Of Herbs and Stewed Brittany
(Tonights post will be about the next two years. I did not have time to play today, unfortunately, but there is a screenie! Anyway, I will aim to make my installments over 5 to 10 year periods in gametime.)
After Phil send his forces against the Lancastrians, several difficulties presented themselves. First of all, the more than capable
commander Jean de Pressy would be tied up in Provence after he completed his siege, together with some 17,000 men, since there was
no land route from Provence to Lyonnais that we controlled. Second, England's ally, Brittany, would certainly invade us. Therefor,
Phil took command of our other army himself, ready to attack the Britton troops (OOC: Phillippe III was probably already the
commander of one of my armies, yet somehow, I failed to notice until he was besieging Bretagne.) England would be less of a hassle
herself, considering she had little troops left on the mainland. However, she was also supported by a host of stubborn Irish
vassals, which would sail all the way to Provence to attack Jean de Pressy there.
By Januray our main force arrives in English-held Normandie, crushes the English forces there, and initiate a siege. In February,
misguided English forces (probably consisting mainly of force-recruited Frenchmen) attack Normandie again, only to be defeated
once more. The Flandern Armee arrives in Caux, also in February yet marches on to Armor.
In March we receive troubling news for the eastern medditeranean as Candar is the next nation to join the Ottoman empire in her
alliance with Albania, Bosnia, Wallachia and Egypt.
In May the Flandern Armee initates the siege of Brittany's Armor, while Brittany marches her army into Maine, still officially
part of Provence, yet the Provence is also in war with England and her allies. Nonetheless, Maine's current garrison consists
of Burgundian loyalists. Phil decides to let the army maintain it's siege and see what happens.
The forces of Connaught meet an untimely end in Provence, where Jean de Pressy and his army still reside, yet reject our fair
white peace offer, as do their brethren in Leinster, in July.
August sees the end of the Dauphiné/Provence alliance when the province of Provence falls to De Pressy. The rulers of the Provence
formally surrender Maine to us and become our Vassals in exchange for peace. Nonetheless, the basques of Foix are deceived by
the vile so-called French of the Dauphiné into an alliance, and attack the current enemies of the Dauphiné, England, Brittany and
the Irish.
France is now divided into three main power blocks:
Burgundy and her vassal, France, supported by Brabant
Dauphiné and Foix
England and Brittany,supported by Leinster, Connaught and Ulster.
In a wave of insanity, Phil requests military access of Dauphiné in order to march De Pressy back, offcourse this is refused.
In September, Lorraine accepts a like proposal from Brittany, followed by Strassburg in October.
England faces a rebel uprising in, of all places, Normandie, causing the besieging force there to fight their countrymen. Regretful,
but neccessary. Needless to say, they are brutally crushed. A freshly raised army marches from Bourgogne to Maine, stopping briefly to gain morale in Orleannais, yet are still utterly
defeated by the Brittons there. They flee to Orleannais. To make matters worse, Birttany captures Maine later that month. In November Jean de Pressy throws off yet another
Connaught attack in Provence, and the recruits in Orleannais are now beaten back to Bourgogne by the English. Our forces now grow quite thin, and Phil contemplates the dire need for
De Pressy to return to the main battlefield, since our funds are running low.
In December our near-neighbour Genoa becomes a Vassal of Milan, the powerhungry North-Italian nation. We will surely face Milan
them somewhere in the future. Also, the Ottoman Block roars into action against the obscure nation of Ghazi.
Allthough Burgundy is still not on the losing side of the Anglo-Brittany war, Jean de Pressy's services are more needed than ever,
and thankfully, Savoy accepts our proposal of Military Acces, allowing him to march to the relief of the rest of Burgundy
De Pressy arrives in Bourgogne in February 1422, gathers the remains of the "Maine Liberation Amry" and marches for the nation
of Brittany, who's only defence is the feeble army now besieging Maine. England is even less of a threat, with less than
10,000 men on the mainland.
De Pressy clashes with the Britton dogs in Orleannais on March the 14 and after a week of battling drives them back to Maine, where
he meets them again in April and crushes them again. No Army of Brittany now stands in his way to march on to their capital
of Morbihan, where he initiated a siege later that month. Good news comes from Normandie, where the English garrison surrenders
in May and is forced to wipe their behinds with the English flag for save passage back to their homeland. Later that month Brabant
accepted some settlement concerning some New Regiment.
In September, Henry VI rises to the English throne, to find a rotten nation in no shape to defend herself against any threat,
and of course at war with the glorious nation of Burgundy, allthough currently Brabant is rampaging through the Enlgish
held provinces. October sees the arrival of Phil himself in Bretagny, as well as the crushing of the remainder of the pathetic army
of Brittany, followed by a well initiated siege.
Phil mourns the death of his good friend and lapdog Charles VI in October. Charles VII offcourse, ruler of the Dauphiné, believes
the throne is his. He sends a request to Burgundy to claim French lands and become the rightfull ruler of France. Phil, says
that it can only be done if Charles marries Pasbelle. Faced with this horrible prospect, Charles refuses, and so Phil instead
claims France for his own. So Burgundy is almost doubled in size, gaining Ile-De-France, Orleannais, Champagne and Nivernais,
allthough apparantly, this is unsettling for the populace as the stability of the nation drops two levels. The Dauphinese dogs
offcourse declare war, dragging the slimy slugs of Foix with them. In November, they even pay off England in order to focus
their miserable excuse for an army on us.
A new force freshly raised in Bourgogne invades the Dauphinese capital of Berri, where the Dauphinese band of brutes is destroyed
in November. December sees the end of Ghazi as an independent nation as they are now vassals of the Ottoman Empire, increasing the
latter's sphere of power.
The new year begins with a royal marriage of Phil's brother Lumière to a Savoy belle, further cementing the relationship with this
future vas..uhhh ALLY of Burgundy. In February, Morbihan falls and all rejoice, except the eternal Dauphin Charles, who now
faces not only another defeat in Berri but also the wrath of Jean de Pressy and his 15,000 men army.
In March Burgundy sees the first signs of war fatigue with no less a province than the capital of Bourgogne revolting, kicking
out the small army posted there. This calls for swift retribution, which is succesfully administered in May. England pays
of Brabant, but has no forces of any significance left to deal with Burgundy.
Dauphiné-held Limousin is invaded in June, after Berri falls in April. The Dauphinese forces in Limousin are crushed in July, the
same month in which Dauphiné (the province) is once again invaded. Dauphiné offers her entire treasury of 30 ducats, which is not
much but war fatigue is growing and the offer is accepted.
Massive war in September: Brandenburg, Bavaria, The Palatinate and Luxembourg face the wrath of Romanist Bohemia, Hungary,
Asutria and Serbia. Milan wisely chickens out.
In order to force a settlement with Brittany, Maine is put under siege and liberated in May 1424. Suddenly, people get enthusiastic
for the army, which is a good thing, considering we can always use more troops. Finally, after the fall of Maine and several failed
peace-offerings, Brittany hands over Armor and Bretagne to Phil in August 1424. Phil himself immediately moves to dispatch the
rebels in Bretagene and does so in October 1424.
Meanwhile December 1423 sees the beginning of the end of England as Picardie, a Burgundian national province is put under siege by Burgundian
forces. The murderous Irish of Connaught, having resided in Flandern for far too long now, are dislodged by the Bourgogne Armee
in January. Unfortunately, they retreat to English Calais, where they are able to defeat the pursuing heroes with English help.
Nonetheless, in April, the brave Bourgogne Armee enters Calais once more, administers a righteous foot to their hideous backsides
and kicks the English out of Calais, besieging the province. Connaught once more besieges Flanders, yet England coughs up 72 ducats
for peace and in October, 1424, Phil accepts the offer just to bring peace to the realm.
Jan of Brabant, another good friend of Phil (Phil attracted a lot of friends being the Good and all) summons our help against
the insidious machinations of the Countess of Hainault and (suprise surprise another Englishman) the Duke of Gloucester. Phil
dispatches 8000 of his finest from his army in Bretagne to aid Jan, into a vassalization with Burgundy! Great news!
October also sees the introduction of two new members of the Burgundian alliance: Lorraine, and (after heavy financial injections)
Provence.
France now looks as follows:
The power blocks in France now are:
Burgundy, Lorraine, Provence (vassal), supported from the north by Brabant (also a vassal)
Dauphiné and Foix
England and Brittany , supported from afar by England's Irish vassals of Leinster, Ulster and Connaught.
(I will check on howto insert screenshots directly for the next post)
. Furthermore, no hacking of events or tampering with savegames and such...
