I started off a H/H campaign as the Maratha Confederacy. Mughals got a strangle hold on me and blocked all my ports in first 2-3 turns. Then it got worse. Spain killed Portugal and I took over Goa - purely for "maintaining Public Order". Apparently my humanitarian efforts ticked off Mysore and they declared war on me. It was hard as I had no other trade partner left and Mughal armies were attacking from Hyderabad.
Phase 1 : Baby Steps - Defeated the Mughal army out of Hyderabad and placed my army in a defensive posture ready to hit either Hyderabad or Mysore. The army I had in the second starting region for Marathas, I ordered to pillage Mysore towns near the border while I raised new units.
Phase 2 : Pyrrhic Victory - My newly raised army invaded Mysore from the south only to be met halfway by a full stack Mysore army thankfully with no cannons. Facing them was a half stack with 2 cannons in the center, hindu swordsmen, bargir and hindu musketeers a general and no cavalry. The Mysore cavalry went around my lines and tried to hit my cannons from behind. They managed to hurt one cannon unit before my general and a Bargir unit drove them off. Reformed my lines quickly as a the Mysore army advanced.
Cannons took a toll on their remaining cavalry and the units that came in canister range and around this time I noticed that my left flank was collapsing. I had let the Mysore units come straight against my Bargirs and while the 2 sides slugged it out my swordsmen hit them from behind. What I had not considered was the Mysore units which moved from the center and blanketed my swordsmen who after a while were reduced to less than 1/3 of their full strength and wavering. Having no choice I pushed my General into the melee and somehow the line held.
Meanwhile the Mysore cavalry reformed and hit the guns again this time shattering them. Now my line was split into 2 parts of severely depleted units. Thankfully the General held the left flank and I was left with 1 bargir unit with ~ 50 men and 1 hindu swordsmen unit with ~ 40-45 men. The right flank was gone and 2 understrength cavalry units and 3 depleted infantry units were coming for me.
I set my bargir units as a square and they made short work of the cavalry. Quickly I set them to melee and along with the swordsmen hurled them at the infantry. Once the furball was complete I added my General to hit from behind again. The enemy finally broke and I had won a Pyrrhic victory.
Phase 3 : Stabilization - My victorious army was in tatters so I moved it back to friendly territory but had no money to repair it. I used my army in the north to attack Mysore where I was greeted with 4 units of infantry, one general, 2 cannons and rest being peasant levy. Killed them quickly and moved units back to Satara to preempt any Mughal attack. Mysore and Goa made my income level sufficient to field 3 half stack armies providing me a much needed breather. Now I could hit the mughals.
Phase 4 : The Tech Whore - Marathas peddled their tech (had 2 scholars each in satara and mysore) to any one who would pay 1000 gold a tech. Britain was very happy to oblige with cash while Spain and Russia always refused or counter offered 4-500 gold and a tech in return for 2 of mine which i always obliged. The British Gold upgraded my Roads and Towns, helped me pay the bills when the going was tough (ports were still blockaded).
Phase 5 : The Port Snatcher - I was determined to hurt the Mughal empire. So I pushed 3 half stacks into Mughal Lands and Promptly snatched Hyderabad and the port regions above Satara. I then threatened the Mughal empire to accepting Peace and a trade agreement. The Mughals accepted this and I got my ports unblocked. Since Mughals had lost 2 ports they had lost 1/2 trade partners. Spain was happy to trade with me instead but Austria,Prussia and France remained aloof. Kept on whoring the Tech I researched and I believe the 10-12000 gold I had made during that phase saved my campaign.
Phase 6 : Consolidate and Upgrade - I disbanded all Hindu Musketeer units and replaced them with Bargirs. Did away with Cannons wherever I had them and got 12lb artillery in its place. Declared War on the Mughals and Snatched central and eastern India along with the last Mughal Port - Calcutta. Garrisoned all border town with atleast half stacks.
Phase 7 : The Mughal surprise - The Mughals were not the docile cows I thought but cunning bastards. When peace was declared they loaded a full stack into a few boats and parked them off the coast of Sindh. When War broke out they landed the stack in Goa !!! Luckily I had a decent 3/4 stack in Satara which I used to beat the Mughals. In this Phase I took Rajpootana and Sindh.
Phase 8 : Hindustan - The territory of Awadh is incorrectly labelled as Hindustan with the capital as Akbarabad which should have been Lucknow. The Mughals always held court in Delhi and Agra. I besieged the city with a full stack and attacked. My cannons ripped apart the fort, I rushed my armies inside through the breaches where I realized that when in tight places and surrounded your Maratha swordsmen and bargirs dont hurt the peasant levy much. I lost a hard fought battle just because I had lost patience - a useful reminder for later campaigns. I repaired my army and attacked again this time winning. But a rebellion cost me the region again forcing a new series of battles before I could finally claim this region as my own. The mughals now had only Punjab and Kashmir of their own.
Phase 9 : No More Mughals - Remembering my experience against Akbarabad I played patiently and took Lahore. Kashmir fell very easily and the Mughals were gone. Their friends the Persians invaded Punjab from Afghanistan but I defeated them and took Kabul. The Persians attacked in force against a half stack of Sikh Sword and Bargirs with cannons but no mortars. I looked at my situation - I dint have the numbers for an open battle, if I deployed inside the castle I could not use the Cannons. I chose the safety of the walls over the firepower of the cannons. My units manned the cannons on the fort (the lousy ones with slow rate of fire) and bled the Persians who then moved for the walls where Sikh Swordsmen waited for them. I shattered their unit after unit when finally their guns made a breach in the walls. Their cavalry rushed through - to be greeted by Angry Elephants, Bargirs and Cannons set on cannister. Soon afterwards the Sikhs went after the Persian Guns outside. The Maratha Empire had won a Decisive Victory.
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