Strategy in Soldier Kings
Part 1: Spring 1756
By Doug McNair
October 2007

Having spent most of last week waiting for certain bureaucrats to finally release our shipping container, all I want today is to take a break from the 21st century and do some good old-fashioned burning and pillaging. It’s been over a year and half since I wrote a series of strategy articles on how to play each of the major powers in Soldier Kings, so now is a perfect time to put those thoughts into practice. I’ll also be using the optional supply rules I wrote, so those pesky minor countries can have some added ways to ruin a major power’s day.

Setup

France, Spain, Austria and Turkey all do relatively well on the force draw, fielding armies of above-average strength (for them) at game-start. Prussia starts off with two elite 4-3 armies but the rest of her at-start forces are weak. The other powers start off with average or below-average forces, particularly Russia, who starts with just one 3-2 army and three 1-1 armies. But the event card deal opens up many military and non-military possibilities for everyone, and the players set up their armies like so:

Britain, France and Spain all deploy fleets and armies in the Caribbean, but only Britain deploys forces in North America. Holland and Britain both deploy forces in India, while Spain parks an army in the Philippines to protect her only holding in the South Pacific. Back home in Europe, Prussia takes an aggressive stance toward the relatively weak armies of Russia, putting two armies plus Schwerin in East Prussia. This forces Russia to concentrate her forces in the north in St. Petersburg and White Russia, and Turkey takes advantage of that by deploying two armies plus Muhsinzade Pasha in Moldavia. Austria deploys forces around her fragmented empire as best she can and hopes for a cash infusion from France to build more armies. France covers her borders.

Initial Diplomacy Phase

Britain, Holland and Prussia make an unsurprising (but rich) Protestant alliance in the North, but France stuns Austria (and everyone else) by allying only with Turkey! This puts Austria and Russia in a vulnerable position and cuts off one of their main expected sources of cash, so they quickly strike a deal to ally with the only other source of ready cash, Spain. That puts Britain, France and Spain all on opposing sides, so the war in the New World likely will become a free-for-all right from the get-go. Britain gives 5 Money and 2 Manpower to Prussia, and Holland chips in an extra 3 Money. France gives 5 Money to Turkey, and Turkey sends 2 Manpower to France. Spain gives 4 Money each to Austria and Russia, and Russia gives 2 Manpower to Austria. Money and manpower totals for each alliance are now:

Nation .......... Money .......... Manpower

Britain .............. 38 .................... 19

Holland ............ 18 .................... 11

Prussia ............. 22 .................... 14

France .............. 39 .................... 25

Turkey ............. 24 .................... 27

Austria ............. 21 .................... 19

Russia .............. 17 .................... 26

Spain ............... 29 ..................... 28

So, the Northern Alliance of Britain, Holland and Prussia has more money than anyone else, but the East-West Accord of France and Turkey comes in second in money standings and has more manpower than the North. The Catholic/Orthodox League of Spain, Austria and Russia is #1 in manpower but #3 in money, so they’ll need to make some rich conquests fast to keep from being overrun.

Turn 1: Spring 1756

Purchase Phase: Before anybody purchases units, Prussia plays the Agent Provocateur card and draws three more event cards. Turkey then plays Sepoys on France, allowing France to spend 4 Money to hire two India armies to protect her holdings in Chandranagore and the South Carnatic. France does very well on the draw, getting two 2-1 India armies (the strongest ones there are). She places them both in South Carnatic, from where they can attack the British colony at Madras.

It would seem that the Turkish ambassador went to the court of Versailles with certain promises at the ready from Muslim chieftains in India. Turkey’s delivery of the Sepoys helps explain France’s odd choice of allies, and is designed to pull Britain’s attention away from the Continent and the New World, and to force the Dutch to do Britain’s dirty work defending Madras rather than conquering the French colonies in India.

Nobody plays any more cards at this time, so Britain buys one army and one fleet (both of which turn out to be low quality), Holland buys one fleet (of average quality), and Prussia buys an army (which also turns out to be of below-average quality). Turkey buys two armies (both of which are 1-1s) but France buys just one army (a 2-1). Russia buys 2 armies (a 3-2 and a 2-1), Austria buys one army (a lowly 1-1) and Spain buys one army and one fleet (a 2-1 and a 1-1).

Initiative Phase

Players roll for initiative (with Frederick opting to add +2 to Prussia’s roll), and the initiative order comes out:

Prussia/Holland/Britain/Spain/Austria/France/Turkey/Russia

Since allies can activate their units at the same time, this effectively means that the Northern Alliance goes first, followed by the Catholic/Orthodox League and finally the East-West Accord.

Action Phase

NORTHERN ALLIANCE: Prussia plays the Indian Revolt card. Envoys from Madras stoke anti-Muslim feelings in Mysore and cause an uprising that results in four 1-1 Indian armies appearing there and attacking the Sepoys that Turkey delivered to France’s colony in the South Carnatic. The Sepoys have nowhere to retreat (British Madras is to their north and Dutch Transnacor is to their west). The rebel armies are treated as those of a minor country and therefore automatically make a two-round Assault, and they go in at a strength of 4 against the defending Sepoys’ strength of 6. The rebels score one hit, driving a Sepoy army into the sea and eliminating it, but the Sepoys score two hits, reducing two rebel armies and driving them back to Mysore. The second round’s attack goes in at a strength of 2 to 4, but neither side scores a hit. Then the Dutch fleet and army from Ceylon head out for an amphibious assault against the Sepoys, but Turkey plays the Monsoon card, inflicting a step loss on the Dutch fleet and the army it’s carrying. That takes the Dutch army down to a strength of 0-1, so it has no way of attacking the Sepoys. The Dutch head back to port in Ceylon, and the Sepoys hold out.

With the threat to British India contained (if not eliminated), the British go on the offensive in the New World. The British fleet in New England embarks a Provincial army, sails up the St. Lawrence and besieges Lower Canada, spending 1 Money for a 2-round siege. On the first round the French defenses score a hit and drive the British fleet back to New England, but on the second round the British Provincials score 2 hits on two dice, taking French defenses down from 3 to 1. Then Admiral Hawke embarks an army at the Central Islands with the intent of besieging the French Windward Islands, but before he can move the French player plays the Troop Revolt card. French spies successfully spread rumors among the Redcoats of a malaria epidemic on the Windwards, and the British army revolts in port and refuses to go. So, a British fleet transports an army from Southern England to Holland, and then the Prince of Orange leads a combined Anglo-Dutch army south to attack the Austrian Netherlands (hoping to take it before France does). Britain and Holland both pay 2 Money for a 2-round Assault, but then Austria plays a New Leader card and an Irregulars card. Suddenly General Nadasdy appears, and his secret deployment of Hungarian irregulars to the Austrian Netherlands pays off big time, with guerrilla forces killing Anglo-Dutch scouting forces and threatening their supply lines. The Anglo-Dutch attack strength is reduced to 3 while Nadasdy increases Austrian defense strength to 7. The allies score no hits on the first round while the Austrains score one, forcing the British army to retreat back to Holland and just barely failing to kill the Prince of Orange on a roll of 10 + 1 (for one step loss) = 11. The Dutch fight on and save the day, scoring 2 hits on 3 dice to only one from the Austrians. The one hit isn’t enough to damage the Dutch 3-2 army, but the 2 hits from the Dutch are enough to reduce the Austrian 3-2 army. The Austrians try to retreat east to neutral Hesse, but get caught short when France plays the Holy Roman Empire Mercenaries card and hires the armies of Hesse, Swabia and Würtemburg for 9 Money. With their retreat route now blocked by hostile Hessians, the Austrian army dies, Orange captures Nadasdy, and the Dutch immediately spend 2 Money for unlimited siege rounds against the Austrian Netherlands. The Irregulars dampen Dutch siege strength, but Holland takes the territory in 4 siege rounds, scoring 4 VPs if Holland can hang on to it for the rest of the year.

Britain then plays the Swiss Mercenaries card and hires both Swiss armies (for 5 Money), and the stronger of the two immediately crosses the Alps to besiege Burgundy. As a minor country the Swiss automatically besiege for 2 rounds, and the Swiss siege strength on the first round is 3 vs. French defense strength of 2. The Swiss score no hits on the first round and just one hit on the second round, so the French defenses hold.

Prussia then goes on the attack against Russia and Saxony. Frederick plays the Cossack Revolt card, and Russia has to remove an army (she chooses a weak 1-1) to put down a revolt to the east. Unfortunately, that weakens her front-line defenses in a way she can’t afford, and Schwerin prepares to attack Apraxin’s one remaining army in White Russia with two Prussian armies. But before he can move, Russia plays the Vacillating General card on Schwerin, and false intelligence reports planted by Russian agents in East Prussia make Schwerin smell a trap that isn’t there, and he stays put.  This is extremely annoying to Frederick, who takes his frustrations out on Saxony, paying 4 Money for an unlimited Invasion of that minor country. He plays the Local Assistance card before combat, rousing ethnic Prussians within Saxon borders to rally to his army. He rolls a 6 and increases his combat strength by 3 from the local militias, and the attack goes in at a strength of 10 to 8. Frederick scores 3 hits on the first round to none for the Saxons, and both Saxon armies are reduced and must retreat to Austrian Bohemia. Frederick then pays 2 Money for an unlimited siege of Saxony, and takes it after 3 rounds with no damage to his army.

CATHOLIC/ORTHODOX LEAGUE: Spain is weak at the moment due to her poor force draw, so she keeps her Caribbean fleet and army in Cuba, hoping that Britain and France’s fleets damage each other so she can venture out with less danger of being sunk. Spain’s fleet in Galicia is also too weak to venture out to the Eastern Atlantic, what with a British 3-2 fleet and two French 2-1 fleets in a position to intercept her. So she makes the only land attack available to her at the moment, invading Portugal with her 3-2 army in Galicia. Portugal’s army and fleet appear, and nobody spends any money to bribe Portugal to ally with them, so Britain’s automatic +3 modifier on the alliance roll and everyone else’s automatic -1 modifier gives Britain the boost she needs to get Portugal as a minor ally. But it doesn’t matter much: Spain spends 4 Money for an unlimited Invasion, and forces Portugal’s fleet and army to retreat to British Gibraltar after one round of combat. Spain then spends 2 Money for unlimited siege rounds against Portugal, but on the third round Portugal’s defenders score 2 hits and eject Spain’s army back to Galicia.

Then Austria plays Minor Country Alliance and tries to bring Poland into the League. Prussia does not want to see hostile armies appear in Warsaw (just a stone’s throw from weakly defended Berlin), and kills that immediately with an Act of God card. But Spain would very much like to see Austria and Russia get some extra muscle so she doesn’t have to finance them, and plays another Minor Country Alliance card on Austria’s behalf to bring Poland into the fold. The League gets a +1 bonus on the alliance roll for Austria’s good relations with Poland and a +3 intimidation bonus for having 3 League armies on Poland’s borders, but the Northern Alliance and the East-West Accord give a -6 intimidation penalty to the roll for having 6 armies on Poland’s borders. So Spain and Austria both spend 3 Money to bribe Poland to join, and Britain spends 3 Money on a counterbribe to try and persuade Poland to sit out the war. But France bribes Poland to join to the tune of 3 Money — she would be quite happy to see Prussia send all of her armies east and leave Britain and Holland’s weak armies all alone to defend the Low Countries. That nets out to a +4 bonus to Austria’s alliance die-roll, and Austria rolls a 6 + 4 = 10, which is exactly what she needs to get Poland to ally with her! Two of Poland’s armies (a 3-2 and a 1-1) appear in Warsaw, and the combined armies of Poland and Russia (with help from a Russian fleet out of St. Petersburg) attack the now-surrounded Schwerin in East Prussia. The two-round assault goes in at a strength of 10 to 10.  Both sides roll very well, scoring 3 hits each on the first round. The weakest of the Russo-Polish forces take step losses and retreat, but both of Schwerin’s 2-1 armies take step losses and are destroyed since they have nowhere to retreat to. Schwerin is captured by Russia’s General Apraxin, who spends 1 Money for a two-round siege of East Prussia along with the Poles. They do 2 hits to East Prussia’s defenses on the first round and one on the second, taking East Prussia for the Tsar and putting two 3-2 League armies within striking distance of Berlin.

General Brown of Austria would love to follow up the Russian victory over Schwerin with an attack on Prussia from the south, but unfortunately Frederick’s two 4-3 armies are guarding the only approaches, and dislodging them will be extremely difficult. So Brown attacks the Turks in Bosnia instead, hoping to drive them out of there and close the gap in his southern lines. The two-round assault goes in at a strength of 9 to 5. Neither side does any damage on the first round, but on the second Brown scores 3 hits to none, and the Turkish 3-2 army in Bosnia takes a step loss and retreats to Macedonia. Brown conserves his cash and takes a free siege round against Bosnia’s weak fortifications, and scores 2 hits on 9 dice, taking Bosnia for the Empress.

EAST-WEST ACCORD: France’s mercenaries from Swabia and Würtemburg attack Switzerland, while the Hessians hold position to guard against Frederick, and General d’Estrees takes two French armies south to Burgundy to eject the Swiss from there. The mercenary attack on Switzerland goes in at 3 dice to 6, and the Swiss army guarding the homeland scores 2 hits to none, driving the mercenaries back to Swabia. Then General d’Estrees’ pays for a 2-round assault against the Swiss in Burgundy, who failed to take that province and don’t have the benefit of the Burgundian fortifications. The attack goes in at 8 dice to 2, but unfortunately d’Estrees does just one hit on each round and fails to dislodge the 3-2 Swiss army. For now, the Swiss mercenaries are holding their own against France and the Empire.

Admiral Galissioniere then makes a bold move in the Caribbean, sailing out with an army on board to besiege British Jamaica. Galissoniere evades Hawke’s interception attempt, the landing on Jamaica goes in unopposed, and one free 8-die siege round against Jamaica’s weak fortifications does the one hit necessary to take Jamaica for France.

France then plays a Minor Country Alliance card and tries to ally with the Pays d’en Haut Indians in North America. She gets an automatic +3 bonus to the alliance die-roll for longstanding relations with the tribes, and spends an extra 2 Money to make it +5. The Indians have a good chance of kicking the British Provincials out of Lower Canada if they don’t complete the siege there first, and from there they’ll be able to invade New England. So the Brits spend 3 Money to counterbribe the Indians to stay out of it. That leaves France with a net +2 bonus, and she rolls an 8 + 2 = 10, which is exactly what she needs. Two Indian armies head north from the Great Lakes through Upper Canada into Lower Canada and Assault the Provincials at 3 dice to 2. They do one hit to none on the first round, driving the Provincials back to New England and lifting the siege of Montreal.

Then Turkey defers her attack on Russia because she needs to turn General Brown’s flank. Muhsinzade Pasha attacks the Austrian army guarding Transylvania, while the Turkish fleet in Greece sails up the Adriatic coast to land behind Brown’s lines and besiege Croatia. The Turks spend 2 Money for an Assault on Transylvania, and the 6 die to 4 attack does no damage on the first round (to either side), but on the second round both sides score 1 hit. The Austrian 2-1 army takes a step loss and retreats to Hungary, and one of the two 2-1 Turkish armies takes a step loss and retreats to Macedonia. That leaves the Turks with an army in Transylvania, and they besiege it for 2 rounds for 1 Money. It turns out the expenditure wasn’t needed, as they score 2 hits on 4 dice in the first round and take Transylvania (with no damage to themselves from Vlad’s ancient fortifications). Then the Turks take a free siege round against Croatia but do no hits while taking one, and their army gets reduced and ships out to the Adriatic with the fleet.

And finally, Turkey reveals another reason she was able to convince France to ally with her — playing the Loudoun’s Embargo card and sapping 4 Money from Britain’s reserves.

So after the first season of the war, Holland has scored a major coup by conquering the Austrian Netherlands, but failed to dislodge the French Sepoys threatening the British Indian colonies. Frederick has achieved his short-term goal of conquering Saxony but has lost General Schwerin in East Prussia, and is now under grave threat from the Russo-Polish armies coming in from the east. Britain’s Swiss mercenaries have staged a successful incursion into Burgundy and fought-off French counterattacks, but the British Provincial advance into Lower Canada has been repulsed by French-allied Indians, the French Admiral Galissoniere has taken Jamaica, and card play has drained Britain’s coffers to a point that will limit her actions for the rest of the year. Spain’s attempt to conquer Portugal yielded mixed results, and Austria and Turkey have traded territories of equal value in the east. The surprise winner in all this is Russia, who has destroyed a major threat in East Prussia and is in a position to invade Berlin next turn along with her Polish allies. That will pull Frederick’s attention eastward next turn, leaving Britain and Holland with no help against the well-funded armies of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

Can the Northern Alliance regain the initiative and keep France and Russia at bay? Or will France eject the tough Swiss armies and go on the offensive against Holland while continuing to batter Britain in the New World? Can Spain take advantage of Britain’s ill fortune to expand her own empire? Will Russia and Austria inflict another defeat on Prussia and put Frederick on the defensive? And does Turkey have yet another devastating card up her sleeve? Tune in next time and find out!

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