Hello everyone. Long time Victoria players will probably be familiar with the little flag above. For those of you who don't know what it represents (or haven't guessed from the title of the AAR!) let me introduce you to the Oranje-Vrystaat (or Orange Free state if you're not a hardy Afrikaaner)!
A tiny republic in the far south of Africa, Oranje managed to become a bit of a political and economic success (if you were an Afrikaaner - I'm sure there were a few maltreated natives that weren't exactly over the moon with the new republic's policies) and would probably have carried on being wonderful were it not for it's dastardly neighbours in the South African Republic (also known as the Transvaal - please feel free to "boo" on cue).
Like hyperactive children with the collective attention span of a gnat, the Transvaal Boers couldn't decide if they wanted to fight with the good people of the Vrystaat or get into bed with them (politically speaking of course). Sadly for the people of Oranje, the pen was to prove to be more deadly to them than the sword, for no sooner had they said "Yes, yes. Let's put all this fighting behind us and have a nice alliance with the view to creating a prosperous federal union between our two peoples!" than the Transvaal Boers said "Er...excellent! By the way, you know the British? Yeah... Er...we're kind of at war with them."
It all went down hill after this.
(try entering "Boer War" in Wikipedia for an idea of just how downhill)
Anyway, this AAR is a retelling of a recent game in which I attempted to guide the good people of the Oranje-Vrystaat to a glorious future. I should mention that it's been a good while since I've played Victoria properly, so that should hopefully set expections as to how "happily ever after" this little tale is going to finish...
This is also an attempt to do comedy - after the recent ACAs some people were bemoaning the fact that not a single person nominated a Vicky AAR for it's comedic value. I think a lot of people assume that Vicky players are all history beards and that we like nothing more than sitting around in high-backed arm chairs, with glasses of brandy, engadged in extremely sombre discussion about the economic decline of the Ottoman Empire (although that's almost given me an idea for another AAR...).
Sooooo...
Stay tuned and the first update will follow soon.
DISCLAIMER
In case anyone IS a serious history beard and is utterly outraged with my somewhat free and easy *coughs* retelling of southern African history please be assured that I am well aware that there were lots and lots of factors contributing toward what became the Boer War, but this is meant to be a light, airy-fairy AAR so I'm choosing to go for a more simplistic approach. Don't fire-bomb my house out of disgust at my seeming glossing over of history, ok? Please?
Obviously, if you're a hard-core Transvaalian* nationalist this goes double for you! I could really do without finding a scorpion in my bed.
Thank you for your co-operation!
* if you're a Transalvanian nationalist I keep garlic and a stake by my bed at all times.
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