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An Island of War - A Mans AAR!

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Cuthuthulu

Cuthuthulu

HAK HAK HAK
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Mar 9, 2007
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It is a time of great strife.
Edward the Confessor has passed away without a clear heir.
With support of the Saxon lords Harold Godwinson crowns himself King of England.
However not all is well, Harold's brother Tosting, disgraced and exiled
convinces King Harald of Norway to invade England and seize the throne.

Meanwhile Duke William 'the Bastard' of Normandy
promised the throne long ago by the late king has his own plans.
With the approval of the Pope himself he has raised an army to take back what he was promised.

Now three great powers will soon converge and the fate of England will be decided.
This story isn't about any of them

An Island of War! A Mans AAR!

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Where our story takes place​

Hello! Welcome to my first AAR!

I will be playing as the Count of the Isle of Man. I have no clear goals or objectives in mind and will try to take opportunities as they pop up. This will be my first 'real' game of CKII and I'm sure I will make plenty of mistakes. Feel free to offer any gameplay advice or criticisms about my terrible writing style! The first real update will begin on late Saturday!
 
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Subscribed!
 
Manx AAR. First Week. I have a feeling this will be fun.
 
I love this idea. I always prefer small start AARs. Make sure you marry a Crovan!
 
This looks promising, a very good choice of nation, I'll keep an eye on this.
 
I'll definitely read this!
 
September 15, 1066 - March 9, 1069​
Chapter 1: Rushen, still only in Rushen

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According to Wikipedia I don't exist

Hello I'm Gofraid Ua ímair, Earl of the Isle of Man! No I don't know who my mother is.


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The beard come with the job!

This is my son Fingal. He's the Count of Galloway and Spymaster of the isles. I also don't know who his mother is.
We don't talk very often. Last time I saw him we were on a boat. "They will take care of you father, I promise." He told me!

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What's better than two legs? Three!

He lied! I might be old but I'm not incapable damn it! Now I'm stuck on this island with nothing to do.
The Island has no economy, a town so small I know everyone's name and worst of all they're all Norwegians!

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I think this speaks for itself


Now I'm stuck here and I have no one to keep me company. I wish someone would share this with me.

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I'll show you why they call it the Isle of man!

Who is this! do my eyes deceive? The lord is truly a loving god for letting such a being of divine beauty walk this earth!

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Until death do you part. Which should be about 5 years or so.

Rejoice. I am truly blessed to take this woman as my wife! I invite the whole town to the church to celebrate!
Then I invite the other town to fill the other half of the church.

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ummm...thanks?

I had a talk with the King of Scotland. He wants my support in raising the crown laws. Since I'm not his vassal I see no problem with this.

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I can tell he doesn't have alot of friends.

I'm the only one who thinks so.

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Peasants are never happy!

I get a disturbing letter from my Steward. I tell Olaf the peasant to calm down but he won't listen.
On the positive side this means something might actually happen.

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I'm here a year now... waiting for something to happen.. getting softer. Every minute I stay on this Island, I get weaker, and every minute the king sits on his throne, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around the walls moved in a little tighter.

Much to my disappointment there have been no revolts. There hasn't been anything at all. I sit and I wait to die. I can't keep doing this.
My Chancellor tells me sprting is good for a person my age. I agree and order a falcon. Maybe that will make me happy.

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Bird > Dog

Oh god no! Everything I do is a failure! I'm never going to get off this island! When I die will anyone remember me?

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Was his face like that before the attack?

Even seeing my new Steward get punched in the face doesn't cheer me up. I give up. I'm stuck here and I might aswell get used to it....

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I always did have Flaith in my Chancellor.

..... I have a cunning plan.
Well here we go. Nothing too exciting happened this update. I built a fort and waited for a bit until I got the forged claim. The question now is how to attack Ulster. I could probably destroy his army but I doubt I will have enough men afterwords to siege his provinces. I could wait to hire mercs, but I'm broke right now and by the time I have enough Cash Gofraid might be dead and I will lose the claim. Hmm.. choices choices.
 
Invade Ulster! If you attack their army you might get lucky and capture whoever is in charge of Ulster, giving you 100% warscore!
 
Very good stuff, loving the small snippets under each screenshot. This my favourite thus far;

Cuthuthulu said:
Until death do you part. Which should be about 5 years or so.
Click to expand...

I think you should go for Ulster too, trust to your luck!
 
If you wage war now, will the war end on your death? Otherwise you could declare the war now and just sit on your island, accumulating money for the mercenaries.
 
Cuthuthulu said:
Find out when I update on Tuesday!
Click to expand...

But what if the ageing, depressed Earl doesn't make it until Tuesday?

Enjoying this AAR and the writing style - good luck in your ventrue to Ulster.
 
March 9, 1069 - October 1, 1070​
Chapter 2: The Power of Family

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Our target

Ulster, my enemy. I will take this land and I know exactly how to do it.

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Our Lord

I pledge my allegiance to the Duchy of Isles. While I hate to give up my independence, especially to a Crovan, it's necessary.
Part I of the plan is complete.

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Because when I image a master hunter I immediately think of a depressed 65 year old man.

Two days after pledging fealty he makes me master of the hunt. The last time I tried to hunt the only thing that died was a hunting dog.

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Only a Sithrigi deals in absolutes.

The time has come! I gather up all able bodied men on the island and declare war on Ulster! Part II is finished. We set out to my son's county of Galloway.

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An evenly matched fight of hands vs feet

We arrive in Galloway. As expected the Earl's army is crossing the channel to attack us. This should give us the advantage we need to win the battle.
Still I plan to tip the odds even more in my favour. I begin Part III of my plan.

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Our allies

Both my son and my grandson are vassals of the Isles. As an independent I could never have been able to use their support.
Now that we are in the same realm there is no such problem.

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I know who's not getting invited to this years family barbecue!

My Grandson, god bless his soul, decides to help his poor old grandfather out. My son on the other hand is still completely worthless.
I've been telling him that since he was a child, he never fails to meet my expectations.

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I think the Earl of Ulster needs new pants

Only one ally is all I need. With the help of my grandson our army doubles. Part III is complete! All that's left is to conquer Ulster!

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Riding a horse in Ulster is a death sentance

The Battle goes as planned.

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War what is it good for? Quite alot if you win!

We arrive in Ulster and lay siege to the castles. Aside from a terrible case of arthritis everything goes smoothly

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How many way are there to say I won?

It ends! After several months of war it will be good to rest from war for a bit. My poor hands.
Well that's that! This update was going to be about twice as long but I think I can cut it into it's own little chapter. I don't regret giving up my independence, when Gofraid dies I will be inherited by Fingal who is already a vessel of the isles. On a related note the Ua ímair family makes up more than half the vassals in the Duchy. Next Update: the war in England!
 
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