Failure Series - A Novgorod AAR
Welcome to my first AAR. I don't know much about the history of Novgorod, so bear with me making everything up. Normal difficulty, 1.3.
The Merchant Republic of Novgorod, 1453-1467
Yeufimei II wasn't happy about the fact that his court consisted mostly of bickering old war buffoons. Of course, expertise in warfare could never hurt when all of your neighbours hated your guts, but he disliked having nobody around him who understood anything about economy.
The peasantry were granted additional rights and large armies trained. Yeufimei thought that perhaps if the peasants felt they had something to fight for, they wouldn't always break when they outnumbered the enemy.
Novgorod's merchant houses tried to get a foothold on Lübeck, but the Hanseatic League was formed and eventually Novgorod's trade declined, even though she adopted national trade policy. She was approached with an alliance offer from Ragusa, but as nobody knew what the heck was Ragusa and where it was, the messenger was considered a madman and was sent away.
Mad or not, he infected Yeufimei with some kind of an anthrax variant, and the nation was mourning. Well, heh, not really mourning as the new boss
instantly gave orders to mobilize the army and march to seize Finland from the kingdom of Sweden, who fought a losing war against the black metal commandos from Norway.
But that was obviously too good a plan to work. Teutonic crapsuckers immigrated to Novgorod en masse, most of the immigrants wielding shabby bronze swords, shovels and whatnot, and her armies were forced to react. They started marching to Ingermanland, and soon battle would commence...
Konstantin made a mental note that Novgorod needed roads, as getting from point a to point b took so long that he seriously doubted that if he'd march to the lands of the teutons he would ever get back.
Well the point was moot for him, as he was adopted by an immigrant family and was never heard of again. His successor, Rotislav, was a man unskilled in so many ways it was thought that he was some kind of an antigod. Luckily the republic's armies fought valiantly, or at least they were very good at pointing imaginary firearms at their enemies and yelling "Blam!". Needless to say, the front lines moved often.
Meanwhile, the great trade houses negotiated with the Hanseatic League, and Novgorod got membership. Her trade income dove in to new depths. She also allied herself to Lithuania, the local juggernaut, in order to prevent such migration-invasions in the future.
Teutonic Order demands all of Novgorod's money and it's ports and whatnot. The peace offer was turned down, and russian peasants marched to Estland, while the Teutons sunk Novgorod's forgotten two cogs. Victory was assured. For a while. Then some 7000 mercenaries dug a tunnel right next to Rotislav's armies and butchered half of them in a clever ambush. Rotislav was chased back to the gates of Novgorod, from where they lost the chasing teutons and marched to free Ingermanland and Neva. When the Teutonic Mercenaries assaulted Novgorod's capital with their 10000 troops, Rotislav paniced, and pleaded the teutons for a peace. He demanded 50 ducats.
"Finally peace!", thought Rotislav, "We will take time to build our military and economic power, and then our enemies shall be... Um.... Destroyed!"
"No fragging peace and rebuilding then, I guess. Sheesh."
Welcome to my first AAR. I don't know much about the history of Novgorod, so bear with me making everything up. Normal difficulty, 1.3.
The Merchant Republic of Novgorod, 1453-1467
Yeufimei II wasn't happy about the fact that his court consisted mostly of bickering old war buffoons. Of course, expertise in warfare could never hurt when all of your neighbours hated your guts, but he disliked having nobody around him who understood anything about economy.
The peasantry were granted additional rights and large armies trained. Yeufimei thought that perhaps if the peasants felt they had something to fight for, they wouldn't always break when they outnumbered the enemy.
Novgorod's merchant houses tried to get a foothold on Lübeck, but the Hanseatic League was formed and eventually Novgorod's trade declined, even though she adopted national trade policy. She was approached with an alliance offer from Ragusa, but as nobody knew what the heck was Ragusa and where it was, the messenger was considered a madman and was sent away.
Mad or not, he infected Yeufimei with some kind of an anthrax variant, and the nation was mourning. Well, heh, not really mourning as the new boss
instantly gave orders to mobilize the army and march to seize Finland from the kingdom of Sweden, who fought a losing war against the black metal commandos from Norway.
But that was obviously too good a plan to work. Teutonic crapsuckers immigrated to Novgorod en masse, most of the immigrants wielding shabby bronze swords, shovels and whatnot, and her armies were forced to react. They started marching to Ingermanland, and soon battle would commence...
Konstantin made a mental note that Novgorod needed roads, as getting from point a to point b took so long that he seriously doubted that if he'd march to the lands of the teutons he would ever get back.
Well the point was moot for him, as he was adopted by an immigrant family and was never heard of again. His successor, Rotislav, was a man unskilled in so many ways it was thought that he was some kind of an antigod. Luckily the republic's armies fought valiantly, or at least they were very good at pointing imaginary firearms at their enemies and yelling "Blam!". Needless to say, the front lines moved often.
Meanwhile, the great trade houses negotiated with the Hanseatic League, and Novgorod got membership. Her trade income dove in to new depths. She also allied herself to Lithuania, the local juggernaut, in order to prevent such migration-invasions in the future.
Teutonic Order demands all of Novgorod's money and it's ports and whatnot. The peace offer was turned down, and russian peasants marched to Estland, while the Teutons sunk Novgorod's forgotten two cogs. Victory was assured. For a while. Then some 7000 mercenaries dug a tunnel right next to Rotislav's armies and butchered half of them in a clever ambush. Rotislav was chased back to the gates of Novgorod, from where they lost the chasing teutons and marched to free Ingermanland and Neva. When the Teutonic Mercenaries assaulted Novgorod's capital with their 10000 troops, Rotislav paniced, and pleaded the teutons for a peace. He demanded 50 ducats.
"Finally peace!", thought Rotislav, "We will take time to build our military and economic power, and then our enemies shall be... Um.... Destroyed!"
"No fragging peace and rebuilding then, I guess. Sheesh."
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