[ETW AAR] Great Britain Expands the Empire (COMPLETED)
I've played all the previous Total War games. When I first picked up Shogun Total War I remember being extremely frustrated by how hard it was, but so fascinated by the idea of the game that I went back and finally figured out some basic strategy, (set your archers behind spearmen and flank with your cavalry), and I've never looked back. I've only completed one other AAR, but I had a lot of fun (Scotland (MTW2))
This is my first grand campaign in Empire Total War. I have completed the American Revolution which I found particularly fun. Although I haven't played a grand campaign yet, I have read a couple AARs and guides on this website. I've picked the English - even though a lot of other people have already played them (and written AAR's about them), because they seem like the most fun. There is a lot of potential colonization and Europe seems fairly settled for the English (I'm not interested in rushing into a war with a major nation like France or Spain for example), I'm looking forward to the challenges this game will bring. I'm playing a fully patched vanilla campaign.
Thanks
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Chapter 1: 1700-1709 - A New Beginning
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
It was a new century. Sitting down with his advisors, King William III of the England knew it was important to have several different and flexible strategies if England were to destroy the French and capture Paris. England was not currently in an active war with any neighbors, but as the history of England showed - there was no reason why the next hundred years would be any different from the last couple hundred. William was a wise king, and knew from his lessons as a child that England would have little success sailing across the channel to France at the first opportunity. He knew that to reach this goal he had to build up the English economy and infrastructure, and bring England into a new age of prosperity, so that when the time came, he could lead the troops into Paris himself.
New Goals
William examined a new report that had just been brought to him. It had taken a full year to put together this report, a report that he would call from hence forth, "The State of the Nation". Contained within this large document was a rough census of the English population, a full ledger of accounts, imports & exports, trade routes and their current and potential profitability, all known treaties & wars around the world, and strengths and weaknesses of the worlds nations - friends and enemies. The report was analyzed, summarized and recommendations were made by Williams closest advisors. England currently controls 6 regions around the world, with 3 in Europe and 3 in America.
4 regional 10 year goals were created.
1. In England, build up the economy, and develop new trade partners in preparation of the expected increase in trade from the colonies.
2. In the Caribbean destroy the pirates. The recent capture of Captain Kidd was a major victory over the pirates, but the rest of them must be made an example of and the Caribbean pirate settlements must be captured. Piracy on the high seas is not acceptable.
3. Far up in the North of America, build up the fur trade and develop a commercial port in Moose Factory. There is so much potential to expand in the North and really capitalize on the current high price of furs. The Indians in the area are becoming pesky, and may have to be dealt with.
4. Gain a foothold in India. All available troops in England are to be sent immediately to forcibly take a territory there. A fleet was put together, the boats were loaded with all available troops, and sent off to India...
A Caribbean Pirate War
The Caribbean fleet was dispatched immediately with troops to capture Antigua. In the far North upgrades were authorized for all fur factories, and in Europe, and armies from Ireland and England were loaded into a mighty fleet and set sail to India. Arriving at Antigua in 1702, troops led by General Kevin McDowell disembarked and attacked the pirate capital, which was no match for the organized English troops.
Hurons Attack!
In 1703 the Huron Indians - the closest tribe to Moose Factory - declared war on England. This wasn't a surprise to William, the English had been slowly taking their tribal lands for several years. Plans were made to recruit militia to protect Moose Factory.
India
The English fleet also arrived in India. Surveying the coast, it was decided to unload the army and declare war on the region of Mysore, a small nation on the East coast of India.
The Battle For Mysore
General Henri Massue was leisurely unloading his troops when he heard yelling at the end of the camp. He couldn't believe that he was being attacked. He was just a young general and General Churchill had not landed from the other ship yet. He had no choice but to defend his troops.
Lining up General Henri Massue was pleased that General Pananamamula of Mysore chose to meet him in battle here. The English had a superior position up on the hill. Lining up on high ground, the infantry waited until the enemy was within range and then started to fire upon him.
Mysore troops continued to march closer and closer up the hill.
Meanwhile General Pananamamula waited atop his Elephant surveying the field. He had never fought the English before, but with both armies having about 300 men, he was sure that his home town advantage and terrifying elephant units would be enough to win this battle.
General Massue ordered his pike men down the hill to intercept. He wanted to keep his musket men out of melee for as long as possible. The two sides locked into battle. There were screams and blood everywhere.
King Pananamamula ordered his cavalry to charged into the back of the pike men. Massue ordered his cavalry to charge into the flanks of the enemy cavalry. This was not looking good...
It was not looking pretty for the English and the pike men, completely decimated, ran from the field. Massue cursed their bravery, but on the positive side, his cavalry were enough to force the enemy forces to also give up and run from the field.
Withdrawing what was left of the cavalry, Massue was content to pick away at the Mysore from high ground.
General Pananamamula had enough of this. The battle had been going for too long and charged his group of elephants up the hill. It was the last order he ever made. A lucky bullet struck his elephant, throwing him from the saddle and tramping him to death. With no leader, the Mysore troops paused in confusion, while the English continued to fire a hail of bullets. It wasn't long before the Mysore troops realized it was folly to stay in range and ran from the field in terror.
Victory! Although the price of victory was heavy and 2/3's of the English army lay dead or wounded, General de Massue had killed all but 7 of King Pananamamula's army. It was a mighty victory
With the main Mysore force destroyed, General Churchill marched toward the region capital and captured it. Several hundred natives threw themselves in front of English guns, but as they were mostly poorly organized peasants, they couldn't deal with the terrifying might of the organized English army and Mysore was Englands.
The end of the Pirates
That same year, the last of the pirate colonies was found and captured by General Kevin McDowell. The battle was short, brutal and one-sided towards the English. Over 800 pirates were killed compared to only 100 English. The waters of the Caribbean were finally safe from organized pirates.
In 1708, Moose Factory finally finished building the commercial port, and the last of the 10 year objectives were complete. King William III was thrilled to complete them 2 years early.
Huron Expansion!
At the end of 1710, a force of English troops led by Norman Edwards arrived at Fort Sault Ste. Marie and attacked the Huron Indians. Although the Indians outnumbered the English 2-1, most of them were unorganized mobs.
Edwards was not a general yet, but had a promising rise up in the ranks of the Rangers.
He organized his men and brought them into a staggered line. The idea was to move forward in this formation to create a deadly crossfire so that they would not be overrun.
Moving forward in this formation, the Huron Indians came within range and Edwards gave permission for his men to fire at will.
The formation worked extremely well. It would have worked better, but one of the units was slightly flanked by the shear numbers of Indians and had to enter hand to hand combat. Still, the end result was staggering. Over 1000 Indians lay dead on the field of battle, while only 162 English were dead or wounded. Fort Sault Ste. Marie was England's!
Hurons Fight Back
6 Months went by with little to report, then a dispatcher received news Fort Sault Ste. Marie had been lost to the Huron. After the last defeat they had returned in the dead of winter with a surprise ambush.
Even though Edwards attempted the same staggered formation strategy, there was nothing he could do, the attack party was well led by a chief and Edwards was not prepared as hidden Hurons attacked the English from the rear.
Edwards held his ground until the very end, but without his final General training, he couldn't keep his men together.
The exact number of dead English may never be known, but well over 350 English were lost forever.
The Battle of Goa
In India it was a tough situation. The Mughal Empire and Maratha Confederacy were in the middle of a huge war, and it wasn't clear who was going to win. It seemed still unwise for King William to enter an open conflict with a large nation - yet the Mysore colony did not have a trading port... William cursed himself for making the mistake of recalling the fleet back to Europe from Indian waters, as there was really only one option, to attack their neighbors the Portuguese in Goa, a region to the Northwest. The Portuguese trade agreement currently brings in about 1000 gold a month for England in trade, so this is a calculated trade off that war with Portugal will bring much much more trade from India - as well as gain a better foothold on the Sub-continent.
A force had been sent to capture Goa. The Portuguese treaty and trade agreements were broken and war was declared. Lining up his men, General Churchill was confident of a victory.
Lining up and inspecting the forces, Churchill was particularly proud of the quality of his troops.
Creating a U shape around the Portuguese, Churchill managed to secure high ground, and then brought Calvary on the edges of the formation, which could charge into the flanks of any Portuguese who got too close.
As the Portuguese marched up the hill, Churchill gave the order to fire.
The Portuguese fell like flies.
Churchill was victorious again, Goa was England's, and the Portuguese were not happy.
As a result of this, the Maratha Confederacy promptly declared war on England, and the alliance with the Dutch was broken. it was a heavy price to pay, but William hoped it was worth it. The Portuguese navy sent out public notices for privateers to blockade English trade routes. William deployed a Navy in response of this off the coast of Iberia to fight the Portuguese privateers.
The Churchill Satara Incident
Meanwhile Churchill decided to march ahead to Satara, just North of Goa with most of his forces. He hoped to ride on the momentum of the recent Portuguese victory. He arrived at Satara...
..and was never seen again. First hand reports were not available, but Churchill's army was completely destroyed. There were no survivors or reports on what happened that day. This was particularly terrible because Churchill was one of the most highly experienced generals in the English army, that army contained over 50% of the English crack special forces, and Goa was effectively undefended.
1709 wasn't a good year
As 1709 closed, England had just suffered two critical losses in the colonies... what would become of the English empire...?
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Re: [ETW AAR] England Expands the Empire
Originally Posted by Mickas the Great
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