Chapter 13: Always After Me Lucky Charms...
The New Year. 1432. After many bleak winters, the last few months have seen a streak of luck that one sees only rarely, if at all. A grand series of events, beginning with the hiring of our Philosopher, culminating in a DoW on Bavaria which brings us into a war which may net us the province of Salzburg on BB clearance AND allow us to establish our longed for land bridge between the mighty P's of Parma and Pisa.
Though I wonder how long the lucky streak will hold, I find it's not done yet when I convert my paltry excuse for a monarch into a bonafied leader of military men:
Sure, he don't look like much. But that +2 shock is deceptive. In 'charge' of an all CAV army of decent size, it's more than enough to do the dispatching needed for this war.
And to be honest, the last time I had a 3-3-3 Monarch he had one fire pip. That's it. Just one fire pip. Talk about a Dudly Do Away With...
By the end of the week, I receive word that Switzerland and the Papal State will be send troops along for the ride. I love to have a few loyal vassals. Not many mind you, then they just get in the way and cause attrition that makes you sicker than too many rides on the tilt a whirl... But a few is always a nice thing to have. Them paying you for the privilege is simply priceless...
The battle plan is rather simple this time around:
The main CAV force will be concerned with eliminating the main Bavarian army, a 6/8/0 stack with alot of maneuver but little fire power. My make believe general is actually more effective, but alot will depend upon arriving before the Bavarian troops. This will be a little difficult, and will probably mean a little more ping pong than usual.
The 4K INF from Görz will proceed to Schwaben and set up shop while the Trent INF sweep around the Bavarian main army and sneak into Salzburg.
Once the main CAV army has 'creamed' the Bavarians, it will be dispatched to break the few sieges Bavaria's allies have going, and then will be split up to blanket siege everything possible.
To the south, a collection of INF and CAV culled from around the region will converge on Ferarra, first taking any opposition forces out and then sieging. The Papal State will take care of Modena, I won't have to do a thing.
I have a few CAV being made just in case, and will probably build a few more, just to make sure I have one good sized stack left for the inevitable rebellion, and to enable the broken off CAV units to swing over into Wurttemburg.
Finally I'll send some units up north and take care of Cleves, whom I'll probably Vassalize. I love vassalizing the HRE...
Brandenburg...? We'll have to see. It's realistically too far away to be considered a 'Med Empire' territory, and I want to keep good sized nations whole up that way to encourage OPM disappearances. More than likely I'll just peace out with her. Now if I had 20 BB to play with it might be a different story, but I need to focus on what's around me right now.
Two battles in and it's pretty much a done deal:
The enemy is fast, but she's outclassed badly. I have as many men on the ground as both Bavaria AND her allies. It's really just a matter of keeping attrition down if I can help it so my WE doesn't go too high...
Bavaria is cranking men out as fast as she can to the north, but in the south it's all over but the siegin':
I've had to consolidate the CAV army once already. She's running shy of 10K now with 10 units assigned. The 5% Attrition I get caught with every other month isn't helping. I can time the attacks to avoid the hit, but the battles are lasting just long enough to trap me every other month.
I am hoping to get the main army done soon so I can blanket the place and stop all the jiffy pops that keep coming at me.
With the arrival of my 4K new CAV, I send them to meet up with a stray unit and put them under the care of our illustrious King. His first action is breaking the siege in Schwyz, which he does with proficiency enough.
A scant three days later, the battle report I have been waiting for finally comes:
My last two CAV units have finished, the Bavarian 'army' is finished, all that's left is to siege everything in sight and finish...
My 2nd CAV force is increased to 6K, and clears away the remaining units from Wurttemburg. The only Kink in the works is a decent sized revolt in Trent. The main CAV army has to come down and deal with it.
It too has been cut down to 6K, as I have 2K siege units all over Bavaria covering the provinces I don't have INF for. As the CAV finally wipes the rebels, I have 7 provinces going in the siege works:
With the writing on the wall, the peace deals start coming in. The first is from Ferarra, who insists we pay them 51 ducats to end there misery. I tell them they don't know what misery is yet... The second comes from Bavaria, who simply wants out. Calm, rational... I still tell them to get bent.
Word quickly spreads of our victories, and our people respond with glee:
Before the year is out, Schwaben and Niederbayern fall to our forces. The Papal State wraps up Modena and then pops over into Ferarra just as it falls. They don't even stop as the swing around home.
On Christmas morning I give myself a present:
One official objective is now complete. I leave Ferarra alone with the hopes another nation will take her down and eliminate the 6BB it'll take me to get it, unless of course I have a few 6 star diplomats show up unexpectedly...
The siegers from Schwaben are put under the command of my general with the +2 maneuver and sent northwards towards the home of the mighty HRE...
My current BB is running 25.36/28... Still room for a couple of provinces.
By November of 1433 I have control of everything except Brandenburg:
All that's left is to sort out the peace deals.
First up, time for a new HRE...:
The new big man on campus hails from Baden. It's good to know the members of that fine organization have chosen someone who can really make a difference for them.
Next up I try to get Brandenburg to white peace out, just to get them out, but they respectfully decline. Somehow they feel they have the where with all to march half way across Europe and actually do something. I wish the game took distance into account. If it does, it doesn't give it enough to make a difference. I know you think you can go take Switzerland or the Papal State... But do you honestly think I'll just sit back and watch you do it...? You'll be dead before you make it to the province.
I decide to just peace out Bavaria instead of messing with it. I could a gone up there and maybe got a few ducats, but the way my luck usually runs they'd be fresh out. (which given the current streak we're in is a totally asinine statement to make, really...)
As it stands, I catch Bavaria at a good time...:
I can live with this. Given our handcuffs and our King, we more than made out OK here. The three provinces are good, solid lands, and they effectively neutralize two potential threats to the north in Bavaria and Austria. Should we decide later on, or should the opportunity present itself, we can continue actions up north. They also act as nice buffers against Bohemia and any number of OPM's. The only pressing matter is the core on the Bavarian capitol.
Of much more interest to me is the world to the south and east...
In the end, we just squeak under the hard cap:
By 0.25... That's a little too close, but hey, when the opportunity strikes you have to go for it if you can. That was just too nice a setup to pass up.
The rest of the session plays out rather unspectacularly.
The replacement of our aging diplomat with another 2 star gives us a good 10 years or so before having to worry about replacing him at all.
We managed to fight the entire war without incurring much, if any, extra WE. By not taking war taxes, we were able to remove as much as we got. As of April, 1434, we sit at a great big goose egg in the exhaustion category...
During this time there were a few rebellions, nothing major. All are put down with little fanfare.
I decided to use some of the free cash to build a run of Temples to help with STAB costs later. Though I don't sense alot of need for them right away, if this last run of luck has shown us anything it's 'hey, you never know'...
We manage to pull Trade Tech 6 and Production Tech 7, both very much on track at this time. In fact the only lagging tech is Naval, and that more by choice. Given the rocky start, the run of bad and then the run of good, We could have been a level down across the board by now. The fact we're not is a very good indication of the type of foundation we have.
In our last year, the people are again complaining about the Bailiff, so it's another 5 prestige to wipe away along with the bailiff himself. This event is almost as much fun as that other event that shall remain nameless that relieves you of a STAB point either way.
The great nation of Purple(ish) Milan ends up with 8 new temples built, and in May She finally completes the mission to build herself a Navy. Our reward...? Make Mainz vote for us. UGH. Glad I held on to that cancel now, aren't you...? I cancel that puppy right away.
Our new mission...?
Now that's more like it...
In the waning months of 1437, we get another shot of good luck:
Now you can tell me that it's coincidence that this guys name is "Luchino." Sure it's a little off, but I can call him LUCKino if I want... Yep, you can tell me it's just random whatever all you want... But you'd have better luck selling outboard boat motors to desert nomads. You couldn't have scripted this any better if you wanted too. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to out and get a few lottery tickets...
Next up is the proverbial SoftK* address.
This marks the first time the people will get to see their new King, as the address will be his first order of business...
I'm looking forward to meeting him, aren't you...?
Till then.
T
*State of the Kingdom
