head on, so I needed two things. Some friends, and if possible some more land to build up. The Maghreb nations all liked me, so for the greater good a tough choice had to be made. I allied Morocco and Tunis and started fabricating a claim in Tlemcen.
One year later Tlemcen's only allies was Touggourt, so I started a second claim and then declared war on Tlemcen. With the help of both Morocco and Tunis the war was a breeze. I peaced out Touggourt for money (Tunis sieged them, so I couldn't take any of their land), and took a total of 4 provinces for myself while vassalizing the rest of Tlemcen. With coring and annexation having gotten more expensive I figured I have to spread it between those two to not fall behind too much.
Since Tlemcen didn't have any further claims on its own I took the province of Kasdir in addition to the others, started a claim on Mzab, and then gave Kasdir back to Tlemcen. Well worth the 10 prestige imo, since Mzab didn't have any allies and I could feed them to Tlemcen right away.
After subjugating Tlemcen I also was able to finally pick some rivals. I went with Portugal and Castille, further options were Aragon, Morocco, and Tunis. I decided to wait and see how things develop before picking a 3rd rival.
I also was able to ally the Ottomans after this, which soon became very valuable.
->Queue the first dow from Castille, backed up by Portugal. I sieged down Ceuta before Castille got Garnatah, and with the strength of alliances, and Castille taking some brutal attrition in the siege, that was enough to get out of the war with just conceding defeat. I was contemplating dragging it out and trying to get Ceuta already (it was worth 20% warscore o.o), but decided that it wasn't worth it compared to the massive war exhaustion I'd get from having my capital occupied all this time.
In the mean time my bad starting king finally kicked it, his successor was a 3/0/5. Not exactly good, but good enough. And even better, his heir was a 3/2/6, so hopefully I can get a lot out of that.
Since they got nothing from me the Iberians went for Morocco next, once the truces ran out. That was what I was waiting for, so I finally chose Morocco as my 3rd rival and with the support from Tunis (and my vassal Tlemcen, with what little they had) I declared war on Morocco. The Iberians didn't really do much at all, but between me and Tunis Morocco didn't really stand a chance anyways. And it meant that Morocco lost no territory in the other way, so more for me.
I got the north, Tlemcen the east, and in the south I released Sus. Morocco didn't manage to get any allies, so once the truce ran out it was rinse and repeat. Castille attacked me again somewhen between those wars, but it went exactly as their first attempt.
With Sus in the south I figured that Tlemcen's land would now be better off in my hands, so I started annexing them (for something like 900 diplo points... ).
I tore down most of the forts I got, for how much they cost early on I figured I didn't really need more than one in Africa, at least for the time being.
And then finally came the opportunity I was waiting for. So far there was no chance for me to start expanding into Iberia, since Portugal was allied to both Aragon and Castille and I couldn't beat two of them (or even all 3) at once. I was already considering moving my capital to Africa and building a power base there, but then Castille attacked Aragon. Which called in Portugal, and between those 2 Castille got beaten back and I had my chance. I merced up and then attacked Castille. Their only ally at that point was Hungary, and they couldn't contribute much. Castille almost made a comeback when Aragon peaced out with only releasing Galicia, but with loans and some more mercs I still managed to beat Castille.
I took what I could from the Andalusian provinces, plus Asturias in the north. Again, I wanted to split the cost between coring and diplo-annexing vassals, so I released Leon in the hopes of feeding them northern Iberia.
Portugal quickly vassalized Galicia, and Aragon vassalized Navarra.
Further to the south Tunis proceeded to annex both Touggourt and Djerid. With my capital staying in Europe, and Tunis being allied to the Ottomans as well, I figured I'll just let them be.
Since Castille lost the Historic Friends modifier with Portugal from being at war with them they proceeded to rival each other in their truce time, so Castille was pretty much alone now. I fed the rest of Morocco to Sus, and when the truce with Castille ran out I was strong enough to beat them 1 on 1 by now (with some generous use of mercs again. You really need those to not be out of manpower forever if you do some early warfare now). I got the remaining 2 provinces I needed from Castille to form Andalusia, and the rest of the warscore went to Leon.
Now it was just waiting for Aragon to get caught up in any of the Italian wars, and I could finally declare war on Portugal. Aragon still joined in, but they had enough troops in Italy that I could quicly siege their capital and get them out of the war.
Portugal got my capital in the meantime, but since it was now a 1 on 1 they didn't really stand a chance when Aragon was out. I got Algarve and Alentejo, the last two provinces I needed to from Andalusia (Aragon had too many allies to co-belligerize, and I didn't dare to keep them in the war long enough to get provinces from them).
Some (a little chaper, since I picked admin as my first idea group) cores later and it was done:
Andalusia is restored, but that's only the first step. The next step will be to keep momentum and drive the Christians back. Thinks will get a little more difficult though, since France decided to ally both Aragon and Portugal.
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