Tuscan Raiders -- a Magna Mundi IV 1.3 AAR

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In the last 10 years (to 1483) the wider political map has changed very little. To the west, the only major development has been the loss of most of Aragon's mainland provinces to a Castille-Navarre-Portugal alliance.

In the east, the only real change has been the breakout of the Ottoman Empire... peace has been reached with Lithuania, Poland & Bohemia and their allies under favourable conditions which have brought formerly Bosnian and Hungarian provinces under the Sultan's control.

not much else has changed in the wider known world since 1473.

Tuscany itself is now in nominal control of most of Lombard Italy... we are still allied with Genoa and Venice while holding Corsica, Savoy, Milan, Mantua and Modena in vassalage (and as per the previous update, soon add control of Gabes in North Africa to our holdings).

Now for the Update... Since the last update ended with the capture of Gabes in 1485, I'll pick it up from there.

Well, the peace in the east didn't last very long... I'm not sure who started it and when (I was a bit occupied by the situation in North Africa) but as of 1485 Lithuania and Poland are once again at war with the Ottoman Empire. Lithuania had moved out aggressively from their holdings in Hum (where they had amassed over 20,000 men) to quickly capture Bosnia and Serbia. Poland isn't starting off quite so well...

Back at home, the next few years are relatively uneventful (purposefully so -- manpower needs the time to build back up). Some of the events of note:
- Tuscany achieves Land Tech 3 in 1485
- Adriano Piombante, a new advisor (Statesman 2 - +6 to Govt Tech) hired in 1486
- A new Doge: Gian Carlo Bizzelli (A 4, M 7, D 7) in 1487 makes our best General yet (F 2, Shk 4, M 2, Sg 1)
- Heavy intensity pirate raid causes the loss of 1 pt of stability

In 1488, war once again breaks out on the Italian peninsula. The Papal State (and their ally Siena) attacks the Kingdom of Sicily, easily pushing Sicilian forces out of Naples and Abbruzzi.

The war ends quickly. by 1489, both Naples and Abbruzzi are captured and a peace aggreement is reached by which the Kindom of Sicily cedes Abbruzzi to the Papal State.

This presents an opportunity I was looking for. Tuscany had been prevented from taking action against the Kingdom of Sicily due to a shared alliance with Venice and I didn't want to incur a stability hit just for the sake of vassalizing Siena and Rome, but by gaining another province, the Papal State made itself a more tempting target and I decided to prepare for an attack on the Papal State (in part, by bringing back the garrison from Gabes). In January 1490, Tuscany's Land Tech level reaches 4 and war was declared on the Papal State (taking the -3 stability hit). As I had hoped, Siena stood by their ally as did Tuscany's. One Tuscan army marched into Abbruzzi to meet the bulk of the Papal army and the other waited until Siena's forces moved into Pisa before marching into Siena behind them (leaving our allies, whose troops were marching in behind us, to hopefuly mop up any armies that were behind our lines).

Siena quickly capitulated and in May agrees to become our vassal

The Tuscan army in Siena then continued on to Rome, defeating the garrison there and laying siege to the Eternal City. By October both Abbruzzi and Rome are in Tuscan hands and The Papal State gives in to our demands, ceding Abbruzzi and agreeing to become our vassal.

1490 is an eventful year elsewhere as well...

In June, peace is also reached in the east, once again to the advantage of the Ottoman Empire, who takes Carpathia and Podolia from Poland after having signed an earlier white peace with Lithuania.

In the west, major events have been taking place. After years of being content to keep within their borders peacefully (for the most part) annexing vassal states, The Kingdom of France woke up, swiftly struck out at Burgundy, and has been rolling over them in an unstoppable tide.

You'll note that at least a couple of other countries have gotten into the mix as well... Denmark has captured Friesland in the north and Hess (?) has taken Luxemburg. Other countries that jumped in late, having smelled blood in the water are Austria, Lorraine and Brandenburg (to name just the larger ones).

By the time peace returns in 1491, Burgundy is but a shadow of it's former self.

France has taken several provinces (Franche-Compte, Calais & Valenciennes) Lorraine has siezed Brabant, and several smaller states have gained (or regained) their independence: Brabant (in the province of Breda), Holland (in the province of Zeeland), Luxemburg and Friesland.

As Tuscany, I've been keeping a close eye on how quickly The Ottoman Empire has advanced in the east but the recent events in the northwest have reminded me of just how much of a real threat France represents. I wasn't oblivious, but this was the first sign that France has stopped looking inward and is now looking outward for further growth

Next Update: another lucky break for Tuscany

 

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Another Lucky Break for Tuscany:

Picking up from the events of late 1490...

The immediate aftermath of the war against Siena and the Papal State was a quick lapse back into a rather serene peace. For the next few years, little happened (although there was a "Tripoli helps the Pirates" event which could have given a causus belli -- If I was inclined to get involved in North Africa again or if Tripoli hadn't been a vassal of the Mamlukes).

In those years, Govt. Tech level 6 is reached and Tuscany gets a couple of new temples, Land Tech level 5 allows an upgrade to Condotta infantry, which beefs up the fighting force quite a bit, and Trade Tech gets to level 7, enabling us to start trying out monopolies far in advance of the competition.

I also get around to shifting a policy slider, chosing to shift 'Land/Naval' toward 'Naval', anticipating that as Tuscany expands outward into the Mediterranean, naval forces will play an ever increasing roll. In fact, this choice coincides very nicely with a pair of events that occured soon thereafter:

First, in 1494...

Then in 1496...

Naval Tech had been lagging badly, but these two events helped to really boost the speed of naval advancement. As it turns out, it would soon be needed!

In 1497, Burgundy was once again being beaten by France like a red-headed stepchild (my appologies to any redheads who may be reading this ) and once again, the vultures were circling. I had no intention of taking part in a war so far from Tuscany's own borders (I was putting plans in place to see what could be done about seizing Aragon's Mediterranean island possessions) when this invitation popped up...

hmmm... -1 stability to keep Venice as an ally? I figured it was worth it, with the side benefit of allowing me to raise war taxes and beef up the treasury.

It was only after agreeing that it occured to me that having just been beaten into the dust by France, Burgundy might not be in the best of shape to put up a fight... in fact, after ceding 2 more provinces to France (Picardie and Nevers), Burgundy was now technically smaller than Tuscany (5 provinces vs. 6) however, those provinces provided a very attractive income stream... in particular, from the trade center of Vlaanderen...

With the intention of trying to wrest Vlaanderen from Burgundy (which has the added bonus of NOT being a province of the HRE) I mustered together Tuscany's entire fleet (which consisted of 4 carracks, 4 gallys and 8 cogs), hired a couple of mercenary regiments to fill out the expeditionary force without leaving Tuscany itself undefended, arranged for military passage with Castille and France to prevent the fleet from experienceing excessive attrition during the voyage, and then set out in August, 1497.

The Tuscan Grand Fleet reached the Straights of Dover that November, to suddenly realize that regardless of whether France had won the land war, it seemed Burgundy had probably managed to hold it's own in the war at sea... we were met by a fleet of 20 ships out of Vlaanderen (5 heavy ships and 15 transports) and were badly overmatched by the skill of their Admiral...

Not wanting to risk losing more than half the Tuscan army, the fleet did the only thing it could do... flee the battle and seek shelter in the French port of Calais. Though the bulk of the fleet did make it to port safely, it was not unscathed...

1 Carrack and 1 Cog (along with the regiment of cavalry that it was transporting) were captured.

Fortunately, only 1 regiment of Burgundian infantry had been seen stationed in Vlaanderen, so it seemed the Tuscan forces were not going to be as overmatched on land as they had been at sea (at least I had to hope so... at this point, the fleet was pretty much stuck in the port of Calais until a peace could be reached with Burgundy).

The (now) 7000 strong Tuscan army moved immediately from Calais to Vlaanderen and quickly dispatched the 1000 defenders. As it turned out, this single infantry regiment was the only enemy force and so the army quickly fanned out to begin to besiege Vlaanderen, Artois and Hainaut (to the north, Utrecht had already captured Holland). With no opposition forthcoming, Artois was captured in July of 1498, and Hainaut and Vlaanderen both surrendered in August. I was just about to propose a peace agreement with Burgundy, demanding that they cede Vlaanderen to Tuscany when suddenly all of the stripes on the map disappeared and all 3 provinces took on a very familiar blue-grey tone -- it was a few moments before I realized what had happened...

BURGUNDY IS BROKEN!

3 very valuable provinces are added to Tuscany's holding in one fell swoop. Number of supported land units instantly increases to 24 (about a 40% increase), but as a consequence, my BB rating leaps from 0 to 5.95.

However, it seems the Emperor was not very happy with Tuscany's sudden ownership (however unintentional it originally was) of Hainaut...

Well, after the fortuitous turn of events that eliminated Burgundy from the region I wasn't about to return Hainaut to Burgundy so that a state with a causus belli against us would be right back on the doorstep. Tuscany proclaims that Hainaut is "rightfully ours" -- just long enough to establish Hainaut as a vassal nation.

All in all, a good few years!

One thing that is of concern is that Tuscany is now in possession of Artois, which is a French core province... Given the speed with which France had just dismantled Burgundy I was rather nervous about taking possession of this province (originally I didn't intend to take anything other than Vlaanderen, but you know how it is... once you have it, there's no way that you're going to give it up!). Since the Ottoman Empire is still hemmed in in the East, with Austria and Venice both intact and serving as buffer states between us and them, it looks like France now moves up to the top of the list as the greatest potential threat to Tuscany and it's vassal states and so, over the next couple of decades I will act accordingly and do whatever I can to neutralize or, at the very least, slow further French expansion in the west.

Oooo... is that forshadowing? Stay tuned...

 

[BBBD316]

Well I was going to suggest you sell the province or release it, but I guess whichever way you will still have the French on your door step.

What a lucky break!

 

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Elsewhere in 1499, trouble is brewing in central Europe as Bohemia and it's allies; Poland and Croatia, declare war on Austria and it's it's allies; Lorraine, Salzburg, Trier and Bavaria. But much closer to home, barely 4 months have passed since Tuscany took possession of the formerly Burgundian provinces in the north when suddenly the following requests are received...

What do you do when an ally declares war on a vassal? Well obviously, you determine which course of action is most advantageous for you, so I decided to try to take Genoa (who is also allied with Ragusa, so that would be a nice bonus). This is isn't as simple a task as it may seem; Genoa may only be a one state nation but they are rich (with an army of 11,000), have better land and naval tech than Tuscany does and in this situation we will not be able to rely on aid from our surrounding vassals. Furthermore, the bulk of the fleet and most of the land forces are still in the north, so they are immediately called back and are en route when time runs out and Tuscany declares support for Corsica.

At least Genoa does not have military access though Milan, so in October, while our fleet is still on it's way back with most of the expeditionary force, The Genoese fleet blockades our ships in Pisa and lands 1000 men who are easily dealt with...

No matter how hard the difficulty level, the AI never seems to want to land bulk forces, it always seems to send 1 regiment at a time... because of that, and the fact that their armies were unable to move through Milan, Genoa was fairly impotent against us, despite their momentary superiority. With an effective stalemate on the mainland I diverted Tuscany's returning fleet to the Adriatic, sank Ragusa's 2 ships, destroyed their 1000-man army and left a force behind to besiege the city while the rest of the forces returned by ship to the mainland.

In the meantime, more regiments were raised to gain numerical superiority over the Genoese. Once all the preparations were made, a force of 9000 men under the command of our best general was stationed in Parma while a secondary reserve force of 6000 positioned themselves in Mantua. In August of 1500 both armies marched on Genoa and the (now) 13000 troops defending the city and battle was joined...

The battle started off well, but the tide was starting to turn just as the reinforcements arrived from Mantua... still, the combat was brutal and lasted into October when, finally, Tuscany's cavalry superiority began to tell...

and we begin to besiege the city as the remaining Genoese forces retreat to Nice.

I've avoided engaging the Genoese fleet, and now decline to pursue the retreating Genoese army since my intention is to vassalize them and would rather keep their forces as strong as possible to help me in the future.

Around this time, Ragusa gave in to our demands and was made a province of Greater Tuscany...

and by February of 1501, Genoa too aquiesces to our demands and is added to our growing list of vassal states.

When will events stop conspiring to interfere with my plans to take Aragon's Mediterrenean islands?!?

 

[GrimPagan]

Trying to recreate the roman empire myself in NA myself, so it will be interesting to see your progress. Atleast you haven't made the mistake of turning on the infidels first, creating enormous stab costs. <_<

 

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Feb 1501 and peace reigns once again. That very month I receive some good news, and some bad news...

first, the good news... Govt Tech reaches level 8 and I have a new idea available. Tuscany's mercantile expansion has advanced steadily over the past several years, but it is still a struggle to increase our presence in centers of trade (and always at risk of losing merchants when stability drops) so to keep the wealth to which we have become accustom flowing into our coffers, Shrewd Commerce Practice is taken to bolster Tuscany's trade empire.

The bad news is that after several years of silence, the Barbary Pirates are heard from once again with a particularly damaging raid on Abbruzzi, which drops stability 1 point (to +2).

The rest of the year is fairly uneventful... I am taking the time to restore manpower and work down Tuscany's BB score while keeping an eye on events in the western end of the Mediterrenean, where, by mid-1502, France, Scotland, Norway and Provence have decimated Aragon's fleet to the point where Tuscany could move to seize Aragon's island territories unopposed -- the only thing staying my hand is the unfortunate fact that Tuscany's reputation is currently 9.8 and would get much higher if I declare war without a causus belli.

Well, I do have a Level 6 spymaster... time for him to start earning his keep! Maybe I can work on fabricating a claim on one of the islands in question? Sardinia seems a likely target (it is, as a Lombard province that is not part of the HRE the real plum)...

Except of course, that it seems every province owned by Aragon has a -20 modifier to expionage events due to the advanced defenses built in response to Barbary Pirate attacks... so I'm looking at blowing a whole lot of money for little likelyhood of success (even with a fat +12% modifier from the spymaster). Out of curiosity I started to look at every other province in the Mediterrenean and everywhere I look it seems that every province of any interest has the same -20% modifier and the earliest the penalty will lapse is 3-4 years away...

wow... so much for the espionage strategy! I resolve to dump the expensive yet rather pointless spymaster when suddenly Navara and Castille also declare war on hapless Aragon. I may have to go on the attack without having a causus belli to prevent the islands from falling into Castillian hands when suddenly...

Oh joy, now Sardinia is a French ally... well, the plum is out of reach for now

What can make it even better? That's right, another pirate raid in October 1502 (but at least it isn't serious enough to cause the loss of another stability point).

Soon after this, 1503 arrives and so, at the 50 year mark, it's time again for a brief aside to review what has been taking place in the wider world...

As mentioned, in the west, first France, and now Castille/Portugal/Navarra are beating on poor Aragon. Sardinia has gained its independence.

To the East, the Ottoman Empire is once again at war with Lithuania and Bohemia, but though it looks like each side is giving as good as they're getting, the Ottomans are on the verge of turning the tide...

... because the Lithuanians are in the process of being gobbled up from behind by Muskovy and Sibir.

In the meantime, Tuscany is in the process of spreading outside of the Italian peninsula and has continued to collect vassals as she goes. Our current circumstances are: BB = 9.12, Gov Tech = 8, Prod Tech = 2, Trade Tech = 7,
Naval Tech = 3, Land Tech = 7 & Stability back up to +3.

Elsewhere, as per usual, little else has changed -- the HRE is in constant flux, with wars erupting regularly, but the Holy Roman Emperor (the crown is currently held by Lithuania) has kept the status quo pretty much intact.

In August 1503, the event that I've been expecting for quite a while finally comes to pass... Venice declares war on the Ottoman Empire and asks Tuscany for her support.

Yeah, right! Venice is a great ally to have as a buffer state but there's no way Tuscany is in any way ready to tangle with the Ottoman's! Besides, we're not the only ones that feel the same way... Venice's other ally, Sicily, has already indicated that they too would dishonor their alliance, meaning that Sicily is now fair game and immediately moves up to the top of the list of Tuscany's targets for conquest!

Next Update: Back on the warpath

 

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wha? 2 updates within a period of 12 hours?!?! what's going on?

Tuscany back on the warpath

well, that's jumping the gun a little bit... yes, Venice has gone to war with the Ottoman empire and both Sicily and ourselves have dishonoured our respective alliances with them, but that doesn't mean Tuscany is prepared to declare war on Sicily that very week...

Well, actually we are ready to go to war with Sicily -- however, we are not ready to also go to war with Sicily's other ally, Holland, which has a standing army of 9,000 men in Zeeland +1000 more in Holland itself vs Tuscany's 8,000 in Vlaanderen.

so the remainder of 1503, 1504 and 1505 is spent continuing to restore manpower, work down BB and build additional regiments to bring our army up to it's carrying capacity, all the while hoping that Sicily doesn't pick up a second, more powerful ally to replace Venice (I'd prefer not to have to declare war vs. Holland and incur the stability hit, only to have Sicily also dishonour that alliance).

In the meantime, I've had the majority of available monies invested in Naval Tech research, enabling Tuscany's naval tech to jump from level 3 in 1503 all the way to level 7 by September of 1505.

In early 1506, I am finally ready to move. Sicily is still allied only to Holland.

7000 new troops are transported to Vlaanderen and an additional 2 mercenary regiments are recruited there to bring Tuscany's total land forces in the north to 17,000 men. In September, war is declared against Sicily without a causus belli causing Stability to drop to 0, but luckily, Holland does not dishonour their alliance with Sicily so all those preparations in the north have not been wasted. As expected, all of our vassals come in on our side as well.

As anticipated, the brunt of Tuscany's war vs. Sicily turned out to fall mainly on the shoulders of the Papal State. A relatively small army of only 6000 men completly bypassed Naples to occupy Appulia while the Pope's armies clashed with bulk of the Sicilian forces in the capital.

In the north Tuscany had a harder fight, marching directly against Holland's entire army in Zeeland...

but were finally victorious (despite sustaining much heavier casualties) driving the remnants of their army north into Holland while our armies began the siege.

Meanwhile, in the south the armies of the Papal State, having crushed the Sicilian opposition and sending them fleeing into Calabria, initiated a siege of Naples, broke through the walls, and assaulted and then captured the city within a few months (as my own armies struggled fruitlessly). Eventually though, reinforcements from Modena and Siena arrived and provided the additional manpower necessary to initiate an assault on Apulia as an army making it all the way from Savoy attacked the remaining Sicilian forces.

By February 1507, both Zeeland and Apulia had fallen and that same month vassalization was forced upon both nations...

Tuscany has now gained a second ally near our northern provinces and has removed the last direct threat to our land borders in the Italian Peninsula. The homeland is now relatively secure... my next step will be to try to forge a direct land link between Tuscany's northern and southern holdings (while simultaneously hemming in France ).

 

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From 1508 to 1510 Tuscany does little but work on bringing stability back up as quickly as possible as manpower is restored while watching events progressing to the east. Another large-scale war is shaping up, with Kazan, Sibir and the Ottoman Empire on one side vs. Poland, Bohemia, Lithuania and Pomerania on the other. However, this new threat does allow Venice to reach a quick peace with the Ottomans, at the cost of ceding Dalmatia and Corfu.

In September of 1510 I get my first notification that the Reformation is starting to arise...

and of course, being good Catholics we post the bill in public places to warn the people against the heresy!

The reformation spreads quickly... by February of 1511 our causus belli list is large and growing month by month: the Teutonic Order, Avignon, Burgundy, Hamburg, Bremen, Nuremburg, Lorraine, Munster, Pomerania, Saxony and Brabant have all converted to Protestantism. This cannot be tolerated!

In March (after having moved troops to the border) Tuscany declares war on Lorraine and all of our vassals join in. One army immediately moves into Lothringen from the south and another advances into Barrois from the west while a third army attacks Brabant in the north (with supporting armies from Hainaut and Holland)...

Why Lorraine? Well obviously, because they are heretics, and moreso, because they are heretics in a stragegic corridor between our northern and southern territories

Lorraine is not alone, however. They have The Palatinate and Bohemia as allies, but I am hopeful that Bohemia is likely to be rather preoccupied by their war with the Ottoman Empire.

By May, the armies in Brabant have assaulted and captured the province, freeing the Tuscan troops to head south to bolster the forces attacking Lorraine itself. Lothringen is under siege (with help from a Milanese army that has come up through Switzerland) while the armies of Lorraine and The Palatinate are being systematically pushed back...

In July, all of the provinces of Lorraine are under siege and and army of Hainaut, with Tuscan support, has also routed the combined Palatinate/Lorraine army remnants in Rhinephalz, which retreat to Trier to lick their wounds.

Everything appears to be well in hand, but I relaxed a little to early... there had been no sign of Bohemia becoming involved in this war, but then, in October, a Bohemian army appears in Venitian territory and proceeds toward Ferrara, where it is intercepted by the combined armies of Modena and the Tuscan home guard...

At the same time, the province of Barrois in Lorraine is captured, leading to a counterattack by the armies of Lorraine that have been recuperating in Trier, but this is easily swatted aside. Lothringen is then the next province to fall. In the south, the Bohemian army is pursued to Mantua and again, driven back...

At this point, I propose a white peace to Bohemia, which is still in a struggle with the Ottoman Empire. This offer is accepted and I watch as the Bohemian army marches back into Venitian lands and disappears...

But despite our efforts against the heretics, the heresy has begun to spread to our own lands!

In January of 1512 Metz finally falls and all of Lorraine's territories are under our control, but I refrain from offering a peace settlement until Hainaut captures The Palatinate... but in the meantime, Lorraine troops in Trier mount another desperate counter-attack... this time on Metz.

and somehow manage, against all odds (and at great cost), to pull out a victory against our fully-rested and 50% larger force!

However, the victory is short-lived and they are driven out again before they can re-capture the province. Soon thereafter, Rhinephalz falls to Hainaut's forces, accepts it's fate, and becomes a Tuscan vassal. I would also have liked to vassalize Lorraine at this point, but alas, it appears that Lorraine is too big to accept outright vassalage so Tuscany settles for adding Brabant (and it's university!) to our northern landhold.

Lorraine has been in possession of the province of Brabant since capturing it from Burgundy and has not been forced to relinquish it by the HRE... so I'm hoping that somehow, since the Nation of Brabant already exists with it's capitol in Breda, that ownership of the province will continue to be overlooked by the Emperor

Well, Brabant was a nice snack, but Tuscany is still hungry... a quick check of the growing list of nations against which Tuscany has a causus belli furnishes a very pleasant surprise... it seems that Aragon, who's capitol of Barcelona has converted to Protestant, has had the nerve to formally change it's state religion to Protestant as well!!! We simply cannot allow the fine Catholic peoples of the islands of the Mediterrenean to live under the yoke of such a misguided King! It is our right... nay, our duty to free them from their deluded masters! (Aragon's ally Switzerland has also shown poor judgement by virtue of the fact that they have remained an ally despite this shocking development -- this just goes to show that they'd be better off with us helping to show them the proper path).

Next Installment: Liberation!

 

[SerFranke]

Well done in the war against those heretics, and good luck with your war of liberation against Aragon. Will you make Switzerland a vassal, too?

 

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Well done in the war against those heretics, and good luck with your war of liberation against Aragon. Will you make Switzerland a vassal, too?

But of course... they've already proven that they aren't responsible enough to make these kinds of decisions for themselves

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Liberation!

On the heals of the victory over Lorraine, a causus belli vs. Aragon provides the excuse I've been looking for for the last couple of decades to strip their Mediterrenean island possessions from them. Without further ado Tuscany declares war on Aragon (who is supported by their foolish ally Switzerland) and begins the process of Island hopping while, our vassals Savoy and Milan are left to bear the brunt of dealing with the Helvetican upstarts, joined later by additional armies from Mantua, Modena and the Papal State.

The first target of Tuscan forces is the Island of Sicily itself, where 2000 Aranonese cavalry are stationed in Messina. 8000 troops land unopposed in Palermo and after 2000 infantry are left to continue the seige of the city, the remaining 6000 troops advance on Messina to throw the garrison into the sea...

Immediately thereafter, a further 3000 infantry (led by a general with +1 seige) is transported, unopposed, to Malta to overcome the level 3 fortifications on that island.

In the meantime, the population of Pisa converts to Protestant

The fleet returns to the Ligurian Sea to pick up a couple of infantry regiments to transport to the Balaeres... to this point there has been no resistance other than the small garrison in Sicily, but as the fleet approaches the islands the pitiful remnants of the once great Aragonese fleet emerges to do battle... a grand total of 5 ships.

The "battle" is quickly over, with the sinking of all 5 enemy ships with no losses to our own fleet. It is at this point that I notice that apparently France has also taken the opportunity to declare war on Aragon and has already captured the capital of Barcelona. This is a rather annoying development as it means I'm unlikely to have a sufficiently high warscore to get them to cede all of their Mediterrenean possessions, but since I haven't actually captured any of the provinces yet, the point is moot... hopefully, France will settle a peace with Aragon before the time comes for Tuscany to start negotiations.

In November of 1512, Palermo is the first to fall, followed by Malta in January of 1513, Messina in March and The Baleares in April. Also in April, Milan finally brings Schwyz under their control and Switzerland is extended an invitation they cannot refuse...

Luckily, we don't have to wait too long for the French to negotiate a monetary settlement with Aragon and vacate Barcelona -- In May the city reverts to Aragonese control and barely 2 weeks go by before Tuscan armies are besieging the war-weary city.

Unfortunately, I pull a rather boneheaded move at this point, inadvertantly using an army that has the Doge serving as it's general (an element of the Tuscan home guard army) and he apparently chooses this time to die of natural causes, which drops my stability by 1. The new Doge is Fernando Peirallini (A3, M5, D6) which is alright, but the need to restore stability will end up slowing research in other areas for a couple of years.

As the seige of Barcellona continues, a few notable events take place: The Tuscan economy expands -- we may now take loans of 800 ducats, another of our provinces, Ancona, converts to Protestantism, Castille bribes away a Cardinal that I was once again unaware that we actually had, and level 9 Land Tech is reached (allowing the construction of Regimental Camps). It isn't until March of 1514 (once the walls are breached) that Barcelona finally falls to an assault. At this point, Aragon has little choice but to agree to Tuscany's terms...

Of course, all of this capturing of provinces and vassalizing states is starting to really hurt the reputation. Stripping 4 provinces from Aragon helping to drive BB up to 13! Insult is added to injury though, when I get a "Misgivings in Foreign Courts" event which adds a further +1 to the reputation score...

Needless to say, the next several years (a decade, as it turns out) are a period of self-enforced peace while I wait for the reputation score to decline, build up forces, construct provincial improvements and deal with regular Barbary Pirate Attacks.

As it turns out, Fernando Peirallini does not lead for long and in 1517 Tuscany gets another new Doge: Filippo Buontalenti (A7, M5, D8) one of our best leaders so far and the perfect ruler for a period of peace and advancement. That same year Lorenzo d'Asburgo, a level 5 treasurer becomes available and we hire him to replace Carlo Chiastavelli, who has been active since the very start -- 64 years! Time for an enforced retirement.

Though the Reformation has slowed down, individual states and a few countries continue to convert, but with the reputation score being what it is I let opportunities to wage further wars pass without biting.

In 1519, a sever attack by Barbary Pirates drops stability by 1, taking us down to +2.

In 1520, Sardinia, the vassal of France tries to bait us by declaring war on Savoy but Tuscany is not yet prepared to tangle with the power to the west so I decline to support Savoy. France invades, defeats Savoy handily and is ceded Savoie, but the Emperor steps in (as I had hoped) and forces it's return... I'll not be sucked into a war where the majority of my vassals are on the sidelines -- If the AI wants a war with Tuscany, it'll have to declare war on Tuscany directly!

In the meantime, the King of Protestant England becomes the Holy Roman Emperor through the vote of a vassalized Elector in Germany... how does that make any sense

In 1521, just a few months short of returning to Stability +3 we are hit again by the Pirates and briefly dropped to stability +1 before recovering quickly to +2.

As of 1523, the situation at court and economically are as follows...

The inflation is a little high, but not drastically higher than AI controlled nations that have been involved in as many wars as Tuscany has.

In the next update I'll provide another overview of the political (and religious) situation in the wider world as of the 70-year mark.

 

[Scouse Mouse]

Superb AAR! Keep 'em coming!

 

[unmerged(514)]

Excellent!

 

[unmerged(82977)]

Sorry about the week-long absence everybody, I've had some internet issues (like, no internet) since Wednesday but I'll make up for it with an extra long (probably multi-post) update today

Mouse, Ubik, thanks for the encouragement... it's nice to hear that I'm apparently doing something here that's entertaining for others.

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Part 1: 70 year situation update

As has been the case in most of the previous situational updates, relatively little has changed in the west since France absorbed most of it's vassals and crushed Burgundy. The one notable difference is the complete disappearance of Aragon (much of which was described previously )

Once again, "dynamic stability" describes the near-constant turmoil that results in little ultimate change in the heart of the HRE itself, so I'll not bother to post a picture of central Europe.

To the east, the propensity of Muscovy to attack Lithuania every time it becomes embroiled in a conflict with the Ottoman Empire has finally resulted in the collapse of the Christian front. The Ottoman's have stripped Lithuania, Bohemia and Venice of their Balkan possessions and, with the exception of Ragusa (Tuscany's only possession in the region) southeastern Europe is now a sea of green... but luckily for Europe, the Ottoman's are trying out expanding in a new direction and are currently occupied with beating on the hapless Mamlukes to the south.

In the northeast, Muscovy (and it's li'l buddy, Tver), having absorbed the former Novgorod, have been taking advantage of Lithuania's constant fighting of a 2-front war, cutting a swath southwest though the once-huge nation to the point where Muscovy itself now shares a small border with the Ottoman Empire. This expansion may be a mixed blessing though... Muscovy is now a potential target for the Ottoman's but is at a disadvantage that the other OE's enemies were not -- Muscovy also shares a border with the Ottoman's only ally, Kazan, so they may themselves eventually get a taste of what it is like to have to fight a 2-front war.

Tuscany has continued to vassalize states and has become a hedgemon that now rivals some of the intermediate-sized states of Europe. One obvious shortcoming is the lack of continuity between the holdings & vassals in the north and those in the south. We are too dependent on the goodwill of those countries in between for the passage of our troops and with the spread of Protestantism, maintaining good relations is a drain on our coffers. Our Catholic bretheren in France have granted us military passage, and relations are good, but ominously, despite several offers, France has refused to accept military access from us

Meanwhile, the spiritual war for the hearts and minds of Chrisendom has exploded across the face of Europe. The Protestant reformation has been strongest in the Germanic nations of the north, with pockets of Calvanism popping up here and there.

The Reformation has had less of an effect in southern Europe, but notable pockets of Protestantism and Calvanism occur in northern Portugal, Savoy, the Croatian provinces on the north-Adriatic coast, a couple of Ottoman provinces and in scattered provinces in Tuscany itself (Pisa, Ancona and Palermo). I guess I wasn't as difinitively "Catholic" in my responses to events as were France and Castille.

More to come...

 

[unmerged(82977)]

(2nd post of Oct 2)

Description of events starting from June, 1523...

Over the last several years of peace, Tuscany's BB score has declined from 14 to 9.6 and my intention was to lay low for a few more years, but sometimes fortune presents an opportunity that cannot be refused. In September of 1523 our trade advisor, Lorenzo d'Asburgo's efforts have the potential to become admired throughout the nation, but we're already at +3 stability... you know what that means -- free DoW!

Looking around at the countries of interest in the corridor between our northern and southern provinces, Lorraine once again stood out as the most likely target for Tuscan aggression. However, they were now allied with Austria, so a direct declaration against them was out of the question. Luckily, there was a soft underbelly -- Lorraine was also allied with what remained of Burgundy (who had no other allies) so the target was set...

But before the declaration could be made, we received a message from Corsica requesting our aid against an attack by Sardinia -- another attempts by the AI to lure Tuscany into a war with France. Once again, we decline to help a vassal and instead peacefuly move our own armies into France to prepare for an attack against Burgundy and, hopefully, Lorraine.

By the end of October, armies are in place in Auvergne, Champagne and Bern and war is declared on Burgundy (dropping stability to 0 for a brief moment until "his efforts will be admired" is chosen from the advisor event to immediately return it to +3). As hoped, Lorraine chooses to help their ally (and becomes the leader in the war) while all of our vassals come to our aid as well... it will not be a fair fight.

We concentrate our efforts on Burgundy, leaving our vassals to deal with Lorraine. Tuscan Armies move in from north and south while the reserve army in Bern moves in via Franche-Compte. Meanwhile, armies from Hainaut, Switzerland and Milan head for Lorraine. Battle is joined in December.

Our forces quickly gain the upper hand, defeating the the Burgundian army easily...

and driving them into Lothringen. There is sufficient infantry available to storm the walls and the city is captured in only 3 days.

At this point, I chose to annex Burgogne. In retrospect, I don't exactly remember why It drove my BB from up to 17.1! If I'd simply vassalized them, it would have had much less of an effect on my already high reputation and would have provided more vassal armies to further bolster our forces. Perhaps I was thinking of it as a forward posting for a future agressive war against France?

Oh well...

In the meantime, our vassal armies have driven the depleted forces of Lorraine into the Palatinate and we leave them alone there while their cities are besieged. In August of 1524, Lothringen falls to the Swiss and in September Milan captures Metz while Hainaut takes Barrois.

vassalization follows in October. Now to settle in for a long peace (if possible)

One advantage of the annexation of Bourgogne soon appears -- we gain a limited wine monopoly that gives a +3% to trade efficiency. The Jesuits also become active in Bourgogne and I make my first attempt to convert a province, sending in a missionary for half-price.

In December, we are hit by our 3rd pirate raid in as many years

In 1525 few notable events occur. We bring Lorraine into the alliance with our other vassals and Romagna converts to Calvanism. Sardinia also conquers Corsica and makes it a vassal -- which I'm very happy with. Now I have a potential means of grabbing Sardinia without drawing France into a war . Of course, given the current state of the BB score, that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon.

1526 and 1527 were fairly uneventful (though we failed to convert Bourgogne). I wish I could say the same for 1528 -- successive pirate raids knocked Tuscany's stability down and took our trade efficiency down to 15% for most of the year and half of 1529 as well. In July of 1529, Venice decided to take a page from my playbook and declared war on Corsica, using the opportunity to capture Sardinia and make it a vassal (ok, I guess I can use it to get into a future war with Venice, without the need to also fight their ally, Austria).

I thought I was clear of the pirate raids -- 6 months had gone by since the last one -- but then in December another massive raid once again reduced stability by 1. The constant pirate raids were starting to get very frustrating

1530 marked a bit of a turnaround though... that year Ancona became a core province and Umbrian became an accepted culture. We also took the opportunity to use a temporary causus belli to declare war on Toulouse (the province of Rousillon in southern France, see the map in the previous post) to gain another strategic vassal (at minimal reputation cost). Missionaries were also sent to Artois and Bourgogne (again) and we gained a Drill Reformer event, for a nice all-around boost to our naval forces...

By 1532, Artois was successfully converted back to Catholic but we failed once more in Bourgogne and sent a third missionary to try yet again. In December of that year, Government Tech reached 12, allowing for the construction of Constables. Over the next few years, Tuscany witnesses a building spree and a drastic increase in the size of the navy, settles a boundary dispute with the Ottoman's (saving myself the reputation hit) and consistently fails to convert any of her other Protestant provinces back to the Catholic faith

Cosimo Pierallini, our long serving Naval Advisor also passed during this time and was replaced with a level 2 Diplomat (every little bit helps when trying to work the BB score down). By December of 1537, I've finally gotten it below 10... Woohoo! (At this point, the chance to diplomatically annex Sicily moves from "Unlikely" to "Maybe" -- we'll wait a little longer to see whether it gets any better as the BB continues to drop).

Finally, in 1538 a successful conversion takes place in Ancona! Unfortunately, that same year our last general dies and the only military leader we have remaining is the Doge himself. With the prolonged peace, Tuscany's army tradition is also rock bottom at 0% so there's also not much chance of getting any useful replacements. Domestically, Tuscany is healthy and strong, but military leadership is sorely lacking...

and it is at precisely this moment that France chooses to declare war on Tuscany

Next (several) Installments: The Great Franco-Tuscan War (or: How to Wreck Your Economy)

 

[BBBD316]

Cool I think we had all been waiting to see how you went up against the French machine.

Great growth, I hope you can start diplo-annexing soon tho it just looks so untidy

 

[unmerged(82977)]

BBBD316: it may indeed look messy, but keeping the the vassal horde around has many advantages over annexing them. The most obvious is that most of them are members of the HRE and so I run the risk of either having to release them once I annex them or else butting heads with the rest of the HRE (of course, once I get strong enough I may not be too worried about that anymore). Aside from that though, playing under "very hard" settings, it looks like each province I own had a -25% penalty to the earnings and manpower given so by taking ownership of a province there is a big decline in the support it provides -- for example, a country like Holland regularly has a standing army of 9,000 or so men at peace. Annexing them might provide me with enough manpower to support maybe 3-4,000 more troops? Some of the small but very rich States (Genoa in particular) are also regularly 1 to 3 Tech levels higher than Tuscany in army and/or naval tech so their armies also hit above their relative weight and are worth keeping around for that reason alone. The only disadvantage to the vassals is that I can't exert any strategic control over their armies so I often end up running my armies as support for threatened vassal forces.

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With France's declaration of war, Liege and Scotland also enter the conflict on their side. Joining us on our side are Holland, Hainaut, Lorraine, The Palatinate, Savoy, Milan, Genoa, Mantua, Modena, Siena, The Papal State and Sicily. At some point Switzerland converted to Protestant without my noticing and had consequently dropped out of the alliance, so I did not get a chance to renew it.

During Peace, it has been my habit to keep both the army and navy at 1/4 support. Thus my first action was to maximize support for both, but it will take a couple of months for morale to be fully restored. In the meantime, the troops are actually withdrawn from frontier provinces to prevent them from being destroyed by enemy forces before they can be brought up to full strength.

A quick survey of visible forces shows that France has a fleet of 35 ships in Provence alone vs. our total naval force of 23 based in Pisa (though Genoa, Milan and Modena together have an additional 11 ships bordering the Ligurian Sea, providing some degree of local parity). Even more intimidating, the total number of French regiments visible numbers 116 to Tuscany's 39, though the fact that most of the French armies are in large stacks means that attrition has brought the actual number of French troops down to about 70,000. The majority of the French forces are concentrated on the border of Tuscany's northern provinces.

I immediately take an 800 ducat loan and use the money to raise a mercenary army of 9000 in Brabant as well as another 2000 in Vlaanderen. In addition, I start minting money at an inflation rate of 0.50 to keep revenues flowing in.

Without any other generals, Doge Buontalenti is put in command of the army retreating from Bourgogne to Lothringen (his maneuver rating helping to speed up the flight from the forward position before enemy armies arrive). An admiral is also recruited to take command of the fleet: Pietro Tempesta (F1 S1 M2).

An overview of the northern and southern fronts at the outbreak of hostilities:

In the north, French armies move in and besiege Artois and Bourgogne while Liege assaults and captures Hainaut. I do make one aggressive move, sending 2000 troops to besiege Calais, which has been left uncovered by the French armies as they advanced into Artois. The rest of the Tuscan army in Vlaanderen advances on the forces of Liege in Hainaut while the mercenary army in Brabant moves into Liege itself to try to take the French ally out quickly to secure our rear. Subsequently, Holland sends an army south to reinforce our forces in Calais while Hainaut's army in Valenceinnes is being driven out by a large Frence force and Lorraine's army is besieging Franche-Compte.

In the south, our army from Bourgogne did not get away fast enough; it was attacked by a French army and I forced an early retreat to Lyonnais where a small French force was vulnerable to attack. That French army subsequently assaulted and captured the province. Savoy has moved one army into Dauphine (with the Genoese moving an army in to support) and a second into Provence. We also manage to easily sink 2 French ships that made the mistake of venturing into the Ligurian Sea.

The army of Hainaut was completly destroyed in Valanciennes. That French army then moves south to Champagne where an army from Lorraine had attacked another French force and it now looks to be in trouble. Similarly, the army of The Palatinate in Barrois is outnumbered and facing destruction. In Hainaut, what looked like an imminent defeat was turned around by the timely arrival of reinforcements led by Doge Buonotalenti and 2/3 of the army of Liege was destroyed. A large contingent (7000ish) of our army follows the retreating remnants (2000) of Liege's army into Valenciennes to try to complete the route.

In the south, things are going rather better. The French army in Auvergne has moved against the besieging armies in Dauphine but allied armies have also arrived to swell the forces in the province. Battle is joined as 7000 French forces square off against the 19000 strong combined armies of Savoy, Genoa, Milan, Mantua and Tuscany. A detachment from the Tuscan army in Lyonnais then breaks off to advance on the small French holding force that was left behind in Auvergne in order to try to cut off the main French army's line of retreat.

While all of this is going on, I get pinged once again by a severe pirate attack which knocks my stability down from +2 to +1

In late August I decide to go on the offensive at sea. Despite the large French fleet in Provence, only small naval contingents have ventured out into the Mediterrenean. A small allied fleet of ships from Milan, Modena, Papal State, Sicily, Sienna and Holland have set up an apparent blockade in the Gulf of Cadiz to cut off the movement of French ships between the Atlantic and Mediterranean so reinforcements are unlikely to arrive in the south. I send the Tuscan fleet out to its new base of operations in the Gulf of Mallorca to keep an eye on ship traffic off the coast of France and Spain and to attack any smaller forces that venture out of the French ports (sinking 2 French ships almost immediately).

By September the situation in the north is starting to favour France. Though Tuscan armies are besieging Calais, Hainaut and Liege, a large French contingent is besieging Artois and French forces are moving into Lorraine. A large battle takes place in Barrois and despite the fact that we outnumber them, the contingents from Lorraine are already at low morale and we are heading for imminent defeat...

Instead, I decide to cut our losses and break off the battle. Consigning Barrois and the allied armies there to defeat, Tuscan armies move to Champagne to attack a weaker French force there. This force is routed, but rather than stay in this exposed position the army retreats back into Hainaut to support an assault on the city, which is recaptured... the new strategy is to fight a holding action on home ground in the north, where attrition and defensive position will give us the edge vs attackers while Liege is taken out of the war. Our vassals don't necessarilly follow our lead on this though -- Holland moves one army into Picardie and begins a siege and a second force into Vallenciennes (where it is joined by the retreating Palatinate army from Barrois, which subsequently falls to a French assault).

Our southern forces continue their advance against weakened French opposition: Tuscan armies move into Languedoc while the battle in Auvergne turns conclusively in our favour and a large Papal army continues the assault on the remnant French force in Savoie. However, the 14,000 strong French army in Bourgogne is finally on the move again, heading south into Lyonnais (presumably to prevent the whole southern front from collapsing). In response, I get the small Tuscan army in Lyonnais out of the path of the coming storm and move it instead into Franche-Compte to help with that siege...

As of Mid November 1538, The tally of troops in the northern theatre is ~28,000 allied vs. ~29,000 enemy (that are visible). In the south though, it is much more skewed, with ~64,000 allied vs. ~20,000 (including the 14,000 strong army advancing south from Bourgogne) It looks like Tuscany and her allies are in the drivers seat, but fresh French contingents continually emerge from those areas that are beyond our view (for example; 4,000 new troops appearing suddenly in the Ile de France) and it is also evident that their defeated forces recover noticably faster than ours, so it seems they still have a vast manpower pool (much bigger than ours... Tuscany's manpower is already down from ~15,000 to 12,500 in the first 4 months of conflict and dropping fast!).

But so far, I'm just happy that we aren't being overrun like Burgundy was.

 

[Rensslaer]

Wow!

Magnificent AAR, Daalbar!

"Burgundy is Broken" -- gotta love that.

Excellent work, as a small Italian power with great ambitions!

Good luck with France. That's a behemoth.

Rensslaer

 

[BBBD316]

Looks like you are holding as best you can, no thought to a quick attack on Paris?

 

[SerFranke]

Well done so far; I think that in this war you're really benefiting from your vast number of vassals/allies as their troops movements, although not always seeming sensible, are distracting certain numbers of French troops...

Btw, in one of your 70 years screenies, I can spot a light green colored province up there in Finland; is this OE?

 

[unmerged(82977)]

Rensslaer - thanks for the kind words, glad you're enjoying it; I've been following and enjoying your Milan AAR as well. The Italian states are great fun to play, are they not?

BBBD316 - judging by the flow of new French units that appear as soon as I eliminate one army, I don't think I can afford to overextend with a quick, concentrated strike because if that fails then the whole front will collapse. I can't match France in a 1:1 attrition battle, they have a much deeper manpower well than we do. Yes, I have a horde of vassal armies in support, but these are mostly 1 and 2 province states who's manpower I also expect would be very limited. To use a sports analogy, we have a strong starting lineup but not a very deep bench, so I think my best option is to make them pay a 2 for 1 (hopefully better) price in each encounter. Despite my efforts to change my approach, I'm usually a stubborn cuss when it comes to making sure an attacker pays for "daring" to attack me in the first place -- so I unsually can't help but consider a white peace a loss, even if it would likely be the smart thing to do (hence, why the alternate title for this event is "How to Wreck Your Economy" ).

Redbaron - Oh, I'm most definitely aware of the aid that all those vassal armies is providing. As I stated in an earlier post, my strategy of vassalizing a string of states on the French border is specifically designed to hem French expansion in... I knew that sooner or later this would result in a French attack and was just hoping that I'd have enough allies in place to give me the chance to hold on to the formerly Burgundian provinces when the hammerblow fell (and as it turns out, channel the main French blow elsewhere -- thanks Lorraine!). At the outset, I wasn't sure that I had enough vassals in place but it's looking like there might just be enough to do the job. It also allows me to move whole armies forward without stringing out besieging units behind the front. As you can see, in the south vassal armies are conducting most of the sieges as Tuscan forces move out to expand the front line and keep recuperating French armies off-balance.

And yes, that is an OE territory in Finland -- not entirely sure how or when they got up there, but they've been up there for about 10 years now.

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The Great Franco-Tuscan War (Part II)

In December, Stability climbs back to +2 and the effects of the recent pirate raid is lost (helping out the fiscal situation greatly... about half of Tuscany's income is trade-based so bad pirate raids can be crippling and require me to keep a close eye on finances at these times so that I don't accidentally bankrupt).

In the north, Lothringen falls to French forces early in December. Liege falls to Tuscany soon thereafter and France responds right after that with the captures of Artois and Barrois. The 4,000 strong French army from Ile de France also makes a move agains Holland's army in Picardie, but is repulsed when reinforcements from Calais arrive to change the balance of power.

In the south, the Battle of Auvergne is won and the surviving French troops retreat to Bourgogne. This prompts the large French stack that came from Bourgogne (under the command of Louis XIV) that has just wiped out the forces of Modena in Lyonnais to turn west and march on the recently victorious Tuscan force in Auvergne. Thinking that discretion is the better part of valour, I continue my policy of "avoiding that massive stack like the plague" and get out of it's way, choosing instead to follow the retreating French force into Bourgogne and attempt to completely destroy it. However, Louis' force splits and most of it turns back to Bourgogne and intercepts us while the remainder continues to move into Auvergne. Ouch! Louis' large army inflicts alot of damage and I sound the retreat back to Lyonnais (we're running in circles) trying to see if the French stack will continue to follow... if so, I'll try to lure it to the allied stronghold of Dauphine where a combined army of 16,000 or so is besieging the city. Unfortunately, I neglected to get a picture, but he did indeed follow, and, as hoped, was soundly beaten, retreating back into Lyonnais. Tuscan armies then mopped up, The original army driving the exhausted French force north into Franche-Compte (where it encounters the besieging army from Lorraine and is pressed back into Bourgogne) while a second army, moving out of Languedoc after leaving a small force to continue the siege, drove the smaller French holding force in Auvergne north into Bourbon. Tuscany continues to push forward as vassal armies swarm in behind the front. By early February, French opposition in the south appears to be shattered!

Meanwhile, at sea a small fleet of 5 French ships had shown up off the coast of Holland. These are either new construction or ships that had snuck through from the Mediterranean. A quick check showed that there were only 11 ships left docked in Languedoc, so I decide that the odds were now sufficiently in my favour to send in my entire fleet to force them into battle and try to take them out once and for all. They gamely came out from port to meet the Tuscan fleet and battle was joined...

Our larger number of heavy ships carried the day and we managed to sink 7 of their ships with no losses of our own... but what happened to the other 4 ships? Turns out that all 4 large ships made a break for the Gulf of Valencia and were covered by the sacrifice of 1 flyte that stayed behind to continue the battle and buy them time to flee (sneaky AI). 7 of my heavily damaged ships limp back to port in Pisa for repairs while the rest of the fleet (16 ships) sets out in pursuit, catching up to them in the Gulf of Almira where 1 caravel is captured when they break off again and head for the Gulf of Cadiz. Catching up with them, we force battle, sinking 2 and capturing the last (another caravel) -- All French naval forces in the Mediterranean have now been hunted down and eliminated! The Tuscan fleet puts into port at Gibraltar for repairs and to keep an eye out for ships trying to sneak back into our sea.

Now that the sea lanes in the south have been cleared of opposition, and the southern front has been opened up, I intend to press my advantage, so 6 more mercenary infantry are recruited in Pisa, which will be sent to bolster our armies in southern France which are starting to get a little too spread out.

Back on the northern front, Holland is now cranking out troops (presumably from monies gained in the new year) and they are flowing south to reinforce their armies in Picardie and Valenciennes. They also send an army into Caux unopposed to begin the siege of that province. Liege sends a small force north in a futile effort to recapture Hainaut but is easily turned back by the Tuscan garrison. Holland isn't the only one cranking out troops though -- Thousands of french troops once again suddenly appear in Ile de France.

A lull descends on both battle fronts throughout March and most of April; little happens other than the transport of the 6,000 mercenaries from Pisa to Languedoc, though I do hire another 3,000 mercenaries in Brabant in preparation for an attack on the French army in Artois. Also during this time the sieges of both Dauphine and Provence end with the provinces falling under Savoy's control. However, in late April the rejuvinated French army holding up in Bourgogne catches me off guard and strikes to the east, handily beating the army of Lorraine in Franche-Compte (likely just shy of that province also being captured). France attempts to follow up with an advance into Savoie, but a combined army of Milan, Modena, Sicily, Mantua and Savoy defeat the large French strike force and they retreat back into Franche-Compte to lick their wounds. Undetered, France follows up in May when a fresh army of ~14,000 coming out of Bourbon moves south again into Auvergne... I try to maneuver reinforcements into position (a few troops from Siena having already arrived to bolster the Tuscan army conducting the siege), but there are not enough available troops close by, even with the recent arrival of the mercenaries in Languedoc, to get there quickly enough to make a difference in the outcome...

In May the French forces started to move again... French armies in Lorraine wiped out a small army in Metz and initiated a siege, while the army in Vermandois moved north, to confront the armies of The Palatinate and Holland in Valenciennes. However, this attack is blunted and they were pushed back with heavy casualties. In an attempt to take advantage of that sudden weak spot, I decided to initiate a limited offensive, sending one army in to try to drive out the French army in Artois and a second, via Valenciennes, into Vermandois. We successfully shove the French out of Artois and they retreat into Picardie where Holland continues to battle them. We are less successful in the battle for Vermandois, where French reinforcements from Ile de France quickly joined in the battle and defeated the Tuscan forces within days of their arrival. The French reinforcements then immediately move west in an attempt to bolster their forces in Picardie. In the meantime, the last remaining army of Liege, counterattacked into Artois to try to push us back out, but was destined not to be much longer for this virtual world...

Liege's army is obliterated and the siege of Artois begins, but unfortunately, despite an attempt to move a few troops in to support Holland's position in Picardie, the reinforcements from Ile de France (via Vermandois) do manage to arrive in Picardie in time, and with sufficient force, to swing the battle in their favour and allied troops are forced to retreat. However, by sending their fresh troops into Picardie, the only forces left to guard Vermandois are the same weakened troops that constituted the original garrison. After leaving a holding force in Artois to continue the siege with support from Hainaut, the bulk of the troops moved in, destroyed the French forces, and began to besiege the province. Holland also continued to push forward -- having followed advancing french armies in Lorraine to attempt to liberate Barrois behind them, they now move yet another small army unopposed into Champagne.

In May I had also decided to press my advantage at sea, so after the fleet had undergone repairs in Gibraltar for a couple of months we ventured out into the Atlantic on the hunt for French shipping. On June 6 a small French squadron was encountered in Finisterre bay...

all 6 are sunk, but we lose 2 ships in the battle. These losses are managable though, and the remaining ships are in excellent shape, so the fleet continues north, sinking one more French ship in the Coast of Brittany and then 2 more in the Channel. Looks like we've smashed the entire French fleet (though almost every province on the Atlantic coast appears to be building new Barques -- I guess I'll just keep patrolling the coast from this point on).

Things look to be under control. We've dealt with most of the new reinforcements that France produced at the beginning of the year, holding fairly steady in the south and even pushing forward a bit in the north. However, as of the end of June, manpower is down to 5,300 and is continuing to drop like a stone (as our armies are now down by more than 3x that amount), and will soon be at zero...

Next installment: Uh-Oh... I think France just took a loan