gamesbaboon

It's grim up North!  So grim in fact that Austria has abdicated in
favour of Milan... just as Venice sweeps crushingly in from the South.
 Plucky Florence is still there in spite of the odds, and
NeoTurko(Veno?) continue their unholy alliance.  After many prosperous
years, famine now sweeps the region with starvation expected in
Venice, Carniola, Spoleto and Messina.  Death will come to those still
present at the end of Spring...

So another season of campaigning comes to an end.  Plucky Florence is
still intact although the bankers have now extracted a full bodyweight
of flesh.  Austria is suffering at the hands (containing seductive
bribes) of the Venetians.  Milan is engaging Venice to the East, but
being bested by the Neo-Turkish Alliance in the West.  Can Milan
withstand the two frontal onslaught?

Plenty of action this Season!  The expected Florentine demise fails to
appear, whereas the French have failed to hold their homelands and
been eliminated.  Meanwhile the Austrian leader has been assassinated
for defaulting to the bankers - his successors rule in his place and
have turned strongly upon the Venetians.  Turkey and Naples are
continuing their merging into one, and Milan grows in many directions.

The jingling echoes of bribery and espionage continue with another complex season.  Florentine forces are now scattered by the Turks and Neopolitans - are they acting together?  Or merely attacking whoever is seen as the biggest rival?  Can Bill rally his forces to emerge whole from the situation?  Meanwhile Tom & Jerry have ousted the cunning Clorat from their hindquarters, only to lose their Genoa forces to the plague.  In Milan, Austria and Venice all seems stable.  Is this by accident or design?

Well it's taken a while to resolve but the season has been dominated by the jingling of huge money sacks crossing borders and other cash based negotiations.  All  powers have survived the plague, while the autonomous garrisons of Saluzzo and Trent have been wiped out.  Bill of Florence must be feeing smug in making big gains, and the French Duo Tom & Jerry have finally made some inroads into Milanese holdings (but will Clorat be a thorn in their derrierre?).  Sultan Sage Gwillam has wins and losses, Noods and Lord Smite have an impasse, and Guy and Clorat lose out this time.  But have the big spenders struck too soon?  Is there a countering bag of loot now coming into the fray?  We'll see....

 

The Pope is dead!! ... and as the second year of the terrible conflict
comes to an end the first casualty is the incumbent of the Vatican
Palace - now occupied by the Neopolitan Prince Clorat de Sood.
Elsewhere the new occupier of Rome strikes in an entirely unexpected
attack at the hinterlands of Tom & Jerry of France.  Is there any
limit to Sood's ambition?  The Venitian Piedclair has finally made
decisive moves against Austria - has an agreement broken?  Was there
an unfortunate comment during peace talks?  The Sage of Turkey has
stuffed more provinces in the midlands alongside Florentine Bill who
is gradually building his strength.  With winter approaching, all
taxes are now collected and expenditure plans are being hatched.
However all is not well, harvests have failed and famines are expected
in Herzegovina, Trent, Saluzzo, Treviso, Naples and Istria in the
Spring.  Units here will surely starve next season unless ordered out
or the costs of famine relief are provided.

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With the Papal forces garrisoning up for the inevitable final DeathSiege, where will the unholy Neopolitan-Turkish alliance turn it's attentions next?  Venice has struck viciously at the previously peaceable Austrians, with underhand espionage thwarting Lord Smite's cosy corner.  Meanwhile Guy of Milan has been knocked back from last seasons gains, and Bill Zeebub consolidates Florentine holdings.

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Bashing the bishop (well Pope actually) continues unabated, and it looks like the writing is on the Vatican wall as the Pontiff garrisons up for the end.... or is it?  or can he rise from the dead like his sponsor?  Meanwhile, the Turkish Sultan Sage Gwilliam makes further advances into the heartland as Bill Zeebub makes gains directly away from the beach-head.  Is the Sage striking at the soft Florentine hinter regions by luck or design?  Milan makes some progress mainly against Venice, but both Naples and Austria are relatively static - biding their time or merely unlucky in standoffs preventing progress?  Tom of France continues his siege warfare - will Saluzzo be next?  or will Tom take on the emerging might of Milan?  Watch next season to find out....

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The North sees many armies settling down for a long winter siege - far to cold to go out battling with frozen choppers ?  There's more activity in the warmer South and the pope bashing continues ...

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More carnage and bloodletting as all the major powers expand to 'liberate'  populations from dithering non-aligned governments.  Some resistance is being quashed 'for their own good' in the cities of Modena and Siena.  France, Milan, Florence, Venice and Austria have made small gains while the aggressive Turks are surging across the seas in both the East and West.  The Pope seems to be suffering at the hands of most, causing him to take lands from Naples.  As Autumn approaches, leaders must now consolidate their gains or defend their losses before digging in for Winter....


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Well, it's all kicked off in Italy!
Just when the lands were settling down to peace and tranquility, unrest and landgrabbing suddenly erupts.  All major powers seek to expand their empires with most doing so successfully.  However there has been fighting reported in the midlands resulting in standoffs and no benefits for the combatants.  Is this an indication of things to come, or will they see sense and make their peace?


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Welcome to the Wassail Machiavelli anonymous post site.
Here is the starting set-up
Please leave your open and public messages, threats, offers to help, etc for the other players

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