Danish AAR – 1596-? – Regna Firma Pietis

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Regna firma pietis - a danish aar 1596-?

Welcome to Regna Firma Pietis. ​

A little about the author:
I have played strategic games all my life since the early commodore 64 – and have enjoyed Paradox games since EU1 – although recent years have been too busy for gaming. I now have the time (just moved to Canada due to my wifes job) - and I am looking forward to play EU3 HTTT as Denmark. Before this game I have enjoyed another HTTT Grand Campaign game as Portugal on medium difficulty - which I found very entertaining but not very challenging. This my second HTTT game will therefore be played on Very Hard. I will start the game later than the grand campaign, beginning with the Coronation of Christian 4 in 1596. - as I think playing with prerequisits adds to the challenge. I find this an interesting period as it was a turning point in the history of Denmark. Historically Christian 4’s reign started out with major ambitions of an empire but ended up with major defeats and a country left much weaker. Denmark never regained its position and was from then on only a minor power – trying to hold on to its territory. Now it is time to rewrite history.

As an AAR writer I have no ambitions of a pullitzer prize - this is a simpler AAR with more focus on the gaming experience and choices.
Regna Firma Pietis was the chosen motto of Christian 4 - meaning "Piety strengthens the realms".

Game info:
Denmark – HTTT - unmodded
Starting Date 29.August 1596
Difficulty – Very Hard
Other settings – normal

Well this is how we ended up - I think we better rewrite our own history

Table of contents​

Christian IV Von Oldenburg 1596-1598​

Starting Conditions​

Christian IV - "Kalmar must be reunited"​

Regency council 1598-1611​

Regency Council - "If the King can - so can I" (on same thread as "kalmar must be reunited") ​

Regency Council - Zygmonts Vasas reconquest of Smolensk​

Regency Council - 5 years in peace and prosperity​

Christian V von Oldenburg 1611-1631​

The Great escape - and the third war against Zygmont​

Christian V - "Zygmonts dead - and the peaceful aftermath"​

Christian V - "war on multiple fronts"​

Frederik III von Oldenburg 1631-1645​

Frederik III Von Oldenburg - "a diplomatic disaster"​

Frederik III Von Oldenburg - "With the back against the wall part 1"​

Frederik III Von Oldenburg - "With the back against the wall part 2"​

Frederik III Von Oldenburg - "With the back against the wall part 3"​

Erik VII von Oldenburg (The Great)1645-?​

Erik VII Von Oldenburg - The New King and political Status​

Erik VII Von Oldenburg - Danish Expansions​

1596 Starting conditions:​

Background
The Kingdom of Denmark grew out of the Viking age, and can be dated back to the 8th century where several Pagan chiftains united under King Gudfred. During the Viking age from 800-1066 the danish and scandinavian Vikings made a huge impact on the rest of northern Europe. This period also saw Denmark embrace Christianity during the reign of Harald Bluetooths at about 980 ad. After the dead of King Canute (King of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and England) in 1035, the kingdom was somewhat diminished. But the Kingdom of Denmark survived and peaked again under Queen Margaret 1 who unified Scandinavia in the Kalmar union (unification of Denmark Sweden and Norway) which lasted from 1397-1523.
The beginning of the 16th century had seen the termination of the Kalmar Union - when Sweden became indenpendent in 1523 - while Norway still remained under danish rule. Civil war had raged the country during the danish reformation (the Count’s feud) which ended in 1536 when Christian 3rd (House of Oldenburg) defeated the last of the catholics. When Christians 4ths father Frederik 2nd died in 1588 a regency council took over the duties of running the country until the young prospect was old enogh to become King. The 29th of August 1596 Christian was coronated in Copenhagen.

The Coronation of Christian 4 - 29 august 1596 as imagined by a 19th century artist.

Geopolitical Position
Denmark is still a feudal monarchy - and with a rather large area, but very thinly populated. The geographical position is not too good being caught up in between an increasingly stronger Sweden and the nations of the HRE. But I guess its much better than most nations. With Kalmar reunited and a strong danish Navy - should give you a very good defensive position. The position as the gate to the Baltic sea trade is very good for the economy – as most trade between the Baltic sea and especially Holland and England passes through the Øresund.

Denmarks starting position – political map - missing here is Iceland - our gate to Americas.

Economy
Denmark is a strong trading nation with 3 commercial ideas (out of 5 - the two other land military) - and the +20% trade income modifier gained by the sound toll.

Military
Our navy is rather strong - with 14 ships including 2 galleons and 1 early fregate. Land forces though are limited to 2cav 4 inf and 1can. We start out with the national conscript (+50% landforce modifier) - and the military drill idea (+ 1,00 morale) - which will come very handy in future wars. No generals or admirals - only Christian 4 - which luckily is a rather good general.

Overall Strategy
The number one overall priority will be to reunite the Kalmar union by conquering Sweden. Sweden is currently allied with the mighty Poland – so it might be a long term plan. The creation of a Baltic empire will then be the next target - and somewhere along the way the position as emperor of HRE also sounds nice.
Colonialism is a natural part of our ambitions, although we don't have much colonial range, and not the needed idea for exploration, and starts out in 1596 where a lot of the good spots are taken. We will take what we can get - and expand our colonials by force.
First and foremost we need to establish a good economy - and look for opportunities to expand our empire – and make us strong enough (military and alliances) to withstand a Swedish attack. Luckily for the economy Denmark has all the tools for a healthy trade economy. We need a minter or two though and hopefully there will be a good one available in a years time when a lot of great men becomes available - otherwise we will need to kickstart my cultural tradition fast.
On the diplomatic front – We would do good with a strong ally in the first years. As Christian 4 is able in that area (but not in administration and war) – this should be possible. Protestant England is an obvious target - Allthough they are in the middle of a war against Catholic Spain together with Netherlands (also Protestant) and Portugal (who although a catholic country needs allies against its big brother) – so its not for now. Russia is another good opportunity – and would put a lot of pressure on Sweden.
We will see.... Let the game begin.

 

[unmerged(146885)]

Your AAR seems good but, you should fix the images.
1.In the message box, you press the button with the mountains.
2.You insert the link of the image and press ok.

It's not that difficult

 

[unmerged(99984)]

Hi Zitanier - my first post here also - Thanks very much for your help - got it now.

 

[unmerged(99984)]

Christian 4 - "Kalmar must be reunited"

Christian 4 - "Kalmar must be reunited"​

Christians First actions as a king
Christians first action will be to create an Administrative Monarchy instead of the Feudal monarchy. This will cost us 15% in landforce – which could very well be used in future wars – but the gain will be 0,75 magistrates a year to a total of 1 – and 10% production efficiency - both very good to our economy. Goodbye to Feudalism. This is bad for our stability though – so we need our great stabilizer Anders Vedel badly in the forthcoming years. The other two great men are natural scientists +5 and +4 - which we decide to keep unless something better comes up. And we put all my money into stabilizing the country instead of tech - minting around 0 ducats pr. month. Land unit maintenance is set on half and merchants are shipped out in the richest COTs in my area. Let the game begin ......

The new King takes the initiative
Well - even the best plans can be reversed. Although we planned a slow progress and strengthening of our economy, news of heavy swedish conscription and revolts calls for action. Sweden is building armies heavily– and have a revolt in Våstergotland. A fast attack could kill them off and give us the needed advantage in form of 3-4 or even more provinces. Our navy is stronger than Swedens and Polands combined which means we could keep Poland out of the land war. The naval advantage might not be the case if we give Poland the time to built up a fleet. Our army is also a little stronger than the Swedish – and hopefully the revolt can spread or kill some Swedes.
Christian therefore decides to declare war on Sweden despite the stability cost. First though we enter an alliance with England - maybe they can help us in. If we can get to Småland and Varmland with armies before they are built – we will have dealt a smaller blow to the Swedish – we need Christian as our commander of the Norwegian Army – the first battles will decide the outcome. The young Christian singlehanded declares war on the mighty alliance of Sweden/Poland 45 days after his coronation – a genius or a fool……. The future will decide.

Sweden getting ready for war - We cannot postpone the inevitable

Unfortunately England doesn’t bite the bullit and leaves our shortlived alliance – it was worth the try though.

A natural military leader
Then our armies heads for Småland (South Army) and Værmland (North Army with Christian at the helm) – and we immediately starts to built further divisions. War taxes are raised and mints is set on max despite the inflation cost. We need a fast solution to the Swedish threat. Its now or never.
The Swedish main army turns up at Våstergøtland – We hope they will loose a little as they are just as strong as Christians army bound for Værmland – The idea now is to be in Værmland to kill of the division being built there and then hopefully get ready for a first major defeat of the Swedish main army.
On the oceans the Danish fleet takes control of the southern Baltic sea to protect the mainland from any polish interference – let them come.
The Swedes then quickly kills the peasant revolters (a little to quickly for our taste) and set out for Småland – We decide to wait a bit with the main clash as we want to strengthen our position. With our northern army heading for Værmland – and the use of bee sting tactics in the south, hopefully we can kill of two out of three divisions being built.
Meanwhile Preussia as Polands vassal is besieging Øsel – We didn’t see that one coming – but luckily Øsel is not important and would always be difficult to defend as it is accessible from both polish and Swedish ground – let them have Øsel for now.
The Swedes are cleverly gathering all their divisions in their main army – getting ready for a big battle – we succeded in killing both divisions built at Småland and Værmland - but Sweden continues to built divisions everywhere and sends them towards Zygmont Vasas army in the south. We decide to withdraw my southern army to Sjælland as Zygmont gets too close – taking advantage of the strait in a defensive war – for now I only have 3 divisions here – and 7 divisions in the north – but there are more on the way. And we still will use my northern army to kill of units being built here if possible – trying to take regions and stay out of reach of Zygmonts army. This tactic of spreading out the forces and staying out of reach is geniously managed by the young king - a natural military leader.

Swedens Army of 10K gathered in småland while we spread out

"Sting a little here - sting a little there"
The next 6-7 months goes with successful use of the beesting tactics. We kill of loads of troops as they are built and spreads out our divisions – while Zygmont III still tries to keep his at one point – he wanders about in the southern Sweden all spring without ever being a threat. It is first when we sent a single INF (8th division) to Stockholm to kill of an artillery unit being built there – that Zygmont decides to go north. Despite all our killings Zygmont succeds in the recruitment of 4 more divisions bringing his total army up to 14 div. We decide to sacrifice our inf division to be able to kill of the cannon being built there – and bring our southern army of 5 div closer – you never know when it is time for the big one. There are some murmuring in the impatient part of the general staff about Christians lack of courage due to him not setting up a full force attack on Zygmont – but most agrees that it would be a big risk – and we might have lost the advantage which is kept with the beesting tactics.

The 8th INF division heroically performs a suicide action - but in the act kills of a swedish cannon.

The Famous 8th
Zygmont makes it to Stockholm - and destoys the now famous 8th Army. Vårmland has fallen to our troops and the two INF divs quickly goes for østergotland to kill of a single infantry div there. Våsterbotton is taken and a single CAV DIV heads of towards finland to harass the finns.

Christian only have two major concerns now.

1) a big Polish army heading up through Finland – We could cut that one of by blocking the Gulf of Finland – but We need our navy more down south to protect the Danish mainland – and we won't divide it as it could means loss of naval superiorty which is the key to keeping Poland out of the landwar (who wants to walk through Finland anyway  - Joke as I love all Scandinavians).

2) The big clash ahead could mean loss of advantage – but that one is always a diceroll – We would prefer a defensive position behind a river or on a hill - although both ours and swedens infantry have their advantage in attacking (Maurician infantry)

Hopefully we can keep taking provinces as Sweden cannot then continue having their whole army in one spot. As we are in front with 19 DIV against 14 DIV and have 6 DIV on our way - the big clash cannot be that far away.
Meanwhile Dalaskogen fell to Christian and my 2 INF DIV managed to kill of the Swedish, infantry after chasing them down to Småland. Zygmonts army is down to 13 DIV.

It is at this time we realize that we made several mistakes.

Stop the war
The stability of -1 and war exhaustion is costly now – As revolt risks has risen dramatically - we might be killed from the inside. This makes the descision even easier – we need to kill of the Swedish army soon for a faster ending to the war. At the same time we need to decrease the revolt risk -so we will spend a little on Holstein as well – it can buy us one stability point fast as we have the Holstein relations mission.

We missed the conference of Great Men
Waging war and writing has been too exciting and we completely forgot everything about the great men conference 1 year after. Luckily there are still something we can use there and we hire some judges to keep the revolt risk as low as possible and sends away our beloved natural scientists (Tycho Brahe farewell). The Holstein mission succeds and we're at -2 stability. We have also gained one colonist – but cannot reach the Americas – probably due to the war and stability – so colonialism has to wait.

Sweden wont accept any peace offer - talk to the polish King instead
We figure out that we can't make peace with Sweden as Poland leads their personal union – DAM – what will that mean to our war exhaustion after conquering Sweden – if Poland just want to continue?? – will our revolt risk just keep on rising as hell?? We decide to stop war taxes – as we feel our economy is good enough – and prepare ourselfs for a long war – Christian must continue what he started.
The first revolt in Norway came not surprisingly - but was quickly killed of. The high judges have been worth every penny.
Then in a bold move we succeed in sneaking our south army north.

Revolt risks has risen dramatically due to war exhaustion and instability

The Deciding Battle of the main armies and the birth of a martyr
Finally – after some more manouvering and killing of as many swedish built unit as possible – it seems like Zygmont wants to have a fight. Christian is stationed in Bergslagen – and the south army will arrive there 16th of May – Three days before the Swedish bringing our army up to 5/10/3 at that moment – while the Swedish are at 4/9/1 – it is looking ok. We hope the young King can pull something off here – our last army of 3 DIV (newly built in denmark) will arrive around 2 weeks later – maybe they will get a sniff of battle as well.

The swedish army on its way towards Bergslagen - this is the deciding battle.

The main clash have begun – Zygmont has taken charge of the enemy - the danes at a very good position in the forest and with a minor river – altogether -3 for Zygmont – and outnumbering him – looks good.

Swedens cavalry is totally cut down by our cannons as they charge - victory is imminent

Ohh nooooo - how unfortunate – but this is Denmark we are playing don’t forget. As the Swedish are beaten with King Christian bravely (or foolishly) participating – an odd bullit hits Christian 4 in the head – and he is killed instantly. The army instantly pursues the Swedish army though – but the news spread fast – and a pretender rises up in Norway – his final destiny will have to await the Swedish defeat though. Tough times ahead.

Christian wins a desicive victory - but is killed by a stray bullit

Regency Council - "If the king can - so can I" ​

Finishing the Swedes
Luckily for the Danes - they were not used to being without a King - as the country were ruled by a regency council with Niels Kaas at the Helm for 8 years - before Christian was old enough to take control. Niels seizes control with the help of Christians mother before any havoc can spread throughout the country and quickly orderes the Army to pursue the swedish main army to finish them off. The Swedes then flees to Stockholm were Zygmont manages to escape before the danes overcomes the rest of the main army - while the fleet blockades the route to Finland. A single Swedish unit besieging Halland, Vårmland rioters and the Norwegian pretender is then quickly killed.

Niels Kaas - the noble administritor who led the country in kingless times

After the defeat of the Swedish main army, it is an easy but slow task to conquer the rest of Sweden. Siege follows siege - and the danish fleet is still succesful in keeping the Poles away from the land battle. Almost 3 years after Christians dead the whole of Sweden except Estland is occupied by Danish forces - waiting for the last surrenders.
The question is now – how do we get peace and a good bite of Sweden? - Zygmont is not interested in giving up any land - but we will not give up whats taken here - so its properbly a stalemate from here. We do not have the ability to wage land war against mighty Poland. Who will fold to war exhaustion first? - or will somebody from the outside intervene?

For now we're going to spent some money to increase the russian/danish relation - to avoid any surprise attack from them. Our economy is good enough for gifts like that (at the expense of inflation).
Luckily Christain barely managed to secure his heritage - so a new king is on his way - and even more than Christian 4 he looks like a hands on military Leader.

Political status after more than 5 years of war. Most of sweden is taken - and its only a matter of time before the the rest falls.

Life goes on - even during wartime:,
The regency councils administrative flair helps the country through tough times.
A few diplomatic mission has helped our stability up to +1.
And it was the pirates at Iceland who keept us from using our colonists in the Americas. Niels orders the fleet to go piratehunting - so Denmark can start up its colonization adventure. A good slice of the north America would be a good addition to our empire. We still get a lot of magistrates and money enough to built up our country - and so far have no big problems with rebellions. We will slowly increase my naval ability - and try to get a minter somehow - when our stability reaches +3.
Allthough an heir is on his way - the regency council still has some years in charge - many a times a better choice (certainly for administration in this case). The superking Christian 4ths date of dead is now a national day of mourning and praying. Despite his young age he turned out to be a brilliant tactician and strategist - and his martyrdom hopefully will turn beneficial for Denmark.

Zygmont still refuses to talk about giving up any provinces - We need a key to break this deadlock....................

Americas - here we come:
Colonialism has succesfully begun with 100 Danish souls landing in Atikamekw – We hastily sends out 100 more to gain a foothold which the Indians (despite looking friendly) – will have a harder time killing off.

A little about the near world politics.
Catholic Spain won a major war for the Catholics against Netherland.
France has lost both Normandy and Brittany who is indenpendant – and they are both now allied with Spain – who keeps getting stronger. Austria seem to think they would rewrite the history of Switzerland – and the Ottomans are getting closer – hopefully they don’t like Poles.
Poland has the 4th biggest army in the world with 89DIV while we are a pretty good nr. 14th with 19DIV.

Political map of Europe

Lappland Issue:
Niels then decides to colonize Lappland before somebody like Russia does it. That would only make a future defense much much harder. We also decide to an alliance with Holstein – in the hope of future vassalization – or to keep them independent until were ready to fight them and their allies. Hopefully this alliance wont cause us any problems.

War of the dead warrior King ends
Finally after almost 6 years of war - Zygmont is ready to talk business. He agrees to cede Småland Vårmland and Vastergotland to me plus 150 ducats. This will be enough for now.

Result of peace negotiations - Zygmont finally gives up

Now the challenge for Niels will be to get rid of the 12,0 infamy which might cause us problems with other nations - they simply dont like us being too strong.
We also must prepare ourselfes for round two against Sweden – with or without Poland. Sweden want revenge - and we want the Kalmar union - so a new war is surely on its way somehow.
As we had the “Defend Denmark mission” against Sweden the peace without Danish territory loss - we also gain 2 stability and -5,0 war exhaustion.

Russian Danish Alliance begins:
Shortly after the peace – a Russian diplomat arrives in Copenhagen with an alliance offer. We cannot decline. With this alliance we are pretty safe from any one trying to attack us.

The worlds best job
We still carry around on our high Judges as we can't seem to find anything better. We have stumbled over a +1 minter – which is better than a +4 stabilizer when stability is at max. We are very interested in attracting great men to the country so Cultural Tradition becomes a priority for us.
We know what our magistrates are going to do in the future.

Despite Christian 4s death – we think this has been a pretty good start after all.

 

[Vladislav]

I'll be following this AAR, since there aren't many that begin at such late startdates and I want to see how the world ends up.

 

[morningSIDEr]

Very intriguing AAR, I'll certainly be following. Loved the opportunistic attack on Sweden.

 

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Zygmont Vasas reconquest of Smolensk.

Regency Council - Zygmont Vasas reconquest of Smolensk​

Is he mad!!
Within not even a year of peace - Zygmont decides to declare war on Russia - as he wants Smolensk. Zygmont comes with a frigthening list of allies - but will learn a lesson about trust.
We decide to honour the treaty and take a second go against Zygmont Vasa. Most of our effort will be around Sweden for a start - while still trying to help Russia if necessary – as we don’t want Poland to become too strong (especially as Zygmont don’t like us). On the other hand – a total Russian victory would also be frightening – as we could be one of their future targets.
Peace has not been a common commodity in this game – this time we managed a recordbreaking 10 months.
Fortunately for us Austria and Venice leaves the alliance – while Kurland, Sweden and Preussia stays loyal to Poland. This makes the fight more fair.

Zygmonts war declaration

The odds at the beginning of the war looks very even.

After 2 years of warfare – things are beginning to look very good for our alliance – and especially us. We have easily conquered most of Sweden for the 2nd time in 9 years – and Zygmont are beginning to send white peace offers towards Copenhagen. But we want a little land if possible. And we really don’t want Russia to conquer too much of Poland and become too strong. Russia have conscripted like mad – and their army is around 100 divs now – they look frightening. Zygmont Vasa is gifted though and still keeps his army gathered – which means some attrition but also a lot of victories over Russia. Hopefully there won’t be a clear winner between Poland and Russia. So far its a draw - but Russias army continues to grow - and sweden is out of the game.

Military Strenght after 2 years of warfare

A cunning enemy
Kurland – the tiny Polish vassal somehow managed to sneak out a single cavalry unit in a small fluyt - despite my fleet patrolling the whole Baltic sea. Their unit has taken our lovely colony in Americas. What a cunning plan by such a little country. But as we danes are revengeful bastards - we will rembember that one in the future – and smile while I press the Torch the land button.

Besides that Øsel has been lost again. I guess Øsel is the wrong place to be in Denmark during war.

Zygmont caves in for the 2nd time
The Russians tactic are working – and they take on a lot of the Zygmonts land –whose armies are crumbling slowly under the pressure.
Revengeful as we are – we have taken on the siege of Kurland – after the whole of Sweden has been taken.
Then after more than 3 years of fightning Zygmont surrenders and gives up on his claim on Smolensk and cedes 5 provinces to the Russians.
Hm - Nothing in it for the Danes. But that was a somewhat expected outcome. We have kept a strong ally though – forming bonds for future safety.
Kurland luckily got away this time.

Zygmomgnt caves in for the 2nd time

We're looking forward to a long and hopefully peaceful time – at least until our Heir Christian von Oldenburg is coronated.

 

[morningSIDEr]

Good fighting from Denmark again! Did you actually gain any land from the war at all?

 

[unmerged(99984)]

Hi - thanks for following - No there was nothing in it for Denmark - besides playing a part in the weakening of Zygmonts Empire - and improving my relations to the mighty Russia.

 

[unmerged(74857)]

How come you don't make peace with Sweden directly in the first war (eg 100 war score) and try to press Poland in the second.

Also, the AI has full naval awareness. You don't really need to put the fleet somewhere strategic. As long as your combined fleet is greater than theirs, they'll stay at the dock. You can easily hold the Sound with few transports while your battle fleet is stomping anything that leaves the newly occupied provinces..

 

[unmerged(99984)]

Hi Selmuth

Thank you for the good advices - I really like responses. Right now i rewriting my AAR - to make it more ... readable hopefully - and its really good fun.

How come you don't make peace with Sweden directly in the first war (eg 100 war score) and try to press Poland in the second.

Poland was leading their personal union - so I could not sue for peace with Sweden. You cannot make peace with a minor nation of a personal union - at least I could not - the option is blurred out.

Also, the AI has full naval awareness. You don't really need to put the fleet somewhere strategic. As long as your combined fleet is greater than theirs, they'll stay at the dock. You can easily hold the Sound with few transports while your battle fleet is stomping anything that leaves the newly occupied provinces..
I hope thats not entirely true. What if the bulk of my navy was in the west indies - would the Poles navy still stay in harbour? Actually later in the game (still to be written) Kurland sends an army on a transport through the baltic sea - while my navy is in the north part of the baltic sea. I REALLY liked that AI move - and would be dissapointed if the AI was that limited. I tried to find something on AI naval awareness in HTTT - but could not find it.

 

[blsteen]

Welcome to Canada, eh. The Russo-Danish alliance seems to be strong but it'll take a couple of more wars to cut Sweden down to size.

 

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Regency Council - 5 years in peace and prosperity

Regency Council - 5 years in peace and prosperity​

Niels Kaas development of our homeland
Up until the coronation of Christian V – the regency council ruled the country with great skills. 5 peaceful years were the road works and post offices throughout the entire country were established and improved. Thus more and more magistrates was attracted towards the central administration.

Inflation rate was up to 5 due to the war time minting. This was too costly for the Danish economy – and the regency decides to built a Fine arts Academy in the capital Copenhagen, in order to make a lasting effort for the countrys cultural tradition. Hopefully in the future we can develope some fine young minters and other great men who can contribute to the Country.

The race for new colonies
Many of europes wanted a share in the colonial adventure - so countries like Skotland and Flanders are establishing colonies in the new world.
Besides the succesful and growing colony of Atikamekw in the newfoundland area, we succeed in the colonization of Antigua – with the help of the great Navigator Archibald Hudson who came to our court. Two ships was also sent towards St. Kitts the neighbour Island – but they were never to be seen again - but efforts are needed if we want to be a serious colonial power.

Furthermore the Danish nobility are planning to open up an Indian Trade Company – but needs a king in order to conquer any province in the east Indies.

Political map of Denmark just before Christian 5's coronation

The 27.october 1611 the new King was finally ready for duty.

 

[unmerged(146885)]

I can't wait to see what will happen next.

 

[morningSIDEr]

Do you have any aggressive moves planned?

 

[unmerged(99984)]

aggresive moves

Hi Again

Aggresive moves planned

Bali for the - east india trade company - they seem like an target that can be overcome - otherwise - sweden so far - and the maybe some of my of the smaller german states on the south boundaries.

 

[unmerged(99984)]

The Great escape - and the third war against Zygmont

The Great escape - and the third war against Zygmont​

The new king
Christian 5 of Oldenburg was clearly from the same warrior mould as his father and also with some diplomatic finesse that can be just as important.


ADM=3 DIP=6 MIT=8

The warrior King

Polish reconquest of Livland
And it shouldnt be more than 2 months before he got the chance to prove his militaristic flair.
After 5 years of rearmarment, Zygmont declared war against Russia - trying to take back what he had previously lost - and we found ourselves in the third war against this mighty foe. Fortunately we still had the Navy to safe our homelands and in Russia an even mightier ally.

Things look pretty good at the beginning of the war for the Russo-Danish Alliance

For some reason Zygmont decided to take charge of the swedish main army instead of a polish army. He took the army away from Swedish mainland (through the danish province Lapland) to the finnish Russian border to fight the Ivans. That left Christian with only a couple of divisions to fight before all of western Sweden was under siege. Then Christian entered Lappland (which for some reason now was Swedish motherland (must be bug) - and Zygmont decided to charge. Christian was ready for revenge, and he was using his fathers tactics of looking weak - and waiting for the enemy to make his move - before gathering all possible armies to the battlefield from neighbouring provinces. Christian clearly had the upper hand with 12INF against Zygmonts 9 - this time Zygmont would surely not escape.

Zygmont charges Christian waiting for him in defensive positions on the hills

The danes totally ambushes the Swedish army, who were cut down to the last man with only a few losses on the danish side. Christian surely got his revenge - but not entirely. As the bodies is collected there is no sign of Zygmont - and Christian later gets the news of his miracel escape back to Poland.
Still though it is a major victory for the young King - who has proven that he is just as cunning as his father on the battlefield.

Zygmont is not found among the dead swedish bodies - and Christian later gets the news of his miracel escape - Will Christian ever get his revenge?

The war against Zygmont continues, without him being interested in any peacetalk with a danish provincial gain.

A very good deal:

The rest of sweden is easily taken - with russian armies overcoming some of the easternmost provinces. Then the Polish main army of 25K decides to go to øsel - which the danish admirality cleverly allows - only to blockade them on the remote Island - miles away from any important action.
The polish mainland was now available for danish conquest - and Danzig the COT and Warmia is assaulted and overtaken.

The polish main army caught in Øsel - they are completely outnumbered and faces total defeat - the danes besieging Danzig

Zygmont was desperate - and with Russia not wanting to talk peace with him, Zygmont gives us an offer we cant reject. In order to get his army out of øsel to fight the russians,
Zygmont offers us Danzig, Warmia and 37 ducats - and we just had to take it. It costed us 6 infamy, but also gave us 10 prestige points, bringing our total prestige up to a massive 83!! This suit our plans of a Baltic empire just perfectly, and a COT - with a lot of riches - hope we can hang on to it.

Political map a few days after the polish surrender of Danzig and Warmia - Lappland is mysteriously swedish now.

 

[Kamchat]

Lappland is a colony, so Sweden seized it. You could of seized it back but now it's to late

 

[unmerged(99984)]

Lappland

Hi - yeah but I did seize it back - look up on the picture were Zygmont heads for Lappland - We then occupy Lappland again - but it is still swedish???

I'm almost 100% its a bug. Anyone have a suggestion to what it is?

Anyway - bugs happen in real life as well - so the danes will cope with it.

 

[Salik]

You need to not only occupy but also seize the colony. When you open the province screen of an occupied colony, there is a button that lets you do that.

Nice to see a new Danish AAR, we can never have too many.