Venice 1519-1524
It is the twenty-ninth of December 1523. Finally, I have a few moments to simply relax before going to bed for a long, long rest. The last five years have been so hard. I am alone in my chambers as I gaze into the mirror hanging beside my bed. I do not recognize the man staring blankly back at me. He has a haggard and weary countenance. The skin on his face looks slack and pallid. There are bags under his eyes and his head is adorned with a crown of disheveled uncombed hair. A rash of black stubble covers the lower half of his face. Surely this is not the proud and arrogant Field Marshal Francisco de Treviso? But it is. This is the most recent chapter of his story:
Venice 1519-1524...OR...It's hard to remember that the primary goal is to drain the swamp when you're up to your arse in alligators.
I'm not too sure what happened in other parts of the world...since...Venice was in flames for most of my five years.
My initial goal was to vassalize Austria after wrapping up several issues in the Balkans. Our spies had provided information that led me to suspect Austria was soon to annex Hungary and possibly even Bohemia. We would have to strike and defeat Austria before this occured....ha, ha, ha!...random events sure do stink sometimes.
Venice starts with 2 provinces controlled by rebel scum. 4 separate rebel scum armies harass the countryside. We are at war with Ottomans and the sheep people…errrr…Ak Koyunlu. The Ottoman Empire has taken Morea from Byzantium and is greedily eyeing Byzantium’s sole remaining province of Thrace. We must to annex Thrace before they do.
Venice sends Trabzon to the OE for peace.
Venice declares war on Byzantium using a Casus Beli.
We kill rebels in Macedonia and set out to siege Thrace.
Venice annexes Thrace (pat myself on the back for getting the 12K Byz soldiers in Wallachia added to my army for free through annexation), build armies, kill rebels.
All rebels are dead, stab at +3, mass 75K troops on the Austrian border. 18K troops are left in Thrace to put down rebellions during the coming war. The Austrians have 1 named leader and 40K troops. I think it will be close. Our morale is Very Strong. However, we lack information on what is happening in Ostmarch.
Venice declares war on Austria. We drop to 0 stab for no CB and same faith. Genoa, Papal States, Albania, Munster, Naples join Austria. Bavaria, Savoy, Helvetia join Venice.
Our armies march on Austria...and...just before they reach Austria, bam!, some random event, -2 stab (no other choices to pay ducats, etc), now stab is -2. I swear...several times. This does not prevent the Austrians from cutting us to ribbons. I also get to see Austrian named leader #2 and 20K more troops in Ostmarch. I swear some more. The Austrians chase our boys into Stieremark. I lose again...but then...for some strange reason...they make a right turn for Bavaria's sole province....hooray!
Genoa sends 45K into Lombardia, Papal states marches 30K towards Mantua. My warships scout out 25K men moving up the boot from Naples. 13K Albanians head for Macedonia.
We attack in Macedonia from Thrace, defeat Albania, chase them back to Hellas, cover Hellas, chase Albanians to Albania, kill all in Albania, besiege Albania, build troops in Ragusa to reinforce and start siege of Hellas...finally something goes right in this war.
Revolts all over but nothing can be done about them.
In the North, our troops fall back to Veneto. The armies regroup and we pump out more soldiers.
Austria is still busy destroying Bavaria. The defeated Bavarians retreat into the rebels in Tirol...oops...but...they kill enough rebels to halt the siege there...small miracle. More Bavarians in Venetian provinces start to assemble into a single army and head back to Bavaria. There are quite a lot of them.
48K troops w/28K cavalry are sent to beat on the Pope. He is defeated in Romanga. Our armies cover Romanga and advance to Marche to finish the Papal States. Naples moves 25K men into Marche as I arrive. They're mostly cavalry. The Naples troops combine with the Papal forces...oh boy...defeat again....fall everything back to Emilia, send new troops to Emilia...Lombardia is close to falling to Genoa.
Helvetia and Savoy stand around doing a lot of nothing. Storey has told me that the Irish call this "thumb twiddling". I hear rumors that it may even become an Olympic sport. My prediction is Ireland vs. Helvetia for the gold.
Our Navy wins 6 or 7 naval battles against Genoa and the Papal States...steal
rutters twice...but learn nothing of interest.
I order an attack Genoa in Lombardia. The forces of Genoa are defeated. Our army chases them back to Genoa, defeats them there, and besiege Genoa. Genoa accepts a white peace.
We have 2 ducats in the treasury when a random event occurs, chose -1 stab or pay 100 ducats. (I don't want to leave the AI with a loan and low stab...so choose -1 stab, down to -2 overall again.)
Bavaria magically pushes Austria back. Austria offers a white peace...we accept gratefully.
Venice signs a separate peace with Albania. We receive Hellas and 100 ducats. As a parting gift I leave 12,000 unhappy rebels rioting in Albania proper.
I think that maybe we can grab some land from Naples and the Pope....then again…maybe not. It looks close and I'm running out of time in this turn. Talk about pressure.
I convince the Doge to make peace with Naples.
We battle the Pope’s troops back and forth finally pushing his forces out of the Papal States territory. His armies fall back into Siena (which is at peace with everyone). The Pope's armies are hiding under a dark red flag with a white cross. I cannot reach them.
Another annoyance...there are 4K sheepherder…errrr….sorry…Ak Koyunlu troops causing trouble. AK is also at war with Papal States but their forces are not big enough to start a siege. Although, if I try to siege a province they are in...the sheepherders control the siege...what the hell?...we play musical provinces. I siege, they control it, I leave, they leave, I come back...and eventually Venice is leading the sieges in all provinces...hooray!.
It looks like we’re going to pull off this minor victory. Roma falls and the sieges in Marche and Romanga are going well (both siege bars are dark yellow). Only 12 months left this turn.
Continuous revolts in Croatia, Ragusa, etc. have been occurring all this time.
I have a moment to look around it is then that the small voice in the back of my head speaks up, "Uh oh, where did those 12K Papal troops hiding behind the dark red flag in Siena go?" Oh damn! They went to Tuscany (owned by Denmark who is at war with the Pope). The Popal States now controls Tuscany.
Like Siena though, we can't enter the province without being at war with Denmark. I will never achieve a high enough victory percentage to get Marche and Romanga.
Well, desperate times lead to desperate measures. We declare war on Denmark with a CB, bam -1 stab for same faith, more revolts.
Venice attacks the Popal States troops in Tuscany and defeats them. Marche and Romanga fall. 3 months left. We assualt the Papal forces holed up in Florence. This is risky since the wall is not yet breached...but we have cannons and outnumber their forces 3 to 1.
A drawing of our bombardieres (artillerymen) on the outskirts of Florence
Tuscany falls.
Decmeber 1524. We reach a peace agreement with the Papal States. Romanga and Marche to Venice. Peace is also signed with Denmark. We are at war with no one...other than some limited rebel forces. All active revolters have been put down and provinces controlled by rebel scum are under siege...or our troops are enroute. I hope the Doge lets them stay on course.
SIDENOTE: Please check out www.doge.it for some decent information on Venice. The above picture is from that site.
It is the twenty-ninth of December 1523. Finally, I have a few moments to simply relax before going to bed for a long, long rest. The last five years have been so hard. I am alone in my chambers as I gaze into the mirror hanging beside my bed. I do not recognize the man staring blankly back at me. He has a haggard and weary countenance. The skin on his face looks slack and pallid. There are bags under his eyes and his head is adorned with a crown of disheveled uncombed hair. A rash of black stubble covers the lower half of his face. Surely this is not the proud and arrogant Field Marshal Francisco de Treviso? But it is. This is the most recent chapter of his story:
Venice 1519-1524...OR...It's hard to remember that the primary goal is to drain the swamp when you're up to your arse in alligators.
I'm not too sure what happened in other parts of the world...since...Venice was in flames for most of my five years.
My initial goal was to vassalize Austria after wrapping up several issues in the Balkans. Our spies had provided information that led me to suspect Austria was soon to annex Hungary and possibly even Bohemia. We would have to strike and defeat Austria before this occured....ha, ha, ha!...random events sure do stink sometimes.
Venice starts with 2 provinces controlled by rebel scum. 4 separate rebel scum armies harass the countryside. We are at war with Ottomans and the sheep people…errrr…Ak Koyunlu. The Ottoman Empire has taken Morea from Byzantium and is greedily eyeing Byzantium’s sole remaining province of Thrace. We must to annex Thrace before they do.
Venice sends Trabzon to the OE for peace.
Venice declares war on Byzantium using a Casus Beli.
We kill rebels in Macedonia and set out to siege Thrace.
Venice annexes Thrace (pat myself on the back for getting the 12K Byz soldiers in Wallachia added to my army for free through annexation), build armies, kill rebels.
All rebels are dead, stab at +3, mass 75K troops on the Austrian border. 18K troops are left in Thrace to put down rebellions during the coming war. The Austrians have 1 named leader and 40K troops. I think it will be close. Our morale is Very Strong. However, we lack information on what is happening in Ostmarch.
Venice declares war on Austria. We drop to 0 stab for no CB and same faith. Genoa, Papal States, Albania, Munster, Naples join Austria. Bavaria, Savoy, Helvetia join Venice.
Our armies march on Austria...and...just before they reach Austria, bam!, some random event, -2 stab (no other choices to pay ducats, etc), now stab is -2. I swear...several times. This does not prevent the Austrians from cutting us to ribbons. I also get to see Austrian named leader #2 and 20K more troops in Ostmarch. I swear some more. The Austrians chase our boys into Stieremark. I lose again...but then...for some strange reason...they make a right turn for Bavaria's sole province....hooray!
Genoa sends 45K into Lombardia, Papal states marches 30K towards Mantua. My warships scout out 25K men moving up the boot from Naples. 13K Albanians head for Macedonia.
We attack in Macedonia from Thrace, defeat Albania, chase them back to Hellas, cover Hellas, chase Albanians to Albania, kill all in Albania, besiege Albania, build troops in Ragusa to reinforce and start siege of Hellas...finally something goes right in this war.
Revolts all over but nothing can be done about them.
In the North, our troops fall back to Veneto. The armies regroup and we pump out more soldiers.
Austria is still busy destroying Bavaria. The defeated Bavarians retreat into the rebels in Tirol...oops...but...they kill enough rebels to halt the siege there...small miracle. More Bavarians in Venetian provinces start to assemble into a single army and head back to Bavaria. There are quite a lot of them.
48K troops w/28K cavalry are sent to beat on the Pope. He is defeated in Romanga. Our armies cover Romanga and advance to Marche to finish the Papal States. Naples moves 25K men into Marche as I arrive. They're mostly cavalry. The Naples troops combine with the Papal forces...oh boy...defeat again....fall everything back to Emilia, send new troops to Emilia...Lombardia is close to falling to Genoa.
Helvetia and Savoy stand around doing a lot of nothing. Storey has told me that the Irish call this "thumb twiddling". I hear rumors that it may even become an Olympic sport. My prediction is Ireland vs. Helvetia for the gold.
Our Navy wins 6 or 7 naval battles against Genoa and the Papal States...steal
rutters twice...but learn nothing of interest.
I order an attack Genoa in Lombardia. The forces of Genoa are defeated. Our army chases them back to Genoa, defeats them there, and besiege Genoa. Genoa accepts a white peace.
We have 2 ducats in the treasury when a random event occurs, chose -1 stab or pay 100 ducats. (I don't want to leave the AI with a loan and low stab...so choose -1 stab, down to -2 overall again.)
Bavaria magically pushes Austria back. Austria offers a white peace...we accept gratefully.
Venice signs a separate peace with Albania. We receive Hellas and 100 ducats. As a parting gift I leave 12,000 unhappy rebels rioting in Albania proper.
I think that maybe we can grab some land from Naples and the Pope....then again…maybe not. It looks close and I'm running out of time in this turn. Talk about pressure.
I convince the Doge to make peace with Naples.
We battle the Pope’s troops back and forth finally pushing his forces out of the Papal States territory. His armies fall back into Siena (which is at peace with everyone). The Pope's armies are hiding under a dark red flag with a white cross. I cannot reach them.
Another annoyance...there are 4K sheepherder…errrr….sorry…Ak Koyunlu troops causing trouble. AK is also at war with Papal States but their forces are not big enough to start a siege. Although, if I try to siege a province they are in...the sheepherders control the siege...what the hell?...we play musical provinces. I siege, they control it, I leave, they leave, I come back...and eventually Venice is leading the sieges in all provinces...hooray!.
It looks like we’re going to pull off this minor victory. Roma falls and the sieges in Marche and Romanga are going well (both siege bars are dark yellow). Only 12 months left this turn.
Continuous revolts in Croatia, Ragusa, etc. have been occurring all this time.
I have a moment to look around it is then that the small voice in the back of my head speaks up, "Uh oh, where did those 12K Papal troops hiding behind the dark red flag in Siena go?" Oh damn! They went to Tuscany (owned by Denmark who is at war with the Pope). The Popal States now controls Tuscany.
Like Siena though, we can't enter the province without being at war with Denmark. I will never achieve a high enough victory percentage to get Marche and Romanga.
Well, desperate times lead to desperate measures. We declare war on Denmark with a CB, bam -1 stab for same faith, more revolts.
Venice attacks the Popal States troops in Tuscany and defeats them. Marche and Romanga fall. 3 months left. We assualt the Papal forces holed up in Florence. This is risky since the wall is not yet breached...but we have cannons and outnumber their forces 3 to 1.
A drawing of our bombardieres (artillerymen) on the outskirts of Florence
Tuscany falls.
Decmeber 1524. We reach a peace agreement with the Papal States. Romanga and Marche to Venice. Peace is also signed with Denmark. We are at war with no one...other than some limited rebel forces. All active revolters have been put down and provinces controlled by rebel scum are under siege...or our troops are enroute. I hope the Doge lets them stay on course.
SIDENOTE: Please check out www.doge.it for some decent information on Venice. The above picture is from that site.
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