Parma (AAR) Come Witness A Miracle

[Grothgar]

Playing as Parma on the GC
Difficulty Normal
AI Aggression Normal

In The Year Of Our Lord 1492:

My honourable leige, Pietro Luigi, has retired from an active governing role and shouldered that burden onto me, Alberto Putrini. Many have made fun of my name but none have ever made fun of my abilities. However my leige, however much i admire him, has left behind a pretty cursory legacy. While his administering and diplomatic skills have kept us out of any major wars he has allowed the military to decline alarmingly. How will we keep our independance from outside influences if we cannot even govern our own borders? I do not know. The treasury is in a deplorable state and i have immediately taken out 3 loans to improve this, the king objected, of course, but i managed to persuade him otherwise. I have otherwise inherited a very stable realm and can see many oppurtunities for expansion.

My First act as governer was to use the bank loans to facilitate the raising of 8000 new infantry troops. The Drill Seargents will be busy but they are only earning their keep. However disaster strikes as my monarch, in his infinate wisdom, wishes for me to conquer emilia. This is terrible news, i have hardly got an army (10000 strong 9/1/0) and my monarch wishes for me to take on the papal states. Well a quick message to my scribes show that we have an alliance with genoa, tuscany and the knights. Also it shows that the papal states have no allies. Maybe im not so far out of my depth. Then glorious news, our scientists and traders have managed to aquire some artillery plans. We immediately build 30 of these contraptions and add them to our army. The commander is a colonel Arezzo who has a long and proud, but not particulary exciting, military career. We will see how he performs.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1493:

As 1493 dawns our army under arezzo is 17000 infantry, 5000 cavalry and 30 of those new artillery pieces. They look ever so good and i have high hopes for them. So with a heavy heart i signed the declaration of war on the papal states. WE asked our allies to help but only the knights answered the call, genoa and tuscany sending excuses of a malaria outbreak. Ive never even heard of the disease.

Colonel Arezzos army marches into emilia and completely shatters the papal states 9000 strong army sending it running back to rome like a whipped dog. Maybe this wont be so hard after all. On Feb 15th the siege begins but my leige orders Arezzo to attack the fortress over my strong objections, so much for retiring from state affairs. This assault is bloodilly repulsed and arezzo settles down for a seige. No reports are coming in of a buildup of papal states forces, i am guardedly optimistic.

On Sept 23rd emilia falls and i shield this report from his majesty as he would immediately offer peace now his objective has been reached. I give the order to march on. On October 23rd the seige of Romagna begins and still no papal states forces anywhere. It seems they have abandoned their people. Ever impetuous arezzo assults the fortress and is again repulsed. I train more troops and send them to arezzo to help with the seige.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1494:

Good news from the front. Spies say that romagna only has 3 months supplies left and then will surrender to our forces. On to Rome i say!!! On Feb 25th far earlier than expected romagna falls. It i said that they follishly took in a giant horse and were betrayed from within. The pope himself sends a message offering emilia but i rebuff this. I can sense victory and so can arezzos troops whose moral is sky high. On April 25th the seige of rome begins. It truly rends the heart of a man to see shells go flying itno rome but they will not surrender so what course do we have? After a few months of seige i give the order for an assult. Arezzo succeeds and rome is ours. We immediately annex the papal states and increase our territory by 400%! I sent word to the king about this but he looked atthe note and flew into a rage. He then suffered a god given curse and was struck down dead on the spot. The entire kingdom went into mouring and a regency was appointed. Praise be, they are better than the king ever was. I am surely blessed from high heaven itself.

Now we shifted our forces to bear on the traitorous tuscans and we recruited more troops and gave them to arezzo who is turning out to be a good field commander. Also great news. It turns out that the papal states had 7 warships which surrendered to us upon our annexion. We now have a fleet. On November the 14th war against tuscany was announced and the knights again joined with us. I have sent them a state gift to show our appreciation. Arezzo marches into Luca and destroys the army there to the last man. He then lays seige and is under my orders not to assault. We need those men.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1495:

Bad news the remaints of the tuscon army have laid seige to romagna and at the same time peasents in the province have revolted. However the tuscon army kindly killed them for us and went on to lay seige. WE at the court are not bothered with this developement as the army is small and will surely wither away on a vine.

On May 24th Luca falls to our brilliant men and we march on florence. Then we get mixed news. An army of 22000 men from the knights has arrived to help us. They lay seige to florence as well. Unfortunately they want priority of this region so we just up and leave it to them waiting biding our time. We raise another few troops this year but we wait with baited breath to hear of the knights victory. In other news our army beat the tuscons and completely annihilated them. WE now wait.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1496:

Florence falls to the knights on feb 6th and they accept 197 ducats in indemnitys. But florence remains tuscon. This is joyous news and i give word for arezzo to march but he has already done so. What a good chap. On feb 28th the seige of florence begins. We are quite happy to wait them out and we commishion a refinery in morendea. Although this stretches the treasury to breaking point we are sure it is worth it.

Then on sept 13th peasents revolt in emilia. We build up and army but it will take time to train i hope our peasents can hold out. Then the news i have been waiting for. Florence falls on November 29th and we quickly annex tuscony. We now have 6 provinces in the heart of italy. We have begun our accent. Our army turns and marches for the rebels joined by our half trained recruits. We dont worry arezzo will see to them. On December 31st just as the bells in rome strike midnight we rout the rebel army. This is a great start to the new year and may be a good indication of things to come. We pension of some of the army and arezzo is given a knighthood. He has done us proud.



(OOC.. May i just say how really lucky i was in this game, the papal states raised no army agaisnt me because they spent all their time building ships so i was able to conquer them with much needed haste. Tuscony also never really threatened me because of the knights 22000 man force kicked their asses. And then they just left me to clear up. Now im planning to strengthen the economy and to pay off my loans. Im almost bankrupt but my exports are yielding income. However i have an itch army. Im thinking of going for milan because they have no allies. What do you think.)

Tell me what you think and also tell me if you want more. I hope this entertains you and shows how a really weak power can be transformed into a weak power by someone with enough skill, and luck.

Thank you

 

[unmerged(3970)]

Great AAR.
In my games as an Italian minor, it was not easy to conquer my neighbors as they always had an alliance and built a large army. I would focus on repaying the loans right now or declare war on Milan and annex them. If you are going to declare another war however, the rest of the catholic world will surely DOW you. Milan is a very rich province but it also borders Savoy, which is usually allied to France so it might not be worth it to conquer them.

 

[Grothgar]

Yeah im thinking of building up my economic strength before even attempting anything else. Milan is a nice easy conquest i would think. What im waiting for is for the alliances of genoa and naples to end with spain (although i doubt the naples one because of that pesky vassilation thing) Although at the moment venice is looking highly vunerable (no allies and a war with turkey) so maybe i can take two provinces off them and then sue for peace. Questions questions.

 

[Petrarca]

I like what you're doing. However, another DoW could prove fatal for the BB. Keep maintenance down and start to build up your infrastucture. Let's hope that your luck continues into the diplomatic realm.

 

[Storey]

If you annex one more province in the next few years be ready for all of Europe to DOW you. Check your diplomatic standings with the rest of Europe and you'll probably see that everyone dislikes or hates you at this time. Wait several years before attacking anyone!

Joe

 

[unmerged(6159)]

Very nice start. In your shoes my next goal would be a COT, and I think Genoa fits the bill. But as has been mentioned, the next war you begin will cause the entire world to attack you, and with only the knights as allies you'll have a rough time. I'd lay low for about 20 years (5BB), pay off the loans, get your trade tech up, get some better allies, and work on the infrastructure. But I like how things are going and will be interested to see your progress.

 

[Grothgar]

I checked my diplomatic status and as expected all christian countries hate me. However the muslim countries like me and i dont think the christian countries would be too adverse to me beating a few muslim ass. Which brings me onto the next part. What im doing is im going to write it in 5 year intervals and ill probably write them one a day or if your lucky 2 posts a day. But enough rambling.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1497:

At the start of the year our position looks, on the outside, very good. However all these wars have sapped our manpower and we are approaching bankruptcy. Then some good news. I have been promoted to Viscount in recognition of my services to the regency. How i wish i could have an actual king to take orders from rather than that bumbling council of advisors. On March 9th something really strange happened. I was awoken in the middle of the night by a messenger boy. It seems that 9 warships just sailed into our harbour and proclaimed fealty. This is joyus news. Now we have a navy, we just need to train it up. We immediately build some transports, for what use no one knows at the moment. We have just built them.

There had to be an end to this good news i knew but when i had found out that genoa hasnt got any allies i was in a great mood and nothing good spoil it. Well almost nothing. On July 3rd the peasents in florence seemed to have had enough of our benevolent rule and a force of 18000 laid seige to our garrison. Sir Arezzo, recently promoted to general, took his force of 17000/2500/50 and gave the rebels a savage blow. He did however lose 3000 infantry and i had to give the funds to the armt to replace these. How we have avoided bankruptcy is amazing and must be a miracle.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1498:

The year was uneventful for the first few months but on march 3rd, the same date as those 9 warships sailed into our harbour, peasents revolted in Luca but thanx to a garrison by the one and only General Arezzo these were promtly captured and executed. Joyous news indeed. This will show them the futility of refusing our rule.

On April 20th Louis XII becames king of france. We immediately sent a state gift welcoming him to his exhalted position. It has fallen to me to tie an alliance with France which our great council has told me to do. In better news a scouting expedition arrived and told us that tunisia was occupied by heathens. The pope himself has sanctioned this expedition so i do not expect much interferance from the other nations of europe. Arezzo, our only competant general by the way, is to lead the expedition to reclaim lands in the name of christianity.

On July 11th we declared war on tunisia and were joined once again by the knights. They really are good allies and i sent a gift to them to thank them for their help. Arezzo lead his 17000/5000/100 force onto the waiting flotilla of ships and we sailed for the tunisian coast. The eating of limes made sure that scurvy was not rampant on our voyage and we soon sighted tunisia. But on Sept 16th disater struck. As our marines were landing in tunisia our ships were engaged and routed by a tunisian fleet which lost none of its own ships and destroyed half of our fleet!! The marines quickly swam back but half of them were unable to get picked up and were killed.

Then worse news those unruly peasants in florence revolted again but our returning troops, what was left of them routed these rebels. Arezzo had returned without a victory. We quickly raised up a force of our own and went back to tunisia. On Dec 5th after a close battle our heroic fleet managed to hold off a tunisian fleet 3 times the size for enough time for our forces to land in tunisia. The fleet was then quickly beaten off but they had performed their job.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1499:

As the new year is born we have almost lost hope that arezzo will perform because the attrition is reported to be terrible and with our fleet stopped from helping they are on their own. The mood at court is not good as we may lose our only able general in this kingdom.

But amazingly on April 8th a ship sailed into our harbour telling us that arezzo had been succesful and that tunisia was ours. We quickly annexed them into our growing empire and their entire fleet of 27 warships was turned over to us. Our star rises brighter every day. On the same day, without consulting me, they declared war on tripoli with orders to arezzo to continue his conquests there. I was beside myself with rage but when i learnt that there was no armies in tripoli i began to feel quietly optimistic.

Then on Jun 5th we recived word that Tripolitavia came under the guns of arezzo. What a general he is. He will be promoted to count if he returns. Then the news i was dreading, our peasents in Luca, fed up with being conscripted have rebelled. However our reserve forces, led by colonel terrento was quick to the kill and the rebels were destroyed. But then on Sept 11th Algiers declared war on our fair nation. It seems that our forrays into africa have raised the ire of the muslim world. Oh well.

On November 21st Algiers reached tunisia and immediately assulted it. After 2 weeks algiers, just when they were on the verge of taking tunisia, offered us a white peace. It seems that they were having revolts of their own and the forces were needed back home (just as well it was 48k) Then on Dec 6th we annexed Tripoli. We now have two african states to add to our italian ones. But our army in tripoli took horrendus casultys from attrition. We only had 290 infantry left but we did have 99 guns left so it wasnt a complete loss.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1500:

As 1500 dawns the peasents are revolting once again but this time in the holiest of holy cities rome. Must be that damn pope! On the 6th feb after a long battle in which our armies were almost defeated we drove the rebels off but our armies sufered a horendous cost in lives.

More Great news, our artistans are unhappy with their funding and have gone on strike. This will set research into infrastructure back by half a year. We moved some forces into tripoli to further our ambitions and we declared war on Cyrenaica but this time the knights dishonoured our alliance, excellent they will be the next to fall. Arezzo led his newly reinforced army into Cyrenaica and on September 22nd fought a close battle with equal number of troops lost but because we had the bigger army we triumphed. This was not a good performance from arezzo who is reported to be suffering from some african disease.

On November 19th the siege of Cyrenaica began and we need some money so i raised the war taxes, which as you might have been able to tell didnt go down with the peasants and revolts rocked the country but our forces were in place and kept order.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1501:

We got news from the court of Poland on the 1st January telling us that a new king had been elected. His name was Aleksander Jagiellonczylx and i will never try to repeat that name again after i embarresed myself trying to pronounce it in the council chamber. On Feb 5th we entered the High Barouque period, new building are going up all over the place and our merchants have a new zest in their step. This is joyous news.

Or at least it was until i got back to work and discovered that the romagna peasents had revolted. About 6 months passed with nothing happening and our economy recovered a little bit and our army in Cyrenaica seems to be breaking the walls down. But this is not a fast siege and our armys are withering away on a vine. We send more troops but the fleet is sunk on their way. Arezzo is on his own.

Then some shock news. On September 18th Turkey announced their new vassal. PRUSSIA!!! This news shocked the world because turkey now has a base in the north of europe. Armies have been raised all around the world and the turks are having the whole world turn against them. Maybe they will be good allies?

On December 22nd the news we were hoping for arrived. Cyrenaica fell to our heroic general Arezzo. We quickly annex this and we now have 3 states in Africa and no christian nation gives a damn! We captured their fleet of 1/18/0 which will strengthen our total fleet by almsot double. We now have over 50 ships!! Our power glows like a rising star.

As i put this note into my diary i wonder what trials our nation will face in the future. Our enemies are numerous and our allies are few. We are raising troops and our economy is slowly growing and we have added 3 provinces in africa to our nations borders. Our pride is limitless and we all know we can do it. Why then do i have these doubts? When everyone around me is celebrating why do i have these doubts? Or is it because i have had too much go wrong in my life to be that opptimistic. This mess in the council will bring this nation down arond me, yes me because i know i am the power behind this nations growth. Why then doesnt it comfort me? I will do what fate wills my lord and hope that i find grace in your eyes.




Right then. This is the second part of the saga of parma. Where to next dear friends? Genoa? Economy? More african provinces? Feedback would be good because while im good at this game i welcome introspection from others to see if im doing anything wrong. Tune in either tommorow or tonight for the latest part.
And by the way im actually playing this and then writing it up to the point im at so i dont know whats going to happen next. Makes it more exciting for me.

 

[Deaghaidh]

Build up at home. Yolu were lucky to get those two without a badboy war, but don't push it. Refineries are a good investment, because you have loads of wine provinces, IIRC

 

[Storey]

Beware of loans! The North African provinces aren't the richest so build up your infrastructure. At least you are sitting in a good position to take Alexandria, Delta and Egypt that is unless Turkey has already annexed the Mamelukes. You must be good at the game to expand this fast and not have everyone attacking you.

Joe

 

[Deaghaidh]

Yes, don't be like me- use your credit responsibly

 

[unmerged(6159)]

I'll give my advice again, but now in spades. No more wars for at least 20 years. No refineries until the loans are paid off. In fact no investments until the loans are paid off. I cringe when I see you sending gifts instead of saving to pay off the loans. Research to trade. Otherwise I see a very painful war headed your way.
On the other hand if you can pull of a badboy war with the nation tou currently have it would be quite a feat, so maybe I should advise that you get yourself into another war and take on all of Europe. You've done very well so far, I have to admit. I don't know how the rest of Europe has let you get away with it so far.

 

[Grothgar]

They didnt lol. coming up in the next installment. I have one more year to do so ill post tonight.

Huge war breaks out in europe. I join the french alliance after they declare war. I declare war on venic. Woah big mistake. Austria, algiers, venice, denmark, england poland all declared war on me got a white peace with them all apart from venice which i got mantua from. im doing ace lol.

 

[Grothgar]

Right then. Heres the third part


In The Year Of Our Lord 1502:

One day into the new year and the news is already bad. The regency, in all their wisdom, have told me to conquer the venician province of Mantua. My response ranged from incredulous to apoletic and i was sumilary dismissed from the court for that outrage. I think i was lucky to keep my place but if they would have told me to leave i would have resigned before they could visit that disgrace on me and my family. However it is the grace of god that i continue to govern this country and to try to stop the mistakes of the regency, how i wish they would just elect a king. Idiots.

Apart from that shock everything is going on quite well. We managed to pay back the first 2 loans which we took out and we have a year to get the money to pay for the rest of them. Not the best position but by far not the worse. Little did i know that events were about to change in europe.

On February 13th Poland, who obviously couldnt stomach having a turkish province right next door in prussia, declared war on turkey. Moldovia, the knights and Spain herself joined poland in her crusade against the infidels. Crimea and Wallachica joined the side of the infidels. Then if things in europe werent worse enough 2 days after that France declared war on England. Navarra, Genoa, Savoy joined France in this move and only lowly venice sided with england. Im thinking a victory for france in this war.

The rest of the year past very quickly for this nation. Our armys continue to grow but only slowly and our refinery in Modena was completed this year bringing much needed income from the wine it is now "refining." Things past quietly this year. Why do i get the feeling that this cannot last? We are hated by most of europe and we must make an alliance as shown by the events this year.


In The Year Of Our World 1503:

At the start of this year we payed off our remaining debts (i hope) and we joined the alliance of navarre, genoa (plans for that province out the window), savoy and mighty france. Most of the nations hate us but this will hopefuly cause them to change their mind towards us. A state gift to navarre did wonders for our relations with them. Then on April 10th the peasents in florence revolted but our forces were there already and it was quickly put down.

Considering that we joined the alliance late we were not embroidled in any wars but we had to support our allies. So our armies gathered on the venician border and waited for the order to cross. It seems like my regents idea wasnt the worst ive heard after all. On April 30th we declared war on venice only to have england declare war on us. Oh well france will keep them busy. Our armys reached Mantua on may 28th and were quickly joined by french, savoian and genoan forces using our country for quick access.

Then on June 16th Denmark declared war on us. Not to matter i said as all our allies all joined in our favour. This should teach those fools in denmark to declare war on our mighty state. On August 5th our worst fears were realised. Venice beat turkey and got kosovo in the peace. This is terrible because all those veteran troops are now marching in our direction. We need to finnish this and quickly!!! On Dec 5th a huge 36000 man venician army met the alliance force in mantua. Being outnumbered 3 to one as they were they pressed the attack bravely but were cut to pieces by our alliance army.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1504:

Attrition in mantua is terrible, most of our forces are taking terrible damage but on feb 10th mantua falls and the alliance army moves onto and seiges venice. Maybe this isnt so bad after all. All the other wars i am embroidled in are making no effect on our stability. On June 10th Venice falls after an assult on the venican fortress. Unfortunately this broke our armys spirit. I just hope we have enough time...

On August 28th my worse fears were realised as a largish venecian destroys the alliance army, with its weakened morale, just ran from the venecian army. However in an amazing blunder the venecian authorities offered mantua in return for peace. I quickly accepted this offer as my army is down to just 154 guns and the operatives. Unfortunately our weakened army will soon be put to the test as those ungrateful peasents in Florence revolted again on Dec 16th. Quickly we start to recruit more armies but will it be in time? God Help us all.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1505:

The years starts relatively well, our coffers are increasing, ever so slowly but increasing none the less, The only thing that is a blemish is the revolt in florence which is still going much to our dismay. Then on Jan 15th those despicable austrians declared war on me. Luckily my allies all support me and a sovoian force marched into mantua to help defend our country while we rebuilt our forces. Then to cap good news with more good news on Feb 2nd the peasents in rome revolted. Im sure it is the pope stirring up trouble and i have put a few spies in his court. How i wish i had arezzo back here but he is needed in tunisia to keep order.

On March 17th those muslim heathens in Algiers declared war on our fair nation. We are now in a 2 front war, not a good idea as anyone knows. Luckily i didnt recall arezzo and his army marches into algieria. Then, obviously inspired by the peasants in florence, more peasants in florence revolted taking the number to 36000 revolters. They will feel the sword soon.

Arezzo once again has done us proud. His army of 31000 men totally routed and cut in half the algerian army of 73000 men. We at home are jubilant after this event and it is better than ever when on May 28th Algeria and Austria both accept a white peace with our fair nation. Joyous be this event!! And even better news followed later in the year when our newly formed armies put down the revolt in rome. Those peasent didnt die easily though but our force still outnumbers the oens in florence.

The year ended on a sad note though because on Dec 20th, although we decimated the rebels tey still routed our glorious army. Once again our only able general is in tunisia. God how i despair for our fair nation sometimes.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1506:

The year started well again, with no expenditiures other than growing an army our coffers are very good. Wealthy i would say. Our recently trained army landed in tunisia to reinforce Arezzo who suffered losses in his recent siege and then retreat in algeria. His army now numbers 41,804/6,567/101 and this can be sustained forever in tunisia. My words of thought regarding denmark not doing anything were soon to be proven wrong.

On Feb 18th Denmarks forces landed and sieged genoa. Normally we wouldnt do anything but genoa are our allies now and so i should help them. On March 11th the florence revolt was finally put down. Maybe we actually have another decent army commander in this nation. This new colonel Potenza marches with his forces to aid genoa. Just when i was having high hopes potenza was defeated by an 8000 man danish army and we failed to lift the siege.

On September 4th those heathens in tripoli revolted and arezzos newly reinforced army headed out to put this down. Then the style early baroque is heading our way. New houses are being built everywhere and our cities are growing. This is truly a joyous time. Denmark offered peace with our alliance and their army in genoa withered away on a vine.

This year ended on antoher high note with the Tripoli revolt being put down by the great Count General Sir Arezzo. He is now on his way back to modena to be honoured for his great actions in the name of his nation. I think we will be laying low for a while though. That is if the regency will let me be and not tell me to do idiotic things, god knows how soon that will be.



Right then i got into a BB war but i had an alliance to counter this and i managed to get another province out of it. Put into that equation the AI's amazing lack of intelligence and i think i may come out on top in this. But what do you guys think? I cant go for genoa or savoy or milan because im in an alliance with them and iwould go for naples but spain annexed them so that doesnt look a good idea. I mean i dont want to just sit around for 5 years to get my BB down!!! I get bored easy hehe. SO suggestions?

 

[Grothgar]

Just an interlude saying how things are.

State Of Parma 1507.

Provinces: 10
Modena, Mantua, Emelia, Luca, Romagna, Florence, Rome, Tunisia, Tripolitania, Cyrenciana

Armies: 3

Count General Sir Arezzo: 23,789/5,068/88
Colonel Barletta: 19,592/4,164/24
Colonel Carrane: 21,487/4,528/24

Navies: 1

Commadore Sesia: 18/28/7

Allies: France, Navarre, Savoy, Genoa

Techs: Land 4, Naval 3, Trade 4, Infrastructure 4, Stability +3

 

[Lord Durham]

Nice AAR. If you're so hungry for mayhem you could always try declaring war on Spain and going for Naples, then down through to Sicily. Navarra and France should keep Spain off your back until you're in a position to settle. (hopefully with a province or two.)

 

[Avocado Aguila]

Nice

Just a note - i've played Parma on Furious, Very Hard and so on, GC 1492 as Parma once as well.

No army for some 50 years, just trade and navy, then a quick war against Portugal ---> maps stolen, reformation and colonizing Africa and India. In XVIIth century taking over the whole of India and Indonesia and in early XVIIIth over China and Japan. Alliances with England and Holland. Easy victory in the whole game.

So ... i feel you are just making yourself problems by attacking other European countries that early

Avo

 

[Deaghaidh]

Listen not to this child of Satan! Your bad-boy is horrendous, and another war could take you out- I'm suprised the last one didn't. Stay quiet, wait for the nationalism to die down, maybe build a few wineries, THEN move to finsih re-uniting Italia

 

[unmerged(6159)]

God it's great when you're allies come through for you huh? I actually like the Spanish idea, although if you wait France will get you into a war with Spain pretty quickly. I also don't know where things are with the Mamelukes - Usually after Turkey takes them out their BB is through the roof, and if yours is less you could try jumpin gon the Turks with everyone else. In your shoes I'd let the Frnch pick a war for you, although the Algerians clearly need to be chastised.

 

[Grothgar]

Right Part 4. coming up. WAR!!! big bad nasty war. but not for a bit.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1507-08

The reason for the two simultaneous years in one entry is because nothing much happened in these years. The only notable events was obn june 1st when the peasants of luca revolted against our fair rule. This lasted for 3 weeks before our modena regiment put them down with no losses. A manufactory was completed in luca so we now have 2 wine makers in our fair nation. The Marmelukes are embroiled in a war with turkey, i wonder if i could turn this to my advantage? We begin to move Arezzos army to the marmeluke border and we replace arezzo with his colonel in tunisia. We now have 2 armies in africa and 3 in Italy. The time is ripe...


In The Year Of Our Lord 1509:

Our plans are thrown into dissary slightly by the news that florence has revolted once again. Im thinking of putting the entire town to the torch next time. On Jan 23rd we put this revolt down and left an army of 10000 men there to dissuade further revolt. On this same day we delivered the declaration of war to the marmelukes. Our forces start to march into the province of Quattara.

On April 2nd Quattara fell to our troops, although to be fair they surrendered as soon as they saw our troops only being a colony and with no walls. Arezzo's forces barely even registered this so fixed on Alexandria and the Delta that they were. On July 1st yet more good news. Florence and Luca revolted at the same time. Our forces were slaughtered so we combine all our forces in italy and march on florence. Worse News!!! The mighty spanish empire declared war on our fair nation and an army of 45000 men started to march for romagna. The revolts will have to wait this is a far more serious threat!

On Sept 11th romagna became sieged by the spannish. Our armys having had to march from the north of italy were not there yet to raise the siege so our poor suffeing subject have to keep faith in themselves and believe in our armies. However our allies supported us, france gleefully willing to engage in hostility with spain. Our northen provinces are now guarded by savoyan forces, how the embarresment but it is necesary.

On Dec 16th our forces, having tried to raise the siege of romagna, were repulsed. Losses were about equal but our forces are the more numerous so after regrouping they will try again. However they will have to try within 6 months otherwise we will lose romagna.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1510:

Having raised another army from our reserves which was to guard the north of our country they moved to mantua which the regency has asked me to keep for 5 years. Promotion to Marquis will be mine if i hold it. On Jan 15th arezzo continued his amazing run by capturing Alexandria and marching for the Delta. The marmelukes have cut our supply line by recapturing Quattara but if we can capture delta we will sue for peace. Then those traitors in venice declared war on us on Feb 4th obviously wanting back their province on Mantua. Their allies Hungary joined them and a huge army marched on that fair province.

On April 4th our forces finnally raised the seige of Romagna and we would have marched to Naples but we needed to put those revolts down. Our forces turn round to engage the peasents in florence. How they will wish they stayed at home. 11 days later our army in Mantua was obliterated by a joint hungary/venice army and mantua was sieged. Some good news came in this dark hour, however minor it was. An Explorer arrived in Modena, we now have our admiral for our fleet!

It seems the entire world is against us, those heathens in Algiers declared war on our fair nation on Sept 21st. Our army in tunisia marches into algeria itself. After putting down the revolts our army marches to the aid of mantua which was being assulted as we arrived. Our army caught them by surprise and slaughered them piling their men up against our own walls so our men could climb down and join the fight. Hungary offered us peace of the white variety and we gladly accepted. Our army marched on venice itself and we assulted it and on Dec 17th venice fell. We offered peace with 500 in indemities to us and they accepted. That money will come in handy. We immediately invested it into more troops.


In The Year Of Our Lord 1511:

The start of the year was quiet with peace on our northen border and our armies moving down to the south to get to naples. Our armies in tunisia and the algerian army signed a peace after exhausting each other for almost a year. It was a peace we were very willing to accept. On The 19th march a marmeluke force sieged Alexandria and the marmelukes didnt accept our peace so we marched on the capital egypt. We quickly assulted it and it fell rather quickly and on June 8th the marmelukes accepted peace with us getting Alexandria and Delta. We now control a CoT!! Our merchants quickly fell on it with avengance and wrestled control from some local merchants. Money starts to flow into our coffers.

Everything was quiet until on October 18th our forces began to siege naples with 350guns pounding the city i have high hopes of this cities fall. Then once again our discontented citizens in florence revolted while the home army was away. We are raising troops to counter this as we need this war with spain to end quickly so we can increase our stability. We especially need to because on november 5th spannish forces landed in Tripoli and began to siege the province. If we can get peace then the spannish forces will wither away to nothing trying to get on their ships.

Things just go from bad to worse because polish forces (!!!) landed in Tunisia and they outnumber the forces under arezzo who are stuck in alexandria. Our army is growing in italy but we need them their we cannot spend any forces in Africa!!! Then on Dec 24th Austria declares war on us. We are not that bothered but it means we need to keep a garrison on that border. We need to keep mantua. As the year ends things are not looking so good for our fair nation.



Right then. Heres part 4 and although i have gained 2 provinces my manpower resources are being strained to breaking point by these multiple wars. Never the less i have enough money to buy peace with Poland and Spain if needs be. I rather wouldnt and if i could take naples then i could sue for a white peace with spain. Then i can deal with the african armies. I now have a center of trade but those 2 provinces are stcuk because i lost quattara so i couldnt ask for it. Well ill take them next hehe.

So what do you guys think i should do? Im really thinking of beating these armies and then settling down for a long period of peace and prosperity so all of europe doesnt jump on my back. I wonder if i might get naples

Suggestions guys (and gals)

 

[Sharur]

Don't take Naples, you'll have to press for too long and more DOW's will arrive. Just get quick white peaces or pay some indemnities, and then settle down for at least 30 years, so that all of your nationalism can die down. At this point, you're pretty much set as BB leader, but it can still be beneficial to lie low for awhile.