My Very Own Spanish Ulcer
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 10:15 pm
I figured I'd try a game where I'd use the "Total War" declaration. My target was Spain. Once subdued, I was going to give her wholly to a very reduced France.
First I had to do a balancing act. Positive side, to get enough territories to have the wherewithal to make a protracted war while building a navy to equal Britain's. I was playing Prussia. Negative side was to stay away from the top spot in regards to Glory. This was tough, because Prussia atarts out with poor provinces that don't give up much cash even with the banks upgraded to 5 universally.
The richest states close by were the free German states. BTW, this is the 1796 scenario. France held Kleves, so I went to war with her for that one state. I couped Hesse, and after prolonged diplomatic efforts and heavy subsidies, I got Saxony to join me. I had to get our relation to over 6,000 because everyone else was subsidizing her, too. When I finally got her to invite me to form a protectorate, she had 190,000 in forces. My own army was barely twice as big.
Brunswick came asking next after Austria declared war on her. Austria was at the top of the glory heap, and heavily embattled...but I worked my way to Vienna via the Czech provinces and secured a surrender. I took Linz and Austria from her...I wanted them as bargaining chips later, having no intention of holding states that Austria would want back.
Spain meanwhile had gotten Bavaria and her associated states as protectorates and had taken Baden from Turkey adding her to Spain.
I traded the two Austrian provinces for Baden.
Finally, I declared total war on the dons. First I took Berg, adding it to Prussia then Nuremberg. Nuremberg unfortunately stayed Spanish controlled. Bavaria fell to me next.
Despite my gains, Britain and Austria were above me in glory so I took the time to coup Mecklenburg while bribing the French to give me passage rights.
Navarre was my first target, and with 120,000 men and the Prussian fleet in blockade, I took the Spanish state after starving the garrison and two large detailed battles.
I worked westward, plundering as I went to keep costs down, especially among the growing number of prisoners. Eventually every Spanish state I traversed would have nothing left to plunder. And a few times guerillas were able to destroy my depots despite the presence of large nmubers of my men. Once this happened in the middle of winter, and my infantry formations were reduced to 3K men. Cavalry and Arty were lower, and I lost two Arty Divs this way.
One corps would hold a depot, while the other two would beseige the next capital over. Spain also owned the entirety of Italy, and Guerillas were ranging as far east as Livonia, north to Danzig, and throughout France. I couldn't believe how many there were.
Here, I re-discovered the Naples bug. Part of me suspects this was subversive programming to keep Spain in the fight. Free infantry and cavalry for Spain...what a deal! I caught on to this by seeing that every time I won a battle against Spain, that Neapolitan POW's were being liberated.
I had two good-bad diplomats to work with, and they went to Naples. It took three turns to get them there, but once there worked their magic in one turn causing an insurrection. Holy Mackeral! Almost 300K troops had been Serving spain from the Italian state.
Now we tried to coup Naples to get those guys to disappear. No dice. EVery turn, somebody else would become the protector. First Turkey, then Britain, then Russia, back to Turkey, and Finally France. There I gave up the round of Insurrection-coup-back to insurrection, since France was the most dismembered nation and could use the men.
Spain at the time was at war with virtually everybody. And still spitting out enough guerillas to keep the tomato-omelette flag everywhere except Britain.
These guerillas are marvels of engineering. Less than 30K of them can lay seige to a city where a normal army would need twice that number. And, my guys lose heavily to the defenders, these guerillas suffer fewer casualties. Pretty good for guys with stolen muskets, tenous supplies, and no cannon, eh? How many seiges did guerrillas conduct successfully during the Napoleanic wars? I don't know to be honest, though the Tyroleans made life hectic for the Bavarians before they were finally quashed.
I had to raise a second force for the Italian theater to cut down on guerillas. although only two Italian and three Spanish states remain ontaken by me, the guerillas seem to keep coming in growing numbers. Obviously my plan isn't working[:(]
Spanish NML kept hovering at the 100 point. I betook my two diplomats to lowering Spanish Morale. This they did splendidly reaching a negative 957...I expected (hoped) that a NML victory could end my Spanish indigestion.
Then, the surrenders started. With every surrender, Spanish NML rose and more guerillas were added to my plate until I was fighting them alone. I began to see that I would need a corps in every province just to be able to avoid the province coming under seige, as well as some free corps to add strength where they were needed.
But now, I was facing money problems. The 2k that I started out with had been whittled down to 1k and I had to reduce readiness. I had to refuse trade...everyone except Britain was after my money! I even cut some routes that weren't bringing me food.
With one complete fleet and another half-fleet, as well as 5 armies and 8 corps plus nemerous depots, I wasn't making much money at all. Still, the guerillas kept coming...enough of them so that I was able to choose detailed battle instead of QB. These QB's are a pain because sometimes 7K guerrillas could undo a force of 42K of all arms. Go figure!
Those few provinces not owned by me were occasionally spitting out infantry as well as some cavalry.
In Spain, my forces were in trouble. My original army had been reduced to some 80K men. Having to garrison captured cities meant leaving men behind. These in turn were beseiged by pitiful numbers of guerillas and destroyed despite my active corps moving around to squash them.
I've just set that game aside. Britain is at the top of the Glory heap with me 400 points behind at second. Spanish NML after her surrenders is at -400-something.
I don't know that I'll continue it.
Certainly, until the newest patch comes out, Naples will be at the top of my list to remove from Spain.
Oh, one more gripe. Why are Italian provinces producing guerillas? The Italian peoples of the era were nothing like their Spanish counterparts.
Finally, can a guerilla producing nation ever be totally subdued?
First I had to do a balancing act. Positive side, to get enough territories to have the wherewithal to make a protracted war while building a navy to equal Britain's. I was playing Prussia. Negative side was to stay away from the top spot in regards to Glory. This was tough, because Prussia atarts out with poor provinces that don't give up much cash even with the banks upgraded to 5 universally.
The richest states close by were the free German states. BTW, this is the 1796 scenario. France held Kleves, so I went to war with her for that one state. I couped Hesse, and after prolonged diplomatic efforts and heavy subsidies, I got Saxony to join me. I had to get our relation to over 6,000 because everyone else was subsidizing her, too. When I finally got her to invite me to form a protectorate, she had 190,000 in forces. My own army was barely twice as big.
Brunswick came asking next after Austria declared war on her. Austria was at the top of the glory heap, and heavily embattled...but I worked my way to Vienna via the Czech provinces and secured a surrender. I took Linz and Austria from her...I wanted them as bargaining chips later, having no intention of holding states that Austria would want back.
Spain meanwhile had gotten Bavaria and her associated states as protectorates and had taken Baden from Turkey adding her to Spain.
I traded the two Austrian provinces for Baden.
Finally, I declared total war on the dons. First I took Berg, adding it to Prussia then Nuremberg. Nuremberg unfortunately stayed Spanish controlled. Bavaria fell to me next.
Despite my gains, Britain and Austria were above me in glory so I took the time to coup Mecklenburg while bribing the French to give me passage rights.
Navarre was my first target, and with 120,000 men and the Prussian fleet in blockade, I took the Spanish state after starving the garrison and two large detailed battles.
I worked westward, plundering as I went to keep costs down, especially among the growing number of prisoners. Eventually every Spanish state I traversed would have nothing left to plunder. And a few times guerillas were able to destroy my depots despite the presence of large nmubers of my men. Once this happened in the middle of winter, and my infantry formations were reduced to 3K men. Cavalry and Arty were lower, and I lost two Arty Divs this way.
One corps would hold a depot, while the other two would beseige the next capital over. Spain also owned the entirety of Italy, and Guerillas were ranging as far east as Livonia, north to Danzig, and throughout France. I couldn't believe how many there were.
Here, I re-discovered the Naples bug. Part of me suspects this was subversive programming to keep Spain in the fight. Free infantry and cavalry for Spain...what a deal! I caught on to this by seeing that every time I won a battle against Spain, that Neapolitan POW's were being liberated.
I had two good-bad diplomats to work with, and they went to Naples. It took three turns to get them there, but once there worked their magic in one turn causing an insurrection. Holy Mackeral! Almost 300K troops had been Serving spain from the Italian state.
Now we tried to coup Naples to get those guys to disappear. No dice. EVery turn, somebody else would become the protector. First Turkey, then Britain, then Russia, back to Turkey, and Finally France. There I gave up the round of Insurrection-coup-back to insurrection, since France was the most dismembered nation and could use the men.
Spain at the time was at war with virtually everybody. And still spitting out enough guerillas to keep the tomato-omelette flag everywhere except Britain.
These guerillas are marvels of engineering. Less than 30K of them can lay seige to a city where a normal army would need twice that number. And, my guys lose heavily to the defenders, these guerillas suffer fewer casualties. Pretty good for guys with stolen muskets, tenous supplies, and no cannon, eh? How many seiges did guerrillas conduct successfully during the Napoleanic wars? I don't know to be honest, though the Tyroleans made life hectic for the Bavarians before they were finally quashed.
I had to raise a second force for the Italian theater to cut down on guerillas. although only two Italian and three Spanish states remain ontaken by me, the guerillas seem to keep coming in growing numbers. Obviously my plan isn't working[:(]
Spanish NML kept hovering at the 100 point. I betook my two diplomats to lowering Spanish Morale. This they did splendidly reaching a negative 957...I expected (hoped) that a NML victory could end my Spanish indigestion.
Then, the surrenders started. With every surrender, Spanish NML rose and more guerillas were added to my plate until I was fighting them alone. I began to see that I would need a corps in every province just to be able to avoid the province coming under seige, as well as some free corps to add strength where they were needed.
But now, I was facing money problems. The 2k that I started out with had been whittled down to 1k and I had to reduce readiness. I had to refuse trade...everyone except Britain was after my money! I even cut some routes that weren't bringing me food.
With one complete fleet and another half-fleet, as well as 5 armies and 8 corps plus nemerous depots, I wasn't making much money at all. Still, the guerillas kept coming...enough of them so that I was able to choose detailed battle instead of QB. These QB's are a pain because sometimes 7K guerrillas could undo a force of 42K of all arms. Go figure!
Those few provinces not owned by me were occasionally spitting out infantry as well as some cavalry.
In Spain, my forces were in trouble. My original army had been reduced to some 80K men. Having to garrison captured cities meant leaving men behind. These in turn were beseiged by pitiful numbers of guerillas and destroyed despite my active corps moving around to squash them.
I've just set that game aside. Britain is at the top of the Glory heap with me 400 points behind at second. Spanish NML after her surrenders is at -400-something.
I don't know that I'll continue it.
Certainly, until the newest patch comes out, Naples will be at the top of my list to remove from Spain.
Oh, one more gripe. Why are Italian provinces producing guerillas? The Italian peoples of the era were nothing like their Spanish counterparts.
Finally, can a guerilla producing nation ever be totally subdued?