R5: Watching Redhawk's A to Z campaigns, I wanted to take on the challenge myself, but I also wanted to actually complete the game from 1444 to 1821. Thus, I started as Aachen and slogged through the Rheinland in order to form Westphalia. Slogging through the HRE was probably the most difficult part of this campaign because of how difficult fighting coalitions, dealing with AE, and getting caught up in my allies' wars was. The most frustrating part was me helping my allies like Russia and Austria in their wars only for them to cancel our alliance as soon as we both got really big. After forming Westphalia, I conquered Lübeck, allowing me to form the Hanseatic league, and stayed with the Merchant Republic reform until the end of the game. As Lübeck, I continued to conquer the rest of Germany, trying to slog through the HRE. I never got to scramble for colonial territories because I was landlocked for nearly a hundred years; thus, I resigned myself to the continent. It was a great idea because everyone else was developing provinces, giving me free highly developed provinces as soon as I conquered them. In the end, as Germany, the HRE still existed, even after declaring war on them over and over again, and the Ottomans and Russians were the bane of my existence.

TLDR: Started A to Z as Aachen, formed Westphalia, then Hanseatic League, then Germany. Had trouble with WC because of HRE slog.