One last AAR before the release...
Caveat : the story of this AAR is not as straightforward as it seems.
Scotland has a very hard time against England. They have low resources and their armies are scrap, they have something like 5 leaders in all the GC and no admirals…
As I wanted to play a 'Scotland against England' campaign, I had to have a very good start against England, which means an early war with a great victory. Therefore, I replayed the first war three times before coming to a satisfactory end. Therefore, this is not a Grand Campaign for Scotland 1492-1792 but more a ‘what if scenario’ : « what if Scotland had severely crippled England by 1500 ? »
Now comes the answer. Difficulty very hard, Aggressive AI.
1492 situation : 4 provinces, low populated by barbarian Highlanders. 5 ships. Numerous armies with cavalry but scrap values (0 movement, 0 fire, 1 shock), no leader. A few gold coins.
Ok, the strategy is : find a strong ally against England. Who’s strong and has a CB against England ? Knights of Saint John ? Nope. Switzerland ? Nope but nearer. France ? Gotcha. First diplomat : ask France to enter an alliance. They agree. Fine.
Step two build some more armies. Step three Save Game. Step Four declare war on England.
3 tries later, the French have done a good job landing in England and engaging the English armies. Scots armies can conquer lots of undefended (and some unfortified) English provinces. England accepts to cede two provinces south of the Marches (Lancashire and Yorkshire). Therefore Scotland is cut in two by English Marches, a situation that will last for 100 years. A 5k troop of bold warrior was ready to land in Eire when 12k English were spotted, too bad for liberating our Irish brothers this soon.
From 1492 to 1730, France and Scotland have always been allied, and Scotland managed to become a strong power thanks to France and at least 8 wars against the common enemy : England.
France not being successful in its first attempt to conquer Calais soon declares war against England and Scotland comes to lend a hand. The peace eventually gives Scotland Wales and Cornwall (England stubbornly refuses to give up the Marches) but France gets only money.
Next try for France. This time is a complete failure for Scotland (we lose all battles, Cornwall and Wales fall under English control), as the English seem to have a good leader, whereas I have not. Hopefully, France manages well and signs a peace for our alliance. England is forced to give back Calais to France and gives Scotland back full control on Wales and Cornwall. Pfiuu, that was a peace I was eagerly waiting for, England keeping asking me to surrender and give back Wales, Cornwall and all my gold (not much however). Vive la France !
Time for a break, to fortify the frontier and raise a few troops. Having reached 5 merchants in Flandres, Genoa and Venice gives Scotland some financial lever.
Now, Calais is French, so I cannot hope France to declare war on England. I have to take the lead. Waiting for the English-Danish alliance to be at war, I declare war on England. France supports me.
I would like to go for unfortified Eire again, but England has fortified each province now and there are 15k men there. War number four. I am surprised to find little English armies, but that’s for the better. France does a great performance again by taking control of Lincoln. My armies capture Bristol and then lay siege to London. When it falls in Scottish hands, the Marches have not yet fallen, so I cannot ask it. Scotland signs a peace giving it Bristol and Lincoln to France. With this, I gain a triple advantage. My relation with France reaches the skies. England has a permanent CB against France. France has a foothold on the British isles.
Taking London gives us the world knowledge of the English. Now I understand why they had so little armies. All their money has gone to colonisation ! It’s 1540 and they already have a nice colonial empire in North America. Too bad they did not save enough money to resist the Franco-Scottish onslaught.
The next war is declared to France by England. Bad move, we are stronger (well the French are stronger, the Scots taking care not to meet English armies on the field, just besieging/assaulting cities while the English battle the French somewhere else). Result, we get Wessex. Still cut in two by the Marches.
England is crippled, our relations with France is shiny. It’s time for Scotland to convert to Protestantism. Our stability drops to the abyss, all alliances are broken and we lose 100 in relation with all catholic countries. That leaves our relation with France to +83… So, asking them immediately to join their alliance with Sweden is agreed. Scotland is not even isolated by its conversion. Yeh…
Revolts appear and ten years are needed to quench them and to come back to +3 stability again. As Protestant we have our first colonists and we build a first colony in Chesapeake. As God loves good beer, he is with the Scots, and we get even a conquistador ! Sending him to North America allow Scotland to slowly become a small colonial power on the East coast.
OK, now, the balance of Power is clearly against England. As a COT opens in Anglia (London), the competition for it between England and Scotland is fierce. As everybody knows, English have invented fair play just to ask others to abide by it while ignoring it themselves : they refuse us trade in Anglia. Grr, this means war. France please ? Yes, thank you so much. This time we control the Marches before entering London (and getting the new maps, showing all African coasts and a way to India). The peace is yet another piece of shame for England as the Marches become Scottish and Midlands become French. England has now two provinces in Britain (Anglia and Kent) and the five Irish provinces. This war is also the first colonial war of Scotland, as our trusty conquistador conscientiously burns any English Trade post within reach. I have previously sent enough colonists to make Chesapeake a full city were some troops can be raised to fuel a North American Campaign.
Three more wars against England until 1643. The first one sees a successful Scottish landing in Southern Ireland and the annexation of two Irish provinces and a further destruction of English settlements in Northern America. The second one sees the further annexation of two Irish provinces as well as a French Kent. The last one in 1643 is not so successful in Ulster, which remains English at the price of a lot of Scottish dead, but two English colonies in Savannah and near Bayou fall in our hands. Except for the Hudson Bay, Isle Royale and Newfoundland, there are no more English in North America. That’s fine.
More colonies are created in South Africa and Seychelles.
Other wars 1492-1643.
France has many more enemies than Scotland. As a faithful ally, Scotland has always declared war, and never done anything else but defend herself. One must admit that 10 ships are not the best logistical conditions to successfully attack Spain, Denmark, etc. Heck, Denmark ? Wait a minute and let’s have a look at Iceland. No fortifications. Let’s scout it : no armies. Ok, let’s invade. Problem : with just one province captured, we are not in conditions to demand it. Sweden (our ally at the origin of this conflict) eventually signs peace with Denmark and we have to come back home. Only by 1720 will this situation happen again but by that time, We will have enough ships to send a small expeditionary force to Copenhagen and eventually force Denmark to give us Iceland and loads of gold for peace.
The alliances have suffered from religious changes. The Franco-Scottish alliance is sometimes led by France, sometimes by Scotland. Anyway, by 1540, Sweden is our ally and does a great job against Russia and Denmark. They leave our alliance when converting to Protestantism, but unlike Scotland, Sweden does not come back immediately. For an obscure reason, they even ally themselves for a short time with England. Needless to say, they have chosen the wrong side of the alliance and eventually lose Västergottaland to France…
From 1680, the time Scotland takes the lead of the alliance, we have good relations with both France and Sweden who hates each other. Nonetheless we succeed in maintaining this uneasy alliance (France always dishonour when Sweden goes at war/is attacked by Russia) and there is of course no way to convince Sweden to lend a hand against Spain when it has a word with France. We even invite Iroquois in our alliance. This proves useful against Netherlands.
As England is out of the game, this leaves plenty of room for the colonial expansion of Netherlands. Fuelled by monopolies in East Indies’ COTs, the Dutch begin spreading like plague (which by the way struck Scotland twice, the real plague with its thousands of dead…). Nothing to say as long as they stay in the Pacific Ocean where I do not have any interest at that time. But when it comes to North America, the Dutch begin to be quite annoying. Even to the point of declaring war against me and trying to invade my colonies from south (Florida) and North (Quebec). Well, they too have not understood that Scotland means also France and that France is eager to have a bigger peace of the Low countries’ cake.
While France slowly crushes Netherlands to pieces, Scotland cleanses North America from Dutch presence in a serie of four wars. Moreover, Scotland has built a colony in Madras and from there, burnt five Dutch trade posts in India, leaving room for as many Scottish colonies.
The eternal Franco-Scottish friendship will find there yet another possibility for co-operation, against the Indian nations from 1710. In three wars, Mysore and another nation are split between France and Scotland (thanks to a second conquistador).
Last colonial move, having stolen the French maps (yeah, friendship has its limits too), Scotland begins colonising the Pacific, Australia, Fidji, Tahiti and Hawai. All perfect places for holidays.
On the economic level, things are going well. We own and monopolise some COTs, have built many factories and earn a lot of money.
One point on manpower. As Scotland has only four home provinces which give maximum manpower and otherwise low populated provinces in North America (and now some heavily populated provinces in India), our max manpower reaches only 25. No big armies can be quickly raised and building armies is a slow process.
Some pics tomorrow I hope.
Caveat : the story of this AAR is not as straightforward as it seems.
Scotland has a very hard time against England. They have low resources and their armies are scrap, they have something like 5 leaders in all the GC and no admirals…
As I wanted to play a 'Scotland against England' campaign, I had to have a very good start against England, which means an early war with a great victory. Therefore, I replayed the first war three times before coming to a satisfactory end. Therefore, this is not a Grand Campaign for Scotland 1492-1792 but more a ‘what if scenario’ : « what if Scotland had severely crippled England by 1500 ? »
Now comes the answer. Difficulty very hard, Aggressive AI.
1492 situation : 4 provinces, low populated by barbarian Highlanders. 5 ships. Numerous armies with cavalry but scrap values (0 movement, 0 fire, 1 shock), no leader. A few gold coins.
Ok, the strategy is : find a strong ally against England. Who’s strong and has a CB against England ? Knights of Saint John ? Nope. Switzerland ? Nope but nearer. France ? Gotcha. First diplomat : ask France to enter an alliance. They agree. Fine.
Step two build some more armies. Step three Save Game. Step Four declare war on England.
3 tries later, the French have done a good job landing in England and engaging the English armies. Scots armies can conquer lots of undefended (and some unfortified) English provinces. England accepts to cede two provinces south of the Marches (Lancashire and Yorkshire). Therefore Scotland is cut in two by English Marches, a situation that will last for 100 years. A 5k troop of bold warrior was ready to land in Eire when 12k English were spotted, too bad for liberating our Irish brothers this soon.
From 1492 to 1730, France and Scotland have always been allied, and Scotland managed to become a strong power thanks to France and at least 8 wars against the common enemy : England.
France not being successful in its first attempt to conquer Calais soon declares war against England and Scotland comes to lend a hand. The peace eventually gives Scotland Wales and Cornwall (England stubbornly refuses to give up the Marches) but France gets only money.
Next try for France. This time is a complete failure for Scotland (we lose all battles, Cornwall and Wales fall under English control), as the English seem to have a good leader, whereas I have not. Hopefully, France manages well and signs a peace for our alliance. England is forced to give back Calais to France and gives Scotland back full control on Wales and Cornwall. Pfiuu, that was a peace I was eagerly waiting for, England keeping asking me to surrender and give back Wales, Cornwall and all my gold (not much however). Vive la France !
Time for a break, to fortify the frontier and raise a few troops. Having reached 5 merchants in Flandres, Genoa and Venice gives Scotland some financial lever.
Now, Calais is French, so I cannot hope France to declare war on England. I have to take the lead. Waiting for the English-Danish alliance to be at war, I declare war on England. France supports me.
I would like to go for unfortified Eire again, but England has fortified each province now and there are 15k men there. War number four. I am surprised to find little English armies, but that’s for the better. France does a great performance again by taking control of Lincoln. My armies capture Bristol and then lay siege to London. When it falls in Scottish hands, the Marches have not yet fallen, so I cannot ask it. Scotland signs a peace giving it Bristol and Lincoln to France. With this, I gain a triple advantage. My relation with France reaches the skies. England has a permanent CB against France. France has a foothold on the British isles.
Taking London gives us the world knowledge of the English. Now I understand why they had so little armies. All their money has gone to colonisation ! It’s 1540 and they already have a nice colonial empire in North America. Too bad they did not save enough money to resist the Franco-Scottish onslaught.
The next war is declared to France by England. Bad move, we are stronger (well the French are stronger, the Scots taking care not to meet English armies on the field, just besieging/assaulting cities while the English battle the French somewhere else). Result, we get Wessex. Still cut in two by the Marches.
England is crippled, our relations with France is shiny. It’s time for Scotland to convert to Protestantism. Our stability drops to the abyss, all alliances are broken and we lose 100 in relation with all catholic countries. That leaves our relation with France to +83… So, asking them immediately to join their alliance with Sweden is agreed. Scotland is not even isolated by its conversion. Yeh…
Revolts appear and ten years are needed to quench them and to come back to +3 stability again. As Protestant we have our first colonists and we build a first colony in Chesapeake. As God loves good beer, he is with the Scots, and we get even a conquistador ! Sending him to North America allow Scotland to slowly become a small colonial power on the East coast.
OK, now, the balance of Power is clearly against England. As a COT opens in Anglia (London), the competition for it between England and Scotland is fierce. As everybody knows, English have invented fair play just to ask others to abide by it while ignoring it themselves : they refuse us trade in Anglia. Grr, this means war. France please ? Yes, thank you so much. This time we control the Marches before entering London (and getting the new maps, showing all African coasts and a way to India). The peace is yet another piece of shame for England as the Marches become Scottish and Midlands become French. England has now two provinces in Britain (Anglia and Kent) and the five Irish provinces. This war is also the first colonial war of Scotland, as our trusty conquistador conscientiously burns any English Trade post within reach. I have previously sent enough colonists to make Chesapeake a full city were some troops can be raised to fuel a North American Campaign.
Three more wars against England until 1643. The first one sees a successful Scottish landing in Southern Ireland and the annexation of two Irish provinces and a further destruction of English settlements in Northern America. The second one sees the further annexation of two Irish provinces as well as a French Kent. The last one in 1643 is not so successful in Ulster, which remains English at the price of a lot of Scottish dead, but two English colonies in Savannah and near Bayou fall in our hands. Except for the Hudson Bay, Isle Royale and Newfoundland, there are no more English in North America. That’s fine.
More colonies are created in South Africa and Seychelles.
Other wars 1492-1643.
France has many more enemies than Scotland. As a faithful ally, Scotland has always declared war, and never done anything else but defend herself. One must admit that 10 ships are not the best logistical conditions to successfully attack Spain, Denmark, etc. Heck, Denmark ? Wait a minute and let’s have a look at Iceland. No fortifications. Let’s scout it : no armies. Ok, let’s invade. Problem : with just one province captured, we are not in conditions to demand it. Sweden (our ally at the origin of this conflict) eventually signs peace with Denmark and we have to come back home. Only by 1720 will this situation happen again but by that time, We will have enough ships to send a small expeditionary force to Copenhagen and eventually force Denmark to give us Iceland and loads of gold for peace.
The alliances have suffered from religious changes. The Franco-Scottish alliance is sometimes led by France, sometimes by Scotland. Anyway, by 1540, Sweden is our ally and does a great job against Russia and Denmark. They leave our alliance when converting to Protestantism, but unlike Scotland, Sweden does not come back immediately. For an obscure reason, they even ally themselves for a short time with England. Needless to say, they have chosen the wrong side of the alliance and eventually lose Västergottaland to France…
From 1680, the time Scotland takes the lead of the alliance, we have good relations with both France and Sweden who hates each other. Nonetheless we succeed in maintaining this uneasy alliance (France always dishonour when Sweden goes at war/is attacked by Russia) and there is of course no way to convince Sweden to lend a hand against Spain when it has a word with France. We even invite Iroquois in our alliance. This proves useful against Netherlands.
As England is out of the game, this leaves plenty of room for the colonial expansion of Netherlands. Fuelled by monopolies in East Indies’ COTs, the Dutch begin spreading like plague (which by the way struck Scotland twice, the real plague with its thousands of dead…). Nothing to say as long as they stay in the Pacific Ocean where I do not have any interest at that time. But when it comes to North America, the Dutch begin to be quite annoying. Even to the point of declaring war against me and trying to invade my colonies from south (Florida) and North (Quebec). Well, they too have not understood that Scotland means also France and that France is eager to have a bigger peace of the Low countries’ cake.
While France slowly crushes Netherlands to pieces, Scotland cleanses North America from Dutch presence in a serie of four wars. Moreover, Scotland has built a colony in Madras and from there, burnt five Dutch trade posts in India, leaving room for as many Scottish colonies.
The eternal Franco-Scottish friendship will find there yet another possibility for co-operation, against the Indian nations from 1710. In three wars, Mysore and another nation are split between France and Scotland (thanks to a second conquistador).
Last colonial move, having stolen the French maps (yeah, friendship has its limits too), Scotland begins colonising the Pacific, Australia, Fidji, Tahiti and Hawai. All perfect places for holidays.
On the economic level, things are going well. We own and monopolise some COTs, have built many factories and earn a lot of money.
One point on manpower. As Scotland has only four home provinces which give maximum manpower and otherwise low populated provinces in North America (and now some heavily populated provinces in India), our max manpower reaches only 25. No big armies can be quickly raised and building armies is a slow process.
Some pics tomorrow I hope.
