Playing Spain in Soldier Kings
By Doug McNair
March 2006

For my last article in this series on the Major Powers of Soldier Kings, I tackle the power whose status as a fading global empire presents unique and ironic challenges: Spain.

Spain owns one of the largest and richest empires on the map. She has all the resources she needs to build armies and fleets and to tempt major and minor powers into alliances. Nevertheless, she will be the junior partner in her most important alliance. And she has to pursue a strategy that’s equal parts boldness, fair dealing, accommodation, subversion and treachery in order to keep from being “nibbled to death by cats” (as a certain ambassador from another fading empire would say . . . ).

Spain: Follow me to victory
(over you, while you’re off plundering. . . .)

Spain owns 16 land areas, ten of which are on the overseas map. She starts the game with only four armies and two fleets, and can only build three more of each (plus the three Spanish Provincial armies she can build with the appropriate event card). Britain and Holland (the principal threats to Spain’s global empire) start with six armies and seven fleets between them. And Spain’s most defensible territories (her home areas on the Europe map) are the least valuable. She simply can’t protect her richest territory on her own.

This doesn’t look like a problem at first glance, since she starts with 37 Resources — a huge incentive for poorer powers to ally with her. But her overseas territories are so rich, expansive and weakly fortified that adopting a defensive posture overseas is impractical. There are just too many exposed Spanish flanks which Britain and Holland can hit and push back, dropping Spain’s victory point total dramatically with each conquest. Instead, she must rally as many allies as possible to form and a new Spanish Armada to strike directly at the British Isles. Once Britain has been invaded and conquered, she can build up her forces at home while her allies (and others) plunder what’s left of the British Empire. Then, when she’s good and ready, she can backstab her allies and win the game with a few rich conquests in her own front yard.

Major Power Alliances

Ironically, Spain’s most important major power ally is the one who’s least likely to help her achieve victory. Nevertheless, she must support and keep her senior partner happy while amassing junior allies to destroy Britain and set the wheels in motion for Spanish victory.

Be polite to the French, but deal from strength.

France

Spain and France are natural allies because Britain is their common worst enemy. Britain’s naval power and huge cash reserves give her the ability to ship armies (her own and those of allies) to France and Spain’s rich Caribbean holdings immediately. Each French and Spanish land area lost to Britain in the Sugar Islands is unacceptable, because it knocks the owner down by at least four victory points. Spain must start one of her fleets with France’s navy in the Caribbean, engaging and hopefully ejecting the Royal Navy from there. Spain has every incentive to do this, because she can negotiate a deal with France to take the lesser British colony of Jamaica while France takes the richer Central Islands and other territories. This nets Spain four VP, and if Britain has no fleets in the Caribbean on the first winter turn, she loses a third of her resource income for the year (reducing her ability to resist an invasion of the British Isles).

However, once Britain’s defeat in the Caribbean is sealed, Spain becomes an inconvenient ally for France. The reason is simple: Britain owns 14 VP worth of land areas in the Caribbean, while Spain owns 21. France has plenty of armies to ship overseas, and plenty of fleets to ship them, so if she were free to plunder both Britain and Spain’s Caribbean holdings, she could conveniently conquer the 20 VP worth of territory she needs to win the game. But an alliance with Spain holds her back from this, and Britain will fight hard to defend the rest of her empire (possibly using tough allied armies from Prussia to guard her North American territories). Plus, France will almost certainly ask Spain to keep fleets in the Caribbean to protect their holdings there and deliver the resources during winter turns, leaving Spain to govern the colonies while France conquers the world. So, Spain can only get limited mileage out of a French alliance, and must look to others to help her achieve victory.

Russia

If Spain can eliminate Britain quickly, the worst threat to her global empire will be gone and the secondary threat (Holland) will shrink to insignificance. But as of 1756, Spain ain’t what she used to be, and can’t just build an invincible armada and ship a huge Spanish army to conquer Britain alone. However, she still has plenty of New World gold, and she must dangle it before someone who needs it and can supply the armies to do Spain’s dirty work.

Russia is the obvious choice. She starts with four armies and 28 manpower, but she only has 13 resources to her name and nothing but poverty-stricken territory all around her. But the British Isles are worth 12 resources (not to mention VP), and Russia can get to them in one turn with a fleet and army out of St. Petersburg.

Spain should offer to split Britain with Russia, paying her handsomely to invade Scotland or Northern England on Turn 1 while Spain invades Southern England with a fleet and army from Galicia. This two-pronged invasion strategy maximizes the chances that a hostile force will evade British or Dutch interceptor fleets and land in Britain on the first turn. Such a bold move will force Britain to pull her forces back from overseas to guard the home islands, making France and Spain’s job in the Caribbean much easier. Spain should use whatever minor country allies she can get to support this invasion, while making sure her own fleet gets out of British waters fast to transport the next available Spanish army to South England or Ireland.

At the same time, she should try to subvert Britain’s likely alliance with Prussia. She should encourage Frederick the Great to turn on Good King George and invade Hanover, whose fortification value of 1 is nothing against Frederick’s armies. And conveniently, Holland is just west of Hanover. Conquering Hanover and Holland is a good deal for Prussia as it gets her 7 VP plus an equal amount of annual income. More importantly, a Russo-Spanish conquest of Britain combined with a Prussian takeover of Holland would leave nothing but French perfidy to threaten Spain’s overseas colonies.

Don’t let this happen to you. A British fleet attacks Havana, 1762.

Austria

Spain needs to ally with the minor country Sardinia so she can use Sardinia’s fleet and powerful armies to invade and conquer Britain, and then support her military buildup in the Mediterranean. Then, when the time is right, Spain must backstab Sardinia and invade its continental territory of Piedmont while its armies are elsewhere, winning 4 VP and hopefully putting her over the top of the 15 VP threshold for victory.

But Piedmont is right next to Austria’s Italian territory of Lombardy. If Austria attacks Piedmont, Sardinia immediately goes up for grabs to any major power as an ally. And if Austria conquers Piedmont, Spain can’t attack Piedmont without Austrian opposition.

Spain must ally with Austria at game start. She should approach Austria (all smiles . . .), and offer Resources to help Austria fight the heretic Prussians, encouraging her to send her armies north. At the same time, she should make it clear that she’s just as concerned as Austria about a back-door invasion from Turkey, and propose that she station a Spanish army in Austrian Tuscany to guard Austria’s rich Italian holdings. Spain should also offer to buy any Minor Country Alliance cards Austria may have so she can ally with Venice, whose fleet and army can guard Austria against the Turks as well.

But while she’s doing this, she should secretly pass a note to Turkey, proposing a covert plot against Austria. Spain will indeed ship an army to Tuscany (hopefully on the Austrian fleet), while Turkey starts shipping armies to invade Sicily and Naples. If Spain can get Venice as an ally, she’ll send the weak Venetian forces to fight the Turks. Then, while the Janissaries are marching up the boot and conquering the Papal Sates, Spain will be building armies and sending them to fortify Tuscany (along with Sardinian help) against the approaching Infidels.

But when the Turks get to Tuscany, the Spanish will announce (like a later Generalissimo) that a fifth column has arrived. They will step aside and let the Turks conquer Tuscany, while the Spanish Ambassador signs an alliance with the Sultan. Then, with Tuscany under the control of their Turkish allies, Spain will turn north and invade Lombardy with help from the Sardinians. That done, Spain will send a Spanish army with the Sardinians to Venice (making sure the Sardinians act as cannon fodder), and once Venice is conquered the Spanish in Lombardy will turn west and attack Piedmont. These three territories are worth 13 VP, so as long as France doesn’t turn on her overseas), Spain can reach her 15 VP threshold of victory before the Austrians can react, and before the Turks realize they were being used all along.

A British sneak attack on Spain, 1762.

Minor Country Alliances

Spain’s #1 priority at game start is to invade Britain, and she needs minor country allies to help in this. Spain must throw as many fleets and armies as possible at Britain immediately to evade British interception and conquer the British Isles before the Redcoats can return home from the Colonies. So, any minor country she allies with must have its own fleet with which to ship its army to Britain. Countries that fit this bill are Denmark, Sardinia and Sweden. Sweden should be Spain’s first alliance target because her armies are the strongest and her forces can get to Britain in one move. Denmark can also get to Britain fast, but her forces are weaker, so Sardinia should take priority over Denmark since she has stronger armies.

Continental Strategy

Spain will win by conquering northern Italy. Splitting Britain with Russia will get her 6 VPs, and Jamaica will get her another 4, but to get the other 5 she has to send her limited forces to a region that’s rich with high-value targets. And while she can build up to five fleets, they’re not strong enough to take on France’s navy once France decides the islanders should all speak French. So, Spain must concentrate as much land and naval force as possible in the Mediterranean, and make sudden diplomatic reversals to attack Piedmont, Lombardy, Venetia (and maybe even Tuscany if necessary) before her erstwhile allies can react.

Trust in the Armada.

Event Card Strategy

Spain needs “Minor Country Alliance” cards more than anything else. She should therefore be willing to trade or pay for them as necessary. “Spanish Provincial Armies” is another card Spain should buy or trade for, since such armies will help protect Spanish overseas holdings from French treachery. Other cards of interest to Spain are those which make her stronger or her allies weaker at the moment she backstabs them. Cards that make Spain stronger at such moments include “Winter Campaign,” “Force March,” “Surprise Attack” and “Caught at Anchor.” Cards that weaken duped allies include “Troop Revolt,” “Hungarian Revolt,” “Dysentery,” “Short Supplies,” “Vacillating General,” “Miscommunication,” “False Orders and Bad Intelligence” and “Royal Death.”

Conclusion

In “The Princess Bride,” Inigo Montoya said “I give you my word as a Spaniard,” assuring Dread Pirate Blackthorne that he would hold the climbing rope until Blackthorne reached the top of the cliff in safety. Blackthorne demurred, saying he had known too many Spaniards to stake his life on just that. Inigo proved Blackthorne wrong about the Spanish and did not drop the rope. However, the Spanish player in Soldier Kings should be ready to pay for and hold as many ropes as necessary, and then drop them whenever the climber has outlived his usefulness. Spain must come out at start as a bold, brave and true ally, fighting Britain on the high seas alongside France, and invading the British Isles and splitting them fairly with Russia. But as she builds up her reputation as a bold and honorable ally, she must lie through her teeth to Austria and Turkey and maneuver them into letting her build up enough force in Italy to conquer it and win the game.