The Great Game : MP AAR

[King of Men]

YNGLINGA SAGA​

67. THE PLAGUE COMES TO NORWAY (1338-1350)

Now for some years, a pestilence had raged in the southlands, such that no man had seen its like before. Men said it was the punishment of God for sins; for so fearful was the disease, that when the pestilence entered a house, those who were not afflicted would flee, and not remain to tend the sick. Many begged their relatives not to abandon them when they fell ill; but the living would reply, "So that you do not need to call out in the night and awaken those who tend you, here is some bread to put by your pillow, and here is wine to drink." Then when the afflicted had fallen asleep, they would flee that house, and not return.

At every church, or at most of them, they dug deep trenches, down to the waterline, wide and deep, depending on how large the parish was. And those who were responsible for the dead carried them on their backs in the night in which they died and threw them into the ditch, or else they paid a high price to those who would do it for them. The next morning, if there were many in the trench, they covered them over with dirt. And then more bodies were put on top of them, with a little more dirt over those; they put layer on layer just as in making charcoal.

Now in Norway at this time there was much praying and some hope that the plague would not reach so far north; for there were some who believed that it was caused by the action of the Sun on middens, and others held that Norwegians were not as sinful as southern peoples. But in 1338 a ship came to Bergen from England with a cargo of grain; and before the cargo was fully unloaded all the crew were dead. It was found that they had the buboes under their arms; and when this was heard, there was a great outcry, and the ship was burned. But still the plague struck hard, and spread quickly into the deep valleys, as fast as a man could walk. One man, Gunnar Eiriksson, sailed north to Nidaros to escape the plague; he had a fast ship; but when he had got to Nidaros, the plague followed three days behind him, and he died there. His name is written in the Book of the Dead that the monks there keep. It is the last name for that year; for after this, the monks were too busy to keep their records, and many who died had no kin to say their names.

68. THIRD POLISH WAR (1347)

OOC : Or is it the fourth? I've lost count. Anyway, we had a lot of trouble with crashes this week, so I have to end in the middle of the war. Seems RP will get his wish for this update at least.

It has been told how, after the Piast kings of Poland were driven from Gardarike by the West-kings, the Mongols invaded that land; also we have heard how King Olaf Halkjellson was forced to make common cause with the hereditary foe, and how his son Trond destroyed the Mongol armies on the White Coast and established Norwegian rule of that land. But by this means the Piasts came again to rule a large part of Gardarike; and as King Olaf was dead, and no man was as great as he in forethought or charming speech, the alliance of the West-kings could not be raised again.

Now many years had passed in this wise, and Poland had grown strong and wealthy on its rule in the East. Kazimierz Piast had the kingly power there at this time; he was a hard and greedy man, very stern, who never forgot any injury. But he always gave fair judgments, and so widely ranged his guardsmen and lawgivers that it was said a naked virgin could walk from Stettin to the Don with a bag of gold in either hand, and know no fear.

Kazimierz in his prime.


Now it happened that Kazimierz quarreled with Samuel, who was king in Hungary, over the owner ship of Sandomierskie, and it came to war between them; and in this struggle Kazimierz had the advantage, for he had many more men, and better armed. Therefore he forced Samuel to give over Sandomierskie, and also to promise that the Cumans should have their own king again, as it had been in the days before the Mongols came. When Samuel had agreed to all this, he asked that the Piasts should not raise war against the Cuman for ten years; but Kazimierz replied with this poem :

Swords ring bright in sunlight;
woe has the vanquished.
He who loses battles
has no claim to spoils.
Let him beg for mercy,
or to his betters speak not.

Later Kazimierz raised an army, and went into the Cuman lands with many men, and gained the rule of most of it.

The new King of Cuman, though not for very long,a s it turned out.

His former master, Samuel of Hungary. Not best pleased with this development, you may be sure!

Now when the other Christian kings heard word of this, they became uneasy; and also there were some who said that to make war on a king who had his throne from one's own acts was impious, and that the pestilence was God's punishment for such a nithing deed. Therefore King Vladimir of Italy sent word to Samuel, to Eystein, and also to such other kings as he thought would support him against the Poles, and offered them ships and men if they would fight Kazimierz. And because there had long been peace in Christendie, and men of spirit chafed for great deeds, many listened to his words.

Vladimir Hauteville, the organiser of the new Western Alliance.

So it happened that King Eystein sent word far around in Norway that there would be a muster when the harvest was in. But now the plague had ravaged far and wide, worse than any of the Viking kings of old; and when the leidang gathered outside Bergen harbour, there were only three hundred ships, and some were rather thinly manned. Because of this, there were some who said that Norway should not go to war, but instead pray for peace and good weather; Inge Raude was foremost among these. But King Eystein said "God's punishment knows no flag; our foes are as weak as we. If I had known you were afraid as well red, I would not have made you chief of the hird." At this Inge grew angry, and said "It is ill for a king to speak thus to his friends. But I will fight as hard as any, if you command it." Eystein gave him a golden arm-ring, and they spoke no more of the quarrel.

Inge the Red, my mouthy marshal. It's all his fault, I tell you.

Now King Kazimierz had gotten wind of the plan that Vladimir had proposed, that many kings should fall upon him and force him to give over rule of Gardarike; and therefore he had prepared his host, and had sent word to Richard of Flanders, and to Meinhard of Bohemia, asking if they would stand with him. And they agreed to fight by his side; for Richard was no friend to Norway, nor to France, and coveted the lands that King Eystein had won between the Elbe and the Weser. And Meinhard recalled the ancient friendship between Nordheims and Piasts, that had won his ancestors their throne, and also Kazimierz promised him the rule of Eystein's lands on the Oder; and this included Brandenburg, which was a very rich city.

Now these three kings knew that they could not win over all their foes at once, and therefore Richard proposed this plan : "We shall fall upon Norway quickly, and bring Eystein to heel, so he is forced to acknowledge our might; then we can turn south and fight Vladimir when his men are hungry and tired from marching." And so it was agreed; and all three kings sent word to their southern holdings that the men there should muster in the north, and not defend their own lands, but instead hide both harvest and women, so that the invaders should find no comfort.

Meanwhile King Eystein sailed southwards; also he had sent word to his landsmen and underkings in Svealand and Denmark, that they should come to meet him.But Eystein knew that there was little food in the lands that the plague had ravaged, and also he had fresh in minds the lesson of the War of Celleian Succession, when five men ahd starved for each that died in battle; and so he did not call all his host to the same place, but instead sent one to attack the south, one to hold back the Poles, and himself led an army west over the Elbe to deal with the Flandern army. Likewise he sent word that his vassals in Finland should not come south, but instead seize Novgorod and harry the Polish lands on the Dvina; and men from Sweden landed north of Danzig to ravage Kazimierz' crown-lands.

War in the Baltic...

...war in the North. Truly a Great War, a war such as has not been seen in living memory.

 

[King of Men]

Now Richard of Flanders had brought his host north to meet Eystein, and the armies met outside Bremen, the prize of the last war. Eystein set up his men on a hill, with his archers in the back, so that they could shoot over the heads of the men in front. When Richard saw this, he remarked "Now we shall see if Norwegians can keep to a hill better than Saxons or Poles"; and he sent his horse to attack the Norwegian right and feign retreat, hoping to draw the men there down the hillside. But Eystein had placed bannermen everywhere with long axes, of the kind men call Danish or Lochaber, and they had instructions that any man who broke ranks should be killed; so the shield-wall did not tumble down into the valley as at Senlac. Bjarne Gormsson, who was King Eystein's skald and stood beside him at that battle, speaks of this :

South I went
with the raven-feeder
to fight the Flanderns.
There I saw
how Norse hold hard
when a foeman presses.
Little luck had the southrons.

Then Richard said, "Well, if they won't come down, we shall have to go up"; and he led his host forward hoping to break the shield-wall by a single hammerblow. But the Norwegians stood firm, and many men fell to their arrows. Now night was approaching, and both armies were hungry and tired; so a truce was arranged until next morning, and both sides lit fires and ate, each on their own side of the field.

Now in the morning King Eystein held a counsel, and Inge Raude said "Now I think we should move to attack. For yesterday we had the better of the Flanderns; today they will fear our men the more, and run." But Eystein replied, "No man is better than the Norwegian in a shield-wall; but we have few who are mounted. In the plains the fight would not go in our favour." Then Inge said, "Are not you the man who mocked me for cowardice? Now who is afraid?" Then Eystein drew his bow, and aimed an arrow at Inge; but he said, "Shoot the other way, Sire King; it is more needed there." Eystein did not shoot him, but instead said, "Very well, we shall try it your way." And so the horns were blown for attack.

Attack!

But now it went as Eystein had said : On the move, the Norwegian wall became disordered, and Richard's knights charged into the gaps and opened them wider, and many were killed. Also the few mounted Danes and Germans that Eystein had with him were driven off, and the flanks of the Norwegian host lay open to attack; here there was much hard fighting, but the Norwegians were beset on two sides, and had the worse of it; so in the end, there was no choice but to retreat.

Now while Richard besieged Bremen, Eystein marched his army to Lubeck, and there he heard word from the east and south. Because the Bohemians and Poles had not guarded their southern borders, but instead had sent all their armies north, the men Eystein had thought would be able to hold his foes at bay had instead been defeated, and been forced to retreat to the coast, and many had died.

Therefore Eystein called together his counsellors, and said to them, "This war has not gone well for us. Let me now hear your thoughts on how we should proceed from this pass." First to speak was Inge Raude : "Sire King, if we had had more men at Bremen, we should have had the victory there. Let us therefore gather all our armies here, and march west to meet Richard of Flanders again in battle, and this time destroy him. And then when this is done, we can turn east to deal with the Poles." "That is well said", said Eystein, "I wish you had thought as deep before Bremen. But now let us hear what others have to say."

Next spoke Saru, the Mad Bishop : "Sire King, I believe our best course is to remain here, and defend these cities. Here we have strong walls and loyal men; let the southerners grind their teeth on those stones. Then when they are weak, and our allies strike from the south - that will be our time to strike." To this Eystein said "You speak well, friend Saru; the walls of Lubeck are indeed strong. Now let me hear from Koza; what news of our allies?" For Koza of Podlasie was King Eystein's chancellor, and sent men far abroad to bear tidings and hear news. But before he could speak, Ursula von Nordheim interrupted : "Sire King, I have news that you must hear before you decide. A messenger ship reached us today : Kazimierz has stolen a march; he has landed in Skåne, and burns the land there!"

"That is grim hearing," said Eystein, "no army has broken the peace there since the Three Crowns were united. We had best sail north, and look to our defenses." And so it was ordered; and the dragons sailed north, leaving a small garrison to hold Lubeck.


King Eystein's counsel :

Koza, my chancellor. A good man with the charming smile; pay no attention to that dagger, he just likes scratching his back with it.

Saru, the Mad Bishop. If the truth were told, I didn't actually notice his madness until I loaded up the game to take these pictures. But I think I'll keep him on; it has a bit of a ring to it.

Ursula the Spider, my spymaster. Those of you who have been following this game for long enough will be aware that the von Nordheims gained a reputation as the Spiders of Europe after Duuk managed to marry into every Christian royal house several times. Ursula carries on their proud tradition of working from the shadows and bringing down proud kingdoms. But there is absolutely no truth to the rumours of witchcraft; plain old poison is good enough for her, if a heir is, shall we say, inconvenient.

Another Inge Yngling - there are dozens of the buggers. This one is my steward. If you believe everything I've told you about the rest of my counsel, he has this nice bridge he'd like to sell you.

69. AMBUSH OFF RUGEN

Olaf hight a man, who was chief of the hird to Jarl Håkon of Agder. Olaf was a very tall man, skilled with sword and bow and all kinds of weapons. His father was named Tryggve, and for this he had many mirthful words in his youth, when the Saga of Olav Tryggvason was recounted. But Olaf did not take these words to heart; instead he ran and swam, and the summer he was fifteen he went in East-viking with his father. And there he astounded the men by running twice around his father's ship on the oars, without falling even once. After this there was little laughing about his name.

The second Olaf Tryggvason. It is, of course, inevitable that there are one or two hanging around; it is my good luck that he actually was someone's marshal, and plainly rather formidable at that.

Now at the time of the Polish War, Olaf owned several ships, which he had brought south to serve King Eystein; he commanded the largest himself, which he had named the Long Serpent after his namesake's ship. Because Olaf had fought well at Bremen, and also because of Eystein's quarrel with Inge, his own hird-chief, Olaf was given the command of the second fleet that was to sail north; for the Norwegian fleet was too large to be kept together if a storm should come up, and Olaf thought it safer to sail in three smaller fleets that one man might command.

The Norwegian fleet heads for home.

While Eystein was outfitting his fleet to return to Skåne, Kazimierz did not rest idle; hearing word of the plans of the Norwegian King, he took his own fleet and lay off Rugen to wait in ambush. But contrary winds delayed him, while Eystein going the other way had fair sailing; so that when the dragon-heads hove into view of Kazimierz, it was not Eystein's fleet he saw, but Olaf's. As the Polish ships were many more in number, Kazimierz immediately ordered attack.

Olaf had not expected to see enemy ships in waters so close to the Norwegian-held coast; but he jested grimly, "It looks almost as though there were unpeace in the land," and ordered his fleet made ready for war. And this was done in this manner : The Long Serpent was put in the middle, and the other ships were made fast on each side of it, so that they formed a single line, and men could walk dry-shod from ship to ship for a quarter mile. Now Olaf asked, "Whose ships are those in the foe's center?" Harald Short, who had traveled in Poland in his youth, replied "Those are the Krakowskiye, under King Kazimierz." Then Olaf said "Of them I am not afriad; they are city-dwellers and not fighting men. But who is there on their left?" Again Harald said, "Those are the men of the Dvina." And again Olaf replied "We shall have little fighting there; they are river-pirates and no true seagoers. But who holds their right?" Then Harald said "Those are the Gotings, whom our king seeks to bring under his rule." Olaf frowned, and said "There we shall have hard fighting, for they are Norse like ourselves. Let all keep watch on the foeman's right."

Now the fleets came together, and it went as Olaf had said in the center; for his [/i]Long Serpent[/i] was such a tall ship, that his men could throw down spears and arrows on Kazimierz' ships below, while the Poles could not fight back; and soon the Poles began to heave away, and refused to come to grips at close quarters. And Olaf's men took heart from the success of their leader. But seeing this, the Gotings brought three of their ships against the Raven, that was outmost on Olaf's left, and boarded it and cleared it; there the fight went fiercely with sword-blows, but the Norwegians were fewer in number, and the Gotings came at them from three sides. Then from the Raven, the Gotings went aboard the next ship in line, and also brought their other ships around to attack from front and stern; and in this manner they cleared many ships.

Now on their left the Poles hung back, and lay at long bowshot and exchanged fire with the Norwegians; and although there did not fall so many as on the right where the Gotings fought with sword and axe, still the Poles had many archers, and the shafts flew thick. In the stem of the Long Serpent stood Olaf and Harald; both were good archers, but Harald shot harder than any man. Now Olaf said to him, "See you that ship with the White Eagle on its sails? That is the banner of Poland, and the man who stands so tall on its castle must be their King. Now I think it would be a good service for Norway if he were to fall in this battle." Then Harald shot at Kazimierz, and the arrow hit the stempost beside him and went in to the vanes. At this Kazimierz said, "They have good archers in Norway; but let us see if we can teach them how it is done in Poland." And he took up his great bow, that was of the Mongol style, of horn hardened with strips of bone, and he shot at Harald as he was drawing back another shot; the arrow struck Harald's bow in the middle, and it burst. Then Olaf turned to his friend and asked, "What broke so loudly?" "Life from our hands," said Harald. "Surely it was not so loud a break; take my bow, and shoot with that," replied Olaf. But when Harald bent back Olaf's bow to the length of his arm, the arrow did not rest on his bracer, but hung loose in the air. "Too weak, too weak is Olaf's bow," cried Harald, and took up sword and shield and fought on with that.

Now by this time the Gotings had cleared every ship on the Norwegian left, up to the Long Serpent itself; and seeing, the Poles took new heart and drew up close, and there was hard fighting all along the line. But the Poles had greater numbers, and the Norwegians therefore got somewhat the worse of it; so that by sunset only the Long Serpent still held out against the foe. Olaf stood in the bow and shot, as he had done all day; sometimes he threw spears, sometimes he used his bow. But now seeing that his men were having little luck with their blows, although they swung full hard, he shouted, "Why do your swords not bite?" And some one replied to him "They are dull from long fighting." At this Olaf ducked down into the bow-room, and found some good sharp swords and passed them around; and as he was doing this men saw that there was blood coming out the sleeve of his mail shirt, though he complained of no wound.

The Gotings boarding the Long Serpent

Now it happened that as Norwegians fell, the ranks along the Long Serpent's sides became thin, and the Gotings were able to gain entrance. Therefore all those who still stood and could ward themselves retreated to the high bow and stern of the Serpent, and there the fighting was hard and there was much blood spilt. But now there pressed Polish ships around the Serpent from all sides, and there were not many left aboard to fight against such a large army; so it was not long before they fell, although all were strong and brave men, and well equipped.

When he saw that there was no hope left, Olaf laughed, long and loud; and he said "I see now that the Norns have spun me a life-thread longer than my namesake's; but it is the same colour, and it ends in the same way." Then he sprang overboard, with his shield held over his head, and he sank.

Here ends the saga of Olaf Tryggvason.

Now in the north, King Eystein had reached safe harbour in Kalmar, and there he waited for Olaf's fleet; two days and two nights he waited thus. But when at length ships were sighted to the south, they were Polish and not dragons; and then Eystein knew that a third of his army was lost, and that he could not save Skåne, but must instead retreat to the forests and fight there as his ancestors had done against the Germans. Bjarne speaks of this :

Broad the sails across North Sea go
High on the cliff-top, the dawn-lights show
Erling Skjalgsson of Sola
Watching south to sea.
What stays the Long Serpent?
Comes not Olav Tryggvason?

Six and fifty the dragons lay
fell the sails then;
towards Denmark play
the eyes of men.
What stays the Long Serpent?
Comes not Olav Tryggvason?

But when sun in the second light
rose from a sea without mast in sight
'twas as a storm to hear :
What stays the Long Serpent?
Comes not Olav Tryggvason?

Still-struck then,
all quiet stood the warrior-meet;
for from the deep water below
whispered a sigh to the fleet :
Taken is the Long Serpent.
Fallen is Olav Tryggvason.

After this, for a hundred years
at Norwegian ships the sea-draug sneers
(though mainly on moonlit nights) :
Taken is the Long Serpent.
Fallen is Olav Tryggvason.

 

[Nikolai]

Gotta love this:

Then Olaf turned to his friend and asked, "What broke so loudly?" "Life from our hands," said Harald. "Surely it was not so loud a break; take my bow, and shoot with that," replied Olaf. But when Harald bent back Olaf's bow to the length of his arm, the arrow did not rest on his bracer, but hung loose in the air. "Too weak, too weak is Olaf's bow," cried Harald, and took up sword and shield and fought on with that.

Well done getting our sagas so well into the story!

 

[King of Men]

Shush - you're not supposed to draw attention to my plagiarism. If the truth were told, I think Snorre does it better; but hey, since I had an Olav Tryggvason, how could I not have a Long Serpent?

 

[King of Men]

YNGLINGA SAGA​

70. END OF THE POLISH WAR (1350)

Now as has been told, King Eystein had been forced to withdraw his army into the forests of Svea-land, and from there he carried on the struggle, striking from hiding at the Polish invaders and causing them much discomfort. Also the Finland-Ynglings laid siege again to Novgorod, and as the Polish armies had been withdrawn to the south, they carried its walls and raised the Golden Lion over the citadel; they then marched to the Baltic, burning the Piast crown-lands as they went; but the common people they spared. In this wise much discontent with Polish rule was raised in Gardarike.

It therefore happened that the Polish and Flandern armies were tired and dispirited; and also the plague struck heavily in their ranks, so that each day there were fewer fighting-men. And now Vladimir of Italy overcame the armies of Bohemia and crossed down into the German plains, and from there struck at the armies besieging Lubeck and Mecklenburg, and also attacked deep into Flanders. Likewise the French armies relieved the siege of Paris, and marched north towards Amsterdam; and in the East the armies of Byzantium and the Great King in Miklagard took many Polish cities, and defeated the armies that Kazimierz sent to meet them.

With all these misfortunes, the Piast king was at last convinced that he must sue for peace; but now it happened as it had before, that the West-kings disagreed among themselves on what terms should be offered. For King Eystein, and also Elvira Jimenez, who as Chancellor ruled in the stead of the child-king Jimeno of Spain, had throughout the war said that the Piasts should be forced to give up their title to the Kingdom of Rus; and Eystein also demanded that the island of Gotland be given to him, as King of Sweden. (Editor's note : Although the skald does not mention it, some diplomatic correspondence of the period survives, and may be read here. (Scroll down to post 89.)) But Vladimir of Italy felt that the Piast line must be punished for bringing down the Plague upon Europe, and wished to force Kazimierz to give up not only the Rus, but also the crowns of Georgia and Cuman, which his ancestors had acquired. But with this none of the other kings could agree, for they were conscious of their own sins, and did not wish any mortal to be too harshly blamed for the Black Death. But Vladimir proved stubborn on this issue, and at a meeting to discuss the peace he cast scorn on Elvira, saying that "women have no place in settling the future of Christendom." At this Elvira replied "Very well; then neither do a woman's armies"; and the armies of Iberia turned south, and did not fight further against Burgundy. But Vladimir was not much disconcerted by this, for he held that the Burgundians were in any case near defeated, and the Iberian armies therefore unneccesary.

Elvira, who rules as Regent for Lurken's child king. She's depressed because Vladimir didn't realise she was coming on to him. All he had to do was invite her to his tent.

However, as the dispute could not be resolved by words, Eystein decided to resolve it by deeds; and he offered to Kazimierz a peace whereby Norway should gain Gotland and Novgorod, Samuel King of Hungary should be given the kingdom of Georgia, and the Cuman kingdom should be restored to its former lands; and to this Samuel and Etienne King of France also gave their approval. "Then", Eystein said, "if Vladimir is indeed so fond of the Rus, let his armies bleed for them; as for me, I have had enough of this war." Kazimierz was at first unwilling to part with Novgorod, and sought many other schemes to satisfy Eystein. But Eystein replied "Novgorod is a goodly prize; and the more it is dear to you, the better it serves my purpose. Such a loss will remind you to think twice before crossing swords with the Yngling kings." And as the Norwegian armies had by this time crossed the Baltic once more and were marching on Krakow, Kazimierz was in the end forced to agree.

Still the war rumbled on in the West; for Etienne of France, whom Vladimir had brought into the war by great promises of Flandern lands, could not reach agreement with Richard de Flandre on what terms should end the war. Etienne demanded the fortress of Verdun, and the landscapes of Saintois and Metz; but Richard was only willing to give over two of these three; and as his armies still controlled his own crown lands, Etienne could not force him; instead he sent requests for aid to Eystein. Eystein then said, "Well, it seems to me that the Flandern king has somehwat the better of the law; for the lands in dispute have long belonged to his line. But as Etienne is a good friend, and aided us when our need was greatest, we shall see if spears cannot alter law." And he crossed the Weser at the head of his army, and fell upon Richard's lands from the north, and burned widely, so that in the end Richard was forced to agree to Etienne's terms.

71. UNREST IN POLAND; BJARMIA BECOMES NORWEGIAN (1353)

Now since Kazimierz had been unable to settle his affairs as he wished on the field of battle, he instead took to darker means. He consulted with oracles and witches; he studied the lore of poisons; and he hired heathens to do dagger work for him. In this wise he was able to dispose of several men in his realm that had been much trouble to him; and after this none dared say a word against him, for his temper had grown worse after his defeats, and nobody knew who might next find himself with a dagger through the heart, or feel a strangler's cord around the throat.

However, Kazimierz now turned his eyes abroad. Seeing that men in Norway believed that Olaf Yngling, who in those days was chief in Hlynov, would succeed King Eystein, Kazimierz conceived of a scheme to kill Olaf and thereby foil Eystein's plans; in this manner he hoped to gain revenge, and perhaps even cause a revolt in Norway when Eystein named a new heir. (OOC : In fact, I may not have the right Olaf, here; I see absolutely no reason for Sterk to kill my heir, it's not as though he is any good. Truly, I have no idea how he becomes my heir in the first place, he only has the one Duchy. As soon as my good son grows up, I'll load him down with titles and make him the heir. But anyway.) But Olaf was saved by a winter storm, which forced Kazimierz's assassins to seek refuge in an inn; there they became drunk, and boasted how they would kill the Duke. As the innkeeper was a loyal man, who had fought by Olaf's side in the war, he sent his son with a message to Olaf; and the assassins were captured as they slept off their stupor, and made to divulge who had sent them.

Ick, how did this guy become my heir? I mean, sure, it's an elective law, but you'd think an electorate limited to Ynglings would be able to find someone better than this. Anyway, as soon as my son reaches 16, he'll be out on his ear.

When word of this reached Eystein, he was furious; for while he was not on the best of terms with Olaf (OOC : In fact, I consider him totally unfit to rule, and pray I don't die before my son is of age)) nonetheless he was an Yngling, and had a right to protection. Therefore he sent to Piast that, if any Yngling should die from his machinations, Eystein would raise his banners and march into Poland, and there burn all before him, and bring the Baltic coastline under Norwegian dominion as far as Danzig.

Hugh de Normandie. Note the hump, the outward sign of his inward rottenness. Assassinating children, yet! But at least he's a competent villain.

But meanwhile the word of Kazimierz's deeds had been carried around Europe; and in England there was one who did not scorn to use his own tools against him. So Hugh de Normandie sent assassins of his own, and they killed Kazimierz's well-beloved son, Wladislaw. (OOC : Dom's aim is a lot better than Sterk's, too. That was a pretty good heir. Sterk was furious.) But as these evil men were not caught in their deed, Kazimierz blamed Eystein, and mustered for war.

Sterk's dead heir. Sob, sob.

But now the oppressed nobles of Poland rose against their King : For in order that the succession should pass to a man of his own choice, Kazimierz changed his laws by decree, without consulting the Sejm according to the Polish custom. And as the nobles now felt they had naught to lose by rising, Kazimierz was forced to spend much gold and blood in pacifying them. Thus he had not the time to go to war against Norway. And meanwhile the Duke of Bjarmia, whose Yngling line had broken from the kingdom of Norway in the time of the Mongol War, returned to Norwegian dominion; for he had no more desire to be ruled by the Piasts. But the other chiefs of Poland preferred to stay and fight to improve their country, and not leave it for another, no matter how much better governed. (OOC : Between badboy from assassinations, and changing his succession law, Sterk had zero loyalty over a huge swath of his realm. Unfortunately, only this Yngling duke would agree to become my vassal, in spite of my spam. Better than nothing, though.)

My new Duke, yay! I've been wanting Bjarmia since forever, it gives me a land connection to my Russian domains.

But now while all this was happening, Kazimierz learned that Hugh de Normandie had been the cause of his son's death; and he swore that as soon as he had brought Poland under his firm rule once again, he should take such a vengeance against England as men should speak of for a hundred years.

Europe after the recent wars :

Norway grows ever stronger!

EDIT : Ack, this is the wrong map! Trav hasn't posted the one from 1358 yet. I'll put it up as soon as he does.

EDIT2 : Trav never got around to making the 1358 map, so I did it myself.

 

[unmerged(1633)]

Nice installment of the saga.. And seriously Sterk is pissed :rofl:

 

[King of Men]

YNGLINGA SAGA​

72. EYSTEIN DISPUTES THE DUCHY OF GOTLAND WITH SIECIECH PIAST(1365)

As has been told, the island of Gotland had fallen to the rule of the kings of Norway in the Polish War. But the Gryfs who ruled at this time in Prussia retained their title to the Duchy of Gotland; and this irked King Eystein greatly. But as he did not wish to fight the Piasts again so soon after the last war, he determined on a more cunning plan.

The wife of Prusas Gryf hight Gulbis, and she bore him nine children; their sons' names were Ulinniks, Karol, Bajoras, and Dagonis. But of these, only Bajoras survived to see more than five winters; for the plague struck hard at the Baltic coast, and spared the noble-born no more than the peasant. Of their daughters, the eldest was named Ziedas, and the next eldest Gerkus. Now King Eystein sent to Prusas, asking that both of these daughters should be married to promising young Ynglings; and to this Prusas agreed.

Prusas and his daughters. OK, so they're bags; but bags whose sons will inherit lots of land. And being head of the Yngling family, I don't have to marry 'em myself. Note Prusas's low loyalty; he's pissed because Sterk is trying to kill off his grandsons. Also, he's doing quite well at the retaliation bit, having a better Int score than his liege.

Now there passed some years, and King Eystein's plan began to bear fruit; for both Ziedas and Gerkus bore sons to their Yngling husbands. And once he saw that these were healthy and strong, he sent to Finland, and there came to his court Jarkki, a shaman of those lands, and Eystein spoke for a long time with him in secret. What passed between the two is not certain; but some time after this, Bajoras died of a fall from his horse, and Jarkki was accused by Prusas of having done black magic in his lands, and confessed under torture that King Eystein had paid him.

Now when word of this came to Sieciech Piast's ears, he was outraged, and sent assassins in his own turn to the court of Norway; but these met with little success, for Eystein knew well that the Piasts were prone to such nithing methods, and had his guard keep a close eye on all who came from Polish ships. And in any case Prusas did not like his liege attempting to kill his grandsons, as even though they bore the Yngling name, his own blood flowed in their veins, and he sent assassins of his own among the Piasts. (OOC : Because Ziedas's Yngling husband died, she moved back to her father's court; I remarried her to another, but she didn't take her children with her to Norway, the silly girl. This makes it rather odd to me that Sterk still sought the life of these children, since even though they were Ynglings the duchy would have remained under Poland. I think he dislikes having Yngling vassals for RP reasons, or something. Anyway, the net result was that an Yngling from the younger line, Gerkus's child, became the heir to Gotland; and he did live in my court. Caveat assassin. )

Sieciech Piast, who lived for an amazingly long time with the plague.

This is known as the Year of Daggers in Poland, when no man could be sure that his next meal would nourish and not harm. Therefore Sieciech decided on more direct methods, and sent out the war-cry through his lands; but in order to mislead King Eystein's spies, he gave word that the muster was against Hungary. Nonetheless, since his armies mustered on lands close to the border with Norway, King Eystein was not deceived, and sent out the war-arrow among his own under-kings and vassals.

Now the Piast armies came as they had before, crossing the Oder into the German lands of the Yngling kings, and marching also on Novgorod; and Imram Piast led a few thousand men on a raid into Sweden, laying siege to Gotland and harrying Uppland. But the Yngling men met all these armies, and brought them to battle, and defeated them. (OOC : Possibly with a just a teensy bit of help from the reload bug. Not sure about this, though, since I had also mobilised most of my armies before the crash. Maybe I'm just a superior general? I did try not to attack anything I didn't outnumber 2 to 1.)

But Sieciech Piast was a stubborn man, and sent to his vassals for more men, and also he sent to Eystein that the war might be ended if Novgorod and Brandenburg were returned to his rule, and Lower Silesia came once more under Poland. But this Eystein rejected, and instead he called up his Swedish armies and marched to relieve the siege of Brandenburg. There he found that Sieciech had likewise marched to reinforce his men; and so it came to a large battle between them. Now in this fight King Eystein arranged his men in a swine-array, with his own hird at the front, and the men of Sweden taking the left, and those of Denmark the right. Against this the Piast set his men of Krakow, that had been defeated a month before at Altmark, in the center, and his new armies from Turov and Pereyaslavl to the right and left. Now when the Norwegians advanced, because they were in a swine-array with the center to the fore, the King's men in the center were first to strike the Polish line, and here there was much hard fighting. But on the left the Turov men, who had not seen battle before as they were in the midst of Poland where all was usually peaceful, found their nerve shattered by the Swedes beating swords on shields in unison, and they fled. In this wise the Swedes were able to come around the Polish flank, and though the Krakowskie men fought bravely, they were soon overwhelmed as they were attacked on two sides.

But while this was occurring, King Eystein had met with a warrior in the Polish ranks, Yurii by name. This Yurii was highly pious, and thus fought with a great mace so as to shed no blood; but he was a very large man, and it was said that he could bring a horse to its knees with a single blow of his fist. Now he struck King Eystein with his mace, and the King brought his shield into line to parry the blow; but so strong was Yurii that both the shield and the arm beneath it broke. Then Eystein said, "I see there are still giants on the Earth in these days; but as you have struck me on the one arm, let me turn to you the other." Then he struck Yurii a great blow with his sword, so that his stomach opened and the guts came out. Yurii then said, "This giant has not come to bring you the sword, but peace"; and he struck once more, and as Eystein could not bring his shield up to ward himself, the mace hit him in the head and the skull broke. And this was the bane of him.

(OOC : I did have some battles this easy, since morale takes time to recover and I was harrying the Poles off my lands. And my King did die in such a battle. I was most annoyed.)

Now the Norwegian host was thrown into confusion; for Eystein had named no heir. But as it was clear to all that a single leader was needed to win the war with Poland, and as Eystein's sons were not on that battlefield, the Ynglings who were there held Thing, and gave Olaf of Hlynov king's-name, as he was the best warrior among them. But there were some who said that thought should have been taken for the future, and that a warrior was all well and good while the realm was at war, but that Olaf was not suited for being king in peacetime. (OOC : Me definitely among them! I posted a piccie of my heir in the previous update; ok, he has 15 martial stat, but ye gods, that's all he has. Just one more year, and my chosen heir would have been of age and I could have found him a wife and loaded him down with lands. Well, it's an elective and my new guy is old, so Håkon will inherit eventually.)

Yurii Piast. Sterk has been breeding for martial skill for the past 300 years. It shows.

King Eystein did not have the best of after-words in Norway, for - although there had been good harvests in the land during his reign, and he had been just and not laid heavy scots on the people - men remembered how he had brought war with Poland by trafficking in black magic, and disarray by not naming a heir before his death. For this reason he is called Eystein the Heirless, or sometimes (when men are in their cups, and no noble is nearby to hear) Eystein the Nithing.

Here ends the saga of Eystein Ottarson Yngling.

73. END OF THE WAR (1367)

Now with this defeat, and the arrival of English warriors to reinforce the Norwegians, King Sieciech proved ready to treat for terms; and King Olaf granted his request. It was agreed that no lands should change hands, but Sieciech should recognise the right of the Ynglings to inherit the duchy of Gotland; and this was a heavy blow to Poland, for that duchy held half their harbours. So there was much rejoicing in Norway when word of this treaty came. But now the Norns struck Norway a heavy blow : For the plague infected all three Ynglings who were in line to inherit the duchy, and all three died. And before more sons could be born to either Ziedas or Gerkus, the plague likewise took Duke Prusas, and his brother inherited. So the duchy of Gotland remained in Polish hands after all, and Olaf could do nothing but fume; for the treaty contained no provision for Acts of God.

(OOC : It really did happen this way, except that I'm not quite sure of the cause of all those deaths. I know at least two of them were from the plague; I'm pretty sure Sterk got the other two, but I don't have actual proof (that is, I didn't see the assassination announcements). And in a warzone, young children... Well, accidents do happen, and I wouldn't want to accuse a Christian dynasty of such black deeds without real proof. Unfortunately, that last plague death happened just after we signed the peace treaty; I hadn't been aware that my candidate was infected, or my terms would have been much harsher.)

Olaf was most annoyed by this; but he was somewhat mollified when the more northerly duchy of Livonia did come into Yngling and Norwegian hands somewhat later. This was due to another of Eystein's marriage schemes, though in Livonia all the Duke's sons had died of the plague, so there was no need for Finn-shamans to call attention to themselves and bring on a war. And since a treaty had been signed, it was now Sieciech's turn to fume and call curses at fate. But Livonia remained Norwegian.

Europe in 1367 :

Byzantium in its usual state of disintegration, Hungary apparently reconquering Cuman, Norway slowly eating its way down Poland's Baltic coast.

 

[Lurken]

He's probably not even reading this, grr!

I read this.

And from the south of Europe I can tell about the great war between Iberia and Italy. Where Italy laid down many many men in the lands of Iberia, but couldn't make a decisive move. OOC: If I had my demense centralized, he would have won, but since I have it spread out over three continents, he just couldn't force me.

 

[das]

Eagerly awaiting the next installment. When will the map be updated? I'm quite curious about how many things changed (apart from what you mentioned)...

 

[binTravkin]

You can find the last map of this game in the MTT thread, while King of Men is preparing his next installment.

And yes, Im eager too!

 

[King of Men]

YNGLINGA SAGA​

(A very short session this week, due to crashes and other Bad Stuff.)

74. KING OLAF DISPUTES THE LOWER LORRAINE (1368)

Johann hight a man, who held the Lower Lorraine of Richard de Flandre. Johann's wife was named Margarete, and she bore him six daughters, but only two sons. Most of the daughters do not concern us here, and fall out of the saga; but Judith, the eldest, married Håkon Galne. (Not the Håkon who is my heir. There are only so many Norwegian names.) Judith bore Håkon a single son, who was named Arnkjell, and died in the birthing. After her death Håkon married Ziedas Gryf; the story of this marriage has already been told. (What can I say? There are only so many unmarried Yngling males, and lots of daughters whose sons might stand a chance at a duchy. He may be crazy, but he does produce sons!)

Duke Johann. Bah, those sons were born at an extremely inconvenient time; they weren't alive when his daughter married my man.

Håkon the Mad. Speaks to cheese; tries to walk through walls; impregnates heiresses. Whatever you do, don't mention mold. He really hates mold, it bothers his friends the cheeses.

Now after the Polish War, there were many displaced men and land-loose Vikings roaming southern Burgundy. One of these was named Bjarte Berserk; he had served in King Eystein's hird, but had fled the king's justice after he fought a fellow hirdsman over a girl and killed him. Bjarte was a skilled and deadly warrior; he was said to be so strong that he could lift a man in full mail with one hand, and punch him so his neck broke with the other. Thus he swiftly gathered a following and began raiding the towns of the Lorraine.

Now it happened that one day Bjarte was hunting deer when he came across a large party of Duke Johann's men. Seeing that they were guarding a wealthy woman and her two sons, Bjarte swiftly gathered his men together and fell upon the Duke's soldiers, intending to take the woman for ransom. In this he had perhaps more success than he intended, for the woman was Margrete de Flandre, the Duke's wife, and the boys were his sons Albrecht and Augustin. Thus when the ransom came it was not in gold, but in the steel of three thousand men; and soon Bjarte was found and brought before Duke Johann, who asked him whom he served. Bjarte replied "I serve no man but myself." To this Johann replied "Well, you shall soon serve my hangman, but you need have no fear of that; the task he will set you is short and undemanding. But if you would save your neck, you might tell me who it is that wishes ill to me and mine." Then Bjarte thought swiftly and said, "It is not for me to speak ill of my betters; but it is well known that an Yngling is third in line for your Duchy; and it might be that King Olaf would not be heart-broken, were your sons to come to harm." The Duke took this to mean that King Olaf had given Bjarte orders to kill his sons; since Bjarte had asked for ransom instead of killing them, the Duke gave him a heavy gold armring, and offered him a position in his guard, which Bjarte accepted.

(What? Me send people to kill inconvenient heirs? Never! The man was acting completely on his own initiative, and lying through his teeth to save his neck.)

Now the Duke called upon his liege Richard de Flandre for protection; and the King sent to Olaf, saying "We had thought the Yngling family had enough land already; but as your servants say you desire more, We will give you as much as they will ever need : six feet for each Yngling." King Olaf then replied that Bjarte was an outlaw in Norway, and no servant of his; and no more was said of the matter. But soon after this King Olaf made it a practice of his court that a man should taste all his food before he ate of it.

(Ack, Intrigue 5 is not exactly conducive to a war of assassinations.)

75. DEATH OF KING OLAF (1368)

Soon after this, King Olaf caught the plague, and died. Because his reign was so short, he is sometimes called the Winter King; for he took the throne in the fall of 1367, and the grave in the spring of 1368. Near the end the fever made him delirious, and then he would cry out for the Finnish summers he had known in his youth to come and heal him; but the plague was stronger, and on his death-day it rained.

End of the Winter King.

Here ends the saga of Olaf Alfson Yngling.

Now when the Ting met to elect King Olaf's successor, Håkon Eysteinson made the first claim; and as his father had been well liked among the Ynglings, there were many who supported him. But Rörek Yngling, who was chief of the Galloway-Ynglings and Duke of Småland, said that no mere stripling should be King of Norway, and held that he had the better right. To this Håkon replied "In these days it is well for Norway to have a leader who can ride to war, and does not sit at home in front of the fire while others fight for him." And when it came to a vote, the most of the Ting-men held with Håkon; for it was well known that Rörek was no fighter, and also he had a nasty cough.

Indeed, I have no idea how he came to be second in line. The Yngling electorate never ceases to amaze me.

76. REBELLION OF SMÅLAND (1370)

Now Rörek had hailed Håkon as King, as did all the Ynglings; but when he came home to his farm in Småland, he sent to his under-chiefs and lands-men, saying "Now it is time Svea-land was again ruled by its own; and to this end I shall make rebellion against the Norwegian King, who has no better a claim than I to rule this land." And to this all the men of Småland agreed, for they did not know Håkon, but Rörek was of their own speech and blood. So the war-arrow went around Småland. Nor was this the only place where unrest stirred, for Håkon was little known in many parts of the country, and many Ynglings who had not attended the Ting said that the Tings-men must have been blinded by the halo of his father Eystein. But Håkon did not call out all the men of Norway to settle Småland; instead he marched to the valleys with his own men of Skåne and Västergotland, and caught Rörek by surprise and forced him to give battle; and in this battle King Håkon had much the better of it. But as he was reluctant to take the odels-land from an Yngling, he made a treaty with Rörek, that he should a thousand marks of gold, but be free of Norwegian scot until his death; and then his heir should again swear fealty to Norwegian rule. With this mercy all the Ynglings were much impressed. But Håkon said "Little it costs me to show mercy to a sick kinsman. Were Rörek in the flower of his youth, I would not give him grid." And the restless among the Ynglings took note of this, and there were no more murmurs of rebellion in Finland.

(Eh, I could be doing without a badboy spiral at this time; and anyway he's 53 and sick. Småland will swear to me soon enough.)

77. THE KINGDOM OF BOHEMIA (1371)

South of the Norwegian lands in Germany lies a country called Bohemia. It is a small country, but its people are very proud and fierce; and for this reason it has remained free although it is surrounded on all sides by powerful kingdoms. (And also because nobody wants to upset the balance of power; it is an extremely useful buffer in Central Europe, bordering France, Burgundy, Norway, Poland, Hungary and Italy as it does. Alas, the AI does not think that far ahead.)

Now it happened that Sieciech Piast was most angry with the loss of the Duchy of Livonia; and in order to gain his revenge over Norway, he decided that he would crown himself King of Bohemia. For he knew well that Norwegian kings had coveted those lands since the First Polish War. Therefore he called up all his men, and marched into Bohemia; and although the men of that land fought bravely and killed many Poles, there were too many invaders and King Meinhard was soon forced to call for help.

The hapless king of Bohemia.

Now King Håkon said, "Truly it is a nithing deed to fall upon so small a kingdom; and also We do not wish to see Poland stretch to the Alps. Therefore we shall march upon the Piast and force him to cease this unlawful war." But upon hearing this, Richard de Flandre declared himself Sieciech's ally, and said he would fight the Norwegians if they so much as stepped over the Bohemian border; and he, too, marched his men into Bohemia and began to lay waste the cities there. But King Etienne of France could not abide having Burgundians at his border, and called up his levee en masse and crossed the Seine, demanding that Richard make peace with Meinhard.

Now Richard de Flandre did not truly wish to see Bohemia destroyed, and therefore he sent to Meinhard and offered him peace; and Meinhard accepted gladly. But Etienne was not satisfied with this, and demanded the county of Saintoise as compensation for his troubles; at this, even King Håkon, who was a friend of Etienne, balked and refused to aid. Richard then paid a large sum of gold to Gilbert King of England, and both these kings came into France at the head of large armies and burned the land widely around, and said they would have no peace until Etienne returned to them counties France had conquered in past wars. But Etienne refused to make peace on such terms, and the war dragged on until Trifon King of Italy threatened to send a hundred thousand men north and burn Amsterdam to the ground. So in the end no lands changed owners.

Now while all this was happening, and men were mustering in Finland to bring Poland down, Sieciech brought the Bohemian king to battle, and defeated him, and took hos crown for his own. (Alas, I was too slow.)) At this King Håkon became livid with rage, and sent messengers to the Piast, demanding that Bohemia be returned to the Nordheim family forthwith :

Håkon, by the Grace of God, King of Norway and Denmark, King of Sweden, the Wends and the Goths, Sovereign of the Ocean Sea, Overlord of Finland, Over-Jarl of the Norse Isles, and Tsar of Northern Russia :

To Sieciech Piast, King of Poland and sundry other places :

Cease and desist in your unlawful occupation of the sovereign and independent Kingdom of Bohemia. Return the crown of that land to its rightful dynasty, the von Nordheims. If you do not accomplish these things, rest assured that We will come into your land with all our might, take your cities, burn your crops, kill your men, and in all other ways make unceasing war upon you until you submit to the law of God and man. This We swear on Our honour.

But receiving only the most insulting reply :

Calm yourself foolish Swede. Or are you a Dane? Well, it doesn't matter, all you Nordics are the same anyway. Threats, threats, and more threats, all of them worthless.

But to the point. Yes, I shall release the Kingdom of Bohemia, but of my own free will and when I feel it is necessary. I will not be bullied by inferior barbarians. Now, before you soil yourself, be assured that I will create the kingdom in a timely manner, but once again, not when you tell me to. Poland has shown its strength and cleverness many times in the field and at the negotiating table to be far above that of the Scandinavians. Therefore, I suggest you leave me to the business of Bohemia and run along back to your little hut of a castle.

he decided that Poland must be taught a lesson, and mustered his men for war. (Whew! Short, but action-packed. And Sterk had better grovel quite convincingly after that message. *Eyes Gotland greedily*)

Europe in 1371 :

 

[King of Men]

Eagerly awaiting the next installment. When will the map be updated? I'm quite curious about how many things changed (apart from what you mentioned)...

Map updates, right you are. I got tired of waiting for Trav to make a map, so I made a little Java snippet to automate the boring cutting-and-matching parts. Not quite pleased with this update, though, the war over Bohemia is a bit too complicated. Still, that's what happens in an MP AAR, people do weird stuff. Also Sterk's diplomacy is, shall we say, not quite matched with mine in style. Probably closer to how people actually spoke, though.

 

[GrimPagan]

Your session is almost over, when are you going to take up Canute's mantle and bring the rebelious british isles back into the your fold, where they rightly belongs?

 

[Lurken]

Your session is almost over, when are you going to take up Canute's mantle and bring the rebelious british isles back into the your fold, where they rightly belongs?

You are speaking about England? Never perhaps, if I may guess. And soon it's onwards to EU2!

 

[Nikolai]

He has a large, unfriendly neighbour in Poland, and a potential ally in England. Why would he want to attack his potential friend?

 

[unmerged(1633)]

Truth be told, I don't see why Norway would attack England (okay, so I am kind of biased in this but here's my idea.) For about 200 years now England and Norway have been anywhere from allies to respectful of each other's (ie. Neutral) interests. These days though our sphere's of interest barely touch, Norway is interested in the ongoing wildfire that is the Russian lands, while England is concerned with maintaining their patrimony in Normandy and Brittany. Our speres are cut by Burgandy and really end at our respective borders with that country. But the main reason not to endager the status quo between our two nations is that whenever one is endangered, we have a potential ally that can strike from a completely different direction. In both our cases, breaking off relations between the two would leave us completely surrounded by hostile neighbors.

 

[King of Men]

I agree with Dom on this one. The only possible way I could benefit from attacking England would be by annexing the whole island; any lesser solution like re-creating the Danelaw or even just grabbing York and the Norwegian-culture islands, would lose me an ally for very little gain. (Iceland is another matter, as it is a strategically important harbour.)

Now, it is just barely possible that I have the manpower to actually annex England in a 1-on-1 war, and by this stage of the game I almost certainly have the claims to do so - I haven't checked, but the way the damn things proliferate, it seems pretty likely. However, if I did this in one gulp I would accumulate so much game badboy that all my vassals would leave, and also so much human badboy that every player in the game would DOW me. I mean, you saw how much grief Sterk had over the annexation of Russia; imagine trying that on the primary title of an actual human! It would - quite rightly - be seen as the first step in a bid to completely dominate the North; Poland, France, Burgundy and probably Hungary would instantly unite against me, with the enthusiastic support of Traveler.

That is for trying to do it in one step; if I divide it into several gulps, the game badboy problem is much lessened. However, humans being smarter than computer vassals, I would still create a powerful coalition against me as soon as I succeeded - if I did. For with fair warning of my intentions, Dom would mend his fences with Burgundy and France, and create a defensive coalition to keep me east of the North Sea and the Elbe. (Which could rapidly be converted into an offensive one to throw me out of Germany!) Not to mention Poland, with its vast army, casting eyes on Brandenburg and Novgorod. I can hold off Poland in a defensive war, especially since he is usually perceived as the aggressor and I can expect people to come to my aid. Trying to do so while embroiled in a war of aggression against England is just not on.

In short, Norway is now first among equals north of the Alps. But that status relies on the current alliance structure rather than Norway's intrinsic strength. A single nation changing sides could easily topple us from first place. We are not yet in a position to make a bid for even local hegemony, much less European. And were I to try anything of the sort, I would certainly start by destroying my most powerful enemy, Poland, rather than my most loyal ally, England! I did consider pressing my claim to King of Rus in the last war, but came to the conclusion that it would embroil me in an instant badboy war with Italy, Spain, and Burgundy.

It is perhaps easy for my readers to overestimate Norway's strength; after all, I haven't lost a war since the disastrous Great Rising. (And besides, this being a saga, the reporting is perhaps not 100% objective. ) Please note, though, that this is not due to huge armies, but clever diplomacy. I always attempt to create a coalition, to diplomatically isolate my enemies, and to be seen as the unaggressive party. My actual army is only in second place, with Poland being an extremely close third - the numbers are so close that things like a single dysentery epidemic or plague ending cause us to switch places. My flanking position does help here, of course : I never have to fight on several fronts, unless you count attacking Poland both from Germany and Finland. (My German holdings are so narrow that one army can defend them against both Burgundy and Poland, with the advantage of interior lines.)

It will be interesting to see how things go in EU2, where navies play a much larger role. I will need to dominate the Baltic if I want to reinforce my German lands with troops from my Scandinavian cores; Sterk, on the other hand, will be able to concentrate on his army. On the third hand, a powerful navy, able to close the Sound, makes Scandinavia essentially invulnerable - in principle you could invade through Finland, but those cold mountains and forests are eminently defensible. So if defeated in Germany, I can pack up my armies and wait for the invader to get tired, or for a neighbour to take advantage of his pre-occupation. (And incidentally, this is another place where the friendship of England is essential : Dom will need a powerful navy even more than I do, and will have less need of an army. It is therefore probable that the Royal Navy will on average be more powerful than the KNM, and a hostile England will therefore range from very bad to disastrous, depending on the fortunes of the land war in Germany.)

 

[Lurken]

Extremely summarization KoM, to have strategically analysed the EU2 military tactics. Splendid. As far my own part, I will require a highly decentralized army, with three main areas, and colonies to come and a strong navy to keep everything together. It will be a truly hassle for my own part.

 

[das]

My actual army is only in second place, with Poland being an extremely close third

Who has the first place? Italy?

Interesting analysis of the situation...

 

[GrimPagan]

Okay, this makes it offical, my attempts on being amusing should be limited or outright banned...


Althought, the idea of an scandianvian empire ruling the atlantic does makes my pants tingle.