Strategy in Soldier Kings
Part 3: Spring 1757
By Doug McNair
October 2007

The Catholic League strikes back in today’s episode of my Soldier Kings replay. As Part 2 came to an end, Russia surrendered to Prussia and Turkey after devastating defeats by Frederick the Great and Muhsinzade Pasha, taking herself out of the war for most purposes until she can rebuild her shattered army. Austria is now alone in the east except for her minor allies Poland and Bavaria. But some masterful political maneuvering by Spain combined with military victories by Britain and Holland has forced France to dissolve the East-West Accord with Turkey and join the Catholic League. France’s return to the fold gives the League a huge infusion of money and manpower, and that plus Britain’s reduced money take over the winter due to French conquests and blockades in the Caribbean will help the Catholics go on the offensive this year. But the Prince of Orange has taken Paris, and with Russia’s surrender Frederick is now free to smash the armies of Poland and Bavaria and drive deep into the rich Austrian heartland. France and Spain need to do even more to cut the flow of money to Frederick from Britain and Holland to keep Austria from becoming the next one to fall before the heretics and infidels.

The Seven Years War continues.

Turn Five: Spring 1757

Purchase Phase

The new armies that France, Spain, Austria and Turkey purchased last summer arrive, and Bavaria’s and Poland’s third army appear as well. The Indian rebels raise another army, and then Russia builds three armies (which turn out to be a 2-1 and two weak 1-1s), Turkey buys one army (a standard Turkish 1-1), Prussia builds one army (a strong 3-2), Austria builds one (a weak 1-1), Britain builds an army (an elite 4-3), France builds two armies (a 2-1 and a 1-1), and Spain builds a fleet (a 2-1). Then everyone repairs all the reduced armies and fleets they can afford to.  

Initiative Phase

Frederick is hot for revenge on his tormentors and adds +2 to his initiative roll. But a certain Soldier Empress beats him out, and the initiative order comes out:

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

Action Phases

CATHOLIC LEAGUE: Spain starts things off by playing the Agent Provocateur card and thereby drawing three more cards. Then Russia (who wants to silence this “out of the war” talk as quickly as possible) plays a Minor Country Alliance card on France and attempts to ally France with Denmark, which is perfectly positioned to besiege weakly fortified British Hannover. France is very much in favor of this and gets an automatic +1 alliance die-roll bonus for good relations with Denmark, and in addition she spends 3 Money on a bribe and plays a Royal Betrothal card to arrange a marriage with a Danish princess for an additional +3 bonus. That gives France a nearly insurmountable +7 bonus, and with Holland and Prussia too low on cash to make counterbribes, Britain decides to save her cash for offensives. France rolls a 9 + 7 = 16 and allies with Denmark, which does well on the force draw and brings-in a 2-1 fleet and a 2-1 army.

Russian General Apraxin pulls his one remaining army out of Warsaw and back to St. Petersburg to guard against opportunistic amphibious invasions, and then Siberian shamans do their part as Russia plays an Early/Late Snows card to block the mountain route between Bohemia and Silesia. That frees-up the Austrian and Bavarian armies guarding Bohemia, and they move northwest to liberate Saxony while the new Bavarian army heads east to bolster the defenses against the Turks. Then Austria’s General Brown makes ready to move, but Prussia plays a Troop Revolt card on his elite 4-3 army, which therefore can’t move or attack this turn and will retreat and take a step loss if attacked. That radically reduces Austria’s combat effectiveness and forces Brown to stay in Vienna, but the shamans are working overtime, because Russia plays an Act of God card and the revolt fizzles, allowing Browne to march north and attack General Schwerin in Silesia. Austria calls for her Polish allies to hit Silesia from the east as well, but then Prussia plays a Defensive Alliance card on Poland, whose king sends word that shoring- up his homeland defenses must take priority now that Russia’s armies have all disappeared. Austria needs to hit the Prussians hard before they can react, so she rolls a die and spends the resulting 2 Money to bribe the King of Poland to change his mind and join the fight. Poland’s 3-2 army joins the attack on Silesia, and her other two armies guard Poland’s eastern borders against the Turks.

Austria plays a Local Assistance card in Silesia, and clans loyal to Austria come down from the hills near Bohemia to harass General Schwerin’s two elite 4-3 armies. Austria rolls a 5, and that boosts General Brown’s total attack strength to 15 dice, which is the exact same number Schwerin defends with due to Silesia’s excellent fortifications. Austria spends 2 Money for an Assault, and the two crack armies clash. But on the first round, Brown scores only two hits while Schwerin scores four, and one Polish and one Austrian army take step losses and retreat. Browne fights on, and on the second round he does much better, scoring 3 hits on 9 dice to do a step loss to one of Schwerin’s 4-3 armies and drive it north to Berlin. Schwerin scores just two hits on the second round and fails to damage Brown’s elite 4-3 army, and Silesia ends up contested. Then Austria pays 1 Money to help the Bavarians besiege the Prussian garrison in Saxony for 2 rounds. The 7 die to 3 siege yields 1 hit for each side on the first round (driving a Bavarian army back to Bohemia), and the 5 die to 2 siege on the second round scores 2 hits and liberates Saxony. But the Prussians also score a hit and drive an Austrian army back to Bohemia as well. 

Farther west, the Danish fleet and army move south to unguarded British Hannover. Then Spain plays the Swiss Mercenaries card, hires both Swiss armies for 5 Money and sends them north to attack the British Prince Ferdinand in Swabia while three French armies under General d’Estrees plus a Spanish army under General Alvarez converge on the Prince of Orange in Paris. Spain plays the Royal Death card, and her execution of the Portuguese sovereign also kills the fighting spirit of the Portuguese, whose army and fleet dissolve. That frees up Spain’s armies and fleets on the Peninsula to head north, and two armies head for the French border while a Spanish 1-1 fleet in Galicia moves down the coast to Portugal and picks up a Spanish 3-2 army. It then heads out into the Eastern Atlantic, and the Dutch 1-1 fleet there fails to intercept it but the British 2-1 fleet in Southern England rolls an 11 and does intercept. The British roll a 5 to Spain’s 1 and get the wind gauge, but neither side scores any damage on the first round. Spanish honor brooks no retreat even though the British outgun them, and neither side hits on the second round. But on the third round the British score one hit and force the Spanish to retreat to port in Galicia. Alvarez will get no reinforcements by sea this turn.

The Swiss attack on Ferdinand goes in first, and since Ferdinand doesn’t control Swabia’s fortifications he’s got little chance of holding his ground with just a 1-1 army at his command. So he retreats north to Hesse before battle and links up with Cumberland’s army. That leaves the Prince of Orange’s flank wide open, and if he stays put the Swiss can cut behind him straight into the Austrian Netherlands and then move on to Holland. Paris is untenable, and with the Danes threatening Holland from the north the Prince of Orange must retreat (after France pays just 1 Money for a Probe against Paris). France and Spain then spend 1 Money for two siege rounds against Paris, but the Parisians open the gates and the Catholic League armies score 4 hits on 13 dice to liberate Paris while the Dutch rearguard garrison scores no hits at all. Then the Danes besiege Hanover and knock out its weak defenses in just one round. With the French, Spanish and Swiss armies rolling them back from the South, the Bavarians now in possession of Saxony to the East, and the Danes conquering Hannover to the north, the Northern Alliance armies in Western Europe are now hemmed in on three sides.

The League navies then make ready to destroy the British fleets in the New World, but before they can do that Britain plays a False Orders and Bad Intelligence card and sends Admiral la Galissoniere and his fleet out of Santo Domingo on a mission to the South Pacific (something about British mutineers on Pitcairn’s Island who have vital information and breadfruit plants that could be used to blackmail King George while creating an award-winning recipe for boulliabaisse). That strands the French 3-2 army on Santo Domingo and cuts League naval strength overseas in half, making it highly unlikely that they’ll be able to damage Hawke’s 4-3 fleet with just the three 2-1 fleets at their disposal. So instead of attacking, the French 2-1 fleet in the Western Atlantic moves in to blockade the British 1-1 fleet in New York, the other French 2-1 fleet maintains the blockade of the British Central Islands, and the Spanish fleet and army at Cuba stay there to await Galissoniere’s return.

NORTHERN ALLIANCE: With the Dutch VP total now taken down by 3 due to France’s recapture of Paris, the British don’t have to worry about Holland snatching an automatic victory just yet. So they leave India in Dutch hands and send their one reduced fleet there on a voyage to the New World so it will be cheaper to repair next turn, and so it can join Admiral Hawke. The Dutch say thank you so much and promptly send their fleet and army from Ceylon to invade French Chandranagore. But France plays a Sepoys card as they get there, and hires an Indian 2-1 army to defend her colony. Holland spends 1 Money on a 2-round Assault and does one hit to none on the first round, forcing the Sepoys to retreat to neutral Oudh. Then Holland pays another 1 Money for a 2-round siege, but neither side does any hits. The Indian rebels then besiege and conquer the French South Carnatic colony. 

Admiral Hawke then plays while Galissoniere’s away. He sails up to New York and sends the French blockading fleet packing with a step loss. That lets him unite with the British 1-1 fleet there, too.

Back across the pond in Europe, the Dutch and British fleets in the Eastern Atlantic sail to Ferrol to destroy the damaged Spanish fleet that retreated to Galicia. Unfortunately, Spanish shore batteries score one hit on the first round and eject the stronger British 2-1 fleet, and the now-outgunned Dutch decide to retreat as well.

Holland then plays a Minor Country Alliance card and attempts to ally with Sweden, whose powerful armies would be a great help to her right now. She gets an automatic -1 penalty due to poor relations, but the Prince of Orange assures Frederick that all Swedish armies will be sent straight to the Low Countries when they appear, and Frederick agrees to add a +4 intimidation bonus to the die-roll for Prussia’s four armies in Berlin (adjacent to Swedish Pomerania). Russia’s one army in St. Petersburg adds a -1 intimidation penalty to the roll, but Britain (who needs the help against the advancing League armies just as much as Holland does) pays 3 Money to bribe Sweden to join the Northern Alliance. Holland adds another 2 Money for a bribe, and France spends 3 Money on a counterbribe (d’Estrees does NOT want to eat lutefisk along with his metworst in Amsterdam). The net alliance die-roll bonus comes out to +4, but it turns out Holland doesn’t need it. She rolls a natural 10 and brings Sweden into the Northern Alliance. Sweden does very well on the force draw, bringing in two strong 3-2 armies, and they plus a 2-1 fleet start in Pomerania. One army marches west to Mecklenburg (which Frederick allows because it defends his borders against the Danes), and the other takes ship and heads for Holland. The Danish fleet in Hanover rolls a 9 + 1 = 10 and intercepts them in the North Sea, and on the first round it scores one hit and drives the Swedish fleet and the army it’s carrying back to port in Sweden.

So, the Dutch and British won’t be getting any reinforcements this turn. But with their naval support gone out to sea to fight the Swedes, the Danish army in Hannover is vulnerable. So Ferdinand and Cumberland take their two armies north and attack the Danes, spending 1 Money for a Probe (either one of them alone has no chance against the Swiss, so there’s no point in them remaining in Swabia). They score one hit and drive the Danes out of Hannover to Denmark, but the Danes also score a hit and drive a British army back down to Swabia (where it can at least slow down any Swiss advance). The British then take a free siege round and retake Hannover for Britain. Orange keeps the Dutch army in the Austrian Netherlands and hopes the Swedes get there fast.

Then Frederick leaves a 2-1 army behind to defend Berlin against the Poles and moves west to attack the Bavarians in Saxony. He spends 2 Money on an Assault at 9 dice to 6 and does 2 hits on the second round while taking no damage, and ejects the Bavarians back to Bohemia. He then spends 1 Money on 2 siege rounds but only scores one hit on the Saxon fortifications while taking one hit that sends a weak army retreating to Magdeburg. General Schwerin does not attack Brown in Silesia because he’ll have a tough time inflicting the 3 hits it would take to dislodge the elite Austrian 4-3 army.

Turkey is unallied now, and she hasn’t got much money, either. She needs to rectify that by getting some armies into the Austrian heartland fast, so Muhsinzade Pasha maneuvers his armies for a two-pronged attack on Polish Galicia and Hungary. He spends 2 Money for an Assault on Hungary and 1 Money for a Probe in Galicia, and the 6 die to 6 attack in Hungary does 2 hits to 1 on the first round. Both the Austrian and the Bavarian army guarding Hungary are reduced and have to flee to Vienna, but they reduce a Turkish army and send it back to Transylvania as well. The 3 die to 4 Probe on Galicia scores one hit per side, but the strongest army the Turks have is attacking (a 3-2) while the Poles have just a 1-1 there, and the Poles retreat to Polesia. The Turkish army in Galicia takes a free siege round but scores no hits, while Muhsinzade Pasha waits to bring in reinforcements before risking a siege on Hungary with his one 2-1 army. But his master stroke is a Dysentery card, which he plays on the reduced 3-2 Austrian army in Vienna that retreated from battle in Silesia. The already-reduced army takes a step loss and is eliminated, and Vienna is now guarded by nothing but the two weak, reduced Austrian and Bavarian armies that fled from Hungary.

So, after the spring 1757 offensives, the Catholic League has pushed the Prince of Orange out of France and the Swiss mercenaries have the British on the run. Northern Alliance reinforcements from Sweden have been blocked by the Danish navy, but Spanish reinforcements for France have also been blocked by the Dutch and British navies. The war in the Colonies has died down for the moment what with Galissoniere’s South Pacific adventures, but Austria and her Polish and Bavarian allies are taking a beating from Prussia and Turkey. It is good that Austria has more money in her treasury than anyone else right now, because her armies are now outnumbered nearly 2-1 by the Turks after that outbreak of dysentery in Vienna. The Turkish hordes are on the move and growing, and while Frederick is still undermanned due to the loss of Schwerin’s two armies in East Prussia last spring, he’s got enough money to retake Saxony next turn and then go for an all-out assault on Austria in the fall. The wild card in all of this is Russia, who will get three new armies in the fall and is free to break her peace treaty with Prussia or Turkey whenever she wants to. But she did poorly on the force draw and her new armies will be weak, plus she’s got just 2 Money left in her treasury after all that army-building so she won’t be able to do much. Whether she does anything at all depends on what condition Turkey and Prussia are in this fall and whether they can retaliate if she breaks the treaties.

Will the Catholic League push Holland into the sea and force the British armies to flee the Continent? Or will Sweden’s armies get through and stabilize the Dutch and British lines before the League armies overrun them? Will Austria and her minor allies hold out in the east, or will Empress Maria Teresa have to surrender to either Prussia or Turkey (or both) in hopes that they’ll start fighting each other while she rebuilds and the League armies sweep eastward toward Prussia? And will Russia re-emerge before the year is up? Tune in next time and find out!

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