Brandenburg unter nichts: An AAR

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Brandenburg unter keine: another Brandenburg AAR

Well, it is that time again. My instincts tell me that I need to write an AAR. However, this is perhaps an inopportune time for a Brandenburg AAR. But that’s ok, I’ll do my best in this AAR. Since my first two failed before they began, I figure third time is the charm. Now to the details:

Playing a GC as Brandenburg/Prussia on Hard/Aggressive with 1.04 and the EEP 1.0 installed. I am using the flags and shields mod by Mad King James and Leprechaun and the language mod by Desertuer. For reading the history and other information, I used the excellent EU Reader by Jos Theelen. Also, thanks to Lord Durham for writing his Austrian War of the Spanish Succession AAR. It was a great inspiration and gave me the impetus to write this. My writing will probably be about 1/8th or 1/16th as good as his, but I am hoping for 1/4th. If no one likes it, then I will have the pleasure of having my own thread to boost my posts. I’ll try to work in screenshots every post or at least every other post. And now, my speech is done and here’s the AAR.

1420
Berlin, 8 Jan

Otto was among the first to die defending his home from the enemy. As a serf for his lord, he had to give part of his time for military service. So he fought, and died. One of thousands who would do so in a struggle that would herald the rise of a new German power, though few knew so at the time.

1419
Berlin, 1 Jan

Having been granted the electorate of Brandenburg by the Emperor Sigismund, Friedrich I, former diplomatic advisor for Sigismund, founded the house of Hohenzollern in 1415. On the dawn of a new year, Friedrich surveyed his court. What he saw and heard was enough to make him want to depart. “I believe that we should ally with the Poles and crush Pommern,” cried one nobleman.
“No, we must crush the Bohemians to our south,” shouted yet another.
“Can’t you see? The elector wants to attack the Wettins in Saxony; you know he’s hated the margrave of Meissen ever since the Emperor gave Saxony to the Wettins,” exclaimed a different aristocrat.
“Quiet! Quiet!” said Friedrich. “We will do as I say. This electorate must be defended properly. Although we lie on two major rivers, the Elbe and the Oder, there is no need to defend those with a navy. We need to increase the land forces at the expense of any naval ventures. Do you support this?” Unspoken lay the obvious truth: If the nobles agreed, they would receive more privileges and land, if they did not, then theoretically Friedrich could call upon Sigismund for help.
“Yes! Yes! We agree,” shouted several of those assembled.
A courtier came in from the outer part of the nobles, who parted like the Red Sea before him. He spoke privately to the elector, who then said, “My friends, I am to tell you of great news: The Saxons have agreed to be partners with us!”
The nobles were immediately shocked: “What!? I thought the elector hated Saxony.” They shouted. In another time and place, this policy of saying one thing and then saying the opposite, with both being true, would be called newspeak. To the nobles, it was quite a shock.

(OOC): How do you insert screenshots?

 

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well, since no one has posted, here's some more(only a bit, though).


Berlin, 23 Feb

Colonel Haber watched as the 5000 peasants and 2000 knights assembled. “’Tis a waste of farmers, those peasants,” he remarked.
The figure at his side thought otherwise: “Sir, those peasants could prove useful in diverting the enemy knights and unhorsing them, allowing the mass of peasants to overcome the quality of the knights.”
“You may be right, but I don’t agree with recruiting 5000 of these men. We already have 10000 infantry and 5000 of the brave knights. I do think that the elector could have chosen a different man to lead this force against a enemy.”
That enemy would face these men, and their commander, in battle soon.

Magdeburg, 16 Sept

The envoy from Brandenburg spoke as the archbishop watched. The archbishop so hated these temporal matters. But they must be attended to. He figured the envoy had come with a gift or to arrange a marriage. He learned why the envoy had come. An hour later, he sent forth the alarm to raise troops and prepare to defend Magdeburg at all costs.

 

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Thanks for all the great responses. Here's some more for the ghosts who are posting.

Berlin, 16 Sept

Haber approached his second in command, a Gadenow. “Is the army ready to depart for Magdeburg?”
“Yes, sir,” replied Gadenow.
“Very good, tell the trumpets to sound the march and we will be dining in the archbishop’s castle before Christmas.”

Dieter walked along the beaten path. To his right was a majestic castle. “If I only lived in one of those,” he muttered to his compatriot, “I’d never have to work again. That would be much better than trudging along this road as a lowly serf.”
“Sadly we were born to the lot that we are in now,” spoke his friend Heinrich. “It is because we were born to be peasants that we were forced to give our service to our lord, who gives his service to another lord, and so on until Friedrich I gives his service to the Emperor.”
“You seem to know a lot about society. Perhaps I should call you sir?” Heinrich heard a voice behind him whisper.
“Perhaps you sho-. Sir! I meant no disrespect!” Heinrich hurriedly bowed before Col. Haber, who had heard the tail end of the conversation.
“I ought to execute you right now, lowly serf! But I am under or- never mind, I don’t want your brain getting too big. Have a nice walk.” Haber mounted his horse and rode away.
“It seems the Colonel is a nice man, Heinrich,” spoke Dieter after looking around. “He didn’t kill you.”
“So it does seem, my dear friend. So it does seem.”

Magdeburg, 8 Oct

Haber had ordered the knights to charge, so they did. All 7000 of them, while the 15000 Brandenburg infantry was held in reserve. Johann was one of those knights charging against the 3000 Magdeburg infantry and the 500(such a pitiful number) cavalry. Johann was part of the petty gentry, only had two horses, and his castle was (un)worthy enough to be called a large house. So he obeyed orders, in hope of loot that he could sell, and fame that he could tell of to his children.

Gadenow looked worried. “I was sure there were more fires in the Magdeburg camp last night. More fires and more soldiers. Where are they?”
“There is nothing to worry about, Gadenow. We have a very large advantage, from what I can see, in the only force that matters, cavalry.” Haber replied.
“If you say so, sir.”
“I do say so. Don’t tell me you’re becoming a traitor. I’ve seen enough of those already on the march to Magdeburg. No need to worry. We’ll crush these serfs and be in Magdeburg in a month.”

 

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Just a bit more now, to finish the battle. Let's see how many posts I can make before anyone actually replies.

Magdeburg, 8 Oct

The knights charged the infantry, and Johann cut down one peasant who had a pitchfork in his hand. More came though, but Johann fought through those, receiving a wound in his leg. Looking around the battlefield, he noticed that more Magdeburgers, equal to the force he had charged against, had come from behind, and threatened to annihilate the cavalry. He shouted, “To me! To me!” and spurred his horse through the ambushes, toward his fellow countrymen, but few knights followed. As he did, he saw the Brandenburg peasants rushing towards the fight, belatedly trying to help. A few were killed before Johann made it back to friendly lines. He had survived the First Battle of Magdeburg.

 

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hehe... I am replying. You posted on the weekend, so the responses are fewer and far between, don't take too much offense. A good start. As for the screenies, I believe there is a stickied thread somewhere on how to, or you could PM one of the regular AAR posters, that's who helped me

 

[Lord Durham]

LJ is right. Weekends are kind of quiet.
Check my Welcome to AARlan and ARTiFAQs page for ways to post screens. If you continue to have problems then PM me and I'll help you out.

The AAR is looking good. The narrative is well-written.

 

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Thanks for the compliments, Lords. I'll post again either Monday morning or night, depending on whether or not to leave you all hanging.

 

[Syt]

Hm. If you wanted to say "Brandenburg below noone" or "Brandenburg below nothing" it would rather be "Brandenburg unter niemandem" or "Brandenburg unter nichts".

 

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I was trying to say Brandenburg under none, a play on "Ostrreich(sp?) uber alles." Of course, now that I am explaning this it sort of ruins the joke, bur that's ok. Anyway, I asked around and several people said that the German word for none was keine, so I used it.

 

[Syt]

Darn German language. I'm with Mark Twain here:

You can learn English in 30 hours, French in 30 days, and German not in 30 years.

None does indeed mean "keine", "keins", or "keiner" (inflexion), but it this case it would have to be "Brandenburg unter keinem". As for the Österreich joke, the proper opposite of "alles" is "nichts".

And this concludes today's lesson. Don't forget to read Goethe's Faust till next time, Act 1, scene 1 through 4.

 

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Originally posted by Sytass
Darn German language. I'm with Mark Twain here:

You can learn English in 30 hours, French in 30 days, and German not in 30 years.

None does indeed mean "keine", "keins", or "keiner" (inflexion), but it this case it would have to be "Brandenburg unter keinem". As for the Österreich joke, the proper opposite of "alles" is "nichts".

And this concludes today's lesson. Don't forget to read Goethe's Faust till next time, Act 1, scene 1 through 4.

Marlowe's Faust is better Anyway, thanks for the language help and hopefully some kind mod will change the title to Brandenburg unter nichts: An AAR.

As regards the next post, it'll be up soon. I'm still getting screenshots figured out so I'll wait to post them.

-Leglaen

 

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Here's the next part. Pretty long.

1420
Brandenburg, 8 Jan

Dieter’s stomach rumbled. Ever since the retreat from Magdeburg after the defeat there had been very little food and drink. The army had been expecting to win easily and conquer Magdeburg and therefore had let the soldiers get all they needed on the march in. As on the march into Magdeburg, his friend Heinrich was by his side. This time, however, Heinrich was gingerly holding his left arm, which had been pierced by a knight during the retreat.
“Do you think we’ll get food today?” asked Dieter.
“We’d better. If we don’t we might have to take it from our fellows,” Heinrich whispered this last remark, and then said. “We don’t want to end up like the Ten Thousand, trapped inside Persia.”
“The Ten-who?” questioned Dieter. “And where’s Persia?”
“Never mind. Look, there’s some chickens. Hurry, let’s get them before anyone else sees them.”
They managed to get two and slept that night with a full stomach-the first in some time-and also the last for a while.

11 Feb
Colonel Haber had reviewed the new recruits, 3000 ‘lowly peasants,’, as he was wont to call them, two months ago. Now, he reviewed the entire army, which passed by.
“So, we have 15213 soldiers and 6443 cavalry. Very good. We should be able to def-.“
“Colonel,” a sentry cried. “We have spotted the enemy, heading directly this way. There appear to be about 9500 soldiers and 3000 knights. They are about to cross the bridge now.”
The bridge that the sentry referred to was made of stone, crossed a small river, and provided the easiest crossing and was the closest crossing to Berlin. Haber’s forces were camped near a large field, through which they needed to go through to get to the bridge.
“Saddle up the horses. Get the men prepared. Hurry! Time is of the essence.” Haber commanded.
“Sir, are you planning to use the infantry in this battle?” Gadenow asked. “I should hope you learned your les-.“
“I told you, knights are the dominant force on the battlefield!” Haber’s voice rose to a crescendo and then became softer. “However, just to prevent dissention, I will send 3000 of your ‘infantry’ to ‘help’ the knights fight.”
“Sir, no disrespect meant, but we have a numerical advantage over them. Surely if we used all of our forces, we could win.”
“If we used all of our forces, then they wouldn’t fit onto the bridge. Horses can’t fight and swim. Or did you forget that?” Haber replied with a sneer.
“Of course not, sir, but-.”
“Also, the peasants would just get in the way of my fine knights. We need decisive shock power to get through. You have your orders. Carry them out. Dismissed.”
“Yes, sir.”

Johann peered across the field. The enemy’s peasants were in front of his knights. What were they doing? His mind began to reverberate with reasons why the enemy chose to do this, but soon his mind calmed itself as he prepared for battle.
“Wait until most of the peasants cross the bridge, then attack. With luck we will cut them off and kill them all,” shouted a noble, richer in both land and peasants than Johann.
Johann patiently waited while they let the peasants cross. In front of him was a line of Brandenburg peasants who were preventing the enemy from gaining too much ground. Suddenly a trumpet sounded the call to charge…
Haber watched as his knights slaughtered the enemy peasants. About 6000 were dead by now, and Haber, thinking the battle was won, began to move toward the battle. Suddenly, off to his left, a group of 1000 knights suddenly appeared, racing towards the Brandenburg flank. He rushed forward, trying to warn the army. Gadenow cautioned him, saying, “Sir, you really should let me warn them. Your body is too vital to the success of our campaign.”
“I will do what needs to be done. Turn yourselves around! Hurry! You must fight!” Haber bellowed. No one seemed to hear him. Suddenly Haber’s body seemed to twitch, and then fell over. Gadenow rushed to him, wondering what had happened. He found the answer when he found an arrow piercing Haber’s throat. The colonel was dead.
The news quickly spread throughout the army, which became doubly demoralized, first because of the unexpected arrival of enemy reinforcements through an unexpected crossing, and now the death of the colonel. The army fled in a disorderly retreat, Gadenow desperately trying to stop the enemy and reorganize his army, but failing to do so and forced to retreat to Kustrin. Friedrich I was now trapped in Berlin, facing a hostile Magdeburg army, which, although cut down to 3000 peasants and 2000 cavalry, was receiving reinforcements and was at high morale. The fate of Brandenburg was at stake. What would happen?

 

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Comments(good and bad) are welcome. I'm speaking to the silent majority Next post is a day or two off. How is the speed? Too slow?

 

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It all depends on what you are looking to do. My first AAR (Bosnia) was very similar to what you are doing. The current one I am doing is much more detailed and centered on developing storylines and underlying themes. I am 50 posts into it and am only in 1425.

I would say post as you feel comfortable. As for comments, they are hard to come by, trust me I know

Keep it up, just make sure you finish it

 

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Originally posted by Lord Durham
LJ is right. Weekends are kind of quiet.

I have noticed this. However, someone forgot to mention that weekdays are also quiet. That's okay, though. I'll write this for all the silent posters.

 

[Lord Durham]

Originally posted by Leglaen


I have noticed this. However, someone forgot to mention that weekdays are also quiet. That's okay, though. I'll write this for all the silent posters.

So I lied...
Slapstick comedy seems to be in vogue at the moment and is gathering all the attention. Your viewcount/post is respectable, so people are reading, just not commenting. I have the same problem with my Genoa AAR.

Anyway, I've renamed the thread title for you.

Keep up the good work.

 

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Don't worry, I always check in one the other Brandenburg AAR to compare styles. It is frustrating to write for seemingly no one, but if you direct your attention to the post by MrT in my AAR's thread, it applies to you too.

Keep it up.

 

[Misha]

Well, I for one will break silence & comment that I am enjoying this AAR so far. Don't write for the acclaim. Write to please yourself. If you like what you are doing, it is likely that we do too.

 

[Storey]

As has been mentioned already the wiew count is a good indication of how much interest there is in your AAR. Right now there is a lot of competition on the AAR page. And very few AARs get many responses. Do it as long as you enjoy it.

Joe

 

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LD: Thanks. Arigato. Merci. (For the post, not the name change) We smart folks always have the problem of too few admirers. Just kidding, I'm not that smart.

LJ: I think MrT deleted the part of his post that referred to that, but maybe I was looking at the wrong one. I'm not worrying, but I was worried maybe the Internet had failed and I was the only one able to log in.

Misha: Thanks for the comment. One question though: if I have multiple personalities, and the insane one likes the way I am writing, does everyone? And if they do, are they all insane as well?

Storey: Thanks for the comment. Writing this is fun. (Can't think of any funny remark. Insert yours here)

I'll update Wednesday around lunch.