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macd21

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Oct 10, 2011
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This is my second AAR, once again starting as an Irish OPM. My previous failed due to some technical difficulties. Hopefully this one will go more smoothly. I'm also hoping that I'll have a more successful campaign now that I'm more familiar with EU4. I may still have some EU3 habits and assumptions I need to break...

Anyway, it's ironman, normal difficulty and handicaps.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Turlough the Bold
Chapter 2: The Celtic Brotherhood
Chapter 3: "Greater Wales"
Chapter 4: No plan survives first contact with your allies
Chapter 5: The Queen Regent
Chapter 6: With Friends like these
Chapter 7: Vive la France!
Chapter 8: Big Dreams...
Chapter 9: ...Bigger Nightmares
Chapter 10: Faith and Fire
Chapter 11: A Turbulent Relationship
Chapter 12: The Quiet Council
Chapter 13: The Danewars
Chapter 14: Cold Wars
Chapter 15: The Merchant War
Chapter 16: Interbellum
Chapter 17: The Second Merchant War
Chapter 18: Friends and Family
Chapter 19: New Horizons
Chapter 20: The Bavarian Intervention
Chapter 21: A Friend of a Friend of a Friend
Chapter 22: Colonial Concerns
Chapter 23: March on Stockholm
Chapter 24: The German Wars
Chapter 25: Rest and Regroup
Chapter 26: Fág an Bealach!
Chapter 27: The Deluge
Chapter 28: The Price of Hubris
Chapter 29: Regrouping
Chapter 30: Retaliation
Chapter 31: The Peace of Westphalia
Chapter 32: The Imperial Succession War
Chapter 33: The Northern Front
Chapter 34: War for the Med
Chapter 35: Imperial Prerogatives
Chapter 36: Changes
Chapter 37: The Provence War
Chapter 38: The Diplomatic Front
Chapter 39: The Canton Trade War
Chapter 40: The Subjugation of Germany
Chapter 41: Twilight of an Empire
Chapter 42: The First Napoleonic War
Chapter 43: The Second Napoleonic War
Chapter 44: Éire go brách!

Chapter 1: Turlough the Bold



Lord Turlough O'Brien isn't exactly the most impressive ruler in Europe, but at least he's a step above England's Henry VI. His heir Tadhg is an improvement (if not much of one), so I'm not going to be too worried about sticking Da on a horse and pointing him at the enemy. Like the other Irish OPMs we start with 3000 troops, a cog, three barques and a barely functioning economy. The primary concern in this part of Europe is obviously the English, but they're stuck in a war they can't win and a ruler I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I need to expand as much as possible while they are still distracted. If I'm lucky they'll still be at war with France by the time I take the last of the OPMs, which will mean they'll be suffering from high war exhaustion (and therefore rebellions), so I'll be able to walk in and take Meath.

I recruit one unit of cavalry while sending diplomats to Brittany and Scotland. I also make Connaught and Leinster my rivals, granting me a mission to take Leinster. I soon have royal marriages and alliances with both Scotland and Brittany and an alliance with Tyrone (I turn down their offer of a marriage - I'll be attacking them pretty soon and I don't want the stability hit). Soon enough I'm marching on Leinster, Turlough leading the troops personally. Leinster's forces are soon destroyed and the siege begun. Turlough is fortunately a good siege leader, so the province is soon mine.



As I prepare to repeat the above with Connaught I glance across to the east and am shocked to discover that Burgundy occupied a province in England. A quick look at the ledger reveals a shocking discovery - England's army is almost nonexistent.


Burgundy somehow got an army past the Royal Navy and then crushed the English army and was now laying siege to some provinces. The English were already mustering more troops (hence the non-existent manpower, I guess) but wisely chose to surrender Calais rather than risk more losses. They were already starting to have trouble with rebellious peasants. I need to finish dealing with Connaught and Tyrone as quickly as possible so I can take advantage of their weakness.

Tyrone breaks their alliance, but I'm not too worried. I attack Connaught and am soon besieging them. As I wait for the city to fall I receive a message.



I decide to take the money. A little extra gold in my pocket will help speed up the conquest of Ireland so I can strike at Henry VI all the sooner.

Connaught is soon mine, leaving only Tyrone to deal with.



As I prepare to attack Ulster the Scots declare war on England. Thousands of highlanders answer the call to war and they move south quickly, laying siege to the northern half of the country. The English are too busy dealing with rebels to do anything about them.



I march on Ulster and am soon waiting for their walls to fall. Anxious to get in on the war with England I begin ferrying troops across the Irish Sea to Scotland and recruiting new units in Leinster and Munster.



With the fall of Tyrone I declare war on England and prepare to free the Irish people! My units in Scotland march south, led by Turlough, while his son Tadhg (also a good siege general) takes command of the remaining forces in Ireland and attacks Meath. The Scots seem to have the English on the run and their Portuguese allies seem to have their hands full dealing with some rebels. It's still a risk, but I'm not going to get a better chance, so...



Though I've been busy on the battlefield I haven't forsaken diplomacy and it pays off with a marriage between my boy Tadhg and a Castilian princess. This will hopefully lead to good things once the war is over.



And now my first setback. The Scots (for no reason that I can fathom) pull out of the war and march back north.



Damnit. Maybe they couldn't afford the haggis needed to feed all those highlanders. Still, the English have taken a hell of a beating, right? I've nothing to worry about, right? The English do make an attempt to destroy my forces in Lancashire, but my forces in the next province just abandon their siege and join the battle, driving them back south. Lancashire and Meath soon fall. Phew, nothing to worry ab- wait, is that a Portuguese fleet off the coast of Munster?



It's now a race against time. I need to capture enough provinces to bring my warscore up to 10%. Having Meath is a huge help, as it will slowly increase the warscore by itself, but if Munster falls I'll probably lose the war. My merchant marine dodges the English fleet as it moves to the Irish Sea, instead moving around Scotland to blockade England's east coast. Meanwhile my transports slip away with Tadhg and the troops from Meath, taking them to reinforce my army in England.



Cumbria falls, giving me some more precious warscore. I'm confident now that I can get up to ten percent. However the Enlish army is trying to relieve Lancashire. Gathering my forces together in Cumbria I march them south. My military tech is higher and I outnumber them and sure enough they are quickly routed.



My warscore is now 10%, but I decide to pursue them to give them another thrashing before making peace. That done I send Henry my terms. He agrees and Meath is mine!



With the extra cash I pay off the small loan I had to take out to fund the war and pay for the construction of a new barque. I consolidate my units and march them north as quickly as possible (they appear to be almost surrounded by thousands of rebels). England is in turmoil, has next to no army and is still at war with France - long may it continue. Hopefully I'll be able to improve my finances and military tech over the next few years and see where we stand when the truce ends. In the meantime I think Turlough will celebrate his liberation of the Irish people!


 
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For the Irish! Subbed.
 
Having toyed with Irish OPM, I was disappointed by the national ideas they had available. Hopefully a future patch/mod adds better ones

Having already united Ireland, what direction will you go? Try to conquer more, or maybe try to get an early start on exploration/colonization?
 
Having toyed with Irish OPM, I was disappointed by the national ideas they had available. Hopefully a future patch/mod adds better ones

Having already united Ireland, what direction will you go? Try to conquer more, or maybe try to get an early start on exploration/colonization?

I've considered a couple of options. Exploration and colonisation is certainly tempting - turn my back on Europe and reap the wealth of the new world - but I don't think I have the economy to support it yet. That leaves two other options: isolationist/trade or conquest. Both have their risks. It really depends on where England is when the truce is up. If they look weak and vulnerable I may strike. If they look too tough a nut to crack I'll try to repair relations and focus on buildings and merchants for a few decades before I begin exploring.
 
Chapter 2: The Celtic Brotherhood



With England defeated and my position secured I decided to take a look at the rest of Europe. Almost immediately after I made my own peace with Henry the French did the same, taking all but one of his continental provinces. Hopefully that last holding will be a bone of contention between the two of them at some point in future. With the end of Anglo-French hostilities comes an apparent moment of peace throughout most of Europe. The only other war of note was somewhere far to the east, where the Rus were fighting someone or other. It's too far away for me to pay it any mind. Aragon was having some trouble with rebels. The Ottoman Empire had consolidated its position, finishing off the last remnants of the Roman Empire. I was sure another round of warfare was just round the corner, but for the time being peace reigned.

Back in England Henry finally capitulated to the rebels swarming across the countryside. It cost him three provinces, but at least he could begin the process of recovery.



My diplomatic efforts with Castile paid off as they agreed to a military alliance. I forged another alliance with Cornwall, though I ignored their (many, repeated and annoying) offers of a royal marriage. I had not quite decided how I was going to deal with Cornwall yet so I didn't want to tie myself to them too closely.

I finally brought my military tech up to 4, giving my troops a nice boost. For the most part this just kept me even with the rest of Europe, but England were still stuck on 3 thanks to Henry's incompetence.

Then I got an interesting message...



Seems all the stress has been getting to Turlough... I chose to side with the realm's administrators. While a bit of military tradition would be nice, the fact is I'm desperate for administration points.

Looking south I noticed that our Breton allies were at war with Provence, as part of the Burgundian-Provencal war of honour. Thankfully France didn't seem to be involved. I wished them the best of luck and left them to it.

I received a mission to fabricate a claim on Lancashire. Seeing that their army and navy were both much reduced I decided that having the option to attack at some point would be wise and my efforts finally paid off.



Our diplomatic efforts were once more successful as we arranged a royal marriage with Denmark. This in turn led to a welcome request:



The ships and troops of the Kalmar Union could prove quite useful... and with their assistance assured I was now quite confident I could take on England once more. Their navy was a fraction of its former size, with only three warships and a few trading vessels. Though too powerful for my own merchant fleet to tangle with, they shouldn't be able to stop the ships of Castile, Denmark, Sweden and Norway from landing troops as they wished. In the meantime my forces would work with the Scots to secure the north of the country. Together our troops would just about outnumber the English. Unfortunately the Cornish still had an active truce with England and the Bretons were already at war, so neither would be joining the conflict.

Before declaring war I considered what I wanted from the conflict. I'd be reasonably happy with a white peace that saw Henry's forces and manpower seriously depleted, if only to keep him on the defensive and vulnerable to rebellion. Beyond that I hoped to force him to surrender his core on Meath. If he proved too difficult to crush completely I'd be happy with that and give up on any further efforts to secure territory in England, instead focusing on building up my provinces in Ireland.

My next priority would not be taking Lancashire but releasing Northumberland. Lancashire alone would be vulnerable to an English attack. Freeing Northumberland would be a less risky way to hurt England. Only if Northumberland could be freed would I would consider taking Lancashire. I wouldn't take any more territory than that, but I hoped to take his trade power. I was also hoping that the Scots would duck out of the war a little early, taking a province or two with them, but that wasn't a priority.

My troops gathered in Scotland and watched as their allies streamed across the border into Northumberland. Instead of attacking I waited to see what the English response would be. Sure enough their troops tried to slip past the Scots, but I caught them in Cumbria and engaged.



Routed by the superior skill and numbers of my troops, the English fled south again. However I realised that only half of their forces had been present for the battle, so I didn't pursue. I soon discovered where the rest of them had gone.



This put an interesting spin on things. Instead of a straight-up fight for supremacy on the field this would be a race against time. If Henry could seize enough of my own provinces before I secured the wargoal then he might be able to force me to accept a white peace at the very least. My side's combined forces outnumbered his troops left in England, but I couldn't control the Scots, limiting my options. I decided to leave the Scots to focus on occupying provinces while my army acted as a killstack, keeping General Paterson's army on the defensive and his numbers low enough that he couldn't threaten us. We clashed a few times, my forces traveling as far south as London, before my troops returned to Scotland to recover some of their strength.



Meanwhile a Swedish expeditionary force paid a visit to Henry's last French territory...



Castile's participation in the war had until now been minimal, as they had been at war with their North African neighbours. However they now made peace with the Muslims and would be able to look to the north. Unfortunately their navy was in the Mediterranean so it would take them a while to get to us.



At this point a standoff had developed between the English and my forces in the north.



They'd recovered enough of their strength that I wasn't confident I could defeat them with my army alone, while the Scots didn't seem interested in engaging them. I left most of my army in Scotland to recover manpower while we waited for something to break the stalemate. While our troops sat on their asses word reached us that Meath had fallen and the enemy marched on Ulster.

Thankfully reinforcements arrived from Castile. Their troops landed in the south of England. The English raced to engage them, with our forces not far behind them.



The English took another beating and were routed once more. More troops arrived from Castile and they were soon laying siege to Kent. In the north the Scots finished taking Cumbria and then slaughtered the English trying to retake Northumberland. My own forces moved to finally begin the process of taking the wargoal - Lancashire. Castile also landed some troops outside of Dublin to retake Meath, a welcome developement, though I worried the English forces in Ulster might be strong enough to defeat them.



In the meantime I finally reached Admin level 4, giving me my first idea group. I chose Trade - I really need the money.

The English recovered their strength and moved on Lancashire. Unwilling to risk my troops I abandoned the siege and united with the Scottish forces, until another force of Castilians lands in Wessex. History repeated itself as the English moved to engage them only to be caught between our forces.



With so much of their territory occupied or besieged they had less room to flee to and my troops soon caughyt them. A few skirmishes later and they were finally run to ground in Oxfordshire.



I returned to Lancashire. Henry's forces in Ireland succeeded in taking Ulster and tried to relieve the siege of Dublin but were driven back by the Castilians. The Danes then land a force in Ulster and drive them south.



It was now just a matter of time and deciding how much I wanted from the war versus how much war exhaustion I was willing to suffer. Our allied forces begin to carpet siege England, while they moved their last troops down to Munster. While I waited for more provinces to fall I received a visitor.



While too late to make a difference in this war, he might just make a difference in the next one. And another one seems inevitable at this point. With England's defences in tatters I would be able to take what I want, which means I'll have a border with England. If I give them a chance to regain their strength they will inevitably attack me, so I'll have to hit them again in a few years. The outcome of this war will decide my course of action for years to come.



After the fall of Lancashire I considered peace negotiations. I could wait a few more months and try to take more, but I realised that I could already accomplish all of my primary war goals already. So I sent a diplomat to pay Henry a visit.



Lancashire is mine, Northumberland is free, Henry gave up his claim on Meath, I will control the majority of England's trade for the next five years and I got a nice chunk of cash as well. I did lose two light ships due to a bit of inattentiveness on my part and my manpower has been severely drained, but other than that my losses have been light. However I have now set myself on a course that is almost impossible to redirect. While England is currently very weak, if allowed to recover they will pose a serious challenge. Henry VI won't be king forever and their force limit is still over twice my own. I'm going to have to hit them again... and soon.
 
Good start, are you looking to conquer England? In EU3 I took the colonization route in my Irish game. However engaging England will make for a much tougher and interesting game.
 
Good start, are you looking to conquer England? In EU3 I took the colonization route in my Irish game. However engaging England will make for a much tougher and interesting game.

That may be a long term goal, but I think for the moment I'm just looking to remove them as a threat. I'm currently desperate for admin points so I can't really afford to core the whole country, limiting my potential conquests. I just need to get them down to a manageable size, once their force advantage has been eliminated I'll probably stop and focus on building up my provinces and colonising. I might return to finish them off at some point (once I get a good admin leader who can provide the points for coring), but as it is Portugal and Spain will have a huge head start in the colonisation arena so I'll want to start on that as soon as I can afford to.
 
A lot might depend on the answer to this question, can you form the UK as Ireland? If so, it might be a worthy goal, and doable if you can slice off enough of England and vassalize/ personal union Scots and welsh. An Ireland-centered Great Britain could be fun.
 
A lot might depend on the answer to this question, can you form the UK as Ireland? If so, it might be a worthy goal, and doable if you can slice off enough of England and vassalize/ personal union Scots and welsh. An Ireland-centered Great Britain could be fun.

According to the EU wiki I can and I might at some stage, but it's not a priority at the moment.
 
What other nations can you force England (and or Scotland?) to release? Because it might be wise to go for diplomacy instead of trade and diplo-annex most of the isles through making vassals and feeding them provinces? :)

Great AAR so far!
 
What other nations can you force England (and or Scotland?) to release? Because it might be wise to go for diplomacy instead of trade and diplo-annex most of the isles through making vassals and feeding them provinces? :)

I think that's all the nations that can be released, from England anyway.
 
Since wales and Cornwall seem to have rebelled as a single state instead of two, I believe all the states possible now exist.
 
Chapter 3: "Greater Wales"



With the death of Duke Philippe of Burgundy the face of Europe was radically changed. Austria and France now share a lengthy border, all but guaranteeing war between them. Denmark's rivalry with the Teutonic knights turned into open warfare. In the Mediterranean the Venetians sought to seize Cyprus from the Mamluks.

Back home I focused on recovering from the war. The additional income from England's trade was most welcome. I quickly replaced the trade ships I lost in the war and built a few buildings. I also cancelled my alliance with Cornwall. While they could conceivably have proven useful in a war against England they also took up a precious diplomatic relation. There was also the fact that I was considering less diplomatic options with regard to the Cornish...

I also promoted a new general. I'd generated quite a bit of military tradition, it was time to use it.



Having General Fitzgerald to lead my forces was reassuring. The possibility that some awesome English general would tip the balance in a crucial battle was always a concern. With Fitzgerald's leadership it shouldn't be a problem.

It was soon apparent I wasn't the only one eyeing up the new minor powers on the island:



I was more than happy to help Scotland annex Northumberland. The province was more valuable to me as a Scottish possession than as a vulnerable independent realm, just waiting to be snapped up by the English. And of course my contribution was hardly costly - a single ship to blockade their port. Soon enough they surrendered and Scotland was one province stronger.



I decided to follow the example set by the Scots. I declared Cornwall my rival and took a mission to seize Gwynedd to give me a casus belli. My forces abandoned Lancashire, allowing the Cornish to enter the province and start their siege. Meanwhile my troops landed in Cornwall and Glamorgan unopposed.



Though the Cornish troops managed to occupy Lancashire, it was too little too late. Rather than take Gwynedd I forced them to become my vassal.



Cornwall had been brought to heel. I could now rely on their participation in future conflicts with England. Their few thousand troops might not seem like much, but could mean the difference between victory and defeat. And of course they provided a nice little boost to my income, which is always nice.

Of some concern was the demise of the house of Stuart. The Scottish king had died without a direct heir, leaving the kingdom to Charles I de Valois. The already strong ties between Scotland and France had been further strengthened.



On the continent the French were in the process of annexing Provence through force of arms. Portugal and Aragon were trying to seize Tangiers from Morocco and the Venetian war for Cyprus was going well, with much of Egypt occupied.



Closer to home, our old foe Henry VI was no more. We would now have to deal with James I of Lancaster, a much more capable opponent.



With a new king in place it wouldn't be too long before the English would prove difficult to deal with. Thankfully I had already planned on attacking them again. My forces were in position, my allies ready and I had a casus belli prepared. I had a claim on the Marches - they would be returned to the Celtic peoples from whom they had been stolen so many centuries ago!

The war opened with the ambush of the English trade fleet in the Irish sea. Their defeat forced them into port and divided the English navy, removing them as a serious threat to our forces.




Initially the English army avoided engaging our forces as we lay siege to the Marches. Our Scottish allies moved their army south and into Wessex. The English then engaged them, only to be crushed when my army joined the battle.



There followed a series of skirmishes across England until the last of their forces surrendered to the king in Derby. It was then just a matter for our allied forces to carpet the kingdom with troops.




Bolstering our morale were reports of a miracle being performed on the battlefield:



And just in case anyone thinks we're being too hard on the English, they clearly haven't given up their plans to dominate the British Isles...



Province after province fell to our forces. A band of English patriots did manage to liberate Wessex and tried to free London, but were quickly slaughtered. In the north a Scottish pretender attempted to seize the throne from the French usurper Charles. Though he managed to capture the capital he was surprised when an army of Castilian knights arrived to crush his forces.



I let the war last a little longer than necessary as I tried to trap and destroy the rest of their fleet, but despite clashing with them a number of times they managed to escape to the Mediterranean, at which point I sent them my demands. In addition to ceding the Marches they would also once again hand over a good chunk of cash and half of their trade power.



England had been humbled once more. I was a province richer and they were a province poorer. Even with their new king it didn't seem like there was anything they could do to stop my alliance from taking the rest of the island once chunk at a time. All we had to do was stick together against our common enemy.


Damnit Charles!
 
Great little twist there at the very end! :rofl:

Yeah, not having Scotland by my side really changes things! With them the English are doomed, without them the English can concentrate on us one at a time. Still, I have a cunning plan...
 
Very nice. Sorry for your old AAR, hopefully this will work better :)
 
I've somehow missed that you had rebooted the AAR. Any ways catched up now. How will you take your revenge on the backstabbing Scots?

Well to be fair it's not the Scots who betrayed me, it's their pesky French king...
 
Chapter 4: No plan survives survives first contact with your allies



As 1469 came to a close King Turlough considered the state of both the British Isles and Europe. On the continent the Holy Roman Empire was ravaged by war. Bavaria struggled with Austria, leaving the Emperor hard pressed to stop Venetian forces in Italy and in the north Bohemia skirmished with the Teutonic Order. Caught in the middle were the minor principalities and archbishoprics that were forced to side with one power or another or else turned on each other while their betters were distracted.



Closer to home our primary concern was the arrogant young French king of Scotland, Charles I. Not only did he consider Munster his rival rather than his ally, he had the gall to insult us! This, despite the fact that it was our Castilian allies that had defeated the pretender trying to take Scotland from him and were even now helping him to retake Lothian!? He was practically asking us to declare war on him... In fact that may be exactly what he wanted, as it would undoubtedly draw in his French kinsman and ally, Charles IV. Hmm, perhaps it would be better to take the higher ground, ignore his insults and figure out what to do next. Yes, what I needed was a plan, a cunning plan...

Ok, it was actually a pretty simple plan. First I needed to end my alliance with Brittany. They were now more of a liability than an asset. Secondly I needed some more warships. This would take some time as I didn't have the funds to build them all straight away, but I had no pressing distractions, so... hmm, what's that? A messenger from Castile? Why of course, let him in, we're always happy to hear from our friends! What can we do for you?



Dangit. For half a second I considered refusing, so focused was I on my own goals, but then I came to my senses. Castile was a powerful ally, one I couldn't afford to lose. They could be instrumental in the completion of the plan and besides, I owed them. I might have been able to beat the English without Castile's help, but it would have been a much closer call. With their assistance I had won a crushing victory. So I ordered some of my troops to board ship and head south.

I was surprised to find that Castile really needed my help. Aragon had timed their attack well, as most of Castile's troops had yet to return from Scotland. Though Portugal had sided with Castile, their forces were still outnumbered. It took a few trips to ferry my troops south and once there I attached them to one of Castile's armies. This combined force first kept Aragon at bay and then began to hunt them down. My troops had tipped the scales in Castile's favour.


With Aragon's army defeated our troops split up and began to occupy the country. I eventually signed a separate peace. This angered Castile a bit, but it was worth it. I got a nice bit of gold from it and I could return to the plan, as well as begin reducing my war exhaustion.



With the extra gold I made from the war I could continue my ship-building project. I was also concerned by the rate of my technological development, so I hired a few advisors to speed things up a little.



And then there was an interesting new development:



France was at war again, only this time they were faced with a coalition of nations led by Austria. Despite the long list of countries arrayed against them I suspected the French would have little difficulty securing victory. Austria's forces had been at war for years and were in no shape to stand up to the French. But to be honest I didn't care what happened on the continent, what concerned me was the participation of two other nations in the conflict - England and Scotland. The English had joined the coalition against France and the Scots were allied with France. While I didn't yet have quite as many ships as I would like I couldn't let an opportunity like this pass - it was almost time to put the plan into effect.



First, however, I decided to take advantage of another opportunity - stab England in the back while they were looking the other way. The English forces wiped out the Scottish army and then split into two stacks. I declared war and marched my forces into Scotland while my fleet attacked the English ships blockading the Firth of Forth.



I captured a cog and drove the rest of their ships into hiding, then slaughtered 3000 Englishmen before moving on to their main stack. It put up more of a struggle before fleeing to London. My forces followed, moving through Lancashire and the Marches, before catching up with them and scattering them completely. A few months later and most of England was under occupation.



And now - finally - it was time to put my plan into action. It was risky and it would be costly, but if I could pull it off...



It would seem that the Scots weren't too fond of their French king. They'd been willing to follow a pretender, who would probably have taken the throne had Castile not interfered. Perhaps they'd accept an Irish king on the throne instead? I figured my heir, Tadhg, had probably married a Scottish princess (lets call her Mary). So, Scotland for Mary! Charles' forces had already been beaten by the English, so they wouldn't be a problem. No, the real threat was the French - hence the need for more ships. Their fleet was still a bit larger than mine, but I only needed to slow them down long enough to take Scotland. Their forces were also busy fighting Austria, which would also hopefully help.

Before declaring war on Scotland I of course concluded my business with the English.



I quickly sold Gloucestershire to Cornwall, linking Wales to the capital. Then we marched north. I called upon my allies to come to my aid once again. Castile answered my call (really glad I helped them defeat Aragon). I had recently forged an alliance with Portugal, but they were suffering from too much war exhaustion to join us. Still, I had the combined forces of Munster, Cornwall and Castile to take Scotland, who had just thrown the last of their troops at the walls of York in a futile attempt to take the city.

As our troops swept past the last Scottish defenders we received tragic news - the heir to the realm, Tadhg O'Brien, is dead! And not even on the field of battle, he croaked while safely ensconced at home! We'll need to find another heir soon...

Word reached us that the french fleet was spotted in the English Channel, heading for Land's End. They were trying to intercept the Castilian navy that was moving north along the French coast. Thankfully my own fleet was moving south through the Irish Sea and reached the battle in time to save the Castilian fleet and route the French.



With the French out of the way the conclusion of the war in our favour seemed inevitable. What's more, joyous news! It seems that Tadhg had fulfilled his husbandly duty before passing on - Mary was pregnant with his child! Five months after his death his son Conchobhar was born.


His stats were 5/2/0, which was certainly... interesting. At least it would allow me to catch up in Admin tech, which was sorely lacking under his grandfather.

The rest of the war went smoothly. I kept a nervous eye on the French fleet, but it didn't leave port again. Scotland's provinces fell one by one. Castile did take some heavy casualties on their border with France, but that made no difference to the final result.



With the throne secured I could relax. I immediately scuttled a few of the newly built warships - painful, but I simply couldn't afford the maintenance. The French didn't seem too upset at the loss of their Scottish ally, but of course they were probably enjoying their continued successes against the Holy Roman Empire.


Scotland was mine and with it control of the British Isles seemed assured. Just to be on the safe side, however, I decided to give the English another kick. I did have some reason to be concerned. Turlough was not a young man and his heir was a newborn. I was already starting to have trouble keeping up with the English military tech, which would only get worse once Conchobar inherited the throne. I needed to deliver a truly crippling blow to England.

While waiting for an opportunity to strike at England I fought a short war on Portugal's behalf. Sardinian rebels had won their freedom from Aragon and for some reason decided to declare war on Portugal. While they had an impressive host (thirteen thousand strong) they were completely lacking in transports. With their forces trapped on Corsica they had no choice but to agree to a white peace as soon as my troops landed on Sardinia.

My forces began marching on London as soon as the truce was up. They'd mustered a force of 10,000, including some artillery, and had a good general, but they were caught by surprise and routed before they had a chance to bring their morale up.



It was then just a matter of history repeating itself once more - my troops split up to occupy the south of England. Before I could finish the war, however, I received yet another tragic missive.



The long reign of King Turlough the Bold had finally come to an end. His rule saw Munster rise to prominence upon the island of Ireland before throwing off the yoke of English oppression and freeing the Irish people. He then took his troops across the Irish Sea and united the peoples of West Britain under his benign rule, before seizing the Scottish crown from the French usurper and placing it upon the head of his daughter-in-law, Mary. With his grandson Conchobhar but a toddler, control of the both Munster and Scotland would fall to a regency council headed by the Queen Mother. The reign of the Regent Mary had begun.
 
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