Pulling My Hair Out Thanks to Iron Wolf Lithuania

Indexed: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]I thought Iron Wolf Lithuania would be a simple thing to do, but it has been anything but. There we go. The Seimas has reconvened, and now it's time for Lithuanian preservationism. We must do this now because we have to be non-aligned for it.

[00:00:18]And to be fair, it will give us quite a few good bonuses. Anyway, 172, let's go for the demagogue. I did wonder if it was necessary to hire him, and maybe it isn't, but better safe than sorry.

[00:00:32]Thank you. And now let's rejoin the railways, which, as is tradition for HOI4, actually gives infrastructure.

[00:00:41]This is kind of funny because if I remember correctly, the update that added railways was the same one that added Lithuania's focus tree. So, why is it infrastructure? Who knows? Anyway, partial mob. Ah, yes, modernize our industry. Four civs for free? Of course.

[00:01:01]Who is going to say no to that?

[00:01:04]Oh, what do you know, more than enough PP. Let's go for the army defense experts.

[00:01:09]And let's develop natural resources, which, funnily enough, it doesn't give us a single natural resource. Whatever.

[00:01:18]But yes, for ones like Latvia, it gives steel. What does Estonia's do?

[00:01:24]Oh, what do you know, it gives oil.

[00:01:27]Lithuania though, nothing.

[00:01:30]Whatever, let's make an intel agency.

[00:01:33]I'm fairly certain Paradox wanted to make a Lithuanian focus tree, then realized they'd actually have to make content for Latvia and Estonia, so they copied most of Lithuania's focus tree and gave tiny, tiny amounts of unique content to Estonia and Latvia.

[00:01:49]I don't know, something like that, maybe.

[00:01:52]Who knows, I wasn't actually on the team.

[00:01:56]Anyway, the Iron Wolves does not seem particularly happy. So, let's free Voldemaras.

[00:02:04]Sure, it will make them slightly more happy. Not for long though, but it will do.

[00:02:10]Oh dear, impending Iron Wolves uprising.

[00:02:14]Oh no.

[00:02:17]Whatever shall we do?

[00:02:19]There we go.

[00:02:21]Okay, let's do the Lithuanian Activist Front. We have to do this now because if the Iron Wolves partisans aren't active, we can't get it. And you'll never guess which person forgot to do this in his practice run.

[00:02:36]Oh well. Oh well.

[00:02:40]And yes, we could hire Voldemaras as a minister, but there's no reason to do this. The moment we flip ideology, we lose him. And the only reason you'd ever hire him is for more fascist support.

[00:02:52]But we already have enough fascist support. So, hiring him would just be a waste of PP.

[00:02:58]There we go. Moderate now. Okay, okay, let's organize the Iron Wolves. Wolves wolves wolves wolves.

[00:03:07]You could do these decisions to delay the uprising, but as long as you do it in a certain order, you really don't have to. And I do appreciate that this decision actually costs command power, not PP. That is interesting.

[00:03:22]Anyway, our current field marshal is crap. So, congratulations.

[00:03:27]Yeah, elusive gentleman, why not? Always a good thing, eh?

[00:03:32]There we go. We can unify the military.

[00:03:36]This is why I said I wasn't sure if it was necessary to get the demagogue. This focus only requires 40% party popularity. And as you can see, we have 50%. The Iron Wolves gives so much support. So, you might want to look into it. Is the demagogue worth it or not?

[00:03:54]I'm not sure. Hmm, let's put diplo pressure on Germany. Could be interesting.

[00:04:02]And it's done.

[00:04:04]Voldemaras is in the house. We also get Iron Wolf military. Not a bad national spirit. We even get cheaper conscription laws. We can make them even cheaper as well. Uh state serves the military and now it's Oh, 82 PP. Oh, yes. Anyway, next up, let's join the Axis. Because I did diplo pressure, Germany will let me in immediately. Yay! Let's bypass seek ties with Germany.

[00:04:37]I guess you could do fortify Memel, but are you really going to fight Germany over Königsberg? Maybe, maybe not.

[00:04:47]Anyway, let's do the Iron Wolf Youth.

[00:04:50]Another 1%. Yeah, that's useful considering how little manpower we actually have.

[00:04:58]Now, let's claim Livonia.

[00:05:02]Hmm, Poland war goals. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[00:05:06]We are going to need some more units, though.

[00:05:10]Luckily, I have some.

[00:05:13]Yeah, they're only the artillery divisions, but hey, they're there.

[00:05:17]Exercise as well, quickly.

[00:05:20]May as well also go for the infantry expert. We're going to need it.

[00:05:24]Oh, commander civilian trains. Oh, yes, yes, yes. The main problem for these divisions is they don't actually have enough manpower. And more people mobilizing lowers how trained they are.

[00:05:36]So, some of these guys are just going to run out of org and stuff. I also have a spy ready, so minus five entrenchment.

[00:05:44]Yay! So, in the meanwhile, let's demand Vilnius. Come on Poland, be sensible and let's get them.

[00:05:55]Probably going to have to do a force attack or two, but that's okay.

[00:05:59]I guess I could call in Germany, but that's no fun.

[00:06:04]Just need to break this line. It is winter, but oh well.

[00:06:08]We do have an air force.

[00:06:11]A tiny one, but hey, it's doing its job.

[00:06:14]Come on, break the line. There we go.

[00:06:17]Just need to begin to spread out.

[00:06:20]Okay, encircle that and go around it.

[00:06:22]Something like that.

[00:06:25]This tile is going to be annoying, but if we can encircle it, maybe a little less.

[00:06:31]I was right, we have actually lost four divisions cuz it just ran out of org.

[00:06:34]Oh, bugger.

[00:06:36]Oh well.

[00:06:37]Come on everyone, do that properly.

[00:06:40]Taking longer than I expected, I must admit, but oh well.

[00:06:44]And let's support Polish fascists.

[00:06:50]Oh, great. Poland says no. That is actually what we want. But this is one of the first of many, many, many, many annoying things. Seriously, if Poland says yes, surprisingly it can be very, very, very annoying. But luckily, they were sensible today. Maybe I have to lure them out. Not something I have to do often, but sometimes it has its perks.

[00:07:18]I can't believe they fell for that and let two units out.

[00:07:23]I mean, I'm not complaining considering the circumstance, but you know.

[00:07:28]There we go. We have to take one of these two, I think.

[00:07:33]Maybe it's both of them, I don't know.

[00:07:35]Even lost that one as well. Whoops. Come on, there we go. I'm not going to claim that was my best work, but whatever. We won, we won.

[00:07:46]Come on everyone, just take the stuff, get going.

[00:07:50]I have another spy going there as well, so at least that can help.

[00:07:54]Come on, give the command power already.

[00:07:57]Or you know, just break the horse.

[00:07:59]>> [snorts] >> There's probably going to be a unit in Tallinn or something, I don't know.

[00:08:04]Oh, empty.

[00:08:06]Surprising.

[00:08:08]Very surprising.

[00:08:10]Maybe an extra tile or two will do it.

[00:08:14]Yay!

[00:08:15]So all in, not the greatest at all, but it did only take us like what, 140 days?

[00:08:22]I've had worse, trust me. So far, not bad. And now it's time for these decisions. Support Polish Falangism.

[00:08:31]Poland has 38% support.

[00:08:34]Okay. Hmm.

[00:08:36]Let's do some propaganda. Once they have 40%, we can do something. So in the meantime, let's make more units. You might be thinking, "Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles, you have to do unite the Baltics. You haven't got the cores." But no, don't worry, look at this.

[00:08:55]Doing claim Livonia gives you the cores on Latvia and Estonia anyway, so there's no reason to do unify the Baltics. For once, I actually like this. It allows you to stay Lithuania. You know what, these artillery divisions weren't really working out. I'm going to change a lot of them into cavalry and stuff.

[00:09:14]They're probably going to work better that way.

[00:09:16]Yeah, this time I'm actually going to wait for these guys to be fully trained.

[00:09:20]I've made that mistake once before, and once is enough.

[00:09:24]Yay! Greater Lithuania. Nice. And look at those claims. Yay! Honestly, I don't think there's too much useful right now.

[00:09:35]I mean, a new kind of Iron Wolf is a good focus, but then again, you're not going to make mechanized at this stage of the game. So, no. No. Let's attract workers to corner us. Looks like it's time for an uprising.

[00:09:51]Yay! Falangist Poland. Look at that.

[00:09:56]That's good. They're very distracted.

[00:09:58]Let's go in.

[00:10:01]The alternative version of this is that Poland backs down and does go fascist, which is annoying because, you know, a civil war takes away 50% of his units, which, you know, is kind of useful if you want to take them down. But, a funny consequence of this is that the event for Poland going fascist is bugged. For some reason, it says Finland backs down, not Poland. Let's go and capitulate Poland, shall we?

[00:10:28]And another thing as well, we cannot, under any circumstances, call in Germany. If we call in Germany, Falangist Poland joins the Axis, which we don't want.

[00:10:40]So, unfortunately, we're going to have to do this on our own. We need to make it to Gdynia and Gdansk. So, let's get going.

[00:10:49]Nice job, guys. Nice job. Make more.

[00:10:53]I see a unit there on the border, which is not nice. Is Warsaw available? Good.

[00:11:00]Warsaw is mine. I must get up there before it gets trapped. Good.

[00:11:05]How on earth did those units end up like that in Warsaw? I have no idea.

[00:11:10]I hope I can rescue them. That'd be nice.

[00:11:14]Come on, just in time. Come on, good.

[00:11:17]Good. Still though, quite a bit ways to go. Poznan and Gdynia are worth 10.

[00:11:23]Damn.

[00:11:25]Ah, great.

[00:11:29]That was going so well, but that got encircled. Hm. Hm. Hm.

[00:11:36]Forest brothers, sure.

[00:11:38]Don't know if we're going to be on the defensive, but whatever.

[00:11:41]We just need to break out and get going, but it's just taking so long.

[00:11:46]And yep, that unit got destroyed there.

[00:11:48]So sad.

[00:11:49]Oh great, four units. Lovely. We'll go for you instead.

[00:11:54]Right, up there.

[00:11:56]Re-encircle that. Go for Poznan.

[00:11:59]Come on, Poznan. Thank you.

[00:12:02]If we retake Lodz, that actually might be enough.

[00:12:05]Come on.

[00:12:08]Come on. Oh, a last stand spam again.

[00:12:12]I love last stands. But looks like we're going to relieve Gdansk, which is nice.

[00:12:17]And they capitulate. Yay!

[00:12:20]Funnily enough, I actually have the majority of the score.

[00:12:24]So, hmm.

[00:12:26]There we go. And let's take their ships.

[00:12:29]Thank you.

[00:12:31]Look at that.

[00:12:32]>> [laughter] >> But there is method to my madness. Yes, I took Gdynia, but now Gdansk is encircled. But most importantly, I didn't take this claim, which sounds weird. But remember, if you don't take a claim, you can use it.

[00:12:48]Chełmno worth yeah. It's not going to be the greatest, but it will do the job.

[00:12:53]Trust me, it will. There we go. A load of those, please.

[00:12:58]Access investment, yeah. Yeah. 10% 10 is nice.

[00:13:04]Oh yes, I can move the capital to Vilnius. 10% stab for 15 PP. Brilliant.

[00:13:11]Focus at this point, I don't know. War economy for free, sure.

[00:13:16]Good, justification is ready. And no guarantees.

[00:13:21]This is very important. Germany is about to do fate of Czechoslovakia. That's why not taking this state is so useful. If you justify normally, Poland does get guaranteed. But like this, they don't.

[00:13:35]And look at all of those gaps. We are going to get them as quickly as we can.

[00:13:40]Let's go. Let's go. I also have that cipher, so yeah.

[00:13:45]Right, thanks for that. And on the front line with you guys. At this point, calling in Germany might actually be a good idea, but I don't want to do that.

[00:13:55]I love that Germany still has military access from them though. You can see Germany's units there.

[00:14:02]Come on, Poznan, Warsaw, all of that stuff.

[00:14:07]Okay, out of Warsaw then.

[00:14:09]Can't have that happen.

[00:14:11]Good encirclement there.

[00:14:13]That unit unfortunately is not going to encircle anything though.

[00:14:17]Warsaw, thank you.

[00:14:20]They don't need to get Krakow though.

[00:14:21]It's their actual capital at this point.

[00:14:24]Good, they broke that. Let's see what they can do.

[00:14:27]Mutinies, are you serious?

[00:14:30]God damn it. We're about to win, guys.

[00:14:34]So rude.

[00:14:36]Getting pinned just as I was about to put a unit in Krakow.

[00:14:40]But luckily I made it. Not enough though.

[00:14:43]I guess it's my turn for last stand spam. Yay!

[00:14:49]This is why I miss being able to escape from pins. It was so useful.

[00:14:54]Is that it?

[00:14:55]Yay!

[00:14:57]Thank you and annex. Thanks for the ships.

[00:15:02]Now look at that, greater Lithuania.

[00:15:05]Unfortunately, no Commonwealth because compliant.

[00:15:10]But there is something else we can do.

[00:15:14]All the way over here, restore order.

[00:15:18]Look at that. We are going to get some cores and a collaboration government of Poland. Oh, yeah.

[00:15:26]Now, this is interesting. Germany has demanded Memel. Honestly, it's your choice on what to do on this. If you stay in the Axis, of course, Germany will never take it. But, if you want to leave the Axis, it's more sensible to give up Memel. But, I have no intention of leaving the Axis, so never.

[00:15:45]Greater Lithuania says no.

[00:15:49]Huh. Soviets influencing us.

[00:15:53]Rude. So rude.

[00:15:56]Oh, no. Not Molotov.

[00:15:58]Yeah. Now, you know the final thing that makes me so damn annoyed with this whole thing. Honor the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Basically, if you want to do this focus, you have to say no. And you know what that means? The Soviets declare on you. You know what? Maybe I could have left the Axis and this wouldn't have fired, but you get the point. It's just Right, I'm going to hold this out for as long as I can. 2 1. Poland is mine.

[00:16:31]They're going to declare. Lovely.

[00:16:34]Right, Germany. It's your problem now.

[00:16:38]Come on. Finish the focus.

[00:16:41]Yay. I believe if you control more states like some of Germany's or something, this focus will give more cores, but it is a good focus. Look at that. 300,000 manpower. Yeah, that is nice. Now, I can standardize my army, make it better, and all of that stuff. But, then there's the final focus, restore Greater Lithuania.

[00:17:04]But, there's a little secret. You need 80% compliance on the states to do it.

[00:17:10]At this point, yes, we could make some collabs, but I wouldn't be surprised if we capitulated the Soviets first.

[00:17:18]Getting the compliance and everything is just so much trouble. There is a lot to like about this whole tree, but there's so much that just makes me want to pull my hair out. Anyway, could I take down the Soviets? Yes, but I'm not in the mood. I'm sorry. I've done the Soviets enough. It is useful, of course, having Poland as a collab government. You could use Poland's manpower as well on top of yours. That's always a good idea.

[00:17:48]But no. No. No. No. I'm tired, but if you followed this, you should be more than capable of doing it. I believe in you.

[00:17:59]You can do it. So, until next time everybody, I thank you for watching. I do hope you've enjoyed it, and until we meet again, from me, Bubbles Zest.

[00:18:10]Goodbye.

[00:18:13]I think the navy I stole actually did something.

[00:18:18]There's no way.

[00:18:21]Oh my goodness. You What?

[00:18:24]>> [laughter] >> The Witcher, or whatever. Death FM. I know they're only early subs, but still, good job.