Another Dutch AAR, but this time I'm in the sadle...

[unmerged(4087)]

Holland against Austria (historically more correct)...

Setup
IGC 2.1, playing Netherlands (instead of Turkey)
Historical options:
Free Bretagne. This should weaken France, and since France has a CB against the Netherlands...
Free/Aus Lowlands. Pro: Historically most correct province distribution in 1492. Con: Netherlands will not revolt, most

probably no Spanish Lowlands later)
CoT in Reval

EU settings: all normal
Random and Historical events on
Forced anexation on
Dynamic missions off

1492
The situation at the start is not great. My 'empire' consists of 2 unimportant provinces: Holland and Friesen), only thing

worth noticing is the capable leader (that would be me), and the very capable general van Egmont with a small army however.
On the other hand, we have some friendly provinces to the east, so there's room for diplomatic succes there. And my eager I

notices the rich and unprotect province Flanders, this will be my first goal!

We immediatly promote our bailiff in Holland to taxcollector. Incomes in Holland are now: 20 province taxes, 1.7 production

income and 2.0 trade taxes. We'll keep our merchants in for a month, so they don't get trampled in the rush and we'll wait for

our friends to the east to open up relations with us.

6 jan: See, what did I tell you? Hessen invites us to a royal marriage, and we quickly agree. I give Hannover another piece of

the genepool. So the new alliance is taking shape allready! My new friends have 35k troops both, but we aren't allied yet.

feb: I send 2 merchants to Flanders and 2 to Venice, I must get my hands on a piece of the action there! The merchants in

Flanders settle in nicely, but no such luck in Venice. Damn, a waste of money and merchants.

april: I send another merchant to Flanders, propose a RM with Cologne, and they agree. It seems our family is rather popular

in the surrounding provinces! Good breading stock, I tell you!

Grenada is anexed by Spain

We don't want to train extra troops at the moment. The alliance isn't formed yet, so we're not ready to move for several

years, and we don't want to waste the upkeep.

The merchant in Flanders finds a nice niche in the market, and we make 11 dukats there.

Hungary entered a millitary alliance with Austria, Bohemia and Lorraine. This is a bit of a setback, but it was to be

expected.

June: We hesitate to offer a RM to Brandenburg, since they have CB, against Prussia, Poland Lithuania, Kleves (what did THEY

ever do to them?), Bohemia, Hessen, Teutonic Order and Pomaria. They promise to behave and the agree with the wedding. The

weather was nice, the food was good, but posing for hours in the sun to take the wedding pictures!!! Such is life I guess.

September: England declares war on Scotland, but Spain dishoners the alliance she had with England. Interesting!

Oktober: We send 2 merchants to Venice again, and form a new alliance with Hannover.

November: both our merchants are succesfull in Venice, making 21 dukats there, and in the mean time Sweden shakes the joke of Denmark.

And so ends the first year of our reign, we have establised diplomatic relations with our neighbours to the east, and we raised the income in Holland to 25 province taxes, 2.9 production and 2.3 trade taxes. So we'll promote another bailiff in Friesen. Income there is now 16 province taxes, 3.3 production income and 2.0 trade taxes.

1493
Jan: Hessen joins our alliance. By the end of the year, our alliance will be formed, and we'll start training extra troops. Our armies will march south early spring A.D. 1494.

Feb: Spain enters a military alliance with Austria, Bohemia, Lorraine and Hungary and is immidiatly attacked by France, Savoy, the Papal States, Brittany. Austria and Lorraine fall in line with Spain, but Bohemia and Hungary dishouner the alliance. Intersting that the Austria alliance is falling apart, but if they raise big armies quickly, it will be hard to conquer Flanders.

Sweden is doing rather well against Denmark. Probably hardcoded.

April: Cologne joins our alliance and 2 merchants are send to Venice.
We discover Asia and Persia, that gives us 25 victory points. Nice.
One of our merchants kicks out a merchant from Wurtemberg, and the other quickly takes his place. We make a cool 33 dukats there.

June: Kazan is anexed by Russia and France is having a hard time, apparently she bit of more than she can chew. Still no armies in our area though.

July: Brandenburg joins our alliance.

August: Portugal forms an Alliance with Hanseatic League, Pommerania and Holstein. Those were next on my list to cuddle up with!

In the meantime, Spain caputered the cities of Béarn, Gascoigne and Lyonnais. However France captured Lorraine and immediatly annexed it. Cities in Berri and Orléonnais are besieged, probably by revolting peasants. Since we are about to become a revolting peasant ourselves, we don't talk about them as rebel scum. Stability in France is 0.

October: time to recruit a new army. We'll want them fully trained in a couple of months. Egmont has 10.000 infantry, 2.000 cavalry and 10 artillary. We double our army, the idea is to send a small force to besiege The Hague, protecting our right flank, while Van Egmont besieges Zeeland, covers the fort there and goes for Flanders, the ultimate goal of our limited (we hope) war.

Spain accepts peace with France and takes Béarn, thereby isolating Navarra.
We send 2 merchants to Venice. A merchant from Holstein is driven out, but the other one fails to step in. Better luck next time.

Dec: The Pallitanat agrees with a royal marriage, perhaps we can even enlist them in the next war?

1494
Jan: WTF? Austria send a massive army of 24.000 to Zeeland, marching for The Hagues. This is deffinately a setback. We still can pull it of however, if our allies follow our lead, we can bring about 132.000 troops to the field.

March: Hungary enters the alliance with Austria and Spain again.

Denmark pays 129 dukats to Sweden and looses Skane.

April 1st: I deliver the DOW to Austria, you should have seen the expression on his face. He actually thought for a moment it was a joke. All our allies know we mean business however.

We have to change our plans and throw our entire army against The Hague. Austria is reinforcing it's army there, so we can't take any chances.

May: Austria pulls it's army from The Hague before I get there. We quickly besiege the town and dispose of the fresh 10.000 infantry he was training there. The Austrian forces in Zeeland are attacked by a smaller force from Hannover, that has to retreat to Holland. The Austrian forces defeated in The Hague also fall back to Holland, so I have to leave a cover force in The Hague and return to Holland. Damn! This is not the nice little war I had in mind!

Hannover looses the battle in The Hague, but before we arrive their, the Austrian forces move to Cologne. This is a bit of good luck, as we can go directly to Zeeland then.

We train another 5.000 infantry in Friesen, where they can mature unharmed.

Our allied forces from Cologne besiege Zeeland and Luxemburg, while Cologne itself is now under siege.

August: France declares war on England, Savoy, Papal States and Brittany follow.
We take part in the siege at Zeeland, but take attrition there. If we leave behind a force to cover, we no longer lead the siege, so we decide to storm the town instead. We are unsuccesfull of course, but the garrison is down to 3.000 troops and 7 guns, and attrition is allmost stopped.

In the mean time, Scotland accepted peace with England, taking the Marches.

Dec: my fresh troops harden in Friesen and are send to The Hague to join the siege. Flanders seem very far away now.

1945
Jan: Austria is finally serious about the siege on Cologne, and out of thin air, comes a Spanis Army and immediatly lays siege to Holland. Things are not going well.

The Spanish army retreats and joins the Austrians in Cologne, but Cologne falls before they get there, they immediatly return to Holland. In the mean time, Austria is building armies in Artois and Hainut. I decide to empty my pockets and build 5.000 more infantry in Friesen.

Cologne is out of the game, but our other allies keep building troops, lets hope they get here in time!

Austrian forces from Cologne reinforce the siege on Holland. So my beloved capitol is besieged by nearly 22.000 infantry, 3.300 cavalry and 47 artillary. She's expected to hold out for 6 more months however, and help is on its way.

May: The Hagues in finally captured, but our capital is about to fall. We make a desperate assault on Zeeland and are succesfull. Our army is not strong enough to break the siege on Holland however. So we make a peace offer, demanding the Hague and Zeeland. It is not accepted.

August: We lay siege to Flanders, but the siegeforce in Holland becomes stronger every day. And where are our allies? They try to liberate Cologne!

Luxemburg has finally fallen to Brandenburg and I send a new offer to Austria, demanding Zeeland. It still gets rejected!

Holland is taken! This is a sad day for our country. Our fleet is driven out of the harbor and attacked just outside the coast. Luckily we win the seebattle, but without a harbor, our fleet is doomed.

November: Spain offers peace for a measily 22 ducats, we immediatly accept and regain Holland. Our fleet is send back to the harbor while the Austrians lay siege to Munster. We had to take a loan to pay Spain, but with the extra cash we start to train 5.000 infantry in Holland and Friesen.

1946
Jan: Austria offers The Hague for peace, but we decline. Days later, Flanders is overrun. We immediatly demand Zeeland and Flanders from Austria. They accept, the war is over and our goals are met. The Palinat joined the Austrian alliance however and that could hamper our plans in the future. In the maintime, we have a debt to pay off.

Feb: we now have 5 merchants in Venice and are promoting a Tax Collector in Flanders.
Yours truly was promoted to Viscount. Dispite the initial setbacks we have acquired all our goals and our alliance got away unharmed.

May: We offer a royal marriage to Helvetica, and we lead in Victory points: we have 131 points, Spain is second with 100 points. Not bad for a days work.

 

[unmerged(4087)]

So, you didn't believe me eh? Well, here's the pic!

Let's see what happens, I'm very new at this!

 

[unmerged(1700)]

Wreckless, you file was not uploaded due to its high size. Every file that is automatically pload to EU AAR board must be 800x600. You file was more than 1200x1200, sorry for inconvinience but I must closely monitor my webspace. Sorry again.

 

[unmerged(3905)]

Good Luck

Oh boy Wreckless... off to a roaring start. It looks like fun. I'll keep watching (my parents are from Sittard, Limburg)

 

[unmerged(4087)]

I'll try to post the right size pics later today.

From Sittard eh? I'm from Limburg also, Belgian Limburg that is...

About the roaring start: I was about to call my post "Complete AAR in 4 years: defeated!" when Spain offered peace. Suddenly everything came together!

YES, I MUST BE THE CHOOSEN ONE!!!

 

[unmerged(4087)]

May: We offer a royal marriage to Helvetica, and we lead in Victory points: we have 131 points while Spain is second with 100 points. Not bad for a days work.

I hope the pictures turn out to be the right size this time.

June: We offer a RM to Hanse and Prussia, just to get some VP. Both accept.

July: Poland Lithuania declared war on Teutonic order. Moldavia joins PL, Prussia joins T.O. and Algiers (?) opts out.
We start to place merchants at Genoa.

August: Scotland turns down the royal marriage with our prettiest niece. They'll never know what they missed. Both merchants got accepted at Genoa.

October: we send another pair of merchants to Genoa, since we have Flanders, we recruit 5 merchants every year. Meanwhile France and England fight a stiff war over Calais.

But you'll never know, I guess.

Prussia settles for peace with Moldavia and pays only a small amount, but the Teutonic Order presses on and captures Welikia.
The Turks Declare war on Georgia, but Austria, Hungary and England step in. Spain and the Palitanat dishonor their alliance with Georgia. Time to start smooching with the Palitanat? Their relationships with us is only +35 and I don't have enough money to influence them. They'll have to wait. We've never known the Palitanat to join our alliance, or Helvetica for that matter. Is this because we don't share a border with them? We don't share a border with Brandenburg either, but they seem eager enough! Perhaps the CB from France against us has something to do with it...

November: England lays siege to Calais, London, Dover and Portsmouth are burning, as are Paris, Amiens, Cherbourg, Saint Malo and Orleans. A trader in Genoa gets accepted.

December: Spain enters an alliance with Teutonic Order, Prussia and Venice. I guess they won't join Austria for a while.


1947
Jan: At the end of the year we sit back and take a broad picture on the whole situation. We have an anual income of about 90 dukats and we have to pay a loan of 200 dukats in nov 1500. That shouldn't be a problem.
On the other hand, our alliance that could bring 132.000 troops to the field at the start of the war, has taken some heavy losses. Today we only have 34.000 troops (which is a bit of a burdon on our finances), but our allies have 50.000 troops among them. And it doesn't look as if they'd be recruiting soon as they are spending money on building fortresses and promoting officials.

Looking back over my notes, the Spanish army would have come over the see. We were invaded by the Armada, and we didn't even know it untill they were right at the gate!!! Better not make a big fuss over this.
But this also explains the unexpected peace offer by Spain. Without support from their fleet, that got destroyed just outside the coast, they would feel rather vulnerable in the Lowlands.

Feb: France seems to push England from the continent and even invades Kent. We don't like this at all.
We send 2 merchants to Genoa, the first gets accepted, the second drives out a merchant from Genoa, so we immediatly send another one to take his place.

March: Turkey takes Georgia and the Swiss enter a military alliance with France, Savoy, Papal states, Brittany and Algiers.
Bohemia enters an alliance with Austria, Georgia, England, Hungary and Wurtemberg. I hope they concentrate on each other and on the Turks. Is somebody actually trying to stop the Turks? They seem to grow pretty strong.
Our merchant in Genoa gets accepted. The next CoT will be Reval.

July: Georgia is anexed by the Turks, the Black See is about to become their "mare nostrum"

August: Austria, its allies and England continue the war against the Turks, but they have Sweden on their side.
Then English army at Calais finally makes a dent in the defences there, and gets attacked by a small Savoy army, which they quickly deal with.

September: Thuringen and Baden declare war on Saxony. This is on the far borders of our alliance. Can we pick up the crumbs?
England settles for peace with France and looses Calais and Kent (!).

November: We offer a RM to Sweden, they accept. Teutonic Orders keeps the pressure on in its war against Poland Lituania. PC concentrates on the siege of Konigsberg in Prussia. We send 2 merchants to Estonia.

Dec: one drives out the merchant from Pskov, the other fill the void.

1498
Jan: The Swedes share explorations with us.

Feb: Dai Viets declared war on Ayutthaya!? Never heard about either of them.

March: we send 2 merchants to Reval.

April: Louis XII rises to the throne in France. Both our merchants settle down in Reval.

June: Saxony anexes Thuringen

July: Prussia is anexed by Poland-Lituania and they settle for peace with Teutonic order by paying 55 ducats and turning over Lituania.

Sept: we send 2 more merchants to Reval. Baden pays its way out of the war with Saxony.

Oct: we send 2 merchants to Isphahan, at the cost of 16 dukats each, but never hear off them again.

Dec: our allies seem reluctant to recruit any troops, sure they have upgraded some fortresses, but that won't stop the Austrian Alliance! The next war will have to start in 1501, so it's only 2 years away. Our generals have devised a cunning plan, and it's exactly the same as the previous plan. A small force is send towards The Hague, and the main force strikes from Flanders, with Egmont going for Artois and the other half for Hainaut.

 

[unmerged(1700)]

Wreckless, I just checked my site and all your images are there and all the links are working. In short, everything is perfect. Enjoy.

 

[unmerged(4087)]

Your doing a great job general, thanks.

Tips his hat (err, crown)...

 

[unmerged(4087)]

1499
Jan: The Turks continue to expand their realm.

April: Just send 2 merchants to Mecklenburg and both of them settle in nicely.

June: Send 2 more merchants there, and the Palitanat entered the Austrian Alliance and with our allies refusing to raise troops...

July: 1 merchants is accepted, the other one drives out a merchant from Hansa, so we immediatly send another one to take his place.

Aug: damn, we lost a merchant in Venice, and I just ran out of merchants... Scotland entered a military alliance with Russia and Denmark.

Nov: Turkey accepted peace and gained Croatia and Banat from Hungary.

1500
Jan: General Van Rossum joins our ranks. We welcome him.
P-L declares war on the Turks and is joined by Moldavia. The Turks get support from Walliachia, but also from the Swedes. This must be the "stab in the back" we hear so much about.

Feb: We send 2 merchants to Venice.

Apr: 2 merchants to Mecklenburg. Good news, Austria is fighting the Turks and moves all its troops to the south east. Walachia is anexed by P-L.

May: we drive out a merchant from Naples, but fail to take its place, so we send out another merchant.

June: Austria agrees with peace with the Turks and gets Croatia. At least the Turk threat is stopped, but we wished it would have taken them a bit more time.

July: merchants in Mecklenburg is accepted. But Bohemia became vassal of Australia and breaks off al royal ties with Russia and Ryazan. This will surely put the pressure on Brandenburg. Poland settles for peace with the Turks and gets Banat.

Sept: we invent artillary support

Dec: We have to repay the loan, and we have a measely 32 dukats in our coffers. The war will have to wait another year.

1501
Jan: Moldavia is anexed by Turkey

Apr: Austria (followed by all his allies) declares war on P-L.

May: We decide the time is ripe and dilever the DoW on Austria. Our allies are right on our heels. Immediatly we send our armies to The Hague, Artois and Hainaut. The Palitanat lays siege to Cologne, but Hessen invades Pfalz.

July: Hannover breaks the siege on Luxemburg and we dispose of fresh troops, trained at Hainaut. P-L captured the city in Croatia from Austria.

Aug: Brandenburg lays siege to Silesia.

Sep: fresh artillary trained in Holland is immediatly send to The Hague.

Oct: Brandenburg captured the city in Silesia and moves on to Erz.

Nov: Van Egmont captured Artois and moves on to Luxemburg.

Dec: Van Egmont is about to destroy the weak garrison their, as reinforcements arrive. He's in for a bloody war.

1502
Jan: Van Rossum takes Hainaut, but waits for the result of the battle in Luxemburg. He would be to late to help out anyway. Van Egmont eventually defaets the enemy and lays siege to Luxemburg. Van Rossum sends half his army to Luxemburg and returns to The Hague, to help out with the siege there.
Brittany cancelled vasalisation by France

Feb: Austria and the Palitanat besiege Cologne, but our ally has a small fortress their, and we are quite confident he will hang on.

April: The Hague falls even before Van Rossum gets there and Austria offers Artois and Hainaut, but we refuse.

July: France declares war on Austria and all allies on both side follow. Austria is fighting on 3 fronts now, so it's tempting to raise our goals. We will see what happens when Luxemburg falls.

Aug: Van Rossum and his army finally join in Zeeland and march to Cologne. The siegeforce is seriously weakened there and we reckon we can deal with them. Brandenburg conquers the city in Erz and marches to Moravia. We engage the army in Cologne but have a bad start.

Sep: Van Rossum turns the situation around and drives the Austrians and the Palitanat from Cologne. France captures Wurtemberg.

Oct: It appears the army we defeated doubled back to Holland to lay siege to the city there!? How is this possible. Van Rossum is ordered to immediatly pull back to Holland. We make an offer to Austria: Artois and Hainaut for us, Silesia to Brandenburg for peace. They refuse!

Nov: Van Rossum, moving to Holland, is intercepted by an army from the Palitanat, but he quickly deals with them. He continues the march to Holland in a hury. The defeated army also marches to Holland!? Austria offers Artois. Only Artois? We refuse.

Dec: France captured the city in Tirol! And England liberated Kent. P-L captured the city in Pest.

1503
Jan: Austria offers The Hague, Artois and Hainaut for peace. Brandenburg insists on a prize for its efforts, so we decline. We demand Artois, Hainaut and Silisia for peace, but Austria declines. Is this bloody war going on forever? Denmark annexed Holstein.

Apr: We send Van Egmont, with only a small force, to Pfalz to command the siege there. "Let me through, I'm their leader, I must follow them" Van Egmont shouts, crossing the Rhine, but he's to late and the city is taken by France.

May: Wurtemberg is annexed by France. P-L captured Carpatia from Hungary. Van Egmont moves on to Mainz. Brandenburg captured Moravia from Bohemia.

Aug: Van Egmont arrives in Mainz and immediatly orders a full scale assault on the town. The defences crumble, we offer a white peace to the Palitanat, and they accept. We didn't want the French to get a foothold in the Palitanat. Brandenburg captures the city in Sudeten.

Oct: we urge Brandenburg to open negotiations with Bohemia directly. They get 150 ducats, Silesia and Erz.

Dec: We demand Artois and Hainaut from Austria and everything that's left in their coffers. That turns out to be about 50 dukats, but they accept. The war is over!!! We have done great and our allies are very pleased.

*** Note: I should have waited untill january, when their coffers would have been filled.

1504
Feb: apparantly Brandenburg still support P-L in their war with Austria and captures the city in Pressburg, but Austria pays 100 dukats for peace with P-L. Looks like Brandenburg and France are the only ones still at the throat of Austria.
Savoy captures Luxemburg.
Persia declares war on Turkey, but Sweden and Crimea join their ally Turkey. Venice pays 140 dukats to Turkey for peace. Modena is captured and anexed by the Turks.

The situation after the war. Brandenburg did ok against Bohemia and we just took Hainaut and Artois

We feel generous and pay Hessen, Hannover and Cologne 25 dukats each, for their effort in the war. Hessen and Hannover will recieve further payment as we are very happy with their performance.

June: Bavaria entered a military alliance with Saxony and Hannover lays siege to Bohemia, while Brandenburg is besieging Ostmark and Pressburg.

Oct: Austria pays 70 dukats for peace to Helvetica. Brandenburg captured Ostmark from Austria and Bohemia pays 7 dukats for peace with Hannover.

1505
March: Bohemia warns me that she still considers herself at war with the Netherlands. Would we like to pay 140 dukats for peace? Peace? I'll give you piece! France takes back Kent from England.

July: Persia pays it's way out of the war with Turkey.

Oct: Bohemia is at the door again, hat in hand! Peace for a measely 42 dukats, please sir, please. We slam the door in their face.

Nov: Austria takes Tyrol back from France. Let them fight each other to death!

1506
Feb: Russia declares war on the golden Horde.
March: Hungary took Pressburg back from Brandenburg. I'm starting to worry if our ally isn't in over his head.
May: Austria pays 80 dukats to Brandenburg for peace and turns over Ostmarch. Looks like they're doing ok!
Aug: Scotland declares war on England, and Austria (with all it's allies) support England.
Oct: our trade level is up, and we can finally gain monopolies. Let's try for one in Flanders.

1507
jan: First monopoly in Flanders. Let's do the same in Venice.
march: Savoy accepts peace with Austria and takes Luxemburg. Our route to the Palitanat is now through Cologne.
april: England pays for peace with France.
may: Austria agrees on peace with France and looses France Comté. We gain a monopoly in Venice.

We want to prepare for the next war early 1509! Let's hope Austria is not fully recovered by then. We don't trust France either, because of the CB they have with us.

nov: infrastructure is late renaissance, but we don't have the money to promote Legal Counsils.

dec: England captured the Marches and Scotland captured, so they're both happy I guess.

1508
jan: Should we promote officials, or should we prepare for another war? Austria is probably still not fully recovered and our allies have massive armies (140.000 troops among them). We need time to think this over...

 

[unmerged(1700)]

Originally posted by Wreckless
Your doing a great job general, thanks.

Tips his hat (err, crown)...

Thanks Wreckless, you've got a great AAR. Btw, I want to encourage you to send a text file with your screenshots under the same name. You can write a caption for your screenshot in that text file. Check out some of my screenshots with captions. They are at www.systemvoid.com/eu/aar.html

 

[unmerged(4087)]

1508
jan: Should we promote officials, or should we prepare for another war? Austria is probably still not fully recovered and our allies have massive armies (140.000 troops among them). We need time to think about it...
We decide to postpone the war. We don't have a lot of cash and are low on troops. France and Austia both are in peace.
Karel van Gelrode, our youngest advisor, starts making chicken noises, but he end's up make the noise of a beheaded chicken.
The Palitanat is raising an army in Pfalz.

We promote a legal counsel in Holland and decide to aim for a monopoly in Flanders, and hold on to 5 merchants in the other CoT.

July: Scotland enters an alliance with Russia and Denmark.

1509
jan: we train 3.000 infantry in Zeeland to bolster Van Egmonts army.
june: Venice declares war on Turkey and Teutonic order and Spain follow. Sweden and Crimea choose side for the Turks.
july: the Knights is annexed by the Turks.

1510
Jan: we 're still holding on to our monopoly in Flanders, sending new merchants as they are driven out. We promote a chief judge in Zeeland and invest all of our monthly profits in science.
June: The king makes an appeal to fortify the cities in our kingdom. Hainaut upgrades the fort.
sept: revolts against the French throne in Kent and Wurtemburg.

1511
Feb: Rebel Scum captures the French city in Kent.
Sep: England agrees with peace with Scotland and gets the Marches.
Austria annexes Bohemia.

1512
Jan: As the judge in Zeeland is sworn in, we promote a new one in Flanders.
Okt: 3 settlers volunteer at the port in Amsterdam. We don't have discovered any foreign lands to send them to. We try desperately to get exchange some discoveries and get some maps from friendly, but all our efforts are in vain.

1513
May: France cleared Dover from rebel scum.
July: Saxony declares war on our ally Brandenburg. Our alliance springs to action. We send van Rossum with a small force to help out where he can. Hannover, Hessen, Brandenburg and even Cologne lay siege to Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringen.
Sept: Bavaria captures Krems in Ostmark
Dec: Hessen captures Erfurt in Thuringen.

1514:
April: Saxony pays 210 dukats for peace with Hannover.
May: Hessen captures Dessau in Anhalt, and Dresden in Saxony, but they capture Brandenburg in Magdeburg. Saxony pays 9 dukats for peace with Cologne.
So now it's Hessen and Brandenburg against Saxony and Bavaria. We don't want to send our armies this far abroad, so we keep them at home.
June: Saxony gets Magdeburg for peace. That's most unfortenate since it means that Brandenburg is no longer connected to the rest of the alliance.
We promote a judge in Friesen.
Dec: Reformation!!!

1515
March: Austria followed by all it's allies, declare war on Turkey. We will let them march their armies to the southeast and we will strike hard. The Ostmarch is revolting against Brandenburg.
April Russia declares war on the Golden Horde and is followed by Denmark and England (amongst others)
Dec: damn. The Palitanat refuses to send their troops against the Turks. They have a massive 60.000 troops, no way I'm gonna confront them head on. I prefer a gentle stab in the back.

1516:
Feb: Palitanat even raises more troops. Let's hope they'll put them to good use against the Turks.
April: I train 2.000 infantry and 1.000 cavalry in Zeeland and Holland.
July: Austria settles for peace with the Turks and takes Illyria. We forget about the war and promote another judge in Hainaut.

1517:
Nothing to report

1518
April: Austria declares war on P-L an all allies follow. We look sharp now.
Dec: The Palatinat has 78.000 troops in it's 2 small provinces. How can they afford to pay the upkeep for such an army? I don't want to gamble with such a big army at the border of the alliance.

1519
Nothing much to report. We start to save money for building a fine arts academy in Holland.
Dec: And your loyal servent, that would be me, is promoted to marquis. In the mean time the Palitanat has amassed 90.000 soldiers.

1520
Jan: England is struck by civil war.
Aug: France is marching a rather large army van Calais to Champaign and back north again. Are they showing their muscles? We order Van Egmont to Flanders and train 5.000 infantry there. The French army moves out of sight.
Dec: But another French army shows up in Champaign. Van Rossum is ordered to Zeeland.

1521
Jan: Van Rossum arives in Zeeland and gets 5.000 freshly recruited infantry.
Nov: Austria declares war on Turkey, but with the tension on the French border we hesitate.

 

[unmerged(4087)]

The next chapter of my AAR, expansion to the east.

1522
April: once again we declare war on Austria. Our allies will have to deal with the Palitanat and we hope France won't take advantage of the situation. Van Rossum invades The Hagues and Van Egmont takes up a defensive position in Zeeland.
May: Cologne takes on the biggest 59.000 man army from Palitanat with it's own 10.000 man army. Not very wise.
Sep: Our allies help us out with the siege in The Hague and we have 35.000 infantry their. Van Rossum forces his hand with a full scale assault, but is driven back, after inflicting serious losses. Cologne falls to an overwhelming army. But pays for peace and for it's freedom. The big army goes north to Munster and back to Hessen to lay siege on the city there.
Aztec empire enters an alliance with France. Now that's interesting.
Nov: treaty of Tortillas

1523
Jan: Philip of Hessen moves into Holland. He'll want to take command of the siege so we storm the city immediatly and the defences crumble before Philip arrives.
Feb: Philip marches back to Hessen to break the siege on the city there, but he's to late. The city falls and Hessen pays 60 for peace with the Palitanat.

1524
What happens next is an undescribeble series of events. In short, the Palatinat throws hiss massive armies at our allies like there's no tomorrow. Our allies have to pay cash for peace, but eventually the big army ends up in Hannover and gets a nice randsome. But they are cut off from their home provinces, blocked!!! We seize this opportunity, Van Rossum marches to Pfalz and takes the city after a short siege. Van Egmont moves to Mainz, the Palitanat desperately tries to raise a new army there, but we finish them off quite easily and after a long siege the defences are overrun. The Palitanat offer us Mainz for peace, but we have a better idea, annexation. They agree and later Austria has to turn over The Hague for peace.

1525: We take over the Palitanat, but their armies, instead of joining ours, defect. This leaves us in a difficult situation, as both are generals with all our troops are trapped in the former Palitanat.
June: We need to vasalise a corridor to join our territories. Cologne is still at war so we decide to make pretty eyes to Hessen. We send them a personal gift of 100 dukats and our relations improve dramatically.
Saxony enters an alliance with P-L.

1526
jan: Hanseatic leage turns Protestant. Would this be a nice opportunity to declare war on them, give our allies some extra provinces and return our troops back home? We decide against this advice.
We lost our CB against Austria, but have one against Savoy now. It seems the time has come for peacefull expansion.
okt: Cologne accepts white peace with Austria.

1527:
jan: Helvetica turns protestant. We start a fine arts accademy in Holland emptying our coffers to a bare 42 dukats.
sep: Sweden declares war on Russia.

1528:
Jan: Hannover turns protestant and they break their RM and leave our alliance. We have a 1 year CB against them and we plan to use it.
Feb: Modena is annexed by the Turks and the Swedes are doing very good against Russia.
Apri: We declare war on Hannover and march Van Rossum to Oldenburg. Hannover is besieged by Hessen and Cologne.
July: Sweden gets Kola for peace with Russia.
Aug: Nijmegen volunteers in Holland to explore the vast waters. We put him in command of our small fleet and send him off to win fame and glory for our country. Hessen captures Hannover but accepts peace for 145 dukats.
Teutonic Order declares war on Russia. Allies follow.

1529
Jan: Hessen turns protestant.
April: Oldenburg falls in our hands and we march on to Hannover.
June: The city falls and Cologne gets 100 dukats for peace. We annex Hannover.
July: We have a temp CB against Hessen and declare war. They have a hughe army of about 65.000 troops, but they march of to Cologne. We lay siege to Hessen and Munster, but the small fortresses there hold on.
Aug: Philip is suffering attrition in Cologne and decides to storm the city. He's unsuccesfull.
Sept: Our home army lays siege to Hessen.
Oct: Philip captures Cologne and annexes the province.
We lay siege to Munster, but Philip is determined to break the siege there and throws his army at us.
Nov: after a ferocious battle, the unexpected happens and Philip is defeated. He pulls back to Cologne but quickly marches to Zeeland. Our armie is decimated, but it recieves reinforcements from Holland and we resume the siege.

1530
Jan: Philip drives his army all the way round The Hague, Friesen
April: Hessen falls and we send Van Egmont to Cologne. Philip arrives in Oldenburg, loots the province but marches on.
May: Munster falls under the pressure of Van Rossum, but he's to weak to break the siege at Hannover alone, so Van Egmont is ordered to turn around.
June: They face Philip on the battlefield and he's defeated soundly. Van Egmont dies in the battle however, this is a serious blow to our kingdom. The veteran general has been with us for nearly 40 years now, and he dies on the battlefield. A statue is erected on the main square of Amsterdam and we will allways remember his loyalty and courage.
Philip pulls back to Hessen, with Van Rossum on his heels.
Aug: Philip tries to lay siege to the city, but Van Rossum confronts him immediatly and the Hessen army is completely destroyed. Van Rossum takes 13.000 soldiers to lay siege to Cologne. An artillary section is send after him.
Sep: Van Rossum arrives in Cologne and lays siege to the city. The reinforcement arrives a bit later.

1531
Jan: We take it easy on the siege, as the small fortress nearly equals our own numbers. We will starve them!
May: Hessen makes a desperate offer for peace, but since Van Rossum informs is Luxemburg won't hold out much longer, we settle only for full annexation.
June: We capture Cologne and annex Hessen. Yours truly is promoted to Regent.
We've lost track of our courageous explorer mr. Nijmegen, but luckily he returned safely to port. We build 2 more warships to replace his losses and plan to send him out again real soon.

Our situation looks pretty good, but what worries me most is that we don't have any powerfull allies. Only Brandenburg is allied with us, and they are cut off. France, Austria and even P-L hate us. What did we do to diserve this?

 

[unmerged(4087)]

I'll post the next part tomorrow or something.
Holland is indeed attacked by some powerfull ennemies.

You wanna know how we did?

Do you like my new gold shield? I've picked it because it resembles the black Flamish Lion on a yellow shield.

VLAANDEREN DE LEEUW!!!

 

[unmerged(3435)]

I like your style, wreckless! 'treaty of Tortillas' 'trembling under the Danish Joke' funny stuff...You're going to suffer for that little rampage, though. Lord knows I did! What do you mean, the Palatinat troops defected? can they do that, and is it random or only under specific circumstances??

 

[unmerged(4087)]

I really don't know how it happened, but they had 2 huge armies, stuck up north, and I moved them to Holland. One of them didn't arrive, and the other had about 1000 soldiers left when it did, and then it vanished. I think they had some horrible attrition or somehting.

 

[unmerged(4087)]

1532
Jan: Peasant revolt in Oldenburg. We recruit armies in Flanders and Hainaut.
Feb: De revolt in Oldenbrug is put down by General Dordrecht.
The French garlic eating dogs declare war on us!!! We are not prepared, but it seems neither are they. The Savoy army marches from Luxemburg to Artois. We decide to recruit an fresh army (10.000 infantry, 2.000 cavalry) in Hainaut, this army will be mainly used for defensive actions against the French. If we're lucky and will have to lay siege to a city, we'll need artillary, so 20 guns are recruited in Zeeland. We have 66 dukats left in our coffers, but we're willing to lend money if we have to to defend ourselves. No way we're going to turn over Flanders to the French. The army from Oldenburg is pulled back to Zeeland.
An army of 11.000 soldiers marches from Champagne to Artois, but a large army of 40.000 from Lorraine is on their heels.
March: Artois is taken by the French, but instead of pressing on, they march south!? An army from Baden lays siege to Mainz. AUSTRIA DECLARES WAR ON US!!! Sure, why don't you. We'll deal with the French first and take care of them later.
April: We lay siege to Luxemburg, and move an army to Artois to reclaim it. An army from Switserland and Savoy lays siege to Pfalz. While the war with France is going rather good for us, P-L declares war on us and all their allies follow! TRIPLE DAMN!!! Brandenburg will have to take care of them I'm afraid.
May: We cover the fortress in Artois and press forward to Ill de France.
Aug: we retake Artois.
Sept: We capture Luxemburg and the army marches on to Champaign, quickly disposing of fresh troops there. The city is besieged.
Oct: We capture Ile de France and they propose peace, turning over Luxemburg (which isn't even theirs to begin with). We decline as we want to capture a French province.
Nov: Baden captures Mainz and moves on to Pfalz.
Dec: Brandenburg turns over Silesia to Hungary for peace.

1533
Jan: Pfalz falls to Baden.
Feb: Brandenburg pays for peace with Austria. Champagne finally falls, and we propose peace, demanding Champaign and Luxemburg. The French accept!
We will go after Baden now, they'll be sorry they ever ganged up against us.
March: spring is in the air, and our army from Calais marches to Pfalz, so does Van Rossum from Champaign. A small army is marched to Munster where we'll train 5.000 infantry. 2.000 artilarry and 20 guns are recruited in Holland, and 5.000 more infantry is trained in Hannover. Our coffers are empty, but we didn't take a single loan yet!
March: Brandenburg turns over Erz to P-L for peace. Seems like their getting a rough time, and we're not able to help them yet.
May: we lay siege to Pfalz with 20.000 infantry and 62 guns. Meanwhile Hessen is besieged by a giant army from Baden, Pommerania, P-L and Saxony. Coordination between them is low however, and attrition is high. We watch how they bleed.
Aug: Peasants in Pfalz decide this is a good time to intervene and revolt. They are quickly dealt with. We capture Pfalz and Van Rossum splits up his army. He moves to Baden, while the other half under general Hebenal moves to Mainz.
Our fresh army retreats to Holland, unable to break the siege at Hessen.
Oct: Mainz and Baden are besieged. We hope we can take them before Hessen falls, a seperate peace (or even annexation) would releave the pressure on the fortress.
Nov: the peasants in Pfalz are revolting again. We don't have time to deal with them, they'll have to wait.
Hessen is taken by Baden, and they suggest peace if we turn over the province. We don't agree, winters sets in, and their big army is on the move, suffering from attrition.
Dec: England offers peace for a measly 6 dukats, they can have their prize.

1534
Jan: Hannover is besieged by a mixed army from Saxony, P-L and Pommerania. They immediatly storm the fortress and are eventually driven back. The garrison is down to less than 1.000 men however, so it will crumble under the next assault.
Winter has set in in Baden and we suffer from attrition there, Van Rossum decides to leave a force behind to cover the city and return to Mainz. Baden is helpfull in putting down the revolt in Mainz. Good job guys! And then we have a small reset.
Restarting from the autosave file.
Feb: Baden wasn't so helpfull after all, but lays seige to the city in Mainz : ).
We take the city in Baden and rest our troops there. Hannover is stormed again and will fall any day now. We started to train fresh troops in Holland.
March: Munster is besieged by an mixed army from P-L and Saxony, but Mainz fall to our troops. General Costers moves his troops to Hessen and Van Rossum, rested, will join him there. If we can take Hessen, Baden will be out of the war, perhaps even anexed. Baden, seeing the danger, offers a white peace, but we decline.
March: Munster is stormed, but the garrison holds its own, and the demoralised attackers are immediatly taken on by the general Woerden from Holland.
April: Woerden delivers a brilliant victory in Munster and the defeated Saxons return to Hannover with Woerden on their heels. In the mean time Costers and Van Egmont annihilate a army from Pommerania in Mainz. They join forces to move to Hessen, but are intercepted by a large P-L army. They are victorious and continue for Hessen.
May: We decline several peace offers, and Hanseatic leage decides to join in to the fun, declaring war on us...
June: We annihilate a small army from P-L in Hessen and lay siege to the city.
July: Woerden is attacked in Hannover and is routed for Munster. We send fresh troops to meet him there.
Aug: Mainz gets besieged by Saxony. Things don't look so good, we need Hessen to fall NOW and send every soldier and piece in there. The remaining cavalry pulls back to Holland and we train 5.000 infantry there. We don't have 2 dukats to rub together.
Nov: peasants in Champagne are revolting and Austria lays siege to Pfalz. We storm Hessen to finally take Baden out of the war, but the defences hold on ever so narrow. We decide to go for peace with Baden early next the year and demand a nice randsom.
Dec: Hungary wants our last 5 ducats for peace and we send them away with their randsom.

1535
Jan: Hannover falls and England proposes a white peace which we eagerly accept.
Brandenbrug turns protestant and brakes our alliance.
In a desperate attempt, we storm Hessen once more and the last city of Baden falls. She refuses annexation however.
Oldenburg is besieged by Hanseatic forces.
Feb: We are attacked by Pommerania in Hessen but they are defeated.
Van Rossum is send to Hannover to recapture the city, the other half of his army under general Arnhem is send to Pfalz to break the siege there. But we are intercepted and have to defeat a P-L army before we can get on our way.
Baden finally accepts annexation and we get some more troops which are place under the command of general Dordrecht.
April: The Austrians decide to storm the defences at Pfalz, days before we arrive. We catch them of guard, but in a masterfull manoeuvre, they manage to defeat general Arnhem. This was unexpected.
Van Rossum lays siege to Hannover in the mean time, and Dordrecht convinces his army march against their former allies and moves to Alsace.
A fresh Dutch army under general Amersfoort is ordered to Oldenbrug to break the siege there.
May: Hannover is captured again, and Van Rossum is ordered to Anhalt. Finally, we succeed in putting the war on their front lawn. The siege at Oldenburg is lifted.
June: the army in Anhalt just got reinforces when we arrive there. It could have gone either way, but Van Rossum is finally defeated there.
July: the siege on Pfalz is finally lifted, but Mains falls under the Saxon pressure.
Arnhem decides to finally put out the peasant revolt in Champagne, but Baden and Hessen are under siege.
Aug: Van Rossum marches his exhausted army to Munster where he joins up with general Amersfoort. Together they march on to Hessen again.
Sept: The revolt in Champagne is finally put down, put Van Rossum suffers an unexpected defeat in Hannover.
Baden is besieged by a 28.000 Saxon army, but they suffer from attrition. Growing impatient, their general decided to storm the defences, but he's driven back.
Dec: P-L wants 2 dukats for peace and we're happy to comply. Saxony gets of the hook this time. Kleves turns Protestant.

1536
Feb: an army in Munster is virtually destroyed by revolting peasants.
April: we drive Austria out of Mainz and finally accept a white peace with them. We're tired of the war and want to build on the land we gained.
We send an army against Bremen and Meckelenburg.
Aug: Bremen falls
Oct: Meckelenburg defences surrender and the Hanseatic league falls in our lap and we add their fleet to our own. Their maps are welcome also, as we now have directions for our traders.
Nov: an uprisging in Cologne is the start of a revolt that sweeps the country.
Dec: peasants in Hannover are revolting and Savoy becomes Vasal of France.

 

[unmerged(4087)]

What surprises me a bit is the relative ease with which we ware able to withstand the powerfull countries that attacked us.
The French blundered by sending their big army to the south. I can't remember for sure, but I don't think they were at war with any other country but Holland.
Austria had some problems getting their forces to Holland, as did P-L, so why were they so eager to DoW on us? Their allies payd the price dearly. If I hadn't called in Brandenburg, they would probably had even more difficulty to put their armies into action.

Also, you have to be carefull not to leave any army in a conquered province, cut off from your main provinces. It happened to the Palitanat, and it was a catastrophy for them, as Van Rossem soon took advantage of the situation. It also happened to the Dutch, luckily the results weren't so bad.

It leaves me wondering about the balance of the game however.
Was I just lucky, or am I really the military genius I always suspected I was?
If only I was born in different times...
Had I been an Ancient Greek, I would have known by now. And I probably wouldn't be alive anymore, but that's a whole different story...

 

[unmerged(4087)]

just testing

 

[Dustman]

Do you plan to be at peace for some time? Just curious... I wouldn't like to be at war with whole world while so rebel-prone. It would be interesting to read a bit about growth of Great Dutch Trading Empire, you know

 

[unmerged(4087)]

Don't tell me, tell the bloody French, and the Austrians and all the rest. They just keep ganging up on me, and I keep beating them and beating them...

But they just come back for more. It's a pain in the neck and no fun at all. I'm seriously considering giving up this AAR and starting a new one.

The 100 year war may be fun to read about, but living it at 1 minute a month, that's something else...