EoJ, it has been a while since you have entered the lands of the Bardic Circle. I guess it has given you plenty of time to improve your grammar. (Old TWH joke)

But playing as Saxony will be intriguing: you have Prussia, Austria and France circling around you like thieves in the night eager to encroach upon your lands not to mention the smaller German states as well. However, I look forward to your AAR!

Yes, it has been a while, hasn't it? I think my last one I shot off a quick 20-turn one that Migrated Sicily to the Holy Land. I still have difficulty trying not to overstretch the poor commas, but there you go.

As for you, I remember you sending me drafts of your first war stories and being all nervous about it. Now you never leave the place! Good times

It has been a very long time since I've read any of your works EoJ. Really looking forward to reading about your conquests, and I hope you stay motivated enough to give this AAR a proper conclusion

*gets giddy with excitement*

Haven't seen a ETW AAR in ages! looking forward to this! Expect an announcement in the Podcast..

As for you, I remember you sending me drafts of your first war stories and being all nervous about it. Now you never leave the place! Good times.

Good times indeed!

Reasserting Saxony

Elector Fredrick Augustus I recently converted to Catholicism in a pragmatic move (some would say cynical) to gain the Crown of Poland. Upon him winning the election, he immediately set about building up a power base, and his subjects, proud Lutherans, did not take kindly to becoming secondary concerns to a Catholic backwater. Regardless, the Prince-Elector’s possessions were united under one crown, and Saxony now officially belonged to the Crown of Poland, an independent state no longer. But as the 18th Century began, the mayors, bishops and powerful land owners of Saxony resented being squeezed for taxes and resources in order to pacify the wild polish frontiers, and when a Saxon regiment was massacred by prepared townsfolk in Poland the great men of Saxony had enough. Rallying around a politician by name of Johannes Gauss, they presented August with an ultimatum- Saxony or Poland.


August didn’t fancy his chances of keeping the Polish Throne without a secure base in Saxony to fall back on, and indeed another challenger quickly forced his hand in the matter. Declaring himself Stanislaw I, the pretender rallied support and marched on Warsaw. This helpfully reduced the King’s options to Saxony or nothing, so he relinquished the crown to the victorious Stanislaw. However, the newly enthroned Polish King smelt blood- Saxony, though underdeveloped, was rich for Polish tastes, and seemed to lack in the military department- a single regiment, some outdated cannon, and even a reliance on pikes! Furthermore, weren’t the realms of Saxony and Poland now supposed to be joined? Saxons pointed to the absurdity of that last argument, as the legalities of personal union simply didn’t work like that, but from Stanislaw’s point of view the attempted conquest of Saxony in order to reclaim what was rightfully theirs gave a much-needed air of legitimacy to his rule, and Polish magnates promptly fell in line.


And thus at the dawn of 1701, Poland and Saxony were at war. August had not been idle, however- alliances with Hannover, the Dutch and Great Britain were cemented before the Poles declared war, and furthermore the reigning Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I of the House of Hapsburg, saw things distinctly from Saxony’s point of view- the birth of a dynamic Austrian-Saxon alliance.
For now, Saxony was shielded by the might of the Holy Roman Emperor. The Electorate of Saxony, as it was once more, could now concentrate on taking its first steps towards industrialisation and progression from a state lagging behind the others to a front runner in German politics.


Leipzig became a centre of research and industrial experimentation. Dignitaries from the neighbouring state of Prussia were brought in to help the Saxon military grow, both in size and effectiveness. Plug Bayonets, an innovation of Prussia’s, were introduced and held up as the fruits of this cooperation. The army recruited more men into its ranks, and organised them into regiments of two battalions of line infantry, so that a single section of a battle line may be entrusted to a single regiment used to fighting together, rather than several smaller regiments that may have never met before. A two battalion regiment may also be deployed on lone assignments easier than cobbling together a force on an ad hoc basis to do a similar job. The exception of the two battalion system was the 1st, later Royal, Regiment, which had three Battalions of Line infantry. [I have just realised that I have badly misspelt Battalions to Batallions in many of my screenshots. Cringe and deal with it ] They were also to be named- Regiments had their base of operations scattered throughout Saxon lands, all answerable to Dresden, and generally the name following their regimental number that indicated where this was. The first few regiments were raised and based in Saxony itself, hence the 2nd and 3rd Saxony, but when Saxon holdings grew so regiments began to be raised elsewhere, and their base of operations located accordingly- hence the famed 7th Wurttemberg, or the 10th Koln (Cologne). It was not unheard of for regimental names to change- the 4th and 5th relocated to Bavaria very early in the 18th century, and so changed from Saxon to more local names.

Names were not limited to regiments, either. Individual battalions also gained nicknames, often to do with a reputation for excelling in a certain way (the 1st Royal Regiment’s 2nd Battalion “Breach Stormers” was one of the earliest ones) or an individual action on the battle field (the 2nd Saxony’s 2nd Battalion styled themselves “Grenadiers” long before a formal Grenadier battalion was introduced to the regiment after getting the better of outnumbering Swedish Grenadiers). If a battalion’s exploits were inspiring enough, the entire regiment might adopt the nickname as a mark of pride- the earliest known instance of this was during the Swedish wars, where the entire first Karabiniergarde took on their first battalion’s nickname to strike fear into their enemy.
Some officers liked this more personal touch more than others, but the sense of togetherness generated by the new regimental system was cited as part of the reason for the new Saxon army’s effectiveness in battle.
*****

[This message has been edited by EnemyofJupitor (edited 04-20-2013 @ 05:22 AM).]

I have looked at Afty's AARs for formatting and stuff, but I go for "explain everything the game engine throws at us" in terms of writing

[This message has been edited by EnemyofJupitor (edited 04-19-2013 @ 04:51 AM).]

It looks well-done so far.

I wish you luck on your endeavors.

The main challenge at the start from a narrative point of view is the fact Saxony is a protectorate of Poland- it was in Personal Union in 1700 with the first of a couple of Saxon kings on the Polish throne. This worked out well for Saxony in real life (and Dresden has a ton of shiny things dating from this period in the Green Vault), but in game you lack the ability to declare war until you break free of your protectorate status, so from turn one I looked at getting rid of Polish overlordship in order to be able to play normally. This was accomplished by me declaring war on Poland, and not the other way round. I then had to come up with a reasonable excuse to break free of Poland at that time without resorting to a revolution- they're kind of costly businesses and quite possibly suicide early game, especially if the lower classes make a republic rather than the Nobles find a new claimant to the throne...

The second problem, as LoH alluded to in his post, is being stuck between Austria and Prussia. This is actually my second game at Saxony- the first lasted until about 1708 where I was at war with Prussia and took Berlin. Austria then wanted a piece of the action and declared war, and I then marched on Prague. However, their army is *much* bigger than mine, and in the ensuing battle I'm buggered, the army gone. I sue for peace, get it, but then Prussia decides it's not quite dead yet and pulls a couple of stacks out of nowhere to retake Berlin and Dresden in succession. First game over I've ever had! But it showed just how vital keeping one or both of these two onside is for most of the game.
Thus, I trade with both and ally with Austria this time- and I'm able to call them in to my Polish war from the off. Austria shielded me mostly from the poles, enabling me to get on with things

The Bavarian Campaign – The Battle of Erfurt

1702- The threatened Polish invasion seems to have receded. In the north, Prussia refuses military access to Poland as part of its technological partnership with Saxony, while in the South the Austrians clash with the Poles who refuse to take no for an answer. It all seems in control, so the Saxons decide to do a little preparation of their own via increasing their industrial output and drill their army a little. What was a little unorthodox about their methods was the fact they combined the two and invaded Bavaria, the industrial heartland of Germany.



The Holy Roman Emperor was not pleased. Infighting weakened his authority, which was already being stretched by a rabid Poland and the watchful Prussians waiting for a hint of Hapsburg weakness, and Bavaria was an Elector state, no mere lesser principality- should Saxony win they would be able to control two of the votes for the next King of the Romans- but no Reichstacht or official proclamation of disapproval followed. It is possible Leopold didn’t think Saxony would be able to make much progress, and find out they’d bitten off more than they could chew by themselves, and a quick look at military facilities and sheer numbers did indicate that Saxony would have to sue for peace sooner than later. Things would change, however, with the sudden assassination of Johann von Bellegarde, and the rise of the man who would take his place.
Von Bellegarde was one of the men present when August was presented with the choice of realms in 1700. A military man, he held his position by hereditary right rather than distinction in battle but none-the-less participated in Prussian-led reforms of the Saxon armed forces. He still had a penchant for using pikes, and didn’t think much of Saxony’s inability to field large amounts of cavalry either, but his devotion to Saxony was absolute, and was given overall command of the campaign to bring Bavaria to heel. His plan centred on causing as much destruction as possible in the north in order to draw a response, beat them in battle and march on a much more lightly defended Munich, before using the centralised position to mop up in inevitable pockets of resistance. A simple plan, but none-the-less it depended heavily on von Bellegarde’s ability to beat the opposition in battle, and for that reason the 2000-man army mustered was about as great as Saxony could afford to send out at the time. The 1st and 2nd Regiments were accompanied by the remains of an old division of soldiers, scarce better than militia, while another regiment was being recruited for the defence of Saxony. Pikemen and outdated cannon accompanied these new units- it seemed Saxony would not jump head first into the modern world but would take tentative steps.
We’ll never know if von Bellegarde was up to the task, however- in the dead of winter he was found dead in his tent with knife cut in his throat. It is unknown which party was responsible- internal backstabbing is very unlikely, as the man was respected within his own borders, but the finger of blame points towards either Bavarians or Polish agents, both of which had an interest in seeing Saxony fail in their endeavours, though Bavaria’s need was more immediate in this case.
It seemed the campaign would fail before it even began, but August demanded that the men still marched- the forced abdication of the Polish throne after only so recently ascending it still smarted, and he needed to recover some of his prestiege, so the burden of command fell to von Bellegarde’s second in command, the Colonel of the newly minted 1st Regiment, Sebastian Smeltzer.



A man of noble birth, he was able to buy his way into a comfortable Captainship until Prussian military advisors picked up on his knack of tactical awareness and earmarked him for a greater command. From there, a fortunately-timed scandal involving his superiors being involved in forcibly enlisting men into the army left him in command of the 1st Royal Regiment at the very young age of 20 as Saxony declared war on Bavaria, and von Bellegarde picked him to become part of his staff. His rapid rise up the chain of command is unusual in this early part of the 18th century, and he was almost certainly one of the first benefactors of the new ideas being installed in the army about promotion on merit. This new-found ethos was tempered, however, by Saxon respect for the aristocracy, and it is fortunate Smeltzer had family wealth to back him on these first crucial steps to become the Duke of Wurttemberg, and a great Saxon hero.

His command did not get off to a good start, however- insisting on marching at the vanguard of the army, Smeltzer decided on riding ahead a little to see an army in front of him outside Erfurt.




[The above is a picture of modern Erfurt as seen from its fantastic castle, built on a massive hill high above central Germany. It’s probably right at the centre of the country and well worth a visit if you’re driving through at any stage.]
The Bavarians had not been idle, and an army had been despatched northwards to counter any Saxon advance. Lothar von Thungen was part of the old elite in Bavaria, and took with him a mixed force of cavalry, cannon and foot that was typical of southern German armies of the period. Previously, it was reckoned a Bavarian regiment would beat an equivalent Saxon one due to superior training and morale, but these new regiments were as tightly drilled as the Bavarian elite units left behind at Munich. Bavaria also lacked the new bayonets, relying on cavalry swords to smash their way into melee, and had less cannon present. In short, Bavaria had rested on their laurels, but they still outnumbered the foe, had superior mobility and even had the drop on the Saxons, while the new regiments of their enemies were untried and untested in battle- training counts for little when men forget it due to the amount of bullets around them. A competent commander with a basic grasp of tactics such as von Thungen would have regarded a matchup such as this winnable.



Smeltzer retreated from the Bavarians to link up with his army whilst under enemy cannon fire. His first priority was to lay down a base of fire that would disrupt the Bavarian advance while the Saxons readied themselves, and his cannon un-limbered and set to work.



Smeltzer had ten pieces of artillery, and they also had the juicy target of a Bavarian force closely packed in readiness to smash through enemy lines. The resulting barrage tore into blue ranks, cowing them at the precise moment the Saxon line was most vulnerable. Smeltzer ordered his drummers and flautists to play louder and cheer, sapping the enemy’s willingness to charge the Saxons until all his army was in position. Though the infantry refused to advance, von Thungen was no fool, and let his cavalry loose on what he still believed to be a ragged and unready line.



Two cavalry units were sent to harry them. The first, in typical hot-headed fashion seen throughout the early modern period from cavalry, went straight towards cannon fire in a bid to silence the guns and gain glory, while the second took a more enterprising route around the side. Alas for these fine men, the centre was guarded by



Pikemen- while regarded as obsolete they were still a deadly threat against cavalry, and Smeltzer had set them where he predicted enemy horsemen would strike first. His guess was spot on, and a furious melee erupted in the centre, but ultimately the Pikemen managed to repel the attackers. The second unit were equally out done by Smeltzer- the surviving unit of the old regiments was guarding the flanks with fixed bayonets, and thwarted the flanking manoeuvre. However, they could not finish the job, and a battalion of the 2nd was fed in to the fight.
The Bavarian infantry soon followed, and there they engaged in a musket duel with the 1st and 2nd Regiments.



For many on both sides, this was their first real taste of action but neither side gave an inch. The Bavarian cannon inflicted losses in the Saxon centre, while the Bavarian infantry tended to clump together that gave the Saxon cannon a very nice target.



The Bavarian cavalry in the centre were joined by infantry, inflicting greater losses on the pikemen and necessitating the intervention of the General’s guard itself, but they were eventually repelled. The right flank was still tied up by the enemy cavalry, which refused to die quietly in the face of massed ranks of infantry, and on the left a flanking manoeuvre was dealt with by the 1st Battalion of the 1st Royals. Things were about to take a decisive turn, however, when a lucky cannon shot smashed its way into the Bavarian General’s staff, killing Lothar himself in one fell swoop.




The Bavarians assaulting the centre of the line quailed at the news and ran, leaving the pikemen and Smeltzer to intercept another infantry battalion attempting to silence the guns. The Pikemen then waded into the firelight, hoping to capitalise on the shaken morale of the enemy with a shock charge but were routed by the deceased von Thungen’s bodyguard, who attempted to avenge their fallen commander. However, it was too little too late, as the entire Bavarian left collapsed, leaving the right pinned under the musketry of the 1st and the cannon vulnerable to a cavalry charge led by Smeltzer. The battle was wrapped up by the 1st charging home against a dispirited and spent Bavarian force.

^{i) ii)
iii) iv) v)}

The two armies were initially evenly matched, but casualties of the Battle of Erfurt were 1400 Bavarians against 800 Saxons. With his timely personal cavalry charges and perceived courage when under fire, Smeltzer began to cultivate a bit of a reputation.



*****

[This message has been edited by EnemyofJupitor (edited 04-20-2013 @ 11:22 AM).]

Greta battle there, EoJ.



I liked this intallment very much.

I wholeheartedly agree with Terikel. Fantastic battle and updates EoJ, and I love it whenever a stray cannonball manages to take out the enemy general

Yes, it was a bit bizarre- I was aiming for the cannon, some distance behind. Still, nice to get a good battle early Ta for the kind words chaps


I'll attempt to update Sundays and Wednesdays, both for fear of updating too quickly for me to write up stuff and to stop me having to play through my exam period when I should be studying! I've got to about 1827 or so on 2 turns a year, and I have a few written up ready to be uploaded, with the rest bullet pointed what I want to write about (including politics and stuff ). Should be fun

[This message has been edited by EnemyofJupitor (edited 04-22-2013 @ 02:06 PM).]

The Bavarian Campaign – The March on Munich, Gauss’ Rise to Government and The Bavarian Revolt

1703. The Saxons march south, crossing the Danube and encountering a slightly smaller force of Bavarians, this time made up of more elite troops. However, the general Rudolf Schmitz proved unable to marshal his forces competently. The initial cavalry charge, which caused such damage in the previous engagement, was this time made against troops that were already in formation, and were repelled without a single casualty. The small amount of enemy cannon was left at the mercy of an onrushing Smeltzer, whilst attempts by enemy infantry to relieve the situation were driven off by the 2nd Saxony.



Eventually, the Saxons could leisurely walk up the hill while pounding the unfortunate Bavarians with cannon and were able to overpower them in the subsequent firefight and bayonet charge. Rudolph, however, lived to see another day, and escaped Smeltzer and the pikemen. He fled and conceded the field to the Saxons with 500 dead, with only 120 Saxon deaths.


Despite the loss of their field army the Bavarians defended Munich in great numbers, and would make a formidable force tucked behind protective walls. Smeltzer wrote back to Dresden, asking for more men while promising the successful conclusion of the campaign was near. He then withdrew to northern Bavaria, securing his supply lines so reinforcements could join up without having to march through hostile territory.



At this time, August was going through something of a governmental reshuffle. In a concession to his Saxon magnates, he replaced several of his inner circle of government with key members of the opposition to his Polish designs- thus, Johannes Gauss, the instigator of the extraordinary meeting, was installed as First Lord of Government, whilst installed in the Treasury was Karl Marx [I know, I know], a noted aristocrat that had a habit of buttressing his already considerable fortune with dabbling in mercantile initiatives, something most nobles thought beneath them. He replaced Jan Kallenbach, regarded as the most important of August’s supporters. Widely believed to have been the source of the idea to claim Poland, his removal from the office of the Treasury was one of the key demands put to the Elector, but August was not about to give up on his close advisor that easily. His subsequent appointment to the post of Lord Chief Justice enraged the opposition as much as it would be expected, and was regarded as a fairly unwise move by the Elector in the fragile political climate he was working in- a plot to discredit Kallenbach by some of the more radical elements in Saxon politics via inciting riots in the capital, with the potential for a very large loss of life, was foiled only by the outbreak of national pride felt due to the success of the Bavarian campaign. The recent military victories eclipsed the unease the people felt about Kallenbach, who rather sensibly shunned the public eye during his first few months of tenure until his next public speech in 1704, recommending that taxes for the lower class should be cut to lead to greater growth. This motion was obviously very popular, but modern historians queried the fact that a Lord Chief Justice was delivering a speech on taxes and not the Lord of the Treasury. From personal letters sealed in the Green Vault in Dresden dating from this time, it is clear that August and Kallenbach were acting to rehabilitate the latter’s unsavoury reputation into something of a populist in a bid to keep August’s favoured advisor at court.



The Lord Secretary of War, unusually, was not a native Saxon. August Erlanger was born a Prussian, and was part of the envoy sent to retrain the Saxon army. However, he discovered an affinity with the land he was sent to, and within a short year gained not only a residence, but a wife and special citizenship. He was encouraged by the new Government to write a report about the large scale reorganisation of the armed forces, and upon its completion was given the role of Secretary of War in order to carry out his own recommendations.

The Bavarian campaign was the first test of his new proposals, so Erlanger reacted quickly to Smeltzer’s request for more men. New regiments were recruited and cavalry raised, the latter quickly joining up with Smeltzer. The 3rd and 4th were also sent to Bavaria, but Smeltzer spotted another easy target before they could arrive. Rudolf Schmitz was spotted patrolling the southern shores of the Danube at the head of a weak detachment that represented most of Bavaria’s active military. Rather than face them in the streets of Munich, Smeltzer took the opportunity to weaken the Bavarians further, whilst a rapid response mounted by the Bavarians to help extract Schmitz from his predicament was simply too small, and acted only to add to the butcher’s bill.



The battle took place around a small town built on a hill called Reichertshofen. The 1st deployed to the west of the town, while the 2nd and Smeltzer’s new cavalry took care of the reinforcements. Both parties were supported from range with cannon. Smeltzer’s plan was to use the Pikemen and old regiments, now formally classed as “Militia”, to work their way through the town and surprise the Bavarians by falling on their flanks. However, the terrain leading down from the town to the plain on which the battle was fought was too steep for the infantry to tackle, and so the 1st was left to match up against the main force by themselves. As the two lines engaged, Smeltzer saw that Schmitz had strayed too far from the protection of his infantry in a bid to launch a flanking manoeuvre, and quickly charged with his own bodyguard. Rudolph Schmitz died as the charge hit home, and the rest of his bodyguard soon followed. The Bavarian line infantry, however, continued to engage the 1st.



To the east, the cavalry quickly neutralised the enemy artillery and occupied the enemy infantry until the 2nd could pin them with musket fire. With the “relief force” now being dealt with, the Saxon cavalry streaked across the battlefield to hit the line infantry in the west from behind, throwing them into confusion. Smeltzer immediately ordered a general advance, and a smart bayonet charge left the Saxons as victors with a mere 150 casualties.




Munich was all that was left between Smeltzer and victory, and in November 1703 he began a siege. An initial sally was repulsed with 500 Saxons dead to 1200 Bavarians, now mostly desperate men with guns. In the spring Smeltzer judged his preparations complete, and with the 3rd and 4th now under his command he assaulted the city. The garrison was sapped in strength from the sally and desertion, and the Elector, Maximilian II Emanuel, had already fled the city a month previously. Smeltzer took command of Munich with only 150 casualties. Now all he had to do was hold it.



August was pleased by the outcome of the campaign, and encouraged by the performance of the regiments under Smeltzer’s command. He realised that this new army, properly maintained, could put Saxony above other minor German states and nearly onto a par with Austria and Prussia. The Duke started to privately discuss with his cabinet the possibility of asserting some kind of hold over other smaller states, be it through friendship or the sword, but first Saxony had to deal with their new conquest- Bavaria wasn’t pacified by a long shot. The Nobility would be appeased after they saw repairs being made to the infrastructure, and assurances made that their pockets wouldn’t be impacted on too harshly, but for a German lower class used to national self-rule a foreign occupation were intolerable.
Back in Saxony, and Leipzig’s military academy had been looking at ways to make outdated Saxon cannon more effective. The result was Canister shot, which would have a very nasty impact on Saxony’s foes soon enough. This new found ability of cannon to wreak havoc in close quarters meant that a different way of deploying artillery was being formed, one that had the cannon on the front line next to the line regiment in order to take advantage of this new projectile as much as possible.



Unrest in Bavaria continued. In 1705 major riots in Nuremberg brought about a halt in industrial production in May. Saxon officials in the area dismissed it as a one off event, and were badly caught off guard when in October dissent that had bubbled away under the surface for almost a year erupted into a full rebellion. Raising their flag, the rebels took Nuremberg for their own, and dared the Saxons to respond. Unfortunately for them, Smeltzer had been preparing for such a revolt ever since taking Munich, and had retained all of his regiments of the Bavarian campaign under his command. He marched north straight away at full strength, knowing that intimidation would cause many to melt away before him. There were, however, a hard core of Bavarian nationalists and former military men that would not be swayed so easily.
Just shy of a thousand men, the rebel force was confronted by Smeltzer’s army of four regiments with cannon and cavalry in support. The Bavarians didn’t stand a chance. Saxon artillery reduced the enemy cannons to rubble, and prompted a wild cavalry charge from the Bavarians. This was repelled easily by the relatively green 4th regiment, and the Saxons advanced to within firing distance of the Bavarians. In a very short fight, the rebels fled in the face of organised musketry, and the revolt was crushed within a few short months.





Smeltzer knew that despite the armed rebellion being crushed, delicate manoeuvres must be made in order to not further incense the Bavarians. Writing to the Lord Chief Justice, he recommended that integration rather than subjection would be the key here, and Kallenbach agreed. Bavarians would keep their jobs in the foundries of the land, and several industrialists were invited to Leipzig for purposes of innovation. The most surprising move was to relocate the 4th and newly recruited 6th to Bavaria, and basing their recruitment on the local populations. It was a bold move, and one that paid off handsomely, as the people came round to what Dresden was telling them- they had a stake in this new society, and could actively defend it if they chose.
Thus, the 4th was renamed the 4th Bavaria, while the 6th was now Nuremberg [Or Numberg with an invisible umlaut in the game screenshots], the old centre of trouble being particularly singled out in integration policies.

*****

[This message has been edited by EnemyofJupitor (edited 04-24-2013 @ 04:03 AM).]

This continues to both entertain and intrigue me.

Well done, chap.

I like the way the politics are worked in as reasons for decisions being made- as opposed to military actions dictating policies.

As stated above, intriguing.

Thanks, it's basically how I play total war when given the chance- tis far more entertaining
It's sometimes a bit of a challenge to explain away some of the events you're not part of, so I usually don't extend it that far, but for the purposes of this aar I've had to come up with a suitable explanation for the next bit that I'm quite happy with- and if you like me working in politics into it hopefully you will too! It gives a nice overreaching narrative to the next decade...

Love the political machinations behind the military campaign. It is good that you are pacifying the smaller German states as it will give you a platform to fight the bigger fish that is Prussia and possibly Austria.

A great continuation! Keep up the good work EOJ!

May I venture to ask which mod you used to allow you to play as Saxony? Good work on the AAR though, been forever since I've seen a new ETW one

Edit: I cannot into reading

[This message has been edited by Punic Hebil (edited 04-24-2013 @ 02:23 PM).]

really cool. What year does the game end (I don't own/never played etw)?

Pssh, like I'm going to get that far
I think it's 1800. However, I'm going to see if I can change my settings from 2 turns per year to four just to have a bit more time once I reach a certain stage, I think- this initial build up should take a lot more time year wise, as it's a small faction to start with. Once I start getting colonies and stuff, however, I'll be a major power, and capturing more territory in smaller amounts of time won't be such a stretch

Punic: Yeah, Afty's ones were really the only ones that got properly serviced that I can remember (and apologies to anyone who managed to pull off an awesome one without me being aware...) Due to the Government system, colonies, naming of regiments and stuff, however, I believe Empire has the greatest story telling ability if approached from a certain way- it's different from Shogun and Rome where it's family trees of generals doing great things, and it's easier to emotionally invest in their progress due to that, but you can imagine as I have here someone buying a commission and ending up in command, or coming up through the ranks Sharpe Style.

I dunno, I just like making stuff up

[This message has been edited by EnemyofJupitor (edited 04-24-2013 @ 02:59 PM).]

Another excellent update. This almost makes me want to tear myself away from EB and give ETW another run

What's EB, Europa Barbarum?

Yeah, this is also making me want to play ETW if only my computer was powerful enough.

Ooh, one more thing, I have the dev cam on, enabling me to zoom right down to floor level to get shots like the last one in the update

Empire is under rated. Enjoying this one EoJ, please keep it up.