Malwa and Sindh
Indian provinces: Mughals 24, Multan 1 = in total 25/255 for THoT
Octopus arms extended.
Shortly after our last war with Ladakh, Malwa together with Sindh declared on weakened and friendless Mewar.
I haved waited until the cores on the former Mewari provinces were done, developed the gold mine in Mewar from 3 to 7 and set Malwa as a new rival.
The offical goal for the new war is Bundelkhand, the blue OPM between Jaunpur and Malwa. But my true target is Malwa. I can't directly attack him, because of his alliances with Bengal, Sindh, Baglana and Bundelkhand. So I have to take him as secondary participant. Means, taking provinces from him will cost +100% score and +50% AE. Thus I can't be too greedy.
As usual, more important than fighting the enemy is to check the provinces of vital interest of my BFF Jaunpur and his vassal Mewat. Then to ensure I get the occupation of these provinces. I want the two provinces Gird and Chanteri absolutely, because of the Mughals mission "Gwalior and Ranthambore", giving perma claims on eight more areas.
One Malwani army has gone north to siege my fort in Derajat (-28%) and all other enemies are busy in the other war with Mewar in the west. So I sit on Gird (-28%), have occupied some neighboring provinces and have successfully persuaded Jaunpur to do the dirty work of occupying the war goal (-35%) and the jungle fort in Mandla (-49%) in the southeast. Especially ugly during the monsoon season, from June to September.
As I don't see any resistance from hostile troops, my main army (16k) and its split offs are liberating Mewari provinces from Malwani occupation.
My main army moved from the province Mewar southwest to Patan and thereafter stackwiped Bundelkhand's weak 9-stack north in Barmer. Now Malwa's leaderless (sigh) main army, who was sieging the capital fort in Gorwar. Once more I rolled new genearals and A. Beg (3/6/4/1) is very competent for battles this early in the game. The second Malwani army has given up the siege of Derajat and moved over to help. Then AI-Malwa realised this would be futile and stopped one province away.
While the first stackwipe in Barmer cost almost no men (500), this battle caused 3.3k casualties for me. Maybe too much, as I can't rescue Mewar anyway. Because I can't touch Sindh's troops, who will win the war for Malwa.
The key fort in Gird has surrendered. I siege Malwa's level-1 fort in Mandu (-21%), while Jaunpur has taken on the task of besieging the fort of Rewakantha (-35%) in hilly terrain. Again I liberate a Mewari province. But that is almost useless, as Malwa can demand whatever he wants, the moment Sindh wins the siege of Gorwar.
My main army (14k) has gone north to Cholistan, in the area of Multan. The progress of the Multani separatists was on 90% for several months. Reaching home territory I intended to enable the rebel suppression mode, which would have resulted in the decline of the rebel faction. However shortly before my army arrived, the rebellion broke out. I am not scared of the rebels, nevertheless my army will just watch and wait.
The war Malwa - Mewar ended. Malwa got three provinces, Sindh even six and Mewar is reduced to a 3PM. The remaining Malwani army plus some reinforcements (13 regs) has attacked Jaunpur in Rewakantha and I came over to help with some troops and my wonderful general. So this attempt got repelled and our sieges can continue. Mandla, the fort in the very east has fallen on 5.May.74, so the rest of Jaunpur's troops are moving over.
That is why I didn't attack the rebels with my army. I wanted to use my allies' and subject's troops for this job, while being attached to single stacks of mine. As Sindh and Delhi closed the door on us by not giving mil access, I had to go the long way through Lahore, coming from the north. But the detour was worth it, I lost only 500 soldiers.
Mandu, 21.Apr.75.
Several months later, new rebels, same trick. Against the 21-stack of Mewari separatists I (ab)use my friends again. AIs don't consolidate, so Jaunpur's regiments are incomplete and vulnerable in this battle.
Three weeks later the rebels are dead and we have to suffer 11.6k losses, but me just 900. As I can do this abuse only during a war, I would have waited for this second rebellion anyway. But the completion of the last siege is still missing, to get from Malwa all I want.
Rewakantha is done, so let's negotiate with Malwa for a separate deal.
I take only the two provinces I need for the mission. But I demand Malwa breaking his alliance with Sindh and his humiliation. Which gives nice PP and a second age objective. AE is fairly harmless this time.
A day later I transfer the occupation of Mahoba to Jaunpur and demand the full annexation of OPM Bundelkhand to end the main war too. Giving me a few favors with Jaunpur and one more minor Hindu nation is removed from the map.
Just six weeks later and it is already time for the next war, with Sindh. At the end of the last war my remaining troops were on hostile territory, they got black-flagged. So I just had to walk the short distance from Patan to Cholistan, to have all my armies activated and in position on the borders of Sindh.
Yes, Timmy. Long time no see. After integrating Afghanistan and Sistan, the Timurids still hold Fars as a vassal. Troop numbers are: Sindh 15/19, Timurids 34/35, Fars 12/13, while my Mughals are on 24/28. Ajam in Persia is completely losing in two different wars. Otoh to Mazandaran and otoh to Timurids and Fars. So Timmy should be still a bit busy in their west, but as he has quite a number of cores on Ajam, he will gain strength once he ends that war.
Kutch has won his war against Porbandar some time ago and took back his two cores. So he has grown from a OPM to a 3PM. He is still willing to become my diplo-vassal, provided his opinion of me raises to +190 and I can overcome the "distance of borders" modifier.
I will call both him and Baluchistan into the war, but just a little later. When I will be sure to get the control on the provinces, my friends would like to keep for themselves. Every time the same trick: Mark everything hostile as vital interest, call in friends on the promise of land, but deny them any occupation of key provinces, take everything you want in the peace deal and everyone is fine.
Sindh panicked and rushed with his entire army to Kalat, the mountain fort of Baluchistan. No good idea, as Baluchistan is in the war now and so I got the terrain bonus, being the defender of the fort. Plus Sindh not being on max morale, having a weak general and being behind in Mil Tech. All added up to the stackwipe.
I have organized my troops. Sindh is completely occupied, except the coastal level-1 fort in his capital Thatta, which I am working on. Kutch is called in and I have most friendly troops attached to one of my stacks. So I am walking north. Occupying the east of Timurids, Afghanistan including the level-3 fort in Herat, should be enough to get Timmy out of the war.
Mazandaran peaced out against Ajam. He gave Timmy four of his cores for free. Sigh. But at least Timmy and Fars now have to siege down Qom, the new capital of Ajam to finish their war.
My original holdings around Golestan became prey of the Timurids. But meanwhile I hold a lot of development, so the occupation of a few low dev provinces no longer results in a massive WE. Contrary to the humble beginnings of Khorasan. Greedy Timmy doesn't transfer his occupations to Sindh, preventing the warleader from hiring Mercs to rebuild some of his lost army.
The Sindh-part of the war is done. A first 17-stack of Timurids shows up in Baluchistan. But he can't reach my occupations in Sindh, because of the ZOCs from the fort in Kalat. Well, he could use his navy for a naval invasion, but ... AI.
Thus I can concentrate on the siege of Herat (-42%). Actually my biggest stack is in Roh, waiting for the Ladakhi separatists. This is a problem of the [1.29] attachment system. I can only signal my desire for my friends to attach to my armies. It is not possible to say, just 12k stay in Roh and the rest please go to Herat and attach to another stack over there.
So Timurids and Fars finished their war with Ajam and they got a lot more provinces. Timmy is now on 46/49 regs, a bit worrying. But most of his troops are in Baluchistan, without a concept, what to siege. More running back and forth, like chickens.
I could get Herat already with the next tick on 30.Jan.77. However Timmy refuses a white peace for now. Hence I am moving west with my troops to occupy some more provinces. Timurids' progress in Baluchistan: almost zero. But he seems to move his stacks back to his homelands. So I am careful not to split my armies in too many weak stacks.
In Kashmir I have solved the problem of the overloaded stack with a little trick, using attrition to make the 10-stack of Kutch detach and come over to the west.
A lot of neutral troops are moving around in my lands, as Delhi and Bengal are in a war with Doti and other minors.
Instead of attacking me, Timmy preferred to liberate some desert provinces. And five days ago he got out for a handful of ducats, a +3% peace deal. The Ladakhi rebels have erupted in Baltistan and I can let my friends bled again to fight this down. Very fine.
The rebels are killed, so let's see the peace deal. Sindh is on 105% province score cost, so I can't annex him fully. Because of the rewards from the mission on Malwa, I got perma claims on the three provinces in the east. With the four provinces in the west I get a CoT, secure the western border of India and get my first coastal one this game. A port, sailors, navy, omg.
The truce will last longer than 10 years. Thus breaking the alliance Sindh - Timurids might be useless. But I think it is a chance to isolate Sindh, so I demand it and war reps too. Time will tell.
Some of my troops got stranded on "Khorasan island" after the peace with Timmy. Including the 7 Mercs, I had hired for several years. They are disbanded now, as for the next war I plan to have some cannons. This will be after 1479, the year of Mil Tech 7.
So I use a little trick to make the 2-stack walk through the territories of Timurids without mil access. First I ask Transoxiana for access and walk to Kopet Dag. Next I immediately return to Bojnord and cancel the access. One more time I march to Kopet Dag. Although I don't have the access anymore, I can do so because of the rule for the return province. Result: I black-flag myself. Which is what I want, as now my 2-stack can pass Timmy's lands freely to my mainlands in India.
Diplo-vassalization of Kutch: With the new provinces I have overcome the problem of "distance of borders". But now I can't get his opinion to +190, because of "border friction", "neighboring different religion" and other modifiers. But I don't give up. Some modifiers like AE are ticking down, or I might get an event like "Friends in Need".
Next war should be with Delhi again. But I will wait at least two years for my new provinces to be cored.
We will see, what is going to happen ... next time.
