Aragon AAR - Catalan Indepedence

[Dell19]

France decided they could not be at peace with Burgundy whilst everyone else was at war and decided to declare war and Fernandes took the opportunity to leave the alliance and made plans to join the Venetian alliance. Perhaps we could one day diplomatically annex Genoa and Venice. We soon accepted an alliance proposal from our former enemies and joined them in their war against Morea. Once Morea has been defeated we will begin working on gaining Genoa and possibly Venice as vassals. 1481 was spent trying to entice Genoa however our proposals were all rejected. Elsewhere Burgundy was slowly being destroyed by the rest of Europe – a warning of how things can snowball.

Provence has been annexed by France which seems to push Aragon ever closer to war however due to their alliance with Spain we will wait. We accepted a white peace with Theadoras as it was a war that we were never going to fight due to the long distances involved whilst a refinery was ordered in Naples. In 1490 royal marriages were renewed with Genoa, Tyrol and Hungary.

An opportunity arose in 1491 which Fernandes decided to take advantage of. France was no longer allied with Spain and additionally they had diplomatically annexed Brittany which gave us a casus belli against them. France and their allies were also at war with Burgundy so war was declared and Genoa, Venice, the Papal States and Austria joined our side. Unfortunately Athens is the alliance leader so they could accept an unfortunate peace treaty.

In the opening moves of the war Aragon besieged a number of French provinces (Provence, Dauphine, Gascogne and Poitou) Foix whilst the French allied armies were tied up besieging Burgundy. Dauphine soon fell whilst Venice moved troops north to defend Zeeland. The Dauphine army moved west to begin a siege of Guyenne. Early in 1493 Gascogne fell to our army in the province and soon after Athens accepted a generous peace offer from the French which saw Aragon gain Gascogne and Dauphine.

Finally Fernandes could travel from Iberia to Italy without having to sail or enter another country. Aragon had perhaps also shown for the first time that they are a European power after defeating France. France may claim they were distracted in the north and that may be true as during the two years of fighting Aragon troops never fought a large French army in the field. Our war score remains below 10.

In the months that followed a royal marriage was arranged with Portugal whilst rebels in Romagna were defeated. In the north Burgundy were reduced to one province when once they had controlled the entire low lands. At the end of 1493 Venice finally annexed Theodoros and then immediately declared war on the Ottomans bringing Aragon into another unwanted war. A diplomatic move improved relations with France and Fernandes took the opportunity to enter a royal marriage since war against France was no longer a priority. In the north Brittany and Oldenberg declared independence from France and Brittany gained two provinces which should give them independence for some time.

At the end of 1496 peace returned to Aragon after Athens accepted peace with the Ottomans and paid them 200 ducats which was seen as a good deal after the Ottomans had taken Kerch from Venice (They signed a separate peace with Genoa which gained the two provinces in Crimea which Genoa had previously controlled). Genoa rejected several vassal treaties before the end of 1497 when Athens declared war on Albania. Once again Aragon took a policy of avoidance.

As the 15th century drew to a close Aragon could be proud at the progress they had made as a nation. Their three Kings have led them to numerous victories and gained many territories especially in Italy where we are now the dominant force. Technologically our military is unrivalled (just about) with a technology level of 5 whilst financially we have over 1000 ducats in the bank and inflation of 9.7%. Additionally we have built two refineries, and gained a third in Sicily, and a fine arts academy. Elsewhere in Europe Germany is dominated by the Palinate, Brandenburg and Bohemia whilst the Southern Baltic coast is almost entirely controlled by the Teutonic Order. Who knows what the future will hold?

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

I see my home province has been swallowed by the English

Fantastic work against the French though, and I'm most glad you have a land connection with Italy at last. Being the perfectionist I am regarding borders I request you take Provence though. And that dark red nation (?) in north-west Italy and Corsica.

Here's to three more centuries of Aragonese greatness!

 

[Dell19]

England are doing well in this game although I'm not playing with the patch that adds the land bridge between Calais and Dover. That generally ensures that the French advance across the channel and take southern England.

Provence will have to wait until the next war against France and I may wait until I am the alliance leader as I hate having huge border clashes only for my alliance leader to give any slight gains away. I like neat borders as well however the AI doesn't. I would quite like to get Siena as well and take Marche from the Papal States however I am in an alliance with both of them. The dark red nation would be Genoa who I am trying unsuccessfully to diplomatically annex.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

I completely agree about that. I very rarely join alliances, unless I can see a genuine advantage and if I can rebuild the alliance under my command when it expires.

England-France land bridge....*shudders*

 

[Dell19]

Sometimes I run out waiting for alliances to expire especially if they keep on declaring war every 9 years so that it gets extended. There is a use if you want a powerful alliance partner or are trying to encourage a period of peace.

I think this is my third game (Milan and Venice the other times) where I've ended up attacking southern France and each game the invasion has occurred earlier. I've even stopped waiting for the wars of religion.

 

[Maniacal]

I have a question: There are two versinos of this map apparently, what colour are you on them? i can't tell which one you are exactly...

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

He's the dark grey based mostly in eastern spain.

The two versions of the map: There's a political view, which shows the size of all nations, and the standard map, which shows the terrain/armies etc.

 

[Dell19]

Yeah there are several map views. Usually the game is played with the terrain view which is good for war screenshots however the political view is better to show the overall size of nations.

I am the grey nation however not just in eastern spain.

 

[Dell19]

The new century began with Aragon still at war with Albania. 1501 saw the royal marriage with Spain renewed whilst a rebellion in Provence was destroyed. A new trade centre appeared in Andalusia which would surely bring new riches to Iberia. Once the war with Albania ended, Fernandes was informed that Aragon once again had a casus belli against France. This time he felt that it would be best to choose peace as the kingdom was now connected. Fernandes once again focused his attention on gaining Genoa as vassals and finally on the third attempt in 1502 they accepted.

1504 was marked by another military advance, Aragon could now build artillery. Several units of artillery were built to support the larger Aragon armies. In 1506 the royal marriage with Venice was renewed and our military technology advanced further. Several military commanders felt that we should test our military in the near future however no target initially presented itself. 1506 would end in sadness as Fernandes II died and the new king, Enric I was crowned. Before the year was out we once again found ourselves at war with the Ottomans – perhaps a chance to test the military.

Enric I took heed of his advisors and knew there was little to gain from a military venture against the Ottomans and thus only sent a small force of 15000 troops which unloaded in Athens to help guard against any potential counter attack. The league of Cambrai was proposed by the Pope to stop Venice however Enric was insulted that the proposal stated Venice as too powerful in Italy. As a result the treaty was ignored. The war against the Ottomans did not progress well with our fleet in the east totally destroyed. In response a siege of Macedonia was ordered however the Aragon army soon retreated once the Papal States took over the siege. Seeing nothing to be gained from the war, the troops were brought home to Apulia whilst replacement ships were ordered.

Comte Vilamari commanded the western fleet which had returned the Aragon army to Italy. A similar sized Ottoman fleet was spotted heading towards Venice and Comte decided to seek revenge for the previous naval defeat. The navies met off the coast of Venice and the Aragon navy was victorious. The defeated Ottomans were pursued and several further victories were gained and Ottoman maps were stolen. The war ended in 1509 with the Papal States gaining Macedonia. Peace would not last for long as Genoa declared war against Tunisia. Enric felt that this time it may be useful to gain a province to help further secure our interests in the West. An army from Genoa reached Kabylia first which ended any chance Aragon had of gaining the province.

1513 saw a royal marriage arranged with the Teutonic Order who was becoming a major power in the north. More importantly though Genoa accepted our annexation proposal and became part of our ever expanding Kingdom. Only Venice and the Papal States now stood in the way of a united Italy under Aragon. Surely Aragon was also the richest nation with enough ducats to fund many wars. Enric would now have to make a choice of alliances for Aragon. Should we remain allied with our Italian neighbours or should the seeds of war and conquest be set in motion.

 

[Dell19]

1514 showed that Aragon was not the only nation who used diplomatic means to expand their kingdoms. France annexed Lorraine whilst the Palinate annexed Wirtemburg which also had the side effect of creating a rather large border between the two nations. A great palace was built to show our wealth to the rest of the world. Rebels in Provence successfully took the province however France responded before they could achieve independence.

Enric was prone to rash acts and in 1517 Aragon found themselves at war with Austria after an insult was received. Austria was vassals of Venice and a suspicious Enric decided to avoid involving the rest of the alliance in the war. The initial actions of the war saw Aragon armies march towards Genoa whilst Austrian forces began a siege of Milan. This was seen as a fortunate move to the Aragon generals as they preferred to fight the Austrians in home territory rather than in mountainous Tyrol.

Early war:

Mantua was soon also under siege by Austria however Aragon would be able to launch the counter offensive in the near future. In March 1518 the siege in Milan was broken however the Austrians retreated quickly and suffered few casualties. Mantua disastrously fell to the Austrians however the Aragon army under the command of Ramon de Cardona defeated the Austrian army before it could retreat. Aragon troops pushed on into Tyrol where the fighting was tougher however they emerged victorious and continued onwards towards Steiermark whilst reserve forces moved to begin sieges in Tyrol and Mantua.

Victory in Steiermark was to prove costly as the army became outnumbered. Reinforcements were sent from Tyrol whilst new trainees were ordered to begin a siege in Tyrol. Steiermark successfully held off an Austrian counter offensive whilst once again outnumbered and further good news was received with the fall of Tyrol to an assault by the Aragon army. Peace was soon signed in April 1519 with Aragon gaining Tyrol and 28 ducats. The gold from Tyrol would be a valuable addition to Aragon.

The peace only lasted until August when Athens declared war against Tlemcen and Morocco. Perhaps this time Aragon would gain territory in North Africa. Savoy revolted with news of another war however troops had already landed in Orania and more troops were on the way. This second army landed in Al Djaziar and both armies began assaults. Both assaults were successful and the armies moved inland to meet the large Tlemcen army and to begin sieges of the remaining two Tlemcen provinces. The Tlemcen army was defeated in Aures and an assault began whilst the other army from Aragon assaulted Atlas. Both assaults were again successful and Tlemcen had no choice but to hand over three of the captured provinces for peace. Finally Aragon had established a presence in North Africa. Additionally we gained new maps that revealed nations in the south such as Benin.

By 1522 Morocco had ceased to exist after ceding two provinces to Spain, another to the Papal States and eventually being annexed by Denmark which would be the same fate for Tlemcen. North West Africa was now dominated by European nations. The campaign in Africa would be the last for Enric who died in July. Alfons VI rose to the throne and declared that he wished to continue the expansion of Aragon although there was a hint that he would rather capture productive Christian provinces than Muslim provinces that would be unlikely to accept his rule.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Enric was prone to rash acts and in 1517 Aragon found themselves at war with Austria after an insult was received

Interesting way of putting it. Was this an event? Or did you just decide to wage war with the cassus belli? If it's the latter, are you playing each leader to a certain personality each time they come around, or was it just a spur of the moment thing?

Great updates as ever, I'm gonna take a peek at your other AAR's later this weekend.

 

[Dell19]

Part of the game mechanics allows you to issue insults which can give the other country a casus belli. Austria sent an insult and we got a casus belli so I decided to use it. There also seems to be a random event which is similar but the insult just damages relations. According to the stats Enric was meant to be a pretty poor King so I thought it was suitable that he would act quickly without planning, forcing his generals to save the day.

The Russian AAR got boring after a while although I have once taken a Russian game further and colonised all the way to China, whom I fought a successful war against. I seem to recall that the Venice game ended after I started a new game and accidentally lost the save.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Very nice on playing the game according to ruler qualities.

I don't think I've ever recieved an actual diplomatic insult except through random event though.

 

[Dell19]

Aragon’s war score was back above 10 after the recent spate of wars which was likely to prevent wars in the near future. 1524 was notable as the Teutonic Order became Prussia which lost them two provinces to Poland and the Livonian Order reappeared. They still have a large number of provinces and will perhaps be able to regain their territory. In 1426 a new Refinery was ordered in Valencia. The end of the year saw Austria inherit Bohemia and suddenly quadruple in size. Alfons was not happy at this development. Twice rebellions in Aures were quickly crushed by the local army.

Legal Counsels were promoted around the country as our infrastructure reached level 4 to increase tax income and reduce the risk of revolts. 1534 saw our alliance with Venice finally come to an end. Spain rejected our offer so instead we once again created an alliance with the Papal States. The end of the alliance with Venice would surely mean war in the future between our two nations.

By 1536 Alfons had waited long enough. Austria, Venice and Sweden were now at war with Russia and Alfons decided to act by declaring war, Siena being the primary objective. Siena was soon captured however the offensive into Austria did not go well with our army defeated and Tyrol placed under siege. Venetian fleets were twice defeated and Istria was placed under siege by the army that had been thoroughly defeated in the invasion of Austria. In North Africa Kabylia was placed under siege. Austria gained a somewhat pyrrhic victory in Mantua however it was embarrassing for an army of 40 000 Aragonese troops to be forced to retreat, however amends were made when the siege of Tyrol was broken.

A second victory was gained in Mantua whilst Kabylia fell to our troops. Venice was placed under siege and repelled a joint assault from Austria and Venice. The siege in Istria was completed successfully and the army returned to Austria and began a siege in Krain and somehow the army managed to defeat an Austrian army three times as big in the mountains. Peace was accepted with Austria for 50 ducats after they threatened to retake Istria and Sweden had begun unloading troops in our territory. In September 1539 Venice offered the peace that Alfons wanted. Aragon gained Istria, Siena and Kabylia gaining another Italian province, a sea port next to Venice and another Mediterranean port in Africa.

Our reputation is now rather bad. 1542 saw a rebellion in Istria crushed. The following year another revolt was crushed in Siena. The conquest of Italy was now almost complete and did pose a dilemma for the future as the Italian population now vastly out numbered the number of Catalans. 1546 saw the beginning of a familiar war against the Ottomans after the Papal States declared war. Alfons decided to not make the mistake of his father and would only engage the Ottomans at sea. That policy was soon abandoned as the Ottomans had won a siege in Albania. We would try to retake the province and return it to Poland.

After a string of naval victories our troops landed in Albania and were victorious. A siege began whilst the rest of the army marched north to defeat the remaining Ottomans in Kosovo. In July 1548 Albania was liberated and our forces returned to Italy. An attempt was made to exchange maps with Portugal however they refused even with perfect relations. Finally Aragon returned to peace after the Papal States agreed to pay the Ottomans 200 ducats.

*As a game point I’ve never understood why the AI trades such small amounts of money for peace given that if I wanted to I could comfortably gain 400 ducats a year.

 

[Dell19]

I don't think I've ever recieved an actual diplomatic insult except through random event though.

I've made the assumption that if you get a casus belli afterwards then it is a genuine insult although I may be mistaken.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

I'd trust your word more than mine, it's been a long time since I've played EU2, though it is one of the few games I have permanently installed on my computer.

 

[Dell19]

Peace would be enjoyed by Aragon after the war with the Ottomans drew to a close. Our armies were once again briefly used in 1556 when a rebel army crossed into our borders in North Africa. In the same year a cathedral was commissioned to improve stability. In 1557 a casus belli was gained against Venice however Alfons initially felt that Aragon did not have enough to gain from the war to warrant the casualties. A major rebellion in Siena diverted his attention and it would take the rest of the year to finally defeat the rebellion and in that same month, Austria declared war on Hungary.

This changed everything as Venice joined Austria in their war and the opportunity for a two front war was too great to miss. War was soon declared whilst new armies were trained. It was now no longer simply a war for territory, it was also to save Hungary from the rising might of Austria. The early action saw Dalmatia besieged and small Venetian raiding bands defeated in the area whilst military access was secured with Hungary. Our first invasion of Venice was repelled however an Austrian army was forced to defeat in Tyrol.

Our main armies had now amassed on the border and the initial plan was for the force to be split into three. The first army would attack Venice from Mantua whenever possible whilst the second army would head to Tyrol as a guard against a counter attack. Finally the army in Tyrol would advance into Salzburg and perhaps the reserve army would follow. A revolt in Romagna immediately broke the plan with the reserve being split with half now moving south to deal with the revolt. Austrian reinforcements were not enough to defeat our advance into Austria and a siege began.

Disastrous news reached the King that our superior numbers and technologically advanced army had not been enough to win victory in Venice and thus a further attack was ordered. Dalmatia fell to our army to match the loss of Istria to Venetian troops. Finally a military victory was gained in Tyrol and the victorious army moved east into Steiermark where the plan was to split the army and continue towards Vienna. Meanwhile our navy failed at the third attempt to defeat the Venetian navy. Alfons knew that he would have to rely on his land troops to win this war.

Twice our army was victorious in Steiermark and the siege began whilst half the army marched onwards as planned. It was at this point that the King’s advisors decided to divert his attention by asking whether Aragon should focus on the Mediterranean or begin colonisation. The King was furious that this proposal was brought to his attention during the middle of an intense war and made his feelings known, however a choice had to be made and an explorer would be useful so the proposal was accepted. Several rebellions occurred in the island provinces at this news which was another unwelcome distraction that our North African armies would have to deal with.

Salzburg was successfully taken and seeing that the attack on Austria was going to fail, the army was ordered to advance and save the day. Elsewhere ships were commandeered for the exploration of the Atlantic where the military access gained with Portugal would surely be advantageous. Miraculously the army in Austria successfully won the battle with only 1000 survivors from the attack. The reinforcements could not arrive quicker and would be necessary for the siege to begin. Austria, Istria and Krain were soon placed under siege as the tide turned in our favour.

Whilst our explorer set sail to explore the coast of Africa another army was sent to halt a Venetian siege in Tyrol and Bosnia was placed under siege. Venice had clearly become desperate with regular peace offering which also revealed that Hellas had been taken by the Papal States. The buoyant mood was damaged by the failure to stop the siege in Tyrol. A second attempt would be launched as soon as possible. With the war going badly for Venice and Austria they negotiated peace with Hungary however we wished to limit the likelihood of a future war.

In Sicily, Messina fell to the rebels however Alfons was confident that the army stationed nearby would eventually be successful. In December of 1560 Steiermark fell to our troops and the army was sent to Oldenberg whilst the winter in Tyrol must have made the Austro-Venetian army wish they were back at home. At the turn of the year Austria realised their position was hopeless and offered Steiermark and Salzberg for peace. The deal was accepted by Alfons who felt that further fighting would perhaps be too costly and was happy to know that his Kingdom would now surround Venice.

Before the end of January, Istria was liberated and our armies headed south to besiege Ragusa. It was only a matter of time before Venice capitulated and handed over their two Christian provinces of Bosnia and Dalmatia which bordered Istria. Bosnia fell in May and the waiting game began. In July the Portugese colony in Senegal was discovered which would provide a place for our explorers to re-supply in their explorations in to the West. Finally in November of 1561, the rebels in Sardinia were defeated. Alfons would die before peace could be signed, with Francesc I ascending to the throne.

Almost his first act as King was to be informed of the discovery of Portugese colonies in Brazil. Our exploration would continue west to discover new lands to make our own. In the same year the wars of religion would begin in France as the Huguenots declared independence in Southern France – perhaps this would be of benefit to Aragon. In July Messina was liberated and we gained a Casus Belli against France however Francesc wished to wait for the end of the Venetian war before starting a new costly war. A rebellion in Al Djazair was crushed in November whilst a trading post was established in Africa. Peace with Venice remained elusive.

March marked the end of the siege in Ragusa and the discovery of Trinidad and Tobago – a colonisation attempt began. The colonisation attempt was successful in March 1563 and became our first colony. The war with Venice dragged on for another year as Ionia was placed under siege and our constant requests for peace were rejected. A rebellion in Salzburg was defeated however two further rebellions in Gascogne and Ragusa were an indication of war weariness increasing. An attempt was made to defeat the Venetian navy so that we could once again invade Venice (The capital province) however our navy was no match and it seemed that Venice could not be invaded. August 1564 saw Barbados colonised however peace remained elusive and another rebellion occurred in Apulia. Finally in September peace was signed with Venice. We would gain the two provinces that we wanted however we now had a very bad reputation which would perhaps force Francesc to concentrate on colonisation rather than conquest.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

That rebellion in southern France went remarkably well, and a good thing for Aragon. Is that Brandenburg in northern Germany? It seems that it's very easy to see lots of large nations in Europe with the mod, rather in the vanilla game where they remin fragmented.

Good work though. Slowly but surely restoring the Western Roman Empire, in a way

 

[Dell19]

France has a scripted war of religion where the Huegunots appear in the south and a northern Christian nation appears in northern France. As a human player you can avoid the events and even if France does split they are reunited in a few years. It is a great opportunity though to gain southern France especially as their capital is in Vendee so the south is relatively undefended. If a human player already owns what I do then the Huegunots seem to gain Franche Comte which they don't normally gain.

Brandenberg also has more events so that it is more likely that they will appear. Additionally AGREEP slightly weakens France and significantly weakens Austria so that you don't get the vanilla situation where central Europe is entirely split between France and Austria. Hinterpommern and the province to the south are actually owned by Prussia so Brandenberg isn't quite as large as it may look.

I'm half considering manually editing the save file to move the capital to northern Italy as I sort of feel that would be more realistic. Barcelona isn't my largest city and moving the capital would make it more centralised. It would be nice if EU2 coped better with these situations when a nation consists of two different languages. It would be really cool if there were random events that would allow the capital to be moved to a more densely populated area or the side of the country that has begun to dominate the Kingdom.

 

[Dell19]

The years of full military spending had severely cut into the stockpile of ducats however we were still in profit. In 1565 the final war rebellions were defeated whilst our colony in Trinidad and Tobago was twice expanded and Curacao was successfully colonised. October would be remembered as Holland declared independence gaining several Dutch provinces including Flanders. The following month saw the French Catholics declare independence from the French which perhaps indicated time was running out if we wished to wage war against the Huguenots.

In 1566 we were the first nation to discover Panama and perhaps it would be our next target for colonisation after Guadeloupe which was successfully colonised in January of 1567. In July 1568 our stability increased and it was taken as a sign to declare war against the Huguenots. The war was likely to be a challenge as Bavaria, the Palatinate and Saxony joined the war on their side. Our armies marched north into Guyenne, Lyon and Franche Comte with only the Guyenne advance failing. To the east Tyrol and Salzburg were placed under siege by Bavaria.

Languedoc was placed under siege by the Huguenots causing our reserve army to be called into action. Lyon was the first province to fall freeing our army to move south and attack the Huguenot army in Languedoc whilst our reserve army returned to watching the siege in Tyrol. Our army from Lyon was unfortunately defeated and thus our reserve army once again marched west where it defeated a Palatinate army in Piemonte. Languedoc fell to the Huguenots whilst Tyrol fell to Bavaria however Languedoc was soon under siege again by our troops and so was Guyenne. At the end of 1569, Franche Comte was captured.

Saxony began an assault in Steiermark with 30000 troops whilst we began a siege in Limousin. At this point our plan was to destroy the Huguenots and then move east to recapture whatever we had lost by that point. Steiermark was lost in May and the Palatinate besieged Savoy. Good news occurred in June as the main Huguenot army was decimated in Gascogne and freed our main army to head east towards Tyrol. Languedoc was recaptured whilst Steiermark was placed under siege by a small Aragon army. Suddenly the tide of war had seemed to turn in our favour.

The retreating Huguenot army was wiped out in Rousillion whilst an army from Languedoc marched north into Cevannes whilst won against a much smaller Huguenot army. September of 1570 saw a colony in Bahamas established, Guyenne fall to our troops and a siege begin in Cevannes. A month later and Limousin had fallen to our troops. The Huguenots had been defeated and offered Guyenne, Lyon and Franche Comte for peace and this was accepted. Our armies were now free to push back the German states. During this time Salzburg had been conquered by Bavaria

In November our troops defeated the Palatinate army in Piemonte and continued east towards Tyrol. It would not be necessary though as peace would be arranged before the end of the year. The Palatinate accepted a white peace, perhaps because they knew the war had turned or perhaps because only their allies had gained any provinces. We were happy to return to peace with our war aim of gaining provinces in southern France successful. During the war our infrastructure level had increased and so a new peace time aim would be to promote mayors in all our provinces whilst we continued to colonise the new world.

July 1571 saw Holland become vassals of France which was odd since usually Holland is protestant. Perhaps in the future they will convert. Our explorers died in 1572 ending our period of exploration however they had discovered many provinces for us to colonise in the future. Trinidad and Tobago became our first city in the new world. From the north news came that France, Brandenburg and Holland were now at war with Huguenots, Bavaria, Palatinate and Saxony. Surely many lives would be lost in this war that involved so many nations. Elsewhere Roanoke was successfully colonised in North America. In 1574 a fort was built in Trinidad and Tobago to secure the islands against invaders.

The war in the north was odd to observe. The French conquered Luxemburg whilst losing two provinces to the Huguenots. Rebels seemed to be the biggest winner for time being and it seemed unlikely that provinces would be traded when peace was eventually signed. 1576 saw Enric II rise to the throne. Barbados became our second colony to become a city and in July of 1577 the war in the North finally came to an end as the Palatinate agreed to pay 136 ducats. 1578 saw a royal marriage arranged with Poland. Our funds were now being split between colonisation, upgrading our new cities and promoting mayors back in Europe.