The cultural identity of the Greek peoples in the Ethiopian colonies begins to shift away from that of their Greek homeland, after long periods of contact with Arabs and native Africans. Personally i think Hellene sounds much cooler than Greek, so I'm okay with this.
Now that the truce has worn off, the Grandmaster is eager to remove the last bastion of Yemeni independence on the mainland of Arabia. If possible the island of Socotra will also be annexed. It is not very wealthy, but it would make a good naval base for an invasion of India.
The Yemeni capital is occupied almost immediately. The Arab garrison army is split into two, with the second smaller half shipped off to besiege Socotra.
I'd like to note that the urban population of Rhodes at game start was something like 2000. Now it is 30,000, even after this event.
You'd think taking 10 casualties for every 1 you kill would be pretty bad for the morale of your army.
!
Well, fuck. I guess this was inevitable though. I'm going to have to hold them off until the campaigning army can arrive from Arabia. If i can prevent them from doing any significant damage before then, i can turn the tables on them and overwhelm them through my high discipline and sheer mass. They have superior morale and technology, so equal battle is best avoided.
Prizren is scorched to sap the Austrian strength while the Greek army awaits reinforcements.
Thankfully the Austrians have a pathetic fleet, with no naval ideas. I can be assured dominance of the seas so long as their Dutch allies haven't built up a massive doomfleet yet. The war will hopefully remain on one front, so long as the Russians don't get any funny ideas. A declaration of war by any Muslim power is negligible and can be dealt with by provincial armies. Russia is also somewhat backwards, but they are obviously still a threat.
The Austrian Protestant scum are placed under a full blockade. This will put pressure on them economically, but it will not impede their ability to make war so long as their army is still in the field.
The Croatians are crushed and put out of the war immediately, but i cannot annex them because they are an Austrian vassal state.
A two pronged attack is launched against the weary, hungry Austrian army. Besides the problem with flanking attacks being useless except for avoiding long waits while your armies join up, you'd think after losing many thousands of soldiers to attrition troop morale would be quite low.
Can you say, derp?
Check out my land forcelimits. That happened because Austria managed an army infiltration against me. This shit is painful, bro.
Finally the campaigning army arrives near the capital. The Austrian army is still formidable, but their numbers have been decimated by the earlier flanking attack. Their forces are divided, and the battle in Prizren halted their momentum. Now they have completely lost the initiative, and with it any hope of victory.
I must inquire as to how one supports a 2:1 cavalry ratio with a settled agriculture based country and no large access to warhorses.
Ah well, they're all dead anyways. To be honest I'm pretty sad about all the dead horses. They didn't do anything to anybody.
Despite the exhaustion of his march-weary troops, the Grandmaster urges them to a final effort. Plovdiv is occupied, affording the army some well deserved rest before the campaigning begins again.
The Grandmaster then marches along the border to dislodge a mixed force of Austrian allies, mostly Bavarian.
Once again, why so much cavalry? They might as well fire the poor horses out of cannons for all the good it would do.
The manhood of Protestantism has confronted the manhood of Catholicism. It has been found wanting in both size and ability. I didn't expect a war with Austria to be so simple and easy. I guess that's what happens when you control the largest Empire on the planet.
The Croatian capital is quickly occupied to prevent them from supporting the Archduke.
Another large Austrian army is spotted marching across the border into Zeta. This is presumably all that is left of the Austrian army, so the Grandmaster feels he must ensure its complete destruction. Triumph is rarely associated with delay, but the Grandmaster decides to allow his troops to rest in Ragusa before marching on the Austrians.
With spirits high and the men well rested, a crushing victory is won along the border. This war has been taking a toll on the Empire, but a far greater one on Austria to be sure.
The final remains of the Austrian army are routed just across the border. Now it is simply a matter of smashing through Austrian fortifications one after the other, all the way to Vienna.
The Austrians are at the forefront of weapons technology in Europe, but even their mightiest of fortifications cannot stand against the mass, discipline, ferocity and zealousness of the Order army.
There's nothing more satisfying than watching Austria burn. I didn't manage to drive their WE up to 18 single handedly though, it was at 10 when they started the war.
After a short period of reinforcement, the Grandmaster continues his relentless blitz through the Balkans. The cost in life is great, but the courage and determination of the soldiery doesn't falter for even a moment.
Meanwhile, a look at the conversion effort in Persia.
The Grandmaster orders the second army (the Greek army with some reinforcements from Tunisia) to occupy the Archduke's Transylvanian allies.
Don't start shit you can't finish. Wars begin when you will but do not end when you please.
After many months of brutal campaigning almost all of the Austrian Balkans are occupied. The Grandmaster decides to wait for reinforcements, rather than marching on to Wien with his exhausted and bloodied veterans.
Unfortunately the Grandmaster passes away just as the campaign is about to restart. With the support of the main army, the Grandmaster's most prominent general is made the new Grandmaster. He succeeds to office with little dissent. The war continues with only a short delay.
Reinforced to over 41,000 men, the new Grandmaster marches at the head of his army into the heartland of the Hapsburg.
The Grandmaster violently barges his way through all resistance right to the gates of Vienna. The small heretic army surrenders without much of a fight. A testament to the faith of these Protestants.
Ah well. Money isn't much of an issue at this point anyways because i no longer need to care about keeping inflation down or technology.
The great heretic city of Vienna is occupied. Even after the slaughter of many Protestants, the Grandmaster admits grudging admiration for the splendor of the city.
The war is finally drawn to a triumphant conclusion. The Archduke is made to concede most of his Balkan territory, along with a monetary concession to help pay for the expense of the war. Now the Grandmaster can cement his power while the provinces recover from the strains of war. After that, the Order will resume its natural state of constant crusade.
Don't fuck with the purple, or the purple will fuck you.
