Cold reality: a Sibir AAR

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December 29, 1491, near the town of Sibir:

The blizzard is howling, and the driver of my sledge is cursing at the horses as they reluctantly pull against the wind, which strikes at my bones despite the furs which cover my body. Only one more day's journey to Sibir, where I am to be introduced into the court of Ibaq Khan, ruler of the Khanate of Sibir.

I am Tugrik Tsedenbal, son of Turek, grandson of Murek, who as a little boy was sent east after the death of Tamerlane, after the Golden Horde was broken into four parts 70 years ago. To the west is the Khanate of the Crimea, where at least they have a seacoast. To the southwest lies the Khanate of Astrakhan, where the climate is good (compared to this Allah-forsaken place, at least), and to the north is Kazan broken down and threatened by the banner of the Christian Russians.

We, the Khanate of Sibir, are the worst off, our Muslim tribes dispersed to the east, among the pagans who outnumber us five-to-one. My family was lucky: we used our last money to build a farm among the taiga, and in three generations have become the foremost landowners in eastern Kustanai province. Sadly, I am not the oldest son -- Tryek will inherit the land -- but I received a good education at the college in Astrakhan (they call a university - hah!) Now at 28 years old, I have been summoned to the court of the aging Khan, where I am to help run the business affairs of the empire, such as it is. The sledge arrived at our home three days ago - it takes that lonf to reach the capital. No time for goodbyes, not even to my three wives (Tryek already has five, the lucky *****)

December 30, 1491 - I am led to a small but well appointed room, where I will sleep. Tomorrow is my audience with the Khan.

December 31, 1491 - After a breakfast of stewed deermeat, I was led into the throne room of the Khan. He looked much older now than when I last saw him just last year. Standing at his side was his son, prince Mamuk.

``Please sit down, Tugrik,'' said the khan, pointing to a seat in the middle of the throne room. I obliged, and the khan spoke again.

``I am not well,'' he said. ``It's my heart, and this accursed cold weather. Soon, Mamuk here will lead this nation, but he lacks business sense. Always playing with soldiers. You are to help us build a stable nation. Thank you.''

And with that I was dismissed to gather my thoughts. An hour later, there was a knock on my door, and in stepped Mamuk. We talked about the state of the country, a nation of barely 9000 souls, mostly pagans eking out a living on soil that was frozen for half the year, chasing deer for food and fur, tractless, unexplored wastes to the north, east and south. This would be the greatest challenge of my life.

``Yes, father is dying,'' Mamuk said, looking less sheepish than he did in court. ``And with him the old ways. I am tired of this life, on the edge of the world. I have trained this army for three years, and they are ready for action. We will reunite the Horde!!''

I sat, stunned. ``But my lord, we are the poorest of the poor, and what little we have goes to the army ...'''

``As it should be,'' Mamuk interrupted. ``For our cavalry is the path to glory!. I believe in our ultimate victory. Already we are drawing up a declaration of war against Astrakhan! You will help us raise money toward our success. I will lead the armies!''

 

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AWESOME!! Reuniting the Horde is something I have only failed at. I would love to see the Horde riding thru Eastern Europe Again. Very good storywriting. This aar has great potential!!

 

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Thanks! I'm a newbie at this. Been playing EU for about six weeks, and am absolutely hooked. I got my feet wet with Austria and Russia, then thought the smaller countries would be more interesting. Downloaded the IGC and tried the Teuton Order, but Poland-Lith and Denmark were demonically DOWing me. Still, I held out for about 80 years until I was down to one province and gave up. Next, it was Hungary, and I was able to drive the Turks out of Europe thanks to some nifty diplomacy. Now it's Sibir, set on normal/normal, no cheats, though I can't promise I won't restart if something horrible happens. I'll update again tomorrow.

 

[Estonianzulu]

Good luck! You'll need it (beware the Poles they could annex the Horde before you do... oh wait only in my wacky games...) What are you planning to do against the soon to be neighbors the Russians?

 

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First blood

20 January 1492: Three weeks later, Mamuk's words still ring in my ears. A war with Astrakhan! I managed to delay the inevitable, at least until we can strengthen the walls of our capital. I order it done, but have you ever tried building a wall when it's 30 below? I didn't think so! Mamuk's war plans must wait.

31 May 1492: I've been given a tour of the country by one of the king's aides and a troop of cavalry. We go east to Kustanai, where I spent some quality time with the wives (heh, heh!) then south. The natives are illiterate, fearful pagans, dirt-poor, but excellent soldier stock, and great cavalrymen too. They follow orders well, but their families will rebel in a long war, I'm told. I return to Sibir, depressed. How can a nation like this defeat ANYONE in a war?

1 October 1492: The city walls are almost complete. As I return to the castle, an ashen-faced Mamuk stands in the throne room with a courier back from Volga. ``Astrakhan has signed a military alliance with the Golden Horde,'' he says. ``And father is very ill.''

I wonder what bothers him more, his father's illness or the alliance between our former brethren? Must be the alliance, as that's all he talks about. Winter approaches, and there will be no war - this year.

28 March, 1493: The walls are finished, the economy creaks along, and our paltry ducats invested in something called cannon, which Mamuk assures me will help will come in handy one day. The king survived the winter, but won't last much longer, I'm afraid.

30 July 1493: It's war! Without telling me, Mamuk sent a diplomat to Asktrakhan with a declaration of war, and already our cavalry armies are preparing to move. I dress hurriedly to find Mamuk leading a column of 30,000 troopers out of the city - to their doom, I believe. Oh, the recklessness of youth! He tells me to prepare the city's defenses, then join his command.

5 August 1493: I catch up with Mamuk's command on the road to Astrakhan with a message from the north: a massive Golden Horde force is driving through Orenburg, heading for Sibir - or perhaps toward our rear. There's nothing worse, I tell him, than trying to take a fortified town with another enemy at your back. We'll be slaughtered!

10 August 1493: In the mid-summer heat, Mamuk is frozen. He can't make up his mind: march on or head back to deal with the Horde. His indecision will kill us all, I fear.

12 August 1493: Massive columns of Astrakhan horsemen appear on the southwestern horizon. We must turn back, I tell him. On the dusty road, I conceive a plan. Our only ally is the winter, so let us disperse into the countryside south and east of Sibir and engage the depleted enemy in the spring.

20 Oct 1493: Ibaq Khan is dead! His body was taken out of the city by his guard just as the 60,000 Horde-Asktrakhan soldiers descended upon the city. The Khan's body was burned on a funeral pyre, as his son, the new khan, watched along with his army. Would he die in battle before a proper coronation? Probably.

20 Nov 1493: We live in a city of yurts in the countryside; the horses sleep with us -- oh the stench! -- as the icy wind rages outside. Dried deermeat will sustain us while the enemy tries to batter the walls of the capital 100 miles away. Snow is falling outside.

1 January 1494: There is hope! Scouts report that the enemy has lost 20,000 to the cold and attrition.

20 March 1494: Springtime! Mamukk moves into Kurgan with 30,000 well-rested cavalry against just 24,000 remaining enemy. Meanwhile, another 20,000 newly raised troops has been sent toward Astrakhan itself.

We clear the hill outside our burning capital and draw our sabers as one. (Not me, of course!) The filthy, starving, diseased enemy have no chance. Mamuk has trained his soldiers well, and we carry the day, scattering their armies toward Orenburg. We march in triumph through the capital, then pursue the beaten enemy. My plan worked out better than I had a right to beleive!

1 April 1494: We advance on Orenburg, then receive a diplomat from the Golden Horde, who offers 250 ducats for peace. I couldn't sign that parchment fast enough! Mamuk turns the army over to Colonel Neintsy, and takes a small detachment (including myself) to Astrakhan.

10 Sept 1494: Colonel Mamalya had all but taken Astrakhan before we arrived, but Mamuk insisted on leading the final charge. The defenders were deserting by the hundreds, and soon the battered walls collapsed. Spare the women and children, the captains ordered, for these are our brethren.

Mamuk and I rode to the deserted palace of the khan. We stood on the banks of the Caspian and exchanged weary glances. Victory!

 

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Peace and rebuilding

10 Oct 1494: As we stood in triumph, word came of the fall of Orenburg. All of Astrakhan is ours, to be annexed into our realm! Mamuk shrugs, deep in thought. He wishes to return to Sibir before winter, but no diplomats are forthcoming from Astrakhan. A curious stalemate.

20 Oct 1494: Finally, a diplomat from Astrakhan arrives at the palace. He is seedy-looking for an aristocrat, with narrow eyes and greasy hair, but carries a sealed letter bearing the seal of the vanished khan. ``We graciously offer the province of Orenburg, and 250d, in exchange for peace,'' he announces haughtily. Mamuk listens, head in hand. After what seems like an eternity, he agrees!

I open my mouth, but Mumak raises his hand. The Astrakhani diplomat smiles craftily. ``Very well, we shall expect your army's departure by the end of autumn.'' Mamuk nods, and the diplomat bows his way quickly out the door.

22 Oct 1494: I haven't spoken to Mamuk in two days. Astrakhan was ours, and he gave it back! Why? As we sat in the palace, eating these tiny eggs from these strange fish caught in the Caspian, he explained his actions.

``Tugrik, you don't understand. The Astrakhani are our brethren, and to annex them now would alarm the entire Moslem world. My scouts rode out past the Volga last week, and saw a Persian army of 40,000 men, preparing to invade Astrakhan. We have less than 10,000 left after this war, and would have lost for sure. They're Shiites, you know, and they hate us.

``And the people are already tired of war. There was a pagan revolt in Kustanai last month, not far from your estate. That's right, my friend. Astrakhan will prove useful as a future ally, and for now as a buffer against the Persians and Turks. Let's go home in peace.''

Perhaps Mamuk is wise beyond his 27 years.

17 April 1495: Mamuk's long-delayed coronation is a splendid affair, considering Astrakhan's palty 6 ducat indemnity (it's all they had left!) The settlement from the Golden Horde is used to rebuild the army, which one day will be used against them. One day!

The long peace, 1495-1520

A nation as poor as ours needs time to recover from war. Lots of time. Half the menfolk are dead or wounded in the fighting, and now we must rebuild. I appoint tax collectors in all the provinces; every three years I raise enough money to apopoint ONE new tax collector - that's how poor we are. Mamuk tells of a gold mine in Samara, deep in golden Horde territory. One day it will be ours, he vows.
But there's little else I can do. I hear of great markets where our merchants could sell our fine furs, but no one seems to know where these markets are because WE DON'T HAVE ANY MAPS, and no one seems willing to give us any.

The treasury and the army are slowly rebuilding. I see potential in the neutral provinces to the east and south, but do you think any of these pagans would be brave enough to COLONIZE these lands? Free land for the taking, I tell them.

``Oh no,'' say the pagans when I tell them about the lands of Ichim and Karaganda to the east. ``Demons live in the trees and will eat us,'' they say.

``What about the south?'' I say about Aralsk. ``Demon lizards,'' they reply.

What a country!

 

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Nice AAR!... and a good move, I think, not annexing Astrakhan. The only time I played Sibir I did that, and immediately got mugged by Persia and the Uzbeks. Not a fun experience.

 

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Wow, you post pretty fast. I can see you are starting out quite well. Is Russia starting their expansion run. If they are, you will need to take the Hordes' territory before the Russians can. So far, so good. I look forward to the next update.

 

[Vulture]

ROFL
Nice one. Have fun trying to colonize Siberia

 

[Yozhik]

Have fun trying to colonize Siberia

Vulture - I don't think it's possible - unless he builds a shipyards on the Black Sea. But boy would that be hard...

Jdknight - what are the game settings you're playing on?

 

[Vulture]

Well DUH That's why I added at the end of my line

 

[The Danish King]

Good AAR so far!

 

[Sharur]

Nice aar, I love your perspective on the country, it's really amusing.

 

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Thanks for the feedback, but now my protaganist Tugrik Tsedenbal, has passed on to the big yurt in the sky. He will continue to narrate, however, from above:

1543: The pagans love our almost 50 years of peace, but every khan longs to make a mark, and Udiger Khan is no exception. We've built up a treasury of 600d, but our population is still just 22,000. Colonization isn't possible in the east (a seaport might help, but the nearest one is more than 1000 MILES AWAY in Crimea). We need to improve our economy, so we need the gold mines in Samara, which belong to the Golden Horde.

May 1543: Our diplomat arrives at the palace of the Golden Horde with a declaration of war, and is promptly dispatched by the enemy. We will fight the same way as our ancestors in the great Asktrakhani war of 1494-6 - by running away!

October 1543: After a four-month buildup, an army of 35,000 Golden Horde cavalry and infantry descend on Orenburg. We wait on the steps of Kurgan as the snow begins to fall.

March 1544: The invaders are down to 14,000 through snow, hunger and some very bad poppies sent from our farmers! With the city walls almost breached, we descend on the enemy, chasing them to Uralsk, which promptly falls thanks to the 80 cannon we have built. We move on to the Golden Horde capital, sacking it without trouble, and the enemy cedes us Uralsk. Samara eludes us as we've run out of troops.

1556: An earlier alliance has given us access to the markets of Isfahan, and finally we have the ability to make inroads, improving our economy from pitiful to bad.

1578: Once again we are ready for war against the Horde, and this time we take the forehand approach, as no enemy troops appear accross the border. Gen. Tenzinga, the best general we've ever had (3-1-3!) marches straight into the Horde capital with 30,000 troops, while our Astrakhani allies aid up in the siege of Samara. Both provinces fall quickly, and then it's on to Kuybeyshev and another victory.

Victory isn't cheap, however, and our 100,000 army (in three groups) has been whittled to 28,000, so we accept the Horde's offer of Samara, Kuybeyshev and 250d (which turns out to be 56d, the cheaters!)

As our cavalry stand on the banks of the Volga, we meet a new neighbor, which dresses its soldiers in ugly green uniforms. Yes that's the color of Islam, but they're still ugly - and the soldiers are Christian too!

 

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Meeting the new neighbors

1585 - The Russians don't like us. Once we sent a 100d present, and the Russian court laughed at our diplomat, then threw him in a snowdrift. He reported back that their capital province, Muscovy, ALONE has 15 times more people than our ENTIRE EMPIRE! Very unsettling, and they seem perturbed that we own four provinces populated by Orthodox Christians.
Fortunately, money is coming in from our merchants in Isfahan (the only market we know of - there is another one that we're SUPPOSED to access, a place called Venice, that we can't find on any of our inferior maps). We're rebuilt the armies and placed them along with our incompetent generals (all 1-0-1) in order to make the Russian hordes think twice before attacking. We've also cobbled together an allianc with our Islamic brethren from Crimea and Astrakhan, then wait for the Russians to do something ... something stupid.

1596 - We pick a fight with the Horde, sack their capital after costly siege, then take Saratow, receiving the latter in a peace treaty. We don't wish to annex the Horde, since our Crimean neighbors would take offense and possibly end our alliance against the Russians.

1605 - Our alliance with the Crimeans has ended, and they immeditely drop us like deer dung for an alliance with some European countries we've never heard of. Maybe we should have annexed the last Horde province, for all the good this has done us!

1610 - We finally have the ability to promote chief counsels, which has calmed the Orthodox peoples quite nicely. They still won't volunteer to fight for us, however.

1615 - We are being just SOOOOO nice to everyone, marrying off every eligible petty noble maiden to khans all across Asia. The Astrakhanis are still loyal allies, however.

1622 - It's time to test these Russians, who are now at war with Poland-Lithuania ....

 

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This gets better and better by the postings. I like your way of putting less facts in and more story. Otherwise, aars end up a couple hundred pages. I might begin to write my next aar like that. thanx for the idea.

Keep up the good work!!

 

[Sharur]

Ride on, Sibir hordes!

 

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Russia, you mother!

January 1622: The khan and his council have drafted a declaration of war against the Russians. It must be a short war, they order, otherwise our pagan peoples will quickly rebel. Our objective: a quick strike into Tambov (a Russian enclave this side of Ryazan) and Kazan, former heartland of our ancient hordes.

March 1622: We send 28,000 men (including 70 cannon) into Tambov, a like number into Kazan; behind them are five armies of 15,000 each to feed into the battle.

Autumn 1622: Both armies face token opposition, then begin the siege. They said our generals (all 1-0-1) were too incompetent, but Tambov falls in October, and Kazan is about to go. Next stop: Moscow! The khan himself watches as the fortress of Kazan crumbles. One more attack, and ...

A mass of green appears on the horizon. To our utter horror it's a Russian horde (hey, WE'RE supposed to be the horde!) of 58,000 men! Our original siege force is down to 19,000, so we send 30,000 to stop the Russians, and all are promptly routed. The khan barely escapes as the generals outrace their troops to escape from the green slime! Back to Kuybeyshev, to settle down for winter!

January 1623: We've scraped together 30,000 troops for the defense of Kuybeyshev, but here come the Russians with 46,000, and again we are routed back to Samara. Most of the victorious troops from Tambov come to our aid, save a small guard. The Russians are down to 38,000, but here come 20,000 more and they assault the citadel at Kuybeyshev. No sieges for these guys. It falls instantly. We are DOOMED!

October 1623: We are out of money, out of recruits, and have just 24,000 soldiers in Samara, awaiting the next onslaught. (``I will not go back to the last saved game, I will not go back to the last saved game...'')

We wait, and wait. In the distance, we see a lone figure on horseback, clad in green (of course!) He dismounts 100 yards away, approaches us and proclaims: ``By the power of the czar, we ask for an end to hostilities, and as proof of our graciousness offer 250 ducats. ''
The officers and diplomats stand open-jawed. The senior court member trips over his horse, grabs the quill from the Russian, and signs on the spot. Yes, we still held Tambov, but had lost Kuybeyshev as well
as 80,000 soldiers. Thank you very much (stupid Russians!)

Still, the war was a disaster. 250d won't begin to pay for the loss of stability, the lost troops and the feeling of being vanquished by these Russians. Now what?

The Long Peace 1625-1645

The Russians are at peace with the Poles now - not a good thing! The khan orders more troops to the border, as a show of strength. Fortunately, their new czar isn't exactly a military genius, so maybe we can buy some time. Our alliance is still in place with Astrakhan, which lost its entire 20,000-man expeditionary force in Kuybeyshev.

We are just so poor, it takes 20 years to rebuild the military and our bankroll. Of course, we don't have to spend any money on colonists, because we still DON'T HAVE ANY. I don't even want to talk about the maps!

 

[Storey]

Never ever take on the Russians! I know my advice is a little too late. Taking on Russia with Sibir is going to be very difficult to put it mildly. I would keep picking on the countries to your south. Stay away from Russia at all costs unless they have had the crap beat out of them in some war and even then it's going to take some luck on your part. They and Turkey are the best at turning out thousands of cheap troops. Good Luck with Sibir. I admire you trying to make something out of these herders but the economics of the game are against you.


Joe

 

[Carolus Rex]

We love the country of cold frozen butts!!

Sibir is great fun, with a tad edited files, they absolutely rock, my fav. eastern minor.