Not another Meck AAR-Movie

[unmerged(11244)]

Why does everybody make a Meck AAR? Because it looks like you play a small and helpless country. In fact only Spain, England and France are stronger.
Why do you think Mecklenburg color is Hulk-green?

I also want my first AAR look like I can play EUIII IN

Game settings:
Difficulty: Hard
Everything else: normal
Version 3.2beta

Goals?
I am not writing a history book. There is just one goal:
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky—try to take over the world."

I will try to explain most of my decisions. Feel free to ask for missing screenshots. I hope you enjoy this AAR.

Mecklenburg 14th October 1399​

A map of the empire in 1399. There are about 100 OPMs near me. Annexing only one of them will lead to Death by boredom. I will not use my precious recources for that.
I have Denmark for that. My best friend till I crush them and take Northern Germany in one or two big bites. At least I hope to do so.

A lot of work to do before unpausing the game:

Joining the Hanseatic League boosts the Trade Income. Trading will be the main source of income for some decades.

I change the slider to narrowminded. Would prefer Centralisation, but 2 of 3 events end up in a rebellion. My 1k Inf is not enough for that.
Look at the Free Trade slider. If you do not go to war you can put 5 merchants in every CoT and never loose one.

This is our Achilles' heel. Nobody will fear an 8k army. And 138 reinforcements
I have to change that quickly. There is only one way to do so. A spread of Hulk-green
HRE is not a possibility. I want to pick my wars, declining a war as HRE is to expensive.

The income is 11 ducats a month, not for long. The Hanseatic League and Free Trade will boost that amount. It will take 11 years for the first National Idea.
I get old by than, let's speed up. 1403 it has to be.

Small countries only get crappy advisors. I have to wait a year for better ones. The King is not better than his possible advisors.

I levy 1k Cav in Lübeck and send 4 Merchants to Antwerp.

Mecklenburg 15th October 1399 - March 1403​

The first mission is a nice one. Will reduce our BB. Is is just sad that there are so few good missions.

135 relation and only a Maybe to a Royal marriage? I'm trying to take over the world. Maybe is not good enough. I will guarantee them later.

Let's make some friends.

And some allies.

All this stacks of foreign armies. Only Brandenburg has an army larger than 1K Inf. I am allready bored in Northern Germany.
The only way out of here is through Brandenburg. I will not fight an offensive war for one province.
Meck is to strong for that. A waste of BB. I would play Cleve to do so.

The next ally. This one could be useful. Let's hope they stay put for some time.

Another friend. Their King will die before the next screenshot.

Our first event. Gain 3 Inflation is no option. Why is it still green in 3.2b?
So I have to take the second stab hit. Small countries gain stab fast enough, so that I will not put any addional money in it at the moment.
Getting the first National Idea is the only way to go.

The merchants arrive in Belgium and we double our Trade Income. I need more merchants.

Those are the first two pages of advisors on 14th Oct 1400. +15% Production Income. That would double my Income to 0.2. And it would only cost 1.5 ducats a month?
Am I looking any shopping TV?
The best advisor for minting had 2 Stars. The only thing I need is money.
And a 6 star spy. Don't have spies, don't get spies. Not within the first 100 years.

Our Trade Income is quadrupled, enough to double our monthly income. Need more merchants, need more ducats.

We make some more friends. The Papual State will stay my friend at first. I hate to get excommunicated that early in the game.
The next diplomates will build me Freeways through the empire. I will not bore you to death with them.
It's a cheap way to get a better relation and I will get a lot less attrition.

The 1st advisor arrives. I hire him immediately. :rofl:
I vote for an addional button in the options. Skip all crappy advisors.

I build one more Cav and change them to Chevauchée. I prefer a killing Cav. Devensive Morale is for Inf.

In April 1401 our stab is 3. Nothing much happens. We get some Millitary Access and send more Merchants.

6 month later to the next stab hit. 3 hits in the first 3 years. Thats a lucky start. Not forget all my great advisors.
We gain stab 3 in March 03 again.

For all that hunger for war and seeing me suffer, the next post will open that playfield.

 

[Stuyvesant]

That's a big mega-post you have there! I notice that, for all your bellicose talk, there is a distinct absence of war in the first post. I look forward to see how you'll remedy that situation in the next update.

Good luck with your goal - it's been a long time since I followed a WC attempt.

 

[unmerged(11244)]

Welcome Styvesant,
I am happy to have a first reader.

Trade Nations have great opportunities and it is worth to spend some time in a good trade start.

The Road to war​

There are two reasons for not gong to war until now. First thing, there was no opportunity to get a good deal.
And there are some more thing to prepare.

TO declares war on Mazovia. And Poland, Bohemia and Hungary. I know what the Leader of TO will say at the end of this war:
"Who has helped us? Gondor? The elves? No, Mr Dwarf, we stood alone."
There is no chance I can survive that. So I decline and loose my only real ally.

Declining a war gives a 25 prestige hit. This is bad for our trade. I will be in war most of the game.
A lot of fights must keep the prestige up. Meissen gets our new ally. One Inf more that will help us.

Finally we get our first National idea. Without those stab hits it would have been some month earlier.

I will take National Trade Policy at first, not National Bank. I need money and a lot of it. With my advisors I have a 50% TE now.

The Statute of Monopolies gives me +5% TE, +3% Tax and +5% Compete Chance. That has to be enough money for now.
It would take a while to get 5%TE with Techlevels.

I change to National Bank the same day. The only way to get enough cash is minting. I have a TE of 45.
Without the Statute it would be 40. A difference of 50 ducats each year. A lot of money I think.
A 3 Stab hit for that is totally worth it. Now I need more Cav. I have to move fast and long ways. Inf is just to slow for my plans.
I have 4 Cav now and start another 3.

43 Income and the stab will raise fast again. My merchants are doing a nice job. I allready have a Trade Invest of 39, with only two Provinces.
I am minting 2.3 Ducats every month, but the army maintenace is still at 0.
The inflation changes -0.00. 0.4 Inflation will do no harm.

My disadvantage is the yearly income. The bigger lucky nations get 100-200 ducats yearly income, mine is 32.
So I need more minting, to get the same cashflow.

The same time I start guaranteeing all small countries that could get eaten. Getting an invitation into a defesive war cost no BB.
This way I will take wars all over Europe. I will take land whereever it is worth it. A problem for a short time till I connect the shards.

On 17th May 1405 I take the first war. The pope is attacked by Sicily and Ferrara. I get the leadership with only two provinces?
I did not expect that.

My King will command my troops. I did not make him a General until now. He is not a real fighter, but until I am in Italy there will be not much left.
The Generals of Ferrara and Sicily are even worse. I do not expect to gain a lot, if I am lucky a bit of tradition and some money.

I put up the army maintenance. I still earn 0.6 per month and have a yearly plus of 42 ducats.
7K Cav are on their way to Italy and another 2K will be build in Lübeck. I need some more soldiers to take countries like austria with his allies.
Started the Cav before the war. My MP is 591 only.

Our playground for this war. There is allready an army of Ferrara sieging Romagna.

Naples went for Sicily, ignoring the small 3K siege army from Ferrara in the north.
Neither Ferrara nor Modena are besieged. Genua also goes for Sicily.

It takes 3 month to move down into the south. With Inf I would be in Bavaria by now.
I split my army. Using 2K siege troops and a 3K Guard led by the king.
He has to defend both sieges if necessary. But that should not happen.
The troops of Ferrara are no real threat and Sicily is busy with Naples and Genua.

The fight ends as expected.

Modena will be mine. Nobody else wants to have it. My first University.
Look at my king in Ferrara. I should have moved him to Modena. He has a point in sieging.

The King of Ferrara is not without a sense of humor.

We take Ferrara. Using Inf for storming that early in the game would keep the MP at 0 and the attrition would go through the roof.
Cav can also to do the job, until there is a better Inf.

Neapal ends the war and takes Messina. Not very nice. Why did they stop helping me.

Look at all the universaties. Never played Milan. Should be fun.
We just wait for the enemys approach. Defending 5K Cav against 3K mixed.
I have a better Shock-General and get a defence bonus.

We win in Modena and kill them of the second they arrive in Ferrara.

Ulrich dies just one day later. Long live the King. 5 Shock and 7 Administration.
That is a good king. My trade income is saved and I have one of the best genarals.
Nobody has enough tradition to buy better generals. Only a few kings are better. That will give me big advantages in battle.
But I will take attrition. That means smaller armies on hostile lands.

Finally Modena falls. I take everything Ferrara has. The first new land and a university. But really far away from home.

I force Sicily to give up Malta. They didn't have any money. Our first war is over and a success as good as it can be against 2 small countries.
Naples or Aragon will finish Sicily later I hope.
That gives us peace for two weeks. Meanwhile I have 9k Cav and 1K Inf.


That was a small warming up. It's time to heat up a little in my next post.

 

[Stuyvesant]

Looks good. Played suitably aggressive and now you're the proud owner of some fine Italian real estate.

Two questions: did you have military access all the way from Mecklenburg to Ferrara (I suspect the answer is 'Yes', since you obviously got your troops down there somehow)? Next question: will Modena give you enough extra income that you can afford to both keep troops in Modena to garrison it and keep an army ready for the next war of opportunity?

 

[unmerged(111870)]

Peace for two weeks - That sounds boring.

 

[unmerged(11244)]

Looks good. Played suitably aggressive and now you're the proud owner of some fine Italian real estate.

Two questions: did you have military access all the way from Mecklenburg to Ferrara (I suspect the answer is 'Yes', since you obviously got your troops down there somehow)? Next question: will Modena give you enough extra income that you can afford to both keep troops in Modena to garrison it and keep an army ready for the next war of opportunity?

I have military access to most of the Holy Roman Empire. I can walk fom Lissboa to the eastern border of Litauia if necessary and down south to Naples.
The answer to your second question is an obvious: No.
I'm taking a high risk for the first 2-3 decades. Any attack from Denmark, Austria or any bigger country will end in a disaster. That's why I got military access to all bigger countries exept Novgorod and Moscowy.
It builds up trust and gives a 0.3 reputation bonus.

Peace for two weeks - That sounds boring.

Welcome Kami!
Yeah, it really is.
If not to much goes wrong, from the moment I started the first war to 1430 there will be 1 year of peace all together.

 

[unmerged(11244)]

Getting a mayor player Part 1​

More money is allways a good choice.

Burgundy breakes allready and Flanders declares independence. That is a big problem. France can walk into Holland wihout resistance.
Look at these numbers in Antwerp. They produce 2.2 Units, a Costal CoT and a Textile Manufactory. Thats a lot of income and a tech bonus.
France must not get this province. If they do, I have to postpone the war against them for years.

My original plan was to conquer a landline from the Baltic Sea to Italy, cutting Europe in half. Then conquer the west and just defend
the borders in the east. That plan is gone now.

Opening a third front that early is highly dangerous, but I don't see another way than to take it for myself.
And I cannot wait till they have allies or guarantees. So war it is. A 3 stab hit and all my allies are gone.
I take two new Cav units, build in Lübeck and two from Italy. Leaving five units in the south.

Four days later Aquileia starts a war against the Pope. Aquileia against most of Italy, we take the leadership.
I have to fight two wars the same time. My army is not big enough for that yet.

The troops of Flanders are stronger then suspected. I march into Antwerp to get a 2 point defensive bonus.

When my Troops arrive in Friuli they allready see the fleeing Aquileian troops coming out of Görz.
The troops under my king hit them hard and drive them into Treviso. I have no intrest sieging the capital, so I split my army.
Two small armies siege Krain and Istria. A third group goes into Austria so that I get my king free, I need him somewhere else.
Still he's my only General.

I retreat out of the fight in Antwerp. Their troops are to strong in numbers.
My Cavalry is made to kill armys fast, not to keep fighting for weeks. I only have 5 regiments and I loose my morale quickly.
The fifth regiment came to Antwerp just before the enemy attacked.
I make two more attemps to crush Flanders, but they also have a 3 shock general and the dices are on their side.
It is not possible to kill them now. Their reinforcements are four times of what I get each month.
So my army waits at the border and stays put until I can send reinforcements myself. Just making sure they don't go anywhere unnoticed.

Nine month later Aquileia is defeated without incident. I don't want Venice to get Görz.

I take Krain and Istria. Görz stays with Aquileia. Time to end the war in Flanders.

Three month later my troops from Italy arrive in Holland. First the 1K army in Vlaanderen is whiped out.
France allready walks north. Hainault and Burgundy fall in weeks.
Venice excommunicates Milan some days later, I guarantee Milan. It is allways better to get defensive wars.
My army is still to small to attack any alliance and that stupid emperor is playing cards, sitting on a 30K army.

9 regiments revolting in Modena or a tax decrease for 6 month. I don't have enough troops to fight rebels.

From January to March I win three battles in Flanders. Small troops stay in Vlaanderen and Antwerp to siege and to prevent Flanders
from bulding new regiments. The others follow the enemy army to kill them off.
After destroying the enemy army, 4K stay to siege.

Genoa is my new ally. The same month the first rebells approach in Istria.
My army is still busy in Holland and will be back in Italy just in time to drive the rebells into Hungary.

Vlaanderen surrenders in september, but Antwerp still is in the hand of my enemy.
The excommunicated Milan attacks the Pope and has to fight all of Italy.
My troops have to walk from Krain. A nice short way compared to my wars earlier. Again two wars at the same time.

While my troops walk through northern Italy the others started sieging everywhere.
Venice has a 2/12 army if I remember correct. The best I can do for now is attacking the small enemy stacks.
Milanese troops from Linguria and Mantua combine in Parma. It would be easy to whipe them out with my king,
but Venice gets the leadership in battle. So the enemy retreats to Lombardia and I start chasing him around for some more battles.
Tuscany and the Pope destroy the southern army of Milan.

Finally Antwerp surrenders.

A nice tax bonus. The war itself is boring as it can be. Azow is under attack of rebels allready. Kaffa will be conquered by the Horde,
ending in a white peace later. I tried to sell out Genoa, but the Horde was not interested in Kaffa alone.

Venice ends the war with Milan. Pisa is released, the only city I was sieging at all.
I split my army into tiny 1K stacks sieging every city. Within the next month all countries will white out and Milan will release Sardinia.
Milan will be mine soon.

The end of my first mission. The BB score is 2.81 now. I ignore the next mission. It gives me nothing and a fleet is not helping at all now.
In september Denmark annexes Hamburg. Gogo Denmark.

I take a step to Centralisation. I'm confidant that I can defeat upcomming rebels. I have 6k Cav and my 1K Inf to fight rebels. Four 1K stacks still are bound in Italy.
I can't wait for peace. There will be none.
I only get a stab hit. That's luck. My MP pool is rising slowly.

The war against Milan is at its end without any further surprises.
5 more Cavalry regiments are build in Lübeck and Mecklenburg right now.

I get 635 reinforcements every month now. Four times of what I had 5 years earlier.
The max MP is five times as big now and I'm at peace after 3 more successful wars. At least for a short time.
1 textile manufactory, 3 universaties and a gold mine. Some pretty nice things I got within the last years. But still my army lacks of strenght.

 

[Stuyvesant]

Nicely done. Although your provinces are widely separated, you sure have picked up some choice provinces and buildings.

I have one question, about the sequence of events when you declared war on Flanders, followed by war on Aquileia:

And I cannot wait till they have allies or guarantees. So war it is. A 3 stab hit and all my allies are gone.

...

Four days later Aquileia starts a war against the Pope. Aquileia against most of Italy, we take the leadership.

Did you lose all your allies with the Flanders DOW and immediately got new ones for the war against Aquileia, or am I misunderstanding something here?

 

[GregoryTheBruce]

Nicely done. Although your provinces are widely separated, you sure have picked up some choice provinces and buildings.

I have one question, about the sequence of events when you declared war on Flanders, followed by war on Aquileia:

Did you lose all your allies with the Flanders DOW and immediately got new ones for the war against Aquileia, or am I misunderstanding something here?

I believe most of Italy was probably guaranteeing the Pope, so they all joined in.

Great work so far...interesting to see Mecklemburg so scattered, but I'm sure you'll unite it all soon enough.

 

[rexodia48]

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! WORLD DOMINATION!!!!! Pinky was right! But Mecklenburg will be fun. Remember Mecklenburgers arent made of cows.

 

[Didaa]

Subscribed. WC is always good to see, nice start so far

 

[Storey]

With your country this spread out let's hope you don't lose any of your military access agreements. By the way how large is your navy?

Joe

 

[unmerged(11244)]

Did you lose all your allies with the Flanders DOW and immediately got new ones for the war against Aquileia, or am I misunderstanding something here?

I lost all my allies when I attacked Flanders. The Pope is guaranteed by everyone incl. me. That is why Aquileia stands alone against so many countries. It gets even worse for Milan some years later.

I have no allies for the moment.

With your country this spread out let's hope you don't lose any of your military access agreements. By the way how large is your navy?

Joe

All my money goes into my army. I did not get any additional money out of peace agreements or events and I can't buy ships from minting until I have enough soldiers to defend my spread provinces.
I didn't even touch my 6 ships I have from the start. Only set the maintenance to 0. I won't need a navy until I attack Denmark or France.

 

[unmerged(140389)]

nice, i was playing maclanburg too, didnt do it this way, i didnt mean to go for WC at first, just wanted to form germany. But when i became elector and after death of emperor even took the crown, thinks started to be really quick, controling half of europe in the begining of 16th century, made a state protestant got rid of turmoil and started to prepare for badboy wars, bud then the save crashed down wasnt able to load it, fall after one day ...

 

[unmerged(11244)]

An unwanted war​

The titel for this episode should have been "Getting a mayor player Part 2". But somthing came up and I have to change my plans.
The war with the Golden Horde is still going on, without anything happening. But I get a nice 10% taxbonus all the time.

Suddenly I'm forced to start a war. Not the kind of things I like. I have to find a country with not to many allies.
My allies will dishouner the alliance. I do not expect more of them. The AI is really a coward in IN.

Moldavia is Vasall of Poland. A good chance to take Poland out. But Poland has a nasty event. I just hate it.
Why I was forced to take a war?

My BB was only 3.87 and my stab 3. That would have been a waste for this event. I attack Moldavia and have a BB of 5.87.
I get 2 stab back and have +2 now. A nice event, but it came to early.

Why? Why now? 5 days after I declare war? The first emperor lived for almost 12 years. I have never seen the first emperor life that long.
I would have attacked Brandenburg instead of Poland.

3 month after I declared war! You are missing the same thing I do. Where the hell is the Polish army?
The army standing in Krakow is my Italian Rebellforce. I did not plan to bring them into this war, but when I started to siege the north
I did not find the enemy. I pulled them up north to get a better look. But still no enemy.

I find new allies. I warn allies a lot if they have rich provinces or start a lot of wars.
If they decide to DOW, I can decide which side I want join.

6 month are gone. Finally I find the enemy. Correct is: they found me. I splitted my army into 1k + 2K stacks and started sieging everywhere, just to pull the enemy out.
At first there was no Polish army in Podolia. I saw them a bit late and can't retreat in time. Damn.
I pull back all 1K armies in the south to Krakow to wait for the enemy. Two armies (5K+4K) waited in Bohemia and start marching towards Krakow to reinfoce my small troops.

I manage to retreat from battle, the king still allive. That was close.
I retreat to Krakow. The enemy follows. His mistake.

One of my armies arrived 3 days after the battle started. My dices were crap, but my General is great. He alone is enough to crush the Polish army.
A nice picture to show how generals function in battle. My dice was 2x0 and 2x1, my king made this 5 and 6. The enemy has small dices, too, but one 8.
The only time where I get damage.

The kill ratio 1:10 in my favour. But look at the WE Poland gets. OMG.
I try to pull out some troops to send them back to Italy. Some rebells appeared in Parma during the battle.
But I do not have enough time.

And here they come, 15K out of nowhere. I hate that.
So let's go once more

14:1 kills. The dices are a lot better this time. But my lines get thinner and thinner every round. I pull out a 5K army when the morale is 0.
Hopefully they arrive in Parma in time.
This time the enemy got a additional river croosing penalty. Still, If I had gotten any damage in the last battle round I had lost the fight. So the last man standing wins.

Meanwhile 4K Moldavian Soldiers just marched around Krakow and attacked my sieging troops.
Kalisz is fallen allready, Poznan surrenders some days later. The Moldavians are only a delay, not a threat.

First I kill off shattered troops.

Some other remaining groups had time to reinfoce numbers and morale. I don't understand the AI in this situation. Why do they attack me?
They have no chance to survive this. This fight goes on for 2 month and 3 enemy stacks combine in Sieradz.
I didn't look on the dices, but they had to be real crap. Otherwise I would have won much faster.

The logical outcome. 2 weeks later they are gone.

Meanwhile I came to Italy late. Only for a few days, not even a week. The rebells die fast when they assault Modena, but Parma gets 10 years of nationalism.

Poland is finished and surrenders. Not good enough for me.

I just siege everywhere. Some small 1K stacks appear and disappear. Poznan, Kalisz, Plock and Sieradz is what I want.
I only want Sieradz to have more space to manoeuvre on my own land and to get full reinforcements.
The army in Ruthenia makes sure that the moldavian army stays where they are. I have no business with them.
Some more rebells appear in Italy. They are no problem.

Men at Arms is what I need. Now I can storm castles. But still its better to siege them a bit at first. They still are a bit weak till the next upgrade.

Sieradz was the last castle that surrendered. I get some more land and I get some money for the first time.
Lithuania annexed Moldavia two weeks ago. A week later Poland annexes Moldavia, but Poland is finished and no threat anymore.
I get a second border to Hungary. Not the best situation. I need them as buffer to the Ottomans. I hope their plans do not cross mine soon.
Sometime during this war my only diplomat died. Only the king decreases my BB score now. As usual there is not even a small usable advisor to hire.

Only a small update for a small war. The next update will have some more action.

On 24th March 1414 my BB is 5.00 and I have 12 provinces. To get the bigest country I need 40+ provinces. This will take some time.
Anybody wants to guess how long this will take without getting the BB over 18?
18 is the limit for a 3 diplo king. I allways try to stay below that.

 

[Stuyvesant]

You now have provinces in Germany, Flanders, Italy and Poland, correct? Personally, I'd be very nervous with a patchwork like that, but you seem very aggressive in your game, so it shouldn't be a problem for you.

Poland's magical 15k army, was that the Liberum Veto event firing? Not that it did them any good - those one-sided battles were pretty amazing to behold.

I won't try to guess how long your expansion to 40+ provinces will take, because I would undoubtedly overestimate it.

 

[Teep]

Wow, nice work i'll be watching.

I like the large update size.

 

[Cèsar de Quart]

Makes my Meck game like a kid's playground, being me in 1455 and having just the original provinces, Denmark, Hamburg and Ansbach, and Hesse as vassal. I'll learn a lot of your AAR, surely. Thanks for doing the effort!

 

[unmerged(11244)]

You now have provinces in Germany, Flanders, Italy and Poland, correct? Personally, I'd be very nervous with a patchwork like that, but you seem very aggressive in your game, so it shouldn't be a problem for you.

Poland's magical 15k army, was that the Liberum Veto event firing? Not that it did them any good - those one-sided battles were pretty amazing to behold.

I won't try to guess how long your expansion to 40+ provinces will take, because I would undoubtedly overestimate it.

It was the Librum Veto event. I hate it so much. Hungary has the same event. I don't know who else has something similar.

You're right about my provinces. They are all over Europe. I didn't want to wait for the HRE to die, so I took the risky road. I was totally nervous when I played it. And France that close.
A DOW or a big stack of rebels and everything is gone.

But I allready played the next episode, so I know what's comming. I will make an update tomorrow.

Makes my Meck game like a kid's playground, being me in 1455 and having just the original provinces, Denmark, Hamburg and Ansbach, and Hesse as vassal. I'll learn a lot of your AAR, surely. Thanks for doing the effort!

Thank you!
Meck is really easy. Just keep your merchants happy and gold starts to grow on trees. You have +20% compete chance with your merchants, that's your weapon, not some rusty swords.

Wow, nice work i'll be watching.

I like the large update size.

I appreciate it, thanks.
This game is a big fun to play. I really hope it is the same to read.

 

[unmerged(11244)]

Wars everywhere​

I was lucky last time to defeat the enemy so fast. But how long will I be that lucky?
I prepare for the next war immediatelly.

Time to connect the northern provinces. Saxony is emperor and Brandenburg is still in union with Luxembourg.
I have to insult them first. Every DOW means a 3 stab hit anyway. I do not want to get a 4-5 Stab hit.
A nice small war. My Cav is 20K strong now. I can just overrun them.

That's a 10k army of mine that should intercept the enemy army. They both arrive in Mecklemburg the same day. If I move there earlier, the AI will redirect the army.
They stopped anyway. I have no idea why they didn't attack.

I just attack them in Brandenburg. They have no General and will be defeated soon.
That's 5 2K stacks waiting on the southern border. One is sieging Saxony allready. They will march north, as soon as I have defeated the enemy army.
The fighting army will pull out to reinforce and attack Luxembourg and rebels.

After the fight in Brandenburg. They manage to retreat 3 times. A small 2K Cav - 9K Inf without General.

Finally. I lost more men to attrition than in battle. From now on it's only waiting.
All provinces of Brandenburg are under siege and they can't even build new regiments cause I had siege units in every province early.

Three month later. That skirmish with Brandenburg, Saxony and Luxembourg is allready won. All provinces are under siege and no more armies are produced.
This war will be over soon.

Holland joined Naples. Zeeland would give me a second province next to Antwerp. So I join.

I did not check the generals first. Two 3 shock generals. I only have one general.
It's impossible to fight them both the same time. My numbers are not strong enough.
I leave a 1K siege in the 6 provinces from the war against Brandenburg. Everything else is needed now.
Saxony surrenders days later. A white peace, they don't even have money.

I just walked into Zeeland, hoping they would attack. I miscalculated the situation. Now I can't move the king. Can't attack either.
A new CoT opens in Sus. Too small to send merchants.
Brandenburg and Ruppin surrender a short time later. 3 more provinces to go in the first war.

I try to slow Naples down a bit. I have not enough men and no general. I give up Modena and Parma for some time. Naples can't march further north.

A third war at the same time. That's a problem. I have 5 countries to fight now.
The Milanese army is as strong as my army in Mantua. Both sides stand alone.
I let him march into Brescia and march into Verona myself.
There is no need to burn soldiers. The MP Pool is 4K only.

After six month Zeeland is mine. My king can join my italian troops. So I thought.

But they don't surrender. Damn. I have to wait for reinforcements, seems they want a fight.
Luxembourg surrenders. But Potsdam and Neumark are still resisting.

A new diplomat. I could use some more of those.

3 Weeks later I get all I want from the first war. 2 more wars to end.

I attack Holland and lose badly, even have to retreat to Antwerp. That's not what I had in mind.
Lithuania is my new ally. A strong brother in the east. That will warn other countries to attack me.

They pulled 2K Inf and 2 K Cav out to Holland. I waited until they tried to storm. I only have to fight 3K Cav with a 10K army.
Before I arrive in Zeeland Modena and Brescia fall in the hand of the enemy.

I retreat early. Bad dices ruin my plan.
Again this is not what I wanted. They have all regiments in Zeeland now.

Milan cedes Verona without any fighting after I conquered it. The second war is over.
There are rebels in Treviso and try to walk to Venice for weeks now. Venice as an island makes wierd things happen.

I attack in Zeeland after they stormed again. And again I have a lot of bad luck. If they storm again I lose Zeeland and have to start again all over.

Two month later I attack again before they get to much morale. I can't wait for them to storm.
I lose again, but they can't storm this time.

My WE is low, just bad luck they spawn on the same day. But Poznan is far away. I have no army in Poland at the moment.

Attacking again and again made Holland give up.
The rebels in Sieradz came out of Lithuania.
3 cities are besieged by rebels. Only one by my last enemy. Time to take out Naples.

That is very nice. A third core will be mine. That decides what the next target will be.
France attacks Flanders. That means a border to France. I have to keep my relation high with them.
Guaranteing them, give them military access and a marriage. Everything will help a bit. I have not enough money to buy their friendship.